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  • Indian Growers Hopeful for Better Prices

    Indian Growers Hopeful for Better Prices

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    As tobacco auctions began in Prakasam and Nellore, Indian tobacco farmers are hoping to see better than average prices for their leaf during the 2021–2022 season, reports The Hindu.

    Farmers had a hard time marketing leaf the past two years due to lower demand caused by the economic crisis and uncertainties due to Covid-19.

    “We hope to make a kill[ing] this year, thanks to the lifting of pandemic restrictions. There are no logistic problems that were witnessed in the last two years when Covid cases were at peak,” said a group of farmers waiting for buyers at the Ongole I auction platform. Exporters have not entered the market yet due to the lack of confirmed orders from their counterparts overseas.

    “The exporters are expected to enter the market during next week when the bales put for auction will be stepped up from the present 200 to 300 in each auction platform to 500 to 600,” SLS Regional Manager D. Venugopal assured the farmers, who were worried over nonparticipation in the auctions by all the registered traders.

  • Study Shows Vaping Alters Mouth Microbes

    Study Shows Vaping Alters Mouth Microbes

    Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive

    Researchers at New York University led by Deepak Saxena and Xin Li conducted a study to compare oral microbiomes of smokers and vapers, according to the National Institutes of Health.

    During the study, 27 smokers, 28 e-cigarette users and 29 nonsmokers were examined over six months. All participants had at least mild gum disease at the beginning of the study, and none had their teeth cleaned during the study period.

    Researchers compared the types of bacteria found where the gums meet the teeth at the beginning and end of the six-month study. They also compared markers of inflammation and immune cell activity.

    The number of unique bacterial species living in and around the gums increased for all participants during the study. This can be a sign of gum disease getting worse.

    The specific types of microbes found in the oral microbiomes differed substantially between the three groups. There was a core set of species common among the groups, but each also had unique features. They were so distinct that a machine-learning program could use the oral microbiome to predict which group people were in with 74 percent accuracy.

    However, the program was least accurate at picking out e-cigarette users. The patterns of their oral microbes shared characteristics with both smokers and nonsmokers, with slightly more similarities to smokers. Unique traits among e-cigarette users included enrichment with Fusobacterium and Bacteroidales species, both of which are linked to gum disease.

    “We are now beginning to understand how e-cigarettes and the chemicals they contain are changing the oral microbiome and disrupting the balance of bacteria,” Saxena says.

  • Belgium Shuts Down Illegal Cigarette Factory

    Belgium Shuts Down Illegal Cigarette Factory

    Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive

    Belgian Customs, with the help of Europol’s European Financial Economic Crime Center (EFECC), raided and shut down an illegal cigarette manufacturing factory in a former pet hotel in Arlon, Belgium, according to Europol.

    Belgian authorities seized the complete cigarette manufacturing machinery and arrested 14 workers, mainly from Eastern Europe. Also seized were 4 tons of tobacco and 2 million counterfeit cigarettes.

    Additionally, 40 million counterfeit cigarettes were seized in trailers in an industrial area in Duffel, Belgium. These cigarettes were presumed to have been manufactured at the illegal factory in Arlon and were most likely destined for the black market in France and the U.K.

    French Customs was also involved in the investigation, seizing over 25 tons of cigarettes and 16 tons of tobacco from the same organized crime group in the city of La Longueville.

  • Hangsen Sued Over Synthetic Nicotine

    Hangsen Sued Over Synthetic Nicotine

    Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive

    Zanoprima Lifesciences filed a complaint for patent infringement against Hangsen International Group in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Texas. In its complaint, Zanoprima Lifesciences alleges that Hangsen has violated its patent titled “Process for Making (S)-Nicotine” through Hangsen’s manufacture and importation into the U.S. market of products containing synthetic nicotine that are manufactured using Zanoprima Lifesciences’ process, according to a press release.

    “Over many years, Zanoprima has invested substantial time, resources, intellectual capital and scientific expertise into developing Zanoprima’s groundbreaking enzymatic patented process for synthesizing an (S)-nicotine that is devoid of tobacco-specific nitrosamines and other impurities,” said Ashok Narasimhan, CEO of Zanoprima. “Zanoprima’s legal action reflects our company’s dedication to vigorously protecting our intellectual property in the U.S. and around the world.”

    Zanoprima’s complaint alleges that, after publication of Zanoprima’s patent, Hangsen filed a Chinese patent application describing a process that copied the process invented by Zanoprima. But, as alleged in the complaint, Hangsen’s patent application was rejected by the Chinese Patent Office in June 2021, citing Zanoprima’s patent as prior art. The complaint also alleges Hangsen imports into the U.S. from China and sells products containing “alleged high-purity synthetic (S)-nicotine and nicotine products that are marketed and sold under various names, including as MOTiVO Synthetic S-Nicotine,” and that such imported products “are manufactured by a process that practices every step of claim 1” of the Zanoprima patent.

    In addition to seeking damages for infringement, Zanoprima’s complaint seeks preliminary and permanent injunctive relief to prevent Hangsen from continuing its infringing actions.

  • Imperial Launches Vaping Campaign

    Imperial Launches Vaping Campaign

    Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive

    Imperial Tobacco Canada has launched a campaign called Let’s Clear the Smoke with the goal of educating Canadian adults on the facts about vapor products and the role these products can play in reducing risks compared to cigarettes, according to BAT.

    Let’s Clear the Smoke provides information about the latest in vapor product science and aims to allow Canadian adults to take a more informed view when considering their stance on vaping products and other less risky alternatives to smoking.

    This campaign is driven by a combination of mass out of home media placements and digital ads to drive awareness and website traffic. The campaign lasts for 10 weeks and will be the first of a range of initiatives to drive the acceptance of tobacco harm reduction in Canada.

    “There is a lack of understanding out there about vapor products, especially when it comes to the positive role they can play in tobacco harm reduction,” said Ralf Wittenberg, president and CEO of Imperial Tobacco Canada. “I think this misunderstanding is due to the fact that the vast majority of people don’t have access to accurate, credible and independent information.

    “The purpose of this campaign is to educate Canadian adults on the facts about vapor products by providing access to credible, factual and independent information.”

  • WHO Likely to Reject Medicago Covid Vaccine

    WHO Likely to Reject Medicago Covid Vaccine

    The World Health Organization is unlikely to grant emergency approval Medicago’s tobacco plant-based Covid-19 vaccine due to the company’s ties to the tobacco industry, the CBC reported on March 17.

    The global health body has reportedly paused the process for pre-qualification of Medicago’s new Covifenz shot due to its link to Philip Morris International, which owns about one-third of the Canadian biopharmaceutical company.

    “Due to its connections [to PMI], the process is put on hold,” said Mariangela Simao, the WHO’s assistant director-general for drug access, vaccines and pharmaceuticals, at a March 16 media briefing.

    “The WHO and the U.N. have a very strict policy regarding engagement with the tobacco and arms [industries], so it’s very likely it won’t be accepted for emergency use listing,” she said.

    In February, Health Canada approved Covifenz for adults 18 to 64 years of age, making it the world’s first vaccine approved for human use that utilizes a plant-based protein technology. The Canadian government floated CAD173 million ($136.74 million) to help the company develop the jab and is so far the only country to approve it.

    In October 2020, Canada signed a deal to buy 76 million doses of Medicago’s vaccine, and the shot is expected to be made available to the public in May.

    In a statement published by the CBC, Medicago said it believes authorization decisions should be based on the quality, efficiency and safety of the vaccine, not who owns shares in the manufacturer.

    “It is our understanding that the WHO has made a decision to pause the approval of the vaccine and that this decision is related to Medicago’s minority shareholder and not to the efficacy and safety of the vaccine, which was demonstrated with the approval by Health Canada,” the statement reads.

    Derek Yach, a global health consultant, was aghast by the WHO’s  suggestion that it would reject Medicago’s vaccine based on the company’s relationship with PMI.

    “‘Pikuach nefesh’ is the ethical principle in Jewish law that the preservation of human life overrides virtually any other religious rule,” he said. “Most other religions support a variant of this. WHO violates this ethical principle when it denies people access to a lifesaving vaccine.”

    If the WHO follows through, the vaccine would be the first Western-manufactured Covid-19 shot to be rejected by the global health body, according to Bloomberg.

  • Sneak Peek at New Vapor Rules in China

    Sneak Peek at New Vapor Rules in China

    Photo: Kajsym Yemelyanov

    Starting May 1, China will begin enforcing the licensing rules for e-cigarette production, wholesale and retail entities. The new rules, the draft of which was first announced in December 2021, apply to all hardware and e-liquid products, including all components and ingredients.

    “The administrative department in charge of tobacco monopoly of the State Council takes charge of national supervision and management of electronic cigarettes, and is responsible for the formulation and organization of implementing electronic cigarette industry policies,” the regulations state. “The administrative department in charge of tobacco monopoly of the State Council shall organize professional institutions for technical review of electronic cigarette products based on inspection and testing reports and other application materials.

    “Electronic cigarette products not sold in China and only used for export shall comply with the laws, regulations and standards of the destination country or region,” the rules state. “If the destination country or region does not have relevant laws, regulations and standards, they shall comply with China’s relevant laws, regulations and standards.”

    Critically the new rules also ban nontobacco flavors and the sale of open systems. The importation of any vaping related products, such as pre-mixed e-liquids, must also be approved by Chinese authorities, according to the regulations.

    Any company that produces e-cigarettes in China must now get a license. If a company wants to expand its production or product portfolio, the company must garner approval from the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration. All nicotine must be tobacco derived and purchased from approved sellers in China. Chinese regulators will also establish a comprehensive e-cigarette traceability system to keep track of vaping products.

    “Electronic cigarette wholesale enterprises shall not provide electronic cigarette products to units or individuals that are not qualified to engage in electronic cigarette retail businesses,” the regulation states.

    The rules also specify that “enterprises or individuals that have obtained the tobacco monopoly retail license … shall purchase electronic cigarette products from local … wholesale enterprises, and shall not exclusively operate the electronic cigarette products sold on the market.”

    According to an industry expert, this means all retail outlets must sell multiple brands and not just a single brand. Traditionally, companies such as RELX only sold their own brands in their stores.

    Additionally, authorities will establish a “unified national electronic cigarette transaction management platform” that e-cigarette industry businesses that have obtained tobacco monopoly licenses must conduct all transactions through.

    The rules also encourage stakeholders to report illegal activity. “Rewards will be given to units and individuals who have made meritorious deeds in reporting cases of illegal production and sales of electronic cigarette products, e-atomization material products and electronic cigarette nicotine,” the rules state.–T.S.D.

  • FDA Gets Authority Over Synthetic Nicotine

    FDA Gets Authority Over Synthetic Nicotine

    Photo: The White House

    U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed into law a spending bill that gives the Food and Drug Administration authority over synthetic nicotine.

    The language of the Tobacco Control Act will now change to define a tobacco product as “any product made or derived from tobacco, or containing nicotine from any source, that is intended for human consumption.”

    The amendment comes into effect 30 days after the bill’s enactment. Manufacturers of products made with synthetic nicotine will then have an additional 30 days to submit a premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) to the FDA. If FDA has not authorized the product within 90 days after the effective date, the product must be removed from the market.

    According to Bryan Haynes, a partner with Troutman Pepper, the measure could amount to an effective ban on synthetic nicotine products. “FDA is highly unlikely to authorize a PMTA in 90 days when other PMTAs for electronic nicotine delivery systems have been pending for more than two years,” he wrote on the law firm’s blog.

    April Meyers, board president for the Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association (SFATA) suspects the bill will have little effect on youth vaping, which is already down significantly since highs in 2015. “Although the sponsors of the bill claim the intent was to close the loophole on synthetic nicotine-derived products from large companies now popular among youth, the reality is that this bill—and others like it—aren’t likely to have the intended effect,” she said. “Instead, consumers using these products as a harm reduction option will suffer, as will licensed small businesses in full compliance with federal, state, and local laws.

    “The FDA created a problem by overregulating a product used by millions of adults who find vaping a safer alternative to smoking. When a market in high demand is overregulated, grey and black markets emerge where there are no regulations requiring safe products or ID checks.”

    The FDA appears keen to crack down on synthetic nicotine. During his Senate confirmation hearing, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf vowed to close what he described as the synthetic nicotine “loophole.”

  • Scientists Debunk Vaping Gateway Theory

    Scientists Debunk Vaping Gateway Theory

    Photo: Richard Johnson

    A study published by the scientific journal Addiction has found that prevalence of e-cigarette use in England among young adults between 2007 and 2018 did not appear to be associated with substantial increases or decreases in the prevalence of smoking uptake.   

    Several longitudinal observational studies have previously pointed towards a possible gateway effect between initiation of e-cigarettes and later use of cigarettes in adolescents. However, these findings may reflect shared vulnerability such that the same young people who would try e-cigarettes would also more likely later to smoke cigarettes. 

    One way to avoid this self-selection bias is to assess the impact at the population level rather than the individual level, using an approach called time series analysis. Using this method, the current study measured the gateway effect of vaping by looking at the association between prevalence of e-cigarette use among young adults and prevalence of uptake of smoking generally, including among people who have never smoked.  The researchers reasoned that if a gateway effect existed, there ought to be associated population-wide changes in the prevalence of smoking uptake when the prevalence of vaping changed. Conversely, if a gateway effect did not exist, changes in e-cigarette prevalence should not be associated with changes in uptake of smoking among young adults. 

    The authors found no statistically significant association between the prevalence of e-cigarette use and ever having smoked regularly (used as an indicator of uptake) among those aged 16 to 24. To interpret this finding further, the authors used Bayes factors and robustness regions. Bayes factors help interpret whether a non-significant finding is evidence of no difference or whether the study was not sensitive enough to detect an effect. Robustness regions identify the size of effect which can be plausibly dismissed.  The authors were able to rule out a gateway effect from e-cigarette use to smoking uptake of the size commonly reported in the literature but were not able to rule out very small effects for a gateway in or out of smoking (where e-cigarette use makes it less likely that young people start to smoke). 

    “These findings suggest that the large gateway effects reported in previous studies can be ruled out, particularly among those aged 18 to 24,” said lead author Emma Beard. “However, we cannot rule out a smaller gateway effect and we did not study younger age groups. If the upper estimates are true, we would estimate that of the 74 thousand e-cigarette users aged 16 to 17 in England, around 7,000 would become ever regular smokers as a consequence of e-cigarette use. At the same time, approximately 50 thousand smokers are estimated to quit per year as a consequence of e-cigarette use.”.

    “These findings are important given the contrasting advice given by health bodies and governments in different countries,” said senior author Lion Shahab. “Research to date supports the argument that e-cigarettes are less harmful than tobacco and help smokers to stop smoking. Although some harm from vaping relative to never vaping cannot be ruled out, this study suggests there is little evidence of a substantial gateway effect into smoking.” 

  • Vaping Advocates Launch ‘Best Practices’ Series

    Vaping Advocates Launch ‘Best Practices’ Series

    Tobacco harm reduction (THR) advocates will come together over the next two months to brainstorm, download and debate the best ways to advance safer nicotine products globally.

    Nancy Loucas

    “Advocates from around the world have been asking for seminars on the nuts and bolts of advocacy, what is effective, where to find information and how to get the message across. This new online series will address a real need out there,” says Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator for the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA). 

    Dubbed the Advocates Voice Shorts Series, five sessions will be livestreamed fortnightly, launching on March 26 and finishing up on May 21.

    “It’s obvious that the war on nicotine is not going away. Advocates need information and support to carry on fighting as THR is here to stay. Nearly 70 countries have already adopted regulatory frameworks on safer nicotine products, leading to dramatic declines in their overall smoking rates. If we are to save millions of more lives, our advocacy needs to be incredibly effective,” says Loucas.

    Each of the five programs will start with a short video presentation followed by a live Q&A session for advocates to help each other. Those actively campaigning for adults to have access to safer nicotine products in their respective countries will discuss and detail the issues and questions they encounter.

    The episodes will run via the CAPHRA and sCOPe YouTube channels at 12:00 p.m. NZT. To view the series promotion and see the links for each program, visit https://youtu.be/4H9CdRGv0zk.

    “In recent years, effective advocacy has been key to many countries adopting a THR approach. Advocates coming together for this initiative and discussing best practice will be time well spent. The aim for us as always is to deliver tangible results, namely saving smokers’ lives,” says Loucas.