Category: Other Tobacco Products

Nasvay report flawed
The World Health Organization seems intent on discouraging tobacco smokers from switching from combustible cigarettes to smokeless tobacco products.
In a report published yesterday by its regional office for Europe, the WHO talks of a ‘risk’ in consumers switching from cigarettes to smokeless tobacco products.
The third conclusion of the report says that ‘…[w]ith reducing affordability of conventional cigarettes due to tobacco taxation in some CIS countries, there is a risk that consumers who currently smoke cigarettes will switch to using nasvay and other smokeless tobacco products’. ‘This should be carefully monitored and managed.’
In part, conclusion four says that ‘…[s]mokeless tobacco products should be regulated like all other tobacco products’. ‘In countries where use of smokeless tobacco is low, it might be appropriate to consider a pre-emptive comprehensive ban or other regulatory options to control smokeless tobacco production, turnover, importation and consumption.’
The report, Consumption and approaches to the regulation of nasvay in the Commonwealth of Independent States is said to look at smokeless tobacco use, specifically the use of nasvay in the CIS, but it casts its net wide in respect of products and countries.
In the first of its conclusions, the report says that several parties to the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control had agreed that smokeless products should be regulated with the same rigor as traditional tobacco products are regulated.
And it says that other parties called for a comprehensive ban on existing and new smokeless tobacco products.
Although the report has in its sights all types of smokeless tobacco products; it seems, at the same time, to concede that the use of some such products is less risky than that of others; or even that the use of some is not risky at all. In the nasvay-specific section of the report’s section of The health effects of smokeless tobacco use; it says: ‘Nasvay can be considered a dangerous form of smokeless tobacco…’
January 16, 2019
Licensing shisha in Egypt
Amendments made to Egypt’s public-shops law will require restaurants and cafés to obtain licenses to serve shisha, according to a Daily News Egypt story.
The amendments were passed by Parliament on Monday after two hours of discussions.
Article 26 of the law now stipulates that premises that serve food or drinks to the public will be able to offer shisha only if they obtain an EG£10,000 license.
And article 27 requires all such premises to install internal and external surveillance cameras.
According to the News, a recent study found that 81 percent of shisha smokers were spending about 10 percent of their incomes on daily shisha consumption.
Additionally, the majority of people frequenting restaurants and cafés were found to be smoking shisha.
Reportedly, the revenues of these businesses are mostly gained from shisha, which is always in high demand from both men and women.
January 16, 2019
Shisha ban unofficial
The Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance has called on the Health Ministry to make a ban on shisha smoking official, according to a story in The Star.
The Alliance’s chairperson Joel Gitali said yesterday that the ministry had limited time to follow due process and make the ban official.
The ban was reportedly imposed on December 28, 2017, by the-then Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu who claimed shisha use had encouraged the peddling of hard drugs.
But, according to Gitali, traders and manufacturers went to court to challenge the ban and, while the court on July 27, 2018, upheld the ban, it noted that the Ministry had not followed the correct procedure.
The court gave the Ministry nine months to follow the correct procedure, but so far it has not done so, and the nine-month period is due to expire in April.
“The ministry is supposed to do a public participation and come up with a law on the ban within the stipulated time to make it official,” Gitali said.
“Should the nine months elapse, someone can challenge the ban and the court can reverse it.”
The upshot of this is that, reportedly, and despite the ban, smokers are still using shisha behind the scenes.
Meanwhile, Gitali called on the Ministry to constitute a working Tobacco Control Board, adding that failure to have one would go against the spirit of the tobacco control Act 2007.
“We reckon that these unnecessary delays in constituting the board and operationalizing of the tobacco control fund are not only retrogressive but also frustrating the tobacco control fraternity,” Gitali said.
January 14, 2019
Rural re-education
The US Food and Drug Administration is broadening the reach of its The Real Cost campaign aimed at preventing rural-based teenagers from using smokeless tobacco.
According to a note issued through its Center for Tobacco Products, the FDA said the campaign had ‘educated nearly 600,000 rural male teens on the dangers of smokeless tobacco use – including loss of control, gum disease, tooth loss, and multiple kinds of cancer’. ‘The campaign, which launched in 35 rural markets around the United States in 2016, will now have ads placed in 20 states across the country, ultimately reaching nearly three million youth,’ the note said.
‘Smokeless tobacco includes different types of products, such as dip, chew, snus and types of tobacco that dissolve when placed in the mouth.
‘According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, each day in the US more than 950 males under the age of 18 use smokeless tobacco for the first time, making early intervention critical.
‘The decision to expand the campaign to states comes after preliminary evaluation data shows that the campaign is effectively reaching and influencing changes in attitudes and beliefs in rural, male teenagers, ultimately reducing their odds of smokeless tobacco use.
‘At the state level, advertisements will run on digital platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Hulu, and display banners on relevant web sites, as well as at localized events and locations such as Little League Baseball games.
‘The Real Cost Smokeless Tobacco Prevention Campaign is part of FDA’s ongoing efforts to prevent disease and death caused by tobacco use and complements the agency’s other youth tobacco prevention campaigns. FDA launched The Real Cost Smoking Prevention Campaign in February 2014; Fresh Empire, a multicultural tobacco prevention campaign in October 2015; and The Real Cost Youth E-Cigarette Prevention Campaign in September 2018.’
More information about US public health education campaigns is available here.
January 9, 2019
Shisha has weighty issues
A new study has indicated that people who smoke shisha have a significantly increased risk of becoming obese and developing diabetes, according to a story in The Egyptian Streets.
The study, which was carried out by the Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), UK, found that smokers of shisha were more likely than were non-smokers to gain weight and develop type 2 diabetes.
“It is possible that the toxins in the smoke stimulate an inflammatory response that causes tissues to become resistant to the effects of the hormone insulin, that regulates glucose in the blood,” the head of the Department of Medical Education at BSMS, Professor Gordon Ferns, was quoted as saying.
“However, it is also possible that hookah smoking is associated with other social behaviors that lead to weight gain.”
The study’s 9,840 participants included non-smokers, ex-smokers, cigarette smokers, hookah smokers and those who smoked both cigarettes and hookahs.
January 7, 2019
Metal detection
Metals linked to cancer are present in higher levels in medwakh and shisha products than in cigarettes, according to a story at thenational.ae citing a new UAE study.
Scientists in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi were said to have found that, in comparisons to cigarettes, both medwakh and shisha tobacco contain more nickel, chromium, copper and zinc.
The research follows a study earlier this year reporting much higher levels of nicotine and tar being delivered by medwakh than by cigarettes.
The researchers said this put smokers at risk of developing a range of serious medical problems, including lung cancer and coronary artery disease.
“Traditional medwakh and shisha pipes have no filters, so toxic metals can quickly enter the lungs, causing different diseases, such as lung and oral cancers, oral infections and cardiovascular diseases,” said Ayesha Mohammed, a chemistry lecturer at the University of Sharjah and the lead author of the study.
“I would never recommend dokha [medwakh] and shisha smoking because both don’t have filters, so trace elements can easily enter the human body compared to cigarettes and cause several cancers.
“Medwakh smoking is a loaded pistol and time will pull the trigger.”
Published in Oxford University Press’s Journal of Analytical Toxicology, the latest study looked at 13 medwakh tobacco products and three shisha products, analysing their properties to determine metal concentrations.
The levels were then compared with cigarette tobacco to establish which was more likely to pose health risks.
January 3, 2019
Hookahs side-step law
The smoke that was eradicated from many public establishments in Spain is being reintroduced through hookahs, according to a story in El Pais.
People are allowed to smoke hookahs inside as long as they do not smoke tobacco but nicotine-free alternatives, such as Shiazo.
The legal loophole is being exploited by bars and cafés, some of which surreptitiously also offer tobacco to smoke.
As soon as tobacco was involved, however, it was against the law, said a spokesman for the Civil Guard, which carried out two raids in 2017, in Valencia and Malaga, to combat the practice.
“It is happening all over Spain,” says Carlos Plaja, who took part in the Malaga operation, which saw 124 complaints filed and 91 venues inspected. “They hide the packets [of tobacco] in stools and false ceilings. And when they are inspected, they only show products that are nicotine free and permissible.”
Penalties relating to the anti-tobacco laws are in the hands of the regional authorities. However, most are hazy when it comes to data on hookah use and infringement. The only region with any relevant data is Catalonia, where seven establishments have been fined so far this year.
Meanwhile, Civil Guard sources in Valencia recognize that there are too many establishments involved to police them properly.
The Tobacco Department of the Spanish Family and Community Medicine Society says there is an increasing number of people smoking both cigarettes and pipes in Spain, though data on the use of pipes is scarce. EDADES, the most recent survey on drug consumption carried out by the Health Ministry, failed to include it, recording only that cigarette smoking among young people had risen by 5 percent.
While hookahs can be smoked in indoor public places, given that no tobacco is involved, electronic cigarettes cannot because the law considers them to comprise a tobacco product.
Meanwhile, Seville is hosting an international hookah fair in June. The organizers have chosen Seville because they claim that the Spanish market is one of the biggest in the world. Among the main participants will be companies from the US and Brazil that specialize in tobacco for water pipes.
December 28, 2018
Modified risk claim filed
The 22nd Century Group yesterday submitted a Modified Risk Tobacco Product application with the US Food and Drug Administration for the company’s very low nicotine content (VLNC) cigarettes.
The company previously filed a Premarket Tobacco Application (PMTA).
‘Together, these important applications seek the FDA’s authorization to commercialize the company’s VLNTM cigarettes and to advertise that the VLNTM cigarettes contain 95 percent less nicotine as compared to the 100 leading cigarette brands in the United States,’ the company said in a press note.
December 28, 2018
E-cig rules could change
In response to a UK parliamentary report on electronic cigarettes, the Government has agreed to review e-cigarette regulations once EU legislation ceases to apply, according to a story by Carolyn Wickware for the Pharmaceutical Journal.
In its response to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee’s report on e-cigarettes (see TR news report, Harm reduction within reach, August 17), the Government has agreed with recommendations for a review of e-cigarette regulation ‘to identify scope for change post-Brexit’.
The committee had recommended in its e-cigarettes report, published in August, that the regulations, ‘which are currently applied under EU legislation,’ should be changed as ‘part of a wider shift to a more risk-proportionate regulatory environment,’ in which restrictions, advertising rules and taxes ‘reflect the evidence on the relative harms of the various e-cigarette and tobacco products available’.
In its response, the Department of Health and Social Care said it was committed to a review ‘to re-appraise current regulation to ensure this continues to protect the nation’s health’.
The response added: ‘We will look to identify where we can sensibly deregulate without harming public health or where current EU regulations limit our ability to deal with tobacco’.
The government also committed to ‘consider reviewing the position on snus,’ which is banned within the EU outside of Sweden. The response document said it would consider whether snus would promote ‘proportional harm reduction’.
December 13, 2018
BAT in transition
In its second-half pre-close trading update for 2018, British American Tobacco said that it was expecting a full-year industry volume decline of about 3.5 percent.
But it said that its market share during the year to date was up by 0.4 of a percentage point on that of the 2017 financial year, driven by its Strategic Brands, whose share was up by 1.8 percentage points.
Tobacco-heating and vapor products were said to be on track to record a full-year reported-revenue of £900 million.
The tobacco-heating product glo was said to be available on 16 markets ‘globally’. It was continuing to grow on the Japanese market, where it had now captured a 4.6 percent share.
The Epen3 was said to be performing well with new market launches including those in France and New Zealand.
Oral tobacco products were expected to deliver ‘strong constant currency revenue growth on a representative basis’.
Meanwhile, the US industry cigarette-volume decline was said to remain in line with historic ranges.
It was down 4.4 percent during the year to date and BAT said it continued to expect an industry decline of about 4.0-4.5 percent for the full year 2018
The company said it continued to enjoy value share growth, up 0.2 of a percentage point during the year to date, with NAS (Natural American Spirit), Camel and Newport all growing share.
The electronic cigarette Vuse’s volume was up by more than 30 percent during the year to date, despite the Vuse Vibe recall. Vuse Alto’s national roll-out had reached about 55,000 stores after 13 weeks.
December 12, 2018