HEADLINES

• Belgium expands smoking ban to all cafes, casinos
• New 'dissolvable tobacco' products may increase risk of mouth disease
• EU: Huge illegal cigarette factory in Poland raided
• Lebanon: Anti-smoking legislation too slow, say activists
• Indonesia: Entertainment reps say smoking ban will hit city’s economy
• Barbados: Anti-smoking thrust

• Belgium expands smoking ban to all cafes, casinos

  Belgium's top court has ruled that the country's smoking ban in public spaces should be widened to cover all cafes and the kingdom's nine casinos from 1st July.

  Smoking has been banned in work places, restaurants and pubs that serve food since 2009, while temporary exemptions had been granted to casinos and cafes that only serve snacks such as crisps and peanuts.

  The law had called for the exemptions to end sometime between January 1, 2012 and January 1, 2014, but the Flemish Anti-Cancer League asked Belgium's constitutional court to strike them down.

  The court decided to lift the exemptions but gave establishments until 30th June to "adapt to the general smoking ban."

  The judges ruled that the government failed to prove that pubs would be harmed by a general smoking ban, saying that drawing distinctions between establishments was actually harmful to competition.

  The court also stated that the protection of the health of employees and non-smokers should apply to casinos even though they serve a "specific" clientele.

  Source: The Independent, 17 March 2011
  Link: http://ind.pn/f8bjMi

• New 'dissolvable tobacco' products may increase risk of mouth disease

  The first study to analyze the complex ingredients in the new genre of dissolvable tobacco products has concluded that these pop-into-the-mouth replacements for cigarettes in places where smoking is banned have the potential to cause mouth diseases and other problems. The report appears in ACS's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

  John V. Goodpaster and colleagues point out that the first dissolvable tobacco products went on sale in 2009 in test markets in Indianapolis, Ind., Columbus, Ohio, and Portland, Ore. The products contain finely-ground tobacco and other ingredients processed into pellet, stick, and strip forms that are advertised as smoke and spit-free. Health officials are concerned about whether the products, which dissolve inside the mouth near the lips and gums, are in fact a safer alternative to cigarette smoking. Goodpaster and colleagues note the possibility that children may be accidentally poisoned by the nicotine in these products. "The packaging and design of the dissolvables may also appeal to children, and some dissolvables, such as Orbs, may be mistaken for candy," the report states.

  The researchers' analysis found that the products contain mainly nicotine and a variety of flavoring ingredients, sweeteners, and binders. They note abundant scientific evidence about the potential adverse health effects of nicotine, including those involving the teeth and gums. Other ingredients in dissolvables have the potential to increase the risk of tooth decay and one, coumarin, has been banned as a flavoring agent in food because of its link to a risk of liver damage.

  "The results presented here are the first to reveal the complexity of dissolvable tobacco products and may be used to assess potential health effects," said Goodpaster, noting that it is "therefore important to understand some of the potential toxicological effects of some of the ingredients of these products." Nicotine in particular, he noted, is a toxic substance linked to the development of oral cancers and gum disease.

  Source: Eurek Alert, 16 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/i4upsz

• EU: Huge illegal cigarette factory in Poland raided

  Plans by an international criminal gang to flood the EU market with millions of illegal cigarettes came to an abrupt end recently when Polish Police raided an illegal cigarette factory near to Warsaw, Poland.

  During the raid, the Polish Police arrested 32 people and seized cigarette making machinery and materials, including over 50 tonnes of cut tobacco. A consignment of nearly 5 million cigarettes, which had already been loaded on a lorry for distribution, was also seized.

  The raid was the result of investigations in several countries which were coordinated by the European Anti-Fraud Office, OLAF. Shortly after the illegal production facility was seized in Poland, 4 people were arrested in Germany and over 70 tonnes of tobacco destined for the factory were seized in Lithuania as part of the same operation.

  The Director-General of OLAF, Mr Giovanni Kessler, expressed his congratulations to the Polish Police and the Customs authorities in Germany and Lithuania for their achievements in this case.

  "This was an extensive criminal enterprise. The criminals could have produced around 120 million cigarettes with the tobacco which has been seized, representing potential losses to the EU taxpayer of €24 million, and there is no doubt that further deliveries of tobacco were planned.

  This operation clearly demonstrates the outstanding results that can be achieved through international cooperation".

  Mr Kessler went on to explain that the factory had been raided shortly after production had started. "This was a very large factory with considerable production capacity. If it had continued to run, losses to the EU and Member State budgets would potentially have been €6 million a week".

  An estimated 10 billion euro in taxes and duties are lost to the budgets of the EU and Member States each year as a result of cigarette smuggling and counterfeiting.

  Source: wired-gov.net 16 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/eKEGvC

• Lebanon: Anti-smoking legislation too slow, say activists

  Activists staged a protest on Wednesday against what they say is foot-dragging by a parliamentary committee to finalize a draft law to ban smoking in closed public spaces and end unregulated cigarette advertisements.

  
  The League of Independent Activists (IndyACT), in collaboration with the American University of Beirut and the Tobacco Free Initiative have organized a national campaign to promote the drafting of a modern law for tobacco control, but have so far failed to accomplish their aim.

  
  “The parliamentary committee has been taking a lot of time to finalize a draft law on tobacco control because representatives of British American Tobacco Company have recently attended the committee’s meetings,” Executive Director of IndyACT Wael Hmaidan told The Daily Star during the protest.

  
  Sources close to the Administration and Justice Committee told The Daily Star that in legislative hearings all the parties affected by the law must take part. The sources added that in the case of hearings on tobacco control law, the country’s Tobacco Regie representative should be present to offer further insight on the law.

  
  Hmaidan said that although tobacco companies are the major obstacle to the endorsement of a new tobacco control law, the Administration and Justice Committee has been passing off part of its responsibility to the Health and Finance Ministries.
   

  Source: The Daily Star, Lebanon 17 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/fO6FLv

• Indonesia: Entertainment reps say smoking ban will hit city’s economy

  Members of Jakarta’s entertainment industry have complained that the city’s decree banning smoking inside buildings would hurt profits and put thousands of jobs at risk.

  “Our kind of industry has been providing numerous jobs in the city. We also contribute the biggest share of taxes to the provincial administration, but banning smoking indoors will severely hurt our business,” said Adrian Melite, chairman of the Association of Indonesian Entertainment and Recreation Center Entrepreneurs (PPRHU).

  His remarks came during what was to be a discussion between smoking lobbyists and the city government on the merits of the 2010 decree banning smoking in all public buildings, but the city representatives failed to show.

  Instead, entertainment industry representatives and smokers’ advocates made their case to a receptive crowd at the Press Council building in Jakarta.

  Adrian said the industry had been happy with the gubernatorial decree issued in 2005 that only banned smoking in some public places, including houses of worship, hospitals and schools, and restricted the activity to designated rooms in other buildings.

  He added that people came to entertainment venues such as nightclubs, bars and massage parlors because they wanted to enjoy music, alcohol and cigarettes.

  “It would be ridiculous serving them drinks at the bar, then asking them to leave if they wanted to smoke,” he said.

  Adrian claimed that the entertainment industry in Jakarta employed about 670,000 people and generated annual revenues of more than Rp 1.8 trillion ($200 million). Smoking, he added, was part of the attraction.

  He also said the industry provided thousands well-paying jobs for people with little or no education.

  “Sixty percent of people we hired are high school graduates, or sometimes they didn’t even go to school,” he said.

  Taufiqurrohman, a Jakarta city councillor who appeared at the discussion to side with smokers, said that Governor Fauzi Bowo’s decision to issue the decree prohibiting smoking inside public buildings was thoughtless.

  “As a governor, he should be taking care of more fundamental issues, like floods, traffic jams or poverty,” he said.

  A clove cigarette lobbying group, Komunitas Kretek, earlier this month asked for a judicial review of the decree, saying it violated the rights of smokers.

  Meanwhile, the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak), is calling for a total ban on cigarette advertisements, promotion and sponsorship, arguing that it was necessary to prevent the spread of the habit among the country’s youth.

  Commission chairman Aris Merdeka Sirati said that a 2009 health law clearly defined the dangers of tobacco.

  “In one of the articles it is stated that tobacco is an addictive substance just like with narcotics and alcohol,” Aris said. “The question is how come narcotics and alcohol cannot be advertised at all, while the ban on cigarette advertisement is only done half-heartedly and not totally banned.”

  Source: Jakarta Globe, 17 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/gOyGn4

• Barbados: Anti-smoking thrust

  The Ministry of Health, in association with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), is taking further steps to stamp out the prevalence of tobacco consumption in Barbados. Hence the ongoing three-day Train-the-Trainer Workshop for Primary Health Care Providers in Tobacco Cessation, being held at the PAHO Office.

  Dr. Ingrid Cumberbatch, Senior Medical Officer in Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases. Cumberbatch said: 

  “This workshop on tobacco cessation is taking place at a strategic time for us here in Barbados, coming just five months after the introduction of legislation banning smoking in public places. I believe that it represents the opportunity for us to enhance cessation programmes [so that] persons who are thinking about taking steps to quit can do so in an effective manner,” Cumberbatch stated.

  The Senior Medical Officer explained that while tobacco consumption in Barbados was seen to decline from 32 per cent to 9 per cent in the past, and was reported to be at 8.2 per cent in 2007, now is not the time to become complacent. Rather, Cumberbatch stated, this should urge Barbados to continue its efforts to strengthen the methods used so as to reduce those numbers even further.

  Source: The Barbados Advertiser, 17 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/dWEtAi