Cigarette companies sue over plain packaging regulations

By: Elaine Yau _ May 08, 2012

Smokers in Hong Kong might soon have trouble telling brands of cigarettes apart as the government toys with the idea of demanding plain packaging to combat tobacco consumption.

Hong Kong is among about half a dozen jurisdictions that met recently to discuss the feasibility of such a move, says Judith Mackay, senior adviser with the World Lung Foundation.

Mackay says she has been talking to the Hong Kong government about plain packaging for some time, although the government is "not quite ready to implement it".

"Many countries, including Hong Kong, are waiting to see what happens in Australia. We need a precedent before we go forward," she says.
On December 1, Australia will adopt the world's first plain packaging legislation, which bans the use of the brand logo, symbols, other images or promotional text on tobacco products. The country is taking the lead in implementing Article 13 of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. This says "a comprehensive ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship would reduce the consumption of tobacco products".

Cigarettes will be sold in drab packages with graphic images of tobacco-related diseases and warnings that occupy 75 per cent of the area of the box. No trademark logos will be permitted on any packaging of tobacco products, although firms will be able to print their name and the brand in a small, prescribed font on the packets.

"The smoking rate dropped from 30.5 per cent in 1998 to 15.1 per cent in 2010 in Australia, but we still expect 15,000 Australians to die from smoking every year," says Jane Halton, secretary of Australia's Department of Health and Ageing.

Packaging, she says, is one of the last forms of tobacco advertising and must be removed. Her sentiments were echoed by authorities and experts at the 15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Singapore in March.

The tobacco industry is fighting back. Australia has been sued by Hong Kong-based tobacco giant Philip Morris Asia, which alleges that plain packaging amounts to unlawful expropriation of the company's investments and valuable intellectual property without compensation.

Australia has also been sued in its High Court by the tobacco industry. "The reaction from the industry is not surprising, but they are becoming more extreme and subversive," says Halton. "We reject the claims filed by Philip Morris. Our arbitrators will hear the case."

Philip Morris moved its business from Australia to Hong Kong soon after the Australian government announced its decision on plain packaging in April 2010.

Since the announcement, Halton says her department has received 53 "freedom of information requests" relating to plain packaging from the tobacco industry - a tactic aimed at slowing the bureaucracy down.

"The requests are designed to ensure we are required to examine hundreds of files and tens of thousands of documents for potential release. [The industry wants to] tie up funding and resources within my department to ensure we have less time to implement this law," she says.

"We will not be deterred by the threats and will fight this incredibly vigorously."

Uruguay, Norway and Turkey are also countering legal challenges from the tobacco industry regarding their tightened tobacco control measures.

WHO director general Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun says the chain of legal action taken by the tobacco industry shows its desperation. "I take it as an indication that big tobacco sees the writing on the wall," she says. "These are the death throes of the industry."

Chan applauded Australia's resolve in curbing tobacco consumption. "We must make plain packaging a big success so that it becomes the success of the world," she says.

Simon Chapman, professor in public health at the University of Sydney, says it's ludicrous for the tobacco industry to take the Australian government to court - alleging the government is acquiring valuable intellectual property and using it to make money.

A spokesman for the Hong Kong Health Department says it will consider whether to adopt plain packaging legislation. In 1994, it became mandatory for cigarette packs sold in Hong Kong to carry written warnings. Graphic health warnings, which have to occupy half of a packet's area, were introduced in 2007.

Article 11 of WHO's convention - which was enacted in 2005 and has 174 countries signed up so far - compels parties, within three years of joining the convention, to have tobacco product health warnings that cover at least 30 per cent (and preferably 50 per cent) of the visible area on a cigarette pack. Singapore, the first country in Asia to implement graphic health warnings on packets, will introduce a new set of health warnings that use gory and emotional images from next March.

"What [the tobacco industry] wants to see is a domino effect," says Chan. "When one country's resolve falters under the pressure of costly, drawn-out litigation and threats of billion-dollar settlements, others with similar intentions are likely to topple as well."

Chan says no commercial interest should undermine public health measures to protect people. Article 5.3 of the WHO convention on tobacco control gives countries the space and legitimacy to take such actions.

Copyright © 2012 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All right reserved

Taxes discourage tobacco use

Tobacco taxes are the most effective way to reduce tobacco use, especially among young people and poor people. A tax increase that increases tobacco prices by 10% decreases tobacco consumption by about 4% in high-income countries and by up to 8% in low- and middle-income countries.

Only 27 countries, representing less than 8% of the world's population, have tobacco tax rates greater than 75% of the retail price.
Tobacco tax revenues are on average 154 times higher than spending on tobacco control, based on available data.

Tobacco is the only legal consumer product that kills up to half of its consumers

Australia leading the war on tobacco

SHIN YOUNG-SOO

Tobacco is the only legal consumer product that kills up to half of its consumers when used exactly as the manufacturer intends.

And it kills in prodigious numbers. Nearly 6 million people worldwide die each year from tobacco-related diseases. That's more than the total for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

In the World Health Organisation's Western Pacific Region, where I am Regional Director, we estimate that two people die every minute from a tobacco-related disease. One in three of the cigarettes that are smoked globally are smoked in our region - a disturbing statistic that tells us that governments have to be far more vigorous if they are to turn back this evil scourge.

Not surprisingly, then, WHO is keenly interested in the Australian Government's proposal to press for plain packaging for cigarettes, along with bigger and blunter warnings on packets about the dangers of smoking. WHO fully supports these measures, which will give effect to commitments under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), which has been ratified by 170 countries, Australia included.

Article 11 of the WHO FCTC requires governments to implement measures to ensure that tobacco packaging is not false or misleading or likely to create an erroneous impression about the characteristics or health effects of the contents. We believe that plain packaging will do that job very nicely - and, in doing so, could save many Australian lives in the long run.

It is no surprise that the cigarette manufacturers are doing their best to derail the legislation. With other forms of advertising banned in Australia, they know that once they lose the seductive colours and logos on packets, they will be identified for what they are: thoroughly unglamorous merchants of death and disease.

In recognition of Australia's world-leading role in the war on smoking, Health Minister Nicola Roxon is to receive a special award from the World Health Organisation's Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan. The Director-General's Special Recognition certificate cites Roxon's "unwavering leadership" in the field of health and describes the proposal to introduce plain packaging as a "bold and breakthrough" approach that is inspiring political leaders in other countries. I will have the honour of presenting the certificate in a ceremony in Canberra on May 31.

The tobacco lobby's response so far to the plain-packing proposal has been both predictable and desperate. Apart from threatening to sue the Government for loss of intellectual property rights, cigarette companies have talked of slashing prices and flooding the market with cheap cigarettes. Note how they make no attempt to defend their product on health grounds, despite their discredited insinuation that so-called "lite" or "low tar" cigarettes are less harmful. For them, it's all about profits and not about lives.

Tobacco causes over 20 different diseases, many of them fatal or disabling. It is responsible for over 71 per cent of all cases of lung cancer deaths globally, 42 per cent of chronic respiratory disease deaths and nearly 10 per cent of all deaths from cardiovascular disease. Passive or second-hand exposure to tobacco smoke causes an estimated 600,000 deaths a year globally.

We're told that 15,000 people die in Australia every year from tobacco-related illnesses, and that the seven leading causes of death are all linked to smoking. The social, health and economic costs of tobacco-related illnesses are estimated at more than $30 billion a year - and this is not taking into account the anguish suffered by families and friends affected by death or lingering illness.

Faced with tough laws and declining sales in Australia, the tobacco industry is seeking new targets overseas, particularly women, young people and people in low- and middle-income countries. Of WHO's six regions, the Western Pacific has the fastest increase in smoking by women and young people, the greatest number of smokers, and the highest rates of male smoking prevalence.

In the poorest households of some low-income countries in the Asia Pacific region, as much as 10 per cent -17 per cent of total household expenditure goes on tobacco. This means that families have less money to spend on essential items such as food, health care and education. The high price of treating tobacco-related diseases is compounded by economic losses. Smokers are less productive workers, due to sickness and absenteeism. And deaths from tobacco often occur during the productive years of life, depleting a nation’s workforce.

This situation is intolerable. WHO is urging governments to recognise that there is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry's interests and those of the nation. This is why we are so enthused by Australia's plain-packaging legislation. If passed, it would set new global standards and encourage governments in the Asia Pacific Region to also get tough with the tobacco industry.

Minister Roxon has acknowledged she will have a fight on her hands, but she says she is ready. I'm sure she is. And WHO is ready too to lend any support it can. We see what is happening in Australia as potentially a tipping point in the global war on the tobacco companies and their life-destroying product.

Dr Shin Young-soo is WHO's Regional Director for the Western Pacific

WHO is committed to fight the global tobacco epidemic.

The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control entered into force in February 2005. Since then, it has become one of the most widely embraced treaties in the history of the United Nations with more than 170 Parties covering 87% of the world's population. The WHO Framework Convention is WHO's most important tobacco control tool and a milestone in the promotion of public health. It is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of people to the highest standard of health, provides legal dimensions for international health cooperation and sets high standards for compliance.

In 2008, WHO introduced a package of tobacco control measures to further counter the tobacco epidemic and to help countries to implement the WHO Framework Convention. Known by their acronym MPOWER, the measures are identified as "best buys" and "good buys" in tobacco control. Each measure corresponds to at least one provision of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

The six MPOWER measures are:

Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies
Protect people from tobacco use
Offer help to quit tobacco use
Warn about the dangers of tobacco
Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship
Raise taxes on tobacco.
For more information contact:
WHO Media centre
Telephone: +41 22 791 2222
E-mail: mediainquiries@who.int

Many Women Still Smoke During Pregnancy

(HealthDay News) -- Too many American women still smoke during their pregnancies, a new report finds, and rates of such smoking vary widely depending on race.

Researchers found that almost 22 percent of pregnant white women aged 15 to 44 smoked cigarettes within the previous 30 days, compared with just over 14 percent of pregnant black women and 6.5 percent of Hispanic women in the same age range.

The rate of illicit drug use during pregnancy, however, was higher among black women (7.7 percent) than among white women (4.4 percent) or Hispanic women (about 3 percent), according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration study, released Wednesday.

Rates of alcohol use during pregnancy were about the same for black and white women (12.8 percent and 12.2 percent, respectively), and much higher than among Hispanic women (7.4 percent), according to the study.

The findings are based on an analysis of data from the administration's 2002 to 2010 national surveys on drug use and health.

"When pregnant women use alcohol, tobacco or illicit substances they are risking health problems for themselves and poor birth outcomes for their babies," Pamela Hyde, administrator at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said in a government news release.

"Pregnant women of different races and ethnicities may have diverse patterns of substance abuse," Hyde said. "It is essential that we use the findings from this report to develop better ways of getting this key message out to every segment of our community so that no woman or child is endangered by substance use and abuse."

Gradual killer

Because there is a lag of several years between when people start using tobacco and when their health suffers, the epidemic of tobacco-related disease and death has just begun.

Tobacco caused 100 million deaths in the 20th century. If current trends continue, it will cause up to one billion deaths in the 21st century.
Unchecked, tobacco-related deaths will increase to more than eight million per year by 2030. More than 80% of those deaths will be in low- and middle-income countries.

Tobacco Key facts

Key facts
Tobacco kills up to half of its users.
Tobacco kills nearly six million people each year, of whom more than 5 million are users and ex users and more than 600 000 are nonsmokers exposed to second-hand smoke. Unless urgent action is taken, the annual death toll could rise to more than eight million by 2030.
Nearly 80% of the world's one billion smokers live in low- and middle-income countries.
Consumption of tobacco products is increasing globally, though it is decreasing in some high-income and upper middle-income countries.

Picture warnings work

Hard-hitting anti-tobacco advertisements and graphic pack warnings – especially those that include pictures – reduce the number of children who begin smoking and increase the number of smokers who quit.

Studies carried out after the implementation of pictorial package warnings in Brazil, Canada, Singapore and Thailand consistently show that pictorial warnings significantly increase people's awareness of the harms of tobacco use.

Mass media campaigns can also reduce tobacco consumption, by influencing people to protect non-smokers and convincing youths to stop using tobacco.

Just 19 countries, representing 15% of the world's population, meet the best practice for pictorial warnings, which includes the warnings in the local language and cover an average of at least half of the front and back of cigarette packs. No low-income country meets this best-practice level.
Forty-two countries, representing 42% of the world’s population, mandate pictorial warnings.
Graphic warnings can persuade smokers to protect the health of non-smokers by smoking less inside the home and avoiding smoking near children.
More than 1.9 billion people, representing 28% of the world's population, live in the 23 countries that have implemented at least one strong anti-tobacco mass media campaign within the last two years.

Leading cause of death, illness and impoverishment

The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced. It kills nearly six million people a year of whom more than 5 million are users and ex users and more than 600 000 are nonsmokers exposed to second-hand smoke. Approximately one person dies every six seconds due to tobacco and this accounts for one in 10 adult deaths. Up to half of current users will eventually die of a tobacco-related disease.

Nearly 80% of the more than one billion smokers worldwide live in low- and middle-income countries, where the burden of tobacco-related illness and death is heaviest.

Tobacco users who die prematurely deprive their families of income, raise the cost of health care and hinder economic development.

In some countries, children from poor households are frequently employed in tobacco farming to provide family income. These children are especially vulnerable to "green tobacco sickness", which is caused by the nicotine that is absorbed through the skin from the handling of wet tobacco leaves.

Second-hand smoke kills

Second-hand smoke is the smoke that fills restaurants, offices or other enclosed spaces when people burn tobacco products such as cigarettes, bidis and water pipes. There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke.

Every person should be able to breathe smoke-free air. Smoke-free laws protect the health of non-smokers, are popular, do not harm business and encourage smokers to quit.1

Under 11% of the world's population are protected by comprehensive national smoke-free laws.
The number of people protected from second-hand smoke more than doubled to 739 million in 2010 from 354 million in 2008.
Almost half of children regularly breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke.
Over 40% of children have at least one smoking parent.
Second-hand smoke causes more than 600 000 premature deaths per year.
In 2004, children accounted for 31% of the deaths attributable to second-hand smoke.
There are more than 4000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, of which at least 250 are known to be harmful and more than 50 are known to cause cancer.
In adults, second-hand smoke causes serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including coronary heart disease and lung cancer. In infants, it causes sudden death. In pregnant women, it causes low birth weight.

British American Tobacco’s corporate greed

BAT sells on average per month 100 million sticks of tobacco and annually 1.2 billion sticks of Tobacco. It is estimated that in Papua New Guinea the adult smoking population is approximately 3 million out of a population of 7 million. If you do the math, this is really scary.

BAT’s overall goal and objective is to grow volume through increased distribution, they do this by making cigarettes available in every outlet, street market, and clubs, with no concern for the exposure it has on our children.

The real reason why prices of cigarettes went up in December and in early January was because management had decided to hold back stock, because they had already hit their final year end Target in November 2011, which guaranteed them Fat bonuses. They also held back the stock because they wanted to manage their shareholder expectations down in Australia. If they had gone over target, this year 2012 shareholders will be putting more pressure and demand more from them, hence no guarantee for another fat bonus.

Because of Corporate Greed they have gone ahead and violated the basic rights of consumers in PNG, after getting them hooked on the drug.

The ICCC and IRC must investigate this because the lives of Papua New Guineans are at risk from this greedy corporate giant, and if worse comes to worse a class action in courts is possible.

Review of Areca (Betel) Nut and Tobacco Use

Review of Areca (Betel) Nut and Tobacco Use in the Pacifc: A Technical Report

Executive summary:There is evidence to show that the frequency of betel nut use is increasing in the Western Pacific Region and that its use is more frequently associated with the chewing of tobacco. Betel nut chewing induces oral precancerous lesions that have a high propensity to progress. Betel nut itself has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen (carcinogenic to humans) by the International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC). While it is clear that the use of betel nut alone is a threat to health, its combination with tobacco greatly increases an individual’s risk of premature illness and death. In countries in the Western Pacific Region where this is observed, betel nut and tobacco chewing has become a significant public health problem.

With the entry into force of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), there has been increasing concern about the promotion of smokeless tobacco use. The groundwork for this report began in 2006 when the Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI), the Western Pacific c Regional Office, commissioned the Secretariat of the Pacific c Community (SPC) to review the use of betel (areca) nut and tobacco in the Western Pacific c Region. This was followed in August 2010 by a meeting of national focal points in tobacco control from the countries that report high use of betel nut and tobacco. Proposed actions have been mapped and linked to the Regional Action Plan for the TFI in the Western Pacific c Region (2010-2014). This document is envisioned as a supplement for countries that wish to highlight specific c tobacco control indicators and actions related to reduction of smokeless tobacco use.

A major effort needs to be made to provide decision-makers with evidence of the serious harm caused by betel nut chewing, with and without tobacco. Community-based strategies are also needed to overcome cultural beliefs and practices that are barriers to sound public health measures that can save lives and prevent unnecessary suffering from oral cancer and other diseases.

Tobacco the second major cause of death in the world

By Kia Henry Nema Quit smoking is the best thing you can do for your health, future and family. Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world. It is currently responsible for the death of one in ten adults worldwide (about 5 million deaths each year). If current smoking patterns continue, it will cause some 10 million deaths each year by 2020. Half the people that smoke today—that is about 650 million peo...ple—will eventually be killed by tobacco. Each day in the WHO Western Pacific Region, 3000 people die from tobacco use. In the Pacific PNG has the highest number of smokers. For our adult population the prevalence is 44.0% (males: 60.3% and females: 27.0%). 43.7% of the adults smoke daily (males: 59.9%, females: 27.6%). That means 4 in every 10 adult smoke and the same number of adults smoke daily. For our school aged youths the prevalence of those that ever smoked tobacco is 55.3% (boys: 64.4%, girls: 47.0%. The rate of those that currently use tobacco products is 47.7% (boys: 55.4%, girls: 40.3%). That means 5.5 in every 10 children between 13-15 yrs old smoked tobacco the same number currently use tobacco products. In every single tobacco cigarette it contains 4,000 cancer causing chemicals that will kill its users. Cigarettes are chemically engineered to keep its users hooked to the nicotine. Tobacco companies are canning and deceitful and will make you hooked to their product. No cigarette is ‘safe’. Do not be deceived by the tobacco companies that cigarette is an adult choice. They are trying to sell a product to poison you. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Act Now! to denormalize smoking in your community. It is illegal to smoke in any public places – schools, health facilities, markets, sporting fields, public transport, hotels, clubs and any enclosed places. That is provided for by the Tobacco Products (Health Control) Act 1987. By NOT Smoking you care for your health, your family’s and the community. Let’s make PNG Smoke Free and on the roads towards a happy, healthy and prosperous nation!