Category: Featured

Armenia Bans Tobacco Product Displays

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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
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
Scientists Developing Tobacco-Based Vaccine

Photo: Baiya Phytopharm
Scientists in Thailand are using tobacco to develop a vaccine against the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus.
Testing of the Covid-19 vaccine began in 2020, with the next round of human trials due in the spring.
The benefit of tobacco is that it can be grown almost anywhere in the world at low cost, according to the researchers, who are using a low-nicotine variety from Australia. What’s more, because tobacco grows rapidly, it can be turned from a seed into a vaccine within a month.
“It takes only 10 days for us to produce a prototype and… no more than three weeks to test whether that prototype works or not,” Suthira Taychakhoonavudh, chief executive of Baiya Phytopharm, told Sky News.
Baiya Phytopharm uses the harvested leaves as a host to produce proteins that mimic the Covid-19 virus. The leaves are blended and the protein is extracted. When the resulting vaccine is injected into humans it stimulates antibodies to help fight the real virus in the future.
The company must still complete two more sets of trials and needs regulatory approval before its vaccine can be used by the public.
The earliest the vaccine would be cleared for use is late 2022.
Even though other Covid-19 vaccinations are already available, developers say it’s important to continue the project for future health security. “Covid-19 is not going to be the last one, right?” said Baiya Phytopharm’s co-founder and chief technology officer, Waranyoo Phoolcharoen. “You’re going to have so many emerging diseases and if we can develop the vaccine ourselves, then we don’t have to rely on vaccines from other countries.”
Baiya Phytopharm is not the only company using tobacco to develop a Covid-19 vaccine. British American Tobacco and Medicago—a firm back by Philip Morris International—are also working on plant-based serums.
In early December, Medicago said its vaccine candidate, enhanced by GlaxoSmithKline’s booster, was 75.3 percent effective against the Delta variant of the virus in a late-stage study.
Not everybody is excited about the tobacco industry’s involvement in vaccine development. In 2020, the World Health Organization warned governments about engaging with the tobacco industry over the development of coronavirus vaccines.
Tobacco Reporter profiled Baiya Phytopharm in its November 2020 issue.
December 28, 2021
Godfrey Phillips India Appoints New CEO

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Godfrey Phillips India (GPI) has appointed Sharad Aggarwal as CEO, according to The Economic Times. Aggarwal succeeds Bhisham Wadhera and will report to GPI President and Managing Director Bina Modi.
Wadhera, who has led GPI since 2015, resigned on Dec. 26 and will continue as an advisor and mentor.
Sharad has been with the organization since 1994 and has exceptional credentials of delivering results,” said Modi. “He has proven himself as an inspiring leader and led transformational changes in the organizations, and I firmly believe he is the right choice to unleash to potential of Godfrey Phillips to the fullest, create a sustainable business with sales and profit growth and value for all stakeholders.”
Prior to his most recent appointment, Aggarwal was chief operating officer of GPI. During his tenure as COO, Aggarwal invested in technology, processes and certifications for GPI’s manufacturing facilities. An alumnus of the Harvard Business School, Aggarwal holds a degree in electronics from REXC, Nagpur, and a post-graduate diploma in business management from IMTR, Ghaziabad.
GPI’s cigarette brands include Four Square, Red & White and Cavanders. The company also has an exclusive agreement to manufacture and distribute PMI’s Marlboro cigarettes in India.
December 28, 2021
Cuba Tobacco Area Down Due to Shortages

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Cuba will reduce the tobacco planting area by about 10 percent in the 2021-2022 season due to a lack of supplies, reports Market Research Telecast.
According to Granma, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba, only 22,550 hectares out of the initially planned 25,000 hectares have been planted with tobacco this season.
Farmers in Pinar del Río, which typically accounts for 65 percent of the island’s tobacco production expect to plant only 13,921 hectares this year—the smallest area dedicated to tobacco in the province over the past decade.
Meanwhile, rains from Hurricane Ida last August and resource constraints have delayed the planting of some 3,000 hectares until January, beyond the optimal time.
Cuba’s tobacco exports reached $507 million in 2020, according to Habanos, which markets Cuba’s renowned cigars.
The sector employs some 200,000 workers on the island, rising to 250,000 at the peak of the harvest.
December 27, 2021