Tag: Featured

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FDA Asked to Help Correct Misperceptions

Photo: Martinmark | Dreamstime.com
The Altria Group has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for help in convincing Americans that nicotine isn’t linked to cancer. In a letter to the regulatory agency, the maker of IQOS and Juul products asked for the FDA to assist in combatting misperceptions about nicotine as part of a proposed $100 million advertising campaign to reduce the harm caused by tobacco.
According to a letter seen by Bloomberg, Altria writes that nearly three-fourths of U.S. adults incorrectly believe nicotine causes cancer, citing government research. Clearing up the drug’s health risks will be key to the agency reducing smoking combustible cigarettes because it will help convince cigarette users to switch to noncombustible options for nicotine, the company said.
While there are at least 60 carcinogens in cigarette smoke, nicotine isn’t the direct cause of many of smoking’s ills. The drug has even been touted as a way to ease tension and sharpen the mind. But nicotine is the ingredient that addicts people to tobacco products, and it has risks, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The FDA “should commit resources and expertise to correct the deeply entrenched public misperceptions regarding the health risks of nicotine,” Paige Magness, Altria’s senior vice president of regulatory affairs, said in the letter dated Feb. 25. Such a campaign would help the agency by getting more smokers to use noncombustible offerings that “may present lower health risk,” according to the letter.
The FDA declined to comment, according to Bloomberg.
March 5, 2021
Alarm About Proposed Open System Ban

Photo: Olgacanals | Dreamstime
Millions of vapers could feel forced to return to smoking if national governments adopt a proposal from the World Health Organization (WHO) on e-cigarettes, warns the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA)
A new report published by the WHO’s tobacco regulatory committee recommends nearly all vapes—especially “open systems”—be banned. It also demands existing restrictions on cigarettes be applied to emerging products, presumably so smokers won’t learn about them.
In the open system, which is the preferred way of vaping for many people across Asia, the consumer manually refills the liquid to be vaporized. According to the WHO, this system allows for the addition of substances that could make the product more harmful.
“The latest recommendation from WHO defies all logic,” said Nancy Loucas, the executive coordinator of CAPHRA, in a statement. “If countries adopt the recommendation to ban open system vapes, years of hard work by ex-smokers as well as good public policy will be rendered meaningless.”
“Let there be no doubt: Vapers will then go back to cigarettes, which is the worst possible outcome.”
“Banning any product is not the answer nor is applying blanket cigarette rules to all emerging products. Bans encourage the black market. Bans do not allow for proper consumer protection,” Loucas said.
CAPHRA is calling on governments to adopt evidence-based, common sense regulations for all vaping products.
“Just last week, the U.K.’s leading health agency, Public Health England (PHE), concluded that nicotine vaping products were the most popular aid used by smokers trying to quit,” Loucas said.
“On the one hand, you have a local public health agency looking into the evidence and ways in which smokers can be encouraged to quit smoking and vape, and on the other, you have a global agency stuck in their old ways of believing prohibition is the answer to everything.”
“WHO’s attitude to e-cigarettes has been devastating for millions and millions of smokers and vapers alike all around the world,” Loucas said.
CAPHRA said it’s only through regulating products that vapers can remain protected, encouraged to stop smoking and, as a result, achieve good public health outcomes.
March 5, 2021
Swedish Match Plans Annual Meeting

Photo: Swedish Match
Swedish Match will hold its annual general meeting on April 13.
Due to the continued Covid-19 pandemic, the meeting will be conducted pursuant to so called mail-in procedures, meaning that no shareholders will attend the gathering in person or through proxy. Instead, shareholders can participate in the meeting by voting and submitting questions in advance pursuant to the instructions described here.
Swedish Match posted record sales and operating profit in 2020, finishing the year with top-line growth across all product segments.
Performance was driven by strong traction for ZYN nicotine pouches in the U.S. along with double-digit operating profit growth in local currencies for the smoke-free and cigar product segments in both the full year and the fourth quarter, the company announced in February.
March 5, 2021
Covectra Appoints New Directors
Covectra, a supplier of serialization and track-and-trace solutions for tobacco and other applications, has appointed Renaat Van den Hooff and Gary Miloscia to its board of directors, effective Feb. 15, 2021.
Van den Hooff brings more than 35 years of global operating experience in the healthcare industry, with specific expertise in consumer pharmaceuticals, medical devices and supplies/services for the pharmaceutical industry. He held various senior leadership positions as CEO and board member of Temptime Corp. and as president and CEO of a public startup healthcare company that developed and sold innovative wound care products. He had a 20-year career with Johnson & Johnson, serving the latter time there as president of the J&J-Merck consumer pharmaceuticals joint venture worldwide.
Miloscia has more than 22 years of experience in management. He currently serves as chief financial officer for Covectra where he is responsible for all strategic business and financial planning and analysis as well as marketing activities. Prior to joining Covectra, he held senior level positions at Fidelity Investments, Health Dialog and American Express.
“On behalf of the entire board of directors, it is a pleasure to welcome Renaat and Gary, two highly accomplished industry veterans, to our team,” said Steve Wood, president and CEO of Covectra, in a statement. “Their collective experience across a range of diverse strategic roles will be highly instrumental as we continue to advance our product development and build out our pipeline. I look forward to working with them and leveraging their unique expertise.”
March 5, 2021
Logic to End U.S. Online Sales in March
Logic brand e-cigarettes will end online sales of its products in the U.S. “Unfortunately, as of March 16, 2021, we will discontinue online sales of Logic products,” the manufacturer wrote in an email to customers. “Due to recent regulations, Logic will be unable to ship online orders after this date.”
The company says that the recent amendment to the 2009 All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act prevents the company from being able to mail its products to consumers. In late December, Congress voted into law a $2.3 trillion coronavirus relief and government funding bill that contains a provision banning the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) from delivering vapor products.
The USPS was already prohibited from delivering cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products to consumers under the PACT Act. The law passed in December extends the act’s original definition of “cigarette” to include electronic nicotine-delivery systems (ENDS).
Tobacco and vapor companies may use private services to ship their products to consumers, but the PACT Act requires them to register with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the tobacco tax administrators of the states into which a shipment is made. Delivery sellers are further required to verify the age and identity of the customer at purchase and maintain records of delivery sales for a period of four years after the date of sale, creating substantial administrative burdens.
Critically for the vapor industry, the most popular carriers, Federal Express (FedEx) and United Parcel Service (UPS), have recently announced that they would cease all deliveries of vapor products.
Age-verified adult consumers can order Logic products at logicvapes.us until March 16 at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Logic is not the first vapor company to cease online sales in the wake of the shipping ban. In February, Securience, which manufactures Durasmoke, Forge and other brands, announced it would be closing its doors in March due to the restrictions.
When the legislation took effect, experts predicted that small companies would bear the brunt of the measure.
March 4, 2021
Chinese Lawmaker Calls for Smoking Ban

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
A Chinese lawmaker has called for a nationwide ban on smoking in indoor public places.
The proposal was brought by Chen Jingyu, a cardiothoracic surgery expert and deputy at the 13th National People’s Congress.
As of February, 20 cities had adopted regional laws to restrict indoor smoking in public venues, but that is not adequate for China to achieve its Healthy China Action Plan, Chen told The Global Times. The Healthy China Action Plan aims for more than 80 percent of China’s population to be covered by smoke-free protections by 2030.
Currently, there are more than 300 million smokers in China, and more than 1 million people die of smoking-related diseases annually, according to Xinhua News Agency.
Allowing special smoking areas in indoor public places, such as restaurants, entertainment venues and airport terminals, violates the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), Chen noted. Scientific research shows that there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke, and the only way to effectively prevent nonsmokers from suffering from secondhand smoke is to completely ban smoking in indoor environments.
The FCTC requires all indoor public places, public transport facilities and indoor workplaces to be smoke-free.
China signed the FCTC in 2003, ratified it in 2005, and the treaty came into legal force in China in 2006.
In a survey conducted by the China Association for Smoking Control, 91.9 percent of respondents expressed support for a smoking ban.
March 4, 2021
JT Recognized for Employee Health
Japan Tobacco (JT) has been recognized under the 2021 Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organizations Recognition Program, also commonly known as the “White 500,” in the large enterprise category for the fifth consecutive year.
The program, conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Nippon Kenko Kaigi, recognizes the top 500 organizations that view their employees’ health as essential from a business management perspective, implementing various initiatives to support the improvement of their health.
“We are honored to be recognized on the ‘White 500’ yet again,” said Koichi Mori, senior vice president of human resources, in a statement. “JT is committed to ensuring the physical and mental well-being of all our employees, which we believe is essential for our sustainable growth. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, our commitment remained unchanged. We have been promoting new ways of working, including active utilization of remote work and online meetings and continuing our business operations while taking all necessary health-related measures. We prioritized the health and safety of all of our colleagues, their families and all of the stakeholders.”
JT believes that its inclusion in the “White 500” reinforces its commitment toward continuously adapting its workplace to ensure all colleagues can work comfortably.
March 4, 2021
22nd Century to Accelerate Commercialization of Cannabis

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
22nd Century Group has secured an exclusive agreement with CannaMetrix for the use of that company’s proprietary, human cell-based testing CannaMetrix EC50Array technology. The technology will enable 22nd Century to accelerate the commercialization of new, disruptive hemp/cannabis plant lines and intellectual property.
Since reporting third quarter earnings, 22nd Century has refocused its hemp/cannabis strategy to target the upstream segments of the cannabinoid value chain. In particular, the company seeks to accelerate the delivery of valuable commercial-scale plant lines and intellectual property for the life science, consumer product and pharmaceutical end-use markets.
With the addition of CannaMetrix, 22nd Century has now secured four out of the five key partnerships needed to maximize each component in the upstream segment of the cannabinoid value chain: plant profiling (CannaMetrix), plant biotechnology (KeyGene), plant cultivation (Panacea-Needle Rock Farm) and ingredient extraction/purification (Panacea). The company is also in final discussions with top-tier plant breeders that will be announced soon.
“22nd Century is extremely excited to add CannaMetrix into our secured network of value chain partners to increase the speed at which we develop and offer disruptive plant lines and intellectual property for the hemp/cannabis industry. For example, a plant line that would typically take 10 years or longer to develop can now be achieved in two years,” said James A. Mish, CEO of 22nd Century Group, in a statement.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with 22nd Century Group,” stated Harold Smith, founder and CEO of CannaMetrix. “They are the ideal partner, bringing decades-long experience in plant biotechnology with unmatched ability in developing valuable commercial plant lines. We believe that through this exclusive partnership, the development of new hemp/cannabis lines for large-scale cultivation and production will advance at a rapid pace and transform the hemp/cannabis industry.”
March 3, 2021
USTC Announces New CFO

Keith Merrick (Photo: USTC)
The U.S. Tobacco Cooperative (USTC) has hired a new chief financial officer, Keith Merrick, effective March 1, 2021.
Most recently, Merrick was the market president and senior business relationship manager for Wells Fargo in Wilson and Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where he was responsible for acquisition, credit underwriting and management of the bank’s local commercial portfolio. Prior to that, he spent 11 years as the senior vice president and chief financial officer for S.T. Wooten Corp. He also has more than 12 years of tobacco experience from his position as vice president, treasurer and director of investor relations at Standard Commercial, a predecessor company of Alliance One International.
Oscar House
“I am pleased to welcome Keith to our leadership team,” said Oscar House, USTC’s president and CEO. “His deep and extensive experience in leading the financial operations and operational changes will make an immediate impact as we manage through the current economic challenges and continue to position USTC for the future. I am confident Keith will provide strong leadership and is an excellent addition to the USTC team.”
As CFO, Merrick will be responsible for accounting, treasury, financial planning and analysis, tax, information technology and investor relations for USTC and its subsidiaries.
Merrick holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Texas A&M and a master’s degree in agribusiness and finance from the University of Missouri.
March 3, 2021
New Advisors to Support 1account’s

Simon Bazalgette

Murray Perkins

Ralph Topping

Mark Aylwin
1account, a technology provider to online vendors of age-restricted products and services, has created a new advisory board to support its ambitious plans in the vaping sector, which includes the rollout of a new business-to-consumer ID app to prevent underage access to vape devices and e-liquids online and offline.
Joining the new board are Mark Aylwin, former managing director of Booker; Ralph Topping, former chief executive of bookmaker William Hill; Simon Bazalgette, former CEO of the Jockey Club; and Murray Perkins, former policy director at the British Board of Film Classification.
Following 1account’s success in providing age verification technology to the vaping and gambling sectors, Aylwin will help drive the continued rollout of the company’s online technology and help businesses in the vaping sector make the transition to accepting the company’s new consumer digital ID app, 1account ID, for their online and offline commerce.
The new B2C product will help to prevent unlawful access to vaping products online and in vape retail outlets, convenience stores and supermarkets, aligning with the British government’s strategy to build a Digital Identity Trust Framework.
“The creation of a digital ID for the purchase of vape products online and offline represents a major step forward and will enable vape retailers to take the most proactive stance possible in preventing underage sales of vape devices and e-liquids,” says Aylwin. “1account can offer vape retailers a solution both online and offline that enables compliance for now and the future.”
March 3, 2021