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Tobacco Control Experts Support Vaping, FDA News and More! – Tobacco Harm Reduction News

Fifteen tobacco control experts speak out in favor of vaping as harm reduction, FDA bans 55,000 vape products. John Hopkins professor on nicotine. Mayo Clinic study on vaping and COVID-19. Study finds vaping doesn’t damage lung cilia. Poll finds adult vaping is down and smoking is up. Anti-vaping groups pressure FDA to ignore law and more!

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

TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION // Tobacco Control Experts

In an unprecedented report published in the American Journal of Public Health, 15 esteemed scientists, doctors, and public health professionals — all of whom are former presidents of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) — are drawing attention to the need for balance in the debate and resulting policies around vaping and other safer nicotine products to include the needs of more than just children.

Alex Clark, CASAA’s CEO, echoed the call for balance:

The experiences of people who smoke and people who are switching to safer nicotine products such as vaping, as well as people who currently smoke, are underweighted in research and policy discussions about tobacco regulations. As a consequence, policies designed almost solely to prevent young people from using tobacco are not serving a majority of people who use nicotine. Low-risk alternatives to smoking have been available for more than a century, but moralizing and zealotry about using nicotine and other drugs are keeping people in the dark where they are suffering avoidable early deaths.”

READ MORE: Tobacco Control Experts Promote Vaping

IN THE NEWS // FDA Takes Action

FDA rejects another 55,000 PMTAs from 3 small companies, this time saying the companies failed to provide studies that prove the benefits of adults switching to vaping overcomes the alleged “risk posed to youth” from flavors. However, those “risks” have never been scientifically proven and the FDA seems to ignore the benefits of vaping replacing youth smoking. Read the full story as written by CASAA director Jim McDonald for Vaping360.

READ MORE: FDA Signals It Won’t Authorize Flavored E-Liquid PMTAs

IN THE NEWS // Media Misinformation

Article wonders why youth with ADHD have greater risk of smoking/nicotine use, tells readers youth start to smoke “for fun” or peer pressure and should, essentially, be told to “just say no.” We suggest watching the video at the end of the article (that the reporter apparently didn’t actually watch) which more correctly discusses that nicotine for those with ADHD is most likely “self-medicating.”

READ MORE: ADHD in Teens Linked to Smoking: What’s Triggering These Youngsters to Smoke More Frequently and How to Stop Them From Doing So?

TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION // Nicotine and Harm Reduction

Alex Norcia from Filter magazine interviews Dr. Matthew Johnson, a professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins, about why nicotine “has long been relegated to the outskirts of harm reduction.”

READ MORE: Will the Drug Liberation Movement Make Room for Nicotine?

CASAA IN ACTION // New Testimonial Database

CASAA is honored to be part of the international effort to amplify the voices of safer-nicotine consumers. With the goal of creating the world’s largest collection of successful vape stories, two leading consumer advocacy groups have launched the RightToVape.org site.

https://twitter.com/LivePippas/status/1427376048543395841

READ MORE:  Misinformation Threatens Efforts to Reduce Tobacco Harm

CASAA IN ACTION // The Truth About Vaping

If you missed the live show on Saturday, where CASAA president Danielle Jones premiered and discussed the brilliant 4th episode of her “The Truth About Vaping” series, catch the replay now and then go to her channel to SHARE IT EVERYWHERE!

CASAA IN ACTION // Smoke-free Tobacco

CASAA CEO Alex Clark is quoted in an article in CStore Decisions magazine regarding states considering flavor bans on all low risk tobacco products.

We’ve already seen how harmful flavor bans are for people who vape by pressuring them back to smoking or buying products from informal sources. There’s no reason to expect a different result from banning other flavored smoke-free options like snus, nicotine pouches and moist snuff.”

READ MORE:  Smokeless Stands Firm

RESEARCH // COVID-19

Contrary to the unsubstantiated claims made by anti-vaping public health groups, a study of nearly 70,000 people by the Mayo Clinic has found that vaping does NOT appear to increase susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

READ MORE:  Electronic Cigarette Use Is Not Associated with COVID-19 Diagnosis

RESEARCH // No Damage to Lung Cilia

Study finds combustion-free vaping and heat-not-burn products “are unlikely to have adverse effects on [lung cilia] function, and add to the evidence that these products do not appear to pose a significant respiratory health hazard.”

READ MORE:  Impact of exclusive e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products use on muco-ciliary clearance

RESEARCH // Exposing Anti-vaping Bias

Authors of this study acknowledge that the claim made by advocates is “safer” for people who smoke (not “100% safe,”) yet then go on to focus on results showing the products are “not 100% safe” for non-smokers. Unbiased researchers would also wonder if switching to vaping reduces the cellular oxidative stress for people who smoke, as they did in this January 2020 study.

READ MORE:  A Single Vaping Session Can Increase Cellular Oxidative Stress in Non-Smokers

HEADS UP! // Springdale, Arkansas

Without any scientific evidence to justify it, city is considering banning vaping and use of smoke-free tobacco (will they do mouth checks??) outdoors in parks and on trails, with fine up to $500!

READ MORE:  No smoking? Springdale considers smoking ban in parks

PUBLIC HEALTH // War on Vaping Fail

A U.S. Gallup poll finds a disturbing trend for public health, yet reports it as mainly good news. CASAA compared statistics from 2019 that were not reported in the article and found that past week vaping by young adults is down from 19% in 2019 to 17% in 2020, with the smoking rate seeing no change at 14%. The even worse news not mentioned in the article is that vaping declined and smoking rose for older adults ages 30-64 years old.

READ MORE:  Smoking and Vaping Remain Steady and Low in U.S

PUBLIC HEALTH // The (Im)moral Crusade Against Science

CASAA director Jim McDonald writes in Vaping360 magazine about the “latest example of federal and state officials and anti-vaping special interest groups attempting to pressure the [FDA] to disregard the scientific review of tobacco products required by the Tobacco Control Act.”

READ MORE:  State AGs Pressure FDA to Reject Flavored Vape PMTAs

PUBLIC HEALTH // Policy Consequences

Ocean City mayor, police chief, and city council skip meeting about police reform after violence against vaping teens. Reform is essential, but lawmakers must also question the policies themselves, and their inevitable consequences.

READ MORE:  Lawmakers Gather Months After Video of Cops Using a Taser on Vaping Teen Goes Viral

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 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:

YouTube: