Glimmers of good news despite the general drift towards harsher restrictions for tobacco harm reduction.
Transcription:
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Joanna Junak: Hello and welcome! I'm Joanna Junak and this is GFN News on GFN.TV. Today we will be speaking with Will Godfrey of Filter, who will catch us up on some key tobacco harm reduction stories. Hi Will, what's been happening in the United States over the summer?
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Will Godfrey: Hi Joanna. Here in the States, a couple of key decisions from the FDA have been more promising for THR, if belatedly and inadequately so. Back in June, the Agency authorised four ENJOY menthol vaping products, its first-ever authorisation of non-tobacco flavours after countless rejections. And earlier that month, it had rescinded its marketing denial orders for Juul two years after initially ordering those products off the market. Those PMTA submissions were placed back under review. But the FDA is still nowhere near authorizing the full range of options and flavors that would most benefit people switching from cigarettes. And the Triton legal case is central to hopes of forcing a change of direction. In July, six months after a humiliating appeals court defeat for the FDA, it was announced that the Supreme Court would hear the case. Just in recent days, amicus briefs had flooded into the Supreme Court, including some from attorneys general and members of Congress that are stuffed with misleading claims about poisonous vapes, and some from THR supporters noting how the FDA's denials have abandoned marginalized people who smoke. With the FDA largely ceding control of the current US vape market, recent industry data showed unauthorized disposable vapes in particular eating into cigarette sales. If many people are making the switch in current conditions, imagine what could happen with accurate and encouraging official messaging.
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Joanna Junak: And what have you been covering in terms of international news?
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Will Godfrey: There's been bad news from Europe with EU ministers discussing a potential block-wide vape flavour ban, advocates in Spain fearing anti-vape measures, and threats presented by the re-emergence of the UK's tobacco and vapes bill, even as new data show that most Brits who quit cigarettes now do so with vapes, with 2.7 million people there having switched in the past five years. In New Zealand, which has emerged as a tobacco harm reduction leader in recent times, it's been one step forward, one step back. The country slashed tax on heated tobacco products, boosting prospects of these accelerating the mass smoking cessation that vapes have been bringing about there. But at the same time, the country is planning to ban disposable vapes and non-refillable pod devices, which experts say threatens the country's smoke-free ambition. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization keeps on fanning the prohibitionist flames, describing vapes as designed to kill and releasing tobacco cessation guidelines that conflate some harm reduction options with cigarettes while omitting others altogether. A global, coordinated tobacco control network has resulted in harmful policies being imitated, above all in the global south, noted Samrat Chaudhry, who reported on a welcome victory for beleaguered Brazilian vapers. They rapidly overturned a flight ban on vapes, but still endure a total ban on vape sales.
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Joanna Junak: Thank you Will. That's all for today. Tune in next time here on GFN TV or on our podcast. You can also find transcriptions of each episode on the GFN TV website. Thanks for watching or listening. See you next time.