Browse the editorial team’s selected stories on smoking, public health and tobacco policy.
The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to announce measures that could accelerate reviews of vaping products and nicotine pouches, according to a Wall Street Journal report cited by Reuters. The report says the agency may revisit requirements for new tobacco applications and consider simpler scientific-study rules, although Reuters could not independently verify the details.
Health and policy experts are calling for Pakistan to strengthen tobacco control by developing a regulated, evidence-based framework for tobacco harm reduction, while keeping complete cessation as the safest outcome for smokers.
A Senate committee has recommended that tobacco be formally declared a crop and that a policy be prepared to protect growers, while also raising concerns about unsold tobacco in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A Senate committee has demanded fuller investigations into the theft of 2,828 cigarette cartons and an estimated $1 billion in annual tobacco-sector revenue losses, calling for accountability to reach senior officials, factory owners and other main beneficiaries rather than lower-ranking personnel alone.
Germany’s parliament has begun reviewing a government proposal to increase taxes on cigarettes, heated tobacco, e-liquids, fine-cut tobacco and other tobacco products each year from 2027 through 2030. The plan would raise the estimated average retail price of a 20-cigarette pack to €11.36 by 2030, while tobacco industry groups warn that larger increases could affect legal-market sales and illicit trade.
