HEADS UP - NEWS - UPDATES! (When we know, you'll know!)

[kristin]

OCT 15, 2018

HAVERHILL, MA: HEADS UP! Public hearing is at 7 p.m. TONIGHT in City Hall, Room 301. Vapor 21, Flavor ban & more. For advocacy tips, check out the Massachusetts CASAA page: Massachusetts - CASAA

IN THE NEWS TOBACCO/VAPOR 21: “We all realized that working locally was the secret sauce,” says Crane in an email interview. “There are no tobacco lobbyists at the local level, just parents, doctors, teachers and neighbors serving on local city councils.”
Antismoking laws gain local traction

IN THE NEWS: “Rather than looking at how people might get sick, we may start looking at how smokers switching to these products actually have been better in terms of lung function, coughing"
Northwestern researchers: e-cigarettes different from regular cigarettes

PORTLAND, OREGON VAPOR MADNESS HYSTERIA: Just standing with vaping students, regardless of ingredients, considered a "drug and alcohol-related behavior," an offense with harsher consequences than being caught smoking.

HELENA CITY, MT: HEADS UP! Meeting 6 p.m. TONIGHT in the city commission chambers of the City/County Building at 316 N. Park Ave. For advocacy tips, check out the Montana CASAA page: Montana - CASAA

IN THE NEWS: "Innovative products, new markets and the much hated ‘industry' doing more to bring about better health outcomes than the UN’s supranational health bureaucracy."
WHO’s afraid of vaping

SHAWNEE CITY, KS: Heads up! 6 p.m. meeting will take place TONIGHT in the Bertha Ann Young City Commission Chambers at City Hall, at 16 W. 9th St! For advocacy tips, check out the Kansas CASAA page: https://bit.ly/2pUOSrq

BERTHOUD, CO UPDATE: As Chief of Police Sargent Jim Anderson requested, "electronic smoking devices" are added to town ordinance. Stop over-regulation in your area. Get more info and join CASAA at https://bit.ly/2yENrl8
Colorado - CASAA

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA UPDATE: City Council on Oct. 2 quietly amended the definition of smoking to include electronic smoking devices in places in the city where smoking is banned.

WEST VIRGINIA: Heads up! "Lawmakers should look to significantly increase the vaping juice tax like other sin taxes." Join CASAA to get future Calls to Action. For more advocacy tips, check out the CASAA West Virginia web page: https://bit.ly/2PAEEbc

Laura Jean Bierut, MD, Alumni Endowed Professor of Psychiatry, Washington University of St. Louis:"...switching to e-cigarettes is a reasonable alternative...completely substituting e-cigarettes for combustible tobacco cigarettes reduces users’ exposure to numerous toxicants and carcinogens present in combustible tobacco cigarettes.”

 

[NCC]

I just want you to know that the public service you're doing is appreciated!

 

[zoiDman]

Just wanted to say that I Hope You and Yours and the Entire CASAA Family are doing OK.

And are getting thru this Very Difficult Time.

 

[kristin]

We're going live soon with the webinar!

 

[kristin]

FLORIDA: (UPDATE) Thank you, Governor DeSantis! Understanding that banning flavors would send hundreds of thousands of his constituents back to smoking, eliminate jobs and create a black market—and that nicotine vaping has nothing to do with EVALI—Governor DeSantis has VETOED SB 810!

Be sure to send the governor a thank you email at: governorron.desantis@eog.myflorida.com
or tweet to him at @govrondesantis!

 

[kristin]

CASAA TESTIMONIAL: Michelle (our 12,657th vaping testimonial!) was yet another "accidental quitter!"

Read her story here: Michelle Robinson - CASAA

If you haven't yet, be sure add YOUR story to the largest collection of vaping testimonials in the world at About CASAA Testimonial Project - CASAA

 

[kristin]

SMOKING HARM REDUCTION: Today is the #GreatAmericanSmokeout and CASAA wants to remind folks that smoke, not nicotine, is what causes smoking-related disease. Millions have happily switched to low risk, smoke-free alternatives like vapor or snus products!

 

[kristin]

OPINON: (Tanner Aliff, Young Voices)

"It was not nicotine patches or gum that led the United States to see its all-time lowest adult smoking rate. It was vaping and the uptake use of e-cigarettes that allowed for massive increases in the one-year quit rate. And a major component of vaping’s success can be attributed to its wide variety of flavors. Most people don’t leave traditional smoking just to switch over to an electronic machine that emits the same tobacco flavor. Polls strongly indicate that most vapers love flavors other than tobacco and enjoy the variety."

Overreactions and tunnel vision: Americans should think twice about vape flavor bans

 

[kristin]

LOVELAND, COLORADO: (UPDATE) Flavor ban FAILS to pass, with councilor Kathi Wright saying, "… what rose to the top for me was individual liberty and responsibility. I don’t think we have the right to take this away from law-abiding adults.”

UPDATE: Loveland council nixes flavor ban from anti-youth vaping law – Loveland Reporter-Herald

 

[kristin]

October 17, 2019
(via CASAA Twitter @CASAAMedia)
Call to Action for New York State. Heads up for Shasta County, California. Oregon gets a break from the flavor ban. Answer our survey about the DC rally on November 9th. How mainstream media botched the vape lung story. Have you submitted your story to CASAA's Testimonial Project yet??
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ADVOCACY: Over 12,000 people have shared their testimonial to demonstrate our position that the availability of a wide VARIETY of effective and affordable smoke-free alternatives are essential in helping adults stop smoking. Help us make it 12 MILLION!

About CASAA Testimonial Project - CASAA

NEW YORK STATE: (CALL TO ACTION!) Stand up to the bans! Here are two things New Yorkers can do to stand up to Governor Cuomo and the Legislature’s hostile attitude toward vaping!

NY - Stand Up To Vaping/Flavor Bans!

ADVOCACY: Please be sure to answer our survey question at the bottom: "Are you coming to D.C. on November 9th?"

On November 9, 2019
12:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Vapers from all over the U.S. and the people who support them will gather at
The Ellipse
1450 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C.

Are you coming to D.C. on November 9th?

BREAKING NEWS: (OREGON) Vape shops won a temporary stay on the gov's flavor ban from a state appeals court, “pending the petitions having the opportunity to reply, and the court considering the parties’ filings and rendering a decision on the motions.”

Oregon appeals court halts governor’s vaping ban on flavored tobacco products

COMMENTARY: (David Bienenstock, Leafly) How mainstream media botched the vape lung story -

“ - a false narrative Lee attributes to prohibitionists who are working “to spin the vaping tragedy to advance their own agenda.”

Sound familiar?

How mainstream media botched the vape lung story

SHASTA COUNTY, CA: (HEADS UP!) At a recent meeting, county health officials presented their proposition to the Board of Supervisors to ban sales of all flavored vapor and tobacco products in the county, while leaving "unflavored" cigarettes available.

Shasta County considering banning the sale of flavored tobacco products

TAKING ACTION: Awesome job by local advocates, who organized vapers (including providing signs & t-shirts!) to make their voices heard at the President's rally in Dallas today, even getting the attention of TV news reporters for AVA's Greg Conley!

Photo credit: Dennisa Moore
___________________________________________________________________________
If you’re on Facebook, please be sure to join your CASAA state group to help prevent anti-harm reduction laws like these from spreading through the state! Link: CASAA.org - The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association
Join CASAA here: Join CASAA - CASAA
Find your state info here: Find My State Info - CASAA

 

[kristin]

WEEK IN REVIEW
(via CASAA Twitter @CASAAMedia)
Jackson, Wyoming Call to Action. CASAA calls out media bias. Judge allows FDA PMTA extension. Smoking/vaping COVID-19 research. Bad policies & bad advice. Junk vape science.
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JACKSON, WYOMING: (CALL TO ACTION!) City Council is moving forward with proposals to ban the sale of vapor and tobacco products in flavors other than "tobacco" AND to ban public use of vapor products,including OUTDOORS! TAKE ACTION!

WY - Jackson - Stop a Flavor Ban (May 4, 2020)
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: (FDA) PMTA #vaping product deadline has been POSTPONED until 9/9/20, giving 4 more months to sell products that were on market prior to 11/8/16. After 9/9, those products w/out PMTA must also be removed from the market.

#NoPMTA #VapingSavesLives

It’s Official! PMTA Submission Deadline Will Move to Sept. 9th - Vaping360
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ANTI-VAPING POLICIES: Anti-vaping efforts may have made Coronavirus crisis worse, experts say...

Politicians and anti-vaping groups "conflating the risks of smoking and vaping is both bad science and discourages smokers from making the switch."

Anti-Vaping Efforts May Have Made Coronavirus Crisis Worse, Experts Say – InsideSources
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RESEARCH: Anti-smoking bias caused the assumption of increased COVID-19 risks, but that isn't being supported by the actual data. If smoking doesn't increase COVID-19 risks, then low risk, smoke-free nicotine sources like vaping definitely don't.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/86144
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CASAA IN ACTION: One group the reporter called out was CASAA — referring to the largest non-profit, consumer harm reduction advocacy group in the country as merely “a website,” & called truthful statements regarding the lack of evidence linking #vaping to COVID-19 a “spin."

CASAA CEO Responds to Biased Bloomberg Rag Decrying Bias, Slandering Advocates - CASAA
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VAPE JUNK SCIENCE: Knowing full well that healing smoking damage can take years & w/out disclosing how recently subjects vaped, researchers claim vascular changes found in former-smoker vapers may mean smoking not a greater risk than #vaping. #QuitLying

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.119.014570
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BAD PUBLIC HEALTH POLICIES: Older smokers who had switched to e-cigarettes are turning back to traditional cigarettes because of negative news coverage and regulatory crackdowns on vaping.

Older Vapers Are Turning Back to Cigarettes, Marlboro Maker Says
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QUIT OR DIE: Ohio doc still conflating illicit THC injuries with nicotine products & omits important CDC guidance (ie. don't go back to smoking.) Essentially, "keep doing what failed in the past, even if that means smoking instead of switching to vaping."

Ask a Doctor: Don’t trade cigs for vapes - The Lima News
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RESEARCH: Dr. Farsalinos' new peer-reviewed paper now published, finds nicotine could help control the hyper-immune response of the coronavirus. However, the hypothesis still needs to be tested and confirmed.

Editorial: Nicotine and SARS-CoV-2: COVID-19 may be a disease of the nicotinic cholinergic system - ScienceDirect
_____________________________________________________________________
If you’re on Facebook, please be sure to join your CASAA state group to help prevent anti-harm reduction laws like these from spreading through the state! Link: CASAA.org - The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association
Join CASAA here: Join CASAA - CASAA
Find your state info here: Find My State Info - CASAA

 

[DavidOck]

Other than the continuing canard about nic being addictive (Is Nicotine Addictive ?) it's about time the USofA started catching up with British Health... but probably too late to do any good.

 

[kristin]

RESEARCH: Study finds youth vaping "gateway" to smoking is rare and likely due to a predisposition to risky behavior. Finds no evidence vaping LEADS to smoking, agrees vaping is a low risk alternative to smoking, effective for adult smoking cessation and disagrees with sales bans for adults. (However, they still recommend marketing/ad bans that make it difficult for adults to learn about the products.) Overall, a logical and compelling argument against "gateway" claims, though!

https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003554

 

[kristin]

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA: (HEADS UP!) City officials are misleading the public about the relative safety of vaping by including it in an already unscientific OUTDOOR smoking ban. This is purely about misinformation and stigmatization, not public health!

Indianapolis could ban smoking in parks

 

[kristin]

RESEARCH: Penn State researchers find vapor products that "deliver a cigarette-like amount of nicotine are associated with reduced smoking and reduced exposure to a major cancer-causing chemical," even for "dual users." A good argument for innovation!

E-cigarettes with cigarette-like nicotine delivery reduce exposure to carcinogen | Penn State University

 

[kristin]

VAPING RESEARCH: Study findings suggest that not only do vapor products NOT act as a gateway to teen smoking, but those who do vape would have otherwise been smoking without access to vapor products. Vapor products "may be an important tool for population-level harm reduction."

Read more: Teens Who Vape Would Be Smoking If Vapes Weren't Invented, Study Suggests

Study: High school seniors who used e-cigarettes may have otherwise been cigarette smokers: Evidence from Monitoring the Future (United States, 2009-2018) - PubMed

 

[kristin]

THE MORE YOU KNOW: Two giants in the harm reduction world --Ethann Adelmann and Clive Bates--dissect the irrational, illogical and ultimately, harmful war on vaping on Ethan's Psychoactive podcast. A "must listen!" ️️️️️

Apple: ‎PSYCHOACTIVE: Clive Bates on the E-Cigarette Revolution on Apple Podcasts
Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vSFNXNDAzNjExMTA3OQ==
Spotify:
10 | Clive Bates on the E-Cigarette Revolution

 

[kristin]

NATIONAL: (CALL TO ACTION) A bill to fund President Biden's "Build Back Better" plan includes OUTRAGEOUS NICOTINE TAXES, increasing the costs of low risk products helping people quit smoking and going back on his promise to not raise taxes on lower income people.

Stop a Massive Federal Tax on Safer Nicotine Products!

 

[kristin]

COMMENTARY: (Tobacco Harm Reduction) "...looking across the Pond, Brits see a panic-stricken and oppressive environment for vape shops and vapers. Americans are bombarded with media telling them that there is an “epidemic” of youth vaping in their country. This conviction appears so entrenched that the Food and Drug Administration is currently in the process of regulating just about every flavored vaping product out of existence on the basis of “protecting kids.”

In truth, evidence shows that frequent youth use is about as rare in the US as it is in the UK. Yet it seems to serve the anti-vaping organizations’ agenda to prolong the myth—while engaging in bizarre efforts to terrify kids that frequently end up backfiring."

The US Obsession With Youth Vaping Looks Odd From Across the Atlantic

 

[kristin]

September 13, 2019
(via CASAA Twitter @CASAAMedia)
___________________________________________________________________________
IN THE NEWS: President Trump supported FDA taking "strong action" against the vapor product industry on Wednesday as HHS Secretary Azar announces "all flavored e-cigarettes other than tobacco flavor would have to be removed from the market.

CASAA members immediately sent opposition tweets to the President () then answered a Call to Action (National Call to Action - Light up the White House Switchboard) on Thursday to swamp the White House switchboard with messages. Members reported busy lines and irritated operators. Eventually, callers were being hung up on or immediately switched to a message line.

On Friday, the President sent a tweet that seemed to soften his stance:

While CASAA found the President's tweet encouraging, we urge advocates to keep making calls and tweeting the President, specifically about how flavors are important to them, and continue to do the national Call to Action to federal lawmakers: Vaping Prohibition is On the Table in Congress!

RESEARCH: Preliminary data shows youth smoking DOWN to 5.8%, once again shattering claims that youth vaping leads to smoking. Vaping "even one puff in past 30 days" now at 27.5% - which is not a surprise with all of the anti-vaping orgs telling youth how "tasty and easy to hide" they are.

PUBLIC HEALTH: This is TRUE public health advocacy. Vaper-turned-small business owner Mark Slis giving powerful testimony at the Michigan hearing.

"Helping these customers to save their own lives has been the most rewarding experience of my life."



ADVOCACY: CASAA Board Director Jim McDonald's Testimony, at the Michigan House Oversight Committee hearing, discussing Governor Whitmer's proposed Executive Order for a statewide flavor ban.



CONNECTICUT: (HEADS UP!) Officials are calling for a ban on nicotine vapor products after six deaths were believed to be linked to vaping products sold on the street and black market containing THC and oils. Officials choosing to ignore the discrepancy.

State leaders call for ban on vaping, e-cigarette products

POLICY COMMENTARY: (National Review) FDA plan to ban e-cigarette flavors is an affront to personal freedom

"The administration has decided that if some teens are going to illegally vape liquids with names like Fruity Hoops, well then, no one can. "

Vaping: FDA Plan to Ban E-Cigarette Flavorings Is Affront to Freedom | National Review

OPINION: (Wall Street Journal)

A Vaping Ban Will Send Smokers Back to the Pack--Banning safe e-cigarette products could reverse the decade long decline in smoking rates.

Opinion | A Vaping Ban Will Send Smokers Back to the Pack

IN THE NEWS: Banning flavored e-cigarettes might cost Trump reelection--2020 wouldn’t be the first time that vapers organized to support or defeat a candidate for elective office.

Banning flavored e-cigarettes might cost Trump reelection

MICHIGAN LEGISLATURE: In case you missed it live, here are links to recordings of Thusdays's Michigan House Oversight Committee hearing discussing Governor Whitmer's ExecutiveOrder banning flavored vapormproducts.

Michigan House TV

Michigan House TV

___________________________________________________________________________
If you’re on Facebook, please be sure to join your CASAA state group to help prevent anti-harm reduction laws like these from spreading through the state! Link: CASAA.org - The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association
Join CASAA here: Join CASAA - CASAA
Find your state info here: Find My State Info - CASAA