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May, 2016:

World No Tobacco Day, 31 May 2016: Get ready for plain packaging

May 31st, 2016
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http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2016/world-no-tobacco-day/en/

Recent moves to introduce plain (standardized) packaging of tobacco products can save lives by reducing demand for tobacco products, according to WHO and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Secretariat (WHO FCTC).

Plain packaging of tobacco products restricts or prohibits the use of logos, colours, brand images and promotional information on packaging other than brand and product names displayed in a standard colour and font style.

In December 2012, Australia became the first country to fully implement plain packaging. On 20 May 2016, France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland each began implementation of plain packaging. Ireland is also preparing to introduce the measure, while other countries are exploring the option.

How plain packaging works

“Plain packaging reduces the attractiveness of tobacco products. It kills the glamour, which is appropriate for a product that kills people,” says WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan. “It restricts tobacco advertising and promotion. It limits misleading packaging and labelling. And it increases the effectiveness of health warnings.”

Plain packaging is recommended in WHO FCTC guidelines as part of a comprehensive approach to tobacco control that includes large graphic health warnings and comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

Australia’s story

Smoking in Australia has been steadily declining for years. Australia introduced plain packaging, in conjunction with new and enlarged health warnings, in 2012. Between December 2012 and September 2015, there was an additional 0.55 percentage point fall in smoking prevalence among those aged 14 and above attributable to the packaging changes, according Australia’s post-implementation review. This equates to more than 108,000 people quitting, not relapsing or not starting to smoke during that period.

Dr Oleg Chestnov, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and Mental Health, says Australia’s plain packaging results demonstrate the great potential of the measure. “Plain packaging can reduce consumption of tobacco products, as clearly seen in Australia. It offers a powerful tool to countries as part of a comprehensive approach to tackle the scourge of tobacco use,” says Dr Chestnov.

The theme of this year’s World No Tobacco Day – Get ready for plain packaging – highlights this new trend in global efforts to control tobacco products, which kill almost 6 million people annually, notes Dr Douglas Bettcher, WHO’s Director for the Prevention of NCDs.

Defying the tobacco industry

“Plain packaging is going global as more and more countries seek the important health gains it can bring to communities,” says Dr Bettcher. “The tobacco industry has been getting ready for plain packaging for some time, conducting massive misinformation campaigns to block the measure.”

“So it is encouraging to see more and more countries defy the industry’s tactics and implement plain packaging to reduce demand for tobacco products and put the health of their populations first.”

To mark World No Tobacco Day, WHO is launching a new guide to plain packaging of tobacco products, which gives governments the latest evidence and guidance on implementing the measure.

“Most governments are committed to curbing the tobacco epidemic and reducing tobacco-related harm, such as deaths from cancers, heart and lung diseases,” says Dr Vera da Costa e Silva, Head of the WHO FCTC Secretariat. “It is vital they have access to evidence-based, effective guidance that can support their efforts to protect the health of their populations.”

Editor’s note

Tobacco-related illness is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced. Approximately 1 person dies from a tobacco-caused disease every 6 seconds, equivalent to almost 6 million people a year. This is forecast to rise to more than 8 million people a year by 2030, with more than 80% of these preventable deaths occurring among people living in low-and middle-income countries.

Tobacco use is one of the largest preventable causes of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Tobacco control represents a powerful tool in improving health in communities and in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG target 3.4 is to reduce premature deaths from NCDs by one-third by 2030, including cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases, cancers and diabetes. NCDs accounted for the deaths of 16 million people under the age of 70 years in 2012 – 82% of which occurred in developing countries.

The WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) entered into force in 2005. Parties are obliged to take a number of steps to reduce demand and supply for tobacco products. Actions addressed in the Convention include protecting people from exposure to tobacco smoke, banning tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, banning sales to minors, requiring health warnings on tobacco packaging, promoting tobacco cessation, increasing tobacco taxes and creating a national coordinating mechanism for tobacco control. There are 180 Parties to the Convention.

For more information, contact:

Paul Garwood
Telephone: +41 22 7911578
Mobile: +41-79 603 72 94
Email: garwoodp@who.int

Christian Lindmeier
Telephone: +41 22 79 11948
Mobile: +41 795 006 552
Email: lindmeierch@who.int

Plain pack proposal revived

May 31st, 2016
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http://www.tobaccojournal.com/Plain_pack_proposal_revived.53632.0.html

The Health Ministry has revived plans to mandate uniform packaging for tobacco products, saying an implementation strategy would go to the government later this year, Agence France-Presse reported.

Associate Health Minister Peseta Sam Lotu-liga announced the revival on World No Tobacco Day, AFP said. The World Health Organisation made adoption of plain packaging the theme for the 31 May commemoration of tobacco control efforts.

New Zealand initially planned to follow Australia, which introduced plain packs in 2012, but shelved its proposal pending resolution of legal issues. Recommendations on implementation will follow a two-month consultation period, AFP said.

Government plans to file plain-pack bill in June

May 31st, 2016
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http://www.tobaccojournal.com/Government_plans_to_file_plain-pack_bill_in_June.53633.0.html

Health Minister Bent Hoeie told an Oslo conference the government will submit a bill to parliament in June to remove branding from tobacco products, said the news agency Bloomberg.

Norway had promised an announcement on plain packaging on 31 May, designated World No Tobacco Day by the World Health Organisation. This year’s them is the adoption of plain packaging. New Zealand also announced it would revive a plain packaging proposal it shelved in 2013 to await resolution of legal issues.

Countries that have passed uniform packaging laws include Australia, which in 2011 became the first country to do so, Ireland, Britain and France.

Revealed: UK cancer research pensions investing millions in British American Tobacco

May 30th, 2016
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Pension plans for scientists working at Cancer Research UK are among those to have invested in British American Tobacco to the tune of £211 million (US$308 million).
The fund, which caters for university lecturers and staff, is worth just shy of £50 billion. Its biggest investment is in the equally-controversial Royal Dutch Shell company, with £344 million going to the latter, reported The Guardian.

News that Cancer Research UK money has essentially been used to both fight the effects of smoking and fund the tobacco industry comes as a shock to many.

A Universities UK spokesperson defended the choice of investments of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), insisting financial return takes precedence over the moral dilemmas raised.

“The USS, as part of its investment duties, takes into account wider social, ethical, and environmental and governance issues, so long as that ensures that the assets of the scheme are invested in the best financial interests of members and their beneficiaries,” they said.

Earlier this year the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) called on people and companies to stop investing in tobacco.

“For decades, it has actively sought to mislead the world about the harms caused by its products. It has corrupted public officials, been complicit in illicit activities such as smuggling, and has undermined legislation to protect the health of the public,” read the statement.

EUPHA President Professor Martin McKee added that “it is simply unacceptable that USS should continue to invest in this discredited industry.”

Cancer Research UK Tobacco Policy Manager George Butterworth admitted he was unhappy with the investment situation but insisted the Tobacco Free Portfolios movement shows that things can change.

“The tobacco industry’s deadly products are responsible for one in four cancer deaths. Many people would be shocked to learn that their pensions are invested in tobacco company shares – especially those striving to develop cures for diseases caused by this lethal industry,” Butterworth said.

“Cancer Research UK’s own pension funds are tobacco-free, but many of our researchers are based at institutions where that is not the case,” he added.

“To help make it easier for organisations’ pension schemes to opt out of tobacco shares, we’re now funding the UK arm of Tobacco Free Portfolios to encourage investment funds to divest from tobacco stocks. AXA’s move earlier this week to withdraw billions in investment from the tobacco industry shows what can be done.”

Determined activists drive tobacco control

May 30th, 2016
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http://www.fctc.org/fca-news/opinion-pieces/1415-determined-activists-drive-tobacco-control

Dr Hong Gwan Seo’s conversion to tobacco control activist began as he puffed on a cigarette reading medical literature on the harms caused by smoking.

“As a doctor I thought I knew the dangers, but as I read I realized smoking was crazy; it was like committing suicide slowly. So I quit.”

That was 1988, the year that the Korean Association on Smoking or Health (KASH) was founded. Since then, there have been two high points for advocates in South Korea, says Dr Seo. In 1995, the Health Promotion Act created smoke-free spaces and banned tobacco advertising.

In 2014-15, the government adopted a range of tobacco control (TC) measures: cigarette prices rose 80 percent thanks to a tax hike and it was announced that packages would have to carry graphic health warnings by December 2016.

Packham: For World No Tobacco Day, new packaging is goal

May 30th, 2016
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http://www.rgj.com/story/opinion/columnists/2016/05/26/goal-world-no-tobacco-day-2016-new-packaging-regulations/85014150/

Sponsored by the World Health Organization and observed worldwide on May 31 each year, World No Tobacco Day highlights the health risks of tobacco use and promotes effective actions to reduce tobacco consumption. This year, World No Tobacco Day calls on countries worldwide to implement plain (standardized) packaging of tobacco products.

A key aim of World No Tobacco Day is to educate people about the work WHO undertakes in fighting the global tobacco epidemic. A large part of this work is educating the public about the manipulative tactics tobacco companies continue to use to “dupe” people into smoking their products.

Plain packaging of tobacco products is a proven tobacco control measure that restricts or prohibits the use of logos, colors, brand images or promotional information on packaging other than brand names and product names displayed in a standard color and font style.

Led by Australia and multiple nations in Western Europe, plain packaging represents an important demand-reduction measure that reduces the attractiveness of tobacco products. It also restricts use of tobacco packaging as a form of tobacco advertising and promotion, limits misleading packaging and labeling, and increases the effectiveness of health warnings. As such, plain packaging builds upon other evidence-based measures as part of a comprehensive approach to tobacco control.

According to WHO estimates, cigarette smoking kills nearly 6 million people around the world each year. In the United States, cigarette smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke remain the largest preventable cause of death and disease and is responsible for nearly 480,000 deaths each year – a figure that exceeds the number of Americans killed by alcohol, AIDS, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined.

Closer to home, World No Tobacco Day provides an opportunity for policymakers and the public to address the unfinished business of tobacco control and prevention in Nevada.

Recent data from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids documents tobacco’s toll on the next generation of Nevadans. Currently, 10.3 percent of Nevada high school students smoke, nearly 1,800 Nevada kids under the age of 18 will become daily smokers this year, and an estimated 41,000 healthy kids in Nevada will die prematurely from smoking.

While Nevada has made considerable progress in curbing tobacco use, 370,000 adults in Nevada still smoke (17 percent of all adults) and smoking is responsible for a staggering $1.1 billion in preventable medical care costs each year.

In the current budget year, the State of Nevada will collect $213 million in revenue from the 1998 tobacco master settlement agreement and tobacco taxes. However, Nevada will spend a miserly $1 million on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit this year – a figure well below the annual funding level of $30 million recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to implement a comprehensive tobacco control program.

Let’s use World No Tobacco Day as a wake-up call to the global epidemic of tobacco use and the considerable unfinished work of tobacco control that remains in Nevada.

Additional information on World No Tobacco Day can be found at www.who.int/campaigns/no-tobacco-day/2016/en/; information on the toll of tobacco in Nevada can be found at www.tobaccofreekids.org.

John Packham, Ph.D. is director of health policy research at the University of Nevada School of Medicine and currently serves as the president of the Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition.

Celebs join no-tobacco event with 2,000 youths in Ho Chi Minh City

May 29th, 2016
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http://tuoitrenews.vn/society/35073/celebs-join-notobacco-event-with-2000-youths-in-ho-chi-minh-city

A number of Vietnamese celebrities took part Saturday in an event in Ho Chi Minh City, calling people to say no to tobacco.

The event, taking place at the Youth Cultural House in District 1, was aimed to celebrate the World No Tobacco Day (May 31) and the National Anti-Tobacco Week.

The ceremony attracted nearly 2,000 youths, hailing from citywide universities and colleges, besides such public figures as film directors Le Hoang and Dinh Anh Dung, actress Lan Phuong, and local singers Duc Tuan, Van Mai Huong, Noo Phuoc Thinh and Quoc Thien.

The celebs treated the young audience to various performances, then joined them in discussions meant to encourage abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption.

Singer Duc Tuan sent his message through a song named “Moi ngay toi chon mot niem vui,” which means “every day I choose a joy.”

“We can choose a meaningful thing to do when a new day arrives, but please never choose tobacco,” he told the audience.

When she was on stage, actress Lan Phuong was asked to comment on a common conception that smoking makes men look manly and stylistic.

“Manliness and maturity of a man are expressed via his behavior and manner, not the tobacco,” she replied.

The actress also hoped that a law that ban smoking in eateries, bars, coffee shops, and other public places, even in film studios, will soon be imposed.

The event wrapped up with a flash mob performed by many young people, followed by bicycle parade to encourage people to give up smoking.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control are calling on all countries to get ready for plain packaging of tobacco products.

Plain packaging is an important demand reduction measure that reduces the attractiveness of tobacco products, restricts use of tobacco packaging as a form of tobacco advertising and promotion, limits misleading packaging and labeling, and increases the effectiveness of health warnings, WHO said on its website.

For the World Tobacco Day 2016, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health has also launched a campaign called “Life without smoke.”

Thailand to mark World No Tobacco Day on May 31

May 29th, 2016
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BANGKOK, 28 May 2016 (NNT) – World No Tobacco Day which falls on May 31st will be celebrated in Thailand as the Ministry of Public Health is preparing for the upcoming event.

http://news.thaivisa.com/thailand/thailand-to-mark-world-no-tobacco-day-on-may-31/143663/

Dr. Amnuay Gajeena, the Director-General of the Disease Control Department under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Health, said World No Tobacco Day celebrations will be held at Future Park Rangsit.

It’s hoped the event will raise awareness of the dangers of smoking, among Thai youth. According to a survey conducted in 2014, more than 353,000 youngsters aged between 15 and 18 smoke cigarettes, while the number of smokers between 19 and 24 years of age is as many as a million people. The shocking statistics also suggest that up to 70 percent of Thai youths smoke cigarettes, while Thailand sees around 200,000 – 250,000 new smokers take up the dangerous habit, on a yearly basis.

He said the ministry will push for a law that forbids manufacturers from putting logos on cigarette packs. The move is intended to discourage people from smoking.

Marlborough health workers applaud tobacco tax increase

May 29th, 2016
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http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/80455435/marlborough-health-workers-applaud-tobacco-tax-increase

A Springlands man who smoked 100 cigarettes a day and now suffers from a debilitating lung conditions says a tobacco tax hike does not go far enough.

Upping the cost of cigarettes has been applauded by Marlborough health workers, although some convenience store workers are wary of a spike in thefts following the move.

The cost of a packet of cigarettes will rise to about $30 in the next four years after the Budget delivered a 10 per cent a year tax rise.

Springlands resident Jerome O’Malley​ is living with the effects of a smoking habit that he kicked more than 30 years ago.

O’Malley, who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said it was a great move to increase the tax on cigarettes.

“Cigarettes cause a huge amount of distress. It kills people.

“In my view it wouldn’t do any great harm to ban them completely.”

Asthma Marlborough respiratory educator Karen Vis said the cigarette price hike was good news.

“I know it’s hard for people to give up smoking but it has been proven that substantial increases in price do help people to quit.”

Smoking caused a lot of damage and long term health issues, Vis said.

There was good support in Marlborough for people who wanted to quit smoking.

“We’ve had some really good drops in our smoking rates.

“We’re on the right track and people are being really good about trying to give up.

“The most important thing is that they do keep trying .”

High St Dairy and Takeaway shop assistant Pei Chin said she was worried that the number of cigarette thefts at the store would increase when the price of cigarettes went up.

She had several customers who had asked her about price hike after the Budget announcement.

“A lot of the customers who have been smoking for 40 or 50 years are very worried about it.”

Scott St Dairy manager Sukhjinder Singh said while Blenheim was reasonably safe, he was concerned that tobacco theft would increase following the price increase in other parts of the country.

“We are lucky that we are in a good area.”

There were 40 listings nationally for tobacco seeds and tobacco plants on Trade Me on Friday, including a listing for tobacco seeds posted by a Nelson resident.

Marlborough police community constable Russell Smith said he had not heard of anyone attempting to grow their own tobacco in Marlborough.

The type of people who were committed enough to grow their own tobacco were unlikely to be the ones who were priced out of buying cigarettes, Smith said.

Crime around stealing tobacco products was at a low level in Marlborough, Smith said.

Marlborough Primary Health Organisation community health services manager Amaroa Katu​ said as the price of cigarettes continued to rise, there was a national increase in the number of people who were seeking support to quit smoking.

“Raising the cost is one of the leading factors for people to quit smoking or reduce smoking.”

There would be some people who would continue to smoke regardless of how high the price of cigarettes rose because of the extent of their addiction, Katu said.

Staff at Marlborough general practices could provide support for patients to stop smoking, while there was a Quit Coach based at Wairau Hospital.

There were also two separate programmes encouraging people to quit smoking that were targeted at Maori and Pacific populations in Marlborough.

Wairau Bar resident Jason Kingi, who has smoked for the past 20 years, said he was unsure whether increasing the cost of tobacco products would stop people from smoking.

“I think a lot of people are so addicted that their families will go without.

“Every time they hike the price they say they want people to give up but it actually just makes poor families poorer.”

The results of the New Zealand Health Survey for 2011-2013 show 16.7 per cent of Marlborough residents were smokers.

The 10 per cent tax rise on tobacco will raise an extra $425 million in tax revenue for the Government over the next four years.

World No Tobacco Day 2016: WHO urges for plain packaging of tobacco products

May 29th, 2016
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http://www.merinews.com/article/world-no-tobacco-day-2016-who-urges-for-plain-packaging-of-tobacco-products/15916623.shtml

According to the World Health Organization, for this year’s World No Tobacco Day on May 31, various countries have been called upon ‘to get ready for plain (standardized) packaging’ of tobacco products.

“Plain packaging refers to “measures to restrict or prohibit the use of logos, colours, brand images or promotional information on packaging other than brand names and product names displayed in a standard colour and font style,” stated WHO.

It added that the plain packaging was an important demand reduction measure since it ‘reduces the attractiveness of tobacco products, restricts use of tobacco packaging as a form of tobacco advertising and promotion, limits misleading packaging and labelling, and increases the effectiveness of health warning’.

Every year, WHO recognizes individuals or organizations in each of the six WHO Regions for their accomplishments in the area of tobacco control. This recognition takes the form of WHO Director-General Special Recognition Awards, World No Tobacco Day Awards, and in 2016, two WHO Director-General’s Special Recognition Certificates.

The recipients of this year’s most noteworthy awards called ‘WHO Director-General Special Awards’ are Marisol Touraine, Minister of Social Affairs and Health, France; and Jane Ellison MP, Member of Parliament for Battersea, and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, stated the WHO on its website.

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