Tobacco.org

ABDULLAHI: Effective Panacea to Illicit Tobacco Trade (1) 

No single national government or international agency, however sophisticated and powerful it may be, can single-handedly confront the ills of illicit trade. . . .

For example, the Framework Convention Alliance rightly noted that, illicit trade is a major international problem that requires an international solution. And to reduce the consumption of risk prone products like alcohol and tobacco and save lives, combat organised crime as well as recoup billions of dollars in lost government revenue. How can Nigeria participate in the global initiatives to halt the growth and development of illicit trade? . . .

While pointing out that there were about 10,000 wholesale tobacco traders in the world, the convention suggested that these could be built into a licensed system in which they would record movements of tobacco products by scanning pack markings, adding that technology is available to do this at less than USSO.02 per pack. Another transnational initiative is the Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), an international alliance of more than 300 non-governmental organisations. The FCA urges countries to negotiate a strong treaty that can help reduce tobacco use and its health and financial consequences around the world.

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• Scots 'outspend UK on drink and smoking'  

THE stereotype of Scotland being a nation of drinkers and smokers appears to have been borne out by new research.

The country spends £3 per household a week more than the rest of the UK on alcohol, tobacco and drugs �?" but less on food.

Scotland also has the highest adult mortality rates in the UK for cancer and circulatory diseases.

New figures published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) detail the disparities between the different countries and regions of the UK. . . .

SCOTLAND has the worst mortality rate in the UK – a clear indication of the poor state of the nation's health.

A total of 361 people per 100,000 population died early from circulatory diseases such as heart attacks, while 128 per 100,000 died from respiratory diseases.

Scotland topped the league for lung cancer – with women even more at risk than men

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2nd UPDATE: BAT Pricing, Currency Pushes 1Q Operating Profit Up 18% 

British American Tobacco PLC (BTI) Wednesday unveiled better-than-expected first-quarter results, citing better pricing and favorable exchange rates.

The London-based maker of Lucky Strike, Kent, Dunhill and Pall Mall cigarettes, said that net profit rose to GBP599 million in the three months to March 31, from GBP495 million a year earlier.

Sales were up 14% at GBP2.54 billion, while operating profit - the key figure U.K. analysts and investors track - rose 18% to GBP807 million in the first quarter.

Analysts had predicted a 13% first-quarter rise in average operating profit to GBP782 million from GBP692 million a year earlier.

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BAT Profit Rises 21% on Currencies, Premium Brands (Update5) 

British American Tobacco Plc, Europe's largest cigarette maker, said first-quarter profit gained 21 percent on favorable currency movements and higher sales of the premium Kent, Dunhill and Lucky Strike brands.

Net income climbed to 599 million pounds ($1.18 billion), or 29.73 pence a share, in the three months ended March 31, from 495 million pounds, or 24.06 pence, a year earlier, London-based BAT said today. That beat the 559 million-pound median estimate of six analysts. Revenue rose 14 percent to 2.54 billion pounds.

BAT gained the most in six weeks in London trading after the pound's decline against currencies from the euro to the Brazilian real added 54 million pounds to operating profit. The cigarette maker has also exploited smokers' switch to higher-priced brands such as the ultraslim Kent Nanotek in Russia. A 12-month, $42 billion wave of tobacco mergers reduced competition, enabling companies to raise prices for their costliest brands.

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UPDATE 3-BAT Q1 earnings up 17 pct as 2008 starts well  

British American Tobacco Plc, the world's second biggest cigarette maker, posted a bumper 17 percent rise in first-quarter earnings on Wednesday as 2008 got off to a great start which helped to boost its shares.

The London-based group which makes Lucky Strike, Kent, Dunhill and Pall Mall cigarettes, said it saw profits growth in all its regions and benefited from currency translation as the pound was weaker against most of the world's major currencies.

Chairman Jan du Plessis said 2008 had clearly got off to a great start and the group was well placed for the rest of the year helped by its wide spread of businesses in both developed and developing markets across the world.

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BAT Profit Rises 21% on Currencies, Premium Brands (Update4) 

British American Tobacco Plc, Europe's largest cigarette maker, said first-quarter profit gained 21 percent on favorable currency movements and higher sales of the premium Kent, Dunhill and Lucky Strike brands.

Net income climbed to 599 million pounds ($1.18 billion), or 29.73 pence a share, in the three months ended March 31, from 495 million pounds, or 24.06 pence, a year earlier, London-based BAT said today. That beat the 559 million-pound median estimate of six analysts. Revenue rose 14 percent to 2.54 billion pounds.

BAT gained the most in six weeks in London trading after the pound's decline against currencies from the euro to the Brazilian real added 54 million pounds to operating profit. The cigarette maker has also exploited smokers' switch to higher-priced brands such as the ultraslim Kent Nanotek in Russia. A 12-month, $42 billion wave of tobacco mergers reduced competition, enabling companies to raise prices for their costliest brands.

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Get rid of smoking, win money 

If you are a regular smoker, your daily habit is, whether you admit it or not, costing your money and health. Now you are offered a chance to win some money and save your health at the same time. Easy?

The first nationwide give-up-smoking competition, to be launched on June 1, is accepting applications through to May 31, the World No Tobacco Day.

Citizens can sign up for the event at local centers for disease control and prevention.

As a joint effort by the Ministry of Health and several other government departments, the competition aims to promote healthy living and a smoke-free Beijing Olympics.

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Healthy lifestyles become a political affair 

Heart disease is the number one killer in Europe, taking over 2 million lives every year1, yet it is a preventable condition. Some segments of the population such as women and young athletes are not even aware that they are at risk.

Experts from all over Europe will gather from today in Paris to exchange scientific knowledge, professional experiences, upgrade skills and propose strategies to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease across the continent. EuroPrevent is the annual congress of the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation2. . . .

Despite repeated campaigns calling for individuals to adopt healthy lifestyles including a balanced diet, moderate exercise, avoidance of tobacco and stress, controlling cholesterol, diabetes and hypertension, the public does not seem to grasp exactly what "prevention" entails. Cardiovascular disease is estimated to cost the European Union 192 billion Euros a year thus making efforts to check the ailment a political priority.

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Health groups call on Chancellor to prioritise anti-tobacco smuggling measures and sign EU-wide agreements 

On behalf of 22 health groups, ASH will be meeting the Exchequer Secretary, Angela Eagle today to present plans on tackling smuggling and raising tobacco taxes, ahead of the forthcoming Budget. [1] ASH and more than 20 other health groups are calling on the Chancellor to: • Re-introduce the real price escalator to raise the tax on tobacco by at least 10p per pack above the rate of inflation [2] • Maintain the 5% VAT on nicotine replacement therapies that was introduced in last year’s Budget (the tax was reduced from 17.5% as an incentive to increase uptake) • Implement a revised anti-smuggling strategy with challenging new targets

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Trends In Heart Mortality Reversing In Younger Women 

Coronary heart disease mortality in younger women could be on the rise, according to findings in the open access journal, BMC Public Health, published by BioMed Central. High levels of smoking, increasing obesity and a lack of exercise could all be contributing to this disturbing trend, seen in women under the age of 50.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the most common cause of death in the UK, the US, Canada and Australia.

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• Moldova officials behind counterfeit cigarette smuggling to EU 

According to a just-released investigative report, Moldova is increasingly at the center of cigarette counterfeiting and smuggling in Europe. Business is booming thanks to the country's new location right on the European Union's border after Romania (which Moldova used to be part of until 1940) joined the EU on 1 January 2007.

Tobacco smuggling is now one of the primary drivers of crime and corruption in the country, which is the poorest nation in Europe. Worldwide, tax losses could amount to $50 billion, according to the Framework Convention Alliance, a consortium of non-profit groups seeking to stop smuggling. . . . Online sellers from Moldova sell counterfeit Marlboros and other imitations of Western brands and ship them to their customers in Europe and the USA via the post office and courier services. It is illegal in almost all countries to import cigarettes without paying custom and excise fees. To circumvent customs, they label their cigarette boxes with fake duty-paid stamps and also falsify the description of the package contents.

NewPort group, a company from the capital of Moldova (address: Albisoara 84/5-23, Chisinau), writes on an online trading web site: "Our company is interested in exporting cheap cigarettes to poor countries in Asia or Africa. We are producers for more then 50 years already. Our production factory is situated in Central-Eastern Europe. Companies interested, please feel free to contact us." . . .

The Organized Crime & Corruption Reporting Project, a coalition of investigative reporters from EU member states and other European countries, has documented the organized crime business of tobacco smuggling, and particularly the involvement of government officials in the region. According to the researchers, politically connected figures in Moldova control a stake in the state tobacco monopoly but remain hidden behind a shield of official secrecy.

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Japan Tobacco Profit Rises 13% on International Sales (Update2) 

Japan Tobacco Inc., the world's third- largest publicly traded cigarette maker, said full-year profit rose 13 percent after the takeover of Gallaher Group Plc helped increase overseas sales.

Net income was 239 billion yen ($2.3 billion) in the 12 months through March from 211 billion yen a year earlier, Japan Tobacco said in a statement to Tokyo's stock exchange today.

The maker of Camel and Mild Seven cigarettes purchased U.K.-based Gallaher last year to increase tobacco sales in Europe and Russia as smoker numbers fall in its home market. The contribution of overseas cigarette sales to total revenue doubled to 41 percent over the past year.

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• Anti-Smokers Protest British American Tobacco Expansion in Africa, Asia 

British American Tobacco (BAT) has been in Africa since 1902. The shareholders at the London meeting had reason to celebrate; the company made a pretax profit of more than $4.5 billion last year. But Action on Smoking and Health, a non-profit group that works to eliminate the harm caused by tobacco, used the opportunity to protest the company's growing presence in Africa.

Group spokesman Martin Dockrell says African countries are experiencing the highest increase in tobacco use among developing countries.

"The shareholders are meeting in London today to count their profits," he said. "They sold 1.1 billion cigarettes in Africa and the Middle East region last year, and we are not so happy because by our calculation that is equivalent to about 100,000 deaths."

Dockrell says since smoking is on the decline in the West due to pressure by organizations like his and the general public's awareness of the health implications of smoking, companies such as BAT have shifted their focus to Africa and Asia with aggressive advertising. . . .

BAT responded with a written statement saying Action on Smoking and Health's facts just do not stand up. It also dismissed the charge it is breaking into emerging markets to dodge regulation, since it has been in those markets for more than 100 years and abides by the laws and regulations of all the countries it operates in.

The company says the health risks associated with smoking are well-known and warnings about the hazard are printed on every single pack of cigarettes it makes whether the law requires it or not.

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• Systematic review of the relation between smokeless tobacco and non-neoplastic oral diseases in Europe and the United States 

Results

Oral mucosal lesions: Thirty-three epidemiological studies consistently show a strong dose-related effect of current snuff on oral mucosal lesion prevalence. In Scandinavia, users have a near 100% prevalence of a characteristic "snuff-induced lesion", but prevalence of the varied lesions reported in the USA is lower. Associations with chewing tobacco are weaker. The lack of clear association with former use suggests reversibility following cessation, consistent with experimental studies showing rapid lesion regression on quitting. Periodontal and gingival diseases: Two of four studies report a significant association of snuff with attachment loss and four out of eight with gingival recession. . . .

How smokeless tobacco contributes to non-neoplastic oral diseases is unclear. It certainly increases risk of oral mucosal lesions, but reviewers disagree as to other conditions. In some areas, especially South-East Asia, risk is difficult to quantify due to the many products, compositions (including non-tobacco ingredients), and usage practices involved. This review considers studies from Europe (in practice mainly Scandinavia) and from the USA. . . .

Conclusions

This review confirms the strong association of current use of smokeless tobacco, particularly snuff, with prevalence of oral mucosal lesions. It provides suggestive evidence of an association of snuff use with gingival recession and attachment loss, and of chewing tobacco with dental caries. While smokeless tobacco clearly increases risk of oral mucosal lesions, interpretation for other endpoints is limited by study weaknesses, including poor confounding control.

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Japan Tobacco says annual profits rise 13 percent 

Japan Tobacco Inc. said Thursday its annual net profits rose 13.3 percent as brisk cigarette sales overseas following the takeover of British rival Gallaher made up for a drop in domestic demand.

But Japan Tobacco (JT) forecast a steep drop in profit in the current fiscal year because of acquisition-related costs, higher raw material prices and the impact of a health scare over dumplings the company imported from China.

For the past year to March, JT posted a net profit of 238.7 billion yen (2.3 billion dollars), a record high.

"The decline in domestic sales was more then offset by brisk sales in overseas tobacco markets," said JT president Hiroshi Kimura.

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