“As some stimulant seekers have flitted from cigarettes to the candy-colored menagerie of vapes (and back to cigarettes again), they have picked up Zyn, a brand of nicotine pouches produced by Swedish Match, a subsidiary of Philip Morris International that last year sold Americans about 350 million cans of the product. The packets, which do not contain tobacco, are frequently discussed as a potential smoking-cessation tool, though some Zyn users were never regular cigarette smokers or vape users to begin with. Some say they have gotten hooked on the nicotine buzz delivered by Zyn, which comes in flavors that read like conference room tea offerings: wintergreen, cinnamon, chill. A single pouch is intended to last around 30 minutes… Men seem to be emerging as the most vocal and visible customers of Zyn. The product sits in a cultural nexus of frat life, hard partying and a dubious wellness space… Tobacco-free nicotine pouches like Zyn have compensated for some of that [cigarette] customer attrition. But the intense scrutiny on the products mean they still face an uncertain fate.” [T.M. Brown. What’s That in Your Mouth, Bro?, New York Times]

 

“This time last year, they hit the shelves of convenience stores and gas stations across Canada: brightly coloured plastic cylinders, roughly the size and shape of hockey pucks, bearing the brand name Zonnic. Inside every one of these $12 containers were 24 small white pouches packed with nicotine. There were three flavours on offer—chill mint, berry frost and tropic breeze—and, as ads for these sachets explained, you were supposed to pop one in your mouth, tuck it under your upper lip and wait for an icy jolt of nicotine to seep into your gums. Stores stocked Zonnic behind the counter, next to the cigarettes and vapes. But unlike cigarettes, most of which are individually emblazoned with pithy admonishments like POISON IN EVERY PUFF, and unlike vapes, which are sold in boxes that alert customers to the highly addictive nature of nicotine, Zonnic cans didn’t explicitly caution customers about, well, anything.

 

“The label identified it as a nicotine replacement therapy, and a five-page, fine-print leaflet adhered to the bottom of every can advised, “Do not use this product if you are under 18 years of age” or “if you are an occasional smoker, non-smoker or non-nicotine user.” But these were guidelines, not rules. In fact, there was no legal age requirement to buy or use Zonnic, nor any restriction on how or where the pouches could be promoted and sold. A 12-year-old could see an ad for Zonnic on social media, walk into a corner store and legally order a pack. Zonnic debuted in this way because its producer, Imperial Tobacco Canada, pitched it to Health Canada as a smoking-cessation tool, akin to a nicotine patch, gum or inhaler… Health Canada green-lit Zonnic after a two-year safety and efficacy review. Because the pouches contained four milligrams of nicotine (about one-third the amount found in a typical cigarette) but no tobacco, they were approved as “natural health products,” subject not to Canada’s stringent Tobacco and Vaping Products Act but to the Food and Drugs Act, which isn’t equipped to restrict nicotine access and promotion in the same way…

 

There is one path forward, however fanciful, that might make everyone happy: a future in which Big Tobacco stops selling not only tobacco but also nicotine. To this end, BAT [British American Tobacco] and Imperial recently began building a portfolio of products they collectively call Beyond Nicotine. Through one of its corporate ventures, BT DE Investments, BAT has waded into the US$21-billion cannabis market, investing roughly $350 million in the Moncton-based cannabis company Organigram and acquiring a 16% stake in the German cannabis firm Sanity Group. Meanwhile, another BAT company, Btomorrow Ventures, has made almost two dozen investments in non-nicotine businesses since 2020, including a £48-million stake in a hemp-based wellness products company, a partnership with a $30-million Brazilian healthy snacks and supplements supplier, and further-afield plays in bioplastics, medical testing devices, wearable tech, software and artificial intelligence. In BAT’s estimation, the market for wellbeing and stimulation products will grow from £296 billion today to £495 billion by 2030—fertile land the company would like to till.” [Luc Rinaldi. Blowing smoke, (Toronto) Globe & Mail ROB (Report on Business) Magazine]

 

“The vaping industry has not been a significant contributor in the presidential race, but the Vapor Technology Association has been quietly sending versions of those [pro-vaping] mailers to voters in battleground states warning that Democrats want “to steal vapes from freedom-loving Americans.”… A subsidiary of the tobacco giant Reynolds American is the largest corporate contributor to Mr. Trump’s main super PAC [Political Action Committee]. The business, RAI Services Company, has contributed $8.5 million so far. The donations come as cigarette makers are seeking to fight off a proposed ban on menthol cigarettes that has been advanced — and then paused — by the Biden administration. Brian Ballard, a lobbyist and fund-raiser for Mr. Trump who himself has given $260,000 this year, heads a lobbying firm that has represented Reynolds for years. Executives for Reynolds American and Mr. Ballard have met several times with Mr. Trump, according to two people familiar with the meetings.” [Shane Goldmacher, Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan. How Donald Trump Is Making Big Promises to Big Business, New York Times]

 

“[A] disposable vape can pack as much nicotine as one or two packets of cigarettes… Now, it’s been announced that single-use vapes will be banned in England and Wales next summer. It’s a smart pro-active move by the Labour government. The official reasoning points to curbing youth use and reducing environmental harm… Defenders of the vape will argue that it’s better than smoking, which is true in only a limited sense – we don’t actually know the long-term effects of vaping yet… Paediatricians have warned about the effects on young vapers, who report suffering from disrupted sleep and trouble concentrating. A few years after these devices gained popularity, it’s clear that disposable vapes have contributed to a culture of self-gratification that’s of a piece with our addiction to social media and digital devices. Together, these habits have created an epidemic of constant pleasure-seeking…

 

“When we hit our vape-free summer next year, it might be an opportunity to rethink what we call “pleasure”, and consider more intentional ways of treating ourselves... Disposable vapes demanded total surrender, and they received it. That’s precisely why anyone who has been in my position knows that, to regain control, they need to be fully rejected.” [Hannah Ewens. It’s goodbye to disposable vapes – for former fans like me, not a moment too soon, The Guardian; See also: Kids will just start smoking if vapes are banned, Sunday Telegraph]

 

“Now, after a quarter-century of legal manoeuvering, three tobacco giants – JTI-Macdonald Corp., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc., and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. – are set to settle the legal claims for a mere $32.5-billion. The amount is paltry considering the cost of smoking-related illnesses to the public purse, and the enormous profits these companies make selling lethal (but legal) products… In other words, Big Tobacco is coming out of this just fine, thank you very much… There is no apology for the deceitful marketing at the root of all of this… There is no money being paid back for smoking prevention or education programs. No money for smoking cessation.

 

“More than 1.2 million people have died of smoking-related illnesses since the lawsuits were filed. Yet the deal does nothing to prevent future generations from becoming addicted to tobacco (and other nicotine products). Nor does it require the end of tobacco sales, or even any further restrictions… In the meantime, we have to make do with our federal tobacco strategy. It has a lofty goal: To make Canada “smoke-free” by 2035 – meaning that fewer than five per cent of people over the age of 18 will smoke, down from the current 11.4 per cent. The strategy has a modest $66-million annual budget. That’s enough to pay for a pea shooter, compared to the big guns wielded by a now-free-of-litigation Big Tobacco.” [André Picard. Where there’s smoke, there’s ire, (Toronto) Globe & Mail]

 

"Between April 2014 and April 2024, tobacco smoking prevalence remained relatively unchanged among older adults and the proportion who vaped increased. However, among younger and middle-aged adults, there was a clear decline in smoking (although prevalence remained higher than among older adults) and a larger increase in vaping... Vaping prevalence increased from 5.6% (5.2–6.1%) to 16.2% (15.3–17.0%) among younger and middle-aged adults and from 2.1% (1.6–2.7%) to 3.7% (3.0–4.6%) among older adults... Recent trend analyses suggest declines in smoking since 2021 have been greatest among age groups with the largest increases in vaping. However, a trade-off is increased uptake of vaping among young people who have never regularly smoked tobacco (although some of this will likely reflect some people being diverted away from ever taking up smoking)... Policies should aim to strike the right balance between making vaping attractive and accessible to smokers to support quitting while minimising uptake by people who would not otherwise smoke."

 

Use, perceptions, and effectiveness of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation among older adults in England: a population study, 2014–2024

BMC Medicine volume 22, Article number: 500 (2024)

Published: 31 October 2024

Sarah E. Jackson, Jamie Brown, Lion Shahab & Sharon Cox

https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-024-03728-x   

Note: Open Access.

 

"The study reveals that smokers perceive the risk of lung cancer and COPD to be lower than expected. A key factor in this reduced perception is starting smoking at age 20. To counter this, interventions should be developed to raise awareness of smoking-related harms, using local and national media, as well as social networks. These campaigns should focus on educating the public about the serious health risks, including lung cancer and COPD, associated with smoking."

 

Unrealistic risk perceptions of Iranian current cigarette smokers on developing lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): a cross-sectional study

Scientific Reports volume 14, Article number: 25667 (2024)

Published: 27 October 2024

Fatemeh Zarghami, Abdolhalim Rajabi, Reza Abed-Tazehabadi, Abdurrahman Charkazi & Ali Shahryari

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-77323-8

 

Note: Open Access.

 

 

Note: Open access.

Stan Shatenstein

Editor & Publisher, STAN Bulletin

Smoking & Tobacco Abstracts & News

shatensteins@sympatico.ca