Vietnam’s health ministry has proposed a national ban on e-cigarettes and tobacco-heating products, reports Vietnam News.
During a conference last week, Deputy Minister Tran Van Thuan stressed that all forms of tobacco, including new-generation products, pose a significant threat to public health.
Nguyen Nho Huy, deputy director of the physical education department at the Ministry of Education and Training, shared that vaping among students had risen from 2.6 percent in 2019 to 8 percent in 2023.
According to ministry of health data, nearly 1,224 people were hospitalized in 2023 due to health complications directly linked to e-cigarettes and heated tobacco.
Tran also referenced risks such as battery explosions and nicotine poisoning.
Heated tobacco, he noted, emits smoke containing toxins similar to those found in traditional cigarettes.
Participants in the event also expressed concern about the market for illicit vaping products. In the first half of 2024, authorities uncovered 35 cases of illegal trade and possession of drug-infused e-cigarettes, according to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duy Trung.
One year after Quebec banned non-tobacco flavored vapes, most vapers are buying such products illegally in the province, according to Imperial Tobacco Canada (ITCAN).
In a survey carried out by Leger, 61 percent of vapers said that they purchased non-tobacco flavored vapor products in the past 12 months. Forty percent of those respondents said that they purchased an illegal flavored vapor product from a vape shop, and 33 percent of those respondents said they purchased flavored vapor products online. Forty-seven percent of those respondents said they knew it was illegal when they purchased a flavored vapor product
“If the government’s objective was to create an untaxed and unregulated vapor market, then well done and mission accomplished,” said ITCAN Vice President of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Eric Gagnon in a statement.
ITCAN attributed the problem in part to weak enforcement. “A report from the Ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociaux (MSSS) website reveals that only 150 (38 percent of all vape shops) have been inspected by MSSS,” the company wrote. “Worse yet, very few fines have been issued with reports showing only 28 of those 150 received fines, even though more than 90 percent are uncompliant.”
ITCAN urged the government to train inspectors, issue fines heavy enough to deter illegal players and conduct an “enforcement blitz” to demonstrate the gravity of the situation, among other suggestions.
The City of San Antonio, Texas, is banning the use of e-cigarettes, or vaping, where smoking is currently restricted. The revised ordinance will take effect on January 1, 2025, and will prohibit their use in all venues where smoking is currently restricted.
Businesses must include the electronic smoking device icon on signs prohibiting smoking. The icons for both cigarettes and e-cigarettes should be enclosed in the standard red circle with a red bar across them, media reports. They will be required for every public place and place of employment where smoking is currently prohibited.
“This update reflects our commitment as the community health strategist and ensures that policies remain relevant to current circumstances, adapt to technological changes, and mitigate potential risks,” said Dr. Claude A. Jacob, Metro Health director. “By reducing exposure to secondhand smoke and promoting smoke-free environments, we are taking significant steps to protect the health of our citizens.”
Altria Group beat market expectations for third-quarter revenue and profit on Thursday, as robust demand for its nicotine pouches and vaping products helped soften the blow to its combustible cigarettes category.
Altria’s NJOY vapes and on! nicotine pouches have seen steady demand in the United States, and its menthol-flavored NJOY vape products received authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for sale.
“Altria delivered outstanding results in the third quarter,” said Billy Gifford, Altria’s CEO. “The smokeable products segment delivered solid operating companies income growth behind the resilience of Marlboro, and in the oral tobacco products segment, our MST brands continued to drive profitability while on! maintained momentum in the marketplace. We also continued to reward shareholders through a growing dividend and share repurchases while making investments in pursuit of our vision.”
The company disclosed in July that it had provided data to the FDA regarding the growth of illegal nicotine pouches, which illustrated the early stages of a significant black market for vapes.
In the third quarter, domestic cigarette shipment volume in the smokeable products segment decreased by 8.6%. In contrast, NJOY devices saw a shipment volume increase of over 100% year-over-year, reaching 1.1 million units, according to a press release.
Shipment volume for on! nicotine pouches increased by 46% this quarter, while demand for the company’s chewing tobacco products, such as Copenhagen, continued to weaken.
Shares of the Marlboro maker increased by approximately 1% in premarket trading. They have grown by about 25% this year.
Altria’s third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.38 topped market expectations of $1.35. The company maintained its annual profit forecast of between $5.07 and $5.15 per share.
Last week, peer Philip Morris lifted its annual profit target betting on strength in demand for its flagship IQOS heated tobacco device as well as ZYN nicotine pouches.
The cost of vaping and smoking will increase following tax rises announced in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget. A new tax on vapes of £2.20 ($2.85) per 10ml of e-liquid will kick in from October 2026.
That will be accompanied by an equivalent increase of £2.20 per 100 cigarettes in tobacco duty to “maintain the financial incentive to switch from tobacco to vaping.” Reeves also set out immediate above-inflation increases of 2 percent on tobacco and 10 percent for hand-rolled tobacco.
In its last Budget before losing the election, the previous Conservative government said it wanted to introduce a vaping tax and set up a consultation on the changes. The consultation said the tax aimed to make vaping “less accessible to young people and non-smokers while also raising revenue for funding vital public services like the NHS.”
It had proposed different levels of tax based on the amount of nicotine in the vaping liquid, according to media reports. However, Reeves has instead opted for a flat rate. In its analysis of responses to the vaping consultation, the government said industry representatives and some public health bodies had opposed a three-tier structure, warning it could result in unintended consequences and create complex bureaucracy.
Head of the UK Vaping Industry Association, John Dunne, called the vape tax a “nonsensical move” that penalized people who used vapes as a method to give up smoking. “Some three million adults are former smokers thanks to vaping, which is strongly evidenced as the most effective way to quit conventional cigarettes, saving the NHS millions of pounds in treating patients with smoking-related conditions,” he said.
The new Labour government had already said it wanted to stop vapes being branded to appeal to children and has announced a ban on single-use vapes, due to come into effect in England in June 2025. Ministers have also pledged to continue plans set out by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to ban people born in or after 2009 from buying cigarettes.
Police in Canada said they have arrested six people involved in an organized crime group believed to have produced tens of thousands of counterfeit cannabis-laced candy bars and edibles resembling popular name-brand products.
The takedown began early this month, according to a statement from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Tuesday. On Oct. 3, the Pacific Region Royal Canadian Mounted Police federal policing investigators executed search warrants at two dispensaries and five separate residences on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.
“These warrants were associated to an organized crime group allegedly involved in the production and distribution of illicit drugs, and contraband tobacco in Port Alberni and Nanaimo,” authorities said. “The dispensaries in question were Green Coast Dispensary in Port Alberni and Coastal Storm Dispensary located in Lantzville.”
Search warrants were also executed at a suspected stash site in Port Alberni, as well as a storage and production facility adjacent to Coastal Storm Dispensary, including two modular trailers where cannabis edibles were being produced, stored, and distributed, authorities stated in a press note.
Credit: CRMP
The list of items seized includes over 120,000 cannabis edibles with packaging resembling popular name-brand chocolate bars, potato chips, nacho chips, honey and other candies, including over 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) of psilocybin mushrooms, 1,740 psilocybin capsules, over 400 psilocybin chocolate, candies and a multitude of other psilocybin products, 2.2 pounds of pressed cannabis resin, over 500 pounds of cannabis bud, more than 19 pounds of shatter, over 5000 cannabis vape cartridges, counterfeit cannabis-laced honey, five vehicles, two ATM machines containing cash, an estimated 164 master cases of contraband tobacco equating to 82,000 packs of cigarettes, over $400,000 in cash and a shotgun, police said.
“Although the contraband cannabis-laced candy bars and chips resembled professionally manufactured, packaged, and quality-controlled products, they were discovered to have been produced in the highly unsanitary, and heavily contaminated modular trailers,” authorities from RCMP said. “A preliminary assessment of the edibles also indicates that they had been treated with unknown amounts of THC, and likely cross-contaminated with other drugs and substances present in the trailers where they were being produced and packaged.”
Of equal concern, according to police, was the fact that the counterfeit snacks had packaging claims of possessing medicinal properties and dangerously high drug potency values, with many of the candy wrap labels claiming to be “100 times more potent than regulated cannabis products.”
“Given the highly contaminated and unsanitary conditions of the illicit drug production facility where these cannabis edibles were being produced, it is possible that the consumption of these products can lead to serious health risks,” RCMP said. “We urge members of the public to practice extreme caution if they already possess, or come across such products in the future, especially with Halloween being just around the corner.”
Public policy experts are calling for stronger federal post-employment regulations as U.S. regulators, including those overseeing the tobacco business, are increasingly losing talent to the private sector.
A recent article in The Examination details how, over the past 15 years, nearly two dozen lawyers have left the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and its Center for Tobacco Products to advise, litigate for or work with the tobacco and vaping industry.
“It seems like every time we get sued in the tobacco industry, a former FDA lawyer is leading the lawsuit,” Commissioner Robert Califf told an FDA oversight organization last year.
After gaining FDA experience, lawyers can significantly increase their salaries by moving to a major law firm or corporation. While a lawyer’s salary in the FDA’s chief counsel’s office, for example, starts at around $83,000, a first-year lawyer at a firm made on average $200,000 a year in 2023, according to the National Association for Law Placement.
Daniel Aaron, a former FDA attorney, says lawyers who’ve left the agency to work on behalf of the tobacco industry not only increase their renumeration but can also have a powerful impact on what lands on store shelves.
“It’s a huge advantage to getting your product to market.” said Aaron, now a University of Utah law professor. “Ex-FDA lawyers know what the agency is worried about, and how a client can maximize its options. They know not just what the law is, but they know how the FDA will enforce the law.”
Federal post-employment rules also bar former employees from communicating with or lobbying a federal employee for two years on behalf of a client or employer under certain circumstances. That said, employees are allowed to work “behind the scenes” advising clients, according to the FDA’s post-employment guidelines.
Genevieve Kanter, a professor at the University of Southern California who co-published a study in 2023 on the revolving door in health care regulation, believes the rules should be strengthened if society is truly interested in preserving independent government.
Kanter’s study focused specifically on conflicts of interest of employees at the highest level of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; It found that 38 percent percent of the political appointees from the FDA went into private industry, the fourth highest out of roughly two dozen offices and divisions.
Eric Lindblom, director of the Center for Tobacco Products’ Office of Policy from 2011 to 2016, proposed blocking former staff from working for the tobacco industry for at least one or two years, in all cases, after leaving the policy office. “I thought it was really important that we had that independence,” said Lindblom, now a senior scholar at Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute.
The proposal went nowhere.
The Examination is a publication supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued warning letters to nine online retailers and one manufacturer for selling or distributing unauthorized disposable e-cigarettes designed to resemble smart technology, including smartphones and gaming devices.
The products mentioned in the warning letters are promoted as having various designs and functions that might attract young people, according to an agency press release. These include features like playing games, connecting to smartphones, receiving text or call notifications, playing music, and customizing products with personalized wallpaper.
“These products may resemble smart devices, but there’s nothing smart about them,” said Brian King, director of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “They’re illegal to sell and a flagrant attempt to target kids.”
The agency states that the designs of the unauthorized products cited in the warning letters are likely to appeal to youth because they help conceal the nature of the products as tobacco products from parents, teachers, or other adults. Example images of unauthorized products cited in the warning letters compared to electronic devices on the consumer market, such as smartphones and gaming devices.
“The firms receiving these warning letters sold and/or distributed e-cigarettes in the United States that lack authorization from FDA to legally market a new product, which is in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act,” the release states.
In addition to the violations mentioned in the warning letters, the retailers and manufacturer were warned to address any violations that are the same as, or similar to, those stated in the warning letter and promptly take any necessary actions to comply with the law. Failure to promptly correct the violations can result in additional FDA actions such as an injunction, seizure, and/or civil money penalty.
“FDA is steadfast in our commitment to enforce the law,” said John Verbeten, director of CTP’s Office of Compliance and Enforcement. “We will continue to take appropriate measures, working hand in hand with our federal enforcement partners, to address unauthorized tobacco products, especially those most appealing to youth.”
French Health Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq said in an interview with the newspaper Le Parisien published on Wednesday that nicotine pouches “are dangerous products because they contain high doses of nicotine.” She added that a ban will be announced in the coming weeks.
In Germany, while tobacco-free nicotine pouches are officially banned, they remain accessible and popular among young people, according to experts from the Tobacco Outpatient Clinic at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.
“I am very concerned because poisoning centers are receiving more and more calls from young people with acute nicotine symptoms related to the use of pouches,” said the French minister.
These include vomiting, shaking spasms, low blood pressure and impaired consciousness, she said.
The minister warned that “the marketing of this product is directly aimed at young people. ” She added that young people need to be protected.
Michael Landl, director of the World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA), criticized the move as being detrimental to public health.
“By banning nicotine pouches, Minister Darrieussecq is closing off an effective, far less harmful path for millions who struggle to quit smoking. Pouches have proven to help smokers transition away from cigarettes in other countries and are considerably safer,” he said. “Rather than offering options, France risks pushing people toward smoking or the black market.”
The French health minister plans to ban similar products, such as chewing gum or balls, in addition to the pouches.
A trio of Denver City Council members is proposing a ban on the sale of all flavored tobacco products in the Colorado capitol.
The effort comes three years after then-Mayor Michael Hancock vetoed a similar ban, following months of debate and intense lobbying on both sides of the issue, including from tobacco industry interests. A different lineup of council members crafted that measure.
“We think this is important because it’s a public health issue impacting our community,” Councilman Darrell Watson said on Monday after a committee hearing that previewed the proposal. He had helped lay out the specifics of the proposed ban, which — like its predecessor — would outlaw the sale of flavored vaping cartridges and a wide swath of other flavored products, including menthol cigarettes.
Watson’s co-sponsors are Councilwomen Shontel Lewis and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez. None of the three served on the council in 2021 when Hancock vetoed the previous bill. The council later came one vote short of mustering the nine necessary to overturn the veto, according to media.
Unlike his predecessor, Mayor Mike Johnston, who took office in mid-2023, has already committed to signing a flavored tobacco ban law if it makes it to his desk.
Monday’s meeting was only a briefing. The ban still needs to be approved by the council before it can be considered for a final vote. The next step for the planned proposal—a hearing before the council’s Safety, Housing, Education, and Homelessness committee—could come as soon as next week.
