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June, 2015:

NHS minister receives top WHO award for tobacco control

Jun 12th, 2015
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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/national/12-Jun-2015/nhs-minister-receives-top-who-award-for-tobacco-control

ISLAMABAD: National Health Services (NHS) Minister Saira Afzal Tarar was conferred the top World Health Organisation (WHO) award in recognition of her leadership to Tobacco Control initiative. WHO Regional Head Dr Ala Alwan handed over the award, conferred by WHO Global Chief Dr Margaret Chan, to the minister. Dr Ala Alwan and Centres for Disease Control (CDC) USA Director Dr Tom Frieden, currently on a visit to Pakistan, met the minister along with their delegation on Thursday. While handling over the prestigious award to the minister, Dr Alwan said WHO recognises the leadership of the Pakistan’s Health Minister Saira Afzal in taking forward tobacco control by announcing enhancement of size of pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs to 85%. The initiative makes Pakistan only the second country in the world to introduce such a measure for public awareness and to dissuade smokers and non-smokers from use of tobacco, which is a major cause of preventable deaths in the country. Later, a delegation level meeting was held between the minister and the two visiting dignitaries.

Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq, senior officials of Health Ministry and international partner agencies attended the meeting. Saira Afzal, on the occasion, shared with the delegation that the Polio Eradication Initiative enjoys the highest level of government commitment and ownership at all levels driven by a strong political will and national consensus to root out the disease. “The government is working to ensure availability of high quality maternal, newborn and child health services to all, especially the poor and a ten point national vision for coordinated priority actions to address challenges of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child health and nutrition has been commissioned on the orders of the Prime Minister” she added. She informed the delegation that the ministry is addressing the issue of increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) with appropriate strategies. “An NCDs unit is fully functional in the ministry and we are heading towards finalisation of a National Action Plan for NCDs with continued support of the WHO,” she added. The minister said tobacco kills about 108,000 Pakistanis annually while 1,200 Pakistani children between the age of 6 and 15 begin smoking everyday, which is an alarming situation. “The ministry is taking every possible step to reduce the prevalence of tobacco use by implementing the framework conventions on tobacco control to which the country is signatory,” she informed the delegation.

She praised the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) initiative of assessment of “Essential Public Health Functions” in the region and requested WHO to provide technical assistance in conducting an assessment of essential public health functions in the country. Acknowledging the visit of CDC Director Dr Tom Frieden, the minister said that we have a strong partnership with CDC in the area of disease control and this visit would provide new impetus to our existing collaboration.

The minister requested the CDC to support in establishing a world-class disease prevention and control centre at the National Institute of Health Islamabad, modelled on centres for disease control with laboratory and disease surveillance network down to the district level. Speaking on the occasion, Ayesha Raza Farooq said Pakistan has come a long way since the explosive outbreak of 2014 and much has been done to change the complexion of the polio eradication drive in the country. “We have been encouraged by the recognition of the turn-around in Pakistan by the International Monitoring Board (IMB) and recently concluded Technical Advisory Group meeting. The guidance of Polio Oversight Board chairman would be of critical importance as we move forward,” she said. Ayesha emphasised the importance of utilising the current opportunity to synergise the efforts of Polio Eradication Initiative to Routine Immunisation. “We have decided to use the Polio Emergency infrastructure to monitor routine coverage,” she added.

Dr Ala Alwan reiterated his commitment to working closely with Pakistan in the areas of Public Health. He said the upcoming assessment of public health functions supported by WHO was a critical initiative. CDC Director Dr Tom Frieden expressed the support of his organisation towards strengthening disease control in the country. He said his organisation was willing to work closely and strengthen partnership with Pakistan to improve health indicators through a strengthened disease surveillance and response system.

UK sees surge in illegal cigarettes

Jun 12th, 2015
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http://www.talkingretail.com/category-news/independent-news/uk-sees-surge-illegal-cigarettes/

Consumption of counterfeit and contraband cigarettes in the UK surged by almost 50% in 2014, costing the government about £2bn in lost tax revenue, according to a new report.

The surge was driven by an increase in black market tobacco from Belarus and Pakistan, which now – along with Poland – produce one-in-two illegal cigarettes coming into the UK. The Fest brand from Belarus now accounts for 40% of “illicit whites” – cigarettes produced legally in one market but destined primarily for smuggling – coming into the UK. However , the manufacturers of Jin Ling robustly object to this report whilst the China Consul General was not available for comment.

The report was commissioned by the four major tobacco manufacturers – Philip Morris, Imperial Tobacco, JTI and BAT – and compiled by professional services provider KPMG using sales data supplied by the companies.

Therefore, it must be true and we should all believe it.

It estimates that the UK volume of smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes was 6.29 billion in 2014 – 48% up on the previous year, but down on the peak year of 2012.

The volume of illicit cigarettes seized in the UK increased by 19% during 2014 to 430 million.

James Barge, director of corporate lunacy and marital affairs at convicted RICO Racketeers Philip Morris, said: “The illegal trade in cigarettes is not a victimless crime – whilst it makes us very rich and kills a few million souls it harms governments, taxpayers, consumers and unknown manufacturers – the fact that the industry is behind most of the smuggling is neither here nor there, even when we get caught.”

James Lowman, chief executive at the Comedy Department of the Association of Convenience Stores, said: “These figures highlight the urgent need for action. Ministers have made significant steps in tackling the illicit tobacco trade over the last two years, but they must now focus their attention on developing a robust strategy to stop the import and sale of illegal tobacco in the UK. Accordingly we need to line up all the tobacco executives and summarily execute them piece by piece over a period of weeks. We predict this would reduce the supposed illicit trade immediately so our members can continue to sell death to children in their corner shops.”

What Drives Governments to Keep TISA, TPP and TTIP Secret?

Jun 12th, 2015
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http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/What-Drives-Governments-to-Keep-TISA-TPP-and-TTIP-secret-20150612-0001.html

Basically, these trade agreements are being kept secret because they violate regulations and national laws for the sole benefit of large corporations.

​On this web page, the Canadian government asks if we are “Looking for a brief recap of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiating rounds?“

This is a representative sample of what it offers to explain two years worth of negotiations since Canada joined other governments in writing the TPP:

“Among the topics discussed in Washington were legal and institutional issues, textiles, rules of origin, state-owned enterprises, environment, goods market access, technical barriers to trade, and e-commerce.”

Feel better informed?

They might as well have said “we talked about a lot of stuff” and left it at that.

Here is something way more informative to read: a list of the 605 (overwhelmingly corporate) official “advisers” in the U.S. who have seen, and helped write, the TPP.

In the USA, members of Congress and a limited number of aides can see the text provided they agree not to take notes or discuss the details publicly. Apologists for this undemocratic idiocy become irate when the TPP is called a “secret”, but, at the same time, justify hiding it from the public by claiming it improves governments’ bargaining position. Apparently we should assume that governments and their corporate “advisers” have spent years secretly fighting like demons on behalf of cab drivers, factory workers and the unemployed.

In Australia, MPs are only allowed to see the TPP text if they sign a confidentiality agreement saying they won’t divulge details to the public for four years. What if the TPP is passed? Are they then allowed to talk what they saw? No. The agreement says “these confidentiality requirements shall apply for four years after entry into force of the TPP, or if no agreement enters into force, for four years after the last round of negotiations…”

In the USA, the public is supposed to be impressed that Obama is required to release the full text (in exchange for getting “fast track” negotiating authority) sixty days before signing the agreement – the complex agreement government officials and hundreds of corporate insiders spent several years writing behind closed doors.

Could contempt for the public, and for democracy, be any more obvious?

This site jokingly claims the TPP has been already released by the Obama administration. It sums the absurdity up very succinctly.

Secrecy aside, would most of the public understand the TPP – the parts that have been leaked by Wikileaks that is, or the seventeen chapters of TISA (Trade in Services Agreement) that have also been leaked by Wikileaks?

No. These deals are written in technical language that requires lawyers and economists – or others who have spent a lot of time researching – to fully grasp. Now there are legal experts and economists who are not in the pockets of powerful western governments and big corporations. Such people could credibly explain what the implications of these agreements are for 99.999 percent of the public who are not among the insiders.

Unfortunately, the battle doesn’t end when the details of these secret agreements, thanks to Wikileaks and other activists, are made public long before governments want them to be. We are still faced with a struggle against the corporate media that is very good at marginalizing those who explain exactly why governments and corporate insiders worked in secrecy for so many years.

The secrecy is disgusting and revealing but it is also rather ineffective at this point. The leaked sections that have been published, and our experience with previous agreements like NAFTA, tells us essentially what the negotiating governments are after – ways to stuff the pockets and expand the power of the insiders at the expense of everyone else. The corporate media, not secrecy, is actually the more important barrier to fair and open debate.

Dean Baker explained “TPP and TTIP are about getting special deals for businesses that they would have difficulty getting through the normal political process. For example, oil and gas companies that think they should be able to drill everywhere may be able to get rules that prevent national or state governments from restricting their activities. This could mean, for example, that New York State would have to compensate potential frackers for the ban that Governor Cuomo imposed last week.

Similarly, the financial industry will be looking to roll back the sort of regulations put in place through Dodd-Frank and similar legislation in other countries. Again, if governments want to ensure that their financial system is safe, they may have to pay the banks for the privilege.”

Everyone owes a special thanks to Canada’s Finance Minister for being brazen enough to argue that the US should loosen up financial regulations adopted since crash of 2008 in order to be in compliance with NAFTA.

As Lori Wallach explained about TISA in this Democracy Now interview, governments and their small army of corporate insiders are working on ways to set the clock back on financial regulation – to about the 1990s! She describes a provision that is actually called the “standstill” in the text of the agreement. It is explicitly designed to prevent governments for bringing in new financial regulations that corporations don’t like. Does the public support a new ban a particular type of derivative that is going to be a disaster? Does the public want new rules that protect their privacy online? Too bad. TISA will make many new rules, and even existing ones, into trade violations.

No wonder governments have insisted on keeping these agreements secret for so many years.

Community reductions in youth smoking after raising the minimum tobacco sales age to 21

Jun 12th, 2015
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http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2015/06/12/tobaccocontrol-2014-052207.1.abstract

Abstract

Objective Raising the tobacco sales age to 21 has gained support as a promising strategy to reduce youth cigarette access, but there is little direct evidence of its impact on adolescent smoking. Using regional youth survey data, we compared youth smoking trends in Needham, Massachusetts—which raised the minimum purchase age in 2005—with those of 16 surrounding communities.

Methods

The MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey is a biennial census survey of high school youth in communities west of Boston; over 16 000 students participated at each of four time points from 2006 to 2012. Using these pooled cross-section data, we used generalised estimating equation models to compare trends in current cigarette smoking and cigarette purchases in Needham relative to 16 comparison communities without similar ordinances. To determine whether trends were specific to tobacco, we also examined trends in youth alcohol use over the same time period.

Results

From 2006 to 2010, the decrease in 30-day smoking in Needham (from 13% to 7%) was significantly greater than in the comparison communities (from 15% to 12%; p<.001). This larger decline was consistent for both genders, Caucasian and non-Caucasian youth, and grades 10, 11 and 12. Cigarette purchases among current smokers also declined significantly more in Needham than in the comparison communities during this time. In contrast, there were no comparable differences for current alcohol use.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that raising the minimum sales age to 21 for tobacco contributes to a greater decline in youth smoking relative to communities that did not pass this ordinance. These findings support local community-level action to raise the tobacco sales age to 21.

Outcry over Hong Kong’s blanket ban on e-cigarettes

Jun 11th, 2015
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http://in.reuters.com/video/2015/06/11/outcry-over-hong-kongs-blanket-ban-on-e?videoId=364551341&videoChannel=104

Hong Kong is looking at an all-out ban on e-cigarettes to prevent a potential increase in smoking in a city where strict tobacco control rules are already in place. Pamela Ambler speaks with those opposing the ban.

Leaked Trade Deal Terms Prompt Fears for Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

Jun 11th, 2015
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http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/30676-leaked-trade-deal-terms-prompt-fears-for-pharmaceutical-benefits-scheme

Documents on the Trans-Pacific Partnership revealed by Wikileaks have revealed draft rules for medicines provided by national health care schemes

he leak of new information on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) shows the mega-trade deal could provide more ways for multinational corporations to influence Australia’s control of its pharmaceutical regulations.

Revealed via Wikileaks, the annexe on “transparency and procedural fairness for pharmaceutical products and medical devices” uncovered the draft agreements regarding medicines between the 12 TPPA member countries.

The leak comes as US Republican leaders announced a vote on Friday that may provide Barack Obama a fast-track authority to complete the agreement with Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The countries represent 40% of the world’s economy.

The leaked text, dated December 2014, laid out the draft rules for member countries regarding medicines under national health care programs, in Australia’s case, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). The TPP has yet to be signed off.

The Abbott government has argued the trade deal will provide access for Australian products to other markets. But it requires Australia to trade off regulations that stop access by other countries and particularly multinational companies to the Australian market.

Critics have suggested the deal, which is likely to include Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clauses, will allow big corporations to sue Australian governments. Philip Morris International is currently challenging the former Labor government’s tobacco plain packaging laws under a Hong Kong trade treaty ISDS.

Trade experts leaped on the rare information release regarding the secret but wide-ranging trade deal. Deborah Gleeson, a lecturer at the school of psychology and public health at La Trobe University, said the inclusion of an annexe on health “serves no useful public interest purpose”.

“It sets a terrible precedent for using regional trade deals to tamper with other countries’ health systems and could circumscribe the options available to developing countries seeking to introduce pharmaceutical coverage programs in future,” Gleeson said.

Jane Kelsey of the faculty of law of the University of Auckland described the annexe as one of the most controversial parts of the TPP in her analysis. She said the US pharmaceutical industry was using the trade agreement to target New Zealand’s Pharmaceutical Management Agency (Pharmac), equivalent to the PBS.

“This ‘transparency’ annexe seeks to erode the processes and decisions of agencies that decide which medicines and medical devices to subsidise the public money and by how much,” Kelsey said.

“This leaked text shows the TPP will severely erode Pharmac’s ability to continue to deliver affordable medicines and medical devices as it has for the past two decades.

“That will mean fewer medicines are subsidised, or people will pay more as co-payments or more of the health budget will go to pay for medicines instead of other activities or the health budget will have to expand beyond the cap.

“Whatever the outcome, the big global pharmaceutical companies will win and the poorest and most vulnerable New Zealanders will lose.”

AMA president Brian Owler said while doctors were very concerned at the possible effects on Australia’s healthcare systems, they were constantly dismissed by the trade minister Andrew Robb.

“When we have raised concerns about the effects on health, the only response is ‘we are not going to undermine the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme’,” said Owler.

“We are worried about the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism and there are issues in terms of patents that would affect pharmaceutical prices.

“The problem is our concerns have been dismissed by the trade minister but we do not know what is in the text.”

However, Robb said on Thursday that the government would not accept anything that would adversely affect the PBS, the health system more generally, or increase the price of medicines for Australians.

“It’s perhaps time to look at the enormous benefits that will flow from a more seamless trade and investment environment across 12 countries representing 40 per cent of global GDP,” Robb said.

“New levels of market access and common sets of trading rules will help support growth, create new jobs and result in higher living standards.”

Parliamentarians were offered the chance to see the TPP draft by Robb if they agreed to a four year non-disclosure agreement.

A cross-party parliamentary working group has formed, including Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson, Labor MP Melissa Parke and independent senator Nick Xenophon.

Whish-Wilson, who has not seen the draft as he refused to agree to the terms of the agreement, said the latest leak suggested the Australian PBS could be undermined.

“These negotiations are happening behind closed doors, without the scrutiny of the parliament,” he said.

“At the very least, the Australian people deserve to be reassured that the government won’t allow any deal which drives up the public health costs for Australian taxpayers such as further subsidising important new medicines including biologics.”

During the most recent senate estimates in the past fortnight, Whish-Wilson questioned officials from the department of foreign affairs and trade about the strategic importance of the TPP to the United States.

The secretary of Dfat, Peter Varghese, said the whole purpose was to indicate a “ramped up US presence in Asia”.

“The conclusion of the TPP is important to the United States in terms of its re-balance, because it is an important step in relation to the economic engagement of the United States with the region, and the whole purpose of the re-balance was to indicate a ramped up US presence in Asia, and a recognition of the importance of Asia in broader US geostrategic thinking,” Varghese said.

“We in Australia have never seen the TPP as an instrument for locking anybody out— in fact, quite the contrary.”

The trade minister’s office was contacted for comment.

Heard of ‘Black Mount’ and ‘Jim’s’ cigarettes? They’re available on the Irish black market…

Jun 11th, 2015
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https://uk.news.yahoo.com/black-market-cigarette-manufacturers-deliberately-target-irish-market-144817944.html#quvkQkW

A new survey has found that two thirds of all cigarettes for sale illegally in Dublin are manufactured specifically for the black market.

In the test purchase exercise, carried out on behalf of tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris International, it was found that these brands, known as ‘illicit whites’, made up the bulk of black market trading.

The company carries outs research in the area of the consumption of black market cigarettes around the EU. Speaking in 2013, Artyom Chernis, a representative from the company said, “The black market for tobacco is bad for business and bad for communities across the EU.”

In the course of carrying out the test purchase, a number of brands that had not appeared on the market in the UK or Ireland before were found. These included:

President,
M&J,
Black Mount, and,
Jim’s

The study was carried out by a number expert investigators, in a team headed by Detective Chief Superintendent, Kevin Donohoe, and former Scotland Yard Detective Chief Inspector, Will O’Reilly.

Speaking about the find, Donohoe said, “While this study provides just a snap shot of the illegal tobacco trade, our operatives purchased various products with relative ease throughout many parts of the city.

“The illegal trade is well organised, providing large profits for those involved, who are primarily highly organised criminal networks.”

In a statement sent out by the tobacco company it states that the illicit trade of tobacco undermines key public policy concerns in the area and undermines “the core purposes of the regulatory initiatives to reduce tobacco usage.”

In the coming months a more comprehensive test-purchase study will be carried out across Ireland.

Recently, a Eurobarometer survey found that around 21% of people smoke in Ireland, compared to a European average of 26%.

Customs busts own agents in biggest-ever haul of black-market smokes

Jun 10th, 2015
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http://www.lsm.lv/en/article/economics/economy/customs-busts-own-agents-in-biggest-ever-haul-of-black-market-smokes.a133262/

The State Revenue Service’s (VID) Customs Police nabbed the largest catch of illegal cigarettes ever this month – amounting to 32 million cigarettes and involving three of its own customs officers and a border guard officer, VID informed the media Wednesday.

Altogether six persons were detained on June 2 on suspicion of smuggling in from Russia 32,760,800 contraband smokes, including the three workers from customs, one from the border guard service and two vehicle drivers.

An estimated five million euros would have been kept out of state coffers had the shipment made it to the black market, being the largest-ever busted in a single VID Customs Service raid.

Increasing smoking age will reap long-term benefits

Jun 10th, 2015
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Tobacco additives may have helped ‘promote addiction’

Jun 10th, 2015
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http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-us/cancer-news/news-report/2015-06-10-tobacco-additives-may-have-helped-promote-addiction

Tobacco researchers identified additives that could have made cigarettes more acceptable and addictive, according to a new analysis of tobacco company documents.

It suggests that chemical additives, called pyrazines, were identified and began to be included in the ‘recipe’ for some tobacco products in the 1960s and 70s to make low-tar, or ‘light’, cigarettes, taste richer and smoother.

“It fits into the familiar pattern of manipulation we’ve come to expect from an industry responsible for millions of deaths worldwide each year” – Professor Linda Bauld, Cancer Research UK

The analysis of documents from tobacco giant Philip Morris was carried out by a team from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

Writing in the journal Tobacco Control (link is external), they suggest that the compounds may also reinforce the addictive qualities of nicotine.

According to Professor Linda Bauld, cancer prevention expert at Cancer Research UK, the findings are not unexpected.

“It’s not surprising to see reports suggesting that a tobacco company may have been altering its deadly products to try to keep smokers hooked – it fits into the familiar pattern of manipulation we’ve come to expect from an industry responsible for millions of deaths worldwide each year,” she said.

Nicotine dependence is primarily caused by nicotine prompting the release of a brain chemical called dopamine – which is involved in pleasure, arousal and mood change.

But growing research suggests that nicotine alone can’t account for the intense addictive properties of smoking tobacco.

The investigation looked at internal documents from Philip Morris made available in the late 90s as a result of litigation. It also reviewed scientific research on the composition and role of cigarette additives.

The documents analysed go back as far as the late 60s, as tobacco’s dangers became apparent and ‘low tar’ products became more desirable.

They document how the company discovered that pyrazines could curb the harshness and irritating effects of tobacco smoke, thus easing the inhalation and uptake of nicotine.

Several pyrazine derivatives also seem to have a role in boosting the amount of dopamine released during smoking.

The researchers expressed their concern over the role the additives may play in nicotine dependence.

“The [effects of] pyrazine flavour additives might provide cues for reward-related learned behaviours, and could play a critical role in the development, maintenance, and relapse of tobacco dependence,” they wrote.

“Taken together, pyrazines appear to increase product appeal and make it easier for non-smokers to initiate smoking, more difficult for current smokers to quit, much easier for former smokers to relapse into smoking,” they wrote, concluding that this “may mask the risks of both active and passive smoking.”

Professor Bauld stressed that, no matter what additives are present in tobacco, “there’s no such thing as a ‘safe’ cigarette”.

“That’s why there needs to be continued, comprehensive, strategic action on smoking – on all fronts – to realise the vision of a society free from the harms of tobacco,” she said

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