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Plain Packaging

Think tanks with ties to tobacco arguing against plain packaging

Nov 17th, 2016
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/think-tanks-with-ties-to-tobacco-arguing-against-plain-packaging/article32884552/

A tobacco company speaking out against a public-health measure doesn’t have the same credibility as a respected think tank or advocacy group. So those companies often work with or donate funds to organizations that publicly criticize tobacco taxes and other new regulatory measures.

Those financial relationships create the possibility for bias. Yet most of the organizations on the receiving end of tobacco donations do not clearly disclose that information when speaking about related issues.

The latest example is the current debate over plain packaging.

The federal government wants to pass new regulations that would strip brand colours and logos from tobacco products and instead require them to carry a standard plain colour and font in addition to the graphic health warnings that are currently used. The government hopes the move can stop some of the nearly 90,000 Canadians who pick up the deadly habit each year. Across the country, nearly 40,000 people die annually from tobacco-related illnesses

Not surprisingly, the three biggest tobacco companies in Canada, Imperial Tobacco Canada; Rothmans, Benson & Hedges; and JTI-Macdonald, are all opposed to the measure.

But they aren’t the only ones against the proposal. Some think tanks and advocacy groups with tobacco funding are also speaking out against plain packaging. And yet, these groups typically don’t mention their financial ties when speaking about policy.

For example, the Montreal Economic Institute published a report in September saying plain packaging “attacks the value of brands.” It included a disclaimer saying the report was “in no way” financed by tobacco. In September 2015, institute president Michel Kelly-Gagnon authored a Huffington Post article saying plain packaging drove consumption higher in Australia, where it was adopted in 2012. The article didn’t mention an industry connection.

But in an e-mail, Kelly-Gagnon said the institute has “proudly received” tobacco funding since 1998 in amounts between 2 and 4 per cent of its budget. He said in an interview that the organization recently decided to stop accepting donations from the industry because health groups use that information to criticize its work.

Then there’s the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco, which issued a press release in September warning about the prevalence of illegal cigarettes and how the problem will worsen with plain packaging. A letter to the editor from the coalition and published in The Globe and Mail in September also stated that plain packaging will increase the contraband market. In its official comments to the federal government on plain packaging, the coalition said there is “no doubt” the new measure “will increase the availability of the illegal product.” The document doesn’t mention financial ties to tobacco.

Online, the coalition lists its members, which include the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, Toronto Crime Stoppers and the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers Council.

But according to documents obtained by The Globe and Mail, the coalition works closely with the country’s three major tobacco companies to shape its public statements and reports. The coalition declined an interview request and did not respond directly to questions about its ties to tobacco.

Another example dates back to May, when the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS), a Halifax think tank, hosted a talk by Sinclair Davidson, an Australian professor and vocal plain-packaging critic. According to articles in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Institute of Public Affairs, where Davidson is a fellow, has received tobacco funding and some experts have criticized Davidson’s work as flawed.

In an e-mail, Davidson defended his work and said he was invited to speak in Canada by the Canadian Convenience Stores Association (CCSA). But according to the AIMS Facebook page, Davidson’s Halifax visit was organized by the institute in partnership with Crestview Strategy, a public-affairs firm. According to the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada, Crestview currently lobbies on behalf of Rothmans, Benson & Hedges. (Crestview and Rothmans did not respond to questions about the visit.)

The CCSA said it does receive funding from the tobacco industry but declined to state an amount or respond to questions about Davidson’s visit.

Imperial Tobacco Canada; Rothmans, Benson & Hedges; and JTI-Macdonald declined requests to name the groups they fund, but said they work with groups that share their views.

Julia Smith, a postdoctoral research fellow at Simon Fraser University who studies tobacco control, said she is concerned organizations with financial ties to tobacco will help derail plain packaging and other health measures, in part because many believe their views are independent and unbiased. “We’ve seen the tobacco industry use these tactics in the past,” she said, noting that “in some cases, they have been successful.”

Beyond engaging vocal sources, the tobacco industry has also commissioned several reports that say plain packaging is ineffective. But independent research tells a different story.

An Australian government survey found the number of daily smokers fell from 2.7 million in 2010 to 2.5 million in 2013. The average age young people reported smoking their first full cigarette rose from 15.4 years in 2010 to 15.9 years in 2013. And a 2013 study published in the journal Tobacco Control found only a small number of retail stores sold illicit cigarettes. Before plain packaging, researchers found about 2 per cent of cigarette packages to be illicit, compared to 0.6 per cent in the months after implementation.

Think tanks and advocacy groups regularly seek to influence public policy. But policy-makers and the public deserve to know when those organizations may be representing the interests of others.

WITH MIXED PROGRESS, NATIONS REVIEW WAR VS. TOBACCO INDUSTRY

Nov 14th, 2016
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http://macaudailytimes.com.mo/mixed-progress-nations-review-war-vs-tobacco-industry.html

In Nepal, health warnings cover 90 percent of cigarette packs, while Australia requires those packets be wrapped in drab, plain paper. Indonesia’s new ban on outdoor advertising brought down tobacco billboards depicting smiling, smoking youths. And India wants scary photos of rotting lungs and mouth tumors covering packets sold in the country.

Still, national drives to discourage smoking and cut back tobacco sales haven’t done enough, campaigners say. Smoking-related deaths are still rising worldwide, with 80 percent of them expected to occur in developing country populations by 2030.

“Most people in the United States think tobacco is over and done with, but it’s still the largest preventable cause of disease on the planet” killing 6 million people a year — or one person every six seconds, said John Stewart, deputy campaigns director at the Boston-based lobbying group Corporate Accountability International.

Starting Monday, representatives from at least 178 countries are meeting for five days in the Indian capital to discuss how they can further the fight against smoking and push back against tobacco company lobbyists.

Since they set down stiff regulations and guidelines in a landmark 2003 treaty called the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control — the first and only global treaty dealing with public health — most of the 180 signatories have ratified it and passed laws restricting tobacco advertising or sales.

Still, many governments remain entangled with powerful tobacco companies, while industry lobbyists continue attempts to stymie efforts to implement anti-smoking laws through bribery, misinformation and even suing national governments for lost profits, campaigners say.

“The tobacco industry is definitely feeling the heat,” Stewart said. “They’ve got their back against the wall.”

Indian courts are currently grappling with 62 lawsuits filed by tobacco companies or cigarette makers challenging laws requiring that 85 percent of all cigarette packets be covered with photos of medical horrors.

In Japan, a 10-percent hike in taxes on cigarettes has led to a 30-percent decline in smoking. But the country still has some of the lowest tax rates on cigarettes among industrialized nations, while its finance ministry owns 33 percent in Japan Tobacco.

The anti-tobacco campaign has had some success. It is widely accepted, at least among national leaders, that smoking causes cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, along with a host of other harmful health impacts.

That awareness still has not trickled down to national populations, though. And campaigners say tobacco interests have shifted their focus to poorer, less educated populations in the developing world.

India — among the first to ratify the anti-tobacco treaty in 2004 — is still considered one of the biggest battlegrounds in the fight against the tobacco industry, public health specialists say.

Despite harsh laws passed more than a decade ago banning smoking in public and sales to children, smoking is still common across the country. A government survey in 2010 showed nearly 35 percent of adults were either smoking or chewing tobacco.

Meanwhile, more than 1 million Indians die each year from tobacco-related diseases that cost the country some $16 billion annually, according to the World Health Organization.

“The revenues that the government earns from tobacco taxes are far less than the billions that are spent on health care,” said Bhavna Mukhopadhyay of the Voluntary Health Association of India, a public health organization.

“Public health and the health of the tobacco industry cannot go hand in hand,” she said, noting that campaigners are now pushing for countries to make tobacco companies and their shareholders civilly and criminally liable for the harm done by tobacco.

Part of the trouble in India is “the Indian consumer is spoilt for choice,” she said, with cigarettes sold alongside chewing tobacco and cheap, hand-rolled smokes known as bidis.

The easy availability and wide choice means many smokers get hooked at a young age. Some are initiated early through the common, cultural practice of chewing something called gutka, which combines tobacco with spices, lime and betel nut and is widely sold as a mouth freshener.

Putting pictorial warnings on cigarette packets is an attempt to educate people about the risks.

“The idea was that even an illiterate person, or a child, would understand the message about the health risks from smoking,” said Monika Arora of the Public Health Foundation of India, who runs an anti-smoking campaign aimed at young Indians. Nirmala George, New Delhi, AP

Indonesia antsy over WTO’s expected tobacco ruling in 2017

Nov 12th, 2016
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http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/11/12/indonesia-antsy-over-wtos-expected-tobacco-ruling-in-2017.html

The Indonesian government and tobacco farmers are waiting anxiously for the result of a dispute settlement against Australia’s plain tobacco packaging policy that they expect will come out in 2017, more than three years after the government submitted a request for consultations with the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The Trade Ministry’s director general for foreign trade negotiations, Iman Pambagyo, said he hoped that the settlement result would be in favor of tobacco-producing countries.

“We expect WTO panelists to announce the result in the first quarter of 2017. We still think that the policy violates the trade rules,” he said.

He added that while Indonesia fully supported the objectives of improving public health and protecting the environment, it was the country’s right to defend its economy against regulations that violated international trade rules, disciplines and obligations.

According to the WTO, on Sept. 20, 2013, Indonesia requested consultations with Australia concerning certain Australian laws and regulations that impose restrictions on trademarks, geographical indications and other plain packaging requirements on tobacco products and packaging.

The move came nearly a year after Australia became the first country that obliges all cigarettes sold in its jurisdiction to be wrapped in dark brown packaging in December 2012.

The Australian government found that it was the least attractive color, particularly for young people.

The policy went into force along with a tax increase to realize the country’s plan to bring down smoking rates from 16.6 percent in 2007 to less than 10 percent in 2018.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics claims that smoking rates decreased to 12.8 percent a year after the policy took effect, compared to 15.1 percent in 2010.

Australia’s move has been copied by the UK and France, which regulate that all cigarette packages manufactured for those countries must be in plain form.

Singapore considered a similar provision last year as well, but dropped the idea after encountering some technical difficulties.

After Indonesia submitted its consultation request to the WTO, several other countries and blocs requested to join the consultations, namely Brazil, Cuba, Guatemala, Nicaragua and the European Union.

The Indonesian Tobacco Farmers Association (APTI) told The Jakarta Post that although Australia was not the main buyer of Indonesian tobacco, more countries would apply similar policies.

“The policy’s provision will decrease our tobacco exports as antitobacco movements have emerged in other countries,” APTI head Wisnu Brata said.

Djarum, Sampoerna and Gudang Garam are among the companies whose cigarette brands are available in Australia.

Data from the Industry Ministry show that some 6 million people are involved in tobacco farms and businesses across the country. Many of them are export-oriented, such as in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), East Java and Central Java.

The value of tobacco exports reached US$981 billion in 2015 and $1.02 trillion in 2014. (adt)

PLAIN PACKS: ‘THE LAST BATTLEFIELD’

Nov 12th, 2016
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In 2008 Tobacco Journal International, splashed ‘Plain packs can kill your business’ on its front cover in response to the UK government consultation on such legislation.

The fear wasn’t the threat that sales would be hit hard, but that high end brand values would be terminally undermined. Why?

Because, exclusive packaging communicates brand image and differentiates high priced brands from value products’. To quote the article, “‘while the cost of production is roughly the same for both…. the profit margin of premium brands is considerably higher than that of low-priced cigarettes’.

The lesson is clear, the top priority for the transnational tobacco industry is profitability rather than sales. This is an industry which made US$ 44.1 billion in 2013, more the combined profits of Coca-Cola, Walt Disney, General Mills, FedEx, AT&T, Google, McDonald’s and Starbucks in the same year. And profits have been rising far more rapidly than sales.

Between 2000 and 2014, global cigarette volume sales increased by 8 percent while retail values increased 121 percent. A trend that plain packaging threatens to bring to a shuddering halt.

FCTC guidelines on Article 11 and 13 were adopted at COP3 in November 2008 encouraging Parties to go ahead with plain packaging. Four years later in 2012 it was Australia which led the way, followed by the UK and France in May 2016. The dominoes are now falling, with the Canadian Cancer Society report published this week showing that four countries now require plain packs (Australia, France, UK, and Hungary) with a another 14 more working on it.

The tobacco manufacturers are using any and every legal avenue to try to stop the contagion from spreading. So far there has been a constitutional challenge in Australia, a bilateral investment treaty case in Hong Kong, a cases in the European Court of Justice, and cases in the UK and French courts.

All so far lost (the World Trade Organisation government to government challenge, with the tobacco industry’s fingerprints all over it, is still pending). But make no mistake there will be others, for this is an existential threat to the tobacco industry described by one of their lawyers in the UK case as the ‘last battlefield’.

For any government hit by plain packaging litigation, the judgement in the UK provides a wealth of ammunition to take the fight to the industry. The central most important argument of the industry demolished by the judgement was that requiring plain packs was tantamount to stealing their ‘property’ and was either illegal or, if it were found to be legal, required multi-billion dollar compensation from the government in question.

Shamefully one of the industry lawyers even made a comparison to slavery, saying, “However strong the objective for taking property away, you will normally compensate,” he told the judge.

“Your lordship will remember the slave owners were compensated when slavery was abolished.” It was an unfortunate example and not one that impressed the judge who pointed out it was the UK parliament, dominated by slave owners, which agreed compensation, not the courts. Not a precedent any court around the world should follow.

Big tobacco’s profits were built on slavery: and while the owners were compensated, the victims of slavery were not.

For more on the UK court judgement see: tinyurl.com/zjgnxwn

Deborah Arnott
Action on Smoking and Health, UK

PLAIN PACKAGING— TREMENDOUS GLOBAL MOMENTUM

Nov 12th, 2016
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Plain packaging is a key tobacco control measure that is seeing significant and growing international momentum. Four countries have required plain packaging, and at least 14 are working on it.

The new EU Tobacco Products Directive expressly provides that plain packaging is an option for the EU’s 28 member countries. At COP7, Sri Lanka’s president announced that the country’s health minister was bringing forward a plain packaging proposal.

The fifth edition of the Canadian Cancer Society report Cigarette Package Health Warnings: International Status Report launched at COP7, provides an overview of the status of plain packaging worldwide.

Under plain packaging, health warnings remain on packages, but tobacco company branding, such as colours, logos and design elements are prohibited, and the brand portion of each package is required to be the same colour, such as an unattractive brown. The brand name still appears in a standard font size, style and location. The package format is standardised.

Plain packaging puts an end to packaging being used for product promotion, increases the effectiveness of package warnings, curbs package deception, reduces the appeal of tobacco products, and decreases tobacco use. FCTC Guidelines for implementing Articles 11 and 13 recommend that countries consider implementing plain packaging.

Plain packaging is supported by extensive evidence. The tobacco industry has strongly opposed plain packaging, a signal of just how important plain packaging is. If plain packaging were not effective, then why would the tobacco industry be so opposed?

Tobacco industry opposition in part has come through legal challenges, but the tobacco industry has lost five out of five court decisions: Australia (two cases, 2012, 2015); France (2016); United Kingdom (2016); and European Court of Justice (2016). As well, a legal claim against Uruguay’s significant packaging restrictions (though not plain packaging) was dismissed (2016).

Packages should not be used as mini-billboards to promote tobacco, or to convey that a brand has a “personality” or a lifestyle image.

Packages should not be sold in formats that undermine health warnings, or in special shapes such as superslim packs that associate smoking with fashionability, thinness
and weight loss.

In light of the compelling rationale for plain packaging, many more countries are expected to move this measure forward.

Plain packaging is the right thing to do, and is inevitable. The worldwide trend has become unstoppable.

Rob Cunningham
Canadian Cancer Society

SCORECARD LAUNCHED ON FCTC IMPLEMENTATION IN THE ASEAN REGION

Nov 10th, 2016
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Singapore leads the way in a 10-country race in the ASEAN to protect public health from the harms of tobacco use according to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Scorecard launched by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA).

In a region where nearly half of all adult men smoke and where 10% (125 million) of the world’s smokers live, it is indeed a race to reverse the smoking epidemic and its devastating impacts that claims about 500,000 deaths every year.

“The scorecard acknowledges achievements and progressive efforts of ASEAN governments while also identifying implementation gaps that need further action. It also encourages comparisons between countries to further motivate the strengthening of FCTC implementation. Overall, there is significant room for further progress,” said Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo, SEATCA FCTC Program Director.

Over-all, Singapore scored the highest (80.5%), followed by Brunei (71.2%) and Thailand (67.1%). Two key areas for improvement are in policies on tobacco taxation and protecting health policies from tobacco industry interference.

While raising tobacco taxes is recognized as among the most effective means of reducing consumption, this measure is the least well implemented among ASEAN countries. The region’s most expensive cigarettes are found in Brunei and Singapore, but cigarettes are still generally very affordable in all countries.

Most countries are experiencing tobacco industry interference and do not have a FCTC Article 5.3 policy or code of conduct to address this problem. Only Singapore has a FCTC Article 5.3 policy or code of conduct that is enforced by the whole government, while the Philippines has a FCTC Article 5.3 policy or code of conduct that applies to the whole government but needs improved enforcement.

Enforcement of smoke-free policies needs to be strengthened further to achieve the full health benefits of such policies. All countries restrict or ban smoking in many settings, but only Brunei enforces a smoking ban in all indoor workplaces, indoor public places, and public transport, as well as some outdoor public places.

While standardized packaging of tobacco or ‘plain packaging’ is widely regarded as the best way to package tobacco, no ASEAN country has yet implemented this measure.

All countries, however, require pictorial health warnings on packages, although some require them only for cigarettes and not for other (e.g. smokeless) tobacco products.

Thailand leads with the largest pictorial health warnings (85% front and back).

All ASEAN countries except Indonesia, a non-party to the FCTC, enforce a complete ban on tobacco advertising in print media, TV, radio, and cinema. Regrettably, only half of the ASEAN countries (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) enforce a ban on tobacco advertising at points of sale (POS).

The scorecard is available at www.seatca.org.

TOBACCO INDUSTRY INTERFERENCE IN PLAIN PACKAGING REFORMS

Nov 10th, 2016
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Plain packaging is tobacco packaging that is stripped of all promotional elements—no graphics, logos, colours, fancy fonts, or embellishments.

Elements of the packaging are also standardised, such as the size, shape, and opening style.

Although the precise regulations vary by country, what is striking is the similarity of the campaigns being waged by tobacco companies and their allies to prevent, weaken, or delay implementation. Indeed, on a recent speaking tour in Canada, former Australian Health Minister Nicola Roxon called the arguments and tactics being used by the Canadian industry “spookily similar” to those used to try to undermine plain packaging in Australia.

In Australia, right after the government announced plain packaging, the tobacco industry went on the attack to an extent not seen in public for decades. They developed campaigns operating on multiple platforms, including print, radio, television and point-of-sale, framed, on multiple arguments:

1. There is no evidence that plain packaging will work.
2. Plain packaging will increase illicit tobacco use.
3. Plain packaging will hurt small retailers.
4. Plain packaging is a ‘slippery slope’.
5. Plain packaging violates Australia’s legal obligations.

Similarly, in Canada, where plain packaging is currently under development, the tobacco industry has recently launched a multi-front offensive against the reform under the very same broad themes.

In addition to the same campaign themes, tobacco companies are using identical tactics around the world to try to undermine plain packaging. Because they lack credibility, the companies rely heavily on third parties to carry their messages. In Australia, a vocal opponent was the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), a right wing think tank. The IPA has re-surfaced during the Canadian campaign, with Sinclair Davidson, an IPA affiliate, doing a speaking tour across Canada this autumn on “The Unintended Consequences of Plain Packaging: Reflecting on Impacts in Australia.”

Retailer associations are key players in the fight against plain packaging.

In Australia a retailer front group, the Alliance of Australian Retailers (AAR), led the tobacco industry’s campaign.

In response, Australian health groups published a half-page ad in a major Australian newspaper to expose the AAR as a sham organization that was fully funded and controlled by tobacco companies.

Likewise, Canadian health groups working with supportive journalists succeeded in exposing the Canadian Convenience Stores Associations and its regional affiliates as key players in Imperial Tobacco Canada’s long-term strategy to prevent anti-tobacco regulation in Canada, including plain packaging.

In both Australia and Canada, key to protecting the government’s plain packaging initiative from industry interference has been civil society countering industry lies with the facts and exposing the companies’ strategies, including their use of front groups. Going forward, vigorous implementation of Article 5.3 guidelines will help countries implementing plain packaging to minimize industry interference in the policy-making process. This includes requiring “the tobacco industry and those working to further its interests to operate and act in a manner that is accountable and transparent” (Principle 3) and raising “awareness about the tobacco industry’s practice of using individuals, front groups and affiliated organizations to act, openly or covertly, on their behalf” (Recommendation 1.2).

The same pattern of industry behaviour and the same arguments have been seen in every country that has introduced plain packaging legislation (Ireland, the UK, France, New Zealand) and will undoubtedly be seen in every country to follow.

The application of Article 5.3 guidelines can help insulate this important reform from the undue influence of the industry and its allies.

Moreover, countries that are heading toward plain packaging can now draw upon a wealth of evidence and experience to support implementation.

Plain packaging works, and the tobacco industry knows it.

Melodie Tilson
Non-Smokers’ Rights Association, Canada

Kylie Lindorff
Cancer Council Victoria, Australia

Tobacco plain packaging catching on worldwide: Canadian Cancer Society report

Nov 9th, 2016
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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tobacco-plain-packaging-catching-on-worldwide-canadian-cancer-society-report-2016-11-09

The trend to reduce smoking and cancer rates by forcing tobacco companies to use plain packaging is gaining momentum across the globe, concludes an international report released today by the Canadian Cancer Society. The report shows that 4 countries have plain packaging laws in place and 14 others are working on it.

Plain packaging requirements prevent tobacco companies from using colours, logos and design elements to market their cancer-causing products. The shape of the package must be in a standardized format, outlawing sales tactics such as slim packs appealing to girls and young women. Health warnings still appear on plain packages.

“Plain packaging is a global trend and it is coming to Canada, too,” says Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst, Canadian Cancer Society. “We must continue to show leadership in the fight against the marketing of tobacco.”

In 2001 Canada was the first country in the world to implement graphic picture warnings on cigarette packages. Since then, more than 100 countries and territories (105 in total) have followed Canada’s lead – accounting for 58% of the world’s population – as illustrated in this graph. Canada’s leadership in graphic picture warnings has resulted in enormous health benefits globally.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in Canada, including about 30% of all cancer deaths and 85% of lung cancer cases. Tobacco kills 37,000 Canadians every year.

Tobacco packaging is one of the last and most effective ways for companies to promote their products, with eye-catching logos and colours designed to appeal to consumers. Plain packaging reduces tobacco use by eliminating promotion on packaging, reducing product appeal, curbing package deception, and increasing the impact of health warnings. Research shows that plain packaging works.

“Plain packaging is a crucial next step for Canada to reduce smoking and save lives,” says Cunningham. “We strongly support the federal government’s commitment to follow the lead of Australia and other countries to implement plain packaging to curtail the marketing of these cancer-causing products.”

Plain packaging is required in Australia, the United Kingdom and France, and will be by 2018 in Hungary. The 14 countries working on plain packaging are Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, Norway, Slovenia, Uruguay, Thailand, Singapore, Belgium, Romania, Turkey, Finland, Chile and South Africa.

Canada’s federal government included a commitment to plain packaging as part of its 2015 election platform. After forming a government, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau identified it as a “top priority” in a mandate letter to Health Minister Jane Philpott. On May 31, 2016 – World No Tobacco Day – Minister Philpott launched a 3-month public consultation on plain packaging. The federal government is now reviewing the responses and developing regulations.

The Canadian Cancer Society report released today – Cigarette Package Health Warnings: International Status Report – ranks 205 countries and territories based on the size of their health warnings on cigarette packages and lists countries that have finalized requirements for picture warnings. Canada ties for 8th in the world with package warnings that cover 75% of the package’s front and back. Nepal and Vanuatu are tied for top spot with a warning size of 90%, while India and Thailand are 3rd at 85%. The United States is in last place with minimal requirements for health warnings on either the front or back of the package.

The Canadian Cancer Society is calling for plain packaging to be implemented in Canada as part of a strengthened Federal Tobacco Control Strategy, which should also include increased funding to support additional programming and policy measures. Health Canada’s current strategy expires on March 31, 2018. The existing Tobacco Act is 2 decades old and must be modernized.

The Society’s report, published every 2 years, reviews and ranks cigarette health warnings internationally and tracks developments in this important area of tobacco control.

Other report highlights include:

94 countries and territories require warnings to cover at least 50% of the package front and back (on average), up from 60 countries in 2014 and 24 in 2008. — The top countries ranked in terms of warning size (as an average of the front and back of the package) are: 1. 90% Nepal 1. 90% Vanuatu (effective in 2017)

3. 85% Thailand 3. 85% India 5. 82.5% Australia (75% of front, 90% of back) 6. 80% Sri Lanka 6. 80% Uruguay 8. 75% Brunei 8. 75% Canada 8. 75% Laos 8. 75% Myanmar
The Canadian Cancer Society’s report was released today in Delhi, India, at the 7th session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control being held Nov. 7-12. The report was released to support implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, ratified by 180 countries. The goal of this international treaty is to control the global tobacco epidemic. Its guidelines recommend that parties consider implementing plain packaging.

Cigarette Package Health Warnings report in English Cigarette Package Health Warnings report in French

About the Canadian Cancer SocietyThe Society is a national, community-based organization of volunteers whose mission is to eradicate cancer and enhance the quality of life of people living with cancer. Thanks to our donors and volunteers, the Society has the most impact, against the most cancers, in the most communities in Canada. For more information, visit cancer.ca or call our toll-free bilingual Cancer Information Service at 1-888-939-3333 (TTY 1-866-786-3934).

SOURCE Canadian Cancer Society (National Office)

With mixed progress, nations review war vs. tobacco industry

Nov 7th, 2016
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http://elkodaily.com/business/with-mixed-progress-nations-review-war-vs-tobacco-industry/article_be11c60f-d418-562d-83ab-d5dcf0a5c0c1.html

In Nepal, health warnings cover 90 percent of cigarette packs, while Australia requires those packets be wrapped in drab, plain paper. Indonesia’s new ban on outdoor advertising brought down tobacco billboards depicting smiling, smoking youths. And India wants scary photos of rotting lungs and mouth tumors covering packets sold in the country.

Still, national drives to discourage smoking and cut back tobacco sales haven’t done enough, campaigners say. Smoking-related deaths are still rising worldwide, with 80 percent of them expected to occur in developing country populations by 2030.

“Most people in the United States think tobacco is over and done with, but it’s still the largest preventable cause of disease on the planet” killing 6 million people a year — or one person every six seconds, said John Stewart, deputy campaigns director at the Boston-based lobbying group Corporate Accountability International.

Starting Monday, representatives from at least 178 countries are meeting for five days in the Indian capital to discuss how they can further the fight against smoking and push back against tobacco company lobbyists.

Since they set down stiff regulations and guidelines in a landmark 2003 treaty called the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control — the first and only global treaty dealing with public health — most of the 180 signatories have ratified it and passed laws restricting tobacco advertising or sales.

Still, many governments remain entangled with powerful tobacco companies, while industry lobbyists continue attempts to stymie efforts to implement anti-smoking laws through bribery, misinformation and even suing national governments for lost profits, campaigners say.

“The tobacco industry is definitely feeling the heat,” Stewart said. “They’ve got their back against the wall.”

Indian courts are currently grappling with 62 lawsuits filed by tobacco companies or cigarette makers challenging laws requiring that 85 percent of all cigarette packets be covered with photos of medical horrors.

In Japan, a 10-percent hike in taxes on cigarettes has led to a 30-percent decline in smoking. But the country still has some of the lowest tax rates on cigarettes among industrialized nations, while its finance ministry owns 33 percent in Japan Tobacco.

The anti-tobacco campaign has had some success. It is widely accepted, at least among national leaders, that smoking causes cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, along with a host of other harmful health impacts.

That awareness still has not trickled down to national populations, though. And campaigners say tobacco interests have shifted their focus to poorer, less educated populations in the developing world.

India — among the first to ratify the anti-tobacco treaty in 2004 — is still considered one of the biggest battlegrounds in the fight against the tobacco industry, public health specialists say.

Despite harsh laws passed more than a decade ago banning smoking in public and sales to children, smoking is still common across the country. A government survey in 2010 showed nearly 35 percent of adults were either smoking or chewing tobacco.

Meanwhile, more than 1 million Indians die each year from tobacco-related diseases that cost the country some $16 billion annually, according to the World Health Organization.

“The revenues that the government earns from tobacco taxes are far less than the billions that are spent on health care,” said Bhavna Mukhopadhyay of the Voluntary Health Association of India, a public health organization.

“Public health and the health of the tobacco industry cannot go hand in hand,” she said, noting that campaigners are now pushing for countries to make tobacco companies and their shareholders civilly and criminally liable for the harm done by tobacco.

Part of the trouble in India is “the Indian consumer is spoilt for choice,” she said, with cigarettes sold alongside chewing tobacco and cheap, hand-rolled smokes known as bidis.

The easy availability and wide choice means many smokers get hooked at a young age. Some are initiated early through the common, cultural practice of chewing something called gutka, which combines tobacco with spices, lime and betel nut and is widely sold as a mouth freshener.

Putting pictorial warnings on cigarette packets is an attempt to educate people about the risks.

“The idea was that even an illiterate person, or a child, would understand the message about the health risks from smoking,” said Monika Arora of the Public Health Foundation of India, who runs an anti-smoking campaign aimed at young Indians.

Lanka to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products

Nov 7th, 2016
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http://www.gulf-times.com/story/520309/Lanka-to-introduce-plain-packaging-for-tobacco-pro

Sri Lanka is planning to introduce plain packaging of all tobacco products in a new step to curb its consumption, President Maithripala Sirisena said yesterday.

Stating consumption of smokeless tobacco was an alarming issue in Sri Lanka and the entire region, Sirisena said there should not be any kind of compromise with the tobacco industry.

Sri Lankan Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne is proposing to introduce plain packaging as another important measure in the near future, and “here we thank the FCTC for the excellent technical support”, said Sirisena.

The Sri Lankan president was speaking at the opening ceremony of the WHO FCTC COP7 – the world’s biggest convention on tobacco control policies being held in India for the first time.

Sri Lanka ratified the FCTC in 2005 and was one of the first country to sign the FCTC. It passed a Tobacco and Alcohol Act in 2006 and set up the Tobacco and Alcohol Authority, popularly known as NATA.

“With support of the WHO and FCTC, we regularly monitor the trends of tobacco prevalence among the populations,” said Sirisena.

Accusing the tobacco industry of being a dishonest industry, Sirisena said: “The tobacco industry often distorts and challenges the best scientific knowledge, promotes dishonest arguments that have nothing to do with the truth.

“We know that the industry will try to influence policy makers in many ways, often support petitioners to challenge government legislation and persuade the mass media.

“This to me is a direct interference in the internal policy matters of any country. We need not have any compromise of any kind with the tobacco industry,” said Sirisena.

Sri Lanka has 80% pictorial warnings mandatory on all the packets of tobacco products.

The president, who held the health portfolio during former president Mahinda Rajapakse’s tenure, had once called for a fight against the rising illicit trade of tobacco products.

He also urged more countries to ratify the FCTC Protocol.

Highlighting the rising problem of smokeless tobacco consumption in Sri Lanka and in the region, Sirisena said: “I would urge the FCTC to address the issue of smokeless tobacco also very seriously in the years to come. Cost of neglect can be very high.”

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