Category: News This Week

Swedish Match and Philip Morris International have mutually agreed to dissolve their joint venture agreement relating to the sale of smokeless tobacco products outside Scandinavia and the US.

The joint venture, SMPM International, which was owned on a 50/50 basis by Swedish Match and PMI, was established in 2009.

In a press note, Swedish Match said there was a small but growing demand for snus in current joint venture markets but that the development of these markets had taken longer than the parties to the agreement had initially anticipated.

‘As a consequence the parties have mutually agreed to dissolve the joint venture,’ the press note said.

‘Swedish Match and PMI will now focus on independent strategies for the commercialization of snus in the former joint venture territory. Trademark licenses will revert to the original owners, and separate transitional agreements have been signed whereby Swedish Match will supply snus products to PMI for certain markets and PMI will perform distribution services on behalf of Swedish Match in Canada and in Russia.’

Lars Dahlgren, president and CEO of Swedish Match was quoted as saying that the hard work and efforts of all involved in the SMPM International joint venture were appreciated.

“We have attained valuable insights, and are pleased to see that snus has been viewed by many outside of our core markets as a viable alternative,” he said. “We look forward to continuing to build our knowledge and work toward further developing our snus business globally.”

Philip Morris International announced yesterday the extension of its December 13 strategic framework with the Altria Group to include a joint research, development and technology sharing agreement.

‘The additional Agreement provides the framework under which PMI and Altria will collaborate to develop the next generation of e-vapor products for commercialization in the United States by Altria and in markets outside the United States by
PMI,’ PMI said in a note included in its second-quarter results announcement.

‘The collaboration between PMI and Altria in this endeavor is enabled by exclusive technology cross licenses and technical information sharing. The Joint Research, Development and Technology Sharing Agreement also provides for co-operation between PMI and Altria on scientific assessment, regulatory engagement and approval related to e-vapor products.

‘Under the existing strategic framework Agreements, Altria is making available its e-vapor products exclusively to PMI for commercialization outside the United States and PMI will make available two of its candidate reduced-risk tobacco products exclusively to Altria for commercialization in the United States.

‘It is envisaged that PMI’s candidate products would be regulated in the United States as Modified Risk Tobacco Products (MRPT) and any commercialization would be subject to U.S. Food and Drug Administration … authorization.

‘As previously announced, PMI expects to apply to the FDA during the course of 2016 for one of these two candidate reduced-risk products, its heat-not-burn iQOS product, to be approved as an MRTP.’

Altria, on its website, also announced the extension of the e-vapor agreement.

A constitutional court in Austria has overturned a planned amendment to tobacco laws that would have limited the sale of most electronic cigarettes to officially licensed tobacco shops, according to a Reuters story published by businessinsider.com.

Reuters reported that the government had proposed that sales of electronic cigarettes be limited to licensed tobacconists from October ‘to protect young people and for public health reasons’.

Retailers specializing in electronic cigarette objected because, under the amendment, they would have been allowed to sell only re-usable devices, but not the liquid to fill them or disposable products.

The court ruled on Monday however, that the proposed amendment was unconstitutional.

It said that the health arguments put forward were not solid enough to justify blocking the retailers’ right to trade freely.

And it said that electronic cigarettes should not be treated in the same way as tobacco products were treated.

“We are relieved that we can carry on our business and don’t have to shut up shop,” said Thomas Baburek, head of the electronic cigarette association, VFFED, and owner of an electronic cigarette shop.

Austrian tobacconists responded by saying that electronic cigarettes should not be allowed to be sold in an uncontrolled manner, according to comments reported by the APA news agency.

In Hong Kong, Children as young as six have ‘admitted’ trying electronic cigarettes, according to a story by Danny Lee for the South China Morning Post and citing the results of a survey conducted by the social welfare group Caritas.

The survey findings are said to have brought calls for tighter regulation of these devices and a ban on their sale to those under 18 years of age.

Of the 361 primary school children under the age of 12 who were surveyed, three percent said they had tried electronic cigarettes at least once. About 20 percent said they knew where to buy the products.

Caritas was said to have recommended that the government ‘legislate against the sale of e-cigarettes, including banning sales to those under 18’.

It also called for the labelling of all chemicals contained in the devices and for the provision of more guidance for parents about the ‘side-effects on children’.

Caritas said schools should be made to deploy ‘preventative education’.

The Asian Vape Association, a lobby group set up by electronic cigarette companies, previously told the Post that a government ban imposed without supporting scientific proof, would be irresponsible.

But it was said to have supported regulation of the devices.

“It is irresponsible for the government to prohibit personal vaporisers with no scientific basis,” a spokesman said.

“If they are worried about harmful substances, they should regulate them instead of banning them.”

A Māori health academic has accused some Aotearoa (New Zealand) health researchers and officials of spreading false negative information about electronic cigarettes, according to a story by Andrew McRae for Radio New Zealand.

Marewa Glover, an associate professor of Massey University, was quoted as saying that these false claims were putting people off using electronic cigarettes, which had the potential to help many people quit smoking.

Officially, the importation and sale of nicotine e-liquids is banned in Aotearoa, though it is possible for individuals to buy them online from overseas.

Glover said millions of people in Germany, the UK and the US had switched to vaping. This was a consumer-driven movement in which consumers were discovering electronic cigarettes without government or public health support. They were finding that these products worked and they were passing this information to other smokers.

Glover said it was a travesty that health professionals were not allowed and were not provided with the tools to support smokers in using vapour products to quit their habit.

She is calling for official recognition of vapor products as a way to help Māori quit smoking.

She pointed out that Māori were being disadvantaged because to buy e-liquids required credit facilities, access to a computer and knowledge about buying online.

The latest Ministry of Health figures on smoking show that about four in 10 Māori adults are smokers.

The Austrian parliament has decided to impose a ban on vaping and tobacco smoking in pubs and restaurants starting on May 1, 2018, according to an APA story.

A partial ban on tobacco smoking has been in place since 2009.

Pub and restaurant owners are being ‘encouraged’ to impose full bans on their premises by July 2016, and are being offered tax relief for rebuilding as an incentive.

The latest ban includes the use of electronic cigarettes.

C. B. Kaymich is launching two new pieces of equipment: its new High Capacity Gemini Flavour Application System and the CM7A7Ax Hot Melt Controller.

Orders for the first two Gemini units have been taken and they will be installed during the next eight weeks.

In reporting the launch of the new Gemini, Kaymich said that it had seen a significant increase in the manufacture of ‘product having significantly higher dosages of flavour, specifically menthol’.

But it said there had been two significant technical obstacles to overcome in developing the higher capacity unit. A significant increase in pump capacity of up to a litre of delivered fluid per minute had been required without sacrificing the delivery accuracy of +/-1 percent or consistency across a range of doses.

The other technical obstacle that had been successfully overcome had to do with melt capacity. ‘Applying pure menthol without a carrier reduces material costs and increases potential dosing per rod,’ Kaymich said in a press note. ‘It also requires a higher melt capacity when applying high dosage at high speed.’

Kaymich reported that it now used a new pump significantly higher in capacity – up to one litre per minute depending upon materials – yet still capable of maintaining accuracy of +/-1 percent flow across a range of dosages between 0.91 ml per minute and ≥1000 ml per minute, depending on the materials used.

‘Whilst delivery accuracy is reliant upon the pump, any fluctuations due to outside factors such as fluctuating machine speed, are monitored using a none-invasive flow meter, which eliminates any negative effect on the flow rate of monitoring delivery rates,’ Kaymich said. ‘Any out of tolerance product is identified and rejected. In this way the consistency of product progressing through the cigarette manufacturing process is guaranteed.

‘The second technical obstacle to high speed, high dosage application was the capacity of the tanks and their ability to melt flavour (menthol). Gemini has two 50 litre tanks which normally expect to have menthol melted ready for dispensing inside ninety minutes. To assist in the process of maintaining a supply of molten menthol for application by the Gemini, a re-circulation system has been developed to further reduce the melt time.

‘Using the feedback provided by level sensors in the tanks, flavour supply to the pump is alternated between the two 50 litre tanks ensuring continuity of supply and, subsequently, production. The large tank capacity means that operators are free to get on with their “day job” of making rather than managing the flavour application system and specifically the supply of flavour.’

Meanwhile, Kaymich announced too the launch of its new hot melt controller which replaces the now obsolete CM7A, CM7A1, CM7A2, CM7A3 and CM7A4 industry standard digital controllers.

‘The CM7A7Ax is easier to configure, easier to use and offers improved accuracy in terms of temperature control,’ said Kaymich in a second press note.

‘Gradual obsolescence of electronic components provided the need for a new controller which is now available as a direct replacement for existing units.

The main circuit board has been fully re-designed to incorporate contemporary technology and components and is fully backwardly compatible with the CM7A range of controllers.

‘The CM7A7Ax provides control for three-zone gravity fed hot-melt systems. It incorporates the necessary interface connections on the rear panel for heated zone power, heated zone temperature measurement, main input power and host machine control signals.

‘Each zone set-point temperature can be individually configured as appropriate for the installation via the in-built temperature controllers via the unit front panel.

‘Heated zone temperature measurement can be achieved using industry standard PT100 sensors or thermocouples. These are preconfigured during manufacture, but can be altered by trained service technicians if necessary, making the controller suitable for use in different installations.’

The US Food and Drug Administration is looking for further information to help it decide what action it might take in respect of nicotine exposure warnings and child-resistant packaging for liquid nicotine and nicotine-containing e-liquids.

The FDA said that recent increases in calls and visits to both poison control centers and emergency rooms in the US involving liquid nicotine poisonings and exposures had increased the public health concerns of these exposure risks.

In an ‘advance notice of proposed rulemaking’ (ANPRM) issued today, the FDA said it was ‘…seeking comments, data, research results, or other information that may inform regulatory actions FDA might take with respect to nicotine exposure warnings and child-resistant packaging for liquid nicotine and nicotine-containing e-liquid(s) that are made or derived from tobacco and intended for human consumption, and potentially for other tobacco products including, but not limited to, novel tobacco products such as dissolvables, lotions, gels, and drinks’.

The FDA said it had evaluated data and science related to the risks, especially to infants and children, from accidental exposure to nicotine, including exposure to liquid nicotine and nicotine-containing e-liquids primarily used with electronic nicotine delivery systems, such as electronic cigarettes.

And it said that it was considering whether, based on the acute toxicity of nicotine (up to and including nicotine poisoning), it would be appropriate for the protection of the public health to warn the public about the dangers of nicotine exposure, especially due to inadvertent nicotine exposure in infants and children, and/or require that some tobacco products be sold in child-resistant packaging.

In its ANPRM, the FDA poses 16 questions under the heading, Nicotine exposure warnings; nine questions under the heading, Child-resistant packaging; and five under the heading Other actions and considerations.

The FDA’s ANPRM with details of how to respond can be found here.

The sale of electronic cigarettes to minors and their use in cars with minors present are due to be banned after new laws were passed in the parliament of New South Wales, Australia, according to a story by Nicole Hasham for the Sydney Morning Herald.

The new laws will mean also that the sale, packaging, advertising and display of the devices will be subjected to further regulation.

But after the introduction of the laws, electronic cigarettes may continue to be used in enclosed spaces such as cafés and on public transport because the government refused a push by other parties to have the devices treated like tobacco products.

A smokers’ group has criticised a ban on smoking and vaping in public parks in the county of Waterford, Ireland, describing the measure as ‘excessive and unnecessary’, according to a story in the Irish Times.

The Irish branch of Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco (Forest) was responding to the introduction by Waterford City and County Council of by-laws prohibiting smoking and swearing in its parks.

The new rules, designed to discourage ‘anti-social behaviour’, will ban also, among other things, barbecues, gambling, the use of firearms, religious ceremonies, horses and model airplanes.

The by-laws were passed by the council last week and will come into effect on July 1.

‘There is nothing anti-social about smoking in a public park,’ Forest said in a statement.

‘There is no risk to anyone else, including children. Most of the time, unless you’re very close, you won’t even be aware they’re doing it.’

And the group said it made even less sense to ban electronic cigarettes.

“Vaping is not smoking, however you look at it’ Forest said. ‘An increasing number of smokers are using e-cigarettes as a harm reduction or smoking cessation aid. Why ban something that some people are using to quit smoking?”

Forest said there were already laws to deal with people making loud or repeated profanities in public places. “These new rules are excessive and unnecessary’ it said. ‘The overwhelming majority of people know how to behave in public spaces without being regulated to an inch of their lives.”

Forest Éireann is funded by Forest UK, which receives donations from tobacco companies in Britain and Ireland.