Tag: vaping

  • Australia Urged to Include Vaping in Smoking Strategy

    Australia Urged to Include Vaping in Smoking Strategy

    Photo: Zerophoto | Adobe Stock

    Australia is lagging well behind many other countries in the Asia-Pacific region when it comes to successfully tackling smoking through vaping, says the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA).  

    The CAPHRA’s observation comes as Australia’s Department of Health seeks feedback on its Draft National Smoking Strategy 2022–2030, with public submissions closing on March 24.

    “We encourage vapers and supporters of a progressive tobacco harm reduction (THR) approach to have their say. Australians desperate to quit smoking and those keen to stay off deadly cigarettes need all the help they can get,” says Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator of the CAPHRA.

    On Oct. 1, 2021, Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration expanded its prescription-only model with customs clamping down at the border on personal imports of nicotine vaping liquids from overseas websites.

    Not only does Australia’s draft strategy ignore the potential of safer nicotine products, it also lacks ambition, according to Loucas. The strategy aims for a smoking rate of 10 percent or less by 2025 while New Zealand is pursuing a 5 percent smoke-free goal and looks on target to achieve it. “Instead of banning vaping, New Zealand has regulated it, making it tough for minors to access but available to all adults keen to keep off the cancer sticks. New Zealand is seeing its overall smoking rate tumble, yet the Australian government fails to accept that the most effective smoking cessation tool available is staring it in the face,” says Loucas.

    “Australia is well down the world rankings when it comes to adopting effective THR policies and is light-years behind the U.S. and U.K. Subsequently, Australia’s overall smoking rate has fallen very little over the past decade, and without reasonable access to vaping, Australia will struggle to even achieve its 10 percent smoking goal,” says Loucas. 

  • South Africa Proposes New Vaping Tax

    South Africa Proposes New Vaping Tax

    Photo: Adrian | Adobe Stock

    The South African government will propose a new tax on vaping products to take effect in 2023, according to Vaping360.

    The move follows the government’s announcement last year that it intended to tax e-liquids.

    South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana outlined the new tax proposal as part of a package of new and increased excise taxes on tobacco, alcohol and high-sugar products. The vaping tax will appear in the 2022 Taxation Laws Amendment Bill, though it could be changed by Parliament before the bill is finalized. It is expected to be in place by Jan. 1, 2023, according to Godongwana.

    The new tax would apply to all e-liquid products, regardless of whether they include nicotine, and it would be “at least” ZAR2.90 ($0.19) per mL, essentially doubling the price of retail e-liquid. The taxation rate is supposed to be equivalent to 40 percent of the most popular brand’s retail price.

    South Africa currently has no specific governance on vaping products but is working to regulate the products under its tobacco laws.

  • Study Claims Patches Better Than Vapes

    Study Claims Patches Better Than Vapes

    Credit: kues1

    A new study claims that those using e-cigarettes to quit smoking found them to be less helpful than more traditional smoking cessations aids such as patches and gum.

    The study, published Monday in the journal BMJ, analyzed the latest 2017 to 2019 data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, which follows tobacco use among Americans over time.

    “This is the first time we found e-cigarettes to be less popular than FDA-approved pharmaceutical aids, such as medications or the use of patches, gum, or lozenges,” said John Pierce, the director for population sciences at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, according to CNN.

    A three-month randomized trial in the United Kingdom, published in 2019, found e-cigarettes, along with behavioral interventions, did help smokers quit tobacco cigarettes. In guidance published in late 2021, the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence decided to recommend that smokers use e-cigarettes to help them quit.

    Another recent study, published in JAMA Network Open, found adult smokers with no plans to quit are more likely to stop smoking if they switch to daily vaping, according to new research led by Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

    The Roswell Park study also used data collected from 2014 to 2019 as part of the PATH study. 

  • Broad Support for Philippine Vape Bill

    Broad Support for Philippine Vape Bill

    Photo: Rawpixel.com

    Nine out of 10 smokers in the Philippines support the country’s proposed vaping bill, according to a study, reports the Manila Times. A majority of respondents said the government should enact policies to encourage adult smokers to switch to less harmful alternatives while also ensuring these products are not used by minors.

    In 2021, the Senate and House of Representatives approved their respective versions of the measure. The bills must be reconciled by a bicameral conference committee and ratified by the two chambers. If President Rodrigo Duterte then signs the bill into law, the Vaporized Nicotine Products Bill will regulate e-cigarettes, heated-tobacco products and other vaporized nicotine products while ensuring that they contribute to government revenues.

    The study was conducted by Acorn Marketing and Research Consultants and commissioned by consumer advocacy group Vapers PH in August 2021. The survey sampled 2,000 legal-age smokers.

  • Poll finds vaping rates rise with income

    A Reuters/Ipsos poll of 5,679 adults conducted between May 19 and June 4 found that use of cigarettes as well as e-cigarettes/vaporizers increases with income. According to the survey results, 12.4 percent of all adults with incomes greater than $75,000 per year reported using vapor devices, compared with 10.6 percent of adults whose income was $50,000 to $75,000 per year, 10 percent of adults making $25,000 to $50,000 per year and 8.9 percent of adults with incomes less than $25,000 per year. Of adults under the age of 40, 21.6 percent reported that they smoke cigarettes, while 15 percent reported that they vape.

    Of the vapers, 70.5 percent indicated that they took up vaping within the past year, whereas 29.5 percent reported that they had started vaping more than one year ago. The percentage of Americans who reported smoking combustible cigarettes or vaping was 23.7 percent, compared with 19 percent for cigarette smoking alone.

  • Poll finds increase in U.S. vaping rate

    A poll of 5,679 U.S. adults by conducted by Reuters/Ipsos between May 19 and June 4 found that approximately 10 percent of them vape, including 15 percent of respondents under the age of 40.

    About 75 percent of the vapers surveyed also reported a continued use of combustible cigarettes. Seventy percent of vapers reported that they picked up the habit within the last year, with 40 percent indicating they were motivated by the lower long-term costs of vaping compared with traditional cigarette use as well as the fact that they could use vapor devices indoors.

    Eighty percent of the vapers said the devices were “a good way to help people quit smoking;” however, the poll found that less than 40 percent of all the adults surveyed viewed vaping as a good way to help current cigarette users quit.

    The 2015 survey results show a vaping rate that is significantly higher than the vaping rate in 2013, when the U.S. government estimated that only 2.6 percent of Americans used e-cigarettes.

  • Report calls for regulation of vapor products

    The Canadian House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Health has released a report asking the federal government to establish new legislative framework for the regulation of vapor products.

    The report, titled “Vaping: Towards A regulatory framework for e-cigarettes,” includes provisions to regulate e-liquid content; prohibit e-liquid flavorings that are “specifically designed to appeal to youth”; require child-resistant packaging for e-cigarettes and refill containers; ban the use of vapor products in public places where use of traditional cigarettes is already banned; restrict advertising and promotion of vapor products; and prohibit the sale of vapor products to anyone under the age of 18.

    Health Canada indicated that it would respond to the proposed regulation in “due course,” but no specific timeframe regarding its implementation was given.

  • B.C. restricts use and sale of e-cigarettes

    British Columbia, Canada, will ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors and prohibit e-cigarette use in buildings throughout the province by the end of 2015. The crackdown on vapor products is intended primarily to prevent minors from being exposed to such products and the unknown health effects they may have on users in the long term, according to Health Minister Terry Lake.

    The new legislation bans the use of e-cigarettes inside all public buildings where traditional cigarette use is currently banned, including restaurants, bars, coffee shops, workplaces, hospitals, schools and movie theaters. The ban also covers vaping on all public and school properties, although health authorities are permitted to set aside specific areas for vaping as they have in the past for traditional smoking. Whether the use of e-cigarettes in parks is permitted will be determined by bylaws passed by local municipalities.

    Vapers caught using e-cigarettes in restricted locations could face fines ranging from $58 to $575, while those caught selling e-cigarettes to minors risk a $575 fine.

    The legislation also forbids businesses that sell e-cigarettes to advertise such products to youth, and those business that are caught selling e-cigarettes improperly could face administrative sanctions of up to $5,000.

  • Vaping is working in Southwest Florida

    A few businesses in Southwest Florida, U.S., are allowing vaping in the workplace, according to a story in the Naples Daily News.

    For instance, Safety Harbour Insurance, which serves Lee and Collier counties, is said to allow its employees to ‘e-puff’ away at work.

    “We absolutely love it,” said manager Candace Nichols, who has been using e-cigarettes for nearly a year after smoking tobacco cigarettes for 13 years. “It cuts back on the extra break time, so we are able to be more productive within the business.”

    Nichols, among others, said e-cigarettes helped them quit regular tobacco smoking.

    And for that reason, other companies, including Lee Memorial Health System, are considering changing their policies to allow vaping.

    At present, Lee Memorial’s policy against using tobacco products in any of its buildings includes e-cigarettes, but that ban could change.

    “The policy was written several years ago when e-cigarettes were much less common,” Lee Memorial spokeswoman Mary Briggs, wrote in an email.

    “We recognize that many people are using them to help them stop smoking, so we are going to review the policy this summer to see if it needs any changes.”