Don’t be fooled by the recent nice weather, it’s certainly not the end of Spring yet but that hasn’t stopped us throwing parties and having BBQ’s across the nation as we worship the sun god. Meanwhile in Vape land…
Scotland Bans Vape Sales to Under 18s
Scotland is bringing in the Health Act 2016 which includes a new ban on the sale of vape products such as eCigs & eLiquid to under 18s as well as new restrictions on advertising as well as other measures to bring Scotlands laws in line with England where sales of these products to minors were banned in 2015.
Aileen Campbell, the Public health minister, explained: “We know e-cigarettes are almost certainly safer than cigarettes and have a role to help people quit smoking, but we don’t believe children should have access to them, that’s why these age restrictions are so important.”
Vaping in Public Places
Anti Vape campaigners are now pushing for bans on vaping in public spaces and indoors. In a new article published in Tobacco Control (BMJ Journals), DR Simon Chapman and some of his colleagues spoke about their desire to see eCigarettes banned in public spaces as they feel there isn’t sufficient data yet to assure them of its safety.
The authors of the article explained: “Those advocating for vaping to be allowed in smoke-free public places centre their case on gossamer-thin evidence that vaping emissions are all but benign and therefore pose negligible risks to others akin to inhaling steam from showers, kettles or saunas. This is likely to be baseless. Unlike vapourised water, electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) emissions comprise nicotine, carbonyls, metals, organic volatile compounds, besides particulate matter, and putative carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. … Importantly, the short time span since the advent of ENDS and the latency of candidate respiratory and cardiovascular diseases that may be caused or exacerbated by ambient exposure to ENDS emissions preclude definitive risk inference. Taking the current immature evidence as a proof of safety and using it to advocate for policy that allows ENDS indoors could prove reckless.”
Public health expert Dr Michael Siegel said “We don’t just ban everything that may or may not have significant risks and wait until behaviours are proven to be benign before we allow them.”
With eCigs being proven to be at least 95% safer than traditional cigarette smoking Dr Siegal feels it is unacceptable to implement a policy or ban that interferes with someone’s freedom and ability to quit smoking when no data proves the products carry a health risk.
What do you think? You may need to fight for your right to vape in public spaces soon, so your view matters!
Australia Still Not Budging
A new study which discovered no correlation between eCigarette regulations and their efficacy for smoking cessation made headlines this week a well-respected public health professional went on record to say that this data confirms the importance of promoting vape products as a form of harm reduction.
“There’s another option called harm reduction that Australia hasn’t yet come to terms with in the same way as in the UK has.” commented, Dr. Colin Mendelsohn, The Associate Professor in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of New South Wales.
Dr Mendelsohn also went on to say “In countries such as the UK, where the regulations were milder, 73% smokers quit successfully, as opposed to 32% in Canada and Australia, where rules are stricter”.
Unfortunately, this may be too little too late as the TGA made its final decision last week to uphold the nicotine ban explaining that e-cigarette use caused nicotine addiction and could lead to teenagers becoming hooked on tobacco.
As always we would love to hear you have your say on any of the matters mentioned in this weeks weekly vape news.