Author: GTNF Trust Staff

Tobacco smoking and the vaping of electronic devices have been banned in all public buildings and facilities in Manila, the Philippines, according to a story in The Manila Bulletin.

The ordinance is said also to prohibit the possession of any tobacco product or vaping device ‘whether the smoke [or vapor] is being actively inhaled or exhaled’.

And the smoking and vaping bans are not limited to inside city government buildings, but take in their compounds and any places within 100 meters of city government properties.

But the ordinance mandates the establishment of smoking areas outside each city government building provided it is not less than 10 meters away from where people pass or congregate and has visible ‘Smoking Area’ and ‘Minors Not Allowed’ signage, and graphic health warnings.

The new ordinance, which bans smoking in or at all public buildings, facilities, and establishments ‘owned, used, or controlled or administered by the city government of Manila’, was approved unanimously by the city council.

Ordinance No. 7812 or the ‘Smoke-Free Ordinance of the City Government of Manila’, authored by councilor Casimiro Sison, is said to have been intended to safeguard the health of the public and to set an example to the private sector in promoting a smoke-free environment.

But a previous ordinance (No. 7748) that has been in effect since 1991 already prohibits tobacco smoking in enclosed public places, such as bars, restaurants, theaters, malls, factories, vehicles, classrooms, school grounds, hospitals, clinics and markets.

Under the recently passed ordinance, violators will be liable to a fine of P2,000 and/or one day in prison for the first offense; P3,000 and/or two days in prison for the second offense; and P5,000 and/or three days in prison for the third offense.

Philip Morris International (PMI) submitted a Premarket Tobacco Product Application (PMTA) for its Electronically Heated Tobacco Product (EHTP) – such as its iQOS heat-not-burn device – to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products. This is consistent with the company’s stated goal of submitting its PMTA in the first quarter of 2017.

PMI’s PMTA seeks authorization to commercialize the EHTP in the United States. Should the FDA grant the requested marketing order, Altria Group would be responsible for commercializing and marketing the product in the United States under the terms of a licensing agreement with PMI, according to press note from PMI.

On December 5, 2016, PMI submitted a Modified Risk Tobacco Product (MRTP) application for its EHTP to the FDA. Administrative review of that application is ongoing. A PMTA marketing order is a prerequisite to commercializing a new tobacco product such as PMI’s EHTP. A decision on the PMTA would allow the marketing of PMI’s EHTP without modified risk claims independent of a decision on the MRTP.

The New Zealand has announced its plans to make nicotine-laced e-cigarettes legal, in a bid to regain lost ground on its noteworthy target to make New Zealand smokefree by 2025.

Associate Health Minister Nicky Wagner stated that the sale of nicotine infused vapor products and e-liquid will be made legal. The rules will likely come into force in late 2018, according to a story in the Manawatu Standard.

“Scientific evidence on the safety of e-cigarettes is still developing but there’s a general consensus that vaping is much less harmful than smoking,” said Wagner. “This is an opportunity to see if restricted access to e-cigarettes and e-liquid can help lower our smoking rates, reduce harm and save lives.”

Wagner said the government was taking a “cautious approach” by aligning vaping regulations with those for combustible cigarettes. “This ensures cigarette smokers have access to a lower-risk alternative while we continue to discourage people from smoking or vaping in the first place,” she said.

Just because you are filling tanks for customers doesn’t mean you must register as a manufacturer. Not long ago, retailers viewed vapor regulations to mean they could not perform services including filling tanks, changing coils, assembling a device or discussing how it works. Retailers felt they could not longer perform some of the simplest repairs. These activities, it was believed, was cause to classify shop owners as manufactures by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) deeming rule for new tobacco products.

This is no longer true. In January, the FDA clarified the rule saying vape shop staff could explain how products work, as well as clean and perform maintenance on a purchased product. Retailers can also replace coils with new, identical coils, as well as assemble products for the customer (from the components packaged with the device).

The clarification also allows retailers to refill tanks, as long as no modifications are made outside of what is recommended by the manufacturer. Shop owners, however, are still banned from building coils and devices for customers, unless they register as a manufacturer.

The FDA requires vape shops that are tobacco product manufacturers be subject to the agency’s rules to provide ingredient listings, report HPHCs, and submit health documents. Vape shops that modify a product so that it is a new tobacco product are required to comply with the premarket authorization requirements. Finally, vape shops that are engaged in the manufacture, preparation, compounding, or processing of tobacco products (including e-liquids) are required to comply with establishment registration and product listing in accordance with the deeming rule.

The date for registration is quickly approaching.  Late last year, the FDA revised guidance concerning its “Registration and Product Listing for Owners and Operators of Domestic Tobacco Product Establishments.” U.S. manufacturers of newly regulated tobacco products who first began manufacturing prior to Aug. 8, 2016, were given until June 30, 2017, to comply.

To read the new FDA compliance document released in January, click here.

Nicotine-containing e-liquid will remain illegal in Australia, despite appeals to support e-cigarettes for harm reduction, according to ECigIntelligence.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) rejected a proposal submitted by the New Nicotine Alliance Australia (NNA), an e-cigarette lobbying group.

The TGA had previously declared nicotine a controlled substance and banned its use outside of nicotine replacement-therapy products and tobacco products.

Among other restrictions, the NNA had proposed a maximum nicotine concentration of 3.6 percent in e-liquid, a maximum container dosage of 900 mg and for all e-liquids to come in child-resistant bottles with warning labels.

However, the TGA said the current classifications for nicotine were appropriate as there was a risk of nicotine addiction, there was little evidence on the long-term effects of vaping, and views varied on the effectiveness of e-cigarettes in smoking cessation.

A new study predicts that, with electronic cigarettes available as alternatives to traditional tobacco cigarettes, by 2050, 32 percent of smokers in the UK who otherwise would have continued smoking would have completely switched to vaping, according to a British American Tobacco press note.

‘Our results show an overall beneficial effect of e-cigarettes on a population, reducing smoking prevalence and smoking-related deaths,’ said Dr. James Murphy, head of reduced risk substantiation at BAT.

The results, which are published today in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology (doi: 10.1016/j.yrtph.2017.03.012), support the results of a study in 2016 by the Cochrane Review, which concluded that electronic cigarettes can help people stop smoking.

Scientists at BAT have developed a predictive model looking at a number of possible scenarios over a 50-year period between 2000 and 2050: There is a baseline scenario in which electronic cigarettes are not on the market and a counterfactual scenario, a predicted situation, based on the current trends in which both traditional tobacco cigarettes and electronic cigarettes are available to consumers.

“This modelling approach is an informative way of assessing population health effects when epidemiological data are not available,” says Murphy.

‘This model takes account of the way consumers use products and utilises the past to predict what might happen in the future,’ the press note said. ‘In 2000, smoking prevalence was 27 percent, and by 2010 it was 20.3 percent. This model predicts that when e-cigarettes are not available, this would fall to 12.4 percent of the overall population [by 2050]. This number falls to 9.7 percent (including dual users) when e-cigarettes are available. And the proportion of all deaths due to smoking-related diseases falls from 8.4 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively.’

The model is said to take into account all types of consumers, including current smokers, non-smokers, former smokers, electronic cigarette users, and dual users. ‘Behaviours, like starting, switching, becoming a dual user, and quitting are represented through a feedback system, as is the potential effect of smoking normalisation on starting and cessation rates,’ the note said. ‘Factors such as consumer age, gender, and aging are factored in, while time since quitting or relapsing is also considered.

‘Population benefits were seen even though the model is considered conservative: for instance, it ascribes no lowering of risk to consumers using both cigarettes and e-cigarettes, even though dual users are likely to smoke fewer tobacco cigarettes than they otherwise would; and it assumes that any potential health benefit from quitting cigarettes was lost on relapsing.

‘Future models may also study the use of additional products, such as tobacco-heating products and snus; characterise the UK population by ethnicity, social economic status, and education level; and factor in affordability, smoking bans, health campaigns/risk perception or packaging regulations, say the researchers.’

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is delaying until March 19, 2018, its final rule for clarification of when products made or derived from tobacco are regulated as drugs, devices, or combination products under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

The agency wants to seek public feedback on issues raised by a petition from affected parties that asks for clarification on the amendments to the regulations regarding “intended uses.”

The delay will also provide additional time to the FDA to fully evaluate the comments.

Vape House has announced the addition of Vape House Marrakesh, the first Vape House outside of Europe and the first Vape House in Africa.

It will also be one of the first franchises in Africa for any vapor chain and signals the importance of Morocco and its desire to be a tourist destination, according to a press release. The store’s opening with be announced shortly, with an anticipated opening in late spring, according to a press release.

Vape House is a unique model vape shop which features brands from many countries, multiple price points and targets those that are new to the Industry. It features videos and an aggressive social media platform to bring more and more new people to the world of vaping, according to a press release.

Each Vape House carries its own unique logo and they has accessories for those that want to collect each and every unique Vape House logo.

For more information, please visit Vape House at http://vape-house.eu/

A US public health expert has said that the Surgeon General is continuing to lie about tobacco in electronic cigarettes.

Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, was referring to an article published earlier this month in JAMA Pediatrics.

In it, the Surgeon General had claimed that electronic cigarettes were “now the most commonly used form of tobacco among youth in the United States, surpassing cigarettes, chewing tobacco, cigars, and hookah”.

Writing on his Rest of the Story blog, Siegel said the article referred to electronic cigarettes as a form of tobacco and to vaping as a “form of tobacco use”.

‘There’s just one problem with the Surgeon General’s claim that vaping is a form of tobacco use: it’s not true,’ he said.

Siegel went on to say that even if the Surgeon General wrongly believed that consuming any product that contained nicotine was a form of tobacco use, then he was still lying to the public.

‘Under that definition, e-cigarettes are not the most commonly used form of tobacco among youth,’ Siegel pointed out. ‘Potatoes are.’

The full story is at: http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/surgeon-general-continues-to-lie-about.html.