APPG
A great thread on the APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group for Vaping) Twitter page discusses the possible future path the UK could take regarding vaping and aiming to reduce smoking.
Click on the Tweet below to read the full thread or I have provided screen shots below.
According to Cancer Research, our last cigarette will be stubbed out in 2037. With about 90,000 people a year dying from the habit before then. That’s 1.35 million avoidable deaths.
A population the size of Birmingham will die between now and 2037.
So, what can we do?
— APPGVaping (@AppgVaping) March 31, 2022
Reading through, these all look very very promising with mentions of truthful communication, banishing misinformation, robust regulation and increasing access to vaping/alternative nicotine sources.
The APPG has been created to…
“To explore the most appropriate parliamentary and regulatory response to e-cigarettes and to raise education and literacy amongst policy makers regarding e-cigarettes and related public policy questions.”
You can read more about the group and officers here… APPG Vaping.
The main target of the group is to reach a “Smoke Free 2030” for the UK and discuss how it can be achieved post Brexit.
You can read more here on the “Beyond TPD” website.
It is great to see a welcoming approach to vaping and how the UK Government see it as an advantage to help achieve Smoke Free 2030 goals.
Asthma & Lung UK Back Vaping!
Asthma and Lung UK have created a document titled “Levelling up health by stamping out tobacco” dated March 2022.
This document is obviously driven from the perspective of the lung issues created by smoking and aiming to reduce this in the future.
This also goes hand in hand with the Tobacco Independent Review headed by Javed Khan as part of the Government “Levelling up” drive for health and equality.
It discusses the need for better funded local Stop Smoking Services and also a levy on the tobacco industry to help fund this.
One of the bullet points in their “Recommendations” section is this…
“Stop smoking services should offer vaping to existing smokers, for harm reduction. Vaping has the potential to help many smokers transition away from tobacco, reducing health harms. People choosing to quit in this way should be supported.”
Further down the document in the “Policies that work” section – Vaping is discussed as a harm reduction tool…
“E-cigarettes are a relatively new stop smoking tool, but if used correctly represent a big opportunity to reduce the harms caused by smoking, and to help smokers quit their addiction. They are thought to be at least 95% less harmful to health than tobacco and evidence suggests that for many they are an effective means to give up smoking. In 2017 50,000 smokers, who would otherwise have continued to smoke, are estimated to have used vaping to quit tobacco. It is clear that with more concerted and systematic work this figure could grow significantly and make a big contribution to meeting the Smoke Free 2030 ambition.”
Positive stuff indeed!
UKVIA Economic Impact Report
The UKVIA (UK Vaping Industry Association) has combined with CEBR (Centre for Economics and Business Research) to make the UKVIACEBR…
No I am only joking, they have joined to produce an Economic Impact Analysis of the contribution of the vape industry to the British Economy.
This will take place over a the next few months and CEBR will collate data regarding the GVA (Gross Added Value), turnover, employment and the impact on the wider supply chain.
Also considered is the actual contribution to the UK Exchequer plus the value to the health service by reducing the burden of smoking related health issues.
The findings will be unveiled at the UKVIA’s annual industry forum later in the year and will be used to engage with public policy makers and the media.
John Dunne (Director General of the UKVIA) said the following…
“Our report is long overdue and will become the sector’s economic barometer and something that is much needed to provide indisputable evidence of the significant contribution the industry makes to UK plc. It’s ideal timing for the publication of an economic impact report for the UK vaping industry with a review of vaping regulations currently being undertaken in England and Scotland. It will also support our drive to highlight how vaping can support the levelling up agenda by providing geographical data in areas of deprivation, high unemployment and smoking prevalence”
You can read the full article here on the UKVIA Website – UKVIA Commissions economic impact report for the industry.
Vaping & Mental Illness
The Pubmed website has published a new study titled “E-cigarette Provision to promote switching in cigarette smokers with serious mental illness- a randomised trial“.
This is to study why people with serious mental illness (SMI) have higher smoking and lower quit rates.
The trial tested the impact of switching to lower risk alternatives.
The conclusion states…
“Providing e-cigarettes for 8 weeks to smokers with SMI resulted in substantial reductions in CPD (Cigarettes Per Day) and CO (Breath Carbon Monoxide). Enhancing and maintaining switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes warrant further study.”
So the findings so far look really promising and has potential to reduce harm for a lot of people.
Sign Up
The World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA) have asked for vapers to sign their petition against vape flavour bans.
Their aim is to prove that “Flavours help smokers quit” and demand that all flavour bans are ended.
I am 100% behind this cause as I am a 46 year old who vapes only Bubblegum flavour e-liquid and this has kept me off the smokes for 3 years so far!
So I have signed!
Read all about it and sign for yourself here: World Vapers Alliance – Flavours Matter.
Big Tobacco Backs Vape Shops?
Well according to an article in Better Retailing – the nice people over at Philip Morris Limited (PML) are to offer vape retailers “one-to-one” support, training and guidance.
PML (sometimes called PMI – Philip Morris International) as you may know is one of the world’s leading tobacco companies who are trying to redeem their reputation and also flog their range of devices – the IQOS.
The IQOS is a device which still uses tobacco in little sticks and the device heats them rather than igniting them as you would in a cigarette.
This is still obviously safer than smoking tobacco but is not quite as popular as Vaping. I could go so far as to say IQOS has made quite a few enemies in the vape community.
Anyway back to the story – so to make PML look like a caring company and also shift a few of their gadgets they are apparently employing over 30 managers and executives to support vape retailers expand their range with the IQOS.
This move does show that PML want to get a piece of the vaping pie. Some may argue this is wrong but I do believe that this is a good thing in general for the industry.
Think of all the money big tobacco can bring to the fight, if they are supporting vape shops, there is less chance of any regulation! As we know the tobacco companies carry a lot of clout in some governments.
My main thought is “why has it taken them so long”?
If I was in charge of a big tobacco giant I would have got involved in the vaping market years ago to cover the companies arse if tobacco sales fall. Having two big industries instead of one makes huge business sense!
University Of Oxford Podcast
The University of Oxford has been producing podcasts all about e-cigarettes and new studies that emerge. These have been funded by Cancer Research UK.
The March 2022 episode features Assistant Professor Jamie Harmann-Boyce and Dr Nicola Lindson who are discussing new research evidence with Dr Ailsa Butler.
Dr Ailsa Butler is from the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine at the university and a co-author of the Cochrane Review of E-cigarettes for smoking cessation.
A quote from the text describing the podcast states…
“In the studies eligible for the review, just over half of people given nicotine e-cigarettes at study start were found to be still using e-cigarettes at six or more months follow up. Of successful quitters, 70% were found to still be using e-cigarettes at six months or more. The longer-term use of nicotine e-cigarettes may reflect their success as a quit smoking aid by preventing relapse to smoking.”
Also the podcast brings listeners up to date with all related literature up to the 1st March 2022.
There are 13 more podcasts so far on the main index page all discussing vaping research and evidence.
Each podcast page also has the option to download the whole audio or transcript files for you to keep or share.
Final Thought…
Hmmmmm…
#BrunoMars lights up a #cigarette and no outrage from @TobaccoFreeKids or @ParentsvsVape I wonder if it was a #vape device we’d get the same reaction from them 🤔Your standards seem a bit like #hushmoney I guess this is how your keep your #funding 🤔#VaporsAreNotCriminals pic.twitter.com/RMSJHr0Vce
— John Truncali (@TruncaliJohn) April 4, 2022
Yeah exactly this! 
Well that is it for this week – have a wonderful week, keep vaping and I will see you here this time next week!
