Category: News This Week

UKVIA Contests Ban

Image: elenabsl
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has called on smokers, vapers and the wider industry to join a national petition urging the government against banning disposable vapes and flavors.
The petition highlights the potential public health consequences of “excessive and counterproductive legislation” that reduces the effectiveness of vaping as a stop-smoking tool, according to the UKVIA. Blocking access to flavors and disposables could prevent adult smokers from switching from combustible cigarettes, according to the organization.
The UKVIA is directly engaging with its own members, advocacy groups and online communities to encourage consumers to pledge their support to the petition. The UKVIA is also running a major social media campaign to maximize sign-ups and sharing stories from ex-smokers who have switched to vaping.
“The prospect of heavy restrictions or bans on disposables or vape flavors, as being considered as part of the ongoing government consultation, could be the biggest health setback this century and risks undermining years of smoke-free progress,” said John Dunne, director general of the UKVIA, in a statement.
“Under no circumstances should these products end up in the hands of minors, and there is no doubt that preventing youth access to vaping is critical, but this cannot be achieved by sacrificing the stop smoking potential of vaping for adult smokers. The voice of the vaper has gone largely unheard around the government’s consultation, yet they could be the victims of any punitive measures introduced. Therefore, we have created this petition to give a platform to the millions of adult vapers who have quit with the help of disposables and flavors—it is critical that vapers nationwide now come together to collectively warn the government against prohibitive and harmful legislation.”
The new petition was created as part of an ongoing UKVIA campaign to “Save Vaping, Save Lives,” which has also included equipping the association’s members with information to encourage and mobilize vapers to respond to the government’s youth vaping consultation.
December 8, 2023
No Sweet Spot

Image: Erik
The battle against youth vaping will not be won by a flavor ban.
By Robert Burton
Banning flavors is not the answer to curbing youth vaping. As history tells us, prohibition drives the black market and in this case also risks jeopardizing the transition journey of millions of adult smokers that rely on flavored vapes to quit, posing an obstacle to ending the smoking epidemic. A sensitive topic in a hugely sensitive and emotive sector, the solution may be more nuanced; flavors that are particularly appealing to children—such as confectionary flavors—should be restricted, together with improved enforcement of existing regulations that prevent those under 18 having access to vaping products.
The public consultation on youth vaping launched by the U.K. government eight weeks ago as part of its ambition to create a “smoke-free generation” closed this week, marking another step forward in the science and policy development of harm reduction and reduced-risk products. We at Plxsur, the world’s largest independent group of vaping companies, welcomed the opportunity to voice our views to help shape the future of vaping and save the lives of those impacted by smoking.
Our proposal reflects our commitment to preventing youth access, offering clear-cut recommendations and considerations in line with our own practices.
Flavors should be described factually, and the use of images, illustrations or cartoons on packaging that appeal to children or those under the age of 18 should be restricted. The use of confectionary, candy-related terms or fictional characters to describe flavors ought to be prohibited. In the same vein, it’s important that restrictions on flavors and packaging not limit the ability for vaping businesses to communicate on the packaging of vapes as long as this does not include imagery that appeals to those under the age of 18.
Responsibility Flows Both Ways
There needs to be stronger focus on proper enforcement of regulation and education of retailers and, subsequently, consumers. Examples of this include enforcing age verification for online sales, educating shopkeepers or vape education programs in stores. Fixed penalty notices can be an effective tool as well, in addition to which all shops selling vapes should require a license. Those shops should be monitored, and if they breach the law, they should be banned from selling tobacco products and vapes, losing their license altogether. This will ensure that the penalty is sufficient enough to act as a deterrent, increasing the effectiveness of the regulation.
Enforcement of age restrictions at sale points that prohibit access to under 18s is the single most effective way to prevent youth vaping—particularly when combined with appropriate restrictions on marketing and packaging.
Vapes are a powerful tool for smokers who wish to move to potentially safer alternatives. Restricting flavors has the potential to harm the route for the millions wanting to make the transition. According to Public Health England, vapes are 95 percent less harmful to health than normal cigarettes, and studies indicate that restricting flavors can ultimately harm smokers trying to quit. It is statistically proven in many studies and more recently in research by The Truth Initiative, America’s largest nonprofit public health organization, that flavor bans push vapers toward the black market, which poses a bigger threat given lack of regulation on ingredients.
At Plxsur, we are driven by a clear purpose—to empower adult smokers to make positive choices and make the transition to reduced-risk alternatives. As part of this, we know that adult smokers can enjoy flavors—and that flavors may be one of many factors that support smokers to move completely to vaping. Banning flavors may appear to be an “easy win,” but Plxsur believes that the way to drive real change is by improved enforcement of existing regulation, which includes age restrictions at sale points and responsible marketing and packaging rules.
Robert Burton is group scientific and regulatory director at Plxsur.

December 8, 2023
White House Postpones Menthol Ban Decision

Image: Marisela
The White House has delayed its decision about whether to ban menthol cigarettes in the wake of fierce opposition from tobacco companies, retailers and other groups, reports The New York Times. The administration had originally planned to have the rule finalized by August 2023 and, later, signaled that the rule would come before the end of 2023. The government’s most recent Unified Agenda—a regulatory “to-do” list—suggests the final menthol rule is now expected in March 2024.
The Food and Drug Administration officially announced its plan to ban menthol cigarettes in April 2022, citing public health concerns. Researchers say the cooling sensation of the menthol flavor makes it easier to start smoking and harder to quit. The FDA estimates that the menthol ban could reduce smoking by 15 percent in 40 years. Studies project that as many as 650,000 smoking-related deaths could be avoided.
In recent months, dozens of groups have met with administration officials to discuss the proposal. Among other concerns, opponents of the measure cite job losses and aggressive police targeting of Black smokers, who tend to favor menthol cigarettes in the United States. An estimated 85 percent of U.S. Black smokers prefer menthol brands, according to market data.
Critics, however, contend that tobacco companies are financing and fueling those fears. “They’re peddling stories—Big Tobacco is—that we’re going to go out and arrest African Americans if they use menthol cigarettes. But that’s not the case at all,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin. The FDA has said that the ban will be enforced at the manufacturers’ level, and not against individuals.
Menthols account for about one-third of the U.S. cigarette market, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), which makes the market-leading Newport brand, earns about $7 billion from menthol cigarette sales a year, research by Goldman Sachs shows. RAI has vowed to fight the ban all the way to the Supreme Court, a battle that could postpone implementation of the final prohibition rule for years.
Convenience store, gas station and wholesaler groups predict a loss of $34 billion in sales from menthol cigarettes and snacks and drinks purchased by customers. Some House Republicans have sent letters to the administration warning that the ban could have a disastrous effect on small businesses and that it could encourage cigarette smuggling that would benefit terrorist groups.
Altria spokesman David Sutton said the company was also concerned about illicit sales as well as lost tax revenue and jobs.
“We believe equitable harm reduction, not prohibition, is the better path forward and that the FDA should authorize smoke-free products and encourage adult smokers to transition to a smoke-free future,” Sutton said in an email to The New York Times.
Public health groups were dismayed by the delay of the menthol ban. “This delay not only puts the rules at risk of never being finalized but also represents a significant victory for Big Tobacco’s well-documented exploitative practices, all at the expense of our nation’s public health,” said Kathy Crosby, CEO and president of Truth Initiative, in a statement.
Public opinion polls have shown that about 60 percent of Americans favor banning menthol cigarettes.
December 7, 2023
U.K. Backtracking on Generational Ban

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The U.K. government may be backtracking on its plans to implement a generational tobacco ban, reports Tobacco Insider. According to the website, Britain may settle instead for raising the legal smoking age from 18 to 21.
Under the proposed legislation, children who turn 14 or younger in 2023 would never be able to legally purchase a cigarette. A public consultation on the plans closed Dec. 6.
Tobacco companies have reportedly been engaging heavily with lawmakers. Earlier this month, Philip Morris International held roundtable events with members of parliament as part of its efforts to ensure that heated-tobacco products are exempt from any future smoking ban.
BAT was reportedly also scheduled to hold a private event on the plans to phase out smoking.
Many libertarian Members of Parliament are said to dislike the idea of government limiting people’s choices.
In November, New Zealand and Malaysia scrapped plans for similar generational tobacco bans.
December 7, 2023
Australia Adds Vape Graphic Warnings

Potential new graphic health warnings as envisioned by Australia’s Department of Health and Aged Care
Australia will extend the requirement for manufacturers to print graphic health warnings on tobacco products to e-cigarettes, according to reports by CityNews and News. Manufacturers have until April 1, 2024, to roll out “repulsive” new health warnings on cigarette and vape packets. Retailers will be given a further three months to update their stock as new warning labels are gradually rolled out.
On Dec. 7, the country’s federal parliament passed a law with measures to discourage smoking and vaping. Among other provisions, the legislation updates the health warnings on cigarette packages, standardizes the design and appearance of cigarette filters and applies tobacco advertising restrictions to vapor products.
Earlier, Australia had announced a ban on single-use vapes that will take effect at the start of 2024. Starting in March, it will also be illegal to import or supply vapes that don’t comply with standards from the medical regulator. Doctors and nurses would still be able to prescribe therapeutic vapes as a tool to help smokers quit.
Health Minister Mark Butler said the new smoking laws would save lives.
“Tobacco has caused immeasurable harm and cost us countless lives in this country,” he told parliament. “We can’t stand by and allow another generation of people to be lured into addiction and suffer the enormous health, economic and social consequences.”
About 20 percent of Australian 18-year-olds to 24-year-olds vape while about one in seven 14-year-olds to 17-year-olds use the product.
December 7, 2023
Tobacco Content Up on Social Media

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Tobacco-related content on social media increased significantly in recent years, according to a new study led by Julia Vassey, a health behavior researcher in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, and Harvard Medical School researcher Chris J. Kennedy.
The researchers used a form of artificial intelligence known as computer vision to track the prevalence of various tobacco-related objects on social media, finding that some content increased as much as 100 percent between 2019 and 2022.
While previous computer vision studies that analyzed e-cigarettes in social media posts looked broadly at e-cigarette-related content (including user-generated and promotional content), the present study is the first to focus specifically on influencer posts on TikTok, Vassey explained in a press note.
Vassey and her colleagues started by building a computer vision model, which uses AI to identify specific features in visual data, such as photos or videos. Using a dataset of 6,999 images from Instagram, they trained the algorithm to recognize objects related to e-cigarette use.
The model was trained to differentiate between objects in eight different categories: mod or pod devices, e-juice containers, packaging boxes, nicotine warning labels, e-juice flavors, e-cigarette brand names and smoke clouds. By training the model to distinguish between various types of tobacco content, the researchers are able to drill down into the specific types of e-cigarette products being promoted.
Once the model was trained to recognize tobacco-related objects, Vassey and her team used it to analyze 14,072 TikTok videos posted from “micro-influencers.” These users have between 1,000 and 100,000 followers and get a high number of likes and comments on their posts.
The researchers found that the prevalence of pod devices increased by 33 percent between 2021 and 2022 while the prevalence of e-juice flavor names and e-cigarette brand names increased by about 100 percent between 2019 and 2022. Nicotine warning labels also increased in prevalence over time, showing up in 3 percent of TikTok videos analyzed from 2019 and 9 percent of videos analyzed from 2022.
December 6, 2023
Young Kiwis Support Generational Ban: Study

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Most young New Zealanders support the law to progressively ban smoking, which was recently abandoned, reports RNZ, citing the results of an international study.
The new coalition government plans to repeal changes to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act that would have barred the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2009, among other measures.
A Canadian-based international study shows 79 percent of New Zealanders aged 16 to 29 favored the ban.
A similar share supported a reduction in the number of shops that could sell tobacco while 68 percent wanted manufacturers to have to take nicotine out of cigarettes.
The International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project investigates attitudes to smoking across several countries. The most recent research was supposed to provide a baseline for New Zealand before the law came into effect.
“Our overseas colleagues are incredibly disappointed and devastated as we are because the tobacco research world has been really looking to New Zealand,” said co-author Jude Ball from Otago University.
By contrast, the Coalition of Asia Pacific Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) expressed its support for the decision to repeal the generational tobacco ban.
“CAPHRA applauds the government’s decision to prioritize harm reduction strategies,” said the group’s executive coordinator, Nancy Loucas. “We believe that vaping and other harm reduction tools can play a significant role in helping smokers quit, and we are pleased to see the government recognizing this.”
The organization said it also shares the government’s concerns about the potential for a black market to develop if the sale of tobacco is overly restricted.
“A regulated market is always preferable to an unregulated one, where product safety cannot be guaranteed,” Loucas added.
December 6, 2023
BAT Writes Down Value of Combustibles

Photo: BAT
BAT will write down the value of some of its traditional cigarette brands by £25 billion ($31.5 billion) to reflect the diminishing outlook for combustible tobacco products.
The company said the charge—one of the biggest corporate write-downs in recent years—mainly relates to U.S. brands it acquired, as it assesses their carrying value and economic usefulness in the years to come. The brands being written down include Newport, Pall Mall, Camel and Natural American Spirit.
The decline in U.S. cigarette sales has been driven not only by growing health awareness and mounting regulations but also by economic challenges, with consumers downtrading to cheaper brands or illicit products. These trends prompted BAT to adjust the way some of its U.S. brands are treated on its balance sheet, shifting their value to a finite lifetime of 30 years.
Chief Executive Tadeu Marroco described the move as “accounting catching up with reality.”
While he does not believe cigarettes will disappear in 30 years, he said it was no longer possible to justify an indefinite value for those brands equating to around $80 billion on BAT’s balance sheet.
BAT added that it would start amortizing the remaining value of its U.S. combustibles brands in 2024, making it the first of the major cigarette players to acknowledge that its tobacco brands’ value had an expiry date.

With only 10 percent of the world’s 1 billion smokers currently using ‘new category’ products, the long-term opportunity for growth as we deliver on our transformation is vast.
Tadeu Marroco , CEO, BAT
While preparing for a future with lower cigarette sales, BAT reported strong volume and revenue growth from its “new category” products, such as e-cigarettes. Vuse’s value market share, for example, increased 100 basis points to 36.8 percent in key markets.
On Dec. 6, BAT announced a new ambition to generate 50 percent of its revenues from noncombustibles by 2025. “With only 10 percent of the world’s 1 billion smokers currently using ‘new category’ products, the long-term opportunity for growth as we deliver on our transformation is vast,” said Marroco in a statement.
The company expects its business from such “new categories” to break even in 2023, a year ahead of its current projection.
BAT expects its full-year revenue growth to be at the lower end of its 3 percent to 5 percent range. It also expects low single-digit growth in revenue and adjusted profit from operations in 2024.
“We will continue to reward shareholders through our strong cash returns, including our progressive dividend, and, once the middle of our leverage range is reached, we will evaluate all opportunities to return excess cash to our shareholders,” Marroco said.
“I am confident that the choices we are making today will drive our long-term success and deliver sustainable value for all of our stakeholders.”
December 6, 2023
BAT Took Big Hit on Russian Sale: CEO

Photo: Matvey Salivanchuk
BAT took a big hit from the sale of its Russian and Belarussian assets, according to CEO Tadeu Marroco, reports Reuters.
During a Dec. 6 trading update, Marroco said that the proceeds received by BAT represent only a fraction of the Russian and Belarussian businesses’ true value
In September, BAT sold the assets to a consortium led by its Russian local management team, ending an 18-month long process to exit the world’s fourth-largest cigarette market following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
At the time, BAT did not disclose the sale price or whether the deal included a clause allowing the company to buy back the businesses at a later date.
Marroco noted that the company was unlikely to exercise the sales contract’s buyback option because Russian authorities restricted this to two years.
The company had already recognized £629 million pounds ($792.35 million) in impairments and associated costs related to the sale by the time the deal was announced
December 6, 2023
Court Urged to Permit U.S. Graphic Warnings

Image: FDA
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration urged a federal appeals court to let a regulation requiring graphic health warnings on tobacco packaging and promotions take effect, a year after it was blocked by a lower court, reports Reuters.
On Dec. 5, FDA representative Lindsey Powell told the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the images on the proposed labels are necessary because text-only warnings failed to deter teenagers from starting to smoke. The labels would include 11 graphic images, such as diseased feet with amputated toes, to illustrate the risks of smoking.
The tobacco companies that challenged the regulation have argued that the graphic labels violate their right to free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by compelling them to make emotionally charged, controversial statements rather than mere facts like existing written labels stating that smoking can cause cancer.
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 instructs the FDA to create visual health warnings, but the D.C. Circuit in 2012 blocked the agency’s first attempt, saying that regulators had not convincingly demonstrated that the warnings would actually reduce smoking.
In March 2020, the FDA released the final rule requiring new graphic warnings for cigarettes that feature some of the lesser known but still serious health risks of smoking, such as diabetes, on the top half of the front and back of cigarette packages and at least 20 percent of the area on the top of cigarette advertisements.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., ITG Brands and Liggett Group filed a First Amendment challenge in April 2020. The rule was set to take effect in November 2023 after it was repeatedly pushed back by court.
In a lengthy opinion issued Dec. 7, 2022, U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated the FDA’s rule after finding that the required label statements and graphic images are not narrowly tailored to the agency’s interest in promoting public awareness of the health risks of smoking.
December 6, 2023