Lawmakers voted to require graphic health warnings on tobacco packs in Israel, reports The Times of Israel.
The new requirement is an amendment to the existing law outlawing advertising and limiting the marketing of tobacco products.
Failure to print the warnings will be considered a criminal offense under the legislation.
Singaporeans are smoking less but vaping more, reports The Straits Times, citing research by Milieu Insight.
The average number of cigarettes smoked per week fell from 72 sticks in the third quarter of 2021 to 56 in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Over the same period, consumption of alternative products like e-cigarettes and vaporizers increased from 3.9 percent to 5.2 percent of the population.
Milieu Insight attributes the gradual decline in cigarettes smoked per week observed since the second quarter of 2022 in part to an increase in proportion of occasional smokers as compared to regular smokers over this period.
Conducted from Dec. 16 to Dec. 29, 2023, the survey found that the proportion of occasional smokers had increased by 1.2 percentage points to 3.2 percent, from the third quarter of 2021 to the last quarter of 2023. There was also an increase in the number of former smokers over the same period.
Vaporizers and e-cigarettes have been outlawed in Singapore. Among the reasons cited for their vaping, respondents said they wanted to reduce secondhand smoke and lessen their consumption of traditional cigarettes. The World Health Organization, however, has rejected the products as a cessation aid.
In December 2023, Singapore’s Ministry of Health and the Health Sciences Authority announced that they were stepping up enforcement and education efforts against vaping to prevent it from gaining a foothold in Singapore.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned 61 brick-and-mortar retailers for selling unauthorized e-cigarette products. The offending businesses received warning letters citing the sale of disposable vapes marketed under the Elf Bar/EB Design and Lava brand names.
Findings from the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey found that more than 50 percent of youth who use e-cigarettes reported using the brand Elf Bar; in 2023, the manufacturer of Elf Bar began marketing the product under the name “EB Design.” In addition, the brand Lava was identified as popular or youth-appealing by the agency following review of retail sales data and emerging internal data from a survey among youth.
The retailers have 15 working days to respond with the steps they will take to correct the violation and to prevent future violations. Failure to promptly correct the violations, the FDA warned, can result in additional actions such as an injunction, seizure and/or civil money penalties.
The European Commission has approved a BGN170 million ($94.1 million) Bulgarian package to aid tobacco farmers and other agricultural producers impacted by the war in Ukraine, reports SeeNews.
The aid, disbursed as direct grants capped at €280,000 ($302.923) per beneficiary, will cover part of the losses of not only tobacco growers but also of fruit producers, vegetable growers and beekeepers, among others.
Developed under the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework, the grants apply for the framework’s entire duration, from March 2022 to the end of June 2024, taking into account the total aid received by each agricultural producer during this term.
Activists are urging the Ukrainian government to crack down on international companies still operating in Russia following reports on Philip Morris International’s preferential tax treatment, according to Eureporter.
Despite being labeled as an “international sponsor of the war,” PMI continues to enjoy a discounted tax rate in Ukraine.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, many international tobacco companies, including PMI, announced they would retreat from Russia or substantially scale down their operations. In early 2023, however, PMI CEO Jacek Olczak told the Financial Times that negotiations had stalled as the company does not want to sell the business on unfavorable terms for its shareholders.
Since the start of the war, Russia has made it exceedingly difficult for foreign investors to exit the market without taking a significant financial hit. Among other provisions, the government reserves the right to dictate the valuation of foreign companies’ Russian assets as well as the new owners’ dividend and access to cash flow.
PMI’s revenue in Russia increased to RUR399.9 billion ($4.33 billion) in 2023 from RUR359.53 billion in 2021, the last fiscal year before the war. The company is among the five largest foreign taxpayers in Russia.
PMI’s continued presence in Russia prompted Ukraine to designate the company as a war sponsor.
Despite such considerations, Ukraine levies an ad valorem tax rate of only 12 percent on PMI products—a level that critics say has caused its cash-strapped government to miss out on some UAH100 billion ($2.55 billion) in tax revenues over the decade that the discount has been in place.
Activists have called on Ukraine to introduce restrictions on tobacco companies that have not left Russia and increase the ad valorem tax rate for the products that these companies sell in Ukraine. They cite the example of Estonia, which in March prohibited the trade of products from international companies still operating in Russia.
Airscream UK plans to invest MYR100 million ($21.12 million) in its operations over the next five years and move its headquarters to Malaysia, reports the Business Times.
The company has already set up administrative, sales and marketing operations as well as a showroom in Shah Alam, with close to 40 employees locally and 100 globally.
Airscream founder and CEO Sam Ong cited a robust market and vaping industry ecosystem as reasons for the company’s decision.
Over the past decade, Malaysia’s vaping industry has grown into a MYR3 billion business, providing employment to more than 30,000 Malaysians, according to the Malaysian Vape Chamber of Commerce.
Ong believes the market is poised for further growth, potentially driving more foreign direct investments into the country and bolstering job creation.
“We are also encouraged by the passing of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023, which brings Malaysia on par to other countries around the world, including the U.K., Australia, Thailand and Singapore, which have standalone legislation on tobacco and vape,” Ong was quoted as saying.
Airscream was established in 2018 as a manufacturer and retailer of the AirsPop vape product.
A newly discovered feedback loop involving estrogen may explain why women might become dependent on nicotine more quickly and with less nicotine exposure than men, according to recently published research.
“Studies show that women have a higher propensity to develop addiction to nicotine than men and are less successful at quitting,” said project lead Sally Pauss, a doctoral student at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in Lexington, in a statement. “Our work aims to understand what makes women more susceptible to nicotine use disorder to reduce the gender disparity in treating nicotine addiction.”
The researchers found that the sex hormone estrogen induces the expression of olfactomedins, proteins that are suppressed by nicotine in key areas of the brain involved in reward and addiction. The findings suggest that estrogen–nicotine–olfactomedin interactions could be targeted with therapies to help control nicotine consumption.
“Our research has the potential to better the lives and health of women struggling with substance use,” she said. “If we can confirm that estrogen drives nicotine seeking and consumption through olfactomedins, we can design drugs that might block that effect by targeting the altered pathways. These drugs would hopefully make it easier for women to quit nicotine.”
Pauss will present the research at Discover BMB, the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, which will be held March 23–26 in San Antonio, Texas, USA.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products has selected Natasha Phelps as the center’s associate director for policy and partnerships. She will assume her new role on May 6.
Phelps comes to the CTP from The Center for Black Health & Equity, where she served as the director of equity-centered policies. Prior to this, Phelps spent five years at the Public Health Law Center, where she specialized in commercial tobacco law and policy.
Phelps received her Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and legal studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received her law degree from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota.
According to the FDA, Phelps was selected after an extensive nationwide search, multiple interview panels that evaluated a well-qualified applicant pool, and clearance through agency ethics and security processes.
Luxembourg will start taxing e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches in October, reports RTL Today.
Slated to take effect Oct. 1, the measures are part of a Grand Ducal regulation currently in the process of being drafted. Under this provision, e-liquids will be taxed at €120 ($129.82) per liter while nicotine pouches will incur a tax of €22 per kilo.
Minister of Health Martine Deprez and Minister of Finance Gilles Roth disclosed this information in response to an inquiry by Member of Parliament Sven Clement of the Pirate Party.
Luxembourg also plans to start targeting next-generation products through its anti-smoking program. Lawmakers are also mulling price increases for tobacco products, which remain considerably less expensive in Luxembourg than in neighboring countries.
Mozambique produced MZN4.48 million ($70,132) worth of tobacco in 2023, up 23 percent from the previous year, reports The Macao News, citing the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The value increased despite a drop in volume, which was down 15 percent in the 2022–2023 growing season. Mozambique is the eighth-largest tobacco-growing area globally and the third largest in Africa, with 76,850 hectares dedicated to tobacco, following Zimbabwe (112,700 ha) and Malawi (100,982 ha).
According to the World Health Organization, Africa saw an increase of 35.7 percent in tobacco leaf production and an increase of 19.8 percent in area under tobacco cultivation from 2005 to 2020, when both were trending down globally.