Tobacco marketing season to open mid-February

The 2012 tobacco marketing season opens on February 15, Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB) chief executive officer Andrew Matibiri announced yesterday.
Matibiri made the remarks during a tour of the four licensed tobacco auction floors to check on their state of preparedness.

He said TIMB and other stakeholders were currently conducting a crop assessment exercise and to date 56 369 hectares, out of the expected 80 000, have been confirmed.

We are prepared for the coming tobacco marketing season. We have licensed four auction floors while 11 A class buyers licenses were renewed and four new companies are licensed as A class buyers for the 2012 season, said Matibiri.

TIMB chairperson Monica Chinamasa concurred that the level of preparedness was high and they did not anticipate any hiccups as happened last year.

We are trying to deal with the issue of decongestion that we encountered last year. This season it is going to be different, said Chinamasa, adding that congestion would be minimal during the 2012 selling season.

She said unlike last year, four tobacco floors Tobacco Sales Floor, Boka Tobacco Floors, Millennium Tobacco and Premier Tobacco would open simultaneously and it was up to each floor to reach out to growers.

Last year, the selling season opened with one floor, Tobacco Sales Floor, running while Boka and Millennium joined during the course of the selling season.

Chinamasa said growers were encouraged to register early to allow them to provide much-needed information to TIMB for planning purposes. At least 49% of growers in the register have not yet registered to sell during the coming market season.

The registration fee remains at $10, but a late registration penalty fee of $40 will be charged to all growers who have not yet registered, said Chinamasa.

She said a total of 34 734 growers have registered and the tobacco register had more than 66 000 growers.

The national crop size is currently under assessment although the target was 150 million kg, she said
She said crop performance in the northern areas had been negatively affected by the long dry spell.

United Tobacco comes to Piedmont Big Sale Warehouse in Danville

Another tobacco company will use the Piedmont Big Sale Warehouse on Riverside Drive as part of its business expansion plans.

United Tobacco Company of Wilson, N.C., will use the 142,000-square-foot warehouse as a receiving station this year and will start contracting with growers next week, said CEO Steve Coyte.

“We think Danville’s a great location for a station,” Coyte said. “It’s very accessible to the growers in North Carolina and Virginia.”

Philip Morris USA had been receiving tobacco at Piedmont Big Sale for the past 11 years until the cigarette manufacturer moved its station to Yanceyville, N.C., at the end of last year. United Tobacco, a full-service leaf dealer, saw an opportunity and seized it, Coyte said.

The company plans to contract for about 6 million pounds of Old Belt tobacco this year, and would increase the amount in the future as business grows. Pricing will be competitive.

More than 160 growers have contacted warehouse agent Harry Lea to inquire about the operation.

The privately owned company has been operating mainly in eastern North Carolina for the past 14 years. Back when it was founded, it was the first company to directly contract with growers.

Owners of United Tobacco include tobacco growers who also sell tobacco to the company, and so the company realizes the importance of relationships with growers, Coyte said.

“It’s our intention to be in Danville for a long time and to expand the business in that area,” he added.

As the majority of purchased tobacco is for exports, United Tobacco offers growers another market opportunity, Coyte said. The company receives orders from cigarette manufacturers around the world.

Lea said it was a logical step for United Tobacco to come to Danville, and that having Old Belt tobacco could also help the company spread the risk of severe weather, as Hurricane Irene damaged eastern North Carolina crops last year.

“Overall, I just hated to see the Philip Morris station leave,” Lea said. “ … It was a big loss to lose it, but it’s also a healthy step in the right direction to have somebody else come in and replace it.”

“I know it will work,” said Coyte, who has 35 years experience in the industry. “I’m excited about the opportunity we have.”

Boren presents tobacco policy

University of Oklahoma President David Boren will recommend features of the new campus tobacco policy to the OU Board of Regents on Tuesday.

The recommendations are based largely on the suggestions of his tobacco policy advisory committee comprised of students, faculty and staff. The committee forms its suggestions from input gleaned from emails committee members have received and on a commitment to the well-being of the university community.

“While the principal need to take action is the health and well-being of society, including members of the OU community, this policy would also have an impact on the cost to the university,” Boren said.

Boren said that the estimated cost of tobacco use for the university is $4 million annually.

While a majority of the committee voted to ban campus smoking altogether, Boren is recommending the implementation of designated on-campus smoking areas, in order to avoid increased smoking in nearby off-campus areas such as the Campus Corner District.

The two recommended smoking locations are in the parking lots near Dale Hall and Lloyd Noble Center, areas which are isolated enough to prevent others’ exposure to secondhand smoke.

The policy will take effect on July 1 and will affect students, faculty, staff and visitors. The policy also will ban smoking at sports venues such as Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and Lloyd Noble Center.

Failure to abide by the smoking policy will result in up to a $50 fine for the offender.

“No policy is perfect, and (the) entire policy — including the impact of these designated smoking areas — will be evaluated after one year of implementation,” Boren said.

Students to help peers make smart smoking decisions

Is there anybody better to educate children about the dangers of smoking, than the kids themselves?

Healthy Living, Seniors and Consumer Affairs Minister Jim Rondeau revealed a program in which students in Grades 5-12 will have the opportunity to create their own anti-tobacco videos as part of Create and Rate, an anti-tobacco video challenge.

“No one knows how to share important ideas with young people better than another young person. That’s why we’re giving students the opportunity to create their own videos for making educated decisions about smoking,” said Rondeau. “It’s a fun, challenging and thought-provoking way of increasing youth awareness about the risks of tobacco use.”

THEMES

The minister said the videos can be serious, funny or somewhere in between, as long as they highlight one of the following three themes:

* quitting smoking or never starting is one of the best decisions a person can ever make,

* tobacco smoke and second-hand smoke contain disgusting and dangerous ingredients, and

* tobacco is damaging the world and it’s time to speak out about it.

Applications and information packages for Create and Rate, including a step-by-step guide to creating the videos, will be distributed to all Manitoba schools (Grades 5-12only) starting the week of Jan. 30.

Deadline for entries is March 31.

The top 10 videos, as selected by a judging panel, will be posted online at www.mbcreaterate.ca during the third week of April for all young Manitobans to review and rate. Students will have approximately one month to vote once per day per person. Prizes will be awarded to the winning entries.

The new program is an extension of the province’s popular Review and Rate program, now in its ninth year, which engages students to rate the effectiveness of anti-tobacco television advertising from around the world, the minister noted.

Other youth initiatives include the Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) program, which has youth teams established in 22 schools across Manitoba, which are taking a leadership role in preventing youth tobacco use.

“According to the Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey, smoking rates for youth 15 to 19 have declined to 15 per cent in 2010 from 29 per cent in 1999,” said Rondeau. “Manitoba will continue to build on this success by focusing on preventing young people from starting to smoke, while also assisting smokers with quitting, protecting non-smokers from exposure to second-hand smoke and de-normalizing tobacco products through our Provincial Tobacco Control Strategy.”

UC campuses to ban smoking by 2014

All University of California facilities will be required to go tobacco-free beginning in 2014, according to a letter UC President Mark Yudof sent to UC chancellors on Monday.

The newly announced ban extends to the sale and advertisement of tobacco on campus. The ban was spurred by health-related interests, but environmental concerns were also a consideration, said UC spokeswoman Lynn Tierney.

Phil Hampton, a UCLA spokesman, said there is no information yet on how this will affect UCLA specifically, since university leaders are in the early stages of forming a committee to enforce the ban.

“Offering a smoke-free environment will contribute positively to the health and well-being of all UC students, faculty, staff and our patients and visitors,” Yudof stated in the letter.

Sabrina Partridge, a first-year economics student, said she supported the idea. “I hate secondhand smoke,” she said.

The ban will go in effect after two years. The university wants to help students wean themselves off of smoking in the period before it takes effect, rather than expecting students and faculty to immediately follow the rule.

Some students who like to smoke on campus were angered by the announcement. Trenton Szewczyk, a fourth-year art student, stood outside Powell Library on Thursday with a cigarette in hand.

“I understand why (the university) would want to have a ban on smoking,” he said. “But I don’t like it. It’s a huge inconvenience.”

Szewczyk said smoking helps him relieve stress, and the UC system should not regulate student lifestyles – regardless of the potential health benefits.

Other students also said they don’t see the ban succeeding in practice, despite the good intentions of the upcoming ban.

“(It’s) like making a law to ban people from talking on their cell phones,” said Justin Wong, a third-year aerospace engineering student. “One benefit might be getting less people to smoke, but I don’t think it will have that much of a positive impact.”

University owned and leased facilities will all fall under the regulations of the ban, according to Yudof’s letter. The UCLA Health System imposed a similar smoking ban on its facilities in November 2011.

Cruise lines tighten tobacco rules

Several cruise lines have further limited smoking on ships, leaving a few designated areas as the last refuge to light up at sea.

Princess Cruises' guests won't be allowed to smoke in staterooms or on balconies starting with sailings on Monday. Three other lines recently tightened their smoking rules or will join Princess in doing so next week.
"Our consumer studies now show that smokers are a small minority of our passengers, and that the large majority of passengers value having their primary living space onboard smoke-free," Executive Vice President Jan Swartz said in a statement.

In 2010, only 19.3 percent of Americans, or 45.3 million adults, smoked cigarettes, down from 20.9 percent in 2005, according to federal health regulators.

The new smoking policy also reflects a worldwide effort to restrict areas where smoking is allowed, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based cruise operator said.

At Delray Beach's iCruise.com cruise agency, Co-President Don Walker has seen a drop in customer complaints about smoky cabins and balconies in the past three months.

Walker attributed the decline partly to the new push for an almost smoke-free ship environment and to smokers' acceptance of the restrictions placed on them. "It appears to be working," he said.

Here's a look at the most recent changes at four cruise lines:

Princess: With cabins now off-limits, smokers will be able to smoke in designated areas only including Churchill's cigar lounge and sections of the disco, casino and open decks.

Holland America Line: Starting Sunday, the cruise line will also ban smoking in staterooms fleet-wide.

Norwegian Cruise Line: As of Jan. 1, no smoking in cabins, but balcony stateroom guests can light up on balconies. Cigar and pipe smoking isn't permitted in either area.

Guests can smoke in designated areas such as sections of the casino and in some outdoor public spaces and open decks.

Carnival Cruise Lines: Since Dec. 1, smoking is banned in all cabins across its 23-ship fleet, but not on outside balconies, except for Spa staterooms. Guest surveys showed less than 5 percent of guests opted to smoke in their cabins.

Tobacco Free Lee to meet Wednesday

The Tobacco-Free Lee Coalition welcomes the public to its monthly meeting at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Conference Room of the Lee County Health Department, 83 Pondella Road, in North Fort Myers.

Agenda topics to be discussed include the Tobacco Prevention Interventions Grant and an update from Students Working Against Tobacco.

“The Tobacco-Free Lee Coalition has been instrumental in bringing about policy change through grass roots involvement from leaders within the student, business, health and hospital communities to cut tobacco-use rates,” said Brendan Donohue, tobacco prevention specialist with the Lee County Health Department. Everyone is welcome.

Anti-tobacco funding gone up in smoke

When it comes to tobacco use, there is a problem of willpower. It's not limited to smokers who can't resist the urge for one more cigarette. It also affects state lawmakers, most of whom can't summon the willpower to spend tobacco settlement and tax money on smoking prevention and cessation.

According to a report by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, states in fiscal year 2012 are collecting a near-record $25.6 billion in tobacco-related revenue. That total is a combination of a 1998 court settlement with tobacco companies and taxes on tobacco products.
The American Medical Association and others have pushed for maximizing spending on smoking prevention and cessation. But, as the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids notes, states will spend only 1.8% of tobacco revenues -- or $456.7 million -- on anti-tobacco programs. Worse yet, the spending is on a sharp decline -- down 36% in four years.

No one expects 100% of tobacco settlement and tax money to go toward anti-smoking efforts. But it's shameful that states can only muster up less than 2 cents out of every revenue dollar to fight the No. 1 preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. The campaign's report should wake up state legislators to the idea that anti-tobacco programs must be funded adequately if they want to eliminate tobacco-related health, social and economic consequences.

In areas other than funding, there is some good news to report. States and localities have gone a long way toward restricting where smokers can light up, with laws banning indoor smoking in many public places. And they've made it tougher to buy tobacco by raising taxes on it.

But what state legislators haven't done much is to help those smokers who want to quit. Anti-tobacco funding from the 1998 settlement and tobacco taxes doesn't even come close to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended goals.

The CDC points out that states need only spend $3.7 billion -- 15% of their tobacco revenues -- to meet its recommended funding level (that's about one-quarter of what tobacco companies spend annually on advertising their products). Instead, states are spending barely more than one-tenth of what they should be spending, the CDC reports.

Dental Practices declare smoke-free outdoor areas

Family Orthodontics and Thomas K. Frawley Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, located on Route 60 in Fredonia, announced the creation of tobacco free outdoor areas on their property.

The dental health center is collaborating with the Tri County Tobacco Free Programs to reduce secondhand smoke, reduce litter, and model healthy behaviors for both children and adults.

Dr. Matthew E. Fortna of Family Orthodontics stated, "We are here to support our patients with achieving their best oral health and encourage our patients to model good behavior, including tobacco free lifestyle. We especially need to encourage children not to start smoking. The children and family members visiting our location deserve tobacco free entrances and tobacco free outdoor areas. Cigarette smoke rolls into open windows and vents compromising the good health of those in and around our building. Our tobacco free outdoor areas border Fredonia School, where no smoking is permitted. This is a nice way to partner with the tobacco-free message, keep our property clean from cigarette butts and protect our environment."

Dr. Thomas Frawley added "Tobacco cessation and routine oral exams are extremely important not only for maintaining proper oral hygiene but also for the early detection of oral cancer.

It is estimated that there will be approximately 40,000 new cases of oral cancer diagnosed in the United States in 2012. Partnering with the Tri-County Tobacco Free Programs allows us to create an environment that will hopefully lead to fewer oral cancers in the future."

New signs are posted at the property located at 10261 Route 60, in Fredonia.

Laurie Adams, Tri-County Tobacco Free Programs Director explains, "The Surgeon General has classified secondhand smoke as a class A carcinogen a substance known to cause cancer. There's no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure. If you can smell it, secondhand smoke is harming you. Butts are a danger to our children and to the environment. We applaud Family Orthodontics and Dr. Frawley for caring about the youth and adults visiting their facility and we ask all adults to please observe the policy."

Public support for outdoor tobacco use restrictions is growing. The new tobacco free dental center joins the list of over 400 locations across NY State who have established tobacco free outdoor areas, including Times Square and Central Park in NY City.

Lincoln MP Karl McCartney under fire over tobacco firm's ticket gift

Lincoln MP Karl McCartney has come under fire for accepting tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show from the world's third largest tobacco company.

The Tory MP accepted hospitality totalling more than £1,300 from Japan Tobacco International (JTI), which produces Benson and Hedges and Silk Cut, in May.
The details were declared by Mr McCartney in the Register of Members' Interests.

Now, health charities have described his acceptance of the tobacco giant's hospitality as "disappointing" and the chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Smoking and Health, Stephen Williams, has renewed calls on the Government to tighten up the regulation of lobbying.

Mr Williams, who is the Liberal Democrat MP for Bristol West, made the demand after it was revealed that Mr McCartney wrote to the APPG on Smoking and Health asking for details of how the public health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is funded.

The letter also requested details about the number of people associated with ASH who have placements with the Department of Health and other areas of Government.

Mr Williams said: "I would expect every Member of Parliament to consider carefully what message they send out about the importance of public health if they accept hospitality from tobacco companies."

Martin Dockrell, director of policy and research at Action on Smoking and Health, said: "The Prime Minister says corporate lobbying goes to the heart of why people are fed up with politics and he is right.

"The Government's tobacco plan warns of the dangers of tobacco industry attempts to influence health policy.

"MPs don't always know when they are being lobbied by the big tobacco companies because they often hide behind a smokescreen of lobby firms and front groups."

Eileen Streets, director of tobacco control at the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, said "We are very disappointed to hear that Mr McCartney has accepted a hospitality package offered by a tobacco company."

Before winning the general election, Mr Cameron said in February 2010 that lobbying was an issue that "has tainted our politics for too long".

Existing rules on lobbying say MPs must not place themselves under any financial obligation to outside individuals or organisations and must not act as a paid advocate in any parliamentary proceedings.

Mr McCartney was unavailable for comment.