Tackling Under Age Vaping In the UK – Tobacco Harm Reduction Scholarship Programme – Are the Vaping and Brittle Bones Stories Junk Science?

Tackling Under Age Vaping In the UK

The UK is leading the way in tackling under age vaping but more needs to be done.

That’s the message from the UK Vaping Industry Association as it continues to promote its guide for retailers and vaping manufacturers.

UK MP Nigel Mills and UKVIA director general John Dunne met to discuss the prickly issue and came up with a recommendations to put before the government.

The consensus seems to be that Trading Standards departments across the UK need more funding to help tackle the current influx of fake and illegal vapes being sold in ‘none compliant’ shops.

This would also increase the number of ‘test purchases’ made to check retailers are following the law on under age vaping sales.

Nigel Mills MP also discussed the work being done by UKVIA in particular its close ties with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Vaping.

UKVIA has been singled out for praise for its Blueprint for Better Regulation of vaping in the UK which could form the backbone of any future UK laws on e-cigarettes.

The meeting was held at the impressive HQ of Eco-Vape based in Derbyshire and Nigel said:

It was a pleasure to visit the Eco-Vape manufacturing centre to explore what work has been done to continue to reduce smoking rates nationwide, as well as what more can be done to prevent the sale of nicotine replacement products, including e-cigs and vapes, to minors.
I’m pleased to see the work of the UKVIA in championing compliance throughout the vaping industry, both in terms of safety and in regulating the sale of nicotine containing products.

It is in all our interests to see a successful vaping industry thrive in the UK, as the country continues to be a world leader in reducing adult smoking rates, including by providing safer alternatives to harmful cigarettes.​

It’s good to see the UK vaping industry is on the front foot when it comes to tackling under age vaping sales – the last thing we need is the media blowing the issue up out of all proportion.

As it stands now UKVIA advises its retail members to adopt the Challenge 25 scheme, and has also released the Packaging, Labeling and Flavour Names guide in a bid to push manufacturers away from products that could be classed as ‘attractive to minors’.

All retailers are urged to read the guide: Preventing Underage Sales

So what do you think could/should be done as far as tackling under age vaping in the UK goes?

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below…

Vape Tweet Of the Week!

This tweet kind of follows on from the lead story and shows that virtue signalling MPs from any country really need to do their homework on vaping.

As I’ve just reported, the UK vaping industry is already tackling vape products and packaging that may be construed as attractive to minors…

However, that didn’t stop one MP after her 5 minutes of fame.

As you can see our good friend Dick Puddlecote told the lady exactly where to shove her ignorant opinion:

You’ve got to love a bit of Dick on your timeline…

Wait…what??!!

Haha!

Tobacco Harm Reduction Scholarship Programme – Apply NOW!

You’ve got a little under a week to apply for next year’s Tobacco Harm Reduction Scholarship Programme which could be worth up to $10k in financial support.

Not only that, those chosen will also receive 12 months worth of mentoring to make sure their idea on a Tobacco Harm Control project gets the very best outcome.

The scheme is run by Knowledge•Action•Change (K•A•C) and is an open invitation for those with an interest in THC to submit project ideas.

It began in 2018 and now sees 75 scholars across 6 continents all doing their bit to improve tobacco harm control projects.

The new patron of the scheme is Ethan Nadelmann, the founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, who said:

What I like about this programme is it’s for activists, it’s for young academics and for journalists; people who find themselves drawn to harm reduction as a matter of principle, as a matter of personal experience and want the opportunity to do this.

That’s why the Tobacco Harm Reduction Scholarship Programme is important, and I’m delighted to become its new Patron.

Paddy Costall, a Director at K•A•C, said:

The Tobacco Harm Reduction Scholarship Programme is the jewel in the crown for K•A•C.

When we were setting out on this journey, we wanted to attract a passionate and diverse group of new advocates into the tobacco harm reduction field from across the globe.

We wanted to inspire them to take the movement into the future.

We wanted to find the researchers of tomorrow, and with the THRSP that is exactly what we are doing.

Current THC projects that received funding include:

• A short documentary film exploring attitudes on smoking and THR in Malawi
• Novel scientific research in Romania showing that switching completely from combustible cigarettes to heated tobacco products can boost the oral health of smokers
• The creation of a Smoking and Recovery Toolkit in the US to combat the high rates of smoking among people in recovery or seeking treatment for dependency on alcohol or other drugs
• A study assessing the THR knowledge base of healthcare staff in Lithuania
• A pair of studies that demonstrated the potential for safer nicotine products, such as vaping and Swedish-style snus, to help India’s smokers and smokeless tobacco users
• The creation of THR Uganda, an organisation set up to share accurate information on tobacco smoking and nicotine with its own dedicated website
• A study on the effects of providing vapes to homeless smokers in Ireland

So if you have an idea and a burning desire to get involved with Tobacco Harm Reduction, you’ll need to act fast as the closing date is November 30th 2021.

For more info contact: media@kachange.eu or visit THRSP.

and finally…Brittle Bones Bollocks…

It seems the latest ‘shock horror’ story around vaping is that e-cigarettes can give you brittle bones!

In other words vapers are more likely to break a bone than anyone else…

Or at least that’s what the mainstream media would have us believe…

Whilst no respectable scientist has of yet slammed the study, there is an interesting article in the American Council On Science and Health [ACSH].

It seems like 99.999% of these anti-vape studies, the facts aren’t shall we say very factual at all.

Prolific scientific writer Cameron English has drilled into the study and found some galling faults.

The title of his article says it all: Does Vaping Cause Bone Damage? Yes And No, A Confusing Study Claims

In a nutshell he’s found the data to be severely lacking to say the least and that includes no clear parallels between current vapers, one time vapers and regular smokers!

Indeed the results show that current vapers are less likely to get fractures than those that have packed up!

As he said – confusing lol.

Cameron writes:

If vaping is a risk factor for osteoporosis—and that’s a giant “if” at the moment—the study’s definition of “current users” offers no clinically useful data.

It’s like saying consumers who eat one serving of French fries a month or 100 servings over the same period are “current potato users” and have an elevated risk of Type 2 Diabetes.

We know that’s an absurd association, yet tobacco researchers regularly try to establish the same kinds of links between vaping and adverse health outcomes.

I’ve read the study a couple of times and left with a headache…

So you could say that junk science like this leads to readers getting migraines…

So nope…and I’ll go out on a limb here…vaping does NOT cause brittle bones…

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More vape news on Sunday…