Tag: news

Dr. Phil Spreads False Info, Blames Nicotine for EVALI
Misinformation continues to be a challenge for the vaping industry. After the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that vitamin E acetate in black market marijuana vaping products was the cause e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) more than a year ago, many media outlets continue to falsely blame nicotine vaping products for the lung illness that was first identified in 2019.
Credit: drphil.com
On his Friday episode of the show Dr. Phil, American TV personality Phillip Calvin McGraw, also known as Dr. Phil, wrongly blamed the EVALI lung illness outbreak on vaping nicotine products. Speaking to a guest who stated she only used nicotine vaping products, McGraw said he “was puzzled” by the guest’s understanding that vaping, while not entirely safe, is safer than smoking combustible cigarettes.
“Ventilators, hospitals, deaths … there is lots of news out there on this,” McGraw said. “This isn’t a matter of opinion, it’s a matter of science.” The host then went on to use several news reports wrongly blaming nicotine for EVALI to support his statements. According to Nielsen data, the average daily audience of the Dr. Phil Show is 2.9 million viewers.
Reports of serious illnesses and deaths related to vaping began mounting in summer 2019. By mid-February 2020, the CDC reported more than 2,800 cases of lung injuries requiring hospitalization across all 50 states, and 68 deaths. After nearly six months of falsely claiming nicotine vaping products were the cause of the outbreak, the CDC finally admitted that the cause was illicit THC vaping products and not nicotine vaping products.
By July of 2020, the CDC said that states no longer needed to track lung-related injuries caused by marijuana-based vapor products, partly because cases have dropped. The CDC said it stopped requiring states to report the numbers in February of 2020 after it pinpointed vitamin E acetate as the culprit in THC vaping products that were making people sick, but didn’t make the public announcement until nearly five months later.
McGraw holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, though he ceased renewing his license to practice psychology in 2006, according to Wikipedia. The CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now strongly recommend that people avoid use of “e-cigarettes or vaping products containing THC, especially from the illicit market.”
The UK and EU have a different view on e-cigarettes and whether or not combustible tobacco smokers should make the switch. More and more smokers began transitioning over to vapor products after the Public Health England stated that vaping is 95 percent safer than smoking cigarettes. Experts have pointed out that EVALI cases are almost exclusive to the United States and haven’t made a blip on the radar globally. In the UK, there are approx. 3.6 million e-cigarette users with virtually no EVALI cases reported during the media coverage period in 2019 and early 2020.
There were also little to no cases of EVALI in Canada and Mexico, the closest foreign neighbors to the US. “EVALI was largely the result of an unregulated illicit THC vape market in the United States which didn’t follow safe production standards” says Allan Rewak, executive director of Canada-based Vaping Industry Trade Association (VITA) in Nov. of 2020. “Canada’s nicotine vape market was on the final path toward federal regulation at the time, which prevented EVALI from occurring in any significant way north of the border.”
The use of EVALI to spread fear on nicotine vaping in Mexico and in Latin America was particularly crude, dishonest and more intense than in other places, according to Roberto Sussman, senior researcher and lecturer at the National University of Mexico and founder and director of Pro-Vapeo. .
“Up to this day, all officials of the health ministry in Mexico are still blam[ing] nicotine vaping,” says Sussman. “And when you try to engage them, they say, ‘No, no, no. That’s it. Full stop. End of discussion.’ That’s it.” Since EVALI has now been found to be caused by illegal THC vape pens, not nicotine-based e-cigarettes, Sussman says “no one has told Latin America.”
In late 2020, Mexico’s president signed legislation prohibiting the importation, manufacture and distribution of all noncombustible products tobacco (vaping) products, including heat-not-burn products. “Their justification was that we need to protect Mexican youth from EVALI. Given the proximity of the U.S., this epidemic can come to Mexico any time,” says Sussman. “Pure fear-mongering and they’ve refused all debate.”
Brad Jemmett, a former long-time smoker and now general manager for SnowPlus – an innovation based vape company – suggests that the core of what drove the negative media was a localized, US issue.
“Globally, we don’t really see EVALI cases like there were in the US, because EVALI was linked to illicit marijuana vapes, and most specifically the addition of Vitamin E acetate as a thickening agent. Our products on the other hand, are developed and tested to the highest degree, and designed specifically for adult smokers looking to transition out of smoking,” he said. “At SnowPlus, we never have and never will use Vitamin E acetate in any of our products. Through innovation, we’ve aimed to simulate the smoking ritual with vape technology, to provide a less harmful alternative compared to smoking cigarettes.”
April 19, 2021
Half-Day Tobacco Harm Reduction Conference
The GTNF Trust will present a special half-day virtual conference on April 27, titled In Focus: Tobacco Harm Reduction, to help participants evaluate the science on tobacco harm reduction products and address the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
The conference comes at a critical time. This year, the World Health Organization will host its Conference of the Parties for the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Meanwhile, the EU is pressing ahead with its newly launched Beating Cancer Plan and drafting the next Tobacco Products Directive.
Panelist in the In Focus: Tobacco Harm Reduction conference include:
David Abrams, professor in the department of social and behavioral sciences at New York University;
Mark Kehaya, chairman of AMV Holdings;
Maria Gogova, vice president and chief scientific officer at Altria Client Services;
Karl Fagerstrom, president of Fagerstrom Consulting;
Delon Human, president of Health Diplomats;
Jasjit S. Ahluwalia, professor of behavioral and social sciences and professor of medicine at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University School of Public Health and Alpert School of Medicine;
Riccardo Polosa, full professor of internal medicine at the University of Catania and founder of the Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction;
James Murphy, executive vice president of R&D and scientific and regulatory affairs at Reynolds American; and
Roxana Weil, senior director of product integrity and toxicology at Juul Labs.
For more information and registration, please visit infocusthr.org.
April 19, 2021
Bidi Vapor Expansion Now 11 International Markets
Credit: Bidi Vapor
Bidi Vapor successfully completed the regulatory process to enter seven additional international markets, bringing the total of new international countries open for distribution to 11.
These new international markets include Spain, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and the Czech Republic. Previously, on March 31, 2021, Kaival Brands announced that Bidi Vapor obtained market authorization for four countries: Australia, New Zealand, Russia and the United Kingdom.
“We are very excited about pursuing our international opportunities,” said Niraj Patel, CEO of Kaival Brands, in a statement, noting how the countries posed both challenges and opportunities that the company is ready to take on.
Kaival Brands is the exclusive distributor for Bidi Vapor’s primary offering, the Bidi Stick, which is the subject of a premarket tobacco product application now under review with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
April 19, 2021
FDA Issues 2 More Warning Letters for Lack of PMTAs
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued warning letters to two more e-liquid manufacturers for violating the agency’s marketing rules. Nice Guys Distributing and Lucky’s Vape Lounge received the letters and posted them to the FDA website on Thursday and Friday, respectively. The regulatory agency has issued 92 warning letters for illegal e-liquids in 2021, so far.
Credit: Bitcoin ATM Map

Nice Guys was warned for its “Mr. Nice Guy’s E-Juice Etc. 2 Pussy Cat e-liquid,” according to the FDA and has more than 600 products listed with the FDA. Lucky’s Vape :Lounge was cited for selling “Lucky’s VapeWaterpop 6 e-liquid product” and has more than 16,000 products with the FDA. It is impossible to know if more than the mentioned products that received the warning letters violate the FDA’s premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) rules.
The FDA states that the companies failed to submit PMTAs by the required Sept. 9, 2020 deadline. The FDA also states that “the violations discussed in this letter do not necessarily constitute an exhaustive list” and companies should quickly address any products that violate the same rules as the product mentioned in the letter.
In February, the director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, Mitch Zeller, said that there were over 400 million vaping-related products that required a PMTA in order to remain on the market. “These warning letters are the result of continued surveillance and internet monitoring for violations of tobacco laws and regulations. We want to make clear to all tobacco product manufacturers and retailers that the FDA is keeping a close watch on the marketplace and will hold companies accountable for breaking the law,” said Zeller.
Companies that receive warning letters from the FDA have to submit a written response to the letter within 15 working days from the date of receipt describing the company’s corrective actions, including the dates on which it discontinued the violative sale, and/or distribution of the products. They also require the company’s plan for maintaining compliance with the FD&C Act in the future.
April 16, 2021
Estonia Suspends E-Liquid Taxation to Curb Black Market

Photo: Makalu from Pixabay
Estonia’s parliament recently voted to suspend the nation’s excise tax on e-liquid between April 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2022, to reduce cross-border and illicit trade. The Estonian excise duty on e-liquid has been €0.2 ($0.24) per milliliter since 2018. The Baltic state first considered making the move in 2020.
“Suspending the collection of excise duty will make it possible to lower the price of e-liquids and thus offer consumers controlled and safe products at a lower price,” said Tarmo Kruusimae, parliament member and chairman of the parliament’s Smoke Free Estonia Support Group.
“It has the potential to become a success story if we manage to reduce both the illicit trade and cross-border trade and at the same time offer less harmful alternatives to cigarettes at a more competitive price.”
The group estimates that about 62–80 percent of the Estonian e-liquid market comprises self-mixed, cross-border and smuggled e-liquids primarily from Latvia and Russia. The e-liquid black market strengthened in 2019 when Estonia implemented a tobacco and vapor product flavor ban.
Tobacco harm reduction advocates welcomed Estonia’s decision. “Estonia’s example with over-taxation of e-liquids should definitely be an educational experience for other countries,” said Ingmar Kurg, CEO of NNA Smoke Free Estonia and a member of the International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organizations, in a statement.
“If laboratory-tested and legal products are made too expensive for consumers, they will look for solutions in the black market, self-mixing and cross-border trade. Some people give up e-cigarettes and return to smoking, which happened in Estonia.”
April 16, 2021
Group Launches Platform for Vapers to Share Quit Stories
The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) has launched vapersvoice.ca, a national initiative that provides adult vapers a platform to share their story on how vaping helped them quit smoking. The aim of the initiative, sponsored by Flavourart Distro, is to remind Canadians and regulators that punitive vape regulation has real consequences for adult smokers that have chosen vaping to reduce their harm.
Credit: Tumisu
The website will enable adult vapers to upload short videos detailing, where they live, how long they smoked, how long they have been smoke-free, the flavor and nicotine concentration they used, and what they would do if flavors were to be banned. Canadian’s need to hear from adult vapers, not the industry. The CVA encourages all adult vapers to share their story, according to a press release.
“Globally, the conversation around vaping has lost sight of the millions of lives that can be saved through vaping. Vaping has presented an unparalleled harm reduction opportunity and flavors are the key to adult adoption and success quitting smoking,” the release states. “Vapersvoice.ca will highlight the importance of flavored products and the positive impact vaping has had on the lives of millions of adult smokers.
April 15, 2021
Alaska Legislators try Again to Tax Vapor Same as Tobacco
Legislators in the U.S. state of Alaska are trying again this year to tax “electronic smoking products” the same as tobacco products. Bills to extend the state’s tobacco tax to electronic smoking products died last March as lawmakers rushed to close down the session amid the start of the pandemic. However, two lawmakers are trying again this year.
Credit: David Mark
The bills, sponsored by Kodiak Sen. Gary Stevens and Juneau Rep. Sara Hannan, have each cleared their first committee and are both waiting for a hearing in their respective Finance Committee before either could move to the full body for a vote.
Alaska has no statewide tax on vapor products, although the state taxes smokeless tobacco at 75 percent of wholesale. Cigarettes are taxed at $2 a pack. HB 110 would enact a 75 percent wholesale tax on e-liquids, vaping devices, and components (HB 110 is the House version of SB 45).
April 15, 2021
Academics Caution Against Big Tobacco Takeover of Cannabis

Photo: Terre Di Cannabis from Pixabay
Big Tobacco must be prevented from utilizing “its profit-driven product engineering of addictive and deadly products, predatory marketing practices and anti-regulatory expertise” to dominate the legal cannabis industry, according to Andy Tan and Shaleen Title.
Writing in Tobacco Control, the academics say the tobacco industry has a demonstrated history of resisting government regulation, co-opting scientific experts, engineering tobacco products to be more addictive and using substantial marketing budgets to maximize sales and profits of its products. “If tobacco companies are permitted to dominate the legal cannabis industry, this will risk exacerbating public health harms on groups that are disproportionately harmed by tobacco use,” they write.
Driven by declining sales of tobacco products and spreading legalization of cannabis, the tobacco industry has been diversifying into cannabis in recent years.
In January 2016, Philip Morris International invested $20 million in Syqe Medical, which developed a medical cannabis inhaler. In June 2018, Imperial Brands invested in Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies.
In December 2018, Altria Group invested $1.8 billion in Cronos, a Canada-based multinational cannabis company. Imperial Brands in July 2019 acquired a stake in Auxly Cannabis.
If tobacco companies are permitted to dominate the legal cannabis industry, this will risk exacerbating public health harms.
Andy Tan and Shaleen Title
And just last month, BAT signed a strategic collaboration agreement with Organigram, a wholly owned subsidiary of publicly traded Organigram Holdings.
In their piece, Tan and Title urge authorities to restrict Big Tobacco’s participation in the cannabis industry, for example by placing limits on the seizes of cannabis businesses by enforcing regulations on how many stores or plants one individual can own.
Tan is associate professor of communication at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania.
Title is a distinguished cannabis policy practitioner in residence at the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center of the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
April 14, 2021
Vaping With Cigarette-Levels of Nicotine May Reduce Exposure

Photo: Auremar – Dreamstime.com
E-cigarettes that deliver a cigarette-like amount of nicotine are associated with reduced smoking and reduced exposure to a major cancer-causing chemical in tobacco even with concurrent smoking, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State College of Medicine and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).
“We found that e-cigarettes that delivered a similar amount of nicotine as traditional, combustible cigarettes, helped reduce smoking and exposure to a harmful carcinogen,” said Jonathan Foulds, a researcher at Penn State Cancer Institute and professor of public health sciences and psychiatry and behavioral health. “This study shows that when smokers interested in reduction are provided with an e-cigarette with cigarette-like nicotine delivery, they are more likely to achieve significant decreases in tobacco-related toxicants, such as lower exhaled carbon monoxide levels.”
The researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial of 520 participants who smoked more than nine cigarettes a day, were not currently using an e-cigarette device and were interested in reducing smoking but not quitting.

We found that e-cigarettes that delivered a similar amount of nicotine as traditional, combustible cigarettes, helped reduce smoking and exposure to a harmful carcinogen.
Jonathan Foulds, professor of public health sciences and psychiatry and behavioral health
According to Foulds, the findings represent an important addition to the scientific literature because they suggest that when e-cigarettes deliver nicotine effectively, smokers have greater success in reducing their smoking and tobacco-related toxicant exposure. Caroline Cobb, associate professor of psychology at VCU and lead author, said the study is important for two reasons.
“First, many e-cigarettes have poor nicotine-delivery profiles, and our results suggest that those products may be less effective in helping smokers change their behavior and associated toxicant exposure,” Cobb said.
“Second, previous randomized controlled trials examining if e-cigarettes help smokers change their smoking behavior and toxicant exposure have used e-cigarettes with low or unknown nicotine delivery profiles,” Cobb said. “Our study highlights the importance of characterizing the e-cigarette nicotine delivery profile before conducting a randomized controlled trial. This work also has other important strengths over previous studies including the sample size, length of intervention, multiple toxicant exposure measures and control conditions.”
The study contributes to the ongoing question of what role e-cigarettes play in changing smoking behavior, and the findings support limited safety concerns for the use of the specific e-cigarette and liquid combinations over the short term, even in the context of concurrent cigarette smoking. However, Cobb added, very little is known about the effects of e-cigarettes over the course of years, as opposed to the study’s 24-week period.
April 14, 2021
FDA Issues 6 More Warnings for Vapor Marketing Violations
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued 6 more warning letters to vapor companies for failing to submit a premarket tobacco product application. Oregon Vapor, Northwest Vapors, Legend Vapor, Flavor Concepts, Hi Lyfe Vapors and LJ’s E-Smokes all received letters and April 9 and the FDA posted the letters on its website on April 13.
Today’s postings bring the total number of warning letters issued by the FDA to vapor companies for violating marketing rules to 90 this year. Oregon Vapor has 100 products listed with the FDA, Northwest Vapor has 4,400 and Legend Vapor has 2,500, according to the FDA. Flavor Concepts has 300 products listed, Hi Lyfe Vapors has 100 and LJ’s E-Smokes has 280 products registered with the regulatory agency.
The FDA states that the companies failed to submit PMTAs by the required Sept. 9, 2020 deadline. The FDA also states that “the violations discussed in this letter do not necessarily constitute an exhaustive list” and companies should quickly address any products that violate the same rules as the product mentioned in the letter.
In February, the director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, Mitch Zeller, said that there were over 400 million vaping-related products that required a PMTA in order to remain on the market. “These warning letters are the result of continued surveillance and internet monitoring for violations of tobacco laws and regulations. We want to make clear to all tobacco product manufacturers and retailers that the FDA is keeping a close watch on the marketplace and will hold companies accountable for breaking the law,” said Zeller.
Companies that receive warning letters from the FDA have to submit a written response to the letter within 15 working days from the date of receipt describing the company’s corrective actions, including the dates on which it discontinued the violative sale, and/or distribution of the products. They also require the company’s plan for maintaining compliance with the FD&C Act in the future.
Vapor Voice and TMA have created a PMTA tracking tool to help find legal vaping products.
April 13, 2021