In this article...
December 7th and 8th have seen the running of the UK E-Cigarette Summit 2021. Some have in recent months questioned whether the format and content remain relevant. Certainly when vaping was rapidly increasing in uptake over the first few years after the inaugural summit in 2013, heated views were frequently aired.
The conference has always been an important forum for public health stakeholders, regulators, scientists, medics and smoking cessation specialists. Furthermore, the discussion often prompts debate and guidance on appropriate regulations globally, in countries where similar dedicated institutions do not exist.
Living in a virtual world
The mood of the conference has perhaps been calmed by greater, general acceptance of vaping in the UK in recent years. The conference has also taken place online for two years now, which limits the opportunity for dissent or approval from an audience.
Day One of the E-cigarette Summit 2021 certainly proved that while we are no longer living through the rather "exciting" times of 2013-2017, there are certainly plenty of issues to explore as the vape sector moves from early existential crises into its difficult teenage years.
The conference's first session was preceded by a discussion between US journalist and vape advocate Marc Gunther, and Australian GP and author Colin Mendelsohn.
From a UK perspective it is easy to forget that while we have had our own trials and difficulties, Australia has been subjected to stringent vaping restrictions. Possession of nicotine without a prescription from a doctor is entirely prohibited. The penalties for not complying effectively criminalise vaping, which makes Mendelsohn's advocacy particularly inspiring. He has even gone as far as writing the book ‘Stop Smoking Start Vaping‘ about using vaping to quit.
Why are some researchers biased against vaping
The first session proper in the summit featured presentations by highly esteemed scientists researching the relative harm and efficacy of vaping, and was chaired by a former World Health Organisation (WHO) Director, Robert Beaglehole.
Researchers from Universities of Bristol, Oxford, and University College London presented not just data, but explored the bigger question of what might cause a proportion of academics to hold what might appear to be irrational negative biases to vaping.
While some of the bias can be understood, Beaglehole had a very important comment to direct to the WHO, his former employer.
They have taken a stance that denies the potential for vaping to do good worldwide in the same way that it has in the UK.
This is evidently because they fear youth uptake and as yet unseen health harms may outweigh those benefits. Professor Beaglehole believes the WHO needs to ask a rather important question of itself. "What if you are wrong? If you are wrong, the cost will be huge and will be measured in millions of preventable deaths. This seems to me a totally unnecessary and unacceptable risk to take."
See what Professor Robert Beaglehole’s had to say in his full presentation here.
Worldwide picture of Tobacco Harm Reduction
Session 2 looked into nicotine harm reduction worldwide, with contributions from Norway, Germany, Australia, and of course the UK. The overriding theme was of a broad spectrum of acceptance of vaping. While none of the presenters work in markets where vaping is banned outright, Australia already has a "de facto" nicotine vaping ban.
Germany in contrast allows vaping, but suffers from a reluctantly high adult smoking rate of close to 30%. Their lack of confidence in vaping's potential is potentially stopping them from achieving the public health gains that the UK has seen.
Debbie Robson of King's College London's presentation made it clear that there is substantial inequality in the UK's smoking rates. Homelessness, mental health, alcohol and substance addiction issues all mean that some parts of the population have very high smoking rates. For these groups, smoking harms reduce quality of life and life expectancy enormously.
The final presentation from safer nicotine advocate Clive Bates was as ever, an extraordinarily eloquent critical summary of the current state of affairs, delivered with all the passion that he has demonstrated from the very first E-Cigarette Summit in 2013 onwards.
Vaping regulations
The third and final session of the day took a close look at regulation of vaping, looking specifically at the UK. Representations came from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), Trading Standards and the Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA).
The last of these came from Totally Wicked CEO and IBVTA Chairman Marcus Saxton, and probed the idea of needing a regulatory "sweet spot".
In his presentation, he covered need to meet the needs of adult smokers that want to quit or reduce smoking, while avoiding any unintended consequences in terms of youth uptake, or unsafe products making it onto the market.
This final session was closed with a lively debate led by the Tobacco Control Lead from the UK's recently formed Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), Martin Dockrell. While much of the debate focused on detailed regulation and enforcement issues, Kate Pike from Trading Standards delivered the most important response to any question of the day.
When the panel was asked individually what single change they would make to regulations, or what single product they would like to see removed from the market, the single word answer of "tobacco!" from Kate put every previous element of the conference into true and clear perspective.
Still relevant, still exciting
Day 2 of the E-Cigarette Summit on December 8th will feature sessions on Public Health, looking at policy, research, and their particular application to Tobacco Harm Reduction. It will be particularly interesting to see developments in the emerging debate around how much involvement harm reduction the tobacco cigarette industry should have, or could be trusted with. As a leading independent business specialising in the vape sector, and only in this sector, for over 13 years now, it is not too hard for Totally Wicked to take a stance on that.
Eight years on, and there are still a huge number of debates to work through. The sector continues to evolve regionally, nationally and internationally.
In 2021 the E-cigarette Summit remains an incredibly important event, and the very best opportunity to take stock of where we are, and where we are heading.
Updated 18/01/2022
