Tobacco.org

EDITORIAL: Our View: Warped populist tradition of keeping tobacco prices low  

ONLY the deputy of the Green Party Giorgos Perdikis voted in favour of the government bill that would have increased the tax on hand-rolling tobacco. The bill, which had been classed as urgent and submitted to the House Finance Committee on Thursday morning, was voted down in the afternoon’s plenum, the government failing to secure even the support of AKEL’s deputies, all of whom abstained.

The drafting of the bill was kept a secret, as is standard practice, to prevent hoarding and its approval had seemed a formality. By the afternoon there seems to have been a change of heart, which Perdikis, speaking on a radio show yesterday morning, attributed to vested interests applying pressure on deputies. . . .

Talk of suspicious motives, however, ignores a long, populist tradition of keeping tobacco prices low. . . .

But in Cyprus most politicians and policy-makers view tobacco as a basic necessity, a bit like milk and bread that should always be affordable to the masses. More than 10 years ago, the Clerides government had proposed a hike in tobacco tax and unions took a strong stand against the measure, protesting that this would be unfair to the low-income earners, as if people had a right to cause harm to their health on the cheap. In fact yesterday, one deputy argued that it would be good to keep the tax of rolling tobacco lower as it was bought by young people who did not have much money!

This has been the warped populist thinking prevailing in Cyprus with regard to cigarette prices and it is in this context that Thursday’s rejection of the bill should be viewed. It is no accident that only Perdikis was willing to take stand in favour of higher tobacco tax. The rest of the deputies wanted to defend the right of people and especially the young, to cheap poison.

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• ‘Rejecting tobacco tax rise was a mistake’ 

BY VOTING down a government bill to raise the consumption tax on rolling tobacco, parliament took away some €20 million earmarked for helping vulnerable groups, Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias said yesterday.

The bill proposed doubling the tax from €60 per kilogram to €120 in order to address the discrepancy in taxes between manufactured and rolling tobacco.

It was discussed as a matter of urgency on Thursday and while initial indications suggested it would pass, only the Greens’ Giorgos Perdikis voted in favour.

Deputies for ruling party AKEL abstained while DISY, DIKO, EDEK and EVROKO voted against.

“I’m very sad over the frivolity with which the House treated the government’s proposal,” Kazamias said.

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• Man with a mission: clearing up the clubs  

Sixteen months on, however, the island seems to have lapsed into its old ways. Many clubs and pubs are as smoky as ever and some club owners mobilised to attempt to swing today’s parliamentary elections by promising to boost votes to pro-smoking candidates.

The Pancyprian Restaurants and Entertainment Establishments Owners Association (PASIKA), which employs up to 14,000 staff in 3200 venues, said at least half of their employees were eligible Cypriot voters who could support an amendment to the law.

However, smoking is not just an issue for night-time venues: in recent months Sunday Mail reporters have seen people smoking inside Parliament (away from the authorised atrium cafe area), in the Nicosia central post office and in the Archbishop Makarios athletics stadium.

For one Larnaca resident, the final straw came when he found a smoking room in the Larnaca General Hospital, from which smoke spread to the room where his mother was receiving treatment.

“I learned that they smoke in Larnaca General Hospital when my mother was sick. I smelled smoke when I went there, and when I opened one door I found a nurse smoking - I smelled it all night. The police station is only 100 metres away,” said Pantelis Panteli.

For months 47-year-old Panteli, who quit smoking in 1986, has been on a lone quest to highlight the law’s failure and what he perceives to be reluctance by police to enforce it.

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• Are price increases enough to deter smokers?  

ANTI-SMOKING campaigners are hopeful that last week’s 20 per cent increase in the price of cigarettes will finally push the 29 per cent of the population who smoke regularly into quitting.

The bill that was rushed through parliament on December 10 may have been motivated by the need to increase annual revenue by an estimated €31 million, but Stelios Sikallides, executive secretary of the anti-smoking lobby of the Anti-Cancer Association Cyprus, hopes the benefits will be far more long reaching.

“Of course it will affect smokers as international studies show that, without a doubt, as the price of cigarettes increases, consumption decreases,” said Stelios Sikallides, executive secretary of the anti-smoking lobby of the Anti-Cancer Association Cyprus.

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House rushes through tobacco tax hike  

PARLIAMENT yesterday approved a substantial hike in the price of tobacco with immediate effect, which is expected to bring state coffers additional annual revenue of €31 million.

The increase was officially announced on Thursday and the bill was rushed through parliament as a matter of urgency yesterday to prevent retailers stockpiling cigarettes and profiteering if the increases had come into effect on January 1.

Despite the immediate effect of the new tax, retail prices should remain the same until Monday when the law is published in the Government Gazette, and new batches go through customs.

A finance ministry official told the Cyprus Mail that consumers can report to the authorities any retailers selling at the new price before Monday.

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• Children's loss of autonomy over smoking: the global youth tobacco survey 

Results

The prevalence of lost autonomy was 40% among subjects who smoked 1 or 2 days/month and 41% among subjects who averaged less than one cigarette/day and increased in a dose-response pattern. Regression models derived from the Cyprus data were replicated by the Greek data.

Conclusions

Two national surveys confirm previous reports of difficulty with smoking cessation with infrequent smoking. Since loss of autonomy is universally recognised as a core feature of addiction, our data indicate that young adolescents experience symptoms of nicotine addiction with infrequent tobacco use.

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• Smoking ban ‘too severe’, say MPs  

A NUMBER of MPs have co-signed a law proposal to amend the current smoking ban, which hopes to offer venues the right to have separate smoking areas.

According to DISY MP Andreas Themistocleous, who prepared the proposal, the current ban is not being adhered to, with members of the public smoking freely in entertainment venues – especially bars and nightclubs - in direct violation of the law, which came into effect in January this year.

The deputy felt it should be up to the public to decide whether they want to smoke or not – as long as they are not affecting anyone else.

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Indoor smoking bans in Bulgaria, Croatia, Northern Cyprus, Romania and Turkey 

Background

The purpose of this study was to examine attitudes towards attempts to limit second-hand smoke (SHS) in five Eastern European nations. . . .

Results

Across nations, there is more support for smoking bans in offices and indoor work spaces and indoor public space as opposed to restaurants and bars and pubs. Personal smoking behaviours are linked strongly with the smoking bans. Most importantly, it is specific knowledge about the health dangers of smoking which fosters support for indoor smoking bans.

Conclusion

Policy implications suggest that government and the media must disseminate accurate information about the harm of smoking to broader segments of the population to gain support for policies that affect the dangers of SHS in these nations.

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Cheap cigarettes to stay despite ailing public finances  

THE GOVERNMENT has no plans to raise cigarette duty to meet the EU average, despite having the heaviest smokers in the union, high instances of heart disease and a huge gap in public finances, sources in the Finance Ministry said yesterday.

According to a Eurostat report released this week, the cost of tobacco products in Cyprus is 12 per cent below the EU average at a time when the burgeoning budget deficit is over €1 billion and smoking is a leading cause of death and healthcare costs.

According to one anti-smoking campaigner, it is imperative that the government follow the lead of other EU countries, such as the UK, where increased taxes have successfully deterred smokers.

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The heaviest smokers in Europe  

SMOKERS IN Cyprus consume more cigarettes per day than other Europeans, while almost one third of the local population smokes.

The alarming statistics were published by the European Commission ahead of Monday’s World No Tobacco Day.

According to the Eurobarometer, Cypriots smoke an average of 21.7 cigarettes per day, followed by Greeks with 21.4 per day. The average for the EU is 14 cigarettes per day.

Stelios Sycallides of the Non-Smokers League and president of the National Coalition for the Prevention of Smoking said he was not surprised by the results although they continued to be of gave concern.

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• Over 300 flouted smoking ban in January 

ONE MONTH since its implementation and 301 people have found themselves on the wrong side of the law regarding the ban on indoor smoking in public places. So far, police have charged 197 people for smoking and 104 owners or managers of establishments for letting people smoke.

According to data released by the police, officers made a total of 3,665 smoking-related inspections in January. By district, the number of inspections, fines and cases going to court are as follows: Nicosia - 444 inspections, 45 on-the-spot fines, and three cases will be brought to court;

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On-the-spot fines for smoking now in force 

AS FROM January 15, on-the-spot fines for smoking indoors have been increased to €85 from €34, the police said yesterday.

It applies to both smokers and the proprietors of the establishment.

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• One month on: smoking debate smoulders  

Beer in hand I head for the door, but I am halted at a sign over it that decrees "Smoking Area Only. Non-Smokers Will be Asked to Leave."

Around the walls of this Nicosia bar are apologetic notices reminding customers of the law, and along an empty bar miniature placards state cheerfully "Seat occupied - just gone for a smoke”. That I can even see the bar from where I’m standing tells me that the ban has made a big impact.

Though I prefer the bar without the smoke, the sign over the door suggests not everyone agrees. As it happens, the owner has even started a petition against the ban.

As a non-smoker I have been mostly apathetic towards the new law until now. Nonetheless, I prefer less cramped bars, cleaner air and having to do less laundry; and I have been out a lot more since.

I say "until now" because on further investigation, the smoking issue is not simply about Personal Freedoms versus the Greater Good (at the best of times a tedious debate) but also matter of economics. Which side you come down depends on how you value health, wealth or the local pub.

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Cyprus to breathe easier New Year's Day as another blanket smoking ban kicks in 

Walk into the average Cypriot workplace, nightclub or coffeehouse and you'll come out smelling like an overflowing ashtray, in a country that has some of the highest levels of passive smoking in Europe.

But officials promised Thursday that from New Year's Day, when a tougher ban on indoor smoking in public places comes into effect, nonsmokers will breathe easier.

"In this new year, we're taking a big step," Health Minister Christos Patsalides said. "It is a change in the way we live, demanding a change in mindset."

In theory, indoor smoking in public areas has been banned for the past seven years in the Greek-Cypriot south of this Mediterranean island, just under a third of whose 800,000 inhabitants are regular smokers. The habit kills some 600 people a year in the south, anti-smoking campaigners say.

But low fines and lax enforcement allowed Cypriots to light up with impunity practically anywhere - including government offices, hospital cafeterias and stores.

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• Cypriot smokers face tough anti-smoking law 

Smokers in Cyprus, which ranks second among the 27 countries of the European Union in smoking prevalence, will wake up on New Year's Day to some of the toughest anti-smoking regulations in Europe.

As of midnight on Thursday, a strict new amendment to an existing law totally banning smoking in public places will come into force. The measure will mean that smoking will not be allowed indoors in restaurants, cafes, pubs and hotels.

The previous version of the law allowed smoking in separate "moking areas" in public places.

About 39 percent of Cypriots -- the second highest smoking rate in Europe after Greece's 42 per cent -- are habitual smokers.

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