Tag: e-cigarettes

Replica Vape Study Confirms Minimal Carcinogenic Effects

Photos: CoEHAR
The aerosol from e-cigarettes induced slight to no cytotoxic, mutagenic and genotoxic effects during tests conducted by the Replica research team of the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR) that compared these effects to those induced by cigarette smoke.
According to CoEHAR, science has been suffering from a “replicability crisis” in recent years. The use of different research methodologies usually leads to different data, resulting in flawed results that misinform policies and impact on health and social care practices, as well as smokers who are seeking a complete cessation.
Replica researchers aim to fill this methodological gap by replicating international in vitro studies on the toxicity of cigarette smoke and e-cigarette aerosol by an independent and multicentric approach, adding experiments or conditions where necessary, in order to verify the robustness and replicability of the data and results.
The most recent study replicated by the team was published by Rudd and colleagues in 2020. The study aimed to establish the cytotoxicity, mutagenesis and genotoxicity of cigarette smoke or e-cigarette aerosol on cells .
Replica researchers performed a standard toxicology battery of three assays used for product assessment and regulatory applications. Their results, published by Springer Nature’s Scientific Reports, indicated that e-cigarette aerosol was low cytotoxic and it did not show any mutagenic or genotoxic activity unlike the cigarette smoke, which showed high cytotoxic, mutagenic and genotoxic activity. Moreover, the Replica study covered some methodological gaps and limitations in the original work, by adding some conditions with the aim of covering all the possible ways of inducing genotoxicity and mutagenesis on cells.

Our findings not only confirmed the results obtained by our colleagues but also addressed some methodological gaps and limitations in the original work.
First author Rosalia Emma
“Our findings not only confirmed the results obtained by our colleagues but also addressed some methodological gaps and limitations in the original work,” said Rosalia Emma, first author of the Replica study, in a statement. “However, it’s important to highlight that, despite using different machinery and the variations in the exposure methodology, in the case of cytotoxicity (NRU assay), the toxicity of the e-cigarette is significantly lower than that of traditional cigarettes”.
In the Replica study, the team performed the NRU assay to assess cytotoxicity, the bacterial reverse mutation (Ames) assay to evaluate mutagenicity and the in vitro micronucleus assay to measure genotoxicity. Despite some different methodologic aspects, the researchers obtained results similar to those obtained by Rudd and colleagues.
“Although we have added experimental conditions neglected by the authors of the first paper, the results obtained previously are confirmed and even strengthened, confirming the electronic cigarette as a useful tool for reducing smoking damage in healthy smoking subjects” said Massimo Caruso, co-project leader of the Replica project and corresponding author.
November 3, 2023
Italy Suspends CBD ‘Narcotic’ Labeling Until January

Italy’s Regional Administrative Court of Lazio (TAR) has ruled to suspend a decree that would make CBD oil a narcotic substance until January 16, 2024.
In early October, Business of Cannabis reported that the TAR of Lazio, the same regional court responsible for overturning a similar decree making hemp flower a narcotic in February, had suspended the decree until October 24.
This initial suspension has now been extended by nearly three months, with a new hearing to consider the decree’s merits to be held in mid-January following the submission of an appeal by the Ministry of Health.
According to the TAR of Lazio, there are no ‘established concrete dangers of inducing physical or mental dependence’ from CBD and there ‘does not appear to be, as things stand, any imminent risks for the protection of public health’.
It continued that this means “the conditions exist for suspending the contested measure, with the decision on the merits to be made shortly, due to the matter’s relevance, at the first public hearing available in the section’s calendar.”
November 3, 2023
Vaping Down Among U.S. High School Students

Photo: Daisy Daisy
One in 10 U.S. middle and high school students reported using of any type of tobacco, according to data from the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYST) that were collected between March and June 2023 and released today.
Among U.S. high school students, current overall tobacco product use declined during 2022-2023 from 16.5 percent to 12.6 percent, a development attributed primarily to reduced e-cigarette use, which dropped from 14.1 percent to 10 percent. Among high school students, declines in current use were also observed during 2022-2023 for cigars and overall combustible tobacco smoking, representing all-time lows.
“It’s encouraging to see this substantial decline in e-cigarette use among high schoolers within the past year, which is a win for public health,” said Brian King, director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products, in a statement. “But we can’t rest on our laurels. There’s more work to be done to build on this progress.”
Among middle school students there was an increase in current overall tobacco product use (4.5 percent to 6.6 percent) and multiple tobacco product use (1.5 percent to 2.5 percent). However, among middle school students overall, no significant change was observed during 2022-2023 for current use of any individual tobacco product type, including e-cigarettes.

It’s encouraging to see this substantial decline in e-cigarette use among high schoolers within the past year, which is a win for public health. But we can’t rest on our laurels.
Brian King, Director, CTP
E-cigarettes remained the most commonly used tobacco product among both high school and middle school students for the 10th year in a row. Among youth who reported current e-cigarette use, approximately one-quarter reported using e-cigarettes every day. Disposable e-cigarette products were the most common product type used by youth who reported e-cigarette use. However, the most popular brands included both disposable and cartridge-based products. Among current youth e-cigarette users, the most commonly reported brands were Elf Bar (56.7 percent), Esco Bars (21.6 percent), Vuse (20.7 percent), Juul (16.5 percent) and Mr. Fog (13.6 percent).
Among youth who reported current e-cigarette use, nearly all used flavored products (89.4 percent), with fruit, candy, mint and menthol being the most commonly used flavors. For the first time in NYTS, the 2023 questionnaire asked about use of flavors that included the word “ice” or “iced” in their name, along with other concept flavor names—that is, names that imply flavor but do not explicitly indicate any particular flavor, such as “island bash.”
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. said it welcomed the decline in overall youth tobacco use. “This is good news, and we agree with Dr. King that more needs to be done,” the company wrote in an e-mailed statement. “Future progress requires regulators—especially FDA—to seriously address the influx of irresponsibly marketed, illegal flavored disposable vapor products.”
In October, Reynolds filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission charging multiple manufacturers, distributors and retailers of disposable vaping devices with unfair importation.
November 2, 2023
Nicotine a Top ‘Intangible’ Sector in Relative Terms

Photo: Smoore
The tobacco and vaping business is the world’s most “intangible” sector in relative terms, according to the brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance.
Intangible assets are identifiable, non-monetary assets without physical substance. They can be grouped into three broad categories—rights (including leases, agreements, contracts), relationships (including a trained workforce) and intellectual property (including brands, patents and copyrights).
According to Brand Finance, intangible assets account for 91 percent of the tobacco and vaping sector’s total enterprise value—a condition that the consultancy attributes to tobacco and e-cigarette companies’ heavy investments in proprietary vaping-related technology and patented intellectual property. The China National Tobacco Corp., BAT and Philip Morris, for example, have each accumulated significant disclosed intangibles and goodwill due to large acquisitions.
“While tobacco products are increasingly regulated in developed markets, e-cigarettes are at nascent stage and currently proving to generate high intangible value thanks in part due to lack of regulation of marketing these products in some jurisdictions,” Brand Finance writes in its report.
Remarkably, the tobacco and vaping business was the second-largest contributor (after semiconductors) to the performance in the rankings of Japan, which saw the value of its intangible assets jump by $587 billion this year.
“Our research aims to demonstrate the continued growing importance of intangible assets like strong brands and innovative technology in driving productivity and growth potential,” said Annie Brown, general manager at Brand Finance UK, in a statement. “Companies that strategically deploy their intangible assets have the ability to significantly outperform their competitors.”
November 2, 2023
Louisiana Ends Sales of Unauthorized E-cigarettes

Today is the day that any vaping product not authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration must be removed from store shelves in Louisiana as the state’s new vaping law goes into effect.
Act 414 also increased taxes on vaping products, which began on Oct. 1. Beginning today, only FDA-approved vapes and alternative nicotine products registered with Louisiana Alcohol and Tobacco Control (ATC) will be allowed to be sold in the state.
For the products to be considered by the ATC, a $100 application fee per product is required as well as authorization by the FDA. A list of those approved products will be released today. It is expected to be a short list.
To date, the FDA has only authorized 23 tobacco-flavored e-cigarette products and devices, which are the only e-cigarettes that currently may be lawfully sold or distributed in the U.S. Many of those products are outdated and all are owned by major tobacco companies.
November 1, 2023
Quebec: Vaping Flavor Ban Goes Into Effect Today

Credit: CL-Medien
Vapers of scared about possibly having to return to combustible cigarettes in Quebec as the Canadian city’s flavor ban for vaping products takes effect today, Oct. 31.
Quebec’s ban includes vaping products with flavors other than tobacco and will prohibit e-liquid sold in bottles with a capacity greater than 30 mL and prefilled devices with a capacity greater than 2 mL.
The flavor ban was announced in a draft published in April. More than 30,000 citizens of Quebec commented on the proposed ban, according to the Quebec Vaping Rights Coalition, but the health ministry reportedly didn’t make any changes to the rules in response.
Quebec is the largest province in Canada to enact a flavor ban. Four other provinces and territories have flavor bans in place, and one has passed a ban but has not set an effective date yet. Three other provinces restrict flavored products to adult-only stores.
The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) has expressed concerns to the Quebec government, arguing that this regulation will not achieve its intended goal of curbing youth experimentation.
According to the CVA, the consequences will include the closure of specialty vape shops within the province, the loss of over 1000 jobs, and a shift in consumer demand towards foreign suppliers and the illicit market.
“It’s high time for provinces like Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI to re-evaluate their stance and stop yielding to the influence of big tobacco companies. These regions must come to the realization that they are inadvertently supporting the very issues they claim to be combating,” said Darryl Tempest, government relations counsel to the CVA.
The available data consistently finds that flavor bans fail to effectively protect youth and lead to increased tobacco sales among both young people and adults.
October 31, 2023
BAT Germany Selects Arvato as Vape Logistics Provider

Credit: Timon
BAT Germany has selected Arvato as its logistics and fulfillment partner for its e-commerce operations encompassing e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.
Since the end of June, BAT Germany online orders have been processed centrally from the site in Marienfeld, Guetersloh district. At this site, Arvato, a leading supply chain and e-commerce service provider, operates a state-of-the-art distribution center spanning approximately 32,000 square meters, serving multiple clients in the technology sector, according to the American Journal of Transportation (AJOT).
The comprehensive logistics services provided for BAT Germany at the facility encompass goods receipt, storage, order picking, packing, and shipping, as well as returns management.
“BAT’s goal in awarding the e-commerce logistics contract was to guarantee the most efficient and fastest delivery service for its customers. Our customer-centric approach allowed us to accommodate BAT’s specific processes and requirements,” says Thomas Becker, executive vice president at Arvato.
The logistics service provider commits to delivering within a 48-hour timeframe. To optimize warehouse operations for efficiency and speed, Arvato heavily integrates automation technology. Automated carton setup and closure processes significantly enhance the speed of operation. Moreover, product information is automatically included with orders through flyer dispensers.
“With its experienced team, Arvato provided us with very flexible and reliable support in setting up our logistics and distribution concept,” confirms Robert Juhnke, distribution manager at BAT Germany. “Even throughout the offer and final negotiation phase, the collaboration has been exceptionally cooperative.”
Sustainability is a growing trend in the vaping industry. Arvato is dedicated to doing its part, according to the AJOT story. In an effort to reduce plastic waste, the company adopted wet adhesive tape made from recycled paper, resulting in the annual saving of approximately 16 tons of plastic, as an alternative to polypropylene adhesive tape. Arvato’s approach to optimizing shipment sizing and processing minimizes the consumption of packaging materials.
October 31, 2023
Disposing of Disposable Vapes a Problem for Cities

Credit: Benny Robo
The nationwide use of disposable e-cigarettes is creating a new challenge for local governments trying to figure out how to dispose of them properly. One of the main issues is that the millions of tiny, battery-powered products consumers toss in the trash every year are classified as hazardous waste.
The devices, which contain nicotine, lithium and other metals, cannot be reused or recycled. Under federal environmental law, they shouldn’t go in the trash.
“We are in a really weird regulatory place where there is no legal place to put these and yet we know, every year, tens of millions of disposables are thrown in the trash,” said Yogi Hale Hendlin, a health and environmental researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, told the Associated Press.
Cost concerns
In late August, sanitation workers in Monroe County, New York, packed more than 5,500 brightly colored e-cigarettes into 55-gallon steel drums for transport. Their destination? A giant, industrial waste incinerator in northern Arkansas, where they would be melted down.
Sending 350 pounds of vapes across the country to be burned into ash may not sound environmentally friendly. But local officials say it’s the only way to keep the nicotine-filled devices out of sewers, waterways and landfills, where their lithium batteries can catch fire.
“These are very insidious devices,” said Michael Garland, who directs the county’s environmental services. “They’re a fire risk and they’re certainly an environmental contaminant if not managed properly.”
Elsewhere, the disposal process has become both costly and complicated. In New York City, for example, officials are seizing hundreds of thousands of banned vapes from local stores and spending more than $1 each for disposal.
Hazardous waste
Vaping critics say the industry has skirted responsibility for the environmental impact of its products, while federal regulators have failed to force changes that could make vaping components easier to recycle or less wasteful.
Among the possible changes: standards requiring that e-cigarettes be reusable or forcing manufacturers to fund collection and recycling programs. New York, California and several other states have so-called extended product responsibility laws for computers and other electronics. But those laws don’t cover vaping products and there are no comparable federal requirements for any industry.
Environmental Protection Agency rules for hazardous waste don’t apply to households, meaning it’s legal for Americans to throw e-cigarettes in the garbage at home. But most businesses, schools and government facilities are subject to EPA standards in how they handle harmful chemicals like nicotine, which the EPA considers an “acute hazardous waste,” because it can be poisonous at high levels.
The lithium in e-cigarette batteries is the same highly sought metal used to power electric vehicles and cellphones. But the quantities used in vaping devices are too small to warrant salvage. And nearly all disposable e-cigarette batteries are soldered into the device, making it impractical to separate them for recycling.
Disposable e-cigarettes currently account for about 53 percent of the multi-billion U.S. vaping market, according to U.S. government figures, more than doubling since 2020.
In recent months the FDA has begun trying to block imports of several leading disposable brands, including Elf Bar and Esco Bar. Regulators consider them illegal, but they have been unable to stop their entry to the U.S. and the devices are now ubiquitous in convenience stores, gas stations and other shops.
FDA’s tobacco chief, Brian King, said in a statement that his agency “will continue to carefully consider the potential environmental impacts” of vaping products.
Money matters
Since last November, officials have seized more than 449,000 vape units, according to New York City figures. The city is spending about $1,400 to destroy each container of 1,200 confiscated vapes, but many more remain in city storage lockers.
“I don’t think anyone ever considered the volume of these in our community,” said New York Sheriff Anthony Miranda, who leads a task force on the issue. “There’s a tremendous amount of resources going into this effort.”
A recent lawsuit against four large vaping distributors aims to recoup some of the city’s costs.
For now, New Yorkers who vape can bring their used e-cigarettes to city-sponsored waste-collection events.
Ultimately those vapes meet a familiar fate: They are shipped to Gum Springs, Arkansas, to be incinerated by Veolia, an international waste management firm. The company has incinerated more than 1.6 million pounds of vaping waste in recent years, mostly unsold inventory or discontinued products.
Veolia executives say burning e-cigarettes’ lithium batteries can damage their incinerators.
Boulder finish
“Ideally we don’t want to incinerate them because it has to be done very, very slowly. But if have to, we will,” said Bob Cappadona, who leads the company’s environmental services division.
Veolia also handles e-cigarettes from Boulder County, Colorado, one of the only U.S. jurisdictions that actively tries to recycle e-cigarette batteries and components.
Beginning in 2019, county officials began distributing bins to schools for confiscated or discarded e-cigarettes. Last year, they collected 3,500.
County staffers sort the devices by type, separating those with removable batteries for recycling. Disposables are packed and shipped to Veolia’s incinerator. Shelly Fuller, who directs the program, says managing vape waste has gotten more costly and labor intensive with the shift to disposables.
“I kind of miss the days when we had Juuls and I could take each battery out and recycle them very easily,” Fuller said. “No one has time to dismantle a thousand Esco Bars.”
October 30, 2023
Vape Companies in Legal Brouhaha Over Endorsements

Credit: Kritdanai
The two South Florida Vape product companies are engaged in a bitter legal brouhaha over celebrity endorsements with millions of dollars at stake. Alejandro Brito, the attorney representing HQDTech USA LLC and Dummy Vapes LLC as plaintiff’s in a lawsuit against Broward County-based, SYB Entertainments Group LLC, QR Joy Inc. and QR Joy Fume LLC., claims that the rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine, whose birth name is Daniel Hernandez, entered into an exclusive contract with the plaintiff to endorse their vaping products. Brito called the endorsement contract with the famous rapper their “lightning in a bottle.”
“I’ve seen the numbers and this particular individual moves the market and was compensated very handsomely as a result of this exclusive relationship between my client and him, and the other competitors took notice,” said Alejandro Brito, attorney for HQDTech USA LLC and Dummy Vapes LLC as plaintiff’s in a lawsuit against Broward County-based, SYB Entertainments Group LLC, QR Joy Inc. and QR Joy Fume LLC.
The fighting began when SYB allegedly learned that Hernandez had entered an exclusive contract with the plaintiff, HQD, to endorse their vaping products. According to Brito, the other competitors (SYB) tried to get Hernandez to endorse their vaping products instead. They even allegedly offered Hernandez $1 million to sign with SYB, which Hernandez declined.
However, SYB then later signed a $250,000 agreement with Hernandez’s girlfriend Yailin la Más Viral who has 11 million Instagram followers. The complaint further alleges that these actions were taken by SYB to use la Más Viral’s relationship with Hernandez to take advantage of Hernandez’s and the plaintiff’s vaping product’s growing popularity.
Joshua Kon, an attorney for Stok, Kon and Braverman, which is defending Fume in the lawsuit, called the case “lukewarm,” adding that HQDTech and Dummy Vapes are attempting to illegally use and take advantage of the popularity of Fume vaping products.
“HQDTech, Dummy Vapes and its principals perpetrated an elaborate fraud on Daniel Hernandez, aka Tekashi 6ix9ine, as well as the vape consumer marketplace,” Kon said. “HQD and Dummy Vapes lied to everyone and encroached on the ‘Fume’ brand’s commanding market share, flouting Federal and Florida laws in the process.
“As a consequence, QR Joy, QR Fume and SYB Entertainment Group intend to immediately file a motion to dismiss and a substantial counterclaim to rectify these wrongdoings and hold HQD and Dummy Vapes accountable for their unlawful profiteering.”
Motion for injunction
The plaintiff’s attorney immediately filed an emergency motion for temporary and preliminary injunction. “[This was] to stop the defendants from continuing to harm the plaintiffs’ business, which has been scheduled for hearing on Nov. 16, 2023,” Brito said.
The complaint also alleges the SYB was behind a letter attempting to gain confidential documents from the plaintiffs, according to a story on law.com.
“Rather than just play it straight and wait for the contract to expire or negotiate with our clients for a buyout, [Fume] had gone the route of trying to be deceptive in forming a new company, claiming that company to be a management company for Mr. Hernandez, and asking us to produce our agreements with Mr. Hernandez under the guise of this new entity. That’s really deceptive,” Brito said.
Risks that ‘go far beyond’
At the start of this year, John Uustal, a lawyer based in Fort Lauderdale and the founding partner of Kelley|Uustal, represented rapper Flo Rida in a lawsuit against Celsius Inc., the company behind the well-known energy drink. The jury ultimately awarded Flo Rida an $82.6 million dollar judgment in compensation for breach of contract.
While not a part of the Fume lawsuit, Uustal said cases involving celebrity endorsements are “almost always insanely complicated, because there is so much more going on” than just the legal issues.
“Sometimes celebrities get taken advantage of because it’s not worth it for them to enforce their rights legally,” Uustal said. “And when they do, there are real risks that go far beyond the litigation because the litigation affects reputation.
“In a case like this, where the celebrity is not actually a litigant, the parties must still consider the ramifications of the litigation on the relationship with the celebrity.”
Uustal said this dispute does not currently have a realistic and accurate way to value the injury to HQD if the company wins on liability.
“In a case I recently went to trial on, the measure of damages was 750,000 shares of stock, which is what the contract called for if certain benchmarks were met,” Uustal said. “That’s a lot simpler than measuring how the alleged conduct affected a business,” referring to the Flo Rida win.
In the HQD v. Fume vaping case, Brito—who also represents former President Donald Trump in his South Florida lawsuit against his former attorney Michael Cohen for attorney-client privilege violations—says his vape company clients are looking for substantial damages, “which has been caused and will continue to be caused by virtue of the usurpation of sales, as well as confusion in the marketplace.”
October 30, 2023
JT Launches Ploom X Advanced H-n-B in Japan
Image: JT
Japan Tobacco announced the launch Ploom X Advanced, a new model of heated tobacco device that has evolved in terms of taste and user comfort.
The company believes the new device will play a significant role in its mid- to long-term business strategy.
According to JT, the new device represents a significant improvement over the current model and incorporates advanced features, including:
An upgraded heating technology, dubbed “Power Heatflow,” which increases the maximum heating temperature from 295 degrees Celsius to 320 degrees Celsius to provide a richer flavor experience.
A new automatic heating function that automatically starts heating when a stick is inserted into the device.
Reduced charging time from approximately 110 minutes for the current model to approximately 90 minutes.
The device will be available at convenience stores and tobacco retailers nationwide in Japan starting on Nov. 21, 2023, at a suggested, tax-included retail price of ¥1,980 ($13.22).
Following the launch of Ploom X Advanced, JT will discontinue sales of the current Ploom X model in Japan.
October 30, 2023