Author: Bill Tarling

“For World No Tobacco Day 2020, an international group of independent experts with no conflicting links to the tobacco or vaping industry has sharply criticized the World Health Organization for its backward-looking approach to innovation and new technology, such as vaping products. Experts say they are exasperated by the WHO’s dogmatic hostility towards new technology and fear the U.N. health agency will squander the opportunity to avoid millions of premature deaths that will be caused by smoking.”

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International experts in tobacco policy say WHO is blocking innovation and wasting opportunities to save millions of lives

“As the World Health Organization (WHO) gears up for its World No Tobacco Day, the agency idiotically celebrates “strong legislation” that “helps defeat e-cigarettes in Finland”. Article 1d. of its constitution states it should support reducing harm, yet it pretends it doesn’t exist every time it attacks vaping. The WHO has been criticised in the past for ignoring drug dumping, inflating AIDS figures, among other things, and currently faces a raft of allegations that it has mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic. Vapers have seen it ignore sound evidence on ecigs and tobacco harm reduction, slander good scientists, and ban the public from viewing the workings of its tobacco control conference.”

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WHO – Finnish Off Vaping

“Dan Marchant, director at Vape Club and member of the UK Vaping Industry Association, said: “The volume of people turning to Google searches for advice suggests that greater support and clearer information should be made available. I’d like to see stop smoking services reaching out to the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach in society, as there’s clearly a desire to quit with the right support. With vaping being the most effective form of smoking cessation, it’s important that it is presented as an effective quitting tool.””

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How to quit smoking searches nearly triple, research reveals

“The long-overdue amendment to Taiwan’s Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act will seek to raise the legal age for smoking to 20 and introduce restrictions on non-traditional tobacco products. The amendment will also regulate the production, import, sale, supply, use, display, and advertising of emerging tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products. Violators that manufacture or import banned tobacco products will incur a fine of up to NT$50 million (US$1.67 million). The amendment, proposed by the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, was published on Friday (May 29) and is open to a 60-day public consultation.”

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Taiwan to raise smoking age to 20, tighten rules on vaping

“A proposal to put in place new regulations on tobacco sales in the town of Bethlehem has revealed a great divide between residents and the owners of local gas stations and convenience stores. The split became clear during a public hearing held Wednesday night by the Bethlehem Town Board on a proposed new law that would create a licensing system for the sale of tobacco products in town and eventually reduce the number of tobacco retailers from 15 to 7 locations over time. The law also would prohibit the sale of so-called vape products. After studying the issue, the town board has since expanded the idea to not only regulating vape shops but to also require tobacco retailers to obtain a license from the town that would pay for regulation, inspections and training. The license system would also have a “cap and winnow” mechanism that would cap the current number of tobacco retailers in town and force new license applicants to wait for two retailers to give up their licenses before being able to get their own. Since then, the only vape shop in town that was within 1,000 feet of a school has closed, leaving only one vape shop in Glenmont. The state has already banned the sale of flavored vaping products.”

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Differing views on tobacco regulation planned by Bethlehem

“South African smokers say they’ve waited to exhale long enough and are threatening civil disobedience if they’re not allowed to buy cigarettes legally. For the duration of the coronavirus lockdown, government regulations have banned the sale of cigarettes, tobacco products, and e-cigarette liquids. “Protest March Against the Tobacco Ban”, wants supporters to march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, as well as to Parliament in Cape Town. With about 5 000 group members, and nearly 8 000 people interested in attending the march, organisers say they have popular support behind their cause to fight for their personal liberty. Duncan Napier says he founded the protest group after becoming despondent. The owner of a waterproofing company doesn’t smoke cigarettes. He vapes from an e-cigarette. “Twisp and e-cigarettes are not tobacco products. It’s not a leaf; it’s not grown. It has nicotine, yes, but it’s not smoke, it’s a vapour,” he stresses.”

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Smokers’ fight to light up moves online

“North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) will hold a public consultation next month on changes to its taxi licensing policy. A report discussed by the council’s licensing committee on Monday, January 20 stated: “The driver must not smoke, or permit any passenger to smoke, in a licensed vehicle at any time. This includes the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigs), personal vaporisers (PV) and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), which are also prohibited.” Licensing officer Lara Clare said the six-week public consultation would be launched in February 2020.”

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Vaping to be banned in taxis?

“A team from Liverpool John Moores, the University of Chester, and Public Health Wales conducted research to see what Welsh primary schoolchildren knew of and thought about vaping. They found that the children understood vaping was healthier than smoking, used for smoking cessation, and felt it was OK for adults to do it. While the findings might give cause for optimism, the theme running through the study remained a cause for concern. The team began by talking about “ever tried e-cigarettes” in the 11–18 years population. They dismissed the comprehensive coverage on the subject by ASH/Cancer Research UK’s annual report – where regular teen vaping was demonstrably confined to a tiny number of smokers and ex-smokers – by referencing a couple of dubious studies and saying, “similar [ever tried] trends have been noted in other countries.””

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It’s OK To Vape

“As part of the EU Tobacco Product Directive, the new laws make it an offence for manufacturers to produce menthol cigarettes and retailers to sell them. The ban also applies to capsule, click on, click and roll, crushball, or dual menthol cigarettes, and retailers must have sold through any remaining stock of menthol cigarettes by today. The ban does not apply to heated tobacco products or e-cigarette products, however.”

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Menthol cigarettes ban: why Scotland has banned menthols

“While the use of e-cigarettes is increasing, vaping is less likely to lead to a long-term habit than smoking, according to a group of 10 interrelated papers prepared for the ongoing Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study. “The most surprising finding was that while we know cigarette smoking is persistent, and we see use of electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, increasing, especially among young people, what we are not seeing is that e-cigarette use is anywhere near as persistent as cigarette smoking,” says Andrew Hyland, chair of health behavior at Roswell Park and scientific lead on the PATH study. “Cigarette smokers tend to stay cigarette smokers over time, but e-cigarette users are more likely to discontinue their use over time compared with cigarette smokers. We don’t know why that is.””

BILL TARLING — One simple reason vaping is much less addictive is because Tobacco Companies add in an onslaught of dangerous chemicals as nicotine boosters, and to increase long term addictive aspects  of cigarettes and smoking. Those tobacco boosters and additional chemicals are not used in EVP [E-liquid Vapor Products]

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Study: Vapers Less Likely to Develop Long-Time Habit