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Category: Science & Innovation

  • ITGA Announces Annual Meeting

    ITGA Announces Annual Meeting

    Tobacco-producing countries from North, Central, and South America have been invited to participate in the International Tobacco Growers’ Association (ITGA) “Americas Regional Meeting on April 24 in Jujuy, Argentina

    The ITGA is convening stakeholders from the tobacco sector across the Americas to address key issues currently impacting the industry. This year’s discussions will place particular emphasis on the increasing regulatory pressure from the World Health Organization (WHO), driven by its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which will host its Eleventh Conference of the Parties (COP11) this coming November.

    Brazil—currently the world’s largest exporter of tobacco and the second-largest producer after China—has taken one of the strongest opposing stances in the context of these WHO negotiations. The Brazilian Tobacco Growers’ Association (Afubra) will be in attendance to advocate for the socio-economic importance of tobacco in the regions where it is cultivated and to showcase initiatives that promote family farming both within and beyond the tobacco sector.

    “We must support our Brazilian brothers in defending the sector because it affects us all and must be seen as a joint struggle,” said José Aranda, president of the ITGA.

  • CORESTA Announces Next Webinar

    The Cooperation Centre for Scientific Research Relative to Tobacco (CORESTA) announced its latest agro-phyto webinar, titled “Tobacco Genetic Resources: The Foundation for a Global Industry.” The webinar will be held May 13 at 1 p.m. CET.

    In addition to the tobacco genetic resources, the other major topic will be assessing flue-cured tobacco yield trends.

    “Tobacco genetic resources are the single most important component of the global tobacco industry, as genetics determine tobacco raw material performance, usability, and placement in manufactured products,” CORESTA said. “North Carolina State University maintains one of the most significant tobacco germplasm collections in the world.

    “Insight relative to this collection will be shared by Dr. Ramsey Lewis. In addition, Dr. Matthew Vann will present historical flue-cured tobacco variety performance data, which highlights a tangible, positive outcome that has helped to sustain leaf production since the 1950s.”

  • Two New Webinars for Tobacco Researchers

    Two New Webinars for Tobacco Researchers

    CORESTA announced two new webinars for researchers in the tobacco industry.

    “Techniques for Successful Applied Tobacco Field Research” will be held April 15 at 1 p.m. CET. In its description, CORESTA said, “Tobacco research spans multiple disciplines, each requiring specialized knowledge and protocols. Effective field research in tobacco production shares common principles and practices that ensure reliable and accurate results. This webinar will provide a comprehensive overview of the essential research methodologies for conducting field-based studies in tobacco production.”

    The second webinar is “Tobacco Genetic Resources: The Foundation for a Global Tobacco Industry.” It is described as, “Tobacco genetic resources are the single most important component of the global tobacco industry. This webinar will share insight relative to the North Carolina State University germplasm collection and will present historical flue-cured tobacco variety performance data to highlight the tangible, positive outcome that has helped to sustain leaf production since the 1950s.”

  • Australia: Smoking Costs Increasing Burden on Low-Income Households 

    Australia: Smoking Costs Increasing Burden on Low-Income Households 

    Disadvantaged households have higher rates of smoking, putting pressure on their household budgets, University of Queensland researchers have found. Professor Coral Gartner from UQ’s School of Public Health said reducing smoking among households in lower-income areas was important because of the enormous health and financial toll.

    “The increasing price of tobacco has assisted many households in all income groups to quit smoking,’’ Gartner said. “But for those who haven’t quit, tobacco smoking is a growing source of financial strain.

    Researchers studied household tobacco expenditure by socioeconomic status from 2006 to 2022, a period that included substantial tobacco tax increases (2010-2020). Overall average annual household tobacco expenditure decreased to A$972.70 ($603), reflecting a decrease in the number of people purchasing tobacco because of higher prices. In households that purchased tobacco, however, spending increased by A$1,092.20 to A$4,931.70 ($677 to $3,058).

    For people who continued to smoke, the increased financial burden of tobacco products meant less spending on other items such as health, food, insurance, and education.

    “Australia is a world leader in tobacco taxation and has implemented tax policy in line with levels recommended by the World Health Organization,’’ Gartner said. “However, our findings underscore the need for comprehensive policy approaches to reduce tobacco smoking in Australia through both price and non-price-related measures.”

  • Still 10-20 Years From Knowing Vape’s Long-Term Health Effects

    Still 10-20 Years From Knowing Vape’s Long-Term Health Effects

    New Zealand researchers are working to find out the long-term health effects of vaping on the nation’s youth, who are nearly three times more likely to vape than teenagers in Australia, Canada, and the United States. And while preliminary research is causing concerns, they admit that concrete conclusions are still years away.

    Kelly Burrows, a researcher at Auckland University’s Bio Engineering Institute, began looking into the matter in 2019 when data suggested that cigarette use was declining but vape use was increasing drastically.

    “You know it took sort of 50 years to find out what the link between smoking and health effects really were,” she said. “I would say because vaping has not been around that long, comparatively, it’ll be at least another 10 years or 20 years before we see the long-term health effects.”

    During the past six years, the associate professor led multiple studies on the topic, focusing on the lungs and respiratory system.

    “Every time you vape, some of that will stay inside your lungs, so the e-liquids that are in vapes are sort of quite an oily substance,” Burrows said. “There’ll be a lining of this oil that will stay inside your lungs and actually one of the things that is designed to get rid of that is the process of inflammation. It’s when you have this inflammation occurring many times a day over many years, which is what leads to disease and tissue breakdown.”

    Burrows worked with engineering students to create a vaping robot, which collected vapor and froze it to be tested for chemicals and contaminants. That method found at least 30 different flavoring chemicals in each e-liquid, and Burrows said no one knows what the health and safety of those flavoring chemicals is. They also found some heavy metals in the aerosol—the substance that is inhaled and exhaled from a vaping device.

    “So normally the heating coil is made from a mixture of different metals and when that gets to really high temperatures, some of that comes off into the aerosol.”

    Another study from Burrows grew lung cells in a lab and exposed them to e-cigarette vapor, where some cells died and others broke apart or became more permeable, meaning chemicals could be more easily absorbed into the bloodstream.

  • Young Asians Moving from Cigarettes to Vape

    Young Asians Moving from Cigarettes to Vape

    Young people in Southeast Asia are moving from smoking cigarettes to vaping and heated tobacco products (HTPs) instead, a survey of consumer research and data analytics from Milieu Insight said. It surveyed more than 18,000 legal-age adults across Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia, studying their consumption trends, flavor preferences, purchase channels, reasons for use, and future adoption.

    “The study shows some key factors influencing this trend,” said Gerald Ang, Milieu Insight’s chief operating officer. “One key factor is the variety of flavor, with fruit and menthol flavor dominating consumer choice in alternative nicotine products.

    “E-cigarettes and heated tobacco products being ‘cheaper’ is also an important reason for using alternative nicotine products.”

    Even though Singapore has banned the use of alternative nicotine products, they are still prevalent among people aged 21 to 29, the survey found, with 7.8% in that age group use vapes and HTPs, while 5.7% smoke cigarettes. The study also found that in Singapore, 43% bought these products from online shopping and messaging platforms, 29% bought the alternative nicotine products from friends and family, and 19% bought them on social media platforms.

    Ang said the study shows that e-cigarette and HTP use in the region is expected to grow, as a sizeable portion of smokers indicated that they were likely to use alternative nicotine products in the next six months.

    In Vietnam, which has also banned these alternative nicotine products, 9.2% of people in the 25 to 34 age bracket are vaping. And in Malaysia, 14.8% of young people between 20 and 29 are using e-cigarettes and HTPs.

  • New Zealand Study Says Vape Not Helping End Smoking

    New Zealand Study Says Vape Not Helping End Smoking

    Health researchers in New Zealand examining the long-running Year 10s smoking study say the e-cigarette companies are wrong: vaping is not displacing smoking among young people. Researchers from the University of Auckland, Australia’s Cancer Council New South Wales and the University of Sydney’s Daffodil Center, looked at vaping and smoking trends among New Zealand adolescents.

    Published last Friday (March 21), the study analyzed 25 years of data, from 1999 to 2023, examining the potential impact of vaping on smoking trends among nearly 700,000 students aged 14 to 15 years old.

    Researchers expected to see a decline in smoking after vapes were introduced, but University of Auckland research fellow Dr. Lucy Hardie said that while youth smoking rates in New Zealand were declining steeply before vapes came on the scene in 2010, that progress has slowed.

     “What we found instead was that actually the rates of decline slowed, rather than speed up,” Hardie said. “For us, this means that potentially, young people are experimenting more, rather than less, with the advent of vaping.

     “That might be down to things like vaping being more socially acceptable, in this younger age group, and so it may not be such a leap to then start experimenting with cigarettes as well.”

    In 2023, approximately 12.6 percent of 14 to 15-year-old students in New Zealand had ever smoked, nearly double the 6.6 percent predicted in the pre-vaping era. Similarly, in 2023, around 3 percent of Year 10 students were smoking regularly, but this rate would have been just 1.8 percent had it followed its pre-vaping trend.

    The research contradicts an earlier and oft-quoted study from 2020 that suggested vaping might be displacing smoking among New Zealand youth. The new study uses the same data but drew on a much wider time period, Hardie said.

    The researchers found that vaping may have actually slowed New Zealand’s progress in preventing adolescent smoking. Meanwhile, the new research also shows the prevalence of daily vaping in New Zealand increased from 1.1 percent in 2015 to 10 percent in 2023.

  • CAPHRA Backs Evidence That Vaping Could Save Thousands of Thai Lives 

    CAPHRA Backs Evidence That Vaping Could Save Thousands of Thai Lives 

     The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) today (March 19) endorsed compelling evidence presented by Asa Saligupta, Director of ENDs Cigarette Smoke Thailand, highlighting the life-saving potential of vaping as an alternative to deadly combustible cigarettes. 

    The Bangkok Post has revealed a stark public health contradiction: while smoking cigarettes is blamed for 71,000 Thai deaths annually, there has not been a single recorded death from e-cigarette use in Thailand. Yet conventional cigarettes remain widely available while vaping products remain prohibited. 

    “The evidence from Thailand mirrors what we’ve seen across the Asia-Pacific region—policies driven by misinformation rather than science are costing lives,” said Nancy Loucas, CAPHRA Executive Coordinator. “When Public Health England concluded that vaping is approximately 95% safer than smoking cigarettes, they provided a scientific foundation that many countries have used to develop sensible harm reduction policies.” 

    CAPHRA acknowledges concerns regarding youth access but emphasizes that proper regulation—not prohibition—is the appropriate solution. “We support restrictions on marketing to young people, but banning products that could save millions of adult smokers from premature death is neither,” Loucas said. “Thailand stands at a crossroads. It can continue its failed prohibition approach, or it can join the growing number of countries following scientific evidence to implement sensible regulations that will save countless lives.”

  • Study Warns Flavored Nicotine May Be More Addictive

    Study Warns Flavored Nicotine May Be More Addictive

    Certain nicotine flavors could be more addictive than others, according to researchers from the Yale School of Medicine, who found that rats preferred the combination of flavorings and nicotine to just the flavorings or unflavored nicotine on their own. The study suggests that sweeteners play a greater role in nicotine preference for females, while flavors are more influential for males.

    Published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, the effects of the sweeteners sucrose and saccharin, as well as the commonly used flavor additive cinnamaldehyde (the principal chemical of cinnamon) in nicotine were tested on rats. Female rats showed the highest nicotine preference when combined with sucrose, while males preferred nicotine combined with cinnamon. They also found menthol flavoring increases oral nicotine intake in male rats but not in females.

    The study says that although flavors do not significantly impact nicotine absorption, they significantly influence user satisfaction and increase the likelihood that people will continue using nicotine products.

  • Study: E-Cigs Have No Significant Impact on Lung Function

    Study: E-Cigs Have No Significant Impact on Lung Function

    A newly published critical umbrella review in Tobacco Use Insights found that there were no statistically significant changes in respiratory function for e-cigarette (EC) users. Conducted by researchers from the Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR), the study highlights the absence of significant short- or medium-term respiratory changes associated with e-cigarette use, regardless of usage patterns.

    Led by Giusy Rita Maria La Rosa, Riccardo Polosa, and Renée O’Leary, the review analyzed 12 systematic reviews on e-cigarette effects, categorizing users into three groups: dual users (who smoke and vape), exclusive users (former smokers who switched to vaping), and naïve users (those who have never smoked but use e-cigarettes).

    “Studies on the latest products on the market have shown reductions in chemical emissions,” said O’Leary. “Across all user categories, there were no statistically significant changes in respiratory function. The five systematic reviews in our analysis concluded that there is no definitive evidence of harm or benefit regardless of the pattern of EC use”

    “Current data do not show significant respiratory variations associated with e-cigarette use in the short or medium term,” La Rosa added. “However, due to the lack of adequate longitudinal studies, no definitive conclusions can be drawn.”

    The researchers said their results, which vary from many others around the industry, can be explained by considering several important factors: acute studies provide data on short-term exposure to e-cigarettes and cannot be used to assess long-term effects; studies do not always account for participants’ smoking history; and individuals with low-frequency e-cigarette use are often grouped together with those who use e-cigarettes more frequently.

    Regarding the quality of the included studies, only five out of 12 reviews were rated as having high or moderate confidence in their findings. Reporting issues were common.

     “The study highlights the importance of distinguishing between different vaping behaviors in future research, as well as addressing methodological weaknesses and biases observed in many previous studies on the topic,” Polosa said. “But it allows us to state once again that vaping cannot be associated to significant changes in respiratory function.”