Category: News This Week

Japan Tobacco Inc. said today that it is redesigning the packaging of its Pianissimo Icene Crista and Pianissimo Icene Gracia cigarettes.

The new designs are due to be rolled out across Japan from late August.

The Pianissimo Icene brand, which is described as having a smooth taste and delivering a refreshingly ice-like menthol sensation, is said to have been well received by consumers, so the flavor and aroma of the Crista and Gracia versions will be unchanged.

“The new designs are simple and cool,” said JT in a note posted on its website. “The base tone is black and white, but the opening tape and inner frame are accented with pink, creating a consistent feel for the Pianissimo Icene line. The overall look embodies a mature sophistication and the coldness of ice.”

Assam Health and Family Welfare Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has tabled a bill in the state assembly seeking to outlaw the manufacture, storage, sale and consumption of all smokeless tobacco products within the state.

The bill, if passed, would likely be the first in the country to cover all chewing tobacco products.

As much of the rest of the world has come to realize that tobacco’s main danger derives from the chemicals produced in burning it, and therefore that some noncombustible products (including some oral tobacco products) are less risky than are combustible ones, such as cigarettes and bidis, India has moved to banning many of its noncombustible products while retaining its combustible ones.

Philip Morris USA’s domestic cigarette shipment volume during the three months to the end of June, at 33,819 million, was down by 6.7 percent on that of the three months to the end of June 2012.

Marlboro shipments fell by 7.2 percent to 29,119 million; shipments of other premium brands fell by 10.9 percent to 2,040 million, while shipments of discount brands rose by 3.9 percent to 2,660 million.

PM USA’s share of the domestic retail cigarette market during the three months to the end of June, at 50.7 percent, increased by 0.3 of a percentage point on that of the three months to the end of June 2012. Marlboro’s share, at 43.7 percent, was unchanged, while the share of its other premium brands was down by 0.2 of a percentage point to 3.1 percent, and the share of its discount brands was up by 0.5 of a percentage point to 3.9 percent.

Middleton’s cigar shipment volume during the three months to the end of June, at 298 million, was down by 8.0 percent on that of the three months to the end of June 2012. Black & Mild brand shipments fell by 7.8 percent to 294 million, while shipments of other brands dropped by 20.0 percent to 4 million.

Middleton’s share of the domestic retail cigar market during the three months to the end of June, at 30.0 percent, was down by 0.5 of a percentage point on that of the three months to the end of June 2012. Black & Mild’s share was down by 0.5 of a percentage point to 29.8 percent, while the share of other brands was unchanged at 0.2 percent.

U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. and PM USA’s combined, domestic, smokeless-products shipment volume during the three months to the end of June, at 200.5 million cans and packs, was up by 4.6 percent on that of the three months to the end of June 2012.

Shipments of Copenhagen were up by 8.8 percent to 106.7 million; those of Skoal were up by 1.8 percent to 73.8 million, while those of other brands were down by 5.2 percent to 20.0 million.

USSTC and PM USA’s share of the U.S. domestic market for smokeless products during the three months to the end of June, at 55.0 percent, was unchanged from that of the three months to the end of June 2012. Copenhagen’s share was up by 1.6 percentage points to 29.0 percent; Skoal’s share was down by 1.0 percentage point to 21.7 percent, while the share of other brands was down by 0.6 of a percentage point to 4.3 percent.

Meanwhile, PM USA’s cigarette shipment volume during the six months to the end of June, at 63,320 million, was down by 6.0 percent on that of the six months to the end of June 2012.

Marlboro shipments fell by 6.4 percent to 54,554 million; shipments of other premium brands fell by 11.7 percent to 3,822 million, while shipments of discount brands increased by 4.8 percent to 4,944 million.

Middleton’s cigar shipment volume during the six months to the end of June, at 571 million, was down by 12.4 percent on that of the six months to the end of June 2012. Black & White brand shipments dropped by 12.3 percent to 563 million, while shipments of other brands fell by 20.0 percent to 8 million.

USSTC and PM USA’s combined, domestic, smokeless-products shipment volume during the six months to the end of June, at 376.2 million, increased by 4.0 percent on that of the six months to the end of June 2012.

Copenhagen shipments were up by 8.8 percent to 200.2 million; Skoal shipments were up by 0.8 percent to 138.2 million, while shipments of other brands were down by 6.7 percent to 37.8 million.

The Altria Group yesterday published its second-quarter and first-half results for 2013. Its second-quarter reported diluted earnings per share (EPS) increased by 5.0 percent to $0.63, and its second-quarter adjusted diluted EPS, which excludes the impact of special items, increased by 5.1 percent to $0.62

Altria’s first-half reported diluted EPS increased by 10.9 percent to $1.32, and its first-half adjusted diluted EPS increased by 7.4 percent to $1.16.

“Altria delivered solid financial results for the second quarter and first six months of 2013,” said Chairman and CEO Marty Barrington. “The company’s diverse business model delivered adjusted diluted earnings per share growth of 5.1 percent for the second quarter and 7.4 percent for the first half of the year.”

“All three of our reportable segments delivered adjusted operating companies income and margin growth in the second quarter and first half.

“Altria’s companies also continue to innovate with new products for adult tobacco consumers. Nu Mark’s plans for introducing MarkTen e-cigarettes into a lead market in August of this year are on track.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has set the stage to restrict—or possibly ban—menthol cigarettes on the grounds that they are more appealing to new smokers, more addictive to longtime smokers and pose a greater threat to the public’s health than do unflavored cigarettes, according to a story by Melissa Healy for the Los Angeles Times.

In releasing a comprehensive review of research on menthol’s effects as a tobacco additive on Tuesday, the FDA conceded that adding peppermint oil extract to cigarettes probably didn’t make them more likely to cause diseases such as lung cancer and emphysema. But its 153-page report concluded that menthol in tobacco was linked to “altered physiological responses to tobacco smoke.” Those altered responses, in turn, might contribute to tobacco’s highly addictive qualities and drive up disease by sustaining smoking behavior.

Healy said that the release of the report opened a 60-day public comment period that could set the groundwork for new tobacco restrictions.

“[The] FDA’s actions today on menthol reflect our commitment to explore all potential options, including the establishment of product standards,” Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, was quoted as saying.

The FDA acknowledged that the weight of any changes it might order would disproportionately affect minority communities. Menthol cigarettes are the choice of nearly 75 percent of African American smokers and roughly 30 percent of Latino smokers. By contrast, just over 20 percent of non-Latino whites smoke menthol cigarettes.

The FDA said it would sponsor three new studies of menthol as a tobacco additive, one of which would explore whether genetic differences in taste perception might explain the striking patterns of menthol cigarette use.

Meanwhile, Bonnie Herzog, managing director of beverage, tobacco and convenience store research at Wells Fargo Securities, welcomed the fact that progress was being made on menthol.

Herzog said she believed it was unlikely that menthol would be banned, though she said it would probably be a long time until a final resolution of the issue came about.

But the view was very different from Legacy and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK).

“Two years ago, the FDA’s own scientific advisory committee found that removing menthol cigarettes from the marketplace would benefit public health in the United States,” said David Dobbins, CEO at Legacy in a statement issued through PR Newswire. “The FDA does not need more information on this issue. It needs to remove menthols from the market.”

And Matthew L. Myers, president of CTFK, said, also in a statement issued through PR Newswire, that the FDA’s strong scientific conclusions regarding the harmful impact of menthol cigarettes on the nation’s health should prompt it to move as quickly as possible to ban menthol cigarettes in the U.S.

‘The FDA today [Tuesday] took the first step in the regulatory process by inviting public comment to inform its decisions about what action to take regarding menthol cigarettes and announcing that it is funding additional research relevant to regulating menthol cigarettes, the statement said. “It is critical that these actions be part of a serious and expeditious regulatory process that leads to a ban on menthol cigarettes and not part of an effort to delay action. The key is not what the FDA announced today, but how quickly the agency acts to develop a formal rule banning menthol cigarettes based on the powerful scientific evidence in the report it released today.”

Farmers in the Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh, India, are gearing up for a major shift from chickpea to flue-cured tobacco production, according to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter.

Such a shift, it is said, would nullify recent efforts to restrict flue-cured growing.

Tobacco sowing in the district could go up by 30,000 to 40,000 acres and production by 40 percent; so that production could cross the 100 million kg mark in Prakasam during the coming season.

The Indian Tobacco Association has projected the Andhra crop requirement at 175 million kg for 2014.

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.