Tobacco.org

'Smoke-free policies are working' 

Smoke-free policies are reducing heart disease related to smoke exposure, the prevalence of smoking in adults and the exposure of both adults and children to second-hand smoke.

These and other findings are published in a special report of this month's the Lancet Oncology.

The report, by the International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC), also showed that smoke-free policies do not decrease the business activity of the restaurant and bar industry.

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Tobacco in South Africa - New Research Report on Companies and Markets 

Tobacco in South Africa industry profile is an essential resource for top-level data and analysis covering the tobacco industry. It includes detailed data on market size and segmentation, plus textual and graphical analysis of the key trends and competitive landscape, leading companies and demographic information.

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Cigs 'prime evil' 

Patricia Lambert is not one to mince her words.

One of the star attractions at a media summit hosted last week in Joburg by the American Cancer Society, and the Cancer Association of SA, among others, South African-born Lambert is director of the new International Legal Consortium at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an NGO based in Washington.

She began her presentation by describing the tobacco industry as "evil".

"Their PR and marketing firms are spreading disease and death in the way that no virus has been able to do yet," she said.

"Yet in Africa, donor money goes to dealing with infectious diseases - HIV, tuberculosis and malaria instead."

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MPs endorse tobacco bill 

The National Assembly on Thursday approved the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill designed to tighten cigarette regulations.

The step, supported by all political parties, will prohibit the sale of tobacco products in health and education institutions, increase the legal age for buying tobacco from 16 to 18, and restrict the sale of tobacco products from vending machines.

It will make advertising, promotion and sponsorships by tobacco industries illegal unless they are made anonymously.

The legislation will force manufacturers to display ghastly images of people suffering from smoking-related diseases to create public awareness on the dangers of smoking.

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• British American Tobacco SA Butts In To Help Conserve The Kruger National Park 

The Kruger National Park’s Managing Executive Dr Bandile Mkhize accepted a donation of 195 MaxiBin cigarette disposal bins today (Monday June 23, 2008) from British American Tobacco (BAT) South Africa.

“I would like to be first in line to thank and congratulate BAT South Africa for this marvellous initiative,” said Dr Mkhize during the hand over function at Skukuza.

Cigarette butts are a constant problem, not only because they are repulsive and can perhaps be ingested by animals, but also because of the obvious fire risk. . . .

On hearing about the challenge faced by the KNP, BAT South Africa stepped forward immediately, especially in light of its awareness about the environmental impact that its products can have if consumers do not adopt considerate smoking behaviour.

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Kelvin Grove goes no smoking  

Cape Town's prestigious Kelvin Grove club, which several years ago clashed with health authorities over anti-smoking legislation and won, has now banned smoking in all its buildings.

The decision was taken at the club's annual meeting earlier this month.

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• Cancer and tobacco are growing health concerns in Africa 

In an unprecedented meeting between the media, cancer and tobacco control nongovernmental organizations, and the health care sector, African journalists gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa yesterday to discuss Africa's growing cancer and tobacco crisis. This first ever summit was convened in order to address ways in which journalists can communicate lifesaving messaging about cancer, and tobacco-related deaths.

Speakers at the event were from the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC), the World Health Organization, the National Council Against Smoking, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, and the American Cancer Society.

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Kelvin Grove goes no smoking 

Cape Town's prestigious Kelvin Grove club, which several years ago clashed with health authorities over anti-smoking legislation and won, has now banned smoking in all its buildings.

The decision was taken at the club's annual meeting earlier this month.

Club general manager Danie Appel said on Thursday that the resolution, passed by all but about ten of the 400-odd members present, was that the interiors of all the club's buildings would with immediate effect become non-smoking areas.

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Govt may be given more control over tobacco industry, 

The new Tobacco Products Amendment Bill will expand government's control over the industry, provided it's passed.

The legislation enables the state to increase the age at which youngsters may be sold tobacco, from 16 to 18 years.

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• Tobacco companies do battle 

Two tobacco companies are battling it out at Competition Commission Tribunal hearings.

At issue is access to retail channels.

The tribunal's ruling is likely to affect the cigarette brands that are immediately visible to consumers at retail outlets.

Japan Tobacco International South Africa (JTISA) has accused British American Tobacco South Africa (Batsa) of being involved in conduct aimed at denying its competitors access to various retail channels.

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In depth - Richemont break-up ($$) 

Cigarettes are famously moreish. For investors too – tobacco companies’ captive customer bases and reliable cash flows can be hard to give up. Hence the continued complication of what should be a relatively simple operation: separating the luxury goods business of Richemont from the stake it owns in British American Tobacco. That 19.4 per cent holding accounts for almost half of the Swiss group’s $33bn market capitalisation.

Anton Rupert founded Rothmans in South Africa during the 1940s.

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Remgro lets SA investors light up and take a puff of BAT's finest 

For individual South African investors, Remgro offers a unique opportunity to hold an indirect interest in the steady global earnings of British American Tobacco (BAT), the owner of Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes and other brands. This is all the more so during the current downturn.

South African citizens are limited to investing R2 million offshore.

Remgro, founded by the late Anton Rupert, derives almost half its headline earnings from BAT. It held a stake of 10.6 percent last September.

Grant Swanepoel, a research analyst at Barnard Jacobs Mellet, expected BAT to deliver 10 percent growth in earnings a share in pounds for the next three to five years. "In this market, that cannot be sniffed at."

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End of the road for cigarette gang 

State witness Vernon Aspeling's six years of hell, in which he was shot and wounded and his 10-year-old son Liam kidnapped, has ended in the Cape High Court.

Under heavy guard from witness protection officers, Aspeling reportedly became visibly emotional as Judge Lee Bozalek found that he had been a reliable "chief pillar" witness against the cigarette hijacking gang that he had once been a member of, and granted the 45-year-old indemnity from prosecution for his part in the crimes.

Now, after Aspeling's evidence led to the conviction on Wednesday of all but three of the gang headed by brothers Selwyn and Virgil de Vries, The Star has learnt that police are renewing their investigation of two gang members alleged to have orchestrated Liam's kidnapping from jail.

Liam was kidnapped a week before his father was due to start testifying

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RAMAKANT: Need to improve anti-smoking strategies as fatality rates rise 

SOUTH Africa, along with many other countries, needs to scale up the cost-effective, proven and World Health Organisation recommended strategies to reduce the number of deaths attributed to tobacco use.

The 2008 World Health Statistics Report, released by the WHO 10 days before this year’s World No Tobacco Day on May 31, increases the urgency of scaling up quality interventions that will control tobacco use.

About half of all countries in the world do not implement any of the recommended tobacco control policies . . .

“Big tobacco’s interference in health policy is one of the greatest threats to the treaty’s implementation and enforcement. Philip Morris/Altria, British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco (JT) use their political influence to weaken, delay and defeat tobacco control legislation around the world. While the industry claims to have changed its ways, it continues to use sophisticated methods to undermine meaningful legislation,” said Kathy Mulvey of Corporate Accountability International at a meeting last year on the global tobacco treaty – the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

The alert monitoring of tobacco corporations in South Africa and holding them accountable for violating existing health policies will further boost the impact of the WHO’s recommended MPOWER package in reducing tobacco use globally.

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'Tobacco use kills 42 000 a year' 

More than 42 000 deaths in South Africa annually are attributed to tobacco use, the Cancer Association of SA (Cansa) has said at the Health Portfolio Committee's public hearing in Cape Town.

On Tuesday Cansa, which based its figures on studies by the Medical Research Council, submitted that all forms of advertising and promotion of tobacco products must be banned in order to help prevent young people from starting to smoke.

In a statement on Tuesday, the health department said it welcomed submissions on tighter tobacco control from various organisations including Cansa, the SA Medical Association and the University of Cape Town Health Economics Unit.

The hearings are aimed at amending Section 76 of the Tobacco Control Amendment Bill 2008 to bring it in line with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

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