Category: News This Week

  • FTC Staff Urges Timely Start of Altria Trial

    FTC Staff Urges Timely Start of Altria Trial

    Photo: Paul Brady – Dreamstime.com

    U.S. Federal Trade Commission staffers urged the commission to start its trial against Altria Group’s $12.8 billion investment in Juul Labs in April as scheduled, reports Law360.

    The cigarette giant had requested a three-month delay from the current April 12 start, speculating that it will be safe to hold an in-person trial by mid-July. The current April trial will be virtual due to the Covid-19 crisis. The trial was previously moved from Jan. 5 to mid-April because of the pandemic. Altria and Juul said a virtual hearing would diminish their attorneys’ ability to assess the credibility of the testifying witnesses.

    In a filing Thursday to the agency’s commissioners, the FTC’s trial staff said that hopes for an in-person, Covid-free proceeding by July are “highly speculative.”

    “While the vaccine news is promising, the timetable for the chief administrative law judge and his staff, witnesses and counsel to receive vaccinations is highly uncertain at this time,” the staffers said. “And, while complaint counsel shares respondents’ concerns regarding the severity of the pandemic, these concerns can be remedied by proceeding with a virtual hearing.”

    The FTC case alleges that that Altria shut down its own e-cigarette business to pave the way for the investment, in the process eliminating competition in violation of antitrust laws.

     

  • Reynolds Recognized on Corporate Equality Index

    Reynolds Recognized on Corporate Equality Index

    Photo: RAI

    For the second consecutive year, the BAT Group’s U.S. subsidiary Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) and its operating companies scored 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2021 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a prominent benchmarking survey and report measuring corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ workplace equality.

    Guy Meldrum

    “Across every aspect of our business, we boldly embrace diversity as a key pillar of our ethos,” Our organization is rich with talent, and everyone is encouraged to be their authentic selves as we work to build ‘A Better Tomorrow,’” said Guy Meldrum, RAI president and CEO, in a statement.

    Companies rated in the CEI include Fortune magazine’s 500 largest publicly traded businesses, American Lawyer magazine’s top 200 revenue-grossing law firms, and hundreds of publicly and privately held mid-sized to large-sized businesses.

    The CEI rates companies on detailed criteria falling under four central pillars: non-discrimination policies across business entities; equitable benefits for LGBTQ workers and their families; supporting an inclusive culture; and corporate social responsibility.

    “From the previously unimaginable impact of the Covid-19 pandemic to a long overdue reckoning with racial injustice, 2020 was an unprecedented year. Yet, many businesses across the nation stepped up and continued to prioritize and champion LGBTQ equality,” said Alphonso David, Human Rights Campaign president.

    “This year has shown us that tools like the CEI are crucial in the work to increase equity and inclusion in the workplace, but also that companies must breathe life into these policies and practices in real and tangible ways.”

  • FDA Asked to Prioritize Harm Reduction

    FDA Asked to Prioritize Harm Reduction

    Photo: Bacho12345 | Dreamstime.com

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration should encourage harm reduction products and help smokers give up cigarettes, according to Markus Lindblad, head of external affairs at the Haypp Group, the parent company of NicoKick, which describes itself as the world’s largest American e-commerce company in the smokeless industry.

    In a letter to Acting Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Janet Woodcock, Lindblad encouraged her to prioritize the goal she helped set at the FDA in previous years to enable greater use of healthier harm reduction products and help smokers quit combustible products.

    “Our mission at NicoKick is to drive real change in the industry and encourage alternative nicotine enjoyment for adults seeking products other than inhalants,” Linblad wrote.

    “We recognize that your focus is understandably on addressing the coronavirus pandemic, but we hope as you lead the Food and Drug Administration that you continue to prioritize tobacco harm reduction products that will produce better health outcomes for millions of American smokers. We can all agree any effort to transition from traditional tobacco products to those that reduce harm to the consumer should be supported and would be an important win for public health.”

  • Capna Intellectual Sued Over Bloom Logo

    Capna Intellectual Sued Over Bloom Logo

    Photo: Capna Intellectual

    ITG Brands is suing Capna Intellectual for infringing its Kool trademark, according to Bloomberg Law.

    According to ITG, the interlocking “O” letters in Capna’s Bloom cannabis e-cigarette brand logo confusingly resemble ITG’s famous Kool logo.

    The suit was filed late January in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

    Capna reportedly applied for federal trademarks covering Bloom for e-cigarettes and oral vaporizers. ITG says it sent Capna a cease-and-desist letter in December.

    The complaint says the Bloom marks are intended to capitalize on Kool’s well-known branding.

  • PMI Partners with Homeland Security

    PMI Partners with Homeland Security

    Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive

    Philip Morris International has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to assist and support Homeland Security Investigations’ illicit tobacco trade operations and other intellectual property rights investigations.

    “We are thrilled to partner with DHS and the IPR Center to combat the illicit tobacco trade,” said PMI’s head of illicit trade prevention for the U.S. Hernan Albamonte in a statement. “This partnership will provide both parties necessary information to thwart terrorist and criminal organizations that profit from the trade of illicit tobacco and jeopardize our national security.”

    The MOU is focused on comprehensive strategies and coordinating efforts to disrupt and combat all forms of illicit tobacco trade, as well as to address vital areas of intellectual property, brand protection, and anti-counterfeiting strategies. The agreement will also facilitate knowledge transfer between the center and PMI to share mutually beneficial information and research to combat the illicit tobacco trade and assist in other intellectual property rights investigations.

    “The agreement being signed today, is a continuation of a years-long partnership between the IPR Center and PMI to protect the American public by enforcing the nation’s intellectual property rights laws and educating consumers on the dangers of illicitly traded tobacco products,” said Steve Francis, IPR Center director. “The IPR Center will leverage this robust public-private partnership to develop outreach, training efforts and share referral information to open investigations and target these criminal acts.”

    J.B. Simko

    “PMI is focused on developing smoke-free alternatives that are a better choice for adults than continued smoking,” said PMI’s Vice President Of External Affairs J.B. Simko. “Our goal is that one day these products will replace combustible cigarettes for good. The illicit trade undermines these efforts by making unregulated products more accessible, so we are determined to do our part to fight it.”

  • Smoking up During Kiwi Lockdown

    Smoking up During Kiwi Lockdown

    Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive

    Many smokers upped their cigarette consumption during New Zealand’s Covid-19 lockdown, according to new research published by the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco.

    New Zealand’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic was one of the most restrictive lockdowns of any country, inevitably causing stress for many people. Because situations that increase stress and anxiety are associated with higher smoking prevalence, the researchers examined self-reported smoking before and during the lockdown, and analyzed factors associated with reported changes in cigarette consumption.

    The scientists conducted an online panel survey of a demographically representative sample of 2010 adult New Zealanders during the Covid-19 lockdown; the final, weighted sample included 261 daily smokers and 71 weekly smokers. We measured psychological distress and anxiety, as well as situational factors, tobacco consumption and demographic attributes.

    Nearly half of daily smokers reported smoking more during than before the lockdown, on average, an increase of six cigarettes a day; increased daily cigarette consumption was associated with loneliness and isolation. Most weekly smokers reported either that their smoking during the lockdown had not changed or had slightly reduced.

    “As governments introduce unprecedented measures to manage Covid-19, they need also to consider other public health risks, such as increased smoking among current smokers or relapse among recent quitters,” the authors wrote in their report. “Evidence that loneliness was associated with increased smoking during a lockdown suggests a need for cessation out-reach strategies that promote and support smoke-free practices.”

  • Vapor Group Welcomes U.K. Consultation

    Vapor Group Welcomes U.K. Consultation

    Photo: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

    The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) says it welcomes today’s announcement that the government is consulting on changes to the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations (TRPR).

    As the U.K. prepares to leave the European Union and take control of its regulatory landscape and ahead of recently announced development of a new tobacco control plan, there is an enormous opportunity to seize the public health potential of vaping, according to the UKVIA. “Our members have been working tirelessly to agree what a new settlement for vaping should look like, to bolster harm-reduction opportunities and support the government’s ambition for a Smoke Free 2030,” the organization wrote in a press release. “This will form the basis of our Blueprint for Better Regulation in the vaping industry, a document which we will be publishing shortly.”

    Whilst smoking prevalence has declined across the U.K. between 2018-2019 by 0.6 percent, according to the Office for National Statistics, there are still 6.9 million smokers, representing some 14.1 percent of the adult population. Moreover, despite vaping being acknowledged as one of the best ways to quit smoking, and according to research has higher quit success rates than nicotine replacement therapies, there are still nearly a third (32.4 percent) of adult smokers in Great Britain that have never tried vaping. Therefore, positive regulatory change has the potential to unlock the public health prize presented by vaping, according to the UKVIA.

    John Dunne

    “We have been eagerly awaiting the news of the consultation for some time,” said John Dunne, director general of the UKVIA. “As an industry, the vaping community has done much to provide vital information and alternatives to smokers for many years, but there is only so much we can do in the confines of current EU regulations. With the support of all stakeholders, including government and regulators, the potential improvements to public health can increase tremendously.

    “The British public is keen to see how new ways of doing things can improve their lives post-Brexit. The government’s handling of vaping will be a key, early test-case. The UKVIA’s Blueprint for Better Regulation document will show just what is possible when progressive, evidence-based approaches are taken.

  • The Ethics of Meddling in Other People’s Lives

    The Ethics of Meddling in Other People’s Lives

    The World Science Forum will be held in Cape Town in December 2021 under the theme of “science for social justice.”

    As a precedent, a new documentary examines the ethics of intervening in the lives of others under the lens of South Africa’s go-it-alone ban on tobacco and alcohol sales to tackle Covid-19. Leading medical, policy and civil society experts weigh up the scientific evidence for and against. Taxation, jobs, sectoral interests, religious indoctrination, values and civil liberties all come into play.

    Further issues debated include concepts of recent history and subjugation versus today’s democracy and the rule of law. Have fundamental principles of autonomy, human dignity, freedom and equality been forced to give way?

    Is the medical profession’s “unconscionable collusion” acceptable? How must lawmakers navigate between the rights and responsibilities of individuals to look after themselves and the rights and responsibilities of states to look after their citizens?

    Above all, as this pandemic collides with the known syndemics of tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/Aids, hepatitis etc., the panel argues for the urgent acceptance and application of harm reduction science worldwide.

  • Vietnam Urged to Set its Own THR Rules

    Vietnam Urged to Set its Own THR Rules

    Photo: Quang Nguyen vinh from Pixabay

    The International Network of Nicotine Consumers Organizations (INNCO) is urging the Vietnamese government to exercise “true independence” in its regulation of tobacco harm reduction (THR) products, warning that failure to adopt evidence-based guidelines will lead to substandard products and economic development losses.

    Samrat Chowdhery

    “We understand that the government wants to improve regulatory compliance to reduce harm from smoking, but it also needs to understand its stakeholders in order to formulate an effective regulatory design,” said Samrat Chowdhery, president of INNCO’s governing board in a letter to Vietnam’s Ministry of Health. “We believe it is problematic if the entity drafting regulations does not have a solid, evidence-based understanding of the THR issue.”

    INNCO’s concerns stem from the possibility that regulations will be drafted by the Vietnam Tobacco Control Fund, a long-time grantee of The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), a Bloomberg Philanthropies-funded organization that has repeatedly called for worldwide bans on all electronic nicotine delivery systems and other THR products in low- and middle-income countries.

    “The issue with having a regulation drafted by this entity [The Union] is that it will always be biased,” said Chowdhery in a statement, pointing to similar co-opting of tobacco policies in other Asian nations.

    “In the Philippines, legislators have questioned the conflict of interest in their Food and Drug Administration after confirming that it receives funds from Bloomberg Philanthropies and The Union, while pushing for an anti-vaping policy. In India, the new tobacco law has been drafted by a Bloomberg-funded group, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids,” he said.

    “INNCO speaks for the consumers from Vietnam who are silent on this issue for fear that their civil liberties will be compromised,” said Chowdhery. “It is vital that the government exercise true independence and allow consumers to be part of the regulatory framework.”

  • Packaging Market to Exceed $20 billion

    Packaging Market to Exceed $20 billion

    Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive

    The global market for tobacco packaging is likely to reach $20.45 billion by 2027, representing a compound annual growth rate of 3 percent, according to a new report published by Fortune Business Insights. In 2019, the market was valued at $16.15 billion.

    The global tobacco packaging market size witnessed progressive growth in the past few years with the advent of smokeless tobacco products worldwide. These products, including gutka, chewing tobacco, snus, snuff and gum act as substitutes for cigarettes.

    In terms of materials, the market is dominated by the paperboard segment as it is widely used for making cigars, cigarettes and other products. Paperboards are thick and based out of paper with properties such as printability, foldability, rigidity, and lightweight nature. The second most used tobacco packaging material is paper, accounting for 17.6 percent of the market.

    In geographic terms, the Asia Pacific region plays a prominent role in the tobacco packaging market, earning a revenue of $9.3 billion in 2019. Dominant markets include Japan, China, and India. Europe ranks second with the UK, Germany, and Russia emerging as leading nations.

    However, this region may face challenges in terms of stringent tobacco regulations in the forecast years, according to the authors. Furthermore, the rising demand for chewing tobacco, cigars, cigarettes and other products from nations such as Egypt, South Africa, and Turkey are likely to help the Middle East and Africa witness substantial growth in the coming years.