http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/country/senegal.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion/Marlboro unhorsed Africa/5910976/story.html http://tobacco.org/news/331114.html Where there are cheap smokes, there is ire. Senegal's health minister is fuming mad at Philip Morris International - maker of Marlboro, the world's top-selling cigarette - for cutting the cost of a package of 20 by 40 per cent to the equivalent of about 80 cents Cdn. Modou Fada Diagne said the price cut would be "catastrophic for the health of the people." No financial incentive to take up tobacco is necessary in Senegal, where almost 33 per cent of adults and 20 per cent of youths are already smoking. Cigarettes have been proven to cause lung cancer, heart disease and emphysema. A Philip Morris spokesperson said the reduction simply brings the cost of Marlboro into line with other brands available in the West African country. But the numbers suggest a far different motive. The Senegalese government taxes high-end cigarettes like Marlboro at 45 per cent while cheaper smokes are taxed at 20 per cent. A commerce industry source told Agence France-Presse that the company's move is more likely aimed "at paying lower taxes." In response to the Philip Morris strategy, the government plans to hike those tax rates and adopt tough anti-smoking laws. That seems a good place to start. May we suggest lawmakers also impound the Marlboro Man's horse. Edmonton Journal Senegal Mon, 26 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iqgGQEYVxmCLG0T_2UP0bJGPGSgw?docId=CNG.040c72df52b3d8aa394071f155bbfd5d.3f1 http://tobacco.org/news/330917.html Philip Morris International has slashed the price of its best-selling Marlboro brand by 40 percent in Senegal in a move that has left health officials and activists fuming and sparked calls to toughen tobacco laws. The decision cut the price of Marlboro -- the world's top-selling cigarette sold in some 180 countries -- to 400 CFA francs (61 euro cents, 79 US cents) from 650 CFA francs. "This drop is unacceptable. Senegal is the only country in the world where one can cut the price of cigarettes and nothing ever happens," said oncologist Abdou Aziz Kasse, who also heads the Senegalese League Against Tobacco (Listab). The company PMI based in Lausanne, Switzerland, told AFP in a statement the move was aimed at making Marlboros competitive with other cigarettes sold in the west African state. Agence France Presse Senegal Thu, 22 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/press_releases/post/drastic_price_decrease_threatens_to_increase_youth_smoking_rates_in_senegal http://tobacco.org/news/329985.html In a move sure to increase tobacco use among youth, Philip Morris International (PMI) has announced that it will lower the price of its most popular cigarette brand, Marlboro, by nearly 40 percent in Senegal. Senegal suffers from alarming smoking rates, with nearly one out of every three adults and an estimated 20 percent of youth already smoking. The effects on youth of lowering tobacco prices are staggering, with studies showing that youth -- more than adults -- respond to decreased prices on tobacco products. In the early 1990's, PMI used similar tactics in the United States and lowered the price of Marlboro, the brand most preferred by teens. The results were catastrophic as youth smoking rates in the U.S. soared to more than 36 percent following the price decrease. Currently, 80,000 to 100,000 young people around the world become addicted to tobacco each day. If current trends continue, 250 million children and young people alive today will die from tobacco-related diseases. "It is imperative that Senegal's government take action to counter PMI's price ploy by increasing the taxes on tobacco products," said Matthew L. Myers Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids mcocco@tobaccofreekids.org Senegal Mon, 05 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/42a54edc-465d-11de-803f-00144feabdc0.html http://tobacco.org/news/284427.html late into the Kensington townhouse headquarters of Palm Pictures, his long-time record label, quibbling with Suzette Newman, Palm’s London chief, over whether Africans or Jamaicans are more unpunctual, is very different. He is wearing a safari suit in minute checks and toying with an iPhone. For the first time in nearly a decade he is releasing a new album, Television. . . . The title track expresses Maal’s unease about the spread of television throughout Africa. But he also sees benefits, not least for his own campaigns. He made a programme for Senegalese TV, lobbying against smoking. “In small villages, kids who finish work in the fields or fishing don’t have much to do. The traditions have all gone, but nothing modern has come to replace them yet. They’re stuck in the middle, and all they have to do is smoke. I just said, ‘I’m not doing it any more.’ And my fans copy me, and find that it’s very good for them.” Financial Times Africa Senegal Fri, 22 May 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.sfbayview.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=108&Itemid=14 http://tobacco.org/news/247173.html It appears that the tried and true aggressive marketing tactics of American owned multi-national tobacco companies are working in developing nations. For the past few years, Philip Morris and its cohorts have stepped up the aggressive marketing of their deadly products to African youth and young women. The billboard in Senegal shown in the photo entices the young to smoke and send in their proof of purchase seals to enter into a drawing to �win a trip to America.� Unfortunately, few if any would be granted an appointment to even request a visa to the U.S. if they were ever lucky enough to �win� the contest. But the true winner in this scenario is of course big tobacco; they are simply playing a numbers game knowing that for every hundred youth who are enticed to smoke, a certain percentage will become addicted to cigarettes and thus lifelong contributors to their billion dollar coffers. . . . As Africa deals with economic development, the crisis of AIDS and the specter of war and civil strife, it does not need the added burden of the death and sickness of tobacco related diseases. Our brothers and sisters in Africa need the protection of a strong framework. To find out how you and your organizations can help support the FCTC contact, email me at cmcgruder@usa.net. San Francisco Bay View Africa Senegal Wed, 09 May 2007 04:00:00 GMT http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKL0867640420070308 http://tobacco.org/news/243433.html More than a million Muslim pilgrims packed Senegal's remote northeastern city of Touba on Thursday as members of the powerful Mouride brotherhood flocked to "Africa's Mecca" from across the world. . . . Lines of pilgrims waited hours in the dust and blistering heat to enter the vast mosque, whose 87-metre (287-foot) tower dominates the skyline of Touba, a holy city controlled by religious authorities where drinking and smoking are forbidden. Reuters Senegal Thu, 08 Mar 2007 05:00:00 GMT http://www.independentng.com/life/lsjan030607.htm http://tobacco.org/news/213786.html In November, the Fifth International Conference of the African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) met in Dakar, Senegal, to examine how to combaat the scourge of cancer on the continent. . . . Finally, one major concern to some of the participants was that despite the strong word against tobacco consumption at the opening of the conference by President Wade, Senegal is enmeshed in smoke. The participants struggled to breathe fresh air throughout the period of the conference because the lobby of the hotel, Sofitel Teranaga in Dakar, Senegal, where most of them were lodged was always subsumed in thick cigarette smoke. In fact, Thomas Glynn, director, Cancer Science and Trends and International Tobacco Programmes of the American Cancer Society, had to call the attention of the conference to this ironic situation. He wondered why at a conference where the threat of cancer and tobacco were being discussed, a tobacco multinational had to bring its van emblazoned with a brand of cigarette to the venue. He said this was a challenge participants had to deal with and call the attention of their various governments to it. This was not the only case, it was surprising that a country whose president could speak so trenchantly against tobacco addiction and which was one of the first countries on the continent to pass a major legislation against advertising tobacco could allow this brazen mockery of its law by a tobacco manufacturer. On June 19, 2003 Senegal signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and ratified it on January 27, 2005. . . . Cigarettes are being sold at every street corner without hindrance thus making it available to youths and the under-aged and thereby contravening the underlying principles of the FCTC! The challenge before AORTIC therefore, is how to make governments on the continent to look beyond making declarations but rather implement results of their researches. Daily Independent info@independentng.com (Olayinka Oyegbile) Africa Senegal Tue, 03 Jan 2006 05:00:00 GMT http://allafrica.com/stories/200109280158.html http://tobacco.org/news/75587.html The fight against the improper use of the tobacco is one of the largest combat than carries out the world Organization of Santé (OMS). It is for this purpose that it instituted: " the world Day without tobacco " which is celebrated each year, in all the countries of the world. If the objective of this day is to sensitize all the smokers of planet on the consequences of the tobacco, the combat is far from being gained, because of the enormous means available to manufacturing tobacco. The publicity of the marks of cigarettes which floods the radios and televisions is the brightest proof of this situation. The smokers met are unanimous to recognize that the tobacco is harmful for health and to express their wish to drop the cigarette. All-Africa.com Senegal Thu, 27 Sep 2001 04:00:00 GMT http://www.africanews.org/PANA/news/19990529/feat5.html http://tobacco.org/news/21945.html Khady is not a football fan but she attends weekend football league matches at Dakar's Leopold Sedar Senghor stadium, where she distributes free cigarettes made by her tobacco company. Interestingly, most of those who accept the ''poisoned'' present are youths. These would likely have seen the cigarette brand's advertisements which abound in the Senegalese dailies and elsewhere. Lately, tobacco firms have also erected beautiful retail selling stations at busy strategically located bus stops and other places in the seaside Senegalese capital. Panafrican News Agency Senegal Sat, 29 May 1999 04:00:00 GMT