Moves to ban all smoking on hospital premises faltered yesterday when the Southern District Health Board voted against smoke-free mental health services.

The board had been asked to endorse implementing its smoke-free policy for mental health services and facilities, following a lengthy discussion at its hospitals advisory committee meeting, but yesterday the board vote was lost on voices.

Member Richard Thomson, who has spoken out repeatedly about the move to have mental health patients not permitted to leave hospital premises banned from smoking, indicated at the start of the debate he did not expect to win the argument. He said he could not vote for forced treatment for a group of people who had not asked for it. “That is a very significant step to take.”

His research had showed it was not an effective way of getting patients to stop smoking and could put patients off seeking the treatment they needed He referred to an email he had received from a person with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia who said he refused to access health care because of the ” totalitarian anti-choice regime in psychiatric hospitals”.

Patients at Wakari Hospital’s 9A and 9B wards can light up in a grassed courtyard.

Chief executive Brian Rousseau said he had sympathy for both sides of the argument but the board ran the risk of ” becoming too ideological” at times in its policy implementation.

Nobody could convince him that a terminal lung cancer patient who had been a chain smoker for 50 years should be stopped from smoking in the last weeks of their life.

That would not be ” humane or sensible”.

The board should be saying, “This is our policy. However, there are some valid exceptions. My view is this would be one.”

Balclutha GP Dr Branko Sijnja, who asked that his vote in favour of implementing the policy be recorded, said there was plenty of evidence about the harm of smoking and the board needed to be consistent about the message it was giving.

He said he appreciated the fact some patients were confined, but the board still needed to make a stand as the provider of health services.

Chairman Errol Millar noted that prisons were to be made smoke-free.

Mr Thomson said he did not particularly agree with that either, but there was more justification because those who had committed a crime had sanctions imposed on them by society.

Members Katie O’Connor, Peter Barron, Helen Algar, Kaye Crowther and Louise Carr all spoke in support of a policy with flexibility.

An employee who smokes four cigarettes per day during work hours costs his or her employers at least NT$60,000 (US$1,886) a year, according to Department of Health (DOH) estimates.

In an anti-smoking campaign, officials from the DOH Bureau of Health Promotion said employers should encourage their workers to stop smoking as it cuts into work time by about one hour per day, assuming a consumption rate of four cigarettes per person during work hours.

The bureau’s statistics show that one in six employees — 18 percent — are smokers, while 14 percent are exposed to secondhand smoke in the workplace, the officials said.

Exposure to secondhand smoke, also called involuntary smoking or passive smoking, can cause lung cancer and breast cancer in nonsmoking adults and leukemia, lymphoma, and brain tumors in children, studies have found.

As part of its efforts to help workers to steer clear of the risks of smoking, the Bureau of Health Promotion invited some people who have kicked the habit to share their experiences at a news conference Monday.

Wang Yun-cheng, an executive from Taiwan Mobile, said he was addicted to cigarettes for more than 10 years and his many unsuccessful attempts to quit prompted his son to call him a liar.

Finally, Wang said, he joined a “quit-smoking” group program organized by his company and succeeded in kicking the habit, with encouragement from his co-workers and professional help from counselors.

He advised smokers who want to quit not to carry cigarettes or lighters and avoid places where people smoke.

Ma Chin-pao, 36, from the cellphone manufacturer HTC, said he quit smoking after 18 years by enrolling in a program sponsored by HTC.

“It was the beginning of a virtuous circle, because my father who had been smoking for six decades, followed my lead and quit as well, “he said.

According to the bureau’s estimates, employers will benefit from helping their workers to stop smoking, as the cost of tobacco-cessation programs is much lower than the losses incurred as a result of people smoking during work hours.

Japan Tobacco Inc., the world’s third-largest publicly traded cigarette maker, said first- quarter profit fell 47 percent after domestic sales dropped and a stronger yen reduced the value of overseas earnings.

Net income dropped to 22.8 billion yen ($261 million) for the three months ended June, compared with 42.9 billion yen a year earlier, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement today. Last year’s profit was inflated by a one-time gain of 9.1 billion yen from the sale of corporate housing. Total sales rose 0.3 percent to 1.47 trillion yen.

Japan Tobacco said its cigarette sales may decline 16 percent this fiscal year as the government plans to raise taxes by 70 yen per pack in October. The maker of Mild Seven and Seven Star will raise prices more than needed to compensate for the higher tax, as it also seeks to offset lower product sales.

The company was also hammered by a stronger yen, which has risen against all the world’s major currencies in 2010. A stronger local currency cuts the value of overseas earnings when repatriated. Japan Tobacco acquired RJR Nabisco’s international businesses, including the Camel and Winston brands, in 1999 and the U.K.’s Gallaher Group in 2007.

The company, which also sells drugs and frozen food, kept its annual earnings forecast unchanged. Net income will probably decline 3.9 percent to 133 billion yen for the year ending March, it said April 28. Sales may fall 2.5 percent to 5.98 trillion yen.

New York Governor David Paterson wants to raise tobacco taxes and collect levies on cigarettes sold to outsiders from American Indian reservations.

The proposals are part of Paterson’s 12th consecutive emergency spending plan, scheduled for a June 21 vote, to keep the government operating for another week. The measure is needed as lawmakers and Paterson haven’t agreed on a comprehensive budget that closes a deficit estimated at $9.2 billion when the fiscal year began on April 1.

“Our anticipation is that the budget extender will pass,” said Robert Megna, the state budget director, who described the weekly measure to reporters at the state Capitol in Albany.

New York, the nation’s third-most populous state, would expect to receive about $290 million this year from a $1.60 per pack increase in the cigarette tax, to $4.35, and a boost in the wholesale tax on other tobacco products, such as snuff and cigars, to 75 percent from 46 percent. Collecting taxes on cigarette sales from reservations would raise $150 million.

The estimated $9.2 billion deficit in Paterson’s $135.2 billion budget, submitted earlier this year, has been reduced by about half, Megna said. The additional tobacco revenue, plus spending cuts and savings in budget bills already passed or pending, and cuts in agency expenses that Paterson can order without lawmakers approval, have narrowed the deficit by between $4.5 billion and $5 billion, he said.

June 28 Deadline

Paterson earlier this week set a June 28 deadline for lawmakers to agree on a budget, which he said must not include borrowing. If there is no agreement, the governor said he would resubmit his original budget. That includes a 1 cent per ounce tax on sweetened beverages and larger cuts in school aid that many lawmakers don’t favor.

If legislators don’t approve the weekly spending plan, which provides appropriations to pay state workers for another week, they would cause a government shutdown, said Morgan Hook, a Paterson spokesman.

New York’s bond rating hasn’t suffered from the late budget or “very difficult state political process,” Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday as it affirmed an Aa2 grade, the third highest, for the state’s general obligation bonds.

“It appears likely that the state will solve the budget gap with some combination of spending cuts, revenue increases and one-time revenues that will not imperil the long-term fiscal health of the state,” the rating company said in a report.

Departmental Cuts Made

The Assembly yesterday trimmed the deficit by about $1.05 billion in budgets approved for departments including public safety, transportation and economic development, Megna said. After the Senate has an opportunity to study the measures, they “will pass,” said Travis Proulx, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader John Sampson, a Democrat of Brooklyn.

The bills also would cut $302 million from aid for New York City. The state cut municipal aid payments to other cities by 2 percent to 5 percent, or about $15 million in all, budget documents show.

While Senate Democrats have opposed any tax increases in spending plans, Megna said they might be swayed to accept higher tobacco levies as a way to avoid even larger cuts in health-care programs.

“Full consideration has to be given to all responsible proposals which balance the budget and maintain necessary funding for health and Medicaid programs,” Proulx said.

Politicians of both parties have pushed to resume collecting revenue on cigarette sales from American Indian reservations. The state hasn’t tried to make the collections since the early 1990s, when an attempt resulted in violent opposition that injured a state trooper and closed the main Albany-to-Buffalo highway. Court rulings have affirmed the New York’s right to collect the taxes.

By Michael Quint
Bloomberg, Jun 19, 2010

Already faced with smoking bans and rising cigarette prices, many Kansas smokers are learning that lighting up will cost them more for health insurance.

And lying about smoking could cost them their job.

A growing number of employers are requiring workers who use tobacco to pay higher premiums in an effort to lower health care costs.

Newton Medical Center recently informed employees that beginning July 1, it will impose a “tobacco-user surcharge” — $35 per two-week pay period — to employees who smoke or have a spouse or dependents who smoke.

“Studies show that folks who use tobacco typically have higher health care costs than those who don’t,” said Todd Tangeman, the center’s human resources director.

“For those who make that choice, it seems reasonable that they would contribute toward their share of the costs.”

Smokers who falsely state on a benefits enrollment form that they don’t use tobacco “will face disciplinary action up to and including termination,” according to a memo issued to Newton Medical Center employees.

Such measures are becoming more common as employers look for ways to battle rising health care costs. Companies that once opted for carrots over sticks — free gym memberships, for instance, or gift cards for attending a health fair — are moving toward surcharges and other punitive measures.

But how far can employers go in dictating workers’ health habits?

Pretty far, say some opponents.

Smoker surcharges “could be the first step down a very dangerous road,” said Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute.

“If you’re going to charge employees for unhealthy behavior, what about the people who go to McDonald’s for lunch every day? Everybody does something in their private life that their doctor doesn’t like.

“The question is, where does it end? And the answer is, there is no end.”

Healthier choices

Newton Medical Center planned to implement its tobacco-use surcharge in January but delayed the move for six months to give workers time to quit, Tangeman said.

“The intent is to help people make a healthier choice,” he said. “It isn’t to be punitive.

“But this kind of puts a catalyst out there…. We believe it will help bring greater awareness about the real costs of tobacco use.”

The California-based Safeway grocery store chain made national news last summer for its Healthy Measures program, which rewards employees for healthy behavior.

Advocates of the so-called “Safeway model” compare it to auto insurance, which for years has tied accident risk to premiums. An 18-year-old man with a sports car and two speeding tickets, for example, pays more than a 45-year-old woman with a sedan and a spotless driving record.

Safeway employees who choose to participate in the voluntary program are tested annually in four areas — weight, tobacco use, blood pressure and cholesterol — and receive discounts for each test they pass.

Those who don’t smoke and who maintain healthy weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels save nearly $800 a year on individual health insurance and more than $1,500 for families.

The Wichita school district is exploring similar measures as part of its overall wellness program, said Shannon Krysl, the district’s director of employee benefits and risk management.

“We have people that are fearful of a ‘fat tax,’ that kind of thing,” Krysl said. “But really the whole purpose of this wellness strategy is to raise people’s awareness that they have to start taking responsibility for their health status.”

Wichita school employees who use tobacco regularly — more than 10 times a year — pay $600 a year more for health coverage. Workers pay another $600 a year if their spouse smokes.

Tobacco-related surcharges or discounts are “becoming fairly common” in Kansas, said Steve O’Neil, life and health manager in the Kansas Insurance Department’s consumer assistance division.

Most operate on the honor system: Employees sign a form stating whether or not they smoke. Few companies pay for costly medical tests that measure nicotine levels in a person’s body, O’Neil said.

The measures “have been around for so long, most smokers have just kind of accepted this is how things are done,” he said. His office rarely fields questions or complaints.

Premiums, charges

The higher premiums for smokers range from $20 to $70 a month.

“We just had to find a number that we thought would get people’s attention, but wouldn’t be so much that people would blatantly lie about it,” said Krysl, the Wichita school district benefits director.

Some, such as the state of Kansas, waive charges for smokers who participate in smoking cessation programs, whether or not they quit.

“Over the long haul, healthier employees cost less and generate fewer claims against the insurance program,” said Peter Hancock, spokesman for the Kansas Health Policy Authority, which administers the state health care plan.

What happens if people lie on the forms — if they say they don’t smoke but then sneak cigarettes or the occasional cigar?

“I don’t think a whole lot happens right now,” Hancock said. “That’s kind of a personnel issue between the employee and his supervisor. At some point, there are consequences to it.”

Krysl said employees caught smoking on district property who haven’t paid the tobacco-user surcharge “have the choice of paying that premium retroactively, or being referred to HR for further disciplinary action.”

“In our case, there’s that added interest in being good role models for students,” Krysl said. “We are people they look up to, and we shouldn’t be smoking.”

Maltby, the workers’ rights advocate, said “there’s nothing inherently wrong” with making smokers pay more. But he worries about the precedent tobacco surcharges may set.

“Everybody’s got something — if it’s not tobacco, it’s alcohol or junk food,” he said. “Maybe you love skiing or scuba diving or riding a motorcycle. All of those carry significant risks. Even your sex life can have medical risks. What if you have a different partner every Saturday night?

“If employers really want to do this effectively, there’s no reason to stop at smoking.”
BY SUZANNE PEREZ TOBIAS
The Wichita Eagle, Jun. 13, 2010

If you want to improve your daily life style and want to improve your health then you must stop smoking. There are a lot of campaigns and programs that are conducted all over the world that educate the people and inform them about the harms caused by smoking, but still there are people who smoke. These campaigns and awareness programs are for those who smoke. Many people individuals and government agencies are now helping people get out of this curse.

Stop SmokingThere are campaigns carried out in every city of the world, and named after it like a campaign carried out in Dallas will be named as Charlotte Smoking Cessation or Stop Smoking in Charlotte. Smoking really is not a good habit, medical officers are always there present in these types of campaign to help people out in their doubts about smoking. They are there to help people out in their problems.

These programs educate the people about the harmful effect of smoking on the person’s health and on the environment. People who smoke regularly are more at risk of dying than any other person. According to World Health Organization the leading cause of deaths all over the world is smoking. The reason is that if you are smoking you might not feel any symptoms when you are young, but when you start getting older it will come to the end as broken or damaged lungs. Smoking is slow killing. It is this reason that people are dying because of smoking the NGO’s are now starting to educate and inform the people about the hazards of smoking. Smoking causes over 5.4 million deaths every year.

See the numbers and you will be amazed. This is more than any other disease causing death. Medical research has shown that smoking causes lung cancer, emphysema and cardiovascular or Heart diseases.

Well you do certainly need to stop smoking. If not then you will have to pay the price, and the price is your death and deaths of many other people. If you smoke you do ore harm to the people around you than yourself. Smoking might kill you slowly but it kills people around you more quickly.

RICHMOND, Va. – Cigarette maker Altria Group Inc. plans to raise prices on its U.S. smokeless tobacco brands like Copenhagen, Skoal and Red Seal.

For most brands the increase will be 10 cents a can, which cost on average $4.15 each at retail.

Bill Phelps, a spokesman for the Richmond, Va., company, said Friday the company is always evaluating its strategies, when asked the reasons for the price increase.

Earlier this month, the company’s Philip Morris USA announced it would raise its price of 8 cents a pack on most cigarette brands, such as Marlboro brand. Packs of Marlboro have an average retail price of $5.42, he said.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Christopher Growe said in a note earlier this week the price increase for cigarettes was above his estimates.

“We believe this pricing is fully justified in the context of the strong market share performances of the premium brands of late,” he said, citing Marlboro.

He said sales volume likely won’t be affected even though consumers are still challenged by economics and tax increases on cigarettes.

Growe rates the stock a “buy” with a $22 target price.

Shares of Altria rose 20 cents to $20.87 in late trading Friday.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is again testing the brand loyalty and financial elasticity of smokers.

The company said yesterday that it will raise the list price of its cigarette brands for wholesale customers between 8 and 33 cents a pack, effective Wednesday.

The smaller increase affects mostly Reynolds’ top brands, including its flagships Camel and Pall Mall, along with support brands Doral, GPC, Kool, Misty, Salem and Winston.

The larger increase affects mostly Reynolds’ nonsupport brands, such as Capri, Carlton, Eclipse, Lucky Strike, More, Now and Vantage.

David Howard, a spokesman for Reynolds, said that the company doesn’t comment on its pricing strategy and the price that wholesalers set at retail. “It’s just a business decision,” he said.

However, the decision came after Philip Morris USA and Lorillard Inc. announced price increases, both of which were effective yesterday.

Philip Morris increased prices by 8 cents a pack. In addition, Philip Morris said it was ending a promotional initiative for its Basic brand that would raise its price another 21 cents a pack.

Lorillard raised its prices on Newport and other premium brands by 41/2 cents. Old Gold prices were raised by 8 cents a pack. Lorillard took a similar price increase with Newport in February, which was not matched by Philip Morris and Reynolds.

It is the fourth price increase by Reynolds since September 2007.

In March 2009, Reynolds raised the list price in the range of 41 cents to 78 cents a pack for wholesale customers, including 41 cents to 44 cents for most of its growth and support brands. That was in response to Congress passing the 62-cent increase in the federal excise tax to pay for expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

The latest increase comes at a time when local tobacco wholesalers say that demand for discount cigarettes is rising.

“Every time you have an increase like this, some more smokers will switch to cheaper brands,” said Ann Yountz, the owner of TNT Smoke Shop in Lexington. “Many consumers want to smoke the main brands, but they can’t afford them anymore.”

For example, Yountz said that it can cost more than $50 a week to buy a carton of some brand-name cigarettes. “For every 10 cartons of Marlboro or Camel I sell, I’m easily selling 200 of the low-end brands,” Yountz said.

Reynolds is raising the list price about two weeks after reporting its cigarette-shipment volume fell 2.5 percent in the first quarter to 18.2 billion cigarettes. The industry decline was down 2.4 percent, according to Reynolds.

Reynolds said that the majority of its shipment decline came from its decision to “move away from private-label brands.” In recent years, Reynolds’ decision to lower its marketing costs on some former top brands has contributed to a slow decline in sales.

“Some people will smoke their brand no matter the cost as long as it remains available,” said Mark Sowers, the vice president of K&M Wholesale Co. Inc. in Lexington.

Analysts said they will focus in particular on how consumers respond to the Pall Mall price increase. Pall Mall sales have surged recently in large part because Reynolds has offered price discounts at times to position it as a high-quality discount brand.

Pall Mall sales jumped 134.3 percent to 4.4 billion cigarettes in the first quarter, just 300 million shy of Camel’s sales. The brand also expanded its grip on being the No. 4 cigarette brand in the United States at 6.5 percent market share, while Camel is third at 7.1 percent.

“They are really counting on the view that the race to bottom in terms of discounting price and reduced quality has to end soon,” said Stephen Pope, the chief global-market strategist with Cantor Fitzgerald Europe.

“They have determined that they are there now, and with a quality product they can afford to press the price a little higher and not experience any detriment to the bottom line.”

By Richard Craver
journalnow, May 11, 2010

Altria Group Inc., the largest U.S. tobacco company, plans to raise prices on all 18 of its cigarette brands after top-selling Marlboro gained smokers in the first quarter.

Altria’s Philip Morris USA division will charge wholesalers 8 cents a pack more for Marlboro, Virginia Slims and other brands, David Sylvia, a spokesman for the Richmond, Virginia- based company, said yesterday in an e-mail. The increase will begin May 10. The company won’t explain why it’s raising prices, the first increase since October, Sylvia said.

The higher prices are within “the normal range” expected this year, Thilo Wrede, an analyst for Credit Suisse in New York, wrote in a note to clients yesterday. He rates Altria shares “neutral.”

Marlboro shipments rose 1.6 percent to 29.6 billion cigarettes last quarter, while the brand increased its U.S. market share by 0.3 percentage point to a record 42.7 percent, Altria said April 21. Its overall cigarette market share slipped 0.7 point to 50.2 percent.

The average price of a pack of Marlboro in convenience stores was $5.42 in the first quarter, Sylvia said.

Altria declined 47 cents to $20.75 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have advanced 5.7 percent this year.

By Chris Burritt
Bloomberg, May 6, 2010

IMPERIAL Tobacco Group, one of 12 companies facing fines for price fixing, said at the weekend it would fight a record ruling by Britain’s fair trade watchdog.

Imperial, Gallaher Group and 10 retailers were fined £225m for co-ordinating cigarette prices between 2001 and 2003, the UK’s Office of Fair Trade (OFT) said on Friday. Imperial, the maker of the West, Davidoff and JPS brands, received the largest penalty of £112,3m. Gallaher, a unit of Japan Tobacco, was fined £50,4m. The fines are the largest of their kind by the regulator.

Wal-Mart Stores’s Asda unit was fined £14,2m and The Co- operative Group £14,1m, for their roles in a scheme that the OFT says barred retailers from setting their own prices.

The affected markets are worth about £13bn.

“Practices such as these, which restrict the ability of retailers to set their resale prices for competing brands independently, are unlawful,” OFT senior director Simon Williams said. “They can lead to reduced competition and disadvantage consumers.”

The OFT said it dropped allegations made in 2008 about the relationship between the tobacco companies and Tesco, because it did not have enough evidence. The regulator also abandoned claims relating to indirect exchanges of proposed future retail prices.

Some of the companies, including Imperial, said they would challenge the fines.

Frances Murphy, a competition lawyer at Jones Day in London, said the fine and the decision to drop some claims were “rare” examples of the regulator’s ability to deal with cases swiftly and tactically. The OFT was “willing to let more serious things go in order to get a quick result, which perhaps points towards the OFT being more tactical and pragmatic in the application of tight resources,” Murphy said.

Imperial denied breaking any laws and said it would appeal to the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Japan Tobacco views the fine as a “positive” development since the fine has been formally decided, a spokeswoman said.

The OFT issued initial fines in the case two years ago after alleging that some of the same retailers and manufacturers linked retail prices of tobacco brands to those of competing products. The investigation started seven years ago.

William Morrison Supermarkets said it would challenge the fines, saying the OFT’s stance was “illogical and without foundation”. “The practices to which the OFT refers were intended to reduce the retail prices charged to consumers, and the OFT has itself acknowledged that its case is based on a novel interpretation of the law,” Morrison said.

J Sainsbury, the UK’s third- biggest supermarket owner, alerted the OFT to the price-fixing and was the first to apply for leniency. The company received immunity from fines.

Despite the growing anti-smoking campaign, the nation’s two largest cigarette makers delivered strong profits in 2009 as demand continued to increase.

PT Gudang Garam, the second-largest producer, announced on Tuesday an 84 percent jump in 2009 net profit to Rp 3.45 trillion ($379.5 million) from Rp 1.88 trillion in 2008. The company is owned by the Wonowidjojo family, one of the country’s richest.

Rival PT HM Sampoerna, the largest producer, announced late last week that net profit increased by 31 percent to Rp 5.08 trillion last year, from Rp 3.89 trillion a year earlier. The company is controlled by US tobacco giant Philip Morris International.

“Gudang Garam posted significant profit growth as sales rose while operating expenses declined,” said Akhmad Nurcahyadi, an analyst at PT Bank Negara Indonesia Securities.

He said demand for cigarettes has remained high with annual growth of 1 percent to 2 percent.

Gudang Garam said its sales rose 8.9 percent to Rp 32.97 trillion last year, compared with Rp 30.25 trillion a previous year.

HM Sampoerna reported a 12.3 percent growth in sales to Rp 38.97 trillion, compared with Rp 34.68 trillion in 2008.

Yohan Setio, an analyst at PT Mandiri Sekuritas, said the consolidation of the company’s distribution operation helped improved Gudang Garam’s profit margin.

Cigarette companies are one of the largest employers and taxpayers in the country. The industry directly employs about 824,000 families.

Gudang Garam paid income tax of Rp 1.34 trillion last year, compared to Rp 775.8 billion a year earlier, while HM Sampoerna’s income tax outlay was Rp 2.1 trillion in 2009, up from Rp 1.9 trillion in 2008.

But amid pressure from health campaigners, the government has begun an increasingly anti-smoking campaign, causing concern among tobacco companies.

Earlier this month Muhammadiyah, the nation’s second-largest Muslim organization, issued a fatwa banning its followers from lighting up.

Both the organization and antitobacco campaigners have targeted cigarette advertising as one of the main culprits behind a generation of new smokers.

The Health Ministry is now drafting proposal to ban cigarette makers making direct communication with consumers, including promotions.

“It is extreme to forbid cigarette makers from promoting as it would hurt all stakeholders including tobacco farmers,” Muhaimin Moefti, head of the Indonesian Non-Clove Cigarette Producers Association (Gaprindo), told the Jakarta Globe.

He said the central government must ensure balanced and comprehensive regulation of the cigarette industry, rather than letting the regional governments and organizations create their own regulations or fatwas.

Sudaryanto, head of the Indonesian Tobacco Alliance (Amti), said he supported some government regulation of the tobacco industry.

“We agree not to sell cigarettes to children, but we do not agree if the government forbids us to make direct contact with our consumers,” he said.

Amti consists of tobacco and clove farmers across the country, cigarette manufacturers and traders.

Anti-tobacco campaigners have urged the government to forbid tobacco promotion in “public spaces” such as television. The coalition stated that there are only three countries in the world that still allow tobacco promotion in public spaces, including Indonesia.

Sudaryanto said the anti-tobacco campaign has yet to significantly affect the industry and tobacco farmers.

“But we need to anticipate the possible loss [of income],” Soedaryanto said.

Last year , Indonesia had an estimated 212,600 hectares of tobacco plantations spreading across eight tobacco centers in North Sumatra, West and Central Java, Bali, East Nusa Tenggara and South Sulawesi.

In the 2010 state budget, the government forecast Rp 55.9 trillion of excise revenue, mostly from cigarette companies, up from Rp 48.44 trillion last year.
Thejakartaglobe, March 30, 2010

Susan Ivey, the top executive at Reynolds American Inc., received a modest raise in salary, the company said in a regulatory filing yesterday.

However, her total compensation jumped 68 percent to $16.4 million because of an incentive payment based on Reynolds’ 2009 performance, as well as a cash settlement from a 2007 incentive plan that vested at the end of last year.

Ivey, the chairwoman, chief executive and president of Reynolds, was paid $1.27 million, up $17,250. Ivey already was near a set company cap for salary before 2009, the company said.

In regards to non-equity incentive-plan compensation, Ivey received a 64 percent increase to $8.5 million.

Her total compensation package included $6.2 million in unvested long-term performance units granted in 2009, which depend on performance over the next three years.

In 2008, she received about $2.2 million in the same category.

In 2009, Ivey vested in about $1.8 million in restricted stock, and received $198,217 in other compensation.

Listed among all other compensation for Ivey is $79,000 in a payment that replaced the company’s former executive perks program and $11,509 for the value of personal flights on company owned or leased aircraft.

For the full year, Reynolds reported net income of $962 million, down 28.1 percent, or diluted earnings of $3.30. Excluding charges, it had net income of $1.35 billion, down 3.8 percent, or diluted earnings of $4.64.

During the year, Reynolds dealt with several factors that contributed to a sales decline. Some were related to consumers smoking less and buying discount brands in response to higher state and federal excise taxes, and also having less disposable income.

“For a public company the size of Reynolds, the compensation appears to be right in line if not somewhat low on the salary side,” said Peter Tourtellot, the managing director of Anderson Bauman Tourtellot Vos & Co., a turnaround-management company in Greensboro.

“Most people think when they see a number like $8 million that it is all cash, but they are stock awards with restrictions that I think are in the interest of all shareholders. If the company does well and the share price increases, the chief executive benefits but so do all the shareholders.”

Thomas Adams, the chief financial officer, received a 4 percent raise in salary to $533,882. Daniel Delen, the president and chief executive of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., was paid $814,600 in salary, up 4 percent. Judy Lambeth, its general counsel, received a 3 percent raise in salary to $564,850. Jeff Gentry, the chief scientific officer for Reynolds Tobacco, was paid $450,418 in salary.

In terms of non-equity incentive-plan compensation, Adams received $983,573, Delen $2.9 million, Lambeth $1.8 million and Gentry nearly $1.1 million.

By Richard Craver, Journalnow
March 23, 2010

Tobacco prices in Malawi, Africa’s biggest producer of the burley variety of the crop, fetched an average of 20 percent more than government set prices at the first auction of the season, the industry regulator said.

The leaf sold for $2.40 per kilogram (2.2 pounds) at Limbe Auction Floors, compared with the $2 set by the government, Tobacco Control Commission Chairman Bruce Munthali told reporters today in Blantyre, the commercial capital.

“I am impressed with the quality of the leaf and the buyers should be commended for offering above government set prices,” Munthali said. “We hope this trend will go on.”

Malawi’s government started setting minimum prices for the various grades of tobacco in 2007, after accusing merchants of putting growers out of business by offering farmers lower prices than the government-mandated level. Last year, President Bingu wa Mutharika deported four officials at three tobacco-buying companies, accusing them of sabotaging his economic agenda.

The commission this year won’t tolerate any disruptions such as the disagreements that occurred between buyers and growers in 2009, Munthali said.

“We, as TCC, want a smooth market,” he said. “I would also like to appeal to all grower associations to assist in educating our farmers on procedures in raising concerns on tobacco prices. Stopping markets or sales unilaterally is not acceptable.”

Malawi, a nation of 15 million people that the United Nations ranks as one of the world’s least developed, relies on tobacco to generate 60 percent of its export earnings. The country produced 215.3 million kilograms this season, down 7.2 percent from a year earlier, Hudson Mleme, a director at the commission, told reporters at the briefing. Output was curbed by dry spells and difficulties in sourcing fertilizers, he said.

TOKYO, – In an unusual move, British American Tobacco Japan Ltd. said Monday it has withdrawn its application filed with the Finance Ministry last month to raise the prices of its cigarette brands.

The third-largest seller of tobacco in Japan withdrew the application following recent calls by the government for smoking bans in public places which, if implemented, could cause demand for tobacco to plunge.

In late February, the health ministry issued a nonbinding instruction urging local governments across Japan to work toward a total smoking ban in public places to help reduce health risks linked to passive smoking.

Subject to Finance Ministry approval, BTA Japan had planned to raise prices of all of its 50 cigarette brands, including Kent, by 20 yen per pack from June 1.

In announcing the withdrawal of its application, the company said it needed to watch trends in the tobacco market for the time being.

Earlier this month, the Finance Ministry approved an application filed by Philip Morris (NYSE:MO) Japan KK, the second-largest seller of tobacco in Japan, to raise prices of its cigarette brands, including Marlboro, by 20 yen per pack from June 1.

The minimum price paid to tobacco producers in Malawi, Africa’s largest producer of the burley variety, has been reduced by 7 percent as the cost of producing the leaf fell, the Tobacco Control Commission said.

Burley tobacco will trade at a minimum price of $2 per kilogram (2.2 pounds) from $2.15, while flue-cured tobacco will decline to $3 a kilogram form $3.60, the commission’s Chief Executive Officer, Bruce Munthali, told reporters in the capital, Lilongwe, yesterday, ahead of the opening of the tobacco selling season on March 16.

“A memorandum of understanding has been signed with buyers on these prices,” Munthali said. “We don’t expect to have problems this year.”

Prices of tobacco in the southern African nation picked up after the country’s leader, Bingu wa Mutharika, deported four officials at its three top tobacco-buying companies, accusing them of sabotaging his economic agenda by offering farmers lower prices.

Production of the leaf by Malawi, which relies on tobacco for 60 percent of its foreign-exchange earnings, will probably decline 7.3 percent to 215.3 million kilograms this year because of drought, according to the commission.

Robert Pattinson has been exposed as a smoker and now he’s reportedly worried his mum will find out.
A photo has appeared in the States of the young Twilight heartthrob smoking a fag – despite Rob apparently doing his best to conceal his bad habit.

A source told The Sun: “Robert tried to make sure his security shielded him from lurking photographers. But a snap has appeared in America.

“Rob’s since admitted he’s scared about his mum finding out.”

Let’s hope Mama Pattz doesn’t read mtv.co.uk…

In other Pattinson news he’s said critics of New Moon annoyed him.

Speaking to Parade the actor said: “I didn’t like the way New Moon was treated by the critics. I think it was reviewed in the context of just being a big franchise movie.

“When something is so hyped, inevitably, there is a backlash against it. I think Chris Weitz is an amazing director. I really enjoyed the film. So the naysayers kind of annoyed me.”

The World Health Organizations says smoking is considered a high risk factor in six of the eight leading causes of death worldwide. Medical experts have long preached about how smokers can quit. Now a growing number of employers in the United States are refusing to hire them. Some smokers are wondering what kind of discrimination is next.

More and more Americans who smoke are beginning to feel unliked and unwanted. Federal laws prevent them from smoking in public buildings. They are not allowed to smoke within a certain distance of those buildings.
Since the federal law was passed a decade ago, many state and local communities have followed suit.

Now a growing number of companies and hospitals will not hire smokers, or worse, will fire them if they are caught lighting up.

Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee is now giving check-ups to prospective employees. A urine test that detects nicotine means no job is offered.

Nurse Kristi Edmondson thinks her smoking habit is nobody’s business but her own. “Memorial should not dictate to us what we do in our own time, off the time clock,” she stated.

The head of the hospital’s parent company, Memorial Health Care Systems, is James Hobson. He defends the decision. “It’s relevant to creating that healthy lifestyle,” he said. “And again it’s relevant to the entire community.”

A growing number of large American companies are finding that health care costs for smokers are higher than for non-smokers.

A study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that medical care and the loss of worker productivity averages about $3,000 annually for each smoker.

As a result, some companies now require smokers to pay a larger share of their health insurance than non-smokers.

While 29 of the 50 U.S. states have laws that protect the rights of smokers, 21 others do not. Weyco an insurance benefits administrator in (the state of) Michigan, began imposing random smoking tests in 2005 on its own employees.

The President of the National Workrights Institute is Lewis Maltby. “Most people think they have a right to freedom of speech. They don’t know that their freedom of speech disappears where their boss is concerned,” Maltby said.

The World Health Organization says at least five million tobacco users die every year from lung cancer, heart disease and other smoking-related causes. The WHO says if current trends continue, tobacco-related deaths will climb to at least eight million a year by 2030.
By Melinda Smith, Washington
18 February 2010

The tobacco auction season opened in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Tuesday, two months earlier than had been customary, with 800 bales or some 80,000 kilograms of leaf going under the hammer on two auction floors.

Chief Executive Andrew Matibiri of the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board told VOA that the flue-cured tobacco was selling at a healthy average of US$4 per kilogram compared to the selling price of US$3 a kilo last year.

Matibiri said: “The 2010 flue-cured tobacco auction sales started today and contract sales are expected to start this Wednesday.”

He said auction sales would be conducted twice a week and contract sales were expected to depend on tobacco supplies.

Matibiri said it is expected that 77 million kilograms of tobacco will be sold this year with 45 percent or close to 40 million kilograms selling through the auction system, and the rest being disposed of under contracts.

He said the early-than-usual auction season opening was intended to help leaf farmers to repay loans ahead of time and prepare for the next season.

“Farmers are expected to unlock the value of their tobacco instead of keeping it for two months in their barns,” said Matibiri, adding that “now they can sell it as they cure it.”

Agricultural expert Renson Gasela said while the season was off to an early start, this year’s projected crop of 70 million kilograms would fall well short of the 237 million kilograms sold one decade ago in 2000. That was the year land reform began, driving hundreds of white growers off their property.

He said it would take time for the current occupiers of farms to increase the production of tobacco to significant levels.

Tobacco production posted a 16 percent increase between 2008 and 2009 from 48.8 million kilograms to 56.6 million kilos.

Harare press reports said somewhat more than 22,000 growers have registered to sell their tobacco this season compared with 28,000 in 2009.

LONDON, – European shares edged higher on Tuesday, led by banks though investors remained wary of the debt problems in Greece and other peripheral euro zone economies.

The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of leading European shares closed 0.2 percent higher at 980.96 points in choppy trade, after rising 0.7 percent on Monday to snap a three-day losing run.

The index has fallen 6.2 percent so far this year but is still up 52 percent from a low hit in early March 2009.

Banks .SX7P were the among the top gainers in Europe, though they pared some gains towards the end of the session. Traders said comments by Fitch Ratings that Britain was among the most vulnerable of triple-A sovereigns took some of the wind out of UK banks.

HSBC (HSBA.L), Banco Santander (SAN.MC), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) and Barclays (BARC.L) advanced 0.3 to 2.8 percent. Swiss bank UBS (UBSN.VX) fell 5.4 percent after reporting clients withdrew far more money than forecast.

European banks have lost 11 percent this year after being hurt by concerns over the euro zone debt and U.S. President Barack Obama’s plans to limit banks’ ability to take risk.

Earlier, European stocks rose on expectations about a rescue for Greece after news that European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was leaving a meeting of central bankers in Australia early to attend a European Union leaders’ summit in Brussels this Thursday.

ECB, however, said Trichet was changing his plans and return to Europe purely because of logistics.

Greek bank shares .FTATBNK, after falling for four straight sessions, surged 8.6 percent, with Alpha Bank (ACBr.AT) up 14.9 percent and EFG Eurobank (EFGr.AT) up 10.9 percent.

“This is a little bit overblown … you know it’s going to be bailout eventually. Is it the EU? Is it the IMF? It doesn’t matter. They are not going to default,” said Robert Quinn, European strategist at Standard & Poor’s equity research.

“What we are waiting on is a political solution, not an economic solution … They have a different time scale.”

A senior German ruling coalition source said after the European market close that euro zone countries have decided in principle to help debt-stricken Greece.[ID:nLDE6182EG]

Across Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 .FTSE put on 0.4 percent, Germany’s DAX .GDAXI added 0.2 percent and France’s CAC 40 .FCHI rose 0.2 percent.

MINERS UP, DEFENSIVES DOWN

Miners were in demand, with Anglo American (AAL.L), Rio Tinto (RIO.L), BHP Billiton (BLT.L) and Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC.L) up 1.5 to 3.7 percent.

Defensive shares, such as drugmakers, utilities, tobacco firms and telecoms, were also weaker, with investors favouring beaten-down banks. Unilever (ULVR.L), E.ON (EONGn.DE), Novartis (NOVN.VX) and Imperial Tobacco (IMT.L) eased 0.2 to 1.6 percent.

Drugmaker AstraZeneca (AZN.L), however, was up 1.3 percent after U.S. approval for expanded use of Crestor strengthened its position in the highly competitive cholesterol drug market.

Among other individual movers, Swatch Group (UHR.VX) soared 4.8 percent after it posting forecast-beating full-year profit and maintained a positive outlook for 2010, easing worries a flagging economic recovery may hit demand.

Wind turbine maker Vestas (VWS.CO) surged 7.8 percent on news of a planned roadshow for bond investors and a Canadian order, traders said.

On the downside, Unibal-Rodamco (UNBP.PA) shed 6 percent after the Franco-Dutch property group issued disappointing 2010 guidance with its annual profits.

By Dominic Lau, Reuters
9 Feb. 2010

The increase in spending is despite what appears to be a move away from expensive cigars and cigarillos during the financial crisis.

Tobacco products worth €22.8 billion retail were sold in Germany in 2009, a total sum of 1.4 percent more than in the previous year, the new Destatis figures showed.

Yet the number of taxed cigarettes dropped by 1.6 percent to €1.4 billion. The financial crisis seems to have hit the luxury tobacco market in Germany particularly hard, with the taxed sales of cigars and cigarillos down by 24.6 percent.

Meanwhile the sale of fine-cut tobacco suitable for making roll-up cigarettes rose by 11.7 percent, the figures showed.

Sales of pipe tobacco were down by 57.2 percent, but this initially startling figure seems to have been largely generated by a change in the tax rules which put so-called pseudo pipe tobacco into the same category as fine-cut, as it is not suitable for pipe use.

ABU DHABI // The price of a packet of 20 cigarettes should double to about Dh14, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has proposed, to help get people to ditch the habit.

The price increase is just one of a raft of anti-smoking restrictions being considered as part of a new law that will ban smoking in some public and private locations, outlaw tobacco advertising and require more detailed warnings on cigarette packets.

Some details of the legislation were announced this week, but officials were unable to clarify when the changes would take effect.

Dr Wedad al Maidour, the head of the MoH tobacco control team, said: “We would like to increase the cost, but this is not possible through increases in the import tax,” she said.

“We can, however, raise the cost through increases in different taxes.

“In the first stage we would aim to double the price of a packet of cigarettes. We would also increase the price regularly, maybe every five years.”

She said studies in other countries have shown price increases help deter smoking, especially among teenagers and the money could be used to treat people who suffer from smoking-related illnesses.

Currently, tobacco products have warnings in Arabic and English reminding people that smoking is the main cause of cancer and lung, heart and artery disease.

These will be replaced by more graphic warnings, which are expected to cover half the area of the packet and may include images designed to discourage smoking.

The new law, which will forbid smoking on public transport or in enclosed public spaces, will be enforced by police and municipal inspectors. Cafes and restaurants located in residential areas will be given two years to relocate or implement the ban.

It will also be illegal to sell cigarettes to people under 18, or to smoke in a car in which there is a child under 12.

People who break the law will face fines of up to Dh1 million (US$272,000) and jail sentences of more than two years.

Doctors welcomed the ban. “I think this is a hugely positive step, particularly the idea to ban smoking in cars with children,” said Dr Jon Craig, from the American Hospital in Dubai.

“It is absolutely criminal that people do that with their own children in their cars.

Dr Amira Elsayed, a consultant family physician at the Mushrif Clinic in Abu Dhabi, said: “I think this can only help improve the health of people in the UAE. Second-hand smoking is a serious threat to people’s health.”
BY Charlie Hamilton
January 13. 2010 11

Dubai The UAE will make smoking more expensive as it plans to increase the price of tobacco and tobacco products, a senior health official said yesterday.

Dr Wedad Al Maidour, head of the tobacco control team, said it is coordinating with the ministry of finance to make the habit costlier for smokers. A pack of cigarettes on average currently costs Dh7 across the emirates.

She said it will be difficult to impose an additional levy on tobacco, but that the team hopes to make it more expensive for smokers at the check-out counters of shops. Studies have shown that whenever there is an increase in cigarette price there is a drop in smoking among teenagers.

Packaging messages

Another deterrent to smoking is that half of cigarette packets will be covered with graphic images to send home the message that smoking kills. Currently the packs only carry a warning that smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer and heart diseases.

Dr Al Maidour said countries such as Canada, Australia and Thailand have imposed a law that cigarette packs should have graphic images. She said Uruguay has made it mandatory that 80 per cent of the pack should be taken up by the images.

“In the UAE we plan for 50 per cent of the pack to carry the graphics,” she said, but noted they will not be pictures of decaying lungs. “[One] will show a snake and [one] a child with a face mask,’ she said (the snake is designed to show that smoking is deadly).

Senior Ministry of Health officials yesterday warned that a significant section of the adult population in the country are smokers and hoped that the new law will also cut down the rate of people affected by passive smoking. Detailing the new anti-tobacco law which went into effect last week, Dr Salem Al Dermaki, acting director-general of the Ministry of Health, said relevant departments will work in tandem to implement the laws, noting that legal experts are working on drafting the bylaws.

The director-general said the law which prohibits smoking in a car with a child is unique to the UAE.

He said coffee shops and shisha shops will be given a grace period of two years to move out of residential areas. “It will be taken on a case-to-case basis,” he said, as the ministry will check how a shisha shop is affecting people nearby.

He said that for those who do not take the message to stop smoking seriously there will be strong deterrents in place. “Smoke if you wish but you cannot harm others,” he said, adding that the laws will protect the most vulnerable in the society, the children. “This Federal law supports all local authorities,” he said. He also said the ministry will clamp down hard on advertisements that encourage smoking.

Five million die every year worldwide due to smoking

By 2030, the figure will go up to 8 million

Nearly a quarter of the deaths are due to passive smoking

By Mahmood Saberi
© Gulf News 2010

Experts at the University of Bath, working together with colleagues from the University of Edinburgh, have recently established that the current, economy-oriented approach of European Union policies was heavily influenced by tobacco companies such as British American Tobacco. The end-result was a set of instruments for assessing a policy’s impact that lay more emphasis on corporate gains than on public health, a new research published in the latest issue of the open-access scientific journal PLoS Medicine reveals.

When the EU proposes the implementation of a new set of policies, all the documents need to pass what is called am “impact assessment” (IA) analysis. The goal of this investigation is to determine what the potential economic, social and environmental consequences of the future laws might be. The researchers managed to prove in their journal entry that the IA tools used by the European Union were heavily influenced by companies such as BAT, alongside other chemical, oil and food corporations. As a direct result, many policy sets that have passed have a direct negative impact on public health, but they also benefit corporate interests and promote their gains.

This type of actions contributed directly to the development of the business-oriented IA system that is currently in effect in the EU. The research team says that, in order to ensure that this type of policies is no longer adopted, the general public needs to take a more active interest in the matter. It adds that more transparency on the part of EU authorities is also needed, and that people should take the time to understand the IA mechanisms in greater detail. Additionally, the group reveals, people across the Union should also be aware of the massive policy-influencing powers that major corporations such as BAT have.

These conclusions were drawn after the team, led by expert Dr. Katherine Smith, analyzed more than 700 internal BAT documents, as well as conducted interviews with a number of lobbyists and policymakers in the EU. A large number of officials were found to be unaware of the massive influence that BAT exerted on the decision process. This was most often the case because the corporation supported a policy network that was influencing a policy lobby group. Other major companies were also involved in the scheme. Additionally, BAT also used think tanks and consultancy companies (third parties) to indirectly influence the EU policy orientation.

By Tudor Vieru
12th of January 2010

The private consumption tax hike implemented by the government on tobacco has been reflected in cigarette prices.

Philip Morris and British American Tobacco significantly increased the prices of the cigarettes they produce.

Philip Morris SA, the international tobacco company’s joint venture with Sabancı Holding in Turkey, announced Monday it is raising the price of its tobacco products by at least 15 percent effective immediately.

“With the Cabinet’s decree published in the Official Gazette on Dec. 31, 2009, the tax rate on tobacco has been increased by more than 30 percent. This situation, which has a direct impact on our production cost, forced us to modify the cost of our products. Therefore, the retail price of our products produced in the İzmir Torbalı facilities has been increased by at least 15 percent starting Jan. 4, 2010,” the company said in a statement. The price hike brings the price of Marlboros to 7 Turkish Liras from 5 liras. The price of Parliament Reserves climbed to 7.50 liras from 6.50 liras.

British American Tobacco Turkey also increased the price of its products. As of Monday, a pack of Samsuns has a price tag of 4.20 liras, while Kents costs 7.00 liras. Japan Tobacco, the third leading company in the sector, is also expected to increase the price of its products.

Afew years ago, Adinkerke was a forgotten, dilapidated village of red-brick houses, just inside the Belgian border with France. In the past four years, however, it has been transformed into a glittering mini-Las Vegas: a village full of garish signs reading “Smokey River”, “Eurobaccy”, “Tobacco Alley”, “Smugglers’ Corner”, and “Coronation Street Tobacco Shop”.

The village stands less than a mile from the long ribbon of dunes and beaches, stretching north of Dunkirk, from which the British Army was evacuated 69 years ago. The opening this month of yet another tobacco shop in the village – a garish cigarette supermarket called Real Tobacco XL – has ignited a new Battle of Dunkirk: a potentially noxious legal row between France and Belgium over the rights of EU citizens to dodge national anti-smoking policies by crossing European borders to buy cheap fags.

The owners of Real Tobacco XL, and four other emporiums along the Franco-Belgian border, flooded northern France earlier this month with advertising flyers for their new shop. They sent a loudspeaker car, towing an advertising trailer, through the streets of Dunkirk promoting the fact that cigarettes were at least €1 a packet cheaper 10 miles away in Adinkerke. The French tobacconists’ association pounced. They had been able to do nothing, under EU law, about the cheap cigarette shops in Belgium. But they could bring a legal action against the Belgian firm for breaking an 18-year-old law which bans all forms of tobacco advertising in France.

“For three or four years, we have had to watch them [the Belgians] opening more shops selling cheap cigarettes, and we could do nothing,” said Patrick Falewee, president of the Dunkirk area tobacco trade association. “Over there they have no system of tobacco licensing, anyone can start a tobacco shop. You just buy an abandoned house in a border village and you start selling cigarettes. Now, at last, we can fight back. They have broken the French law against advertising tobacco and we are going to make sure that they are punished for it. We are going to pursue this case to the end.”

This is much more than a local quarrel. At one time, France took a relaxed view of smoking, partly because tobacco was a lucrative state monopoly. In the past decade, however, successive French governments have adopted a more health-conscious approach and have imposed a series of steep tax increases on tobacco. The 6 per cent tax increase earlier this month has increased the price of a packet of 20 Marlboros – the most popular brand in France – to €5.60 (£5.10). This is about £1 a packet cheaper than in Britain. It is about €1 (90p) a packet more than in Belgium and at least €2 a packet more than in other EU nations, such as Spain, Italy and Luxembourg.

Earlier this year, the British American Tobacco company estimated that more than one in five of all cigarettes smoked in France was bought abroad. Much the same problem exists in Germany, which has very cheap tobacco neighbours in Poland and the Czech Republic. There is a growing trade in smuggled cigarettes in Europe and an equally illegal growth of sales over the internet. But many French and German smokers have discovered the pleasures of perfectly legal, or almost legal, cigarette tourism.

“They come to the shops in Belgium, not just from Dunkirk and Lille but from as far south as Paris and Rouen,” Mr Falewee said. “Legally under EU law they are allowed only five cartons of 200 cigarettes each per car. Of course, they often buy far, far more than that. The Belgian shops do nothing to limit their purchases.”

Over the border in Adinkerke, the Real Tobacco XL supermarket is doing a brisk trade. The shop is at least 50 yards long and 25 yards wide – about quarter of the size of a football pitch – and also sells chocolate and a small selection of drinks. But cigarettes and rolling tobacco are its stock-in-trade. If you don’t mind rolling your own, you can buy a large drum of Louxor tobacco – enough to make 1,200 cigarettes – for €48.55.

Serge, the manager of the shop, declined to talk about the rights and wrongs of the legal case brought by the tobacconists’ association across the border. “The French are making a big hoo-ha about our shops here but the real price difference is not between France and Belgium but between here and Britain. Eighty per cent of our customers here are not French but British,” he said. Was he suggesting that the French were being a little hypocritical? That Calais had been making a living for years from the thirst of Britons for cheap, low-tax booze and the cross-Channel hunger for lower-tax tobacco? Yet, now that the cigarette tax pattern had started to favour Belgium, they were complaining.

Serge grinned and turned to serve another customer. “You are saying that, not me,” he said. Hélène Marcuzzo, 32, from Dunkirk, was loading up her car with cigarettes for herself and chocolate for her two children. “I can buy 200 cigarettes for €46 here, compared with nearly €60 in France,” she said. “I never buy cigarettes at home any more, except in an emergencies. I understand why the French shops are upset,” she went on, “but what about the poor French smoker? They keep putting the taxes up and up. What are we supposed to do?” Give up smoking, maybe? Ms Marcuzzo looked appalled. “Oh, no, no, no, no,” she said. “No, no, no, no.”

Mr Falewee of the Dunkirk tobacconists’ association has another solution to suggest. “It’s very simple,” he said. “We need a proper European health policy, which would harmonise all cigarette taxes in the European Union. As things stand, there is no point in trying to discourage people from killing themselves by raising taxes because they will just clear off somewhere else to buy their cigarettes.”

The European Commission has already tentatively suggested something similar. With taxes on 20 cigarettes currently ranging from the equivalent of 82p in Bulgaria to £4.62 a packet in Ireland, the EU would need a king-size harmonisation. This could be a first test for the ingenuity of the European Union’s answer to Hercule Poirot, the new Belgian President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy.

Contraband cigarettes EU and beyond

*The dramatic differentials in cigarette prices, not merely among EU countries but also between the EU and some countries outside it, have provided money-making opportunities to many others besides the enterprising tobacconists of Dunkirk.

*Since joining the EU in 2004, Poland has been steadily hiking tobacco duty to meet EU targets. As a result, cigarettes are frequently smuggled into Poland from bordering Ukraine, where tobacco is much cheaper.

*In the former Yugoslav republics, the yawning gap between local and EU cigarette prices has prompted the growth of a lucrative smuggling trade across the Adriatic. This, it is claimed, has hugely enriched some of the local post-Communist elites. Milo Djukanovic, the Prime Minister of Montenegro, is fighting Italian accusations that he himself is involved in the trade.

*A study earlier this year estimated that 657bn black market cigarettes are sold across the world annually, costing governments nearly £25bn in lost revenue. And the charity Cancer Research estimates that if the smuggling of cheap tobacco into the UK was eliminated, in the long term 4,000 deaths a year could be prevented.

30 November 2009, Independent

On Nov. 19, many people will throw away their cigarettes in honor of the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout. Jason Halford, 29, of Joliet probably will not be one of them.

In the nine years since he started smoking, Halford has quit twice, but he blames job and money-related stresses for lighting back up. Even the rising cost of cigarettes isn’t enough to discourage him.

“I buy cheap brands and look for dollar-off specials,” Halford said.

While some people might think the high cost of keeping the habit would discourage its use, recent research suggests the opposite may be true.

Dr. Bruce Christiansen of the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention (CTRI) discovered that half the adults in Milwaukee’s poorest neighborhoods smoke, despite paying $9 for a pack of cigarettes on a household income below $15,000.
Quit kit
“There’s an ugly truth about the good news of dropping smoking rates,” Christiansen said. “While smoking rates have dropped overall, we’ve left some populations behind.”

In response to his findings, Christiansen and his group are creating a tool kit for community organizations. Smokers who come to food pantries or shelters can receive a 13-minute intervention message about the best methods for quitting, including medication options and referral to the Wisconsin Tobacco Quitline. This provides free coaching and starter medication.

The Will County Health Department offers a more intense solution. For $20, people 18 and older can attend the American Lung Association’s seven-week Freedom From Smoking program. For the program’s duration, free nicotine patches or lozenges will be distributed up to six weeks to those interested in using them, although their use is not required.

“Those are only two options that are available,” said Michelle Marek, community health director. “Some people like throwing the patches on and not worrying about it, and others prefer to quit cold turkey. What works for one person doesn’t work for another.”
Support of peers
Although each hour-and-a-half session will address topics — quitting techniques, stress management, weight control, healthy diet and controlling smoking urges — possibly the program’s main benefit is its sense of “I’ve officially quit” and “We’re all in this together.”

“No one quits by himself,” Marek said. “A lot of these people have been smoking for a long time and get into their own routines. But the other people in the class are going through the same struggle and they get helpful tips from one another.”

Classes meet only once each week, except week four — “quit week” — when everyone stops smoking on the same day and meets 48 hours later for a follow-up session. Despite the low-cost fee to cover materials, Marek said the program attracts people with a wide range of ages and income.

Even as participants “kick the habit,” they are also learning strategies to replace smoking with a healthy lifestyle and possibly add years to their lives.

According to the health department’s Smoke-Free Joliet Coalition (www.smokefreejoliet.org), a 50-year study of more than 34,000 male doctors found that quitting by age 40 can add about nine years to a man’s life. Quit by age 50 and gain six.

For those who cannot attend the program, Marek suggests they call the free Illinois Tobacco Quitline at 866-QUIT-YES.

“They don’t have any replacement products, but they do help people over the phone,” Marek said.

The coalition’s medical experts suggest these additional methods to ease the transition to being smoke-free:

• Set a quit date then ask family and friends for support.

• Use nicotine-replacement therapy or prescription medicine to ease the withdrawal process, which peaks at one to three weeks after quitting.

• Avoid people and places that induce cigarette cravings.

• Ask your doctor for advice to adopt and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

November 4, 2009
By DENISE M. BARAN-UNLAND For Sun-Times Media

A decline in demand is not keeping R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. from raising the list price on its cigarette brands by 6 cents or 8 cents a pack for wholesale customers.

The price increase, announced yesterday, will take effect Monday.

David Howard, a spokesman for Reynolds, said that the company doesn’t comment on its pricing strategy, but the decision comes five days after Philip Morris USA announced a price increase of 6 cents a pack, which went into effect yesterday.

Reynolds is raising list prices less than a week after reporting that its cigarette-shipment volume fell 11 percent in the third quarter to 20.6 billion cigarettes. Reynolds said that the industry decline was 12.6 percent.

Howard said that the list price is increasing 6 cents a pack for its growth brands – Camel and Pall Mall – and also for Doral, GPC, Kool, Misty, Salem and Winston. All but GPC are considered as support brands.

The list price is being raised 8 cents a pack for its other brands, which include Capri, Eclipse, Lucky Strike, More and Vantage.

Charles Norton, the portfolio manager of the USA Mutuals Vice Fund, said that Reynolds is likely to be able to sustain the third price increase related to its cigarettes since September 2007.

In March, Reynolds raised the list price in the range of 41 cents to 78 cents a pack for wholesale customers, including 41 cents to 44 cents for most of its growth and support brands.

The increase was in response to Congress passing the 62-cent increase in the federal excise tax to pay for expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. That tax increase went into effect April 1.

In September 2007, Reynolds raised its cigarette prices by a range of 5 cents to 15 cents a pack, including 15 cents for Camel.

“Strong pricing power is one of the underpinnings of our positive view of tobacco, which is a much more important driver of earnings than volume,“ Norton said.

Reynolds said in its third-quarter report that it had a slight market-share drop in cigarettes to 28.2 percent. The market share for Camel, the lead Reynolds cigarette brand, dipped slightly to 7.7 percent. Pall Mall’s market share was at 5 percent, up 2.3 percentage points from a year ago.

A temporary price discount in the spring on Pall Mall attracted smokers wanting to spend less on cigarettes in the recession. Even after the discount ended in May and prices were raised to counter the excise-tax increases, Pall Mall maintained a higher market share.

The company began another discount promotion for Pall Mall on Oct. 5.

Reynolds also raised its full-year earnings projections last week to a range of $4.60 to $4.70 a share – from $4.40 to $4.60 – as a sign of confidence in its strategies.

By Richard Craver
October 29, 2009

Pub companies are getting ahead of the game by taking cigarette vending machines out of their pubs before they are outlawed by the government.

Welsh brewer and pubco Brains is one of the first to take action by removing machines from the 120 pubs in its managed estate.

Brains retail director Philip Lay said the decision to remove them was “purely commercial”.

“They were no longer generating a great deal of money really. We thought the space could be better utilised. They don’t represent good value for money – which is a bit contradictory to the message we promote,” he said.

It is understood Wetherspoons, while not phasing out the machines entirely, are allowing individual pub managers to remove them if they choose.

Last month The Publican reported that MPs passed an amendment to the Health Bill outlawing the machines.

The move still has to go through the House of Lords but it is not expected to face any objections.

Meanwhile Barnsley Primary Care Trust has urged pubs in the area to take action now “to save hundreds of young people from taking up smoking”.

But Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations president Dennis Griffiths, who runs the Miners Rest in Barnsley, said taking machines out and selling cigarettes from behind the bar could present a security risk.

He added: “I can’t see the sense in wanting to take the machines out and then selling them over the bar.”

“The sales for cigarettes in the machines are very, very low now. In most outlets they are minute – they are more expensive in supermarkets and shops.

“It’s just for people who run out of cigarettes in the pub. I’d be better off financially by taking it out. It’s done as a service and there’s no way I will sell out of the back of the bar.”

28 October, 2009 Thepublican

Ireland’s policy of setting a minimum price on tobacco products distorts competition, a legal advisor to Europe’s highest court has said.

In the case of Commission of the European Communities versus Ireland, the Advocate General said binding prices restricted manufacturers’ freedom to set prices, thereby posing a risk to free competition.

The opinion of the Advocate General is not a final judgement, although the court generally follows it 80 per cent of the time.

The European Commission took Ireland to Europe’s highest court in 2008 over its policy of setting a minimum price on tobacco products to protect public health.

Under an agreement with the Irish Tobacco Manufacturers’ Advisory Committee, the Department of Health has a minimum price for 20 cigarettes of about €1.30. This was set using information on volume sales supplied by the tobacco companies for filtered and unfiltered cigarettes.

The Government says the agreement with the tobacco manufacturers was made for the primary purpose of preventing low-cost selling of tobacco products in Ireland.

By setting a minimum retail price for a packet of 20 cigarettes it undermines the ability of retailers to provide special cut- price offers on certain brands. Price control is also seen as a viable way to protect children from becoming addicted to cigarettes and to encourage existing smokers to quit, according to the Department of Health.

In his legal assessment of the arguments the Advocate General said “increases in excise duties are therefore a less intrusive measure than minimum prices, which are thus not necessary”.

A statement issued by cigarette company John Player & Sons today said “while we don’t oppose the Commission’s view that tobacco manufacturers should have the freedom to determine retail prices for their products, the fact remains that the real minimum price for 20 cigarettes in Ireland is the street price of €4 – €5 euro due to widespread illegal cigarette selling.

This greatly incentivises criminals by giving them huge margins while denying Government badly needed revenues. 1 in 4 cigarettes smoked in Ireland today is not even bought in an Irish shop”.

By PAMELA NEWENHAM, October 22, 2009

PLANS to set a minimum price for all alcohol sold in Scotland were thrown into fresh doubt last night after the European Court of Justice opposed a similar policy on tobacco. The court’s advocate-general ruled against proposals by Ireland, France and Austria to set a minimum price on cigarettes, saying it would break competition laws by benefiting manufacturers.
The drinks industry in Scotland last night claimed the ruling would apply to alcohol as well, and said that ministers should therefore drop their plans immediately.

But health secretary Nicola Sturgeon hit back, insisting the court’s ruling on tobacco was “irrelevant” and SNP ministers would press ahead regardless.

The row centres on Scottish Government proposals to set a minimum price on all alcoholic drinks, with 40p per unit widely expected. At that rate, a bottle of vodka – which contains 26 units and can cost less than £7 – would retail at a minimum of £10.40. Large bottles of cheap cider, which sell for less than £3, would more than double in price.

Ministers say the radical moves will reduce the social harm caused by alcohol, both in terms of crime and healthcare.

The announcement yesterday from the European Court’s advocate-general is regarded as a clear indication of the full panel’s final judgment.

The court repeated previous European Commission rulings that the best way to meet public health objectives was through taxation and excise duties, saying this would not interfere with the setting of prices.

The Scotch Whisky Association’s chief executive, Gavin Hewitt said: “Austria, Ireland and France have been told clearly today that minimum pricing is a breach of EU law. The Scottish Government must recognise the legal situation and drop this proposal, which would be hugely damaging to Scottish jobs.”

But Ms Sturgeon last night said: “It is entirely inappropriate and irrelevant to translate an opinion on tobacco to the totally different issue of minimum pricing of alcoholic products.”

Ms Sturgeon added: “The issue here is ending a situation where bottles of chemical cider are sold for £3, or bottles of industrial vodka for less than £7.

“These are the products favoured by problem drinkers and are exactly the ones that will be targeted by minimum pricing, not quality products sold at responsible prices.”

But one drinks industry source added: “Are they now really saying minimum pricing on cigarettes, which are proven to kill you, will be illegal under EU law, but that minimum pricing on alcohol won’t be?”

Both the Liberals and the Conservatives say they will oppose minimum pricing, but the legislation could still pass, as Labour has still to decide its position.

Scottish Tory deputy leader Murdo Fraser said: “This ruling is a complete hammer-blow for the SNP and their obsession with blanket minimum pricing.”

22 October 2009 Scotsman