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ASH Daily News

12 November 2003

HEADLINES

+ Imperial boss: 'We don't know if our tobacco kills'
+ US courts want to question BAT chief
+ Exemptions in Irish ban on smoking in public places
+ Smoking and sudden cardiac death
+ Turkey stops Tekel sale
+ Letters on passive smoking
+ Health Secretary John Reid: I quit for my wife
+ Cheshire man not smiling after being jailed for £7 million cigarette smuggling fraud


FULL TEXT

+ Imperial boss: 'We don't know if our tobacco kills'

The chief executive of one of the world's biggest tobacco firms told a court yesterday there was no such thing as a safe cigarette, but refused to accept that smoking causes lung cancer.

Gareth Davis of Imperial Tobacco was giving evidence at the court of session in Edinburgh in a £500,000 damages action brought by the widow of a man who died of lung cancer. Margaret McTear, from Beith in Ayrshire, claims that Imperial Tobacco failed to warn her husband, Alf, of the dangers of smoking its John Player brand cigarettes. He died in 1993 at the age of 48. Imperial is contesting the action.

Yesterday, Colin McEachran QC, for Mrs McTear, asked Mr Davis if he agreed with the overwhelming medical consensus that smoking causes lung cancer. Mr Davis, 53, a smoker since 15, has worked for Imperial since 1972, and has been chief executive since 1996. He said: "I think it is fair to say we believe that smokers are far more likely to develop serious diseases, such as lung cancer, than non-smokers, and we would agree there is no safe cigarette."

Mr McEachran countered: "Does this mean that smoking causes lung cancer?"

"No, it does not mean that," replied Mr Davis.

Later he said: "Statistics have shown a relationship between smoking and certain diseases, including lung cancer, and I think scientists would agree that statistical association does not in itself establish a cause and effect. There are many questions which remain unanswered."

While being shown cigarette packets bearing the statutory government health warnings in place since 1971, Mr Davis was asked if his company accepted the "smoking kills" message. He replied: "We don't know. Smoking may or may not kill, but we don't know."

Mr McTear began the court action just before his death in 1993. His widow has continued the action in her name. It is the first attempt to sue a tobacco company over smoking that has gone to court in Britain. The hearing, before Lord Nimmo Smith, continues.

Source: The Guardian, The Independent, Daily Telegraph, The Express, The Sun, Daily Star, Daily Mirror; 12 November 2003



+ US courts want to question BAT chief

The Financial Times report today that US authorities yesterday went to London's High Court in an effort to win the right to examine Martin Broughton, the chairman of BAT, and Andrew Foyle, a partner at the Lovells law firm, in relation to US-based tobacco litigation. Mr Foyle was one of the lawyers employed by BAT who advised on the company's "document retention" policy - details of which became public during an Australian tobacco lawsuit.

Mr Foyle's potential examination raises issues of legal privilege, while there are questions over the permitted scope of questions by the US Department of Justice to Mr Broughton. The hearing is not expected to conclude until later this week.

Source: Financial Times, 12 November 2003



+ Exemptions in Irish ban on smoking in public places

The Irish Minister for Health, Micheál Martin has made a significant climbdown from his much repeated resistance to any exemptions on the smoking ban in the workplace.

Moving last night to exclude five categories of workplace from the ban, Mr Martin said the move follows legal advice from the office of the Attorney General, Mr Rory Brady.

His concessions mean that smoking will be banned in hotel rooms, prisons, psychiatric hospitals, nursing homes and hospices.

Mr Martin denied that he had opened up a loophole by exempting hotel rooms, where there are no obvious compassionate grounds for exemption. He insisted he had, in effect strengthened the ban.

However, the minister made clear that employers in the exempted categories will still have a duty of care to protect their employees from smoke.

The late changes means the Irish government will now have to delay the implementation of the regulation banning smoking until the middle of February 2004.

The most recent debate concerning the implications of a ban in psychiatric hospitals and nursing homes centred on the arguments that long stay patients had their dwellings in such institutions. Mr Martin said: "[In making these exemptions] we were looking ahead in terms of fire-proofing ourselves against potential challenges to the edifice."

* The Irish Hospitality Industry Alliance has indicated that they would still seek to challenge the amended smoking ban.

Source: Irish Times, 7 November 2003



+ Smoking and sudden cardiac death

US researchers investigated 3,122 patients with previous MI or stable angina and found that those who smoked were two and a half times more likely to suffer sudden cardiac death than those who had never smoked. However those who had given up were not at increased risk.
(Archives of Internal Medicine 2003; 163:2,301-5)

Source: General Practitioner, 3 November 2003



+ Turkey stops Tekel sale

Turkey has cancelled the privatisation of Tekel, the former cigarette monopoly, after international tobacco companies submitted bids well below expectations.

Yesterday, the Turkish government's privatisation administration said: "Final bids were evaluated by the Tenders Commission which decided to cancel the tender." No further explanation was given.

Government officials recently signalled that Turkey would prefer to delay the sale of Tekel rather than sell at the prices offered.

The highest bid, made by Japan Tobacco, was $1.1bn - about a third of the price the government expected. Investment bankers expected the company, which has more than 50 per cent of the Turkish market, to fetch between $1.5bn and $3bn. British American Tobacco was the other bidder.

Representatives of Japan Tobacco yesterday met Turkish finance minister Kemal Unakitan in Ankara for a final round of negotiations. People close to the talks said the Japanese raised their bid price by about $60m. But Turkish officials rejected their request for concessions on trademarks.

Full FT article:
http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=031112000988
Source: Financial Times, 12 November 2003



+ Letters on passive smoking

Conservative member of the Greater London Authority, Angie Bray wrote to the Evening Standard last week suggesting that passive smoking does not pose a significant threat to health. There are a couple of responses today in the paper, notably from Stephen Woodward, director of Prorocol Management UK, and of course, London Mayor Ken Livingstone.

Stephen Woodward said: "For Ms Bray to say that she was not personally about what she read or heard [about the evidence on negative health effects of passive smoking] is her privilege; for her to assert that passive smoking presents no danger to public health suggests either she didn't understand the evidence, or she prefers the views expounded by the tobacco industry to those of Britain's scientific and medical establishment."

Ken Livingstone wrote in to clarify that his office were not behind the ongoing poll of Londoners views on a smoking ban: "The http://www.bigsmokedebate.com survey is an independent study of public attitudes commissioned by the London Health Commission . I have no power to ban smoking in public places and no influence on the survey, or its outcome."



+ Health Secretary John Reid: I quit for my wife

If you are seeking a little insight into smoking and how to give up, spare a an ear for Health of State for Health, Rt Hon Dr John Reid MP

Writing in today's Mirror, John Reid takes the reader on journey through his addiction (and partiality) to tobacco and how he finally came to give up his 40 year addiction. In the end, he says, experience has shown him that information, education and persuasion are all effective, but the decision to finally stop are intensely personal for every individual and for their family - "We all find our own reason. For me it was Carine. If you still smoke, it's worth trying to find your own."

Full article:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=13614697&method=full&siteid=50143
Source: Daily Mirror, 12 November 2003



+ Cheshire man not smiling after being jailed for £7 million cigarette smuggling fraud

A Cheshire cigarette smuggler was jailed for four and a half years at Maidstone Crown Court yesterday after being convicted of smuggling about 35 million cigarettes into the UK and evading tobacco excise duty worth over £7 million.

Customs spokesman Bob Gaiger said: "This case shows Customs' determination to hit the smugglers hard in all parts of the UK. Organised smuggling attempts like this are a crime. Criminals must realise their chances of being caught are increasing all the time. This was duty evasion on a large scale and Ellis was responsible for taking £7 million away from the public services - money that could have been spent on schools and hospitals."

Full article:
http://www.hmce.gov.uk/news/reg-nr-se-4903.htm
Source: HM Customs & Excise, 11 November 2003


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