Vaping had a few wins, including 6 companies prevailing against FDA in appeals court and a flavor ban tabled in California. A few new studies also supported the benefits of nicotine, showed positive CVD outcomes and superior smoking cession, and evidence that flavor bans are a waste of time. Don’t miss the new Calls to Action for Oregon, Arizona and Alaska. CASAA takes on the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and more!
Scroll to the bottom of this post for a link to the audio/video versions of this post!
CALL TO ACTION // National – Menthol Ban
Starting on May 4, 2022, the FDA is accepting comments on two proposed rules banning the use of flavors other than tobacco in combustible tobacco products.
Whether you’re supporting the rule or opposed, one thing we can all agree on is that people who smoke need safer alternatives to cigarettes — mentholated or not!
While the FDA is moving ahead with banning more tobacco products, it is failing to authorize a meaningful variety of e-liquids and devices that are responsible for recent accelerated declines in smoking.
In addition to sharing your views on banning menthol cigarettes and other flavored combustible products, take this opportunity to urge FDA to ensure that people have access to safer forms of nicotine delivery that are enjoyable and affordable–like vaping, nicotine pouches, and smokeless tobacco products.
TAKE ACTION: FDA Menthol Ban – Submit Your Comments
CALL TO ACTION // ALASKA
Please contact Gov. Dunleavy–who is expected to reach a decision by Sept. 16th–and urge him to VETO this bill! SB 45 imposes an unnecessary and excessive TAX on vapor products and other burdensome requirements for retailers.
TAKE ACTION: Fight a Vape Tax in Alaska!
CALL TO ACTION // MULTNOMAH,OR
Multnomah County Board of Commissioners is asking for public input on a potential ban on sales of flavored tobacco and nicotine products! County Board directs the Health Dept to return with recommendations in September.
TAKE ACTION: Flavor Ban Comments Needed!
CALL TO ACTION // TEMPE, AZ!
City may be moving forward with a ban on the sale of the flavored vapor products helping adults quit smoking. Share your experiences and urge the council members to oppose any plan to ban low-risk alternatives to smoking!
TAKE ACTION: https://casaa.org/call-to-action/arizona-tempe-stop-a-flavor-ban/
FDA // Appeals Court Update
A federal appeals court handed the independent vaping industry its first major win on August 23rd, ruling that the FDA acted improperly when it issued marketing denial orders (MDOs) to six small manufacturers.
Reported for Vaping360 by CASAA director Jim McDonald.
This is most definitely a win. Think about it. This was only for 6. The FDA gave millions of PMTA's a MDO. Which means there could be hundreds of companies lining up to have their PMTA's also reviewed by a court. Now you have hundreds of companies taking the FDA to court.
— Rawg Slinkard (@Rawgster) August 24, 2022
READ MORE: Federal Court Rules Against FDA in Six MDO Appeals
AROUND THE WORLD // A Filipino Harm Reduction Win
“Enacting some of the most progressive vaping legislation in Asia Pacific now makes the Philippines an international leader in effective Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR). It’s a massive wake-up call for other countries to also enable smokers to switch to safer nicotine products,” says Nancy Loucas, Executive Coordinator of the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA).
An e-cigarette poll in the Philippines has attracted attention. The survey shows that 94% of Filipinos agree that the government should formulate reasonable e-cigarette regulatory policies and encourage smokers to switch to e-cigarettes and other harm reduction products. pic.twitter.com/4SA0veZ4cw
— Moli Holi (@HC06591627) June 28, 2022
READ MORE: Filipino Green Light For Vaping – A Massive Wake-up Call
REGULATION // Flavor Ban Tabled
Foster City, CA tabled a proposed ban on flavored vapor and tobacco products–for now. Largely concerned about potential litigation, lawmakers should also be concerned that proponents used outdated 2018-19 data to lie about “increasing” youth vaping.
The Foster City Council has tabled an ordinance prohibiting selling flavored tobacco and electronic cigarettes over litigation concerns and a desire to see what actions the state takes in November. https://t.co/fe5b3baZtC
— San Mateo Daily Journal (@smdailyjournal) August 22, 2022
READ MORE: Foster City tables e-cigarettes ban
RESEARCH // Vaping Improves CVD Outcomes, Aids Smoking Cessation
New study finds nicotine vapor products are not only AS EFFECTIVE in improving CVD outcomes as nicotine-free vapor products and NRT, they also OUTPERFORMED BOTH for smoking cessation.
So this decidedly negative headline on an article about the study, written by the esteemed “2 Minute Medicine” blog, left us scratching our heads….
RESEARCH // Another Junk Vaping Study
Researchers only compared vapers vs. non-vapers/non-smokers, which completely ignores the fact that most adult vapers would otherwise be smoking!
Additionally, Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Robert Vassallo further endangers the public by spreading EVALI misinformation.
READ MORE: Mayo Clinic study finds e-cigarette users more likely to experience COVID symptoms
RESEARCH // Nicotine Benefits
Despite claims by anti-harm reduction groups that nicotine causes “brain damage,” is always highly addictive and possibly causes cancer, researchers believe smoke-free nicotine treatment will help with memory loss, and is not addictive or cancer-causing. The Vanderbilt University, USC and the National Institutes of Health study is also looking at treating depression with the patch.
Could a nicotine patch help with depression or memory loss in older adults? Some @VUMCResearch leaders are finding out. https://t.co/ucpSVkOv4G
— Hannah Herner (@hannah_herner) August 16, 2022
READ MORE: Nicotine patches being used by researchers to stimulate memory in older adults
RESEARCH // Flavor Ban Fail
A study from the University of California-Davis looks like it will land quite a blow to the anti-harm reduction “flavors hook kids” claim, finding no benefit from California flavor bans. Instead, researchers surmised “increased ease of access and marijuana use may be explanatory factors.”
READ MORE: STUDY: Vape Flavor Bans Failed to Reduce Youth Vaping
TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION // Media Misleading Consumers
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which receives funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Bloomberg-funded Vital Strategies, wrote an article criticizing the Philip Morris company for “misleading” consumers about nicotine levels in it’s IQOS heated tobacco products.
CASAA called out the reporters on Twitter, writing “When you write an article criticizing a company for misleading consumers about nicotine content, you definitely shouldn’t be misleading consumers about nicotine itself. It’s not nicotine or tobacco that increases health risk, it’s the smoke. The whole point is it’s smoke-free.”
The BIJ tweeted back, so CASAA responded with clarification. You can read the entire CASAA twitter thread below! (Please be sure to like and retweet it!)
https://twitter.com/CASAAmedia/status/1565815490399928320
READ MORE: Philip Morris misleading the public about nicotine in heated tobacco
TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION // Signs of Success…and a Need To Do Better
New survey shows that vaping has successfully helped millions stop smoking in the UK, but also reveals how dangerous claiming that “switching isn’t quitting” and exaggerating the low health risks associated with vaping is to public health. How many more could be saved had they not heard such anti-harm reduction rhetoric?
“A third of adults said they believed vaping was more, or equally as harmful, as smoking, which report’s authors (ASH UK) said was incorrect.” Hazel Cheeseman, Ash deputy CEO, said the increase in smokers switching to vaping was “great news”. @ASHScotland https://t.co/IuP77BFQ8J
— UKVIA (@Vaping_Industry) August 29, 2022
READ MORE: Vaping reaches record levels in Great Britain, report reveals
TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION // More Media Misinformation
They never answer the headline question “Are more teens switching from vapes to cigarettes?” (all evidence to date says “No,”) but they do manage to misinform readers with outdated youth vaping data (from 2019); wrongly suggest vaping may cause cancer; use the old “as addictive as heroin and cocaine” trope to scaremonger; and equate the low risks of nicotine addiction with the far more deadly risks from inhaling smoke. Harm reduction advocates should prepare to protect themselves from facepalms.
1. Youth vaping has dropped >60% in the last 2 yrs-not an epidemic.
2. Vaping is not a gateway to smoking by any stretch of the imagination. Teen smoking dropped w the advent of vaping.
3. Common liability, not vaping itself, better explains the MJ use.— Marc and Bernie (@SeismicPirate) September 2, 2022
READ MORE: Are more teens switching from vapes to cigarettes? Health official weighs in
CASAA IN ACTION // 2022 Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum (GTNF)
Adding to that perspective will be [Alex] Clark of CASAA, which has long worked to highlight the issues facing nicotine consumers. Clark would like to do away with the victim narrative that casts people who smoke as dupes swayed by peer pressure and advertising.
“Even with a growing awareness of the need to address issues of health, racial and economic equity, the legacy of stigma embedded in anti-smoking policies is leaving millions of people behind,” he says. “The overweighted focus on predatory marketing as the driver of youth tobacco use is ultimately dismissive of more powerful underlying factors contributing to any substance use.”
READ MORE: Listening to Nicotine Users
CASAA MEDIA // Spotify
CASAA’s podcast is now on Spotify! Please give us a follow here:
CASAA IN ACTION // Twitter Spaces
On this week’s Twitter Space we talk with journalist Alex Norcia about his investigation into the inner workings of FDA and what he’s uncovered so far via FOIA requests. You won’t want to miss this episode – now available on CASAA’s YouTube channel, too!
Join us this Wednesday as we talk with @Alex_Norcia about his investigation into the inner workings of FDA and what he’s uncovered so far via FOIA requests.https://t.co/QyDZpXJ2NI
— CASAA (@CASAAmedia) August 15, 2022
CASAA IN ACTION // CASAA Live
NOTE: CASAA Live will be on hiatus for the summer and will be returning in September. In the meantime, replay audio from the CASAA Twitter Spaces will be broadcast on our YouTube channel in the same Saturday timeslot.
If you missed the most recent CASAA Live show, check out the replay now! CASAA Live is on alternating Saturdays at 4:30 PM ET/3:30 PM CT/2:30 PM MT/1:30 PM PT on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter!
*This Twitter Space was originally recorded on August 17, 2022.
On this episode the CASAA Twitter Spaces panel spoke with journalist Alex Norcia about his investigation into the inner workings of FDA and what he’s uncovered so far via Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
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 // 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:
Social Media Thumbnail Photo by Elsa Olofsson on Unsplash