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According to The Star and The Edge Malaysia, tobacco control groups in Malaysia have urged the government to raise tobacco taxes by at least 5% annually, saying the measure could reduce smoking rates and fund public health and social programmes.

According to The New York Times, Reynolds American donated $5 million to a Trump-backed super PAC shortly before the FDA introduced a new policy that could benefit major tobacco companies seeking to sell flavored vaping products.

Ahead of World No Tobacco Day, a Nature Health Comment by Robert Beaglehole, Ruth Bonita and Tikki Pang argues that regulated smoke-free nicotine products could help accelerate the global decline in smoking. The authors propose a “smoke-free 2040” goal and call for risk-proportionate regulation distinguishing cigarettes from lower-risk nicotine alternatives.

British American Tobacco Bangladesh reported a 14% year-on-year decline in cigarette sales volume and a 34% drop in first-quarter profit, highlighting mounting pressure from inflation, taxation, and weakening consumer spending in Bangladesh.

Richard Danker, a senior public affairs official in Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s team, resigned from his role at HHS over the FDA’s recent authorization of fruit-flavored vaping products. In a resignation letter addressed to President Donald Trump, Danker argued that the products could expose minors to nicotine addiction, lung damage, and increased cancer risks, while also conflicting with recent HHS guidance on youth risks associated with flavored nicotine products.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has initiated scientific review of renewal applications for 22nd Century Group’s VLN reduced-nicotine cigarettes under the Modified Risk Tobacco Product (MRTP) pathway, with current authorizations set to expire in December 2026.

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned on May 12 after opposing the Trump administration’s push to authorize fruit-flavored vaping products, according to reporting by The New York Times. Makary reportedly objected over concerns that flavored vapes could attract young people and refused to support broader approvals.

Newly published patent filings indicate that China Tobacco Hubei Industrial Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC), is exploring nicotine pouch technologies capable of releasing gas during oral use. The designs include carbon-dioxide microcapsules that burst in the mouth and effervescent systems that generate gas through chemical reactions with saliva, suggesting efforts to introduce new sensory dynamics into modern oral nicotine products.