The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to Nic Nac Naturals for the marketing of their unauthorized dissolvable nicotine products, which the company describes as “nicotine mints” and which resemble a pack of mints. These products are of particular concern because of their resemblance to popular candies and the potential to cause severe nicotine toxicity or even death if accidentally ingested by young children, according to the FDA.
“FDA remains steadfast in our commitment to actively monitor the marketplace and to crack down on companies selling unlawful products, particularly those that can appeal to youth,” said Brian King, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP). “Our goal is to identify and prevent these emerging threats to our nation’s youth before they become mainstream.”
The manufacturer markets these tobacco products in a variety of mint and fruit flavors, all of which come in two nicotine strengths (3 mg or 6 mg). The packaging states the products contain nontobacco nicotine. The FDA regulates tobacco products containing nicotine from any source, including nontobacco nicotine. Nic Nac Naturals does not have a marketing authorization order from the agency to sell or distribute these products in the U.S.
One container of 15 of these mints can have as much as 90 mg of nicotine total. According to research, the FDA stated, ingesting 1 mg to 4 mg of nicotine could be toxic or severely toxic to a child under 6 years old, depending on body weight. This means ingesting one mint could be severely toxic to a child under 6 years old. Nicotine toxicity among youth of any age can lead to nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, increased blood pressure and heart rate, seizures, respiratory failure, coma and even death. The FDA also stated that nicotine is highly addictive and exposure during adolescence can harm the developing brain.
“Today’s action is another example of our ongoing efforts against illegal nontobacco nicotine products,” said Ann Simoneau, director of the CTP’s Office of Compliance and Enforcement. “We remain unwavering in our use of compliance and enforcement resources to curb unlawful marketing of tobacco products, particularly those that youth could easily confuse with something that they consume regularly—like candy.”
The company has 15 working days to respond to the FDA with steps they will take to correct and prevent future violations. Failure to respond and correct violations may result in addition FDA action, such as an injunction, seizure and/or civil money penalties.
The European Union’s Subcommittee on Public Health (SANT) has endorsed the potential role of vaping in supporting smoking cessation.
Parliament’s report on non-communicable diseases acknowledges that vaping is a way for smokers to quit smoking combustible cigarettes gradually. However, the SANT’s recommendation to ban vaping in some public areas has sparked debate and concern.
Michael Landl, director of the World Vapers’ Alliance, said Parliament’s recognition that vaping can help smokers quit is a step in the right direction.
“With the well-documented success of vaping as a smoking cessation aid, it’s crucial for the EU to fully embrace this tool within its strategy to reduce smoking-related illnesses,” he said. “Vaping not only offers a way out for smokers but is instrumental in achieving public health goals.”
Despite this recognition, the report’s proposal to extend smoking bans to vaping is seen as problematic, according to Landl.
“Treating vaping the same as smoking in public spaces sends the wrong message to smokers who want to quit. There is no evidence of harm from secondhand vaping,” Landl said. “The Subcommittee must reconsider the broader impact, including the risk of former smokers relapsing. A more thoughtful regulatory approach based on common sense is imperative to ensure that vaping remains a viable option for those committed to quitting cigarettes.”
The global vaping and e-cigarette market was valued at $24.19 billion in 2021. That number is projected to reach $93.94 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 16.27 percent from 2022 to 2030, according to Straits Research.
In a recent report for market participants in the vaping industry, the demand for diversely flavored products represents a “lucrative opportunity.” Similarly, technological developments in the industry are anticipated to contribute to the sector’s growth.
“The vaping industry has established numerous organizations to oppose anti-vaping legislation and to regulate the sector for monitoring and promoting the development of the e-cigarette and vaping markets, which are anticipated to boost the smokeless cigarettes market’s key trends and opportunities during the period 2022-2030,” a release states. “In recent years, regional government bans on the sale of vaping products and e-liquids in countries such as the United States and India have hindered the expansion of the smokeless cigarette sector.”
The Asia-Pacific market size for e-cigarettes is predicted to expand at a CAGR of 16.2 percent between 2022 and 2030. The report states it is anticipated that the presence of established product manufacturers in China and the rising demographic advantage for retailers would contribute to expanding the vaping industry in the region.
The European vaping industry is anticipated to expand significantly during the forecast period. “E-cigarettes and vaping products from companies such as BAT’s Vype and Imperial Brands Blu have been certified by European health regulators as a healthier alternative to tobacco smoking, which is expected to promote the growth of the smokeless cigarettes industry in Europe,” the report states.
Ontario, in partnership with Canada’s national government, will double the tax on all vaping products sold in the province.
The federal/provincial tax partnership scheme that was announced in 2022 allows provinces to double the current federal vape tax and keep half the proceeds, according to Vaping360.
The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) urged the federal government to reconsider its proposal to impose an additional provincial levy, as this would effectively double the already substantial tax burden. “The CVA suggests a more equitable approach where the federal government shares the revenue generated by the current levy with the provinces,” the industry group wrote in a statement.
“With the introduction of the excise tax, depending on product type, vape products are now almost as expensive as cigarettes despite the significant reduction in risk,” the statement says.
The CVA cautioned that the increased tax may lead to more illicit trade. “Legal businesses will find it nearly impossible to compete with the unregulated market that remains largely unchecked. The consequence of such punitive taxation will be widespread business closures, significant job losses and an increase in criminal activity.”
“The CVA encourages the province to leverage its negotiating influence with the federal government to establish a fair revenue-sharing framework for the existing tax revenue. Preserving the regulated market, rather than destroying it, will lead to higher tax revenues. The additional revenue generated can be used by the province to increase enforcement resources and support educational programs for youth,” said Darryl Tempest, government relations counsel to the CVA.
Product designs should not center only on providing attractive appearance but also encompass meaning, value and responsibility, according to Ken Kim, head of design at the BAT Group.
“The role of designers is changing, from simply designing products to assuming social and environmental responsibilities,” Kim said at the Design Korea conference, which took place Nov. 1-5, 2023, in Seoul. “This [new role] is not a choice for individual designers to make, but a common goal the industry and society must undertake together in order to move forward.”
Kim is the first Korean to head BAT’s product design division. His portfolio includes tobacco heating products such as Vuse Epod 2, Glo Pro Slim and Glo Hyper X2.
During the conference, which was reported in The Korea Herald, Kim reviewed measures on how designs could address social issues such as carbon neutrality amid heightened regulations, emphasizing that designs could function as an important key to the tobacco industry’s sustainable future.
He stressed the importance of designing products in ways that do not appeal to underage consumers. “We need a balanced design strategy that does not stimulate the curiosity of minors, through conducting analysis of design preferences by age groups,” he was quoted as saying.
A Louisiana state court has put the brakes on the state’s release of its official vaping and e-cigarette registry. However, Alabama’s registry, which has been active since spring 2022, may offer some insight into what products Louisiana will allow on the market.
Passed earlier this year, Louisiana’s new law bans retailers from selling vape products not listed on a state-approved registry, known as the V.A.P.E. Directory. To receive authorization, products need a marketing order from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or must meet one of several narrow exceptions, which favor products that have been on the market since at least 2016.
It’s still unclear which products will be listed in the directory, but Louisiana’s new law mirrors one that’s already in effect in Alabama, which has been keeping a similar list of pre-approved vaping and e-cigarette products, called the Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Products Directory, for over a year.
There are 1,602 vaping, e-cigarette, and alternative nicotine products listed in Alabama’s directory, meaning that many products can still be legally sold in the state, according to NOLA.com. On it are several kinds of JUUL products, various flavors of ZYN nicotine Pouches, Vuse, NJOY and BIDI Stick products.
Missing from the list are several massively popular disposable vapes, including Elf Bars, Puff Bars and EscoBars.
Click the green box at the top right corner of the homepage that says “MyAlabamaTaxes.”
Scroll to the “Businesses” section, and click “View or upload a report.”
Under “Tobacco Reports,” click “ENDS Product Directory.”
Click the green “Search” button for every product in Alabama’s directory. Or toggle the “Manufacturer” or “Product” buttons and then search for the products you’re interested in.
If the product you search for does not appear on the list, it is not authorized for sale in Alabama and likely will not be authorized for sale in Louisiana, according to sources.
KT&G has expanded its Sin Tanjin next-generation product (NGP) factory to establish an innovation hub for electronic cigarette production.
During a ceremony celebrating growth the attended by CEO Baek Bok-in and over 40 employees, the company pledged to nurture its NGP segment into a leading business.
The South Korean tobacco company has installed three additional electronic cigarette stick production lines this year, bringing the total number to eight. It also established an automated warehouse capable of storing up to 360,000 boxes.
KT&G plans to further expand its production innovation hubs, focusing on domestic manufacturing facilities such as Sin Tanjin and Gwangju, to ensure a smooth response to the rapidly growing demand for its NGP products.
The expansion of the Sin Tanjin NGP factory is part of KT&G’s investment plan that was announced during the “Future Vision Proclamation” in January.
During that event, KT&G announced its strategy would focus on e-cigarettes, heated tobacco and the international expansion of its combustible cigarette business. The company intends to increase the revenue share of its noncombustible products to more than 60 percent by 2027 through investments and innovation.
The Sin Tanjin NGP factory will play a role as a growth engine that enhances the essential competitiveness of the NGP business, which is strengthening its market leadership.
In September, KT&G announced the construction of a new factory in Indonesia, which will be manufacturing for exports. In October, it broke ground for a new factory in Kazakhstan, establishing a foothold in Eurasia.
“The Sin Tanjin NGP factory will play a role as a growth engine that enhances the essential competitiveness of the NGP business, which is strengthening its market leadership,” said KT&G Baek in a statement.
“In the future, we will lead the growth of the NGP business based on innovative technology and advanced global partnerships and will leap to the ‘global top-tier’ through domestic innovative growth investments, including expanding production infrastructure.”
Hemp is cannabis, and it should be subject to reasonable regulations of quality, safety and youth access.
By Rod Kight
The hemp industry is subject to numerous regulations. Aside from hemp production, which is regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) either directly or via USDA-required approval of state hemp plans, every state in the country has laws regarding hemp. Most states also regulate hemp products. Some states, such as California, Colorado and Oregon (to name a few), have very detailed hemp regulations that are much more stringent than federal regulations for their similar noncannabis product categories (i.e., foods, dietary supplements, etc.).
Other states, including but not limited to Florida, Tennessee and Texas, have detailed but less stringent regulations. Several states regulate hemp more generally, including Alabama, Indiana, Louisiana and Washington. To be clear, I am not making value judgments about any of these states’ regulatory schemes nor am I being comprehensive. The point I am making is that hemp and hemp products are subject to regulations of some sort, often stringent regulations, on a state-by-state level.
A hemp company that distributes products nationally, or even regionally, must deal with many compliance hurdles, including state laws that directly contradict other state’s laws, labeling requirements that are well beyond any labeling requirements under federal law, analytical testing, permitting, advertising, and age restrictions. Additionally, more and more states are imposing hemp-specific taxes. On top of this web of sometimes conflicting regulations, law enforcement is often behind the curve, and lawful hemp operators constantly live in fear of an unfounded, but stressful and expensive, raid of their businesses.
Additionally, the claim that hemp is “merely” regulated at the state level undercuts all the arguments regarding regulation promulgated by the marijuana industry since marijuana is federally illegal and is thus solely regulated by the states. This is particularly true since at the federal level, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the USDA and the Federal Trade Commission (not to mention the Drug Enforcement Administration) have all flexed their regulatory muscles at the hemp industry during its decade-long evolution. In short, the claim that the hemp industry is “unregulated” is simply false. Most of my time is spent advising clients on how to stay compliant with the patchwork of state and federal regulations governing the hemp industry.
Rod Kight
The hemp industry desires reasonable federal regulations
The hemp industry is often portrayed as populated by greedy “cowboys” who despise regulation and will do anything they can to sell contaminated bathtub gin products to unassuming consumers and to minors. In the popular trope, the hemp industry abhors and shuns regulations. This view is entirely unfounded. In nearly a decade of representing hemp companies, I have been fortunate to represent many of the largest and most well-known ones in the world. I have also enjoyed representing hundreds of small, mostly unknown hemp companies founded and operated by regular people who are following their dream of owning a business and expanding cannabis access to their fellow Americans.
Additionally, I have been privileged to represent and interact with many hemp associations and attorneys who represent hemp companies throughout the U.S. The common denominator of all of these people and companies is a desire to be subject to a single set of reasonable regulations. I am not aware of a single client of mine, or any other hemp executive, who does not agree with the statement, “The hemp industry should be subject to reasonable regulations regarding safety and access by minors.” Sure, cowboys exist in every industry, including the marijuana industry, but in the legitimate hemp industry, everyone is like-minded on this point.
What are “reasonable regulations”? First, and just like any other consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, the hemp CPG sector should be subject to regulations regarding the quality and purity of its products. Moreover, marketing and labeling of hemp products should be uniform and provide the consumer with sufficient information about a product to make an informed decision about whether to purchase it and how to consume it. These types of regulations already exist for foods, dietary supplements and “vice” products, such as alcohol and tobacco. The hemp industry wants to be treated the same way with respect to quality control and marketing—no more, no less.
Second, access to hemp products by minors should be restricted. There is a lot of focus on “intoxicating” versus “nonintoxicating” products, however, classifying hemp products based on the potential for intoxication is a fool’s errand. Rather, all hemp products, with perhaps the exception of CBD isolate topicals, should be subject to age-gating, with the proviso that a minor’s parent or guardian can purchase a hemp product for the minor’s use and also provide authorization to third parties regarding its use by the minor.
I recognize that this proposal will annoy many people, but it is simple and avoids messy distinctions that are difficult to articulate and mostly unfounded in science, tricky regulations and an overall regulatory structure that will be resource intensive and, frankly, unnecessary. Distributors should be required to age-gate, but minors who need hemp cannabinoids should be able to access them with parental/guardian consent. I will also say that there are other ways to restrict access by minors and that my proposal is up for negotiation. Remember, however, that the point of this article is not to propose a detailed regulatory regime. Rather, it is to make it clear that the hemp industry agrees with age-gating and regulations regarding safety and quality.
A short note about convenience stores
Finally, I’d like to make a side comment about the sale of hemp products in convenience stores. I frequently hear the claim that “hemp products are sold in convenience stores” used as an argument about how bad and unregulated the hemp industry is. This is a red herring. Of all the possible distribution outlets for hemp products, convenience stores are among the best. Convenience stores have for decades been selling highly regulated products, such as alcohol and tobacco, that are subject to strict age-gating.
To be clear, I am in favor of all sorts of properly regulated distribution outlets for hemp products, from e-commerce sites to boutique hemp wellness centers. However, to claim that the hemp industry is somehow bad and unregulated because its products are sold at convenience stores, which are highly regulated and frequently subject to agency audits, licenses, high fines and even criminal action if certain products are sold to minors, is ridiculous. The “convenience store” argument against hemp should die because it is totally unfounded.
Conclusion
The hemp industry has been the subject of a smear campaign based on unfounded allegations that it is unregulated and that it opposes regulations. Both claims are untrue. The hemp industry is highly regulated by both federal and state laws. Additionally, the hemp industry favors reasonable regulations regarding product safety, consumer safety and access by minors. Reasonable people can differ on how these types of regulations should be written, but they are necessary and welcomed by the hemp industry.
Finally, the particular distribution outlet for hemp products is immaterial provided that hemp products are properly and uniformly regulated for quality and safety and that access by minors is restricted. To claim that an industry is unregulated and illegitimate because its products are sold at convenience stores, which happen to be some of the most regulated distribution outlets in the U.S., is a ridiculous argument that needs to be put to rest.
Hemp is cannabis, and cannabis should be subject to reasonable regulations regarding quality, safety and access by minors so that all consenting adults can have the access they need and that all Americans who desire to operate a legally compliant hemp business can take part in the burgeoning cannabis industry.
Rod Kightis an international cannabis lawyer. He represents businesses throughout the cannabis industry.
Tobacco harm reduction (THR) took center stage during this year’s GTNF conference in Seoul.
By VV staff
Nearly 300 delegates from around the world gathered in Seoul for the annual Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum (GTNF) from Sept. 19 – 21. The delegates encompassed a variety of backgrounds including public health professionals, consumer advocates, financial analysts, and prominent regulators such as Brian King, the director of the Center for Tobacco Products at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This year’s theme was “Change the Conversation, Change the Outcome” which promoted the open exchange of information and ideas between public health experts, government representatives, the industry and investors.
Attendees of GTNF discussed several issues currently confronting the nicotine industry, with a special focus on lessening the harms brought on by tobacco use. Behind the success of the GTNF is a strong belief that deepening the conversation about tobacco, nicotine and public health can lead to more informed views and decisions by all stakeholders. Previous events took place in Washington DC (2022 and 2019), London (2018); New York (2017); Brussels (2016); Bologna (2015); West Virginia (2014); Cape Town (2013); Antwerp (2012); Bangalore (2010); and Rio de Janeiro (2008). The following stories are a small selection of the keynote speakers and panels presented during the GTNF 2023 event.
Keynote: Eve Wang, executive director of Smoore International and vice president of Shenzhen Smoore Technology Co.
The vaping industry is young at only 20 years old. However, Eve Wang, executive director of Smoore International and vice president of Smoore Technology, said the industry isn’t going to get much older if it doesn’t find a way to balance innovation and social responsibility. Wang should know. She has been in the industry for more than 17 years.
“We are at a very critical path for the vapor industry,” she said. The vapor industry has grown rapidly over the past 20 years, with large growth in the first 10 years followed by the past 10 years seeing more regulation in markets like the U.S., Europe and China as products have evolved to be more compact and portable, usability has improved with technology evolution, open systems have evolved to pod mods and disposables have grown in variability.
Wang cited Frost and Sullivan data from March of this year, which showed that as of last year, the vapor industry made up a $52 billion dollar market, nearly double what it was in 2018. “There is no doubt the market is fast growing with huge potential,” she said.
With large growth comes media attention, as Wang noted, highlighting headlines that called for bans and restrictions, overwhelmingly regarding disposables.
She then posed the question “What can we do for sustainable growth?” She broke this up into two categories that Smoore uses to address this issue: consumer experience and environmental impact, what she called “vaping efficiency.”
“Vaping is not perfect,” she said. “It’s far from being perfect. Yes, it’s new, it’s complex.”
To address this, Wang explained that Smoore looks at it as two major aspects—atomization efficiency and power efficiency, and each aspect has a different approach. Without going into minute detail, she described atomization efficiency as improving the utilization of e-liquid and power efficiency as increasing energy density and reducing battery size.
“Do we have answers to all the challenges?” she asked. “I’m afraid it’s too early to tell. And if I may be the real Eve, I would say, no, we don’t have the answers.” She urged the industry to keep innovating and for every player to take their responsibility seriously.
“As long as the conversation goes on, we are confident that together we can make the best outcome. It could be this year; it could be next year; it could be in the next five years.”
Keynote: Brian King, Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products
GTNF 2023
When Brian King speaks, people come to listen. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) director’s keynote address was easily the most attended session of GTNF 2023. King’s speech served as an overview of the current state of the CTP and an outline of the center’s main priorities over the next few years.
King said that the CTP has made considerable progress in reducing combustible cigarette smoking in the United States, which he contends as one of the most remarkable public health achievements of the past century. He hopes that those declines continue, given that “we do know” that combustible smoking is responsible for the overwhelming burden of death from using combustible tobacco.
Tobacco use continues to cost the U.S. government a considerable amount of money—to the tune of $600 billion per year from both direct healthcare costs and lost productivity, according to King. He said there are important human health benefits as well as financial benefits for regulators to continue to focus on reducing combustible use in the United States. As a part of this focus, the CTP is continuing to make inroads when it comes to premarket tobacco production application review.
“As folks are aware, we do have a new director of our office of science who has jumped in headfirst to continue to fiercely lead our 550-plus scientists on application review …. We have processed 99 percent of those and continue to finalize the remaining 1 percent. I’m hopeful that in the coming months and years, we will get back to what was intended to be a premarket approval process,” said King. “In the meantime, we have authorized 23 e-cigarettes, all tobacco flavored. So, it is possible. We have had successful authorizations. But again, I can’t reinforce enough the importance of providing that sound and robust science to inform on potential authorization.
“And it is possible, as you can see. There will be more authorizations in the future, but it’s important that we have that science to support those decisions. As I noted earlier, we also continue to fold in the nontobacco nicotine work into our broader portfolio around regulation. We did receive a million applications, which I don’t think anyone anticipated. I will say that we are making great numbers. We are 99.9 percent through with the review of those. I will say that 100 percent is very imminent.”
King said that when it comes to products that are illegally on the market (having received a marketing authorization and are not currently under review by the CTP), the CTP is mindful of the importance in exercising all authorities that it has to ensure that people are complying with the law. He said that the FDA has given retailers the information they need to comply with the law through a list of authorized products (the 23 products that have been authorized for sale). The CTP also continues to ramp up efforts in terms of training, education and outreach across the supply chain, particularly to retailers.
“We also continue to do surveillance inspection investigations. This is something that occurs on a daily basis. We have arrangements with all 50 states and territories to continue to do investigations. We have issued many warning letters for flavored disposable e-cigarettes, which we know are particularly popular for youth,” said King. “There’s been a variety of blitzes that have occurred monthly throughout the summer. I will say there are more to come. We are going to continue to conduct those blitzes and making sure that we are routinely monitoring, particularly with a focus on those products that we know have high youth appeal.
“On balance, we are also continuing to do work around issuing import alerts. I was a little tickled by all the attention that the import alert on Elf Bar got. That’s nothing new, folks. We’ve been doing that for many years. It was suggested it was something seismographic, but we’ve been doing import alerts for quite some time. And we do use those as, again, another tool in our toolkit to make sure that we are addressing not only the products that are already in the country but preventing illegal products from entering the country.”
As of Sept. 31, the FDA has issued over 1,200 warning letters for online investigations. For manufacturers, the CTP has sent more than 800 warning letters, with more than 750 letters for e-cigarettes. Beginning earlier this year, the FDA also issued the first civil money penalties against manufacturers for violations for illegal e-cigarette sales. He said civil money penalties will remain a part of the CTP’s tools to combat illicit sales.
“We also issued the first six injunctions in coordination with the Department of Justice. I got a lot of flak for that as well about enlisting the Department of Justice. And I will remind folks that the FDA doesn’t have an independent litigation authority. If folks do not comply with the law, we will escalate further as has been evidenced by these actions, which again are going to be part of our broader portfolio moving forward,” said King. “Everyone is going to be held accountable across the supply chain. We do want to make sure that we address the bad actors in a meaningful way. We also continue to pursue no tobacco sale orders among retailers as well. This has traditionally been issued for underage sales. But again, we’re committed to using the full scope of our authorities granted through Congress.”
King added that education is also a priority for the CTP. The center is ramping up efforts to address misinformation in the continuum of risk for nicotine products. He mentioned that he recently wrote a commentary where he highlighted the importance of opportunities and considerations for addressing misperceptions in nicotine. “There is science that exists in that there are misperceptions around the continuum of risk and also nicotine. And so, we do have opportunities that are present, but we have to follow the data-driven pandemic-based approach,” he explained. “That said, I’m putting my money where my mouth is …. We’re working with the National Institutes of Health for a funding opportunity to get more data on public health communication messaging about the continuum of risk.
“And as noted in that funding announcement, we’re looking for data both for the target population, which is called smokers, but also unintended populations, particularly youth. This is several million dollars on an annual basis, and we look forward to that kickstarting and getting data to inform our work.”
King said the CTP will also continue to gather input from the industry and the public. The CTP is creating a new office within the Office of the Center Director and is looking to hire a new director for Policy and Partnerships. “That posting is public,” he said. “And I’m looking forward to seeing those who have applied and getting someone in that seat to meaningfully oversee the product regulation portfolio across the center, particularly as we get that strategic plan in place.”
During the closing of his address, King said that he continues to be big on communication and stakeholder engagement. He expects to provide the industry with more opportunities for communication with the CTP. “I know that you’ll see in the future an evolution of our messaging. Both through our press releases, our social media and our [overall] messaging to make sure that we are clearer, simpler and more digestible,” he said. “I’ve been a bureaucrat for many years, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t communicate effectively with the general public. I think we can do better. I know we can do better.”
Panel: Innovating Products for the Future
GTNF 2023
Discussing the future of innovation in nicotine products is complicated. The industry is innovating at lightning speed, especially in batteries and atomization. However, manufacturers don’t often want to discuss innovations in progress because competition in the next-generation nicotine-delivery segment is fierce. It’s not uncommon for a company to launch a new innovative design only to see its IP stolen and used in counterfeit products.
During the panel “Innovating Products for the Future,” moderator Eve Wang, executive director of Smoore International and vice president of Shenzhen Smoore Technology Co., questioned five industry experts about how they imagine the future of the vaping industry. The participants agreed that innovation would continue boosting the harm reduction potential of next-generation nicotine-delivery products. Surprisingly, they all willingly shared interesting insights into new product innovation.
Tao Cui, director of innovation, strategy and compliance at Innokin Technology, said that future vaping products will likely be more individualized, more efficient and more intelligent. He also said that products will continue to become less harmful. He said the heating element is especially an area that will see more innovation.
“In a perfect scenario, you can control the temperature as low as possible and also precisely control it. And, if you have a much, much less harmful substance, we combine both together, then we have a less harmful product,” he said. “In the future, I would say the products will be more individualized because no one product fits 1 billion people. In the future, your product may adapt to your habits. The product may know if you need more [puffs] in the morning, in the afternoon, today or tomorrow.”
Cui outlined some potential solutions for sustainability-related issues, including the use of research and development. He proposed that countries that have successfully controlled youth usage could offer insight; they could accomplish this by better regulating flavor names and packaging.
James Kuang, chief scientist and head of the Life Science Institute at ICCPP, parent to Voopoo vaping products, stated that the innovation of products is needed to balance user experience, harm reduction and environmental protection. “Yes, we should develop some [better batteries] and [e-liquid bases] for that. “We talk about the effective battery …. Can we do something for our environment by developing different [e-liquids]? I say if we can develop some new type of [e-liquid base] … for example, can we use some nature-sourced alcohol? …. Another solution, I think, is a water-based solution. In my opinion, a water-based [solution] may be the best product for the future.”
Fadi Maayta, president and co-founder of Alternative Nicotine Delivery Solutions (ANDS), stated that the next stage of innovation should be aimed at protecting consumers—especially nonsmokers and ex-smokers—and youth. He noted that it was the responsibility of the industry to ensure it was on the right path to responsible growth. He said that artificial intelligence (AI) could play for both the industry and regulators by helping to better analyze data concerning consumers and product use.
“I know many companies that invested in applications to link [AI] to the device to tell the consumer how many puffs they took, what’s the health risk. All these apps failed. I don’t see consumers really using it, to be realistic,” said Maayta. “It will help consumers to get more data. It will help companies and factories [know where] to locate and know how to get the right product for the consumers through using that engine but also externally for the regulators and policymakers to get data about these products. It might help in tracking as well, track and trace for the product.”
When it comes to eco-friendly products, Maayta claimed that a rational vision of environmental sustainability involves four distinct pillars. The first pillar is the product. Manufacturers should use the right elements … cardboard, biodegradable silicon and biodegradable plastics. The second pillar is showing that your claims of eco-friendliness are provable—that they can be substantiated.
“If you want to claim that your product is recoverable and recyclable, and your product can be recycled to 99 percent, whatever—you [had] better be careful. You are in a very controversial industry, and every word will be tracked,” he said. “You better [be able] to substantiate every word, every percentage, everything you say about the recyclability and the probability of the product.”
The third pillar is that if you market an eco-friendly product, you need to have a program to support recycling. The collection of these products is important. “Make it simple … because consumers need simplicity,” he said. “You used to have a cigarette and a lighter. That’s it. You are giving them an electronic device. They don’t want to have a headache there.”
The fourth element is regulation. Maayta said regulators should be involved in investing in approving sustainable products and possibly incentivizing recycling programs. He criticized manufacturers that aggressively market products that appeal to youth. He criticized regulators for not doing more to remove the “bad players” from the market because it’s leading to good manufacturers being replaced by the black market.
Cherry Pan, managing director of consumer and marketplace insights at Altria, said that as the industry moves toward more “eco-friendly” products, the term needs to be better defined. Pan said that the environment should be a concern for all manufacturers. She also suggested that manufacturers could play a more innovative role in the design of eco-friendly products.
“First, how to define eco-friendly … that means you’re 100 percent recycled or 50 percent recycled or 30 percent? …. Or does it mean that we use vaping products that are less harmful than cigarettes? This also means it’s eco-friendly,” Pan explained. “We will make about 150 to 200 new products every year [not necessarily that make it to market] with our army engineers. We have about 150 engineers. So we also must make products which we [consider] eco-friendly because we can recycle it, maybe 70 [percent] to 80 percent. We use some degradable materials. The percentage we use is higher [than many other products]. We want to make removable batteries.”
Ryan Selby, CEO of Generative AI Solutions and executive chairman at The Modern Nicotine Co., said that innovation will not bring about a one-size-fits-all solution for consumers. It’s going to take a comprehensive approach to create choices for consumers through innovation. However, he doesn’t know what the next best thing is.
“I do think we need to keep our eyes on the future and look at there’s some big changes coming down in terms of the virtual and augmented reality experiences,” Selby said. “In the oral space, looking at opportunities for creating more personal nicotine experiences that have a lower [third-party] impact as well as lower the impact on the environment.”
Selby also said that AI could be beneficial in providing consumer insight and in helping find innovative ways to restrict youth access. He said AI can aid the nicotine industry by helping to reduce harm by analyzing data. Regulators may even be better able to understand the consumer experience.
“I think this is a tremendous opportunity for AI in this space to help feed in massive amounts of data set and tease out some of these interactions between devices … looking at opportunities for combining substances and devices in a way that can reduce the harms associated with [use],” said Selby. “I think there is tremendous promise with large data sets and the ability of AI to tease out some hidden secrets in there that can help us to continue moving in the right direction.”
Panel: Talking Nicotine: Perception vs. Reality
GTNF 2023
From a public health perspective, the misperceptions and misunderstandings surrounding nicotine are incredibly frustrating, according to David Sweanor, adjunct professor of law at the University of Ottawa, who moderated the GTNF panel on the public perception of nicotine. Science has proven that it is the delivery system [combustible cigarettes], not the nicotine itself, that causes the deadly diseases suffered by cigarette smokers.
Sweanor said Sweden was an excellent example of a country where the use of different delivery systems, such as snus, led to massive decreases in the number of combustible cigarette smokers. Sweanor said it would be a major benefit to public health if the industry would or even could do more to educate consumers, public health groups and legislators about the facts. He emphasized that people can only make as good a decision as the information available to them allows.
“We already knew from the work of Michael Russell that people smoked to get nicotine, but they died from the smoke. Nicotine wasn’t the problem. It was the delivery system that was the problem,” Sweanor explained. “We’ve known that for 50 years. And we’ve seen examples from places like Sweden where people can move to an alternative product and have disease rates that are massively lower than what you see elsewhere. In fact, looking at the long-term users of a product called snus, it is very hard to find anything to distinguish their disease risks from those people who don’t use any tobacco or nicotine product at all.”
The first speaker was Carolyn Beaumont, a general practitioner, educator and founder of SmokerHealth Telehealth and Medical Nicotine Scripts who for the last three years has been prescribing vaping products to cigarette smokers in Australia. She said that there is an outpouring of need and frustration and even fear from the many smokers that she works with. Under Australia’s strict vaping rules, vaping products are only allowed through prescription, and there are only a few products legally allowed to be prescribed. She presented several quotes from former smokers showing how vaping had changed their lives for the better.
“They really want their stories to be heard …. Smokers want to be heard—not judged—supported, and advocated for. And as I said before, they’re also very fearful that if they can’t get their vape, they will return to smoking, and that seems true as well,” said Beaumont. “I guess for those of you who are not sure how successful vaping is in [supporting] smoking cessation, it’s very effective.”
There were several quotes presented, including one from a patient who said there was a history of cancer in their family. “I am very reluctant to take up smoking again. I haven’t touched a cigarette in close to three years now, and I feel wonderful,” the patient stated, according to Beaumont. “My sense of taste and my smell has returned. Fitness has improved. So, I thank you for the service you provide for us ex-smokers to be able to vape instead of [smoking] those dirty cigarettes.”
The next speaker, Delon Human, president of Health Diplomats, a healthcare advocacy group, said that misperceptions surrounding nicotine were causing people to die. “At the heart of nicotine misperception lies an issue that we are wasting unnecessary lives,” Human told attendees. “We are allowing the misperception of nicotine to lead to disease. And that is a time that we absolutely have to take hold of the stakeholders, who can change those perceptions.”
He also stated that the World Health Organization’s failure to differentiate between tobacco and nicotine, combustibles and noncombustibles, has caused the spread of misinformation among the organization and government and nongovernment organizations it influences. “If you read WHO documentation …. On the one hand, nicotine is part of the WHO list of essential medicines. Nicotine as part of nicotine-replacement therapy as prescribed by physicians and health professionals for smoking cessation,” said Human. “And on the other hand, there’s an all-out war on nicotine. What has happened over the years, over the last 50 years, is that the so-called war on tobacco has changed into the war on nicotine.”
Human also noted that there is a serious amount of misperception surrounding nicotine among physicians and consumers. He mentioned a recent study from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World that found that on average, nearly 77 percent of doctors mistakenly believe nicotine causes lung cancer, and 78 percent believe it causes atherosclerosis. While on average 87 percent of doctors at least moderately agree that helping patients quit smoking is a priority, lack of training and nicotine knowledge adversely impacts quitting and harm reduction advice, according to the study.
“It found that 58 percent of those respondents thought that [nicotine] caused cardiovascular or heart disease, which again shows you that the level of misconception is not only dangerous, it’s sick …. It’s 2023 and so simple of a situation, but suddenly physicians have a complete misconception of what nicotine is,” he said. “In our own study in 5 countries, we [found that among] GPs [general practitioners], there was a persistent belief that nicotine is the most awful aspect of smoking. Nicotine causes cancer, and nicotine causes heart and lung disease.”
Human pointed out the positive outcomes of correcting misconceptions about nicotine, including improved health for smokers and lower smoking rates. He proposed that medical professionals should receive new training on the effects of nicotine and the advantages of tobacco harm reduction. Human said that companies should also refrain from marketing to youth and keep up with the research and development of new reduced-harm products.
“In terms of physicians, what can they do for misperceptions to be corrected? No. 1, training needs to be updated to the 21st century. Doctors need to know that nicotine does not cause cancer. It’s a crime for doctors to think that nicotine causes cancer or heart disease or lung disease in a way that they perceive it now, so correct the training,” he said. “No. 2, make sure that doctors understand what harm reduction is. Harm reduction is really part of everyday medical life. That’s what we do in medical practice. You’re trying to reduce the harm.”
Hiroya Kumamaru, cardiovascular surgeon and vice director of AOI International Hospital in Japan, said that in his country, there is also a wide misperception among physicians that nicotine is harmful. He argued that the industry needs to think about how best to educate regulators on understanding the effects of nicotine and the risks of different delivery systems. “Many, many … GPs are thinking that nicotine is quite harmful itself [in Japan], and we have to educate them somehow. Thinking about how we can [address] this issue, I tried to have a small meeting in the Swedish embassy about four years ago to educate not only physicians but also media and governmental officers to understand the concept of harm reduction in tobacco, in smoking,” explained Kumamaru. “But it was still difficult because some of the physicians, even [ones that] were working in a university hospital or working in the Ministry of Health, were saying that smoking is a sin …. They didn’t care about the difference [between] vapor and cigarette smoking. Because they say nicotine drug dependency is a very bad agent. We have to think once more to educate these people to understand.”
Kumamaru said Japan has seen a historic decline in the number of combustible smokers because of the rise of heated-tobacco products. He said more than half of the combustible market has disappeared in just a few years. He also agreed that the industry could accomplish more if more were done to battle misinformation.
“We’re still stuck with this problem of it. People and regulators can only make as good a decision as the information available to them allows us. And people believe that using nicotine is about sin rather than about health. If people don’t understand that [combustible cigarettes, not] nicotine causes cancer, what can you do? …. Millions of Americans who are able to move between the [various harm reduction] products never had the information that one product is very likely to kill you and [that] the alternative product is massively less hazardous.”
Mohamadi Sarkar, a fellow of scientific strategy and analysis and regulatory affairs at Altria Client Services, told attendees that the science on nicotine is not new. He said that even though many mistakenly believe that vaping is just as dangerous or even more so than smoking combustible cigarettes, there is a plethora of evidence to show that vaping contains fewer harmful chemicals than cigarette smoke.
“We often hear that ‘Well, these products have not been on the market long enough, so there is no long-term epidemiology.’ We don’t need it. What we do know is that cigarettes have 70,000 chemicals. Seventy of them are carcinogens and linear, cardiovascular and respiratory toxins,” he explained. “On the other hand, smoke-free products like e-vapor or [heated-tobacco products] are nicotine-positive and have far fewer chemicals.”
In the end, all the speakers agreed that the industry could do more to battle the misinformation surrounding reduced-risk products. The vaping industry needs a unified voice. “We need unified goals for all the stakeholders to communicate …. We know that education works. Education has changed perceptions,” said Sarkar. “We need immediate action.”
Panel: Reasonable Responsibility
GTNF 2023
Youth use is everyone’s responsibility. It’s also the name of the GTNF panel that focused on how to balance preventing youth use with helping combustible cigarette smokers move toward less risky nicotine products. The panel’s moderator, Stacy Ehrlich, partner at Kleinfeld Kaplan and Becker, encouraged panelists to debate whether abstinence is a realistic or appropriate goal when attempting to combat youth use.
“Hopefully, speakers will address that and whether and how to communicate with youth and children about relative risks and progress. I think an interesting question is: Are youth an unintended population for these communications?” said Ehrlich, referring to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s acknowledgment that e-cigarettes are less harmful than combustible cigarettes. “Should we be communicating with underage individuals about consumer risk?”
All the panelists were given the opportunity to make a short presentation. Jasjit Ahluwalia, professor of behavioral and social sciences and professor of medicine at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at the Brown University School of Public Health and Alpert School of Medicine, said that tobacco addiction is a pediatric disease and noted that many diseases resulting from tobacco use were effectively human caused, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as 95 percent of cases were the result of tobacco use.
He also stated that youth use of tobacco and nicotine was unethical as young people are uninformed consumers. However, he noted that communicating risk to this group was complicated. He said that tobacco prevention campaigns are key.
“This is something that we know [is] important to effectively educate youth,” said Ahluwalia. “I’m mindful of the importance of the issue of spillover … this is, again, a careful area where I think it’s important that we’re mindful of what the impact is on the intended population and mitigating risk for the unintended population, which in this case, I believe is adult smokers that you want to make sure that they’re not scared away from using an e-cigarette that could potentially be beneficial for them to transition completely from combustibles.”
Ahluwalia also highlighted the vast amount of misinformation that had been communicated through anti-vaping/smoking campaigns, noting the role of the media in misrepresenting the science behind vaping products. He stated that the industry needed to focus on innovating safer and better products. He also called for the FDA to approve new smoking cessation medications. Lastly, Ahluwalia stated that a goal of zero youth use was unrealistic and unreasonable.
Brian King, director of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products, explained that youth prevention continued to be a critical part of the FDA’s portfolio since nine out of 10 adult smokers started smoking below the age of 18. He noted that the youth were using a variety of different products, with the use of e-cigarettes being particularly prominent.
“Youth prevention is a key component of FDA’s portfolio … we do see kids using a variety of different products. But right now, the focus is primarily on e-cigarettes,” explained King. “We’ve seen an evolution within even that product class as well, which I think is important for us to consider as we talk about what the inherent risks of these products are, particularly when it comes to dependency. That said, although we’ve seen declines in e-cigarette use, which again, we’ve noticed, is a good thing, among the kids who are currently using e-cigarettes, we’re seeing increased signs of dependency.”
King said the FDA is held by the standard of being “appropriate for the protection of public health.” This is not like the other centers at the FDA, such as the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), which has a “safe and effective standard.” In therapeutics, the CDER wants products to be safe for people to use but also effective at treating the ailment.
“When it comes to tobacco products, the U.S. Congress has given us appropriate for the protection of public health, where we have to weigh the benefits and the risks. That said, the risks are typically focused on youth initiation. And we have made decisions based on that,” King told attendees. “The primary reason you’re seeing a variety of negative actions that have been taken on e-cigarettes is because of the prominent youth use of these products. It certainly is possible to mitigate that risk. For example, we know that youth have very little [interest in] tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes, which are the products that have been authorized to date because that benefit of adults has been able to outweigh the risk of kids.”
Colin Mendelsohn, general practitioner and founding chair of the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association, said that current vaping policy is largely driven by fears over youth vaping. The scientific evidence of vaping is being overlooked. He stated that children should not vape or smoke; however, he acknowledged, it is inevitable that some will. Mendelsohn argued that most youth vaping was experimental, with frequent vaping being rare.
“I think policy around e-cigarettes is largely driven by youth [and] flavor. And I think it should be driven by the evidence, not by emotion and moral values,” he said. “What I’m going to talk about is actual evidence, or at least the best evidence we have today. Kids shouldn’t vape or smoke. They shouldn’t be using alcohol or useless drugs. Of course, they do lots of things they shouldn’t do.”
Mendelsohn said his research showed that only 3 percent of children who had vaped were frequent vapers, with half of those also being smokers. This evidence, he said, showed that vaping was not a gateway to smoking. He said that the opposite was true, and vaping was diverting kids away from smoking combustible cigarettes.
“I think we all agree that vaping is not a significant gateway to smoking. If there were a significant gateway, we would expect to see smoking rates going up. And of course, they’re going in the opposite direction. In the U.S., when vapes became popular, smoking rates continued to decline. In fact, they declined faster than they ever had compared to the historical period before 2013 since vaping became available.”
Stefanie Miller, vice president of external engagement at Juul Labs, said one of the reasons why she wanted to join Juul Labs is that she gets to say that Juul has a problem with youth use. “We don’t need to skirt around that. So I’m going to talk to you about what this company has done to successfully deal with youth using the product,” she said. “We took what we consider a three-pillar approach … it has been a productive initiative that we’ve taken …. It’s limiting underage appeal, restricting underage access and enforcing against third parties, enforcing against illicit products.”
Miller said Juul Labs is also using technology and innovation to help in the company’s fight against youth use. However, Juul Labs is also looking at how initiatives that are put in place to prevent youth use impact adults making the switch from combustible cigarettes. “We’re also considering what these interventions would do to make it potentially more difficult for an adult smoker to have access to a less harmful product, which is not the goal of our company,” said Miller. “We’re trying to walk this really careful line, both from the innovation but also the point-of-sale intervention along these three lines.”
Many of the questions coming from the audience were directed at King concerning the FDA premarket tobacco product authorization process. For example, Fadi Maayta, the CEO and co-founder of Alternative Nicotine Delivery Solutions (ANDS), a Dubai-based vaping product manufacturer, asked King to explain why the agency does not do more to incentivize law-abiding players. The FDA’s current penalty framework, he argued, penalizes good and bad players alike.
King said he understood Maayta’s frustration. There are numerous good players in the vaping industry that don’t have the issues of youth uptake, he acknowledged. The reality, however, is that the U.S. Congress wrote the Tobacco Control Act and prescribed very specific processes that the agency is required to do by law, said King.
“That said, the intent is not to penalize everyone … but we do have to follow the law in terms of implementing the regulations that have been required by us. And that includes a premarket tobacco product process and a rigorous scientific assessment …. We also have to enforce the law, and we are a free market paradigm. So there’s no safe harbor. If you don’t have authorization, your product is subject to enforcement compliance,” explained King. “That said, are there opportunities to streamline those processes? Absolutely. And that’s what we’re looking at. There are efficiencies that I think we can gain by looking at our processes to make it more streamlined moving forward.”
Panel: Research and Innovation Update
GTNF 2023
Regulations in the nicotine industry should change as products become more innovative and less harmful. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen in many markets. During a panel discussion updating attendees on research and innovation, moderator Mohammed Agrabawi, senior director of corporate affairs and communications at ANDS, discussed approaches in the Middle East where governments have imposed high taxes on vaping products.
“I want to take you to the reality where I come from, from the Middle East, where most of the countries are imposing taxes that are 100 percent and 200 percent on vaping products. You can buy a pack of cigarettes [for one-fifth the cost of a disposable vape] …. Don’t you think that governments are part of suppressing innovation and investment in that part because of fiscal and regulatory frameworks?” Agrabawi asked. “Yes, absolutely. And the reason for this is clear. One of the things that Sweden did really, really well is price taxes on a continuum of risk. The lower the risk, the lower the tax.”
For Agrabawi, this clearly demonstrated that government regulation can suppress innovation.
Also on the panel, Tim Andrews, director of Consumer Issues at Americans for Tax Reform and the Tholos Foundation, cited several historic examples of innovation being demonized that would later go on to save lives—he suggested next-generation nicotine products are another example of this. He also stressed the need to better communicate the scientific research on nicotine products and their benefits.
Andrews believes there are better ways to deal with the uptick in youth vaping. “There’s an old saying that goes, ‘Children see and children do,’” he said. “A simple switch or a simple button to activate this product will not prevent [youth use].” Andrews suggested that youth prevention can’t just be simple, such as technology requiring a user to push a button three times. And future solutions will probably incorporate AI or Bluetooth. However, an immediate impact could be made if more was done to fight the black market.
“I would say that unethical retailers … they sell illicit products, and they sell to minors as well. So illicit vaping is a gateway to smoking and vaping rather than legal companies. And if we look into the illicit market, they don’t check IDs, they don’t use [legitimate sales] practices because they’re an illicit company,” explained Andrews. “If you shut down all of the legal products and move it to the black market, it’s going to be worse because we’re unregulated; we don’t know what’s in there; they’re going to sell to kids. You don’t have any safeguards.”
Kang Yu, head of the Research Institute at Hangsen International Group, outlined how her employer has been establishing a framework of harm reduction that will help test new products and produce safer ones. She delivered a comprehensive presentation outlining Hangsen’s strategic evolution within the realms of scientific research and innovation. Yu underscored the organization’s steadfast dedication to enhancing consumer safety by elaborating on their initiatives pertaining to harm reduction.
Yu pointed out that the industry is still young and has a promising future. Yu also commented on the potential of nicotine salts. She emphasized that nicotine salts are a critical component of e-liquid formulations and have a decisive impact on product taste and feel.
“Pure and high-quality nicotine salts can significantly enhance the overall sensory experience, providing consumers with a superior user experience. While benzoate salts have gained popularity in the market, they have limitations in reproducing certain specific taste profiles, such as sour fruits, non-sour fruits, toasted and tobacco flavors,” she said. “Other acids that can be used for salt formation, such as acetoacetate, lactic acid and citric acid, offer unique and rich flavor characteristics once they form salts. For example, acetoacetate can enhance the authenticity of fruit flavors.”
Shawn Long, president of the Zinwi Research Institute, Yunnan, and director of Zinwi Tobacco, said his company has been focused on reducing the harm of their e-liquid products. He said the company has set up advanced safety assessments and a tobacco flavor evolution platform that allows conventional tobacco smokers to find an e-liquid flavor that mimics the brand of combustible cigarettes they are trying to transition away from.
A major reason that Zinwi’s e-liquid has an enhanced flavor profile is the company’s Atomization Technology Research Center, which has self-developed nicotine salts and the sweeteners used in the e-liquids to ensure the highest quality of those components of the e-liquid formula, according to Long. The company also requires each component of its e-liquids to have the highest levels of quality and purity.
Marlen Nazarov, chief technology officer at Alfabet Labs, identified two main challenges in the e-cigarette industry: sustainability and youth access to vapes. On youth access, he suggested the solution is to make the product look less attractive with minimalist packaging, minimal colors and no flavors. He also agreed that additional solutions to challenges with youth use will likely involve AI.
“Innovation should be directed toward the key challenges in the market. So basically, there is no one solution for everything. It’s a really big challenge,” said Nazarov. “For youth use, it’s two parts. The first part is to make the colors less attractive, use conservative packaging without any fruits, etc. For the devices, it’s the same, just a simple white or black device without any images.”
Rex Zhang, strategy director at Shenzhen Smoore Technology Co., discussed what he sees as the two main challenges to the vaping industry: user experience and sustainability. On youth vaping, he outlined how child protection must be more advanced to stop children from using vapes. Zhang detailed Smoore’s advancements in sustainability and vaping efficiency. The company, he said, had reduced the amount of lithium materials in its vaporizers and increased the lifespan of its products, thus fewer products will be discarded.
Zhang also added the drive behind Smoore’s innovations. “I think the solution of best fit for society is a balance solution between regulations and user experience,” he said. “Smoore’s mission ‘Atomization Makes Life Better’ aligns very well with this objective to continue to work on the R&D, improving it for bettering people’s life.”
The law, which also approved increasing taxes on vaping products, requires retailers to register vape products with the Louisiana Alcohol and Tobacco Control in the V.A.P.E. Directory by Nov. 1.
Two state agency heads are listed as defendants in the lawsuit filed in East Baton Rouge Parish — ATC Commissioner Ernest Legier and Louisiana Department of Revenue Secretary Kevin Richard, according to media reports.
“The Louisiana Department of Revenue administers state tax laws as passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor,” said Richard in a statement Thursday. “Act 414 of the 2023 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature is no exception. The Department will respect the judicial process and will reevaluate collection efforts and enforcement once this matter is resolved.”
The vaping industry is young at only 20 years old. However, Eve Wang, executive director of Smoore International and vice president of Smoore Technology, said the industry isn’t going to get much older if it doesn’t find a way to balance innovation and social responsibility. Wang should know. She has been in the industry for more than 17 years.
