Philippines:  City criticised for naming street after cigarette

A nongovernmental health group has taken the Tanauan City government to task for naming one of its streets after the American cigarette brand Philip Morris, which it described as a “product that has consistently contributed to 10 Filipino deaths a day.”

Quezon City-based Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP) threatened to sue Tanauan Mayor Sonia Torres-Aquino and members of the Sangguniang Bayan for giving the street that name. The Tanauan City council recently passed a resolution naming a roadway in Barangay Pantay Bata “Philip Morris Street” in appreciation of the tobacco company’s “support for the town.”The city hosts Philip Morris International’s only factory in the country.

In a statement yesterday, FCAP executive director Maricar Limpin said “putting up a street sign bearing the name of a cigarette brand was not only a violation of an existing law, but was utterly unmindful and insensitive to the health of Tanauan folk.” To do so “would be a blatant violation of Republic Act No. 9211, the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2007, and a betrayal of the trust reposed on you by your constituents.”

Lawyer Carmen Herce, Philip Morris public affairs officer, yesterday told the Inquirer “naming the street after the tobacco brand was an initiative of Barangay Pantay Bata. I think it is a recognition of the company’s contributions to that community,” she said.
 

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, 24 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/cCLrNE

Israel: Smokers have lower IQs than non-smokers

Cigarette smokers have lower IQs than non-smokers, and the more a person smokes, the lower their IQ, a study in over 20,000 Israeli military recruits suggests.

Young men who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day or more had IQ scores 7.5 points lower than non-smokers, Dr. Mark Weiser of Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer and his colleagues found. "Adolescents with poorer IQ scores might be targeted for programs designed to prevent smoking," they conclude in the journal Addiction. 

While there is evidence for a link between smoking and lower IQ, many studies have relied on intelligence tests given in childhood, and have also included people with mental and behavioral problems, who are both more likely to smoke and more likely to have low IQs. To better understand the smoking-IQ relationship, the researchers looked at 20,211 18-year-old men recruited into the Israeli military. The group did not include anyone with major mental health problems, because these individuals are disqualified from military service.

According to the investigators, 28 percent of the study participants smoked at least one cigarette a day, around 3 percent said they were ex-smokers, and 68 percent had never smoked. The smokers had significantly lower intelligence test scores than non-smokers, and this remained true even after the researchers accounted for socioeconomic status as measured by how many years of formal education a recruit's father had completed.

The average IQ for non-smokers was about 101, while it was 94 for men who had started smoking before entering the military. IQ steadily dropped as the number of cigarettes smoked increased, from 98 for people who smoked one to five cigarettes daily to 90 for those who smoked more than a pack a day. IQ scores from 84 to 116 are considered to indicate average intelligence.

Recruits aren't allowed to smoke while intelligence tests are administered, the researchers note, so it's possible that withdrawal symptoms might affect smokers' scores. To address this issue, they also looked at IQ scores for men who were non-smokers when they were 18 but started smoking during their military service. These men also scored lower than never-smokers (97 points, on average), "indicating that nicotine withdrawal was probably not the cause of the difference," the researchers say.

The researchers also compared IQs for 70 pairs of brothers in the group in which one brother smoked and the other did not. Again, average IQs for the non-smoking sibling were higher than for the smokers. The findings suggest that lower IQ individuals are more likely to choose to smoke, rather than that smoking makes people less intelligent, Weiser and his team conclude.
 

Source: Fox News, 23 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/b3zlxX

British American Tobacco profits soar

Cigarette maker British American Tobacco (BAT) today reported group revenue up 17% to £14.208bn in the year to end-December assisted by the favourable impact of exchange rate movements.

Revenue increased by 10% at constant rates of exchange. The reported group profit from operations was 15% higher at £4.1bn. Adjusted profit from operations was 20% higher and would have been up 10% at constant rates of exchange, despite the adverse transactional impact of exchange rates on costs.

The four Global Drive Brands achieved good overall volume growth of 4%. Dunhill was up 9%, Lucky Strike up 4% and Pall Mall grew by 10%, while Kent volumes fell 4%.  BAT said adjusted diluted earnings per share rose by 19%, principally as a result of the strong growth in profit from operations and favourable exchange movements.

The Board is recommending a final dividend of 71.6p, which will be paid on 6th May 2010. This, together with the interim dividend, will take dividends in respect of 2009 as a whole to 99.5p, an increase of 19%.

Chairman, Richard Burrows, commented: 'There are signs that the global economy is beginning to improve, although unemployment, which is an important influence on our business, may continue to rise in developed markets. We have a very clear strategy and excellent management, with a well balanced portfolio of brands. Our unrivalled geographic spread mitigates risk for shareholders and will help us maintain sustainable growth and build shareholder value.'
 

Source: Business Financial Newswire, 25 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/c2bJ2W

Plan to put tobacco in curriculum

Lessons about tobacco should be in a range of school subjects and take in more than the physical impact of smoking, say public health advisers.The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) wants to stop youngsters from starting to smoke. It wants information about tobacco to be taught more broadly and to include the legal, economic and social issues.

But Simon Clark of the smokers' lobby group, Forest, warned "no-one likes to be nagged, least of all teenagers".

The guidance from Nice is intended to encourage intervention before young people start to experiment with smoking. By the age of 15, more than one in six young people are regular smokers. The guidance calls for a concerted range of approaches - with advice on stopping smoking being given a higher profile in the curriculum.

Information about tobacco should be integrated into subjects such as biology, chemistry, citizenship and media studies, suggests the guidance - looking beyond the health advice about the physical consequences of smoking. There are also calls for "whole school" smoke-free policies, for anyone visiting or using school premises and support for anyone associated with the school who wants to break the habit.

And anti-smoking efforts in schools and colleges should be led by both adults and young people, the advisers say."The earlier children become regular smokers, the greater their risk of developing life-threatening conditions, such as lung cancer and heart disease, if they continue smoking into adulthood," said Mike Kelly, director of the Nice Centre for Public Health Excellence.

Mr Clark, director of Forest, said: "It's important that young people are well educated about the risks of smoking, but if tobacco is featured across a range of subjects there is a real danger of warning fatigue.

"If they include tobacco in subjects such as citizenship and media studies, I sincerely hope that they discuss issues such as freedom of choice, personal responsibility and the role of government in changing people's behaviour. There are strong arguments on both sides of the debate."

Earlier this month health ministers announced a target of halving the number of smokers in England in the next decade. The number of people smoking has fallen by a quarter in the past decade to 21%, and the proposed target is for this to be 10% by 2020.

Source: BBC News Online, 24 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/9kXK4p