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Will E-cigarettes Vaporize the Industry? (Part II) Source from: Tobacco Asia 11/28/2013  Lobbying efforts The reason there are widely differing regulations between nations is in some measure attributable to the lobbying efforts of pharmaceutical companies and local tobacco distributors as well as anti-smoking pressure groups.
"It is easy to understand why a tobacco distributor would be concerned with e-cigarettes getting into the market If a product is incorrectly imported," commented Ray Story, c.e.o. of The Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association (TVECA) a non-profit association of private sector companies active in many countries around the world. "If, for example, a country classifies them as a drug, then importing e-cigarettes legally is going to be very hard." Equally, if we look at what the pharmaceutical companies stand to gain from maintaining the status quo and preventing potentially safer smoking options from entering the market, its clear why they oppose e-cigarettes, not just because they see them as competition for their smoking cessation products but also because there is a never-ending stream of individuals that smoke conventional cigarettes that will eventually be their customers." Opposition from tobacco product manufacturers has more or less been diluted by an "if you can't beat them, join them" philosophy that has seen the majors investing heavily in developing their own alternative tobacco products. "Altria has announced that they are actively developing a vape-type offering, all the majors are seeing the opportunity to capitalize on the market," Story revealed. "While they are going to have to develop new brands – they can't use existing band names - and push into distribution channels, they all have effective and well-established marketing and distribution channels, so they are not opposing the development of sensible regulations." TVECA believes the way forward to addressing regulator's concerns and ensuring a level playing field for the growth of e-cigarettes worldwide lies in the hands of e-cigarette manufacturers themselves. "We promote responsible behavior for all e-cigarette companies and demand that these products are exported and imported correctly with all necessary ingredients to make the transaction legitimate," Story told Tobacco Asia. "Companies that try to import products incorrectly, using false bills of lading, etc., or that use packing materials that don't contain the static electricity developed by batteries, etc. do the industry a disservice and risk setting its development back. Responsible behavior by exporters will ensure there are no issues." TVECA points to recent developments in the US as a positive sign that the e-cigarette industry is on the right track.
"The FDA has now basically taken a step backwards and it is working on regulatory frameworks to effectively regulate e-cigarettes," Story told us. "The FDA is no longer opposing e-cigarettes, and its going to be a billion dollar market this year. Lorillard – which has entered the segment, expects its e-cigarette division to earn 1% of its total revenue this year. There are already 3.5 million users in the US, representing 10% of al tobacco users, and the segment is growing by 10-30% a month growth. In the next 10 years e-cigarettes and vaporizing products could replace conventional cigarettes altogether." One of the advantages proponents site for using e-cigarettes is that they circumvent smoking bans as they emit vapor, not smoke. However, a number of airlines have joined other institutions in banning e-cigarette use demonstrating that there is confusion concerning the issue. "Many e-cigarettes look so like the real thing and people get confused," Story pointed out. "There is no vaping ban. You can't group them together just because they look similar. Private companies such as airlines can of course make their own rules, but lumping e-cigarette users together with conventional smokers with regards to smoking areas, for example, and exposing them to second and third hand smoke, is ridiculous. Clearly in time legislators will have to address these issues and logic will prevail." Critics have claimed that e-cigarettes could lead non-smokers, including under-age persons, to take up smoking, saying that they may start with an e-cigarette and then progress to conventional tobacco products. TVECA believes these arguments to be fallacious and based on unproveable assumptions. The facts don't back this assumption up," Story retorts. "If you want to limit an individual's choice to do something, you are not going to ban conventional cigarettes ever. Likewise, companies will target specific market segments. There is zero evidence that e-cigarette use leads to conventional cigarettes: the opposite is actually more accurate. If we talk about under-age smokers getting hold of e-cigarettes, even assuming they are able to circumvent existing laws restricting their access to smoking products, remember that the initial purchase is much more expensive than conventional cigarettes,, Also, while one can't say this doesn't happen, it is a stretch to think that kids would be more likely to buy an e-cigarette than a pack of conventional cigarettes. The argument lacks merit." Most countries do not allow e-cigarettes to make health or smoking cessation claims, and, while many proponents may believe e-cigarettes to be safer or that they help smokers to quit smoking cigarettes, the essential fact is that there is insufficient scientific data available to back up – or debunk – any of these claims one way. "If you make a claim, you have to prove that claim, and that would put the product into a completely different category, that of being a safer alternative to cigarettes," Story confirmed. "If you make the claim, you have to make the scientific data available. While there are numerous studies on the various ingredients found in e-cigarettes dating back many years, the industry is unwilling to make any claim on the effectiveness of the product as a smoke cessation device. To date, there is no evidence on record to suggest that e-cigarettes have caused any harm to a user. It's a comfort product, similar to a cigar, a glass of wine or a chocolate bar. It's a matter of choice." Supplying the industry One of the characteristics of nicotine is that it is essentially flavorless. So manufacturers need to add flavor to nicotine cartridges to try to capture as much as possible of the taste of a conventional cigarette. This is obviously a opportunity for flavor suppliers to cash in on a new segment. Tobacco and menthol flavors are the principal choices. Fruit flavors, such as cherry and strawberry are all typical adult preferences. However, the FDA has set out to ban flavors, other than menthol, in tobacco products sold in the US< and other nations are watching this development with an eye to possibly following this lead. So how would this impact e-cigarettes? "While the FDA says it wants to get rid of flavors, at the end of the day nicotine is flavorless, and e-cigarettes are clearly less harmful, so if you won't allow it to put itself in a position where people will go towards this products, and if you have public health interests at heart, why would you stand in the way of this sort of product?" Story pointed out. "At the moment, flavoring e-cigarettes is legal everywhere as this is something has not yet been discussed. It is something that some parties, responsible companies that are catering to responsible adults, do want to debate. It's a topic in the EU as well as FDA, We will continues to push that flavors be included in e-cigarettes as nicotine is flavorless and we need to entice people to use a product that is less harmful purely by stating that the product has no second or third had smoke. There is no negative press on flavors, they are present in every other consumer product. So why make up negative press when there is no reason or justification behind it?" Currently, e-cigarette manufacturers look for flavor suppliers that can supply a consistent product in a vegetable glycerin or propylene glycol base that permits a consistent nicotine delivery. "The strength of the nicotine will influence the taste of the product, so people can gravitate to a particular product and call it their own," Story said. Tobacco leaf supplies Nicotine used in e-cigarettes is extracted from tobacco plants. Existing laws in the US do not allow nicotine for human use to be developed in any other way, such as using other plants like tomatoes. Currently, what is extracted from the tobacco plant for an e-cigarette is simply the nicotine, so on the surface it would seem that a processor would simply opt to source tobacco leaves from plants with a higher nicotine content. Would this mean that the various types, categories and grades of tobacco are meaningless to a company that processes tobacco leaves simply to extract the nicotine for e-cigarettes capsules? Is it simply the price and nicotine content that is important? As stated earlier, nicotine is essentially flavorless: but it is necessary to add flavors, particularly tobacco flavors, to an e-cigarette capsule. This would suggest that even if e-cigarettes do capture the lion's share of the smoking market over time and conventional cigarette sales diminish radically, there will still be a demand for flavorful tobacco of different styles if only to satisfy demand for tobacco flavor extracts. Its too early in the day to predict with any certainty how the market for e-cigarettes will develop and at what cost to conventional cigarettes, and what the impact may be on leaf suppliers and how tobacco leaf is production and trading will be affected, but clearly e-cigarettes may well make a significant impact on the way the leaf business is conducted. "Over the next 10 years vape products will get easier to use, they are continuously evolving, and there is no doubt in my mind that they will be the dominant force in this market, Story predicted. "Conventional cigarettes will take a back seat to e-cigarettes. Tobacco growers could see an uptake in sales if e-cigarettes take off, certainly for conventional tobacco leaf as pretty much the same volume of tobacco is used to create the equivalent vapor delivery of nicotine as a twenty pack of conventional cigarettes. Potentially, there will even be an upswing." Enditem Related Updates |
