Category: News This Week

Payne is launching a Facebook campaign to find out what people think about packs that can be re-closed and re-sealed.

The company says that previous research has suggested that a third of consumers would pay more for the convenience of being able to re-seal certain types of packs and that it is keen to understand some of the driving forces behind purchasing decisions.

“As packaging professionals, we recognize the benefits of ‘reclosability’ in terms of portion control, product protection and reduced waste,” said Payne Managing Director Martin Dallas.  “However, consumers can sometimes surprise us with the reasons for the choices they make, and we want to get to the heart of what they consider to be good packaging and why.”

Feedback is being requested through Payne’s Packaging Resolved Facebook page, where the company seeks to engage with consumers to promote the many benefits of good packaging and identify areas where there is room for further improvement.

The company’s initial research into consumer attitudes to packaging has already identified that consumers tend to respond positively to packaging that is fit for purpose, with opening, closing, protecting and informing being some of the main elements of many successful and popular packs.

To take part in the debate, visit the Packaging Resolved Facebook page at www.facebook.com/PackagingResolved.

Bulgarian tobacco producers are planning to stage large-scale demonstrations in the week beginning July 8 to protest at the country’s failure to secure EU funding for the industry during the next multiyear budgetary period.

The chairman of Bulgaria’s association of tobacco producers, Tsvetan Filev, said Bulgaria was the only country that had failed to protect the interests of the people employed in the tobacco sector—some 200,000 in Bulgaria.

The industry, he said, would not benefit from EU subsidies under the Common Agricultural Program 2014-2020, and tobacco was not the only sector in this position, he added.

The protests are to be held outside the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in the capital city Sofia, and at other places in the country.

The story indicated that Filev “did not rule out the possibility” that on July 11, representatives of the industry would blockade Bulgaria’s border checkpoints with Turkey and Greece.

The price of electronic cigarettes in Italy could be set to rise sharply as the Italian government considers imposing a tax on these devices, according to a story in The Local quoting a La Stampa report.

A draft bill has been submitted to the Council of Ministers, which, if approved, would see the price of electronic cigarette kits increase to €52-133 from €33-84.

Such increases are likely to have a negative impact on a sector that has created 2,000 specialist shops and 5,000 jobs during the past few years.

Massimiliano Mancini, the president of the National Association of Electronic Smoking (Anafe), reportedly told Il Sole 24 Ore that the move was “nonsense” and would lead to the closure of at least 60-70 percent of the shops and the loss of 3,000 jobs.

A growing number of people have been using electronic cigarettes, generally believed to pose far less risk than traditional cigarettes, to wean themselves from smoking.

Switzerland is behind the rest of Europe in the fight to crack down on smoking, according to a worldradio.ch story.

The story quotes the latest World Health Organization report analyzing the performance of its own MPOWER initiatives, which seek to assist in the country-level implementation of measures to reduce tobacco demand.

Switzerland isn’t fully included in the report because the country’s anti-tobacco measures don’t comply with WHO guidelines.

This should come as no surprise since Switzerland tends generally to take an independent line and has not signed up to the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Nevertheless, the report is said to “blame” Switzerland’s federal structure, saying there is little consistency between cantons in implementing anti-tobacco legislation.

In a bid to quit smoking, a man in Turkey’s Kütahya province has taken to wearing a locked wire cage on his head, according to a Hurriyet story.

The shape of the cage seems to resemble that of a small diving helmet or goldfish bowl. It has locks on two sides.

İbrahim Yücel, who is trying to quit his 26-year habit of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, locks the cage around his head and gives the keys to his wife and daughter when he leaves home each day.

The wire mesh is such that while he can see, he cannot smoke.

Presumably, he cannot eat or drink; so the device might get taken up by those fighting obesity.

And it could find a place in the world of fashion—at least on the grunge side.

Vapers are due to take to the streets of Brussels to protest proposals that could emasculate electronic cigarettes sold within the EU.

Many people from across the tobacco divide believe that electronic cigarettes pose little risk to the users of these products.

And they believe that electronic cigarettes comprise one of the most potent products when it comes to weaning smokers from traditional tobacco products.

Toward the end of last year, the European Commission put forward its proposals for revising the Tobacco Products Directive, and as part of those proposals it suggested that electronic cigarettes exceeding a certain threshold of nicotine should come under medicinal products legislation.

Vapers from across Europe are due to meet in Brussels on July 10 to protest peacefully against the proposal to categorize electronic cigarettes as medicines.

“They will meet up in Place Luxembourg (subject to the appropriate permissions, which have been applied for) at 12:30 local time to prepare for a startling and memorable demonstration of what classifying e-cigs as medicines will actually mean—the continued early deaths of up to 2,000 smokers every day of every year,” said a note posted at Vapourtrails.tv: http://forum.vapourtrails.tv/showthread.php?tid=484.

At 13:00, the note said, each vaper will burst one or more black balloons, each one signifying the life of a smoker who, had she been allowed to switch to electronic cigarettes by choice and desire, would have reached her full life span, but, because of the classification of electronic cigarettes as medicines, died early, as a smoker.

The organizers are hoping to be joined by some members of the European Parliament.

Fiji’s Ministry of Health is calling on members of the public to help make Fiji a smoke-free country, according to a story at The Fiji Times Online.

The head of the Tobacco Control Unit, Aminiasi Tavui, said recently that in causing serious health problems, the consumption of tobacco products imposed an enormous burden on the health-care system.

Tavui admitted that Fiji, a small country with fewer than 900,000 people, was struggling with the burden of death and diseases caused by tobacco use.

If parents were to ensure a healthier and brighter future for their children, he added, everybody had to redouble their efforts to eliminate tobacco.

Philip Morris International today welcomed the decision by a World Bank arbitration tribunal to hear a claim that Uruguay violated multiple provisions of its bilateral investment treaty (BIT) with Switzerland.

“In order to attract foreign investment, Uruguay signed more than twenty BITs under which it made firm commitments to respect intellectual property rights and the rule of law,” said a note posted on PMI’s website. “At issue in this case are extreme and unnecessary restrictions imposed on the sale and packaging of tobacco products that conflict with Uruguay’s obligations under the treaty.”

“This ruling holds Uruguay accountable to its international obligations, accountability the country sought to avoid in domestic courts and again before this tribunal,” said PMI spokesperson Julie Soderlund.

“The measures unjustifiably restrict legitimate businesses from selling their products and using their trademarks while increasing incentives for black-market cigarettes, which already amount to a quarter of all tobacco products consumed in the country.

“We look forward to a full and independent assessment of these arbitrary and unnecessary regulations.”

PMI’s note is at: http://investors.pmi.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=146476&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1835071&highlight=

Japan Tobacco Inc. said today that it was expanding the distribution of Camel Black Box (10 mg tar) and Camel White Box (6 mg) in Japan.

These products, which are currently on sale in more than 20 countries, most of them in Europe, were launched in selected retail stores across Japan, excluding Okinawa, in the middle of January.

Now, in response to positive feedback, they are to be made available in all outlets in Tokyo and Kanagawa, as well as in the selected outlets where the products are already on sale.

The two products are said to offer a distinctive American-blend smoke and to be packed in stylish, curved packs.