Dr Andrew Pipe, the organiser of the “12th annual Ottawa Conference on state-of-the-art clinical approaches to smoking cessation”, likens vaping advocates to “pigs”. He claims to have never heard of Rights4Vapers, the group that booked a room in the conference centre, speaks volumes about his preparedness to engage in reasoned debate. Rights4Vapers said they organised a simultaneous press conference in order to share genuine evidence on vaping and have their voices heard. The conference featured Stanton Glantz as the keynote speaker, a man with a tenuous grasp on truth and reality. Glantz made the fatuous claim that eighty children take up vaping and proceed to smoking for every smoker who switches to electronic cigarettes. Dr Mark Tyndall called Glantz an extremist and said: “Despite what Dr Glantz has shared, there is no proof that vaping leads to heart attacks, cancer or respiratory diseases. Vaping is tobacco harm reduction. If all smokers switched to vaping, we would have a massive impact on one of the most pressing public health challenges of our time.””

ARTICLE LINK:

Infiltration

“Backed by a three-year, $𝟭.𝟰 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 from the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the scholars aim to address a paradox presented by the required warnings. “You have this potential therapeutic use for one population and a harmful use for another,” said Jeff Niederdeppe, associate professor of communication in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “The trick is, how do you deter young people from starting but not prevent smokers from trying to quit through using e-cigarettes?” The researchers will again take advantage of a mobile communications lab to reach hundreds of test participants in multiple states. Eye-tracking stations will help show which ad content attracts viewers’ attention, revealing how often and for how long they focus on text and images in different areas. Potential e-cigarette warning strategies could focus more on youth, Niederdeppe and Byrne said, highlighting, for example, evidence that nicotine can harm developing brains or increase anxiety and depression. Or they could target adults, perhaps stating that e-cigarettes should only be used by adults who are trying to quit smoking.”

ARTICLE LINK:

Study takes on e-cigarette warning ‘paradox’

“House Bill 2454 and Senate Bill 6254 would ban all flavored vape products, without exception. Requested by Gov. Jay Inslee, the bills would also limit the amount of addictive nicotine that vape liquid could contain, and ban all use of vitamin E acetate in e-cigarettes. The Senate’s Committee on Health and Long Term Care 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆.”

ARTICLE LINK:

EDITORIAL: Protect youth with state vaping bill

WASHINGTON STATE BILLS:

HOUSE BILL 2454  and  SENATE BILL 6254

“Pregnant women in a Dublin maternity hospital who used e-cigarettes delivered babies who had the same birthweight as non-smokers, a new study reveals. The study at the Coombe Hospital found it was significantly greater than the birthweight of tobacco smokers.”

VAPING NEWS:

Vaping mums’ babies weigh same as non-smokers’

STUDY:

Electronic cigarette use in pregnancy is not associated with low birth weight or preterm delivery

“The commentary claims to show the “invalidity” of the statements made by Public Health England (PHE) and the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) regarding the relative risk of vaping and smoking. At best, the authors try to show the absolute risk of vaping is not zero and that some harm is plausible. In doing so, they are refuting a claim that neither PHE or RCP make and an argument not used by anyone sensible in tobacco harm reduction. However, not a single word of their paper addresses the supposed foundation of their critique – that PHE/RCP are wrong and the risks of vaping are likely to exceed five per cent of those of smoking. As well as a number of baseless assertions that are not even relevant to the “at least 95 per cent lower” relative risk claim (gateway effects, smoking cessation efficacy and second-hand aerosol exposure), there is just nothing in the paper about the relative magnitude of smoking and vaping risks. 𝗡𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀, 𝗻𝗼 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮, 𝗻𝗼 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 – nothing that discusses relative risk and why PHE/RCP are supposedly wrong. Niente. Nada. Rien. Nichts. Nothing.”

ARTICLE LINK:

Vaping is still at least 95% lower risk than smoking – debunking a feeble and empty critique

“The European Conference on Tobacco or Health (ECToH) is organised every three years by the Association of European Cancer League. The eighth ECToH will take place in Berlin and claims to be the main European forum for tobacco control advocates – but 𝘃𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘃𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, in the same way they do at the World Health Organisation FCTC Conference of Parties.”

ARTICLE LINK:

ECToH-Spasm

“‘Adults using nicotine-containing e-cigarette or vaping products as an alternative to cigarettes should not go back to smoking; they should weigh all available information and consider using FDA-approved smoking cessation medications,’ the CDC said in a press release. CDC officials say there are ‘confident’ that vitamin E acetate, a diluting agent used in many THC vaping products, is behind the illnesses. Although the agency says that smokers who have switched to vaping should not return to using combustible cigarettes, the CDC also advises vaping products should ‘never be used by youths, young adults or women who are pregnant.'”

ARTICLE LINK:

CDC drops its warning against vaping nicotine for adults as officials say it’s blackmarket THC e-cigarettes that are ‘driving’ the outbreak

“The new policy doesn’t change the letter of the law surrounding vaping, since from the FDA’s perspective, all vapes, as newer tobacco products, need agency authorization to be on the market legally. But in practice, the policy prohibits the production, distribution and sale of all flavored cartridge-based e-cigarettes, with the exception of menthol and tobacco flavors, after Feb. 1. After that date, unless a manufacturer can show that an unauthorized flavored cartridge is “appropriate for the protection of public health” and receive FDA authorization, the product will not be allowed on the market. The FDA also said it would take action against e-cigarette manufacturers if they do not take adequate measures to prevent teen access, or if they market to minors, regardless of whether their products are flavored or cartridge-based. The FDA does not consider its policy to be a ban. Nervertheless, University of Maryland Carey School of Law professor Kathleen Hoke told us she was skeptical that any non-menthol flavored pod product would receive premarket authorization.”

ARTICLE LINK:

Q&A on the FDA’s Flavored E-Cig Policy

“The UK E-Cigarette Research Forum (UKECRF) is an initiative developed by Cancer Research UK in partnership with Public Health England (PHE) and the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies (UKCTAS). Among other things, it brings together genuine experts to look at research related to vaping. The UKECRF suggested that people interested in vape research might wish to look at the following studies from the end of 2019:”

• includes extensive lists of categorized research topics and studies

ARTICLE LINK:

UKECRF Research Roundup

“Effective immediately, retailers must not sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21. FDA recognizes that both the agency and some retailers will need to update current practices to implement this new law as FDA will need time to do outreach and education to retailers and update the Agency’s programmatic work to reflect this change in law. During this period of transition, the FDA expects retailers to follow the law and take measures to ensure an individual purchasing a tobacco product is 21 or older, including manually checking IDs when needed. However, during this ramp-up period, FDA will continue to only use minors under the age of 18 in its compliance check program. FDA will be updating our website and other materials, including our regulations, in the near future to reflect the change in law.”

ARTICLE LINK:

Newly Signed Legislation Raises Federal Minimum Age of Sale of Tobacco Products to 21