Tag: e-cigarettes

Ireland Announces Vape Tax, Raises Cigarette Costs

Ireland increased the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes by €0.75 ($0.80) and announced a new tax on vaping products for next year, reports The Irish Times. Other tobacco products will be subject to a pro-rate increase.
The move “supports public health policy to reduce smoking levels in Irish society,” according to Finance Minister Michael McGrath.
“In light of public health interests, continuing delays to the revision of the Tobacco Products Tax Directive and the Program for government commitment to tax e-cigarettes and vaping products, I am proposing to introduce a domestic tax on these products [e-cigarettes and vaping products] in next year’s budget,” said McGrath.
“Considerable preparatory work” by the Department of Finance and Revenue will be necessary to draft the underpinning legislation, he said.
“Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on the planet, and there has been an explosion in youth use of e-cigarettes that has been further fueled by the advent of disposable vapes,” said Chris Macey, director of advocacy with the Irish Heart Foundation. “We can’t afford to wait a moment longer than necessary to impose this tax.”
The Irish Heart Foundation called on the finance minister last week to introduce a €0.10 per milliliter tax on e-liquid.
Smokers’ rights group warned against unintended consequences. “Annual tax hikes on tobacco are punishing consumers for enjoying a perfectly legitimate habit,” said John Mallon, spokesperson for Forest Ireland. “Not only does it discriminate against consumers on lower incomes, [but] it will drive even more smokers to the black market.” Mallon said smokers “don’t deserve” the excise increase.
“Legitimate retailers will lose business to criminal gangs, and smokers who stay within the law will be further punished compared to those who, understandably, buy their tobacco from illicit traders,” he said.
October 11, 2023
U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Avail Vapor Case

Credit: Avail Vapor
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to hear arguments against the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory authorization process.
The denial order comes in one of several cases questioning the FDA’s oversight of the vaping industry.
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit sided with the FDA, finding that Avail hadn’t shown that its products had benefits for adults that offset the risk to youth.
The case is connected to the FDA’s 2021 determination to deny all of Avail Vapor’s requests to approve fruit and dessert-flavored e-cigarettes. The company claimed that the agency made the application process intentionally difficult, which led to mass denials of new product submissions.
In a Supreme Court brief filed Aug. 3, the company claimed the FDA failed to inform companies of a change in policy that would only allow for approval if the applications included data from studies conducted over time comparing the effectiveness of the multi-flavored products to that of tobacco flavored ones as an aid in adult smoking cessation.
Avail Vapor had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to examine a lower court’s refusal to review a marketing denial order issued by the FDA to Avail products.
In its petition, known as a Writ of Certiorari, Avail asked the Supreme Court to consider the lower court’s legal reasoning and decision.
Among other things, Avail argues in its petition that the FDA’s decision making was arbitrary and capricious; that another court sided with a different petitioner against the FDA on the same basic arguments; and that the case is significant not only for Avail but for the entire industry and its customers.
October 10, 2023
Chill Brands to Sell CBD Vapes in WH Smith Stores

Credit: William
Chill Brands said it will sell its nicotine-free CBD vapor products in U.K.-based WH Smith stores.
The cannabidiol-products company on Monday said a range will be for sale in an initial 150 of WH Smith’s 1,700 stores, according to a press release.
“These first outlets are WH Smith U.K. travel stores located in airports, train stations and other high-traffic hubs including Heathrow, Gatwick and Kings Cross Station. These areas benefit from an estimated combined daily footfall of more than 500,000 passengers per day,” it said.
Further to the agreement, it has now secured initial orders worth more than 350,000 Pounds ($428,365) from U.K. retailers, it added.
Chill Brands said that it continues to work to expand its retail distribution network in the U.K. and the U.S.
October 9, 2023
Texas: Group Wants Dallas to Enact Public Vape Ban

Credit: Lucitanija
A citizen advisory group has recommended that the City of Dallas follow other major Texas cities with a ban on vaping in public spaces in the name of public health.
The city’s Environmental Commission has recommended adopting a policy restricting the use of e-cigarettes, citing a “correlation between vaping aerosol exposure and negative health effects for vulnerable populations,” said Candace Thompson, chair of the commission’s environmental health committee.
In August, the commission unanimously approved a recommendation to expand the city’s 2016 smoking ban to include the prohibition of vaping of nicotine and non-nicotine products in most public spaces, with a few exceptions, including bars, restaurants and parks controlled by private partners, according to the Dallas News.
Dallas City Councilwoman Kathy Stewart, who chairs the parks, trails and environment committee, said she saw the recommendation in a memo. But her committee has not discussed nor voted on the proposed ban, which would be required before City Council action.
Vaping was banned in Austin in 2017 and in Houston in 2022.
October 9, 2023
Oct. 11: Netflix to Debut Documentary on Juul Labs
The Netflix documentary Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul will premiere on Oct. 11. Netflix states the docuseries is “a scrappy electronic cigarette startup becomes a multibillion-dollar company until an epidemic causes its success to go up in smoke.”
Helen Redmond of Filter wrote that she was prepared to hate-watch the docuseries, directed by R.J. Cutler, in her review of the show.
“The name alone pissed me off because of its implied conflation of Juul, which is not a tobacco company, with ‘Big Tobacco.’ The trailer is a feverish montage of talking heads and voiceover accusing the company of being ‘wildly irresponsible,’ photos of hospitalized patients with bloody chest tubes, and a clip of James Monsees, one of Juul’s founders, being called ‘a marketer of poison to young people’ at a congressional hearing,” she wrote.
She also states that she “was happily shocked” when the series presented a alternate viewpoint.
The docuseries is based on TIME journalist Jaime Ducharme’s book, Big Vape: The Incendiary Rise of Juul.
October 6, 2023
Florida Sues Juul Labs for Marketing to Youth

Credit: Insurance Journal
Florida’s attorney general, Ashley Moody, has filed a lawsuit against Juul Labs, alleging that the company improperly marketed its products to children and offered misleading information about its products’ nicotine content, reports WUSF.
The suit was filed in Hillsborough County Circuit Court. It seeks civil penalties and an injunction to prevent Juul “targeting children through their marketing and product design and from deceiving consumers with respect to the nicotine concentration.”
“Juul relentlessly marketed to underage users with launch parties, advertisements using trendy-looking and young models, social media posts and free samples,” the lawsuit states. “It created a technology-focused, sleek design that could be easily concealed and sold its product in flavors known to be attractive to underage users. Juul also manipulated the chemical composition of its product to make the vapor less harsh on the throats of the young and inexperienced consumers it courted. To preserve its young customer base, Juul relied on age verification techniques that it knew were ineffective.”
Juul responded to the lawsuit, stating that “it is disappointing to see the Florida attorney general direct her state’s resources to suing Juul Labs.”
Juul’s response sets out “a few facts that should be understood,” including that “Florida’s attorney general initially led the negotiations between the state attorneys general and Juul Labs. For reasons that have not been explained to the public, she ultimately decided not to participate in a settlement to which 48 states and territories are now party to. Had she done so, like all those other jurisdictions, Florida would have its share of millions of dollars to help combat underage use and develop cessation programs. Instead, the Florida attorney general has now embarked on a drawn-out, expensive and uncertain legal process.”
“Second,” the response continued, “Florida today suffers from the highest sales in the nation of illicit and potentially harmful disposable products emanating from China. These products are not in compliance with the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s] regulatory regime and, in many cases, are flagrantly targeting the state’s children. By contrast, over the past four years, Juul Labs has taken meaningful steps, including ceasing distribution of nontobacco, nonmenthol products in advance of FDA guidance on flavors, halting mass market product advertising, and restructuring our entire company with an emphasis on combating underage use. In part, due to these efforts, we have seen underage use of Juul products cut by 95 percent.”
The response went on to allege that “Florida has the highest sales of these mostly foreign-made products in the United States, with over 60 percent of vapor sales dominated by disposables whose companies often disregard responsible practices with inappropriate flavor names and questionable marketing. Over the past months, we have been engaged with the attorney general’s office to help create a best-in-class program to combat illicit products. Even though Juul Labs plans to fight this case vigorously, the company remains ready to help Florida stem the tide of the proliferation of Chinese-made disposable products that have found what amounts to be a safe haven for foreign-made illegal vapor products.”
October 5, 2023
Center for Black Equity Calls for FDA Approval of Vapes

The Center for Black Equity (CBE) called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Center for Tobacco Products to grant broad approval to a full range of nicotine e-cigarettes, also known as vapes, in a major step toward closing the significant harm reduction and health equity gaps perpetuated by current FDA tobacco policies, according to a press release. The approval of vaping products would benefit Black and LGBTQ+ populations disproportionately impacted by the negative health effects of smoking, including cancer, according to the CBE.
The CBE’s call for expansive regulatory approval of e-cigarettes, including flavored vaping products, comes as the CBE released an econometric report that, for the first time, quantifies the benefits of switching from smoking to vaping in terms of lives saved, GDP benefit and healthcare savings.
The report was authored by Robert J. Shapiro, former undersecretary of commerce for economic affairs and advisor to former President Clinton, former President Obama and President Biden. Shapiro’s report found that between 2010 and 2022, shifting from smoking to vaping saved 113,000 lives, preserved $137 billion in GDP and saved $39 billion in healthcare costs—and that the availability of e-cigarettes reduced the number of smokers in the U.S. by 6.1 million during that same period.
“Championing meaningful harm reduction initiatives for Black and LGBTQ+ communities has been an elusive but essential aspect of effective public health advocacy for decades,” said Earl Fowlkes, president and CEO of the CBE. “If the Biden administration and the FDA are serious about health equity and harm reduction, especially when it comes to the president’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, the science is clear: Broad approval of flavored vaping products will save Black and LGBTQ+ lives, reduce smoking and drive meaningful progress in lowering preventable cancer rates in the U.S., especially among the most vulnerable populations.”
The report also reviewed existing academic and medical literature on vaping versus smoking to examine and verify the substantial scientific evidence that e-cigarettes have a drastically lower risk profile than cigarettes and can help individuals successfully reduce smoking or quit altogether.
“The single most effective way to help people stop smoking, which kills 480,000 people per year, is to encourage them to switch to vaping, which kills no people per year,” said Shapiro.
“The Center for Tobacco Products needs to be honest with American smokers—especially those in Black and LGBTQ+ communities who smoke at disproportionately higher rates—and proactively convey the substantial health benefits of shifting from smoking to vaping,” Shapiro said. “Future FDA policy on tobacco and nicotine products should draw on the well-established scientific evidence regarding the relative risks of e-cigarettes versus cigarettes and the utility of people using vaping to stop or reduce their smoking.”
The report also squarely examined the primary concern of critics of e-cigarettes, the supposed “youth vaping epidemic,” to which formal FDA approval of vaping products would allegedly contribute. “The supposed ‘youth vaping crisis’ narrative that has existed for some time in the media and, curiously, in public health conversations at the FDA is unfounded,” Shapiro continued. “The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s own data show that adolescent vaping has declined substantially in recent years—receding to 2014 levels, well below the 2019 peak—and that most young people who vape do so on an irregular or occasional basis without becoming dependent on nicotine.”
“The FDA and the Center for Tobacco Products have an obligation to follow the science, support harm reduction and health equity, and advance—rather than stall—President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot,” concluded Fowlkes. “The FDA must acknowledge the evidence-based benefits of switching from smoking to vaping and aggressively educate Black, LGBTQ+ and other smokers about those benefits. Failure to approve a wide range of vaping products is an abdication by the FDA of its public health responsibility to Black and LGBTQ+ individuals across the country who desperately want to access a way to quit smoking that actually works.”
October 5, 2023
UK Prime Minister has Tobacco Endgame Plan

Credit: Savvapanf Photo
The U.K. prime minister, Rishi Sunak, wants to raise the legal age for consuming cigarettes, gradually increasing it one year at a time until the next generation is no longer legally allowed to purchase the products, reports Bloomberg.
According to Sunak, the move would make it so that “a 14-year-old today would never legally be sold a cigarette.” Sunak spoke on the age increase at a Conservative Party conference in Manchester Wednesday, where plans to restrict availability of vapes and look at packaging and flavors of vapor products were also discussed.
Simon Clark, director of smokers’ rights group Forest, responded to the move, saying, “These are desperate measures by a desperate prime minister.
“Raising the age of sale of tobacco is creeping prohibition, but it won’t stop young people smoking because prohibition doesn’t work. Anyone who wants to smoke will buy tobacco abroad or from illicit sources.
“This is the opposite of leveling up; it’s dumbing down. Future generations of adults who are considered old enough to vote, pay taxes, drive a car and drink alcohol are going to be treated like children and denied the right to buy a product that can be purchased legally by people a year older than them.
“This is now a conservative government in name only because the prime minister has just taken a wrecking ball to the principles of choice and personal responsibility,” Clark said.
October 4, 2023
Portugal Considers Ban on Public Use, Online Sales

Credit: Paulo MF Pires
The government in Portugal is discussing a new draft law regulating vaping and other tobacco product use. The new EU delegated act of the Tobacco Products Directive would be brought into the national legislation on heated tobacco products, including several provisions on vaping that have not been a part of the original delegated act.
Draft Law No. 88/XV aims to extend smoke-free areas’ restrictions to the use of vaping products – effectively banning vaping in outdoor spaces such as the terraces of bars and restaurants – and to restrict the sale of vaping products by banning online sales, according to an emailed press release.
Alberto Gómez Hernández, community manager of the World Vapers’ Alliance, said the measures represent a step backward in the adoption of an “open and evidence-based approach” to alternative nicotine products.
“Instead of making it more difficult for smokers to access safer nicotine products, Portugal should follow the steps of countries that are successfully reducing smoking rates by encouraging smokers to switch, such as the United Kingdom and Sweden,” he said. “Banning the online sale of vaping products leaves smoking as the only option for those who do not have alternative nicotine product outlets nearby.”
October 3, 2023
Study Finds Flavor Bans Boost Combustible Sales

Credit: Balint Radu
A new study has found that flavor bans boost sales of traditional combustible cigarettes. The study, E-cigarette Flavor Restrictions’ Effects on Tobacco Product Sales, concluded that restrictions on the sale of flavored nicotine vaping products could lead to significant increases in traditional cigarette sales.
“Given that combustible cigarettes are widely recognized as more harmful than vaping, the study’s findings raise pressing questions about the public health implications of such policies, according to a release from the Canadian Vaping Association (CVA). The group “urges Canadian governments to review the study’s findings and ensure that vapor product regulations are inline with harm reduction and Canada’s Drugs and Substances Strategy.”
Key Highlights from the study include:
Substitution to Cigarettes: For every 1 less 0.7 mL pod sold due to flavor restrictions, there’s an increase of 15 additional cigarettes purchased.
Rise in Cigarette Sales Over Time: While the short-term effects are less clear, the long-term correlation between vaping flavor policies and a surge in cigarette sales is robust. This surge occurs especially when such policies have been in place for a year or more.
Young Population at Risk: The relation between vaping flavor restrictions and increased cigarette sales isn’t limited to a particular age group. Alarmingly, there’s also a surge in sales for cigarette brands popular among underage youth.
The research firmly underscores the unintended consequences of restricting flavored product sales, according to CVA. While the research indicated that these policies do achieve their goal of reducing flavored product use, they inadvertently boost the sales of traditional cigarettes across all age groups.
Given the stark difference in health risks between cigarettes and vaping, the study contends that the overall health benefits of such policies may be minimal or even potentially harmful in the broader perspective.
October 2, 2023