Silk Cut’s new packaging

Silk Cut, JTI's premium brand in the lower tar segment, is getting a new innovative design with a textured feel. Available from March, packs of Silk Cut Purple, Blue and Silver 20s will launch with a limited edition cellophane wrap, before the clear-wrap packs that fully display the new look go on shelf in April.

The pack has been updated to give Silk Cut a more modern look and feel, while the product itself remains unchanged [...].

Silk Cut is one of the UK's best-selling premium cigarette brands. Worth £564m in retail sales, Silk Cut continues to perform well and has grown its share within the premium cigarette segment for the last seven years in a row.

Jeremy Blackburn, JTI's Head of Communications, comments, "Silk Cut is one of the iconic names in tobacco, and a must-stock for retailers. The new textured design reinforces Silk Cut's premium status in the UK and ensures that it continues to provide retailers with a valuable source of profit.

"Premium cigarettes, such as Silk Cut, are important brands for retailers to stock as they can offer better profit margins than other cigarette brands."

This move is the latest stage in innovation following the brand's move to a bevel edged pack, and the launches of Silk Cut Menthol and Silk Cut Superslims.

Source: Talking Retail - 25 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/9GhzcN

Evaluation of varenicline as an aid to smoking cessation in UK general practice

Abstract

Objectives: Varenicline is a licensed smoking cessation medication in the EU, USA and many other countries worldwide. This study was designed to assess its effectiveness in a UK general practice setting.

Methods: The main outcome measure was the rate of smoking cessation, defined as the seven-day point prevalence after six months from starting varenicline. Varenicline users were identified from records in The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database. A questionnaire on smoking cessation was sent to patients who commenced treatment close to the selection date (six months prior to the date of questionnaire dispatch).

Results: The response rate was 26.4%: 193 responses were received. Ninety percent had previously attempted to stop smoking and 87.4% had used nicotine replacement therapy during the previous attempt to stop smoking. The overall smoking cessation rate was 49.5%. There was a strong association between the duration of varenicline treatment and smoking cessation. Patients who reported using varenicline for 9-12 weeks were 11 times more likely to stop smoking than those who completed less than two weeks of treatment. There was some evidence that patients with a longer history of smoking were less likely to stop. No association was observed between smoking cessation and: previous number of cigarettes smoked per day; number of previous attempts to stop smoking; or motivations for stopping.

Conclusions: Varenicline appeared to be a useful pharmacological aid to smoking cessation in a general practice setting. The observed effectiveness was similar to the efficacy estimates from previously reported clinical trials. However, the response rate was lower than expected and responders tended to be older, more likely to suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and to live in more affluent areas than non-responders. Responses were self-reported and not clinically validated therefore recall bias may be an issue.

Blak, B., et al.,  Evaluation of varenicline as an aid to smoking cessation in UK general practice – a THIN database study, Current Medical Research and Opinion, doi: 10.1185/03007990903526461

Source: Informa - 12 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/aSawxm

European Council updates excise duties on cigarettes and tobacco products

The Council has adopted a directive updating EU rules on the structure and rates of excise duties on cigarettes and other tobacco products (17778/09 5807/10).

The directive is intended to ensure a higher level of public health protection by raising minimum excise duties on cigarettes, whilst bringing the minimum rates for fine-cut tobacco gradually into line with those for cigarettes. The outcome of a fourth four-yearly review of tobacco taxation under directives 92/79, 92/80 and 95/59 is aimed at modernising and simplifying the rules and making them more transparent.

The new directive includes the following provisions:

– Cigarettes: the Council decided to increase, by 1 January 2014, the monetary minimum excise rate to 90 EUR per 1000 cigarettes and the proportional minimum to 60% of the weighted average sales price, from 64 EUR per 1000 and 57% at present;

– Transitional period for cigarettes: the new rules allow for transitional arrangements until 1 January 2018 for member states that have not yet achieved, or only recently achieved, the current minimum rates, namely Bulgaria, Greece, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland and Romania;

– Quantitative restrictions for cigarettes: the directive allows member states not benefiting from the transition to impose a quantitative limit of at least 300 cigarettes on the number of cigarettes that may be brought into their territory from member states applying transitional arrangements. It also allows member states applying those arrangements, once their rates have reached 77 EUR per 1000 cigarettes, to apply quantitative limits with regard to member states whose rates have not yet reached an equal monetary level;

– Fine-cut tobacco: the Council decided to increase the minimum excise duty requirements for fine-cut tobacco as follows: member states will comply with either a proportional minimum or a monetary minimum, amounting to 40% of the weighted average sales price and 40 EUR per kg on 1 January 2011, 43% and 47 EUR/kg on 1 January 2013, 46% and 54 EUR/kg on 1 January 2015, 48% and 60 EUR/kg on 1 January 2018 and 50% and 60 EUR/kg on 1 January 2020.

Source: eGov Monitor - 16 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/cQB7WP

Philip Morris teams with Fortune in Philippines

The Philippine unit of Philip Morris International (PM.N) and unlisted Fortune Tobacco Corp (FTC) will combine their core businesses in a new company which will have 90 percent of the local cigarette market.

"Philip Morris and Fortune Tobacco concluded an agreement to form a new company called PMFTC," Chris Nelson, president of Philip Morris Philippines, told reporters.

"It's 50-50, it's an equal marriage. We are not going to divulge the financial details," Nelson said.

When asked which group initiated the talks, Nelson said: "We kissed at the same time."

The new company will command a dominant position in the local tobacco market, with Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc and Fortune Tobacco, owned by one of the country's richest men, Lucio Tan, having a combined share of about 90 percent.

Philip Morris, which sells Marlboro cigarettes and is the world's largest non-state-owned tobacco firm, considers the Philippines its 12th-biggest market. Through the new firm, it gains wider access to the local cigarette market, including the profitable medium- to low-priced segments.

A joint statement said Fortune Tobacco and Philip Morris "each contributed selected assets and liabilities into the new company, with each party holding an equal economic interest."

Philip Morris will retain its export business, shipping cigarettes mostly to Thailand. It declined to give the value of the export business.

Fortune Tobacco will keep its interest in the distribution of the Winston brand of Japan Tobacco Inc (2914.T), the statement said. It also said the new firm would not be affected by pending tax and ownership disputes with local courts involving Fortune.

Philip Morris has dominated the high-end cigarette market in the Philippines for years while Fortune Tobacco is the top player in the medium to low-priced cigarette segment, with a 60 percent share of the entire industry.

"By uniting our business operations with a well managed and successful company that has an outstanding distribution and manufacturing infrastructure like FTC, we are laying the foundation for the long term success of PMFTC Inc.," Nelson said.

"While Philip Morris currently competes mainly in the premium price segment, FTC's strength is in the value and medium priced segments. Thus, PMFTC Inc will have a representation in all segments of the Philippine market," he said.

Source: Acquisitions Monthly (Reuters) - 25 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/bvToTT

Promoting tobacco through the international language of dance music: British American Tobacco and the Ministry of Sound

Abstract

Background: Tobacco companies target young adults through marketing strategies that use bars and nightclubs to promote smoking. As restrictions increasingly limit promotions, music marketing has become an important vehicle for tobacco companies to shape brand image, generate brand recognition and promote tobacco.

Methods: Analysis of previously secret tobacco industry documents from British American Tobacco, available at http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu.

Results: In 1995, British American Tobacco (BAT) initiated a partnership with London’s Ministry of Sound (MOS) nightclub to promote Lucky Strike cigarettes to establish relevance and credibility among young adults in the UK. In 1997, BAT extended their MOS partnership to China and Taiwan to promote State Express 555. BAT sought to transfer values associated with the MOS lifestyle brand to its cigarettes. The BAT/MOS partnership illustrates the broad appeal of international brands across different regions of the world.

Conclusion: Transnational tobacco companies like BAT are not only striving to stay contemporary with young adults through culturally relevant activities such as those provided by MOS but they are also looking to export their strategies to regions across the world. Partnerships like this BAT/MOS one skirt marketing restrictions recommended by the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The global scope and success of the MOS program emphasizes the challenge for national regulations to restrict such promotions.

Stanton, A., et al., Promoting tobacco through the international language of dance music: British American Tobacco and the Ministry of Sound, The European Journal of Public Health, doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckq009

Source: Oxford Journals - 15 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/aaFkid

Quitting smoking especially difficult for select groups

With the national trend toward quitting smoking flat, psychologists are finding some success with treatments aimed at helping smokers from underserved groups, including racial and ethnic minorities and those with psychiatric disorders.

In a special section of this month’s issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association, researchers report on several effective treatments that may help these smokers in an effort to increase national smoking cessation rates. The percentage of American smokers rose from 19.8 percent in 2007 to 20.6 percent in 2008, after a 10-year steady decline in smoking rates, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“One of the reasons smoking rates have remained stagnant is because these underserved groups of smokers have not been adequately targeted by research and treatment,” said the special section editor, Belinda Borrelli, PhD, who is with the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at Brown University Medical School. Underserved smokers include those who have a 10 percent higher smoking rate than the general population, have less access to treatments, and are more likely to be excluded from long-term treatments trials, according to Borelli.

In one article, researchers found that success in stopping smoking differed for different psychiatric disorders. For example, compared to smokers with no psychiatric disorders, smokers who had an anxiety disorder were less likely to quit smoking six months after treatment.

In the same article, researchers found that people’s barriers to quitting were directly related to what type of psychiatric disorder they had. For example, smokers who had ever been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder reported a strong emotional bond with their cigarettes while smokers ever diagnosed with a substance use disorder reported that social and environmental influences were especially likely to affect their smoking. “This information may help clinicians gauge relapse risk and identify treatment targets among smokers who have ever had psychological illnesses,” said lead author Megan Piper, PhD, from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

Evidence-based smoking cessation treatments are addressed in another article in this special section. Researchers from the University of Miami looked at the effect of intensive cognitive-behavioral therapy on African-American smokers. They placed 154 African-American smokers wearing nicotine patches into one of two six-session interventions. Participants in the group using cognitive-behavioral techniques were taught relapse prevention strategies and coping skills, along with other techniques. The other group participated in a health education series that explained general medical conditions that are associated with smoking, such as heart disease and lung cancer.

Compared with general health education, participation in cognitive-behavioral therapy sessions more than doubled the rate of quitting at a six month follow-up, from 14 percent to 31 percent the researchers found. “We know cognitive-behavioral therapy helps people quit, but few studies have examined this treatment’s effect on African-American smokers,” said the study’s lead author, Monica Webb, PhD, of the University of Miami. “Hopefully, our findings will encourage smoking cessation counselors and researchers to utilize cognitive-behavioral interventions in this underserved population.”

Borrelli, the section editor, examined another minority group—Latinos. She measured the amount of second-hand smoke in participants’ homes and gave feedback to smokers about how much smoke their child with asthma was exposed to. For example, they were told that their child was exposed to as much smoke as if the child smoked ‘x’ number of cigarettes him- or herself during the week of the measurement – this was the experimental group. Smokers in the control group underwent standard cognitive-behavioral treatment for smoking cessation. Smokers in the experimental group were twice as likely to quit as the control group, Borrelli found. “The child’s asthma problems may provide a teachable moment for parents whereby they become more open to the smoking cessation messages,” Borrelli said. “Providing treatment that is focused on the health needs of the family, and delivered in a culturally tailored manner, has the potential to address health care disparities for Latino families.”

Source: American Psychological Association - 12 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/d8ELJj

Reynolds American to buy smoking-cessation firm

Reynolds American announced it is to buy Sweden's Niconovum AB for about USD 44 million, gaining a foothold in the market for smoking-cessation products, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The deal marks the latest move by Reynolds to diversify as the volume of cigarettes sold in the U.S. continues to decline. Reynolds, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., said it plans to retain the management team at Niconovum, which makes nicotine gum, mouth spray and pouches under the Zonnic brand. Niconovum's products currently are sold only in Sweden and Denmark, and Reynolds would need the Food and Drug Administration's approval to sell them in the U.S.

Reynolds Chief Executive Susan Ivey said the company intends to provide capital to help Niconovum focus on product development and the testing necessary to enter new markets.

No major U.S. tobacco company currently markets or sells an approved smoking-cessation product. Such nicotine-replacement therapies typically have been made and marketed by pharmaceutical companies, including GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Johnson & Johnson.

"Niconovum's products have great potential in meeting consumer demand and public health objectives," Ms. Ivey said in a statement.

Reynolds spokeswoman Maura Payne said it may take "at least a couple of years" before Niconovum products would receive FDA approval and appear on store shelves in the U.S.

Reynolds, the No. 2 U.S. cigarette maker by sales after Altria Group Inc., has diversified its product mix in recent years by acquiring smokeless-tobacco maker Conwood and by introducing such products as Camel Snus, a type of spit-free tobacco. Scientific research has shown that smokeless-tobacco products carry significantly lower health risks for consumers than do cigarettes.

Reynolds, the maker of Camel and Pall Mall cigarettes, said the Niconovum deal is expected to be completed by year-end. Niconovum will be a separate operating company of Reynolds and will keep its headquarters in Helsingborg.

Niconovum was founded in 2001 by Karl Olov Fagerstrom, an expert on nicotine dependence.

Source: Tobacco Journal Int. - 4 December 2009
Link: http://bit.ly/9LjLMn

Fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

February 2010 will mark the fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the WHO FCTC. The WHO FCTC is the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO. It was adopted by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 2003 and entered into force on 27 February 2005. It has since become one of the most widely embraced treaties in UN history and, as of today, has already 168 Parties.

The fifth anniversary will be the occasion to review key achievements since the Convention's entry into force in 2005 and lessons learnt from the Parties' experiences in implementing the treaty. To commemorate this landmark development in public health, the Convention Secretariat is organizing a special event on Friday 26 February 2010 at WHO Headquarters in Geneva. Parties to the Convention are also encouraged to mark the fifth anniversary in national forums.

[...]

Source: SEATCA - 25 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/9rNfgt

Cuba looks to women to boost sagging cigar sales

With anti-smoking laws and the global recession causing sales to fall, Cuba wants to develop a largely untapped market for its famous cigars -- women.

Habanos S.A. executives said on Monday sales fell 8 percent to $360 million in 2009, so they have created the Julieta, a smaller, milder version of the Romeo y Julieta cigar, aimed specifically at female smokers.

Women now make up only 5 to 10 percent of customers for Habanos, the worldwide distributor of Cuban cigars, marketing director Ana Lopez told a news conference kicking off the annual Habanos cigar festival.

The Julieta is an attempt to overcome perceptions among women that Cuban cigars are made up of "only strong tobacco for men," she said.

The search for new markets is needed because even though Cuban cigars are considered the world's finest, sales are slipping with the rise of anti-smoking laws around the world, said Habanos vice president Manuel Garcia.

The 8 percent sales drop in 2009 was preceded by a 3 percent fall, to $390 million, in 2008.

Even with the creation of the Julieta, Garcia said Habanos has only modest hopes for 2010 sales, due largely to a weak economy in Spain, the biggest market for Cuban cigars.

"We think it would be a very good result if we can at least maintain the (sales) we reached in 2009," he said.

Habanos is a joint venture between Cuba and British tobacco giant Imperial Tobacco Group Plc.

Habanos -- which produces other well-known brands such as Cohiba, Monte Cristo, Trinidad and Partagas -- has about 71 percent of the sales in its markets, Garcia said.

The U.S. market, the largest in the world with 230 to 250 million cigars smoked annually, is off limits to Habanos due to the U.S. trade embargo imposed against Cuba since 1962.

Source: Reuters- 22 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/cZrFln

The association of pipe and cigar use with cotinine levels, lung function, and airflow obstruction

Abstract
Background: Cigarette smoking is the major cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but studies on the contribution of other smoking techniques are sparse. 

Objective: To determine whether pipe and cigar smoking was associated with elevated cotinine levels, decrements in lung function, and increased odds of airflow obstruction.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Population-based sample from 6 U.S. communities.

Participants: Men and women aged 48 to 90 years without clinical cardiovascular disease at enrollment who were part of MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis).

Measurements: The MESA Lung Study measured spirometry according to American Thoracic Society guidelines and urine cotinine levels by immunoassay on a subsample of MESA. Pipe-years and cigar-years were calculated as years from self-reported age of starting to age of quitting (or to current age in current users) multiplied by pipe-bowls or cigars per day.

Results: Of 3528 participants, 9% reported pipe smoking (median, 15 pipe-years), 11% reported cigar smoking (median, 6 cigar-years), and 52% reported cigarette smoking (median, 18 pack-years). Self-reported current pipe and cigar smokers had elevated urine cotinine levels compared with never-smokers. Pipe-years were associated with decrements in FEV1, and cigar-years were associated with decrements in the FEV1–FVC ratio. Participants who smoked pipes or cigars had increased odds of airflow obstruction whether they had also smoked cigarettes (odds ratio, 3.43 [95% CI, 1.75 to 6.71]; P < 0.001) or not (odds ratio, 2.31 [CI, 1.04 to 5.11]; P = 0.039) compared with participants with no smoking history.

Limitation: Cross-sectional design.

Conclusion: Pipe and cigar smoking increased urine cotinine levels and was associated with decreased lung function and increased odds of airflow obstruction, even in participants who had never smoked cigarettes.

Rodriguez, J., et al., The association of pipe and cigar use with cotinine levels, lung function, and airflow obstruction, Annals of Internal Medicine, vol. 152 no. 4 201-210 

Source: Annals of Internal Medicine - 16 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/aLyzGZ

Tobacco plants could produce solar cells

[The original article contains diagrams]

Researchers at UC Berkeley have infected tobacco plants with a genetically engineered virus to produce artificial photovoltaic and photochemical cells, chromophores, which they claim can be extracted and dissolved into a solution to create spray on solar cells. In theory they can be sprayed onto a coated glass or plastic substrate, then electricity can be harvested.This method is more environmentally friendly than traditional methods of making solar cells and could lead to cheap, temporary and biodegradable solar cells. The tobacco plants are harvested and chopped up to extract the structures.

According to the Francis Research Group at the Department of Chemistry UC Berkeley, lead by Professor Matt Francis, "The protein coat of the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) has been explored extensively for the construction of nanoscale architectures. This protein can be produced in very high yield through E. coli expression and self-assembles into light harvesting rods that are much like those assembled from the wild-type protein." Tobacco mosaic virus has a rod like appearance and causes characteristic patterns or mottling and discolouration of tobacco leaves.

Electricity has not yet been harvested using this method, and unlike silicon, this manufacturing process of solar cells is not quite efficient and the cells would not last as long as silicon, but it could act as a transportable, cheap and temporary biodegradable power source.

Source: Energy Harvesting Journal - 10 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/cnEjfL

Citigroup to advise sale of Bulgaria's tobacco giant Bulgartabac

Bulgaria’s Privatisation Agency has appointed Citigroup Global Markets Limited to advise the sale of state-run tobacco behemoth Bulgartabac.

European investment banking arm of US-based financial services giant Citigroup beat Raiffeisen Investment – Kamburov, which ranked second, Russia’s Renaissance Securities, which came third, and a tie-in between investment brokerage KBC Securities N.V. and Tokushev Associates.

Citigroup declined to comment, saying does not have enough details about the selection.

The company will pocket 1.018 million euro to carry out a legal analysis, make a sell-off assessment as well as organise and maintain a webpage. It will get 1.6 per cent of Bulgartabac’s sale price.

Source: The Sofia Echo - 26 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/aQthok

Low level nicotine: A novel approach to reduce osteoporosis incidence

Abstract
Osteoporosis is a serious health problem worldwide and leads to a significant burden on society. Unfortunately, efforts to control osteoporosis are largely unsuccessful. Lowering an individual's risk for osteoporosis must focus not only on treatment but also on modification of risk factors. One of the common risk factors is smoking tobacco. Here, we review the clinical evidence on nicotine consumption and osteoporosis, and propose a possible protective mechanism. It should be note that there is no strong clinical evidence that proves nicotine is detrimental. Studies also indicated that the prime criminal for osteoporosis is smoking not nicotine. Moreover, low level nicotine has preventive efforts on osteoporosis by stimulating osteoblasts proliferation and differentiation. We present a hypothesis that low level nicotine may be a novel approach to reduce osteoporosis incidence.

Zhang, J. et al., Low level nicotine: A novel approach to reduce osteoporosis incidence, Medical Hypotheses, doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2009.12.024

Source: Science Direct - 27 January 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/d5NkAB

Early Day Motion 948 - EU tobacco subsidy

Submitted by John Mason MP:

That this House expresses disappointment at the continuing subsidy by the European Union of tobacco cultivation to the tune of some £260 million each year despite the many more millions paid by the EU in anti-tobacco public information campaigns and billions of pounds worth of damage done to the EU's economy by the public health impact of smoking as well as the real damage on the health of individuals; believes that tobacco subsidy should end immediately and if need be subsidies to cultivation of alternative crops be explored; wholly supports the campaign and petition by Alyn Smith MEP to achieve this aim; and welcomes the backing of the News of the World newspaper for the campaign.

Source: Parliament - 25 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/a3UjQJ