Australia Cans vs Bottles

Crack. Fizz. Gulp. Ahhhhhh. Is there a drinking experience more classically Australian than ripping the ring-pull off a beer?

"The visceral pleasure from that first crack of a beer can is identical to popping a champagne cork," says wine and drinks writer Mike Bennie. "There’s also huge appeal in the tinnie’s nostalgia factor."

South Africa

The Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill (‘Tobacco Bill’), which is open for comment until 9 August 2018, imposes draconian new rules and restrictions on the sale and use of tobacco products, and controversially places electronic delivery systems (e-cigarettes or “vapes”) under harsh regulation.

Chicago

With e-cigarettes now more popular among teens than traditional cigarettes, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) has introduced legislation to crack down on flavorings in e-cigarettes and cigars.Durbin believes companies are marketing towards kids with the use of flavoring such as cake batter, whipped cream and gummy bears.

“When the people who make these products, like JUUL, insist this is just for adults to quit smoking tobacco products, bologna, you wouldn’t be pedaling these flavors to adults,” Durbin said.

Another uninformed legislator.

Juuling

Juul, the vaping sensation that dominates 70 percent of the US e-cigarette market, has tried to cultivate the image of decent corporate citizen that wants to play by the rules. Juul pledged to spend $30 million over the next three years on youth smoking prevention and to support Tobacco 21.

Juuling is not vaping, it is mostly nicotine and not the normal formula as other vaping devices.

Vaping

The news media and activists like to hype e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco products as a health hazard, but the reality is that e-cigarettes could help save smokers’ lives.

Vaping can help you stop smoking tobacco, find a flavor you like and just try it. Worked for me and I had no trouble adjusting, never missed a cigarette. Now no one knows that I still do something I enjoy!

Better Late than Never

Ten years in, public health advocates are calling Iowa’s smoking ban a success.

Iowa’s Smokefree Air Act was signed by then-Gov. Chet Culver in 2008, effectively banning the use of cigarettes in most of the state’s businesses and public facilities.

Iowans were persuaded by research showing secondhand smoke is detrimental to health. For years, the danger of secondhand smoke was beyond all reasonable doubt. However, newer research is raising skepticism about the threat posed by secondhand smoke, and the effectiveness of smoking bans like Iowa’s.

Vaping Banning Flavors

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is calling on the FDA to take action against the advertisement of e-cigarettes targeted at teens and young adults. The New York senator says e-cigarette use among young people is on the rise — so he sent a letter to the FDA, asking the agency to ban flavors that are enticing to kids.

Scotland

Scotland is moving toward a ban on smoking even on your own property. It has outlawed smoking in parks, and in cars when kids are present, and now plans to extend its ban to anyone standing within 15 meters of a hospital, and even to require people not to smoke in their own homes when a social worker visits. It has criminalized spanking children, and raised the age for buying e-cigarettes to 18 (while simultaneously demanding that the voting age be lowered to 16). It has even decreed that every child in Scotland should have a state-appointed guardian until the age of 18, a “Named Person.”