The New York City Council has drafted several laws aimed at reducing access to reduced-harm products that are expected to harm vapers in the city. At the same time, more research has shown that the debate about the “pathway hypothesis” of minor vaping is just that: a hypothesis not supported by any data.
New York launches crackdown on e-cigarettes
A group of New York lawmakers has passed a series of bills and changes that would make life harder for vapers in the city. The bills would tighten restrictions on where and when you can use e-cigarettes and make it harder to sell them.
The first bills, introduced by Democratic Assembly member James Vacca, would ban the use of e-cigarettes in common areas of many residential buildings. This means you can’t use an e-cigarette in your apartment hallway, even though there’s absolutely no health risk.
Another bill, introduced by Democrat Brad S. Lander, would ban the sale of tobacco products, which under US law includes e-cigarettes, in pharmacies or any store that contains a pharmacy. This would reduce the choice of reduced-harm products for smokers who often buy their products at pharmacies instead of vape shops . It’s unclear what the goal of this bill is.
Another Democrat, Fernando Cabrera, passed another amendment that would require licensing of vape shops. NYC already has a tobacco licensing program, and Cabrera wants to extend it to vape shops. This bill is aimed squarely at closing vape shops , which have only half the number of licenses in the city, so vapers will have fewer options in the future.
New study confirms underage vaping in the US is not a problem
A new study published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, using data from 2014 and 2015 from the National Youth Tobacco Survey, confirms previous findings that the majority of U.S. teens have never used e-cigarettes and that most of those who do are smokers. This isn’t a surprise to vapers, but it does undermine the theory that e-cigarettes are harmful to kids.
Researchers found that in 2014 and 2015, up to 80% of minors in the US had never used tobacco or e-cigarette products. Only 11.3% of minors had used e-cigarettes, only 4% were vapers, and two-thirds of vapers also used regular cigarettes. Of the 4%, one-third had never used any other tobacco products, and almost no one (0.1%) vaped regularly.
Based on this data, the team says the numbers are completely inconsistent with the conclusion that vaping leads to tobacco use. This isn’t news, but the pathway hypothesis has been widely abused by anti-vaping groups, so most new evidence is welcome.
Discontent in UK nursing home
Vaping groups in the UK and internationally have been outraged by the actions of staff at a UK nursing home, run by the NHS, who banned a dying woman from using an e-cigarette. Blogger Susanne Nundy, also known as Anna Raccoon, had terminal cancer (Anna died on Friday morning). To ease her pain, she was transferred to the Pricilla Bacon Palliative Care Centre in Norwich, run by the NHS.
Anna had been using e-cigarettes for several years, and brought an e-cigarette with her to the nursing home. Unfortunately, some nurses knew about this and “found” it while “looking through” Anna’s desk. Anna was not allowed to use e-cigarettes because there was not enough evidence to show that e-cigarettes were safe . When her husband brought in another device, the staff took it apart to prevent her from using it and stored it in the office.
What has caused the vaping groups the most outrage is that the NHS’s parent organisation, PHE, has issued guidance suggesting that e-cigarettes should not be included in the smoking ban. There may be a case for not allowing vaping in hospitals, but in nursing homes where most patients are terminally ill, it is hard to see the benefit of such a ban. Nursing homes aim to provide as much comfort and convenience as possible for their patients, and denying them their final pleasures seems inconsistent with this. Fortunately, Anna Raccoon escaped the nursing home’s rules and spent her final days with her family.
Source: Fergus Mason - Vapingpost
Translated by: The Vape Club
