The 2022 legislative session kicked off Wednesday, starting a nearly five-month process that will shape Hawaiʻi’s future. On Tuesday, legislators and advocates with the Keiki Caucus unveiled their priorities for the upcoming session.
The caucus will be introducing nearly 30 bills covering issues such as sex trafficking, after-school programs, and sex education. The group will also attempt to ban all flavored vaping products. State Rep. Scot Matayoshi said the bill will also make it harder for kids to purchase these products.
“95 percent of smokers start before the age of 21 and 81 percent of youth have tried a flavored nicotine product as their first tobacco product,” he said in an Hawai’i Public Radio report. “So these products really are a gateway into nicotine addiction.”
“What really hit home for me is that 31 percent of middle schoolers have tried vaping — and that’s the age of student that I used to teach when I was a DOE teacher. So that really struck a chord in me that a third of my students would have been vaping right now or would have tried a flavored vaping product,” he told Hawaiʻi Public Radio. “It’s really targeting kids. That’s what makes it very insidious. And it’s disguising nicotine, which is a highly addictive drug as a candy-flavored product.”
Matayoshi acknowledged past efforts to ban flavored tobacco products have fallen short but says he is hopeful for this year.
The bicameral conference committee of the Congress of the Philippines on Wednesday approved a measure that would regulate the importation, manufacture, sale, packaging, distribution, use, and communication of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs).
The panel, composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate contingents led by Deputy Speaker Wes Gatchalian and Senate President Pro Tempore Senator Ralph Recto, respectively, approved the report reconciling the disagreeing provisions of House Bill 9007 and Senate Bill 2239.
During the conference meeting, House Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez said the measure aims to offer an alternative for Filipinos who want to quit smoking, according to a press release. Recto, however, noted that while congress intends to push for the shift from smoking to vaping, the bill does not back its promotion “as a lifestyle.”
With the enactment of the bill into law, posts, messages, or images by manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers that encourage the purchase and use of vape products would be prohibited. The bill mandates the Department of Health to prescribe guidelines on the implementation of smoking and vaping restriction awareness campaigns.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), meanwhile, would consult with the Food and Drug Administration in setting technical standards for the safety, consistency, and quality of vape products. Manufacturers, distributors, importers, and sellers would then be given an 18-month transitory period from the issuance of the implementing rules and regulations to comply with the requirements of the measure.
This would include the registration of the vape products with the DTI. The report is up for ratification by both the House and the Senate. If successful, it would then head to President Rodrigo Duterte’s desk for a signature.
Several anti-tobacco groups have sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration urging the agency to act on the outstanding premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) and pushing for the denial of all flavored e-cigarette products.
It’s been more than four months since the FDA was supposed to decide which e-cigarette products can remain on the market, but the agency still hasn’t completed some of the reviews, including some of the bestselling e-cigarettes.
“We write to urge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expedite decisions on the premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) still pending before the agency involving the flavored e-cigarette products, including those with menthol flavoring and, based on the best available scientific evidence, deny the pending applications for all non-tobacco flavored e-cigarettes in order to protect the nation’s young people from the health harms of these products,” the letter said.
The letter was signed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Heart Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, among others.
“Every day that FDA delays action, more of our kids remain at risk,” said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “While the FDA has ruled on applications from a lot of small companies, it hasn’t ruled on the applications from the large companies whose products are being used by a majority of kids.”
American Vaping Association President Gregory Conley pointed to data showing that youth vaping has been declining. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), use of e-cigarettes went down among middle and high school students from 2019 to 2020.
But even with the drop, the CDC said it “estimated that more than 2 million U.S. middle and high school students reported currently using e-cigarettes in 2021.”
Phillips & King International has announced its new brand identity and a forthcoming new wholesale e-commerce platform. Part of the rebranding effort includes a contemporary refinement of the company’s “shield and knight” badge. The new Phillips & King logo “signifies its mission to modernize the business, while paying homage to the equity earned over their 116-year heritage,” according to a press release.
The distribution company was founded in 1906 and has a long, successful history serving independent and small chain convenience, tobacco, and liquor retailers across the United States. The announcement details the company’s move towards a complete digital transformation of its business to “better serve the evolving needs of its retail customers and brand partners.” Throughout 2022, the company will be launching a host of enhancements to its business, including a the web platform expected to launch in early Q2.
The new platform is expected to make it easier for stores to discover and stock the products that consumers struggle to find elsewhere on the market. Phillips & King will also be expanding its product and category assortment to give emerging brands the ability to reach more buyers— and give stores access to new products coming to market, according to the release.
“The future of B2B wholesale commerce is both digital and highly-personalized,” says Jason Carignan, president of Phillips & King. “Our new web platform will enable us to more easily connect buyers and sellers across the industry and offer a more expansive array of products and categories- all while improving the personal connection our sales teams have with customers. We believe that retailers should be able to manage their entire business with ease from their mobile device and have access to business intelligence— and expert guidance— that helps drive inventory-buying decisions. This new platform is the first step in our quest to helping stores thrive in the new retail reality.”
Phillips & King, a subsidiary of Kretek International.
Lithuania will ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and e-liquid cartridges starting in July, reports LRT. Tobacco flavors will remain legal.
The move is aimed at reducing sales of e-cigarettes that are growing increasingly popular in Lithuania.
On Jan. 18, Lithuanian lawmakers adopted amendments to the Law on Control of Tobacco, Tobacco Products and Related Products with 92 votes in favor, nine against and nine abstentions.
Lithuania already bans vaping hardware and cartridges containing vitamins and other additives that create an impression that they are good or do less damage to health.
The country also prohibits imports of e-cigarettes and e-liquid cartridges containing caffeine and other stimulating compounds linked to energy and vitality.
In order to help cocaine addicts curb their addiction, a pair of German researchers have proposed a solution that surely has every nicotine vaping advocate rolling their eyes. The duo has designed a device that allows problematic crack users to administer the drug in a safer manner that, for instance, reduces lung damage and lowers the risk of overdose. It’s essentially a vape for crack.
Credit: Nomad Soul
According to ZME Science, Fabian Steinmetz and Heino Stöver, both members of Schildower Kreis — a network of German experts on drug policy reform — have not proposed drug decriminalization in their most recent study. Instead, writing in the journalDrug Science, Policy and Law, they presented a device that assists in inhaling crack cocaine in a manner that is safer to users.
The design of the device is nothing revolutionary. Like conventional e-cigarettes, it consists of a liquid container, an atomizer with a heater, and a battery. Except that instead of nicotine, you put a solution made of crack cocaine and propylene glycol, which the user inhales as vapor free of the fine particles and toxic combustion products that result from smoking.
“There are some risks that a vape pen for crack could pose, though. It is very likely that crack vape pens, if they are ever manufactured, will end up on the illicit market and could potentially encourage people to start using crack or use more of it if they are already a user,” the story states. “The only way to answer these concerns is to run well-designed randomized trials. For now, a cocaine e-cig seems like a very distant prospect but its harm reduction potential shouldn’t be overlooked.”
BAT has created a virtual R&D visitor experience, an online tour of its global research and development hub in Southampton, U.K., that allows people to explore its cutting-edge science and innovation.
BAT says the experience builds on the company’s open and transparent approach to the science underpinning its reduced-risk product portfolio and beyond nicotine activities. The company regularly welcomes visitors in person to its global R&D hub, with more than 3,500 people viewing the facilities firsthand since 2011. However, with travel significantly reduced, the virtual experience allows people from across the globe to access and understand BAT’s scientific research and tobacco harm reduction activities and gain perspectives and insights from experts.
“At BAT, R&D is fundamental to what we do,” said David O’Reilly, director of scientific research at BAT, in a statement. “Our focus on science and research has enabled us to make significant progress in developing and evolving our New Category products, which are rigorously tested and scientifically substantiated as reduced-risk alternatives to cigarettes. Our R&D is based around consumer preferences as well as applying evolving science and innovation to our products. This allows us to offer a range of enjoyable reduced-risk alternatives to cigarettes while ensuring we maintain very high safety and quality standards.
“Our new R&D virtual visitor experience demonstrates the breadth of science we are undertaking and the robust scientific framework we use to evaluate and support the role our products play in delivering tobacco harm reduction.”
With 360-degree lab tours, animations, videos, scientist profiles, podcasts and more, the R&D virtual visitor experience is the one-stop hub for those looking to find out about BAT’s science. The tour illuminates BAT’s purpose to build “A Better Tomorrow” and mission to reduce the health impact of its business. BAT invests almost £350 million [$477.18 million] a year to find innovative ways to reduce its effects on public health and aims to have 50 million consumers of its noncombustible products by 2030.
Respira Technologies has created a scientific advisory board and appointed Jasjit S. Ahluwalia as its chair.
According to Respira, the scientific advisory board to strengthen the company’s connection to the constantly evolving body of scientific evidence on the issues of tobacco use, harm reduction, nicotine and smoking cessation being generated by public health to guide the development of its technology and pipeline for current and future new drug applications.
“As a biotechnology company whose goal is to end the death and disease caused by smoking through the development of a breakthrough smoking cessation therapy, we must be guided by and have a deep understanding of the constantly evolving data and science generated by public health on issues important to our business,” said Respira Technologies CEO Mario Danek in a statement.
“We are thrilled to name Dr. Ahluwalia as Chair and the founding member of our scientific advisory board. He represents one of the best and brightest scientific minds with decades of experience in studying nicotine addiction and cessation. Having guidance and perspective from the most distinguished researchers in this space will be critical to Respira achieving its goal of contributing to eliminating preventable morbidity and mortality, and achieving health equity.”
Ahluwalia is a leader in academic research and public health focused on studying tobacco use, nicotine addiction and smoking cessation. He is a physician and public health scientist at Brown University.
Through his research, he has also investigated issues of health disparities and minority health broadly across multiple areas of substance use, cancer prevention and public health.
At Brown University, he is a professor, associate director of the Legoretta Cancer Center and deputy director of the Center for Addiction and Disease Risk Exacerbation, a NIH funded Center of Biomedical Research Excellence. Ahluwalia’s work has generated over 350 publications in leading scientific journals, and he has received over $100 million in research funding as a principal and co-investigator.
As chair of Respira’s Scientific Advisory Board, Ahluwalia will be engaged in the company’s scientific strategy, development of clinical research and leading engagement within the nicotine, addiction and cessation public health community. His broad healthcare research background will guide Respira’s current application and inform the company’s development pipeline to expand application of its proprietary drug delivery platform across a diverse spectrum of indications and patient populations.
“I have dedicated the last 30 years of my career to understanding nicotine addiction, cessation and the complex issues they create in our society, especially among ethnic minority and other vulnerable populations,” said Ahluwalia. “Respira has the potential to create a very significant impact on this important public health crisis. I am thrilled to be leading Respira’s scientific advisory board and look forward to assisting the company in its efforts to improve the lives of hundreds of millions of smokers looking to quit around the world.”
Respira Technologies is preparing to submit an investigative new drug application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2022, which will allow the company to begin human clinical studies. The company is pursuing a prescription designation for its portable handheld combination drug device for the indication of smoking cessation therapy.
The FEELM Air is a next-generation vaping solution that uses a new ultra-slim, bionic film ceramic coil.
By Timothy S. Donahue
The vaping industry can’t reach its full potential until the nicotine they provide can be absorbed into the body as effectively as a combustible cigarette. The new FEELM Air fully integrated vaping solution brings the industry one step closer to that goal. The FEELM Air offers several improvements on previous closed system vaping devices, including the next generation of FEELM’s industry leading ceramic coils.
FEELM Air brings together three new innovations for its Ultra-slim Bionic Film ceramic coil, calling the new coil the world’s thinnest ceramic coil vape pod solution. During a launch event in London on Jan. 18, representatives of FEELM and the flagship atomization technology brand’s parent, Smoore International, detailed several of FEELM Air’s technological breakthroughs in the vaping experience, including ultimate design, reliability, flavor and an exceptional interactive experience.
There are three major improvements to FEELM’s latest coil technology that are the cumulative achievements of a team of 500 scientists and nearly 7 years of research, according to FEELM representatives. “FEELM Air is the outcome of cross-disciplinary research, and a revolution to [the] ceramic coil, ” said Frank Han, president of FEELM at opening remark of the launch event. “It replaces the single-layer film with a 7-layer bionic ultra-slim film. The thickness of the film is reduced from 80 micrometers to 2 micrometers, which is 40 times thinner than the last generation.”
The overall improvements of FEELM Air are attributed to the device’s use of a new generation of Ultra-Slim Bionic Film (USBF) ceramic coils, which incorporates a seven-layer composite heating film made of bionic material for the first time in the vaping industry. FEELM representatives said that each layer leads to an equally enhanced functionality.
The second innovation in the USBF coil is its use of a Nanoscale Vacuumed Film-forming Technique to help the heating film distribute heat more evenly across the coil for accurate temperature distribution. The final innovation is a microporous bionic structure that provides smooth ventilation as well as a strong e-liquid locking layer to prevent any leakage.
Additional improvements to FEELM’s USBF coil allow the overall FEELM Air to bring additional major breakthroughs to vaping experience, including an integrated Micro-Electromechanical System (MEMS), the industry’s highest level of energy efficiency and its smallest linear motor, according to FEELM.
“It has the world’s first seven-layer composite heating film made of bionic material. Most of the existing ceramic coils are single-layered, and now we have a seven-layered composite heating film,” a FEELM representative explained to Vapor Voice. “It can improve the harm reduction and improve the energy efficiencies and each layer will lead to a corresponding functionality improvement.”
FEELM Air improves the overall harm reduction performance by 80 percent of previous generation ceramic coils. The numerous major breakthroughs the new device provides include:
The Hybrid Composites Heating Layer and the Nanoscale Protection Layer provide corrosion resistance, thereby reducing the emission of heavy metals by 78.6 percent. The temperature Control Layer with its thermal conductivity can reduce the emission of aldehydes and ketones by 80.7 percent due to localized over-heating.
In terms of energy optimization, FEELM Air boasts the world’s highest energy efficiency of 1.3mg/W, by virtue of three layers of composite materials. The Nano Silver Electro Layer can reduce invalid energy consumption while Porous Thermal Resistance Layer can effectively reduce heat loss.
The patented Microporous Flavor-LockLayer improves average flavor release by 33% percent. It’s terraced temperature zone and multi-layered atomization allow for a tailored flavor release in different temperature zones and produces aerosols in smaller particle size for consumers to taste the flavor thoroughly and allow for a lower lung absorption that previous generation coils.
FEELM Air also uses a second-generation of the company’s “puzzle leak-proof” technology that decreases leakage rates by 237 percent. It introduces an upgraded capillary structure and an innovative choke valve to prevent condensation, alongside a Superabsorbent Lock Layer can effectively prevent e-liquid splashing.
The innovative FEELM Air also uses the world’s smallest linear motor, which offers a unique “Shock-wave Mode”, that allows users to include delicate vibrations that allow consumers to feel the resonance in every puff. The power consumption of vibrations per charge is as low as 0.06 percent (equal to two puffs).
The FEELM Air also has industry’s first superpower management system TOPOWER, which allows for eight hours of vaping with only a 10-minute charge. The energy density is increased by 20 percent and the battery life is increased by 30 percent over previous generations, according to FEELM. The device also adopts an integrated MEMS, which functions as a reliable airflow switch, to improve the sensitivity of the device while preventing mis-activation.
“Ever since the launch of the world’s first black ceramic atomization coil with metallic film in 2016, FEELM has changed the whole competitive landscape, ushering in a new era of ceramic coil. It has largely enhanced harm reduction with accurate heating temperature control and revolutionized vaping experience with smooth and pure taste till the last puff,” said Han. “More importantly, FEELM has effectively addressed the industry’s pain points of leakage and dry hits.”
To keep up with the enhanced vaping experience the FEELM Air provides vapers, the company announced the launch of its second generation of the FEELM taste evaluation model during the FEELM Air launch event. To better understand taste experiences while vaping, FEELM introduced its first taste evaluation model in December 2020 that gave FEELM researchers the ability to describe the taste of atomization scientifically. Composed of four dimensions – flavor, strength, note and vapor – and 51 specific indexes, the model establishes a system to evaluate the human senses of mouth, tongue, nose and throat.
“Now, it’s five dimensions and 65 indexes. It’s more complicated in evaluating aroma, aftertaste, taste/mouthfeel, impact and vapor property. We built up an in-house sensory evaluation team. We have experts with certain backgrounds in tobacco science and vaping taste evaluations,” a FEELM representative said. “They team’s experience in the science of evaluating flavors ranges from 5 years to 13 years. They are the experts in evaluating vape ingredients.”
During the event, Han also announced a brand refresh for FEELM. The new brand concept is composed of five words: Feel, Engine, Exploration, Lifestyle and Memory, echoing the five letters of the brand’s name. He has also unveiled the new logo, which has the contour of ceramic coil in the shape of a window. It symbolizes “FEELM’s Window to Ultimate Sensation”, said Han. “The ‘open window’ stands for the infinite pursuit of a better sensory experience, representing FEELM’s commitment to ultimate sensation.”
The FEELM Air may be the bridging device that brings vaping magnitudes closer to the nicotine delivery and sensory experience combustible cigarette smoking offers, only in a format that Public Health England has said is 95 percent safer. It’s too early to tell, but the FEELM Air may motivate an even greater number cigarette smokers to switch to vaping than previous devices.
“Vaping devices loaded with FEELM atomizers have been exported to over 50 countries in Europe, America, East Asia, Africa and Oceania with an accumulated sales volume of over 3 billion pieces,” Han said. “FEELM has never stopped the constant exploration for ultimate sensation. By virtue of FEELM Air, equipped with the Ultra-Slim Bionic Film Ceramic Coil, FEELM is ready to drive another paradigm shift in the global vaping industry, leading the second sensory revolution of ultra-slim devices and ceramic coils.”
Recent amendments to China’s Tobacco Monopoly Law present an opportunity for responsible companies to demonstrate how alternative high-quality products are an important and appropriate element of tobacco harm reduction, according to Broughton.
Writing on the website of the contract research organization, Broughton’s head of regulatory affairs, Lloyd Smart, and regulatory consultant Xiangyin Wei summarize China’s tobacco monopoly law changes and explain what they means for electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).
On Nov. 26, 2021, China’s State Council amended the country’s tobacco law, giving the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration jurisdiction over e-cigarettes. Next-generation products will now be managed in the same way as combustible cigarettes.
Among other things, this means that ENDS companies, including exporters, will need to apply for a license. A single transaction platform will be implemented for product distribution and all products must comply with a new national standard. Regulation of products likely to be introduced following an initial transition period of between three and five months, during which no new products may be brought to market. Products with synthetic nicotine will be banned in China.
According to Broughton, the recently announced changes to e-cigarette regulation in China offer an excellent business opportunity for companies that want to build consumer trust by showcasing their product’s high quality and safety standards.
“As with all regulatory requirements, the most important initial step is to understand fully what’s needed—to provide reassurance or identify gaps that need to be addressed. And to act quickly; seizing the opportunity while making sure you don’t get left behind as the market changes,” write Smart and Xiangyin.
