Aidan Semmens, Author at ECigIntelligence

On California’s Animal Farm for former hippies it’s cannabis good, e-cigs bad

Written by Aidan Semmens || 10th September 2021 || Blogs |

There’s a paradox in supposedly liberal Californian political thinking that shows up most sharply when you compare official attitudes to e-cigarettes and cannabis ...

The FDA can’t win on PMTAs. But should it really be taking the fight to flavours?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 2nd September 2021 || Blogs |

It’s hard to argue against the view that packaging and advertising e-cigarette products in a “kid-friendly” way is irresponsible. But are flavours in themselves innately kid-friendly? ...

WHO puts its case against e-cigarettes: time to round up the usual suspects

Written by Aidan Semmens || 5th August 2021 || Blogs |

In the heavyweight battle over e-cigarettes between the World Health Organization and the world’s vaping advocates, does anyone really have incontrovertible evidence on their side? ...

Smoking, vaping and driving – a question of risk perception vs relative true risk

Written by Aidan Semmens || 29th July 2021 || Blogs |

When a driver dropped a lit cigarette into his lap it could have caused a tragic traffic accident: are such perils the real reason to quit smoking? And are facial injuries a key argument against e-cigs? ...

WHO anti-tobacco report takes new aim at e-cigarettes and ‘emerging products’

Written by Aidan Semmens || 27th July 2021 || News analysis |

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published its eighth report on “the global tobacco epidemic”, for the first time presenting facts, figures – and opinion – on new and emerging products such as e-cigarettes ...

What’s the plain truth about packaging? Does going neutral really work?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 22nd July 2021 || Blogs |

Up to now the received wisdom has been that taking distinctive branding off cigarette packs and making them all the same drab, ugly brown will dissuade people from buying them. Now a new study throws that theory into...

Juul in jeopardy? That’s how the press is billing the FDA’s upcoming PMTA verdict

Written by Aidan Semmens || 15th July 2021 || Blogs |

The US press are calling it a “fight for survival” for the e-cigarette giant – but as one experts says, “The FDA has to evaluate this in a forward-looking way and can’t really punish Juul” ...

Vaping has yet to find its Bogart – and perhaps it’s really better that way

Written by Aidan Semmens || 9th July 2021 || Blogs |

In the old movies, smoking was both normal and cool. Is it possible to imagine vaping having the same on-screen glamour? ...

North Carolina announces deal requiring Juul to pay $40m and ‘mend its ways’

Written by Aidan Semmens || 28th June 2021 || News analysis |

The US state of North Carolina has reached an out-of-court agreement with Juul Labs that will require the company to pay $40m over six years and make “drastic changes to the way it conducts business” ...

In the great e-cig flavours battle, there’s evidence to support every point of view

Written by Aidan Semmens || 25th June 2021 || Blogs |

On one side, the firmly-held belief that they entice youth into vaping. On the other, the equally strong view that they are vital in weaning smokers off their deadly habit. So what does the science say about flavours?...

E-cigs vs Covid: never mind the science, let’s all just follow our instincts instead

Written by Aidan Semmens || 18th June 2021 || Blogs |

Is vaping or smoking a risk factor for Covid-19 – or could it even be protective? Your answer to that question may say more about you than it does about the science ...

Was freeing e-cigarettes from FDA rule ever really a straw worth reaching for?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 11th June 2021 || Blogs |

It was always a long shot – such a long shot that no one, surely, was surprised that the US Supreme Court refused to review the case ...

US Supreme Court refuses challenge to FDA authority over vaping products

Written by Aidan Semmens || 8th June 2021 || News analysis |

The US Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s authority to regulate e-cigarettes, refusing to review a case that relied on a constitutional doctrine last applied in 1935 ...

It’s all an Act – the END is not as near as Krishnamoorthi’s title sequence suggests

Written by Aidan Semmens || 21st May 2021 || Blogs |

The END ENDS Act – it sounds like an existential threat to the whole e-cigarette industry in the US. Or at least an end to the legal e-cigarette industry. The reality is rather less extreme ...

Worlds apart – while others ban e-cigs, UK hospitals hand them out for free

Written by Aidan Semmens || 7th May 2021 || Blogs |

Smokers visiting A&E departments in five UK hospitals are being offered free e-cigarette starter packs in a 30-day trial to determine their effectiveness in smoking cessation ...

Washington attack on nicotine in smokes could be good news for e-cigarettes

Written by Aidan Semmens || 23rd April 2021 || Blogs |

News that the Biden administration is considering reducing nicotine levels in combustible cigarettes in the US has affected stock prices in the UK – and has potentially interesting implications for the vaping market ...

Smoke-free or nicotine-free? That’s the question the WHO must consider

Written by Aidan Semmens || 16th April 2021 || Blogs |

Does the World Health Organization’s absolute opposition to vaping truly serve the cause of global health? The UK parliamentary panel looking into the question doesn’t think so ...

Product placement in music videos is the way to make vaping look cool to kids

Written by Aidan Semmens || 9th April 2021 || Blogs |

New research suggests “exposure to e-cigarette product placement in music videos is associated with vaping among young adults”. Meanwhile, back in the Marvel universe, something strange is stirring ...

Why attempts to close the ‘gateway’ could lead to more smoking by kids, not less

Written by Aidan Semmens || 2nd April 2021 || Blogs |

Is vaping by young people really as bad for public health as orthodox opinion would have it? Are young vapers really more likely to become smokers – and if so, why? New research should make some lawmakers think...

Why high-nicotine vapes might make a big difference to schizophrenia sufferers

Written by Aidan Semmens || 19th March 2021 || Blogs |

A new study has found that the use of high-strength nicotine e-cigarettes can help adults with schizophrenia spectrum disorders quit smoking. And that can be both a life-saver and a life-improver ...

Vaping cannabis ‘more dangerous than smoking cigarettes’! Or is it?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 12th March 2021 || Blogs |

This week’s most prominent vaping story has come with headlines like “Teens vaping pot face more health risk than cigarette smokers”. Which turns out on examination to be somewhat less than the truth ...

E-cigs to be BANNED? Never let the facts get in the way of an arresting headline

Written by Aidan Semmens || 5th March 2021 || Blogs |

Who plans to ban e-cigarettes? You may well ask. But if you only read the headlines on the news stands – and, let’s face it, that’s how a lot of people get their general sense of what’s going...

Covid-19 and vaping: the facts and figures behind the newspaper horror stories

Written by Aidan Semmens || 19th February 2021 || Blogs |

When it comes to scare stories that whip up unfounded associations with Covid-19, you have to question how responsible that is. Take these two recent reports from the British press ...

Why ‘the devil you know’ – smoking – appears to be making a comeback

Written by Aidan Semmens || 12th February 2021 || Blogs |

Is negative publicity for e-cigarettes driving people back to smoking? It seems something is, at least in the US – despite, or perhaps even because of, the Covid-19 pandemic ...

It’s the not-burning question: When is an e-cigarette not a vape – and vice-versa?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 5th February 2021 || Blogs |

What is an e-cigarette? You would think that by now that would be an easy question to answer – but it seems some folk are still confused, and spreading confusion ...

New powers in Washington suggest a whole new world for US vapour

Written by Aidan Semmens || 22nd January 2021 || Blogs |

Will a new political era in the US mean a new regulatory landscape for e-cigarettes? ...

Is it just coincidence that as youth vaping rises, cigarette smoking declines?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 15th January 2021 || Blogs |

How do levels of youth vaping relate to smoking levels? This question goes right to the heart of attitudes and policy on e-cigarettes ...

2020: the year of flavour bans, Juul cases, taxation, China – and that other thing

Written by Aidan Semmens || 30th December 2020 || News analysis |

Who isn’t glad to see the back of 2020? ECigIntelligence looks back on what a generally cataclysmic year has meant for the world of e-cigarettes, from flavour bans to taxation, with Juul in the dock and China on...

So what’s so wrong with vaping flavours? Chocolate or banana, anyone?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 19th December 2020 || Blogs |

The real danger in e-liquid flavours may not be a question of who they appeal to, but of what they do to the user’s lungs ...

Does the coronavirus pandemic signal the end of the youth vaping ‘epidemic’?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 12th December 2020 || Blogs |

Has the pandemic brought an end to the so-called epidemic of teen vaping? Is it even the beginning of the end? It’s too complex and too early to tell for sure ...

Why the US vapour industry should fasten its seat-belts for a bumpy ride

Written by Aidan Semmens || 5th December 2020 || Blogs |

Everyone from Big Tobacco to the small vape store will have a keen eye on who president-elect Joe Biden picks to be the next chief of the FDA, the US agency with responsibility for regulating tobacco and e-cigs...

E-cigarettes and the young – does anyone have a sure way to keep them apart?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 29th November 2020 || Blogs |

It’s the question that goes right to heart of e-cigarette regulation – and anxiety about it – all across the world: How can e-cigarettes be kept out of the hands of young people? ...

Tobacco or not? The nicotine may be synthetic, but the question is real enough

Written by Aidan Semmens || 21st November 2020 || Blogs |

Can synthetic nicotine possibly be classified as tobacco? At the most straightforward level, the answer has to be “no”. But it’s a bit more complicated than that ...

Are China’s privately owned e-cigarette businesses living on borrowed time?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 16th November 2020 || Blogs |

While small private enterprises may be allowed – even encouraged – to thrive, there is always the chance that too rapid growth may provoke the state corporation to move in ...

If Biden wins, will a new administration be bad news for the US vapour industry?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 30th October 2020 || Blogs |

Will a Biden victory spell tougher times for the US e-cigarette industry? The short and obvious is: probably. But of course it’s more complicated than that ...

Why taxing e-liquids may not be quite such a bad thing for the vapour trade

Written by Aidan Semmens || 24th October 2020 || Blogs |

Can a tax on e-liquids actually help the e-cigarette industry? It sounds counter-intuitive even to suggest that’s possible ...

If there’s a scientific consensus on e-cigs, it may not be quite what you think

Written by Aidan Semmens || 16th October 2020 || Blogs |

Is there a scientific consensus on the harmfulness of e-cigarettes? The latest review of the best science on the subject suggests that certain widely-held views don't have the evidence behind them ...

Rebellious youth and the psychology that makes ‘dangerous’ vaping so alluring

Written by Aidan Semmens || 12th October 2020 || Blogs |

Is youth vaping a typical passing teenage fad? If we’re to believe the self-styled “#1 site for moms seeking advice, community, and entertainment”, the answer would appear to be yes ...

‘Must do better’ – tobacco companies score poorly in harm reduction exam

Written by Aidan Semmens || 2nd October 2020 || Blogs |

We’re told repeatedly that the whole point of e-cigarettes is to reduce harm from smoking – so how are we doing in terms of harm reduction? ...

Law firm pits Juul against RICO – an act that was designed to bring down the Mob

Written by Aidan Semmens || 25th September 2020 || Blogs |

How can a charge originally designed to take on America’s organised crime families be applied to Juul’s alleged targeting of teenagers? ...

‘Vapour’ or ‘chemicals’: do the words used to describe vaping alter risk perception?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 21st September 2020 || Blogs |

A widely reported university study has called for the terminology of vaping to be more accurate – but how accurate is the language of the study itself? ...

As PMTA deadline passes, is it the point of no return for vaping in the US?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 11th September 2020 || Blogs |

Is this week’s PMTA deadline the beginning of the end for the US vaping industry? No – but it’s probably the end of the beginning ...

Why blaming e-cigarettes for deadly EVALI is not just wrong, but dangerous

Written by Aidan Semmens || 31st August 2020 || Blogs |

Was the much-trumpeted rise in youth vaping responsible for last year’s outbreak of vape-related lung injury (EVALI) in the US? The short answer can be given in one word ...

The deadly danger that lurks in well-meaning prohibition of vaping flavours

Written by Aidan Semmens || 24th August 2020 || Blogs |

Do restrictions on e-cigarettes, such as flavour bans, send users back to smoking? No doubt it’s the law of unintended consequences at work, but the answer would seem to be “yes” ...

To ban or not to ban, that is the question over e-cigs during COVID-19 pandemic

Written by Aidan Semmens || 17th August 2020 || Blogs |

Would it be appropriate to ban e-cigarettes for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic? That’s what some US Congress members are calling for ...

Fantasy figures that cloud the real issues in the teen vaping debate

Written by Aidan Semmens || 25th July 2020 || Blogs |

If 65% of Australia’s teenagers are vaping, where are they all? And, you might ask, where are they getting their vapes, since nicotine vapour products are effectively banned in Australia ...

Is Britain beginning to fall out of love with vaping?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 17th July 2020 || Blogs |

There have been a few signs lately that some in the world’s most vape-friendly nation may be experiencing a frisson of doubt ...

Vaping vs smoking – what do EU Parliament officials have to hide?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 10th July 2020 || Blogs |

The vexed question of the distinction between vaping and smoking, often confused by rulemakers at all levels, has arisen in the very heart of one of the world's largest and most influential rulemaking bodies ...

Has Netherlands health minister Paul Blokhuis got it right on vape flavours?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 3rd July 2020 || Blogs |

Netherlands health secretary Paul Blokhuis is a committed opponent of smoking and vaping. But has he got it right in his plan to ban all e-cig flavours except tobacco? There are reasons to think he may not ...

How has the ban on vaping imports gone down Down Under?

Written by Aidan Semmens || 26th June 2020 || Blogs |

Health minister Greg Hunt this week announced a ban on all e-cigarette imports except under medical prescription – effectively a total vaping ban in a country where imports were previously the only legal way to get e-cigs...

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