HEADLINES

• Campaigners lambast packs of 14 cigarettes
• Can you ever invest with a clear conscience?
• Australia: Tobacco industry uses FOI requests in plain packs campaign
• USA: Buffalo: Judge bars tobacco tax collection on indian reservations
• Canada: BC Government to pay people's quit smoking costs
• Cambridge children 'Kick Ash'

• Campaigners lambast packs of 14 cigarettes

  The introduction of cigarette packs containing 14 cigarettes instead of the usual 20, which are being heavily marketed to the “price conscious” smoker, has been lambasted by ASH as a “cynical ploy” to ensure that less well off smokers don’t give up smoking.

  Five brands introduced packs of 14 onto the market in the United Kingdom in October, including Benson & Hedges, Silk Cut, and Mayfair. Their recommended retail price was as low as £3.82.
  Source: BMJ, 09 May 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/irTNBa

• Can you ever invest with a clear conscience?

  Investors who want to keep a clear conscience may have to sacrifice profits to invest in companies that match their principles.

  Many investment funds specialising in ethical investing are easily beaten by their peers, in some cases losing money when their rivals are making profits.

   

  Companies in the FTSE 100 index of the biggest companies include weapons makers BAE Systems, oil company BP, British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco.

   

  Pick any of the most popular funds in the UK and you are likely to have a small share in one or all of these. The Invesco Perpetual Income fund, for example, has large sums of money in the two tobacco companies.

   

  Restricting your investment choices can be bad for your wealth. Tobacco, gambling firms and weapons makers have been among the best performing areas in the past decade.
  Source: Daily Mail, 11 May 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/katiGH

• Australia: Tobacco industry uses FOI requests in plain packs campaign

  Taxpayers are footing the bill for a multi-million-dollar campaign by tobacco companies to extract Health Department information for a looming court challenge to plain packaging on cigarette packets.

  Philip Morris and British American Tobacco Australia are using Freedom of Information (FOI) laws to obtain tens of thousands of documents, while avoiding the more expensive legal discovery process.

   

  It is understood that at least 26 large-scale FOI requests have been lodged by the tobacco companies. The Department of Health has had to assign nine legally trained staff to work full-time on the tobacco requests, including six new employees. The bill for one request alone came in at more than $367,000.

  
  The Health Minister said the government was prepared for a long legal fight. "This is the beginning of a large and co-ordinated campaign by Big Tobacco," she said. "We are not going to back away from this fight."

   

  Slater & Gordon lawyer James Higgins said the information-gathering exercise was ironic, given the tobacco companies destroyed their own internal documents to avoid liability for the effects of their products. He said the companies would stop at nothing to prevent plain packaging in Australia, fearing an international precedent that would affect global profits. "They will use every tactic that is available to them," he said.
   
  Source: The Australian, 29 April 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/kNzOQE

• USA: Buffalo: Judge bars tobacco tax collection on indian reservations

  Tax collection on tobacco sales on Indian reservations has been delayed again, one day after a federal appeals court ruled the tax could be collected.

  Seneca Nation lawyer Carol Heckman persuaded State Supreme Court Justice Donna Siwek to issue a temporary restraining order on the tax collections until a further appeal hearing can be held June 1.

   

  Seneca tobacco merchants are shifting away from brand name cigarettes, which can be taxed off-reservation, and shifting to Indian-made and Indian label cigarettes sold outside of the state tax system.

   

  There is a lot of money at stake, with the state budget calling for $130 million in revenue this year.
   
  Source: WNED News, 10 May 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/j9Mk1J

• Canada: BC Government to pay people's quit smoking costs

  British Columbian smokers who want to kick the habit will get a hand from the government with an offering of free nicotine gum and patches, Premier Christy Clark announced on Monday.

  From 30 September the government will pay for a 12-week supply of gum or patches, or cover anti-smoking treatment through Pharmacare. Clark said the new initiative will cost between $15 million and $25 million.

   

  More than 6,000 British Columbians die annually from tobacco use, according to the government, costing the economy about $2.3 billion each year.

  
  Clark's announcement was applauded by health charities.
   
  Source: The Province, 10 May 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/iJUPtw

• Cambridge children 'Kick Ash'

  Over 50 young people took part in a two-mile community walk to launch their smoking prevention campaign. The walk at Swavesey Village College, which included families, friends and members of the local community,  launched Kick Ash, a countywide campaign to prevent smoking in the under 16’s across Cambridgeshire.

  Health Secretary and South Cambridgeshire MP Andrew Lansley applauded Kick Ash on a recent visit to Swavesey Village College and has pledged his support for the campaign, which will visit 10 secondary schools and their partner primary schools over five years.
  
  George Hackshall, 15, a student at Swavesey Village College, said: “We want to show everyone that young people can Kick Ash and help others too. We don’t want to be one of the 250 young people who start smoking every day in the UK."

  Source: Cambridgeshire County Council, 10 May 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/jGsgxY