Vape News in Brief – June 6, 2017 Edition

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It's that time again – as usual, there's plenty of news breaking in the wide world of vape – let's get to fixing it.

Vaping seems to be making inroads in India. While cigarettes are still common in the country (an estimated 30 percent of adult men smoke), e-cigarettes remain illegal, as selling nicotine in any form other than tobacco or as a certified quit aid is forbidden. One vape seller was even sentenced to three years in prison in 2014. It's nice, then, to see vaping getting some positive press that might help a few people come around.

 

Here's a level-headed piece discussing the dreaded 'popcorn lung' scare claims from FactCheck.org. While it does incite a bit of fear by relying on the 'we need to do more research and vaping should be treated as deadly until we can find a way to spin the science that makes it appear so' branch of academia, the information is generally well assembled and allows a rational reader to conclude whether or not the potential risks of vaping are preferable to the known risks of smoking.

 

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The push to legalize vaping in Australia continues. It seems we're seeing more and more positive press from down under in recent months, which is encouraging.

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Meanwhile, closer to home, California is looking to ban vaping in and within 25 feet of public housing. State congresscritters says the proposed ban would save lives and money for the state, though it's hard to see how anything that discourages tobacco users from quitting could be sold to an informed populace as a net positive. >

 

Eleven Democratic senators are lobbying new FDA head Scott Gottlieb, pushing him to forge on rather than reconsider the draconian FDA deeming regulations laid out last year. Forbes, for one, doesn't think they'll get far, and lays out the reasons. There's nothing new if you've been following the debate, but if you're unfamiliar with this fight for the right to vape in the US, give this one a read.

South Africa: the latest to weigh in in favor of vaping.

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Just a little off the wall note, not really news but still cool – old guys vaping is a thing in the Foo Fighters' newest video release. If you still remember them from that Mentos-inspired 'Big Me' video when MTV had music on television, you're a geezer like me (skip to about 5:10 for the old folks flash-mobbing a Prius full of hipsters and stealing their mod)…

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Even in China, the birthplace of the e-cig as we know it, vaping is stirring up some controversy. Given that most of the world's vape hardware still originates there, significant regulatory setbacks could send shock waves throughout the planet.

This story has sadly had traction for most of the last week – a young Canadian girl was hospitalized after drinking a bottle of e-liquid. We can't stress enough that as vapers, we're all responsible for taking care of our liquids and hardware – that means being vigilant at all times to make sure there's no way any of our gear can fall into the hands of kids.

Celebrity gossip decidedly isn't my thing, but if it's yours check out this list of (mostly deplorable) celebrities who are publicly into vaping. Here's another list of slightly-less-repugnant famous vapers – apparently this is a thing this week.

Refreshing: medical professionals in the Philippines are exploring prescribing e-cigarettes to patients looking to quit smoking. It's not official policy, but the fact that such a conversation is happening at all is cause for celebration.

We'll leave you with this headline from the London Economic: 4 Research Studies That are Shut-Up Calls for Vape Haters.