Author: Bill Tarling

“About one in five U.S. adults reported currently using any tobacco product in 2019, with most reporting use of combustible products, according to research published in the Nov. 20 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Monica E. Cornelius, Ph.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues used data from the 2019 National Health Interview Survey to examine national estimates of tobacco product use among U.S. adults aged 18 years and older. The researchers found that an estimated 50.6 million U.S. adults (20.8 percent) reported currently using any tobacco product, including cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, and pipes (14.0, 4.5, 3.6, 2.4, and 1.0 percent, respectively).”

BILL TARLING — The CDC is able to include vape products in order to panic the public and make it easier to get support passing anti-vaping regulations since the FDA has deemed e-liquid vape products as “Tobacco Products” which therefore inflates the Smoking & Tobacco Use figures to gain additional funding

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CDC: About one in five U.S. adults reports tobacco product use

“US vaping giant Juul Labs will exit the Irish market at the end of the year after entering the country less than two years ago to huge fanfare. In September, under-pressure Juul Labs told its workers that it planned to exit some European and Asia-Pacific markets and axe more of its remaining 2,200 employees. Last month, Altria cut the value if its holding in Juul Labs, reckoning in its third quarter results that the vaping company is now worth less than $5bn. That’s compared to the $10bn that Juul Labs valued itself at just days earlier. Last week, Altria converted non-voting shares in Juul Labs to voting shares.”

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Vaping giant Juul to leave Irish market after less than two years

“A 2020 report by an American advocacy group, the Consumer Choice Center, debunks the common belief that “vaping is the gateway to smoking for adults and adolescents.” Titled “Vaping and the Gateway Myth”, the report highlighted findings that vaping is 95 per cent less harmful than smoking. It also presents a viewpoint that vaping actually helps conventional smokers “divert from traditional and harmful tobacco consumption.” The report also emphasises that vaping products were designed to offer smokers a safer way to consume nicotine, with the target being adult smokers. The British National Health Service has already said nicotine, on its own, is relatively harmless and adds that “almost all of the harm from smoking comes from the thousands of other chemicals in tobacco smoke, many of which are toxic.””

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Report: Vaping is a gateway out of smoking

“Reports that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted grants from foreign anti-tobacco groups have alarmed the International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations (INNCO). INNCO said its members were concerned about “the growing influence of foreign grants on health regulators that may adversely affect the campaign to reduce the harm caused by combustible cigarettes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including the Philippines.” In particular, INNCO pointed out that some nongovernment organizations backed by the Bloomberg Initiative had some influence on health regulators like the FDA.”

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Groups alarmed that FDA accepted grants from foreign anti-tobacco advocates

“It was clear even then that revenues from the 30-cent-a-pack tax would decline because fewer and fewer people were smoking. Now arts supporters have come up with a new proposal to strengthen public support for the arts in the county and across the state of Ohio. An alliance of four countywide arts organizations is drafting proposed state legislation that would enable county voters to replace the existing per-unit excise tax on cigarettes with a new, 8 percent tax on the wholesale price of all tobacco products, including vaping devices. The new local tax would bring revenues back to where they were in 2007, the first year in which the levy took effect. Proponents hope that enabling more counties to enact levies to support the arts would improve the appeal of their proposal to members of the state legislature. ”

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Cuyahoga County arts advocates propose broader tax on tobacco products to boost arts and culture revenue

“The Finance Ministry on Friday has classified e-cigarette cartridges as alternative products of tobacco or HPTL, making them subject existing taxes. The Director of International Customs and Inter-institution of the Customs and Excise Directorate General, Syarif Hidayat assured the regulation included tobacco extracts or concentrates that were consumed by heating the liquids and then inhaled or smoked.”

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E-Cigarette Cartridges Subjected to Tobacco Tax

“Questions have been asked and answers given about vaping, tobacco harm reduction, and EVALI in the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Importantly, the position of vape shops being forced to close during the second COVID-19 lockdown has been questioned in both Houses although the responses were far from satisfactory. Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Jo Churchill replied that the government would undertake a public consultation before the end of the year as part of its commitment to conduct a legislation review by 20 May 2021”

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Parliament

“Experts at the University of Oxford have conducted an extensive review of all the current evidence covering more than 50 papers and 12,000 people and found that “e-cigarettes with nicotine can help more people to quit smoking than traditional nicotine replacement therapy”. While there are some experts that argue nicotine gums and patches should be the only option, the facts say differently. Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Nicola Lindson’s evidence review has led them to say that there is “greater confidence” that vaping works.”

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Positive Evidence About Vaping

“From the beginning of October, manufacturers of tobacco heaters and e-liquids have to pay excise duties on them. As it results from the analysis of the Polish Chamber of Commerce (KIG), the current system is designed in such a way that it causes unequal tax burdens for products from the same category. This is hitting Polish e-cigarette manufacturers and Polish farmers producing tobacco for tobacco warmers. The highest excise duty is paid by producers of liquid cartridges for open e-cigarettes, and these are usually Polish small and medium-sized companies. The difference in the tax burden between different products is up to six times. The excise duty rate for liquids for closed e-cigarette systems is up to 25 times lower than for regular cigarettes and five times lower than for tobacco heaters.”

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Polish producers suffer from unequal excise duties

“A coalition of faith leaders, public health advocates, unions and community groups in Maryland is preparing to crank up opposition to flavored tobacco products. A bill to ban flavored tobacco appeared likely to pass in this year’s General Assembly session but ran out of time when the session was cut short due to COVID-19. Coalition leaders on Wednesday said they are gearing up for another campaign. Faith & Community Against Flavored Tobacco said it will push for legislation sponsored by Sen. Mary L. Washington (D-Baltimore City) and Del. Jazz Lewis (D-Prince George’s) that would remove all flavored tobacco products from the market, including menthol cigarettes, flavored electronic smoking devices, and smokeless tobacco. The Maryland coalition has two town halls scheduled to mobilize supporters on behalf of the Washington-Lewis legislation. One will be on Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. for residents of the Baltimore metropolitan area and the other on Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. for residents of the Washington, D.C., area. “

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Coalition Gearing Up for Another Fight Against Flavored Tobacco