Tag: regulation

D.C. City Council Passes Flavor Ban, Excludes Hookah
The City Council for the District of Columbia (D.C.) voted Tuesday to ban the sale of flavored vaping and other tobacco products in the District, including menthol cigarettes. It was the council’s second vote in favor of the legislation and it now heads to the desk of Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, who supports the ban for health reasons. She has stated that she would sign it into law.
Credit: JHVE Photo
The 8-to-5 vote came after a lengthy debate in which legislators who opposed the ban — and even some who favored it — raised concerns that the law could create opportunities for Black smokers to be harrassed by police, and that the city would be unfairly targeting a smoking choice preferred by Black residents, according to the Washington Post. The Council voted 9-3-1 during the first reading at the June 15 legislative session.
In an attempt to avoid police interactions based on the use of flavored vapor products, the council approved a change to the bill Tuesday saying that the law does not give the city’s police authority to act on their own to enforce the vaping ban. The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, which can inspect D.C. stores to make sure they are not selling illegal products, could still call in police for assistance.
The council carved out one exception — any hookah bars in the city which already have an exemption from the city’s ban on indoor smoking in restaurants will be grandfathered in, and can continue offering flavored hookah for use on their own premises.
The Biden administration has vowed to eventually outlaw such flavored tobacco products, including menthol, nationwide. The council originally considered banning only e-cigarette products before expanding the bill to include menthol, a step that several legislators opposed.
“If the question is, ‘Is menthol bad for us?’ the answer certainly is yes. But if the question is, ‘Is smoking bad for us?’ the answer also is yes,” said Councilmember Robert White, who voted against the ban. “In the original bill, we were trying to get at things that were targeted toward youth, flavored items. Menthol to me seems like a different category…. I’m seeing this as paternalistic.”
The District joins the state of Massachusetts and some other cities across the country in banning menthol cigarettes, which are popular with Black smokers of all ages, alongside other flavored tobacco products such as the candy- and fruit-flavored e-cigarettes that advocates say are targeted toward inducing teenagers to smoke.
June 29, 2021
Washington DC’s 2nd Reading for Flavor Ban Tomorrow
The District of Columbia’s City Council will have the the second reading on its bill to ban flavored vaping products tomorrow. If the resolution passes, it will be sent to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s desk to be signed into law. The mayor has indicated that she intends to sign the bill.
Credit: Makcoud
This ban would apply across the full spectrum of tobacco products, including combustible, non-combustible and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). Notably, the Council skipped holding a public hearing on the bill, which is a departure from governing body’s standard processes.
The bill includes a provision that allows the Attorney General to investigate and prosecute suspected violations of the ban as well as fines associated with the sale of flavored products. The Council Office on Racial Equity reviewed the bill and determined that while it “has the potential to advance racial equity by improving health outcomes, enforcement of the bill has the potential to exacerbate racial inequity in economic and social justice outcomes.”
A recent study showed that after San Francisco banned all flavored tobacco products there was a significant increase in youth use of combustible cigarettes compared to cities without flavor bans. The Council voted 9-3-1 during the bill’s first reading during its June 15 legislative session. Bars and restaurants that offer hookah will be exempt.
June 28, 2021
NICE Guidance States E-Cigarettes as Effective as NRTs
New draft guidance from the U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) states that healthcare professionals can recommend e-cigarettes, or vaping devices, as a means to help patients stop smoking. The guidance states that evidence suggests that e-cigarettes have a similar effectiveness to short- and long-acting nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) in helping people to stop smoking.
Credit: Balint Radu
E-cigarettes or vaping devices are not licensed as medicines, but they are regulated by the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations. Unlike NRT they are not available on prescription, however NICE said that people should be able to use them to help stop smoking if they wanted to do so, according to gponline. It added that combining behavioral support with either NRT or e-cigarettes was more likely to help people successfully stop smoking than vaping or NRT alone.
Patients who do choose to use e-cigarettes to help them quit should be warned that the long-term health impacts of their use is still unknown, NICE said. Patients should also be told where to find advice on how to use them and told to stop smoking completely if they decide to use e-cigarettes.
NICE recommended that further research should be undertaken in this area, including on whether vaping devices could be used in pregnancy.
However, the guidance highlighted that the MHRA was monitoring possible short- and long-term harms of e-cigarette use and, as at March 2020, ‘no major concerns had been identified’. It recommended that healthcare professionals providing stop smoking advice should report any adverse events as a result of e-cigarette use.
The guidance also makes a series of new recommendations to identify and support pregnant women who smoke, including that all pregnant women have routine carbon monoxide testing at antenatal appointments to assess their exposure to tobacco smoke.
June 28, 2021
WHO Details “Industry Attempts to Avoid Regulation”
Photo: Olrat
The World Health Organization has published a report detailing what it describes as attempts by manufacturers to avoid regulation of e-cigarettes and heated-tobacco products.
Titled “Litigation relevant to regulation of novel and emerging nicotine and tobacco products: comparison across jurisdictions,” the report offers governments examples of the legal arguments that the industry has used in attempts to minimize regulation as well as how courts have addressed those arguments.
The emergence of products such as heated-tobacco products (HTPs) and electronic nicotine-delivery systems (ENDS) and their market growth has raised questions about how they should be regulated and how that regulation might affect comprehensive tobacco control.
The WHO previously published its position on regulation of these products but has not addressed legal issues, such as how those regulations are being challenged in different jurisdictions. The new report and the accompanying case summaries close this gap and provide the facts, discussion of legal issues, arguments advanced and the reasoning of the courts.
The key messages highlighted in the publication are:
ENDS and HTP manufacturers attempt to avoid products being regulated so as to fall within regulatory or legislative gaps.
Manufacturers can be expected to deploy arguments concerning the relative risk of different product categories and the need for coherent regulation along a continuum of risk.
Not all courts are receptive to arguments about relative risk, either because regulations are justified by reference to absolute risk or because the concept of relative risk must be judged at the population level and taking into account factors beyond relative toxicity.
Technological advances employed for the manufacture of novel and emerging nicotine and tobacco products will raise questions of whether a product falls within the ambit of the national legislation of the country.
There are relatively few cases addressing misleading marketing of ENDS, or enforcing restrictions on advertising, promotion and sponsorship, but important cases have been decided, including on how social media posts may constitute advertising and on whether advertising of an HTP device also constitutes advertising of a tobacco product.
June 22, 2021
Tennessee City to Ban Vaping on Most Public Properties
Getting caught smoking vaping in most Johnson City, Tennessee, public properties may soon face a $50 fine. On Thursday, city commissioners approved on first reading an ordinance banning the use of vapor and tobacco products in public parks, public playgrounds, public greenways and any public property accessible to youth.
Credit: Andre Ykr
Smoking is already prohibited in parks as a result of city policy, but because it’s not an ordinance, the restrictions are not comprehensively applied and can be difficult to enforce, according to the Johnson City Press.
Assistant City Manager Charlie Stahl said tobacco was originally prohibited in the park system because officials were receiving complaints about parents smoking in the bleachers at sporting events, which would disturb other spectators and their children.
A law passed by the Tennessee General Assembly this year gives local governments the authority to prohibit the use of tobacco products on public property by ordinance. Gov. Bill Lee signed the bill on May 27, and the law becomes effective on July 1.
If commissioners approve the changes on three readings, the ordinance would become effective after July 15.
June 21, 2021
Mixed Results from San Francisco Flavor Ban

Photo: Can Balcioglu
Sales of flavored tobacco products decreased significantly in the wake of San Francisco’s ban, but teenagers were also more likely to take up smoking relative to their peers in other cities, according to two separate studies.
In the summer of 2018, San Francisco residents voted overwhelmingly to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, including nicotine vaping products and menthol cigarettes. By January 2019, when the prohibition took effect, almost every retailer in the city was immediately compliant.
A study from researchers at RTI International, Stanford University School of Medicine and the California Tobacco Control Program, published in Tobacco Control, measured changes in tobacco sales before and after San Francisco’s law prohibiting flavored tobacco products. The study found that sales of all flavored tobacco products—including menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes—were virtually eliminated in the city after implementation of the policy, with no evidence of widespread substitution of non-flavored products.
Sales of all flavored tobacco products decreased by 96 percent in San Francisco after implementation of the city law in early 2019. Total tobacco sales also significantly decreased over the same period, suggesting consumers did not broadly switch to unflavored tobacco products.
“A reduction in total tobacco sales in SF suggests there was not a one-to-one substitution of tobacco/unflavored products for flavored products,” the authors wrote.
However, a recent study published in JAMA Pediatrics, found that teenagers in the San Francisco’s high schools were more likely to take up smoking than teenagers in other U.S. school districts after the city’s flavor ban took effect. (San Francisco later became the first U.S. city to ban sale of all e-cigarettes, but the effects of that were not the subject of the study.)
Prior to the flavor ban, smoking rates in San Francisco paralleled many cities across the country, showing fewer teens using combustible cigarettes over time. After the city enacted its policy, the odds of smoking among its high school students, relative to trends in comparison school districts, more than doubled.
The findings come as other cities are acting against flavored tobacco products. On June 16, the Los Angeles City Council voted to end the sale of flavored tobacco products in the city. The measure covers flavored e-cigarettes, menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars but exempts certain hookah products.
In California alone more than 100 cities and counties that have cracked down on flavored tobacco products. In 2020 the state acted to end the sale of flavored tobacco products, but the law is on hold because of an effort to overturn it through a November 2022 referendum.
June 18, 2021
Los Angeles Could Soon Ban Flavors, Exempt Hookah
Vapers in Los Angeles, California may no longer purchase flavored vaping products. The L.A. city council unanimously voted to ask city attorneys Wednesday to start drafting a bill banning businesses from selling many flavored vaping and tobacco products. The council has said the move was meant to stop teens from getting hooked on nicotine.
Credit: Tierney
A coalition of youth and public health advocates backing the ban argued that flavored products have lured more teens to use tobacco, including by vaping with electronic cigarettes. The council decided against considering an exemption for menthol.
No one from the vaping industry argued against the proposed bill. Hookah lounges, however, may have been spared after arguing the law could destroy a cherished tradition among Armenians, Arabs and other communities in which hookah has been a centerpiece of gatherings and celebrations.
The last time the issue was heard at City Hall over a year ago, council members suggested allowing some sales of flavored tobacco for consumption on site at lounges, but hookah sellers said the plan was too restrictive and would not allow lounges to be passed down to future generations, according to the L.A. Times. Nor would it allow people to buy hookah tobacco to smoke at home.
June 16, 2021
Germany Passes Bill to Raise Vapor, HnB Taxes
Vapers and cigarette smokers alike will be paying more for those products after the German Bundestag signed off on a bill to raise taxes on combustible cigarettes, e-cigarettes and heat-not-burn (HnB) tobacco products.
Credit: Craig
On Friday morning, the Bundestag waved through legislation to make vaping in Germany more expensive as of next year. Legislators are coming down hard on e-cigarettes HnB products which were previously only lightly taxed. That will change in the future, as the government moves to tax even nicotine-free varieties of e-cigarettes.
Currently, a 10-millilitre bottle of vape liquid costs around 5 euros in Germany. In 2022, an extra 1.60 euros will be added to this price in taxation, and this will rise to 3.20 euros by 2026. An additional tax is also to be introduced for HnB products so that those products will be treated similarly to cigarettes for tax purposes.
The new law has been met with dismay by the manufacturers of vaping products who argue that their products contain significantly fewer harmful substances than tobacco cigarettes and should therefore not be subject to the same levels of taxation. The Association of the E-Cigarette Trade (VdeH) warned that the move might prompt vapers to revert to smoking tobacco cigarettes.
The so-called “Alliance for Tobacco-Free Enjoyment” – a representative body for the e-cigarette industry – said that it intends to go to the Federal Constitutional Court to file a complaint against what it sees as a disproportionate tax increase.
Also, the combustible tobacco tax on a packet of 20 cigarettes will rise by an average of 10 cents in 2021. A year later, a further 10 cents will be added, and in both 2025 and 2026 another 15 cents per pack will be added.
Around one in four adults in Germany smokes regularly, meaning that the tobacco tax is a big source of revenue for the government. Last year, it swelled the government’s coffers to the tune of approximately 14.7 billion euros. The last time the tobacco tax was increased was in 2015.
June 11, 2021
Cross-Party Support for Vaping During Westminster Debate

Credit: IR Stone
MPs from the U.K.’s two main political parties agree that vaping holds the key to Britain achieving its ambitious target to be a “smoke free” nation by 2030, according to a report by the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKIVA).
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Smoking and Health presented its latest recommendations for a new Tobacco Control Plan (TCP) at Westminster yesterday.
Among its range of proposals to curb smoking prevalence in the U.K. were recommendations to expand the use of vaping based on the mounting “data and evidence” pointing to e-cigarettes’ efficacy in helping smokers to quit.
In a departure from most cross-party debates there was universal consensus that vaping should be a central part of any plan for the U.K. to meet its smoke free targets and save lives.
The first MP to bring vaping into the debate was Mary Glindon (Labour) who sits on the APPG on E-cigarettes.
She said “The forthcoming Tobacco Control Plan presents an enormous opportunity to cement the U.K. as the global leader in tobacco harm reduction.
“Having left the EU, the government must alongside the post implementation review of the Tobacco and Regulated Products Regulations (TRPR) set a clear direction for reducing smoking prevalence.
“To achieve its ambitions the forthcoming control plan must champion less harmful alternatives to smoking combustible tobacco, in particular the growing body of evidence showing vaping to be the most effective alternative for adult smokers looking to quit smoking.
“In its Blueprint for Better Regulation the U.K. Vaping Industry Association made recommendations to the Department for Health for consideration when reviewing TRPR, a process already under way.
“Those recommendations, many of which I support, could also be applied to the government’s TCP.
“One of those recommendations is effectively tackling increasing levels of misinformation and misperceptions about the relative harm of e-cigarettes versus tobacco.
“ASH data suggests millions of smokers could be dissuaded from switching to e-cigarettes because of incorrect views or confusion about vaping.
“To combat this the UKVIA recommends that the Department of Health launch an effective communications strategy including the introduction of approved health claims and switch messages displayed on vape devices and e-liquid packaging.
“It also recommends that medical professionals at local Stop Smoking services are supported with clinicians signposted to the latest clinical guidance and evidence about e-cigarettes.
“An evidence-based approach to smoking cessation must be adopted consistently by local services to support patients and their harm reduction journey—this is critical, considering the trials in NHS A&E departments.
“There should also be a review of regulations of nicotine in e-cigarettes to better understand the role nicotine plays in allowing e-cigarettes to be a satisfying alternative for adult smokers.
“For vaping to compete with combustible cigarettes and provide and alternative it must provide a comparably satisfying nicotine experience.
“It is the toxic by-products, not the nicotine, that are responsible for smoking-related deaths and diseases.
“Understanding alternatives and making clear distinctions between smoking and vaping are critical to our smoke free ambitions.
“The APPG on Vaping made several recommendations on vaping in the workplace and in public places, these are endorsed by the UKVIA and if implemented would support adult smokers in their transition to less harmful alternatives and give those who already made the switch the best chance of sticking with it.”
To achieve its ambitions the forthcoming control plan must champion less harmful alternatives to smoking combustible tobacco, in particular the growing body of evidence showing vaping to be the most effective alternative for adult smokers looking to quit smoking.
Mary Glindon (Labour)
David Jones (Conservative), Honorary Life Governor at Cancer Research UK, said, “The key issue with smoking is, of course, the smoke. Any evidence-based policy to assist the U.K.’s 7 million smokers must put forward alternative products to combustible tobacco.
“Continuing to raise awareness of those products is also key. E-cigarettes and the use of other alternatives saves lives, and we should make sure that message reaches every smoker in Britain.
“E-cigarettes are hugely important in the fight against smoking, and I commend NHS England for promoting them to smokers. It’s based on evidence and has a proven positive effect on the health of the nation.”
Jones pointed out that, in 2017, more than 50,000 smokers who would have carried on stopped with the aid of a vaping product.
“The TCP should embrace new products and allow for more measures for companies to promote them,” he said. “And the plan should contemplate legislation for a robust regulatory framework for all the products we have on the market.”
Next to speak was Adam Afriyie (Conservative), also Chair of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology who sits on the APPG on Vaping.
“We’re in an era where we must be driven by data and evidence,” he said. “And it can’t be any clearer that, when it comes to vaping devices, electronic nicotine delivery devices and other technologies and ways nicotine can be used to help smokers to cease, that the data is only one way.
“It is so much safer to vape or use an electronic device than it is to smoke. Smoke is the killer. Tobacco is the killer.”
Afriyie urged the government to “not do what the EU has done and not do what the WHO seems to be doing by mangling the two issues (smoking and vaping) together.”
“Smoking is one thing,” he continued. “Smoking cessation devices that contain nicotine is a complete different thing. A completely different scale of harm and completely different scale of risk.
“Nobody really wants to smoke. It’s a good idea to remind people on an annual basis that there are alternatives, and not just nicotine patches but certainly to be looking at vaping devices.
“There is still ambiguity about whether or not vaping is a smoking cessation device or just another way of inhaling nicotine. The truth is, and this is clear from the evidence, it’s a smoking cessation device that woks and is twice as effective—if not higher than that—at helping smokers to cease smoking relative to the other treatments available.”
He concluded: “We are the first in the world at genomics, first in the world for the vaccine rollout, first in the world for fintech and financial services—let’s make this another one: let’s be the first in the world to implement a TCP that clearly takes on board the wonderful innovations of vaping, e-cigarettes and all the other technologies and not mangle it together in a smoking directive.”
We are the first in the world at genomics, first in the world for the vaccine rollout, first in the world for fintech and financial services—let’s make this another one: let’s be the first in the world to implement a TCP that clearly takes on board the wonderful innovations of vaping, e-cigarettes and all the other technologies and not mangle it together in a smoking directive.”
Adam Afriyie (Conservative)
Labour MP Virendra Sharma told the committee that he came from “a family of nonsmokers” and that he himself does not smoke.
“I cannot see the appeal,” he said. “But clearly, people are addicted, and addiction needs treatment not moralizing. There are 3 million people who vape in Britain and nearly all are former smokers. That’s 3 million who choose a less harmful option. This is good news, but BAME communities and those with manual jobs and without university degrees are 2.5 times more likely to smoke than white, office working university educated colleagues. This has to be addressed.
“In the Asian community we need to offer alternatives to tobacco. There are terrible statistics about rates of oral cancers and anything we can do to reduce these rates will save lives.”
Another Labour MP, Alex Norris, spoke next and emphasized the consensus nature of the debate.
“We are all here in the spirit of cross party cooperation,” he said.
“E-cigarettes and vaping must be a feature of the TCP. I hope the minister and government generally via its role in the WHO push harder for stronger messages and clearer messages around the data and evidence at WHO level.
“I looked at the WHO website myself and could not fathom what it was trying to tell me. That makes it really hard for people thinking about alternatives to know what they’re supposed to do or not.
“Personally, I always rely on the Public Health England position from 2018, that vaping represents a 95 percent reduction in harm.
“The APPG’s report says that in 2017 vaping helped 50,000 people to stop smoking, and that concerns around children starting have not materialized.”
Bringing the debate to an end Jo Churchill (Conservative), who is also Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care at the Department of Health and Social Care, said: “Within our plan we will re-commit to the role of e-cigarette products. They certainly have a place in supporting smokers to quit and we will ensure they remain accessible while protecting nonsmokers and young people.”
Speaking after the session John Dunne, director general of the UK Vaping Industry Association, said:
“It was a very proud moment for the UKVIA to be quoted so extensively during this important debate and at such a crucial moment in the U.K.’s journey towards harm reduction.
“It’s not often that you witness different political parties reaching a consensus in this way but, it appears, the urgent need to reduce smoking rates in Britain and the vital role vaping can play in achieving smoke free 2030 are the issues where tribalism is put aside, and common sense prevails.”
June 11, 2021
Ohio Indoor Ban Allows Exemption for Vape Shops
The Ohio Senate passed its version of the two-year state operating budget, House Bill 110. In Governor Mike DeWine’s budget proposal, he wants to expand the statewide indoor smoking ban to include vaping. James Jarvis, president of the Ohio Vapor Technology Association (OHVTA) said the organization did not oppose this measure. Both the House and the Senate retained the language. The Senate, however, included an amendment to provide and exemption to stand-alone vapor stores from the indoor ban.
Credit: Spirit of America
“This exemption is about consumer education and safety. The devices that stand-alone stores sell are technical pieces of electronics and if not used properly can cause harm,” said Jarvis. “Our store owners pride themselves on providing customers a full wealth of knowledge on how to not only use the device, but also change our important components of the device. This exemption allows our store owners to continue this education to properly advise consumers on how to use their device, whether with or without nicotine, in the store.”
The exemption only applies to stores who’s gross receipts are from sales of 80 percent or more of electronic smoking devices and accessories as currently defined in Ohio Law. The rule would not apply to convenience, grocery or other multi product stores.
The bill now moves on to a Conference Committee where the House and Senate will find common ground before sending it to Dewine’s desk for final approval.
June 10, 2021