Big tobacco hides behind shopfront: MSP condemns tobacco lobby tactics

SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson condemned the lobbying actions of tobacco manufacturers after it emerged a campaign by shopkeepers against proposals to stop the display of cigarettes in store is being bank rolled by the cigarette companies. MSPs have been receiving letters from "Responsible Retailers" urging them to support the "Save our Shops" campaign claiming that removing cigarettes from display will lead to the closure of small independent shops.

Responsible Retailers is actually part of the Tobacco Retailers Alliance which is funded by the Tobacco Manufacturers Association, a fact that is not explained on the letters and leaflets sent to MSPs. The TMA's membership comprises British American Tobacco UK Ltd, Gallaher Ltd and Imperial Tobacco Ltd who between them are responsible for cigarette brands including Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, Benson and Hedges, Silk Cut, Lambert and Butler, Richmond, Superkings, Embassy, Regal. "Responsible Retailers" had previously targeted MPs.

Kenneth Gibson, who first raised the idea of a smoking ban and recently secured Scottish Government support for a ban on cigarette vending machines said: "These tactics are the lowest of the low. To conceal the real identity of those campaigning against essential health moves is a despicable tactic. The tobacco industry has a particularly bad reputation for its behaviour over the years – this will do nothing to enhance it. I am sure some small shops do have genuine concerns but for the tobacco industry to exploit the reputation of independent retailers and the support in Scotland for small businesses to further their aims is an absolute disgrace."

"Last year we saw the alcohol and supermarket industry hiding behind students in their attempts to derail Government moves to tackle Scotland's problematic relationship with alcohol – now we see big tobacco using the same dirty tricks and tactics. I understand Frank MacAveety hosted a reception in the Scottish Parliament on behalf of "Responsible Retailers". As an MSP, he should have made it clear that the Tobacco Manufacturers Association was behind this event."

"I hope all MSPs when receiving letters from the "responsible retailers campaign" make clear that they will not be conned by big tobacco. Real shopkeepers with real concerns have every right to contact their MSP but MSPs should make sure they are clear about the source of this particular campaign."

Source: SNP News, 11 January 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/7gsoef

Germany: Tobacco Industry celebrates Helmut Schmidt

Since former german Chancellor Helmut Schmidt is one of the really great advertisements for the tobacco industry, he is also being especially celebrated now. In a two-page spread of the current issue of the Tabakzeitung, the tobacco industry offers its congratulations with an oversized photo of Helmut Schmidt smoking a cigarette. British American Tobacco also has a full page advertisement in the December issue of Vorwärts, the Social Democrat Party's house organ; it congratulates Schmidt on his 90th birthday on the 23rd December and simultaneously promotes cigarettes which burn like sparklers.

Helmut Schmidt, who had tried unsuccessfully to break loose from his tobacco addiction, has supported the tobacco industry wherever he could. From 1987 to 2000 he was a member of the board of the world’s largest producer of cigarette making machines, Körber AG, which is worth billions. He was a welcome guest at tobacco industry events. Thus, he was invited by the Association of Tobacco Manufacturers to be their featured speaker in the Vienna Hofburg in 1992. The subject was "500 Years of Tobacco in Europe". He has never concealed his partiality, explicitly opposing tobacco advertising restrictions.

By his smoking in public, Schmidt supports the goals of the tobacco industry, which has played down the dangers of smoking for decades. Johannes Spatz, a spokesperson for Forum Rauchfrei (Smokefree Forum), hopes that after turning 90, Schmidt will end his public smoking appearances. Spatz believes that the offensive smoking behaviour of the former chancellor must not only be understood as a quirk, but also as a sign of his closeness to the tobacco industry.

Source: Forum Rauchfrei Press Release, 24 December 2008

Beliefs about the health effects of "thirdhand" smoke and home smoking bans

Abstract

Objective: There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke. Thirdhand smoke is residual tobacco smoke contamination that remains after the cigarette is extinguished. Children are uniquely susceptible to thirdhand smoke exposure. The objective of this study was to assess health beliefs of adults regarding thirdhand smoke exposure of children and whether smokers and nonsmokers differ in those beliefs. We hypothesized that beliefs about thirdhand smoke would be associated with household smoking bans. 

Methods: Data were collected by a national random-digit-dial telephone survey from September to November 2005. The sample was weighted by race and gender within Census region on the basis of US Census data. The study questions assessed the level of agreement with statements that breathing air in a room today where people smoked yesterday can harm the health of children.

Results: Of 2000 eligible respondents contacted, 1510 (87%) completed surveys, 1478 (97.9%) answered all questions pertinent to this analysis, and 273 (18.9%) were smokers. Overall, 95.4% of nonsmokers versus 84.1% of smokers agreed that secondhand smoke harms the health of children, and 65.2% of nonsmokers versus 43.3% of smokers agreed that thirdhand smoke harms children. Strict rules prohibiting smoking in the home were more prevalent among nonsmokers: 88.4% vs 26.7%. In multivariate logistic regression, after controlling for certain variables, belief that thirdhand smoke harms the health of children remained independently associated with rules prohibiting smoking in the home. Belief that secondhand smoke harms the health of children was not independently associated with rules prohibiting smoking in the home and car.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that beliefs about the health effects of thirdhand smoke are independently associated with home smoking bans. Emphasizing that thirdhand smoke harms the health of children may be an important element in encouraging home smoking bans.

Source: Winickoff, J.P. et al, Pediatrics Vol. 123 No. 1 January 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/TQngd

Altria completes buy of smokeless tobacco company UST

Altria Group Inc. said it has completed the acquisition of UST Inc., the biggest player in the U.S. smokeless tobacco market. The buyout was valued at $10.4 billion, plus the assumption of $1.3 billion in debt. The deal gives UST shareholders $69.50 per share. Stamford, Connecticut-based UST will become a subsidiary of Altria.

Richmond-based Altria owns the No. 1 U.S. cigarette maker Philip Morris USA, which sells the Marlboro brand in the U.S. Altria also owns cigar maker John Middleton Co., Ste. Michelle Wine Estates Ltd. and a 29 percent stake in brewer SABMiller PLC.

Altria's purchase of UST, maker of the Copenhagen and Skoal smokeless tobacco brands, gives it a leading position in the expanding market for smokeless tobacco. Tobacco companies are pursuing smokeless sales aggressively as sales of cigarettes decline by roughly 3 percent to 4 percent a year.

Altria Group Chief Executive Michael Szymanczyk has said the integration of UST would position the company well as domestic cigarette demand falls. Altria brings its marketing muscle to a market already occupied by its smaller rival, Reynolds American Inc. Reynolds owns Conwood Co., which sells the Grizzly and Kodiak smokeless tobacco brands.

Altria announced in September that it would buy UST after getting mixed results from its market tests of its own Marlboro brand smokeless products in the Atlanta, Indianapolis and Dallas-Fort Worth areas.

Source: International Herald Tribune, 06 January 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/8dj242

Smokers cough up £100,000 fines in Liverpool

Smokers have paid close to £100,000 in fines in just eight months for dropping cigarette butts on city streets. Liverpool council has made £98,625 – more than £10,000 a month – from fixed penalty notices handed out from May 2008. Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show the total is up nearly 50% on last year, when the council made £54,300 out of the £75 fines.

Pro-smoking group FOREST said the fact the figure has risen from just £2,100 in 2007, the year of the smoking ban, shows smokers forced out of pubs are now being targeted on the streets. They claimed councils like Liverpool were at the forefront of “anti-smoking extremism” and do not focus the same level of attention on other types of littering. But council bosses said although they recognise the ban may be to blame for some of the rise in cigarette litter, smokers needed to get the message that any type of litter is unacceptable.

Source: liverpool.co.uk, 02 January 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/TATqy

Smoking cessation in England: Intentionality, anticipated ease of quitting and advice provision

Abstract

Smoking prevalence in England continues to reduce but further reduction is increasingly difficult. Cessation policy has successfully targeted those who want to quit but further reduction will need to shift attention to more difficult ‘core smoker’ populations. Following the established ‘stages of change’ perspective, this paper considers the characteristics of people who do not intend to quit smoking, anticipate difficulties in quitting and have not received advice about quitting. We deploy multilevel models of data drawn from the Health Survey for England years 2002–2004, and the NHS Primary Care Trust Patient Surveys for 2004 and 2005. It was found that variations in intentionality and anticipated ease of quitting are associated with individual factors such as smoking intensity, parental smoking, age/length of time as a smoker and the nature of the advice-giving consultation. Household composition and household income are also implicated in the intention to quit and anticipated difficulties in quitting. Once individual and household factors are taken into account the only identifiable area-level variation is reduced intentionality towards quitting in rural areas. We conclude by arguing that further gains in smoking cessation must focus on understanding the characteristics of ‘hard-to-engage’ populations.

Source: Twigg, L et al, Social Science & Medecine, 06 January 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/bT1dO

US: Judge tosses General Tobacco suit

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Mayodan-based General Tobacco that challenged the Master Settlement Agreement between states and tobacco companies.

General Tobacco had sought more than $1 billion from competitors, claiming they had conspired with states to set up the agreement so that companies who later entered the market, such as General Tobacco, would have to pay more.

The agreement was established in 1998 as a settlement to lawsuits filed against tobacco companies to pay for health care costs of tobacco-related illnesses. General Tobacco is the sixth-largest tobacco company in the country.

Source: The Business Journal, 06 January 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/0GN4f

Europe's smoking culture lingers, despite bans

A new antismoking law goes into effect this month in Austria, one of the last European countries to tighten rules on lighting up in public spaces. Yet, the law's many exceptions -- eateries can avoid creating nonsmoking sections, tobacco companies can continue to hand out free cigarettes and smoking is allowed in college dorms -- highlight a deeper predicament across Europe.

Although countries including France, Britain and Italy have introduced bans on smoking in public, Europeans are having a hard time stamping out their nicotine habit. In some cases, that has forced governments to soften antismoking legislation. In Italy, nearly as many people smoke as did before Rome passed a law in 2005 prohibiting smoking in cafés, according to the Health Ministry.

In July, a federal court in Germany, after a slew of lawsuits from restaurateurs, ruled that one-room pubs don't have to offer separate rooms for smokers and nonsmokers. Spain banned smoking in public places in 2006, but the law contains loopholes and is loosely enforced. But smoking has become a heavy burden for Europe's state-run social-welfare systems, with smoking-related diseases costing well over $100 billion a year.

One out of two teens and adults smokes in Austria, one of the highest smoking rates in Europe. In 2007, 14,000 people died from smoking-related diseases out of an overall population of 8.2 million. Smoking is common among women and teenagers as well as men. Austrian girls light up, on average, before their 12th birthdays, the youngest age in Europe, according to the World Health Organization.

The Austrian love for cigarettes dates from the 19th century, when artists and writers gathered in locales such as Vienna's Café Griensteidl to read the paper, write, socialize and smoke, says Kurt-Jürgen Heering, editor of the anthology "The Vienna Coffeehouse." In 2005, Austria passed a law calling for voluntary bans on smoking in hospitals, train stations and other public places. In 2007, when the Austrian government came under pressure from the European Union to toughen its smoking legislation, then-Health Minister Andrea Kdolsky took up the issue of smoking in public places.

Many attribute the laxity of the new antismoking law to Ms. Kdolsky, a proponent of free choice when it comes to cigarettes. The 46-year-old former anesthesiologist and hospital director had been a smoker since the age of 16 until she recently ditched the habit. "Smokers are old enough to decide on their own," she said in an interview last year.

Opinion polls showed that most Austrians were against a full-blown smoking ban, says Ms. Kdolsky. She dismisses claims about the dangers of secondhand smoke. "No international study tells you that sitting in a restaurant for two hours as a passive smoker brings you harm," she says. Under the law she sponsored, small bars and restaurants can choose if they want to be nonsmoking. Larger establishments have to dedicate at least 50% of their space to a separate nonsmoking room.

In early December, a new center-right government took over in Austria. It named Alois Stöger to the post of health minister. Sigrid Rosenberger, a spokeswoman for Mr. Stöger, says his goal is for fewer people to smoke in fewer locations. He plans to monitor the new law's effects in 2009, she says, before deciding on possible amendments.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, 02 January 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/DoE4D

Smoking and family history and risk of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage

Abstract

Objective: Smoking and family history of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) are independent risk factors for aSAH. Using a population-based case-control study of hemorrhagic stroke, we hypothesized that having both a first-degree relative with a brain aneurysm or SAH ( FH) and current smoking interact to increase the risk of aSAH.

Methods: Cases of aneurysmal SAH were prospectively recruited from all 17 hospitals in the five-county region around the University of Cincinnati. Controls were identified by random digit dialing. Controls were matched to cases of aSAH by age (±5 years), race, and sex. Conditional multiple logistic regression was used to identify independent risk factors. For deviation from the additive model, the interaction constant ratio test was used.

Results: A total of 339 cases of aSAH were matched to 1,016 controls. Compared to current nonsmokers with no first-degree relatives with aSAH (–FH), the odds ratio (OR) for aSAH for current nonsmokers with FH was 2.5 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.9–6.9); for current smokers with –FH, OR = 3.1 (95% CI 2.2–4.4); and for current smokers with FH, OR = 6.4 (95% CI 3.1–13. 2). The interaction constant ratio, which measured the deviation from the additive model, was significant: 2.19 (95% CI 0.80–5.99). The lower bound of the 95% CI >0.5 signifies a departure from the additive model.

Conclusion: Evidence of a gene–environment interaction with smoking exists for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. This finding is important to counseling family members and for screening of intracranial aneurysm (IA) as well as the design and interpretation of genetic epidemiology of IA studies.

Abbreviations: aSAH = aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage; CI = confidence interval; GERFHS = Genetic and Environmental Risk Factors of Hemorrhagic Stroke; IA = intracranial aneurysm; ICH = intracerebral hemorrhage; ICR = interaction contrast ratio; OR = odds ratio.

Source: Woo, D. et al, Neurology 2009; 72:69-72
Link: http://tiny.cc/4JVKH

Pricemarked packs of Roll Your Own

Imperial Tobacco has brought out pricemarked packs of Golden Virginia. The company says that in the current economic climate, the roll-your-own sector continues its reversal in fortunes, with retail sales up by 8% in value terms, and 12% in volume terms (AC Nielsen, year ending June 2008).

The 12.5g packs are pricemarked at £2.94, and the 25g packs at £5.77. Also available is a series of limited-edition 14g packs featuring eight different 'leaf' designs.

Source: Forecourt Trader, 14 January 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/fEwPK

Nicorette® Invisipatch programme launched, offering initial 25mg strength patch for smoking cessation

A press release has announced the launch of NICORETTE®INVISIPATCH – a new patch programme which is the first to offer a 25mg patch as the initial step of the 12-week step-down. The other strengths available include 15mg and 10mg, with each patch releasing the nicotine over 16 hours.

According to the prescribing information given, most smokers are recommended to start on 25mg patch, applying one 25mg patch daily initially. In patients who successfully abstain in 8 weeks, dose should then be reduced to 15mg for 2 weeks and then 10mg for a further 2 weeks. Lighter smokers (smoking less than 10 cigarettes per day) are recommended to start at step 2 (15mg) for 8 weeks and then to decrease to 10mg for the final 4 weeks.

According to the press release, the European multicentre CEASE trial (n=3,575) found that the use of the NICORETTE INVISI 25mg PATCH enabled one in two smokers who were abstinent during week one to remain smoke-free at 12 weeks. Other trial results are noted but no further information on the trials is given.

Source: NeLM News Service, 14 January 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/J0IAx

Attempts to quit smoking and relapse: Factors associated with success or failure from the ATTEMPT cohort study

Abstract

Objective: To identify predictors of attempts to stop smoking and predictors of relapse.

Methods: This study included 2431 smokers from pre-existing Internet panels in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, and Spain. These panel members are Internet users who have registered voluntarily and agreed to participate in various online research studies. Respondents were aged 35–65 years, smoked ≥ five cigarettes per day and intended to stop smoking in the next 3 months. They were followed every 3 months for up to 18 months via Internet contact on measures relating to quit attempts, smoking status, motivation to quit, nicotine cue, weight and weight concern, health-related factors, withdrawal symptoms, and smoking cessation aids.

Results: In this study, recent quit attempts strongly predicted future attempts, but also predicted subsequent relapse. Motivation to quit was predictive of future attempts but not of relapse/abstinence following the attempts. Relapse to smoking was associated with nicotine dependence, exposure to smoking cues, craving, withdrawal symptoms, and lack of smoking cessation aids.

Conclusions: The findings lend support to a model of cessation in which level of motivation to stop generates quit attempts but plays little role in relapse. Dependence, social smoking cues, and a recently failed quit attempt are important factors in relapse.

Source: Xiaolei, Z. et al, Addictive Behaviours, November 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/qN7QQ