Vapouround magazine ISSUE 17 | Page 41

Before going any further , let me make one thing clear . I do not have an issue with the IQOS itself . The IQOS , along with other HnB devices are all part of the grander scheme of tobacco harm reduction – just like patches , gum , medication and even e-cigarettes – the HnB segment has its place in the arsenal of health care products when it comes to getting people to quit smoking .
That place , however , is not in e-cigarette shops .
In 2014 , when I started vaping , the biggest phrase used by the anti-e-cigarette politicians and lobbyists in the UK was the classic line of “ vape shops sell tobacco products ,” usually followed by “ the e-cigarette industry is owned by big tobacco .”
Now the original version of the TPD which was being pencilled in Brussels initially had a segment in it which covered mods . The original plan was to limit the power that devices could output .
Could you imagine if that had passed into law ? What stopped it ?
The advocates . The forerunner to what is now the New Nicotine Alliance , a group of individuals who lobbied Brussels , lobbied their own MPs and lobbied their MEPs and told them that the statement of “ Big Tobacco ” being in vape shops and owning the industry is a flat out lie . Those early advocates fought tooth and nail for a restructure of the TPD so it would have such a damaging effect , and they had a partial victory .
So , what has this got to do with the present ? The major argument of “ vape shops are selling big tobacco products ” has recently changed on the anti-e-cigarette lobby Twitter accounts .
They have removed one single word , and the removal of that word has massive ramifications for the future advocacy of the e-cigarette industry in the UK , especially after Brexit . What word did they remove ? They removed “ big ” so it now reads like this :
“ Vape shops are now selling tobacco products ”
And this time around ? They are 100 percent correct .
The industry itself has now given an unlimited supply of ammunition to the anti-e-cigarette lobby . It has already started on Twitter , and the question of HnB even popped up in a recent parliamentary discussion on the subject of e-cigarettes and vaping . They now have their foot in the front door of what will probably be – by the end of this year – some 1,000 + vape shops up and down this country . Each and every one of them will and have been selling a product made by big tobacco , marketed by big tobacco and taxed by the government as tobacco .
The government even classes it as a tobacco product , and why is that ? Because the device actually contains tobacco and with facts like that ladies and gents , you can kiss future advocacy goodbye .
The worst part of all of this though is the group of people , including some advocates I used to call friends , who are now vehemently attacking any reviewer , vaper , or even shop owners who speak out against IQOS . The damage this single device has done to the landscape of the advocacy groups in the UK will have massive ramifications for the future of vaping post Brexit and going into the 2020s .
Even now as I type this , reports are coming out questioning the claims by Philip Morris that IQOS is “ 95 percent safer than smoking ,” and suggesting that heated tobacco products have nowhere near the same level of harm reduction as e-cigarettes . For example , a recent story in The Guardian newspaper headlined “ Smokeless cigarettes not as harmless as claimed , study says ,” quoted research which called into question the validity of the Philip Morris IQOS trials .
As more and more evidence against the HnB products starts to surface , how can any respecting vape shop owner still continue to sell the device ?
Yes , HnB has its place . That place is not in a vape shop .
* In the next issue Philip Morris International will put the case for allowing heated tobacco products to be sold in vape shops .
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