Tobacco.org

Smoking row led to knife attack 

Anthony Bartolo, 47, of Qormi was arraigned in court and charged with trying to seriously injuring Alexander Taliana at Incognito Bar and Restaurant in Bugibba last Sunday.

Mr Taliana asked the accused to stop smoking in the bar or leave but Bartolo started a fight and tried to hit him with a flick knife.

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Warning over dangerous lighters issued 

The Malta Standards Authority has warned that illegal, non-refillable cigarette lighters, called novelty lighters, are available for sale from different retail outlets around the Maltese Islands even though they are dangerous.

The European Commission in May 2006 had banned the sale of such lighters because they are unsafe, particularly children.

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Crackdown on cigarette lighters 

The Malta Standards Authority insists that hundreds of cigarette lighters have to be withdrawn from the market over concerns they could appeal to children.

A number of illegal, non-refillable cigarette lighters, termed novelty lighters, are available for sale from different retail outlets around the Maltese Islands.

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A busy September for the anti-smoking campaign in Malta 

The EU's Help! For a Life without Tobacco anti-smoking campaign was very busy during the month of September. In order to continue with the awareness and educational campaign, together with the other EU member countries, the EU Help campaign took to the streets of Paceville and joined the youths on Friday night.

No sooner was the stand pitched up that youths, adolescents and adults alike came to see what was being offered. Both Maltese and tourists visited the stand. The Health Promotion Department facilitators carried out the CO tests and information and promotional material was given out and as always advise on how to quit.

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British American Tobacco moves to Qormi 

British American Tobacco Malta moved to new premises in Qormi. General Manager Ronnie Abela said "We moved to new modern premises in a central location, following the Central Cigarette factory closure. This is a new beginning for us, however British American Tobacco has been in Malta for a hundred years."

The premises were officially opened by the Minister for Investment, Industry and Information Technology Dr. Austin Gatt, on 30th July, in the presence of BAT's Director, Stephan Liechti.

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British American Tobacco moves to new premises 

British American Tobacco (BAT) Malta has moved to new premises in Qormi.

"We moved to new modern premises in a central location, following the Central Cigarette factory closure," general manager Ronnie Abela said. "This is a new beginning for us, however British American Tobacco has been in Malta for a hundred years."

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Smoke free environments urged 

In a European Union report about attitudes towards tobacco, published in 2007 both positive and negative outcomes resulted. The positive aspect that was reported was that four out of five Europeans believed that passive smoking could cause health problems.

The need for the Maltese population to adopt a non-smoking policy within the home and car environment was still high. This was because 23 per cent of non-smokers were exposed to tobacco smoke in the home while 16 per cent of children were exposed to tobacco in a car environment.

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Fewer Maltese believe that passive smoking may cause cancer - Eurobarometer 

Malta and Hungary were the only two countries where the number of people who believed that cancer may result from passive smoking had gone down over the past two years, according to a recent Eurobarometer study entitled Attitudes of Europeans towards Tobacco.

According to the report, all the countries, apart from Hungary and Malta, recorded that a higher number of people believe that passive smoking may cause cancer. In the UK, the proportion of those who thought that cancer could be a result of passive smoking remained the same.

Malta, however, fared better in other aspects of the report, ranking third with 57 per cent of respondents saying they never smoked.

Portugal came first, with 64 per cent of people saying they never smoked, followed by Slovakia with 59 per cent.

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EDITORIAL: That filthy weed 

Despite the well-publicised harmful effects of smoking, in many cases resulting in premature death, almost a third of the Maltese population are smokers.

According to our latest survey, 29.7 per cent of the population smoke . . .

A majority of our respondents think that the anti-smoking laws are being generally observed. However, almost 70 per cent are convinced that they are ignored in bars and restaurants. In fact, although the defiance of the ban in these establishments is widespread, one hears of very few offenders being taken to court by the police.

Random inspections should be carried out at these places by plainclothes police, but not only these places - workplaces too should be subject to such inspections. The dangers of passive smoking cannot be underestimated, yet

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Maltese careless about ill effects of smoking 

Malta has a very serious problem with smoking: 29.7% of all Maltese declared they are smokers. Although there are more male smokers than females, women are even heavier smokers than men. These are two of the most striking findings of the latest opinion survey conducted by sociologist Mario Vassallo for The Sunday Times.

The survey was carried out by telephone among 300 households in Malta and Gozo between April 9 and 15.

Smokers come from all the segments of Maltese society, irrespective of age, gender and social class. The highest percentage are to be found in the 36-50 (35.6%) age bracket. And it does not look like the habit is being dropped by the young: those aged 16-25 registered a rather high 31.9%.

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• Conclusions of survey on smoking 

Smoking is very widespread in Malta, even though the overwhelming majority of the Maltese (70.3%) said that at present they do not smoke. But the rest, 29.7%, engage in it.

Smokers are present in all the categories of society, irrespective of age, gender and social class. In the total population, there are more male smokers (32.9%) than female (26.5%). The highest percentages of smokers are to be found in the 36-50 (35.6%) age bracket (26-35: 33.3%; 51-61: 23.5%) while the oldest respondents (65+: 21.3%) register the lowest incidence of smoking. The youngest age group made up of those aged 16-25 registered a rather high 31.9%.

The highest percentage of those who smoke belong to the DE (33.3%) and C1 (31.3%) categories; a much lower percentage was registered among smokers who hail from the highest socio-economic category (AB: 23.3%). Within the C2 category, smokers amount to 27.7%.

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339 Maltese die from smoking in eleven months 

339 Maltese and Gozitan residents died from smoking between January and November 2006, said Minister of Health Louis Deguara in parliament on. 100 of the deaths occurred to women.

The Minister was replying to a parliamentary question set forward by Member of Parliament (MP) Carmelo Abela. By October 2006, Malta had already registered 282 deaths which were directly or indirectly related to smoking. The figures were obtained from the National Deaths Registry.

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Smoking killed over 300 persons in 2006 

Minister Louis Galea said that between January and November 2006 a total of 339 deaths caused from smoking were reported to local health authorities, of whom 100 were women. The Minister was replying to a parliamentary question by Labour MP Carmelo Abela on Monday evening.

The Minister added that the Health Department has embarked on a number of initiatives to promote health hazards caused by smoking

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British American Tobacco (Malta) Limited set up 

Last week, Central Cigarette Company Limited announced the formation of a new sister company British American Tobacco (Malta) Limited. This follows the decision to close Central Cigarette Company Limited’s manufacturing operation in Malta. The new company will be responsible for the importation and distribution of tobacco products in Malta.

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LETTER: Ban cigarette vending machines 

I read with great interest the reply of Jeffrey Darmanin (Price, Not Packet Size, Influences Smokers, January 3) to my letter (Size Of Cigarette Packets, December 14).

The emphasis that I am attempting to make is that whatever measures legislators take in controlling smoking, smokers should be afforded the right to choose the cigarette packets with the content size they desire, preventing them from potentially increasing their intake of cigarettes and spending more than their budget allows.

Moreover, I will add that since time immemorial, humans smoked and unfortunately they will continue to do so despite or in spite of measures to control this deadly habit. . . .

The whole point is that freedom of choice is a fundamental right that should not be taken away from smokers wishing to pay less to meet their smoking requirement. Ideally, all smoking should be eradicated because it is unhealthy and deadly, but this is still a somewhat distant illusion judging by the amount of active and passive smoking that fills the air. No matter how much education is implemented (which is never enough), the large multinational commercial tobacco conglomerates seem to be having their way still.

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