2 - Spring 2024 Round-up

All Around The World

Our oasis of global news from this quarter kicks off with a protegé of Stanton Glantz having his research paper systematically dismantled. While we have become used to Glantz’ work being a byword for sloppy treatments to produce misinformation, this was the first time one of his right-hand researchers have been slammed.

Floe Foxon, Riccardo Polosa, Ray Niaura, Michael Cummings, Michael Siegel, and Neal Benowitz conducted a line by line analysis, causing leading harm reduction expert Clive Bates to call it an “outstanding takedown”.

Again, the study focus was to create an illusion of a link between vaping and heart attacks – the subject that saw Glantz’ entire department banned from accessing the USA’s national PATH data prior to his enforced “retirement”.

Mr Alzahrani concluded: “This study suggests that current e-cigarette use increases the risks of cardiovascular disease, including myocardial infarction and stroke, in subjects who never smoked cigarettes.”

The analysis team responded: “We urge others to proceed with extreme caution in reading the paper by Alzahrani, which suffers from a number of fatal flaws, including heart attacks occurring before initiation of e-cigarette use; diagnosis and measurement issues; biologically implausible findings; insufficient sample size and problematic model design; and uncareful language. A previous study with these same flaws resulted in retraction.”

Australia banned disposable vapes at the start of the year – the country now burned. By the end of February, Australia had witnessed 52 ban-related firebombings and three murders.

Victorian MP David Limbrick said: “Since the Americans tried alcohol prohibition about 100 years ago and experienced widespread poisonings, violence and corruption of the justice and political system, we have learned precisely nothing. The only benefit Victorians will get is some new episodes of Underbelly, complete with firebombings, murders and drug dealers selling vapes to school kids.

“In my opinion, this is a public policy disaster for both public health and law and order. I fear that the vaping crackdown will lead to more people smoking. If that happens, I hope those responsible will resign.”

The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates warned that Australia’s vaping regulations were turning vapers into criminals.

Executive Coordinator Nancy Loucas stated: “Australia's approach is a recipe for disaster and its overly prescriptive approach to regulating vaping products has sparked outrage among tobacco harm reduction experts worldwide.

“The stringent measures have not only failed to curb tobacco use effectively but have also fuelled a surge in black market activities, including fire-bombings and retail theft, as well as pushing people back to smoking.

“It's a classic case of regulatory overreach leading to unintended, yet entirely predictable, consequences."

There was no let up. By May, the Australian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) stated that their government was still failing in Australia.

“Health Minister Mark Butler is solely to blame for Australia’s youth vaping crisis and the rampant black market that he has created, which has already resulted in over 70 fire-bombings and multiple homicides throughout our communities.

“Strictly regulating and controlling vaping products for adults-only has been shown to reduce youth vaping rates by more than 65% in the United States and 19% in New Zealand, 1 yet the Health Minister continues to double down on his prohibition failure,” said AACS CEO Theo Foukkare.

Stupidity wasn’t confined to Australia. Oh no. Nebraskan researchers attempted to make out that vapes carried a radioactive risk, “potentially harming brain and organ development”!

Professor Lion Shahab commented: “This study cannot tell us anything about absolute increase in exposure to heavy metals from e-cigarette use in this population, only about relative exposure among less and more frequent e-cigarette users.”

The paper completely ignored the use of a control group, which would have identified the exposure to heavy metals equalled that of the general population – and in some cases was less – and only used a tiny sample size. It is basic errors such as this that leads people to assume the researchers were either stupid or deliberately attempting to whip up fear.

The same could be said for the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland who used artificial intelligence to discover a range of toxins in vape products that would never be seen under normal use.

The work “highlights the urgent need for public health policies”, they cried.

We likened it to cars being shot out of specially designed canons in order to achieve a range of hitherto unseen traffic disasters and then claiming that all vehicles with wheels should be banned.

Dr Konstantinos Farsalinos wrote that the study “measured nothing, assumed pyrolysis at 300-1000oC in ecigs, and then modelled emissions. You can easily make the same conclusion for any cooked food. That is not science. They cite measurements with no relevance (e.g. performed in unrealistic conditions, with coil exposed and without any airflow), and then they assumed there is pyrolysis. In fact, one of the cited studies reported degradation is due to oxidation, not pyrolysis!”

Techno Cosmic Research Institute

Planet of the Vapes has always championed the consumer’s right to know what the truth is about vapes and vaping. We cover the publication of research in an attempt to allow smokers and ex-smokers to make informed choices – and why we call out the shoddy, misleading and downright fraudulent studies. Fortunately (all too frequently from the UK), we also get to cover proper science. Several experts in the field of oncology delivered their feedback on a study looking at vaping and cancer.

In relation to a University College London (UCL) paper, Professor Ross Lawrenson said: “So far we do not have any evidence that vaping does cause cancer.”

Cancer Research UK’s Dr Ian Walker added: “This study contributes to our understanding of e-cigarettes, but it does not show that e-cigarettes cause cancer.”

Associate Professor Laking said: “Overall, this paper should not change the basic public health messages of ‘Vaping to Quit.’ Vaping remains an essential tool for harm reduction compared to cigarettes.”

Experts also responded to a University of East Anglia study looking at quitting support for smokers in NHS Accident and Emergency departments.

Dr Sarah Jackson, Principal Research Fellow at the UCL Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group and member of the independent Trial Steering Committee for this research, said: “A growing number of studies have shown e-cigarettes to be effective for helping people to quit smoking. The COSTED trial found that approaching smokers in emergency department waiting rooms and offering them a free e-cigarette starter kit (along with brief advice and referral to stop smoking services) led to a 76% increase in quitting, compared with a control condition that provided written information on stop smoking services.”

Material Focus magazine produced some shocking findings that, despite both trade bodies urging retailers and manufacturers to adopt recycling schemes, “over 90% of vape producers and 90% retailers are not fulfilling their statutory obligations to provide and pay for takeback and recycling for vapes.”

John Dunne, Director General, UK Vaping Industry Association, told Planet of the Vapes: “All retailers and producers of vaping products need to take their environmental responsibility seriously and we would certainly expect those who are UKVIA members to be compliant with the existing regulations.”

In April, UCL researchers revealed the growing crisis in misunderstanding vapes in the UK. The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open and funded by Cancer Research UK, looked at survey responses from 28,393 smokers.

57% of respondents said they thought vaping was equally as harmful as smoking or more harmful, while only 27% thought e-cigarettes were less harmful.

Lead author Dr Sarah Jackson said: “These findings have important implications for public health. The risks of vaping are much lower than the risks of smoking and this isn’t being clearly communicated to people. This misperception is a health risk in and of itself, as it may discourage smokers from substantially reducing their harm by switching to e-cigarettes.”

The misperceptions were compounded by the news that 66% of vapers may go back to smoking as a result of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, in a survey conducted by Evapo, a leading smoking cessation and specialist vaping company.

The government claims cake, pudding and fruit flavours are “appealing to children”.

The UK Vaping Industry Association told Planet of the Vapes: “The Government’s view is that fruit and dessert flavours may inadvertently attract children, but the survey revealed that 71% of people over the age of 45 prefer these flavours. Vaping is well known to be the most effective way for smokers to quit and 75% of those surveyed said they had successfully quit, while a further 18% had cut down. Furthermore, 81% believe that flavour restrictions would negatively impact individuals trying to switch from smoking to vaping.”

All this against the backdrop of a new report from The Royal College of Physicians which looked at the role vaspes play in preventing death, disability and inequalities from tobacco use. The evidence review followed on from their two previous documents: Harm reduction in nicotine addiction and Nicotine without smoke.

The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction identified that tobacco harm reduction policies are contributing to a slump in cigarette sales.

ASH data found that teen vaping (that had fallen for two years) showed no sign of rebounding. 

UKVIA’s John Dunne warned: “New figures out yesterday from Action on Smoking and Health show that 58% of 11–17-year-olds now believe that vaping is as bad, or worse than, smoking, up nearly 50% over the last two years, and it is probably no coincidence that smoking amongst children has more than doubled in the last year.”

The misinformation driving the decline in trust of vapes and the increase in smoking was being combatted on social media like never before as advocates issued a record number of community notices on false statements on Twitter/X.

Parliament Funk

Despite being told by some industry experts that the Tory Government would never implement a vape tax, Planet of the Vapes was bang on the money again when it said discussions had been held and that the issue wasn’t going away. Rumours surfaced again prior to the Chancellor’s Budget statement. Then, Jeremy Hunt confirmed it would be included in his final budget before the General Election.

Consumer charity The New Nicotine Alliance (NNA) said: “This would be a monumental mistake which just adds to a systematic dismantling of the government’s previous world-leading approach to harm reduction and will cost lives. The New Nicotine Alliance is disappointed that the government is abandoning opportunity after opportunity to increase the chances of achieving its own Smoke-free 2030 goal. In just a few short weeks, the UK government has undone its former position as a world-leader in reducing the prevalence of smoking.”

Michael Landl, Director of the World Vapers’ Alliance, agreed: “It appears that in a bid to generate additional tax revenue, the UK government is willing to compromise the health of thousands of smokers. This is yet another step in the wrong direction.

Not only was the idea of a tax stupid, but the three tier model being proposed lacked any reason whatsoever.

NNA Chair, Louise Ross, told Planet of the Vapes: “Putting a higher tax on stronger e-liquids completely misses the point that the more heavily dependent smokers will need stronger liquid to stay smoke-free. This will include people with poor mental health, people on benefits, people living in disadvantaged communities and those with challenging lives. Higher taxes will keep them smoking.”

The UK Vaping Industry Association was scathing, the Independent British Vape Trade Association called the tax “questionable”, and the Association of Convenience Stores said that confusion was rife in its retailer membership.

Doug Mutter, Director at VPZ, stated: “Increasing taxes on vaping will directly penalise and make products prohibitive for the most vulnerable in society at a time when many are doing their best to make positive life choices. The idea of raising tobacco duty to encourage more smokers to switch, whilst at the same time introducing a punitive vaping tax, is fundamentally flawed and will only punish people looking to quit smoking. There is a genuine fear that any move in this direction will further fuel the illicit black market and act as a deterrent for people looking to quit, which will hugely damage the progress we have made in reaching the UK’s 2030 Smoke Free ambitions.  

Finally, Lynne Dawkins, Professor of Nicotine and Tobacco Studies at LSBU, said: “The proposal to add duty to e-liquid according to nicotine strength is ill-conceived, not based on the scientific evidence, and could cause more harm than good. Higher duty on higher nicotine strength e-liquids will encourage people to purchase lower nicotine strengths, but that will just encourage users to vape more to try and achieve the blood nicotine levels they need.” 

And still no movement from politicians on the subject of the licensing scheme proposed by UKVIA and its members.

Dan Marchant, Managing Director of Vape Club, stated: “If our licensing scheme was in force, the 2,871 retailers identified as being in possession of, stocking or selling illegal vapes through the newly released FOI research would have been fined a collective £7.1 million – alarmingly 95% of these rogue traders went ‘unpunished’ under the current system.”

But they did introduce The Tobacco and Vapes Bill – a version that would never see the light of day – a gift to criminals, who were set to benefit to the tune of over £500,000,000 thanks to the disposables ban contained therein.

Suffice to say the Conservative government was going to struggle to be more unpopular.

When Britain Refused To Sing

Action on Smoking and Health announced Deborah Arnott’s impending retirement, a person who had dragged ASH closer than ever to Bloomberg’s Bath unit with its anti-vape posturing on flavours and packaging. Her replacement was set to be Hazel Cheeseman, and so little change is expected over the next few years.

Councils were confirmed as being disinterested in recycling vapes.

John Dunne, Director General of the UKVIA, said: “Advocating a ban on disposable vapes on environmental grounds while not committing any investment to vape waste collection, despite the need for such facilities in public places - which are controlled by local government - is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.”

Recycling was on the agenda for the next quarter though as the new Government adopted all of this one’s vape legislation ideas.

Photo Credit:

• Photo by Arno Smit on Unsplash

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

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Dave 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.