NHS Prescription E-cigarettes – More Reactions
The news the UK Government is considering NHS prescription e-cigarettes has been picked up by the world’s mainstream media.
So far there’s been few opponents to the idea, and the UK retail trade says it will be ‘good for the industry’.
As you can see from my article: E-cigarettes On NHS Prescriptions – the Good and the Bad – I have a few reservations…but hey I’ve put enough of a damper on things lol.
Trade magazine Better Retailing spoke to a number of shop keepers and all seemed keen on the idea – of course any licensed vape product would probably only be available from pharmacies.
However the retailers say it would mean more smokers making the switch and may lessen the negativity around vaping.
Avtar Sidhu, of St. John’s Budgens in Kenilworth, near me in Warwickshire, said:
There has been loads of conflicting and negative messaging over the years regarding vapes, so it’s great that the UK government has come out with some positive rhetoric.
It gives consumers confidence, raises its [vaping category] profile, and helps turn it into a mainstream product.
Tobacco is still huge in comparison to e-cigarettes, and while vaping has been chipping away at it, I think this is a catalyst for it to really flourish and grow.
The fact it’s going through the NHS is good for the whole category and industry.
It’s morally the right thing to do.
We’ve been trying to guide people off cigarettes and this legitimises it.
A lot of people who have thought about it will turn to it. This will work in the favour of the retailers who view this as an opportunity.
Great points.
Professor Nick Hopkinson, a consultant physician at the Royal Brompton and medical director at Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation, spoke to Sky News saying:
There is already good evidence that commercially available e-cigarettes enable people to switch away from smoking to a much safer alternative.
However, the development of medicinally licensed e-cigarettes would be a really important step forward, providing patients and healthcare professionals with an additional tool to break dependence on smoking, backed up by the reassurance that comes from a rigorous authorisation process.
Deborah Arnott, Chief Executive of ASH said:
The MHRA guidance opens the door to a day when smokers can be prescribed e-cigarettes to improve their chances of successfully quitting.
…Smokers find it hard to quit, taking on average 30 attempts to succeed, which is why we need new tools in the toolbox, such as medicinally licensed e-cigarettes.
Consumer e-cigarettes bought over the counter are proven to be the most successful quitting aid, but nearly a third of smokers have never tried them, and a similar proportion believe, wrongly, that e-cigarettes are as, or more harmful, than smoking.
These are the smokers who are more likely to try vaping if they had the reassurance provided by a medicines licence and products available on prescription.
I’m still suspicious of licensed vape kits, but have to admit the debate is certainly keeping the UK at the top of the tobacco harm reduction tables.
If current smokers see the news of NHS prescription e-cigarettes becoming a possibility, then yeah let’s hope millions more make the switch.
As to if we ever see such a product…it’s a only a possibility at the moment.
So…what are your thoughts?
Should we see NHS prescription e-cigarettes?
Do you class the vape device your using as a ‘medicine?’
Over 3.5 million of us here in the UK didn’t need a prescription to quit smoking via vaping…
Further reading from the UK Government: Guidance for licensing electronic cigarettes and other inhaled nicotine-containing products as medicines
Court Of Appeal Slams the FDA PMTA Process
The FDA has been slammed by the US Court of Appeals for the whole PMTA process and some say it might even be ‘unconstitutional’.
Judges reviewing the refusal of PMTA applications from vape brand Triton Distribution accused the FDA of moving the goalposts – or as they put it:
…a suprise switcheroo…
The ruling is 19 pages long and the judges do not hold back ending with:
Contrary to the FDA’s suggestion, we have the authority to give Triton relief pending review.
For the foregoing reasons, Triton’s motion for a stay pending review of its petition is GRANTED.
Fantastic news and Triton’s 55,000 products it had put up for analysis can now remain on the market…for the time being at least.
The law does like a precedence so this should open up for the floodgates for even more appeals.
Read the whole ruling here: Wages and White Lion Investments LLC v. USFDA
A Vape Tax Not A Vape Ban For Malaysia
Malaysia looks likely to impose a vape tax rather than an outright ban on e-cigarettes.
However anti-vape groups in the country are furious and are calling for a government re-think.
It was back in 2019 the Malaysian Government looked at banning all things vape and that was on the back of the so called EVALI outbreak in the USA.
We now of course know that had absolutely nothing to do with nicotine based vaped and was of course due to contaminated and illicit bought cannabis pens.
Read my article from back in 2019 for more info on that: Vaping Is NOT About To Kill You – But Black-Market THC Cartridges Might
The vape tax was announced last week during the country’s budget hearings.
Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said:
The government plans to introduce excise duty on liquid or gel products containing nicotine used for electronic cigarettes and vapes.
Good to hear, especially as the stats show a marked decrease in death and serious tobacco related illnesses since the country allowed e-cigarettes to be sold.
Of course the anti-vape crowd is unhappy and is pinning their colours to the flag of the anti-vaping WHO!
A 35 strong group, including health professionals, have written to the government demanding a rethink.
The letter says:
We strongly object to the proposal. We are disappointed the government is allowing the sale of another addictive product which has been proven to be detrimental to the people’s physical and mental health.
The government’s decision is also not in line with the decision by the National Fatwa Council in 2015 that deemed electronic cigarettes and vape were haram.
As such, we urge the 220 MPs to demand that the finance minister reconsider this proposal, especially when Covid-19 has not subsided and the fact that studies have shown that those with the virus may experience worse complications by consuming such products.
Total rubbish of course, but let’s see if the government stands up for the health of its people.
IQOS Stubbed Out In the USA
It’s a story I’ve been following for a while and it’s now true that IQOS will be banned from sale in the USA by the end of November this year.
The move stems for a court battle between IQOS owners Altria and British American Tobacco [BAT].
BAT says the IQOS violates it’s patent for the Glo heat not burn device, something Altria vehemently disputes.
A spokesman said:
We are disappointed with the ITC’s decision.
We continue to believe [British American Tobacco’s] patents are invalid and that IQOS does not infringe on those patents.
We are working hard on a solution to make these products available again as soon as possible.
It’s difficult times for Altria’s presence in the e-cigs market with JUUL still waiting to see if it gets FDA approval.
…and finally…Vape Meme Of the Week [or ever!]
Ha! Love it 🙂
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More vape news on Wednesday
