Category: News This Week

Tobacco merchants in Gujarat, India, are expecting tobacco prices to rise further when the new crop is delivered in March-April, according to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter.

Gujarat mainly grows tobacco used in chewing tobacco and snuff.

Prices in 2012 were increased by 15 per cent on those of 2011 and, even though chewing tobacco bans have been imposed in a number of states, negligible carry-over stocks of leaf tobacco and a drop in acreage are likely to ensure that prices remain firm.

Tobacco industry lobbyists have urged the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to revise the draft government regulation (RPP) on tobacco control, according to a story in the Jakarta Post.

The lobbyists say that the president should take into account the opinions of all stakeholders before signing the draft.

The Indonesian Tobacco Growers Association (APTI) chairman, Nurtanio Wisnu Brata, said yesterday that the draft had not accommodated the needs of those who opposed the planned regulation.

If the regulation turned out to be damaging to the welfare of tobacco farmers, Nurtanio said, the APTI would boycott the government by refusing to participate in elections and refusing to pay taxes.

The government is bound by law to regulate tobacco, but three years after Law No. 36/2009 was passed, the government has yet to issue its tobacco regulation.

Two key issues in the tobacco regulation are the inclusion of graphic health warnings on cigarette packs and the designation of smoke-free zones.

Two smart-phone applications aimed at helping smokers kick their habit have been downloaded more than 60,000 times since being released last year, according to an APNnews story.

The apps, called Quit Now: My Quit Buddy and Quit for You, Quit for Two, were said to be ‘just some of the tools’ being used by the Australian federal government in its fight against tobacco.

The High Court of the Indian state of Kerala has struck down a ban on the sale of chewing tobacco that had been based on provisions of a food safety and standards act, according to a story in the Hindu Online.

The high court’s decision was issued on December 20 on a writ petition filed by tobacco products traders.

Justice A.M. Shaffique said that the state and commissioner of food safety had no right to take any action against tobacco or tobacco products because “chew tobacco” was not a food product as defined under the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006.

The court found that tobacco and tobacco products were to be manufactured and sold strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply, and Distribution) Act 2003.

The government of the Indian state of Odisha is introducing a state-wide ban on the manufacture, sale and use of guthka and chewing tobacco containing nicotine, according to an Indian Express story.

In announcing the ban, the Health and Family Welfare Minister, Damodar Rout, said the Supreme Court and different high courts had earlier directed the states to introduce such a ban because the nicotine-containing chewing masalas triggered diseases such as cancer.

“I appeal to people to co-operate with the state government to make Odisha a tobacco-free state,” Rout said.

However, he added that the government had not so far taken any decision on the use of cigarettes, though smoking in public places was banned.

Counterfeit versions of local cigarette brands are being sold nationwide in Malaysia at half the market price, according to a story by Eileen Ng for The Star and Asian News Network.

The counterfeits sell for between RM2.50 and RM5.00 for a pack of 20, far below the minimum price of RM7.00.

In describing the counterfeits as an ‘alarming new trend’, the Confederation of Malaysian Tobacco Manufacturers (CMTM) said these cigarettes bore fake security markings and false manufacturers’ addresses.

This “new illegal segment” made up 4.2 per cent of the current 34.9 per cent of illicit cigarettes sold in the country, CMTM chief executive, Shahrul Azamin Abdullah, said at a press conference called to unveil the federation’s latest Illicit Cigarettes Study.

The study, conducted from June to August, showed an increase of 0.2 of a percentage point in contraband cigarettes being sold inMalaysia, from 34.7 per cent during the March-May period, to 34.9 per cent from June to August.

However, on a year-on-year basis, contraband sales fell by 1.4 percentage points, something Shahrul attributed to the efforts of various enforcement agencies.

Graphic health warnings are to be included on cigarette packs sold in Sri Lanka, according to the Daily News quoting the country’s health ministry.

The Health Minister, Maithiripala Sirisena, said the gazette notification of the warnings requirement would be published in March.

He was quoted as saying that he would not be influenced to change his decision by any power. “I will never bow down to the tobacco industry or any other company related to the tobacco industry,” he added.

The story said that warnings covering ‘at least 80 per cent of the pack’ were ‘essential’.

Owners of several tobacco shops that charged customers to use $35,000 cigarette-making machines until changes in US federal law made the practice illegal are looking to establish private smoking clubs, according to a story by Tom Fontaine for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Like other fraternal organizations, the non-profit smoking clubs would require members to pay dues, elect officers and meet monthly. Each would have a social calendar.

A possible perk of membership would be the use of a refrigerator-sized making machine that can produce the equivalent of a carton of cigarettes in about 10 minutes.

“We all tended to agree that there‘s a need for this now,” said Albert A. Torrence, an attorney who filed notices of incorporation with the Department of State on behalf of three tobacco shop owners who want to form clubs that would be separate from their business.

Torrence said the clubs would seek permission from the state and federal governments to use the making machines. He said he did not think their use would violate the law because they would not be used to turn a profit.

Congress in June passed a law that placed tobacco shop owners with making machines in the same class as cigarette manufacturers, such as Phillip Morris and R.J. Reynolds. The law requires the small shops to get manufacturing permits and imposes excise taxes on cigarettes made and sold, erasing any competitive advantage over traditional sellers of name-brand smokes.

Several of Western Pennsylvania‘s dozens of roll-your-own shops closed. Others hung on, selling loose tobacco and cigarette tubes.

The measures Bulgaria has taken to fight cigarette smuggling are yielding results, according to a story by Svetla Dimitrova for the Southeast European Times quoting the national Customs Agency.

A total of 80 million contraband cigarettes were said to have been seized since the beginning of this year, but there was no mention of whether this figure was up or down on that of the previous year.

And the agency reported that a total of 691 pre-trial proceedings were launched between January and October 2012, but again there was no mention of whether this was up or down on the figure recorded during the equivalent period of 2011.

There was a 7.5 per cent year-on-year increase in revenues from the excise duty on tobacco products and this, the agency said, showed that the measures the customs administration had taken in the fight against the illicit cigarette trade had been effective. There was no mention, however, whether the rate of tobacco excise duties had been increased during the period under consideration.

‘Regular meetings with big manufacturers and traders of tobacco goods’ were said to have comprised one of a host of measures initiated by the customs administration as part of an increased effort in the fight against cigarette smuggling.

And nearly 900 staff members, or a third of customs personnel, had been dismissed during the past three years, while up to 700 new staff had been hired through an open and transparent procedure.

More than 500,000 Bulgarians said in a June survey that that they bought contraband cigarettes, and would continue to do so.

This is not surprising. A 67-year-old pensioner who has been smoking for nearly five decades was quoted as saying that he bought contraband cigarettes because he could not afford licit ones.

Electronic cigarettes are less toxic than are traditional cigarettes but it is not possible at this time to say that they are ‘totally innocuous’.

This is the view ofRoberta Pacifici, director of the Italy Observatory on Smoking, Alcohol and Drug Use at the National Health Institute, who worked on a recent report by the Italian Ministry of Health on electronic cigarettes that was the subject of a story by Phobe Natanson and Ed Lovett for ABC News.

“We have to have a prudent approach towards this product as we know little about its worth in stopping people smoking or how toxic it is,” Pacifici told the Italian news agency ANSA.

Pacifici was quoted as saying that should the electronic cigarette’s efficacy as a means of curbing smoking be proven, it should be treated like all the other nicotine substitute products – as a medical device.

Her institute has recommended that electronic cigarettes should be sold with detailed health information.

For now, these products include warnings that they should not be sold to under-16 year olds and that they should be kept away from children.