Vapor Voice’s publisher, Elise Rasmussen, received a “Voices of Freedom” award during the annual “Freedom Dinner,” organized by Forest, a U.K. smokers’ rights group on June 27.
Rasmussen, who is also president of the Global Tobacco & Nicotine Forum (GTNF), was recognized for her consideration of consumers.
“A great many conferences on tobacco are dominated by industry or public health campaigners,” said Simon Clark, director of Forest. “The consumer, smokers especially, are often overlooked. In a world where everyone, including the tobacco companies are quite rightly embracing harm reduction and products such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco, it’s very easy to forget that there are still millions of people who enjoy smoking and don’t want to quit.
“The organizer of the Global Tobacco & Nicotine Forum doesn’t forget that. She is always willing to go that extra mile to accommodate a group such as Forest that defends the interest of adults who enjoy smoking. She bends over backward to find hotels and venues that have—not just smoking rooms but glorious smoking rooms.
Last year, for example, in Brussels, she did a deal with the hotel that resulted in an extraordinary baroque room on the ground floor being designated as the smoking room for the duration of the conference.
“We called it the Liberty Lounge and it’s just one of the many reasons I am delighted to present Elise Rasmussen—a great friend of the consumer with her very own Voices of Freedom award.”
The U.K.’s Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has published a new guidance on vapor products and refill containers regulations that impact retailers and manufacturers.
The new requirements include: notifying MHRA of all vapor and e-liquid products before they can be sold at retail; restricting vapor tanks to a specific capacity; imposing new labeling requirements and warnings; and banning certain vapor ingredients.
The guidance also advises how to get vapor products on the market in the UK, including the notification scheme and reporting problems with vapor products.
Smokers in Canberra, Australia, will have 3,000 fewer places to indulge their habit from October 1, according to a story by Katie Burgess for the Canberra Times. According to the story, vaping at bus stops would also be banned under the changes.
Smoking will be banned from public transport waiting areas, including bus stops, taxi shelters, train stations and – when they’re built – light rail stops.
The government is considering also extending the ban to other areas ‘children and young people gather’.
Under the new rules, those who smoke within five metres of public or privately-owned public transport waiting areas will be liable to a fine of up to $750.
However, areas on private land that fall within five metres of a bus stop are not covered by the ban. And cars driving within five metres of a bus stop would not be covered by the ban either.
Health Minister Meegan Fitzharris was quoted as saying that “more potential smoke-free areas” had been identified through a public consultation.
“Again we are looking at places where the public gather, particularly places where children and young people gather as well, but it’s really important we do what we can to encourage people who are already smoking to give up,” Fitzharris said.
“Evidence shows that smoke-free outdoor areas can reduce the exposure of children and young people to the role modelling of smoking and so help prevent smoking uptake.
“This also supports the ACT [Australian Capital Territory] government’s efforts to encourage public transport usage by ensuring Canberrans can breathe easy around our over 3,000 public transport waiting areas.”
From July 1, people will be allowed to carry concealed handguns at Wichita State University, Kansas, US, but they will be banned from vaping there, according to a story by Dion Lefler for the Wichita Eagle.
Outdoor vaping in defiance of the policy won’t be a prosecutable offense with fines or citations. Nor will violations count as punishable misconduct for students and employees.
Instead, users of vapor products will get a polite scolding from student and faculty members designated as ambassadors for the tobacco-free campus policy.
The policy on handguns has been ordered by the Legislature and that on vaping (and smoking) by university leaders.
Across the campus, it is possible to find students who support every possible permutation: Ban guns and vaporizers, don’t ban either one, or ban one but not the other.
But, Lefler explains, the status quo is not an option on guns. Two years ago, the Legislature passed and Governor Sam Brownback signed into law a bill that opens almost all public spaces and public buildings to the carrying of concealed handguns, including college classrooms, offices and dormitories.
Called “constitutional carry” by its supporters, the law requires neither a permit nor training to carry a concealed weapon for people over 21, an age group that includes many college juniors and seniors.
The only places where guns can be excluded are buildings with metal detectors and guards to run them at every entrance, which university officials say is impractically expensive on campuses with dozens of buildings and hundreds of entrances.
The new vaping rules deviate from a state law that allows outdoor smoking/vaping outside a 10-foot radius of public-building doors and air intakes.
The new university policy prohibits vaping outdoors on almost all university property, including streets, sidewalks and parking lots, though there are some exceptions.
Laboratory wound-healing assays have revealed that whereas cigarette smoke completely prevents wound healing at concentrations of more than 20 percent, electronic-cigarette vapor has no such effect, even at 100 percent concentration and double the amount of nicotine relative to that in smoke.
According to a British American Tobacco press note, the scratch tests involved growing in the laboratory a layer of endothelial cells (cells that line the inside of blood vessels), creating a wound/scratch in the layer of cells, and observing how long it took to heal.
It was found that the wound healed normally when exposed cells were untreated or when they were exposed to e-cigarette vapor, but not when exposed to cigarette smoke.
The results are published today in Toxicology Letters (DOI is 10.1016/j.toxlet.2017.06.001).
“Our results suggest that chemicals in cigarette smoke that inhibit wound healing are either absent from e-cigarette vapor or present in concentrations too low for us to detect an effect,” Dr. James Murphy, head of reduced risk substantiation at BAT was quoted as saying.
The press note went on to say that it was thought that the presence of damaged endothelial cells, which have an impaired ability to repair, might be a factor in the development of heart disease. Smoking was known to be a risk factor for the development of heart disease.
‘The basic steps of the test involve creating a wound in a single layer of cells grown in the lab, capturing images of the beginning and at regular intervals during the “healing” process, as the cells move together, and then comparing the images,’ the press note said.
‘In this way, it is possible to measure the ability of a tissue to repair an artificial injury in the presence of various substances. To repair the wound created by a scratch, cells must move into the wound and close the gap, and it’s the rate at which they do it that the test measures.
‘Scientists at British American Tobacco used the scratch test to compare the effects of smoke extract from a reference cigarette (3R4F) and vapor extract from two commercial e-cigarettes, Vype ePen (a closed modular device) and Vype eStick (a cig-a-like device), on the wound healing process.
‘When a person smokes or vapes, water-soluble chemicals pass into circulation and interact with endothelial cells lining blood vessels. So to mimic this exposure, the scientists tested aqueous extracts – the water-soluble fraction – of smoke or vapor. Aqueous extracts were obtained by bubbling puff-matched amounts of smoke or vapor through cell-growth medium to produce a stock that could be diluted into various concentrations. Smoke extract was then assessed at concentrations from 0 percent to 30 percent. To ensure that e-cigarette extracts were tested at equivalent and higher nicotine concentrations than smoke (as possibly experienced by a heavy vaper), vapor was tested at concentrations between 40 percent and 100 percent (over twice the nicotine).
‘Immediately after the wound was made, the cells were immersed in smoke or vapor extract for 20 hours. Smoke decreased cell migration rate in a concentration-dependent manner, completely inhibiting movement of cells towards the wound at concentrations over 20 percent. In stark contrast, vapor from both types of e-cigarette had no effect – cells could migrate into the wounded area, as normal, even at 100 percent concentration and double the amount of nicotine.’
Philip Morris International said yesterday it planned to invest about €500 million of additional funds in expanding capacity at its smoke-free product manufacturing facility at Crespellano, Bologna, Italy.
The facility at Crespellano was PMI’s first dedicated manufacturing facility for large-scale production of HEETS, the tobacco units used with the electronic tobacco heating device IQOS.
Completed in September 2016, the facility currently employed more than 600 people with a high level of technical expertise in areas such as mechanical engineering, electronics and chemistry, PMI said in a note posted on its website.
The expansion, which was expected to be completed by the end of 2018, formed part of the company’s plans to have a total annual installed capacity of about 100 billion heated tobacco units by the end of next year.
“Last week, we announced our second greenfield facility in Dresden [Germany],” Frederic de Wilde, president of PMI’s EU region, was quoted as saying. “The expansion of our first one, in Crespellano, shows the momentum of our efforts to turn PMI’s vision for a smoke-free future into a reality as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, Michele Cattoni, PMI’s vice president of Technology & Operations RRPs, said the opening of the Crespellano plant had represented a historic milestone in PMI’s commitment to replace cigarettes with better alternatives to the benefit of smokers, public health and society at large. “We are now rapidly expanding our capacity to manufacture smoke-free products in order to meet growing demand from adult smokers,” she said.
‘IQOS and HEETS were first made available for adult smokers in Milan in November 2014,’ the PMI note said. ‘IQOS is currently available nationwide in Italy, and in key cities or nationwide in more than 25 markets around the world. More than two million people have already given up smoking and switched to IQOS.
‘The expansion of the Bologna facility follows the announcement earlier this month that PMI will invest approximately US$320 million in a HEETS production facility in Dresden, Germany, adding to the previously announced investments in the conversion of cigarette manufacturing facilities in Greece, Romania and Russia to HEETS production.
‘IQOS is one of four scientifically substantiated smoke-free product platforms that PMI is developing to address adult smoker demand for better alternatives to cigarettes. Since 2008, PMI has hired more than 400 scientists and experts and invested over US$3 billion in research, product development and scientific substantiation for smoke-free products. The company openly shares its scientific methodologies and findings for independent third-party review and verification, and has published its research in over 200 articles and book chapters since 2011. Results of scientific research conducted by PMI to date indicate that switching completely to IQOS is likely to reduce the risk of harm compared to cigarette smoking, and is a better choice for those who would otherwise continue to smoke.’
Philip Morris International plans to invest approximately $320 million in a new high-tech facility in Dresden, Germany, to produce “Heets,” the tobacco units to be used with the electronic tobacco heating device IQOS.
Construction of the 80,000 square meter facility is scheduled to begin in late 2017. Once fully operational in early 2019, the factory is expected to employ about 500 people.
IQOS and Heets have been available for adult smokers in Germany since June 2016, starting with pilot commercialization in Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin. IQOS is currently available in key cities in more than 25 markets around the world.
“This investment represents another step towards a future in which smoke-free products replace cigarettes,” said André Calantzopoulos, PMI’s CEO. “Already, over two million people have given up smoking and switched to IQOS, and we know this is just the beginning. We are fully committed to meet smoker demand for potentially less harmful alternatives to cigarettes.”
“We are encouraged by the successful launch of IQOS in Germany and its performance in other European countries,” said Frederic de Wilde, president of PMI’s European Union region. “Europe has become a hub for PMI’s research, development and investment in better alternatives to cigarettes.”
With this announcement, Germany will join a growing list of countries where PMI manufactures tobacco units for IQOS, including Italy and Switzerland. In addition, PMI recently announced the conversion of the cigarette manufacturing facility of its affiliate in Greece. By the end of 2018, PMI plans to have a total annual installed capacity of heated tobacco units of approximately 100 billion units.
IQOS is one of four smoke-free product platforms that PMI is developing to address adult smoker demand for better alternatives to cigarettes.
Since 2008, PMI has hired more than 400 scientists and experts and invested over $3 billion in research, product development and scientific substantiation for smoke-free products. The company shares its scientific methodologies and findings for independent third-party review and verification, and has published its research in more than 200 articles and book chapters since 2011.
Last year, 15.8 percent of UK adults smoked, down from 17.2 percent in 2015, according to a story in The Guardian newspaper citing data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The prevalence of adult smoking stands at 15.5 percent in England, a figure that rises to 16.9 percent in Wales, 17.7 percent in Scotland and 18.1 percent in Northern Ireland.
Duncan Selbie, chief executive of Public Health England, said there were now more than half a million fewer smokers in England than in 2015 and that the UK had the second-lowest smoking rate in Europe after Sweden.
“What is really fantastic news is that this steep decline is even greater among young adults [aged 18 to 24], where smoking has fallen by a staggering quarter since 2010, reversing a long trend,” he said
In 2010, 26 percent of the 18-24 age group smoked, but this had dropped to 19 percent in 2016.
“It’s now hard to believe that back in 1974 almost half of adults smoked,” said Selbie. “But now an end really is in sight and we have a real opportunity to virtually eliminate all the harm, misery and death caused by smoking.”
However, Dr. Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, warned against complacency. Smoking, she said, was still the UK’s biggest cause of early preventable death.
“Approximately 100,000 people die needlessly from smoking-related diseases every year in our hospitals – it’s time to tackle the human and financial cost the tobacco industry creates,” she said.
“These statistics confirm that e-cigarettes are mainly being used to help people quit. Given half of long-term smokers die as a result of their habit, using vaping to help someone stop smoking could literally save their life.”
Across the UK, 5.6 percent of people – around 2.9 million – used e-cigarettes in 2016.
Singapore is asking the public to comment on a proposal to raise the minimum legal age for smoking, as well as prohibit the purchase, use and possession of vaporizers and e-cigarettes beginning tomorrow (June 13).
The proposed changes to the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act include raising the minimum legal age for the sale, purchase, use and possession of tobacco products from 18 to 21, as well as closing a loophole in the existing rules regarding vaporizers and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).
Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a news release today that while the importation, distribution, sale and offer of sale for these were currently prohibited, it was not the case for the purchase, use and possession.
“As ENDS and vaporizers are durable rather than consumable goods, illicit trade in these products may result in a sizable pool of people who possess and use ENDS and vaporizers in Singapore, leading to entrenchment,” the ministry said, adding that similar loopholes exist for other emerging products such as shisha and smokeless tobacco.
A copy of the draft Amendment Bill is available on the MOH website. The public comment period ends at 5pm on July 10, the press release said.
The government of Armenia plans to ban the use of vapor products, according to an Armenpress report. Health Minister Levon Altunyan said the products are dangerous to health.
The government imposed a ban on smoking in public places in 2004, but the measure is weakly enforced.
Ignoring studies about the contribution of e-cigarettes to smoking cessation, Altunyan noted that the best way to reduce cigarette consumption is through price rises.
