Tobacco.org

• New law 'offensive' to smokers  

Tough new anti-smoking laws have not filtered down to Cape Town's smokers, who are still puffing away in clubs and pubs.

Amendments to the Tobacco Control Act came into effect on September 4, banning smoking in entertainment areas, including bars, clubs, restaurant patios and walkways, balconies and even in parkades.

The amendments also banned smoking in cars in which children younger than 12 are passengers and put a stop to the sale of products such as sweets and chocolates by cigarette vendors.

While some smokers and restaurant owners claim ignorance of the new laws, others admit that they are aware of the laws and the consequences if caught contravening them.

A snap survey by the Cape Argus showed that many establishments still allow people to puff in walkways and on patios and balconies, while others even allow patrons to smoke indoors.

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• Electronic cigarettes exempt from new smoking laws 

As smoking laws place more restrictions on when and where one can smoke, electronic cigarettes are becoming the preferred alternative, offering smokers the opportunity to cut down on the harmful chemicals that they inhale and emit while successfully avoiding prosecution.

Smokers of tobacco cigarettes in South Africa will once again have to adjust their habits to avoid smoking in public places and near children due to recent laws passed. . . .

Both odourless and colourless, the vapour is neither toxic nor harmful as a secondary smoke, making it safe to smoke in all public places.

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• Smoking laws tightened 

SMOKERS are set to have the number of places where they can light up freely curtailed even further, thanks to amended smoking laws.

Two new Acts, which amend the country’s tobacco control laws, are now in operation and according to the National Council Against Smoking, offer better protection for non- smokers.

“The Acts strengthen the existing law on smoking in public places; regulate the manufacture of tobacco products so as to make cigarettes less likely to start fires; and make them less appealing to children and less addictive,” said the council .

Smokers would no longer be able to smoke in “partially enclosed” public places, such as covered patios, verandas, balconies, walkways and parking areas, which could have serious implications for bars and restaurants.

Owners could now be fined a maximum of R50000 for breaking the smoking laws while the fine for the individual smoker is R500.

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• Gloves off on smoking 

They've been a long time coming, but harsh new clampdowns on smoking have been signed into law by President Jacob Zuma, who is among the 78 percent of South African adults who don't smoke.

Owners of pubs, restaurants and workplaces who allow people to smoke in non-smoking areas may have sniffed at the paltry R200 fine they faced up to now, but may think twice of flouting the anti-puffing law now that the fine is R50 000.

Partially enclosed patios, balconies and walkways no longer qualify as open spaces, so smoking is out in those spots, too.

Parents can no longer subject their children to smoke-infested areas of restaurants, and adults may not smoke in a car if any of the passengers are under 12. . . .

It's now also illegal for the cigarette companies to stage "by invitation only" parties or use "viral" marketing to target young people - tactics the industry has resorted to since 2000 when advertising was banned. . . .

If the following post on a local blog is anything to go by, it's a strategy that's worked for them. In answer to the question "which brand do you smoke?" someone shared this: "I used to smoke Stuyvesant red. Then one day at RAU these super hot chickies were doing promos for Rothmans so I signed up!

"Ever since then they've been sending me two packs a month and free lighters, free stuff and party invites! Been smoking Rothmans ever since!"

More big changes are expected in the coming months . . .

Interestingly, two weeks after being ordered by US federal court judge Gladys Kessler to publicise the dangers of smoking and to stop marketing so-called "light" and "mild" cigarettes as healthier than others, the tobacco companies returned to court to effectively ask the judge if they could carry on deceiving their overseas markets about "light" and "low-tar" cigarettes.

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• Tobacco acts signed into law 

Two pieces of legislation that dramatically increase smoking fines and crack down on tobacco companies have been signed into law, the National Council Against Smoking said on Monday.

The acts also make it illegal for adults to smoke in a car where there is a child under 12, and pave the way for picture warnings such as diseased lungs on cigarette packs.

"The new laws will have dramatic, important and far-ranging effects on public health and the tobacco industry's marketing activities," said council director Yussuf Saloojee.

The acts were passed by Parliament in 2007 and 2008.

Saloojee said fines for smoking or allowing smoking in a non-smoking area increased with immediate effect.

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• Does your teenager smoke and drink?  

More than a quarter of South African teenagers have "lots" of friends who are smoking and drinking - increasing the risk that more youngsters will take part in this dangerous behaviour.

The finding is from TNS Research Surveys, which interviewed 1 000 South African teenagers ranging in age from 13 to 19 years, from the seven major metropolitan areas. The home survey asked youngsters if they had "lots of friends" who were smoking, drinking and/or using drugs.

The reason for asking about the behaviour of their friends, but not themselves, was to elicit more honest answers, said Neil Higgs, the director of innovation and development at TNS. This was especially important with teenagers under 16, whose caregivers were required to be present during the interview.

The implication of the findings was that teenagers were fairly heavily surrounded by the activity, said Higgs.

The highest concentration of smoking was found in Cape Town, where 44 percent of teenagers interviewed said they had lots of friends who smoked. The rate among 13-year-olds was 15 percent.

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• E-ciggies help 45% smokers quit 

Forty-five percent of South African smokers who used e-cigarettes were able to quit tobacco smoking within two months, a new SA study shows.

In the first local medical study on the efficiency of electronic cigarettes to help smokers kick the habit, a team of doctors supplied 349 patients with Twisp electronic cigarettes, over a period of eight weeks.

Of Dutch origin, the Twisp e-cigarette is an electronic device that delivers nicotine through vapour but without the tar, carcinogens or smoke found in standard cigarettes.

All participating doctors agreed that e-cigarettes are a significantly more healthy alternative to conventional smoking.

The study's outcome revealed that:

- 6% of smokers quit within two weeks increasing to 45% within eight weeks. . . .

- When asked if an e-cigarette could act as an agent to overcome all the physical and psychological challenges to quit tobacco smoking, all doctors said "yes".

Dr Clifford Hulley, one of the participating medical professionals in the survey, reported that "an e-cigarette is the most effective treatment method on the market for quitting tobacco smoking".

Prof Martin Veller, Head Vascular Surgeon at the University of the Witwatersrand, who also participated in the project, added that e-cigarettes have the appearance of normal tobacco cigarettes but are non-toxic. . . . .

Earlier this year Health New Zealand carried out trials into the safety of e-cigarettes. According to the head of research Dr Murray Laugeson, the test found that e-cigarettes were very safe relative to cigarettes, and also safe in absolute terms on all measurements. . . .

According to Matt Salmon, president of the Electronic Cigarette Association (Eca) in the USA, available data indicates that electronic cigarettes reduce the risk of illness and death to under 1% of the risk posed by tobacco cigarettes "which are responsible for 400 000 deaths per year in the US - more than Aids, drugs, homicides, fires and auto accidents combined".

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• Getting hooked on hookahs hazardous - report 

The Eastern smoking pipes known as hookahs could be potentially more dangerous than cigarettes, researchers say.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) has said that hookah smoking could be a major contributor in the transmission of diseases such as tuberculosis, viral hepatitis and oral herpes infection.

MRC president Professor Anthony Mbewu said the growing practice of using hookahs was a concern. . . .

Professor Angela Mathee, director of the MRC's Environment & Health Research Unit, said a study in Johannesburg had found smoking hookahs was so widespread and accepted in some communities that children as young as six were doing it.

"I have personally witnessed a two-year-old child smoking a hookah pipe in the presence of his mother.

"I have also seen children as young as six smoking pipes they made from plastic bottles and straws."

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• A wisp of public-spiritedness 

SOME people would say it was tantamount to foxes asking to be consulted about the welfare of chickens. But the global tobacco industry, while no longer denying that its products do terrible damage, has long insisted that in any discussion about how to limit the medical effects of the weed, it is a legitimate partner.

That claim was emphatically rejected by health officials from 160 countries after a week's deliberation in South Africa which concluded on November 22nd. In a statement that grew steadily tougher in the course of the meeting--to the dismay of cigarette firms and the delight of their adversaries--it was proclaimed that there is a "fundamental and irreconcilable conflict" between the interests of the tobacco industry and the cause of public health.

In a non-binding but morally powerful set of guidelines, it was also laid down that interaction between governments and tobacco firms should be limited to what is "strictly necessary" and kept transparent through public hearings and disclosure of records; voluntary or non-enforceable arrangements should be barred. In other words, anything that could make tobacco firms look like decent citizens, doing their bit for public service, ought to be avoided. . . .

Richard Burr, a senator from North Carolina, calls the treaty a surrender of sovereignty which would punish the United States by forcing it to fund the lion's share of a global anti-tobacco drive with no corresponding rise in influence. Moreover, he says, the drafters of the treaty refused to listen to the "producers of tobacco"--a sure sign that their purpose was not "to bring a safer product to market" but to eliminate the production of tobacco altogether.

On the last point, at least, tobacco's sternest foes might concur with the senator. However, some American legislators have taken a different view. In 2005 a group of 11 senators wrote to George Bush urging him to send over the tobacco treaty for consideration; they noted that tobacco claims more than 400,000 American lives a year. One of the signatories was a senator whose appealingly husky voice may owe something to his own weakness for the weed--Barack Obama.

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• WHO wants plain cigarette packages  

Health experts from across the world meeting in South Africa’s port city of Durban this week are discussing proposals to strip tobacco manufacturers of one of their last marketing tools: eye-catching packaging.

Representatives of the 160 countries that are party to the 2003 World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control have been meeting in Durban since Monday to discuss guidelines on the implementation of the treaty.

Among the proposals under consideration is a move towards generic or plain cigarette packs, with standardized colors, fonts and “only the most objective information,” including a very large health warning, according to Heather Selin of the Framework Convention secretariat.

“The idea would be to make them as ugly as possible,” Selin told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

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• New guidelines to strengthen anti-tobacco treaty  

Delegates from 160 countries agreed Saturday on new guidelines to block the tobacco industry from interfering in state health policies and the implementation of a global anti-tobacco treaty.

The week-long conference in South Africa is the third session of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) aimed at fighting against tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

"Tobacco industry interference has been the number one obstacle to the treaty's implementation," conference organisers said in a statement.

"The abuses of corporations like Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco have ranged from attempting to write tobacco control laws, blocking the passage of smoke-free legislation, and using so-called 'corporate social responsibility' to circumvent ad bans," it said.

Delegates want to ban government partnership or collaboration

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• Calls for generic cigarette packs 

Health experts from across the world meeting in Durban this week are discussing proposals to strip tobacco manufacturers of one of their last marketing tools: eye-catching packaging.

Representatives of the 160 countries that are party to the 2003 World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control have been meeting in Durban since Monday to discuss guidelines on the implementation of the treaty.

Among the proposals under consideration is a move towards generic or plain cigarette packs, with standardised colours, fonts and "only the most objective information", including a very large health warning, according to Heather Selin of the Framework Convention secretariat.

"The idea would be to make them as ugly as possible," Selin told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

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• MAJOR MULTINATIONAL INITIATIVE LAUNCHED TO PROMOTE TOBACCO C  

International leaders in cancer and tobacco control have announced the launch of an unprecedented multinational effort to promote more aggressive tobacco control measures across sub-Saharan Africa. The Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI) is design to promote the adoption, implementation and enforcement of effective in-country tobacco control policies, legislation and programmes.

ATCRI is being supported by Cancer Research UK and American Cancer Society (ACS) and will be hosted by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN). The Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Nnimmo Bassey, said "This is an important and long-overdue initiative". There is significant concern that if current smoking patterns continue, Africa will be faced with the loss of millions of her people to tobacco-related disease within the next few years and also be faced with major infrastructure challenges to manage and treat these chronic diseases.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), tobacco currently kills about 5.5 million people every year with seventy percent of the deaths occurring in developing countries. Tobacco companies have in the recent past targeted African countries for development, distribution and marketing of tobacco products because of the limited tobacco control legislation to date.

The launch of ATCRI comes as the World Health Organisation hosts the third Conference of the Parties of the WHO-initiated Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) on-going in Durban from 17 -22 November. The WHO FCTC is the world's first global public health treaty, ratified by more than 160 nations, and requires parties to adopt a comprehensive range of measures designed to reduce the devastating health and economic impacts of tobacco.

John R. Seffrin, PhD, chief executive officer (CEO) of American Cancer Society, is optimistic that ATCRI will go a long way in helping to reduce the burden of diseases, deaths and other costs associated with tobacco use. He noted, This effort represents the first major coordinated, multinational effort in Africa to specifically address tobacco control.

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• Smoking motorists beware 

The city of Cape Town has warned that it will be tough on motorists caught flinging burning cigarette butts or matches out of car windows in the coming fire-season months.

Butts and matches have caused hundreds of fires and Fire and Rescue station commander Denzel Ramedies said a R1000 fine would be issued to anyone caught throwing burning cigarette stompies or matches on the ground.

He said high winds and dry vegetation during the dry summer season made the Western Cape more prone to the risk of fires spreading rapidly and becoming uncontrollable. . . .

The city amended its fire safety bylaw last year to make it easier to fine people who threw burning butts or matches out of car windows.

It is now no longer necessary for the prosecution to prove who tossed out the burning item. Instead, the owner of the vehicle would be fined unless he or she chose to take the matter to court, Ramedies said.

If a driver or passenger is spotted throwing burning matches or cigarette butts from a vehicle they may be reported to the city's 24-hour emergency control centre on 021 424 7715.

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• Tobacco SMS sparks outcry 

"Dunhill introduces its new Limited Edition Range. For more information see the MMS that follows."

This is the novel way tobacco giant British American Tobacco (BAT) is trying to flout South Africa's tough anti-smoking laws, which have been designed to discourage people from picking up the habit.

In a move that anti-smoking lobbyists say is in direct violation of the law, Dunhill - a product of BAT South Africa - has sent out mass SMSs to people promoting its new "limited-edition range".

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Dunhill introduces its new Limited Edition Range. For more information see the MMS that follows.
Dunhill (owned by BAT) is now using mass text messages (SMS), a medium wildly popular with teens, to promote its new brand in South Africa.