Author: Taco Tuinstra

‘Quit Like Sweden’ Global Effort Takes Off

Photo: QLS
International health experts rallied behind a major new global effort to replicate Sweden’s success at eradicating smoking by embracing a comprehensive approach that could prevent millions of premature deaths globally.
Quit Like Sweden (QLS), launched at a conference in Brazil featuring medical professionals, politicians and policymakers, aims to motivate and support countries worldwide to emulate the example of Sweden, which is set to become the first nation to attain official “smoke-free” status later this year.
“Sweden has achieved this remarkable feat by ensuring that safer alternatives to smoking are accessible, acceptable and affordable,” said QLS founder Suely Castro, a Brazil-born harm reduction advocate in a statement.
“A country where 49 percent of men used to smoke regularly has virtually wiped out this scourge by allowing its smokers to switch to products that pose just a fraction of the risks, such as snus [traditional smokeless tobacco] and other smoke-free alternatives like vapes and nicotine pouches.
“Swedes are reaping the health dividend with significantly lower cancer cases and mortality rates compared to their European counterparts. Now, Quit Like Sweden will amplify this message globally, leveraging expertise and fostering collaboration across stakeholders to help countries replicate the Swedish experience.”

Sweden is winning the war against smoking with a comprehensive approach to tobacco control that supplements traditional cessation and preventive measures with an all-important added element: giving smokers the opportunity to switch to safer alternatives.
Anders Milton, former chair of the World Medical Association and former secretary general of the Swedish Medical Association.
Castro was joined at the launch of her platform by leading harm reduction experts who unveiled new research showing that Brazil could save 1.36 million lives by 2060 by adopting the Swedish approach.
Earlier research has shown that 3 million more Europeans would be alive today if other countries had implemented Sweden’s comprehensive approach to helping smokers quit.
Meanwhile, a study of low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) shows that, through the adoption of Swedish-style policies, Kazakhstan could prevent 165,000 premature deaths in the next four decades while South Africa, Bangladesh and Pakistan could save 320,000; 920,000 and 1,200,000 lives, respectively.
“Sweden is winning the war against smoking with a comprehensive approach to tobacco control that supplements traditional cessation and preventive measures with an all-important added element: giving smokers the opportunity to switch to safer alternatives,” said research co-author Anders Milton, a former chair of the World Medical Association and former secretary general of the Swedish Medical Association.
“It has set out a policy roadmap that should be treated as a gift to global public health and, potentially, one of the greatest ever breakthroughs in tackling noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).
“That’s why QLS is so important. By spreading the message of the Swedish experience to all corners, many millions of premature deaths—including almost 1.4 million here in Brazil—could be prevented in the next four decades.”
April 12, 2024
SATTA Urges Action Against Illicit Trade

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
The South African Tobacco Transformation Alliance (SATTA) has called for stronger action against the smuggle, manufacture and sales illicit products.
Last year, South Africans smoked 37 billion cigarettes, but the South African Revenue Service (SARS) taxed only 13 billion. “Illicit tobacco is “the biggest fight we face now,” said Edward Kieswetter, SARS commissioner.
“Government should allocate more resources to Sars to pursue these complex crimes,” said SATTA spokesperson Zachariah Motsumi in a statement. “As the commissioner pointed out, illicit tobacco products account for 60 percent to 70 percent of cigarette sales and causes tremendous damage to the fiscus.”
The national fiscus is not the only area affected by the illicit trade. “Cigarette producers like BATSA has to retrench tobacco factory workers and about 500 jobs are currently at risk in third-party logistics companies that transport their products,” said Motsumi. BATSA has already cut 584 jobs due to a 40 percent decrease in [legal] cigarette sales from 2020.
“People are not smoking less—it is the sale of legal cigarettes that decreased,” said Motsumi. “The net effect of this is twofold: It has devastated tax collection and decimated the legal tobacco sector.”
April 12, 2024
Spain Approves Anti-Smoking Plan

Photo: nyker
Spain has approved a new anti-smoking plan that will expand the number of places where smoking is prohibited, implement a sharp increase in tobacco taxes and place vapers in the same category as conventional smokers as “deterrent” measures, according to Eurasia Review.
The document was approved April 5 by the Spanish Health Ministry and will be included in a new legislative package to be formally approved in Parliament.
“As of today [Friday, April 5], this plan is a reality, and this achievement is a source of national pride,” said Health Minister Monica Garcia, a member of the left-wing Sumar platform, a junior partner in Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s coalition government.
The document is an update to the current 14-year-old plan and aims at reducing the number of smokers, protecting public health and preventing new tobacco consumers.
The Plan for the Prevention and Control of Smoking 2024–2027 has five main objectives: preventing the onset of smoking, encouraging smoking cessation and facilitating help to stop smoking, reducing environmental exposure to tobacco emissions and related products in public and private spaces, and promoting applied research and monitoring in tobacco control as well as promoting coordination and the establishment of anti-tobacco alliances.
There is a question of whether in the near future smoking will be banned on bar and restaurant terraces; the leisure and tourism sector accounts for 13 percent of Spain’s national GDP.
The plan includes the “legislative extension of smoke-free and e-cigarette aerosol-free spaces in certain community and social outdoor environments,” but there is no current ban only a “recommendation” not to smoke in these public spaces.
An increase in tobacco taxes is expected. Since 2005, tobacco taxes have increased by 122 percent.
The plan also includes generic or neutral packaging for tobacco products—unattractive color, brand name in Arial typeface and in smaller font size to allow for larger health warnings such as “smoking kills” or “tobacco kills.”
Additives that “give flavors to tobacco and related products (in line with what the EU agrees)” will also be banned under the new plan.

April 12, 2024
Russian Vape Ban ‘Radical’: Korolev

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
A proposed ban on vapes in Russia is a “radical measure,” according to Maxim Korolev, editor-in-chief of the industry news agency Russian Tabak, reports HCH.
In an interview with NSN, Korolev commented on the recent bill that would completely ban the retail sale of nicotine and nicotine-free vapes in the Russian Federation “for the purpose of saving people.”
“The ban is too radical a measure because it will deprive a significant number of Russians of the opportunity to receive nicotine without carcinogens,” said Korolev, estimating this size of the impacted group at between 30 million and 40 million people.
At the same time, he noted, a significant share of tobacco sales in Russia avoids taxes and regulations. “What our smokers who want to quit are now getting as an alternative is also not very clear,” said Korolev. “Perhaps this is not the worst measure if it later makes it possible to introduce legal products for alternative purposes, that is, with nicotine, but with carcinogens, without combustible tobacco.”
Korolev insisted that Russians should be given the opportunity to choose alternative options to tobacco products.
“[F]or decades, we hooked the entire male population on the nicotine needle through military service: almost everyone there started smoking. Now, we need to give people the opportunity to use alternative options before simply banning everything indiscriminately.”
In 2023, the smoking rate in Russia was 18.7 percent, down from 24.2 percent in 2019. In 2022, there was a noted increase in smokers using e-cigarettes and vapes.
April 12, 2024
Patent Filed for Pouch Technology
Photo: ir1ska
TJP Labs has filed for patent protection of a novel nicotine particulate that dramatically increases the speed of nicotine release.
According to the company, the new technology releases nicotine significantly faster than polacrilex, a resin complex commonly used in nicotine replacement therapy products.
Other features of the nicotine particulate include:
Versatile particulate size customization; from ultra-fine to several hundred microns for precise product design.
Precision-targeted binding, which improves nicotine release rate, which enhances effectiveness.
Broad spectrum of adaptable core materials, which expands product versatility and application possibilities.
Efficient raw material use, allowing for nicotine loading several orders of magnitude over Polacrilex.
Eco-friendly and versatile composition. The product is optimized for organic and inorganic forms, including biodegradable resins, enabling diverse, innovative applications.
Streamlined manufacturing, which accelerates product development.
Seamless integration: The technology is designed for easy incorporation into nicotine pouch formats and related products.
“This landmark initiative powerfully showcases TJP Labs’ commitment to redefining nicotine consumption through innovation,” said TJP Labs Chief Relationship Officer David Richmond-Peck in a statement. “With other innovations in our pipeline, safeguarding our intellectual property remains integral to our strategy, matching our innovative efforts with consumers’ evolving preferences.”
TJP Labs anticipates initial evaluation data for these particulates to be available toward the end of the second quarter of 2024
TJP Labs is a wholly owned subsidiary of KIK ASS Products, a full-service contract manufacturer of next-generation products focusing on modern oral nicotine.
April 12, 2024
22nd Century Signs New Manufacturing Deal

Photo: thodonal
22nd Century Group has expanded its Pinnacle private label brand to add distribution of cigarillo products to its existing Pinnacle cigarette products. Pinnacle products are currently sold as a private label brand in a leading U.S. gas station convenience store chain comprising approximately 1,700 stores in 26 states.
According to 22nd Century Group, Pinnacle cigarette product re-order volumes are now achieving sustained sequential growth as the private label contract enters its second year with this top retail customer, which is itself seeing notable growth in its tobacco sales and gaining market share by offering value to its customers.
“We are excited to expand our Pinnacle brand with new cigarillo products based on the successful sales growth of these private label cigarette products sold at one of the top U.S. c-store chains,” said 22nd Century Group Chairman and CEO Larry Firestone in a statement.
“Agreements like this help us to further enhance revenue and profitability in our business as we work toward breakeven operations by the first quarter 2025.”
The cigarillo expansion agreement is in addition to a recently announced new CMO customer contract that is expected to increase the 22nd Century Group’s contract manufacturing organization production volumes by at least 20 percent, with shipments commencing from the second quarter.
April 12, 2024
Vaping Additives Harm Lung Membrane: Study

Panagiota Taktikakis (left) and Christine DeWolf (Photo: Concordia University)
The e-cigarette additive tocopherol—an organic compound better known as vitamin E—and tocopherol acetate can damage the lungs, according to two Concordia University researchers writing in Langmuir.
When heated and inhaled, the compound embeds in the pulmonary surfactant, a nanoscopically thin lipid protein membrane coating the surface of the alveoli that regulates the oxygen-carbon dioxide gas exchange and stabilizes the lungs’ surface tension during breathing.
The researchers used one-molecule-thick model membranes called Langmuir films to simulate the expansion and compression of the pulmonary surfactant. They then added vitamin E, which is structurally similar to the lipids found in the membrane.
They used different observational techniques including microscopy, x-ray diffraction and x-ray reflectivity. The researchers observed how the presence of the additive changed the surfactant’s properties and monitored changes as they added more to simulate how a real surfactant would accumulate and retain the compound in the lungs.
“We can see that the presence of vitamin E changes the functional properties of the surfactant,” said Christine DeWolf, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and co-founder of the Centre for NanoScience Research at Concordia University, in a statement.
“Oxygen is exchanged for carbon dioxide across the pulmonary surfactant, so if the surfactant properties are altered, so can be the ability for gas to be exchanged. And if the surface tension is changed, that affects the work of breathing. So combined, these changes make breathing more difficult. We think this is the molecular basis contributing to the shortness of breath and reduced oxygen levels seen in people suffering from EVALI [electronic cigarette or vaping product use–associated lung injury]”
This paper is the first of a larger project that looks at the components of the vaping solutions that deliver the nicotine or cannabinoids to users.
“Many of the components in these solutions are approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for other uses,” DeWolf says. “But the high heating rates needed to vaporize these components can cause further chemical reactions to occur. The components that are actually being inhaled may not be the ones in the original e-liquid.”
April 12, 2024
Smoore Quarterly Pretax Profit Up a Quarter

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Smoore International Holdings reported an unaudited pretax profit of RMB399.7 million ($55.23 million) for the three months that ended March 31, up 25 percent over its pretax profit in the comparable 2023 quarter. After-tax profit was up 12.8 percent to RMB339.5 in the quarter.
“Total comprehensive income” was RMB209.8 million in the quarter, compared with RMB293.3 million in the comparable 2023 period.
April 12, 2024
Video: FDA Urged to Prioritize Access to Safer Alternatives
Consumer advocates spoke out against what they describe as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s “alarming neglect” in facilitating access to safer nicotine alternatives for millions of adult consumers during a House Oversight hearing today.
“Despite the bipartisan mandate of the Tobacco Control Act of 2009, the FDA’s performance has fallen short of expectations, leaving countless individuals without viable options to effectively transition away from combustible cigarettes,” the Consumer Choice Center wrote in a press note.
“With over 26 million premarket tobacco product applications (PMTA) languishing in bureaucratic limbo, the FDA has only authorized fewer than 50 granted to just a handful of firms, completely disregarding the 180-day review deadline set imposed by Congress,” said Consumer Choice Center U.S. Policy Analyst Elizabeth Hicks.
“Less than 10 unique devices are available on the regulated marketplace, all of which come from industry incumbents, not to mention the growing categories of nicotine alternatives such as heaters, pouches, toothpicks, and more.
“This blatant failure highlights a systemic issue within the agency, where regulatory inertia trumps the urgent need to provide consumers with safer nicotine alternatives such as e-cigarettes which studies have shown to be 95 percent less harmful than combustible cigarettes. As a result, consumers are being pushed towards the illicit market, which does not adhere to regulatory standards, to find their preferred nicotine alternative products,” said Hicks.
“Consumers are deeply troubled by the FDA’s abject failure to fulfill its obligations under the Tobacco Control Act. It is imperative that the FDA swiftly rectify this situation by implementing a transparent and expedited regulatory pathway that prioritizes access to scientifically validated, less harmful nicotine products,” she concluded.
The Consumer Choice Center’s concern was echoed by Philip Morris International, which in an e-mailed statement expressed the hope that the hearing would spur the FDA into action to fully embrace the tobacco harm reduction principles enshrined in the Tobacco Control Act.
“Today’s House Oversight hearing put a bright spotlight on the fact that the agency is failing to help millions of adult smokers access smoke-free options that are better alternatives to combustible cigarettes,” the company wrote. “More than 26 million premarket tobacco product applications have been submitted to the FDA for review, but the agency has authorized fewer than 50 of those applications, and none within the 180-day deadline set by Congress.
“FDA’s goal to strike ‘an appropriate balance between regulation and encouraging development of innovative tobacco products that may be less dangerous than cigarettes’ is far from the reality of its actions. To assist adult smokers’ transition away from cigarettes, the FDA must develop a fair, efficient and effective regulatory pathway to bring scientifically validated, less harmful products to market with the appropriate safeguards to ensure they do not appeal to youth.”
April 11, 2024
Canada Relaunches Flavor Ban

Photo: DD Images
Canada is set to enact a three-year-old flavor ban, according to Vaping360. The regulations were first published in June 2021 in the Canada Gazette but then never went into effect. Now, however, Health Minister Mark Holland has reinvigorated the ban.
Holland previously worked at Heart and Stroke, where he was the national director of children and youth. “I was with Heart and Stroke when we dealt with the issue of vaping,” he said, “and there were many voices at that time, when information was uncertain, who said, ‘Let this exist as a cessation tool. Don’t take action.’ The result of that, unfortunately, was that the tobacco industry was able to addict a whole new cohort of young people—who had no exposure to nicotine—to something that’s absolutely deadly for their health. It has had very injurious outcomes for our health system.”
Vaping proponents warned that the measure could backfire. “As presented, Minister Holland’s proposal will not achieve the desired public health objectives and could, on the contrary, seriously harm a significant number of Canadian adult ex-smokers, the Vaping Industry Trade Association (VITA) wrote in a press release.
“This appears to be a personal legacy project for the Minister of Health, supported strongly by his former peers at the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Lung Association and some smaller anti-smoking NGOs [nongovernmental organizations],” said VITA Managing Director Thomas Kirsop.
The ban would give manufacturers a list of fewer than 100 allowable flavoring ingredients that can only be used to create e-liquid in tobacco, mint and menthol flavors. Sweeteners of any kind would be banned. The regulations will also “prescribe sensory attributes standards to prevent a sensory perception other than one that is typical of tobacco or mint/menthol.”
April 11, 2024