Author: Bill Tarling

““Unbelievable political games” are being played in the latest Australian National Survey 2019. Figures have been massaged to demonstrate a huge growth in teen vaping – but all is not as it seems because of the way they are choosing to define full-time vaping. Konstantinos Farsalinos said that “unbelievable political games” are being played “in the latest Australian National Survey 2019 concerning e-cigs. Current users includes less than monthly users, non-smokers includes former smokers!” Commenting on Twitter, he wrote: “While there is an attempt to present e-cigs as a problem in Australia, there is one table that, strangely (or not so strangely), none reports! Australian smokers are deprived from a harm reduction option that can be life-saving, and none is held accountable for this. You also need to pay attention to the footnotes. They are very revealing of the way they created the definitions. Conventional current use definition (past 30-day use) is already useless (lots of experimenters), but for Australia is includes LESS than monthly users! Unbelievable.””

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Australian Data Distortion

“A cross-sectional, matched control study by researchers at University College London (UCL) has been published in the journal ‘Tobacco Control’. It looked to see if there was an association of between vaping and subsequent progression on to smoking, and also factored in other tobacco product use with smoking in American adolescents. Lion Shahab, Emma Beard, and Jamie Brown conducted the study using data from 78,265 adolescents in the American National Youth Tobacco Survey. The team concluded: “The NYTS showed a continuing decrease in both cigarette smoking prevalence and in the use of any tobacco product, despite a concurrent increase in e-cigarette use between 2014 to 2017. This suggests that any gateway effect of e-cigarettes, if present, must be small. Further, despite e-cigarettes being more commonly used than any other product from 2015 onwards, cigarettes remained the most prevalent initiation product in 2014 and 2015, followed by other combustibles. <1% of adolescents trying an e-cigarette first became established cigarette smokers, significantly fewer than in any other product category.”

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US Gateway Closed

“Those younger than 21 will be prohibited from buying tobacco products in Minnesota beginning Saturday, Aug. 1. A new statute is set to take effect that day, squaring state law with a federal measure that outlaws purchases of tobacco and e-cigarette products to those younger than 21. Under the law, those under 21 would also be prohibited from entering tobacco or vape shops. Businesses that sell tobacco products to those younger than 21 would face a $300 penalty after the first offense with higher fees on subsequent offenses. And anyone under 21 found buying tobacco products would face license suspensions and adults who furnish the products to them would face a $50 fine.”

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Minnesota tobacco ban for those under 21 to take effect Saturday

“Even before “Prevalence of vaping and smoking among adolescents in Canada, England, and the United States: repeat national cross sectional surveys” had completed its peer review process, University of Waterloo Professor David Hammond took to telling the world’s media about “a disturbing trend in Canadian teen vaping rates”. He presented his findings at a meeting of the federal Scientific Advisory Board on Vaping Products when it met on Nov.19. There were six or seven Health Canada officials in the room. People may wonder how hard Hammond looked at the data to see if it wasn’t true, as he ran off before publication to present his findings at the next meeting of the federal Scientific Advisory Board on Vaping Products, speaking to several Health Canada officials. It marked a seismic shift in Canada’s approach to tobacco harm reduction. It turns out he was totally wrong, they weren’t true. “

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Canadian Correction

“Vaping is likely to be banned in 11 areas of Melbourne’s CBD and surrounds where cigarette smoking is already banned, including the Bourke Street Mall and the Tan and Princes Park running tracks. The move would extend the definition of smoking, under local laws, to include using an e-cigarette. The City of Melbourne has been working for months to extend its localised smoking bans to include vaping, in the face of opposition from civil libertarians, smokers and vapers, and those who argue vaping is a safer alternative to cigarettes and can help people quit altogether.Councillors are divided on whether extending the smoking ban to include vaping would fulfil public health goals, with some saying on Monday they were still unsure how they would vote. A report recommending the ban will go before the City of Melbourne’s meeting on Tuesday night and it is expected that the majority of councillors will support the ban.Almost two thirds of submissions to the council supported banning vaping in the non-smoking precincts.”

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Vaping likely to be banned in Melbourne CBD’s smoke-free zones

“The 50th U.S. state has voted to push forward with a new bill to ban ‘flavoured’ eliquids, saying a big Hawaii Five-NO to tobacco harm reduction. The Senate Ways and Means Committee all voted for the measure, conveniently forgetting that ‘tobacco’ is a flavour too, adults cite sweet flavours as being important to help them quit, eliquid is not ‘tobacco’, and the ‘teen epidemic’ doesn’t exist. HB 2457 “RELATING TO THE YOUTH VAPING EPIDEMIC”, states: “Bans the sale of flavored [sic] tobacco products. Prohibits mislabeling [sic] of e-liquid products containing nicotine. Establishes fines and penalties for violations. Authorizes a court to impose, as a penalty on a person eighteen to twenty-one years of age who is convicted of possession of a tobacco product or electronic smoking device, the requirement to complete a tobacco education program, complete a tobacco use cessation program, or perform community service instead of paying a fine. Effective 9/1/2020.””

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Hawaii Five-No

“Donald Kenkel, Hua Wang, and Alan Mathios of Cornell University looked at a 2019 paper published by Bhatta and Glantz, in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine (AJPM), titled: “Association of E-Cigarette Use With Respiratory Disease Among Adults: A Longitudinal Analysis.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine”. It leaves Stanton Glantz with another pie to the face. Kenkel, Wang, and Mathios’s paper is a comprehensive demolition of the Glantz and Bhatta ‘research’ and their fatuous statements. Expert Brad Rodu commented: “It is important to note that Bhatta and Glantz used the same federal grants, totalling $13.6 million, to fund both the retracted JAHA heart attack study and the bogus AJPM respiratory disease study. As I said in February, massive amounts of taxpayer dollars flowing to U.S. researchers who are anti-tobacco, anti-harm-reduction, in service of the government’s stated objective ‘to create a world free of tobacco use.’ Still, it is intolerable for public funds to be used in the production of scientifically unsound research.” The American Journal of Preventative Medicine has to retract the study by Bhatta and Glantz.”

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Another Pie in Glantz’ Face

“Denmark has listed notification of its intent to place harsh restrictions on vaping on the European Commission’s website. Regardless of country of origin, vapers are able to add their constructive comments to try to persuade the nation not to go down this ignorant route. Bill 2020/228/DK proposes: A display ban on vape products, not to be visible to consumers at points of sale — The manufacturer and product name must appear in a standardised way, that logos must not stand out and that the colour etc. of the packaging must be standardised — A ban on flavourings eliquids other than the taste of tobacco and menthol”

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Dangerous Danish Decision

“The FDA’s “reduced exposure” finding was a no brainer because IQOS users are exposed to far fewer carcinogenic substances than cigarette smokers. Harm reduction advocates, however, cannot be lured into complacency following this public health victory. The FDA continues to hold vaping products hostage to an onerous and confusing regulatory approval process, despite e-cigarettes being at least 95 percent safer than conventional cigarettes. The agency regularly yanks “unauthorized” products off the shelves, despite little evidence of harms posed to consumers. And bureaucrats continue to needlessly restrict flavored vapes, despite flavors playing a critical role in helping adult smokers transition away from tobacco. It makes no sense for the FDA to strictly regulate e-cigarettes as “tobacco products,” since vapes contain no tobacco. Yet agency officials continue to enforce their strict rules with a heavy hand and restrict options for smokers trying to quit. The FDA should double down on harm reduction and allow tobacco users an array of exit ramps off their deadly habits.”

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FDA Makes Giant Leap Forward in Tobacco Harm Reduction

“Hot on the heels of the sterling work being done by Richard Holley and the smoking cessation team at Northamptonshire County Council, Smokefree Sheffield and the Birmingham City Council are currently pushing the benefits of vaping to smokers in their localities. Created by a range of city partners, Smokefree Sheffield was developed to bring together everyone with a shared goal. “We’re giving the people of Sheffield the confidence that we are all working to tackle smoking in our communities.” Smokefree Sheffield has released a free to download pdf detailing the benefits of vaping.”

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Britain’s 20/20 Vape Vision