Vaping News: Michigan Flavour Ban Fight Back – New Jersey Full Ban Looms – UK Smoking Rates In Huge Drop Plus More

Vape News Headlines:

Bill and Law Suit To Stop Michigan Flavour Ban | New Jersey Complete Vape Ban? | Trump Cancels Vape Advocacy Meeting | Walmart Pulls E-Cigs | UK Smoking Rates Tumble |Save Small Vape Businesses | US TV Networks Remove Vape Ads | China Blocks JUUL | NO CBD In UAE | Kids Brainwashed Over Vaping and Jailed For Vaping Apple Pie Flavour

Bill AND Lawsuit To Fight Michigan Vape Ban

There could be a chink of light for Michigan vapers with a new Bill looking to reverse the current vape ban.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer used emergency powers to ban all flavoured e-cigarettes – pods and e-liquids last week – then after the vape community spoke out, postponed the immediate ban for 2 months to “reevaluate”.

However as soon as New York announced its flavour ban – Whitmer did a 180 and said the ban would go ahead giving vape businesses just two weeks to destroy – sell or remove all stock!

Anyone caught with OR selling flavoured vape products would be fined $200 or sent to jail for 6 months – see vape meme at the end.

This has annoyed State Rep. Beau LaFave, who pointed to the UK – as in Public Health England – saying vaping is 95% safer than lit tobacco.

LaFave is hoping House Bill 4996 will not only stop the Michigan vape ban – put halt any attempts of similar actions on a federal level.

I am getting frustrated with the governor’s double-speak.

First she said she was going to ban flavored e-cigarettes immediately, then after intense public pressure, she decided her administration would take two months to reevaluate.

Unfortunately, New York has announced it will implement a similar ban.

In a rush to be the first state in the nation to implement this stupid policy, the governor has changed her mind once again, and ordered all businesses to destroy millions of dollars in merchandise within 14 days.

The majority of adults who use e-cigarettes vape a flavor other than tobacco.

This ban is an overreach that will potentially make criminals out of adults who are trying to use a safer alternative to kick the habit of traditional tobacco cigarettes.

This will undoubtedly create a black market for these products which could be even more dangerous to public health.

I don’t care if the executive is a Republican or Democrat nor a governor or president

Bad public policies implemented without input from lawmakers should never be ignored.

I urge my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to look at all the facts before we rush to judgement and put thousands of Michiganders out of work and force thousands more back to smoking combustible cigarettes.

If only America had more politicians like this guy!

Meanwhile the American Vaping Association says it’s about to launch a lawsuit challenging the Governor’s decision.

AVA President, Gregory Conley said:

We don’t think she has the authority to do this, and there will be a lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction filed before this can take effect.

They aren’t elected to make unilateral decisions to ban products.

Imagine what else a governor could ban if this is approved by the Michigan court system?

Indeed and of course we shall keep you informed.

Source

New Jersey Wants To Ban Vaping Full Stop

Yet more lunacy from America with New Jersey’s top lawmaker calling for a ban of ALL vaping and e-cigarette products – not just flavoured pods and e-liquids.

It’s like a runaway train over there at the moment – hard to keep up with all the bans and even harder to stop.

Senate President Steve Sweeney says a so called vape task force will now be looking at all things vape and reckons he’ll have a Bill that will pass within 30 days.

He told the media:

Vaping is something that we need to stop and get off the market before we addict another generation to a different product.

When it came online it was hailed as getting people away from nicotine and smoking and we’re just addicting them in a different way.

As to the fact almost all of the so called ‘vape related’ deaths and illnesses were caused by contaminated and illegal cannabis cartridges – he ignored that.

Quite ironic given New jersey is about to legalize recreational marijuana!

I’m not saying every store owner is doing something wrong. But the black market products are in the stores, too, not just on a corner.

I call BS on that one.

Sweeney added:

The governor’s formed a task force and within 21 days he’s going to come back with recommendations.

I’ve been drafting legislation with members of my house.

So we’re putting the bill together we have you know what happens if you defy the law. What are the penalties?

So the bill’s being drafted and hopefully, within 30 days we’re going to have a bill that I can put in my house and pass and hopefully pass in the other house.

There’s nothing good about vaping.

It’s dangerous.

And when people say ‘well it’s got me off the smoking,’ it’s not got you off the smoking, you’re vaping.

It’s just a different way of smoking.

The guy’s as ignorant about the benefits of vaping as they come and that lack of knowledge is downright dangerous.

Responding to New Jersey possibly becoming the first US to implement a total ban on vaping, the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association – has called for all vapers to attend the first meeting of the vape task force:

New Jersey Governor, Phil Murphy, has appointed a vaping task force to address the recent lung illnesses attributed broadly to “vaping” and the rise in youth nicotine use reported in the early data release from the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS).

The task force is scheduled to meet on:

Tuesday, September 24, 2019
4:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Department of Health & Agriculture Building
Auditorium, 1st Floor
369 South Warren St.
Trenton, NJ 08608

Head over to the CASAA website to register for the meeting.

Vapers Vote – Trump Cancels Vape Advocacy Meeting

After his ill informed call to ban all flavoured pods and e-liquids President Trump cancelled a last minute meeting with a group of influential vape advocates.

The meeting was due to be held at the White House last Thursday and now top conservatives fear a backlash from vaping voters could lose Trump the next election.

Those close to Trump fear 2.5 million vapers in 12 swing states could be key to if he wins a second term.

Paul Blair of Americans for Tax Reform – who was invited to the meeting said:

…a well-organized vaping constituency could swing the outcome of the Electoral College one way or the other.

I think that the White House didn’t necessarily have an accurate feel for where conservative groups were at on this.

I think there’s a little bit of chaos over at the White House given how strong the pushback has been.

Michelle Minton from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, was also due to attend and said:

I would encourage them to continue this outreach and continue to look into this issue before they do anything.

Sources from the White House said it was a scheduling error and the meeting would be re-scheduled.

Let’s hope it is and the Donald gets his facts straight this time.

Follow the Twitter hashtag: #vapersvote and #wevapewevote for more info.

Source

Walmart Stops Selling E-Cigarettes

In yet another act of craziness multinational retail corporation Walmart is pulling all vape products off its shelves.

However and as you might guess, it will continue to sell lit tobacco.

The corporation owns among others, Asda here in the UK and say they’ve taken the step over the current state of the vape in the USA.

A spokesman said:

Given the growing federal, state and local regulatory complexity and uncertainty regarding e-cigarettes, we plan to discontinue the sale of electronic nicotine delivery products at all Walmart and Sam’s Club US locations.

We will complete our exit after selling through current inventory.

Ridiculous.

UK Smoking Rates Show Fastest Fall In A Decade

At last a bit of good news – the UK has just recorded the fastest drop in the number of smokers for over ten years with 200 smokers quitting every HOUR!

And with Stoptober 2019 just around the corner AND the growing use of e-cigarettes as the number one proven cessation tool – those numbers will only get bigger.

The figures show a 2.2% drop in those using lit tobacco between January to July 2019 – a huge number.

Stoptober is a Government and NHS backed stop smoking campaign run every October for the past 8 years and has helped a staggering 1.9 million smokers quit.

Last year saw e-cigarettes front and centre of the media stop smoking blitz and this year Public Health England has targeted health professionals with up to date information on best practices fro advising smokers on quitting via vaping.

The Stoptober campaign will include:

• the Stoptober app
• Facebook Messenger bot
• daily emails
• a personal quit plan
• Stoptober online communities

Professor Jamie Brown, Co-Director, Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group at UCL said:

We’re really excited about this data showing such a huge drop in the number of smokers so far in 2019.

We’re at an all-time low for the number of smokers, but we want to see more people quitting.

There is nothing to be lost by trying to quit, so I would advise every smoker to give it a go at least once a year.

Stoptober is an excellent opportunity to quit because there are so many other smokers across the country who are doing it at the same time.

There is nothing to lose, so why not give it a go?

Celebrity TV GP – Dr Rosemary Leonard said:

We know it can be hard to give up smoking but now is the time to give it a try, whether it’s the first time or you’ve tried before.

The Stoptober community can really help with motivation and staying on track.

Compare the UK’s stance regarding e-cigarettes to that of America…amazing.

Check out the Stoptober website for more info.

Source

FDA Urged To Save Small Vape Businesses

A group calling itself Fight To Survive has written to the FDA in a bid to distance small vape businesses from Big Tobacco owned pod systems.

They also believe the crippling cost of PMTAs – the expensive red tape required to get FDA approval for any vape related products will mean thousands of businesses will go bust.

In a letter they are urging as many people as possible in the vape industry to sign, they say:

Our letter to the FDA is written on behalf of small business owners in the open vapor industry to request a regulatory process that does not kill our industry through an unclear and cost prohibitive PMTA process. You are invited to be added as a signatory.

Our goal is to meet with the FDA to discuss the adoption of a regulation process that will encourage the growth of responsible businesses within the vapor industry instead of the current trajectory of unreasonable demands set to quash numerous small businesses. Please complete the form to add your name to our letter below, and join the fight.

Please feel free to share this letter with other industry stakeholders who may want to join our cause.

The letter was written before the current spate of vape and flavour bans but is more important now than ever, especially in realtion to the looming PMTAs.

Go read the full letter and add your signature.

Join the Fight To Save Vaping

US TV Networks Remove E-Cig Ads

As anti-vape hysteria spreads across America even the big TV networks are getting caught up in the panic by removing all e-cigarette adverts from all channels.

Unlike here in the UK, there are no laws stopping any vape company from advertising their wares on TV, however despite the lucrative price tag, companies such as CNN, CBS and Viacom have all pulled the plug.

Ad revenue has been worth over $50 million so far this year, with JUUL by far the biggest spender.

A spokeswoman for TimeWarner said:

We will continue to monitor the investigations by relevant medical agencies and may re-evaluate our position as new facts come to light.

Source

China Dumps JUUL

JUUL’s attempt to enter the lucrative Chinese market appear to have stalled after its products were removed from websites.

The controversial vape giant was hoping for huge sales after targeting China – home the worlds largest number of smokers currently estimated to be around 300 million people.

The company had begun selling its kits and pods on two huge e-commerce sites: JD.com and Tmall.

The Chinese Government has offered no explanation, however it could be the start of a tit for tat between Xi Jinping and the Trump administration – due to a current cold trade war.

However China, and despite being the spiritual home of vaping, is still luke warm on 100% supporting e-cigarettes in the country possibly due to the Government’s monopoly of China National Tobacco.

Spokesman for JUUL, Victoria Davies said:

While Juul products are not currently available on e-commerce Web sites in China, we look forward to continued dialogue with stakeholders so that we can make our products available again.

There’s no word from China as to the reason, though one could also argue they are taking the current panic over in the States as a convenient reason to simply ban an alternative to tobacco.

Source

Don’t Take ANY CBD Products To the UAE

The Foreign Office has warned UK tourists to NOT take any form of CBD product into the United Arab Emirates.

This doesn’t just mean CBD vape oils either, but ANY product such as skin lotions or I guess even tea.

The UK Government said:

If you’re entering the country with medication the UAE classes as narcotic, psychotropic, controlled or semi-controlled, approval is needed from the UAE authorities.

A list of medicines where this rule applies, allowed quantities and documents to present can be found on the UAE Ministry of Health website.

The UAE recently allowed the sale and use of e-cigarettes – but please do double check your luggage!

Check out the full list of banned substances

US Kids Brainwashed That E-Cigs Are Bad!

I’ll just leave this Tweet here…

Please leave your thoughts and comments below 😉

and finally…Jailed For Vaping Apple Pie Flavour

It’s no laughing matter what’s happening to vaping in America right now…

However I did manage a wry smile at this vape meme.

The irony is rich to say the least.

Once again my apologies for the sheer amount of bad news stories coming from America.

I can only write what’s out there!

Good news to see the huge drop in UK smokers – amazing what happens when your Government embraces the benefits of vaping.

Pity America wasn’t watching…

More vape news on Wednesday!