Author: Bill Tarling

“The New England Convenience Store & Energy Marketers Association (NECSEMA) is asking Gov. Charlie Baker to delay the implementation of the state’s flavored tobacco ban, which is set to begin June 1. The request comes as convenience stores face declining sales as the country deals with the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Jon Shaer, executive director of NECSEMA, overall sales are off roughly 30 percent to 50 percent. In addition, the ban is expected to lead to another 20 percent loss in revenue, Shaer said in a letter to Baker. That number could be even higher in urban markets, he added. “By the end of May, it is estimated 200 stores will be permanently closed; if the menthol, mint and wintergreen ban goes into effect then the number is estimated to grow to 800 within a month or two, and most urban and inner-city stores ‘are not expected to survive,'” he wrote.”

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NECSEMA Asks Massachusetts Gov to Delay Statewide Flavored Tobacco Ban

“Fontem US LLC (Fontem US) today announces that it has submitted Premarket Tobacco Product Applications (PMTAs) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking authorization for the continued marketing of a wide range of its myblu electronic vaping products. The PMTA submissions include data from a comprehensive range of laboratory and clinical scientific studies, including product analyses, behavioral data, nonclinical health risk information, and information on the impact to both users and non-users of tobacco products”

BILL TARLING — You can expect Big Tobacco companies to very soon start pushing the narrative “we paid a fortune to submit our PMTA, so little companies should have to do it to or be pulled off the competition market — we know they can’t afford the PMTA submission costs.

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Fontem US LLC Submits Premarket Tobacco Applications for myblu Electronic Vaping Products

“World Health Organisation mouthpieces have been busy sharing a statement issued by Matthew Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, who calls the statistics reported from France as “misleading”. Meanwhile France has swiftly restricted access to nicotine products as it fears people might use nicotine “too much”. Matt Myers earns a very healthy living from being paid to oppose vaping. To maintain his Bloomberg-funded cushy lifestyle, he needs to ensure the attacks keep on coming. “There is no evidence to suggest smokers are protected from COVID-19,” he misdirects. It’s the same way he repeatedly denounces claims that “vaping is safe” when nobody is saying that.”

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Nicotine Nightmare for the Antz

““Tobacco smoking is the main preventable source of disease and death in Denmark,” says the Danish government. So, to reduce the annual death toll, it is seeking to place further restrictions on vaping and other alternative nicotine products. They propose: A display ban: electronic cigarettes are not to be visible to consumers at points of sale, including on the Internet, except in a vape shop, and ban on flavourings in electronic cigarettes other than tobacco and menthol . Tom Erik Stålung responded by warning: “Calling all EU vapers! Denmark is setting a dangerous precedent for a flavour ban, by sneaking it by the EU Commission during the peak of a pandemic. We need to stop this now!””

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Flavour Ban For Denmark?

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued ten warning letters to retailers and manufacturers who sell, manufacture and/or import unauthorized electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products targeted to youth or likely to promote use by youth. The warning letters were sent to establishments marketing unauthorized products, such as a backpack and sweatshirt designed with stealth pockets to hold and conceal an e-cigarette, ENDS products that resemble smartwatches, or devices appearing as children’s toys such as a portable video game system or fidget spinner. Warning letters were also issued to companies marketing e-liquids that imitate packaging for food products that often are marketed and appeal to youth, such as candy, or feature cartoon characters like SpongeBob SquarePants.”

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FDA Warns Manufacturers and Retailers to Remove Certain E-cigarette Products Targeted to Youth from the Market

“Vaping has emerged as the most discussed trend, generating 48% of all Twitter conversations related to tobacco alternatives by leading industry experts during the first quarter (Q1) of 2020, tracked by GlobalData. In terms of intensity of discussions, the UK, the US, Austrailia, Canada and China emerged as the top five most mentioned locations among vaping conversations. The conversations about the UK were largley related to the fact that the UK’s top public health experts asked tobacco consumers to ignore new warnings about vaping issued by WHO. An analysis of conversation related to ‘Flavors’ revealed ‘menthol’ and ‘mint’ as the most mentioned flavors among vaping discussions, followed by chocolate, strawberry and ice-cream. Charles A. Gardner, Director of Health Science and Technology at Foundation for a smoke-free world, was the top contributor on vaping on Twitter, followed by Edward Hubert, American editor and publisher and Gregory Conley, President of American Vaping Association.”

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Vaping top discussed trend among tobacco alternatives on Twitter in Q1 2020

“The City of Lewisville will make city parks tobacco-free sites in early May. The changes were unanimously approved at the city council meeting on Monday, April 20. The use of tobacco or “electronic nicotine devices” will be prohibited at any city park.”

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Lewisville Parks to Become Tobacco-Free Sites

“Researchers at the Penn State College of Medicine have “discovered” that adults like vape flavours and will attempt to circumvent any ban. Meanwhile, the American Cancer Society looked at the impact of JUUL withdrawing flavoured products and found that sales of all products continued to rise.”

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Flavour Ban Fail

“Solely as a result of the pandemic and these exceptional and unforeseen circumstances, we requested on March 30, and on April 22, 2020 were granted by the court, a 120-day extension of the May 12 deadline. The court order means applications for premarket review for many e-cigarettes, cigars and other new tobacco products are now required to be filed by Sept. 9, 2020. Consistent with the original court order, for companies that submit timely applications, the agency may continue to exercise enforcement discretion, meaning their products would generally continue to be marketed without being subject to FDA enforcement actions, for up to one year from the deadline (up to Sept. 9, 2021), unless a negative action is taken by the FDA on an application during that time.”

BILL TARLING — One thing to remember — even though the PMTA Deadline has been extended, most labs that are needed for processing the required testing, that must be included with the applications, are still closed or working on other priorities. We still don’t know how long things will still be in full or partial lockdown from COVID-19. Even when the processing labs re-open, it will take months for them to get back up to full speed, and to catch up with the backlog. A September deadline likely will still not be enough time to catch up for companies filing their PMTA submissions.

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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: Court Grants FDA’s Request for Extension of Premarket Review Submission Deadline

“The lack of a clear distinction between cigarettes and e-cigarettes allowed tobacco companies to enter the e-cigarette market and grow their market share, but this lack of distinction also blurred boundaries between the two products, the researchers concluded.”

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Promoting advantages of product category, such as e-cigarettes, can backfire