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ASH News and Events Bulletin - 16-31 May 2010

HEADLINES

EVENTS

  • 'To prove this is the industry's best hope': big tobacco's support of research on the genetics of nicotine addiction

    Abstract

    Background
    New molecular techniques focus a genetic lens upon nicotine addiction. Given the medical and economic costs associated with smoking, innovative approaches to smoking cessation and prevention must be pursued; but can sound research be manipulated by the tobacco industry?

    Methodology
    The chronological narrative of this paper was created using iterative reviews of primary sources (the Legacy Tobacco Documents), supplemented with secondary literature to provide a broader context. The empirical data inform an ethics and policy analysis of tobacco industry-funded research.

    Findings
    The search for a genetic basis for smoking is consistent with industry's decades-long plan to deflect responsibility away from the tobacco companies and onto individuals' genetic constitutions. Internal documents reveal long-standing support for genetic research as a strategy to relieve the tobacco industry of its legal responsibility for tobacco-related disease.

    Conclusions
    Industry may turn the findings of genetics to its own ends, changing strategy from creating a 'safe' cigarette to defining a 'safe' smoker.

    Source: Wiley Interscience - 6 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/cxRSu8

  • 'Waiting until they got home': Gender, smoking and tobacco exposure in households in Scotland

    Abstract

    The introduction in March 2006 of legislation banning smoking in public places in Scotland raised concerns that smokers would smoke more at home and so increase the exposure of those living with them to tobacco smoke. Drawing on interviews from two qualitative studies conducted after the implementation of the legislation, this article uses a gendered analysis to explore where and why smokers, who lived with non-smokers including children, continued to smoke in their homes. Although very few people attributed any increased home smoking to being a direct consequence of the legislation, many who already smoked there continued, and most women reported little or no disruption to their home smoking post-legislation. Also, because of the changing social environment of smoking, and other life circumstances, a minority of women had increased their levels of home smoking. Compared to the men in these studies, women, particularly those who didn't work outside the home, had restricted social lives and thus were less likely to have smoked in public places before the legislation and spent more time socialising in the homes of other people. In addition, women with children, including women who worked outside their homes, were more likely to spend sustained periods of time caring for children compared to fathers, who were more likely to leave the home to work or socialise. Although home smoking was linked to gendered caring responsibilities, other issues associated with being a smoker also meant that many women smokers chose to keep smoking in their homes.

    Robinson, J. et al., 'Waiting until they got home': Gender, smoking and tobacco exposure in households in Scotland, Social Science & Medicine, Article in Press, Accepted Manuscript, doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.04.031

    Source: Science Direct - 20 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/9TMdfw

  • Australia: Pied Piper of tobacco marketing breathes his last

    It has been two weeks since Kevin Rudd and Nicola Roxon made their historic announcement that from 2012, all tobacco products will need to be packaged in plain boxes, with only a standard font brand name to differentiate brands. The announcement drew well over 1000 Google global news hits, a glowing editorial in The Lancet, and green light analyses from very senior constitutional, trademark and international trade treaty lawyers.
    Even the commercial world has now started to turn on its own rotten apple, with an editorial in Packaging World stating, ''The tobacco industry should steer clear of complaining of being singled out, which, in large measure, stems from its products being like no other consumer packaged good.''

    Just how ''like no other'' is it? Globally, tobacco claims five million deaths a year. Half of long-term users die from a tobacco-caused disease, losing on average 12 years. Many smokers suffer for years from wretched diseases like emphysema, which eventually makes taking a few steps a major effort. Hundreds of previously private internal tobacco industry documents read like recipe books from crack cocaine labs, detailing how the cigarette can be better engineered as a nicotine delivery device to ''make it harder for smokers to leave the product''.

    Lung cancer is a disease that was rarely seen before 1930. Thanks to cheap cigarettes that flowed from mechanisation, lung cancer today is the world's leading cause of cancer death, way ahead of breast, prostate and all other cancers which often attract massive community and political support. Male lung cancer has been falling every year in Australia since 1982, and female lung cancer rates will never reach the heights experienced by men, thanks to successive governments taking incremental action to curtail the industry since 1973, when health warnings first appeared. In 50 years from now, lung cancer may once again be history.

    It is difficult to overstate the global importance of the Rudd/Roxon decision. No government anywhere requires manufacturers of any consumer product to package it completely in a prescribed way. Many products are required to have warnings and ingredient information, but the new tobacco packaging law makes an exceptional statement about tobacco, lifting it into a league above all other health risks.

    There is one parallel: prescribed drugs, which are designed to save lives and enhance health, but are heavily restricted because of misuse concerns. Unlike cigarettes, antibiotics, oral contraceptives and cholesterol-controlling drugs are not sold in pretty, highly market-researched boxes, but in plain packs with the name and dosage instructions.

    The tobacco industry has been stripped of its ability to call its carcinogenic products ''mild'' or ''light''; banished from all above-the-line advertising and all sponsorship; told by all parties except the Liberals that it can keep its political donations; uniquely excluded from giving research money to universities; ensconced in public life as the index case metaphor for corporate mendacity (try Googling ''Just like the tobacco industry''); and last week was rated lowest of all industries in a British survey of corporate reputation.

    The new Australian packaging law will set a catastrophic precedent for the global tobacco industry because it rips the very heart out of its ability to dress the pack to make a killing. Henceforth, a pack of cigarettes will be devoid of any feature including on the cigarette itself such as colours and perfumes that will convey any associations other than harm. Just as no Australian aged 16 or under has ever seen a football match sponsored by tobacco, or a cigarette advertisement in any Australian publication, the next generation of children will grow up having no sense of what the difference is between Marlboro and Benson & Hedges. The new law will effectively put an end to this lethal corporate Pied Piper's promotional tune that has led millions to early deaths.

    Australia has always led global tobacco control, and its initiatives have rapidly dominoed around the world. The World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, now ratified by 168 nations, provides unprecedented momentum for this new development. In public health, we venerate milestones like public sanitation, the discovery of anaesthesia, the introduction of vaccinations, and the development of antibiotics and contraception.

    With chronic diseases like cancer, heart and respiratory disease dominating global disease profiles, governments with the courage to tackle corporations whose goals are antithetical to public health deserve a similar place in history. This law, combined with the significant tax rises, is as big as it gets.

    Source: The Canberra Times - 15 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/cYFxCw

  • Death of Malcolm Young, co-founder of ASH

    Malcolm Young, who has died aged 91, endured four years as a prisoner of war, one of which he spent wearing handcuffs.

    [...]

    Malcolm Rhondda Young was born at Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, on June 27 1918. His father ran a fleet of shrimp boats along the east coast of England. The youngest of eleven children, Malcolm learned music and was taught to sail, trawl for shrimp, whitebait, sprats and, above all, to respect the sea.

    He was educated at King's School, Rochester, and flew there in a four-seater plane from Southend across the estuary for 12s 6d. He captained the rugby XV and was a fine athlete. At Jesus College, Cambridge, he read Economics and Law.

    After being demobilised, he joined Young's Seafoods, the family firm which had originated in Greenwich about 1805. He lived near Annan and, trawling in a small boat in the sometimes freezing waters of the Solway Firth, restarted the business of Young's Potted Shrimps.
    He was a director of the Young Group from 1946 to 1964. With his brother, Douglas, he was co-managing director from 1959 to 1964 and he was chairman and managing director of Ross Foods from 1964 to 1971.

    In 1970, Young moved to Wiltshire and farmed there for the next 40 years but during that period he was active in many other spheres. He co-founded, with Charles Fletcher, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

    After one board meeting at the Royal College of Physicians he offered to show the Duke of Gloucester, at that time the patron of ASH, around the building. Being ignorant of the new gender symbols on the doors, they both ended up in the ladies' lavatory.

    He was chairman of the International Map Collectors Society and a member of the Brotherhood of Greek Veterans. For many years he kept a 25-foot yacht in Chichester harbour.

    Malcolm Young died on March 17. He married, in 1946, Diana Shirley, who survives him with their two sons.

    Source: The Telegraph - 20 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/aqXgLl

  • Early Smoking is Associated with Peak Bone Mass and Prevalent Fractures in Young Healthy Men

    Abstract 

    Smoking is associated with lower areal bone mineral density (aBMD) and higher fracture risk, though most evidence has been derived from studies in elderly subjects. This study investigates smoking habits in relation to areal, volumetric bone parameters and fracture prevalence in young healthy males at peak bone mass. Healthy male siblings (n = 677) at the age of peak bone mass (25-45 yrs) were recruited in a cross-sectional, population-based study. Trabecular and cortical bone parameters of the radius and cortical bone parameters of the tibia were assessed using peripheral quantitative computed tomography. Areal bone mass was determined using DXA. Sex steroids, bone markers were determined using immunoassays. Prevalent fractures and smoking habits were assessed using questionnaires. Self-reported fractures were more prevalent in the current and early smokers, compared to never-smokers (p<0.05), with a fracture prevalence odds ratio for early smokers of 1.96 (1.18-3.24), after adjustment for age, weight, educational level and alcohol use and exclusion of childhood fractures. Current smoking was associated with a larger endosteal circumference (beta=0.027 /- 0.009; p = 0.016) and a decreased cortical thickness (beta = -0.034 /- 0.01; p = 0.020) at the tibia. Particularly, early smokers (</=16y) had a high fracture risk, lower areal BMD, together with lower cortical bone area at the tibia and lower trabecular and cortical bone density at the radius. An interaction between free estradiol and current smoking was observed in statistical models predicting cortical area and thickness (beta=0.29 /-0.11; p = 0.01). In conclusion, smoking at a young age is associated with unfavourable bone geometry and density and is associated with increased fracture prevalence, providing arguments for a disturbed acquisition of peak bone mass during puberty by smoking, possibly due to an interaction with sex steroid action.

    Taes, Y. et al., Early Smoking is Associated with Peak Bone Mass and Prevalent Fractures in Young Healthy Men, Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 2009, Volume 25 Issue 2, Pages 379 - 387

    Source: Wiley Interscience - 14 December 2009
    Link: http://bit.ly/9ms1au

  • EDM 51: Deaths from smoking

    25:5:10

    That this House expresses concern that 100,000 people across the UK die each year as a result of smoking; further expresses concern that smoking kills half of its long-term users, causes half the difference in life expectancy between the richest and poorest in society and that over 80 per cent. of smokers start before the age of 19; notes that it takes on average three to eight attempts to stop smoking; and urges the Government to be unrelenting in its efforts to protect children and tackle inequalities through effective tobacco control.

    Source: Parliament UK - 25 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/92B74W

  • Four policies to end the sale of cigarettes and smoking tobacco in New Zealand by 2020

    Abstract

    Aim
    To phase out sales of cigarettes and of smoking tobacco products in New Zealand by the year 2020.

    Current situation
    99% of tobacco is smoked as cigarettes. Cigarettes are highly addictive, lethal, and cannot be made safer. Since 1950 commercial cigarettes have prematurely killed over 160,000 New Zealanders. Despite causes-disease warnings on tobacco packaging (from 1987) and graphic warnings (2007), bans on tobacco advertising and promotions (1990), bans on indoor workplace smoking (1990, 2004), subsidies on medicinal nicotine (2000), and despite one-third of smokers annually making serious attempts to quit, 1 in 5 New Zealand adults smoke, 2 in 5 Māori adults smoke, and cigarette consumption per adult remains virtually unchanged since 2003. Four in 5 smokers regret they ever started.

    Proposed policies
    Four policies combined could make cigarette smoking less attractive and the use of nicotine-only products more attractive, with respect to relative price, availability and addictiveness. These mean increasing tax on all cigarettes equally; and a bill to strengthen the Smoke-free Environments (SFE) Act: to allot cigarette sales quotas and then gradually lower them; reduce the nicotine content of cigarettes gradually by a sinking lid or by nicotine tax; and permit the sale of satisfying non-combustible nicotine-only products for smokers. As supply reduces, prices rise, and nicotine satisfaction decreases, smokers will quit; and black market risk will be minimised. Commercial cigarettes will no longer be obtainable, and even if some smoke tobacco grown legally for their own use, or even if some is obtainable illegally, tobacco consumption will greatly reduce.

    Conclusion
    The smoking of tobacco sold legally kills 5000 New Zealanders annually. The SFE Act can be amended to phase out legal sales within this decade. Intensive policy research is needed now as public interest increases. Support from the public and from legislators to promote a suitable amendment bill is now needed.

    Laugesen, M. et al., Four policies to end the sale of cigarettes and smoking tobacco in New Zealand by 2020, New Zealand Medical Journal, 2010, Vol 123 No 1314

    Source: Journal of the New Zealand Medical Association -14 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/afoc53

  • Kenya: Govt, BAT in tussle over 'illegal' insurance for tobacco farmers

    A tobacco war is looming in Kenya. The government and cigarette maker, British American Tobacco are embroiled in a tussle over an insurance policy for farmers which the local control body has declared illegal.

    Following the introduction of farmer insurance last year, BAT is now offering its 5,000 contracted growers crop insurance against extreme weather conditions and pest outbreaks.

    While farmers have lauded the move, the Tobacco Control Board has come out guns blazing and declared the development an attempt to promote tobacco which they say is against the law.

    The policy developed by UAP Insurance in partnership with Chancery Wright has been introduced to farmers in Western Province and is set to roll out to other regions.

    The control board, however, say BAT and UAP have gone against the anti-tobacco legislation introduced in 2007 which bars the promotion of cigarettes.

    “We will make sure that BAT and UAP Insurance do not get away with this because we have the law on our side,” said Prof Peter Odhiambo, the chairman of the board.

    “We will deal firmly with companies that collude with cigarette manufacturers to break the law. Insuring tobacco farmers is another way of increasing the production of tobacco which is detrimental to public health. Farmers should consider alternative crops,” said prof Odhiambo.

    BAT says the board’s move has caused panic among its businesses partners who are asking whether the tobacco business is now illegal and risky.

    “Our suppliers are worried and want clarification on what services tobacco manufactures are allowed, if they cannot sell insurance to farmers,” said Julie Adell-Owino, BAT’s head of corporate and regulatory affairs.

    BAT says its farmers sign a binding code of conduct which restricts tobacco growing to 1/4 of the size of the farm while they must grow woodlots for fuel and environmental care.

    “We provide the farmers with seedlings to grow trees, which is a condition for getting into a grower-supplier contract,” Ms Adell-Owino said adding that the farmers are closely supervised by its field officers to ensure they do not employ child labour, that they take their children to school and grow food crops as well.

    The possible action the state agency might take includes stopping the marketing of the insurance cover and taking the twin firms to court in what promises to be a protracted legal battle.

    Anti-tobacco crusaders say the new insurance product marketed by BAT and UAP Insurance violates section 24 of the Act which prohibits the promotion of tobacco products by means of testimonials or endorsements.

    But Ms Adell-Owino charged: “The Tobacco Control Act does not dictate what crops anyone should grow neither does it dictate the parameters of business association or communication between industry players. It is, therefore, perfectly legitimate for us to engage our contracted farmers and continually work together for their welfare.”

    Already, about 1,000 farmers contracted by the multinationals have signed up for the product.

    BAT says the cover is part of its corporate social responsibility seeking to protect contracted farmers who have incurred financial losses to the magnitude of Ksh150 million ($1.94 million) over the past three years as a result of natural calamities.

    “Our contracted tobacco farmers are not compelled to take up the cover. If any party were forcing the hand of the tobacco farmers, then all 5,000 farmers would have had to take it up,” said Ms Adell-Owino.

    BAT says earnings by its contracted tobacco farmers have been on the increase pointing to the benefits of the crop to farmers in Nyanza and Western regions.

    In 2008, BAT paid its contracted farmers Ksh369 million ($4.79 million) while in 2009, it paid Ksh532 million ($6.9 million) and this year’s projection is pegged at Ksh660 million ($8.57 million).

    The company is also among the country’s top tax payers. Last year it paid Ksh8 billion ($102.5 million) in taxes.

    Source: The East African - 17 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/aXVvUK

  • Marlboro Mystery Shoppers to visit retail outlets

    Retailers across the country could have the opportunity to win one of 500 prizes worth £25 thanks to a mystery shopper exercise from Marlboro.
    Supporting the launch of the redesigned Marlboro Gold Original pack, the Marlboro mystery shopper will be visiting 500 outlets in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh during May and June 2010.

    The Marlboro mystery shopper will be looking to see whether retailers are up to speed on this latest brand development from Marlboro, specifically that they are aware of the new pack design and are ensuring that adult smokers who buy the product understand it is the same as before the pack upgrade. Successful retailers will win an instant prize of a £25 VEX voucher for passing the mystery shopping test.

    A range of retail outlets, from symbol groups to independents and some chains, will be visited during the two weeks from 24th May through to 4th June.

    "We've just launched the redesigned Marlboro Gold Original and we are keen to make sure that retailers are aware of the new look of the product, but equally that they know it's the same as before; the same quality Marlboro that adult smokers are used to.

    "This activity is part of our trade education programme and is one of the ways we are working to increase retailer awareness of the developments taking place with the brand," says Zoe Smith, Marketing Manager UK & Ireland.

    Source: Talking Retail, 17 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/d6L2k3

  • Radio: Tobacco: the culture, the money and the hazards

    BBC World Service has launched a special series of programming, Tobacco: The Culture, The Money And The Hazards. The series explores the social and economic role of the tobacco industry and culture in East Asia.

    This year's World No Tobacco Day 2010 [...] on Monday 31 May and [focuses] on the issue of "gender and tobacco".

    In the days leading up to the event, the BBC's East Asian services, including BBC Burmese, BBC Chinese, BBC Indonesia and BBC Vietnamese, will offer special multimedia features exploring the relationship between gender and smoking habits, as well as the extent of cigarette smoking across the region. In addition, the services will also be talking to Dr Ala Alwan, Assistant Director General of World Health Organisation (WHO), to discuss tobacco use in the region.

    East Asia Executive Editor, BBC World Service, Neil Curry, says: "Smoking is still very big business in many parts of East Asia. In our special programming in four languages we aim to look at this massive industry from all angles. We'll be looking at the health issues around the habit, of course, but also at how it provides a livelihood for so many individuals and valuable tax revenues for national governments."

    BBC Indonesia explores the economic benefits the tobacco industry is bringing to Indonesia – and the health bill the nation is footing for its love affair with smoking in a series of programmes. Dewi Safitri will report from Java and Sumatra, where she is interviewing people from across the tobacco industry chain. From ordinary farmers, traditional cigarette-makers in villages and street vendors to major representatives of leading cigarette producers – people whose livelihoods depend on tobacco are talking to the BBC about their trade. To highlight the effect of the smoking culture on the health of Indonesians, Dewi is also talking to health researchers, consumer protection officers and Indonesia's Health Minister Endang Sedyaningsih.

    The programmes will be available online at bbcindonesia.com, where audience members can also take part in an online discussion forum and can view the Tobacco: The Culture, The Money And The Hazards picture gallery.

    BBC Chinese will be speaking to industry experts on the impact of smoking on the public's health and the social function of cigarettes in China, as well as talking to members of the smoking public to hear their views on the proposed smoking ban.

    In addition, bbcchinese.com will be home to a number of features, exploring topics such as the role of the tobacco industry in the Chinese economy, the relationship between gender and smoking and a comparison of different cultural attitudes to smoking across the globe. The website will also be home to a world map showing the percentage of smokers in each country, as well as an online gallery of tobacco-related health warnings from East Asia and an online forum, where audience members can discuss their personal experiences of quitting smoking.

    BBC Vietnamese will feature several online debates on topics including female tribal smokers, the rising levels of young women who are taking up the habit and passive smoking. The website will also feature an online picture gallery, Once Upon A Time In History, which reflects on a time when smoking was seen to signify power. The gallery can be viewed at bbcvietnamese.com and contains images of political leaders who were known to be smokers, including Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Deng Xiaoping, Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh and Mao Zedong.

    Source: BBC - 27 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/dvgFWW

  • Reynolds American to shut 2 plants, cut about 60 jobs

    * Headquater plant employees to move to Tobaccoville

    * Says to expand smokeless tobacco facility

    Cigarette maker Reynolds American Inc said it will cut about 60 jobs as it closes two of its older factories in a bid to fight declining tobacco sales in the United States and gain a bigger share in the smokeless tobacco business.

    Reynolds, which makes Camel and Pall Mall cigarettes and Grizzly smokeless tobacco, said it will close its Winston-Salem based Whitaker Park factory, as well as one in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, and will move production from these to its largest facility in Tobaccoville, North Carolina.

    Meanwhile, the Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based company is expanding its subsidiary American Snuff Co -- which has been making smokeless tobacco products for over 200 years -- by investing in facilities in Memphis and Clarksville, Tennessee.

    "These changes make our companies more efficient in light of the declining U.S. cigarette industry and growth in smokeless tobacco," said Chief Executive Susan Ivey.

    "Consolidating production into fewer and newer facilities will also facilitate cost-effective compliance with new federal regulation of the tobacco industry," Ivey added.

    The Whitaker Park factory, which has been functional for about 50 years now, will cease manufacturing in mid-2011, the company said in a statement on its website.

    While employees from the headquarter-based plant will move to Tobaccoville this summer, about 60 employees at the Puerto Rican factory stand to lose jobs, the company said.

    However, the company's distribution operations in Puerto Rico will not be affected by the plant closure.

    Source: Reuters - 28 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/bkITLC

  • Shop survey reveals tight control of tobacco product display by tobacco companies

    A survey of over 100 small shops in England has revealed that tobacco companies have almost total control over the way tobacco is displayed and marketed. Nearly eight out of ten (79%) of retailers who had a tobacco industry funded gantry were forced to comply with certain conditions relating to the size and type of display, and positioning of key brands. 

    The survey, commissioned by ASH, was conducted to gauge the extent to which the tobacco companies control the display of tobacco products in British shops in advance of the legislation that will ban point of sale displays from 2011. [2] The majority of the current gantries were eye-catching, typically with colourful lit top panels and lighting of the products, while some had illuminated strips down the side. Some displays included tobacco-branded paraphernalia such as clocks.

    Although the majority of small retailers had gantries provided by the tobacco industry, some expressed concern about the conditions imposed on them by the industry, particularly the need to stock more products than they would otherwise choose to do. According to one retailer, the industry rep's insistence that he kept his display fully stocked meant that he had "£3,000 of dead cash".

    The survey of 113 shops located in London and Nottingham found that around a third of independent retailers reported receiving an incentive from the tobacco company reps for selling their products. These ranged from small gifts such as pens, free packs of cigarettes and offers on products to larger schemes such as competitions with prizes including a complete shop re-fit.

    Retailer John McClurey commented: "We are always under pressure from the industry reps to broaden our range of stock and try out new products. This means we're often required to stock products that we wouldn't otherwise choose to hold. It's the industry rather than our customers who determine what's on sale."

    Martin Dockrell, ASH's Director of Research and Policy said: "The extensive involvement of the industry in providing and monitoring retail displays underlines the importance of implementing policies to end this form of promotion. "

    Dr Anna Gilmore, researcher at the University of Bath said: "This study reveals the stranglehold that tobacco companies have over the retail environment. Retailers are not only told what tobacco products to stock but are also subjected to tests and incentive schemes to boost company sales. Many of the practices revealed contravene a 2003 EU Council Recommendation and underline the need for greater restrictions on industry marketing practices."

    Source: Medical News Today - 23 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/cN5kk2

  • South Africa: Halaal body bans cigarettes

    Muslims have been told to quit smoking because "cigarette filters may contain pig extracts and alcohol", says a leading South African halaal authority.

    But the tobacco industry has refuted the claims, with one manufacturer saying the information was "irresponsible and reckless".

    This week the South African National Halaal Association (Sanha) - one of four agencies in the country tasked with ensuring products meet Muslim regulations - made this claim in a leaflet posted at mosques.

    It also loaded the claim on its website and distributed it via its subscriber mailing lists.

    It is, however, unclear whether any cigarettes in South Africa do use the pig haemoglobin filters.

    The leaflet stated that: "Muslim Jurists have for a long time condemned cigarette smoking. In addition, the use of pig haemoglobin, cognac and rum (wines) in its manufacture has also been confirmed."

    Muslims are prohibited from consuming pork and alcohol products.

    After an Islamic website saw the leaflet it urged Muslim-owned businesses to stop selling cigarettes.

    Sanha public relations officer EBI Lockhat said the organisation made the call based on research and information it had gleaned from South Africa's National Council Against Smoking, the University of Sydney in Australia, and several internet news reports, as well as the website of a US-based tobacco company listing the ingredients.

    The controversy dates back to 2008 when an internationally award-winning design project by Dutch artist Christien Meinderstma triggered fierce debate.

    Titled Pig 05049, the project catalogued 187 different uses to which the carcass of a single pig (identified by the number 05049) was put.

    Included in the list was haemoglobin for the manufacture of cigarette filters.

    The issue grew into an international scandal last month when a public health professor at the University of Sydney, Simon Chapman, endorsed and gave wide publicity to Meinderstma's findings.

    Executive director of the National Council Against Smoking Yusuf Saloojee said NCAS had conducted its own research and concluded that some cigarette filters may contain pig blood.

    "It is claimed that adding blood to the filter helps remove some of the harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke," Saloojee said.

    The only clear reference the Cape Argus was able to find to haemoglobin filters was in connection with clove-flavoured cigarettes popular in Indonesia and Malaysia, but not marketed in South Africa.

    South Africa's largest cigarette manufacturer, British American Tobacco SA (Batsa), denied using haemoglobin filters.

    "We find this type of communication irresponsible and reckless and an attempt to mislead consumers," said Batsa spokeswoman Itumeleng Langeni.

    She suggested that consumers check the Batsa website for information about what is contained in their brand, and insisted that the company employs a panel of international scientists to monitor, test and approve all ingredients.

    Japan Tobacco International (JTI) likewise denied the use of pig's blood in its cigarettes.

    "JTI does not add pig or any other haemoglobin to any of the products we sell," said corporate affairs manager Elaine McKay.

    Phillip Morris SA told the Cape Argus that neither pig's blood nor alcohol were added to any of the company's products in South Africa.

    The website of the Phillip Morris parent company in the US listed alcohol as an ingredient in some of its brands.

    Source: IOL - 14 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/atHCrg

  • The smoke-filled room: How Big Tobacco influences health policy in the UK

    Dirty tricks used by cigarette companies to derail UK health policies that could save the lives of thousands of Britons every year are laid bare in a report, The Smoke Filled Room, published by ASH today.

    Previously secret documents from the tobacco companies' own archives, reveal how they:

    • Conspired to "throw sand in the gears" of reform of their industry.
    • Used their financial muscle to try to influence Conservative Party policy.
    • Threatened to launch multi-billion pound lawsuits they knew to have little foundation to prevent the removal of branding from cigarette packets.
    • Used front groups to shape a EU and UK policy known as "Better Regulation" and then employed the new rules to challenge a World Health Organization treaty ratified by Britain that says they must not be allowed to interfere in the drafting of public health policy.

    The ASH report also reveals how Big Tobacco twisted evidence showing that "fire safe" cigarettes would save many lives in order to oppose their introduction - against the wishes of the Chief Fire Officers Association.

    Big Tobacco is currently concentrating its efforts on fighting bans on cigarette vending machines and point-of-sale displays in all shops. The Department of Health estimates that banning the displays would stop up to 2,786 children a year from taking up smoking. [2]

    Both bans were passed as part of the 2009 Health Act, but cigarette companies are challenging them in the courts and are lobbying the new coalition government not to implement the measures.

    Edward Garnier, a Tory MP recently appointed as Solicitor General, is reported as supporting a legal challenge to the ban on point-of-sale displays. He lists in the register of members’ interests several shooting trips he has enjoyed as a guest of the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association.

    The tobacco companies also have a fight on their hands in Australia, where the government last month announced plans for a “plain packs” law similar to one Big Tobacco managed to block in the UK. The ASH report reveals how, fearing a domino effect, the industry formed a secret group dedicated to fighting the measure anywhere in the world “regardless of the size and importance of the market”. A free-market think tank, the Institute for Public Affairs, is already warning the Australian government that it faces a $3.4billion a year bill in damages for restraint of trade. The IPA is part-funded by tobacco companies.

    The ASH report also details how Big Tobacco hoodwinked MPs into signing an Early Day Motion against point-of-sale displays by bombarding them with postcards purporting to be from worried shopkeepers, and how it has lobbied them, hiding behind front organisations such as the British Brands Group and the charity Business in the Community.

    ASH is asking members of the public to write to their MPs to urge them to uphold their obligations under the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and not let cigarette firms and their lobbyists influence health policy.

    Deborah Arnott, Chief Executive of ASH said: "In the current financial climate the Government must find the most cost effective public health measures it can. The ban on tobacco displays will prevent around 3,000 young people from taking up smoking every year. That is the reason health campaigners support the law, and why tobacco lobbyists want to stop it."

    Professor John Britton, chairman of the Royal College of Physicians' tobacco advisory group, said of ASH's report: "This is a shocking account of the deceitful practices of the tobacco companies, not just in past decades but now and in relation to current health legislation. These companies are among the most unethical and amoral organisations on the planet. We have to act to guard against these gross perversions of the democratic system."

    Tobacco campaigner and entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne added: "Government policy and a WHO treaty are supposed to protect us from tobacco industry influencing health policy so when I read the report I was shocked but I can't say I was surprised. It really shouldn't be up to the tobacco industry to decide health policy, that's what we elect governments for. Tobacco companies are so discredited now that they hardly bother lobbying in the open any more. This report shows their scare tactics allowed them to hide behind small shopkeepers and respectable brands in their campaign to block the 2009 Health Act, a law that dared to put an end to their outsized promotional displays. That campaign failed so now they want to block the laws in the courts. Secret industry documents show how the world's biggest tobacco companies conspired to stop the Canadian and UK Governments from introducing "plain packs" for tobacco products. Now the Australian Government has proposed a similar law. I just hope they will stand up to tobacco industry bully boys and their lawyers."

    The smoke-filled room: How Big Tobacco influences health policy in the UK is available at www.ash.org.uk/SmokeFilledRoom (pdf)

    Source: ASH - 31 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/aMB46K

  • Tobacco industry influence on health policy detailed by UCSF analyses

    Three new UCSF studies describe the wide reach of the tobacco industry and its influence on young people, military veterans and national health care reform. 

    The analyses will be published in a special July edition of the American Journal of Public Health titled "Modeling to Advance Tobacco Control Policy."

    Findings are available online at http://www.ajph.org/first_look.shtml and coincide with a global event designed to heighten awareness of tobacco use and its negative health effects: World No Tobacco Day on Monday, May 31. The event was created by the World Health Organization to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption across the globe.

    "Tobacco industry activity has influenced so many spheres of life in ways that most people would never imagine," said Ruth Malone, RN, PhD, co-author of each paper and a professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF School of Nursing. "We are continuing to discover previously unknown ways in which the industry not only seeks to sell cigarettes, but to actively undermine public health measures."

    Research for each study was based, in part, on the UCSF Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, which houses more than 50 million internal tobacco industry documents released publicly as a result of the 1998 settlement agreement with tobacco companies.

    The papers and their areas of focus are:

    The We Card program: Tobacco industry "youth smoking prevention" as industry self-preservation - The We Card program is the most ubiquitous tobacco industry ''youth smoking prevention'' program in the United States, and its retailer materials have been copied in other countries, according to the authors. They conclude that the We Card program was undertaken for two primary purposes: to improve the tobacco industry's image and to reduce regulation and the enforcement of existing laws. The authors suggest that policymakers should be cautious about accepting industry self regulation at face value, because it redounds to the industry's benefit and it is ineffective.

    Willful misconduct: How the U.S. government prevented tobacco-disabled veterans from obtaining disability pensions - The authors analyzed the unsuccessful struggle to access disability pensions by veterans sickened by tobacco use they had begun during their service. The paper describes how the US government, tobacco industry, and veterans' organizations each took inconsistent positions to protect their interests. As an example, the authors cite Congress and Department of Veterans Affairs leadership who, concerned about costs, characterized veterans' smoking as ''willful misconduct,'' thereby contradicting the government's position in a federal lawsuit that tobacco companies addicted smokers. The authors call on the US government to compensate veterans fairly and abolish military practices that encourage tobacco addiction.

    Our reach is wide by any corporate standard: How the tobacco industry helped defeat the Clinton health plan, and why it matters now - This paper describes how the two largest US tobacco companies, Philip Morris USA and RJ Reynolds, and their trade association coordinated to mobilize ideologically diverse constituencies to help defeat health care reform under President Clinton. Actions included getting smokers' rights groups to heckle legislators at town hall meetings, and other tactics recently seen in opposition to reforms under President Obama, according to the authors. In some cases, groups appeared to have worked against their own interest, perhaps without full knowledge of who was funding these organizational efforts, the authors state. As the current reform debate unfolds, the authors suggest that this case highlights the importance of funding transparency for interpreting the activities of think tanks, advocacy groups, and ''grassroots'' movements.

    Source: MediLexicon - 31 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/cCp3MF

  • Unreported World: Child labour in tobacco production

    [Channel4's investigative news programme] Unreported World visited Malawi and discovered three-year-olds being illegally employed to produce tobacco – much destined for smokers in Britain.

    Reporter Jenny Kleeman found a family of seven harvesting tobacco from dawn to dusk.

    The children’s hands were covered in a sticky brown residue and they suffer from severe headaches: a symptom of nicotine poisoning.

    In other tobacco-growing countries like the US, farmers are advised to wear protective clothing but there is no sign of it here.

    For their labours, the family earns the equivalent of £18 a year – three packets of cigarettes in the UK.

    The family wants to escape tobacco production but had to borrow money from the landowner and can’t stop until the debt is paid. The UN calls this bonded labour – a modern form of slavery and it’s going on right now.

    Source: The Mirror, 14 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/dlaj4J

  • USA: Big Pharma rumbles with Big Tobacco

    Federal officials are planning new regulations on tobacco products, including those marketed as alternatives to smoking -- such as dissolvable tobacco tablets sold by Camel. But some of the men and women on the government's official advisory panel have financial ties to the drug companies selling competing products, such as Nicorette. One government adviser even holds a patent for a new nicotine gum.

    It's a full-fledged regulatory rumble between Big Tobacco and the even bigger Big Pharma -- the sort of ugly influence game that will become the norm as government sticks its arms deeper into the economy.

    Some quick background: Philip Morris, which controls about half of the U.S. cigarette market is doubling down on smokeless tobacco products, such as chew and snuff. It has lobbied tirelessly over a decade for the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which gives the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco. President Obama signed the bill last June, misleadingly trumpeting it as a triumph over the lobbying efforts of Big Tobacco.

    The law creates a Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee that gives the FDA guidance in implementing the new regulations. Now Philip Morris -- the godfather of this law -- is raising a fuss over the conflicts of interest littering the committee.

    For instance, Jack Henningfield is one of nine voting members on the TPSAC, and he is also one of eight patent holders of a cutting-edge nicotine chewing gum that has not yet been commercialized.

    Henningfield is also vice president of health policy at a consulting firm that counts drug maker GlaxoSmithKline as a client. Glaxo holds the license for Nicorette, the leading nicotine gum currently on the market.

    Multiple conflicts present themselves here:

    As regulations on cigarettes become more restrictive, they become harder to get. This makes them more expensive, increasing market demand for a product like Henningfield's.

    But cigarettes are not the real battleground here -- cigarette alternatives are.

    TPSAC is looking into the safety of dissolvable tobacco products, such as R.J. Reynolds' Camel Orbs, small tablets that melt in the mouth -- a quick fix for a smoking addict stuck on a plane or in a meeting. One TPSAC member, Gregory Connolly, has attacked them for being too candylike, thus appealing to kids.

    But is nicotine gum like candy? How about the brand new mint-flavored Nicorette Mini lozenges?

    Camel Orbs may or may not be a real health risk, but they are certainly competition to Nicorette's gums and lozenges -- and Henningfield's patented gum. Yet our government will count on Henningfield and others in the pay of Nicorette's maker for counsel on how to regulate Camel's product.

    Neal Benowitz, another committee member, has also worked as a consultant to Glaxo as well as Pfizer, the Wall Street Journal has reported. Pfizer makes the quit-smoking drug Chantix.

    Boston University professor Michael Siegel has reported on his blog that the committee's chairman, Dr. Jonathan Samet, "has received grant support from GlaxoSmithKline. In addition, the organization that he directed -- the Institute for Global Tobacco Control -- is funded by GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer."

    Finally, committee member Dorothy Hatsukami has been paid by a small drug maker to study its proposed nicotine vaccine.

    A tobacco industry consultant brought my attention to the drug maker conflicts on TPSAC, knowing that I have been calling out Big Tobacco since 2006 for its use of Big Government to kill competition and lock in market share. Now the tobacco companies worry that Big Pharma -- the nation's biggest industry in terms of lobbying spending, and a crucial ally of the Obama administration -- will use its government clout to unfairly crush tobacco products in favor of Pharma-made nicotine products.

    It's an ugly game, this use of regulation to kill competitors and guarantee business, and conflicts of interest are unavoidable. The Pharma-vs-Big Tobacco scrum shows that Obama's project of increasing government control is at odds with his talk of cleaning up government.

    Timothy P. Carney is the Washington Examiner's lobbying editor. His K Street column appears on Wednesdays.

    Source: Washington Examiner - 14 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/cTijr0

Events

  • UK National Smoking Cessation Conference

    This year, the UKNSCC will reflect the latest developments in good practice for smoking cessation in special populations, new indications for NRT, medication compliance, marketing and supporting tobacco control activity, and the impact of illicit tobacco.

    For more information, please visit: uknscc.org

    Date: 14 June 2010
    Venue: Radisson SAS Hotel, Glasgow
    Contact: info@exchangesupplies.org

  • No smoke without fire: Practical approaches to smoking cessation in acute and community settings

    The conference will explore the human rights issues surrounding the ban on smoking in psychiatric hospitals in England; find out up to the minute results from the latest Department of Health survey of how the ban is working; hear staff and patients’ views on what it has meant for them; and pick up tips and advice about strategies for putting this difficult piece of policy into place. Delegates can also learn about the impact of a similar initiative in Australia and what else can be done here, outside a hospital setting, to address the high levels of smoking among people diagnosed with a mental health condition.

    Date: 17 June 2010
    Venue: The Resource Centre, London, N7
    Contact: http://www.pavpub.com/pavpub/conferences/showfull.asp?Conference=104

  • 4th Latin American Conference on Lung Cancer (LALCA 2010)

    The event will be a time for lung cancer professional from Latin America and around the world to share the most up-to-date information regarding the science and advances in the treatment of lung cancer. International and national speakers will participate in the Scientific Program and their presentations will provide a platform to discuss the latest developments in basic science and clinical treatment.
     

    Date: 28 July 2010
    Contact: www.lalca2010.org

  • Health in Europe - Ready for the Future?

    Leading experts from business and industry, science and academia, patient organisations/NGOs as well as numerous prominent decision makers in health policy present new ideas and use the EHFG as a platform for the exchange of experiences and opinions at the international level.

    Date: 06 October 2010
    Venue: Gastein, Austria
    Contact: www.ehfg.org

  • Smoke Free Futures: Tobacco Control Conference 2010

    Smoke Free Futures is a two day tobacco control conference that asks what are the next steps we need to be taking to secure tobacco free futures for our children and how do we help the 70% of smokers who say they wish to quit more effectively in the here and now.

    Confirmed workshops and presentations at the Conference include:

    • No Smoking Day – Be the first to find out about NSD 2011
    • Young Tobacco Control Campaigners Tell their Stories
    • Understanding the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the Framework Convention Alliance
    • Evaluation of the Ireland Point of Sale Legislation
    • Development of a Tobacco Control Strategy for Wales

    Conference participants will have the opportunity to learn from the successes and challenges faced by successful tobacco control practitioners at this highly interactive conference.

    Date: 11 October 2010
    Venue: Mercure Holland House Hotel Cardiff, Wales
    Contact: www.smoking-conference-wales.org.uk

  • SCTRP Annual Update and Supervision Day

    The annual opportunity for SCTRP graduates to troubleshoot existing practice, update on research, and interact with over 100 practitioners.

    Tutors: P Hajek, R West, G Sutherland, H McRobbie and members of their teams.

    Cost: £235 (£200 plus VAT) Early Bird rate prior to course

    Availability: 100+

    Date: 03 December 2010
    Venue: Park Crescent Conference Centre, 229 Great Portland Street, London W1
    Contact: Janice Rossabi on +44 0208 347 0556 or sctrp@yahoo.co.uk