Author: Bill Tarling

“Under increasing pressure, big tobacco companies are doing everything possible to keep electronic cigarettes, which offer a safer nicotine alternative, from intruding upon their shelf space. It is easy to see why vaping, which offers a safer product with reportedly better taste and smell due to its wider availability of flavors, is edging out traditional cigarettes in the marketplace. But tobacco companies aren’t competing in a free market. And Big Tobacco learned long ago how to use their financial clout to make sure the regulatory process works in their favor. They’ve developed a deep political playbook at the federal and state level as well. At the federal level, tobacco companies are promoting federal taxes on electronic cigarettes and even tax cuts on traditional cigarettes. At the state level, there are campaigns to ban flavored electronic cigarettes and to divert some Master Settlement Agreement funds from anti-tobacco advertising to anti-vaping advertising. ”

ARTICLE LINK: Tobacco’s Surprising Partners in Stubbing Out Vaping

“The media reports the results of sloppy vaping research, then quickly forgets them. Each paper generated widespread media coverage, usually one news outlet duplicating the uncritical coverage of the last, giving consumers the false impression that vaping poses a greater health threat than it actually does. When we examined these studies in more detail, we identified their serious flaws. But health reporters tend to obsess over a topic for a few days then forget it entirely, quickly moving on to the next exaggerated study. So in the spirit of developing a more comprehensive understanding of the health risks and benefits of vaping, here’s a greatest-hits compilation of the questionable research that has hit the headlines in recent months.”

ARTICLE LINK: Lousy Vaping Studies: A Master List Of Junk Science

“BleepingComputer has confirmed Element Vape, a prominent online seller of e-cigarettes and vaping kits is serving a credit card skimmer on its live site, likely after getting hacked. With its presence across the U.S. and Canada, Element Vape sells e-cigarettes, vaping devices, e-liquids, and CBD products in both retail outlets and on their online store.

Element Vape’s website is loading a malicious JavaScript file from a third-party website that appears to contain a credit card stealer. Our analysis of ElementVape.com on Wayback Machine indicates the above code was absent as of February 5th 2022 and before. Therefore, the infection appears to be more recent, occurring sometime after the date and before getting discovered today.

If you have recently made any purchases on the website, make sure to check your credit card transactions for any suspicious activity”

Warning: Popular e-cigarette store hacked to steal credit cards

PHILIPPINES – “Some readers, including colleagues in the medical community, have been asking us to explain why we support the vape bill. Our short answer is, “Because we would like to put our smokers back into the health equation.” We confess that in our clinic, we used to have a condemning, somewhat discriminatory attitude toward our recalcitrant smokers. Yes, we unjustly excluded them from the health equation previously, as if their lives didn’t matter, and they deserved whatever complications they were likely to develop with continuous smoking. We’re convinced that properly regulated ATPs are a potent tool and our best bet at the moment to finally reduce smoking to the barest minimum in 10 years’ time. We’ve tried all sorts of carrot-and-stick interventions—from nicotine gums and patches to hypnosis, acupuncture and sin taxes—but they just didn’t work well enough to attain our goal for our smokers. We have explained in a previous commentary that the use of e-cigs and HTPs could serve as a pragmatic middle ground to wean smokers off their addiction to cigarettes. Making them quit smoking eventually is our primary objective but, meanwhile, they should be given access to these less harmful ATPs.”

Vape bill ‘1st real antismoking measure in 20 years’

“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. It has released its latest research round-up.”

UKECRF Research Round-Up (Feb 2022)

“The Oregon House of Representatives has passed a bill that would ban online sales of vapes. Dr. Dean Sidelinger, health officer for the Oregon Health Authority, noted in testimony on the bill that vape sales on social media platforms are often promoted by “influencers” who use the pandemic to encourage online sales that are socially distanced. The bill now advances to the Oregon Senate.”

ARTICLE LINK:  A Bill That Would Ban the Online Sale of Vapes Advances to Oregon Senate

“Indianapolis city-county councilors will consider banning smoking in public parks, extending the city’s nonsmoking ordinance that currently applies to city-owned property, bars, restaurants, bowling alleys and most places of employment. The ordinance includes e-cigarettes. If passed, smoking would be banned in all of the city’s 212 parks. City-owned golf courses and golf driving ranges would be excluded. So too would be property the city or county leases to a party for a term greater than five years. The ordinance does not apply to the excluded cities and towns of Lawrence, Speedway, Beech Grove and Southport.”

ARTICLE LINK:  Indianapolis could ban smoking in parks if proposal passes

“E-cigarettes that deliver a cigarette-like amount of nicotine are associated with reduced smoking and reduced exposure to the major tobacco-related pulmonary carcinogen, NNAL, even with concurrent smoking, according to a new study led by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University and Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania. “[We found] e-cigarettes with nicotine delivery like a combustible cigarette were effective in helping reduce smoking and exposure to a tobacco-related carcinogen,” said lead author Caroline O. Cobb, Ph.D., an associate professor in the VCU Department of Psychology in the College of Humanities and Sciences. “But it doesn’t just happen by accident. It requires the smoker to be actively trying to reduce their smoking by replacing it with e-cigarette use.””

ARTICLE LINK:  E-cigarettes with a cigarette-like level of nicotine are effective in reducing smoking

“Parents Against Vaping E-Cigarettes (PAVe) have hosted their inaugural “Clear The Vapor Conference” last week. The organisation consists of a group of volunteer ‘moms’ with a venomous contempt for vapers, tobacco harm reduction, and telling the truth. Shamefully, they managed to obtain financial support from CVS Health and convinced a number of “experts” to take part and tell their distorted version of the truth. The event was also sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the Truth Initiative, and the American Heart Association. Shortly afterwards, the conference comment section on their website was taken down. Within hours of the conference finishing, someone checked the PAVe YouTube channel and removed the comments from there too.”

ARTICLE LINK:  Crazy PAVeing: An Anti-Ecig Conference

“From 11 August, it’s proposed that all but three vape flavours – mint, menthol, and tobacco – will be removed from general retailers such as supermarkets, service stations and convenience stores. However, that work must dovetail with the country’s smokefree action plan, says Nancy Loucas, co-director of Aotearoa Vapers Community Advocacy (AVCA). “As the most effective smoking cessation tool in history, vaping has been key to reducing our national smoking rate in the past decade. Going forward, encouraging smokers to switch to much safer and less expensive vaping products is absolutely critical to achieving smokefree,” says Ms Loucas. Cabinet will be asked to approve the Ministry of Health’s finalised vaping regulations by the end of June.”

ARTICLE LINK:  Smokefree Action Plan Must Elevate Vaping As A Safe Switch