Tobacco.org

• Bidi industry jobs myth busted!  

Bangladesh's 100-odd bidi factories employ far fewer people than claimed, according to an investigation that clears the smokescreen created by the industry proponents.

Around 65,000 people work in the 117 factories spread over 31 districts, the findings revealed.

The figures run contrary to claims by industry advocates that more than 2.5 million workers are engaged in over 400 local hand-rolled cigarette industries.

The Bangladesh chapter of the US-based Campaign For Tobacco Free Kids conducted the investigation with the help of journalists in an apparent effort to convince the government to raise taxes on bidis and help workers find alternative jobs, for the sake of public health.

Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Nasiruddin Ahmed at a global conference on tobacco or health on Mar 23 in Singapore said legislators exerted pressure on him not to raise taxes making a 'false' argument about the bidi industry generating over 2.5 million employments.

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India’s Anti-Tobacco Crusaders make Impact on Global Fight for Smoke-Free Lives  

-- India is currently the world's second largest consumer of tobacco

-- Smoking will soon account for 20 per cent of all male deaths and 5 per cent of all female deaths between the ages of 30 and 69 here

-- Over 6,00,000 Indian men aged between 25 and 69 years die of smoking-related illnesses each year

India's tobacco-related health problems were in focus at the recently concluded World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH)

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16th World Conference on Tobacco or Health 

‘Tobacco or Health’ question to be highlighted at capital global meet in ‘15 

• Abu Dhabi to host 16th World Conference on Tobacco or Health 

The UAE capital has been selected to host, in 2015, the 16th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) - a triennial gathering of international advocacy, public policy and health research experts working together to achieve the goals of the world's first public health treaty, the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC).

Abu Dhabi selection comes after the unanimous decision of the International Liaison Group on Tobacco or Health (ILGTH), fending off rival bids from seven other countries.

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‘Will the President please stop smoking?’ 

'Neutralise finance minister to win tobacco war'  

WHO to Crack Down on Tobacco Smuggling 

• CHAPMAN: Abolish duty free tobacco, no butts about it  

The Henry taxation review recommended that duty free tobacco sales should be abolished.

Australia is one of 174 signatories to the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which also obligates nations to prohibit or restrict duty free tobacco sales. If incoming tourists and residents can't buy cheap tobacco at airports, they will buy it in shops, taxed. The Henry review estimated that around $200 million foregone tobacco tax would flow to treasury as a result.

The tobacco industry has argued that incoming travellers will simply purchase their duty free supplies at foreign airports and bring them in. But this is easily countered by removing not only duty free tobacco sales but duty free import allowances.

I was in Singapore last week at the 15th World Conference on Tobacco and Health, and a Canadian speaker described how he had to pay $120 duty to bring in sample packs from around the world to display in his conference presentation. . . .

Preserving the duty free travel perk is completely incoherent with government policy on tobacco control. It encourages smokers to buy up, including lighter smokers who are enticed to buy more than they would normally by the cheap prices. It also associates tobacco with the thrill of international travel and holidays and with luxury goods like watches, high end spirits and wines, electronic goods and perfume. . . .

removing tobacco from duty free sales and imports would be popular, promote health, raise revenue and provide policy coherency. As Wayne Swan prepares this year's budget, this historically archaic anomaly should be an easy and sensible target. The only people who will squeal are Big Tobacco and the duty free companies, including the Nuance Group chaired by Nick Greiner, former chairman of British American Tobacco.

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• How Toronto-based epidemiologist Prabhat Jha is counting the dead to save the living  

With much of his previous work focused on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tobacco control, he launched the 12-year Million Death Study in India in 2002.

Since, unlike the west, many Indians die at home, Jha’s is the first study to systematically monitor the causes of death across rural and urban areas in hopes of changing policy and approaches to public health not only in India, but across the developing world.

His latest breakthrough as part of the study, published in The Lancet medical journal Wednesday, reveals the prevalence of tobacco-related and cervical cancers in India, killing mainly middle-aged citizens and highlights the need for a focus on prevention strategies.

Jha spoke with the Star from Singapore, where he received an American Cancer Society Luther L. Terry award for his ongoing work related to tobacco control. This is an edited version of the conversation.

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New York Mayor Bloomberg donates $220 million to anti-smoking efforts worldwide 

WHO Launches “blue ribbon” Campaign to Inform About Tobacco  

Azerbaijan took part in international debate on anti-smoking campaign 

WHO: Support vigorous fight against tobacco use  

Amos Hausner, head of the Israel Council for the Prevention of Smoking, was in Singapore to attend the conference. The Health Ministry did not dispatch any official state representatives to the conference, unlike Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and many African countries, Hausner said. He noted that there are now 174 signatory countries behind the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and that these nations included 87 percent of the world’s population. Israel ratified it in August 2005, becoming the 77th country to do so.

Turkey was cited for its vigorous effort to curtail smoking, and Norway was praised for passing legislation requiring graphic health warnings.

Israel has not yet done either this or require companies’s products to appear in plain packages.

Hausner added that Israel has not implemented Section 5.3 of the FCTC, which limits tobacco lobbying and requires full transparency and reporting of all meetings of government officials and politicians with tobacco lobbyists.

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A NEW CHAPTER FOR TOBACCO CONTROL IN SINGAPORE (PDF) 

In a strategic shift, Singapore’s tobacco control efforts are taking the form of an unique ground-up national social movement

Singapore, 21 March 2012: The spotlight was on Singapore today, as global experts in the field of tobacco control gathered to review the latest breakthroughs in the fight against tobacco use.

2. The day after the 15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) opened at Suntec City Convention Centre, Singapore‟s Health Promotion Board (HPB) took to the stage to showcase the country‟s own experience in tobacco control.

3. Since adopting international best practices in smoking control such as legislation and taxes, many countries have seen remarkable declines in smoking rates over the past two decades. An early adopter of anti-tobacco policies – involving coordinated whole-of-government efforts led by HPB together with the Health Sciences Authority (HSA), Ministry of Education (MOE) and National Environment Agency (NEA) – Singapore is no exception.

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