So. It is happening. As most of us have always thought. You will, of course, remember (at least for the UK) the chatter about disposable vapes started gathering momentum with some commentary from a Green MSP and now the current “Conservative” Prime Minister has decided that his Government is going to implement a variety of measures for “A smoke-free generation”. It would seem that Sunak has been taking lessons from former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair in targeting, what is now, a highly stigmatised portion of society (albeit a slowly dwindling portion, thanks - of course - to the various anti-smoker policies introduced over the years; many of which had little to no direct impact).

This story came to my attention recently which, as I’m sure you’ll agree, is just the tip of a very nasty iceberg. Y’see, the Scottish Green MSP mentioned in the last bout of reporting (Gillian Mackay MSP) is just but the last in a long line of antagonists seeking to effectively ban the humble disposable vape. Join me as we discover just how deep this rabbit-hole goes. Back in September, the Scottish Government - specifically the Health & Social Care department - published the results of a public consultation, snappily entitled “Vaping products - tightening rules on advertising and promoting: consultation analysis”.

In one of my, admittedly, rare perusals of the hellsite that is Twitter (I refuse to call it “X”), I stumbled across a comment from Jon Fell that caused me to stop scrolling and check the thread. The comment was: Thank you, and that seems fair. The generational prohibition on purchase will also muddy the water when it comes to smoking prevalence for the whole population; it will be important to look at the trends for particular age cohorts too.

For those of you that follow the tobacco control debate, you’ll be - painfully - aware that the UK’s resident antismoking sock-puppet charity are always banging on about one of a few items. Of course, each item they champion - for whatever misguided reason - never goes “far enough”. This leech of a charity will never rest until smoking - and probably any reduced risk alternative - is completely eradicated.

I know it has been pretty quiet on this blog for *checks posts* the last year (give or take a month) but, quite frankly, I’ve been too busy to post anything. This is despite a list of topics I had in mind to cover. Unfortunately I’m not going to be able to devote much, if any, time to posting on here for the foreseeable future. Due to this lack of time to do anything on here, or conduct my own research into the topics I wanted to cover I began questioning whether or not to continue posting at all.

Well, these are crazy times no? Practically every country worldwide has some kind of lockdown, either voluntary or enforced. Extreme authoritarian measures are rife (I’m looking at you Hungary) with police completely misinterpreting the law (I’m looking at you UK). All the while, intensive care unit beds (ICU) are being filled at a rapid pace. Unlike previous pandemics, COVID-19 is a bastard. A right, real bastard. It is seemingly highly contagious for one and, if the various statistics are to be believed, a real killer - though I suspect that, in some countries, COVID-19 is simply being attributed as the cause of some deaths - just as smoking is attributed to cancer related deaths.

Settle down folks, this is going to be a long one. I’ve recently had a few thoughts in my head about nicotine. The supposed “devil drug” that is “more addictive than heroin” (according to ASH Scotland from 2013, and debunked here - I know, debunked before ASH came up with that ‘FactSheet’; that’s just how inept they are), and how, in light of the US debacle, there are now circulating rumours of a nicotine cap.

As mentioned previously, I’ve found another study to have a look at. This time, it isn’t about vaping (shock!). Instead, it’s about that divisive product - Heat-not-burn. Considering that whenever heat-not-burn gets mentioned by a vaper (such as myself) on social media the response is, sadly, predictable. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this blog (notably here, and here) heat-not-burn products are essential to give smokers (and the odd vaper) the widest array of choices possible.

Another day, another study. Two actually. Though the first I was planning to cover is a meta analysis (which will have to wait), while the second is a vaping mouse study. As most of you will no doubt be aware, conducting experiments on mice is an age-old way of identifying possible links to humans. However, in a large number of cases, the results identified in mice do not necessarily translate well across species to us homo-sapiens.

It’s been a while since I had a good look at some junk science. I kind of missed doing it. So, what better way to get back to it then with this steaming pile of festering dingo kidneys? This study sought to assess: 1) pervasiveness of vaping or electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use, 2) General understanding of information on vaping or e-cigarette use, 3) Prevalence and respondent awareness of smoking/vaping prevention programs, and 4) Awareness of the harmful effects of e-cigarettes.