Scotland Plans to Introduce Plain Packs for Cigarettes

A new study suggests that hundreds of shops in Scotland will be forced to close and thousands jobs will be lost if the Scottish Government will introduce plain box packaging for cigarettes. A paper by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), supported by tobacco giant Philip Morris which produces Marlboro cigarettes, states that

Feds grant $1.5 million to help women quit smoking in Brazil

The federal government granted a Brazilian-born researcher at the University of Alabama a 5-year, $1.5 million grant to help women quit smoking in her native country, Judicial Watch reported.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) approved Isabel Scarinci’s grant in order to better understand “women and their tobacco-related issues” in the South American country, specifically in Miss Scarinci’s hometown of Parana,” the report said.

In the last two years alone, Miss Scarinci has received more than $560,000 for the initiative, with the goal being to ultimately “reduce tobacco use and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke among women in Parana.”

“Although, historically, tobacco use among women in developing countries, particularly Latin America, has been relatively low as compared to men, the smoking epidemic is rapidly spreading to women in developing countries, and these three Southern states have the highest prevalence of women smokers in the country,” the project states.

“An understanding of women and their tobacco-related issues, as well as the need for the development of gender-relevant tobacco control efforts, have been highlighted as priorities in landmark guiding documents published in the past few years.”

South Africa Actively Fights Smoking

In South Africa governemnt will continue to actively fight smoking, said this week Aaron Motsoaledi, the Health Minister. He said that there is no study that proves that tobacco usage is healthy, therefore tobacco usage should be limited as much as possible. Motsoaledi made these declarations during his speech in Pretoria at the release of

Menthols Account for 5% of the EU Cigarette Market

A ban on "slim" cigarettes that was backed by the parliament but not by the national governments, which chose instead to ban slim cigarette packaging designed by cigarette makers to look like lipstick or perfume in an effort to appeal to younger women.

Also, the parliament's version of the legislation would require that 75% of the surface area of cigarette packaging contain pictorial health warnings. The version backed by national governments calls for just 65% of cigarette packaging to contain the warnings.

Menthols account for about 5% of the EU cigarette market and slim cigarettes about 6%, according to the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.

"We still believe that elements of the…proposal, such as enlarged health warnings and a ban on various products consumed by many millions of adults, remain disproportionate; are unlikely to succeed in addressing public health objectives; and potentially breach European Union Law," a British American Tobacco spokesman said.

Packaging restrictions aren't the most effective measures to cut smoking, said Rey Wium, a tobacco industry analyst at Renaissance Capital in London. Indoor smoking bans have a bigger impact, he said.

"The best way of curbing smoking is through excise tax increases," Mr. Wium said. "The biggest risk to the companies is abnormal, or 'shock' excise tax increases, substantially above inflation."

"The tobacco industry has been operating in a dark environment for quite some time," he added. "I don't think this European directive will make life extraordinarily different for them."

With the exception of menthol, flavored cigarettes are already banned in the U.S. Mitch Zeller, the FDA's tobacco czar, said in an interview last month the federal agency is "getting closer'' to completing its review of scientific studies on menthol's public health impact. Menthol represents about 30% of the U.S. cigarette market and antismoking groups argue the mint flavoring masks the harsh taste of cigarettes, making it easier to start and tougher to quit. Most industry observers don't expect an outright U.S. ban any time soon, however.

The FDA aims to propose regulations by October that would treat e-cigarettes as tobacco products. In 2011 a U.S. court slapped down an earlier government attempt to regulate them as drug devices, which would have required new products to go through a lengthy approval process. Mr. Zeller recently described the fast-growing e-cigarette industry as "the wild, wild West'' but most scientists also believe e-cigarettes are less harmful than traditional smokes.

The FDA had planned to introduce graphic warning labels for cigarette packs last year but a U.S. court ruled the labels—which would have included pictures of diseased lungs and a dead body—violated the tobacco industry's constitutional right to free speech.

One issue policy makers around the world also have to weigh is how proposed regulations affect tax revenue and illicit trade.

A sizable black market has already taken root in the EU, at least partly in response to tobacco taxes. EU consumption fell 5.7% to 593 billion cigarettes last year, but counterfeit and contraband sales rose 0.4% to 65.5 billion cigarettes, KPMG estimated in a recent report.

Philip Morris International had a 38% cigarette market share in the EU last year, followed by British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco, which each had 21%, according to Citi Research.

New Signs Inform About Coming Smoking Ban at Cumberland County

Dozens of new blue signs which inform smokers about smoking ban were installed last week in Cumberland County. Starting from January 1 a number of county properties that will be going smoke-free. Donnie Robertson, the facilities management coordinator at Health Department, said that he didn’t want to make them red because the final signs will

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.