Author: Staff Writer

VTA Stands up for Lower-Risk Alternatives
The Vapor Technology Association (VTA) today announced the launch of a cable news ad buy in the U.S. targeting Senator Chuck Schumer and his proposed ban on Zyn nicotine pouches. The ad runs this week on FOX News and FOX Business during key programming slots, including “FOX and Friends,” “Kudlow,” and “The Five.”
The ad connects a proposed ban on e-cigarettes with a ban on all less harmful, tobacco-free nicotine products, such as Zyn nicotine pouches. The ad also calls out officials at the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) for repeatedly blocking access for millions of Americans to e-cigarettes as harm reduction tools.
“Sen. Schumer and the FDA are simply wrong: wrong on e-cigarettes, wrong on Zyn, and wrong on the science,” said Tony Abboud, executive director of VTA, in a statement. “Rather than give adult smokers broader access to a greater number of lower-risk alternatives, the FDA and CTP have instead imposed a de facto ban on e-cigarettes—and Zyn is next.”
The ad states that Schumer’s proposed Zyn ban mimics his attempts to eliminate e-cigarette use nationwide, amounting to an assault on Americans’ personal freedom to choose lower-risk, tobacco-free nicotine products that overwhelming scientific and medical data demonstrates are effective at helping adults quit smoking.
“Why is the FDA denying access to a wide range of less harmful alternatives to combustible cigarettes that could otherwise be used by millions of adult smokers trying to quit?” asked Abboud.
“Cigarettes kill. Rather than even acknowledging the settled science in support of e-cigarettes and other less harmful, tobacco-free nicotine products in recent years, the CTP has instead authorized nearly 900 new cigarettes for Americans’ use—but Sen. Schumer thinks it’s Zyn you need to be worried about.
“The anti-nicotine FDA and congressional establishment has simply lost its bearings on the strategy of harm reduction, which it applies to every public health crisis, yet refuses to apply to the annual crisis of nearly half a million Americans dying from smoking every single year.”
“VTA is running this ad buy because Americans deserve to know that less harmful nicotine products exist that can help adult smokers trying to quit. VTA supports Americans’ freedom to choose,” said Abboud.
February 6, 2024
COP10 Kicks Off This Week, Industry Not Invited

Tobacco growers demanding to be heard during COP4 (Photo: ITGA)
The parties to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control will meet this week in Panama for their 10^th gathering (COP10). Originally scheduled for November 2023, the event was postponed to Feb 5-10, 2024, due to civil unrest in the host country.
Experts who have been following the preparations expect debates this week about the “tobacco endgame,” which includes nicotine reduction, retailer quotas and generational tobacco purchasing bans. They also anticipate talks on contents and emissions testing and measurements, filters and ventilation, and pricing and tax increases.
In the runup to the event, documents have been released for discussions about extending advertising/sponsorship restrictions to corporate campaigns and newer media; supporting anti-tobacco litigation; and discouraging industry diversification into pharmaceuticals and other areas. Also on the agenda: a proposal to redefine aerosol from tobacco-heating products as smoke—a move that critics have described as an attempt to rewrite basic scientific principles.
In addition, the COP delegates will consider recognizing tobacco control as fundamental to the right to health, clearing the way to attack the industry as a violator of human rights and subject it to additional liability. Participants in the Panama event will likely also debate emerging evidence on new products. They may push for e-cigarettes and tobacco-heating products to be regulated like combustible cigarettes, a development that critics say is not based on science and would discourage the tobacco harm reduction efforts that have been underway in many countries.
Industry officials, grower representatives and consumer groups have criticized the COP for its exclusionary practices and what they view as a prohibitionist agenda. While FCTC Article 5.3 instructs member states to protect policymaking from undue industry influence, critics say this provision has been used as an excuse to shut down all communications.
“The [FCTC] treaty, which came into force in 2003 and held its first COP in 2005, originally had the very legitimate aim of controlling tobacco consumption in order to counter its harmful effects on health,” said Jose Javier Aranda, president of the International Tobacco Growers Association, in a statement.
“Since then, its objectives have been radically modified. Throughout the treaty’s long history, tobacco growers and their legitimate representatives at global level, the International Tobacco Growers’ Association have observed an increase in the radicalization of the methods applied by the FCTC, in which exclusion and lack of transparency have set the tone.”
“At COP10, decisions are being made without the input of those most affected—the consumers. This exclusion is unacceptable. Harm reduction saves lives, and it’s imperative that this is recognized and integrated into global tobacco control policies, said Michael Landl, director of the World Vapers’ Alliance, in a statement.
“By sidelining the voices of those directly impacted, the WHO FCTC is ignoring a fundamental human rights issue,” said Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator of The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates. “Individuals seeking to protect their loved ones and themselves from the harms of smoking are being denied access to less harmful alternatives. This is not just a failure in policy but a failure in compassion.”
COP10 will be followed the third session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco, Feb 12-15.
February 5, 2024
PMI and BAT Settle Patent Infringement Disputes

Photo: ASDF
Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco have settled their ongoing intellectual property disputes relating to heated tobacco and vapor products.
The cigarette makers had been fighting a multi-front patent battle. BAT, which makes Vuse vapes and Glo heated tobacco devices, was ordered to pay PMI millions of dollars after losing one case, while PMI has been blocked from importing its flagship heated tobacco device IQOS into the United States as part of another.
The settlement includes non-monetary provisions between PMI and BAT that resolve all ongoing global patent infringement litigation, encompassing all related injunctions and exclusion orders, and prevents future claims against current heated tobacco and vapor products. The settlement also allows each party to innovate and introduce product iterations.
“We are pleased that this matter has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of both parties,” said PMI CEO Jacek Olczak in a statement. “There is a clear and growing global desire from adults who smoke to choose from a range of smoke-free products, and we believe continued reduced-risk category innovation can accelerate declines in the harms associated with smoking to the benefit of consumers and public health at large as we continue PMI’s journey to end the sale of cigarettes.”
“This agreement is an important step forward for BAT and all our stakeholders,” said BAT CEO Tadeu Marroco in a statement. “Having already built two £1 billion [$1.28 billion] brands in Vuse and Glo, the potential for their continued impact on tobacco harm reduction is clear. I am delighted that this settlement will allow BAT to focus on developing innovative solutions that provide adult consumers with a greater choice of reduced risk products in support of our ‘A Better Tomorrow’ purpose. By doing so, we will help build a smokeless world for the benefit of consumers, investors and society as a whole.”
February 2, 2024
Quebec Urged to Crack Down on Flavored Vapes

Eric Gagnon, Vice-President of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs at Imperial Tobacco Canada, urges the government to buckle down on enforcing its law during the press conference. (Photo: Imperial Tobacco Canada)
Imperial Tobacco Canada is urging the government of Quebec to crack down on illegal flavored vaping products.
Three months after the law banning flavors in vaping products came into force, flavored e-cigarettes remain available at a large number of retail outlets that either infringe on the law or are using a variety of tactics to circumvent the law, according to Imperial Tobacco Canada, which is part of British American Tobacco.
“We are aware of the growing concern with the proliferation of products that circumvent the regulations, resulting in the creation of an illicit market,” said Imperial Vice-President of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Eric Gagnon in a statement.
“We recently identified over 200 sales outlets that sell non-compliant vaping products. These stores have not adjusted to the new regulations and continue to offer a wide range of flavored products, including those that exceed the maximum permitted quantity of 2 ml.”
According to Imperial, these stores now also sell flavor enhancers as a way to circumvent the new regulation. “Given that these enhancers are not intended to be vaped, they can pose serious risks to consumers who use them,” the company wrote in a press note. “It is also because of a similar illegal market that a wave of lung diseases spread between 2019 and 2020 in the U.S., claiming 68 lives.”
Imperial says that instead of meeting its objective of tackling vaping among young people, the government has created a thriving illicit market.
During a Jan. 21 appearance on the talk show Tout le monde en parle Health Minister Christian Dubé blamed tobacco companies for the situation.
Imperial Tobacco Canada said it strongly refutes the allegations. “As a responsible company that fully complies with the regulations in place, we denounce these abuses and reiterate our call for stronger enforcement of the law,” said. Gagnon. “We warned the minister’s office several months ago about the inevitable collateral damage that would result from such a regulation being implemented. Unfortunately, nothing was done, and the situation persists as a result.”
February 2, 2024
E-cigarette Smuggling Ring Uncovered in Finland

Photo: Kekyalyaynen
Finnish Customs uncovered a substantial e-cigarette smuggling operation in Helsinki, according to The Helsinki Times. The operation involved illicit imports from China.
Customs officers discovered a shipment of about 1,000 nicotine e-cigarettes during routine inspections at a courier terminal in Helsinki. The suspect had ordered about 1,600 e-cigarettes from China in 2023.
Finland prohibits importation of vapes through “distant communication methods” like online orders. Penalties can range from fines to imprisonment plus paying back evaded taxes and illicit gains.
Some people are unaware of the rules, however. “Not all those persons always know that it is illegal to order and distribute e-cigarettes,” said Marko Laitinen, investigation leader, referring to young people ordering e-cigarettes. “Once you get caught doing that, it always entails criminal liability.”
January 31, 2024
Sunak Asked to Reconsider UK Disposables Ban

Photo: Lumos sp
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association sent a letter to U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to “express profound dismay and disappointment” that the government decided to proceed with a disposable vape ban.
“This decision jeopardizes the significant progress made in reducing smoking rates in the U.K. and poses a threat to the well-being of millions of adults who have successfully quit smoking with the help of vaping,” the letter reads.
“We urge the government to reconsider the ban on disposable vapes and adopt a more balanced approach that prioritizes effective enforcement over draconian bans,” the letter says. “A distributor and retailer licensing scheme, as proposed to government repeatedly by the UKVIA, would achieve such an outcome without any cost to the taxpayer.”
January 30, 2024
New United Kingdom Vape Rules to Ban Disposables

Photo: Mikhail Reshetnikov
The U.K. will ban disposable e-cigarettes, the government announced today.
According to the government, disposable vapes have been a key driver behind the rise in youth vaping, with the proportion of 11 to 17-year-old vapers using disposables increasing almost ninefold in the last two years.   
As part of the package, the government will also acquire new powers to regulate vape flavors, e-cigarette packaging and product presentation in stores to ensure that they don’t appeal to underage users. Additionally, the government will bring in new fines for shops in England and Wales that sell vapes illegally to children. Vaping alternatives, such as nicotine pouches, will also be outlawed for underage consumers.
In its announcement of the new measures, the government also reiterated its commitment to a generational tobacco ban. To help implement the new rules, government agencies such as the Border Force, Revenue and Customs and Trading Standers will receive £30 million ($38.1 million) in new funding a year.
 “As prime minister I have an obligation to do what I think is the right thing for our country in the long term. That is why I am taking bold action to ban disposable vapes—which have driven the rise in youth vaping—and bring forward new powers to restrict vape flavors, introduce plain packaging and change how vapes are displayed in shops,” said ,” said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
“Alongside our commitment to stop children who turn 15 this year or younger from ever legally being sold cigarettes, these changes will leave a lasting legacy by protecting our children’s health for the long term.”

While action to prevent youth access to vaping is critical, this move smacks more of a desperate attempt by the government to sacrifice vapers for votes ahead of the upcoming general election.
John Dunne, director-general, UKVIA
Public health officials welcomed the government’s decision. “We’re delighted that the Westminster government has heard our calls and is rightly prioritizing the health and well-being of our children and the planet,” said Mike McKean, vice president for policy at the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health. “Bold action was always needed to curb youth vaping and banning disposables is a meaningful step in the right direction. I’m also extremely pleased to see further much needed restrictions on flavors, packaging and marketing of vapes.”
Representatives of the vape industry, by contrast, were dismayed, pointing to significant role disposable vapes have played in bringing the U.K.’s smoking rates down to a record low.
“While action to prevent youth access to vaping is critical, this move smacks more of a desperate attempt by the government to sacrifice vapers for votes ahead of the upcoming general election,” said John Dunne, director general of the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), in a statement.
“If the government thinks banning disposables will help protect young people, they are completely misguided. This counterproductive legislation will sooner put children at greater risk by turbo-charging the black market and, in turn, making it easier for them to access illicit and noncompliant vapes.”
Pointing to recent research from University College London, the UKVIA said the answer to youth vaping doesn’t lie in counterproductive bans and restrictions, but rather in effective and proactive enforcement of the law which states that it is illegal for vapes to be sold to minors.

We can’t have a two-tier society in which some adults are permitted to buy tobacco and others are denied the same opportunity.
Simon Clark, director, Forest
The government’s continued commitment to a generational tobacco ban, meanwhile, prompted a strong response from smokers’ rights activists, who said the plan infantilizes adults.
A new poll for the smokers’ lobby group Forest found that almost two thirds (64 percent) of adults in Britain say that when people are 18 and legally an adult, they should be allowed to purchase cigarettes and other tobacco products.
“As soon as you are legally an adult you should be treated like one and allowed to buy tobacco, if that’s your choice,” said Simon Clark, director of Forest.
“We can’t have a two-tier society in which some adults are permitted to buy tobacco and others are denied the same opportunity.”
Urging Downing Street to step back from the policy, he added: “Law-abiding retailers will have the difficult job of enforcing this absurd policy that also drives a stake into the heart of traditional Conservative values such as freedom of choice and personal responsibility.”

January 29, 2024
Chemular, IGEN Team up to Streamline Compliance

Chemular and IGEN have formed a strategic alliance to create a new Compliance as a Service (CaaS) platform focused on streamlining the burden of compliance to small-sized and medium-sized companies who need turnkey solutions for Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act, excise tax reporting and registration services.
“The time and effort required to stay compliant with federal, state and local laws is increasingly burdensome for small-[sized] to mid-sized companies in regulated categories,” said Jason Carignan, chief commercial officer of Chemular, in a statement. “Except for larger players, most companies don’t have a dedicated compliance officer who can ensure every regulatory detail is addressed so their products can stay on the market—especially in industries like ours, where the rules change rapidly. Chemular, now powered by the IGEN backbone, will be able to significantly scale its turnkey compliance service offering to a growing portfolio of tobacco manufacturers and distributors.”
In addition to saving time, utilizing the new CaaS platform can provide regulated companies with many other benefits, according to a company press release, including: streamlined remittance and reporting for excise tax, PACT Act, state registrations, and license capture; optimized growth opportunities by allowing employees and leadership to focus on what they do best: developing products and services; avoiding penalties with scaled compliance efforts that easily adapt to new markets with potentially different laws and regulations as the company grows; and reducing risk by monitoring real-time data and evolving regulations while establishing automated procedures that can minimize errors and detect fraud.
Failure to adhere to compliance guidelines can be costly for companies, leading to large fines and expensive sanctions, regulatory scrutiny and loss of trust in the marketplace. In some cases, noncompliant companies can have their products removed from store shelves, giving space to competitors who were able to better adjust to changing regulations.
“Compliance can be a long-term strategic advantage, yet most emerging businesses don’t have the resources and expertise to keep up with the growing complexity in regulatory requirements,” said Ryan Padget, president of IGEN. “We’re excited to bring our technology to Chemular, whose clients are regularly faced with regulatory hurdles, like PACT and excise tax reporting. This is just the beginning for our partnership—one that we see as a win for the industry as a whole.”
Along with this announcement, the Chemular and IGEN teams will be appearing at the tobacco industry’s largest trade show, TPE24, providing resources and education to the show’s retail attendees. Chemular will be hosting the “Fortify Your Future” educational sessions of the show from Jan. 30, 2024, to Jan. 31, 2024, and will be available to speak with attendees at their second-floor meeting room located next to the educational session.
Companies interested in becoming compliant or streamlining their current processes can visit www.chemular.com for more information.
January 29, 2024
Disposables Ban Could Thwart Cessation: Study

Image: Viktoria Ostroushko
A ban on disposable vapes, currently being considered by the U.K. government, could discourage the use of e-cigarettes among people who are trying to quit smoking, according to a new study led by researchers from University College London (UCL) and funded by Cancer Research U.K.
Published in the journal Public Health, the study looked at survey responses from 69,973 adults in England, Wales and Scotland between January 2021 and August 2023.
The researchers found the proportion of adults using disposable e-cigarettes rose from 0.1 percent to 4.9 percent during that period. The increase was particularly pronounced among 18- to 24-year-olds, with 14.4 percent using disposable vapes in 2023, as well as among smokers (16.3 percent) and people who had stopped smoking in the past year (18.2 percent).
Use among people who had never regularly smoked was relatively rare (1.5 percent) but was higher among 18- to 24-year-olds, of whom 7.1 percent used disposable e-cigarettes and had never regularly smoked tobacco.
“Our study suggests a ban on disposable e-cigarettes would affect an estimated 2.6 million people in England, Wales and Scotland,” said lead author Sarah Jackson, of the UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, in a statement.
“This group includes about 316,000 18- to 24-year-olds who currently use disposables but who have never regularly smoked tobacco. However, it also includes 1.2 million people who currently smoke and would benefit from switching to e-cigarettes completely, and a further 744,000 who previously smoked and may be at risk of relapse.
“While banning disposables might seem like a straightforward solution to reduce youth vaping, it could have substantial unintended consequences for people who smoke.
“In the event of a ban, it would be important to encourage current and ex-smokers who use disposables to switch to other types of e-cigarettes rather than going back to just smoking tobacco.
“In addition, we found disposable use to be particularly prevalent among recent ex-smokers with a history of mental health conditions. This group may require targeted support to help them avoid relapse.”

While banning disposables might seem like a straightforward solution to reduce youth vaping, it could have substantial unintended consequences for people who smoke.
Lead author Sarah Jackson, UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care
The research team used data from the Smoking Toolkit Study, in which a different sample of 2,450 adults in Great Britain (who are representative of the general population) are interviewed each month.
They found disposable e-cigarette use was significantly higher among adults living in England than Wales or Scotland (5.3 percent vs. 2 percent and 2.8 percent at the end of the study period) and among those from less (vs. more) advantaged social grades (6.1 percent vs. 4.0 percent), those with (vs. without) children (6.4 percent vs. 4.4 percent), and those with (vs. without) a history of mental health conditions (9.3 percent vs. 3.1 percent).
Until recently, the researchers noted, very few adult vapers in Great Britain used disposables, but in 2021 new disposable e-cigarettes entered the market with designs and branding that appealed to young people, causing use of disposables to quickly rise in the U.K. and elsewhere. These products are available widely, for instance in corner shops, and are sometimes promoted via colorful in-store displays.
While they are convenient to use, with a very low upfront cost, they have also become an environmental problem, with millions of the devices reportedly thrown away in the U.K. each week.
A ban may discourage use of e-cigarettes among people trying to quit smoking and may induce relapse among those who have already used disposables to quit.
Senior author Jamie Brown, UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care

“There is a need for action to reduce disposable vaping among young people who have never smoked,” said senior author Jamie Brown, a professor at the UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care. “However, trade-offs need to be carefully considered. A ban may discourage use of e-cigarettes among people trying to quit smoking and may induce relapse among those who have already used disposables to quit. Cigarettes are far more harmful to our health and are not currently banned and a ban on disposable e-cigarettes may signal to large numbers of people that these products are worse for our health or that their harm is comparable to that caused by smoking tobacco. I favor a range of alternative policies, in the first instance, allied with rapid evaluation to judge whether these are sufficient to achieve reductions in youth vaping.”
In the paper, the researchers outlined other measures to strengthen the regulation of disposable vapes that had a reduced risk of unintended consequences, such as causing relapse among ex-smokers.
These included prohibiting branding with appeal to children (e.g., bright colors, sweet names and cartoon characters), prohibiting promotion of e-cigarettes in shops, putting e-cigarettes out of sight and reach of children, and putting an excise tax on disposables to raise the price to the same level as the cheapest reusable e-cigarettes. Defining disposables may prove problematic so a minimum unit price may be more a straightforward alternative to reduce their affordability and is something that could be implemented quickly.
The researchers noted that their data might underestimate prevalence of disposable vape use. This is because survey respondents were asked which type of e-cigarette they mainly used, so people who used disposables as a secondary product were not captured.
In addition to Cancer Research UK, the study received support from the U.K. Prevention Research Partnership.
January 28, 2024
Activists Protest ‘Misguided’ Zyn Pouch Probe

Photo: Swedish Match
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s call on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Federal Trade Commission to investigate the marketing practices and health effects of Philip Morris International’s Zyn nicotine pouch brand provoked a backlash among advocates of tobacco harm reduction.
“The American people have seen this movie before with less harmful e-cigarettes,” said Tony Abboud, executive director of the Vapor Technology Association (VTA).
“Congressional leaders yell at unelected bureaucrats at the FDA who scurry to remove products from the market that offend their sensibilities—even though those products are less harmful than traditional cigarettes, and have been proven to help people quit smoking deadly cigarettes altogether.
“These misguided actions deprive American adults of less harmful, non-combustible, and non-tobacco nicotine products that are a proven alternative to combustible cigarettes and that the largest clinical trial in the U.S. has found to cause them to quit smoking even if they have no intention to quit cigarettes.
“There is already a de-facto ban on e-cigarettes. Sen. Schumer simply wants this ban extended to other products he and the Washington establishment deem undesirable.
“As with e-cigarettes, Sen. Schumer falsely asserted that Zyn products are popular with younger users. Yet, the National Youth Tobacco Survey data demonstrates that only 1.5 percent of youth have even tried nicotine pouches. When will the federal government stop hiding behind an excuse that has been disproven by their own data?
“VTA stands with Zyn, and the makers of modern oral nicotine pouches, in the fight against arbitrary and capricious government action. Because cigarettes remain the No. 1 cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S., VTA insists on broad access to a wide variety of non-combustible products to preserve freedom of choice for adults who want to use nicotine – and to provide access to proven harm-reduction and smoking-cessation options essential for saving American lives.”
Earlier, Schumer’s call for an investigation prompted PMI to publish a video clarifying its marketing practices.
January 28, 2024