26 May 2021

UK

Thousands of fake Marlboro cigarette packets seized in county

International

Opinion: The weak, unconvincing case against vaping

Study: Ban on flavoured vaping may have led US teens to cigarettes

UK

Thousands of fake Marlboro cigarette packets seized in county

 

Lincolnshire Trading Standards officers have discovered thousands of counterfeit Marlboro cigarette boxes during an inspection at a car wash. The huge stash of printed packets intended to be used for illicit tobacco and was found during a joint operation with Lincolnshire Police, Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority and immigration officials.

Andy Wright of Lincolnshire Trading Standards said: "This isn't the first time the manufacture of counterfeit cigarettes has been discovered in Lincolnshire. We frequently find illegal products at retail level, but this recent find shows the sort of quantities being manufactured."

Source: Lincolnshire Live, 26 May 2021

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International

Opinion: The weak, unconvincing case against vaping

 

Alex Norcia writes in The New Republic on how concerns about teenage e-cigarette use have blunted the potential benefits of such products for adult smokers. Norcia discusses the origins of e-cigarettes and the "tobacco endgame" debate at the centre of the issue: "Do we strive to achieve a nicotine-free society, in all its forms, or do we move toward a safer and more sustainable nicotine future?"

Norcia weighs the evidence around Juul, exploring whether their advertising tactics are from the 'Big Tobacco playbook' and the degree to which the US teenage 'vaping epidemic' has too much been the focus of attention when discussing e-cigarettes.

Norcia goes on to write that "It’s easy to get lost in the whirlwind of Juul and its repeated lapses in judgment. But cigarette consumption is still the number one cause of preventable death on the planet, and smoking remains ubiquitous in low-to-middle-income countries, many of which have followed the lead of many states, cities, and towns in the U.S. and banned the sale of flavored vapes. Progress cannot be brushed away. [...] So do we deprive people in India and Mexico of safer alternatives to cigarettes? I say no. At the very least, it deserves an empathetic answer. Most politicians in the States, however, cannot see past the so-called youth vaping 'epidemic.' They push for flavor bans and excise taxes that could render vaping obsolete. This is not the logic everywhere: In the United Kingdom, for example, there are vape shops attached to hospitals."
 
Source: The New Republic, 25 May 2021

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Study: Ban on flavoured vaping may have led US teens to cigarettes

 

A new study from the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH), suggests that a San Francisco law banning flavoured tobacco and vaping products may have increase tobacco consumption among teenagers in direct opposition to the law's hoped-for outcome. The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, is believed to be the first to assess how complete flavour bans affect youth smoking habits.

Analyses found that, after the ban’s implementation, high school students’ odds of smoking conventional cigarettes doubled in San Francisco’s school district compared to trends in districts without the ban, even when adjusting for individual demographics and other tobacco policies. 

Explaining these results, Abigail Friedman, the study’s author and an assistant professor of health policy at YSPH said “Think about youth preferences: some kids who vape choose e-cigarettes over combustible tobacco products because of the flavours. For these individuals as well as would-be vapers with similar preferences, banning flavours may remove their primary motivation for choosing vaping over smoking, pushing some of them back toward conventional cigarettes.”

Friedman noted that the study does have limitations. Because there has been only a short time since the ban was implemented, the trend may differ in coming years. San Francisco is also just one of several localities and states that have implemented restrictions on flavours, with extensive differences between these laws, so effects may differ in other places. However, Friedman maintained that, as similar restrictions continue to appear across the US, policymakers should be careful not to indirectly push minors toward cigarettes in their quest to reduce vaping.

Source: Yale News, 25 May 2021

 

JAMA Pediatrics - A difference-in-differences analysis of youth smoking and a ban on sales of flavored tobacco products in San Francisco, California

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