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• Chewing tobacco in noodles sickens 30  

Thirty Cambodians suffered food poisoning after eating homemade noodles contaminated with chewing tobacco that had dropped into the batter from the cook's mouth, police said Monday.

The victims, mostly children, began vomiting after eating noodle soup for breakfast Friday in a village in Banteay Meanchey province . . .

Sieng Sang, an avid tobacco chewer like many poor Cambodian women, said she had not realized a wad had dropped into the flour as she was talking.

Police gave her a lesson in hygiene and told her to be more careful when opening her mouth while cooking, Yort Ray said.

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Tobacco blamed for noodle illness 

THIRTY Cambodians suffered food poisoning after eating homemade noodles contaminated with chewing tobacco that had dropped into the batter from the cook's mouth.

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Provinces could cash in on tobacco ruling 

Tobacco companies are in for a huge fight.

The B.C. government has won the right to sue tobacco firms to help pay for health care costs related to smoking.

A victory for Canada's health minister.

A B.C. politician before going to Ottawa, Ujjal Dosanjh helped draft the legislation 8 years ago.

"This is a product that in accordance with its instructions will kill," says Dosanjh.

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Bell Centre to go smoke free 

Montreal's Bell Centre goes smoke free Sunday. The policy will apply for all events, starting tomorrow, when the Canadiens play their first exhibition game against the Atlanta Thrashers. The only place to smoke will be OUTSIDE, near La Gauchetiere, Lucien L'Allier and Windsor Court entrances. All indoor smoking areas will be closed, this in accordance with the Quebec government's upcoming implementation of new regulations on the usage of tobacco in the workplace and public areas.

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ADRA Marches against Tobacco In Cambodia 

Nearly 1,000 people participated in the demonstration, carrying signs and banners that promoted World No Tobacco Day and ADRA's stop smoking campaign, the Tobacco or Health program. They also took part in a ceremony declaring the National Military Hospital (also known as Preah Ket Mealea Hospital) a "smoke-free zone."

"The parade was aimed at raising awareness of the harmfulness of tobacco and the role that health professionals have in being examples of a smoke-free healthy lifestyle," said Ann Stickle, associate director for ADRA in Cambodia.

The one-mile parade lasted one hour and extended from the National University of Management to the National Military Hospital. It was attended by medical professionals and government personnel and received extensive media coverage.

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Cambodians top list of smokers in 5 Southeast Asian countries 

The smoking rate among Cambodian men and women is the highest in five countries in Southeast Asia, according to a World Health Organization report seen Tuesday.

The WHO report, based on country profiles in five countries in the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance and from Cambodia's National Institutes of Statistics, showed 54% of Cambodian men smoke. The rate among Indonesian men was 53%, followed by Vietnamese at 50%, Malaysians at 49% and Thai men at 39%. (Kyodo News)

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• Cambodian men, women smoke too much: WHO 

Cambodia's men and women have the dubious distinction of being the heaviest smokers among five Southeast Asian countries surveyed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Xinhua says.

Fifty-four percent of Cambodian men surveyed said they smoked, compared to 53 percent in Indonesia, 50 percent in Vietnam, 49 percent in Malaysia and 39 percent in Thailand, The Cambodia Daily reported Thursday, citing the WHO report.

Cambodia's women also smoked the most, but at a lower overall rate. Six percent of Cambodian women said they smoked, compared to four percent in Indonesia, three percent in Malaysia and Vietnam and two percent in Thailand.

"Compared to other countries in the region, Cambodia is the most open for tobacco ads," WHO's Yel Daravuth said.

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Cambodian men smoke too much: WHO 

Cambodia has the highest rate of smokers among five Southeast Asian countries surveyed in a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO), The Cambodia Daily reported on Thursday.

Fifty-four percent of Cambodian men surveyed said they smoked, compared to 53 percent in Indonesia, 50 percent in Vietnam, 49 percent in Malaysia and 39 percent in Thailand.

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Tobacco company backs reforestation ($$) 

British American Tobacco (BAT) does not just grow and process tobacco in Cambodia, it is also helping Cambodia to reforest. A tree nursery, owned by the Provincial Department of Forestry, but funded and run by BAT, was opened near Pursat on Friday, June 11.

In a public ceremony BAT's general manager, John Nelson, and Pursat's governor, Ung Samy, planted a specimen tree at the road entrance, watched by the deputy head of the Forestry Administration, Chea Sam Ang, and dozens of local students and farmers.

Set among the rice paddies just outside Pursat town, the tree nursery will produce up to 500,000 saplings, both native and exotic, every year. . . .

In Cambodia BAT has contracted 800 tobacco growers in the Kampong Cham province. The company has two tobacco factories, one in Kampong Cham and one in Phnom Penh. By introducing modern farming techniques, the company claims to have more than doubled the yield from its contracted farms over the last six years.

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Anti-smoking stand brings laurels for Cyclo Center 

As promotion of tobacco smoking enjoys what health authorities are calling a "boom" in Cambodia, the Phnom Penh Cyclo Center has been recognized for its efforts to promote smoke-free living.

WHO gave its first-ever regional community project award to the center on June 9. The center has been supporting cyclo drivers to live healthier lifestyles since 1999 and in April it ran a Smoke-Free Cyclo Rally from Siem Reap to the capital.

Greg Hallen, WHO's technical officer for tobacco control, said the center's Smoke-Free Cyclo Project was an outstanding example of a community-based project focused on breaking the cycle of tobacco use and poverty.

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• Regional monks move to ban smoking 

Moves are afoot to ban cigarette smoking among Buddhist monks in Thailand and provide them with advice on how to kick the habit, following a three-nation seminar on Buddhism and tobacco control which concluded that tobacco was an addictive substance and thus violated the five core Buddhist principles.

The 2nd Seminar on Buddhism and the Control of Tobacco Consumption ratified the resolution of the 1st seminar, held in 2003, which described tobacco as an addictive substance harmful to health. Tobacco, according to the seminar, not only had a negative effect on personal health, the economy and society, but also ran counter to the five core principles which every Buddhist, whether monk or layperson, should follow.

Reporting on the seminar, Dr. Naowarat Charoenkha, assistant dean for international relations and training from Mahidol University's Faculty of Public Health, said that this would necessitate a programme to encourage monks and prospective ordinands to break their cigarette habit, as well as a drive to make temples into tobacco-free zones.

According to a year-long study of smoking among Thai monks, conducted by researchers from Mahidol and Rangist universities, found that 24.4 percent of monks and novices across the country were smokers. This figure concealed huge regional disparities, rising as high as 40.5 percent in the eastern and central regions, while dropping to only 14.6 percent in the north.

A recent study in Cambodia, meanwhile, suggested that 36 percent of its monks are smokers. Although no clear evidence on smoking among monks has yet emerged from Laos, the Laotian delegates to the seminar emerged equally committed to the idea of tobacco control.

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Buddhist monks focus of war against smoking ($$) 

The following stories appear in the full edition only (available on subscription ):

So many Buddhist monks are smoking tobacco that Mekong region countries now hold an international...

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Tobacco Industry Document Research 

On this page are links to analysis and reviews of tobacco industry documents. Most of these documents were made available as a result of court actions in the United States - some became available as a result of Canadian court proceedings.

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Vietnam court jails 20 for smuggling goods from Cambodia 

A court in southern Vietnam has handed lengthy jail terms to 20 people for smuggling electronic goods and tobacco from Cambodia.

Vietnam's state media says a person, identified as the ringleader, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison, while 19 other members of the gang, have been jailed for between 18 months and eight years.

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• Cambodia to sign UN pact on tobacco control: ministry 

Cambodia will sign on to a UN tobacco control agreement, the health ministry said, adding that it had asked Phnom Penh authorities to begin dismantling the city's prominent tobacco advertising.

"The prime minister has said he will sign" the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, secretary of state for the ministry of health Ung Phirun told AFP Wednesday, without giving details. . . .

A WHO spokesman told AFP it had not been formally told of the decision.

"This would be a welcome move as a very positive indication of the government's intention to take action on tobacco control, but we have to make sure that ratification of the treaty follows signature," he said.

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