Author: Staff Writer

R.J. Reynolds Loses Challenge to Los Angeles Flavor Ban

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A Los Angeles ban on sales of flavored vaping and other tobacco products is valid because federal law allows it, the Ninth Circuit ruled last week in a case brought by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and related companies.
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act “carefully balances federal and local power by carving out the federal government’s sole authority to establish the standards for tobacco products,” Judge Lawrence VanDyke said for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, according to news Bloomberg Law.
The carve-out preserves “state, local, and tribal authority to regulate or ban altogether sales of some or all tobacco products.”
Judge Ryan D. Nelson dissented, saying the ban is expressly preempted. The case is among several Reynolds and other companies have litigated over local efforts to restrict flavored tobacco products.
An appeal over a provision in Edina, Minn., was argued to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in May. And Philadelphia agreed to tear up its ban after federal trial and appeals courts questioned the measure’s validity under a preemption provision specific to Pennsylvania.
Reynolds has argued that under the TCA, state and local governments retain the power to set age, location, and storage requirements for tobacco product sales.
“But one thing states and localities cannot do is prohibit the sale of tobacco products because those jurisdictions disagree with federal tobacco product standards,” Reynolds told the Ninth Circuit in March in the Los Angeles case.
The lower court said the Los Angeles County ordinance doesn’t regulate tobacco product standards. The Ninth Circuit agreed. Reading the term “standards” in the TCA’s preemption clause too broadly would run into textual problems, VanDyke said.
But even if the ban fell within the preemption clause, it would meet an exception under a following provision, the “savings” clause, he said.
“In short, the TCA’s text sandwiches limited production and marketing categories of preemption between clauses broadly preserving and saving local authority, including any ‘requirements relating to the sale’ of tobacco products,” VanDyke said. “This unique ‘preservation sandwich’ enveloping the TCA’s preemption clause reveals a careful balance of power between federal authority and state, local, and tribal authority.”
March 24, 2022
Study Suggests Most E-Cigarette Research is Flawed

Credit: Kaspars Grinvalds
Errors are disturbingly common in e-cigarette research, resulting in misinformation and distortion of scientific truth, according to a new study.
Under the guidance of Cother Hajat of the United Arab Emirates University and Riccardo Polosa, founder of the Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR) at the University of Catania, a team of international researchers examined the 24 most frequently cited vaping studies published in medical journals.
The researchers found almost all of the examined studies to be methodologically flawed. Among other shortcomings, the studies lacked a clear hypothesis, used inadequate methodology, failed to collect data relevant to the study objectives and did not correct for obvious confounding factors.
“Most of the included studies utilized inappropriate study design and did not address the research question that they set out to answer. In our paper we offer practical recommendations that can massively improve the quality and rigor future research in the field of tobacco harm reduction,” said Hajat.
Riccardo Polosa
“Systematic reiteration of the same errors that result in uninformative science is the new pandemic,” said Polosa. “I’m astounded that such low-quality studies have made it through editorial review in prestigious scientific journals. The credibility of tobacco control scientists and their research is on the line.”
The findings are concerning, according to the academics, because without methodologically valid scientific research, it is impossible to generate balanced and accurate information for the adoption of more effective tobacco control policies and healthier lifestyles. “The dissemination of inaccurate information about combustion-free alternatives in the news media contributes to public skepticism and uncertainty, particularly among smokers,” the center wrote in a press release. “Many smokers may be discouraged from switching to less harmful nicotine delivery products as a result of this.”
This investigator-initiated study was sponsored by ECLAT, a spin-off of the University of Catania, with the help of a grant from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, which in turn is backed by Philip Morris International.
March 24, 2022
U.S. Senators Pen Letter Urging FDA to Combat Youth Use
Credit: Ekim
U.S. senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan joined a bipartisan group of their Senate colleagues in calling on the Food and Drug Administration to take long-overdue action to combat the youth vaping crisis, which includes steps that could remove kid-friendly, addictive e-cigarettes from the market.
The letter, which was signed by 13 additional legislators, including senators Mitt Romney and Elizabeth Warren, claims the FDA has not prioritized its review of e-cigarettes with the largest market share and “therefore greatest public health implication.” Instead, the agency has deferred its decisions on the most critical applications—including for those products that are most popular with youth—to the end, the Senators wrote to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf.
“Now that FDA is six months past the court deadline, these unreviewed products are only being permitted to stay on the market due to the agency exercising enforcement discretion. It makes no sense, and runs contrary to the Tobacco Control Act’s statutory framework, that products that have not been granted authorization are being allowed to stay on the market and attract new, young users,” the letter states.
“FDA has the authority and responsibility to halt this grace period today and restore the statutory burden of proof on manufacturers to demonstrate their product is ‘appropriate for the protection of public health’ prior to market entrance,” the Senators continued. “It is our hope and expectation that you can bring a new approach and commitment to using all of FDA’s tools and prioritizing public health to protect youth from the harms of tobacco and nicotine.”
March 23, 2022
E-LiquiTech Confirms Available Stock of Synthetic Nicotine
Credit: TTI
E-LiquiTech says it has large quantities of Zanoprima’s SyNic in stock to help companies introduce new products to the U.S. market ahead of the mid-April deadline imposed by a new law.
On March 15, 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law a spending bill that includes a provision to regulate products containing synthetic nicotine the same as products containing tobacco-derived nicotine. This means that companies selling products containing synthetic nicotine will be required to file a premarket tobacco product application in order to keep their product(s) on the market. The deadline for filing such applications is less than 60 days away.
According to E-LiquiTech, SyNic is the same chemical composition of (S)-nicotine as natural tobacco-derived nicotine but without any of the impurities. Specifically, SyNic achieves a purity profile of 99.9 percent and is devoid of tobacco-specific nitrosamines, heavy metals and other impurities that are present in tobacco-derived nicotine.
SyNic is manufactured through a patented process in a cGMP facility approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and meets or exceeds the U.S. Pharmacopeia monograph, making SyNic a 1-to-1 replacement for tobacco-derived nicotine and enabling manufacturers to use it as a CAS number substitute, according to E-LiquiTech.
The company says all of the scientific data that is applicable to tobacco-derived nicotine is equally applicable to SyNic. The manufacturing process is replicable from batch to batch, and every batch of SyNic is fully trackable and traceable.
Earlier this month, Zanoprima filed a patent lawsuit against Hangsen International in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas to enforce Zanoprima’s patented process for manufacturing (S)-nicotine, demonstrating its long-term commitment to the U.S. market.
March 23, 2022
Study: Vaping Bans Boost Combustible Cigarette Sales
The U.S. states that have banned or heavily restricted vaping product sales have seen increases in combustibe cigarette sales, according to the latest research. The study titled “Impact of Banning Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems on Combustible Cigarette Sales: Evidence from US State-Level Policies,” said cigarette sales increased by up to 7.5 percent in one state that imposed a full ban on electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).
Credit: Wire Stock
According to the study, published in the medical journal Value in Health, found that a full ban on ENDS was associated with increased cigarette sales of 7.5 percent in Massachusetts and banning non-tobacco flavored ENDS was associated with a minimum of a 4.6 percent increase in cigarette sales among the US states outlawed most flavors (Massachusetts, Washington, and Rhode Island).
ENDS are considered by many to be an alternative nicotine product for adult smokers, and banning them may have unintended consequences, according to the authors of the study. “Cigarette sales in states banning ENDS were significantly higher than would have been observed otherwise,” researchers Yingying Xu, Lanxin Jiang, Shivaani Prakash, and Tengjiao Chen stated in the study, adding that commercial sales data provided the evidence that banning e-cigarettes was associated with increased sales of traditional cigarettes.
The authors looked at cigarettes sales data in 2020 following the start of restrictions on vaping in several states in the U.S. in the fall of 2019 that were imposed in several states following the outbreak of the e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI), which was caused by illegal THC products and not nicotine vaping products.
The researchers also stated that the results “highlight and quantify potential unintended consequences” of ENDS sales restrictions, and the study’s results should be considered in the future as part of public health impact analyses of such policies.
“Additional research is also needed to investigate the impact on spatial spillover effects, illicit markets, and other scenarios that may arise in response to ENDS restrictions. Furthermore, the long-term impact of ENDS sales bans on ENDS and cigarette sales, as well as the distal public health outcomes, will need to be studied as additional data become available,” the report states.
March 23, 2022
Lincoln, Neb. Vape Shop Crime a Growing Concern
Credit: Global Image Archive
Update: The Lincoln Police Department is investigating a break-in at another vape shop on Tuesday. LPD said officers were dispatched to an alarm and responding officers found a glass door was shattered and the suspects got inside the business, according to news reports.
Lincoln, Nebraska has a problem with burglaries at vape shops. This weekend, employees at another Lincoln smoke shop arrived to work to find the front door shattered and thousands of dollars in vape products stolen.
On Saturday at 10:30 a.m., Lincoln police were called to SJ’s Smoke Shop near 31st and O Streets after employees reported the front glass door shattered, according to news reports.
Surveillance video shows two people using a rock to break the front door. LPD says they took multiple pipes and vape products worth roughly $5,000. The damage to the building is also estimated at $5,000.
During an editorial on the rise in vape shop crime by Vapor Voice, Lincoln, Nebraska stood out as having a high number of vape shop crimes. Research suggests that in 2021 more than 40 vape shops burglaries occurred in Lincoln.
A spokesperson for LPD said that vape shops often carry expensive products that are small and hard to trace. This makes vape shops, especially those carrying delta-8, CBD and other cannabis products, high value targets for criminals. The products are in high demand on the black market, LPD said.
Richard Marianos, a senior law enforcement consultant and adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University, says regulatory constraints often have the unintended consequence of boosting crime rates, adding that taxes and flavor bans bring prohibition, and prohibition brings crime.
“These regulatory actions mean a dramatic increase in street sales to kids, and that is what we have seen all over the United States,” said Marianos. “In terms of law enforcement, the issue is that there has been 150 percent increase in smash-and-grabs because of the difficulty of purchasing these products.”
March 22, 2022
Georgia Judge Stalling District Attorney’s Delta-8 Ban
A Georgia judge has halted efforts by a suburban Atlanta prosecutor to enforce a ban on some cannabis extracts, in a case that could set a statewide precedent, according to the Associated Press.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Fulton County Superior Court Judge Craig Schwall on Friday issued a 30-day order restraining Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gaston from prosecuting people for selling or possessing the extracts.
“I have concerns that this may or may not be a rogue DA,” Schwall said. “I think there may be some prosecutorial priorities misplaced.”
The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by two owners of Gwinnett County vaping stores seeking to have two extracts — delta-8 and delta-10 THC — declared legal in Georgia. The chemicals are similar to the main intoxicating ingredient in marijuana but cause milder highs. They are typically sold in vape cartridges, tinctures, gummies and other edibles.
Other states are also wrangling with the substances’ murky legality.
March 22, 2022
FTC Reports Six-Fold Rise in E-Cigarette Sales

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The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) first-ever report on e-cigarette products reveals surging e-cigarette sales and advertising.
The report, which is based on industry data provided for the years 2015 to 2018, shows that total e-cigarette sales, including both disposable units and those using changeable cartridges, increased more than sixfold from $304.2 million to $2.06 billion in those three years alone. The sales of fruit and other flavored e-cigarette cartridges preferred by youth increased sevenfold over that time, and nicotine concentrations in disposable e-cigarette products also increased.
“The commission’s inaugural e-cigarette report paints a disturbing picture, especially with e-cigarettes driving an unprecedented increase in youth use of tobacco products,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a statement. “The data show that this increase coincided with dramatic spikes in the market share of flavored products, higher concentrations of nicotine and an industry attempt to evade a ban on free sampling.”
March 21, 2022
Iceland Mulls New Restrictions on Nicotine Products

Photo: Buttenkow
Iceland’s Office of Health Promotion and Science launched a consultation on a draft law on nicotine products, which, if passed, would introduce age limits for nicotine consumption, ban e-cigarette flavors perceived to appeal to children and stipulate a permissible maximum nicotine concentration.
Currently, the minimum purchase age for vapes in Iceland is 18, and the proposed bill would implement the same age limit for other nicotine products.
Iceland currently has an adult smoking rate of 7 percent, the lowest in Europe apart from Sweden.
According to Filter, the misinterpretation that nicotine consumption and smoking go hand-in-hand has distorted perceptions. “Nicotine is not the cause of death from smoking,” according to Yorkshire Cancer Research in England. “Nicotine is not a carcinogen; there is no evidence that sustained use of nicotine alone increases cancer risk. Of the three main causes of death from smoking (lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cardiovascular disease), none are caused by nicotine. The harm from smoking comes from the thousands of other chemicals in tobacco smoke.”
March 21, 2022
Chinese Vapers Stocking up on E-Liquid Ahead of Flavor Ban

Photo: Victor Moussa
Vapers in China have reportedly been stocking up on flavored liquids in anticipation of a ban. A staff member at a RELX store in Shanghai told Sixth Tone that his shop had seen an increased demand for flavored pods since the government announcement, with grape and cola-flavored varieties selling out almost instantly.
On March 11, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration published the final “Management Rules for E-cigarettes,” which includes a ban on domestic sales of nontobacco-flavored e-cigarettes. The rules are scheduled to take effect May 1.
The move was welcomed by anti-vaping groups such as the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, which said the rule would help prevent children from becoming smokers. “Children who use e-cigarettes are more than twice as likely to use cigarettes in the future, according to the World Health Organization,” said Yolonda Richardson, executive vice president for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, in a statement. “China’s new policy is the right move to protect Chinese kids from these addictive products.”
The flavor ban is part of a long list of new requirements for the vaping business. China’s new rules also ban refillable products and synthetic nicotine while limiting the strength of e-liquid to 20 mg/mL.
Manufacturers, wholesalers and Chinese retailers will be required to conduct all business on a “unified national electronic cigarette transaction management platform,” and exports will be restricted to vapor products allowed in the destination countries.
The new rules will force e-cigarette sellers like RELX to sell competitors’ brands in their Chinese stores—something they don’t do currently.
With more than 300 smokers, China remains the world’s largest cigarette market, representing considerable potential for vapor companies. The country’s domestic e-cigarette market has grown at a rate of 70 percent a year since 2013, according to the Global Times, and is valued at about $1.3 billion.
China exports $15.6 billion of vaping products annually, according to the Shanghai Daily.
March 21, 2022