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ASH Daily News

20 October 2003

HEADLINES

France raises tobacco tax by 20%
Not enough being spent on anti-smoking say Lib Dems
BBC journalist to be issued guidelines for health reporting
Bids for Turkish Tekel cigarettes nudge £2.5 billion
Bath university tackles smoking

FULL TEXT


France raises tobacco tax by 20%

Frances 34,000 tobacconists are staging a national strike in protest against the 20 percent increase in French tobacco taxes.

In the second of three price rises, French smokers will see the price of a pack of cigarettes jump by 20% on Monday.

"Three separate price increases will push the cost of smoking up by half in the space of a year," said BBC News correspondent in Paris, Quentin Somerville.

France has long had some of the cheapest cigarettes in Europe but is now trying to persuade people to quit the habit. However critics say the increases are being used to help bail out France's troubled state finances. The price rises are designed to encourage people to stop smoking.

The number of people smoking has been declining slowly, but around 42% of the population still smoke. The French government is particularly worried that smoking remains popular with pregnant women and young people.

"Putting up prices by 25% means reducing consumption by 10% and in the years ahead preventing 10,000 deaths a year," said Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei. After the change, a packet of cigarettes will cost more than five euros a pack, about £3.50, much more expensive than in many of France's neighbours.

[ASH welcomed the increase in French taxes, saying that it will have an affect on cross-border bootlegging of tobacco - but added that increase was unlikely to have any significant impact on large scale container fraud which was still costing the UK treasury and public health initiatives.]

ASH press release:
http://www.ash.org.uk/html/press/031020.html
Full BBC story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3206440.stm
Source: BBC Online 20 October 2003



Not enough being spent on anti-smoking say Lib Dems

The Sunday Express reports that less money is being spent by the government on anti-smoking campaigns than the cost of packet of cigarettes for every smoker.

Just £3.23 a year for each smoker was being spent in the United Kingdom to fund services such as NRT and counselling according to Liberal Democrat research into the Department of Health anti-smoking budget. Paul Burstow MP, Lib Dem health spokesman said the funding is "simply not enough to make an impact."

Source: Sunday Express, 19 October 2003



BBC journalist to be issued guidelines for health reporting

Following a recent report by the King's Fund, Health in the News, that found Britains main killers - smoking, alcohol abuse, obesity and mental illness - are 'statistically under-reported', the Guardian's Media section reports that the BBC is preparing guidelines for reporters.

These guidelines are intended for journalists reporting on stories involving risk to help editors ensure that scare stories are kept in perspective. The informal checklist will advise on interpreting complex statistical data and help editors decide the right time to pull out of a scare story - after the news has been aired but before it spins too far out of proportion.

Full article:
http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,7558,1066509,00.html
Source: The Guardian, 20 October 2003



Bids for Turkish Tekel cigarettes nudge £2.5 billion

Bids could reach £2.5bn for Tekel Cigarettes, the Turkish state-owned company that is up for auction. British American Tobacco leads the first round of bids. Its rivals include Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco International, Altadis and Imperial Tobacco.

Source: Sunday Times, 19 October 2003




Bath university tackles smoking

The Sunday Express reports from Bath University where plans are affot to ban smoking in the student union bar and other union areas.

Midge Mistry of the students' union said: "There are those who hope this is going to be a deterrent. Many young people start smoking at university, but if cigarettes were less evident, then it is possible that they won't become smokers in the first place."

Bath is not alone in expressing concern about smoking. Oxford, Manchester, Leeds, Southampton, Bradford and Plymouth universities have all tackled the issue.

An ASH spokesperson said: Tobacco companies target students and young people in the hope of making them addicts for life. Student unions have a duty to resist pressure and to discourage smoking.'

Source: Sunday Express, 19 October 2003



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