Author: Staff Writer

In a re-play of the tobacco industry’s former close connection with sport, Totally Wicked, a supplier of electronic cigarettes, on the weekend announced a sponsorship deal with St Helens’ RFC, one of England’s top rugby league clubs.

According to a PRNewswire story, under the deal, the club’s Langtree Park North Stand is to be renamed the Totally Wicked Stand.

Totally Wicked products will be available to buy throughout the stadium on match days.

And the club will hold a ‘cigarette amnesty’ where fans will be able to swap their tobacco cigarettes for a St Helens branded electronic cigarette.

Tourists heading for Cuba with the idea of taking pictures of locals happily puffing away at quality cigars are likely to be disappointed.

At least that is the picture painted by Cuban blogger, Yoani Sanchez, writing in the Huffington Post.

In a piece relayed by the TMA, Sanchez said that it was becoming increasingly difficult for locals to enjoy Cuban cigars because the product now sold at ‘stratospheric prices’ in specialized luxury stores.

With monthly earnings barely surpassing US$25, locals had almost no chance of enjoying Cuban cigars.

The government, Sanchez said, had lost interest in selling to their own citizens a product they preferred to export.

US vapers are submitting a petition to urge the White House to take action to prevent the Food and Drug Administration from enacting unnecessary, burdensome regulations that could effectively ban the sale of many electronic cigarettes, according to a press note issued through USNewswire.

The White House required 25,000 signatures to be collected in one month to receive an answer. The petition was filed on January 14 and hit the 25,000 mark on February 6. Signatures will continue to be collected through February 13.

“The FDA first tried to remove all e-cigarettes from the market by calling them ‘drug delivery devices,’” said Elaine Keller, president of the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA), a non-profit, volunteer organization formed in 2009 by electronic cigarette consumers to promote tobacco harm reduction policies.

“Having failed in their attempt to ban e-cigarettes, the FDA has announced its intent to propose a ‘deeming’ regulation to apply Chapter IX of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act to e-cigarettes.

“However, portions of Chapter IX would essentially ban all e-cigarettes from being sold and other provisions would decimate the e-cigarette industry, protect cigarette markets and otherwise threaten public health.”

‘In 2011, consumers submitted a petition that called on the Obama administration to “Recognize electronic cigarettes as an effective alternative to smoking and support job creation in this new industry”,’ the press note said.

‘The petition garnered 6,000 signatures – well over the 5,000 required at that time. ‘Unfortunately, the administration punted to the FDA, and the agency’s response was largely non-responsive. In the time since, the White House increased the number of required signatures and has just announced another increase to 100,000 signatures.’

“The current petition has already collected nearly five times the signatures of just over a year ago,” said Keller.

“Clearly, the word is spreading that these products are successfully replacing tobacco cigarettes for hundreds of thousands of smokers, and all without any serious adverse health effects being reported to the FDA MedWatch system since the administration began to monitor their health effects in 2008.

“In spite of all of the rhetoric and scaremongering coming from the FDA and the tobacco control industry, e-cigarettes are not causing youth to start smoking, poisoning children, affecting the enforcement of smoking bans or causing any kind of public health hazard. They are being used as intended – by adult smokers looking for a far less hazardous long-term alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes.”

Based on the previous White House response, Keller said that she and most tobacco harm reduction experts and advocates are not optimistic about receiving a markedly different response from the White House or FDA this time around. However, CASAA is still encouraging people to sign the petition.

“CASAA believes the petition will help heighten awareness about the upcoming FDA public comment period, which is expected to be opened after the FDA announces its intended regulations sometime around April,” Keller explained.

“It will be imperative that consumers submit comments at that time. We cannot allow the FDA to regulate a scientifically-proven safer alternative to smoking out of existence while leaving its far more hazardous cousin on the market. Anyone can see how ridiculous that would be.”

Keller said that CASAA would be issuing a ‘Call to Action’ once the FDA made its announcement, and she encouraged people who were interested to subscribe to the CASAA email list at http://casaa.org/Become_a_Member.html.

Keep America Beautiful (KAB) has reported an average 55 per cent reduction in cigarette litter within the communities that implemented its Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CLPP) during 2012, according to a press note issued through USNewswire.

In 2012, the program’s 10^th year, there were 195 grant-supported implementations across the US in a variety of places including downtowns, roadways, beaches, parks, marinas, colleges/universities and tourist spots, and at special events.
‘Over the past seven years, the CLPP has consistently cut cigarette butt litter by half based on local measurements taken in the first four months to six months after a program implementation,’ the press note said.

‘Survey results also showed that as communities continue to monitor the program those reductions are sustained or even increased over time.

‘For example, more than 100 communities that started programs in 2011 achieved an average reduction of 48 per cent that year, and increased that reduction by an additional 17 per cent when measured again in 2012.’
“Cigarette litter may still be a significant issue throughout the country, but our Cigarette Litter Prevention Program is making a difference in communities where the program is being implemented,” said Matthew M. McKenna, president and CEO of KAB.

“Through consistent and persistent public education in combination with access to receptacles, we can lessen the environmental harm cigarette litter places on our landscapes and waterways.”

A commission of health care experts has proposed a new list of restrictions to discourage consumption of tobacco and alcohol in Norway, but Heath Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, apparently thinks they went too far, according to a story on newsinenglish.no.

He quickly rejected several of their recommendations.

The commission had wanted to ban snus in Norway and limit the sale of cigarettes to those over the age of 20.

The commission’s members had also recommended banning the sale of wine in three-liter cartons, which have become popular in recent years.

Menthol prices in India have fallen due to the bans that have been imposed in some states on certain types of chewing tobacco, according to a story by Keshav Seth for TopNews.

The FMCG company, Emami, was quoted as saying that it was enjoying lower raw material costs because of the bans and a growth in the production of mint, from whose leaves menthol oil is extracted.

The bans have affected formerly popular tobacco-containing, oral products including paan masala and gutkha.

Emami believes that menthol prices will remain at their current low levels.

The Cultivation of Tobacco, the monumental artwork created in 1960 by the husband-and-wife Greek engravers, Tassos (Anastasios Alevizos), and Loukia Maggiorou, is returning to Stavroupouli in Thessaloniki, according to a story by Nicky Mariam Onti for the Greek Reporter

The masterpiece shows men and women engaged in the cultivation and processing of tobacco in all its stages.

Last April, the work was said to have been transferred to the National Gallery for ‘maintenance, storage and protection’.

With the maintenance completed, it will join the collection of the State Museum of Contemporary Art.

The Altria Group is due to host a webcast of its business presentation at the annual Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) conference in Boca   Raton, Florida, starting about 13.45 hours Eastern Time on February 19.

The webcast, which will be in listen-only mode at www.altria.com, will feature a presentation by chairman and CEO, Martin J. Barrington, and members of Altria’s senior management team.

Pre-event registration is necessary at www.altria.com, where an archived copy of the webcast will be made available.

Imperial Tobacco’s market manager in Finland has been honoured for excellence in customer engagement by one of the country’s largest retail organizations.

Kari Heikkila was recently guest of honour at the centenary dinner for the Finnish K-Retailers’ Association, where he was presented with a medal in recognition of his efforts working with trade partners over the past 17 years.

The association represents about 1,300 store owners in the K-Group across Finland.

‘Heikkila was honoured for the valuable work done in demonstrating “outstanding co-operation” between Imperial and Finnish retailers,’ Imperial said in a note posted on its website.

‘The retail group added the consistent level of professionalism and support shown by Kari and his team was “highly appreciated” by trade partners.’

“I’m delighted to accept this honour on behalf of all of our people in Finland,” said Heikkila.

“Our ongoing commitment to working closely with customers like the K-Group has helped to make Imperial a key partner in the tobacco sector.”