ASH Daily News for 06 July 2009

Swedish Match to sell SMSA to Philip Morris International for ZAR1.75bn

Swedish Match AB, a Swedish provider of tobacco products, said on Thursday that it plans to sell its South African business Swedish Match South Africa (Proprietary) Limited (SMSA) to Philip Morris International, for a purchase price of ZAR1.75bn.
SMSA is a South African company engaged in OTP ("other tobacco products"). The company has a No. 1 position in the pipe tobacco category and a No. 2 position in the nasal snuff category. In 2008 the pipe tobacco and nasal snuff businesses had total sales of ZAR687m. 

Under the agreement SMSA will continue to distribute lighters, matches and cigars for Swedish Match.

The sale remains subject to regulatory approval in South Africa but is expected to be completed during the second half of 2009.

(USD1=ZAR7.81)

Source: [Tradingmarkets.com
Link: http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock News/2402394/

Life expectancy gap between rich and poor is widening

The gap in life expectancy between the prosperous middle classes and those in the most deprived homes is widening sharply, latest health figures show.

The emerging pattern suggests that the well-off are adopting healthier lifestyles while the poor are still drinking and smoking and cannot afford to change diets.

Men in Blackpool now live on average up to 73.2 years, 10.5 years fewer than their counterparts in Kensington and Chelsea. Women in Hartlepool have the lowest female life expectancy at 78.1 years, around 9.6 years less than in the central London borough.

While life expectancy rates are increasing overall, they appear to be rising much faster for the affluent than for those who struggle to make ends meet, according to the latest district-by-district NHS health profiles, published this week.

Over a three-year period – from 2004-06 to 2005-07 – the figures reveal that the gap between local authorities at opposite ends of the health spectrum grew by 0.4 years for men and 0.8 years for women.

Average male life expectancy in England has now risen to 77.7 years, compared with 77.3 years three years ago; average female life expectancy has risen to 81.8 years from 81.6 years. The minister for public health, Gillian Merron, welcomed the figures: "The health of the nation is improving ... It is good to see that people can expect to live longer, that early deaths from heart disease, cancer and smoking-related diseases are decreasing.

"But people living in some areas are still healthier than those living in other areas, which is unacceptable. The NHS and local authorities need to work with this published information to identify what the issues are in their area and take action for the sake of the health of their local population."

Alan Walker, professor of social policy and social gerontology at the University of Sheffield, said: "Messages about wellbeing and healthy lifestyles penetrate more rapidly into the middle-class professional households than they do into working-class homes and households on benefits.

"It's easier on a comfortable income to make those lifestyle choices. When you are poor you simply can't choose what you eat. Try to tell a hard-pressed mother to stop smoking – she may say thats it's the only thing that gets her through the day.

"It's much easier for those on higher incomes. The health inequality statistics are a mirror of other inequalities. Those differences are getting wider. It's hard cash, like child benefits, that is going to make a difference."

Life expectancy has been increasing for at least the past 180 years – since records in the UK began. It is increasing, on average, at the rate of one month every six years.
 

Source: The Guardian, 3 July 2009
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jul/03/life-expectancy-patterns

Fire that killed smoker aged 99 caused by discarded cigarette

A chain-smoking 99-year-old woman died after a discarded cigarette set fire to her house, an inquest was told. 

Former headteacher Iris Jones, also known by her middle name Pauline, was killed when her three-bedroom bungalow in Mount Orchard, Tenbury Wells, caught fire in January.

Neighbours alerted to the blaze at about 6am had tried to get in to the property but were held back by thick smoke.

Firefighters arrived to find Mrs Jones unconscious in her bedroom.

They carried her to a waiting ambulance but she was confirmed dead at the scene.

An inquest at Stourport-on- Severn Coroner’s Court heard how Mrs Jones’ neighbour and good friend, Elma Meredith, had been with her the day before she died and they had watched TV together.

In a written statement, Mrs Meredith said she left her neighbour’s house at about 6pm and locked the door as she left.

Mrs Meredith said Mrs Jones was “stone deaf”, had bad eyesight and used a Zimmer frame to assist her walking. She said her neighbour smoked 20 cigarettes and usually drank half a bottle of brandy a day.

Giving evidence at the hearing, station officer Mark Forsbrook said he conducted an investigation at about 10am once the flames had been controlled.

Mr Forsbrook said the most extensive damage had been caused in the area by the sofa, where the floorboards had been badly burned.

He said there was no evidence of any electrical failures or any signs that the fire had been stated deliberately.

Mr Forsbrook, said: “I conclude the fire was caused by the discarding of smoking materials on or around the settee.”

Mrs Jones’ cause of death was given as cardio-respiratory failure due to inhalation of smoke.

Deputy Worcestershire coroner Margaret Barnard recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Source: [Ludlow & Tenbury Wells Advertiser, 3 July 2009
Link:http://www.ludlowadvertiser.co.uk/news/tenburywells/4468500.Fire_that_killed_smoker_aged_99_caused_by_discarded_cigarette/

Australia: Tobacco tax hike to make a million quit

There will be a million fewer smokers in Australia if the Rudd government adopts new recommendations that are believed to include a sharp increase in taxes, plain labelling, a ban on internet sales and media campaigns.

The aim to cut the number of smokers from 17 per cent of the population to 9 per cent -- from three million people to two million -- is outlined in the Preventative Health Taskforce's discussion paper, Making Smoking History.

The government is expected to progressively increase the price of cigarettes to $20 for a packet of 30 after receiving the taskforce's report last week.

The increase would raise the average price of a single cigarette from 45c to 67c and bring in an estimated $1.97 billion in extra taxes. The tax rate increases would be the first in a decade on tobacco.

A discussion paper prepared by the taskforce last year invited comment on "progressively increasing the tax on tobacco products to the level in places like Ireland, Scandinavia and the UK, and reaching $20 for a packet of 30".

Groups supporting the increase include the Cancer Council of Australia, the Heart Foundation, the Australian Medical Association, Australian Nursing Federation, Royal Australasian College of Physicians and a number of state governments.

A Newspoll survey last year showed 88 per cent of the population supported a tax hike on cigarettes.

Public Health Association of Australia president and deputy chairman of the inquiry, Mike Daube, said the only people opposing the increase were tobacco companies. Since the dangers of smoking became known in the 1950s, almost a million Australians had died prematurely because they smoked, he said.

"Every significant health organisation supports the increase," Professor Daube said. "A tax increase is popular and raises money. Why wouldn't any government do it?

"There's excellent research showing disadvantaged groups are more likely to quit with a price rise. Far from hitting the battlers, tax increases on cigarettes actually help them."

Kylie Lindorff, chairwoman of the Cancer Council's tobacco issues committee, said the taskforce's recommendations included tax increases and a ban on internet sales.

"We ask the minister to implement these recommendations without delay," she said. "All the evidence tells us that a price increase is the single most effective means to encourage smokers to quit. Some 75 per cent of smokers have indicated that if the price went to $20, they would attempt to quit."

Ms Lindorff condemned the failure to close down the illegal cigarette trade, saying a price hike could fuel the trade and undermine the official efforts to reduce smoking.

The Australian has found that illegal cigarettes with no health warnings are being sold under the counter in Sydney for as little as $7 a packet.

Anne Jones, chief executive of the anti-smoking lobby group Ash, said by putting up cigarette taxes the government could pay for the whole national preventative health strategy. "Every health group and authority is supporting a tax increase on tobacco to the level of approximately $20 a packet. It is the most united policy position we have had in years."

Health Minister Nicola Roxon has refused to comment on speculation the government will increase the cigarette tax. A spokeswoman said there had been a range of proposals and "we will respond in due course".
 

Source: The Australian, 6 July 2009
Link: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25737853-5013871,00.html