Tag: flavor ban

SCOTUS Rejects RJ Reynolds Flavor Ban Challenge

The Supreme Court of the United States has rejected R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s bid to challenge a voter-approved ban on flavored vaping and other tobacco products in California, the most populous state in the U.S.
The justices rejected an appeal by R.J. Reynolds, a unit of British American Tobacco, and other plaintiffs of a lower court’s ruling holding that California’s law did not conflict with a federal statute regulating tobacco products.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who defended the law in court, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, called the Supreme Court’s decision “excellent news.”
“We look forward to continuing to fight to prevent addiction and protect the health of our people,” Bonta said, Reuters reports.
R.J. Reynolds declined to comment.
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom in 2020 signed into law a ban on all flavored tobacco products – including menthol cigarettes and cotton candy-flavored vaping products – in response to concerns about a rise in e-cigarette and tobacco use by teenagers.
The ban’s implementation was delayed after a tobacco industry coalition gathered enough signatures to put to voters a ballot measure that would block California from becoming the largest state to ban flavored tobacco product sales. But nearly two-thirds of voters casting ballots on the measure known as Proposition 31 approved the sales ban in November 2022.
The law made California the second state to ban all flavored tobacco product sales after Massachusetts in 2019. Several other states have restricted flavored vaping products and several municipalities have adopted their own bans.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2020 banned all flavors except tobacco and menthol in Juul and other cartridge-based e-cigarettes. In 2022, the FDA sought to ban sales of all Juul e-cigarettes, though it later put the order on hold.
Beyond vaping, the FDA in April 2022 proposed banning menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. Those rules have yet to be finalized and have been the subject of lobbying by tobacco groups.
A day after the California vote, R.J. Reynolds along with a group representing tobacco retailers, the Neighborhood Market Association, and a vape shop, filed a lawsuit arguing the federal Tobacco Control Act, which the FDA enforces, preempts state and local laws that bar flavored tobacco product sales.
But a federal judge ruled those arguments were foreclosed by an earlier decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding a similar ban in Los Angeles County.
The 9th Circuit upheld the judge’s ruling on California’s law in June, after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier in 2023 declined to hear an appeal of the Los Angeles ruling.
R.J. Reynolds had previously unsuccessfully asked the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent the California law from taking effect while it pursued its appeals. The justices rejected that request in December 2022.
January 9, 2024
Bill to Ban Flavored Nicotine in Guam Gets Short Pause

Credit: Rarrarorro
A bill aimed at prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products on Guam was withdrawn after the public hearing did not move forward.
Due to lawmakers spending a large amount of time discussing Bill 175-37, which proposes changes to Guam’s Toilet Facilities and Sewage Disposal Act, the next scheduled public hearing for Bill 50-37 had been withdrawn by its sponsor, Sen. Thomas Fisher.
Bill 50 sought to prohibit the sale of flavored vaping and other tobacco products on Guam, according to media reports.
Fisher explained he withdrew Bill 50 to make changes after receiving information from the American Cancer Society.
Fisher further intended to refile the bill immediately with the hope of having a public hearing on the bill Jan. 11.
Last year, lawmakers in Guam proposed to impose a 10 percent excise tax on all vape products for the first year, and then raise it to 20 percent on the second year.
Guam currently has no standardized tax regulations for what the bill describes as electronic nicotine-delivery systems (ENDS).
January 8, 2024
Delayed Response

Credit: F Armstrong Photo
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering court opinions before finalizing PMTA reviews.
VV staff
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration stated in prior status reports for its premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) that the agency would complete a review of 100 percent of the applications by the end of 2023.
The agency is now estimating that completion of the reviews may be delayed as the regulatory agency considers the D.C. Circuit’s opinion in Fontem US v. FDA, affirming in part and vacating and remanding in part marketing denial orders for certain vaping products. Fontem US, a subsidiary of Imperial Brands PLC and parent to Fontem U.S., owns the global e-cigarette brand blu. In August, the court found that the FDA failed to justify its denial of Fontem U.S.’ unflavored vape products on public health grounds.
“As to Fontem’s flavored products, the FDA reasonably found a lack of evidence that the benefits of such products to adult smokers sufficiently outweighed the potential risks to young nonsmokers. As to Fontem’s unflavored products, however, the FDA acted unlawfully by failing to engage in the holistic public health analysis required by the statute,” the opinion states. “The agency did not take into account the potential benefits of unflavored products or weigh those benefits against risks to the public health.”
The original PMTA completion date was Sept. 9, 2021; however, the FDA stated it was unable to meet that goal due to the extremely large number of PMTAs filed by manufacturers.
The FDA is under a Maryland Federal District Court order to file regular status reports on the agency’s review of PMTAs. The court case that ended in a court-imposed deadline for the FDA was filed by health groups seeking a timeline for the review of the PMTAs that were filed with the agency by Sept. 9, 2020.
The court order stems from litigation filed by health groups against the FDA seeking a court-imposed deadline for finalizing the review of the PMTAs that were filed with the agency by Sept. 9, 2020.
The court-imposed deadline to complete the agency’s review was originally Sept. 9, 2021, which the FDA was unable to meet due to the extremely large number of PMTAs filed by manufacturers.
The most recent and the FDA’s seventh status report was filed on Oct. 23, 2023, according to media reports. Specifically, in these reports, the FDA provides an update on the progress of finalizing the agency’s review of pending PMTA “covered applications.”
In the order requiring the FDA to submit status reports, the Maryland court stated that “covered applications” are limited to applications for products that are sold under the brand names Juul, Vuse, Njoy, Logic, blu, Smok, Suorin or Puff Bar. Additionally, any product with a reach of 2 percent or more of total “Retail Dollar Sales” in Nielsen’s Total E-Cig Market and Players or Disposable E-Cig Market and Players’ reports.
For such new tobacco products to be lawfully marketed in the United States, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act requires the FDA to complete a substantive review of the PMTA for each new tobacco product and issue a marketing granted order authorizing the sale of the product. According to the FDA’s Oct. 23 status report, the agency has completed its review of 69 percent of the 186 pending covered applications.
The FDA states that it will file the next status report with the court by Jan. 22.
December 31, 2023
Judge Grants Stay for Multnomah County Flavor Ban

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Multnomah County’s flavored tobacco ban is now on hold.
The flavor ban in the largest county in Oregon was set to go into effect on Jan. 1.
In a ruling Friday, the Oregon Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay against the policy, pending ongoing litigation.
The owner of a local vape shop said they were preparing to pull dozens of products off their shelves before getting the news.
He said flavored products make up 90% of their business, according to KATU news.
“It was going to be a trip. Like I’d have zero nicotine devices available, but again, those aren’t like a popular seller, so it was going to take some strategy to even to be able to stay in business,” said Marcus Nettles, owner of Rose City Vapers.
December 30, 2023
Oregon’s Largest County to Ban Flavored Nicotine

Credit: Robert Appleby
The largest county in Oregon, the 27th largest U.S. state, will ban all flavored nicotine products other than tobacco beginning January 1. Multnomah County will go into effect after surviving a court challenge.
Last week, Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Souede denied a request by the tobacco industry to halt enforcement of the county ordinance.
The decision paves the way for Oregon’s largest county to become the first in the state to ban flavored tobacco, according to media reports.
Earlier this year in Salem, state lawmakers considered House Bill 3090, which would have enacted a similar ban statewide. It had the support of one Republican lawmaker, Sen. Bill Hansell of Athena, and two Portland physicians, Rep. Lisa Reynolds and Sen. Elizabeth Steiner.
It passed out of the House health care committee on a party-line vote, with Democrats in favor and Republicans against, but died in the Joint Ways and Means Committee.
December 29, 2023
Singapore Cracking Down on Illegal Vaping Imports

A soldier is on duty in Changi Airport (SIN) – Credit: Phuong
As part of a multi-agency effort to clamp down on vaping, Singapore authorities will step up checks at air, land and sea checkpoints in the coming months, starting with Changi Airport.
“Incoming passengers may be screened for e-vaporizers and their components at the arrival halls, and those found with e-vaporizers or their components will be fined,” said the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) in a media release.
Vaping is illegal in Singapore and offenders can be fined up to S$2,000 ($1,490). Those who import, distribute or sell such products face stiffer penalties, including a possible jail term.
Passengers carrying vaping devices must pass through the Red Channel (for people with goods to declare) to dispose of the prohibited items. “Travellers who declare and surrender these items at the Red Channel will avoid penalties,” said MOH and HSA, according to reports.
Additional Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) locations have been set up to flush out vaping violators, and security checks will also be conducted to detect and deter smuggling attempts.
Apart from the border checkpoints, checks will be stepped up at places such as the central business district, shopping centres, parks, smoking areas, as well as public entertainment outlets such as bars and clubs.
December 27, 2023
Flavored Vapes Still Available After California Ban

Image: Olga
Californians, including minors, are still able to buy flavored vapes online a year after the state enacted a ban on such products, reports The Conversation, citing a study published in Jama Network Open.
In effect since Dec. 21, 2022, California Senate Bill 793 prohibits the sale of most flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to people of all ages. Hookahs, premium cigars and loose-leaf tobacco are exempted from the legislation.
Posing online as minors under the age of 21, researchers tried to buy flavored e-cigarette products from 26 websites that sold them in California. Before SB 793, they succeeded in 52 percent of attempts. After SB 793, the team’s success rate rose to almost 61 percent.
The study did not explain why flavored e-cigarettes are still available from online retailers in California. “It may be that vendors are flouting the new law, are ignorant of it, or do not believe the new law applies to online sales,” speculated corresponding author John-Patrick Allem, associate professor of social and behavioral sciences at Rutgers University.
Allem urged authorities to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of SB 793 compliance among brands and vendors that sell their products online in California to help determine the extent to which flavored e-cigarettes are still available.
Another research team collected weekly Google search rates related to online shopping for cigarettes and vaping products in California from January 2018 to May 2023. They found that shopping queries were 194 percent higher than expected for cigarettes and 162 percent higher than expected for e-cigarettes—which according to the authors suggests consumers are searching on Google for vendors promoting banned products.
December 22, 2023
Another City in Maine Bans Flavored Nicotine Sales

Credit: Gary L Hider
The state of Maine is a hotbed of nicotine regulation. The town of Falmouth became the sixth municipality in the state to outlaw flavored tobacco products.
The town council voted 5-2 in support of an ordinance that will make it illegal to sell any vaping or other tobacco product that imparts or is advertised to impart a taste or smell “other than that of tobacco” when the ban goes into effect on March 12, 2024.
Falmouth has a population of just over 12,000 residents. The town joins Portland, South Portland, Brunswick, Bangor and Bar Harbor in passing similar bans on selling flavored tobacco products.
Retailers found violating the law will be subject to a written warning for a first offense, followed by a fine of $500 for a second offense and $1,000 fine for each subsequent violation.
The ordinance does not prohibit the use of flavored tobacco products; however, it does aim to make it harder for individuals, youth and adults, to acquire the products.
One supporter of the ban, councilmember Janice de Lima, said she considered the ordinance a win even if only five kids were prevented from using flavored nicotine products, regardless of the impact on other residents or businesses.
Council vice-chair Jay Trickett spent several minutes critiquing the ban, citing studies that show bans on flavored tobacco products result in increased levels of cigarette use, adding that the council had public health policy backward with the ordinance, according to Halfwheel.
Trickett said the ordinance’s passage will result in increased health risks for certain residents of the town, possibly forcing some current vapers to return to smoking more deadly combustible cigarettes. It could also potentially drive some youth who use vaping products to switch to combustible tobacco products. The ban would also negatively impact local businesses.
“We are blundering about with a sweeping regulation that only indirectly addresses the problem and absolutely harms other residents because we feel the need to do something,” he said during Monday’s meeting.
Additionally, the council passed a resolution to codify its support of the ban:
“The Falmouth Town Council believes that reduced access to flavored tobacco products could potentially reduce youth resident initiation to tobacco products and thereby decrease youth tobacco and nicotine addiction and associated health risks. The Council believes that this outweighs the potential impacts on adult tobacco product users and retailers. The Council supports the enactment of an ordinance to prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products by tobacco retailers in Falmouth.”
The Hallowell City Council has also held a first reading of a similar ordinance.
December 13, 2023
Argentina Urged to Repeal Recent E-cigarette Ban

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The Argentinean vapers’ association, Asovape Argentina, and the World Vapers’ Alliance have sent an open letter Argentina’s recently elected president, Javier Milei, calling for the repeal of the National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology Provision 3226/2011 banning the commercialization of e-cigarettes.
The provision banned the import, distribution, marketing, advertising and promotion of e-cigarettes. It went into effect May 6, 2011.
The letter explains that numerous studies conducted since the ban took effect have demonstrated the significantly lower risk profile and the usefulness of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation as well as the low health risk of nicotine. The signatories also argue that the ban is incompatible with respect for the individual freedom of Argentinian adults and the rights to free development of personality, information and health of users and smokers.
“The ban violates the rights and freedoms of Argentine adults and should be repealed,” said Juan Facundo Teme, president of Asovape Argentina, in a statement. “The state is not the one to tell Argentines how to consume nicotine and should respect the decisions of individuals who choose to vape in order to consume it in a less harmful way. Moreover, all the arguments on which the ban was based have been disproved.”
Argentina has a smoking rate of 24.5 percent, the second highest in Latin America and one of the highest in the world.
“Smoking is a huge problem for Argentina, and the ban has only exacerbated it,” said Teme. “It spreads the misconception that vaping is the same or worse than smoking, makes it difficult for millions of smokers to switch to a safer alternative and has pushed thousands of vapers back to tobacco. With clear information and proper regulation of vaping, we could reduce smoking rates quickly and significantly.”

Argentina should respect smokers who choose to consume nicotine in a less harmful way.
Alberto Gomez Hernandez, policy manager, WVA
“Argentina is one of the most restrictive countries on vaping in the whole region and consequently has one of the highest smoking rates,” said Alberto Gomez Hernandez, policy manager of the World Vapers’ Alliance. “It is second only to Chile, which has just passed a law regulating vaping to allow adults to use it to quit smoking, as Brazil is also working to do. Argentina should not lag behind and should respect smokers who choose to consume nicotine in a less harmful way.”
Michael Landl, director of the World Vapers’ Alliance, added, “Argentina’s approach to vaping is outdated and irreconcilable with upholding the individual freedom of consumers. Argentina now has a great opportunity to take the lead and adopt the approach of countries like Sweden or the U.K., which respect users’ right to choose while improving public health. Sweden is on the verge of becoming the first smoke-free country thanks to this approach, and the U.K. is reducing its smoking rate rapidly. We encourage President Milei and his government to follow these examples. Vaping is not a crime and should be legalized immediately.”
December 13, 2023
Mexico’s Supreme Court Says Vape Ban is Illegal

The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (Credit: Fernando)
Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice has ruled that the presidential decree banning the sale of e-cigarettes is unconstitutional.
The court’s Second Chamber ruled by three votes in favor that the decree is contrary to the right to freedom of commerce.
The ruling only permits those retailers who were parties to the case to sell e-cigarettes.
In an en banc decision, the full Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico found the interpretation of Article 16(VI) banning e-cigarettes unconstitutional; however, this ruling does not automatically toss out the ban on e-cigarettes under Art. 16(VI).
Instead, if a retailer wants to sell e-cigarettes, he/she must bring a court case to declare the unconstitutionality of the ban in his/her specific case.
Thus, for now, e-cigarettes remain prohibited.
Alberto Gómez Hernández, policy manager of the World Vapers’ Alliance, said he welcomed the decision of Mexico’s High court, adding that the decree violates the right to freedom of trade of the companies, but also the right to health and the free development of the personality of Mexican adults. “Mexicans should be free to decide how they consume nicotine,” he said in an emailed release.
The declaration of unconstitutionality was carried out in an amparo lawsuit – a type of lawsuit in Mexico through which a company can seek legal protection or permission not to abide by regulation that violates its rights.
The general ban will stay in place since the ruling applies only to that specific case and business, yet it shows that even Mexico’s highest court agrees that a ban on vaping products is unconstitutional.
“Although the ruling does not establish jurisprudence, we hope that the government or the judiciary will reverse the ban soon,” said Gomez. “The ban has failed, it has aggravated the public health problem of smoking in Mexico and has created a huge black market controlled by mafias.
“Mexico needs to abandon the ban and adopt a strategy that includes the use of less harmful nicotine products as a smoking cessation tool. It should follow the example of Sweden, which is about to become the first smoke-free country, and the UK, which promotes the use of vapes to quit smoking.”
December 11, 2023