Some smokers have not learned about respect

Stop smoking signs are now part of our everyday lives and for the most part, people obey them. What I have noticed of late is the blatant disregard smokers seem to have for them; especially so in the places they should have the most effect. I went to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital today (Monday) with my wife and entered the front door. I noticed the grounds out front were filled with 'No Smoking' signs.

What stuck out to both my wife and I was the volume of people sitting or standing in front of those very signs smoking. Not one or two people but dozens. I guess I get it on streets, parks and large open spaces where smokers need to get their fix; but within feet of the front door of a hospital. I love a good irony now and then, but this is ridiculous. I note that large Vancouver Island Health Authority facilities have security guards.

Those guards should be given the authority to hand out fines, confiscate smokes and get people out of no smoking areas. The gauntlet my wife and I had to run to get from our car to the front entrance to the hospital was no less than 150 feet. It reminded me of the early days of the smoking ban in bars and restaurants; you'd have to hold your breath for the last 100 feet till you actually got inside. Obviously I'm a non-smoker; always have been and always will. But either enforce the laws, or at least take down the signs so it's not a constant reminder that people just don't care about my health even if they don't care about their own.

Health: The harmful additives in tobacco

European countries on Thursday launched websites informing the public about additives used by the tobacco industry to make cigarettes more attractive. These substances are harmful to health. After all, the more cigarettes they smoke, the more smokers are exposed to toxic substances, the Department of Information said. The initiative is the brainchild of the RIVM and the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) and the aim is to provide European citizens with objective information about additives, such as how they work and their impact on health.

The sites in each of these European countries provide details of 14 specific additives that tobacco companies add to cigarettes. They include glycerine, sugars, cellulose, liquorice, cocoa, menthol and vanilla. The additives are intentionally mixed with tobacco to make the cigarettes more attractive. These added substances make cigarettes more attractive to smokers who have only recently taken up the habit, so they encourage people to smoke more. As a result, these additives have a substantial impact on public health.

This is because smoking is a major factor in the development of lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and respiratory diseases. In Europe, nearly 700,000 people die each year from the effects of smoking. Vanilla, one of the most commonly used additives in cigarettes, is also one of the most popular flavours in the world. This is no coincidence. Tobacco manufacturers deliberately add vanilla flavouring to tobacco, cigarette paper, or filters. Burning vanilla is known to release a range of different chemicals, including substances which have been classified as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Vanilla also inflicts damage indirectly, because by masking the sharp taste of cigarette smoke it makes smoking more attractive. Most people do not realize that vanilla and dozens of other substances are added to cigarettes to improve their taste. The countries involved in the partnership are The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Estonia, Malta, Austria, the United Kingdom, Norway, France, Finland, Turkey and Switzerland.

Australia Says ‘Big Tobacco’ Will Try to Skirt Plain-Pack Law

Australia’s government said it expects cigarette makers to try to skirt a branding ban due to start Dec. 1, after Imperial Tobacco Group Plc. (IMT) released new packs with the slogan “It’s what’s on the inside that counts.” “We know that Big Tobacco will use every trick in the book to try and get around the new requirements,” Tanya Plibersek, health minister, said in an e-mailed statement. The ministry will foil such efforts by monitoring packaging elements including gloss and tone while poring over marks, she said.

Under the rules, cigarette packages won’t be allowed to show company logos and will have to use a uniform font on an olive-brown background, with graphic health warnings covering most of the packets. Major retailers will receive the first deliveries of new plain packages this week, she said, with the manufacture of old-style packs banned from Oct. 1 and stores barred from selling them after Dec. 1. Imperial Tobacco’s changes to its Peter Stuyvesant brand packaging was intended to “provide factual information about upcoming legislative changes,” Michelle Park, a Sydney-based spokeswoman for the company, said by e-mail.

“It is also important to inform our adult consumers that the product itself will remain unchanged.” The Imperial Tobacco packaging was a “sick joke,” Plibersek said. “Diseased lungs, hearts and arteries are the reality of what is happening on the inside to a smoker.”

Philip Morris loses Norway tobacco bid

Following in the footsteps of several other countries such as Ireland and Iceland, Norway in 2010 banned the display of cigarettes in stores in an attempt to cut impulse buys of tobacco products. Cigarettes were banished to closed cases and cigarette dispensers do not show brand labels. Philip Morris argued in a lawsuit filed in June that the ban violates European competition rules and would not lead to a reduction in the number of smokers, but an Oslo court rejected the complaint.

"There is no clear proof that the display ban will not contribute to a future reduction of tobacco consumption in Norway," the court said in its ruling. "The court is therefore of the opinion that the measure is appropriate in order to preserve the nation's health," it added. However a spokeswoman for the company that makes Marlboro and L&M cigarettes said they planned to appeal the ruling.

The display ban "restricts information about a legal product, restricts competition, and makes it hard for us to introduce new products into the market, said Anne Edwards, Director of External Communications for Philip Morris International.

Philip Morris loses tobacco battle

The tobacco giant today lost its attempt to get tobacco and snuff visibly on sale again in Norway after Oslo District Court ruled there had been no breach of the EEA agreement. Communications Director for Philip Morris Nordan Helland released a statement revealing how the company is “disappointed with the court's decision and are considering our options for appeal."

The company, which attempted to sue the Norwegian state alleging concealing tobacco products contravenes competition law, also claims that smuggling has increased while consumption remains the same as a result of Norway not having tobacco on display. “We still believe that visibility prohibition does not provide health benefits, and that wed to presenting legal goods in Norway should be allowed,” NRK reports Mr Helland as saying.

Norwegian researchers argue the veto, which came into force on 01 January 2010, has led to fewer smokers and a reduction in tobacco sales. In the same year, a leaked proposal by the Ministry of Health and Care suggested allocating 19 million kroner towards a mass media campaign against smoking for reasons of public health. Government officials also wanted to tighten Norway’s anti-smoking law further. An aggressive campaign was launched at the beginning of 2012.

Many Norwegian companies have failed in their desire to completely ban smoking at work. General secretary of the Cancer Association Anne Lise Ryel told NTB she is pleased with today's decision by the court to allow Norway to keep tobacco out of sight. “The result was what we had hoped and believed. We are incredibly happy that it must be possible for the authorities to take account of public health as has been done with the ban.

The outcome in the District Court is also extremely important in the fight against the use of tobacco products globally.” Research director Karl Erik Lund at Norway’s Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research (Sirius), who testified as an expert witness for the state, declared about today's court decision that, “This verdict sends a signal that it's possible to win over the mighty tobacco industry,"

259 penalised in Sangrur under Tobacco Act last month

In an attempt to make Sangrur district tobacco-free, health officials imposed a fine on 259 persons, including kiosk owners, for violating the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act last month. The health department collected a fine of around Rs. 20,000 from the defaulters.

Chairing a monthly review meeting on Friday, deputy commissioner Kumar Rahul sought a detailed report on the action taken by the health department to check violations of the Act. The DC asked officials to ensure that anti-tobacco warning boards are installed in all public offices.

 "We are ensuring that challan books are issued to all gazetted officers to tighten the noose on the violators. The heads of NGOs and government schools have also been issued challan books," he said.

Hamilton gets praise for fighting contraband tobacco

The Ontario Convenience Stores Association is praising Hamilton city council for unanimously passing a motion against contraband tobacco. The motion requests that Hamilton's mayor write a letter encouraging the finance ministry to follow through on promises to increase resources in the fight against illegal tobacco.

Association CEO Dave Bryans says contraband tobacco usage is particularly troubling in the Hamilton area. Bryans says RCMP have made major seizures in the area recently.