Category: Regulation

Boost for ban challenge
The Swedish government has chosen not to provide written observations to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in relation to a case being brought to overturn the EU ban on the sale of snus outside Sweden, according to a press note issued on Monday jointly by the International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations (INNCO) and the NNA Sweden.
The case (Case C-151/17) is being brought by Swedish Match, and the NNA UK has joined as an intervener, based on arguments related to consumers’ human rights and the right to health.
‘All EU member states were asked by the ECJ to submit opinions on a legal challenge by July 7 as part of the court process,’ the note said.
‘In June 2017, … INNCO received reliable information that the Swedish government were planning to submit an opinion to the ECJ identical to their previous EU statements on the health risks and impacts of snus use.
‘Based on Sweden’s historical position this was likely to contain scientifically incorrect information, bias and out-dated references, which would have severely impacted on the judicial process of the court.
‘INNCO and one of their member organisations – New Nicotine Alliance Sweden – launched a joint initiative aimed at averting such misinformation on snus being sent to the ECJ by Sweden, believing their previous oblique submission to the ECJ to be in part responsible for the ban being upheld by the court in 2004.
‘Seventeen INNCO international member organisations wrote individual letters to the Swedish government, outlining their objections and concern were Sweden to choose, yet again, to submit an incomplete and misleading opinion on snus to the ECJ.’
The note said that snus had a 200-year history of use in Sweden without any verifiable evidence of serious adverse health effects. It remained the most widely-used and successful method of assisting smoking cessation.
Sweden now had the lowest smoking rate in Europe. Swedish government data had shown that the proportion of smokers among men aged between 30 and 44 fell to five percent in 2016.
‘Overall, just eight percent of Swedish men now smoke on a daily basis – itself a record-low percentage – compared with a European Union average of just over 25 percent,’ the note said.
‘There is broad academic consensus that Sweden’s success is directly attributable to the broad migration from traditional cigarettes to snus.
‘EU-wide adoption of snus may have contributed towards saving over 300,000 lives per year since 1992 according to a report published 2017.
‘The opportunity for tobacco harm reduction is unprecedented.
‘Sweden is the only EU country in which citizens have legal access to Snus (having gained an exemption as part of their entry to the EU in 1995). Consequently, it is the only country in the world with access to reliable historical data and observations on long term snus use.
‘Sweden’s evidence is therefore invaluable to the ECJ and public health regulators currently deprived of qualitative snus data, in the forthcoming re-examination of the current EU snus ban.
‘We believe that INNCO’s global civil society initiative has been instrumental in influencing the Swedish government’s decision to offer no comment.
‘In so doing, they have chosen to place the value of health and respect for human rights above ideology.’
‘The Swedish government might have chosen to replicate their previous incomplete, opaque submission confirming their well-documented intolerance of all nicotine use. Choosing silence over misinformation was a courageous move in the right direction towards acknowledging harm reduction and human rights.’
August 10, 2017
Bans seep into homes
Smokers living in South Korea in apartments and other residences with shared amenities will face a crackdown from early next year after the parliament approved a tough anti-smoking bill aimed at fighting second-hand smoke, according to a story in The Korea Times.
Choi Myung-gil of the opposition People’s Party of Korea won approval for his bill yesterday.
It is due to take effect from January.
Under existing laws, smoking is banned in the stairways, corridors and elevators of residences with shared amenities.
But smoking at home is not regulated, and some believe that this leaves people vulnerable to tobacco smoke coming from other apartments.
When the new law goes into effect, wardens, on request, will be authorized to visit a home where people are thought to be smoking.
They won’t be given the right to force people to stop smoking, but they will be able to warn them.
August 10, 2017
Vaping bans on way
Russia’s Health Ministry is preparing a bill that, if passed, would regulate vaping and hookah smoking in the country, according to a Pravda Online story.
The bill, which is set to be drafted by February, is expected to include a ban on vaping and hookah smoking in bars and restaurants throughout Russia.
Ministry officials were quoted as saying that the general idea behind the bill was that vaping should be regulated in the same way that tobacco smoking was regulated.
The officials said that, currently, a lot of adolescents used both hookahs and vaping devices, and that these products were not regulated.
Reportedly, the bill will limit the sale of hookah and vaping devices to people over the age of 18.
The story said – though it wasn’t clear whether this had come from the officials or not – that it was worthy of note that ‘US scientists found deadly toxins in vaping smoke, where the concentration of dangerous substances exceeds maximum permissible indicators’.
‘Those making up to 250 puffs per day with 3.8-4.8-volt devices, inhale acrolein, formaldehyde and diacetyl in above the mark quantities,’ the story said.
‘The concentration of harmful substances in the rooms where vaping is allowed exceeds admissible indicators as well.’
August 10, 2017
E-cig ban opposed
The Tobacco Institute of India (TII) has come out against a proposed ban on electronic cigarettes, according to an Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) report.
The Health Ministry of India is considering such a ban after an expert committee said that these devices had cancer-causing properties.
The TII says that a ban on e-cigarettes could increase the smuggling of these products, and that such an increase could have consequences for quality standards and the health of the people using them.
The IANS story quoted the TII as saying that 160 countries signed up to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, including the US, the UK, and EU member states, had not imposed a prohibition on electronic cigarettes.
And Canada and New Zealand, which had earlier prohibited such products, had reversed their decisions.
The TII said the prohibition of e-cigarettes would benefit illegal traders and promote foreign products owned by overseas entities.
August 8, 2017
Public vaping banned
As part of a raft of measures introduced in Luxembourg on August 1, electronic cigarettes cannot be vaped in enclosed public places, with the exception of smoking rooms, according to a story on the English-language website, Delano.
Other measures include a ban on the sale of cigarettes to those under 18 years of age, and a ban on smoking near children’s playgrounds and in private vehicles in which a child aged under 12 is present.
The changes form part of the law of June 13, 2017, which enshrines into law the EU’s revised Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), 2014/40, and goes beyond the provisions of the directive.
‘Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death,’ said Luxembourg’s health ministry in a press note. ‘At least one in two smokers will die prematurely from a tobacco-related disease, mainly cardiovascular disease, cancer and tumors, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).’
The measures are said to be aimed at preventing the exposure of young people and non-smokers to the ‘dangerous effects of second-hand smoke’, and at preventing smoking from being ‘normalized for young people’.
A survey by the market research company TNS ILRES on behalf of Luxembourg’s Cancer Foundation found that the average age at which a person started smoking in Luxembourg was 13-14, and that seven in 10 smokers took up the habit before turning 18.
In Luxembourg, one in four smokers is aged 18-24.
August 8, 2017
Tough on tobacco
As part of a new strategy to curb tobacco use, the Armenian government on Thursday announced plans to restrict smoking in public places and raise cigarette prices, according to a story in The Asbarez Post.
Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan’s cabinet was said to have approved the program, which aims to reduce the level of smoking in the country by a targeted amount during the next three years.
According to Ministry of Health estimates, the prevalence of smoking among Armenia’s adult population is more than 25 percent, while that among men is 55 percent.
The Health Minister, Levon Altunyan, said the planned anti-tobacco strategy included wide-ranging measures that would “toughen” rules on smoking in offices, restaurants, cafés and bars, raise cigarette taxes and ban all forms of tobacco advertising.
Speaking to reporters, Altunyan would not say whether there would be a blanket ban on smoking in public places. He said instead that these issues would be clarified when the government sent a package of bills to parliament this fall.
Altunyan insisted that Armenian companies manufacturing and importing cigarettes had not lobbied the government to water down the planned measures.
“We haven’t asked for their opinion either,” he added.
Arsen Torosyan, a doctor and anti-smoking campaigner, cautiously welcomed the government’s plans. “I hope that at least part of what has been declared will be implemented – cigarette prices will be raised, smoking will be completely banned in public places and tobacco advertising will be banned in full,” he said. “This cannot fail to cut the number of smokers because these methods have been successfully used all over the world.
“The key thing here is political will,” Torosyan added, pointing to the failure of a five-year anti-tobacco program adopted by the authorities in 2010.
That program was supposed to reduce tobacco consumption, but government data show that the proportion of heavy smokers in the population increased from 23 percent in 2012 to 26 percent in 2016.
A law that came into force in 2005 banned smoking in hospitals, cultural and educational institutions, and on public buses, while additional restrictions introduced a year later required other entities – including bars and restaurants – to allow smoking only in special ‘secluded areas’. However, since no sanctions were put in place to deter those inclined to ignore the regulations, the measures proved largely ineffective.
August 7, 2017
Ban shows double standards
Sri Lanka’s ban on chewing ‘smokeless tobacco’ has come under criticism by people who say that, in not banning smoking, the government is adopting double standards, according to a story by Chrishanthi Christopher for The Sunday Times.
The government recently banned smokeless tobacco through a gazette notice after it was approved in parliament in April 2017.
The notice banned the manufacture, sale and possession of all smokeless tobacco products, and mixtures that contain tobacco, including the betel quid, which has tobacco strips.
However, the growing, chewing and selling of betel leaves are not banned.
A recent World Health Organization survey was said to have shown that six percent of school children were chewing commercially-produced arecanut.
The chairman of the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol, Dr. Palitha Abeykoon, said the survey had shown that many of the school children were addicted to arecanut, which they kept under their tongues and used for the high it could produce.
The finding had necessitated the ban on smokeless tobacco products, he said.
The aim of the ban was reportedly not to deprive people of their traditional betel chewing habits but from using tobacco in the betel quid.
Chewing smokeless tobacco, unlike traditional betel chewing, was said to be ‘most dangerous and addictive, killing people within two years’.
The smokeless-tobacco products, which were said to contain a mixture of arecanut, tobacco, sweeteners and spices, were said to come from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Interestingly, the story said, these products were banned in the countries that exported them.
August 7, 2017
FDA on shaky ground
The US Food and Drug Administration’s policy shift toward reducing nicotine in cigarettes is likely to attract significant tobacco-industry litigation, according to a Bloomberg News story relayed by the TMA.
In announcing a week ago its Comprehensive Plan for Tobacco and Nicotine Regulation, the FDA said that it would require the reduction of cigarette nicotine deliveries to non-addictive levels if that were found to be technologically and practically feasible.
The Bloomberg piece speculated that the tobacco industry would go to court to stop the FDA from imposing or enforcing its regulatory framework.
The article noted that, according to tobacco lobbyists, the industry could argue that the policy amounted to a de facto ban on cigarettes.
And while a 2009 law gave the FDA the power to regulate cigarettes, it explicitly stated the agency did not have the power to ban them.
Even some anti-smoking advocates think the FDA is on shaky ground with its proposal. “The legal mandate that they have to do this is extremely weak,” Clive Bates (pictured) was quoted as saying. “They say they’re not banning cigarettes, but they are banning cigarettes with any meaningful level of nicotine in them.”
Lastly, the Bloomberg piece noted that FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who was confirmed in early May, was ‘turning out to be among the most aggressive (and unpredictable) cabinet officials during the early days of the Trump administration’, which favored deregulation.
‘It’s not clear whether Gottlieb personally sought President Trump’s counsel before making the announcement,’ the piece said. ‘An administration official says the White House supports the policy and disagreed that it was a break from Trump’s anti-regulation agenda.’
August 4, 2017
NZ to legalize smokeless
The sale of smokeless tobacco products is to be legalized in New Zealand with a view to providing smokers with less-risky alternatives to cigarettes, according to a story by Rachel Thomas for stuff.co.nz.
Associate Health Minister Nicky Wagner said yesterday that some smokeless products available internationally, including heat-not-burn, snus, moist snuff, dissolvables and inhaled nicotine devices, might be significantly safer than were cigarettes.
Additionally, she added, restricting sales of these products might exacerbate supply and demand issues; for example, by encouraging black market sales.
Current laws ban the import, sale and distribution of tobacco products described as suitable for chewing or any other oral use besides smoking.
In her announcement Wagner said the government intended to establish a pre-market approval system for smokeless tobacco and nicotine-delivery products, other than e-cigarettes.
“This is part of new thinking – a forward looking approach, building on some of the innovative new technologies that are available intentionally to try and give smokers safer alternatives to tobacco,” she said.
Under pre-market approval provisions, smokeless products could be sold legally only after manufacturers had demonstrated that the use of these products was significantly less harmful than was tobacco smoking.
Wagner made her announcement in front of health experts and advocates who were presenting the Achieving Smoke-free Aotearoa Project (ASAP) – a road map on how to achieve the country’s smoke-free 2025 goal.
Their plan called for the government to reduce the availability and convenience of tobacco products, to place severe restrictions on retailers and to impose massive cigarette tax increases.
Project leader, University of Otago Wellington Professor Richard Edwards, reportedly was “a bit taken aback” by Wagner’s announcement.
“We put all these recommendations and things in the report and this wasn’t one of them,” he said of Wagner’s announcement.
Edwards said the government should assess the impact of new laws on e-cigarettes, which are set to come into effect next year – before adding other types of tobacco-containing products.
August 3, 2017
Schools show the way
The Philippines’ education department has launched a campaign to make all the country’s schools tobacco-smoke-free, according to a story in the Gulf News, quoting a senior official.
The move would help President Rodrigo Duterte achieve a smoke-free Philippines, his expressed vision when he signed in May an executive order banning tobacco smoking in public places, the official said.
The education department had issued an order aimed at educating “school personnel, students, and teachers” about the harmful effects of smoking, the undersecretary of the Department of Education’s legal affairs division, Alberto Muyot, was quoted as saying.
“Tobacco companies’ campaign materials such as posters and T-shirts are banned in schools,” said Muyot. “Schools are not allowed to accept donations or assistance from tobacco companies.”
Selling cigarettes within 100 meters of schools is prohibited and Muyot said that the business permits of violators would be revoked.
Meanwhile, schools have been told that they should have a ‘Child Protection Committee’ to report violators to local government units.
“The education department’s initiative will strengthen the campaign of the administration to achieve a smoke-free nation,” Muyot said.
August 3, 2017