One of the largest vaping retailers in the U.K., VPZ, has announced that it has opened five new stores since the end of lockdown restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The new stores are located in Helensburgh, Port Glasgow, Castlemilk, Glenrothes and Farnborough, bringing its total footprint to 159 stores and creating 15 new jobs.
Doug Mutter/Photo: VPZ
Since lockdowns ended in April, the company has seen a 165 percent increase in first-time vapers kit sales. The demand has been driven from smokers having no access to National Health Service (NHS) stop smoking services and vaping retailers being closed due to not being classed as essential during lockdown, according to a press release.
Doug Mutter, director of VPZ said, the company is spearheading the fight against the nation’s No. 1 killer: smoking.
“The Pandemic has triggered an increase in smoking rates and the public health problem has been compounded by funding cuts for NHS stop smoking services and local support groups,” said Mutter. “This latest investment in our offering and expansion of our store footprint underlines our commitment to playing our part in regaining this lost momentum and helping the UK achieve its ambitions to be a tobacco-free nation by 2030.”
A new study being conducted in the U.K. will offer homeless people free e-cigarette starter packs. The trial is aimed at helping them quit smoking. An estimated 70 percent of homeless people smoke combustible cigarettes, according to research from University of East Anglia (UEA).
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Homeless centers in five parts of the UK including London, Scotland and Wales will provide 480 contributors with starter kits or care group sessions, according to the BBC. The study will assess if e-cigarettes help participants quit smoking and whether it offers them value for money.
Half of the contributors will be offered the e-cigarettes, while the other 240 people will be allocated to a care group. The project is being led by London South Bank University (LSBU) and University College London. Lynne Dawkins, a professor with LSBU, said that in an earlier trial the kits “worked well” and staff at homeless centers were able to support the study.
The £1.7m project has been funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and is in collaboration with UEA, Kings College London, Queen Mary University of London, the University of York, Cardiff University, the University of Stirling and the University of Edinburgh. Caitlin Notley, a professor with UEA, said studies suggested e-cigarettes were “more helpful” than nicotine gum or patches when people tried to stop smoking.
“If we find that providing free e-cigarette starter kits helps people to quit, homeless centers could decide to adopt this approach in future, to help reduce the impact of smoking-related diseases on the homeless,” she said.
North Carolina has settled its lawsuit with Juul Labs for $40 million. The lawsuit is the first decision of numerous lawsuits that have been brought by states claiming the e-cigarette maker’s marketing practices was the catalyst to what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has called an “epidemic” of youth use. The money will fund programs to help people quit e-cigarettes, prevent e-cigarette addiction, and research e-cigarettes.
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“This settlement is consistent with our ongoing effort to reset our company and its relationship with our stakeholders as we continue to combat underage usage and advance the opportunity for harm reduction for adult smokers,” said Joshua Raffel, a Juul spokesperson, in a statement. “We seek to continue to earn trust through action. Over the past two years, for example, we ceased the distribution of our non-tobacco, non-menthol flavored products in advance of FDA guidance and halted all mass market product advertising. This settlement is another step in that direction.”
The settlement was announced on Monday by Josh Stein, the North Carolina attorney general, who said that Juul agreed to avoid marketing that appeals to those under the age of 21. The company will curtail its use of “most social media advertising, influencer advertising, outdoor advertising near schools, and sponsoring sporting events and concerts,” Stein said.
North Carolina sued the company in May of 2019, the first state in the country to file suit against the e-cigarette manufacturer. In the agreement, the company denies any wrongdoing or liability. Juul Labs will ensure its products are sold behind counters, the attorney general said. Juul Labs will also use third-party age verification systems for online sales. The order also commits Juul to sending teenage “mystery shoppers” to 1,000 stores each year, to check whether they are selling to minors.
It also bars the company from using models under age 35 in advertisements and states that no advertisements should be posted near schools. “For years Juul targeted young people, including teens, with highly addictive e-cigarettes,” said Stein in a statement. “It lit the spark and fanned the flames of a vaping epidemic among our children — one that you can see in any high school in North Carolina.”
Thirteen states, including California, Massachusetts and New York, as well as the District of Columbia, have filed similar lawsuits. The central claim in each case is that Juul knew, or should have known, that it was it was hooking teenagers on pods that contained high levels of nicotine.
“This win will go a long way in keeping Juul products out of kids’ hands, keeping its chemical vapor out of their lungs, and keeping its nicotine from poisoning and addicting their brains. I’m incredibly proud of my team for their hard work on behalf of North Carolina families,” Stein said. “We’re not done – we still have to turn the tide on a teen vaping epidemic that was borne of Juul’s greed. As your attorney general, I’ll keep fighting to prevent another generation of young people from becoming addicted to nicotine.”
New draft guidance from the U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) states that healthcare professionals can recommend e-cigarettes, or vaping devices, as a means to help patients stop smoking. The guidance states that evidence suggests that e-cigarettes have a similar effectiveness to short- and long-acting nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) in helping people to stop smoking.
Credit: Balint Radu
E-cigarettes or vaping devices are not licensed as medicines, but they are regulated by the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations. Unlike NRT they are not available on prescription, however NICE said that people should be able to use them to help stop smoking if they wanted to do so, according to gponline. It added that combining behavioral support with either NRT or e-cigarettes was more likely to help people successfully stop smoking than vaping or NRT alone.
Patients who do choose to use e-cigarettes to help them quit should be warned that the long-term health impacts of their use is still unknown, NICE said. Patients should also be told where to find advice on how to use them and told to stop smoking completely if they decide to use e-cigarettes.
NICE recommended that further research should be undertaken in this area, including on whether vaping devices could be used in pregnancy.
However, the guidance highlighted that the MHRA was monitoring possible short- and long-term harms of e-cigarette use and, as at March 2020, ‘no major concerns had been identified’. It recommended that healthcare professionals providing stop smoking advice should report any adverse events as a result of e-cigarette use.
The guidance also makes a series of new recommendations to identify and support pregnant women who smoke, including that all pregnant women have routine carbon monoxide testing at antenatal appointments to assess their exposure to tobacco smoke.
A measure that would have banned flavored e-cigarettes in Connecticut died in the state Senate late Tuesday after its main advocate said the ban was “riddled with major loopholes,” leaving tens of thousands of children and teens unprotected.
Credit: Christopher Boswell
“The Connecticut Legislature is making it quite clear that it will sell out Connecticut’s kids to do the bidding of Juul and Altria instead,” Matthew Myers, president of the Washington-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a written statement earlier Tuesday, according to The Telegraph.
Earlier this year, the legislature’s Public Health Committee passed a bill that would have banned all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, but that bill was diluted. Then over the last few days, it was gutted further. In the General Assembly’s special session this week, the measure was added to the 857-page budget “implementer” that lawmakers adopt at the end of each spring session.
Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, co-chair of the public health committee, said earlier Tuesday he and fellow Democratic co-chair Sen. Mary Abrams were not consulted about the changes, and that he was first alerted to them by “one of the interested parties.”
Flavor ban bills have been a hot topic. The day before the Los Angeles City Council voted to draft a flavor ban bill, the District of Columbia Council voted to ban the sale of flavored vaping and tobacco products including menthol cigarettes.
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The Council voted 9-3-1 during the Tuesday, June 15, legislative session. L.A. voted Wednesday. Bars and restaurants that offer hookah will be exempt from the ban in both cities. The bill still has to go through second reading and get the Mayor’s signature, and it is moving forward with many pieces of discussion left with the Council, according to localdvm.com.
The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), representing more than 200 African-American owned community newspapers from around the United States, have joined together with a group of Black and Hispanic law enforcement executives to oppose the Washington, DC City Council proposed ban on menthol cigarettes, calling the law racially discriminatory.
“Banning menthol is not going to make the demand for menthol products go away. We know this because illegal drugs are used by people in every community in every state across this country,” said Anthony Miranda, national chairperson, National Latino Officers Association, in an email. “When there is a high demand, an illegal market will fill the void, if a legal, regulated market does not. Bans and prohibitions don’t work. They actually create crime.”
Originally, the bill focused on e-cigarettes and vapes, and was created in an effort to keep teenagers and kids from becoming addicted to smoking. Councilmembers who proposed the bill said that is still the focus. Business owners who sell the flavored products are concerned over the impact the ban will have on their businesses.
The District’s Chief Financial Officer estimates the ban will cost the city $13.9 million over the next four years, but McCauley thinks it will be much more than that. McCauley noted the high tax already in place on menthol cigarettes has led to a drop in revenue, as neighboring states Maryland and Virginia have much cheaper prices. He also noted that many people buy and sell cigarettes on the street, which is unregulated.
Council Chair Phil Mendelson was one of the no votes for the bill. He said, “This is not the right approach, for us to be prohibiting, creating other problems, collateral problems by taking this approach, and I think there are other approaches that can promote public health.”
Vapers in Los Angeles, California may no longer purchase flavored vaping products. The L.A. city council unanimously voted to ask city attorneys Wednesday to start drafting a bill banning businesses from selling many flavored vaping and tobacco products. The council has said the move was meant to stop teens from getting hooked on nicotine.
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A coalition of youth and public health advocates backing the ban argued that flavored products have lured more teens to use tobacco, including by vaping with electronic cigarettes. The council decided against considering an exemption for menthol.
No one from the vaping industry argued against the proposed bill. Hookah lounges, however, may have been spared after arguing the law could destroy a cherished tradition among Armenians, Arabs and other communities in which hookah has been a centerpiece of gatherings and celebrations.
The last time the issue was heard at City Hall over a year ago, council members suggested allowing some sales of flavored tobacco for consumption on site at lounges, but hookah sellers said the plan was too restrictive and would not allow lounges to be passed down to future generations, according to the L.A. Times. Nor would it allow people to buy hookah tobacco to smoke at home.
The House of Representatives in Philippines today approved on final reading a proposal that would regulate the manufacture, use, sale, distribution, and promotion of electronic nicotine- and non-nicotine-delivery systems (ENDS/ENNDS), as well as heated tobacco products (HTPs), according to a government release.
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With 192 affirmative votes, 34 negative votes, and four abstentions, the chamber passed on third reading House Bill 9007, otherwise known as the “Non-Combustible Nicotine Delivery Systems Regulation Act.” Rep. Sharon Garin, principal sponsor of the measure, said the bill seeks to address the unintended or potential adverse consequences on the use of HTPs and vaping products among Filipino consumers.
“We have included in this bill mechanisms on controlling safety risks and preventing youth uptake of all tobacco and nicotine products,” she said during the virtual session.
The bill provides protection to minors from accessing ENDS/ENNDS or HTPs by setting the minimum allowable age for the purchase, sale, and use of such products to 18 years old.
Retailers shall ensure that no individual purchasing these products are below 18 years old by verifying the age through presentation of any valid government-issued identification card exhibiting the buyer’s photograph and age or date of birth.
The sale and distribution of the products shall be prohibited within 100 meters from any point of the perimeter of a school, playground or other facility frequented by minors shall be prohibited.
Online trade through Internet websites or via e-commerce and other similar media shall be allowed provided that sellers ensure that access is restricted to persons 18 years old or older and that the internet website bears the signage required by the bill.
Advertisements of the products shall be allowed in retailer establishments, through direct marketing, and on the internet.
“These shall not be aimed at or particularly appeal to persons under 18 years of age. These should not undermine quit-smoking messages and should not encourage non-tobacco and non-nicotine users to use ENDS/ENNDS and HTPs. These should not contain any information that is untrue in particular with regard to product characteristics, health effects, risks, or emissions,” the bill states.
The use of ENDS/ENNDS or HTPs shall be prohibited in all enclosed public places, as well as in schools, hospitals, government offices, and facilities intended particularly for minors. However, there shall be designated vaping areas that should comply with standards specified in the proposed law.
The Department of Trade and Industry, in consultation with the Food and Drug Administration, the National Tobacco Administration, and other concerned agencies shall promulgate rules, regulations, and standards on packaging, ingredients, graphic health warnings, detailed information on the allowable nicotine-containing e-liquid, the strength of e-liquids, compliance with applicable electrical standards as well as with applicable industry standards for batteries, according to the release.
Existing industries and businesses affected by the implementation of the Act shall be given an 18-month transitory period from the effectivity of the implementing rules and regulations to comply with the requirements.
Charlie’s Holdings, parent to the Charlie’s Chalk Dust brand, announced the company’s financial results for the first quarter (Q1) ending March 31, 2021. Charlie’s reported that revenue, gross profit, gross margin, and cash balance all increased from Q4 2020 to Q1 2021, according to a release.
Revenue for the 1Q of 2021 was $4,361,000, an increase of $131,000 compared to Q4 2020, and a decrease of $44,000 or 1 percent, compared to $4,405,000 for the same time the previous year. Gross profit for Q1 2021 was $2,418,000, an increase of $305,000 compared to Q4 2020 and a decrease of $24,000, or 1 percent, compared to $2,442,000 for the same period 2020.
Other announcments include:
Operating loss decreased 95 percent year-over-year, and 70 percent from Q4 2020, to $229,000,
Cash balance of $3.5 million,
Total assets of $8.1 million,
Closed a $3 million capital raise in common stock (priced at $0.0085) with company founders,
Introduced Pachamama Disposables, Charlie’s first-ever entrant into the rapidly expanding U.S. disposable e-cigarette market,
Successfully assembled a solution “network” in order to meet the requirements of both the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act to ensure uninterrupted service to the company’s distributor partners.
The company announced in mid-2020 that its premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) had entered the substantive review phase of the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory process. “Having engaged a team of more than 200 professionals and invested nearly $5 million to compile and submit Charlie’s initial PMTA submission, the company is confident that the FDA will recognize that Charlie’s submission is both distinguished and suitable for approval,” the release states. “The company believes its comprehensive PMTA will ultimately prove a competitive advantage for Charlie’s. Most of the company’s competitors did not have the desire, the technical expertise, or the financial resources to complete the PMTA process. As a result, in fewer than 12 months’ time, when others are forced to withdraw their products from the market, Charlie’s may be one of a very select group still legally allowed to operate in the premium e-liquid product space.”
On the same day it released its much anticipated list of legal electronic nicotine-delivery system (ENDS) products, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its 112 warning letter to a company for selling products without a marketing order. Companies must have submitted a Premarket tobacco product application to the FDA by Sept. 9, 2020 in order to legally sell vaping products. The following day the agency issued No. 113.
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Louisiana-based Big Chief Vapor received the letter for selling its Zulu Pride 6mg nicotine e-liquid product without a marketing authorization order, according to the FDA. The letter was posted to the regulatory agency’s website on May 20. Big Chief Vapor has over 4,400 products registered with the FDA.
On May 21, the FDA posted on its website that it had issued also a letter to Mississippi-based Vape Lizard Co. for selling Vape Lizard Strawmelon 3mg without a marketing order. The company has over 400 products registered with the FDA.
The FDA often only lists a few products that a company is selling as illegal in the letter. It then states that there may be more, but it is impossible to know if the warnings encompass all the company’s registered products. The agency states that it is the responsibility of the company to only sell products with a submitted PMTA. Companies have until Sept. 9, 2021 to sell product unless the agency makes a decision on the PMTA approval or grants an extension.
Companies that receive warning letters from the FDA have to submit a written response to the letter within 15 working days from the date of receipt describing the company’s corrective actions, including the dates on which it discontinued the violative sale, and/or distribution of the products. They also require the company’s plan for maintaining compliance with the FD&C Act in the future.
