India’s Supreme Court has banned the sale of tobacco products in plastic pouches – despite angry protests from manufacturers. The move affects the packaging of several types of chewing tobacco and comes amid growing concerns about the impact of tobacco on public health. Different types of chewing tobacco – including Gutkha & Pan Masala Products – are extremely popular in India. Medics are worried that they could be linked to some cancers. This includes mouth and throat cancer. Furious Now there is a suggestion that the plastic wrapping is also harmful to health a ... Jump to full article >>

UK Government plans to remove logos from cigarette packaging risk “dangerous unintended consequences”, including a price war that could actually lead to more smoking, a law expert at the University of Abertay Dundee has warned. Dr Enrico Bonadio argues that removing the last marketing tool for tobacco brands could have one of two consequences either to help make health warnings more visible and more effective, or force companies to fight on price alone to retain market share. Selling cigarettes in unbranded, plain packets was recently proposed as a legal change in Australia, which ... Jump to full article >>

China Kangtai Cactus Biotech Inc. (OTCBB:CKGT), a vertically integrated grower, developer, manufacturer and marketer of a variety of cactus-based products in China, announced today that the company has signed a technology agreement with Shandong Yishui Ruibosi Tobacco Ltd. (Ruibosi), a subsidiary of China Tobacco Shandong Industrial Co. Ltd. China Kangtai Cactus’s cigarette brand Sheng Cao is already widely accepted by Chinese consumers. To increase the quality and taste of the Sheng Cao cigarettes, the company has introduced a paper process technology that is broadly used internationally. T ... Jump to full article >>

Japan Tobacco Inc. raised 80 billion yen ($955 million) from bonds at a lower relative yield than it paid before a record increase in domestic tobacco taxes. The sale by the maker of Mild Seven and Winston brand cigarettes included 40 billion yen of five-year, 0.533 percent notes priced to yield 10 basis points more than similar-maturity government debt, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Tokyo-based company paid a 24 basis-point spread on similar- maturity 1.128 percent bonds in May 2009, the data show. Japan, the world’s fourth-biggest cigarette market, raised tobacco duty 40 per ... Jump to full article >>

The small stores industry looks set to remain in the dark about plans for a UK-wide tobacco display ban for a few more weeks. Health secretary Andrew Lansley failed to shed any further light on the issue at the launch of a radical Public Health White Paper yesterday. But he said the government was “still considering options for the display of tobacco in shops, recognising the need to take action both to reduce tobacco consumption and reduce burdens on business”. However, the continued delay makes it increasingly likely that plans will not go ahead in the format or timescale originally ... Jump to full article >>

Tobacco companies call them “replacement smokers.” You call them your children. Either way, area kids are being targeted by cigarette makers with a massive amount of advertising in local stores according to a survey released today by Tri-County Tobacco Free Programs, the Reality Check Program and the American Cancer Society. Stores were randomly selected from a list of retailers licensed to sell tobacco in Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauqua counties and 21 stores were visited during the month of October. Key findings of the Tri-county observational survey, released as part of th ... Jump to full article >>

Just last week the Finance Minister, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, read the budget on the increment of tobacco tax for health reasons, and also to better align with international agreements on excise duty on cigarettes, which will rise from 140 to 150 percent. Tobacco is known as very dangerous to human health, especially, to those who do not smoke. This is because exhaled cigarette smoke could be very cancerous, due to the tobacco content in it. It has been noted that tobacco is projected to kill over 10 million smokers and passive smokers by 2030, with 70 percent in developing countries, including Gh ... Jump to full article >>

Tobacco farmers have expressed jubilation over the outcome of a recent global convention on tobacco control held in Uruguay that allegedly resulted in the protection of the tobacco industry against “excessive and restrictive” guidelines in the manufacture of tobacco products. At the same time, the Philippine Tobacco Growers’ Association (PTGA) through its president Winston Uy commended the Philippine delegation to the convention headed by Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya for reportedly being able to convince delegates from other nations not to digress from the real intent of the Worl ... Jump to full article >>

TOBACCO TAXATION reforms should be pursued given the government’s aims of raising revenues and fostering public health, a law school and a nonprofit organization said. “Taxing Health Risks: A Policy Paper on Tobacco Excise Tax and Health Promotion” by the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law and HealthJustice, is scheduled to be presented tomorrow in the school’s Diliman campus. “Studies have established a direct link between low prices of tobacco products and the high prevalence of smoking and incidence of tobacco-related disease,” the paper’s author ... Jump to full article >>

Thousands of tobacco farmers in the northern provinces where the crop is grown have joined hands with their colleagues in 79 other countries in opposing the proposal of the World Health Organization (WHO) to ban the use of ingredients in tobacco products which is being tackled at a global conference attended by representatives of various countries including the Philippines in Uruguay. Led by Alejandrino Reyes, president of the Philippine Association of Tobacco-Based Cooperatives (PATCO), the farmers expressed alarm that they will lose their livelihood once the proposal which is contained in WH ... Jump to full article >>

A trendy Camel cigarettes marketing campaign featuring a popular Brooklyn neighborhood is drawing more heat from city officials and even the health commissioner. One could say the city health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Farley, is fuming mad about the latest ad campaign for Camel cigarettes. In a letter to cigarette maker R.J. Reynolds’ chairman, Farley calls on the company to “immediately halt its ‘Break Free Adventure’ marketing campaign and recall special edition packs associated with it.” “What this is about is R.J. Reynolds, a multibillion-dollar corporati ... Jump to full article >>