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September 21, 2009 - Finnish regional daily Etelä-Suomen Sanomat quoted its sources as saying Tuesday, September 15th that the government would propose banning smoking in cars carrying children, adding a bill would be handed to Parliament within a fortnight [14 days].
The paper added that the ban was part of a range of proposed amendments to the Act on Measures to Restrict Tobacco Smoking.
Etelä-Suomen Sanomat reported that the ban would not be enforced by fines as these would clash with privacy legislation. Ismo Tuominen, a civil servant at the health and social affairs ministry, was quoted as saying by the paper that the impact of the proposed law would be chiefly moral.
Reference: Finland to ban smoking in cars carrying children, but no fines, Helsinki Times, 9/15/2009.
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Finland banning shops from displaying cigarettes..;
Finland - proposal to ban tobacco display, total ban on SNUS..;
European Health Commissioner reprimands Astrid Thors for snus liberation campaign..;
Aland Islands Dispute Over Sale of SNUS On Board Ships Threatens Finland's Ratification of the EU's Treaty of Lisbon (The Reform Treaty)..;
Finnish Ferry Goes Swedish Over Snus Ban.. and
EU Takes Finland to Court Again For NOT Banning the Use of Oral Tobacco..
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Finland may ban smoking in cars carrying children..
Reynolds American, Inc. - Susan Ivey, Chairman, President & CEO to speak at North Carolina State University..
Indianapolis, Indiana - tobacco control people are furious - city used as test market again..
September 20, 2009 - Again R.J. Reynolds Tobacco (RJR) has selected Indianapolis, Indiana as one of the three cities (Indianapolis, Indiana; Columbus, Ohio and Portland, Oregon) to test market Camel dissolvable tobacco products. Each product in convenient user-friendly dosage forms containing amounts of the nicotine to render the user a slave to this addictive substance for many years to come. (Camel Tobacco Dissolvables - Natl Assoc of Attorneys General - wait and see!. In fact, the nicotine delivery of these products is said to be high: whereas a cigarette smoker typically takes in about 1 milligram of nicotine, the Camel Dissolvables are said to deliver about 0.6 to 3.1 mg of nicotine each. Poison Control Centers - Camel Dissolvables - Nicotine Toxicity...
Normally, it's easy to tell when people are getting their nicotine fix. But smoking laws are changing and people can't light up in as many places as they used to."So, the tobacco companies are coming up with alternative so people can still have their tobacco."
Karla Sneegas, Indiana Tobacco Prevention: "We aren't happy that individuals are being used as human guinea pigs." Indiana Tobacco Prevention is furious about the newest way to keep people from quitting, and that the dissolvable tobacco is on shelves in Indiana. "They don't know what the long term risks are."
Tobacco Prevention says companies have used Indianapolis as a test market for the last nine years because the area has a high smoking rate and lacks strong smoke free laws. For example:Philip Morris USA is introducing a smokeless product under its Marlboro brand name called Marlboro SNUS pouches (12-pouches per slidepak container).., C-stores in Columbus, OH, Indianapolis, IN, Kansas City, MO, Orlando, FL, and Raleigh, NC (and to the east of Greensboro, NC) should expect the arrival Camel SNUS..; Philip Morris USA (PM)To Also Test Marlboro Snus In Indianapolis...
Retailers say it's too early to tell if people are buying in on the new idea.
Reference: Indianapolis A Test Market For New Kind Of Tobacco, WXIN-TV (FOX59) - Indianapolis, 9/18/2009.
Related news briefs:
Children in Indiana starting to use smokeless tobacco products..
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Canada - cigarettes have disappeared from stores, just about...
September 2, 2009 - At first glance, it looks like cigarettes have disappeared from Canadian stores. There are no advertisements or signs for cigarettes in retail outlets in most of the nation’s provinces. And the behind-the-counter racks of various cigarette brands, so familiar in the United States, are nowhere to be seen.
While cigarettes are still sold, they have largely disappeared from view — an effort by the nation’s provincial governments to discourage smoking among young people and help adults quit. “The principle is indeed out of sight, out of mind,” said Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society.
“In convenience stores in the United States, we are bombarded with tobacco branding images,” said Paul Billings, vice president for national policy and advocacy at the American Lung Association in Washington. “These measures to reduce the attractiveness and reduce the availability of tobacco products do have a positive impact on reducing tobacco use.”
Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids: The new anti-smoking law passed by the U.S. Congress this year gives the federal Food and Drug Administration the authority to minimize tobacco-marketing tools that may affect consumption of the product, particularly by youths. “Much of the rest of the world is ahead of us in taking steps to minimize exposure to tobacco marketing,” he said. “All of the issues concerning marketing and displays in convenience stores are appropriate for FDA’s consideration.” (Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act..
Concealing cigarettes ends a subtle but powerful form of advertising, said Michael Perley, director of the Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco. Perley: “If you have this product next to the candy, the gum, pop and newspapers in every store on every corner in every city and town in the province, young people wonder how can it be harmful — because it’s everywhere. Removing that message in large part is extremely important.”
The “out-of-sight” laws are Canada’s latest measure in the battle against smoking, a fight that has included bans on smoking in public places and graphic warnings — with color pictures of diseased hearts and lungs — on cigarette packs.
In May 2008 Ontario and Quebec (Ontario most populous province (roughly 40% of the population, Quebec, the second most populous province) required stores to put tobacco products out of sight, either in drawers or behind wall coverings that conceal cigarettes, which has prompted many convenience stores to install cabinets with solid doors. The other provinces and territories either already had similar bans or have since put restrictions in place — most recently this year in New Brunswick and Yukon. The last province to act is Newfoundland and Labrador, whose ban takes effect January 1, 2010.
Perley said that despite anti-smoking campaigns aimed at young people, the presence of a wall of cigarettes behind a convenience store cashier was a powerful counter-message from the tobacco industry. He said researchers found that many children who did not smoke and had no interest in it could name brands and colors.
“This is an audience that’s susceptible, that is aware, that is exposed to it in that (convenience store) setting frequently, multiple times a week,” Perley said. “And whether they smoke or not, the groundwork is laid when the time for possible experimentation comes along.”
Perley: Adults trying to quit smoking also found that seeing cigarette packs was a strong trigger either to keep smoking or restart the habit.
Canada’s federal health agency, Health Canada, has not evaluated how well the display bans are working.
Health Canada’s annual Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey shows that the nation’s smoking rate for the most at-risk group, those 15 to 24 years old, has dropped from 29 percent in 2000 to 21 percent in 2008.
Canada’s largest cigarette maker, Imperial Tobacco Canada, has seen no drop in sales since the display bans, according to spokesman Eric Gagnon. “It’s not preventing individuals from smoking,” he said. “If you are a smoker, you know the products are there.”
But for Canada’s convenience stores, which sell 86 percent of cigarettes in the country (drug stores and food stores are prohibited from selling tobacco products), the display ban has proved devastating. Convenience stores used to be paid by the tobacco companies for placing their products in prominent places and for introducing new brands to customers, and that money is now gone, said Dave Bryans, president of the Canadian Convenience Stores Association.
In Ontario alone, almost 9 percent of the province’s convenience stores (765 outlets) closed last year because of the retail display ban, he said. “We predict that 30 percent of all small stores will be gone in three years,” Bryans said.
Bryans: Health advocates, he said, ignored convenience stores’ concerns that the cost of complying with the ban were high and that sales clerks face additional dangers by having to turn their backs to customers to search for unfamiliar brands. “It hasn’t worked, it doesn’t work, and it won’t work” in cutting the smoking rate."
Canada is among a handful of countries restricting point-of-sale displays of cigarettes. Iceland imposed a ban in 2001 and Thailand did so in 2005. Ireland enacted a ban in July, and the United Kingdom is considering one. “We’re going to see more countries do this,” Cunningham predicted. “It’s the right thing to do.” Such as Norway strict tobacco display ban by October 2009...
The World Health Organization supports a display ban, as does the international tobacco control treaty (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)) signed by nations that include Canada and the United States (though the U.S. Congress has not yet been sent the treaty for approval).
Reference: In Canada, cigarettes have gone into hiding by James R. Carroll, Louisville Courier-Journal, 9/16/2009.
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Namibia - parliament considers tobacco products control bill..
September 20, 2009 - The Tobacco Products Control Bill tabled by Health Minister Richard Kamwi in Parliament bans “the smoking of tobacco in a public place, any outdoor public place or any area within a certain distance of a window, ventilation inlet, door or entrance”. The Tobacco Bill is Namibia’s step to become compliant with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) of the World Health Organisation of 2003. Namibia ratified it in 2005 and one of the obligations for each signatory country was to develop its own policies and legislation to be in conformity with the FCTC.
Hotels, restaurants or coffee shops would also fall under the definition of “pubic place”, although the Bill does not mention these details. As usual, regulations will be drawn up once the Bill is passed, and then public spaces will be more clearly defined.
Introducing the Bill yesterday afternoon, Minister Kamwi told the House that a 2004 study undertaken in Namibia, showed that 17 per cent of school children between the ages of 10 and 12 had admitted they had a smoking experience.
“The Bill should not be delayed any longer,” Kamwi said.
The draft law provides for a tobacco product control committee which will advise the Health Ministry on matters relating to tobacco producers and efforts to reduce smoking. A tobacco products control fund will also be set up. Its money will be used to implement programmes to reduce smoking and to “contribute to the treatment of tobacco-related illnesses and diseases.
Minister Kamwi: “This harmful behaviour - smoking is practiced by far too many children too early in their lives and damages to their health will only become evident many years after they started smoking.”
Municipalities will have to appoint inspectors to monitor and enforce compliance with the law once it comes into force. The new law will impose a hefty fine of N$200 000 for advertising or branding tobacco products. No manufacturer, importer or distributor of tobacco products may organise activities to promote a tobacco product or make a financial contribution to organised activities promoting smoking. No person may sell any tobacco product to a person under the age of 18 years.
Minister Kamwi said that non-smokers who were exposed to smoking people around them also suffered.
The Tobacco Bill is Namibia’s step to become compliant with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) of the World Health Organisation of 2003.
Namibia ratified it in 2005 and one of the obligations for each signatory country was to develop its own policies and legislation to be in conformity with the FCTC.
“The Bill should not be delayed any longer,” Kamwi said. The draft law provides for a tobacco product control committee which will advise the Health Ministry on matters relating to tobacco producers and efforts to reduce smoking. A tobacco products control fund will also be set up. Its money will be used to implement programmes to reduce smoking and to “contribute to the treatment of tobacco-related illnesses and diseases.
Tobacco smoking is highly prevalent in Namibia and causes diseases, including cancer and lung and heart diseases. A survey conducted by the Ministry’s Directorate of Social Services showed that 65% males and 35% females in Namibia smoke more than 10 cigarettes per day. It is estimated that 50% of the Namibian youth smokes regularly. (Namibia to Host SADC Ministers of Agriculture Meeting, MEDIA RELEASE FROM NAMIBAIN CABINET CHAMBERS, 10/3/2001 - though not current, note high prevalence of tobacco smoking.)
Reference: Bill bans public smoking by BRIGITTE WEIDLICH, Namibian, 9/17/2009.
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