“The Eighth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP8) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is less than three months away. Taking place in Geneva from 1 to 6 October, it will focus on topics such as the shaping of a medium-term strategic framework, which will determine the actions to be taken by the Parties over the next five years, and the advances and challenges revealed in the Global Progress Report on Implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Anyone remember when the United States was all about the entrepreneur? How many sought their fortunes, the “American Dream” (including the white picket fence) and so forth?

It seems that modern day America is now home to the corporations (very Continuum-like). So who better to look after the health and wellbeing of the population, than profit-driven mega-entities eh?

You’ll remember that, around this time last year, the newly appointed FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb made an interesting, and somewhat controversial, announcement. Controversial for the likes of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids anyway. So controversial in fact, that they filed a lawsuit urging the FDA to apply the new rules.

Cast your collective minds back folks. June 14th 2016, these words were uttered in the House of Lords:

As far as the Treasury is concerned, it does not impose duty on e-cigarettes because tobacco is not involved and it has no plans to do so.

Lord Ashton of Hyde

A sentiment that has been echoed elsewhere (though, irritatingly I can’t find the link) by a Health Minister/Secretary/Under-Secretary.

Long story short, the UK Government has “no plans” to introduce taxation of vaping products.

I almost missed this but, recently the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the latest dataset for the Adult Smoking Habits in the UK which showed some interesting points. Naturally, those points are being spun to show how “successful” measures have been.

Duncan Selbie, Public Health England has proclaimed that “Britain is winning the war on tobacco”, which for many in ‘public health’ is what it is all about. Sod the Proles and their little enjoyable vices. ‘Public health’ have set targets and by Jove, they’ll be met!

Things have kind of gone to hell and back recently, so I have had zero time at all to put my fingers to key and keep this blog updated. Much has happened which has been thoroughly discussed elsewhere. I may revisit some of those points at some point in the near future, but that depends on time; which as I’ve already pointed out, I don’t have a lot of. Who knew married life would be so busy?

Introduced on May 20th, 2017, the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations (2015) was meant to strike another blow to the smoking prevalence rate. Except that it hasn’t.

Dubbed a “major victory” by tobacco control loons ASH the removal of “glitzy packaging” has done the sum total of fuck all on the smoking prevalence in the UK. Nor has it had any significant impact in Australia. Or France.

Y’see, wherever plain packaging has been enforced, smoking rates have actually increased. Just as they have done in the UK after one year of the legislation being in force. Don’t take my word for it, here’s the graph from the Smoking Toolkit Study, where it demonstrates a clear rise in prevalence rates from early 2017. Prior to that, the rate had been steadily falling:

This will probably piss a lot of people off and frankly, I don’t particularly care so, I’m just going to say it:

If a vape shop wants to sell heat-not-burn in the form of IQOS, GLO or any other HnB product, have at it. If you abide by the relevant rules and regulations, go for it.

For one, it’ll give IQOS users a broad array of places to get HEETS and the other accessories for the product, and that is no bad thing.

Back in January last year I scribbled about the EU and its ideologically founded belief that all forms of tobacco are a “bad thing”. Since then, the New Nicotine Alliance asked for, and received, permission to join the legal action brought about by Swedish Match in July 2016 in the UK.

As with any legal challenge, I expected a slew of articles to push a certain agenda - i.e. in favour of the status quo. Imagine my surprise when not very much happened. Until recently that is.

Last night I attended a private event in London called “How long until smoking is history?”. Now, aside from my initial reaction to the question of the event which many of my regular readers should be able to guess, I was curious about the event.

Especially given who was behind it. The New Statesman “in association with Philip Morris International”.

I say “private” as the event wasn"t listed on the EventBrite website, you could only get tickets via a special, password-protected link. Imagine my surprise when I was asked by the jewel robber extraordinaire Dick Puddlecote if I would like to go. Admittedly I was on my honeymoon at the time and didn"t realise exactly when this event was. I wasn"t even sure I"d be able to make it. Fortunately, I did.

On Monday, the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World released the findings of a global survey about smokers. Most surveys claim to seek a “better understanding” of the target audience - in this case, smokers - and this one is no different.

Arguably, the methodology behind this particular survey; the “Worldwide State of Smoking Survey”, appears to be very robust in its approach by researching existing surveys such as the Eurobarometer, the Global Audit Tobacco Survey and the Global Youth Tobacco Survey, among others. In essence, looking at how other surveys are constructed and selecting the most relevant questions for inclusion in the “Worldwide State of Smoking Survey”.