MHRA publishes its decision: option 3 do nothing!

[BCB]

Last weekend I flew to California to attend a gathering of friends who have been meeting for 18 years. Smoking is traditionally done outside as a courtesy to the hostess. I brought a PV for a friend who was trying them out. Both of us vaped indoors throughout the marvelous evening of hysterical laughter and no one said a word. Smokers went outside, just like always. Progress is being made. But I agree the war is not over--not by a long shot.

When I went back to work I was greeted by a memo that my employer, the County, in an attempt to "effectively address the root cause" of health care cost increases, is considering a countywide policy to not hire new employees who use (smoke or chew) tobacco products. As if tobacco use is the "root cause" of our nation's health care crisis! Three steps forward, two steps back (and that's optimistic).

 

[Vocalek]

It's bad enough that the drug addicts and alcoholics are out there panhandling. Now we will have a new group of homeless folks (because they couldn't get a job) whose "evil habit" does nothing to blur their understanding of what has happened and is happening to them.

 

[Bill Godshall]

SmokeyJoe wrote

Papa Lazarou - ASH UK took quite a different line on the whole business to ASH US. It surprised me too when they first stated that they didn't want them removed from the market.

I suspect that, freed of the dominating influence of Banzhaf, they're able to think more clearly about what actually matters for the wellbeing of smokers.

Please note that ASH in the US has no affiliations with ASH UK. It should also be noted that ASH UK, during the executive directorship of Clive Bates from 2000-2006, aggressively campaigned to eliminate the EU's ban on snus sales, and was probably the most outspoken advocate in the world for tobacco harm reduction products and policies.

After Bates left ASH UK, the organization stopped advocating to repeal EU's snus ban, but didn't oppose harm reduction products or policies.

In contrast, John Banzhaf never supported any tobacco harm reduction products, and instead advocated bans on e-cigarette sales and indoor usage. Laurent Huber replaced Banzhaf as executive director of ASH.

 

[Oliver]

Thanks for the clarification, Bill.

 

[Bill Godshall]

Any news stories about MHRA decision on e-cigarettes yet?

Seems like the media still doesn't consider tobacco harm reduction victories to be newsworthy, while lots of press coverage is provided whenever someone misrepresents the evidence about tobacco harm reduction products.

 

[rolygate]

We haven't had any reported yet, Bill.

It always seemed to me that good news doesn't sell, people prefer bad news. Also, the media will only print what people want to hear, so it needs to strike some sort of acceptable chord.

There is definitely a story here, though: two government agencies in the UK used National Stop Smoking Day to release news of their decisions. Tobacco displays visible to the public in stores must be removed, over a 4-year period; and the MHRA managed to sugar-coat their defeat announcement and get it out on the same day in order to camouflage the real message.

This is the sort of story that Kristin at CASAA is good at working with but it is understandable their focus has to be on events where their staff are located. If I wrote a PR on this it would probably turn into a bitter tirade on government corruption...

A job for someone else I'm afraid.

 

[freakindahouse]

At ECITA, we are working through all the associated documentation, but persuading the media that there is a story here is unlikely at this stage. That said, there is a plethora of evidence to support our case, and we hope to be able to push this forward as we work with the UK government (and indeed, with the US government, the EU, etc.) to get the right regulatory framework(s) applied.

The blog is being regularly updated with new posts as we work through the documentation.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Does ECITA issue press releases over PR Newswire or anything like that? It seems lots of publications pick up stories through that.

 

[freakindahouse]

It's something we need to get sorted, Papa Lazarou, yes. Trouble is, there's so much to do and so little time, but hopefully I shall have some help soon....

I shall prioritise this point though, because we do need to get the accurate information out there. I reckon we're all pretty fed up with the misinformation and spin by now!

 

[Lydia]

Only the reading to keep up with everything is already taking a lot of time. You all must have been very hard-working the last days.

Great step forward for the vapers the UK. This will encourage a lot of other vapers in the EU and USA. Many thanks to all the vapers in the UK and others who worked their .... off for this result! And it’s not only great for vaping, it is also great for making a stop to a growing rot and most of you know what I am talking about. This is a slap in their face and I hope with working together we can give them many slaps in their face.

 

[TTP]

Sound like a very positive step forward for the UK (and the US indirectly).
Now could someone please tell the Canadian government that they are idiots for banning everything eCig related.
(Hopefully we will be getting an election soon so we can then get rid of Harper's Tories and his Fundamentalist Christian zealots)

 

[Perfectionist]

I shoulda known ..... I went through the MHRA website yesterday and .....

You can read the rest of our learned friend's exemplary exercise in erudition here:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/uk-forum/168587-great-news-uk-2.html#post2912719

 

[unfaithful]

OMG!!! Thats amazing news! Wow!

 

[Vocalek]

I shall be starting that work soon, Elaine, and hope to work closely with you as well as with Julie, Treece and our US vendor(s)!

What a glorious day! Finally, we have a demonstration of the inability of government agencies to be able to deny their own laws. (I almost feel sorry for them all... honest )

To (mis)quote Mr. Carrol:

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
She chortled in her joy.

 

[JWebb]

Fantastic and hopefully good news eventually spreads to the USA!