European Vape News
A round-up of the latest European electronic cigarette news.
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by Dave Cross
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In Scotland, smokers who can attend the Clinical Research Facility at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow are still being hunted by researchers. The aim is to investigate the short-term effects of electronic cigarettes on the blood vessels and lungs and compare the results to NRT patches. The British Heart Foundation funds the study.
British Heart Foundation Scotland’s James Cant said: "We all know smoking tobacco raises our risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease. Electronic cigarettes have been hailed by some as a great way to help smokers quit but little is actually known about their impact on our heart and circulatory system which is why we are funding this research to help us better understand the effects on our health."
Researcher and vascular surgeon Daniele Kerr is running the study. She added: "Every day, myself and many other healthcare professionals ask patients to stop smoking. The evidence shows the public currently choose to use electronic cigarettes as their preferred method to help them stop smoking, despite not being currently available on the NHS."
In Belgium, the adoption of the TPD, by Royal decree, means that vaping will become legal on the 17th January, 2017. Electronic cigarettes and eliquids currently occupy a confusing quasi-banned status as medical products – but anything not containing nicotine was exempt from the need for a medical licence. National vaping associations aren’t exactly overjoyed with the change in circumstances and see it as making life difficult for independent vape businesses. There are murmurs that they could seek to challenge the TPD-inspired legislation in court, we will have to wait till 2017 to find out more.
In Italy, a country that imposed a vicious crackdown on vaping, has bent to the will of prisoners and allowed vaping to take place in prisons. The Department of Administration of Penitentiaries has noted the recent statement by the Ministry of Health that vaping offers a much safer alternative to smoking, and that there is no good reason to ban vaping from taking place in open places. We have previously covered the move to adopt specially designed electronic cigarettes in British prisons.
And finally, ECigIntelligence are reporting that the European Commission is continuing their investigation into taxing vape products. “The public health and economic rationale for taxing e-cigarettes remains in dispute,” writes Philip Gambaccini. “Raising the price of vapour products through taxation reduces the incentive for smokers to experiment with lower-risk alternatives. While governments are concerned about declining tax revenues from traditional tobacco products, the ability of e-cigarettes to generate offsetting excise revenue is largely unproven.”
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous vape companies to develop content for their websites.
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