In the most-recent issue of his Tobacco Farmer Newsletter, Christopher Bickers poses the question: Could fire-cured tobacco production be on the way to extinction?
This question will ring a bell for anybody who attended the sixth break-out session on the first day of the 2017 Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum (GTNF), which was staged by Tobacco Reporter in New York in September.
Bickers noted that dark fire-cured tobacco was facing a serious potential challenge from a proposal made by the Food and Drug Administration to limit levels of NNN, a tobacco-specific nitrosamine (TSNA), to no more than 1 ppm in finished smokeless tobacco products.
Although several production practices might influence NNN accumulation, Bickers wrote, the biggest factor by far was the weather during the curing season.
This was one of the points made at the GTNF – that, to a certain extent, some of the factors that influenced TSNA levels were beyond the control of the farmer.
Bickers’ piece includes some tips on the steps that a farmer can take to produce a crop that is as low in TSNAs as possible.
More information is available from Bickers at + 1 919-789-4631 or chrisbickers@gmail.com.
Category: People
Fire-cured under threat
Students focus on shisha
Preliminary results from a study being undertaken in Kenya has shown that 60.0 percent of urban secondary-school students have smoked shisha, according to a story in The Star.
The results show, too, that 12.6 percent of high-school students are regular shisha smokers. In universities, the proportion of active users rises to 20.0 percent.
The study, which has been endorsed by the Ministry of Health, is being carried out by a team of doctors from Mombasa, Nairobi, Kisumu and Nanyuki, in the towns of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Kilifi, Meru and Nanyuki. It was started in June and is due to be completed next month.
What effect the study results will have is unclear because Kenya banned shisha smoking and related activities just before the end of last year.
According to a story in The Nation, the ban emanated from the Ministry of Health and was the subject of a gazette notice that said: ‘No person shall import, manufacture, sell, offer for sale, use, advertise, promote, facilitate or encourage shisha smoking in Kenya’.
The Star reported that research by the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had shown that shisha ‘could be more dangerous than cigarettes’. WHO said a one-hour shisha session was equivalent to smoking about 100-200 cigarettes.
“Smokers therefore expose themselves to larger amounts of dangerous chemicals that can cause cancer, heart diseases, respiratory diseases and trigger adverse effects during pregnancy,” WHO said in its report, Waterpipe Tobacco Smoking: Health Effects, Research Needs and Recommended Action by Regulators.Ban seen as discriminatory
A proposed smoking and vaping ban on restaurant patios in Winnipeg, Canada, is being called discriminatory by some local smokers, according to a story by Maggie Macintosh for the Winnipeg Free Press.
Winnipeg is the last major Canadian municipality where people can smoke while enjoying a meal or patio beer, but that may not be the case by the spring.
Winnipeg’s community services department has recommended a ban on the use of cigarettes, cigars, pipes, electronic cigarettes, water pipes, hookahs and ‘similar products/devices’ on outdoor patios where food or drinks are served.
If the City Council approves the ban it will go into force on April 1.
One smoker interviewed described the proposed ban as offensive. The fact that she was a smoker didn’t make her any less of a restaurant customer.
But councillor Mike Pagtakhan, who doubles as the chairman of the standing policy committee that moved the motion to introduce the ban, said 76 percent of Winnipeggers surveyed, which was “an accurate cross-section” of the city, supported a ban on outdoor patio smoking.
About 21 percent of men and 12 percent of women smoke in Manitoba, according to 2014 Statistics Canada data.
Some of those interviewed believed that the issue could be addressed by having separate patio areas for smokers and non-smokers.
And others thought that decisions about patio bans should be left to the business owners.
But Pagtakhan said that since Winnipeg was the last major city in Canada to ban smoking on patios, it was “about time” to do so.Warnings of little concern
Cigarette manufacturers in South Korea have said they are not ‘not too worried’ about the possibility that the government will increase the size of graphic health warnings on cigarettes, according to a story in The Korea Times.
South Korea is due to change the graphic images on cigarette packs on December 23.
According to a Yonhap News Agency story from last week, a committee, comprising eight civilian experts and four government officials, met in South Korea on January 4 to consider ideas for new graphic health warnings on cigarette packs, and discussed also whether ‘stronger pictorial warnings’ should be imposed on heat-not-burn products.
In 2016, tobacco companies were required to include graphic warnings covering 30 percent of the upper part of both of the main faces of cigarette packs.
Under the requirement, the 10 graphic images used must be changed every 24 months as part of efforts to maintain their effectiveness, the Ministry of Health and Welfare says.
“When the government introduced the graphic health warning policy a couple of years ago, we were concerned it would reduce demand for cigarettes,” Kwak Sang-hee, a senior PR official at British American Tobacco (BAT) North Asia said in a statement reported by the Times. “But the policy turned out to have little impact on our sales. I think this time it won’t be much different.
“But we do not know for sure at this point. It may affect the demand, depending on how big the warnings will be and how they will look.”
A PR official at KT&G, the largest tobacco maker in South Korea, said the company didn’t expect a big drop in sales, citing examples in which similar policies in other countries had barely affected demand for cigarettes.
A recent survey by the Korea Health Promotion Institute suggests three-quarters of people think the graphic warnings should be larger than they are at present.
But some experts say the effects of graphic warnings are limited; and they think the government should use its tax policy if it is serious about reducing smoking rates.
But policymakers know tax policies carry political risks.More quitters than smokers
Ireland has more ex-smokers than smokers, according to a story in The Journal citing new research from the Health Service Executive (HSE).
The HSE’s latest Quit campaign has seen the publication of a new survey showing Ireland has more than one million people who have quit smoking.
The Healthy Ireland Survey found that about 22 percent of Irish adults are smokers, with 18 percent smoking on a daily basis and four percent smoking occasionally.
This translates to about 830,000 smokers in Ireland, fewer than the number of quitters.
The rate of smoking is highest in the 25-34 age group and is lowest in the over-75 age group.
The full story is at: http://www.thejournal.ie/quit-smoking-numbers-3779386-Jan2018/No more mister nice guy
Tobacco smoking is prohibited in more than 32,000 premises and locations in Singapore, including shopping malls, offices, hospitals, schools, parks, bus stops and common areas of residential buildings, according to a story in the Straits Times.
Singapore’s already extensive smoking bans were added to on October 1 after which smoking was prohibited within five meters of public places, such as the outdoor areas of universities and the compounds of private institutions, with the exception of designated smoking areas.
The new rules banned smoking within a five-meter radius of kindergartens, childcare centres, primary and secondary schools, junior colleges, polytechnics and the campuses of institutes of technical education.
They banned from smoking private-hire car drivers and passengers, and passengers in trishaws and excursion buses.
It was already illegal for trishaw riders and excursion bus drivers to smoke while working.
The Times said that verbal warnings had been given to 772 smokers who lit up near schools and other areas prohibited under the new regulations, but that the crackdown was getting tougher.
The National Environment Agency was said to have taken an advisory approach in the first three months after the new law came into force to allow smokers time to make the transition to the stricter regime.
But that softly-softly approach changed on January 1. People caught smoking in a place where smoking is prohibited now face having to pay penalties.Patio tyrants rule in Canada
Vaping and tobacco smoking could be banned on restaurant and bar patios in the Canadian city of Winnipeg later this year, according to a number of media reports.
A CBC News story said a report from Winnipeg’s community services department had recommended a ban on the use of cigarettes, cigars, pipes, electronic cigarettes, water pipes, hookahs and ‘similar products/devices’ on outdoor patios where food or drinks were served.
If the City Council approves the ban it will go into force on April 1 and Winnipeg will become the last major city in Canada to outlaw patio smoking.
In a telephone survey of 600 ‘randomly selected’ adults carried out between September 21 and October 10, the city found that 76 percent of people supported a patio smoking ban at restaurants and 58 percent supported a ban at bars.
Community by-law enforcement manager Winston Yee reported to council’s protection and community services committee that a scan of patio smoking bans in other cities had revealed little impact on businesses.
‘Implementation and compliance was achieved primarily through a combination of public and industry education, and providing support to business owners through a transition period,’ he said.
‘Most municipalities reported limited need for enforcement due to general public acceptance and co-operation from business owners.’
Yee said also that all other jurisdictions had created an exemption for the ceremonial Indigenous use of tobacco. And during an interview he indicated that Winnipeg would offer the same exemption.
In addition, bars could continue to allow smoking in outdoor areas on private property where no food or drinks were served, Yee said. But these areas would have to be permanent.Keep digging
China has become the fastest-growing tobacco market, according to a story in the Worker’s Daily citing a report by Zheng Rong, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics.
This is despite the recent imposition of anti-tobacco measures, including cigarette-tax rises.
China has imposed too strict bans on tobacco smoking in more than 20 cities, though the campaign has covered less than 10 percent of the whole country.
Cigarette taxes were raised substantially in 2008 and 2015 but they did not cool demand.
Taxes now account for about 59 percent of the retail prices of cigarettes in China, but they lag behind the global average of 75 percent.
In additional, the disposable income of Chinese smokers was said to have grown by about 85 percent from 2001 to 2016, and even to have doubled among consumers of low-price products.
The incidence of smoking in China among low-income groups is higher than the incidence among high-income groups, and rural residents smoke more than do urban people.
Hu Angang, a professor with Tsinghua University, was quoted as saying that ‘the higher incidence of smoking in poverty-stricken areas and poor families is the main cause of poverty reoccurrence due to the treatment of tobacco-related diseases’.
The global experience indicated that raising taxes on tobacco could effectively reduce the use of tobacco and cut public health expenditures, Zheng said; and he called for higher cigarette prices to reduce smoking among low-income smokers.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Tobacco Control Office, said raising the tax and price of tobacco products was one way to control smoking.Bigger warnings sought
Most South Koreans think cigarette-pack graphic health warnings should be increased in size, while some believe they should cover the whole pack, according to a story in The Korea Herald citing the results of a poll that sought the opinions of 634 smokers and 866 non-smokers.
Not long ago, when graphic warnings were first suggested, it was said that, culturally, such warnings would not be acceptable in the country.
Currently, graphic warnings cover 50 percent of the two largest faces of packs – the front and the back.
Of the 1,500 people surveyed by the Korea Health Promotion Institute last year, 27.6 percent of adults and 29.2 percent of young people said graphic warnings should be enlarged.
Thirteen-point-one percent of those surveyed said the warnings should cover more than 90 percent of packs, while 17 percent of adults and 17.3 percent of adolescents said the entire pack should be wrapped in images showing the dangers of smoking.
Twenty-four-point-six percent of adults and 17.1 percent of young people supported the current 50 percent warnings.
The poll was said to have found also that people are ‘more impressed’ by pictorial warnings than by warning phrases alone. On a one-to-five scale, graphic warnings were said to have a 3.94 effect while warning phrases had a 2.41 effect.
South Korea’s smoking rate rose to 23.9 percent in 2016 from 22.6 percent in 2015.
The country’s smoking rate among men stood at 31 percent in 2015, the highest among the 15 member states of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development for which statistics are available.PM's New Year resolution
Philip Morris Limited (PML) yesterday ran ‘advertisements’ in a number of UK newspapers announcing its New Year’s resolution to try to ‘give up cigarettes’.
The advertisement, Our New Year’s Resolution: we’re trying to give up cigarettes, encourages adult smokers to visit a new website – www.smokefreefuture.co.uk – that contains information on quitting and switching.
In addition, it makes a number of specific commitments for the UK for 2018:- Launch a website and campaign to provide smokers with information on quitting and on alternatives to cigarettes;
- Offer to support local authority cessation services where smoking rates are highest;
- Seek government approval to insert, directly into our cigarette packs, information on quitting and on switching;
- Expand the availability of new, alternative products in the UK.
The advertisement outlines how Philip Morris International has spent more than £2.5 billion on research, product and commercial development during the past decade to develop smoke free alternatives to combustible cigarettes.
Meanwhile, Peter Nixon, MD of PML, has written to the prime minister outlining how the company believes it can play a part in helping Britain to go smoke free.
“We believe we have an important role to play in helping the UK become smoke-free,” he was quoted saying in a PML press note issued yesterday.
“The commitments announced today are practical steps that could accelerate that goal.
“We recognise that never starting to smoke – or quitting altogether – are always the best option. But for those who continue to smoke, there are more alternatives than ever available in the UK.”
