March 3rd, 2015:
Government prepared for lawsuit as tobacco Bill passed
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/government-prepared-for-lawsuit-as-tobacco-bill-passed-1.2124939
James Reilly says tobacco industry will file ‘more in the hope than certainty’
The Government is prepared for a legal challenge from tobacco companies following the expected enactment of its plain-packaging Bill last night. Minister for Children James Reilly has hailed the passage of the legislation which he said would protect people from the harmful effects of tobacco and provide a lead for other EU countries, as the smoking ban did a decade ago.
“We are prepared for legal action,” Dr Reilly said when asked about the response of the tobacco industry. “The Attorney General has her team together and we fully expect, once the legislation is enacted and commenced, that they will probably file a lawsuit. They will do it more in the hope than certainty. They do it more to intimidate us and to intimidate other countries who are prepared to follow suit.”
Mr Reilly said the impact of the legislation could not be underestimated, either in Ireland or abroad. “We know the UK will have a free vote on this, hopefully before they rise for the next general election. We know that France wants to follow suit and a number of other EU countries are looking at implementing the same measures as us.
“This is about protecting people from the harmful effect of tobacco – 700,000 Europeans die from tobacco-related disease each year.”
When it was put to him that people would become desensitised to the stark images of smoking-related diseases, he disagreed. “The evidence from Australia will not concur that people become desensitised. Since their first introduction there has been an increase in the number of people giving up cigarettes. Their figure on smoking is the lowest since records began.”
In response to his comments about legal firms which represent both tobacco companies and Government departments and agencies, with responsibility for healthcare and prevention, the Minister said: “My main concern is to protect our children from taking up cigarette smoking and the harmful effects of tobacco. That’s at the core of what we were doing.”
Dr Reilly said 5,300 Irish people died each year from smoking-related diseases. He paid tribute to the late Gerry Collins who featured in an advertisement warning about the dangers of tobacco as he was dying from cancer. The first anniversary of his death occurred yesterday.
“It was very brave of him and his family to make that advertisement which makes it very real for people what the effect of cigarettes is,” said Dr Reilly.
Mixing tobacco and marijuana may seem like a good idea, but here’s the dangerous truth about blunts
http://www.businessinsider.com/mixing-tobacco-and-marijuana-in-blunts-is-dangerous-2015-3
People who smoke a combination of tobacco and marijuana, a common practice overseas for years, and increasingly popular here in the form of “blunts,” may be reacting to some unidentified mechanism that links the two drugs.
Researchers believe such smokers would be well advised to consider giving up both drugs at once, rather than one at a time, according to an upcoming study in the journal Addiction.
Clinical trials of adults with cannabis use disorders suggest that “approximately 50% are current tobacco smokers,” according to the report, which was published in the journal Addiction, and authored by Arpana Agrawal and Michael T. Lynskey of Washington University School of Medicine, with Alan J. Budney of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
“As many cannabis users smoke a mixture of cannabis and tobacco or chase cannabis use with tobacco, and as conditioned cues associated with smoking both substances may trigger use of either substance,” the researchers conclude, “a simultaneous cessation approach with cannabis and tobacco may be most beneficial.”
A blunt is simply a marijuana cigar, with the wrapping paper made of tobacco and the majority of loose tobacco removed and replaced with marijuana. In Europe, smokers commonly mix the two substances together and roll the combination into a single joint, the precise ratio of cannabis and nicotine varying with the desires of the user.
“There is accumulating evidence that some mechanisms linking cannabis and tobacco use are distinct from those contributing to co-occurring use of drugs in general,” the investigators say. Or, as psychiatry postdoc Erica Peters of Yale put it in a press release, “There’s something about tobacco use that seems to worsen marijuana use in some way.”
The researchers believe that this “something” involved may be a genetic predisposition. In addition to an overall genetic proclivity for addiction, do dual smokers inherit a specific propensity for smoked substances? We don’t know—but evidence is weak and contradictory so far.
Wouldn’t it be easier to quit just one drug, using the other as a crutch? The researchers don’t think so, and here’s why:
In the few studies available, for every dually addicted participant who reported greater aggression, anger, and irritability with simultaneous cessation, “comparable numbers of participants rated withdrawal associated with dual abstinence as less severe than withdrawal from either drug alone.” So, for dual abusers, some of them may have better luck if they quit marijuana and cigarettes at the same time. The authors suggest that “absence of smoking cues when abstaining from both substances may reduce withdrawal severity in some individuals.”
In other words, revisiting the route of administration, a.k.a. smoking, may trigger cravings for the drug you’re trying to quit. This form of “respiratory adaption” may work in other ways. For instance, the authors note that, “in addition to flavorants, cigarettes typically contain compounds (e.g. salicylates) that have anti-inflammatory and anesthetic effects which may facilitate cannabis inhalation.”
Studies of teens diagnosed with cannabis use disorder have shown that continued tobacco used is associated with a poor cannabis abstention rate. But there are fewer studies suggesting the reverse—that cigarette smokers fair poorly in quitting if they persist in cannabis use. No one really knows, and dual users will have to find out for themselves which categories seems to best suit them when it comes time to deal with quitting.
We will pass up the opportunity to examine the genetic research in detail. Suffice to say that while marijuana addiction probably has a genetic component like other addictions, genetic studies have not identified any gene variants as strong candidates thus far. The case is stronger for cigarettes, but to date no genetic mechanisms have been uncovered that definitively show a neurobiological pathway that directly connects the two addictions.
There are all sorts of environmental factors too, of course. Peer influences are often cited, but those influences often seem tautological: Drug-using teens are members of the drug-using teens group. Tobacco users report earlier opportunities to use cannabis, which might have an effect, if anybody knew how and why it happens.
Further complicating matters is the fact that withdrawal from nicotine and withdrawal from marijuana share a number of similarities. The researchers state that “similar withdrawal syndromes, with many symptoms in common, may have important treatment implications.” As the authors sum it up, cannabis withdrawal consists of “anger, aggression or irritability, nervousness or anxiety, sleep difficulties, decreased appetite or weight loss, psychomotor agitation or restlessness, depressed mood, and less commonly, physical symptoms such as stomach pain and shakes/tremors.” Others complain of night sweats and temperature sensitivity.
And the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal? In essence, the same. The difference, say the authors, is that cannabis withdrawal tends to produce more irritability and decreased appetite, while tobacco withdrawal brings on an appetite increase and more immediate, sustained craving. Otherwise, the similarities far outnumber the differences.
None of this, however, has been reflected in the structure of treatment programs:
“Emerging evidence suggests that dual abstinence may predict better cessation outcomes, yet empirically researched treatments tailored for co-occurring use are lacking.”
The truth is, we don’t really know for certain why many smokers prefer to consume tobacco and marijuana in combination. But we do know several reasons why it’s not a good idea. Many of the health-related harms are similar, and presumably cumulative: chronic bronchitis, wheezing, morning sputum, coughing—smokers know the drill. Another study cited by the authors found that dual smokers reported smoking as many cigarettes as those who only smoked tobacco. All of this can lead to “considerable elevation in odds of respiratory distress indicators and reduced lung functioning in those who used both.” However, there is no strong link at present between marijuana smoking and lung cancer.
Some researchers believe that receptor cross-talk allows cannabis to modify receptors for nicotine, or vice versa. Genes involved in drug metabolism might somehow predispose a subset of addicts to prefer smoking. But at present, there are no solid genetic or environmental influences consistent enough to account for a specific linkage between marijuana addiction and nicotine addiction, or a specific genetic proclivity for smoking as a means of drug administration.
Raising Tobacco Sales Age to 21 Is Best Way to Prevent Lifelong Addiction
http://www.newswise.com/articles/raising-tobacco-sales-age-to-21-is-best-way-to-prevent-lifelong-addiction
White paper evidence: Increasing age would cut off supply to high-school students
Newswise — COLUMBUS, Ohio – Raising the minimum age to buy cigarettes to 21 would save lives by preventing adolescents from ever taking up smoking, a new report suggests.
The minimum age to buy tobacco products in most of the country is 18.
In a new white paper released today (March 3), Ohio State University public health experts detail how raising the minimum tobacco sales age would be effective in improving health and note the economic consequences to retailers would be minimal.
The white paper focuses on Ohio, but the results would be the same for any region that raises the minimum sales age, the authors say.
“The key point is that if people get through adolescence without smoking, it is highly unlikely they will ever start,” said Micah Berman, assistant professor of public health and law at Ohio State.
“The flip side of that is if they do start smoking in adolescence, everything we have learned about teen brain development shows that it will be much harder for them to quit later.”
Berman co-authored the white paper, published by Ohio State’s College of Public Health, with Rob Crane, clinical associate professor of family medicine, and Natalie Hemmerich, an attorney and postdoctoral fellow in public health.
Though this is the first report that examines raising the minimum tobacco sales age in Ohio, the idea is catching on nationally. More than 50 municipalities in the United States have adopted this policy and at least eight states have proposals pending in their legislatures.
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is scheduled to release a report on March 12 that will discuss raising the minimum tobacco sales age. The IOM, the health arm of the National Academies of Science, is an independent organization that works outside of government to provide advice to decision makers and the public.
Berman, Crane and Hemmerich cite dozens of studies to support their conclusions. For example, previous research has suggested:
• Nicotine’s effect on brain development leads adolescents to heavier daily tobacco use, a stronger nicotine addiction and more trouble with quitting later in life.
• Raising the minimum sales age to 21 puts legal purchasers outside the social circle of most high-school students. Most people supplying cigarettes to teens are 18 to 20, and many of them are still in high school.
• Raising the legal drinking age to 21 reduced alcohol use, daily drinking and binge drinking by more than a third among high-school seniors.
In 2005, Needham, Mass., became the first U.S. city to increase its tobacco sales age to 21 – a case study that offers useful data as other cities consider the same change. After the law passed, tobacco use among high-school students dropped almost in half – and also decreased significantly faster in Needham than in the 16 surrounding communities that sold cigarettes to 18-year-olds.
“The Needham example is powerful,” said Berman, who consulted with New York City officials before they adopted a minimum tobacco sales age of 21 in the city in 2013.
Because sales to people under age 21 account for only 2 percent of total cigarette sales, the economic impact to retailers would be minimal, the authors noted.
“The percentage of cigarettes sold to people who are underage or even people who are 18, 19 and 20 is pretty small. But smoking at those ages sets them up for lifelong addiction,” Berman said.
The tobacco industry is sure to dislike this national movement because it knows that recruiting new “replacement smokers” is key to its survival, the authors wrote. In Ohio, the tobacco industry spends more than $1 million every day marketing its products. Meanwhile, Ohio spends less than nearly any other state on the delivery of messages that counter tobacco advertising.
Adult smokers have nothing to fear if the minimum sales age changes, said Berman, also a researcher in Ohio State’s Center of Excellence in Regulatory Tobacco Science.
“This has no impact on anyone who’s over the age of 21,” he said. “It’s really about preventing the next generation from starting to smoke.”
Berman, Crane and Hemmerich did not receive funding from any tobacco-control organizations to produce this publication.
Study Reveals, ‘Minors’ Can Easily Buy E-cigarettes Online
http://www.capitalberg.com/study-reveals-minors-can-easily-buy-e-cigarettes-online/23769/
In a study analyzing compliance with North Carolina’s electronic cigarette age-verification law, scientists have observed that minors are easily able to circumvent legislation and purchase electronic cigarettes from retailers through the Internet.
“Even despite state laws like North Carolina’s obliging age confirmation, most vendors keep on failing to confirm age as per the law, underscoring the need for vigilant enforcement,” said buy the authors of the study, published in JAMA Pediatrics journal.
Sales of e-cigarettes have been continually on the ascent since they first entered the US market in 2007. By 2013, it had turned into a $2 billion-a-year industry and experts foresee sales could reach $10 billion-a-year by 2017.
As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), rates of e-cigarette use among youngsters are likewise increasing quickly, twofold from 2011 to 2012. The CDC report that in 2013, more than a quarter of a million high school students had never smoked ordinary cigarettes yet had utilized e-cigarettes.
E-cigarettes are often depicted as a more secure option to smoking traditional cigarettes, in spite of the fact that groups like the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Mayo Clinic are careful about their nicotine substance and links with potentially cancer-causing substances.
At present, 41 states ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, including North Carolina. As per the study authors, though, further research has yet to be carried out to analyze age confirmation among Internet retailers that offer e-cigarettes.
For this study, Rebecca S. Williams of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and associates set out to analyze how often online sellers consented to North Carolina’s age-verification law.
‘E-cigarette vendors online operate in a regulatory vacuum’
The researchers’ selected 11 nonsmoking minors matured 14-17 to make e-cigarette purchases online with a credit card while under supervision. The minors made their buy attempt from computers at the project’s offices.
Almost 98 Internet e-cigarette vendors were targeted by the study. The minors effectively ordered e-cigarettes from 75 of these vendors and of the unsuccessful orders, just five failed because of age verification. As per the authors, this implied that 93.7 percent of the e-cigarette merchants researched failed to accurately confirm their clients’ ages.
Besides this finding, the e-cigarette packages were conveyed by shipping companies that all failed to verify the ages of the buyers upon delivery, with 95% of orders simply left at the door. The majority of the shipping companies concerned do not dispatch cigarettes to purchasers, as indicated by company policy and federal regulation.
According to the study findings, none of the online e-cigarette sellers followed North Carolina’s e-cigarette age-verification law.
“Lacking federal regulation, youth e-cigarette use has increased and e-cigarette vendors’ online work in a regulatory vacuum, utilizing few, if any, efforts to avoid sales to minors,” they wrote.
The results of this study will be of concern to those who are worried about the influence of e-cigarettes. The CDC also report that among nonsmoking youth who have ever used e-cigarettes, 43.9% say they “have intentions” to smoke conventional cigarettes, compared with 21.5% who have never used an e-cigarette.
“Federal law should require and enforce careful age verification for all e-cigarette sales as with the federal PACT (Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking) Act’s requirements for age verification in Internet cigarette sales,” study authors said.
Lately, Medical News Today reported on a study recommending that the introduction of new regulations that could modify the content of cigarettes is unlikely to significantly affect the current demand for illicit tobacco.
County board supports raising age to purchase tobacco, vapor products
http://www.issaquahpress.com/2015/03/03/county-board-supports-raising-age-to-purchase-tobacco-vapor-products/
The King County Board of Health has given its unanimous approval to a resolution, sponsored by board member Rod Dembowski, calling on the Washington State Legislature to pass legislation proposed by state Attorney General Bob Ferguson to increase the legal purchase age for tobacco and vapor products from 18 years to 21 years old.
The Washington State House of Representatives has passed the legislation out of the House Committee on Health Care & Wellness by a 12-3 bipartisan vote, while the bill is awaiting its first hearing in the Senate Commerce & Labor Committee.
The King County Board of Health consists of bi-partisan elected officials and several health care professionals from throughout King County. The board sets countywide policies and regulations to protect and promote the health of King County residents.
Vanquishing the tobacco scourge: Still a long way to go
http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title=vanquishing-the-tobacco-scourge-still-a-long-way-to-go&id=103714
THE WORLD Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) turned 10 last Feb. 27. Given that tobacco kills six million people globally every year, the importance of celebrating this treaty cannot be over-emphasized. Today, there are 180 State Parties to the FCTC, committing themselves “to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke.”
In 2005, when the FCTC came into force, the world’s nations united in saying it cannot be business as usual for the tobacco industry. Over the past decade, the world has seen many local and national governments banning smoking indoors and in workplaces and even some outdoor public places (including the Olympics and Southeast Asian Games), as well as banning tobacco advertising and promotions in mass media and at points of sale, including the retail display of tobacco products. Many countries have also banned or restricted the tobacco industry’s fake corporate social responsibility (CSR) schemes, acknowledging that an industry that inherently harms society can never be deemed socially responsible.
Regular excise tax increases that make products increasingly less affordable are also slowly gaining ground in all regions of the world based on the recognition that taxation is not only a revenue measure but also an important public health measure that encourages current smokers to quit and discourages youths from starting to smoke. Notably, within ASEAN, excise was increased by more than 300% in Brunei (2010) and the Philippines (2013). Additionally, excise surcharges have been dedicated by law to fund tobacco control in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, while in the Philippines, incremental excise revenues are earmarked for universal health coverage and alternative livelihoods of tobacco farmers and workers.
Health warning labels have also come a long way, from absent or tiny text-only warning on the sides of packages to large pictorial warnings on the front and back of packs in more than 75 countries, with Thailand currently having the world’s largest (85%) pictorial warnings. In Australia, standardized or plain packaging enhances these graphic warnings by removing the attraction and glamor of colorful branded packages.
These are all consistent with the various evidence-based implementation guidelines that the FCTC Conference of Parties (COP) has adopted over the past several years, but 10 years later, we need to ask: are we on track to end the tobacco epidemic and its profoundly negative consequences, not just on the health of individuals, but also on human rights, social development, national economies, and the environment? Have we begun to see a decline or even a slowing of consumption in developing countries? Are the poor smoking or chewing less tobacco? Are the tobacco industry’s profits declining?
Unfortunately, smoking prevalence is still high in many countries, and cigarettes remain very affordable, including in all ASEAN countries. Consequently, the number of tobacco users and deaths continues to rise, while the tobacco industry, the vector of the epidemic, continues to make obscene profits at the expense of public health: in 2013 the profit of the four biggest companies was over $36 billion.
So while the FCTC has accelerated tobacco control progress in many countries, a more serious effort is needed to achieve the global target of reducing tobacco use prevalence by 30% by 2025 (This target was adopted in 2013 by the World Health Assembly as part of the Global Action Plan for non-communicable diseases, and subsequently by the FCTC COP in 2014.).
Based on global and country reports submitted to the COP, two of the main challenges identified are tobacco industry interference in policy development and implementation, and limited resources in countries for tobacco control. A large focus therefore must be to enlighten misguided policy makers, government officials, and media practitioners, who continue to defend industry positions, so that regulations can be as strong and effective as possible and to ensure that adequate human and financial resources are allocated to FCTC implementation at both national and global levels.
At the national level, tobacco control needs to be prioritized if countries are to tame the exponentially growing non-communicable diseases burden; without tobacco control, it will be impossible. This requires a whole-of-government approach, possibly framing tobacco control as a national development priority, so that ministries of finance, education, social welfare, agriculture, labor, and trade must support tobacco control, not just ministries of health.
Local governments also have a large role to play in implementing and enforcing smoke-free policies and educating their constituencies.
Expectedly, the tobacco industry will continue to interfere, aiming to defer, dilute and delay effective regulation. It is necessary therefore to continue raising public awareness of such tactics and working to denormalize the tobacco industry. Governments need to hold the tobacco industry accountable for the devastating consequences of its products, and — a related issue — implementation of FCTC Article 5.3, calling for governments to refuse to cooperate with the tobacco industry in formulating health policy, should be a priority in all countries.
At the global level, nations need to look seriously at accelerating FCTC implementation, so that the tobacco death clock can begin to slow down. Within the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, non-communicable diseases are shaping to be a priority, so this is good news, as long as global leaders remind themselves that tobacco is a major risk factor for the four major non-communicable diseases and that FCTC implementation should be a priority within the non-communicable diseases priority. Additionally, tobacco’s social, economic, and environmental harms should also be covered.
Ten years of the FCTC is a good number to celebrate, but let’s hope it doesn’t take another 10 to see even faster progress. Six million preventable deaths per year is six million too many.
Dr. E. Ulysses Dorotheo is the FCTC program director of the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) and currently sits as chair of the board of the Framework Convention Alliance, a global NGO of close to 500 member organizations.
Seanad passes plain packaging law for tobacco products
http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0303/684236-ireland-passes-plain-packaging-law/
The ruling will require the removal of all industry marketing from tobacco packaging
Ireland has become the first country in Europe and the second in the world to pass plain packaging laws for tobacco products.
The Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2014 requires the removal of all industry marketing from tobacco packaging. It has now passed all stages of the Oireachtas.
Minister for Children and Youth Affairs James Reilly said the measure would protect children from ever taking up cigarettes.
He said it would serve as a stark reminder to those who do smoke by showing them graphic images, reminding them that smoking is an addiction that kills.
Japan Tobacco International, the company that owns brands such as Silk Cut and Benson and Hedges, had said that if the legislation proceeded it would go to court to protect its rights.
A spokesperson for JTI said that plain packaging is a disproportionate, unjustified and unlawful measure.
They said there was no credible evidence to suggest it will result in public health benefits.
Mr Reilly said the Government was prepared for it to end up in the courts, once the legislation has been enacted and commenced.
He said he believed this would be done in an attempt to intimidate the Government.
Groups including the Irish Cancer Society, the Irish Heart Foundation, and Ash Ireland have all welcomed the legislation passing all stages of the Oireachtas.
Mr Reilly thanked all his Oireachtas colleagues for their support.
Asked about legal firms who work for tobacco firms and for the State, Mr Reilly said he had asked his department to seek legal advice in relation to ensuring that there is no future conflict of interest, real or perceived, that could be in any way contrary to the best interest of children.
Mr Reilly said the Oireachtas had taken a lead from Australia but was giving a lead to the EU regarding plain packaging.
Raising Tobacco Sales Age to 21 Is Best Way to Prevent Lifelong Addiction
http://www.bloomberg.com/research/markets/news/article.asp?docKey=600-201503031613MRKTWIREUSPR_____1179353-1
COLUMBUS, OH — (Marketwired) — 03/03/15 — Raising the minimum age to buy cigarettes to 21 would save lives by preventing adolescents from ever taking up smoking, a new report suggests.
The minimum age to buy tobacco products in most of the country is 18.
In a new white paper released today (March 3), Ohio State University public health experts detail how raising the minimum tobacco sales age would be effective in improving health and note the economic consequences to retailers would be minimal.
The white paper focuses on Ohio, but the results would be the same for any region that raises the minimum sales age, the authors say.
“The key point is that if people get through adolescence without smoking, it is highly unlikely they will ever start,” said Micah Berman, assistant professor of public health and law at Ohio State. “The flip side of that is if they do start smoking in adolescence, everything we have learned about teen brain development shows that it will be much harder for them to quit later.”
Berman co-authored the white paper, published by Ohio State’s College of Public Health, with Rob Crane, clinical associate professor of family medicine, and Natalie Hemmerich, an attorney and postdoctoral fellow in public health.
Though this is the first report that examines raising the minimum tobacco sales age in Ohio, the idea is catching on nationally. More than 50 municipalities in the United States have adopted this policy and at least eight states have proposals pending in their legislatures.
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is scheduled to release a report on March 12 that will discuss raising the minimum tobacco sales age. The IOM, the health arm of the National Academies of Science, is an independent organization that works outside of government to provide advice to decision makers and the public.
Berman, Crane and Hemmerich cite dozens of studies to support their conclusions. For example, previous research has suggested:
•Nicotine’s effect on brain development leads adolescents to heavier daily tobacco use, a stronger nicotine addiction and more trouble with quitting later in life.
•Raising the minimum sales age to 21 puts legal purchasers outside the social circle of most high-school students. Most people supplying cigarettes to teens are 18 to 20, and many of them are still in high school.
•Raising the legal drinking age to 21 reduced alcohol use, daily drinking and binge drinking by more than a third among high-school seniors.
In 2005, Needham, Mass., became the first U.S. city to increase its tobacco sales age to 21 — a case study that offers useful data as other cities consider the same change. After the law passed, tobacco use among high-school students dropped almost in half — and also decreased significantly faster in Needham than in the 16 surrounding communities that sold cigarettes to 18-year-olds.
“The Needham example is powerful,” said Berman, who consulted with New York City officials before they adopted a minimum tobacco sales age of 21 in the city in 2013.
Because sales to people under age 21 accounts for only 2 percent of total cigarette sales, the economic impact to retailers would be minimal, the authors noted.
“The percentage of cigarettes sold to people who are underage or even people who are 18, 19 and 20 is pretty small. But smoking at those ages sets them up for lifelong addiction,” Berman said.
The tobacco industry is sure to dislike this national movement because it knows that recruiting new “replacement smokers” is key to its survival, the authors wrote. In Ohio, the tobacco industry spends more than $1 million every day marketing its products. Meanwhile, Ohio spends less than nearly any other state on the delivery of messages that counter tobacco advertising.
Adult smokers have nothing to fear if the minimum sales age changes, said Berman, also a researcher in Ohio State’s Center of Excellence in Regulatory Tobacco Science.
“This has no impact on anyone who’s over the age of 21,” he said. “It’s really about preventing the next generation from starting to smoke.”
Berman, Crane and Hemmerich did not receive funding from any tobacco-control organizations to produce this publication.
Ireland bans branded tobacco packs
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/ireland-bans-branded-tobacco-packs-31038271.html
Ireland has become the first country in Europe to pass laws banning branded cigarette packets.
Following the example set by Australia, all tobacco products sold in Ireland will be in a standard dark-coloured wrapper emblazoned with large health warnings and images of disease. Slim boxes of cigarettes, in lipstick-style shapes, will also be illegal under the reform. Brand names will be small and use similar fonts on all packets in the marketing clampdown which is likely to be challenged in the courts, either in Ireland or under European rules.
James Reilly, Children’s Minister and a former health minister who spearheaded the ban, said it was about protecting people and should be seen as a good day for the health of children.
“The interests of public health will be served when children decide never to take up smoking in the first place and if smokers are persuaded to quit,” he said. “We have a duty to prevent our children from being lured into a killer addiction. “Standardised packaging will strip away the illusions created by shiny, colourful cigarette packets and replace them with shocking images showing the real consequences of smoking.” The UK is set to follow the Irish example with laws to be passed before the end of the month.
Anti-smoking campaigners and Government say the ban will remove one of the last remaining and most powerful marketing tools of big tobacco firms, but it is facing a legal challenge over claims it infringes trademarks and the free movement of goods across the EU. Up to 10 European countries are understood to have complained over Ireland’s branding ban. Analysis done for investors by Exane BNP Paribas has warned that the tobacco industry could be in line for payouts in the billions if the same law is passed in the UK. In Ireland, with about 800,000 people estimated to smoke – a prevalence rate of about 22% – a successful compensation claim is likely to run to hundreds of millions, the investor advisers said. New Zealand is also progressing similar laws while France, Finland and Norway have indicated they will go down the same path. Anti-smoking group Ash Ireland said the ban was vital health legislation. Spokesman Ross Morgan said the Government and opposition politicians should be complimented for pushing ahead with the ban despite threats of lawsuits.