Tag: Featured

Stories featured at the top of tobaccoreporter.com

India: E-cigarettes Widely Available Despite Ban

Photo: Ethan Parsa from Pixabay
Vapor products remain widely available in India eight months after the country banned them.
In September 2019, India prohibited the sale of vapor products to promote public health and prevent youth use (also see “Nipped in the Bud,” Tobacco Reporter, May 2020). “We immediately took a decision so that the health of our citizens, our young is not thrown at risk,” India’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said at the time.
While leading players such as Juul have left the country, vapor products remain widely available today. People can still buy e-cigarettes on the internet or from any paan shop, according to press reports.
Most products on the market today originate in China and retail for less than the offerings of the banished Western companies did.
Samrat Chowdhery
“The only thing that the ban has changed is branded products are out of the market,” a seller who has been in the business for three years was quoted as saying.
“It is difficult to enforce regulations as nicotine is available in all other forms,” Samrat Chowdhery, founder and director of the Association of Vapers India, told Business Insider. “Formal players making e-cigarettes are exiting the market. Once black market industry gains a footover, it will be impossible to get control over it. The government missed a golden opportunity to tax these products.”
June 3, 2020
Taiwan Mulls Ban on Novel Tobacco Products

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Taiwan’s Health Promotion Administration (HPA) wants to ban the sale of novel tobacco products such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products reports The Taipei Times.
On May 29, the agency announced draft amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (THPA) to cover products currently not covered by the act.
One amendment would raise the legal age for smoking and the minimum age for buying tobacco products from 18 to 20.
A recent survey found that smoking and vaping rates among young Taiwanese increased last year.
The smoking of cigarettes and e-cigarettes by junior high and high school students last year increased for the first time since the THPA took effect in 2009, HPA Tobacco Control Division Director Chen Miao-hsin said.
Physician Chen Mu-jung said that teenagers are less cautious when it comes to addictive substances and that flavors added to cigarettes could overpower the pungent taste of tobacco, making teenagers more curious and even leading some to believe that flavored cigarettes are somehow healthier.

June 1, 2020
Japan Tobacco to Launch Ploom S 2.0

Image: Japan Tobacco
Japan Tobacco (JT) is rolling out its Ploom S 2.0, an upgraded heated-tobacco device specialized for menthol. In addition, JT will launch two new menthol tobacco stick products under the Camel brand—Camel Menthol Red and Camel Menthol Yellow. These products will gradually be available at convenience stores and select tobacco retail stores across Japan beginning July 2, 2020.
Ploom S 2.0 is equipped with a new heating mode that lengthens the duration of the peak heating temperature compared to that of the current Ploom S. According to JT, this allows for a balance among the freshness of menthol, rich vapor and clear tobacco taste.
“The two biggest factors that influence the flavor of T-Vapor products are heating temperature and its duration,” explained Toru Takahashi, vice president of the marketing group product and brand division for reduced-risk products.
“Ploom S 2.0 is capable of tailoring the device to heat the sticks at an optimal temperature and for an optimal duration with respect to the different stages from the first inhalation to the last rather than heating at a steady temperature,” he said. “This is the key to delivering the best flavor in T-Vapor products.”

June 1, 2020
Massachusetts Flavor Ban Takes Effect

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
The sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, has become illegal in Massachusetts as of today.
Massachusetts became the first state to approve such a ban when Governor Charlie Baker signed the bill in November.
The law applies to the sale of all flavored tobacco products in Massachusetts retail stores and online.
Cigar bars, hookah lounges and other licensed venues can continue selling flavored tobacco as long as these products are consumed on-site.
Massachusetts’ decision to extend the ban to menthol flavors has been contentious in part because studies have shown menthol cigarettes are consumed disproportionately by minorities, which activists have warned could lead to disproportionate police enforcement in the black community.
June 1, 2020
No Tobacco Day: WHO Criticized For ‘Backward-Looking’ Approach

Tom Miller | Photo: David Parker
Marking World No Tobacco Day, an international group of independent experts has criticized the World Health Organization (WHO) for its “backward-looking” approach to innovation and new technology, such as vaping products.
The experts say they are exasperated by the WHO’s “dogmatic hostility” towards new technology and fear the U.N. health agency will squander the opportunity to avoid millions of premature deaths that will be caused by smoking.
Iowa State attorney general Tom Miller said the WHO has lost its sense of mission and purpose. “It’s as if the WHO has forgotten what it is there to do—to save lives and reduce disease,” Miller said.
“We can do that by helping and encouraging consumers to switch from cigarettes to lower-risk products. This means being honest about the much lower risks and by using smarter regulation to make switching more attractive.”
The group of experts criticizing the WHO include David Abrams of the School of Global Public Health, New York University; Tikki Pangestu, visiting professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore; John Britton, professor of epidemiology at the University of Nottingham; Rajesh Sharan, of North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India; David Sweanor, Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics, University of Ottawa; and Clive Bates, director of Counterfactual Consulting.
June 1, 2020
The Global Forum on Nicotine 2020 Moves Online

Photo: Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay
The Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) will take place online June 11-12, 2020, following the cancellation of the face-to-face event in Warsaw due to Covid-19.
The conference is free of charge and open to everyone with an interest in nicotine science and policy.
During the conference, experts will discuss advances in nicotine science, the ethical arguments in favor of tobacco harm reduction and the human rights issues for all those who advocate for the right to health will be explored.
“As always, and perhaps even more so in this critical year, GFN is open to everyone with an interest in nicotine science and policy,” said Paddy Costall, co-director of the conference.
“It is open to everyone who wants to reduce the toll of tobacco-related death and disease worldwide. And it is open to everyone who recognizes that global tobacco control will fail without the strategic addition of tobacco harm reduction, in the form of widespread access to safer nicotine products. We look forward to welcoming you on the 11 and 12 June—and hope to see many of you in Warsaw, where we plan to meet again in June 2021.”
Participants can register now.
May 29, 2020
Despite Ban, E-Cigarettes Gain Popularity in Taiwan

Youth smoking is up for the first time in a decade, according to government figures. Photo: Taco Tuinstra
The number of young Taiwanese people smoking rose for the first time in a decade in 2019, reports Taiwan News, citing a report by the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Health Promotion Administration.
Remarkably, considering that e-cigarettes are illegal in Taiwan, the popularity of vaping rose by half.
An estimated 81,000 young Taiwanese smoked combustible cigarettes last year, while 57,000 youths vaped, Central News Agency (CAN) reported.
The survey found that the proportion of junior high school students with a smoking habit rose from 2.8 percent in 2018 to 3 percent in 2019, and the proportion of senior high school students from 8 percent to 8.4 percent.
Four out of every 10 young smokers smoke flavored cigarettes, which are more popular with women, the study discovered. The most popular motivator to start smoking cited was curiosity, followed by “seeing other people smoke,” parents smoking and the desire to relieve pressure.
The popularity of vaping among young people surged from 2.7 percent in 2018 to 4.2 percent last year, with male senior high school students the most likely category to use e-cigarettes.
May 29, 2020
InterTabac Postponed, Organizers Working on Alternative Format

Photo: Messe Dortmund
The InterTabac and InterSupply trade fairs planned for Sept. 18-20, 2020, in Dortmund, Germany, will not be held in their customary formats this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The traditional versions of both fairs will be postponed to Sept 16-18, 2021
The decision was taken by agreement between the organizer, Messe Dortmund and the partner associations representing the tobacco industry, tobacco product wholesalers and retailers.
The parties involved have agreed to work on an alternative format to take place in autumn 2020 leveraging the strengths of the trade fair for tobacco products and smoking accessories and of the trade fair focusing on the manufacturing process for tobacco products, e-cigarettes, pipes and shisha tobaccos.
“Even though there have been signs of relaxation in Germany in recent weeks regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, and local authorities have again made it possible to hold trade fairs with limited attendance while observing appropriate hygiene measures, we as organizers continue to pay particular attention to our responsibility to protect the health of everyone involved”, explained Sabine Loos, managing director of Westfalenhallen Unternehmensgruppe, the parent company of organizer Messe Dortmund.
“As a result, working closely with our partner associations, we have decided to jointly develop a new concept for this autumn, and to present it in detail shortly.”
May 28, 2020
Vaping Less Likely to Become Long-Term Habit

Photo: Hazem Mohamad
While the use of e-cigarettes is increasing, vaping is less likely to lead to a long-term habit than smoking, according to a group of 10 interrelated papers prepared for the ongoing Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study.
“The most surprising finding was that while we know cigarette smoking is persistent, and we see use of electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, increasing, especially among young people, what we are not seeing is that e-cigarette use is anywhere near as persistent as cigarette smoking,” says Andrew Hyland, chair of health behavior at Roswell Park and scientific lead on the PATH study.
“Cigarette smokers tend to stay cigarette smokers over time, but e-cigarette users are more likely to discontinue their use over time compared with cigarette smokers. We don’t know why that is.”
Hyland speculates that cigarettes deliver nicotine more effectively than e-cigarettes. Studies have shown that the types of e-cigarettes used during the data-collection period from 2013 to 2016 didn’t deliver nicotine as efficiently as cigarettes.
The study also found that e-cigarette use is associated with attempting to quit smoking. E-cigarette users were 20 percent more likely to try quitting cigarette smoking than adult smokers who did not use e-cigarettes.
May 27, 2020
WHO Launches Reports on New Products

Photo: WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) has published three reports to inform countries on the current state of scientific knowledge and policy options available for novel tobacco products such as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), electronic non-nicotine delivery systems (ENNDS) and heated tobacco products (HTPs).
ENDS and ENNDS, commonly known as e-cigarettes, are available in more than 100 countries while HTPs can be bought in about 40 countries.
The WHO insists that many of the new products are harmful to health.
“HTPs expose users to toxic emissions similar to those found in cigarette smoke, many of which can cause cancer, while ENDS on their own are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and lung disorders and adverse effects on the development of the fetus during pregnancy,” the WHO stated in a press release.
Because of the damaging and addictive nature of these products, the WHO says regulation is crucial to protect populations, particularly youth.
The publication of the briefs coincides with World No Tobacco Day 2020 on May 31. This year’s theme is “protecting youth from industry manipulation and preventing them from nicotine and tobacco use.”
May 27, 2020