New Lung Illness Guidelines Issued To UK Doctors
New UK doctors vape guidelines have been issued and all medical professionals are urged to be alert to any lung related illnesses that could be linked to vaping.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency [MHRA] is advising all doctors to ask:
…all patients ‘routinely’ about e-cigarette use and report any suspected side effects from vaping via the Yellow Card Scheme.
The Yellow Card Scheme is a UK Government website where medical professionals can report:
adverse drug reactions, medical device adverse incidents, defective medicines, and counterfeit or fake medicines
All of the UK GPs and doctors received a letter this week suggesting they use the Yellow Card scheme if their patient passes this criteria:
- Patient has vaped in the last 30 days
- There is pulmonary infiltrate, such as opacities on plain film chest x-ray
- Absence of respiratory infection
- No evidence of alternative diagnosis (such as malignancy)
If the patient is showing signs of some kind of lung illness and ticks all of the above boxes – then doctors should report the case as a ‘possible‘ link to their vaping habits.
Doctors should also make a note of what e-liquid and device the patient was using.
The MHRA says to its knowledge only two deaths have been reported with a tenuous link to vaping here in the UK – but understandably want the medical profession to remain vigilant.
Expect to see a few media scare stories around this and possibly a smallish jump in Yellow Card Scheme recordings linked to vaping.
If you’re at all worried just remember 99.99999% of cases of EVALI reported in the USA was tracked back to contaminated THC cartridges bought on the black market.
Here in the UK ALL vape products pass through rigorous testing and as long as you buy from reputable retailers, vaping is perfectly safe – this is just the MHRA doing its job.
More Proof ‘Teen Vape Epidemic’ Is BS!
Researchers from New York University say the alleged US teen vape epidemic is a myth.
Using the National Youth Tobacco Survey they’ve found that:
Most young people do not vape, and even fewer vape regularly.
Imagine my shock!
The study comes from the NYU School of Global Public Health and has been published in the Nicotine & Tobacco Research Journal.
Using the exact same data the FDA has used to ‘prove’ the so called epidemic, the researchers have drilled deeper into the data.
They say:
…over 80 percent of youth do not use any tobacco and over 86 percent don’t vape–and among the minority who do vape, most are not regular users.
In addition, the study reveals that most youth who are vaping are also current or former smokers.
Once again…imagine my shock!
Allison Glasser, an assistant research scientist at NYU School of Global Public Health and the study’s lead author, said:
Our findings underscore the importance of examining the full context of how youth are using vaping and tobacco products.
The key to protecting youth in the United States is determining the patterns of frequency of use and co-use of vaping and tobacco products, which will give public health decision makers the best possible information to protect the public’s health.
Sadly and from my experience, giving any information to the anti-vape brigade that’s factual is usually ignored.
The research also shows a major drop in the number of teens smoking – with many turning to the much safer e-cigarettes.
Social and behavioral sciences Professor David Abrams, also from NYU said:
This study provides us with a better understanding of youth vaping patterns, which is critical for creating effective public health policies around nicotine and tobacco.
Reacting too quickly to reports of youth vaping without considering the full context could do more harm than good.
We need to avoid prohibitionist regulations like banning e-cigarettes–while leaving much more deadly cigarettes and cigars in corner stores–and instead should consider strong enforcement of age 21 sales restrictions.
Prohibition creates a black market for vaping products or inadvertently pushes individuals back to smoking tobacco.
Wise words indeed.
The question is will this study be picked up by the mainstream media?
One doubts it.
Democrats Call For Total Flavour Ban In Letter To Trump
Over fifty Democrat members of Congress have written to Trump calling for the current closed pod flavour ban to include open systems.
In a quite scarily ignorant reasoning behind the call for a total vape ban, the politicians of course bring up the whole [debunked] supposed teen vape epidemic and actually suggest young folk that vape will become drug addicts…yes really.
In fact the dumb democrats seem to use every BS piece of anti-vape ‘science’ to justify the call for a ban, including vaping contains heavy metals [debunked here] and flavours are aimed at hooking kids [debunked here].
The letter ends:
We are deeply alarmed this policy exempts open-tank based products, disposable flavored e-cigarettes, and certain flavoured e-cigarette cartridges, including menthol and even tobacco.
These exemptions are all but certain to increase the popularity of refillable pod systems such as Suorin and SMOK, which are the most popular flavored e-cigarette products among adolescents after JUUL.
In addition this guidance will not eliminate the nearly 15,000 e-cigarette flavors on the market – many of which come in kid appealing flavors such as gummy bears and s’mores – as children will be able to access them through open systems.
This short sighted policy fails to provide the comprehensive response needed to end this public health crisis.
What public health crisis?
Are they trying to link nic based vaping to contaminated THC cartridges?
Let’s hope Trump throws this letter [written on recycled paper lol] into the recycling BS bin…
Idiots – virtue signalling ignorant idiots…all of them…allegedly 😉
Tax Cut For Hungarian Vapers
Vapers in Hungary will be getting cheaper e-liquid as the Government slashes taxes.
At the moment vapers in the country pay HUF 50 tax per ml – about 13p.
Under the new tax that will drop over half to just HUF 20 – about 5p per ml.
This is also great news for the country’s vape retailers as a staggering 85% of all juice sales comes from the black market – an extremely worrying figure.
Zoltán Orosz, country manager for Hungary at BAT Central Europe said:
Hungarian e-cigarette consumers need to be given a chance to access quality refill liquids, just like in other European countries.
The sale of illegal products, besides robbing Hungary of considerable tax income, could endanger e-cigarette users as these products presumably fail to meet Hungarian and EU quality and safety standards.”
We are proud that our refill liquids at national tobacco shops undergo rigorous testing by the committed research team of BAT group, and that our e-liquids meet all EU requirements.
Good news indeed.
Phillip Morris Buys Another Vape Company
Big Tobacco giant Phillip Morris Inc has just bought the vaping arm of the huge South Korean company KT&G.
The Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corporation is a major player in the country selling many of South Korea’s major lit tobacco brands.
Recent reports say 850,000 of the various Lil devices have been sold.
PMI now owns the Lil brand which includes the hugely popular heat not burn device the Lil Mini.
An industry insider now says PMI will push the Lil devices to other countries in the near future.
JUUL ‘Happy’ With ‘Sin Tax’
A new tax on all vape products comes into force in the Philippines next month and JUUL is already complying.
The legal age to buy vape products will also be lifted to 21 and above and the company says it already enforces that rule with stockists.
And once again and without any need too – they’ve pulled all flavoured JUUL pods from retailers.
A spokesman for JUUL PH said:
JUUL Labs and its partners will continue selling the Virginia Tobacco flavor to those verified as over the age of 21.
JUUL Labs is supportive of measures that ensure vaping products reach only the adult smokers for whom they are intended and are not used by non-nicotine users, especially those who are underage.
They do like to do as they’re told don’t they lol.
No Vaping Whilst Driving ISN’T Illegal…YET!
The UK mainstream media has once again been filled with dire warnings of fines of up to £5,000 for vaping whilst driving…
This is an OLD story I covered in the article I wrote back in 2018: No…Sensible Vaping Should NOT Be Banned In Cars.
There is no law – as yet – here in the UK that covers vaping whilst driving all we have is ‘driving whilst distracted’.
As I said in the piece above, common sense should tell you too many clouds will impair your vision – so vape and drive sensibly!
No idea why the media re-hashed this none story – maybe it’s been a quiet week or so for anti-vape stories they love so much…probably.
Nick Lloyd, boss at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) said:
As well as being a physical distraction, vaping while behind the wheel can create visibility problems if clouds of vapour are produced.
Although it is not currently prohibited in law, drivers choosing to vape while on the road is a growing and concerning trend.
As I’ve said before and as Nick says, there’s no law yet – so it’s up to vapers to be sensible whilst driving.
Aussie Docs Support Vaping…Kind Of!
The largest GP organization in Australia has given a cautious thumbs up to nicotine based vape products.
I suggest you read that to see exactly what the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners [RACGP] is saying.
In a nutshell, they think e-cigarettes could be prescribed as a second course of action IF all other methods to quit smoking has failed.
It’s a small step not quite a giant leap but still great news for Australian vapers who can only get nicotine based e-liquids via a prescription!
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More vape news on Sunday.
