Category: Science

Vapor Clouds Don’t Spread virus

There is insufficient evidence to support the claim that Covid-19 can be spread through vape clouds, according to Neal Benowitz, a University of California San Francisco professor of medicine.
“It is my understanding that exhaled e-cigarette vapor consists of very small particles of water, propylene glycol and glycerin and flavor chemicals, not droplets of saliva,” Benowitz said.
“The vaping aerosol evaporates very quickly while particles that are emitted when coughing or sneezing are large particles that persist in the air for a relatively long period of time.
“Thus, I would not think that vapers present any risk of spreading Covid-19 unless they are coughing when they exhale the vapor.”

Benowitz’s remarks follow comments by Tom McLean, a Scottish microbiologist, who claimed that “blowing vapor out is as good as someone spitting in your face.”
“If anyone has the coronavirus and are vaping, they’d be spreading it to a lot of people at the same time,” McLean said.
Doctors are considering vaping as a possible factor in the large rate of those hospitalized for severe Covid-19 symptoms.
March 24, 2020
Nerudia Recognized as Leading Innovator

Nerudia, Imperial Brands’ research and development hub for next-generation products, (NGP) features among the European Patent Office’s (EPO) top 100 applicants in 2019. Nerudia works alongside Imperial Brand’s group science team to continually build knowledge and develop nicotine products with a lower risk profile than traditional combustible tobacco.
“I am extremely proud of Nerudia’s ranking. Intellectual property [IP] continues to be a major focus as we enhance our portfolio for smokers who are looking to convert to potentially less harmful products.” said David Newns, co-founder of Nerudia and group innovation and science director at Imperial Brands.
“Excellence in innovation will be key to unlocking the potential of NGP to Imperial, so we’re very proud to be recognized and see this ranking as a lead indicator of our innovation pipeline,” he said.
Imperial Brands’ NGP portfolio includes Blu vapor products, Pulze heated tobacco and ZoneX tobacco-free oral nicotine.
Nerudia filed 335 patents with the EPO last year, placing it 62nd on a ranking headed by global electronics giants Huawei, Samsung and LG.
Of all U.K. businesses, Nerudia made the second largest number of patent applications with only Rolls Royce filing more.
“We have consciously created an environment where our employees feel empowered to question how things have always been done and to consider a new way, a better way, to do things,” said Chris Lord, co-founder of Nerudia, and group innovation director at Imperial Brands.
“IP plays a huge part in ensuring that Imperial remains a leader in NGP, and keep us at the forefront of delivering products that offer a better future to adult smokers and in doing so reducing the risk profile that nicotine containing products have,” he said.
Nerudia ranked eighth for number of patent applications made to the UK Intellectual Property Office in 2018, just one position below the renowned technology innovation business Dyson.
March 20, 2020
JTI Ranked as Top Patent Applicant
Japan Tobacco International (JTI) was one of the top 100 applicants at the European Patent Office (EPO), according to the EPO’s Patent Index 2019.
“Our position as one of the top applicants at the EPO demonstrates our commitment to innovation and is the result of extensive in-house research and development,” said Stephane Hedarchet, intellectual property vice president for JTI. “We are constantly developing new technologies and products, notably for our Ploom and Logic vaping products, that better serve the needs of our consumers.”
Globally, the JT Group has 4,200 granted patents and 2,800 pending patent applications. The group filed 357 priority applications in 2019.
Industrywide, patent applications for reduced-risk products more than doubled last year.
March 19, 2020
An Effective Tool
E-cigarettes could help prolong the lives of millions of consumers if they become part of a tobacco harm reduction strategy, according to a new study released by the American Consumer Institute reviewing evidence from policy and health studies as well as the impact of legislative and regulatory decisions.
The study found that “there is overwhelming evidence that e-cigarettes are far less harmful than combustible cigarettes; they constitute one of the most common and effective cessation aids available to smokers; some empirical evidence finds underage vaping by nonsmokers to be infrequent, which supports the correlation between the rise in vaping and the decline smoking, although government-sponsored health advertisements may actually be heightening teen curiosity and increasing use; and overzealous or poorly designed restrictions on vaping, combined with misleading information about e-cigarettes’ true health risks, are deterring smokers from pursuing a potentially life-saving alternative.”
March 11, 2020
Bates: ‘Vaping Still Better Than Smoking’
Public Health England is sticking to its long-held conviction that vaping is a better alternative to smoking combustible cigarettes and that never-smokers should be encouraged not to smoke or vape.
Its sixth report on e-cigarettes, “Vaping in England: 2020 evidence update summary,” shows a decline in adults who view vaping as less harmful than smoking—from 45 percent in 2014 to 34 percent in 2019. The report also states that there has not been a major increase in youth vaping and that only 1 percent of youth never-smokers are current vapers.
Based on the report, PHE concluded that vapor products, both nicotine and non-nicotine products, should be regulated, but banning flavors would negatively affect adult smokers who are attempting to quit smoking using vapor products. The report also states that “NHS [National Health Service] England should issue guidance on vaping in mental health trusts to ensure consistency and equity across the NHS” and “the spate of lung injuries and deaths in the U.S. is not attributable to the regulated nicotine vaping products currently sold in England. But all suspected adverse reactions or suspected deaths need to be assessed.”
According to the report, perceptions of harm from vaping among smokers are increasingly out of line with the evidence. “Safety fears may well be deterring many smokers from switching, leaving them on a path to years of ill health and an early death due to their smoking,” said John Newton, director of health improvement at PHE.
Vaping advocates welcomed the report. “[The report] provides further and concrete evidence that vaping has a crucial role to play in changing the lives of smokers around the country, and it dispels the myths that youth vaping is currently a major issue,” said John Dunne, director of the U.K. Vaping Industry Association.
“However, it also tells us that the gross misinformation that has been spread about the safety of vaping has had an effect on consumers’ perceptions of e-cigarettes, which could greatly influence their decision to switch from smoking, which carries significantly more health risk.”
March 10, 2020
Broughton expands
Broughton Nicotine Services has launched an in-house toxicology services division to increase capacity and to better assess the adverse effects of chemical substances associated with e-cigarettes across the global tobacco and nicotine industries.
The addition of this division aims to support companies working in the electronic nicotine-delivery system sector as they collectively strive for a smoke-free future.
The new division is led by Chris Allen, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs for Broughton Nicotine Services, and headed by Fozia Saleem, director of scientific affairs and program management for the company.
“We are pleased to launch this new service for clients to complement our initial extensive investment into analytical services to meet the full requirements of premarket applications in the U.K., U.S. and emerging regulated markets,” said Allen. “Having an experienced team of toxicologists and nonclinical experts on site collaborating with our analytical team and external suppliers will help us leverage improved efficiencies for clients and accelerate compilation of scientific data for regulatory projects.”
Broughton Nicotine Services’ new toxicology services division will deliver quantitative risk assessments as well as regulatory in vitro toxicity testing.
March 4, 2020
Vaping still preferable
Public Health England is sticking to its long-held conviction that vaping is a better alternative to smoking combustible cigarettes and that never-smokers should be encouraged not to smoke or vape.
Its sixth report on e-cigarettes, “Vaping in England: 2020 evidence update summary,” shows a decline in adults who view vaping as less harmful than smoking—from 45 percent in 2014 to 34 percent in 2019. The report also states that there has not been a major increase in youth vaping and that only 1 percent of youth never-smokers are current vapers.
Based on the report, PHE concluded that vapor products, both nicotine and non-nicotine products, should be regulated, but banning flavors would negatively affect adult smokers who are attempting to quit smoking using vapor products. The report also states that “NHS [National Health Service] England should issue guidance on vaping in mental health trusts to ensure consistency and equity across the NHS” and “the spate of lung injuries and deaths in the U.S. is not attributable to the regulated nicotine vaping products currently sold in England. But all suspected adverse reactions or suspected deaths need to be assessed.”
According to the report, perceptions of harm from vaping among smokers are increasingly out of line with the evidence. “Safety fears may well be deterring many smokers from switching, leaving them on a path to years of ill health and an early death due to their smoking,” said John Newton, director of health improvement at PHE.
Vaping advocates welcomed the report. “[The report] provides further and concrete evidence that vaping has a crucial role to play in changing the lives of smokers around the country, and it dispels the myths that youth vaping is currently a major issue,” said John Dunne, director of the U.K. Vaping Industry Association.
“However, it also tells us that the gross misinformation that has been spread about the safety of vaping has had an effect on consumers’ perceptions of e-cigarettes, which could greatly influence their decision to switch from smoking, which carries significantly more health risk.”
March 4, 2020
Busy Times Ahead

Stephane Colard (left) and Pierre-Marie Guiton
Coresta’s new secretary general shares his plans for the organization.
By Stefanie Rossel
At the end of last year, Stephane Colard took over as Coresta’s secretary general. Before joining this “cooperation center for scientific research” in Paris, he worked for Altadis and Imperial Brands where his last position was head of scientific research and harm reduction. Colard has been involved with Coresta since 2000 as a presenter of several papers and as a working group member and coordinator. From 2014 until 2018, he also served on the organization’s scientific commission. Colard holds a doctorate in science and last year obtained a Master of Business Administration with a specialty in corporate and social responsibility. Tobacco Reporter spoke with Colard about his plans for Coresta.
Tobacco Reporter: You’ve been at the helm of Coresta since November 2019. What is your vision for the organization?
Stephane Colard: The vision of Coresta is “to be recognized by its members and relevant external bodies as an authoritative source of publicly available, credible science and best practices related to tobacco and its derived products.” This vision is mine too, and in addition, I have a personal ambition for Coresta: to meet the fast-changing stakeholders’ expectations by translating and embedding, with the cooperation of all members, the vision into an extended scientific scope. With “stakeholders,” I mean all people or organizations impacted by or impacting the tobacco sector; for example, regulators, NGOs, suppliers, manufacturers or investors.
I am convinced that the scope of Coresta’s activities should not only cover the science of the products but also environmental, social and economic sciences. By considering large and multidisciplinary scientific domains and decreasing the granularity of specific areas of expertise, one can reduce the distance between scientists and stakeholders. This is a pre-requirement for meeting new product, environmental, social and economic expectations; this is my ambition.
The tobacco industry is in a state of transformation. What are the most pressing issues for Coresta?
Organizations are being asked to be more responsible than ever, and this is particularly true for the tobacco sector. Ignoring or underestimating this responsibility would be a trap reinforcing the strategy of “demonization.” This sector should therefore behave responsibly today, and because there is no doubt that more changes will occur, it should prepare responsibly for the future to make sure that value is sustainably created and shared. Investments in innovative new technologies and products like heated tobacco or oral nicotine-delivery products are interesting signs of industry transformation and of alternative levers of value creation.
Obviously, it is not the role of Coresta to influence business decisions and strategies. However, I am personally convinced that science can support value creation by developing new consensual tools for measuring the performance and the positive impacts of business adaptations and transformations. So, in my view, the most pressing issues for Coresta are to understand the expectations of stakeholders, to anticipate the needs for new broad scientific cooperation and tools, and to address them consensually and efficiently.

Among the things the tobacco industry will have to deal with are the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations—for instance, of tobacco farmers—must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality and spur economic growth while tackling climate change and working to preserve the world’s oceans and forests. Developing and developed countries are supposed to work in partnership to turn the 17 goals into a reality. What role can Coresta play in accomplishing the SDGs?
Last year, I completed an MBA specializing in the assessment of the corporate and social responsibility performance of organizations. In that context, I undertook a project to better understand the impact of tobacco and alternative product sectors on the United Nations’ SDGs—the full report is available on the Coresta website—and to identify methods for performance assessment and improvement. Even if some specific goals are more impacted than others, this project showed that all goals were interrelated and that synergies and antagonisms should be carefully evaluated before any decisions of action for mitigation are taken. It is then important to take a global and multi-angle approach. Coresta is an international association composed of 160 member organizations spread all around the world and covering a wide range of expertise; this collaborative platform offers great opportunities to create strong and long-term partnerships for addressing issues globally.
During our conferences held last October in Hamburg, Germany, and Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, the president of the board of Coresta, Huub Vizee, confirmed that sustainability topics were nowadays one of the strategic priorities for Coresta and that new cooperations should be initiated rapidly. I am currently working hard to make this multidisciplinary cooperation a reality from 2020; everything will then be in place to develop the consensual tools needed for performance and impact assessments.
Electronic nicotine-delivery systems, increasingly used to quit smoking around the world, suffered a severe blow after an outbreak of vaping-related lung injuries in the U.S. Although it turned out that the disease was caused by illicit THC products, consumers of legitimate products have also been scared away. With its science-based approach, can Coresta help restore the products’ reputations?
The purpose of Coresta is not to defend the reputation of a certain product category, whatever the product. The purpose of Coresta is to promote cooperation, to do good science and to make it publicly available. Scientists believe that facts are more important than opinions and feelings. I believe that continuing to produce credible science and to educate people will contribute to having an environment where rational facts continue to prevail.

The U.S. also made headlines when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced plans to reduce nicotine in cigarettes to “minimally addictive” levels. What impact have these plans had on the work of your organization?
Challenging regulatory perspectives automatically trigger new scientific work. Several initiatives [were] launched by Coresta when the FDA announced its intention to regulate nicotine levels in tobacco leaves.
In 2017, two task forces were created to investigate the biosynthesis of nicotine and new biotechnologies. The objectives of the first task force are to understand the genetics that control alkaloid formation in tobacco plants; to understand the feasibility of conventional and nonconventional breeding techniques to modify alkaloid formation; and to understand the impact of tobacco alkaloid levels on leaf production and quality. The second task force’s objectives are to describe and summarize publicly available literature on biotechnology and omics techniques and to prepare clear and concise definitions of nomenclature and techniques.
In addition, a new task force, the Collaborative Study of Low Nicotine Tobacco Agronomic Production Practices, was created in 2019 to determine the impact variety selection has upon nicotine levels and to determine the impact of modified cultural practices on nicotine levels.
So, yes, Coresta monitors the changing environment [and] priorities and revises rapidly its scientific program accordingly.
Heated-tobacco products are another growing category. What are Coresta’s current and future tasks in this field?
Last year, nearly 50 international scientists participated in an open forum organized by Coresta with the aim to identify scientific needs and priorities for this new product category. They came to the conclusion that a working group should be created with the objective to establish standardized terminology and definitions that encompass all categories of heated-tobacco products, to define one or more specific approaches and regimes for the generation and collection of emissions, to define and agree on priority compounds to be analyzed, and to revise or develop recommended methods. Three months after the open forum, this new working group was created and held its first meeting. Work is progressing fast now.
Coresta will hold its annual congress in Vienna from Oct. 11–15. Which topics can we expect?
The theme of the 2020 congress is “Integrated Science: Opportunities and Challenges.” Science should not be seen as a set of different domains of expertise ignoring each other. Like the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, areas of expertise are interrelated. Agronomists, geneticists, physicists, chemists, toxicologists, behaviorists, clinicians … all scientists should meet and work together to develop product, social, environmental and economic science. It is a bit early to provide the details of the scientific program as it is based on the abstracts that will be submitted for oral or poster presentations. However, considering the congress theme, we can expect a rich and “integrated” scientific program demonstrating that a unified [scientific] approach is the best way to meet expectations.
Where can stakeholders access information on Coresta’s current projects?
Information on Coresta activities are published on our website, www.coresta.org. This is the first source of publicly available information as it gives access to thousands of documents. Our annual congress also offers the opportunity to network with our members, to interact with experts, to exchange more detailed information, to participate in workshops, to listen to the latest reports of the working groups and to hear a whole range of high-level scientific presentations. The congress will be held Oct. 11 to 15 in Vienna, Austria—make a note in your diaries and register as soon as possible!

Reflecting on an exciting time
Pierre-Marie Guiton, who led Coresta as secretary general from January 2010 to late 2019, takes stock of his decade with the association.
Tobacco Reporter: How do you look back on your time with Coresta?
Pierre-Marie Guitton
Pierre-Marie Guiton: It was an exciting time. Coresta has this extraordinary purpose and capacity of making an array of tremendously smart and committed people cooperatively work on issues raised by the rapidly evolving tobacco-related world for the benefit of science on a noncompetitive basis. Moreover, I have been impressed with the international and friendly spirit of Coresta.
What do you consider the greatest accomplishments of your tenure?
I am not sure about “great accomplishments,” but I am glad I brought the vape world into Coresta—or the other way around—in 2012 with a working group launched [in] early 2013. I contributed, as a speaker [at] many events, in demonstrating to more and more stakeholders that Coresta is a unique platform to develop solid analytical methods that can become international standards.
In the 2019 membership, there are now almost as many independent labs and consultants as there are tobacco and vape producers; the ratio was 50 percent in 2010. Lastly, and although not a personal accomplishment, I am also proud that Coresta was granted the Most outstanding service to the industry Golden Leaf Award in 2018.
What will be the greatest challenges for the organization in the near future?
After the vape disruption, heated products and low-nicotine tobacco will surely keep scientists very busy. Widening the scope of Coresta is also a challenge, and the growing interest worldwide in sustainability will need support from an experienced organization such as Coresta. And I know my successor is the man to handle that task. —S.R.
Stefanie Rossel is Tobacco Reporter’s editorial contributor. An experienced trade journalist, she combines sharp reporting skills with in-depth knowledge of the tobacco and vapor industries. Prior to joining Tobacco Reporter, Stefanie was editor-in-chief at Tobacco Journal International, where she worked for a decade. Fluent in English, German and French, Stefanie covers tobacco news around the world. She is based in Germany.

March 1, 2020
Study retracted
The Journal of the American Heart Association has retracted a study by Dharma Bhatta and Staton Glantz showing a link between e-cigarette usage among adults and heart attack.
The article, “Electronic Cigarette Use and Myocardial Infarction Among Adults in the U.S. Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health,” appears to be missing information regarding the link between when e-cigarettes are used and when heart attacks appear in individuals.
“Post publication, the editors requested Bhatta and Glantzto conduct the analysis based on when specific respondents started using e‐cigarettes,” the journal wrote.
“The authors agreed to comply with the editors’ request. The deadline set by the editors for completion of the revised analysis was not met because the authors are currently unable to access the PATH database. Given these issues, the editors are concerned that the study conclusion is unreliable.”
Representatives of the vaping industry welcomed the study, which they say had damaged the sector’s reputation and caused confusion among smokers looking to quit.
“We welcome the Journal of the American Heart Association’s decision to retract this study,” said John Dunne, spokesperson for the The U.K. Vaping Industry Association.
“ Quality, peer-reviewed science consistently demonstrates the public health potential of vaping, while studies that reach unreliable conclusions such as this one risk keeping people smoking cigarettes,” Dunne said. “The duty now falls to those in the media, who have given this research and its authors a platform, to make their own urgent retractions and corrections.”
Glantz said that in retracting his study, the Journal of American Heart Association had caved to pressure from e-cigarette interests. “The results in the paper are accurately analyzed and reported,” he said in a response to the incident on his blog.

February 21, 2020
Creating antibodies
Reynolds American is infecting fast-growing tobacco plants with a genetically modified version of the coronavirus to see if they can produce antibodies for a possible vaccine.
Reynolds is working through Kentucky Bioprocessing, a small lab the tobacco company bought in January 2014.
Kentucky Bioprocessing has reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services, stating it could provide a sample of its work by early March.
Kentucky Bioprocessing also helped in creating an Ebola treatment during an outbreak of that illness in 2014. “Kentucky BioSciences quickly focused on producing a tobacco-derived component for the combination therapy ZMapp, one of the first experimental Ebola treatments to become available. ZMapp ultimately fell short as data piled up for other drugs’ effectiveness against the virus,” according to Politico.
The idea of using tobacco plants to fight viruses is not new—in 2012, tobacco plants aided in the production of 10 million flu vaccines. The plants are hardy and grow fast, allowing scientists to create vaccines more quickly.
Though there is promise in the science, it would take thousands of doses to come up with an experimental treatment for coronavirus, according to experts, and it’s possible the outbreak could subside before a vaccine is perfected.
February 19, 2020