Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

‘Big Vape’ Netflix Series About Vaping and More! Tobacco Harm Reduction News

October 6, 2023 Tobacco Harm Reduction News

‘Big Vape’ a surprising new Netflix series about vaping. Persistent popcorn lung lies. India bans e-cig possession. New studies debunk gateway claims and show flavor bans lead to smoking. AG money grab. Finland’s success tackling an illicit market and more!

Scroll to the bottom of this post for a link to the audio/video versions of this post!

IN THE MEDIA // ‘Big Vape’ Netflix Series About Vaping

“In each of the four episodes, people unapologetically confront those who told lies about vaping, including the infamous junk scientist Stanton Glantz. For tobacco harm reductionists who lived through the Juul panic, the docuseries is cause for cheer.”

READ MORE: Big Vape: Netflix Docuseries Flips the Narrative on Juul

IN THE MEDIA // Just Had to Say ‘Popcorn Lung’

This article was going fairly well until it said “One of the most common health risks is popcorn lung.” This is patently false. Vaping has NOT been shown to cause “popcorn lung,” a condition typically linked to inhaling “oils” that are NOT found in vapes.

READ MORE: Vaping: Why People Do It, and the Potential Risks Involved

IN THE MEDIA // At Least She Wasn’t Smoking

Just ignore the fact that she’d been SMOKING and was able to NOT SMOKE for 10 YEARS. If not for vaping, it’s very likely she’d have been smoking that whole time. Also ignore that her symptoms would’ve been just as bad (if not worse) when quitting smoking.

READ MORE: Vaping nicotine can be a ‘crutch,’ and for those trying to quit, the process can be painful

AROUND THE WORLD // India’s Unconscionable Vape Ban

In a country that is the second largest producer of tobacco in the world and where approximately 100 MILLION people ages 15 and older SMOKE, it’s ILLEGAL to even POSSESS a product that is at least 95% safer than smoking.

It’s unconscionable.

READ MORE: Possession Of E-Cigarettes Is A Violation Of Law, Says Health Ministry

RESEARCH // Vaping Gateway Finally Debunked?

Another study finds vaping isn’t leading to smoking. How many more will it take for this myth to finally be considered DEBUNKED?

“The emergence of e-cigarettes has coincided with THE MOST RAPID DECLINES IN CIGARETTE USE over the past thirty years.”

READ MORE: Dramatic Reductions in Cigarette Smoking Prevalence among High School Youth from 1991 to 2022 Unlikely to Have Been Undermined by E-Cigarettes

RESEARCH // Flavor Bans Increase Smoking

After reviewing the data, this new study finds that any public health benefits of reducing youth #vaping via flavor restrictions and/or bans may be “offset by public health costs from increased cigarette sales.”

Put simply, flavor bans increase smoking.

Reporting by CASAA director Jim McDonald for Vaping360.

READ MORE: Study: Flavored Vape Bans Increase Cigarette Sales

RESEARCH //  Vaping vs Never-Smoking vs Everything Else

The good news is that this study will be one of the very few that actually compares the effects of vaping to smoking.

However, when it comes to comparing it to never-smoking, it would be disingenuous not to compare vaping to other risks that society deems “acceptable.” For example, how much more of a health risk is vaping compared to consuming coffee or alcohol, or activities such as cycling, rock climbing, parachuting, etc.?

READ MORE: Vaping: New study launched into long-term impact on vascular health

TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION // Undoing Years of Public Health Progress

“The TRUTH is [vaping is] a promising harm reduction option for people who would smoke anyway….

Restrictions on e-cigarettes might undo years of public health progress.”

~ Peter Clark

READ MORE: Vaping is unhealthy, but banning it in Arizona could hurt teens more

COMMENTARY // Do Respiratory Physicians Not Care About People Who Smoke?

“If it is only vaping, then why do we care about nicotine use, in itself a relatively low harm substance? Is it that, morally, we do not like the idea of dependence or is it that we struggle with harm perceptions that distort clinical reasoning?”

Indeed.

https://twitter.com/Clive_Bates/status/1709313861130567811

READ MORE: Do respiratory physicians not care about people who smoke?

TOBACCO CONTROL // State Money Grab

It’s always been a money grab. The AGs knew the lawsuits had nothing to do with “saving children.” Youth vaping had dropped significantly BEFORE the lawsuits. There never was a “youth vaping epidemic” and the small number of youth still vaping now would otherwise be smoking.

READ MORE: Florida Attorney General Ashely Moody suing e-cigarette maker Juul

TOBACCO CONTROL // What Else Can We Ban?

“Industry observers…have been talking about the growing neo-prohibition movement for a while now. The new story is about making alcoholic beverages less socially acceptable, like with tobacco.”

Tobacco, now nicotine, next alcohol. When will it end?

READ MORE: Is Alcohol the New Tobacco?

TOBACCO CONTROL // How To Tackle An Illicit Market

After Finland ceased classifying higher nicotine pouches as “medicines,” smuggling of (very low risk) snus has dramatically decreased. Australia, which created a huge illicit market by requiring a prescription for vapor products, could learn from this.

READ MORE: Snus smuggling plummets after nicotine pouch law reform

TOBACCO CONTROL // Reaching Peak Dishonesty

“We seem to have reached peak dishonesty in parts of the health community. Instead of celebrating and sharing the good news that we have nicotine products that substitute for smoking and are likely to be at least 95 percent less risky, we have doctors declaring that it would be better to lie to the public, and pretend all these products are equally dangerous in the hope they won’t use them.”

~ Clive Bates

READ MORE: Uproar as “95 Percent Safer” Message Blamed for Youth Vaping

TOBACCO CONTROL // False Economics of Smoking

“The survey might as well have asked “Are you in favour of taking away other people’s freedom?” In a country where one in four people want nightclubs and casinos to be shut down forever, the answer to that question is increasingly ‘Yes’.”

~ Christopher Snowdon

https://twitter.com/cjsnowdon/status/1710302101585150166

READ MORE: The poverty of anti-smoking laws

CASAA IN ACTION // CASAA Live

This week’s guest is Corey Pegues, a retired NY Deputy Inspector, who joins Alex and Logan to discuss the FDA’s looming ban on menthol, illicit markets for tobacco/nicotine products, and if harm reduction can help solve issues between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

Catch the show LIVE tomorrow, Saturday September 23rd 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 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.

SoundCloud: