A new consumer advocacy group has been launched in Italy to represent the country’s electronic-cigarette users, according to a story by Fergus Mason for vapingpost.com.
The Associazione Nazionale per i Vapers Uniti (ANPVU – National Association of United Vapers) says its primary objective is to promote harm reduction by example, through introducing smokers to the new generation of safer nicotine products.
Mason said that Italy already had several pro-vaping organisations, such as the Italian Federation of Electronic Cigarette Manufacturers (SVAPO) and the Association of Independent Retailers (Anide), but that up to now there hadn’t been a group focused on vapers.
While manufacturers and retailers shared an interest in keeping a range of vapor products available, their goals didn’t always coincide with those of vapers.
The launch of ANPVU therefore gave vapers a much-needed opportunity to influence the debate.
Italy is said to have some of the most hostile anti-vaping policies in the EU.
Mason’s story, which includes a list of the new association’s goals, is at: https://www.vapingpost.com/2018/01/22/anpvu-launches-to-give-italian-vapers-a-consumer-led-voice/.
Category: Harm Reduction
Vaper group formed in Italy
New approach suggested
Imperial Tobacco Canada has said it believes that Health Canada can achieve the goal of reducing Canada’s smoking rate to less than five percent ahead of the target date of 2035.
It could do this, it added, by embracing the principles of harm reduction: by allowing smokers to choose alternatives to cigarettes, such as vaping and tobacco-heating products.
Imperial yesterday issued a statement to mark National Non-Smoking Week.
‘Tobacco Heating Products (THPs) and vaping products are battery-powered devices that do not use combustion to deliver nicotine, with the consumer instead inhaling vapor, not smoke,’ the statement said. ‘The vast majority of toxicants in cigarette emissions are the product of combustion, and with no combustion, the result is far fewer toxicants.
‘A report by the UK Royal College of Physicians states that because “most of the harm caused by smoking arises not from nicotine but from other components of tobacco smoke, the health and life expectancy of today’s smokers could be radically improved by encouraging as many as possible to switch to a smoke-free source of nicotine”.’
“In order to provide smokers with options between cigarettes and other alternatives – with no combustion and therefore potentially less risk – it is essential that Canada introduces regulations that can communicate their harm reduction potential,” Eric Gagnon, head of corporate and regulatory affairs, was quoted as saying. “With a reasonable and sustainable regulatory framework that supports harm reduction and next generation products, the federal government can reduce the public health impact of tobacco.”
Imperial said that the sale of nicotine-containing vaping products was currently illegal in Canada unless they had been approved by Health Canada. And since none of the products currently on the Canadian market had been approved, they were all illicit.
‘Bill S-5, which is currently before the House of Commons, seeks to legalize and introduce a regulatory framework for vaping products,’ Imperial said in its statement. ‘The Bill’s resulting regulations will have a significant impact on smokers who may choose to migrate from traditional cigarettes to smoke-free products.
‘Some governments, including that of the UK, have already taken a pragmatic approach to some of these new products and are actively providing smokers with proper information.’
“As part of the world’s largest and most international tobacco and nicotine company, we understand the complex needs of smokers, and this is why our company has invested more than US$2.5 billion since 2012 to develop a range of next generation products (NGPs) such as vapor and tobacco heating products,” said Gagnon. “It is crucial that the federal government changes its current approach toward NGPs to allow adult smokers to choose potentially less harmful products if they wish.”
Imperial said that the expiry of the Federal Tobacco Control Strategy in March 2018 would present an additional opportunity for the federal government to recognize how embracing harm-reduction principles could achieve its five percent goal, rather than adding more radical and ineffective control measures on tobacco products that only served to fuel the further growth of illicit tobacco.
“To lower the smoking rate, Canada should focus its efforts on building consumer awareness of less-risky alternatives to smoking, and crack down on the illegal tobacco industry that continues to grow and supplies more than 20 percent of the market with unregulated and untaxed cigarettes,” said Gagnon.E-cig message a struggle
Forty-three percent of adults in Great Britain believe that vaping is less harmful than smoking, according to the results of a survey carried out by YouGov on behalf of the British online vaping retailer Electric Tobacconist.
The survey was carried out amongst 2,134 adults who were asked for their perceptions about e-cigarettes. Respondents were advised that ‘smoking’ included all products that used burning tobacco, such as cigarettes, pipes and cigars, while vaping meant inhaling vapor from electronic cigarettes and other devices, including vaporizers.
Asked if they thought vaping was generally better for people’s health than smoking was, 43 percent of respondents said yes, while five percent held the view that vaping was worse for people’s health than smoking was.
Thirty-one percent said they believed that vaping and smoking had the same impact on people’s health, while 21 percent of respondents said they did not know whether vaping was better or worse than smoking.
More men (46 percent) than women (41 percent) agreed that using e-cigarettes was less harmful than was smoking.
Roughly half of those who had been active on various social media channels in the past month said vaping was less harmful than was smoking (46 percent Facebook, 49 percent Twitter and 52 percent LinkedIn), while under 30 percent of those who believed vaping had the same health impact as smoking had used social media in the past month (29 percent Facebook, 25 percent Twitter and 26 percent LinkedIn).
Fieldwork for the survey, which was carried out online, was undertaken on January 18 and 19.
The figures have been weighted and are representative of all British adults aged 18+.E-cig, HNB excise opposed
The EU Commission believes that excise tax should not be applied to electronic cigarettes or heat-not-burn (HNB) products, according to a story by Sarantis Michalopoulos for euractiv.com.
Given the tobacco market’s shift away from traditional tobacco and toward new generation products such as e-cigarettes and HNB devices, and in the light of new developments in the illegal tobacco trade, the EU Council asked the Commission in March 2016 to come up with a proposal on the revision of the Tobacco Excise Directive.
This legislation sets out harmonised rules on the rates of excise duty applied to manufactured tobacco across the EU.
E-cigarettes and other novel products are not covered by the directive and the member states asked the Commission to conduct a study to explore the possibility of imposing excise taxes on them.
But, due to the availability of only limited data on these products, the Commission decided not to propose a harmonised approach until further information was available.
The Commission said that it would re-examine the situation in the next regular report on tobacco taxation, which is due in 2019.Snus challenge imminent
A legal challenge against the EU’s ban on snus outside Sweden is due to be heard at the European Court of Justice on January 25, according to a note posted on the website of the New Nicotine Alliance (NNA).
The case was originally brought by Swedish Match, but the NNA, which is a charitable organization concerned with improving public health through a greater understanding of new, risk-reduced nicotine products and their uses, joined the case because it concerned the health of smokers in the EU.
‘It is not about markets and commerce, but about the right to be able to choose a safer alternative to smoking,’ the NNA said in its note. ‘For the NNA this case is about whether some 320,000 premature deaths from smoking can be saved in future years, as detailed by Dr Lars Ramström in his statement to the court.’ Since 1990, Ramström has been director of the Institute for Tobacco Studies, Stockholm, Sweden, an independent research institute focusing on the epidemiology of tobacco use and related policy matters.
The NNA says that the core of its case is that the ban on snus is both disproportionate and contrary to the right to health. ‘There is no need for the ban, and the ban, if upheld, will continue to contribute to excess mortality from smoking in Europe,’ it said.
‘This is the first time that a “right to health” argument has been used to challenge a bad tobacco law: we argue that the Court needs to examine the compatibility of the Tobacco Products Directive with both the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the harm reduction obligation under the [World Tobacco Organization’s] Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.’
Last year the ECJ asked all EU states and the EU Institutions to comment on the case, and it received five responses.
On January 25, all parties to the case will be given 15 minutes or so to expand on their arguments.
After the hearing, the Advocate General assigned to the case is due to examine the arguments and evidence, and to come up with a preliminary opinion for the court.
The court is due to reach a final decision later this year.
The NNA note is at: https://nnalliance.org/blog/223-campaign-to-legalise-snus-update-on-the-ecj-case.Russians hit by health bug
The incidence of tobacco smoking has dropped significantly in Russia during the past five years, according to a story in The Moscow Times citing a report in the Kommersant business daily.
The number of adult smokers is said to have fallen 22 percent over five years, while there has been a ‘threefold decrease in smoking among minors’.
“Looking back at the past 5-7 years, we managed to partially overcome bad habits like smoking thanks to a progressive law against tobacco smoking,” Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova was quoted as saying.
At the same time, Skvortsova was able to report that Russia’s alcohol consumption had dropped by 80 percent during the past five years.
The Times story said that the latest World Health Organization figures put Russia’s alcohol consumption below that of France and Germany, though it wasn’t clear whether the figures compared total consumptions or per capita consumptions.
The consumer-rights watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, was said to have credited new minimum price laws, advertising bans and sales restrictions for the drop in alcohol consumption.
And while drinking and smoking are going down, exercising is going up. About 40 percent more Russians are said to have become involved in sports during the past five years.HNB products less risky
An independent scientific committee that advises UK government departments has said that there is likely to be a reduction in risk for cigarette smokers who switch to heat-not-burn (HNB) products, according to a story by Diane Caruana for the Vaping Post.
The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) is an independent scientific committee that provides advice to the Food Standards Agency, the Department of Health and other government departments and agencies on matters concerning the toxicity of chemicals.
It reviewed the two HNB products sold in the UK, Philip Morris International’s iQOS and British American Tobacco’s iFuse.
The evidence gathered by the committee was said to have indicated that the products posed a risk that it was unable to quantify, but that this risk was lower than that posed by smoking.
“The evidence suggests that heat-not-burn products still pose a risk to users,” said professor Alan Boobis, chairman of the COT. “There is likely to be a reduction in risk for cigarette smokers who switch to heat-not-burn products but quitting entirely would be more beneficial.”
The COT said there was a reduction in risk to bystanders when comparing second hand vapor to second hand smoke, but added that the risk to unborn babies from pregnant women using HNB products was difficult to quantify.
“The committee expressed concern over the potential for non-smokers to take up these products because they are not without risk,” Boobis added.
The CEO of Action on Smoking and Health, Deborah Arnott, while generally welcoming the COT findings, said the study was incomplete because it did not include electronic cigarettes.
“The COT review did not examine the evidence on e-cigarettes, so was unable to compare the two,” she said.
“This is needed to help provide reassurance to the public and Ash recommends COT be commissioned to carry out such a comparison.”Qatar has high smoking rate
Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) new Tobacco Control Center in Qatar has been officially inaugurated by the Minister of Public Health Dr. Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari, according to a story in The Gulf Times.
During the inauguration, al-Kuwari said the new facility would play an important role in the fight ‘to reduce increasing levels of smoking in the community and the long-term harmful effects of smoking’.
“Nothing is more important for the prevention of several cancers and more than 50 other diseases than eliminating the use of tobacco products,” al-Kuwari said.
“The new HMC Tobacco Control Center reinforces our commitment to implementing effective and long-lasting strategies for reducing tobacco use and providing accessible treatment options for people who want to stop smoking. This is especially important in Qatar, where we are seeing more young people smoking and using tobacco products.
“Smoking has been shown to harm nearly every organ of the body and science shows that most adult smokers start smoking during adolescence.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Ahmad al-Mulla, head of the center said that about 37 percent of the country’s population aged 15 years and older reported that they currently smoked tobacco. It was therefore important that efforts were redoubled to reduce levels of smoking in the community.Stier joins consumer body
Jeff Stier, who has been a regular presenter and panelist at Tobacco Reporter’s Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forums, has joined the US’ Consumer Choice Center (CCC) as a Senior Fellow.
A CCC press note said that Stier would continue his work of two decades by being a voice for consumers who believe paternalists don’t have a monopoly on public health.
“The addition of Jeff Stier to the CCC team expands our efforts in the United States to speak up for consumer choice and be effective in our approach,” said CCC MD Fred Roeder.
“Mr. Stier’s vast experience and talent as a researcher, public health advocate, and commentator will no doubt help bolster CCC’s impact and reach as we go forward.
“We are elated to have him join the team.
The press note said that, through op-eds, media interviews, testimony at government hearings and insightful tweets, Stier would advance CCC’s mission as it related to issues including food policy, tobacco harm reduction, environmental health, consumer product regulation, and innovation.
“I joined the CCC because its mission and mine are one in the same: responsibly representing and empowering consumers who want both appropriate regulations and choice,” said Stier.
“Too often, laws and rules fail to strike the right balance, in part, because incentives to get it right are skewed in favor of recklessly-stringent regulation.
“Regulators are generally more sensitive to risks than they are to costs and unintended consequences. Regulators aren’t hearing enough about this from beleaguered consumers because attacks on consumer choice are so widespread that consumers can’t possibly speak out effectively in the appropriate forums each time their choices are under attack,” he said.
Stier has appeared on CNBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, as well as network newscasts. He is a frequent radio commentator, having been heard on NPR, top-rated major market shows in cities including Boston, Philadelphia, and Sacramento, plus syndicated regional broadcasts.
His op-eds have been published in top outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, The Hill, The Washington Examiner, and National Review Online.
Stier has testified at FDA scientific meetings, met with White House officials, members of Congress and their staff about science policy, and has testified at state and local legislatures across the country.
Based in New York, Stier spent seven years as a Senior Fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C.PM's New Year resolution
Philip Morris Limited (PML) yesterday ran ‘advertisements’ in a number of UK newspapers announcing its New Year’s resolution to try to ‘give up cigarettes’.
The advertisement, Our New Year’s Resolution: we’re trying to give up cigarettes, encourages adult smokers to visit a new website – www.smokefreefuture.co.uk – that contains information on quitting and switching.
In addition, it makes a number of specific commitments for the UK for 2018:- Launch a website and campaign to provide smokers with information on quitting and on alternatives to cigarettes;
- Offer to support local authority cessation services where smoking rates are highest;
- Seek government approval to insert, directly into our cigarette packs, information on quitting and on switching;
- Expand the availability of new, alternative products in the UK.
The advertisement outlines how Philip Morris International has spent more than £2.5 billion on research, product and commercial development during the past decade to develop smoke free alternatives to combustible cigarettes.
Meanwhile, Peter Nixon, MD of PML, has written to the prime minister outlining how the company believes it can play a part in helping Britain to go smoke free.
“We believe we have an important role to play in helping the UK become smoke-free,” he was quoted saying in a PML press note issued yesterday.
“The commitments announced today are practical steps that could accelerate that goal.
“We recognise that never starting to smoke – or quitting altogether – are always the best option. But for those who continue to smoke, there are more alternatives than ever available in the UK.”
