Articles

EPICENTER, or the European Policy Information Center, was launched in 2014. It is a collective of European think tanks, which provides a “free-market perspective” in European policy debates on topics including public health.1 Epicenter and its members are all listed as global partners of the Atlas Network.2 Background Epicenter launched in October 2014 with 6 members:3…

This page details the situation at a specific point in time, in 2014, when there was little regulation in place for e-cigarettes (also known as electronic nicotine delivery systems, or ENDS). At the time, the UK, EU and US were the only significant markets. Regulatory authorities were considering how best to deal with these relatively new products, which were of…

This page illustrates campaigns used by Imperial Brands (previously Imperial Tobacco) to promote its e-cigarettes, also known as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2016 and 2017. For more recent examples of its marketing tactics see E-Cigarettes: Imperial Brands. “Amnesty For Cigarettes” (January 2017) On 1 January 2017, Imperial Brands (through…

Lorillard was a tobacco company based in the United States (US), which entered the UK market for e-cigarettes (also known as electronic nicotine delivery systems, or ENDS)  in October 2013, when it acquired the UK company Skycig. In 2014 Lorillard was bought by RJ Reynolds, which was itself bought by British American Tobacco in 2017. Skycig Rebranded…

This page describes the situation in 2013-14, when tobacco companies were beginning to invest in e-cigarettes. It focuses on Europe and the US. For more recent information on tobacco company interests and activities around the world, see the main page on e-cigarettes. How strictly e-cigarettes were to…

Japan Tobacco International (JTI) entered the market for e-cigarettes (also known as electronic nicotine delivery systems, or ENDS) in 2011, when it took a minority share in United States (US) company Ploom Inc. (now known as JUUL Labs). It acquired UK-based e-cigarette company Zandera in 2014, and US company Logic in 2015. Since 2016 it has focussed…

Giovanni Kessler (1956) is a former Italian politician of the Democratic Party with a long career in Italian and international institutions. Kessler was Director-General of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF is short for the name in French ‘’Office de Lutte Anti-Fraude’’) from February 2011 until October 2017.114 He was originally appointed by the European Commission in December 2010…

This is a diagrammatic representation of the tobacco industry’s entry into the market for e-cigarettes (also known as electronic nicotine delivery systems, or ENDS) in 2012, and its earlier investment in newer nicotine and tobacco products, as well as with snus. See the main page on e-cigarettes for an overview of tobacco companies’ interests and tactics. A…

After acquiring its first e-cigarette company Dragonite in 2013, Imperial Brands (previously Imperial Tobacco) developed and launched a number of e-cigarettes, also known as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) through its subsidiary Fontem Ventures. This page summarises products in its flagship brand ‘blu’ . Blu was originally owned by Lorillard, and Imperial acquired the brand from…

Imperial Brands (previously Imperial Tobacco) set up a subsidiary Fontem Ventures in 2012, through which it has developed and sold its e-cigarettes (also known as electronic nicotine delivery systems, or ENDS) since 2014.142 Note: Imperial Tobacco changed its name to Imperial Brands in 2016. Here…