20
TOBACCO BUSINESS
MARCH/APRIL 2014
TMA REPORT
By FARRELL DELMAN
…
San Francisco, California-based
Ploom
, inventor and manufacturer
of the premium vaporizer Pax, which
heats tobacco without producing
smoke, said that following the discovery
of counterfeit products containing
plastic materials that are not stable at
operating temperature, it conducted
investigations to locate manufacturers
of the fake products. The company
initiated legal actions in China to stop
the production and sales of fakes, noting
that Ploom’s foremost goal is to protect
consumers from poorly performing and
potentially unsafe counterfeit devices.
…
The Guardian
reports that
e-cigs
could be available as “medicines”
on
the UK’s National Health Service by the
end of 2014. At least two companies—
Nicolites and Nicoventures (BAT)—
have started the process to obtain licenses
from the Medicines and Healthcare
Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
…Misguided regulation of e-cigs
based on concerns that are not backed
by sound evidence may have
unintended
consequences
for public health,
stated a
Journal of Therapeutic Advances
article titled “Achieving Appropriate
Regulations for Electronic Cigarettes”
by Daniela Saitta, Giancarlo Antonio
Ferro and Riccardo Polosa from the
University of Catania in Italy. The
authors recommend that regulators
consider science-based regulations like
good manufacturing practices (GMP),
childproof containers for nicotine liquids,
reporting on the contents of e-liquids
to regulators, and “clear, accurate and
detailed labeling about the contents and
the hazards associated with [e-cig] use.”
…Analysts at Wells Fargo said
Nielsen’s U.S. c-store data on e-cigs
indicates that their
dollar sales grew 45
percent
in the four weeks ending with
January 18. A 54.8 percent equivalent
unit growth was partially offset by net
pricing of -6.3 percent, suggesting an
increased penetration of e-cig kits that
offer a lower price per cartomizer, with
Lorillard’s blu retaining the No. 1
position
in the c-store channel with a
45.5 percent dollar share, up 23.4 points
year over year, followed by NJOY at
No. 2 with 19.6 percent, and Logic in
the third spot with 19 percent, while
RAI’s Vuse held at 1.4 percent and
Altria’s MarkTen held at 0.7 percent.
…Nicotine is addictive, but it is the
toxins in cigarette smoke that kill, said
Joel Nitzkin, senior fellow for tobacco
policy at the R Street Institute and past
co-chair of the American Association
of Public Health Physicians’ tobacco
control task force, in a recent presentation
at the Oklahoma House/Senate hearing
on e-cigs and tobacco harm reduction
(THR)
. An addition of a modestly
successful THR initiative to current
On harm reduction…
Farrell Delman,
President, TMA
Breaking News From the TMA
The following are excerpts from harm reduction,
tobacco regulation and other tobacco-related news.
