Author: Timothy Donahue

Italian Lawmakers Examine Nicotine Legislation

Photo: chrisdorney
Italian lawmakers have started investigating the country’s taxation and concessionary system for the retail sale of tobacco and next-generation products, reports Sigmagazine.
On Sept. 18, the Chamber of Deputies’ finance committee heard from three tobacconist organizations. The exchange will likely be followed by hearings of vapor industry representatives.
This marks the first formal occasion where politicians acknowledge the nicotine sector, thus recognizing it as a legitimate interlocutor.
Italy’s tobacco market has been in flux as traditional tobacco products, particularly cigarettes, have lost ground to next-generation products, which jumped from 4 percent to 18 percent of the market between 2019 and 2023.
In response to the shifting sales trends and tax receipts, Italian lawmakers have adjusted the fiscal framework for smoking products. For example, during the 17th legislature, they extended excise duties to noncombustible tobacco products. E-liquids made from substances other than tobacco used in e-cigarettes were also subjected to taxes.
In addition to analyzing the tax framework, the finance committee wants to assess whether the system is consistent with EU rules and gather insights into the illicit trade.
According to the Italian Tobacconist Federation, the illegal market for smoking products and inhalable products is worth €1 billion ($1.11 billion), causing the state and tobacconists to miss out on income of €620 million and €120 million, respectively.
The commission’s work must be completed by Dec. 31, 2024.
September 19, 2024
UK Urged to Tackle ‘Illegal’ Disposable Vapes

Photo: BAT
The U.K. government should be cracking down on illegal vapes rather than introducing redundant policies on cigarettes, according to BAT Chief Corporate Officer Kingsley Wheaton.
Wheaton made his comments in the context of the British government’s “generational tobacco ban.” The U.K.’s previous Conservative administration announced plans to create a smoke-free generation by banning the sales of cigarettes in the future to anyone who is currently aged 14 or under. The new Labour government is continuing with the policy and is also concerned about the prevalence of disposable vapes.
Wheaton cited a BAT analysis showing that by the time the generational ban takes force, smoking rates will have already fallen below 5 percent in that age category.
BAT is instead pushing for licensing for retailers selling vapes. With proper enforcement, licensing will help reduce the number of underage children getting their hands on e-cigarettes and level the playing field for all companies operating in the industry, according to the multinationals.
“We need to move on to a more mature dialog with real solutions for the problems that are out there,” Wheaton was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
September 19, 2024
Georgia House Welcomes ‘False’ Registry Comments

Credit: Hafakot
Earlier this year, the Georgia legislature adjourned before the Senate could consider House Bill 1260, also known as the Georgia Nicotine Vapor Products Directory Act. If passed, the bill would have established a registry for vape products that had premarket tobacco product applications (PMTA) either authorized or under consideration by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Manufacturers would add their products to the registry voluntarily.
According to reporting by Filter, legislators formed the Safety & Consumer Protection of Nicotine Vapor Products Study Committee in March. At the committee meetings held September 5 and September 9, law enforcement officers and school administrators took turns giving wildly inaccurate testimony about how United States teenagers are being killed off en masse by unregulated, disposable flavored vapes imported from China.
The September 9 meeting featured a slideshow titled Flavored Disposable Vape–The New Face of Organized Crime, describing how the epidemic was leading children down a path toward transnational drug trafficking. It was kept off-camera during the livestream, due to apparently containing top-secret law enforcement intelligence.
“Again, everything’s Chinese, from China. What else is China bringing into the United States?” asked copresenter Carlos Sandoval. “Methamphetamine. Cocaine. Vapes is another new product, it’s opening another door for organized crime and cartels.”
Despite the fact that the both study committee and the tabled bill are purportedly about nicotine vapor products, the committee appeared to be about equally preoccupied with THC. Both were described as “highly addictive” and “silent killers,” often interchangeably.
One former principal testified that one of the only interventions she’d found helpful to prevent vaping in her school was a “rewards program” that used a school communications platform to apparently place small bounties on students who vaped.
“A student could go on there and turn in someone who was vaping in the bathroom,” she said, “and if we were able to prove it they would receive a $25 gift certificate. We called it ‘Snitches Get Riches.’”
September 18, 2024
PMI Sells Vectura, Exits Asthma Inhaler Business

Photo: PMI
Philip Morris International is selling Vectura to Molex Asia Holdings for £150 million ($198 million) cash upfront and potential deferred payments of up to £148 million—about a third of the price it paid for the company three years ago. Vectura will be operated by Molex’ Phillips Medisize unit.
In 2021, PMI paid about $1.2 billion for the U.K. maker of asthma inhalers as part of its efforts to diversify into the pharmaceutical business.
The deal attracted heavy criticism from anti-smoking campaigners who said the cigarette manufacturer should not benefit from a company that offers treatments of ailments caused or worsened by tobacco products.
The fierce opposition played a roll in PMI’s decision to sell the unit at a loss. “Despite the investment and commitment to developing products and therapies vital to patients, unwarranted opposition to PMI’s transformation has impacted Vectura’s scientific engagement and commercial CDMO [contract developing and manufacturing organization] relationships.” PMI wrote in statement.
“With its experience in pharmaceutical drug delivery devices and its global manufacturing footprint, Phillips Medisize is best placed to lead Vectura into the future—while releasing it from the unreasonable burden of external constraints and criticism related to our ownership,” said PMI CEO Jacek Olczak.
Vectura is part of a “health and wellness” unit that also includes Fertin Pharma, the producer of a smoking-cessation aid, that PMI bought for about $820 million in 2021. Last year, PMI took a $680 million impairment charge on the unit after unsuccessful clinical trials and slower-than-expected development of other products.
Selling Vectura will allow PMI to “rid itself of a financially struggling unit,” said Kenneth Shea, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. “But it also represents a strategic backpedal to the company’s once-bold ambition to serve the inhaled therapeutics medical market,” he added.
September 18, 2024
BAT Announces Major Management Board Changes
BAT has announced management board changes. Kingsley Wheaton will be appointed as chief corporate officer, a newly created role. Wheaton’s current role of chief strategy and growth officer will cease to exist.
As chief corporate officer, Wheaton will have overall responsibility for the strategy and execution of the group’s sustainable future pillar, including:
Establishing broad acceptance of BAT’s tobacco harm reduction (THR) agenda, working with BAT’s director of research and science, James Murphy, to ensure the scientific basis for harm reduction and encouraging a fact-based discussion on nicotine among key stakeholders;
Shaping the landscape through responsible and transparent dialogue with regulators, policymakers and other relevant stakeholders; and
Enhancing BAT’s leadership in sustainability and integrity.
Paul McCrory, director of corporate and regulatory affairs, will continue to report to Wheaton in this role. Donato Del Vecchio, chief sustainability officer, will also continue to report to Wheaton.
Luciano Comin, marketing director for combustibles and new categories, will be appointed chief marketing officer, reporting directly to Tadeu Marroco, CEO.
James Barrett, director of business development, will report to Soraya Benchikh, chief financial officer.
All changes are effective immediately.
“We will be taking an important step later today in our journey to encourage THR acceptance with the launch of a compelling science and evidential case for THR in the form of ‘The Omni: Forward Thinking for a Smokeless World,’” said Marroco.
“I would like to thank Kingsley for all that he has done as chief strategy and growth officer. He has stepped into the role at a critical time for BAT and has helped shape the strategy and establish new functional capabilities. In all of these areas, BAT is now stronger and more robust.”
“I feel honored to take up this new challenge,” said Wheaton. “As BAT moves forward toward ‘A Better Tomorrow,’ the focus on this area of the strategy will be all-important. I am looking forward to bringing my experience and understanding of both BAT and the external environment and making a real difference.”
September 17, 2024
Leaked Draft: EU Wants to Ban Outdoor Vaping

The European Commission will propose extending smoking bans to outdoor areas, such as cafe terraces, bus stops and zoos. The proposal will also include nicotine-free products, according to leaked documents.
The recommendations include “heated-tobacco products and electronic cigarettes, whether containing nicotine or nicotine-free.” The commission also wants to include “tobacco surrogates and any other smoke and/or aerosol emitting products, according to the documents.
“The evidence on the use of emerging products as a cessation aid is inconclusive,” the documents said. The recommendations follow growing evidence that secondhand exposure to “aerosols from electronic cigarettes, both with and without nicotine, expose bystanders to quantifiable levels of particulate matter and key toxicants and contaminants.”
“The level of coverage of smoke-free rules varies greatly based on the type of smoke-free environments, and the general level of coverage of outdoor spaces in smoke-free policies is low,” the commission said.
The new guidelines would include outdoor or semi-outdoor, meaning partially covered or enclosed spaces like rooftops, balconies, porches and patios, associated with service establishments such as restaurants, bars and cafes. Public transport hubs like bus stops and airports and outdoor areas linked to workplaces, hospitals and nursing homes would also be included. Recreational areas where children are present would also be covered, including public playgrounds, amusement parks, swimming pools and zoos as well as educational premises ranging from preschool childcare to university.
The new recommendations are expected to be announced Sept. 17.
The leaked proposal has already received backlash from the World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA). “The commission is making a disastrous mistake by lumping vaping with smoking,” said Michael Landl, director of the WVA. “This sends a dangerous message to millions of smokers who need vaping to quit. This falsely equates vaping with smoking, misleading millions into believing vaping is just as harmful when it’s actually 95 percent less harmful. There is virtually no secondhand vaping, and it is way less harmful than smoking. These recommendations will keep more people smoking and put public health at greater risk by equating vaping with smoking.”
“The commission is outright misleading smokers by claiming vaping and smoking are the same,” said Alberto Gomez Hernandez, policy manager at the WVA. “This blatant disregard for science and consumer choice ignores the facts. Allowing vaping in smoke-free areas could drive more smokers to switch, cutting smoking deaths across Europe. Instead, they’re blocking a proven harm reduction tool and putting lives at risk.”
September 17, 2024
Study: Vapes Lack Health Labels on Social Media

Photo: Nattakorn
Many synthetic nicotine brands on social media lack the required health labels, according to a Boston University study published in JAMA Network Open.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration passed a requirement in 2022 that says health warnings need to take up 20 percent of the advertising and appear in the upper portion of the advertisement for e-cigarettes that contain synthetic nicotine.
“When synthetic nicotine started appearing in products, we really wanted to know how it was being received and how it was being promoted,” says Traci Hong, a Boston University College of Communication professor of media studies.
The researchers studied more than 2,000 Instagram posts from 25 different synthetic nicotine brands, identified whether an image posted on Instagram included the required health warning and, if it did, whether it took up the right amount of space.
The Instagram posts were analyzed using a custom-built AI algorithm, which uses computer vision to detect if health warnings follow the FDA rules. The team found that only 13 percent of the analyzed posts complied with FDA health warning requirements.
They also discovered that the posts with health warnings received fewer likes and comments than posts without the warnings. According to the paper, the larger the warning label, the less comments the posts received. According to the paper’s authors, this suggests that having health warning labels could reduce how many social media users, especially young adults, are seeing and engaging with this content.
“These are brands that I think have a legitimate responsibility to inform their potential consumers that there are health risks and you need to be aware of them,” said Hong in a statement.
September 16, 2024
Study Suggests Vapes Alter Brain Function in Youth

VV Archives
College students who vape have lower cognitive function scores than those who don’t, researchers reported Sunday at the American Neurological Association’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
Researchers found that the more students vape, the lower their scores on learning, memory, problem-solving, and critical thinking tests.
Researchers found that students who vaped 10 to 20 puffs per day scored 9 percent lower than those who did not vape or smoke, while those who vaped more than 20 puffs a day scored nearly 14 percent lower, media states.
“We believe our research marks a before-and-after in the field of studying cognitive function regarding vaping,” said lead researcher Linker Vinan Paucar, a medical student at the Catholic University of Santiago de Guayaquil in Ecuador.
Previous studies have shown that smoking can affect brain function by shrinking the brain and lowering blood flow to brain cells, researchers said in background notes. Nicotine also causes neurotoxicity that damages brain cells.
The risk might be even more significant in people who vape, Paucar said.
“People in the study who had previously smoked cigarettes typically smoked three or four a week, but with vaping, they now smoke double, triple or more, especially if they smoke and vape,” Paucar said.
September 16, 2024
Rocky River Set to Ban Vaping in Public Parks
Credit: Mahir
The Rocky River City Council in Ohio could vote today to ban smoking and vaping on city property, including public parks.
The legislation is set for its third and final reading at Monday’s regular council meeting at City Hall.
According to media reports, the new law would apply to all publicly owned property in the city, which would include the city’s 10 parks.
Rocky River’s city policies already bar smoking on all city-owned properties. If public staffers catch someone smoking, they can escort them off the property.
The proposed ordinance would make it a minor misdemeanor, and violators could be ticketed and/or fined.
September 16, 2024
New Zealand Urged to Rethink Closed-System Ban

Photo: Evgeniy Vershinin
The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) is urging New Zealand to reconsider its proposed vaping regulations, which include a ban on closed systems, tighter limits on displays in retail shops and new flavor restrictions.
“This amendment will make it more difficult for adults who smoke to access vaping products, potentially pushing them back to smoking,” said CAPHRA Executive Coordinator Nancy Loucas. “It’s a step backwards in our journey towards a smoke-free New Zealand.
The CAPHRA submission highlights several concerns. According to the advocacy group, the ban disproportionately affects older adults and those with dexterity issues who rely on simpler closed systems. The proposed display restrictions, says CAPHRA, may deter smokers from switching to less harmful alternatives. Meanwhile, the focus on further display restrictions in retail shops ignores the real issue of social supply to youth, according to the organization, while flavor restrictions could hinder successful smoking cessation efforts.
“Consumers have the right to make informed choices about their health. This amendment proposes to restrict consumer autonomy and may hinder harm reduction efforts,” said Loucas.
“Even the Ministry of Health suggested that the regulations, as they are, are fit for purpose and the ASH Year 10 survey has shown that youth vaping has declined from the peak a couple of years ago.
“CAPHRA calls for a more balanced approach, focusing on education and transparent risk communication. By highlighting the facts about vaping, who it is for, and what it is, we can combat misinformation and support public health,” said Loucas.
September 16, 2024