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36 tobaccoasia E-CIGARETTE NEWS 电子烟新闻 Tobacco Asia The ONLY magazine written and edited for the Asia regional tobacco industry. Read and trusted by industry professionals around the world. Subscribe to Subscribe Now to Tobacco Asia and get a complete view of the tobacco industry. Rates 1 year $45 2 years $80 3 years $105 Published 5 times a year in full English and Chinese versions. To subscribe visit: tobaccoasia.com or email info@octobermultimedia.com October Inter Co. Ltd. Vanit Building 2, Room 1403A 1126/2 New Petchburi Rd, Bangkok 10400 THAILAND Tel +66 22 55 66 25, Fax +66 26 55 22 11 www.tobaccoasia.com sellers who planned to quickly enrich themselves have disappeared from this branch, whose professional qualities have increased as a result, Robert Hrdlic- ka, head of the E-Smoking Chamber, is quoted as saying. Almost 300 firms offer e-cigarettes and cartridges with e-liquid in about 1,000 shops across the Czech Republic. The use of e-cigarette has doubled in the Czech Republic in the past five years and apart from the e-cigarette regular users, the number of occasional users is estimated at tens of thousands more, the paper writes. Unlike Britain, the Czech Republic has neither a thorough study describing its e-cigarette market nor a study to clearly describe the health impact of e-cigarettes. The anti-smoking bill the lawmakers are to discuss in May, strictly bans all types of smoking, including e-smoking, in all pubs. Most recently, however, the Health Ministry said that e-cigarettes may be exempted from the ban. Doctors and tobacco addiction fighters differ on how extensive the promotion and regulation of e-smoking should be, LN writes. Worldwide Cigs Cheaper Than E-Cigs Combustible tobacco cigarettes cost less to purchase than equivalent amounts of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) in 44 of 45 countries sampled around the world, according to a new American Cancer Society study. The study, appearing in Tobacco Control, con- cludes the gap exists despite the fact that e-cigarettes are not yet widely subjected to comparable excise taxes as combus- tible cigarettes. Warnings that e-cigarettes are a cheap, tax advantaged product relative to heavily taxed combustible cigarettes have been repeatedly claimed in the scientific literature and lay media. These claims, however, do not appear to be based on empirical price data. The researchers say the pervasiveness of this claim may lead some policymakers to consider imposing e-cigarette taxes without accurate information. To find out, researchers led by Alex Liber of the American Cancer Society and the University of Michigan School of Public Health compared the cost of combustible cigarettes to those for two major kinds of e-cigarettes: disposable e-cigarettes (non-refillable); and re- chargeable e-cigarettes, which can be refilled with nicotine liquid. The researchers found that on average, the price of a pack of combus- tible tobacco cigarettes was just over half the price of a disposable e-cigarette (US$5.00 and US$8.50, respectively). They also found that while the liquid nicotine used to refill e-cigarettes can cost a couple of dollars less than a pack of regular cigarettes, the minimum price to purchase a rechargeable e-cigarette to use this liquid nicotine is more than US$20. The rechargeable e-cigarettes preferred by most daily e-cigarette users cost even more. The study's authors reinforce the importance of increasing the price of cigarettes through excise taxes, but suggest that how to tax e-cigarettes is complex. Some jurisdictions around the world, notably the United Kingdom, with a pack of cigarettes averaging the equivalent of nearly US $14, have achieved price equality between ciga- rettes and e-cigarettes. Whether and how that policy changes the use of the two