Author: Taco Tuinstra

Diluted Diligence
Photo: kittyfly
Even in its watered-down version, the recently approved EU supply chain law will impact tobacco companies.
By Stefanie Rossel
Good things come to those who wait, but sometimes they come only as a compromise. On March 15, the European Council finally approved the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), which was scheduled to be adopted by the European Parliament on April 24, thereby passing it into EU law.
Commonly referred to as the EU Supply Chain Law, this directive, which was first proposed in February 2022, is meant to establish a common baseline across the trade bloc’s member states. As binding EU law, it requires companies to identify, prevent and mitigate adverse impacts on human rights and the environment throughout their supply chains. If implemented as anticipated, the CSDDD would impose substantial responsibilities on companies, including those operating in the tobacco business.
The version the European Council agreed upon this March, though, is a significantly watered-down version of the original draft, reducing the number of affected companies in Europe by 70 percent and allowing for several exceptions. The amendments include:
Reduced scope of application: Instead of companies with 500 employees and a turnover of €150 million ($162 million) as initially envisaged, the directive in its current form would be applicable to enterprises with 1,000 employees and a turnover of at least €450 million.
Deletion of the high-risk approach: The plan to gradually integrate companies that don’t meet the criteria of the scope of application but operate in a high-risk sector has been eliminated from the draft law.
Introduction of a staggered implementation of the directive: Depending on their size and turnover, companies now have between three years and five years to make their firms compliant with the CSDDD.
Civil liability: The liability clause included in the CSDDD will be marginally adjusted to allow member states more flexibility in transposing the directive into national law. Generally speaking, however, the CSDDD will still enable injured parties to sue European companies for breaches alleged to have occurred across their supply chains.
“The overall EU objectives of addressing global human rights issues, environmental concerns and, more recently, climate change can certainly not be criticized,” says Abrie du Plessis, an associate at the South African Trade Law Center in Cape Town and a close observer of EU regulation who during previous work in the tobacco industry followed the development of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the development of the 2014 EU Tobacco Products Directive.
“As always, however, real challenges and obstacles can emerge from the details, and it seems fair to say that major companies operating in the EU already face what may be described as a flood of legislative initiatives on the issues now also covered by the CSDDD,” says du Plessis. “The task which lies ahead, which is to comply with a range of general, specific and sometimes overlapping legislative initiatives, is formidable.”
Building on Other Laws
Even in its weakened form, the CSDDD will likely affect all the major tobacco manufacturers operating in the EU in some way due to their turnover and number of employees. Du Plessis thinks that they are well placed even though, as always, the specifics of the tobacco industry must be considered.
The CSDDD comes on the heels of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which was adopted in December 2022 and entered into force on Jan. 5, 2023. This directive requires all large companies and all listed companies, except listed micro-enterprises, to disclose information on what they see as the risks and opportunities arising from social and environmental issues and on the impact of their activities on people and the environment. This is supposed to help investors, civil society organizations, consumers and other stakeholders to evaluate the sustainability performance of companies, as part of the European Green Deal, which is intended to transform the EU into a climate-neutral regional integration organization by 2050.
“These two directives are closely related, and some of the steps already being taken by companies to ensure CSRD compliance are also required by the CSDDD,” says du Plessis. “Some progress toward CSDDD compliance is therefore already being made.”
In some instances, he adds, there are also other EU laws that already address—or will in due course address—specific environmental issues. “Relevant examples are those on the sustainable use of plant protection agents, on single-use plastics and on deforestation,” says du Plessis. “Such EU legislation can either be directly applicable to tobacco products or can provide useful guidance even if it is not directly applicable. Already complying with measures clearly prescribed in other EU legislation may reduce the CSDDD compliance burden.”

One challenge for manufacturers is that they may be held liable for circumstances that are outside their immediate control. (Photo: Taco Tuinstra)
News Tasks
Nevertheless, the upcoming directive will bring about a range of challenges for tobacco companies. Among other things, manufacturers may be held liable for circumstances that are out of their immediate control and which, experts argue, are probably better handled by policymakers in the respective countries covered by the supply chain in question.
“The CSDDD requires companies to identify potential and real adverse environmental and human rights impacts arising from their own operations, subsidiaries and business relationships,” says du Plessis. “They must take measures to prevent or mitigate any potential impacts they identify as well as end or minimize any real impacts. Failure to comply and resultant may lead to liability and financial penalties.
“An example could be the issue of child labor, and it has become an established view that the purchasers of commodities do in fact have some ability to influence the behavior of their suppliers. The tobacco industry has certainly done a lot of work in this area, but the question going forward will of course be whether this meets expectations or will need to be revisited. It is quite correct to observe that national policymakers also have a key role to play in this debate.”
According to du Plessis, the expectation that manufacturers assume responsibility for the behavior of their suppliers has become a fact of life. “The basis for this approach is the real or perceived control which manufacturers exercise over players in their supply chains,” he says. “There are of course debates to be had as to what is in fact possible and workable, and the issues will hopefully be addressed through having constructive debates about CSDDD during its transposition and implementation phases.”

“Some corporate social responsibility activities for which tobacco companies were often criticized in the past are now actually required by law.”
Abrie du Plessis, associate, South African Trade Law Center
Isn’t It Ironic?
The CSDDD will also require companies to adopt a transition plan. Under the new law, companies will be required to adopt transition plans for climate change mitigation and ensure that their business model and strategy are compatible with the transition to a sustainable economy. These transition plans should be reviewed every 12 months and describe in detail the progress the company has made toward achieving its targets.
For the tobacco industry, this represents a complicated part of the curing and deforestation debate, according to du Plessis. “The interesting angle here is that burning of wood biomass is generally regarded as carbon neutral and in many instances as sustainable.”
Du Plessis says there are more bits of irony in the EU laws prioritizing sustainability. “The first is that some corporate social responsibility activities for which tobacco companies were often criticized in the past are now actually required by law,” he points out. “The second is the false narrative that Article 5.3 of the FCTC should apply to regulatory processes such as these. Neither the text of the FCTC nor that of its nonbinding guidelines support this view, and both the CSRD and the CSDDD make interaction with the industry involved a necessity rather than an option.”
“Leading cigarette companies have a long history of proactively addressing many of the issues potentially covered by the CSDDD on a voluntary basis,” says du Plessis. “Participating in both the CSRD and the CSDDD processes will certainly put what they have achieved so far to the test. If done properly, CSRD and CSDDD can certainly contribute to progress in the areas identified, but given significant legal uncertainties, the preferred point of departure should be constructive dialogue rather than penalties and sanctions.”
Stefanie Rossel is Tobacco Reporter’s editorial contributor. An experienced trade journalist, she combines sharp reporting skills with in-depth knowledge of the tobacco and vapor industries. Prior to joining Tobacco Reporter, Stefanie was editor-in-chief at Tobacco Journal International, where she worked for a decade. Fluent in English, German and French, Stefanie covers tobacco news around the world. She is based in Germany.
June 1, 2024
Retailers Fined for Selling Elf Bar

Photo: Gevorg Simonyan
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is seeking civil money penalties (CMPs) from nine brick-and-mortar retailers and one online retailer for selling Elf Bar products.
The FDA previously issued warning letters to these retailers for selling unauthorized tobacco products. However, follow-up inspections revealed that the retailers had failed to correct the violations.
The agency is now seeking a CMP of $20,678 from each retailer.
“The $20,678 CMP sought from each retailer is consistent with similar CMPs sought against retailers for the sale of unauthorized Elf Bar products over the last few months, including February and April of this year,” the FDA stated.
The retailers can pay the penalty, enter into a settlement agreement, request an extension to respond or request a hearing. Retailers that do not take action within 30 days after receiving a complaint risk a default order imposing the full penalty amount.
May 31, 2024
Tobacco-Paid Science Still in Medical Journals

Photo: Tada Images
Tobacco-funded research is still appearing in highly cited medical journals despite attempts by some publications to cut ties, according to an investigation by The Investigative Desk and the BMJ.
The researchers checked the tobacco policies of 10 leading general medical journals and 10 journals in three therapeutic areas especially affected by smoking.
Of those 40 journals, only eight (20 percent) had policies prohibiting studies wholly or partly funded by the tobacco industry. Of the 10 journals in the field of respiratory medicine, six had a tobacco policy, but in oncology, only one did, and in cardiology, none had one. Among the 10 general medicine journals, only the BMJ had such a policy.
But even among the journals that have a policy, the editors struggle to identify subsidiaries or organizations associated with the tobacco companies, according to the researchers. Last year, one of BMJ Group’s titles, BMJ Open, retracted a paper after it became clear that the listed funder receives sponsorship from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, a group supported and fully funded by tobacco company Philip Morris International.
(The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World ended its PMI funding agreement in October 2023. More recently, the group rebranded as Global Action to End Smoking and adopted a policy to not seek or accept funding from any industry that manufactures tobacco products or nonmedicinal nicotine products.)
The investigation cites the case of Dutch researcher Wytse van den Bosch, who had a research grant from pharmaceutical company Vectura when the company was bought by PMI in 2021. Nevertheless, his study was still published in the European Respiratory Journal, which said the research was not in breach of its policy as the grant from Vectura was initiated in 2018.
Ruth Malone, professor of social behavioral sciences at the University of California and former editor-in-chief of BMJ Group’s Tobacco Control journal, said that institutions, professionals and scientific journals should refuse involvement with the tobacco industry.
“Anyone who understands the history, extent and nature of the epidemic and the tobacco industry’s strategic efforts to divide the public health community knows that industry money should be rejected,” she said in a statement.
Nicholas Hopkinson, professor of respiratory medicine at Imperial College London, notes that given the industry’s “long-standing history of dishonesty,” it is “very straightforward” that researchers should cut ties to companies after they are acquired by Big Tobacco, as otherwise they would be “working with the tobacco industry” and contribute to their profits.
On May 30, BMJ updated its 2013 tobacco policy. In addition to excluding research funded by the tobacco industry, BMJ journals will also exclude work where authors have personal financial ties to the tobacco industry.
“The updated policy is one action BMJ journals can take to reduce the publication of content which downplays the harms of smoking or hinders the creation of a world free from the harms of smoking,” the publisher wrote in a statement.
“Creating a stronger firewall between the tobacco industry and BMJ content will provide space for editors to curate and publish content that is more independent and trusted and contributes to a healthier world.”
May 31, 2024
John Miller Resigns from 22nd Century

John Miller (Photo: Swisher)
John Miller has resigned as 22nd Century Group’s president of tobacco, effective Aug. 2, 2024.
“I want to thank John for the pivotal role he played in the launch of VLN, leveraging his decades of industry experience to help us achieve national-scale distribution and establishing a retail presence in more than 5,000 stores across 26 states,” said Larry Firestone, chairman and CEO, in a statement.
“He also played a key role in expanding our CMO business, including our exciting Pinnacle launch as a store brand for one of the top convenience store chains in the country. We are now well positioned to continue building on this incredible footprint as we work to achieve our company objectives.”
May 31, 2024
Flavor Bans Threaten Smoke-Free Ambitions

Image: Arcady
The Tholos Foundation has launched three white papers exposing the risks of banning flavors in vaping products at an event in Brussels hosted by Parliament Magazine and featuring contributions from Swedish MEP Johan Nissinen. The reports cover the impact of flavor bans in the real world and best practices to educate adult smokers and restrict underage usage and analyzes the public response to the European Commission’s 2023 public consultation.
Surveys commissioned by the Tholos Foundation and conducted by Ipsos in multiple countries have shown that a significant majority of vapers use flavors other than tobacco to help reduce and quit smoking. Notably, 83 percent of vapers in Germany stated that flavors are crucial in their decision to vape, with similar high percentages reported in Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden. The research also showed that, in countries where flavors were banned, many vapers went back to smoking or for black market alternatives and references numerous scientific studies confirming that flavors are essential for the effectiveness of vaping products in smoking cessation.
With European elections due to take place shortly, the Tholos Foundation believes it is imperative policymakers take heed of voters’ concerns and reject extensive restrictions on smoking alternatives.
“The evidence is clear: Flavors in vaping products are critical to helping smokers quit,” said co-author Tim Andrews in a statement. “Banning flavors will create a black market and drive people back to smoking. Our reports offer an evidence-based approach that combines rigorous law enforcement, education and technological innovations to reduce underage experimentation while preserving the benefits for adult smokers.
“With the European elections approaching, it is crucial for policymakers to understand the importance of harm reduction strategies. Our findings support a balanced approach that protects public health and helps smokers transition to safer alternatives.”
The Tholos Foundation is an international nongovernmental organization, affiliated with Americans for Tax Reform, dedicated to advocating for consumers.
May 31, 2024
Yields Up in Bangladesh

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
Tobacco yields per hectare in Bangladesh have increased more than 20 percent over the past five years thanks to improved agricultural practices, reports The Daily Star.
In 2018–2019, growers harvested an average of 2.04 tons per hectare. By the 2022–2023 season, the figure has increased to 2.46 tons per hectare, according to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE). In 2009–2010, per-hectare production was only 1.41 tons, according to World Bank data, which means per-hectare tobacco production has gone up by about 73 percent in 14 years.
The gain has been achieved by the introduction of high-yielding varieties and the application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, according to experts.
Tobacco is a major cash crop in Bangladesh, the world’s 12th largest tobacco grower as of 2020, according to the University of Bath. In 2022–2023, the country grew 65,227 tons of tobacco on 26,475 hectares, representing roughly 1 percent of the total arable land in the country, DAE data show.
The domestic tobacco industry generated more than BDT325.02 billion ($2.77 billion) in revenue from cigarette sales in the most recent fiscal year, an 8 percent increase from the previous year, according to NBR data. Bangladesh also exports a significant volume of unmanufactured tobacco. In 2022, Euromonitor International estimated the Bangladeshi tobacco market to be worth nearly BDT420 billion.
According to a study by the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, tobacco farmers earn around 30 percent more than nontobacco farmers. The return from tobacco is about 18.6 percent higher than that from rice and about 33 percent higher than that from jute.
Critics blame tobacco production for its impact on soil, water and air. According to the World Health Organization, each cigarette emits nearly 14 grams of CO2 over its life cycle. Producing 300 cigarettes requires about one tree for curing leaf and making cigarette papers. In the case of Bangladesh, tobacco farming accounts for over 30 percent of annual deforestation, according to a study by PATH Canada.
May 31, 2024
WVA Raises Alarm About Misperceptions

Photo: WVA
The World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA) marked World Vape Day with a protest in front of the World Health Organization’s in Geneva today. Participants in the event urged the global health body to listen to consumers and acknowledge the scientific evidence supporting vaping, nicotine pouches and similar products as valid harm reduction tools.
The consumper group says it is concerned about the rampant “misperception epidemic” surrounding tobacco harm reduction. Recent research by Ipsos for the think tank We Are Innovation shows that 74 percent of smokers worldwide wrongly believe that vaping is as harmful or more harmful than smoking. This misconception, fueled by misinformation, is preventing millions from switching to a scientifically proven less harmful alternative, according to the WVA.
“The WHO [World Health Organization] has turned World No Tobacco Day into a propaganda day,” said WVA Director Michael Landl in a statement. “Sweden is about to become smoke-free thanks to alternative nicotine products.
“The WHO needs to stop fighting alternative nicotine products and start backing them as keys to a smoke-free future. The WHO’s false claims are fueling a deadly misperception epidemic. Smokers deserve the truth: Vaping is significantly less harmful than smoking. Accurate knowledge could save millions of lives.”
May 30, 2024
UKVIA Warns Against Vape Taxes

Photo: VPZ
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has warned that the Conservative Party’s proposal to tax vapes based on nicotine strength, predicted to increase the cost of some products upward of 300 percent, threatens to undo the work that the category has already done in saving millions of smokers’ lives.
In its submission to the government’s vaping duty consultation, the association argues that by making higher strength vaping more expensive, the proposed tax regime will place an unfair financial burden on nicotine-dependent smokers who are trying to quit. The UKVIA points to the fact that smokers are already significantly overestimating the risks of vaping compared to smoking and that a measure that discourages the use of sufficient nicotine to facilitate a quit attempt is likely to have the effect of decreasing the rate of successful quit attempts.
The association also argues in its submission that as smokers are disproportionally from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, the effect of introducing an excise duty for nicotine-containing vapes, the most appealing form of e-cigarette for smokers, will be dramatic and potentially fatal.
This conclusion is supported by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Research Report Number 740, Understanding the Vaping Market, which found that less affluent adults were “more likely than average” to report being current vapers and revealed that 32 percent of current vapers are motivated to use these products over cigarettes due to cost savings. The same HMRC report also highlighted that the doubling of the prices of vaping could result in 62 percent of current users reducing how much they vape.
The UKVIA is calling for the proposed taxation of vapes to be based on e-liquid quantity and not based on nicotine strength. It believes a specific sales tax on all vaping products and nicotine levels at the rate of £1 ($1.25) per 10 mL would be far more effective in achieving the duty’s stated objectives.
Smokers who smoke more or are more nicotine reliant need higher concentrations of nicotine, at least initially, according to the UKVIA. The association feels they should not be deterred from quitting by having to pay an extra premium to buy the higher concentration nicotine e-liquids that they need.

While a tax on vapes may be inevitable, it does need to be effective and not counterproductive.
John Dunne, director general, UKVIA
“While a tax on vapes may be inevitable, it does need to be effective and not counterproductive,” said UKVIA Director General John Dunne in a statement. “In recent years, millions of smokers have managed to quit through using vaping products, and discouraging others from making the switch would have disastrous, and in many cases fatal, consequences.
“The industry therefore urges the government not to unfairly discriminate against nicotine-containing vapes, which are the most popular devices for a reason. It would be far more valuable for the government to instigate a vape licensing scheme, for which we have long been calling; such a scheme would deter rogue retailers, protect our children and help a heavily under-funded Trading Standards to police retailers by raising £50 million a year from the industry.”
May 30, 2024
Death Sentence for Former STMA Leader

Image: Wit
The Intermediate People’s Court of Dalian has sentenced He Zehua, former deputy chief of China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, to death for taking bribes, reports Xinhua.
The sentence comes with a two-year reprieve, after which the penalty could be commuted to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole or further commutation.
He was also deprived of his political rights for life, all of his personal property was confiscated, and his illegal gains were turned over to the state treasury.
The court found that between 1998 and 2023, He took undue advantage of his various positions, including those as a senior official at local tobacco monopoly agencies, as well as the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration deputy chief, to illegally assist his connections in business operations, project contracting and personnel promotion and recruitment
In return, He accepted more than RMB943 million ($132.6 million) in money and gifts.
In its ruling, the court considered the large amounts of money involved and He’s cooperation with the investigators and in returning the illegal gains, which have been recovered in full.
Several STMA leaders are under investigation for corruption. Earlier this month, authorities arrested former STMA head Ling Chengxing and announced a probe into the activities of STMA Deputy Head Xu Ying.
May 30, 2024
A Case for Consensus

Photo: pavelkant
A global alignment on health policy is necessary to make a smokeless world a reality.
By James Murphy
With renewed attention on smoking and vaping regulation around the world, now is the time for action that will realize global smoke-free ambitions and ensure cigarettes become a thing of the past.
Achieving this vision requires a global consensus on the most effective approach to create sustained and lasting changes to consumer behavior—tobacco harm reduction (THR).
THR is one the greatest public health opportunities today, representing a pathway for hundreds of millions of smokers who would not otherwise quit to transition from combustible tobacco products to smokeless alternatives.
Countries that have recognized the opportunity THR presents, and which have adopted supportive policies, have seen striking success in reducing their smoking rates. The U.S., U.K. and Japan are all currently witnessing their lowest smoking rates on record while Sweden is on track to declare themselves smoke-free this year—defined as having less than 5 percent daily smokers in the population—16 years ahead of the 2040 EU target.
These remarkable transformations have been driven by widespread THR acceptance from policymakers, regulators, health officials and consumers in these markets, enabling and encouraging smokers to migrate from combustible tobacco products such as cigarettes to vapor, oral nicotine pouches, snus and heated-tobacco or herbal products.
The widespread accessibility of smokeless products is essential for the success of THR. However, at present, this is being hamstrung by many countries limiting access to these alternative tobacco and nicotine products. For example, 60 percent of the world’s population live in just 15 countries. Of these, only about 40 percent permit the sale of smokeless products, leaving millions who would otherwise continue to smoke without the option to switch to such alternatives.
In order to fully realize the public health potential of THR and significantly reduce the more than 8 million deaths attributed to smoking cigarettes each year, regulators around the world should embrace evidence-based science to drive positive public health outcomes. This means implementing a supportive regulatory framework that encourages adult smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke to switch while also protecting consumers with stringent safety standards and preventing underage use.
In addition, the global success of THR depends on governments and regulators correcting persistent misperceptions of smokeless products compared to cigarettes.
A University College London-led study published earlier this year highlighted that most smokers in England wrongly believe vaping is at “least as harmful as smoking,” with 57 percent of respondents saying they thought vaping was “equally” or “more harmful.” This echoes trends reported in the U.S., with research showing that perceptions of e-cigarettes as more harmful than cigarettes doubled year on year between 2018 and 2020. Not only are these misperceptions flawed, but they also have significant implications for public health by actively discouraging smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke from making the switch to smokeless products.
Greater efforts are needed to counter these misperceptions—something that BAT is trying to tackle. As the world’s largest vapor company and a leader in smokeless products, BAT is committed to producing innovative products backed by world-class science and industry-leading product safety and quality standards. BAT’s THR approach is based on the growing body of research and weight of evidence approach that substantiates its belief of the reduced-risk profile of these products compared to cigarettes, which have been accepted by many international public health bodies. BAT publishes its science research to increase understanding of THR and raise awareness with stakeholders.
Indeed, the industry developing and producing these products has a critical role to play. But to achieve the conditions required to make a success of THR, an inclusive, open and honest dialogue with all stakeholders is required. That includes policymakers, regulators and the healthcare and medical communities. Unfortunately, this is not yet the case, with the industry all too often excluded.
We have an opportunity to usher in a new smokeless world, grounded in scientific research and a firm commitment to public health. The solutions are available today. All that is required is for the relevant stakeholders to actively work together to prioritize THR and the well-being of millions of people worldwide.
James Murphy is the director of research and science at BAT.

May 30, 2024