The End of Smoking – Not If, But When

Professor Gerry Stimson of Knowledge-Action-Change shares his thoughts for the future of vaping. [...] The end of combustion is in sight for tobacco, just as it is for fossil fuels. Many groups are trying to stop tobacco harm reduction (THR), but THR will be driven forward by the dynamic of new nicotine technologies, consumer interest, and good regulation. THR is here for good: it’s an easy fix that will have a massive impact on world health. THR is a free gift: companies meet the R&D and manufacturing costs, and consumers meet the purchase costs. It is one of the classic, but often unremarked, health interventions that doesn’t require government expenditure.

2021-12-20
ecigarettedirect.co.uk

The unrelenting assault on vaping is taking a toll

Kim “Skip” Murray smoked for 46 years. “I tried to quit so many times that I quit trying to quit,” she says. Only after her son, Tom, a former smoker who had suffered a heart attack, gave her an e-cigarette did she break her two-pack-a-day habit. Murray now owns a vape shop in Brainerd, MN, where she helps smokers give up combustible cigarettes for vapes, which are safer than smoking. “My mom died from smoking. My uncle died from smoking. My grandparents died from smoking. I hate smoking,” she tells me. “Being involved with this technology has been a privilege.”

2021-12-20
medium.com

Philippine Congress set to reverse protective tobacco control measures via retrogressive ‘Vape Bill’

New laws often build upon and strengthen existing laws, but in the midst of a pandemic when health-protective measures should be prioritised, retrogressive bills seeking to loosen existing restrictions on heated tobacco products (HTPs) and electronic nicotine/non-nicotine delivery systems (ENDS/ENNDS) have advanced in Philippine Congress, despite firm objections from the country’s health and medical communities led by the Philippine Medical Association, Philippine College of Physicians, and Philippine Pediatric Society, as well as public interest lawyers and youth groups.

2021-12-20
blogs.bmj.com

The NHS vs nicotine: Could prescription e-cigarettes be the solution?

6.1 million people in England still smoke. 64,000 people died from smoking in England in 2019. 25% increase in 18-34-year-old smokers in the first lockdown. 652,000 more young adults now smoke than before the pandemic. Whilst smoking rates have been steadily declining over recent years, from 20% of UK adults in 2011 to 14% in 2019, recent evidence suggests that there was a 25% increase in young adults 18-34 who smoked during the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. Unfortunately, smoking is not a temporary vice, and this increase remains today.

2021-12-20
mancunion.com

AMA calls on TGA to stop publishing details of misleading smoking cessation services

AMA President Dr Omar Khorshid has written to the TGA to express his deep concern that it has published a list of authorised prescribers of nicotine vaping products, some of which “masquerade” as smoking cessation services when in fact they do nothing more than provide easy access to nicotine vaping products. He said that the sites appeared to have the sole purpose of generating a prescription for a nicotine vaping product and promote vaping as a first-line smoking cessation therapy despite it being officially recommended to be used only as a last resort.

2021-12-20
ama.com.au

Hungary: Plain Packaging Rules to go in Effect in January

There are roughly 2.5 million smokers in Hungary. The EU country has been incrementally increasing tobacco taxes for the last few years, and recent findings of joint research by Pulzus Inc. and economic news portal napi.hu, found that reactions to the tax increments vary. “23% of smokers claimed that this increased price was already too high, and would quit smoking. [...] Meanwhile, the EU and the Hungarian state keep pushing to further tobacco restrictions and a regulation requiring that cigarette packs are only sold in plain packaging is to go in effect this January. [...]

2021-12-20
vapingpost.com