For or against vaping? At the end of Jun, press coverage on quitting smoking was not long in coming. How has it been approached in a context where the European Commission plans to regulate e-cigarettes further with TPD?
Public Senate: The World in docs
Le Monde en docs broadcast on Public Heath in France proposed a debate around the harmfulness of e-cigarettes. Michèle Rivasi, MEP known for her “anti-vape” position, Sébastien Béziau, President of Sovape, Amine Benyamina, psychiatrist – addictologist as well as Pascal Diethelm, Vice-president of the National Committee Against Smoking, participated. This program refers to the broadcast of the documentary “Nicotine, the drug of the future“
Stars who love e-cigs
If Michel Cymes shuns vaping, this is not the case with certain stars.
After recovering from a stroke, Catherine Deneuve, muse of the film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (city of the Petit Vapoteur), weaned herself from tobacco by adopting the vape! And she’s not the only vaping star. Lady Gaga, Katherine Heigl, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and even Leonardo Dicaprio have also chosen the e-cig.
Youth smoking has doubled in San Francisco, a city where vaping is banned
In 2019, San Francisco banned electronic cigarette sales restricting minors’ access. Researchers at Oxford University for the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research conducted a study. They wanted to understand if young vapers would have smoked instead. It shows that the decline in smoking has increased since the appearance of vaping.
A second study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics confirms this result. The researchers analyzed underage smoking rates in several the United States and San Francisco districts. She concludes that smoking prevalence has doubled compared to other US jurisdictions that have not banned e-cigs.
In Venezuela, a first public consultation towards the legalization of vaping.
This is a victory for the entire community of Venezuelan vapers who will be able to make their voices heard by participating in a public consultation soon to be launched by the country’s Ministry of Health.
Public consultation to make the voice of Venezuelan vapers heard
A public consultation involves asking citizens’ opinions on a subject of general interest to integrate it into the legislative process. Mariam Bolívar, a citizen, convinced by the potential of vaping in smoking cessation, created the Association of Vapeo de Venezuela in 2019.
This citizen has won a real victory. The country’s Ministry of Health wants to conduct a consultation, driven by a desire to change vaping laws to open up the market to legal sales and make it fairer. On April 6, Mariam Bolívar announced that Venezuela is, to date, “the first country in Latin America to obtain favorable regulations for the marketing of electronic cigarettes or vapers, thus marking a legal path for possible regulations in d’ other regions.’
At the heart of an anti-vape Latin America, according to the position of the WHO
Brazil and Argentina. are all Latin American countries where vaping products are not welcome. Just a few of the Chinese vape manufacturers build their brand names here. Most of them get involved in the Latin American market by offering vape OEM services to the local vape brands. Venezuela is on the way to being an exception, the result of a fierce struggle maintained by Mariam Bolívar, who intends to amplify the general mobilization: “I call on the community of traders in my country to join the @asovapevzla and to follow the guidelines that have enabled this success, but I would also like to stress that only traders and importers governed adequately by this new regulation will benefit from it. It’s up to you to take care of the progress, join the movement and reject those who seek to be destabilizing independent figures who do not contribute anything to our community.
Earlier this year, some doctors sent a letter to various Chile, Argentina, and Colombia ministries. This approach aims to warn them of the danger to public health of the latest recommendations against vaping issued by the WHO. Will they be sensitive to it?