Vapekit's 2023 News Review - Part 1

Vapekit has looked at so many different aspects of vaping over the course of the last year we thought we'd take a moment to reflect and see how they developed at this festive time. Plus, with the New Year just around the corner, is there anything the last year can tell us about what we can expect to see from 2024? Our 2023 prediction From a position where consumers, businesses and politicians all seemed to be on the same page as public health experts, things have unravelled slightly. A year ago, we were reporting that the Independent British Vape Trade Association saying that it, most retailers and importers, " don't sell to children and want tougher enforcement to ensure that others don't either ." The government appeared to listen, but clouds were gathering. We wrote: " With budgets currently being cut to the bone, many of the expensive conclusions of the Khan report look like they will be postponed during 2023, but the disposables sector appears to be sitting squarely in the government's headlights and we can expect to see legislation compelling manufacturers and importers to address the environmental sustainability and marketing of their brands ." In hindsight, that was so optimistic. Now we know that a firestorm was whipped up around disposable/single-use vapes and teen vaping by a press eager for shock stories and a government hunting for popular policies. The talking shop The Electronic Cigarette Summit taking place just before the start of 2023 saw academic experts express a desire to see doctors being able to prescribe vapes to smokers in 2023, " bring about an 'end game' for tobacco in the UK. The feeling is that this would maximise the opportunity offered up by reduced harm alternatives and reduce health inequalities. The government has previously said it wanted to simplify the licence application process, thereby reducing the associated costs ." As it transpired, no licences were granted for prescribable vapes this year. In fact, no company applied for a licence despite the government claiming the application process had been slimmed down. Moreover, the kind of product that would be most suitable for doctors to prescribe to adult smokers would be a disposable vape - something the government is now looking at banning. The " end game " looks quite some way away at the moment. NHS campaigns to encourage switching to vapes The NHS ran a promotion campaign last January promoting its Quit Smoking app to help drive smokers into trying out an ecig, with a view to completely switching. " Nicotine vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking. It's also one of the most effective tools for quitting smoking ," it said. Pregnant women in Lambeth were targeted with an offer of a free vape starter kit. It was stated that if a pregnant woman switched to vaping then it would be better her, the baby, and her family, resulting in a net saving of "2,000 per year per family ". The NHS said: " If you find using an e-cigarette helpful for quitting and staying smoke-free, it's much safer for you and your baby than continuing to smoke ." British approach to tobacco harm reduction was praised Dr John Oyston, a Canadian anaesthetist, heaped praise on the British approach to encouraging smokers to switch to vaping to reduce their exposure to tobacco-related harm. Saying, " Vaping provides people who smoke with a very cigarette-like experience. Some people like the tobacco and menthol flavours, but most people prefer to switch away from the smell and taste of tobacco and go for a fruit or sweet dessert flavour. Vaping can provide the same amount of nicotine as cigarette smoke but is 20x safer ," he advised governments around the world to follow our example. He said the problem lay in the fear of nicotine, but people shouldn't be afraid as, " unlike alcohol, it is not carcinogenic ". In Silico Science The In Silico Science project looked at published studies to assess how vaping effects the heart. The researchers concluded that the evidence shows that switching to vaping did not increase heart risk. They discovered that all the studies claiming to find elevated risk levels were flawed in their design and/or data interpretation and called for more structured work to be conducted in this area. ONS data shows vapes reduce smoking rates At the end of January, we covered how data produced by the Office for National Statistics as part of the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey demonstrated a link between the increase in vaping and the decline in smoking rates. The Office for National Statistics said: " Vaping devices such as e-cigarettes have played a major role in the decrease in smoking prevalence in the UK ." Stop Smoking London By February, the national campaign to encourage smokers to switch created the impetus to develop regional projects. Stop Smoking London built on the wealth of evidence showing vaping to be much safer than smoking and the best way to quit from Public Health England, the Royal College of Physicians, the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training, the Royal College of GPs, and charities like Cancer Research UK. " You will save a lot of money by quitting smoking and switching to vaping. That's just one more way that quitting will improve not only your standard of living but also your standard of life ," the service said. Academics add to knowledge A study, " Sales of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) and Cigarette Sales in the USA: A Trend Break Analysis ", was published and produced results showing that the growth in the sales of vapes was directly linked to the drop in smoking - proving once more that vapes help smokers quit. Over in France, a professor of Oncology at Pierre et Marie Curie University spoke about vaping and tobacco harm reduction. Dr David Khayat told the media how ecigs delivered nicotine without exposing users to the cancer-causing chemicals contained in tobacco smoke. He highlighted how nicotine doesn't cause cancer and we know this because it has been successfully used in nicotine replacement products for a long time. A group of researchers from King's College London, who had been involved in producing the evidence series " Nicotine vaping in England: an evidence update including health risks and perceptions " , tried to calm down the rhetoric surrounding teen vaping by pointing out: " Most young people who have never smoked are also not currently vaping (98.3%) ." The charity Action on Smoking and Health condensed the research findings into a set of resources to help schools, colleges, parents, and carers. Dr Nancy Rigotti, Professor Kenneth Warner, Professor Neal Benowitz, and Professor Ann McNeill wrote in Nature magazine: " We believe that governments, medical professional groups, and individual healthcare professionals in countries such as the US, Canada and Australia should give greater consideration to the potential of e-cigarettes for increasing smoking cessation. " Addressing myths about vaping Despite the burgeoning levels of evidence proving that vaping is far safer than smoking and that it really works as a stop smoking aid, misunderstanding persists. Professor Ann McNeill joined with four others to detail what the most popular myths are and why evidence says they aren't true in the Nursing Times. The team pointed nursing staff towards an ASH UK policy brief, the government evidence update, and the Cochrane Living Review. Impractical bans Researchers at the National University of Singapore looked at how well a ban on vaping had gone in Singapore, a country with the claim to have banned more things than anywhere else in the world. Unsurprisingly, it had completely failed and they discovered vaping had gained in popularity after the ban. The only change had been that the government now no longer had control over what products were used so couldn't guarantee safety levels. With the UK now discussing possibly banning types of packaging, eliquid flavours and single-use vapes, Professor Linda Bauld warned ministers about the unintended consequences of bans. She said the fear about teen vaping was overblown: " I don't think we should be as worried about this as you would believe if you read the newspapers or the media. There's a huge panic about these products. " Things were looking good Health Minister Neil O'Brien introduced a new plan that embraced findings from the Khan review. He said the government would be promoting electronic cigarettes to smokers, handing out free starter kits to a million smokers, offering vapes and money to pregnant women, and setting up a Trading Standards crack squad to raid premises of those selling illegal vapes to supplying products to teenagers. By the start of the summer the United Kingdom was truly leading the world in using vape technology to reduce the harm of tobacco.