Tobacco.org

• Now we’re smoking: BAT the new giant in South Africa 

British American Tobacco (BAT) is set to become South Africa’s biggest listed company, challenging stalwarts like mining giant Anglo American for top spot on the JSE.

At current market prices, BAT, which will have its secondary listing on the JSE, is valued at about R560-billion. Its primary listing will be in London.

The new listing is a result of a massive, complex restructuring of the Rupert family-controlled Swiss luxury goods group Richemont and its local investment group Remgro.

The restructuring will also bring about a massive payout to shareholders — R60-billion in the case of Remgro and just less than R120-billion for those with shares in Richemont .

For the first time in the history of the Rupert family empire, neither Remgro nor Richemont will be invested in tobacco. . . .

While Remgro has got rid of tobacco, Visser is optimistic about the future of BAT.

The tobacco business remains sound and BAT is a good company with a footprint in developed and developing economies, he said. . . .

But not everyone is happy.

Yussuf Saloojee of the National Council Against Smoking said BAT’s listing is “regrettable, not only because of the product it sells but also because of its conduct”.

He said the company sells its products to young people and has broken an advertising ban on a number of occasions.

He encouraged people not to invest in the company as it is not socially responsible.

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• Ordinance could stomp out smoking 

A new ordinance could snuff out smoking at nearly all public places in Kenosha, including all taverns and restaurants.

On Monday, the Public Safety and Welfare Committee will discuss an ordinance that would prohibit smoking in all public places and places of employment. Smoking would also be prohibited at some outdoor locations, such as seating in outdoor arenas, non-smoking areas of parks and within a reasonable distance to outside entrances and windows of buildings.

The only exceptions to this smoking ban would be private residences not used as child or health care facilities, private clubs, hotel rooms designated for smoking and for members of American Indian tribes as part of a traditional ceremony.

The proposal will be open for public comment at Monday's meeting, 5 p.m. at 625 52nd St.

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• House stalls on tobacco control convention 

The House of Representatives' legislation committee has been accused of curbing efforts to adopt a UN anti-tobacco convention aimed at reducing global consumption of tobacco for its negative impacts on health.

The Indonesian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (IFPPD) said its attempts to include a draft law on tobacco control in the national legislation program had three times been rejected by the committee.

The legislation committee chairman said the bill was "not urgent" for discussion, IFPPD executive director Sri Utari Setyawati said at a press conference here Friday. . . .

Indonesia is among 36 countries worldwide, and the only country in Southeast Asia, which was yet to ratify the UN convention. Other non-party countries include the United States, Argentina, Italy, Switzerland, Somalia, Afghanistan and Mozambique.

Recently, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) and other non-governmental organizations filed a class action lawsuit against the government and the House for their reluctance to ratify the treaty, accusing them of failing to protect Indonesians from the dangers of smoking.

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New 'shock campaign' to curb smoking  

SHOCKING pictures of corpses, dead babies, rotting teeth, cancerous lungs and the caption 'Smoking Kills' are to be displayed on all tobacco products in Bahrain and the GCC.

The shock tactics by the GCC Anti-Smoking Committee will be implemented within the next two years, says Health Ministry tobacco control unit co-ordinator Dr Kadhem Al Halwachi.

"The current warning 'smoking is a main cause of lung cancer, lung diseases and of heart and arteries diseases' is being ignored and the new warning would help the cause better," he said.

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• Smoking ban gets lawyer’s green light  

An attorney for the homeowners association at the Centennial affordable-housing complex says a ban on cigarette smoking in its privately owned units is viable and will hold up in court.

When the homeowners association board proposed banning smoking in the 92 privately owned condominiums, some residents — smokers and non — balked, arguing that the ban would set a dangerous precedent for infringing on civil liberties and possibly violating the constitutional right to privacy.

“Preliminary findings indicate that we will be able to make Centennial a ‘smoke-free environment’ if we so choose,” homeowners association board president Ed Cross wrote to residents in a letter this week. “Legal precedent has stated that smoking is not a constitutionally protected right.” . . .

attorney, Fred Peirce, has since prepared a legal argument for the ban that he will present at a Centennial homeowners meeting on Aug. 19.

That meeting will also include remarks from Aspen Fire Marshal Ed Van Walraven, who recommended that Centennial ban smoking after a June fire caused by a smoldering cigarette destroyed 10 apartments in the Castle Ridge affordable-housing complex. (

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Tobacco farmers light up acreage despite govt frown 

Farmers in India have increased acreage under tobacco in tandem with a sharp spike in global tobacco prices, a move that flies in the face of official attempts to discourage cultivation of the leaf.

"Last year tobacco gave higher returns than other crops. I am expecting good returns this year also," said 55-year-old Siddegowda, a farmer from village Mookanahalli, near Hunsur, 200 km from Bangalore. . . .

Area under FCV this year is above 80,000 hectares in Karnataka, up from 75,000 hectares a year ago, said J Suresh Babu, chairman of the Tobacco Board, the government body that issue licences to farmers to cultivate FCV, mainly produced in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Acreage is expected to go up in Andhra Pradesh, the other producer state, when farmers start cultivation from the end of September, Kotaiah said.

Overall country wide acreage under FCV has exceeded 200,000 hectares in 2007/08 from 135,453 hectares in 2001/02, Babu said.

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Tobacco farmers want to proceed with lawsuit against federal gov't  

Events this week have whetted the appetite of tobacco farmers for a lawsuit against Ottawa and Queen's Park over the downfall of their industry.

Growers appeared to take a big step forward last Friday when federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced a $285 million buyout of tobacco quota at the auction exchange in Delhi.

A contribution of $190 million from the McGuinty government would meet the Ontario Flue Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board's objective of $1.74 per pound.

Provincial Agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky, however, has balked at the suggestion. She has told the tobacco board to renegotiate its arrangement with the Harper government if it thinks the Ritz package isn't sufficient.

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• Smoking ban in British waters 

Ships travelling in British waters face a complete smoking ban in 2009 as P&O cuts back on lighting up

SHIPS travelling in British waters face a complete smoking ban next year. The Department for Transport is considering banning smoking inside vessels within 12 miles (19km) of the British coast. The move would mean that smokers could light up for only 17 of the 29 miles between Dover and Calais.

William Gibbons, director of the Passenger Shipping Association, said that annoucements would be made to let passengers know when smoking was permitted. "The rules will apply to all ships, whatever the flag," he said.

P&O Cruises is the latest cruise line to ban smoking inside three of its ships - the Oceana, Ventura and Artemis. Passengers will be allowed to light up only in designated outside areas or on private balconies.

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37 charged in illegal tobacco sales 

State agents charged 37 store clerks with selling tobacco products to minors in Wake, Durham, Orange and Person counties in June and July.

State Alcohol Law Enforcement officers randomly check stores every month to make sure clerks are asking for identification and refusing sales to those younger than 18. In June and July, the ALE agents checked 206 stores in the four counties.

ALE Director William Chandler said in a news release that tobacco sales to underage buyers have dropped significantly since the state started the checks five years ago.

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Smokers fume over latest step to extend tobacco ban 

The authorities in Dubai are planning to expand the ban on smoking in public to more areas including parks and beaches in addition to the current restriction on smoking in shopping malls.

The ban will form the next phase of the municipality's smoking regulation enforcement, which has so far covered hotels, restaurants and cafes, malls and sports halls.

Smoking in parks will be banned, because they house many family areas, including children's playgrounds. While many residents welcomed the move, smokers voiced their concern asking for designated areas for smoking in all public places.

Gulf News took to the streets and asked a cross-section of residents for their take on the ban on smoking in public places and whether they thought people should be banned from smoking in their cars. . . .

"It's a free world and you can't stop people smoking. It's a personal choice and banning smoking outdoors is an infringement on civil liberties. I also think this latest step will be difficult to enforce."

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Wetherspoon predicting gains from smoking ban  

THE smoking ban will be to the long-term benefit of the licensed trade, according to leading pub group JD Wetherspoon.

The chain has 40 pubs in Scotland, including five in and around Edinburgh, such as Foot of the Walk and Standing Order.

The company said that when the ban was introduced in Scotland it put considerable pressure on sales and margins, before trade staged an "encouraging recovery".

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Tobacco growers eye other markets 

Don’t count on a mass exodus to fields of potatoes, sweet corn or strawberries just yet but there are signs these may soon be attractive alternatives for beleaguered tobacco growers throughout Southwestern Ontario.

Even a former chair of the Ontario Flu-Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board has other ventures to fill the gap soon to be left by his once-thriving tobacco operation. "Three years ago we were growing 175 acres of tobacco and sharecropping on other farms," says Gary Godelie, who was raised in the industry. He says he's going to accept the federal buyout announced August 1 but there are still uncertainties. "It's been one hell of a year trying to find crops to fill that gap." . . .

While he will accept the federal package, he says uncertainties about the role the province might play in the buyout is complicating the transition.

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New bill would require tobacco wholesalers to tax cigarettes headed to the reservation  

A controversial move by the state legislature could mean that cigarettes will cost the same price everywhere in New York State. That's because a bill is headed to the governor's office right now that would require tobacco wholesalers to tax cigarettes headed to the reservation.

Right now there's at least a $3.00 difference in price between a pack of cigarettes bought in a local store and a pack bought on an Indian reservation. That price gap jumps to $20-to-30 if you purchase by the carton. This new bill would end that disparity but it all rests on the governor's decision.

"Break a Treaty, Break the Law." This is the sign you see when you drive down Route 20 across Seneca Nation land. The Indian nation makes a lot of money on sales of duty-free goods like gasoline and cigarettes. But that could soon change if a new bill is signed into law.

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• Will State Collect Cigarette Tax From Senecas? 

The New York State Senate approved legislation Friday that would require retailers on Indian reservations to charge a tax on tobacco sales. State Senator Dale Volker was one of the senators who voted for it. . . .

The Seneca Nation of Indians say;

"This bill violates our right to free commerce... the state legislature should not try to help close its budget gap by denying the right of purchase to the Seneca Nation and its licensed retailers."

If the bill becomes law, enforcing it will be the real test. . . .

The full statement from Seneca Nation of Indians President Maurice John Sr. is as follows:

"The Seneca Nation has one of the largest private sector economies of any Native American tribe in North America. The Seneca Nation economy has been put in this position many times in our recent history. We will pursue all legal remedies to enforce our federal treaty rights to sovereignty. We will always act to protect the Seneca people's rights because our treaties are the supreme law of the land, and this bill violates our right to free commerce."

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Cigarette tax bill passes state Senate 

to force sales tax collection on cigarettes sold to non-Indians by retailers on Indian reservations, quietly passed in the Senate, without debate, as part of a package of "noncontroversial" bills.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Michael F. Nozzolio, R-Seneca Falls, seeks to amend the state tax code to prohibit "tobacco manufacturers from selling unstamped cigarettes to any agent that has not provided a certification, under penalty of perjury, that the cigarettes will not be resold untaxed," according to the sponsor's memo.

In that memo, the sponsor claims that collecting taxes on these transactions "could generate more than $400 million annually in state revenue." In his executive budget, Gov. David A. Paterson booked collection of $120 million in cigarette tax collection from Indian reservation sales.

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