“Elections officials in Inyo County said Monday that at least 70% of the signatures submitted to block a California law banning the sale of flavored tobacco are invalid, with dozens of voters saying they never signed the petition. Last month, a campaign funded by the nation’s largest tobacco companies announced it had gathered more than 1 million voter signatures to qualify a referendum on the new law for the November 2022 statewide election. The law, Senate Bill 793, outlaws the retail sale of flavored tobacco products in California and is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1. But if elections officials determine at least 623,212 valid voter signatures have been gathered, the enactment of SB 793 will be on hold for at least the next two years. Under California law, voters can overturn a statute signed by the governor through a referendum — having done so most recently last month, when they rejected Proposition 25 and the plan to eliminate cash bail in the state. Forging a signature on a ballot measure petition and submitting the document to elections officials are misdemeanors under state law, punishable by jail time and a fine of up to $5,000.”

NOTE: The coalition has received more than $21 million so far, largely from companies including Philip Morris USA and its affiliated U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., as well as R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Opponents needed to collect the signatures of 623,312 registered voters to quality the referendum.

ARTICLE LINK:   Investigation launched as Inyo County voters say they didn’t sign tobacco referendum

“The Covid-19 relief bill passed by the U.S. Congress on Dec. 21 prohibits the U.S. Postal Service from delivering packages containing e-cigarettes. It also subjects e-cigarettes to other rules that currently govern online cigarette sales. Among other things, online retailers will be required to use private shipping services that collect an adult signature at the point of delivery, collect all applicable local and state taxes, and send each taxing state’s tax administrator a list of all transactions with customers in their state. The new rules could go into effect as soon as 120 days. “If the increase in shipping costs wasn’t enough, the bill also imposes huge paperwork burdens on small retailers, and backs it up with threats of imprisonment for even innocent mistakes,” American Vaping Association President Gregory Conley said in a statement. “This is not a law designed to regulate the mail-order sale of vaping products to adults; it’s an attempt to eliminate it.” “

ARTICLE LINK:   Covid Relief Bill Restricts Shipping of Vapor Products

“Dr Nancy Rigotti works at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She writes in the journal of the American Medical Association (AMA) that “the accumulating evidence from clinical trials suggests that e-cigarettes will likely turn out to be safe and effective tools to aid smoking cessation”. The AMA has been outspoken in its opposition to vaping. It is vital the AMA’s members are educated in facts and evidence rather than emotive bluster. Referring to the New Zealand trial, Rigotti points out that the results showed a 2% success rate for traditional NRT products in keeping smokers off tobacco – whereas vaping products achieved a success rate of 7%. Pointing to a third study, Rigotti tells AMA members that counselling alone achieved a 9.9% success quit rate after 6 months yet counselling plus vaping achieved 17.2%. The argument for vaping’s efficacy is being proven time after time. “The Cochrane review concluded that ‘moderate certainty evidence’ supports the effectiveness of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes to aid cessation when compared with non-nicotine e-cigarettes and NRT,” she adds. The success shown in studies, she argues, is probably not reflective of the real world achievements as vape products have developed to be better than the versions currently used in research. One study, she notes, had to drastically alter its methodology due to the old products they planned to use going out of stock midway through the trial.”

ARTICLE LINK:   Rigotti Tells American Docs The Truth

“After confirming its intentions to lower the nicotine concentration in vaping products, today the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health, announced a public consultation on a proposal to better protect Canadians. As part of efforts to reduce the appeal of vaping products, Health Canada is proposing to lower the nicotine concentration to a maximum of 20 mg/mL and prohibit the packaging and sale of a vaping product if the nicotine concentration displayed on the package exceeds this new limit. The current limit is 66mg/mL. The 75-day public consultation will be open for comment beginning tomorrow December 19, 2020 and will close on March 4, 2021. Feedback from all Canadians will be considered in the development of the final Regulations. Health Canada is also considering to further restrict flavours in vaping products, and require the vaping industry to provide information about their vaping products, including sales, ingredients, and research and development activities.“

ARTICLE LINK:   Health Canada proposes to lower the nicotine concentration limit in vaping products

“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 and tobacco harm reduction. The UKECRF has looked at another overwhelming number of vape-related studies and passed comment on a select few. Its suggested reading list “does not cover every e-cigarette-related study published”.”

ARTICLE LINK:   UKECRF Research Roundup

A PBusardo Video – More Stocking Additions!

In this video we add more additions to the stocking. Extras of items I’ve reviewed this year or received.

Links to all the item company websites along with everything else in the stocking can be found by clicking the small stocking at the top of the site or HERE.

The Video:

*NOTE: Any use of these videos in part or in their entirety without Phil Busardo’s expressed written consent is strictly prohibited.

Thank you to and please support the Premiere Taste Your Juice Sponsor…

THE DP SHOW!- With Special Guest Florian Töller from SvoëMesto!

In this Episode we have a chat with Flo from SvoëMesto! We’ll talk about SvoëMesto, Kayfun, and the state of affairs with vaping in Germany and COVID.

Not to mention just catch up with a friend!

As always we take questions!

Flo’s Facebook
SvoëMesto Site
Dicodes USA

VAPE WHEEL PRIZE DONATORS:
Big Willie’s
Dash Vapes
Eleaf
Five Pawns
Innokin
Joyetech
Lunar Rover
Nixteria
Vaporesso

THE VIDEO:

“Following the recent online E-Cigarette Summit, the World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA) says its imperative that science and evidence replace vaping scare stories as lives are at risk. The organisation says what viewers heard contrasted starkly with what is heard about vaping in mainstream media and politics. The E-Cigarette Summit saw contributions from over 35 experts about vaping and novel nicotine products, almost all agreeing that they are key in the fight against smoking. “The science is clear: vaping is a less harmful alternative to smoking and an effective smoking cessation method. It is the responsibility of the media and policymakers to understand the subject they want to regulate so eagerly better. The lives of millions of smokers are too important to be put on the line for clickbait headlines and the pursuit of anti-vaping ideology.””

ARTICLE LINK:   WVA on the Ecig Summit

“An effort to ban flavored tobacco and vape products in Kansas City failed a City Council committee vote Wednesday. Councilwomen Melissa Robinson and Ryana Parks-Shaw, who championed the legislation, said it was an issue of both public health and racial reconciliation. But Robinson and Parks-Shaw were the only members of the Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee to support the legislation on Wednesday. Parks-Shaw, 5th District, made a motion to send the legislation to the full council without an endorsement by the committee, but even that fell short on a 4-2 vote. Another partial federal ban last year restricted flavored vape products, but again exempted menthol and some forms of vapes. The legislation, which the committee has considered on and off throughout the fall, would have closed gaps in previous flavored tobacco bans.”

ARTICLE LINK:  Kansas City officials try to ban flavored tobacco, fall short

California’s controversial ban on flavored e-cigarettes will not take effect on Jan. 1, 2021. According to a report by Halfwheel, the Superior Court for the County of Sacramento has approved an agreement that postpones the enforcement date at least until the signatures are verified for a ballot measure proposal that seeks to repeal the law. If the verified signature threshold is not met, the law would take effect once the Secretary of State has verified the process is complete. If the signatures are verified the flavor ban would be suspended until at least December 2022. To get on the ballot, those in support of the referendum needed to get 623,212 verified signatures from California voters. Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on Aug. 28, the California law prohibits the sale of all flavored tobacco and vapor products, including those with menthol flavor. The legislation does not make it illegal for someone to purchase, possess or use flavored tobacco or vapor products, however.”

ARTICLE LINK: California Flavor Ban Postponed