Category: News This Week

FDA Commissioner Laments Lawsuits

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U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf has lamented the FDA’s ongoing tobacco industry litigation following the agency’s attempt to regulate e-cigarettes, according to Politico. The FDA is facing over 40 lawsuits from companies whose premarket tobacco product applications have been denied.
“We are in a legal battle every single day, and it’s draining on the agency,” Califf said at the annual public meeting of the Reagan-Udall Foundation. “It has a big impact and a much bigger impact than I thought.”
“None of us expected 27 million applications for vaping,” he said.
Califf also noted that enforcement is difficult when it comes to illegal product. “I find myself in the midst of really an epic struggle … when I think of how to enforce when you have an industry that is amazingly creative.”
Califf hinted that the FDA would meet with the Department of Justice soon to discuss enforcement but declined to say more: “Stay tuned on that one.”
May 31, 2023
TMA to Host TPMP Workshop

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TMA is collaborating with EAS Consulting Group to host a one-day workshop on tobacco product manufacturing practices (TPMPs) on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City at Reagan National Airport.
The workshop will include expert speakers from manufacturers, suppliers and law firms to give a balanced and comprehensive analysis of the proposed regulation, its impact on business and the ability to hear shared experiences.
The event is open to all industry stakeholders interested in attending, though space is limited.
Registration is currently open.
May 31, 2023
ITGA Counters Tobaccco Growing Myths

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
As the World Health Organization marks World No Tobacco Day today, the International Tobacco Growers’ Association (ITGA) is “celebrating” World Understanding Tobacco Farming Day.
On behalf of the organization’s members worldwide, ITGA President José Javier Aranda is calling on the sector to counter some of the claims by the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) made during World No Tobacco Day.
“It is time to stand up together and request the support of governments against the demonization of our sector,” said Aranda. “For more than 15 years, tobacco growing and growers have been subjected to incorrect arguments that put tobacco farming as the main enemy to all sustainable development goals.
According to Aranda, the WHO ignores the evidence. “The reality is that no viable alternatives to tobacco growing have been found and the implementation of WHO FCTC Article 17 (economically sustainable alternatives to tobacco growing) has not provided any tangible results,” he said.
“This is due to the exclusion of the main actors in this debate—the tobacco growers. We will never achieve sustainable transition, where growers’ livelihoods are guaranteed, if we don’t look at the issue from all relevant perspectives.”

It is time to stand up together and request the support of governments against the demonization of our sector.
José Javier Aranda, president, ITGA
As part of its campaign, the ITGA is publishing information about the tobacco sector, including its socio-economic impact and importance for local communities.
According to the ITGA, many tobacco growers have already diversified their production. Crop rotation is a standard routine for farmers around the world. However, diversification is not an option for most cases as market realities and the funding required to move away to other economically viable crops are not there.
A much-touted WHO diversification pilot project in Kenya, has no meaningful significance in the global context, as it accounts for only 0,0005 percent of the total tobacco production, according to the ITGA. “To reach pragmatic solutions for most tobacco growers, farmers must be included in the debate,” the group wrote in a statement.
“The ITGA calls on governments to protect tobacco farmers and consider all arguments during meetings when decisions about growers’ future are being made. Governments have to make sure these discussions are inclusive. “If this had been the case in the last 17 years, since the working group for Articles 17 and 18 started, the evolution in the sustainable transition to other crops would be in a much more advanced stage.”
On its website, the ITGA has crafted retorts to common criticisms of the sector. For example, in response to the frequently aired accusation that tobacco growing is bad for the environment, the ITGA points out that tobacco covers only 0.25 percent of the world’s cultivated land. In response to the claim that tobacco growing is bad for growers’ health, it points out that the only health risk unique to tobacco crops is green tobacco sickness—a condition that is easily avoided with proper attire and training.
May 31, 2023
Filtrona Launches Plastic-Free Filter

Image: Filtrona
Filtrona launched its latest plastic-free innovation, ECO Tube Triple Carbon Filter, at TabExpo in Bologna May 10-11, 2023.
According to Filtrona, the ECO Tube Triple Carbon is a patent-pending sustainable plastic-free filter design that offers similar nicotine delivery to current filters, with a unique end visual and clean post-smoking.
The ECO Tube Triple Carbon Filter meets EU Single Use Plastics Directive requirements, is biodegradable and, based on internal studies, degrades more rapidly than filters constructed with cellulose acetate, attaining 90 percent biodegradation in 90 days. With a similar nicotine delivery as the acetate version of Tube Triple Carbon, its carbon loading capability is up to four times higher compared to existing impregnated carbon paper, according to Filtrona.
ECO Tube Triple Carbon Filter offers cigarette manufacturers an extensive array of customizable designs in various lengths, circumferences, pressure drops, carbon types, carbon sizes and configurations for ECO Tube combined segments, with each construction designed to enhance a particular brand and suit customer taste and filtration requirements.
“With sustainability at the heart of our business, we are committed to developing more renewable, degradable and sustainable products,” said Filtrona CEO Robert Pye.
The Bologna event was the first TabExpo show for the newly rebranded Filtrona, which adopted its former name earlier this year. Tobacco Reporter published an in-depth report about Filtrona’s rebranding in its March 2023 issue.
May 31, 2023
BAT Malaysia First-Quarter Profits Down

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BAT Malaysia’s first-quarter net profits were MYR40.32 million ($8.76 million) compared to MYR52.28 million a year prior, according to the New Straits Times. Group revenue declined 25 percent.
The decline in revenue was due to lower volume prompted by the increase in vape usage and persistent tobacco black market, according to BAT Malaysia.
The company’s total market share was 51.5 percent, a decline of 0.4 percent compared to the first quarter of 2022.
“BAT Malaysia is maintaining the growth trajectory of its strategic brands within its premium, aspirational premium and value-for-money segments,” said Nedal Salem, managing director of BAT Malaysia.
“This is in tandem with the company’s aim to deliver combustible value growth to support its multicategory portfolio of reduced-risk products.”
“[W]e aim to continue growing our tobacco-heating product, Glo, which represents our efforts to offer a choice of reduced-risk alternatives to adult smokers,” Salem said. “We will also focus on investing in our VFM [value-for-money] brands and maintaining leadership in the premium segment.”
Short term, the company expects the economic environment to continue exerting pressure on financial performance. “We expect this challenging operating landscape to stretch disposable income, leading to downtrading from legal products to tobacco black market options.
“Nevertheless, in the medium term, we are confident that economic conditions will improve whilst the government looks at introducing balanced regulations on vapor and accelerating their interventions to reduce the tobacco black market,” according to the company.
May 31, 2023
Fiji Tobacco Farming Increasing

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Tobacco farming in Fiji is increasing, according to FBC News.
With tobacco cultivation taking only three months in Fiji, many farmers are turning to the crop as an easier, faster agricultural endeavor. BAT offers support for tobacco farming in the area as well.
“Before, it’s really doing cash crop from the farm and then load it and take it to the market and sell, but this one, it’s different; the market is there,” said one farmer.
Tobacco farming is significantly easier than traditional sugar cane farming, according to another farmer. “Sugar cane farming is very hard. This one [tobacco] is only 3 [months to] 4 months, 4 months finished, which is a good, big amount.”
BAT offers access to quality seeds and modern farming techniques as well as training programs and knowledge-sharing initiatives. BAT employs more than 300 farmers across Fiji.
May 30, 2023
New Company Offers Tobacco-Free Nicotine Products

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The Public Investment Fund (PIF) has launched Badael, a new company offering tobacco-free nicotine products, reports the Saudi Gazette. Badael will offer its products across Saudi Arabia by the end of 2023 with an aim to expand regionally and internationally in the long term.
The PIF announced the establishment of Badael in the run-up to the World Health Organization’s World No Tobacco Day. The company aims to develop, manufacture and distribute innovative products targeted to reduce smoking prevalence and promote healthier lifestyles by offering tobacco-free and less harmful alternatives.
Badael will also aim to deliver on the PIF’s localization mandate by supporting domestic manufacturing, sourcing raw materials, knowledge transfer and development of intellectual property.
The company’s products will be manufactured in Saudi Arabia. Badael aims to provide new economic opportunities and create jobs in the area.
May 30, 2023
Vietnam Harm Prevention Approved

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Vietnam has approved the National Strategy on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control to 2030, reports Vietnam+.
The strategy aims to reduce the rate of male tobacco use to less than 39 percent between 2023 and 2025 and to reduce the rate of female tobacco use to below 1.4 percent.
It also aims to reduce passive smoking to less than 30 percent at work, less than 75 percent at restaurants, less than 80 percent at bars and cafes and less than 60 percent at hotels.
A road map will be created to increase taxes on tobacco products, regulate the minimum selling price of tobacco products and research and evaluate the effectiveness of the plan for calculating taxes on tobacco products on the retail price in order to achieve a reduced rate of tobacco use.
The strategy also proposes promulgate regulations on the prevention of e-cigarette products, heated-tobacco, shisha and other new tobacco products and the sale of tobacco for juveniles or juveniles selling tobacco under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Vietnam remains one of the 15 countries with the highest smoking rate among male adults.
May 30, 2023
New Zealanders Want to Ban Vaping

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More than two-thirds of New Zealanders want to ban vaping following Australia’s new legislation making vapes prescription only, according to the NZ Herald.
A poll asking, “Should we ban recreational vaping?” showed 68 percent of respondents agreeing while 27 percent disagreed.
Pediatrician Colette Muir stated that the Pediatric Society of New Zealand was “extremely worried” by the level of youth vaping in the country. “While the health policy intention regarding vaping was to reduce smoking, it is now clear that vaping is causing significant harm to Aotearoa’s tamariki and rangitahi,” said Muir, referring to children and their families. “More needs to be done to prevent youth who do not smoke taking up vaping in the first place.”
“We are concerned that an alarming number of high school students are trying or taking up vaping because their friends do it and they’ve heard it’s safe and are curious,” said Muir. “While the Vaping Amendment Act, which came into force in November 2022, aims to make e-cigarettes less appealing and available to teens, we feel more needs to be done to prevent youth taking up e-cigarettes, particularly e-cigarettes that contain nicotine.”
Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said vaping is important to help smokers quit, but the balance needs to be right to make sure youth don’t take up the habit. “We haven’t got that balance right at the moment,” Verrall said.
National’s Christopher Luxon stated he was open to “all things,” including a ban. “I really think we’ve got our vape settings wrong here in New Zealand. I would really like us to take a step back and really look at them closely.
“It’s impacting our young people. Originally, they were introduced so that it actually could help people come off smoking, but it’s actually created a whole class and a new sector of addiction for people,” he said.
May 30, 2023
Vaping to be Banned for Those Under 18

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Ireland will ban vaping for those under the age of 18, effective July, reports the Irish Times.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly will bring a memo to the Cabinet this week outlining the full legislation. The new law is expected to be enacted before the lower house of Parliament’s summer recess in mid-July.
The legislation includes restrictions on the types of retailers allowed to sell vapes or nicotine-inhaling products as well as measures to curb advertising of nicotine-inhaling products near schools and other locations frequented by kids and young adults.
Donnelly is expected to tell the Cabinet that there is “clear evidence” that nicotine exposure in young people has long-term effects on brain development, referencing recently published surveys of Irish school-aged kids. The surveys, including the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children survey from 2018 and the European Schools Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs survey from 2019, showed that 9 percent of 12-year-olds to 17-year-olds and 15.5 percent of 15-year-olds and 16-year-olds used electronic cigarettes in the past 30 days. Donnelly is also expected to reference a Health Research Board review that found that kids who vaped were five times more likely to begin smoking.
The government is expected to prioritize passage of the bill through the Oireachtas to allow for full debate and discussion before sending the legislation to President Michael D. Higgins for his signature.
May 30, 2023