Thinking 'bout THR Newsletter

May 25-29, 2024

May 29, 2024

Before we dive in…

I want to first inform my readers that there will be one newsletter this week, not two.

Second, this is a reminder that the vaping movement started 20 years ago and, for a long time, was the consumer solution to the smoking problem. Large corporations thought we were a joke in those early days. The OGs of vaping built their own mods and made their own liquids. It was an impressive grassroots effort to save their own lives and then spread to save the lives of family and friends.

Our movement started with one man who was grieving the lung cancer death of his father and worked to find a way to help himself quit smoking. We owe a lot to Hon Lik!!!

Harry’s blog 123: It was twenty years ago today/Hon Lik showed a brand-new way.

Happy World Vape Day!!! ~Skip

I love these T-shirts!

~ Harm Reduction is for People Who Don’t Want to Quit or Die ~ Support Not Stigma ~ No More Nicotine War ~ Stigma Sucks ~

From the event schedule further down in this newsletter, these events happen on the same day as WVD or WNTD. (Note: It appears that the WHO is using #WorldNoTobaccoDay2024 as their hashtag. The WNTD focus is no longer smoking. It is “nicotine addiction.”) The 2024 theme for World Vape Day is “Misinformation Epidemic,” and the theme for World No Tobacco Day is “Youth step in and speak out #TobaccoExposed.”

#WVD EVENT - May 30, 2024 - (Virtual) 8:30 PM (Bangkok) - ECST - join on Zoom. Link here. PW: 123456
#WVD EVENT - May 30, 2024 - (Virtual) 9 PM IST - AVI on World Vape Day: Impact of vape ban on end users.
#WVD EVENT - May 30, 2024 - (Virtual) 18:00 CEST - WVA: World Vape Day 2024. “Misinformation Epidemic”
#WVD EVENT - May 30, 2024 - (In-person) - WVA is organising a protest in front of the WHO headquarters on World Vape Day, May 30th, in Geneva. This demonstration aims to compel the WHO to finally listen to consumers and acknowledge the scientific evidence supporting vaping, nicotine pouches, and similar products as valid harm-reduction tools.
#WVD EVENT - May 30, 2024 - (Virtual) 7:30 PM ET - CASAA World Vape Day 2024: Combatting Misperceptions
#WVD EVENT - May 30, 2024 - (Virtual) - ARDT Iberoamerica will be broadcasting pre-recorded material for WVD. You’ll find them on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook @vapearnoesfumar
#WVD - May 30, 2024 - (publication) Filter Magazine - stories about smoking and vaping.
May 30, 2024 - (Virtual) 3:00-4:00 PM - CAsToR A Conversation about the Use of Computational Models in Tobacco Regulation.
May 30-31, 2024 - Brisbane, AU - 2024 SRNT-Oceania Chapter Conference (30th) and Tobacco Endgame Centre of Research Excellence Annual Symposium (31st) Online Registration Link (for both)
May 31, 2024, (In person & Virtual) 3:00 PM ET, Los Angeles, CA, US - USC TCORS & IAS Joint Speaker Series - Dr. Brian King. Talk Title: Regulation of the Evolving Market of Tobacco Products to Protect Youth and Young Adults.

New Report: Stop Vilifying Nicotine. “Sweden is once again highlighted as a leading example due to the lowest prevalence of tobacco-related diseases in Europe, despite nicotine consumption being at levels on par with other European countries.”
FDA’s Mixed Messaging on E-Cigarettes Undermines Public Health. “The Food and Drug Administration is failing to deliver a clear and important message about e-cigarettes, particularly to adults who smoke and the physicians treating them. Recent efforts by the Center for Tobacco Products fall short of informing the public about the potential of e-cigarettes as a harm-reduction tool.”
Japan’s Leading Position in the Tobacco Harm Reduction World. “Japan has halved its cigarette sales in a decade, in what tobacco harm reductionists call a “globally unprecedented” shift. What can this be attributed to, in a country where 79 percent of men aged 20-29 once smoked?”
Rep. Joshua Morris: Flavor ban wrong solution for tobacco cessation. “The push to eliminate flavored vaping products in Maine overlooks the significant benefits that vaping offers to adult smokers seeking to quit. By embracing vaping to migrate adults off cigarettes and respecting the preferences of adults who choose to use nicotine products, policymakers can make meaningful strides in reducing smoking rates and improving public health outcomes.”
Calling out fake news part 4... “A lot of the lies and misinformation that has been picked up in the last couple of weeks seems to show that those who want to present fake news about vaping either aren't learning from their past mistakes, or they don’t care.”
CAPHRA Urges End to Vape Disinformation. “The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) states that as it celebrates World Vape Day on May 30, 2024, the organization is urging global leaders to recognize the life-saving potential of safer nicotine products and to expose the ongoing disinformation campaign led by the World Health Organization (WHO).”
Excise duty on cigarettes without nicotine. Consumer representative: It hits Romanians who want to quit smoking. “The excise tax on nicotine-free liquids used by smokers gradually leads to a decrease in the consumption of these products, which were seen as "a gateway to quitting smoking", according to the president of the Association of Consumers of Alternative Products with Nicotine.”
No one wants kids vaping. But is Labor criminalising adults who flout the crackdown? “And if the intent is not to criminalise individual vapers, the bill should be fixed to guarantee that it won’t.”
R.I.’s harm-reduction hypocrisy harms public health. “Decreasing flavor options and increasing tax on wholesale price on e-cigarettes undermines adult smokers’ efforts to quit and turn to safer alternatives.”
Panama Supreme Court decides to lift ban on e-cigarettes. “Panama's Supreme Court of Justice has ruled unanimously that Panama's ban on the sale of all e-cigarette products is unconstitutional. The decision was announced last week in response to a lawsuit filed by the e-cigarette user group Asociación por la Reducción de Daños del Tabaquismo de Panamá (ARDT Panama).”
What Happens When You Quit Smoking and Start Vaping? “There is growing consensus among scientific and clinical experts that use of e-cigarettes can help people who smoke to stop using known-deadly cigarettes.”

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.

Call for Experts

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.

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