The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has warned that consumers should not buy or use 18650 lithium-ion battery cells — used in some vaping products, flashlights and toys — due to a possible fire and even death risk.
Credit: Lithium Battery China
The Commission said it is working with e-commerce sites like ‘eBay’ to remove listings of loose or repackaged “18650 lithium-ion” batteries, according to a press release. A superior court in California recently denied a request by Samsung to dismiss a lawsuit about an exploding e-cigarette lithium-ion batteries.
The market does have single 18650 batteries that are intended for use in consumer products. The CPSC warning is about batteries separated from cells that use multiple 18650s such as battery packs for electric automobiles.
“These cells are manufactured as industrial component parts of battery packs and are not intended for individual sale to consumers. However, they are being separated, rewrapped and sold as new consumer batteries, typically on the Internet,” the CPSC said in a statement on Saturday. “Specifically these battery cells may have exposed metal positive and negative terminals that can short-circuit when they come into contact with metal objects such as keys or loose change in a pocket.”
Once shorted, loose cells could overheat and experience thermal runaway, igniting the cell’s internal materials and forcibly expelling burning contents, resulting in fires, explosions, serious injuries and even death.
“Unfortunately a growing number of small consumer products such as vaping devices, personal fans, headlamps and some toys are using loose 18650s as a power source,” the CPSC stated in the release.
Marijuana stocks have risen this week following the victories of Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, both Democrats, in Georgia’s Senate election runoffs, reports Fox Business. Following President-elect Joe Biden’s win, Democrats will now have control of the presidency as well as both chambers of Congress. Democrats will have 50 seats in the Senate, giving Vice President-elect Kamala Harris the tie-breaker vote.
Canopy Growth, the first marijuana stock to ever be publicly traded in North America, is up 13.2 percent since the election. Shares of Green Thumb stock are up more than 10 percent.
“This new slate of leadership presents an incredible opportunity for national cannabis reform in the United States—the beginning of the end for the long-outdated prohibition on cannabis,” David Culver, U.S. vice president of government relations at Canopy Growth, told Fos Business. “We feel confident that Congress, with the support of the incoming Biden administration, and particularly Vice President-elect Kamala Harris who was an original sponsor of the MORE [Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement] Act, can achieve full federal legalization in the very near future.”
While Harris was against marijuana legalization while working as district attorney and attorney general in California, she changed her position in the Senate to co-sponsor the MORE Act. Biden, as well, favored decriminalizing marijuana during his 2020 presidential campaign.
Green Thumb Founder and CEO Ben Kovler predicts that a fully legalized marijuana market in the United States could be an $80 billion to $100 billion industry, according to Fox Business.
“Consumers are choosing; they’re replacing alcohol,” Kovler said. “Consumers 35 and under are choosing cannabis over alcohol. We’re seeing seniors, 60 and over, choose this to replace things like Ambien, or pain meds [for] arthritis. There are all kinds of different uses for the plants as we turn the plants into consumer products.”
Further legalization of marijuana could open new opportunities for tobacco farmers faced with declining demand for their crops.
The global industrial hemp market size is expected to reach $15.26 billion by 2027, exhibiting a revenue-based compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.8 percent over the forecast period, according to Grand View Research. Additionally, according to Global Market Insights, the cannabidiol (CBD) market exceeded $2.8 billion in 2019 and is set to grow at around 52.7 percent CAGR between 2020 and 2026, with the global market valuation for CBD crossing $89 billion by 2026.
A federal judge in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, has dismissed investors’ lawsuit against tobacco distributor Greenlane Holdings, reports Reuters.
Investors filed a class action lawsuit, claiming Greenlane should have mentioned a pending ban on e-cigarettes before publicly offering stock in 2019.
U.S. District Judge Roy Altman dismissed the proposed class action, saying the distributor for Juul Labs had no duty to flag San Francisco’s then-pending ban on e-cigarettes to investors ahead of its initial public offering in 2019, according to Reuters. Altman called the class action “nothing more than a hammer in search of a nail.”
Altman ruled that the investors did not have a viable claim under the Securities Act of 1933 because Greenlane warned them of the risk of increased tobacco regulation in its registration statement, and the proposed e-cigarette ban was already public.
In late November, the City of Missoula, Montana banned flavored vaping products and not flavored combustible tobacco products. Now, Missoula County is considering using its extraterritorial powers to extend the city’s ban on the sale of flavored vapes and their display five miles outside city limits next week.
If approved, it would be the first time Missoula County applied its extraterritorial powers in four years. The last time it did was related to the city’s smoking ordinance.
“This initially started with the health board adopting a resolution and asking both the commission and City Council to do something to stop the epidemic of youth tobacco, especially using vape products,” said Shannon Therriault, county director of environmental health. “We were seeing a giant increase in the number of kids becoming addicted to nicotine, and a lot of that traces back to flavored tobacco products.”
The city ordinance goes into effect this month.
The city ordinance bans the display of self-service tobacco products of any kind, except where children aren’t permitted. It also banned the sale of all flavored electronic tobacco products, and made it illegal to sell tobacco to anyone under the age of 18.
“The health board reviewed it and approved. Now, it’s coming to the commissioners to review and approve,” said Therriault, according to the Missoula Current. “If approved, it can be applied five miles outside the city limits. It’s great, because it takes in a large amount of the area – the urban area.”
The original city ordinance included a ban on all flavored tobacco, which had the support of health officials but was opposed by dozens of businesses and tobacco users.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the conventional wisdom about many things, and upended the world and our economy in ways we could not have imagined in January. The proliferation of misleading, conflicting and sometimes outright false information, coupled with the constantly changing norms brought on by the pandemic, have hit business owners particularly hard.
Dimitris Agrafiotis Credit: TSFA
The Tennessee Smoke Free Association is an advocacy group and trade organization with a focus on tobacco harm reduction through the use of personal vaporizers (electronic cigarettes) and other smokeless tobacco products shown to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with smoking. While our primary focus is the prevention of tobacco harm, we are also a group of small business owners trying to stay afloat in these uncertain times.
In the summer and fall of 2019, mysterious lung injuries were making headlines in the United States. By October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had taken notice and given it a name: EVALI, which stands for e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury. They began issuing warnings about vaping devices, and guidelines were issued on treating it. And then, in early November 2019, the CDC reversed course and issued a report naming the actual culprit as tainted vitamin E acetate cartridges in illicit marijuana vaporizers — not the vaporizers themselves.
However, the damage to our industry was already done, and stigma of the original incorrect conclusions persists. Standard vaporizers contain varying levels of nicotine (which can be controlled by the user) but don’t have many of the harmful carcinogens found in cigarettes. We are still fighting the battle of misinformation and working to get our message out that e-cigarettes and vape devices can be used by adults addicted to cigarettes in a responsible way that improves their health.
And then, in the wake of the confusion and misinformation surrounding EVALI, the pandemic hit. Cities and counties began shutting the economy down, separating businesses into categories of “essential” and “non-essential.” In many places, vape shops were designated non-essential and forced to close, while gas stations, grocery stores and convenience stores — all of which sell cigarettes — were permitted to stay open.
We were able to advocate for ourselves, and many cities and counties reversed course and allowed us to reopen with curbside services, which almost all of our members did, following strict safety protocols. We continue to be grateful to the elected officials who responded to our hardship and worked with us so we could operate in a responsible manner.
Prior to discovering vaping, I was a longtime heavy smoker with a family history of poor health and even death because of smoking cigarettes. I feel that e-cigarettes saved my life, and many members of the TSFA have had similar experiences. We are knowledgeable and honest about our products and are small-businesses owners who contribute to our communities.
However, as small-business owners, though, we are still struggling with the aftereffects of the EVALI fallout, which were compounded by the pandemic. At the Tennessee Smoke Free Association, we will continue our work to put out critical scientific information and bust myths surrounding the use of e-cigarettes.
Dimitris Agrafiotis is the executive director of the Tennessee Smoke Free Association.This article first appeared on Knoxnews.com.
Two California cities have become the only jurisdictions in the U.S. to eliminate the sale of all vaping and traditional tobacco products. On January 1st, Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach, both in the Los Angeles area, began to enforce the strictest vaping rules in the country. The law also included a phase-out period for retailers to empty their shelves of e-cigarettes. Other cities are considering enacting similar bans.
The Beverly Hills City Council, the first to pass its ordinance, proposed the rule nearly three years ago during a meeting discussing the potential ban of flavored vaping products. Ultimately, the council settled on a total ban of all vaping and traditional tobacco products.
Credit: Haiberliu
“Somebody’s got to be first, so let it be us,” said then-Mayor, current Councilmember John Mirisch, who first proposed the concept in 2017, according to a press release. Mirisch recently joined the Board of Trustees of the advocacy group Action on Smoking & Health (ASH), which coordinates Project Sunset, an effort to phase out tobacco sales worldwide.
“Cigarettes have become so normalized that to some this might seem like a drastic step,” said Chris Bostic, ASH Policy Director. “But if another product emerged tomorrow that was highly addictive and killed when used as intended, of course we’d ban its sale. We’d probably charge the people who marketed it with manslaughter too.”
Total vaping and tobacco bans have been gaining traction more recently, within the public health community and more broadly. The Danish Institute for Human Rights, after concluding a human rights assessment of Philip Morris International in 2017, concluded that “there can be no doubt that the production and marketing of tobacco is irreconcilable with the human right to health. For the tobacco industry, the UNGPs [United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights] therefore require the cessation of the production and marketing of tobacco.”
Vapor industry advocates say that banning e-cigarettes only pushes former combustible cigarettes smokers back to combustibles. They also say that vaping bans increase the size of the black market. Black market THC vaping products were the cause of a lung disease that sickened and killed numerous youth in 2019.
Advocacy organization’s roots are based in giving consumer’s access to lower-risk nicotine products
By VV Staff
In the early days of e-cigarettes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began seizing the next-generation products. In response to the federal action, a group of enthusiasts and dedicated vapers became concerned that consumers would lose access to the potentially life-saving technology. That led to the creation of the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association (CASAA). Alex Clark, CEO of CASAA, said the organization soon started building an army of consumers dedicated to keeping vapor products on the market.
“We truly are a grassroots consumer organization,” explains Clark. “We speak from the heart. And it is our needs as consumers, as people who are choosing a better path in the way that we consume nicotine and tobacco products; that’s where we’re speaking from, and that’s what sets our policy agenda.”
Speaking during the Global Tobacco & Nicotine Forum (GTNF) in late Sept., Clark disclosed that CASAA does accept donations from a variety of stakeholders, including industry stakeholders, but the organization does not have any policy, legislative messaging or financial agreements with any of its supporters. Clark says that the conversation surrounding vaping is centered in harm reduction and that is the mission of CASAA.
Alex Clark / Credit: CASAA
“Vaping … has become this conversation about tobacco harm reduction, [it] is a consumer-driven movement. I don’t think there’s anything groundbreaking in that statement,” he said. “But I bring it up because I believe—and I think many of us believe—that the industry and policymakers need to be reminded of that, that as people who used to smoke, we have endured years of other people telling our story.”
CASAA grew as a community organization through its “tight feedback loop” between consumers and independent manufacturers. Clark likened the early days of the not-for-profit organization to the local food movement, where “if you wanted to know where your cheeseburger came from, you could drive down the road” and visit the farm.
“I think we can all come to embrace that spirit and that side of the industry as an asset, not necessarily something that needs to be regulated to within inches of its life,” Clark said. “As consumers, we are very deeply afraid that is what’s going to happen. That as larger firms are able to make it through the [premarket tobacco product application (PMTA)] process, that we [will] lose that very important retail experience to be able to walk into a vapor shop and learn about the products, but also discuss the challenges that we’re facing in transitioning away from smoking.”
Clark says that a major concern for CASAA and its supporters is that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) PMTA process is too expensive and arduous for small business owners. He says the organization worries that if only large tobacco companies can sell vapor products, consumers will lose the ability to have a place to learn and understand the choices available, through different types of products, to help them stop smoking.
Clark mentioned a study that evaluated the long-term success rates of quitting smoking for people who visited specialty vape shops versus people who bought their products at convenience stores. That study found that consumers that visited vape shops were more successful at stopping smoking. “They were more likely to transition completely and they were more likely to stick with the products for longer,” said Clark.
Because of the success vape shops have had at helping people quit smoking, they began to move away from the stigma they carried in local communities early on as being businesses where “potentially unsavory elements go to get their drugs,” according to Clark. He says that, today, vape shops are seen for what they are: a contact point for public health messaging and people who smoke. “People who are looking for a way to move away from combustible tobacco visit vape shops, and it’s a very casual setting,” he says. “It’s a place where people can feel safe, and welcome, and being able to just share our stories with one another. It is very helpful, and it really looks a lot like a community support [group for smokers].”
Clark said this distinction is important for regulators and anti-vaping groups to understand. Smokers began making the decision to quit using cigarettes by switching to vapor products of their own accord. There was not a government agency telling them that e-cigarettes had the potential to help them quit deadly smoking and small, family-owned vape shops is where the conversations and mass conversions began.
“We have made this decision on our own, which is a bit challenging to the dominant narrative painting people who smoke as victims. I, honestly, don’t feel like a victim,” he says. “I started smoking in the mid-90s. Certainly, I was subject to all kinds of messaging about why I shouldn’t smoke. Not only why it would be negatively affecting my health, but why it was essentially a character flaw and I was a bad person.”
Clark says vape shop owners need to help keep vape shops available to smokers by taking steps to continue to change people’s perceptions of them. Owners need to keep their shops clean and sanitary. Don’t have such a thick cloud of vapor when opening the door that potential customers are driven away. Vape shops should have an open and welcoming environment.
“You need to have a place for your customers to talk with one another. People behind the counter need to be very knowledgeable about the products that they are selling. Regulations [need to allow] people [to] have candid conversations about these products. As it stands now, I think even sharing your personal story about making the switch while standing behind the cash register could get people into a lot of trouble,” he says emphatically. “There’s a lot of room for regulations to improve in terms of allowing people to receive important information and also the education that needs to happen among people working in vape shops.”
People often internalize messages that are intended to encourage them to change their lives for the better, according to Clark. He says people also internalize messages about being deficient. Some of the rhetoric surrounding vaping and the misinformation about its harms is detrimental to public health. Vape shops create an environment where people feel comfortable discussing their goal of quitting cigarettes. Anti-vape groups, however, are putting these “safe zones” for smokers in jeopardy.
“We have already seen the legislative agenda of the anti-vaping, anti-nicotine campaigns which is to go after flavors, which very obviously shuts down vape shops and takes away that very important element of providing a space for people to come together and support one another,” Clark told attendees. “We must be prepared to take on these fights at the local and state level.”
Fighting the types of legislative challenges that the vapor industry is facing is complicated. Clark says that when attempting to tackle many legislative issues in the United States, it is like dealing with 50 different countries. “Certainly, you can see this in our patchwork of responses to the [Covid-19 pandemic],” he says. “Within those 50 countries, we have 39,000 local governments and all of these are potential pressure points where anti-nicotine activists will promote anti-harm reduction policies. If we don’t stand up for ourselves, we can’t rely on other people to do it for us and we cannot surrender our voice to either anti-tobacco activists or the tobacco and nicotine industry.”
VPZ opened a new store on July 31, its first since Covid-19 lockdowns began. The UK’s largest vaping retailer opened the shop in Bruntsfield, Edinburgh, creating five new jobs.
Headquartered in Newbridge, Edinburgh, VPZ director Doug Mutter said the company has had to adapt to the new way of life following the huge change in the retail landscape.
“We are seeing the biggest change in the retail economy in living memory and we as a company have had to be adapt in what we can offer. We understand that not all of our customers are able to travel to our stores. The High Street is having to adapt to much smaller footfall,” he stated in a release. “That is why we have opened this new store within a more residential area to ensure we can still serve our customers, without requiring them to take excessive travel. We believe this maybe a longer-term change to the marketplace and we are investing and committing to serving local communities as best we can.”
Despite the retail sector facing huge challenges the company are seeing more smokers making the switch, with record numbers of quit attempts in 2020.
“Vaping represents a huge public health opportunity and the market will continue to grow as increasing numbers of smokers recognise its effectiveness in helping people to quit smoking,” stated Mutter. “Consumer education is crucial too and our knowledgeable staff are always available with advice and support that helps make it easy for smokers to make the switch and give up cigarettes once and for all.”
The R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company (RJRVC) launched an updated consumer website yesterday. The enhanced platform is interactive, experience-driven and is designed to enable age 21+ adult nicotine consumers to identify and create the moments they are looking for, according to press release.
“The new www.vuse.com site is designed to be engaging and informative, while empowering creativity and individuality,” the note states. “Through the site, [adult nicotine consumers] will have the opportunity to customize and purchase their ideal vapor product and explore creative passions with engaging content. As part of Vuse’s continued commitment to responsibility, the updated site will continue to require robust third-party age verification prior to purchase.”
Amy Harp, vice president of Digital Marketing and eCommerce for RJRVC said the website may look brand new, but the company’s mission remains the same. “We are committed to responsibly delivering enjoyable vapor products to adult nicotine consumers,” she said “We believe vapor products can be marketed responsibly to [adult nicotine consumers] without compromising on the quality and enjoyment they are looking for. This website was developed thoughtfully and diligently to meet our high standards for responsible marketing while delivering sought-after product access for our consumers.”
Adult nicotine consumers will also now have the option to personalize their Vuse vapor products directly on the site. ANCs can choose to customize their product with options for device colors, device wraps, flavors and nicotine strengths, according to the release.
“The Vuse community is a dynamic one, and we are excited to help foster their creativity in one place. We are excited to see how our consumers interact with this new platform, and we can’t wait to continue bringing them the experiences they want with a brand they trust,” said Harp.
The vote was unanimous. On July 1, the U.S. Senate passed the Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act (S.1253) by unanimous consent. The legislation aims end online e-cigarette sales to minors by applying the same measures that are required when traditional cigarettes are purchased online. The House passed its version of the bill last year.
The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) said it strongly supports S. 1253, which “ensures responsible retailing of e-cigarettes and age verification across all channels. The legislation would require online sellers of e-cigarettes to ensure the delivery carrier verifies the age of the recipient upon delivery. It would also require online sellers to collect and remit the appropriate state and local taxes,” according to a story on the NACS website.
These rules are already in place for cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products purchased over the internet after Congress passes the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act, in 2010. Language for vapor products was not included in the law.
“It’s been long in coming, but finally the Senate has now passed legislation that requires the same proof of age requirement that is needed for tobacco products for e-cigarettes and vaping products, particularly those that are sold over the internet,” stated Senator John Cornyn in his speech on the Senate floor.
After Wednesday’s vote, the legislation is one step closer to becoming law. Last October, the House passed its version of the bill (H.R. 3942) on suspension. Given that the Senate bill is slightly different than the House version, the House will need to pass the Senate’s version before it can become law, according to NACS.
