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April 28th, 2016:

Hong Kong Customs detects two suspected smuggling cases of illicit cigarettes

http://7thspace.com/headlines/526406/hong_kong_customs_detects_two_suspected_smuggling_cases_of_illicit_cigarettes.html

Hong Kong Customs mounted a special operation to combat illicit cigarette smuggling on April 26 and 27. In the operation, two suspected smuggling cases involving illicit cigarettes were detected at Man Kam To Control Point. A total of about 2.6 million sticks of suspected illicit cigarettes were seized from two incoming trucks.

Customs officers intercepted an incoming truck declared to contain assorted cargoes at Man Kam To Control Point on April 26. After thorough inspection, Customs officers found about 1.4 million sticks of suspected illicit cigarettes inside 174 toy packaging boxes. On April 27, about 1.2 million sticks of suspected illicit cigarettes were found among ceramic tiles carried on board an incoming truck.

The total market value of the suspected illicit cigarettes seized in the two cases was about $7.2 million with a duty potential of about $5 million. Two male drivers, aged 51 and 37, were arrested and the two trucks used for conveying the suspected illicit cigarettes were detained.

A Customs spokesman said today (April 28), “Hong Kong Customs will continue to carry out stringent enforcement actions against the smuggling of illicit cigarettes.”

Under the Import and Export Ordinance, smuggling is a serious offence. The maximum penalty is a fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.

Members of the public are urged to report any suspected illicit cigarette activities by calling the Customs’ 24-hour hotline 2545 6182.

Doctors warn of big tobacco firms entering e-cigarette market

Royal College of Physicians report says companies may seek to rehabilitate ‘pariah industry’

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/28/doctors-warn-big-tobacco-firms-e-cigarette-market-rcp-industry

The Department of Health says new controls on e-cigarettes to be introduced next month could make consumers turn to potentially dangerous black market products.

Its impact assessment (pdf) on EU rules to be enshrined in UK law also acknowledges that higher costs for e-cigarette manufactures could lead to price increases and reduction of choice for consumers, leading people to switch back to smoking, which public health experts regard as far more dangerous.

It recognises too that regulations might create new barriers for small- and medium-sized companies, a concern that comes as public health doctors warned of possible consequences from tobacco giants becoming more involved in making e-cigarettes.

The document says: “There is a risk that a black market will develop with potentially harmful e-cigarette products. due to consumers no longer having the same degree of choice in the legal market.”

The rules introduce for the first time minimum standards for the safety and quality of e-cigarettes and refill containers. Companies will have to give information on all their products to regulators. They are part of a broader package that also tightens rules on tobacco.

One e-cigarette company boss suggested the government was “grudgingly accepting” that the new controls could result in a “public health disaster”.

The government believes the health gain from stronger tobacco controls will bring a £13bn health gain across the UK over 10 years because there will be fewer smokers so the NHS will have to treat fewer people for diseases related to the habit.

But the changes could cost the UK e-cigarette industry £140m, it suggests. Much of the e-cigarette “hardware” is already produced in China and an increasing amount of e-liquid manufacture is said to be moving there too.

Ian Gregory, of campaign group Vapers for Britain, said: “In its assessment, the Department of Health has not been able to quantify any benefit from the massive regulation of e-cigarettes.”

The health department said: “By its nature an impact assessment is honest about risks, but these are far outweighed by the health benefits of the directive, which are worth more than £13bn to the UK.

“The best thing a smoker can do for their health is to quit smoking. We know that there are now over a million people who have completely replaced smoking with e-cigarettes and that the evidence indicates that they are significantly less harmful to health than smoking tobacco.

“We want to see a wide range of good quality e-cigarettes on the market including licensed products whose safety, quality and effectiveness are independently assured.”

The department says that, while there are measures in the directive that could both increase and decrease the illicit trade, overall the impact in this area is estimated to be zero. The evidence for increasing the illicit trade is also based on a report by the tobacco industry, and the report highlights this to be likely to be an overestimate.

The assessment of the new regulations, which result from the 2014 Tobacco Products Directive, came as doctors warned growing involvement of tobacco manufacturers in the e-cigarette market could jeopardise attempts by public health specialists to promote vaping as a safer alternative to smoking.

They expressed concerns that such companies might seek to rehabilitate what has become a “pariah industry” and therefore undermine tobacco control.

A report from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) published on Thursday found e-cigarettes could play a valuable role in shifting smokers away from their “addictive and lethal” habit, a similar position to that taken last year by the English government’s Public Health England, which said e-cigarettes were about 95% less harmful than tobacco cigarettes.

Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer, said at the time however that e-cigarettes should only be used a means to help smokers quit.

The Nicotine Without Smoke report concluded that e-cigarettes were not a gateway to smoking, did not help normalise it and could act as a way out of the deadly habit. There are still nearly 9 million smokers in the UK, despite big falls in recent decades, while an estimated 2.6 million UK adults use e-cigarettes and as many as 1 million of those may have completely stopped smoking.

The RCP did not dismiss the possibility of harm from long-term use of e-cigarettes, but said it was likely to be substantially smaller than that from the carcinogens, carbon monoxide and other toxins that come with tobacco.

However, the report’s authors were worried by the involvement of tobacco giants such as British American Tobacco (BAT), Imperial Tobacco, Altria and Philip Morris International, including their taking over previously independent manufacturers and importers.

The industry’s recent programme of investment and acquisition in e-cigarettes might be recognition that the products, available in the UK for less than a decade, could be a threat to their “core business of selling tobacco”, the 200-page report found.

Manufacturers might use e-cigarettes to help expand tobacco markets or make nicotine products attractive to non-smokers, says the report, which is also summarised by its contributors in the BMJ medical journal.

There is “little likelihood that the industry sees e-cigarettes as a route out of the tobacco business”, the report added. It said it was highly likely, however, that tobacco manufacturers would exploit e-cigarettes to try to undermine the World Health Organisation’s framework convention of tobacco control, which is, among other measures, designed to protect nations’ public health policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry.

Tobacco companies have long sought to “redress the challenge of a toxic reputation” by seeking to establish partnerships or common ground with public health researchers and advocates, the report said.

“There is no firewall between a ‘good’ tobacco industry that is marketing harm-reduction products in the UK and a ‘bad’ one that promotes smoking, or undermines tobacco control activities in low-and middle-income countries.”

It called however for “proportionate” regulation that does not undermine the development of products such as e-cigarettes that provide alternative sources of nicotine to tobacco.

The report said it remained to be seen whether the new EU rules would help or hinder the use of e-cigarettes in the battle against smoking. Some measures should help raise standards, the authors say in their BMJ article, but limits on nicotine content might diminish e-cigarettes’ effectiveness as smoking substitutes while health warnings might discourage their use.

These requirements would not apply to products licensed as medicines, but there are fears that smaller manufacturers will be discouraged by the high costs and delays that the process involves.

“Achieving the right balance of regulation for e-cigarettes is not easy: too much regulation can stifle innovation and reduce choice for smokers, while too little leaves smokers exposed to products that are ineffective, unduly hazardous, or both.”

John Britton, professor of epidemiology at the Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, one of the authors, said the report “lays to rest almost all the concerns over these products, and concludes that with sensible regulation, electronic cigarettes have the potential to make a major contribution towards preventing the premature death, disease and social inequalities in health that smoking currently causes in the UK”.

Smokers should be reassured e-cigarettes could “help them quit all tobacco use for ever”.

The RCP president, Jane Dacre, also said she believed that “with careful management and proportionate regulation, harm reduction provides an opportunity to improve the lives of millions of people”. It is “an opportunity that, with care, we should take”, she said.

The Tobacco Manufacturers Association said tobacco and e-cigarettes would co-exist. “Consumers’ requirements are evolving and so is the e-cigarette market”, said Giles Roca, its director general.

“The fact that tobacco manufacturers are now involved in this industry is good news. Tobacco manufacturers possess considerable expertise, resources and capacity for research that allows them to contribute substantially to the scientific and regulatory debate and the overall development of the e-cigarette industry.”

BAT said: “Accusations that we are using e-cigarettes to enhance tobacco sales are entirely untrue … We are explicit in our vapour product marketing principles that sales of e-cigarettes – all of which feature non-tobacco brands – should not promote our cigarette products.

“Our involvement in this category offers an opportunity for a ‘win, win, win’: a win for society as the public health impact of smoking is lessened, a win for consumers as we commercialise a range of quality innovative products for them to choose from, and a win for our shareholders over the long term,” the company said.

Tobacco Makers Just Won a Major E-Cigarette Victory, but Does It Matter?

A House Committee has made it easier for e-cigarettes to win regulatory approval, but the ruling probably won’t boost demand for vapor products.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/28/tobacco-makers-just-won-a-major-e-cigarette-victor.aspx

A U.S. House of Representatives committee recently approved an amendment to an agricultural funding bill making it easier for e-cigarettes to win regulatory clearance than current proposals from the Food and Drug Administration would allow. The FDA previously proposed that all tobacco products introduced after Feb. 15, 2007, including e-cigs and vapor products, would need to adhere to new regulatory standards if they weren’t “substantially equivalent” to pre-existing tobacco products.

If such a product doesn’t exist, the new offering must undergo a review under the FDA’s premarket tobacco application (PMTA) process, which tobacco makers consider too strict. Vapor device makers also argue that only a single e-cigarette (which isn’t a market-leading brand) was available in the U.S. prior to the FDA’s cutoff date. Around 100,000 new e-cigarette and vapor products have since been introduced.

The House Appropriations Committee voted 31-19 in favor of “easing” that process, although it’s unclear if the PMTA cutoff date would be moved or eliminated. Nonetheless, Arnaud Dumas de Rauly, treasurer of the Vapor Technology Association, told Reuters that the ruling would give the industry “a big boost of momentum”. Let’s see what this positive development means for the country’s leading e-cig makers.

Reynolds American (NYSE:RAI) owns Vuse, the most popular brand of e-cigarettes in America. A Nielsen survey from January showed that Vuse controls 38.5% of the U.S. market by revenue. The brand is available at 110,000 retail outlets across the country and was one of the first e-cigs to sync with a mobile app to track usage and battery life. Reynolds nearly acquired second place Blu, which holds 20.7% of the market, through its acquisition of rival Lorillard.
However, Lorillard sold Blu to Imperial Tobacco to avoid antitrust issues.

Reynolds categorizes Vuse with its nicotine gum under its “all other” category, where sales fell 6.5% annually to $72 million last quarter. That decline wasn’t surprising, since Nielsen reported that for the period ending on January 23, e-cig dollar sales fell 17.7% annually as unit sales declined 3.3%. In a research note, Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog partially attributed that decline to “difficulty in capturing SKUs of the evolving vapor category and proliferation of vapors/tanks/mods (VTM) and refills, which tend to have lower retail prices.”

Easing regulations might prevent Reynolds’ sales of Vuse e-cigs from being suspended for new approvals, but the overall impact won’t move the needle much, since sales are declining and “all other” revenues only accounted for 2.5% of total sales last quarter.

Altria (NYSE:MO) is the top tobacco company in the U.S., but it ranks fourth in the e-cig market with a 7.6% revenue share from its MarkTen and Green Smoke brands. Altria launched MarkTen in 2014, a year after Reynolds launched Vuse nationwide. To catch up to Reynolds and other market leaders, Altria acquired premium e-cigarette maker Green Smoke for $110 million in cash and up to $20 million in incentive payments. Altria also introduced new e-cig flavors and doubled its e-cig battery life with the MarkTen XL.

Like Reynolds, e-cigs only account for a tiny part of Altria’s sales. Altria groups e-cigs together with snuff in its smokeless category, which posted 5.8% pre-tax sales growth last quarter. However, most of that growth was driven by sales of snuff rather than e-cigs, and the category accounted for less than 10% of Altria’s top line during the quarter.

But looking ahead, Altria might carve out a new niche market between e-cigs and traditional cigarettes with “heated tobacco products”. Last July, Altria signed a deal with its overseas counterpart, Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM), to sell its Marlboro HeatSticks domestically. HeatSticks don’t produce smoke, because they are heated with an electronic device rather than burned.

More relaxed regulations will make it easier for Altria to sell both e-cigs and HeatSticks, but investors shouldn’t expect sales of either product to move the needle for the company anytime soon.

The key takeaway

While the amendment is unlikely to deliver large sales boosts to Reynolds and Altria, it does save them the trouble of sending all their e-cigarette products back to the FDA for PMTA approval. The process could reportedly cost tobacco companies millions per product, and only a single product has passed the PMTA in the past six years. As a result, forcing nearly all e-cigs on the market through the PMTA approval track could kill the industry niche entirely, because it would be more costly to sell them than to halt production altogether.

But as I mentioned in a previous article, tobacco investors shouldn’t place too much faith in the long-term growth of the e-cig market. Public bans, exploding devices, and other future regulations could also throttle demand, which currently account for a tiny percentage of industry volume.

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Massachusetts Senate approves under-21 ban on tobacco sales

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3564603/Massachusetts-Senate-approves-21-ban-tobacco-sales.html

The Massachusetts Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to raise the minimum age for purchasing cigarettes and other tobacco products across the state, which could make it the second to raise its threshold to 21 years old.

The higher age is already in effect in Boston and more than 100 other cities and towns, covering about half the state’s population.

The bill, which moves to the House after being approved on a 32-2 vote, also sets new regulations for electronic cigarettes including a ban on vaping in places where smoking is otherwise prohibited. It would also ban the sale of tobacco in pharmacies and other health care facilities.

Stores caught selling tobacco to people under 21 would face fines ranging from $100 to $300.

An amendment added by senators without debate would also make it illegal for anyone under age 18 to smoke or possess tobacco products, and require police to notify the parents of children caught with tobacco. But there would be no other penalties and the infraction would not appear on any criminal record.

Hawaii became the first U.S. state last year to raise the tobacco purchase age to 21, and other states are considering the change.

“Young people whose brains are still developing and haven’t reached full maturity are particularly vulnerable to nicotine addiction,” said Sen. Jason Lewis, a Winchester Democrat and principal author of the Massachusetts bill.

Supporters faulted tobacco companies for marketing strategies aimed at youth and pointed to studies that show most smokers tried their first cigarettes as teens. Raising the minimum purchase age from the current 18 to 21 would help to remove tobacco from high school and middle social networks, Lewis contended, because teens are less likely to socialize with people over 21.

Anyone who has reached age 18 by Jan. 1, the effective date of the proposed law, could continue to buy tobacco.

Sen. Donald Humason, a Westfield Republican and one of two senators who voted against the bill, said he has never smoked or even tried a cigarette.

“I hope that no one will take up the habit, but as a senator or an individual I will not try to tell a law-abiding adult what to do,” said Humason. “Tobacco is still legal in this state as disgusting as some of us think it is.”

Jon Hurst, president of The Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said the bill would hurt many retailers, especially smaller stores near borders with neighboring states where the purchase age remains 18.

“We’re not Hawaii, we’re not an island,” said Hurst. “We have members on the border who clearly are going to be hurt,” he said.

Hurst suggested his organization might accept the age 21 requirement if lawmakers included assurances that cities and towns could not take further steps on their own in regulating tobacco.

The bill also appears to have support in the House. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker has said he’ll review the language if it reaches his desk but supports the concept of raising the tobacco age.

In California, Gov. Jerry Brown is weighing a bill passed by the Legislature in March that lifts the age for purchasing tobacco from 18 to 21. Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont are among other states where bills have been filed. New Jersey lawmakers approved a tobacco-21 bill in January, but Gov. Chris Christie declined to sign it.

E-cigarette study doesn’t convince Nova Scotia’s top doctor

Dr. Robert Strang says there is evidence e-cigarettes make it easier for people to continue smoking

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/e-cigarettes-vaping-smoking-robert-strang-1.3557764

A new study from Britain’s Royal College of Physicians that pegs e-cigarettes as a much safer alternative to smoking tobacco isn’t enough to fully sway Nova Scotia’s chief public health officer.

The report, released Thursday, cites expert opinion and concludes the hazards to health from inhaling e-cigarette vapours are likely less than the harms from smoking tobacco.

Nova Scotia’s top doctor, Robert Strang, agreed with that finding — to a point.

“If you’re smoking something, is it safer to use an e-cigarette than a regular cigarette?” he asked.

“I think for any individual, the answer would be, everything we know is much likely to be safer, but that doesn’t mean that it may not come with some risks.”

Strang said the real concern is e-cigarettes re-normalizes the smoking habit. (CBC)

Strang said there is evidence that e-cigarettes make it easier for people to continue smoking.

“They can keep using their e-cigarette where they can’t use a cigarette and then keep using cigarettes where they can.”

That wasn’t the case for John Burke. A smoker for 45 years, at his peak he was inhaling a pack and a half a day.

“Once I tried vaping, it’s been two years, I haven’t had a cigarette since,” he said.

“I don’t smoke nearly as much as I would with cigarettes and there’s no ashtrays and the stink in the car and the stink in the house.”

John Burke was a smoker for 45 years before switching to e-cigarettes. (CBC)

But Strang said the real concern is e-cigarettes re-normalizes the smoking habit and will be another route for young people to take up smoking.

“There’s growing evidence, for instance, in some of the research and surveillance in the United States that more and more young people are, who weren’t previous smokers, are using e-cigarettes,” he said.

“The real risk that they develop and addiction to nicotine and switch to regular cigarette products.”

‘Good luck to us all’

Burke said vaping was his gateway to quit regular cigarettes and he hopes the government doesn’t get too involved.

“I’m glad the research has been done and good luck to us all, I just hope it doesn’t come to the point where it’s controlled such as cigarettes and alcohol,” he said.

Strang said he likes the rules the province has put in place that treat e-cigarettes like all other tobacco products, regulating where they can be sold and consumed.

“I think we have found a very good balance in Nova Scotia while we still wait for some federal direction,” he said.

Strang points out e-cigarettes are only one method to help quit smoking and there are other better studied alternatives out there.

Burke said e-cigarettes were the only solution for him and many other smokers.

“It’s saving a lot of people’s lives, it really is,” he said.

Doctors warn of big tobacco firms entering e-cigarette market

Royal College of Physicians report says companies may seek to rehabilitate ‘pariah industry’

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/28/doctors-warn-big-tobacco-firms-e-cigarette-market-rcp-industry

The Department of Health says new controls on e-cigarettes to be introduced next month could make consumers turn to potentially dangerous black market products.

Its impact assessment (pdf) on EU rules to be enshrined in UK law also acknowledges that higher costs for e-cigarette manufactures could lead to price increases and reduction of choice for consumers, leading people to switch back to smoking, which public health experts regard as far more dangerous.

It recognises too that regulations might create new barriers for small- and medium-sized companies, a concern that comes as public health doctors warned of possible consequences from tobacco giants becoming more involved in making e-cigarettes.

The document says: “There is a risk that a black market will develop with potentially harmful e-cigarette products. due to consumers no longer having the same degree of choice in the legal market.”

The rules introduce for the first time minimum standards for the safety and quality of e-cigarettes and refill containers. Companies will have to give information on all their products to regulators. They are part of a broader package that also tightens rules on tobacco.

One e-cigarette company boss suggested the government was “grudgingly accepting” that the new controls could result in a “public health disaster”.

The government believes the health gain from stronger tobacco controls will bring a £13bn health gain across the UK over 10 years because there will be fewer smokers so the NHS will have to treat fewer people for diseases related to the habit.

But the changes could cost the UK e-cigarette industry £140m, it suggests. Much of the e-cigarette “hardware” is already produced in China and an increasing amount of e-liquid manufacture is said to be moving there too.

Ian Gregory, of campaign group Vapers for Britain, said: “In its assessment, the Department of Health has not been able to quantify any benefit from the massive regulation of e-cigarettes.”

The health department said: “By its nature an impact assessment is honest about risks, but these are far outweighed by the health benefits of the directive, which are worth more than £13bn to the UK.

“The best thing a smoker can do for their health is to quit smoking. We know that there are now over a million people who have completely replaced smoking with e-cigarettes and that the evidence indicates that they are significantly less harmful to health than smoking tobacco.

“We want to see a wide range of good quality e-cigarettes on the market including licensed products whose safety, quality and effectiveness are independently assured.”

The department says that, while there are measures in the directive that could both increase and decrease the illicit trade, overall the impact in this area is estimated to be zero. The evidence for increasing the illicit trade is also based on a report by the tobacco industry, and the report highlights this to be likely to be an overestimate.

The assessment of the new regulations, which result from the 2014 Tobacco Products Directive, came as doctors warned growing involvement of tobacco manufacturers in the e-cigarette market could jeopardise attempts by public health specialists to promote vaping as a safer alternative to smoking.

They expressed concerns that such companies might seek to rehabilitate what has become a “pariah industry” and therefore undermine tobacco control.

A report from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) published on Thursday found e-cigarettes could play a valuable role in shifting smokers away from their “addictive and lethal” habit, a similar position to that taken last year by the English government’s Public Health England, which said e-cigarettes were about 95% less harmful than tobacco cigarettes.

Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer, said at the time however that e-cigarettes should only be used a means to help smokers quit.

The Nicotine Without Smoke report concluded that e-cigarettes were not a gateway to smoking, did not help normalise it and could act as a way out of the deadly habit.

There are still nearly 9 million smokers in the UK, despite big falls in recent decades, while an estimated 2.6 million UK adults use e-cigarettes and as many as 1 million of those may have completely stopped smoking.

The RCP did not dismiss the possibility of harm from long-term use of e-cigarettes, but said it was likely to be substantially smaller than that from the carcinogens, carbon monoxide and other toxins that come with tobacco.

However, the report’s authors were worried by the involvement of tobacco giants such as British American Tobacco (BAT), Imperial Tobacco, Altria and Philip Morris International, including their taking over previously independent manufacturers and importers.

The industry’s recent programme of investment and acquisition in e-cigarettes might be recognition that the products, available in the UK for less than a decade, could be a threat to their “core business of selling tobacco”, the 200-page report found.

Manufacturers might use e-cigarettes to help expand tobacco markets or make nicotine products attractive to non-smokers, says the report, which is also summarised by its contributors in the BMJ medical journal.

There is “little likelihood that the industry sees e-cigarettes as a route out of the tobacco business”, the report added. It said it was highly likely, however, that tobacco manufacturers would exploit e-cigarettes to try to undermine the World Health Organisation’s framework convention of tobacco control, which is, among other measures, designed to protect nations’ public health policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry.

Tobacco companies have long sought to “redress the challenge of a toxic reputation” by seeking to establish partnerships or common ground with public health researchers and advocates, the report said.

“There is no firewall between a ‘good’ tobacco industry that is marketing harm-reduction products in the UK and a ‘bad’ one that promotes smoking, or undermines tobacco control activities in low-and middle-income countries.”

It called however for “proportionate” regulation that does not undermine the development of products such as e-cigarettes that provide alternative sources of nicotine to tobacco.

The report said it remained to be seen whether the new EU rules would help or hinder the use of e-cigarettes in the battle against smoking. Some measures should help raise standards, the authors say in their BMJ article, but limits on nicotine content might diminish e-cigarettes’ effectiveness as smoking substitutes while health warnings might discourage their use.

These requirements would not apply to products licensed as medicines, but there are fears that smaller manufacturers will be discouraged by the high costs and delays that the process involves.

“Achieving the right balance of regulation for e-cigarettes is not easy: too much regulation can stifle innovation and reduce choice for smokers, while too little leaves smokers exposed to products that are ineffective, unduly hazardous, or both.”

John Britton, professor of epidemiology at the Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, one of the authors, said the report “lays to rest almost all the concerns over these products, and concludes that with sensible regulation, electronic cigarettes have the potential to make a major contribution towards preventing the premature death, disease and social inequalities in health that smoking currently causes in the UK”.

Smokers should be reassured e-cigarettes could “help them quit all tobacco use for ever”.

The RCP president, Jane Dacre, also said she believed that “with careful management and proportionate regulation, harm reduction provides an opportunity to improve the lives of millions of people”. It is “an opportunity that, with care, we should take”, she said.

The Tobacco Manufacturers Association said tobacco and e-cigarettes would co-exist. “Consumers’ requirements are evolving and so is the e-cigarette market”, said Giles Roca, its director general.

“The fact that tobacco manufacturers are now involved in this industry is good news. Tobacco manufacturers possess considerable expertise, resources and capacity for research that allows them to contribute substantially to the scientific and regulatory debate and the overall development of the e-cigarette industry.”

BAT said: “Accusations that we are using e-cigarettes to enhance tobacco sales are entirely untrue … We are explicit in our vapour product marketing principles that sales of e-cigarettes – all of which feature non-tobacco brands – should not promote our cigarette products.

“Our involvement in this category offers an opportunity for a ‘win, win, win’: a win for society as the public health impact of smoking is lessened, a win for consumers as we commercialise a range of quality innovative products for them to choose from, and a win for our shareholders over the long term,” the company said.