No Vapers
29B Oakley Avenue sounds like a lovely part of Hamilton, New Zealand. It’s “quiet”, in a “great location” close to parks and schools, and close to the city. There’s high speed internet access, it’s fully insulated and the lawns will be mown for you. All in all, it sounds a brilliant place to live if you are a “working couple”. Unless you happen to vape.
Professor Marewa Glover isn’t impressed. Her daytime job involves her carrying out a current survey of New Zealand vapers, trying to reduce smoking in pregnancy and ending smoking, as part of her role as Professor in Public Health, at the School of Health Sciences of the University of New Zealand.
“Have just emailed this landlord asking why they're excluding vaping,” she writes. “If you don't want tenants to smoke, then allowing them to vape instead would be support them to quit. Are other landlords banning vaping? Why?”
Do you rent? Does your landlord ban vaping too?
Insurance
The Daily Mail has just tried to smear vaping by linking it with smoking again – this time by claiming that insurance companies view vapers as though they were exposed to the same level of danger as smokers.
“Doubts over the safety of vaping mean people who use e-cigarettes containing nicotine receive the same premiums as smokers,” they wrote. “A growing number of experts are worried about the long-term effects of e-cigarettes.”
But, true to form for the newspaper, the article is nothing but nonsense – except for the final section where they actually spoke to somebody from the trade organisation UKVIA.
“Ignore their headline,” UKVIA told its Twitter followers. “We're now working with @futureproofltd so that vapers receive life insurance rates that reflects that it is 95% less harmful.”
Future Proof replied: “We’re really excited to be working with UKVIA to help vapers access cheaper life insurance.” To prove the point, Future Proof has already carried a very positive article about the relative safety of vaping on its website’s blog. We have approached the company to ask if they would like to explain their services to POTV members.
Feeling The Heat
Many commentators were taken aback by the recent profits announcement by Philip Morris (PM), owners of the iQOS heat-not-burn (HNB) product, but widely respected market advisors The Motley Fool think it is more serious than first perceived.
The problem comes not from the decline in tobacco sales but the wholly unexpected tail-off of sales in its Japanese HNB market. The Fool says that the figures clearly suggest, “that the overall pie has shrunk” for PM.
For the global market, PM was late to the party with HNB. Innovators have taken to vaping instead; early adopters and the early majority have followed them into using vape products – and won’t switch back to tobacco products. This leaves the tobacco company to fight over 45% of smokers from a minority position with a less popular and less fashionable product.
The market analysts believe the application for US iQOS marketing approval could be a make or break scenario for the tobacco giant.
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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Parliament Fears Two
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs faced questions from a Conservative MP and, oddly, a member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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by Dave Cross
Harm Reduction For The Rich
The United Kingdom risks becoming a harm reduction country only for the wealthy, according to Michael Landl of the World Vapers’ Alliance
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by Dave Cross
Sacrificing Health For 2p Cut
Tory Government alienates vaping voters with its mission to cut tax by an unaffordable 2p to attract voters by placing a tax on vape products in the forthcoming budget
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by Dave Cross
Parliament
Andrea Leadsom has been quizzed by Rupa Huq and Derek Thomas about the promotion of vaping and support to those who want to quit
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by Dave Cross
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