Monday 21 may 2012
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21
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14:38
British American Tobacco Australia said on Thursday it was launching a budget cigarette brand, the latest salvo in a row with the government, which in turn accused the company of targeting
teenagers. BAT, which is spearheading a legal challenge to Australia's plan to introduce mandatory plain packaging for cigarettes, said it was forced into the move to win back market share from
illegal tobacco products. It said that since the government hiked tobacco taxes by 25 percent in 2010, the market had seen massive growth in cheap cigarettes(http://www.cigarettesflavours.com/) and contraband.
"They're trying to reduce smoking rates through excise but instead it's making people opt for cheaper or illegal options," said BAT spokesman Scott McIntyre. "It's a simple issue of supply and
demand. Our customers have been down-trading to cheaper products or to illegal cigarettes, so we've been forced to compete." The company has released a brand called Just Smokes, which retails for
Aus$11.50 (US$11.43) for a pack of 25, much lower than the average price of Aus$16. Illegal packs are sold for Aus$8-10.
Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said she was not buying the argument. "By dropping their prices British American Tobacco appears to be directly targeting vulnerable teenagers," she said in a
statement. "We know that young people are the most price-sensitive smokers of all. "What (BAT) are interested in doing is attracting new smokers and keeping existing smokers, and they'll do
whatever it takes to do that." The government and big tobacco companies have been embroiled in a long-running row over new legislation that will see all cigarettes sold in uniform drab
olive-green packets with graphic health warnings from December 1.
Four companies, led by BAT, are contesting the law in the High Court, claiming it infringes their intellectual property rights by banning brands and trademarks. They also claim it will cut
profits and result in fake products flooding the market because plain packaging is easier to reproduce. Australia is the first country to mandate plain-packaging, but the ground-breaking move is
being closely watched by other countries considering similar approaches, including Britain, Canada and New Zealand. Australia estimates it has 15,000 deaths each year from tobacco-related
illnesses.
By Best cigarettes blog!
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Monday 7 may 2012
1
07
/05
/May
/2012
13:20
Acupuncture and hypnosis have been promoted as drug-free ways to help smokers kick the habit, and there is some evidence that they work, according to a research review that looked at 14
international studies. Researchers, whose findings appeared in the American Journal of Medicine, said that there are still plenty of questions, including exactly how effective alternative
therapies might be and how they measure up against conventional methods to quit smoking.
But the alternatives should still stand as options for smokers determined to break the habit, said researchers led by Mehdi Tahiri of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. In general, smokers
who want to quit should first try the standard approaches, w hich include nicotine-replacement therapy, medications and behavioral counseling, Tahiri said. "But some people are not interested in
medication," he said, adding that in many cases the standard therapies had not worked. "Then I think we should definitely recommend (acupuncture and hypnosis) as choices."
Researchers found that some studies showed that smokers subjected to acupuncture were more than three times as likely to be tobacco-free six months to a year later. Similarly, across four trials
of hypnosis, smokers had a higher success rate with the therapy compared to people who had minimal help. But there were some caveats, researchers said. The success rate was not consistent in all
the tests conducted, although the broad trends pointed to the benefits of alternate treatment. A 2008 study that ran a few sessions of laser acupuncture on 258 smokers found that 55% who'd
received the treatment quit the habit in six months, compared with 4% who were not given the treatment.
But a 2007 study from Taiwan that looked at needle acupuncture around the ear, the area typically targeted for smoking cessation, reported a lower success rate. Only 9% of those who were given
acupuncture had quit after six months compared with six percent who stopped smoking without the treatment. The situation was similar across the hypnosis trials. Two studies showed a significant
impact : 20 to 45 percent of hypnosis patients were smoke-free six months to a year later. The other two trials showed smaller effects.
Nonetheless, Tahiri said, there was a "trend" toward a benefit across all of the studies of acupuncture and hypnosis. There are still definitely questions, he added, about how many sessions of
acupuncture or hypnosis might be necessary, or which specific techniques are best. Other research reviews, though, have concluded that the jury is still out on alternative therapies for quitting
smoking.
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Monday 7 may 2012
1
07
/05
/May
/2012
13:19
The year 2011 saw a relatively sharp increase in the sale of low-priced tax evaded cigarette brands in the presence of a robust regulatory
framework, put into place to curb illicit trade. The rampant cigarette smuggling has not only hit the national exchequer with a major loss of $20 million annually, but also blatantly violates the
printing of health warning ordinance which mandates the printing of pictorial health warning on every cigarette pack sold in Pakistan.
According to an economic survey, the illicit share of the total cigarette market in Pakistan is around 26 percent, which has also revealed that such smuggled cigarette packs are being sold in
blatant violation of all the laws, rules and regulations in the market. At the same time we have seen in the past weeks a flurry of advertisements and warning messages from the Federal Board of
Revenue (FBR) but it appears that the retailers and dealers are undeterred. According to the Retailers Association Chairman Haji Mobeen, “Neither any official from the health departments nor from
law enforcement agencies have ever stopped by to check or question the sale of these foreign brands (smuggled) cigarettes.” He pointed out that if the sale of these smuggled brands of cigarettes
has to be stopped, it should be stopped at the source from where these are coming into Pakistan.
“We are only selling these because these are available to us freely in the wholesale market,” Haji Mobeen said. Hamid Ranjha, a legal expert, explained that the pictorial health warning law makes
it mandatory to print the specified picture on any pack, which is to be sold in Pakistan irrespective of where it is manufactured, meaning that any pack, which is to be imported into the country
should also carry the pictorial health warning. He further added that any pack that does not have the said warning is surely smuggled and violates numerous laws including the printing of health
warning ordinance 1979, which is punishable by two years imprisonment.
The legal expert explained that the smuggled cigarette, Pine, manufactured by the Korean Tobacco and Ginseng Company (KT&G) is fast increasing in popularity and has almost doubled its sales
in the past year. When inquired it was revealed that KT&G has no office or representative in Pakistan and is conducting all activities from Korea. On a random visit to the market, it’s
evident that the brand is readily available in most of the shops that too at a very low price of roughly Rs 30 per pack. If it is imported as per the laws of the country it would pay around Rs 30
to Rs 40 per pack in taxes and duties to the government. Pine alone causes a loss of billions annually but despite this no action is being taken and enforcement is minimal.
By Best cigarettes blog!
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Monday 7 may 2012
1
07
/05
/May
/2012
13:18
A former president of Imperial Tobacco Canada says the company's largest shareholder attempted to stop an effort to develop safer cigarettes. Jean-Louis Mercier testified Thursday in the
$2-billion class-action lawsuit against Canada's tobacco industry, which was launched by Quebec smokers. Mercier said in the 1980s he came up with an idea after reading a report by the surgeon
general of the United States.
The report found tar and nicotine were among the cancer-causing agents in cigarettes. The former president said he figured cigarettes would become safer if they contained lower amounts of the two
carcinogens, so he spearheaded an internal study to try to develop a safer cigarette. But Mercier said Imperial Tobacco Canada's largest shareholder, British American Tobacco, opposed the effort.
He said BAT's chairman at the time sent a letter indicating ITC's research was risky.
According to Mercier, the letter said the research could be viewed as an admission to the public that smoking was unsafe. Mercier said at the time, it was one thing for the surgeon-general to
reach that conclusion, something else for a tobacco manufacturer to do the same. He said ITC ignored the letter and continued the research, but Mercier offered no information on what eventually
resulted from the study. Mercier said at the time, tobacco companies had no credibility with the public, and even if a safer cigarette were developed, the industry never would have announced it
outright. He said, however, the scientific community might have been in a position to confirm such a finding, which in turn could have reassured customers.
By Best cigarettes blog!
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Monday 7 may 2012
1
07
/05
/May
/2012
13:15
Electronic, smokeless cigarettes that are widely available in the country are as bad as smoking regular cigarettes, and are never really the solution to quitting, say city medical experts. The US
Food and Drug Administration clearly says e-cigarettes contain “toxic chemicals that are unsafe for humans”. However, these Chinese-made e-cigarettes are widely available, luring addicts to try
it out, with sales continually increasing. There is no complete ban as yet for these products. “It is again plain old nicotine that is injected in a chemical form.
This not only makes the body vulnerable to stroke and other heart ailments, but also does not solve the addiction problem. Nicotine replacement therapies such as patches and chewing gum are
preferred, as they are clinically tested. E-cigarette devices are unregulated, and dangerous,” said Dr Sudhir Kumar, consultant neurologist, Apollo Hospitals. Dr Ranganathan, neurosurgeon,
Yashoda Hospitals said, “Tobacco in all forms is evil, and they are responsible for many ailments in the neural system.”
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