Alberta tobacco reduction strategy is working..

June 28, 2008 - Figures released by Alberta Finance show sales of tobacco products dropped by 3% in the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2008, compared to the year earlier. Despite the drop in sales, government still collected about $70 million more in revenue from tobacco, compared with 2006-07, because of the tax increase. Alberta's 2007 budget, delivered on April 19, 2007 announced a 16% increase (about 63 cents per pack). ”It’s the first drop in consumption in five years in Alberta,” said Les Hagen of Action on Smoking and Health, an anti-tobacco lobby group. “It means we've turned an important corner in tobacco reduction.” A province-wide smoking ban in all public places and workplaces took effect January 1, 2008. The Tobacco Reduction Act also prohibits smoking within five meters of a doorway, window or air intake of a public place or workplace. On July 1, 2008 Alberta will ban the display of cigarettes for sale in stores. The "power wall" once ubiquitous to convenience stores across the country must be removed, and all cigarettes either hidden behind a curtain or placed under the counter. Retailers can write the price and brands on a tiny notice, in black and white letters no more than 18 mm high -- italics and underlining not allowed -- and the customer chooses from the list.

The fine in Alberta for non-compliance ranges from $1,000 to $100,000. Other Canadian provinces are eliminating the display of tobacco signs and tobacco products in retail outlets. The final step in the province's tobacco reduction strategy will take effect at the end of the year. It will ban the sale of tobacco in pharmacies, health care facilities and post-secondary institutions. References: Increased taxes drive down Alberta’s tobacco sales, Tobacco Reporter, 6/25/2008; Alberta tobacco reduction strategy working: anti-smoking groups; CBCNews.ca, 6/27/2008; Power wall displays of tobacco in Alberta going up in smoke by Michael Platt, Calgary Sun,6/10/2008. At least one municipality in Alberta is considering a ban smoking in cars when kids are present. In September 2007 Imperial Canada Tobacco, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco began a test market of SNUS in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, using its leading cigarette brand du Maurier. (TobaccoWatch.org)
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Collect Tax on Phone and Online Tobacco Sales, More Money for State Health Care Programs..

June 27, 2008 - COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio residents who bought cigarettes over the phone from out-of-state vendors are being fined by the state, racking up about $2.2 million in uncollected cigarette taxes. The state Department of Taxation sent bills to about 5,500 residents after requesting the names of Ohioans who purchased cigarettes from five vendors between July 2007 and March. Most bills totaled less than $600, though one person received a bill for about $2,700. Those who refuse to pay could be referred to the Ohio Attorney General's Office and face penalties, including property liens. In Franklin County, about 400 people were billed about $140,000 for about 11,000 cartons of cigarettes. Cigarette prices in Columbus range from about $4.50 to $5 per pack. The current cigarette tax is $1.25 a pack or $12.50 a carton, plus a 5.5 percent state sales tax. County and transit-authority sales taxes range from 0.5 percent to 2.25 percent. ( Cigarette buyers dunned by The Enquirer, 6/9/2008) Columbus - Smokers who managed to evade Ohio state cigarette taxes through online (Internet) purchases between July and March will be receiving a bill for unpaid excise taxes, the grand total of which is over $2.15 mn. During 2006, the state billed $568,000 in unpaid taxes on cigarettes. (Online cigarette buyers hit with state tax bills, Tobacco International Digest, 6/2008) Read more...

With slow growth consolidation is predicted in sputtering tobacco industry..

June 26, 2008 - Nik Modi, an analyst at UBS spoke with the Canadian website Reportonbusiness.com. Modi believes that the drive for consolidation is going to pick up now that Altria Group Inc. has spun off its international division and Loews Corp. has spun out Lorillard Inc. In 2008 tobacco companies may not be rewarding shareholders with returns that beat the S&P 500. Three of the four largest U.S. cigarette makers are no longer a smart investment.. "We believe the pivotal question is not whether or not we will see consolidation, but rather what combinations make sense, timing, and the magnitude of synergies," Mr. Modi said. "Fast forwarding a few years, we find it hard to believe that UST, Lorillard, Swedish Match and even Reynolds American will all exist in their current forms." In particular, Modi believes there are two combinations that make the most sense. Reynolds American Inc. buys Lorillard and Altria buys UST Inc. Also, the possibility of Altria buys Swedish Match. - TW Reference: Consolidation predicted in sputtering tobacco industry by David Berman, globeandmail.com, 6/25/2008. Click on image to enlarge.. (TobaccoWatch.org) Read more...

With U.S. FDA tobacco regulations on the horizon Altria already preparing to circumvent the law..

June 26, 2008 - We know now that the tobacco legislation (Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act) that is currently before Congress represents the results of a negotiation between the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and Philip Morris (PM). (News Brief May 13, 2008) We worry that the legislation will be flawed because the biggest player in the tobacco industry - Altria - Philip Morris USA (PM) has been directly involved in writing the bill. Mike Szymanczyk now the CEO of Altria, Inc. has told investors they were directly involved in the process of preparing the bill. (Remarks, Investor Presentation, 3/11/2008) The bill would ban most artificial flavors except for menthol and clove from being added to tobacco products. Some public health experts are questioning why menthol, the most widely used cigarette flavoring and the most popular cigarette choice of African-American smokers is being favored. National African American Tobacco Prevention Network (NAATPN), has recently pulled its support for the bill because they felt the legislation failed to adequately protect the health of African-Americans. ((June 17, 2008 News Brief) From the article entitled "Hey, Buddy, Can I Bum a Snus Off You? by Claude Brodesser-akner, Advertising Age Print Issue, 6/23/2008; we learn that 28 federal trademark applications for snus are in different stages of approval, all of which could be used to market snus in ways other than explicitly touting their flavors. For example, Philip Morris appears to be prepared if Marlboro Snus Spice, for which a trademark is pending, is deep-sixed by the FDA: It has also applied for more-generic but still evocative trademarks such "Marlboro Snus Snug Gold." Philip Morris declined to comment on the trademarks. Once the new regulations are in place and enforceable we can't have the tobacco industry circumventing these regulations at every turn as is done now. (TobaccoWatch.org)
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We must get the United States Postal Service (USPS) out of the tobacco delivery business..

June 25, 2008 -Cigarettes and smokeless tobacco today are legal and mailable products in the United States. According to an American Journal of Public Health study, almost 20 percent of the tobacco sales websites do not say anything about prohibiting sales to minors, more than half require only that the buyer indicate they are of legal age, and another 15 percent of online tobacco vendors require only that the buyer type in their date of birth. Washington, April 29, 2008 - The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia voted today to send Congressman John M. McHugh’s (R-NY) “Do Not Mail Tobacco Bill” to the full Oversight and Government Reform Committee for further consideration. The legislation, H.R. 5912, would outlaw the shipping of cigarettes and other tobacco products using the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). McHugh Legislation Designed to Stop USPS Mail Delivery of Cigarettes Advances To express interest in getting H.R. Bill 5912 passed call Stephanie Nigro 202-225-4611 in Congressman John McHugh's offfice.

April 24, 2008 - Mary Anne Gibbons, U.S. Postal Service Senior Vice President, General Counsel statement. Priority Mail, which is often used for shipping tobacco, is sealed against inspection. Therefore a federal search warrant or consent would be needed to open these packages. Unless the mailer voluntarily discloses that a package contains nonmailable matter, generally the only way to determine whether it contains unlawful contents is to open the package. We are aware that proposed legislation would make tobacco nonmailable. If Congress is to pursue this path, we recommend that nonmailability language be included in Title 18, which contains the criminal law statutes, of the US Code, rather than civil penalties proposed under Title 39. Before the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Other bills: At a joint news conference (March 2006) with New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) announced his bill that would prohibit mailing cigarettes through the USPS, impose fines of at least $1,000 per offense and jail time for repeat offenders.; In August 2006 U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced legislation to help crack down on illegal sales of tobacco to children by banning the shipment of cigarettes and other tobacco products through the U.S. mail. Related news brief: Protect Our Children - Make it illegal to use the U.S. Postal Service to deliver any form of tobacco product.. Click on image to enlarge.. (TobaccoWatch.org) Read more...

Another Chantix Warning in Canada..

June 24, 2008 - Health Canada is warning that Chantix - sold in Canada as Champix - has caused unusual feelings of agitation, depressed mood, hostility, changes in behavior or impulsive or disturbing thoughts, such as ideas of self-harm or of harming others, in some users. In Apri, l Health Canada issued an alert warning that Chantix has been linked to 107 adverse reactions in Canada. According to the ageny nearly half of those reports involved psychiatric behavior. In its latest alert, Health Canada has said that in the year following its approval, 226 Canadian cases of neuropsychiatric adverse events have been reported in patients taking the drug. Guidelines were issued for patients considering taking Chantix, for those taking the medication and the importance of the prescribing physician to closely to closely monitor these patients. In the US, Chantix has been linked to at least 40 suicides and 400 attempted suicides. Related news briefs: Operators of any form of transportation warned on the use of Pfizer's smoking-cessation drug Chantix.., Pfizer Changes Chantix Label.. and Chantix Reports of Suicidal Thoughts and Aggressive and Erratic Behavior... Read more...

Altria's John Middleton Black & Mild Cigars and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco (RJR): Winston and Camel SNUS...

June 24, 2008 - c-store update - Altria's John Middleton Black & Mild Cigars and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco (RJR): Winston and Camel SNUS... There's a promotion going on where when you buy a 5-pack of B&M cigars you also get in the same package a free pack of wine-flavored B&M cigars. The different flavors include Mild, Apple, Mild FT Filter Tip, Mild Cherry-Vanilla, Cream, Vanilla and Wine. B&M cigars are very popular amongst young African Americans.
(TobaccoWatch.org)

Reynolds American, Inc. (RAI), the parent of RJR, had a very disappointing first quarter for 2008. One main reason was above-average decline in sales of their non-growth cigarette brands like Winston. (RAI's growth cigarette brands (investment brands): Camel, Kool and Pall Mall.) RAI has reduced their full year forecast and is reassessing their outlook for the year. One new promotion they have come up with, starting next week, is to provide a coupon for a free can of Camel SNUS with each pack of Winston's sold. Before they were giving away coupons with packs of Camels and even stationing a person in the c-store to ask the customers when buying a pack of cigarettes if they'd like to try Camel SNUS. This promotion will be a total flop - Camel SNUS has never caught on. (TobaccoWatch.org) Read more...

Altria's Plan for Organic Growth is failing - so-called potentially safer cigarette Marlboro Ultra Smooth removed from U.S. market..

June 23, 2008 - Without the Philip Morris International that contributed about two-thirds of Altria's $13.2 billion in operating profit.
Altria
, the biggest U.S. tobacco seller is left with the challenge in finding a source of growth to offset the decline in U.S. cigarette sales. Philip Morris's sales volume fell 4.6 percent last year, worse than the 4 percent decline in the overall U.S. cigarette market. Brendan McCormick, an Altria spokesman, "From the test marketing of Marlboro Ultra Smooth, in Atlanta, Tampa and Salt Lake City for more than three years it was learned there was low consumer acceptance." Shipments of Marlboro Ultra Smooth cigarettes and the others with the activated carbon filter - Marlboro Ultra Lights (tested in Phoenix and North Dakota) and Basic Ultra Lights (tested in Washington state) were stopped as of April 1, 2008.

In January 2008, Philip Morris USA stopped testing a Swedish SNUS type product Taboka Tobaccopaks (introduced in Indianapolis, IN in July 2006)and even their Marlboro SNUS (introduced in Dallas,TX in August 2007) at best, has seen sluggish sales. With SNUS the sucking technique to prevent spitting seems too strange for U.S. tobacco users to adjust to. Swedish SNUS type products have failed in most countries outside of Sweden. Even more disappointing to Altria has to be their Marlboro Moist Smokeless Tobacco (MST) entry (Atlanta, GA October 2007) introduced as a part of the MSTs premium segment to compete with Skoal and Copenhagen the price has been reduced significantly to try to generate interest. References: Altria Drops New Filter Cigarettes, in Strategy Setback by Vanessa O'Connell, The Wall Street Journal, 6/23/2008 and Altria stubs out Marlboro Ultra Smooth: report, Yahoo News - Reuters, 6/23/2008. We feel in order for PM USA to be a significant player in the smokeless tobacco category they'll need to expand through acquisitions e.g., PM-UST, PM-Swedish Match). New Marlboro products since 1990. (TobaccoWatch.org)
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