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ASH Daily News



23 November 2004



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



Smoking Ban ‘could cost 1.8 billion’

Former Philip Morris Scientist to reveal ‘secrets’

GPs deny help to quitters

Kicking the habit with ASDA




FULL TEXT


Smoking Ban ‘could cost 1.8 billion’

The Times reports that ‘Gordon Brown is facing the loss of up to £1.8 billion in tax revenues as a consequence of the Government’s proposals to ban smoking in pubs serving food, restaurants and workplaces.

Estimates from Grant Thornton, the leading accountancy group, show that if the ban delivers an expected 15 per cent fall in smoking, the impact will deal a heavy blow to the Chancellor’s receipts.

The Treasury currently receives an annual £8.1 billion a year from tobacco duty alone.

On top of this, the Chancellor also sees £2.2 billion from the VAT paid on every packet, and more revenue from tax on the hefty profits of cigarette makers.

The British Medical Association is forecasting a 15 per cent drop in smoking as a result of the proposals — a figure backed by the effects of similar action taken in the Irish Republic, where tax revenues from cigarettes have dropped by about 16 per cent.

Based on such a decline, Mike Warburton, Grant Thornton’s senior tax partner, calculates that the Chancellor is confronting the loss of £1.2 billion in tobacco duties, and another £300 million from VAT.

He also estimates that the Treasury could see a further £300 million or so of revenue evaporate from reduced tax on tobacco groups’ profits.

In total, that suggests a cost to the Exchequer of some £1.8 billion — equivalent to more than 0.5p on the basic rate of income tax.

This would dwarf the savings of about £250 million that the BMA estimates the health service will achieve as a result of treating fewer patients with smoking-related illnesses.

Mr Warburton said that, because victims of smoking-related diseases such as lung cancer tended to die quickly, the savings for the NHS from the planned ban were limited.

“The revenues that they (the Government) raise from people who smoke are actually substantially more than the cost to the health services of looking after them in their decline,” he said.

The pub trade’s decisions on whether to continue to serve food and impose smoking bans, or cut food in favour of being able to allow smoking will also play a key part in the financial repercussions.

A Treasury spokesman said the Grant Thornton estimates were speculative. “The Treasury have made no such estimate and do not recognise the figure.

“We take all factors into account when forecasting tax receipts, including a fall in consumption from this or other government measures. It is far too early to make calculations of tax revenues from future tobacco sales.”’



The Telegraph quotes Mr Warburton as saying of the supposed cut in tax revenue, ‘this does explain why we’ve not had a ban before’, while the Evening Standard quotes John Whiting, a tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, suggesting ‘some of the loss may be offset by factors such as more non-smokers eating in restaurants’.



The Standard goes on to quote a Treasury spokesman as saying ‘this is all just speculation about the behavioural effects of the ban. It is not possible to calculate the effect on tax receipts’.



Source: The Times, Daily Telegraph, 23 November 2004. Evening Standard, 22 November 2004.



Article link: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/til/jsp/modules/Article/print.jsp?itemId=14871772



Former Phillip Morris Scientist to reveal ‘secrets’



A former scientist for tobacco giant Philip Morris USA is this week expected to testify that the company did not disclose details of a potentially dangerous flaw in its Merit cigarette brand.

The US government hopes the evidence will help prove its allegations about the harmful nature of the company's products as part of a $280bn (£151m) racketeering case launched against the tobacco industry by the Justice Department.

Michael Watkins is expected to say Philip Morris failed to tell smokers a change to its Merit brand of cigarettes four years ago caused chunks of burning ash to fall off, presenting a potential safety hazard.

The Justice Department says Watkins' testimony will help establish a sustained pattern of secrecy at Philip Morris.

Despite research on the issue and a soaring number of complaints from Merit smokers, 'Philip Morris never warned consumers in any respect about the problem', the government said in a filing in a US District Court in Washington.

The Justice Department claims the industry engaged in a conspiracy over five decades to mislead the public about all kinds of smoking health risks.

Philip Morris, part of Altria, has denied wrongdoing. It acknowledged complaints from smokers soared after the 2000 relaunch of Merit, but said such responses are typical after any change.

Source: The Evening Standard, 22 November 2004

Article link: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/business/articles/timid84932?source=





GPs deny help to quitters

A “significant minority” of GPs are refusing to prescribe their patients any smoking-cessation therapies — because they do not believe the treatments should be available on the NHS, reports Pulse (Nov 15).

Researchers have found that more than a quarter of the GPs they visited turned down requests for the anti-addiction drug bupropion, and 8 per cent refused to give nicotine-replacement therapy.

This is despite the fact that the GPs risk legal action for refusing to offer the service. Guidance from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommends both therapies as first-line treatments.

The decision to refuse treatment is strongly related to GPs believing that the health service should not offer smoking-cessation therapies, with some GPs believing that smokers should pay for treatment themselves, while others doubt the effectiveness of the drugs.

Professor Robert West, the co-author of the study, says: “It is like refusing to prescribe anti-hypertension medication just because someone is overweight — you can’t say that it’s their fault.”

Professor West, director of tobacco studies at the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Unit at University College London, adds: “Attitudes have shifted but not everyone has been taken on board.”

He also says that maverick GPs could find themselves in front of the General Medical Council in future.

Source: The Times, 23 November 2004


Kicking the habit with ASDA

Asda is to roll out smoking cessation products to all its kiosks after a successful trial run earlier this year.



Source: The Grocer, 20 November 2004.



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