Category: News This Week

Throw them in prison
Errant smokers who are issued a RM250 summons for flouting the no-tobacco-smoking rule in Malaysia’s eateries risk paying up to RM10,000 if they are hauled before a court, according to a story in The Star quoting the deputy health minister Dr. Lee Boon Chye.
Smokers who were issued summonses from July 1 would be hit with the maximum RM250 fine, he said.
However, offenders who failed to settle the summons would be hauled before a court.
“The courts can impose a maximum sentence of RM10,000 or two years’ jail,” the deputy minister said when replying a supplementary question during Question and Answer time in the Dewan Rakyat (lower house of Parliament) yesterday.
At the same time, Lee added that the ministry would consider expanding the smoking ban to cover other areas.
“There are some countries which have banned smoking in cities altogether, only allowing it in specific areas,” he said.
Lee assured lawmakers that the Government was committed to implementing the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which Malaysia had ratified in 2005.
However, he said that implementation of the FCTC protocols would be done in stages, including one that would require cigarettes to be sold only in standardized packaging.
“Plain cigarette packaging was proposed by the Health Ministry under the previous administration,” Lee was quoted as saying.
“The proposal was withdrawn following resistance and objections.”
March 19, 2019
Focusing minds
With the recent news that insect populations are being destroyed around the world at an alarming rate, many observers will be eager to read about how British American Tobacco is investing in sustainable agriculture.
BAT on Friday published its 2018 Sustainability Report, which outlines its ‘work and progress across its three strategic focus areas of harm reduction, sustainable agriculture and farmer livelihoods, and corporate behaviour’.
‘Now in BAT’s 17th year of sustainability reporting, this report details how BAT is championing change in its business and industry and is transforming tobacco to create shared value for its consumers and stakeholders across the value chain,’ BAT said in a note on its website announcing publication of the report.
One of the ‘highlights’ of the announcement said that the company was investing more than £60 million annually to promote sustainable agriculture and enhance farmer livelihoods.
Another pointed to a ‘profile of BAT’s new digital farm monitoring system, and how it is improving sustainable agriculture and farmer livelihoods by helping to ensure that issues are identified and addressed in real time’.
And yet another pointed to a ‘feature on child labour that outlines BAT’s commitment to combatting it within its business and supply chain, and its partnerships with stakeholders to drive industry-wide change’.
Other environment-focused highlights are said to include ‘BAT’s research and initiatives to tackle the complex issue of cigarette filter littering’, and its ‘new carbon emissions reduction targets for 2030 as well as other targets to further reduce its environmental impact through reduced resource use, improved water stewardship and reduced waste’.
The note’s first-mentioned highlights, however, concerned the company’s potentially reduced risk products.
Jack Bowles, chief executive designate, was quoted as saying that BAT’s sustainability agenda would be key to its future success.
“A culture of responsible behaviour is even more relevant in today’s world, and I firmly believe we all have a role to play in delivering with integrity,” he said.
“It is also clear to me that our sustained investment in farming communities and our continued focus on issues such as responsible marketing, protecting human rights and excellence in environmental management means that we are in excellent shape for the future.”
March 18, 2019
Swings and roundabouts
Indonesia is trying to find a balance whereby it can benefit from tobacco’s huge economic contributions while reducing its toll on the nation’s health, according to a story in The Jakarta Post.
In a statement issued during the weekend, Industry Minister Airlangga Hartanto said cigarette excise had reached Rp153 trillion last year, up by 3.9 percent from Rp147 trillion in 2017.
“Cigarette excise tax revenue contributed 95.8 percent of the national excise tax revenue,” he said.
At the same time, Airlangga said Indonesia exported cigarettes worth US$931.6 million last year, up by 2.98 percent from $904.7 million in 2017.
Because the cigarette industry mostly used domestic raw materials, including tobacco and cloves, it was able to compete on the global market.
Speaking about the health issues created by tobacco products, Airlangga said: “We will take employment and people’s health into consideration”.
The Government, he added, had been trying to create policies that would be acceptable to all parties in the tobacco industrial sector (IHT).
It had to ensure business certainty among IHT players.
For that, he said, the Government had issued a number of regulations – Government Regulation (PP) No. 109/2012 on security for materials of addictive ingredients, and Presidential Regulation No. 44/2016 on the negative investment list, which was supported by Industry Ministry Regulation No. 64/2014 on cigarette industry control.
March 18, 2019
Make them pay
Small retailers in Malaysia are said to have been frightened off selling illicit cigarettes by the prospect of a RM100,000 fine, according to a story by Mark Rao for The Malaysian Reserve.
Such stores had been havens for smokers who needed to find cheap cigarettes, but because they are not typically big-money businesses, they have had to think twice.
A Center for Public Policy Studies’ report last year found that well-known illicit brands such as John, Canyon and Luffman were typically hidden by small retailers in opaque boxes and shelves or underneath tables, from where they were sold to customers upon request.
Illicit cigarettes took 64 percent of the market during the fourth quarter of last year, according to a report cited by British American Tobacco (M).
With the Government needing higher revenues to plug a huge financial hole, it promised stricter enforcement against illicit cigarettes and liquor.
The Government is said to be aiming to ‘recover’ about RM1 billion in revenue lost to the black market with its threats of minimum fines of RM100,000 and six months’ in jail for individuals caught dealing with illicit cigarettes and liquor.
The Royal Malaysian Customs Department and other relevant agencies are said to have increased preventive measures since January.
But BAT MD Erik Stoel said the government’s intent was there and important regulatory steps had been taken, but enforcement intensity was still not at the level to make a significant impact.
“It is early days, but we believe it is critical that more focus is put on enforcement and more law enforcement agencies join the party,” he told The Malaysian Reserve.
He said changing the law dealing with illicit cigarette trade cannot be the sole option and urged a unified front between the relevant authorities to tackle the issue.
Meanwhile, the Galen Center for Health and Social Policy CEO Azrul Mohd Khalib said the environment for the black market for cigarettes and tobacco products had to be made hostile, intimidating and prohibitive by the authorities.
“One way to do this is to threaten and enforce severe penalties for small retailers and traders for carrying these products,” he said, citing the termination of business licenses as an effective deterrent.
Cigarette excise duties in Malaysia rose 110 percent from 2011 to November 2015, while the Sales and Services Tax last year resulted in an increase of up to four percent in retail cigarette prices.
March 18, 2019
Speakers named
The organizers of the 2019 Global Forum on Nicotine have announced the names of 16 of the speakers who are due to take part in the conference.
The conference, whose theme is, It’s time to talk about nicotine, will be held at the Marriott Hotel, Warsaw, Poland, on June 13-15.
It is due to include plenary sessions, symposia, panel discussions, poster presentations, and satellite sessions.
In an earlier announcement, the organizers said the program committee would use selected abstracts to construct themed sessions.
The names of other speakers and the draft program are due to be posted on line shortly.
Meanwhile, the organizers said that abstracts for poster presentation could be submitted until March 31.
Abstracts should be submitted on-line, via the conference registration system at: https://gfn.net.co/programme/submit.
Registration for the conference is open.
March 18, 2019
Of mice and smokers
Philip Morris International has said that the results of a new study add to the existing evidence that switching smokers to smoke-free products can be part of a successful tobacco-harm-reduction strategy for adult smokers worldwide.
The study was conducted on mice, which were exposed to air, cigarette smoke, or three formulations of e-cigarette vapors for three hours/day, five days/week for six months via a ‘whole-body inhalation system’ [a whole-body inhalation system, though not necessarily the one used in the study, is described here].
In a note posted on its website yesterday, PMI said that it had presented ‘today’ the results from a new study on electronic cigarettes at the 58th Annual Society of Toxicology Meeting in Baltimore.
‘The study demonstrates that after six months, e-cigarette vapors with and without nicotine induced a significantly lower biological responses associated with cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases than cigarette smoke,’ the note said.
‘The study, conducted in collaboration with Altria Group, Inc., assessed the biological response of mice exposed to e-cigarette vapors compared with that of exposure to cigarette smoke.
‘According to the World Health Organization, there are more than one billion people worldwide who smoke cigarettes and will continue to smoke in the foreseeable future. ‘Tobacco harm reduction can play an important role by supplementing existing tobacco control strategies to help reduce the risk of smoking-related diseases.
‘For harm reduction to be successful, current adult smokers need access to smoke-free products that deliver nicotine but with significantly lower levels of toxicants than cigarettes.’
Dr. Julia Hoeng, PMI’s director of systems toxicology was quoted as saying that the results of the study comprised “a powerful addition to the evidence showing that switching to e-cigarettes is a much better choice than continuing to smoke”.
“This study truly is a landmark study, not just demonstrating the reduced toxicity and disease risk between e-cigarettes and cigarettes but also evaluating the role of nicotine and flavors.”
March 15, 2019
Prices set to double
Cigarettes – and alcoholic, energy and soft drinks – are going to be more expensive in Oman from June with the imposition of a new national tax, according to a story in The Times of Oman.
‘The Selective Goods Tax Law comes as a result of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) Standard Agreement on Selective Tax, issued in 2016 by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Qatar,’ the Government Communication Center was reported to have said on Wednesday in a statement.
‘This tax shall be levied on goods that have [caused] damage to public health or the environment in varying proportions.
‘Selective taxation seeks to achieve a set of objectives, the most important of which is the promotion of healthy lifestyles, the treatment of negative phenomena and practices through the amending of the consumption pattern of individuals, and [the provision of] an additional resource for public finances through the possibility of the tax revenues collected to promote health and social services.’
The additional tax will increase the price of certain products, including tobacco, by 100 per cent.
March 15, 2019
Fresh thinking needed
A network of tobacco farmers in Thailand is calling on political parties to help ease the impact of a 40 percent rise in cigarette excise tax that is scheduled for October 1, according to a story in The Nation.
Songkran Pakdeejit, president of the Burley Tobacco Farmers Association of Phetchabun, met yesterday with representatives of various political parties to discuss the effect the proposed new tax rate would have on tobacco growers.
Songkran said about 50,000 tobacco-grower households in the North, Northeast, and upper Central regions were already struggling because of annual increases in cigarette tax rates. These increases reduced the state-run Tobacco Monopoly’s cigarette sales and, therefore, its production and the amount of tobacco it bought from local growers.
Growers were very concerned that they were going to lose their livelihoods.
The network has reportedly asked the authorities to delay enforcement of the next tax rise, but has not received a response.
But because an election is due to be held in the next two weeks, Songkran asked the parties to recognize growers’ concerns and bring the issue to the attention of their parties.
At the meeting, the Thai Tobacco Trade Association released a poll result showing most grocery shops were opposed to the tax increase. Jointly conducted by the association and Nida Poll in February, the poll showed 81 per cent of respondents from 1,056 retailers across the country believed the new tax would increase the sale of illicit cigarettes. Ninety-one per cent of respondents said they would be affected by the new tax rate.
The Association director Waraporn Namat said that in the past four to five years the government had gradually increased the tobacco tax rate in the hope of reducing the number of smokers. “But the number hasn’t decreased significantly and instead they opt for buying illicit cigarettes or tobacco which are cheaper,” she added.
March 15, 2019
Applied arts
Sri Lanka’s Center for Combating Tobacco (CCT) plans to launch an app that will allow the public to monitor the activities of the tobacco industry, according to a story in The Island quoting a CCT press release.
CCT was established by the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, in collaboration with the World Health Organization’s country office Sri Lanka and the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA).
The CCT said the free Tobacco Unmasked HotSpots app allowed the reporting via a mobile phone of any tobacco-industry activities that promoted tobacco use, such as sales of tobacco products to the under aged and employing mobile or temporary selling points.
The public, the CCT said, may report activities undertaken to manipulate the policy making/implementation processes related to tobacco control.
And it may report media campaigns promoting arguments that favor the tobacco industry.
The plan is that the public’s input will be used to construct an online map showing the current patterns and trends in tobacco industry activities around the island.
The CCT said that the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control called on signatory countries to protect their tobacco-related health policies from the commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law.
It said the first step in fulfilling such an obligation was to monitor the activities of the tobacco industry.
March 15, 2019
Air pollution is top killer
The number of early deaths caused by air pollution is double previous estimates, meaning that more people are being killed by toxic air than by tobacco smoke, according to a story in The Guardian citing new research published in the European Heart Journal.
The research scientists were said to have used new data to estimate that nearly 800,000 people died ‘prematurely’ each year in Europe because of dirty air, and that each life was cut short by an average of more than two years.
The health damage caused by air pollution in Europe is higher than the global average. Its dense population and poor air results in exposure that is among the highest in the world.
The new research indicates that while air pollution hits the lungs first, its impact via the bloodstream on heart disease and strokes is responsible for twice as many deaths as are caused by respiratory diseases.
The Guardian story said the new research built on research published in September and confirmed a calculation of 8.8 million early deaths a year from outdoor air pollution around the world, double previous estimates.
“To put this into perspective, this means that air pollution causes more extra deaths a year than tobacco smoking,” said Prof Thomas Münzel of the University Medical Centre Mainz, Germany, and one of the scientists behind the new study. “Smoking is avoidable but air pollution is not.”
March 14, 2019