A court in Turkey has rejected a claim by a man who said that a graphic cigarette-pack warning included a picture of him in hospital with a breathing tube in his mouth, according to a Hurriyet Daily News story.
The man, who lives in the western province of Tekirdağ and who was identified only as İbrahim A., had sued five tobacco companies in 2012.
He had asked for TL302,000 in compensation for the use of the picture without his permission.
According to the plaintiff, the photo was taken in a state hospital’s intensive care unit where he had been taken after suffering breathing problems in June 2009.
But attorneys for the tobacco companies said the man in the picture was not İbrahim A. “The picture [on the cigarette packs] was dated to 2005 and picked from the European Commission’s reference list,” they said.
The court announced its verdict this week, citing an expert report and saying that whereas the man pictured on the packs was a ‘bit similar to the plaintiff’, ‘it was not him’.
In dismissing the case, the court stressed the ‘mismatch’ between the date the picture on the packs had been taken and the date İbrahim A. had been hospitalized.
Category: People
Picturesque questions
Women addicted to men!
As it’s the end of the week when anything goes, it might be instructive to report that a recent newspaper heading had it that: Women are more likely to be addicted to cannabis than men, suggests study.
This is interesting in several ways. For instance: is it being claimed that women are addicted to men?
In today’s climate, this seems a little rash.
But, never mind, it seems that the gravitational pull of men is not that strong. The story under the heading goes on to say that the new study ‘has revealed that women may be enjoying the [cannabis] high more than men’.
And why wouldn’t they? You can have an intelligent conversation with a reefer.The warning that burns
Canada could become the first country to require cigarette manufacturers to include on individual cigarettes warnings about the dangers of tobacco consumption, according to a story by Ryan Flanagan at ctvnews.ca.
The federal government has launched a consultation and one of the most significant ideas being floated in the consultation concerns a possible requirement for ‘smoking causes cancer’ or similar wording to be included on individual cigarettes. Currently, such warnings are required to be placed on or inside cigarette packs.
‘There is recent but limited research showing that health warnings placed directly on a product, such as cigarettes, could be effective in making the product less appealing to users,’ a government consultation document reads.
Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst for the Canadian Cancer Society, described the proposal as a ‘logical next step’ for health warning requirements.
‘It’s an incredibly cost-effective way to reach every smoker every day with the health message,’ he reportedly told ctvnews.ca.
But Cunningham sees the proposal as having a benefit also for law enforcement. He said it would make it easier for police to detect illicitly-produced cigarettes.
Other ideas under consideration include adding brighter colors and eye-catching cartoons to existing warning labels and ensuring the various warnings on each package follow the same theme and deliver the same message.
Labels might also become mandatory for tobacco products that do not currently carry them, including water pipe tobacco and heated tobacco products.Future looks plain
Singapore is planning to impose plain – standardized – packaging on all tobacco products, according to a Channel NewsAsia story citing an announcement by the Ministry of Health (MOH).
The MOH said the proposed measures would apply to all tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, bidis, ang hoon (loose tobacco leaves) and other roll-your-own tobacco products.
The ministry intends to table the necessary amendments to current laws early next year.
If enacted, the new measures are expected to take effect from 2020.
A transition period, starting when manufacturers must begin producing standardized packs and ending when retailers must be selling only products in standardized packs, will be provided to allow a sell-through of old stock and to ease the implementation burden on the tobacco industry, the MOH said.
‘Tobacco use is a major cause of ill-health and death in Singapore,’ the MOH said in a press note.
‘More than 2,000 Singaporeans die prematurely from smoking-related diseases annually.
‘Daily smoking prevalence amongst Singaporeans has been fluctuating since 2004, with no clear pattern of sustained decline.’
Under the proposal, all logos, all colors but one, brand images and promotional information would be removed from the tobacco-product packs.
Packs would have to use a standard color in a matt finish.
Brand names and product names would be allowed, but only in a standard color and font.
‘Tobacco products must also display mandatory graphic health warning covering at least 75 percent of the packet’s surface, up from the current 50 percent,’ the NewsAsia story reported.
Much of this was foreshadowed earlier this year when the MOH said it would be conducting a public consultation on its Standardized Packaging Proposal from February 5 to March 16.
In its statement, the ministry said Singapore’s smoking rate had fallen from 23 percent to 19 percent between 1977 and 1984, and then to 12.6 percent in 2004.
But it said the rate of decline had slowed in recent years.
‘The smoking rates have been fluctuating between 12 percent and 14 percent in the last 10 years, with no clear pattern of continuous decline,” said the ministry.
‘A particular concern is the fact that there remains a sizable proportion of men (more than one in 5) who smoke daily.’
The ministry said that it was the government’s preliminary assessment that the implementation of the Standardized Packaging Proposal would, with other existing and future tobacco control measures, ‘constitute a significant step towards Singapore becoming a tobacco-free society’.No export relief
The EU Commission has said that it is not possible to exclude tobacco products for export from the requirements of its pack traceability system.
The Commission was responding to a Danish member of the EU Parliament who had asked the Commission whether the requirement for unique, tobacco-product identifiers would be waived in the case of products manufactured in the EU but intended for export to countries that did not allow such markings.
In a preamble to his questions, Bendt Bendtsen said the rules of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/574 of December 15, 2017, on technical standards for the establishment and operation of a traceability system for tobacco products required in Article 6(1) that manufacturers marked each pack produced in the Union with a unique identifier.
‘What does the Commission intend to do in order to ensure that no tobacco products produced in the EU are prevented from being imported into non-EU countries as a result of the new track and trace rules, which require all EU-manufactured products to show a mandatory unique identifier?’ he asked.
‘Does the Commission intend to take steps to suspend said requirement for products manufactured for import into countries which, as of 20 May 2019, do not allow imports of tobacco products produced in the Union as a result of the EU requirement of a unique EU identifier?’
In response, the Commission said that the ‘inclusion of tobacco products for export in the scope of the traceability system was fully in line with both the Tobacco Products Directive 2014/40/EU and the [World Health Organization’s] Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. ‘Therefore, there is no possibility to exclude tobacco products for export from the requirements to be tracked and traced,’ it said.
‘In this context, it is important to note that the measures adopted are designed to address the issue of illicit tobacco trade in the broadest possible way, thus including exports of EU tobacco products to third countries.
‘The Commission is already in direct contact with certain third countries to ensure that EU tobacco products can continue to be exported. The recent Conference of the Parties to the FCTC, called upon Parties to ensure that the rules on packaging and labelling are applied in a manner compatible with the provisions on product traceability.’ILO pressed on tobacco link
Government members of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) governing body have been told that the expiration in December of the ILO’s contract with Japan Tobacco International – the organization’s only remaining contract with the tobacco industry – creates an opportunity for the ILO to start afresh in 2019.
The advice comes in an open letter posted on the website of the Framework Convention Alliance and signed by about 100 ‘public health, development, human rights, and corporate accountability organizations’.
The letter states, in part: ‘While the world waits for the ILO to align itself with the 181 countries party to the WHO [World Health Organization] Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), at this 334th Governing Body meeting [scheduled for today], we, the undersigned organizations, respectfully request the following decisions be adopted:- No longer accept any funding from the tobacco industry including corporations profiting from tobacco and ancillary groups that receive tobacco industry funds, in accordance with the UN model policy;
- Implement the integrated strategy using Regular Budget Supplementary Account funds in the short term;
- Work closely with relevant UN agencies, e.g. FAO, UNDP, to assist tobacco farmers and workers to find alternate livelihood; and
- Allow current contracts with the tobacco industry to expire, do not negotiate for the renewal of expired contracts, and do not establish any new contracts with the tobacco industry or its proxies.’
The full version of the letter is here.
Attempt to calm moral panic
A group of academics and tobacco control and public health experts is trying to convince the US Food and Drug Administration to slow down and consider the risks of hasty regulation, according to a piece by Jim McDonald at Vaping360.
The National Tobacco Reform Initiative (NTRI) is said to have sent a letter to Dr. Scott Gottlieb, calling on the FDA commissioner to hold a summit of stakeholders to discuss the FDA’s policy on vapor products and vaping.
In introducing his piece, McDonald said the FDA seemed dead set on restricting the vapor industry very soon. The agency had given JUUL Labs and the four major tobacco companies that also sell vapor products 60 days to submit plans to eliminate sales to teenagers. That 60-day deadline expired soon after next week’s elections.
Meanwhile, McDonald said that NTRI co-ordinator Allan Erickson had written to Gottlieb saying that to address the situation fully would require the involvement and support of not only the FDA, but other stakeholders as well. Erickson, a former American Cancer Society vice president, believes that e-cigarettes can play a part in tobacco control efforts to reduce smoking.
‘We therefore wish to recommend that the FDA/CTP [the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products] sponsor a national dialogue related to youth use of tobacco and nicotine products as well as the need to provide the 30 million adult smokers in this country with lower risk alternative tobacco and nicotine products, to be held sometime in early 2019,’ he said in his letter.
The NTRI leadership includes David Abrams and Ray Niaura of New York University (both formerly with the Truth Initiative), former American Heart Association vice president Scott Ballin, and former American Cancer Society president John Seffrin. The organization’s advisory group includes Clive Bates and Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller. Miller was one of the state attorneys general who sued the tobacco companies, leading to the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement. He was the chair of the Truth Initiative board last year.
McDonald’s piece says, however, that the NTRI letter may be too late to affect Gottlieb’s thinking.
‘He’s shown no signs of cooling his reckless “epidemic” rhetoric,’ McDonald said. ‘There’s nothing the FDA commissioner needs more now than wisdom from clear-headed and open-minded veterans of the tobacco wars. But he appears less and less likely to listen.’Fiddling as the air kills
Xian has become the latest city in China to ban tobacco smoking in public places, according to a story in The South China Morning Post.
This latest ban follows those introduced in Beijing in 2015 and in Shanghai and Shenzhen in 2017.
The Chinese government outlawed smoking in enclosed public places nationwide in 2011, but the ban, which was not backed by penalties, was barely implemented at local level and, when it was, it was poorly enforced.
The authorities in Xian announced that, effective from November 1, smoking in enclosed public places would be prohibited, including on public transport.
Smoking is due to be banned, too, in some outdoor public places such as sports stadiums, children’s parks and school playgrounds.
The laws were published in full on the website Xian News on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the eastern city of Hangzhou amended a proposed ban on indoor smoking earlier this year after lobbying from China Tobacco, the state tobacco manufacturer, according to a Reuters report. Now, the city must provide designated indoor smoking areas.
Xian’s new legislation has been welcomed by public health experts at the World Health Organization.
“This 100 percent smoke-free regulation is a wonderful gift for the people and visitors of Xian,” said Dr. Shin Young-soo, the WHO’s regional director. “It is the gift of health and air free from harmful second-hand smoke.
However, as was reported here yesterday, there is no escape. The WHO says that toxic air that billions of people breath every day is the ‘new tobacco’.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the WHO has declared that air pollution is a public health emergency that is killing seven million people every year and seriously damaging the health of many more.
‘Despite this epidemic of needless, preventable deaths and disability, a smog of complacency pervades the planet,’ Tedros said. ‘This is a defining moment and we must scale up action to urgently respond to this challenge.’Industry accused of success
The tobacco industry is “reverting to tricks and stunts” in a bid to attract young smokers, according to a story in The Guardian quoting the head of the Public Health Association of Australia.
Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin made his comment after analysis published in the British Medical Journal’s Tobacco Control had shown that cigarettes with flavor capsules were the fastest growing segment of the combustible tobacco market.
Slevin described the modification of tobacco products to make them more ‘appetising’ as “an extraordinary assault on public health”.
“Any modification to tobacco products which clearly aim to increase rates of smoking and target young smokers should be ruthlessly resisted,” he was quoted as saying.
“Australia has the lowest rates of smoking in the world among young people, and we now have a situation where more than 97 percent of children under 18 are never-smokers. The tobacco industry is clearly seeking to reverse that success and is reverting to tricks and stunts which should not be tolerated.”
The Tobacco Control analysis published on Monday found the market for cigarettes with flavor capsules in the filter had ‘grown exponentially since being introduced in 2007’.
The analysis, led by the University of Stirling in the UK, found there was a dearth of research on capsule cigarettes.
Nevertheless, it reported that research with adult smokers in the UK, US and Australia had shown ‘consistently’ a preference for capsules among young adults.
More than half of past-month smokers aged 12–17 years in Australia were said to have reported having tried a capsule cigarette.ZYN factory going up
Swedish Match’s snus shipments in Scandinavia during the three months to the end of September, at 66.6 million cans, were increased by about eight percent on those of the three months to the end of September 2017, 61.7 million cans.
During the same periods, shipments of moist snuff in the US were down by about six percent to 31.7 million cans, while shipments of snus and nicotine pouches outside Scandinavia were increased by 97 percent to 6.9 million cans.
Swedish Match’s share of the Swedish snus market was down by 2.2 percentage points to 63.2 percent, while its share of Norway’s snus market was down by 1.1 percentage points to 51.0 percent.
The company’s US cigar shipments during the three months to the end of September, at 427 million pieces, were increased by about five percent on those of the three months to the end of September 2017, 405 million pieces.
During the same periods, the company’s chewing tobacco shipments, excluding contract-manufacturing volumes, fell by about seven percent to about 1,526,000 pounds.
Swedish Match reported that, in local currencies, sales increased by 10 percent for the third quarter, while reported sales increased by 16 percent to SEK3,388 million.
Also in local currencies, operating profit from product segments (excluding other operations and larger one-time items) increased by 13 percent, while reported operating profit from product segments increased by 19 percent to SEK1,317 million.
Operating profit amounted to SEK1,305 million, while profit after tax amounted to SEK959 million.
Earnings per share increased by 32 percent to SEK5.55.
In presenting Swedish Match’s three-month and nine-month results, CEO Lars Dahlgren (pictured) said that the company had delivered another quarter of very strong financial results. Sales and operating profit in local currencies had increased for the two largest product segments, snus and moist snuff, and Other tobacco products, while the Lights product segment had had a relatively stable year-on-year performance.
‘Snus and moist snuff product segment sales grew by 12 percent and operating profit increased by 17 percent in local currencies, with strength coming from both our Scandinavian snus business and our snus and nicotine pouches outside Scandinavia,’ he said.
‘Both the Swedish and Norwegian snus market grew at a robust pace compared to the prior year. In particular, we noted an acceleration of category volume growth in Sweden. Intense competitive activity and product innovations within the premium segment have been positive for the development of the snus category. We also believe that the exceptionally warm summer contributed to higher snus consumption this year.
‘The changeover to plain packaging in Norway has gone smoothly, but it is still early to assess if there will be any longer-term category implications.
We estimate that total Scandinavian snus market growth, measured on a volume basis, was close to seven percent during the quarter. On balance we are relatively pleased with the performance of our more recent product introductions in the Scandinavian snus market, but overall our portfolios have lagged category growth in both Sweden and Norway during the quarter. Despite the loss in market share, we estimate that the underlying (excluding V2 Tobacco and Gotlandssnus) volume growth for our Scandinavian snus business reached four percent, a strong growth rate relative to historical levels.
‘For international snus and nicotine pouches, we have now for two consecutive quarters reported positive operating results, stemming from strong volume growth for ZYN, improved pricing, and reduced marketing spending for US snus.
‘With the acquisitions of V2 Tobacco, and more recently Gotlandssnus, we have expanded our portfolio to include a range of unique snus products that not only provide growth opportunities in Scandinavia, but also present an ability to expand our international snus portfolio. In September, we introduced V2’s Thunder Xtreme, a range of strong snus products in the US.
‘Construction efforts directed towards our new ZYN production facility in Owensboro, Kentucky, continue according to plan.
‘Other tobacco products (cigars and chewing tobacco) had another good quarter, with sales and profit growth in cigars more than offsetting declines in sales and profits for our US chewing tobacco business in local currencies.
Cigar shipment growth continued to be driven by our rolled leaf assortment despite the price increase taken earlier in the year.
‘Given the rapid growth within the rolled leaf segment, we are facing increasing challenges in securing certain tobacco supplies but we have implemented measures that we expect will improve the situation during the first half of 2019.
‘The acquisitions of V2 Tobacco and Oliver Twist (with their chew bags and tobacco bits) delivered positive contributions to both sales and operating profit…’
