Worth reading this weekend (August 19th 2016)

Quick and straight to the point this time, it's late already :) Here's some of the things I've enjoyed reading this week:

• Telegraph science editor Sarah Knapton puts the record straight. Not really. - Clive Bates tries to knock some sense into Science Editor at the Daily Telegraph, Sarah Knapton. Sadly it seems like an impossible task. 

• Not really reading, but I enjoyed watching this one from Brent Stafford and Regulatorwatch: Reasoned Research – $8.8-million e-Cig Study Explained – RegWatch 

• This Study Is The Last Thing Anti-E-Cig Crusaders Want To See - From the Daily Caller. Anyone recognize the name Neal Benowitz? Have a look here. What do we think of that?

Have a nice weekend!

Worth reading this weekend (August 12th 2016)

This week the FDA deeming regulations came into effect and you've probably read a lot about it already. The most immediate effects of this right now seems to be the following:

• Product innovation have been de facto banned in the US, as no new products are allowed on the market without investing a gazillion dollars in a Pre-Market Tobacco Application. That will probably be great for product safety right? And if you're not able to pay a gazillion dollars to get your products approved within two years you'll have to take them off the market.
• Vape shop owners are not allowed to help their customers use the equipment properly. Another great thing for product safety...
• Manufacturers and vendors are not allowed to tell people the truth about vaping: it can dramatically increase your chances to quit smoking and thereby save your life. 
• There are probably more, but I think it is so blindingly obvious that those three effects will not save lives but cost lives that it proves beyond all doubt that the FDAs motives for doing this has nothing to do with health... at all.

Anyway, here is some more reading for you this weekend, some of it about the FDA regulations and some about ...

• The Unintended Consequences Of Vaping Regulation - Guide to vaping highlights the stupidity of the FDA regulations. 

• FDA shoots itself in the foot, cigarette trade celebrates, public health loses - a summary in two quotes - Clive Bates does the same...

• If teens are going to smoke, better it be an e-cigarette - Colin Mendelsohn makes some excellent points about vaping teens in the Daily Telegraph:

It is quite possible that e-cigarettes are contributing to this rapid fall in adolescent smoking rates. Young people who experiment with e-cigarettes may otherwise have smoked if e-cigarettes were not available.

• Nearly 70 percent of European vapers have quit or reduced smoking - On Dr. Farsalinos latest study. Came out a while ago but still worth a read if you haven't read it yet.

Have a nice weekend!

Worth reading this weekend (August 5th 2016)

Picture from Facebook (senronjohnson)

It's been a while now since my last post. I have been on vacation, visiting Denmark to see my kids play football (that's soccer for you Americans), but that's not the only reason I've been kind of silent. To be honest I've scratched my head a bit trying to figure out something interesting to write about without repeating myself over and over again. I mean, there are of course some interesting stuff going on in the world of vaping. The FDA is trying to destroy vaping and they're being sued by several parties for this. The development in the UK and New Zealand is quite interesting to follow as well, and not depressive as what is happening in the US. But here in Norway, and Scandinavia I guess, it's kind of quiet at the moment. Here in Norway we're currently waiting for answers to the request for comments on the new tobacco act proposal to start ticking in. The deadline is set to September 26th. Some answers have come in but the ones that will really matter is not there yet, like from NDS (Norwegian Union of Vapers), the Institute of Public Health and so on. I talked to the owner of a vapeshop I visited in Hjørring, Denmark, during my vacation and from what I could understand the situation in Denmark is pretty much the same. I'm not sure if they've passed the law yet (feel free to comment if you know) but it's a lot of the same as in Norway... TPD and horrible fees to register products to sum it up really quickly.

So since it's a bit quiet and not that much to report from Norway at the moment, here's some interesting reading for you this weekend:

• A strong case to overturn the EU snus ban - 10 reasons why legal action should succeed this time - Interesting on snus by Clive Bates. The way I see it, if the ban on Snus in the EU is lifted it is a victory for harm reduction strategies and that is good for vaping as well.
• Terry Barnes – Kiwis have got it right on vaping, leaving Chapman fuming - Good article on the situation in New Zealand. A confused and frustrated Chapman is good news in itself if you ask me.
• If you want to read up on the FDA situation in the US here's a couple of nice ones:
  - Senator Ron Johnson Challenging FDA Vaping Regulations (part five)
  - How The New E-Cig Rules Hurt Americans
  - FDA e-cig regulations deemed ‘incomprehensible” by Forbes Magazine

Have a nice weekend!

Worth reading this weekend (April 15th 2016)

Another week closer to May 20th 2016 and TPD regulations so I thought it would be a good idea to start out this weekends reading list with a reminder of all that is wrong with the TPD. But before that I'd like to encourage everyone, or at least those of you voting in the UK EU referendum, to take the Ashtray blogs' survey here. Now, when you're done with that... onto the reading list:

• About a year ago, Clive Bates summed up what is wrong with the TPD. You may have read it before, but it's worth reading again, just in case you've forgotten something.

• Another great piece written by Clive Bates is this one: Harmful and negligent to ignore unintended consequences of e-cigarette policies. I think I might have mentioned this one before, but who cares. Also worth reading several times. What I also highly recommend while you're at it, is having a look at two of the links Clive posts near the end of his article: 

"When will anyone in public health, tobacco control or the European Union accept responsibility for the unintended consequences of banning snus and the outrageous negligence of continuing the ban in the face of all the evidence?"

• Last but not least, Jim McDonald for Vaping360 looks into some academic papers on vaping health risks, and looks at how the attitude towards nicotine and harm reduction is quite different in the UK compared to the US: Vaping Health Risk Academic Papers Released. I especially recommend reading this article in the New England Journal of Medicine as well: Evidence, Policy, and E-Cigarettes — Will England Reframe the Debate? 

Have a nice weekend!

Worth reading this weekend (April 9th 2016)

A bit late this weekend, but I've been busy, ok? You still have a whole Sunday to get through this weekends suggested reading though, and hopefully you'll find it well worth spending time on. So grab your coffee cups, fill your atomizers and make sure your batteries are charged. Here's this weekends suggested reading:

• David Dorns excellent piece on the Pleasure principle is actually from March 28th but a must read in my opinion. 

"Ecigs are there to be enjoyed, with or without nicotine. And that, my friends, is what too many people don't like. They need to get over it. That simple."

• The CDC is known, at least among vapers by now, for their ability to make up their own truths that fits their own agenda, withholding or twisting data that doesn't really make them happy. Here's a couple of good pieces on he subject:
  - Lying About Snus and E-Cigarettes Is Like Blocking Access to Clean Heroin Needles, by Jacob Sullum at reason.com
  - Centers for Disease Control: Release Smokeless Stats, by Brad Rodu at Tobacco Truth

• Dick Puddlecote always seems to make my weekends a bit better: Sheila Duffy Cheesecake

• Did you remember to fill your atomizers and your coffee cup? You should probably refill again cause this last one by Clive Bates is pretty long, but well worth it :) Bluffer's guide to FDA regulation of tobacco and nicotine products

Have a nice weekend!

Worth reading this weekend (March 18th 2016)

Easter is coming up, which means most my Norwegian readers will go on a desperate hunt for the last patches of snow, with their cars fully loaded with chocolate, oranges and kids whining. We're a weird bunch I tell you, and I might take some days of to join this madness myself. But before that, some good reading for this weekend:

• I did get quite some good feedback on my post from Monday, The Gateway theory vs. the Firewall theory. Increased smoking among youth in states where they've ban sales of e-cigarettes to minors is an unintended consequence of regulation (at least I hope that was not the intention). Clive Bates published an absolutely excellent article on that subject yesterday: Harmful and negligent to ignore unintended consequences of e-cigarette policies. Totally agree with his last words in this article:

I hope it won’t be too long before the courts start to hold people accountable for unintended consequences arising from their negligence.

• We got some great news from Wales this week: Plans to ban e-cigarettes in public places defeated. 

• What is it that makes vaping an effective way to quit smoking? I think there are several reason, one of them is that vaping is, or at least can be for quite a lot of us, fun. I liked this article on the subject: Vapers just wanna have fun

A better approach to vaping would recognise that its success as a popular alternative to smoking is not simply down to whether particular devices deliver sufficient nicotine to relieve cravings (although that is an important factor). Rather, vaping is an activity of many parts, and the neglect of any one of them is to the detriment of the whole. It is a recreational activity in its own right and brings pleasures of its own. It is a hobby, an opportunity for socialising, a way to relax, or even just a chance to share opinions about the latest gear. Switching to vaping is empowering for many smokers. It allows smokers to find their own solution with the help of those who have trodden the same path.

• Another success factor is all the great flavours available. Last but not least today, I'd like to mention the Ashtray blogs guide to steeping e-liquid... so you can get even better flavour.

Have a nice weekend!

Worth reading this weekend (March 4th 2016)

When I started vaping I remember thinking that this will be the innovation of the century and that public health, anti smoking organisations, cancer societies and everyone who have spent decades fighting the deadly cigarettes would be overjoyed by this new products. I thought governments would be thrilled by this, finally being able to see one of the most expensive posts in their health budgets shrink. Now how wrong was I? I soon discovered the reason I was so wrong ... and that was also one of the reasons I started this blog: It was never about health! During this week it became even more evident. Here's some good reading on the subject:

• Dick Puddlecote, as always, have a couple of interesting and quite amusing considerations: Vapid Anti-Vapers; Vapid Government; Vapid EU and Vapid Anti-Vaper Writes

• Christopher Snowdon have some comments on the EU's plans to tax e-cigs like cigarettes: The EU shows its contempt for vapers (again). Now why the hell would they even consider this if it was at all even remotely about health?

• Actually... kind of on the same subject I'm going to link to an old post from this blog, hope that's not to cocky: Losing income from sin taxes shouldn't be a problem.

• Finally, I'd like to urge everyone to take Clive Bates Annual quiz on e-cigarettes and harm reduction - 2016. As Clive says: Fun with a purpose :)

Have a nice weekend!

Worth reading this weekend (Feb. 27th 2016)

I promised I'd tried to post some good weekend reading whenever I had the time to do it. So here it goes :)

• Earlier this week Karl Erik Lund made me aware of the new guidelines on Electronic Cigarettes released by NCSCT. There is a lot of goodies in there and both Clive Bates and Dick Puddlecote have published some good posts on the subject. Actually, if you start following the links in there you'll have a great deal to read this weekend.

• I also enjoyed reading Dick Puddlecotes post on what a great success plain packaging had been in Australia. Politicians...gotta love them right?

• "Public health" would like everyone to believe that e-cigarettes and vaping is a conspiracy put together by Big Tobacco to ... uhm ... put themselves out of business? Christopher Snowdon writes about a great example of this madness here: Mad versus Madder. Well worth reading.

Have a nice weekend!

Worth reading this weekend (December 11th)

Weekend again! Yay! I know I complained about too much to do before Christmas last weekend. This week I haven't done any of the the preparations I should have done so my goal is to at least get started this weekend. Like that's going to happen :) Here's this weekends recommended reading, for those of you that have done all the shopping and have time to sit down and just relax:

• Yesterday Aaron Biebert spoke at the White House OMB and the offices of several lawmakers in Washington D.C. His speech was published on Facebook and well worth a read: Speech to White House OMB.

• Another study finding Diacetyl in e-liquids got a lot of attention in the media. Both Dr. Farsalinos' and Michael Siegels response to this is worth reading, as is this excellent article: New e-cig study reveals crisis in journalism

• Finally, someone linked this on Facebook. I guess it's a couple for years old, but still very very relevant: The myth of nicotine addiction

 Have a nice weekend!

Worth reading this weekend (December 4th)

Damn, this week just started and it's already weekend again? I have a feeling I'll end up spending December 23rd at a shopping mall, desperately searching for something that will make my loved ones happy. Actually when I think about it that's what I usually do on the 23rd, thinking that next year... next year I'm going to buy all the presents in July. Yeah right, like that's going to happen.

Anyway, when you're done playing around with the Norwegian smoking statistics I posted a link to earlier today, here's some more goodies you can enjoy this weekend:

• Actually I'm not sure you'll enjoy reading this first one, as it is quite sad. Norbert Zillatron reports from Germany and it doesn't look good: Vapemail from Germany. Might make you cry, but still worth reading.

• Next up, Dick Puddlecote's piece on Modern Day Follies might also make you cry... or laugh.

• Michael Siegel gives you the truth as usual, exposing no less that three lies in one letter by the American Academy of Family Physicians: Once, Twice, Three Times a Liar: AAFP Letter to Congress on E-Cigarette Predicate Date Lies Three Times, Yet Still Fails to Make Its Point 

• Last but not least, I also enjoyed this one: Meet the Women Taking Back Vaping From the Bros

Have a nice weekend!

Worth reading this weekend (November 27th)

Another busy week with very little spare time to write has gone by, and 2015 is coming to an end, a bit faster than I like. I haven't even started thinking about Christmas shopping yet, except that I'm thinking I can save some money the presents I plan buying for myself today, since it's black friday :) Here in Norway we also have another important event coming up for us vapers. It's just around 2 weeks until we hit the streets to express our views on the sneaky TPD implementation planned by our government. Hopefully it will get some attention in the media, and hopefully a lot of smokers will unpack their first vaping kits this Christmas.

Anyway, between not thinking about Christmas, work, and trying to figure out how to get rid of my beloved car that have finally decided to die on me, I have managed to sneak in some reading. So if you're already tired of Christmas and want to take a well deserved break from the shopping madness, here's a couple of good ones that I'm sure you'll enjoy:

• There is indeed a lot of junk science about e-cigarettes and vaping out there, and sadly a lot have gotten some attention in the media as well. The Ashtray blog has gathered some of the, giving you some insight in exactly what is wrong with them: Exposed: 18 E-Cig Studies That Are Killing Smokers

• So what is the problem with all this junk science? I mean it's all getting debunked pretty quickly, right? Dr. Michael Siegel explains how much damage the junk science can actually do: Thanks to Invalid NEJM Formaldehyde Study, Public is Being Told that Cancer Risk from Vaping is 15 Times Higher than from Smoking

• This week we also got a newsletter updating us a bit on what has happened since the first teaser from the guys behind A Billion Lives. If you're not subscribing to the newsletter yet, I highly recommend it. They got some criticism for using this quote in their teaser: "165,000 kids die of secondhand smoke, every year". Dick Puddlecote has his own take on the subject: A Billion Lives, My Take 

• Clive Bates have some thoughts on a recently released report by NatCen that I think is really worth reading: Smoking and vaping among young people in England – reassuring new report

Have a nice weekend!

Worth Watching this Weekend (November 20th)

Clive Bates in "A Billion Lives"

Right now I'm on a train on my way home from a meeting in Oslo, which is around 500 kilometres from where I live. Train takes quite a while, I was bored but happy to see that they had free Wi-Fi on board, so I could log on and do some reading. But actually I ended up watching some videos instead, hence the slightly different title this Friday.

• I got an email newsletter earlier this week from the guys behind the upcoming documentary "A Billion Lives", saying that this Friday they would release their first teaser. And so they did: You Are Being Lied To - A Billion Lives. Really worth watching, and I have to say I can't wait to see the whole movie. Also worth mentioning is that they're now selling T-shirts if you want to show your support and help giving this movie the attention it deserves.

• Also worth watching is this short documentary by Amanda Plunkett: The REAL Truth About Vaping!  

• Finally, I also recommend this one by regulatorwatch.com about e-cig regulations in Canada. Good stuff, well balanced and very well presented.

Have a nice weekend!

Worth Reading this Weekend (November 13th)

It's been quite a busy week for me this week and not much time for writing. The e-cigarette debate here in Norway is still alive and kicking and I hope I can give you some more news next week (or maybe this weekend if I can manage to sneak in some writing time). Until then, here is some of the stuff I've enjoyed reading this week:

Mark Drakeford now wants to ban vaping
... in your own home!

• Dick Puddlecote delivers some interesting observations about the Welch Government: Welsh Labour: So Dense They Could Bend Light . I found another good post on this as well: From The Absurd To The Ridiculous - The (Bumbling) Madness of Mark Drakeford

• On the same topic, "uncontested stupidity", Christopher Snowdon gives us this: The magic of secondhand smoke.

• Yesterday, the 3rd annual E-Cigarette Summit took place in London. In addition to all the info on the official webpage, The Ashtray Blog have written a round up for all of us who was not able to be there: E-Cig Summit Round Up: The Vape Debate Continues. Thanks for that one, James :) 

Have a nice weekend!

Worth Reading this Weekend (November 6th)

Despite the debate here in Norway at the moment I have actually managed to squeeze in some reading about what happens in the rest of the world as well. And it has been some good reads as well, well worth a bit of your time this weekend:

• Clive Bates have published a very interesting guest post by Louise Ross, manager of the Stop Smoking Services for Leicester City Council: Scaremongering about e-cigarettes is not in the best interests of patients

• I came across this article by Dr. Farsalinos and Jacques Le Houeze: Regulation in the face of uncertainty: the evidence on electronic nicotine delivery systems (e-cigarettes). Good article discussing the use (or misuse) of the precautionary principle:

... currently available evidence is certainly showing that application of the precautionary principle to severely restrict or ban e-cig accessibility and sales is inappropriate...

• Matt Ridley discusses EU regulations that do not work as intended: No smoke without fire in this EU nightmare

• Finally, CDC have published some quite interesting data: New CDC Data Blows Away Popular E-Cigarette Criticism

Have a nice weekend!

Worth Reading this Weekend (October 30th)

Quite a lot happening this week here in Norway, with the government preparing to implement the TPD, trying to convince us that they're doing a good thing for public health and NDS biting back, exposing their hoax.

There has also been some other really interesting cases worth reading about as well:

• A study called How does Electronic Cigarette Access affect Adolescent Smoking? got a fair bit of attention this week. I've been wondering a fair bit about this lately... we all seem to want to ban e-cigarette sales to minors, me included... or at least I used to be sure about this, but what is the reason behind this? This study makes confirms a suspicion I've had a while: Vaping might act as a firewall, preventing teenagers from taking up cigarette smoking. You can read more about it here and Michael Siegel has written a good comment on the case, as has Dick Puddlecote: Won't Tobacco Control Please Think Of The Children!

Woman getting yelled at
in Australia

• While the above mentioned study is, in my opinion, both pretty robust and important, these are obviously not qualities needed to get the attention of the media: E-cigarette users are 'significantly more likely' to be problem drinkers: Devices encourage excess alcohol consumption, study claims. What's wrong with this study? Pretty much everything... I'll leave it to Christopher Snowdon to explain: The unsurprising relationship between vaping and drinking 

• Another case worth mentioning is a video of a "psychotic anti-smoker yelling at a woman in a park in Australia". Christopher Snowdon and Dick Puddlecote both has written about it this week.

Have a nice weekend!

Worth Reading this Weekend (October 23rd)

It's Friday again and time for some new links to keep you busy reading this weekend.... just to make sure you're not bored :)

• Last week I mentioned I've been discussing regulations with Sanner and Grimsrud. One of the main points we've been discussing is nicotine. Sanner and Grimsrud claims that nicotine, by itself with no tobacco present, is highly addictive and can cause cancer. No documentation have been provided. I've written a bit about this before and I also found a couple of quite interesting articles on the subject this week here and here. 

• Dick Puddlecote has written a great post on "The Inconvenience Of Proving Harm":

So, it would appear that 'public health' has set its sights on convincing governments to ban e-cig use in public not by proving harm actually exists, but by "continued monitoring of public perception" to "guide clean air policy decisions" in favour of prohibition.

• NHS have updated the E-cig advice on their website to reflect the PHE-report: NHS Updates Ecig Advice.

• Many of you might have seen the story about a guy claiming his e-cig burned a hole in his lungs that was published here (among other places). Snopes.com was also pretty quick to cover the case... from a slightly different angle :) Dr. Farsalinos also commented on the case on Facebook: 

A case of spontaneous pneumothorax, for which SMOKING (current or past) is a risk factor, is presented as "burning hole in the lung" (a term which sounds like a joke) caused by e-cigarettes.
It is never too late to stop the misinformation.
I feel sorry for the patient, not only about his episode of pneumothorax but mostly because he is probably convinced to quit e-cigarette use and relapse to smoking!!!

• Christopher Snowdon have some words on cheese: Action on Cheese 

• And finally, a video that will make you happy: Former health committee chair Kevin Barron MP backs E-cigs

Have a nice weekend!

Worth Reading this Weekend (October 16th)

WHO Director General Margaret Chan 

This week I've spent some time discussing e-cigarette regulation with my friends Sanner and Grimsrud in  the comment section of an article on tidsskriftet.no, which is kind of the official journal for the Norwegian Medical Association. I couldn't really get google to translate the comments in any other way than copying it and paste the whole thing into the text-field on google translate, but if anyone have a better idea please let me know. Anyway, the discussion has been going on for quite a while now, and I've been pointing out errors in their article, their documentation and their ability to draw logical conclusions. The last two answers I've gotten from them has been more or less attacks on my sources (which have basically been the same as theirs) or me personally. They don't even try to go into the topic any more, just blabbering about conflicts of interest, how little I know about toxicology and in their latest post they strongly suggest I'm stupid. I won't sink to their level but they'll get an answer, that's for sure.

Anyway, in this discussion there has been quite a lot of talk about conflict of interest, which leads me to some of the posts and articles I wanted to share with you today:

• James at the Ashtray blog has written an excellent article on who you can trust in the vape debate. A lot of interesting stuff in there, exposing where some of the most famous anti-vaping advocates get their funding from. (Actually the Ashtray blog also had an interesting article this week on E-cigs, Water vapour and The Lungs that's worth reading as well)

• Although Clive Bates don't mention conflicts of interest in his article on WHO’s Director General Margaret Chan’s casual irresponsibility, one can certainly start questioning how the WHO is funded.

• David Sweanor has been speaking on a C3 Breakfast Seminar this week, and Richard Smith writes about it on thebmjblogs. Some really interesting angles here as well, that might come in handy when discussing with the ANTZ.

• Dick Puddlecote writes about Simon Chapman (or Simple Simon if you'd like): Aussie Tobacco Control Worse Than North Korea. Always amusing to read Dick's well targeted posts.

• Finally, I'd like to ask everyone to have a look at this. Apparently, Facebook is censoring Aaron Biebert and his upcoming movie, and Aaron wrote this letter to Mark Zuckerberg & the Facebook team. Please take a moment to help share this info.

Worth Reading this Weekend

It's not every week I have the time to write very much myself, but I usually manage to squeeze in quite a bit of reading. So I thought I'd try to make a habit of sharing some of my favourites every weekend, starting... well now:

• Dick Puddlecote comments on this Forbes article where Sally Satchel introduces an interesting concept of vapers signing up to be sponsors helping smokers quite. It's a great idea, but will it work in the real world?

• James of the Ashtray blog said the just had to write about the Welsh government destroying their own gateway theories using their own evidence. But they still not quite ready to let their beloved theory go. This one left me trying to decide whether I should laugh or cry...

• I think Dr. Glantz have reached an all time stupidity high again. Well, I can't really be sure that this is the stupidest things he have uttered yet, there is so much to pick from, but it's definitely up there. I'll leave it up to Michael Siegel to explain: Cutting Down on the Amount You Smoke Has Benefits if You Cut Down Using Low-Nicotine Cigarettes, But Not if You Use E-Cigarettes. I also recommend reading his post from the day before on kind of the same topic.