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ASH Daily news for 12 October 2011

HEADLINES

  • Australia: Government may have to delay plain packs ban

    The Australian government may have to delay plans for tobacco products to be sold in plain packaging after conservative opposition lawmakers postponed a final vote on the legislation in parliament.

    Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the conservatives, who managed to postpone an upper house Senate vote on the bill, were playing into the hands of big tobacco firms.
     
    "Given the delays in passing the bill caused by the opposition, the government now has no choice but to reconsider the impact on implementation timeframes," Roxon said.

    Analysts say tobacco companies like Britain's Imperial Tobacco and Philip Morris are worried that plain packaging could spread to emerging markets like Brazil, Russia and Indonesia, and threaten growth there.
     
    Source: Reuters, 12 October 2011
    Link: http://reut.rs/oOKxd0

  • Sunderland and Durham Council pension funds invested in tobacco companies

    Millions of pounds have been invested through Sunderland Council’s pension fund in tobacco companies, the Sunderland Echo reveals.

    The Tyne and Wear Local Government Pension Fund, of which Sunderland City Council is a member, has over £35million tied up in tobacco companies, including British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco.
     
    Sunderland Council is heavily involved in non-smoking initiatives such as Fresh Smoke Free North East and the Sunderland Tobacco Alliance, through which the council aims to reduce smoking prevalence and associated diseases.

    Durham County Council also has tens of millions invested in tobacco. A statement from Durham County Council said: “We have a financial responsibility to obtain the best possible return on investments to keep costs low. As part of the investment decision-making process, investment managers are also required to consider the practices of companies and assess the extent to which this will detract from company performance and returns to shareholders.”
     
    Source: Sunderland Echo, 12 October 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/nI7uci

  • Doncaster: Court gets tough on illicit tobacco sellers

    Two men who sold almost £1 million worth of smuggled cigarettes and tobacco from a Doncaster mini market have been jailed for a total of 11 years.

    Officers from HM Revenue and Customs seized thousands of pounds of goods in four separate visits to the Sunrise Mini Market over a period of seven months.

    Illegal products were found hidden in various places:  including in a locked sweet cabinet, under a pile of onions and in the sleeves of a hanging jacket, some of the 2,250,000 cigarettes and 66,000 pouches of tobacco had even been disguised as a bed.

    The duty lost on their fraudulent dealings is estimated at £985,000.

    Speaking after the hearing, Bob Gaiger, from HMRC, said: “These criminals, continued to flout the law by selling smuggled and unregulated tobacco products. Their criminal activities made them huge profits at the expense of honest shopkeepers.”
    Source: Doncaster Free Press, 10 October 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/rlveiR

  • China: Tobacco free wedding campaign launched

    Chinese health experts have initiated tobacco-free wedding campaigns in response to the country's indoor tobacco control policy.

    Tobacco is deeply rooted in the national culture, leading brands of cigarettes are a must at wedding banquets, where newlyweds visit each table and the bride lights a cigarette for each male guest.
     
    However, traditions like this were challenged in March, when the country's Ministry of Health included a ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces in a revised regulation on health management.
     
    Campaigns promoting tobacco-free weddings were carried out in Shanghai Municipality and several provinces including Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Shandong.

    "Prohibiting smoking in wedding receptions is an effective way of raising public awareness," said Lu Yajuan, the head of the tobacco control project for the city's disease control and prevention centre.

  • Bulgaria: Tourism replacing tobacco growers in southern Bulgaria

    Former tobacco growers in Ognyanovo, southern Bulgaria, who switched to spa tourism say they now work less and earn more, according to a Standart Daily story.

    Spa tourism, involves investment in small, home-like hotels, while tobacco production depended on capricious weather and volatile markets.

    In 2002, 95 per cent of Ognyanovo’s local population cultivated tobacco, while just four per cent was engaged in spa tourism, but this proportion is expected to grow to 30-40 per cent.
    Source: Tobacco Reporter Magazine, 11 October 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/npvCP8

  • USA: Boston public housing to go smokefree in 2012

    Boston is set to become the first big city in Massachusetts and the largest in the USA, to ban smoking in public housing, from September 2012.


     In the next few weeks, about 25,000 tenants will receive letters announcing that their buildings will be smoke-free and that they will have to agree to the new policy when they sign their annual leases.
     
    The policy is aimed at protecting non-smokers, especially children, from secondhand smoke from neighbouring units, which can cause asthma attacks, respiratory infections, lung cancer, and heart disease.
     
    Boston Housing Authority’s spokeswoman, Lydia Agro said the authority has also been working with the Boston Public Health Commission for the past two years to offer residents smoking cessation programs, in anticipation of the ban.
     
    Agro said a poll the agency conducted last year found a smoking ban would have widespread support among public housing residents. Of 1,300 people surveyed, 90 percent said they favoured smoke-free housing.
     
    The city also launched a registry for landlords to list smoke-free units, to make it easier for renters to find them.
    Source: Boston Globe, 12 October 2011
    Link: http://bo.st/oujrGA