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  • White House Steps Up Fight Against Smoking

    White House Steps Up Fight Against Smoking

    Photo: Alexander Ryabkov | The White House

    The White House on Sept. 13 announced a $240 million investment to fight cancer, along with a slew of new health resources to further the administration’s “Cancer Moonshot” initiative.

    The announcements from the Biden Cancer Moonshot include:

    • New investments to reduce the impact of menthol and other flavored commercial tobacco products in communities that experience health disparities
    • A new plan to decrease the impact of smoking on Americans’ health by expanding efforts to prevent smoking and to support everyone who wants to quit. To ensure Americans who want to quit have the support they need, the Department of Health and Human Services will finalize its Framework to Support and Accelerate Smoking Cessation this year.
    • New smoking cessation resources for underserved communities, including American Indian, Alaska Native and Black communities, to reduce cancer health disparities.
    • A new pilot program to increase veteran engagement in tobacco use treatment. The Department of Veterans Affairs, in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute, will conduct a clinical demonstration project to assess how to more effectively engage veterans in tobacco-use treatment programs.
    • New resources and actions to reduce exposures to environmental carcinogens. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching gov/cancer, with new information and prominently featured resources from EPA and other federal agencies about secondhand smoke, smoking cessation and other cancer-related topics.

    Tobacco harm reduction activist have been urging Biden administration to embrace less harmful alternatives in its Cancer Moonshot initiative. “If President Biden is serious about beating cancer, then embracing tobacco harm reduction is not just an option, it’s a necessity,” said Michael Landl, director of the World Vapers Alliance (WVA), in a statement.

    Landl pointed to the examples of Sweden and the United Kingdom, which he said have proven the effectiveness of vaping and other less harmful products in reducing smoking rates. “Instead of fighting less harmful alternatives, the Biden Administration needs to embrace vaping as a smoking cessation aid,” he said.

    The investments in programs aiming to reduce smoking among marginalized groups would be more impactful if they included harm-reducing alternatives, according to Landl.

    “To achieve the desired outcomes in cutting cancer-related deaths, it’s imperative that the United States foster a comprehensive harm reduction strategy that acknowledges vaping’s potential to save lives. Many smokers fail to quit, so to beat cancer we need to get real about that and encourage the use of less harmful alternatives such as vaping,” he said.

    The WVA urged the Biden administration to develop an inclusive strategy that incorporates a range of less harmful alternatives to smoking. “Flavor bans, high taxation on safer nicotine products and the overly bureaucratic FDA approval process must end immediately,” said Landl.

  • EU Urged to Embrace THR

    EU Urged to Embrace THR

    Photo: Teo

    Ahead of this year’s EU State of the Union address on Sept. 13 in Strasbourg, France, the World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA) urged President Ursula von der Leyen to tackle the devastating impact of smoking-related diseases in the European Union. The association proposes the EU Commission’s president embrace a coherent EU-wide harm reduction strategy that includes evidence-based approaches to vaping and nicotine pouches, which have been shown to significantly reduce harm compared to smoking.

    “We implore Ursula von der Leyen to finally address the far-reaching impacts of smoking,” said WVA Director Michael Landl in a statement. “Smoking is a public health problem requiring immediate attention, causing more than 700,000 deaths in the EU annually. Evidence is clear that alternative nicotine products, such as vaping and nicotine pouches, can be a game changer in the battle against smoking. The time for brave leadership is now.”

    According to the World Vapers’ Alliance, Sweden has become a bright example that a coherent harm reduction strategy is the key to successfully addressing smoking-related illnesses. Not only is Sweden the first country in the world to reach the smoke-free goal (17 years ahead of the EU targets), but it keeps its commitment to favor harm reduction. Last week, the Swedish government announced its plan to reduce the tax on snus, a smokeless tobacco product similar to modern nicotine pouches, by 20 percent while increasing the tax on cigarettes and smoking tobacco by 9 percent.

    Vaping is still a recommended means of quitting for smokers in France, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand, according to the WVA. This April, the U.K. government launched a “Swap-to-Stop” program aimed to incentivize smokers to quit by exchanging their cigarettes for free vape devices. Following Sweden’s recent move to reduce the tax rate on snus based on a risk-based regulatory approach and the U.K.’s full endorsement of vaping as a tool for smoking cessation, the WVA calls on the European Union to follow their lead in adopting a coherent harm reduction strategy.

    “In Sweden and the U.K., we’ve seen the incredible impact that a harm reduction approach can have on reducing smoking rates and improving public health. These countries lead by example, using a balanced risk-based strategy that includes vaping and nicotine pouches as safer alternatives to smoking. It’s time for the European Union to follow their lead. President von der Leyen has an unparalleled opportunity to set a new course for the EU in her State of the Union speech—one that embraces innovative, evidence-based solutions to tackle the smoking crisis,” added Landl.

  • Morachnick to Lead Charlotte’s Web

    Morachnick to Lead Charlotte’s Web

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    Charlotte’s Web Holdings appointed William (Bill) Morachnick as CEO. Morachnick has also been appointed to the company’s board of directors as a nonindependent director. He replaces CEO Jacques Tortoroli, who has elected to resign from his roles at Charlotte’s Web.

    Morachnick has a record of building premium, differentiated products and brands across multiple channels throughout the world and across a broad range of product categories.

    Prior to joining Charlotte’s Web, Morachnick was president at Santa Fe Reynolds Tobacco International Zurich (SFRTI) from 2006 to 2016. He took SFRTI from a startup to a highly profitable organization, managing several hundred employees and a network of importers/distributors operating in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. SFRTI was acquired by Japan Tobacco Group in 2016 for $5 billion. Morachnick led the subsequent integration of the combined companies as CEO and chairman based in Tokyo, Japan, for two years before returning to the U.S. in 2018.

    Since returning to the U.S., he has served as an executive advisor or board member for several companies seeking to launch and/or expand their businesses in the U.S. and overseas markets.

    “Bill has an accomplished career building businesses in multiple categories,” said John Held, chairman of Charlotte’s Web. “With his proven operational expertise, Bill is well suited to take the reins to lead the Charlotte’s Web team through the next phase of the company’s growth opportunities.”

    The company expressed its gratitude to Tortoroli for his contributions. ‎“Jacques served on the company’s board since November of 2019 and as CEO since late 2021 in a difficult environment devoid of regulatory oversight and clarity,” said Held. “Under his leadership as CEO, Jacques streamlined the organization, reduced the cash burn and recapitalized the company through a strategic $57 million investment from BAT via a convertible loan.”

    In November 2022, BAT announced a £48.2 million ($57.4 million) investment in Charlotte’s Web.

  • BioBetter Deploys Tobacco to Help Cultivate Meat

    BioBetter Deploys Tobacco to Help Cultivate Meat

    BioBetter has opened its first food-grade pilot facility to accelerate the production of key growth factors for the cultivated meat industry. The company has pioneered a unique protein manufacturing platform for producing growth factors (GFs) using tobacco plants as self-sustained, animal-free bioreactors.

    “Cultivated meat is still very expensive in comparison to conventional meat and the key is to reduce the growth medium costs to a minimum,” said BioBetter CEO Amit Yaari in a statement. “Our target is to reduce the production cost of growth factors, including insulin, a key part of the growth medium, to $1 per gram which is a 100-fold less than the going rate today.”

    BioBetter uses tobacco plants to produce the GFs that play a key role in the proliferation and differentiation of cultured meat cells. This, in turn, allows for the formation of authentic and well-structured muscle tissue.

    Designed for both environmental safety and efficiency, these bioreactors will be grown in a large-scale, net house cultivation system. The plants are carefully engineered to prevent the escape of any transgenic material. They are induced to express growth factors only when chemically triggered, and the company exclusively uses non-food, non-feed tobacco plants to eliminate any risk of inadvertent consumption or cross-contamination of food crops.

    “Our holistic approach not only underscores our commitment to safety and environmental responsibility but also streamlines regulatory processes,” says BioBetter co-founder Dana Yarden. “Our commitment to sustainability shines through in every facet of our operations. We plan to use recycled and low-quality water for irrigation, minimize nitrogen fertilizer use, and reduce emissions and environmental impact.”

    The newly established pilot plant has the capacity to process 100 kg of tobacco plant-derived GFs daily. Constructed in adherence to the highest quality standards, the facility meets all regulatory requirements for production of food-grade growth factors, including FGF2 and insulin. It currently is progressing through essential stages of securing approval from the Ministry of Health for food manufacturing licensing. The company is committed to scalability, adhering to ISO2200 and HACCP standards.

    “We more than doubled our workforce from 23 to 50 workers to advance all aspects of production, cultivation, and R&D,” says Yaari. “We stimulate the commercial aspirations of cultivated meat start-ups and the pilot plant signifies a substantial step toward the company’s next growth stage in 2025: the capacity for processing 25 tons of leaves daily, reaching commercial production of five tons annually by the end of 2025.”

    BioBetter also made breakthroughs in the cultivation of bovine insulin-expressing plants. Several thousand square meters of FGF2-expressing tobacco plants are already thriving in northern Israel. It’s the first time growth factor sources have been successfully planted in large net-houses, in four locations, and with a fruitful harvest obtained in its first season. Plans are underway to cultivate more FGF2 and insulin-expressing plants, with commercial roll-out projected for 2024.

    “Over the past year, our outreach and collaborations expanded considerably,” says Yarden. “We’ve shared GF samples with numerous cultivated meat companies and cell media producers worldwide and received promising proof-of-concept results for both our FGF2 and insulin from several companies and academic laboratories.”

    The $250 million global cultivated meat sector is poised for substantial growth, yet its realization hinges upon a significant supply of growth factors.

    “The most significant challenge of the cultivated meat industry is to produce and scale up at the right cost,” notes Aviv Oren, director of business engagement and innovation at the Good Food Institute in Israel. “Biobetter’s technology, which is based on molecular farming of food-grade growth factors in the required quantities and costs for industrial production, is a pivotal addition that has the potential to accelerate this industry. We are following BioBetter’s progress and hope that its products will soon reach the market.”

    In 2022, BioBetter secured $10 million in A-round investment led by Jerusalem Venture Partners. The company also is an active member of the Israeli Cultivated Meat Consortium, which unites academic institutions, large companies, and start-ups to collaboratively advance the field of cultivated meat.

  • U.K. Mulls Single-Use Vape Ban

    U.K. Mulls Single-Use Vape Ban

    The United Kingdom will likely announce a public consultation next week on a plan to ban single-use vapes, reports The Guardian.  While the government has accepted the benefits of e-cigarettes in helping smokers quit, it is increasingly concerned about the environmental impact and youth appeal of disposable products.

    Research conducted by Material Focus suggested vapers in the U.K. throw out 5 million single-use e-cigarettes every week, a fourfold increase on 2022. This amounts to eight vapes a second being discarded, with the lithium in the products enough to create 5,000 electric car batteries a year, according to the organization.

    Smokers’ rights group Forest said that if the U.K. government’s aim is to reduce smoking rates, banning disposable vapes would be “a significant own goal.”

    “Vaping has been a huge success story, with millions of smokers choosing to switch to a product that is far less risky to their health. Part of that success is due to disposable vapes which are convenient and easy to use,” said Forest Director Simon Clark.

    “The answer to the problem of children vaping is not to ban a product many adults use to help them quit smoking, but to crack down on retailers who are breaking the law and selling e-cigarettes to anyone under 18.”

    The answer to the problem of children vaping is not to ban a product many adults use to help them quit smoking, but to crack down on retailers who are breaking the law and selling e-cigarettes to anyone under 18.”

    Simon Clark, director, Forest

    While stressing that the plans to ban single-use vapes were only at the consultation stage and no decisions had been made yet, the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) said it too opposed the idea.  

    “We welcome the idea of a consultation on disposables as it’s key that the industry gets the opportunity to highlight the benefits, and therefore continued need, for single-use vapes as a smoking cessation method,” said UKVIA Director General John Dunne in a statement.

    A ban, however, is not the answer, he cautioned. “Some 220 people die from smoking every day, 365 days a year,” said Dunne. “Disposables have proved to be highly effective in helping smokers quit their habits due to their ease of use, accessibility and low entry price points. They are one of the main reasons as to why the number of adult smokers in Great Britain has hit record lows for the last two years according to the Office for National Statistics.”

    We welcome the idea of a consultation on disposables as it’s key that the industry gets the opportunity to highlight the benefits, and therefore continued need, for single-use vapes as a smoking cessation method.

    John Dunne, Director General, UKVIA

    Dunne suggested that the issues of youth vaping and environmental damage are due in part to lax enforcement of rules designed to prevent such problems. He pointed to recent research by Arcus Compliance showing that fines handed out to retailers for underage and illicit product sales amounted to just over £2,000 ($2,494)  in 11 major provincial U.K. cities between 2021-2023.

    Dunne also warned of unintended consequences of banning disposable vapes. According to him, the black market already represents over 50 percent of the single use market in the U.K. “This would only accelerate with a ban, he cautioned.

    Dunne further highlighted industry efforts to tackle electronic waste, citing research by Waste Experts showing that disposable cigarettes are highly recyclable. “However, the biggest challenge is getting consumers to recycle their vapes and providing the waste disposal facilities in public places and at points of use that will enable higher recycling rates,” he said.

    In a note to investors, TD Cowen said a ban on disposable vapes could  benefit global tobacco companies with vapor exposure. While multinationals such as British American Tobacco and Philip Morris International have exposure to the disposable vape market in the U.K., category economics are more favorable for pod-based systems, according to the investment bank.

  • Poland: PMI Invests in HnB Stick Production

    Poland: PMI Invests in HnB Stick Production

    Photo: Hamik

    Philip Morris International will invest PLN1 billion ($229.81 million) in the production of heated tobacco sticks at its factory in Krakow, Poland, reports PAP.

    “Today, Philip Morris International has decided on a new investment. We want the production of a new generation of heated tobacco sticks to take place in our factory in Krakow,” Michal Mierzejewski, president of PMI for northeast Europe, told journalists on Sept. 12.

    “We estimate that this investment… will create many jobs,” he added.

    According to Mierzejewski, the tobacco sticks produced at the Krakow plant will be distributed both in Poland and on the international market.

    Since 1996, PMI has invested nearly PLN25.5 billion in Poland, Mierzejewski added.

  • Vaporesso Licensed to Sell in UAE

    Vaporesso Licensed to Sell in UAE

    The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) has licensed Vaporesso to sell in the country, the company announced in a press release.

    After nearly a year of strategic planning and application, Vaporesso received MoIAT certification for over 10 models of its products, including the Luxe XR, XROS 3 Mini, XROS 2, XROS 3, XROS Mini, XROS Nano, Zero S, Luxe X, Luxe QS, OSMALL 2, and GEN PT 60.

    “As the first open-system vaping device brand licensed by the MoIAT, we will continue our commitment to providing market-leading vaping products with unmatched quality and functionality,” said Jimmy Hu, vice president of Vaporesso.

    The first batch of MoIAT-certified products with compliant packaging has now arrived in the UAE and gone through taxation. This allows distributors, retailers and consumers to legally sell, stock and buy Vaporesso products with assured quality. Meanwhile, all future Vaporesso products will undergo MoIAT registration, ensuring quality and innovation for partners and consumers.

    The UAE government has enforced strict regulations to govern all nicotine-containing components used in e-cigarettes, refill packages, e-liquids and tobacco products sold in the country. The regulations demand that manufacturers and companies of vaping devices must meet Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology standards, which set out strict quality and safety requirements for e-cigarettes and related products before placing them on the market.

  • VPZ Expands U.K. Footprint

    VPZ Expands U.K. Footprint

    VPZ, the largest vaping retailer in the U.K., will be increasing its footprint to over 160 stores by opening 15 new stores across the U.K. by the end of 2023.

    The growth comes amid VPZ’s launch of its new vape recycling service in partnership with WasteCare across all its stores in response to the rising environmental concerns over disposable vapes.

    “We are delighted to be continuing our brand expansion and mission of supporting adult smokers to quit whilst bringing our own innovative recycling services to tackle the negative environmental impact of disposable vaping,” said Doug Mutter, director at VPZ.

    VPZ is also calling on the U.K. government to introduce tighter controls and licensing for selling vaping products both in physical and online retail environments.

    To date, Edinburgh-based VPZ has already helped over 700,000 smokers in the U.K. quit since it was established in 2012, according to the retailer.

    In March, VPZ said it planned to have opened 20 additional stores by the end of the year as its expansion plans continue.

  • DFA Signs Anti-Illicit Trade Declaration

    DFA Signs Anti-Illicit Trade Declaration

    Duty Free Americas has signed the Duty Free World Council (DFWC) and Tax Free World Association (TFWA) anti-illicit trade declaration.

    With over 200 stores in airports and border crossings throughout the Americas, the addition of Duty Free Americas to the declaration marks a major extension of the duty-free and tax-free industry’s public commitment to combat illicit trade, counterfeiting and intellectual property theft.

    The DFWC and the TFWA launched the anti-illicit trade declaration in July 2023. By signing the declaration, signatories commit to a zero-tolerance approach to illicit trade within their own organization.

    “The DFWC/TFWA anti-illicit trade declaration continues to grow in strength, and I am very pleased to welcome Duty Free Americas as the most recent signatory to this important initiative,” said DFWC President Sarah Branquinho.

    “Our industry boasts one of the most transparent, trusted and secure supply chains in the world, and this campaign sends a clear message to our millions of customers around the world that they can shop in duty[-free] and tax-free stores around, confident that the products they are purchasing are authentic and genuine.

    “Signatories to this declaration are making a firm public commitment to never permit any form of illicit trade, counterfeiting or intellectual property theft and to hold their commercial partners to that same standard. We welcome the support of any travel retail operator or supplier [who] wishes to be a part of the declaration, and we continue to encourage members of our industry to join us.”

  • 22nd Century Increases VLN Availability

    22nd Century Increases VLN Availability

    22nd Century Group’s VLN reduced-nicotine content cigarettes are now available at more than 1,200 drug store locations across Texas, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina and Georgia. With this most recent addition, VLN is available in more than 4,000 stores across 16 states compared with approximately 1,100 stores on July 1.

    “We are excited to launch the first drug store chain selling our FDA [Food and Drug Administration]-authorized VLN tobacco harm reduction products, adding 1,200 stores across five key state markets to our growing roster of convenience store points of sale,” said John Miller, interim CEO of 22nd Century Group, in a statement. “VLN offers a new, clinically researched solution helping adult smokers reduce their smoking rate and the associated harms of smoking over time.”

    “VLN users continue to report an overwhelmingly positive experience in our market research, and most say it has helped them reduce consumption of their regular cigarette brand,” said Miller. “Research with VLN users indicates that while most nonprescription methods of quitting or reducing smoking are strongly disliked, more than 75 percent of VLN users say they like their experience with the product. As a result of using VLN, 80 percent of adult consumers report a reduction in usage of their regular brand, and many want to share their positive experience with other adult smokers.”

    VLN is the first and only FDA-authorized combustible cigarette labeled as a tobacco harm reduction product.