Category: News This Week

Duterte Urged to Sign Vape Bill into Law

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Tobacco harm reduction proponents are urging Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to sign into law a bill that makes it easier for smokers to switch from cigarettes to less harmful nicotine products, reports The Manila Bulletin.
In a letter addressed to Duterte, consumers and harm reduction advocacy groups said the passage of the Vape Bill can save the lives of millions of Filipino smokers, “because legitimate alternative products will be allowed to be sold to smokers who want to stop smoking.”
The letter was signed by Vapers PH, Vaper Ako, Smoke Free Conversation PH, Nicotine Consumers Union of the Philippines, Philippine E-cigarette Industry Association, Quit For Good, Heated Equipment as Alternative to Traditional Smoking Philippines, PROVAPE, Philippine Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates and Consumer Choice Philippines.
The groups said that by passing the Vape Bill, the Philippines will join the growing list of progressive countries that believe in providing less harmful alternatives to their smoker population who don’t want to stop smoking.
“Our country will join the ranks of the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Norway, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland, Egypt and Uruguay, among many others that believe in providing smokers with alternative products to save their lives,” the activists wrote.
The group noted that the bill bans sales of vapor products to minors and has provisions to prevent the sale of unregulated products.
The legislation bans the sale to and use by minors of vape products, along with the sale, advertising and promotion of vape products within 100 meters of school perimeter and playground. Use of flavor descriptors that unduly appeal to minors in vape products and the display of vape products immediately next to products of particular interest to minors are prohibited.
The activists stressed that with the “growing positive scientific evidence coupled with our life-changing experiences, our resolve is stronger that vaping saves lives.”

January 3, 2022
Turkey Raises Special Consumption Tax on Tobacco

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Turkey has increased the special consumption tax on tobacco by 47.4 percent to TRY14.39 ($1.10) per pack, reports Bianet.
The special consumption tax is based on the domestic producer price index. It is calculated both as a minimum fixed tax and a fixed tax. Each of these has been increased from TRY0.48 to TRY0.7 lira for a pack of cigarettes.
The minimum price of a pack of cigarettes will be TRY22.85.
January 3, 2022
Armenia Bans Tobacco Product Displays

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Retailers in Armenia are no longer allowed to show their customers tobacco products, reports Public Radio of Armenia.
A new tobacco law, passed in February 2020, prohibits the public display of any tobacco product, including traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes and electronic nicotine delivery devices at trade centers or in public catering establishments.
The public display of empty boxes, blocks, trademarks or symbols is also prohibited.
“The full application of these provisions over time will significantly reduce tobacco use in the country, which will significantly improve the health of the population and the development of the country’s economy,” said says then-Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan after the law passed.
In March, Armenia will also ban smoking in cafés and restaurants.
January 3, 2022
Sri Lanka Plans Annual Tobacco Tax Hikes

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Sri Lanka’s National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) wants to change taxes so that cigarette prices increase by 6 percent each year, reports The Island.
The proposed tax formula comprises six components––cigarette tax percentage, proposed price for next year, inflation, present price, GDP and the “externality factor” of 4 percent.
“The 4 percent is added to ensure that the price of a cigarette is increased every year even if inflation drops to zero,” said Samadhi Rajapaksa, Chairman, NATA.
Rajapaksa noted that Sri Lankan depends less on tobacco tax revenue than many people believe. “Our tax revenue from these sources is about 11 percent only,” he said.
Earlier, Rajapaksa said that the NATA would increase the minimum age for sale, purchase and promotion of tobacco products from 21 to 24 in 2022.
Rajapaksa told the media that NATA had decided to amend the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol Act this year.
The increase of the minimum age for sale, purchase and promotion of tobacco products was one of the proposed amendments to the Act, he said.
“Already advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco is prohibited. We want to stop the cross border advertising of tobacco products, too,” he said.
January 3, 2022
Cigarette Taxes up in the Philippines

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Cigarette excise taxes in the Philippines increased from PHP55 ($1.08)) to PHP55 per pack on Jan. 1, reports The Philippine Daily Inquirer. Under the tobacco tax law of 2019, they will continue rising by PHP5 per pack annually until they reach PHP60 per pack in 2023.
Meanwhile, the excise tax rate on conventional freebase or classic nicotine vaping products increased to PHP55 per 10 ml from PHP50 last year. The rate for nicotine salt vapes rose to PHP47 per ml from last year’s PHP42 per ml.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic-induced recession in 2020, “sin” tax collections from cigarette and alcohol products rose to PHP227.6 billion from PHP224.6 billion in 2019. Actual 2020 collections exceeded the conservative PHP201.5-billion target, as lockdowns dampened sales and limited distribution of tobacco and alcohol products due to movement restrictions on non-essential goods.
Market leader Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Co. estimates that illicit cigarettes increased their market share to 8.6 percent in 2021 from about 5 percent in 2020.
The Bureaus of Internal Revenue estimates that the 2.5 million illicit cigarette packs it confiscated last year deprived the government of about PHP123.3 million in tax revenues.
As of November 2021, law enforcement had apprehended 102 illicit cigarette traders and to seized 38,827 master cases of illicit cigarettes worth PHP1.3-billion.

January 3, 2022
The Need for Nuance

Photo: Andrey Popov
It’s time for regulators to stop lumping all tobacco products together as being equally risky.
By George Gay
“It’s still difficult for me to understand how the European Commission can claim on the one hand that they want to do everything in their power to fight cancer, including revising tobacco policy, yet on the other hand completely reject the idea of liberalizing regulations for one of the very few products that has shown it can displace cigarettes.”
The above is a quote attributed to the Swedish member of the European Parliament, Sara Skyttedal, as part of a Snusforumet story published on Nov. 19. Skyttedal is clearly frustrated and angry with the commission, and, according to my interpretation of the story, her frustration comes down in part to the fact that while the commission says it wants to reduce the incidence of smoking throughout the EU to the low level at which it stands in Sweden, it is not willing to remove the ban on snus, the product that has largely displaced cigarettes in Sweden but that, for inexplicable reasons, is banned in the EU with the exception of Sweden.
I feel certain Skyttedal is merely making a point: She doesn’t really believe there is a logical conflict in the commission’s position. The apparent conflict is easily resolved by pointing out that while the commission might say it wants to do everything in its power to fight cancer, that is not the case. In fact, this becomes clear later in the story when, talking about the connection between Sweden’s low level of tobacco-related cancers relative to those in the rest of the EU and the fact that Sweden is the only country in the EU where snus is legally available, Skyttedal says the commission sees the connection but is not willing to act on it.
I hate to state the obvious, but I would guess that one of the commission’s hang-ups has to do with tobacco. It can tolerate the idea that nicotine in the form of nicotine-replacement therapy products or even vaping products should be allowed to replace tobacco products, but it cannot bear the idea that tobacco products might be allowed to substitute tobacco products. Tobacco has pariah status; nicotine is somewhere lower on the continuum of the unacceptable.
Let me provide an example. In November, my newspaper ran a story about how, because of the goods transport chaos afflicting the U.K. post-Brexit, there might be a shortage of alcohol this Christmas. This was seen as a negative because, apparently, we cannot celebrate this Christian festival without being off our heads, and despite the fact that such a shortage would probably result in fewer family fights, stomach-pumping hospital visits, drunk driving and all that entails, assaults on hospital accident and emergency staff and even deaths, since alcohol kills.
Imagine, however, if the story had been about a shortage of tobacco at Christmas. This would have been presented as a positive, though it would have caused a number of negative outcomes and almost no positive results, with the exception that a few people might have discovered they were able to quit their habit.
Language Matters
But I digress. Let me return to Skyttedal’s original complaint about the commission’s failure to follow through on its aim to do everything in its power. There are certain categories of phrases that immediately flash warning signs to the effect that what is being said should be taken with a pinch of salt, and one such category comprises those with superlatives. Just think of the phrases “nobody wants to see …” and “everyone agrees that ….” You hear and see such phrases used all the time, but it doesn’t take more than a second’s thought to realize they cannot be correct. It is almost impossible to imagine an instance when nobody or everybody was in favor of something. So when somebody tells you they are doing “everything in their power” to bring about a certain result, you know it’s time to look somewhere else for help.
Language matters, and, to my way of thinking, one of the problems that people who champion tobacco harm reduction have helped to create is down to the fact that they have been too willing to accept and parrot some of the extreme language and figures used by those people also involved in tobacco control but who are opposed to harm reduction. For instance, there has been a willingness to go along with claims of nicotine addictiveness that are clearly unsupportable, even though some health professionals keep this pot simmering by telling smokers they cannot give up nicotine without the support of … yup, there’s a surprise, health professionals.
Probably the ultimate superlative is “smoking kills,” which has become so ingrained that you are mocked if you say you don’t agree with it, but the truth of the matter is that a certain percentage of smokers die of smoking-related diseases, mostly after a long and possibly enjoyable history of smoking. The other smokers die of something else—perhaps of injuries caused by a drunk driver. And, I hate to be downbeat, nonsmokers die too, perhaps of “tobacco-related diseases,” though ones caused by pollution. If they didn’t die, the world would become full up, and the gene pool would lose its vigor.
OK, some will argue the smoking problem is not only about death but about the physical and economic costs of smokers living with medical conditions linked to their habit. But we are all prisoners of the choices we make. I doubt there are many people who reach the age of 50 without carrying some physical ailment linked to something they did when they were young. Some footballers die at relatively young ages having suffered from dementia attributable to their playing football, but few would claim playing football kills. Rather, we try to change the rules of the game and the equipment used to prevent brain damage—we employ harm reduction techniques.

Perhaps it’s time to reconsider what we mean by “smokeless.” After all, some tobaccos are cured using artificial heat—in some cases by burning wood fuel and contributing to deforestation. (Photo: phanasitti)
Distortion is a Problem
On the question of parroting figures, take the annual death toll attributed to tobacco-related diseases. Over the years, it has been increased a number of times, usually in lots of one million, so it now stands at the nicely rounded figure of 8 million. At the same time, the World Health Organization, which has ownership of this figure, has been claiming success in its efforts to prevent the deaths attributed to tobacco. But even given the world’s population has been increasing, it cannot be the case that the figure for tobacco-related deaths keeps leapfrogging this supposed success.
Why is this important? Because by exaggerating the problems caused by tobacco, some sections of tobacco control have been allowed to distort the picture to such an extent that it becomes difficult to sell the idea of tobacco harm reduction. When tobacco is depicted as being “deadly”—a superlative you often see applied to this product—and that depiction is not challenged, it becomes too counterintuitive even for the uncommitted to imagine that the problem caused by tobacco can be significantly reduced by another tobacco product such as snus. Additionally, because too many people have, for a quiet life, gone along with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s airy-fairy idea that e-cigarettes can be “deemed” “tobacco” products, the use of even vaping products as tobacco harm reduction agents can be challenged easily by those who wish to do so.
What we need is honesty. For instance, we need to stop lumping all combustibles together as if the consumption of cigarettes, cigars or pipe tobacco is equally risky. This cannot be the case, especially at a population level. And we have to do the same in respect of smokeless products. For instance, what do we mean by “smokeless”? Are we talking only of the consumption of the final product? Perhaps it’s time we checked out whether some of the tobaccos used in some “smokeless” products are cured using artificial heat—in some cases by burning wood fuel and contributing to deforestation.
It has become fashionable to talk of both individual and population risk, so, in this context, is it OK to reduce the harm caused to individuals by tobacco consumption if the production of the less risky items involves damaging the environment and, by extension, threatening the health of tobacco and nontobacco users alike?
This is a massively complex question, the answer to which would mean a descent into not altogether helpful relativities. One thing seems clear to me, however. If you drew up a continuum of environmental risk caused by tobacco and nicotine products, you would wind up with a picture somewhat different to the continuum of individual consumer risk caused by tobacco and nicotine products, which we are more used to seeing. But one thing would remain pretty much the same. Smokeless products, such as nicotine pouches, snus and chewing tobacco, would be the stand-out products when it comes to reduced environmental risks. What would change, I think, is that the divisions between combustibles in respect of environmental risks would widen appreciably, and vaping products, which are smokeless, while scoring well on the individual consumer risk continuum might well end up in free fall on the environmental risk continuum, something that needs to be addressed.
I’ve seen it said that there should be one set of rules for combustible products and another set of rules for noncombustible products. I think the rules need to be more nuanced than that.
George Gay is Tobacco Reporter’s European editor, but his territory spans the globe. Based in London, George has covered the tobacco industry since 1982, initially for a U.K.-based publication and since 2004 for Tobacco Reporter. George’s understanding of industry issues, combined with his keen sense of observation and dry wit, have earned him a loyal following among Tobacco Reporter’s readers.

January 1, 2022
PMI Partners With African Data Scientists

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Philip Morris International has partnered with data scientists from Africa to study the continent’s tobacco-growing areas using satellite mapping, according to a story on the company’s website.
Six data scientists from the African Institute for Mathematical Studies recently joined PMI for a 12-week fellowship program to study tobacco-growing areas using satellite imagery. The participants developed a generic solution for quantifying the sizes of farmed land, based on the satellite images.
The partnership was the brainchild of Ishango, a social enterprise working to increase the opportunities available to talented data scientists all over the continent. “Our model is to get international companies that have interesting data science projects that our fellows can work on to build skills,” says Eunice Baguma Ball, co-founder of Ishango.
According to Jan Stuebbe, PMI’s global head of inclusion and diversity, the potential benefits of the project are considerable.
“It doesn’t only help our operations because we understand where tobacco is growing, where we can buy it and what the prices could be. It’s also a wonderful engagement tool for African organizations to say to the politicians or regulators that we try to do things that help communities and farmers in Africa,” he says. “And that increases our standing in those communities and possibly even helps us attract talent in places that we would have never looked at before.”
December 30, 2021
Sri Lanka Mulls Raising Tobacco Age to 24

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The National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) of Sri Lanka wants to increase the legal age to purchase alcohol and tobacco from 21 years to 24 years, reports The Nation.
“We hope to increase the legal age to 24 years because medical science has proven that 24 years is the proper age when the brain is fully and correctly developed,” said NATA Chairman Samadhi Rajapaksa at a Dec. 29 NATA panel discussion. “We will be the first country to make it 24 years.”
The authority wants to propose this amendment to the NATA Act No.27 of 2006 in 2022, as part of a wider range of reforms that are occurring to update the existing law and regulations.
Earlier this year, more than 50 percent of respondents to NATA survey said cigarettes should not be legal in Sri Lanka.
December 30, 2021
Forest Condemns Anti-Smoking Plan

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Smokers’ rights group Forest has condemned plans by Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) to consider a complete ban on the sale of tobacco.
HSE is reportedly contemplating a sharp reduction in the number of outlets allowed to sell tobacco products and a ban on selling tobacco products near schools and universities, along with an annual tobacco tax increase of 20 percent. Other measures to be considered include reducing the nicotine content of tobacco products, banning filters and adding health warnings to individual cigarettes.
“Any form of prohibition would drive consumers underground and into the arms of criminal gangs. Ireland already has a huge problem with illicit trade,” said John Mallon, spokesman for the smokers’ group Forest Ireland, in a statement. “This would make it far worse.”
“The government has no right to intervene to this extent. Tobacco is a legal product, and many adults enjoy smoking.
“Future generations of adults should have an equal right to choose to smoke, just as many adults will choose to drink alcohol, and that choice must be respected.
“Governments have a duty to inform consumers about the health risks of smoking or drinking, but beyond that, it’s a matter for the individual.
“Any attempt to impose further restrictions on tobacco will be fiercely resisted.”
December 30, 2021
Vaping Boosts ‘Accidental’ Quitting

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Adult smokers with no plans to quit are more likely to stop smoking if they switch to daily vaping, according to new research led by Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Published in JAMA Network Open, the Roswell Park study used data collected from 2014 to 2019 as part of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study (PATH). When the researchers focused their analysis on a select group of 1,600 smokers who initially had no plans to quit and were not using e-cigarettes when the study began, they found that those who subsequently vaped daily experienced eightfold higher odds of quitting traditional cigarettes compared to those who didn’t use e-cigarettes at all.
“These findings are paradigm-shifting, because the data suggest that vaping may actually help people who are not actively trying to quit smoking,” says Andrew Hyland, chair of health behavior at Roswell Park and scientific lead on the PATH study, in a statement. “Most other studies focus exclusively on people who are actively trying to quit smoking, but this study suggests that we may be missing effects of e-cigarettes by not considering this group of smokers with limited intention to stop smoking—a group that is often at the highest risk for poor health outcomes from cigarette smoking.”
Overall, only about 6 percent of all smokers included in the Roswell Park study quit smoking combustible cigarettes completely, but the rates of quitting were significantly higher among those who took up daily e-cigarette use—28 percent of smokers quit when they started vaping daily. The association between vaping and cigarette quitting held up even after adjusting for underlying characteristics such as educational background, income, gender, ethnicity and the number of cigarettes smoked per day at the beginning of the study.
December 29, 2021