Tobacco.org

• An old familiar lifestyle is gone in a puff  

The new decision by Clark County's subsidized housing agency to ban smoking in some of its properties reflects Washington's successful crusade to drive down cigarette use.

But the heated disputes between smokers and nonsmokers in Richard's building, inflamed by the VHA's action, also reflect an awkward fact about Washington's anti-smoking campaign: it's been relatively unsuccessful among the poor.

Heavy smokers who live in Richard's building, Esther Short Commons on the west side of downtown Vancouver's Esther Short Park, said they'll do as smokers whose buildings go smoke-free have done for decades: move to another place as soon as they can.

But the continuing spread of no-smoking apartments is leaving smokers with a new worry.

Where can you smoke, if not in the projects?

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State targeting region's pregnant smokers 

Cancel's success is not hers alone. She's one of many pregnant women helped by state health officials. The reason for all the attention comes down to some troubling statistics: Across Pennsylvania, 18 percent of pregnant women continue to smoke before their baby is born -- and here in northwest Pennsylvania, that number skyrockets to 28 percent.

While that number may be worrisome to anyone who suspects that smoking and pregnancy should not mix, to health officials the staggering local statistic demands they take action. . . .

Among those most devoted to the cause is Shannon Eckels of St. Marys, the region's tobacco control coordinator for the Department of Health. "We're not quite sure why our numbers here are so high," she says. "But I think a lot of it is because we're very rural and have higher poverty levels. In lower socio-economic sectors, you tend to see higher tobacco use.

"Basically, we've got to raise awareness. A lot of (pregnant women) don't realize how harmful this is (to their unborn baby). We have to give them the power they need to quit and then provide some resources along the way."

For young moms who probably wanted to quit smoking anyway, those resources add to the incentive to give it a shot. The list is impressive:

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Increasing Tax Is Only One Way to Control Tobacco 

The official 'Xinhuanet' carried an article saying raising taxes is an effective way to curb tobacco consumption, but is only part of the solution.

The article said increasing tobacco tax and raising tobacco prices have proven to be the most effective way to reduce smoking among smokers of all income levels. It will prevent young people from taking up the habit and encourage more smokers to quit.

But peoples' responses to tobacco regulations vary. Increased prices would have no effect on a group of people who would give up meals but not cigarettes, the article says.

Therefore, the article suggests the government follow the rules of the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005.

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• ETRC issues rallying cry against proposed tobacco ban 

The duty-free group has urged the industry to contact governments in the final days before talks begin on the World Health Organization illicit trade protocol

The European Travel Retail Council (ETRC) has issued a final rallying call for the duty-free industry to contact governments in the days leading up to the third round of negotiations on the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) protocol on illicit trade that threatens a ban on the sale and import of duty-free tobacco products. ETRC secretary general Keith Spinks asked companies "to make a final round of intensive contacts", particularly in countries "where political engagement has been difficult or where there is still no clear indication from governments on their policy on duty-free sales".

Proposals for the prohibition of duty-free tobacco sales were initially tabled at the second negotiating session in October 2008, but ETRC and other global industry stakeholders have since lobbied the relevant authorities to refute allegations that duty-free sales at airports, on board airlines and in border shops contribute to illicit trade, succeeding in changing the draft text of the protocol to remove an outright ban on tobacco sales to travellers.

Tobacco control activists including the Framework Convention Alliance (FCA) have now published their positions in advance of the third round of negotiations calling for the inclusion of a new article specifically to ban duty-free tobacco sales to international travellers, as well as condemning the duty-free trade association's efforts to prevent such a prohibition from being implemented.

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On the line: Demerara Tobacco Company Limited Annual Report 2008  

The Annual General Meeting of the Demerara Tobacco Company Limited, the tobacco trading company was held on March 31, 2009 making it the first company with a calendar yearend to have presented its 2008 annual report to its shareholders. In fact its financial statements were signed off by the auditors within five weeks of the end of calendar year 2008, which is commendable, but with effectively one supplier and one customer the accounting workload is hardly demanding. The company saw sales increasing by 6.6% over 2007 and after tax profit increasing by 6.3%, an almost linear relationship. However, the rate of growth of sales has fallen over the past couple of years, when the increase in 2007 sales over 2006 was a more robust 16%. . . .

Guyana is a signatory to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, but as the Minister of Health admitted in 2005, while smoking has been an issue in Guyana “for years nothing has really been done about it.” The company’s stated marketing strategy is to meet the “preferences of adults.” It would have been good to believe that nicotine abuse is a juvenile problem. Here are some statistics to prove otherwise.

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Nations can save lives and cut losses of billions of US dollars by deciding this week to work on a new international treaty to combat global trade in illicit tobacco products 

This week at a global health conference, health advocates are urging governments to start negotiations on a new international treaty to combat illicit trade in tobacco products.

Representatives of 147 countries are meeting at a global health conference in Bangkok June 30-July 6 2007 to implement the international tobacco control treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control of the World Health Organization (FCTC). One of the main agenda items of the conference will be the discussion of an expert report on combating the illicit tobacco trade.

“Nations serious about protecting the health and well-being of their people should take the illicit tobacco trade very seriously. Smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes are sold at lower prices than legal products, contributing to higher consumption and greater rates of smoking-related illness and death,” said Luk Joossens, Senior Policy Advisor of the Framework Convention Alliance (FCA). “The illicit tobacco trade also deprives governments of billions of dollars of tax revenue reducing funding available for public health and other programs.”

The FCA – an international alliance of hundreds of tobacco control organisations - has estimated that, in 2006, the illicit cigarette trade accounted for 10.7% of total global trade or approximately 600 billion cigarettes sold worldwide. The yearly loss of revenue to governments - more than US$ 40 billion - represents a sum greater than the GDP of two-thirds of the World’s countries.

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• Developing world faces black market cigarette plague 

A growing global trade in black market cigarettes is killing tens of thousands of people a year, causing massive health problems and costing governments billions of pounds, a hard-hitting report warns today.

A staggering 657 billion cigarettes a year are sold illicitly by organised crime gangs, half of all tobacco sold in some countries is contraband, and £24.6bn in taxes are never paid, it says.

The report makes plain that, contrary to the tobacco industry's claims, cigarette smuggling is much more common and damaging in poorer countries. Inefficient law enforcement, lax border controls and corruption among police and government officials mean smugglers find it easier to move large consignments of stolen or counterfeit cigarettes into countries in the developing world. . . .

The report comes as representatives of governments gather in Geneva to negotiate the first worldwide protocol on illicit trade in tobacco products. Heavily backed by many EU countries, the treaty is expected to lead to co-ordinated global action to try to tackle the problem. Some African administrations are sceptical because they believe it will cost them money to implement, but campaigners say that they will actually make money by ultimately being able to increase the tax on legally sold cigarettes once the black market has been tackled.

The study, part-funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has been written by Martin Raw of the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies at Nottingham University, David Merriman of Illinois University in Chicago, Hana Ross of the American Cancer Society and Luk Joossens of the Brussels-based Framework Convention Alliance pro-treaty organisation. It is called "How eliminating the global illict cigarette trade would increase tax revenue and save lives".

"The burden of illicit trade falls mainly on lower-income countries", the study found.

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Rolling your own  

On Wednesday, June 24, New Hampshire legislators said they closed a $650 million revenue gap by passing an $11.5 billion budget that includes raising the cigarette tax by 45 cents, to a total of $1.78 per pack.

Even with the hike, New Hampshire has the lowest cigarette tax in the region, according to Michael Dumond, bureau chief of Bureau of Prevention Services, state Division of Public Health Services.

Maine's tax is $2 per pack; Vermont's $1.99; Rhode Island's tax is $2.46; and Massachusetts has a $2.51 tax per pack, Dumond said.

Smoke shops in Seabrook at the Massachusetts border particularly benefit from smokers traveling into the state to buy cigarettes at cheaper prices.

Increasingly, smoke shop owners said, customers are opting to save even more money by buying roll-your-own products.

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