The 10-Minute Bill presented to Parliament recently looks to completely ban the sale of disposable vape products (see POTV article). This move is reported to not reflect the current Government’s position and it will not be adopting it as policy, but this doesn’t mean it couldn’t be successful given the support of two ex-Health Secretaries.
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- Category: February 2023
“Another day and another study proves vaping is considerably less harmful than smoking, yet the World Health Organisation continues its anti-vaping campaign at the cost of millions of smokers’ lives,” says Nancy Loucas, Executive Coordinator of CAPHRA (Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates).
Her comments follow an independent review of scientific evidence out of the United Kingdom which shows vapers are exposed to much lower levels of toxicants, compared to smokers.
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- Category: February 2023
Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC) statement on e-cigarettes fails to meet the scientific standard expected of a leading national scientific body, according to 11 addiction scientists, reports Medical Express.
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- Category: February 2023
Despite the current cost of living crisis and the need to encourage smokers to switch to vaping, the UK Government is considering thrusting a new tax onto vape products, according to sources inside the House of Commons. The World Vapers’ Alliance believes that such a move risks pushing vapers back to smoking.
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England’s chief medical officer says vaping is a useful tool for adults trying to stop smoking but it should not be marketed to youngsters. Experts said that children were being attracted to disposable e-cigarettes, in fruity flavours, being used by people on TikTok and Instagram.
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- Category: February 2023
Health and youth advocates say vaping by middle and high school students is a crisis ― and they are calling on lawmakers to ban all flavored vape and tobacco products.
While opponents say the problem is being exaggerated, teachers say they deal with it every day.
Lawmakers are expected to pass substantial legislation after a ban on flavored vape products passed last year but was vetoed because of flaws.
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"Far too many adults who want to quit smoking are unable to do so," Kenneth Warner, dean emeritus, the Avedis Donabedian Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the UM School of Public Health and one of the study's authors, said in a statement Monday. "E-cigarettes constitute the first new tool to help them in decades. Yet relatively few smokers and indeed health care professionals appreciate their potential value.”
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YESTERDAY CATE FAEHRMANN MP of the NSW Greens announced a plan to legalise nicotine vapes for people over the age of 18 in the state, recognising that the current prescription-only model has failed. The current regulations have created a thriving black market which sells illegal vapes freely to young people. The Greens have long been strong supporters of drug harm reduction and must be congratulated for their courageous support for tobacco harm reduction and making the right choice for public health.
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Eleven top international addiction scientists argue that the 2022 statement on e-cigarettes issued by Australia’s peak health and medical body, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), fails to meet the high scientific standard expected of a leading national scientific body.
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- Category: February 2023
Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc. is in advanced talks to buy e-cigarette startup NJOY Holdings Inc. for at least $2.75 billion and plans to divest its stake in Juul Labs Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.
The deal for NJOY, one of the few e-cigarette makers whose products have clearance from federal regulators, could be announced as soon as this week, the people said, though the talks could still fall apart. The proposed deal includes an additional $500 million earnout if certain regulatory milestones are met, the people said. The Wall Street Journal reported last June that NJOY had hired advisers and was exploring a sale.
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- Category: February 2023
Vaping is a rapidly growing habit in Great Britain, particularly among younger people. Research by the anti-smoking charity Action on Smoking and Health found that in 2022 7% of 11- to 17-year-olds in Great Britain used e-cigarettes, up from 3.3% the year before. Plain packaging needs to be brought in to protect young people’s health. This would undermine efforts to hook a new generation on nicotine. Without logos, colours or images to draw on, vape products will be less able to communicate with potential customers.
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- Category: February 2023
Public health seeks to generate fear and panic to impede logical thinking, from the so-called “epidemic” of teen vaping and “vaping-related lung illness” to the claim that nicotine harms developing brains.
In this special edition of RegWatch, Martin Cullip, International Fellow at the Taxpayers Protection Alliance and prolific writer on harm reduction policy, provides an intelligent reaction to a litany of panics public health has pushed concerning nicotine vaping products.
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- Category: February 2023
A UK vape company has launched a brand new scheme that is aimed at helping to encourage users to recycle their empty vapes and receive a free gifted vape pen in return in their bid to reduce waste.
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- Category: February 2023
One of the world’s most vape-friendly countries, the United Kingdom, is becoming frostier toward single-use versions of the harm reduction products. The debate, which is mirrored internationally, pits environmental concerns and familiar fears of youth uptake against the specific role of disposables in helping people switch from smoking. In January, the high-end supermarket (…)
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- Category: February 2023
The FDA announced plans to establish a near-zero maximum nicotine level for cigarettes and certain other combusted tobacco products, which would essentially render them nonaddictive and prevent, over the course of the century, 33 million from becoming dependent on tobacco products and 8 million from dying from their use. Official statements from tobacco companies (...)
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- Category: February 2023
Philip Morris International has admitted it would “rather keep” its business in Russia than sell on stringent Kremlin terms, highlighting the challenges for companies trying to leave the country without taking a huge financial hit. Chief executive Jacek Olczak told the Financial Times the tobacco group, which sells (…)
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- Category: February 2023
Last week, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said it will be boosting its enforcement against retailers who sell vaping products which are somehow in violation of the recently set vape bill: The Republic Act (RA) 11900.
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- Category: February 2023
A California bill would prevent future tobacco sales for those born on or after January 1, 2007. “The impetus for the bill is really that we’ve known for 50 years that tobacco and nicotine products cause cancer, are incredibly addictive and decrease quality of life,” Connolly told The Sacramento Bee.
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The typical cost of a pack of 20 cigarettes is set to rise by HK$12, from around HK$62 to HK$74. Finance Secretary Paul Chan (...) told lawmakers that the habit was hazardous to health: “Increasing tobacco duty is recognised internationally as the most effective means to reduce tobacco use… A rise in cigarette price will increase the incentive of smokers to reduce or quit smoking.”
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- Category: February 2023
There is enough evidence to support the use of electronic cigarettes as a first-line aid for smoking cessation in adults, says Kenneth Warner. In a study published in Nature Medicine, Warner and colleagues took a global view of vaping, examining countries that promote vaping as a smoking cessation and countries that don’t.
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- Category: February 2023
The number of people trying to give up smoking in Scotland has fallen, prompting demands to improve support for those wanting to stub out cigarettes for good. According to the latest NHS Stop Smoking Services Scotland report, which includes data between April 2021 and March 2022, there were 31,359 people north of the Border attempting to quit smoking.