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ASH Daily News

30 October 2006

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

HEADLINES

NZ medical researchers call for smokefree cars

Smoking café in Chicago

Irish factory workers are not allowed extra cigarette breaks

Growing tobacco ends in Australia

Imperial Tobacco is set to see a profit rise this year

FULL TEXT

NZ medical researchers call for smokefree cars

In New Zealand medical researchers say that laws are needed to ban smoking in cars where children are passengers. This comes after a study found being in a car with a smoker was equivalent to sitting in a smoky bar, even with the smoker's car window fully wound down.

The study measured the amount of particulate released in a car when the front seat passenger smoked a cigarette.

Public health lecturer Richard Edwards said on a very smoggy day in a New Zealand city, particulate levels were between 35-40 micrograms per cubic yard. When someone was smoking in a car with their window down the particulate level was 199 micrograms per cubic yard.

With all the windows up, the level rocketed to 2,926 micrograms per cubic yard.

Dr. Edwards said the School of Medicine was calling on the NZ government to consider a law aimed at stopping smoking in vehicles carrying children.

The practice was already banned in some parts of the United States, and was being considered in the Australian state of New South Wales, he said.

"There's lots of evidence that secondhand smoke causes respiratory illnesses in children, so given that the levels are high, then you'd expect (parents) are exposing their children to health risks," he said.

"I think that parents, when they realize they just can't roll down the (vehicle) window to protect their children from secondhand smoke ... will stop smoking in their cars," said ASH NZ director Becky Freeman.

Source: NewsMax.com 29 Oct 2006
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/yb2z4c


Smoking café in Chicago

Max Moss was walking through his new neighbourhood when he looked in a shop window and saw people drinking coffee, working on computers and doing something that took him by surprise: These people were smoking.

The day the City Council approved a smoking ban, Marshall McGearty
Tobacco Lounge opened. The lounge is touted by its owner as the only one of its kind in the country and according to the City Council's law department is perfectly legal. This is because the store opened as a 'retail tobacco store'. The tobacco lounge also happens to be owned by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

Under the Chicago regulations a retail tobacco store can sell cigarettes and customers can smoke them as long as 65% of sales come from tobacco and tobacco-related accessories such as ash trays. Technically, the lounge satisfies the ordinance.

The lounge even holds tobacco tastings, with brochures lovingly describing blends "infused with peach essence," "swirling with floral notes" or that leave smokers with a "pleasant warming sensation."

Stephanie Salkow, a senior marketing director at R.J Reynolds says "The whole idea of the Marshall McGearty lounge is to give smokers a premium brand and introduce them to the rarest tobacco, to elevate the smoking experience."

"People are dying," said Ed Smith, the city alderman who sponsored the ordinance. "This (business) gives them a chance to die."

Source: Advanced Financial Network 29 October 2006
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/ynxfx9


Irish factory workers are not allowed extra cigarette breaks

Factory workers in Ireland who wanted an extra cigarette breaks following the smoking ban have had their claim rejected by the Irish Labour Court.

Staff at the Glen Dimplex Bitech factory in Dunleer, County Louth, wanted the right to 10-minute breaks since they are unable to smoke inside, and have to wait until official meal breaks to have a cigarette. Their claim was supported by Irish workers union Siptu.

The Labour Court has rejected the bid, noting that workers already had two opportunities to smoke in official breaks during a standard day shift.

Source: People Management 26 October 2006
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/yl8387


Growing tobacco ends in Australia

Australia's tobacco growing industry will end after the last growers on Friday voted for a Federal Government buy-out of their licences.

Victorian growers have decided to follow Queensland growers in the exodus from the industry.

Under a $40.9 million package announced today, the Government will buy out Queensland growers' licences at a rate of $7 a share, capped at $150,000 per shareholder. The Government will also buy Victorian growers' licences but the share details have not yet been announced.

The industry shutdown follows an unfavourable industry restructure and several years of negotiations with the Government.

Liberal MP Warren Entsch said it was clear growers had been financially disadvantaged by various government policies, and without licences were unable to carry on.

Senator Ron Boswell said the industry ran into trouble in the late 1990s when World Trade Organisation changes overturned a policy of 57 per cent local leaf content in tobacco.

When several large multinationals later took their business overseas, about 154 licence holders in Queensland and 138 in Victoria were left with no way to make money.

"There will be no more tobacco grown in Australia - it's all over," Senator Boswell said.

Source: The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 26 October 2006
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/ym4948


Imperial Tobacco is set to see a profit rise this year

Imperial Tobacco is set to see a 9% rise in annual earnings this week, driven by a strong performance in the UK and from regions outside Western Europe.

The world's fourth-biggest cigarette firm which makes nearly 60% of its profits from its two core markets of the UK and Germany is set to report earnings per share of 120.9 to 123.8 pence.

Source: Reuters 27 October 2006
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/yzjzk4

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Sarah Ward
Information Manager
Action on Smoking & Health (ASH)
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