KT&G delivered welfare improvement support funds amounting to approximately KRW420 million ($303,020) to tobacco farmers.
This year’s support funds will be used for health checkup fees, child scholarships and the purchase of fuel-saving devices for drying facilities targeting leaf tobacco growers.
KT&G has been delivering welfare improvement support funds to leaf tobacco farmers annually since 2013, reaching a total of KRW4.28 billion this year. During the same period, the cumulative number of benefiting growers reached 15,212.
Korean tobacco farmers have been struggling to secure labor due to the declining and aging rural population. Tobacco cultivation is difficult to mechanize, which makes it imperative to look after growers’ health, according to KT&G.
The fuel-saving device recirculates the heat discharged during tobacco drying. Since 2022, KT&G has provided 214 units.
The company also assists its farmers by purchasing all domestic leaf tobacco every year and dispatching employee volunteer groups to assist during the planting and harvesting seasons.
“We continue to support the welfare improvement projects for farmers to alleviate their difficulties and provide practical help,” said Kim Jeong-ho, head of KT&G SCM headquarters, in a statement.
“We will continue to provide consistent support to improve the health and economic conditions of leaf tobacco farmers.”
Altria Group has submitted premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its “On! Plus” oral nicotine pouch products. The PMTAs were submitted by Altria’s wholly owned subsidiary Helix Innovations.
On! Plus is a spit-free, oral tobacco-derived nicotine (TDN) pouch product made from a proprietary “soft-feel” material to provide a more comfortable product experience. The On! Plus pouch is designed for adults who dip and adult dual users (i.e., adults who smoke and dip).
According to Altria, On! Plus pouches are seamless and larger than the leading U.S. TDN brands. Similar to the currently marketed On! products, On! Plus packaging features a compartment to responsibly dispose of used product. Helix submitted PMTAs for three distinct On! Plus varieties: tobacco, mint and wintergreen. Each variety comes in three different nicotine strength options.
“Helix’s submission of the On! Plus applications underscores Altria’s commitment to addressing consumers’ evolving preferences through innovation in potentially reduced risk products. We firmly believe that On! Plus is a transformative product that will meaningfully contribute to Helix’s growth in the U.S. market, upon timely FDA authorization,” said Nick MacPhee, managing director and general manager of Helix in a statement.
“We’ve long believed in the value of a robust marketplace of authorized smoke-free products for adult tobacco consumers. We believe that these PMTAs demonstrate that responsibly marketed On! Plus pouches can provide a compelling alternative in the marketplace,” said Paige Magness, senior vice president of regulatory affairs, Altria Client Services.
Upon authorization, Altria expects the products to be distributed by Altria Group Distribution Co.
Helix currently sells On! nicotine pouches in the U.S. In the first quarter of 2024, On! shipment volume grew 32 percent versus the prior year and the brand achieved a 7.1 percent retail share of the total U.S. oral tobacco category.
Altria entered the U.S. oral nicotine products market in 2019 after signing a deal with Burger Söhne to acquire an 80 percent ownership stake in some companies that commercialized On! Products, according to The Wall Street Journal. In December 2020 and April 2021, Altria subsidiaries concluded transactions to buy the remaining 20 percent stake of the global on! business for about $250 million.
Altria’s PMTA announcement comes after Philip Morris International’s Swedish Match North America unit suspended nationwide sales on its U.S. website as local officials in Washington, D.C., investigate whether the company is in compliance with the district’s ban on the sale of flavored products.
Estonia’s government has plans to expand smoke-free outdoor spaces, including places like beaches and parks, according to ERR News.
The government approved Estonia’s positions on tobacco policy, including the expansion of smoke-free outdoor areas to include terraces, parks, beaches and other recreational areas where many people gather.
“Today, we are talking about a restriction that still allows individuals to smoke but in a way that does not harm the health of those around them,” said Aive Telling, head of environmental health and chemical safety at the Ministry of Social Affairs. “This is the most important point in ensuring a smoke-free environment. We must consider others, and this is also about changing societal attitudes to ensure our actions do not harm others.”
“Let’s say that today, alcohol consumption on the beach is monitored, people are reminded that drinking alcohol on the beach is not allowed,” said Piret Valjaots, head of the Tartu Health Service. “Similarly, it will likely be possible to monitor tobacco use during the beach season. It becomes more complicated with parks as there is no constant law enforcement presence in public spaces.”
A detailed plan is not yet in place.
“Things do not change overnight, and this is just the beginning of a longer and broader process,” said Telling. “Today, these positions are the direction in which we are moving throughout Europe.”
To celebrate its 77th anniversary, SindiTabaco launched the document “Controversial issue, counterpoint necessary.” In 54 pages, the document addresses the history of tobacco in Brazil and the most relevant numbers of the supply chain. Its larger objective, however, is to challenge themes that are not always duly contextualized and end up being treated as contradictions by society.
“The tobacco supply chain is one of the most organized and advanced in Brazilian agriculture, with initiatives that set an example to other sectors. Not rarely, however, it is left aside in terms of agribusiness. The launch of this document has the purpose to demystify and provide the necessary counterpoint to those who insist in refusing to state the obvious: Tobacco is agro!” Iro Schuenke, SindiTabaco president, said.
Questions like indebtedness, monoculture, deforestation, the use of pesticides, suicides, green tobacco sickness, child labor and slave labor are themes addressed by the paper, now beginning to circulate among the main stakeholders of the entity in printed format, but it is also available online at www.sinditabaco.com.br.
“Over the years, we have given visibility to the social and economic importance of the sector to hundreds of municipalities in South Brazil, and we have promoted a series of initiatives about agricultural practices that turn Brazilian tobacco into one of the most demanded in the world. In the meantime, we have suffered uninterrupted attacks on account of the finished product, which is legal and an adult choice. Not rarely, we witness anti-smoking activists attacking the production of tobacco, and the list of attacks has been gradually expanded over the years. From polluters to slavers are some of the biased written lines. It is about them we are talking,” said Schuenke.
The Premium Cigar Association (PCA) has promoted Joshua Habursky to the role of executive director. Habursky’s tenure at PCA includes outside government affairs consultant (2018), Director of Federal Affairs, head of government affairs, and deputy executive director (2019-present). Since May 2024, Habursky has served as interim executive director of the PCA following Scott Pearce’s departure.
“For the past five years we have been able to work effectively with Josh to accomplish the goals of the association related to advocacy. We are confident of his ability to take on the additional responsibility of running the full association moving forward. This internal promotion is a testament to both Josh and the entire PCA staff who have been diligently working with the board to make the association a powerhouse in all departments,” says Scott Regina, president of the PCA board of directors in a statement.
Habursky will continue to serve as the organization’s chief lobbyist but will work with internal staff and consultants to identify new priorities and responsibilities. The PCA will implement a new five-year Strategic Plan and is expected to announce additional positive changes in the coming months, including new hires to support the trade show team.
Habursky has spent over a decade working in government affairs roles in trade and membership associations, including the American Motorcyclist Association, American Diabetes Association, and Independent Community Bankers of America.
Australia will soften a proposed ban on vaping following opposition from the Greens party, leading the government to agree to revise a bill that would have limited vapes to those with a doctor’s prescription.
The agreement between the ruling center-left Labor Party and the Greens will lead to the passage of legislation later this week that restricts the sale of vapes to pharmacies and removes them from retail shelves. This move is aimed at curbing the rise in youth vaping.
However, the bill falls short of the government’s initial ambition to restrict sales only to those with a doctor’s prescription, which would have been a world first. The amended bill will take effect on July 1, reports Reuters.
Under the compromise deal, vapes will be moved “behind the counter” in October. Customers will need to have a conversation with the pharmacist before making a purchase, and those under 18 years old will need a prescription.
Health Minister Mark Butler said in a statement that the government “welcomed constructive engagement with the crossbench and secured the support of the Greens for our world-leading vaping laws.”
The Labor Party does not have a majority in the upper house and must negotiate with other parties and independent senators to pass legislation.
When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the marketing of four Njoy brand menthol e-cigarette products, Senator Dick Durbin was disappointed. He said the agency should have done better. The move marks the first nontobacco-flavored e-cigarette products to be authorized by the FDA.
“Flavors like menthol are used by Big Tobacco companies to mask the harsh taste of their dangerous products. FDA knows this from its own experience seeking to ban the production of menthol cigarettes to protect the public health,” Durbin stated. “We’ve seen that children begin nicotine use with menthol. Today’s authorization of menthol-flavored vapes will create an opening for more children to become addicted to harmful products.”
Earlier this month, Durbin, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, held a committee hearing titled “Combatting the Youth Vaping Epidemic by Enhancing Enforcement Against Illegal E-Cigarettes.” The hearing underscored the alarming level of youth e-cigarette use and the role that flavors—such as menthol—play in youth use of tobacco products and examined how federal agencies have failed to enforce laws designed to protect children from a lifetime of nicotine addiction.
Tony Abboud, executive director of the Vapor Technology Association, who also spoke at Durbin’s hearing, said he applauds the FDA’s decision to “finally follow the massive body of science” that shows flavored e-cigarettes help people quit smoking. However, Abboud said the move does little to address the massive problems surrounding the regulatory agency’s authorization process.
“The reality is that this news, while a tiny step in the right direction, again reveals a more troubling pattern—the FDA acting only in self-interest to quell political pressure rather than acting in the interest of the American people,” said Abboud. “The only vapes authorized today are all owned by the biggest cigarette companies.
“Today’s authorizations once again demonstrate Brian King and the FDA’s hypocritical allegiance to those cigarette companies whose deadly cigarettes and other combustible products that the FDA continues to flood the market with at a record pace.”
Vapes are a powerful tool for adult smokers making the transition from cigarettes to reduced-risk products (RRP). The category is governed by market-specific regulation, often influencing public perception and, therefore, uptake.
Last week, following an extensive scientific review, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the marketing of four menthol-flavored e-cigarette products for Altria-owned vaping company Njoy. This is a watershed moment for the sector and one which will have a huge and significant impact on the global RRP market.
This announcement signifies the FDA’s acknowledgment that menthol vaping products have the potential to be an important and effective tool for adult smokers looking for reduced-risk alternatives. This is significant for the wider sector in a number of ways; above all, it sets a precedent for other markets, paving the way for other regulators, particularly those looking at bans, to consider flavors in the context of public health.
Across the globe, we are seeing an increasing number of markets introduce bans on flavors on a precautionary basis in a bid to mitigate youth uptake. At Plxsur, we have long advocated against the ban of flavors on vape products, arguing that it has the potential to negatively impact those making the transition from conventional cigarettes, who often are drawn to vapes for their flavor, amongst other factors such as price and convenience. There are also arguments and emerging evidence that flavor bans drive the black market sale of unregulated, dangerous products.
There will be many that, understandably, say this decision is “too little, too late,” but it is nonetheless encouraging to see the FDA, with its extensive science and evidence-based review, validating that with effective regulation and enforcement, flavored vape products are “in the interest of public health.” Those countries that have considered flavor bans should look to the U.S. and conclude that it can’t be justified from a scientific review perspective.
While this is the first authorization of a “characterizing flavor” by the FDA for vaping products, two of the major regulatory influencing bodies, the FDA and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), now acknowledge that there is value in non-tobacco-flavored vaping products.
This decision has the potential to impact the world. The U.S. has long influenced international markets, so it sets a benchmark that we expect other, less vape-supportive governments and regulatory bodies will follow.
Rob Burton
In Italy, tobacco-flavored vapes constitute 40% of the vape market, while menthol represents 21%.[1] This demonstrates the significance of flavored products in the market as a whole. If such flavors were to be banned, this would act as a barrier for smokers to move to reduced-risk alternatives and potentially lead vapers to return to cigarettes.
In some geographies, it is great to see that vapes are being accepted as an effective alternative to conventional cigarettes, even this week’s news from Australia announcing that vapes – which until now have only been available through prescription – will soon be available for sale within pharmacies without the need for a prescription, offering an effective pathway to end the smoking epidemic in the country.
As we anticipate the potential revision of the Tobacco Product Directive Review next year, the justification for banning flavors, from a scientific point of view, simply isn’t there. In the case of Njoy, this has been shown through closed-system pod-based devices, which offer a more cost-effective avenue for existing smokers and disposable systems while incorporating child lock systems that will restrict access to children, as is already applied by a Plxsur company, ProVape, in its SALT and KUBIK brands.
While the FDA’s authorization is specific to these four products made and sold by Njoy and does not apply to any other menthol-flavored e-cigarettes, our expectation is this will open a channel for other such products to achieve authorization by providing the necessary framework and the potential for knowledge-sharing and guidance. With the weight of data-led evidence, the category can advocate for the democratization of this framework, enabling further regulatory authorizations for products produced by responsible vaping companies in the interest of the adult smoker.
At Plxsur, we have a clear purpose – to facilitate adult smokers to make positive health decisions by transitioning away from cigarettes to reduced-risk products. Flavor is a key factor in supporting smokers moving completely to such alternatives, and we look forward to seeing a more science and data-led approach being adopted across all markets as we work to save the lives of those impacted by smoking, mitigate the risk of youth uptake, and do so sustainably and responsibly.
We view this FDA decision as a significant step forward in broadening the pathway for adult smokers, and previously lacking “off-ramp” for U.S. menthol smokers looking to make the switch, which, according to Public Health England, is 95% less harmful and, therefore, undeniably, “in the interest of public health.”[2]
Robert Burton is Group Scientific and Regulatory director for Plxsur.
The floods that hit Rio Grande do Sul in early May have done significant damage to the Brazilian state’s tobacco-growing sector, according to a survey conducted by the Interstate Tobacco Industry Union (SindiTabaco) and its associate companies.
In all, the floods impacted 1,929 rural properties in 75 municipalities covered by the survey. Candelaria municipality was worst impacted, with 214 tobacco farmers suffering losses. Other heavily impacted municipalities included Agudo (136 affected farmers), Barros Cassal (132) and Venancio Aires (116).
In terms of monetary impact, Venancio Aires was most impacted, with the industry suffering a loss of BRL18.3 million ($3.37 million). Other hard-hit municipalities included Candelaria (BRL16.52 million in losses), Agudo (BRL6.35 million) and Ibarama (BRL5.96 million).
We are confident that, in spite of this tragedy, the production of tobacco in the affected areas should remain close to the projections estimated for the 2024–2025 growing season
The survey also demonstrated that 96 percent of the affected farmers intend to continue producing tobacco. “We need to provide the conditions that make it possible for them to carry on with their activities in the upcoming crop year and, within this context, the associate companies have already replaced the necessary inputs to restore the 2,070 seedbeds of lost seedlings, an investment that amounts to approximately BRL1.6 million,” said SindiTabaco President Iro Schuenke during a meeting with representatives of tobacco growers’ association Afubra, the Federation of Agricultural Workers and the Rio Grande do Sul State Federation of Agriculture.
“We are confident that, in spite of this tragedy, the production of tobacco in the affected areas should remain close to the projections estimated for the 2024–2025 growing season.”
While the industry and the tobacco farmers’ representatives are doing their best to minimize losses, they will require public support to rebuild curing barns and access credit lines, according to Schuenke, who noted that many tobacco farmers also produce food crops.
EU health ministers on June 21 discussed proposals to restrict flavors in consumer nicotine products, such as vapes and nicotine pouches.
The EU Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council will consider proposals from Latvia and Denmark to support an EU-wide flavor ban and a crackdown on cross-border sales, among other recommendations.
If the health ministers reach consensus support for these proposals, the next step would be to ask the European Commission to introduce draft legislation, which would eventually be voted on by the council and the European Parliament, according to Vaping360.
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Slovenia already ban vape flavors. Spain recently completed a public consultation on a proposed flavor ban while Latvia reportedly is in the process of introducing flavor restrictions.
The Tobacco Products Directive allows the member states to set their own rules for flavors. The Latvian proposal asserts that individual bans don’t work due to cross-border sales, among other factors.
Vaping activists have urged the EU to keep e-cigarette flavors legal.
“By supporting a flavor ban, EU health ministers would push millions of adults back to smoking or into the black market, endangering lives and ignoring scientific evidence. A flavor ban would be a huge step backward for public health and harm reduction,” said Michael Landl, director of the World Vapers’ Alliance, in a statement.
“Scientific research consistently shows that flavors play a crucial role in helping smokers quit. The endorsement of the flavor ban ignores those findings and the clear will of the people, opting instead for a policy that will cause more harm than good. The World Vapers’ Alliance will continue fighting for reasonable, evidence-based policies that truly protect public health.”
