Author: Staff Writer

The introduction of standardized packaging in Ireland will not force smokers to quit their habit nor prevent smoking initiation, according to Patrick Basham, who co-authored The Plain Truth: Does Packaging Influence Smoking?

Writing in The Irish Times, Basham, who directs the Democracy Institute and is a Cato Institute adjunct scholar, took aim at both the Irish Minister of Health James Reilly, who has declared his intention to introduce standardized cigarette packs next year, and the EU’s health commissioner, Tonio Borg, who wants to mandate gruesome, super-sized warnings on packs of cigarettes as part of a revised Tobacco Products Directive. (Both institutes have been the recipients of tobacco-industry funding.)

“Though fear is both policymakers’ weapon of choice for stopping people from smoking, it simply won’t work,” wrote Basham, who later in his piece pointed out that several independent research studies published during the past two years had found graphic health warnings to be an utter failure.

Basham’s piece can be read in full at http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/terror-campaign-directed-at-smoking-applies-a-faulty-logic-1.1469572.

Ministers in the U.K. government now have “no excuse” to delay plans to require cigarettes to be sold in standardized packs, according to a story in the electronic Telegraph quoting health campaigners.

The campaigners were basing their claim on the results of a study that found that tobacco sold in standardized packaging was “less appealing” and made smokers “prioritize quitting.”

Earlier this month the government came under heavy fire for abandoning—for the time being at least—the idea of introducing standardized tobacco packaging.

The government put the matter out to public consultation and, following that consultation, decided to await the outcome of Australia’s pioneering adoption of standardized packaging.

Since Dec. 1, 2012, Australia has required that all tobacco products be sold in packaging designed on behalf of the 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.

Research into the strategy, published in the online journal BMJ Open, was conducted to find out the effects the policy was having in the early stages, according to the Telegraph story.

The authors interviewed 536 cigarette smokers in the Australian state of Victoria during November 2012, when standardized packs were already available. Smokers smoking cigarettes from standardized packs comprised 72.3 percent of respondents, while the remainder were still using branded packs with smaller health warnings.

The researchers found that, compared to smokers using cigarettes from branded packs, smokers using cigarettes from standardized packs were 66 percent more likely to think their cigarettes were of poorer quality than those of a year ago, and they were 70 percent more likely to say they found them less satisfying. They were also 81 percent more likely to have thought about quitting at least once a day during the previous week.

“Overall, the introductory effects we observed are consistent with the broad objectives of the plain packaging legislation,” the authors said. “We await further research to examine more durable effects on smokers and any effects on youth.”

British American Tobacco’s Australian unit has disputed the findings of a cancer charity’s study that standardized cigarette packaging lowers the appeal of cigarettes and increases the desire to quit, according to a Bloomberg News story.

Australia’s introduction of standardized packaging legislation had had “no noticeable impact on legal tobacco sales in the first six months,” BAT Australia spokesman Scott McIntyre was quoted as saying in an emailed statement. “Smokers are still purchasing cigarettes just as they were before it was introduced.”

The study, funded by Cancer Council Victoria, surveyed 536 smokers during the rollout of the standardized pack legislation in November, when branded packs were still on sale.

Anti-smoking activists have condemned an advertising campaign that offers junior and senior high school graduates discounts on buying packs of cigarettes at graduation celebrations in Jiangxi Province, China, according to a story in the Global Times.

The Chinese Association on Tobacco Control has said that it has reported the campaign to central government authorities.

Co-organized by the China Tobacco Jiangxi Industrial and its Nancheng county branch, the campaign is said to be aimed at promoting the sales of Jinsheng, a local cigarette brand, via a website targeting school students in Fuzhou, Jiangxi Province.

The website promises that students will get one pack of Jinsheng cigarettes free for every pack they buy at all graduation dinners in co-operating restaurants from June 25 to Sept. 30.

According to China’s protection of minors law, shopkeepers are forbidden from selling tobacco to underage children, though no age limit is specified in China’s tobacco laws.

Imperial Tobacco Canada said yesterday it had made a $10,000 donation to the Salvation Army to support the charity’s emergency and disaster services for the community in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec.

On July 6, a train carrying oil exploded in this small lakeside town, killing more than 50 people.

“Our thoughts have been and continue to be with everyone in the community,” said Caroline Ferland, vice president, corporate and regulatory affairs. “Our entire family of employees join me in expressing our deepest sympathy to the people who are affected by this tragic train derailment.”

The Salvation Army’s efforts in Lac-Mégantic included delivering water, food, blankets and other disaster relief services to survivors.

The Imperial Tobacco Group has donated more than 300 computer monitors and a number of laser printers to a charity that helps schools in Africa.

IT Schools Africa took the equipment away following Imperial’s move from its former head office in Bristol, U.K., and has distributed it to schools in Zimbabwe.

Imperial’s new global head office has been equipped with new IT equipment, which meant that some of the existing technology was no longer needed.

“Knowing we’d have a large number of monitors available, we wanted to ensure they were put to good use,” said Tony Rickard, corporate center IT manager.

“The charity was running an appeal for flat screens for use in schools, which we considered a very valuable re-use of the redundant equipment.

“It is great to know that rather than being disposed of, the equipment is being used for a good cause.”

Ron Pearce, of IT Schools Africa, said his charity was very grateful for Imperial’s generous support.

Muslims in Malaysia have been told that shisha or water-pipe smoking is forbidden, according to a story in The Star.
The Fatwa (edicts) Committee of the National Council for Islamic Affairs declared on Friday that shisha smoking was “haram” (forbidden) for Muslims.

And the committee chairman, Tan Sri Dr Abdul Shukor Husin, added that Muslims were prohibited from providing shisha-smoking services or any activity associated with shisha.

The latest edict follows a reminder issued last month by the Muzakarah Committee of the National Fatwa Council for Islamic Religious Affairs of a 1995 prohibition on smoking in general.

It was not clear why it was thought necessary to issue a separate edict against shisha.

“After listening to the experts from the Health Ministry and scrutinising medical and scientific evidence from the country and abroad on the ill-effects of shisha, the committee decided to prohibit shisha,” Abdul Shukor said in a statement announcing the latest edict.

“Shisha is clearly harmful to health; it is a wasteful activity that is categorized as a bad or despicable thing that all Muslims should avoid,” said Abdul Shukor.

The U.K.’s tobacco smoking prevalence is expected to drop below 20 percent this year—the first time it has been that low for 100 years, according to numerous local reports.

The figure is based on the Smoking Toolkit Study, which is being conducted by University College, London.

Professor Robert West, who is the co-head of the study, was quoted in a story in the Guernsey Press as saying that 20 percent was a psychologically significant marker.

“2013 is going to be, almost without doubt, the first year for a hundred years where we’re solidly below 20 percent smoking prevalence in England,” he said. “It’s going to be a big year. We are making progress. It’s slow, and we’d like it to be quicker, but things are going in the right direction.”

The study is apparently not complete, but the preliminary information is being used by some people to support the case for the introduction of standardized tobacco packaging.

The argument seems to be that while progress is being made in reducing the prevalence of smoking, further progress is contingent on standardized packaging.

Impulsiveness is strongly associated with addiction to drugs and, for example, to smoking, according to a Science Codex story.

In particular, impulsiveness is associated with an early onset of smoking and frequent relapses of smokers who try to quit.

Furthermore, impulsiveness is known to promote drug craving, a key feature of addiction and one of the best predictors of relapse.

“In the first study on the neural pathways that underlie the relationship between impulsivity and cigarette craving, Josiane Bourque and colleagues from the University of Montreal, Canada, found that impulsive people (who experienced the most intense cravings in response to images of cigarettes) showed diminished activity in the posterior cingulate cortex of the brain,” the story said.

“Bourque and colleagues conclude that a lower activity in this region makes it more difficult for impulsive people to control their cravings for cigarettes and other drugs.”

Five NGOs have called on Malaysia to exclude medical and tobacco interests from continuing free trade talks under the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), according to a story in The Star.

The groups said the inclusion of medical interests in the free trade deal would not lead to cheaper medicines, while tobacco companies should not be allowed to benefit from trade deals in the first place.

The NGOs are the Malaysian AIDS Council, the Breast Cancer Welfare Association, the Malaysian PT Foundation, the Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control, and the South East Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA).

SEATCA senior policy adviser Mary Assunta said tobacco companies should not benefit from such trade deals.

There were cases, she added, where countries were being sued for enforcing laws to discourage smoking and tobacco companies were claiming breaches in trade agreements.

The TPPA negotiations involve Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam. Japan is scheduled to join the negotiations later.