Author: Staff Writer

  • UK to Consider Banning Flavors Other Than Tobacco

    UK to Consider Banning Flavors Other Than Tobacco

    Credit: Mary

    The UK government will consider banning fruit-flavored vapes in order to combat youth, ITV News reports.

    Public Health Minister Neil O’Brien is expected to make a speech next month calling for an investigation into the issue, with the possibility of banning the addictive fruity flavors that have exploded in popularity in recent years.

    In the UK it is illegal to sell vapes to those under 18, there are also strict limits on nicotine content, refill bottle and tank sizes, as well as restrictions on advertising and labeling.

    On Thursday, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said the Department of Health and Social Care is exploring ways to tackle youth vaping in response to a question in the Commons.

    The government is still keen to promote vaping among adults as an alternative to smoking.

  • Belfast Considering Ban on Vaping for 18 and Unders

    Belfast Considering Ban on Vaping for 18 and Unders

    Credit: Leonid Andronov

    The Belfast Council in Northern Ireland is considering banning anyone under the age of 18 from vaping at its sites and premises around the city.

    UUP John Kyle has forwarded a motion to be debated by the full council next week, calling upon Belfast City Council to convene a working group with other stakeholders considering measures to strengthen current legislation and enforcement in relation to vaping, according to Belfast Live.

    The motion also calls for a ban on the use of vapes by all under 18’s indoors all council premises.

    At the recent meeting of the council’s Standards and Business Committee, Councillor Kyle said: “Part of the purpose of this motion is that people, particularly parents of young people, are unaware of the dangers of vaping. It has become such a common practice with kids at school.

    “Part of the purpose is to publicize the issue, make people aware of it, so I propose it is aired at full council before going for consideration to the committee to work it through. It would be beneficial if we as a council give some air space to what is a growing public health problem.”

  • Malaysia Vape Groups Wants OTC Nicotine E-Liquid

    Malaysia Vape Groups Wants OTC Nicotine E-Liquid

    Credit: Butenkow

    The vape industry in Malaysia expressed support for a potential exemption of liquid nicotine from control under the Poisons Act 1952 in the government’s bid to tax e-cigarettes.

    Associations representing vape and e-cigarette companies claimed that this would enable regulations to be introduced for the vape industry, according to CodeBlue.

    “Continuing to subject vape products containing nicotine under the Poisons Act does not help as it is not a suitable framework and does not work for the products,” Adzwan Ab Manas, president of the Malaysia Retail Electronic Cigarette Association (MRECA), said in a statement.

    Currently, nicotine – except tobacco that is regulated separately under the Control of Tobacco Product Regulations 2004 under the Food Act 1983 – is classified as a Group C poison under the Poisons Act that can only be dispensed by medical practitioners or pharmacists.

    Dewan Perniagaan Vape Malaysia (DPVM) secretary-general Ridhwan Rosli, in a separate statement, claimed that if liquid nicotine is exempted from control under the Poisons Act, vape products can be regulated under “current legislation”. 

    However, the only current law regulating vape products is the control of liquid nicotine under the Poisons Act which the government may soon eliminate.

  • Vermont Senate Gives Nod to Preliminary Flavor Ban

    Vermont Senate Gives Nod to Preliminary Flavor Ban

    Vermont lawmakers have taken a big first step toward banning flavored tobacco products and e-liquids.

    The Senate gave preliminary approval to S.18.

    The bill would ban the retail sale of flavored cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and e-liquids, according to WCSX.

    It would also get the Attorney General’s Office to report on the extent to which Vermont may legally restrict advertising and regulate labels for the products.

    Several states in the Northeast have or are considering flavor bans. Connecticut also introduced a bill that would ban flavored e-cigarettes. New YorkNew Jersey and Rhode Island have barred the sale of flavored vaping products. Massachusetts banned all flavored tobacco items, including flavored cigars, cigarettes and vaping goods.

    Vermont’s ban was originally proposed in early 2020 as a way to prevent youth use, but was sidelined after the Covid-19 pandemic began to impact the country.

  • Minnesota AG Personally Opens Juul Labs Lawsuit

    Minnesota AG Personally Opens Juul Labs Lawsuit

    Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison personally opened his state’s case against Juul Labs on Tuesday, accusing the e-cigarette maker of using “slick products, clever ads and attractive flavors” to hook children on nicotine as the first of thousands of cases against the company reached trial.

    Minnesota is seeking more than $100 million in damages, accusing Washington, D.C.-based Juul of unlawfully targeting young people to get a new generation addicted to nicotine, according to the Federal News Network.

    “They baited, deceived, and addicted a whole new generation of kids after Minnesotans slashed youth smoking rates down to the lowest level in a generation,” Ellison said. “Now, big tobacco is back with a new name but the same game. Juul wiped out the work of our state with their slick products, clever ads, and attractive flavors.”

    Juul has faced thousands of lawsuits nationwide but most have settled, including 39 with other states and U.S. territories. Not Minnesota, which won a landmark $7.1 billion settlement with the tobacco industry in 1998. Minnesota added tobacco industry giant Altria, which formerly owned a minority stake in Juul, as a co-defendant in 2020.

    David Bernick, an attorney for Juul, promised jurors an “intense and interesting” trial. He said the purpose of Juul was always to convert adult smokers of combustible cigarettes to a less-dangerous product that would still provide a satisfying nicotine experience — not to lure kids. E-cigarettes aren’t safe but aren’t deadly either, he said; they’re somewhere in between. And Juul did nothing to intentionally drive youth demand, he argued, suggesting that the growth in youth vaping was more likely due to increasing adult demand resulting in ”leakage” to kids.

    William Geraghty, an attorney for Altria, denied Ellison’s assertions that Altria invested heavily in Juul because it ultimately wanted to hook kids on its cigarettes, which include Marlboro. He said Altria bought its passive stake because Juul had found the key to successfully switching adult smokers of conventional cigarettes to a less harmful product, while Altria’s competing e-cigarettes had failed in the marketplace.

    The lawsuit against Juul, filed in 2019, alleges consumer fraud, creating a public nuisance, unjust enrichment and conspiracy with Altria. The jury trial before Hennepin County District Judge Laurie Miller is expected to last about three weeks

  • House Oversight Committee to Probe CTP Failures

    House Oversight Committee to Probe CTP Failures

    The U.S. House Oversight and Accountability Committee announced its intent to investigate the practices of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP).

    Chairman James Comer is conducting the probe of the FDA’s regulation of tobacco and nicotine products through the CTP, stating that the center has failed to effectively define and administer its tobacco and nicotine regulatory programs.

    The failure has resulted in industry uncertainty and unsafe products reaching the marketplace, according to a committee press release. In a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, Comer is requesting documents, communications, and a staff-level briefing related to the CTP’s activities to ensure it is performing its regulatory function as intended.

    “The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is conducting oversight of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulation of tobacco and nicotine products through its Center for Tobacco Products (CTP). A recent evaluation of CTP by the Reagan-Udall Foundation (RUF) found that CTP has not clearly set out the most basic elements of its tobacco and nicotine regulatory programs. This has resulted in confusion, inefficiency, litigation and suspicions of political interference. CTP has fostered uncertainty in the marketplace and has allowed unsafe and unregulated products to proliferate. Therefore, we seek documents and information regarding CTP’s activities to enable transparency and to ensure the CTP is performing required functions,” wrote Comer.

    An evaluation of the CTP by the Reagan-Udall Foundation stated that the CTP is unable to perform its basic functions and ensure that Americans have access to products that have the potential to lower the rate of smoking-related disease and death. Amidst unclear policies, stakeholders have even reported having to guess what the CTP’s regulations might be. Congressional oversight is needed to bring transparency to the CTP’s lack of clear policies that have resulted in market uncertainty, unregulated products and enforcement failures, according to the press release.

    “We have deep concerns that CTP’s decisions have been influenced by political concerns rather than scientific evidence,” wrote Comer. “Comments from FDA staff to RUF, which are no longer available on its website, reflect such concerns. For example, one commenter said, ‘[i]n cases where reviews are finished and scientific decisions are made, they are also overruled by political agendas and pushed to change decisions.’ Another stated, ‘scientific disagreement is frowned upon, if not entirely suppressed,’ while a third said leadership was ‘… unsupportive of a reviewer’s fundamental duty to provide an unbiased review using the best available science.’ FDA must clearly identify and publicize what scientific criteria are necessary for a product, to include [electronic nicotine-delivery system (ENDS) products] and smokeless products, to be authorized through the PMTA pathway and—where appropriate—the subsequent [modified-risk tobacco product applications (MRTPs)] pathway.”

    Comer specifically asked the FDA to provide: FDA staff comments to the Reagan-Udall evaluation; all communications with the White House and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding tobacco or nicotine policy; documents and communications between the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding CTP policies; documents and communications between the FDA and “public health advocacy groups” regarding CTP policies; all documents that describe the specific analytic process the FDA uses to apply the “appropriate for the protection of public health” standard; and all documents and communications related to the FDA’s enforcement efforts to remove illegally marketed tobacco or nicotine products from retail locations.

  • Kansas Set to Raise Purchase Age of Tobacco to 21

    Kansas Set to Raise Purchase Age of Tobacco to 21

    The Kansas Senate passed House Bill 2269, 28-11, which will raise the minimum tobacco purchasing age in the state to 21 from 18, reports ksnt.com. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk.

    The bill would bring Kansas into compliance with federal law, making it illegal for a retailer to sell tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes and cigarettes, to anyone under the age of 21.

    Representative Tom Kessler, a Republican from Wichita who carried the bill, said the state could lose funding from the federal government if the legislation is not enacted. “We do stand to lose a little bit of funding if we don’t conform with federal law,” Kessler said. “We’re going to lose about $1.2 million of funding if we don’t make this transition within the window that the feds allowed us to.”

    Representative John Eplee said that some retailers in the state have moved toward federal compliance but others have not, making federal law harder to enforce. “Most vendors have already complied with this, but are not required to, and it makes enforcement ‘herky jerky’ in our state,” Eplee said. “Forty-six other states have already fallen into compliance … we’re just asking Kansas to do the same thing.”

  • Argentina Bans Imports and Sales of E-Cigarettes

    Argentina Bans Imports and Sales of E-Cigarettes

    The Ministry of Health of Argentina has banned the importation, distribution, commercialization and advertising of different types of electronic cigarettes and accessories “throughout the national territory,” reports MercoPress.

    Health Minister Carla Vizzotti signed a resolution prohibiting heated-tobacco products (HTPs) “based on the risks involved” in using them. The health department stated that many studies have shown HTPs “produce aerosols with nicotine and other chemicals, such as acetaldehyde, acrolein and formaldehyde, [and] are harmful and potentially harmful to health.”

    “Evidence suggests that novel products such as HTPs and similar products are particularly attractive to children and adolescents, and their introduction into the market has the potential to lead to tobacco initiation in young and nonsmoking adults, threatening the achievements already made in tobacco control,” the official document stated.

    The National Risk Factors Survey 2018 showed that 1.1 percent of the adult Argentinian population used electronic cigarettes while the 2018 Global Youth Tobacco Survey showed that 7 percent of those aged 13 to 15 consumed electronic cigarettes.

  • New Bill Would Reduce Burden on Industrial Hemp Farmers

    New Bill Would Reduce Burden on Industrial Hemp Farmers

    A bipartisan team of U.S. senators presented a bill in the country’s Senate that would reduce the burden on industrial hemp farmers.

    U.S. Senators Jon Tester (D) and Mike Braun (R) introduced bipartisan legislation dubbed the Industrial Hemp Act, that would exempt farmers who exclusively cultivate industrial hemp from the arduous background checks and expensive sampling and testing requirements.

    These protocols would, however, remain, for farmers growing cannabinoid hemp, according to The Dales Report.

    “Montana farmers don’t need government bureaucrats putting unnecessary burdens on their operations,” stated Senator Tester. “It’s time we cut red tape, and make it easier for industrial hemp farmers to get their product to market. My bipartisan bill builds on Montana’s leadership on hemp policy and creates good-paying jobs for folks across rural America.”

    The current U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules require all hemp crops must be compliant and are subject to a test, while the end-use products made from industrial hemp have always been exempt from the Controlled Substances Act.

    The new legislation would still require industrial hemp farmers to meet compliance standards, but would not require background checks and testing protocols if their crops are in compliance.

    Producers who go against these regulations would be banned from taking part in the hemp program for five years.

  • Smoore Awarded Highest Rating for its ESG Efforts

    Smoore Awarded Highest Rating for its ESG Efforts

    The international ESG rating agency Sustainalytics awarded Smoore International Holdings Limited, parent to the FEELM and Vaporesso brands, the top position among global electronic atomization companies.

    “Smoore’s outstanding performance in corporate governance, business ethics, supply chain, environmental management, and carbon emissions contributed to its leading position in the global electronic atomization industry,” a release states. “Its ESG score improved from 27.9 to 24.6 (the lower the Sustainalytics score, the better the performance), reflecting the industry and global recognition of Smoore’s accomplishments in sustainable development.”

    Sustainalytics is an independent ESG research, rating, and data company with 25 years of expertise in ESG and corporate governance research and analysis, covering an estimated 15,000 companies globally.

    Smoore consistently ranks first among global electronic atomization companies in the ESG ratings published by MSCI, the world’s largest index company.

    Last year, Smoore declared that it was the first in the industry to launch a carbon neutrality plan, aiming to achieve operational carbon neutrality by 2050 and source 30 percent of its energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030.