The findings of a report into the public health effects of electronic-cigarette use in the US are due to be discussed during a public webinar next week.
According to a National Academies News press note, millions of US citizens use electronic nicotine delivery systems, which were described as a diverse group of devices such as ‘cig-a-likes’ and vape tank systems that produce an aerosol that users inhale via a mouthpiece.
‘A new congressionally mandated report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine evaluates the available evidence of the short- and long-term health effects related to the use of e-cigarettes in users; vulnerable populations of users such as youth, pregnant women, and individuals with underlying medical conditions; and non-users exposed to second- and third-hand aerosol generated by use of these devices,’ the note said.
The report is said to contain dozens of conclusions in areas such as smoking initiation and cessation; the health effects of using e-cigarettes compared to those of smoking combustible tobacco cigarettes; and the health effects related to cancer, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory and oral diseases.
The note said that members of the committee that conducted the study and wrote the report will present their findings and recommendations, and answer questions during a public webinar beginning at 11.00 Eastern Standard Time on January 23.
A committee meeting in South Korea yesterday to consider ideas for new graphic health warnings on cigarette packs, discussed also whether ‘stronger pictorial warnings’ should be imposed on heat-not-burn products, according to a Yonhap News Agency story.
South Korea is due to change the graphic images on cigarette packs in December.
In 2016, tobacco companies were required to include graphic warnings covering 30 percent of the upper part of both of the main faces of cigarette packs.
Under the requirement, the graphics must be changed every 24 months as part of efforts to maintain their effectiveness, the Ministry of Health and Welfare says.
The new graphic images are due to appear on cigarette packs by December 23, but firstly they must be approved by a committee composed of eight civilian experts and four government officials.
Figures from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development put the smoking rate among South Korean men aged 15 and older at 31 percent in 2015.
This was the highest rate among 15 OECD countries surveyed.
Japan came second with 30 percent, followed by Italy with 25 percent.
The New Zealand government is keeping quit on whether it intends to honor its promise to legalize e-cigarettes and vapor products after renewed calls for a law change as aggravated retail robberies increase and fewer people quit smoking.
Tax hikes on cigarettes have prompted just 10 percent of New Zealand’s smoking population- about 550,000- to quit. Retailers are bearing the brunt of the consequences, however, as retail robberies increase, according to the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.
The group is calling for the legalization of e-cigarettes, which are illegal to sell, supply or give away, but the new Labour-led Government isn’t committing to a previous National vow to regulate their use, according to a story in the Otago Daily Times.
The union released a report on the social effects of the tax hike, Up In Smoke: The Social Cost of Tobacco Excise, ahead of a Jan. 5, 10 percent tax increase on cigarettes, and accused the Government of being more interested in revenue gathering than reducing harm, according to the article.
In contrast, aggravated robberies are on the rise with police intelligence documents revealing cigarette retailers were targeted 490 times in a 13-month period, according to the story. Union director Jordan Williams says the tax hike regime in a bid to have a smokefree country by 2025 is a “complete failure”.
Households had less money and people were more likely to buy black market tobacco, fueling further robberies, he said, according to the Times story. “The Government’s foot dragging suggests that the higher taxes were not about health, but about the money all along. The Government should halt increases to tobacco taxes, at least until the sale of e-cigarettes containing nicotine are fully legalized.”
Police intelligence documents attributed the cost of tobacco as a likely contributing factor on robberies because of the high returns on black market tobacco, thought to be as high as a $10 profit on a $20 pack of cigarettes.
Dairy robberies are so frequent this year police launched a $1.8m anti-robbery scheme so vulnerable small businesses could apply for funding to beef up security.
New laws due to come into force in Singapore shortly will outlaw electronic cigarettes, making it illegal to use such devices even at home, according to a story in The Straits Times.
Some 18-plus e-cigarette users reportedly told the Times they planned to go back to smoking combustible cigarettes.
Currently, the sale, import and distribution of e-cigarettes are against the law, but there is no law against vapers using e-cigarettes in private places.
But a ban passed in November will make it illegal for people to buy, use and own what were described in the report as ‘imitation tobacco products, such as e-cigarettes, e-cigars and e-pipes’.
The ban is expected to come into force within the next few months.
With the total ban, Singapore will be introducing the toughest stance possible against e-cigarettes, at the same time as neighboring countries are moving towards allowing regulated use of such products.
The Times quoted stories from three regional media outlets.
In January 2017, Malaysia tasked three ministries to regulate e-cigarettes, though the Sultan of Johor has vowed to stamp out vaping in the southern state, according to a Malay Mail Online story.
In Indonesia, only businesses that had been certified by the health ministry and whose products met national standards were allowed to import and sell e-cigarettes, The Jakarta Post reported.
And, according to the Bangkok Post, even Thailand was reconsidering its three-year ban on e-cigarettes.
When the ban was passed in Singapore in November, the Parliamentary Secretary for Health Amrin Amin said the measures were meant to “de-normalize” the use of tobacco products over time and deny youth access to cigarettes. The Health Ministry considers e-cigarettes gateway products to cigarette use.
South Korea’s imports of tobacco and vaping products rose to their highest level in 15 years last year, according to a Yonhap News Agency report quoting government figures.
The rise in imports was driven largely by the popularity of heat-not-burn (HNB) cigarettes.
South Korea imported combustible cigarettes and electronic-vaping products worth US$199.96 million during the first 11 months of last year, up 61 percent on the value of such imports during the whole of 2016, according to data from the Korea Customs Service (KCS).
The value of imports for the 11-month period was higher than any annual total since 2002, the KCS said.
Imports for the whole of 2017 are expected to surpass $200 million.
Indonesia accounted for the largest share of the value of South Korea’s 11-month 2017 imports, $45.9 million, and the Philippines was second, accounting for $36.06 million of those imports.
Italy took third place after HEETS, the consumable item of Philip Morris’ iQOS HNB device, was launched on to the domestic market in June. Imports of HEETS were valued at $30.62 million.
Philip Morris was said to have accounted for 80 percent of the nation’s HNB market.
A ban prohibiting tobacco smoking in open public spaces such as holiday camps or children’s playgrounds has come into effect in Portugal, according to a story in The Portugal News.
However, smoking is still permitted at sporting venues such as football stadiums.
The law, which also bans the use of electronic cigarettes in enclosed places, was approved by parliament in June.
Up until the end of 2017, people could use e-cigarettes even in hospitals and school classrooms.
Philip Morris Limited (PML) yesterday ran ‘advertisements’ in a number of UK newspapers announcing its New Year’s resolution to try to ‘give up cigarettes’.
The advertisement, Our New Year’s Resolution: we’re trying to give up cigarettes, encourages adult smokers to visit a new website – www.smokefreefuture.co.uk – that contains information on quitting and switching.
In addition, it makes a number of specific commitments for the UK for 2018:
Launch a website and campaign to provide smokers with information on quitting and on alternatives to cigarettes;
Offer to support local authority cessation services where smoking rates are highest;
Seek government approval to insert, directly into our cigarette packs, information on quitting and on switching;
Expand the availability of new, alternative products in the UK.
The advertisement outlines how Philip Morris International has spent more than £2.5 billion on research, product and commercial development during the past decade to develop smoke free alternatives to combustible cigarettes.
Meanwhile, Peter Nixon, MD of PML, has written to the prime minister outlining how the company believes it can play a part in helping Britain to go smoke free.
“We believe we have an important role to play in helping the UK become smoke-free,” he was quoted saying in a PML press note issued yesterday.
“The commitments announced today are practical steps that could accelerate that goal.
“We recognise that never starting to smoke – or quitting altogether – are always the best option. But for those who continue to smoke, there are more alternatives than ever available in the UK.”
Vaping could be banned on restaurant and bar patios in the Canadian city of Winnipeg later this year, according to a number of media reports.
A CBC News story said a report from Winnipeg’s community services department had recommended a ban on the use of cigarettes, cigars, pipes, electronic cigarettes, water pipes, hookahs and ‘similar products/devices’ on outdoor patios where food or drinks were served.
If the City Council approves the ban it will go into force on April 1 and Winnipeg will become the last major city in Canada to outlaw patio vaping.
In a telephone survey of 600 ‘randomly selected’ adults carried out between September 21 and October 10, the city found that 76 percent of people supported a patio smoking ban at restaurants and 58 percent supported a ban at bars.
Community by-law enforcement manager Winston Yee reported to council’s protection and community services committee that a scan of patio vaping bans in other cities had revealed little impact on businesses.
‘Implementation and compliance was achieved primarily through a combination of public and industry education, and providing support to business owners through a transition period,’ he said.
‘Most municipalities reported limited need for enforcement due to general public acceptance and co-operation from business owners.’
Yee said also that all other jurisdictions had created an exemption for the ceremonial Indigenous use of tobacco. And during an interview he indicated that Winnipeg would offer the same exemption.
In addition, bars could continue to allow vaping and smoking in outdoor areas on private property where no food or drinks were served, Yee said. But these areas would have to be permanent.
Not one US state funds tobacco prevention programs at levels recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP).
This is one of the findings contained in a report, Broken Promises to Our Children: A State-by-State Look at the 1998 Tobacco Settlement 19 Years Later. The report was published yesterday by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Americans for Non-smokers’ Rights and the Truth Initiative.
It finds that the states will collect $27.5 billion this year from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend less than three percent of that income, $721.6 million, on tobacco prevention programs.
And the $721.6 million that the states have budgeted for tobacco prevention is a small fraction of the $3.3 billion the CDCP recommends. Not a single state funds tobacco prevention programs at CDCP-recommended levels, and only two states, Alaska and California, provide more than 90 percent of the recommended funding.
But the report finds that states with ‘well-funded’, sustained tobacco prevention programs have seen remarkable progress. Florida, with one of the longest-running programs, had reduced its high school smoking rate to 5.2 percent, one of the lowest rates ever reported by any state.
A press note announcing the publication of the report said the US had reduced smoking to record lows of 15.1 percent among adults and 8.0 percent among high school students.
‘But tobacco use still kills more than 480,000 Americans and costs the nation about $170 billion in health care bills each year,’ the note said.
‘Today’s [Wednesday’s] report also highlights large disparities in who smokes and who suffers from tobacco-related diseases in the United States.
‘Smoking rates are especially high in a swath of 12 states in the Midwest and South, an area called “Tobacco Nation” in a recent Truth Initiative report.
‘Nationwide, smoking rates are highest among people who live below the poverty level and have less education, American Indians/Alaska Natives, LGBT Americans, those who are uninsured or on Medicaid, and those with mental illness.
‘These differences are in large part due to the tobacco industry’s targeting of vulnerable populations through advertising, price discounting and other marketing strategies.
‘By funding tobacco prevention and cessation programs at the CDC’s recommended levels, states can reduce tobacco use among all Americans. But most states are falling far short…’
The report ranks California as the top state for funding programs that prevent children from smoking and help smokers quit, while it put Connecticut and West Virginia, which each budgeted zero state funds this year for tobacco prevention and cessation programs, equal bottom.
A network of electronic-cigarette users yesterday pressed Thailand’s National Legislative Assembly to consider lifting the ban on the import, production, sale and possession of electronic cigarettes, according to a story in the Bangkok Post.
The Commerce Ministry earlier this year banned e-cigarettes and related products.
The chairman of the NLA’s commerce subcommittee, Siripol Yodmuangcharoen, who received the petition, said the group had backed its call for the ban to be reversed with information indicating that 160 countries allow the sale of e-cigarettes while only 15 countries ban them.
The group had claimed also that the ban on imported e-cigarettes resulted in a substantial loss in import tax revenues.
Siripol said the subcommittee would discuss the group’s demand.
Meanwhile, Maris Karanyawat, the network’s representative, said the group had presented its petition to the NLA along with the signatures of more than 17,000 people in support of the right of more than 11 million cigarette smokers to gain access to e-cigarettes.
