July, 2012:
CDC: Graphic anti-smoking ads get results
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/07/06/cdc-graphic-anti-smoking-ads-get-results/
Terrie Hall has toured the country, speaking at schools and community gatherings about her firsthand experience with smoking-related illness. But the 51-year-old throat cancer survivor ventured beyond her comfort zone when she appeared in a national television ad, in which she’s seen putting in false teeth and covering her stoma with a scarf.
“That was kind of hard to do,” Hall said. “I had never taken my wig off in public before.”
Hall said she participated in the ad because of her strong belief in its message that tobacco use not only kills, but causes lingering illness that can affect quality of life. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted extensive research into the most effective way to deliver that message.
“Finding out that you’re going to die doesn’t really help people,” said CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden. “And people don’t empathize with their lungs. So, showing the picture of a lung may not be as effective as showing a real person and what happens to that individual.”
According to the CDC, the strategy paid off. Calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW doubled and visits to SmokeFree.gov tripled during the 12 week campaign. Public health officials believe the ads will encourage more than half a million smokers to attempt to quit.
As a result of the campaign, Hall is often recognized in public. She said recently one former smoker approached her in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
“She put her hands out to me and she was starting to cry and she said, ‘I quit smoking because of you,'” Hall recalled. “Of course, I started crying and had cold chills. It was pretty powerful.”
The 12-week campaign cost the CDC $54 million, which is less than what the major tobacco companies spend on advertising in just two days. However,Frieden said the CDC’s ads have one significant advantage: truth.
“I’m confident that this campaign is saving thousands of lives,” Frieden said. “I’m confident that truth will prevail because these are real stories about real people.”
Real people, such as Terrie Hall, who said she is motivated by her strong faith in God and a desire to protect others from the nation’s leading cause of preventable death and illness.
“Not everybody walks around with a hole in their neck,” Hall said. “Not everybody gets cancer. But some form, some way, somehow, tobacco can and will affect your life.”
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/07/06/cdc-graphic-anti-smoking-ads-get-results/#ixzz1zzCa237T
Japan Tobacco feels UK has decided on plain packets
Fri, Jul 6 2012
* Believes UK govt has decided before consultations end
* Claims UK is trying to fit evidence to meet its view
* UK Health Department says no decision had been made
* Consultation period continues until Aug. 10
By David Jones
LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) – The British government has already decided to require cigarettes to be sold in plain, brand-free packets even though it has not yet completed its consultation on the issue, cigarette maker Japan Tobacco claimed on Friday.
The group, which sells Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut cigarettes in Britain, believes Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’santi-smoking stance and a flawed consultation process suggests the government will push ahead with so-called plain packaging.
“There are worrying indicators that the Department of Health has decided to introduce plain packaging,” Martin Southgate, managing director of the UK for Japan Tobacco International (JTI) told a briefing on Friday.
“The government is trying to fit the evidence to meet a pre-determined view,” he added.
The Department of Health said no decision would be taken until the consultation had ended and the evidence analysed as it looks at ways to cut the number of young people taking up smoking and assist existing smokers who are trying to quit.
“We’re in the consultation process, and we have made no decision. We remain open-minded,” a department spokeswoman said.
Britain kicked off a three-month consultation process back in April on plain packaging as it looked to deter a habit which it says is responsible for over 100,000 UK deaths a year and puts pressure on the public health system.
It extended the process by a month to August 10 on Thursday after receiving thousands of responses and it said it wanted to make sure everyone who wanted to contribute can.
Just before the consultation was launched, Lansley was quoted in media interviews as saying “we no longer see smoking as a part of life” and that he wanted tobacco companies to have “no business” in the UK.
Australia is the only nation with firm plans to introduce plain packaging which will ban eye-catching designs and branding from cigarette packages with the packs displaying the product names in a plain typeface with graphic health warnings.
The Canberra government plans legislation to take effect by December, but big cigarette companies including Japan Tobacco are mounting legal challenges to fight the move in the Australian High Court.
JTI’s Southgate argues there is no credible evidence to suggest plain packaging will reduce youth smoking and it will exacerbate illicit trade which accounts for a fifth of the cigarettes smoked in the UK and loses the government around 3 billion pounds a year in lost excise tax.
“We are concerned that the Department of Health will aim to justify plain packaging using the best guess and subjective views of its preferred panel of individuals and that these people will be already involved in tobacco control work and studies,” he said.
The group, No 3 in the tobacco world after Philip Morris and British American Tobacco, is to spend 2 million pounds over the coming months on an advertising campaign against plain packaging which starts this weekend.
Japan Tobacco took over Gallaher in 2007 giving it a near 40 percent share of the UK cigarette market behind Imperial Tobacco at just over 45 percent, but ahead of BAT with just a 6 percent market share.
All three are opposed to plain packaging saying there is no evidence that such a move would have an effect and that it would simply increase illicit trade in cigarettes.
© Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the world.
Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, use the Reprints tool at the top of any article or visit: www.reutersreprints.com.
State smoking ban doesn’t affect restaurant sales
By ASSOCIATED PRESS | Posted: Friday, July 6, 2012 11:17 am | (14) Comments
Font Size: Default font size Larger font size
MILWAUKEE — When Wisconsin enacted a workplace smoking ban in in 2010, the state’s hospitality industry worried the move would drive away customers. But two years on, the industry says its sales were largely unaffected.
State tax-collection data show that sales at restaurants and taverns increased 1 percent in 2010 and 2 percent last year, mirroring national trends, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report.
The ban “wasn’t a boon to our industry, but it doesn’t seem to have hurt our sales,’’ said Pete Hanson, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Restaurant Association.
While sales were up overall for the industry, the subcategory of bars and taverns did see a decrease of about 4 percent in that period, Hanson said. However, he noted that trend has been going on for a number of years and couldn’t necessarily be attributed to the smoking ban.
The law, which bans smoking in public places and workplaces, took effect two years ago Thursday. It prohibits smoking in a wide range of locations, including state or local government buildings, bars, restaurants, stores, hotels, day care centers, and hospitals.
Opponents, especially those in the tavern industry, criticized the ban as an unnecessary intrusion that would deter customers who want to smoke.
Supporters countered that the law would protect the health of both customers and employees, such as waitresses, who would otherwise be exposed to secondhand smoke. They also predicted the ban would attract business from asthmatics and other nonsmokers who previously avoided smoky establishments.
Some taverns compromised by adding open-air shelters when customers can smoke. Kathy Martin, the owner of Dockside Pub and Grille in Beaver Dam, said that solution worked for her but that not every business has the space.
Legally, the enclosed areas where smoking is prohibited are defined as spaces with a roof and at least three “substantial walls.’’ There has been no agreement on what constitutes a substantial wall.
An official with the Tavern League of Wisconsin wonders whether the ban might have contributed to some bars going out of business. Pete Madland, the group’s executive director, said its membership is down over the last two years. The recession was a big reason, he said, but the smoking ban was a “contributing factor.’’
Martin, who is also the president of the Dodge County Tavern League, agreed. Despite adding a new smoking area, business was down 30 percent, she said.
“People were used to coming in, sitting at the bar, and having a drink and a cigarette,’’ Martin said, but now “people don’t stay.’’
Maureen Busalacchi, the executive director of SmokeFree Wisconsin, said it’s nearly impossible to quantify why customers stop coming in, especially when economic times are tough.
When the Legislature is back in session next year, Martin said the Tavern League hopes to pursue legislation that would allow indoor smoking areas that are closed off from the rest of the bar, a solution she says would please both smokers and nonsmokers.
But Busalacchi said SmokeFree Wisconsin would fight any legislation of that nature.
“You start messing around with partially enclosed or that kind of thing, and you end up contaminating all of the air,’’ she said.
.
Copyright 2012 Chippewa.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
JT threatens UK over plain packaging
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/25c18e3e-c788-11e1-a850-00144feab49a.html#axzz1zwcWyrWI
July 6, 2012 9:04 pm
By Christopher Thompson
Japan Tobacco International, the world’s third-biggest tobacco company by volume, has warned it will take legal action against the UK government if it implements plain packaging for cigarettes.
Speaking at the launch of a £2m advertising campaign sponsored by the company against the plain packaging proposals being considered by the Department of Health, Martin Southgate, JT’s managing director for the UK, said the company would consider taking the government to court to protect its brands if it did not “see sense”.
On this story
“We would be prepared to defend our position if it ended up in court but we don’t want to,” he said.
JT said court challenges would be considered at a UK and European Union level. He added that the company would likely make a decision in September after the UK’s DoH finished its consultation on plain packaging next month.
The warning is the latest escalation in criticism of government proposals by the tobacco industry. It worries that the UK could soon follow the example of Australia, where all tobacco products are due to be sold in identical drab packs with standardised brand names and carrying large health warnings later this year.
Alison Cooper, the chief executive of FTSE 100 constituent Imperial Tobacco, criticised the health department for being “anti-business” in May.
Philip Morris International, the maker of Marlboro, recently commissioned a report which predicted a steep increase in cigarette smuggling and counterfeiting if plain packs legislation was implemented.
JT echoed this concern. The maker of Camel and Silk Cut cigarettes said its relative UK market share could suffer as the share of the illicit trade increased.
Separately Mr Southgate attacked the independence of the health department and said there was evidence the ministry had already made its decision.
“There are indications a decision has already been made to implement [plain packaging] … despite the lack of evidence which exists,” he said.
However, tobacco control campaigners argue plain packs could be an important tool in reducing smoking, particularly among young people who are partly attracted to smoking by brands and colourful packaging, tobacco control campaigners say.
So far only Australia has passed legislation on plain packs.
JT is party to a legal battle there accusing the government of illegally confiscating their brands. The policy is also being considered in the EU.
The Financial Times Limited 2012. You may share using our article tools..
Shenzhen Customs seize 5,727 cartons of cigarettes
http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-07/04/content_15549555.htm
Shenzhen Customs seized 5,727 cartons of cigarettes at the Wenjindu Port on July 3 from a van with a Hong Kong license plate.
Customs officers inspected the van, which was declared an empty vehicle, and discovered a 2.3 meter by 1.7 meter inner compartment in the front of the container concealing thousands of cigarettes.
After three hours of inspection and counting, officers declared they had found 98 boxes totaling 5,727 cartons of cigarettes comprising 17 brands including Marlboro, Zhongnanhai and Double Happiness.
Shenzhen Customs said in a statement the contraband is suspected to be counterfeit cigarettes and an investigation is under way.
The statement said Hong Kong has continued to increase tax on tobacco over several years, widening the cigarette price difference between Hong Kong and the mainland. As a result, smuggling counterfeit cigarettes has become increasingly lucrative. A carton of counterfeit Chunghwa cigarettes, a popular brand on the mainland, which cost less than 10 yuan ($1.57), can reap smugglers a 200 percent profit in Hong Kong. International brand cigarettes could net smugglers a 600 percent profit.
SCMP letter
SCMP Letters 02 July 2012
Punish this aggressive minority
Is P. A. Crush suggesting that we should be lenient on offenders if they become abusive and violent (“It would not be feasible to make bar owners responsible for illegal smokers”, June 27)?
In my letter that Mr Crush objects to (“Smoking bans are not enforced”, June 20), I did particularly mention that bar owners should be made responsible for illegal smoking on their premises, but I said the same for management companies.
I did not only pick on small-bar owners, but mentioned bars as a location where a lot of illegal smoking occurs. Yes, directors of major property companies should be made responsible for the illegal smoking which goes on in the toilets of their malls and office blocks.
I suggest that they immediately start installing smoke detectors linked to showerheads above each toilet cubicle, thus neatly combining extinguishing the cigarette with a mild punishment of the offender.
As for employees, they should be provided with clear guidelines: ask the offender to stop, then call the police and identify the offender when they arrive.
The anti-smoking law was passed because of the danger to people’s health. Why are we letting an aggressive minority of smokers continue to inflict this harm?
Allan Dyer, Wong Chuk Hang