Vape News In Brief: January 21st, 2018 Edition

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*VNIB* is a semi-regular column in which we take a look around the globe, searching for news, science, and the occasional pop culture reference related to vaping and the life of vapers. Today, let's talk about…

…this editorial from an Oregon vape shop owner that hits hard on all points. If you've been following this blog for a while you've heard most of this, but here's a good read on how vapor products are NOT tobacco products, how the FDA's deeming regulations (delayed but not defeated) favor Big Tobacco's efforts to keep people using tobacco products, and the need for meaningful legislation changes to help more people quit smoking.

(Not necessarily) Scary! A new round of articles is out claiming e-cigarettes are linked to birth defects. It should go without saying that ingestion of any potentially harmful substances, including nicotine, should be avoided during pregnancy. But here we're confronted with claims that diacetyl is present in most e-liquids, and a line is drawn here as to a new danger point. We've covered diketones in the past, and while they are present in some, mostly creamy/dessert flavors, and do give some cause for concern, the levels at which they're found are much lower than in tobacco cigarettes and by making educated e-liquid decisions you can avoid them if you're concerned about ingestion. The bulk of these articles we've seen also make dubious, discrediting claims such as 'the flavors that contained the chemicals were Cotton Candy, Fruit Squirts, Cupcake, and others meant to appeal to young users' – everyone knows all adults everywhere hate cotton candy, fruit, and cupcakes, so the only reason for creating these flavors is to appeal to kids, right?

Back to the good – check out this op-ed from a Tennessee state representative, where smoking is 25% more prevalent than the national average. He's arguing pretty effectively in favor of the US accepting more of the growing international consensus on the power of vaping as a means of weaning smokers worldwide off of tobacco. It's a slow and uphill battle, but every legislator that responds to the facts on the ground represents a small win…

In what's being described as 'a blow to Philip Morris,' the company's heat-not-burn tobacco cigarettes will be taxed like other tobacco products in Israel. In that country, we're talking a whopping 65 percent excise tax on iQOS devices, meaning there won't be much financial incentive for smokers to switch from their normal combustible cigarettes to the PG-soaked version that slides into a heating tube. This is a mixed bag – while often confused with vaping, which doesn't involve tobacco, heat-not-burn devices have reportedly been effective harm reduction tools for some smokers who haven't had luck with liquid-based e-cigs.

We touched on this a bit last week, but new research suggests tobacco cigarettes are much more addictive than we previously thought – and the addictive quality of smoking hasn't necessarily been taken lightly in recent years. Of people who try at least one cigarette in their lifetimes, nearly 69 percent end up becoming habitual smokers for at least some period of time. Not nice.

Over in the UK, vapor product distributiors are preparing to launch a monthlong 'vaping awareness' campaign, unironically dubbed VApril. An industry group plans to use the month of April to promote awareness of vapor products, responsible and courteous vaping habits, and to encourage smokers to put down the smokes and give vaping a one-month test run. In a country that already promotes vaping as a means of harm reduction throughout 'Stoptober,' this makes for a full 1/6 of the year dedicated in some sense to tobacco cessation. Not bad!

Here's something we'd like to see more often – an 'exploding vape battery' story combined with common sense tips to not do things to make batteries explode. Nearly every exploding battery story we've ever seen, and we've seen plenty over the years, comes down to a) user error, or b) improper battery selection/use (also user error). Act safe and you can stay safe, folks.

Already possibly the stupidest thing we've ever encountered: people trying to eat laundry detergent. Even worse: this guy, who tried to vape some. Please, folks – eat food, vape e-liquid, and use laundry detergent to wash clothes. These three are not interchangeable in any way, shape, or form. Thanks, The Management.

Science: a new two-year, peer-reviewed study is set to report next month that the use of vapor products produced no detectable health consequences in a group of smokers who used vapor devices. Of course, in order to actually reap any health benefits from vaping, you have to commit to quitting smoking completely and permanently – but it's nice to know that yet another study seems convinced there's no harm in smokers vaping.

We'll leave you with this for now, but news is pouring in hot and heavy these days – expect an emergency mid-week update from the VNIB crew in a couple days…