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March 15th, 2017:

Health groups ask FDA to ban candy-flavoured e-liquids

Candy- and fruit-flavoured tobacco products including e-cigarettes and cigars are luring youth into nicotine addiction, according to a report sponsored by leading health organisations that asks they be banned.

http://www.tobaccojournal.com/Health_groups_ask_FDA_to_ban_candy-flavoured_e-liquids.54145.0.html

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorities should ban all flavoured tobacco products, says the report issued by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association and American Lung Association.

“Gummy bear, cotton candy, peanut butter cup, cookies ‘n cream and pop rocks for e-cigarettes and chocolate, wild berry, watermelon, lemonade and cherry dynamite for cigars,” are some of the flavours targeted in the report.

Indonesia tobacco bill would fire up output despite health fears

Indonesia’s parliament has proposed a draft law that could lead to a sharp increase in tobacco output in a country that is already a top producer with one of the heaviest rates of smoking in the world.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-indonesia-tobacco-idUKKBN16M1FK

Indonesia’s tobacco industry employs millions of workers and contributes almost 10 percent to government revenues through taxes, but has faced a backlash from the health ministry and anti-smoking organizations.

Health Minister Nila Moeloek said her ministry “definitely” opposes the tobacco bill as it has the responsibility to “safeguard the health of the people”.

The bill, which covers production, distribution and excise taxes, has to be approved by President Joko Widodo.

Indonesia’s industry minister, Airlangga Hartarto, said the government has to assess how the tobacco bill would affect existing regulations for the industry.

Firman Subagyo, the parliament member who initiated the bill, played down health concerns, saying tobacco is a “strategic” commodity that can increase the prosperity of Indonesian farmers and state revenues.

“Health should not be used as an excuse to destroy people’s livelihood,” Subagyo, who comes from Indonesia’s second-biggest political party, Golkar, said in an interview on Wednesday.

Under the draft law, manufacturers of tobacco products have to use locally sourced tobacco for at least 80 percent of their production, while imports of ready-to-use cigarettes may be subject to an excise tax of 200 percent.

‘RATIONAL PRICING’

Abdus Setiawan, a board member at the Indonesia Tobacco Growers’ Association, said he welcomed the draft law as it could help to protect farmers. But an increase in production should be balanced with “rational pricing”, he said.

Indonesia was the world’s fourth-biggest cigarette producer with an output of 269.2 billion sticks in 2015, according to the latest data from research firm Euromonitor International. The market was valued at 231.3 trillion rupiah (£14.20 billion).

Nearly two-thirds of men are smokers in Indonesia, where an average pack of cigarettes costs less than $2.

Major cigarette companies operating in the country include Phillip Morris-controlled PT Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna Tbk, Djarum Group and PT Gudang Garam Tbk.

Sampoerna, through its tobacco suppliers, has partnered with about 27,000 tobacco farmers in Indonesia and gets almost three-quarters of its tobacco domestically, said Elvira Lianita, Sampoerna’s head of fiscal affairs and communications.

However, the industry’s total tobacco requirements have outpaced the domestic growth in tobacco output, Lianita said. Restricting access to raw materials through import regulations or taxes would disrupt the “overall economic stability”, she said.

“Partnership programs, not risky restrictions, would be the solution to bridging this gap and increasing farmer prosperity,” she added.

Gudang Garam and Djarum declined to comment.

(Reporting by Eveline Danubrata and Agustinus Beo Da Costa; Additional reporting by Cindy Silviana and Jakarta Newsroom; Editing by Ed Davies and Bill Tarrant)

Workers urged to ask smokers to stop smoking in their homes during visits as part of East Cambs District Council’s new anti-smoking policy

Tough new anti smoking rules within East Cambridgeshire Council – including a ban on electronic cigarettes and making workers get their manager’s permission for a smoking break- are ready to be implemented.

http://www.elystandard.co.uk/news/workers_urged_to_ask_smokers_to_stop_smoking_in_their_homes_during_visits_as_part_of_east_cambs_district_council_s_new_anti_smoking_policy_1_4932524

With two people a week in the district dying from smoking related diseases, the council is determined it will lead by example with its compulsory ‘smoking at work’ policy.

Spencer Clark, open spaces and facilities manager, will tell the regulatory and support services committee the refreshed policy supports the council’s duty of care.

“This smoking policy will apply to all staff, elected members, visitors, contractors and others who enter any premises or vehicles used as workplaces by the council,” he says.

“The legislation applies to all council enclosed buildings, related areas and council owned vehicles”.

Mr Clark said the smoke free workplace policy is to “guarantee a healthy working environment” and protect the current and future health of staff members and the public.

Any council employee found breaching the new guidelines will face disciplinary action.

It also asks employees who visit smokers in their homes as part of their duties to ask them to consider refraining from smoking. Managers may also be asked to complete risk assessments before visits to protect employees from exposure to second-hand smoke.

Smoking in workers’ private vehicles is also strongly discouraged and those workers who do smoke must do so off-site and must get their line manager’s permission,

All visitors, contractors and deliverers must also abide by the new policy.

All premises owned and occupied by the council – including staff car parks – will be covered by the smoking ban. Those buildings owned by the council – such as E-Space North and South – which have multi tenanted offices will also be brought into the non smoking in the grounds policy.

The policy is in line with the council’s aim to reduce the number of smoke-related deaths in the district and “guarantee the right of everyone to breathe in air free of tobacco smoke.”

Statistics from Public Health England have revealed that there were 97 smoke-related deaths in East Cambridgeshire in 2016.

* Portley Hill depot, Littleport, is the only council owned property that will be allowed to retain a designated smoking area.

Fewer Scots are choosing to smoke – but the costs of the habit remain high

National No Smoking Day passed last week with the now routine announcements from health chiefs welcoming the fact that fewer adults are choosing to light up.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/health/fewer-scots-are-choosing-to-smoke-but-the-costs-of-the-habit-remain-high-1-4392433

But the costs of the habit remain high and ensure that neither the Westminster or Holyrood governments will be declaring victory in their battle to stub it out.

Smoking remains the primary ­preventable cause of ill-health, disability and premature death in Scotland.

Each year tobacco use is associated with around 128,000 hospital admissions and more than 10,000 smoking-attributable deaths north of the border.

The average smoker in Scotland spends £1,500 each year on tobacco – and significantly more people in our poorest communities spend at this level compared to our most affluent.

Prevalence rates in Scotland have fallen from around 28 per cent in 2003 to just under 21 per cent in 2015. Among 13-year-olds and 15-year-olds, smoking rates have fallen steadily to their lowest ever levels – two per cent and seven per cent respectively.

“We’ve had ten years of decisive action which has undoubtedly improved our nation’s health – but there is still more to be done,” said public health minister Aileen Campbell. “As a result of our Take it Right Outside campaigns, reported exposure to second-hand smoke in the home among children under 16 has halved between 2013 and 2015 from over 11 per cent to six per cent.

“In December 2016 it became ­illegal to smoke in cars where children are present – and later this year, we will restrict the sale and availability of e-cigarettes to under-18s and introduce an offence for smoking near hospital buildings.

“We believe that by working together, and with the public’s ­support, we can achieve our goal of creating a tobacco-free generation by 2034.”

Data published this month by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that 17.2 per cent of adults across the UK smoked in 2015 – the lowest level since records began in 1974.

Figures from 2015 also showed the highest level of so-called quitters in more than four decades.

UN agency shelves vote on ties with Big Tobacco

The governing body of the International Labor Organization, which has taken millions of dollars in funding from Big Tobacco, has shelved a decision about whether to cut ties with the industry.

http://cumberlink.com/business/un-agency-shelves-vote-on-ties-with-big-tobacco/article_e5b47bd9-0f4a-5c55-8bff-c1043cb174c9.html

The ILO body voted Wednesday to delay until November a decision about whether to join other U.N. agencies that have pledged to fight tobacco-industry influence in policymaking.

The Geneva-based body is trying to calibrate its mandate to help ensure proper working conditions, particularly in an industry linked to child labor, amid a broader U.N. fight against the harmful health effects of tobacco use.

ILO has received over $15 million through two partnerships that aim to fight child labor in the industry with Japan Tobacco International and nonprofit group linked to some of the world’s biggest tobacco companies.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Indonesia’s Child Tobacco Workers in Peril

In the next week, Indonesian President Joko (“Jokowi”) Widodo will decide whether to encourage parliament to move forward with a draft tobacco bill aimed at increasing domestic tobacco production. The bill would gut many important existing health regulations, like the requirement that companies include a health warning with a picture on the label of tobacco products.

Those are troubling proposals given that millions of children in Indonesia start smoking each year, and that 40 million more are “passive smokers” from secondhand smoke. The Indonesian Ministry of Health, 17 prominent health organizations, and many others have denounced the measure as an attempt to undermine Indonesia’s already weak tobacco control laws. Jokowi should reject the bill.

But the draft bill is not the only tobacco policy issue awaiting action by the Jokowi administration. Each year in Indonesia, thousands of children, some just 8 years old, work in hazardous conditions producing tobacco that ends up in products marketed and sold by huge Indonesian and multinational tobacco companies.

My colleagues and I published a Human Rights Watch report documenting hazardous child labor on Indonesian tobacco farms last May. Since then, another tobacco season has come and gone, but the child workers behind Indonesia’s tobacco industry remain unprotected.

We interviewed 132 children who worked on tobacco farms in four of Indonesia’s biggest tobacco-producing provinces. We found that child workers are exposed to nicotine and pesticides—toxins that can be especially harmful to children who are still growing and developing. Half the children we interviewed had experienced nausea, vomiting, headaches, or dizziness while they worked. Those symptoms are consistent with acute nicotine poisoning, which happens when workers handle tobacco plants and absorb nicotine through their skin. Many children said they also mixed and sprayed toxic chemicals on the plants with no protective equipment, and some became violently ill afterward.

The families we interviewed did not intentionally put their children in harm’s way. They were committed to helping their children get an education so they could have a better future.

Indeed, most of the children we interviewed attended school and worked in tobacco farming only outside of school hours.

But direct contact with tobacco in any form is hazardous work for children because of the nicotine in the leaves. Most of the families we spoke with had never received comprehensive information about the hazards for children of work on tobacco farms, so they did not know the risks to their children.

We urged the Jokowi government to take action to protect children from danger in tobacco fields. We called on the Health Ministry to work with other ministries to develop a public education campaign to raise awareness of the dangers to children of work on tobacco farms. In recent meetings with Human Rights Watch, government officials have said they need additional support and resources to get the campaign underway this year.

Indonesia already prohibits children under 18 from work “with harmful chemical substances.” The Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration should explicitly prohibit children from working in direct contact with tobacco in any form and increase labor enforcement efforts to make sure government inspectors check for workers’ safety, especially on small tobacco farms where children might be in danger.

In our meetings with government officials, we have heard many times that the tobacco industry is powerful in Indonesia, and that it is difficult to achieve policy changes the industry opposes. Surely eliminating child labor in tobacco farming is an issue tobacco companies also want to address.

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights make clear that companies have responsibilities for addressing human rights abuses in their supply chains. We shared our findings with the largest tobacco companies operating in Indonesia—Djarum, Gudang Garam, Philip Morris International (which owns Sampoerna), British American Tobacco (which owns Bentoel), and others. The large multinational tobacco companies have policies to prevent children from doing the most dangerous tasks on tobacco farms, but their policies are not strong enough, and they should do more to monitor for child labor when they buy Indonesian tobacco on the open market through traders.

The largest Indonesian companies—Djarum and Gudang Garam—do not appear to be taking any steps to prevent or address child labor in their supply chains. They have never responded to our many requests for information and meetings, and they do not make any information publicly available about their child labor policies.

These companies should not be profiting off the backs of Indonesian child workers.

Two months from now, the next tobacco-growing season will be underway, and children will be heading to the fields again. The controversy around the draft tobacco bill likely will not be resolved by then. But with decisive action, the Jokowi administration and tobacco companies could take steps to protect children from dangerous work in tobacco fields. Their futures depend on it.

$127 Billion Australian Manager Dumps Tobacco, Weapons Investing

Australia’s largest publicly traded wealth manager is ditching stock and debt investments in companies with ties to tobacco, cluster munitions and land mines, in the latest push for ethical investing in the nation.

AMP Capital Investors, the investment management arm of AMP Ltd., is dumping about A$440 million ($338 million) worth of investments in tobacco manufacturing-related companies and about A$130 million in land mine and cluster munition manufacturers. The moves come as AMP Capital rolls out a new decision- making framework across its A$165 billion investment portfolio, the wealth manager said in a March 16 statement.

“We are not prepared to deliver investment returns to customers at any cost to society,” AMP Capital Chief Executive Officer Adam Tindall said in the statement. “AMP Capital has a long-term focus on responsible investing supported by an integrated approach to considering ESG factors across all asset classes.”

Growing Demand

The money manager’s decision comes amid burgeoning demand for ethical investments in Australia’s A$2.2 trillion retirement savings pool. Assets at funds that screen out investments that don’t meet ethical investing criteria grew by 16 percent to A$24.7 billion in 2015-16, according to the Responsible Investment Association Australasia.

AMP, which also controls insurance and banking businesses Down Under, will implement a new framework that considers harm as well as “denial of humanity” when determining investment decisions. Tobacco manufacturers were culled under the framework because their products were addictive, while cluster munitions and biological weapons would “indiscriminately kill through normal use,” the company said.

The sales of the stakes will occur progressively throughout 2017, AMP said in the statement. The company engaged the help of consulting group, The Ethics Centre, to create its ethical investing framework, according to the statement.

“AMP Capital still firmly believes in company engagement in order to effect meaningful change,” Tindall said. “In the case of tobacco, cluster munitions, land mines, biological and chemical weapons manufacturers, however, no engagement can override the inherent dangers involved with their products.”