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Cigarette Packs May Display More Warnings In Gulf Cooperation Council Countries 

Cigarette companies may have to design new packets to enter the rich oil exporting Arab countries.

According to a proposal which the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries are in the process of finalizing, all cigarette packets must have 50 per cent of the packaging indicating statutory health warning with a mandatory font set to 14 on the surface.

Dr.Mariam Al Jalahma, the Assistant Undersecretary of public health and primary care at the Bahrain Ministry of Health told AHN Media on Tuesday, "The proposal is being studied by the GCC Council for Anti Smoking which is yet to be finalized. All tobacco companies supplying their products to the region will have 18 months to change their look."

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• Middle East smokers develop lung disease at younger age 

People in the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries are developing lung disease at a younger age and the trend is set to worsen, researchers warned.

The 46-country Greatest International Antibiotic Trial (Giant) studied the prevalence of acute exacerbate chronic bronchitis (AECB), a form of lung disease, and the effectiveness of Bayer Schering Pharma's antibiotic in treating it.

It found a majority of the 4,300 subjects in the Middle East were reporting the disease at 48.5 years old, the youngest compared to other regions.

The average age for lung disease in Latin America was 63.1 years, followed by Europe at 60.5 and Asia-Pacific with 57.1 years. . . .

He warned the outlook in the Middle East was grim: "What is happening here is what has happened in the US and Europe 20 years ago. There are more women smokers [and] it's going to get worse if nothing changes."

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Troops may get drug felon's stogies 

Cigar-smoking Michigan military people in the Middle East may soon be puffing away at seized stogies, courtesy of the Oakland County Narcotics Enforcement Team.

Drug officers seized 1,500 hand-wrapped cigars during a traffic stop of a convicted drug felon in January along M-59 in eastern Oakland County. The cigars, which include counterfeit copies of much-coveted and embargoed Cuban cigars, were obtained under forfeiture laws. Now Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard hopes to ship them off to Michigan troops.

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• Smoke alarm from Afghanistan to Morocco 

Under WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI), the 21 Member States of WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, are stepping up tobacco-control efforts. The Initiative was launched in 1998 and WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), which is now one of the most widely supported treaties in the history of the United Nations, entered into force in 2005.

The moves can’t come soon enough, according to Dr Fatimah El-Awa, the regional adviser for the Tobacco Free Initiative at WHO’s Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, which is based in Cairo.

“When we talk about tobacco, some people still look at us and laugh, saying, ‘Well, people are starving and dying from poverty and you’re talking about tobacco.’ But they don’t understand that tobacco contributes to poverty.”

With stronger tobacco control policies, including smoking bans expanding in public areas like restaurants in more parts of the United States of America (USA) and Europe, cigarette manufacturers are dumping their toxic merchandise in other parts of the world such as the Eastern Mediterranean Region, making tobacco control measures even more imperative, says El-Awa. The region comprises 21 Member States, from Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia in north Africa, through the Gulf countries, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the rest of the Middle East to Afghanistan and Pakistan in south Asia. It also includes Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan in sub-Saharan Africa.

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S.Korea's KT&G says wins $476 mln cigarettes order  

KT&G Corp, South Korea's top tobacco company, said on Monday it had agreed to sell 450.7 billion won ($476.3 million) worth of cigarettes to Alokozay International Limited.

KT&G said in a filing to the Korea Exchange that those cigarettes would be sold in the Middle East and Russia.

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Impartial health advice available in convenient shopping mall locations across the GCC 

With the ban on smoking spreading swiftly throughout the GCC – there is no better time than the present to give up smoking. As a first ever for the region, the UK’s number one health and beauty store responds to those who have health questions and require immediate and impartial professional advice through the new 'Ask Your Boots Pharmacists' campaign unveiled this week. Whether your reasons for quitting smoking are to improve your heart and lung health, to look and feel better or to protect those around you from the harmful effects of cigarette smoke, this campaign aims to encoura

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Huge illegal cigarette haul in Durban 

About R100-million worth of counterfeit cigarettes were seized by police and port security at the Durban harbour on Thursday.

Head of Durban Harbour security and protection services Superintendent Thembakazi Mase said about 4 400 boxes of Chelsea cigarettes were found in four containers and 2 100 boxes of Chicago cigarettes were found in two other containers. Each box contained 50 cartons of cigarettes. . . .

She said the cigarettes were being smuggled into South Africa from the Middle East, Unite Arab Emirates, and Egypt.

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Lieberman's cigar test  

While MKs from all the parties crowded into the Knesset cafeteria to watch the television broadcasts from Annapolis, Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman pushed aside the sign that bans smoking in the sitting room at the end of the main auditorium. It was clear he did not care a bit about the controversy over the joint declaration's content. . . .

Lieberman is not a sucker. After Annapolis, as before, he is in no hurry to leave the government. As long as he calmly smokes his cigars, his friends in the West Bank settlement Nokdim can relax.

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Persian Gulf States Battle Tobacco Firms  

Saudi Arabia wants to bring the national battle it has waged against 14 tobacco firms to higher grounds by asking the rest of the Persian Gulf states to also sue cigarette companies operating in the region. Dr. Tawfiq Khoja, director general of the Executive Bureau of the Gulf Cooperation Council of Health Ministers said Tuesday it will not allow the cigarette producers to influence further young Middle Easterners to take up the habit.

To slow down nicotine consumption in Saudi Arabia, the state filed a suit against 14 tobacco firms, asking for a $2.7 billion (10 billion riyal) compensation to cover the medical bills for locals with smoking-related ailments. In addition, the Saudi government is asking for a $133 million (500 million riyal) annual payment to cover the cost of ongoing treatment. Riyadh also wants to end tobacco sponsorship at sporting events.

The habit claims 7,000 lives in Saudi every year, mostly young people. Dr. Khoja disclosed 45 percent of them are people in their mid-20s, 27 percent high school students and 13 percent female teachers.

Other Gulf states are beginning to pick up the battle. Last week the United Arab Emirates started to implement the second phase of the smoking ban covering restaurants, cafes and shisha stores. The region has the biggest smoking rate in the world, with 24.3 percent of puffers school children.

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• Smoking is "One of the Biggest Health Threats" for the Middle East 

Local and international experts on the medical and social effects of smoking have gathered in Dubai to discuss a strategic plan to reduce its impact on health and wellbeing in the region.

Among the issues under discussion were the results of recent research that revealed that 54 percent of smokers in the UAE are younger than 30 years of age, demonstrating the scale of potential future health problems unless the widespread addiction to tobacco is curtailed.

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British American Tobacco names Gray as regional director Africa, Middle East | Latest News | News | Hemscott 

British American Tobacco PLC said it has appointed Andrew Gray, currently the president of Souza Cruz, the group's Brazilian unit, to succeed Nicandro Durante as regional director, Africa & the Middle East.

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• Mideast Employees Vote for Smoking Ban in the Workplace 

Pressure is mounting on Middle East companies to ban smoking in the workplace, according to the latest survey by GulfTalent.com, the region's leading online recruitment portal.

The survey found that an overwhelming 98% of professionals favour some form of smoking restriction in their workplace. Of the total respondents, who included both smokers and non-smokers, 54% preferred a complete ban on smoking inside office premises, while a further 44% believed that the workplace should be largely smoke-free, with smoking only permitted in certain designated areas.

Only 2% of professionals surveyed were completely opposed to any form of smoking restriction.

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• 32pc of professionals in Qatar smoke at workplaces  

A survey carried out by recruitment portal GulfTalent.com reveals Middle Eastern countries are among the most smoker-friendly in the world.

DOHA * There's bad news for the votaries of 'Quit Smoking', at least in the case of professionals in the Middle East.

Qatar, which has imposed a blanket ban on smoking in government offices and public places and with many private companies following suit, still has 32 per cent of professionals who smoke in the workplace. Forty-two per cent of private offices are free of smokers, a survey carried out by recruitment portal GulfTalent.com said.

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'Stub-it-out' call backed 

ALMOST all professionals in the Middle East prefer smoking to be banned or restricted in the workplace, according to a new survey.The latest Dubai-based GulfTalent.com online survey found that 98 per cent of professionals favoured some form of smoking restriction in their workplace.

However, around 10pc of companies had no smoking restrictions in place and a large number of companies who did have official smoking bans failed to enforce them fully, revealed the survey.

It showed that 29pc of professionals in Bahrain were smokers, while Egypt and Jordan topped the list with 38pc and Oman was at the bottom, with only 20pc of smoking employees.

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• Mideast employees vote for smoking ban in the workplace 

Pressure is mounting on Middle East companies to ban smoking in the workplace, according to the latest survey by GulfTalent.com, the region’s leading online recruitment portal.

The survey found that an overwhelming 98% of professionals favour some form of smoking restriction in their workplace. Of the total respondents, who included both smokers and non-smokers, 54% preferred a complete ban on smoking inside office premises, while a further 44% believed that the workplace should be largely smoke-free, with smoking only permitted in certain designated areas.

Only 2% of professionals surveyed were completely opposed to any form of smoking restriction.

Currently around 10% of companies have no smoking restrictions in place, while a large number of companies who do have official smoking bans fail to enforce them fully – with many staff, including some senior managers, reportedly flouting the rules.

According to GulfTalent.com, many human resource departments across the region have recently introduced smoking restrictions in their workplaces.

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