France - cheaper cigarettes close by in Belgium..

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December 1, 2009 - Smokers from all over north-eastern France are responding to increases in tobacco taxes by driving over the border to Belgium to buy their cigarettes for about 20 per cent less. French tobacconists are fuming about Belgians stealing their customers.

The owners of Real Tobacco XL, and four other emporiums along the Franco-Belgian border, flooded northern France earlier this month (November 2009) with advertising flyers for their new shop. They sent a loudspeaker car, towing an advertising trailer, through the streets of Dunkirk promoting the fact that cigarettes were at least €1 (1.50939 USD) a packet cheaper 10 miles away in Adinkerke. The French tobacconists' association pounced. They had been able to do nothing, under EU law, about the cheap cigarette shops in Belgium. But they could bring a legal action against the Belgian firm for breaking an 18-year-old law which bans all forms of tobacco advertising in France.

"For three or four years, we have had to watch them [the Belgians] opening more shops selling cheap cigarettes, and we could do nothing," said Patrick Falewee, president of the Dunkirk area tobacco trade association. "Over there they have no system of tobacco licensing, anyone can start a tobacco shop. You just buy an abandoned house in a border village and you start selling cigarettes. Now, at last, we can fight back. They have broken the French law against advertising tobacco and we are going to make sure that they are punished for it. We are going to pursue this case to the end."

This is much more than a local quarrel. At one time, France took a relaxed view of smoking, partly because tobacco was a lucrative state monopoly. In the past decade, however, successive French governments have adopted a more health-conscious approach and have imposed a series of steep tax increases on tobacco. The 6 percent tax increase earlier this month has increased the price of a packet of 20 Marlboros – the most popular brand in France – to €5.60 (£5.10, 8.45126 USD). This is about £1 a packet cheaper than in Britain. It is about €1 (90p, 1.50939 USD) a packet more than in Belgium and at least €2 (3.01825 USD) a packet more than in other EU nations, such as Spain, Italy and Luxembourg.

Earlier this year, the British American Tobacco company estimated that more than one in five of all cigarettes smoked in France was bought abroad. Much the same problem exists in Germany, which has very cheap tobacco neighbours in Poland and the Czech Republic. There is a growing trade in smuggled cigarettes in Europe and an equally illegal growth of sales over the internet. But many French and German smokers have discovered the pleasures of perfectly legal, or almost legal, cigarette tourism.

"They come to the shops in Belgium, not just from Dunkirk and Lille but from as far south as Paris and Rouen," Mr Falewee said. "Legally under EU law they are allowed only five cartons of 200 cigarettes each per car. Of course, they often buy far, far more than that. The Belgian shops do nothing to limit their purchases."

A study earlier this year estimated that 657bn black market cigarettes are sold across the world annually, costing governments nearly £25bn in lost revenue. And the charity Cancer Research estimates that if the smuggling of cheap tobacco into the UK was eliminated, in the long term 4,000 deaths a year could be prevented.

Belgium was the first country in Western Europe to insist on pictorial warnings on cigarette packs. Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy has been chosen as the first permanent President of the European Council. The Council is the main decision-making body of the European Union.

Reference: Smokers' paradise: French turn to Belgium for cheap cigarettes, The Independent-UK, 11/30/2009.
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Australia -survey finds more and more people are trying to give up smoking..

November 30, 2009 - More and more people are trying to give up smoking - but new research suggests the habit is still as hard as ever to kick. Up to 66 percent of New South Wales (NSW) smokers will try to quit in the next six months - seven percent more than in 2005 - according to the Cancer Institute NSW's Smoking and Health Survey 2009.

Hard-hitting campaigns, health warnings and new laws governing the sale of tobacco are helping persuade a greater number to make the effort, the report says. But smokers still struggle to turn good intentions into reality.

'While large numbers of smokers understand the health risks of smoking and want to quit, doing so is still seen as relatively difficult,' the survey says. About one-fifth of NSW smokers light up within five minutes of waking and half have a puff within half an hour, it says.

Nor has the number of cigarettes smoked daily dropped over the past few years, with dependency rates among regular smokers remaining largely unchanged. The good news is that the overall number of smokers has fallen in the past decade and fewer people are taking up the habit.

Samuel Dettmann, policy advisor to the NSW Minister Assisting on Health, Barbara Perry, told Australian Associated Press (AAP) the challenge for health and government officials is to find a way to further help those trying to give up. 'We know there are a lot of smokers who want to quit. The challenge is how to make that happen for them,' Mr Dettmann said.

Speaking in Sydney on Sunday at the launch of the survey, Ms Perry announced a new $40,000 Christmas-themed campaign designed to highlight the cost of smoking. Along with improving health, cost is the biggest motivating factors for those who want to quit, the survey says. People who smoke 10 or more cigarettes a day are said to spend at least $1500 a year on smoking.

The institute's survey found significant support for raising the cost of cigarettes to discourage children and young adults from smoking.

Reference: Good intentions go up in smoke. SKYnews.com.au, 11/29/2009.
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Taiwan - plans to ban people from smoking while walking and riding motorbike next year.

November 30, 2009 - Taipei - Taiwan plans to ban people from smoking while walking and riding motorbike next year, an official said Sunday. Wang Chun-yuan, from the Environmental Protection Administration, said the ban is aimed at cutting rubbish caused by dropped cigarette butts and to prevent children from being burned by cigarettes in the hands of smokers.

"When the ban takes effect, people will no longer be able to smoke while walking on the sidewalk or while riding motorbikes. They have to go to designated areas to smoke," he told cable TV channel Sanli TV.

Lin Ching-li, from the John Tung Foundation, the pioneer in Taiwan's anti-smoking campaign, said the proposed ban is following the example of Japan. "Five years ago, the Tokyo Prefecture banned smoking on sidewalk in 23 districts because Tokyo is densely populated and kids often get burned by cigarettes held in the hands of passers-by," she said by phone. "On the sidewalk in these districts, every 100 metres there is a marked area, the size of a bus, for people to smoke," she added.

As for barring motorcyclists from smoking, Lin said it is to prevent road accidents.

Taiwan has taken a series of steps to discourage smoking, including banning indoor smoking, raising surcharge on cigarettes and banning display of cigarettes in shops.

Reference: Taiwan to ban smoking while walking and riding motorbike, Earth Times, 11/29/2009.

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Europe - cancer mortality in Europe, 2000–2004, and an overview of trends since 1975..

November 30, 2009 - New figures on deaths from cancer in Europe show a steady decline in mortality between the periods 1990-1994 and 2000-2004. Deaths from all cancers in the European Union (EU) between these two periods fell by nine percent in men and eight percent in women, with a large drop among the middle-aged population.

In a study published online in the cancer journal, Annals of Oncology today (Monday 30 November), researchers found that there was an average 185.2 deaths per 100,000 of the population per year in men between 1990-1994 in 27 member states of the EU, but this fell to 168 deaths per 100,000 between 2000-2004. For women, the number of deaths fell from 104.8 to 96.9 per 100,000.

PAPER: Cancer mortality in Europe, 2000–2004, and an overview of trends since 1975
C. La Vecchia, C. Bosetti1, F. Lucchini, P. Bertuccio, E. Negri, P. Boyle and F. Levi, Annals of Oncology Advance Access published online on November 30, 2009, ABSTRACT.. or FULL TEXT..
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Italy - car smoking ban weighed..

November 30, 2009 - Rome, November 27 - Italian citizen protection and driving groups on Friday, November 27th welcomed a proposed ban on smoking at the wheel.


"Smoking while driving a vehicle increases the risks of accidents," said Carlo Rienzi, head of the citizens and consumer watchdog agency Codacons. "It's been estimated that 15% of the accidents caused by drivers' taking their eyes off the wheel are because of them lighting up". Rienzi said Codacons had been fighting for years for a ban on smoking while driving.

The road safety group BastUnAttimo (It Only Takes A Moment) was also pleased with the bill proposed by Northern League Senator Piergiorgio Stiffoni. "Every day there are some 600 road accidents in Italy and 90% are caused by drivers' not paying proper attention. A large amount of those are because smokers stop to light up or stub out their cigarettes".

Italian Auto Club:

The president of the Italian Automobile Club, Enrico Gelpi, said "we're delighted that Italy is finally going to move into line with countries like the UK where smoking in cars is off-limits".

Stiffoni's bill is said to have broad bipartisan support and is expected to be passed from the Senate to the House before Christmas. According to the new measure, drivers caught smoking would be fined 250 euros (375.18 USD) and have five points docked from their licenses.

News of the bill made the front page of Italy's biggest daily Corriere della Sera Friday, which cited studies showing that it takes two seconds to answer a cellphone, whose use is already banned, while drivers require five seconds to light up.
Corriere quoted Stiffoni as saying: "Cigarettes are a menace in the car. Just think of the time smokers take to get their cigarettes out and light up, not to mention the smoke getting in their eyes. Then there's the problem of scrabbling around for the ashtray or winding down the window to throw out the butts".

"Cigarettes reduce attention levels, and that kills," Stiffoni said.

But not everyone welcomed the move Friday. Singer-songwriter Gino Paolo, whose many album covers show him in moody cigarette-holding poses, said: "People have a right to smoke in the car". "I'm much more careful, aware and awake when I smoke at the wheel".

More evidence - vehicles most dangerous space for second-hand smoke inhalation..

Reference: Car smoking ban weighed 'Lighting up takes twice as long as answering cellphone', ANSA.it, 11/27/2009.

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