http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/country/jamaica.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080528/health/health1.html http://tobacco.org/news/266052.html Smoking has never been my cup of tea, but some people picked up tobacco smoking during the vulnerable teen years, found it enjoyable and pleasurable at first, but now can't kick the habit because of addiction to the psychoactive agent, nicotine. By the way, smoking will cost you 13 to 15 years of average life expectancy. In fact, the World Health Organisation (WHO) states that tobacco use is the second cause of death globally and is currently responsible for killing one in 10 adults worldwide. It might not be a bad idea to start thinking about quitting. Kicking the habit Smoking cessation, kicking the habit, is a challenging process, but mental health experts say that these days you really don't have to feel alone; you can find support. There is support, for example, in counselling and medication to help you stop smoking. So you want to quit: . . . Talking about quitting, the Heart Foundation of Jamaica (for The Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control) recently received a grant from the Bloomberg Global Initiative to implement picture-based no-smoking warnings on tobacco products sold in Jamaica and three other Caribbean countries - Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. Dawn Williams, a communications officer with this new programme, said that the placing of picture-based warnings on cigarette packages is "simply the reinforcing of a treaty already signed and ratified by Caribbean countries". This treaty is the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Jamaica Gleaner eulalee.thompson@gleanerjm.com (Eulalee Thompson) Jamaica Wed, 28 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20080518T200000-0500_135749_OBS_ST_ANN_FIRE_LEAVES____PERSONS_HOMELESS.asp http://tobacco.org/news/265517.html FIRE, believed to have been started by a cigarette, destroyed a two-storey tenement house on Main St, St Ann's Bay Friday morning, leaving 19 persons, including eight children, homeless. Jamaica Observer Jamaica Mon, 19 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/Business/html/20080415T220000-0500_134562_OBS_NEW_TAX_RAISES_CIGARETTE_PRICES____.asp http://tobacco.org/news/263499.html Smokers will now pay just over 36 per cent more for a pack of cigarettes, according to Carreras Limited, the primary marketer and distributor of cigarettes and tobacco products in Jamaica. The price increase comes as a result of a new tax package announced by Finance Minister Audley Shaw in his Budget presentation last week. Jamaica Observer Jamaica Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080413/news/news2.html http://tobacco.org/news/263370.html Local smokers will have to wait until tomorrow to find out how much more they will pay for cigarettes. Smokers now pay between $15 and $20 for each cigarette and between $250 and $400 for each 20-pack of the more popular brands. But those prices are expected to increase with the changes in the tax structure announced by Finance Minister Audley Shaw last Thursday. Jamaica Gleaner arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com (Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter) Jamaica Sun, 13 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080415/news/news3.html http://tobacco.org/news/263336.html The island's leading importer of cigarettes, Carreras Limited, yesterday announced that the price of a cigarette will increase to $20, up from $15. The suggested retail price for a 20-pack of the popular brands Craven 'A' and Matterhorn has been increased to $380, up from $280. Smokers will have to pay more than $400 for a pack of Dunhill. According to Carreras, the price increase reflects the sharp hike in the tax on cigarettes announced by Finance Minister Audley Shaw in his recent budget presentation. Under the new tax structure, the stamp duty, excise duty and ad valorem tax on cigarettes have been eliminated. Jamaica Gleaner Jamaica Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.radiojamaica.com/content/view/7246/26/ http://tobacco.org/news/263335.html And smokers will have to pay more Monday for cigarettes. On Monday morning Carreras announced that one stick of its Craven "A" cigarette will be sold for $20 up from $15. The increase is due to a hike in a Special Consumption Tax paid by cigarette importers. radiojamaica.com bengaliboy00@hotmail.com Jamaica Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080326/business/business1.html http://tobacco.org/news/262032.html Local cigarette retailer Carreras Limited is in a fight to reclaim its market from what highly placed sources say is a thriving underground trade for cigarettes controlled by bosses of organised crime. Carreras, a listed company that is 51 per cent owned by British American Tobacco (BAT), has been running press advertisements warning consumers of counterfeit Craven A cigarettes on the market, a brand made by its sister operations in the region, and which it has exclusive licence to sell here. The racketeers undersell Carreras by some $10,000 per case to retailers, Wednesday Business understands. On the weekend, Carreras also began to issue warnings about two other brands, Rothmans and Benson & Hedges over which it also has exclusive rights. Yesterday, attempts at official comment from Carreras' managing director Michael Bernard failed, but well placed sources say company executives are keeping quiet for security reasons, saying the perpetrators are considered 'dangerous' people. Jamaica Gleaner susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com (Susan Gordon, Business Report) Jamaica Wed, 26 Mar 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.jis.gov.jm/health/html/20080311T100000-0500_14483_JIS_JAMAICA_CANCER_SOCIETY_LAUNCHES_ANTI_TOBACCO_POSTER_COMPETITION.asp http://tobacco.org/news/261127.html As part of its continued effort to prevent young persons from smoking and getting hooked on other tobacco related vices, the Jamaica Cancer Society (JCS) has launched its Anti-Tobacco Poster Competition for students in Grades 1 to 6. The aim of the competition is to educate children about the dangers of smoking and tobacco use and also to increase awareness among the nation's youth about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, which includes not smoking. "Our mission is to eliminate cancer as a major health problem in whatever areas that we know that the disease will be caused by certain lifestyles and we place a lot of emphasis on these areas," Carol Blair, Administrative Director of the JCS told JIS News in an interview. Jamaica Information Service jis@jis.gov.jm Jamaica Tue, 11 Mar 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sports/html/20080105T230000-0500_131073_OBS_LOCAL_IAAF_MEMBER_MOVES_TO_BAN_SMOKING_AT_SPORTING_ARENAS.asp http://tobacco.org/news/257730.html DR Herbert Elliott, member of the International Association of Athletics Federations Medical and Anti-doping Commission, has suggested that government bans smoking at all sporting arenas. Speaking at the weekly luncheon of the Rotary Club of Kingston at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston yesterday, Dr Elliot said such a move would not only serve to protect members of the public from the effects of secondary smoke, but athletes as well. ELLIOTT... if it's in your body, it's your responsibility to keep it out "We have a system in sports where if it's in your body, we don't care how it got there, it's your responsibility to keep it out. It's harsh but that is the only way we can operate," he said. Jamaica Observer Jamaica Sun, 06 Jan 2008 05:00:00 GMT http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080104/lead/lead9.html http://tobacco.org/news/257661.html Dr. Herb Elliott, a member of the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) Medical and Anti-Doping Commission, wants the Jamaican government to ban smoking in public places, especially at sporting events. "Smoking should be banned from public spaces, from restaurants and bars," Dr. Elliott, told reporters, yesterday, following the Rotary Club of Kingston's weekly meeting at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston. Jamaica Gleaner Jamaica Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:00:00 GMT http://www.jamaica-star.com/thestar/20071212/news/news9.html http://tobacco.org/news/256601.html Some 19 per cent of students between the ages of 13 and 17 who participated in the Global Tobacco Youth Survey (GTYS) in 2006 have indicated their intention to continue smoking. "What this study found was that almost one-third of students who confessed to having parents who smoke indicated that they intend to smoke in the future while 16 per cent of students whose parents did not smoke say they intended to smoke in the future. So there is a correlation, we feel, between parents who smoke and the projected use of the cigarette in our adolescent population that we studied," revealed Ellen Campbell-Grizzle of the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) at a forum last Thursday. Dr. Campbell-Grizzle was giving a presentation on 'Tobacco: Impact on Jamaica's Youth' at the NCDA-organised forum at the Eden Gardens Hotel. Jamaica Star Jamaica Wed, 12 Dec 2007 05:00:00 GMT http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20071101T000000-0500_128914_OBS_CIGARETTE_CO_ORDERED_TO_PAY___B_IN_TAXES.asp http://tobacco.org/news/255000.html THE Revenue Court yesterday ruled that the Cigarette Company of Jamaica (CCJ) should pay $2.17 billion in taxes on money the company transferred to its parent, Carreras Group, over the six years to 2002. In 2004, the commissioner of the Taxpayer Audit and Assessment Department (TAAD), had asserted that the CCJ, now in voluntary liquidation and formerly the subsidiary of Carreras, racked up $5.72 billion in taxes and penalties between 1997 and 2002. Jamaica Observer Jamaica Thu, 01 Nov 2007 04:00:00 GMT http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20071102/business/business3.html http://tobacco.org/news/254712.html Carreras Limited has lost its four-year legal battle with tax collectors, but can claim some level of vindication from a High-Court decision that has freed it from paying out billions in penalties, while holding it liable for the original taxes. The Taxpayer Audit and Assessment Department (TAAD) had assessed the Cigarette Company of Jamaica (CCJ), a now defunct subsidiary of Carreras, as owing $5.7 billion in taxes and penalties, saying the company had failed to pay taxes on a transaction between them. On Wednesday, the Revenue Court, a division of Jamaica's Supreme Court, threw out Carrera's appeal of the TAAD assessment, and ruled that the company must pay the $2.17 billion in taxes. Jamaica Gleaner susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com (Susan Gordon, Business Reporter) Jamaica Fri, 02 Nov 2007 04:00:00 GMT http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070811/cleisure/cleisure3.html http://tobacco.org/news/251026.html I started with the odd cigarette as a social smoker. When I stopped, I was smoking at least one pack of 20 cigarettes every day. The only times I did not smoke during my 'puffing' days were when I had a cold. tax on cigarettes I hated every Minister of Finance in those days. . . All those years I tried to stop smoking, and failed. Once, K.D. Knight and I had to pay each other a dollar if either caught the other smoking. That did not work. I do not know why I stopped smoking. It just happened. Since then, I have discovered that tobacco has an awful smell. Jamaica Gleaner Jamaica Sat, 11 Aug 2007 04:00:00 GMT http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20070604T200000-0500_123907_OBS_LEGISLATION_COMING_TO_DISCOURAGE_SMOKING_IN_PUBLIC_SPACES.asp http://tobacco.org/news/247984.html THE Health Ministry hopes to have legislation in place by the end of the year, that will seek to discourage the purchase and smoking of tobacco products in public spaces. Last year the government said it would move to impose a total ban on cigarette advertising and on smoking in all state-owned buildings, following Cabinet's approval of Jamaica's ratification of the United Nations Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2005. However, Dr Eva Lewis Fuller, acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health, told the Observer that the ministry experienced several setbacks in pushing the legislations forward. Jamaica Observer Jamaica Tue, 05 Jun 2007 04:00:00 GMT