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Tag: electronic
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Big Vape: New Netflix Documentary on Juul Tells a Controversial Story
“Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul” delves into the dramatic trajectory of the Juul vaping device, chronicling its meteoric rise and eventual downfall.
A 4 part docu-series is premiering on Netflix, on October 11. The docu-series will be depicting the drastic rise and fall of the infamous vaping device, the Juul.
It’s called “Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul”, and the title speaks for itself. Juul was a 38 billion dollar company, popular among teens and young adults in their 20s. Juul had the upper hand in the vaping world for years. With ads in Seventeen magazine, the Nick Jr. TV Channel and several other sites directed mainly to teens, they were impossible to miss.
However all of that changed drastically in 2018. An investigation by the FDA forced Juul to discontinue some flavours of their cartridges, due to the concern of attracting minors to vaping. In 2019, they reached an agreement with the Center for Environmental Health to ease up on their marketing. As a result, by 2020, Juul’s market share fell to 42%, and by 2022, they were pulled from shelves completely.
In just 4 years, Juul went from being the most ubiquitous vaping product, to becoming virtually non-existent.Â
How did Juul’s rise begin?
The series begins with the story of Stanford tech bros Adam Bowen and James Monsees. They created a start-up in Silicon Valley after forming a bond over their passion for the harmful impact of smoking. “Ploom” was born, a butane powered e-cigarette that the pair launched in 2010. After more testing and experimenting, a sleeker, more compact, and in particular, a better flavoured device was launched, beginning Juul’s ascent to the top of the vaping world in 2015.
Juul’s controversies began early on, with their brand seemingly targeting under age young people. They gave out thousands of free devices, had celebrities with young followings like Cara Delevigne and Miley Cyrus promote their campaigns, and amped up their advertising on every social media platform possible.Â
Big Vape tells the full story of Juul, with testaments from former employees, young users and more. We are looking forward to learning how Juul may have been the catalyst for the vaping concerns and public health crisis we see today.
Hopefully Netflix brings us a cautionary tale packed full of intensity, controversy and education. Above all, give us a glimpse into the brief yet pivotal life of the Juul!
We will follow up with a review after we’ve finished the series.
Jayna Taylor
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Toronto board of health to review a ban on electronic cigarettes
Toronto Board of Health meeting to discuss banning electronic cigarettes
The Toronto Board of Health is convening a meeting to deliberate on a potential municipal ban on electronic cigarettes, equating them with traditional cigarettes. This implies that vaping or the use of electronic cigarettes could be prohibited in public parks, bars, restaurants, and any other places where traditional tobacco cigarettes are currently banned across the greater Toronto area.
Proposed Restrictions on E-cigarettes
The Board is also considering a proposal to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarette products and prohibit e-cigarette displays in stores.
Moreover, the Board is contemplating banning the use of electronic cigarettes in workplaces, Toronto School boards, universities, colleges, and hospitals, urging these institutions to prohibit the use of electronic cigarettes both indoors and outdoors on their premises. They plan to reach out to the Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association, and the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas, suggesting they implement similar practices. The Parks and Environment Committee will also be approached with this suggestion.
Justifications for the Proposed Actions
The Board’s potential actions are justified on two grounds.
Firstly, they argue that there is insufficient research on the risk of second-hand vapor, citing potential health risks associated with it.
Secondly, they express concern that e-cigarettes could be perceived as a gateway to tobacco cigarettes, leading to a ‘normalization of smoking’ after years of efforts to render tobacco cigarettes obsolete.
Counterarguments and Criticisms
Critics argue that the Board is overlooking the significant positive outcomes already achieved by ex-tobacco smokers who have successfully transitioned to electronic cigarettes. They point out that mint-flavored nicotine gum has never been suggested as a potential gateway to tobacco cigarettes, and assert that electronic cigarettes are fundamentally different from tobacco cigarettes. This is evidenced by the fact that many ex-smokers who switch to electronic cigarettes find that they no longer enjoy the taste and feel of tobacco cigarettes.
Critics also question the Board’s contradictory stance of implying that scientific evidence suggests e-cigarettes could be a gateway to tobacco cigarettes, while simultaneously citing a lack of scientific evidence regarding second-hand vapor as a reason to ban e-cigarettes.
A Call for Regulation Over Prohibition
Critics suggest that a more productive approach would be for the government to regulate the manufacturing of these products, rather than imposing a ban based on insufficient scientific evidence. They advocate for requirements such as labels, child-proof lids, warnings, and information to be mandated for all vendors of e-cigarettes, arguing that this would be a more effective governmental ruling compared to pulling them off shelves and banning them publicly.
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Top Scientists Warn WHO Not to Stub Out E-cigarettes
Top Scientists warn World Health Organization not to classify electronic cigarettes as tobacco products.
LONDON (Reuters) – A group of 53 leading scientists has warned the World Health Organization not to classify e-cigarettes as tobacco products, arguing that doing so would jeopardize a major opportunity to slash disease and deaths caused by smoking.
The UN agency, which is currently assessing its position on the matter, has previously indicated it would favor applying similar restrictions to all nicotine-containing products.
In an open letter to WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, the scientists from Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia argued that low-risk products like e-cigarettes were “part of the solution” in the fight against smoking, not part of the problem.
“These products could be among the most significant health innovations of the 21st century – perhaps saving hundreds of millions of lives. The urge to control and suppress them as tobacco products should be resisted,” the experts wrote.
Leaked documents from a meeting last November suggest the WHO views e-cigarettes as a “threat” and wants them classified the same way as regular tobacco products under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
That has set alarm bells ringing among a number of medical experts – and in the booming e-cigarette industry. A total of 178 countries are parties to the international convention and are obliged to implement its measures, with the United States the one notable non-signatory.
A move to classify e-cigarettes alongside regular cigarettes would push countries into taking similar tough measures to restrict demand, including raising taxes, banning advertising, introducing health warnings and curbing use in public places.
Uptake of electronic cigarettes, which use battery-powered cartridges to produce a nicotine-laced inhalable vapor, has rocketed in the last two years and analysts estimate the industry had worldwide sales of some $3 billion in 2013.
But the devices are controversial. Because they are so new there is a lack of long-term scientific evidence to support their safety and some fear they could be “gateway” products to nicotine addiction and tobacco smoking – though the scientists said they were “unaware of any credible evidence that supports this conjecture”.
BIG TOBACCO BACKS SCIENTISTS
For tobacco companies seeking to offset the decline in traditional smoking, investment in e-cigarettes was an obvious choice and all the major players now have a presence, prompting Big Tobacco to line up behind scientists on this occasion.
Kingsley Wheaton, director of corporate and regulatory affairs at British American Tobacco, said classifying e-cigarettes as tobacco products would mean smokers find it harder to access a less risky alternative.
The Geneva-based WHO said its position on e-cigarettes was still in flux ahead of a key meeting on the FCTC scheduled for October 13-18 in Moscow, where proposed regulations will be discussed.
“At this point the only thing I can say is that we are elaborating these regulations and they will soon be available to you,” Armando Peruga, programme manager for the WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative told reporters this week.
Gerry Stimson, emeritus professor at Imperial College London and one of the organizers of the letter to Chan, told Reuters that the WHO’s position was “bizarre” and its stance on e-cigarettes was harsher than that of regulators in Europe and the United States.
“We want to make sufficient noise now before things get too set in stone,” he said.
By Ben Hirschler
(Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva, editing by David Evans)
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Electronic Cigarette Advertisements – Will They Be Banned?
A recent US rule implemented by the FDA is attempting to regulate the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors. While this is certainly a good thing, and a positive step in the US electronic cigarette market, it is leaving many people wondering if this is just the first step in an electronic cigarette laundry list of to be regulated by the FDA. FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg said the current proposal “lays the foundation for many more actions and activities.” What this means is that this rule is essentially the groundwork for future policies and regulations laid out by the FDA in the future in restrictions towards electronic cigarettes.
My personal belief is that the FDA is choosing a ban on minors as their ‘entry rule’ so that everyone will be behind them, and then continue to add and implement other ‘grey area’ rulings regarding electronic cigarettes. The two two that everyone is talking about is advertising of electronic cigarettes, and the sale of fruity or candy e-liquids to customers. We are going to discuss advertising of electronic cigarettes in this story.
Some are suggesting some US e-cigarette companies are promoting electronic cigarettes to a younger crowd.
A recent advertisement from blu e-cigarettes in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit magazine in the states has suggested that some e-cigarette companies are focusing on the younger crowd when advertising their products. Personally, this is more of a ‘sex sells’ type advertisement then anything else, however an argument could be made that if electronic cigarettes become more of an accepted social practice they would be tried and used a lot more then traditional tobacco cigarettes. We at CanadaVapes.com have always promoted electronic cigarettes as an alternate to people currently smoking tobacco cigarettes, and never as a device for current non-smokers.
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Electronic cigarette Vapor vs. Cigarette Smoke – A practical experiment
Electronic Cigarette Vapor vs. Cigarette Smoke
When people are smoking cigarettes, one of the biggest preaching points from non smokers is second hand smoke. We have now seen the dramatic negative effects of non-smokers who work in smokey envirnments for years and years. From cancer to lung deseise to heart demise, all by just breathing in second hand smoke.
I remember back as a smoker setting up a fan in the window of my office. I would smoke in my office and attempt to exhaust the tobacco smoke from the room with this window fan. The realiziation of just how disgusting tobacco smoke is came after a few months when I moved the fan from the window. There was a yellow brown stain in the exact dimensions of the fan on the screen, and it was disgusting! All I could think of was the inside of my lungs being coated with this disgusting film. This was after all just the second hand smoke from the room.
I’m sure many of you have had experiences like this, or other ones similar. Cleaning the inside of the glass of a car window after smoking in it, or even house windows and walls after years of smoking.
I watched a great YouTube Video – You can see it here – About an experiment someone does comparing the second hand cigarette smoke with second hand vapor from an electronic cigarette. While this is by no means a scientifically valid experiment, never the less, it becomes obvious very quickly in the experiment the difference between the vapor of an electronic cigarette and the smoke from a tobacco cigarette.
What this experimenter did is essentially run a full cigarette through some paper towel using the force of water coming out of a bottle. He then did the exact same thing using an electronic cigarette. With the paper towel with a tobacco cigarette, what you saw was very similar to what I was talking about with the yellow/brown disgusting sludge that built up with my window fan. With the electronic cigarette, the paper towel remained completely white. Here is a photo:
Now as I said in the beginning of this article, this is in no way a scientific experiment, however it is a pretty neat side by side comparision of e-cigarette vapor vs. tobacco smoke vapor that I think is really quite interesting.