MPs failed to adopt the increase of excise duty on spirits and beer while voting the amendments to the Excise Duty and Tax Warehouses Act. The proposal was excise of the ethyl alcohol to be increased from BGN 1100 to BGN 1250 per 1 hectoliter pure alcohol, and the excise duty on the ethyl alcohol (home-made brandy) produced in small distillatory to increase from BGN 550 to BGN 625 per 1 hectoliter pure alcohol.
MPs increased excise of cigarettes on Thursday.The specific excise is increased from BGN 41 to BGN 101 per 1000 pieces and the proportional excise is raised from 23 to 40.50%. Amendments to the Excise Duty and Tax Warehouses Act provide specific excise duty not to be less than BGN 148 per 1000.
Bulgarian parliament passed 15% increase of excise duty on gambling on second reading amendments to the Corporate Income Tax Act. The proposal was passed unanimously with 149 votes “for”.
Rising the excise on gambling from 10% to 15% will pour about BGN 150 million in the budget. This is what co-chair of the Blue Coalition Ivann Kostov said at the parliament during a discussion on the amendments to the Corporate Income Tax Act, cited by FOCUS News Agency reporter.
This year is expected BGN 117 million revenues to the budget in view of the current excise.
Aliosman Imamov from Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) commented that the main problem in this field is not the tax rate but regulation and control. Fiscal effect of this action will not be achieved due to the lack of control.
понедельник, 30 ноября 2009 г.
пятница, 27 ноября 2009 г.
Secondhand smoke fight not over
Recently, activities were held across the state in honor of the Great American Smoke Out, the annual event that encourages smokers and tobacco users to quit.
In Baton Rouge, a special, smoke-free Great American Smoke Out event was held at Boudreaux and Thibodeaux’s that celebrated the smoke-free bar.
Coincidentally, United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Rankings were released, and Louisiana moved up from 50th to 47th, marking the state’s highest ranking since the annual study began.
What played a key part in this upward trend for our state?
A decrease in smoking rates that moved Louisiana up six spots to 35th in the country. It’s an impressive move that highlights the importance of events such as the Great American Smoke Out, as well as smoke-free air laws.
From the passage of The Louisiana Smoke-Free Air Act in 2006 to this latest improvement in America’s Health Rankings, we can be proud of what we’ve achieved, but there is much more left to accomplish.
While the Smoke-Free Air Act cleared the air in restaurants and most workplaces in Louisiana, thousands of patrons and employees of bars and casinos are still exposed to harmful secondhand smoke every day.
If Louisiana is to continue to improve, we must continue to support events such as the Great American Smoke Out and to consider policies that protect the health of all Louisiana citizens.
We must work to protect the bartenders, casino employees and our beloved musicians and performers who continue to put their health on the line to earn a paycheck.
In Baton Rouge, a special, smoke-free Great American Smoke Out event was held at Boudreaux and Thibodeaux’s that celebrated the smoke-free bar.
Coincidentally, United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Rankings were released, and Louisiana moved up from 50th to 47th, marking the state’s highest ranking since the annual study began.
What played a key part in this upward trend for our state?
A decrease in smoking rates that moved Louisiana up six spots to 35th in the country. It’s an impressive move that highlights the importance of events such as the Great American Smoke Out, as well as smoke-free air laws.
From the passage of The Louisiana Smoke-Free Air Act in 2006 to this latest improvement in America’s Health Rankings, we can be proud of what we’ve achieved, but there is much more left to accomplish.
While the Smoke-Free Air Act cleared the air in restaurants and most workplaces in Louisiana, thousands of patrons and employees of bars and casinos are still exposed to harmful secondhand smoke every day.
If Louisiana is to continue to improve, we must continue to support events such as the Great American Smoke Out and to consider policies that protect the health of all Louisiana citizens.
We must work to protect the bartenders, casino employees and our beloved musicians and performers who continue to put their health on the line to earn a paycheck.
Man dies after eating khaini with pesticide laced hands
A farmer in a Bihar village died after he consumed khaini, an addictive tobaccoconcoction, that he mixed with his pesticide laced hands on his farm, family of the victim said.
Mahadev Sah, a resident of Bharra village in Begusarai district, died soon after consuming the powder.
“My husband died soon after he consumed khaini mixed in his pesticide laced hands,” Geeta Devi, wife of Sah, said.
Devi told police that her husband was spraying pesticide on the crop in their field and then mixed tobacco in his hands.
“Soon after he complained of weakness and vomiting,” she said.
Mahadev Sah, a resident of Bharra village in Begusarai district, died soon after consuming the powder.
“My husband died soon after he consumed khaini mixed in his pesticide laced hands,” Geeta Devi, wife of Sah, said.
Devi told police that her husband was spraying pesticide on the crop in their field and then mixed tobacco in his hands.
“Soon after he complained of weakness and vomiting,” she said.
вторник, 24 ноября 2009 г.
Apple "refuses to repair smokers' Macs"
Apple is reportedly refusing to repair the Macs of smokers because the tobacco residue inside the machines poses a health risk.
Two separate US Apple repair centres have allegedly told customers that they couldn't repair their Macs because their machines had been contaminated by cigarette smoke.
"When I asked for an explanation, she said he's a smoker and it's contaminated with cigarette smoke which they consider a bio-hazard!" claims one of the customers, who was attempting to get her son's Mac repaired, according to the Consumerist website.
"I checked my Applecare warranty and it says nothing about not honouring warranties if the owner is a smoker. The Applecare representative said they defer to the technician and my son's computer cannot be fixed at any Apple Service Centre due to being listed a bio-hazard."
When the customer complained to Steve Jobs' office, she was reportedly told that nicotine was listed as a hazardous substance by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration and that the company wouldn't undertake a repair.
Another customer got a similar answer from a repair store in Iowa.
Apple's safety-first approach to dangerous substances might raise eyebrows at Greenpeace. Although Apple is praised for its work in eliminating dangerous chemicals from its products, substances such as Arsenic can still be found in Apple hardware, according to its latest Guide to Greener Electronics (PDF).
Apple was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.
Two separate US Apple repair centres have allegedly told customers that they couldn't repair their Macs because their machines had been contaminated by cigarette smoke.
"When I asked for an explanation, she said he's a smoker and it's contaminated with cigarette smoke which they consider a bio-hazard!" claims one of the customers, who was attempting to get her son's Mac repaired, according to the Consumerist website.
"I checked my Applecare warranty and it says nothing about not honouring warranties if the owner is a smoker. The Applecare representative said they defer to the technician and my son's computer cannot be fixed at any Apple Service Centre due to being listed a bio-hazard."
When the customer complained to Steve Jobs' office, she was reportedly told that nicotine was listed as a hazardous substance by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration and that the company wouldn't undertake a repair.
Another customer got a similar answer from a repair store in Iowa.
Apple's safety-first approach to dangerous substances might raise eyebrows at Greenpeace. Although Apple is praised for its work in eliminating dangerous chemicals from its products, substances such as Arsenic can still be found in Apple hardware, according to its latest Guide to Greener Electronics (PDF).
Apple was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.
пятница, 20 ноября 2009 г.
Cigarette smoking up despite new bans and taxes [The Beaumont Enterprise, Texas]
Cindy Yohe recites her smoking cessation strategies like a memorized laundry list.
In the three times she has tried to quit smoking, Yohe has used patches, gum, hypnosis, breathing methods and hand exercises to emulate lighting up a cigarette.
The latter "looked ridiculous" and made people honk at her, the Beaumont marketing director recalled, gesturing with a salon-manicured hand.
And like all of her efforts to quit smoking, she lamented, nothing worked.
Yohe, 50, began smoking in the 1970s as a college student. She now smokes about six Benson and Hedges menthol cigarettes a day. On weekends, she can light up to a pack a day.
"I feel stupid, " Yohe said, seated outside of the Spindletop restaurant in downtown Beaumont Wednesday. "I can't believe something like this has so much control over me."
Like millions of Americans who smoke cigarettes, Yohe knows the risks of lighting up, but because smoking is a nicotine addiction, quitting proves difficult, researchers say.
Data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week point to a curious irony: despite heavy tobacco taxes, smoking bans and commercials about the dangers of smoking, rates of smoking have increased for the first time in 15 years. Last year, the adult smoking rate climbed to 20.8 percent, the CDC reported with the most recent figures available. That number is a bit higher than in 2007, when the rate was at 19.7 percent.
"It's really sad," said Amanda McLauchlin, community coordinator at the Substance Abuse Division of the South East Texas Regional Planning Commission. "There is certainly no condemnation for people who smoke, but we encourage healthy lifestyles."
Read more in Thursday's Beaumont Enterprise.
In the three times she has tried to quit smoking, Yohe has used patches, gum, hypnosis, breathing methods and hand exercises to emulate lighting up a cigarette.
The latter "looked ridiculous" and made people honk at her, the Beaumont marketing director recalled, gesturing with a salon-manicured hand.
And like all of her efforts to quit smoking, she lamented, nothing worked.
Yohe, 50, began smoking in the 1970s as a college student. She now smokes about six Benson and Hedges menthol cigarettes a day. On weekends, she can light up to a pack a day.
"I feel stupid, " Yohe said, seated outside of the Spindletop restaurant in downtown Beaumont Wednesday. "I can't believe something like this has so much control over me."
Like millions of Americans who smoke cigarettes, Yohe knows the risks of lighting up, but because smoking is a nicotine addiction, quitting proves difficult, researchers say.
Data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week point to a curious irony: despite heavy tobacco taxes, smoking bans and commercials about the dangers of smoking, rates of smoking have increased for the first time in 15 years. Last year, the adult smoking rate climbed to 20.8 percent, the CDC reported with the most recent figures available. That number is a bit higher than in 2007, when the rate was at 19.7 percent.
"It's really sad," said Amanda McLauchlin, community coordinator at the Substance Abuse Division of the South East Texas Regional Planning Commission. "There is certainly no condemnation for people who smoke, but we encourage healthy lifestyles."
Read more in Thursday's Beaumont Enterprise.
вторник, 17 ноября 2009 г.
Push to Label Cigarette Filters as Toxic Waste
Researchers at San Diego State University are asking that cigarette filters be labeled as toxic hazardous waste.
The "San Diego Union-Tribune" quotes Tom Novotny, a public health professor at the university as saying "It's another way of looking at cigarettes as a societal hazard." He said reframing the butts as toxic hazardous waste, quote, "that adds another opportunity to change the social acceptability of smoking." A fellow professor of public health, Rick Gersberg, created an experiment involving soaking used cigarette filters in water for 24 hours.He then put fish in that water. Within five days, half had died.
Smokers rights groups aren't impressed with the effort.
Robert Best, regional director of Citizens Freedom Alliance calls the toxic waste labeling suggestion "just another attack on smokers and an attack on the entire tobacco industry." He said the issue is already covered via littering laws.
Those laws mandate expensive punishment for anyone caught throwing trash on the ground or in the water and that includes cigarette butts.
The "San Diego Union-Tribune" quotes Tom Novotny, a public health professor at the university as saying "It's another way of looking at cigarettes as a societal hazard." He said reframing the butts as toxic hazardous waste, quote, "that adds another opportunity to change the social acceptability of smoking." A fellow professor of public health, Rick Gersberg, created an experiment involving soaking used cigarette filters in water for 24 hours.He then put fish in that water. Within five days, half had died.
Smokers rights groups aren't impressed with the effort.
Robert Best, regional director of Citizens Freedom Alliance calls the toxic waste labeling suggestion "just another attack on smokers and an attack on the entire tobacco industry." He said the issue is already covered via littering laws.
Those laws mandate expensive punishment for anyone caught throwing trash on the ground or in the water and that includes cigarette butts.
пятница, 13 ноября 2009 г.
Tokyo considers raising cigarette tax, in threat to Japan Tobacco
Japan's new administration is considering raising cigarette taxes to European levels to help pay for an ambitious domestic spending plan, in a potential threat to partially state-owned Japan Tobacco Inc.
Shares of Japan Tobacco—the world's third largest cigarette company by sales volume, after Altria Group Inc. of the U.S. and British American Tobacco PLC of the U.K.—fell more than 4% Monday before recovering and ending down 0.9% to 254,300 yen, or $2,824.93.
The sharp moves followed comments Sunday by a top Japanese health official during a television interview that raised the possibility of the tax increase.
"Tobacco poses health problems. It may be necessary to raise [the tobacco tax] to the levels in Europe," said Akira Nagatsuma, minister of health, labor and welfare.
The health ministry already has asked the government's tax panel to increase the tobacco tax as part of tax reforms for fiscal 2010.
An increase of 10 yen per cigarette—10 times the amount of previous increases—is currently being debated.
Cigarettes in Japan are among the cheapest of any developed nation, with a pack of http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifMarlboro Lights costing 320 yen ($3.55). That compares with about 600 yen to 800 yen in the European Union.
For the Japanese government, a cigarette tax increase is a tricky proposition. While Tokyo has an incentive to reduce smoking to reduce national health-care expenses, the government also owns a 50% stake in Japan Tobacco.
The government also could hurt tax revenue if consumption drops too sharply.
"We believe the current excise tax is already at a high level," a Japan Tobacco spokesman said. "This is based on the fact that in the past, excise increases have shown that there hasn't been a corresponding increase in revenue, because sales volumes have declined."
Japan Tobacco, which sells the Mild Seven, Camel and Salem brands, has a 65% market share in Japan.
For decades, Japan has resisted imposing big tax increases on cigarettes, going against the global trend.
As a result, in an era where smoking rates have plunged in the developed world due to health concerns and cost, nearly 40% of all men in Japan still light up, according to Japan Tobacco.
Smokers still puff away in restaurants and bars in Tokyo, unlike most states in the U.S. and most countries in the EU, which have imposed indoor smoking bans.
The new Japanese government, led by the Democratic Party of Japan, is mulling new spending programs that are estimated to cost as much as 16.8 trillion yen annually when they are fully implemented in the fiscal year beginning 2013.
It is debating where the money will come from, given that Japan's government liabilities—debts and other obligations—could approach 190% of its gross domestic product this year. The DPJ has already axed raising a broader consumption tax for four years.
"Raising cigarette taxes is not politically controversial," said the JT spokesman. "We are an easy target when the government is in short supply of revenue."
After the government raised cigarette taxes by one yen per cigarette in July 2006, sales volume at JT declined by 14.5 billion cigarettes to 174.9 billion in 2007, according to the company.
But the company offset the sales decline by raising prices on some of its top-tier brands, such as Mild Seven, by 10 yen per pack.
Analysts say that the revenue benefit for the government by doubling cigarette taxes would be marginal.
"This type of tax hike is not common—if the government doubled the taxes on cigarettes, it appears that cigarette volumes would decline by about 40%, resulting in 440 billion yen in additional tax revenues per year," said Toby Williams, an analyst at Macquarie in Tokyo. If Japan Tobacco "is able to raise prices, it would be positive for the company."
Government officials are also using a possible tax increase to dissuade people from smoking. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters on Friday that an increase in the tobacco tax is "possible" considering the adverse effects of smoking on public health.
The Japan Tobacco spokesman said "smoking is the choice of an informed adult. We provide the information of the health risks associated with smoking and that is their decision, rather than the state dictating their pattern of consumption."
Shares of Japan Tobacco—the world's third largest cigarette company by sales volume, after Altria Group Inc. of the U.S. and British American Tobacco PLC of the U.K.—fell more than 4% Monday before recovering and ending down 0.9% to 254,300 yen, or $2,824.93.
The sharp moves followed comments Sunday by a top Japanese health official during a television interview that raised the possibility of the tax increase.
"Tobacco poses health problems. It may be necessary to raise [the tobacco tax] to the levels in Europe," said Akira Nagatsuma, minister of health, labor and welfare.
The health ministry already has asked the government's tax panel to increase the tobacco tax as part of tax reforms for fiscal 2010.
An increase of 10 yen per cigarette—10 times the amount of previous increases—is currently being debated.
Cigarettes in Japan are among the cheapest of any developed nation, with a pack of http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifMarlboro Lights costing 320 yen ($3.55). That compares with about 600 yen to 800 yen in the European Union.
For the Japanese government, a cigarette tax increase is a tricky proposition. While Tokyo has an incentive to reduce smoking to reduce national health-care expenses, the government also owns a 50% stake in Japan Tobacco.
The government also could hurt tax revenue if consumption drops too sharply.
"We believe the current excise tax is already at a high level," a Japan Tobacco spokesman said. "This is based on the fact that in the past, excise increases have shown that there hasn't been a corresponding increase in revenue, because sales volumes have declined."
Japan Tobacco, which sells the Mild Seven, Camel and Salem brands, has a 65% market share in Japan.
For decades, Japan has resisted imposing big tax increases on cigarettes, going against the global trend.
As a result, in an era where smoking rates have plunged in the developed world due to health concerns and cost, nearly 40% of all men in Japan still light up, according to Japan Tobacco.
Smokers still puff away in restaurants and bars in Tokyo, unlike most states in the U.S. and most countries in the EU, which have imposed indoor smoking bans.
The new Japanese government, led by the Democratic Party of Japan, is mulling new spending programs that are estimated to cost as much as 16.8 trillion yen annually when they are fully implemented in the fiscal year beginning 2013.
It is debating where the money will come from, given that Japan's government liabilities—debts and other obligations—could approach 190% of its gross domestic product this year. The DPJ has already axed raising a broader consumption tax for four years.
"Raising cigarette taxes is not politically controversial," said the JT spokesman. "We are an easy target when the government is in short supply of revenue."
After the government raised cigarette taxes by one yen per cigarette in July 2006, sales volume at JT declined by 14.5 billion cigarettes to 174.9 billion in 2007, according to the company.
But the company offset the sales decline by raising prices on some of its top-tier brands, such as Mild Seven, by 10 yen per pack.
Analysts say that the revenue benefit for the government by doubling cigarette taxes would be marginal.
"This type of tax hike is not common—if the government doubled the taxes on cigarettes, it appears that cigarette volumes would decline by about 40%, resulting in 440 billion yen in additional tax revenues per year," said Toby Williams, an analyst at Macquarie in Tokyo. If Japan Tobacco "is able to raise prices, it would be positive for the company."
Government officials are also using a possible tax increase to dissuade people from smoking. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters on Friday that an increase in the tobacco tax is "possible" considering the adverse effects of smoking on public health.
The Japan Tobacco spokesman said "smoking is the choice of an informed adult. We provide the information of the health risks associated with smoking and that is their decision, rather than the state dictating their pattern of consumption."
вторник, 10 ноября 2009 г.
Tobacco groups ask Obama to challenge Canadian ban
Philip Morris International joined with U.S. tobacco industry groups on Thursday to ask President Barack Obama's administration to challenge Canada's new law banning flavored cigarettes and small cigars.
Their request comes even as the administration takes its own steps to ban candy, clove and other flavored cigarettes.
"Canada's ban on blended cigarettes violates its WTO (World Trade Organization) obligations and could impose serious economic hardship on U.S. growers of burley tobacco," Roger Quarles, president of the Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association, said in a statement.
"We are asking USTR (U.S. Trade Representative) to review our arguments and to take a strong stand for U.S. burley growers and American jobs," he said.
Philip Morris, which markets its tobacco products in approximately 160 countries, joined the burley growers and several other tobacco associations in asking USTR to press Canada on the issue at a WTO meeting on "technical" trade barriers next week in Geneva.
Canada's new law banning the manufacture, importation and sale of most flavored cigarettes and small cigars went into effect earlier this month.Anti-smoking groups said the fruit-flavored cigarettes were marketed like candy to lure young smokers, but the industry complained the law was too broad and would unfairly restrict importation of U.S.-grown burley tobacco.
Aiming to pressure the Obama administration to take up the issue, Republican Senator Jim Bunning from the tobacco-growing state of Kentucky has blocked the six-month-old nomination of Miriam Sapiro as deputy U.S. trade representative.
A spokeswoman for USTR was not immediately available on Thursday to comment on the issue.
The U.S. tobacco groups said they support the goal of banning candy-flavored cigarettes. But they said Canada could have done that without discriminating against American blend cigarettes by following the model recently set by the United States, France and Australia.
The Obama administration has given no indication publicly that it would press Canada on the issue.
Obama, who has said he began smoking as a teenager and struggled as an adult to give it up, signed a law in June giving the U.S. government broad regulatory power for the first time over cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration used the new authority to implement a ban on candy, clove and other flavored cigarettes. Neither the U.S. or the Canadian ban includes menthol-flavored cigarettes.
Clove cigarettes come mainly from Indonesia, where they originated in the late 1800s.
Their request comes even as the administration takes its own steps to ban candy, clove and other flavored cigarettes.
"Canada's ban on blended cigarettes violates its WTO (World Trade Organization) obligations and could impose serious economic hardship on U.S. growers of burley tobacco," Roger Quarles, president of the Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association, said in a statement.
"We are asking USTR (U.S. Trade Representative) to review our arguments and to take a strong stand for U.S. burley growers and American jobs," he said.
Philip Morris, which markets its tobacco products in approximately 160 countries, joined the burley growers and several other tobacco associations in asking USTR to press Canada on the issue at a WTO meeting on "technical" trade barriers next week in Geneva.
Canada's new law banning the manufacture, importation and sale of most flavored cigarettes and small cigars went into effect earlier this month.Anti-smoking groups said the fruit-flavored cigarettes were marketed like candy to lure young smokers, but the industry complained the law was too broad and would unfairly restrict importation of U.S.-grown burley tobacco.
Aiming to pressure the Obama administration to take up the issue, Republican Senator Jim Bunning from the tobacco-growing state of Kentucky has blocked the six-month-old nomination of Miriam Sapiro as deputy U.S. trade representative.
A spokeswoman for USTR was not immediately available on Thursday to comment on the issue.
The U.S. tobacco groups said they support the goal of banning candy-flavored cigarettes. But they said Canada could have done that without discriminating against American blend cigarettes by following the model recently set by the United States, France and Australia.
The Obama administration has given no indication publicly that it would press Canada on the issue.
Obama, who has said he began smoking as a teenager and struggled as an adult to give it up, signed a law in June giving the U.S. government broad regulatory power for the first time over cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration used the new authority to implement a ban on candy, clove and other flavored cigarettes. Neither the U.S. or the Canadian ban includes menthol-flavored cigarettes.
Clove cigarettes come mainly from Indonesia, where they originated in the late 1800s.
понедельник, 9 ноября 2009 г.
Tobacco groups ask Obama to challenge Canadian ban
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Philip Morris International joined with U.S. tobacco industry groups on Thursday to ask President Barack Obama's administration to challenge Canada's new law banning flavored cigarettes and small cigars.
Their request comes even as the administration takes its own steps to ban candy, clove and other flavored cigarettes.
"Canada's ban on blended cigarettes violates its WTO (World Trade Organization) obligations and could impose serious economic hardship on U.S. growers of burley tobacco," Roger Quarles, president of the Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association, said in a statement.
"We are asking USTR (U.S. Trade Representative) to review our arguments and to take a strong stand for U.S. burley growers and American jobs," he said.
Philip Morris, which markets its tobacco products in approximately 160 countries, joined the burley growers and several other tobacco associations in asking USTR to press Canada on the issue at a WTO meeting on "technical" trade barriers next week in Geneva.
Canada's new law banning the manufacture, importation and sale of most flavored cigarettes and small cigars went into effect earlier this month.
Anti-smoking groups said the fruit-flavored cigarettes were marketed like candy to lure young smokers, but the industry complained the law was too broad and would unfairly restrict importation of U.S.-grown burley tobacco.
Aiming to pressure the Obama administration to take up the issue, Republican Senator Jim Bunning from the tobacco-growing state of Kentucky has blocked the six-month-old nomination of Miriam Sapiro as deputy U.S. trade representative.
A spokeswoman for USTR was not immediately available on Thursday to comment on the issue.
The U.S. tobacco groups said they support the goal of banning candy-flavored cigarettes. But they said Canada could have done that without discriminating against American blend cigarettes by following the model recently set by the United States, France and Australia.
The Obama administration has given no indication publicly that it would press Canada on the issue.
Obama, who has said he began smoking as a teenager and struggled as an adult to give it up, signed a law in June giving the U.S. government broad regulatory power for the first time over cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration used the new authority to implement a ban on candy, clove and other flavored cigarettes. Neither the U.S. or the Canadian ban includes menthol-flavored cigarettes.
Clove cigarettes come mainly from Indonesia, where they originated in the late 1800s.
Their request comes even as the administration takes its own steps to ban candy, clove and other flavored cigarettes.
"Canada's ban on blended cigarettes violates its WTO (World Trade Organization) obligations and could impose serious economic hardship on U.S. growers of burley tobacco," Roger Quarles, president of the Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association, said in a statement.
"We are asking USTR (U.S. Trade Representative) to review our arguments and to take a strong stand for U.S. burley growers and American jobs," he said.
Philip Morris, which markets its tobacco products in approximately 160 countries, joined the burley growers and several other tobacco associations in asking USTR to press Canada on the issue at a WTO meeting on "technical" trade barriers next week in Geneva.
Canada's new law banning the manufacture, importation and sale of most flavored cigarettes and small cigars went into effect earlier this month.
Anti-smoking groups said the fruit-flavored cigarettes were marketed like candy to lure young smokers, but the industry complained the law was too broad and would unfairly restrict importation of U.S.-grown burley tobacco.
Aiming to pressure the Obama administration to take up the issue, Republican Senator Jim Bunning from the tobacco-growing state of Kentucky has blocked the six-month-old nomination of Miriam Sapiro as deputy U.S. trade representative.
A spokeswoman for USTR was not immediately available on Thursday to comment on the issue.
The U.S. tobacco groups said they support the goal of banning candy-flavored cigarettes. But they said Canada could have done that without discriminating against American blend cigarettes by following the model recently set by the United States, France and Australia.
The Obama administration has given no indication publicly that it would press Canada on the issue.
Obama, who has said he began smoking as a teenager and struggled as an adult to give it up, signed a law in June giving the U.S. government broad regulatory power for the first time over cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration used the new authority to implement a ban on candy, clove and other flavored cigarettes. Neither the U.S. or the Canadian ban includes menthol-flavored cigarettes.
Clove cigarettes come mainly from Indonesia, where they originated in the late 1800s.
четверг, 5 ноября 2009 г.
Anti-smoking survey helps Walhalla students
WALHALLA — Results from a survey conducted by Clemson University nursing students to 230 Walhalla Middle School eighth-grade students regarding the dangers of tobacco use show that the message was received loud and clear.
Post-test results released by the school show that 225 of the respondents (97.80 percent) agree that cigarettes or cigars are dangerous and 221 concur that dipping and smokeless tobacco are dangerous. Approximately 224 feel oral cancer is a complication of dipping and smokeless tobacco, 226 believe lung cancer is a complication to cigarette smoking and 194 say second hand smoke is bad.
As far as the nurses presentation, 223 said it was well presented, 205 said it was interesting and 220 said they were glad the nurses came to the school.
“The post-test results showed that we went from 81.7 percent that didn’t think tobacco is dangerous to 97.8 percent that thought tobacco is dangerous,” said Walhalla Middle School Principal Chuck Middleton. “This was a very needed subject to work with and they did a great job of putting it together, gathering and disseminating the data.”
The nine-week tobacco study was the latest in a series of surveys and data collected annually at the school by Clemson University nursing groups, led by nursing instructor Betsy Swanson. Previous studies have included energy drinks, alcohol, diabetes awareness, exercise and physical fitness and obesity.
Katy Atkins, Katy Fuller, Sarah Toms, Anne Farish, Heather Leroux, Mallory Musiel and Kaitlin O’Brien collected data and presented it to students in the form of skits that dealt with peer pressure and other factors. The 230 eighth-graders surveyed consisted of
116 females and 114 males.
“I felt the nurses did an awesome job of getting and keeping 230 students attention throughout their presentation,” Middleton said.
Comments by students in the post-survey included praise for the nurses and the information provided, adding that it was “cool,” and “really helpful.”
Post-test results released by the school show that 225 of the respondents (97.80 percent) agree that cigarettes or cigars are dangerous and 221 concur that dipping and smokeless tobacco are dangerous. Approximately 224 feel oral cancer is a complication of dipping and smokeless tobacco, 226 believe lung cancer is a complication to cigarette smoking and 194 say second hand smoke is bad.
As far as the nurses presentation, 223 said it was well presented, 205 said it was interesting and 220 said they were glad the nurses came to the school.
“The post-test results showed that we went from 81.7 percent that didn’t think tobacco is dangerous to 97.8 percent that thought tobacco is dangerous,” said Walhalla Middle School Principal Chuck Middleton. “This was a very needed subject to work with and they did a great job of putting it together, gathering and disseminating the data.”
The nine-week tobacco study was the latest in a series of surveys and data collected annually at the school by Clemson University nursing groups, led by nursing instructor Betsy Swanson. Previous studies have included energy drinks, alcohol, diabetes awareness, exercise and physical fitness and obesity.
Katy Atkins, Katy Fuller, Sarah Toms, Anne Farish, Heather Leroux, Mallory Musiel and Kaitlin O’Brien collected data and presented it to students in the form of skits that dealt with peer pressure and other factors. The 230 eighth-graders surveyed consisted of
116 females and 114 males.
“I felt the nurses did an awesome job of getting and keeping 230 students attention throughout their presentation,” Middleton said.
Comments by students in the post-survey included praise for the nurses and the information provided, adding that it was “cool,” and “really helpful.”
понедельник, 2 ноября 2009 г.
Toward Tobacco-Free Campuses
The American College Health Association released new guidelines Monday urging colleges and universities to adopt policies barring all tobacco use indoors and outdoors on their campuses.
The recommendations signal a shift for the association, which in its previous position statement, adopted in 2005, urged campus health officials to ban all smoking indoors but still permit it in “designated smoking spaces” outside.
Jim Turner, president of the ACHA and executive director of the University of Virginia’s student health center, said the guidelines reflect policies that are “from a public health standpoint, what we all aspire to have for our campuses.”He acknowledged the position statement “sets a very, very high bar for some campuses to get to,” but said that the members of the ACHA’s board, executive committee and Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Coalition considered it “an important statement to be made” about tobacco use on campuses. “We may not achieve our total goal across the country but at least we can provoke a debate and get some movement on our campuses.”
Cynthia Hallett, executive director of Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, called the guidelines “excellent” progress and said she hoped campuses would seriously consider adopting them.
As of October 6, Hallett’s group had identified 365 U.S. colleges and universities with policies requiring that all campus spaces, indoors and outdoors, be smokefree. Another 76 institutions have “100 percent smokefree campuses with minor exemptions for remote outdoor areas.”
All 33 public college and university campuses in the state of Arkansas prohibit smoking inside and outside. Despite complaints and protests coming from employees and students, a law enacted last year in Pennsylvania bars smoking indoors and outdoors at all 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
The ACHA’s recommendations go even further. They ban not just the use of cigarettes, cigars and other smoke-producing products but also the use of snuff, chewing tobacco and other smokeless tobacco products. The eventual goal, as described in the position statement, is “becoming or maintaining tobacco-free living and learning environments that support the achievement of personal and academic goals.”
John Nothdurft, a legislative specialist on tobacco at the Heartland Institute, a nonprofit with libertarian and conservative positions, said he is “not surprised by any means” by the ACHA’s recommendations. “You saw this in Pennsylvania, you’ve seen this in other states,” he said. “This is more of a PR stunt than anything else. It’s more nannying going on by organizations trying to win brownie points from special interest groups.”
Nothdurft expressed concern that institutions would adopt policies “without considering all the unintended consequences and questions it creates.” Students, employees and visitors, he said, “will have to go off campus – maybe to an unsafe area, maybe not – just to use a legal product that they should be able to use outdoors without doing harm to others.”
He also criticized the absence of recommendations on how to enforce tobacco-free policies. “It’s hard to enforce a smoking ban and this document offers no suggestions,” he said. “As I see it, all these activities could keep going on” without penalty on campuses that choose to adopt the ACHA’s recommendations.
Turner said he “heard very little resistance” from within the ACHA on adopting the recommendations. “One concern a member had was that our guidelines not violate state or local law but, from a public health standpoint, we all agreed this was needed.”
Turner said that the University of Virginia, his institution and the flagship university in a state that’s had a dominant tobacco industry for centuries, enacted a ban on smoking outside all its medical facilities and research labs that went into place on October 1, having banned smoking indoors years ago.
“I go over to the medical school for meetings and I no longer see people in their scrub suits smoking outside the back entrance there,” he said. “Anecdotally, in my own little world, it’s really had a profound impact.”
The recommendations signal a shift for the association, which in its previous position statement, adopted in 2005, urged campus health officials to ban all smoking indoors but still permit it in “designated smoking spaces” outside.
Jim Turner, president of the ACHA and executive director of the University of Virginia’s student health center, said the guidelines reflect policies that are “from a public health standpoint, what we all aspire to have for our campuses.”He acknowledged the position statement “sets a very, very high bar for some campuses to get to,” but said that the members of the ACHA’s board, executive committee and Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Coalition considered it “an important statement to be made” about tobacco use on campuses. “We may not achieve our total goal across the country but at least we can provoke a debate and get some movement on our campuses.”
Cynthia Hallett, executive director of Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, called the guidelines “excellent” progress and said she hoped campuses would seriously consider adopting them.
As of October 6, Hallett’s group had identified 365 U.S. colleges and universities with policies requiring that all campus spaces, indoors and outdoors, be smokefree. Another 76 institutions have “100 percent smokefree campuses with minor exemptions for remote outdoor areas.”
All 33 public college and university campuses in the state of Arkansas prohibit smoking inside and outside. Despite complaints and protests coming from employees and students, a law enacted last year in Pennsylvania bars smoking indoors and outdoors at all 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
The ACHA’s recommendations go even further. They ban not just the use of cigarettes, cigars and other smoke-producing products but also the use of snuff, chewing tobacco and other smokeless tobacco products. The eventual goal, as described in the position statement, is “becoming or maintaining tobacco-free living and learning environments that support the achievement of personal and academic goals.”
John Nothdurft, a legislative specialist on tobacco at the Heartland Institute, a nonprofit with libertarian and conservative positions, said he is “not surprised by any means” by the ACHA’s recommendations. “You saw this in Pennsylvania, you’ve seen this in other states,” he said. “This is more of a PR stunt than anything else. It’s more nannying going on by organizations trying to win brownie points from special interest groups.”
Nothdurft expressed concern that institutions would adopt policies “without considering all the unintended consequences and questions it creates.” Students, employees and visitors, he said, “will have to go off campus – maybe to an unsafe area, maybe not – just to use a legal product that they should be able to use outdoors without doing harm to others.”
He also criticized the absence of recommendations on how to enforce tobacco-free policies. “It’s hard to enforce a smoking ban and this document offers no suggestions,” he said. “As I see it, all these activities could keep going on” without penalty on campuses that choose to adopt the ACHA’s recommendations.
Turner said he “heard very little resistance” from within the ACHA on adopting the recommendations. “One concern a member had was that our guidelines not violate state or local law but, from a public health standpoint, we all agreed this was needed.”
Turner said that the University of Virginia, his institution and the flagship university in a state that’s had a dominant tobacco industry for centuries, enacted a ban on smoking outside all its medical facilities and research labs that went into place on October 1, having banned smoking indoors years ago.
“I go over to the medical school for meetings and I no longer see people in their scrub suits smoking outside the back entrance there,” he said. “Anecdotally, in my own little world, it’s really had a profound impact.”
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