Is There A UK Vaping ‘Public Health Emergency’?

The slowdown of smokers switching to safer e-cigarettes is a UK vaping’ public health emergency‘ says the country’s vape industry leader.

John Dunne, the Director-General of the UK Vaping Industry Association, says the slowdown is due to myths and fake news surrounding e-cigarettes and this needs to be urgently addressed – or more smokers will die.

John made is comments after the UK All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Vaping, welcomed a recent report and subsequent evidence giving session with UKVIA.

The APPG says 2021 is a ‘pivotal year‘ for vaping in the UK and the new Tobacco and Related Products Regulations (TRPR) [replacing the EU backed TPD] is the perfect opportunity to layout new legislation covering e-cigarettes and other novel nicotine products.

I reported earlier this year on the UKVIA submission to the UK Government and in a nutshell it called for:

• The use of Government-approved expert health claims on products to address misinformation leading to misperceptions on vaping, and therefore encourage smokers to switch

• Greater opportunities to engage with smokers, as current regulations restrict vaping’s ability to provide smokers with evidence-based knowledge to make informed decisions when looking to quit

• The extension of certain regulations to cover additional vaping products, such as non-nicotine e-liquids, thereby ensuring a highly responsible and safe industry

John said:

We’re extremely pleased to see a number of our comments and suggestions made during the inquiry’s evidence sessions, together with some of the recommendations contained in our ‘Blueprint for Better Regulation’ document, have made it into the published report.

The document acknowledges the huge strides the UK has made in recent years taking vaping from a place where it was routinely talked about as being ‘as bad as cigarettes’ to its position today where leading health experts and politicians all agree it is an indispensable resource for helping smokers to quit their habits for good.

UK Needs MORE Not LESS Vapers

At a time when esteemed health protection organisations such as Public Health England and Cancer Research UK all back vaping as the best and most effective quit method, and the NHS is trialing e-cigarettes for smokers in some hospitals, the numbers of new vapers should be skyrocketing, not tailing off.

This is a public health emergency and we are calling on the Government to review this report as soon as possible and waste no time in implementing its recommendations for the sake of the seven million UK smokers yet to transition to vaping.

Exactly…

The APPG is now joining forces with UK vaping and nicotine advocates and will be attending this years World Health Organisation’s COP9 conference.

You may recall the WHO is desperately trying to convince Governments around the world to slap an outright ban on all things vape – yes, even here in the UK!

UK vapers looking to join the fight to stop the WHO’s global vape plan should checkout the following links:

EVALI – Nothing To Do With Nicotine Vaping

Despite EVALI being proven to have NOTHING to do with vaping on nicotine based e-liquid, it is still being used as a reason to ban e-cigarettes.

A new study by tireless pro-vaping advocate, Clive Bates, says health organizations, the media, commentators and anti-vaping groups must be made to stop linking the two now – or more lives will be at risk.

Clive writes:

Commentators should stop claiming that nicotine vaping is implicated in “EVALI”.

Agencies, academics, journals, peer reviewers, health organisations, activist groups, foundations, media commentators, and politicians should stop falsely asserting or implying that nicotine vaping was or is a cause of EVALI.

It is ethically inappropriate to use false or tenuous claims or exaggerated doubt about risks to try to change the behaviour of others.

That ethical problem is compounded in this case because of the risk that users would be deterred from switching from high-risk to low-risk nicotine products and would therefore suffer harm on the basis of unreliable public health information.

Absolutely!

EVALI – or Vaping Use-Associated Lung Injury – appeared on the scene a couple of years ago and led to 2,800 hospitalisations and the deaths of 68 mostly young people.

I wrote an article at the time: Vaping Is NOT About To Kill You – But Black-Market THC Cartridges Might – that suggested the cause was due to contaminated/black market cannabis cartridges.

This was proven to be correct and as Clive explains, due to the thinning ingredient Vitamin E acetate – also known as tocopheryl acetate.

The contaminating agent has been identified.

This is Vitamin E Acetate (VEA) (Blount et al. 2020).

Its exact biochemical interaction with lung tissue may be uncertain and is a subject of ongoing work.

However, there is no real doubt that it played a causal role in EVALI.

CDC has acknowledged this: according to Dr Anne Schuchat, CDC’s principal deputy director in 2019: “we can conclude that what I call the explosive outbreak of cases of EVALI can be attributed to exposure to THC-containing vaping products that also contained Vitamin E acetate” (CDC published transcript, 20 December 2019).

But still EVALI is used as a building block to ban vaping and in turn scare the hell out of smokers looking to quit.

Clive concludes the EVALI outbreak now must lead to the de-criminalization of THC/cannabis vapes adding:

“EVALI” should be renamed to reflect the real risks.

The contrived naming of this condition as “E-cigarette, or Vaping, product use-Associated Lung Injury” (EVALI) is misleading and the language is unnecessarily vague.

Users and suppliers of THC vapes do not generally use the term “e-cigarettes” to describe THC vaping products such as vape pens.

The term “e-cigarette” is primarily used to refer to nicotine vaping products,[29] and the term EVALI, by implicating e-cigarettes, is therefore misleading to nicotine users.

Couldn’t agree more, especially with even the WHO linking vaping on nicotine products to EVALI!!!

Read Clive’s full study [it’s very readable]: The outbreak of lung injuries often known as “EVALI” was nothing to do with nicotine vaping

Chantix Recall Over Cancer Fears

The stop smoking drug Chantix has been recalled over fears it may give the user cancer…

At the moment it only appears to currently affect 12 batches of the drug that’s side-effects include suicide.

Yes really…read my article: FDA Approved Drugs to Quit Smoking | Suicide Or Vaping? – You Decide – for more info.

Chantix – known as Varenicline – is produced by Pfizer – and yeah former FDA boss and vaping fear monger Scott Gottlieb is on the board.

It seems this particular batch of the suicidal drug had too high levels of nitrosamine.

That’s an organic substance found in many forms – however Pfizer says it’s worried the amounts are far above the recommended daily intake.

In a statement the company said:

Pfizer believes the benefit/risk profile of CHANTIX remains positive.

Patients currently taking Chantix should consult with their doctor to confirm if they received an affected lot, and if appropriate, about alternative treatment options.

To date, Pfizer has not received any reports of adverse events that have been related to this recall.

Things that make you go ummm…

Can’t recall any vape products or batches of juice being recalled due to cancer giving effects…

For more info and the batch numbers check out the FDA website or see your own doctor/GP.

UK Kids Say Vaping Is NOT Cool!

Despite the rabid media reports of UK youngsters becoming hooked on e-cigarettes, once again the true facts show those claims to be BS.

A new fact sheet produced by Action On Smoking and Health [ASH] shows that not only aren’t kids vaping in their droves, they don’t think it’s cool!

I’m with them on that one lol.

A HUGE majority of 11-17 year olds [77.7%] have never tried a vape or even knew they existed [10.5%].

Very interesting indeed!

The results come from the joint 2021 ASH YouGov Smokefree youth GB survey and also shows:

Young people aged 11-18 years old vape mainly just to give it a try (49.3%) not because they think it
looks cool (1.2%).

They are unlikely to choose e-cigarettes because they are easier to access (1.1%) or cheaper (0.8%) than tobacco cigarettes.

Despite age warning schemes it appears the kids are still buying lit tobacco and e-cigs from shops – which is extremely worrying – who the hell serves a 11-year-old a packet of fags?

The fact sheet concludes:

In conclusion, data from the 2021 ASH YouGov Smokefree youth GB survey suggest that while some young people experiment with e-cigarettes, particularly those who have tried smoking, regular use remains low.

Likelihood of trying or currently using e-cigarettes increases with age and smoking status. However, continued surveillance is needed.

Apart from UK kids thinking that e-cigarettes are just as ‘dangerous‘ to health as lit tobacco, it’s great to see more evidence a UK teen vape epidemic is rubbish.

This comes a couple of years after the article I wrote covering this: Teen Vaping and Smoking – The Cold Hard Facts Revealed

Read the full study: Use of e-cigarettes among young people in Great Britain

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More vape news on Wednesday!