tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69019453157567090342024-03-05T06:48:09.318+01:00Vaping HungaryReports on vaping, THR, advocacy and regulatory situation in HungaryKrisztian Pifkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14968087027411562816noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6901945315756709034.post-33664411749400012272016-12-24T13:47:00.000+01:002016-12-24T17:38:21.064+01:00A week amongst the shadows of the past: lessons learnt from a scientific studyHow about lighting a cigarette after five years of being smoke-free? God forbid, it would be dumb of me. But for a scientific study I changed my mind for a week. Was it good? Hell, no. Was it beareable? Yes, it was. Would I smoke again? No bloody way. Has it worth it? Indeed it has, way beyond the scope of the study itself.<br />
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The study conducted by Prof. Dr. László Galuska at the University of Debrecen examines the effects of smoking and vaping on the lung functions and the changes of the permeability of the membrane between the alveoli and the lungs. Initially the professor wanted to work with smokers who would have to switch to vaping for three weeks, but apparently they couldn't just simply abandon smoking for weeks. With a clever twist, the professor turned to long-time vapers to examine what does a week of smoking do to their lungs.<br />
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Like most of us, I was hoping that the study will successfully conclude without me having to smudge my lungs - trust me, it is quite a decision to make. Unfortunately this was not how things were going, and the deadline for the study started to approach pretty fast with not enough samples yet to hit the sweet spot where the the results could be considered serious enough for publication. With a final push the community came together to fill the missing spots, and I ended up in one of the groups of four with Endre, Levente and Miklós.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGLF67ag_-CWPk9U5EXekQnFeWzAhPJ075zSIwJE0b2oyzDPcToJDlbGEhcOKVrjfFtlVhbIahaEl-4r1IKOwtIKY-sT2MDddHtKQpQe1AHaI-k3vLv8CL3tUg8Su7m0WJuMA3pPZatq5F/s1600/IMG_20161220_102621.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGLF67ag_-CWPk9U5EXekQnFeWzAhPJ075zSIwJE0b2oyzDPcToJDlbGEhcOKVrjfFtlVhbIahaEl-4r1IKOwtIKY-sT2MDddHtKQpQe1AHaI-k3vLv8CL3tUg8Su7m0WJuMA3pPZatq5F/s400/IMG_20161220_102621.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The joys of nuclear medicine: we are radiating.</td></tr>
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The examinations performed are not bad at all, there is no pain involved, they are not invasive, no one is opened up, and it's all done in 30 minutes. Half a day still passes though, as you wait while the others are being examined, and the travel takes its own time as well. The hard part of course is not this, but to force yourself - in many cases after being smoke-free for years - to smoke 10-20 cigarettes of your choice daily for a week. I aimed for 15 fags a day, and while sometimes it was very hard to stick to it, I managed to do it.<br />
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So, how is smoking again after 5.5 years? Horrible. I had to realize instantly that my memories of smoking are being very far from the harsh reality. What I was remembering was the experience of smoking for a body already familiar with and tolerant of smoking. With a twist of a thumb I suddenly became that stupid teenager again, smoking his very first cigarettes behind the school, unable to stop drooling as the smoke burns his face off.<br />
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I feel dizzy from the nicotine peak and and the CO overtaking the place of oxygene in my blood, I am literally drooling, but I can't swallow it as it is tasting hideous, so I end up chain-spitting like a moron. The smoke is irritating my eyes, my fingers smell awful, my mouth smells and tastes terrible. Is this what I've been doing for twenty years, is this what I made my body accustomed of? Indeed, it is.<br />
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Then comes the epiphany. I thought I knew how different vaping is from smoking, what vaping made me free of. I realize that I had no idea, I've only seen the tip of the iceberg. This is the moment when I finally understand what smoking really is, and what vaping is in comparison, now that after almost six years I smoke my very first cigarette again. If on the scale of uncomfortable things smoking is a fist punching your face, then vaping is like a loving fondle.<br />
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">Anyone who claims that vaping is a gateway to smoking is someone who never smoked a cigarette, or simply is an utter fool. Vaping is a gateway to smoking as much as chocolate is a gateway to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprophagia" target="_blank">coprophagy</a>.</span></h3>
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But how does it feel to once again smoke for a week? It is quite frightening to feel your whole body revolting against the insult, as you keep inhaling the insane amount of toxins. Knowing that you do it with re-born, clean lungs makes it even worse. You keep recalling studies on the effects of tobacco smoke and its various additives and you understand your former smoker self who kept doing it for years less and less. And the most scary of all is to experience how fast your body starts to tolerate something with no pleasure whatsoever, or even, the exact opposite of pleasure, the putrid taste of tobacco smoke.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2xGHaCcMQoonIdHuog6ZFO0IHWYeySDEjyQvOn91SMTHMMUhcBg6LWeDld8WqA1fjrA25vFY7Hk_1jCUYw84o15Nzwl7sv-E5rmCM3dfZvxAtBWu0aWUEI1NmqNR7v1cqI7uWtHkuHXD-/s1600/cci20161221b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2xGHaCcMQoonIdHuog6ZFO0IHWYeySDEjyQvOn91SMTHMMUhcBg6LWeDld8WqA1fjrA25vFY7Hk_1jCUYw84o15Nzwl7sv-E5rmCM3dfZvxAtBWu0aWUEI1NmqNR7v1cqI7uWtHkuHXD-/s400/cci20161221b.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Epic lungs! Here with no clue about what is going to be unleashed upon them.</td></tr>
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The first four days were about the struggle to keep going on, I was sure I can't do it, and the last three were about clinging to the hope that it is almost over. In the meantime I drink water like there is no tomorrow, I can literally feel my kidneys overworking themselves to get rid of the toxins somehow.<br />
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The smoke burns the insides of my mouth, my saliva flows like a river, my clothes smell, my hands smell. I am nauseous, I feel sick, dizzy, I can not believe I did this for twenty years, I can not believe that not only the body is able to get used to this, but in the end it identifies it as pleasure. When I am not outside smoking, it's enough to smell my hands to get nauseous again. I don't feel healthy, I think I feel the toxins circulating in my bloodstream, I imagine chemotherapy to be something like this.<br />
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Random coughs arrive on day two as the lungs try to get rid of the crap accumulating in them. Me and my fellow victims communicate a lot on Facebook, and knowing that I am not alone in this unfit shoe eases the suffering to some degree. Maybe the toxins, maybe the lack of oxygene, but a mild, but constant headache settles in for days.<br />
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On day three it still takes some willpower not to barf during the first cigarette of the day. Subsequent fags are no longer that awful, inhaling the smoke is not that nauseating, but the aftertaste in my mouth is still hideous. I have to switch toothpaste, my current one is simply unable to get rid of the taste and smell of smoking. I keep thinking on how one (for instance our local TC body) might think that flavoring is able to supress the awfulness of burning tobacco and paper for a newbie smoker. At most it might make it less crappy for regular smokers, but it can't be able to make initiation less painful.<br />
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From the fourth day morning coughs become constant. I no longer feel healthy in general, not even between the smoking sessions. Of course, these are deep waters, no new smoker starts with daily fifteen cigarettes, and this also makes them unable to see the whole offense they are about to unleash on their body. The smell of smoking no longer irritates me that much, but its taste remains unbearable. It is strange, but I feel hungry all the time. I can't think of anything else but that my normal diet is not sufficient enough to cover the increased energy needs of detoxification. I see a guy on the street lighting a cigarette, and the sight makes me nauseous.<br />
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The fifth day makes the first cigarette of the day considerably less awful. The front of my mouth no longer feels the effects of the smoke, but the backside and my throat still feels uncomfortable.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7oJMT7yrubYAimP5CpBdFMdmkBN2PbEaDLHX-aDYX-uQOgUt5_kBLuDMCGl9u9D4azJOmZE3DZOxFY4n5TMbNR8OUtkWGde-dDgtx6vYpQnjMivua1rWX-5_ZWDwAxsKPMpeAeIZkS1s5/s1600/IMG_20161219_195949.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7oJMT7yrubYAimP5CpBdFMdmkBN2PbEaDLHX-aDYX-uQOgUt5_kBLuDMCGl9u9D4azJOmZE3DZOxFY4n5TMbNR8OUtkWGde-dDgtx6vYpQnjMivua1rWX-5_ZWDwAxsKPMpeAeIZkS1s5/s400/IMG_20161219_195949.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The product of six days, 90 butts. Used to be my average daily amount before.</td></tr>
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On the sixth day the first fag is now bearable, but I smoke doubles to get over the daily quota faster, and there is nothing that makes the second one enjoyable. It is clearly harder to breathe, my breathing became shallower than usual. There is unrest in my lungs, they feel relaxed no more.<br />
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By the seventh day I get used to the taste of smoke. Smoking is now feels almost entirely like I remembered it from before. There is one significant difference though, the nicotine burst still makes me lightheaded. So much for the claim that vaping sustains nicotine dependency or even strengthens it. It is truly marvelous, the ability of our National Institute for Health Development's Tobacco Focal Point, to be as much inaccurate about vaping as possible. If there is room to be wrong, you can rely on them to be wrong. Short sharp pain sensations pop up now and then in my lungs, and my throat has been replaced with something burnt and insensitive. The taste of coffee no longer feels delicious, and this is something not even twenty years of smoking was able to ruin before.<br />
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The morning of the eighth day brings back the old sensation of my lungs being smaller, tighter. It is unbelievable that I used to wake up like this every day and I simply chose to dismiss and ignore it. But it is almost over, only a few cigarettes left, and a trip to Debrecen, and I am done.<br />
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This is how my week went. It was interesting as well as scary to experience how my quality of life deteriorated day by day, and how the body gets more and more used to something so unpleasant, so alien to life.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The team: Levente, myself, Miklós and Endre.</td></tr>
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These experiences made me think a lot about what motivated me back then to get used to smoking and become its slave for twenty years. I've found three things that might have been a catalyzer.<br />
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One of these is the smoking of parents. For a child of smokers the body develops some tolerance to cigarette smoke which makes it easier to get used to smoking, easier to get past the otherwise terrible sensation.<br />
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The other is the influenceability of kids. Starting smoking in a group pushes kids to toughen up and try to act as an "adult", to not show weakness, to ignore the awful feeling of inhaling smoke. This manual override of the mind certainly makes the initiation phase a lot easier.<br />
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The third one is alcohol. For most of the kids, experimenting with beverages overlaps with experimenting with smoking, and alcohol dulls the senses enough to notice the awfulness of smoking less and less. It can't be a coincidence that my old four packs a day habit skyrocketed to as many as eight packs on any given day when the evening involved beers.<br />
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But it is over, the week has passed, what now? One thing I am sure of. Unless an even more crazy regulation tears my e-cig out of my hands, I will smoke never again. I got rid of my remaining cigarettes without a hassle and happily returned to my former non-smoking vaper self.<br />
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After one day I found myself a bit more irritable and itchy than usual, but I don't miss smoking at all. If it is because of the abrupt end of smoking, it is very interesting that the impact of a daily dose of 12 mgs of nicotine inhaled with cigarette smoke is much more serious than 60-90 mgs of nicotine vaped daily. Of course we know that nicotine in itself does not induce the same level of dependency like it does when comsumed together with other constituents of tobacco smoke, and that the body absorbs nicotine less effectively from e-cigarette vapor than from tobacco smoke, but experiencing the difference first-hand is quite a revelation.<br />
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For a while I surely won't enjoy flavors as much as I used to, but knowing that I no longer fill my body with insane amounts of toxins and carcinogens is a relief in itself. The additional experiences I had over the week, the putting of the undampened horrors of smoking into proper perspective is just an added bonus.<br />
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I can't wait to see the results of this study to occupy its spot in the scientific literature, I know no other study to examine the enormous benefits of vaping over smoking from this aspect. Until then a few more of us have to man up of course and join the study as a volunteer. Despite all the bad stuff I am happy that I did, otherwise I would never have realized fully what vaping liberated me from, how thankful I should be that electronic cigarettes exist.<br />
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Kudos to the other volunteers who have had the same terrible week before and along with me, without you I am not sure I would have been able to succeed. For the others coming after us I wish tenacity, it will be hard, it will be extremely unpleasant, but you can do it.<br />
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Ps: If you are there, I recommend checking out <a href="http://www.viktoriaetterem.hu/" target="_blank">Restaurant Viktória</a>, their fried cheese is awesome.Krisztian Pifkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14968087027411562816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6901945315756709034.post-20527769200135048522016-08-27T13:08:00.001+02:002016-08-27T13:08:57.048+02:00E-liquid flavours got banned in HungaryThe updated government decree regulating the sales of vapor products in Hungary, effective from 20/08/2016, bans all flavouring additives in e-liquids.<br />
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Back before the original decree came into effect there were three different versions of it circulating around, and one of them already contained the text of the flavouring ban, but it has been removed from the final version. Now it is back, and it is official, and it's live, with no consultation whatsoever, or at least I haven't seen one.<br />
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Not even directive 2014/40/EU (the TPD) allows such changes without proper reasoning and risk assessment, so I immediately submitted a Freedom of Information request to obtain the documents required by directive 98/34/EC to accompany a decision like this.<br />
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What I expect to receive is the <a href="https://vapinghungary.blogspot.com/2016/08/request-for-expert-opinions.html" target="_blank">same old heap of bullcrap</a> compiled by the lunatic local tobacco control bureaucrats, which gets pulled out of the hat whenever they trample on basic human rights in their misguided attempts on protecting <strike>tobacco and pharma</strike> public health interests.<br />
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The decree is going to be attacked with a constitutional complaint of course, but it will take several months to get to the end of the process to annul this madness.<br />
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The fact that e-liquids without flavours are no longer e-liquids and are not suitable for immediate consumption by vapers apparently does not bother the regulators, probably thanks to their <a href="https://vapinghungary.blogspot.com/2016/06/hungarian-tobacco-control-not-clue.html" target="_blank">funny idea of non-flavoured e-liquids tasting like tobacco</a>. No surprise there though, they are known to be hell-bent on making smoking more attractive than the life saving harm reduction alternative.Krisztian Pifkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14968087027411562816noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6901945315756709034.post-60500272054473650872016-08-20T19:18:00.003+02:002016-08-21T00:23:33.390+02:00Five years of vaping - a look backToday is the fifth anniversary of me not smoking anymore, and I can say it without the slightest exaggeration, that I can thank only electronic cigarettes for this. Half a decade of vapor, after twenty years of smoke. A short retrospection from the perspective of an ex-smoker.<br />
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I would not believe that vaping may work and it might replace notorious smoking. To be honest I was not even interested in it. I've been smoking for twenty years, four packs a day, or on longer or more exciting days sometimes even eight packs. I loved smoking. Despite our home being covered in a constant layer of smoke and nicotine. Despite the fact that I haven't developed any irreversible adverse health effects yet, but at the same time it was clear that smoking already had its toll on my body. And despite the knowledge that my habit will yield a much shorter lifespan with horrible misery at its end. The day did not start until I smoked half a pack along with my first coffee. <b>I loved and hated smoking</b>, with the same dissonant ambivalence the majority of smokers experience worldwide.<br />
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I was bound to stay on this track until my partner discovered e-cigarettes. While back then the vast amount of scientific evidence was not available yet, the arguments based on common sense supporting e-cigarettes were more than enough to accept that vaping is much more safer than smoking. And this is something very important, to <b>evaluate the relative harms compared to smoking, and make a life-altering decision for ourselves</b>, instead of waiting for a non-smoker purist preaching abstinence to tell us what we should or should not do to solve our problems. None of the world's smoking cessation experts could have convinced me about their faulty old cessation methods, no matter what they would have done. On one thing we are on the same page though: people should stop smoking somehow. <b>May I stop it in a way that suits me, please?</b> Luckily, five years ago I could, but I would be in trouble to do so today.<br />
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Is it the smoke that kills? Yes, it is. Do e-cigarettes smoke? No, they don't. <b>It's as simple as this.</b> The one thing that remained yet to be seen whether the experience could provide enough satisfaction to completely replace smoking. Kinga, my partner took her precious time, and delved deep into the online forums, collecting pros and cons, reading the success stories and experiences of people already vaping. After thoroughly filtering the information, one day she came home with an ePower device, and started not smoking.<br />
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I bastardly kept on smoking of course. Although I tried her e-cig and it was surprisingly satisfying, it was not enough for me to make a decision. But after a few days it became clear that somehow vaping is actually working. Even the benefit of smoking less seemed to be enormous enough to come to the decision of getting my very own electronic cigarette.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: #e0e0e0; padding: 2em;">
Hi folks,<br />
<br />
I've started playing with the idea of vaping, but I do have a few specific criteria that makes me uncertain about which device to choose or whether the device that would suit me exists at all. I don't want to push buttons, as I usually keep the fag hanging from my mouth with both hands occupied, so pushing buttons would drive me crazy. For the same reason it should be lightweight enough to prevent falling out of my mouth all the time. I smoke a lot, so the least frequent refills and charging would be the best. Do you know a device that fits these criteria? Thanks in advance for the hints and help.<br />
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<i>02/08/2011 17:03, my very first post on ecigiforum.com</i></blockquote>
The dilemma above resulted in a refillable cigalike KR808, and I started vaping. If someone would have told me back then, that only four years later I will be standing on a stage next to the Parliament giving a speech arguing for tobacco harm reduction and criticizing the moronic local public health grandees, I would have been laughing my arse off. But this is a story for an another time.<br />
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No start is easy, but mine proved to be a bit more difficult than I expected. The tiny device turned out to be a bad decision, I spent more time charging and filling it than actually vaping the little bugger. But still, it was good enough to find out that the problem was not with vaping, but the capacity of the device. It was obvious that I needed something bigger, so in under a week I surprised myself with an ePower too.<br />
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With that device suddenly everything fell into place. As a veteran smoker I was not too keen to throw out perfectly good cigarettes, so I had to burn through my last carton as well. I ended up smoking them for almost a month, despite it normally being enough for two days for me. After a few days I limited my smoking to only accompany my morning coffees, but after a short week I began to dislike even that, as my newly recovered taste buds started to rebel against the awful tar-like taste of cigarette smoke. I couldn't believe I was not only doing, but enjoying this for twenty years. Finally I've ran out of cigarettes, and it was an incredible relief that I did not have to smoke the awful crap anymore. Ever since I've never looked back, <b>a few weeks of vaping was enough to eliminate a dependency developed over twenty years</b>.<br />
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Did I know back then what do I undertake, what the long term effects of vaping might be? I did not, I could not. What I did know is that if I don't stop smoking I will end up with small bloody pieces of my lungs being coughed up. I had to measure the possible harms of inhaling flavoured fake smoke known from concerts and theaters against the harms of smoking for a lifetime. After five years I can tell know that giving a shot to <b>vaping was one of the most important and beneficial decisions of my life</b>.<br />
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That decision based on common sense from five years ago is now backed by a plethora of scientific evidence. New vapers of today <b>no longer need to navigate in the dark whether tobacco harm reduction with vaping is a valid choice or not</b>, they only need to avoid the traps of public health made of lies. Even if there were no scientific studies at all to back vaping, it would not render my own experiences, nor the experiences of my friends and loved one void, as vaping restored our health and feeling of comfort from being shackled by smoking to a level of quality known only by non-smokers.<br />
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I will be forty soon, and honestly, I never felt so well before, except for the period before taking up smoking. I vape the way I've been smoking: a lot, and I do it since five years, so I reckon I would experience any adverse health effects first hand. I'm still waiting on that. Then I am being told by the so called experts that I did not actually stop smoking, for <b>I did not do it in a way they approve</b>. The irresponsible, jealous, dumb buffoons.<br />
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Shall we say that vaping is entirely harmless? No, we shall not, in this world practically nothing is completely safe, whether we ingest or inhale it, or just grease it on our skin. Shall we say that vaping for a smoker is of enormous health benefit? Of course, it's a question no more, it's a fact. Shall we say that vaping instead of smoking means all of the benefits of stopping smoking? Of course, just ask any vaper who've stopped smoking. Shall we say that vaping is the answer to the long-stranded efforts of tobacco control? Shall we say that vaping is one of the biggest public health breakthroughs ever? Based on the evidence and facts, we clearly shall.<br />
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In a rather perverse way, as more and more evidence was being gathered over the years, the world seemed to be turning against vaping more and more as well. The question whether the culprits behind this sad phenomenon are blind, stupid, or simply corrupt will only be answered by time. No matter what, I am confident that the only known real-world solution to the global problem of smoking will take its rightful place in the end and the blindfolded scaremongers will find themselves trapped under the mountains of lies they cherry-picked over the years.<br />
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I don't know when this day will come, when the self-righteous and obsolete public health and tobacco control bodies will finally give in to the overwhelming amount of evidence supporting vaping, but it's reassuring that there are serious people in other countries not afraid to go against the status quo established by the tobacco and parma industries, the government and cessation zealots. One thing is sure though, if I won't be around by then, it won't be because I was a smoker. And I have vaping to thank for this.Krisztian Pifkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14968087027411562816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6901945315756709034.post-65515382810631033802016-08-11T11:45:00.000+02:002016-08-11T11:45:43.390+02:00Request for expert opinionsHungarian vapers are asking for comments from the international scientific and academic community to evaluate the severely partial junk science produced by the Hungarian public health and tobacco control institutes.<br />
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The document below is the official report on the risks of vaping, created by Hungarian public health institutes related to tobacco control. It successfully biased public health decision makers and regulators to go way beyond the requirements outlined in the European Tobacco Products Directive Article 20, into banning online sales of vaping products, forcing all vendors to close shop by limiting brick-and-mortar sales to a limited amount of registered tobacconists, and banning vaping itself everywhere where smoking is prohibited, all in the name of protecting non-smokers from second hand vaping, and the youth from the gateway to smoking.<br />
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We have found that the report blatantly twists and cherry-picks evidence – ignoring the majority of the scientific literature – in order to support the prejudiced opinion of its creators, at the price of sacrificing effective tobacco harm reduction options of the public. We tried the official whistle-blowing channels and numerous Freedom of Information requests to discredit the contents of the report, to no avail. Soon we will be battling its creators and their twisted regulation before the National Court and the Constitutional Court of Hungary.<br />
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This translation is the Hungarian vaping community's effort to collect valuable expert opinions from the members of the international scientific and academic community working in the fields of vaping and tobacco harm reduction, on the scientific and factual accuracy of this report based on current scientific evidence, for the purpose of quoting during the court cases and in the media. Your input – no matter how brief it might be – could prove invaluable in our fight to place back vaping in Hungary where it belongs: to be a legal, effective, and informed choice based tobacco harm reduction option for anyone. Please forward your response to <a href="mailto:thr@stopspam.hu">thr@stopspam.hu</a>, preferably before 12 September 2016. Thank you for your help.<br />
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Download <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8vdHyhpFCy5N3Jpby1scFAwZ2M" target="_blank">„The risks of using electronic cigarettes and electronic smoking imitation devices”</a>.Krisztian Pifkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14968087027411562816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6901945315756709034.post-15261593262994918352016-07-15T22:31:00.002+02:002016-07-15T22:32:41.800+02:00See you in courtBack in April I sued the National Institute for Health Development for unlawfully refusing my Freedom of Information Request to disclose their documents, memos, e-mails and letters related to the creation of their blatantly absurd and awfully biased official <strike>fiction</strike>report on the health hazards of electronic cigarettes, as well as to their involvement as experts on vaping in regard with the national implementation of TPD2 Article 20. Today I've been notified by the court that the suit is a go and the first hearing of the case is to be held on 15 September 2016. Public health's stance is that documents related to any sort of legislation should be classified for ten years. My stance is that their stance is utter rubbish.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdfmQ58z4eF6vFgpvKN01_7Fbw5GIpgTT4gA1BVHBXhI4J_aG1qPjUJYn-CyT02YREpQBMoL6Zn7tih2vzhXM5l5npkrPEGGZ39_FwNIZMMMf1Anb35ft2eOChJmyqO8MdF1oyGt5CVmHk/s1600/fb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdfmQ58z4eF6vFgpvKN01_7Fbw5GIpgTT4gA1BVHBXhI4J_aG1qPjUJYn-CyT02YREpQBMoL6Zn7tih2vzhXM5l5npkrPEGGZ39_FwNIZMMMf1Anb35ft2eOChJmyqO8MdF1oyGt5CVmHk/s320/fb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Krisztian Pifkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14968087027411562816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6901945315756709034.post-25910965383193809722016-06-30T09:35:00.000+02:002016-06-30T09:57:12.784+02:00Hungarian tobacco control: not a clue about vapingI've submitted a Freedom of Information Request to the National Institute for Health (the entity responsible for tobacco control in Hungary) regarding they National Youth Tobacco Survey 2013 (part of WHO's GYTS). Amongst many things (there are a lot of discrepancies) I've been curious about why they thought to query the youth whether they vape flavourless e-liquids to be a good idea.<br />
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This is not a joke, they asked the following question with the following options (the awkward wording is translated directly):<br />
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<i>Over the past 30 days (1 month), while using an electronic cigarette, what kind of liquid was in the tank?</i><br />
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<ol>
<li><i>I don't use electronic cigarettes</i></li>
<li><i>I used liquid with nicotine</i></li>
<li><i>I used liquid without nicotine</i></li>
<li><i>I used flavoured liquid with nicotine</i></li>
<li><i>I used flavoured liquid without nicotine</i></li>
</ol>
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So I asked them, why do they think it is important to poll non-flavoured e-liquid consumption amongst adolescents, when such thing is practically non-existent. Here is their answer:<br />
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<i>The flavourings in tobacco products, beside the amount of consumption, might increase the health risks imposed by these products. At first try, or in case of female users, it is of importance that they might mask the unpleasant, harsh taste common to tobacco products. This might increase the frequency of consumption, the intensity of smoking and the amount of smoke inhaled.<br /><br />The other important aspect of the flavourings in tobacco products is deception. Flavoured tobacco products with unique taste might seem to be less harmful, sending false messages in regard with smoking.</i><br />
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<i>According to reports of the scientific literature flavourings that make tobacco products more attractive have an effect on the youth, and it might have an impact on making smoking a habit, therefore we find it important to learn about the opinions and usage patterns of the youth in this matter.</i><br />
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They treat vaping as a smoke emitting tobacco product, and they think that <b>without the funny flavours vaping tastes like tobacco</b>. If only. This was their idea of vaping three years ago, and apparently it hasn't changed a bit since then. They probably wanted to know whether kids prefer tobacco flavoured juices or others (which would have been an interesting topic), but they could not even ask the question properly. <a href="http://www.fokuszpont.dohanyzasvisszaszoritasa.hu/sites/default/files/e_cigaretta_gyakorisag.pdf" target="_blank">In their report</a> they state that a total of 32.5% of the vaping kids were using unflavoured e-liquids. I can't really decide if their finding is more funny than pathetic, but one thing is certain: it is false.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi18789rcLhKQc7LgCvE35UNY8jSPjsq7mFdU0CgqLGNASas80xGqJ3sPmalxKHghIgCj-w8IdNSzC7suMRqGEQifJvS7j9odupCMD5EaEwdQG_uBoLfgGHSyHhsumFwXmzCvmcV1-GW9kG/s1600/baddog.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi18789rcLhKQc7LgCvE35UNY8jSPjsq7mFdU0CgqLGNASas80xGqJ3sPmalxKHghIgCj-w8IdNSzC7suMRqGEQifJvS7j9odupCMD5EaEwdQG_uBoLfgGHSyHhsumFwXmzCvmcV1-GW9kG/s320/baddog.png" width="320" /></a></div>
We hear the <i>"we don't know enough about vaping"</i> argument often enough, but now there is proof: they really don't have the slightest clue about vaping, not even its very basics. And they dare to offer <i>insight </i>to the regulators on the matter.<br />
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These are the so called experts, whose expertise - according to the under-secretary of Public Health - is so solid and scientific, that it makes it unnecessary to listen to the consumers when it comes to regulation.Krisztian Pifkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14968087027411562816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6901945315756709034.post-11276435178694082472016-06-24T12:25:00.000+02:002016-06-24T12:25:09.774+02:00Sin-taxation of harm reduction in HungaryAccording to the <a href="http://net.jogtar.hu/jr/gen/hjegy_doc.cgi?docid=A1600068.TV&timeshift=fffffff4&txtreferer=00000001.TXT" target="_blank">updated law on excess taxes</a>, Hungarian vapers will face a new tax of 65 HUF/ml (cca 0.2 EUR/ml) on e-liquids from 1 January 2017 which will subsequently be raised to 70 HUF/ml (cca 0.22 EUR/ml) after 1 July 2017. As a comparison, the local net wholesale price of e-liquids varies between 45-70 HUF/ml.<br />
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The law defines e-liquid as tobacco product, regardless of its nicotine content. The limit for personal use will be 300ml. It is not yet clear what the impacts of the law will be on DIY mixing of e-liquids.Krisztian Pifkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14968087027411562816noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6901945315756709034.post-49080107899452798572016-06-21T12:34:00.000+02:002016-06-21T13:41:49.216+02:00Vaping Hungary: a blog primerSo many of you asked me at GFN16 in Warsaw about what is going on in Hungary, I decided to dedicate a blog to such news and updates. I outline the current situation and a bit of its background below. Any future events and updates will come as additional posts.<br />
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<h2>
2012</h2>
The local association consisting of happy vapers is being founded, in a calm vaping-neutral time.<br />
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The under-secretary of PH sends a fax to the head of customs expressing his opinion on e-liquids containing nicotine being a medicinal product, therefore requiring medicinal licence to be sold. No such law ever existed here to back his claim. Suffice to say, witch-hunting against vendors commence, seizing goods and launching prosecutions. Most of the vendors stop selling juices with nicotine, some of them open sister companies across the border to circumvent the problem.<br />
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I send a petition to the EC asking them to put an end to the unlawful practices of local authorities (Petition 1813/12).<br />
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Full disclosure: back then I had a tiny vaping business with my girlfriend, importing products from one US brand, because we liked their liquids. Customs started a case against us as well, but dropped it soon after. Our seized batch and company were probably too small, hence the luck. We decided to let the vaping business go, and I turned to advocacy.<br />
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In the meantime the registration of the local association completes and the group finds itself in the maelstrom of a war against vaping.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwvUIMivxOIoeaQGyxs_qgSvtA-BT-Fwh5zx2Kqm0zVqw0sbAxkUD9jxJZ6iPB1Bcgchvm23ChOXp3g5ofZom26bBR_GG-6jc5Vb_Ftw7FdDRiRzeLbDbAvqGnotlGHjpWWAvdRfeKZ4R1/s1600/evp2015-balazs-bebek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwvUIMivxOIoeaQGyxs_qgSvtA-BT-Fwh5zx2Kqm0zVqw0sbAxkUD9jxJZ6iPB1Bcgchvm23ChOXp3g5ofZom26bBR_GG-6jc5Vb_Ftw7FdDRiRzeLbDbAvqGnotlGHjpWWAvdRfeKZ4R1/s1600/evp2015-balazs-bebek.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">EVP 2015 Budapest. Photo: Balázs Bebek</td></tr>
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<h2>
2013</h2>
The Penal Code is being updated, treating the sales of unlicensed medicinal products as criminal offense, vaping vendors with nicotine products therefore now face the threat of criminal prosecution and 3 years of jail-time.<br />
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The EC closes the investigation of my claims and reaches the conclusion that everything is fine in Hungary. This is all based on the word of one undisclosed Hungarian authority (probably one I accused of unlawful practices) claiming that everything with more than 1.5mg of nicotine is treated as a medicinal product by law. Again, no such law ever existed in Hungary. I am shocked by the incompetence of the EC, but I don't file a complaint, to avoid making enemies in the Petition Committee, they might come handy at a later point.<br />
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The government revokes all rights to sell tobacco products from everyone, and re-partitions the market with a non-transparent application process for permits to open National Tobacconists. Surprisingly most of the permits land in the hands of government friends and relatives.<br />
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News about the looming TPD gets more and more scary, so I start preparing the ECI European Free Vaping Initiative.<br />
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<h2>
2014</h2>
We visit the National Institute for Health to talk some sense into the head of tobacco control about e-cigarettes. Lack of success, mountains of ignorance, and he is surprised about our 3rd gen devices being e-cigs.<br />
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EFVI kicks off, enthusiastic vapers from around Europe take national campaigning into their hands.<br />
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PH tries to sneak in a stealth bill to classify e-cigs as medicinal products. According to ECP (an independent, non-registered vaping advocacy group) their members notice it and successfully lobby at the then current under-secretary and manage to sink the bill. My hands are so full I do not even notice the bloody stealth bill.<br />
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The first vendor witch-hunt court case concludes, the vendor is acquitted, but the judge does not dismiss PH's claims on nicotine products being medicinal. Virtually there are no expert witnesses in this field in Hungary without ties to PH or Big Pharma.<br />
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EFVI concludes with about 181.000 signatures.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpM9FceMpIi0oBDsdP4F3u-bAlxSfLUC5F1aKE6G4Y9N1hJdmcdtnlL32PNxLVphMI1jni7g_AfQevbMeqruPOV4LA-nm1ythrk42G1oJelYV_RFp7E86mHxzB68kfzS6_HELp5MAA_uTQ/s1600/2016dec-zoltan-matula.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpM9FceMpIi0oBDsdP4F3u-bAlxSfLUC5F1aKE6G4Y9N1hJdmcdtnlL32PNxLVphMI1jni7g_AfQevbMeqruPOV4LA-nm1ythrk42G1oJelYV_RFp7E86mHxzB68kfzS6_HELp5MAA_uTQ/s1600/2016dec-zoltan-matula.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Protest at the Parliament, Dec. 2015. Photo: Zoltán Matula</td></tr>
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<h2>
2015</h2>
The remaining vendor witch-hunt court cases conclude, the verdicts acquitting the vendors, as well as classifying e-liquids with nicotine as consumer products, and rejecting PH's claim that products with nicotine content are automatically medicinal products. The first expert witness to break the tide is Dr Farsalinos, the second is Dr Miklós Angyal, who turns out to be the odd-one-out of local expert witnesses. The Hungarian legal system is not precedent based, so the authorities claim these to be isolated cases and they don't officially back off. Unofficially the harassment of vendors seems to be lightening up after these.<br />
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We join the European Vapers' Protest with a demonstration next to the main offices of the PH ministry, media does not give a damn. I prepare a 20 pages long speech, people cry. In exhaustion. ;)<br />
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In October the bill comes to implement the TPD into local law, they give the public about 1.5 days to comment on it. All comments are ignored.<br />
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In November PH starts its full-scale smear campaign against vaping in the media. PH bodies publish a 16 pages long official report on vaping, full of blatant lies, twisted and cherry-picked evidence. The local association publishes a 40 pages long essay debunking and disproving PH's report, no one seems to care.<br />
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I file a Whistleblower Complaint with the Ombudsman detailing all the horrific errors and problems in PH's official report. The Ministry of Human Resources sweeps it under the rug, and investigates none of the reported issues. I file a complaint with the Ombudsman against the practice of the Ministry of Human Resources, case pending.<br />
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I file numerous Freedom of Information Requests with PH bodies to obtain answers and documents to investigate the background of their horribly awry report on vaping. They reject every single one of them with bogus excuses (except for one who decides to stonewall instead).<br />
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In a surprising turn of events the leftmost and the rightmost opposing parties stand up in defense of vaping in the Parliament. Their amendments and the hearing of independent experts (us) get rejected at the meeting of the Committee on Social Welfare. The bill goes on unchanged.<br />
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We organize a huge demonstration beside the Parliament building before the day of the final voting, with speeches on stage and a video wall playing videos sent by vapers all day long, the media does not care. Next day the bill passes and becomes law.<br />
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Although we beg him not to do so, the President of the Republic signs the law without sending it to the Constitutional Court to check it for possible conflicts with the Constitution.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG4FdtrVQorbwR3xaZW95vbKnYs32P0lWKqfWgu_vAcB_ZB7SCG3mmqKSnI1ZfORHk93l2SilceoPvr8EoYdmCu19vl60pxPYvmqNLn883hSpQrZxumE0W428u2BB7RmC4idctYxi7A331/s1600/2016dec-ecigitesztek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG4FdtrVQorbwR3xaZW95vbKnYs32P0lWKqfWgu_vAcB_ZB7SCG3mmqKSnI1ZfORHk93l2SilceoPvr8EoYdmCu19vl60pxPYvmqNLn883hSpQrZxumE0W428u2BB7RmC4idctYxi7A331/s1600/2016dec-ecigitesztek.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For the victims of TPD, Dec. 2015. Photo: ecigitesztek.hu</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h2>
2016</h2>
The opposing parties in support of vaping request a post-vote conflict check and annulment of the vaping related clauses of the new law from the Constitutional Court, case pending.<br />
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Me and the local association exercise our constitutional rights and go to court to sue PH bodies for unlawfully rejecting our Freedom of Information Requests, cases pending.<br />
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On 20 May, the new law comes into effect (details below).<br />
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Vendors prepare a Constitutional Complaint for the annulment of the clauses banning online sales and the prohibition of independent vape shops.<br />
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I prepare a Constitutional Complaint for the annulment of the clause prohibiting vaping where smoking is prohibited.<br />
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<h2>
The state of vaping in Hungary today</h2>
<ul>
<li>Full TPD implementation, plus some forward-thinking (their words, not mine) additions.</li>
<li>Vaping is prohibited where smoking is prohibited, violation comes with the same fines.</li>
<li>I campaign amongst the vapers who are forced to designated smoking areas to be kind to smokers and act as vaping ambassadors instead of being sour victims.</li>
<li>The legal vacuum around juices with nicotine is now over, probably the only positive outcome of the TPD.</li>
<li>Vaping vendors had to close shop, only a selected amount of National Tobacconists are allowed to sell vaping products. Some vendors managed to change their business model and supply said tobacconists with proper products. Thanks to this the availability of products is somewhat scarce, but not dead.</li>
<li>No one is sure what will happen to the product range after the six months transitional period.</li>
<li>Online sales are banned. No one knows yet whether it is cross-border or local only.</li>
<li>The minute details of the regulation are declared in an accompanying government decree, so it might be changed anytime without being voted on.</li>
<li>There seems to be a spike of interest in vaping amongst smokers, apparently bad press is still press. Not sure yet whether it is a pattern or a temporary phenomenon.</li>
<li>Over the past year whenever the Luddites of PH appeared on screen, most of the time we also had the opportunity to tell a few sentences about the facts. Despite this, the scaremongering with junk science still covers the majority of vaping related journalism.</li>
<li>Rumours: a looming threat of banning flavours, future extra sin-taxes, and the cannibalization of the vaping supply chain under a government agency.</li>
</ul>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfsSp4z3n72y4n1VOez4Q-ooRm26KHtBOW9aUuHLus7y5aGpk1laI1-3KTSae-hokXow0D5MgpFG-J21R2IOM9Z6wtpHS4Jk-i9W0Da_vqGE6raRhQF_igmASymPF5fCjHZVDFnjT5r6oY/s1600/tpd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfsSp4z3n72y4n1VOez4Q-ooRm26KHtBOW9aUuHLus7y5aGpk1laI1-3KTSae-hokXow0D5MgpFG-J21R2IOM9Z6wtpHS4Jk-i9W0Da_vqGE6raRhQF_igmASymPF5fCjHZVDFnjT5r6oY/s1600/tpd.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Preparing for the TPD, May 2016.</td></tr>
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<h2>
Famous quotes from our local 'experts'</h2>
</div>
<div>
'It smokes without nicotine due to theatrical fog machine parts.' - a lung specialist on e-cigs</div>
<div>
'We don't want it to spread any further.' - the under-secretary on harm reduction</div>
<div>
'It can only be consumed safely anally.' - a lung specialist on VG</div>
<div>
'While there is debate the government will consider it to be equally harmful.' - the under-secretary on vaping vs smoking<br />
'Nicotine is a known carcinogen.' - a lung specialist recommending NRT to smokers</div>
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Krisztian Pifkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14968087027411562816noreply@blogger.com14