Category: Flavors

  • Questions without answers

    Questions without answers

    A Finnish member of the EU Parliament has asked the Commission what member states intend to do to reduce the use of snus by young people.

    In a preamble to two questions that the Commission is due to answer in writing, Merja Kyllönen said Directive 2014/40/EU required member states to prohibit the placing on the market of tobacco products, such as snus, with characterising flavors.

    ‘The purpose of banning characterising flavours and aromas (Directives 89/622/EEC and 92/41/EEC) is to make products less tempting, particularly to young people,’ she said.

    ‘The use of snus is increasing, especially among young people. Experts are of the opinion that banning the use of flavorings in snus would reduce its use.

    ‘In addition, young people and new users are drawn to snus by its attractive retail packaging.

    ‘Prolonged use of snus results in various types of damage to the mouth area. It particularly affects the biting surfaces of teeth and the gums. The damage caused by snus can be greater for young people than for adults, because young people’s gums are more sensitive. Nicotine in snus has similar effects to nicotine in tobacco, including insomnia, headaches and changes to the nervous system. Using snus brings about a significant increase in the risk of cancers of the mouth, throat and pancreas and is also linked to cardiovascular disease.’

    Kyllönen asked:

    1. ‘What do member states intend to do to reduce the use of snus by young people?
    2. ‘Are there any plans for reducing the attractiveness of snus to young people and new users by taking measures with regard to the appearance of retail packaging so as to add appropriate health warnings in the form of a combination of pictures and text?’

    [The EU bans the sale of snus in all member states except Sweden.]

  • E-liquid rules 'defy logic'

    E-liquid rules 'defy logic'

    The owner of two vaping stores in Portland, Oregon, US, is asking a judge to throw out a state list of banned words and pictures on vaping liquid packages, according to a story by Aimee Green at oregonlive.com.
    Paul Bates says the state’s “ridiculous” rules defy logic. For instance, he says in his lawsuit that the packages can’t use the words ‘apple or ‘strawberry’ even to describe the apple- or strawberry-infused liquids he sells for use with electronic cigarettes.
    The same goes for pictures of apples or strawberries.
    Employees at his Division Vapor stores in Southeast and Northeast Portland use white stickers to cover images on the labels that don’t comply with state rules, and that amounts to censorship and a violation of free speech, the suit contends.
    “The new rules are just mind-boggling,” Bates reportedly told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Wednesday.
    His suit lists the Oregon Health Authority, which is responsible for creating the banned list, as a defendant. Delia Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the agency, declined comment because of the pending litigation.
    Hernandez, however, said the recent packaging rules were sparked by concern from the state lawmakers, who passed a law in 2015 requiring that packaging not be attractive to children.
    In response, the Oregon Health Authority adopted a rule that said vaping liquid labels can’t depict images that might be appealing to minors – including those of “celebrities, athletes, mascots, fictitious characters” or “food or beverages likely to appeal to minors such as candy, desserts, soda, food or beverages with sweet flavors including fruit or alcohol”. This year, health officials added words, such as “tart, tangy, sweet, cool, fire, ice” and the names of fruits.
    Bates, who buys his entire inventory from other companies that mostly don’t comply with Oregon regulations, said the health authority hadn’t forced him to follow the latest rules – yet.
    The suit was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Beaverton attorney Herbert Grey is representing Bates

  • Expanding vapor

    Expanding vapor

    The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) said on Friday that it was expanding its membership after another successful year representing the industry.
    In a press note, the UKVIA, which has been in operation for three years, said it was being joined by UK-based ECig-Direct and Oxford Vapours, and its first overseas-based members, SMOK, Innokin and FlavorIQ.
    Founded in 2008, ECig-Direct is a UK supplier of vaping devices and e-liquids, while Oxford Vapours offers e-liquids, vaping devices and spares to customers in the UK and Scandinavia through its retail stores and online service.
    SMOK and Innokin, which are the first China-based members to join the UKVIA, are expected to bring an extensive knowledge of the global vaping market to the Association.
    Formed in 2010, SMOK is a leading brand of e-cigarette manufacturer Shenzhen IVPS Technology, which is said to sell to its 80 million customers in 50 countries its e-liquids and vaping devices.
    Innokin is said to have designed and manufactured several internationally-recognised vaping products at its base in China. Its products are available in more than 5,000 Vape shops in the US, which are serviced from its customer headquarters in California.
    FlavorIQ, which is said to be one of Europe’s leading e-liquid suppliers, is joining the UKVIA as an associate member. The German manufacturer started in 2014 as a branch of Hertz Flavours, a key producer of tobacco flavors. Through this partnership, FlavorIQ can call on 60 years of experience in flavor design and brings this expertise to the e-cigarette market.
    “As the leading trade body for the UK vaping market, we are delighted to welcome some of the most renowned vaping brands as members to the Association,” a UKVIA spokesperson was quoted as saying.
    “The UKVIA has been working on the public health and policy frontlines for the industry with fantastic progress.
    “We now look forward to working with new national and international members to achieve a real impact in harm reduction for smokers in the UK and worldwide.”

  • Hybrid product launched

    Hybrid product launched

    South Korean tobacco manufacturer KT&G on Monday unveiled what it described as its new heat-not-burn (HNB) tobacco device, Lil Hybrid, the first HNB device that works by heating a liquid cartridge, according to a story in The Korea Herald.
    “Our previous HNB tobacco devices – Lil Mini and Lil Plus – had received consumer feedback that the taste needs to be improved,” Lim Wang-seob, chief of the company’s product innovation division, was quoted as saying. “That’s why we came up with our exclusive and new platform called Lil Hybrid.”
    Lil Hybrid uses both a detachable liquid cartridge and an HNB-type stick, which has the brand name Miix. The liquid cartridge and Miix are compatible only with Lil Hybrid.
    Miix is available in three different tastes, Miix Presso, Miix Mix and Miix Ice, while the liquid cartridges do not contain flavorings.
    KT&G said that previous HNB tobacco devices worked by directly heating a tobacco stick to about 315 Celsius, but that Lil Hybrid heated the liquid cartridge to about 160 degrees.
    Meanwhile, Lim was quoted as saying that, according to safety and health-risk tests conducted by a third-party organization, the health risks of Lil Hybrid were less than those of the company’s previous models.
    In July, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety published the results of tests that it claimed had found HNB tobacco products to be equally, if not more harmful than traditional cigarettes. A court case has been launched to force it to disclose its test methodologies.
    The Korean government recently decided to require, from December, that HNB products carry the same graphic warning images as combustible-tobacco products.

  • Menthol under threat

    Menthol under threat

    The US Food and Drug Administration plans to propose a ban on menthol cigarettes this week as part of its aggressive campaign against flavored electronic cigarettes and some tobacco products, according to a story by Sheila Kaplan for the New York Times, quoting agency officials.
    However, Kaplan said the proposal would have to go through the FDA’s ‘regulatory maze’, and that it could be several years before such a restriction took effect, especially if the major tobacco companies contested the agency’s authority to do so.
    None of the major tobacco companies were ready to comment on the possibility of barring menthol cigarettes.
    Such a move has been long-awaited by some public health advocates, who have been especially concerned about the high percentage of African-Americans who become addicted to menthol cigarettes.
    Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the agency’s commissioner, would not comment publicly on the proposal on Friday [when Kaplan’s piece was published]. But he was quoted as having said in a recent interview that the FDA was revisiting the issue, one that had been weighed by previous administrations. “It was a mistake for the agency to back away on menthol,” he said.
    Canada has already imposed a ban on menthol cigarettes, and the EU’s ban is set to go into effect in 2020. Earlier this year, San Francisco passed a prohibition against the sales of menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes.
    Kaplan said that the menthol proposal was just one of several initiatives the FDA planned to announce sometime this week, which would include a ban on sales of most flavored e-cigarettes, except menthol and mint, at retail stores and gas stations across the country.
    The products, which include such flavors as chicken-and-waffles and mango, would be mainly relegated to sales online, at sites where the agency hopes to impose strict age verification to ensure that minors cannot buy them.

  • Industry accused of success

    Industry accused of success

    The tobacco industry is “reverting to tricks and stunts” in a bid to attract young smokers, according to a story in The Guardian quoting the head of the Public Health Association of Australia.
    Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin made his comment after analysis published in the British Medical Journal’s Tobacco Control had shown that cigarettes with flavor capsules were the fastest growing segment of the combustible tobacco market.
    Slevin described the modification of tobacco products to make them more ‘appetising’ as “an extraordinary assault on public health”.
    “Any modification to tobacco products which clearly aim to increase rates of smoking and target young smokers should be ruthlessly resisted,” he was quoted as saying.
    “Australia has the lowest rates of smoking in the world among young people, and we now have a situation where more than 97 percent of children under 18 are never-smokers. The tobacco industry is clearly seeking to reverse that success and is reverting to tricks and stunts which should not be tolerated.”
    The Tobacco Control analysis published on Monday found the market for cigarettes with flavor capsules in the filter had ‘grown exponentially since being introduced in 2007’.
    The analysis, led by the University of Stirling in the UK, found there was a dearth of research on capsule cigarettes.
    Nevertheless, it reported that research with adult smokers in the UK, US and Australia had shown ‘consistently’ a preference for capsules among young adults.
    More than half of past-month smokers aged 12–17 years in Australia were said to have reported having tried a capsule cigarette.

  • They had a plan but …

    They had a plan but …

    The US Food and Drug Administration is considering prohibiting the sales of some vapes in convenience stores, according to a story by Jim McDonald for Vaping360 quoting the agency’s Commissioner Scott Gottlieb.
    The agency might also restrict online sales, as Gottlieb has already threatened, to try to stem what Gottlieb regularly calls an “epidemic” of teenage vaping.
    “We have a sense of where we’re going to be heading from a policy standpoint,” Gottlieb told CNBC’s Squawk Box program.
    “We have a problem with access. These products are too accessible to kids. And we have a problem with appeal. These products are too appealing to kids right now. And it’s mostly the cartridge-based e-cigarette products. The open-tank products that you might find in a vaping store aren’t generally used by kids.”
    McDonald pointed out that that position was a reversal from the concerns expressed by the agency in its 2016 Deeming Rule. In creating that document, the FDA had carefully plotted a course to cripple and then destroy the open-system vaping market, while encouraging manufacturers to pursue products like pod vapes or cartridge-based systems.
    The new plan, meanwhile, would restrict sales in the places smokers are most likely to see and buy vaping products: stores that also sell cigarettes.
    Gottlieb said that vape shops seemed to be doing a better job than c-stores and other tobacco sales channels at verifying ID.
    Gottlieb seemed to indicate that flavored products might be allowed in vape shops if they were “adult-only.” Such a requirement would require rulemaking by the agency, or legislation in Congress.
    The FDA would have to have an objective standard for which flavors – or flavor descriptors – would be allowed in traditional retail channels.
    But they would likely face lawsuits from retailers, who would object to an arbitrary rule that prevented only certain stores from selling legal products.

  • FDA issues reminder

    FDA issues reminder

    The US Food and Drug Administration has issued a reminder that the ingredient-listing compliance deadline for small-scale manufacturers of ‘deemed’ products on the market as of August 8, 2016, is November 8, 2018.
    And it is informing those that need additional time to comply with the November 8 deadline because they were directly impacted by recent natural disasters to contact it by email at CTPRegistrationandListing@fda.hhs.gov. The Agency said it would ‘assess each situation on a case-by-case basis’.
    ‘Deemed tobacco products entering the market after August 8, 2016, must submit the ingredient information at least 90 days before the product is introduced to interstate commerce,’ the FDA said in a note issued yesterday through its Center for Tobacco Products. ‘FDA encourages manufacturers to start the process as early as possible.
    ‘In April 2018, FDA published a revised Listing of Ingredients in Tobacco Products guidance to assist manufacturers and importers preparing tobacco product ingredient submissions. The guidance announced that FDA currently intends to enforce the ingredient listing submission requirements of section 904(a)(1) only with respect to finished tobacco products and their components or parts that are made or derived from tobacco, or containing ingredients that are burned, aerosolized or ingested during tobacco product use.
    ‘The guidance also streamlines requirements for manufacturers by clarifying ways in which tobacco product manufacturers or importers can satisfy the ingredient listing requirements by providing one listing that corresponds to multiple products. It explains the statutory requirement to submit a list of all ingredients in tobacco products; who is required to submit ingredient information; what information must be included in the submissions; how and when to submit the information; FDA’s compliance policies; and definitions.
    ‘In response to industry feedback, FDA has developed three webinars to assist manufacturers with the submission of tobacco product ingredient listings:

    • Using FDA Tools to Submit Ingredient Listings Electronically;
    • Using a Tobacco Product Master File (TPMF) for Ingredient Listing Submissions;
    • Examples of Ingredient Listing Spreadsheets by Product Category.’

    More information is available at the FDA’s Submit Ingredient Listing for Tobacco Products page.

  • Menthol ban studied

    Menthol ban studied

    A ban on menthol cigarettes brought in by a Canadian province did not trigger a rise in the sales of illegal cigarettes that was predicted by the tobacco industry, according to an American Cancer Society (ACS) story published by HealthDay and citing a new study.
    The story said that when Nova Scotia became the first jurisdiction in the world to ban menthol cigarettes in May 2015, the ‘tobacco industry’ claimed that “the primary effect of this law will be to increase the illegal tobacco market in Nova Scotia”.
    To determine if that were true, study author Michal Stoklosa, an economic and health policy research scientist at the ACS, analyzed Nova Scotia government data from 2007-2008 to 2017-2018.
    His study found a large decrease in the number of seized illicit cigarettes of any kind, from more than 60,000 cartons in 2007-2008 to just under 10,000 cartons in 2017-2018. Most of this decline occurred in the late 2000s, which was said to suggest that there was no link between seizures and the menthol cigarette ban.
    There was no statistically significant difference in the number of cigarettes seized before and after menthol cigarettes were banned, according to the researchers.
    “This indicates that illicit cigarette sales in the province are similarly unlikely to be increasing,” Stoklosa was quoted as saying in an ACS news release.
    “Indeed, Nova Scotia tax authorities estimate that the prevalence of illegal tobacco in the province has actually decreased, from 30 percent of all tobacco consumed in 2006-2007 to less than 10 percent in 2016-2017.”
    The study findings were published on October 11 in the journal Tobacco Control.

  • Questions over e-liquids

    Questions over e-liquids

    A Spanish member of the EU Parliament has asked the Commission if it intends to change the requirements for e-liquids labeling, and to run campaigns to educate people about the ‘toxicity of liquids and flavoring substances’.
    In a preamble to three questions the Commission is due to answer in writing, José Blanco López said the use of refillable e-cigarettes and the potential exposure to liquids from e-cigarettes that contained high concentrations of nicotine posed risks to public health.
    Twenty percent of people aged between 14 and 18 had tried this ‘new system’.
    ‘The majority of them do not know that it contains nicotine and many others take another type of drug due to the different way that they use e-cigarettes, according to the latest data from the Spanish National Committee for Preventing Tobacco Addiction,’ he said.
    ‘In accordance with European regulations in this area, namely Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, Directive 2014/40/EU and Report COM (2016) 269 final, can the Commission say:
    1)         ‘Is it considering the possibility of carrying out a greater number of investigations on certain aspects of e-cigarettes which apply to refillable models, such as emissions checks and studies on the safety level of the flavouring substances and their blends?
    2)         ‘Does it intend to raise standards for labeling?
    3)         ‘Does it intend to launch informative and educational awareness-raising campaigns on the toxicity of liquids and flavouring substances?’