HEADLINES

• Smoke in your Eyes
• Scotland: Youngsters drinking and smoking less
• China: Ministry of Health to ban smoking at indoor public areas
• Wales: Smoking near hospital entrances banned
• Most Parents Support Testing Children For Tobacco Smoke Exposure
• USA: Smoking ban doesn't harm gambling venues
• Japan: Quake sparks cigarette shortage in northeast Japan

• Smoke in your Eyes

  The Morning Star examines the pressure groups and lobbyists behind the headlines, which followed the Government's Tobacco Control Plan. 

  So who are the main players? The international pro-tobacco network is a very tangled web indeed, but it tends to replicate the same strategies from country to country.

   

  In Britain these are the Tobacco Manufacters' Association, Forest (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco), the Tobacco Retailers' Alliance and the National Federation of Retail Newsagents. 

   

  The Tobacco Manufacturers' Association represents Gallaher, Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco, which collectively controls around 90 per cent of the British market.
  Its chief executive Chris Ogden frequently appears on television on their behalf - and often alongside their subsidiary, the Tobacco Retailers' Alliance. Founded in 1982, its funding - £120,000 a year - comes entirely from the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association.

   

  Tobacco Retailers Alliance (TRA)
  A spokesman confirmed that Imperial Tobacco, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco International (which owns Gallaher) each paid £21,500 a year in "premier club" membership dues, plus events sponsorship and other arrangements, but added that this was "entirely separate" to their lobbying work.

  
  The National Federation of Retail Newsagents.
  The NFRN campaigns on a range of issues - but as Guardian reporters found last month, the relationship with sponsors runs far deeper. Ex-president Colin Finch alleged the federation was "a puppet" for the tobacco industry, while another described a "don't ask" policy for campaign funding.
   

  Other questions remain unanswered. What did Imperial Tobacco's public relations manager Iain Watkins do to win the federation's "fellowship award" in October? And why was the federation's own public relations manager Niki Haywood invited to speak at last year's Global Tobacco Networking Forum in India? Neither the federation nor Haywood responded to requests for comment.

   

  Forest
  One of the industry's best friends is Forest, a "smokers' rights" group which "represents adults who choose to smoke tobacco and non-smoking adults who are tolerant of other people smoking."
  It's anyone's guess how representative it really is, as director Simon Clark says allowing members to vote on policy would be "an administrative nightmare.

  
  Forest makes it clear on its website that most of its funding comes from industry groups. But what it doesn't say is just how much money there is. Clark confessed at a health select committee hearing back in 2000 that Forest operated on around a £250,000 a year, 96 per cent directly from Japan Tobacco International, Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco.

  
  
   
  Source: The Morning Star, 22 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/eeYYJ5

• Scotland: Youngsters drinking and smoking less

  Researchers at Edinburgh University have found the rate of daily smoking among 15-year-olds has fallen from 16 per cent in 2002 to 11 per cent.

  The number of young people drinking alcohol at least once a week has fallen by over a third, and cannabis use has halved since 2002.

   

  Nearly 7,000 pupils were interviewed for the report - funded by NHS Health Scotland - which provides a picture of the wellbeing of young people aged 11, 13 and 15 years.

   

  Professor Candace Currie, director of the Child and Adolescent Research Unit at Edinburgh University, said: "These findings are extremely encouraging."
   
  Source: Scotsman.com, 22 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/gBbzg7

• China: Ministry of Health to ban smoking at indoor public areas

  On 22 March, the Ministry of Health in China released new regulations that prohibit smoking in indoor public places. The regulations require operators to set "No Smoking" warnings and signs.  It also prohibits establishing smoking areas in the pedestrian channels of outdoor public places and prohibits setting up tobacco vending machines in public places.

  The regulations also require operators of public places to publicise the harmful effects of smoking as well as employ full-time or part-time personnel to discourage smokers.

   

  Xie Yang, director of the Environmental Health Office of the Supervision Bureau under the Ministry of Health, said China is one of State Parties of the "Framework Convention on Tobacco Control." The amendment to the regulations shows the determination of the Ministry of Health to positively fulfill tobacco control.
  Source: People's Daily Online, 23 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/eVzEEe

• Wales: Smoking near hospital entrances banned

  Smoking will be banned outside the entrances to hospitals in Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan. Smoking will only be allowed in designated smoking areas from May 1 and will be banned from all hospitals in the region from November 1.

  The move, agreed by Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, is regarded as a first step towards creating a smoke-free NHS in South Wales.

   

   But Dr Sharon Hopkins, the board’s director of public health, said: “This is about tackling smoking addiction through cultural change, not sanctions and punishments.

   

  “Staff have reacted positively to the news, with many saying it is long overdue."

   

  The health board has also agreed extra resources to help staff and patients to give up.
   
  Source: Wales online, 23 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/fZ4rQP

• Most Parents Support Testing Children For Tobacco Smoke Exposure

   
  A Study in the April 2011 issue of the American journal Pediatrics, assessed whether testing children for tobacco smoke as part of a child's primary care visit is acceptable to parents.

  Of 477 parents surveyed, 60 percent think children should be tested for tobacco smoke exposure during pediatric visits. Among parents who smoked, 62 percent agree with testing children during a child's doctor visit.

  Positive test results may help non-smokers advocate for safer environments for their children. Parental smokers may be curious to know whether their efforts to prevent tobacco exposure
   are working.

   

  Such testing, if it were made available, could help promote smoke-free homes and cars, and encourage family members to quit smoking. It might also lead to more rapid adoption of smoke-free multi-unit housing nationwide.
  Source: Medical News Today, 22 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/evRQEY

• USA: Smoking ban doesn't harm gambling venues

  Researchers at  Indiana University say there is no economic incentive for lawmakers to exclude off-track betting facilities from a smoking ban considered in the Indiana Legislature.

  The research team found that similar legislation implemented in Fort Wayne didn't hurt business. The study looked at the amount gamblers spent at three venues, including the smoke-free one in Fort Wayne and two venues that allow smoking. Research showed per capita spending declined at a similar rate for all three venues.

   

  Lead author of the study Jon Macy said past studies have said smoke-free laws don't have a negative effect on businesses but this is one of the first to demonstrate such laws don't hurt gaming venues either.
   
  Source: News OK, 22 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/e5KzaY

• Japan: Quake sparks cigarette shortage in northeast Japan

  The earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeast Japan this month have left some parts of the region without cigarettes, according to Japan Tobacco Inc .

  A spokesman for the company told Reuters that some of its distribution centers in the region had been hit by the disasters, and some brands were out of stock in some regions.

  
  The company could not say what impact the disasters would have on sales, the spokesman said, adding that it was unlikely to have a big effect on its sales forecasts for the year.
  Source: Reuters, 23 March 2011
  Link: http://reut.rs/fMjUPy