Read articles from North America

October 17, 2023 by nhjournal.com

As the Biden administration gets closer to finalizing its proposed rule banning the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars nationwide, a well-known aphorism comes to mind: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” The administration’s logic behind the federal ban is that doing so will reduce smoking and correspondingly improve public health. This is the same logic used to justify increasing tobacco taxes or banning tobacco and vaping products at the state level. When a state bans flavored tobacco or increases excise taxes on cigarettes, legal cigarette sales in the state tend to fall as a result. But what about illegal and out-of-state sales?

October 17, 2023 by financialpost.com

Canadian smokers have been staring at warning labels on their cigarette packs for more than half a century. And while these labels have metastasized in size and grotesqueness over the years, millions of smokers still haven’t kicked the habit. Now Health Canada thinks one more warning will finally do the trick. Starting next year, printed slogans such as “Poison in every puff” will be required on each and every cigarette. Canada is the first country to make such a move. Carolyn Bennett, federal minister for mental health and addictions when the new policy was announced, called it a “bold step.” Such confidence seems misplaced.

October 16, 2023 by bloomberg.com

Cannabis vaping is around the same size as the market for tobacco vaping in the US — yet the two industries are on very different trajectories. New restrictions on tobacco vaping showed how federal legality can be a curse rather than a blessing when it comes to the business of recreational drugs. While the cannabis industry is holding out hope for federal legal changes — potentially with a rescheduling of the drug by classifying it as less risky — its vape sector seems to benefit from a lack of regulation.

October 13, 2023 by tobaccoreporter.com

Health Canada has granted Nicoventures Trading permission to sell Zonnic, a nicotine pouch that can help adult smokers quit smoking by delivering nicotine to the body. The product will be distributed in Canada exclusively by BAT subsidiary Imperial Tobacco Canada (ITCAN). “This is a first for Canada. No other nicotine pouch has received Health Canada’s authorization. Zonnic will give smokers a new option to help them quit smoking,” said ITCAN President and CEO Frank Silva, President in a statement. “We all agree, smoking is the cause of serious diseases, and we are committed to reducing the health impact of our business. [...]

October 13, 2023 by filtermag.org

Recently, the Biden administration announced “new actions and commitments” under its Cancer Moonshot initiative. Unfortunately, the list of plans reemphasizes a gaping government blind spot. In the United States, about 20 percent of all cancer cases, and around 30 percent of cancer deaths, are attributed to smoking. Nothing in the Moonshot plan meaningfully addresses this. At its core, it’s hampered by a willful refusal to embrace lifesaving technological advances in nicotine delivery.

October 13, 2023 by thehill.com

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday banned the sale of Vuse Alto menthol and fruit-flavored electronic cigarettes as part of its larger crackdown on vaping products marketed at young people. Vuse, made by R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co., is the most commonly sold e-cigarette brand in the country, the FDA said, and it has become increasingly popular among kids. Vuse Alto is the most popular sub-brand. The agency took action against three menthol-flavored and three mixed-berry-flavored products, with each flavor being offered in three nicotine strengths. The company must not market or distribute the products in the U.S., but they can submit a new regulatory application. 

October 12, 2023 by time.com

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has long played catch up when it comes to regulating the vaping industry. Brands including Juul were already widely available nationwide when, in 2016, the agency finalized a process for assessing their health effects. That meant e-cigarette companies already in business had to retroactively prepare paperwork to prove that their products were beneficial for public health; if they couldn’t convince the FDA, regulators could order them to stop selling their vapes in the U.S.

October 11, 2023 by nytimes.com

Juul was once the cool vape, blamed for hooking teenagers on e-cigarettes, and it is set to pay billions of dollars in legal settlements. Then came Puff Bar, which was hot in high schools until federal officials began impounding those vapes. Elf Bar stepped in, and its products have been seized at the border. A parade of facsimiles is moving in right behind them: Virtue Bar, Juicy Bar, Lost Mary, Lost Vape and many more. The latest flood of illicit e-cigarettes is arriving from China in Barbiecore colors and fruit, ice cream and slushy flavors, and accounts for a major share of the estimated $5.5 billion e-cigarette market in the United States.

October 10, 2023 by dallasnews.com

A citizen advisory group has recommended that the City of Dallas follow other major Texas cities with a ban on vaping in public spaces in the name of public health. The city’s Environmental Commission has recommended adopting a policy restricting the use of e-cigarettes, citing a “correlation between vaping aerosol exposure and negative health effects for vulnerable populations,” said Candace Thompson, chair of the commission’s environmental health committee.

October 09, 2023 by regulatorwatch.com

In many countries, making smoking cessation claims in advertising and marketing is illegal. And, for tobacco control researchers writing funding applications, investigating cessation is a non-starter. [...] Joining us today is the lead author of this ground-breaking study, tobacco control researcher Dr. Matthew Carpenter, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina and co-leader of the cancer control program at Hollings Cancer Center. Carpenter says, “No matter how we looked at it, those who got the e-cigarette product demonstrated greater abstinence and reduced harm compared to those who didn’t.”