Author: Marissa Dean

Australia Urged to Include Vaping in Smoking Strategy

Photo: Zerophoto | Adobe Stock
Australia is lagging well behind many other countries in the Asia-Pacific region when it comes to successfully tackling smoking through vaping, says the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA).
The CAPHRA’s observation comes as Australia’s Department of Health seeks feedback on its Draft National Smoking Strategy 2022–2030, with public submissions closing on March 24.
“We encourage vapers and supporters of a progressive tobacco harm reduction (THR) approach to have their say. Australians desperate to quit smoking and those keen to stay off deadly cigarettes need all the help they can get,” says Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator of the CAPHRA.
On Oct. 1, 2021, Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration expanded its prescription-only model with customs clamping down at the border on personal imports of nicotine vaping liquids from overseas websites.
Not only does Australia’s draft strategy ignore the potential of safer nicotine products, it also lacks ambition, according to Loucas. The strategy aims for a smoking rate of 10 percent or less by 2025 while New Zealand is pursuing a 5 percent smoke-free goal and looks on target to achieve it. “Instead of banning vaping, New Zealand has regulated it, making it tough for minors to access but available to all adults keen to keep off the cancer sticks. New Zealand is seeing its overall smoking rate tumble, yet the Australian government fails to accept that the most effective smoking cessation tool available is staring it in the face,” says Loucas.
“Australia is well down the world rankings when it comes to adopting effective THR policies and is light-years behind the U.S. and U.K. Subsequently, Australia’s overall smoking rate has fallen very little over the past decade, and without reasonable access to vaping, Australia will struggle to even achieve its 10 percent smoking goal,” says Loucas.
March 11, 2022
Taiwan: Stakeholders Debate Policy Proposals

Photo: Andrii Yalanskyi | Adobe Stock
A demonstrative policy debate event on whether e-cigarettes should be regulated was held on March 8, 2022, in Taipei, showing how different public policy viewpoints can be rationally discussed, according to The Taipei Times. The debate was held by the Chinese Debate Promotion Association (CDPA) at the Taipei NGO House.
CDPA Chairman and Founder Chia Pei-te said that the Executive Yuan in January approved a draft amendment to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act proposed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare for legislative review. The proposed regulations on emerging tobacco products have sparked discussions, he said.
The amendment would classify emerging tobacco products as “tobacco-like products” and “designated tobacco products.” E-cigarettes would be classified as “tobacco-like products” and be fully banned while heated-tobacco products would be classified as “designated tobacco products” and be subject to regulation.
The reasoning behind banning e-cigarettes includes keeping curious teenagers away from the products, preventing consumers from adding nicotine to e-cigarette e-liquids and lowering the risk of teenage users turning to smoking.
The debate participants went back and forth discussing the pros and cons of regulating e-cigarettes versus banning them, bringing up subjects such as public health, tax revenue options and teenage use.
National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) College of Pharmaceutical Sciences Dean Kang Jaw-jou said that he was moved by opinions for and against e-cigarettes. He said the affirmative side proposed to directly manage e-cigarette use through regulations and an approval system while the opposing side stressed their attitude to life—banning a substance if the public consensus deems it harmful to society.
Many aspects of the topic can be argued, but e-cigarettes can cause negative health effects, and supporters and opponents must clearly present this fact to the public in further discussions, stated Wang Hsiang-tsui, NYCU Faculty of Pharmacy associate professor.
March 11, 2022
Zimbabwe: Good Quality Leaf Expected

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Zimbabwe is expecting good quality tobacco leaf this year despite an expected reduction in output. The quality should attract higher prices, according to xinhuanet.com.
The anticipated reduced volumes are likely to push demand and selling price up, according to Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board Chief Executive Meanwell Gudu.
Tobacco hectarage for the season declined by 11 percent, according to results of the first-round crop and livestock survey for 2021–2022.
“Due to anticipated reduced volumes in Zimbabwe this season, there will be more pressure on the demand side to take the crop, which should naturally increase prices upward. This is likely to be experienced in the medium to filler grades,” Gudu said. Top-quality grades for premium brands are likely to remain unchanged, he said. The current price for top-quality grades ranges from $3.50 to $5.40 per kg.
“The high-end market for this grade has reached its ceiling in price increase. The major market for these grades is in China, and there are no indications to change prices upward,” Gudu said.
“We expect top-quality grades. The irrigated crop is medium[-bodied] to heavy-bodied, predominantly lemon in color and reflecting a fair to good quality.
“The main dryland crop is medium-bodied in the commercial sector whilst being light[-bodied] to medium-bodied in the smallholder sector. The late dryland crop has poor stand due to prolonged dry spell, which was experienced post-planting time toward the end of December.”
“Brazil is likely to be 80 million kg short of their usual production level because of drought. This creates less competition for us,” Gudu said.
“Some kind of hoarding of tobacco is likely to happen that may influence prices to be better because of disruptions in logistics caused by Covid-19,” he added.
“Supply chains were disrupted from 2020 into 2021 due to shortage of vessels and closure of some shipping lines. Now that the world has lifted the Covid-19 restrictions and uncertainty in the possibilities of other waves, customers are likely going to grab this opportunity to stock up their tobacco, thereby increasing artificial demand,” Gudu said.
Zimbabwe sold 186.6 million kg of tobacco leaf valued at $515.9 million during the 2021 marketing season, up 16.8 percent in volume and 31 percent in value over 2020 sales.
March 11, 2022
Malaysia: Illicit Cigarette Prevalence Drops

nikkytok
Illicit cigarette prevalence in Malaysia has dropped by 6.5 percentage points from 63.8 percent in 2020, according to Nielsen’s Illicit Cigarettes Study in Malaysia 2021, reports The New Straits Times.
This is the first time since 2014 that illicit cigarette prevalence has registered a decline.
“This indicates that the measures announced by the finance minister in Budget 2021 are starting to bear results,” said a Confederation of Malaysian Tobacco Manufacturers (CMTM) spokesperson. “This is an encouraging development, and CMTM urges the government and all stakeholders to continue all efforts to curb the illicit cigarette trade.”
Malaysia is the number one country for illegal cigarettes, even with the decline. Smuggling syndicates are reacting to Budget 2021 measures by using new methods to illegally import cigarettes into the country.
March 11, 2022
Rising Oil Prices May Affect Cigarette Sales

Photo: Destina | Adobe Stock
Rising gas prices will likely depress cigarette demand due to consumers having less cash to spend at gas stations, according to CNBC.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has driven oil prices up as the U.S. and other Western countries have imposed sanctions on Russia. On Thursday, West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. oil benchmark, was trading at prices not seen since the financial crisis of September 2008, and Brent crude hit a high from May 2012.
Gaurav Jain, a Barclays analyst, estimates that a 1 percent increase in oil prices will cause U.S. cigarette volume to decline by 0.1 percent. “The trend seems to suggest that as consumers saved more money at the gas station and went to the attached convenience store, they bought more cigarettes (impulse purchase item). Now as oil prices move higher, the reverse could happen,” Jain wrote in a note to clients.
Jain predicts that U.S. cigarette volume for fiscal 2022 will fall by 5 percent with prices rising 7 percent. It’s also expected that some consumers will switch to other tobacco products, such as e-cigarettes or modern oral nicotine pouches, in search of cheaper alternatives.
March 4, 2022
U.S. States Target Synthetic Nicotine

Georgia, Maryland and Mississippi legislators recently introduced bills in their respective states that would only allow the sale of vapor products that are authorized by or pending authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to a Filter article.
The pieces of legislation would also establish directories to inventory authorized vapor products, which would eventually be made public. On the surface, these bills look like they are reiterating what the FDA is already doing through its premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) process, through which the FDA has denied millions of products. However, many have noted that the bills serve as a roundabout way to ban synthetic nicotine.
Many manufacturers have turned to synthetic nicotine as a way to continue selling their products since synthetic nicotine is not currently regulated.
“The elected officials sponsoring these bills may be under the mistaken impression that their proposals are only targeted at illicit and counterfeit dealers,” Greg Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, told Filter. “The reality is that these bills would shut down licensed small businesses that are operating in full compliance with federal, state and local laws.”
The Republican lawmakers who introduced the bills—Maryland State Senator JB Jennings, Georgia State Senator Jeff Mullis and Mississippi Representative Nick Bain—have all received campaign funds ranging from $500 to $4,800 from Juul Labs, according to Filter. Some feel that Juul and other large companies want to see synthetic nicotine (and competition) diminished.
“To preserve the harm reduction opportunity for adult smokers, Juul Labs supports a fully regulated, science-based marketplace,” a Juul spokesperson said. “Illegally marketed and illicit products and products designed to evade federal and state oversight undermine harm reduction and a responsible e-vapor category.”
March 4, 2022
THR Strategies Have Reduced Smoking Rates

The Asia Harm Reduction Forum 2021 attended by the leading experts in technology, public health policy and science met to discuss the tobacco harm reduction (THR) strategies deployed in various countries, according to a press release from the Canadian Vaping Association.
“We have known the risks from smoking for many decades. We have known that it is the smoke, not the nicotine, that is responsible. We also know that we can deliver nicotine in ways that have minimal risk,” said David Sweanor, chair of the Center for Health Law, Policy and Ethics and an adjunct professor of law at the University of Ottawa. “As a result, Sweden’s rates of tobacco-related illness and death are by far the lowest that you can see in the European Union. Their smoking rates are now low enough that many people would call it a smoke-free society. When Norway allowed snus products to be more widely available, cigarette smoking fell by half in just 10 years. When Iceland allowed both vaping products and snus into the market, smoking fell by about 40 percent in just three years.”
For decades, Canada has tried to curb smoking through education and taxation with limited success. Reductions in smoking prevalence had generally slowed, with modest annual declines prior to more mainstream adoption of vaping by smokers. Vaping experienced peak adoption in 2019, which lead to a 7.5 percent decline in cigarette sales.
“Harm reduction is one of the four pillars of Canada’s drug and substances policy. Policy that makes vaping less appealing to smokers, like flavor restrictions and taxation, is out of step with this policy. In effect, Canada has embraced harm reduction in name but not substance,” said Darryl Tempest, Government Relations Council to the Canadian Vaping Association.
March 4, 2022
Sweden Wants to Prohibit Flavored Vapes

The Swedish government has proposed a ban on nontobacco-flavored vapes, including menthol, according to Vaping360.
The proposed law includes nicotine and non-nicotine e-liquid and regulates all synthetic nicotine products, setting the purchase age to 18. If the law is passed, the sale of flavored vape products will be banned effective Jan. 1, 2023.
The bill is currently being reviewed by the Council on Legislation, which considers the legal validity of proposed bills before they are considered by legislators. Parliament will vote on the bill as early as March 22.
If the bill is passed, Sweden will be the eighth European country to prohibit flavors, following Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ukraine, Denmark, Lithuania and the Netherlands.
March 4, 2022
Zimbabwe: New Tobacco Floor

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Ethical Leaf Tobacco has opened an auction floor in Mvurwi, according to allAfrica. Farmers in Mvurwi used to travel to Bindura for auction.
Patience Mushore-Chizodza, public relations and marketing manager for Ethical Leaf Tobacco, said the company expects to buy 5 million kg of tobacco, up from 4.6 million kg last year.
“We have adopted a paradigm shift and embraced social marketing through various strategies to empower smallholder tobacco farmers,” Mushore-Chizodza said. “This year, the company has embarked on a plough back initiative in all our four tobacco farming regions by recognizing the best farmers who have shown vigilance and best farming practices.”
Wonder Matizamhuka, Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board technical officer for Mvurwi, warned farmers against side marketing as the start of the season gets closer. “As tobacco floors open on March 31, sell your crop to the company that contracted you,” he said. “Side marketing is a crime, and this year, we will be arresting people.
“Don’t look for middlemen at tobacco floors; a good crop sells itself. Unscrupulous people moving in farms buying your crop are ripping you off. Go with your tobacco to the floors.”
Zimbabwe decentralized tobacco marketing to minimize movements in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
March 4, 2022
Nordic Spirit Launches New Nicotine Pouch

Nordic Spirit has launched a spearmint version and an extra-strong nicotine option for its Bergamot Wildberry flavor, according to Talking Retail.
The extra-strong variant will also be available in the new spearmint flavor. Currently, 70 percent of nicotine pouch sales are made up of strong and extra-strong variants.
“The Nordic Spirit brand has gone from strength to strength since launching in 2019 with its range of nicotine pouches pivotal in driving category growth,” said Mark McGuiness, head of marketing at JTI U.K. “We strive to innovate and meet evolving customer demand, and the new launches do just that—helping retailers take advantage of the increasing market for stronger variants.”
March 4, 2022