Take the 2023 ECigIntelligence Adult Vaping Survey. Senators ask FDA Commissioner to explain agency’s “miniscule authorization rate.” FDA VLN cigarette standards may be coming in April. Illinois and Multnomah County, Oregon pass anti-vaping laws. Ex-WHO director slams its tobacco harm reduction denial. Calls to Action and more!
Scroll to the bottom of this post for a link to the audio/video versions of this post!
CALL TO ACTION // Stop A Federal Tax!
Comparing “oranges to oranges” (in this case milligrams of nicotine in vapes vs cigarettes,) if HR 5715 is enacted, vapes would be taxed at a rate approximately 5X higher than cigarettes! Vaping consumers will be paying up to 6¢/mg of nicotine compared to 1.1¢/mg in cigarettes.
The tax hike is just as bad, if not worse, for nicotine pouches, snus, and moist snuff — all reduced risk products compared to cigarettes!
TAKE ACTION: Fight a National Vapor Tax!
CALL TO ACTION // Pennsylvania: Stop a Flavor Ban!
HB 1161 would ban tobacco and nicotine products in any flavor other than tobacco.
TAKE ACTION: Pennsylvania: Fight a Flavor Ban!
CALL TO ACTION | Michigan: Stop a Slew of Anti-Vaping Laws
STOP an onslaught of anti-vaping bills!
Lawmakers in Michigan are once again throwing everything and the kitchen sink into a raft of anti-vaping bills aiming to reduce everyone’s access to these life-saving products! These bills include everything from a flavor ban and tax hikes to repealing state preemption of local tobacco retailer laws.
TAKE ACTION: Michigan: Stop a Slew of Anti-Vaping Laws
ADVOCACY
Take the 2023 ECigIntellignce Adult Vaper Survey
CASAA assists ECigIntelligence with their annual U.S. survey of adults who vape by helping develop survey questions that aid vaping advocacy efforts. As we do every year, CASAA is asking our members to participate in this year’s survey!
Please click here: Take the 2023 ECigIntelligence Adult Vapers Survey
FDA
Senators Ask Califf to Explain FDA’s PMTA Review Process
A letter from a bipartisan trio of U.S. senators asks FDA Commissioner Robert Califf to explain the agency’s “miniscule authorization rate” of harm reduction products that’s “not in keeping with the CTP policy acknowledging that tobacco products fall on a continuum of risk.”
Senators Ask Califf to Explain FDA’s PMTA Review Process
A bipartisan group of senators has written to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, asking him to reform the agency’s tobacco product review process, and explain FDA’s approach.https://t.co/FmDlcL5ynH
— Vaping360 (@Vaping360) December 21, 2023
READ MORE: Senators Ask Califf to Explain FDA’s PMTA Review Process
FDA sets April as latest attempt at unveiling very-low-nicotine cigarette standards
“Nothing can save 22nd Century in my opinion. It bet the company on a [Very Low Nicotine] strategy, but that was based on twin false premises: that FDA would force these products into the market via regulation; and that people would actually buy them if FDA did.”
~ Clive Bates
I think its only chance of success is if some government (especially the US) bans the *legal* sale of all cigarettes except those like VLN. Even then I’m having a hard time imagining many people buying a pack more than once or twice.
Still a combustible, probably non-addictive.
— Jukka Kelovuori (@jkelovuori) December 4, 2023
READ MORE: FDA Sets April as Latest Try at Unveiling VLN Cigarette Rule
Commitment to Removing “Non-Compliant” Products
Just ignore that nearly all of the “non-compliant” products are smoke-free nicotine products that eliminate exposure to deadly smoke, while the “compliant” products include combustible cigarettes.
This is what FDA considers “appropriate for the protection of the public health?”
Top Biden Officials Meet with Black, Public Health Leaders Following Menthol Ban Delay
“An estimated 85% of Black smokers use menthols, according to the FDA, compared to 30% of white smokers.”
Menthol is a preferred flavor, but there’s zero science proving that they won’t just switch to regular or illicit menthol cigarettes.
Furthermore, the fact that the FDA still hasn’t authorized any reduced risk products (especially vaping products) in menthol flavor will push more people who currently smoke menthol cigarettes to regular or illicit menthol cigarettes instead of to safer alternatives.
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is not, repeat not, a “public health” organization.https://t.co/a2FIz7H1RJ
— Jim McDonald (@whycherrywhy) December 21, 2023
READ MORE: Top Biden officials meet with Black, public health leaders following menthol ban delay
CASAA IN ACTION
CASAA Live
After exposing why the anti-vaping claim that the vaping rate is higher for youth than adults is very misleading (in fact, 7 adults vape for every 1 high school student,) Lindsey Stroud, director of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance Consumer Center, had advice for THR advocates on how to use that data.
Watch the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYiaSu0E1-U
REGULATION
Illinois to Ban e-Cigarette Use in Indoor Public Spaces in 2024
“De-normalizing” is just a code word for “shaming.” Why should adults who use low risk nicotine products be shamed? Where’s the scientific evidence supporting this law? How many people will just keep smoking now because they have to go outside either way?
Illinois to ban e-cigarette use in indoor public spaces in 2024. Instead of worrying so much about vaping in public spaces Illinois may want to avert their attention to banning driving while smoking weed. https://t.co/5Ypzy2igln
— E Nuff (@babicz3m) December 20, 2023
READ MORE: Illinois to ban e-cigarette use in indoor public spaces in 2024
Tobacco Ban for Multnomah County Set to Start on Jan. 1
The flavor ban in Multnomah County, OR — the state’s most populous county — begins January 1st. Billed as a ban on flavored “tobacco,” it’s real target is low risk vaping products and, as seen with flavor bans that have been passed elsewhere, will likely result in increased smoking.
🔥 “Vape shop owners . . . have done more to save smokers’ lives than anything this proposal will do.” 🔥
Watch as @jacobgrier throws down some hard truths to the Multnomah County Commission hearing over a proposed flavor ban. pic.twitter.com/3xadGTgu13
— American Vapor Manufacturers (@VaporAmerican) November 29, 2022
READ MORE: Flavored tobacco ban for Multnomah County set to start on Jan. 1
TOBACCO CONTROL
How a Debate Over Vaping Might Derail the War on Tobacco
Teen smoking in the United States is down by an astonishing 90 percent in the past two decades; the anti-smoking campaigns of groups like Truth Initiative and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids deserve credit, but the popularity of e-cigarettes surely played a role as well.
Still, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the nonprofits it supports have been peculiarly unwilling to sit down with critics who believe that their anti-vaping crusade may be doing more harm than good.
(Article is free to read when you sign up.)
The war over #vaping is leaving adults who smoke behind. My new story for @Philanthropy about the @SmokeFreeFdn #smoking @cdoug https://t.co/x49EWGJw2k
— MarcGunther (@MarcGunther) December 18, 2023
READ MORE: How a Debate Over Vaping Might Derail the War on Tobacco
Big Tobacco’s Smoke-free Rush May Soon Burn Out
If the tobacco industry’s “smoke-free rush may soon burn out,” that would largely be due to anti-tobacco groups shifting from the goal of saving lives to a moral crusade against anyone using nicotine – regardless of the low health risks.
Blocking the industry from shifting from combustibles to low risk, smoke-free alternatives is akin to environmentalists blocking auto companies from selling clean fuel cars.
Less smoke-free use means more smoking. It’s the antithesis of Tobacco Control’s original goal of ending smoking-related deaths.
It’s unrealistic to expect that restrictions on smokeless products won’t result in a greater number of people smoking. Does that benefit tobacco companies or illegal sellers? Probably both.
Reuters’s habitual dishonest anti-vaping talking points are tiresome, btw.
— Phil (@phil_w888) December 15, 2023
READ MORE: Big Tobacco’s smoke-free rush may soon burn out
Why is Smoking Back?
Why aren’t we talking about why smoking seems to be making a comeback in some demographics? Good question.
Another good question to ask would be “What replaced the hole left by millions of people NOT using tobacco/nicotine products to cope?”
READ MORE: Why is smoking back? Could one reason be loneliness?
Vape Use “Remains High” Among High School Students?
The Dawson County, Montana Health Department used outdated 2020 data and the rat study “brain damage” claim to perpetuate the “youth vaping epidemic” myth. Current high school vaping (which includes taking even 1 puff in the past 30 days) dropped from 19.6% in 2020 to just 10% in 2023.
Even in Montana, current high school vaping (again, “current use” means taking even 1 puff in the past 30 days) dropped from 30.2% in 2019 to 26% in 2021 and the more concerning DAILY USE also dropped from 8.7% to just 6.7%.
Side Note: Current high school ALCOHOL use was at 31.4% in 2021!
READ MORE: Vape Use Remains High Among High School Students
TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION
Professor Ann McNeill, Professor of Tobacco Addiction, Kings College London
What role can vaping play in our efforts to end smoking? The evidence, opportunities, challenges and reflections for tobacco control future.
Ex-WHO Director Slams Its Tobacco Harm Reduction Denial
In his keynote, Professor Robert Beaglehole, formerly director of the Department of Chronic Diseases and Health Promotion at the WHO, took aim at the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) treaty, highlighting that its failure to achieve success is because of its unrealistic drive for nicotine abstinence and a stubborn resistance to embracing less harmful products.
“He castigated the WHO for its reliance on funding from Bloomberg, which he sees as driving the WHO in the wrong direction due Bloomberg’s donations—thought to total around $1 billion to-date—which entirely excludes tobacco harm reduction as an option.”https://t.co/qUJYMzpjKU
— Lance Churchill (@LanceChurchill) December 20, 2021
READ MORE: Ex-WHO Director Slams Its Tobacco Harm Reduction Denial
A Lawmaker Who Actually Understands Tobacco Harm Reduction
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told a crowd in Fort Dodge Saturday his opinion on vaping — and harm reduction.
“On this vaping stuff, you shouldn’t. If you don’t do anything, you shouldn’t start to vape. It’s not good for you. But what I’ve found is people that have used cigarettes and got addicted to that, they’re addicted to nicotine when they go to the vape that’s less harmful for them than doing the normal cigarettes.”
“And so, you know, if somebody can take something and do harm reduction, you know, I don’t think that the FDA should ban that. I think people should have the ability, the adults should have the ability to do that. Obviously kids shouldn’t be doing any of this stuff.”
RESEARCH
Effects of ‘Ice’ Flavoured e-Cigarettes with Synthetic Cooling Agent WS-23 or Menthol on User-reported Appeal and Sensory Attributes
Researchers: “Regulatory agencies should be aware that the manufacturing process of adding synthetic coolants may increase the attractiveness of various e-cigarette products.”
That they can’t wrap their heads around the fact that increasing the “perceived appeal and sensory experience of vaping” is a good thing to help end smoking harms illustrates how much their moral objection to nicotine use overrides their common sense.
Researchers Show Bias Against Harm Reduction
Researchers report in an article in The Hill how bans result in companies offering customers something else to fill the gap. The authors point out the new products see significant sales increases and want the FDA to stop it. Completely lost on them is the fact that consumers have to want those new products for them to sell. Until they figure out how to stop consumers from wanting the products, they’ll never stop companies from trying to sell them – legally or illegally.
It’s clear that the upcoming FDA menthol ban will have a number of unintended consequences that includes a growth in the illicit market & not having the public health outcomes as seen in MA. @US_FDA looking forward to meeting with @OMBPress to discuss our policing concerns. pic.twitter.com/QsQdVJdpUI
— DianeGoldstein (@dianemgoldstein) November 14, 2023
READ MORE: The FDA must stop companies from evading upcoming new tobacco rules
Study: Nearly 60% of People Who Smoke Don’t Want to Give Up Nicotine
Researchers were surprised that only 57% of all of the people surveyed who smoke across 4 countries wanted to quit all forms of nicotine, with the remainder split between those preferring to switch to an alternative and 21% continuing to smoke or being uncertain.
We’re not surprised at all.
🚭 New research reveals surprising insights into smokers’ preferences – 21% of Aussie smokers aim to continue in the next 1-2 yrs.
As alternative products gain traction, Prof Ron Borland says a fresh approach to tobacco control efforts is needed 👉 https://t.co/xH9JffSacJ pic.twitter.com/xcTxqhr2kp
— UniMelb MDHS (@UniMelbMDHS) December 22, 2023
READ MORE: Study finds one fifth of Australian smokers plan to keep smoking
CASAA IN ACTION // CASAA Live
Lindsey Stroud, author, Director of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance Consumer Center and Visiting Fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum, joins CASAA CEO Alex Clark and CASAA Member Coordinator Kristin Noll-Marsh for Part 2 of a two-part series breaking down vaping by the numbers! In this episode, she counters claims that more youth vape than adults, that vaping doesn’t help adults quit smoking and that flavor bans are good for public health.
Catch the next show LIVE Saturday, January 13, 2024 at 4:30PM ET/3:30PM CT!
TAKE ACTION // CASAA State Facebook Groups
Have you joined your CASAA State Facebook group yet? Check it out now! Click the link below, click on your state on the map, then click the “Join Now” button to go to your state’s group page. It’s as easy as that to stay updated on local happenings, meet local advocates and never miss a Call to Action in your state!
Don’t forget to also follow our official Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CASAAmedia
FIND YOUR GROUP: CASAA State Locator
CASAA STORE // Apparel and More
Show your support by shopping our store! Our president (and brilliant website/swag designer) Danielle has added some awesome new designs to CASAA’s apparel shop!
VISIT: CASAA Apparel and Swag Store
CASAA MEDIA // Spotify
CASAA’s podcast is on Spotify! Please give us a follow here:
CASAA IN ACTION // Twitter Spaces
The week we recap the Reagan-Udall sessions with Amanda Wheeler, Tim Andrews and CASAA CEO Alex Clark, who all presented to the panel about FDA’s issues regulating reduced-harm products. What grade would you give FDA? Also available on CASAA’s Spotify channel (above.)
— CASAA (@CASAAmedia) October 26, 2022
CASAA MEDIA // Podcast
Catch up on past tobacco harm reduction news with Alex and Logan on the CASAA podcasts on SoundCloud every Monday and now live on YouTube and Facebook every Saturday at 3:30 PM.
