David Sweanor (bio) has worked with numerous companies and organisations, including the International Union Against Cancer, World Health Organization, World Bank and the Pan American Health Organization, on the issue of tobacco harm reduction. He has received both international recognition and prestigious prizes for his work. David has also been outspoken on vaping issues.
Q: How did you get interested in.....
Ashtray Blog - Chronicling Vaping's Journey Since 2008
Prue Talbot, a researcher at the University of California, has launched a new attack on the electronic cigarette.In her paper, due to be released today, she thunders that electronic cigarettes are not regulated and should be banned until such a time as they are.Prue Talbot is a researcher at the University of California whose department has received $850,000 to:fund research.....
Does vaping make your smarter? Take our survey and win a free e-cigarette kit!We already know that smoking helps with stress, and vaping seems to have the same effect.(You should see how furiously our MD, Jean, puffs away at her e-cig when stressed, normally while bashing away at the keyboard as if it was her mortal enemy!)But, according to a.....
Smoking cigarettes is becoming increasingly expensive - but there is an alternative!Smokers are facing an extra 50p on a pack of budget cigarettes this year, and with many smokers in poorer income groups it is truly a tax that targets the poor!While the state obviously hopes to force smokers to quit, many smokers either can't quit -.....
A new study is arousing great interest in China after being published on 中国科学日报 (China Science Daily) yesterday. The study finally provides evidence of a phenomenon which doctors and scientists had previously only suspected... the effect of vaping on our sex drive.I would have pasted.....
As anyone who has followed vaping for a while knows, the world of tobacco harm reduction is, to put it mildly, divisive.
On one side, there are those advocating for access to safer nicotine products (SNP), such as e-cigarettes. These alternatives are likely to carry some risk, but public health organisations such as the UK government estimates the risk to.....
Our annual vape predictions post brings experts from across the world to predict the future of vaping. The breadth of their experience, combined with unique viewpoints from around the world, brings invaluable insights - but also rather long.
So for those of you short of time, here you’ll find a summary of the key themes in vaping for 2023…
1. Nicotine.....
Where did vaping come from? And where is it going? At the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction’s 2022 ‘Right Side of History’ launch event, Harry Shapiro and Professor Gerry Stimpson chart the course of vaping and tobacco harm reduction from its early history to its likely future.
Here's a summary of what they had to say:
Harry Shapiro: The past.....
Every year the UK government commissions an independent review of the evidence around the safety of vaping. The review of vaping, now in its eighth reiteration, is already the most solid review of vaping evidence in the world - and this year is the most comprehensive yet.
Evidence on vaping safety
The report reiterated that vaping poses only a small fraction.....
The UK government is publishing a review today that could lead to the smoking age being raised
Originally we understood this was to involve an increase in the age limit to 21. Information released today shows a more radical approach - increasing the age limit by one year, ever year, as has already been done in New Zealand.
Previous reports suggested.....
Updated: September 2022
In Australia in recent months, there has been a surge in calls to regulate vape devices.
There’s just one problem.
In Australia, vape devices are currently banned. And when something is banned, you can’t regulate it.
A lesson from history
Presumably regulators thought that when they banned vaping, the many people who relied on vape products would just stop using them......
The Scottish government has launched a new consultation on vaping. If the suggestions are put in place, they could hamper the ability of vaping to denormalise smoking.
While well-meaning, the consultation is based on a number of incorrect premises, threatens to penalise law-abiding businesses and fails to tackle the crux of the problem.
In this post I’ll cover some of the.....
In the tobacco control world, it's hard to find a more controversial figure than Derek Yach.
After starting his career fighting both South African tobacco companies over smoking and a white apartheid government for the health of black South Africans, Derek Yach went on to become one of the main architects of the WHO tobacco treaty. He later received flack.....
Many years ago, when I was working in Indonesia, I met a girl.
Despite some initial language barriers the conversation was going well until I reached for a cigarette.
“I don’t like men who smoke,” she told me.
Fortunately she made an exception for me and, with her encouragement, I eventually quit smoking. We’re still together 22 years later. (We’re also a.....
A replication study has demonstrated that vaping is far less toxic than tobacco cigarettes.
The study was carried out by Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction of the University of Catania. (CoEHAR). The study is part of the Replica Project, which aims to replicate high quality studies that compare cigarettes with electronic alternatives.
The studies chosen were originally.....