The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday commended Thailand’s tobacco control measures as it prepares to become the first country in Asia to require that all tobacco products are sold in standardized packaging, according to a story in The Bangkok Post.
“Thailand’s bold steps against tobacco – the single most important cause of preventable deaths worldwide – are commendable and reflect the country’s earnest efforts to promote the health and well-being of its people,” Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director of WHO Southeast Asia, was quoted as saying.
The new standardized-packaging regulations comprise the Government’s latest effort to curb smoking. They add to the 2017 Tobacco Control Act, which mandated a minimum age of 20 for tobacco purchases, and banned single-stick sales and tobacco advertisements, promotions and sponsorship.
As elsewhere, the standardized packaging regulations are due to restrict the use of logos, colors, brand images and promotional information, leaving only brand names and product names displayed in a standard color and font.
The Post said that under the new law, all tobacco products would have to be sold in standardized packs by September 2019. Thailand already had graphic health warnings covering 85 percent of tobacco-product packaging, it added.
Thailand has more than 11 million smokers, with, it is estimated, one in five Thai adults smoking.
Nearly 50 percent of men between the ages of 35 and 54 smoke, while one in every six Thais between the ages of 13 and 17 uses tobacco.
Category: Regulation
Commended for plain packs
Saudi opts for plain packs
Saudi Arabia’s Food and Drug Authority has said that all tobacco products will have to be sold in standardized packaging effective May 1, according to a Compelo story relayed by the TMA.
Under the law, the brand and product names will have to appear in a standard color and font.
The Authority has issued a model standardized pack to help manufacturers and importers prepare for the introduction of the new requirements.
It said the move was aimed at encouraging people to quit tobacco use by reducing the attractiveness of tobacco products and restricting the use of tobacco packs as advertising and promotional vehicles.A question of transparency
Researchers have raised concerns about how the Brussels Declaration was developed and, in particular, the extensive involvement in it of tobacco- and alcohol-industry actors.
A Tobacco Control paper published on the British Medical Journal website describes in its introduction the Brussels Declaration as a statement of ethics and principles for science and society policymaking.
‘This arose from discussions at the prestigious World Science Forum, and was designed to attract attention,’ the paper says. ‘It was launched formally at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in February 2017, accompanied by an announcement in the journal Nature.
‘It raises questions about the integrity of scientists and calls on them to be less ‘aloof and perhaps less arrogant’. It calls on policymakers to be more accountable and, crucially, demands that voices of interest groups are heard in the policy debate.
‘At a time when facts are increasingly being questioned in some political fora, it has the potential to be very influential.
‘Its avowed goal, evidence-based policymaking, will be widely shared. Yet while it makes much of the need for research integrity and transparency, the Declaration fails to disclose its own origins and funding, or the interests of those involved.
‘Moreover, on closer inspection there are many curious aspects to the organisation of what purports to be a ‘bottom up’ initiative’.
The paper, whose lead author is Professor Jim McCambridge, of the Department of Health Sciences, at the UK’s University of York, concludes that while the Brussels Declaration argues for the need to protect science from distortion by vested interests, it appears to be a vehicle for advancing the vested interests of certain corporate sectors.
‘Calls for research integrity reflect core values of the research community,’ the conclusion said. ‘They should not be used as instruments to undermine science or to assist harmful industries.
‘It will be important to study carefully to what extent this initiative, and others like it, do form part of the global political strategies of tobacco and alcohol industry actors, and the extent to which these are successful in influencing public health and science policies, in order to counter any adverse effects on population health.’Quitting off target
Another 17,200 New Zealanders need to quit tobacco smoking each year until 2025 if the country is to reach its goal of having under five percent of the population smoking daily by then, according to a story by Amy Wiggins at nzherald.co.nz, citing the results of a new study.
The 17,200 figure is more than double the current quit rate, the study, published in Friday’s New Zealand Medical Journal, reported.
The research, headed by Professor Nick Wilson of the department of public health at Otago University’s Wellington campus, found the country was set to fall far short of the Smoke-free Aotearoa 2025 goal if the current trend continues.
It was estimated that, in line with the current trend, 17.4 percent of Māori and 7.2 percent of non-Māori people would be smoking in 2025.
To reach the 2025 target, it would be necessary to increase the number of long-term quitters by an average of 8,400 in the case of Māori and 8,800 in the case of non-Māori.
The authors estimated Quitline and funded face-to-face smoking cessation services helped 8,100 people quit each year – 2,000 Māori and 6,100 non-Māori.
That was 19 percent of the Māori quitters and 34 percent of the non-Māori quitters needed each year to reach the 2025 goal.
Based on these figures, the authors concluded that an unrealistically large increase in the use of cessation services would be needed to meet the target; so other strategies were needed.
They proposed the continuation of large tax increases on tobacco, extra funding for cessation services and advertising campaigns, and subsidies to help people switch to electronic cigarettes.A sign of the times
The Health Department of Malaysia’s Negeri Sembilan state has denied selling ‘Dilarang Merokok’ (No Smoking) signboards at food eateries and restaurants in the state, according to a Malaysian National News Agency story.
In addition, the department has denied appointing third parties, including health officers, to sell the signboards to eateries and restaurants in Negeri Sembilan.
The chairman of the state Action Committee on Health, Environment, Co-operatives and Consumer Affairs, S. Veerapan, said members of the public and food operators should be wary of anybody claiming to be health officers and wanting to sell any product or collect donations.E-liquid rules 'defy logic'
The owner of two vaping stores in Portland, Oregon, US, is asking a judge to throw out a state list of banned words and pictures on vaping liquid packages, according to a story by Aimee Green at oregonlive.com.
Paul Bates says the state’s “ridiculous” rules defy logic. For instance, he says in his lawsuit that the packages can’t use the words ‘apple or ‘strawberry’ even to describe the apple- or strawberry-infused liquids he sells for use with electronic cigarettes.
The same goes for pictures of apples or strawberries.
Employees at his Division Vapor stores in Southeast and Northeast Portland use white stickers to cover images on the labels that don’t comply with state rules, and that amounts to censorship and a violation of free speech, the suit contends.
“The new rules are just mind-boggling,” Bates reportedly told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Wednesday.
His suit lists the Oregon Health Authority, which is responsible for creating the banned list, as a defendant. Delia Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the agency, declined comment because of the pending litigation.
Hernandez, however, said the recent packaging rules were sparked by concern from the state lawmakers, who passed a law in 2015 requiring that packaging not be attractive to children.
In response, the Oregon Health Authority adopted a rule that said vaping liquid labels can’t depict images that might be appealing to minors – including those of “celebrities, athletes, mascots, fictitious characters” or “food or beverages likely to appeal to minors such as candy, desserts, soda, food or beverages with sweet flavors including fruit or alcohol”. This year, health officials added words, such as “tart, tangy, sweet, cool, fire, ice” and the names of fruits.
Bates, who buys his entire inventory from other companies that mostly don’t comply with Oregon regulations, said the health authority hadn’t forced him to follow the latest rules – yet.
The suit was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Beaverton attorney Herbert Grey is representing BatesE-cig rules could change
In response to a UK parliamentary report on electronic cigarettes, the Government has agreed to review e-cigarette regulations once EU legislation ceases to apply, according to a story by Carolyn Wickware for the Pharmaceutical Journal.
In its response to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee’s report on e-cigarettes (see TR news report, Harm reduction within reach, August 17), the Government has agreed with recommendations for a review of e-cigarette regulation ‘to identify scope for change post-Brexit’.
The committee had recommended in its e-cigarettes report, published in August, that the regulations, ‘which are currently applied under EU legislation,’ should be changed as ‘part of a wider shift to a more risk-proportionate regulatory environment,’ in which restrictions, advertising rules and taxes ‘reflect the evidence on the relative harms of the various e-cigarette and tobacco products available’.
In its response, the Department of Health and Social Care said it was committed to a review ‘to re-appraise current regulation to ensure this continues to protect the nation’s health’.
The response added: ‘We will look to identify where we can sensibly deregulate without harming public health or where current EU regulations limit our ability to deal with tobacco’.
The government also committed to ‘consider reviewing the position on snus,’ which is banned within the EU outside of Sweden. The response document said it would consider whether snus would promote ‘proportional harm reduction’.Dysfunctional ingredients
Consumers should not use two electronic-cigarette liquids that contain erectile dysfunction drugs because they may pose health risks, according to a story at WebMD quoting CNN and citing the US Food and Drug Administration.
The two HelloCig e-liquids were said to contain tadalafil and sildenafil, the main ingredients in two of the most popular male enhancement drugs (Cialis and Viagra).
Laboratory tests had found both sildenafil and tadalafil in E-Cialis HelloCig E-Liquid and sildenafil in E-Rimonabant HelloCig E-Liquid. The e-liquids are made by HelloCig Electronic Technology of Shanghai, China.
‘These FDA-approved prescription drugs are not approved for inclusion in e-liquid products sold over the counter and are therefore being sold illegally, the FDA said.
It was said that because the products were not properly labeled, they could pose a risk to people who took nitrates for high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol or heart disease.
No adverse events related to the two e-liquids had been reported to the FDA.Smoking rate increased
The incidence of smoking among Spaniards aged 15-64 last year, at 34.0 percent, was higher than it was before the introduction of a tobacco-smoking ban in 2005, 32.8 percent, according to a story in El Pais.
But, at the same time, cigarette sales have fallen: from 4.6 billion packs in 2005 to 2.2 billion packs in 2017.
These figures are from the drug-consumption survey EDADES, which was carried out by the Health Ministry.
Apparently, the survey’s methodology means that, assuming the country’s population has remained roughly stable during the period under review, it is not known if the changes in the incidence of smoking and the sales volume are due to individual smokers consuming fewer cigarettes per year or choosing to roll their own cigarettes.
The 2005 law banned tobacco smoking in the workplace but allowed it in smaller bars and restaurants.
But that law was extended in 2010 to cover smoking in all closed public places.
The Health Minister María Luisa Carcedo and Azucena Martí, the government delegate for the National Plan on Drugs, presented the results of the survey on Tuesday, but they were unable to explain the rise in the incidence of smoking.
Carcedo said that more work needed to be done to ensure the current laws were being enforced.
She did not rule out or confirm whether the government was planning to ban smoking in cars or homes with minors present, but she said these issues would be complex given that the places in question were private.
The health minister did, however, announce that the government would launch a special campaign to stop young people from taking up smoking. According to the biannual survey, the number of young smokers has risen five percentage points during the past two years.Smoking issue in the open
Campaigners have criticised a proposal to ban smoking in al fresco dining areas in St Helier, Jersey, a self-governing dependency of the UK.
In a submission to the Roads Committee consultation that closed on Monday, the smokers’ group Forest said that those who wanted to ban smoking in al fresco dining areas ignored the fact that smoking was already banned inside every café, pub and restaurant.
‘At least non-smokers have a choice,’ it said. ‘In contrast, having been prohibited from lighting up inside, adults who wish to smoke do not have the option to do so inside where it’s warm and comfortable.
‘Instead, if they wish to smoke while eating or drinking, they are forced to go outside, regardless of the weather.’
In its 10-page submission, Forest said that pubs, restaurants and cafés were private businesses. ‘Whether they choose to allow smoking in al fresco dining areas, where there is no risk to anyone else’s health, should be up to them,’ it said.
‘Tolerance, common sense and good manners (on both sides) must be allowed to prevail without more rules and regulations designed to control people’s behaviour beyond what is reasonable and fair.’
The unintended consequences of a ban, said Forest, could include some bars and restaurants going out of business as smokers stayed away.
Questioning the need for further anti-smoking regulations, the group described the proposal to ban smoking in outdoor dining areas as a ‘solution in search of a problem’.
Simon Clark, the director of Forest, said banning smoking in al fresco dining areas was unfair and unreasonable. “It will do nothing to improve public health but could have serious unintended consequences for local businesses,” he said.
“We urge the Roads Committee to reject the proposal and give owners of outdoor dining areas the freedom to implement policies that best suit their business, not the agenda of a small group of anti-smoking zealots.”
The matter will be discussed at a Roads Committee meeting scheduled for December 12.
