Stricter Smoking Ban at Menlo Park

Menlo Park crept a step closer to expanding its smoking ordinance. After debating a few tweaks to the language and grilling the city attorney on how the ordinance would be enforced, the City Council voted 5-0 to introduce the new regulations at its Sept. 14 meeting.

Dry Spell Could Hurt the Quality of Tobacco Leaf

Within a span of weeks, the outlook for some Kentucky burley tobacco has soured amid worries that a dry spell could hurt the quality of leaf hanging in barns to cure before going to market.

In Henry County, where farming is the economic backbone and burley remains an important cash crop, some leaf is turning a yellowish color brought on by the drought that has stretched into curing season, said Steve Moore, the county's agricultural extension agent. The fear is tobacco companies won't have as much appetite for off-color tobacco.

The result could be lower prices at market, he said, unless timely rains salvage curing season.

Smoking Ban in Louisiana

Approximately 15 patrons, outfitted with a personal air quality monitor often concealed in a purse, casually ordered at restaurants and bars across Louisiana.

While the customers ate and socialized, the devices discreetly sucked air through a pump and past a laser, which measured the mass concentration of particles in the air.

Libs Accused of being Tobacco Protector

An advertising campaign against Labor's plan to force cigarettes to be sold in plain packets from mid-2012 will be launched on Thursday by newsagents, convenience stores and service stations.
The ad blitz by the Alliance of Australian Retailers, which will include TV commercials from Sunday, is funded 100 per cent by the country's three cigarette manufacturers.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon, who claims the Liberal Party could be behind the $5 million campaign, said Mr Abbott was looking like the "Marlboro man".

FDA Tobacco Takeover Slow

A year after a new law put tobacco regulation in the hands of the Food and Drug Administration, one thing is clear: It will likely be years before any of the most aggressive steps to reduce deaths from smoking Marlboro might happen.

When President Barack Obama signed the bill into law last June, anti-tobacco advocates suggested it could lead to a reduction in nicotine levels, a ban on menthol cigarettes or other aggressive moves.

Asian Tobacco Growers Oppose Ban on Tobacco Flavours

Asian tobacco growers on Tuesday condemned the World Health Organization (WHO) for suggesting ingredients such as cloves and other flavours be banned from cigarettes like Kiss, Eva, Karelia and many other flavoured brands.
The International Tobacco Growers' Association (ITGA) said a ban would cost millions of jobs by eliminating the market for blended cigarettes, which account for about half of global sales.
"We urge all governments to reject the proposal to ban tobacco ingredients and to investigate other alternatives that can achieve public health goals while also protecting the millions of jobs that are dependent on tobacco growing," ITGA president Roger Quarles said at a tobacco conference in Jakarta.
ITGA and the Indonesian Tobacco Community Alliance (AMTI), representing four million growers across Asia, have formed an Asian lobby group to fight the WHO proposals.
AMTI chairman Soedaryanto said that, as the world's biggest producers of clove cigarettes, Indonesian tobacco growers stood to lose most from a ban.
"Some of these agricultural communities are already among the poorest in the country. No other crop currently exists that can provide similar economic benefits to those communities," he said.
Indonesia is the only country in Asia not to have ratified the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which sets policy recommendations and benchmarks for countries concerned about the health impacts of smoking.
Cigarette consumption in the Southeast Asian archipelago of some 240 million people soared 47 percent in the 1990s and about 400,000 Indonesians die every year due to tobacco-related illnesses, according to the WHO.
Indonesia's biggest cigarette manufacturer, PT HM Sampoerna, is an affiliate of Philip Morris International.
The government in Jakarta has failed to regulate the tobacco industry, which pays more than six million dollars a year in excise taxes alone even though cigarette prices remain among the lowest in the world.

Tobacco Trade and Challenges of Public-Smoking Regulation

Following health risks associated with Marlboro, OK and other cigarettes consumption, which according to experts, is the second leading cause of deaths globally (after hypertension) and currently responsible for the death of one in every 10 adults worldwide, experts are of the view that enacting effective policies toward reducing tobacco consumption in Nigeria will go a long way at saving people’s lives.
This is coming in view of recent reports by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which states that an estimated 5.4 million people die annually due to tobacco-related diseases, with majority of these deaths happening in developing countries.
In a recent interview with BusinessDay, Akinbode Oluwafemi, programme manager, Environmental Rights in Nigeria/Friends of the Earth, lamented over what he called the latest trend of marketing tobacco to women and young girls as a major strategy of boosting the tobacco industry. Akinbode regretted that about 250 million women worldwide now smoke and for low income countries like Nigeria, it is bad news because the rate that once stood at nine percent had gone up.
According to him, “a recent Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) indicates an alarming increase in the number of girls who smoke and those who considered smoking to boys. In Nigeria, women have consistently been a source of marketing tobacco products. Also, several young girls are involved in the promotions of a tobacco firm in the country (for instance the Experience IT promotion in 2003, Experience Freshness promo in 2008, etc).”
The programme manager noted further that young people were highly impressionistic and tended to gravitate towards anything that produced the image of sophistication and glamour, believing that the tobacco industry had used this ploy to “catch them young” and turn them into lifelong replacement smokers.
“The effect of the marketing which happened especially between 2001 and 2005, and still continues illegally through illegal cigarette promotions and secret smoking parties, has been enormous. Recent statistics show an alarming increase in young people who are taking up smoking in Nigeria. If tobacco industry can addict more young people, they will serve as replacement smokers for the older customers that have died off due to their deadly habit,” Akinbode disclosed.
For Kemi Odukoya, a public health expert at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-araba, tobacco consumption causes reproductive damage, premature menopause, breakdown of hormone system, painful and/or irregular menstruation, and damages the foetus in pregnant women.
“Preventing female smoking, especially in low income countries, will have a positive impact in global health than any other single intervention. There is the need to nip the issue of tobacco consumption in the bud following a number of chronic diseases including lung diseases, and cardiovascular diseases associated with tobacco use,” Odukoya concluded.
No doubt, the impact of second-hand smoking cannot be overemphasised considering the fact that it is responsible for one in every six tobacco related deaths in the world. However, enacting stringent measures aimed at reducing public smoking would go a long way in reducing public health related issues.
Currently, the Federal Capital Territory Abuja has declared its territory smoke free and is putting in place measures for effective implementation of its smoke-free policies. Osun State has an effective and comprehensive public places smoke-free law in place, which was signed into law in April 2010 by the governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
In the words of Akinbode: “The proposed National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB) at the National Assembly is sponsored by Olorunnibe Mamora, who is a Senate member of the National Assembly. The Bill provided for comprehensive smoke-free public places all over Nigeria. The bill is currently with the Senate Committee on Health headed by Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello and is still expected to be returned to the Senate plenary. When passed, we would have been able to comprehensively reduce the problem of second-hand smoking in Nigeria”.
The bill is a life saver for Nigerians and the future generations, as it will help cut down spending on our healthcare. However, the National Assembly and Senate Committee on Health should expedite action on that bill so that Nigerians would less be exposed to this health hazard. Already, there are stringent measures in place to reduce smoking in Europe and America; Nigeria should borrow a leaf from that.