France’s junior environment minister Brune Poirson has warned the tobacco industry that the government will force it to get involved in the collection and elimination of its waste if it doesn’t come up with alternative solutions by September, according to a Reuters story relayed by the TMA.
Paris alone collects and disposes of 350 tonnes of discarded cigarette butts annually, despite the provision of wall-mounted ashtrays and the threat of a €68 (US$80) fine for those caught littering.
The ministry estimates that 40 percent of the 30 billion butts thrown away in France every year end up on beaches and in forests, rivers and the sea. “The ministry will not be brutal on the method, but will be firm on the objectives,” said Poirson. “Pollution is major, so the commitments cannot be minor.
A battle seems to be looming.
British American Tobacco’s public affairs director Eric Sensi-Minautier was quoted as saying that it was not up to companies, smokers or citizens to pay, via additional taxes, for the cost linked to the clean-up of cigarette butts.
And Imperial Brands said that it already encouraged smokers to dispose of butts responsibly.
Category: Regulation
Taken to the cleaners
FDA deadline nears
The US Food and Drug Administration has advised that June 30 is the deadline for ‘certain manufacturers of deemed tobacco products to provide a listing of their tobacco products to FDA’.
In a note issued through its Center for Tobacco Products, the agency said it had undertaken efforts to educate those who could be affected by answering questions such as: what is the tobacco product listing requirement; what types of changes trigger the requirement and when doesn’t it apply; what steps should companies take to make sure they’re in compliance?
More information is available on the FDA’s new web feature.Delivering confusion
Smokers inhale much higher doses of harmful substances than is ‘stated on cigarette packs’, according to a story by Janene Pieters published in the NL Times and citing a study by the Dutch public health institute RIVM.
The story goes on to say that the researchers found that the amount of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide delivered is at least twice as high as manufacturers ‘claim’.
This comes about because of a long-running debate about how cigarettes are and should be tested. Some people believe that they should be tested with ventilation holes open, while others say that the ventilation holes should be blocked. The former testing method, approved in the EU, gives lower readings than does the latter method.
The crux of the matter seems to be that, originally, such testing was not meant to give absolute values of tar, nicotine and CO deliveries, but relative values.
A spokesperson for Philip Morris was quoted in the story as saying the testing “is not intended to measure individual exposure, but to make a comparison between cigarette brands”.
The spokesman was quoted as saying also that if another measurement were to be used in the EU, the maximum allowable values would have to be adjusted. The limits currently are 10 mg of tar, 1 mg of nicotine and 10 mg of CO per cigarette.
Referring to the researchers’ findings, the Netherlands’ State Secretary for Public Health said he was “shocked by these hard facts,” even though the expectation was that tobacco smoke would turn out to be more harmful than ‘the packages suggest’.
Blokhuis called it “very worrying that with all cigarettes smokers actually get a lot more poison in than they are told”.
He is advocating for cigarettes in the EU to be “measured without any tampering”.
However, when the EU Commission brought in its revised Tobacco Directive in May 2016, it said that the tar, nicotine and CO (TNCO) labeling on cigarettes and RYO tobacco would be replaced with an information message that informs consumers that ‘Tobacco smoke contains over 70 substances known to cause cancer’.
Additionally, it said that research had shown that TNCO labeling was misleading to consumers because it made them believe that some products were less risky than were others to their health.
It said the new information message would more accurately reflect the true health consequences of smoking.Another day, another panic
Hong Kong needs to strengthen its regulatory and legislative framework quickly to control and regulate electronic cigarettes better, according to a story in The China Daily quoting the health secretary of the Hong Kong government.
“We are very concerned about the existence of e-cigarettes,” the Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan was said to have told media representatives after a meeting at the Legislative Council (LegCo).
“According to international studies and some of the testing of e-cigarette samples in Hong Kong, we have discovered that many of these constituents in electronic cigarettes are harmful to health.
“So, we need to quickly strengthen our regulatory framework and legislative framework in order to better control and also regulate e-cigarettes.”
Chan said the government had submitted to the LegCo a proposal about strengthening e-cigarette regulation and that a tax on these products would be considered.E-liquids – the reality
The effectiveness of Australia’s vaping laws is being thrown into question with data showing illicit nicotine is making its way into retail stores, according to a story by Flint Duxfield for mobile.abc.net.au.
Data from the New South Wales Department of Health suggests people could be unwittingly buying e-liquids containing nicotine, even though it is illegal to sell such liquids in Australia.
In testing conducted since 2015, the Department found that 63 percent of e-liquids labeled as nicotine-free contained nicotine.
The Department was unable to provide a breakdown of the concentrations of the nicotine, but of the testing it conducted of all e-liquids, about half contained between 3 mg/ml and 20 mg/ml. [20 mg/ml is the maximum strength allowed under the EU’s Tobacco Products Directive]
While it is legal to buy liquid nicotine from overseas for personal use in all states except Queensland, the sale of e-liquids containing nicotine is illegal across Australia.
However, official figures show that NSW retailers stock nicotine-containing e-liquids.
From November 2015 to April 2018, NSW health inspectors visited 227 retailers selling e-liquids. More than 40 per cent of those retailers were found to be selling products that contained nicotine.
Of the other state health departments contacted, Western Australia’s agreed that e-liquid labeling was an issue but could not provide any details.Reforming in Cambodia
Japan Tobacco International (JTI), one of Cambodia’s biggest cigarette distributors, has said that it is rejoining the Association of the Tobacco Industry of Cambodia (ATIC) following a recent ATIC promise to combat illegal cigarette sales and fake products, according to a story in The Phnom Penh Post.
The company left the association in the middle of 2016.
The ATIC said it had organized an annual meeting last week and decided to regroup to tackle issues that had put the industry at risk, including illegal cigarette sales, fake products, packs with non-pictorial health warnings, and products which did not have legitimate tax stamps.
Cormac O’Rourke, the general manager of JTI Cambodia, which distributes Camel, Winston and Mevius brands, said his company’s rejoining of ATIC would raise the commitment of all members and players to adhere to the relevant laws and regulations that benefitted the entire industry.
“The illegal trade of tobacco products is, by far, the industry’s biggest challenge,” he was quoted as saying. “It is severely damaging tobacco companies, the industry, public health agenda and the national economy.”
In July 2016, JTI ended its affiliation with the ATIC because, it said, the association had failed to create a ‘level playing field’ by allowing unmarked imported cigarettes to flood the market, despite legislation requiring tobacco packaging to carry graphic images and warning labels.
ATIC President Matt Naumann said the group had decided to make major reforms to its structure and direction to drive compliance in the tobacco sector for a ‘One Industry’ standard.
The recent reform had led to changes in membership, he added. The Viniton Group had left the association while JTI had rejoined.
The ATIC now comprises Philip Morris International, Houtraco, British American Tobacco Cambodia and JTI (Cambodia) as official members.Flavor ban gets the nod
Photo: Larry D Crain Voters in San Francisco, California, have approved a city-wide ban on the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes and certain chewing tobaccos, and vaping liquids, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Proposition E was supported by 68 percent of voters and opposed by 31 percent.
San Francisco supervisors last year unanimously approved the ban, but it was put on hold after R.J. Reynolds collected enough signatures to put it on the ballot. The company was said to have spent at least $12 million on the campaign opposing the measure.Before the ban, the Consumer Choice Center’s senior fellow, Jeff Stier, said that California law already prohibited the sale of e-cigarettes to anyone under 21. As such, the ordinance would change the legal status of the sale of flavored e-cigarettes to adults exclusively.
Stier called on the FDA to “speak out about how a local ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes to adults could undermine the FDA’s comprehensive regulatory plan to fight smoking, given the role flavors in e-cigarettes play in helping adult smokers quit.”Following the vote, Bonnie Herzog, MD Equity Research for Tobacco and C-Stores at Wells Fargo Securities, said that while she expected tobacco stocks would come under pressure because of the vote, the ban was not a “deal-breaker” for the menthol category.
“As we have written in the past, we believe the net negative impact for major tobacco manufacturers will be limited since we expect many consumers will likely move their purchases online or cross border ultimately having the greatest negative impact on retailers,” she said.Smoking population falls
The number of tobacco smokers in Beijing has dropped by about 200,000, three years after the city adopted a strict tobacco control regime, according to a Xinhua News Agency story quoting the city’s health authority.
The adult smoking rate in Beijing now stands at 22.3 percent, or 3.99 million smokers, 200,000 fewer than the figure for 2015, the commission for health improvement said.
Sixty-one hospitals are said to have opened smoking cessation clinics.
Meanwhile, the city has nearly 15,000 tobacco control volunteers; so about 1,600 ‘departments’ and more than 7,300 individuals have been punished for violations of the tobacco control regulations.
Medical establishments, schools and hotels are said to have a relatively high compliance rate in respect of smoking restrictions, while small restaurants, office buildings and entertainment venues ‘continue to pose difficulties for regulators’.The lobbying circuit
A report released today by Forest EU is said to shine a light on the network of anti-tobacco lobby groups in Brussels and how the European Commission funds them with taxpayer’s money to achieve the Commission’s own policy goals.
Forest EU describes itself, in part, as ‘a campaign that informs smokers about the issues that affect them in the European Union’.
“The report identifies at least 24 different organisations operating in Brussels pushing for more pervasive anti-tobacco policies,” said Guillaume Périgois, director of Forest EU. “These organizations are staffed with 94 lobbyists and have a self-declared lobbying budget of between €5 and €6 million as per the EU Transparency Register. Far from David vs Goliath, it’s Goliath vs Goliath.
“The report also sets out how in 2016 €6 million of EU taxpayer’s money was channelled to these organizations by the European Commission to lobby in favour of policies which the Commission has put forward. For us, such funding amounts to government lobbying government and does not promote transparent policy making.”
Meanwhile, Michael Jäger, secretary general of the Taxpayers Association of Europe (TAE), said that it wasn’t necessary to like smoking to see there was a problem with the Commission giving taxpayers’ money to NGOs who then use that money to lobby the Commission.
“With the EU budget under increasing pressure it doesn’t make sense for the Commission to spend public money like this,” he said.
The report makes several recommendations including one that would see a clause included in all new and renewed Framework Partnership Agreements and grant agreements that would limit the ability of fund recipients to use the funds received for lobbying activities, while encouraging the delivery of concrete health outcomes.Packaging fight continues
The drive to impose standardized packaging on tobacco products in the hope of discouraging current and potential smokers, has pitted the World Health Organization and the EU against the tobacco industry, according to a story by Claire Stam and Sarantis Michalopoulos for euractiv.com.
The industry says standardized packaging has no discernible impact on smoking rates but opens the door to black markets. On the other hand, the WHO insists that the measure is effective and rules out any link to the illegal trade.
From its side, the EU is expecting the number of smokers to fall by 2.4 million during the five-year period following the introduction of the its revised Tobacco Product Directive (TPD). The TPD, which came into force in May 2016, requires that 65 percent of a tobacco pack’s surface should include health warning graphics and text, though it leaves open to member states whether they introduce standardized packaging.
New research conducted by the consultancy group Europe Economics and commissioned by Japan Tobacco International, showed that the introduction of standardized packaging has had no statistically-significant impact on smoking prevalence or consumption in the UK, where standardized packaging was imposed.
The research, which was based on government data found that three out of five UK adults believed standardized packaging would lead to an increase in the number of illicit cigarettes, benefiting organised crime.
“What this evidence and public opinion research shows is that plain packaging should never have been introduced in the UK,” Ben Townsend, head of EU Affairs for JTI, told EURACTIV.com. “Other European countries considering the measure should think twice before importing a failed experiment, which appears to have back-fired big time.
“One year ago, the UK government introduced plain packaging for tobacco products in the absence of clear supportive evidence from Australia [at the time, the only country to have introduced the policy]. Five-and-a-half years into the Australian experiment, we see that plain packaging has completely failed to reduce smoking rates.”
