Author: Bill Tarling

“Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th), one of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s closest City Council allies, said he plans to introduce the ban at Wednesday’s City Council meeting with support from “the mayor’s leadership team.” Lightfoot said then she was unwilling to wait for President Donald Trump to follow through on his threat to propose a federal ban on flavored e-cigarettes. On Tuesday, Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) likened O’Shea’s proposal to ban only the sale of flavored tobacco products as “putting our toes in the lake without full jumping in.” “We need to fully ban e-cigarettes because menthol is a flavor. Natural is a flavor. There is such thing as a natural e-cigarette. Everything is flavored to be chemically stimulating,” Lopez said.”

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Mayoral ally proposes Chicago ban on flavored tobacco products

“For years now, numerous scientific studies have revealed that alternatives to traditional tobacco do less harm than conventional cigarettes. Despite those studies, a number of policy makers at national and international level, notably World Health Organization, promote very strict regulatory measures that don’t take evidence of risk reduction potential in non-combustible products. Clive Bates is Director of The Counterfactual, a consulting and advocacy practice focused on a pragmatic approach to sustainability and public health in the United Kingdom. For him, these regulations are “punitive measures, coercion, restrictions, stigma, denormalization. There has been a failure in doing what good policy makers should do which is to do proper impacts assessments, and scrutinize. There is a massive failure of policy making, at all levels, governments, legislature, and international organizations like the World Health Organization”.”

VAPING NEWS:

Alternatives to Conventional Tobacco: The Unwavering Stance of Scientists and Experts

“None of this will be official until at least Monday, when the legislature is likely to adjourn for the year, but here are the basic terms of the agreement: In the redrafting of House Bill 1420, Democrats did not cave to the governor’s request. But he’s still expected to sign the bill, in large part because Colorado Democrats are intent on delivering a separate priority of his: a ballot measure to increase taxes on cigarettes and add a tax on vaping products. The legislature cannot implement this tax on its own, but it can refer it to the November ballot through House Bill 1427.”

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Colorado Democrats strike last-minute deal on tax breaks, vaping tax and housing relief

“The Vaping Trade Association of New Zealand (VTANZ) has lamented that the government appears to be “digging in” on its vaping bill that “only helps smoking”. The organisation’s disappointment has been shared by Aotearoa Vapers Community Advocacy (AVCA), which says the government has missed a “huge opportunity to achieve Smokefree 2025”. AVCA and VTANZ pressed upon legislators that fruit, dessert, and sweet flavour variations are the most popular for adults and key to smokers switching, but the Health Select Committee has stuck by the Government’s proposal to limit vape flavours to just three – menthol, mint and tobacco for all general retailers.”

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NZ Government Digging In

“The New Nicotine Alliance (NNA) is Britain’s independent consumer voice for users of alternative nicotine products. Having successfully hosted a webcast with advocate Clive Bates last week, the NNA has announced that it will be hosting harm reduction expert Doctor Konstantinos Farsalinos next week. The 150 registration slots quickly filled up for the Zoom event with Clive Bates and the NNA anticipates the same will be the case for its webcast with Dr Farsalinos.”

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NNA Webinar with Dr Farsalinos

“Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) on June 10 in an interim decision rejected a request by Philip Morris Australia to adjust nicotine regulations in a manner that would allow the company’s heat-not-burn product (HTP) reach store shelves. Currently, only combustible tobacco products such as cigarettes and cigars are permitted to be sold in Australia.”

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Australian Regulator Rejects Tobacco Heating Products

“After weeks of back-room negotiations with health care advocates and a tobacco producer, Colorado lawmakers introduced a measure Thursday to put a tobacco and vaping tax measure on the November ballot. The bill comes two days before the session was scheduled to conclude. If it clears its first hurdles, lawmakers will need to meet Saturday for a final vote. It would also create a tax on nicotine products such as on vape products that would be equal to 50% of the manufacturer’s listed price until July 1, 2024, 56% until July 1, 2027, and 62% after, the same tax on tobacco products.”

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Colorado lawmakers consider putting tobacco and vaping tax on ballot

“The Bethlehem town board is set to vote on imposing strict new regulations on the sale of tobacco and vaping products that would require retailers to get a local license. The new regulations would be accompanied by a six-month ban on the approval of any new vaping shops as the town sets up the licensing program. The licensing program would be designed as a “cap and winnow” system that would require two businesses to give up their tobacco licenses if a new retailer wanted to get a license. “We’ll vote on these proposed local laws at our June 24th town board meeting,” Bethlehem Supervisor David VanLuven said Wednesday night after the second Zoom public hearing call.”

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Bethlehem will vote later this month to restrict vaping, tobacco sales

“This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are unable to meet in person. We are therefore bringing you an alternative, online GFN20, free to access and open to all. Our theme is ‘Nicotine: science, ethics and human rights’. Together, we will examine advances in nicotine science, the ethical arguments in favour of tobacco harm reduction, and the human rights issues for all those who advocate for the right to health.”

“The UK Electronic Cigarette Research Forum (UKECRF) has presented comment on some recent vape-related studies. In addition, we include links to the sizeable number of other work published during April and May.”

ARTICLE LINK:

Vape Research May/April 2020 Studies