Category: People

  • Speakers named

    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.

  • Prices set to double

    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.

  • Fresh thinking needed

    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.

  • Applied arts

    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.

  • Air pollution is top killer

    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.”

  • Focus on young people

    Focus on young people

    British American Tobacco has said that it will continue to work with the US Food and Drug Administration as the agency advances new policies aimed at preventing youth access to flavored tobacco products.

    The FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, yesterday made a statement on preventing young people from obtaining such products; as described on this website yesterday under the heading Haste urged.

    “We welcome the FDA … shining a spotlight on the important issue of youth access to vapor products,” a BAT spokesperson was quoted as saying in a note posted on the company’s website. “We have always been clear that youth should not use vapor products and have had stringent measures in place to address this for some time.

    “In relation to today’s announcement, we share the FDA’s concerns that some flavors, such as those resembling ‘kid-friendly’ food products, may play a role in increasing youth appeal and that marketing activities should not be directed to youth. We have never marketed such vapor flavors; we have supported measures to remove vapor products intended to mimic children’s food products or otherwise designed to target youth and have procedures in place to ensure our products are only marketed to adult tobacco consumers.

    “We believe flavors are important in helping adult smokers migrate away from cigarettes, and the flavors we market are directed at helping adult smokers who are looking for a potentially less harmful alternatives to cigarettes.

    “We already have third-party age verification processes for online sales. We will work with our many convenience retailers to ensure that tobacco, mint and menthol, which are our top selling flavours, remain available for consumers who are looking for potentially less harmful alternatives to cigarettes. We also have plans to make our flavored products available in other age restricted locations, including in specialist vape stores. As with all our retail partners, we will work with any new partners who stock our products to ensure they have appropriate age verification mechanisms.

    “In respect of the proposals on bringing forward the PMTA [FDA pre-market tobacco applications] date for flavored products, given our years of product development and scientific assessment of our vapor products, we are well-positioned to file PMTAs for our VUSE products and plan to do so ahead of the 2021 deadline.

    “We will continue working with the FDA as the agency moves this proposed compliance change forward over the coming weeks. We will be submitting comments for the FDA to review and consider as the agency works to finalise the guidance document.”

  • FDA acting chief named

    FDA acting chief named

    Ned Sharpless, the director of the US’ National Cancer Institute, is expected to be named as the temporary chief of the Food and Drug Administration, according to a story by Anna Edney for Bloomberg News.

    Sharpless is due to serve as acting head of the agency when commissioner Scott Gottlieb leaves later this year, the Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar was quoted as saying at an appearance on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

    Edney said that the appointment of Sharpless could allay the concerns of health advocates that Gottlieb’s departure would signal a let-up in the FDA’s crackdown on flavored electronic cigarettes and teen smoking. Sharpless has apparently supported Gottlieb’s efforts to stem what the commissioner has called an “epidemic” of smoking among young people.

    In addition, Edney said, the National Cancer Institute had worked closely with the FDA to fund research related to e-cigarette use, including the device’s impact on smoking cessation.

  • Sales set to start

    Sales set to start

    Zimbabwe’s 2019 flue-cured tobacco marketing season is scheduled to start on March 20, according to a story by Kudakwashe Mhundwa for The Herald, quoting the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB).

    The start of the marketing season was delayed this year because planting was held up by the late onset of rain.

    The TIMB said that the auction season would start on March 20, while contract tobacco sales would start on March 21.

    Sales bookings started yesterday and deliveries will be accepted from March 18.

    Meanwhile, another story in the Herald, this one by Nesia Mhaka and Ellen Chasokela, quoted the TIMB’s corporate communications manager Isheunesu Moyo as saying that three auction floors had been licensed for the 2019 sales season: the Tobacco Sales Floor, Boka Tobacco Auction Floors and Premier Tobacco Auction Floors.

    He said all the licensed floors were ready.

  • The ban didn’t work. Why?

    The ban didn’t work. Why?

    After numerous failed attempts to enforce a ban on tobacco smoking and chewing in public places, the city of Kathmandu, Nepal, is to have another try, according to a story in The Kathmandu Post.

    Deputy mayor Hari Prabha Khadgi, who also leads a five-member inspection committee, said she was holding consultations with representatives of the 32 wards of Kathmandu to make the drive a success.

    “I’m in consultation with the ward representatives and stakeholders,” Khadgi was quoted as saying. “We have decided to run awareness programs at schools and reach every nook and corner of the city with anti-tobacco visuals and street performances.”

    On February 25, 2018, Mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya announced an 18-month action plan to make Kathmandu a healthy city. However, the action plan was not followed.

    Although the ban on tobacco smoking and chewing was enforced initially, the effort did not last.

    The World Health Organization’s Tobacco Free Initiative had provided Rs10 million to assist Kathmandu conduct the ‘Healthy City’ campaign, and the city authorities plan to follow through on the campaign this time around.

    The Tobacco Product (Control and Regulatory) Act-2011 bans smoking in public places. Anyone breaching the law is liable to a fine of Rs100 to Rs100,000, depending on the nature of the offense.

  • Oral cancer on the rise

    Oral cancer on the rise

    A Greek member of the EU Parliament has asked the Commission what it is doing to address an ‘alarming’ increase in cases of oral cancer, some of which are down to tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption.

    In a preamble to two question, which are due to be answered by the Commission in writing, Lampros Fountoulis said the Piraeus Dentists’ Association had raised the alarm about the worrying increase in the incidence of oral cancer because ‘the number of cases has risen by 25 percent over the past 10 years and every year more than 300,000 new cases are reported worldwide’.

    ‘According to Mr Goutzanis [Lampros Goutzanis of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens], oral cancer is difficult to treat and, when diagnosed at an advanced stage, the outcome is usually fatal,’ Fountoulis said.

    ‘He goes on to point out that a large number of patients only consult doctors when the disease has reached an advanced stage, adding that, unfortunately, only 31 percent of oral tumors are diagnosed at an early stage.

    ‘At least three-quarters of cases of oral cancer could have been avoided if patients had stopped smoking and drinking alcohol; but other factors are also responsible for the increase in the incidence of oral cancers, namely solar radiation and HPV (human papillomavirus), which is sexually transmitted*.’

    Fountoulis asked the Commission:

    1)         ‘Is it aware of the increase in cases of oral cancer in the EU?

    2)         ‘What steps will it take to address this phenomenon?’

    *https://www.in.gr/2019/02/04/health/anisyxitiki-ayksisi-sta-krousmata-karkinou-tou-stomatos/?fbclid=IwAR3EE-_HL4mLT3DqfbL6wKcssZqz9hg5bw6sto78hovxhaRwbqeO14udWxY; and http://www.amna.gr/health/article/331248/Anisuchitiki-auxisi-parousiazoun-ta-krousmatakarkinou-tou-stomatos