The post Nicotine and Harm Reduction Newsletter – September 2019 appeared first on Reason Foundation.

The House Oversight Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy held two-day hearings investigating Juul’s role in the alleged “youth nicotine addiction epidemic.” On July 24, the committee heard from six witnesses, five of whom were vehemently hostile to Juul, claiming its marketing practices deliberately targeted minors and created a youth vaping epidemic. Democratic members slammed Juul for its social media campaigns and expressed skepticism of the concept of tobacco harm reduction. 

Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley both claimed no further studies of e-cigarettes were necessary before taking action against Juul. Tlaib went so far as to claim Juul is “killing” people. Dr. Raymond Niaura of New York University cautioned against over-regulation, urging lawmakers to tackle the problem of youth vaping while ensuring adult access to safer nicotine alternatives. Reason’s Guy Bentley covered the proceedings for the Washington Examiner. 

The second day of hearings featured Juul’s co-founder and Chief Product Officer James Monsees, Chief Administrative Officer Ashley Gould, and President of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Matthew Myers. The original structure of the hearings was changed to two panels instead of one so Monsees would testify and be questioned solo. Juul received a mostly sympathetic hearing from Republicans but was again criticized by Democrats for its past social media campaigns, partnerships with educators, and nicotine strength. 

On July 12, US Judge Paul Grimm issued his final ruling in American Academy of Pediatrics, et al. v. FDA. Grimm agreed with the Food and Drug Administration’s recommendation to the court and ordered the agency to impose a 10-month deadline for submission of premarket tobacco applications, with a one-year deadline for approvals.

State Updates

Writing for Reason.com, Bentley drew attention to San Francisco chief economist Ted Egan’s assessment that the city’s business community is not expected to lose out as a result of the prohibition of e-cigarettes thanks to increasing cigarette sales. National Review’s Kat Timpf followed up with an article and video on the subject. 

Legislators in Massachusetts are attempting to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, with an exemption for smoking bars. The state’s Attorney General Maura Healey, a vocal critic of Juul, testified in support of the ban at a hearing of the public health committee. If successful, Massachusetts would be the first state to ban flavored tobacco products. 

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law a 10 cents per milliliter e-cigarette tax, with a $125 license requirement for each vapor distributor effective October 1. 

In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law amended legislation which changed the state’s original 10 cents per milliliter tax on e-liquid to a 10 percent point-of-sale tax. 

Science and Harm Reduction

Reason’s Jacob Sullum covered the controversy over research by Professor Stanton Glantz’s purporting to show that e-cigarette use can double the risk heart attacks. Glantz’s research was thoroughly debunked by tobacco researcher Brad Rodu and economist Nantaporn Plurphanswat. 

A study from the Massachusetts General Hospital’s (MGH) Tobacco Research and Treatment Center shows smokers who use e-cigarettes daily were 77 percent more likely to have quit cigarettes after two years than non-e-cigarette users. “This finding suggests that smokers who use e-cigarettes to quit smoking need to use them regularly — every day — for these products to be most helpful,” said the study’s lead author, Sara Kalkhoran, MD.

On July 26, Illinois-based Heartland Institute released “Tobacco Harm Reduction 101: A Guidebook for Policymakers,” authored by Lindsey Stroud. The booklet presents a readable breakdown of the most relevant harm reduction issues— from relative risk to the dangers of e-cigarette taxation. 

Additional Resources

Consumer Surplus in the FDA’s Tobacco Regulations

A Question of Taste: The Public Health Case for E-Cigarette Flavors

The World Health Organization’s Opposition to Tobacco Harm Reduction: A Threat to Public Health? 

The Vapor Revolution: How Bottom-Up Innovation Is Saving Lives 

Reason’s Research and Analysis of Nicotine and Vapor Issues

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The deadline for submitting comments on the Food and Drug Administration’s advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) for the regulation of tobacco product flavors and a new tobacco product standard for levels of nicotine in combustible cigarettes is just a few weeks away.

The FDA’s (ANPRM) for a reduced nicotine standard could apply to other combustible tobacco products such as roll-your-own tobacco, little and premium cigars, as well as combustible cigarettes. The deadline is June 14. The ANPRM regarding flavored tobacco products covers smokeless tobacco, combustible cigarettes, cigars and electronic nicotine delivery systems, and the deadline for comment submission is June 19.

Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) wrote to high school and middle school superintendents in Illinois requesting information on student vaping. This follows the continuing media controversy surrounding the alleged popularity of Juul among minors. At Vaping360, Jim McDonald documents recent demands by Democratic senators for tighter regulation of e-cigarettes and bans on so-called “kid-friendly” e-liquid flavors.

There was extensive coverage of “World No Tobacco Day” which was created by the World Health Organization in 1987 and falls on May 31. Writing in the Washington Examiner, Julie Gunlock, director of the Center for Progress and Innovation at the Independent Women’s Forum, argues anti-smoking philanthropist Michael Bloomberg should be celebrating rather than opposing innovative nicotine products like e-cigarettes, which are safer than smoking and help smokers quit.

​​​​State Updates

The Illinois House of Representatives voted to raise the age of purchase for cigarettes and vapor products from 18 to 21 by a 61-49 margin. The bill will go to the governor’s desk, where it will almost certainly be signed.

In a special session, Vermont legislators proposed a bill that would impose a 46 percent wholesale tax on vapor products, the proceeds of which would go to the state’s General Fund for the fiscal year 2019.

Science and Harm Reduction

A study published in Tobacco Control concludes that a ban on flavored e-cigarettes alone would increase the choice of combustible cigarettes in smokers. The authors argue a ban on menthol cigarettes would be more effective in limiting the choice of cigarettes but a ban on flavors in both combustible cigarettes and e-cigarettes would probably reduce smoking and vaping rates, “but smoking would be higher than in the status quo.”

Taxation

The District of Columbia Council voted 10-2 to raise the cigarette tax from $2.50 per pack to $4.50 per pack, higher than any state-wide cigarette tax in the nation. The tax would also apply to e-cigarettes, which according to Gregory Conley of the American Vaping Association could raise the city’s vapor tax to more than 90 percent of the wholesale price.
​​​​​​
Regulation

San Francisco residents will vote next week on Proposition E, which would ban all flavored tobacco products including menthol cigarettes and e-cigarette flavors.

Chicago Alderman Ed Burke introduced legislation to ban flavored nicotine cartridges for e-cigarettes. “Prohibiting the sale of flavored vaping products won’t save any lives, but it may stop people currently addicted to cigarettes from switching to less-harmful alternatives or even kicking the nicotine habit,” said Heartland Institute research fellow Jesse Hathaway.

At Creators.com, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center Veronique de Rugy argues the FDA should stick to its plan to postpone premarket tobacco product application deadlines until 2022 and create a less burdensome approval process for vapor products. “This kind of permissionless innovation approach gave us the internet and many other lifesaving and growth-producing inventions. This time, it might very well deliver the biggest lifesaving opportunity we have had in some time, as long as the FDA doesn’t get in the way,” writes de Rugy.

Quotable Quotes

“It’s a preposterous notion that a government that can’t efficiently deliver the mail or run trains on time — and is a direct cause of cancer drug shortages — can deliver a risk- and nicotine-free world.” — Veronique de Rugy

What’s Coming Up

The fifth Global Forum on Nicotine will be held in Warsaw, Poland, June 14-16. Registration is now open.

Additional Resources

Comment to FDA on Modified Risk Tobacco Product Application

The Proposed Tobacco Product Standard for NNN Level in Smokeless Tobacco Should Be Withdrawn

The World Health Organization’s Opposition to Tobacco Harm Reduction: A Threat to Public Health?

The Vapor Revolution: How Bottom-Up Innovation Is Saving Lives

Reason’s Research and Analysis of Nicotine and Vapor Issues

The post Nicotine and Harm Reduction Newsletter – June 1, 2018 appeared first on Reason Foundation.

Attempts to amend the FY 2019 Agricultural Appropriations bill to include language from H.R. 1136, otherwise known as the Cole-Bishop Amendment, which would’ve changed the predicate date for vapor products, failed on a vote of 29-20. Two Democrats supported the amendment and one Republican voted against it. However, other parts of Cole-Bishop were adopted, including a change in the predicate date for cigars and pipe tobacco from February 15, 2007, to April 2014.

“Without these changes put forward by my amendment, the FDA effectively is making it more difficult for vapor products to the come to the market than cigarettes, even though Public Health England, the British version of our Department of Health and Human Services, published a report stating that vapor is 95 percent less harmful than a cigarette,” said Rep. Tom Cole.

Sen. Chuck Schumer wrote to the Food and Drug Administration demanding an immediate ban on “kid-friendly” e-cigarette flavors. Schumer singled out the alleged the popularity of Juul among high-school students as a particular cause for concern. The press release accompanying Schumer’s letter also claimed, without a reference, that “millions of kids are now addicted” to e-cigarettes.

In the Washington Examiner, Reason’s Guy Bentley highlighted the juxtaposition of Sen. Schumer’s demand for a ban on e-cigarette flavors, which have been documented to help adult smokers quit, with his recent support for marijuana legalization. In The Wall Street Journal, the American Enterprise Institute’s Sally Satel argued Schumer is contributing to a moral panic that is threatening to obscure the lifesaving potential of e-cigarettes.

State Updates

The Massachusetts House of Representatives voted in support of a bill to raise the age of purchase for tobacco and vapor products to 21, ban the sale of tobacco and vaping products in stores with pharmacies, ban vaping wherever smoking is banned, and require child-resistant packaging for all e-liquid products. The bill will now progress to the Senate where it expected to pass.

The Vermont Legislature passed a 46 percent wholesale tax on all liquid-containing vapor products. The American Vaping Association predicts Vermont politicians will attempt to raise the tax next year to 92 percent or higher.

Science and Harm Reduction

Editors of the journal Pediatrics are being accused of misconduct in an ongoing dispute sparked by a letter from Dr. Brad Rodu challenging a paper produced by Benjamin Chaffee, Stanton Glantz, and Shannon Lea Watkins. The paper claimed vaping causes adolescents who experimented with cigarettes to become regular smokers. Rodu, along with his colleague Nantaporn Plurphanswat, reproduced Chaffee’s analysis controlling for lifetime cigarette consumption and found the study’s conclusions were not supported by the data. Rodu submitted a comment to Pediatrics arguing the paper should be retracted. His comment, however, was not published until two weeks after submission by which time Pediatrics had solicited a response from Chaffee, et al, accusing Rodu of using a “statistical trick” to undermine their conclusions and that Rodu had undisclosed financial ties to Big Tobacco. Harm reduction advocates Clive Bates, David Abrams and Ray Niaura submitted a comment in support of Rodu.

Chaffee’s first response to Rodu was deleted by the editors and a new response from Chaffee was posted in its stead with the posting date from the original response. The editors did not note any change to the post. The dispute has been covered in Rodu’s personal blog, as well as by Carl Phillips at the Daily Vaper and the American Vaping Association.

Taxation

The D.C. Council approved an amendment proposed by former Mayor and Ward 7 Council member Vince Gray that would raise the cigarette tax by $2 per pack. The tax would also raise D.C.’s already high e-cigarette tax and could destroy the few remaining vape shops left in the District.

Regulation

The FDA sent a second round of official requests for information to four e-cigarette manufacturers requiring them to submit documents to related to “product marketing, documents related to research on product design (as it may relate to the appeal or addictive potential for youth, youth-related adverse experiences) and consumer complaints associated with the products.” The companies have until July 12, 2018, to respond. The letters follow a similar request sent to Juul Labs, last month.

Quotable Quotes

“If the choice is between getting addicted to nicotine and dying from cigarettes or getting addicted without dying from e-cigarettes, the answer is obvious,” — David B. Abrams of New York University’s College of Global Public Health

What’s Coming Up

The fifth Global Forum on Nicotine will be held in Warsaw, Poland, June 14-16. Registration is now open.

Additional Resources

Comment to FDA on Modified Risk Tobacco Product Application

The Proposed Tobacco Product Standard for NNN Level in Smokeless Tobacco Should Be Withdrawn

The World Health Organization’s Opposition to Tobacco Harm Reduction: A Threat to Public Health?

The Vapor Revolution: How Bottom-Up Innovation Is Saving Lives

Reason’s Research and Analysis of Nicotine and Vapor Issues

The post Nicotine and Harm Reduction Newsletter – May 18, 2018 appeared first on Reason Foundation.

There’s been a torrent of negative media coverage surrounding the nation’s most popular e-cigarette — JUUL. Lurid stories of addicted teens vaping in bathrooms appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NBC, and dozens of other media outlets.

The American Enterprise Institute’s Sally Satel and Americans for Tax Reform’s Paul Blair took on some of the scaremongering around teen JUUL use at Forbes and the Washington Examiner respectively. Public health expert Clive Bates also wrote a helpful guide for journalists seeking to cover teen vaping and JUUL use accurately and dispassionately.

Eleven Democratic senators wrote to JUUL’s CEO Kevin Burns and FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb demanding action to curb youth JUUL use and ban so-called “kid-friendly candy and fruit flavorings.” Speaking to Congress this week, Gottlieb indicated the FDA will be taking action in the very near future to restrict access to vaping products to minors.

Reason’s Guy Bentley was published in Real Clear Health arguing the FDA’s plan to reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes to minimally addictive or non-addictive levels is unnecessary and would result in a host of unintended consequences.

State Updates

Vermont’s Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on HB 922, which would impose a 46 percent wholesale tax on vapor products.

Florida voters will decide this November whether to ban vaping in public spaces including restaurants and workplaces after the Florida Constitution Revision Commission approved a series of amendments to the state’s constitution to be put on the ballot.

A bill that would raise Connecticut’s minimum legal purchase age for tobacco and vapor products from 18 to 21 was voted out of the Committee on Public Health by a vote of 22–4 in support of the bill. The bill will now have to be voted on by the Senate and, if successful, will go to the House for debate and a final vote.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed into law a budget that includes a $1 per pack tax increase on cigarettes and an equivalent increase on little cigars.

Alaska’s House Rules Committee passed an amended version of Senate Bill 63, which would ban smoking in the workplace. Originally, vaping was originally included in the ban but was stripped out before being scheduled to move onto the House floor.

Science and Harm Reduction

Scientists are calling for the retraction of a controversial article published in Pediatrics, which claims teen e-cigarette use is “positively and independently associated with progression to current established smoking.” The original article was authored by Professor Stanton Glantz and colleagues.

Professor Brad Rodu and et al used the same FDA survey data as Glantz to reproduce the analysis. While Glantz’s paper attributed teen smoking to e-cigarette use, according to Rodu, he ignored prior cigarette consumption. When Rodu’s team included the prior cigarette consumption variable, the e-cigarette effect disappeared. Rodu and colleagues are calling for Glantz’s paper to be retracted. Further details can be found on Rodu’s blog here and here.

Regulation

An article in the latest edition of the Brooklyn Law Review argues the FDA’s Deeming Rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act. Lauren H. Greenberg, a J.D. candidate at Brooklyn Law School, argues the rule violates the APA because the FDA: “failed to perform the thorough cost-benefit analysis that the APA requires, and instead passed arbitrary, burdensome legislation without considering alternative avenues of regulation.”

Taxation

In the current issue of The Lancet, Larry Summers argues one of the most often cited objections to sin taxes, namely that they’re regressive, is incorrect. To reach this conclusion Summers redefines regressive in order to show that taxing the poor improves their health and longevity and is therefore progressive.

Christopher Snowdon of the Institute of Economic Affairs responded in Spectator Health. “The regressive financial effects are real and well-evidenced whereas the ‘progressive’ health effects only exist in the spreadsheets of ‘public health’ computer models,” writes Snowdon.

Quotable Quotes

“The challenge for the agency is to see through this smoke screen, devise a thoughtful regulatory regime for non-combustibles, and resist the false choice between sacrificing smokers and protecting teens,” — Sally Satel, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

What’s Coming Up

The Public Health Law Center will be holding a webinar on April 26 focusing on Juul and its popularity with youth & young adults.

The annual E-Cigarette Summit USA will be held in Washington, D.C., on April 30. The program is available and registration is open.

The fifth Global Forum on Nicotine will be held in Warsaw, Poland, June 14-16. Registration is now open.

Additional Resources

Comment to FDA on Modified Risk Tobacco Product Application

The Proposed Tobacco Product Standard for NNN Level in Smokeless Tobacco Should Be Withdrawn

The World Health Organization’s Opposition to Tobacco Harm Reduction: A Threat to Public Health?

The Vapor Revolution: How Bottom-Up Innovation Is Saving Lives

Reason’s Research and Analysis of Nicotine and Vapor Issues

The post Nicotine and Harm Reduction Newsletter – April 20, 2018 appeared first on Reason Foundation.

The post Nicotine and Harm Reduction Newsletter- March 30, 2018 appeared first on Reason Foundation.

The Food and Drug Administration issued Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule Making (ANPRM) on a proposed nicotine standard that would, in theory, reduce levels of nicotine in combustible cigarettes to minimally addictive or non-addictive levels. “Today’s ANPRM is a significant step in our efforts to confront nicotine addiction in combustible cigarettes,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb in a statement on March 15.

Seriou doubts have been raised about the feasibility of such a standard and the possible unintended consequences that might follow from such large intervention. Harm Reduction Policy Director at the R Street Institute Carrie Wade and public health expert Clive Bates have both voiced concerns over the policy.

A host of center-right organizations signed a coalition letter urging Congressional leadership and the appropriations committee chairmen to include Cole-Bishop language in the FY18 omnibus. The Cole-Bishop Amendment to the current FY18 Agriculture Bill would modernize the FDA’s Deeming Rule by changing the predicate date.

Reason’s Guy Bentley wrote for The Washington Examiner urging lawmakers to consider the merits of changing the predicate date to ensure that 99% of vapor products currently available are not removed from the market by 2022.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that Bloomberg Philanthropies will be providing $20 million to fund the launch of Stopping Tobacco Products and Organizations, a new global watchdog that claims it will monitor attempts by the tobacco industry to undermine public health. The announcement was made the 17th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Cape Town.

State Updates

The Washington State Legislature failed to pass a bill that would have raised the age of purchase for both tobacco and vapor products to 21.

Legislation to raise the tobacco age to 21 also fell short in West Virginia with neither the Senate or House bills making it out of committee.

Reason’s Guy Bentley submitted testimony to the Rhode Island Senate Committee on Health and Human Services regarding Bill 2228, which would define vaping as smoking. Bentley argued the bill would confuse the public and undermine efforts to reduce tobacco-related harms by conflating the risks of vaping with those of smoking.

Minnesota lawmakers introduced a bill in the Minnesota House to raise the age of purchase for tobacco products to 21.

Science and Harm Reduction

A study conducted by Pinney Associates found a majority of people incorrectly believe nicotine is the primary ingredient that causes cancer among smokers. According to the study, smokers are three times more likely than vapers to believe nicotine is a key cause of cancer at 52.5 percent and 14.6 percent respectively. Less than a third of smokers agreed e-cigarettes are less harmful than combustible cigarettes.

A new study published in PLOS claims e-cigarette use presents a net harm at the population level. The authors acknowledged several limitations to their paper such as assuming a gateway effect from vaping to smoking, ignoring the potential of e-cigarette use to decrease the number of cigarettes smoked per day and not considering the potential benefit of e-cigarette use to former smokers who may have relapsed.

Commenting on the study, Professor Peter Hajek, Director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit at Queen Mary University of London, said: “This new ‘finding’ is based on the bizarre assumption that for every one smoker who uses e-cigs to quit, 80 non-smokers will try e-cigs and take up smoking.  It flies in the face of available evidence but it is also mathematically impossible.”

Regulation

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data showing that middle and high-school students who use e-cigarettes were more likely to have seen e-cigarette advertisements than nonusers. Based on these findings the CDC argues there needs to be a raft of new regulations to clamp down on e-cigarette advertising. But the CDCs own data suggest that vaping is reducing smoking among middle and high school students, so restricting advertising could be expected to result in more smoking.

Taxation

The State of New Jersey is considering a wholesale sales tax on e-cigarettes of 75%, seven percentage points higher than the proposed tax on combustible cigarettes. Cigars, cigarillos, and snuff will also be hit with higher taxes.

Quotable Quotes

“A year-old fatally-flawed student project, which has been misinterpreted as showing vaping causes heart attack risk, has recently been resurrected by — who else? — Stanton Glantz” — Carl V. Phillips, Daily Vaper.

What’s Coming Up

The annual E-Cigarette Summit USA will be held in Washington, D.C. on April 30. The program is available and registration is open.

The fifth Global Forum on Nicotine will be held in Warsaw, Poland from 14-16 of June. Registration is now open.

Additional Resources

Comment to FDA on Modified Risk Tobacco Product Application

The Proposed Tobacco Product Standard for NNN Level in Smokeless Tobacco Should Be Withdrawn

The World Health Organization’s Opposition to Tobacco Harm Reduction: A Threat to Public Health?

The Vapor Revolution: How Bottom-Up Innovation Is Saving Lives

Reason’s Research and Analysis of Nicotine and Vapor Issues

The post Nicotine and Harm Reduction Newsletter- March 16, 2018 appeared first on Reason Foundation.

The post Nicotine and Harm Reduction Newsletter- February 23, 2018 appeared first on Reason Foundation.

Federal Updates

Reason Foundation’s Julian Morris testified before the Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) hearing in support of Philip Morris’ modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) application. If approved by the FDA, the MRTP would allow the company to make modified risk claims related to its I-Quite-Ordinary-Smoking (IQOS) heat-not-burn tobacco product.

TPSAC agreed with the applicant that scientific studies have demonstrated that switching completely from cigarettes to IQOS significantly reduces the body’s exposure to harmful or potentially harmful chemicals; but rejected every other claim made, including that switching from cigarettes to IQOS presents less harm than continued smoking.

IQOS is currently being sold in 30 markets around the world, but cannot be sold in the U.S. unless FDA approves its pre-market tobacco application (PMTA). Reason Foundation’s Brian Fojtik and Dr. Brad Rodu of the University of Louisville School of Medicine wrote in the Huffington Post about the impact on smoking rates in Japan as a result of the introduction of IQOS to the market. The public comment period on the MRTP application remains open. Reason Foundation filed a public comment and Reason Foundation’s Brian Fojtik and Guy Bentley commented on the MRTP application here.  

Reason Foundation co-hosted an event with Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) celebrating PLF’s new lawsuits launched against the FDA’s deeming rule. PLF filed three lawsuits in three different federal courts. PLF argues the deeming rule is unconstitutional under the Appointments Clause and the First Amendment. Reason’s Eric Boehm and Guy Bentley covered the launch at Reason.com and The Washington Examiner.

State Updates

Thirty-four states have resumed or opened legislative sessions so far in 2018. Legislative session deadlines and calendars for all fifty states can be found here.

New York Senator David Carlucci (D) introduced legislation that would create a new tax on vapor products at a rate of 25 cents per milliliter, more than doubling the cost of most products.

Delaware, by classifying vapor products as tobacco products in 2017, imposed a new 5 cents per milliliter vapor tax that became effective on January 1, 2018.

Washington is attempting to rush a 60 percent vapor tax to the House floor for a vote. The tax bill is a prerequisite to the state’s enacting a bill that would increase the age of purchase for tobacco (and vapor) products to 21, replacing lost revenue from the age change.

Science and Harm Reduction

The U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine released its new report on the Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes to mixed reviews. While the New York Times focused on the on the association between teens who had ever used e-cigarettes subsequently tried regular cigarettes, Reason Foundation’s Guy Bentley highlighted the report’s key finding which was switching from smoking to vaping dramatically reduced users’ exposure to harmful chemicals. Boston University School of Public Health’s Dr. Michael Siegel shared his perspective in The Rest of the Story Tobacco News blog.

Regulation

Writing for The Spectator, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs Christopher Snowdon argues that TPSAC’s refusal to advise FDA to grant MRTP claims for either Swedish snus or IQOS is preventing companies from putting truthful statements on their products and, in the process, keeping smokers in the dark about their potential to reduce their risk of death disease by switching to these products. “The events of last week, which could have been two steps forward for harm reduction, demonstrated the futility of expecting scientific evidence to resolve arguments that are, at heart, about politics and ideology,” writes Snowdon.

Taxation

Reason’s Guy Bentley was published in the The Washington Post arguing against Washington D.C.’s proposal to increase the city’s cigarette tax by $2-a-pack. Bentley argues that such a draconian tax increase would increase crime, black market activity and could lose the District revenue. The proposal would also raise the tax on vapor products threatening the viability of the District’s few remaining vape shops, limiting choice and raising costs for those who have switched from smoking to vapor products. Bentley also testified before the D.C. City Council members raising concerns about the unintended consequences of such a tax increase.

Quotable Quotes

“Tobacco taxes are often presented as a policy with no costs or downsides. The evidence, however, tells a different story. Just because something is popular doesn’t make it wise, even when it comes to cigarettes.” – Guy Bentley

What’s Coming Up

Keller and Heckman LLP, a Washington, DC-based firm that specializes in regulatory and FDA issues for vapor product manufacturers, distributors and retailers will be hosting an E-Vapor and Tobacco Law Symposium in Irvine, California on February 6-7, 2018. Agenda and registration information for the symposium can be found here.

Additional Resources

Comment to FDA on Modified Risk Tobacco Product Application

The Proposed Tobacco Product Standard for NNN Level in Smokeless Tobacco Should Be Withdrawn

The World Health Organization’s Opposition to Tobacco Harm Reduction: A Threat to Public Health?

The Vapor Revolution: How Bottom-Up Innovation Is Saving Lives

Reason’s Research and Analysis of Nicotine and Vapor Issues

The post Nicotine and Harm Reduction Newsletter- February 2, 2018 appeared first on Reason Foundation.

Federal Updates

Reynolds American, Inc. (RAI) has filed 18 modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) applications related to six different styles of Camel snus smokeless tobacco products with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If approved, RAI would be allowed to make specific, reduced risk claims to smokers who switch to snus. The FDA has opened a public docket for the applications where comments may be submitted through June 18, 2018.     

Reason Foundation’s Vice President of Research Julian Morris will be testifying at a meeting of the Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) on January 24, 2018, regarding the MRTP application from Philip Morris for its I-Quit-Ordinary-Smoking heat not burn product. The public comment period on the MRTP for IQOS remains open. Reason Foundation filed a comment with FDA in support of the application.

Reason Foundation’s Brian Fojtik and Guy Bentley commented on the MRTP application.

State Updates

Thirty-four states have resumed or opened legislative sessions so far in 2018. Legislative session deadlines and calendars for all fifty states can be found here.

New York Senator David Carlucci (D) has introduced legislation that would create a new tax on vapor products at a rate of 25 cents per milliliter, more than doubling the cost of most products.

Delaware, by classifying vapor products as tobacco products in 2017, imposed a new 5 cents per milliliter vapor tax that became effective on January 1, 2018.

Science and Harm Reduction

R Street Institute’s Harm Reduction Policy Director Carrie Wade wrote a column at Real Clear Science explaining why vaping is not a “gateway” to smoking. Wade spelled out why the plethora of studies claiming to show a causal relationship between experimentation with vaping and subsequent smoking initiation do not stand-up to scrutiny.

“The truth is, we cannot define e-cigarettes as a gateway to combustible cigarette use,” writes Wade. “In fact, population-level data provide evidence directly contradicting the gateway hypothesis: While e-cigarette experimentation tripled between 2013 and 2014, combustible use decreased by 27 percent between 2013 and 2015.”

Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos and Dr. Gene Hillman conducted a systematic review of carbonyl emissions in e-cigarette aerosol, which was published in Frontiers and Physiology. Their review found a variety of different methodologies were used in lab assessments of carbonyl emissions. In their conclusion, the authors state that “it is particularly important that laboratory studies ensure that no dry puffs are generated under laboratory conditions; otherwise testing realistic conditions relevant to true human exposure cannot be ensured and the findings could be misleading and misinformative for consumers and regulators.”

Regulation

Tobacco Control expert and public health advocate Clive Bates outlined the potential dangers that could flow from heavy-handed regulation of e-liquid flavors. In December, Iowa Attorney General Thomas J. Miller and four public health experts, including Bates, wrote to the FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb regarding a framework for considering the appeal of flavors in nicotine products. The letter makes the point that much of the commentary concerning e-liquid flavors is “overly simplistic in presuming that the primary purpose and consequence of offering flavors is to recruit current non-users, especially youth, to nicotine use.”

Taxation

Americans for Tax Reform (ATR)’s Strategic Initiatives Director Paul Blair has published ATR’s updated vapor tax map to start 2018. The map will continue to be updated with changes as they occur throughout the year.

Quotable Quotes

“America’s health professionals and their patients could benefit from the availability of products that have the potential to reduce risk” – Dr. Erika Bliss

What’s Coming Up

FDA’s Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) will meet to discuss the Philip Morris MRTP application on January 24, 2018, in Silver Spring, MD.

Keller and Heckman LLP, a Washington, DC-based firm that specializes in regulatory and FDA issues for vapor product manufacturers, distributors and retailers, will be hosting an E-Vapor and Tobacco Law Symposium in Irvine, California, on February 6-7, 2018. Agenda and registration information for the symposium can be found here.

Additional Resources

Comment to FDA on Modified Risk Tobacco Product Application

The Proposed Tobacco Product Standard for NNN Level in Smokeless Tobacco Should Be Withdrawn

The World Health Organization’s Opposition to Tobacco Harm Reduction: A Threat to Public Health?

The Vapor Revolution: How Bottom-Up Innovation Is Saving Lives

Reason’s Research and Analysis of Nicotine and Vapor Issues

The post Nicotine and Harm Reduction Newsletter – January 12, 2018 appeared first on Reason Foundation.

While vapor trade organizations and consumer groups often find themselves at odds with one another regarding legislative outcomes and strategy, this week the American Vaping Association (AVA), Consumer Advocates for Smoke Free Alternatives (CASAA), Smoke Free Alternative Trade Association (SFATA) and Vapor Technology Association (VTA) came together to issue a joint statement in support of a change to the predicate date for vapor products. Reason Foundation Senior Fellow Brian Fojtik published a commentary on the proposed predicate date change at Huffington Post.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indicated that the public comment period on the modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) application from Philip Morris for its I-Quite-Ordinary-Smoking (IQOS) heat-not-burn tobacco product will remain open until further notice. Reason Foundation filed a public comment with FDA in support of the application. Reason Foundation’s Brian Fojtik and Guy Bentley commented on the MRTP application here.

A noteworthy group of seventeen scientists and public health officials submitted a joint public comment on the IQOS MRTP application. The FDA has yet to publish the comment but signatories (listed in the document) include academics, public health leaders and scientists from around the globe.

The Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) will be meeting on January 24, 2018 to discuss the IQOS MRTP application. Space is limited. Requests to present an oral comment must be received by December 27, 2017 and written comment submissions to TPSAC (different than comments on the FDA docket) should be received by FDA by 4 p.m. eastern on January 4, 2018. For additional information, use the meeting link above.

State Updates

Most activity (flavor bans/restrictions and bills to raise the age of purchase for tobacco and vapor products to 21) are occurring at the local level as most states are out of session. 2018 legislative session deadlines and calendars for all 50 states can be found here.

Science and Harm Reduction

Less than 10 percent of American teenagers reported smoking in the past 30 days, according to the latest data from the Monitoring the Future Survey. Covering the survey’s release, The New York Times reports that “teenagers’ consumption of most substances — including alcohol, tobacco, prescription opioids and stimulants — has either fallen or held steady at last year’s levels, the lowest rates in 20 years.”

The UK’s Committee on Toxicity conducted a toxicological evaluation of two heat-not-burn tobacco products. The committee concluded “there would likely be a reduction in risk for conventional smokers deciding to use heat-not-burn tobacco products instead of smoking cigarettes,” adding that “a reduction in risk would also be experienced by bystanders where smokers switch to heat-not-burn tobacco products.”

Regulation

Reason’s Guy Bentley and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute’s Sally Satel argued in Real Clear Health that the FDA should grant MRTP status to reduced risk products such as Snus and IQOS. Bentley and Satel wrote that the FDA should communicate clearly the public the benefits of switching from cigarettes to reduced risk nicotine products.

Quotable Quotes

“Big Tobacco’s well-documented sins do not excuse public authorities from their duty to tell the public the truth,” – Guy Bentley, research associate at Reason Foundation and Sally Satel MD, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

What’s Coming Up

The Council of State Governments (CSG) will hold its National Conference December 14-17 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

FDA’s Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) will meet to discuss the Philip Morris MRTP application on January 24, 2018 in Silver Spring, MD.

Keller and Heckman LLP, a Washington, DC-based firm that specializes in regulatory and FDA issues for vapor product manufacturers, distributors and retailers will be hosting an E-Vapor and Tobacco Law Symposium in Irvine, California on February 6-7, 2018. Agenda and registration information for the symposium can be found here.

Additional Resources

Comment to FDA on Modified Risk Tobacco Product Application

The Proposed Tobacco Product Standard for NNN Level in Smokeless Tobacco Should Be Withdrawn

The World Health Organization’s Opposition to Tobacco Harm Reduction: A Threat to Public Health?

The Vapor Revolution: How Bottom-Up Innovation Is Saving Lives

Reason’s Research and Analysis of Nicotine and Vapor Issues

The post Nicotine and Harm Reduction Newsletter – December 15, 2017 appeared first on Reason Foundation.

Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos, Research Fellow at the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center in Athens, Greece wrote a highly critical letter to the Food and Drug Administration of research recently presented at an American Heart Association related to heat-not-burn tobacco products. Citing the research on the Philip Morris I-Quit-Ordinary-Smoking (IQOS) product, Farsalinos commented that “this study provides no reliable scientific information about the effects of IQOS on cardiovascular disease risk.” Dr. Farsalinos is a renowned researcher on the cardiovascular impacts of cigarettes and tobacco harm reduction products.

In a blog post published Wednesday, the FDA announced the formation of a new Nicotine Steering Committee that will be charged with “re-evaluating and modernizing FDA’s approach to development and regulation of nicotine replacement therapy products that help smokers quit.”

The FDA docket on the modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) application from Philip Morris for its IQOS heat-not-burn tobacco product remains open for public comment and will close within the next two weeks. The Reason Foundation filed a public comment with FDA in support of the application. Reason Foundation’s Brian Fojtik and Guy Bentley commented on the MRTP application here.

State Updates

Most activity across the country regarding IQOS products is occurring at the local level, with a plethora of bills banning or restricting flavored tobacco products (and vapor products) in California and “Tobacco 21” bills that would increase the age of purchase for tobacco products (and vapor products) to age 21 in Minnesota and elsewhere.

In the year-to-date, there have been approximately 140 vapor-only bills (not including flavors which also include traditional tobacco products). The top states in favor of restrictive legislation are California, Minnesota, and Massachusetts. Top Issues (in order) are vapor use restrictions (vapor bans), legal age of purchase (“Tobacco 21” bills) and general product restrictions.

There are approximately 50 local bills currently being considered that would ban the sale of flavored products at the local level.

Science and Harm Reduction

The British Medical Association published a position paper Wednesday arguing, among other things, that “there are clear potential benefits to e-cigarettes in reducing the harms associated with smoking.” The BMA advises doctors to tell their patients who ask about whether or not to switch to e-cigarettes that “while the safest option is to use neither tobacco nor e-cigarettes, there is no situation in which it is safer to continue smoking than to use an e-cigarette.”

Regulation

Reason’s Brian Fojtik published an article in the Huffington Post arguing that a change in the predicate for vapor products to August 8, 2016, would be a significant step forward for allowing smokers to switch from cigarettes to reduced risk vapor products.

Quotable Quotes

“There is no apparent limit to how low tobacco control will go in pursuit of their special-interest activism,” – Carl V. Phillips

What’s Coming Up

On December 6-8, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) will be holding its Nation & States Policy Summit in Nashville, TN.

On December 12, 2017, the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy will hold a public event to discuss the FDA’s regulatory approach to medicinal nicotine. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and Director of the Center for Tobacco Products at FDA Mitch Zeller will be speaking at the event.

Keller and Heckman LLP, a Washington, DC-based firm that specializes in regulatory and FDA issues for vapor product manufacturers, distributors and retailers will be hosting an E-Vapor and Tobacco Law Symposium in Irvine, California on February 6-7, 2018. Agenda and registration information for the symposium can be found here.

Additional Resources

Comment to FDA on Modified Risk Tobacco Product Application

The Proposed Tobacco Product Standard for NNN Level in Smokeless Tobacco Should Be Withdrawn

The World Health Organization’s Opposition to Tobacco Harm Reduction: A Threat to Public Health?

The Vapor Revolution: How Bottom-Up Innovation Is Saving Lives

Reason’s Research and Analysis of Nicotine and Vapor Issues

The post Nicotine and Harm Reduction Newsletter – December 1, 2017 appeared first on Reason Foundation.

President Trump nominated Alex Azar, former president of the American division of Eli Lilly to replace Tom Price as Health and Human Services secretary. Azar served as general counsel and deputy secretary at HHS during the George W. Bush administration. Azar will require Senate confirmation before taking up the post at HHS.

Three academics, Dr. Amy Fairchild of Texas A&M University and New York University College of Global Public Health Professors Dr. Ray Niaura and Dr. David Abrams published a commentary in The Hill calling for more openness and honesty from government in providing truthful information about reduced-risk products and encouraging smokers to switch.

“America needs a candid smoking control champion,” the three wrote. “Ten years after e-cigarettes became available, governments and scientists know enough to assure smokers that e-cigarettes are safe enough for smokers to switch. Each year of delay endangers half a million lives in the U.S and over 7 million globally.”

Reason’s Brian Fojtik was published in National Review calling on government agencies and tobacco control organizations to stop lying to smokers about safe nicotine alternatives. Fojtik highlighted a critique of former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s misleading report on youth and e-cigarettes in the Harm Reduction Journal.

The FDA docket on the modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) application from Philip Morris for its I-Quit-Ordinary-Smoking (IQOS) heat-not-burn tobacco product remains open for public comment. Reason Foundation filed a public comment with FDA in support of the application. Reason Foundation’s Brian Fojtik and Guy Bentley commented on the MRTP application here.

Science and Harm Reduction

Dr. Brad Rodu provided additional insights from his study looking at e-cigarette use among US adults, co-authored with economist Nantaporn Plurphanswat, in a blog post for the R Street Institute.

Rodu writes that e-cigarette flavors “were consumed by 7 out of 10 current users. Never-smokers were significantly more likely to use them than current and former smokers (84% vs. 67% and 69%), and they were significantly less likely to use liquid containing nicotine (69% vs. 93% and 88%). Notably … 5.2% of current smokers, 7.8% of former smokers, and 25.9% of never-smokers used e-cigarettes that contained flavor, but no nicotine.”

The top five reasons for vaping listed by former smokers were: Less harmful to me (94%), less harmful to persons around me (88%), help to quit smoking (86%), don’t smell (80%), and use when/where smoking not allowed (78%).

The majority of vapers were misinformed about risks of nicotine, with 84% of never-smokers believing nicotine causes most kinds of cancer. More than three-quarters of current smokers and 66% of former smokers agreed. However, 94% of former smokers who vape believed e-cigarettes were less harmful than cigarettes. The figures were significantly lower for current and never smokers at 78% and 77% respectively.

Taxation

New York has the highest inbound cigarette smuggling rate in the country, with 56.8% of cigarettes consumed in the state derived from smuggled sources in 2015, according to a new study from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. These findings are perhaps unsurprising given New York also has the highest state cigarette tax in the country at $4.35 per pack, with New York City adding an extra $1.50 per pack.

“Public policies often have unintended consequences that outweigh their benefits,” commented Scott Drenkard, director of state projects at the Tax Foundation and one of the study’s authors. “One consequence of high state cigarette tax rates has been increased smuggling as people procure discounted packs from low-tax states to sell in high-tax states. Growing cigarette tax differentials have made cigarette smuggling both a national problem and in some cases, a lucrative criminal enterprise.”

Quotable Quotes

“One of the first priorities of those in public health should be to serve the public. But the misrepresentations of government agencies, politicians, and anti-tobacco groups, repeated ad nauseam by the media, mislead smokers — and keep them smoking,” – Reason Foundation Senior Fellow Brian Fojtik

What’s Coming Up

On December 6-8, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) will be holding its Nation & States Policy Summit in Nashville, TN.

Additional Resources

Comment to FDA on Modified Risk Tobacco Product Application

The Proposed Tobacco Product Standard for NNN Level in Smokeless Tobacco Should Be Withdrawn

The World Health Organization’s Opposition to Tobacco Harm Reduction: A Threat to Public Health?

The Vapor Revolution: How Bottom-Up Innovation Is Saving Lives

Reason’s Research and Analysis of Nicotine and Vapor Issues

The post Nicotine and Harm Reduction Newsletter – November 17, 2017 appeared first on Reason Foundation.

Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb recently announced that the FDA will be launching “The Real Cost” campaign to educate teens about the dangers of using e-cigarettes and vapor products. Reason’s Brian Fojtik referenced this campaign and the misinformation about reduced risk products emanating from (or mandated by) government agencies and tobacco control groups in National Review.

The FDA docket on the modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) application from Philip Morris for its I-Quit-Ordinary-Smoking (IQOS) heat-not-burn tobacco product remains open for public comment. The Reason Foundation filed a public comment with FDA in support of the application. Reason Foundation’s Brian Fojtik and Guy Bentley commented on the MRTP application here.

State Updates

Kentucky’s Pegasus Institute published a paper by members of the University of Louisville’s James Graham Brown Cancer Center Doctors Brad Rodu (Professor of Medicine at the University of Louisville) and Nantaporn Plurphanswat (Research Economist at the University of Louisville) outlining a tax proposal for Kentucky that would incorporate tobacco harm reduction concepts by setting rates based on relative risks of different products (cigarettes, long leaf chewing tobacco, moist snuff and e-cigarettes).

The authors cite a number of economists and public health advocates such as David Sweanor, Dr. Kenneth Warner, Dr. Sally Satel and others who support and/or contributed to the proposal.

Science and Harm Reduction

A new report from R Street Institute Harm Reduction Policy Manager Carrie Wade and Associate Fellow Clive Bates explores the challenges facing the FDA’s controversial strategy of dramatically reducing nicotine levels in cigarettes. The report contends that such a nicotine reduction amounts to a prohibition of conventional cigarettes.

Wade and Bates argue a nicotine-reduction strategy should be evaluated against alternatives that lessen the appeal of smoking and provide low-risk alternatives. Promoting safer, alternative sources of nicotine would have the advantage of avoiding the harmful consequences that may stem from prohibiting a product with a customer base of 38 million.

“If the coercive reduced-nicotine strategy is to retain any credibility at all, it will be necessary to have alternative low-risk nicotine delivery systems readily available, so that these products can play a significant role in the behavioral response to the rule,” says Wade. “These low-risk alternatives should also be regulated proportionately and in ways that support diversity and innovation, rather than creating excessive regulatory barriers to entry that would establish a new tobacco industry oligopoly.”

Regulation

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill October 23 that bans vaping anywhere smoking is banned, which includes workplaces, restaurants, and bars.

Reason Foundation Senior Fellow Brian Fojtik argues in a guest column for Vaping 360 that vapers should not be quick to attack smokeless tobacco or heated tobacco products. “If vapers want to be intellectually consistent and they truly are fighting to ensure that smokers are allowed access to nicotine products that can lengthen and improve quality of lives, they should answer ‘whatever vapor product, smokeless tobacco product, heat-not-burn or other non-combustible products that work best for you,’” writes Fojtik.

Taxation

On November 6, voters in the city of Aspen, Colorado will go to the polls to determine whether to establish a municipal tax on a pack of cigarettes of $3, with an increase 10 cents per year for ten years and an additional 40 percent tax on other tobacco products. If approved, the tax would go into effect on January 1, 2018.

Quotable Quotes

“The new breed of safer nicotine products are substitutes for combustible cigarettes. Policies which deter the use of a safer substitute effectively encourage the use of the less healthy alternative” – Christopher Snowdon, Director of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs.

Additional Resources

Comment to FDA on Modified Risk Tobacco Product Application

The Proposed Tobacco Product Standard for NNN Level in Smokeless Tobacco Should Be Withdrawn

The World Health Organization’s Opposition to Tobacco Harm Reduction: A Threat to Public Health?

The Vapor Revolution: How Bottom-Up Innovation Is Saving Lives

Reason’s Research and Analysis of Nicotine and Vapor Issues

The post Nicotine and Harm Reduction Newsletter – November 3, 2017 appeared first on Reason Foundation.

Federal Updates

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) issued a press release and spoke at a press conference calling on Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to rescind the delayed implementation of new regulations on vapor products. Reason Foundation’s Brian Fojtik commented on Schumer’s request and a recent bill from Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) to tax vapor products at the Daily Vaper.

The FDA docket on the modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) application from Philip Morris for its IQOS heat not burn tobacco product remains open for public comment. Reason Foundation previously filed a comment with FDA in support of the application.

State Updates

California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed legislation that would have prohibited smoking and vaping on state coastal beaches or in a unit of the state park system.

Following previous bans passed in Oakland and San Francisco, the California city of San Leandro banned the sale of flavored tobacco and vapor products by a 6-1 vote this week. Opponents of the San Francisco ban have successfully petitioned for a voter referendum on this issue next June.  

New York’s legislature passed and sent to Gov. Andrew Cuomo legislation that would expand the state’s clean indoor air act or smoking ban to include vapor products. Reason Foundation’s Brian Fojtik highlighted the counterproductive nature of the policy in the New York Post. Gov. Cuomo is expected to sign the bill into law.

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo signed a law that requires child-resistant packaging for e-liquid used in electronic nicotine-delivery systems and prohibits the use of nicotine vapor products in schools.  

Science and Harm Reduction

Clive Bates, former director of Action on Smoking and Health in the U.K., published a two-page note highlighting the facts and figures of youth tobacco use in the U.S.  Data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey, published in June 2017, showed both record low cigarette use and a fall in e-cigarette use in 2016. The second graph in Bates’ document examines the University of Michigan’s 2016 Monitoring the Future survey, which shows an accelerating decline in youth smoking post-2010.  Bates argues the headline numbers regarding youth e-cigarette are also far less problematic than they suggest. While it is true that youth e-cigarette use rose substantially from 2011-15 and fell in 2016, much of this use was occasional or experimental. Many of the students who did experiment with e-cigarettes did so with products that contained no nicotine liquids. Data shows that adult smoking has also fallen rapidly as vaping has risen.

Regulation

Local e-cigarette crackdowns are both misguided and counterproductive, according to R Street Institute Northeast Region Manager Nicolas John. “The measure of a successful public health policy should be the impact it has on the whole population, not just certain segments,” writes John. “While cigarette use in the United States is at an all-time low, the significant drop-off in smoking rates is due, at least in part, to the development of attractive (and much safer) alternatives.”

Heavy-handed restrictions on vapor products aimed at protecting minors are more likely to harm the adult population of current smokers — who would benefit from switching to reduced risk nicotine products such as e-cigarettes — by reducing the accessibility, availability and affordability of these products. Specifically, measures targeting flavored vapor products are misguided as adolescent non-smokers have less interest in these allegedly youth-targeted flavors than adult smokers, according to a study by Saul Shiffman and colleagues.

Taxation

The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and Baptist Health are arguing for a $1 hike in the state’s tobacco tax, which would raise the tax to $1.60. The Kentucky Farm Bureau argues a tax increase would be unwise, as smokers may go to neighboring states to stock up on cheaper cigarettes. For example, Missouri, which shares a small part of its border with Kentucky, has the lowest cigarette tax in the nation at 17 cents a pack.

Quotable Quotes

“Put simply, there is no youth e-cigarette crisis. The data from the last several years demonstrates that the rise of vapor products correlates with significant drops in teen smoking.”

— Brian Fojtik, Senior Fellow at Reason Foundation

Additional Resources

Comment to FDA on Modified Risk Tobacco Product Application

The Proposed Tobacco Product Standard for NNN Level in Smokeless Tobacco Should Be Withdrawn

The World Health Organization’s Opposition to Tobacco Harm Reduction: A Threat to Public Health?

The Vapor Revolution: How Bottom-Up Innovation Is Saving Lives

Reason’s Research and Analysis of Nicotine and Vapor Issues

The post Nicotine and Harm Reduction Newsletter – October 20, 2017 appeared first on Reason Foundation.