The New York City Council has drafted a number of laws aimed at reducing access to reduced-harm products with the intention of harming vapers in the city. At the same time, more research has shown that the debate about the “pathway hypothesis” of minor vaping is just a hypothesis that is not supported by any data.
New York launches crackdown on e-cigarettes
A group of New York lawmakers have passed a series of bills and changes that would make life harder for vapers in the city. The bills would tighten restrictions on where and when you can use e-cigarettes and make it harder to sell them.
The first bill, introduced by Democratic Assemblyman James Vacca, would ban the use of e-cigarettes in common areas of many residential buildings. That means you can’t use an e-cigarette in your apartment building’s hallway, even though there’s absolutely no health risk.
Another bill, introduced by Democrat Brad S Lander, would ban the sale of tobacco products, which under US law includes e-cigarettes, in pharmacies or any store that contains a pharmacy. This would reduce the choice of reduced-harm products for smokers who often buy their products at pharmacies instead of vape shops . It’s unclear what the goal of this bill would be.
Another Democrat, Fernando Cebrera, passed an amendment that would require licensing of vape shops. NYC already has a tobacco licensing program, and Cabrera wants to extend it to vape shops. The bill is aimed squarely at closing down vape shops , which have only half the number of licenses in the city, so vapers will have fewer options in the future.
New study confirms underage vaping in the US is not a problem
A new study published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, using data from the 2014 and 2015 National Youth Tobacco Survey, confirms previous findings that the majority of U.S. teens have never used e-cigarettes and that most of those who do are smokers. This may not come as a surprise to vapers, but it does undermine the theory that e-cigarettes are harmful to kids.
Researchers found that in 2014 and 2015, up to 80% of U.S. adolescents had never used tobacco or e-cigarette products. Only 11.3% of adolescents had used e-cigarettes, only 4% were vapers, and two-thirds of vapers also used regular cigarettes. Of the 4%, one-third had never used any other tobacco products, and almost none (0.1%) vaped regularly.
Based on this data, the team says the numbers are completely inconsistent with the conclusion that vaping leads to tobacco use. This is hardly news, but the pathway hypothesis has been widely abused by anti-vaping groups, so most new evidence is welcome.
Discontent in UK nursing homes
Vaping groups in the UK and internationally have been outraged by the actions of staff at a UK nursing home, run by the NHS, that banned a dying woman from using an e-cigarette. Blogger Susanne Nundy, known as Anna Raccoon, had terminal cancer (she died on Friday morning). To ease her pain, she was transferred to the Pricilla Bacon Palliative Care Centre in Norwich, run by the NHS.
Anna had been using e-cigarettes for several years, and brought an e-cigarette with her when she was admitted to the nursing home. Unfortunately, some of the nurses knew about this and “found” it while “looking through” Anna’s desk. Anna was not allowed to use e-cigarettes because there was not enough evidence to show that e-cigarettes were safe . When her husband brought another device, the staff took it apart to prevent her from using it and stored it in the office.
What has caused most outrage among vaping groups is that the NHS’s parent organisation, PHE, has issued guidance suggesting that e-cigarettes should not be included in the smoking ban. There may be a case for not allowing vaping in hospitals, but in nursing homes where most patients are terminally ill, it is hard to see the benefit of such a ban. Nursing homes aim to provide as much comfort and convenience as possible for terminally ill patients, and denying them their final pleasures seems inconsistent with this. Fortunately, Anna Raccoon escaped the nursing home’s rules and spent her final days with her family.
Source: Fergus Mason - Vapingpost
Translated by: The Vape Club
