From May 21, cigarettes will be sold in plain packaging and 20g will be the minimum size for a bag of tobacco
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Blog dedicado a compilar las estrategias de la industria tabacalera, así como las leyes y las campañas a nivel mundial para el control del tabaco.
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Asia. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Asia. Mostrar todas las entradas
lunes, 15 de mayo de 2017
Health warning messages to get full space in tobacco products packaging from 2018
kathmandupost – 8 de mayo de 2017 – Nepal
From May 21, cigarettes will be sold in plain packaging and 20g will be the minimum size for a bag of tobacco
From May 21, cigarettes will be sold in plain packaging and 20g will be the minimum size for a bag of tobacco
lunes, 14 de diciembre de 2015
Tobacco products to be taken off shop displays from 2017
hrw.org – 9 de Diciembre de 2015 - Singapore
From 2017, tobacco products in retail stores must be kept out of sight from the public at all times, according to new legal guidelines that will kick in once the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act is amended.
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viernes, 18 de septiembre de 2015
Health bodies push for new law on tobacco
huntnewsnu.com – 17 de septiembre de 2015 – Thailand
Six key public health organisations and allies Thursday vowed to support the new draft of Tobacco Control Act and called on the government and the National Legislative Assembly to push this law through to protect children and youth.
They also called on the lawmakers to see through the excuses and twisted facts provided by tobacco |firms and not let them interfere in the legislation procedure.
At an academic conference in Chiang Mai province, the group also said that their campaign, via www.vote4tobaccolaw.com, had won over 12 million signatures as of Tuesday, and their target for 15 million signatures would easily be achieved when the law is up for deliberation in six months.
The organisations behind the campaign include the Thai Public Health Club, the Mohanamai Network Foundation and the Health Professional Association of Thailand.
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http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Health-bodies-push-for-new-law-on-tobacco-30268992.html
lunes, 24 de agosto de 2015
Taiwan anti-smoking campaigner calls for halt to Japanese tobacco plant construction
scmp.com – 21 de Agosto de 2015 – Taiwan
An anti-smoking group in Taiwan has urged the Taiwanese government and a Japanese tobacco giant to immediately halt plans to build a factory in the south of the island.
Calling the investment plan a “hoax”, Yau Sea-wain, chief executive officer of John Tung Foundation, told a press conference that while Japan Tobacco International (JTI) – the international tobacco division of Japan Tobacco Inc. – claimed it would spend NT$9.27 billion (HK$2.2 billion) on building the plant, it was expected to milk more from its loyal Taiwanese customers through increasing prices of its some 20 brand products by NT$10 to NT$30 per pack.
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jueves, 23 de julio de 2015
The generation that is born today should be a generation without tobacco
asiantribune.com - 22 de Julio de 2015 – EEUU
Currently one person dies every six seconds due to tobacco, which is nearly six million people each year, the World Health Organization states.
Ministers from 10 countries, including Australia with the aim of ending high smoking rates among young people, assembled recently in Paris to start a common drive to introduce plain cigarette packaging.
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viernes, 17 de julio de 2015
Increase tobacco taxes to finance sustainable development, says Addis Ababa meet
bdnews24.com – 17 de Julio de 2015 – Bangladesh
Global leaders have endorsed increasing tobacco taxes as “a key strategy” to reduce tobacco consumption and the global burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and help finance sustainable development.
Their recommendations came at the just concluded UN conference in Addis Ababa ahead of the Sep summit, where the post-2015 sustainable development agenda will be adopted for the next 15 years.
An action plan was agreed upon at the conference following seven months of extensive deliberations at different level on how governments can finance progress towards achieving development objectives, including a reduction in the burden of NCDs.
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viernes, 19 de junio de 2015
Prohibirán en Singapur productos de tabaco sin humo
prensa-latina.cu –16 de Junio de 2015 – Singapur
Singapur, 16 jun (PL) Singapur prohibirá a partir de diciembre próximo el uso de productos de tabaco sin humo, ante los riesgos causados a la salud humana, según fuentes oficiales.
De acuerdo con un comunicado del Ministerio de Salud difundido hoy la medida se aplicará en dos fases.
La primera de ellas entrará en vigor el día 15 del citado mes y estará dirigida a las ofertas importadas contenedoras de nicotina y a los cigarrillos electrónicos.
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martes, 28 de octubre de 2014
thestar.com.my – 27 de Octubre de 2014 – Malasia
Tobacco, health and trade rules
Malaysia is taking the lead on two fronts to prevent the use of trade and investment agreements from blocking anti-smoking measures, but will these initiatives succeed?
SMOKING cigarettes is the number one preventable cause of death. Six million people die each year from tobacco use and this number will rise to eight million by 2030, most of them in developing countries.
Almost 200 countries signed the World Health Organization’s Tobacco Control Convention and are obliged to take measures to curb tobacco use.
But the industry has hit back. A big tobacco company, Philip Morris, has taken Uruguay and Australia to tribunals under bilateral investment treaties, claiming billions of dollars in compensation for the two countries’ measures to have big warning signs and small or no brand logos on cigarette packets.
Under trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), companies can similarly sue governments, claiming loss of profits resulting from policy measures. At the World Trade Organization, cases are also being taken against countries for their tobacco control measures.
Now for the good news. Many governments are fighting back against the Big Tobacco onslaught, with Malaysia taking a lead role on two important fronts: the Tobacco Control Convention and the TPPA.
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martes, 23 de septiembre de 2014
interaksyon.com – 22 de septiembre de 2014 – Filipinas
Tobacco firms have 20 months to fully comply with graphic health warnings law
MANILA - Public health groups and medical associations have already chosen 22 “gory” and “effective” photos to be placed on cigarette packs following the enactment of the Graphic Health Warning Law in July. However, Filipinos will have to wait for Health Secretary Enrique Ona to sign an administrative order approving the photos, the template of the cigarette packs, and the guidelines of the law before the graphic health warnings are finally rolled out.
This is according to the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA), public health think tank HealthJustice, and the office of ANG NARS partylist Representative Leah Paquiz, who outlined the long waiting period in a recent media briefing.
Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo, project director of SEATCA Southeast Asia Initiative on Tobacco Tax, explained that tobacco companies would have a year to comply with the law after the administrative order is released. By then, they would have begun producing the cigarette packs with graphic health warnings.
They were also given an eight-month extension on top of the one-year period to sell all their old stocks. Thus, it would take 20 months after the administrative order is signed before all cigarette packs in the country finally bear graphic health warnings.
“We are really looking forward to the graphic health warnings and we really hope that it is released soon. The sooner it is released, the sooner the Philippines will be exposed to graphic health warnings that will educate them about the harms of smoking,” said Atty. Patricia Miranda of HealthJustice. Miranda serves as counsel for public interest cases against the tobacco industry.
According to political affairs officer Anna Kapunan, who works for the office of ANG NARS partylist Representative Leah Paquiz, the photos chosen by the panel of experts also went through focus group discussions held by the Department of Health.
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miércoles, 17 de septiembre de 2014
thanhniennews.com – 16 de septiembre de 2014 – Vietnam
Experts urge Vietnam to aim higher with tobacco tax
Experts say Vietnam should raise its tax on tobacco beyond the Ministry of Finance's modest plan in order to curb smoking and raise much-needed funds.
Pham Thi Hoang Anh, director of the NGO HealthBridge Vietnam, said the special consumption tax on tobacco in Vietnam has been maintained at 65 percent since 2008.
The ministry plan would raise it by 75 percent in 2015 and 85 percent in 2018.
“The managing agencies can increase the price of gasoline and electricity at any time even though these are essential products for production and daily life. But increasing the tax on tobacco has been too difficult,” she said at a conference on the issue in Hanoi on September 13.
“Vietnam has a golden chance to increase its tobacco tax. If this chance is missed for two or three years, it will seriously affect the young people."
Nguyen Tuan Lam of WHO Vietnam said lawmakers should raise the tobacco tax by 105 percent in 2015 and 145 percent in 2018 to achieve its national target of reducing smoking from 47.4 percent to 39 percent of the male population.
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jueves, 21 de agosto de 2014
cbnnews.com –21 de Agosto de 2014 – Filipinas
Stop accepting fund donations from tobacco companies'
MANILA - Health advocates are urging the medical, scientific and academic communities, the government and legislators to stop getting funding from tobacco companies to ensure their credibility and integrity in dealing with issues related to health.
The health advocates who are members of the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP) and Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP) made the call in a health forum in Quezon City on Wednesday. They pointed out the interference of the tobacco industry in the policies that Congress makes to control tobacco consumption.
During the forum, Prof. Robert Proctor exposed the strategies of the tobacco industry to continue to lure more people to smoking despite glaring set of evidence linking cigarette smoking to lung cancer way back in 1954.
From allegedly buying the silence of American Medical Association on this scientific study to pursuing a campaign of denials, the tobacco companies shifted to repackaging of cigarettes giving “reassurance” designs in the form of menthol, filters, king-sizes and hard-pack cowboy “masculinization” of their cigarette brands.
Proctor testified as expert witness in over 50 trials against the tobacco industry, and was the first to do so in 1998 when he testified against Philip Morris. He is a professor of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care in the School of Medicine of Stanford University in California.
Dr. Maricar Limpin, executive director of FCAP cited the interference of Philip Morris lawyers during the deliberation of the sin-tax law in the Senate in 2012.
She said the same tobacco industry interference was made during the Senate plenary deliberation of the recently-enacted Graphic Health Warning bill.
Limpin said the tobacco companies will continue to disregard laws and engage in advertising through mini-billboards, and will continue to sell cigarettes within 100 meters from schools, in violation of the Tobacco Regulation Act.
“They resort to litigation so they can delay or undermine tobacco advertising ban as they did in 2007 when all tobacco companies filed declaratory relief on tobacco advertising ban in Barangay Fortune, Marikina City. We expect them to fund more lawyers to stop the effective implementation of the graphic health warning law,” Limpin said.
PCP President Dr. Anthony Leachon said the PCP will continue to work on regulatory environments to reduce cigarette smoking.
He cited the results of the 2013 National Nutrition and Health Survey (NNHeS) that indicated reduction of smokers by 3.2 million on the first year of implementation of the Sin Tax Law and 32,000 deaths potentially averted.
“These are lives saved from among the young and the poor who could not anymore afford the high cost of cigarettes due to higher taxes,” Leachon said.
Erica Davillo, representing the Asian Medical Students Association, also revealed during the forum that tobacco companies tried but failed to decrease the graphic health warning to a mere 30 percent of the packaging of a cigarette pack.
For more Businessmirror stories, go here.
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thejakartapost.com –21 de Agosto de 2014 – India
Keep Asian Games tobacco-free, say NGO
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) must keep the 2018 Asian Games, or the 18th ASIAD, free from tobacco sponsorships and promotions, say international and regional tobacco-control NGOs.
“The OCA should not allow their well-respected and globally recognized organization to be ‘used’ by the tobacco industry in their bid to promote their deadly products among the youth, by using a prestigious sporting event, such as the Asian Games,” SEATCA director Bungon Rithiphakdee said in a release made available to The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
“They must be consistent in maintaining the tobacco-free policy and ensuring that all sporting events continue to remain tobacco-free,” she went on.
The statements were made in a letter co-signed by eight other international organizations sent to the OCA president on Wednesday.
Announcing its interest in hosting the 18th ASIAD in Jakarta, Indonesia has said that a local Indonesian tobacco company is willing to sponsor the games.
“If a tobacco company is allowed to sponsor the games, this will present cross-border tobacco advertising issues in countries, especially in Asia, where tobacco advertising, promotions and sponsorships have been banned,” said Rithiphakdee.
Since 1988, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has had tobacco-free games. Both the SEA Games and Asian Games are completely tobacco free.
The IOC has signed a memorandum of understanding with the World Health Organization to promote healthy lifestyle choices, including physical activity, sports for all and tobacco-free Olympics.
“Governments and event organizers should be clear – tobacco and sports must never be mixed. Tobacco sponsorship sends the wrong message to young people – it should never be mixed with sporting events that should encourage and inspire healthy lifestyles,” Asia Pacific Heart Network president Mary Barry said.
“The Olympic Council of Asia and participating countries must protect youth by banning tobacco industry sponsorship at the Asian Games to ensure that this prestigious sporting event does not serve as another means for the tobacco industry to market its deadly products to global youth,” US-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids president Matthew L. Myers said. (ebf)
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martes, 17 de junio de 2014
english.vietnamnet.vn - 16 de Junio 2014 – Vietnam
Tobacco association cautions against packs without pics
Source: VNS
In light of a circular issued last year by the ministries of Health, Industry and Trade over tobacco production and imports, as of this year all cigarette packs must be labeled with picture-based warnings to be lawfully sold in the domestic market.
The Chairman of the Viet Nam Tobacco Association, Vu Van Cuong, said that the use of cigarette packs that do not have pictured-based warnings is a violation of the law.
He noted that the violation was found in the domestic market, mostly in Ha Noi, HCM City, Can Tho and Mekong Delta provinces.
He added that violators, including tobacco magnates, dealers and agents, sold cigarette packs which were manufactured earlier without warnings or just with warning slogans.
"Many smokers are willing to pay more, even double, for cigarette packs without picture-based warnings, because they prefer the earlier labels," Cuong said.
"The packs can be used for smuggled cigarettes," he warned.
He also blamed reduced tobacco production as being caused by the circulation of incorrectly labeled cigarette packs and tobacco smuggling.
In the first three months of this year, tobacco production fell by nine per cent, compared to the same period last year, resulting in a reduction of VND2 trillion (US$94.34 million) in tax revenues for the State's budget.
The deputy director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Market Watch Department, Do Thanh Lam, said that the selling of incorrectly labeled cigarette packs affected the business of reliable tobacco producers and created unhealthy competition.
He added that violators involving in wrong labels and health warnings could be fined from VND20 million to VND70 million ($943 – 3,300), as well as have their business licenses revoked and goods seized.
Lam said that market watch force would co-operate with other agencies to tighten inspecting, detecting and cracking down on tobacco violations.
In the first five months of this year, officials prevented 1,700 violations of smuggled and fake tobacco and seized nearly 600,000 cigarette packs.
According to the Market Watch Department, over 6.8 million packs of illegally imported tobacco were seized during 2013 and in the first quarter of 2014. However, the situation along the borders with China, Laos, and Cambodia remains complex, according to officials.
There is rampant tobacco smuggling taking place in the southern provinces of Tay Ninh, An Giang, Long An, Dong Thap, and Kien Giang, while the storage and distribution of illegal tobacco takes place in major cities, such as Ha Noi, HCM City, and Quang Ninh.
Source: VNS
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miércoles, 11 de junio de 2014
newswise.com – 9 de Junio de 2014 – India
Rising Tobacco Epidemic in Asia Linked to Elevated Risk of Death
Newswise — A new study estimates that tobacco smoking has been linked to approximately 2 million deaths among adult men and women in Asia in recent years and predicts a rising death toll. The study, published in PLOS Medicine, was led by Wei Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., MPH, professor of Medicine and director of the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, and John Potter, M.D., Ph.D., a member and scientific advisor of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington.
Roughly 60 percent of the world’s population lives in Asia where approximately half of men are tobacco smokers. The study’s authors, representing more than 3 dozen medical centers, government health agencies and institutes in the U.S., Asia and Europe, credit this rise in smoking among Asians to aggressive product marketing by tobacco companies and a lack of education about health issues related to tobacco.
For this population-based research, investigators pooled data from large cohort studies conducted in Asia and included demographic and risk factor information collected in seven Asian regions from the early 1960s through the late 1990s (although most of the studies enrolled participants after the mid-1980s). The cohorts of 1,223,092 participants who were at least 45 years of age were in Bangladesh, India, mainland China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.
Among men who had ever smoked, there was an elevated risk of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer or respiratory diseases in all of the geographic regions in 2004. The risk of death due to any disease, however, varied considerably across populations, with the stronger association generally found in Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan compared to that observed in mainland China and India.
The association with cancer risk was quite consistent across study populations. Men who had smoked were nearly twice as likely to die from cancer, especially lung cancer, but there was also an elevated risk of death from cancers of the head and neck, esophagus, stomach, colorectum, liver, pancreas and bladder – all diseases that have been linked to smoking in previous studies, according to the authors.
Men who had ever smoked tobacco were approximately 50 percent more likely to die from respiratory diseases than those who had not smoked.
While women in most Asian regions are far less likely to smoke than men, the study also found an increased risk of death from cancer, CVD and respiratory diseases among East Asian women. Approximately 16.7 percent of lung cancer deaths in East Asian women at least 45 years old were attributable to tobacco smoking in 2004, while for men, this number approached 63.2 percent.
“Our study showed a clear dose-response relationship between the length of time someone smoked and the number of packs they smoked, known as pack-years, and the risk of death from all causes,” said Zheng. “Tobacco smoking has now reached epidemic proportions in Asia and it is likely, with the maturation of this epidemic, and the lack of effective tobacco control efforts, smokers will continue to face an increased risk of death from cancer and other diseases.”
Other Vanderbilt investigators involved with this study include Zhenming Fu, a former postdoctoral fellow, Xiao Ou Shu, M.D., Ph.D., MPH, and Gong Yang, M.D., MPH.
Funding was provided by the World Health Organization and a number of government agencies in several countries, including the U.S. National Institutes of Health (P42ES010349, R01CA102484, R01CA107431, R01CA0403092, R01CA144034, R01CA82729, R37CA70867, R01CA55069, R35CA53890, R01CA80205, R01CA144034).
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viernes, 6 de junio de 2014
bbc.com – 4 de Junio de 2014 – East Timor
The country where nearly two-thirds of men smoke
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miércoles, 4 de junio de 2014
opednews.com – 3 de Junio de 2014 – Filipinas
Reduce Tobacco Consumption, Save Lives
Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service (CNS)
With nearly 35% of India's adult population (age 15+) consuming some form of tobacco, there are around 275 million people in the country smoking and/or chewing this poison, and an estimated 1 million dying every year from tobacco-related diseases. Moreover 27% of the youth (age group 13-15 years) are exposed to second-hand smoke at home and 40% are exposed to second-hand smoke in public places. Bidis or cheap hand-rolled cigarettes (which outsell cigarettes by a ratio of 8:1) are the most popular tobacco product used in India, comprising 48% of the tobacco market. Chewing tobacco comes next at 38% followed by cigarettes at 14%.
For World No Tobacco Day 2014, World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners call on countries to raise taxes on tobacco. Increasing taxes on tobacco is considered to be the most cost-effective tobacco-control measure. An increase of 10% in tobacco prices is said to decrease tobacco consumption by about 4% in high-income countries and by up to 8% in most low- and middle-income countries. The World Health Report 2010 indicated that a 50% increase in tobacco-excise taxes would generate a little more than US$ 1.4 billion in additional funds in 22 low-income countries.
Favouring an increase in tobacco taxes, Dr Ehsan Latif, Director-Tobacco Control, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), says that, "Increasing taxes on tobacco products is the most effective policy measure a government can take to reduce tobacco-related mortality across a population. It is also seen as an attractive measure for governments, as it increases their revenues. Some countries, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, are using this extra income to fund government tobacco-control programmes and to invest in other preventive-health measures. Other low- and middle-income countries need to follow suit to create resources for tobacco control now, and also to create a tobacco-control fund which is sustainable into the future."
miércoles, 7 de mayo de 2014
fijitimes.com – 6 de mayo de 2014 – Fiji
Tobacco price up
RETAILERS must abide by the Tobacco Control Decree and make sure they sell tobacco products only to those above the legal age of 18.
This was the message from British American Tobacco corporate regulatory affairs manager Rajeshwar Singh following the price increases for all their products yesterday.
The new increase is 40cents on all packs of 10 cigarettes and 80c on all 20 packs for British American Tobacco products Benson and Hedges, Rothmans, Pall Mall and Pall Mall Menthol.
"The price increase in all tobacco brands we manufacture in Fiji is a result of an increase in manufacturing costs," Mr Singh said.
"Most of our production materials are from Fiji, the tobacco leaves are locally grown, but there are other components that we import for manufacturing our tobacco in the country."
Mr Singh said although there was no price control for tobacco products in Fiji, retailers should ensure sale of tobacco be made to those above 18 years only.
He said while they provide retailers and wholesalers their price list, retailers would normally set their own prices.
"We don't want the product to be in the hands of anybody under the age of 18."
People over the age of 18 must understand the health implications before they start smoking.
"So it's important that product pricing must be right and at the same time that people using this product must understand its implications."
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jueves, 1 de mayo de 2014
fijitimes.com – 30 de abril de 2014 – Fiji
Tobacco challenge for region
PARTICIPANTS from 25 Western Pacific countries attending a regional meeting on the implementation of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control were challenged by President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau to push towards a tobacco-free Pacific by 2025.
Citing the high medical costs associated with the care of people suffering from tobacco-related illnesses and high incidence of death, Ratu Epeli said putting a stop to smoking was critical.
"Over the past decades, we have witnessed tobacco's devastating effects on the health of the people in our Pacific society," he said.
"Our health experts advise that tobacco use is a behavioural risk factor for non-communicable diseases and it is now rated as the leading cause of preventable deaths in the region.
"Statistics reveal that as much as 71.5 per cent of the adult male population and as much as 50.8 per cent of adult females are daily smokers in some of our Pacific Island countries.
"You will all agree that there is simply no reason why our people in the Pacific should suffer needlessly from tobacco.
"This is why I challenge us all to scale-up Tobacco Control and Enforcement; and to persevere in our goal to achieve a tobacco-free Pacific by 2025."
miércoles, 26 de marzo de 2014
dukechronicle.com – 23 de marzo de 2014 - EEUU
Duke faculty tackles the illicit tobacco trade
A joint effort between researchers in the United States and Southeast Asia is tracking the illicit tobacco trade within the region.
Led by Dr. Anthony So, director of Global Health and Technology Access at the Sanford School of Public Policy, the study aims to help Southeastern Asian governments improve their tobacco control policies. The partnership is funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, and researchers are working with the American Cancer Society and the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance. Illicit tobacco, which refers to counterfeit and contraband cigarettes that evade tobacco taxes imposed by the governments, tends to be lower-priced and can directly affect both public health and economies in countries within the region.
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jueves, 27 de febrero de 2014
thejakartapost.com - 26 de Febrero 2014 - EEUU
Bali cancels tobacco event after groups protest
The Inter-Tabac Asia 2014, a global tobacco trade fair which was set to take place at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC), Bali, on Feb.27 and Feb 28, has been canceled following protests by domestic and foreign health groups.
According to information from the BNDCC, the Inter-Tabac organizer had applied for an event permit by attaching a security clearance permit from the National Police. A German-based company which initiated the event, Westfalenhallen Dortmun GmbH, announced on its website three days ago that it had decided to cancel the trade fair.
Domestic and international organizations, institutions and communities that are concerned with tobacco control had voiced their opposition to the event.
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