Tobacco.org

• Awareness, protests cut tobacco cultivation in southwestern districts 

Tobacco cultivation in seven southwestern districts which got a big boost several years ago is declining due to awareness about its harmful effect on soil and health following protests and campaign and also because of farmers' need to grow more food.

Farmers now say its cultivation decreases fertility and deposits harmful ingredients in soil.

According to sources in the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and officials of now defunct Tobacco Development Board (TDB), tobacco cultivation declined to 14000 hectares in the areas in the current season from last year's 17000 hectares. .. .

The seven districts known for tobacco cultivation are Kushtia, Meherpur, Jhenidah, Chuadanga, Magura, Jessore and Rajbari.

Tobacco cultivation increased in the country mainly at the behwest of cigarette and Bidi companies. Its main buyers were 17 companies including multinational British American Tobacco (BAT. . . .

According to sources, Bidi and cigarette companies have been using various 'unhealthy' techniques to lure farmers into tobacco farming for long. They provide interest-free loans, seeds, fertilisers, technical support and buy back facilities to farmers.

These companies have a large number of field workers to do the job. They lure farmers into tobacco cultivation, and get 'tips' from companies for 'good performance'.

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Drive to wean schoolkids away from tobacco 

School-going children in West Bengal are more prone to get addicted to tobacco products. Thanks to the lack of awareness among people in these parts about the dangers of tobacco use.

This was revealed by a voluntary organisation, West Bengal Voluntary Health Association (WBVHA) this afternoon who have been engaged by the Union health ministry to spread awareness about the ill-effects of tobacco.

Mr Tarun Kumar Maity, project manager (Tobacco Control Programme) of WBVHA and a member of Advocacy Forum for Tobacco Control said: “When we visited a few schools in the districts of West Bengal, we discovered a large number of children are addicted to tobacco products and bidi was widely used. We even found school student bunking classes and smoking bidis at a hideout close to the school.”

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India in the grip of a smoking epidemic: study 

India is in the grip of a smoking epidemic likely to cause nearly a million deaths a year by 2010, according to a study released on Thursday.

One in five of all male deaths and one in 20 of all female deaths between the ages of 30 and 69 will be caused by smoking, said the study. It was conducted by a team of doctors and scientists from India, Canada and Britain and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"The results… surprised us, because smokers in India start later in life and smoke fewer cigarettes or 'bidis' than those in Europe or America, but the risks are as extreme as in the West," said Prabhat Jha of the Centre for Global Health Research at the University of Toronto, the lead author.

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THAPAR: The right to frighten 

When you think of the number of times I’ve criticised Anbumani Ramadoss — and usually pretty severely — for seeking to ban smoking or prohibit smoking in films, you might wonder why today I’m writing to support his proposal to force cigarette and bidi manufacturers to carry warning pictures and symbols on their packets. Am I being contradictory? Not at all. . . .

When Britain and Ireland banned smoking in public places, it wasn’t an easy decision to take — and I, for one, did not approve — but few doubted that from a national health perspective it made sense. It wasn’t a ban on smoking but a huge extension of the areas where you cannot smoke. After initial grumbling, the British and the Irish accepted. Like bitter medicine, they knew it’s for their good. Do our politicians have the strength to act similarly?

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Prevalence of alternative forms of tobacco use in a population of young adult military recruits 

Recent evidence suggests that the popularity of certain alternative forms of tobacco may be increasing in adolescents. Little is known, however, about the use of these products among young adults. This study examined the use of alternative tobacco products including bidis, cigars, kreteks (clove cigarettes), pipes, and smokeless tobacco in a large sample of young adult military recruits (N = 31 107). Overall, 18.5% of participants were using some form of alternative tobacco product prior to entry into Basic Military Training. Results revealed a relatively high prevalence of cigar (12.3%) and smokeless tobacco use (6.7%). Use of other products was less common, including 1.1% for pipes, 2.0% for bidis, and 3.0% for kreteks. With the exception of kreteks, which did not differ by gender, the prevalence of use of alternative tobacco products was greater for males than for females (p < .001). Patterns of use also differed according to other demographic characteristics including race, ethnicity, age, and income. Implications for surveillance and tobacco control efforts are discussed.

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Gain Insight In To The Tobacco Product Manufacturing Industry In The U.S. And Its Foreign Trade 

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c65915) has announced the addition of "Tobacco Product Manufacturing Industry In The U.S. And Its Foreign Trade (1996-2008)" to their offering.

This industry report focuses upon the Other Tobacco Product Manufacturing industry. This U.S. industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing tobacco products (except cigarettes).

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• I&B against skull & bones on tobacco packets  

The I&B ministry appears unwilling to display the controversial 'skull and crossbones' pictoral warning on tobacco products and has sought four weeks' time to develop alternative designs.

The issue, discussed by the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Wednesday, remained inconclusive. I&B minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi made a presentation to the ministers suggesting that an alternative warning design be created.

"The ministry is of the view that some other designs could be prepared by the Department of Audio-Visual Publicity (DAVP) and put before the GoM for their consideration within four weeks," Dasmunsi said. . . .

the issue remains a nettled one as bidi workers and those working in tobacco related trades constitute a powerful vote bank, one that political leaders are loath to upset. The GoM is likely to meet again to resolve the issue.

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Prospective study of smoking and tuberculosis in India 

Conclusion.

In India around 32% of tuberculosis deaths can be attributable to bidi smoking. Thus, bidi smoking seems to be an important cause of manifestation and death from tuberculosis.

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Anti-tobacco activists, health experts appeal to Prime Minister 

i-tobacco activists, health experts and youth representatives have appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to implement from June 1 the notification making mandatory the depiction of pictorial warning labels on tobacco products.

In a memorandum submitted to Dr. Singh, the activists -- under the banner of the Advocacy Forum for Tobacco Control -- said that they were distressed that the Government was reconsidering the law and a group of Ministers had been asked to discuss the issue before the notification was implemented.

A huge misinformation campaign is now being launched by a section of the tobacco industry to undermine this measure by using media channels and lobby groups.

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• Cigarette, gutkha packs to carry skull and crossbones 

Starting June 1, all cigarette, bidi and gutkha packets will carry prominent pictorial health warnings. The move isn't coming a day too soon - official statistics show every second man and every seventh woman in India is a tobacco-user.

"In our country, 46.5 per cent men and 13.8 per cent women use tobacco, which causes 40 per cent of all cancers," Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told HT.

"To encourage people to quit tobacco, all cigarette, bidi and gutkha packs will carry pictorial health warnings from June 1. We need graphic warnings,because many tobacco users are illiterate and cannot read the health warning," Ramadoss said.

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Smoking-related deaths may double to 10 million 

SMOKING-related deaths are expected to double to 10 million a year worldwide by 2020, an expert has warned.

"At the moment, nearly five million people die each year due to the scourge," said pharmaceutical company Pfizer Middle East region external affairs and policy director Dr Ahmed El Hakim.

"In the Middle East region, it is not only the cigarette which is causing a lot of problems, it is also the increasing use of the sheesha (hubble bubble) and the bidi (tobacco rolled in dried tree leaf), which are increasingly becoming a problem to deal with." . . .

This is why one of the major areas of focus of a campaign marking World No Tobacco Day in the Middle East this year is sheesha smoking.

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• Hand rolled cigarette units shut shops in Tamil Nadu 

Scores of workers involved in the making of beedi, a cheap cigarette substitute, are on an indefinite strike against government directives to print warning symbols on beedi packets.

Poor and impoverished workers, most of whom are women, say the ban on smoking in public places has already crippled the tobacco industry and following the directives would add to their woes.

"The Central Government's direction will cost us heavy. No one will come to buy the beedis. This is my only profession. I will be completely ruined if I have to leave this. We as it is earn a meager amount. So, the government should pay heed to our demands and withdraw the order," said Meeral, a worker.

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• Cigarette, gutkha packs to carry skull and crossbones 

Starting June 1, all cigarette, bidi and gutkha packets will carry prominent pictorial health warnings. The move isn't coming a day too soon - official statistics show every second man and every seventh woman in India is a tobacco-user.

"In our country, 46.5 per cent men and 13.8 per cent women use tobacco, which causes 40 per cent of all cancers," Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told HT.

"To encourage people to quit tobacco, all cigarette, bidi and gutkha packs will carry pictorial health warnings from June 1. We need graphic warnings,because many tobacco users are illiterate and cannot read the health warning," Ramadoss said.

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Beedi workers in a dilemma  

June 1 is the Day of Reckoning for the beedi industry and for all those dependent on it, especially in Andhra Pradesh which is one of the major beedi manufacturing centres in the country. From June 1, the Central law that makes it mandatory that all beedi packs must carry the skull- and-bones emblem denoting danger to life, comes into effect.

The order was slated to have come into effect in February but was put off by the Congress-dominated Central government because of the fear that several thousands of voters would vote against the ruling Congress in the crucial by-election to the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat, a constituency dominated by beedi workers.

The elections being over (which the Congress lost), contrary to the promises made by its top guns including chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, APCC president K Keshava Rao and a host of ministers during the election campaign that they would get the order withdrawn, a new cut-off date has been fixed. . . .

The government has no plan of action for rehabilitating beedi workers or finding alternative employment should the industry grind to a halt as a direct consequence of the GO.

As it is, beedi workers are an exploited lot. A majority of them are not paid the minimum wages, and more than 60 per cent of do not get provident fund while more than 40 per cent do not have an ID card. It is feared that if the order comes into effect there will be a rash of deaths out of frustration.

So far, 12 beedi workers have either died for lack of medicare or have committed suicide as they are unable to confront the spectre of unemployment and hunger of their family.

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Trick from banker to poor 

The following are excerpts from Part B, which deals with taxes, of the finance minister's budget speech. . . .

Tobacco twist

I strongly support the campaign "say no to tobacco". Hence, I propose to increase the specific rates of excise duty on cigarettes by about 5 per cent. Similarly, excise duty (excluding cess) on bidis, which was last fixed in 2001, will be raised from Rs 7 to Rs 11 per thousand for non-machine made bidis and from Rs 17 to Rs 24 per thousand for machine made bidis.

Pan masala containing tobacco will continue to bear an excise duty of 66 per cent. However, in the case of pan masala not containing tobacco, the duty will be reduced from 66 per cent to 45 per cent. I also propose to withdraw the exemption for pan masala containing tobacco and other tobacco products that is now given to units in the northeastern states.

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