Three quarters of British adults support the removal of shop displays of tobacco (73 per cent) and a complete ban on cigarette vending machines (77 per cent) according to a new survey commissioned by Cancer Research UK this weekend.

These latest figures show the public supports the health community in urging the government to move forward with regulations to protect children from tobacco marketing.

The 2009 Health Act was passed by parliament which set clear deadlines to remove cigarette vending machines in 2011 and to put tobacco displays out of sight in all shops by the end of 2013. But these measures will not be enacted unless the government implements the regulations that are already in place.

Lack of public support has been put forward as an argument against rolling out these regulations. This new survey of more than 1100 people highlights the consistently high level of support from the public for protecting children from tobacco marketing.

An earlier survey in June 2009 found 70 per cent of adults in the UK backed putting tobacco out of sight in shops and 76 per cent supported abolishing cigarette vending machines.

Tobacco has a huge impact on health. Smoking is the single biggest cause of cancer in the world, and accounts for more than one in five UK cancer deaths. In the UK smoking kills five times more people than road accidents, overdoses, murder, suicide and HIV combined.

Smoking causes nine in ten cases of lung cancer. Smoking also increases the risk of over a dozen other cancers including cancers of the mouth, larynx (voice box), pharynx (upper throat), nose and sinuses, oesophagus (food pipe), liver, pancreas, stomach, kidney, bladder, cervix and bowel, as well as one type of ovarian cancer and some types of leukaemia.

Protecting young people from tobacco and stopping the next generation from smoking are key aims in the health community. Every year around 340,000 under-16s try cigarettes for the first time. Research has shown that shop displays play a role in enticing young people to try smoking.

The odds of young people saying they intended to smoke may increase by 35 per cent with every brand that they can name from memorising what they see advertised at point of sale displays.

Jean King, Cancer Research UK’s director of tobacco control, said: “The public is clearly supportive of putting tobacco out of sight. The evidence is compelling and the legislation is in place. This legislation will save lives if it is enacted. Not proceeding with regulations to allow England, Wales and Northern Ireland to put tobacco out of sight is a step backwards.

“It sends a message that tobacco companies’ profits are more important than the health of our children. Ignoring this opportunity commits more lives to be blighted from an addiction that will kill half of all long term users. We urge the government to show its commitment to health.”

References

- The YouGov survey commissioned by Cancer Research UK interviewed 1,106 adults in Britain using an online survey between 22nd and 23rd July 2010.

- It found that 73 per cent of British adults over 18 supported putting tobacco products out of sight of shops to protect children.

- It also found that 77 per cent of adults supported getting rid of cigarette vending machines completely in the UK to protect children.

Source:
Cancer Research UK

Hollyoaks actress Saira Choudhry has urged young women to give up smoking on World No Tobacco Day.

The 22-year-old, who plays Anita Roy in the Channel 4 soap, is supporting the campaign, which this year focuses on reducing the growing number of females aged 20-24 who are taking up smoking.

She said: “My Mum Fae is a no-smoking adviser and used to work in a hospital in Manchester. She always told me if I ever smoked she’d take me to the wards with her one day so I could see the effects for myself, which put me off completely.

“It’s really worrying that there is an increase in young women of my age group who are smoking. Apart from the fact it’s so bad for your health, it’s also really ageing and bad for your skin. I reckon you can always tell who is a smoker by looking at their skin.

“I’d say to all young girls who smoke, to give up this World No Tobacco Day and save up their money instead to go on a fabulous holiday or buy some great shoes.” According to The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, a national charity which helps people give up smoking, 31% of young women aged 20-24 now smoke.

Eileen Streets, director of tobacco control at the charity, said: “It is estimated that one in two smokers will die from a tobacco-related illness. There is no doubt that people who smoke are playing a game of Russian roulette.

“Smoking more than half a pack a day may cause infertility among women, the early onset of menopause and foetal abnormalities.

“Studies have also shown that the skin of a 40-year-old smoker is as damaged as that of a 60-year-old non-smoker.

“If the health risks alone are not enough of a concern then the financial implications should be. At today’s prices, a 20-a-day smoker will spend more than £37,000 over the next 20 years – that’s the equivalent of 98 pairs of Christian Louboutin classic black heels or eight Hermes Birkin bags.

“It’s not just about saving money though so you can buy some fabulous shoes, it’s about improving and protecting women’s health for today and also for future generations.”

It is nearly axiomatic that a Republican who backs a tax increase is headed for a rough ride. Everyone remembers how President George Herbert Walker Bush, who won the White House in 1988 by making a strong anti-tax pledge to the American electorate, lost the confidence of the voters—and his bid for re-election—when he went back on his word. Nevertheless, the temptation to raise taxes, especially when political advisers come up with a way to spin them as “necessary,” is sometimes too much to resist. Even in the current political environment.

The Obama recession left a lot of economic holes the stimulus package could not fill. This put more than a few governors of both parties in the position of finding ways to at least make them smaller—either by cutting spending or by drumming up new revenues. Some, like New Jersey’s new Republican Gov. Chris Christie, chose to take a hard line on spending and to confront the public employee unions whose contracts have driven the state close to bankruptcy. Others, like Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, chose to make a “deal with the devil,” sacrificing principle in the name of political and economic expediency.

In what some are calling “a late-night, behind-closed-doors deal,” Herbert recently put his signature on legislation that increased the state’s tobacco tax, provoking the ire of the Tea Party movement and putting the governor’s re-election bid in jeopardy.

It’s not that tobacco products are popular in Utah; they’re not. It’s the principle of the thing, as one local Tea Party leader told Salt Lake Tribune columnist Paul Rolly. “This doesn’t mean we are in favor of tobacco products,” the Tea Party leader said. “Most of us are not. But it’s the principle that has made this offensive.”

According to Rolly, the Tea Party movement has been energized over the idea that one small group—smokers—has been targeted for a tax increase to the alleged benefit of everyone else just because the taxable good is, in the current environment, unpopular.

“If the money from this tax went for programs to help people quit smoking or deal with the effects of smoking—that would be one thing. But this money is going into the general fund,” the Tea Party leader, who asked not to be identified by name, told Rolly.

He might also have added that, according to a number of studies going back many years, the tax is counterproductive. There are those who argue that raising taxes on tobacco is a good way to help people quit smoking because it makes cigarettes in particular too expensive. If this is true, and basic economics suggest that it is, then higher taxes mean fewer smokers. And fewer smokers mean state revenues from tobacco taxes go down, not up.

“He and his fellow 912ers see no difference between the tobacco tax and proposals in other states to tax bullets, soft drinks, and junk food. The opposition to all of that fits right in with the ‘give-us-liberty’ Patrick Henry movement that Republicans have so far adopted as their own,” Rolly wrote before predicting electoral trouble on the horizon for Herbert because the Tea Party people are now thinking about throwing their support to Salt Lake County mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Peter Corroon.

“We are taking a closer look at Corroon, because he has a pretty strong record of fiscal conservatism,” the Tea Party leader said, pointing to the 20 percent reduction in Salt Lake County’s budget and Corroon’s opposition to his own party’s tax increase proposals. The group is also impressed that Corroon stood against using taxpayer money to subsidize pro soccer in Sandy, while most Republican politicians supported it. “This doesn’t mean we have decided to turn our backs on Herbert and support Corroon at this point,” the source said. “It just means we think Corroon is worth looking at. We’re not just automatic votes for the Republican.”
By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson

Imperial Tobacco, the UK’s leading cigarette manufacturer, said today that it was seeking a judicial review of the Government’s plan to ban cigarette vending machines from next year.

MPs and the Lords recently voted in favour of a backbench amendment to outlaw cigarette vending machines in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as part of the Government’s Health Bill — which has now become law.

It means that, from October 2011, cigarette vending machines — which account for about 1 per cent of all UK cigarette sales — will be outlawed. Similar measures have also been supported by the Scottish Parliament.

The vending machine ban was proposed by Ian McCartney, a former Labour minister, who claims that the machines give young children access to cigarettes.

But Gareth Davis, Imperial’s chief executive, said: “Legal action is always a last resort but the Government’s decision to ban cigarette vending machines is so disproportionate and unnecessary that it must be challenged.

“We do not want children to smoke and supported the Government’s proposal to stop underage access through the introduction of electronic ID cards, token mechanisms and remote control technology.

“These are effective solutions which have been implemented in a number of other countries and it is a matter of great regret that the UK Government ultimately chose to disregard all of these options in favour of a ban that will result in significant job losses in the vending industry.”

The judicial review has been sought by Sinclair Collis, the cigarette vending machine subsidiary of Imps, which is based in Wolverhampton and employs 174 people.

Simon Evans, Imperial’s spokesman, said that the cigarette vending machine market in Britain was already under severe pressure from the ban, introduced two years ago, on smoking in public places. He said that much of the business had instead gone to garage forecourts and corner shops as consumers chose to stay and smoke at home instead of doing so in pubs.

Also included in the 2009 Health Act is a ban on the retail display of tobacco products and a requirement for them to be sold instead from under the counter. The measure was firecely opposed not only by the tobacco industry but also by small shopkeepers who rely on tobacco sales to entice customers into their stores. Retail industry bodies have warned that up to three-quarters of corner shops could close if the ban goes ahead.

Shares of Imperial, whose brands include Lambert & Butlers — Britain’s best-selling cigarette — Embassy and Regals, were down 19p at £20.19 in mid-afternoon.
timesonline.co.uk

LONDON—British American Tobacco PLC warned Sunday that the U.K. government faces a “huge fight” from the tobacco industry if it moves ahead with plans under consideration that would only allow cigarettes to be sold in plain, unbranded packages.

A spokeswoman said the government measures, due to be announced in a Monday speech by Health Secretary Andy Burnham, would encourage criminals to mass produce fake products since there would be no way for a purchaser to differentiate one brand from another, resulting in the “perverse outcome” of cigarettes becoming more accessible to young people.

Mr. Burnham is to lay out the government’s “tobacco control strategy” Monday–a series of measures designed to half the number of smokers in the U.K. by 2020, to around 10% from 21%.

Bans on cigarettes in vending machines and policies to encourage people to stop smoking in homes or cars they share with children are also under consideration.

BAT said packaging is fundamental to consumer choice, and that there’s no meaningful evidence to suggest plain packaging would cut the number of smokers.

“If the government tries to introduce plain packaging it will have a huge fight on its hands. Brands are valuable corporate assets and the government risks breaching various legal obligations relating to intellectual property rights, international trade and European law,” the BAT spokeswoman said.

Chris Ogden, chief executive of trade body the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association, said in a statement that imposing plain packaging would “do nothing to meet public health policy objectives but will instead impose further unwarranted restrictions on legitimate businesses and private citizens alike.”

By MARGOT PATRICK

SPANIARDS ARE born anarchists who seem to believe that rules and regulations, be they double parking, speeding or smoking, are made to be ignored.

A law banning smoking in places of work or leisure was introduced three years ago but it has had little effect.

The sales of cigarettes fell slightly during the first few months, but they are now back to 2006 levels and the numbers of smokers remain the same.

Someone described the 2006 law as having as many holes “as a leaking bucket”.

The law banning smoking in the workplace seems to be respected and it is a common sight to see groups of people puffing away in the streets outside their offices.

But when the draft Bill was first presented in parliament, the catering trade – who feared they would lose business – were up in arms.

Using their powerful clout, they succeeded in diluting the Bill to allow smoking in the majority of establishments.

In theory, if the premises is less than 100sq m, the owner can choose whether to allow smoking.

But 100sq m in Madrid seems to be pretty elastic, and it is up to the bosses to measure their own premises – which allows them to ignore the space behind the bar – or between the tables and so on.

In larger establishments, smoking is officially permitted only if the premises is physically divided into two areas – and not by merely putting up a removable screen – with separate extractor fans installed for each zone.

But it is estimated that less than 1 per cent of Madrid’s bars and restaurants have invested in new air conditioners or partition walls.

Many simply have some tables for smokers and others for non-smokers.

Another loophole is at private functions. Handing round a box of cigars is a tradition at Spanish weddings, baptisms and family events.

Owners of restaurants and other function-hosting establishments fought to open another hole in the law: the father of the bride can still offer his Havana cigars to his guests.

A report issued last week by the ministry of health showed the frightening statistics of the results of smoking. It is estimated that 50,000 deaths from cancer of the lungs, throat and oesophagus, among others, are caused by tobacco; and 1,400 of these deaths are of passive smokers who have been exposed to tobacco smoke.

It is the non-smoker who has trouble finding a smoke-free bar or cafe in Madrid. Pop into virtually any one, and you are forced to view the scene through a haze of tobacco smoke.

Not surprisingly the passive smoking staff are feeling the consequences.

Dublin-born Morys, who has been in the bar and restaurant trade for more than 30 years, is one of the sufferers.

He is now in remission after treatment for throat cancer at the end of last year and is back at work as manager of an Irish pub in Madrid.

He hates the smoky atmosphere and complains that his throat and eyes trouble him every day when he ends his shift.

But he admits that the customers appreciate their freedom to light up.

“One of the first things visiting Irish and British clients welcome is that they can enjoy a cigarette at the bar and don’t have to go outside into the cold as they would do at home,” he says.

The unions say they receive many complaints from their members. “Waiters and barmen complain to us, but there is little we can do because the law is so permissive,” said a spokesman for the UGT (the general workers’ union).

Other union officials worry that many of their members could lose their jobs if employers took advantage of a stricter law to cut down on staff.

One sector you would expect to support the smoking ban is the health authorities in Madrid where the conservative Popular Party (PP) governs the autonomous government.

But they refuse to enforce the law and support the catering trade.

The PP councillor for health, Juan José Guemes, an ex-smoker, says a ban on smoking in public places would be going against the rights of the individual.

“However dangerous it might be, we are not here to impose rules and restrictions on anyone. We have to educate the people on the dangers of tobacco.

“Of course we respect the rights of non-smokers, but if they don’t want to breathe in smoke, they should find a non-smoking bar,” he told The Irish Times, ­ although the only option he gave this non-smoking writer was a singularly unattractive establishment.

Typically application for licenses and permits in Singapore can only be done after successful incorporation of your company; however, in a few instances, application for licenses and permits is done simultaneously with the application for name approval from Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), from which, the ACRA system will indicate if another approving authority is required to grant licenses or permits.

There are several businesses that will require licenses or permits to operate. Private schools, travel agencies, liquor distributors, moneylenders, banks, childcare centres, importers/exporters, wholesalers and retailers of liquors are some examples of businesses that require license or permits by the Singapore authorities.

We have provided here some info on businesses that commonly require licenses or permits. For more information on how to apply for licenses and permits for your business please email us or call our Business License Specialist at +65 6242 6533.

Financial or Funds Management Services

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) oversees the issuance of licenses for financial and funds management services. There are essentially three types of licenses:

* Capital Markets Services License for businesses that work with securities.
* Commodity License issued for commodity trading agencies.
* Financial Adviser License for financial firms that provide advisory services to the public.

Educational Institutions

Setting up an educational institution or to provide educational services usually requires one or more licenses to operate. Each of the licenses is issued by a different government authority; it can be the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports and/or Ministry of Education.

Tobacco and Liquor Retails

You will need a separate license to sell tobacco and liquors in Singapore. A Tobacco Retail License issued by Health Sciences Authority of Singapore will permit you to sell cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products. Each license issued is only for a single retail outlet. If you have multiple retail shops, you will need to obtain licenses for all of them.

There are different types of liquor licenses with each type for specific business activity. A Wholesale Beer License is just for wholesaling of beers and therefore different from a Retail Beer License. Depending on the nature of your business establishment, Asiabiz can assist you in finding the appropriate business license.

Restaurants

All food related businesses are required to have a Food Shop License from National Environment Agency (NEA), which will conduct an inspection prior to issuing a license. There are other licenses that are required based on the food and beverages that will be served in the restaurant.

Travel Agencies

Travel agencies in Singapore that sell tickets for individuals or groups to travel outside of Singapore are required to obtain a travel agent’s license with Singapore Tourism Board (STB).

AsiaBiz is Singapore leading one stop corporate solution provider, specializing in Singapore company incorporation, accounting, tax, immigration and related Singapore business services. AsiaBiz has a dedicated team to handle all your Singapore company setup and Singapore work pass needs.

While national rates for cigarette smoking have risen slightly, New York has shown a decrease in smokers, which experts attribute to the state’s high cigarette tax and aggressive anti-smoking laws and programs.

Nationally, about 20.6 percent of adults were smokers in 2008, up from 19.8 percent in 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.

Even so, the trend over the last decade is still downward: Since 1998, the proportion of adult smokers has declined overall by 3.5 percentage points.

In New York, the rate of adult smokers dropped from 18.3 percent in 2007 to 16.8 percent in 2008, the lowest ever measured in the state, said Claire Pospisil, a spokeswoman from the state Health Department.

Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable illness and death in the country, according to the CDC. But, as states struggle with budgets, many are cutting back on their smoking prevention programs, yet few have raised cigarette taxes as high as New York’s, the nation’s third highest.

With a $2.75 per pack tax levied by the state, along with taxes by other jurisdictions, a pack of cigarettes in the state costs from $7 to $10. Nassau and Suffolk counties have asked to put their own taxes on cigarettes but have been turned down by the state. New York City adds $1.50 a pack.

“New York is a role model,” said Matthew Myers, president of the nonprofit Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “While the rest of the country is stagnant, New York is a demonstration that its comprehensive effort is working.”

The decline in New York means there are about 300,000 fewer smokers, said Pat Folan, director of the Center for Tobacco Control at the North Shore-LIJ Health System. “Some people look at [smoking] as a dead issue, that we shouldn’t have to worry about it anymore, but in fact it’s not completely gone away,” Folan said. The center, supported by a $600,000-a-year state grant, is one of 19 such regional centers statewide.

The CDC’s survey found the highest prevalence of smoking among the least educated: A 27.5 percent rate for people with less than a high school diploma and 41.3 percent for those with a General Educational Development certificate. Only 5.7 percent of people with a graduate degree smoke, according to the survey.

Myers predicted that smoking statistics from 2009 will show a sharp decline because of the April federal increase in a cigarette tax from 39 cents to $1.01. He said preliminary data from the first three-quarters of the year show a drop in smoking of about 9 percent.

“The lesson of the impact of the federal tax as well as New York’s is that by increasing the tobacco tax and funding comprehensive programs, we can dramatically reduce the number who die from tobacco use,” Myers said.

By RIDGELY OCHS, November 12, 2009 Newsday

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

LONDON, ENGLAND – A new proposal that is part of England’s Health Bill would ban cigarette vending machines and prevent stores from displaying tobacco products, Reuters reports.

Former Labor minister Ian McCartney, who proposed the vending machine ban, said that its intent is to make it more difficult for minors to buy cigarettes.

“We don’t allow alcohol, fireworks, knives or other age-restricted products to be sold from vending machines,” McCartney said on his Web site. “These are only sold where there is a face-to-face transaction over the counter. We need to tackle this anomaly which allows children to get hold of cigarettes.”

The House of Commons approved the vending machine amendment earlier this week. It now moves to the House of Lords for consideration. If approved there, it would become law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Opponents of the proposed non-display bill argued that it would harm merchants while doing little to improve the public’s health. They said that there is scant evidence from other countries that banning cigarette displays reduces smoking rates.

However, Health Secretary Andy Burnham said that the government would not try to block its passage in the House of Lords.

Cigarette vending machines could soon be a thing of the past after MPs agreed to ban them.

The House of Lords will now consider whether there should be an outright ban on the machines, after an amendment to the Health Bill by Labour’s Ian McCartney was passed by the Commons on Monday night.

MPs also voted to bar the display of cigarettes in shops, despite strong opposition to the Government’s proposals from the Tories.

Former Cabinet minister Mr McCartney said the approval of his vending machines ban proposal “was going to change history”.

Condemning the devices as an “outrageous loophole in our country’s safeguards” to prevent thousands of children suffering illness and premature death, he protested that tobacco was still “the only product in Britain that can be sold legally, which routinely kills and injures its customers”.

Mr McCartney’s amendment was passed without a vote, and Health Secretary Andy Burnham said the Government would not oppose the measure in the Lords.

Anti-smoking campaigners welcomed the move. Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said: “Stopping tobacco sales from vending machines has made a strong Bill even stronger.

“We wouldn’t tolerate other age-restricted products such as alcohol or knives being sold in this way. This prohibition means that a lethal and addictive product will no longer be easily accessible to children.”

Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, added: “We are delighted that MPs have voted to protect young people from tobacco marketing. Putting tobacco out of sight in shops and removing cigarette vending machines will help reduce the number of young people taking up a lethal addiction: Tobacco kills half of all long term users.”

The Tories expressed concern over proposals for a ban on the display of cigarettes, particularly during the recession when shops could suffer from a lack of business.

Two thirds of pub landlords in Northern Ireland would rather ditch their cigarette machines than enforce tough proposed laws on preventing children using them, new research found today.

Requirements for bar staff to ID check every young person wanting to access them would be impossible during busy times, according to a survey of licensees in the region.

The study by the British Heart Foundation NI comes ahead of next week’s Westminster debate on the measures, which are contained in the UK Health Bill.

Stormont Health Minister Michael McGimpsey is expected to introduce the provisions of the bill in Northern Ireland if it is passed.

However, the BHF want him to go further and ban the machines altogether.

The charity says the results of its surveys show that the health conscious move would not have an adverse impact on the pub trade, with four out of five landlords claiming the revenue from the automated devices doesn’t amount to much.

Jayne Murray, Public Affairs & Communications Manager at BHF NI said: “The UK Government’s proposals outlined in the Bill are unworkable and unrealistic.

“The message from the pub industry is loud and clear, they can’t make these proposals work and the loose change they make from these machines isn’t worth the hassle of keeping them.

“The only people with a real interest in vending machines are the tobacco industry. Every year young people start a lifetime’s addiction to cigarettes by buying them from a vending machine. Both the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Assembly needs to be braver and put the interests of children ahead of a commercial lobby.”

BHF estimates that around 850 regular smokers aged between 11 and 15 access cigarettes from vending machines in Northern Ireland.

Ms Murray added: “We don’t allow other age restricted products like alcohol, fireworks or knives to be sold from vending machines. These are only sold where there is a face to face transaction over the counter.

“Smoking is one of the biggest avoidable causes of death and disease in the country. Yet we continue to allow vending machines which undermine the restrictions already in place, and allow children to pick up an addiction they take into adulthood.”

It’s getting harder and harder out there for a smoker.
Now, you can’t get a public job if you take a puff.

The Palm Beach Tax Collector’s Office announced Wednesday that it won’t consider anyone who regularly uses tobacco products for a job with the government agency. Now we’re not legal beagles around here, but that sounds a tad bit like blatant discrimination.

Just think, if such a policy was in place in Chicago, President Barack Obama would be on the unemployment line instead of campaigning for the Olympics.

Tax Collector Ann Gannon says it is a health insurance issue and she is trying to cut down on the costs associated with employing smokers.

“There’s not much to be said for smoking — it’s a major cause of respiratory and circulatory disease, it contributes to increased insurance costs for us and the Palm Beach County taxpayers, it’s unhealthy to be around, and expensive these days,” Gannon wrote in a statement released today.

So are discrimination lawsuits.

Along with filling out that pesky criminal background check form, job applicants will also have to sign an affidavit saying that they are nonsmokers. No word if a tobacco drug screening will also be done.

Copyright © Sep 30, 2009 Nbcmiami

Child laborers in Malawi as young as five are picking tobacco for U.S. smokers. An outcome of this backbreaking work has been nicotine poisoning equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes a day, a new study has found.

In the study by the U.S.-based child rights group Plan International, children reported common symptoms of green tobacco sickness including severe headaches, abdominal pain, muscle weakness, coughing and breathlessness.

“Sometimes it feels like you don’t have enough breath, you don’t have enough oxygen,” one child said. “You reach a point where you cannot breathe because of the pain in your chest.”

Tobacco, Malawi’s primary export crop, is found in the blend of almost every cigarette smoked in the West. More than 78,000 children work in tobacco fields—some up to 12 hours a day, without protective clothing, according to the study.

Plan International called on Malawi ‘s government to enforce existing child labor and protection laws and to provide safer, fairer working conditions on plantations for those children forced to work. Multinational tobacco companies also must check their suppliers far more closely and follow their own corporate responsibility guidelines.


Copyright © 2009 Frostillustrated

After Johns Hopkins University researchers have proven that the amount of harmful nicotine in air-conditioned cars with smokers is much higher than in pubs and restaurants that allow smoking, an MK is considering initiating a bill to bar smoking in vehicles with children as passengers.

Israel Beiteinu MK Robert Ilatov, whose colleague MK Yuri Shtern proposed such legislation three weeks before his death from brain cancer in 2007, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday after learning of the Baltimore study that such a bill would be a fitting memorial to Shtern. He asked to read the study, which was published on Tuesday in the journal Tobacco Control.

Health Ministry associate director-general Dr. Boaz Lev said he personally was very much opposed to smoking in cars containing minors, but that he had not discussed the proposal with Deputy Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman (United Torah Judaism), who decides policy.

Meanwhile, Jerusalem tobacco control lawyer Amos Hausner, who is chairman of the Israel Council for the Prevention of Smoking, said that smoking in vehicles should not be allowed altogether, since it risks the lives of the driver and his passengers, both due to the increased chance of road accidents and the damage to health from the toxic substances released in cigarette smoking in such a small space.

Hausner noted that there is a law – too seldom enforced – barring the holding of cellular phones while driving, because this greatly increases the risk of crashes. Two years ago, he recalled, the transport authorities sponsored a month of radio public service ads calling on the public not to smoke in cars for this reason.

The US study on secondhand tobacco smoke concentrations in motor vehicles – by Dr. Patrick Breysse, Dr. Ana Navas-Acien and colleagues at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health – focused on 17 smokers and five nonsmokers who commuted to and from work by car for 30 minutes or longer.

Two passive airborne nicotine samplers were placed in the cars – one at the front passenger seat headrest and one in the back seat behind the driver – for 24-hour periods. Using gas chromatography, the researchers analyzed the 44 samplers gathered and found there was a twofold (1.96) increase in air nicotine concentrations per cigarette smoked, 40 percent to 50% higher than in restaurants and bars that allow smoking.

While laws around the world bar smoking in public indoor places, only a few countries and several American states have barred smoking in cars occupied by children. But in the US alone, involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke accounts for thousands of respiratory, cardiovascular and cancer deaths every year, the authors note. Vehicles are increasingly being shared for car pools, thus more people are being exposed to smoke.

The researchers estimated that nicotine concentrations were twice as strong in smokers’ than in nonsmokers’ cars, and 40% to 50% higher than those in restaurants/bars that permit smoking. Research has shown that children aged between five and 12 who had been passengers in cars with smokers were nearly twice as likely as children who were not exposed to secondhand smoke in vehicles to suffer from persistent asthmatic wheeze. Factors such as vehicle size made a difference in the Baltimore study results, but opening the windows did not eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke.

Of the smokers in the study, 53% said that being unable to smoke in the car would help them to quit smoking altogether, and 93% of smokers agreed that motor vehicles should be smoke-free on a voluntary basis. The researchers conclude that the high nicotine concentrations measured in the air of vehicles in this study “support the urgent need for smoke-free education campaigns and legislative measures banning smoking in motor vehicles when passengers, especially children, are present.”

Meanwhile, the Guardian newspaper reported on Monday that children – as young as five years old – in Malawi who are forced to work as tobacco pickers are exposed to nicotine poisoning equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes a day. They suffer from severe health problems from absorbing daily up to 54 milligrams of nicotine through their skin.

Low-grade, high-nicotine Malawian tobacco is found in the blend of almost every cigarette in the West and is often used as a filler by manufacturers, according to the newspaper. As the number of US tobacco farms declined by 89% between 1954 and 2002, three-quarters of production has migrated to developing countries, with Malawi the world’s fifth biggest producer. It is estimated that more than 78,000 children work on tobacco estates – some up to 12 hours a day.

The children reported common symptoms of green tobacco sickness (GTS) – nicotine poisoning – including severe headaches, abdominal pain, muscle weakness, coughing and breathlessness. GTS is a common hazard of workers coming into contact with tobacco leaves and absorbing nicotine through their skin, especially when harvesting. It is made worse by the humid and wet conditions prevalent in Malawi, as residual moisture on the leaves helps nicotine to be absorbed quicker.

GTS symptoms are worse in children than adults as they have not built up a tolerance to nicotine through smoking and because of their physical size. Animal studies have shown that mice given nicotine during infancy and adolescents suffer from long-lasting changes in brain structure and function.


Copyright © 2009 Jpost

Want to keep your cigarettes, tobacco and herbs fresh with the best taste? Then follow the below instruction of keeping cigarettes fresh.
It seems that the price of cigarettes goes up every day. Buying more cartons of cigarettes helps cover some of the rising costs but presents the problem of keeping cigarettes fresh. Fortunately, a few steps can help the smokers to keep their cigarettes fresh for much longer time.
Step 1
Keep cigarettes in their sealed packaging after you buy them, since the seal and foil that the cigarettes come wrapped in are the first and best method for keeping your smokes in good condition.
Step 2
Put the cigarettes in a bag in the fridge for short-term storage or, if you want to keep the cigarettes fresh for up to 6 months, you can place them in the freezer. Be aware, though, that putting the cigarettes in the freezer may dry them out.
Step 3
Buy a cigarette pack holder that can keep your cigarette packs from getting wet or crushed as you carry a pack around in your pocket or a bag.
Step 4
Store the cigarettes in a dark room and place a dehumidifier in the room to keep your cigarettes at optimal quality for a long time. Monitor the temperature and humidity level so that the cigarettes remain in a good environment.
Step 5
Attempt to keep cigarettes for less than 6 months since keeping opened tobacco for longer than this period results in stale and even moldy cigarettes that taste bad and can be more harmful to your health than fresh cigarettes.

Remember that keeping your tobacco fresh is the key to a good smoke!

Officials are to crack down on the sale of electric cigarettes after fears were raised over their safety.

The products, which were designed to combat the smoking ban, do not comply with Department of Health regulations because some brands contain toxic levels of nicotine.

Now the government will have tests carried out on the e-cigarettes to assess their levels of toxicity.
electronic cigarette

Sales of electronic cigarettes have soared since the smoking ban was introduced, but the Department of Health said some brands are unsafe

Large numbers of smokers have turned to the battery-powered cigarettes in the wake of the smoking ban which was imposed throughout the country last year.

Many pubs and bars sell the products – which release a nicotine vapour – as a way around the smoking ban. But health chiefs are concerned they do not comply with safety standards.

A Department of Health spokesman told trade magazine The Publican: ‘Our scientific research has found that none of the products tested to date comply with product safety regulations.

‘Local authorities enforce the law and the government is now working with them to crack down on e-cigarettes that contain toxic levels of nicotine, ensuring they are labelled and sold appropriately.’

While an outright ban is not on the cards, trading standards officers are working with importers to ensure products on sale carry the right health warnings and some have already been suspended from the marketplace.

‘These products have raised a whole range of safety issues,’ said Jane MacGregor, adviser to the Local Government Association.

She warned pubs and bars to check their supplies are correctly labelled and to ask suppliers for a test certificate.

‘It is a retailer’s responsibility to make sure what they’re selling is safe,’ she said.

The probe follows a US government health alert on e-cigarettes warning two brands tested contained ‘carcinogens and toxic chemicals’.

But firms marketing e-cigarettes to the UK licensed trade rejected the allegations.

Michael Ryan of E-Lites insisted that e-cigarettes provide ‘a much healthier alternative to tobacco cigarettes’ and are only ‘marketed to existing smokers over 18 years’.

He said: ‘The scope of the American analysis was very limited and relates to one brand not representative of the leading brands in the UK. It is our belief that using E-Lites as opposed to regular cigarettes is a life-saving choice.’

Raff Bieniek, general manager of freehouse The Salusbury in Queens Park, West London, sells three or four E-Lite kits a week.

He said: ‘The most important thing for us is that it means customers can smoke inside. We still don’t allow it in the restaurant but they do smoke in the bar. And it’s good for their health too.’


Copyright © 2009 Dailymail

DOHA: The ministries of trade and industry and health as well as various authorities concerned in Saudi Arabia are studying ways to curb the entry of banned electronic cigarette devices, also known as “e-cigarettes”, into the kingdom.

The move comes after the issuance of a warning on the use of these devices by the US Food and Drug Administration, which said they contain harmful carcinogenic and toxic substances, notably diethylene glycol, a toxic chemical used in antifreeze.

“E-cigarettes,” are battery-operated devices designed to look like and to be used in the same manner as conventional cigarettes. The devices generally contain cartridges filled with nicotine, flavour, and other chemicals. They turn nicotine, which is highly addictive, and other chemicals into a vapour that is inhaled by the user.

Advertisers and marketers of the device have been falsely claiming that it is a successful method to quit smoking, and have sometimes used the World Health Organisation’s logo on the devices’ packs.

Saudi Arabia is one of the leading countries that have banned the sale of “e-cigarettes” because of the harm the devices cause. The devices have been popular for the past few years following their introduction in China in 2004.

“E-cigarettes”, which sell for around SR500, are manufactured in China to be marketed globally, mainly in Europe.

Upon testing it was found that the “e-cigarette” harms human health far more than the normal cigarette and it contains 40 times as much nicotine as a regular cigarette.

The head of the Saudi Smoking and Drug Awareness Organisation said their use was still limited and there were no official importers of the devices within the kingdom.

Military personnel who buy cigarettes may lose their tobacco discount or ability to purchase cigarettes at military grocery stores altogether. The recommendation comes from a newly released report from the Institute of Medicine.

Funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the study reports that over 30 percent of soldiers use tobacco — a much higher rate than Americans overall, which is estimated around 20 percent.

In a bold move toward the ban of military smoking altogether the study recommended: “stop selling tobacco products in military commissaries and exchanges. Until accomplishing that, DoD should at the very least sell tobacco products at prices equal to those in local civilian retail stores.”

Cigarette tax is big business across this country.

As recently as January, the federal government imposed an additional 62 cents for a total of $1.01 tax on each package of cigarettes to help fund the State Children’s Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP) that was signed into law in February.

State cigarette taxes across the country range from a low of seven cents to as high as $2.75 per pack.

San Francisco will be imposing a “butt tax” starting October 1. A proposed 20-cent per pack “surcharge” will be imposed to generate revenue for discarded butt clean-up.

With the temptation to buy smokes from mail order, Indian reservations or crossing state lines in an attempt for cheaper cigarettes, the House of Representatives introduced a bill that would prevent tobacco smuggling and ensure the collection of all tobacco taxes. (read the entire article here)

The effort directed towards a tobacco-free military results in a win/win. Military personnel will be healthier, while banning tobacco sales in military grocery stores for this high segment of smokers in our country may tighten the last gap for tobacco tax collection.

Listed Philippine Tobacco Flue-Curing and Redrying Corp. will lend P72 million to its subsidiary Baesa Redevelopment Corp. to redevelop its warehouse properties, corporate secretary Patricia O. Bunye said.

In a disclosure, Bunye said the amount was increased from P40 million after it was determined the original was “not sufficient” to cover the costs. A supplement to loan agreement was signed Thursday after Philippine Tobacco extended financial assistance in August with an interest of eight percent per year.

She said the parties have the option to raise the amount if it is still insufficient for the needs of Baesa Redevelopment. The interest was also reduced to six percent.

The company and Baesa Redevelopment have contract of lease covering parcels of land in Baesa, Quezon City where its five warehouses are located. Philippine Tobacco bought four for P57 million based on book value.

The redevelopment project was estimated at P90 million.

Upon completion of the first warehouse redevelopment, Baesa Redevelopment will shift its leasing business to commercial spaces from warehouse, which has been “very profitable” in the past years.

Copyright © 2009 Gmanew

MYRTLEFORD farmers have the whiff of tobacco in their nostrils again.

The prospect of a return to tobacco growing prompted 100 ex-growers to attend a recent public meeting in the town.

Buffalo River ex-tobacco grower Carlo Mancuso called for interest in fulfilling a potential Asian contract of four million kilograms of Virginia flue-cured tobacco.

A survey at the meeting revealed farmers were prepared to grow more than two million kg.

Mr Mancuso said Asian importers had offered Australian growers $2/kg at yields of 2.4-3.7t/ha.

With a farm-gate value of $24 million, the tobacco industry ceased in October 2006 when growers accepted a buy-out package from tobacco manufacturers and the Federal Government.

Under the terms of the exit package, growers were unable to grow the crop again for five years.

Mr Mancuso believes the industry could be easily resurrected.

A second-generation tobacco grower, Mr Mancuso operates a wholesale importing and exporting business to South East Asia. After running a small business in Melbourne, he returned to tobacco growing at Buffalo River, near Myrtleford, in 2005.

Once the last tobacco seedling was removed in 2006, Mr Mancuso formed a grower network to explore viable markets for an Australian crop. He and his brother Norman visited manufacturers in Dubai, Jordan, Rome and Singapore.

Mr Mancuso said Asian buyers were keen to secure Virginia flue-cured and burley (air-cured) tobacco from Australia.

Copyright © 2009 Weeklytimesnow

What a difference a decade has made in the tobacco wars — at least to judge by the lobbying expenditures.

Ten years ago, with a bill providing for new tobacco regulation and a cigarette tax pending in the Senate, tobacco companies spent nearly $60 million to fend it off. Lobbying firms benefited handsomely, with multimillion-dollar payments going to Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand, then home to a pair of former Senate majority leaders, Democrat George J. Mitchell of Maine (1980-95), and Republican Bob Dole of Kansas (1969-96); Barbour, Griffith & Rogers, whose name partner Haley Barbour went on to become the current GOP governor of Mississippi; and Baker, Donelson, Bearman & Caldwell, whose most prominent lobbyist was yet another former Senate majority leader, Tennessee Republican Howard H. Baker Jr. (1967-85).

But as Congress this month cleared legislation to grant the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco, K Street’s haul, over the preceding 15 months, turned out to be less than half of what tobacco clients spent to defeat the 1998 legislation.

The decline is due mainly to corporate mergers and industry disunity. Altria Group Inc., owner of cigarette maker Philip Morris, broke ranks with some other tobacco giants and backed this year’s legislation, hoping it would solidify Altria’s position as the U.S. market leader. And U.S. Tobacco Inc., a smokeless tobacco company that worked hard to fight the 1998 bill, is now part of the Altria corporate empire.

Meanwhile, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., the top spender in 1998, merged with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in 2004, and the new company has adopted Reynolds’ less expensive lobbying approach. And the Tobacco Institute, once a joint lobbying operation of the major tobacco companies, closed its doors in 1999 as part of the settlement of a lawsuit brought by state attorneys general against the industry.

That’s left just one major cigarette maker, Lorillard Tobacco Co., with an actual increase in its lobbying spending during this year’s tobacco debate.
Copyright © 2009 Cqpolitics

A group of Harvard doctors uncovered a little known secret about the stock holdings of both health and life insurance companies; they have significant investments in tobacco companies.

In a cold-blooded business plan to cover all their bases, if an insured dies from the effects of smoking, the companies owning tobacco stock still benefit from the continued sale of cancer causing tobacco products. It’s a “win win” situation for insurance companies.

The Harvard doctors report that insurance companies in both the US and overseas, own nearly $4.5 billion in tobacco stocks.

“It’s the combined taxidermist and veterinarian approach: either way you get your dog back,” says David Himmelstein, a Harvard Medical School and co-author of the report.

Himmelstein explains that owning tobacco stock can’t help but have an impact on the decisions of insurance companies, even in subtle ways that can harm our health. Companies that own significant tobacco holdings would not want to see their earnings decrease.

For example, insurers owning tobacco shares would be “less likely to join anti-tobacco coalitions, endorse anti-tobacco legislation, basically, anything most health companies would want to participate in,” says Himmelstein.

Two of the worst offenders listed, include the Prudential company, with tobacco holdings totaling $1.5 billion and Sun Life Financial, which holds over $1 billion in Philip Morris and other tobacco companies.

Sun Life denied its holdings are that large, but Himmelstein says the Osiris database supports his claims.

The Harvard doctors involved in writing this report all support a national health care plan and point to their report as just another reason why our health insurance coverage shouldn’t be left in the hands of private
insurers.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor was an intense, no-nonsense prosecutor during five years spent at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, a real-world experience that isn’t shared by justices now on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sotomayor joined the office fresh out of Yale Law School in 1979, spurning big law firms because she hoped to get quick experience trying cases, the Washington Post reports. She got her wish, winning an early promotion to a felony unit after spending six months prosecuting offenses such as disorderly conduct, public urination and graffiti. Colleagues and friends described her as driven, competitive and focused on the details of her cases.

Former New York police detective Chris Montanino told the newspaper about his encounter with the Supreme Court nominee.

Montanino said he wanted to go after child-porn distributors but he couldn’t find a prosecutor who would take his case seriously. “Then he returned a call from a young woman at the local district attorney’s office,” the Post writes, “an intense, chain-smoking prosecutor known for working into the night, fueled by the caffeine buzz from a string of Tab diet sodas.”

Montanino said he blew his top when Sotomayor called him back, but the young prosecutor cut him off. “You will be in my office at 9 a.m. tomorrow,” she said, and then hung up.

“And that is the way it went,” Montanino told the Post. “She was no-nonsense.”

Sotomayor won the case, getting jail sentences for the store owner and a clerk.

Copyright © 2009 Abajournal

Gambling and tourism industry lobbyists succeeded Sunday in 11th-hour efforts to get the Nevada Assembly to endorse a partial rollback of a voter-approved ban on smoking in public places.

On a voice vote, the Assembly agreed to a conference committee plan to allow for smoking at some trade conventions. The plan is being grafted onto AB309, which deals with the crime of stalking.

Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, said the amendment sought by the lobbyists seemed “touchy relative to germaneness” because AB309 is an anti-stalking bill but was found to be OK by the lawmakers’ legal counsel.

The state Senate was expected to accept the conference report before the Legislature adjourns today. With state Senate approval, AB309 will go to Gov. Jim Gibbons for his signature.

The partial rollback was sought after Anderson’s committee shelved SB372, which would have softened the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act, passed by voters in 2006. Under SB372, smoking would have been allowed in bars that serve food. Minors would have been restricted from entry.

The change endorsed by the Assembly on Sunday had been sought by lobbyists for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority because some groups with tobacco industry ties had canceled Nevada conventions after the smoking ban approved by voters in 2006 took effect.

At an earlier hearing, LVCVA Senior Vice President Terry Jicinsky testified that the smoking ban has cost the convention authority $41 million in business.

He said his organization lost cigar and smoking industry trade shows to New Orleans because of the law. But he added he has a commitment from trade shows to return to Las Vegas if legislators amend the law to allow smoking during these types of conventions.

Las Vegas Review-Journal writer Ed Vogel contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 Lvrj

The fate of Kansas City’s voter-approved smoking ban now rests with the Missouri Court of Appeals.

Lawyers for the city and a group opposing the smoking ban squared off this morning in arguments before the appeals court.

At issue is whether Kansas City’s ban on smoking in small bars and billiard parlors complies with state law or exceeds the authority given by the state to regulate smoking.

Jonathan Sternberg argued on behalf of JC’s Sports Bar, which was fined for violating the Kansas City comprehensive ban against smoking in bars and restaurants that voters approved in 2008. Sternberg argued that, under state law, Kansas City is not allowed to regulate smoking in bars, billiard parlors and restaurants that seat fewer than 50 people. He said smoking in small bars such as JC’s is specifically permitted under the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act, and the city cannot prohibit what state law allows.

But Assistant City Attorney Lowell Gard told the appellate court panel that it is “ridiculous” to argue that city residents cannot vote to exercise police powers within their city to protect the public’s health, and that Missouri’s Clean Indoor Air Act specifically contemplates stricter smoking regulations by local ordinance.

A ruling from the appeals court is expected this summer.

Anti-smoking researchers need more actions from Government for to decrease the smokers’ number.
Dr. Yusuf Saloojee, executive director at the National Council against Smoking (NCAS), said: “We appreciate and applaud the efforts made by government to discourage people from using tobacco products, but we believe that more can, and should be done.”
Government proposed a new law which will provide an extra exciting for smokers who want to quit. They include a R50 000 fine for the owners of a public place who allow smoking in non-smoking area and a R500 fine for the offender. Smoking in private cars where children under 12 years of age are present will be illegal, and the outdated text warnings on boxes will be replaced by more graphic pictorial warnings.
Dr. Salooje added: “We’re hoping the use of labels, like mild or low tar, will be banned, because it has been proven that these do not necessarily reduce the risks associated with smoking. It’s the biggest fraud in the tobacco industry.”
Even doctors and researchers don’t want to see how tobacco products are taxed, because at the moment smoking is still a very acceptable habit for most South African smokers.
According to Dr. Saloojee, “already one in every 11 deaths worldwide is caused by tobacco usage. Within 20 years, one in every six deaths will be tobacco-related if we don’t initiate effective interventions.”
And the only thing which is required from all smokers is a real desire to stop smoking.
According to a recent study, at least 70% of the smoking population is unhappy smokers. That’s why they have to quit if they want to become happy.
The findings of a World Bank study on tobacco consumption point to the fact that tobacco prices are the main decisive of tobacco consumption. Because increasing the price of tobacco products will definitely have an impact on current smokers, and possibly act as a protection for teenagers who are thinking of starting to smoke.
Nevertheless this has to go hand in hand with the enforcement of the current legislation such as no smoking in public places, the ban on tobacco advertising and the minimum legal age to purchase tobacco products.

A new device for addicted smokers who want to be able to get their nicotine fix by “smoking” in places where smoking is prohibited, and do so by exhaling a cloud of “smoke” made up of a chemical which is both toxic and addictive.

This new product, already being sold and used in many U.S. cities, is called an e-cigarette.

It doesn’t burn tobacco, but it does allow smokers to inhale – and to exhale into the air around them – the addictive substance nicotine which constricts blood vessels, increases the heart rate, and produces other changes in a body (especially in people not accustomed to it).

Most astonishingly, the product is currently not subject to any regulation, so we have no way of knowing what other chemicals might also be given off when the user exhales into the air.

An anti-tobacco group has called on governments to butt out of the business of buying cigarettes with public money.

But it’s a habit some governments in China might have a hard time breaking as recent figures show public funds have paid for about 70 percent of brand-name cigarette purchases over the past few years.

“It is a shame governments have become the biggest purchasers of brand-name cigarettes. It seriously damages their image,” Xu Guihua, deputy director of Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, told a press conference Tuesday in Beijing.

The figures, from Beijing-based NGO Thinktank Research Center for Health Development, show public funds continuing to pay for cigarettes despite surging prices since 2000.

Xu said the government should tie its anti-smoking efforts with its anti-corruption campaign, as cigarette vouchers had become hot items and were sometimes ideal for paying bribes.

When a government official in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, was arrested last year on a charge of taking bribes, the evidence against him was not bundles of cash, but 200,000 yuan worth of redeemable cigarette vouchers.

A survey by the NGO on Sohu website from May 11-15, showed 98.7 percent of 3,630 netizens were against officials buying cigarettes with taxpayer money. Around 93 percent of netizens support the government banning officials from accepting cigarette vouchers, which could lead to corruption, the survey said.

Yet some local governments see things differently.

Gongan county in Hubei province asked all of its administrative organizations to make it their “duty” to collectively consume about 23,000 cartons of cigarettes a year, reported Chutian Metropolis Daily.

Any organization that failed to consume at least 400 cartons of cigarettes a year would lose public funds, said the report.

At an average cost of 170 yuan a carton, that “duty” would cost the county 4 million yuan a year.

“Governments have also implemented favorable policies for the cigarette industry, raising revenue from taxes and creating local economic development,” Wu Yiqun, deputy director of the think tank, said. “Some officials even see the tobacco industry as a way to promote economic growth, so the anti-cigarette campaign might face unexpected challenges,” she said.

Copyright © 2009 Chinadaily

A box of Obama Presidential Series 44 cigars, made in honor of President Barack Obama, lays on a table at the Segovia Cigars tobacco company in Esteli, Nicaragua, Feb. 4. The Corona, California, based-Granada 1524 Cigars company hired Nicaragua’s Segovia Cigars to produce the Obama series which retails for between $15 and $20 a cigar, depending on the size.