Clear The Air News Tobacco Blog Rotating Header Image

July 17th, 2012:

Dominican Republic files WTO complaint on Australian tobacco law

http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USL6E8IIARH20120718

6:35am EDT

GENEVA, July 18 (Reuters) – The Dominican Republic has filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization about Australia’s tobacco packaging laws, the WTO said in a statement on Wednesday.

Diplomats previously told Reuters that the Dominican Republic had warned that it would file the complaint, which follows similar WTO suits brought by Ukraine and Honduras.

Trade diplomats have said they expect the three complaints to be bundled together before being taken to the adjudication stage at the WTO. (Reporting by Tom Miles, editing by Diana Abdallah)

© 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.

WHO awards official on anti-smoking efforts

Associated Press in Beijing
6:07pm, Jul 17, 2012

The World Health Organisation is giving China’s health minister an award for battling smoking in a country whose people and government remain prodigiously addicted to tobacco.

China has stepped up efforts to curb tobacco use in recent years. The Health Ministry released the country’s first official report on the harms of smoking in May, banned smoking in its office building and hospitals, and is lobbying for airports and other indoor public facilities to do the same.

WHO said Health Minister Chen Zhu will be presented a certificate of recognition at a ceremony on Wednesday attended by WHO chief Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, Hong Kong’s former director of health.

Tobacco control is a difficult task in a nation where huge revenues from the state-owned tobacco monopoly hinder anti-smoking measures. Nearly 30 per cent of adults in China smoke – about 300 million people, roughly equal to the entire US population – a percentage that has not changed significantly.

The tobacco monopoly’s influence is pervasive, with cigarette companies sponsoring schools, sports events and fostering close ties with the academic community.

In December, a tobacco scientist who specialises in adding traditional Chinese herbs to cigarettes in an attempt to reduce their harmful effects was appointed to the prestigious Chinese Academy of Engineering in a move that was criticised by other academics, several of whom sent letters to the academy in protest.

Despite the many challenges that remain in stamping out tobacco use, anti-smoking activists welcomed the WHO award.

“Among the government departments, the Health Ministry is the one that has made the biggest efforts in promoting tobacco control,” said Xu Guihua, vice president of the government-affiliated Chinese Association on Tobacco Control. “On many occasions, Minister Chen Zhu has told the public that tobacco is harmful and asked people to give up smoking. He also called on the government to step up tobacco control legislation.”

Xu said China still needs to issue a national tobacco control plan, raise prices of cigarettes and better educate the public on the health risks of smoking.

She criticised the apparent conflict of interest in the dual role that China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration plays as both tobacco policymaker and overseer of the China National Tobacco Corporation – the world’s largest cigarette maker.

Health officials have warned that smoking-related deaths could hit three million per year by 2030 without greater efforts.

Last year’s certificate for anti-smoking efforts was awarded to Australian Attorney General Nicola Roxon, who as health minister led a campaign to make Australia the first country in the world to require cigarettes to be sold in plain packages with large, graphic warnings.

Description: Under Health Minister Chen Zhu, the mainland has stepped up efforts to curb tobacco use in recent years.

Under Health Minister Chen Zhu, the mainland has stepped up efforts to curb tobacco use in recent years.

Stub out smoking’s ‘coolness’ on screen

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/stub-out-smokings-coolness-on-screen/story-e6freuy9-1226426684112

Description: Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction

Uma Thurman smoking away in a scene from Pulp Fiction. Source: Supplied

STUBBING out smoking in films aimed at teenagers could help slash the take-up rate of the habit by up to 18 per cent.

Killing the “cool” factor of cigarettes and increasing the classification rating for films depicting smoking would have a dramatic impact on youth tobacco usage, research published in the journal Pediatrics has found.

Cinematic smoking is a potent risk factor for teenagers, with every 500 smoking shots increasing the likelihood of trying a cigarette by up to 49 per cent.

Top grossing films such as Iron Man, Mission Impossible 2, Men In Black and 101 Dalmatians were among the hits watched by the 6500 children in the study.

Last year the animated film Rango was dubbed a public health hazard for featuring characters who smoked at least 60 times.

Related Coverage

The animal cast of The Fantastic Mr Fox were also clocked puffing away more than 50 times.

“Hollywood plays a role by making smoking look really good,” said lead researcher James Sargent, of the Norris Cotton Cancer Centre.

“By eliminating smoking in movies marketed to youth (it would) lower adolescent smoking by as much as one-fifth.”

American films are rated by an industry body while Australian audiences have movies assessed independently by the Classification Board.

Australian classification guidelines “do not specifically identify smoking as a classifiable element” but do consider social issues, a spokesman for the Attorney-General’s Department said yesterday.

Content such as smoking can be referred to consumer advice, he said.

The Australian Council on Children and the Media said smoking, product placement and on-screen violence were concerning issues.

“Our classification system is based on quite old-fashioned notions of what offends sensibilities and not necessarily on what causes harm,” ACCM president Elizabeth Handsley said.

“If we had a system that was based purely on harm and addressed the question of harm thoroughly, rather than as an add-on, we might well see things like smoking treated far more seriously than we currently do.”

Smoking is estimated to cost the national health care system more than $31 billion a year. Just over 60 per cent of smokers first took up the habit when aged between 15-19 years, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows.

But while researchers urged smoke-heavy flicks be given a higher classification rating, parents also needed to help steer teens away from danger.

“Authoritative parents” who are “effective in monitoring their children” have a strong track record in lowering tobacco use, the study found.

“It is also important to motivate and assist parents in restricting access to these movies, which would further reduce adolescent exposure to onscreen smoking,” the authors wrote.

Govt strictly enforces smoke-free zones

Tuesday, July 17 2012, 21:19 PM

The provincial public order officers (Satpol PP) have conducted a series of inspections at government offices to enforce the bylaw on smoke-free zones.
A number of civil servants were found to be smoking cigarettes and placing ashtrays in their offices.

In addition, the Satpol officers confiscated 130 packs of cigarettes from two kiosks inside some government offices. They continued on to conduct more inspections at cooperatives and small- and medium-scale enterprises, as well as agricultural offices.

The bylaw requires government offices to be free of cigarette smoke. Anyone who smokes or provides cigarettes may face a three-month imprisonment or a fine of Rp 50,000 (US$5.35).

“By placing ashtrays and smoking cigarettes in a government office, bylaw No.10/2011 Article 12 on Smoke-Free Zones has been breached”, said I Made Sukadana, one of the Satpol officers.

The head of a cooperative unit was shocked when he was arrested for smoking in the office. He is now facing three months in jail or paying a Rp 50,000 fine.

The officers also arrested owners of the kiosks since selling cigarettes in public places and government offices is also prohibited under the bylaw.

Sis Gunarto, owner of the kiosk, said that he strongly supported the bylaw and the confiscated cigarettes were actually his remaining stock.

The bylaw is applied equally to everybody. Visitors are also banned from smoking cigarettes in public places, including government offices, hospitals and school buildings.

A businessman was surprised when a public order officer caught him smoking in an office while he was visiting his friend. He was ordered to pay the fine or face three months in jail.

The Bali Legislative Council ratified the smoke-free zone bylaw last year and the administration promised to enact it gradually.

The administration had, however, postponed the enforcement of the bylaw for various reasons.

Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika previously said that the administration would need more time to ensure proper communication of the prohibition to smoking in public places.

The first stage of implementation would see the bylaw enacted in government offices, schools and healthcare facilities. This would soon be followed by hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, nightclubs and places of worship. Other places to see the bylaw enforced will include playgrounds, traditional and modern markets, terminals, airports and public transportation.

Advertising and sales of tobacco products have also been banned in these places, except for those regulated by a specific governor regulation.

Last June, the provincial public order officers also inspected several government offices. At that time, the officers were yet to enact the bylaw and only disseminated information. Some civil servants, as well as member of Bali Legislative Council, were caught in these earlier inspections, but they were given warning letters only.

  • ·         
  • ·         
  • ·         
  • ·         

IN BRIEF

·         Russian may face life sentence in drug case
·         Fake Surf T-Shirts, accessories seized
·         Agency investigates mass food poisoning

SIGHTSEEING

‘Canang’ The simple offering

The majestic ritual and intricate offerings of Balinese Hinduism may erroneously lead many visitors to conclude that this exotic belief system is all about grandeur.

TOP

Choose an Edition

[17 \/] [July \/] [2012 \/][Go]

ABOUT BALI DAILY

Today’ launch represents the latest innovation of The Jakarta Post’s determined and evolving commitment to present an informative, quality publication that serves as both a benchmark of journalism for residents of this blessed island

read more

IN PREVIOUS EDITION

  • ·          SEP03

Praesent convallis metus imperdiet. no comments

  • ·          AUG23

Curabitur pharetra, ante ac suscipit suscipit. 23 comments

  • ·          AUG04

Imperdiet the dui posuere sollicitudin totam. 4 comments

LATEST TWEETS

CONTACT

Jl. Tukad Musi VI/17 Panjer Kav. 1 Renon, Denpasar Bali

Call. 0361-265436, 265437, 265384

Fax. 0361-223690

Email: jpbali@indosat.net.id

Copyright © 2012 PT. Bina Media Tenggara. All rights reserved.

  • ·

In Europe, Smoking Problem Poses Risk

http://blogs.wsj.com/brussels/2012/07/17/europes-smoking-problem/?mod=go
ogle_news_blogtab/print/tab/print/

July 17, 2012, 7:58 AM
.
In Europe, Smoking Problem Poses Risk
.

By Jacob Anbinder

For a continent that spearheaded workplace smoking bans and slaps some
of the highest tax rates on cigarette sales of any region in the world,
Europe has a smoking problem.

Bloomberg News A smoking cigarette sits on the edge of an ashtray in
London.
In 2011, according to a report commissioned by the European Union and
carried out by auditing firm KPMG, one in ten cigarettes sold in the
27-nation bloc was contraband–that’s around 65 billion cigarettes. The
report was part funded by Philip Morris International.

Making matters more difficult is the growing influx of so-called
“illicit whites,” which are legally manufactured in places like Ukraine
and Russia under brand names like Jin Ling and Raquel, then illicitly
smuggled into the EU duty-free, according to the report.

The influx of contraband cigarettes has implications not just for public
health–cheap cigarettes are widely thought to correlate with high
smoking rates–but also for tax revenues. At a time when many member
states are desperate for cash, the report estimates the EU’s annual
losses from contraband cigarette sales at €11 billion.

While some of the findings have been questioned by independent
tobacco-industry analysts,  there is no denying the scale of the
problem.

Here in Brussels, where the Russian border is 900 miles away and tobacco
taxes relatively low, vendors outside a weekend market make their
rounds, mesh bags full of contraband cartons slung from their shoulders.
Your correspondent was able to purchase a pack of what appeared to be
Dutch Marlboros for €3.00 ($3.69)–40% percent off the store price.

The seller had no Jin Lings on hand, but that would seem an anomaly.
Illicit whites, according to the report, make up 24% of all illegal
cigarettes, up from 4% just five years ago.

The EU’s anti-smuggling strategy has changed significantly over the last
decade, with Brussels shifting from confrontation with the cigarette
companies to something closer to collaboration.

Early last decade, Brussels sued Philip Morris for secretly encouraging
the smuggling of its own cigarettes. The case was settled in 2004, with
the lawsuit dropped in exchange for $1.25 billion and a pledge to
cooperate with OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud office, in anti-smuggling
efforts. Since then, the EU has settled with three other major tobacco
companies for an additional $900 million.

These deals resulted in the annual KPMG/Phillip Morris reports as well
as a host of other initiatives.

OLAF, which has taken the lead in coordinating anti-smuggling efforts in
Brussels, has in the mean time launched some successful anti-smuggling
stings, including a 2007 action called Operation Diabolo that saw
authorities intercept 135 million illicit cigarettes.

Austin Rowan, an OLAF spokesman, said his organization was optimistic
about its efforts, noting that the number of cigarette seizures had
decreased in 2011, a possible indicator, he said, of a shrinking illicit
market.

“For us, the real barometer is the reports of illicit seizures,” he
said.

But according to the report, the flood of illegal cigarettes has
continued to increase, particularly the illicit whites coming from the
east. As a result, it’s up to customs agents on the EU’s eastern
frontier to seize untaxed cigarettes bound for Poland or Romania.

The border can be porous, and Russian and Ukrainian customs agencies are
“pervasively corrupt,” said Anders Aslund, an expert on Eastern European
trade at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in
Washington.

Giovanni Kessler, the head of OLAF, said his organization is “developing
a cooperation strategy” on the issue of border control. Efforts include
posting a liaison officer to Ukraine to work with the authorities there
and an action plan for the EU’s eastern border detailing the bloc’s
anti-smuggling strategy, which the Commission adopted last year.

Russia’s imminent accession to the World Trade Organization, which the
country’s lower house approved last week, could give Brussels an
additional forum in which to address smuggling. The Commission also
hopes to convince eastern border countries to raise their own cigarette
taxes. That could discourage cheap imports by forcing up prices in
places like Moldova and Ukraine, where a cigarette pack can legally sell
for as little as €0.18 to €0.33. The EU is currently in negotiations
with those two countries, and intends to start talks with Russia soon,
an EU spokeswoman said.

But this would not stop illegal imports of illicit whites, which often
come to the EU straight from the factory gates, according to a 2008
investigation from the Center for Public Integrity, a U.S. non-profit
organization which conducts investigative journalism projects.

The simplest solution, some say, would be to fight smoking addiction
itself via a single, high EU-wide cigarette tax.
While EU member states have a veto on tax policy, Brussels has launched
an initiative that would require a new minimum cigarette tax rate from
2014 within the 27-nation bloc. Countries where the tax is lowest, like
Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania, will have until 2018 to implement the
change.

Cigarette companies have lobbied hard against raising taxes, arguing it
will feed the underground market. But public health advocates argue the
gains in terms of reduced smoking rates from tax hikes outweigh the
risks of increased smuggling.

In the meantime, tax revenues can actually increase. In the U.K., higher
tax rates have lifted tobacco duty revenues by 23% in the last decade,
while adult smoking rates have fallen about 25%, according to Cancer
Research UK.

Constantine Vardavas, a public-health expert at Harvard who has advised
the Greek government on its cigarette policy, said a tax increase could
allow the country to recoup the millions—perhaps billions—of euros it
loses every year to smuggling.

“That,” he said, “is a big chunk of the deficit that’s literally being
turned to ashes.”

Health workers unaware of dangers of smoking |Society |chinadaily.com.cn

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-07/17/content_15592121.htm
Health workers unaware of dangers of smoking
Updated: 2012-07-17 20:42
ByWang Qingyun ( chinadaily.com.cn)

Medical workers have the biggest misunderstandings about the dangers of
low tar cigarettes according to a new report, prompting health
authorities to consider a new campaign to educate this group.

Wang Chen, vice-president of Beijing Hospital, addressed a conference on
Monday about the findings of a report called Health Hazards of Smoking.

The conference, cosponsored by the WHO Collaborating Center for Tobacco
or Health and the Hospital Tobacco Control Panel of the Chinese
Association on Tobacco Control, was aimed at raising awareness of the
significance of the report and the key conclusions.

The report, that referred to more than 1,200 research papers, was issued
by the Ministry of Health on May 30. It is the first official report
released by the government to list the dangers of smoking and the
benefits of quitting.

The report cites Chinese data from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey in
2010, showing that only 14 percent of Chinese adults were aware that low
tar cigarettes are as harmful as regular cigarettes.

The remaining 86 percent either did not know low tar cigarettes are as
harmful, or believed low tar cigarettes are less harmful. Among the 86
percent, health workers had the highest rate of misconceptions about low
tar cigarettes.

More than 80 percent of health workers surveyed said they were certain
of their answer, but only 55 percent of them believed low tar cigarettes
were less harmful, despite evidence to the contrary.

“Many of the health workers didn’t learn systematically the harm of
smoking. They probably chose the answer based on the general dose-effect
relationship,” said Wang.

According to research published in the Chinese Journal of Epidemiology
and The New England Journal of Medicine, 56.8 percent of male health
workers smoke in China in 2002, while the figure dropped to 40.4 percent
in 2010.

Jonathan M. Samet, professor at the University of Southern California
and director of the USC Institute for Global Health, who helped review
the report and advised it’s authors, said, “I think it’s important that
they (health workers) become role models for not smoking and they
certainly should not smoking in front of their patients. They have to
give their patients the opportunity to be advised about how to stop.”

Tobacco packets attract children. Now argue against making them plain

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/17/tobacco-packets-children-plain-packs

Description: Ferrari at Bahrain Grand Prix

‘One child takes one look at a Marlboro pack and simply says ‘Ferrari’.’ Photograph: Paul Gilham/Getty Images

Every fortnight during the summer I come second to a plethora of noisy vehicles. Formula One has arrived and those cars on the screen are seen by my godson and mates as some of the coolest objects on the planet. Anything associated with this world, however subliminally, is cool too. I know, I’m a specialist in brand positioning.

But don’t listen to me. Just watch a shocking video put together by Cancer Research UK, where primary school children chat about cigarette packs. One child takes one look at a Marlboro pack and simply says “Ferrari”. I suspect that’s why Philip Morris is willing to continue to pay an estimated £100m a year in sponsorship to this F1 team despite being banned from making any link to the Marlboro brand name. Another gazes at a cigarette pack and says “it makes you feel like you’re in a wonderland of happiness”.

And this is where my problem starts. I don’t normally jump on soapboxes. If adults choose to shorten their lives by smoking I can’t criticise – I’ve been there. But when an industry marketing products that are the UK’s single greatest cause of preventable illness and early death protests that “there is no proof to suggest that the plain packaging of tobacco products will be effective in discouraging young people to smoke” (British American Tobacco on plain packaging) I feel obliged to stand up and be counted.

They got me at the age of 13. Back then their quest for my attention started with advertising, but it was the slim silvery green pack perfectly complementing my other accessories that coerced me into an addiction that took 25 years to break. It clinched the three-second decision process. So you can imagine my anxiety as I listen to my young godson and friends debate the merits of one tobacco brand over another; anxiety heightened by my awareness of positioning and media strategies.

I have worked with, or had cause to research, many brands that cannot target young people directly, either for legal reasons or because they’re monitored for “pester power”. Subliminal visual cues and connection are therefore key – through social media, in-game placement, brand extensions such as characters and games, and, most overtly, packaging design. The power of packaging is simply demonstrated by the reduced popularity of a certain children’s sweet brand. My own recent research with teenagers found that simply by switching pack shape the brand no longer inspires their imagination. All that is left are small sugar-coated chocolates, with previously bright colours tamed by elimination of chemical additives, now competing less successfully with a plethora of similar imported competitors.

The tobacco industry therefore has no choice but to keep packaging design firmly in its sights. Let’s face facts. Every year 100,000 smokers die in the UK and must be replaced to avoid industry obsolescence. Smoking is an addiction most commonly started in childhood, with two thirds of smokers taking up the habit while under 18, and smokers are typically brand loyal. To succeed, tobacco companies have to attract new young smokers. They can’t advertise at them, they can’t promote to them, so the only vehicle with which to attract attention is packaging.

When Imperial Tobacco introduced its Lambert and Butler celebration pack in 2004 market share increased by 0.4% – doesn’t sound like much until you do the numbers and realise this was worth over £60m in additional turnover in just four months. Commenting on this “success” Imperial Tobacco’s global brand director, Geoff Good, stated that “the pack design was the only part of the mix that was changed, and therefore we knew the cause and effect”.

The industry argues that packaging innovation is about encouraging adults to switch brands, not enticing youngsters to start smoking, that standardised packs will not reduce the number of young people taking up smoking. This is clearly untrue; from my own experience and from Cancer Research UK’s explorations with very young people, it is clear that the more attractive the cigarette pack the more likely it is that kids will aspire to the brand as part of their lifestyle portfolio.

Why do I care? Because tobacco is like no other product. There is no safe level of consumption and the product kills when used as intended. That’s why it’s impossible to argue against plain packaging.

The Australians have shown the way – they’re putting cigarettes in a standard brown pack with large health warnings from December this year. We must do the same. That’s what I’ll be saying when I respond to the government consultation currently under way, because I don’t want my godson to be a Marlboro man. I want him to live a long and healthy life

The Press Association WHO anti-smoking award for China

WHO anti-smoking award for China

(UKPA) – 3 hours ago

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is giving China’s health minister an award for tackling smoking.

China has stepped up efforts to curb tobacco use in recent years. The health ministry released the country’s first official report on the harm smoking can cause in May, banned smoking in its office building and hospitals and is lobbying for airports and other indoor public facilities to do the same.

The WHO said health minister Chen Zhu will be presented a certificate of recognition at a ceremony on Wednesday attended by WHO chief Margaret Chan.

Tobacco control is a difficult task in a nation where huge revenues from the state-owned tobacco monopoly hinder anti-smoking measures. Nearly 30% of adults in China smoke – about 300 million people, roughly equal to the entire US population – a percentage which has not shown significant change.

The tobacco monopoly’s influence is pervasive, with cigarette companies sponsoring schools, sports events and fostering close ties with the academic community.

In December, a tobacco scientist who specialises in adding traditional Chinese herbs to cigarettes in an attempt to reduce their harmful effects was appointed to the prestigious Chinese Academy of Engineering in a move that was criticised by other academics, several of whom sent letters to the academy in protest.

Despite the many challenges that remain in stamping out tobacco use, anti-smoking activists welcomed the WHO award.

Xu Guihua, vice president of the government-affiliated Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, said: “Among the government departments, the Health Ministry is the one that has made the biggest efforts in promoting tobacco control.

“On many occasions, minister Chen Zhu has told the public that tobacco is harmful and asked people to give up smoking. He also called on the government to step up tobacco control legislation.”

Ms Xu said China still needs to issue a national tobacco control plan, raise the price of cigarettes and help educate the public on the health risks of smoking.

Copyright © 2012 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

Related articles