Tobacco.org

Talk with Imperial Tobacco 

Primed with films like “The Initiative” and “Thank You for Smoking”, I was expecting my first interview with a representative of “Big Tobacco” in 2004 to be a mixture between the Godfather and Gordon Gekko. . . .

During the interview, Davis was surprisingly forthright about smoking and didn’t try to dodge the contentious issues.

The urbane chief executive began by asking us politely whether we should mind if he smoked. It usually makes me feel ill when people do, but, of course, as a journalist you always have to agree to this type of request because it is of paramount importance that your interview partner feels at ease. So the non-smoker resigns himself to a possible headache and a hefty bill at the dry cleaner’s.

Imperial Tobacco’s top man lit his first cigarette, just as he was saying that the dangers of peer pressure to smoke have been exaggerated. As he did so, all his press team reached for their cigarettes and lit up in unison. When he stubbed his cigarette out, they did so too.

As Mr Davis is quite a strong smoker this procedure occurred fairly frequently during the one-and-a-half hour interview. In fairness to him as CEO, however, I didn’t gain the impression that he was the instigator of this reflex-type behaviour or even expected it. . . .

The lesson is simple. If governments want to increase tax revenues, then raise taxes modestly over a long continuum, rather than do nothing for three years and then raise them substantially. It’s that huge volatility and surge in prices that triggers all the instability in the tobacco trade in any country.

Do you think the same will happen in Germany?

I can see history repeating itself there. The country has undergone a double shock, where a very significant tax increase was accompanied by a liberalisation of its borders. This was too much in one go and caused a huge spike in prices.

So the poor old smoker has no option, if he wants to go on smoking, as most smokers do, he has to down trade and find something else to smoke whether that be OTP (other tobacco products), private label, or buying cigarettes in the Czech Republic or Poland.

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Philip Morris International stellt neue Website vor: www.productdisplayban.com 

Philip Morris International (PMI) (NYSE:PM)(Paris:PM) gibt den Start von www.productdisplayban.com bekannt. Die Website wurde erstellt, um Fakten über die Folgen eines vollständigen Verbots der Darstellung von Tabakprodukten im Einzelhandel zur Verfügung zu stellen.

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• High court upholds Bavaria's porous smoking ban  

constitutional.

A state parliamentary decision went into effect on August 1, changing the general ban to allow smokers in pubs smaller than 75 square metres, in addition to restaurants and beer tents that create smoking sections in side rooms. Children are not allowed in smoking areas.

The state Health Ministry will now also allow smoking at establishments that can insure limited second-hand smoke with special ventilations systems.

Smoking in public areas is still strictly forbidden, according to the court.

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Tobacco in Germany 

Euromonitor International's Tobacco in Germany market report offers a comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the market at a national level. It provides the latest retail sales data, allowing you to identify the sectors driving growth. It identifies the leading companies, the leading brands and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market - be they new product developments, packaging innovations, economic/lifestyle influences, distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts illustrate how the market is set to change. . . .

Executive summary

Downturn in volume sales continues

Volume sales of tobacco products in Germany continued to register significant declines in 2008 as a result of continued pressure deriving from a combination of the smoking ban, high unit prices and generally increased health awareness, all of which further lowered smoking prevalence. High levels of illicit trade and legitimate cross border sales further contributed to the legal market’s overall decline, resulting in additional turnover losses, especially in the cigarettes sector.

Market segments impacted differently

Least affected by volume declines was RYO tobacco, often acting as a value-for-money alternative to cigarettes for many smokers. Worst affected was cigarillos after a change in taxation on 1 January 2008 ruled that the previously strong performing eco-cigarillos be taxed at the same rate as cigarettes. Sales of cigars were also particularly affected by the smoking ban, which diminished the largest smoking platforms for cigars - restaurants and bars. Value gains were achieved in the two biggest segments, mid-tar cigarettes and RYO tobacco, as a result of successfully implemented unit price increases.

Pseudo pipe tobaccos faced with change in taxation

As of July 2008, the German government ruled that the so-called pseudo pipe tobaccos be taxed at the same rate as RYO tobacco. This change in taxation ended two consecutive years of strong performance for pseudo pipe tobaccos, which had been introduced in 2006 by manufacturers of both pipe tobacco and RYO tobacco as a cheap low-taxed alternative to standard RYO tobacco. Subsequently, all pseudo pipe tobacco brands vanished from the market in the second half of 2008, brining an end to the strong growth of pipe tobacco in recent years.

Economy brands continue to post strongest growth

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Tobacco in Germany to 2013 - new market and company analysis 

This databook provides key data and information on the tobacco market in Germany. This report is a comprehensive resource for market, category and segment level data including value, volume, distribution share and company & brand share. This report also provides expenditure and consumption data for the historic and forecast periods.

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Current facts for the Inter-tabac trade fair: prices of tobacco products continue to rise 

As the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports on the occasion of the Inter�national Trade Fair for Tobacco Products and Smoking Accessories, the prices of cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos and of fine-cut tobacco (tobacco products) rose by 7.0% in the two years between August 2007 and August 2009. Compared with the preceding year, the prices of tobacco products were up 5.2%. In contrast, the consumer prices of all goods and services increased by a mere 3.1% during the last two years and remained on the same level for a year (��0.0%). This means that the price increase recorded for tobacco products in the past two years was above average.

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Audrey Hepburn stamp to go on sale in Berlin  

BERLIN -- A collector stands to make a tidy profit after discovering a rare stamp portraying movie star Audrey Hepburn smoking -- one of a series that should have been incinerated by the German government.

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It Pays To Quit Smoking Before Surgery 

People who start nicotine replacement therapy at least four weeks before surgery can halve their risk of poor wound healing. This is what the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) concludes in information published on informedhealthonline.org.

Quitting smoking in times of stress is not easy

"It is not easy to quit smoking just before an operation," appreciates Professor Peter Sawicki, the Institute's Director. "But people who smoke are more likely to have complications after surgery than people who do not smoke," he adds.

IQWiG has now analysed current research results that show that nicotine replacement therapy can help people quit smoking and avoid complications after surgery. . . .

"Anaesthetics and surgery put a strain on the body's oxygen supply as it is," explains Professor Sawicki. "Smoking reduces the amount of oxygen that is available in the blood even more, making it more difficult for wounds to heal - a process which requires oxygen."

Adapted from materials provided by Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care, via EurekAlert!

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Quit smoking to keep your teeth 

Smokers are more likely to develop gum disease than non-smokers, according to a German non-profit organization that promotes oral health.

Deutsche Parodontose Hilfe says smoking can cause periodontitis, or gum disease, and recommends quitting smoking.

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• German doctors criticise "lifestyle pensions" that reward smoking and obesity  

Doctors in Germany have voiced concerns about the introduction of so called lifestyle pensions, which "reward" unhealthy behaviour by offering higher annuities to groups of people, such as smokers and obese people, who may be expected to die earlier than average.

Rudolf Henke, the chairman of the Marburger Bund, the German hospital doctors’ society, said it was "ludicrous and cynical" to reward customers for risking their own health.

Lifestyle pensions, also called non-standard annuities, are relatively common in other European countries such as the United Kingdom and have been increasingly promoted since the 1990s.

Several international insurance companies are now trying to push their products in Germany, offering them to their existing customers and approaching patients’ groups, such as those for people with diabetes, and smoking clubs.

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Healthy Living Is the Best Revenge 

Background Our objective was to describe the reduction in relative risk of developing major chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer associated with 4 healthy lifestyle factors among German adults. . . .

Conclusion Adhering to 4 simple healthy lifestyle factors can have a strong impact on the prevention of chronic diseases.

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Four Golden Rules Can Help Reduce Your Chances Of Chronic Disease by 78%  

Four simple lifestyle measures - not taking up smoking, keeping slim, eating a healthy diet and regular exercise - together reduce the risk of deadly chronic diseases by up to 78%, a study has shown.

Researchers based the finding on results from a major public health investigation involving more than 23,500 adults aged 35 to 65.

They concluded the three chronic conditions that claim the most lives, heart disease, cancer and diabetes, can largely be prevented by healthy living.

Participants answered questions about diet, smoking, exercise, weight and height, social background and state of health. . . .

The research, from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, appears today in the journal Archives Of Internal Medicine.

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Rain, smoking bans dampen German beer sales 

Germans have been drinking less of their legendary beer this year due to damp, cool weather, higher prices and a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, the Federal Statistics Office said Thursday.

German breweries said they sold 49.3 million hectolitres (1.1 billion gallons) of beer in the first half of the year, down 4.5 percent on the same period last year and continuing a negative trend.

The figure marked the lowest level of sales since 1991 when the first figures for the unified country were compiled.

"In addition to the weather conditions, the current increases in beer prices and the ban on smoking in restaurants... had a strong impact on the trend in beer sales," the Statistics Office said.

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Environmental tobacco smoke and cardiometabolic risk in young children: results from a survey in south-west Germany  

Conclusion: Among children, ETS exposure was associated with a low-grade inflammatory response and altered markers of lipid metabolism, which may initiate atherosclerosis in early life. However, longitudinal studies are necessary to determine the potential causal relevance of these associations.

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• Bavaria loosens its restrictions on smoking in public, Germany's toughest 

Bavarian lawmakers have voted to loosen Germany's toughest restrictions on smoking in public.

The state legislature in Munich decided Wednesday to allow smoking in one-room bars of up to 800 square feet (75 square meters) starting Aug. 1, so long as they are labeled as "smoking bars." Larger bars will be allowed to set a room aside for smokers.

That will end a complete ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and discos that took effect in January 2008 and bring Bavaria in line with looser restrictions elsewhere in Germany.

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