Listen to VIDEO..
Directly related news brief:
January 29, 2010 - Pakistan - over 273 people die daily of smoking related disease..
Many blame this, among other factors, on lack of public awareness, and lax anti-smoking regulations. With a spike in smoking amongst the youth, retailers in Pakistan continue to sell cigarettes illegally to under-age smokers.
The government has withdrawn the Statutory Rules and Orders (SRO) on designated smoking areas, totally banning smoking in any place of public work to protect the health of non-smokers. However, the law is being openly violated across Pakistan.
(Pakistan - More, on rollback of the Statutory Regulatory Order on Designated Smoking Areas..)
The leading tobacco companies in Pakistan have recently been aggressively marketing their products for the youth. The government's step to introduce pictorial health warnings to make people aware of the hazards of smoking back in May 2009, has been slow in its implementation. For now it seems, with or without health warnings, the prevalence of smoking is set to continue to rise in the coming years. (Pakistan - will soon increase size of graphic warnings on cigarette packs..)
Experts believe measures like increasing taxes on tobacco products and banning advertising don't address the root causes of the habit. Smoking levels naturally drop off when people become richer and better-educated.
Pakistan Tobacco Company has mobile doctor teams that provide health care in areas where there are no medical facilities. (Mobile doctors)
Reference: VIDEO - Pakistan among top S Asian countries in smoking, Addiel Sabir, Press TV, Islamabad, 12/23/2010.
Pakistan - related news brief:
Pakistan - govt revenue loss on account of tax evasion, smuggling and counterfeiting in cigarette industry..;
Pakistan - will soon increase size of graphic warnings on cigarette packs..;
Pakistan - as of October 1, 2010 - cigarette packs must have 20 cigarettes or more..;
Pakistan beats India introducing - pictorial warnings on cigarette packs.. - REALLY..;
Pakistan - pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs will be enforced from June 1, 2010..;
Pakistan - govt misses deadline to implement pictorial tobacco warnings..
Pakistan - over 273 people die daily of smoking related disease..;
Pakistan - implementation of tobacco control laws difficult..;
Pakistan - February, 2010 - graphic warnings on cigarette packs..;
Pakistan National Conference Tobacco Control, October 28th..;
Pakistan - pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs and cartons soon..;
Pakistan - More, on rollback of the Statutory Regulatory Order on Designated Smoking Areas..;
Smuggled Cigarettes Give Boost To Pakistani Militants..;
Pakistan - strong tobacco control measures..;
Pakistan - Government must withdraw Statutory Regulatory Order..;
Bloomberg Grant: Tobacco Reforms in Pakistan...
Read more...
Pakistan - on average 273 Pakistanis die each day from smoking related diseases..
U.S. FDA could start regulating cigars as soon as June 2011..
WASHINGTON -- A brief posting in the December 20, 2010, issue of the Federal Register, the Department of Health and Human Services suggests cigars could come under regulation by the Food and Drug Administration as soon as June 2011.
The Federal Register published the agency's semi-annual "Regulatory Agenda," which provides a forecast of numerous rulemaking actions under development that the agency expects to undertake in the foreseeable future. The FDA is a part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
In the published notice, Sequence Number 325 lists a proposed rule titled "Cigars Subject to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act," according to a recent newsletter from the National Association of Tobacco Outlets. This act is the law that granted the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products.
The notice includes the abstract on this proposed rule, which states that "[t]his proposed rule would deem cigars to be subject to the Tobacco Control Act and include provisions to address public health concerns raised by cigars."
To date, cigars have remained separate from the act, although many in the industry assumed they would eventually fall under the FDA’s regulation. In the notice, a possible action timetable for a proposed rule on cigars is June 2011.
Federal Register /Vol. 75, No. 243 /Monday, December 20, 2010 /Unified Agenda 79765
HHS - Food and Drug Administration—Proposed Rule Stage
325 Cigars Subject to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act .............................................................. 0910–AG38
Reference: Cigars Next for FDA Regulation, CSP (Convenience Store / Petroleum) Daily News, 12/27/2010.
Read more...
325. CIGARS SUBJECT TO THE
FAMILY SMOKING PREVENTION AND
TOBACCO CONTROL ACT
Legal Authority: 21 USC 301 et seq,
The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic
Act; PL 111–31, The Family Smoking
Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
Abstract: The Family Smoking
Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
(the Tobacco Control Act) provides
FDA authority to regulate cigarettes,
cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own
tobacco, and smokeless tobacco.
Section 901 of the Federal Food, Drug,
and Cosmetic Act, as amended by the
Tobacco Control Act, permits FDA to
issue regulations deeming other tobacco
products to be subject to the Tobacco
Control Act. This proposed rule would
deem cigars to be subject to the
Tobacco Control Act and include
provisions to address public health
concerns raised by cigars.
Timetable:
Action Date FR Cite
NPRM 06/00/11
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
Required: Yes
Agency Contact: May Nelson,
Regulatory Counsel, Department of
Health and Human Services, Food and
Drug Administration, 9200 Corporate
Boulevard, Rockville, MD 20850
Phone: 877 287–1373
Fax: 240 276–3904
Email: may.nelson@fda.hhs.gov
RIN: 0910–AG38"Agenda" suggests agency could take on additional tobacco category as soon as June, CSP (Convenience Store / Petroleum) Daily News, 12/27/2010.
Philadelphia, PA - trying to stop the sale of cigarettes to minors..
Mayor Michael Nutter..
Philadelphia is an easy place for kids to buy cigarettes illegally. When undercover shoppers for the city's health department — local high school students posing as customers — try to buy cigarettes in one of the city's 4,300 tobacco retailers, they succeed at least 25% of the time.
Confronted by one of the highest underage smoking rates among large cities, Philadelphia has launched an unusual program that sends health department workers into corner stores and Chinese restaurants for one-on-one sessions with retailers who have been caught selling tobacco to teens.December 23, 2010 - Stores caught selling cigarettes to minors will now face heftier fines in Philadelphia. The legislation signed Thursday, December 23rd is designed to cut the city's high teen smoking rate. The bill raises the fine from $100 to $250 and if a merchant defaults on the fine it can be increased to as much as $2,000. Mayor Michael Nutter says it's designed to help keep young people from taking up what could be a deadly habit. "We cannot allow our children to be the next generation of addicts facing a very certain future of illness and death. Smoking is not cool at all," said Nutter.
In Philadelphia, 7.4% of teenagers under 18 smoke daily, according to an annual study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's less than the national underage smoking rate of 11.2%, but far higher than cities such as Boston, where 5.7% of teenagers smoke regularly, Los Angeles, where 3.6% do, or New York, where 4.9% of kids smoke, according to the CDC's 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance released in June.
In addition to the fines, the legislation authorizes the city to shut down a business for 48 hours if it sells tobacco to minors three times in two years. And the city will post on its website the names of businesses cited for illegal tobacco sales.
Nutter also spoke about a new publicity campaign, called the "Last Pack," which will provide counseling and other support to those trying to quit cigarettes. Promotional ads will be featured on 17 local radio stations. The effort is funded through a $10.4 million federal stimulus grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As part of the anti-smoking effort, last month the city launched a nicotine-patch giveaway that attracted 3,300 participants. And starting in January, the city will provide insurance coverage for smoking-cessation medications to roughly 7,000 employees. Nutter asked that anyone who witnesses an illegal tobacco sale to a minor report it by calling 1-888-99-SMOKE or going to smokefreephilly.org.
"The products are available at just about every corner," says Giridhar Mallya, director of policy and planning for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. And because Philadelphia has no local tax on cigarettes, unlike many cities, "they're pretty darn cheap," at about $6 a pack.
The city's effort comes at a time when the national decline in youth smoking has stalled, and the rate of retailers selling to minors has crept up. After dropping from a peak of 35% in 1995 to 20% in 2007, the decline in the rate of youth who have smoked in the previous month has plateaued, according to the CDC. In the most recent federal reports on underage cigarette sales, the national rate of retailers selling to minors increased to 10.9% from 9.9%, the first increase since the study began in 1997 and the highest rate since 2005.
Of the 405 retailers visited in the program's first five months, 45% have again sold cigarettes to teens, according to Lauren Gemberling of the Health Promotion Council of Southeastern Philadelphia, which undertakes the work for the health department.
Anti-smoking efforts don't stop with minors. According to the city, smoking afflicts all ages in Philadelphia, killing 2,500 people in the city each year and costing more than $800 million in lost productivity.
Under a law that went into effect in June, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will enforce the ban on underage cigarette sales through state grants; Pennsylvania won a grant in July. The program's impact on Philadelphia is "to be determined, but that could be an important piece" of reducing kids' ability to buy cigarettes, Mallya says. (FDA CTP Retailer Compliance Training Sessions..)
References: Philadelphia targets underage smoking, Martha T. Moore, USA TODAY, 12/2/2010; Philadelphia raises fines for selling tobacco to kids by Tom MacDonald, newsworks.org, 12/23/2010; A pack of initiatives to cut city smoking rates by CATHERINE LUCEY (luceyc@phillynews.com), Philadelphia Daily News, 12/24/2010.
Read more...
PAPER: smoking cessation may increase blood levels of good cholesterol..
PAPER: Effects of smoking and smoking cessation on lipids and lipoproteins: Outcomes from a randomized clinical trial, Adam D. Gepner, MD, Megan E. Piper, PhD, Heather M. Johnson, MD, Michael C. Fiore, MD, MPH, Timothy B. Baker, PhD, James H. Stein, MD, Amer Heart Journal 161(1): 145-151, January 2011, ABSTRACT..
"Further benefits on cholesterol levels may have been actually masked by the weight gain seen after quitting," said lead researcher Adam Gepner from the University of Wisconsin, stressing that small weight gain regularly follows smoking cessation.
"It is important to counsel quitters about weight gain and the need for a healthy diet and regular exercise during the quitting period," he added.
Researchers, however, do not have a clear understanding of what lies behind quitting cigarette and increased good cholesterol levels, suggesting that smoking may damage the proteins that control the breakdown of cholesterol.
Previous studies have linked about 20 percent of mortalities from cardiovascular diseases to smoking.
Reference: Quitting smoking ups good cholesterol, presstv.ir, 12/25/2010.
Read more...
Tivoli, New York - smoke-free experience in Memorial Recreation Park..
“Kids should not be playing and inhaling cigarette smoke,” said Village Board member Bryan Cranna, who sponsored the resolution instituting the ban. “We’re hoping this is going to be a step toward creating a healthier and cleaner play environment for the kids.” Cranna said he began pushing for the smoking ban after he and two other board members celebrated Earth Day by cleaning up litter in the park. Cranna said the group SmokeFree Dutchess provided the village with information needed to draft the ban along with the “No Smoking” signs that have been placed throughout the park.
Ellen Reinhard, director of SmokeFree Dutchess, commended Tivoli officials for “joining the growing list of municipalities across New York state who have adopted polices and ordinances in support of tobacco-free parks and playgrounds. This policy will help denormalize tobacco use, which encourages adults to quit smoking and prevents youths from ever starting,” she said.
In May, town of Hyde Park officials banned smoking at two town parks, and earlier this month, the town of Poughkeepsie banned smoking at its 22 town parks and playgrounds. Ulster County has banned smoking on all county-owned and operated properties. Smoking also is prohibited on all city of Kingston municipal properties, including parks, and the town of Ulster is considering a ban on smoking at town parks and playgrounds. Town snuffs smoking at parks, playgrounds)
Reference: Smoking banned in village of Tivoli park by PATRICIA DOXSEY, Daily Freeman (Serving the Hudson Valley since 1871), 12/25/2010.
(Hudson Valley)
Read more...
To Provide Public Awareness
Purpose
About Us
Contact Us
2008 HIGHLIGHTS
TOPIX PAPERS - 2008 & 2009..