Tobacco.org

• When it comes to butting out, B.C. teens are leaders of the pack 

B.C. teens are leading the way across Canada when it comes to not smoking, likely spurred on by grisly warnings on cigarette packets and a ban on lighting up indoors.

Only nine per cent of 15- to 19-year-olds in B.C. habitually lit up in 2007, compared with 12.4 per cent the year before and 15 per cent across the country, according to a Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring survey . . .

And it's not just teens who are butting out.

According to the survey, B.C. boasts the lowest overall smoking rate in the country at 14.4 per cent.

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• 'Lights' out? ($$) 

Troy lawyer Gerard V. Mantese is taking on the tobacco industry. . . .

Now, with a lawsuit against Philip Morris pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, Mantese has his chance to do just that.

"In 2004, I put together a consortium of law firms in several states ... with the goal of representing consumers who were defrauded by Philip Morris [when it] falsely represented that its Marlboro Lights had 'lowered tar and nicotine,'" he explained.

Since then, Mantese has filed lawsuits in Maine, Arkansas and New Mexico accusing Phillip Morris of violating each state's prohibition against deceptive advertising.

"All of the cases are based on the same theory: Philip Morris misrepresented the true nature of its so-called 'light' cigarettes [because] it represented that they contained lower [amounts of] tar and nicotine ... when a multitude of data, internal documents and evidences proves otherwise," he said.

One case, Altria Group, et al., v. Good, et al., has landed Mantese before the U.S. Supreme Court.

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More delay in health warnings on cigarette packs 

The Ministry of Health has finally approved a new set of health warnings for cigarette packs, but these will be introduced with a delay of seven months as the previous timeline of January 1, 2009, has now been extended to July 1, 2009, sources privy to the ministry revealed to 'The News' here on Tuesday.

The new health warnings, which will be in place on a six-monthly rotational basis with effect from July 1, are 'Smoking causes throat and mouth cancers,' 'Protect children: do not let them breathe your smoke,' 'Quit smoking, live longer,' and 'Smoking severely harms you and others around you.' Minister for Health Sherry Rehman is reported to have approved the text warnings only a couple of days ago; approval of the same by the Ministry of Law is still awaited.

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• Cigarette packs need to have horrific graphics to deter teens: research 

Graphic health warnings need to cover almost the entire surface of cigarette packages if they are to become more effective in convincing smokers to kick the deadly habit, new Health Canada research found.

The department set out to find out whether increasing the warning size from the current level - 50 per cent of the panel's surface - to 75, 90 or 100 per cent of cigarette packages would have a greater effect on smokers.

The research, conducted by Montreal-based polling firm Createc on behalf of Health Canada, found that increasing the size of health warning to cover 75 per cent of cigarette packages would only have a "small impact" and over time would unlikely remain more effective than the current coverage of 50 per cent.

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• Pictorial warnings on tobacco products in India from 30th November  

All tobacco products will display approved pictorial warnings and nicotine-tar levels from 30 November 2008, as per a notification issued by the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (dated 27 August 2008), in accordance with the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003. The implementation of pictorial warnings on tobacco products in India was initially planned for February 2007, but got deferred four times thereon.

Grim images of diseased lungs will appear on cigarette, bidi and gutkha packets, as per the notification, covering 40 per cent of the surface area of the tobacco packets, with the message: 'Tobacco kills/Smoking kills'.

The warnings were finally approved by a Group of Ministers (GoM)

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Scoop: Graphic warnings on cigarettes now compulsory 

It is now compulsory for all tobacco products to show graphic health warnings, Associate Health Minister Damien O'Connor said today. . . .

“Retailers have had a six month transition period as well as a one year window for manufacturers to make the necessary changes. My expectation is that retailers will fully comply with their obligations to only sell tobacco products with the new warnings,” said Mr O’Connor.

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Soon, grim images to scare smokers 

Grim images of diseased lungs will appear on cigarette, bidi and gutka packets from December 1.

Packs of all tobacco products will have to carry pictorial warnings — covering 40 per cent of the surface area — with the message: ‘Tobacco kills/Smoking kills’.

The revised packaging and labelling rules for tobacco products were published in the Gazette of India on Friday and will include all smoking and non-smoking forms of tobacco, confirmed Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss.

“Pictorial warnings will not only remind the tobacco user of the dangers but also those around him/her. Children, for example, can become a very strong pressure group to encourage their parents to give up tobacco use,” said Ramadoss.

The warnings got the go-ahead from a Group of Ministers (GoM), including Pranab Mukherjee, P.R. Dasmunsi, Oscar Fernandes, Kamal Nath, Jaipal Reddy and Ramadoss.

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Scare tactics mark anti-smoking campaign  

Australia has developed a successful anti-smoking campaign featuring graphic images of the harm smoking can cause. . . .

Only 15 percent of Australians are daily smokers, while 25 percent of the Danish population need their daily cigarettes.

Jakob Axel Nielsen, the health minister, told DR that he wants to introduce a similar campaign involving graphic images to Denmark.

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Julius Richmond: Man behind cigarette pack health warnings  

‘There may be more famous surgeons general, but there was none more dedicated, tenacious or courageous’

Julius Richmond, who has died aged 91, was the US surgeon general who first warned the Carter administration that cigarette smoking was “slow-motion suicide”.

A pioneer of a vigorous anti-smoking campaign, he produced a report three decades ago citing “overwhelming proof” that tobacco causes lung cancer. . . .

Richmond’s 1979 report on the health risks of smoking persuaded congress to require new labels on cigarette packets stating “Surgeon General’s Warning” and outlining specific health risks related to smoking. He formally retired in 1988 but continued to research and write about the effects of smoking and he served as a key witness in legal actions against the tobacco industry. “We are in the midst of the largest man-made epidemic in history,” he declared.

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Countrywide advocacy for introduction of pictorial health warnings on the cards 

Out to introduce packaging reforms through amendments in the existing tobacco control legislation, TheNetwork for Consumer Protection has embarked on a countrywide advocacy and awareness campaign for introduction of rotating pictorial warnings on 50 per cent of the cigarette pack; a statement on the pack about product constituents and emissions; and prohibition of sale of smaller packs and in loose packing.

Announcing the decision at a press conference here Friday, TheNetwork said a series of countrywide activities will be organised in a bid to influence policy makers in the Ministry of Health to amend the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers' Health Ordinance 2002 and The Cigarettes (Printing of Warning) (Amendment) Ordinance 2002 . . . Due to legislation against smoking in USA and Europe, the tobacco companies have diverted their marketing campaign towards developing countries including Pakistan. The result is that tobacco use is declining at the rate of 1.5% in the West but at the same time it is increasing at the rate of more than 1.7% in the developing countries. Some 57 tobacco manufacturers are currently operating in Pakistan.

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Smoking law to hit teens 

If the proposed Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill is passed as law, the sale of tobacco products at hospitals and universities will be a thing of the past.

The new law would also see the sale of tobacco products prohibited to people under the age of 18.

The bill proposes that the minimum age for the legal sale of tobacco products be raised from 16 to 18.

Briefing the standing committee on social development on the bill, a representative of the national Health Department said that among the steps to reduce the purchase of tobacco products by minors would be the regulation of the display of tobacco products at retail outlets. . . .

The committee will hold public hearings on the bill, starting in George on Monday morning.

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• Smoke-free China a marathon challenge 

"Love China," says a message on the screen. "Increase patriotism even more. Love a smoke-free Olympics."

That public-service advertisement was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, targeting TV viewers in China during the Olympics. It's part of a new initiative to cut tobacco use in the country that's home to 350 million smokers and more than a third of the world's cigarette production. . . .

In Beijing, a new government directive went into effect May 1 that bans smoking in most indoor areas, such as schools, hospitals, movie theaters and gyms, as well as on public transportation. The directive was intended to ensure a "smoke-free Olympics" but will remain in effect after the Games are over. . . .

China doesn't have a national law banning smoking in public places, but more than 150 local governments have instituted smoking bans. Many local bans passed in the 1990s are now being revised and strengthened.

How well the new policy is working in Beijing depends on where you go.

Corinne Leuenberger, a Swiss translator, stopped for a smoking break in a designated area near the Olympic Green. She said she hasn't seen much of a smoke-free Olympics at all, and no change in the amount of smoking in Beijing's popular bars and restaurants. . . .

National law bans cigarette sales to minors, but enforcement is weak and there's no stated penalty for violations. Cigarettes are sold almost everywhere. Smoking is so much a part of dining culture in China that cigarettes are frequently on restaurant menus. . . .

More than 32 percent of young people between the ages of 13 and 18 in China have tried smoking, and 11 percent are currently smokers, according to the 2008 China Tobacco Control Report.

The report blames exposure to tobacco advertising and images of smoking in movies and TV programs, as well as easy access to tobacco products, for drawing in young people.

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2008: our heroic year. You can also become our hero. To protect our loved ones, please smoke outside.
TV ad in China, from the Gates Foundation.

• Docket for 07-562: ALTRIA v. GOOD 

Jul 8 2008 Letter from the Acting Solicitor General received and distributed.

Aug 11 2008 Reply of petitioners Altria Group, Inc., et al. filed. (Distributed)

Aug 18 2008 Motion of the Acting Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument GRANTED.

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• New tobacco law ineffective, says Industries Union  

Instead of deterring smokers, the new set of warning pictures printed on cigarette packs are driving up the sales of metal cigarette boxes, Ibrahim El Embaby, head of the Tobacco Industry Division of the Industries Union, told local press.

According to the new tobacco law, which was approved by the People’s Assembly (PA) last June, a detailed health warning has to cover 50 percent of the pack on both sides. In addition to warning labels, cigarette packs now feature pictures explaining the side effects of smoking: a dying man in an oxygen mask, and a limp cigarette in reference to impotence, among others.

In addition, all forms of tobacco advertising are prohibited, and a 10 percent increase is added to the price of cigarettes. . . .

numbers show that the law is ineffective.

“For the manufacturers, pictures and warning labels on packs are nothing but a routine procedure and will not make their consumer quit smoking because it’s the ingredients of the cigarettes, like nicotine, which are addictive,” said Mahmoud Aoshb, a economics expert at Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

“The Ministry of Health has to step in with intensive awareness campaigns in order to get Egyptians to quit smoking,” he added.

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• SOLONS TO TOBACCO FIRMS: You don’t like graphic? Then we’ll make it plain  

Valenzuela Representative Magtanggol Gunigundo said if the firms continue to resist House Bill 3364, a law which proposes the use of prominent, colored and graphic-based health warnings on cigarette packs, they would call for plain packaging instead.

Gunigundo explained that if the law would make plain packaging of cigarette products mandatory, it would completely deter tobacco firms from using their products as advertising tools, which could hurt their sales. "It is the worst case scenario to them," he said.

Authors of the bill include Representatives Anna York Bondoc, Arthur Pingoy Jr., Teodoro Casiño, Neil Tupas Jr. and Jose Antonio Roxas, who recently attended a study tour in Thailand to learn from their counterparts on how to wage the legislative battle in pushing for the bill.

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