Author: Bill Tarling

“The government on Wednesday said it will re-launch plans to ban the sale of electronic cigarettes in Hong Kong after September’s Legco elections, insisting that a full ban is the most effective measure to prevent these products from gaining a foothold in the territory.”

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Govt to re-table vape ban to next Legco

“Thomas Miller, Attorney General of Iowa, has published a paper in the American Journal of Public Health, where he argues the need to focus on the whole of public health rather than fixating on subgroups such as teens or adults. In it, he calls out the deceptions of the anti-vaping, anti-harm reduction campaigners. “There is confusion, misinformation, misdirection, and even outright deception crowding out balance,” Miller begins. He states that “perspective is paramount to understand the vaping issue.” With America all too frequently fixating on supposed teen epidemics, Millar says that an answer to tobacco-related harm will never be found. A preoccupation with youth or adults will, he adds, only result in “surefire [sic] ways to create bad public policy and harm Americans”.”

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CAPHRA

“Tobacco legislation and regulation is constantly under review at the local, state and federal levels. In this monthly roundup, Convenience Store News highlights the latest proposals and approved changes happening across the United States.”

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Tackling Tobacco: May 2020 Legislative & Regulatory Roundup

“Lawmakers vetting a controversial government bill that would have banned the sale of electronic cigarettes officially threw in the towel on Tuesday, with the bills committee scrutinising the legislation saying there isn’t enough time left to finish their work before the end of the current Legco session next month. Federation of Trade Unions lawmaker Kwok Wai-keung, who chairs the committee, said he had consulted members over the issue, and concluded that they would not be able to finish their work as required. Several meetings of the committee had been cancelled or pushed back earlier this year. On Monday, the committee said it would now stop its work. The decision means the bill is effectively dead, and the government would have to introduce it to the next legislature after the elections in September.”

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Vaping ban goes up in smoke as time runs out

“Taiwan’s Health Promotion Administration (HPA) wants to ban the sale of novel tobacco products such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. On May 29, the agency announced draft amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (THPA) to cover products currently not covered by the act. One amendment would raise the legal age for smoking and the minimum age for buying tobacco products from 18 to 20.”

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Taiwan Mulls Ban on Novel Tobacco Products

“The organisers of the Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN), KAC Communications, are launching an online version of GFN20 which will take place on Thursday 11 and Friday 12 June following the cancellation of the face-to-face event in Warsaw due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Registration is now opened for anybody with an interest in vaping and tobacco harm reduction.”

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GFN 2020 Registration Open

“In May, the Riigikogu passed a law that permitted the sale of heated tobacco products and menthol e-cigarette fluids. Now it is discovered that there might have been an error in legislation of the law and it might not hold up after all. During procedure of the law in question, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications raised suspicions that the European Commision should have been informed of the law, due to there being a change in technical norms. The Ministry of Social Affairs informed the European Commission in April and the law is now under a waiting period, during which member states and the Commission itself can object to it. The final time to state objections is set to be July 15.”

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Error in legislation: New law permitting tobacco products might not stand

“In a first for China, a store owner in the southern city of Shenzhen has been fined 2,000 yuan ($280) for failing to display required warnings against smoking, according to local news outlet Yangcheng Evening News. The report said the shop had flouted Shenzhen’s recently updated regulations banning vaping indoors and selling e-cigarettes on WeChat, China’s most widely used social app. In addition, two people who had been vaping inside the store were fined 50 yuan each.”

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Shenzhen Shop Gets China’s First Fine for Flouting E-Cigarette Rules

“To mark World No Tobacco Day, the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health, announced nearly $4.8 million in funding for organizations across Canada to develop programs and services that will help stop tobacco use among Canadians, and reduce youth vaping. The prevalence of vaping among students has doubled since 2016-2017. In fact, 20% of students had vaped within thirty days of being surveyed.”

BILL TARLING – NOTE: Health Canada continues to use its deceptively misleading claims of “protecting youth” by still using figures (from 3-4 years ago via a poorly worded survey) which aren’t even representative of true figures — if a teen even took one puff from an e-cig, Health Canada considers them a vaper. In truth, the actual figures are less than 1%

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Minister of Health announces funding for projects to help Canadians stop tobacco use

Funding for Tobacco and Vaping Cessation Projects through the Substance Use and Addictions Program

“A statewide ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, is set to take effect on Monday. Massachusetts became the first state to approve such a ban when Republican Gov. Charlie Baker signed the bill in November. The law applies to the sale of all flavored tobacco products in Massachusetts retail stores and online. The new law specifically restricts the sale of the products to licensed smoking bars such as cigar bars and hookah lounges, where they’ll only be allowed to be consumed on-site. The restriction extends to menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco and chewing tobacco.”

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Massachusetts ban on sale of flavored tobacco to take effect