Category: News This Week

In most parts of the world, May 31 was marketed as world no tobacco day, but in Medan, North Sumatra, a number of activists supporting the Indonesian Kretek Community (KKI) staged a rally expressing their support for the nation’s tobacco industry.

Medan KKI co-ordinator, Chaidir Harahap, was reported as having said that world no tobacco day was part of a ploy by foreign countries to destroy the tobacco industry.

But, he said, white-stick and kretek cigarettes were some of the biggest assets Indonesia had. “In 2012, cigarette duties earned for state coffers amounted to Rp68 trillion [US$6.88 billion],” Chaidir was said to have told The Jakarta Post.

He said foreign parties were trying to control tobacco use nationally by promoting health concerns linked to smoking.

He pointed out also that two major national cigarette companies, Sampoerna and Bentoel, had been taken over by foreign companies, and he said that thousands of small-scale cigarette producers had gone bankrupt.

“Don’t let our country become bankrupt just because our natural resources, including tobacco, which have been the nation’s biggest assets, are being dominated by foreign parties,” said Chaidir.

A ban on retail cigarette price discounts is to be one of a number of new tobacco regulations to be introduced in Malaysia, according to a story in The Star.

Smoking bans are to be extended to take in all roofed areas; so covered walkways will be included.

In addition, maximum cigarette tar and nicotine deliveries will be reduced in two phases from the current 20 mg and 1.5 mg to 10 mg and 1 mg by 2015.

At the same time, graphic warnings will be increased in size so as to take up half of the front panel.

And a ban will be imposed on all direct and indirect tobacco-products promotions.

Health Minister, Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam, has discouraged any parties, including NGOs, from getting direct or indirect sponsorship from tobacco companies.

He said tobacco companies should not be allowed to use corporate social responsibility programs as a tool to promote their brands.

“The sponsorship may be for a noble cause but we don’t agree with the source,” he said.

Japan’s Health Ministry wants the incidence of smoking in Japan reduced to 12 per cent by 2022, according to a Japan Daily Press story.

Currently 19.5 per cent of Japanese people smoke, down from 27.7 per cent in 2000, but the proportion of smokers among men aged 30 to 40 is about 40 per cent.

Hiroyuki Noda, the ministry’s tobacco free initiative officer, said recently that his organization had started a scheme to try to support those who wished to quit smoking.

The ministry had started initiatives such as offering free counseling via telephone and treating nicotine addiction under the government’s health insurance program.

South   Korea’s Health and Welfare Minister, Chin Young, has promised to try to convince the country’s lawmakers to pass a bill that would enforce the printing of graphic warnings on cigarette packs, according to a story in The Korea Times.

His comment has been seen as an effort to break a stalemate over the issue.

Government agencies are divided over such health warnings. Last year, the health ministry proposed a bill that would have required tobacco companies to include warnings comprising graphic pictures and warning texts in large letters.

However, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance has questioned the effectiveness of such a campaign, while, at the same time, saying that it fears that tax income from tobacco consumption will fall if the measure is introduced.

The government earns about WON7 trillion from tobacco-related taxes.

Progress of the bill stalled last year, forcing the Prime Minister’s Office, which co-ordinates the passage of government bills, to recommend that relevant ministries reach a consensus on the issue.

Bangladesh’s National Board of Revenue (NBR) is looking into increasing the corporate tax rate on tobacco companies, according to a story in The Daily Star.

At present, the corporate tax rate for publicly traded tobacco companies is 35 per cent while that for non-publicly traded companies is 42.5 per cent.

The proposal now under consideration would increase the tax rate on both listed and non-listed companies by between 2.5 and 5 percentage points during the next financial year, which begins on July 1.

In addition, the NRB is apparently considering an increase in the tax on bidis, from six per cent to 10 per cent.

With the UK’s spring having been officially declared the coldest on record, the organizers of a cigar auction in London have moved quickly to assure people of the event’s all-weather credentials.

“Cigar smoking has now become, for many, a seasonal experience, for it’s difficult to keep your Havana alight in the pouring rain, wind, or snow, when you’re forced to smoke outside in London or anywhere else,” said Mitchell Orchant, managing director of C.Gars.

“If the present sunny dry weather continues, our clients will be able to sit outside on Boisdale’s cigar terrace and enjoy a fine smoke while they bid for some £300,000-worth of vintage, rare and mature cigars and cigar-related Lots at C.Gars Ltd’s 8th Vintage Cigar Auction.

“And if it rains, they can sit inside a non-smoking room and save their cigars for the post-auction drinks and canapés. The first option is preferable but whatever happens at least they’ll be among smoking-tolerant friends. And it’s always great fun to meet up with other cigar enthusiasts and compare notes on what you’ve invested in, cigar-wise.

“The weather, good or bad, certainly won’t stop some of the world’s wealthiest cigar aficionados from making the trip to London’s Docklands to keep their humidors filled with some of the finest hand-rolled cigars on the planet.”

More information on the June 10 auction is at: www.cigarauctions.co.uk

A survey of GPs in the UK and Sweden has revealed that many incorrectly identify nicotine as one of the most harmful components of cigarette smoke.

So, in the UK, successful implementation of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence’s guidance on harm reduction approaches to smoking might require GP education on the relative risks of alternative nicotine products.

In a press note, BAT said that a survey of general medical practitioners (GPs) in the UK and Sweden had revealed that some held the view that one of the greatest health risks from smoking was nicotine. ‘This belief likely influences health advice to smokers when considering whether to recommend the use of alternative nicotine products,’ the note continued.

‘Nicotine is the addictive component of tobacco smoke, but unlike some other constituents of tobacco smoke, it is not carcinogenic and according to the UK Royal College of Physicians, “medicinal nicotine is a very safe drug”.

‘Switching to alternative nicotine products such as nicotine gums and electronic cigarettes can, therefore, help many smokers quit smoking or cut down, thereby reducing exposure to tobacco smoke and the associated harm. But the views held by some GPs in both the UK and Sweden may influence their willingness to recommend the use of alternative nicotine products to help smokers quit outright or to cut down to quit. This could have some impact on the successful implementation of the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance on harm reduction approaches to smoking. This guidance advocates broader use of nicotine replacement therapies and clearly differentiates between the risks associated with cigarette smoking and those of using nicotine products. This guidance also proposes that the education and training of practitioners should “include the principles and practice of tobacco harm reduction”.’

The survey, commissioned by BAT, involved an online survey to assess the knowledge, perceptions and attitudes to tobacco and nicotine products of healthcare professionals in the UK and Sweden and to understand what types of advice in relation to the use for alternative nicotine products are being offered to smokers.

“It is our belief that smokers should have available to them products that are satisfying and deliver nicotine in a safer way without the harmful toxicants in cigarette smoke,” said Dr. David O’Reilly, group scientific director at BAT. “And those responsible for giving advice to smokers on different tobacco and nicotine products must be able to provide accurate and meaningful information on their different risk profiles.”

The study participants (100 UK, 120 Sweden) were asked about the risks associated with tobacco and nicotine products, smoking cessation and tobacco harm reduction approaches, and influential sources of information.

‘The UK was chosen because its tobacco control policies include progressive tobacco harm reduction approaches,’ the press note said. ‘Sweden was included because in this country, a switch from smoking to snus use by Swedish men has resulted in significant reductions in lung cancer mortality as well as that of other smoking-related diseases. Snus is a smokeless tobacco that is placed under the upper lip. Although snus carries substantially fewer health risks than cigarettes, the sale of snus is prohibited in the UK.

‘The majority of survey respondents (96 per cent UK, 98 per cent Sweden) said that they regularly discussed smoking cessation with their patients, but less than half believe that long-term NRT is preferable to smoking (31 per cent UK, 48 per cent Sweden).

‘The survey findings show that a substantial proportion of GPs (40 per cent) believe nicotine to be the first or second riskiest component of cigarettes, incorrectly identifying it as more harmful than smoke. Many (44 per cent UK, 56 per cent Sweden) also wrongly believe that nicotine in tobacco products is associated with cancer, while 15 per cent in the UK and 22 per cent in Sweden believe the same for pharmaceutical nicotine.’

“Although GPs clearly understand that smoking is more dangerous than NRT use, it is worrying that so many associate nicotine with cancer,” said lead researcher Dr. Sudhanshu Patwardhan, medical affairs manager at BAT. “It is also unclear whether the perceived risk of nicotine in tobacco and NRT is because of this association with cancer or because of its ability to cause addiction.”

The results of the survey are published in a Harm Reduction special issue of ‘Drugs & Alcohol Today’, 2013, 13 (issue 2): http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=1745-9265&volume=13&issue=2

Several doctors have spoken out against a decision by the French Health Minister, Marisol Touraine, banning the use of electronic cigarettes in certain public places, according to a story by Charlotte Boitiaux for France 24.

Touraine decided on Friday to establish “the same laws for electronic cigarettes as for regular cigarettes,” meaning that they will not be allowed to be used in certain public spaces, sold to those under 16 years of age or advertised.

According to Touraine, those who smoke electronic cigarettes might be endangering their health. “The electronic cigarette is not a harmless product,” she said in an interview on radio station France Info, adding that “tobacco is responsible for 73,000 deaths per year”.

But in a report published on May 28 by the French Office for Tobacco Prevention, no evidence was cited that smoking electronic cigarettes posed any health risk. ‘Right now, we don’t know enough about the products,’ the author of the report wrote, though ‘to our knowledge, appropriately made and used, it presents infinitely fewer dangers than [do] cigarettes’.

Boitiaux wrote that experts had suggested that Touraine acted with an excess of caution rather than face the possibility of health risks from e-cigarettes being discovered down the road. But this caution has not gone down well in some places. “The French minister was overly cautious, and her zeal is catastrophic,” judged Jean-François Etter, a professor of Public Health at the University of Geneva. “The e-cigarette is an alternative that can save millions of lives. I don’t understand these disappointing declarations, which go against the welfare of the population.”

Meanwhile, Dr. William Lowenstein, addiction specialist and president of the French association, SOS Addictions, also believes that the benefits of electronic cigarettes are undeniable. “There are none of the carcinogenic substances,” he said during a TV interview with France 5 on May 16. “Replacing the cigarette is a way of breaking the addiction to this cancer-causing product.”

The pressure group, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, is asking Starbucks to ban guns from its stores in all states.

‘In light of the epidemic of gun violence in America, as well as recent shootings at Starbucks stores, Moms Demand Action fails to see the logic in the company’s determination that second-hand smoke is more dangerous to its customers than loaded guns,’ the group said in a press note issued through PR Newswire. ‘As mothers, we wonder why Starbucks is willing to put our children at risk by allowing customers to openly carry loaded weapons in its stores. We are asking our members and all American moms to send a letter to Starbucks today asking them to ban guns from all of their stores, regardless of state laws on open carry: http://action.momsdemandaction.org/page/speakout/dear-starbucks.’

The reference to second-hand smoke came about because of a Starbucks announcement that it was going to ban smoking within 25 feet of its storefronts starting on June 1. The announcement said also that electronic cigarettes would be banned at the company’s 7,000 US locations on that date.

According to Starbucks, the ban was being put in place to protect customers’ health even in states where laws don’t prevent smoking outside.

And there’s the rub. In states where it is legal to carry weapons openly, Starbucks refuses to ban loaded guns from inside its stores. In the case of guns, Starbucks was quoted as saying that it complied with local laws and statutes in the communities it served. ‘Our long-standing approach to this issue remains unchanged and we abide by the laws that permit open carry in 43 U.S. states,’ it apparently said. ‘Where these laws don’t exist, openly carrying weapons in our stores is prohibited.’