Businesses reel as vaping crisis escalates

Leading tobacco firms could be set for huge losses as the backlash against e-cigarettes gathers pace.

Shares in British giant Imperial Brand plunged 10% yesterday after it warned a US-led crackdown on vaping would hit sales.

The UK firm has invested heavily in vaping products, which many believe are safer than tobacco but have been blamed for numerous deaths around the world.

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Demand in the US had fallen sharply since Donald Trump vowed to ban flavoured varieties this month, after US health officials identified at least 530 confirmed and probable cases of severe lung-related illnesses and seven deaths linked to vaping.

The Guardian says tobacco companies “have been banking on the rise of vaping and other alternatives to cigarettes for sales growth”. The products have been seen as safer than cigarettes, but health officials have clamped down on such claims amid soaring use among US teenagers, with 1.5 million Americans using e-cigarettes.

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On Tuesday is was reported that two more people had died from vaping-related illnesses in the US, bringing the total number nationwide to 11.

The United States is currently facing a multi-state outbreak of lung injury associated with vaping, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Several state governors have imposed temporary bans or emergency orders prohibiting the sale of flavoured vapes.

On Wednesday, California became the largest state to urge its citizens not to vape while investigations into the effects of the products continued.

On a national level, the Trump administration plans to pull fruit-flavoured e-cigarettes from the US market, unless approved by the Food and Drug Administration, while a rising number of wholesalers and retailers are not ordering or allowing promotion of flavoured vape products.

Last week, India joined Brazil and Singapore in banning the sale of e-cigarettes, as it warned of an “epidemic” among young people. Israel became the latest country to announce an emergency ban on flavoured e-cigarette sales and is considering a full prohibition, according to The Times of Israel.

The BBC says “it has come as a blow to tobacco companies, which have been pumping investment into vaping and tobacco heating products”.

“While these products still account for only a fraction of revenue at the biggest firms, demand for them is growing fast”, says the broadcaster, and they form an important part of the market for “next-generation products”.

The Times suggests that such a ban on flavours would “represent a huge blow to the vaping industry”, including companies such as Juul, which has “grown into a multibillion-dollar business by selling mint, fruit and dessert-flavoured nicotine products”.

On Wednesday, Juul’s chief executive Kevin Burns announced he would be standing down, as the company set out its new marketing strategy, which will see it suspend all TV, print and digital ads and put a stop on some of its lobbying efforts.

“Taken together, the developments underscore how Juul is scrambling to preserve its core business” says USA Today, as “the pendulum swing in the reputation of Juul Labs — from a less-harmful cigarette alternative to a public danger — has engulfed the vaping company in crisis”.

However, CNN Business cites one anti-smoking group as saying that no one should be lulled into thinking that Juul has changed.

“The youth e-cigarette epidemic has gone from bad to worse, and 5 million kids now use e-cigarettes,” said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

It comes after USA Today Network New York review revealed tobacco and vaping companies have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars this year on lobbying, political advertising and advocacy efforts in New York alone, where the ban on flavoured e-cigarettes “has thrust it to the forefront of a politically charged battle over the fate of vaping in America”.

“Juul’s announcement today is aimed at repairing its image and protecting its profits, not at solving this crisis. This announcement strips away any doubt about Juul. It is Big Tobacco” Myers said.