Category: Regulation

Harm reduction opposed
Professor Chia Kee Seng, dean of the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health has warned against smokers switching to heat-not-burn (HNB) tobacco products, according to a story by Lin Yangchen published by straitstimes.com.
The Times indicated that Chia was not impressed by claims that some HNB products delivered 90 percent fewer toxins than did regular cigarettes.
“Ten per cent of a highly toxic product still makes it highly dangerous. Simply put, there is no safe level of smoking.”
Chia said that HNB products and electronic cigarettes, many of which are banned in Singapore but are bought online, continued to make it difficult to achieve the ultimate aim, which was to “de-normalise smoking”.
Chia champions raising the minimum legal smoking age, something that is being considered by the authorities in Singapore.
Studies had shown that people who did not start smoking before they were 21 years of age were unlikely ever to begin. At the same time, the younger people were when they first started smoking, the more likely they were to become habitual smokers.
Singapore should follow Australia and other countries that required the standardized packaging of cigarettes, Chia added, thereby removing the power of branding to give the perception that smoking was acceptable.
The Times reported that the latest slew of changes to Singapore’s anti-smoking policies had come as the government’s drive to get more people to quit the habit and slowed.
Although the incidence of adult smoking in Singapore fell progressively from 23.0 percent in 1977 to 13.3 percent in 2013, it has been stuck at that level since then.
July 12, 2017
Beating the smoking bans
It was often said that Italian smokers wouldn’t comply with a public-places tobacco-smoking ban, but they did. And much to many people’s surprise, French smokers also fell in line with such a ban. In Greece, meanwhile, many people refused to believe that smokers would observe a public places smoking ban, and they were correct.
In a story for CetusNews.com, Nektaria Stamouli describes how Greek citizens ‘still take pride in puffing where they please’ despite the country’s having passed a ban on smoking inside restaurants and offices in 2009.
The Deputy Health Minister Pavlos Polakis was said to have blithely flouted the ban, lighting up while giving a press conference last year. And at the Finance Ministry, smokers recently puffed away in a hallway under a large banner reading ‘Greece stubs out cigarettes’.
Taxi drivers were said to smoke while driving, holding their cigarettes out an open window only when they had passengers.
About 37 percent of Greeks smoke, compared with an EU average of 26 percent, according to a 2016 EU survey. In response to the poll, 87 percent of Greeks said they had been exposed to indoor smoking in bars.
Nevertheless, last year Greece’s parliament added to the country’s regulations by passing a ban on electronic-cigarette vaping in public places. During the debate, some lawmakers noted the irony of passing a new law in a chamber that ignores the original one. “Meeting room, parties’ offices, secretariats, walkways, toilets – the cigarettes are everywhere,” said center-right parliamentarian Niki Kerameos. “If we don’t set an example of following the laws, how do we expect citizens to do so?”
Stamouli said that as the country grappled with a seven-year economic downturn, enforcement of all types of infractions was haphazard. Budget cuts in the Attica region, which included Athens, had reduced by two-thirds the number of wardens who handed down fines for traffic and other offences, including smoking. The number of municipal police, who could also issue fines, had been downsized. And a telephone hotline for people wanting to call the Health Ministry to complain about smoking violations was rarely answered.
The Health Minister Andreas Xanthos has conceded that the smoking regulations haven’t been implemented. “What we need is to give the feeling that we are restarting,” he said to Parliament on May 31, International No Tobacco Day.
Stamouli’s piece is at:
http://www.cetusnews.com/life/Greece%E2%80%99s-Anti-Smoking-Effort-Has-One-Major-Problem–Greeks.B1KVrFIbSW.html.
July 11, 2017
PM to pay for PP challenge
In a heavily redacted ruling that was issued in March but made public on the weekend, the Permanent Court of Arbitration has directed Philip Morris Asia (PMA) to pay the Australian federal government an undisclosed sum in legal costs, according to a story in WA Today relayed by the TMA.
In December 2015, the Court dismissed PMA’s lawsuit challenging Australia’s ‘plain’ [standardized] packaging law, labeling it an ‘abuse of rights’.
The story said that ‘some sources’ believed the award against PMA could be as high as A$50 million (US$38 million), plus a percentage of the arbitration costs.
The company reportedly argued that Australia’s claim for costs was ‘excessive’ given that its legal team ‘consisted primarily of public servants’, and that it was well above what was claimed by Canada (US$4.5 million) and the US (US$3 million) in similar investment disputes.
The Australian government said its claim, which included the cost of its own lawyers, outside counsel, expert reports and witnesses, plus travel and accommodation, was justified, and the court agreed. The court found that the Tribunal ‘does not consider that any of these costs claimed by the respondent were unreasonable and should not have been incurred’.
July 11, 2017
No kudos for vaping
Vaping advocates, particularly in the UK, have been left outraged after claims about the country’s falling smoking rate made no mention of vapor products or, indeed, harm reduction, according to an opinion piece by Fergus Mason published on vapingpost.com.
On the 10th anniversary of the ban on smoking in pubs, most press releases and blog posts had focused on the fall in the incidence of smoking that had occurred since the ban was introduced – from around 21 percent in 2006 to just over 16 percent now, Mason said.
But, in fact, the figures showed that smoking rates in the UK had been falling for years before the ban.
Moreover, they showed that from 2007 to about 2011 this decline had stopped.
‘Smoking rates didn’t start heading down again until e-cigarettes became popular several years later, and then they began dropping at an unprecedented speed,’ Mason said.
‘However, you wouldn’t know this from the self-congratulatory outpourings from pressure groups.
‘ASH, who claim to be supportive of vaping, didn’t mention tobacco harm reduction at all in their numerous statements on the ban. Instead they credited the fall to plain packs, which were only introduced this May, and the ban on smoking in cars with children.
‘Cancer Research also failed to mention vapor products.
‘However, a statement by Public Health England [PHE] made clear that vaping had played a role in the decline.’
Meanwhile, Mason reported a British politician as having criticised the EU’s approach to vapor products, saying the Commission’s scaremongering could have a “perverse effect” and risk reversing progress made on reducing smoking.
‘Anne Main, the Conservative MP for St Albans, highlighted the landmark 2015 PHE report which estimated vaping to be at least 95 percent safer than smoking, and argued that the UK is not doing enough to support science-based solutions to tobacco use,’ Mason said.
‘She said that continuing with the regulations in their current form was likely to make this worse.
‘In particular, she said the use of health warnings similar to the ones on tobacco could dissuade people from making the switch to reduced-harm products.
‘Main also urged the British government to rethink the regulations once the UK has left the European Union.’
July 11, 2017
Tobacco under the radar
The European Commission has been asked what it is doing to fight ‘bulk tobacco inflows into the European Union’.
In a preamble to their question, which the Commission will answer in writing, the Italian MEP, Fulvio Martusciello, and the Slovenian MEP, Patricija Šulin, said the fight against the illegal tobacco trade centered largely on manufactured cigarettes.
However, according to a study carried out by the Universita’ Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and Transcrime in December 2016, the illegal trade in bulk tobacco, or the sale of unbranded cut tobacco outside legitimate channels, had been increasing.
More than €870 million per year was lost in eight EU member states alone, a considerable proportion because of inflows from outside the EU, mainly from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The illegal tobacco trade was in breach of the competition laws laid down in Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, but bulk tobacco had never been cited as a growing problem.
‘In the light of the above information, what is the Commission doing to fight bulk tobacco inflows into the European Union?’ they asked.
July 10, 2017
Smoking relaxations
Hundreds of restaurants and cafés in Jordan will no longer face being fined for allowing people to smoke hubble bubble pipes on their premises following an agreement between the ministries of tourism and health, the Greater Amman Municipality and the Jordan Restaurant Association.
According to what appeared to be an opinion piece in The Jordan Times, the agreement provides these establishments with a grace period to ‘rectify their situation’, which will entail the setting up of distinct smoking and non-smoking areas, the installation of adequate ventilation systems and the imposition of an 18-years age limit for smokers.
The Times commented that it appeared the concerned authorities were missing the point behind a World Health Organization rule against smoking in public places, ‘which Jordan adopted in principle, but never got around to fully respecting’.
‘Smoking, research shows, is bad for health,’ the Times said. ‘It is the reason for a long list of medical conditions and comes with a hefty price tag, both for the country and for individuals.
‘These considerations should override the business concerns of restaurants and cafés…
‘Our authorities seem to be going the opposite way, prioritizing the business of restaurants and cafés, at the expense of health.’
July 10, 2017
Guns yes, smoking no
From July 1, people will be allowed to carry concealed handguns at Wichita State University, Kansas, US, but they will be banned from smoking or vaping there, according to a story by Dion Lefler for the Wichita Eagle.
The policy on handguns has been ordered by the Legislature and that on smoking and vaping by university leaders.
Across the campus, it is possible to find students who support every possible permutation: Ban guns and cigarettes, don’t ban either one, or ban one but not the other.
But, Lefler explains, the status quo is not an option on guns. Two years ago, the Legislature passed and Governor Sam Brownback signed into law a bill that opens almost all public spaces and public buildings to the carrying of concealed handguns, including college classrooms, offices and dormitories.
Called “constitutional carry” by its supporters, the law requires neither a permit nor training to carry a concealed weapon for people over 21, an age group that includes many college juniors and seniors.
The only places where guns can be excluded are buildings with metal detectors and guards to run them at every entrance, which university officials say is impractically expensive on campuses with dozens of buildings and hundreds of entrances.
The new smoking rules deviate from a state law that allows outdoor smoking outside a 10-foot radius of public-building doors and air intakes.
The new university policy prohibits smoking outdoors on almost all university property, including streets, sidewalks and parking lots, though there are some exceptions.
Outdoor smoking in defiance of the policy won’t be a prosecutable offense with fines or citations. Nor will violations count as punishable misconduct for students and employees.
Instead, users of tobacco products will get a polite scold from student and faculty members designated as ambassadors for the tobacco-free campus policy.
Lefler’s piece is at: http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article158200119.html.
June 28, 2017
Smokers out in the cold
Smokers in Canberra, Australia, will have 3,000 fewer places to indulge their habit from October 1, according to a story by Katie Burgess for the Canberra Times.
Smoking will be banned from public transport waiting areas, including bus stops, taxi shelters, train stations and – when they’re built – light rail stops.
The government is considering also extending the ban to other areas ‘children and young people gather’.
Under the new rules, those who smoke within five metres of public or privately-owned public transport waiting areas will be liable to a fine of up to $750.
However, areas on private land that fall within five metres of a bus stop are not covered by the ban. And cars driving within five metres of a bus stop would not be covered by the ban either.
According to the story, vaping at bus stops would also be banned under the changes.
Health Minister Meegan Fitzharris was quoted as saying that “more potential smoke-free areas” had been identified through a public consultation.
“Again we are looking at places where the public gather, particularly places where children and young people gather as well, but it’s really important we do what we can to encourage people who are already smoking to give up,” Fitzharris said.
“Evidence shows that smoke-free outdoor areas can reduce the exposure of children and young people to the role modelling of smoking and so help prevent smoking uptake.
“This also supports the ACT [Australian Capital Territory] government’s efforts to encourage public transport usage by ensuring Canberrans can breathe easy around our over 3,000 public transport waiting areas.”
June 28, 2017
Tobacco fee proves taxing
Whereas good tax policy includes a broad base of taxpayers to pay for public goods, Oklahoma’s new cigarette fee raises money for state-wide health-care services, but only charges those most in need, according to a piece by Courtney Shupert published on the Tax Foundation website.
Shupert was addressing Oklahoma’s Smoking Cessation and Prevention Act of 2017, which, she said, might be going up in smoke.
Although Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin had signed the act (SB 845) into law on May 31, the constitutionality of the law was being questioned in a pending lawsuit because of its terminology.
‘In recent years, Oklahoma has faced severe budget shortfalls, leading to issues in education, infrastructure, and health-care funding,’ Shupert said. ‘Proposed cigarette tax hikes were introduced last year and again during the most recent legislative session to address these budget concerns, but failed to gain enough bipartisan support. Then, during the last week of the session, SB 845 was enacted to bridge a budget gap.
‘The new law is straightforward; it raises additional revenue from cigarette sales and funds health care. However, the state’s legislative gridlock and budget issues forced the passage of the cigarette charge as a fee, potentially violating Oklahoma’s Constitution.’
The upshot is that local businesses and large tobacco companies have jointly filed a lawsuit against the cigarette fee, claiming it is unconstitutional.
And even some legislators who voted for the bill are said to have found the lawsuit unsurprising, given the hasty passage of the legislation.
This leaves the state in a tight spot with the pending lawsuit, uncertain tax revenues, and additional budget concerns for the future.
Shupert’s piece is at: https://taxfoundation.org/oklahoma-cigarette-fee-fire/.
June 27, 2017
English pubs decimated
The smoking ban has decimated England’s pubs and hurt local communities, according to a report published today by the smokers’ group Forest.
New figures obtained by Forest are said to show there are now 11,383 fewer pubs in England than there were in 2006, a decline of 20.7 percent since the smoking ban was introduced on July 1, 2007.
While the fall in the number of pubs is part of a long-term trend and is not solely down to the smoking ban, the report found there was a clear acceleration in pub closures after the ban was enforced, with pubs in poorer urban areas suffering most.
According to the report, Road to Ruin? The impact of the smoking ban on pubs and personal choice, many communities have lost important meeting places and social hubs. At a time when the dangers of social isolation and loneliness have been increasingly recognised, the smoking ban has affected local communities and many individuals who now smoke and drink at home.
“The smoking ban has been a kick in the teeth for the traditional British boozer, especially in our urban inner cities,” said the report’s author, Rob Lyons. “Ten years on from the introduction of this damaging policy the government should order a full review of the impact of the legislation and consider alternatives to the current comprehensive ban.”
Meanwhile, Simon Clark, director of Forest, said there was very little evidence that the health of the nation had benefitted significantly from the smoking ban. Instead thousands of pubs had closed and choice had been sacrificed on the altar of tobacco control.
“Allowing separate well-ventilated smoking rooms or relaxing the unnecessarily strict regulations on outdoor smoking areas would reignite freedom of choice and give publicans greater control over their business,” Clark said.
“Proposals to extend the smoking ban to outdoor areas including beer gardens will be fiercely resisted. Smoking is a legitimate activity and pubs must be allowed to accommodate adults who choose to smoke.”
The report can be downloaded at: forestonline.org.
June 26, 2017