Category: News This Week

Researcher To Study Policies and Health Disparities

Photo: Virginia Tech
Roberta Freitas-Lemos of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech university has received $680,000 award from the National Cancer Institute to study the interplay of tobacco policies and health disparities.
While taxes are widely used to reduce tobacco use, they can also exacerbate socioeconomic disparities. Freitas-Lemos is testing a tax proposal designed to reduce tobacco dependence and tobacco-related disparities in cigarette smokers from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.
She plans to develop a new tax proposal based on the abuse liability of tobacco products and investigate its effects on purchase behavior using the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace, a tool developed at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. Her proposal uses an abuse liability assessment model, which predicts the likelihood of tobacco addiction or harmful use.
Freitas-Lemos will recruit a diverse group of tobacco users who will use an experimental account to purchase tobacco and replacement therapy products through the marketplace. By adjusting the product mix and pricing, scientists can better predict purchase behavior.
“My long-term research goal is to become an independent researcher investigating the differential impact of policies on tobacco initiation, use and cessation among individuals who experience tobacco-related cancer disparities,” Freitas-Lemos said in a statement.
Freitas-Lemos studied psychology at the Pontifical Catholic University in Sao Paulo, Brazil, before earning a doctorate from the University of Brasilia. She joined the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute as postdoctoral fellow in 2019.
October 18, 2023
New Proposal to Tackle Illicit Trade

Photos: Niroworld
Joey Salceda, the chairman of the Philippine House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, has proposed new legislation to tackle the illicit trade in cigarettes, reports the Philippine News Agency.
Among other things, the measures would address smuggling through the country’s economic zones, leakage of tobacco declared for export or transshipment, and the manufacture of fake cigarettes.
The illegal tobacco market has flourished in the Philippines recently. The government expects to miss out on PHP60.6 billion ($1.06 billion) in revenue this year if the illicit tobacco trade continues on its current trajectory.
Salceda noted that 2022 tax collections declined by 7.8 percent to PHP160.4 billion and that the government missed its 2022 target of PHP191.6 billion by PHP31.2 billion.
Salceda said that illicit cigarettes are “easy to come by” in every trade segment. “There is no challenge to buying these brands,” he was quoted as saying. “And they sell at as low as one-fifth the price of licit cigarettes. The legitimate ones don’t stand a chance. Even fakes of premium brands are becoming easier to come by. From the same online shopping sites, fakes that are half the price and supposedly of the same flavor are sold openly.
“In the meantime, the revenue base will continue to shrink, and there is a chance that prevalence might actually increase as a result of cheaper illicit alternatives. This is a serious national crisis. For better or for worse, our advocacy of higher taxes played a role in making the illicit sector more attractive. We have a responsibility to help solve this problem,” he said.
October 17, 2023
Netherlands: No Vapor Tax Before Elections

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The Netherlands will not impose an excise tax on vapor products before the November 2023 elections, reports DutchNews.nl, citing De Telegraaf.
The news source added that even if the Netherlands received EU approval to impose a vapor product excise tax, the process would take several years to complete.
Although this current government did not work toward creating a vapor product excise tax, Junior Health Minister Maarten van Ooijen said that he would encourage the next cabinet to move ahead on a “national tax on e-cigarettes.” Van Ooijen added that such a tax would be “in the interests of public health.”
High cigarette prices have assisted smokers to move toward vapor products in recent years. However, the current cabinet focused on prohibiting flavored e-liquids and online vapor product sales to combat rising youth rates of vapor product usage.
“We need to take action against vapes as soon as possible to protect our children, as other EU countries have done,” Van Ooijen said.
The EU is expected to revise its Tobacco Products Directive in 2025.
October 17, 2023
Menthol Rule Advances to U.S. Budget Office

Photo: Alicia
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) sent its rules to prohibit the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for final review, reports CNN.
The final rules will be issued following this last regulatory step.
The American Lung Association (ALA) said this regulation may be the most significant action the FDA has taken in the 14 years since it was given the authority to regulate tobacco.
“It’s a big, vital and critical step on the way to banning these products,” said ALA Assistant Vice President of National Advocacy Erika Sward. “ Truly, it’s momentous.”
According to a 2022 study published in Tobacco Control, prohibiting menthol cigarettes would save up to 654,000 lives in the U.S. within 40 years, including the lives of 255,000 members of the Black community.
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids called for the White House and the OMB to expedite their review and issue the final rule by the end of 2023.
October 17, 2023
BAT Uses Rooibos Tea in Heat Sticks

Image: rtvistlive
BAT has begun selling heat sticks made from nicotine-infused substances such as rooibos tea to counter an incoming EU ban on flavored heated-tobacco products, according to Reuters.
Health experts have warned that the safety of the new products is unclear.
BAT has launched heat sticks containing nicotine-infused rooibos tea rather than tobacco in nine European markets, including Germany and Greece. The company plans to roll the product out globally.
BAT stated that the move will provide “adult nicotine users and smokers with the widest possible range of reduced-risk products.”
“Anything that burns or is vaporized … and inhaled into the lungs, probably will cause some effects,” said Erikas Simonavicius, a research associate at King’s College London, of the unknown risk factors of the tea-infused heat sticks. Tobacco companies have not yet published any research showing the health implications of rooibos or other zero-tobacco heat sticks, said Simonavicius.
BAT is the first big tobacco company to publicly state what its zero-tobacco sticks are made from. The company declined to comment on whether it had conducted research on the health implications of the product.
Sales of herbal tobacco-heating products have been growing in Europe.
Philip Morris International plans to roll out a zero-tobacco stick later this year, according to statements made during the company’s investor day in September. PMI declined to comment on what the product is made from or its health implications.
According to Jacek Olczak, PMI CEO, the company’s product could avoid the regulatory scrutiny of tobacco products.
According to BAT, its new zero-tobacco heat sticks are not subject to EU tobacco rules, meaning the company can sell its sticks in flavors even after a ban on flavored heated-tobacco products is implemented later this month.
“The obvious advantage these new products should provide is a way to keep menthol and flavor varieties on the EU market,” said Owen Bennett, a Jefferies analyst.
Experts do not think the regulatory advantages will last long, however, according to Bennett and Phil Gorham, senior equity analyst at Morningstar.
“The next generation of regulation is going to target nicotine,” Gorham said.
October 16, 2023
Pakistan Trace System Rolled Out by Year’s End

Image: Tobacco Reporter archive
Pakistan’s track-and-trace system is expected to be fully installed throughout the tobacco industry by the end of December 2023.
Two multinationals and one local tobacco company have already installed the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) new automated system while six local companies have installed manual track-and-trace systems.
Some local companies have raised concerns about the cost of the systems, prompting The Business Recorder to urge the government to offer discounts or installment payments on the equipment.
According to the FBR, revenue from the tobacco sector has increased following the implementation of the system, with a major increase in the rates of the federal excise duty on cigarettes.
October 16, 2023
Court Stays Vuse Alto MDO

Photo: fotofabrika
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJRV) an emergency administrative stay of the Food and Drug Administration’s marketing denial order for menthol flavored Vuse Alto e-cigarette products.
“We are pleased that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has granted our emergency motion for temporary administrative stay of FDA’s marketing denial order for menthol flavored Vuse Alto e-cigarette products. This decision allows Reynolds to continue offering Vuse Alto Menthol e-cigarette products to adult nicotine consumers age 21+ without interruption,” Reynolds wrote in an e-mailed statement.
“We believe appropriately regulated flavored vaping products—including menthol—are critical in supporting adult smokers who migrate from combustible cigarettes. We remain confident in the quality of Reynolds’ applications and believe there is ample evidence for FDA to determine that the marketing of these products is appropriate for the protection of public health.”
RJRV will now apply for a formal stay and challenge the denial of its premarket tobacco product application for Vuse Alto Menthol Pods.
October 16, 2023
PMI: COP10 Missed Opportunity

Image: PMI
Philip Morris International is concerned that participants in the upcoming Conference of the Parties to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) will promote prohibitionist policies for noncombustible tobacco products, according to an article in The Guardian.
“The agenda and meeting documents have been made public for the main part,” PMI Senior Vice President of External Affairs Gregoire Verdeaux wrote in an email. “Unfortunately, they reconfirmed every concern we had that this conference may remain as the biggest missed opportunity ever in tobacco control’s history … WHO’s agenda is nothing short of a systematic, methodical, prohibitionist attack on smoke-free products.”
Without “reasonable, constructive outcomes,” Verdeaux wrote, the “WHO will have irreversibly compromised the historic opportunity for public health presented by the recognition that smoke-free products, appropriately regulated, can accelerate the decline of smoking rates faster than tobacco control combined.”
While tobacco companies are not invited to the Conference of the Parties to the FCTC, Verdeaux said he will be in Panama “to publicly denounce the absurdity of being excluded from it while PMI today [is] undoubtedly the most helpful private partner WHO could have in the fight against smoking.”
Last year, PMI made $10.19 billion in revenue from products like heated-tobacco and electronic cigarettes.
October 13, 2023
BAT Appoints Chief People Officer

Image: tomertu
BAT has appointed Cora Koppe-Stahrenberg to the new role of chief people officer. She will join the BAT management board on Nov. 1, 2023.
Bringing critical experiences from other sectors and industries, Koppe-Stahrenberg was most recently global head of human resources of Fresenius Medical Care, a publicly listed global healthcare company with over 125,000 employees. While at Fresenius Medical Care, Koppe-Stahrenberg established a new global HR function and implemented a global people strategy, which focused on the creation of a collaborative and empowering culture delivered through a number of change initiatives. Previously, Koppe-Stahrenberg held various international senior HR positions at Marsh and McLennan Companies, Emirates Investment Authority and General Electric.
“I am delighted to welcome Cora to the management board,” said BAT CEO Tadeu Marroco in a statement. “This is a significant management team enhancing appointment for BAT. Culture and collaboration are at the heart of my leadership agenda; Cora shares these values and will play a key role in the group’s transformation to build ‘A Better Tomorrow.’ I have no doubt that Cora will bring a fresh perspective having worked internationally in multiple sectors outside our industry and will bring new insights and capability to our management team.
“I look forward to working with Cora to deliver a winning culture and a dynamic, modern BAT.”
The chief people officer will report to the chief executive.
October 13, 2023
KT&G Breaks Ground for Kazakhstan Factory

Photo: KT&G
KT&G Corp has broken ground in Kazakhstan for its fourth overseas plant as part of its expansion strategy.
The Korean tobacco firm aims to complete construction by 2025 and export its products to the Eurasian region. The news follows KT&G’s announcement last month that it would build a second factory in Indonesia, with an aim of starting operations in 2026 and exporting products to neighboring countries.
“The new Kazakhstan factory will serve as a global core production hub covering the Eurasian market and will be a forefront base for realizing the group’s future vision of global top-tier,” said KT&G CEO Baek Bok-in in a statement, referring to the company’s global ambitions.
The company aims to earn half of its sales from overseas businesses in 2027. It wants to achieve sales of KRW10 trillion ($7.4 billion) in 2027, compared with KRW5.9 trillion in 2022.
While focusing on the conventional cigarette business, KT&G said it will reinforce its heat-not-burn (HNB) and health functional food product businesses.
KT&G has exported its HNB products to more than 30 countries since 2020 through a distribution deal with Philip Morris International.
The company’s cigarette division earns 78 percent of its sales from the conventional cigarette business and 22 percent from the HNB business.
KT&G has six tobacco factories—three in South Korea and one each in Russia, Turkey and Indonesia.
October 13, 2023