Tobacco.org

• FDA warns Web companies not to sell flavored cigs 

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that it has warned several companies to stop selling banned flavored cigarettes to U.S. consumers online.

The agency sent letters this week to more than a dozen Web-based companies saying they are violating a new ban and asking the companies to describe in writing what action they have taken to comply.

The FDA banned candy-, fruit- and clove-flavored cigarettes in September. Federal health authorities and regulators say those products appeal especially to young people and are thought to attract new smokers.

"FDA takes the enforcement of this flavored cigarette ban seriously," Dr. Lawrence R. Deyton, director of FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement. "These actions should send a clear message to those who continue to break the law that FDA will take necessary actions to protect our children from initiating tobacco use."

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Tobacco Deal With Tennis Organisation May Breach UK And International Law 

Six years after the ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship in the UK, a London-based sports body stands accused of breaching the law by promoting a cigarette brand on its website.[1] The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) which represents the world's top male tennis players, is responsible for the sponsorship contracts for the various international tournaments. The next ATP World Tour tournament, which is due to take place in Basel, Switzerland from 31 October to 8 November, is sponsored by Davidoff, a cigarette brand manufactured by Imperial Tobacco. The Swiss indoor tournament is believed to be the only one in the world to be sponsored by a tobacco company.

British-based Imperial Tobacco acquired the Davidoff cigarette brand in 2006 and has exploited the weak law in Switzerland which still allows events to be sponsored by tobacco companies, although tobacco advertising on television is banned. However, the televising of the event means that tobacco advertising will be beamed into the homes of more than one billion people worldwide, [2] contrary to Article 13 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which has been signed by 160 countries worldwide. [3]

ASH has written to the ATP urging the organisation to end its ties with the tobacco industry when the current contract comes to an end and is seeking clarification from the Department of Health regarding the possible breach of UK law.

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Star Scientific Plans Worldwide Marketing and Sales of CigRx(TM) Nutraceutical 

Star Scientific, Inc. (Nasdaq: STSI) announced today that the company plans to introduce the CigRx(TM) nutraceutical product developed by its subsidiary, Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals, for worldwide marketing and sales in partnership with inVentiv Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: VTIV). inVentiv Health offers a complete range of commercialization solutions for every stage of the product lifecycle, in a range of healthcare categories that includes nutraceutical products. The company has marketing and sales capabilities in 40 countries around the globe. Jonnie R. Williams, Star's CEO, stated, "Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the world. However, the global cigarette business, which now exceeds $300 billion, continues to grow. Our goal is to make CigRx(TM) available to adult smokers worldwide who wish to maintain a nicotine-free metabolism." Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals will be responsible for the manufacturing of CigRx(TM), and the company anticipates that inVentiv Health will be involved in the product marketing and sales, with a focus on product education for physicians and health care professionals, as well as consumers.

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Entering a New Era in Tobacco Control Research 

With the enactment of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act on June 22, the United States entered a new era in tobacco control and prevention. . . .

This issue of the NCI Cancer Bulletin highlights several important tobacco control research studies supported by NCI. In the largest trial of its kind to date, researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found that telephone counseling using motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral approaches significantly improved 6-month cessation rates in older teens. Given that 20 percent of American high school seniors smoke cigarettes, and that few strategies have been effective at promoting cessation among teen smokers, this finding is very significant. This issue also highlights a study of mobile phone technology provided to DC Tobacco Quitline callers and the expansion of Smokefree.gov, including new links to social media, such as Facebook, that take advantage of interactive Web technologies to reach new audiences for smoking cessation.

NCI's tobacco control research cannot be limited to the United States, where, as in most high-income countries, tobacco use is slowly declining. By 2030, global mortality from tobacco use is expected to rise to 8 million deaths per year. About 80 percent of those deaths will occur in low- and middle-income countries, where tobacco use is still increasing. Research will be critical to averting this global epidemic, which threatens to reverse hard-won improvements in global health and which economically developing countries with overburdened health care systems can ill afford.

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• Tobacco deal with tennis organisation may breach UK and international law 

Six years after the ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship in the UK, a London-based sports body stands accused of breaching the law by promoting a cigarette brand on its website.[1] The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) which represents the world's top male tennis players, is responsible for the sponsorship contracts for the various international tournaments. The next ATP World Tour tournament, which is due to take place in Basel, Switzerland from 31 October to 8 November, is sponsored by Davidoff, a cigarette brand manufactured by Imperial Tobacco. The Swiss indoor tournament is believed to be the only one in the world to be sponsored by a tobacco company.

British-based Imperial Tobacco acquired the Davidoff cigarette brand in 2006 and has exploited the weak law in Switzerland which still allows events to be sponsored by tobacco companies, although tobacco advertising on television is banned. However, the televising of the event means that tobacco advertising will be beamed into the homes of more than one billion people worldwide, [2] contrary to Article 13 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which has been signed by 160 countries worldwide. [3]

ASH has written to the ATP urging the organisation to end its ties with the tobacco industry when the current contract comes to an end and is seeking clarification from the Department of Health regarding the possible breach of UK law.

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Hold on To Your Butt! 

Cigarette butts are the most littered item in The United States and the world. This type of litter is not just found in streets and urban settings; the number of cigarette butts found on beaches can be overwhelming--typically accounting for nearly one in every five items collected during a beach cleanup. To make matters worse, butts are often cast onto the sidewalk and streets, and then end up in drains, which flow to streams, rivers, bays, lagoons and ultimately the ocean.

Hold Onto Your Butt Awareness Day will involve activists, volunteers, and friends of the environment gathering on San Diego's busiest traffic intersections as people arrive at the beach. There, Surfrider activists will hold signs, pass out personal ashtrays, stickers and graphically demonstrate to motorists the problem we're so concerned about. We will encourage motorists and beachgoers to dispose of cigarettes safely, and explain that cigarette butts thrown on the ground can eventually end up in the ocean and affect marine life, including surfers and swimmers. . . .

Our Chapter, along with American Lung Association, the American Heart Association and other organizations fighting cigarette litter, held a press conference with the Californian Highway Patrol (CHP) and San Diego Fire Department to announce that the CHP is cracking down on smokers who throw their butts out the car window while driving. The CHP joined our coalition efforts by setting up a hotline number that people can call if they see cigarette butts being tossed onto our streets and highways. After the phone call is received, the CHP will send a warning letter to the alleged violator. The hotline number, 1-877-211-BUTT, has already been successful! Our Chapter has been working on our Hold On To Your Butt campaign for years and we are delighted to be part of such a broad-based coalition. . . .

DID YOU KNOW? Cigarette butts are the most littered item in The United States and the world. . . .

* 18% of all litter dropped to the ground is washed into streams, rivers, lakes and the ocean by storm water runoff. Cigarette butts, are little and lightweight and are the first to get carried away into our waterways.0

* Studies indicate that since we have enacted indoor smoking bans, more cigarette butts are being tossed directly into the environment. Unfortunately, this means that ecosystems have a higher chance of being affected by cigarette butts. Biologists have found butts in the stomachs of young birds, sea turtles and other marine creatures.

* Cigarette butts can cause other environmental problems, such as fires. . . .

Ultimately, the Surfrider Foundation is calling for better enforcement of laws against cigarette butt littering; additional taxes on tobacco products specifically earmarked for clean-up efforts; more effort on the part of tobacco companies to improve the biodegradability of filters, reduce packaging waste and educate consumers about the impacts of tobacco waste on the environment; and more local involvement from governments and businesses to reduce cigarette littering by supplying ashtrays and other "disposal mechanisms" at building entrances.

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ARCHIVE: Report of the Committee of Experts on Tobacco Industry Documents (PDF) 

Conclusion Page 244

While this inquiry was not exhaustive, it has demonstrated beyond doubt the magnitude of tobacco companies’ continuing opposition to WHO tobacco programs. The tobacco companies’ long-secret documents offer a window of insight not only into many of their surreptitious activities, but also into the strategies and attitudes that guide their conduct. To some, these revelations may come only as confirmation of long-held suspicions. To many, however, they will be eye opening.

But the significance of this inquiry may lie less in what it reveals about the past, than in what it suggests for the present and future. As WHO embarks on a global discussion of tobacco and health, and of the proposed Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, this inquiry invites a reassessment of the way WHO and its member states view the global epidemic of tobacco use.

At the most fundamental level, this inquiry confirms that tobacco use is unlike other threats to global health. Infectious diseases do not employ multinational public relations firms. There are no front groups to promote the spread of cholera. Mosquitoes have no lobbyists. The evidence presented here suggests that tobacco is a case unto itself, and that reversing its burden on global health will be not only about understanding addiction and curing disease, but, just as importantly, about overcoming a determined and powerful industry. If this inquiry contributes to that understanding, the committee of experts will have succeeded in its work.

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• Five nonsmokers’ paradises: a guide for globe-trotters  

The world's biggest tobacco-consuming countries that I profiled in my last post, including Greece, Russia and Austria, are also among the top travel spots, but the opposite isn't quite the case.

Countries with the lowest reported adult smokers, as you'll notice in the list below, don't all provide dream vacations. . . .

1. Ethiopia: This very well might be the first time that this landlocked African country was listed at the top of a travel guide. Just 4.3% of Ethiopians are tobacco users. . . .

2. Ghana: Adult tobacco use in this African country is at 5.5%. . . .

3. Republic of Congo: . . .

4. Nigeria: . . .

5. Cameroon: Nigeria's neighbor to the east has a similar proportion of smokers, at 7.4%.

If you'd prefer a trip outside of Africa, the United Arab Emirates is at No. 22 and Fiji is at No. 23 on the list.. Further down the list, Ecuador is at No. 28, Egypt at No. 33 and the Dominican Republic at No. 35.

Between Egypt and Ecuador is Jamaica

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• 10 smokers’ paradises: A guide for globe-trotters  

With so many places around the world instituting smoking regulations, increasing taxes and, quite literally, kicking smokers to the curb, it's getting harder to find cigarette-friendly vacation spots.

But not every country is trying to kill that buzz. On the flip side, some of them, such as Greece, are attempting to crack down but are failing miserably.

You may feel alone smoking in some major U.S. cities, so we've compiled a list of countries with the most prevalent tobacco use among people aged 15 or older, based on 2005 data from the World Health Organization.

Nonsmokers, too, will want to take note of the list. As you might guess, a smoker's paradise can be, in turn, a nonsmoker's hell.

1. Greece:

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• Cheap tobacco driving youth to become smokers 

Lebanese health experts calling for a comprehensive smoking ban have been given additional impetus to their cause after a major international public affairs magazine published a major study warning youth smoking rates were increasing dangerously. In a report published earlier this month by the Economist Intelligence Unit with sponsorship from international pharmaceutical company Pfizer, researchers warned that cheap and easily accessible tobacco was driving Lebanon's youth to take up smoking, a habit many will continue into adulthood.

The 28-page report, entitled "Tomorrow's regular customers? Stamping out tobacco use in the Middle East and Africa," also noted that while many countries were now introducing smoking bans in public places, the developing world was seeing a steady increase in smokers, accounting for some 70 percent of the world's total smokers in 2005, compared to about 40 percent in 1970.

The developing world will thus pay the highest price for tobacco use: the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that by 2030, 80 percent of tobacco-related deaths will occur in low- to middle-income countries, the report said.

In Lebanon, over 3,500 people die each year because of tobacco exposure at a cost of around $900 million, according to the Health Ministry.

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Shiseido and JT look to overseas markets 

Meanwhile, Japan Tobacco, which on Thursday reported a 5 per cent drop in net profits in the first half, also expects overseas markets to be its growth engine.

The group said that in addition to a downturn in domestic demand, the yen’s strength was a major factor behind its disappointing performance.

JT, which acquired Gallaher in 2007, said that if the impact of currency fluctuations was discounted, overseas sales were forecast to grow 13 per cent this year.

Furthermore, JT raised its sales and operating forecast for the full year, due to the impact of currency shifts.

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• Ethical Corporation: Nestle, British American Tobacco, Shell and AWE to join 100+ other multinationals to discuss their CR and sustainability reporting and communications in London in November  

The CR Reporting and Communications Summit (http://www.ethicalcorp.com/reporting) is the largest gathering in Europe on this topic. For two days in late November, many of the world's biggest companies will gather in London to debate and discuss the future of corporate responsibility reporting.

The Marriott hotel in Swiss Cottage will play host to 18 individual workshops, where over 30 of Europe's leading companies will present their own CR/sustainability reporting and communications strategies.

Julia King, Vice-President of CR at GlaxosmithKline will demonstrate how the pharmaceutical giant embeds sustainability reporting throughout the company's many offices in the second plenary session of the first day.

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• Operation ‘Samhna’ : Potentially the largest seizure of cigarettes ever 

A multi agency operation, code named ‘Samhna’, headed up by Revenue’s Customs Service, is currently underway in Greenore Port, Co Louth, and surrounding area.

The operation, targeting the suspected criminal activities of an organised crime group operating both north and south of the border, involved the surveillance of a general cargo vessel M/V Anne Scan, which sailed from the Philippines on 15/09/2009 for Greenore Port, arriving at approximately 0600 hours on Monday, 26/10/2009, carrying a cargo declared as ‘animal feed’. Officers kept the vessel under surveillance, as they suspected that a large consignment of contraband cigarettes was concealed within the cargo.

Following the discharge of part of the cargo from the vessel earlier this morning onto awaiting trucks, which were allowed onwards to the importer’s premises, the multi agency task force, involving Officers of Revenues Customs Service and An Garda Siochana, moved in and raided several premises in the Co. Louth area, in addition to mounting an operation on the vessel itself. A large consignment of contraband cigarettes has been confirmed, estimated to be in excess of 120m cigarettes with a retail value of about €50m and a potential revenue at risk of approximately €40m. Several persons have been arrested at various locations by the Gardai for questioning.

The operation in the Republic of Ireland involved Officers of Revenue’s Customs Service, An Garda Siochana, The Criminal Assets Bureau, the Irish Naval Service and Air Corps and in Northern Ireland, Officers of HM Revenue & Customs and the PSNI. In addition the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), which was also involved, will co-ordinate the international enquiries which will form part of the follow-up investigations. It is estimated that in excess of 150 Officers from the various Agencies participated in the field in today’s operation.

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Who's Serving Up Smoking Results? 

As global excise taxes on tobacco products continue to rise, the cigarette producers have their work cut out for them in protecting profits in spite of declining volume. Smaller producers such as Vector Group (NYSE: VGR) could be particularly at risk as consumers decide how much they're willing to pay for a cigarette break.

Domestically, Altria hasn't fared much better, with declining sales and volume owing in part to rising excise taxes, while Reynolds American (NYSE: RAI) also reported an 11% volume drop. On the other hand, Lorillard (NYSE: LO) served up a better-than-average 6.1% volume decrease even as it showed a 2.6% increase in operating income. British American Tobacco holds a 42% stake in Reynolds American.

While the tobacco market isn't growing in the U.S. now, consumers here aren't completely scared off by increased excise taxes. Similarly, global tax increases are just beginning to unfold. And while those taxes are not likely to kill the industry, global consumers are increasingly turning to gray- or black-market smokes as a result of increased excise taxes, leaving growth prospects for premium products like Marlboro in some jeopardy.

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• Japan Tobacco Raises Net Forecast on Currency Gains (Update2)  

Japan Tobacco Inc., the world’s third-largest publicly traded cigarette maker, raised its full- year profit forecast 8 percent on projected currency gains and increasing market share for brands including Camel and Winston.

Net income may be 108 billion yen ($1.2 billion) for the year ending March, compared with its previous estimate of 100 billion yen, the company said in a statement today. Annual sales may total 6.09 trillion yen, compared with its previous forecast of 6 trillion yen.

“We are changing our forecast mainly because we have changed our exchange-rate assumptions,” Executive Deputy President Munetaka Takeda said in a briefing in Tokyo today.

The maker of Mild Seven cigarettes seeks to boost overseas sales as a declining smoking rate shrinks its home market.

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