Category: News This Week

  • E-cigarettes could turn kids into smokers, health department says

    The Philippine health department warned the public on April 12 against e-cigarettes, saying the tobacco substitute could turn children into smokers.

    E-cigarettes have been gaining favor among Filipinos as higher tobacco taxes make smoking more expensive, according to a story in the Manila Times.

    Food and Drug Administration director-general Kenneth Hartigan-Go disputed what he said were claims by vendors that e-cigarettes helped smokers kick the habit.

    “Wittingly or unwittingly, the electronic cigarette promotes smoking among children and the youth. It makes them less fearful of hazards and risks of smoking,” he said in a health advisory posted on its website. “The public is advised not to smoke at all and not to use cigarettes, cigars, or e-cigarettes,” added Hartigan-Go.

    Nearly one in five Filipinos smokes, according to the health department.

    A law that came in effect this year will gradually raise the tax on cigarettes over five years, which would roughly double the price per pack to about PHP52 ($1.27) by 2017.

    A basic e-cigarette kit in the Philippines costs as little as $24, featuring a battery-powered vaporiser that delivers a nicotine-laced mist.

  • E-cigarettes could turn kids into smokers, health department says

    The Philippine health department warned the public on April 12 against e-cigarettes, saying the tobacco substitute could turn children into smokers.

    E-cigarettes have been gaining favor among Filipinos as higher tobacco taxes make smoking more expensive, according to a story in the Manila Times.

    Food and Drug Administration director-general Kenneth Hartigan-Go disputed what he said were claims by vendors that e-cigarettes helped smokers kick the habit.

    “Wittingly or unwittingly, the electronic cigarette promotes smoking among children and the youth. It makes them less fearful of hazards and risks of smoking,” he said in a health advisory posted on its website. “The public is advised not to smoke at all and not to use cigarettes, cigars, or e-cigarettes,” added Hartigan-Go.

    Nearly one in five Filipinos smokes, according to the health department.

    A law that came in effect this year will gradually raise the tax on cigarettes over five years, which would roughly double the price per pack to about PHP52 ($1.27) by 2017.

    A basic e-cigarette kit in the Philippines costs as little as $24, featuring a battery-powered vaporiser that delivers a nicotine-laced mist.

  • Manila FDA will not register e-cigarettes

    The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it will not register e-cigarettes, as health products as these devices are against the intent of the country’s tobacco regulation law, according to a story on MB.com.ph, a Minilan news website.

    In an advisory, FDA acting Director General Kenneth Hartigan-Go said e-cigarettes are “contrary to the intent and provisions of Republic Act No. 9211, otherwise known as the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003.”

    He said the law aims to protect the youth from nicotine addiction and chronic respiratory ailments including cancer that are caused by inhalation of highly toxic substances found in tobacco and cigarettes. “Wittingly or unwittingly, the electronic cigarette promotes smoking among children and the youth. It makes them less fearful of hazards and risks of smoking. It is opposed to the DOH health goal to stop cigarette smoking and tobacco use,” he said, adding that the FDA has not registered any e-cigarette products and will not register these as health products under the FDA Act of 2009.

  • Vapor Corp’s sales up by a third

    The e-cigarette company, Vapor Corp, announced that net sales for the year 2012 had reached a record $21.4 million, 33.6 percent up on its net sales during 2011.

    The company’s cost of goods sold, at $13.2 million, was 96.4 percent higher than it was during 2011, while gross margins decreased to 38.1 percent from 57.8 percent.
    Overall, Vapor made a net loss of $1,920,972 during 2012, as compared with net income of $713,338 during the prior year..
    Commenting on the results, CEO Kevin Frija, said the company was happy to have achieved its fourth consecutive year of sales growth.

    “This is encouraging for our efforts in 2013, as we have major initiatives lined up, the most important of which is the expansion of our soft-tip filters and Krave King product line,” said Frija.

    “2012′s results were as we anticipated with record sales of $21.4 million offset by heightened expenses incurred as we made certain strategic investments in the business.

    “We brought on our co-founder Jeffrey Holman as president, Harlan Press as our chief financial officer and Christopher Santi as our chief operations officer. Assembling this executive team was critical to building a solid foundation for the company to operate effectively, strategize intelligently, and, in essence, execute on all of our expansion initiatives. We now believe we have the right management team in place to take the company to its next stage of growth.”

  • E-Lites notches up another court victory in fight for soul of e-cigarettes

    The UK based electronic cigarette company, E-Lites, has overturned an attempt by a European government to have electronic cigarettes classified as medical devices.

    The Administrative Court in Estonia last week found in favour of Zandera Ltd, owners of the E-Lites brand, and against the Estonian State Agency of Medicines.

    This decision comes at a time when the EU is proposing to classify electronic cigarettes as medicinal products under the revised EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD).

    It follows similar recent court decisions in Germany, the Netherlands and the US. All refused medicinal classification for electronic cigarettes.

    “We are delighted common sense has prevailed,” said Michael Ryan, chairman of Zandera, in welcoming the decision in Estonia.

    “E-Lites are not designed as a medicine; they’re designed as an alternative consumer product choice for smokers.

    “We welcome the Estonian Court’s decision and we hope it will persuade other governments and regulatory bodies to review any similar proposals.”

    The TPD, as drafted, would have the effect of removing from the market, pending medicinal authorization, virtually all electronic cigarettes, despite the fact they are proving a popular alternative for smokers and are increasingly widely recognised as being safer than cigarettes are.

    “We are confident e-cigs are an exciting breakthrough and potentially ‘transforming’ product and we want to work with governments and regulators across Europe to agree the appropriate regulatory framework,” said Ryan.

    “Public health experts are proclaiming the significant contribution to tobacco harm reduction e-cigs are already making and we desperately want that to continue.”

  • Public debate sought on e-cigarettes

    Israel’s Health Ministry is asking for public feedback on electronic cigarettes before deciding whether or not to ban them, according to a story by Judy Siegel-Itzkovich for the Jerusalem Post.

    This is despite a ministry committee’s having recommended that the marketing, import and use of e-cigarettes be prohibited for five years and that the prohibition then be assessed.

    According to the story, lot of people lined up to say they wanted electronic cigarettes banned on the grounds that they had not been proved to be safe; so the thinking seems to be that the traditional cigarette, a product that has been found to be unsafe, should be allowed to continue to be on sale when electronic cigarettes, which a lot of people use to wean themselves from traditional cigarettes, should be banned.

    Nowhere in the story does anybody make the point that it is the tar from traditional cigarettes that is believed to be the risk factor in smoking and that tar is totally absent from electronic cigarette vaping.

    The public’s views are being sought via the website www.shituf.gov.il until March 25.

    The ministry will announce its decision over the summer.

  • E-cigarettes and this sporting life

    In a re-play of the tobacco industry’s former close connection with sport, Totally Wicked, a supplier of electronic cigarettes, on the weekend announced a sponsorship deal with St Helens’ RFC, one of England’s top rugby league clubs.

    According to a PRNewswire story, under the deal, the club’s Langtree Park North Stand is to be renamed the Totally Wicked Stand.

    Totally Wicked products will be available to buy throughout the stadium on match days.

    And the club will hold a ‘cigarette amnesty’ where fans will be able to swap their tobacco cigarettes for a St Helens branded electronic cigarette.

  • E-cigarettes clearly less dangerous than are traditional cigarettes

    Dr. Michael Cummings, a tobacco researcher at the Medical University of South Carolina’sHollingsCancerCenter, says e-cigarettes could be an effective product to help people quit smoking, but that research hasn’t proven the product’s safety or efficacy, according to a WCBD-TV2 report.

    “It could absolutely be a tool, but I think we need good studies to evaluate the claims,” said Cummings, who added that current products such as nicotine patches, gums and lozenges had relatively low quit rates.

    Cummings said the effectiveness of e-cigarettes was inhalation – the most efficient form of delivering a drug to the brain. It was the same reason smoking was so addictive, whether it was in relation to nicotine or other drugs.

    But Cummings and some other health advocates are worried about what they see as the unknowns of e-cigarettes. Earlier tests by the FDA, he said, had found chemicals similar to those used in car washes.

    And he is worried about the ‘metal tubings’, which he says ‘potentially could contain lead’. The metal could leach into the inhaled vapor and be dangerous for the smoker and bystanders, he said.

    However, he said that vaping e-cigarettes was clearly less dangerous than was smoking a cigarette because you could hardly get more dangerous than smoking a cigarette.