A non-government group has taken to task nearly a dozen local government units to task for naming some of their streets after popular cigarette brands, products that “have consistently contributed to over 10 Filipino deaths a day.” The Quezon City-based Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP) also threatened to sue the LGUs should they persist in putting up the street signs. Doing so is a “blatant violation of Republic Act No. 9211,” otherwise known as the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2007. FCAP executive director Ma. Encarnita Limpin asked the ... Jump to full article >>

BRITISH American Tobacco of South Africa has applied to the Pretoria high court to overrule Parliament and allow it to keep advertising cigarettes to teenagers. In 2001, cigarettes companies were banned from advertising on billboards, in cinemas and on radio. Last year, Parliament amended the Tobacco Products Control Act to outlaw the “smoking parties” organised by the industry. These changes came into operation on August 21. National Council Against Smoking’s Dr Yussuf Saloojee said: “Since the early 2000s, the cigarette companies have reportedly employed ‘sexy twenty- somethings’ ... Jump to full article >>

The Association of National Advertisers, the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the American Advertising Federation, filed a “friend of the court” brief in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky on Monday (Nov. 30), the amicus brief contends that the Act violates the First Amendment by restricting free speech. Signed into law in June, the Tobacco Control Act restricts the sale, marketing and production of tobacco products. Nearly every ... Jump to full article >>

Pakistan has finally decided to stub it out, so to speak. Beginning next February, cigarette packs will have pictorial warnings to wean smokers away from, well, ending up in a smoke. Until now, any official attempt to check the menace was limited to observing the annual World No-Tobacco Day with sound and the odd fury but little action. Pakistan’s Ministry of Health has now mandated that cigarette packs will have picture-based health warnings that cover 40% of the principal display area on both the front and back of the packs. The decision has been hard-fought and hard-earned on the part of ... Jump to full article >>

Officials today rejected claims that the removal of point of sale advertising and display of tobacco products in shops has led to an increase in tobacco smuggling. The Office of Tobacco Control (OTC) has said that there is no evidence to back up the claims. “We have to stick with the facts and the facts are that there is no basis for any link between recent tobacco control measures and smuggling,“ said OTC Chief Executive Eamonn Rossi. “Smuggling of tobacco is in itself a serious problem and we congratulate the Revenue Commissioners and the gardaí on their recent successes in tackling ... Jump to full article >>

Health officials say they have a “golden opportunity” to head off an epidemic in tobacco use in Africa and prevent many cancer cases. While rich nations have taken action to reduce smoking, the World Health Organization says tobacco consumption in Africa is expected to grow by than four percent a year. That’s why cancer experts are holding a major conference this week in Tanzania (Nov 11– 14). Among those attending is Dr. Thomas Glynn, Director of International Cancer Control for the American Cancer Society and acting head of the Global Smokefree Partnership. “This i ... Jump to full article >>

Stopping tobacco production not solution to increasing cancer cases The government told the National Assembly that it is going to continue supporting tobacco farming despite the increase of cancer cases caused by cigarette smoking since that is not the solution to the problem. The Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Co-operatives, Dr Mathayo David Mathayo said that one of the factors for not stopping the production is that 85% of all tobacco produced in the country is exported, thus only the remaining 15 is consumed in the county. “Tobacco farming and production employs 1.3 pe ... Jump to full article >>

Tobacco and obesity are overtaking hunger and infectious disease as leading causes of death and illness across the developing world, an Australian expert has warned. As globalisation had lifted millions of people out of poverty, Dr Paul Kowal said free trade agreements had allowed the rapid movement of processed food and tobacco products into the world’s poorest nations. Many developing countries now faced new and mounting health threats from the expanding availability of fast food, soft drinks and cigarettes, he said. “To increase development in a country, they are forced to open ... Jump to full article >>

A ban on flavoured tobacco products will come into effect as early as July, as the proposed private member’s bill received royal assent Thursday in the Senate. A ban on flavoured tobacco products will come into effect as early as July, as the proposed private member’s bill received royal assent Thursday in the Senate. The Cracking Down on Tobacco Marketing Aimed at Youth Act will mean an immediate ban on advertising flavoured tobacco products in newspapers and magazines. Known as cigarillos, blunt wraps and flavoured cigarettes, they will come off store shelves as of July 5, 2010; ... Jump to full article >>

Chileans are still the heaviest smokers in the region despite a strict anti-tobacco law. SANTIAGO, Chile — When a strict anti-tobacco law came into effect three years ago, Maria Eugenia Avila scoffed. She had no intention of quitting the two packs a day she was delightfully smoking. She just stopped going to malls. “I flee from places where I can’t smoke and I cover the horrible warnings on the packs. I love smoking and I suffer with this law and all its prohibitions. But no law is going to make me quit,” the 47-year-old kindergarten teacher said, while puffing away on a habit that co ... Jump to full article >>

Health Minister Nicola Roxon says her department is investigating reports big tobacco companies are using social networking sites like Facebook to hook young people onto cigarettes. University of Sydney PHD student Becky Freeman told a conference in Darwin the tobacco industry is abusing the internet because the web does not have the same advertising controls as print and television. Ms Roxon says it looks like tobacco companies are trying to get around Australia’s strict regulations. “I don’t think it’s good form for tobacco companies to be out trying to hook young pe ... Jump to full article >>