Xuchang Tobacco Machinery Corp. held a foundation-laying ceremony on September 1 for its new factory, which is being built in Xuchang city,HenanProvince, according to a Tobacco China Online story.
A total of Yuan110 million is being invested in the new facility.
South Korea’s home affairs ministry has said that the government is increasing the penalties on motorists who throw cigarette butts out of car windows, according to a JoongAng Ilbo story.
The new penalties – up from Won30,000 to Won50,000 – are part of efforts to boost public safety and will apply also to people who throw out other objects deemed dangerous, including, the newspaper said, pieces of glass.
The new fines, and license penalty points of up to 10, will apply from September 12.
InKorea, the license of a driver who runs up more than 40 penalty points in one year is liable to be suspended. A license is cancelled if 120 points are accumulated.
A number of electronic cigarette fan pages have recently reported that Facebook has removed their entire fan page without warning and with very little explanation, according to a PR Web story.
One of the largest electronic cigarette fan pages/groups affected by the ban was The Smoker’s Angel, which, at the time of deletion, had almost 14,000 fans.
It seems that electronic cigarette pages on Facebook with commercial content are at risk of being banned because Facebook’s updated guidelines aimed at preventing tobacco marketing have been widened to include electronic cigarettes.
A non-commercial fan page has been started but virtual petitions are being passed around to protest against the bans.
“It’s really a shame that these bans are happening,” said Tyler Bullock of the E Cig Cabin website.
“A lot of groups, myself included, have put a lot of work into raising awareness about electronic cigarettes.
“It doesn’t make sense to us that e-cigarettes be included in the same sentence as tobacco products. They are a tool to help individuals quit smoking tobacco, not one that will make it more popular.”
ANew Zealandhealth expert has said that healthcare professionals should be ready to provide support to those caught up in natural disasters before they turn to cigarettes, according to a EurekAlert story.
This follows a study by researchers at the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB),New Zealand, which found that the prevalence of smoking had increased following the August 2010 earthquake inChristchurch.
The results of the study were due to be presented yesterday at the European Respiratory Society’s Annual Congress inVienna.
To investigate the effects of the disaster on smoking levels, the researchers carried out interviews with 1,001 residents 15 months after the earthquake. Participants were asked about their smoking habits before and after the earthquake.
Professor Lutz Beckert, of the CDHB, said that increased levels of smoking had been found inChristchurchresidents after the earthquake.
“Twenty eight per cent of people who were not smoking prior to the earthquake picked up the habit following the quakes,” he said.
“This suggests that exposure to trauma, such as a natural disaster, can prompt people to start smoking as they believe it is a valid way to deal with their anxiety over their experiences and coping for changes in lifestyle.
“It is important for healthcare professionals to be aware of this increased risk in the aftermath of a disaster, such as theChristchurchearthquake, so that they can be ready to provide the necessary support to residents before they turn to cigarettes.”
The Dutch family doctors’ pension fund has increased its investment in British American Tobacco despite protests about the shareholding earlier this year, according to a DutchNews.nl story.
The story quoted a Financieele Dagblad (FD) report as saying that information provided by the Bloomberg news agency showed that Stichting Pensioenfonds voor Huisartsen bought 4,120 shares in BAT a few months ago.
It is not clear whether the shares were bought before or after MPs raised questions in May about the investment.
The FD reported in May that the fund had made €140,000 last year selling some of its shares in BAT.
BAT shares have risen 10 per cent since the new shares were bought, the paper said. This means the fund’s 173,000 shares in the tobacco firm are now worth €7m.
‘This is just so wrong in every way,’ lung specialist, Wanda de Kanter, of the Rode Kruis hospital in Beverwijk, told the paper. ‘It is immoral and unethical.’
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today held unconstitutional a regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that would have forced cigarette makers to place nine graphic health warnings on all cigarette packaging and advertising.
Agreeing with arguments made by four tobacco manufacturers, the Court held that the proposed warnings violated the First Amendment because the FDA did not provide evidence that the graphic warnings would “‘directly advance” its interest in reducing the number of Americans who smoke.”
“We are pleased that the Court of Appeals agreed with Reynolds that consumers can and should be fully informed about the risks of tobacco use in a manner consistent with the U.S. Constitution,” said Martin L. Holton III, executive vice president and general counsel for R.J. Reynolds, which was one of the plaintiffs.
“Reynolds is committed to providing tobacco consumers with accurate information about the various health risks associated with smoking.”
The Court of Appeals noted that the government can require companies to make “purely factual and uncontroversial” disclosures about the risks of their products in order to prevent consumer deception, but stated that the graphic warnings crossed into unconstitutional territory:
“These inflammatory images and the provocatively-named hotline cannot rationally be viewed as pure attempts to convey information to consumers. They are unabashed attempts to evoke emotion (and perhaps embarrassment) and browbeat consumers into quitting.”
The Court relied on data included in FDA’s regulation that showed the graphic warnings would have little to no effect in reducing tobacco use. In particular, FDA’s analysis of the regulation estimated that the warnings would likely cause no statistically significant change in U.S. smoking rates.
May 30, 2012—A treasury report has admitted that smoking saves the New Zealand government money because smokers die earlier and pay more in tobacco tax than their health problems cost, according to a story in the Otago Daily Times relayed by Tobacco China Online.
The regulatory impact statement on tobacco taxes prepared ahead of the budget said smokers’ shorter life expectancies reduced the need for superannuation and aged care.
‘When the broader fiscal impacts of smoking are considered … smokers are probably already “paying their way” in narrowly fiscal terms,’ the report stated.’
In last week’s budget, associate health minister, Tariana Turia, introduced tobacco levies that will increase the price of a 20-pack of cigarettes to more than $20 in four years.
The new taxes are estimated to increase the government’s tax take from tobacco from $1.3 billion to around $1.7 billion by 2016.
A University of Otago study in 2007 estimated that the direct cost of smoking to the ministry of health was $300 million to $350 million.
The treasury cited a ministry of health study that estimated the indirect health costs of smoking at $1.9 billion, but acknowledged the figure had been disputed and was far higher than previous estimates.
The regulatory impact statement said taxing smokers was a much more reliable way of generating income for the government than was taxing other goods and services.
It said tobacco taxes were ‘very efficient’ for raising revenue because the addictive nature of nicotine meant smokers were not highly sensitive to price increases.
May 30, 2012—New York officials said yesterday that they were putting a temporary hold on the enforcement of a ban on tobacco smoking at state parks in the city, according to a story by Glenn Blain for the New York Daily News.
The ban, enacted in April, extended also to designated areas around pools and playgrounds at all other state parks.
But officials were forced to shelve the ban after the city-based group, Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment (CLASH), filed formal objections to the policy.
The objections require the state to draft a response and hold a lengthy public comment period before the smoking ban can be implemented. The process could last for months, and a lawsuit is likely.
Dan Keefe, a spokesman for the state office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, confirmed that the state would not be handing out tickets until the process was concluded, but he said that the signs would be left in place.
Keefe admitted that state officials had not expected anyone to object when they announced the policy and began posting signs.
May 30, 2012—The US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), in collaboration with the Institute of Medicine (IOM), is launching a new regulatory science fellowship program.
The new program is designed for mid-career professionals to gain experience and expertise to further define and develop the field of regulatory science as it relates to the regulation of tobacco products and the FDA’s new authorities under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
More details are at: http://www.iom.edu/Activities/Education/FDAFellowship.aspx?source=govdelivery.
May 30, 2012—Romania hopes to capitalize on Bulgaria’s decision to ban tobacco smoking in all enclosed public places since it may be seen by smokers as an attractive alternative tourist destination, according to a Novinite story quoting media reports.
Smokers will be able to take advantage of Romania’s more relaxed smoking regime in restaurants, cars, hotels and offices after Bulgaria introduces its full ban on June 1.
Currently, both Romania and Bulgaria impose partial smoking bans.
Bulgaria’s resorts expect more one million tourists to come from neighboring Romania this year, according to the Bulgarian association of travel agencies.
But the association warns that this influx will be due partly to the fact that tourists are still not aware of the new rules Bulgaria has imposed.