Thinking 'bout THR Newsletter
May 30 - June 2, 2024
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Why We Need World Vape Day More Than Ever. “There would be many more of us if the world’s 1.2 billion people who smoke weren’t exposed to massive amounts of misinformation about tobacco harm reduction. And that’s why we need World Vape Day—celebrated on May 30—more than ever.”
World No Tobacco Day Should Protect Youth and Help the 1.3 Billion Adults Who Smoke. “Alarmingly, public health agencies are giving cigarettes an advantage, despite mounting evidence that modern tobacco harm reduction products are not only less harmful than combustible cigarettes, but are also significantly reducing smoking rates among adults.”
An Urgent Call for Action on World No Tobacco Day 2024. “It is unconscionable that as some countries approach the endgame by embracing effective harm reduction options, others are still at the starting line.”
Smokers encouraged to make use of stop smoking services in Warwickshire for World No Tobacco Day. “WCC has also recently improved the stop smoking support offer with the introduction of the government ‘Swap to Stop’ programme which offers smokers over the age of 18 access to support to quit with the help of vape ‘quit kits’. Almost two-thirds of people who use a vape, along with support from their local Stop Smoking Service, successfully quit smoking.”
WHO fails to recognise lifesaving qualities of smoke-free nicotine alternatives – Smoke Free Sweden. ““The WHO’s neglect of adult smokers seeking safer paths is like that of a building with no fire escapes: leaving occupants with no route to flee the dangers of smoking. As the foremost international health body, it has a responsibility to help save the almost 8 million adult lives lost to smoking each year.”
Let's stop avoiding the solutions to smoking. (Google Translate) “May 30, World Vaping Day, represents a crucial opportunity to effectively address smoking. In Argentina, however, alternatives to cigarettes that eliminate combustion and are less harmful are prohibited. This deprives smokers of valid options that could help them quit, unlike in other countries where these options are available.”
World Vape Day Recognizes the Impact of Tobacco Harm Reduction. “The stubborn stance of the WHO and similar organizations against tobacco harm reduction products is not only misguided but also detrimental to public health. By ignoring the substantial evidence supporting the effectiveness and relative safety of e-cigarettes and other alternatives, these organizations are failing millions of adults seeking to quit smoking.”
QUITTING CIGARETTES IS PRIMARY MOTIVE OF VAPE AND POUCH USERS, SURVEY SHOWS. “MOST Kenyans who use vapes or nicotine pouches do so for health-related reasons, primarily to quit smoking deadly cigarettes, according to a major new survey unveiled on World No Tobacco Day.”
APVI Invites the Public to Fight Misinformation About Vapes, Know How to Use It Safely. (Google Translate) “The Indonesian Personal Vaporizer Association (APVI) invites the public to recognize how to use vape products safely and according to the rules. With adequate knowledge, the benefits of reducing risk factors from this innovative product will be increasingly felt.”
Spanish vapers protest flavour ban. “Any attempt to ban something that has saved lives is unacceptable; and this is why we’re protesting”.
Even with all the tweets about Trump on #WorldVapeDay, WVD did hit trending status at least once during the day!
Replay
DEEP DIVE (World Vape Day 2024 special): Dr. Kiran unfiltered on India's vape ban. AVI
World Vape Day 2024. WVA
Día Mundial del Vapeo - 30 de Mayo - Vapear No Es Fumar. (If you don’t speak Spanish, you can turn on subtitles, go to settings and choose a different language)
Realists and Idealists. “Like arsonists, they didn’t build anything. They have left nothing where there was previously something useful. The activists have made their impassioned denunciations, expressed their righteous anger and moved on. But it’s an empty victory because the confusion and misinformation remain, and the opportunity to do better for the public and patients has been squandered.”
Charley Hull’s reasoning, sweet fans, Lowry’s powerful message | Rogers Report. “Turns out she’s smoking cigarettes to break another habit — vaping.”
Youth vaping – the facts. “This blog reviews the scientific evidence on youth vaping in Australia. It outlines the risks, benefits and recommendations on how to minimise youth uptake.”
How media coverage of vaping restrictions might influence public perceptions: insights from a new study. “Just under 3 in 4 people in our control group thought that vapes were as harmful or more harmful than cigarettes, and this same proportion was found when we only looked at current smokers. Given that the best available evidence suggests that vaping poses only a small fraction of the risks of smoking, it appears that misperceptions are still widespread within the UK.”
Iron Law of Prohibition: Nicotine Edition. “Nicotine prohibition begets more potent forms of nicotine, and new opportunities appear to be on the horizon for the prohibition/law enforcement complex.”
EU could have met smoke-free targets had it embraced harm reduction sooner. “Johan Nissinen, Swedish MEP with the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR), said the EU should have followed the example of his home country in embracing harm reduction theories and allowing tobacco alternative products such as snus.”
Sweden’s smoking rate decline traced to smokeless products. “The Swedish experience demonstrates the importance of understanding public misperceptions about nicotine to develop health policies that better protect and inform consumers,” said Dr. Karl Fagerström”
Call for Nominations
*NEW* Nominate a 2024 STAT Wunderkind - STAT Wunderkinds is a chance to celebrate early-career researchers who are not yet independent scientists or program leaders. We want to honor postdocs, interns, fellows — people who have terminal degrees in hand, but aren’t running their own research programs yet. Entries are due by July 15, 2024.
Call for Experts
*NEW* WHO Call for Experts - Technical Advisory Group on Economic and Commercial Determinants of Health 24 May 2024 - Call for experts. The Deadline for applications is 7 July 2024.
Call for Papers
A 10-year Update on Nicotine and Tobacco Research Related to Sex/Gender. The submission deadline is July 31, 2024.
Service Opportunities…
Nomination Call for New SRNT-E Board Members (President-Elect and Secretary. Nominations are due by June 15, 2024.
Wanted: Conference Submissions…
Sep 16-17, 2024 - 7th Summit on Tobacco Harm Reduction by SCOHRE. Call for abstracts for short oral or poster presentations. The submission deadline for abstracts is July 12, 2024.
Call for speakers. The Society for the Study of Addiction is now accepting applications for speakers at the PhD Symposium. Application deadline is July 3, 2024
Nov 14-15, 2024, UK - SSA Annual Conference. Submissions for posters and oral presentations are due by July 3, 2024
Petitions…
Some are listed on this Safer Nicotine Wiki advocacy page.
COMPLETE DISASTER | Australia Abandons Tobacco Harm Reduction
Counter Conference to WHO’s COP10 Makes Waves - Lindsey Stroud
Vaping Advocates Oppose Federal Ban on Flavoured Products – May 30, 2024
IS THIS REALLY THE PATH TO A SMOKEFREE SPAIN? | Featuring Carmen Escrig
For global coverage of calls to action, please click here: Advocating For Tobacco Harm Reduction.
Tobacco harm reduction means different things to different people. Some may wish to achieve a nicotine-free society. Others may wish to squash the tobacco industry. Some prefer that people who choose to use nicotine use it in a form that has less risk than smoking tobacco. What we all have in common is a desire to reduce/eliminate smoking-related diseases and premature deaths. The events listed below focus on nicotine. Some events may not be supportive of reduced-risk products. Some have covered nicotine in the past but may not cover that topic every year.
Jun 4-5, 2024, Portland, ME, US - Tobacco Treatment and Prevention Conference
June 12-14, 2024, Dubai, UAE - Global Vape Forum.
Jun 13-15, 2024, Warsaw, Poland - GFN - Global Forum on Nicotine - Registration open! (Pre-Conference activities Jun 12)
Jun 15, 2024, CASAA fundraiser - details coming soon!
Jun 16-19, 2024, San Diego, CA, US - 2024 ASHEcon Conference (Health Economists).
Jun 19-20, 2024, Miami, FL, US - Next Generation Nicotine Delivery USA
Jun 21, 2024, (Virtual) 6:00 AM CT - BR-UK: Using ontologies to advance behavioural research.
Jun 26, 2024, Silver Spring, MD, US (Virtual and In-person) 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM EST - The Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee meeting (TPSAC). Topic MRTP
Jun 27-28, 2024, Minneapolis, MN, US - National Tribal Tobacco Conference
Jul 4-5, 2024, Opatija, Croatia - 13th Workshop on the Economics of Risky Behavior. Program here.
Jul 21-23, 2024, San Marcos, TX, US - Texas Tobacco-Free Conference
Aug 18-21, 2024, Mobile, AL, US - Federation of Tax Administrators - 2024 Tobacco Annual Meeting
Sep 7-10, 2024, San Diego, CA, US (In-person & Virtual) World Conference on Lung Cancer. Early Bird registration ends June 7, 2024
Sep 8-11, 2024, Atlanta, GA, US - 77TH TOBACCO SCIENCE RESEARCH CONFERENCE
Sep 16-17, 2024 (Virtual) - 7th Summit on Tobacco Harm Reduction by SCOHRE
Sep 23, 2024, NYC, NY, US - New Approaches Conference
Sep 24-25, 2024, Athens, Greece - GTNF (Event link not yet available)
Oct 13-17, 2024, Edinburgh, Scotland - CORESTA Congress 2024
Oct 23-25, 2024, Lisbon, Portugal - LISBON ADDICTIONS European Conference on Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies.
Oct 23-25, 2024, Broadbeach, Australia - Oceania Tobacco Control Conference 2024. Early bird registration ends June 30, 2024. Note: not THR-friendly. See list of Conflict of Interest Principles
Oct 24-25, Washington DC? US (In-person and Virtual) - FDLI Tobacco and Nicotine Products Regulation and Policy Conference. (Registration opening soon)
Oct 27-30, 2024, Minneapolis, MN, US - 2024 APHA Annual Meeting and Expo (Public Health). Registration opens in June.
Oct 28-29, 2024, Charleston, SC, US (Virtual and In-Person) 2024 NICOTINE AND TOBACCO SCIENCE CONFERENCE
Nov 14-15, 2024, UK - SSA Annual Conference. Early bird discounts until September 9, 2024
Nov 14-16, 2024, Chicago, IL, US—AMERSA Conference—Registration opens in June. Note: We won't know until the agenda is announced if nicotine will be part of this year's conference.
December 5, 2024, UK (Virtual and In-person), E-Cigarette Summit UK
Check out the public Google calendar of THR-related events created and maintained by Clive Bates. Also, check out the event calendar from Ecig Intelligence. Their listings include consumer/trade shows and expos that I don't include in this newsletter.
Jan 15-19, 2025 Seattle, WA, US - Society for Social Work and Research.
Mar 12-15, 2025 New Orleans, LA, US - SRNT 31st Annual Meeting
Aug 26-28, 2025 Chicago, IL, US - The National Conference on Tobacco or Health (NCTOH) (Link is to the announcement, not event info)
Sep 10-12, 2025 Romania - SRNT-E Conference
Mar 4-6, 2026 Baltimore, MD, US - SRNT 32nd Annual Meeting
Notes:
Deadlines are in bold type. Additions to the seeking participants and events sections since the last edition will be denoted by "*NEW*"
I create these newsletters as a personal project. They are not affiliated with any current or past employers or groups I do volunteer work with. I believe that everyone deserves a seat at the table. If you’re interested in nicotine with a focus on THR, this newsletter is for you.
Until next time,
Skip “#BeKind” Murray
