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February, 2008:

Call To Double Tobacco Tax Wins Wide Support

Feb 25th, 2008
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Colleen Lee – SCMP
Updated on Feb 25, 2008

“A new call has been made by the Committee on Youth Smoking Prevention for tobacco duty to be doubled after a survey by the group found 74 per cent of Hongkongers supported a drastic increase.

Committee chief executive Li Cheong-lung urged the government to double the duty in Wednesday’s budget to discourage under-age smoking. If such an increase was introduced, the duty on a pack of 20 cigarettes would be raised from about HK$16 to about HK$32.

The group also urged the government to use 5 per cent to 10 per cent of tobacco tax revenue to set up a fund to cover work on preventing teenagers from smoking. Mr Li said: “Prevention is always better than cure. It will be so hard for teens to get rid of the habit once they get hooked.”

Government figures show cigarette tax revenue in the 2006-07 financial year totalled HK$2.75 billion, the largest sum in the past 15 years.

In the poll of 1,008 people aged at least 18, 86.5 per cent backed a law to allocate a percentage of the tobacco tax towards efforts to prevent under 18s taking up the habit.

The committee commissioned Chinese University’s Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies to carry out the survey in December.

The poll also found that 87.5 per cent of interviewees supported a ban on the sale of cigarettes to students wearing school uniform. “It would make it easier for law enforcers and passers-by to notice the wrongdoing,” committee vice-chairman Thomas Tse Lin-chung said.

A new call has been made by the Committee on Youth Smoking Prevention for tobacco duty to be doubled after a survey by the group found 74 per cent of Hongkongers supported a drastic increase.

Committee chief executive Li Cheong-lung urged the government to double the duty in Wednesday’s budget to discourage under-age smoking. If such an increase was introduced, the duty on a pack of 20 cigarettes would be raised from about HK$16 to about HK$32.

The group also urged the government to use 5 per cent to 10 per cent of tobacco tax revenue to set up a fund to cover work on preventing teenagers from smoking. Mr Li said: “Prevention is always better than cure. It will be so hard for teens to get rid of the habit once they get hooked.”

Government figures show cigarette tax revenue in the 2006-07 financial year totalled HK$2.75 billion, the largest sum in the past 15 years.

In the poll of 1,008 people aged at least 18, 86.5 per cent backed a law to allocate a percentage of the tobacco tax towards efforts to prevent under 18s taking up the habit.

The committee commissioned Chinese University’s Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies to carry out the survey in December.

The poll also found that 87.5 per cent of interviewees supported a ban on the sale of cigarettes to students wearing school uniform. “It would make it easier for law enforcers and passers-by to notice the wrongdoing,” committee vice-chairman Thomas Tse Lin-chung said.

Incidence Of Heart Diseases Drops After France Enacts Anti-Smoking Laws

Feb 24th, 2008
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People’s Daily Online – February 24, 2008

Incidence Of Heart Diseases Drops After France Enacts Anti-Smoking Laws

The incidence of smoking-related diseases has sharply decreased after France enacted tough anti-smoking laws, the Health Ministry said in a report released Saturday.

According to the report, the incidence of myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular diseases dropped by 15 percent in recent two months.

It will be further proved in the next two months that anti-smoking laws will bring significant and instant benefits to the health of the French people, said the report.

French has banned smoking in companies, government offices and shopping centers since Feb.1, 2007. From the beginning of this year, smoking are banned in all public places across France, including bars, cafes, restaurants and discotheques.

The French government has said the measures, widely supported by the public, are aimed at cutting the number of annual deaths caused by smoking, the leading cause of preventable deaths in the country.

Source: Xinhua

Anson Chan Retains Links To Tobacco Industry

Feb 24th, 2008
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Mary Ann Benitez – SCMP

Updated on Feb 24, 2008

Anson Chan Fang On-sang has maintained ties to a luxury goods group despite quitting as a director before she was elected as a legislator last year because of its links to the tobacco industry.

The former chief secretary remains on the advisory council of a fund management company whose investors include Compagnie Financiere Richemont, from which she resigned in September after the South China Morning Post inquired about her links to the tobacco industry.

Richemont said at the time that her continued participation on the board would be “incompatible” with her role as a legislator if elected.

But Mrs Chan’s recently released declaration of interests shows she is a member of the advisory council of the General Enterprise Management Services (Gems), which also has ties to the tobacco industry.

As well as Richemont – which holds a 19.2 per cent interest in British American Tobacco – Gems investors include J apan Tobacco, the world’s third-biggest tobacco company.

Asked about it, Mrs Chan defended her role, saying it was in an advisory capacity, and she was not on the management board. But the revelation brought calls from the legislator for the medical sector, Kwok Ka-ki, and a former medical legislator for her to resign the post.

Gems is an investment fund company founded by Simon Murray, the former Hutchison taipan, who is a board member of Richemont.

Mrs Chan is being paid as an advisory council member, but she declined to say how much. A statement from Mrs Chan’s office said she was “not involved with any day-to-day operations or investment decisions of the company”.

Her responsibilities included giving advice on “the macro political and economic environment of Hong Kong, nothing more”.

The Gems advisory council is chaired by Lord Powell of Bayswater, a former adviser to British prime ministers Margaret Thatcher and John M ajor. Other council members are former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, Christie’s chairman Patricia Barbizet, and the former chairman of the board of management of DaimlerChrysler, Jurgen Schrempp.

Mr Kwok said: “If she is paid, then she needs to decline it. She should let the people know what is behind it.”

Former legislator Lo Wing-lok – who ran against Mrs Chan in the contest to represent the pan-democratic camp in the Hong Kong Island by-election – said he hoped she would resign from Gems, even if her links with the tobacco industry were indirect.

“I won’t challenge her integrity, that would be a matter for God to decide,” Dr Lo said. “But even indirect connections should be terminated.”

Clear the Air, an anti-tobacco lobby group, said it regretted Mrs Chan’s association with the tobacco industry, adding that she “has seemingly been incapable of completely severing her ties with an industry that the WHO confirms to threaten Hong Kong’s and the world’s public health”.

“Clear the Air opines that no Legco members should have directorships or other connections in organisations which might possibly cause a conflict of interest with the impartial duties, ethics and voting of a Legco member.”

Anthony Hedley, anti-tobacco advocate and chair professor of the department of community medicine at the University of Hong Kong, said he was more concerned that there were tobacco executives in other areas. He was referring to Anthony Lau Chun-hon, formerly general manager of Philip Morris Singapore who is now executive director of the Tourism Board; Philip Ho Wing-hong, BAT’s head of local corporate and regulatory affairs who is on the Central Policy Unit; and Charles Ho Tsu-kwok, chairman of the Hong Kong Tobacco Company, who is on the Bauhinia Foundation.

50pc Tax Hike Sought In Bid To Help Smokers Quit

Feb 22nd, 2008
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Damon Pang – The Standard – Friday, February 22, 2008

An increase in tobacco tax of up to 50 percent in the upcoming budget speech on Wednesday will help smokers quit the habit, Council on Smoking and Health chairman Homer Tso Wei-kwok said yesterday.

Tso also criticized the government for “seriously lacking” in efforts to help youths aged 15 to 19 – when most smokers pick up the habit – quit.

The tax increment would mean 75 percent of the price for a packet of cigarettes – about HK$30 depending on brands – would be taxed, compared with about half the price now.

The World Health Organization recommends a standard tax of two- thirds of the price.

“Increasing the tax must also go along with increased provision of services to smokers to quit smoking, as it is also necessary to show that the government is not in it for the money, but for the protection of public health,” Tso said.

“Increasing the tax is only one method to control smoking, but most importantly [government policy] needs to be consistent.

“There are about 15,700 young smokers locally, yet we only have one youth quitline at Hong Kong University capable of helping 400 people.”

He said the service should be readily accessible, through community help channels, not hospitals. Quitting needed to become a popular trend like slimming.

In response, a Department of Health spokeswoman said the government had successfully decreased the smoking rate.

She said the percentage of smokers had fallen from 23 percent in 1982 to 14 percent in 2005 through “gradual and multiple means,” including legislation, tobacco taxation, public education and quit-smoking services.

Hong Kong University, meanwhile, surveyed 304 young smokers who phoned its quitline between August 2005 and last September.

Sophia Chan Sin-chee, head of the university’s nursing studies department, said young smokers aged between 15 and 19 went through fewer cigarettes per day after smoking was banned in public indoor places in January last year – from 12.2 before the ban to 10.1 after it took effect.

She said the ban marked a change in the general environment “where more important people around [the smokers] urge them to quit smoking, as more smokers themselves urge others to quit also.”

Chan said the survey also showed more smokers believed others want them to quit smoking after the start of the ban because 51.9 percent of those interviewed had greater motivation to quit.

Nearly two in five smokers said they received more encouragement to quit from key people around them after the ban, while 42.7 percent said they had less exposure to secondhand smoke.

Chan also said that, since the implementation of the ban, 214 smokers, up 20 percent from before the ban, called the youth quitline.

She added 19.2 percent of smokers said they wanted to quit because of pressure from family and friends.

Young Smokers Looking To Quit ‘Need More Help’

Feb 22nd, 2008
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Young Smokers Looking To Quit ‘Need More Help’

Scarlett Chiang – SCMP
Updated on Feb 22, 2008

The smoking ban has been effective in encouraging young smokers to quit, a survey has found, but there were not enough avenues for them to seek help. A University of Hong Kong survey found that more people called its hotline enquiring about quitting after a ban came into force in most public indoor areas on January 1 last year.

The university’s Youth Quitline for people aged 12 to 25 said it recorded a 60 per cent increase in calls from smokers after the ban.

In the first nine months of 2006 there were 179 calls, compared with 214 in the same period last year.

Calls from non-smoking parents seeking advice on how they could help their teenagers quit increased 45 per cent from 69 in the first nine months of 2006 to 100 in the same period last year.

Among the calls received since January 1 last year, 50 per cent of callers said they had more motivation to quit since the ban came into force, and 40 per cent said they received more encouragement to quit from their friends and family.

Sophia Chan Siu-chee, head of the university’s nursing studies department, said the figures showed there had been a sharp increase in the number of young smokers seeking to quit in the first few months after the legislation was introduced, and the government should do more to encourage people to quit.

She said young smokers needed professional support to help them quit and the university’s hotline was the only one available for teenagers.

“The government should help smokers,” Professor Chan said. “If there is a smoking ban for the public to protect them from second-hand smoke, there should also be some ways to help smokers quit.”

She said the government had provided a one-off HK$300,000 subsidy in 2005 from the Health Care Promotion Fund. The hotline needs funding to continue its services.

“If we want to continue to help teenage smokers, we need more help, especially from the government,” she said. The university said there were 15,700 daily smokers aged 15 to 19 in the city.

An anti-smoking organisation also urged the government to raise the tobacco tax every year by about 15 per cent to encourage people to quit.

Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health chairman Homer Tso Wei-kwok said he hoped the government could either raise the tobacco tax every year or make a one-off increase of 40 per cent to 50 per cent in the budget on Wednesday.

“The tobacco tax should be about two-thirds more than the retail price of a packet of cigarettes to deter people from smoking,” Dr Tso said.

He also complained that the government had no measures to encourage young people to quit.

A Health Department spokeswoman said the government had encouraged smokers to quit through legislation, education and tobacco tax. She added that the department had set up a clinic and a hotline for people who wanted to quit.

Toronto Judge Reinstates Charges Against Cigarette Executives

Feb 22nd, 2008
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Judge reinstates charges against cigarette executives – The Gazette
February 22, 2008

Peter Brieger

A Toronto judge has put Canada’s biggest cigarette-smuggling case back into play by ordering that fraud and conspiracy charges be reinstated against six former executives of tobacco giant JTI-Macdonald Corp.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer this week quashed a decision last year to throw out the case against the six men for lack of evidence, saying a preliminary hearing judge made legal errors in his ruling.

Crown lawyers appealed that ruling.

“Put simply, the conduct of JTI and its employees is conduct that a reasonable person could see as dishonest,” Nordheimer wrote in his Feb. 19 decision. “The decisions to discharge these six individuals cannot stand.”

The 37-page ruling also denied a bid by Ed Lang, JTI’s former chief executive, to void seven counts of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud against him.

The other JTI employees are: former vice-president of operations Pierre Brunelle, former vice-president of finance Paul Neumann, director of finance Roland Kostantos and managers Dale Sisel, Jaap Uittenbogaard and Peter MacGregor.

The seven are accused of defrauding federal and provincial governments out of more than $1 billion in tax revenue during early 1990s by operating a smuggling ring through the United States and First Nations reserves.

JTI and its former employees were charged in 2003 after a four-year police probe. None of the allegations has been proven.

Evidence at the 19-month preliminary hearing is subject to a publication ban.

But Nordheimer, who overturned former Bay Street investment banker Andrew Rankin’s insider-tipping conviction last year, said he disagreed there isn’t enough evidence to put the former tobacco executives on trial.

“Presumably, each of these employees believed, in acting as they did, that they were just doing their jobs,” Nordheimer wrote. “However, if the manner by which they chose to undertake their responsibilities was criminal in nature, the fact that they also acted within the scope of their employment will not absolve them from criminal liability.”

Bangladesh Govt Urged To Increase Taxes On Tobacco Products

Feb 22nd, 2008
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Govt urged to increase taxes on tobacco products

The Financial Express – February 22, 2008

Bangladesh Anti-tobacco Alliance urged the government to increase taxes on tobacco products in the coming budget for controlling the massive use of tobacco in the country, reports UNB.

“Taxes on all tobacco products including dried tobacco leaves, `gul’ and `zarda’ have to be increased for effectively controlling the use of tobacco,” general secretary of Consumers’ Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Kazi Faruk told a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club Wednesday.

He said an increase in prices of tobacco products would have the greatest effect on the important target groups like poor and youths. “Some 10 per cent increase in price reduces consumption by 4 per cent in developed countries and 8 per cent in countries like Bangladesh.”

Referring to the report of a survey conducted jointly by `Work for a Better Bangladesh (WBB)’ and ‘Mental and Health Bridge’, Kazi Faruq said most people in the country supported the increase of taxes and prices on tobacco and tobacco products.

“Some 73.2 per cent respondents opined in favour of increasing taxes on tobacco while some 60.1 per cent agreed to cut down on the use of tobacco with high price of tobacco products.”

Barnsley Council in Britain to Ban Smoking Outside Pubs

Feb 22nd, 2008
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Council Sparks Fury as it Becomes First in Britain to Ban Smoking Outside Pubs

Last updated at 10:34am on 22nd February 2008

Barnsley Council want to ban people smoking in the street outside pubs and cafes

The first town in Britain looks set to ban smoking outside pubs and cafes but furious landlords have vowed to fight the extreme council plans. Bar and cafe owners have said they are prepared to go to court if the local authority’s decision to ban smoking on pavements outside their businesses goes ahead.

By April, smokers in Barnsley, South Yorkshire may find there are few places where they can light up.

Under the new regulations smoking will only be allowed outside in private beer gardens.

The move has caused uproar among the town’s licensees who have seen trade dwindle since the indoor smoking ban came into force. Publican Paul McNicholas, chairman of the town centre Pubwatch scheme said: “I feel so strongly about this I would be prepared to go to court. “There is no other place in the country even contemplating it. It would be difficult to enforce.” Mr McNicholas has spent £9,000 on awnings, tables and heaters so customers can sit outside his Irish pub and enjoy a pint and a cigarette. He said: “Having the outside area has compensated me and evened things out since the smoking ban.

These new guidelines could be the difference between bars surviving and not.” Walkabout bar manager Greg Harding said: “I think it is ridiculous.” He has a street drinking area in front of the town-centre premises and was offered the lease of the land by Barnsley Council. He said: “It gets people out front and brings a bit of colour to the town. This rule would make it untenable for us to continue taking this space from the council.”

Barnsley Council’s environment department came up with the scheme in a document entitled “Guidelines for street cafes” in Barnsley town centre. The new rule states: “As of April 1 the licensed cafe area will be a no-smoking area.

“It will be the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that customers are reminded of this. “If it is noted that on three separate occasions customers are witnessed to be smoking, then the licence will be revoked.”

Councillor Roy Miller, Barnsley’s environment committee head said consultations were still taking place and input would be welcomed from licensees. He said: “We are awaiting the responses and I am having a meeting with several landlords.”

The move has been attacked by the pro-smoking organisation FOREST which says the scheme is “dubious, difficult to enforce and a potential death knell for businesses without space for a beer garden.” Director Simon Clarke said: “It is the first time we have heard of such a plan anywhere in the country. “If the council wants smokers off the streets it would be more productive to use resources for smoking rooms. “If this is brought in I will come to Barnsley myself and light up even though I don’t smoke.”

FCTC Requirements For Hong Kong

Feb 21st, 2008
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Below is a response from Dr Edmund FONG (for the Director of Health), to questions asked by James Middleton of Clear The Air regarding FCTC requirements for Hong Kong

——————————————————–

Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008

Dear Mr Middleton,

I refer to your email on 19 January and our interim reply on 25 January 2008 regarding the implementation of World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Government adopts a multi-pronged strategy, comprising legislation, taxation, publicity, education and enforcement to seek, through a step-by-step approach, to discourage smoking, contain the proliferation of tobacco use and protect the public from passive smoking as much as possible.

As one of the measures to fulfill the requirements of FCTC, the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance (Cap. 371) underwent major amendments in 2006 to strengthen tobacco control regime in Hong Kong. The amendments expanded the statutory no smoking areas to a vast expanse of venues, introduced requirements on graphic health warnings and tightened the control on tobacco advertisement and promotion.

With effect from 1 November 2007, the packets or retail containers of tobacco products are required to bear health warnings in prescribed form with pictorial contents on two largest surface areas of the packet/retail container, one surface in English language and the other in Chinese language. The prescribed area of the health warnings on each surface is required to be at least 50% of the two largest surface area of the packet/retail container of the tobacco product.

Taxation on tobacco products remains to be one of our tobacco control strategies to be considered in the light of changes in the trend of tobacco consumption and smoking offences. The significant amendments to the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance (Cap. 371) and the proposed fixed penalty on smoking offences should have much bearing on this trend. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and make proposals on the tobacco duty level as well as other useful means to reduce tobacco consumption based on our findings.

Thank you for your concern and support in tobacco control.

Best regards,

Dr Edmund FONG
for Director of Health

——————————————————–

Sent: Saturday 19th January 2008

Dear Tobacco Control

What are the Government’s intentions as regards its requirements under the FCTC ?

What is Tobacco Control doing to get the administration to increase tobacco taxation in order to save lives ? There has been no increase for 7 years.

What is being done about graphic pictorial warnings on cigarette cartons ?

Both are mandated under the FCTC.

regards
James Middleton
Clear the Air

Prioritise Anti-tobacco Smuggling Measures

Feb 21st, 2008
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Health Groups Call On Chancellor To Prioritise Anti-tobacco Smuggling Measures And Sign EU-Wide Agreements

ASH news release: Embargo: 00:01 Thursday 21st February 2008

On behalf of 22 health groups, ASH will be meeting the Exchequer Secretary, Angela Eagle today to present plans on tackling smuggling and raising tobacco taxes, ahead of the forthcoming Budget. [1]

ASH and more than 20 other health groups are calling on the Chancellor to:

– Re-introduce the real price escalator to raise the tax on tobacco by at least 10p per pack above the rate of inflation [2]
– Maintain the 5% VAT on nicotine replacement therapies that was introduced in last year’s Budget (the tax was reduced from 17.5% as an incentive to increase uptake)
– Implement a revised anti-smuggling strategy with challenging new targets
– Sign up to Agreements reached between other EU countries and two of the world’s leading tobacco companies – Philip Morris International and Japan Tobacco International – which put the responsibility for reducing smuggling on the tobacco companies themselves

As the UK is the only EU country not to have signed the new anti-smuggling agreements, ASH will be asking the Treasury to sign up without further delay. In December 2007, Japan Tobacco International signed an Agreement committing the company to stiff seizure payments if its products were found to be illegally traded within the EU. As JTI now owns the British company Gallaher, it commands around 40% of the UK tobacco market. Therefore there is a compelling reason for the UK to be a signatory to the EU Agreement. [3]

ASH will also be asking the Government to explain its policy on measuring counterfeit tobacco, since the latest published estimate suggests that only a quarter of the illegal cigarette market consists of counterfeit product, yet the focus of attention has been on the counterfeit trade. [4]

Deborah Arnott, Director of the health campaigning charity ASH, said:

“Now is the time for the Government to build on the popularity of the smokefree legislation and demonstrate its ongoing commitment to reducing smoking by increasing tobacco taxes. Raising the price of tobacco is the single most important measure but this must be done hand in hand with effective anti-smuggling measures.”

Notes and links:

[1] Budget 2008: Tobacco tax submission by ASH and 22 other health organisations. Available here.

[2] Research has shown that there is widespread public support for raising tobacco tax if it is used to fund anti-smoking policies. A survey by Professor Robert West found that 78% of the adult population would favour a 20p per pack tax rise if the money raised was used to fund tobacco control measures. See here.

[3] For further information about the JTI anti-smuggling agreement see here.

[4] Although there has been a rise in the number of seizures of counterfeit products in recent years, the latest Government estimate suggests that only around a quarter of the smuggled cigarette market is counterfeit. Thus legitimately manufactured cigarettes that are sold onto the black market still represent the bulk of the illicit market share. HMRC Press release, 26 Sept 2006

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