Tashkent TV Tower Aerial Shot During Sunset in Uzbekistan (Credit: Lukas)
The Ministry of Health in Uzbekistan has proposed a ban on the circulation of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products, e-liquids and heated tobacco products, Trend reports.
This is shown in the draft law published on Uzbekistan’s portal to discuss draft normative legal acts.
According to the law, the circulation of ENDS products on the “territory of the country is prohibited.”
The Ministry of Health also proposes to introduce administrative and criminal liability for violation of this ban—a fine in the amount of $1,000 to five years of imprisonment.
According to data from Uzbekistan’s Statistics Agency, the production volume of tobacco products in the country reached 2.1 billion pieces from January through February 2024.
From January through February 2024, the country’s exports of tobacco products reached $7.8 million, while imports amounted to $10.5 million during the same period.
That didn’t take very long. The global vaping company Plxsur reached its goal of reaching $1 billion in consolidated revenues from its partners in just two years. The company has now successfully partnered with 12 of the world’s leading vaping companies to form what may be the largest and fastest-growing group of independent vaping companies in the world. According to Nigel Hardy, CEO and founder of Plxsur, the company accomplished this with a focus on compliance, governance and reporting, with responsibility at its core.
“We believe having a portfolio of multiple brands is crucial for building a successful reduced-risk product (RRP) business at scale. Our retail sales across the group reflect the impact of Plxsur, which supports adult smokers who have switched to vaping,” explains Hardy. “We have sold products to about 4 million consumers, with retail sales by value of units sold at $1.835 billion. Additionally, our three North Star owned brands, Salt, Allo, and Flavour Beast, are expected to generate retail sales of more than $400 million in 2024.”
Plxsur also has 10 e-liquid manufacturing facilities in six different markets. With that comes the quality management systems to ensure the quality of the raw materials that are coming in and what’s going out. It’s not only about quality control (QC), but also about quality assurance. All e-liquids are manufactured in a minimum ISO 9001-certified facility. Plxsur’s QC program ensures that all products manufactured and distributed meet or exceed all regulatory and legislative requirements in the markets where the products are produced.
ISO 9001 is an international standard specifying quality management system requirements. Organizations use it to demonstrate their ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements. Plxsur only produces its brands of e-liquids. The company does not do third-party manufacturing because the company’s focus is on its products.
Plxsur leadership says its partners have a combined market share representing an estimated 10 percent of the global $19.34 billion vaping market. Hardy said the company is targeting a 20 percent market share in the next five years. The companies include Hale Vaping (Ireland), UEG Holland (Netherlands), DampShop (Belgium), Pro Vape (Latvia), Puff Store (Italy), Nobacco (Greece), Ritchy Group (Czech Republic), Vape Empire (Malaysia), Pacific Smoke (Canada) and CK Complex (Poland).
“The past two years have seen a huge amount of financial and operational progress for Plxsur, and we have grown to become the world’s largest and fastest-growing group of independent vaping companies with consolidated revenues of over $1 billion,” said Hardy.
In 2021, Plxsur was founded by David Newns, Charlie Yates, and Nigel Hardy. The three entrepreneurs shared a vision for the vaping industry and discussed how they could work together to achieve their goals. They believed the key to success was respecting and supporting entrepreneurship while empowering local management teams. They planned to create a global network of independent vaping companies that were both the largest and the most responsible in the industry.
Plxsur, under Hardy’s leadership, believes in improving the businesses it brings on board by focusing on three key aspects of business strategy: governance, compliance, and reporting. Compliance involves adhering to various rules and regulations in the countries and communities where Plxsur businesses operate. This includes regulatory, communication, and marketing compliance, as well as legal compliance related to finance and jurisdiction.
“We’re at a very important and exciting stage in our journey. The companies in that group are not only the best at what they do in their respective markets, but importantly, they share our values.
“They put the consumers first, think big, and take responsibility seriously. All our companies want to make a real difference in the lives of adult smokers by contributing to a smokeless society. We now have a presence in Europe, Asia, and North America, covering the full vaping value chain from manufacturing, wholesale, distribution, and direct-to-consumer, both online and through our global network of over 800 specialist vaping stores.”
In 2023, group revenues increased 40 percent on the previous year to more than $1 billion, with an adjusted EBITDA of over $200 million. The outlook for the global vaping market is strong, and last year, Plxsur commissioned an independent research report that Hardy said is the “most comprehensive consumer study conducted on vaping to date”, using data from an online panel of over 30,000 consumers in six of Plxsur’s markets.
“The opportunity available for RRP across our 12 markets is significant, and I am pleased that our Global Vaping Market Snapshot vindicates the belief that not only will this sector continue to grow at pace, but that vaping is quickly becoming the most popular form of RRP in the market, with adult smokers who switch to vaping likely to remain loyal by navigating the regulatory framework,” he explained. “Our team has established a center of excellence leading a program of capability development to ensure management teams at a local level of the skills to deliver sustained value growth.”
Plxsur and its partners continue raising the bar as a responsible vaping group. All its companies have now committed to the six Plxsur standards (product compliance, manufacturing safety, responsible marketing, youth access, child protection and third-party product compliance) that address the biggest issues the vaping industry faces today. The company has also supported local teams across the group and guided companies in engaging with governments on policy development, particularly around preventing youth access.
“We’re focused on migrating consumers from disposable vapes to rechargeable pod and open systems. This is a key priority for Plxsur and our companies are already delivering huge results. In Q3 of 2023, I’m delighted that our Italian business, Puff, successfully migrated many of their consumers to pod and open devices through its launch as an exclusive distributor of new-to-market pods and e-liquids,” said Hardy. “To keep the momentum going, our portfolio companies have exciting plans to expand their range of pod systems in the first half of this year.”
Unlike traditional business acquisitions, Hardy explained that the company’s partners are not selected based on their financial worth. Plxsur is highly selective in its choice of partners, and financial size is not the only factor determining whether a company is suitable to join the Plxsur team. Hardy cited the example of Pro Vape, a company headquartered in Riga, Latvia, which started its business in late 2016 and met all the necessary criteria to become a Plxsur partner.
“The Baltic market is not particularly a huge market for vaping. What Pro Vape has is a significant presence in Europe,” said Hardy. “Only 40 percent of their business is domestic, and 60 percent is across the rest of Europe.”
Plxsur has specific criteria that businesses must meet before partnering with them. Firstly, the company must be a leader in its channel, whether it is business-to-business or business-to-consumer, or a leading player in its market. Currently, all of Plxsur’s partners meet this benchmark. Secondly, having a healthy balance of company-owned brands within the portfolio is essential, with Plxsur aiming for at least 50 percent of its revenues to be driven by such brands. Thirdly, the most crucial criterion is people.
“Our ability to retain our unique entrepreneurial spirit while growing at a rapid pace has been pivotal to our success over the past two years,” said Hardy. “We remain committed to achieving long-term value for all stakeholders, with responsibility at the core of everything we do. Supported by several tailwinds, including evolving market dynamics and customer preferences, we remain confident in Plxsur’s medium-term prospects and our ability to continue our trajectory to promote responsibility in the sector, achieve our target of over $15 billion in revenues by 2033.”
To achieve the lofty goal, Hardy said Plxsur is well placed to capitalize on the growing trend of vaping across the globe, unlock future value, and play a leading role in shaping the sector’s future on a platform of responsibility. He said Plxsur excels at creating a distinctive, innovative business leadership environment while growing at a pace pivotal to the company’s success over the past two years.
“We continue to see increasing regulation around vaping, particularly disposables, flavors, and marketing,” said Hardy. “At Plxsur, we see regulation as a force for good and encourage appropriate regulation and enforcement to tackle illicit and irresponsible trading behaviors. Last year, we submitted Plxsur’s response to the UK government’s open consultation on creating a smoke-free generation, and we continue to engage with regulators worldwide.
“This engagement with responsibility at the core of everything we do places Plxsur in a prime position to continue to grow, lead the industry, and shape the future of vaping.”
The UK government is set to introduce a bill in parliament aimed at phasing out smoking among young people by prohibiting nicotine sales for future generations.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill, if passed unamended, will be one of the world’s toughest anti-tobacco laws and prevent children turning 15 this year or younger from ever being able to be legally sold nicotine products.
The government said smoking itself would not be criminalized. Therefore, anyone who can legally buy tobacco now will not be prevented from doing so in the future, according to Reuters.
“If we want to build a better future for our children, we need to tackle the single biggest entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability, and death: smoking,” Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement.
Critics say the move is “unconservative,” and former prime minister Liz Truss is one of several members of the governing party who have said they will vote against the legislation.
Despite the opposition, the legislation is expected to pass with the opposition Labour Party suggesting it would support the measure.
Last month, a similar law introduced by New Zealand banning tobacco sales to those born after Jan. 1, 2009 was repealed by the country’s new coalition government.
A new study from University College London (UCL) and the University of Innsbruck shows that e-cigarette users with limited smoking history have similar DNA changes to specific cheek cells as smokers, reports Medical Xpress.
The study was published in Cancer Research. It analyzed epigenetic effects of tobacco and e-cigarettes on DNA methylation in more than 3,500 samples to determine the impact on cells directly exposed to tobacco (e.g., cells in the mouth) and cells that are not directly exposed to tobacco (e.g., blood cells or cervical cells).
Data showed that epithelial cells in the mouth had substantial epigenomic changes in smokers. Similar epigenetic changes were seen in epithelial cells in the mouths of e-cigarette users who had smoked fewer than 100 tobacco cigarettes in their lifetime.
“This is the first study to investigate the impact of smoking and vaping on different kinds of cells—rather than just blood—and we’ve also strived to consider the longer term health implications of using e-cigarettes,” said Chiara Herzog, first author of the study.
“We cannot say that e-cigarettes cause cancer based on our study, but we do observe e-cigarette users exhibit some similar epigenetic changes in buccal cells as smokers, and these changes are associated with future lung cancer development in smokers,” Herzog said. “Further studies will be required to investigate whether these features could be used to individually predict cancer in smokers and e-cigarette users.”
“While the scientific consensus is that e-cigarettes are safer than smoking tobacco, we cannot assume they are completely safe to use, and it is important to explore their potential long-term risks and links to cancer,” said Herzog. “We hope this study may help form part of a wider discussion into e-cigarette usage—especially in people who have never previously smoked tobacco.”
The study also showed that some smoking-related epigenetic changes remained more stable than others after quitting smoking, including smoking-related epigenetic changes in cervical samples.
“The epigenome allows us, on one side, to look back,” said Martin Widschwendter, senior author of the study. “It tells us about how our body responded to a previous environmental exposure like smoking. Likewise, exploring the epigenome may also enable us to predict future health and disease. Changes that are observed in lung cancer tissue can also be measured in cheek cells from smokers who have not (yet) developed a cancer.
“Importantly, our research points to the fact that e-cigarette users exhibit the same changes, and these devices might not be as harmless as originally thought. Long-term studies of e-cigarettes are needed. We are grateful for the support the European Commission has provided to obtain these data.”
In response to the study, the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) released a statement.
“While the study data—which one leading academic has described as ‘crude’—implies a link to changes in cheek cells, which could potentially cause cancer, the study authors said their findings did not prove that e-cigarettes caused cancer,” the statement read.
“The study authors said their findings showed that vapes ‘might not be as harmless as originally thought,’ but it is important to make clear that nobody in the vape industry ever said that vaping was harmless. There are risks from vaping, but they are tiny compared to smoking,” the UKVIA said.
“This latest study,” the UKVIA statement said, “is also questioned by leading experts such as Peter Shields, an emeritus professor of medical oncology at Ohio State University. He states that critical pieces of information are missing and calls the smoking and vaping data that they are working from as ‘crude.’ He points to the fact that there is no biochemical verification that the vapers are actually not also smokers. He concludes that ‘researchers are still a far distance from being able to show causality, and the data looks like vapers are actually more like never smokers—implying their risk of cancer is not increasing by vaping.”
Flava brand vaping products have been pulled from store shelves in the Philippines amid allegations of illegal marketing to minors and tax evasion, the Department of Trade and Industry has said.
The DTI’s Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau (FTEB) on March 15 ordered Flava Corporation, Lilac’s Vape Shop, and social media influencer Lilac Sison Tayaban, CEO of Flava, to refrain from manufacturing, importing, selling, packaging and distributing imported Flava vapes, according to media reports.
Once the Sampaloc, Manila-based business receives the preliminary order issued by DTI-FTEB, all of Flava’s commercial activities must immediately stop.
Flava was the respondent to formal charges alleging violations of Republic Act No. 11900, or the Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products Regulation Act, filed before the DTI-FTEB on March 14.
In turn, the DTI-FTEB gave the preliminary order to confiscate Flava products that violate RA 11900, to prevent the disposition or tampering of evidence and the continuation of the acts being complained of.
The DTI is the lead implementing and enforcement agency of RA 11900, the landmark law aimed at protecting minors from vaping. The House Ways and Means Committee earlier estimated as much as P728 million ($1.3 million) in foregone tax revenues from the alleged technical smuggling of P1.4 billion worth of illicit Flava devices last year.
After laboratory testing, The House panel discovered that Flava had not declared the vapes it imported from China. Flava allegedly mislabeled its ingredient as freebase nicotine, which has a lower excise tax than nicotine salt — the nicotine used in Flava products.
Also, the House committee discovered Flava’s aggressive marketing of its flavored vapes to minors, most especially on social media—a violation of RA 11900. Last week, Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. disclosed that the taxman seized 1,029 master boxes of Flava vapes from a warehouse in San Pablo City, Laguna, with tax deficiencies totaling P75.7 million.
The BIR raid conducted together with the Laguna provincial field unit of the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) also led to the arrest of two individuals manning the warehouse.
As such, the BIR will file criminal tax evasion charges against Flava.
“This successful raid of a vape warehouse containing 102,900 bottles of Flava vape products will be one of many. The BIR supports the whole of the government’s approach to eradicating illicit vape products. We have warned you as early as 2022. Our raids are successful. We won the criminal cases. You already have pending warrants of arrest. Register and pay your proper taxes, or suffer the consequences,” Lumagui said.
Meanwhile, Consumer Protection Group spokesperson, Trade Assistant Secretary Amanda Nograles said they will check the report of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency that marijuana-laced electronic cigarettes or vapes are now proliferating in the market.
“That report alarms us, especially when these will be sold to minors. Since the information was just new, then we will get additional information. But the DTI will continue to confiscate vape products with flavor descriptors and have cartoon characters that are appealing to minors, and products that use influencers,” Nograles said in a radio interview.
She said if the DTI encountered or confiscated vapes with marijuana oil, then they would refer it to the PDEA.
On Thursday PDEA operatives seized cannabis oil and ‘kush’, and assorted vaping devices, with an estimated total value of P842,000 in simultaneous raids in Taguig City.
S.18 would end retail sales of all flavored e-cigarettes, e-liquids, and oral nicotine pouches. The bill would also end the sale of all menthol-flavored tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, and smokeless tobacco, by January 1st, 2026.
The legislation, which has been debated for at least six years, faced a fierce lobbying campaign from retailers who said it would put many out of business. Some lawmakers have also balked at the loss of millions in tax revenue, according to media reports.
But supporters say the adverse health impacts on young people who get hooked on the products are just too great. Lawmakers spoke on the House floor Thursday about the extensive testimony from medical professionals, educators, parents, and members of the BIPOC community in support of the bill.
The bill will now return to the Senate, which passed a different version of the bill last year. The governor has not yet indicated if he will sign it.
The highest court in Massachusetts ignored objections from vape shop owners and tobacco retailers and upheld the legality of a novel bylaw that bars cigarette sales to anyone born after January 1, 2000, in the town of Brookline. The restriction, the first of its kind in the United States, is designed to prevent future generations from using not only tobacco but also nicotine.
Retailers argued that the 2021 Brookline bylaw was pre-empted by a state law approved in 2018 that raised the minimum age for purchasing a tobacco product from 18 to 21, according to media reports. The retailers pointed out that the Brookline bylaw effectively means someone born after January 1, 2000, will not be able to purchase a nicotine product regardless of their age.
Over time, as the population ages, the bylaw will effectively ban the sale of tobacco products in the town.
In the Supreme Judicial Court’s unanimous opinion, written by Justice Dalila Wendlandt, the court acknowledged the Brookline bylaw is more restrictive than the state’s minimum age standard, but the justices had no issues with that. They said the bylaw “augments the state statute” by further limiting access to tobacco products to persons under the age of 21.
The court rejected claims by the tobacco retailers that the state law was designed to clarify what had become a muddled regulatory environment as municipality after municipality raised the minimum age for buying tobacco products.
“The retailers claim that the purpose of the Tobacco Act was ‘actually to benefit tobacco retailers . . . by eliminating the confusion that arises when the minimum age for purchasing tobacco varies from town to town and city to city across the Commonwealth,’” the opinion said. “To the contrary, the act reflects the legislative intent to protect young persons and other vulnerable populations from the deleterious health effects of tobacco product use.”
The case drew attention in Massachusetts and around the nation and the world and the outcome is likely to prompt more communities to follow Brookline’s lead, creating a patchwork quilt of regulation of tobacco products.
It happened again. For the second time in the last three sessions, a bill to regulate flavored nicotine products has died in Colorado’s General Assembly.
The proposal would have allowed a board of county commissioners to ban flavored tobacco and nicotine products. The House Business Affairs & Labor Committee defeated it on a 6-5 vote, according to Colorado Public Radio.
Several lawmakers on the committee voting against the bill cited concerns about its impacts on local businesses, echoing testimony from several vape shop owners who said it would have hurt sales if a county banned flavored vaping and other tobacco products.
“We have a long history of choosing to listen to the tobacco lobby,” said bill sponsor Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, as she appealed to her colleagues before the vote. “I hope that today we can really think about the children and make sure that we do the right thing to make sure that our children don’t have access to these products that have been targeted for them.”
The measure had already passed a Senate committee and the full Senate. As has been seen in prior years, the bill drew intense lobbying, with 141 lobbyists from both sides signing up to voice support, opposition, or neutrality, according to the state’s lobbyist disclosure website.
Tobacco companies like PMI, RJ Reynolds America, and Altria, represented by the lobbying company Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, and industry groups, including the Vapor Technology Association, hired lobbyists in opposition to the legislation.
All the traditional anti-nicotine groups such as Bloomberg, Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund and Kaiser Permanente also hired lobbyists in support.
In 2022, a bill to ban flavored tobacco statewide failed after Gov. Jared Polis said the issue should be handled at the local level.
Ispire Technology Inc. has partnered with Touchpoint World Wide Inc. dba Berify, a platform specializing in linking physical products to the digital world, digital engagement and brand protection, and Chemular International Inc., a multidisciplinary regulatory consulting firm, to form a joint venture.
The joint venture will look to expedite innovation in the e-cigarette technology space, including the development of secure, user-friendly solutions for age verification and age-gating nicotine vapor devices.
Leveraging Berify’s multi-patented technology, Chemular’s regulatory consulting and premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) knowhow and Ispire’s hardware expertise, the joint venture will introduce an industry-standard age verification solution for vapor devices as well as the submission of PMTAs that incorporate technologies across the U.S. e-cigarette market, such as: next-generation e-cigarette hardware with a user-friendly point-of-use age verification and geo fencing capability that eliminates use of hardware in certain designated areas such as schools and sensitive areas; e-cigarettes with end-to-end a range of dynamic features such as authentication, direct-to-consumer engagements and exclusive offerings built on the foundations of blockchain technology; and a real-time biometric identity platform for user access controls, creating added security and reliability that deters counterfeiting.
“By combining our collective expertise in hardware, blockchain and regulatory consulting, we aim to set a new standard for age verification, security and overall quality in the e-cigarette space,” said Ispire Technology Co-CEO Michael Wang in a statement. “Our hope is that this JV [joint venture] will be a large step forward in innovative device control, safety, counterfeit prevention and enhanced user experiences that increase overall market and consumer satisfaction.”
“The U.S. market is ripe for technological disruption that addresses age verification, safety and counterfeit issues,” said Berify founder and CEO Dan Kang. “Our mission is also to create smart products that generate a new level of consumer satisfaction. We plan to achieve this by leveraging our blockchain authentication, tokenized rewards and creating true decentralization while keeping companies in control of their products and data.”
Kevin Burd, CEO of Chemular, added, “Our commitment is not only to create next-gen vapor devices but also to elevate market education. This venture includes additional partnerships that will bring together biometric identity and access control, ensure the solution is embedded into vapor devices during manufacturing and provide safety, security and privacy for consumers. It is also a testament to our dedication to positively shaping the future of vape hardware innovation.”
France has moved one step closer to a ban on disposable vapes. The Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to ban pre-filled, disposable e-cigarettes.
“The marketing of these products is intended to attract young people with colors, fruit [flavors] and aromas, and low price,” Labour and Health Minister Catherine Vautrin told the chamber.
While the Senators approved the law, they modified the National Assembly’s text to clarify the ban, according to media reports.
The text would ban the “manufacturing, marketing, sale, distribution or offering for free” of the products and prohibit owning them with the intent to sell or distribute them, with a fine of up to €100,000 ($108,000).
The two chambers will now need to combine their text and approve that version before it is sent to the European Commission, which will have six months to hand down an opinion.
The government has said it hopes the ban will come into effect in September.
Meanwhile, vaping and other recent smoking innovations are expected to be high on the agenda as country representatives gather in Panama City on Monday, tasked with revising the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first treaty ever adopted under the auspices of WHO, entered into force.
