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With more attacks on the evidence-based conclusion that vaping is around 95 % safer than smoking, bans on indoor vaping, absurdly high taxes proposed on e-liquid and Malaysia taking distinct turns towards anti-vaping extremism of the worst variety, it’s been a decidedly grim Week in Vaping. So – if you can stomach it – let’s dive in.

Vaping makes you too drunk to drive safely, reduces your chances of quitting smoking, should be banned outdoors, shouldn’t be allowed on college campuses and is grounds for not hiring somebody, if you believe the news this week. In other words, it’s exactly what you’d expect from the Week in Vaping.

The FDA has issued their first approval for an e-cigarette to be sold in the US. The approved vape is the Vuse Solo, a big tobacco-backed device and its accompanying tobacco cartridge.

Recap of Vapetoberfest at the Long Beach Convention Center.

The FDA, which claims to stand for “science-based regulation,” seems incapable of drawing even the most basic of conclusions: e-cigarettes, regulated or unregulated, are vastly safer than tobacco cigarettes and should be treated as such.

A UK couple has been banned from adopting a child because the husband was seen vaping, based on advice from the British Association for Adoption and Fostering that “users of e-cigarettes be considered smokers” until the completely ill-defined point at which the concerns about e-cigs have been settled.

We’ve written a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg – who has already received a “protect the children” call from the Attorneys General – putting forward the case for e-cigarettes and suggesting how they should be regulated.

Today the Royal Society became the site of the E-Cigarette Summit, a day dedicated to debating the safety, efficacy and regulation of e-cigarettes. The day was split into three sessions, firstly looking at the safety and efficacy, then moving on to regulation, and finally looking at the controversies surrounding the technology.

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is losing sales of its nicotine patches and gums because of the proliferation of e-cigarettes, according to the company’s chief executive. Andrew Witty commented, “Of course, it's definitely taken a bit of our market, no question at all," but said they won't release their own because e-cigs are "just too controversial."

Leonardo DiCaprio vapes up a storm, vaping bans are proposed indoors and outdoors, the American Lung Association says tobacco taxes aren’t high enough, the latest round of junk science gets brought back down to earth and we’re treated to a double-dose of anti-vaping bullshit: it’s the Week in Vaping.

Recap of the 2013 Electronic Cigarette Convention in Anaheim, CA, presented by West Coast Vapers Club.

Researchers are spying on your tweets, a judge in New York has been smart enough to declare that vaping is not smoking, more evidence-based rationality emerges from the UK and journalists are given a much-needed dose of common sense on the (non) issue of “e-cigarette battery explosions” – it’s the Week in Vaping.

With some claims that e-cigarettes are going to give us all cancer, more bans on vaping in Malaysian regions, some irrational state legislation proposed in the US, some positive coverage in the mainstream media, several excellent blog posts and a new coalition of students dedicated to spreading more bullshit about e-cigarettes, it’s the Week in Vaping.

With more vaping bans proposed, some movements on the FDA regulations, a couple of new e-cigarette studies, several great articles on vaping from inside and outside the community, and one of the most thoroughly absurd winners of “Bullshit of the Week” so far: here’s the Week in Vaping.

The city of Beverly Hills recently proposed a pair of ordinances which would ban the usage of e-cigarettes in places where smoking is already outlawed and place a temporary ban on their sale pending further investigation into their safety.

Along with the usual repetition of myths and the hyping of battery explosions, there have been a couple of positive stories published in mainstream media outlets this week, and some lively debate about whether schools should allow students to vape if they’d otherwise be smoking. The Week in Vaping covers all these stories and more!

After the landmark decision from the European Parliament to not regulate e-cigs as medicines, the EU Commission – the arm of the EU responsible for proposing legislation – has pushed ahead and proposed a vastly disproportionate approach to regulating e-cigs.

Another week, and more legislation, arguments about the risks and benefits of vaping, media stories about explosions and potential poisonings, new vaping gear and great blog posts from the community. So what’s been going on in the world of vaping?