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July 29th, 2015:

Tobacco control: Governments should not rest on their laurels

http://www.epha.org/a/6400

Taxes are effective tools to curb the global tobacco epidemic. This is the core message of the World Health Organization (WHO) 2015 report on tobacco launched this month. Tobacco-related diseases claim more lives than HIV-AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

In its recent report, the WHO welcomes commitments and efforts made in the field of tobacco control around the world. More than half of the world’s countries, covering 40% of the world’s population, have established at least one MPOWER measure at the highest level of achievement.

MPOWER is a set of measures that can be used by governments as a guide to implement the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) guidelines and covers six different action points to reduce Tobacco use: M for monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies, P for protecting people from tobacco smoke, O for offering help to quit tobacco use, W for warning about the dangers of tobacco, E for enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship and R for raising taxes on tobacco.

Statistics from the WHO report show that advertising bans and cessation programmes were implemented in nearly 70% of the countries to an at least moderate intensity. A complete set of policies for warning labels is available in 20% of countries around the world, an increase in coverage of more than 5% over the last 2 years. One in four countries (covering 18% of the world population) have smoke-free environments available. Only six countries are close to having all MPOWER measures in place, of which four are low or middle income countries. Among the best examples are Latin American countries like Brazil, Uruguay and Panama, as well as Turkey and Australia. And what about EU countries? Check their status here.

Despite the emergence of positive, measurable results, the WHO points out that there is still a long way to go for governments to achieve proper tobacco control goals. Raising taxes on tobacco products, which is an extremely efficient and easy measure to implement, still remains neglected by many countries and is the least implemented MPOWER measure. Only 33 countries levy taxes on tobacco products over 75% of the retail price, even though evidence shows that this measure is very cost-effective and should be much wider used.

The main reason for this reluctance, WHO points out, is the influence of opponents to this measure, such as the tobacco industry, who claim that it represents a major economic threat and that a hike in taxes would lead to more illicit trade. However, there is no valid evidence to support their arguments. Moreover, taxes on tobacco products are generally well accepted by the population, even amongst smokers. Revenues raised from tobacco taxes can be earmarked for additional tobacco control and public health measures. Sadly, tackling tobacco use is not possible unless governments are able to stand up to the powerful voice of the tobacco industry.

‘Plain Packaging’ of Tobacco Lawsuit Likely to Be Heard in December

http://www.voanews.com/articleprintview/2883301.html

by Reuters

British American Tobacco (BAT) expects its legal challenge to the implementation of “plain packaging” of tobacco in Britain to be heard in court in December, with possible final resolution by the end of 2016, a senior executive said.

“We expect a hearing in December,” Jerome Abelman, BAT’s director of legal and external affairs, told reporters on Wednesday, adding that “whatever the decision, there will likely be appeals.”

Britain adopted a law in March that would prohibit tobacco products from being sold with any branding, colours or logos. This “plain packaging” rule, aimed at reducing the lure of smoking particularly to youngsters, will go into effect in May 2016.

BAT and larger rival Philip Morris International are challenging the law.

Appeals likely

Abelman said it was hard to judge exactly how long its challenge will take to move through the court system but said it was possible that any appeals could be decided by the end of 2016.

He said he thought the British government should grant a stay to the implementation of plain packaging pending a final decision.

Separately, BAT said it would do a market test this year of a next-generation product that heats tobacco without burning it. It declined to give any details about the product or the test.

Its announcement comes a day after U.S. tobacco company Reynolds American, in which BAT owns 42 percent, said it was shelving its own test of a tobacco-heating product due to poor consumer adoption.

World: US Chamber of Commerce shills for Big Tobacco

http://blogs.bmj.com/tc/2015/07/29/world-us-chamber-of-commerce-and-big-tobacco/

29 Jul, 15 | by Marita Hefler, News Editor

In 2009, when tobacco plain packaging legislation was first being considered in Australia, the president of the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington made a submission to the country’s preventative health taskforce, which was appointed by the Australian Government to provide recommendations about national tobacco control measures.

At the time, the move by the US group was considered highly unusual. Although internal tobacco industry documents made public during the US tobacco trials showed the US Chamber of Commerce had long had a cosy relationship with big tobacco to influence USA domestic policy, the attempt to do so in another country marked a turning point.

Now, it has been revealed that the US Chamber, which spends more on lobbying than any other US interest group, is engaged in a global, systematic approach to fight tobacco control measures. Investigative reports in the New York Times, together with a report titled US Chamber of Commerce: Blowing Smoke for Big Tobacco published earlier this month by a coalition of health and civil society organisations, have documented the extensive tactics by the both the US Chamber and its network of more than 100 local affiliates (known internationally as AmCham).

Countries that have been targeted by the US Chamber and/or local AmCham branches include Nepal, Jamaica, Uruguay, Moldova, the Philippines, El Salvador, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Croatia, Estonia, Ireland, Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine. It has also been an active lobbyist for the tobacco industry in EU policy making.

The reports detailed a three-pronged approach that includes bullying governments with direct lobbying and letters from the US Chamber or its local affiliate. The letters typically open by noting that the chamber is the world’s largest business federation, which has significant investments in the country of interest. The implied threat is that it may withdraw such investments if decisions are not favourable to its interests. A second strategy is to prompt countries to initiate trade disputes against tobacco control measures by other countries – as in the case of Ukraine, where Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk recently revealed that the country initiated its case against Australia’s plain packaging legislation in response to a complaint from the Ukraine AmCham office.

The third strategy is to lobby against tobacco-related exceptions within trade policy. US Chamber of Commerce president Thomas Donohue has been personally involved in lobbying to preserve the right of the tobacco industry to sue under international trade agreements, particularly the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP is currently being negotiated by several Pacific Rim countries, and has attracted fierce criticism for the secrecy surrounding the negotiation process, as well as lively debate about whether tobacco should be ‘carved out’ of the agreement.

In a response to the New York Times, Donohue defended the chamber’s advocacy on behalf of the tobacco industry on the basis of protecting intellectual property and compliance with international commitments – perhaps selectively oblivious to the need for countries to comply with their commitments under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). His response ignores the fact that tobacco is the subject of the world’s only health treaty precisely because the unique harms wrought by tobacco justify singling out the industry. It also fails to explain why the chamber has opposed smoke free public places and attempted to discredit other policies, such as warning labels, as not being evidence-based.

Donohue also expresses concern that ‘discriminatory treatment’ (of particular industries) ‘can easily spread’ – another way of advancing the ‘slippery slope’ argument the tobacco industry has consistently used against plain packaging. On its website, the US Chamber argues that carving out tobacco is unnecessary because the TPP (like other trade agreements) won’t limit governments’ ability to enact public health regulations – conveniently ignoring the numerous disputes the tobacco industry has already initiated under just such agreements in order to delay, weaken or avert tobacco control legislation (as highlighted in John Oliver’s hilarious expose of big tobacco earlier this year).

The chamber and its local affiliates are aided in their international efforts by a misperception that it represents, or is an official part of, the US government. Given the crossover between AmCham office holders and US government officials in some countries, this is understandable. In Estonia, the US Ambassador serves as the honorary president of the local affiliate; in Australia, the Chief Executive Officer of the local AmCham, Niels Marquardt, was the US consul general in Sydney immediately prior to his appointment. Local AmCham branches also advertise membership benefits including introductions, and in some cases access, to the US embassy and government.

The chamber siding with the tobacco industry is highly problematic for businesses such as health insurers, healthcare providers and hospitals that sit on the US Chamber of Commerce board, many of which publicly promote quitting smoking and offer services to support cessation. A New York Times editorial on the issue noted that while many US businesses which are members of the US Chamber of Commerce are focused on domestic issues, tobacco companies prioritise foreign growth markets, particularly low and middle income countries with young populations. While some members have been silent in response to the revelations, US health corporation CVS – which stopped selling tobacco in its pharmacies in 2014 – withdrew from its chamber membership in protest following the NY Times reports.

Criticism of the chamber has also come from more unexpected sources. Global public relations giant Burson-Marsteller is well-known for its work to ‘shape the debate’ on behalf of controversial industries and companies, as well as governments responsible for human rights atrocities. It has also hopped on the climate change denial bandwagon; in 2014, it teamed up with the world’s biggest coal company to promote ‘coal for poor people’ in a campaign aimed at derailing policies to limit carbon pollution by changing the conversation to focus on ‘energy poverty’ and position coal-fired power as a solution. Criticisms of Burson-Marsteller are perhaps best encapsulated by its work with big tobacco; for many years it worked closely with Altria/Philip Morris, and it established front group the National Smokers’ Alliance in the US to oppose smoke free legislation.

While Burson-Marsteller continues to work on many contentious issues, in 2010 it ceased working with clients operating in the tobacco industry, and has publicly criticised the chamber’s advocacy on behalf of big tobacco. David Earnshaw, president of Burson-Marsteller’s Brussels office, told the NY Times “It’s pretty obvious that you don’t want to be seen doing the bidding of an interest which is no longer legitimate”. As WHO Director General Dr Margaret Chan said in a statement “so long as tobacco companies continue to be influential members of the chamber, legitimate businesses will be tarred with the same brush.”