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DIMON Incorporated (NYSE: DMN) today announced that in connection with the preparation and filing of the Company's annual report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Form 10-K, Brian J. Harker, Chief Executive Officer, and James A. Cooley, Chief Financial Officer, signed and provided to the SEC, (1) the standard sworn statements required pursuant to SEC Order No. 4-460, and (2) the certifications required pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The Company is also filing copies of the sworn statements and certifications in a current report on Form 8-K. DIMON Incorporated is the world's second largest dealer of leaf tobacco with operations in more than 30 countries.
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A report from the Cancer Research Campaign and Action on Smoking and Health, the lobby group, accused companies of publicly opposing teenage smoking while privately marketing cigarettes at children.
The industry dismissed the report's accusations as "wild" and said that companies were prevented by agreement with the Government from aiming their products at teenagers.
Anti-smoking campaigns aimed at children and teenagers are ineffective and may actually encourage youngsters to take up the habit, two leading charities have said.
The Cancer Research Campaign and Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) said such initiatives were likely to backfire.
They led young people to see smoking as a desirable adult pursuit or to rebel against authority by lighting up. Tobacco companies were well aware of this reality and had cynically exploited it, said the groups.
Faced with mounting opposition to smoking, the industry had sought to improve its image by actively supporting teenage anti-smoking initiatives around the world. But this was no more than a "sinister and cynical" public relations strategy designed to further the industry's interests, it was claimed.
ANTI-SMOKING campaigners today accused the tobacco industry of a "sickening fraud" over its initiatives to stub out teenage smoking. . .
"The more they try to define smoking as only for adults the more they are saying, 'hey kids smoking's for gown-ups', but with a sly nod and a wink.""It's blatantly obvious they want to associate the anti-smoking message with parents, teachers and other 'boring' representatives of adult authority. But they reserve the people that make a difference, like racing drivers and other celebrities, for promoting smoking."A spokesman for British American Tobacco, against which many of the accusations were levelled, dismissed the claims.
"There is no such thing as a fool-proof strategy to prevent youth smoking, though we do invest a lot of money in schemes across the world," the spokesman said.
But an investigation by ASH and The Cancer Research Campaign has revealed that this is no more than a sinister and cynical public relations strategy. The purpose is to fend off meaningful restrictions on tobacco advertising and gain PR advantage, while proposing only measures that are unlikely to reduce youth smoking and likely make it more attractive by positioning cigarettes as an adult product and smoking as rebellious.
The report "Danger! PR in the Playground: tobacco industry initiatives on youth smoking" [1] releases internal tobacco industry documents, focus group testing and academic research with three main findings:
1. The purpose of tobacco industry youth smoking initiatives is to prevent legal marketing restrictions to produce good PR for the tobacco industry – it has nothing to do with reducing youth smoking
2. The tobacco industry favours only measures that are known not to work well and may even be counter-productive – such as age related restrictions, retailer schemes, exhortation from parents and teachers, and finger wagging (with a wink) messages that smoking is only for grown-ups.
3. It resists or undermines those measures that are known to work - taxation, proper advertising bans, high prices, restrictions on smoking in public places, adult smoking cessation etc. Despite calls for co-operation over youth smoking and more research, the companies ignore, deny or attack the clear peer-reviewed evidence that does exist.
In a report, published on Tuesday, ASH said industry claims that cigarettes are an adult-only product actually aim to make them more attractive to teenagers.
They said while manufacturers supported initiatives to stop teenagers smoking, their sponsorship of events like formula one motor racing also aimed to make the habit more appealing. . .
Professor Gordon McVie, director general of the CRC, said: "Anyone whose job in life is promoting cigarettes should never be allowed near teenagers. You just can't trust them with truth and you can't trust them with young people." . .
However, John Carlisle, public affairs director for Tobacco Manufacturers Association described the claims as wild.
"We totally refute these wild allegations masquerading as a new report. In reality they are old accusations with a new title.
"It demonstrates how desperate the anti-tobacco forces have become in trying to publicise their tax funded activities."