Japan Tobacco Profit Rises 16%

Japan Tobacco Inc is a largest tobacco maker in Asia. Recently it announced about first-quarter profit rise by 16%. This is connected to cigarettes price increases and the weaker yen enhanced overseas income. The company representatives told about pure income that was 98.1 billion yen for the 3 months (April, May June). It shows an

War on tobacco worthy, but must not be rushed

IT was not so long ago that secondary school children were allowed to smoke in many of the more "advanced" schools around the country. Staff rooms were also often full of teachers puffing on pipes and cigarettes as pupils regularly entered and left.

Today, the idea of a 17-year-old taking a puff between classes seems as strange as quill pens or the regular floggings that were a feature of the Irish educational system for far too long. The world changes, and tobacco smokers have had to endure more change than most as their habit has moved from socially acceptable to pariah status.

The Government's latest plans to outlaw smoking anywhere in secondary school grounds and near creche facilities is another step in a long-term strategy to "de-normalise" smoking and ensure that fewer than one person in 20 smokes by 2025.

That is a noble objective, but like many others it is one to be pursued carefully.

The prohibition of alcohol in the United States during the 1920s did little more than cement the position of criminal gangs, and serves as a salutary warning. There is already plenty of evidence that high taxes in Ireland are a boon for crooks while also turning many otherwise law-abiding citizens into criminals.

There is also the question of equity. Many ordinary smokers deeply resent their outlaw status and insist, not without reason, that their behaviour is likely to be less lethal to others than speeding drivers or alcohol.

That is all true, but the truth is that most smokers wish they could kick the habit, and hundreds of thousands of smokers have done just that thanks to the policy of de-normalising smoking. The gradual escalation of this policy will undoubtedly save more people from premature death while also saving them money.

Health Minister James Reilly has had a mixed tenure in office, but he cannot be faulted for his commitment to fighting tobacco and the tobacco industry. He must now set himself measurable targets so he knows whether he really is on track with this grand ambition.

People Drive to Iowa to Buy Cigarettes

Cigarette taxes increase has made many people travel to Iowa to buy cigarettes that are cheaper than in their state The cigarette tax increase that took place this month has different effects on smokers. Reports of quitting smoking programs show that there were increased numbers of people who want to quit. However, those who want

Supreme Court of India Restricts Tobacco Advertising

The Supreme Court of India has canceled a lower court’s suspension of a law regulating the tobacco products advertising. The Supreme Court took a potentiality at Government saying it did nothing to cancel the law since it was issued in 2005. In 2003 the Indian parliament adopted an anti-tobacco law. Thus in 2004 were introduced

Now Cameron aide Lynton Crosby’s links to fracking industry are explored

David Cameron came under renewed pressure to sack his party’s elections adviser Lynton Crosby on Sunday night as environmental activists expressed concern about his links to the fracking industry.

Mr Crosby’s lobbying firm, Crosby Textor, represents the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, an oil and gas lobby group campaigning aggressively for fracking. The association’s chief operating officer, Stedman Ellis, has made headlines in recent months for his outspoken criticism of anti-fracking campaigners, telling one Australian paper: “The opportunity provided by shale gas is too important to be jeopardised by political scare campaigns run by activist groups.”

The association’s members include Dart, the company behind coal-bed methane extraction in Scotland, which holds a fracking licence. George Osborne announced tax breaks for the oil and gas industry just weeks after Mr Crosby’s appointment as a Conservative adviser was announced.

Labour will attempt tomorrow to exploit the Tories’ discomfort over their links to Lynton Crosby with a series of amendments to Coalition plans to bring in a statutory register of lobbyists.

The moves follow the disclosure that Mr Crosby’s company is employed by the tobacco giant Philip Morris, the manufacturer of Marlboro cigarettes. Questions have been asked about his role in the decision to shelve Government plans to require tobacco products to be sold in plain packaging.

Labour claimed yesterday that Mr Crosby chaired a meeting last year at which tobacco industry executives discussed how to block plans to force cigarettes to be sold in plain packets. The party alleged the session took place before Christmas, shortly before Mr Crosby was recruited to advise the Conservatives on election strategy.  Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said yesterday: “This is beginning to stink as bad as an old ashtray.”

Tobacco Companies Told British Government It Was Too Early To Tell If Plain Cigarette Packs Would Work

A leading tobacco company in the UK told the Government that it hurried up with conclusion that selling cigarettes in plain packages would keep people from smoking. Several months before ministers used the same argument. There were held a meeting on which participated authorities from Department of Health and representatives of Philip Morris International, the

Price Effects on Quitting Smoking Motivation

Rising cost of cigarettes in the USA is associated with increases in quitiing smoking. However, little is known about this connection at the level of individual smokers. The major aim of the study on this issue was to put on a behavioural economic approach to the relationship between the price of cigarettes and the likelihood

Warnings on Cigarette Packs in Australia

 Australia has been out in front in requiring graphic imagery on tobacco labels. European Union ministers agreed last month on new rules that would require a health warning that would combine pictures and text and cover 65 percent of the front and back of all cigarette packs, up from 40 percent. The rules require approval by the European Parliament.

In the United States, a 2009 law empowered the Food and Drug Administration to require large graphic and text warnings on the top half of the front and back of cigarette packs. But as federal courts have wrestled with the details of that law in challenges by the tobacco industry, the F.D.A. has not yet imposed a final set of labeling requirements.

Tobacco is taxed heavily in Australia, where smokers spend about 16 Australian dollars, or $14.70, for a pack of cigarettes. Partly as a result, smoking rates in Australia have declined. Last year, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 20.4 percent of adult men were smokers and 16.3 percent of adult women smoked.

In the United States, the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the smoking rate was 21.5 percent among adult men and 17.3 percent for adult women.

Smoking is also banned in nearly all enclosed public spaces in Australia, including restaurants, bars, sporting facilities and places of business.

Cigarette Tax Affects Retailers

E-Cig World reported recently that their business in Princeton yet had not felt the effects of cigarettes tax increase in Minnesota which now is $1.60 per pack. The new law came into action on July 1. However, other e-cigs businesses say they were affected in a big way. These are E-Cig Healthy Living and Prince