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View allAuthor: Barnaby Page
Health warning: ‘science’ so badly flawed it should never have been published
Written by Barnaby Page || 11th January 2023 || Blog |
There remains a worryingly large amount of research on novel nicotine products which makes casual, almost always negative, assumptions...and the occasional item so faulty it should never have been published at all ...
A world first for New Zealand – but what does a generational cigarette ban mean?
Written by Barnaby Page || 22nd December 2022 || Blog |
New Zealand’s ban on cigarette sales to people born after 1st January 2009 may look like a dry run for complete prohibition. But there’s a crucial difference ...
‘Overwhelmed, fatigued and upended’ – review diagnoses US CTP’s troubles
Written by Barnaby Page || 20th December 2022 || News analysis |
The US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (FDA CTP) is “reactive and overwhelmed”, staff are “fatigued”, the industry and public health advocates are “frustrated”, and litigation has “upended” the CTP’s plans ...
The genie’s out of the bottle – it’s time the pros and antis got their heads together
Written by Barnaby Page || 13th December 2022 || Blog |
Many companies, some countries, and of course consumers in their millions are making headway in replacing combustible tobacco with safer alternatives…but what’s holding back the others? ...
Swedish Match and a cheaper Iqos – PMI’s ‘cunning plan’ begins to become clear
Written by Barnaby Page || 24th November 2022 || Blog |
There’s been plenty of speculation about PMI’s plans for its new business – but if I were an evil tobacco mastermind trying to prevent uptake of less risky products, very publicly buying Swedish Match wouldn’t be top of...
HTP in Japan – the seldom told good news story for tobacco harm reduction
Written by Barnaby Page || 3rd November 2022 || Blog |
Heated tobacco has played a big part in eliminating smoking in Japan, not just nibbling away at the edges of smoking prevalence but severely reducing the presence of the combustible cigarette ...
Coming soon to a nicotine product near you – the correlation/causation fallacy
Written by Barnaby Page || 13th October 2022 || Blog |
As novel nicotine products grow in popularity, it's only a matter of time before false links are drawn between them and the use of some other substance, be it cannabis or combustible tobacco or saturated fats ...
Pouches are to smoking as smartphones are to the earliest computers – discuss
Written by Barnaby Page || 5th October 2022 || Blog |
It’s fascinating to speculate on how the pouch market will develop. Who will use them, and why, and what will they replace? ...
Swedish Match awarded top marks for transformation to reduced risk
Written by Barnaby Page || 29th September 2022 || News analysis |
Swedish Match was the clear winner in this year’s Tobacco Transformation Index, which ranks major tobacco companies on their shift toward reduced-risk products ...
Reduced risk or prolonged peril? Are views shifting on the nicotine question?
Written by Barnaby Page || 22nd September 2022 || Blog |
Is there any connection between people’s knowledge of reduced-risk products and their attitudes toward them? Our third survey of European Parliament members' views will show how any such connection may have altered ...
Tobacco may not be a vote-winning issue, but what a difference an election makes
Written by Barnaby Page || 15th September 2022 || Blog |
After the victory of right-wing parties in Sweden’s very close election this week, the country’s tobacco alternatives sector – and its customers – may well be breathing a sigh of relief ...
What do e-cig cases tell us about where US FDA might go on other alternatives?
Written by Barnaby Page || 8th September 2022 || Blog |
Another day, another judgement in the saga of the US vapour industry’s cases against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – but what might the conflicting decisions mean for other smoking alternatives? ...
Who, and where, is the science on novel tobacco products coming from?
Written by Barnaby Page || 10th August 2022 || Blog |
Scientific research into novel nicotine alternatives has so far largely focused on vaping, but that is likely to change as the products become more widespread ...
Does the latest in the premium cigar case reveal flaws in the FDA’s judgement?
Written by Barnaby Page || 15th July 2022 || Blog |
You can almost hear the judge’s sigh as he wrote his latest opinion in the long-running litigation between the FDA and the cigar industry over the latter’s treatment by the 2016 final deeming rule. Here we go again…...
Could other countries take UK’s Khan review as a blueprint for change?
Written by Barnaby Page || 7th July 2022 || Blog |
Could the Khan report, which endorses the UK's positive attitude towards e-cigs also have lessons for the rest of the world, even for countries where there is far more hostility toward novel tobacco products? ...
Now it’s official – but does US nicotine cut apply to more than just combustibles?
Written by Barnaby Page || 24th June 2022 || Blog |
Some headlines notwithstanding, it doesn’t sound like Joe Biden actually sat in the Oval Office and signed off mandatory nicotine reduction while photographers recorded the historic moment ...
How nicotine levels could become a hot issue for smokers and politicians alike
Written by Barnaby Page || 16th June 2022 || Blog |
Rumours circulating this week that the Biden administration is about to put its weight behind mandatory nicotine reduction in combustibles will have been music to the ears of 22nd Century Group, if few others ...
Novel nicotine products can’t escape WHO’s focus on environmental impact
Written by Barnaby Page || 9th June 2022 || Blog |
Of course it was only to be expected that the World Health Organization (WHO) would include novel nicotine products in its annual condemnations for World No Tobacco Day, but the approach it took this year was significant: a...
How much are tobacco companies really doing to support harm reduction?
Written by Barnaby Page || 31st May 2022 || Blog |
Most tobacco companies are keen to be seen supporting the concept of harm reduction, especially through reduced-risk products like e-cigarettes, heat-not-burn and pouches. But how far is their support for the idea actually having an effect on their...
Are novel nicotine products a ‘huge distraction’ from the real problem?
Written by Barnaby Page || 19th May 2022 || Blog |
Speaking at the launch of the seventh edition of the Atlas, US public health scholar Jeffrey Drope suggested that new nicotine technologies are “a huge distraction” which have “confused governments, the public health community and the public” ...
What would PMI’s takeover of Swedish Match mean for the sector?
Written by Barnaby Page || 12th May 2022 || Blog |
The $16bn takeover of Swedish Match by Philip Morris International (PMI) now seems more likely to happen than not (at least as of today; these things are never certain until the last signature is signed) ...
As US FDA moves towards a menthol ban, what might it mean for novel products?
Written by Barnaby Page || 5th May 2022 || Blog |
The long-mooted proposal to prohibit menthol is the most dramatic step the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken since the 2009 Tobacco Control Act exempted menthol from a general ban on flavoured tobacco ...
Why we don’t always get the science we need – and what can be done about it
Written by Barnaby Page || 20th April 2022 || Blog |
Is the present system of peer-reviewed journal publication of scientific papers the best way to get the best science – particularly in the controversial world of tobacco? There are those who think it may not be ...
Change is afoot at the US CTP and CDC – but what will it mean for tobacco?
Written by Barnaby Page || 8th April 2022 || Blog |
Michele Mital’s appointment as acting head of the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) is not bad news for the industry, even if it’s not quite good news. And there may be bigger change at the Centers for Disease...
Harm reduction is a difficult but vital message to convey to the world’s poorest
Written by Barnaby Page || 31st March 2022 || Blog |
Broadening the appeal of tobacco harm reduction (THR) products in low- and middle-income countries can be an uphill struggle, though it arguably matters more there than anywhere else ...
Plenty of food for thought as nicotine researchers get their heads together
Written by Barnaby Page || 24th March 2022 || Blog |
The Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) published a huge number of research abstracts to accompany its annual get-together – here are some of the highlights ...
New study on nicotine pouches stresses importance of understanding products
Written by Barnaby Page || 10th March 2022 || Blog |
As the market for nicotine pouches swells, there is – just as with heated tobacco a few years ago – a risk that regulatory interest outpaces scientific research ...
What science should we be following on novel tobacco products – and how far?
Written by Barnaby Page || 2nd March 2022 || Blog , News analysis |
“Following the science” is one of the most misleading, clichés of the pandemic, and both advocates and enemies of novel tobacco products need to be cautious of claiming to do the same thing ...
How the success or failure of VLNCs could affect regulation of alternatives
Written by Barnaby Page || 3rd February 2022 || Blog , News analysis |
Acceptance by the US FDA of very-low-nicotine cigarettes as a modified risk product may be controversial, even bizarre, but it will be worth seeing how they perform in the market – and how that may affect future regulation...
Meta-analysis study emphasises the lack of high-quality research into HnB
Written by Barnaby Page || 13th January 2022 || Blog , News analysis |
The heated tobacco sector has, compared with its cousin vapour, always suffered from a lack of scientific research and from the perception that most of what does exist is industry-funded ...
A boost for very-low-nicotine cigarettes as US FDA grants modified risk order
Written by Barnaby Page || 23rd December 2021 || News analysis |
The prospect of very-low-nicotine cigarettes becoming the next alternative product on the US market has come a significant step closer, with the FDA issuing modified risk orders for two products from 22nd Century Group ...
How will TPD3 deal with newly emerged products? Our survey offers a few clues
Written by Barnaby Page || 2nd December 2021 || Blog , News analysis |
Sooner or later the EU will have a new Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), and one of the big questions will be how it treats new product categories which barely existed at the time of TPD2 ...
Califf may hit the ground running – but which way will he go on nicotine?
Written by Barnaby Page || 18th November 2021 || Blog , News analysis |
Robert Califf's expected return to head the US FDA has excited plenty of attention in the world of e-cigarettes, but there’s been much less talk about the likely impact on heated tobacco, pouches and other novel nicotine products...
Three possible reasons for WHO decision to keep alternatives out of tobacco talks
Written by Barnaby Page || 4th November 2021 || Blog , News analysis |
Why won’t the World Health Organization (WHO) talk about tobacco alternatives? It’s never been shy before about putting forward its extreme scepticism ...
Decision on e-cigs shines some light on US FDA’s likely approach to alternatives
Written by Barnaby Page || 21st October 2021 || Blog , News analysis |
While the decision to give marketing authorisation to some RJ Reynolds relates specifically to e-cigarette products, it’s highly likely that much the same priorities will govern official thinking on other alternative products ...
What e-cigarette process tells us about the US FDA’s thinking on tobacco
Written by Barnaby Page || 7th October 2021 || Blog , News analysis |
Some light is now dawning on some truths long since suspected about the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s approach to tobacco-alternative products of all kinds through its cumbersome evaluation of e-cigarettes ...
False beliefs about tobacco alternatives are themselves a public health problem
Written by Barnaby Page || 23rd September 2021 || Blog , News analysis |
“Misinformation poses a real threat to progress” in a major area of public health concern, we’re told – and this time it’s about the dangers of tobacco-alternative products ...
Time’s up for the US FDA to make up its mind – now where do PMTAs stand?
Written by Barnaby Page || 9th September 2021 || Blog , News analysis |
As the US Food and Drug Administration's deadline to pass or reject e-cigarette premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) arrives, where does it leave the market and what might it mean for tobacco alternatives? ...
Knee-jerk response as US AGs leap aboard the anti-flavours bandwagon
Written by Barnaby Page || 26th August 2021 || Blog , News analysis |
Are we really in the midst of a “pandemic” of oral nicotine use by young people, and if so is the answer a flavour ban? 31 US attorneys general have some answering of their own to do ...
Hardly any US teens use heated tobacco, but that doesn’t stop the fearmongering
Written by Barnaby Page || 12th August 2021 || Blog , News analysis |
Despite heated tobacco products being barely available in the US, it is now officially the next monstrous threat facing America’s youth ...
Why is the boss of Marlboro maker PMI talking up the end of smoking days?
Written by Barnaby Page || 29th July 2021 || Blog , News analysis |
Jacek Olczak, CEO of Philip Morris International (PMI), says the company could stop selling combustible cigarettes in the UK within a decade ...
PMI is busy reinventing itself as Big Tobacco prepares for life after smoking
Written by Barnaby Page || 15th July 2021 || Blog , News analysis |
Philip Morris International (PMI) has always been one of the frankest tobacco companies when it comes to speaking of the smoke-free future – now it is taking positive steps in a bold new direction ...
The Japanese innovation that could help normalise heated tobacco everywhere
Written by Barnaby Page || 1st July 2021 || Blog , News analysis |
A new development in Japan sets an example which proponents of harm reduction could do well to advocate elsewhere – the increasing trend toward heated-tobacco-only areas in public spaces ...
Could legalising snus tap into a huge potential for smoking cessation?
Written by Barnaby Page || 18th June 2021 || Blog , News analysis |
Two startling statistics emerge from a recent survey of smokers in Europe: nearly one in three (31%) of current smokers would be interested in trying snus if it became legal, but less than 3% are actually snus users...
The WHO, the where and the why
Written by Barnaby Page || 4th June 2021 || Blog , News analysis |
Advocates for novel tobacco products often get infuriated with the oppositional stance taken by the World Health Organization – but might there be some fair reason behind the WHO’s less-than-enthusiastic view? ...
Politicians and regulators just can’t stop thinking of the children
Written by Barnaby Page || 21st May 2021 || Blog , News analysis |
News that Florida is planning to increase the purchase age for tobacco products to 21 is another clear indication of just how much the issues of youth smoking and youth vaping dominate the minds of politicians and regulators...
Will nicotine be the next menthol?
Written by Barnaby Page || 7th May 2021 || Blog , News analysis |
The big news from the US Food and Drug Administration last week was a ban on menthol in combustible cigarettes, closing off a loophole that had allowed this one flavour to be marketed even after all others were forbidden. It...
EU anti-cancer plan accused of ‘shutting the door’ on smokers trying to quit
Written by Barnaby Page || 16th March 2021 || News analysis |
As European health ministers met to discuss the EU’s Beating Cancer Plan, one influential organisation has pleaded for a rethink of its attitude toward alternative nicotine products ...
Ban public use, advertising and reduced-risk claims for HnB, says WHO group
Written by Barnaby Page || 31st December 2020 || News analysis |
All advertising and public use of heated tobacco systems should be banned by governments, a World Health Organization (WHO) committee has suggested ... Start your FREE trial
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