Vape News In Brief: December 4th, 2017 Edition

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Hear ye, hear ye! The VNIB™ column is back in session! The honorable anonymous coward behind this semi-regular mashup of everything that's worth knowing (and several things that questionably aren't) about the goings-on in the world of vape is once again presiding. This week, we bring you:

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An (increasingly rare) positive story about cigalike sensation JUUL. Though the target of heavy criticism for their popularity among youth, stealth design, and ridiculously high nicotine content, the device remains mainstream vaping's breakaway hit – so popular the company is intentionally limiting distribution of new devices as its supply chain struggles to keep up with demand.

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Misleading scientific claims are keeping people smoking who'd otherwise quit, says Marewa Glover, an associate professor of public health at Massey University in New Zealand. She and her cohorts are believers in the British claim that vaping is 95% safer than smoking, and long for the same reduction in tobacco use Britain is currently enjoying. Glover goes so far as to encourage the government to pony up for vouchers to provide free starter kits for low-income smokers willing to quit.

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Next door in Australia, where vaping with nicotine remains illegal, there's been a bit of a dust-up between some Australian researchers working to discredit vaping and Public Health England, the governmental body who first made the '95% safer' claim. PHE is demanding what it says are false claims be retracted, the trio of researchers have called the health body 'pathetic' and said more studies verifying the evidence gathered from existing studies are necessary before any of the growing body of data on vaping harm reduction can be believed.

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The American Medical Association is warning that youth who use high levels of nicotine in e-cigarettes are more likely to smoke later. Take this with a grain of salt, because a) the AMA has been adamantly anti-vapor for years and b) youth getting access to vapor products should be viewed as a law enforcement problem, unless all tobacco products, alcohol, and other adult-oriented objects (including cars, which are age-restricted) are also viewed as items that should be banned to 'save the children.'

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Even the Washington Post is shaking its head at this news: Indonesia, the world's fourth most-populated country and one where the smoking rate is far higher than the worldwide average, is set to implement heavy restrictions on vaping while the tobacco industry operates with virtual impunity. The country's trade minister suggests vapers just 'become regular smokers' instead of trying to quit if they don't like the law.

Let's leave this one on a high note – we'll be back again soon, all the best until the next go-round, folks!