Author: Staff Writer

Philip Morris International has issued its first report on its Agricultural Labor Practices (ALP) program, which was launched in May last year.

The ALP program seeks progressively to eliminate child labor and other labor abuses on farms PMI sources tobacco from.

“We are pleased to share the progress we have made” said Martin King, senior vice president operations, “and will continue to implement the ALP program in a transparent manner, sharing results and outcomes.”

The report is at: http://www.pmi.com/eng/media_center/company_statements/documents/PMI_ALP_Progress_Report_2012.pdf

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co says that teachers, parents and community youth groups have a free youth tobacco prevention program at their fingertips with the online enhancement of its evidence-based program, Right Decisions Right Now: Be Tobacco Free (RDRN).

‘RDRN educational materials – now readily available via computers and smart boards – can be used to teach students about the risks of using tobacco products. The program also helps students build good decision-making skills and find effective ways to handle peer pressure,’ Reynolds said in a note posted on its website.

‘More than 20,000 middle schools across the country have used the RDRN program since it was established more than 20 years ago. The program is also used by community groups such as Boy Scouts of America; Big Brothers, Big Sisters; and the Crosby Scholars Program.’

“This program is designed to empower students to make good decisions, including the decision not to use tobacco, and to give them the knowledge to live a healthy lifestyle,” said Pamela Gorman, a senior manager involved in R.J. Reynolds’ youth tobacco prevention efforts. “RDRN is part of our company’s long-term initiative to transform the tobacco industry. Over the past 20 years, youth tobacco prevention efforts and programs have had a big impact on reducing teen smoking, now at a historic low, and we are actively working on ways to accelerate the decline in youth tobacco use.”

‘The RDRN program has been tested nationally and found to be successful on two key measures: Smoking levels decreased significantly in test schools, particularly for grades eight and nine, and the program lowered anticipated tobacco use among middle school-aged students,’ the note said. ‘Additionally, students’ susceptibility to peer pressure and their perception of the popularity of tobacco-using peers both showed significant declines versus [the susceptibility and perception of the] control groups.

‘The program’s new digital format is easy to use and designed for students in grades five through nine. It can be used by educators, parents and grandparents, as well as non-profit community groups involved with youth. The free materials include a teacher guide and interactive activities that provide students with factual information about tobacco prevention that they can reference when completing subsequent lessons. All of the guides are available in digital format on the website: www.rightdecisionsrightnow.com.

‘The RDRN program updates and digital enhancements and activities were created by By Kids for Kids® (BKFK®), a marketing company that provides educational resources – curriculum and challenges that promote social change and entrepreneurial endeavors.’

New York’s highest-in-the-nation cigarette taxes are failing to drive down smoking rates, according to a story by Patrick Basham and John Luik in the New York Post quoting a new study funded by the state’s Department of Health.

What these taxes are doing is putting a heavy extra burden on poor New Yorkers. ‘Yes, the public-health establishment insists that every hike in cigarette taxes results in fewer people smoking,’ say Basham and Luik in a piece headlined: The great cigarette-tax lie. ‘But it’s not true: Extensive research shows that high “butt taxes” are a major public-health mistake that punishes the poor without reducing smoking.

‘Today, smokers are mostly lower income and younger people. But neither of these overlapping groups is smoking less – and both groups are poorer, thanks to cigarette taxes.’

The full story is at: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_great_cigarette_tax_lie_My57RghhpuH5YSpbzASwEK.

The Bulgarian Health Minister, Desislava Atanasova, has refused to lift the smoking ban in enclosed public places imposed in June, according to a Novinite story.

“This is a very European step that we made and we shouldn’t come back,” Atanasova was quoted as having said yesterday.

Representatives ofBulgaria’s restaurant and hotel sector had written an open letter to Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, asking for an easing of the country’s indoor public-places tobacco smoking ban.

The sector estimates that turnover has slumped by 20-40 per cent since the ban was introduced on June 1 and is alarmed about a possible mass exodus of customers and, therefore, business bankruptcies, during the winter.

At the end of September, two MPs had proposed amendments to the Health Act that would have returned the country to the regulatory position that existed before the introduction of the ban whereby all establishments bigger than 70 square meters had to have separate smoking and non-smoking areas, while smaller establishments had the choice of being either fully-smoking or non-smoking.

Tobacco farmers from 14 countries are due to arrive in Budapestnext week for the 33rd Congress of their European association, UNITAB, at which the main theme will be: Retain the jobs inEurope.

The Congress, which has attracted more than 250 delegates to register, will be held on October 18-20.

On the first day, representatives of farmer associations will give presentations about the state of tobacco production in their respective countries and the Congress will discuss market issues.

The second day will be given over to, among other things, presentations on the likely effects of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Looking forward to the Congress, József Eisler, the secretary of the Hungarian Tobacco Growers’ Association, said that European tobacco farmers were worried about the jobs of 85,000 farmers and those of the more than 400,000 people employed by them.

This concern, he said, stemmed from the fact that European politicians were making a series of decisions that were disadvantageous to tobacco growing without being able to identify any alternative form of livelihood for those involved in tobacco.

ThroughoutEurope, tobacco was produced in regions where no other crop could be grown and unemployment rates were relatively high. There was no alternative to growing tobacco.

Eisler said the organisers of the Congress were hoping they could make European politicians aware that they could not successfully fight smoking through the liquidation of jobs.

The Hungarian Minister of Regional Development, Dr Sándor Fazekas, will receive several delegations from tobacco growing countries during the Congress and a number of politicians are expected to attend the debate on CAP reforms.

The Hong Konggovernment has been urged to make bar managers liable for prosecution if people smoke inside their premises, according to a story in the Hong Kong Standard.

Since 2007, most public places in Hong Kong have been covered by a smoking ban and smokers have been liable to prosecution in the event that they broke the ban.

Now, the chairwoman of the Council on Smoking and Health, Lisa Lau, wants the law to be amended to make bar managers too liable for prosecution.

Lau said if bar managers helped stop people from smoking it would ease the pressure on the Tobacco Control Office.

Japan Tobacco International said yesterday that Vladislav Mihov had been appointed country manager forBulgaria, according to a Novinite story quoting a JTI press note.

Mihov’s predecessor, Charles Cunningham-Reid, is to head consumer and trade marketing for Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova.

Mihov, who is said to be the first Bulgarian to lead the company’s business in the country, has more than 20 years’ experience in tobacco, locally and overseas.

Reynolds American Inc is due to webcast a conference call at 09.00 hours Eastern Time on October 23 following the release of its third-quarter 2012 financial results.

The conference call, which will be available online on a listen-only basis at www.reynoldsamerican.com, will include Daniel M. Delen, president and CEO, Thomas R. Adams, CFO, and Morris L. Moore, vice president of investor relations.

Registration is available at the same site, where a replay will be available following the event.

Call-in numbers are (877) 390-5533 (toll-free) and (678) 894-3969 (international).

Sales of loose tobacco in Iceland were 34 per cent higher during the first nine months of this year than they were during January-September 2011, according to an Iceland Review story quoting data from the State Alcohol and Tobacco Company of Iceland.

At the same time, sales in cigarettes, the prices of which have risen to more than ISK1,000 a pack, have decreased.

The Review said that while consuming loose tobacco instead of cigarettes so as to save money was common abroad, the trend was relatively new inIceland.

But, according to the Morgunblaðið newspaper, hand-rolled cigarettes are only half the price of factory-made cigarettes.

Philip Morris Korea (PMK) yesterday opened its revamped cigarette manufacturing facility at Yangsan, South Gyeongsang province, according to a Korea Herald story relayed by the TMA.

The revamped plant now has an annual production capacity of 40 billion cigarettes a year, almost double that of the original factory built in 2002.

PMK invested WON190 billion in the expansion of the factory, which is equipped with raw material processing and packaging facilities.

The expansion is said to have created 100 additional local jobs.

PMK managing director, Chong Il-woo, said the revamped plant would enable the company to secure a stable production capacity and attract outstanding local people.

And it would contribute to the national economy by creating jobs and expanding exports.