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Imperial Tobacco Canada reaffirms its youth smoking prevention commitment 

Imperial Tobacco Canada reaffirmed its position that, as a responsible tobacco company, it does not target minors through direct or indirect marketing.

"This position is fundamental to how we run our business," said Benjamin Kemball, president and CEO of Imperial Tobacco Canada. "It is stated in black and white in our business principles and is lived by every one of Imperial Tobacco Canada's employees."

Imperial Tobacco Canada's marketing practices are aimed at encouraging adult smokers to choose our brands over those of our competition. The Company complies with all Canadian regulations (as well as with British American Tobacco International Tobacco Products Marketing Standards which are a set of voluntary standards accepted by British American Tobacco group companies). . . .

"The bottom line is kids should not be smoking. Governments, retailers and tobacco industry need to work together to address this issue and implement practical solutions," said Mr. Kemball.

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University seeks opinion on tobacco funding 

It's a very valid point to ask: Should we be accepting money from a tobacco company? Should we have scholarships named after tobacco companies?" asked Blackwood.

To foster debate, MUN departments Alumni Affairs and Marketing and Communications will be launching a webpage to seek both student and non-student input on the pros and cons of tobacco sponsorship at the University. . . .

Blackwood anticipates the webpage will be active by Thursday, April 3, and will be found through the Alumni Affairs website: http://my.munalum.ca/.

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Imperial Tobacco Canada expands harm reduction program with start of SNUS test market in Ottawa 

Attention News/Health Editors: . . .

As part of its harm reduction program, Imperial Tobacco Canada announces today that Ottawa will be the site of the Company's next test market for its Swedish-style snus smokeless tobacco product. "The health risks associated with smoking tobacco products are well understood, the prices are high and restrictions are strict, yet about five million adults in Canada smoke. Imperial Tobacco Canada believes that it is the right thing to provide people products that are potentially less harmful than smoking," said Benjamin Kemball, president and CEO of Imperial Tobacco Canada.

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• New Brunswick's lawsuit has nothing to do with public health 

Imperial Tobacco Canada is disappointed that a senior partner in the tobacco industry, the Government of New Brunswick, has decided to move forward with legal action that is simply a cash grab and not in the interest of New Brunswick taxpayers. "Governments are senior partners in the tobacco industry. Governments in Canada earn from tobacco 18 times the profits of the entire tobacco industry, they heavily regulate the industry and have been fully aware of the risks associated with tobacco products for decades," said Benjamin Kemball, president and CEO of Imperial Tobacco Canada. "It is hypocritical that governments, like New Brunswick, turn around and sue a legal industry that they oversee and license while allowing an illegal tobacco industry to flourish." Governments across Canada collect approximately $8 billion in taxes from the tobacco industry; the province of New Brunswick collects over $80 million a year. Imperial Tobacco Canada believes that this lawsuit will take years to be resolved and will cost the New Brunswick taxpayers millions of dollars.

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Snus sales begin in Ottawa 

Imperial Tobacco Canada, the first tobacco company to launch smokeless Swedish-style snus in Canada, is extending its test market to some 200 outlets in the capital, Ottawa, from 28 January, 2008.

The product, which sells under the leading cigarette brand du Maurier, is already available in around 230 retail outlets in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, following the test market launch in September last year.

Canada is the fifth country where snus is being sold or test marketed in the British American Tobacco Group. Our companies currently sell it in Sweden and Norway, have a test market in South Africa and have run a limited consumer test in Japan.

On the basis of several independent health studies, we believe that, although snus is not harmless, it is substantially less harmful than smoking cigarettes and our snus activities are part of our commitment to product innovations that may help to reduce the impact of tobacco on public health.

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• First-class burial for the 100th anniversary of Imperial Tobacco 

Here is an English translation of an article by Guillaume Bourgault-Côté that appeared in Le Devoir, Montréal's major French-language newspaper:

Protest at Imperial Tobacco office

The 100th anniversary festivities for Imperial Tobacco turned sour yesterday. The company cancelled its public event, the government disassociated itself from the event, and it was ultimately a demonstration by anti-tobacco groups that marked the centenary.

On Thursday, the St. Henri-based enterprise announced in a press release that Marguerite Blais, Minister for Seniors and Member of the National Assembly for Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne would attend the next day to take part in the unveiling of an ice sculpture to mark the 100 years of the company. None of that took place. . . .

It appears it was the riding office of Mme. Blais that accepted the invitation without informing the cabinet office. The latter gave assurances that it would never have agreed to having the Minister for Seniors take part in a celebration organized by a leading tobacco products company.

The Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control (CQCT) figures that the minister would have been playing with fire in showing up for the event. "It would have been a completely contradictory message," argued Louis Gauvin, spokesman for the group.

The coalition organized a demonstration yesterday in front of the head office of Imperial Tobacco, accompanied by Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada. "We find it revolting that a tobacco company celebrates its anniversary with balloons and cheers," said M. Gauvin.

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Smoke 'em if you got 'em: Imperial Tobacco is 100 years old  

In a statement, Mr. Kemball thanked the thousands of employees who've called Imperial Tobacco home over the past 100 years. He said his company remains "committed to the highest standards of social responsibility" through things such as its promise to donate at least 1% of pre-tax profits and support for arts, culture, fashion, human services, and sports.

Mr. Kemball said the future is filled with challenges, but Imperial expects to meet them all with success. "To do so, we must continue to understand and identify the needs of adult Canadian smokers and deliver on their expectations."

The one thing most adult smokers need is a parking lot outside the office in which to light up. Ironic, then, that bad weather shut down Friday's event. It was scheduled to occur at Imperial's Montreal parking lot.

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• Imperial Tobacco Canada celebrates its 100th anniversary 

"It is thanks to the thousands of employees who have called Imperial Tobacco Canada home that we are able to celebrate this milestone today. They are the foundation of the company, and each generation has served to reinforce this foundation," said Benjamin Kemball, president and CEO of Imperial Tobacco Canada. "We would not be the industry leader without the passion that people have put into their work. We would not have been able to meet the challenges without the innovative spirit of our people." Throughout the first century of its existence, the company has been faithful to its St. Henri roots. . . .

Imperial Tobacco Canada is committed to the highest standards of social responsibility as set out in its statement of business principles. The company also complies with the Imagine Canada commitment of donating at least 1% of pre-tax profits. Imperial Tobacco Canada has shaped arts and culture, fashion, sports and human services over the years and today its Foundation is focused on arts and culture, care for the elderly and education. "Even after one hundred years of passion and innovation, the future is still filled with challenges which Imperial Tobacco Canada will meet with success. To do so, we must continue to understand and identify the needs of adult Canadian smokers and deliver on their expectations," added Mr. Kemball.

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Even after one hundred years of passion and innovation, the future is still filled with challenges which Imperial Tobacco Canada will meet with success. To do so, we must continue to understand and identify the needs of adult Canadian smokers and deliver on their expectations.
Benjamin Kemball, president and CEO of Imperial Tobacco Canada.

Tobacco giants' profits remain golden 

Despite tobacco industry claims that one-third of its market in Ontario and Quebec has been grabbed by smugglers, the cigarette companies' financial reports don't show much impact on their performance.

Healthy results reported by all three major tobacco producers indicate the contraband problem has not been as damaging as the industry is making it out to be. . . .

Most of the illegal tobacco producers are located on the U.S. side of the Akwesasne reserve.

Jerry Montour, chief executive officer of Grand River Enterprises, a federally licensed tobacco producer on the Six Nations reserve near Brantford, Ont., said the simplest way to stop the smuggling is to lay charges against companies that supply tobacco, paper, filters and machines to illegal producers.

"Why are (the suppliers) not held accountable?" he asked. "You know why they aren't? Because they are white."

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• PICARD: We need more tobacco like a hole in the head 

Add to the list of "innovations" the world does not need: smokeless, chewless and spitless tobacco.

Snus (rhymes with moose) is currently being test-marketed by Imperial Tobacco in Edmonton. It's sold in about 230 retail outlets in the city, under the brand name du Maurier. Look for it in the fridge, near the Red Bull. . . .

"We believe the responsible position is to seek out and offer products that may substantially reduce health risks. Harm reduction is what any responsible company strives to do," Benjamin Kemball, president and chief executive officer of Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., told the Edmonton Sun.

That's pretty rich coming from a corporation whose bottom line depends on the inveterate peddling of poison and the promotion of lifelong addiction to its brands.

It's also eerily reminiscent of the unmitigated nonsense tobacco companies used to utter about "light" and "mild" cigarettes. . . .

Of course, you don't hear tobacco companies trumpeting Sweden's punishingly high tobacco taxes, its elaborate anti-smoking campaigns or its workplace safety rules that reduce both smoking and exposure to other carcinogens.

Unlike Sweden (and Norway), Canada does not have a tradition of snus use. Nor does it need one. . . .

Snus is not a smoking cessation aide, it's a smoking prolongation aide.

It's also a fairly blatant method of recruiting young people to tobacco. Sell them this seemingly innocuous product that tastes good and provides a nicotine buzz, and in no time they will be lighting up.

That snus is even being allowed on the Canadian market demonstrates the absurdity of the federal Hazardous Products Act, a consumer protection law that features a clause preventing the government from prohibiting tobacco products.

Change the law. Snuff out snus.

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Put this in your mouth and don't smoke it 

Canada's largest cigarette company will begin test marketing a smokeless, chewless and spitless tobacco at the end of the month, a product that Imperial Tobacco says could pose fewer health risks to consumers.

Anti-smoking advocates are skeptical, saying the best way to reduce the harm associated with using tobacco is to stop promoting and selling it.

The two sides are squared off over the sale of snus

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Snus test for River City 

Claiming a massively lowered risk of associated cancers, Canada's largest tobacco retailer will test market Swedish snuff, also known as snus, in Edmonton as an alternative to traditional tobacco products.

The company has yet to decide how long to run the test, which is starting towards the end of September. But it will use studies to determine whether snus - which literally translates to "snuff" from Swedish - is an effective "harm reduction" tool that helps people traditionally unable to quit cigarettes move to something less deleterious, said Imperial Tobacco president Benjamin Kemball.

"We believe the responsible position is to seek out and offer products that may substantially reduce health risks," he said. "Harm reduction is what any responsible company strives to do."

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Harm reduction is what any responsible company strives to do.
Imperial Tobacco president Benjamin Kemball, for whom "harm reduction" only goes so far.

• Gateway to smoking? 

A top tobacco researcher says snus is a better alternative for chronic smokers than cigarettes - but stops well short of calling it a smoking cessation aid.

And a leading Alberta health advocate says there's a risk snus will become a gateway to cigarettes if it isn't marketed separately from cigarette brands, as has traditionally been the case in Sweden.

Jonathan Foulds, a School of Public Health researcher at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, has studied the Swedish tobacco product - which is about to be introduced in Alberta - extensively over the last decade.

"My general take is that if a tobacco company, which for its main business has been selling millions of cigarettes, decided to try and make a living selling a product that's 90% less harmful, then I don't think we should discourage it," said Foulds.

"But the truth is that there haven't been any proper, randomized trials that can compare smoking tobacco with a placebo, ideally, or with existing cessation products. So I don't think anyone can claim this is more effective.

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BAT will test demand for pasteurized snuff 

British American Tobacco PLC, the maker of Lucky Strike cigarettes, will start selling Swedish-style snuff in Canada to test demand.

Sales of the product will begin later this month in stores in Edmonton, the London-based company's Imperial Tobacco Canada unit said yesterday in a statement.

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EDITORIAL: Snus news awakens skeptical instincts about tobacco 

If nothing else, you have to admire the tobacco industry for its never-say-die determination to stay in the nicotine business.

Citing "harm reduction" as a key objective, Imperial Tobacco is hoping "snus," . . .

And by so doing, the company presents the anti-tobacco majority of our society with an intriguing intellectual puzzle.

If the little pouches of pasteurized tobacco really can lower the net negative health impact on society -- an "if" that needs a careful look, coming as it does from an industry with a poor history of straight talk on health dangers -- would it be a good or a bad thing if snus proves to be a way for a desperate industry to stay in business? . . .

Of course, there are countless questions. Simply on the health side, taking a position on the merits of snus requires unequivocal evidence of the potential health impacts of this new product, which is placed in the mouth rather like chewing gum.

Then, on the moral side, there's the question of whether society should tolerate the marketing of any new delivery vehicle for a proven addictive narcotic, regardless of whether it is tolerated because of past acceptance in a different form. The lesser of two evils is still, after all, not good.

And finally, how do Canadians feel about anything that might improve the long-term viability of an industry that continues to sell the smoking products that claim thousands of lives each year?

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