2/96 Tobacco News

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TOBACCO NEWS February, 1996


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HEALTH

Medicare Refuses Emphysema Surgery Payments

Feb. 3, 1996. Medicare has cut off payments for a surgical treatment that helps emphysema sufferers breathe easier, according to the AP's Lauran Neergaard. While the treatment--called lung reduction surgery--has not been proven to extend their lives, it does greatly affect the quality of them.

While there has been no national policy, local Medicare regions with the exception of Minnesota have paid for the $18,000-$25,000 procedure for the last 3 years, but now the Health Care Financing Administration has termed the operation "experimental," and cut off coverage for it as of Jan. 1, 1996. The cut-off will last until the procedure is investigated by HCFA, which could take a year. HCFA may institute a program for the surgery to be performed on the most ill patients if done under strict conditions, according to Neergaard.

The procedure was first performed in the late 50s, then dropped; it has recently been resuscitated by Dr. Joel Cooper of Washington University, who is operating on his most serious patients for free. The surgery, which requires the patient to undergo a 6-week to 6-month training course before undergoing it, involves cutting away 20-30% of the most damaged lung tissue, leaving behind a smaller lung, but one with significantly more room to breathe.

Patients undergoing the procedure say it has given them the ability to do normal things like brushing their own teeth, or driving a car.

"It gave me two and a half years of quality life that I wouldn't have had," said one. "I was playing golf, doing normal things."

FEDERAL

Author Says CRS Report Doesn't Invalidate EPA Conclusions

Waterloo, Ontario. Feb. 8, 1996. Stephen Redhead, one of the two authors of the Congressional Research Report on Environmental Tobacco Smoke, has said his report is being widely misinterpreted. He called claims that there is little data about ETS to support indoor smoking bans "wild statements."

Redhead said he and his co-author came to no firm conclusions about the levels of ETS which cause cancer.

Redhead was quoted in "Second-hand Smoke Study Misused, Scientist Says," in the Waterloo (Ontario) Record of Feb. 8, 1996.

LOCAL

Wyden Wins Oregon Senate Race

Portland, OR. February 1, 1996. Tobacco control advocate and Democratic Rep. Ron Wyden pulled off an upset victory by narrowly winning the seat once occupied by ex-Sen. Bob Packwood.

The race narrows the Republican margin in the Senate to 53-47.

The race was closely watched nationally both for being the first mail-in election, and for its test of voters' political leanings. Wyden had brought in President Clinton for a last-minute endorsement.

Observers, however, felt the race was decided on local issues and matters of style.

Wyden will serve out Packwood's term and face reelection in 1998.

Meanwhile, another Democratic Representative, tobacco proponent Charlie Rose (D-NC) has said he will not run for re-election this year. Rose has fought for his tobacco-growing and manufacturing constituents since he was first elected in 1972.

"My political ambition went out the door when Newt Gingrich's came in," he said. "We (Democrats) clearly have been spoiled by being in the majority . . . "

"It's a matter of having an inner compass that lets you know when it's time to turn it over to someone else," he said. "I just got to thinking that it's time at 56 years young to see if I can be of service to my country in some other way."

INTERNATIONAL

POLAND: Foreign Tobacco Cos. Divide the Spoils

Philip Morris Buys Top Company; British, German, French companies also buying.

February 1, 1996. Poland's privatization program is moving ahead in a series of wildly complex cash deals, as foreign companies divide up the tobacco industry in Europe's third largest cigarette market.

Philip Morris has agreed to buy 1/3 of Poland's dominant tobacco company, ZPT Krakow, the Privatization Ministry announced this week.

Philip Morris will pay $227 million for 33% of Zaklady Przemyslu Tytoniowego w Krakowie SA plant in Krakow. PM will get an additional 32% of if it invests $145 million in the plant over 3 years.

And just a few days after the Philip Morris announcement, the Privatization Ministry said Germany's tobacco giant Reemtsma has bought a large stake in Poland's 2nd largest tobacco producer.

Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken GmbH paid $130 million for 33% of WWT Poznan SA. Reemstma will get an additional 32% of the company if it invests an additional $45 million in the plant over 3 years.

Reemstma has agreed to buy 40% of its tobacco from the Polish market.

British tobacco giant BAT and French tobacco company SEITA bought into smaller Polish firms in late 1995.

Employee benefits, including shares in the company, and support for Polish tobacco growers were important aspects to these transactions.

MOROCCO Bans Smoking, Ads

February 3, 1996. Morocco, a country of 28 million people, has banned public smoking and tobacco ads. The law, which was passed by Parliament last June and went into effect this Saturday, also requires cigarette packs to carry health warnings along with tar and nicotine levels.

"This decision aims at protecting public health from negative effects of tobacco," a statement by the Health Ministry read, according to Reuters.

Penalties have not been established yet.

AUSTRALIA: TOB CO. URGES PROOF-OF-AGE CARDS

Sydney, Australia. Feb. 1, 1996. Tobacco company WD & HO Wills is urging federal and state governments to issue proof-of-age cards to prevent youth purchases of tobacco. A Wills spokesperson said resellers--especially large chains--are enthusiastic about the cards. So far, only the state of New South Wales has instituted the program, according to the Australian AP.

JAPAN: JT Rises on AIDS Drug News

Tokyo, Japan. Feb. 2, 1996. Shares of Japan Tobacco Inc. have risen sharply recently. Analysts believe the rise is due to the announcement last month of Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s encouraging results in a trial of its anti-HIV drug Viracept.

Agouron, whose stock has also risen sharply since it reported results of a 4-week pilot Phase II study, is developing the drug with JT's pharmaceutical division.

LAWSUITS

Class Action Status granted in Florida

Miami, FL. February 2, 1996. A Florida appeals court has granted class action status to all Florida smokers who are addicted to tobacco, or who have suffered harm from smoking.

The suit, brought by 6 people, including a man who smoked his last cigarette while being wheeled to the operating room to have his larynx removed in 1984, was certified as a class action by the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Miami. The decision upheld a Miami judge's ruling, and only applies to Florida smokers. The suit claims that tobacco companies hid their knowledge of nicotine's addictiveness.

The case has some similarities to Florida's own Medicaid lawsuit, which may go to trial in 1997, but "It has absolute zero to do with the state's case," said attorney Rosenblatt. "This is a private legal class action in which any Florida resident who has suffered from the effects of smoking can enter."

Philip Morris said it is seeking a rehearing before the court, and was prepared to take the case to the Florida Supreme Court.

Business analysts quoted by Reuters did not expect the ruling to have an effect on the industry.

Most echoed John Maxwell of Wheat First Butcher & Singer, who said, "All these [class action and state] cases will move ahead, but sooner or later they will die."

PEOPLE

Pat Robertson: Ban Cigarettes

February 27, 1996. Last night on the Christian Broadcasting Network, television evangelist Pat Robertson called for an end to cigarette sale and production in the US. Robertson made the statement after a "Newswatch" segment on teen cigarette use. Robertson said tobacco companies should be given special funding to ease their transition out of the tobacco business. Until this could be effected, he said, cigarette taxes should be raised dramatically. He also said he supported the attorneys general of several states who are suing tobacco companies for health care costs.

When reminded by a co-host of his personal friendship with Mississippi Governor Kirk Fordice, who is suing his own attorney general over just this kind of "medicaid" suit, the staunch Republican supporter and founder of the Christian Coalition smiled, and confirmed his friendship with Fordice--and with North Carolina's Jesse Helms and Virginia's Thomas Bliley. He commended Helms and Bliley for ably representing their tobacco constituents. "But it makes you wonder," he said.

OBIT: Audrey Meadows, 71, "Honeymooner"; Lung Cancer Death Sparks Sister's Anti-smoking Campaign

Los Angeles, CA. Feb.3, 1996. Audrey Meadows, the actress who played Jackie Gleason's wife in the much-beloved 1950s TV series, "The Honeymooners," died today of lung cancer.

Her sister, the actress Jayne Meadows, who is currently in the TV program "High Society," said she would launch an anti-smoking campaign. Audrey, who had been battling the illness for a year but had hidden the fact from her family, had been a chain-smoker.

Jayne Meadows is married to comedian Steve Allen, who in the 1980s wrote a book called, "The Passionate Anti-smoker's Bill of Rights."

THE FUNNY PAGES

2/15/96. Jay Leno on Dr. Kervorkian's attorney:

He said Dr. Kervorkian performs a vital role in society. Which is true. You know, if Dr. Kervorkian is ever put out of business, the only one carrying on his work will be, I guess, Philip Morris.