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ASH Daily News

16 October 2006

[View html version: http://www.globalink.org/nbuk]

HEADLINES

Cigarette sales increase in Scotland

Council to ban staff smoking in uniform and to cut smoking breaks

Government is not going to change drug classification

European Commission undertaking legal action in tobacco sponsorship

Tobacco companies fighting last Cluster like stand

FULL TEXT

Cigarette sales increase in Scotland

Retailers claim that sales of cigarettes in Scotland have increased since the ban on smoking in public places was introduced in March this year.

The figures, provided by the Scottish Grocers Federation, show a rise of almost 5% in sales of cigarettes from shops. The Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA) said cigarette machine sales in pubs and clubs remained unchanged.

Scots spent on average £6.3m a week on cigarettes before the ban, according to the survey. After a slight dip, sales increased to reach higher levels than before the ban at £6.6m - or 1.3m packets - on average a week. Spain and Ireland have seen similar effects.

"Many members were concerned that the ban would see a drop in cigarette sales, which make up 20% of business at convenience stores. But that certainly hasn't happened," said John Drummond, chief executive of the Scottish Grocers' Federation.

Maureen Moore, the chief executive of ASH Scotland called on the Scottish executive to find new ways to cut smoking levels. More than 25% of the adult population, one million people, in Scotland smoke.

"Any increase in sales of cigarettes is bad news for public health," said Moore. "If cigarette sales are genuinely on the increase then the government needs to raise the price of tobacco further and consider new ways in which to target smokers with better smoking cessation choices."

Editorial note: The findings by the Scottish Grocers' Federation of it 2,300 members includes small shops and the retailer SPAR. The survey showed the weekly average of sales over six four-week periods dipped slightly after the ban from £6.3 million to £6.1 million. In the 16 weeks following, sales reaching £6.6 million or 1.3 million packets.

ASH Scotland notes that the survey only covers a small part of the cigarette market in Scotland and could represent a shift in the way smokers are buying tobacco rather than an overall increase in tobacco consumption. It is thought that smokers are buying from shops more often than pub vending machines as a result of the smokefree legislation.

Source: The Sunday Times 15 October 2006
Link to article: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2764-2405003,00.html



Council to ban staff smoking in uniform and to cut smoking breaks

New proposals unveiled by Sutton Council would mean council employees could not smoke anywhere if their uniform or identification badge revealed they were a Sutton Council employee.

Other rules in the new policy, which was discussed at a meeting of the strategy committee on Monday, include a ban on council workers smoking in 'close proximity' to their workplace.

The terms of the new policy also put an end to smoking breaks and forbid smoking in any council buildings, parks, car parks or vehicles.

Responding to the policy, Simon Clark, director of Forest said: "I just think it's pathetic. It's so sad that councils appear to have nothing better to do than discriminate against and target a significant number of their workforce.

According to the current smoking policy, staff can smoke in the window area of the restaurant in the Civic Offices before 11.30am and after 2pm. Staff who started working at the council before June 1992 are also allowed one cigarette break in the morning and one in the afternoon.

The new policy would replace these rules. However at the meeting on Monday the committee decided to defer a decision on whether to implement it until further consultation could take place.

Deborah Arnott, director of ASH, said: "Our view would be that it's up to the employer to decide what the terms and conditions of employment are. People have begun to realise smoking is something that does affect other people and smokers have begun to accept that."

A Sutton Council spokesman said the majority of council workers did not smoke and the policy had been put forward to improve the health and welfare of employees.

Source: This is Local London 13 October 2006
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/yzvwew



Government is not going to change drug classification

The government is to keep the existing method of classifying illegal drugs into classes A, B and C, the Home Office has announced. This was in response to a parliamentary report that called for the system to be scrapped.

The Commons all-party Science and Technology committee report in July said the current system was "clearly not fit for purpose".

But the Home Office has rejected this saying: "The government believes that the classification system discharges its function fully and effectively and has stood the test of time."

The Commons Science and Technology committee had said that a new scale for drugs classification should be devised, rating substances on the basis of health and social risks rather than potential punishments. It called for alcohol and tobacco to be included in the ratings to give the public a "better sense of the relative harms involved".

But the government's response argued that the existing system gave the public an accurate measure of the relative risks of various controlled drugs.

"The harms caused to the individual and to society are the predominant and defining factors in the classification of any drug," it said.

"As a consequence, it is the government's position that, far from implication, but by its design, the current classification system goes far in establishing a ranking of harms.

"This is then greatly complemented by a substantial body of evidence that informs and further distinguishes the specific harms of individual drugs.

Source: The Guardian 13 October 2006
Link to article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/Story/0,,1922016,00.html



European Commission undertaking legal action in tobacco sponsorship

The European Commission has confirmed that it undertaking legal action against Italy, Hungary, Spain and the Czech Republic over violations of the European Union ban on tobacco sponsorship.

The Commission is taking Italy to the European Court of Justice for failing to correctly transpose the sponsorship ban for cross-border events into domestic law. The Italians have allowed tobacco sponsorship to continue in events which take place exclusively in Italy, even when they are broadcast in other countries.

The Commission is also challenging Spain's three-year ban exemption for sporting events and Hungary's exemption given to events deemed to be of "exceptional" importance to its economy. The Czech Republic is in trouble for allowing a three-year extension to allow for the end of current contracts.

European Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou says that the Commission has "zero tolerance for allowing tobacco sponsorship, no matter whether it is for Formula 1 or for other events" and said that he will not hesitate "in holding EU member states accountable when the ban is not properly, or not at all, implemented."

Source: Grandpix 13 October 2006
Link to article: http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns17625.html



Tobacco companies fighting last Cluster like stand

America's two largest tobacco companies are waging all-out battles to defeat ballot measures in US several states to increase cigarette taxes or impose broad bans on smoking in public places.

Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco have given more than $54 million to the campaign opposing California's Proposition 86, which would increase cigarette taxes and boost the average price of a cigarette pack to $6.55. All their opponents combined have raised less than $13 million.

The industry has contributed or pledged millions more to fight proposed tobacco tax increases in Missouri and South Dakota, and to promote milder alternatives to sweeping smoking bans on the ballots in Arizona and Ohio.

"The tobacco industry now recognizes there's broad support for measures that reduce tobacco use, and they know they can't win without outspending the opposition" said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "They're treating these ballot initiatives almost like Custer's last stand."

Philip Morris has focused on California, contributing $31.9 million to fight Proposition 86. "We oppose excessive cigarette excise taxes," said spokesman Bill Phelps.

Reynolds has given $22.7 million thus far in California, and is spending millions more in Ohio and Arizona to promote partial smoking bans that are less strict than rival measures.

A Reynolds spokesman, David Howard, confirmed it was the most his company had ever spent on ballot measures in a single year. He said factors in the decision included a perception that anti-smoking measures were proliferating to the point where a counterattack was needed.

Dan Smith, a vice president of the American Cancer Society, was hopeful anti-smoking forces could prevail over the tobacco companies in each state. "But I don't kid myself," he said. "We don't have the resources they have."

Source: Guardian 13 October 2006
Link to article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6145886,00.html


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Sarah Ward
Information Manager
Action on Smoking & Health (ASH)
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