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Washington DC, 04 November 2020

Department of the Senate PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600

Subject:

Dear members of the Tobacco Harm Reduction Committee,

We provide these comments to express our views about tobacco reduction strategies, including vaping products. The Property Rights Alliance (PRA) is an international organization dedicated to protecting intellectual property right, promoting innovation, and physical property rights around the world.

1.Vaping: the most successful Quit Aid.

Vaping is the most revolutionary innovation in the tobacco market for many reasons. E- do not involve the combustion of tobacco and are capable of breaking the fatal relationship with it. As demand grows for vaping products, vaping industry is strengthening the working base that drives the economy’s growth. The availability of vaping products prevents the form of black markets that hurt the economy. Innovation is vital for sustained economic growth and prosperity and provides a better connection to developing markets. PRA is committed to the encouragement of effective policies for innovation tools, such as vaping products.

Scientific data support the function of vaping products as a successful quit aid tool. A 2019 study by the U.K. National Health Service published in the New England Journal of Medicine found e- cigarettes may help adults quit. A group assigned to e-cigarettes as a combustible tobacco replacement

were more likely to remain abstinent at one year compared with a group using nicotine replacement products (18% versus 9.9%).1

Around the world, e-cigarettes have become extremely popular, increasing from about seven million users in 2011 to 41 million in 2018. (Euromonitor International). Over the next 10 years about six million premature deaths could be averted, if most smokers switched to e-cigarettes.2 With the introduction of e-cigarettes, a rapid drop of rate has coincided from 19.3% in 2010 to 13.7% in 2018.3

2.E-cigarettes are a unique harm reduction tool serving as an alternative to combustible smoking.

Currently in Australia vaping is only legal when prescribed by a doctor, making it one of the most hostile policy regimes. To reduce prevalence of combustible smoking and promote harm-reducing practices the government should reduce barriers to access innovative products such as vape pens and liquid nicotine. Electronic cigarettes are 95% less harmful (Public Health England,2018) than combustible tobacco. It is a unique harm reduction tool that can reduce reliance on combustible smoking while prevention of smoking relapses, focusing on modifying, rather than, eliminating behaviors. The principle of harm reduction innovation recognizes the fact that some ex-smokers replace with electronic-cigarettes physical, psychological and identity aspects of tobacco . About three million Americans current users of e-cigarettes have completely switched from cigarettes.4

The harm-reduction effect of noncombustible is reflected worldwide. A recent study showed that e- cigarettes are twice as effective in adults quitting combustible cigarettes than is nicotine replacement therapy—the patch and gum.5 According to National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and medicine report (2018) on e-cigarettes, analyzed the findings of 800 peer-reviewed studies: a. There is moderate evidence that risk and severity of dependence are lower for e-cigarettes than combustible tobacco cigarettes. b. There is conclusive evidence that completely substituting e-cigarettes from combustible tobacco cigarettes reduces users exposure to numerous toxicants and carcinogens present in combustible tobacco cigarettes.6

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Among adolescents, smoking has actually dropped faster and e -cigarettes has worked, as a harm reduction tool, towards the reduction of smoking rates among them. In 1976, 39% of high school students had smoked cigarettes., while today about 27 % of young people in America use e- cigarettes.7 The data show that adolescents who would have started smoking are less and choose the vaping alternative. Vaping is much less common among young people who have never smoked. Data from 2019 ASH YouGov Smoke free youth GB survey suggest that a large majority of never smokers in UK, aged 11-18, 93.8% in total, have either never used an e-cigarette (87.8%) or are not aware of them (6.0%).8Overall trend in tobacco use over time in both adults and children has been downwards from 2010 onwards, when e-cigarette use became widespread among adult smokers and ex-smokers (Adult smoking habits in the UK,2017-2018).9

3.The treatment of e -cigarettes in different countries:

Regulation of e-cigarettes varies across the world, ranging from the absence of regulation to an entire ban. Many countries such as Brazil, Singapore, Uruguay, and have banned e-cigarettes. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (FDA-CTP) deemed vaping products to be tobacco products.

According to the database of international e-cigarette laws of Institute for Global at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the United Kingdom has been most active in promoting e-cigarettes as a reduced harm alternative to cigarettes. Public Health England has encouraged the National Health Service to make e-cigarettes available as a tool for the smoking reduction.

On the other side, in Europe, Tobacco Products Directive (2014/40/EU) has restricted the sale and merchandising of electronic cigarettes. Moreover, the European Union prohibited cross-border advertising of e-cigarettes. Health warnings must be accurately displayed on 65% of product packaging, which includes the front and back of cigarettes and small packages for certain tobacco products.

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In fact, it is a policy measure blind to the realities of smoking today that infringes consumers' freedom of choice. The introduction of plain packaging for electronic cigarettes in more countries will destroy valuable brand equity and also deprive consumers of a healthier alternative. There is no credible evidence that hiding branding from cigarette packs or electronic cigarettes will achieve the goal of further reducing smoking rates.

A study conducted by Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome and the international community Deloitte showed that the introduction of a simple packaging regulation in Australia in the period 2012-2017 did not lead to a significant reduction in smoking or permitted tobacco consumption. In particular, the results showed that simple packaging increased rather than decreased cigarette consumption.10 The latest data from National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) in Australia (2016) report no statistically significant decrease in total daily smoking rates between 2013 (12.8%) and 2016 (12.2%).11 This is the first time in 23 years that there has been no decrease. The introduction of plain packaging constitutes a significant obstacle to trade on the internal and international markets. The average annual regulatory cost for tobacco Plain Packaging in Australia is $7.39 million.12

4.The importance of Intellectual Property Rights for the innovation of tobacco market.

Intellectual property rights are a key component for an innovator to respond to consumer demand for harm-reducing products. Of their many attributes, IP rights include trademark protections which allow innovators to earn a reputation in the marketplace, and patent protections which incentivize long term investment in product research and development. E-cigarettes are one such harm-reducing tool that became possible only due to strong intellectual property rights in a competitive open market. Consumers were able to communicate their desire for a less dangerous products to innovators by responding to branding and price signals. As a result, manufacturers are able to invent on e-cigarettes. Policies that undermine property rights often have unintended consequences, and Property Rights Alliance opposes all measures that diminish property rights such as plain packaging.

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States can protect public health without compromising the protection of private property rights and market-driven innovation. The need for the protection of Intellectual property rights in the has never been greater for the benefit of both consumers and businesses.

Thank you very much for considering our comments. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments.

Respectfully submitted,

Chrysa Kazakou Non-Resident Fellow, Property Rights Alliance

Philip Thompson Policy Analyst for Intellectual Property and International Trade

Lorenzo Montanari Executive Director, Property Rights Alliance

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1 Hajek P., Phillips-Waller A., Przulj D., Pesola F., Myers Smith K., Natalie Bisal, Jinshuo Li, Parrott S.,Sasieni P., Dawkins L., Ross L., Goniewicz M, et al.(2019).A Randomized Trial of E-Cigarettes versus Nicotine-Replacement Therapy .N Engl J Med. 2019;380(7):629–637. Crossref, Medline, Google Scholar.

2 Fairchild A, Healton C, Curran J, Abrams D, Bayer R. Evidence, alarm, and the debate over e- cigarettes. Science. 2019;366(6471):1318–1320. Crossref, Medline, Google Scholar.

3 Centers for Decease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/adult_data/cig_smoking/index.htm

4 Centers for Decease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/adult_data/cig_smoking/index.htm

5 Hajek P., Phillips-Waller A., Przulj D., Pesola F., Myers Smith K., Natalie Bisal, Jinshuo Li, Parrott S.,Sasieni P., Dawkins L., Ross L., Goniewicz M, et al.(2019).A Randomized Trial of E-Cigarettes versus Nicotine-Replacement Therapy .N Engl J Med. 2019;380(7):629–637. Crossref, Medline, Google Scholar.

6 The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine. (2018). Public health Consequences of E-Cigarettes. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.34-35 https://www.nap.edu/read/24952/chapter/4#24.

7 Levy Dt. (2019) Examining the relationship of vaping to smoking initiation among US youth and young adults: a reality check.629-635.Crossref. Medline. Google Scholar.

8 Action on smoking and Health. (2019). Use of e-cigarettes among young people in Great Britain. https://ash.org.uk/information-and-resources/fact-sheets/statistical/use-of-e-cigarettes-among-young-people-in-great-britain- 2019/

9 Office for National Statistics. Adult smoking habits in the UK: 2017 2018.

10 Oriani R., Spallone M., Vulpiani M. (2019). Analysis of the impact of Plain Packaging on smoking prevalence and tobacco consumption in Australia. https://businessschool.luiss.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Australia-Plain- Packaging-Report.pdf

11 National Drug Strategy Household Survey key findings. (2016). https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/tobacco-control-toc~survey-findings

12 Australian Government. (2016). Consultancy services to inform the development of a Post Implementation Review of the tobacco plain packaging measure. https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/25235/

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