Coresta extends abstract submission deadline
In response to the coronavirus disruption and numerous requests, Coresta has extended the deadline for submitting abstracts for its 2020 Congress to June 1.
Abstracts can be submitted online.
The Coresta Congress will be held at the Hilton Vienna Hotel in Vienna, Austria, Oct. 11–15, 2020, at the invitation of the Japan Tobacco Group.
The imminent easing of lockdown rules in South Africa may bring no relief for smokers who’ve been dealing with a tobacco sales ban for almost two months, according to a Bloomberg report.
On May 24, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a further relaxation of South Africa’s coronavirus lockdown from June 1, allowing most of the economy to return to full capacity.
However, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, whose department plays a key role in determining the lockdown rules, argued in favor of extending the ban when restrictions are next relaxed, according to people who listened to a presentation she recently gave to lawmakers.
A medical doctor and former health minister, Dlamini-Zuma has defended her anti-smoking position, noting that sharing cigarettes could spread the virus.
“When people zol, they put saliva on the paper and then they share that zol,” Dlamini-Zuma said last month, using a local term for hand-rolled cigarettes that sometimes contain cannabis.
Even before the ban, South Africa had one of the biggest illicit cigarette markets, which costs the government about ZAR7 billion ($394 million) a year in lost tax revenue, according to a report published and funded by the Tobacco Institute.
About 90 percent of people who wanted to buy cigarettes during the lockdown were able to do so, albeit at inflated prices, an online survey of 16,000 people conducted by researchers from the University of Cape Town found.
The entrepreneurial spirit displayed by vape shops during the U.K. government’s 10-week coronavirus lockdown will help them bounce back after the economy reopens, according to the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA).
On Monday, the government announced it would allow vape shops to reopen June 15.
The UKVIA said it is “immensely proud” of vaping businesses for the responsible approach they have taken during the lockdown.
“The response from the industry to the challenging conditions has been both staggering and exemplary,” said John Dunne, director at UKVIA. “I know that our members that make up a large share of the vaping market have been working around the clock to provide online and home delivery services to the 3.2 million vapers across the country.
Dunne believes that the industry will be well placed to more than meet the social distancing guidance when shops reopen.
“All our retail members have still been ‘open for business’ since the lockdown begun and have introduced social distancing measures that go well beyond the government guidance,” he said. “This should give vapers confidence when going to their local stores.”
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Since the start of the coronavirus-related lockdowns, more people in the U.K. are smoking, according to a recent study. About 2.2 million people are smoking more than usual, according to the study, while 4.8 million are smoking the same amount and 1.9 million have decreased the amount they smoke.
Stress and anxiety related to the lockdowns have been the main cause of the rise in smoking rates along with smoking being used as an excuse to go outside. The freedoms that come with working from home have also aided in the rise.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) has accused the government of taking too long to make a decision over the release of funding meant for a “quit smoking for coronavirus” campaign, which the group feels would help lower the smoking rates.
The industries ministry in Bangladesh has rejected a request from the health ministry to shut down production of tobacco in the country amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The health ministry sent a request earlier this week to the industries ministry to revoke the special permissions granted to tobacco companies to continue producing tobacco products during the country’s lockdown. The industries ministry has stated that doing so would further negatively impact the economy during the coronavirus crisis.
The Bangladesh health ministry has requested that the industries ministry rescind the permission granted to tobacco companies to continue production during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The health ministry cited a World Health Organization study stating that smokers are more likely to suffer severe infections from Covid-19. The ministry also cited Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s target to make Bangladesh tobacco-free by 2040.
British American Tobacco (BAT) said on Friday it is ready to test its potential Covid-19 vaccine using proteins from tobacco leaves on humans, after it generated a positive immune response in pre-clinical trials, reports Reuters.
Once it gets approval from the U.S. Food and Drug administration (FDA) for the vaccine, the company plans to start testing on humans.
In April BAT announced it was developing a Covid-19 vaccine from tobacco leaves and could produce 1 million to 3 million doses per week if it got the support of government agencies and the right manufacturers.
Multiple companies from a variety of sectors have been racing to develop a vaccine for Covid-19, with some of the vaccines already in human trials. Experts have suggested that a Covid-19 vaccine could take 12-18 months to develop.
On Friday, BAT said it had submitted a pre-investigative new drug application to the FDA and that the agency had acknowledged the submission. BAT said it was also talking with other government agencies around the world about the vaccine.
The company said it has committed funds to conduct clinical trials, which it expects to start as early as late June. BAT has reportedly also invested in additional equipment to boost capacity.
The Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corp. (KT&G) of South Korea has provided the Indonesian government with KRW100 million ($81,140) worth of kits for diagnosing Covid-19.
Indonesia is in short supply of basic medical equipment such as diagnostic kits and protective clothing due to the rapid spread of Covid-19. KT&G secured a large number of diagnostic kits in Korea last month and sent them to Indonesia.
A local branch of KT&G delivered the kits directly to the Indonesian National Emergency Management Agency.
“We decided to provide emergency aid to help our company’s overseas branch to overcome the hardship, said Gyeongdong Kim, the head of social contribution at KT&G.
“I hope that it will be of great help to the Indonesian people who have had a long-standing friendship with South Korea.”
In related news, KT&G reported net profit of KRW293.88 billion in the first quarter of 2020.
The figure was up 7.3 percent over the prior-year quarter as cigarette sales grew steadily during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nonetheless, KT&G’s revenue dropped by 0.6 percent to KRW1.19 trillion as operating profit fell by 9.5 percent to KRW315.01 billion.
India’s Union Health Minister Harsh Vardam on May 15 asked health ministers for all Indian states and union territories (UTs) to prohibit tobacco product sales and spitting in public to reduce the spread of Covid-19.
Vardam noted that smokeless tobacco users tend to spit in public places, increasing health risks, especially those of spreading contagious diseases like Covid-19, tuberculosis, swine flu and encephalitis.
“Use of smokeless tobacco also creates an unhygienic environment which further spreads the diseases,” he added.
“Large gatherings at the retail outlets where smokeless tobacco products are sold also pose the risk of spread of Covid. By banning spitting in public places, states and UTs can help in achieving not only Swachh Bharat [clean India] but also Swasth Bharat [healthy India],” said Vardam, referring to a 2014-2019 campaign from to improve solid waste management in India.
The PCA 2020 Convention & Trade Show, the cigar industry’s most important event on the calendar, has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Formerly called the the IPCPR Convention & Trade Show, the event was scheduled to take place July 10-14 at the Sands Expo Center at The Venetian in Las Vegas.
After months of public statements that the trade show would go on, the organization has decided to cancel the event, according to a story by Charlie Minato of Halfwheel. Last week, multiple manufacturers indicated they had been informed by the organization that its intent was to cancel the event this week, less than 60 days before the start of the trade show.
“After much deliberation and careful discussions of every aspect of our annual convention and trade show, the PCA Board and the Associate Member Advisory Board have made the difficult decision to cancel our current event scheduled for July,” said Pearce in a press release. “The annual event is an important fixture in the premium tobacco industry, and we were very excited to bring a whole new experience to the industry this year. However, the public health and safety of our attendees, staff and volunteers outweighed any other considerations in our collective decision-making process.
“We understand how important this event is to the business needs of both our manufacturers and our retailers, so we are redoubling our efforts to create innovative new ways to aid our members this year.”
The organization said it will release further details about those programs in “the coming weeks.”
