A federal lawsuit has been filed by four companies that sell vaping devices against Kinsale Insurance Co., claiming the insurer dropped coverage for batteries but failed to fully inform the policyholders before denying a claim.
If the case goes to trial and appeal, it could potentially help clarify insurers’ and insureds’ responsibilities when policy wording is changed or exclusions are added.
“Defendant owed a fiduciary duty to plaintiffs based on trust and good faith that required defendant to act in the best interest of plaintiffs, its customers,” reads the lawsuit complaint, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Nashville. “It is reasonable for the insured to assume the policies provided the requested coverage.”
Kinsale Insurance, based in Richmond, Virginia, offers casualty and specialty casualty insurance for cannabis, transportation and other industries. It has not yet filed an answer to the complaint, according to the Insurance Journal.
Industry experts, however, said that the practice of changing coverage without fully notifying customers is not uncommon, and is rarely challenged. And Tennessee law may be less than crystal-clear on how far an insurer must go in notifying policyholders of changes and how specific notifications should be.
Battery fires from nicotine and cannabis vape devices are relatively uncommon but have become a worldwide concern for consumers, fire departments and insurers. In October 2022, Michael and Elisha Schmidt suffered a fire, reportedly from a vape pen battery, and sued the four vape companies over the damage.
The companies, Isabella Industries, Maelynn Industries, Sancia Industries and Illumivaption Inc., all had umbrella and general liability policies with Kinsale for seven years. But when the vape sellers renewed their policies in October 2022, Kinsale excluded batteries and battery-fire claims from the policies, while raising premiums, the suit claims.
“Defendant led plaintiffs to believe that the batteries were covered after the renewal,” the complaint reads. “Defendant did not inform plaintiffs that it had removed batteries from the coverage and did not ask Plaintiffs prior to doing so.”
The plaintiffs also argue that the policy wording was ambiguous and illusory, and thus, unenforceable under Tennessee law. The companies had always paid their premiums on time and had been loyal customers to Kinsale, they noted.
When the Schmidts filed their lawsuit, the vape companies filed claims with Kinsale. But the insurer denied the claims, arguing that the policies did not cover batteries. Kinsale would not provide a legal defense for the insureds.
The vape sellers argue that Kinsale’s refusal amounted to bad faith and unfair trade practices, and has cost the companies damages and attorney fees. They are asking for compensatory damages, punitive damages, legal fees and a declaration that the insurer must provide coverage and a defense.
When Australia’s government opted to increase taxes on tobacco to curb smoking, Deakin University senior criminology lecturer James Martin predicted it would trigger a mammoth black market.
In 2013, tobacco taxes increased by 12.5 percent and continued to increase each year, according to ABC News.
“The purpose behind that was there’s good evidence from around the world that increasing tobacco prices is a really good way to get people to quit,” Martin said.
“It’s been quite effective in that. But we’re starting to encounter problems with this policy.”
Martin said that increased tobacco taxes had fast-tracked the uptake of vaping in Australia while the black market tobacco industry had boomed.
In the last few weeks, numerous sources have suggested vaping could be a risk factor for either contracting or increasing the severity of COVID-19. These reports are almost entirely based on the speculation from anti-vaping advocates, who rarely receive significant pushback, writes Guy Bentley, director of Consumer Freedom for the Reason Foundation.
Appearing on NBC’s Today Show on March 23, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams postulated, without evidence, that vaping could be the reason young people may be at higher risk from COVID-19 than previously thought. “There are theories that it could be because we know we have a higher proportion of people in the United States and also in Italy who vape,” said Adams.
But [on April 16] the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told Bloomberg News, “E-cigarette use can expose the lungs to toxic chemicals, but whether those exposures increase the risk of COVID-19 is not known.”
While seemingly anodyne, the statement differs significantly from those of Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Volkow, recently wrote in the Annals of Internal Medicine that vapers could be at high risk for coronavirus.
Similarly, last week, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey went so far to issue an advisory warning that vaping could worsen the spread of COVID-19. And last month, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio claimed, “If you are a smoker or a vaper that does make you more vulnerable.”
Following an apparently unclear email exchange with an FDA official, Bloomberg News published a story with the headline: “Vaping Could Compound Health Risks Tied to Virus, FDA Says,” that prompted Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and 12 public health experts to write to the FDA to complain. The signatories warned the FDA that if its communications are “arbitrary and ill-conceived, spreading fear and confusion with little scientific basis and unpredictable consequences, then it would be better if the FDA and its media spokespeople did not comment further at this time.”
Thankfully, the FDA finally appears to be taking this advice seriously. There is currently no evidence from anywhere in the world showing vapers to be at higher risk for COVID-19, Bentley writes in his editorial.
The Science Media Research Center recently released statements from public health experts to help reporters understand what we do know about smoking, vaping, and COVID-19. “There is no evidence that vaping increases the risk of infection or progression to severe conditions of COVID-19,” said Dr. Caitlin Notley. She added that since switching from smoking to vaping improves cardiovascular and respiratory conditions, smokers who switch “might be expected to have a better prognosis if infected by COVID-19.”
Similar to last year’s outbreak of lung illnesses that were initially wrongly associated with conventional e-cigarettes, but later found to be the result of adulterated black market marijuana products, much of the communication around vaping and COVID-19 is targeted at young people in an effort to get them to stop vaping.
The Campaign for Tobacco Free-Kids (CTFK) and Parents Against Vaping Electronic Cigarettes (PAVE) has consistently promoted stories linking vaping and the coronavirus. On April 15, for example, they even promoted a campaign to tell the White House that vape shops are not essential businesses.
“There is growing concern among public health experts that e-cigarettes can put users at greater risk for serious complications from COVID-19, these products are addicting our kids, and they have not been proven to help smokers quit,” says CTFK.
The statement is disingenuous. E-cigarettes have been proven beyond any reasonable doubt to be far safer than combustible cigarettes and consistently shown to help smokers quit. Italy, Spain, France, and Switzerland are keeping their vape shops open because they recognize the public health benefit of ensuring access to safer alternatives to cigarettes.
It’s time for anti-vaping groups to stick to the facts and stop spreading fear and misinformation about a product that is saving millions of lives both in the U.S. and across the globe. Stopping kids from vaping is undoubtedly a noble goal, but it’s not an excuse for misleading the public in ways that could prevent smokers from switching to a dramatically safer product.
A proposal by the government of Quebec to ban nontobacco-flavored nicotine vaping products will have negative consequences for public health if enacted, according to the Canadian Vaping Association (CVA).
In addition to the flavor restrictions, the recently released draft legislation proposes a volume limit of 2 mL on prefilled devices and a limit of 30 mL on refill containers. Additionally, the regulations would restrict nicotine concentrations to 20 mg/mL and prohibit the use of any form, appearance or function that may be attractive to minors, both of which have already been regulated by the federal government.
If the draft rules are implemented, Quebec, with its population of 8.5 million, will become the largest Canadian province to prohibit flavors, according to media reports. Quebec is the country’s second-most populous province. According to the Alliance of Vape Shops in Quebec, there are over 400 independent vape shops in the province, employing over 2,200 people and generating more than $300 million in economic activity. The trade group predicts the shops will all close.
Quebec’s decision to ban flavors is a major win for tobacco companies, out-of-province vendors and contraband sellers.
In 2021, federal health agency Health Canada proposed a flavor ban that was scheduled to take effect in early 2022, but that plan seems to have been abandoned or postponed indefinitely without explanation. Health Canada’s updated vaping products regulations page makes no mention of the flavor restrictions.
The CVA says Quebec proposed its rules despite warnings by the industry about their negative impacts. Vaping is proven to be significantly less harmful than smoking, according to the CVA, which says there is substantial evidence from jurisdictions that have already implemented flavor bans that the public health outcome is negative, as many vapers will return to smoking and fewer smokers will switch to vaping.
“Quebec’s decision to ban flavors is a major win for tobacco companies, out-of-province vendors and contraband sellers,” said Darryl Tempest, government relations counsel to the CVA board, in a statement. “What Quebec has done is shift demand to tobacco owned products, retailers outside of Quebec and criminals. Quebec’s small businesses and domestic industry will be irreparably harmed in favor of multinational corporations,” said Tempest.
Vaping products that contain flavors or aromas other than tobacco could soon be banned in Quebec under new rules proposed by the government Wednesday.
The Quebec government hopes the change to the provincial regulations will make vaping products less attractive to minors.
“We’re not eliminating vaping, but we’re eliminating flavors,” Health Minister Christian Dubé told Radio-Canada in an interview. “There will only be the taste of nicotine and all other flavors will be prohibited.”
The minister responsible for sports, Isabelle Charest, said the changes are about keeping “extremely harmful” products out of the reach of minors, according to CBC.
“They start to vape because they find it fun or attractive to have a vape pen that tastes like strawberries,” she said, adding that sweet-flavored products make up 90 percent of what minors vape, with only the remaining 10 percent choosing tobacco-flavored products.
The draft regulations also include proposals to limit the maximum nicotine concentration in vaping products to 20 milligrams per milliliter, restrict vape tank and capsule capacity to two milliliters, and limit the maximum volume refill capacity of liquid cartridges to 30 milliliters.
Vaping products will be prohibited from resembling toys, food or taking other forms that might be attractive to minors.
The ministry also acknowledges the new rules will likely mean job losses and a drop in sales for companies primarily selling vaping products.
As part of the new regulations, there will be a 45-day public consultation period.
If we look back at vape events and conventions over the past decade, many have come, and most have gone. In 2013, the Electronic Cigarette Convention, known as ECC, was launched in Ontario, California, and for many years was the 800-pound gorilla of e-cigarette trade shows. Others caught wind of the successful event and copied it to the point of where there were dozens of events running year-round throughout the United States.
The ECC held its last event in 2019. However, the international vape market recreated the ECC’s former success with other vaping events. Cities like London, Paris, Moscow and others became powerhouse venues, and then a new entity, IECIE, jumped onto the show scene in the global center of vaping hardware manufacturing: Shenzhen, China. The success of Shenzhen’s show led to the later creation of an additional Shanghai event.
Shenzhen-based companies design and manufacture an estimated 90 percent of the world’s vaping and e-cigarette devices. There are more than 1,000 factories and thousands of support companies that form the supply chain throughout Guangdong Province and the rest of China.
IECIE, a division of mega-event company Informa, launched in January 2016. Over the years, the company has been a major player in international vaping events. Even with the cumbersome visa issues getting into China, the world vape market knew that IECIE brought together the manufacturers that they needed, and the exhibitors showed up in droves. IECIE officials thought that “if they build it, they will come.”
Vapitaly president Mosè Giacomello
Informa puts on 230-plus events annually and brings in 60,000 exhibitors in many industries aside from vaping. Ironically, China put a heavy hammer down on vaping last year by banning flavors, except for tobacco, and is vehemently fighting underage sales of products. Currently, they are still allowed to export products, which is key in the global supply chain.
Those new rules caused many major vaping electronics manufacturing companies’ stocks to drop after the regulations were announced, and most companies have cut back on employees or closed completely. What the Chinese smokers in China will do is unknown since their choices have now been severely curtailed. Numerous experts have predicted that many will return to combustible products.
With all the new regulations in place, event companies like Informa have but one direction to follow, and that is to move the events outside of China. That new path will lead to Verona, Italy, May 27–29, as the IECIE team joins with another longstanding vape player, Vapitaly, in their first joint venture.
The event will be at the Fiere di Verona exhibition center, which houses 8,000 square feet of meeting space, and organizers hope to entice more than 100 exhibitors and 10,000 guests like they did in 2022. Fortunately, Vapitaly has had a successful track record since 2015 in achieving the lofty goal.
In this post-Covid world, it’s also a matter of information sharing and education as well as sales, and the event will bring in speakers and forums to discuss the challenges and possible solutions for the future of vaping. Vapitaly, the only international vaping exhibition in Italy, is already the world’s largest event in the vape space, so this new collaboration should cement its place as leaders in the industry.
Mose Giacomello, Vapitaly president, stated on the company’s website that Vapitaly is “ready to return with all the latest products in the sector, with a focus on internationalization, and [is] proud to have been chosen by the most important vaping show in Asia, which will be in Italy, and Europe, for the first time.
“This major opportunity to meet and do business comes in the wake of the efforts made in recent years to enhance and develop the sector. We are looking forward to seeing operators and professionals from Italy and abroad once more and to seeing vapers browsing the stands of our exhibition.”
An industry player in Italy, who asked to remain anonymous, said that they shared some concerns about what they called “the Chinese vendors,” and fear that they will not follow the stringent rules at the event itself. Laws forbid the sale of products on-site, but IECIE has assured Vapitaly that they understand all the laws as well as the very specific labeling requirements, that IECIE has conveyed the regulations to all their exhibitors and that they will abide by them.
IECIE will have all the current products on display, including disposables, open pod systems and closed pod systems, atomizers, mods, e-liquids and vaping accessories along with new and better products in this ever-changing world of technology.
The challenge that IECIE faces, aside from the regulations about sales of vape products in China, is that those regulations also shut down the Chinese vaping event industry. Without a market in their home country, vaping event planners have no other choice than to form collaborations with other international companies—or hold their own events outside China.
And that is what their next chapter will present as IECIE launches its second IECIE Vape Show Jakarta, Aug. 3–5, with another planned for next winter. This is a partnership with 2firsts.com, a multifaceted supply chain and operations team that works with compliance issues and manufacturing with vape entities worldwide.
This will be the first show that IECIE will sponsor outside China, and they are in conversations with other entities to expand further. They currently have offices in Dubai, New York and Brazil and have a satellite office in Jakarta.
Even though the Southeast Asia market is estimated to reach $766 million in 2023, and grow exponentially, Informa sees that expansion and partnering with the Western world and Middle East as critical. They are also working on an event to be held in Saudi Arabia.
The August show in Jakarta is expected to bring in 300 exhibitors and house them in 12,000 square feet of floor space, a 30 percent increase from 2022.
Norm Bour is the founder of VapeMentors and works with vape businesses worldwide. He can be reached at norm@VapeMentors.com.
A company accused of advertising brightly packaged, Hubba Bubba-flavoured cannabis vape products to Australians through sponsored TikTok posts and selling them without checking for ID or requiring a prescription is being investigated by the country’s drugs regulator.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) confirmed it is investigating the content and owners of the Ethically Enhanced website, which sells vapes containing cannabidiol (CBD) under the name Temple CBD Australia. A TGA spokesperson said the regulator will now “determine the most appropriate regulatory action,” reports The Guardian.
The confectionery giant Mars, which makes Hubba Bubba chewing gum, confirmed it was also “considering legal action” against the company.
Temple CBD’s targeted “sponsored posts” were active on TikTok for at least a week, despite Australia not allowing medicinal cannabis products to be advertised to the public.
After being contacted about the advertisements, TikTok banned the account for breaching its policies, but said it was the “responsibility of the advertiser to ensure that all ads posted on TikTok are legally compliant, in accordance with our advertising policy and appropriate for our community.”
Three years ago, advocates for reducing smoking and vaping in California won a major victory when they persuaded the state Legislature to adopt a ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products despite an intense industry lobbying campaign.
But in recent months, those same groups have been largely silent as a first-term lawmaker sought to phase out tobacco sales in the state altogether. His proposal was shelved this week without even receiving a hearing, and he will instead pursue a bill this session to strengthen enforcement of the flavored tobacco ban, according to Jefferson Public Radio.
The decision by major anti-tobacco organizations to sit out another legislative fight reflects a broader disagreement among advocates about the best way to reach what they call the “endgame” of a tobacco-free future — and whether that should be their primary goal. Concerns over public backlash, political feasibility and potential cuts to programs funded by tobacco taxes are all factors.
“All these groups have the same goal,” to eliminate the deaths and disease caused by tobacco, said Chris Bostic, policy director for Action on Smoking and Health, one of only a handful of anti-tobacco groups to endorse the sales phaseout bill. “But people have varying opinions of how to get from here to there.”
Assembly Bill 935, introduced in February by Assemblymember Damon Connolly of San Rafael, would have taken the bold step of banning the sale of tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars and vaping e-liquid, to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2007.
The legal smoking age in California is 21, so those who would have been affected by the measure aren’t able to buy tobacco from retailers for at least five more years anyway. But the proposal would have had the effect of creating a whole generation of Californians prohibited from ever legally purchasing tobacco products, with the goal of making it more difficult for them to start smoking or vaping.
It’s an idea that remains on the cutting edge globally. New Zealand became the first country to adopt the approach in December, banning the sale of smoked tobacco products such as cigarettes for anyone born after 2008. The Massachusetts town of Brookline passed a more expansive ban on tobacco products, including vapes, in 2020, which faced a legal challenge from retailers and was upheld in court last year.
Lawmakers in Hawaii and Nevada also introduced sales phaseout proposals this year, but neither measure has received a hearing yet either.
Authorities in Panama have rejected a proposal to regulate vaping products. In March, the Panamanian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association together with citizens who use vaping products presented a proposal for the regulation of electronic nicotine-delivery systems (ENDS) in order to modify Law 315 of June 30, 2022, which prevents the more than 170,000 Panamanian smokers from using ENDS products.
The proposal was rejected by the Technical Secretariat of Economic Affairs, which issued an unfavorable report. According to the report, the government believes that Panama should continue with the strategy set by the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and reject the use of reduced-risk products to help smokers quit.
The report also justified its decision to reject the proposal on the grounds that they follow the legislation of countries such as Mexico and Argentina.
Michael Landl, director of the World Vapers’ Alliance, said the government of Panama continues to ignore users and science. Tobacco harm reduction should be an indispensable element in the fight against smoking.
“Science has already proven that vaping is far less harmful than smoking and is the most effective therapy for quitting tobacco,” Landl said in an email. “The thousands of Panamanian vapers are proof of this. Panama should follow the example of countries that are succeeding in defeating smoking, such as the United Kingdom or Sweden, which is about to become the first tobacco-free country in the world, instead of copying the failure of Argentina and Mexico.”
The rejected proposal also looked to guarantee users’ access to a legal market free of contraband. Currently, the black market is gaining prominence and it is estimated that smuggling reaches 80 percent of the trade of combustion cigarettes and 100 percent of the trade of smoke-free devices, according to the president of the Panama Tobacco Harm Reduction Association, Tomás Sánchez.
“Since last year’s ban, thousands of users of reduced-risk products have been forced to return to tobacco smoking or purchase their products illegally on the black market, where there are no guarantees of quality and safety,” Sánchez wrote in an email. “The ban has been a failure for public health and the Panamanian government needs to correct its position as soon as possible to allow smokers access to an alternative. Their response shows that they do not understand tobacco harm reduction and are unwilling to listen to users, who are the main victims of the ban.”
The fact sheet provides quick tips for completing Form FDA 4057a—Premarket Tobacco Product Application Amendment and General Correspondence Submission. In most circumstances, the CTP can only accept PMTA amendments for review that include Form FDA 4057a. In general, when submitting amendments for a PMTA, the FDA will review the required Form FDA 4057a first. If required content is missing from the form, the FDA may not continue reviewing the amendment.
The video provides an overview of the CTP Portal and how to use it, including how to find application submission tracking numbers online.
Recently, CTP Director Brian King outlined several new actions to enhance the center’s efficiency, effectiveness and transparency. These activities include enhanced communication on scientific issues and practices. By providing these new resources, the CTP is aiming to better support applicants navigating the PMTA process.
