Tag Archives: cigarettes
Aberdeen airport opens pre-flight smoking zone
The chief at Aberdeen International Airport has decided to establish a special airside smoking zone at the busy airport to enable smokers to use a cigarette before boarding their planes.
The smoking zone was opened to the travellers on May 9, along with the major departure area, for customers who have been processed through security and are awaiting their flights. The smoking zone was set up after over 400 people who participated in a review in 2012 said they would like to see an airside facility established at the airport.
An airport spokeswoman mentioned: “It is created to lower the number of full terminal evacuations. Many such evacuations are created when travellers smoke in prohibited areas, activating the smoke alarms at a cost of a lot of money per evacuation and leading to major disruption and delays.
“Unexpectedly, even 59% of non-smokers who participated in the study said they backed an airside smoking zone.”
She added: “Since that review was done the airport team have been working on the task, to guarantee it is accessible, compliant and secure, and on May 9 the facility was presented to the passengers for the first time – before the planned timescale. It is hoped that the smoking zone will also, as an added benefit, encourage travellers to spend more of their airport visit staying in the departure area, reducing instances of smoking before the terminal building.”
But the spokeswoman also explained: “Those people who try, they will pay a fee of £1, with the money being used to support the maintenance and servicing of the facility.”
Kevin Douglas, the Terminal Operations Manager at Aberdeen International Airport, said: “The smoking zone was created in accordance with Scottish legislation, and of course is compliant from a safety and security viewpoint. We are a securely controlled and regulated business, and establishing smoking airside area must agree with it tight controls.
“We hope that the facility will be well received by our clients and will minimize or remove the difficulty related to smoking in a restricted area, such secondhand smoke.”
Supermarkets launch ban to display cigarettes
Supermarkets were banned from displaying cigarettes and other tobacco products after new rule became effective on April, 29.
Public Health Minister Michael Matheson states that this step is the “right step” to discourage the younger generation from start smoking.
The open display ban was implemented as part of the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010, which will also touch on the sale of cigarettes from vending machines banned.
England, Wales and Northern Ireland have already introduced identical bans to avoid supermarkets from displaying cigarettes and tobacco products.
Stores that do not conform could be charged of a criminal offence or receive a fixed fine from trading standards officers.
“These bans are the right move to avoid teenagers in Scotland from try using cigarettes,” Mr Matheson said.
“It is well known that smoking is related to a variety of disease and is the major preventable cause of ill health. Annually, tobacco consumption is connected with more than 54,000 hospital admissions in Scotland.
“For this reason it is so necessary that this government works to improve health by lowering the amount of people who prefer smoking and evidence demonstrates that adolescents encountered with the advertising of cigarettes are more likely to start smoking.”
The Scottish Government’s Tobacco Control Strategy also supports the launch of standardized packaging.
Vicky Crichton, senior public affairs manager in Scotland for Cancer Research UK, claimed: “The following move is to get rid of all branding from cigarette packs. This would mean an end to the attractive, slickly designed packs that can appeal young adults into considering tobacco isn’t dangerous and would make all tobacco brands look the same.”
The Tobacco Retailers’ Alliance – which refers to more than 26,000 shopkeepers across the UK – has spoken out against the new rule.
TRA Scotland spokesman Geoff Barrett, who is a merchant in Glasgow, explained: “There is still no trustworthy data that launching this ban will prevent youngsters from smoking.
“That’s not really unexpected as we all know youngsters smoke because of peer pressure or because friends or families are smokers.
“Rather than burdening retailers with yet more rules and limitations, the Scottish Government should evaluate the problem of tobacco smuggling, which is very prevalent across Scotland and which is a major source of tobacco for Scotland’s young smokers.
“It also doesn’t make any sense that the UK Government is still considering standardized packaging before this latest restriction on display has even been introduced in Scotland, let alone evaluated.”
Supersmarkets are characterized as those with a relevant floor area exceeding 280 square metres. Smaller retailers have until April 6, 2015 to conform to the display ban.
Altria to Enter E-Cigarette Market
Altria Group Inc. made an announcement that it would create its own variation of e-cigarettes in the second half of 2013 amid signs the battery-powered gadgets, which turn heated, nicotine-laced liquid into vapor, are starting to go sales of regular cigarettes in the U.S., less than 10 years after appearing.
The CDC reports that more than 20% of adult smokers were users of e-cigarettes in 2011.
Altria, which is the manufacturer of popular Marlboro cigarettes and the owner of around half of the U.S. cigarette market, is playing catch-up to smaller competitors. Reynolds American Inc., being the second largest cigarette company, said it intends to broaden distribution of its Vuse e-cigarettes after providing them to test markets recently. Lorillard, which is the third biggest tobacco manufacturer, spent around $135 million a year ago to buy Blu Ecigs, a leading e-cigarette company.
U.S. retail sales of electronic cigarettes presented about $500 million in 2012, about 0.5% of the entire tobacco market, but are set to achieve $1 billion in 2013. Lorillard revealed that first-quarter sales of its Blu Ecigs leaped to $57 million, sequentially growing from $39 million.
Altria said its cigarette volumes dropped 5% in the first quarter from 2012. Lorillard and Reynolds said that e-cigs led to the approximated 6.2% industry decrease in regular cigarettes volumes over the same period, increasing from the typical 3% to 4% drops posted in recent times.
Electronic cigarette users say they choose this product to other smokeless tobacco products as it more closely mimics regular cigarettes.
Smokeless cigarettes have mostly evaded taxes and regulations – including bans in public areas – until now. The only state that presently taxes e-cigarettes is Minnesota, although bills are pending in Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Vermont. At least a dozen states have presented bills to forbid the sale of e-cigarettes to those under 18, according to the National Association of Tobacco Outlets.
The Food and Drug Administration said in January it intended to suggest regulations for tobacco products it doesn’t presently supervise, including cigars and e-cigarettes, by April but has yet to release them. An FDA spokeswoman also said “further research is needed” on the “potential health benefits and risks” of e-cigarettes.
Italy prohibits electronic cigarettes for youngsters
Youngsters to be prohibited from using electronic cigarettes in Italy
Youngsters have been prohibited from using electronic cigarettes in Italy, a world leader in the growing start-up industry.
Last week the health ministry approved an ordinance banning the sale of e-cigarettes to those under 18, the same age limit for tobacco products, modernizing a prior ordinance that set the age limit for e-cigarettes at 16. The health ministry said that the gadgets, despite promoting a safer alternative to regular cigarettes, still surpass acceptable daily levels of nicotine when smoked moderately, citing the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
The ban is set up until October this year when it will require being re-evaluated. Meanwhile, Balduzzi requested further study into the dangers of electronic cigarettes by Italy’s Higher Health Institute. The information was received warmly by Brescia-based electronic-cigarette maker Ovale, which during 2012 has sold over one million gadgets, opened 400 shops and employed 1,000 workers in Italy, leading the world in the strong industry.
In March, France’s Health Minister Marisol Touraine said she had requested a research evaluating the effects of using e-cigarettes.
Electronic cigarettes first appeared in China in 2003 as an alternative to regular cigarettes. It is an electronic inhaler that simulates the act of smoking by producing mist and with the tip of it lighting up.
A number of countries, including Colombia, Panama and Uruguay, have prohibited the smokeless electronic cigarettes, with lawmakers suggesting there was no evidence they helped smokers stop smoking.
New York celebrated 10th anniversary of smoking ban
New York celebrated 10th anniversary of smoking ban public places such as bars and restaurants
On March 27, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg celebrated 10th anniversary of smoking ban public places such as bars and restaurants.
“Ten years ago when New York City banned smoking in restaurants and bars, many forecasted the end of the hospitality, restaurant and tourism industries,” Bloomberg stated.
Critics of the step anticipated smoking ban would harm the restaurant and bar earnings, but the Health Department review said there are now some 6,000 more restaurants and bars in New York than there were ten years ago.
The New York’s Smoke-Free Air Act became operative a little over a year into Bloomberg’s first term as mayor in 2003 and banned smoking inside bars, restaurants and most office buildings.
The following year, New York began offering free nicotine replacement therapy to smokers attempting to stop smoking and in 2011 extended the smoking ban to the New York’s parks and beaches.
As outlined by the review unveiled on March 27, the percentage of adult smokers decreased by about a third to 13% in 2011 from 19 % in 2002. The review, published by the city’s Health Department, also said the percentage of youths aged 18 who smoke slipped by about half to 9%.
Bloomberg’s period, which will end in 2013, has been marked by his efforts to boost New Yorkers’ health by trying to stimulate them to eat less salt, trans fats and calories in general, among other actions.
A week later, Bloomberg released his strategy to demand stores to hide cigarettes and tobacco products from tobacco displays, reasoning that would protect youth from advertising efforts.
Some store proprietors and tobacco companies have criticized the strategy as unnecessary extra regulation that would break the free speech provision of the U.S. Constitution.
Bloomberg also suggested a minimum price of $10.50 for a cigarette pack in order to some smokers would find smoking too costly to keep. The two bills are now before the city council.
Ronald Bayer, a professor of public health at Columbia University, called Bloomberg’s health projects a “major achievement” and said his attempts to make smoking less socially appropriate were an effective and legitimate use of his office.
He said it remains at question how much further government could go to discourage smokers to stop smoking.
Electronic cigarettes light up in France
In the course of the past couple of years, Lucky Strikes and Gauloises cigarettes have been vulnerable by the emerging electronic cigarette. An innovation produced by a Chinese developer in 2004, the rechargeable gadgets function by enabling users to inhale a vaporized liquid, typically propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin, both common products in foods and pharmaceuticals.
In France, the electronic cigarettes are a novelty. Only some vendors provide the French with an alternative in light of altering cultural rules. But the novelty factor is giving way to a potentially growing industry as about 400,000 French are already daily users of the devices.
Established in 2011, the boutique Clopinette has become a leader in the electronic cigarette market in France. There are 20 stores across France that could multiple in number by the end of the year. They will appear in Italy and Spain, where the number of smokers isn’t far behind that of France.
Business partners Karen Warin and Eric de Goussencourt create websites for niche products, functioning in close proximity. When Warin couldn’t endure her partner’s smoking anymore in 2011, he tried e-cigs and ultimately give up regular cigarettes, inspiring their new online retail site called Clopinette. Literally translating to “diddly squat”, the name is also a pretty play on words for clope, kind of like “ciggie” in French.
Clopinette imports electronic elements from China and flavored liquids from France. Their stores feature staff that is specially taught to sell their products and to keep them out of the children, pregnant women, or non-smokers. Electronic cigarettes, some including nicotine and some without, are not yet medically approved by the French government as smoking cessation method. The marketing is turned more towards smoking in a different way.
While Clopinette claims that their electronic cigarettes are 1,000 times less toxic than regular cigarettes, French doctors remain doubtful.
Russian Parliament passed the strictest anti-tobacco bill in Europe
According to the Lower House of the Russian Parliament, it has passed the strictest anti-tobacco bill in Europe in the third final reading.
Beginning with this summer smoking will be banned in public buildings or on playgrounds; tobacco ads will not be allowed; and it will be prohibited to put cigarette packs on display in shops. The lawmakers appear to have made the decision to protect children and non-smokers by implementing very strict rules on Russian smokers. The deputies want smoking to develop into unfashionable and high-priced.
Smokers will have time to adjust to the changes since all the rules will become operative slowly. Some prohibitions will be operative right away, while others will take about a year to become effective, Sergei Zheleznyak, Deputy Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament clarifies.
“Starting with July 1st, 2013, after it is accepted by the Federation Council and is signed by the President, the bill will become effective. Smoking areas will be removed from government and municipal buildings and children’s, medical, sports, and religious institutions. Beginning with July 1st, 2014, smoking areas will disappear from railway stations and airports. Nevertheless, special designated places for smoking will be established no less than 15 meters away from transport infrastructure buildings. Additionally, there will still be an opportunity of establishing smoking areas in office buildings, but they would have to be outfitted with convenient ventilation systems. A full smoking ban in cafes and restaurants will come into effect beginning with the 1st of July of 2014.
Already beginning with May, cigarette packs in Russia will be with pictures of the worst effects of smoking. The anti-tobacco bill will have an effect on everything that has an indirect connection to smoking. Electronic cigarettes will also be prohibited because, based on the lawmakers, such devices indirectly harm human health by appearing as advertisements of smoking. All cigarette advertisements will be prohibited from mass media and the internet. If somebody chooses to include a smoking scene in their film, they would have to prove that it is important for the movie, before it’s permitted in the final cut. All law-breakers who will smoke in public places will be fined: 3000 rubles, or about 100USD.
One of the factors why smoking is so wide-spread in Russia is due to the fact tobacco products are fairly cheap there and the taxes on tobacco are really several times lower than in Europe. The government plans to increase the taxes for tobacco companies and spend the tax money on health needs and the propaganda of a healthy life-style.
Many want cutting nicotine in cigarettes
Almost 50% of U.S. adult people claim that they back the idea of a federal mandate to minimize nicotine levels, scientists state.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has power under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 to minimize nicotine in cigarettes, but not to zero. The FDA has not yet acted on this authority.
“The reduction of nicotine could be a guaranteeing method to protect the society from the problems caused by smoking,” lead author Jennifer Pearson, study researcher for the Schroeder Institute, said.
The study provides nationally representative details from a June 2010 study that identified 46.7% of U.S. adults said the FDA should minimize cigarette nicotine levels, which might make smoking cessation easier.
16% stated that the FDA should not modify levels of nicotine in cigarettes and 37.8% abstained from getting their opinion.
Smokers who were thinking about quitting smoking were more probably to back a rule than smokers who are not thinking of stopping smoking. African-Americans, Hispanics and those with lower education levels were especially supportive of nicotine reduction, Pearson said.
“These facts could be useful to FDA in gauging public sentiment and developing its messaging if the agency prefers to advance such rule,” Pearson said.
The Schroeder Institute has formal academic links with The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. The Legacy Foundation was produced due to the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between 46 states and the tobacco industry.
Ukrainian legal cigarette market to narrow in 2013
The Ukrainian legal cigarette market in 2013 could decrease to 75 billion cigarettes, in comparison to 80 billion items in 2012, states the director for corporate issues at Imperial Tobacco Ukraine, Yuriy Kyshko.
Yuriy Kyshko mentioned that growth in 2012 in the smuggling of cigarettes was observed on the Ukrainian market.
Imperial Tobacco Ukraine CFO Volodymyr Antypenko explained that according to an order of the company, TNS Ukraine experts carried out a research, under which counterfeit product consumption in Ukraine increased from 4.2% in October 2011 to 4.4% in October 2012.
Antypenko added that in 2012 some tobacco companies were participated in price wars on the Ukrainian cigarette market, which were described by the drop in the prices of some products by 15-20% in some locations.
He mentioned that starting with New Year only Imperial Tobacco Ukraine and Philip Morris Ukraine announced new prices of their tobacco products. He considers that the rest of tobacco companies did not raise prices due to the large amount of product stocks or expecting that the law on the hike of excise taxes will be not approved by the Ukrainian president.
Commenting on the impact of the smoking ban at restaurants and bars, which came into force on December 16, 2012 in Ukraine, Antypenko said that it’s difficult to identify how highly the requirement affected cigarette sales.
On November 20, 2012 the Ukrainian parliament passed law, raising excise duties for alcohol and tobacco.
The document supposes a rise in specific excise rates on non-filter cigarettes to Hr 72.70 per 1,000 cigarettes, and on filtered from Hr 110.64 per 1,000 to Hr 162.60 per 1,000 cigarettes.
Starting January 1, 2014, the specific excise rate on non-filter cigarettes will be established at Hr 77.50 per 1,000 items, from January 1, 2015, at Hr 82.50 per 1,000 cigarettes, and excise rate on filtered cigarettes will be Hr 173.2 and Hr 184.50 per 1,000 items.
New Orleans to Increase Cigarette Tax
Louisiana’s “no new taxes” Gov. Bobby Jindal is now thinking about an increase in the state’s cigarette tax.
Now, Louisiana has 36 cents per cigarette pack – much lower than other states.
Texas and Arkansas both imposed more than a dollar a pack. The national average is a $1.47.
Customers at the Super Discount store in Chalmette claim the tax on cigarettes is already raised.
“How are we going to go on?” said Gwendolyn Carter. “If people want smoking cigarettes, the y should relax and welcome raised prices again. It’s absurd.”
“If they want to increase tax on cigarettes, they should increase the pay raises, too,” said Albert Lavigne.
Faye Chaussy added that cigarettes are harmful for people’s health, but people work hard for their life and the government should not increase taxes on cigarettes.
Just a couple of years ago, Jindal was against a 70% pack increase in the cigarette tax. In 2012, he vetoed a 4 cent tax renewal on cigarettes.
This year the administration is ready to review the situation as part of a broader debate about removing personal and corporate income taxes.
“The government has always said that new measure will be a successful, if it was done in an income neutral way,” Jindal said. “We are ready to take into account other changes as element of a larger efforts to remove the income tax in an income neutral way.”
Anti-smoking advocates point out increased cigarette tax is a good thing.
“As the cigarette tax raises, use actually reduces, particularly among youngsters and people with lower income,” said Tonia Moore, associate director for Louisiana’s Campaign for Smoke-Free Living.
Smokers have mixed reactions on the result of higher taxes.
“If they continue to increase the taxes, smokers will probably quit smoking,” said Chaussy.
“There are a lot of smokers that tried to quit smoking,” said Lavigne. Chaussy confessed that had tried many times, even used the nicotine replacement therapies and that it is difficult to stop everyone from smoking.
Tax reform package of Jindal is predicted to be regarded by lawmakers in the course of the next legislative session.
