News - Clearing the Air

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UK Budget 2025: Vaping costs set to rise sharply

Vaping expenses will rise significantly next year following the tax increase confirmed in today’s Autumn Budget. Chancellor Rachel Reeves used her statement to reaffirm that a new excise duty on e-liquids will come into force from October 2025, marking the most substantial…

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SFP youth-use claim about Sweden doesn’t match the data

At a European Parliament hearing last week, the Smoke-Free Partnership (SFP) told MEPs that 29 per cent of Swedish 17-year-old students currently use oral nicotine products. The figure was used to challenge Sweden’s harm-reduction strategy - the same strategy that has helped…

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A third of MEPs say novel nicotine products are as harmful as smoking

A rising share of MEPs believe novel nicotine products are as harmful as or more harmful than smoking - despite clear scientific evidence that non-combustible alternatives carry far lower risks. The new Ecigintelligence analysis shows that while awareness of vaping, heated tobacco…

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6 ways public health messaging is missing the mark

Public health communication around nicotine is full of mixed messages. From blurring key scientific distinctions to issuing guidance that treats very different products as interchangeable, several high-profile campaigns risk confusing the very people they aim to inform. Here are six examples of…

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The Flat Earth Argument: Derek Yach on WHO, Bloomberg, and the Smoke-Free World

In part 2 of this conversation, Peter Beckett speaks with Dr Derek Yach, former Head of Tobacco Control at the World Health Organization and founding president of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World. They discuss the moment his thinking diverged from the…

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Economists tell EU: equal taxes on vapes and cigarettes erase incentives to switch

Experts warn new tax plan could push smokers toward illicit tobacco instead of safer alternatives Economists warned EU lawmakers today that taxing vaping products and other smoke-free alternatives at the same rate as cigarettes could discourage smokers from switching to less harmful…

News Science

Youth vape risk measures may be overstated, suggests new study

Only 51.9 per cent of youth who said they might vape went on to try it within four years. 28.8 per cent of youth who said they definitely wouldn’t vape tried it anyway. The measure did not reliably identify which young people…

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Belgium plans sweeping vape flavour ban amid policy gridlock

Belgium’s federal government is preparing a sweeping ban on all vape flavours except tobacco, a move Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke says is necessary to stem rising youth vaping. But the announcement lands as Vandenbroucke and his party face mounting questions about stalled…

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Stanton Glantz claim vapes “increase harm” – but the science doesn’t back him up

Stanton Glantz, a high-profile figure in tobacco control, has published a new blog post claiming that vapes “increase harm” and should not be considered a harm reduction tool. The post, titled ‘E-cigarettes increase harm to smokers, so should not be promoted as…

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