Vaping Headlines: Nicotine Remains Illegal in Australia – Pro Vape Film Premiers – MPs Praise E-Cigs – Singapore Smugglers – Derry Gets Tough – Less Nicotine in Cigs – Robert Mugabe…er WHO?!?

Aussie Minister Slams the Door On Australian Vapers

Despite concerted efforts by the world’s Vaping advocates to legalize nicotine infused e-liquids the country’s health minister is unmoved and refuses to accept e-cigarettes as a healthier alternative to smoking.

In a petulant outburst health minister Greg Hunt told the media:

It’s not going to be happening on my watch as far as I’m concerned.

His statement came as UK vape advocate Clive Bates toured the country promoting e-cigs as the perfect smoking cessation tool.

Mr Hunt said he’d made his decision after meeting with the Therapeutic Goods Administration [TGA] who had decided back in the spring that nicotine in liquid form should remain a prohibitive substance.

The minister said:

There is clear evidence that it’s likely to lead to the uptake of cigarette smoking. It’s big tobacco which is arguing the case for these e-cigarettes and they’re only doing it because it’s in their interests. I have a very strong, clear, categorical view that this is not something that should occur in Australia.

I have to say I find his comments shocking particularly as the evidence of the benefits of e-cigarettes is growing.

Just where this announcement leaves Australian vapers is anyone’s guess however those flouting the nicotine law could find themselves facing jail time or a huge fine.

Crazy times to say the least.

The minister only has to look to his neighbors New Zealand who recent allowed nicotine to be used in e-cigarettes.

The NZ government has recognized the use of e-cigs will go a long way to the country’s target of a smoking rate around 5% within 8 years.

The NZ Health Ministry said this week:

Recent decisions taken by Government have increased the focus on harm reduction with an aim to support smokers to switch to significantly less harmful products like e-cigarettes.

Just why the Australian government is really refusing to budge is anyone’s guess – but saying it’s because Big Tobacco is behind is e-cigs whilst they are right in some aspects they are wrong overall.

By refusing to accept that much of the world believes e-cigs to be a safer alternative they are pretty much sentencing millions of Australians to slow painful deaths from smoking related illnesses.

Shame on them.

Join the fight to Legalize Vaping in Australia.

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Pro Vaping Film Premiers in the UK

Leading figures from the world of health and vaping grabbed their popcorn and watched the premier of a new film aimed at dispelling the myth that e-cigarettes were as harmful as smoking.

Produced by the Independent British Vape Trade Association [IBVTA] in conjunction with ITN the premier was attended by the great and the good including Steve Brine MP the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health and his Labour shadow Sharon Hodgson MP.

Featuring interviews with folks from the world of vaping and indeed health professionals it asks the question why more smokers aren’t making the switch to vaping and what can be done to help this.

IBVTA say there’s a clear message running through the film:

Specifically, the film highlights the fact that vaping is at least 95 per cent less harmful than smoking, and calls on the Government to speak openly that when it comes to vaping there is a clear message, that vaping is endorsed, that vaping is significantly less harmful (than smoking), and that smokers can have the confidence to switch. While we may disagree with much of the regulation relating to vape products in the UK, it is important to acknowledge, that compared to many countries we are very fortunate with the approach the UK Government has taken towards vaping.

The film calls on the UK government to go further including replacing the TRPR and TPD regulations:

• Advertising restrictions that prevent the industry responsibly advertising their products and adequately informing vapers and smokers about the limited harm associated with vaping need to be removed.
• The existing Tobacco and Related Product Regulations need to be enforced at a national and local level.
• At the earliest opportunity, the existing regulations need to be replaced with a proportionate, risk-based, and vape specific regulatory regime.
• Government ministers and others in public health need to speak out more to challenge the misperceptions that exist amongst growing numbers of the public and smokers about the harm associated with vaping.

You can watch the film HERE

UK Politicians Praise Vaping and E-Cigs

MPs debated the UK’s Tobacco Control Plan [TCP] last week with many of them praising e-cigs as viable stop smoking aids.

The debate was a nod to the TCP so nothing could really come out of it however suggestions were made that vaping gear should be tax free and offered free of charge to pregnant women who are finding it difficult to quit.

Minister Steve Burn said he would raise those issues with the Chancellor of the Exchequer who may be minded to add them to the upcoming budget.

A variety of MPs praised e-cigs and many spoke of their own personal vaping success stories.

You can read our full article on the debate HERE.

Smuggled E-Cigarettes Flood Into Singapore

The e-cig black market in Singapore is growing and will probably get even bigger once the country brings in a new law making vaping illegal.

It is already illegal to import – distribute and sell e-cigarettes and the new law will make it a criminal offence to use them with those caught facing up to six months in jail and huge fines.

A spokesman for the government said the move:

…will further protect Singaporeans from the harms of using such products and prevent its use from being entrenched.

It seems to be the country’s youth workers who are pleased the new laws are coming into force with child psychotherapist Ms Lena Teo saying:

The ban on e-cigarettes will deter those who have not tried smoking or vaping, but those who really want it will still find ways to get it. So it’s also important to educate youth about its harm.

However the ban is great news for the smugglers with the country reporting over 15,000 so called ‘vaporizer cases’ investigated in the last 3 years.

Derry Council Get Tough on Underage E-Cig Sales

Councillors in Londonderry [or Derry] Northern Ireland have brought in tough new rules governing the sale of e-cigs and vape gear to underage shoppers.

Vendors caught selling to minors can face a fixed penalty of £250 whilst repeat offenders could be taken to court and face a fine of up to £5,000.

Not only that the council also has the power to call for a Restricted Sales Order or a Restricted Premises Order which in effect would ban the offender from selling ‘nicotine inhaling devices’ for up to three years.

A spokesman said:

The use of e-cigarettes has grown significantly in popularity in the past five years’ and that ‘while the Department of Health (DoH) accepts that they may have a role to play in harm reduction, it is concerned by evidence which shows they are being used by children and young people’.

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Reducing Nicotine In Cigarettes Could Save Millions

The plan to reduce the amount of nicotine in analogue cigarettes could save upwards of 8 million lives in America according to the FDA.

They also believe by reducing the amount 300 million Americans were less likely to start smoking in the first place.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said:

Just imagine the impact this policy could have on treatment costs. Currently, we spend about $300 billion each and every year on the direct and indirect costs associated with tobacco-related illnesses. In a world where cigarettes were minimally or nonaddictive, the reduction in those overall costs would be enormous.

Mr Gottlieb also explained the FDA was in the process of investigating if flavoured tobacco and e-liquids enticed youngsters into smoking and announced they’d also be looking at whether e-cigarettes really did help smokers switch.

The FDA is planning to ask the public their thoughts on flavours and indeed if reducing nicotine within cigarettes will create a booming black market similar to the days of prohibition.

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Vaping Quote of the Week

As the UK enters the third week of the annual quit smoking campaign Stoptober I spotted this quote on the Scientist website:

I haven’t met any scientists who say that they think e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes are equally harmful.

It came from Ann McNeill of the National Addiction Centre at King’s College London who said that e-cigarettes were:

…not a magic bullet—you don’t just pick one up, and suddenly you don’t want to smoke anymore. As a whole, people need to persevere with these products. They need to find a product that suits them …there’s a period of trial and error.

The full article Swapping Cigarettes for Vaping is well worth a read.

And Finally…Robert Mugabe WHO Ambassador of Goodwill

You really can file this one under sh!t you couldn’t make up.

The World Health Organization [WHO] are supposedly the world guardians of public health and disease prevention – however they’ve been fervently anti e-cigarettes almost since they arrived on the scene.

Indeed they recently called for vaping to be included in no smoking indoors policies and still keep beating the tired old drum that flavoured e-liquids are designed to attract kids to vaping.

They are currently snubbing the Foundation for a Smoke Free World because it’s funded by Big Tobacco and run by Derek Yach a supporter of vaping and one of their former directors.

So given president of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe has blood on his hands – he was allegedly behind the massacre of 20,000 people in his country back in the early 2000’s – and given democracy is a word he and indeed WHO seem to find alien – it’s little wonder he’s been made a ‘Goodwill Ambassador’.

A spokesman for WHO said:

His role will be to encourage policies aimed at reducing peoples’ exposure to the main risk factors – tobacco and alcohol use, unhealthy diets and lack of exercise.

I doubt somehow e-cigarettes will be embraced in Zimbabwe and one has to fear if they are outlawed what the penalties will be for using or selling them…

Strange bedfellows indeed…

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Update: it would seem there’s been such a worldwide outcry at this appointment the WHO may be re-considering lol.

Vaper Expo – The Return

Just a quick reminder that Vaper Expo runs from next Friday October 27th to Sunday October 29th.

To find out more checkout out our piece HERE

*Shuffles Papers*