Author: GTNF Trust Staff

In South Africa, a proposed new tobacco-products bill would extend the government’s regulatory reach to cover vaping, according to a story in The Business Day.

The Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Wednesday published what the newspaper described as ‘the long-awaited’ Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill. The Bill, which was passed by the Cabinet last month, is subject to a three-month public-comment period.

The Bill is said to pave the way for much stricter tobacco laws than previously applied and for bringing e-cigarettes into the regulatory fold.

In the preamble to the bill, the minister said strong action was required to deter people from using tobacco products, to protect non-smokers from exposure to tobacco smoke and to encourage existing users to quit.

Electronic delivery devices were to be regulated because they contained nicotine and the long-term effects of their use was unknown, he said.

Key proposals in the bill include a ban on vending machines, the introduction of standardized packaging and graphic health warnings, much tighter control on smoking in public places, and regulation of electronic delivery devices.

The Tobacco, Alcohol and Gambling Advisory Advocacy and Action Group’s executive director Peter Ucko said the bill was long overdue.

“This bill should have been published in 2010 or 2011,” he said. “Many people have died because it wasn’t.”

Ucko said the language of the bill needed to be tightened up to close loopholes that would enable the industry to undermine the government’s efforts.

But the Tobacco Institute of Southern Africa’s chairman Francois van der Merwe said the bill went too far. It would render SA a “counterfeiter’s paradise” and increase the sale of illicit cigarettes.

“There is no urgency for this bill,” Van der Merwe said. “It is a cut-and-paste job from Geneva, instead of developing regulation that can work [in SA].”

The EU should rethink its ban on tobacco-products advertising because consumers need more information about how electronic cigarettes are much less harmful than are combustible cigarettes, and how the former could help them quit the latter, according to an opinion piece in the Parliament Magazine by the MEP Laima Andrikienė, who is a member of the EU Parliament’s international trade committee.

The Parliament Magazine has run a series of opinion pieces written by people advocating the imposition of e-cigarette standards, and much of Andrikienė’s piece was about the need for such standards.

She said that thousands of counterfeit products entered the EU market without any safety checks and in violation of the EU’s trade rules. These included all kinds of products, from toys, electrical devices, medicines, to cosmetics and tobacco.

Tobacco producers, she said, faced significant problems regarding the illegal trade. Novel tobacco products and e-cigarettes differed from conventional tobacco products in many ways, and there were many new products available on the market.

‘In general, a large variety of similar products is a good thing for consumers, but it is important to know if regulators are prepared for this level of complexity,’ she said. ‘What we know for sure is that there is no compliance structure in place at EU level.’

Andrikienė said that protecting consumers and ensuring products were safe – particularly those brought in from third countries – remained problematic and required urgent attention at EU level.

Safety started with standards, she said, and the European committee for standardisation was working on the issue. However, the process of standardisation was slow and further efforts by all EU member states were needed.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Heath has abandoned its legal fight to stop a tobacco company importing and selling heat-not-burn (HNB) tobacco sticks, according to a story on Radio New Zealand (RNZ).

Last month, the Wellington District Court dismissed the Ministry’s case against Phillip Morris, ruling the product, HEETS, did not come under the Smoke-Free Environment Act’s ban on tobacco products for chewing or other oral use.

The Ministry has decided not to appeal the decision.

The products will be subject to some of the regulatory controls that apply to combustible cigarettes; so they cannot be sold to minors and their advertising is restricted.

But unlike combustible cigarettes, vaping and HNB devices can be used indoors in public places.

The Ministry said it was now considering how best to regulate vaping devices and HNB products.

Meanwhile, a Scoop story in April said that the legality of selling nicotine vaping products in New Zealand remained in doubt.

The previous National-led government claimed nicotine-vaping products could not be legally imported into and sold in New Zealand, but last year promised new regulations to allow the sale of nicotine e-cigarettes and e-liquids.

And at the beginning of April, National MP Nicky Wagner, who championed the promised law change, introduced a private member’s bill to try to get vaping back on the Labour-led government’s agenda.

But vaping researcher, Professor Marewa Glover, of Massey University’s School of Health Sciences, said that six months into the new Labour-led government’s term, all Associate Minister of Health Jenny Salesa had said on the matter was that she didn’t know what the government’s position on e-cigarettes was going to be.

InterTabac is the largest trade fair for tobacco products and smoking accessories in the world. Now, the show will have a stronger focus towards vapor and other next generation tobacco products (NGP).

According to a press release, NGPs – especially e-cigarettes, e-liquids and Heat-not-Burn products- are becoming increasingly popular and InterTabac has addressed and promoted the growing market’s development by offering its suppliers an ideal platform. “The topic has been given even more exhibition halls in 2018,” the release states. NGPs will be exhibited in three exhibition halls at this year’s show.

“The legendary Westfalenhalle Arena has been integrated into the trade fair for the first time and will be used exclusively for the NGP topic segment. The imposing hall offers adequate space for impressive company presentations and exhibition stands – the hall height of 29 meters … allows [for any type] of stand construction,” the release states. “The Arena use will also benefit from an inviting catering offering. The directly adjoining halls 2 and 3A make the business platform for NGPs overall even bigger and more attractive.”

Dortmund brings together some of the industry’s top decision-makers, buyers and manufactures. Last year, 560 exhibitors presented product innovations and trends to 12,500 visitors from 64 countries, according to the release. This year’s show will be held from 21 -23 September 2018.

For more information visit www.intertabac.de or www.intertabac.com

photo courtesy Intertabac

The US Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have issued 13 warning letters to manufacturers, distributors and retailers about selling e-liquids in packaging likely to appeal to young people.

In a note issued through the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, the agencies said that they were targeting those involved in e-liquids used in e-cigarettes with labeling and/or advertising that caused them to resemble ‘kid-friendly food products, such as juice boxes, candy or cookies, some of them with cartoon-like imagery’.

Several of the companies that received warning letters were also cited for selling such products to minors.

“No child should be using any tobacco product, and no tobacco products should be marketed in a way that endangers kids – especially by using imagery that misleads them into thinking the products are things they’d eat or drink,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D, as part of the note.

“Looking at these side-to-side comparisons is alarming. It is easy to see how a child could confuse these e-liquid products for something they believe they’ve consumed before – like a juice box.

“These are preventable accidents that have the potential to result in serious harm or even death. “Companies selling these products have a responsibility to ensure they aren’t putting children in harm’s way or enticing youth use, and we’ll continue to take action against those who sell tobacco products to youth and market products in this egregious fashion.”

See the FDA announcement here:

https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm605507.htm?utm_campaign=05012018_PR_youth%20tobacco%20programs&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&utm_source=FairWarning&utm_campaign=a8cc739ef8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_03_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b07bcba8fa-a8cc739ef8-64801521

JUUL Labs has said that it will take additional decisive action to build on its existing ‘youth prevention and education programs.

The Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, said on April 24 that the agency was introducing several enforcement actions as part of a new Youth Tobacco Prevention Plan to stop young people from using and gaining access to JUUL and other electronic cigarettes.

In a note issued through PRNewswire on April 25, JUUL said it would support state and federal initiatives to raise the minimum age for buying tobacco products to 21+.

Such support would be funded by an investment of $30 million during the next three years that would be dedicated to ‘independent research, youth and parent education, and community engagement efforts’.

‘JUUL Labs has seen significant success in its efforts to enable adult smokers to transition from cigarettes and also recognizes that young people have become aware of and gained access to its products,’ the company said.

‘The company is committed to combatting underage use of its products and engaging with the

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), members of Congress, local and state officials and members of the public health community on this important issue.

‘JUUL Labs will work with Tom Miller, the Iowa Attorney General, and a group of public officials and tobacco control individuals he will assemble to continue strengthening existing initiatives and new efforts to keep JUUL out of the hands of young people.

‘In addition, Attorney General Miller and the same group will work with JUUL Labs to develop a transparent and effective framework for independent research focused on the scientific and societal implications of vapor products.’

“Our company’s mission is to eliminate cigarettes and help the more than one billion smokers worldwide switch to a better alternative,” said JUUL Labs CEO Kevin Burns.

“We are already seeing success in our efforts to enable adult smokers to transition away from cigarettes and believe our products have the potential over the long-term to contribute meaningfully to public health in the US and around the world.

“At the same time, we are committed to deterring young people, as well as adults who do not currently smoke, from using our products. We cannot be more emphatic on this point: No young person or non-nicotine user should ever try JUUL.”

The company said its support for state and federal efforts to raise the minimum age of purchase for JUUL and other vapor products to 21+ followed its announcement in August 2017 that it had raised the minimum age of purchase on its own e-commerce site to 21+, even though the legal age of purchase in many states remained at 18.

As part of its note, JUUL said that additional programs to be launched or expanded in 2018 included:

Investing in research and development to evaluate potential technologies to help prevent youth from gaining access to, and/or using JUUL; Building on the company’s efforts to enforce appropriate age verification at retail through its ‘secret shopper’ program; Calling on social media platforms to remove content showing, and/or encouraging, youth use of JUUL; Calling on online marketplaces to remove content that violates JUUL resale agreements by offering JUUL products for sale without age verification; Providing educational material at retail locations where JUUL products are sold and on the JUUL website to help increase parents’ awareness of JUUL and provide information on the negative impacts of nicotine on youth.

An opinion piece published in The Hill poses and answers the question: How much does the US Food and Drug Administration do to promote public health?

Lindsey Stroud, a state government relations manager at The Heartland Institute, a non-profit group aimed at promoting limited government, describes how, in recent years, the FDA has become increasingly more involved in ‘protecting the public health by ensuring the safety, efficacy, and security’ of numerous products, including prescription medications, tobacco, and food and cosmetic products.

‘In many cases, the agency has proven itself to be exceptionally biased against harm reduction devices and services, while at other times, FDA has failed to protect the public from potentially dangerous substances,’ Stroud writes.

‘Such is the case with OxyContin, one of the most important contributors to America’s current opioid epidemic.

‘In countless instances, FDA has been too stringent and inflexible. In others, it has seemingly been ignorant of the dangers of particular drugs, leading many (this writer included) to wonder: Does FDA have any clue what it’s doing?’

Later in her piece, Stroud says that it is important to note that, while the FDA has shown it is willing to allow powerful prescription painkillers to become one of the few relief methods available for chronic pain, it has at the same time applied a narrow standard to other products that could save lives.

‘For instance, FDA has yet to allow many e-cigarette, heat-not-burn, and snus products to be marketed as less harmful alternatives to combustible cigarettes – even though ample evidence shows they are,’ she writes.

Stroud’s piece is at: http://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/384407-how-much-does-the-fda-really-do-to-promote-public-health.

The Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, said Tuesday that the agency was introducing several enforcement actions as part of a new Youth Tobacco Prevention Plan to stop young people from using and gaining access to JUUL and other electronic cigarettes. 

In a note issued through its Center for Tobacco Products, the FDA said it understood that many kids were using e-cigarettes with a particular set of characteristics: an appearance that closely resembled a USB flash drive, high levels of nicotine, and emissions that were hard to see. It said that these characteristics might facilitate youth use by making the products more attractive to children and teens.

Several of these products fell under the JUUL brand, but other brands with similar characteristics were emerging, it said.

As part of the Youth Tobacco Prevention Plan to stop youth use of tobacco products – particularly e-cigarettes – the FDA said it was announcing several new actions and efforts, including:

• Issuing warning letters to 40 retailers for violations related to youth sales of JUUL e-cigarettes;
• Conducting a large-scale, undercover nationwide blitz of retail establishments;
• Sending an official request for information to JUUL Labs requiring the company to submit important documents to better understand the reportedly high rates of youth use and the particular youth appeal of these products; and
• Taking steps to foreclose online sales of JUUL to minors.

Finally, the FDA said that as part of the FDA’s responsibility to protect kids and significantly reduce tobacco-related disease and death, these were the first steps in a new effort aimed at stopping youth use of e-cigarettes.

The R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company has issued a voluntary recall of over 2.6 million Vuse Vibe power units. The company received 10 complaints from users about faulty and malfunctioning batteries. The company states that the batteries may lead to overheating and start fires.

Consumers who are using the Vuse Vibe units- Vuse Solo and Ciro are not included- are advised to stop using the devices immediately, unscrew the tank from the power unit and call (800) 369-8200 for further instructions. Consumers are asked to not charge their Vuse Vibe power unit as this could lead to overheating and possibly catch fire.

As of late-April, the company had received 10 complaints. There is no indication that anyone had been injured due to the issue. The company is currently working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the voluntary recall and plans to return selling Vibe Vuse on the market soon after the issue is resolved. Full refunds are also available.

For more information on this recall, please visit https://vusevapor.com/posting

Members of parliament chaired three panel discussions as about 160 participants took part in a conference in London yesterday staged by the UK Vaping Industry Association.

Mark Pawsey, the MEP for Rugby and chair for the All Party Parliamentary Group for E-cigarettes, chaired a regulatory-landscape session that was enlivened and overshadowed by Brexit unknowns.

The theme of the conference was, Going for Growth, but considerable time was spent on discussing why e-cigarette growth had faltered and what was needed to get it going again.

Many of the challenges the sector faced were familiar. One such challenge was overcoming the misunderstandings among smokers about the potential health benefits of switching to vaping: misunderstandings in part caused by the over-enthusiastic reporting of the results of poor-quality research into e-cigarettes and vaping.

Other challenges seemed less familiar but no less daunting. Wide product choice, normally seen as being essential in the quest to encourage smokers to switch to vaping, was seen by some as causing confusion and therefore as being a deterrent to switching. This problem seemed to be about the proliferation of versions of a single product, such as is comprised by e-cigarettes, rather than the introduction of different categories of products, such as e-cigarettes, snus and heat-not-burn (HNB) devices.

Gareth Johnson, the MP for Dartford [London] and parliamentary private secretary to the secretary for state for Exiting the European Union, chaired a session on the role of the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries in the future of vaping. This session was almost entirely about the tobacco industry’s role because the pharmaceutical representative who had been scheduled to take part did not. And much of the session involved the tobacco-industry representatives (British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Japan Tobacco International and Philip Morris International) trying to explain how they could convince smokers and public health bodies to trust their research given the distrust built up in previous years.

The conference was noteworthy, among other things, for the level of tension in respect of heat-not-burn (HNB) products. Some participants representing e-cigarettes seemed to take the view that HNB products and e-cigarettes should not be too closely aligned. One person questioned whether HNB products were piggybacking on the reduced-harm credentials of e-cigarettes.

The Rt Hon Norman Lamb (pictured), the MP for North Norfolk, chaired a session on bolstering public health evidence. Lamb is a former minister of state for Care and Support at the Department of Health and the chair of the Science and Technology Select Committee. He is leading an inquiry into e-cigarettes that is looking into their effectiveness as a smoking cessation tool and their impact on the health of the nation.

One of the panellists made the point that what was not needed was more research. What was needed was responsible research and the dissemination of the results of that research.

And at this point, as the one-day conference wound down, it was back to where it started: the challenge of addressing misinformation.

A report on the conference is due to be included in a future issue of Vapor Voice magazine.