Japan Tobacco International (JTI) has launched its Ploom S heated-tobaccodevice in the U.K., reports The Grocer.
The product will be sold through two Ploom-branded lounges in London, Ploompop-up shops, online at www.ploom.co.uk and through accredited retailers.
The device is used with tobacco sticks, which are sold separately. The tobaccosticks will be available in four different flavors—flavored tobacco, smoothtobacco, menthol and menthol/berry. The Ploom S device will have arecommended retail price of £89 ($116.06) and the consumables will have arecommended retail price of £4.50 for a pack of 20 sticks.
“The time is right for JTI to enter this exciting growth segment in the U.K. with aproven product that continues to grow in markets in which we have alreadylaunched,” said JTI U.K. General Manager Dean Gilfillan.
Ploom S is the second tobacco-heating system available in the U.K., after PhilipMorris International’s IQOS, which launched in 2016.
Previously, JTI launched Ploom in Japan, Russia and Italy.
Knowledge-Action-Change has launched a new report documenting the advances and significant challenges facing tobacco harm reduction in 2020.
Titled, “Burning Issues: The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction 2020,” the report is the second in a biennial series from the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (GSTHR), a project established to map the development of tobacco harm reduction and use, availability and regulatory responses to safer nicotine products around the world.
Harry Shapiro
Written by Harry Shapiro, “Burning Issues” addresses both progress and achievements in the field since the first edition was published in 2018 but also identifies the major obstacles preventing tobacco harm reduction from fulfilling its public health potential worldwide.
Launching in tandem with the report is GSTHR’s major live data mapping project, which documents regulatory responses with live updates to more than 200 regional and country profiles. The free-to-access resource shows that with the support of global tobacco control, 36 countries have banned vapor devices/e cigarettes, 39 have banned ban snus and 13 countries have banned heated tobacco products.
By contrast, just one country (Bhutan) has enacted a ban on the sale of combustible tobacco, which has been temporarily lifted due to Covid-19.
Some 16 million Americans were added to the list of places that allow adults to use marijuana legally, after voters in New Jersey, Arizona, South Dakota and Montana on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved ballot measures on weed.
They will join about 93 million Americans who live in states that already have legalized weed, meaning about 1 in 3 Americans now live in states where marijuana is legal for anyone at least 21 years old, according to Politco.com.
South Dakota and Mississippi voters also approved measures to legalize medical marijuana on Election Day.
The momentum in states, including deep red parts of the country, should be a call to action for the federal government, said Steve Hawkins, the executive director of legalization advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law.
“Regardless of who controls the White House, the House and the Senate, we should demand landmark federal marijuana reform in 2021,” Hawkins said.
The New Jersey measure does not immediately legalize marijuana, however. The state Legislature still needs to pass legislation to implement legalization.
Colorado voters have passed a measure that will raise the tax on e-cigarettes and vapor products at 30 percent starting in 2021 and go up to 56 percent starting in July 2024.
Proposition EE’s is estimated to raise up to $250 million in revenue this fiscal year and next.
Passage of the measure also adds price floors for tobacco products. The minimum price for moist snuff products will be $1.48 per container and will increase to $2.26 by 2027.
The measure was referred to Colorado voters by state lawmakers as part of HB20-1427 as the state tries to address its high teen vaping rates and other tobacco and nicotine use.The added revenue is allowed to be spent on a new cash fund for rural schools, preschool funding, tobacco education programs, housing and health care.
A measure in Oregon that places a 65 percent tax on the wholesale cost of vapor products has passed.
According to an article on KDRV.com, Measure 108 increases taxes on all tobacco products, especially “inhalant delivery systems,” namely e-cigarettes, and puts the money toward health programs under the Oregon Health Authority umbrella.
The measure increases tobacco taxes at the following rates:
Cigarette tax at 16.65 cents per cigarette, which is an increase from $1.33 to $3.33 per 20-pack of cigarettes;
E-cigarettes and other nicotine inhalants at a rate of 65 percent of the wholesale sales price; and
Cigar tax cap of 65 percent of the wholesale sales price, not to exceed $1.00 per cigar, an increase from $0.50.
With over 67 percent of precincts reporting, almost 67 percent of voters favored the measure, with just over 33 percent against.
“This is a great victory for public health and tobacco control efforts in Oregon that will save thousands of lives and reduce the devastating toll of tobacco use on our families and communities. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death, but with this vote, Oregonians have taken a critical step forward,” said Jamie Dunphy, Oregon government relations director for the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network.
The hype of the past few years around nicotine delivery systems such as vapes and e-cigarettes has overshadowed the fact that it is inhaling smoke from burning tobacco, not nicotine, that causes most smoking-related cancers.
Electronic vapour products (EVPs) were developed as a tobacco harm reduction tool and offer an alternative way to consume nicotine without the smoke produced through the burning of tobacco.
Hype and ignorance about EVPs persists, however, even among those involved in public health legislation. This is despite increasing international research in support of EVPs.
A letter from the U.S. office of the attorney general in the Iowa department of justice to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) director of the Center for Tobacco Products in March 2020 addressed an erroneous FDA statement suggesting that smoking and vaping posed an equal risk to users during the Covid-19 pandemic. It said: “If the FDA is able to provide candid and clear advice that puts the health of millions of Americans first, and this is based on sound behavioural and biomedical insights, then it should do so. If, however, its communications are arbitrary and ill-conceived, spreading fear and confusions with little scientific basis and with unpredictable consequences, then it would be better if the FDA and its media spokespeople did not comment further at this time.”
The letter challenging the FDA was signed by the attorney general and 12 academics and researchers in public health from across the US, Canada and the European Union. Many have acted as consultants to governments during the drafting of legislation around non-combustible nicotine delivery systems. Among them are a number from institutions in the United Kingdom, a global leader in harm reduction policy, and where innovation in the vaping sector has flourished.
The UK now stands as the gold standard for how it regulates, manufactures and sells EVPs. Organisations such as the United Kingdom Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) are also gaining attention for its position on the critical role that regulation has to play in finding a solution that enshrines both public safety and private entrepreneurship.
South Africa would be wise to follow suit if we are seeking sensible resolutions to the debate around the regulation of EVPs in our own country – and if we are to secure the best possible outcomes in the fight against diseases such as lung cancer and emphysema.
The first steps entail raising the level of understanding among politicians and lawmakers that combustible tobacco products and EVPs are not the same. They should not even share the same legislative platform. To insist that they do will remove an option from millions of South African smokers who are seeking harm-reduced alternatives to cigarettes.
Until the Covid-19 lockdown began in South Africa, EVPs were not legislated in terms of either the Tobacco Products Control Act or the Medicines Act.
That all changed when EVPs were subjected to the same unilateral ban as tobacco products under lockdown. Now, the imminent new Control of Tobacco and Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Bill looks to do exactly the same thing: classify nicotine-delivery systems and combustible tobacco products identically – from packaging and the same health warnings to restrictions on all possible distribution and public awareness channels, including advertising.
The problem with such a course of action, advises UKVIA director John Dunne, is that when consumers feel their options are constrained, they look for shortcuts and loopholes. The hard lockdown was evidence of exactly that when black market cigarette sales soared.
Dunne believes the regulatory landscape is at a pivotal point now, with two opposing factions in the ring. One is bent on demonising the consumption of nicotine at all costs, while the other aims to promote vaping as a harm-reduced alternative to smoking. Speaking at a recent VPASA webinar on EVP policy and regulation, Dunne was frank in admitting that nothing we do is 100% safe, but warned that reasonable access, advertising and education are all critical in the creation of successful regulation.
South Africa’s goals are not that far from the UK’s own and, according to Dunne, “the ultimate prize would be regulations that would prevent youth access, but also allow us to reach the adult smoker”.
“It’s really difficult with existing regulations to make that connection with smokers to get them across the line to do something different. But a smoker made to feel like they have options in 2020 is really valuable,” he commented.
At the same webinar, medical doctor and president of the Philippines-based anti-smoking advocacy group Quit for Good, Dr Lorenzo Mata, outlined the role his group had played in that country, shifting the narrative from a complete ban on EVPs to pending regulation in its favour – in just six months. Mata noted that Quit for Good, comprising concerned citizens who recognise the profound damage and loss that cigarettes have brought to that country, were pursuing legislation that enabled citizens to make the best choices for their own health.
“It’s for this reason that we have been at the forefront of advocating for vaping – both in terms of educating the public and in making ongoing representations to our government,” he said.
“Collectively, with the support of other groups also concerned with public health, we have helped to shape a stable and favourable regulatory framework for EVPs, where regulators now intend to regulate EVPs, most importantly, in a risk-proportionate manner relative to cigarettes.”
To be at its most effective, legislation must first interrogate the principles of relative risk and proportionate regulation. If we can convince the South African government to ask those same questions and conduct a full review of all the harms and benefits of specific products such as EVPs, it will be possible for policymakers to reach a science-based conclusion that is in the best interests of all South Africans.
Asanda Gcoyi is the CEO of the Vapour Products Association of South Africa (VPASA). The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of Vapor Voice. This opinion first appeared in the Mail & Guardian.
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has asked the U.K. government to reclassify vape shops as essential outlets during the upcoming Covid-19 related national lockdown.
In a letter directed to Business Secretary Alok Sharma, Small Business Minister Paul Scully and Public Health Minister Jo Churchill, UKVIA Director General John Dunne urged the government to consider the role of the vapor sector in terms of health and the economy.
John Dunne
“With vape stores remaining closed for a length of time and without access to their vaping supplies, many vapers and ex-smokers will be at risk of relapse back to smoking at these stressful times,” Dunne wrote.
“Economically, as I am sure you will know, vaping has been a UK plc success story and has supported the high street through the challenging environment experienced in recent years,” Dunne added. “Ongoing closure of vape shops, which in our opinion are providing an essential service to current vapers and existing smokers, would be hugely detrimental to the sector’s contribution to the national economy and the health of the nation.”
According to the Office for National Statistics, the U.K. is home to around 7 million adult smokers. Data also shows that currently around 3.2 million people vape in Great Britain.
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) expressed disappointment that the U.K. government failed to recognize the vapor sector as an essential business as it announced a new Covid-19 related lockdown.
John Dunne
“Whilst we recognize the predicament that the government faces, with data highlighting the worsening coronavirus situation across the country, as an industry we feel extremely disappointed that the vaping sector has once again been overlooked as one providing essential goods and services,” said John Dunne, director general at the UKVIA, in a statement.
“Only earlier this year Public Health England acknowledged the contribution played by vaping in helping smokers quit and recent research has again highlighted that vape products are much more effective than NRTs in helping smokers give up,” he said.
“The worse thing that we need to avoid happening is people being tempted back to smoking or not trying to quit as a result of the stress caused by this latest development.”
Dunne said it would be important for the vapor industry to reopen for business in early December—the target date for the end of the second lockdown—so it can maximize sales in the lead up to the Christmas holiday and and safeguard the thousands of people it employs in the manufacture, wholesale, quality control and retail of vapor products.
A judge in Durham County, North Carolina’s Superior Court denied an attempt by Juul Labs to have a May 2019 lawsuit closed. The suit was filed by the N.C. Attorney General and targets the e-cigarette maker’s business and marketing practices.
Juul filed motions to end the litigation, limit the damages it could be assessed, or postpone the trial currently set for May. Judge Orlando Hudson denied the motions, according to a story in the Winston-Salem Journal.
North Carolina was the first state to sue Juul over accusations that it targets underage youths with its products. Most specifically, the Attorney General’s office accuses Juul of violating the state’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
Chinese authorities helped Juul Labs close down a manufacturer that allegedly counterfeited Juul brand vaping devices and sold the fake products overseas.
The operation was one of the largest ever broken up by the e-cigarette maker in its efforts to crack down on potentially dangerous counterfeit products that could make their way to underage buyers, company officials say.
According to a story in the New York Post, Shenzhen Kang Erqiang Electronic Technology Co. — which hawked bogus Juul vape devices and flavor pods under the name Sourvape Technology — sold about $324,000 worth of counterfeit items over a 16-month period starting in 2018, Juul said.
“While these are the numbers Chinese authorities used in court during prosecution, actual sales could be far more significant,” said Adrian Punderson, Juul’s vice president of brand enforcement.
The probe led to the August conviction of the Shenzhen factory’s operator, who confessed to his involvement in the scheme and was sentenced to more than three years in prison, Punderson said. Juul said it was informed of the conviction earlier this month.
The operation courted e-cigarette retailers and distributors with email blasts boasting about how perfectly it could produce Juul’s packaging, according to the startup. Juul officials learned about these emails in February 2019 and started an investigation, posing as a buyer to try and identify who was behind the scheme, the company said.
Juul reps ultimately got inside the counterfeiter’s factory in March of last year, where about 15 employees worked to churn out fake Juul products six days a week, according to the company, according to the story.
Juul said the operation was even producing pods in flavors such as mango and cucumber, which the company stopped selling in the US last year amid concerns about teens getting hooked on its e-cigarettes.
Juul passed on its findings to Chinese authorities, who launched their own probe and eventually seized 14,600 bogus items when they raided the factory in April 2019, according to Juul.
Juul says its efforts to crack down on counterfeiters have led to the seizure of more than 600,000 items worth close to $4 million over the past year. The shady manufacturers — who primarily operate in China — sell their products for as much as 65 percent below Juul’s standard wholesale price, but those products could be dangerous because they’re made in unsanitary conditions without proper testing or quality control, according to the company.
“As a leader in vapor technology, it is our obligation to support enforcement against illicit and illegal products as we strive to reset the vapor category and earn a license to operate in society,” Punderson said in a statement.
