Category: Featured

Governments Urged to End Cigarette Sales

Photo: Chanakon
More than 140 organizations released a letter on May 24 calling on governments to begin plans to phase out the sale of all cigarettes. Signatories include the Association of American Cancer Institutes and schools such as the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“For decades, tobacco companies have falsely claimed they’d stop selling cigarettes if proven deadly,” said Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Executive Director Laurent Huber. “Clearly, they didn’t mean it and will continue as long as it is profitable. It’s up to governments to protect their citizens from tobacco products and from the tobacco industry by planning to phase out the sale of combustible tobacco.”
The joint letter released is part of “Project Sunset,” an umbrella program that seeks to phase out the commercial sales of cigarettes.
According to ASH, the idea of phasing out tobacco sales is neither radical nor theoretical.
“Society has banned the sale of products that are far less harmful and even useful, like lead gasoline, chlorofluorocarbons and asbestos,” the organization wrote in a press note. “What is radical is allowing an addictive product that kills when used as intended to be more readily available than milk.”
ASH insists that Project Sunset is not prohibition. “It is about phasing out the sale of commercial tobacco products, not possession or use,” the organization wrote. “Some opponents (some funded by the tobacco industry) have warned that banning tobacco sales would give law enforcement new rationales to abuse their power, especially in communities of color. But it will never be illegal to hold a cigarette, or to grow tobacco, or even to buy it.”
ASH contends that marketing and selling tobacco also violates basic human rights. “Tobacco addiction compounds health inequities, especially among minority communities, who are preferentially targeted by tobacco industry marketing,” the group wrote.
“And there is growing agreement that what the tobacco industry does every day is not only immoral but criminal. Marketing and selling a product known to be addictive and deadly easily meets most definitions of murder.”
May 25, 2021
Countries Recognized for Anti-Smoking Efforts

Photo: phitak
The World Health Organization (WHO) bestowed its World No-Tobacco Day Awards for 2021 in the Americas to three Costa Rican institutions, the ministries of health in Saint Lucia and Paraguay, the Uruguayan National Resource Fund, two California cities and a Brazilian doctor, according to the Pan American Health Organization.
The winners, selected from nominations received in response to a public call, achieved key advances in tobacco control in their countries, according to the global health body. The awards are part of global tobacco control efforts recognized on World No-Tobacco Day every year.
A shared award was given to Costa Rica’s mSalud Institutional Team, which comprises three institutions formed by the Ministry of Health, the Costa Rican Social Security Fund and the Institute on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. The mSalud Team received the award for their role in expanding quit-tobacco services through development of online tools.
Uruguay’s National Resource Fund received the award for its role in the National Network of Smoking Cessation Units. The network arose out of the Tobacco Treatment Program, which the Resource Fund created in 2004. The Resource Fund is now responsible for coordinating, evaluating and supporting the network, which has played a key role in increasing access to quit-tobacco services throughout the country.
The award was given to Tania Cavalcante, an oncologist at Brazil’s National Cancer Institute and Executive Secretary of the National Committee for the Implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Brazil. She received it for her lifelong contribution to effective tobacco control policy in Brazil and for her globally impactful work on implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Cavalcante also has been instrumental in facilitating countries’ exchanges of experiences in tobacco control in Latin America and among Portuguese-speaking countries.
Saint Lucia’s Ministry of Health and Wellness received the award for its role in adoption in June 2020 of the Public Health (Smoking Control) Regulations, Statutory Instrument, 2020, No. 81. The regulation establishes a smoking ban in enclosed public and working places and on public transport. The regulation covers electronic cigarettes and prohibition of the sale of tobacco products in places such as health, sport, government, childcare, educational and religious facilities. With the adoption, St. Lucia became the eighth country in the Caribbean and the 22nd in the Americas to adopt regulation in keeping with Article 8 of the FCTC, which asserts that people should be protected against tobacco smoke in indoor public places, indoor workplaces and public transportation.
Paraguay’s Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare received the award for its role in Decree No. 4624, which establishes that cigarettes, heated-tobacco products or electronic cigarettes can only be consumed in open-air spaces without crowds. With the decree, Paraguay joins the rest of South American countries in following Article 8 of the FCTC to create a smoke-free region.
The California cities of Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach shared the award for their ban on the sale of tobacco products. According to the WHO, their actions serve as proof of concept for Project Sunset, a global effort to phase out sale of commercial combustible tobacco products, including alternative nicotine-delivery systems. California has since set a goal of eliminating tobacco use by 2035. Through this initiative, Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach are going one step beyond established measures to mitigate and reduce consumption of tobacco, the global health body said.
May 25, 2021
Study: Does Nicotine Protect Against Covid?

Photo: meryll
Researchers at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris are investigating whether Covid-19 can be treated with nicotine, reports RFI.
The project is in response to an observation made by doctors in the first months of the pandemic that there were fewer smokers among their most serious Covid cases. The “smokers’ paradox” was observed in China and in peer-reviewed studies around the world. A French study found that out of 11,000 hospitalized patients, only 8.5 percent were smokers compared to 25.4 percent of the general population.
Some suggest the nicotine in cigarettes could be slowing the virus. Many Covid-19 deaths are caused by an overreaction of the immune system. Scientists speculate that nicotine helps moderate such overreactions because it lowers the immune system’s activity.
Last year, French researchers analyzed public health data of people who used nicotine substitutes, like patches or gum. They noticed that those people had fewer Covid cases than those who did not use nicotine substitutes.
To test the hypotheses, Paris hospitals launched three clinical studies using nicotine patches. One of the studies, concluded in April, involved 220 patients in intensive care units for severe Covid infections. Half were given nicotine patches and the others were given placebos. The data is being analyzed, and the first results should be out in June.
While the findings are interesting, Pitie-Salpetriere doctor Zahir Amoura warns people against taking up smoking to protect themselves from Covid. “Smoking is a scourge. It’s important to repeat that,” he told RFI.
May 25, 2021
U.S. Clears Malawi Imports from Premium

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has modified an existing “Withhold Release Order” on imports of tobacco from Malawi.
Effective May 21, 2021, certain tobacco imports from Premium Tobacco Malawi Limited (PTML) will be admissible at all U.S. ports of entry. This modification applies only to tobacco harvested by club growers in Malawi. CBP previously prohibited the entry of these imports into the United States based on reasonable suspicion that they were produced using forced labor.
CBP issued a Withhold Release Order on tobacco imports from Malawi in November 2019 due to information reasonably indicating that the tobacco is produced using forced labor and forced child labor. The Withhold Release Order continues to apply to imports of tobacco from Malawi by any company that has not demonstrated to CBP that its supply chain is free of forced labor.
CBP modified the November 2019 Withhold Release Order based on a rigorous evaluation of PTML’s social compliance program and efforts to identify and minimize the risks of forced labor in its supply chain. These actions produced evidence that sufficiently supports PTML’s claims that tobacco from club growers (smallholder growers that use little or no farm worker labor) is not grown and harvested using forced labor or forced child labor.
“CBP’s forced labor enforcement efforts continue to effect positive change for workers around the globe,” said John Leonard, acting executive assistant commissioner of CBP’s Office of Trade. “Eliminating forced labor from our supply chains prevents the abuse of vulnerable workers, safeguards the competitiveness of law-abiding businesses and protects consumers from unethically made products.”
This is the third time that CBP has modified the Withhold Release Order on tobacco from Malawi. The agency modified the Withhold Release Order in June 2020 to allow imports of tobacco from Alliance One International and again in August 2020 to allow imports of tobacco from Limbe Leaf Tobacco Co. Both entities fully addressed CBP’s concerns about the use of forced labor in their production processes.
May 24, 2021
Celebrating ‘Safer Choice’ on Vape Day

Photo: Aliaksandr Barouski
Consumer advocacy groups in the Asia-Pacific region under the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) are joining the celebration of World Vape Day on May 30, with a call on the World Health Organization (WHO) and governments around the world to provide smokers with a better choice and spare them from almost 50 percent mortality rate linked to smoking.
“The World Vape Day is a celebration of personal stories of smokers who have found a humane way out of smoking thanks to the advent of innovative smoke-free products such as e-cigarettes, heated-tobacco products and Swedish snus,” said Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator of the CAPHRA, in a statement.
This year’s World Vape Day highlights smoke-free products as “the better choice” to combustible cigarettes, which are linked to more than 8 million premature deaths each year among 1.1 billion smokers globally.
“We celebrate World Vape Day because it symbolizes hope for millions of smokers in Asia-Pacific and around the world who now have access to innovative nicotine products such as e-cigarettes and heated-tobacco products that were not available in the previous decades,” said Loucas.
“Vaping is the safer choice based on our experience and on the numerous independent studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Along with heated-tobacco products, e-cigarettes are considered a part of tobacco harm reduction—a public health strategy which aims to provide alternatives to reduce risks caused by smoking cigarettes,” she said.
Loucas said these smoke-free nicotine products provide countries an opportunity to end the global problem of smoking. “We have an opportunity to save millions of lives by making the switch to better alternatives. It is also a reminder to governments and health authorities that smokers should be given the freedom of choice for their health and for their future,” she said.
Asa Saligupta, representative of Ends Cigarette Smoke Thailand, said that while World Vape Day is being celebrated in many countries, some nations like Thailand still prohibit the use of e-cigarettes and heated-tobacco products (HTPs).
“In several Asian countries, vapers continue to face imprisonment and fines for making the switch to e-cigarettes, which were found to be at least 95 percent less harmful than traditional cigarettes. It is a violation of consumer rights for safer alternative products and accurate information about e-cigarettes,” he said.
I believe that vaping can achieve what existing tobacco control policies failed to accomplish in many years—end smoking.
Peter Paul Dator, president, Vapers Philippines
“But we remain hopeful that authorities will listen to science and give tobacco harm reduction a chance to make a difference in the lives of smokers who represent a fifth of the population in Thailand,” he said.
Saligupta noted that Public Health England, in its 2018 independent evidence review, concluded that “e-cigarettes are around 95 percent safer than combustible cigarettes.”
Peter Paul Dator, president of Vapers Philippines, said more than 50 million smokers around the world have already switched to vaping, which means they have significantly reduced their exposure to toxins and carcinogens found in tobacco smoke.
“This is because unlike cigarettes, vapor products and HTPs do not burn organic matter at very high temperatures and therefore do not produce toxic fumes. I believe that vaping can achieve what existing tobacco control policies failed to accomplish in many years—end smoking,” Dator said.
Dator pointed to the dismal smoking cessation rate of 4 percent in the Philippines, which he said reflects the ineffectiveness of existing smoking cessation strategies such as the “quit-or-die” approach. “Smoke-free products can help 16 million Filipino smokers quit smoking or switch to these less harmful alternatives,” he said.
Mirza Abeer, the founder of the Association for Smoking Alternatives in Pakistan (ASAP), said he could attest to the effectiveness of vaping as a part of tobacco harm reduction.
We advocate the adoption of scientifically substantiated smoking alternatives among adult consumers and policymakers.
Mirza Abeer, founder, ASAP
“Quitting smoking is a tough challenge to surmount, but e-cigarettes helped me and other smokers quit. Switching to vaping after smoking for 13 years resulted in my improved health. This also saved me from asthma attacks, and now I feel much better. I hope to share this personal experience to more than 15 million smokers in Pakistan so that they, too, will have a choice,” he said.
“As head of ASAP, we advocate the adoption of scientifically substantiated smoking alternatives among adult consumers and policymakers to help significantly reduce smoking rates in Pakistan and positively impact public health as soon as possible,” said Abeer.
World Vape Day is celebrated a day before World No Tobacco Day on May 31. CAPHRA said that with more than 50 million vapers worldwide and growing, the campaign is expected to gain ground in more countries in the coming years.
May 24, 2021
Philippines Recognized for Tobacco Tax Policy

Photo: junpinzon
The Philippines scored highest among its Association of Southeast Asian Nations peers in a study that rated cigarette tax policy performance from 2012 to 2018, reports The Manila Times.
After evaluating cigarette taxation in more than 170 countries, the authors of the Tobacconomics Cigarette Tax Scorecard study said the Philippines was among the countries “with the greatest improvement in cigarette tax policy,” resulting from “the simplification of previously complicated tiered cigarette excise tax structures, accompanied by large tax increases.”
During the studied period, the Philippines eliminated the multi-tiered structure of the previous system, removed price classification fees and introduced automatic indexation, according to Finance Assistant Secretary Teresa Habitan. It also increased taxes on tobacco products and mandated an across-the-board uniform tax rate of PHP30 ($0.62) per pack beginning 2017.
The study used data from the World Health Organization and focused on four aspects of cigarette tax systems: cigarette prices, changes in cigarette affordability over time, share of taxes in retail cigarette prices and cigarette tax structure.
The Tobacconomics Scorecard’s five-point grading system is derived from the data in the tax/price-related appendices of the biennial WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic.
The WHO report monitors the most effective and cost-effective government interventions—both price and nonprice measures—for reducing tobacco consumption.
May 24, 2021
Brazil: Farmers Benefit from Diversification

Iro Schunke
(Photo: Taco Tuinstra)
Brazilian tobacco growers who adhered to the winter crop within the Corn, Bean and Grazing Land after Tobacco Harvest Program benefited from the high value of the grains this year. This is demonstrated by the survey conducted by the Interstate Tobacco Industry Union (SindiTabaco), which promotes the crop diversification program in southern Brazil.
The area devoted to corn, bean and soybean soared 22 percent in the southern region compared with last year, reaching 144,222 hectares. On the other hand, the area devoted to grazing land dropped 27 percent to 25,572 hectares. Due to weather conditions, productivity rates dropped 34 percent on average, resulting in a total crop production volume of 580,442 tons.
The estimated extra revenue amounts to BRL933 million ($174 million), up 47 percent from 2020, when farmers earned BRL634.2 million from the cultivation of grains and grazing land.
“Diversification is always a good option for the farmers, as it makes it possible for them to earn money from different activities,” said Iro Schunke, president of SindiTabaco, in a press note. “In 2021, we observed a preference of the farmers for the cultivation of grains to the detriment of grazing lands, which resulted into higher earnings, and the credit goes to the good moment these commodities are experiencing within Brazilian agribusiness.”
May 24, 2021
Charlie’s Holdings ‘Turns the Corner’ in 2021

Photo: Charlie’s Holdings
Charlie’s Holdings reported increased revenue, gross profit, gross margin and cash balance in the first quarter of 2021.
Revenue decreased 1 percent year-over-year to $4.36 million but increased 3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2020. Gross profit decreased 1 percent year-over-year to $2.42 million but increased by more than 14 percent from the 2020 fourth quarter. Gross margin remained at 55 percent year-over-year and expanded 5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2020.
“Though 2020 was a difficult year for our entire industry, Charlie’s financial performance turned the corner in the first quarter of 2021,” said Charlie’s CEO Brandon Stump in a statement. “Incorporating a right-sized cost structure, strengthened balance sheet and launch of Pachamama Disposables, the company achieved growth in both revenue and gross margin versus the last quarter of 2020. Most importantly, we feel confident that Charlie’s is now positioned for accelerated growth going forward.”
On April 1, 2021, Charlie’s hired Henry Sicignano III as president to spearhead business strategy and capital markets initiatives. Sicignano previously served as president and CEO of 22nd Century Group.
Sicignano will work closely with Charlie’s CEO Brandon Stump to develop and execute business strategy in the rapidly changing electronic nicotine-delivery system marketplace.
So confident are we in Charlie’s future, my brother Ryan and I invested $3 million in Charlie’s common stock last quarter.
Brandon Stump, CEO, Charlie’s Holdings
“We are very pleased about the recent addition of Henry Sicignano as our president,” said Stump. “His past successes—in both his initiatives to provide adult smokers with alternatives to traditional combustible cigarettes and his experience growing and uplisting a public company—will prove invaluable to Charlie’s.
“So confident are we in Charlie’s future, my brother Ryan and I invested $3 million in Charlie’s common stock last quarter. We believe that Charlie’s is well on its way to emerging as America’s No. 1 premium nicotine-based e-cigarette company.”
May 24, 2021
Commission Evaluates EU Tobacco Directive

Photo: areporter
The EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) has helped protect the health of European citizens, but there is room for improvement, according to a report released by the European Commission on May 20.
While lauding the decreases in EU smoking rates since the current directive took effect in 2016, the report argues for stronger enforcement at the national level and better consideration of new market developments, such as novel tobacco products.
“With Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, we are proposing bold and ambitious actions to reduce the use of tobacco. We have set a very clear objective—to create a tobacco-free generation in Europe, where less than 5 percent of people use tobacco by 2040,” said Stella Kyriakides, commissioner for health and food safety.
“This means enforcing EU tobacco legislation more strictly and helping it keep pace with new developments. EU legislation on tobacco has clearly had a positive impact on smoking rates in the EU, but to meet our target, we must set our sights higher. The upcoming reviewing of the Tobacco Products Directive will be an important part of this work.”
With 27 percent of all cancers attributed to its use, tobacco is the single largest avoidable health risk in the EU, according to the European Commission. Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan aims at creating a “tobacco-free generation” by 2040.

EU legislation on tobacco has clearly had a positive impact on smoking rates in the EU, but to meet our target, we must set our sights higher.
Stella Kyriakides, commissioner for health and food safety
The TPD has put in place comprehensive EU tobacco control policy rules, notably through enlarged combined health warnings, a track-and-trace system, a ban on characterizing flavors, the creation of an ingredients database and the regulation of electronic cigarettes. It has also contributed to the improvement of public health through a decrease in tobacco consumption. The report also concludes that, due to market developments, there is scope for improvement in certain essential areas, such as labeling, assessment of ingredients, cross-border distance sales and novel and emerging products.
Adopted in 2014, and applicable for most of its provision as of May 2016, the TPD concerns the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco and related products and aims at facilitating smooth functioning of the internal market, protecting people’s health—particularly of the youth—and meeting the EU obligations under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
The May 20 report is supported, among others, by a study on consumer preference and perception of specific categories of tobacco and related products and a support study to the report on the application of the directive. It also draws on SCHEER’s opinion on electronic cigarettes and the most recent Eurobarometer survey on attitudes of Europeans toward tobacco and electronic cigarettes.
May 21, 2021
Altria Group Holds Annual Meeting

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Altria Group held its 2021 annual meeting of shareholders on May 20. During the annual meeting, CEO Billy Gifford summarized Altria’s full-year 2020 and first-quarter 2021 financial results and discussed Altria’s progress toward its vision of responsibly transitioning adult smokers to a noncombustible future. Gifford also shared Altria’s corporate responsibility priorities and environmental, social and governance efforts, reaffirmed Altria’s guidance for adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) and addressed shareholder questions.
Altria’s shareholders elected to a one-year term each of the 11 nominees for director named in Altria’s proxy statement, ratified the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers as Altria’s independent registered public accounting firm for 2021, approved, on an advisory basis, the compensation of Altria’s named executive officers and rejected two shareholder proposals.
On May 10, 2021, Altria’s board of directors elected Kathryn McQuade to serve as Altria’s independent chair of the board. The appointment became effective following the conclusion of the annual meeting.
In his remarks, Gifford reaffirmed Altria’s guidance for 2021 full-year adjusted diluted EPS to be in a range of $4.49 to $4.62, representing a growth rate of 3 percent to 6 percent from an adjusted diluted EPS base of $4.36 in 2020.

May 21, 2021