Big tobacco companies and anti-cancer activists are each opposed to a part of the US’ Affordable Care Act that allows insurance companies to charge smokers 50 per cent more than those who do not use tobacco, according to a piece by Sarah Kliff published in the Washington Post.
Cigarette manufacturers say the policy amounts to discrimination against smokers.
And the American Cancer Society is concerned that the high surcharges could make health insurance unaffordable to cigarette smokers, who are disproportionately low income.
“We’re anti-smoking, not anti-smoker,” said David Woodmansee, the society’s associate director for state and local campaigns.
Kliff explained that, unlike other groups that had failed to get a divided Congress to kill off parts of President Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment, these unusual partners could have a shot at success because they can take the battle to individual states, which have the authority to bar health insurers from considering tobacco use in setting subscriber premiums.
Estonia’s Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications (MEAC) have criticized the European Commission’s proposed revisions of the EU’s Tobacco Products Directive, according to a story in The Baltic Course quoting LETA/Postimees Online reports.
The MEAC has said that the proposed cigarette pack revisions would disproportionately restrict the rights of businesses to use their trademarks.
Under the revisions, the text and picture warnings, along with pack identification marks, would take three quarters of the pack’s space, making it unlikely that the trademark could be displayed reasonably.
The two ministries say that bigger warnings and obligatory warning pictures on both sides of the packs are not justified as it is not possible to prove that such pictures or warnings would help promote health.
And they believe the proposed revisions might encourage an increase in the trade in illicit cigarettes.
Estonia’s draft response to the proposed directive revisions was supposed to reach the government for approval earlier this month, but the Ministry of Social Affairs, which is drafting the proposal, has asked for an extension until the beginning of March.
Prohibitive cigarette and alcohol prices encourage the smuggling of these products, according to participants at a recent conference held at Warsaw on the illicit trade across the EU’s eastern border, according to a EurActiv Poland report.
The conference, organised by EurActiv Poland with the support of Philip Morris, examined the proposed European Commission’s revisions to the Tobacco Products Directive but also looked at the wider debate on the illicit trade.
The Commission has proposed, among other things, that larger health warnings be imposed on cigarette packs and the introduction of a ban on characterizing flavors, including menthol.
Industry representatives and others have balked at the draft rules.
And speaking at the conference, Tadeusz Zwiefka, a Polish MEP from the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), said the updated directive should be carefully considered to avoid a further increase in smuggling.
“Instead of contributing to better health of Europeans, the possible rise in smuggling or production of illegal cigarettes from tobacco of unknown origin means that they will be more harmful to health,” he told the participants at the conference.
The National [US] Vapers Club is due to hold next month an event to promote research and education for electronic cigarette users while providing a venue for the latest products.
According to a PRNewswire story, the New York Vapefest, which was first held in 2010, is billed as a fundraiser and educational forum.
It is said to fund research into the safety of electronic cigarettes.
Previous events funded a peer-reviewed Indoor Air Quality study, published last fall in the scientific journal, Inhalation Toxicology. The study determined that electronic cigarette emissions posed no apparent risk to human health.
The Vapefest will be held at the Mill River Manor Best Western, Rockville Centre, New York, from 14.00 hours to 22.00 hours on March 22 and 23.
A small majority of Dutch MPs voted last week for a motion calling for the reinstatement of a ban on smoking in all restaurants, bars and cafés, according to an Expatica story.
Small bars and cafés run by their owners and not employing other staff have been exempt since the ban was relaxed in 2010 by the previous government following a court ruling.
However, the ban, brought in nearly five years ago, is said to be widely flouted in bigger bars, cafés and nightclubs.
It was not clear from the report why, given the situation, the MPs decided to punish those running small bars and cafés within the law, rather than clamping down on those braking the law.
The government must now decide what to do with the motion.
Junior health minister, Martin van Rijn, said last month that he was working on a ‘broad package of [smoking] prevention’.
US-based LOGIC Technology has appointed Chris Colónto to its key executive team.
In his role as national director of key accounts, Colónto will establish and manage new accounts and oversee existing ones with retailers nationwide.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to add such an experienced e-cig category expert to our team,” said Eli Alelov, CEO of LOGIC. “Chris’s vision and leadership, coupled with his knowledge of industry, will contribute to making LOGIC a great partner to US retailers and top selling brand in the United States.”
Anna Mårtensson looks at the Iggesund Mill from an eagle’s point of view.
Iggesund Paperboard’s production of Invercote last year surpassed all previous environmental achievements at its mill at Iggesund, Sweden, the company has reported. Despite record-high manufacturing levels, emissions of environmentally harmful substances were lower than ever before.
“In a paper industry, the environmentally harmful emissions, above all to water, are usually proportional to production: that is, the more you make, the more you emit,” said Anna Mårtensson, environmental manager at Iggesund Mill.
“But 2012 was a very positive exception for us. Even though our production was the most it’s ever been, our emissions were the lowest ever – or at least, as far back as we have reliable measurement data.”
Over the years, Iggesund has taken a variety of steps to reduce its emissions. Fairly early on, the mill began using a system of mechanical purification in sedimentation basins to separate out the leftover fibres that had passed through the pulping process. In the 1970s another step was taken with the construction of an aerated lagoon in which microorganisms clean the wastewater. And in 2009 the mill added a third stage, chemical purification, in which the wastewater is treated in the same way that drinking water is treated.
“Now we can clearly see the effects of the third stage,” Mårtensson said. “The oxygen-consuming substances have been greatly reduced and nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen, which are so harmful to the marine ecosystem in the Baltic Sea, have been almost halved.”
Paper industry operations are so large scale that it often takes time to change course; so the Iggesund Mill is working in a strategic, targeted way to reduce its impact on the local environment. “Not one investment decision is made without first considering the environmental aspects,” Mårtensson said. “That is the constant question we ask every time we discuss how to develop our production. Things don’t always move as fast as our critics would like but systematic work on these issues is what gives results over time.”
Iggesund Mill has been making paper pulp on the same site for almost 100 years and has been refining the pulp into paperboard for 50 years. Half a century ago the seabed outside the mill was dead and the environmentally harmful emissions were considerable. Today it is not possible to distinguish between fish that live close to the mill and fish from unaffected reference areas. Sensitive species, such as seals and eagles, which have been absent for many years from the mill’s vicinity, are now back and increasing in numbers.
Over the past two years Iggesund Paperboard has invested more than €340 million in switching to production based on renewable energy. At Iggesund Mill alone the company has invested more than €100,000 a day for the past ten years, always with a focus on the environmental consequences of its investments.
More tobacco was sold in Zimbabwe on the opening day of this year’s auction sales than on the opening day of 2012’s auctions, but prices were lower and rejects were up, according to a story by Elita Chikwati for the Zimbabwe Herald.
The first day’s auctions saw 265,000 kg sold for US$784,000, up from 178,000 kg sold for $633,000 on the first day of 2012’s auctions.
However, prices were down by 16 per cent to US$2.96 per kg while rejects were increased by 27 per cent to 213 bales (out of 3,499 laid).
The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board chairperson, Monica Chinamasa, has advised tobacco growers to reduce losses by planting only manageable areas to tobacco and aiming to produce higher yields and quality.
“The dynamics and requirements of our major export markets are changing. We are aware that they now prefer clean leaf of good maturity and quality from the upper stalk,” she said.
She urged growers to invest in efficient curing facilities because while good crops were appearing in the fields, there was less good quality tobacco on the sales floors.
“Growers should also invest in grading and presentation facilities or skills,” she said. “About half of the bales rejected in 2012 were declared ‘mixed hands’. This compromises the price offered and the buyers’ final export product,” she said.
About 170 million kg of tobacco is expected to be sold during the 2013 season.
Japan Tobacco Inc’s domestic cigarette sales volume during January, at 8.5 billion, was down by 0.8 per cent on its January 2012 volume, 8.6 billion, which itself was increased by 0.9 per cent on that of January 2011, according to preliminary figures issued by the company today.
Volume during the 10 months, April 2012-January 2013, at 97.9 billion, was up by 9.4 per cent on its April 2011-January 2012 volume, 89.4 billion, which was down by 22.5 per cent on that of April 2010-January 2011.
JT’s market share stood at 58.5 per cent in January, at 59.5 per cent during April 2012-January 2013, and at 54.9 for the full year to the end of March 2012.
JT has suffered huge domestic volume swings in recent times because of an unprecedented, mainly tax-driven price hike on October 1, 2010, and the massive disruption caused to the company’s manufacturing and distribution operations following the earthquake and tsunami of March 11 2011.
JT’s domestic cigarette revenue during January, at ¥46.7 billion, was down by 0.7 per cent on its January 2012 revenue, ¥47.1 billion, which was up by 0.4 per cent on that of January 2011.
Revenue during April 2012-January 2013, at ¥538.7 billion, was up by 9.6 per cent on its revenue during April 2011-January 2012, ¥491.7 billion, which was down by 3.6 per cent on that of April 2010-January 2011.
Israel’s Ministry of Finance is halving the country’s duty-free allowance for cigarettes, which even now is hardly generous.
According to a Globes online story quoting the Hebrew daily Ma’ariv, from April, passengers returning to Israel from overseas will be allowed only 125 gm of duty-free tobacco products, equal to one pack of cigarettes.
The Israel Tax Authority says that the new measure, which will cancel the current limit of two packs of duty-free cigarettes per passenger, will generate NIS150 million a year in revenues.
“There is no reason in [the] world for Israel to subsidize cigarettes, especially for people able to travel abroad,” said a top Tax Authority official. “This is not the social justice that the public wants.”
Many people might applaud such a stance, but the question arises as to why one pack is acceptable while two packs aren’t.
