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February, 2008:

WHO Report On The Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008

Feb 8th, 2008
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In the 20th century, the tobacco epidemic killed 100 million people worldwide.

During the 21st century, it could kill one billion.

  • Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies
  • Protect people from tobacco smoke
  • Offer help to quit tobacco use
  • Warn about the dangers of tobacco
  • Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship
  • Raise taxes on tobacco

The six policies of WHO’s MPOWER package can counter the tobacco epidemic and reduce its deadly toll.

WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008 is the first in a series of WHO reports that will track the status of the tobacco epidemic and the impact of interventions implemented to stop it.

We must act now to reverse the global tobaco epidemic and save milions of lives

We hold in our hands the solution to the global tobacco epidemic that threatens the lives of one billion men, women and children during this century. In fact, tobacco use can kill in so many ways that it is a risk factor for six of the eight leading causes of death in the world. The cure for this devastating epidemic is dependent not on medicines or vaccines, but on the concerted actions of government and civil society.

This is a unique point in public health history as the forces of political will, policies and funding are aligned to create the momentum needed to dramatically reduce tobacco use and save millions of lives by the middle of this century. Reversing this entirely preventable epidemic must now rank as a top priority for public health and for political leaders in every country of the world.

The global consensus that we must fight the tobacco epidemic has already been established by the more than 150 Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Now, the WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008 gives countries a roadmap that builds on the WHO Framework Convention to turn this global consensus into a global reality through MPOWER, a package of six effective tobacco control policies.

But countries need not act alone. WHO, with help from its global partners, is scaling up its capacity and is committed to supporting Member States as they implement and enforce the MPOWER policies. The WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008 also enables WHO to present a unique and comparable set of country-specific data from around the world that will cast an intense spotlight on tobacco use, its impact on people and economies, and the progress countries are making to reverse the epidemic.

Prompt action is crucial. The tobacco epidemic already kills 5.4 million people a year from lung cancer, heart disease and other illnesses. Unchecked, that number will increase to more than 8 million a year by 2030. Tragically, with more than 80% of those deaths occurring in the developing world, the epidemic will strike hardest in countries whose rapidly growing economies offer their citizens the hope of a better life. To the tobacco companies, these economies represent vast new marketplaces. This will result not only in large increases in illness and death, but also in less productive workforces and escalating avoidable healthcare costs.

We cannot let this happen. I call on governments around the world to take urgent action to implement the policies outlined in the MPOWER package.

Dr Margaret Chan
Director-General
World Health Organization

View the full report on The Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008 – 342 pages

Case Links Death To Environmental Tobacco Smoke

Feb 8th, 2008
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A young asthmatic woman who collapsed and died shortly after arriving for her shift as a waitress at a bar may be the first reported death to be reported nationally from acute asthma associated with environmental tobacco smoke.

This case report by a Michigan State University physician, published in the February edition of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, not only outlines circumstances under which the woman died, but also raises a number of issues regarding safety in the workplace.

The report states the woman arrived at the bar in Michigan and, according to co-workers, seemed happy and healthy. About 15 or 20 minutes later she collapsed and within a few minutes died.

“This is the first reported acute asthma death associated with work-related ETS,” said Kenneth Rosenman, an MSU professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. “Recent studies of air quality and asthma among bar and restaurant workers before and after smoking bans support this association.”

In 2006, the surgeon general’s report concluded that ETS causes coronary heart disease, lung cancer and premature death. But at that time there was little hard evidence linking ETS to the exacerbation of asthma in adults.

However, Rosenman and colleagues believe this case provides plenty of evidence to link secondhand smoke to this death.

“The autopsy clearly indicates she died from asthma,” Rosenman said. “There was no other cause of death. Her death is consistent with what we know about exposures in bars like this. We know asthmatics are more susceptible to irritants and other particulates in the air.

“We know that particulate levels from secondhand cigarette smoke in bars like this reach sufficient levels to set off an asthma attack.”

As an occupational and environmental health physician, Rosenman said he also is concerned about the long-term effects of ETS on all employees, not just those with pre-existing conditions like asthma.

“As a consumer, I don’t have to go into that bar,” he said. “But is it a safe environment for the employees? We have federal laws that say employers have to provide a safe and healthy workplace. This was clearly not a safe and healthy workplace for this employee.

“This death dramatizes the need to enact legal protections for workers in the hospitality industry from secondhand smoke.”

In the United States, 23 states have already banned smoking in restaurants and bars. A number of other states, including Michigan, are considering it.

While many bar and restaurant owners say a smoking ban would hurt business, Rosenman argues that just the opposite is true.

“Consider that 75 percent of the population doesn’t smoke,” he said. “Banning smoking could actually serve to increase business. Studies of restaurants and bars in Boston, New York City, San Francisco and Washington D.C. all show business up since they banned smoking. Chicago went smoke free the beginning of this year.

“We’re behind the times if we want to attract tourists and help businesses be more profitable.”

Source: Michigan State University

A Smoldering Controversy At UCLA

Feb 8th, 2008
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From the Los Angeles Times

The school accepts money from tobacco giant Philip Morris in its three-year study of nicotine addiction. Teenagers and monkeys are part of the research.

By Richard C. Paddock -Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

9:31 PM PST, February 8, 2008

Here’s a recipe for academic controversy:

First, find dozens of hard-core teenage smokers as young as 14 and study their brains with high-tech scans. Second, feed vervet monkeys liquid nicotine and then kill at least six of them to examine their brains. Third, accept US$6 million from tobacco giant Philip Morris to pay for it all. Fourth, cloak the project in unusual secrecy.

At UCLA, a team of researchers is following this formula to produce what it hopes will be a groundbreaking study of addiction. So far, the scientists have proved that the issues of animal testing and tobacco-funded research are among the most contentious on university campuses.

UCLA professor Edythe London, the lead scientist on the three-year study, said it could discover new ways to help people quit smoking and lead to innovative treatments for other addictions.

“We are doing this because we really want to save lives,” she said. “I am really proud of what we are doing. We have a track record for contributing to science, and we would like to bring that to bear on the problem of nicotine addiction.”

But even before she had a chance to select her first teenager for study, London paid a price for her research. In October, activists opposed to animal testing flooded her Westside home with her garden hose, causing more than $20,000 in damage. They struck again this week, leaving an incendiary device at night that charred her front door. A gardener discovered the damage Tuesday.

The activists, who have also targeted other UCLA researchers, accused London of using “sadistic procedures” and “torturing nonhuman animals to death” in earlier studies. No one has been arrested in the attacks.

At the same time, Philip Morris’ role in the study has drawn sharp criticism from anti-tobacco activists. They doubt that the company wants to help people stop smoking and question whether the study of teenage and monkey brains could help Philip Morris design a more addictive cigarette.

“It’s stunning in this day and age that a university would do secret research for the tobacco industry on the brains of children,” said Matt Meyers of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in Washington, D.C. “It raises fundamental questions about the integrity, honesty and openness of research anywhere at the University of California.”

London said that Philip Morris would not have any oversight or other involvement in the study. The suggestion that the company might use her findings to make cigarettes more addictive is “twisted,” she said.

“That is not something we ever considered,” she said. “The representatives of Philip Morris were very sincere.”

Roberto Peccei, vice chancellor for research at UCLA, said the company’s motives were immaterial.

“I have no idea why Philip Morris decides to fund this anti-smoking research, but they do,” he said. “As long as we do not feel that we are interfered with and that the research is done with the highest intentions, what’s in the mind of the funder is irrelevant.”

But critics say the UCLA study allows Philip Morris to sponsor research on adolescents that would prompt an outcry if the company did this work in its own laboratories.

“Edythe is a very good researcher, and frankly I’m shocked she would take the money,” said Michael Cummings, a senior researcher at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y. “I think she’s naive.”

Philip Morris, which is paying for 23 research projects at seven UC campuses, supports the UCLA study as part of the company’s effort “to reduce youth tobacco use and increase scientific understanding in the field,” said William Phelps, a Philip Morris spokesman.

He said the company has no intention of using the results or teenagers’ brain scans to develop more addictive cigarettes. “We would never do that,” he said.

Phelps declined to comment on the use of animals in the study.

Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), who backed efforts by an activist to obtain a copy of the grant proposal, said UC has no business accepting money from tobacco companies.

“It is absolutely outrageous to see this kind of funding and this type of research within the UC system,” said Yee, a psychologist. “The fact that a piece of research is funded by the tobacco industry, and their singular issue is how to sell cigarettes, taints the results of whatever the findings might be.”

At UCLA, as at other University of California campuses, faculty members are free to accept money from any source. The only restriction is that studies involving animal and human subjects be approved by university review committees to ensure that they meet standards for the treatment of their subjects, university officials said.

For more than a year, anti-tobacco scientists and activists have pushed UC to prohibit faculty from accepting money from tobacco companies for research on tobacco. The Board of Regents, citing academic freedom, agreed instead to establish a committee that will review tobacco company research proposals.

UCLA officials say that the idea for the study of teenagers and monkeys originated with Philip Morris.

Phelps said Philip Morris began searching the country in 2006 for scientists who might be interested in conducting research on helping adolescents quit smoking. The search led the company to London, a noted UCLA professor of psychiatry and pharmacology who had studied addiction at the National Institutes of Health.

Philip Morris invited London to submit a grant proposal, which she did, said Carol Stogsdill, senior executive director of UCLA’s media relations office. The company awarded London US$6 million to establish the Adolescent Smoking Cessation Center at the school and conduct the study on teenage and animal brains.

The smoking-cessation center is modeled on one at Duke University in North Carolina, which also receives money from Philip Morris. London said she hopes the UCLA center will receive additional funds for related research from Philip Morris or other donors.

UCLA has attempted to keep quiet about London’s study out of fear of attacks on its researchers.

Animal rights activists were suspected in June of placing a bomb under the car of a UCLA ophthalmologist who had conducted tests on monkeys. In 2005, another UCLA researcher who conducted animal studies was targeted by a bomb at a residence. Neither device went off.

In September, UCLA responded to a Public Records Act request from anti-smoking activist Kimberlee Homer Vagadori by releasing a heavily redacted copy of London’s grant proposal. There were so many deletions from the document that tobacco foes charged that the university was trying to hide work for Philip Morris.

In response to a subsequent Public Records Act request from The Times, UCLA provided more details but released virtually no information on the animal studies, citing the danger to its staff if specifics were made public.

Officials said it was the first time UCLA had withheld research information on the grounds of public safety. Peccei, who oversees research at the campus, acknowledged that UCLA could face a legal challenge but said that protecting researchers comes first.

“It’s not like we are trying to protect this Philip Morris center because we have some secret to hide,” Peccei said. “We will probably wind up in court, but we don’t want firebombs in the backyards of people who work on animals.”

In interviews, London and Peccei discussed some aspects of the study, which will include research on rats as well as monkeys.

In the first phase, researchers will test smoking-cessation techniques on 200 smokers between 14 and 20, an age when the brain is still developing. London said one focus is to understand why young people smoke, including whether depression or attention-deficit disorder contributes to the habit.

For the second phase, researchers will recruit 40 hard-core smokers, most of them from the first study group, as well as a control group of 40 nonsmokers, London said.

They will undergo functional MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans of their brains while they take psychological and personality tests.

The third phase will focus on animals. Researchers will administer liquid nicotine to adolescent and adult vervet monkeys, London said. The monkeys will undergo different behavioral tests and have PET (positron emission tomography) scans of their brains.

Eventually, six to 12 monkeys will be killed and their brains studied, Peccei said.

London, who has been at UCLA since 2001, hopes that the research will lead to a new understanding of how addiction works.

“It’s very important to do animal studies,” she said. “The animal studies are very focused on the effects of nicotine during development and the ability of the brain to do its work.”

After the first attack on her house, London took the unusual step of standing up to the activists. She wrote an opinion piece for The Times contending that animal studies are a necessary part of research, saying it would “be immoral” to turn down the Philip Morris money and “decline an opportunity to increase our knowledge about addiction.”

UCLA Chancellor Gene D. Block, a research scientist who generally uses mice for his own laboratory tests, defended London.

“All the evidence leads me to believe that the research supported by Philip Morris is independent research of high quality,” the chancellor said. “Edythe London’s program is celebrated. She is studying addiction, important issues, human issues, that have an enormous effect on people’s lives.”

New WHO Data Out On Tobacco

Feb 7th, 2008
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Posted: Thursday, February 07, 2008

The World Health Organization (WHO) today Thursday February 7 is releasing new data showing that while progress has been made, not a single country fully implements all key tobacco control measures, and outlined an approach that governments can adopt to prevent tens of millions of premature deaths by the middle of this century.

In a new report which presents the first comprehensive analysis of global tobacco use and control efforts, WHO finds that only 5% of the world’s population live in countries that fully protect their population with any one of the key measures that reduce smoking rates.

The report also reveals that governments around the world collect 500 times more money in tobacco taxes each year than they spend on anti-tobacco efforts. It finds that tobacco taxes, the single most effective strategy, could be significantly increased in nearly all countries, providing a source of sustainable funding to implement and enforce the recommended approach, a package of six policies called MPOWER.

“While efforts to combat tobacco are gaining momentum, virtually every country needs to do more. These six strategies are within the reach of every country, rich or poor and, when combined as a package, they offer us the best chance of reversing this growing epidemic,” said Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO. Dr Chan launched the WHO Report of the Global Tobacco Epidemic at a news conference with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg Philanthropies helped fund the report.

“The report released today is revolutionary,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “For the first time, we have both a rigorous approach to stop the tobacco epidemic and solid data to hold us all accountable. No country fully implements all of the MPOWER policies and 80% of countries don’t fully implement even one policy. While tobacco control measures are sometimes controversial, they save lives and governments need to step up and do the right thing.”

The six MPOWER strategies are;

Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies

Protect people from tobacco smoke

Offer help to quit tobacco use

Warn about the dangers of tobacco

Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship

Raise taxes on tobacco

The report also documents the epidemic’s shift to the developing world, where 80% of the more than eight million annual tobacco-related deaths projected by 2030 are expected to occur.

This shift, the report says, results from a global tobacco industry strategy to target young people and adults in the developing world, ensuring that millions of people become fatally addicted every year. The targeting of young women in particular is highlighted as one of the “most ominous potential developments of the epidemic’s growth.”

The global analysis, compiled by WHO with information provided by 179 Member States, gives governments and other groups a baseline from which to monitor efforts to stop the epidemic in the years ahead.

The MPOWER package provides countries with a roadmap to help them meet their commitments to the widely embraced global tobacco treaty known as the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which came into force in 2005.

WHO is also working with global partners to scale-up the help that can be offered to countries to implement the strategies.

Dr Douglas Bettcher, Director of WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative, said the six MPOWER strategies would create a powerful response to the tobacco epidemic. “This package will create an enabling environment to help current tobacco users quit, protect people from second-hand smoke and prevent young people from taking up the habit,” he said.

Other key findings in the report include:

o Only 5% of the global population is protected by comprehensive national smoke-free legislation and 40% of countries still allow smoking in hospitals and schools;

o Only 5% of the world’s population lives in countries with comprehensive national bans on tobacco advertising and promotion;

o Just 15 countries, representing 6% of the global population, mandate pictorial warnings on tobacco packaging;

o Services to treat tobacco dependence are fully available in only nine countries, covering 5% of the world’s people;

o Tobacco tax revenues are more than 4000 times greater than spending on tobacco control in middle-income countries and more than 9000 times greater in lower-income countries. High- income countries collect about 340 times more money in tobacco taxes than they spend on tobacco control.

Source: WHO

Snack-Sized Mini-Cigarettes Spark Nationwide Reaction

Feb 6th, 2008
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‘Snack-sized’ mini-cigarettes spark nationwide reaction

A new, “snack-sized” mini-cigarette brand, Marlboro Intense, has recently been introduced to the Turkish market and sparked nationwide reaction after it was reported by several Turkish newspapers that the new cigarette is being tested first in Turkey.

Several anti-tobacco organizations and parliamentary deputies have raised concerns over Marlboro Intense following wide coverage in the news media that the new brand was being tested first on Turkish smokers, who are reportedly being used as guinea pigs for the product set to then be released in other countries. Marlboro Intense was introduced to the Turkish market in November 2007 by Philip Morris, a tobacco company partnered with Turkey’s Sabancı Holding.

The Marlboro Intense, half an inch shorter than the 8.4-centimeter regular Marlboros, is designed to appeal to employees who can only take quick, outdoor cigarette breaks while at work, often in cold weather. The mini-cigarette allows smokers to smoke their cigarette much more quickly than regular sized ones, but still delivers the same amount of nicotine as the full-size version.

Philip Morris is testing the cigarette in Turkey but says it believes the product has worldwide potential as more than 50 countries now have bans on smoking in public places.

The Foundation Combating Smoking Vice President Kıyas Güngör said launching new products in underdeveloped countries was a Philip Morris “tactic.”

“Philip Morris introduces new tobacco products in underdeveloped countries and Turkey is one of them. Turkey offers a good and young market for tobacco products. Cigarette-producing companies make their products attractive with alluring packages. As Turkey takes new steps to reduce the number of people addicted to smoking, tobacco companies devise new plans to avoid losing such a lucrative market,” Güngör was quoted as saying by daily Vatan.

Green Crescent Fight against Alcohol and Cigarette Abuse Chairman Mustafa Necati Özfatura said that Turkey trails in the seventh place in smoking among 200 world countries. In a phone interview with Today’s Zaman, Özfatura said: “Over 120,000 people die in Turkey each year due to a wide variety of diseases caused by smoking. Almost 60 percent of adult males and about 30 percent of adult females are currently addicted to smoking and these figures are increasing rapidly.”

Underlining that the number of smokers has increased by 80 percent in the last few years, Özfatura said it was natural that Philip Morris chose Turkey to launch its new product, as Turkey is a haven for smokers.

“We hope that the new anti-tobacco law will influence smokers to stop smoking,” stated Özfatura.

The Turkish Parliament passed a proposal in early January that expands the former Prevention and Control of Harm from Tobacco Products Law to bring strict public bans on smoking inclusive of workplaces, restaurants and bars.

Under the provisions of the new law television stations will broadcast public service announcements about the harmful effects of smoking and broadcasts that encourage smoking will no longer be allowed. The law will go into effect in May.

Philip Morris’ move to introduce Marlboro Intense in Turkey first has sparked reaction among parliamentarians as well.

Sacid Yıldız, a Republican People’s Party (CHP) İstanbul deputy and member of the Parliament’s Health Commission, said his party is considering making a motion to bring the issue to Parliament’s agenda.

“Turkey is being used as a pilot country in various domains. The Health Ministry has to inform the public about such new tobacco products. We need to investigate whether Philip Morris has obtained authorization to put such a product on the market,” Yıldız said.

An İstanbul deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Mehmet Domaç, also leveled criticism at Philip Morris for testing a new product in Turkey. “It is wrong to test the cigarette in question in our country. We need to probe whether it was introduced to the Turkish market through legal means,” he noted.

Süleyman Latif Yunusoğlu, a Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy from Trabzon, commented that it was strange for an American company to test one of its new products in Turkey. “Philip Morris is an American company, but it is testing Marlboro Intense in Turkey. Health authorities should take the necessary steps to investigate this issue. The US has taken several incentives to reduce the number of its cigarette-smoking citizens but is testing a new product in Turkey. This is wrong,” Yunusoğlu said

Officials from Philip Morris, on the other hand, complain that press organs have moved to quickly criticize their company without conducting necessary research into the issue.

“Marlboro is an international brand sold in more than 150 countries around the world. Market dynamics and adult smoker preferences in different countries are taken into consideration when offering new variants of Marlboro. It is not the first time that Philip Morris has launched a new product in a country. Having said that, there are many Philip Morris International (PMI) brands and Marlboro variants not sold in Turkey but available in other countries,” said Elvan Özkaya, external relations manager at Philip Morris Turkey.

Philip Morris marketed Marlboro Wides for the first time in Portugal in April 2006, Marlboro Filter + in South Korea in November 2006 and Marlboro Mint Series in Hong Kong in May 2007.

Upon a question over whether Philip Morris is testing Marlboro Intense on Turkish smokers, Özkaya said in a written statement that the product in question is part of the company’s innovation in order to best respond to consumer preferences.

“Like any other PMI product, this cigarette has undergone a significant and rigorous development process to ensure that it does not increase the risks inherent in any other cigarette — and the product conforms with the relevant Turkish regulations, including the tar and nicotine ceilings in place in the country,” she said, adding that this cigarette, like any other, is dangerous and addictive.

Marlboro Intense is also being criticized by several circles for not including a Turkish translation of the word “intense” on the pack. Asked about the reason for this, Özkaya recalled that the Marlboro Intense trademark was registered in April 2007 and added: “Regulations in Turkey do not oblige manufacturers to use trademarks in Turkish for their products. Product specifications are communicated to consumer on the side of the pack with T/N/Co numbers in line with the current regulations. All products are required to get approval from the Tobacco Authority in Turkey before they are launched,” she added.

On the legal dimension of Philip Morris’ initiative to test a new product in the Turkish market, legal expert Ali Odabaşı said it would not be easy for Marlboro Intense consumers to file a lawsuit against Philip Morris if they suffer from health problems in the future.

“It is difficult in our country to prove that a cigarette-smoking individual is innocent and has had health problems related to smoking while unaware of the harms of tobacco products on human health,” he said.

Underlining that he has not heard of any Turkish citizen winning a lawsuit filed for damages suffered due to smoking, Odabaşı said the Turkish justice and indemnity system is not advanced enough to protect the rights of smokers.

“Smokers consume tobacco products though they know their effects on human health. Thus, it is not easy to justify a smoker before the court when he sues against a tobacco company,” he added.

06.02.2008
BETÜL AKKAYA İSTANBUL

$1,500 Fine Proposed For Flouting Smoking Bans

Feb 6th, 2008
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2008-02-06 HKT 16:43 – RTHK

The government has published a bill proposing a fixed penalty fine of $1,500 for lighting-up in non-smoking areas. Apart from the Tobocco Control Office, hundreds of officers from the Leisure and Cultural Services, Food and Environmental Hygiene and Housing Departments would be deployed to carry out enforcement action. They would have the power to demand identity cards from suspected offenders.

Drastic Cut Of Outlets Selling Tobacco Can Help Curb Smoking

Feb 6th, 2008
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Feb 06, 2008 – SCMP

We should not be surprised by the findings of the survey conducted by the Neighbourhood and Workers’ Service Centre that an overwhelming majority of outlets were willing to sell cigarettes indiscriminately to under-18 minors in violation of the law (“Cigarettes easier for teenagers to buy”, January 21).

The relevant legislation has not worked. In pursuit of their economic interests, these outlets, be they supermarkets, convenience stores, news-stands, or small and large restaurants, were willing and able to flout the law with impunity and render it a mockery. Minors unable to buy cigarettes from one retailer, would quite quickly find one nearby who would sell them cigarettes and so they could satisfy their nicotine addiction. That is the crux of the problem – there are just too many outlets selling cigarettes, making effective enforcement impossible. Therefore, the government must quickly reduce the number of outlets and there must be a substantial cutback.

A drastically-reduced number of outlets will make enforcement of the law more cost-effective. At the same time, access to cigarettes will be made more inconvenient, requiring greater efforts from smokers, adults and minors alike, to source their killer substance. Nicotine is a poisonous and cancer-causing substance and its availability should be restricted, not facilitated at every street corner as it is now; otherwise, we should also be permitting the sale of cocaine and ketamine.

The government has the moral responsibility to protect lives, including harm from smoking. We must fight the aggressive importers and manufacturers of cigarettes and tobacco products by restricting their access to the market place.

Only then is there a chance to help prevent new generations of smokers from emerging. At the same time, it may also lead to a reduction in the number of existing smokers and their levels of consumption.

I urge the government to seriously consider a drastic reduction in the number of authorised outlets which sell cigarettes. I believe that this can reverse the continuing rise in cigarette consumption.

Ang Ah-lay, Causeway Bay

Hong Kong’s Smoking Offenses Bill 2008 Gazetted

Feb 6th, 2008
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www.chinaview.cn 2008-02-06 19:28:42

HONG KONG, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) — The Fixed Penalty (Smoking Offenses) Bill 2008 was gazetted in Hong Kong on Wednesday, which seeks to deal more effectively with the offense of smoking or carrying a lit cigarette, cigar or pipe in a statutory no smoking area or a transport carrier.

The bill could help better utilize the resources of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government and the courts, a press release from the Information Services Department of HKSAR government said.

Under the bill, the fixed penalty level for smoking offenses is proposed at 1,500 HK dollars (about 193 U.S. dollars). This is on par with the fine level for public cleanliness offenses which also have public health implications. This is also the penalty level that attracted majority support in the HKSAR government’s public consultation, said the press release.

Deputy Secretary for Food and Health Ingrid Yeung said that introducing a sufficiently high standard fixed penalty level, together with the obligation to pay the penalty more promptly, would be a stronger deterrent and would convey a more consistent message on the HKSAR government’s determination to enforce the smoking ban.

Under existing arrangements for prosecution proceedings, it could take up to three months after the day of the offense before a defendant appears in court. Under the proposed fixed penalty system, a person given a fixed penalty notice for smoking offenses has to make payment in 21 days. When the payment is settled, the person is no longer liable to be prosecuted or convicted for that offense.

“With the implementation of the fixed penalty system for smoking offenses, enforcement officers could then take more enforcement action, which would increase the strength and effectiveness of our whole enforcement strategy. There may be a reduction of court’s workload if offenders are ready to pay the fines without fighting the cases,” Yeung said.

At present, tobacco control inspectors of the Tobacco Control Office (TCO) and police officers are empowered to enforce the smoking ban under the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance. Under the bill, the Food and Health Bureau would further empower specified public officers of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and the Housing Department to issue fixed penalty notices within some of their premises to offenders.

Yeung said the empowerment of officers of these departments to issue fixed penalty notices was meant to complement the work of the TCO to further step up the enforcement strength. It would not overtake their current work priorities.

Yeung urged people to cooperate with the law enforcement officers. She pointed out that if the law enforcement officers intended to issue a fixed penalty ticket or summons to an individual, they were empowered by the bill to request the individual to provide documentary proof of identity. Refusal to doso would constitute a breach of the law under the bill, with the offender liable to a maximum fine of 10,000 HK dollars (about 1, 285 U.S. dollars).

The bill will be introduced into the Legislative Council on Feb. 20, the press release said.

Tobacco Companies Linked to Criminal Organizations

Feb 5th, 2008
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Tobacco Companies Linked to Criminal Organizations in Lucrative Cigarette Smuggling

When Tommy Chui failed to show up at the grand opening of his wife’s new boutique in downtown Singapore, alarm bells rang 1,600 miles away in the offices of Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption. It was March 29, 1995, and the news that Chui was missing devastated the commission’s assistant director, Tony Godfrey. He immediately sent two investigators to Singapore. Three days later, on April 1, his worst fears were realized. Dockworkers found Chuis bloated body floating in Singapore Harbor. A former director of British American Tobaccos biggest distributor of contraband cigarettes to China and Taiwan, the 38-year-old Chui had been abducted, ritually tortured, gagged, suffocated and thrown into the harbor just weeks before he was to testify against his ex-associates. Chui was the star prosecution witness in an international tobacco smuggling investigation launched in 1993 by Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption. He was about to blow the lid off a $1.2 billion smuggling operation to China and Taiwan and implicate three former British American Tobacco executives in a HK$100 million bribery scandal. In addition, his testimony was key to the prosecution of his two former business associates, several corrupt customs officers and various members of Asias most notorious criminal gang, the Triad.

Read more on this report at the The Center for Public Integrity

Cannabis Now Three Times Stronger

Feb 5th, 2008
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The strongest type of cannabis – known as Skunk – now dominates the UK market, according to new Home Office research. Skunk now accounts for between 70% and 80% of samples seized by police, compared with 15% six years ago. It is three times stronger than other types.

Senior police officers are urging the government to reclassify cannabis as a Class B drug.

The police are among several bodies giving evidence to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

The Association of Chief Police Officers said reclassification would end confusion over the status of cannabis.

“We do support a re-classification back to B, and there’s three reasons for that”, Assistant Chief Constable Simon Byrne told BBC News.

Cannabis farms

“Firstly, we are worried about the rise in the number of cannabis farms we’re discovering, which is frankly fuelling a more home-grown market in the more potent type of cannabis.

“That then links in to… our professional concerns about the potency of some of that cannabis, and the effect on some people’s mental health.”

“And thirdly… I think there’s confusion on the streets about whether this drug is legal or not, and that’s causing problems for officers who are trying to enforce the law.”

Tougher penalties

Police said the reclassification would help them target organised crime gangs who are profiting from the booming trade in herbal cannabis cultivated in the UK.

The reclassification would be accompanied by stiffer penalties, something that Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith are believed to support.

But David Blunkett, who downgraded the drug when he was home secretary, said a reversal of his decision would create confusion.

I’m not talking about it just being a gateway drug. It is dangerous in itself
Debra Bell, Talking About Cannabis Parental Action Group

Speaking at the weekend, he said: “Rather than affecting practice on the ground, classifying cannabis back to class B now would simply cause confusion.”

And the mental health charity Rethink said cannabis use could be reduced without reclassification, if warnings about the risks were placed on packs of cigarette papers, which are used to roll joints.

Debra Bell, of the Talking About Cannabis Parental Action Group, said: “Skunk cannabis is one of the evils of our time.

“I’m not talking about it just being a gateway drug. It is dangerous in itself.”

Cannabis use has been falling
Harry Shapiro, Drugscope

Skunk is a specific type of cannabis and is so-called because it has a very strong smell, but these days it has become the generic term for stronger forms of the drug.

It is regarded as stronger because it contains much higher levels of the active ingredient in cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

It also contains much lower levels of cannabidiol (CBD), which is an anti-psychotic substance that can moderate the effect of THC on the mental health of users.

Opinion poll

A survey for the Advisory Council, by Ipsos/Mori of 1,000 people in England, Wales and Scotland over the age of 16 suggests that most people believe cannabis should be moved into a category reserved for more dangerous drugs.

Of those polled, 32% said cannabis should be moved into Class A – alongside heroin, cocaine and ecstasy; 26% said it should be in Class B and 18% said it should be class C – its currentl category. Eleven per cent said it should be legalised.

But the poll indicates that less than half know that cannabis is currently in class C, and less than a quarter want tougher penalties than those already in force for cannabis possession – the maximum prison term is currently two years.

Schizophrenia risk

The mental health charity, Sane, is also giving evidence to the review. Its chief executive, Marjorie Wallace, said there was a significant risk for people who smoke the drug who are under 15 years old.

She said: “Their chances of developing a later illness like schizophrenia can be between two and four times higher – that means there may be about 1,500 people who are developing schizophrenia who, without taking cannabis, might not otherwise have had this long sentence of mental illness.”

TYPES OF CANNABIS
Herbal , also known as “grass” or “weed”, stronger varieties now dominate the market
Skunk contains three times as much of the active ingredient, THC
Resin , also known as hash, was formerly the most common form of the drug, sold in blocks and crumbled

But the charity Drugscope said it saw no good reason for reclassifying cannabis, so soon after the government decided to make it Class C four years ago.

Harry Shapiro, of Drugscope, told BBC News: “In 2004 it was predicted that there would be a huge increase in the amount of cannabis use as a result of the fact that it was downgraded from a Class B to a C.

“Not only has that not happened, but the government figures suggest that, actually, cannabis use has been falling since then.”

The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, has said she will maintain an open mind on the subject of re-classification until the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs presents its recommendations.

Story from BBC NEWS

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