A new study being conducted in the U.K. will offer homeless people free e-cigarette starter packs. The trial is aimed at helping them quit smoking. An estimated 70 percent of homeless people smoke combustible cigarettes, according to research from University of East Anglia (UEA).
Credit: Mat Hayward
Homeless centers in five parts of the UK including London, Scotland and Wales will provide 480 contributors with starter kits or care group sessions, according to the BBC. The study will assess if e-cigarettes help participants quit smoking and whether it offers them value for money.
Half of the contributors will be offered the e-cigarettes, while the other 240 people will be allocated to a care group. The project is being led by London South Bank University (LSBU) and University College London. Lynne Dawkins, a professor with LSBU, said that in an earlier trial the kits “worked well” and staff at homeless centers were able to support the study.
The £1.7m project has been funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and is in collaboration with UEA, Kings College London, Queen Mary University of London, the University of York, Cardiff University, the University of Stirling and the University of Edinburgh. Caitlin Notley, a professor with UEA, said studies suggested e-cigarettes were “more helpful” than nicotine gum or patches when people tried to stop smoking.
“If we find that providing free e-cigarette starter kits helps people to quit, homeless centers could decide to adopt this approach in future, to help reduce the impact of smoking-related diseases on the homeless,” she said.
The U.K. Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) will host a discussion today on the impact of the World Health Organization’s ninth Conference of the Parties (COP9) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which is scheduled to take place on Nov. 21 in the Netherlands.
The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the FCTC, where all parties to the FCTC meet biennially to review the implementation of the convention and adopt the new guidance. For the first time since leaving the European Union, in November 2021, the U.K. will send a delegation to the COP.
According to the IEA, COP9 poses a significant threat to the U.K.’s approach to harm reduction policy. “The WHO is increasingly, and against the clear evidence, positioning itself as an enemy of vaping,” the think tank states on its website. “The U.K. is a world leader in tobacco harm reduction, and a significant reason for this is our comparatively liberal approach to vaping products and e-cigarettes.”
Participants in the IEA forum will discuss who represents the U.K. at COP, how decisions are reached, the impact of these decisions on the U.K.’s harm reduction progress and the country’s 2030 smoke-free target, among other topics.
Speakers includes IEA Director General Mark Littlewood (chair), Matt Ridley (vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Vaping), Christopher Snowdon (IEA head of lifestyle economics) and Louis Houlbrooke (NZ Taxpayers Union).
The discussion can be followed live on the screen or here.
MPs from the U.K.’s two main political parties agree that vaping holds the key to Britain achieving its ambitious target to be a “smoke free” nation by 2030, according to a report by the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKIVA).
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Smoking and Health presented its latest recommendations for a new Tobacco Control Plan (TCP) at Westminster yesterday.
Among its range of proposals to curb smoking prevalence in the U.K. were recommendations to expand the use of vaping based on the mounting “data and evidence” pointing to e-cigarettes’ efficacy in helping smokers to quit.
In a departure from most cross-party debates there was universal consensus that vaping should be a central part of any plan for the U.K. to meet its smoke free targets and save lives.
The first MP to bring vaping into the debate was Mary Glindon (Labour) who sits on the APPG on E-cigarettes.
She said “The forthcoming Tobacco Control Plan presents an enormous opportunity to cement the U.K. as the global leader in tobacco harm reduction.
“Having left the EU, the government must alongside the post implementation review of the Tobacco and Regulated Products Regulations (TRPR) set a clear direction for reducing smoking prevalence.
“To achieve its ambitions the forthcoming control plan must champion less harmful alternatives to smoking combustible tobacco, in particular the growing body of evidence showing vaping to be the most effective alternative for adult smokers looking to quit smoking.
“In its Blueprint for Better Regulation the U.K. Vaping Industry Association made recommendations to the Department for Health for consideration when reviewing TRPR, a process already under way.
“Those recommendations, many of which I support, could also be applied to the government’s TCP.
“One of those recommendations is effectively tackling increasing levels of misinformation and misperceptions about the relative harm of e-cigarettes versus tobacco.
“ASH data suggests millions of smokers could be dissuaded from switching to e-cigarettes because of incorrect views or confusion about vaping.
“To combat this the UKVIA recommends that the Department of Health launch an effective communications strategy including the introduction of approved health claims and switch messages displayed on vape devices and e-liquid packaging.
“It also recommends that medical professionals at local Stop Smoking services are supported with clinicians signposted to the latest clinical guidance and evidence about e-cigarettes.
“An evidence-based approach to smoking cessation must be adopted consistently by local services to support patients and their harm reduction journey—this is critical, considering the trials in NHS A&E departments.
“There should also be a review of regulations of nicotine in e-cigarettes to better understand the role nicotine plays in allowing e-cigarettes to be a satisfying alternative for adult smokers.
“For vaping to compete with combustible cigarettes and provide and alternative it must provide a comparably satisfying nicotine experience.
“It is the toxic by-products, not the nicotine, that are responsible for smoking-related deaths and diseases.
“Understanding alternatives and making clear distinctions between smoking and vaping are critical to our smoke free ambitions.
“The APPG on Vaping made several recommendations on vaping in the workplace and in public places, these are endorsed by the UKVIA and if implemented would support adult smokers in their transition to less harmful alternatives and give those who already made the switch the best chance of sticking with it.”
To achieve its ambitions the forthcoming control plan must champion less harmful alternatives to smoking combustible tobacco, in particular the growing body of evidence showing vaping to be the most effective alternative for adult smokers looking to quit smoking.
David Jones (Conservative), Honorary Life Governor at Cancer Research UK, said, “The key issue with smoking is, of course, the smoke. Any evidence-based policy to assist the U.K.’s 7 million smokers must put forward alternative products to combustible tobacco.
“Continuing to raise awareness of those products is also key. E-cigarettes and the use of other alternatives saves lives, and we should make sure that message reaches every smoker in Britain.
“E-cigarettes are hugely important in the fight against smoking, and I commend NHS England for promoting them to smokers. It’s based on evidence and has a proven positive effect on the health of the nation.”
Jones pointed out that, in 2017, more than 50,000 smokers who would have carried on stopped with the aid of a vaping product.
“The TCP should embrace new products and allow for more measures for companies to promote them,” he said. “And the plan should contemplate legislation for a robust regulatory framework for all the products we have on the market.”
Next to speak was Adam Afriyie (Conservative), also Chair of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology who sits on the APPG on Vaping.
“We’re in an era where we must be driven by data and evidence,” he said. “And it can’t be any clearer that, when it comes to vaping devices, electronic nicotine delivery devices and other technologies and ways nicotine can be used to help smokers to cease, that the data is only one way.
“It is so much safer to vape or use an electronic device than it is to smoke. Smoke is the killer. Tobacco is the killer.”
Afriyie urged the government to “not do what the EU has done and not do what the WHO seems to be doing by mangling the two issues (smoking and vaping) together.”
“Smoking is one thing,” he continued. “Smoking cessation devices that contain nicotine is a complete different thing. A completely different scale of harm and completely different scale of risk.
“Nobody really wants to smoke. It’s a good idea to remind people on an annual basis that there are alternatives, and not just nicotine patches but certainly to be looking at vaping devices.
“There is still ambiguity about whether or not vaping is a smoking cessation device or just another way of inhaling nicotine. The truth is, and this is clear from the evidence, it’s a smoking cessation device that woks and is twice as effective—if not higher than that—at helping smokers to cease smoking relative to the other treatments available.”
He concluded: “We are the first in the world at genomics, first in the world for the vaccine rollout, first in the world for fintech and financial services—let’s make this another one: let’s be the first in the world to implement a TCP that clearly takes on board the wonderful innovations of vaping, e-cigarettes and all the other technologies and not mangle it together in a smoking directive.”
We are the first in the world at genomics, first in the world for the vaccine rollout, first in the world for fintech and financial services—let’s make this another one: let’s be the first in the world to implement a TCP that clearly takes on board the wonderful innovations of vaping, e-cigarettes and all the other technologies and not mangle it together in a smoking directive.”
Labour MP Virendra Sharma told the committee that he came from “a family of nonsmokers” and that he himself does not smoke.
“I cannot see the appeal,” he said. “But clearly, people are addicted, and addiction needs treatment not moralizing. There are 3 million people who vape in Britain and nearly all are former smokers. That’s 3 million who choose a less harmful option. This is good news, but BAME communities and those with manual jobs and without university degrees are 2.5 times more likely to smoke than white, office working university educated colleagues. This has to be addressed.
“In the Asian community we need to offer alternatives to tobacco. There are terrible statistics about rates of oral cancers and anything we can do to reduce these rates will save lives.”
Another Labour MP, Alex Norris, spoke next and emphasized the consensus nature of the debate.
“We are all here in the spirit of cross party cooperation,” he said.
“E-cigarettes and vaping must be a feature of the TCP. I hope the minister and government generally via its role in the WHO push harder for stronger messages and clearer messages around the data and evidence at WHO level.
“I looked at the WHO website myself and could not fathom what it was trying to tell me. That makes it really hard for people thinking about alternatives to know what they’re supposed to do or not.
“Personally, I always rely on the Public Health England position from 2018, that vaping represents a 95 percent reduction in harm.
“The APPG’s report says that in 2017 vaping helped 50,000 people to stop smoking, and that concerns around children starting have not materialized.”
Bringing the debate to an end Jo Churchill (Conservative), who is also Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care at the Department of Health and Social Care, said: “Within our plan we will re-commit to the role of e-cigarette products. They certainly have a place in supporting smokers to quit and we will ensure they remain accessible while protecting nonsmokers and young people.”
Speaking after the session John Dunne, director general of the UK Vaping Industry Association, said:
“It was a very proud moment for the UKVIA to be quoted so extensively during this important debate and at such a crucial moment in the U.K.’s journey towards harm reduction.
“It’s not often that you witness different political parties reaching a consensus in this way but, it appears, the urgent need to reduce smoking rates in Britain and the vital role vaping can play in achieving smoke free 2030 are the issues where tribalism is put aside, and common sense prevails.”
For the CBD market to thrive, it requires clear regulatory framework, a supportive government and strong consumer demand. All three have aligned in the UK this year. From a regulatory and government perspective, signals from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the Home Office are increasingly positive. While rightly making consumer safety the top priority, they seem to be putting consumer choice and the desire to support the development of the UK industry in a firm joint second.
Credit: Elsa Olofsson
According to an article by Tony Reeves in the The Grocer, the final ingredient – consumer demand – is certainly there. As a ‘hero ingredient’, CBD has the potential to enhance multiple categories and formats. In the soft drinks industry, for example, it could in time match the £2bn energy drinks subcategory, representing over 5 percent of the sector’s value. Another growing area is supplements. During Covid, consumers have increased their focus on supplements and health-promoting ingredients, including those providing CBD as a main component.
Still, post-Brexit Britain presents fresh opportunities for creating a vibrant and growing CBD sector. Indeed, the Taskforce on Innovation Growth and Regulatory Reform states its primary objective is to “scope out and propose options for how the UK can take advantage of our newfound regulatory freedoms”, and will report to the prime minister this month.
Against this backdrop, the UK is uniquely placed to become a leading operator within the sector and is already viewed as a key market by manufacturers across Europe and North America. An attractive market has high barriers to entry but low barriers to growth. A sensible regulatory framework, quality standards and an increasingly educated customer base is building the entry barriers. And, for the brands that can comply and deliver, the market holds endless possibilities.
Vapor companies that want to place an e-cigarette on the U.K. market will have to send their notifications through different routes after Jan. 1 due to Brexit.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will remain the competent authority for the notification scheme for e-cigarettes and refill containers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
From January 2021 producers of nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes and refill containers will be required to:
Submit notifications for Great Britain using the MHRA Submission Portal
Submit notifications for Northern Ireland using the European Common Entry Gate (EUCEG)
Retailers do not need to submit information for any products they sell unless they also qualify as a producer.
The U.K. government has published several guidance documents and videos explaining the process on its website.
E-cigarettes showed considerable promise as a smoking-cessation aid during a study in the U.K. that was recently published by Reed Wellbeing.
The health and lifestyle service engaged in a one-year pilot from February 2019 to February 2020 to independently assess the impact of directly supplying e-cigarettes as a form of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to up to 200 participants though the One You Haringey stop-smoking service.
Participants were given a choice between NRT, e-cigarettes or Champix. Those selecting e-cigarettes were provided with a device and pods free of charge and were supported to quit in line with treatment guidelines from the U.K. National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training.
E-cigarettes outperformed both NRT and Champix in first-attempt quits during the trial. The devices achieved a 93 quit rate when used alone and a 72 percent quit rate when combined with NRT. NRT use resulted in a 49 percent quit rate and Champix achieved a quit rate of 57 percent.
Twelve weeks after the trail, 100 percent of e-cigarette users were still refraining from smoking, compared with 96 percent of participants who used e-cigarettes and NRT, 84 percent of those who used NRT and 91 percent of Champix users.
The vapor industry is suffering serious hardships due to closures caused by Covid-19.
By Timothy S. Donahue
Several countries have considered vape shops essential businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. Countries such as Spain, France and New Zealand have allowed e-cigarette users to continue to have access to nicotine without returning to combustible cigarettes. In many countries such as the U.K. and the U.S., however, vape shops have been forced to close and many business owners say they may never be able to recover.
In the U.K., VPZ, the country’s largest vapor retailer, vowed to keep its shops open. On March 20, the company urged British leaders to follow the lead of other European countries and allow all 155 VPZ stores across the U.K. to be added to the list of essential businesses. That request was denied. On March 23, VPZ announced it would be closing all its locations. In an email, Doug Mutter, director of compliance and manufacturing for VPZ, said the company was disappointed with the lack of explanation from the government concerning the status of vapor retailers.
Doug Mutter | Photo: VPZ
“Other European nations had recognized the work vaping specialists do in reducing the stress on health services and [have] kept the local stores open,” he said. “We had expected this to be the case and had begun investing in new processes in order to manage our business in such an environment. However, without sufficient clarification and in the interest of keeping our staff and customers safe, we have made the decision to close all 155 stores … for the next three weeks.”
James Jarvis
James Jarvis owns four shops in the U.S. state of Ohio. Jarvis also heads the Ohio Vapor Trade Association (OHVTA), an industry advocacy group. He closed his Vapor Station locations in Clintonville, Columbus, Gahanna and Hilliard on March 23. He said that while the governor of Ohio has shown great empathy to Ohioans regarding the coronavirus, the OHVTA knew it needed to recommend that its members make consumers aware that a stay-at-home order or shutdown would be likely at some point, and all shop owners needed to inform customers.
“Many of the shops ran specials, extended hours … to make sure if something happened our consumer family would be well stocked up. I talked to members as well as looking at our own numbers, and over the last few weeks [during the increase in virus reporting], sales were definitely on the rise,” Jarvis told Vapor Voice. “The unfortunate day came on March 22 as an order was signed and a deadline for nonessential business [to close] was set for 11:59 p.m. [on] March 23.”
The total impact on vape shop closures in the U.S. will be hard to calculate, according to Jarvis. He says that if stores are forced to be closed for more than 14 days, many vapor consumers will get frustrated and turn back to cigarettes, which he says is a huge step backward for public health. “The longer we are closed, the more distant we will be to the consumer,” he explains. “This will also have a negative effect on our employees and our businesses as the uncertainty of how bills, rents and other necessities will be handled.”
Luckily for Ohioans, the state allows for online sales of vapor products. Many states, such as Utah, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Washington, have banned the online sale of vapor products. Jarvis says that the challenge is that even if a state allows for online sales, only online sales “will have a dramatic effect on conversion rates for smokers.” He says he worries about smokers using whatever products they can find at their local gas station or c-store and not getting the full education on the products they are using.
“Vape shops take the time to educate on the products, liquid options, safety and advocacy. With that element being gone, there will be too many opportunities that will be missed, and someone could wind up with a device or liquid that may not be the right thing, the right [nicotine] strength or will be operating the device unsafely,” he says. “In many states, the vape shop also educates on advocacy and any state with a ban or tax increases; it will now be harder to communicate those points to them as well. If the vape shops go away, the true heart and soul of the industry goes away and will be handed over to the very company [large tobacco companies] we are trying to destroy.”
Jarvis says the industry is also readying for premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) submissions due to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on May 12. The FDA submitted a request to postpone the deadline to the Maryland judge who set the deadline, but as of this writing, no decision had been made.
“I am hopeful that the FDA will do the right thing, but we need to act as if they will not and continue our due diligence to successfully start and complete a PMTA. There is a group on Facebook called ‘PMTA Sharing’ that is an amazing resource for small manufacturers,” says Jarvis. “Char Owen and her husband are really going to great lengths to make starting and completing the necessary paperwork as easy and painless for all small manufacturers in that group. They are sacrificing a lot of their own personal time and finances and sharing with the group.”
Jarvis suggests that even if the Ohio leadership changes its mind and allows vape shops to open, there will still be additional challenges. For example, the early Chinese New Year and the outbreak of Covid-19 have made finding some hardware products produced in China more difficult. He explains that even though the Chinese factories are operating again, the virus started to spread in the U.S., and changes were made to customs with regard to shipping.
“We also had many other states issuing orders that had stoppage effects on shipping. There is definitely a strain on the flow of products right now. The one thing we have been seeing, which is amazing, is that stores are sharing products with other stores, [and] distributors are limiting quantities and working overtime, so everyone gets a little,” he says. “This is truly a community that looks out for one another. It’s great feeling like a part of a group of people that are selfless and want to make sure the consumer and our small businesses are protected at the end of the day.”
On the other side of the U.S., Burbank, California-based online vapor retailer ProVape says the vapor industry is going to continue to feel the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. In Shenzhen, China, the vapor manufacturing capital of the world, businesses have been allowed to resume operation if they have stringent measures to prevent further spread of the devastating virus (see “Sanitary Solution”).
There is still a massive problem with the timely shipment of supplies, according to Art Harutyunyan, a senior executive of ProVape. Wholesale vapor suppliers must wait for the coronavirus crisis to end before they can get a steady supply of vaporizer products. “We are constantly told that products are on backorder and are encouraged to stock up with vape hardware [coils, vape kits, pod systems, mods, tanks and disposable vape devices] to avoid any issues in coming months,” says Harutyunyan, adding that the coronavirus is creating a global problem in the vapor industry as manufacturers of vapor products will not be able to produce and deliver some products before coils, pods and other vapor hardware dwindle to a frighteningly low number in the U.S. and around the globe.
Bob, Patsy and Sean Anderson | Photo: Timothy S. Donahue
Moving farther west, Patricia Anderson, co-owner of Black Lava Vape (BLV) on the big island of Hawaii, says that as of March 22, their three stores were still open for business, but they stopped vaping in the shop and were only allowing three people at a time in the store. They were also offering curbside service and delivery in a limited area.
“Last week [week ending March 21] and over the weekend were probably some of the best days we have had in succession in quite some time. In the vaping world, I would say our products are like toilet paper … people are very afraid that we will run out [of product] sooner or later, or they will close us as a nonessential business, and they will have to go back to cigarettes,” explains Anderson. “To be quite honest, the THC scare [black market THC products causing pulmonary issues] and the always impending ban on flavors was more detrimental to us than the coronavirus [pandemic]. During the THC scare, I had to lay off half of my employees, cut store hours, cut employee hours, and we have been unable to pay ourselves.”
During the scare, BLV shelves became very hard to stock, and customers even supposed that BLV was closing, says Anderson. The shop went from having more than 10 full-time employees to five, and three are part-time. She says BLV e-juices are all made in the U.S., but their hardware comes from China, and they started seeing availability issues with wholesalers too.
“We found out [the other day] that two of our wholesalers are not processing any more orders, so that will definitely have an impact on competitive pricing,” Anderson explains. Then the hammer dropped. “Hawaii will be on lockdown starting March 26. I’m guessing we will be closing our doors as I don’t see the state considering us to be an essential business [they are currently allowed to stay open doing curbside service but are not labeled essential]. Our loyal vaping community will disagree, but we knew it was coming; 90 percent of our customers have been laid off [from their jobs].”
Jarvis says that the industry can’t lose hope. He says the industry needs to continue to stand together and fight for this life-saving industry that has already saved millions of lives from deadly traditional cigarettes. “This industry, as I have said before, is an amazing one to be a part of. We are on the right side of everything,” says Jarvis emphatically. “As long as we continue to work together, look out for each other, stay focused … we can do anything. Together we will be stronger and healthier to be there for the future.”
