Smokers' children suffer long-term

Children exposed to their parents' cigarette smoke are at greater risk of suffering serious cardiovascular health problems later in life, a study showed Wednesday. The Menzies Research Institute in Tasmania collected data from a Finnish and Australian study following children first examined 20 years ago who are now aged in their mid-30s. It found that those exposed to passive smoke as youngsters have less elasticity in their arteries, an indicator of poor cardiovascular health. Study author and Menzies Research fellow Seana Gall said while it has been previously known that passive smoke was harmful, this was the world's first examination on the long-term effects on blood vessel health. "We looked at blood vessel elasticity by measuring the ability of an artery in the arm to expand and contract," she said.

 "We found that people who had been exposed to parental smoking when they were children had less elastic arteries, an early indicator of poor cardiovascular health." Gall added that it was not explained by the participants' own smoking habits. "The effect was seen up to 27 years later, suggesting a long-term and irreversible effect of passive smoking in childhood on the health of arteries," she said. "The chemicals in cigarette smoke interact with the lining of the blood vessels and that seems to be causing an inability of them to expand and contract properly."

 The World Health Organization estimates that about 40 percent of the world's children are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke at home, with 600,000 deaths annually caused by passive smoking. "The highest prevalence of smoking is still seen in those age groups that correspond with people first becoming parents, so that's still a concern and we'd want to get the prevalence down in those groups particularly," said Gall.

Jagannath Temple employees to be penalised for tobacco use

To ensure cleanliness in the 12th century shrine at Puri, the Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has decided to punish its employees found smoking or chewing tobacco inside the complex. "The employees found violating the rule will have to forgo a day's salary", a notification issued by SJTA yesterday said. The new chief administrator Arabinda Padhee said the temple must be clean. During inspection he found people spitting at different places in the temple premises.

"Padhee was informed that the employees of SJTA created all nuisance in the temple. The devotees hardly spit in temple premises", an official said. Though there was a standing instruction to punish persons spitting inside the temple, it could hardly be implemented as employees were involved. Earlier, the provision of Rs 100 penalty could not stop the practise, they said.

How Best to Smother Sales of Contraband Cigarettes

Government efforts to tax cigarettes in Canada can have unintended consequences for tax revenues and the supply of contraband cigarettes, according to a report released today by the C.D. Howe Institute. In "A Taxing Dilemma: Assessing the Impact of Tax and Price Changes on the Tobacco Market," Concordia University economists Ian Irvine and William Sims assess the effect of tax policy on tobacco use and, in particular, on prices and consumer choice between illegal and legal cigarettes. Sales of contraband cigarettes in Canada constitute a sizable component of the tobacco market, note the authors.

This illegal trade is associated with a loss in tax revenue and an array of illicit activities that involve gangs and organized crime. Concerned Canadians have called for action: some have urged governments to lower tobacco taxes in the belief that lower relative prices for the legal product would induce smokers to switch away from illegal to legal cigarettes, perhaps increasing tax revenues.

 To assess the impact of different policy approaches to the problem, the authors model consumer choices under four policy scenarios: (i) decreasing taxes on the legal product; (ii) boosting the price of the illegal product through an intensified crackdown; (iii) a combination of (i) and (ii); and (iv) decreasing the price of discount cigarettes closer to that of the contraband product.

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Russian cigarette packs to bear graphic images

Images including one of blackened lungs will be on cigarette packs in Russia starting in 2013 to emphasize the health impacts of smoking, officials said Friday. The Health and Social Development Ministry said the 13 graphic images will be accompanied by warnings about impacts of smoking, including periodontitis and erectile dysfunction, RIA Novosti reported. The images and new warnings will begin appearing in May 2013.

 Cigarette packs in Russia now carry only written warnings. The World Health Organization's Global Adult Tobacco Survey in 2007 found Russia led the world in smoking, with more than 39 percent of the adult population, or 43.9 million people, using tobacco, acting Health and Social Development Minister Tatiana Golikova said.

 Golikova said smoking kills about 400,000 Russians a year. An anti-smoking campaign in Russia is to include stricter rules on smoking in public places and higher taxes on cigarettes.

Philip Morris Intl. Stock Can Puff To $98

Free tobacco and cigarettes article: www.freetobacco.info

One of the biggest concerns facing investors regarding the tobacco companies is falling cigarette consumption, and so they hence are skeptical to assign much if any growth to these companies. A closer look at Philip Morris International however points to a robust economic model and sound cash flow generating ability. The stock has climbed more than 12% in 2012 so far, and we believe there is more to come. Philip Morris International competes with tobacco majors like British America Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco Group, among others. We have a $98.70 price estimate for Philip Morris International, which is about 10% higher than the market price.
  Strategy for Europe

 Tobacco companies have been raising the prices of cigarettes periodically in Europe to make up for the declining volumes. It’s easy to justify the price increases by blaming the governments and rising input costs. Moreover, the company doesn’t necessarily lose from declining cigarette volumes. Since the value of excise taxes are fixed for a pack of cigarettes (rather than a percentage of selling price), raising the selling prices increases the net revenue per cigarette pack (i.e. revenue – excise taxes) for the company. Besides, declining cigarette volumes could not stop the company from posting growth in overall net revenues. In 2011, the net revenues for the European region grew 4.6% to $9.2 billion. Even in Q1 2012, net revenues rose 2.5% y-0-y.
  Asian Markets Carry Growth

Unlike in Europe, demand for cigarettes in other Asian countries is actually showing positive growth buoyed by rising incomes and cigarettes as an integral part of people’s lifestyle. Some of the biggest markets for the company outside Europe are Indonesia, Japan and South Korea. In 2011, Asia displaced Europe as the biggest revenue contributing region.

Bloodtest flags kids' exposure to cigarettes

More than half the children who took part in a study on exposure to cigarette smoke tested positive for such exposure, despite only a few of the parents admitting to lighting up, according to a U.S. study. Parents may think their children are exposed only if they're around someone actively smoking a cigarette, or unaware of where else their children may be breathing in smoke - but a blood test may help identify and reduce smoke exposure, said researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.

 Secondhand-smoke exposure in children has been tied to sudden infant death syndrome, respiratory problems, ear infections and asthma. "What the test does is allow the doctor, in consultation with the parent, to figure out the source of exposure and then to eliminate it," said Jonathan Winickoff of Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston. Winickoff, who co-wrote an editorial accompanying the study in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, told Reuters the test can also identify if a child is exposed to smoke without the parent realizing it, such as by living in an apartment building where smoking is allowed. The researchers tested 496 blood samples left over from children, most ages one to four, to determine how many of them were exposed to secondhand smoke. The blood samples were initially taken at San Francisco General Hospital to test for lead exposure between November 2009 and March 2010.

 The researchers tested the blood for cotinine, a chemical produced by the body after it is exposed to nicotine. Overall, 55 per cent of the blood samples had a measurable amount of cotinine, which meant those children had been exposed to smoke within the previous three to four days. Only 13 per cent of parents admitted that their child had been exposed to secondhand smoke. "Parents do not understand the various sources of potential exposure," said Neal Benowitz, one of the study's co-authors. The researchers reported that some parents may also believe a child has to be around someone who is smoking to be exposed - but that is not the case. For example, children still get the effects of secondhand smoke if they spend time in a room where someone recently smoked.

Tobacco: Protect our children

Tobacco articles: www.tobacco-news.net
THE vast majority of people in the North-East – 85 per cent – believe children should not be exposed to any tobacco marketing, according to a survey. Eight in ten of those surveyed in the region think that tobacco marketing is harmful to children, and two-thirds (66 per cent) said that the colourful branding, striking logos and distinctive packet designs make cigarettes more appealing to children. Cancer Research UK has released the survey results as the Government consults on whether to put all tobacco in packs of uniform size, shape and design, with large health warnings front and back.

The charity is championing the call to protect children from tobacco marketing through a hardhitting campaign called The Answer is Plain. People across the North-East are being urged to sign the campaign petition for all branding to be removed from tobacco packaging at theanswerisplain.org Cancer Research UK believes that plain, unbranded packaging is needed to reduce the appeal of tobacco products to children and give the region’s young people one less reason to start smoking. Paul Wadsworth, Cancer Research UK’s spokesman for the North-East, said: “This is not about ‘the nanny state’. This is about us as a society saying that it is wrong for tobacco a product that kills half of all its long-term users – to be marketed to children as though it was a bag of sweets.”