Category: People

A question of lung cancer
A Romanian member of the EU Parliament has asked the Commission if it is considering providing member states with guidance to ensure that all cancer patients have timely access to innovative treatments.
In a question preamble that appeared under the heading, Tackling lung cancer in Europe, Doru-Claudian Frunzulică said researchers at the European Cancer Forum had found that effective prevention policies and timely access to innovative treatments could improve the effectiveness of cancer care.
‘Even though there have been improvements in the last 15 years, some member states still have high mortality rates,’ he said. ‘As declared at the Forum, cancer is not just a medical issue, but also a social one.’
He then asked: ‘Is the Commission considering providing guidance to member states on how to tackle societal challenges in order to fill the existing gaps in cancer healthcare across Europe, and ensure that all patients have timely access to innovative treatments?’
The Commission is due to answer in writing.
January 23, 2019
Growers need forex
Tobacco growers in Zimbabwe are pleading with the Government to consider allocating them a higher percentage of foreign currency when they sell their crop during the 2019 marketing season, according to a story in The Chronicle.
This, they say, will mean that they can return to the fields and remain viable.
The growers were quoted as saying that, considering the high costs of production they incurred during this growing season, it would be ideal if they were paid the bulk of their money in foreign currency.
A grower in the Goromonzi district of Mashonaland East Province, Boniface Chitate, was quoted as saying that he was expecting higher prices during this marketing season and part of his payment in foreign currency.
“We need to import implements and these require foreign currency,” he was quoted as saying. “Currently farmers are relying on buying foreign currency at the parallel market and this is not viable.
“The situation is worse for self-financed farmers as we sometimes have to fund our tobacco crop using proceeds from other enterprises. We commend the Government for letting us import some commodities duty-free, but we still require foreign currency,” he said.
January 23, 2019
Leaf marketing delayed
Zimbabwe’s flue-cured tobacco marketing season will be delayed this year because the late arrival of rain held up planting, according to The Zimbabwe Daily quoting the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board chief executive Dr. Andrew Matibiri.
The dry spell, which most parts of the country experienced, saw many farmers planting several weeks after they normally would, Matibiri said.
The normal tobacco planting time is between September 1 and December 31.
Last year, the marketing season began in mid-February.
Wonder Chabikwa, the Federation of Farmers’ Union president, said the crop situation had improved since rain started to fall in early January.
“We had half a month delay but today it is a good story,” Chabikwa said, before adding that farmers with early crops were already reaping and curing.
“If the situation remains as it is, we expect to have a very good season,” he said.
Meanwhile, Matibiri said that a $70 million tobacco scheme for small-scale farmers had been negatively affected by a lack of foreign currency to procure essential inputs.
“The program was delayed because of price increases,” he said. “We were targeting to distribute inputs to 51,000 farmers but we only managed 11,000.”
January 22, 2019
India sees export opening
Yesterday saw the signing of a protocol under which Indian leaf tobacco will be exported to China, according to a Press Trust of India story published in the Business Standard and The Week.
A statement by the Indian Embassy in Beijing said the protocol was signed by India’s Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan and Zhang Jiwen, Vice Minister of General Administration of China Customs, which is responsible for examining market access and quarantine issues in respect of India’s agriculture and allied products.
The revival of the phytosanitary protocol with China would pave the way for the revival of Indian tobacco exports to China and prove economically beneficial to Indian farmers, the statement said.
January 22, 2019
Leaf growing on the rise
Tobacco cultivation in Bangladesh’s Teesta Irrigation Project area has been increasing in recent times as the Water Development Board has been unable to provide adequate water supplies to rice farmers, according to a story in The Daily Star.
The story said that a number of agronomists, physicians and environmentalists had expressed their concern over the increase in tobacco farming.
But some farmers have little choice. One farmer was quoted as saying that his land was situated along a remote part of a side canal where water hardly reached, and to avoid uncertainty, he had cultivated tobacco, which required the least irrigation.
During a recent visit to villages in the project area, a Star correspondent said he had found that tobacco has been cultivated on thousands of acres of land on the sides of narrow Teesta canals.
And Union Parishad [local government] chairman at Ramnagar [in the Feni District of the Chittagong Division], Mizanur Rahman, was quoted as saying that cultivation of tobacco had been almost doubled in the project area in the past couple of years because many farmers did not get access to irrigation facilities.
January 22, 2019
Smokers hit by price hike
New Zealand’s Quitline has seen a surge of people saying they want to give up tobacco smoking after the tax hikes on New Year’s Day, but many smokers say the price increase won’t change their habits, according to a story on Radio New Zealand.
The price of cigarettes increased by 10 percent on January 1, raising the average retail price of a 20-piece pack by NZ$2 to NZ$27.
During the past six years, cigarette prices have been pushed up by NZ$11 a pack.
Quitline was contacted 1,700 times in the first week of January, about 500 more times than in the same week last year.
“The new year is a time when people look to improve their health,” said Quitline chief executive Andrew Slater. “[For] smokers, it’s when they think most about giving up smoking.”
But a Ministry of Health tobacco tax excise evaluation released last year showed focus groups thought most smokers would rather pay more rather than go without cigarettes.
Ben Youdan, a spokesperson for Action for Smokefree New Zealand, said New Zealand was now one of the most expensive places to be a smoker.
It was obvious that smoking was addictive, he said, but it could also be a personal issue for people.
The Ministry of Health said it was committed to the Smokefree 2025 goal and considered vaping and e-cigarettes a less harmful alternative to smoking and combustible cigarettes.
January 22, 2019
A question of air quality
A French member of the EU Parliament has asked the Commission what it is doing to improve indoor air quality.
In a preamble to her question, Nadine Morano said the EU and its member states were taking a number of measures to fight air pollution outdoors.
‘Indoor pollution, however, is addressed much less frequently, even though some Europeans spend as much as 90 percent of their time indoors,’ she said.
‘What is more, concentration levels of some air pollutants are sometimes found to be higher inside than in the open air.’
Morano then asked: ‘In this context, what is the Commission doing to improve indoor air quality?’
The Commission is due to answer the question in writing.
January 22, 2019
Equal salary certification
Japan Tobacco International’s headquarters is the first Geneva-based multinational headquarters to be certified as an equal salary employer by the EQUAL-SALARY Foundation, a Swiss non-profit organization specialized in equal pay among women and men, according to a note posted on JTI’s website.
“We are delighted that our commitment to pay all our employees fairly is now recognized and endorsed by the independent EQUAL-SALARY Foundation,” said Guergana Andreeva, global talent management vice president.
“Gender pay equity is essential to us. It establishes a culture of trust within our organization, and is a key asset in the recruitment of future talent.
“We strongly believe in the importance of embedding diversity and inclusion in our practices, of which equal pay is only one component.”
‘The Foundation’s EQUAL-SALARY methodology was designed to allow companies to address any gaps and ensure all employees are paid equivalently for the same work,’ JTI said in its note.
‘This certification follows an independent audit process, which occurs in several stages, including a review of employee pay data, the company’s remuneration strategy, as well as focus groups and surveys amongst randomly selected employees.’
January 22, 2019
Threat to SA’s growers
South Africa is at risk of losing its tobacco-growing industry if British American Tobacco Southern Africa (Batsa) switches to buying tobacco from overseas, according to a story in the Business Day.
Batsa recently notified the country’s only tobacco processor, Rustenburg-based Limpopo Tobacco Processors (LTP), that it might have to consider buying foreign tobacco should the illicit tobacco industry gain further traction.
Christo van Staden, the MD of LTP, was quoted as saying that the move would put the existence of his company in doubt.
“With an estimated global over-production of tobacco leaf expected this year and declining markets, it will be impossible for LTP to find alternative markets for these huge volumes of tobacco,” Van Staden said.
According to the story, Batsa said it was considering the switch because of the deteriorating market conditions for the tax-paying portion of the industry.
In December 2018, research firm Ipsos said cigarettes selling for less than the tax of R17.85 per pack owed to the SA Revenue Service had grown market share by more than 25 percent, from 33 percent to 42 percent in three months.
It was not spelt out why Batsa would find it necessary to switch to buying tobacco from overseas if illicit tobacco products increased their share of the domestic market, but presumably it believes that it can buy tobacco cheaper from elsewhere.
Van Staden said his short-term request to the Government was not to impose any further increases in excise taxes on cigarettes in 2019, because that would simply make the non-tax-paying products even cheaper by comparison with legal products.
LTP buys and processes most of SA’s tobacco crop from about 100 commercial farmers and about 150 emerging farmers. The industry is said to employ 10,000 farm workers with 35,000 dependents.
January 21, 2019
Bungling at best
Queensland Health has been misinforming people that avenues allowing them to vape legally with nicotine in Australia are not open to them in Queensland, according to a report by the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association (ATHRA).
The report helpfully explains some of the laws governing vaping in Australia, which can seem opaque.
‘Although there are ways to legally vape with nicotine in Australia, Queensland Health has been telling smokers that they do not apply in Queensland,’ the ATHRA said. ‘This behaviour is bungling at best, or dishonest at worst.
‘Whatever their beliefs, governments have a responsibility to ensure accurate information is provided to consumers. Queensland Health’s opposition to vaping is no justification for deceiving the public to further its agenda.
‘Some Australian pharmacies can prepare nicotine liquid for vaping for a smoker who has a nicotine prescription and wants to quit. This is known as “compounding” and is legal in all states and territories under Commonwealth law (Therapeutic Goods Regulations 1990) …’
Queensland Health is said also to have misled the public for several years about importing nicotine from overseas.
‘Under the Therapeutic Goods Administration Personal Importation Scheme, smokers in all states can import nicotine legally to help them quit smoking if they have a doctor’s prescription,’ the ATHRA said.
January 21, 2019