Tim Hong - Clearing the Air

Safer nicotine products saving lives, experts say in call to WHO

International health experts are calling on governments to embrace safer nicotine alternatives as proven tools to cut smoking, prevent disease and save lives. The appeal comes in The Safer Nicotine Revolution: Global Lessons, Healthier Futures, a landmark new report published ahead of…

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Spain to ban vaping and smoking on beaches, bar terraces and stadiums

Spain is preparing a sweeping outdoor ban on both smoking and vaping. The draft law would outlaw their use on bar and restaurant terraces, beaches, stadiums, bus stops, children’s play areas and sports centres. Vapes, heated tobacco, shisha and nicotine pouches would…

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Rapid switch from smoking to vaping helping close New Zealand’s major health gaps, expert says

New Zealand’s rapid decline in smoking rates - driven by a rapid switch to vaping - is helping to narrow some of the country’s starkest health inequalities, according to a public health expert. “A Pākehā [New Zealander of European descent] boy born…

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Australia’s vape crackdown fails as black market surges

Australia’s crackdown on vaping is failing, with new official figures showing only a trickle of legal sales through pharmacies while the black market thrives. Since October, ‘therapeutic vapes’ - legal, regulated products with limited flavours - have only been available to buy…

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Teenagers turn to black market for vapes

Most under-18s who vape are sourcing vapes through the black market, new polling suggests - a warning sign that restrictions and bans are failing to keep products out of young people’s hands. A survey of 2,000 adults and 500 youths aged 15…

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Experts warn Brussels tax hike risks reversing Sweden’s smoking decline

Health experts say Brussels is putting Sweden’s smoke-free success at risk, warning that a huge EU tax hike on nicotine pouches could dismantle the world’s leading harm reduction model. Smoke Free Sweden, a global public health initiative, submitted its response to the…

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“Profiteering from the misery of smokers”: Five WHO anti-vape bureaucrats making more than UK PM, French President

Five staff members working at the World Health Organisation’s tobacco control department earn more than the UK Prime Minister and the French President, new figures released by the WHO show; with the highest paid staff member (presumably Head of the Secretariat Adriana…

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Gibraltar debates tobacco ban with vaping also in firing line

Gibraltar is considering a law that would stop anyone born after 2009 from ever buying tobacco. The same draft bill also targets vaping, with a proposed blanket ban on disposable vapes. The draft bill, spearheaded by Minister for Health, Care and Business…

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Illegal vape sales persist across UK despite disposables ban

UK retailers are being asked daily for banned disposable vapes, and in many places they’re still being sold illegally, according to new findings. A Scottish Grocers’ Federation (SGF) survey of its members reveals that almost a third (31 per cent) of retailers…

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