Tag: news

Many Smokers Have Misperceptions About Vaping

Image: Tobacco Reporter archive
A large portion of smokers have misperceptions about vaping, thinking it is just as harmful or more harmful than smoking, according to the most recent Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) survey data.
The data shows that “among the 1.8 million smokers who are yet to try vaping, 43 percent believe e-cigarettes are as harmful or more than smoking, up from 27 percent in 2019.” It also shows that “among the 2.9 million smokers who have tried vaping but stopped, 44 percent believe vaping is as harmful or more than smoking, up from 25 percent in 2019.”
Due to the large proportion of misperception, ASH feels that its swap to stop program is “threatened by growing concerns among smokers that vaping is as or more risky than smoking.”
“The government has backed a vaping strategy as its path to reduce rates of smoking, but this approach will be undermined if smokers don’t try vapes due to safety fears or stop vaping too soon and revert to smoking. The government must act quickly to improve public understanding that vaping poses a fraction of the risk of smoking,” said Hazel Cheeseman, deputy chief executive of ASH.
Groups such as the Independent European Vape Alliance (IEVA) and the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) support ASH’s stance on government action.
“It is abundantly clear that the lack of knowledge amongst smokers about the relative risks about smoking and vaping is a public health issue that the government can no longer ignore,” said John Dunne, UKVIA director general. “The ASH report highlights that misleading and inaccurate stories and headlines about vaping in the mainstream media plays a huge part in this knowledge gap, which is preventing smokers’ switch to a much less harmful alternative to cigarettes.
“The public needs to know that the scare stories regularly reported in the mainstream media are simply not true, and we urgently need an antidote to this highly damaging misinformation.
“The industry is not permitted to make health claims about the relative harms of smoking and vaping, but keeping the public in the dark about this means hundreds of smokers continue to needlessly die in the U.K. every day because they don’t have the information they need to switch.
“We must be allowed to set the record straight, and the government should launch a nationwide public information campaign so that the relative risks of smoking and vaping are accurately communicated.”
Ann McNeill, professor at King’s College London and author of a government-commissioned review on the harms from vaping, according to Talking Retail, commented: “Anxiety over youth vaping is obscuring the fact that switching from smoking to vaping will be much better for an individual’s health. It is wrong to say we have no idea what the future risks from vaping will be.
“On the contrary, levels of exposure to cancer-causing and other toxicants are drastically lower in people who vape compared with those who smoke, which indicates that any risks to health are likely to be a fraction of those posed by smoking.
“We must not be complacent about youth vaping, and further regulation is needed, but so, too, is work to ensure many more adults stop smoking, and vaping is an effective means of doing that.”
August 7, 2023
Philippines: New Rules for Vape Supplier Imports

Port of Manila, Philippines. Seaport loading cranes in sunset light. (Credit: Tupon Gato)
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in the Philippines said it will require importers of raw materials for vaping products to seek special clearances to release their shipments.
The agency cited the need to impose order on an industry with many emerging players, according to media reports.
“For vape products, we are going to require them to (apply for) the authority to release imported goods for raw materials,” BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui, Jr. said. “We are thinking of ways to regulate because there are so many vape products now. The production of vape products is a backyard industry, so we’re thinking of ways to regulate it.”
In its latest revenue memorandum circular, the BIR announced that it is now requiring importers or manufacturers of raw materials and equipment used to make heated tobacco products and vapor products to apply for an authority to release imported goods.
“The raw materials specially used for the manufacture of heated tobacco products and vapor products shall include but are not limited to: propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, organic sweetener, artificial flavoring, and nicotine,” according to the circular.
Devices used for the manufacture of these products will also include but are not limited to mechanical or electric heating elements/atomizers, circuits, cartridges, reservoirs, pods, tanks, mods, and mouthpieces.
Apart from the authority to release imported goods, importers and manufacturers must also apply for a permit to operate. Lumagui said that the BIR is working on addressing the shortfall from excise tax collections, which is mainly due to illicit tobacco.
“We’re targeting to minimize that 20 percent (shortfall). Within the year, we can cut that by more than half… ultimately, I want to make sure to fully resolve that shortfall,” he said.
August 7, 2023
Kaival Brands Group Changes Top-Level Leadership

Credit: Mia B
Kaival Brands Innovations Group, parent to Bidi Vapor, today announced the promotion of Eric Mosser, its current president and chief operating officer, to the position of CEO. Mosser brings over a decade of senior leadership experience, including since 2020 at Kaival Brands. Mosser will retain the position of president, according to a press release.
The company also also appointed Thomas J. Metzler as the company’s chief financial officer (CFO), treasurer and secretary, effective as of August 1, 2023, replacing Mark Thoenes, who has served as Interim CFO since 2021.
Metzler brings over 20 years of finance and operational experience in the vaping and consumer products sector, previously serving as managing director of a division of Turning Point Brands.
At Turning Point Brands, Metzler led a team to transform the process of financial management efficiencies, which improved cost controls, managed inventory turn, developed strategic product promotions to accelerate product distribution, and built strategic alliances with suppliers.
“We are very excited to have Tom join our senior management team and believe his hiring represents a key building block for the future of Kaival Brands, said Mosser. “Tom brings to us a wealth of experience and knowledge across all of the key elements of the CFO’s office including treasury, finance, and accounting.
“He also has tremendous knowledge of business operations in our industry and will therefore greatly contribute to the crafting and implementation of our growth plans. On behalf of our board of directors, we welcome Tom and give thanks to Mark Thoenes for his excellent work as our interim CFO the past few years.”

August 6, 2023
Quebec Flavor Ban Begins at End of October

Quebec’s flavor ban will take effect Oct. 31, according to Vaping360.
The ban will include vaping products with flavors other than tobacco and will prohibit e-liquid sold in bottles with a capacity greater than 30 mL and prefilled devices with a capacity greater than 2 mL.
The flavor ban was announced in a draft published in April. More than 30,000 citizens of Quebec commented on the proposed ban, according to the Quebec Vaping Rights Coalition, but the health ministry reportedly didn’t make any changes to the rules in response.
Quebec is the largest province in Canada to pass a flavor ban. Four other provinces and territories have flavor bans in place, and one has passed a ban but has not set an effective date yet. Three other provinces restrict flavored products to adult-only stores.
August 4, 2023
Venezuela Officials Place Ban on All Vaping Products

Credit: Zero Photo
Venezuela has banned all vaping products. The country’s Ministry of People’s Power for Health issued a resolution this week prohibiting the manufacture, storage, distribution, circulation, commercialization, import, export, use, consumption, advertising, promotion, and sponsorship of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).
Additionally, electronic non-nicotine delivery systems (ENNS), consumables, tanks or cartridges, refill consumable containers and other accessories are also banned, according to an emailed press release.
Venezuela joins Argentina and Brazil in banning vaping products in South America.
The decision comes two months after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro asked his government’s medical and scientific team to consider the ban. According to the Ministry of Health, “the measure is taken in response to the alerts promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO).”
Alberto Gomez, community manager for Spain and Latin America for the World Vapers’ Alliance, said the ban on reduced harm products in Venezuela is a setback for public health.
“Thousands of Venezuelans had already quit traditional tobacco thanks to vaping and had managed to improve their health,” he said. “Now they will have difficulty accessing the products, and it will be more difficult for more smokers to switch to less harmful alternatives. Venezuela should follow the example of countries like Sweden or the United Kingdom, which are on the way to eradicating smoking, not the WHO’s biased and paternalistic approach.”
Prohibition always fails and brings unintended consequences, according to Gomez, adding that users will turn to the illicit market or return to smoking, while smokers can no longer switch to less risky products.
“Public health will worsen, and smoking will mean higher costs for the health system. In addition, the illicit market does not control the sale to minors, the products do not pass safety and quality controls, and no taxes are paid. Prohibition does not solve anything.
“More than 15,000 people die every year in Venezuela from tobacco-related diseases. Promoting the use of less harmful alternatives has the potential to save thousands of lives and improve public health. The Venezuelan government has an obligation to listen to those who have been able to quit smoking and improve their health thanks to vaping and establish risk-based regulation.”
August 4, 2023
Biden Opposed to Limiting FDA Power to Regulate Flavors

Credit: Lux Blue
The Biden administration has published a Statement of Administration Policy outlining its opposition to parts of a proposed funding bill that would limit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s ability to ban flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes, reports Halfwheel.
The proposed bill would prevent the FDA from receiving funding if it introduced bans on flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes or introduced rules limiting the amount of nicotine a product can have.
The policy statement does not mention nicotine limits, although the FDA has proposed limiting nicotine.
The Statement of Administration Policy is not binding.
A new study has found that smokers who get help picking flavored e-cigarettes and receive supportive text messages are more likely to quit smoking.
Last month, the FDA gave the Center for Tobacco Research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center a $3.9 million grant to evaluate the effects of e-cigarette flavors on smoking behaviors of current adult smokers.
August 3, 2023
Group: Vape Laws Could Push People Back to Smoking

Vapor Voice Archive
Illinois now has a law that bans the use of electronic cigarettes in indoor public spaces, but a consumer advocacy group warns such laws could backfire.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently signed into law a measure that adds electronic smoking devices to the 2008 Smoke-Free Illinois Act, which banned smoking in most public spaces in the state.
Elizabeth Hicks with the Consumer Choice Center says vaping should not be compared with smoking regular cigarettes, according to media reports.
Hicks says the assault on vaping may push Illinoisans back to cigarettes, leaving taxpayers to pick up the tab.
“Taxpayers unfortunately also suffer in addition to consumers,” said Hicks. “The annual Medicaid costs for smoking-related illnesses in Illinois is over $2 billion, which is one of the highest throughout the country.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health noted that e-cigarettes can cause lung damage and addiction to nicotine. The law goes into effect January 2024.
August 3, 2023
Juul Labs Working to Raise $1 Billion in Funding

Credit: Jet City Image
Juul Labs is seeking to raise about $1 billion, reports Bloomberg News
The e-cigarette manufacturer, which had about $800 million in revenue in 2022, is reportedly working with Jefferies Financial Group for the fundraising.
In July, the company said it was exploring options including financing alternatives, to protect its business and help refinance an existing loan, as it dealt with lawsuits related to the marketing of its e-cigarettes.
In November 2022, Juul secured a cash infusion to keep the company in business while it appeals the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s marketing denial order related to its vapor products.
A pioneer in the vaping business, Juul Labs has gone from dominating the U.S. e-cigarette market to fighting for its survival in a relatively short time.
Following its initial success, the company quickly came under regulatory scrutiny over its marketing practices. Critics blame Juul Labs for contributing to an “epidemic” of underage vaping.
August 3, 2023
Manila Rolls Out Red Carpet for Heated Tobacco Makers

Photo: PMI
The Philippines’ Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is urging tobacco companies to manufacture their heated tobacco products in the country, citing surging domestic demand and export opportunities, according to the Philippine News Agency.
During the International Tobacco Agriculture Summit in Taguig City on Aug. 2, DTI Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said while local demand for cigarettes is expected to decline from 49.61 billion sticks in 2022 to 39.06 billion sticks in 2027, sales of HTPs are poised to increase significantly during that period.
He cited a Euromonitor predicting HTP retail sales of HTPs to surge by 511 percent to 4.06 billion sticks in 2027.
Rodolfo said HTP producers would benefit the Philippines’ free trade agreements with regional markets. “HTPs, if manufactured in the Philippines, can be imported in ASEAN (except Vietnam), Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong at zero percent tariff duty,” he was quoted as saying.
In 2022, the top destinations for Philippine tobacco products included South Korea at $102.2 million, Thailand ($98.29 million) and Myanmar at $49.4 million.
According to Rodolfo, Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco aims to build a PHP9-billion factory in Tanauan, Batangas, for the production of IQOS devices.
August 3, 2023
New BAT Boss Calls for ‘Better’ Vaping Rules

Tadeu Marroco says issues such as youth use continue as many countries adopt a tougher stance on vaping products.
The newly appointed head of British American Tobacco has expressed a desire for governments to apply more “better regulations” towards vaping products and other tobacco alternatives, as the public debate over them is growing in intensity and becoming an issue for the industry.
Tadeu Marroco told the Financial Times that the FTSE 100-listed owner of Lucky Strike and Dunhill was “very keen” to work with regulators to address problems such as vaping’s use among teenagers and its environmental impact.
“We need to have better regulations. We cannot ignore the benefit of migrating smokers out of cigarettes, but being unregulated, we have issues related to youth access and the environment,” Marroco said.
“The problem is that this is a phenomenon that has grown so fast and the regulators are always catching up. But there are clearly opportunities for us to improve the level playing field.”
Since Marroco took the helm in May of this year, there has been an increased push around the globe to restrict flavored e-cigarettes, due in part to advice from anti-nicotine groups and World Health Organization. India, Thailand, and Argentina have all implemented full bans on all forms of vaping products.
NHS guidelines in the UK suggest vapes can help people stop smoking although they also state that the activity “is not completely risk-free”. The government said in April it would offer 1 million smokers vape starter kits. Selling vapes to under-18s is illegal.
August 2, 2023