Majority of vapers have quit tobacco – survey

More than half of the estimated 2.9 million people in the UK who use e-cigarettes have given up smoking tobacco, a survey suggests.

But many people overestimate the relative health risks of vaping, which may have contributed to a slowdown in the numbers turning to e-cigarettes. Nine million people in the UK still smoke tobacco.

The number of people vaping or using e-cigarettes has quadrupled in the past five years, the annual Smokefree GB survey by Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) found, with many people turning to them for help with quitting or cutting down on smoking tobacco.

For the first time, more than half of vapers said they had quit smoking. Most of the remainder continued to both vape and smoke tobacco.

Ann McNeill, professor of tobacco addiction at King’s College London, said the finding was encouraging. “This year’s Ash survey finds that around 1.5 million vapers are ex-smokers, for the first time a larger number than those who continue to smoke,” she said.

“This is encouraging news as we know that vapers who continue to smoke continue to be exposed to cancer-causing chemicals. The message for the 1.3 million vapers who still smoke is that they need to go further and switch completely.”

But vaping’s rate of growth has slowed considerably in the past couple of years, and the survey found many people overestimated the health risks of vaping compared with tobacco.

In 2015, Public Health England concluded vaping was about 95% less harmful than smoking. But more than a quarter of respondents (26%) said they believed e-cigarettes were equally or more harmful than the traditional equivalents, with only 13% saying they were much less harmful than smoking.

Deborah Arnott, the chief executive of Ash, said: “It’s excellent news that the number of vapers who have quit smoking is continuing to grow, but there are still 9 million smokers compared to only 1.5 million vapers who don’t smoke at all.

“The rapid growth in e-cigarette use has come to an end while over a third of smokers have still never tried e-cigarettes, saying the main reasons are concerns about the safety and addictiveness of e-cigarettes. It’s very important smokers realise that vaping is much, much less harmful than smoking.”

The findings were based on an online survey by YouGov of 12,969 adults, weighted to be representative of the UK adult population.

Majority of vapers have quit tobacco – survey

Tobacco and Cannabis Discovered to be Toxic Aluminum Accumulators

Just when you thought it was safe, we now know cannabis is rich in aluminum, adding to the body burden of this toxic metal. I have mentioned previously that aluminum is NOT an inert metal as many people assume. Far from it.

Aluminum in many ways is very similar in toxicity to mercury. So how is it that we find aluminum (Al) in marijuana? How did it get there? Let’s go to Dr Exley from the UK as he reveals to us this strange phenomenon, other rich sources for Al and possible implications.

It is perhaps less well known that tobacco and cannabis are significant sources of biologically available Al [aluminum] (Exley et al., 2006). For example, when you smoke a cigarette you excrete Al in your urine. Al is a major contaminant of food (Saiyed & Yokel, 2005). It is also a known contaminant of parenteral solutions. Recreational drugs including heroin and cocaine can also be significant routes of exposure to Al (Exley et al., 2007). It was recently demonstrated that sunscreens and sunblocks may contain significant amounts of Al such that one might apply up to 5 g of Al onto the skin surface during an average day on the beach. Little is known about the biological availability of Al in such products but it has to be asked if they could contribute towards the high rate of melanoma found in populations using large amounts of sunscreens/sunblocks regularly (Nicholson & Exley, 2007)? Worryingly we are still exposing the most vulnerable members of society, pre- and post-term infants, to very high levels of Al in infant formulas (Burrell & Exley, 2010).[1] [Emphasis mine].

Al can accumulate in these plants if there is any Al in the soil, or during manufacturing and processing of cannabis. Strangely enough, even concentrates contain Al! In addition to the information provided above, Dr Exley, in a different publication, had this to say:

“Aluminum (Al) is the major trace metal constituent of tobacco. Jamaican cottage industry tobacco includes an exceptional 0.8-2.6 mg Al/g tobacco. Exceptional because the tobacco plant, unlike, for example, the tea plant, is not considered an aluminum accumulator (0.1% Al by weight

in leaves)…We looked at the same for cannabis, as its content of aluminum also is reported to be high (2.4-3.7 mg Al/g marijuana).

Tobacco and cannabis are hitherto unrecognized potent contributors to the body burden of aluminum. Aluminum that is inhaled either from active or passive smoking is biologically available and is likely to be absorbed systemically.

Aluminum entering the lung and the olfactory system as either particulates or gaseous complexes may contribute toward smoking-related disease including asthma and neurological dysfunction.” [2] [Emphasis mine]

If one were to eat Al, he or she would excrete much of it in the urine. However, if it was injected, (vaccines use nanoaluminum) or in this case smoked, much of the Al will stay in your body. In time, aluminum becomes embedded into the lymph nodes, spleen, brain, and other organs, where it may reside for decades, or possibly forever.

Al is a powerful pro-oxidant. As such it oxidizes macromolecules within the body. Al is also an excitotoxin. It generates excitotoxicity­–excessive neuronal excitation leading to death of the neuron. In my book I reveal that compelling research is now demonstrating that Al, in addition to other problems, plays a role in the neurodegenerative diseases Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and ALS. It can also generate autoimmunity.

So how does this play out for the average medical marijuana user? The truth is that we simply do not know, yet. If we look at populations such as the Rastafarian communities in Jamaica who use cannabis regularly, we do not see an increase in neurodegeneration. But one must question whether this truly is a green light to use cannabis.

What we should be doing is engaging the lab analysis community into testing marijuana for Al contamination in the same way they now test for pesticides, mold, cannabinoids, and terpenes.

Once established, we will know how prevalent this problem is. Dr Exley used pot that was confiscated by British police. If this is a widespread contaminant we may be in for more than we bargained for.

As cannabis becomes legal worldwide we need to know more about this unusual and surprising finding. Let’s thank Dr Exley for exposing the problem.

Incidentally, Exley does provide a possible treatment (see book for details). Drink silicon-rich mineral water. Volvic and Fiji contain the most. Silicon binds to the Al atom and allows it to be excreted in the urine, (personal correspondence with Dr Exley).

[1] Exley, C., ‘Human Exposure to Aluminium,’ Environ. Sci.; Processes & Impacts, 2013, 15, 1807-1816. (also see: Exley, Chris, PhD. Vaccine Safety Conference 2011 transcript, ‘A Mechanism of Toxicity of Aluminium-based Adjuvants?’ (http://www.vaccinesafetyconference.com/videos.html) 05/02/2016)

[2] Exley, Chris PhD, et al., ‘Aluminum in Tobacco and Cannabis and Smoke Related Disease,’ The American Journal of Medicine (2006) 119, 276.e9-276.e11

Dr Rasmussen is an anesthesiologist by trade and holds a Master’s degree in traditional Chinese medicine. He is an assistant professor, continuous education and seminar provider, personal trainer, life coach, lecturer, and author. He specializes in lifestyle modification and preventive medicine. His two websites are www.adaptiveTCM.com and www.inflaNATION.com. For consultation he can be reached at cjrmd1@gmail.com. His new book which reveals the true perils of vaccination: ‘You’re Next: Lies, Corruption and the Dirty Business of Vaccines, is now available everywhere.

Tobacco and Cannabis Discovered to be Toxic Aluminum Accumulators

UK supreme court denies tobacco firms permission for plain packaging appeal

All cigarettes sold in the UK must have standardised packaging from next month after the supreme court refused permission to the tobacco industry to appeal against the new laws.

This is the final domestic legal decision, meaning that plain packaging of cigarettes will come into force on 20 May, the Department of Health said.

Rules requiring tobacco to be packaged in drab, dark brown packs with no graphic branding came into effect in May 2016, with branded packs subsequently being phased out.

Tobacco companies went to the supreme court after the court of appeal last November rejected their attempt to prevent the introduction of mandatory plain packaging of cigarettes in the UK.

British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Japan Tobacco International (JTI) and Philip Morris International claimed that the law would infringe their human and intellectual property rights.

The new packs are the same shape, size and colour, with two thirds of the front and back surfaces covered by pictorial health warnings, and written warnings on the sides.

The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, welcomed the supreme court’s decision, saying: “Standardised packaging will cut smoking rates and reduce suffering, disease and avoidable deaths.”

Smoking remains the biggest cause of premature mortality in the UK, killing more than 100,000 Britons annually, despite Public Health England figures showing a decline in the number of smokers to fewer than one in six adults.

Widespread use of e-cigarettes, nicotine patches and gum helped a record 500,000 smokers kick the habit in 2015, the agency said, bringing the number of ex-smokers in England to 14.6 million.

In 1974, more than half of men in Britain smoked, but that fell in England to just 19.1% by 2015. The rate for women declined from just over 40% in 1974 to only 14.9% in 2015.

The chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, said: “Smoking is the biggest preventable killer in this country and this legislation will save lives, so I am thrilled that the tobacco industry will not be allowed to appeal. After years of hard work, I look forward to seeing this policy now brought in, and smoking numbers fall even further.”

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of the health charity Ash (Action on Smoking and Health UK), said the ruling finally ended attempts by “big tobacco” to overturn the UK legislation on standardised packaging.

“This is the latest in a long line of crushing legal defeats for the tobacco industry. Over the years the industry has squandered many millions of pounds of its own money in futile legal challenges, but worse still it has wasted public time and money, which could have been much better spent improving public health.”

In a sign that tobacco companies acknowledge that the tide of public opinion is turning against them, the boss of Marlboro maker Philip Morris has predicted a “phase-out period” for cigarettes.

André Calantzopoulos made the comments in November as the company launched a new product it claimed was less harmful than traditional smoking. The iQos heats tobacco but does not burn it, releases fewer toxins and is capable of replacing cigarettes in the long term, according to Philip Morris.

However, campaigners and analysts questioned whether e-cigarettes or other products such as the iQos would ever replace cigarettes.

Arnott said at the time: “Philip Morris claims to be moving towards a post-smoking future but, like other tobacco companies, it is still actively promoting smoking around the world, using methods that would be illegal in the UK.”

UK supreme court denies tobacco firms permission for plain packaging appeal

Poorer countries fail to act on smoking due to big tobacco threats, says WHO

Many low- and middle-income countries are too scared by the threats and misinformation of big tobacco to raise the price of cigarettes, even though it would hugely benefit both health and the economy, according to a major new report.

The most effective measure to help people stop smoking is to impose high taxes on cigarettes, says the report by the World Health Organisation and the US National Cancer Institute. But even though smoking costs the world economy $ 3trn (£2.5trn) a year, poorer countries are afraid to tackle it in the most effective ways, it says.

“They are scared because of the issues raised by the tobacco industry,” said Jeremiah Paul of the WHO’s tobacco control economics unit. The industry warns of an increase in smuggling and illicit trade in tobacco, for instance, which the WHO and the US National Cancer Institute, the co-producers of the report, say does not happen.

“They are afraid of being taken to court if they increase tobacco taxes,” said Paul. “They [the industry] will scare you that tobacco taxes are anti-poor, that government revenue will go down.” But there is no evidence to support any of these claims, he said.

Six million people die every year as a result of smoking tobacco and although smoking rates are slowly going down, the numbers are increasing as the population of the world grows. There are also fears of a big expansion in Africa and the Middle East as big tobacco targets poorer countries now that hardline control measures such as bans on smoking in public places have taken effect in wealthier ones.

There are 1.1 billion smokers globally over the age of 15 and already 80% are in low- and middle-income countries. Many are already poor – an estimated 226 million smokers live in poverty. Those are the people who would benefit most from stopping, because they are least likely to get good healthcare and most likely to suffer from the disabling and economic effects of tobacco, such as losing their job.

The monograph says that global tobacco excise taxes generated nearly $ 269bn (£221bn) in government revenues in 2013-2014 – yet less than $ 1bn was invested in tobacco control.

High tobacco taxes raise money for governments while deterring smokers. The monograph says annual excise revenues from cigarettes globally could increase by 47%, or $ 140bn, if all countries raised excise taxes by about 80 cents per pack. This tax increase would raise cigarette retail prices on average by 42%, leading to a 9% decline in smoking rates and up to 66 million fewer adult smokers.

Controlling tobacco does not harm economies, the report says. The number of jobs dependent on tobacco has been falling in most countries, and when smokers quit they spend their money on other sectors of the economy instead. Tobacco farmers, who mostly do not earn a good living, can be helped to diversify into other crops.

“Tobacco use remains one of the world’s leading causes of preventable death, and increasingly, the health and economic burden is borne by the poorest countries and people,” said the WHO’s global ambassador for noncommunicable diseases, Michael R Bloomberg, whose philanthropic foundation has invested nearly $ 1bn into tobacco control. “By accelerating the adoption of the many cost-effective tobacco control policies available today, we can save millions of lives,” he said.

José Luis Castro, chief executive of the global health organisation Vital Strategies, warned that the death toll from tobacco will rise if tougher controls are not brought in. “While governments are committed to reduce tobacco deaths, the lack of effective tobacco control laws in many countries means that tobacco will kill one-third more smokers and non-smokers by 2030: 8 million deaths every year,” he said.

“This is avoidable. We urge governments to implement strong tobacco control policies, particularly high tobacco taxes that have the greatest, fastest impact on consumption, while also potentially funding better access to healthcare.”

Poorer countries fail to act on smoking due to big tobacco threats, says WHO

Every tobacco death is an avoidable tragedy. The epidemic must stop here | Margaret Chan

Tobacco use, the leading cause of death from non-communicable diseases such as heart and lung disorders and cancer, claims about 6m lives a year. On Monday, countries will gather in Delhi, India, for the seventh conference of the parties to the World Health Organisation framework convention on tobacco control, a treaty that has sparked global action to stem the epidemic.

The treaty is already one of the most widely embraced in UN history. One of my proudest accomplishments at the helm of the World Health Organisation has been rallying global efforts to drive down tobacco use. I’m pleased to say that, following the adoption of the agreement, governments around the world have taken decisive steps not only to reduce tobacco use, but also to stand up to the multinational tobacco companies standing in the way of global progress.

The tide of tobacco use is beginning to turn. After decades of Big Tobacco targeting low- and middle-income countries and years of steadily increasing sales, tobacco sales show signs of dropping.Countries are passing stronger laws to reduce demand for tobacco products not envisioned even a few years ago, and tobacco companies are losing the legal challenges they mount against these measures. From Uruguay to Australia, countries large and small have stood up to the tobacco industry by implementing plain packaging and large pictorial health warning labels. Where tobacco companies have tried to threaten and bully nations, governments have responded with firm measures to protect public health.

However, amid these clear signs of progress, the tobacco industry has made it absolutely clear that it has no intention of abandoning a business model that depends on enticing millions of new users – especially young people – to its deadly products.

The impetus of the global movement to reduce tobacco use should not be lost. More than ever, decisive action is needed. Now is the time for countries to build on the momentum established and protect their citizens. By raising tax on tobacco products, requiring graphic warning labels, conducting hard hitting mass media campaigns and banning tobacco industry advertising and marketing, countries can improve the health of their citizens, reduce healthcare costs and prevent the tobacco industry from addicting another generation of children.

Illicit trade in tobacco threatens the progress governments make in tobacco control by making cheap and unregulated products available. I am pleased to note that governments are increasingly taking action and becoming parties to the new international treaty to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products.

I urge global leaders convening in India to see this as an opportunity to bend the course of public health history

We need to work together, as allies in global health, to fight to protect people from the dangers of tobacco. I recently appointed Michael Bloomberg as WHO global ambassador for non-communicable diseases because of his track record in tobacco control, which includes more than 10 years of support for low- and middle-income countries. Advocates like him, and many others who champion tobacco control, stand with the WHO to support governments in this fight.

I am also heartened by progress on standardised or “plain” packaging – a measure introduced by the treaty and pioneered in Australia, where smoking rates have now fallen to record lows. The early evidence from Australia shows that plain packaging, as part of a comprehensive approach to tobacco control, is diminishing the appeal of tobacco products, increasing the effectiveness of health warnings and reducing the ability of the pack to mislead. France and the UK have begun implementing plain packaging laws, and New Zealand and Hungary have recently passed legislation. Many other countries are close behind.

We have made great strides, but we have so much more to do. Tobacco use remains one of the most vexing challenges we face in the global health arena.

I urge global leaders convening in India to see this moment as an opportunity to bend the course of public health history and commit to returning home with a renewed dedication to fully implement the WHO framework convention. To make the event effective, it is vital that governments recognise the inherent conflict between public health and the interests of the tobacco industry. Representatives from the latter should be completely excluded from government delegations.

Every death from tobacco is an avoidable tragedy. It is our task to reverse the tide, effecting an irreversible decline in the number of such deaths.

We need history to show us that the turning point in the tobacco epidemic is now. We know what to do and we know how to do it. We now need to ensure that every country moves forward and no one is left behind. Future generations depend on us.

Every tobacco death is an avoidable tragedy. The epidemic must stop here | Margaret Chan

Tobacco sponsors may support snooker abroad: archive, 11 November 1986

Cigarette firms may be considering sponsoring snooker tournaments abroad to get round the BBC’s new advertising curbs, it emerged yesterday. They could pull out of Britain because the restrictions would cut the air time given to their brand colours, sources said.

The BBC is tied by the advertising rules of the countries in which events are filmed. This weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, for example, will be screened complete with advertisements for Marlborough and John Player cigarettes on sponsored cars.

Tobacco firms may switch sponsored snooker tournaments to countries with little or no advertising restrictions. Brazil is considered a tempting venue.

The BBC has told snooker’s governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), that the sponsor’s brand colours must not be reproduced in the playing area; signs bearing the sponsor’s name must not be cited behind players’ seats and health warnings must be legible – if they are not the BBC retains its right to put a warning caption on the screen.

Mr Bill Cotton, BBC’s managing director, has said he is concerned that air time is being used to sell cigarettes. This follows a Health Education Council complaint that sports sponsorship was giving the tobacco industry the equivalent of 500 30-second TV advertisements a year.

The curbs will come into force at the £275,000 Rothman’s Grand Prix snooker tournament later this month. The firm had just spent £2,000 on building a set in its brand colour, Rothman’s blue, when it was told of the new curbs.

Rothman’s three-year sponsorship agreement with the WPBSA runs out next month, and renewal is in question. ‘We won’t be taking any decision until we sit down in November and judge from market research the effectiveness of sponsorship,’ said Mr Roach.

Tobacco sponsors may support snooker abroad: archive, 11 November 1986

Cancer Council unaware tobacco giant behind FOI request on child smoking habits

Cancer Council Victoria says it had no concept a British American Tobacco worker was behind a freedom of details request for information on the tobacco use and acquiring habits of 1000′s of school children.

For the past 30 years, the council has surveyed youngsters aged among 12 and 17 about their age, gender and location, accessibility to income, alcohol and tobacco consumption and getting habits, and preferred brands.

The director of the Victorian Cancer Council, Todd Harper, stated a attorney had requested the survey information underneath the Freedom of Information Act, but the request was rejected since it was not in the public interest to release it.

Relevant: Australian teens major charge in eschewing consuming and smoking

It was not right up until Fairfax Media reported the lawyer had appealed towards the determination to Victoria’s Civil and Administrative Tribunal, that the council became mindful the attorney was an employee of the tobacco giant, Harper said.

“We had no idea that British American Tobacco was behind the request,” he said. “All we knew was it was an person from a law firm who wanted the information. I’m disappointed that the tobacco firm wasn’t upfront about its involvement.”

Harper stated the council was concerned that, as soon as manufactured public, the data could be utilized by tobacco and alcohol firms to acquire insight into the purchasing and drug consumption routines of younger folks, as nicely as the varieties of brand names that appealed to them.

The information is utilized by the Cancer Council to assist it recognize exactly where and how to direct publishing health messaging, as effectively as for scientific scientific studies. When mothers and fathers consented to their young children finishing the survey, the did so believing the information would be used only in the curiosity of public health, Harper explained.

Fairfax Media also exposed that the identical attorney utilised the Freedom of Information Act to get info from surveys of adult smokers in that state, which integrated queries about their attitudes toward smoking.

“The Cancer Institute NSW was compelled to give tobacco survey information requested underneath the NSW Government Info [Public access] Act,” its chief cancer officer, David Currow, told Fairfax.

A spokeswoman for British American Tobacco advised Guardian Australia the Victorian data request “wasn’t about children”.

“This is about plain packaging,” she stated. “We did not look for any individual data or info in respect of youngsters. We’ve asked for figures by way of a standard freedom of info request because we want to discover out if plain packaging, a measure introduced with out evidence and that straight influences our business, is possessing the effect the Australian government claims it is.”

In a globe very first, Australia passed plain packaging legislation in 2011, requiring all cigarette packaging to be stripped of marketing and branding, apart from the organization name and health warnings. All tobacco now comes in olive green cardboard containers with graphic overall health messages.

In a series of papers published by the Cancer Council in the BMJ journal Tobacco Control in March, plain packaging was related with an enhance in the variety of men and women pondering about quitting and trying to quit. The investigation also identified kids aged in between twelve and 17 found standardised packaging much less attractive.

An appeal date for the freedom of details request is nevertheless to be set.

Cancer Council unaware tobacco giant behind FOI request on child smoking habits

Poland to appeal against EU ban on flavoured tobacco

Poland is the second greatest producer of tobacco in the EU. Photograph: Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty Photos

Poland is to appeal to the European court of justice above an EU ban on flavoured tobacco products, saying it will be unfairly affected.

The ban is a component of EU-wide anti-smoking legislation, due to be implemented in 2016, which also consists of tougher rules on packaging and advertising and marketing.

The appeal is becoming manufactured in spite of help for the ban from the country’s health minister, Bartosz Arłukowicz. However, financial arguments prevailed, with Janusz Piechocinski, the deputy prime minister, saying menthol-flavoured cigarettes should be considered a conventional merchandise, like the Swedish snus – powdered tobacco positioned under the lip – and be exempt from the directive.

In accordance to the World Lung Basis, Poland is a single of the EU’s biggest buyers of cigarettes, with yearly consumption of 1,586 per capita, twice the degree in Britain.

Practically 1 in 5 cigarettes sold is menthol-flavoured, in contrast with 1 in 10 in Sweden and significantly less than one particular in a hundred in Spain, Austria and Slovakia.

“Menthol cigarettes were introduced to Poland in 1953 and Polish smokers have designed a unique taste for them,” said Magdalena Włodarczyk, representing British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco Worldwide, which together have a 99% share of the Polish market. “There is no purpose why they need to get hit so tough more than this.”

Poland is also the 2nd biggest producer of tobacco in the EU, with Polish tobacco farms using a lot more than 60,000 people. It is the seventh biggest producer of cigarettes in the planet, with five processing internet sites and six factories.

Lech Ostrowski, head of the National Union of Tobacco Farmers, representing seven,000 producers, mentioned burley, the tobacco utilised in the manufacturing of menthol cigarettes simply because of its flavour-absorbing properties, accounted for nearly 40% of Poland’s production.

“We can’t all switch to expanding Virginia, since the market will simply not accommodate it and rates will fall,” he stated.

A report commissioned by Poland’s tobacco market explained the new legislation would ruin 30,000 jobs in production, manufacturing and distribution. It would price the nation up to 9bn zloty (£1.75bn) in misplaced tax income every yr, simply because menthol smokers would swap to cigarettes smuggled in from Belarus and Ukraine.

Poland to appeal against EU ban on flavoured tobacco

Uganda"s tobacco laws could see farmers" livelihoods go up in smoke | Alon Mwesigwa

Fred Okippi, a lifelong tobacco grower, prunes his backyard in Kiryandongo, northern Uganda. Photograph: Alon Mwesigwa for the Guardian

Fred Okippi’s 5-acre backyard is a lush emerald area of tobacco. Dressed in a black T-shirt and red hat, he delicately bends stems as he weaves his way by way of the plants, carefully pruning undesirable leaves. “This [tobacco] is my future,” he says from his house in Uganda’s western district of Kiryandongo.

But that future is under risk. The government desires to pass a bill that will restrict the manufacture and sale of tobacco and inspire folks to give up smoking.

“If the government desires to ban tobacco use, then we are going to suffer,” Okippi says. “Exactly where are we going to get income to educate our youngsters?”

All Okippi’s neighbours in Lamuorungur village grow tobacco. “Our mother and father grew tobacco and we took on the trade after their death, says Onen Can, Okippi’s neighbour, who has about seven acres.

Can, 56, and Okippi, fifty five, have grown tobacco all their lives. They do not realize how their government can contemplate enacting a law that could threaten farming the crop. Other crops such as maize are not as worthwhile as tobacco, they say.

Last yr, Okippi says, a kilogramme of tobacco was purchased for four,000 Ugandan shillings (UShs), or $ 1.60, even though that of maize went for just UShs750 ($ .thirty).

There are an estimated 75,000 tobacco farmers in Uganda. The crop, a massive earner for Uganda, is widely grown in Arua, Kanungu, Koboko, Kiryandongo, and Masindi districts. In 2011, the government earned Shs87.5bn ($ 37.7m) in taxes from tobacco, producing it 1 of the country’s leading ten income sources.

The tobacco management bill was tabled in March by Chris Baryomunsi MP. The bill will restrict the growing, promoting, and marketing of the crop. Baryomunsi explained farmers, who quickly denounced the bill, had benefited tiny from decades of tobacco farming and a lot of still live in excessive poverty.

A 2012 survey by Platform for Labour Action (PLA), a Kampala-based mostly NGO, identified that most young children in houses expanding tobacco missed half of their schooling for the duration of planting and harvesting seasons.

Neither Okippi nor Can has managed to create a long lasting home – both reside in grass-thatched huts. Sometimes, they struggle to afford a single meal a day. But, they say their kids are ready to go to school due to the fact of the cash earned from tobacco.

Baryomunsi, a qualified medical professional, says the bill seeks to protect Ugandans from conditions such as cancer. It has acquired huge help from the healthcare fraternity.

The bill, expected to be passed into law this year, seeks to prohibit smoking within a hundred metres of any public spot, workplace, and on public transport. It bans tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship.

Dr Sheila Ndyanabangi, a tobacco control focal particular person at Uganda’s wellness ministry, explained tobacco had no benefit other than straining the well being technique.

“Tobacco kills,” she mentioned. “We want to make it incredibly hard for 1 to locate or smoke a cigarette. “At the Uganda Cancer Institute, we followed the history of most sufferers diagnosed with lung cancer, cancer of the mouth, throat and oesophagus and located they had been smoking.”

The well being minister, Ruhakana Rugunda, has called for larger taxes on tobacco merchandise to put the value of cigarettes out of reach for a lot of people. He explained it would also decrease the uptake and use of tobacco products by young folks.

Okippi is aware of the link in between tobacco and cancer, but is among the 15% of Ugandans who smoke. “I hear that tobacco causes cancer, but I have not acquired any dilemma,” says Okippi, his smile revealing a mouthful of discoloured teeth.

Uganda’s Mulago nationwide referral hospital in Kampala says 75% of the oral cancer patients it has taken care of had a background of tobacco use, with the variety of many years they had invested smoking ranging from two to 33, in accordance to a 2008 review by Fredrick Musoke, an academic at Makerere University, Kampala.

The Centre for Tobacco Management Africa says 13,500 Ugandans die yearly as a end result of tobacco use. The World Well being Organisation estimates 5 million men and women die globally every single year.

Although Kenya and Tanzania, Uganda’s neighbours, have tobacco laws, Ugandan traders remain unconvinced about equivalent strategies for their nation. Many describe the bill as draconian. If passed, they say, it would not only hamper their profits, but also harm the economy.

Everest Kayondo, chairman of Kampala City Traders’ Association, explained: “If individuals have invested their funds, then they should be given a favourable surroundings to promote it.”

In a statement, tobacco-generating companies in the country – which involves British American Tobacco, Ugandan Tobacco Solutions Ltd, and Continental Tobacco, stated: “The law need to make a distinction in between the goods sought to be regulated and the person corporate entity that enjoys fundamental rights and freedoms. The law need to not seek out to ban legitimate trade activities.”

To farmers Okippi and Can, the law is practically nothing but a way to deny them daily revenue.

Uganda"s tobacco laws could see farmers" livelihoods go up in smoke | Alon Mwesigwa

If You Snus, You Shed: Examine Exhibits Positive aspects of Quitting Smokeless Tobacco

The adverse results of smoking are properly acknowledged and documented. The impact of smokeless tobacco is significantly less clear. Now a research from Sweden, published in Circulation, gives proof that quitting smokeless tobacco following a heart assault is about as helpful as quitting smoking. The benefits do not support the common see that smokeless tobacco is a risk-free different to smoking.

In their principal evaluation, the investigators analyzed the threat for death in Swedish heart attack (myocardial infarction) patients, 675 of whom had quit employing snus (the Swedish form of oral snuff) following MI and 1799 of whom continued to use snus. After 2.1 many years of stick to-up, the mortality charge was reduced in half amid those who quit relative to people who continued making use of snus, from 18.seven to 9.7 per 1000 particular person-years. Soon after adjustment for other chance elements, the hazard ratio for quitters was .57, similar to the .54 HR observed in a separate evaluation between those who quit smoking right after MI compared with these who continued to smoke.

“We didn’t anticipate to see this kind of a strong association between individuals men and women who stopped employing (smokeless tobacco),” explained lead writer Gabriel Arefalk, in an AHA press release. “After a heart attack, no doubt smoking cessation reduces the risk of death about a single third and is actually a cornerstone of cardiac rehabilitation around the world. For smokeless tobacco, we did not know.”

English: Skruf løs snus (Photograph credit: Wikipedia)

If You Snus, You Shed: Examine Exhibits Positive aspects of Quitting Smokeless Tobacco

Nick Xenophon urges floor cost on cigarettes to outsmart tobacco giant

Independent senator Nick Xenophon is pushing for a minimum floor price tag on cigarettes to counter a tobacco giant’s “cynical” move to promote discounted packets.

British American Tobacco Australia has launched what it claims is the cheapest legal packet of cigarettes on the industry at $ 13 for a 25-pack.

It is blaming federal government policy for the move, saying it is merely looking for to remain competitive as income of reduce-cost cigarettes soar.

Xenophon has accused the tobacco giant of circumventing laws to discourage individuals from smoking.

He programs to introduce a resolution in the upper home subsequent week to look for a minimum floor price for all cigarettes offered in Australia.

“We want to outsmart massive tobacco in terms of what they’ve carried out with this value-discounting and reduction-major campaign,” he told ABC Television on Monday.

Xenophon will seek advice from with public overall health authorities on the most effective disincentive price but wants to see a minimum of $ twenty for a 25-pack.

It was the very best choice to fight a “deeply cynical” campaign aimed at boosting the ranks of younger smokers, he stated.

Xenophon also dismissed “exaggerated” market claims that plain packaging laws and huge excises were driving up black market place income.

Nick Xenophon urges floor cost on cigarettes to outsmart tobacco giant

AMA, Medical professional Allies Push CVS Rivals To Finish Tobacco Sales

The American Healthcare Association and allied physician groups this week are exacting extra pressure on pharmacies and other folks that promote wellness goods to join CVS’ move to cease peddling cigarettes and other tobacco items.

Earlier this year, CVS grabbed global kudos that incorporated acclaim from the White Residence for the giant pharmacy chain’s selection to cease marketing cigarettes and other tobacco items in all of its much more than 7,600 shops by October 1, according to its mother or father company, CVS/Caremark (CVS).

Public overall health advocates said CVS’ move was notably notable given its drugstores would be sacrificing $ two billion in yearly revenue for public well being and future growth.

Now, the biggest medical professional group in the U.S. and affiliated state and nationwide health care societies are voicing a more unified chorus towards retail income of tobacco goods at the AMA’s annual policy-generating House of Delegates meeting that runs by means of Tuesday in Chicago.

Several physician groups explained Sunday that they want the AMA to push pharmacies and “providers of health solutions and products” to stop-offering cigarettes and tobacco items or perform to pressure them to restrict product sales of such products. An AMA reference committee Sunday regarded two resolutions urging the organization to stage up the pressure on pharmacies and other merchants.

The American School of Cardiology, for example, said even limiting tobacco has led to its diminished use.

“We urge retailers that promote health related products to comply with the example set by CVS Caremark CVS Caremark and discontinue the sale of all tobacco products,” stated Dr. L. Samuel Wann, an AMA delegate representing the American College of Cardiology. The ACC supports all achievable action to lessen tobacco access and use, specially when it comes to our nation’s youth.”

The resolutions prior to the AMA did not identify merchants specifically. CVS rivals Wal-Mart (WMT) and Walgreen Walgreen (WAG) proceed to promote tobacco items.

The AMA reference committee in the long run reaffirmed the organization’s existing policy which opposes “the sale of tobacco at any facility where wellness services are provided.” 

The AMA’s yearly Home of Delegates’ meeting serves as far more of a bully pulpit for health issues than anything.

“The energy of the AMA is in its function as a single umbrella organization that covers all physicians, across specialty, geography, practice type or profession stage,” Dr. Robert Wah, the incoming AMA president, said in a statement at the meeting’s open. “We have the potential to convene all the events that require to come to the table to operate on solutions to the challenges physicians face right now. It is the bringing collectively of distinct perspectives that can make the organization more powerful.”

Wondering how Obamacare will have an effect on public wellness? The Forbes eBook Inside Obamacare: The Repair For America’s Ailing Well being Care System answers that question and much more. Accessible now at Amazon and Apple.

 

Marlboro Cigarettes (Photograph credit score: Wikipedia)

AMA, Medical professional Allies Push CVS Rivals To Finish Tobacco Sales

Labor rejects tobacco industry claim of plain packaging policy failure

Labor has rejected tobacco sector figures that display more cigarettes are becoming sold considering that the introduction of plain packaging.

The tobacco business British American Tobacco Australia has jumped on the figures as proof the plain packaging policy has failed but they are contradicted by Australian Bureau of Statistics information as effectively as by preliminary research into the affect of plain packaging on smoking routines. Labor launched necessary plain packaging in 2012 to significantly protest from tobacco companies.

Figures from InfoView, which are backed by the cigarette businesses Philip Morris and BATA, ran on the front webpage of the Australian on Friday, displaying an improve of .3% in the volume of cigarettes getting offered, but have not been adjusted to account for population development. The study also showed the yearly decline in the amount of men and women smoking more than halved.

When Guardian Australia contacted InfoView for the information it was directed to BATA, who sent a press release quoting the figures and slamming plain packaging.

“With development in sector volumes, fewer individuals quitting and a leap in the amount of cheap illegal cigarettes on the streets, you could draw the conclusion that folks are really smoking far more now than prior to plain packaging came into effect,” a spokesman, Scott McIntyre, stated.

When asked to present the raw information of the analysis, McIntyre replied it was “commercially sensitive”.

“It’s not BATA study,” he stated. “It’s purchased from third-celebration suppliers Roy Morgan and InfoView. We acquire data about our products, just like any other company that sells quick-moving consumer goods.”

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures demonstrate a decline in smokers in Australia since 2001, a trend that continued in 2011-twelve, when the percentage of female smokers dropped to 16.three% and male smokers decreased to twenty.four%.

ABS figures also record a decline in the total home expenditure on tobacco and cigarettes.

South Australia has recorded an improve in the smoking fee in the past 12 months, with 19.4% of the population smoking, up from 16.seven%, in accordance to government figures. The state is in the approach of banning smoking in alfresco places which the government is hoping will help reduced the rate.

The opposition wellness minister, Catherine King, referenced the ABS figures when commenting on the sector figures.

“Only the tobacco market thinks plain packaging is a poor factor – that is because they know they will be selling fewer cigarettes to fewer people,” she mentioned. “It is incumbent on the government to express its unqualified assistance for plain packaging.”

In BATA’s release it explained it was “very clear all information available” in excess of the past 12 months showed the plain packaging policy was a failure.

Most researchers agree it is as well early to correctly measure the impacts of the policy but preliminary investigation has shown men and women have been turned off by the plain packaging, which demonstrates graphic photos of effects of smoking, this kind of as rotting teeth.

Analysis into the influence of the initial 3 months of the policy, published in the British Medical Journal and funded by Cancer Council Victoria, identified 30.6% of smokers utilizing plain packaging perceived their cigarettes to be of decrease top quality than a yr earlier, in contrast with 18.1% of smokers using branded cigarettes.

It was also reported that 26.2% of plain-package smokers were much less satisfied by their cigarettes than they have been a year earlier, in contrast with 14.9% of branded-packet smokers.

Labor rejects tobacco industry claim of plain packaging policy failure

Cigarette makers cannot market to youngsters. So why do tobacco farms even now utilize them? | Margaret Wurth

Grace, whose identify has been changed to defend her privacy, does not smoke – at 15, she’s too youthful to buy a pack of cigarettes, anyway – but she might as nicely have had a standard habit. At her work on a tobacco farm final summer season, she dealt with tobacco plants for up to 12 hours a day, steadily absorbing nicotine through her skin.

Although precise numbers are tough to come by, it is fairly common to find kids working on US tobacco farms in the summertime months (the height of the increasing season). But even though the US has laws to defend kids from the harms of nicotine in cigarettes, there are no restrictions to shield them from nicotine exposure in tobacco fields – in spite of proof that this kind of publicity could be particularly dangerous to young children, whose brains and bodies are still developing.

In 2013, my colleagues and I interviewed 141 kids who worked on tobacco farms in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, exactly where 90% of US tobacco is developed. In every single state, we heard comparable stories of sickness and struggling.

Most of the youngsters we spoke to stated they received sick even though doing work. Grace explained how she got sick on her initial day doing work in tobacco final summer: “My abdomen began hurting. I felt like throwing up,” she mentioned, “And then I received a headache.” The symptoms she described are consistent with acute nicotine poisoning, a well-documented condition also identified as Green Tobacco Sickness.

Many of the children we interviewed labored for 50 to 60 hours a week in sweltering heat, usually with out shade. Some described how pesticides – acknowledged neurotoxins with the possible to cause long-phrase neurological and reproductive damage, among other damaging effects – drifted more than them as tractors sprayed in fields in which they worked, leading to their eyes and skin to itch and burn.

“Your hands get really dirty,” Grace said as I followed her down a row of tobacco plants six feet tall and watched as she snapped off huge white and pink flowers to help the tobacco plants grow. “They get black.”

But it wasn’t just filth on her hands: they turned black in component from the toxic residue of nicotine and pesticides.

Other teenage staff described hacking down tobacco plants with axes, at times cutting their legs and hands, and climbing numerous stories into the eaves of barns to hang tobacco plants to dry, without having any safety from falls. One boy I met lost two fingers on the job after he was suspended in mid-air to trim seedlings with a mower.

Under US law, young children are not permitted to function until they are at least 14, and there are strict limits on the hrs they can perform and the jobs they can do, except in one business: farm operate. As prolonged as a parent offers permission, a child as young as 12 can legally be employed to function on a farm for any number of hours– and there are no special protections for kids doing work on tobacco farms.

The worlds biggest tobacco businesses obtain tobacco grown in the United States – businesses like Altria Group (mother or father of Philip Morris USA), British American Tobacco, China National Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco Group, Japan Tobacco Group, Lorillard, Philip Morris International and Reynolds American. Most of people tobacco firms informed us that they are concerned about youngster labor in their provide chains.

But their existing approaches do not sufficiently defend youngsters from hazardous function and some firms allow for reduce standards of protection for youngsters in their US provide chain than for young children working on tobacco farms in other countries.

Grace, however, was pleased to have a summer season work and be earning funds. When I asked why she commenced doing work in tobacco, she stated, “I just wanted to assist out my mom.” Like Grace, most of the little ones we interviewed utilized their earnings for school supplies, for clothes or to aid their mothers and fathers pay the payments. But earning funds for standard wants shouldn’t expose a kid to nicotine and pesticides, not to mention debilitating, or even fatal, injury.

There are people who say that there have always been youngsters functioning on tobacco farms in the US, or that specific jobs on tobacco farms are protected for children. But offered the hazards and the exclusive vulnerability of kids, a tobacco farm is no place for a little one to function.

Tobacco firms must make it clear that they will not buy tobacco from farms that use kid labor, and help option educational and employment options. And Congress ought to enact laws restricting youngster labor in tobacco fields.

In the meantime, children across the southeastern US are getting ready for nevertheless another prolonged summer season in the tobacco fields.

Cigarette makers cannot market to youngsters. So why do tobacco farms even now utilize them? | Margaret Wurth

US child workers "endangered" by nicotine publicity in tobacco fields

US tobacco fields employ hundreds of young children, some as youthful as 13, according to a Human Rights View report launched on Wednesday that says the children are getting exposed to wellness dangers posed by nicotine.

Virtually three quarters of the kids interviewed for the report mentioned they had experienced the sudden onset of signs of acute nicotine poisoning, also identified as Green Tobacco Sickness: vomiting, reduction of appetite, dizziness, rashes and other irritations.

“As the college year ends, young children are heading into the tobacco fields, the place they cannot avoid becoming exposed to harmful nicotine, without having smoking a single cigarette,” mentioned Margaret Wurth, children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW) and co-writer of the report. “It’s no surprise the children exposed to poisons in the tobacco fields are getting sick.”

From May possibly to October 2013, HRW conducted interviews with 141 kid tobacco staff in between the ages of 7 and 17 in the four states in which 90% of tobacco is cultivated in the US: North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia.

“I would barely eat something since I wouldn’t get hungry,” a 13-12 months-old named Elena advised Human Rights Observe in May 2013. “Sometimes I felt like I required to throw up. I felt like I was going to faint. I would end and just hold myself up with the tobacco plant.”

The little one staff perform duties like planting, weeding and harvesting, which place them in direct contact with the leaves. Nicotine can then be absorbed by way of the skin – just as it is with nicotine patches – exposing little ones to higher amounts of nicotine.

Workers can absorb up to 54 milligrams of dissolved nicotine in a single day of perform, the equivalent of 50 cigarettes, in accordance to a 2005 research by Dr Robert McKnight, of the University of Public Overall health at the University of Kentucky, Lexington.

“These children are obtaining exposed to nicotine just as if they have been smoking or chewing tobacco, and that’s modifying their brains, which has got to be a poor thing,” said Dr Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at University of California San Francisco, and director of the Center for Tobacco Handle Research. Glantz was not concerned with the report.

Human Rights Watch mentioned the kids they interviewed usually started work at age 13, with their mothers and fathers and older siblings, normally not on family members-owned farms. The kids were mostly Hispanic immigrants, even though normally US citizens.

The principles for kids functioning in agriculture are diverse from individuals working in other industries, which means that with parental permission, a youngster as young as twelve can function for unlimited hours outdoors of school on a tobacco farm. Children underneath twelve can perform on modest farms owned by family members members. In other industries, only kids 14 and older can perform, and there are limits placed on these aged 14 and 15.

Human Rights Watch stated that no little one beneath age 18 should be working a job in which they come into get in touch with with tobacco, and urged the US government and tobacco manufacturing businesses to hold young children out of tobacco farms.

The US Division of Labor withdrew proposed regulations that would have updated the prohibited checklist of occupations for young children below 16, like tobacco. There are also no state labor laws providing extra protections to child agriculture employees in every single of the four states surveyed.

“The tobacco market and tobacco farm lobby continue to be influential in the US, even today,” mentioned Clifford Douglas, the director of the University of Michigan’s Tobacco Study Network and a professor at the university’s college of public wellness. “Not like it once was, but any legislation that threatens their bottom line, with no regard to public health issues, faces a hard road.”

Human Rights View contacted10 tobacco manufacturers to request for details about youngster labor laws they have in area on farms exactly where their tobacco is sourced. HRW said Philip Morris International has the most comprehensive and protective policies, which are currently being implemented in its worldwide provide chain. None of the businesses, nevertheless, have worldwide policies that prohibit all operate by youngsters underneath 18 at tobacco farms.

Altria Group, the business that holds Philip Morris USA, stated it had “engaged” with Human Rights Watch to recognize the issues raised in their research, and stated it would function with the Farm Labor Practices Group, which it aided discovered, to make sure it complies with labor regulations.

“Altria’s tobacco organizations do not condone the unlawful employment or exploitation of farm staff, especially those underneath the age of 18, and actively perform to address workplace problems related with farm labor,” explained a organization spokesperson in an e-mail.

Its code of carry out states that domestic tobacco growers may possibly not assign any person beneath 18 to function in hazardous agricultural occupations.

“As consumers in the US and other affluent nations smoke significantly less, they require to get far more smokers in building countries, and in buy for them to hold the cost of cigarettes comparatively lower, they have to maintain the price tag of labor minimal,” stated Marty Otañez, an anthropology professor at the University of Colorado at Denver, and a board member at the Human Rights and Tobacco Management Network. “So I think they would most likely refrain from stopping getting tobacco from farms that make with youngster labor, simply because in one sense, if they did that, they would have minor to no farms to purchase from.”

Otañez said the difficulty is not simply eliminating child labor, but generating a a lot more honest operating surroundings so adults are not reliant on children’s wages.

“The report gives us a view from the soil of options from the folks who are impacted by all these problems,” Otañez mentioned. “So if you search at a kid laborer, who is 14 many years outdated and creates leaves in North Carolina: what that individual needs – and what the report demonstrates – is that they want fairness and dignity in their lifestyle. I think people are two issues that the industry, regardless of whether it is Phillip Morris, or the leaf purchasers, they are just not set up to do simply because of their curiosity to maintain shareholder worth.”

US child workers "endangered" by nicotine publicity in tobacco fields

Labour "would restrict income of alcohol, unhealthy meals and tobacco"

The Labour policy document suggests ending sports sponsorship by drinks firms and imposing minimum alcohol pricing. Photograph: Clara Molden/PA

A Labour government would impose hard restrictions on the sale and marketing of alcohol, unhealthy food and tobacco, in accordance to a leaked policy document.

The strategy would end sports activities sponsorship by drinks firms and impose minimum alcohol pricing in an effort to lower the impact of consuming on Britons’ well being.

There would also be new laws to curb the amount of sugar, excess fat and salt in meals aimed at kids, and a ban on promoting unhealthy items on Television prior to the 9pm watershed.

The Mail on Sunday reported that the ideas are contained in a report to the “society” sub-group of the shadow cabinet.

Setting out the factors for the clampdown on alcohol, the Labour document says: ‘Up to 35% of all A&ampE attendances and ambulance charges may possibly be alcohol connected and up to 70% at weekend peak times.”

The program contains an end to drinks companies sponsoring sporting events by 2020: “The promotion of alcohol by means of the sponsorship of sport ought to be phased out during the course of the parliament.”

The newspaper said a ban on all sponsorship by drinks businesses would price the sporting world £300m a year, impact 11 Premiership football teams and spell the finish for Budweiser’s sponsorship of the FA Cup, Heineken’s branding of the European Cup rugby tournament and Crabbie’s help of the Grand National.

The proposals also contain introducing a minimal price tag for alcohol and restrictions on where drink could be sold in supermarkets.

“The positioning of alcohol retail room in supermarkets should be regulated, for example, becoming restricted to a single defined location physically distant from the doors,” it mentioned.

There would also be measures to tackle smoking so that “children born in 2015 will turn into the initial smoke-free generation for hundreds of many years.”

The program would involve a ban on smoking in vehicles with kids present – a measure that has presently been backed by MPs – and the introduction of plain packaging.

The newspaper mentioned measures to fight obesity could result in a ban on some high-sugar breakfast cereals and an finish to sweets at the supermarket checkout.

“They should not be permitted to stock confectionery and other unhealthy meals adjacent to checkout tills,” the document states.

A Labour spokesman stated the leaked paper “represents a wide range of alternatives” but was not official celebration policy.

“Enhancing public overall health is vital to people’s top quality of existence. That is why we have rightly pressed the government to finish their opposition to plain cigarette packaging,” the spokesman said.

“This paper represents a wide assortment of possibilities and not Labour party policy.”

The Conservative party chairman, Grant Shapps, mentioned: “It really is the very same old Labour. They declare they are concerned about prices – but want to put up the expense of a drink. Not only would that make a drink after operate more expensive, it would hit pubs tough, placing numerous out of enterprise.

“It is getting to be clearer each and every day that Ed Miliband just provides a lot more of the exact same outdated Labour, and no financial prepare to safe Britain’s potential.”

Labour "would restrict income of alcohol, unhealthy meals and tobacco"

How Marlboro income paid for Commons launch of tobacco review

Launch funds: Philip Morris’ Marlboro cigarettes. Photograph: Paul Sakuma/AP

The chairman of an influential Home of Commons decide on committee investigating the tobacco trade hosted a parliamentary reception funded by a cigarette giant, the Observer has established.

Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee (HASC), held a reception to launch a report funded by Marlboro manufacturer Philip Morris Global (PMI) which warns that plain packets for cigarettes will motivate smuggling, an argument described by wellness campaigners as a scare tactic to derail an initiative that will make smoking less desirable to youthful men and women.

Vaz has spoken in parliament on plain packaging, suggesting smuggling presently expenses the Treasury a lot more than £2bn a year – a line promoted by the industry. He was amid 72 MPs who signed a letter to Jeremy Hunt, the wellness secretary, saying that plain packaging will increase the illicit trade in cigarettes.

Earlier this yr he wrote to the prime minister urging him not to attain a decision on plain packaging until finally his committee had reported on its inquiry into tobacco smuggling. Many of the claims suggesting the introduction of plain packaging will encourage smuggling stem from a report, The Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products in the United Kingdom, which was launched by Vaz in January 2013 at a reception for 100 influential guests in parliament’s Terrace Pavilion.

The event was attended by MPs and members of the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Treasury, the Severe Organised Crime Agency, Border Force and Trading Specifications. The report by Transcrime, a thinktank, was sent to each MP. A week right after the reception, Vaz announced that his committee was to investigate tobacco smuggling.

His determination to launch the inquiry into tobacco smuggling so soon after hosting a tobacco sector event has been condemned by health campaigners. Below Globe Overall health Organisation suggestions, signed up to by Britain, politicians involved in policies that could have an affect on cigarette companies ought to “establish measures to limit interactions with the tobacco business and make certain the transparency of individuals interactions that arise”.

“Mr Vaz ought to not place the interests of tobacco firms above people of his constituents, the bulk of whom support the introduction of plain packaging,” mentioned Deborah Arnott, chief executive of overall health charity Ash.

On 24 February this yr, as the government-commissioned Chantler report into plain packaging was finished, Vaz wrote to the prime minister: “I am writing to ask that no selection on the introduction of plain packaging be taken until finally the committee has finished its inquiry and the government and the Residence has had the advantage of our report.”

Arnott stated it was tough “to comprehend” why Vaz would publish such a letter that some MPs on the HASC stated they did not know had been sent in their name. “This seems to be like a last-minute try to cease standardised packaging by the back door,” Arnott mentioned.

Transcrime strongly rejects claims that its study is compromised by tobacco money. It says its perform is at all times independent. PMI says it did not see the analysis until it was published, and insisted that there was total disclosure that it had funded the report and the parliamentary reception.

“As a concerned stakeholder in the fight against the illicit trade in tobacco, Philip Morris Ltd paid for the refreshments and reception fees for this occasion,” a firm spokesman mentioned. “In line with our inner protocols, we acknowledged this on the invitation to the occasion and the backdrops at the occasion. Our funding for the analysis itself is acknowledged by Transcrime in the report.”

Vaz explained that it was the practice “to publish to acceptable ministers if we are conducting an inquiry into a subject and a government choice is imminent, to ask the government to wait till HASC publishes its report.” He mentioned committee members received copies of all letters and replies sent by him. And he rejected tips he was pro-tobacco. “I do not assistance any line from any group or organisation,” Vaz stated.

Any delay in the introduction of plain packaging would be welcome information for the tobacco market. Imperial Tobacco, Japan Tobacco and British American Tobacco have hired companies to acquire signatures from the public to oppose the initiative. According to the EU lobbying register, all 3 organizations have considerably enhanced their spending on lobbying in the last two many years as they have sought to derail moves to introduce plain packaging.

How Marlboro income paid for Commons launch of tobacco review

Tobacco companies hype smuggling fears to steer clear of plain packaging, finds review

The standardised packaging which is now necessary for cigarettes in Australia. Official figures from Australian customs say smuggling has not elevated. Photograph: Tim Wimborne/Reuters

Tobacco companies have been accused of encouraging scare stories claiming that the introduction of plain cigarette packs would promote smuggling.

A peer-reviewed examine has located that, far from the sector currently being a victim of smuggling, there are credible allegations that it has been complicit in facilitating unlawful trade in its items.

A report by Sir Cyril Chantler, reviewing the public wellness rewards of plain packaging, is due to be delivered to the government this week. It was commissioned right after a row about David Cameron’s election strategist Lynton Crosby, whose lobbying firm represents tobacco interests. PMI, which helps make Marlboro cigarettes and is a client of Crosby’s company, has warned that plain packaging would encourage smuggling.

Even so the new study, published in the journal Tobacco Control, claims such arguments should be viewed sceptically.

Professor Anna Gilmore of the Tobacco Management Study Group at the University of Bath said: “We discovered that from early 2008 until early 2011 there have been definitely no media stories citing sector information on illicit sales of tobacco, despite ranges becoming far higher then than they are now. Then out of the blue, just right after the probability of plain packaging was announced, we noticed an boost in such stories, which have continued given that. This, and the truth that leaked documents demonstrate that illicit trade was to be one of the industry’s crucial arguments towards plain packs, suggests this is a deliberate approach.”

Gilmore explained business claims that the use of illicit cigarettes in the United kingdom was sharply increasing have been “wholly inconsistent” with historical trends and recent independent data.

The paper also states: “There is expanding proof that the tobacco businesses are nonetheless involved in the illicit trade. There is proof of considerable overproduction of cigarettes in markets this kind of as Ukraine and Belarus and we know these extra cigarettes finish up in the illegal marketplace.”

Numerous of the tobacco industry’s claims about smuggled tobacco are based on its own studies examining discarded packs at higher-profile venues this kind of as racecourses and football stadiums. But Gilmore questioned the reliability of this kind of studies.

“Tobacco industry data on the illicit trade is completely unreliable,” she said. “Their methodology is never entirely transparent. Their misleading claims about illicit should be witnessed for what they are – a desperate bid to avoid plain packaging from currently being implemented.”

The industry has been robust in fighting its corner. It has commissioned many studies that claim that standardised packs would see an improve in smuggling – anything that could deprive the Exchequer of billions of lbs. Itfiercely rejects claims that it encourages the offering of its personal merchandise on the black marketplace, pointing out that it money a selection of counter-smuggling initiatives.Official customs figures published earlier this month in Australia, the initial country to introduce plain packs, uncovered that the measure has had virtually no effect on tobacco smuggling. “This offical data from Australian customs is the last nail in the coffin for the tobacco industry’s argument that plain packs will boost illicit,” Gilmore stated. “Yet once more the industry’s lies are exposed.”

Deborah Arnott of overall health charity Ash, mentioned the tobacco industry had paid vast sums to consultancies and thinktanks “to make dubious reviews towards plain standardised packaging of cigarettes, which make up in size what they lack in academic rigour.

“The oft-repeated argument that smuggling will increase if branding is eliminated runs counter to all independent proof and is no longer credible.”

Tobacco companies hype smuggling fears to steer clear of plain packaging, finds review

CVS"s Selection To Dump Tobacco Delivers On Its Brand

Just yesterday, I invested the morning with 75 senior marketers at a key healthcare program discussing how the ideal companies provide on their brand’s positioning. This healthcare method was especially interested as it is in the middle of a rebranding energy aimed at doubling its enterprise, expanding its geographical reach, enticing individuals away from stalwart rivals and inspiring over thirty,000 employees – no tiny task for any brand.

The upshot of the discussion is that a robust, effectively-positioned brand can be the North Star for almost everything an organization does. Regardless of whether it is a new knowledge, a new item or service or a late-night buyer support experience, the greatest firms make certain that each and every consumer touchpoint is always on-brand.

Contemplate the irreverent Axe, the empowering Unique K or the unconditional personal support zealot such as Nordstrom and Zappos. You just know what is on- or off-brand, regardless of whether you are a consumer, an employee or an investor. Staples is hassle-totally free, so do not assume them to increase into massive, bulky workplace furniture. Southwest Airline’s hospitality and esprit de corps implies passengers won’t encounter class distinctions in seating and services. CVS is your destination for health and wellness please store elsewhere for tobacco. (Right after October 1, that is).

I’m including CVS to this listing right after its high-priced but cautiously considered move and February five^th announcement. In the words of Chief Executive Larry Merlo, “We’ve come to the selection that cigarettes have no location in an environment the place healthcare is becoming delivered.”

CVS was as soon as just yet another storefront disbursing comfort items and medication, duking it out with Walgreens, Rite Support, Walmart and seven-Eleven. But over time, one thing modified — a flu epidemic and a MinuteClinic later on, CVS had embarked on a journey to transform itself into a overall health and wellness provider and spouse.

CVS recast itself as a “pharmacy innovation company” that each day is “working to make health care far better.” This is the “why” of its brand’s positioning, and the noble function of “helping folks on their path to greater health” is the “what” of its brand, its North Star.The brand shifted and the experience realigned to this North Star with crucial shop redesigns, a robust vaccination system and much more articulate pharmacists.

These moves—including this week’s discontinuation of tobacco solution sales—are on-brand with CVS’ brand purpose as properly as exactly where the nation is headed. Wellness and wellness is not a fad. A persistent U.S. population is a truth – 150 million in the U.S. ages 18 and older have at least a single continual problem, with over 70 million having two. CVS would like to aid the chronically unwell greater manage their situations and to assist the wholesome grow to be healthier. Rivals are also expanding their roles in the wellness arena: This week, Walgreens announced a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare to launch a cost-free, Net-based mostly smoking cessation system named Sponsorship to Quit.

But the $ 2 billion decision to boldly dump tobacco sends CVS’ boldest signal of dedication to the brand and to the place it sees its long term development it’s an unprecedented move and 1 that is wickedly smart. CVS is putting its funds where its brand is, betting that this 1st mover benefit will pay off. I say “first mover” due to the fact no one genuinely owns wellness and wellness. Sixteen thousand health and wellness apps had been downloaded final 12 months. Above $ one.four billion was spent by people striving to discover a lot more about the topic. The all round group is heading to $ 1 trillion in the up coming three-five many years and the timing is right for an individual to stage in and lead the dialog and turn out to be the Amazon of health and wellness. Why not CVS?

There is significantly a lot more to this story tied to CVS Caremark’s relationships with insurers, employers and significant role in Obamacare. But the tale of brand repositioning—and the elimination of a key brand disconnect—is one that all marketers ought to take seriously. “We would constantly get the query: ‘Why do you proceed to sell cigarettes?’” says Troyen Brennan, CVS’ chief medical officer. “Because from the physicians’ and nurses’ point of view, you’re both all-in for healthcare or you’re not.”

A properly-defined, authentic brand has no less responsibility—you are both all in or you’re not. CVS is all in.

CVS"s Selection To Dump Tobacco Delivers On Its Brand

Kicking The Habit: CVS To Quit Promoting Tobacco, Sacrificing $2 Billion In Revenue For Public Well being And Long term Growth

CVS, the biggest pharmacy chain in the United States, will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco merchandise in all of its seven,600 shops by October one, its mother or father firm CVS Caremark CVS Caremark announced this morning. It is the first time any drugstore has ever dropped this deadly funds cow, and it is portion of a significant shift in path for the drugstore giant.

“We’ve acquired 26,000 pharmacists and nurse practitioners who are assisting hundreds of thousands of individuals each and each day,” mentioned Larry Merlo, the chief executive of CVS Caremark. “They control circumstances like substantial blood strain, higher cholesterol, and diabetes — all problems that are worsened by smoking. We’ve come to the determination that cigarettes have no place in an atmosphere exactly where healthcare is getting delivered.”

The selection acquired quick praise from the American Healthcare Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Basis, and the American Cancer Society American Cancer Society. “Over time, we think lives will be saved by this,” says Cancer Society President John Seffrin. But the public-well being-mindedness will price CVS billions – virtually. The organization says $ 2 billion in product sales will be shaved off its $ 125 billion prime line. That will strain earnings, also, even though Merlo swears incremental cost cuts will preserve individuals pressures from displaying up in its profit statements.

Merlo says that continuing to promote cigarettes, which the Surgeon Common blames for 480,000 deaths each yr from heart illness, lung cancer, and stroke, was anathema to CVS’ long-term prepare to grow to be a central player in the U.S. well being care method that interacts ever a lot more closely with patients, providing flu shots, reminding them when they are not filling prescriptions, and, via its 800 Minute Clinic in-store nurse practitioner stations, prescribing medicines. “I see my function as insuring that the firm is positioned for growth,” says Merlo. “And that is what this decision is about.”

CVS, like rivals Walgreen Walgreen and Rite-Assist Corporation, is seeing a dramatic change to its enterprise as it focuses much less on taking marginal revenue out of drug income and far more on bigger agreements with hospitals and insurance coverage firms. In fact, CVS is in the midst of an even larger shift than its competitors. Simply because of its 2007 merger with Caremark, the firm is not only a drug keep chain but also a pharmacy benefit manager, that means it performs with insurance coverage organizations and employers to control drug costs. The assumption is that by currently being a rival to each Rite-Support and positive aspects manager Express Scripts Express Scripts, CVS can extract greater cost savings and offer you better care to individuals, conserving employers money the two by cutting expenses and by generating folks healthier.

Amongst CVS’ newer offerings: a deal with insurers by means of which sufferers who have not filled a necessary prescription, like a hypertension drug, are given counseling from a pharmacist if they demonstrate up wanting something else, like an antibiotic. This is attainable since CVS has information of the two in-keep and mail-purchase prescriptions unfilled prescriptions cost the healthcare system $ 300 billion yearly, CVS says. Yet another new solution will aid sufferers indicator up for pricey medication for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and other “specialty” circumstances, support them figure out how to pay out for them, and permit them to both get them in the mail or select them up at a CVS story.

These new efforts have led CVS to function much more closely with hospitals, doctors’ networks, and what are referred to as Accountable Care Organizations, new kinds of organizations encouraged by Obamacare in which medical doctors agree to be paid not for every stitch, prescription, or procedure but based mostly on how nicely individuals do right after therapy. If CVS can support save money or maintain patients healthier, it may possibly get a piece of the action. But these efforts were major to cognitive dissonance, says Troyen Brennan, a former professor of medicine at Harvard Health care College who is now CVS’ chief healthcare officer.

“We would often get the question: why do you proceed to sell cigarettes?” says Brennan. “Because from the physicians’ and nurses’ stage of see, you’re either all in for healthcare or you are not.” He says he thinks that possessing been the 1st pharmacy to drop cigarettes will be a “competitive advantage” against other retail pharmacies because of the credibility it will give CVS when speaking to doctors.

It’s surely receiving good buzz from organizations pre-briefed on the announcement. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, the CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Basis, called CVS’ cig ban “a large and crucial stage forward for moving us as a nation to a area exactly where we can be healthier.” And Robin Koval, the chief executive of Legacy, the basis formed to cease teen smoking formed when 46 states’ attorneys basic settled with tobacco makers, virtually mentioned “Wow.”

“For the number a single retail pharmacy chain to get a extremely daring stage like this and place folks and their overall health in front of revenue sends a signal that if you want to speak the speak about becoming there to serve your buyers and their healthcare demands, then you have to walk the walk,” says Koval.

In the shorter phrase, the cigarette ban might help with one particular new organization: CVS is offering patients’ smoking cessation treatment, which will usually be paid for by insurance coverage but which some individuals will require to spend for out of pocket. Sufferers will be offered numerous counseling sessions with a nurse practitioner and perhaps, if they need them, nicotine substitute gums, lozenges, or patches or medicines like Chantix and Zyban that can help sufferers quit. CVS does not promote so-called e-cigarettes, which vaporize nicotine so it can be inhaled.

Will the halo from the public health praise be sufficient to make up for the hit to earnings? Possibly. The $ 2 billion in yearly revenue lost is only one.six% of total revenue. In flip, CVS says that this will strain earnings by 17 cents per share, or 40%, on an yearly basis. But simply because the removal will not have entirely happened until October, that will only hit this year’s earnings by 6 to 9 cents per share. And CVS says it can make up individuals costs, maintaining its guidance, although that earnings coverage has to come from somewhere. The company is creating a daring bet on rebranding itself as being not just a shop, but a healthcare business. Arguably, it’s not there however. But Merlo has established a clear sense of direction, and when it comes to a massive, often slow-moving business, that is a very good thing.

Also on Forbes:

Kicking The Habit: CVS To Quit Promoting Tobacco, Sacrificing $2 Billion In Revenue For Public Well being And Long term Growth