Tag: regulation

ElfBar, Lost Mary Sales Boost Supreme’s Profits

Credit: JIRSAK
ElfBar and LostMary could be the ones to thank for Supreme’s favorable six months as the firm rings in the half-year mark with record revenues and profit growth.
The ElfBar distribution alone contributed to £26.4 million ($33.3 million) of its £64.6 million revenue in the period, Supreme said today, alongside “strong organic growth” of £8.7 million in areas such as lighting, vaping, nutrition and wellness.
Gross profits for the firm are up 63 percent, from £18.2 million to £28.5 million, according to media reports.
The numbers come after the firm was chosen this summer as the master distributor for two leading UK vaping brands, ElfBar and Lost Mary, which it has begun to supply to major UK retailers such as Tesco, Morrisons and WHSmith Travel.
The London-listed company said at the time it expected the partnership to generate revenues of £25 million to £30 million over the next fiscal year ending March 2024.
In just four months since the partnership was announced, it’s reached over double the goal.
November 28, 2023
New Dates for COP10, MOP3 in Panama Announced
Photo: JeromeMaurice
The World Health Organization has announced the dates for the resumed in-person sessions of the 10th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the third session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP3) to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.
Following communication received from Panama, the host country of COP10 and MOP3, and in consultation with the Bureaus of the Conference of the Parties to the FCTC and of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol, the dates for the resumed in-person sessions of COP10 and MOP3 have now been set as follows:
Resumed COP10: Feb. 5-10, 2024
Resumed MOP3: Feb 12-15, 2024
November 28, 2023
Australia to Ban Single-Use Vape Imports From 2024

Credit: Yavdat
Australia will ban imports of disposable vapes beginning January 1, the Health Minister said on Tuesday. It is the first step in a crackdown aimed at curbing the growing popularity of nicotine-filled vaping devices with young people.
The ban will be expanded in March to include all non-therapeutic vapes, including refillable devices, while importers of vapes for medical purposes will need permit from the Office of Drug control, Health Minister Mark Butler said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The legislative package will also include a total A$75 million in extra funding for the Australian Border Force and the Therapeutic Goods Administration to enforce the new rules.
Additional legislation next year will apply the same prohibitions to domestic manufacturers.
“These are the vapes that have pink unicorns on them, bubblegum flavouring, disguised in order for them to hide them in their pencil cases,” Butler told a news conference.
To ensure the bans don’t limit access for smokers looking to quit, doctors and nurses will be given expanded powers in January to prescribe therapeutic vapes where clinically appropriate.
But therapeutic vapes will be restricted from using flavors, have limited nicotine levels and be sold in pharmaceutical packaging under new rules to be introduced next year, with a transition period for manufacturers to comply.
November 28, 2023
‘Systemic Failures’ Blamed for Panama COP10 Delay

Photo: Unitas Photography
The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) blames “systemic failures” at the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) for the postponement of the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP10) that was due to take place last week in Panama.
“While the ‘official’ reason for the postponement of the conference was said to be security issues on the ground in Panama, it has come to light that the unfulfilled COP10 organization contract for which $5 million was allocated by the Panamanian Ministry of Health was terminated by the government at the end of October, finding itself without any service provider to ensure the event took place,” CAPHRA wrote in an e-mailed statement.
“The fact that the WHO FCTC knew in October that they did not have a venue or conference planning underway and waited until the week before the conference was due to begin before cancelling it shows contempt for member states and a blatant disregard and dismissal of the months spent creating and submitting position papers, requesting budget allocations from their governments and planning their attendance—including airfares, visas and hotel reservations,” the tobacco harm reduction group wrote.
“But then again, it seems a nonissue that $5 million disappeared, said the CAPHRA. Money that doctors in Panama said would be better spent on actual healthcare in the country—incubators, medicines and facilities.”
According to CAPHRA, the WHO FCTC’s actions not only threaten public health but also cause economic strain and foster next-generation addiction.
“The WHO FCTC is tone deaf to anything or anyone that questions the work they are mandated to do,” said CAPHRA Executive Coordinator Nancy Loucas. “This includes sabotaging health policies, negatively impacting the environment and using funds from Big Pharma and the Bloomberg Foundation, among others, to promote misleading narratives and undermine tobacco harm reduction efforts.”
November 27, 2023
BAT Calls for ‘More Stringent’ Regulations on Vaping

BAT has called for “more stringent” regulations on vaping, including a licensing regime similar to alcohol and cigarettes.
The London-based e-cigarette and traditional tobacco manufacturer also wants a ban on flavors that “uniquely” target children.
The UK government is already considering new regulations amid concerns that many young people are vaping, according to the BBC.
It has promised legislation following a public consultation that is currently underway.
BAT is the third-largest seller of vapes in the UK, according to market research firm NielsenIQ.
It sells Rothmans and Lucky Strike cigarettes and is the most successful of the big western tobacco companies in the UK’s booming market for disposable vapes, thought to be worth at least £3 billion ($3.78 billion) a year.
BAT is calling for vape sellers to be licensed and for licenses to be taken away from firms caught selling to minors. You must be 18 to buy vapes in the UK legally.
The company also wants a ban on soft drinks and sweet or dessert flavors such as gummy bears or cotton candy, which it says appeal “uniquely” to the young.
BAT doesn’t sell these flavors, though they have been a factor in the success of market leader Elfbar, the number two, SKE, and other brands.
November 27, 2023
Comment Period for Ireland’s Vaping Rules Begins
Credit: Milbsie
Vapers in Ireland can now have their say from today on the future regulation of vaping products.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has brought legislation before the Oireachtas that will ban under-18s from buying e-cigarettes.
Minister of State Hildeguarde Naughton said the Department of Health wants to know if the public favors further restrictions as well.
“I have given a commitment to further legislation in this area,” she said, according to NewsTalk.
“That’s why we’re launching this consultation today; it runs until January 5th to get people’s views about what other measures we need to introduce in order to decrease the appeal of nicotine and inhaling products.”
Over the next four weeks, the public will be consulted on a number of areas, including:

The display of nicotine-inhaling products in shops
Nicotine-inhaling product flavours
The appearance of nicotine inhaling products
Proxy sales of tobacco and nicotine-inhaling products
Smoking in outdoor dining areas
Extending smoke-free restrictions to vaping
Increasing the age of sale for tobacco products
Increasing the price of vapes
Naughton wants “as many people as possible” to engage in public consultation over the coming weeks.
The public consultation is now open for submissions for a six-week period until Friday, January 5, 2024.
The smokers’ rights group Forest has criticized recommendations to regulate the sector further, saying there is a risk that policy will be created “in haste.”
Forest spokesperson John Mallon said: “We urge the government not to succumb to some moral panic about vaping and to regulate reduced risk products with a light touch that doesn’t impact on their effectiveness as a safer alternative to cigarettes.”
November 25, 2023
New Zealand Ditches Generational Tobacco Ban

Photo: asanojunki0110
New Zealand’s new coalition government plans to scrap the country’s controversial generational tobacco ban, which would have prohibited tobacco products for people born after 2009, reports CodeBlue.
The coalition agreement signed on Nov. 24 by the National Party, the ACT and New Zealand First in the wake of country’s general elections calls for a repeal of amendments to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 and regulations, which took effect Jan. 1, 2023,
In addition to prohibiting anyone from selling or supplying smoked tobacco products to people born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, the amendments would have restricteded the sale of smoked tobacco products to a limited number of approved retail outlets and extend the act’s regulatory powers over the composition of smoked tobacco products, such as nicotine levels.
While ditching the generational tobacco ban, the new government vowed to get tough on vaping by banning disposable e-cigarettes and increase penalties for illegal sales to those aged under 18.
Health advocates criticized the reversal of the amendments. “Way to start being health minister—by caving into the tobacco industry,” New Zealand’s former Health Minister Ayesha Verrall wrote on X about her successor, Shane Reti. “Repealing smokefree laws will mean thousands of deaths and billions of health.”
Smoker rights’ group Forest welcomed the repeal, and urged British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to follow suit by abandoning similar measures in the United Kingdom.
“The policy treats future generations of adults like kids and it won’t work. It will simply drive smokers into the hands of illegal traders and criminal gangs,” said Forest Director Simon Clark.
“The consequences of the policy, which would eventually allow a 40-year-old to legally buy cigarettes while denying that right to a 39-year-old, are absurd.
“Having stolen the idea from the previous New Zealand government, the prime minister should follow the example of the next New Zealand government and scrap this crazy idea.”
On the same day of the announcement in New Zealand, Malaysia’s approved revisions to the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023 that decoupled that country’s planned generational end game ban from the tobacco and vape control bill.

November 24, 2023
Australian Lobbists Refuse to Disclose Vape Funding

Lobby groups in Australia representing convenience and grocery stores have refused to tell a Senate inquiry how much they receive in vaping and tobacco industry funding.
The failure to disclose industry funding follows public hearings into the public health (tobacco and other products) bill earlier in November. It comes as concerns are raised about one lobby group having a parliamentary access pass, according to media reports.
If introduced, the reforms will see updated and improved graphic warnings added to tobacco packaging and included on individual cigarettes, and specific additives in tobacco and vaping products, like menthols, banned.
Neither the chief executive of the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores [AACS], Theo Foukkare, nor the chief executive of Master Grocers Australia [MGA], David Inall, disclosed the value of the funding their groups received from the vaping or tobacco industries, despite being asked to provide conflict-of-interest statements before attending.
The AACS represents convenience stores and petrol stations, while the MGA is the industry association for independent grocery and convenience stores. Both groups have corporate members, including tobacco companies, and both groups support the tobacco industry’s campaign against plain packaging reforms.
During the inquiry’s public hearings, Foukkare and Inall said proposed tobacco and vaping reforms would fuel the illicit markets, a claim rejected by health experts who gave evidence.
November 20, 2023
Costa Rican Health Ministry Warns of Vaping Dangers

Credit: Joao
The Costa Rican Ministry of Health in Costa Rica has again warned the population about the use of electronic cigarettes by minors and mentioned the provision that prohibits the sale of vaping products to youth.
“In the last months worldwide, there have been events linking the use of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS), Similar Systems Without Nicotine (SNNS) and electronic devices that use heated tobacco, and analog technologies with lung diseases and even cases of death,” Costa Rican media reports.
“For this reason, this ministry, in a statement, reminds and warns the population about the harmful effects associated with the use of these devices.”
Vaping misinformation is rampant in Costa Rica.
In 2021, the Red Nacional Antitabaco (RENATA) – National Anti-Smoking Network – expressed satisfaction with approving a law banning vaping in Costa Rica.
“It is important to consider the vulnerability of all consumers of tobacco products, including electronic devices or vapers, to any disease of the respiratory system, since the first studies on the effects of the use of vaporizers and heated tobacco products show negative consequences for the lungs and the immune and cardiovascular systems,” said Nydia Amador, president of RENATA.
RENATA also stated that vaping advocates “tried to confuse public opinion by claiming that vaping is 95 percent less harmful than tobacco use.”
Many organizations, such as the United Kingdom’s Royal College of Physicians and Public Health England (PHE) have released studies that show vapor products have been scientifically proven to be 95 percent less harmful than cigarettes and related tobacco products. This is supported by the U.S. Academies of Science, which has also found that e-cigarettes have a lower harm profile than their combustible competition.
November 20, 2023
FDA Continues Crackdown on Youth Appealing Vapes
Credit: iCheer
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued warning letters to seven online retailers for selling and/or distributing unauthorized e-cigarettes.
The unauthorized e-cigarettes are packaged to look like youth-appealing toys and drink containers, including milk cartons, soft drink bottles, and slushies. The products’ design may also help youth conceal the e-cigarettes from adults or be confused with an everyday object and the contents accidentally ingested by young children, according to the agency.
“As we continue into the school year, it’s critical that parents, teachers, and other adults are aware of illegal e-cigarettes deceptively packaged to look like everyday items,” said Brian King, director of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP). “These types of products can be easily concealed and contain nicotine, which is highly addictive and can harm the developing adolescent brain.”
The unauthorized products described in the warning letters issued today include e-cigarettes that:

Imitate drink containers for youth-appealing drinks such as milk, soft drinks, and slushies.
Are designed to look like youth-appealing toys such as dice, phones, and action figures.
“FDA uses a variety of surveillance tools to monitor the rapidly evolving e-cigarette landscape and to identify emerging threats to public health,” said Ann Simoneau, director of the Office of Compliance and Enforcement within the CTP. “We use data from these tools to help prioritize investigations of youth-appealing products across the supply chain to ensure illegal products stay off the shelves.”
The retailers receiving these warning letters sell and/or distribute e-cigarettes in the United States that lack authorization from the FDA, which is a requirement under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act to legally market a new tobacco product.
In addition to the specified products mentioned in the warning letters, the retailers 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 bring the tobacco products that they offer for sale in the United States into compliance with the FD&C Act.
The seven retailers issued warning letters were given 15 working days to respond with the steps they will take to correct any violations and to prevent future violations. Failure to promptly correct the violations can result in additional FDA actions such as an injunction, seizure, and/or civil money penalties.
Today’s warning letters are the latest in a series of FDA’s efforts across the supply chain to address illegal e-cigarettes that appeal to youth.
As of November 2023, FDA has issued approximately 630 warning letters to firms for manufacturing and/or distributing illegal e-cigarette products and devices, issued more than 400 warning letters to retailers for the sale of unauthorized e-cigarettes, filed civil money penalty complaints against 35 e-cigarette manufacturers and 42 retailers for manufacture or sale of unauthorized products, and worked with the Department of Justice to seek injunctions against 6 manufacturers of unauthorized e-cigarettes.
November 16, 2023