Japan Tobacco (JT) Inc. to roll-out Zerostyle Mint at 4,000 retailers across Japan.

December 22, 2010 - Since the launch of "Zerostyle Mint" in Tokyo in May, 2010, the product has been raising consumer expectation from diverse areas with requests for sales area expansions and purchases.

JT's Zerostyle Mint - related news briefs:
Japan Tobacco to expand Zerostyle Mint distribution..;
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Japan Tobacco - sales begin on new smokeless tobacco product..;
Japan Tobacco - "Zerostyle Mint" - new smokeless product...

In response to those requests, we have decided on advance roll-out of "Zerostyle Mint" across Japan from the beginning of January 2011 through estimated 4,000 retailers excluding those located in Tokyo and Kanagawa where the product is already available. The decision follows our increased production capability through production increases in a manufacturing base established in November, 2010.

The product has caught on since its introduction in May this year and, though it is still available only in Tokyo and Kanagawa, its production capacity has had to be increased. Indeed, the company has said that it will continue to increase capacity.

From January 1, 2011 Zerostyle Mint and its cartridges will be made available through about 4,000 retailers nation-wide.

Although it is often referred to as a ‘snuff’ product, it is like a smokeless cigarette containing a cartridge of tobacco and flavors. It is shaped like a cigarette, though with a mouthpiece.

Reference: New Style of Smokeless Tobacco "Zerostyle Mint" Rolled-out Across Japan at a Limited Number of Retailers, JT Press Reelase, 12/21/2010.
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U.S. FDA files new appeal in e-cigarette lawsuit..

December 22, 2010 - The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday, December 20, 2010 filed a petition to ask the entire U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (DC) Circuit to hold a new hearing and review the FDA’s appeal, which was rejected December 7, 2010 by a three-judge panel.

The three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in their opinion said the FDA can only regulate e-cigarettes as a tobacco product. The ruling means the government can oversee the marketing of the products, not restrict their sale. (Federal Court of Appeals - e-cigarettes - rules against the FDA..)

The appeals panel upheld a January ruling by a district judge, who granted a preliminary injunction to the e-cigarette distributors who sued the FDA. (U.S. FDA appealing a federal judge's ruling on e-cigarettes..)

At issue is how the FDA should regulate a nascent (coming into existence; emerging) industry whose products have caught on with thousands of smokers who are seeking an alternative to their daily habit. E-cigarettes are battery-powered tubes that turn nicotine-filled liquid into a vapor mist.

On Monday, the agency asked the full appellate court to reinstate a stay of the preliminary injunction, pending its request for a rehearing of the case. In its court papers, the FDA argues that the three-judge panel’s decision “rests on a clear error of law and will undermine” objectives that were laid out by Congress when it passed legislation in 2009 that empowered the FDA to regulate tobacco products for the first time.

The e-cigarettes industry’s annual sales are estimated at more than $100 million.

e-cigarettes = electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS)

Reference: FDA Files New Appeal in E-Cigarette Lawsuit, Tobacco World, 12/22/2010.
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Cyprus - increase in price, just one approach to deter smokers..

December 22, 2010 - Just around 10 days ago the parliament in Cyprus rushed through a tobacco tax increase with immediate effect, in order to stop retailers profiteering by stock piling supplies until the increase was announced. The increase will bring about an additional €31 million (40,572,922.64 USD) in taxes for the Government and has been called the 'health tax'. The total revenue from tobacco taxes will now be around €210 million (274,905,651.53 USD). Consumers will see an increase on a packet of cigarettes of around 40 cents with rolled tobacco costing an extra €1.27 (1.66 USD) for a 50 gramme packet. It has been suggested that the extra revenue should be used to finance anti-smoking campaigns. (Cyprus Increase Tobacco Tax, guide2cyprus.com, 12/14/2010; House rushes through tobacco tax hike by George Psyllid, Cyprus Mail, 12/11/2010)

Anti-smoking campaigners are hopeful that last week’s 20 percent increase in the price of cigarettes will finally push the 29 per cent of the population who smoke regularly into quitting. Stelios Sikallides, executive secretary of the anti-smoking lobby of the Anti-Cancer Association Cyprus, "“Of course it will affect smokers as international studies show that, without a doubt, as the price of cigarettes increases, consumption decreases.”

Although cigarettes have gone by between 40 to 60 cents a packet, prices here are still far cheaper than elsewhere in Europe apart from Eastern European countries such as Poland, which has the cheapest cigarettes at €1.85 (2.42 USD). More along Cyprus’ price range are countries such as Portugal at €3.40 (4.45 USD) and Greece at €3.12 (4.08 USD). Ireland has the most expensive cigarettes at around €8.21 (10.74 USD) and England at ?6.29 for a standard pack of 20 cigarettes.

Studies conducted in England on the increase of price on cigarettes versus consumption rates, however, show that expensive cigarettes do not necessarily deter smokers. In 1994 cigarettes in the UK cost around ?2.50, with price hikes reaching ?4.00 by 2000. According to statistics by the Office for National Statistics (ONS)in Britain smoking incidence fell a measly 5 percent from 1994 to 2006. [1 USD = 0.764462 EUR]

Like Cyprus, France is another nation of cigarette lovers. France’s serious move to ban smoking came with a 20 percent increase in cigarette prices in 2003. Apparently the rise in prices was driven by a government concern to lower smoking levels a lot faster than they were actually dropping, and the need to fill an 8.5 billion dollar shortfall. However, surveys say that attitudes only truly changed after the 2007 ban that prevented smoking in work places and other public buildings. Cigarettes currently cost €5.41 (7.08 USD) in France.

In September, Japan introduced a 40 percent tax hike, their biggest increase ever. Their most smoked brands will increase from around €2.70 to €3.63. Like many other governments their aim is to make people give up and according to surveys 60 percent are thinking of doing so. (Japan - with tax increase, after first month three of five quitters still smoke-free..)

But talking to smokers themselves, it’s by no means clear that the price increase is enough to make them seriously consider stopping altogether. “The increase won’t deter me because I would just find other ways; I would start smoking roll ups,” said Constance Hughes. “It would depend on how much a person smokes though.” “It won’t make me quit but it’ll make me decrease the amount I smoke, although I have actually stocked up,” said Tonia Solea. “It will probably hinder teenagers though because they don’t have that much money.”

Cyprus - some MPs claim smoking ban to severe...

Reference: Are price increases enough to deter smokers? by Natalie Hami, Cyprus Mail, 12/19/2010.

Cyrus related news briefs:
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PAPER: men who screen negative for lung cancer are a bit less likely to try to quit smoking..

December 21, 2010 - Dutch researchers have found that men who screen negative for lung cancer are a bit less likely to try to quit smoking than men whose scan is inconclusive and requires follow up.

The findings in the European Respiratory Journal add to the debate over whether patients will perceive negative results in a lung cancer screen as a license to smoke or a chance to quit.

A U.S. study out last month suggested imaging the lungs of heavy smokers with a special type of CT scanner could catch cancers early and reduce individuals’ risk of dying from the disease by 20 percent compared to ordinary X-rays. Caught early, lung cancer can be cured surgically, but it causes vague symptoms and usually is not diagnosed until it has spread. Globally, lung cancer kills 1.2 million people annually, and it will kill 157,000 people in the United States this year, according to the American Cancer Society.

Still, 300 smokers would have to be screened to save just one based on the U.S. study, and it is unclear if the scans, at about $300 each, will be cost-effective. The screens also come with a high rate of false alarms, raising questions about the risk to people who undergo unnecessary medical procedures as a result.

For the new study, Carlijn M. van der Aalst of Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, and colleagues tapped into data from an earlier trial on lung cancer screening.

PAPER: The impact of a lung cancer CT screening result on smoking abstinence, C.M. van der Aalst (c.vanderaalst@erasmusmc.nl), R.J. van Klaveren, K.A.M. van den Bergh, M.C. Willemsen and H.J. de Koning, European Respiratory Journal published online before print December 9, 2010, ABSTRACT..

That trial included a third test outcome, “indeterminate,” in addition to negative and positive for patients with small lumps in their lung that might be scars or tumors. Patients with such inconclusive results were referred to another CT scan a few months later.

At a two-year follow-up, the Dutch researchers found men who had tested inconclusive tried to quit more often than the group with negative results, with 1.9 attempts versus 1.5. Nine percent of men in the negative-results group reported prolonged abstinence, compared to 12 percent among men with inconclusive results. The difference was not statistically reliable, though, and might have been due to chance.

However, the researchers found some hints that the more inconclusive test results a man had gotten, the more likely he was to be smoke-free. Prolonged abstinence climbed from 11 percent of men after one indeterminate test, to 16 percent after two or more inconclusive results. The researchers said this increase might reflect a teachable moment to encourage smokers to quit.

“More research is needed to investigate the opportunities of lung cancer screening in current as well as former smokers to promote health risk-reducing behavior change and to prevent relapses and to investigate what the most cost-effective approach is in this screening population,” they write.

References: Lung cancer screen: a license to smoke?, Author: admin, Reuters Health, 12/18/2010; Negative Cancer Screen Means More Likely To Smoke; redOrbit, 12/19/2010.
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Bulgaria - smoking restriction checks begin after January 3, 2011..

December 21, 2010 - Bulgaria has one of the highest smokers rates in the EU at some 39% of people declaring themselves daily smokers, topped only by Greece at 42%.

The Health Ministry further informs that despite the fact the order is effective beginning December 19, the checks of health inspectors for violations will begin after the Holidays, on January 3, 2011. The postponing of the checks gives an opportunity to owners of restaurants, coffee shops and bars to take advantage of the 2-week gratis period and provide the necessary walls, tight-closing doors and good ventilation equipment. The requirements will affect all smoking spaces inside commercial and administrative buildings, railroad stations and airports as well.

Owners of coffee shops and restaurants with less than 50 square meters have the right to decide themselves if the establishment will be a smoking or entirely non-smoking space. In case smoking is allowed, individuals under the age of 18 would not be admitted as they are banned from smoking in all indoors spaces.

In larger establishments, at least 50% of the space must be dedicated to non-smokers.
In night clubs, smoking will be allowed at all times regardless of how large they are. Open-space coffee shops and restaurants inside shopping malls are becoming non-smoking facilities.

Owners face fines for inadequate ventilation and lack of signs designating the non-smoking sections and the smoking ban for those under 18.

Bulgaria - smoking ban beginning January 1, 2011 - do they know which smoking ban applies??
Bulgaria - WHO upset with Bulgaria's weakened smoking ban...

Fines for owners range from BGN 500 (334.80 USD) to BGN 10,000 (6,694.87 USD). Individuals, who violate the ban, would also face fines, but only if they agree to provide their ID card.

References: Public Space Smoking Ban Checks in Bulgaria to Begin January, Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency), 12/21/2010; Public Space Smoking Ban Becomes Effective in Bulgaria, Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) 12/19/2010.

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