Basic HTML Version
20
TOBACCO OUTLET BUSINESS
JULY/AUGUST 2012
NEWS & TRENDS
Long Island Republican Kemp Hannon,
New York’s Senate Health Committee
chair, recently proposed legislation
banning e-cigarettes. The proposal
prompted an outraged response from
both the nonprofit American Council
on Science and Health and Boston
University professor Michael Siegel.
“I am simply flabbergasted that such a
measure, the consequences of which
would condemn many thousands of
New York ex-smokers back to cigarette
addiction and premature death, can
be proposed by the Chairman of
the Health Committee of our state’s
Senate,” says ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross,
who was dumbfounded by Hannon’s
proposal. “Sen. Hannon should be
expected, in that role, to know a little
bit about the relative risks of smoking
and modified risk products, including,
of course, electronic nicotine delivery
systems (ENDS, or e-cigarettes). If
he doesn’t know, he should be given
a quick course in preventing disease
and saving lives. With this measure,
the blood of smokers forced to give
up e-cigarettes and resume smoking
would be on his hands. Hopefully, this
boneheaded measure will die a quiet
death before a vote and never be
heard from again.”
Responding to the proposal in his
blog, “The Rest of the Story,” Professor
Michael Siegel wrote: “I take it that
according to Senator Hannon, regular
cigarettes don’t pose a dangerous
threat to the health and safety of
New Yorkers because his legislation,
if enacted, would result in thousands
of New York ex-smokers who quit by
virtue of electronic cigarettes returning
to tobacco cigarette smoking. In what
possible way would that have public
health benefits? In what possible
way would that reduce dangerous
threats to the health and safety of New
Yorkers?”
One of three new products under
development
at
Philip
Morris
International is a cigarette that poses
lower health risks to users. The
cigarette, which heats tobacco rather
than burning it, will be ready by 2017
and will be sold under existing brand
names, such as Marlboro. The heated-
tobacco device is reportedly ready
for clinical testing, and manufacturing
would start in three to four years.
“We are on the eve of what we all
believe could be a paradigm shift for
our industry,” CEO Louis Camilleri said
in a speech to investors about the
development news. The new products
have “the very real potential to not
only be a game-changer, but also be
the key to unlocking several hitherto
virgin territories, most notably the huge
Chinese market.”
Two additional lower risk products
are also under development—one lit
with a normal lighter and another that
uses a chemical reaction to make an
aerosol containing nicotine.
“We have to remain, however, alert to
the fact that there may be bumps in the
road, given themany complexities of this
undertaking,” said a PM spokesperson.
PM Developing Lower Risk Cigs
New product could hit the market by 2017.
House Panel Warns FDA
Off Regulating Premium Cigars
Congressional committee moves to exempt premium cigars from FDA oversight.
An FDA spending bill that the House
of Representatives Appropriations
Committee passed in June contained
a stern warning regarding regulation
of cigars: “The committee reminds
FDA that premium cigars have unique
characteristics and cost-prohibitive
price points and are not marketed to
kids. Any effort to regulate cigars should
take these items into consideration.”
While the message will not protect
cigars from FDA regulation, the text
is viewed as a signal of congressional
intent.
Meanwhile, bills in both the House
(HR 1639) and the Senate (S 1461) to
protect premium hand-rolled cigars
from FDA regulation and save 85,000
small business jobs around the country
remain in committee. In the House, the
resolution sponsored by U.S. Rep. Bill
Posey, a Republican from Florida, has
gained more than 200 co-sponsors.
The Senate resolution, sponsored by
Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, also
from Florida, has more than 10 co-
sponsors.
For more information on how to
register support for these bills, visit
IPCPR.org or CRA.org.
Proposed E-Cig Ban Ignites Ire
Harm reduction advocates are outraged by a New York effort to ban e-cigarettes.