TobaccoReporter logo

Category: Global Regulation

  • Good Cop 2.0 Concludes with Focus on Prohibitionist Policies

    Good Cop 2.0 Concludes with Focus on Prohibitionist Policies

    The final day of Good COP 2.0 highlighted the global consequences of strict, prohibitionist tobacco control measures. Speakers drew attention to the rise in illicit trade, gang violence, and punitive enforcement, attributing these outcomes to policies like heavy taxation and rigid pre-market approval systems promoted under WHO guidelines, which often overlook scientific evidence and consumer behavior.

    “There is a portion of people that you’ll never reach by only appealing to the evidence,” said author Jacob Grier. “It’s also important to change the framing and shift the culture.”

    Panel discussions explored the real-world harms of fundamentalist approaches and stressed the importance of including consumer perspectives in policymaking. Experts also outlined frameworks for effective, humane nicotine regulation, including suggestions that U.S. reforms might require a partial repeal of the Tobacco Control Act and a more measured FDA approach.

    The event concluded with an open forum, allowing participants to reflect on the week’s discussions and emphasizing the urgent need for reform within the WHO’s FCTC framework to create balanced, evidence-based global tobacco policy.

    “Of the funds that are contributed to the WHO, a significant percentage goes to the FCTC Secretariat,” said professor Tikki Pangestu. “Only a small amount goes toward running the programs. Meanwhile, a growing percentage of WHO funding comes not from member nations, but from outside groups with dubious agendas.”

  • Virginia Defends Ban on Unauthorized Flavored E-Cigarettes in Federal Court

    Virginia Defends Ban on Unauthorized Flavored E-Cigarettes in Federal Court

    Virginia is pushing back against a challenge to its statewide ban on unauthorized flavored e-cigarettes, arguing in federal court that the restriction is both legally sound and critical to protecting youth from nicotine addiction. The law prohibits the sale of any flavored vaping product that has not been specifically authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration—effectively barring nearly all flavored e-cigarettes currently on the market.

    In newly filed briefs, the state contends it has broad authority to regulate retail tobacco and nicotine sales to safeguard public health, pointing to rising youth vaping rates and the popularity of flavored disposable products. Virginia argues that the plaintiffs—primarily vape shop owners and industry groups—are seeking to bypass the FDA’s national regulatory framework, which requires companies to obtain marketing authorization for every product. Because the vast majority of flavored e-cigarettes have been denied or have not received FDA authorization, the state says the ban simply enforces existing federal law at the retail level.

    Plaintiffs claim the measure is unconstitutional, asserting it infringes on interstate commerce, unfairly harms small businesses, and effectively imposes a de facto prohibition. But Virginia maintains the law is narrowly tailored, does not conflict with federal authority, and is necessary to prevent youth from accessing high-nicotine flavored products that remain widely available despite federal restrictions. The case is being closely watched as the outcome could set a significant precedent for state-level enforcement of federal tobacco regulations.

  • FDA Schedules TPSAC Review of ZYN Applications

    FDA Schedules TPSAC Review of ZYN Applications

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a January 22, 2026, virtual meeting of the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) to review modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) applications submitted by Swedish Match USA for 20 ZYN nicotine pouch products. These products—already authorized for sale through the PMTA pathway in January 2025—include flavors such as Cool Mint, Citrus, Coffee, Peppermint, and Wintergreen, each in 3 mg and 6 mg strengths. The company is seeking permission to market the pouches with the claim: “Using ZYN instead of cigarettes puts you at a lower risk of mouth cancer, heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.”

    Under federal law, MRTP applications must demonstrate that a product, as actually used by consumers, reduces individual health risks and benefits overall population health. TPSAC’s review will focus on scientific evidence regarding ZYN’s relative health risks, consumer comprehension of the proposed claim, and the potential public health impact of granting a modified risk order. The meeting will be held virtually, open to the public, captioned, and recorded.

    Public comments may be submitted to Docket No. FDA-2025-N-0835 through January 21, 2026, with comments received by January 7 provided directly to TPSAC. The FDA is also inviting individuals to request oral presentation slots during the meeting’s public comment period. Redacted MRTP application materials are available on the FDA’s website, and the agency will consider all public input and TPSAC recommendations before issuing a final decision.

  • ‘Forward-Looking Measures’ Spark Tension at COP11

    ‘Forward-Looking Measures’ Spark Tension at COP11

    Each day after the COP11 sessions end, the Global Alliance for Tobacco Control (GATC) posts a bulletin online that includes various thoughts and information from the day, including “awards” for groups it either agrees or disagrees with. The focus of yesterday’s bulletin (November 19) centered around the 16 “forward-looking measures” related to Article 2.1 of the WHO FCTC.

    Apparently, the forward-looking measures discussion created some provocative conversation as the GATC awarded its “dirty ashtray” distinction “To all the Parties who—incorrectly and, quite astonishingly, in unison—insisted that the Article 2.1 Draft Decision would impose new obligations, when it simply ‘invites’ Parties to ‘consider’ the 16 forward-looking measures.”

    In the section of the bulletin written by Cassandre Bigaignon and Amélie Eschenbrenner, they wrote, “Honestly, after sitting through multiple statements warning of ‘new obligations,’ ‘attacks on sovereignty,’ and declarations of countries being ‘simply not ready’ to implement these forward-looking measures, we have to ask: Were we all reading the same document?

    “So when a delegation raises the concern of ‘imposed new obligations,’ it fundamentally misrepresents the document’s intent, which is to expand the toolbox, encourage innovation, and share best practices, not bind Parties to new requirements.”

    The authors finished that section foreshadowing the next, in which they criticized the European Union, saying, “Amidst this debate on progressive action, the European Union’s silence today sure was deafening.” In the section titled, The EU at a Crossroads: Strong Leadership or a Silence that Serves the Tobacco Industry, they wrote, “Without consensus, the EU could lose its ability to speak and negotiate as a bloc at COP11, with significant global consequences. A divided EU would signal weakened resolve precisely as tobacco and nicotine industries intensify interference, exploit regulatory gaps, and push narratives aimed at stalling public health advances.

    “The stakes extend far beyond EU diplomacy. Division or silence within the region would directly benefit an industry that thrives on regulatory uncertainty. As newer nicotine products rapidly expand across Europe under the guise of ‘harm reduction’ and legislative progress stalls, strong European leadership is urgently needed.

    “The EU must seize the opportunity to speak with one strong voice at COP11. The world is watching, and failure to act would hand the advantage to an industry fundamentally opposed to public health. Europe can still stand together, if it chooses to do so.”

    In its parallel bulletin that covers the information from COP11 that gets released, Copwatch responded by saying, “GATC’s bulletin begins by calling out the dissenting EU member states. This is curious because the deliberations around reaching the EU’s common position on COP are supposed to be private.  Whilst it is true that there have been several leaks relating to the doomed struggles to reach a common position—the so-called ‘forward-looking measures’ having provoked such a backlash—GATC’s privileged position should prevent it from revealing what should be confidential information.  

    “This section ends with the appeal that ‘the world is watching.’ Sorry to break this to you, GATC, but…thanks to the secretive nature of the COP meetings, thanks to there being more compelling events for the world’s media to focus on, and thanks to the fact that people who smoke have been so thoroughly stigmatized—no, the world is not watching. The world doesn’t care much about FCTC COP.  But actually, we suspect that suits you just fine.”  

  • Shisha Sales Included in Offenses of Latest Taliban Floggings

    Shisha Sales Included in Offenses of Latest Taliban Floggings

    The Taliban carried out a new wave of public floggings across six provinces in Afghanistan over the past three days, including punishments tied to the sale of tobacco-related products such as shisha. According to multiple statements from the Taliban Supreme Court, 11 individuals in Kabul were publicly flogged on Monday (November 17) for trafficking and selling narcotic tablets, alcoholic beverages, and shisha. Each received 39 lashes and prison sentences of up to one year. Additional public floggings took place on charges ranging from “illicit relationships” to theft.

    A recent U.N. report documented 242 public floggings between July and September, reflecting a sharp rise in corporal punishment since the Taliban’s 2021 return to power. The enforcement actions highlight the Taliban’s tightening controls over all intoxicant-related products, which remain prohibited under their interpretation of Sharia law.

  • Cambodia Issues Strict Nicotine Ban in Tourism Sector

    Cambodia Issues Strict Nicotine Ban in Tourism Sector

    Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism issued a stringent directive to all tourism service establishments, warning that, beginning today (November 20), businesses distributing, selling, storing, advertising, producing, or importing electronic smoking devices, vaping substances, and shisha will face penalties including written warnings, suspension, or revocation of tourism business licences.

    The warning applies to civil servants, contracted officials, and owners or managers of tourism-related businesses nationwide, prohibiting the import, distribution, sale, advertising, use, possession, production, or storage of these devices.

  • Cyprus Kiosk Owners Ask for Tobacco Exemption

    Cyprus Kiosk Owners Ask for Tobacco Exemption

    Kiosk owners in Cyprus urged the finance ministry to seek an exemption from the EU’s planned tobacco tax hike, warning the measure would devastate small businesses and fuel smuggling across the island’s divide. Under the directive due in January 2028, cigarette prices would rise from €4.70 to €7 per pack, rolling tobacco from €7 to €13, and, for the first time, e-cigarettes, heated tobacco, and nicotine pouches would be taxed, effectively doubling their prices.

    The kiosk owners’ association, Sykade, told parliament’s commerce committee that half of kiosk revenues come from tobacco sales. It estimates 126 million cigarettes and 162 tons of tobacco are already smuggled annually from the north, costing the state at least €50 million in lost tax revenue. With 600 kiosks closed in the past decade, Sykade warned further hikes would mean closures, unemployment, and declining state income.

    Cyprus has one of Europe’s highest smoking rates at 34%, compared to the EU’s goal of reducing prevalence below 5% by 2040.

  • GATC Awards at COP11 Draw Criticism

    GATC Awards at COP11 Draw Criticism

    As predicted, New Zealand was given a “Dirty Ashtray Award” by the Global Alliance for Tobacco Control (GATC) at the World Health Organization’s FCTC COP11. The “award” is a symbolic dishonor given to countries or delegations that “are seen as obstructing progress on tobacco control or aligning too closely with tobacco industry interests.” Even though New Zealand has one of the world’s lowest smoking rates and some of the strictest tobacco controls, Copwatch correctly predicted it would receive the slight because the nation openly promotes harm reduction.

    The GATC said New Zealand’s citation is “for trying to portray their current tobacco control plan as a success when in reality, since COP10, they’ve reversed world-leading reforms, sabotaged Indigenous tobacco-free aspirations, have alarming vaping rates among young people, and have plummeted from 2nd to 53rd on the global index for tobacco industry interference.

    New Zealand’s legislative reversal is being used by tobacco industry interests globally to push bad policy.”

    New Zealand has a 6.8% smoking rate (the fifth-lowest in the world), with a pack of cigarettes costing just under NZ$50 ($28), plain packaging requirements, and a strict smoking policy that pretty much bans smoking in all public places. Conversely, Mexico’s smoking rate is 15.4% and the average cost for a pack of cigarettes is $0.70, and yet it was awarded the “Orchid Award” by GATC for “powerful and uncompromising statements against the tobacco industry.”

    The seemingly nonsensical awards drew sharp criticism.

    “The (Bloomberg-funded) Global Alliance for Tobacco Control has given the Dirty Ashtray award to New Zealand for having one of the world’s lowest smoking rates but doing it in a way that Bloomberg disapproves,” Institute of Economic Affairs head Chris Snowden wrote on his X account. The global Tobacco Industry Interference Index, for which New Zealand was criticized for having dropped on, is financed by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

    “Prohibitionist campaigners are annoyed that New Zealand has embraced harm reduction, pointing to ‘alarming vaping rates among young people,’” Alastair Cohen wrote for Clearing the Air. “Youth vaping rates have fallen for three successive years in New Zealand. Mexico was awarded at COP11. Mexico’s smoking rates are more than double those of New Zealand.”

    The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) was also quick to condemn the awards. “Awarding the Dirty Ashtray to a country that is reducing smoking through harm reduction is not public health advocacy,” said CAPHRA Executive Coordinator Nancy Loucas. “It is ideological obstruction.” 

    “Prohibition-driven NGOs have placed ideology ahead of public health outcomes,” CAPHRA said in a statement. “The FCTC Secretariat has permitted well-funded NGOs to dominate proceedings, pressure delegations, and exclude voices with lived experience, many of whom were denied access to COP11.

    “This decision reflects how the COP process has been driven by prohibitionist ideology rather than evidence and demonstrated public health success. These results are driven by harm reduction and regulated vaping, yet GATC dismisses the progress as ‘tobacco industry interference,’ ignoring the substantial health gains achieved.”

  • Belgium to Ban All Flavored Vapes

    Belgium to Ban All Flavored Vapes

    Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke announced plans to ban all vape flavors except tobacco, following new advice from the Superior Health Council. The move “aims to prevent vaping from becoming a gateway to nicotine addiction among young people.” Vandenbroucke cited the Netherlands, which introduced a similar ban in January 2024, where nearly 30% of users reported vaping less and over 20% quit without returning to cigarettes.

    The Superior Health Council, which had previously hesitated over a full ban, now supports stronger restrictions, arguing that protecting youth must take priority. Cancer charity Kom op tegen Kanker also extended its anti-smoking campaign to vaping, warning of rising use among students. Surveys show almost a third of Belgian students have tried e-cigarettes, with weekly use now four times higher than five years ago.

    Retailers, represented by Perstablo, condemned the proposal as “absurd” and warned it could fuel the illegal market, where flavored vapes continue to circulate despite bans. The group pledged to explore legal challenges, questioning the validity of the measure. Vandenbroucke’s plan follows earlier steps such as banning disposable vapes and restricting smoking in youth-popular areas, though the timeline for implementation remains unclear.

  • Canadian Study Says Graphic Labels Growing

    Canadian Study Says Graphic Labels Growing

    The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) released its latest Cigarette Package Health Warnings: International Status Report, highlighting global efforts on plain packaging and graphic picture warnings. The report ranks 212 countries and territories on warning size and notes that 140 now require graphic picture warnings, covering 66% of the world’s population. Canada and Australia have gone further, mandating health warnings printed directly on individual cigarettes, first introduced in 2024 and 2025 respectively.

    Plain packaging has been adopted in 27 countries and territories, up from just nine in 2018. CCS policy analyst Rob Cunningham said plain packaging is vital to reduce tobacco’s allure, particularly among youth.

    Graphic picture warnings also continue to expand. Since Canada first introduced them in 2001, 130 countries now require warnings covering at least 50% of the pack, with 77 mandating coverage of 65% or more and 11 requiring at least 85%. East Timor, Turkey, The Gambia, Maldives, Nepal, and Vanuatu lead the way with at least 90% graphic warning coverage, while the United States ties for last, ranked 175th.