Author: Staff Writer

Kyrgyzstan is looking to attract foreign investment in its tobacco production industry, according to a story in The Times of Central Asia quoting Kyrgyz Agriculture Ministry figures.

The country produced 7,400 tons of mainly Dubek semi-oriental tobacco last year, but the crop’s value, at 631 million soms, was down from 1.083 billion soms the previous year.

Last year, too, Kyrgyzstan exported raw tobacco worth 13.3 million soms while importing from 24 countries cigarettes worth 51.8 million soms.

The Agriculture Ministry has submitted to the Kyrgyz government a proposal for developing the industry through the attraction of direct foreign investments during 2013-2015.

The proposal is aimed at improving the quality of the country’s raw and fermented tobacco, increasing its raw tobacco and cigarette production, increasing the export potential of the tobacco industry, and attracting investments to fund the modernization of fermentation factories and the construction of a cigarette factory in southern Kyrgyzstan. It aims, too, to ban the export of raw, unfermented tobacco.

The proposal includes also measures to improve the living standard of those people living in tobacco-growing regions by the creation of new jobs and the prevention of the ‘artificial lowering of purchasing prices for raw tobacco sold by local farmers’.

Tobacco is grown in three southern Kyrgyz regions — Osh, Jalal-Abad, and Batken

The Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, has been criticised for holding a meeting with representatives of the tobacco industry, according to a story in The Journal.ie.

The meeting, which was said also to have involved two senior ministers, Alan Shatter and Michael Noonan, was held a fortnight ago but has only recently come to public attention.

The criticism, which seems to have been led by Senator John Crown and MEP Nessa Childers, is aimed at the meeting itself and the fact that it was not made public.

The lack of immediate transparency would seem to have gone against the spirit of the much-invoked Article 5.3 of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

On the other hand, it seems unsurprising that such a meeting took place given that Ireland currently has the presidency of the EU and given that discussions are taking place in response to the EU Commission’s proposed revisions to the Tobacco Products Directive.

The spokesman for Forest Éireann has said he is undertaking a tour of Ireland in response to “increasingly restrictive measures on smoking and tobacco, including campaigns to ‘de-normalise’ the habit”.

On the Limerick leg of his tour, John Mallon urged smokers to stand up to “Prohibition extremism in a free society”.

According to a story by Lynda Foley for the Limerick Post, Mallon is concerned that, following the public smoking ban, the prohibition of 10 packs and the display ban, campaigners now wanted to ban smoking in private vehicles carrying children. “What next?” he asked. “All cars? Private homes where children are present? Outdoor parks and beaches?

“And what about other products that carry a potential health risk such as alcohol and fizzy drinks? Will they be targeted too?”

Mallon said he was concerned also with the “unintended consequences of anti-tobacco legislation including the closure of pubs, an increase in the black market sale of tobacco and the increasing prevalence of smoking in Ireland”.

Thailand’s deputy public health minister, Dr. Chonlanan Srikeaw, has announced that a new anti-smoking law will require cigarette packs to carry bigger health warnings, according to a story in the Pattaya Mail.

A new law, which will be implemented on October 2, will stipulate that cigarette warning labels must cover 85 per cent of packs.

Last year, smokers accounted for about 21 per cent of Thailand’s population of people 15 years of age and older: about 11 million.

RFID Journal said yesterday that it will feature a ‘co-located’ event at its 10th European show, RFID Journal LIVE! Europe (www.rfidjournalevents.com/europe).

The co-located event, RFID in Europe (www.rfidineurope.eu), is designed to promote the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies, and to connect European end users and system providers.

Both events will be held on October 15 at Dexter House in London, England.

Vapor Corp. said on Wednesday that CEO, Kevin Frija, was due to make a presentation at the Second Annual Marcum LLP MicroCap Conference on May 30 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

The company’s presentation is scheduled to begin at 16.00 hours Eastern Daylight Time.

More information and registration is available at the conference website: http://www.marcumllp.com/microcap

Researchers in Australia, Canada, the UK and the US have concluded that electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) might have the potential to serve as cessation aids, according to a paper published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The researchers set out to examine patterns of ENDS awareness, use, and product-associated beliefs among current and former smokers in four countries.

Their data, which was collected between July 2010 and June 2011, and analyzed through June 2012, came from studying 5,939 current and former smokers in Canada (1,581), the US (1,520); the UK (1,325); and Australia (1,513).

‘Overall, 46.6 per cent were aware of ENDS (US: 73 per cent, UK: 54 per cent, Canada: 40 per cent, Australia: 20 per cent); 7.6 per cent had tried ENDS (16 per cent of those aware of ENDS); and 2.9 per cent were current users (39 per cent of triers),’ according the Results section of an abstract of the paper.

‘Awareness of ENDS was higher among younger, non-minority smokers with higher incomes who were heavier smokers.

‘Prevalence of trying ENDS was higher among younger, nondaily smokers with a high income and among those who perceived ENDS as less harmful than traditional cigarettes.

‘Current use was higher among both nondaily and heavy (≥20 cigarettes per day) smokers.

‘In all, 79.8 per cent reported using ENDS because they were considered less harmful than traditional cigarettes; 75.4 per cent stated that they used ENDS to help them reduce their smoking; and 85.1 per cent reported using ENDS to help them quit smoking.’

The researchers concluded that the awareness of ENDS was high, especially in countries where they were legal – the US and UK.

‘Because trial was associated with nondaily smoking and a desire to quit smoking, ENDS may have the potential to serve as a cessation aid,’ they said.

University of Western Australia (UWA) researchers have found that poorer West Australian suburbs have four times the number of tobacco outlets than those found in their affluent neighbors, according to a story on WAtoday.com.au.

The study was published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

It is unlikely that the researchers were surprised by the findings. The lead researcher, UWA’s Centre for the Built Environment and Health associate professor, Lisa Wood, was quoted as saying that people from “lower socio-economic backgrounds” had a higher smoking prevalence than did those from higher socio-economic backgrounds. “…and we already know there’s a whole raft of reasons for that,” she said.