Category: News This Week

Health experts from across the EU are trying to galvanize opposition to the European Commission’s latest proposals for regulating electronic cigarettes, ahead of a crucial meeting in Brussels on Dec. 3.

The European Parliament has already voted down a commission proposal aimed at introducing—as part of revisions to the Tobacco Products Directive—medicines regulation for e-cigarettes. MEPs were in favor of applying consumer regulation to these products.

But the latest proposal is seen merely as medicines regulation by the back door.

Thirteen health experts from Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Poland and the U.K. have written a letter warning that the latest commission proposals could bring to an end the positive effect that safer e-cigarettes have had in weaning smokers from tobacco cigarettes, which caused 700,000 premature deaths a year in the EU.

The letter, whose first signature is that of professor Gerry Stimson, emeritus professor, Imperial College London, is due to be published in the Financial Times.

The smoking rate in Australia has remained unchanged since the introduction of standardized packaging a year ago according to a report by London Economics, one of Europe’s leading policy and economics consultancies.

“The research is one of the first comprehensive surveys of smoking prevalence since the introduction of plain packaging in Australia one year ago,” London Economics said in a press note. “This analysis concentrates on actual smoking behaviour, as reported by study participants both before and after the implementation of the new tobacco packaging requirements, which more than doubled the size of the health warning on the front of the pack and removed all brand imagery from tobacco packaging, requiring tobacco products to be sold in plain packaging.”

“Over the timeframe of the analysis, the data does not demonstrate that there has been a change in smoking prevalence following the introduction of plain packaging despite an increase in the noticeability of the new health warnings,” Dr. Gavan Conlon, lead researcher and London Economics partner, was quoted as saying.

London Economics was commissioned by Philip Morris International to undertake the analysis.

The full report can be found at www.londecon.co.uk.

Meanwhile, the Cancer Council Victoria was quick to respond to the London Economics report, providing notes that it said highlighted “conceptual errors in the report” and outlined “a series of major scientific limitations of the Philip Morris-funded study.”

Cancer Council Victoria said that the notes were provided to assist interpretation of the claims made in the London Economics report.

The Cancer Council Victoria notes are at http://www.cancervic.org.au/downloads/tobacco_control/2013/Critique_by_Cancer_Council_Victoria_on_report_by_PMI_26.11.13.pdf.

Japan Tobacco Inc. said today that it intended to launch the tobacco vaporizer Ploom on to its domestic market on Dec. 12. It will be sold by JT Creative Service, a subsidiary of JT, and made available at http://ploom.jp/.

The Ploom vaporizer is a pocket-sized smoking alternative device that heats tobacco contained in pods to a constant temperature, vaporizing nicotine and flavors without burning the materials or producing smoke. Each pod can be used for about 10–15 minutes.

In December 2011, Japan Tobacco International and the San Francisco-based Ploom announced that they had entered into an exclusive, long-term co-operation agreement under which JTI would commercialize Ploom’s new generation of “smoking alternative products” outside the U.S.

Ploom was launched—outside the U.S.—in Austria in May; since then JT International has introduced it also in Korea and Italy.

The product will be available in Japan in two colors, slate (black) and pearl (white), while pods, which are categorized as pipe tobacco by Japan’s Ministry of Finance, will be available in six blends: Gold, Orchard, Cooler, Lugano, Mevius and Pianissimo. Also available will be the multipack with a 12-piece assortment of two pods of each blend.

Farmers in the state of Karnataka, India, are appealing to the Tobacco Board of India to withdraw what they see as the excessive penalties levied on unlicensed flue-cured tobacco growers, according to a story in the most recent issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter.

They want the unlicensed growers to be able to produce and sell their crops.

The board, as always, is in a difficult position. If it tries to enforce its crop targets by penalizing unauthorized production, it is accused of being unfair to impoverished farmers simply trying to make a living, and it risks fueling off-auction sales of flue-cured.

If it does not penalize unauthorized sales or turns a blind eye to them, prices might be depressed, and the board leaves itself open to claims that it has allowed uncertainty and, therefore, instability into the market.

New European Commission proposals, if adopted, would ban every e-cigarette on the EU market and would severely limit or make unviable the development of new products, according to Clive Bates, the director of Counterfactual, a public interest consulting and advocacy group.

“Late last week the European Commission circulated a confidential new proposal for regulating e-cigarettes,” Bates wrote on The Counterfactual website.

“The document was sent only to those negotiating the future of e-cigarettes behind closed doors in Brussels—representatives of the European Parliament and European Council.

“This isn’t a final proposal, but it provides the negotiators with something to discuss.”

Bates said that a copy of the document had been obtained by the Nicotine Science and Policy website and was at http://nicotinepolicy.net/documents/policy/Article%2018%20-%20Electronic%20cigarettes%20-%20Commission%20proposal%2022%20Nov%202013.pdf.

“It is quite frankly appalling—lacking any legitimacy in public health or internal market policy-making …,” Bates continued. “Make no mistake, if implemented this proposal bans every product on the market today and would severely limit options for future products—and may make it commercially unviable to develop in future.”

In a long piece, Bates goes on to list the main troubling features of the document; how the proposals should be scrutinized; and how to respond to the proposals.

His piece is at http://www.clivebates.com/?p=1655.

Tobacco growers in the Indian state of Karnataka sold more than 44.74 million kg of flue-cured at an average price of INR140.46 during the first 62 days of the 2013–2014 selling season, according to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter quoting figures from the Tobacco Board of India.

Average leaf prices this season have been running about INR18.90 per kg ahead of those of last season, while prices for bright grades, which are generally preferred by the major tobacco companies, have been selling at INR165 per kg, INR24 per kg higher.

The prices of medium-quality tobacco have averaged INR147.86 per kg this season, up by INR19.38 per kg on those of last season.

Karnataka is thought to have produced about 100 million kg of flue-cured this year; an amount that could be sold by the end of January.

The board is reportedly contemplating speeding up flue-cured auctions in Karnataka, which usually finish in February.

Many shisha cafés in Abu Dhabi face closure because of anti-smoking regulations due to come into force at the end of January, according to a story in The National.

The new regulations will come in backed by massive penalties for those who don’t conform, which for most will mean moving their premises.

About 90 percent of the cafés are in densely populated areas, while the regulations state that they must be at least 150 meters from residential areas, schools and mosques.

The Department of Economic Development was quoted as saying that café owners were told in July about the new regulations, which, in the department’s view, gave them time to make the changes needed.

“No leniency will be exercised this time, due to a Cabinet decision on July 21,” said Ahmed Al Qubaisi, acting commercial protection director at the department. “The authority takes all measures to ensure a healthy life to residents and children and protect them from shisha’s harmful effects.”

Those measures include threatening shisha café owners with fines of up to AED1 million, two years in jail and the closure of their businesses.

The U.K. e-cigarette company Vapourlites has launched what it claims is the world’s smallest e-cigarette.

The company is marketing the new product as a “try it” gadget that is a perfect check-out buy for people planning to cut down on or quit traditional-cigarette smoking at Christmas or the New Year.

A “soft feel,” 7 cm Vapourlites Micro is said to deliver nicotine equivalent to about 15 tobacco cigarettes.

Imperial Tobacco employees in the FYR of Macedonia recently gave up their weekend to take part in a community volunteering event in Skopje aimed at improving the quality of life for some of the city’s most vulnerable young adults.

The event formed part of a joint project with the Altadis Foundation and a local charity.

Volunteers were involved in a range of activities such as clearing rubbish, planting shrubs and refurbishing and furnishing apartments.

The beneficiaries of the Create a Better Future project were disadvantaged young people who had left state-run orphanages at the age of 18.

“This was a great event, which involved volunteers from both our trading and manufacturing divisions in Macedonia,” said Inna Napolskaya, finance director, Southern Balkans.

“We were very touched by the young people’s appreciation of our efforts, and we’re planning further activities in the near future to demonstrate our responsibility in action.”

The French e-cigarette company Nhoss expects to more than double its turnover next year to over €20 million.

In a press note issued yesterday, the company’s rise was described as “extraordinary.”

Started in 2010, the company, which produces its own e-liquid, had a turnover of €150,000 during 2011; a figure that will have risen to about €10 million by the end of this year.

It has sold more than 2 million products since its launch; its workforce has gone from four in 2010 to 35 this year; and its brand is now present in 7,000 points of sale in France.

Nhoss has expanded into Spain and expects its products to be on sale in Italy and Portugal before the end of this year.