Author: Staff Writer

Mitchell Zeller, director of the Center for Tobacco Products at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said recently that his organization knew that young people who started smoking did so disproportionately with menthol cigarettes.

However, he was reported by Jim McLean of the Kansas Health Institute News Service as saying the agency wanted to do more research on whether menthol made cigarettes more addictive and to gather public input before deciding whether to impose any new regulations. Zeller is scheduled to speak on Sept. 19 to members of the Kansas Public Health Association during its fall conference.

“As a regulatory agency, we can only go as far as the regulatory science will take us,” Zeller said. “So, we are making a major investment in better understanding how tobacco products work and better understanding the role of nicotine in the design and manufacture of tobacco products.”

That research, McLean reported, led the FDA to conclude in a July report that menthol cigarettes posed a greater health risk [than did non-menthol cigarettes], not because they are more toxic than regular cigarettes are, but because they are less harsh, which means people smoke more of them and which makes them a favorite among young smokers just picking up the habit.

South Korea’s National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) seems to be preparing to file lawsuits against cigarette manufacturers to seek compensation for the cost of treating smoking-related diseases, according to a story in The Korea Herald.

NHIS President Kim Jong-dae told a seminar last week that his organization had secured clinical data that proved the ill effects of smoking on people’s health.

At the seminar, the NHIS unveiled the findings of clinical research its team had conducted for the past 20 years.

For example, the team kept track of about 1.3 million people who had medical checkups between 1992 and 1995.

The data from this study showed that, among men, smokers had a 6.5 times higher risk than did nonsmokers of developing laryngeal cancer. The risk was 4.6 times higher for lung cancer and 3.6 times higher for esophageal cancer.

Among women, the chances of smokers getting laryngeal cancer, pancreatic cancer and colon cancer were 5.5, 4.6 and 2.9 times higher, respectively, than was the case for nonsmokers.

The team found also that, among men, smoking was the main cause in 79 percent of the laryngeal cancer cases, 71 percent of lung cancer cases and 64 percent of esophageal cancer cases.

Kim said the data would enable the NHIS to take a number of measures, including suing tobacco companies to compensate for the financial losses it had suffered due to smoking.

The NHIS says the medical cost of treating smoking-related diseases was KRW1.7 trillion in 2011, accounting for 3.7 percent of the KRW46 trillion the NHIS paid in insurance benefits.

The Bulgarian manufacturer King’s Tobacco is one of 45 companies that will be exhibiting for the first time or returning after a break at the TFWA World Exhibition 2013.

In all, 470 exhibitors taking up 21,000 square meters of space have confirmed their participation at the event, which will be held in Cannes, France, on Oct. 25–26.

According to the latest issue of the TFWA publication, Evoice, event workshops are due to tackle two important and timely subjects for anyone targeting international travelers.

“Three experts from the in-flight retail market assess how airlines, operators and suppliers in this core channel are performing against competition on the ground and online,” said Evoice.

“The second workshop examines Indonesia and Turkey, two of the so-called CIVETS group of markets tipped to provide the next wave of growth. Experts on each market will discuss duty-free potential and consumer trends, while an aviation professional explores their airline sectors.”

Visitor online registration is available until Sept. 12.

Jakarta’s provincial government says it is considering increasing cigarette taxes in an effort to reduce cigarette smoking among Jakartans.

The plan, contained in a draft bylaw, has apparently been put before the Jakarta parliament for discussion and possible ratification.

Jakarta’s vice governor, Basuki T. Purnama, said the “10 percent tax increase on cigarette price” was intended to influence people to no longer buy cigarettes because of their high prices.

Cigarette taxes were supposed to be higher than other taxes so that people would no longer smoke, he said.

According to Basuki, under the new tax regime, in 2014 the Jakarta provincial government would receive IDR400 billion of “regional original revenue” from the 10 percent tax increase on the price of cigarettes.

The electronic cigarette manufacturer and distributor Gamucci has appointed Peter Jordan (pictured) as CFO.

Jordan has more than 20 years’ experience in senior financial, commercial and management roles, the majority in the tobacco industry with Rothmans International and British American Tobacco.

His appointment follows the hiring earlier this year of a string of senior executives from the tobacco industry who are said to be leading Gamucci’s continued expansion.

Cancer researchers in Tampa, Florida, USA, have created an online survey to learn more about why smokers choose e-cigarettes, according to a Tampa Bay Online story.

The Moffitt Cancer Center researchers, in collaboration with those at USF (University of South Florida) Health, are looking to discover, too, how people use these devices and what they consider the advantages and disadvantages of e-cigarettes compared to regular cigarettes or products such as nicotine gum or patches.

“We are not taking any position on the value of e-cigarettes at this time,” Thomas H. Brandon, chair of the Department of Health Outcomes and Behavior at Moffitt, was quoted as saying in a statement. “It is premature to judge until more information is known.”

“While other researchers are studying the content and safety of the vapor inhaled by users,” he said, “Moffitt researchers wanted to better understand the perspective of the user.”

The online survey, which is at www.moffitt.or/ecig, is said to take about 15 minutes to complete. All responses are confidential, but some people who complete the survey will be invited to participate in a focus group about e-cigarettes.

CTBAT International Ltd., a Hong Kong-incorporated joint investment of subsidiaries of China National Tobacco Corp. and British American Tobacco, “recently” started “official business operations,” according to a note posted on BAT’s website.

The joint venture owns and will manage worldwide the international cigarette trademark State Express 555.

It will own also the worldwide rights outside China to the brand Shuang Xi.

Papastratos’ leaf warehouse at Agrinio, Greece, is to be transformed into an oriental leaf logistics hub for Europe, according to a joint announcement by Philip Morris International and its affiliate, Papastratos Cigarette Manufacturing.

The facility, which will become the only PMI-owned logistics hub for oriental tobacco in Europe, will house tobacco from Greece, Bulgaria and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia prior to its transport to the company’s factories in the EU, Russia and Ukraine, the announcement said.

Following a meeting with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Minister of Agriculture Athanasios Tsaftaris regarding the company’s plans, Papastratos’ president and managing director, Nikitas Theophilopoulos, said, “Greece is a strategic oriental tobacco location for Philip Morris International, and the cooperation agreement we signed last February with the government opened a new chapter in the history of our company in Greece.”

“The conversion of our Agrinio warehouse into a logistics hub for oriental tobacco in Europe is an important next step that will benefit the domestic and international transport sectors, as well as the sector’s exports.

“We hope that this, combined with our overall commitment to investing in Greece, which has exceeded 600 million euros in the last 10 years, will contribute to the country’s efforts to exit the economic crisis.”

The Agrinio warehouse (pictured) covered 58,000 square meters and was located in an area of 250,000 square meters, the announcement said.

The conversion of the warehouse started last week with the delivery of the first 500 tons of tobacco from Bulgaria. It is expected to be completed in 2014, when about 15,000 tons of tobacco will be transported through Agrinio.

The cooperation agreement with the Greek government foresees an increase of the company’s purchases of Greek oriental tobacco for the years 2013 to 2015 by 20 percent compared to those of the past three years.

“This agreement is contributing to the creation of a much more predictable economic environment for the country’s 25,000 tobacco farmers and workers,” the announcement said.

The EU’s proposed new Tobacco Products Directive could threaten as much as 70 percent of the snus now sold in Sweden, the only EU country allowed to sell this product, according to a story in The Local.

Livsmedelsverket, the national food agency, has apparently weighed in on the debate by submitting its analysis of the proposed directive to the Swedish government.

“It is clear that many types of snus would be banned,” the agency’s inspector, Christer Johansson, was quoted as telling the TT news agency on Friday.

The European Commission has suggested that a panel of snus tasters rule on whether a product has a clear-enough “tobacco taste” for it to be allowed on to the market, and Johansson said it would be up to the panel to decide what a “clear taste” was.

The commission, meanwhile, has claimed that a ban on “nontobacco” flavoring in tobacco products would knock out about 10 percent of Swedish snus sales, but Swedish Match puts the figure as high as 70 percent of its snus offering.