HEADLINES

• Tobacco giant loses fight over vending machines
• Cigarette machines to vanish as judges back ban
• Less smoke on the water
• Benson & Hedges White launches into sub-premium cigarette sector
• USA: Cancer death rates and smoking
• USA: Parents in New York may face ban on smoking in cars with children

• Tobacco giant loses fight over vending machines

  The Court of Appeal has rejected an attempt to overturn a proposed ban on cigarette vending machines in pubs, clubs and restaurants.

  The ruling upholds a decision by the High Court last December to reject Sinclair Collis’s legal challenge to the sections of the UK Health Act 2009 that seek to ban tobacco vending sales from October.

  Two of the three Court of Appeal judges agreed that the High Court’s decision should be upheld. The third judge said that a ban on tobacco vending sales was disproportionate.

  Lord Neuberger, the Master of the Rolls, upheld the ban but conceded that the Health Department’s rationale for the ban was “not very convincing”, with no firm evidence that it would have any effect on under-age smoking.

  He added, “Virtually any measure which a Government takes to restrict the availability of tobacco products, especially to young people, is almost self-evidently one with which no court should interfere.”

  Lord Justice Laws described the ban as “disproportionate”, claiming it would “abruptly and entirely eliminate” the tobacco vending industry. However, the ban was upheld after Lady Justice Arden sided with the Master of the Rolls.

  Ted Tuppen, chief executive of Enterprise Inns, which owns about 6,500 tenanted pubs, said: “It will have a minimal impact on our pubs.

  Source: The Times, 18 June 2011 (subscription required)
  Link: http://thetim.es/jJTlua

• Cigarette machines to vanish as judges back ban

  The Sun includes two viewpoints on the cigarette vending machine ruling:

  YES says DEBORAH ARNOTT, Action on Smoking & Health

  For years vending machines have been an easy source of cigarettes for children.

  The British Heart Foundation filmed kids of 14 undercover in pubs and on every occasion they were able to buy cigarettes unchallenged.

  Adults rarely use machines because they are expensive.

  Less than one per cent of sales are from machines, so the economic impact will be tiny. The health benefit is considerable.

  NO says SIMON CLARK, smokers' group Forest

  The vending machine ban is grossly disproportionate and not based on sound evidence.

  The overwhelming majority of machines are inaccessible to under-18s.

  Government policy seems to be about putting cigs out of sight in the hope smoking rates will fall.

  In fact, the more you put cigarettes under the counter and ban vending machines, the more you create an allure which people find desirable.

  Source: The Sun, 18 June 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/ix5niH

• Less smoke on the water

  Three major cruise ship lines have announced they are to ban smoking in cabins.
  
  New rules introduced by Carnival, Holland America and Princess restrict the number of bars where smoking is permitted and limit smokers to separate sections of casinos on their ships.
  
  Carnival and Holland America will still permit smoking on cabin balconies while it will not be permitted on Princess ships - not surprisingly as a stray cigarette end was blamed for a fire which damaged 85 cabins on Sea Princess in 2006.
  
  Passengers who flout the rules will face a US$250 fine.
  
  Jan Swartz, executive vice-president for customer services at Princess, said: "The new restrictions are to be introduced in stages between now and January. Smokers are a small minority of our passengers, and the large majority of passengers value having their primary living space onboard smokefree."
  
  Cunard, which does not allow smoking in any public rooms apart from cigar lounges, announced last year that it will be banning smoking in cabins from 2012. On P&O ships, and most other vessels operating from the UK, passengers may only smoke in designated areas of open deck and on balconies.

  Source: The Mirror, 18 June 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/luw96f

• Benson & Hedges White launches into sub-premium cigarette sector

  JTI is launching Benson & Hedges White, a new brand in the sub-premium cigarette sector.

  The arrival of B&H White from July 2011 is designed to take advantage of the growth in the lower tar segment, which is worth £4.4 bn to the retail trade.
  
  B&H White will only be available in a 20s slide pack. B&H introduced the slide pack to the UK market in 2006 and it has proved popular with exisiting adult smokers ever since.
  
  Where Silver Slide and Flip Top packs are priced at parity, slide out-performs Flip Top.
   

  Source: Talking Retail, 14 June 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/msDeQL

• USA: Cancer death rates and smoking

  The American Cancer Socity said cancer death rates are continuing to fall, but not all segments of the population are benefiting.
  
  Death rates for all cancer types fell by 1.9 percent a year from 2001 to 2007 in men and by 1.5 percent a year in women from 2002 through 2007.
  
  According to the group's annual report, Americans with the least education are more than twice as likely to die from cancer as those with the most education.
  
  New cases of lung cancer among women fell after rising steadily since the 1930s. The decline comes more than a decade after lung cancer rates in men started dropping and reflects differences in smoking trends among U.S. men and women, with women taking up smoking later in the last century than men.
  
  Lung cancer is expected to account for 26 percent of all cancer deaths among women in 2011 and remains the No. 1 cancer killer of both men and women in the United States.
  
  The report found cancer rates in the least educated were 2.6 times higher than in the most educated. This was most pronounced in lung cancer, reflecting higher smoking rates among those with less education.
  
  Thirty-one percent of men with 12 or fewer years of education are smokers, compared with 12 percent of college graduates and 5 percent of men with advanced degrees.

  Source: Reuters News, 17 June 2011
  Link: http://reut.rs/ljBcFH

• USA: Parents in New York may face ban on smoking in cars with children

  Parents in New York could be banned from smoking in their cars when their children are with them - even when the windows are rolled down.
  
  Democrat assemblyman David Weprin has proposed the bill, arguing it will lower children's exposure to secondhand smoke.
  
  If the legislation goes through, anyone caught smoking in their vehicle when children are present will be fined $100.
   
  According to doctors, smokers who light up in cars produce 100 times the amount of secondhand smoke deemed acceptable by the Environmental Protection Agency.
  
  When the windows are rolled down, it is reduced to ten times the safe level, but it can still prove dangerous for young children.
  
  If the legislation goes through, New York would become the fifth city to pass such a law, after Maine, Louisiana, Arkansas and California.

  Source: The Daily Mail, 16 June 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/k8vJMA