Category: People

  • Vaping-kit sales boosted

    Vaping-kit sales boosted

    Sales of vaping starter kits in the UK rose by 37 percent year-on-year after vaping featured prominently in the National Health Service’s (NHS) Stoptober campaign, according to a story by Liz Wells for Talking Retail, quoting a leading retailer.

    This year, for the first time, electronic cigarettes are being featured in the NHS’ campaign, which challenges smokers to give up cigarettes for 28 days during the month of October.

    “It’s fantastic to see the NHS finally backing vaping as a pathway to quit smoking,” Dan Marchant, director of online retailer Vape Club, was quoted as saying.

    “The industry has been backing this alternative for a long time, but with the evidence provided by Public Health England, endorsements from the likes of Cancer Research UK and the figures which are produced by Action on Smoking and Health, there can be no doubt that vaping is the most effective method to give up tobacco.

    “The NHS advocating vaping as an alternative to tobacco is an enormous breakthrough and will do an outstanding amount of good for public health and tobacco control in the UK.”

  • Growers have their say

    Growers have their say

    Tobacco growers around the world are concerned about the implementation of inappropriate tobacco-control measures, and they are particularly concerned about a proposal by the US Food and Drug Administration to reduce the nicotine delivery levels of cigarettes.

    Representatives of tobacco-grower organizations from Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Macedonia, Malawi, South Africa, Turkey, the US, Zambia and Zimbabwe met in Greece on October 17 for the annual meeting of the International Tobacco Growers’ Association.

    The representatives said growers were aware of the efforts that had to be made to improve tobacco production and sustainability, and to address challenges such as child labour and deforestation. Growers were committed to working in a compliant manner, following good agriculture practices, to produce a crop that supplied a legal market of more than 900 million consumers and that provided a livelihood to millions of farmers, rural workers and their families around the world.

    In a note posted on its website, the ITGA said growers accepted the need to regulate the consumption of tobacco products, but insisted that regulatory measures should be balanced and based on science, not on personal opinions. It was vital to prevent the implementation of measures that had a devastating impact on the livelihoods of millions of tobacco farmers and labourers without achieving any of the desired aims of tobacco control.

    Growers were said to be particularly concerned with the recent proposal by the FDA to reduce the nicotine in cigarettes. This measure would influence policy makers outside the US and the effect of it would be felt by the most vulnerable part of the tobacco value chain, the growers. The reduction of nicotine, said the growers, would make the production and sale of traditional cigarettes almost impossible, pushing consumers to illicit products that did not respect such limits. Demand for legal tobacco would drop sharply without an alternative plan being in place for tobacco growers.

    Those attending the meeting in Greece agreed that a platform that included all relevant stakeholders, including health authorities, should be set up to discuss this issue and seek solutions. But they seemed not to be optimistic.

    ‘The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) keeps excluding growers and their representatives from the discussions being held about matters having a direct impact on tobacco production and, therefore, on growers’ livelihoods,’ the note said. ‘Growers are a legitimate part of this process and they have been asking for their inclusion into the FCTC’s debates.

    ‘Many of the subjects being debated in the FCTC meetings concern tobacco growers across the world. ‘More specifically articles 17 and 18 relate directly to tobacco production as they refer to alternatives to tobacco production and the environmental impact of tobacco growing.

    ‘Growers have been offering their help and their expertise to define measures that will directly affect their future. The legitimate growers’ representatives could have helped the government delegations attending FCTC meetings to have a much more realistic view of the present situation of tobacco growing around the world.

    ‘Growers insist that the WHO FCTC must return to its original mandate under Article 17, as was reiterated at the previous Conference of the Parties (COP6) in Moscow.  Said COP6 reaffirmed the importance of carrying out studies and research to identify alternative crops that could provide a level of income and assured export markets equal to those provided by tobacco.  For this reason, it was agreed upon that pilot projects in tobacco-growing regions would be necessary to demonstrate the long-term feasibility of such alternative crops.’

    Since the beginning of the FCTC negotiations, growers have requested that:

    • their right to be consulted on the development of policies which have a direct impact on them must be guaranteed;
    • the significant economic contribution of the tobacco crop to the economies of tobacco-growing countries should be recognized; and
    • a comprehensive economic study on the market should be conducted and taken into account when proposing measures.
  • Tobacco tax over-inflated

    Tobacco tax over-inflated

    Echoing back a phrase made famous by the Prime Minister, Theresa May, campaigners in the UK are urging the Chancellor to help consumers who are “just about managing” by rejecting a second increase in tobacco duty this year.

    According to the smokers’ group Forest, tobacco duty costs those with low incomes a far larger proportion of their income than it does those on higher incomes, and further hikes, it says, would only exacerbate this unfairness.

    ‘Measuring expenditure on tobacco duty as a percentage of disposable income, in 2015/16 tobacco duty cost the average household in the lowest-income bracket almost eight times what it cost the average highest-earning household,’ Forest said in a press note issued today.

    ‘Although the average household among middle-earners spent 38 per cent more on tobacco duty than the poorest households; as a percentage of disposable income the poorer households were still worse off.’

    Tobacco duty, says Forest, costs the poorest households 2.3 percent of their disposable incomes compared to 0.3 percent in the wealthiest households.

    “Tobacco duty is a regressive tax because it hurts low income households more than the average household and far more than the wealthiest households,” said Simon Clark, director of Forest.

    “In order to help those who, in Theresa May’s words, are ‘just about managing’, we urge the Chancellor to resist the temptation to increase tobacco duty for a second time this year.”

    Meanwhile, Forest claims that the use of a ‘flawed’ measure of inflation has cost smokers an additional £1.35 billion in tobacco duty since 2010.

    According to the group, the practise of increasing tobacco duty using the retail price index (RPI) rather than the consumer price index (CPI), which experts believe is a more accurate measurement of inflation, has resulted in smokers being unfairly overtaxed.

    The duty escalator, which was reintroduced in 2010, increased the price of tobacco every year by inflation plus two per cent. Inflation, says Forest, was calculated using the RPI not the CPI. This, says the group, has resulted in smokers paying even more duty than they should reasonably have been expected to pay.

    Forest estimates that smokers were overtaxed by almost £46 million in 2010/11, rising to £252 million in 2016/17. The forecast for 2017/18 is almost £310 million which means smokers will have been overtaxed by more than £1.35 billion since 2010.

    “Smokers have been punished enough for their habit,” said Clark. “Tobacco duty is already scandalously high without the Chancellor using a flawed measure of inflation to extract even more money from the pockets of law-abiding consumers.”

  • Survey supports e-cigs

    A survey carried out in the UK has revealed that ex-smokers say switching to vaping is the most effective way to give up.

    The research, involving 7,464 former smokers and commissioned by British American Tobacco on behalf of its electronic-cigarette brand Vype, showed that from their own experiences of giving up, 33 percent of former smokers found that using e-cigarettes was the most effective method.

    ‘However, the research found that there is still a lack of public awareness around e-cigarettes,’ BAT said in a press note. ‘Amongst the smokers surveyed, only 52 percent said they viewed vaping as less harmful than smoking. And only a quarter of the general public said they would recommend vaping products to a smoker looking to quit.’

    Last month, Public Health England announced that its annual Stoptober campaign would, for the first time, back e-cigarettes.

    In 2015 the agency published an independent review on e-cigarettes in which it concluded that, based on best estimates, the use of these devices was about 95 percent less harmful than is smoking.

    Today’s latest research supports many publicly-available studies, including one from the British Psychological Society indicating that vaping might provide support or an alternative for smokers who want to quit smoking.

    “We welcome the news that for the first time the government is backing vaping in its Stoptober campaign especially given that independent organisations, such as Public Health England, have previously stated that e-cigarettes are around 95 percent less harmful than cigarettes,” said Nigel Hardy, head of the UK Vaping Business at BAT.

    “For many years we have highlighted that vaping can be an alternative to smoking which is why we have, and continue to, invest heavily in innovative next generation products. With our Vype e-cigarette brand, we are leading the vapor market in the UK, offering consumers a range of the highest quality products.

    “However, our research shows there is a knowledge gap which could be holding back the chances of more people stopping smoking. We need better consumer education on this topic and call on the UK government to consider some of the restrictions on e-cigarette advertising. Appropriate marketing can help to ensure smokers have more visibility of vaping products as an alternative to smoking.”

    Further findings from the study were said to include:

    • 61 percent of the general public believe vaping is socially acceptable, but this rises to 68 percent amongst 18-to-34-year-olds.
    • When asked about Stoptober 2017, 26 percent of smokers who were aware of the campaign said they planned to try and quit. 34 percent of smokers were intending to use, or were aware of others planning to use, e-cigarettes to try and quit as part of the campaign. This was higher than for other nicotine products such as nicotine patches, nicotine chewing gum and nicotine inhalers.
    • When asked about Stoptober 2017, 47 percent of smokers recalled the message that “stop smoking for 28 days and you are five times more likely to quit for good”; 11 percent recalled the message that e-cigarettes were a great way to combat nicotine cravings; nine percent recalled the message that the NHS supports e-cigs as a way to stop; and eight percent recalled that they carried a fraction of the risk of smoking.
  • ILO told to cut tobacco ties

    ILO told to cut tobacco ties

    Ahead of the meeting of the governing body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on November 1, a coalition of about 200 public health organizations, including the World Health Organization, is urging the ILO to end its tobacco-industry ties, according to a story in the Nation (Thailand) relayed by the TMA

    Dr. Mary Assunta, senior policy adviser for the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA), was quoted as saying that it was unfortunate that the ILO chose to damage its reputation by accepting money from the tobacco industry when other UN agencies had already “disengaged themselves from Big Tobacco”.

    In June, the story reported, the UN had adopted a resolution encouraging its agencies to disengage with the tobacco industry, and, last month, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) had permanently banned tobacco industry participation.

    Assunta said that the ILO had the opportunity “to catch up” with other agencies and “stand on the right side of history to prioritise and protect workers’ welfare”.

    It was estimated that, since 2015, the ILO had received more than US$15 million from tobacco corporations for joint programs to combat child labor.

    SEATCA said the industry used this collaboration to boost its public relations, but did little to address poverty among farmers, which was the cause of children having to work in tobacco fields.

    Assunta urged the agency not to be swayed by “the paltry handouts from the tobacco industry”, and called on the governing body to cut ties with the tobacco industry as recommended in the model policy of the UN Inter-agency Task Force.

  • Antis nose around homes

    Antis nose around homes

    Anti-tobacco campaigners in Scotland are pushing for new measures that could prevent smokers from lighting up at home, according to a story by Colin McNeill for the Herald Scotland.

    ASH Scotland wants to hold talks with social housing providers to explore ways of introducing no-smoking rules for some tenants.

    It wants to look also at how legislation surrounding smoking in residential care homes could be tightened to protect staff from passive smoking.

    The move has been boosted by a call from Aberdeen University academic Dr. Sean Semple for a national debate around smoking at home.

    “We need to have a debate on why we currently think it acceptable to expose non-smokers, including children, to second-hand tobacco smoke within indoor spaces,” he said. “That debate needs to include smoking in the home.”

    However, the smokers’ group Forest was said to have branded any attempt to stop people from smoking in a home setting as “obnoxious”, adding that it would constitute a gross invasion of privacy and be almost impossible to enforce.

    “Targeting social housing is particularly obnoxious because it penalises unfairly those who can’t afford to buy their own home,” Forest director Simon Clark was quoted as saying. “Prohibiting smoking at home would be almost impossible to enforce but it could create a snooper’s charter encouraging people to snitch on neighbours they don’t like.

    “What happens if someone is caught and prosecuted? The consequences, including possible eviction, are out of all proportion to the alleged offence.”

    Meanwhile, a Japan Times story on Monday reported how a by-law aimed at protecting children from passive smoking – including in private places such as their homes – had been enacted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly.

    What was said to be the first prefecture-level measure of its kind calls on people not to smoke inside rooms or vehicles in which children under 18 are present.

    The by-law, which carries no penalties, calls on Tokyoites to try to ensure that children are not subjected to passive smoking anywhere. It calls on parents not to smoke in rooms where children are present.

  • Prohibition a step closer

    Prohibition a step closer

    A by-law aimed at protecting children from passive smoking – including in private places such as their homes – has been enacted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, Japan, according to an editorial in the Japan Times.

    What is said to be the first prefecture-level measure of its kind calls on people not to smoke inside rooms or vehicles in which children under 18 are present.

    The by-law calls on Tokyoites to try to ensure that children are not subjected to passive smoking anywhere. It calls on parents not to smoke in rooms where children are present. Parents are urged not to let children enter facilities that have no measures to prevent passive smoking or designated smoking sections. In addition, the by-law calls on people not to smoke inside cars in which children are riding, on streets near parks, plazas, schools and facilities promoting children’s welfare, and similar facilities. And it calls on people not to smoke on streets within seven meters of pediatric clinics or dental clinics for children.

    Although the by-law is not backed by penalties, the editorial described it a meaningful step forward that other local governments should follow.

    The editorial said that the by-law sought to protect the health of children through the ‘Law on Prevention of Child Abuse’.

    It was endorsed by all parties in the assembly except the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). In that sense, it was said to be a product of an assembly election in July, in which Tomin First, promising to seek measures against passive smoking, upstaged the LDP as the largest party.

    The LDP opposed the by-law on the grounds that regulating people’s private lives, such as their smoking habits at home, required careful discussion.

    It said the by-law, which is due to take effect in April, was being hastily enacted.

    How it is observed by Tokyo residents will be reviewed after one year.

  • Market forces apply

    Market forces apply

    The number of ‘runaway and absconding’ maids looking to earn attractive salaries in mixed-gender shisha cafés has increased sharply in Kuwait, even though the owners of the cafés are aware that the maids are violating residency laws by running away from their sponsors, according to a story in The Arab Times citing an Al-Shahed daily report.

    Al-Shahed apparently said that this situation had occurred ‘due to the absence of tough security controls which has in turn been contributing to the aggravation of such negative phenomena and irregularities’.

    Mixed-gender cafés in the Salmiya and Hawally areas are said to have contributed to the ‘huge presence of absconding maids who ran away from the houses of their sponsors’.

    A law enacted by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor does not permit the employment of women in shisha cafés.

    Many of those with investments in shisha cafés, the majority of whom are expatriates, were seeking to maximize their profits by increasing the presence of women in their cafés, according to the Times.

    They were said to choose ‘certain types of maids’ to work for them at salaries exceeding KD200 (US$833) per month.

    The absconding maids happily agreed to work as they didn’t require work permits or visas.

  • High earners smoking

    High earners smoking

    Tobacco smoking in Bulgaria damages the country’s economy to the tune of about 165 million leva; or by the equivalent of 10 percent of its GDP, according to a story in The Sofia Globe quoting the For Life Without Tobacco Smoke coalition.

    The coalition said also that the economic cost of smoking was borne not only by smokers, but by non-smokers, because the treatment of smoking-related illnesses was paid for by all taxpayers.

    At the same time, employers suffered from the loss of productivity among employees who smoked.

    According to a report compiled by the coalition, more than 28 percent of adolescents in Bulgaria are regular smokers.

    And, in contrast to the situation in most other countries, where smoking is more prevalent among people on lower incomes, in Bulgaria the highest proportion of smokers is among people with the highest incomes.

    Also in contrast to the situation in other countries, in Bulgaria smoking is more prominent among teenage girls than among teenage boys.

  • Big fall in young smokers

    Big fall in young smokers

    A national survey conducted in Tonga has found that a significant fall in smoking has occurred among young people, according to a Radio New Zealand story.

    Tonga started an anti-tobacco campaign last year, focusing on the dangers of smoking around children.

    And it relaunched the campaign this year to highlight the general dangers of tobacco use.

    The medical officer in charge of the Tonga Health Promotion Foundation, Dr. Ofa Tukia, said that whereas 22.0 percent of young people had smoked cigarettes in 2010, that figure had now dropped to 14.6 percent.

    Tukia was quoted as saying that she was pleased with the results of the survey, for which the campaign could take credit.

    But she said the number of young smokers was still too high.

    The campaign is due to run until 2020.