Clear The Air News Tobacco Blog Rotating Header Image

July 2nd, 2015:

Larger graphic health warnings on cigarette packets are effective

http://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/1831669/larger-graphic-health-warnings-cigarette-packets-are-effective

Heidi Lau

Legco will discuss whether or not to approve larger warning graphics on cigarette packets

Legco will discuss whether or not to approve larger warning graphics on cigarette packets

The proposed additional tobacco control measures to be discussed at a special Legislative Council meeting on July 6 deserve support and attention.

As an organisation that provides well-recognised tobacco control programmes to students on a daily basis, Life Education Activity Programme (LEAP) supports legislative proposals to strengthen tobacco control. In particular, we back the proposal to change the prescribed form of health warning on cigarette packets and to regulate electronic cigarettes, so as to protect young people better against the temptations of smoking.

Based on our understanding of students’ thoughts and attitudes towards smoking, we strongly agree to increasing the different kinds of health warnings on cigarette packets, as well as increasing the area of the graphic health warnings to 85 per cent of the two largest surfaces of the pack.

Research has shown that the larger the health warnings, the more effective they are in preventing smoking initiation among young people. In fact, most of the students who attended LEAP’s drug prevention education programmes agreed that graphic health warnings are not only easy to understand but also very memorable. Yet, they also suggested that the existing health warnings have been in use for so long that they don’t serve their purposes any more, implying that these warnings are losing their effectiveness. We believe that new designs and an increase in health warning size would help make a stronger impact on students and weaken their desire to try smoking.

Meanwhile, e-cigarettes, which come in various colours and flavours at a very affordable price, are arousing students’ interest as they are so easily available at shops targeting young people.

Even school teachers are alarmed by the ways that e-cigarettes are being promoted to students. Recently, we received a request from a school to provide more information about e-cigarettes as it had come to the school’s attention that one of their students had received an e-cigarette as a gift after making a purchase at a shop.

It is evident that e-cigarettes are marketed to young people in unrestrained ways and, with uncertainties such as the issues of safety and quality still surrounding e-cigarettes, immediate action must be taken to put them under effective control before they further harm our young people with their potential health effects.

Established in 1994, LEAP’s mission is to help prevent substance abuse, particularly drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, by providing health-based education programmes for students and parents.

Heidi Lau, executive director, LEAP

Dems attack Chamber over tobacco lobbying

http://thehill.com/regulation/healthcare/246777-dems-attack-chamber-over-tobacco-lobbying

By Tim Devaney

Senate Democrats are turning up the pressure on the Chamber of Commerce over reports that the business organization is lobbying for Big Tobacco. The Chamber’s efforts to strike down anti-smoking health laws around the world are “craven and unconscionable,” said the lawmakers, led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s decision to use its international clout to fight regulations of tobacco products around the world is craven and unconscionable,” the senators wrote.

“Commerce member companies should be concerned that their good name is sullied in efforts to strike down public health protections worldwide.” The letter comes after a recent report in The New York Times highlighting what it said is the Chamber’s role in supporting the tobacco industry.

The Chamber pushed back on that article as false and denied working to promote tobacco use. “Let’s be very clear: This organization is not in the business of promoting cigarette smoking at home or abroad, period,” a Chamber spokesperson said.

Blumenthal, Democratic Senate Colleagues, Statement on U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Lobbying for Big Tobacco

http://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-democratic-senate-colleagues-statement-on-us-chamber-of-commerces-global-lobbying-for-big-tobacco

(Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) issued the following statement on recent reports regarding the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s global lobbying to advance interests of Big Tobacco:

“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s decision to use its international clout to fight regulations of tobacco products around the world is craven and unconscionable. Commerce member companies should be concerned that their good name is sullied in efforts to strike down public health protections worldwide. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is, in effect, renting its letterhead and name to big tobacco, contrary to responsible corporate interests and Americans’ interests in improving global public health. We urge the chamber to rethink this strategy and instead find partners to help improve global public health, not strengthen efforts that will worsen the health of millions globally and cause innumerable deaths from tobacco usage.”

The impact of an increase in excise tax on the retail price of tobacco in New Zealand

http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2015/07/02/tobaccocontrol-2015-052259.abstract

Abstract

Background In 2010, the New Zealand (NZ) government introduced an annual 10% tobacco excise tax increase. We examined retailers’ adherence to recommended retail prices (RRP), and whether the RRP included the full tax increase.

Methods We collected price data on three British American Tobacco (BAT) factory-made cigarette brands, (premium, mainstream, and budget), and one roll-your-own tobacco brand before and after the 2014 tax increase from a sample of tobacco retailers. We examined price increases in each tobacco brand and compared these with the RRP. The extent to which the excise tax increases had been included in the RRP since 2010 was estimated using data sourced from the Ministry of Health and NZ Customs.

Findings The median increase in price from before to after the tax change was only 3% for the budget brand (461 retailers). This contrasted with the median of 8% for the premium brand (448 retailers), and 11% for both mainstream and roll-your-own brands (471 and 464 retailers, respectively). While many retail outlets made changes according to the RRP set by BAT, several did not comply. Our analyses suggest BAT may be undershifting excise tax on the budget brand, and overshifting tax on brands in other price partitions.

Conclusions Tobacco companies do not appear to be increasing the RRPs of budget brands in line with tobacco excise tax increases. The increasing price differential between budget brands, and mainstream and premium brands may undermine cessation and impede realisation of New Zealand’s Smokefree 2025 goal.