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** 10 August 2023
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** UK
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** Let Us Shop, Stop Swap Demand Vapers (#1)
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** Surrey shop accused of racism removes image of tobacco plantation (#2)
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** Opinion: The future of vaping looks a lot like cigarettes (#3)
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** International
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** Guernsey: (#4) States unlikely to hit smoking targets without 'bold' changes to laws and policies (#4)
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** Opinion: (#5) The dark side of the US sports betting boom (#5)
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** UK
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** Let Us Shop, Stop Swap Demand Vapers

A Government scheme to give out free vapes to smokers appeals to most but not all, according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA).

The 'Swap-to-Stop' scheme was announced earlier this year - providing a million e-cigarettes to disadvantaged people who smoke.

A new study published today supports the scheme, with people who vape saying that this type of approach might have helped them if it had been available when they attempted to quit.

But the research also shows that accessing vapes via the NHS might not be appealing to everyone, because some people don't see e-cigarettes as treatments but more as consumer products that they can shop for themselves.

Lead researcher Dr Emma Ward, from UEA's Norwich Medical School, said: "Our research shows that people who quit smoking using commercially purchased vapes believe they might have benefitted from the NHS providing e-cigarettes and support if it had been available to them when they were quitting.

"Vaping being available via healthcare professionals offers reassurance around the effectiveness of e-cigarettes in helping people quit smoking and potential harms.

"However, it is unlikely that one type of e-cigarette will suit everyone seeking to quit and our research highlights how important being able to choose vaping products in a commercial environment is for some quitters.”

Source: Mirage News, 9 2023

See also: University of East Anglia - ’SWAP-TO-STOP’ but let us shop – say vapers ([link removed].)
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** Surrey shop accused of racism removes image of tobacco plantation

A shop that faced racism allegations over a poster showing "broken black men" on a tobacco plantation has removed the image.

In a video shared on social media on Tuesday, Misan Harriman said the signage behind the counter at Farrants in Cobham, Surrey, was "triggering and racist".

The shop has since apologised for displaying the image.

Farrants sells a selection of confectionery, greetings cards, newspapers and toys, as well as hosting its own tobacco room, which offers cigars and tobacco.

The image appeared to show black people working on a tobacco plantation overseen by white men, which the store said was taken at Pinar del Rio plantation in Cuba in 1907 - 21 years after the abolition of slavery in the country.

But Mr Harriman, the chairman of London's Southbank Centre and a photographer who has taken portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, said that it was irrelevant if the image actually displayed indentured servants or slaves.

"This is in a family store. This imagery is massively triggering and racist," he said.

Source: BBC News, 10 August 2023
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** Opinion: The future of vaping looks a lot like cigarettes

Writing in the Financial Times, Stuart McGurk writes about the future of vaping and his experience at Europe’s largest industry expo for vaping. The expo brough in around 20,000 visitors who were able to sample different vape flavours and products.

McGurk looks back to the introduction of vapes, their appeal being their affordability, reusability, and safety in comparison to smoking. Starting as rechargeable, refillable unassuming devices, McGurk draws a comparison with today’s colourful disposable replacements, likening disposable vapes to “children’s crayons”. He says, “vaping has gone from a niche pursuit designed to help you quit smoking to a $27bn global industry that, critics argue, has simply given nicotine addiction a more accessible, artificially flavoured form”.

McGurk goes on to discuss the ability of vapes to “infiltrate almost any retail environment”, from hairdressers to hardware stores, all have the ability sell these products on full display. He also highlights concerns in the vaping community about controversies around youth use of disposable vapes resulting in an all-out ban of vaping products.

McGurk voices his fears over the long-term effects of vaping. McGurk’s own freedom of information request to NHS England found that 49 hospital admissions of people under 20 were for vaping related disorders last year, which had doubled since the previous year. However, he concedes that these figures “remain dwarfed by the half a million smokers the NHS treats annually.”

Source: Financial Times, 10 August 2023

See also: OHID E-cigarettes and vaping: policy, regulation and guidance ([link removed]) and ASH’s Vaping and Tobacco Harm Reduction ([link removed])
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** International
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** Guernsey: States unlikely to hit smoking targets without 'bold' changes to laws and policies

Guernsey would need to make "bold" changes to its laws and policies in order to hit its smoking targets, according to the States.

It is currently aiming to reduce the number to less than 10% by 2028 - it was 13% the last time the figures were calculated in 2018, with a more up to date statistic expected later this year.

Smoking is still a leading cause of death in the Bailiwick, with around 1 in 10 deaths caused by it between 2019 and 2021.

In order to reduce the amount of smokers in the Bailiwick, the States says it is looking at the example of New Zealand, which has introduced legislation that will prohibit anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 from buying cigarettes.

Source: ITV News, 10 August 2023
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** Opinion: The dark side of the US sports betting boom

Writing in the Financial Times, Olivier Barnes, the FT’s leisure industries correspondent, writes about the surge in gambling addiction in the US after betting regulations were loosened in 2018.

Traditionally, gambling solely occurred in casinos but due to the Supreme Court ruling in 1992 – which banned sports betting – being overturned in 2018, sports betting companies have seen $12bn in revenue, and Americans have bet $245bn on sports since 2018.

But with this boom in betting has come addiction. A survey by the New Jersey attorney-general found 6% of those surveyed were problematic gamblers and up to 20% exhibit signs of “problematic play”. Research in Pennsylvania found 36.7% of online bettors “admitted to observing at least one problematic element to their gambling habit last year.” Barnes writes that “Traffic to the National Council on Problem Gambling’s helpline increased by 21 per cent year-on-year to more than 30,000 calls and texts in March.”

The US online betting industry does not have federal regulations but is subject to the regulations of individual states which differ greatly in severity, some with no restrictions on betting with a credit card or self-exclusion programmes for “problem gamblers looking to block access to betting sites and a further five require bettors to self-exclude in person.”

Barnes ends his article on gambling addiction therapy, interviewing several patrons who say that it “saved their life”. Barnes writes that “collectively, all 50 US states allocated just $110.9mn to publicly funded problem gambling services this year. Nine states, including Arkansas, where online betting is legal, provided no funding at all to problem gambling services last year.” Barnes states that the US has not created the infrastructure needed to deal with the fallout of this landscape of online betting.

Source: Financial Times, 10 August 2023
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.

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