Vaping Can Prevent Pregnant Women Smoking After Childbirth
A new study published on 12th April 2022 investigates whether women who vape when pregnant will return to smoking after the birth of the baby.
The study was undertaken in 2017 in English and Scottish hospitals and involved 750 women who were either current smokers or ex-smokers including those who vaped.
35% of the women returned to smoking (PPRS – Part Partum Return to Smoking). However 30.7% of the 750 total used a vape during pregnancy and 48.8% of those continued using the e-cigarette (EC) after pregnancy.
In summary the study found that those using vapes during pregnancy, breast feeding and who did not have a household member who smoked were the less likely to return to cigarettes.
I quote from the study…
“We believe this is the first demonstration that EC use in pregnancy could influence PPRS. Further research is needed to confirm this finding and investigate the possibility that ECs could be used to prevent returning to smoking in the post partum.”
You can read the study and download the full text here on the BMJ open website – Are E-cigarettes associated with postpartum return to smoking? Secondary analyses of a UK pregnancy longitudinal cohort.
Oxford Street Store Emptied Of Dodgy Vapes…
Apparently around £100,000 worth of illegal and counterfeit goods were seized by Westminster City Council and Met Police from an Oxford Street store.
The haul included nearly 4,500 dodgy disposable vapes which either had over 2mg of Nicotine (upper limit that is legal in the UK) or they didn’t conform to UK standards.
Also seized were 23 cannabis products, 420 counterfeit vapes and 2,366 items of Snus (oral tobacco). These had no English labelling.
The store raided was a “Souvenir” shop which had already been raided before 2 weeks earlier. In the earlier raid over 1,500 counterfeit goods worth £22,000 were cleared out.
Assisting in the raid was the Director General of UKVIA (UK Vaping Industry Association) who stated..
“As a body we work closely with Trading Standards officers across the country to get rid of these rogue sellers, which give our industry as a whole a bad name.
“It is important to ensure adult consumers can purchase safe products while also keeping them out of the hands of young people.”
You can read the full article on the UKVIA website here – Westminster City Council raid on Oxford Street clears £100,000 items from shelves.
We have a page dedicated to helping you check if your vape is genuine – including links to the manufacturer checking pages here – Vaping Products Authenticity Checklist. It is well worth making sure for your own safety – as dodgy vapes could contain really poor standard wiring / batteries and also if pre-filled really gross e-liquid contaminates.
Very Low Nicotine – But Still 100% As Deadly?
A product that was authorised by the batshit crazy FDA (Food and Drug Administration) on December 23rd 2021 is now starting to appear in shops in the US.
It is basically a standard combustible cigarette but with most of the nicotine removed in fact up to 95% less. The product is called VLN (Very Low Nicotine).
This really is remarkable seeing as the Nicotine is the least deadly component of a standard cigarette.
The move is thought to help people reduce their dependency on nicotine – but most of us know that will just result in people smoking way more cigarettes and inhaling way more of the toxic crap they also contain.
Very very silly from an organisation who are particularly unfriendly to the 95% safer vape alternatives.
The product is made by the 22nd Group and they are now able to print marketing claims about how the use of these will reduce your nicotine intake.
David Sweanor, an Industry Expert and chair of the advisory board for the Centre for Health, Law, Policy and Ethics at the University of Ottowa told Filter magazine…
“Getting all the toxic smoke without the nicotine seems as viable an idea as selling cars that can’t move, offering muscle pain with no fitness gain or marketing guns that cannot discharge bullets.”
The Guardian Discusses Vaping
The UK newspaper the Guardian has published an article dated 17th April 2022 asking the question “Is it better to vape than smoke?“…
The headline almost answers this question – whilst also telling you their stance by saying…
“Definitely, but it’s still worse than quitting entirely…”
This does seem to be targeted toward Australia but does make some good points about how Vaping is a very divisive topic.
I quote…
“If we move people from cigarettes to e-cigarettes, as the World Health Organisation review into the topic notes, it is almost certain that their health will improve, because e-cigarettes (and vape pens, cartridges etc) produce far lower levels of the most harmful chemicals that you inhale when you smoke.”
So that statement is already super positive but then it does wander into slightly negative territory stating that there are a wide variety of vapes, not all regulated. Plus they bring up the ugly topic of EVALI which was a disease to the lungs caused by vaping dodgy THC cartridges mixed with Vitamin E Acetate.
The article tries to be balanced but seems to still be using outdated negatives and the “nicotine is addictive” script and then ends by saying the whole subject is way too complex.
It is at least starting to recognise that vaping has some beneficial actions – it is a start.
American Physicians Need To Get Clued Up About Vaping…
A survey published 15th April 2022 on the JAMA Network investigates the “Communication Between US Physicians and Patients Regarding Electronic Cigarette Use“.
2058 doctors responded that if a scenario occurred where a doctor was asked by the patient for advice about using e-cigarettes to quit smoking, they were generally positive about the harm reduction approach.
Also the doctors were more likely to recommend e-cigarettes for older heavy smokers who had tried quitting in the past. Whereas younger light smokers were usually recommended NRT (Nicotine Replacement Therapy).
Considering the stance by the heath and drug authorities in the US this is really quite positive. However it did seem that vapes were recommended only when the patient requested advice about them, rather than as a general option to quit smoking.
In the conclusions there is this statement…
“As the evidence base grows for e-cigarette efficacy for smoking cessation, there is need for physician education regarding e-cigarette efficacy.”
Indeed the US medical profession despite being so far welcoming to the harm prevention role of vaping, perhaps need to be a bit more pro-active in letting patients know it is an option which could work very well for them.
APPG – The Issue Of Underage Vapers…
The APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group On Vaping) have Tweeted the following…
An new piece by @AdamAfriyie on the importance of vaping and alternatives, as well as ensuring they are not targeted to children:
— APPGVaping (@AppgVaping) April 17, 2022
As you can see it quotes comments made by Adam Afriyie the MP for Windsor who is very pro-vaping as you can see from one of his Tweets below…
#Vaping has saved thousands of lives and helped millions of #smokers to quit, so it is absolutely appalling that bad actors are trying to push these products to children. @AppgVaping https://t.co/1pejIGZdLS
— Adam Afriyie (@AdamAfriyie) April 20, 2022
The group is taking the issue of how to promote vaping to smokers but avoiding encouraging underage vaping very seriously.
The suggestion seems to be along similar lines to cigarette packaging, making it plain and no use of colourful, bright images or names which may appeal to those under 18.
The Tweets also link to an article in the Express titled “Sajid Javid needs to crackdown on vaping devices targeted to children – Tory MP“.
This article pretty much says the same, with a few statistics of dodgy vapes which have been seized but again highlighting the same stance that Vaping has huge benefits to smokers who want to quit but must not get into the hands of children.
Rebranding Trend
I only reported last week on how Vaporesso were having a Rebrand and now suddenly so are Aspire and Eleaf!
First of all looking at the Aspire rebrand.
Sadly when this happens there is quite a lot of marketing guff describing the reasons and what the new logo symbolises – and yes Aspire have plenty of this…
So yeah… apparently the new Orange and Black logo signify a “new era of collision between fashion and reason”… erm OK…
This “0 to 1” creativity implies that our brand takes critical steps in the global e-cigarette industry through breakthroughs and innovations from an initial concept leading to the market.
New website: https://t.co/2ovBhresQo
#aspirerebranding #aspirenewlogo #alwaysaspire pic.twitter.com/BXCMr6tRCb
— Aspire (@aspirecigs) April 17, 2022
As shown on the Tweet above the “a” is a combination of the number “0” and “1” which are the basis of Digital – “0” being off and “1” being on.
Looking at Eleaf now and below is the new and old logos together.
I can’t help thinking the new logo looks like it says “Qeleaf”?!?
ELEAF New Logo Reveal！！！
Eleaf – Simply Smart
No Hassles, No Complications, Only Joy !
Warning: Nicotine is an addictive chemical. Our products are restricted to adults 21+ only.
#eleaf #eleafworld pic.twitter.com/iCnGmmftnD
— Eleaf Global (@EleafGlobal) April 19, 2022
Thankfully so far there is no guff about what this symbolises – but it is early days!
MONEY OFFER
68 million adults on Earth use #SaferNicotine vapes to avoid toxic forms of tobacco. Adults have been using these gizmos for 20 years now.
I will pay $100 to anyone who can provide confirmed proof of one (even one) death ever caused by inhaling nicotine vapor. pic.twitter.com/iMVM1ukFb1
— Charles A. Gardner, PhD (@ChaunceyGardner) January 11, 2022
Well that was a big dollop of Vape News!
Have a great week!