Tobacco.org

• Crackdown on smoking! Health Ministry gets serious 

Minister of Health Pablo Marin has announced new health regulations to outlaw the use of cigarettes in public places to protect public health.

From now on, smoking in public places including all government buildings, hospitals and banks, hotels and schools - is strictly taboo. Restaurants must designate a special place apart for smokers, and transportation terminals, buses and taxis will be smoke-free by law.

The crackdown on smoking was inspired by new evidence that smoking, even second-hand smoke, is more deadly than anybody suspected, and by the alarming onslaught of cancer in its various forms on Belizeans.

Today thirty-seven out of every hundred deaths in Belize are due to some form of cancer

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Public smoking to be banned in Belize 

The Belize Ministry of Health National Drug Abuse Control Council will launch its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Article Eight measures (protection from exposure to tobacco smoke) on Wednesday in Belize City.

Belize signed onto the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) on September 26, 2003, and ratified it on December 15, 2005. In order to fulfill its obligations under the FCTC, the country developed the Belize National Tobacco Control Plan 2007-2012, which was launched on May 31, 2007.

Since then, the Ministry of Health and the Bureau of Standards of Belize, with the technical support of the Pan American Health Organisation have been working on the implementation of the plan.

In an effort to maintain a smoke free environment, Cabinet has approved Article Eight (Protection from Exposure to Tobacco Smoke)

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• The Launch Of "Smoke Free Spaces" 

Did you know that each year thirty seven percent of deaths in Belize are related to cancer and other tobacco related diseases? A 2008 survey conducted by Ministry of Health and PAHO showed that almost one in every five students are using some form of tobacco. With these alarming statistics, in 2003 the Ministry of Health signed on to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and today launched part of that plan: Smoke Free Spaces, areas where you can't smoke anywhere inside. 7news was at the launch today

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Cancer victim seeks helps, urges others to stop smoking 

A man who started smoking when he was only sixteen years old is now paying the ultimate price for his bad habit. Forty-seven year old Mario Ramirez started exhibiting signs of throat cancer in 2003. Unable to afford treatment, he ignored it as long as he could until he was unable to eat. Ramirez finally sought medical treatment in Mexico City, but despite chemotherapy and radiation, his cancer has spread to other parts of his body. His family has already spent almost twenty thousand dollars, and having exhausted all of their resources, tonight the Ramirez family needs your help.

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• Big Tobacco Beats Back RICO Claims 

Lawyers for five U.S. tobacco companies have persuaded the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to adopt a 225-year-old common law principle that bars three Latin American countries from suing them in U.S. courts.

That principle, called the revenue rule, prohibits one country from trying to enforce its own revenue laws in another country's courts.

In the defense's brief, Goodwin Proctor's Kenneth J. Parsigian, who represented the tobacco companies, cited cases from 225 years of Anglo-American jurisprudence

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• Tobacco Companies Win Smuggling Appeal 

Tobacco manufacturers have won an appeal challenging lawsuits by the governments of Belize, Ecuador and Honduras that claim the companies conspired to smuggle cigarettes into their countries to boost profits and evade taxes.

The racketeering suits against Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson, Lorillard and Liggett boil down to attempts to enforce foreign tax claims in U.S. courts, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided, upholding an earlier ruling by a Miami federal judge throwing out the lawsuit.

The court ruled that the strategy violates 18th century English common law and cannot be pursued. The ruling Friday did not address whether the companies smuggled cigarettes.

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Belize to sign WHO convention on tobacco consumption [Source: BBC Monitoring Americas - Political] 

Belize is to sign the "Framework Convention on Tobacco Control", an international instrument developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to reduce tobacco prevalence and protect present and future populations from the harmful consequences of tobacco consumption.

"Cabinet has approved signature of the convention as a strategic first step towards a planned and coordinated approach to tobacco related illnesses pose a significant threat to Belize's productivity and competitiveness," an official statement issued here on Wednesday [25 June] said.

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Latin American Nations Claim Tobacco Cos. Violated RICO 

A centuries-old common-law rule may bar three Latin American nations from suing American tobacco companies under RICO in U.S. courts.

According to Kenneth J. Parsigian, who argued for the tobacco companies Tuesday before a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the nations of Belize, Ecuador and Honduras don't have the right to sue his clients.

"No court anywhere in history, anywhere in the world, has ever allowed a claim like this to go forward," said Parsigian, of Boston's Goodwin Proctor.

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• Honduras, Belize claim tobacco firms evading taxes 

Honduras and Belize, already trying to force U.S. cigarette makers to pay the healthcare costs of sick smokers, on Tuesday claimed in lawsuits that the companies systematically smuggled tobacco to avoid duties and taxes.

The U.S. lawsuits seek unspecified billions of dollars in damages and allege that Philip Morris Cos. Inc., the maker of Marlboros, and the No. 2 U.S. cigarette group, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., participated in rings organized to avoid taxes. The suits also ask that the practices stop.

The suits allege the defendants violated laws by participating in a smuggling ring that shipped tobacco products from the two Central American nations as tax-free exports and then re-imported them as a way of beating taxes and duties. . .

In addition to the new tax claims by Honduras and Belize, which have health-costs suits against tobacco companies pending in Florida courts, 14 Brazilian state and city governments also filed suits that seek damages from the cigarette makers for treating sick smokers.

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ADVISORY/Governments of Honduras and Belize and 14 Brazilian States and Cities File Multi-billion Dollar Lawsuits Against Big Tobacco 

The governments of Honduras and Belize, as well as three states and eleven cities of Brazil, today filed in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court multiple lawsuits totaling billions of dollars against more than a dozen U.S. tobacco companies, including Phillip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, which manufacture and distribute tobacco products to their citizens.

The lawsuits on behalf of the 14 Brazilian states and cities allege that the tobacco companies deliberately concealed knowledge of the dangers of smoking and the addictive nature of nicotine contained in tobacco products, and seek reimbursements of the funds expended on behalf of those injured by and addicted to the tobacco products. The complaints also allege the companies were aware of the harmful and deadly effects created by their tobacco products on the health and welfare of the citizens of Brazil and has caused or created various deadly diseases such as cancer, lung and heart disease, and emphysema. The three states of Brazil are Para, Parana, and Rondonia. The eleven cities are Rio de Janeiro, Belford Roxo, Belo Horizonte, Carapicuiba, Duque de Caxias, Joao Pessoa, Jundiai Mage, Nilopolis-RJ, Nova Iguacu-RJ, and Sao Bernardo do Campo.

In addition, the governments of Honduras and Belize are filing second complaints alleging that the companies smuggled tobacco products and violated the country's laws by not paying the required duties and taxes.

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