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Research Report on Chinese Tobacco Industry, 2010-2011  

In 2009, Chinese tobacco product industry realized the sales revenue of CNY 443.41 billion, increasing by 13.15% YOY; the growth rate was reduced by 3.13% YOY. By the end of 2009, the assets of Chinese tobacco product industry totaled CNY 494.69 billion, 11.89% increase over 2008; the growth rate dropped by 6.09% YOY. The number of enterprises reached 172 with

the YOY growth of 9. The number of employees was 188,800, increasing 16,700 over 2008. In 2009, the total profit of Chinese tobacco product industry amounted to CNY 62.59 billion, dropping by CNY 5.51 billion YOY.

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LETTER: Anti-smoking program crucial in helping state workers quit  

My story's not that different from anybody else who is a smoker. I started smoking cigarettes when I was 12 and have tried to quit more times than I can count.

Anyone who tries to quit smoking will tell you how hard it is . . .

After a few weeks on the job, the state started its employee Tobacco Quit program, which offers free information about quitting and $5 co-pays on the quit-smoking products -- including the patches, gums and prescription medication I was taking.

I signed up for the program, got a prescription and stopped smoking in the fall. I thought I finally made it over that hump, but when the holidays hit, I made the mistake of starting to smoke again. Now I'm still taking the medicine and smoking less, hoping that I can finally quit for good.

Unfortunately, funding for the quit program will be gone after June unless the state can find enough money . . .

It's my hope that the governor and those who control the state's budget will see that this program is helping to rescue many people who suffer from nicotine addiction.

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Official exposed by sex diaries scandal 

Disciplinary officials launched an investigation on Monday into Han Feng, an official from the Guangxi tobacco monopoly bureau, after sex diaries allegedly written by him were posted online.

The diaries covered the period from January 2007 to January 2008, when Han served as the director of the Laibin tobacco monopoly bureau. Han was transferred to the Guangxi tobacco monopoly bureau in 2009, first serving as director of the policy division and later as director of the sales division.

"The diaries are not groundless rumors," Liao Hongxiu, office chief at the Guangxi tobacco monopoly bureau was quoted as saying on Tuesday by the Information Times.

"Han has already stepped down from his post," an official from the bureau told China Daily.

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Official exposed by sex diaries scandal 

Disciplinary officials launched an investigation on Monday into Han Feng, an official from the Guangxi tobacco monopoly bureau, after sex diaries allegedly written by him were posted online.

The diaries covered the period from January 2007 to January 2008, when Han served as the director of the Laibin tobacco monopoly bureau. Han was transferred to the Guangxi tobacco monopoly bureau in 2009, first serving as director of the policy division and later as director of the sales division.

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The Diary of the Tobacco Bureau Chief 

Wouldn't you like to know what is in those diaries? Well, here is the English translation! Happy reading! . . .

January 5 Saturday (10-20 ℃ sunny) Went with Sha to Shuying's place in the morning. We gave her two cartons of cigarettes and a dress. We went to Lao Meng where Sha bought a pair of pants. . . .

January 14 Monday (7-12 ℃ overcast) Stayed home in the morning. Went with Ah Wu to Beihai at 2pm. In the evening, I had dinner with Deng Jiazhen as well as Feng Taisheng, Li Xianggui and others. Then we went to sing karaoke. I gave Deng a bottle of Wuliangyi wine and a cartoon of Yuji cigarettes. . . .

November 22 Thursday (15-22 ℃sunny) Discussions in the morning. In the afternoon, the district government called a meeting of industrial and commercial departments. The intent was to force out businesses to sell more locally produced cigarettes, but it turned around to be forcing the government to give us more support. It will be easy to complete the assignment that the district bureau has set for the Laibin bureau. I drank a lot of alcohol with them that night.

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Official claims sex diary on Net is invasion of privacy 

The former senior tobacco official whose purported sex diary was posted on the Internet has asked local police to arrest whoever was responsible for the leak and charge the hackers with invasion of privacy.

Han Feng, a former official in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, claimed that someone with malicious motives hacked into his computer diary and changed the content to embarrass him.

The purported diary, written in graphic detail, includes boasts that Han was enjoying sex romps with different women while taking bribes and attending banquets.

An angry husband who sought revenge after learning that his wife was one of Han's sexual conquests reportedly leaked the steamy confessions to the Internet.

Han was immediately suspended as director of sales in the Guangxi Tobacco Monopoly Administration.

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• Chinese official caught as diary of wine and women leaked online 

Most officials in trouble for corruption in China do their best to cover their tracks. Han Feng, however, wrote a diary that provided police investigators with a first-hand account of his misdemeanours.

His Twitter-style, almost daily diary entries over a two-year period recount his sexual dalliances and the cash gifts that he received, and have caused a sensation since they were leaked on to the internet last month --prompting an official inquiry into his activities. Mr Han's boasts about his sexual conquests and frequent enjoyment of banquets, karaoke and heavy drinking is an embarrassment for the leadership on the eve of the annual session of Parliament, where the need to stamp out corruption is likely to be high on the agenda.

Netizens have been gripped by Mr Han's escapades, recounted in a disconcertingly matter-of-fact tone. . . .

Scarcely a day goes by without Mr Han, now suspended from his job as chief of a local office of the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, feasting at a banquet and getting drunk -- with local government officials, police or directors of tobacco companies. However, it is his candid accounts in a diary of accepting gifts, which he never expected anyone else to read, that are likely to have sparked the inquiry by government investigators.

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Online diaries expose China official to graft probe 

Authorities are investigating an official in southern China after his purported diaries appeared on the Internet, describing acts of alleged bribery and sexual misconduct, state media said Wednesday.

Han Feng resigned from the Guangxi tobacco monopoly bureau after the publication of his diaries led to accusations of corruption, a lavish lifestyle and improper relations with female employees, the China Daily reported.

"The diaries are not groundless rumours," said Liao Hongxiu, the head of the bureau.

The office was now investigating whether Han violated laws and Communist Party rules, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

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The Diary of Tobacco Bureau Chief Han Feng 

‘The year 2007 is over. . . I finally got some women.’ So confided Han Feng, a Chinese tobacco company official, to his personal diary. But, in the last few weeks, this diary has become the centre of a rather juicy news story. Han, it seems, was suspended from his job, pending an investigation into allegations about his debauchery and his taking of bribes - allegations which were sourced somehow from Han’s diary and leaked onto the internet. Meanwhile, Han has asked local police to arrest whoever was responsible for leaking the information and to charge them with an invasion of privacy.

Having been promoted in 2009, Han was employed as director of sales for the Guangxi tobacco monopoly bureau - until, that is, he was suspended at the beginning of March, pending an investigation by the bureau’s discipline inspection committee. The investigation, according to China Daily, quoted by AFP, followed accusations of corruption, a lavish lifestyle and improper relations with female employees. These accusations, it explained, stemmed from extracts of Han’s diaries that had been posted on the internet by a man wanting revenge for an affair Han had had with his wife.

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Europe’s top court rules on tobacco pricing 

European countries that attempted to tackle smoking by imposing minimum prices for manufactured tobacco products were acting illegally, Europe’s top court ruled on Thursday.

The case centred on the system of minimum retail selling prices used by Austria, France and Ireland, which were subject to infringement actions by Brussels. The European Commission argued this effectively undermined the freedom of manufacturers and importers to determine the maximum selling prices for their products, and so inhibited free competition.

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Tobacco Legislative Roundup  

In the first of a series of webcasts, the National Association of Tobacco Outlets Inc. (NATO) provided members with an update this past week on tobacco legislation and litigation, led by executive director Thomas Briant. With the Food & Drug Administration's (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products finalizing its approach to tobacco oversight, regulatory matters dominated the event.

They included:

Self-service displays. While "adult-only" retail stores are currently exempt from an FDA rule that prohibits the use of self-service cigarette, roll-your-own and smokeless tobacco displays, FDA may be revising that law to revoke the exemption. (The law does not apply to pipe tobacco or cigars.) . . .

While most of these regulatory threats have not yet wended their way through completion, they suggest that federal and state governments, and anti-smoking advocates are "slowly moving toward prohibition, one step at a time," in effect making it so difficult to sell tobacco that that retailers will decide it is not worth the trouble," argued Briant. "It's time to be vigilant and respond."

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Pfizer: The Court of Appeal Rinses Away the Tobacco II Aftertaste  

In Pfizer, Inc. v. Superior Court, ___ Cal. App. 4th __ (March 2, 2010), the Court of Appeal, Second District, applied In re Tobacco II Cases, 46 Cal. 4th 298 (2009) ("Tobacco II") to overturn an order granting class certification. The Pfizer opinion resuscitates traditional class certification opposition strategies based on the unfair competition law (the "UCL") even in the wake of Tobacco II's holding.

Pfizer revolves around a six-month advertising campaign Pfizer used to promote Listerine mouthwash. During the six months between June 2004 and January 2005, some Listerine bottles bore a label that claimed Listerine was "as effective as floss" in reducing plaque and gingivitis. The plaintiff filed a class action lawsuit alleging violations of the UCL on the basis of the alleged fraudulent advertising and sought restitutionary disgorgement of the amounts the class members paid for Listerine. . . .

In reversing the certification order, the Court of Appeal focused on language from Tobacco II regarding the UCL's available remedies. As the court noted, even while individualized proof of lost money or property is not necessary for class certification, Tobacco II states that the restitutionary remedies will only return "money or property that 'may have been acquired' by means of the unfair practice." Tobacco II, 46 Cal. 4th at 320. Thus, the Pfizer court concluded that a person who was not exposed to the "alleged misrepresentations…could not possibly have lost money or property as a result of the unfair competition" and cannot, therefore, collect restitution. Pfizer, at *10.

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Outside Edge: Nicotine lights up the Oval Office 

“He [Mr Obama] would be he first to tell you that he has probably had a few more cheeseburgers, and more desserts in the last year than I have seen him eat prior to this,” said Mr Gibbs, when asked to explain why Mr Obama’s cholesterol had shot up from 173 (mg/dl) three years ago to 209 today.

The only person who appears to be trying to keep quiet about it all is the president himself, who this week tried to sneak in a blue-collar fried meal, under the radar as it were. “I don’t want any lectures about cholesterol,” the president told the assembled cameras as he tucked into a fully larded plate of southern food in Savannah, Georgia. “Don’t tell Michelle.”

During the campaign,Mrs Clinton, now one of Mr Obama’s most loyal cabinet officers, indelibly branded her rival as the type of president who would “look down on you”. Dr Kuhlman’s report lends credence to that theme perhaps – as, since the check-up, it has been possible to imagine Mr Obama blowing smoke in your face. “The president continues to chew nicotine gum and while he has quit smoking, he occasionally falls off the wagon,” said Mr Gibbs.

He is not alone in turning to smoking for relief from the pressures of the office. According to Cigar Aficionado, the only pre-Obama cigarette smoking presidents were FDR and Eisenhower, but others smoked pipes or cigars

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Inside the Oscar show on Hollywood's biggest night 

There's a swanky makeshift smoking section erected just outside the theater, complete with couches, cocktail tables and a behemoth black rug. It's so nice that several attendees are out there enjoying glasses of champagne with their smokes before the doors to the theater even open. Their revelry is interrupted by a soothing female voice that coos, "Please take your seats. The Academy Awards will begin in 15 minutes."

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An Interview with Jodie Holt, the Botanist Behind ‘Avatar’  

Q: How have people reacted to the portrayal of plant science in Avatar? Did your colleagues notice any mistakes?

A: There were a few little things that could have been done differently that only my botany friends would detect. I’ve had so many people tell me that when Sigourney Weaver used the pipette in the lab, she picked it up upside down. You would get air in it that way. I haven’t seen that, so I’m going to have to go again and look. The other thing people have criticized is the fact that Sigourney Weaver chose to make her character smoke. For me, if she chose to do that for her character that was fine—but anyone who works in a laboratory with samples involving DNA knows that tobacco carries the tobacco mosaic virus and it will contaminate your samples. In the laboratory, if we’re assuming she is doing something with DNA from a plant, she would want to either get rid of the cigarettes or use gloves. People have written to me from all over the place, going, ‘Did you tell her to smoke? She shouldn’t be smoking!’ And it’s just because it’s not good laboratory technique.

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