Vapril – Speak Up For Vaping!
We are in #VApril – the yearly campaign to get across how beneficial vaping is to help people stop smoking, organised by the UKVIA (UK Vaping Industry Association).
There is even a dedicated website – Vapril.org and they want your input!
Visit the link Speak Up For Vaping and you can watch other stories and share your own.
Hopefully this will help spread a more positive message about how vaping can really help those chained to the cigarettes escape.
Bugger Off EVALI…
Yes we are sick of the stupid term “EVALI” which was created for a lung condition which occurred in 2019-2020.
The name stands for “E-cigarette or Vaping product use Associated Lung Injury” – which as I explain is utter balls. It really needs to be renamed!
It has been proven many times that this was down to dodgy black-market THC cartridges containing Vitamin C Acetate. Which you will never find in standard nicotine vapes.
Anyway if you want more data to throw back at those who still blame vaping – a new study is available on the PubMed website titled “Noninvasive Systematic biomarkers of e-cigarette or Vaping use associated lung injury – a pilot study”.
I won’t copy and paste the whole thing but to summarise – a THC (Cannabis component) metabolite was found in plasma of EVALI subjects tested. Plus there were many other biomarkers found in both the urine and blood of those with EVALI.
Basically some of this confusion was caused by those suffering with the disease not reporting use of THC cartridges. Obviously felt they needed to hide this for some reason.
Yet another study in which the authors appear surprised that all the participants with “EVALI” tested positive for THC, despite 5/6 claiming no use. #THCVALI https://t.co/IR2mVYqpwL pic.twitter.com/jkYO4ya99E
— Jonathan Foulds PhD (@JonathanFoulds) April 7, 2022
I quote from the study…
“In our self-reporting survey, only one of the subjects with EVALI admitted to using THC- or cannabidiol-based products for vaping. However, on urine analysis, multiple EVALI subjects, as well as non-user controls, demonstrated elevated levels of THC metabolite 11-nor-9-carboxy-Δ9-THC. These findings are in agreement with a previous self-reported public survey that shows that EVALI subjects typically use THC-containing products more than e-cigarette users who did not develop lung injury”
An earlier article from July 2021 on the Qeios website by Clive Bates explains more of the details. I quote…
“The attribution of nicotine vaping as a cause of EVALI should stop. The term EVALI is misleading and should be retired and replaced.”
VAPORESSO Rebrands with New Logo, Bringing More Focus to Vapers
VAPORESSO has unveiled a new brand image at VAPEXPO in Lille.
“This is an evolution for us. By establishing a clear identity built on innovation, perseverance
and empathy, we hope to transcend the uncertainty of these times.”
Thalia Cheng, CMO of VAPORESSO, said during the launch event on 10th April 2022.
VAPORESSO’s new logo: inspired by vapers, designed for vapers
VAPORESSO’s new logo features “V” at the forefront, encircled behind by the letter “O.”
O, vapor ring, joy, love and hope. At the surface level, the “O” represents a vapor ring that opens up. On a deeper level the “O” also represents the joy, love and hope VAPORESSO seeks to bring to its customers.
V, vapers know better.
The “V” is a symbol of the passion, spirit, attitude and conviction in their community, that VAPORESSO hopes to continue to emulate.
Levelling Up
We have mentioned before about the UK Government “Levelling up” campaign to try and close the gap in heath disparities across the UK.
Basically part of this is a new Tobacco review – headed by Javed Khan. Also involved are the APPG Vaping (All Party Parliamentary Group for Vaping).
There is a great Twitter thread below outlining how getting people to quit smoking and also promoting vaping could help people in all social demographics improve their health.
Here is the start of the thread – either click on the Tweet to view the rest or see the screenshots I have added below.
‘Results showed 384,634 years of life would be saved in the North East, 923,942 in the North West and 630,589 in Yorkshire and The Humber.’
— APPGVaping (@AppgVaping) April 7, 2022
As you can see this group is very positive about vaping and also refers to an article on Capx.co entitled “Give up to level up – how going smoke free can boost the poorest regions” written by Mark Oates director of WeVapeUK.
A quote from this article is below…
“Doubling down on tobacco harm reduction is a clear, impactful, evidence-based means of helping smokers on low incomes to deal with the rising cost of living. While the UK can cement its status as a world-leader in smoking cessation, it can only do so if it actually informs smokers of the alternatives through advertising. Levelling up requires a level playing field for the very tools that can help address the problem. Without this, the PM’s ambitious project risks being snuffed out.”
MyBlu Denial
Some more “fun” over in the USA where the bat shit crazy government are trying to tear apart the vape market.
In order to be allowed to sell vape products in the US vape manufacturers must submit a PMTA (Pre-Market Tobacco Application) and it must be accepted.
On April 8th 2022 the FDA issued a denial for Fontem US LLC in regards to its “MyBlu” vape pod kit.
You can read the reasons in the statement – FDA Issues Marketing Denial Orders To Fontem US For MyBlu Products.
In a way – this sounds awful I know – but the MyBlu is a terrible kit. I reviewed it here and it leaked, wouldn’t fire consistently and even the pods were arriving leaking. The taste was horrible, crap battery life and it was all round one of those vape kits that would send someone back to smoking.
You only have to see some of the reader comments who all totally agree with my dislike of it!
I would be horrified if a smoker tried this as their first vape – as this would totally put them off vaping for life. So the US are not missing much with this kit being refused. It was old technology when it was first released – I reviewed it back in 2018!
Why on earth they would try to get a 4 year old device approved absolutely stumps me – unless that is how long it has taken for their application to be processed?
If you are going to buy a “petrol station vape kit” there are far better out there than this – look at the Logic brand or Vype/Vuse for a start.
Or we run down some of the Best Starter Kits or Best Pod Kits in our “Best Vapes” articles – we do try to stop you buying crap you know!
Perhaps in a weird way – if youngsters buy the MyBlu (as it was dirt cheap in the UK) – it might lower the teen vaping rates by putting them off vaping altogether? Sadly it would also put a lot of smokers off too.
There’s an idea – youngsters only are allowed to buy the MyBlu kit – they will never want to vape again! Win Win!
Irish Vapers Want Flavour!
A series of Tweets by the Respect Vapers group discusses a research survey conducted by Red C.
You can click on the Tweet below or scroll down and I have screen shots of the thread.
🚨❗NEW POLLING – Red C has just released the results of a new survey on #Irish vapers’ opinions on #vaping.
A MAJOR takeaway is that 96% of Irish vapers would NOT favour an outright ban on flavoured vapes.
Keep reading for more! 🧵⬇️
— Respect Vapers (@RespectVapers) April 12, 2022
Respect Vapers is a group who represent Irish Vapers and campaign for their rights. This research was conducted to see what impact banning flavours would have on present vapers.
You can Download a PDF of the report here – “Understanding How Vapers would react to a ban on flavoured vapes“.
This shows the findings of the face to face, street based survey of around 221 people who regularly use vaping products in the centres of Dublin, Cork and Galway.
Findings include the fact that a large majority of vapers are ex-smokers and vaping has been far more effective in helping them to quit than NRT.
Also two in five ex-smokers who vape were concerned they would be likely to start smoking again if a flavour ban was introduced.
This is scary stuff!
The document is well worth a read as it has some great data on the demographics of these vapers, how vaping helped them to quit the ciggies and their opinions on the possibility of a vaping “black market”.
Vaporesso Re-Brand – Marvel-ous…
The popular vape brand Vaporesso have had a facelift.
According to this article in the Vaping Post – the new image was unveiled at the VAPEEXPO in Lille in France on 10th April 2022.
The new logo features an “O” shape with the letter “V” going through it.
Apparently the “O” symbolises…
“A ring that opens up, it’s not just a visual symbol for the vapour our products produce, but also the joy, the love and the hope it brings.”
And the “V” stands for…
“Vapers know better. To us, it’s a symbol of the passion that the vaping community has. So we strive to create products that live up to their dedication and belief”.
Some people on social media have already commented on how similar the new logo is to the Marvel “Avengers” logo… wonder if anything will come of that?
Australian Survey On Vaping Success…
A PubMed paper has been published titled “Effect of vaping on past-year smoking cessation success of Australians in 2019 – evidence from a national survey“.
As the title suggests the survey was to investigate how vaping has helped smokers quit despite the heavy regulation of vaping in Australia.
The difficulty in obtaining vaping equipment and supplies in that country mean that the effectiveness of vaping may be lower than in countries like the UK where it is easy to vape.
The conclusions state…
“Use of e-cigarettes for a smoking cessation attempt appears to be associated with greater success among Australians who attempted to quit tobacco in 2019 compared with Australians attempting to quit without e-cigarettes, after adjusting for confounding effects.”
The data was obtained from the 2019 wave of Australia’s National Drug Strategy Household Survey.
You can read the full survey results in PDF form here.
Also Colin Mendelsohn (Chair of the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association) has written an excellent summary of the findings – “New Study Shows Vaping Helps Australian Smokers Quit“.
The first Australian population study has found that #vaping nicotine increases the odds of quitting by 68-124% compared to not vaping
The findings suggest vaping is the most effective quitting aid for Australian smokershttps://t.co/RC0ll5hc9A
— Colin Mendelsohn (@ColinMendelsohn) April 12, 2022
Well another busy week in “Vape-Land”!
Have a great one – see you next week!
