"A Fatwa is defined as an Islamic religious ruling, a scholarly opinion on a matter of Islamic law issued by a recognized religious authority called “Mufti."
Under the Islamic Ruling on smoking cigarette, smoking is forbidden in the Sharia’h or Islamic Jurisprudence because of its being filthy, containing numerous harmful chemicals. Also, the Almighty Allah has permitted only good things for his servants such food, drinks, and other lawful ones.
The Sharia’h prohibits smoking in all its form because it does not belong to good things. It also urges all Muslims not to do something that causes destruction to their body and smoking is a form of destruction.
Furthermore, it is also proven from the Messenger of Allah that Allah forbids his servants in wasting money by spending it on cigarettes which is harmful to the body.
Cabral, on the other hand, confirms the statements in the Fatwa and said that tobacco is the only consumer product that can harm everyone exposed to it and it eventually kills up to half of those who use it. Ten Filipinos die every hour due to tobacco-related diseases. Even secondhand smoke exposure or inhaling other people’s cigarette smoke, is very toxic as it contains at least 50 cancer-causing chemicals that can result to immediate cardiovascular and respiratory damage.
In 2002, the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia were declared tobacco-free. All commercial activities involving tobacco are prohibited within the boundaries of the two cities. No form of tobacco advertising are permitted around the holy zones “Let us all join hands with our Muslim brothers toward a 100% tobacco-free Philippines.
Let us fight for our right for cleaner air and healthier lives,” Cabral concluded.
Indonesia - smoking fatwas don't work too well.. Indonesia - Muhammadiyah-owned university students demonstrate against edict against smoking..
Reference: ISLAMIC RULING FORBIDS MUSLIMS TO SMOKE, Philippine Department of Health, 6/23/2010.
Philippines - some related news briefs:
Philippine congress proclaims Aquino 15th president..;
Philippines - tobacco firms claim graphic warnings on cigarette packs are illegal..;
Philippines - new president smokes but this should not slow tobacco prevention activities..:
Philippines - Department of Health wants health warnings on cigarette packs within 90 days..;
Philippines - health groups want more protection from the dangers of tobacco..;
Philippines - DOH warns government agencies to avoid partnerships or accepting donations from tobacco manufacturers..;
Philip Morris Philippines..;
Philippines - DoH pushes for picture warnings on cigarette packs..;
Philippines - PMI - FTC merger may lead smokers continuing to smoke and lure children into a life of nicotine addiction..;
Philippines - PMI and Fortune Tobacco Corp. form new company called PMFTC..;
Philippines - Tanauan City names street Philip Morris..;
Philippines - DOH campaign for 100% smoke-free workplaces..;
Philippines - total tobacco industry could be down 10% to 15% this year..;
Philippines - 2003 ban on advertising and skirting the ban..;
Philippines - June is annually observed as 'No Smoking' Month..;
Philippines may be losing the war against smoking..;
http://snus-news.blogspot.com/2008/11/philippines-thai-cigarette-import-rules.html;
Philip Morris won't postpone Philippines Eraserheads Concert..;
Philip Morris could be criminally liable for its sponsorship of the event .in the Philippines..;
STOP PMI Sponsoring Concert in Philippines..;
Philippines - Smoker to be deported...
Read more...
Philippines - Filipino Muslims forbidden to smoke, trade cigarettes..
Wisconsin - will July 5th smoking ban lead to more cigarette litter..
With the ban approaching concerns have surfaced in at least one city, Green Bay about a possible side effect of pushing smokers outside: Where will all those cigarette butts end up?
Some business groups are taking steps to make sure bar owners and other businesses provide ashtrays or other disposal options outside their establishments. Christopher Naumann, executive director of On Broadway Inc., said his group might purchase extra canisters and set them out along Broadway to control littering in the popular downtown restaurant and tavern district.
Naumann said a similar ban that took effect in Minneapolis in 2007 turned some areas of that city into public dumping grounds. Green Bay prohibits discarding cigarette butts in public under a littering ordinance that carries a potential fine of $177 for each offense.
Police Capt. Todd Thomas said no special enforcement action is planned when the smoking ban takes effect. But police officers invoke the ordinance whenever they notice someone carelessly flicking a butt down on the sidewalk or street. Thomas said it was unclear whether bar owners or other business owners could be cited for allowing discarded butts to accumulate outside their establishments.
Reference: Officials debate potential cigarette butt issue when smoking ban takes effect July 5 Some businesses adding outdoor disposal options as combative measure by Scott Williams (swilliams@greenbaypressgazette.com), GreenBayPressGazette.com, 6/27/2010.
Wisconsin related news briefs:
Wisconsin - preparing residents for a more complete smoking ban starting in July 2010..;
Appleton, Wisconsin - will city get grant to fight dissolvable tobacco products seen as a threat to children..;
Wisconsin - lawmakers defeat plan to eventually eliminate candy-flavored tobacco..;
Wisconsin - almost last state to require fire-safe cigarettes..;
Wisconsin - government anti-smoking programs cut from $15.3 million a year to $6.9 million..;
Wisconsin - tobacco taxes to go up tomorrow, Tuesday, September 1, 2009..;
U.S. - Midwest States smoking bans do not hurt business..;
Wisconsin Governor Doyle signs smoking ban..;
Wisconsin - legislature passes smoking ban in restaurants, bars and other businesses..;
Count Wisconsin as the 26th state to ban smoking..;
Wisconsin may be the 26th state to ban smoking in all bars and restaurants..;
Wisconsin - Increased Sales Tax Decrease in Smoking..;
Wisconsin's achieves the lowest adult smoking prevalence ever..;
The primary reason to increase the tax on tobacco is to get smokers to quit and dissuade kids from starting..;
Wisconsin cigarette tax and tax on other tobacco products to increase January 1, 2008..;
Wisconsin to Increase Tax on All Tobacco Products..;
Wisconsin voters overwhelmingly (2-to-1) favor upping cigarette taxes by $1.25 a pack..
Read more...
Commentary - the FDA CTR Scientific Advisory Committee..
June 27, 2010 - At Altria's 2010 Annual Meeting of Shareholders on May 20, 2010 one of the company's critics scolded Michael E. Szymanczyk, Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO for seeking the removal of four of the 12 members of a scientific Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products (CTR) scientific advisory board. (Altria Adds a Dime Increases wholesale prices on smokeless brands 10 cents , Convenience Store/Petroleum (CSP) Daily, 5/24/2010) The CTR has an unique role for the FDA -- regulating a product that, when used as intended, causes disease and death for more than 400,000 of its consumers in the U.S. each year. (The Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee was formed to review and evaluate “safety, dependence and health issues” concerning tobacco products.)
Altria's president had every right to criticize the members selected to serve on this committee. Afterall, we know that the legislation to regulate tobacco signed by President Obama the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act represents the results of negotiations between the tobacco control group Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and Philip Morris (PMUSA) - is a subsidiary of the Altria Group. In fact, U.S. Senator Michael B. Enzi (R-WY) points out, "Poison peddlers shouldn’t get to decide how we as responsible legislators fight the war against their deadly products."
For members of the FDA scientific advisory committee, the FDA indicated they wanted to recruit qualified experts with minimal conflicts of interest. PMUSA and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., another unit of Altria, requested that the agency remove as panelists Neal Benowitz, Gregory Connolly, Jack Henningfield and Jonathan Samet.
In its request to the FDA, Altria argued that the four panel members had conflicts of interest, including having served as paid experts for plaintiffs in lawsuits against tobacco companies. The FDA denied the company's request to remove them from the board, said the report.
On June 7th an ethics watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, filed a challenge against two members of a new scientific advisory committee, saying they should be disqualified because they are consultants for drug companies that make smoking cessation products. Drs. Neal Benowitz and Jack Henningfield are experts who consult for drug companies that make stop-smoking products. “Everybody hates the tobacco companies, but favoring the drug companies can’t be the answer,” Melanie Sloan, executive director of this watchdog group. She said the two panelists’ ties to smoking cessation businesses would undermine public confidence in regulation of the tobacco industry.
These same committee members were two of the four challenged by PMUSA. The FDA rejected Altria’s complaint, saying it had selected qualified members and would manage any potential conflicts case by case as it did on other federal advisory committees. Meghan Scott, an FDA spokeswoman said, “Tobacco cessation drugs are not regulated by the Center for Tobacco Products.” This happened to be the same reasoning offered by that Dr. Benowitz.
Dr. Benowitz said he doesn’t “see a direct conflict of interest” because the board deals with tobacco products, not drugs that are aimed at helping people quit smoking. “Now, if this group gains jurisdiction over drugs as well, I think that would be something different,” he said. Mr. Benowitz said he still consults Pfizer, but not GlaxoSmithKline.
But there is a major conflict brewing between between drug companies smoking cessation products and harm reduction tobacco products the tobacco companies are development - they will be competing for the same limited market. As pointed out by Washington Examiner columnist Timothy Carney noted several of the experts appointed to the committee have financial ties to pharmaceutical companies that manufacture nicotine replacement products, which compete not only with cigarettes but with various safer alternatives that the FDA is deciding how to regulate. (Big Pharma rumbles with Big Tobacco by Timothy P. Carney, Washington Examiner, 5/14/2010)
The pharmaceutical companies have a lot riding on the FDA's decisions about whether to tolerate and how to regulate alternatives to their nicotine gum, lozenges, patches, and inhalers. The aim of tobacco companies is to reduce the adverse health consequences of tobacco use, and make a profit doing so. How is that fundamentally different from what Novartis or GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer does?
Who do you think is behind this request.. Two smoking-cessation groups are urging the FDA to relax restrictions on nicotine patches, lozenges and gums amid concerns the agency's regulations go too far and make it harder for people to quit smoking. The groups say nicotine-replacement therapies such as GSK's Nicoderm CQ and Nicorette gum should be available everywhere cigarettes are sold, so people who want to quit can find the products easily without having to go to a pharmacy. They also want the FDA to tone down warnings on the products that say they shouldn't be used when people continue to smoke or in those who have heart conditions. (Groups Urge FDA To Relax Restrictions On Nicotine Patches, 2/11/2010)
A Statement From GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare on the Petition to FDA to Help People Quit Smoking
We were shocked to learn, Dr. Benowitz, in an interview in 2004 with Los Angeles Times reporter Valerie Reitman, stated, "If someone can’t quit smoking, there is no question that smokeless is much safer. It doesn’t cause heart or lung disease, and if it does cause cancer, it does slow at a much lower rate." (Is smokeless safer? Tobacco products that give hard-core smokers an alternative to quitting fuel debate;, Valerie Reitman Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 6/14/2004)
Most likely the FDA had a hard time trying to find a person qualified to serve on the committee that did not have ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Does anyone really think that use of these smoking cessation drugs doubles the chance of the smoker totally quitting? (United Kingdom's NHS spending more to stop smoking less people quitting..)
We know that some of the advisory committee members (Drs. Samet, Benowitz, Hatsukami) have worked for Pfizer, the maker of the smoking cessation drug, Chantix (Champix) which has topped the FDA’s list of most dangerous drugs. In 2009 in the the U.S. use of this drug included 98 reports of suicide, and 188 attempted suicides and many other untoward reactions. Champix (Chantix) - the risks are greater then the benefits..)
If any member of the scientific advisory committee was involved with the safety studies needed for the FDA approval of Chantix then they should be removed. (FDA, Pfizer Told of Chantix Safety Concerns a Year Ago by DAN CHILDS, ABC News Medical Unit, 6/12/2008)
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Wichita, Kanaas - city's smoking ordinance more stringent than state law..
On Thursday, July 1, 2010 - Kansas will join nearly 40 states that have some statewide restrictions on where smokers can light up. (Kansas - governor signed into law the Clean Indoor Air legislation..)
District Judge Eric Yost issued the order, which will allow Wichita businesses to continue operating under the city's smoking ordinance at least until July 15. The injunction has no effect on businesses outside the Wichita city limits. In his order, Yost scheduled a July 15 hearing to determine whether the temporary restraining order should be extended.
In his filing, Harry Najim, who sought the restraining order cited a portion of the state law that says, "Nothing in this act shall prevent any city or county from regulating smoking within its boundaries, so long as such regulation is at least as stringent as that imposed by this act. "In such cases the more stringent local regulation shall control to the extent of any inconsistency." The city's smoking ordinance is more stringent than the broader state law.
The injunction has no effect on businesses outside the Wichita city limits. In his order, Yost scheduled a July 15 hearing to determine whether the temporary restraining order should be extended.
The state law bans indoor smoking in restaurants, bars, workplaces and other public areas. But it makes several exemptions, including tobacco shops and the gaming floors of state-owned casinos. Najim said the state law also exempts Class A and B private clubs that were licensed before January 1, 2009, and designated smoking areas of adult care homes.
Reference: Restraining order delays state smoking ban in Wichita by HURST LAVIAN, The Wichita Eagle, 6/26/2010.
Related Kansas news briefs:
Kansas - governor signed into law the Clean Indoor Air legislation..;
Kansas - public smoking ban effective July 1, 2010..;
University of Kansas (KU) bans sale of tobacco starting July 1, 2010..;
Topeka, Kansas - opponents of smoking ban may drop petition drive..;
Kansas - cigarette tax hike likely in 2010..;
Topeka, Kansas - some petitions to overthrow smoking ban missing..;
Topeka, Kansas - smoking ban takes effect Friday, December 4, 2010..;
Topeka, Kansas to ban public smoking indoors and at places of employment December 4, 2010..;
Kansas - cigarette makers fined, failed to pay into escrow accounts..;
Kansas City, Missouri - court upholds smoking ban..;
Read more...
WHO FCTC - developing countries need alternative to tobacco growing plus stoppage of cigarette smuggling..
International Tobacco Growers’ Association (ITGA) expressed outrage at the devastating impact that the latest set of recommendations from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) would have on the jobs and livelihoods of millions of tobacco growers around the world.
ITGA represents more than thirty million tobacco growers across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America.António Abrunhosa, CEO of the ITGA, “These guidelines are just plain wrong whichever way you look at them. Nobody has explained to me how banning some cigarette products and ignoring others will have any benefit for people’s health”
Draft guidelines of articles 9 & 10 of the FCTC recommend a ban of ingredients used in the manufacturing of tobacco products. If implemented this would virtually eliminate traditional blended cigarettes which account for approximately half of the global market. The impact on growers who supply the tobacco varieties used in these products would be dramatic.
Abrunhosa: “These recommendations have been made by bureaucrats, mostly from wealthy countries who know nothing about tobacco growing. Their recommendations could wipe out the livelihoods of millions of tobacco growers all over the world. For some inexplicable reason, tobacco growers, the very people most affected by the guidelines, are officially excluded from any discussions. Even ministries of agriculture or economy seem unaware of the discussions taking place within the FCTC. There doesn’t seem to be any balanced form of representation whatsoever.”
Numerous countries, including some of the poorest nations, such as Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania now face the prospect of seeing millions of jobs lost and a huge decline in the export of tobacco. Tobacco cultivation is critical for the economy in these countries and one of the few agricultural activities to have remained buoyant during the recent worldwide economic crisis. The latest guidelines drafted by bureaucrats in Geneva threaten to undo that for no clear benefit. For example, Tanzania - too busy growing tobacco to think about tobacco control..
“These guidelines are just plain wrong whichever way you look at them. Nobody has explained to me how banning some cigarette products and ignoring others will have any benefit for people’s health,” said Roger Quarles, President of the ITGA. “It will just be a disaster for those growers who grow leaf for traditional blended products.”
If you recommend that the growing of tobacco be stopped - you need an alternative crop equivalent to tobacco and an effective procedure to stop the smuggling of tobacco products throughout the world..
“It’s not just tobacco growers whose livelihoods are threatened here,” continues Abrunhosa. “In some parts of the world, entire communities depend on the tobacco growing sector. I want to know what these bureaucrats have to say to the people whose lives they are going to ruin for no good reason whatsoever.”
The Director of the FCTC tobacco framework, Laurent Huber, says that to completely implement the treaty in every country would take time, as tobacco-growing countries must find alternative income-generating industries. “We are promoting public health through the Framework Convention Alliance. ... Tobacco is still growing at this stage, there is not immediate risk,” says Huber. Huber also said that in Africa in particular, the farmers barely make any money from tobacco crops since they need to import the seeds and the pesticides.
Reference: African Tobacco Growers Threatened by WHO Anti-Smoking Treaty Stuck Between a Health Crisis and an Economic Crisis by Kristina Skorbach, Epoch Times Staff, Epoch Times, 6/23/2010; International Tobacco Growers' Association Exposes the Likely Loss of Millions of Jobs Due to WHO Proposal on Tobacco Ingredients, ITGA, 5/25/2010.
Related news briefs:
Asian Tobacco Farmers worried Article 9 & 10 WHO FCTC..;
U.S. Burley tobacco growers - WHO FCTC articles elimination of American-style cigarettes..;
Canada flavor-free cigarettes law targeted by Kentucky grower ads..
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