Author: Staff Writer

Industry Group Sues Spain Over Anti-Vape Campaign
A large vaping industry association in Spain has launched legal action against the country’s central government. The Union of Vaping Promoters and Entrepreneurs (UPEV) claims a long-running anti-vaping campaign is against the law for numerous reasons.
Credit: daBoost
The lawsuit claims that the Ministry of Health campaign “El tabaco ata y te mata” (“Tobacco ties and kills you”) violates several articles of the Spanish General Law of Advertising and the Law of Publicity and Institutional Communication, according to an article by ECigIntelligence.
According to the UPEV, the campaign – launched in 2019 and still continuing – “identifies vaping and smoking tobacco in a manifestly misleading way, putting both activities on the same level and attributing the same harmful effects to them”.
The association is demanding immediate cancellation of the campaign, which has been promoted in a variety of media including on websites, social media, television and radio. In its submission to the court, the UPEV has presented a technical and scientific report that shows the benefits of vaping as a smoking cessation tool.
The union has blamed the government campaign to discourage vaping for the closure of about 40 shops in 2019, with the loss of 400 jobs, and last year took its complaint to the Spanish Ombudsman.
August 7, 2021
Media Report Triggers Sell-off of Vapor Stocks

Photo: Cozyta
E-cigarette stocks fell on Aug. 5 after Chinese state media ran reports about the risks of vaping, reports Reuters.
Huabao International Holdings tumbled 8 percent in Hong Kong morning trade while China Boton Group Co. fell 4 percent. Market leader Relx Technology closed almost 5 percent lower in New York after the Xinhua news agency published a report saying that minors were gaining easy access to e-cigarettes.
Xinhua said its reporters made unannounced visits to e-cigarette shops in the northern cities of Tianjin and Shenyang and found that while all had signs stating sales to minors were prohibited, enforcement of the law varied in practice.
The sell-off demonstrated how investors remain on edge and on the hunt for clues about which companies might be vulnerable to state intervention after the property, education and technology sectors were hit by Beijing regulators in recent months with unprecedented sweeping rules.
Similar market sentiment took hold of liquor-related stocks after the Ministry of Science and Technology posted an article citing a study that linked alcohol consumption to cancer.
Investors in Chinese companies often scrutinize state media reports for hints about regulators’ thinking.
China is the world’s largest consumer of tobacco products, with more than 300 million smokers, according to the World Health Organization.
August 6, 2021
Many Doctors Confused About Nicotine Causing Cancer

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More than 75 percent of U.S. physicians believe that nicotine directly contributes to cancer and cardiovascular disease, reports Filter, citing to a recent study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
The study assesses the impact of wording on perceptions of nicotine use. Two versions of a questionnaire were given to 926 physicians, asking about the “extent to which they agree or disagree that ‘nicotine’ [version one] or ‘nicotine, on its own,’ [version two] directly contributes to birth defects, CVD, cancer, depression and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).”
For version one of the questionnaire, 85 percent and 85.2 percent of physicians “strongly agreed” that nicotine directly contributed to cancer and COPD, respectively. For version two, 69.6 percent and 67.3 percent “strongly agreed” with those statements.
The study showed a difference in perceptions between medical specializations as well—pulmonologists were the least likely to hold misperceptions about nicotine, and family medicine physicians were the most likely to hold misperceptions about nicotine.
“Even after accounting for question version, the proportion of surveyed physicians who believe that nicotine directly contributes to these health outcomes is alarmingly high,” the study authors wrote. “It is possible that participants are conflating the addictive effect of nicotine with the comparatively more harmful effects of tobacco use.”
“It is very important for physicians to understand the relative harm between nicotine and the other 7,000 toxins in tobacco smoke,” said Michelle Bover Manderski, lead researcher. “This is especially important as physicians play a key role in recommending and prescribing FDA-approved nicotine-replacement medications.”
August 4, 2021
Infrastructure Act Includes Vaping Ban on Amtrak Trains
Tucked away in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act crafted by a bipartisan group of senators is a ban on the use of electronic cigarettes on the nation’s government-owned rail service — and President Joe Biden’s favorite method of transportation.
Credit: BT Renstrom
“Amtrak shall prohibit smoking, including the use of electronic cigarettes, onboard all Amtrak trains,” the bill says. “The term ‘electronic cigarette’ means a device that delivers nicotine or other substances to a user of the device in the form of a vapor that is inhaled to simulate the experience of smoking.”
Amtrak already has a policy prohibiting smoking and the use of electronic smoking on trains, but the bill would codify that regulation into law, according to the Washington Examiner.
Democratic Delaware Sen. Tom Carper and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington’s nonvoting representative in Congress, previously spearheaded the effort to make Amtrak’s smoking ban law.
“In 2021, smoking has no place in enclosed public spaces like train cars. As a near-daily Amtrak rider, I have supported their policy prohibiting smoking and even introduced legislation with Congresswoman Norton to make that policy federal law,” Carper said in a statement in June. “I think we can all agree that it’s time to ban smoking on passenger rail.”
The bill, the text of which was unveiled Sunday night, includes $6.57 billion in grants to Amtrak for the railway’s northeast corridor, which connects Washington, D.C., to Boston, and $12.65 billion for Amtrak’s national network. Another $36 billion would go to federal-state partnership rail grants, with $24 billion of that targeting the northeast corridor.
August 4, 2021
Vermont to Receive $165,000 for Illegal Online Sales
The state of Vermont has reached settlements with three different online sellers of electronic nicotine-delivery systems (ENDS) for violations of Vermont’s Delivery Sales Ban and Consumer Protection Act. Attorney General T.J. Donovan announced that under the settlements the companies resolved claims that they sold vaping products, e-liquids, or other tobacco paraphernalia to individual consumers.
Credit: Belyay
As of July 1, 2019, it is illegal to sell electronic cigarettes and related vaping products over the internet to individual Vermont consumers. In total, Pure Laboratories, The Boiler Electronic Cigarette Company and VapinUSA-Wi together will pay $165,000 in civil penalties to the State of Vermont, according to vermontbiz.com. The three settlements come on the heels of announcements in December 2020 and May 2021 that the Attorney General’s Office reached settlements with 10 other online sellers of electronic cigarettes, totaling $307,500 in civil penalties.
“Online sales of vaping products are illegal,” said Donovan. “I am pleased that these websites will no longer be shipping products to Vermont.”
Since 2008, Vermont’s Delivery Sales Ban law has prohibited cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco, little cigars, and snuff, ordered or purchased by telephone, mail order, or through the internet, to be shipped to anyone in Vermont other than a licensed wholesaler dealer or retailer. This law was expanded in 2019 to include tobacco substitutes (including electronic cigarettes), substances containing nicotine or otherwise intended for use with a tobacco substitute, and tobacco paraphernalia. The Vermont Department of Liquor and Lottery conducts compliance checks of online retailers to determine compliance with this law.
Under the terms of the settlement agreements, in addition to paying civil penalties, the companies are required to notify Vermont consumers that they do not ship to individual consumers in Vermont.
August 4, 2021
KT&G to Launch Lil Solid in Eastern Europe, Central Asia
KT&G launched its heated tobacco product (HTP), lil SOLID 2.0, in four countries – Armenia and Serbia in Eastern Europe and Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia in the second quarter of this year. KT&G is now exporting the lil SOLID series to seven countries and plans to ship them to more countries in the near future.
Credit: KT&G
The latest version of the lil SOLID series the tobacco firm introduced in 2017, the lil SOLID 2.0 has an upgraded design and performance. Lil SOLID is an HTP used to smoke Fiit tobacco sticks, according to the Korea Times. The new version was launched first in the Korean market in January and customers praised the products product for the battery life offered and its induction heater system.
“Our product, lil, is gaining popularity in the export markets thanks to our collaboration with Philip Morris International,” Lim Wang-seop, head of KT&G NGP Business Division, said during a conference call held in February. “We originally set a goal of entering a single-digit number of countries this year, but we have changed it to the double digits.”
KT&G previously entered the overseas markets in August 2020, with Russia as the first export country for its very first lil SOLID product. One month later, the tobacco firm started selling the e-cigarette in Ukraine as well.
In the following month, KT&G also advanced into the Japanese market with lil HYBRID 2.0 and MIXX. The product was only available in Fukuoka and Miyagi first, but after the had gained popularity in just four months, KT&G decided to expand across the country.
Japan is globally the largest consumer of e-cigarettes and is a market where various products are vying for market share. Industry sources say that KT&G’s hybrid e-cigarette successfully differentiates itself from the existing products and has received positive feedback.
August 4, 2021
Sheridan, Wyoming Vapor Ordinance Fails First Reading
During its first meeting of August Monday night, the Sheridan City Council in Wyoming voted against an ordinance that would have increased the fine amount and penalties for any minor possessing or using electronic cigarettes or other vaping products on first reading by a 4 to 3 vote.
Credit: NiroWorld
The penalty would have increased as much as 2,900 percent from the current fee of $25 to a maximum of $750, according to city attorney Brendon Kerns. Violators would not have been required to appear in court or perform community service or serve probation and would have been guaranteed full expungement of the incident from their criminal records within six months — regardless of whether it is their first or subsequent offense.
Councilor Kristen Jennings was one of the four councilors who voted against the ordinance, stating that the council should not rush to pass a law without understanding its implications on the community.
“I realize that the school district has asked for help, but at the same time pushing forward something that could potentially be full of holes may not be helping anybody to the best of the ability that we’re trying to do,” said Jennings. “So it could be shooting ourselves in the foot, and in a way, I think the premise is great and I do see we have an issue, but at the same time giving ourselves a self-imposed deadline to not be able to work through some of these questions and concerns. It seems like some of the citizens have too. I don’t know how well that benefits anybody.”
August 3, 2021
Ukraine Uses WHO Report to Justify Flavor Ban, Vape Rules
Ukrainian lawmakers passed a new law today prohibiting the use of electronic nicotine-delivery systems (ENDS) in public places as well as advertising, sponsorship, and promotion of e-cigarettes. The law also bans the sale of flavored e-liquids other than tobacco flavors.
Credit: Da Boost
The parliamentarians said that justification for the regulations is based on the World Health Organization’s new report that suggests e-cigarettes are a gateway to smoking, and that they are as harmful as conventional cigarettes, according to the Independent Women’s Forum. Lawmakers also claimed the flavor ban would reduce underage vaping in Ukraine, while data from the U.S. concerning flavor bans has showed banning flavors actually increases youth use of combustible products.
In its report on vaping, published on Tuesday, the WHO speaks approvingly of the 32 countries where the sale and use of vaping devices is banned. In those 32 countries, people are still free to use combustible tobacco products, which data shows is responsible for more than 7 million deaths each year globally, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Eighty-four countries still have no bans or regulations to address ENDS, leaving them particularly vulnerable to the activities of the tobacco and related industries,” says the report, which was funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the foundation started by American billionaire and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Not coincidentally, Bloomberg has been appointed the “WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries”—a largely honorary title granted in recognition of the money he spends on tobacco control and other health policy efforts, according to the WHO.
Tobacco harm reduction advocates and vaping industry representatives denounced the WHO report as “nonsensical and dangerous.”
“The WHO has a long-standing anti-vaping stance and this latest attack on a sector that is literally saving millions of lives worldwide flies in the face of scientific evidence, common sense and harm reduction,” said John Dunne, director general of the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) in a statement.
“This report demonstrates that, sadly, the WHO still doesn’t understand the fundamental difference between addiction to tobacco smoking, which kills millions of people every year, and addiction to nicotine, which doesn’t,” said John Britton, professor of epidemiology at University of Nottingham.
July 31, 2021
IQOS Pauses Expansion After Patent Ruling

Photo: Kuznietsov Dmitriy
Philip Morris USA has paused U.S. expansion of its IQOS heat-not-burn (HnB) cigarettes following an unfavorable U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruling, reports The Winston-Salem Journal, citing the company’s second-quarter report.
In April 2020, British American Tobacco subsidiaries R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., RAI Strategic Holdings and R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Philip Morris USA.
The complaint focuses on three HnB technology patents held by the company. An additional two patents are involved in a separate legal proceeding before the patent and trademark office.
In May, an ITC administrative law judge found that the IQOS system infringes two of the plaintiff’s patents and recommended imposition of a ban on the importation of the IQOS system.
On July 27, the ITC accepted review of the administrative law judge’s findings and recommendations on certain issues, including issues relating to the patent infringement claims and potential remedies, including a ban on the importation of the IQOS electronic device, Marlboro HeatSticks and component parts into the United States and on the sale of any such products previously imported into the United States.
The ITC’s ultimate order is subject to review by the U.S. Trade Representative and federal court. Due to this uncertainty, PM USA has delayed further expansion of IQOS and Marlboro HeatSticks.
IQOS is the only HnB product authorized for sale in the U.S., where it is sold by Altria. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed the company to market IQOS as reducing consumers’ exposure to harmful chemicals found in cigarettes.
The IQOS products debuted in test markets in Atlanta, Georgia, in October 2019 and Richmond, Virginia, in November 2019.
During the second quarter, PM USA expanded retail distribution of Marlboro HeatSticks into the Triad and other metro areas of North Carolina as well as northern Virginia and Georgia.
The expansion contributed to Marlboro HeatSticks’ retail sales volume jumping by nearly 40 percent, including reaching a 0.8 percent market share for overall cigarettes in Atlanta as well as 0.5 percent in Charlotte.
July 30, 2021
Harm Reduction Proponents Lambast ‘War on Nicotine’

Photo: Aleksey Novikov
Knowledge Action Change (KAC) condemned the recently released WHO Report on The Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2021, which describes e-cigarettes as harmful.
“The World Health Organization and its single most significant funder for anti-smoking efforts, U.S. billionaire Michael Bloomberg, have today sought to distract from years of failure under the WHO’s MPOWER tobacco control strategy by focusing instead on what U.K.-based public health agency Knowledge Action Change and other observers are calling a new ‘war on nicotine,’” KAC wrote in a press release.
“On publication of the WHO’s ‘eighth annual report on the global tobacco epidemic,’ the organization is continuing its misguided insistence that vapes (e-cigarettes), snus, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco devices, collectively known as safer nicotine products, are a threat,” KAC wrote. “This ignores the growing international, independent evidence that they offer millions of adult smokers the opportunity to quit deadly combustible tobacco.”
“The WHO’s self-congratulatory focus on strategy over outcomes indicates the lack of vision and ambition underpinning the international tobacco control establishment,” said Gerry Stimson, co-director of the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (GSTHR) project and emeritus professor at Imperial College, London. “This report offers no surprises and no hope for the world’s 1.1 billion smokers, who need and deserve better.”
The GSTHR estimates that there are 68 million vapers worldwide, 20 million users of heated tobacco products and 10 million snus users. By comparison, there are 1.1 billion smokers.
July 30, 2021