The US Food and Drug Administration has been warned that a proposed local ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products, including flavored e-liquids, could undermine the agency’s comprehensive regulatory plan to fight tobacco smoking.
Today, voters in San Francisco will vote on whether to approve a Board of Supervisors’ ordinance, Proposition E, that includes a ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes.
According to a press note from the Consumer Choice Center, proponents of the ban claim the measure is necessary to protect ‘kids’.
“Yet,” according to the Center’s senior fellow Jeff Stier (pictured), “California law already prohibits the sale of all 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 is calling 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”.
The press note said that the FDA, which was studying whether to regulate e-cigarette flavors, had already noted the potential life-saving nature of e-cigarette flavors, saying that, ‘certain flavors may help currently addicted adult smokers switch to potentially less harmful forms of nicotine-containing tobacco products’.
Stier said that “because the San Francisco Ordinance would do nothing to prevent sales to kids, and everything to ban sales to adults who use flavored e-cigarettes to quit smoking, the FDA should alert the public to how the ordinance would undermine federal anti-smoking efforts”.
Category: Regulation
Ban would impair FDA plan
Smoking spaces 'civilized'
China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) said on Monday that indoor tobacco-smoking areas should be introduced in public buildings because enforcing total bans in all public places would be too difficult, according to a story by Christian Shepherd for Reuters.
Last month, the China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC), which is regulated by the STMA, persuaded the eastern city of Hangzhou to amend proposed rules to ban indoor smoking in public places by allowing the introduction of designated areas for smokers.
The STMA, which shares offices and personnel with the CNTC, denied playing any role in the amendment of the tobacco-control measures.
‘We believe that as it is currently difficult to implement a total ban on public smoking, establishing independent smoking areas or indoor smoking rooms in public spaces allows civilized smoking,’ the STMA said in a faxed response to Reuters’ questions.
‘A mature and ideal society should respect every adult’s free choice to smoke or to quit smoking,’ it added.Flavors vote tomorrow
A proposed ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products in the city of San Francisco, US, has been portrayed as a fight between pro-ban David and anti-ban Goliath, but the allegory doesn’t work because David isn’t the good, little guy he’s made out to be.
In a piece for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Michelle Minton wrote on Friday that ‘big tobacco’ was pouring millions into a campaign to maintain its ability to keep selling harmful products that target children. ‘At least, that’s the narrative most news outlets have sold about Proposition E, a measure on the city’s June 5th ballot, which would ban the sale of flavors, including menthol, for tobacco products, including e-cigarettes,’ she added as clarification.
‘The David and Goliath story is compelling, but don’t be fooled. The other side, comprised of hundreds of anti-tobacco activists, is just – if not more – powerful than big tobacco companies. These groups have an advantage by cloaking their support of Prop E under the guise of “public health” and the support of factions in government and the university system, along with the industries that compete with e-cigarettes (e.g. big pharma). They also have vast financial resources, including taxpayer money, which they can spend without reporting it as “lobbying”.’
Minton goes on to describe the amounts and types of funding behind this lobbying and ‘non-lobbying’.
And she looks at the situation as it is currently, concluding, in part, that ‘kids, it seems, are neither targeted nor very interested in vaping, despite what anti-vaping activists claim’.
‘However, adult smokers increasingly rely on these devices as a safer means of consuming nicotine.
‘While likely not risk-free, recent analyses estimate that vaping has just one percent of the cancer risk that traditional combustible cigarettes carry.
‘And flavor seems to be an essential element in keeping people from returning to cigarettes. As a 2013 study found, the number of flavors a vaper used was independently associated with smoking cessation.’Americas doing well, badly
Tobacco use has declined markedly since 2000, both globally and in the Region of the Americas, but the reduction is insufficient to meet global targets aimed at protecting people from suffering and dying from cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs), according to a note posted on a website carrying the logos of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization.
The note said too that, currently, more than a third of countries in the Americas were not implementing a single tobacco control measure.
But later, the note indicated that despite this lack of action, the Region of the Americas was doing well in respect of tobacco control; at least judged on one measure.
‘On this World No Tobacco Day [May 31], WHO issued its Global Report on Prevalence of Tobacco Use (2000-2025),’ the note said.
‘Tobacco kills over seven million people each year, despite the steady reduction in tobacco use globally.
‘The report shows the pace of action in reducing tobacco demand and related death and disease is too slow and not keeping up with global and national commitments to control tobacco use.
‘The report also shows that the target of a 30 percent reduction in tobacco use by 2025 among people aged 15 and older is not on track to being met at the global level, with the current pace of decline indicating only a 22 percent reduction by that time.
‘The Region of the Americas is the only exception; the current projections indicate that the target will be reached by 2025.’Flavors defended
The introduction to the city council of Chicago, US, of a measure aimed at banning flavored nicotine cartridges used with electronic cigarettes has been condemned by experts at the free-market think tank, The Heartland Institute.
The measure has been put forward by Alderman Ed Burke.
‘Alderman Ed Burke’s proposed ordinance is nothing more than preening for moralizing anti-fun busybodies,’ said Jesse Hathaway, research fellow, budget and tax policy at the institute.
‘Selling e-cigarettes to individuals under the age of 18 is already illegal in Illinois, so the ordinance’s aims are already addressed by existing laws.
‘Prohibiting the sale of flavored vaping products won’t save any lives, but it may stop people currently addicted to cigarettes from switching to less-harmful alternatives or even kicking the nicotine habit.
‘If Burke’s goal is to promote public health, restricting access to flavoring in e-cigarettes advances the ball in the wrong direction.
‘If Burke’s goal is to look like he’s doing something to gain accolades from the puritan anti-e-cig crowd without actually doing anything useful, then this is perfect.’
Meanwhile, Lindsey Stroud, state government relations manager at the institute, said the role of flavors in electronic cigarettes and vaping devices was crucial – and a motivating factor that had enabled thousands of smokers to quit combustible cigarettes, according to 72 percent of the respondents to a 2015 Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives study of 19,000 observations.
‘While attempting to “protect the children,” Alderman Burke ignores the role of tobacco harm reduction (THR) products for adults and is attempting to limit the choices available to help alleviate these individuals from cigarette addiction,’ said Stroud.
‘Rather than placing restrictions on products that have been proven to aid individuals who desire to quit smoking, policy makers should promote the unencumbered use of THR products.’Dokha sales limited
People in the UAE will soon be able to buy only limited amounts of dokha, while all such products will have to carry graphic health warnings, according to a story in The Khaleej Times citing new standards approved by the National Tobacco Control Program under the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP).
There was no mention in the story of what the limit would be and how sales would be policed. Dokha reportedly can be bought ‘anywhere’ at prices less than those of cigarettes.
Wikipedia describes dokha as a type of tobacco that is usually mixed with herbs and spices, and smoked in a Medwakh (pipe). Dokha is said to be Arabic for ‘dizziness’.
The new standards have been developed by the Emirates Metrology and Standardization Authority (ESMA) and approved by the ministry.
Graphic health warnings have been required on other tobacco-product packs since 2012.
“These regulations for dokha should be in place by the end of the year,” Dr Wedad Al Maidoor, director of the Primary Healthcare Center & National Program of Tobacco Control, told the Khaleej Times.
“These new standards are being put in place to control the unlimited use of dokha which is growing in popularity among the youth,” she said.
A draft of standards and specifications for electronic cigarettes is also ready with the ESMA but is still pending approval.
Results from a health screenings study carried out in Abu Dhabi in 2016 showed that almost 30 percent of Emiratis in their thirties smoked medwakh.Huge fall in smoking
The number of daily smokers in France fell by one million between 2016 and 2017, according to a story on euronews.com citing the results of a new survey by the country’s public health agency.
This fall, which meant that the incidence of smoking among people 18-75 years of age went from 29.4 percent to 26.9 percent, was reportedly described by Public Health France as historic.
The survey found also that, for the first time since 2000, there was a ‘notable decline’ in daily smoking among the ‘most disadvantaged’ smokers, including low-income earners and the unemployed.
French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn was quoted as saying that anti-smoking measures, including the so-called “sin” tax on nicotine, standardized packaging and health warnings, were largely responsible for the “encouraging” trend.
Sharing the news on Twitter, Buzyn wrote: “Good news that strengthens my commitment to the prevention and health of all”.
Buzyn plans to raise the price of a pack of cigarettes to €10 by 2020, up from almost €8 today after a series of hikes in recent years.
It was necessary “to continue this major fight against one of the biggest scourges of public health,” she said.
Meanwhile, according to an RFI story relayed by the US-based TMA, Buzyn said the so-called “sin” tax on nicotine was largely to thank for the trend, boosted by state-reimbursed cessation counselling and nicotine patches, standardized packaging and health warnings.
But the UK-based Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association earlier this month quoted Buzyn, as saying that: “Plain packaging did not contribute to the decrease of official tobacco sales”.Communication at stake
Philip Morris SA has urged the South African government to create an exemption in its new tobacco bill that would enable the company to provide consumers with information about its heated tobacco device, IQOS, according to a story in The Business Day.
The Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill, gazetted for public comment on May 9, contains provisions that prohibit all tobacco product advertising.
If enacted in its current form, it would prevent PM from providing consumers with information about IQOS, said Neetesh Ramjee, head of corporate affairs for reduced-risk products.
“The current legislation allows the minister to exempt certain products,” said Ramjee. “It would make sense to insert this clause into the new bill. If we don’t have this mechanism, people will stay on cigarettes.”
Current tobacco legislation permits PM to provide smokers with information about IQOS: for example, in leaflets attached to cigarette packs, but under the new bill, this would be prohibited.
“Eventually we want to get out of the cigarette business,” Ramjee said.
“We are trying to provide alternatives that will meet people’s needs.”
The new bill paves the way for stringent tobacco laws that would for the first time bring electronic cigarettes into the regulatory fold. E-cigarettes are unregulated because they don’t contain tobacco.
Philip Morris said it was seeking legislation that drew a distinction between conventional tobacco products, such as cigarettes, and those that posed less of a risk to consumers.
The World Health Organization, which has welcomed the bill, said the emissions from heated tobacco products and e-cigarettes contained toxins, metals, nicotine and other harmful and potentially harmful substances.
‘Evidence to date suggests that [they] generally contain lower levels of toxic substances found in cigarette smoke, but there is insufficient independent scientific evidence to conclude that they are less harmful than conventional tobacco products, the WHO said in a statement.Fines threatened
Cambodia’s Ministry of Health will soon start fining people who smoke in public venues where tobacco smoking is banned, along with the owners of those venues, according to a story in The Khmer Times.
Ing Phirun, secretary of state at the Ministry of Health and permanent vice-chairman of the Tobacco Products Control Commission was quoted as saying that the ministries of health and justice would collaborate to fine those who violated rules against tobacco smoking in public areas such as restaurants and hotels.
“We have an inspection working group of more than 500 people to work on the sub-decree, and anyone who smokes in a prohibited area will be fined 20,000 riel [US$5] per time,” he said. “Moreover, if they are found smoking in a hotel or restaurant, the fine will be doubled for the owners of the premises.”
The government sub-decree banning smoking in workplaces and public places came into force in March 2016.
The sub-decree says public places refer to restaurants, workplaces, public institutions, hospitals, schools and public parks.
Fines of 20,000 to 50,000 riel will apply respectively to anyone who smokes in public and to venue owners who do not display notices drawing attention to the prohibition on smoking within their premises.Majority report
A tobacco smoking ban in pubs and restaurants that went into force a year ago in the Czech Republic is supported by 71 percent of Czechs, according to a Radio Prague story citing the results of a poll.
The poll, which was carried out by the Ipsos polling agency in co-operation with Charles University, found that 12 percent of respondents were vehemently against the ban.
More than 1,000 people were surveyed.
Surveys suggest that about a quarter of Czechs still smoke.
The Constitutional Court recently rejected a complaint against the smoking ban that was brought on the grounds that it restricted the rights of individuals and entrepreneurs.
And a recent move in Parliament to soften the ban also failed.
