The smoking rate in the United States has risen sharply, but the use of vapearettes has declined.

1- Preface

Cigarette sales have broken a decadeslong downward trend and shot up in 2020, at least in the United States, Bloomberg reported recently, while the sales of vape are in decline.

2- Trend Reversal Analysis

Joe Nocera, a commentator for Bloomberg and the former editorial director of Fortune magazine, analyzed that most people are confined at home because of the impact of the epidemic environment, and there are few opportunities to go out to entertain. Stress and boredom [will also] force people to smoke, and therefore also smokers have more disposable income to buy related products.

According to Bloomberg, the main reason why consumers choose cigarettes instead of better harm reduction products such as vape is that American mass media has some false and even demonization reports about vape. This makes it impossible for the public to have trust in vape and some smokers who switched to vape to quit smoking have once again havocked into smokers.

3- What the Trend Reversal Means

Cigarettes seem to be making a comeback and in that context, the massive cost of the governments investment in tobacco control over decades is likely going down the drain. It's a myth that vape turn people into smokers, Joe Nocera writes, and American public health officials have not rushed to promote the harm reduction and smoking cessation effects of vape, and have let vape be demonized. This trend is sad.

4 - Historical Context and Recent Data

In the United States, cigarette sales have been falling slowly but steadily for decades. This was most obvious in 2018 and 2019, when US cigarette sales declined by 4-5% and 5-5%, respectively.

This reflected the decreasing fraction of American adults who smoke. Forty-five percent of Americans smoked in 1965, the proportion has declined to 14%, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

5- The Turning Point in 2020

But 2020 was the turning point. As the epidemic dragged on in the United States, stress and boredom made people likelier to smoke. Using Altria Group, an American tobacco company, as an example of sales data, from 2016 to 2019, the coffers of the company shot up at an annual rate of no more than US$170 million (Bloomberg). By 2020, it racked up an annual revenue growth of over US$ 1 billion.

However, vape sales in the United States are falling. The Ecigintelligence report said that during the epidemic urban blockade, vape retail stores with a relatively high total number of offline stores were closed, and most of the stores with offline stores were closed, and even if they were still open, the turnover dropped significantly. Ecigintelligence is a leading consultancy that has tracked the vape industry for years. During their study, they discovered that vape stores turnover across the United States decreased by 18% from 2019 to 2020.

6- Regulatory And Market Factors

As for retail channels, the diverging dynamics of management measures for traditional cigarettes and vape in the United States have aggravated this bifurcated status. The latest studies from Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health found that during the epidemic, when smokers can easily buy cigarettes at convenience stores, gas stations and other channels, the sale of vape will be restricted by various restrictions such as restaurant operating hours.

These data and research reveal that the resurgence of cigarettes in the United States is no exaggeration. More importantly, in addition to the fact that going out during the epidemic will increase the smoking rate, vape have long been demonized in the United States.

7- The Lung Disease vape Incident

The source of the demonization is not the so-called vape lung disease that occurred in the United States in 2019 This incident has once made vape a hot topic in a moment of public opinion.

Things, however, soon turned again. The truth about American vape lung disease was revealed by the US CDC in March 2020: The sick users' black market vape contained illegal additives like vitamin E nitrate, and vitamin E nitrate was not present in normal nicotine vape. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also retracted a false accusation it had made, which was that the agency had told the public to stop using vape.

8- Further Disinformation and public vision

Yet even with the adjustment of the CDC, mainstream reports in America continue to bash vape. This has also directly resulted in a deepening of the publics misunderstanding of vape: In fall of 2019, a Reuters poll was conducted and 63% of American adults believed that vape are as harmful even as smoking.

In the U.S., an epidemic has demonized vape more thoroughly, in Bloomberg's view. Even many smokers who have preferred to use vape to quit smoking have gone back to smoking queue.

9- Policy Recommendations

In this consideration, Daniel Giovinco, assistant professor at Columbia Mailman College of Socio-Medical Science, proposed several policy recommendations in the epidemic period: 1) to ensure that smoking cessation resources and services can be implemented during special periods, 2) in smoking cessation services, allow consumers to use lower risk products, such as vape.

There are various policies and propagandas restricting vape, whether intentionally or unintentionally during the epidemic, which will cause more people to use cigarettes and bring about unexpected consequences. Daniel Giovin thinks the government should pay full heed to this when the policy on vape is being shaped.

10- International Approach to the Regulation of vape

vape The WHO has clearly defined the harm reduction potential of vape, in its 2020 vape theme report. Many authoritative figures have come to the conclusion that a more accurate understanding of vape could have saved more people' lives in the face of tobacco control, however, due to the institutions of relevance that has led to rumor fermentation, the vape industry is covered with lies.

As the editor-in-chief of Forbes, Steve Forbes, pointed out crisply in a video presentation: The anti-vape crusade is based on loads of misinformation and outright lies. Steve thinks those who are against vape are ensuring thousands are shoved off the edge into the void of premature death - which, of course, is entirely preventable.

11- Examples from the UK and New Zealand

In this respect, the Brit government leads by example. vape will play an important part in helping the UK achieve the goal of a smoke-free generation in tobacco control, wrote the British government in a press release. Research and follow-up on the development of the vape industry have confirmed the UK Department of Public Health's clear view on vape, treating them as a smoking replacement method for smokers, and even calling on hospitals to sell vape and provide vape lounges for patients so as to guide people in smoking traditional tobacco to switch to vape.

On 23 February, the UK Department of Public Health published Evidence Update 2021. In 2020, vape products became the most widely used auxiliary smoking cessation method in the UK, and the success rate of vape smoking cessation was also the highest, according to the report. This method helps around 50,000 to 70,000 smokers quit smoking successfully each year.

The New Zealand government also published a proportionate regulatory framework for smoke-free products in November 2018, in addition to that of the UK. However, the plan underlines that while it will curb access to minors, it will enhance smokers access to better vape and smoke-free products.

12- Caution and Prediction for theFuture

Ben Pryor, the head of a New Zealand vape company, had an admonishment in 2019, challenging the public to avoid any such reports in the American press that seemed to have been designed as clickbait. Because every time someone reads a misleading headline, takes their vape and uses them to light a cigarette and then all that, they might lose 20 years of life for nothing.'

As for the United States, the pessimistic view of at least Bloombergs assessment is that the recent increase in the smoking rate due to the epidemic may bring benefits to the short-term net profit of the tobacco company, but in fact it also reveals a more serious long-term challenge. Once life resumes its normal course, cigarette sales will continue on their declining trajectory, and big tobacco companies, tobacco-control organizations, and the U.S. government will have to acknowledge people's bias against vape.

13- Summarize

As David Abram, a New York University School of Medicine professor, put it, 'vape are the greatest advance in public health in 120 years.' Then, if vape are demonized, leading to a greater number of smokers using cigarettes, this will pose a serious hidden threat to American public health.

According to a recent Bloomberg report, cigarette sales have actually reversed the decades-long downward trend and rebounded in the United States in 2020 while vape sales have dropped.

What is the reason? Joe Nocera, a Bloomberg opinion columnist and former editorial director of the magazine Fortune analyzed that most people stay at home because of the impact of the epidemic environment, and have reduced opportunities to go out to play. People smoke because the stress and boredom will make them smoke and people smoke, have more available money to buy related products.

Bloomberg believes that the fundamental reason for American adults choosing cigarettes over vape which have better harm reduction effects is because when it comes to vape, the inaccurate or even demonized reports from American mass media have entered the general population consciousness. This makes people worry more about vape, and even some smokers have switched to vape to quit smoking, but now they are returning to the rank of smoking.

The resurgence of cigarettes will probably ensure that the massive price of the governments spend on tobacco control over the decades goes to waste. American public health officials, Joe Nocera believes, have been slow to push for the harm reduction and smoking cessation effects of vape, and have thus far let vape be demonized. This trend is sad.

US epidemic + demonizing vape = cigarettes return.

Cigarette sales in the United States have been gradually and consistently falling for many years. This was especially profound in 2018 and 2019 when American cigarette sales dropped by 4-5% and 5-5% respectively.

This is driven by the fall in the share of smokers in the United States. Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the percentage of Americans who smoke fell from 45% in 1965 to 14% today.

Clearly this is the trend that government and the public want to see. After all each year millions of smoking people get sick or even died because of smoke presenting great public health risk and socio-economic burden. With the global trend of tobacco control, many countries have regard the smoke-free future as a long-term goal. Even international tobacco companies such as Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco have been gradually contracting their traditional cigarette business and actively deploying new tobacco products such as vape.

But, 2020 was the tipping point. As the epidemic raged in the United States, stress and boredom increased the odds that people smoked. Take the sales data of Altria Group which is an American tobacco company as an example from 2016 to 2019, the companys annual revenue growth does not exceed US$170 million according to Bloomberg. Its annual revenue growth surpassed US$1 billion by 2020.

Meanwhile, vape sales in the United States are falling. During the epidemic urban blockade, the report pointed out that most of the vape retail stores were closed, even the stores that were still operating, turnover had plummeted. Ecigintelligence is a leading consulting agency in the field of vape, keeping watch over the industry. Upon completion of their research, they found that the total sales of vape stores in the United States decreased by 18% between 2019 and 2020.

The disparity has also been compounded in the United States by different management measures for traditional cigarettes and vape in retail channels. The latest study, published by Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health, precisely states that the epidemic made it a lot easier to buy cigarettes from convenience stores, gas stations and other outlets, however, the sale of vape is still subject to various restrictions, including business hours.

These data and studies make clear that the tobacco revival in the United States is no exaggeration. The increase in smoking rates and enhanced difficulty going out to smoke which is more seriously worried about is that vape have been demonized for a long time in the United States.

The so-called vape lung disease outbreak that occurred in the United States in 2019 is an important driving force behind the demonization of vape.

However things soon reversed. In March 2020 the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explained that the truth of American vape lung disease was the use of the sick user black market vape contains illegal substances such as vitamin E nitrate, and the general nicotine vape do not contain this substance. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also retracted the erroneous claim that it had warned the public not to use vape.

CDC mainstream reports have not stopped the criticism of vape in the U.S. This has also directly resulted in an increase in the publics lack of understanding of vape: A poll conducted by Reuters in the fall of 2019 found that 63% of adults in the USA thought that vape were as harmful as smoking.

Bloomberg thinks an epidemic has more completely demonized vape in the United States. And even many smokers who switched to vape in an attempt to break the smoking habit have rejoined the smoking queue.

In this regard Daniel Giovinco assistant professor of social medical sciences at Columbia Mailman College put forward a series of epidemic policy recommendations: including Ensure that smoking cessation resources and services are implemented during special periods; allow people to use lower-risk products in smoking cessation services, such as vape.

During the epidemic, various policies and propaganda that intentionally or unintentionally restrict vape are rampant, which will cause more people to use cigarettes and cause unexpected consequences. Daniel Giovin feels that this should be taken into full consideration by the government when devising policies related to vape.

Many fears are arising as the smear campaign against vape continues

Changing the way vape are looked at is an urgent issue that needs global solution.

The harm reduction potential of vape was strikingly unmistakable in the 2020 vape thema report from the WHO. Despite this, many authorities have come to the realization that a better understanding of vape could have avoided a higher number of tobacco-related deaths, however some practice of relevant institutions allowed rumors to breed, resulting in the vape industry drowned in falsehood.

The anti-vape movement - it's based on a lot of misinformation and outright lies,' pointed out Steve Forbes editor-in-chief of Forbes in a video program. Steve thinks the antis smoking crusade in relation to vape is consigning thousands of people to the dungeons of premature death which, obviously, is utterly preventable smoke-free.

On this score the British government is setting a good example. In tobacco control, the British government is firmly recommending that vape will be central to the Uks ambitious goal of a tobacco-free generation. vape have been used for the purpose of replacing cigarettes for smokers in one of the most stringent and detailed national treatment strategies, not only that, the UK Department of Public Health urged hospitals to sell vape, so that patients can have vape lounges and even replace cigarettes with vape to encourage people to switch from traditional tobacco to vape.

The Evidence Update 2021 of UK Department of Public Health published on 23 February According to the report, vape products became the most frequently used assistive means for British smokers to quit smoking in 2020, and the number of quitters was also the highest using vape. 50000 to 70000 smokers quit smoking using this every year.

Besides the UK in Nov 2018 the New Zealand authorities also launched a risk-proportional regulatory framework for smoke-free products. The plan said that while requiring protection for minors it would enhance adult access to high-quality vape and smoke-free products.

Even the director of a New Zealand vape company brought out the proverbial alarm bell in 2019 to urge the public to steer clear of such clickbait headlines emanating from American press. Because that every time someone reads an exaggerated headline, the put down their vape and pick up a pack of tobacco that they do not need to smoke and lose 20 years of their life.

As for the United States Bloombergs assessment is bleak: the rise in smoking rates the epidemic induces may boost tobacco companies net profits in the short run, but it also uncovers more deadly long-run problems. The sales of normal cigarettes will enter a downward spiral and just as in the case of cigarettes the big tobacco companies tobacco control organizations and the U.S. government will have to respond to peoples diverse feelings on the subject of vape when life becomes normal again.

The biggest opportunity to improve public health in 120 years, as the New York University School of Medicine's David Abram once put it, is vape. So if vape continue to be demonized and more smokers will smoke cigarettes, then American public health will face very serious potential hidden dangers.

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