Author: Staff Writer

JTI Korea said yesterday that it would introduce Ploom, a tobacco vaporizer, on the domestic market on Nov. 18, according to a story in The Korea Herald.

The Ploom vaporizer is a pocket-sized smoking alternative device that heats tobacco contained in pods to a constant temperature, vaporizing nicotine and flavors without burning the materials or producing smoke.

In December 2011, Japan Tobacco International and the San Francisco-based Ploom announced that they had entered into an exclusive, long-term cooperation agreement under which JTI would commercialize Ploom’s new generation of “smoking alternative products” outside the U.S.

Ploom capsules will be available in Korea in six variants: Mevius, Camel, Cooler, Gold, Orchard and Alert. A multipack containing all six variants also will be available.

A pack, comprising 12 capsules, will retail at WON4,500: about twice the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes.

The use of e-cigarettes on Switzerland’s public transport system will be banned as of next month, according to a Medical Xpress story quoting the national association of mass-transit operators.

From Dec. 15, those caught using e-cigarettes on public transport will face a fine of CHF25, a spokesman for the Public Transportation Union told the Swiss news agency ATS.

The regulation against smoking tobacco on public transport was extended to take in e-cigarettes because, it was said, inspectors had difficulty distinguishing between traditional and e-cigarettes

Swiss regulations do not allow the sale of e-cigarettes, but their use in the country is allowed and the federal public health agency has noted an increase in their use.

There are currently no regulations in Switzerland governing the use of e-cigarettes in restaurants.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, who is leading closed-door negotiations concerning the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is pushing a proposal that would grant tobacco manufacturers the right to sue governments for passing laws aimed at protecting the public from tobacco, according to a Corporate Accountability International (CAI) report.

“Disturbingly—but not surprisingly—the U.S. trade representative has caved to Philip Morris International’s lobbying, promoting the tobacco industry’s interests over the public interest,” said CAI. “In particular, he is advancing a proposal that could enable Big Tobacco to sue countries implementing strong tobacco control measures, by claiming trade violations. If passed, the TPP will threaten governments’ sovereign rights to protect people from the tobacco industry’s deadly reach. It has the potential to turn back the clock on decades of hard-won progress secured through the global tobacco treaty [the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control].”

CAI is concerned not only with the influence exerted by tobacco interests. “The TPP is being driven by more than 600 lobbyists representing the interests of Big Business, including lobbyists for global tobacco associations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as well as for global corporations such as Monsanto [and] Wal-Mart,” it said. “As a result, the trade agreement will have devastating consequences for people around the Pacific Rim. For example, as it now stands, the TPP threatens to decrease people’s access to medicine, water down food-safety laws and undermine public health advances.”

The report is at http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/blog/TPP.

The Tobacco Board of India is reportedly contemplating speeding up flue-cured auctions in Karnataka, India, so that they are finished by the end of January, according to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala newsletter.

Normally, Karnataka auctions finish in February.

But with average prices climbing by more than 21 percent on those of last season, the board is said to be considering advancing the auctions so as “to prevent [unspecified] unscrupulous trade practices.”

“We are planning to move forward the auctions so that farmers will not need to keep the produce for a longer time,” Board Chairman K. Gopal was quoted as saying.

“The e-auctions system introduced on auction platforms has worked well as it kept unfair trade practices away.”

Copies of a national newspaper featuring a half-page tobacco advertisement on its front page were given away at an event held by Indonesia’s Health Ministry to commemorate National Health Day on Nov. 12, according to a story in The Jakarta Post.

The seemingly inappropriate gift was handed out at a time when the ministry is pushing the trade, industry and manpower and transmigration ministries to agree to ratify the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which encourages countries to ban tobacco advertisements.

Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi voiced her surprise that the newspaper was given, along with a snack box, to almost all of the ceremony attendees.

Nafsiah was not pleased with the ceremony’s organizing committee, but she was quick to shift the blame from the ministry to the tobacco industry. The ministry had not intended to promote smoking by giving away the newspaper, she said, before adding: “This shows how aggressive cigarette companies can be, as they will avail of any opportunity to promote their products.”

“Let’s just focus on the positive side,” she continued. “Look at the health warning stated on the bottom of the ad. This is what will happen if you smoke. ‘Smoking can cause cancer, heart attacks, impotence and is harmful to pregnancy and fetal development.’”

Philip Morris International is due to host a live audio webcast at www.pmi.com/webcasts of a presentation and question-and-answer session by CEO André Calantzopoulos at the Morgan Stanley Global Consumer Conference starting about 12 p.m. Eastern Time on Nov. 20.

The webcast, which will be in listen-only mode, will provide live audio of the entire PMI session.

An archived copy of the webcast will be available at www.pmi.com/webcasts.

And the presentation slides and script will be available at the same address.

Imperial Tobacco employees from Germany and Poland recently competed in a football competition staged near to the company’s Tarnowo plant in Poland.

The weekend tournament involved teams from Radom, near Warsaw, and Langenhagen, near Hannover, as well as two teams from Tarnowo.

“It was great for our people from Poland and Germany to meet up outside work and test each other’s hidden talents,” said Radom factory manager Katarzyna Wolińska.

“This was fun for the players and supporters alike, and we hope this becomes a regular fixture in the future.”

Flue-cured prices in Karnataka, India, have risen sharply this year with the highest bid during the 51 days of auctions up to Nov. 8 having reached INR176.40 per kg, according to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter.

By Nov. 8, growers had sold 38.12 million kg of the 100 million kg thought to have been produced in Karnataka this year.

In early December 2012, with 28.47 million kg of tobacco having been sold, the top bid had reached INR149.80 per kg.

This season, top-grade bright varieties are said to be fetching an average price of INR164.94 per kg, up 24 percent on that of last year.

Prices for medium-grade varieties, which are averaging INR141.91 per kg, are increased by nearly 21 percent on those of last year.

The high prices this year are said to have been encouraged by the high level of demand for quality leaf.

Last year also saw a surge in prices, but in that case the increase was put down mainly to the introduction of the e-auction system.

Moon Hyung-pyo, who has been nominated for the position of minister of health and welfare in South Korea, said yesterday that cigarette prices should be increased in order to deter people from smoking, according to a story in The Korea Times.

Before a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly, Moon said the government needed actively to intervene in setting cigarette prices so as to lower smoking rates.

Cigarettes were the biggest public health threat, he said, before going on to mention alcoholic beverages as well.

Preventing smoking would be the most effective way to promote public health and ease the financial burdens of health insurance holders, he added.

Moon quoted the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs as saying that the “proper” price for cigarettes was WON6,199 a pack. Currently, most prices are within the range of WON2,000 to WON3,000 a pack.

But he went further than championing high prices. “As well as raising the price, other policies such as printing repulsive warning images on packages, should be introduced,” he said.

“I believe a price hike and other warning campaigns are the most effective ways to encourage people to quit smoking.”

Scotland is aiming to become the second country after Australia to impose standardized packaging requirements on tobacco manufacturers, according to Ria Patel, writing in TopNews.

Since Dec. 1, Australia has required that all tobacco products be sold in packaging designed on behalf of the previous Labor government to be as ugly as possible. Packs are hugely dominated by graphic health warnings, are otherwise a standard olive color, have no logos or other design features, and have brand and variant names in a standardized font and position.

The Scottish government has announced that regulations requiring standardized packaging will be in place by 2014–2015.

“To build a generation free from tobacco, it is necessary to restrict the imagery and design that tobacco companies use to pull in another generation to use these addictive and lethal products,” said Public Health Minister Michael Matheson.

Matheson said that, in the meantime, the government would monitor what was happening in Australia in order to gather evidence about the effects of standardized packaging.

This, he said, would help the government initiate a consultation procedure in Scotland.