Snus News & Other Tobacco Products

Scotland - starting, must register if you are going to sell tobacco products..

March 28, 2011 If you sell or intend to sell tobacco product by retail whether over the counter or from a self-service vending machine you must register with the Office of Tobacco Control (OTC). (National Register of Tobacco Retailers)

TOBACCO retailers in the Lothians will be able to sign up for Scotland's national tobacco register from April 1, it has been announced. Under the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010, as part of a wider revamp of tobacco sales law, retailers must register to sell cigarettes. Registration is free and retailers have until October 1 to do so.

The Act introduces new offences of proxy purchase and underage purchase, which both come into force on April 1. It will make it an offence for someone to buy cigarettes for under-18s.

Public Health Minister Shona Robison said: "For the first time, this legislation sets out for retailers the documents acceptable as proof of age to be used where there is doubt that a customer trying to buy tobacco is over 18. Making it more difficult for children to obtain cigarettes will help to discourage them from smoking."

Reference: Tobacco sale register set for launch, Edinburgh Evening News, 3/19/2011.

Scotland - some related news briefs:
Scotland - Five years of the public smoking ban..;
Scotland - DRINKING, drug use and smoking among schoolchildren have fallen to the lowest level in two decades..;
Scotland - Alcohol and Tobacco Policy Summit, March 15, 2011, Edinburgh..;
Scotland - politicians and staff at Holyrood can smoke only at designated area..;
Smoking in a car, even if window is open, exposes a child to dangerous levels of poisonous particles..;
Scotland - plain cigarette packaging - may take the lead in tobacco control..;
Scotland - Lady Dr. Eileen Crofton a leading anti-smoking campaigner and health advocate dies at 91..;
Scotland - ASH publishes recommendations for a new Scottish tobacco control strategy..;
Scotland - approximtely one-third have quit smoking when being paid to do so..;
Scotland - Imperial Tobacco loses attempt to overturn ban on cigarette displays and removal of vending machines..;
Scotland - mainly shopkeepers oppose tobacco display ban..;
Scotland - smoking ban produced benefits for people (i.e., children) who are not exposed to occupational tobacco smoke..;
Scotland - 90% of Scots back law that prosecutes adults for buying cigarettes for children..;
Scotland, Grampian Region - latest word, NHS Grampian hospital smoking clampdown delayed..;
Scotland - bribing people to live a healthy lifestyle..;
Scotland - Imperial Tobacco in legal action to stop ban on cigarette displays and vending machine removal..;
Scotland - tobacco industry says massive increase in illegal cigarettes..;
PAPER: Scotland Unhealthy risk factors those with lack of education/ low income..;
Scotland - renewing efforts to stop pregnant women from smoking..;
Scotland - cigarette smoking quit attempts increase by 35%..;
Scotland - retailers can provide input on future to ban the display of tobacco..;
Scotland - campaigners want more to be done to protect young people from passive smoking..;
Scotland - government no plans to ban smoking in cars and public places used by children..;
Scotland - smokers will be banned from fostering or adopting children, comments from Professor Banzhaf..;
Scotland - parliament votes to ban retail cigarette displays and vending machines..;
Scotland - health minister urges smokers to quit..;
Scotland - some men beginning to lead a healthier lifestyle and therefore living longer..;
Scotland - self-reporting of smoking by pregnant women underestimates true number of pregnant smokers..;
Scotland - tobacco firms claim proposed display ban is unnecessary..;
"Glasgow effect" - prevalence of cigarette smoking impact on poor health..;
Scotland - tobacco industry will try to stop attempts to curb sales to young people..;
Scotland - cigarette vending machines removal..;
Scottish politicans most have the courage to protect the health of their constituents..;
Scotland - small businesses given extra 2-years to remove tobacco displays..;
Northern Ireland - assembly approves ban on display of tobacco items..;
Scotland to ban cigarette displays and outlaw cigarette vending machines..;
Bar workers who smoke also benefit from smoking ban..;
17 countries in the world ban indoor smoking - ENFORCEMENT..;
England, Wales to ban tobacco displays in shops..;
Definite Health Benefits of Smoking Bans..;
Northern Ireland raising age for sale of tobacco from 16 to 18 joining the other three United Kingdom (UK) countries..;
Scotland proposes to implement more measures to discourage tobacco use including the banning of tobacco displays..;
Raise Age to 21 to Purchase Tobacco Products...

(United Kingdom) Read more...

Australia - anti-smoking campaign targeting indigenous Australians..

March 27. 2011 - A fresh battleground is emerging in the fight against tobacco, with the launch of a multimillion-dollar ad campaign urging indigenous Australians to quit.

The TV, radio and print campaign worth $4 million will address the fact that Australia's indigenous population has simply been left behind in the nationwide move against tobacco. Half of indigenous Australians smoke, compared with the nationwide smoking average of 17 percent. About one in five indigenous Australians will die from a smoking-related disease. A new report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has found 50 percent of Indigenous Australians smoke regularly. That is down from 53 per cent in 2002. The number of women who smoke during pregnancy remains unchanged at 51 percent. (Indigenous smoking rates in slow decline

Directly related news briefs:
Australia - anti-smoking campaign targets indigenous people..;
Australia - aboriginal medical services wants some of the increased tobacco tax revenue..;
Australia-Northern Territory Medical expert against health care workers that smoke..;
Australia - Smoking 'biggest factor' in Aboriginal deaths...

Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the campaign addressed the "harsh reality'' of the alarming rate of indigenous smoking.

The ads, set to start tomorrow, mark the first time the Australian Government has produced an indigenous-specific TV commercial to be aired nationwide.

"The statistics are alarming, but the message is simple: break the chain and give up a habit that will kill you,'' she said. The ads feature a young indigenous woman talking about the friends and family she has lost to smoking.

She says she doesn't want her own children to think dying young from a smoking-related disease is normal. The tagline is "break the chain''. Indigenous Affairs Minister Warren Snowdon said the Federal Government was committed to halving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smoking rates by 2018.

Cancer Council chief executive Ian Olver said it was critical Australia did not leave anyone behind in its fight against tobacco.

"The general anti-smoking campaigns have focused on restrictions on tobacco advertising and price, but we obviously have a bit more work to do in specific areas like indigenous smoking,'' Prof Olver said.

The new ad campaign forms part of the Gillard Government's $61 million anti-tobacco campaign, which has also included free and subsidised nicotine patches.

Reference: Indigenous Australians urged to quit smoking in new multi-million dollar ad campaign, Anna Caldwell, The Courier-Mail, 3/28/2011.
Read more...

New York City - fewer smokers entering free quit smoking program..

Dr. Judith MacKay speak to WORLDVIEW/WBEZ 91.5..

March 27, 2011 - Worldview speaks with Dr. Judith Mackay, senior policy advisor to the World Lung Foundation, about all these new efforts to curb smoking and why smoking rates worldwide continue to rise.

Dr. Juith MacKay speaks..

Dr. Judith Mackay awarded the British Medical Journal Group's Lifetime Achievement Award..

Interview with Dr. Judith Mackay, MBE: Tobacco Control Campaigner., 11/24/2008
Read more...

Canada - extends the Federal Tobacco Control Strategy (FTCS) for another year..

Health Minister..
March 27, 2011 - The Government of Canada has extended the Federal Tobacco Control Strategy (FTCS) for another year, to allow for evaluation of recent initiatives and to explore ongoing approaches for the future of tobacco control in Canada, the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health, announced today.

The FTCS has been extended until March 31, 2012. Health Canada's evaluation of the FTCS and its related initiatives should be completed by the end of 2011.

Background:
The FTCS establishes a framework for a comprehensive, fully-intgerated, amd multi-faceted approach to tobacco control. It is driven by the longstanding commitemnt of the Government of Canada to reduce the serious aand health effects of tobacco for Canadians. It focuses on four mutually reinforcing components: prevention, cessation, protection and product regulation.

The long-term outcome of the FTCS is to reduce tobacco-related disease and death in Canada. To pursue this long-term outcome, the FTCS will contribute the following tobacco control goal and objectives for April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2011.

See: Federal Tobacco Control Strategy Plans, Spending and Results

Maintaining funding under the FTCS will allow the government to continue to support smokers in their efforts to quit; continue to address the issue of contraband tobacco, under the leadership of Public Safety Canada; and work towards implementation of recently announced new health warnings on cigarette and little cigar packages.

Since its inception, the federal government has provided leadership through the FTCS and worked with provincial and territorial governments as well as other stakeholders to create a strong tobacco control environment in Canada. As a result, Canada has one of the lowest smoking rates in the world. Smoking rates dropped from 22% in 2001 to 18% in 2009, representing about 500,000 fewer smokers. In 2009, the youth smoking rate was 13%, the lowest rate Health Canada has recorded.

Under the FTCS, the Government of Canada dedicates $15.8 million annually to support a range of tobacco projects across Canada that are aimed at helping people stop smoking, preventing youth from starting to smoke, and protecting Canadians from exposure to second hand smoke.

A particular focus for the Government of Canada is the protection of youth from the dangers of tobacco. For example, to confront the increasing popularity of flavoured little cigars with youth, in 2009 the Government of Canada passed the Cracking Down on Tobacco Marketing Aimed at Youth Act. The Act includes a ban on the sale of cigarettes, little cigars and blunt wraps that contain specified additives, including most flavouring agents, that can be added to increase the attractiveness of tobacco products. (Canada - Parliament member introduced bill to close loophole to amend the Tobacco Act (C-32)..)

Reference: Government of Canada to Explore New Options for Tobacco Control, canada.comV (Marketwire, 3/25/2011. Read more...