News Roundup
A collection of vape-related news stories from around the world
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by Dave Cross
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Juul Labs
Yahoo Finance News reports that Juul Labs has increased its spend on lobbying efforts. The market-leading company spent over half a million dollars on trying to influence legislation in its favour. This is over double the amount spent the previous year and reflects the stiff opposition it is now facing from the Food and Drug Administration.
The site quotes Juul’s Victoria Davis writing: “We are focused on engaging with FDA, lawmakers, regulators, public health officials and advocates to drive awareness of our mission to improve the lives of the world's one billion smokers and to combat underage use so we keep JUUL out of the hands of young people.”
Jawad Iqbal
In a Times article, Jawad Iqbal accuses the UK Government of “ministerial timidity and bureaucratic indifference” when it comes to promoting vaping as a harm reduction tool.
Iqbal takes issue with the vaping ban that exists in most workplaces, in enclosed public spaces and on public transport – “for no evidence-based reasons.” He argues that “workplaces should have vaping areas, hospitals should sell e-cigarettes and there is a case for long-stay patients having access to areas where they can vape.”
Hāpai Te Hauora Tobacco Control
Dr. Hayden McRobbie criticised the coverage of a recent University of Athens mouse study. Speaking during a breakfast TV interview, he said that the lung tissue only demonstrated degradation from cigarettes smoke. He was annoyed that the public were subjected to “misleading headlines”.
Hāpai Te Hauora Tobacco Control Advocacy Manager Mihi Blair quoted this incident in a press release, and says: “Vaping appears to be one of the few promising avenues we currently have in becoming smoke-free.”
“We must not get side-tracked by unbalanced reporting on vaping or evidence which is cherry- picked to prove an ideological perspective. Harm reduction should be the end goal for us all."
Oncologists Told Of Vape Benefits
Clinicians attending at the 23rd Annual Perspectives in Thoracic Oncology meeting heard Dr Laura Jean Bierut tell them that vape is less toxic than cigarette smoke and using vape devices is preferably to people continuing to smoke.
Something that isn’t commonplace in the United States, she spoke about the successful approach we have adopted in the United Kingdom and concluded: “switching to e-cigarettes is a reasonable alternative for those who cannot or simply don’t want to quit.”
Ravalli County
The Ravalli County Board of Health voted to ban vaping indoors, back in May. It was a move that provoked criticism from many quarters. Even the County’s tobacco prevention specialist was surprised, but that was mainly down to her turning up expecting to find lots of angry vapers and nobody was there.
Not informing anybody was one of a number of stumbles by the board and opened them up to potential court cases. Ron and Deanna Marshall of Freedom Vapes threatened to bring one, and submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request to uncover the materials used to base this decision upon.
Now the board has decided to reverse its decision, “after hearing conflicting data on the pros and cons of the health impacts of vaping.” POTV is certain it has nothing to do with the 4000+ double-sided pages that the Marshalls received last week, contained some incendiary revelations.
It is highly probable that there will be future stories relating to this FOI treasure trove – especially the role played by Jen MacFarlane.
South Australia Online Ban
Legalise Vaping Australia called the recent decision to ban all online sales “shocking”, as the evidence-free crackdown was announced. South Australia was the only region not to have introduced vaping legislation and decided to kick off with something absurd.
Stephen Wade, Health Minister, is quoted as saying: “Banning of online sales is an important part of minimising the risk of children getting access to these products.”
Colin Mendelsohn added: “This law is unenforceable. The SA government plans to prosecute vendors selling products online to South Australians. Good luck with that.”
Brian Marlow, the Campaign Director for Legalise Vaping Australia, has written a piece in The Spectator lambasting the “short-sighted” and “potentially catastrophic” move.
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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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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CAPHRA Highlights Tobacco Control Flaws
The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates highlights the flaws in tobacco control which has led to the rise of black market in Australia
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A Missed Opportunity at COP10
The Smoke Free Sweden movement says that COP10 was a missed opportunity to save millions of lives
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COP10: Promote Tobacco Harm Reduction
Experts with Smoke Free Sweden are emphasising the urgent need for a Tobacco Harm Reduction approach at COP10
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