Category: News This Week

An Albanian man living in France was stunned to learn a photo of his amputated leg has been used in graphic health warnings without his permission, reports the BBC.

The picture, which shows recognizable burns and scars, was displayed on EU cigarette packs alongside the message, “smoking clogs your arteries.”

But the man says he lost his leg as the result of a 1997 assault in Albania.

His lawyer is contacting the European Commission, which is responsible for the distribution of such images to EU cigarette packs, to find out what happened.

The commission normally uses pictures from a database, which are verified and published with the consent of the person featured.

Tobacco can be genetically engineered to produce large volumes of cellulase, a bacterial enzyme that can be used for the production of biofuel among other applications, according to a new study published in Nature Plants.

The finding could help lower costs for producing useful proteins like enzymes and some vaccines, according to co-lead author Justin McGrath, a plant biologist at the University of Illinois. It can be considerably cheaper to cultivate tobacco plants in a field than to grow genetically modified yeast and other microbes indoors in large fermenters.

“Our estimates from this study are that it would cost between 20 cents and one dollar to produce a gram of this cellulase, whereas current methods, depending on the type of method you’re using, could cost from a couple hundred dollars to a couple thousand dollars,” McGrath was quoted as saying in Scientific American.

To prevent DNA inserted into the crop from finding its way into other organisms, researchers worked in the chloroplasts—organelles responsible for photosynthesis not reproduction.

Philip Morris International (PMI) reported net revenues of $7.7 billion in the second quarter of 2019, down 0.3 percent from those in the comparable 2018 period. Its operating income was $3.19 billion, up 3 percent from $3.09 billion in the second quarter of 2018. Adjusted operating income increased 9.1 percent to $3.21 billion.

PMI shipped 183.8 billion cigarettes in the second quarter of 2019, 3.6 percent less than in the comparable 2018 period. Sales of heated-tobacco units, by contrast, increased 37 percent to 15.06 billion units. Total shipment volume decreased by 1.4 percent.

“Building on our encouraging start to the year, we delivered another strong quarter that continues to demonstrate the soundness of our strategies and the quality of execution,” said Andre Calantzopoulos, chief executive officer of PMI.

Newly elected Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that he plans to keep his pre-election pledge to enforce his nation’s antismoking laws, according to The Greek Reporter.

Greece’s antismoking laws took effect on July 1, 2009, but enforcement has been patchy.

Although businesses displayed no-smoking signs at their establishments in compliance with the law, those who violated the law in restaurants and bars were rarely, if ever, cited for smoking.

One prevailing issue is that the national smoking prevalence rate in Greece has fallen from 40 percent in 2008 to 27 percent in 2014 due to the country’s economic hardships. However, many Greeks see the antismoking laws as the government’s way to interfere with their right to smoke. Some see that the prime minister’s promise could hurt him politically as smoking rates decreased naturally since the law went into effect.

A new study from Duke Health, to be published in Substance Use & Misuse, found that efforts by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and some cities to limit the availability and appeal of e-cigarettes to young users could drive some existing users to smoke more tobacco cigarettes to get their fix.

The online survey asked participants aged 18 to 29 to predict their use of two products—e-cigarettes and traditional tobacco cigarettes, which they already used—in response to hypothetical regulations to limit e-cigarette flavors, limit the customization of e-cigarettes or eliminate the nicotine in e-cigarettes.

Of the respondents, 47 percent said if regulations eliminated the nicotine in e-cigarettes, they wouldn’t use e-cigarettes as much and would increase their use of traditional cigarettes.

If regulations limited the customization of devices, such as features allowing users to adjust nicotine dose or vapor temperature, 22 percent said they would use e-cigarettes less frequently and smoke more tobacco cigarettes.

If e-cigarettes were to be limited to tobacco and menthol flavors, 17 percent said they wouldn’t use e-cigarettes as much and would smoke more tobacco cigarettes.

“It’s likely some potential new regulations on e-cigarettes will result in a net good for the whole population, such as limiting flavors that might entice young users, improving safety standards or mandating that liquids come in childproof containers,” said Lauren Pacek, the study’s lead author.

“However, our findings suggest that there should also be thoughtful consideration to potential unintended consequences that could affect other subsets of users of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products.”

The next edition of the Gears of War video game will feature blood, guts and explosions but no cigarettes, reports PC Gamer .

Canadian video game developer The Coalition says it wants to avoid glamorizing the unhealthy habit.

“I’ve seen firsthand the devastating impact of smoking,” The Coalition studio head Rod Fergusson said in a statement.

“It’s always been important for me to not use smoking as a narrative device, which is why we made the conscious choice to avoid highlighting or glorifying smoking in Gears 5 and throughout the Gears of War Universe moving forward.”

Video game companies have been criticized for glamorizing smoking by depicting leading characters with cigarettes.

Coresta has created a new task force to evaluate the impact of agronomic practices and breeding on the nicotine levels of burley and flue-cured Virginia (FCV) tobaccos. Specifically, the task force will determine how nicotine levels are impacted by variety selection and modified agricultural practices.

Due to the limited acceptance of genetic engineering technologies across the different tobacco production regions, the task force will use only conventional breeding varieties in its studies

Coresta’s initiative is a response to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s intention to mandate lower levels of nicotine in cigarettes.

As part of its March 2018 Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the agency suggested such levels might be achievable through practices such as controlled growing conditions, crossbreeding and nicotine extraction.

The task force’s first meeting will take place on Oct. 13, prior to the Agro-Phyto 2019 conference in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The group’s work will be coordinated by Marcos F. Lusso of Altria Client Services.

Cigarettes account for more than half of all litter in Ireland, reports The Irish Times citing the National Litter Pollution Monitoring System report.

Representing nearly 55 percent of all litter in Ireland, cigarette litter is well ahead of the next biggest offender, packaging items, which account for 18.2 percent of litter composition nationwide.

Pedestrians are responsible for 42 percent of the litter dropped across the country while motorists account for 22.4 percent, according to the report.

The report also contained some good news. Of the locations surveyed 20.5 percent were free of pollution, 4.9 percent more than in the previous year. The amount of chewing gum litter has halved since 2016

Minister for the Environment Richard Bruton lamented people’s apparent tolerance for cigarette litter.

“Littering could be halved if cigarette butts were properly disposed of,” he was quoted as saying. “We seem to have a blind spot for this behavior—it is six times more prevalent than sweet papers.”

Indonesia’s minister of health, Nila Moeloek, has barred teachers from smoking in schools, reports Tempo.

Nila said that nonsmoking teachers might prevent tobacco use among children by setting an example.

While the country’s smoking prevalence has been stable at 33.8 percent in recent years, the number of smokers aged 10-18 increased from 7.2 percent in 2013 to 9.1 percent in 2018, according to Riskesdas.

The ministry of health attributes the increase in underage smoking to cigarette advertising, which faces fewer restrictions in Indonesia than it does in many other countries.

“We conducted a study to find out why [the rate increases]; one of them is due to advertisements or sponsors that (is) easily visible on social media,” the minister explained.

She added that her ministry had collaborated with the ministry of communication and information in blocking cigarette ads on the internet and are still continuing the effort.