Tobacco.org

Smuggling costs tobacco industry jobs 

At least 15 000 jobs have been lost over the last 10 years due to the smuggling of contraband cigarettes, the Tobacco Industry of Southern Africa (Tisa) has said.

The illegal trade of cigarettes was crippling the industry as they were sold at lower prices than the legal product, according to Tisa chairman Francois van der Merwe.

He said despite an increase in the number of people smoking, the industry was seeing a decrease in profits as more people opted for contraband cigarettes.

In South Africa, the tobacco industry generated more than R10 billion annually, but more than R4bn was lost due to sales of the smuggled product.

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• Activists spar at smoking talks  

Smokers’ rights advocates and anti-smoking activists yesterday accused each other of accepting funds from tobacco manufacturers and pharmaceutical firms, bringing the dispute over the controversial habit to a new level.

The two groups confronted each other at the National Taiwan University International Conference Center, where the annual Cross-Strait Conference on Tobacco was being held.

Chu Cheng-chi (朱政騏), an activist for smokers’ rights, said the government had intimidated people with language and graphic photographs showing the possible consequences of smoking.

He said they opposed an amendment to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法) that would increase the size of the “discriminatory” photos, which he said were unfriendly to both smokers and non-smokers. . . .

Chu also said the John Tung Foundation — a Taiwanese non-governmental organization that has been active in pushing for amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act — promoted a particular smoking cessation drug on its Web page.

He said the foundation should explain its relationship with the pharmaceutical firm that manufactures the drug and asked the government to inform the public about how it uses the health and welfare donations collected from tobacco products.

Lin Ching-li (林清麗), chief of the foundation’s tobacco control division, questioned the motives of the smokers’ rights activists.

“Tobacco manufactures used to fight against the anti-smoking movement themselves: Now they turn to these activists who have twisted the facts about the health hazards of tobacco and sling mud at the anti-smoking groups,” she said.

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Research letter: Peer influence and smoking relapse among active-duty military personnel in Taiwan ($$) 

The military has been widely known as an establishment where tobacco use is accepted and common. With respect to military fitness levels and performance, tobacco use impairs troop readiness and undermines the ability of active-duty personnel to complete a multitude of tasks that lie at the core of the military's mission. 1 2 It is no surprise then that militaries across many nations in the world have made it a priority to reduce tobacco use among active-duty service members. 3 In the specific case of Taiwan, the overall cigarette smoking rate for military personnel on active duty currently hovers around 44%, substantially exceeding that found in the civilian population (ie, 20%). 4 Since 2004, the Department of Defense has collaborated with the Department of Health in enforcing an action plan to reduce smoking initiation and encourage cessation in Taiwan's military with detailed annual implementation goals aided by specific policy and administrative measures. 4 5 Recently, the implementation of the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act in January 2009 (first passed in September 1997 and fully revised/updated in June 2007 within the provisions of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) has reinvigorated government efforts

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• FRENCH POLYNESIA REFINES ANTI-SMOKING LEGISLATION 

The French Polynesia Assembly voted unanimously Monday in favor of supplement measures for the nearly year-old public smoking ban law now expected to be rapidly enacted.

While Papeete will not become the completely non-smoking capital of Tahiti and Her Islands, Monday's vote was designed to make the original February 2009 anti-smoking law more realistically applicable within the next month.

Jules Ienfa, the Tong Sang government's public health minister, will organize a new public awareness information campaign to explain what the final version of the law requires.

But despite Monday's vote, there remain further precisions to be made by health officials in where and how the smoking ban law can be applied. Such precisions will decide, for example, whether smoking will be banned in all or some public places.

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Tahiti Smoking Ban Gets More Support 

The Tong Sang government's proposal to ban smoking in public places starting Jan. 1 has received the near-unanimous backing of the French Polynesia Economic, Social and Cultural Council (CESC).

The council, which, when requested by the local government, provides advice on a variety of subjects. It voted 36-0 with one abstention last week in favor of the proposal, which must now be approved by the French Polynesia Assembly.

The only smoking ban Tahiti has had up until now is a 1988 measure that prohibits smoking in certain places used by many people at the same time, such as some education, health and transportation facilities.

However, the new measure would be much stricter, banning smoking in all work places, restaurants, bars and nightclubs as well as all education, health and transportation facilities.

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• Proposed Jan. 1 smoking ban in public places gets support 

The Tong Sang government's proposal to ban smoking in public places starting Jan. 1 has received the near-unanimous backing of the French Polynesia Economic, Social and Cultural Council (CESC).

The council, which, when requested by the local government, provides advice on a variety of subjects. It voted 36-0 with one abstention last week in favor of the proposal, which must now be approved by the French Polynesia Assembly.

The only smoking ban Tahiti has had up until now is a 1988 measure that prohibits smoking in certain places used by many people at the same time, such as some education, health and transportation facilities.

However, the new measure would be much stricter, banning smoking in all work places, restaurants, bars and nightclubs as well as all education, health and transportation facilities.

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