Credit: IR Stone The British Labour Party told media representatives it may implement a prescription-only policy for vaping products if they win the upcoming general election, which must take place by January 2025. The Labour Party has been consistently leading in polls for the past two years. Wes Streeting, shadow health secretary for the Labour Party and potential choice for health secretary if the party gains a majority in Parliament, is closely monitoring Australia’s recent decision to regulate vaping as a prescription product. Streeting believes that this policy is partly based on evide ..read more

The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has called on smokers, vapers and the wider industry to join a national petition urging the government against banning disposable vapes and flavors. The petition highlights the potential public health consequences of “excessive and counterproductive legislation” that reduces the effectiveness of vaping as a stop-smoking tool, according to the UKVIA. Blocking access to flavors and disposables could prevent adult smokers from switching from combustible cigarettes, according to the organization. The UKVIA is directly engaging with its own members, a ..read more

Credit: Adobe North Carolina will receive an additional $7.8 million from Juul as part of his first-in-the-nation agreement to hold the e-cigarette maker accountable for its role in marketing and selling e-cigarettes to young people. In all, the state will receive $47.8 million, said Attorney General Josh Stein in a release. North Carolina has settled its original lawsuit with Juul Labs for $40 million.  “The vaping epidemic is far from over, and these additional funds will help us keep more kids healthy,” said Stein. “Vaping is dangerous to kids’ health, and we must continue ..read more

Image: methaphum The U.K. government may be backtracking on its plans to implement a generational tobacco ban, reports Tobacco Insider. According to the website, Britain may settle instead for raising the legal smoking age from 18 to 21. Under the proposed legislation, children who turn 14 or younger in 2023 would never be able to legally purchase a cigarette. A public consultation on the plans closed Dec. 6. Tobacco companies have reportedly been engaging heavily with lawmakers. Earlier this month, Philip Morris International held roundtable events with members of parliament as part of its ..read more

Potential new graphic health warnings as envisioned by Australia's Department of Health and Aged Care Australia will extend the requirement for manufacturers to print graphic health warnings on tobacco products to e-cigarettes, according to reports by CityNews and News. Manufacturers have until April 1, 2024, to roll out “repulsive” new health warnings on cigarette and vape packets. Retailers will be given a further three months to update their stock as new warning labels are gradually rolled out. On Dec. 7, the country’s federal parliament passed a law with measures to discourage smoking an ..read more

San Francisco City Hall (Credit: Alonso Reyes) A new lawsuit filed by San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu’s office accuses three online retailers, The Finest E-Liquid, the Vape Society and DaSmokey, of illegally selling flavored vape products in the city. According to a complaint filed at San Francisco Superior Court Tuesday, city investigators purchased products from the three sellers that included a container of “The Finest Vanilla Almond Custard e-liquid,” a disposable vape called “Flum Pebble 6000 Puff, Matcha flavor” and packages of “Apple Pearadise” and “Straw Melon Sour Belts” e-li ..read more

Image: Nikolay Most young New Zealanders support the law to progressively ban smoking, which was recently abandoned, reports RZN, citing the results of an international study. The new coalition government plans to repeal changes to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act that would have barred the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2009, among other measures. A Canadian-based international study shows 79 percent of New Zealanders aged 16 to 29 favored the ban. A similar share supported a reduction in the number of shops which could sell tobacco, while 68 percent wanted man ..read more

Credit: Spirit of America The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has not yet officially banned flavors in vaping and other tobacco products. Now, states are working towards banning the controversial products themselves. Michigan is next on the list. Last month, S.B. 649 was introduced in the Michigan Senate. The bill calls for the ban of the sales of flavored vaping and other tobacco products, defined as any product that has or is marketed as having a characterizing flavor other than tobacco. The bill would ban the sale of products packaged in ways that “indicate, explicitly or im ..read more

Photo: Atlas New industry figures, collected by online vape retailers representing around 43 percent of the U.K. market, have revealed that significant numbers of older adults are users of disposable and flavored vapes, which are the focus of a government consultation to address the issue of youth vaping that will close on Dec. 6. The industry warns that any moves to ban single use vapes and flavors, which have been key drivers in the decline of smoking to record low levels in the U.K. over the last two years, will have catastrophic consequences for the nation’s public health and will effect ..read more

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it has filed civil money penalty (CMP) complaints against 25 brick-and-mortar and online retailers for selling unauthorized Elf Bar, EB Design and other e-cigarette products. In a press note, the FDA stated that it had previously warned each retailer in the form of a warning letter to stop selling unauthorized tobacco products. During follow-up inspections, the agency observed the retailers had not corrected the violations, resulting in civil money penalty actions.  The complaints seek the maximum civil money penalty of $19,192 for a si ..read more