Author: GTNF Trust Staff

The national movement Hands for a Billion Lives was nationally recognized on Saturday, October 22, when thousands of participants in cities across the country as well as countries abroad, joined hands at precisely 2:22 p.m. local time, to symbolize a protective barrier to protect the billion lives estimated to die because of smoking-related disease this century.

Hands for a Billion Lives supports federal legislation that will keep vapor products on the market. Thousands of vapers joined hands to bring awareness to the award-winning documentary “A Billion Lives,” which sparked this movement.

Hands for a Billion Lives was joined by Matt Bradley of ‘The Deadliest Catch’ and actor Eric Roberts who said, “As a smoker for nearly 30 years, I am so pleased to finally be part of the solution. ‘The Billion Lives’ movie brings to the foreground, the profound importance of this movement. “The hands” ceremony was a gloriously fitting tribute to the memory of the lives lost, and the spirit of the lives that will be saved by this worthwhile mission. I am honored to have played a small role, in something so meaningful.”

The World Health Organization projects that a billion people will die early this century from smoking. The movie notes that while new technologies evolved to help addicted smokers, money has corrupted the government departments and nonprofit organizations responsible for helping to fix the problem. To uncover the truth, director Aaron Biebert traveled across four continents to create the documentary.

In April 2016, The Royal College of Physicians released a study that stated electronic cigarettes are 95 percent less harmful than tobacco cigarettes. In August 2016, the Food & Drug Administration started regulating the vaping industry, and only those who go through a lengthy and costly approval process, will survive. The new regulatory landscape set forth by the FDA has created an enormously cost-prohibitive environment for manufacturers to market their products to adult smokers and vapers and will largely hand the market over to only large manufacturers, such as big tobacco. These small businesses provide an aspect that the FDA has ignored, the support and education needed to remain successful, and if closed down, potentially millions of adult vapers will return to smoking and thousands of small businesses will be shut down, putting an estimated 37,000 to 57,000 employees out of work.

“We hope the movie and the national movement will send an important message to Congress to consider how their unnecessary imposed regulations could do further harm to those who are using these products as an alternative for harm reduction,” says Schell Hammel, the organizer of Hands for a Billion Lives. “This is bigger than any one of us. This is about lives that will be lost if these regulations go through as written and Congress does not change the predicate date in the Tobacco Control Act.”

“A Billion Lives” has already debuted in other countries and on October 26th at 6:30pm, the movie makes its Hollywood premiere at the famous Cinerama Dome Theatre on Sunset Blvd. It will continue to play regularly at Laemmle Music Hall four times a day for a full week from October 28th through at least November 4th. For more information, visit ABillionLives.com.

About Hands for a Billion Lives

Hands for a Billion Lives is a national campaign to encourage everyone – vapers, smokers, non-smokers and non-vapers, as well as elected officials – to see the film “A Billion Lives” and support federal legislation that will keep vapor products on the market. To learn more and join the movement, visit HandsforaBillionLives.com.

Since September 8, 2016 European Union Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) has been a binding law in Poland. It was introduced by novelized domestic law – The Protection of Health against the Consequences of the Consumption of Tobacco and Tobacco Products Act. Many foreign online vape shops are not aware that by selling nicotine products to customers in Poland, they commit a crime.

According to the new law regulating the tobacco market in Poland, online sales of electronic cigarettes and refill containers and their parts to consumers in Poland is forbidden. The eSmoking Association asked the Polish Ministry of Health, if the prohibition applies also to foreign retailers. The answer of the Public Health Department of the Ministry of Health is unequivocal: this kind of sales is forbidden, no matter if it is conducted by domestic or foreign entrepreneurs. As the Ministry of Health has informed, failing to comply with the prohibition to sell online electronic cigarettes and refill containers in Poland, is subject to a fine of up to 200,000PLN or restriction of personal liberty, or both of these punishments together.

According to the binding regulations, each foreign company selling online electronic cigarettes or refill containers to consumers from Poland, violates domestic regulations. Despite this, many companies (especially these registered outside the EU borders) still do this kind of business, ignoring the legislative changes. “We suspect that in the majority of cases it is due to the lack of awareness of the Polish law. Nevertheless, regardless of this, a company which sells online electronic cigarettes to Poland, can attract interest of Polish law enforcement agencies fighting the black market,” says Jerzy Jurczyński, public affairs liaison for the eSmoking Association.

The International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations (INNCO) has added its support to a critical report by leading academics attached to the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies (UKCTAS) in response to the latest report on electronic cigarettes from the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

The WHO report is due to form the basis for discussions at the forthcoming Conference of the Parties (CoP) to the FCTC, which is scheduled to be held in India on November 7-12.

The FCTC’s 180 signatories will be looking to decide future global policies on tobacco and nicotine products.

Meanwhile, the EU’s collective position on electronic cigarettes was formulated at a meeting in Brussels earlier this week.

In a press note, Atakan Befrits, INNCO’s press officer, was quoted as saying that “reports suggest the EU statement will not contain any positive statements on the risk reduction e-cigarettes offer for smokers, despite recent evidence reviews by Public Health England and the Royal College of Physicians that showed enormous benefits for those who switch.”

INNCO said it was calling upon all EU Ministers of Health to give immediate attention to the issues raised in the UKCTAS critique of the WHO report. “It is important that the EU collective response to e-cigarettes reflects the positive health benefits conferred on smokers who switch to safer nicotine products, and [that] these benefits, as well as potential risks, are assessed objectively,” it states.

“The WHO’s current policy on e-cigarettes is more likely to endanger public health instead of improving it,” said Judy Gibson, INNCO’s steering group co-ordinator. “Once again the WHO remains resolute in refusing to acknowledge scientific evidence and opinions from the world’s leading experts in tobacco addiction. This needs to change – now.”

The UKCTAS academics’ critique of the WHO report set out a series of concerns about the content of the document which, in their view, does not fairly represent existing evidence on electronic cigarettes.

According to a UKCTAS press note, the critique examines each element of the WHO report and identifies flaws in the way the evidence is presented and problems with how the report could be interpreted, potentially encouraging countries to adopt excessive restrictions on electronic cigarettes which could undermine efforts to reduce smoking.

“The UKCTAS critique points to evidence set out in the recent Royal College of Physician’s’ report ‘Nicotine without Smoke’ and subsequent research which recognize that e-cigarettes are far less harmful than smoking and that smokers who find it difficult to stop should be encouraged to use them,” the press note said.

“The WHO report fails to accurately present what is already known about e-cigarettes. In particular, it: positions e-cigarettes as a threat rather than an opportunity to reduce smoking; fails to accurately quantify any risks of e-cigarettes compared with smoking; misrepresents existing evidence about any harms to bystanders; discounts the fact that e-cigarettes are helping smokers to quit; does not recognize the place of some promotion of e-cigarettes to encourage smokers to switch to these less harmful products; fails to understand that the flavors in e-cigarettes are useful for people trying to stop smoking; miss-characterizes the current e-cigarette market and appears to support very restrictive policies on e-cigarettes without including any good policy analysis.

“In addition, the WHO report does not acknowledge that significant restrictions on e-cigarettes could lead to unintended consequences, including increases in smoking.”

The researchers point out that the WHO briefing is based on four unpublished papers that are still undergoing peer review, which does not allow for open, transparent scrutiny of the evidence. “This does not, therefore, provide a good basis for policy making and risks undermining rather than promoting the aims of the FCTC, which is a treaty that was designed to help countries reduce smoking rates and save lives,” the report states.

UKCTAS is a network of 13 universities (12 in the UK, one in New Zealand) funded by the UK Clinical Research Collaboration. The Centre conducts research, teaching and policy work into tobacco and alcohol, both important public health concerns. UKCTAS says that it aims to deliver an international research and policy development portfolio, and build capacity in tobacco and alcohol research. “Our work includes developing strategies for behavior change in tobacco and alcohol use, assessing risks, identifying measures to reduce harm, monitoring the tobacco and alcohol industries, and developing effective public policies to improve public health and wellbeing,” it says. “UKCTAS has no links with and receives no funding from either tobacco or e-cigarette companies.” Further information can be found at www.ukctas.net

A French member of the European Parliament has asked the European Commission whether it intends to review the inclusion of electronic cigarettes in the revised Tobacco Products Directive, given the benefits that these products offer.

In a preamble to her question, Joëlle Mélin said that Directive 2014/40/EU laid down the new regulatory framework for tobacco products in the European Union, which would need to be incorporated into the member states’ legal systems.

“The economic environment within which those in the electronic cigarette industry are trying to make progress is becoming increasingly complex,” she said. “Although electronic cigarettes and the liquids they use do not actually contain any tobacco, the electronic cigarettes themselves and the products associated with them are included in the directive.

“Placing electronic cigarettes – which do not burn or contain tobacco – in the same category as traditional cigarettes only dissuades smokers from turning to less harmful alternatives, which could amount to a direct contradiction of the Commission’s stated objective of public health protection.”

Mélin asked: “Given, then, that Commission studies (COM (2016) 269) have shown that ‘vaping’ is not dangerous, that more than 21 percent of users have managed to cut down on their tobacco consumption, and 14 percent have given up tobacco altogether (2016 Eurobarometer survey), does the Commission intend to review the inclusion of electronic cigarettes in the Tobacco Directive?”

Boston University’s School of Public Health will hold a vapor debate today, Wednesday, October 19, when two of the world’s leading experts on electronic cigarettes share the stage at the 2016 William J. Bicknell Lecture. Headlined E-cigarettes: Good Idea? Bad Idea? it is free and open to the public.

Linda Bauld, a University of Stirling professor of health policy and deputy director of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, says that while e-cigarettes are not risk-free, they are an important alternative to “a uniquely deadly product that kills one in two of its regular users.” She says there is no firm evidence that e-cigarettes are a gateway to conventional cigarette use among young adults.

Andrea Villanti, director for regulatory science and policy at the Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies at Truth Initiative, agrees that the devices are effective quit-smoking aids, but says there is a need for clear, accurate information about their potential harms. She says vaping devices are “a diverse product class and must not be treated as a single product.”

The discussion comes in the wake of the recent decision by the US Food an

d Drug Administration (FDA) to extend its tobacco oversight authority to e-cigarettes. The controversial FDA regulations require manufacturers to detail what is in their products and apply for marketing permission by 2018.

Nicopure Labs, a leading manufacturer of American-made e-liquids, announced the appointment of George Farah to vice president international.

With more than 30 years of experience in business management around the globe, Farah spent 26 years with Philip Morris International before becoming a managing partner in Levant Global Advisors in Switzerland.

“Having been involved with Nicopure since early 2016, as advisor to the CEO, I’m privileged to know Nicopure’s unique strength in the vaping industry,” said Farah. “Furthermore, I believe the vaping industry is at a critical tipping point and I’m very confident that Nicopure is poised to play a major role as this new and emerging industry continues to evolve, and to seek ways to offer a more attractive and compelling product proposition to its customers throughout the world.”

In his new role, which began on October 1, Farah will lead Nicopure’s international growth strategy as the company continues to expand its footprint in Europe and Asia. He also joins Nicopure’s corporate management team and will contribute to the development of the corporate strategy.

“We are both honored and thrilled to have George expand his role here at Nicopure,” said Jeff Stamler, CEO and co-founder of Nicopure Labs. “His pioneering spirit and extensive international management experience, specifically in the tobacco industry, will help us succeed in becoming a global leader in the vaping industry.”

Fewer people in Scotland are using National Health Service provisions in an attempt to quit smoking amid a rise in electronic cigarette use, according to a story by Ian Marland for The Times.

The overall number of people smoking in Scotland has fallen despite a large drop since 2011-12 in the number of people using NHS provisions to quit.

Statisticians said that while the reason for the fall in the use of NHS services was not completely clear, a rise in the use of electronic cigarettes to help quitting “is a likely contributing factor”.

Meanwhile, figures from NHS Scotland show that 64,736 people made quit smoking attempts using the NHS in 2015-16, down five percent from the 67,935 of 2014-15, according to a story in the Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail relayed by the TMA.

Cancer Research UK’s senior public affairs manager in Scotland Gregor McNie said it was deeply concerning to see a drop in the number of people using smoking cessation services in Scotland because they were much more successful at helping people quit than was willpower alone.

McNie said that smoking was a lethal addiction that caused at least 14 types of cancer.

It was vital that funding for the NHS services was maintained and smokers were encouraged to attend.

Cancer Research UK says that it will soon launch a study to understand better how these services are performing in Scotland and what more can be done to ensure smokers are supported in stubbing out this habit for good.

Scientists at British American Tobacco and Nicoventures have developed a test to examine vaping behaviour and then used the results to inform their studies on electronic cigarettes.

The results of the study, said to be the largest of its kind, have been published in Scientific Reports DOI: 10.1038/srep35071.

In a press note, BAT said that understanding vaping behaviour allowed scientists to program vaping machines in the laboratory so that they effectively mimicked real world use when a product was being tested. ‘This leads to more accurate machine conditions for e-cigarette testing, which produce more realistic, true to life results,’ it said. ‘These tests help determine the extent to which e-cigarettes emit toxicants in comparison to conventional cigarettes.’

The test used in this study was based on Smoking Analyser (SA7) technology, which was developed initially to measure smokers’ puffing behaviour. This is a small portable device that can measure pressure and flow and provides information such as the size and length of a puff and the time between puffs.

Using a modified version, two types of electronic cigarette were tested: a rechargeable Vype cig-a-like device, and a Vype ePen, which is a larger, enclosed button-activated device.

Sixty current electronic cigarette users participated in the study and attended the testing location on two separate days to use the products provided as they wanted.

“Puffing behaviour was slightly different for the two groups tested,” said Dr James Murphy, head of risk substantiation at BAT.  There was variability across populations for each device so the results represent an average of behaviour.  Currently, there are no internationally agreed standardised testing protocols that measure the emissions of e-cigarette aerosols in a life-like manner.  Understanding how e-cigarette users vape on their products, however, could help to establish the standardised protocols needed.”

BAT said that the test described here formed part of a framework of tests used in the assessment of next generation products (NGPs). These tests were part of a product stewardship process designed to support the safety and quality of NGPs in development.

The International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations (INNCO), which describes itself as a ‘ground-breaking global consumer advocacy network representing over 20 million former smokers worldwide’, is being launched today.

‘The network brings together leading advocacy organisations from over fifteen countries to pursue a set of common objectives,’ the alliance said in a press note.

‘INNCO’s mission is to make it easier for smokers to obtain safer alternatives to cigarettes, which are the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the world.’

“While combustible tobacco is still the most common – and often lethal – way to use nicotine recreationally, that’s changing quickly,” New Zealand spokesperson Nancy Sutthoff was quoted as saying. “Electronic cigarettes and snus offer consumers far safer alternatives to combustible tobacco and unlike conventional nicotine replacement therapy, consumers enjoy them.”

INNCO described electronic cigarettes in particular as a game changer. ‘Public Health England and the Royal College of Physicians consider them unlikely to exceed five percent of the risk of combustible cigarettes,’ the alliance said.

‘Among INNCO’s priorities is to demand an end to the prohibition, disproportionate regulation, and punitive taxation of safer nicotine products like e-cigarettes and snus. The network seeks a dialogue with the World Health Organization (WHO) over its opposition to e-cigarettes and other safer ways to use nicotine – an issue which INNCO believes is fuelling a rising tide of resentment towards the UN health agency.

‘INNCO is concerned that the WHO has shown a generally negative response to e-cigarettes since their introduction. Despite the increasing wealth of scientific evidence which supports their unique potential for harm reduction, the WHO tends to ignore the positives and selectively focus on unsubstantiated fears.

‘The WHO seventh Conference of the Parties (CoP7) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), will take place in Delhi, India next month and INNCO believes it is likely that the organisation will seek to entrench their prohibitionist stance yet further. The CoP7 agenda contains several proposals which, if enacted, would make it even harder for current users or smokers wishing to switch to access e-cigarettes, or use them in public places.

‘INNCO finds the WHO’s refusal to engage with the most important stakeholders concerning. It is consumers who actually use reduced-risk nicotine products, and therefore ignoring them throughout the decision-making process contradicts the UN and WHO advice to engage with affected communities.

‘At previous meetings, the press was dismissed from the proceedings after the opening statements were completed. INNCO worries the WHO has normalized secrecy, with the conference amounting to little more than a biennial lesson on how to avoid transparency.’

INNCO said that it had written to Dr. Margaret Chan, the director general of WHO, enclosing its response to the WHO FCTC CoP7 report Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and Electronic Non-Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS/ENNDS) and formally requested a meeting to discuss its concerns over increasing disproportionate global regulation.

Judy Gibson, a UK-based, experienced consumer advocate is said to be steering the development of the alliance network. “INNCO intends to be in the vanguard of a global harm reduction revolution,” she said. “We are a conduit for the most influential nicotine consumer advocate organizations across the world but we also represent the disenfranchised; those who face state prosecution simply because they made an informed choice to stop inhaling deadly smoke and switch to something much safer.

“Over 20 million people are estimated to be using safer nicotine products – and INNCO intends to ensure that their voices are heard. ‘Nothing about us without us’ – it’s now time to start talking.”

Japan Tobacco Inc. will expand sales of its Ploom TECH vapor device to stores throughout Japan starting in 2017, according to a story in The Nikkei Asian Review.

The popularity of Ploom has soared and JT has been unable to keep up with demand since limited sales began in March.

JT plans to invest about ¥50 billion yen ($481 million) in factories in Japan and China with the aim of producing by sometime next year 10 times as many of the devices as was possible at the launch.

The devices are available online and in the southern city of Fukuoka, but sales will be expanded to cover stores in Tokyo and other large urban areas, and then other parts of the country. The company will consider also overseas sales.

Ploom TECH heats up a liquid-filled cartridge to generate vapor, which passes through a capsule containing granulated tobacco so as to deliver a cigarette-like taste without smoke.

JT is chasing Philip Morris International in the home market. PMI began test-marketing its iQOS vapor device in Nagoya in 2014 and went nationwide with sales in April. Cumulative Japanese sales of the device reached two million units last month. In just two years, the device’s cigarette-like HeatStick inserts have found a niche that is equivalent to roughly five percent of the Japanese market for regular tobacco cigarettes.