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The government reduced the tobacco industry to the size of a pygmy here Sunday by announcing immediate rollback of the controversial Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) on Designated Smoking Areas (DSAs) and making the printing of pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs and outers mandatory with effect from January 1, 2010.
The government also prohibited the tobacco companies from offering free giveaways, cash rebates or discounts as a marketing incentive. It also announced to make Pakistan Railways smoke-free from July 1, 2009.
Minister for Health Mir Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani made these surprise announcements at a seminar organised in connection with World No-Tobacco Day 2009 (WNTD) here on Sunday. By doing so, the government not only added a golden chapter to the history of tobacco control efforts in Pakistan but also regained its lost glory in the international health community, which felt the pinch of the country's pro-tobacco industry posture just as much as anti-tobacco campaigners at home. . . .
Jakhrani also announced that all railway trains will be smoke-free from July 1, 2009.
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FUTURE CALENDAR
Tuesday, June 9th 2009, 9:00 AM
Courtroom One, Second Floor, John Adams Courthouse, One Pemberton Square, Boston . . .
03/05/2009 #1.1 Does the plaintiffs' suit for medical monitoring, based on the subclinical effects of exposure to cigarette smoke and increased risk of lung cancer, state a cognizable cliam and/or permit a remedy under Massachusetts state law? If the plaintiffs have successfully stated a claim or claims, has the statute or limitations governing those claims expired?
The Dubai Health Authority launched an extensive anti-tobacco campaign on Sunday, targeting women and children in particular, and announced an awareness programme to be conducted in five phases till May 31 next year.
Starting this week, the campaign will also target worshippers through the Friday sermon, according to Dr Ahmad Ibrahim Kalban, the authority's Acting Director of Primary Health Care.
The awareness programme, launched to mark the World No Tobacco Day, follows recommendations by the World Health Organisation, including six policy statements against tobacco outlined in the global health body's mPower project.
Entitled Tobacco-free Dubai -- Together for a Society Free from Smoking, the campaign will begin the first phase by training physicians, raising awareness and inviting volunteers for the phases to follow.
The second phase of the campaign will start in September and will target students from G7-12 through lectures and campaigns to raise awareness.
The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld major elements of a 2006 lower court decision that found big tobacco companies guilty of racketeering and fraud as part of a prolonged campaign to deceive and addict the public. That 1,742-page opinion, rendered by Judge Gladys Kessler, laid out in painstaking detail how the tobacco companies made false statements and suppressed evidence to deny or play down the addictive qualities and the adverse health effects of smoking. . . .
The House has already voted to give the F.D.A. power to regulate tobacco. Senators, who are getting ready to vote on similar legislation, now have fair warning, if they needed any more, that this is a rogue industry. It can't be trusted to behave responsibly or even adhere to agreements it has signed. It is time to grant the F.D.A. the power to regulate the content and marketing of tobacco products.
PUNE: Risks are higher. But the addiction is stronger and it's a difficult business to kick the butt. Forget the menfolk, even women today seem to whiff off all these concerns with every puff they take.
According to the WHO's 14th World Conference on Tobacco and Health, 2009, there has been an alarming 18 per cent rise in the number of women smokers in India. Majority of these women fall in the age group of 18 to 24 years.
Are a woman's reasons to take up the cancer-stick' different from the men? If psychologists are to be believed, a cigarette in a woman's hand has begun to symbolise a certain air of success and mystery. They say, smoking, for the fairer sex, is an act of rebellion against social pressures of being feminine, nice and perfect.
Says Himani Chaphekar, a city-based psychologist: "Women are more emotional. Therefore, the possibility of them slipping into depression is more than men. Some women also take to smokes due to loneliness. Personality and socio-economic factors are also reasons to such addictions." . . .
To most women, giving up cigarette means giving up their freedom. And, would they give it up when they have kids? Pat comes the reply from Yamini, "Why should I? Smoking is like breathing. I can't give it up. And, there are so many women smokers who have kids."
Opponents of a law to extend a state smoking ban to include bars and casinos expect to have the needed number of petition signatures to refer the law to a public vote.
And they're planning on turning them in a week before the June 29 deadline.
Larry Mann of Rapid City, who coordinates the petition drive for Citizens for Individual Freedom, said the ballot-issue committee plans to turn in petitions to the secretary of state in Pierre on June 22. . . .
The South Dakota Legislature approved HB1240, which would expand a state ban on smoking in businesses and public places to include bars and casinos. Gov. Mike Rounds signed the bill into law, which would take effect July 1.
If the required 16,776 signatures are verified, however, the law would be suspended pending the next general election vote in November 2010.
From 1950s heartthrob James Dean to Winona Ryder’s chain smoking in “Reality Bites,” to Will Smith lighting up a cigar every time he kills an alien in “Independence Day,” Hollywood never ceases to glamorize smoking. In the past several years, however, thanks to health campaigns, such glamorization has been curbed on television and in the movies.
In Indonesia, though, not only are there no restrictions on heroes and heroines smoking on screen, the country is also one of only two that still allows cigarette advertising. The other is Zimbabwe, which like Indonesia is one of the largest tobacco exporters in the world.
As a result, global cigarette companies, whose sales have experienced a slump in the West, are pushing marketing campaigns in developing Asian countries like Indonesia. Just take a look at the television or walk the streets: cigarette commercials and gigantic cigarette billboards are everywhere.
“The worst thing is, the aggressive marketing is targeted toward youth,” said Widyastuti Soerojo, from the Indonesian Public Health Association’s Tobacco Control Support Center.
The message has not changed: smoking is cool, manly or sexy . . .
Tobacco companies are even targeting children, sponsoring school events and giving out free packs of cigarettes to students. . . .
In a bid to prevent children from smoking, the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak) has requested the Supreme Court to issue a legal directive confirming that cigarettes contain addictive substances. Should the court do so, the central government would automatically be required to ban the sales of cigarettes to children and pregnant women.
The commission has also filed a judicial review against a 2002 law on broadcasting, on the grounds that cigarette advertising is increasingly targeting children.
Tobacco companies continue to regularly sponsor sports events and pop concerts in Indonesia, despite being banned from doing so in other countries such as the United States.
Bojonegoro, East Java. The clock struck an hour past noon; the field was sweltering hot, without the hint of a breeze. But the tobacco farmers from Samberan village, a three-hour drive from the East Java capital of Surabaya, still went out to work the second shift that day. . . .
Government officials and tobacco companies argue that millions of people are dependent on the industry for their livelihood, but research shows that the farmers’ incomes are far below the national average and many of them, stuck in a cycle of poverty, seem eager to switch crops.
Tobacco use has increased almost sixfold from 35 billion cigarettes consumed in 1971 to 202 billion in 2004. However, land for tobacco cultivation only increased from 170,000 hectares in 1971 to 200,000 hectares in 2004.
Less than half of the 466 farmers in this village of 2,000 people own their land; the rest are peasants, earning Rp 30,000 ($2.85) or less a day. Many farmers are still living in homes with dirt floors.
Even those who own land say they wind up with meager profits. Farmers need to have at least Rp 18 million to plant a hectare of tobacco, Iskak said, with the money sometimes obtained by taking out a loan. . . .
The farmers’ dependency on cigarette factories remains high. Many women work as cigarette rollers, earning Rp 20,000 a day.
“If the cigarette factories are closed, for example, the economy of this village will subside and the unemployment rate will soar as tens of thousands of people in this district work at the factory,” said Azis Zainul Abidin, a teacher in Samberan who helped with the Demographic Institute’s research. “But farming [other crops] can be empowering; it can replace the cigarette factory in the economy.”
Abdillah urged the government to issue policies that can improve farmers’ welfare, for example, by providing alternative jobs. These, he said, can be combined with an increase in the tobacco excise tax and the additional state revenue can be allocated to help farmers switch to other crops.
The idea is simple: First, the government will set a limit on the total number of cigarettes equal to this year’s annual production; this limit is the “cap” in cap-and-trade. The government will then issue licenses that correspond to the “cap” amount — these are essentially licenses to manufacture cigarettes. Next, these licenses will then be allocated to each cigarette manufacturer according to their respective market shares. Companies may not produce more than they have licenses for and the importation of cigarettes is prohibited. Finally, each year the government will decrease the number of licenses by a certain percentage, in such a way that after 15 years there will be zero licenses. In the course of these 15 years, these licenses are tradeable, meaning that one company can sell their licenses to another; this is the “trade” in “cap-and-trade.” . . .
Our past efforts are too narrowly focused on the demand side and do not have an end goal of putting a stop to the sale of cigarettes. The problem is, when it comes to addictive products, consumer demand is elastic. Hence, we need to complement our existing measures by addressing the supply side.
I believe in the virtues of individual choice and free markets, so it may be unusual that I am proposing such a system that is seemingly contradictory to these principles. I believe, however, that there are instances where certain activities are so inherently harmful to our society that the government is justified in its intervention. This is the case with heroin, cocaine and driving at 300 kilometers per hour.
The cap-and-trade system is neither perfect nor is it the only solution but I hope that this will contribute toward a discussion that will lead us to a comprehensive, practical and rational solution. With the right approach, a smoke-free Indonesia is not an impossible dream.