Author: Staff Writer

Covid-19 Vaccine Ready for Human Trials, Says BAT

Photo: Pete Linforth | PixaBay
British American Tobacco (BAT) said on Friday it is ready to test its potential Covid-19 vaccine using proteins from tobacco leaves on humans, after it generated a positive immune response in pre-clinical trials, reports Reuters.
Once it gets approval from the U.S. Food and Drug administration (FDA) for the vaccine, the company plans to start testing on humans.
In April BAT announced it was developing a Covid-19 vaccine from tobacco leaves and could produce 1 million to 3 million doses per week if it got the support of government agencies and the right manufacturers.
Multiple companies from a variety of sectors have been racing to develop a vaccine for Covid-19, with some of the vaccines already in human trials. Experts have suggested that a Covid-19 vaccine could take 12-18 months to develop.
On Friday, BAT said it had submitted a pre-investigative new drug application to the FDA and that the agency had acknowledged the submission. BAT said it was also talking with other government agencies around the world about the vaccine.
The company said it has committed funds to conduct clinical trials, which it expects to start as early as late June. BAT has reportedly also invested in additional equipment to boost capacity.
May 15, 2020
KT&G Donates Covid-19 Testing Kits to Indonesia

photo: KT&G
The Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corp. (KT&G) of South Korea has provided the Indonesian government with KRW100 million ($81,140) worth of kits for diagnosing Covid-19.
Indonesia is in short supply of basic medical equipment such as diagnostic kits and protective clothing due to the rapid spread of Covid-19. KT&G secured a large number of diagnostic kits in Korea last month and sent them to Indonesia.
A local branch of KT&G delivered the kits directly to the Indonesian National Emergency Management Agency.
“We decided to provide emergency aid to help our company’s overseas branch to overcome the hardship, said Gyeongdong Kim, the head of social contribution at KT&G.
“I hope that it will be of great help to the Indonesian people who have had a long-standing friendship with South Korea.”
In related news, KT&G reported net profit of KRW293.88 billion in the first quarter of 2020.
The figure was up 7.3 percent over the prior-year quarter as cigarette sales grew steadily during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nonetheless, KT&G’s revenue dropped by 0.6 percent to KRW1.19 trillion as operating profit fell by 9.5 percent to KRW315.01 billion.
May 15, 2020
India: Health Minister Urges Ban on Tobacco Sales

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
India’s Union Health Minister Harsh Vardam on May 15 asked health ministers for all Indian states and union territories (UTs) to prohibit tobacco product sales and spitting in public to reduce the spread of Covid-19.
Vardam noted that smokeless tobacco users tend to spit in public places, increasing health risks, especially those of spreading contagious diseases like Covid-19, tuberculosis, swine flu and encephalitis.
“Use of smokeless tobacco also creates an unhygienic environment which further spreads the diseases,” he added.
“Large gatherings at the retail outlets where smokeless tobacco products are sold also pose the risk of spread of Covid. By banning spitting in public places, states and UTs can help in achieving not only Swachh Bharat [clean India] but also Swasth Bharat [healthy India],” said Vardam, referring to a 2014-2019 campaign from to improve solid waste management in India.
May 15, 2020
Dutch Considering Tougher Stance on Vaping

Health officials in the Netherlands are considering a stricter approach to electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). Junior health minister Paul Blokhuis has told MPs he is considering extra legislation to limit the use of e-cigarettes following research which shows they are widely used by teenagers.
Electronic cigarettes are more dangerous to health than first thought and are seen by teenagers as a first step to smoking real cigarettes, according to a new fact sheet produced by the Trimbos addiction clinic on behalf of the health ministry, according to a story on dutchnews.nl.
Fifteen years after they first came on the market, some 3.1 percent of Dutch adults now use an e-cigarette on occasion, Trimbos said. Their use is largely seen as a way to stop smoking cigarettes, although almost three quarters of users still smoke in the traditional way, according to the story.
However, the organisation also stated that the health of the Dutch would be best served if the use of e-cigarettes is restricted to hardened smokers who cannot stop using other tried methods. “The new Trimbos insights raise questions about introducing additional legislation,” Blokhuis said in his briefing to MPs. The minister will now study the research in more detail and, according to the Telegraaf, a ban on flavourings is one of the options being considered.
May 15, 2020
Menthol Ban Is “at Odds With People’s Freedom” Say European Smokers

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
In testimonials collected by smoker advocacy group Forest EU, smokers from across Europe described the imminent ban on menthol cigarettes, which comes into force in every EU member state from May 20 May, as “useless” and “at odds with people’s freedom.”
Patricia from Denmark asked: “Why can’t I decide for myself whether or not to smoke cigarettes with menthol?”
Angelika from the Netherlands shared: “I don’t smoke menthols. But nowadays you are not allowed to determine anything yourself.”
Victoria from Poland said: “Of course, it is good that the EU is concerned about our health, but banning menthol cigarettes is at odds with people’s freedom. Also, it is likely that this measure will create an illegal trade, bringing menthol cigarettes from neighboring countries such as Ukraine.”
Other testimonials can be read on Forest EU’s website.
“This isn’t another restriction. Banning an entire category of cigarette is prohibition,” said Guillaume Périgois, director of Forest EU.
“Banning menthol cigarettes will do little to deter children from smoking and will almost certainly fuel an uncontrolled black market in menthol tobacco products.”
The enactment of the ban on May 20 follows the completion of a four-year phasing-out period under the EU-level Tobacco Products Directive which became applicable in 2016.
Menthol cigarettes are consumed by approximately 7 million EU adults. In 2017, 8 percent of EU monthly smokers said they used menthol flavored tobacco. Menthol tobacco users represented 24 percent of monthly smokers in Finland, 20 percent in Denmark, 16 percent in the Netherlands and Lithuania, 15 percent in Estonia and Latvia, and 14 percent in Belgium, according to Eurobarometer.
Menthol tobacco generates an estimate of €10 billion ($10.84 billion) in sales across the continent, according to Euromonitor.
May 15, 2020
Altria Group Declares $0.84 Dividend

Photo: Altria Group
Altria Group’s board of directors has declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.84 per share, payable on July 10, 2020, to shareholders of record as of June 15, 2020. The ex-dividend date is June 12, 2020.
The announcement followed Altria’s 2020 annual meeting of shareholders on May 14. During the meeting, Altria CEO Billy Gifford summarized the company’s full-year 2019 and first-quarter 2020 financial results, discussed Altria’s 10-Year vision, corporate responsibility priorities and environmental, social and governance efforts and addressed shareholder questions.
Copies of Mr. Gifford’s prepared remarks and business presentation and a replay of the audio webcast of the Annual Meeting are available on altria.com and via the Altria Investor app.
Final voting results will be reported in a current report on Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
May 15, 2020
PCA 2020 Vegas Trade Show Cancelled

Credit: Timothy S. Donahue
The PCA 2020 Convention & Trade Show, the cigar industry’s most important event on the calendar, has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Formerly called the the IPCPR Convention & Trade Show, the event was scheduled to take place July 10-14 at the Sands Expo Center at The Venetian in Las Vegas.
After months of public statements that the trade show would go on, the organization has decided to cancel the event, according to a story by Charlie Minato of Halfwheel. Last week, multiple manufacturers indicated they had been informed by the organization that its intent was to cancel the event this week, less than 60 days before the start of the trade show.
“After much deliberation and careful discussions of every aspect of our annual convention and trade show, the PCA Board and the Associate Member Advisory Board have made the difficult decision to cancel our current event scheduled for July,” said Pearce in a press release. “The annual event is an important fixture in the premium tobacco industry, and we were very excited to bring a whole new experience to the industry this year. However, the public health and safety of our attendees, staff and volunteers outweighed any other considerations in our collective decision-making process.
“We understand how important this event is to the business needs of both our manufacturers and our retailers, so we are redoubling our efforts to create innovative new ways to aid our members this year.”
The organization said it will release further details about those programs in “the coming weeks.”
May 15, 2020
Imperial Tobacco Offers its Petone Site for Sale

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
Imperial Tobacco has put up for sale the site of its Petone factory in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, reports Stuff.
In February, the company confirmed the factory would go through a staged shutdown and the plant would be decommissioned by the end of 2020 with the loss of 122 jobs.
Located in a popular suburb, the site measures 2.25-hectare and includes a warehouse along with manufacturing and office buildings
The site had been an important part of the Petone economy for around 90 years. W.D and H.O Wills Limited started manufacturing cigarettes in suburb around 1930, after establishing their business in Wellington in 1919 and needing to expand.
Imperial Tobacco had owned the site since the late-1990s.
The company has not yet confirmed a date for the end of production.

May 15, 2020
U.S. Considers Adding Cuba Back to Terrorist List

Credit: Timothy S. Donahue
Returning Cuba to the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism would be a major blow to increasingly tense relations between Washington and Havana. According to a senior Trump administration official speaking with Reuters on Thursday, the status change has a strong possibility of becoming a reality.
There is a “convincing case” that Cuba should be placed back on the U.S. blacklist, in part because of its continued backing for socialist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the refuge it gives to leaders of Colombia’s ELN rebel group, the official said, according to the report.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official did not rule out that a decision on Cuba’s re-listing could come by the end of the year.
In what was possibly a preliminary step, the Trump administration said on Wednesday it had put the Communist-ruled island back on a separate list of countries that do not cooperate fully with its efforts to counter terrorism.
Havana, which has long denied any link to terrorism, dismissed Wednesday’s State Department announcement as “spurious.”
Returning Cuba to the blacklist would be a further rollback of the detente that former President Barack Obama orchestrated between the old Cold War foes. His decision to formally remove Cuba from the terrorism list in 2015 was an important step toward restoring diplomatic ties that year.
Trump’s toughened stance on Cuba, as well as Venezuela, has gone down well in the large Cuban-American community in south Florida, an important voting bloc in a key political swing state as he seeks re-election in November.
Designation by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism, which carries the potential for sanctions and trade restrictions, would put Cuba in the company of Iran, North Korea, Syria and Sudan.
It is unclear, however, how much practical impact there would be.
The designation carries a prohibition on U.S. economic aid, a ban on U.S. arms exports, controls on “dual-use” items with military and civilian applications, and a requirement that the United States oppose loans to Cuba by international financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
But many of those restrictions are already in place – or have even been tightened by Trump – and a decades-old U.S. economic embargo remains and can only be lifted by Congress.
May 15, 2020
Pakistan Court Cancels Track-And-Trace Contract

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
A court in Pakistan canceled a multi-million dollar track-and-trace contract for tobacco products after complaints that the company awarded the contract was given undue preferential treatment.
The National Radio and Telecommunication Corp. (NRTC) was awarded the contract after submitting a very low bid. The bid was apparently in error, and the NRTC was allowed to correct the bid before the contract was awarded. According to the rules, the contract should have been awarded to the next lowest bidder following the error.
“If modifications in financial bids are allowed after the results of the bidding were made known … it would afford a pretext for unscrupulous bidders to prey on the public,” the judge stated in his decision.
May 14, 2020