Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/550304
36 tobaccoasia
The current tangle of varying rules across the
world on how e-cigarettes are classified, on adver-
tising standards, and where they can be sold and
consumed harms everyone. Closer regulation is
inevitable, which will have benefits for people's
health as well as for business environments and
government coffers through taxation. And it can't
come quickly enough for players in either the e-
cigarette or tobacco industries.
Talking to CNBC following the Toulouse rul-
ing, a BAT spokesman welcomed regulation, "to
ensure consumer safety and product quality, as
well as the appropriate level of innovation, mar-
keting and distribution freedoms required to en-
able this important category to grow."
Essentra e-cig tests
minor alkaloid results
Essentra e-cigarette test comparison of the flow time relationship of
different puff profiles
existing tobacco legislation will benefit the big
tobacco companies more than e-cigarette compa-
nies, because they have the resources in finance,
distribution and customer base to deal with the
increased demands.
The market is on a roll
One thing is certain – e-cigarettes are booming
worldwide. Euromonitor International recently
published estimates of an e-cigarette industry al-
ready worth $2.5 billion globally. According to
some predictions that will rise to $10 billion by
2017, and Bloomberg thinks that sales will out-
grow traditional cigarettes by 2047.
In such a ripe climate it's no surprise to see
the largest tobacco companies making their move.
Lorillard, already the first big player in the frame
with over half the US market, increased its share
of global sales to 49% with the purchase of the
UK premium brand Skycig in 2013. BAT (Brit-
ish American Tobacco) introduced its e-cigarette
Vype onto UK shelves, also last year, and Philip
Morris International has announced plans to enter
the market in the months ahead, calling it: "the
single greatest opportunity for us".
"Philip Morris International has
announced plans to enter
the e-cigarette market in
the months ahead"
Ray Story said, "Global harmonization is re-
quired so the product can flow freely from Asia
into all the other markets. The more commerce
that exists, the fewer misunderstandings there are
[...] if we have the ability to influence the process
in the US and EU, the rest of the world will follow
in the interests of commerce."
Testing, testing ...
Over 200 companies currently manufacture e-
cigarettes, which vary widely in quality and type.
Without regulation, there will be few safety stan-
dards in place to monitor those products, which
risks harming the good name and prospects of
responsible e-cigarette makers. There is great de-
mand for proven universal testing methods.
The medical journal Addiction recently pub-
lished findings by Professor Jean Francois Etter,
of the University of Geneva's medicine faculty,
after analyzing some of the world's most popular
brands of e-liquids.
In results that emphasize the need for regula-
tion and reliable testing methods, Etter found that
only 10 would be acceptable as medicinal prod-
ucts, "while the other half contained up to five
times the maximum amount of impurities speci-
fied for nicotine medications".
The study concluded, however, that if this lat-
ter group is compared with tobacco, not with nico-
tine medications, the presence of impurities in e-
liquids is less relevant. "Even if e-liquids contained
the level of impurities found in this study, 'vaping'
(using e-cigarettes) would still be much less dan-
gerous than smoking."
The smokio app helps
you track vaping use
Analyte LOD LOQ e-Cigarette (ɥg/50puffs)
(ɥg/10puffs) (ɥg/10puffs) Mean SD
Nornicotine 0.053 0.15