The Baltimore County Council has deferred a proposal that would require retailers of tobacco products to ask for proof of age from “anyone who looks to be 26 or younger.”

The legislation was written to make it easier for police officers to enforce the county’s ban on distribution of tobacco products to those under the age of 18.

“It automatically says a retailer needs to card, and it will help us reduce teenage smoking,” said Don Mohler, county spokesman.

But several council members said the regulation put too great an onus on retailers.

“If the buyer is of legal age, is the seller breaking the law by not asking for proof of age?” asked Councilman John Olszewski.

A federal law requiring proof of age takes effect in June. Jurisdictions face mounting pressure to crack down on underage smoking or risk the loss of federal funding for health programs, officials said.

“We all have the same intention to curtail underage smoking,” Mohler said. “We will revisit this.”

By Mary Gail Hare
Copyright © 2009, Baltimore Sun

Strong political leadership in Mexico, with encouragement and support from key tobacco control advocates from NGOs, was fundamental in triggering and sustaining the law. The smoke-free agenda and the final legislation relied on political support at different levels and at all stages of the political and legislative process – from the drafting of the bill through to its introduction, approval and publication, and the drafting of regulations.

Political leadership and support came not only from members of the Legislative Assembly of DF, but from the DF Health Ministry. The DF Secretary for Health, Manuel Mondragón, was a strong advocate and supporter of the law. The DF Ministry and Secretary for Health, working with the DF Administration, quickly published the law, supported the rapid production of the regulations, and provided clear and visible public support for the law, to build compliance with it.

Sr Mondragon’s key actions included ordering all departmental buildings in the city to be smoke-free in advance of the legislation, deploying Ministry budgets to fund promotional materials for campaigns supporting the smoke-free law and leading press conferences to promote the law the day before it came into effect. The Ministry of Health has also played a central role in building compliance with the law.

Many champions for the law in the Legislative Assembly worked to ensure its passage. The Head of the Health Commission presented the law to the Assembly and worked to protect the final bill from modifications that could reduce its effectiveness. Other key members of the Legislative Assembly also adopted a high profile and played an integral role in developing and advancing the law. They led in drafting the legislation, in campaigns, press conferences and media debates, and in generating a political consensus across parties and 12 members. Xiuh Tenorio, in particular, established a high media profile as a “champion” of the law and he worked closely with tobacco advocates in crafting arguments and participating in publicity campaigns.

Starting Thursday, city employees in Ocean Springs will have to go

tobacco-free while they’re on the clock, under a rule enacted to save on insurance costs.

Ocean Springs was facing a 3 percent increase on its health insurance policy without such a rule, according to Mindy McDowell, human resources manager. That would have amounted to $30,000 per year.

Public buildings in the city are already smoke-free, but the new rule extends that provision to include all forms tobacco and will be in effect wherever an employee is working, inside or out.

McDowell said the city would offer a free tobacco-cessation program to employees that includes doctors visits and a 90-day prescription for appropriate medication. Spouses and children can also qualify for the program, if the employee’s health plan covers them.

“That will save us money in the long run if we can get people to quit,” McDowell said.

Fire Chief Jeff Ponson said that out of 38 employees, he has two or three who smoke and about 15 who chew or dip tobacco.

Firefighters work 24-hour shifts. “They’re just going to have to overcome and wait until they’re off work to do it,” Ponson said.

André L. Kaufman, director of Public Works, estimated that about half of his 48 employees use tobacco. He said that there may be some “adjustment issues” for them in the beginning.

“Well, they realize in some cases that it’s going to be a difficult thing,” Kaufman said. “It’s something that we discussed as a department. It will help hold down the cost of insurance.”

McDowell said that once news of the tobacco ban spread, the city received some “nasty” e-mails from the public accusing it of infringing on people’s rights. But the e-mails were not necessarily from locals.

“The employees have not really griped at all,” McDowell said.

NEW DELHI: An inter-ministerial group to look into an alternative taxation policy for tobacco products would be set up soon in order bring down its use in India, the Health Ministry on Wednesday said.

Director of Department of Tobacco Control, Ministry of Health, Mr Binayak Prasad, said the group will comprise members from the Ministries of Labour, Finance, Agriculture and Health.

“The group will work out an alternative taxation policy for tobacco,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an international tobacco conference here.

Outlining the various initiatives of the Government to control tobacco consumption in India, Minister of State for Health Mr Dinesh Trivedi said comprehensive legislations to curb smoking have been enacted by India.

“In order to provide economically viable activity to various stakeholders, the ministry is collaborating with Central Tobacco Research Institute and Directorate of Agricultural Research to establish viable, sustainable alternatives to tobacco crops,” he said.

Copyright © 2009 Thehindubusinessline

The credibility of Thailand’s anti-smoking policy is being questioned after it was revealed the country is hosting a major tobacco promotional event in November.

Anti-smoking activists are strongly opposing the staging of Tabinfo Asia 2009, which will be held from Nov 11 to 13 at Impact Muang Thong Thani.

They say it makes a mockery of the nation’s anti-smoking stand.

They said the event was a fresh effort by multinational tobacco companies to expand their business in the region, which is seen as the world’s most lucrative market for tobacco consumption.

“The tobacco industry is acting like cigarettes are normal and that the Tabinfo Asia 2009 event is just an ordinary trade expo,” said Prakit Vathesatogkit, secretary of the Action on Smoking and Health Foundation (ASH Thailand).

“Smoking kills over 5 million people each year.

“We cannot just keep silent on this matter. We have to expose that the tobacco industry is challenging Thailand to host an event aimed at harming global health.”

A network of anti-tobacco advocates in Thailand would hold activities to condemn an event which they say is aimed at directly and indirectly influencing the country’s policy on tobacco control.

Dr Prakit said staging the promotion was in contravention of Article 5.3 of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention of Tobacco Control in protecting public policy from tobacco industry influence.

He urged government agencies – particularly the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly – to follow the WHO pact.

Thailand adopted the treaty, which requires restrictions on all forms of tobacco advertising, trade, sponsorship and promotion, in addition to protection from exposure to tobacco smoke, effective taxation policy, pictorial health warnings on packaging and an end to duty-free sales of tobacco products.

The Public Health Ministry had to look into possible violation of the Thai Tobacco Act at the event as the law prohibited the presence of cigarette packs in retail establishments.

US-based Tobacco Reporter magazine, the organiser, said the reason for holding the event was “to learn how the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly manages to survive under heavy legal restrictions”.

The organiser also emphasised that Tabinfo Asia 2009 was just another congress focusing on a business meeting with no public admittance.But Dr Prakit said the event aimed to draw more than 3,000 delegates and tobacco traders to brainstorm ways to market their tobacco products in Asia, particularly aimed at young smokers, via new media such as Twitter.

“It is the tobacco industry’s new threat [to society], especially to developing countries which are not equipped to fight against huge sums of money and various tricky strategies,” said Hatai Chitanondh, president of the Thai Health Promotion Institute.

Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai said he had assigned the Disease Control Department to look into legal details regarding exhibitors.

Another evidence of constantly growing black market of cigarettes came from Massachusetts

During a news-conference, Michael Campbell, spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said that ATF agents collaborated with local Police Department officers to raid a warehouse in Springfield and confiscate almost 12 million cigarettes, in most part Marlboros, produced and shipped from China.

The seizure became the largest ever raid in the history of Massachusetts, said the spokesman.

Federal agents found storage, containing 60,000 packs of counterfeit Marlboros last week, after they had detained Ping Teng Mai, a 40-year-old Springfield jobless, who had previously reached an agreement with an undercover ATF agent to change his bogus cigarettes for a smaller number of untaxed cigarettes, according to a report passed to Springfield higher court.

Before this deal, ATF agent had agreed with Mai to sell him untaxed smokes worth of $2 million during four months of investigation.

Since excise taxes on cigarettes have been hiked in many places, sales of untaxed cigarettes raised to become a booming business for local criminals. Whereas, New York City put $1.50 in addition to the state’s $2.75 tax on cigarettes, Virginia’s Fairfax County demands for only 80 cents for both state and local cigarette tax. This makes a huge difference and a cornerstone for black market.

In addition to the latter opportunity, there is another chance for criminals to boodle- the counterfeit Chinese cigarettes that have been flooding the underground cigarette market, said the spokesman for the ATF.

Mr. Campbell stated that fake cigarettes have become a major headache for enforcement agencies. He said smokers simply do not understand that the composition of American-made cigarettes dramatically differs from that of Chinese bogus, since Chinese manufacturers can put even more hazardous additives in those smokes, making them even more toxic they can be.

The smoked found in Springfield storages, appertaining to Mai were made in China as Marlboro Reds and Lights. The representative of Altria lab said they completed tests and proved that those cigarettes have been counterfeit.

The cigarettes were contained in several packages with “Made in China” sign on them.

The ATF agent said that he also negotiated with Mai to supply him with 60,000 packs every four months. He asked Mai if he could ship those cigarettes to Puerto Rico, and Mai answered that there would be absolutely no problems to provide the undercover agent with the desired amount of cigarettes as well as ship them to Puerto Rico.

Arrested Mai now awaits the lawsuit in a remand prison.

Boston University School of Public Health Professor Michael Siegel has called for U.S. health officials and independent researchers to reassess the effectiveness of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and its role as the cornerstone of U.S. quit smoking policy. His call follows a rare glimpse of blinding integrity assessment results, from inside a nicotine patch study by the patch’s co-inventor, which disclosed that four times as many participants correctly identified randomized assignment to the placebo patch as incorrectly identified assignment to the nicotine patch.

by John R. Polito

Professor Michael Siegel, who is also a physician, today serves as the unelected and unappointed head of the tobacco control movement’s internal affairs division. His constant watch-dog fact checking and relentless insistence that the movement be driven by science, not profits, financial influence, exaggeration, or revenge, has endeared him to few. It looks like things are about to get worse.

Dr. Siegel is calling for scientific investigation into the use of placebo controls in nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) clinical trials. He wants those conducting the research to not have any pharmaceutical industry financial ties. He calls for new quitting studies that, for the first, force NRT users to compete head-to-head with real cold turkey quitters, not quitters who joined the study seeking free replacement nicotine but instead received a placebo.

Should the Obama Administration give voice to Dr. Siegel’s call, U.S. smoking cessation policy could see dramatic change, with pharm industry profits from the sale of NRT taking a serious blow.

Dr. Siegel’s call for an investigation of NRT, at his site entitled “The Rest of the Story,” opens by stating, In light of yesterday’s revelation (post #1; post #2) concerning the failure of the blinding in nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) trials, and also in light of the way in which financial conflicts of interest with pharmaceutical companies have resulted in bias in the reporting of the results of these studies, I think it is time for a re-examination of the effectiveness of NRT and its role as part of a national smoking cessation promotion strategy.

He notes that current U.S. cessation policy (whose latest revision was reviewed by WhyQuit in May 2008) recommends that “NRT or other pharmaceutical agents be used with every smoker who wishes to quit” and is “plagued by a number of serious problems.” Dr. Siegel then lays out ten points, containing links to prior blogs, which highlight the problems:

1. The panel making this recommendation was heavily conflicted. Its chair and seven members had financial conflicts of interest with pharmaceutical companies that manufacture smoking cessation drugs.

2. The presentation of information to physicians on drug treatment for smoking cessation has been found to be biased, presumably because of these financial conflicts of interest.

3. The conclusions of a number of the individual studies of NRT therapy appear to be biased, also presumably on account of financial conflicts of interest. See also this post.

4. Reporting of the financial conflicts of interest in smoking cessation drug studies has been inadequate, making it even more difficult to uncover the role of bias in the reporting and review of this literature.

5. The use of NRT therapy during pregnancy has been specifically challenged.

6. Population-based studies indicate that cold turkey cessation, not the use of NRT, is the most effective method for smoking cessation.

7. A number of recent studies indicate that spontaneous quit attempts, usually conducted without the assistance of NRT.
Whyquit

Senior officials of Ministries of Health, Commerce and Industry, and Finance will meet on Friday to discuss and review the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy in the tobacco sector. They are expected to deliberate on whether foreign investment in tobacco sector should be prohibited or not.

Health factor

The current policy allows 100 per cent FDI in cigar and cigarettes manufacture on a case to case basis, but there has been a growing opposition against encouraging investments including FDI into the sector. In the past, the Health Ministry has taken a clear position that no FDI be permitted in the tobacco sector.

Earlier when the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) was deliberating on a proposal by JT International Mauritius and JT International Holding to hike foreign shareholding in JT International India to 74 per cent (from 50 per cent), the Health Ministry had told FIPB that in view of the public health policy it does not favour further growth of the tobacco industry, in the country.

The JTIL proposal came up in the FIPB meetings in July 2008 and October 2008 and again on January 2009 but a decision on the same was deferred. On January 9, 2009, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) sought deferment of the application saying it needed more time to finalise FDI policy on tobacco sector.
Copyright © 2009 Thehindubusinessline

Putnam City School Board members will meet today to discuss and possibly vote on a plan to prohibit visitors from using tobacco while on school property.
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The meeting begins at 5 p.m. at Putnam City Administration Building, 5401 NW 40.

The board is looking to close any loopholes in the district’s existing tobacco policy, district spokesman Steve Lindley said. The current policy has two provisions: One says smoking is prohibited on school grounds, and the other prohibits students and staff from using tobacco on school property.

The policy does not specifically mention visitors.

The new policy the board is considering makes it clear that everyone, including visitors, is prohibited from using tobacco on school grounds at any time.

The policy change was sought by a group of students and residents, Lindley said.

Putnam City School Board members will meet today to discuss and possibly vote on a plan to prohibit visitors from using tobacco while on school property.

The meeting begins at 5 p.m. at Putnam City Administration Building, 5401 NW 40.

The board is looking to close any loopholes in the district’s existing tobacco policy, district spokesman Steve Lindley said. The current policy has two provisions: One says smoking is prohibited on school grounds, and the other prohibits students and staff from using tobacco on school property.

The policy does not specifically mention visitors.

The new policy the board is considering makes it clear that everyone, including visitors, is prohibited from using tobacco on school grounds at any time.

The policy change was sought by a group of students and residents, Lindley said.