Chicago Vaping Tax is About Cigarette Tax Dollars, Not Health

Contact: Gregory Conley Tel:    609-947-8059 Email: gconley@vaping.info FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9/22/2015 at 10:45 am EST Chicago Vaping Tax is About Cigarette Tax Dollars, Not Health . Mayor Emanuel is protecting cigarette tax revenue at the expense of lives and small businesses   WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Vaping Association, a leading advocate for the benefits of vapor products such as electronic cigarettes, is calling on ex-smokers, business owners, and public health advocates in Chicago to oppose Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed tax on vapor products. Set to be released today, the Chicago Tribune reports that Mayor Emanuel’s budget includes new taxes on vapor products of $1.25 per bottle of e-cigarette liquid (‘e-liquid’), plus 25 cents per milliliter of e-liquid. Today, Chicago smokers and vapers can shop at over twenty exclusive vapor product retailers within the city. These stores generally sell 30 milliliter bottles of nicotine-containing fluid (‘e-liquid’) for between $12 and $22, plus local and state sales taxes. Under Mayor Emanuel’s plan, these bottles would be taxed at an additional $8.75. “Mayor Emanuel’s new vapor product tax is designed to protect the tens of millions of dollarsChicago collects every year from its cigarette tax.  this tax is not about protecting health or youth; it’s about discouraging adult smokers from using these products to quit,” said Gregory Conley, President of the American Vaping Association. Those pushing the tax, which is estimated to raise $1 million, swear that that the revenue implications are not their primary concern. Last week, Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno (1st), who first floated the tax, told the Tribune that the tax was about protecting youth. “If a politician tells you a new tax isn’t about revenue, you can be sure that it is about revenue,” responded Conley. “Real public health advocates should see through these desperate claims and oppose this tax,” added Conley. “Every year, only around 3% of smokers who try to quit will succeed. We need new and innovative options for the other 97%, not prohibitive taxes that encourage smokers to keep smoking.” Small businesses are sure to suffer under Mayor Emanuel’s new tax. Yesterday, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported that at least two D.C. vape shops are preparing to close their doors in response to a new e-cigarette tax that takes effect October 1st. “In addition to threatening the lives of adults smokers, this tax also puts twenty-plus vapor product retailers Chicago at risk of shutting down,” says Conley. “This new tax will chase consumers out of the city, including to online retailers. Chicago will left with lost jobs, empty storefronts, and more deadly tobacco smoking than there would have been in the absence of the tax.” In August, Dr. Kenneth Warner and Dr. Frank Chaloupka — two of the most respected and prominent economists in tobacco control for over 20 years — advocated in the New England Journal of Medicine for cigarettes to be taxed at a far higher rate than low-risk, smoke-free products like e-cigarettes. “Failure to seriously entertain a differential taxation approach may contribute to the prolongation of the epidemic of disease and death caused by smoking,” wrote the authors.  #### You can learn more about AVA and vaping by visiting the AVA website. You can also find us onFacebook and Twitter. About the American Vaping Association: The American Vaping Association is a nonprofit organization that advocates for policies that encourage the growth and sustainability of small- and medium-sized businesses in the rapidly growing vaping and electronic cigarette industry. The AVA was founded by Gregory Conley, a consumer and industry advocate with a long track record of advocating for vapor products dating back to 2010. We are dedicated to educating the public and government officials about public health benefits offered by vapor products, which are battery-powered devices that heat a liquid nicotine or nicotine-free solution and create an inhalable vapor.  The AVA is not a trade group and does not speak for any particular businesses, including our industry sponsors. READ MORE

Vaping regulation aims to stop the sale of vape products to minors

Psychology sophomore Nicole Westerberg uses a vaporizer on Nov. 5, 2015 at her home in East Lansing. Westerberg said that she previously smoked cigarettes but decided to switch.

De'jah Darkins | The State News

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You see it around campus — someone inhales from what looks to be a walkie talkie and then billows out a citrus scented nimbus cloud.

It is called “vaping,” and the Ingham County Health Department is currently working on a piece of legislation that will regulate its sale similar to products with tobacco in order to prevent its sale to minors.

According to Ingham County, the goal of the Electronic Smoking Device Licensing Regulation is “reducing youth access” to electronic smoking products as well as “maintaining compliance and licensing records of businesses that sell electronic smoking devices.”

Linda Vail, a health officer for Ingham County said the end goal of the regulation is the same as before, only now vape products will be regulated similarly to tobacco.

“Virtually anyone can buy and sell e-cigarettes in Ingham County right now, even children,” she said in a press release. The law itself states, “electronic smoking devices contain components and chemicals that are dangerous to young children.”

Data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products, and cited by Ingham County, stated that electronic cigarette use among minors has tripled in recent years.

The county held an open forum where those who had grievances with the proposed legislation could express their concern.

Matthew Kirkpatrick is an advocate for Smoke Free Michigan and, during the meeting, stated he “couldn’t agree more” with the notion of keeping these products out of the hands of minors.

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The Sun newspaper reports that a man "burned a hole" in his lung by vaping

Black Hole Lung

CLAIM: A British man burned a hole in his lung by vaping (i.e., using e-cigarettes).

UNPROVEN

ORIGINS:  On 20 October 2015, the British tabloid The Sun published an article headlined "Vaping Burned a Hole in My Lungs" which focused on the potential dangers of e-cigarettes and vaping, reporting that a man named Richard Courtney had "burned a hole" in his lung by using one of the devices. Photographs of the devices in question (a Kangertech brand Subtank and eLeaf iStick 30W) were included with the story:

Richard was walking home from a mate’s house when he tasted fluid and started coughing.

He said: “Then it felt like I’d got a trapped nerve in my shoulder. In the morning I had a really tight chest and couldn’t breathe properly.

“I went to hospital. One of the nurses there put my vape on an oxygen tube and showed that it was spitting liquid out.”

Richard, from Horley, Surrey, was told his right lung was working at just 25 per cent capacity.

Missing from the newspaper's reporting were details such as the date of Courtney's first hospital admission, the specific condition for which he was purportedly hospitalized, and any information about how such an injury was diagnosed (other than that the nurse placed his vape device in an "oxygen tube" and determined it was "spitting out liquid"). Also absent from the report was any clarification from parties other than Courtney regarding the nature of the purported injury. For instance, no doctors chimed in to explain whether it was possible to burn a hole in one's lung (and if so, whether it was possible for that injury to occur from using an e-cigarette).

It appeared readers were meant to infer that very hot e-liquid shot out of the vaporizer's tank into the injured man's mouth (without causing damage), then traveled down his throat (similarly not leaving any burns) before landing inside his lung and "burning a hole" in it. We were unable to find any reports of lung injuries that even remotely matched the Sun's claim, but presumably such an adverse reaction would have previously befallen marijuana smokers, regular smokers, chefs, firemen, and others regularly exposed to inhalation of fumes or steam at a high temperature. Moreover, Courtney's device (while very common) was on the low end of wattage among vaping "mods," a number of which are capable of wattages nearly ten times the amount reported.

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Nationwide 'vaping' raids take place in Malaysia

PETALING JAYA - Raids have been carried out on so-called "vape" stores nationwide in Malaysia in an effort to crack down on nicotine-based vapes.

Part of the reason is to monitor the nicotine content in vaping fluids, said a Health Ministry official on Thursday, according to a report in the Star.

"The other reason, is that these stores do not possess a valid licence from the Ministry," the official is reported to have said.

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A woman smokes a "Blu" electronic cigarette. E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat a liquid that is inhaled by the user, a process known as "vaping."AFP

Keep Vaping China, Don't Listen To The World Health Organization On E-Cigarettes

BEIJING, CHINA – JUNE 01: Researchers estimate that smoking will cause about 20% of all adult male deaths in China during the 2010s.  (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

When it comes to smoking and vaping, the world of public health seems more like Oceania, 1984, every day. In that Orwellian realm, Big Brother issued nonsense statements such as “war is peace, slavery is freedom, ignorance is strength.”

In the U.S., the CDC and the California Department of Health have assumed the role of Big Brother, effectively telling smokers they might as well keep puffing because e-cigarettes are hardly any safer. Talk about an Orwellian inversion statement!

In truth, vaping is far less risky than smoking. E-cigarettes and other devices heat a nicotine solution to produce an inhalable vapor. They release none of the carcinogenic tar of cigarette smoke, making them the ideal nicotine-delivery system for smokers seeking to reduce or halt their intake of combusted tobacco products.

On a global scale, the World Health Organization is Big Brother. Dr.Margaret Chan, the WHO’s director-general, is a confirmed skeptic. As she told China Daily last week– “I recommend that national governments ban, or at least regulate, them,” she said. (Elsewhere, Dr. Chan has opined that e-cigarettes should be regulated the same way cigarettes are regulated– even though they are not remotely equivalent in terms of harm.)

Dr. Chan’s comments were contained in a news story on Beijing’s crackdown on indoor smoking which began on June 1st. The ban has reportedly boosted the public profile of e-cigarettes. As a result, the article said, vaping is becoming increasingly popular, particularly with young urbanites, according to Gan Quan, China director of the InternationalUnion against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.

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New CDC Data Blows Away Popular E-Cigarette Criticism

A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has blown a major hole in the case against e-cigarettes.

Many of the most vehement critics of e-cigarettes fear the devices could prove to be a gateway drug and will raise the risk of non-smoking vapers being lured into trying the real thing.

Critics also fear that we haven’t seen the long-term health effects of vaping and that regulators and lawmakers should take a stricter stance on taxing e-cigarettes and raising the age at which they can be bought.

But according to a CDC report released on Monday, public health activists have little reason to fear a rising tide of new smokers in wake of the vaping revolution. The report is the first of its kind with the first estimates of e-cigarette use among U.S. adults from a nationally representative household survey.

The CDC study shows that just 0.4 percent of people who had never smoked tobacco were current vapers, using the device either every day or some days. Among the adults who had never smoked cigarettes a meagre 3.4 percent had ever tried and e-cigarette. In total, 12.6 percent of Americans have tried an e-cigarette.

SOURCE: CDC/NCHS, National Health Interview Survey, 2014.

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Vaping gathers steam among Singaporeans across the Causeway

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  Yahoo Newsroom - One of the shops at Johor Bahru's Pasar Karat, selling vape and vape-related products.

Vape smoking seems to be gathering steam among Singaporeans who are getting their fix in Malaysia to get around the import ban on such products.

Singapore bans the import of imitation tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes such as vape. In Malaysia, the government is considering whether to ban vape smoking.

Demand for the tobacco-less products in Malaysia has surged in recent years, with the industry now worth an estimated half-a-billion ringgit ($100 million).

Vape is a kind of electronic cigarette that typically comes in a box-like battery powered device, with a tube of liquid attached to it. This liquid, commonly referred to as juice, usually contains a combination of a nicotine solution and a flavouring solution. A typical flavouring solution is made of propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin - the former gives a sweeter taste with fewer vapors, while the latter gives a less sweet taste with more vapor.

In Johor Bahru alone, there are more than 20 vape stores. Many customers flock to vape stores located at a night market called “Pasar Karat” at Jalan Segget, which is a 10-minute drive from the Johor Causeway.

Yahoo Singapore recently spoke to some of the owners and staff from several vape stores in JB to find out about their Singaporean customers. Singaporeans spend about RM200 (SGD65) each per visit, they said.

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VAPING INDUSTRY EXPECTED TO HIT $10 BILLION BY 2017

How popular are electronic cigarettes these days? I counted four new vapor shops in my medium-size Chicago suburb yesterday, all of which opened in the last half year. And this is at a time when more stores in my community are closing than opening.

And this trend isn’t limited to my suburb, either. The vapor industry — the shops that sell electronic or e-cigarettes are known as vape shops — is in the middle of a boom. The Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association says that the e-cigarette business is expected to become an industry worth $10 billion or more by 2017.

According to a story by BloombergBusinessweek, there were more than 3,500 independent vape shops located across the country in 2013. The reason? The e-cigarette business can be a profitable one. The BloombergBusinessweek story quoted the owner of a vape shop who said that while he can mark up traditional cigarettes by 10 percent to 20 percent, he can mark up e-cigarette dispensers, nicotine cartridges and accessories by 200 percent to 400 percent.

Cynthia Cabrera, the executive director of the trade association, predicts that vape shops will only become more popular as a growing number of consumers turn to e-cigarettes instead of traditional cigarettes.

And in a written statement, Cabrera said that this is good for the economies of the communities in which these vape shops are opening.

“As the economy is rebounding, many of these businesses are helping the recovery by creating jobs through innovation,” Cabrera said in her statement. “Vapor products are fundamentally driven by technology, so there are continuous opportunites for growth and enhancement.”

Commercial real estate pros across the country have seen this surge in vape shops and e-cigarettes. During an interview earlier this year, Richard Meginnis, executive vice president and business manager with NAI FMA Realty in Lincoln, Neb., said that vape shops are popping up in several of the smaller strip malls in and around Lincoln.

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The big issue that’ll swing the elections? Vaping, says Grover Norquist

Vaping is becoming more popular everyday and will be a political issue. 

I joined a pre-debate panel discussion Wednesday night in Irving sponsored by the Institute for Policy Innovation. Also on the panel were Americans for Tax Reform founder Grover Norquist, State Sen. Van Taylor and State Rep. Matt Rinaldi. The panel, like the audience, was oozing with conservative values, and Ted Cruz campaign stickers were being passed out like Halloween candy.

Norquist, a national libertarian leader who has rallied Republicans behind his no-tax-increase pledge 219 House members and 49 Senators have taken the pledge), spoke first and focused his 15-minute talk on the major issues that are helping the GOP win local and state elections across the country. He talked about gun rights, unsurprisingly. He is on the board of the National Rifle Association.

But the big surprise was when he suggested that one big issues gaining a toehold ahead of the 2016 elections is … (drumroll, please) vaping. As in e-cigarettes. It turns out that the Democrats, led by Hillary Clinton, are bound and determined to yank the e-cigarettes right from the lips of freedom-loving Americans in order to protect Big Tobacco and the government’s tax share from cigarette sales. Because that’s what Democrats do.


“The do-gooder movement was never about public health; it was always about money,” Norquist and colleague Paul Blair wrote in the National Review this month. “Since 1998, governments have collected more than $500 billion in cigarette taxes and payments from smokers. In 2013, Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) payments and taxes helped the government rake in nearly $44 billion. No such punitive tax regime exists for e-cigarettes. Each time a smoker picks up an e-cigarette in Michigan, the state loses $2, and the federal government loses $1.01 per pack; in Illinois, $1.98; and in New York, $4.35. It adds up quickly, and for big spenders in state capitols, that’s a problem.”

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Nicotine gets a bad rap - Learn about Nictone

Nicotine Molecule

Nicotine gets a bad rap.  Thought to be extremely addictive due to its mind-altering properties, it has been blamed for everything from heart disease to cancer.

Known as the main psychoactive ingredient in tobacco, public health experts have been warning for years that even one nicotine-laced puff of a cigarette can leave one hopelessly addicted for life.  Many also warn that nicotine itself is very dangerous – it is extremely toxic, even used as an insecticide, and has no benefit whatsoever other than to provide relief from the insufferable withdrawal that results from addiction.

No benefits at all??

Yet, now nicotine is being offered as a medication, used to help ease people off of cigarette addiction.  It is widely available over the counter at pharmacies everywhere and is one of the most highly recommended medications for smoking cessation.

If nicotine is so dangerous, then why would it be freely offered as a medical treatment to millions of people?

Also, if nicotine is the main psychoactive ingredient in tobacco, yet has no benefits at all, then why would nearly 20% of the population smoke daily?  If it really does nothing but feed the addiction, then they should all be able to just quit smoking and never touch it again.  Right?

What are the real effects of nicotine, apart from cigarette smoke?

The truth is, nicotine isn’t nearly as dangerous, or as addictive, as we’ve all been led to believe.

So how dangerous is nicotine?

Toxicity

It is true that nicotine is an effective insecticide, and that it is toxic in high doses.  However, just about everything is toxic in high doses.  People can die from drinking too much water in one sitting, but you don’t hear doctors telling people to stay away from water.

How much nicotine is deadly?  It has been long believed that only 60 mg is required to kill an adult human when ingested (to put that in perspective, that is less than 3 ml of 24 mg/ml e-liquid).  This figure has recently been contested however, and traced back to faulty experiments conducted in the 19th century.

The true lethal dose has since been estimated to be at least 500 mg for an adult, or no less than 6.5 mg per kg of body weight.  Unfortunately many health experts and researchers continue to tout the false lethal dose of 60 mg, thereby misleading the public into believing that e-liquid is extremely dangerous.

Reportedly, calls to poison control centers over ingestion of e-liquid have been increasing in recent years.  However, there has not been a single reported death or serious injury from nicotine ingestion in the last few years, which is consistent with our current understanding of what the lethal dose of nicotine actually is.  In the majority of cases the most severe side effect reported from nicotine ingestion is vomiting.

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British smokers urged to start vaping by health officials

E-cigarettes should be available on the NHS, public health officials have said despite conflicting evidence over their safety.

Britain’s eight million smokers have been urged to start ‘vaping’ after a government-backed report found that the electronic devices are 20 times less harmful than traditional cigarettes.

So far no electronic cigarette has been licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) or the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice).

But a new report launched today by Public Health England, Kings College London and Queen Mary London, found e-cigarettes carry just five per cent of the risk of tobacco and should be widely adopted by smokers.

If every smoker in Britain switched to vaping, around 75,000 lives a year could be saved, they estimate. The experts called for e-cigarettes to be prescribed on the NHS once regulated.

Nagy Memes Szabolcz and Georgia Samuels at Vapefest, Shrewsbury
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