Category: Featured

  • Health Groups Urge Pouch Prescriptions

    Health Groups Urge Pouch Prescriptions

    Photo: DW labs

    Leading health organizations are urging Canadian lawmakers to crack down on flavored nicotine products and make nicotine pouches available upon prescription only.

    In a full-page ad in The Hill Times, Action on Smoking and Health, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Lung Association, the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control, Heart and Stroke, and Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada assert that flavors play a key role in attracting kids to nicotine products and call on the federal government to ban flavors, including mint and menthol, in e-cigarettes.

    The ad also calls for action to protect minors against the sale and promotion of nicotine pouches by making them a prescription-only product. Under the current federal rules, nicotine pouches authorized under the Natural Health Products Regulation can be legally sold to minors in convenience stores and promoted on television, billboards and social media, including by means of lifestyle advertising.

    “Several additional options are available to the health minister, like temporarily suspending the sale of nicotine products, which would also allow federal, provincial and territorial authorities to strengthen relevant laws and regulations. For example, nicotine pouches could be subject to many of [the] same provisions regarding promotion that apply to tobacco and vaping products,” said Cynthia Callard, executive director of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, in a statement.

    The ad is in part a response to the success of Imperial Tobacco Canada’s Zonnic pouches, which Health Canada approved for sale in 2023. The health groups rebuffed the company’s insistence that its pouches are intended for adult smokers who want to quit. “Unlike other manufacturers of nicotine-replacement therapies, this company deliberately chose to distribute its product through convenience stores and promote them with lifestyle messaging and images of young adults,” said Flory Doucas, co-director and spokesperson of the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control.

  • Dutch Retail Bonuses Not Advertising

    Dutch Retail Bonuses Not Advertising

    Photo: fizkes

    Paying retailers bonuses for meeting sales targets does not represent a violation of tobacco advertising restrictions, the Netherlands’ top business court ruled, reports Dutch News.

    The product safety board NVWA fined 11 manufacturers and wholesalers for giving bonuses to shopkeepers who sold pre-agreed-upon quantities of cigarettes or placed products in highly visible spots. The NVWA stated that these practices were against the tobacco advertising ban. The companies, however, argued that they were “quite normal business practices.”

    The Dutch business court found that the NVWA applied the law too widely, stating that advertising only exists if its purpose is to encourage consumers to use the products.

    Starting July 1, supermarkets in the Netherlands will be banned from selling tobacco. Beginning 2032, only specialist tobacco shops will be allowed to sell cigarettes and rolling tobacco.

  • Zimbabwe Prepares for Marketing Season

    Zimbabwe Prepares for Marketing Season

    Image: Taco Tuinstra

    Zimbabwe’s tobacco growers are preparing for the 2024 marketing season, set to begin in March, reports Xinhua News.

    Farmers remain hopeful for a successful season despite unfavorable weather patterns that affected some crops—late onset of rains and severe hailstorms in some areas.

    This year’s projection is 250 million kg of tobacco due to the dry spell compared to last year’s record high of 296 million kg, according to Chelesani Tsarwe, public affairs officer of the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB). By 2025, the government aims to increase production to 300 million kg per year.

    Tobacco auction floors will open March 13, according to the TIMB. Contract floors will open March 14. 

    Favorable pricing will be crucial for farmers to cover costs, especially for small-scale farmers, who make up over 80 percent of the country’s tobacco farmers, according to George Seremwe, president of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association.

    Tobacco is a major foreign currency earner in the country.

    “We think it will be very important for the government and the stakeholders to work on value addition, that is, value addition locally; with that, probably, we hope that the profits will also be shared among farmers,” said Seremwe.

  • BEA Proposes 70 Percent Tax

    BEA Proposes 70 Percent Tax

    Image: Dmitry Chulov

    The Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) has proposed a 70 percent tax on all types of cigarettes and tobacco, according to The Business Post.

    By setting the tax as such, the BEA estimates that smoking will decrease by about 66 percent and the state will generate BDT17 billion ($154.89 million) in revenue.

    The BEA submitted the proposal to the National Board of Revenue during the pre-budget discussion. According to the BEA, the 70 percent duty would increase cigarette prices by an average of 130 percent. 

  • KT&G Recognized for Sustainability

    KT&G Recognized for Sustainability

    Photo: KT&G

    KT&G has been selected as a leading company (Leadership Grade) in the climate change response and water resource management sectors by the global environmental assessment organization CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project).

    Following last year, KT&G has achieved the top grade in the Leadership category in both climate change response and water resource management. In particular, in the water resource management sector, it has risen from Leadership A- last year to the highest grade, A, with only three domestic companies in South Korea receiving an A grade out of the 100 winning companies worldwide. The climate change response sector maintained its Leadership A- grade from last year.

    KT&G established its medium-term to long-term environmental management vision, 2030 Green Impact, in 2021 and has been practicing ESG management to achieve carbon neutrality throughout its value chain. It has set greenhouse gas reduction targets contributing to limiting the rise in global temperatures to within 1.5 degrees Celsius and achieved a 7.5 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from domestic and overseas facilities as of 2022 (compared to the base year of 2020). Additionally, it has enhanced the reliability and objectivity of greenhouse gas emission data by undergoing third-party verification for the emissions in its supply chain.

    In the water resource management sector, KT&G has set a goal to reduce water usage in domestic and overseas manufacturing facilities by 20 percent by 2030 compared to 2020 and is implementing measures to achieve this target. KT&G plans to systematically practice environmental management in the future through the expansion of renewable energy use, water recycling and energy efficiency enhancement.

    CDP, founded in the U.K. in 2000 as a nonprofit organization, requests environmental management information disclosure from over 23,000 companies worldwide and conducts analysis and evaluation of this information. It is also recognized as a credible sustainability assessment organization along with Morgan Stanley International.

    “We have been recognized as an excellent company by CDP for our climate change response and systematic water resource management capabilities in line with global standards,” said a KT&G representative in a statement. “We will continue to promote genuine ESG management, including leading the acceleration of the transition to a circular economy.”

  • Li Volti Reconfirmed Director of CoEHAR

    Li Volti Reconfirmed Director of CoEHAR

    Photo: CoEHAR

    The Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR) has reappointed Giovanni Li Volti as its director for the next four years.

    “Following the path already undertaken by Riccardo Polosa, founder of CoEHAR, our center is today considered the most influential and productive in the world in the field of research applied to the harm reduction,” Li Volti said in a statement acknowledging the reappointment.

    “A recognition that has led our university to be celebrated and rewarded several times for the productivity of its members, for innovation in the scientific field and for the large and important internationalization actions that have brought to Catania, in just five years, more of 150 researchers and stakeholders from all over the globe, interested in our activity.

    “The trust expressed by all of you honors me and motivates me even more to dedicate my energies, and what I have learned so far, to guarantee the success of scientific research in the sector of reducing smoking harm, and to follow the immense work carried out from the entire CoEHAR team and its founder and mentor.

    “The international successes of CoEHAR are the victories of a team and of the great excellence of Catania research. I look to the future with optimism and hope to work in close collaboration with everyone to achieve new shared and far-sighted goals.”

    Tobacco Reporter profiled CoEHAR in its January 2024 print edition and online (see, “Reviewing their Peers”).

  • Study Debunks Myths About Smokers

    Study Debunks Myths About Smokers

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Contrary to popular perceptions, most smokers in Australia are educated, employed and in good mental health, according to a national study by the Australian National University (ANU).

    Study senior author Emily Banks said the findings will help break down stigma surrounding people who smoke as well as ensure that support is better targeted to the people who need it. 

    “Smoking remains Australia’s leading cause of premature death and disability, so it’s vital that we better understand who smokes and the reasons why they do,” she said in a statement.

    “People who smoke are often stigmatized and stereotyped as uneducated, unemployed and mentally ill.”

    “We analyzed nationally representative data on smoking in Australia to get a better understanding of who smokes in our population,” said lead author, Jessica Aw, a medical student at ANU. “We found that around 2.5 million people smoke daily in Australia; around 60 percent of people who smoke are men, 65 percent live in major cities, and 92 percent are non-Indigenous.

    “In addition, 69 percent have completed year 12, 69 percent of those of working age are in paid employment and 73 percent had good mental health.

    “Although smoking is more common in people who are experiencing structural disadvantage—like people in more remote areas, Indigenous peoples, those with less education and those living in poverty—most people who smoke are educated, employed and in good mental health, similar to the total population of Australia.”

    The findings are published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

  • Eastern CEO Defends Price Hike

    Eastern CEO Defends Price Hike

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Eastern Co. increased cigarette prices by between EGP2 ($0.06) and EGP8 per pack, effective Feb. 17, 2024, reports Ahram Online.

    The company’s most affordable brand, Cleopatra, now retails for EGP30 instead of EGP27 for a pack of 20 cigarettes.

    This marks the company’s second price hike in three months. Cigarette prices have increased multiple times over the past year in Egypt amid the decreasing value of the Egyptian pound against the U.S dollar.

    Earlier this month, Philip Morris Egypt raised prices of traditional cigarette brands, including Marlboro, Merit and L&M, by between EGP9 and EGP11 per pack.

    In a television interview, Eastern Co. CEO Hani Aman insisted the price hikes were modest when compared to the significant increase in the cost of raw materials.

    “We are not a very commercial company, otherwise we would have raised our prices by large proportions like other companies, but we look at the issue from a different point of view. Cigarettes are a strategic commodity,” he was quoted as saying by The Egypt Independent.

    According to Aman, 95 percent of cigarette components are imported. The price of cigarette filters, for example, has increased by about 400 percent, he said.

    Approximately 18 million people out of Egypt’s nearly 105 million-strong population smoke cigarettes, according to official data.

  • Singapore to Strengthen Vaping Enforcement

    Singapore to Strengthen Vaping Enforcement

    Photo: 2p2play

    Singapore plans to intensify its crackdown on vaping, reports The Straits Times.

    In a joint statement in December 2023, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) and the Ministry of Health said enforcement and education efforts would be stepped up to prevent vaping from gaining a foothold in Singapore.

    The city state banned vaping in 2018. Buying, owning or using a vaporizer in Singapore can result in fines of up to SGS2,000 ($1,484.69). First-time offenders who import, distribute, sell or offer for sale vaporizers and their components can be fined up to SGD10,000, jailed for up to six months, or both.

    Authorities encourage citizens with information on the illegal possession, use, purchase, import, distribution, sale or offer for sale of vaporizers to the Tobacco Regulation Branch.

    Despite the risks, vaping has been steadily gaining ground in Singapore, with consumers buying vapes online and from overseas suppliers. In 2022, 4,916 people were violating Singapore’s vaping ban, compared with 1,266 in 2020 and 4,697 in 2021. In December 2023 alone, authorities reported  1,656 vaping -related cases.

  • Hong Kong Urged to Raise Taxes

    Hong Kong Urged to Raise Taxes

    Photo: IB Photography

    The Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health (COSH) has called on the city’s government to increase the tobacco tax by at least three quarters in the 2024-2025 budget, reports the South China Morning Post.  

    Such a raise would bring the levy in line with the World Health Organization’s recommendation for taxes to account for 75 percent or more of cigarettes’ retail price. The proposed tax hike will push up the cigarette retail price to about HKD115 ($14.70) per pack, a potential tipping point for many smokers to consider cessation. 

    The move will also help Hong Kong achieve its goal of reducing smoking prevalence to 7.8 percent by 2025, according to the COSH. The smoking prevalence in Hong Kong was 9.5 percent in 2021. 

    COSH also advocates for an automatic tax increase mechanism for future annual tax hikes, adjusted to counteract the effects of inflation and income growth, and avoid the tax’s proportion in the overall retail price of cigarettes being decreased by industry price hikes.

     According to the COSH, raising the tobacco tax requires the least implementation costs and enforcement resources, and the shortest time for legislation and implementation, while delivering the quickest and most significant results.