Kiwis want cigarettes banned by 2020

Half the nation, including smokers, support completely banning cigarettes within 10 years, a study has found.
The 2008 Health and Lifestyles Survey compiled nationwide interviews from the Health Sponsorship Council of 1608 people, including 422 smokers, and has just been published in the NZ Medical Journal.
It found 49.8% of people agreed cigarettes should no longer be sold in New Zealand in 10 years, 30.3% disagreed and 19.9% neither agreed nor disagreed. Of the smokers surveyed, 26.2% agreed and 55.3% disagreed.
The study also showed public support for plain, unbranded cigarette packets and fewer tobacco retailers.
Pacific Islanders, in particular, showed strong support for the measures.
One of the study's authors, Dr George Thomson, from the University of Otago, Wellington, called on the Government to take action.
"There's now a need for politicians to embrace and act on the idea of a foreseeable and planned end to tobacco sales through a predicable timetable by 2020. The public wants more defined action to reduce smoking, and not a series of incremental steps."

GFD, Andersen Firefighters Join To Put Out Big Yigo Grass Fire

GFD Spokesman Joey San Nicolas says no homes had to be evacuated and no one was injured, but the flames consumed more than 5 acres of brush before it was finally extinguished about 2pm.
GFD engines 4 and 10 from Dededo and Yigo responded to the fire and GFD requested support from Andersen Air Force Base which, according to a release, dispatched 16 firefighters, two medics, three Security Forces Squadron personnel and one Navy helicopter to help put out the fire.
GFD's San Nicolas reminds residents that this is the dry season, and people should be cautious, and not thrown lit cigarettes out of their windows as well as avoid burning waste in their yards.
“Emergencies aren’t pre-planned events,” said Joey San Nicolas, Fire Service Specialist with Guam Fire Department. “Mutual aid is critical and today’s event highlights a long history the base and GFD have of working together.”

Fall in supply of illegal cigarettes

THERE was a significant drop in the number of contraband cigarettes seized in 2009 compared to 2008.
Singapore Customs (SC) seized 2.9 million duty-unpaid cigarettes in 2009 - almost 40 per cent less than the 4.6 million in 2008.
SC also observed that syndicates distributing contraband cigarettes had to resort to more elaborate and cunning methods of concealing their contraband goods.
These syndicates also brought in smaller quantities of illegal cigarette supplies to minimise chances of detection.
This was a stark contrast to tactics used in 2008.
Examples of more elaborate methods of concealment encountered in 2009 include hiding the illegal goods within plastic film rolls and cementing pockets of cigarettes into concrete slabs.
In 2009, SC successfully crippled three major contraband cigarettes smuggling syndicates - two in January 2009 and one in December 2009.
Thirteen members from these groups were arrested and prosecuted.
The eradication of the larger players in the black market resulted in a cut in illegal cigarette supplies to the local market.
The price difference between legitimate cigarettes and duty-unpaid cigarettes in the region remain high, and so international syndicates still find it lucrative to take advantage of the large price gaps to continue illegal distribution of contraband cigarettes to Singapore.
SC says it will maintain its vigilance and continue with enforcement efforts to eradicate such organised crimes.

Cigarette tax hike could lead to more smuggling

A recent increase in the private consumption tax (ÖTV) on cigarettes may lead to more cigarettes being smuggled into Turkey from neighboring regions and a consequent drop in the country's tax revenues.According to the corporate relations director of British American Tobacco, Tuna Turagay, speaking to the Anatolia news agency, the recent ÖTV hike has scared tobacco producers, as it may create further incentive to smuggle cigarettes from neighboring countries. While a pack of cigarettes costs TL 7 in Turkey (3.3 euros), it costs 1.13 euros in Syria and about 1 euro in Turkey's eastern neighbors. In Western European nations such as France, Spain, England and Germany, a pack of cigarettes ranges from 3.75 euros to 6.9 euros in England.
The share of smuggled cigarettes in total cigarette consumption in Turkey was 7 percent in 2007, meaning a tax revenue loss of $1 billion. This share is 27 percent in England “despite the fact that it is an island nation,” said Turagay. If Turkey were to have a similar percentage of smuggled cigarettes, the amount of tax revenue lost could be over $4 billion. He added that smuggled cigarettes make up 50 percent of the total in Quebec, Canada, and 36 percent in Malaysia, due partly to high prices of cigarettes in these areas. Turagay revealed that this figure was as high as 20 percent in eastern regions of Turkey and that they feared smuggling would spread into larger metropolitan cities such as Ankara and İstanbul.
Turagay also stated that these price increases would hurt the poor the most, noting that before the ÖTV hike, a smoker would spend 19 percent of the minimum wage on cigarette consumption, while this would swell to 23 percent with the tax increase. “It’s not easy for everyone to stop smoking, and with wages as they are, it’s much more attractive to consume smuggled goods. This is our main concern,” said Turagay.
Turagay called on the government and the cigarette industry to work hand-in-hand to address this issue and stated that the public should be informed about the risks involved in buying smuggled cigarettes. Recalling that every pack of cigarettes is approved by the Tobacco and Alcohol Market Regulatory Agency (TAPDK) before being put on the shelves, he said: “Smuggled cigarettes are not approved or tested by any agency [in Turkey]. This is risky for consumers. Therefore, the government, the private sector and the public need to fight this problem together.”

Smoking Everywhere Electronic Cigarettes Defeats the FDA

Due to the efforts of Smoking Everywhere, Inc., American consumers will continue to have access to an electronic cigarette.
On January 14, 2010, Federal Court Judge Richard Leon ruled in favor of Smoking Everywhere, Inc., the industry leader who brought suit against the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Smoking Everywhere's contention was that it was unlawful to prevent the continued import of electronic cigarettes into the United States, something which the FDA believed was within its power to do.
“This is a huge victory for the American consumer,” said Smoking Everywhere's Vice President Ray Story. “Now this product will be readily available, just like conventional cigarettes. Consumers will be able to purchase the electronic cigarette as a smoking alternative, wherever they can find conventional cigarettes.”
Story said that because the electronic cigarette doesn't use tobacco and, therefore, has no carcinogens, tar, and “thousands” of other harmful chemicals, there is no second or third-hand smoke, which statistics say kills about 15,000 people annually.
Story openly theorized why the FDA would be against the import of such a product.
“My guess is that it has something to do with ‘big tobacco' ruling the roost,” he said.
Smoking Everywhere is the largest retailer of the electronic cigarette, a product that's been available for over three years. Story said his company has been a retailer for about a year, but the FDA's import ban took up about nine months of that time, limiting the product's availability.
The electronic cigarette delivers nicotine, but none of the other major harmful ingredients in cigarettes, not the least of which is the presence of the deadly second and third-hand smoke. And there's another way the product will save lives, according to Story.
“Texas has a law that went into effect on January 1 that mandates that all cigarettes sold in the state must be ‘fire safe compliant', or FSC,” Story said. “In other words, an FSC cigarette must be designed to go out if it's not being actively smoked, reducing the risk of an accidental fire. Smoking Everywhere's electronic cigarette can be smoked without being a fire hazard,” he added.
Story said that with Judge Leon's decision being rendered, his company will quickly begin to broker agreements with major chains and department stores in the United States to begin carrying the electronic cigarette.
“We should be good to go by the second quarter of this year,” Story said of the presence of electronic cigarettes in major retail outlets.

On top of old smokey

Stroll with me, if you will, down memory lane all the way back to December of 1996 when I was nearly eighteen and feeling quite rebellious. You see, I'd spent years being a goody-two shoes, church-going teenager, and I was ready to break the shackles and live it up.
My parents had friends visiting from the UK, and one of them had bought a carton of cigarettes - Benson and Hedges Special Filter - and in the folly of my youth I decided that smoking would be a great way to make me appear cooler than I actually was. So I stole a packet from the carton and lit my very first smoke.
Twelve years later, I was still puffing away - in fact by that stage I was close to a pack-a-day smoker. I loved smoking, I was good at it, and it pretty much ruled my life. Smoking was my best buddy... oh the laughs we would have!
Then, a year ago today I smoked my last cigarette.
I woke up on the morning on January 18, 2009, and decided that the last cigarette in the packet would be my last cigarette full stop. And it was.
I'd finally had enough of stinking like ciggies, and feeling crap when I woke up. I didn't like the idea that smoking had such control over me, and of course I was frightened of the long-term effects on my health.
Looking back on the entry I wrote at the time of giving up it's obvious I wasn't entirely confident I'd be able to see this quitting thing through, so sitting here a year later, still smoke-free, makes me feel quite proud that I've managed to stay off the ciggies.
Don't worry, I'm not going to get on my high horse about smoking - there's not much worse than an ex-smoker suddenly getting all self-righteous and up in the grills of their friends who still smoke. Sure, I'm pleased I quit, but if you want to carry on smoking then go for it. I might even be a wee bit jealous of you.
Really, I just wanted to take a moment to stop and smell the roses (now that I can) and say "Woo! Look at me! I managed to quit smoking and it's been a whole year since my last cigarette."
Quitting is hard - and anyone who has never smoked really cannot understand what it's like to be addicted and try to break that habit. If you are thinking of quitting, I have just this one piece of advice for you. Wait until you're ready. If you quit because you feel like you should, rather than because you want to, you'll pick up another cigarette and then feel like a failure. You'll know when the time is right, and no one else can make that decision for you.
Have you ever smoked and managed to quit? If so, do you have any words of advice or encouragement for those who are considering giving up? What about those of you who don't smoke - what do you make of friends and family who do?

Tobacco tax hike could backfire

Should they turn their gaze northward, state legislators looking to increase tobacco taxes by as much as $1 per pack will discover a cautionary tale.
One recent report out of Canada suggests that 48 percent of cigarettes consumed in Ontario, for example, come from smuggling — a rate that has increased and decreased with excise tax rates.
Our own research indicates that, if the $1-per-pack tax increase is adopted in Washington, the state’s cigarette smuggling rate will leap to more than 50 percent of the total market, along with other very expensive unintended consequences.
As recently as 1980, cigarette tax rates in Canada were in the same range as in most U.S. states. In a book published in 2000, “Tobacco Control in Developing Countries,” several economists describe how this changed beginning in the early 1980s. By 1994, Canadian federal and provincial cigarette taxes had been increased to “more than five times the U.S. average.”
As a result, smuggling accounted for 30 percent of the market by 1993. To combat this, Canada’s federal government (and some provinces) slashed cigarette tax rates in 1994. As predicted, legal sales rose dramatically and “the overall smuggling problem all but disappeared.”
The economics lesson didn’t stick, however. By 1998, Canada’s politicians were once again increasing cigarette taxes, widening the gap between their rates and most American taxing jurisdictions. As a result, Canada began experiencing renewed and rampant cigarette smuggling.
In March 2009, the Center for Public Integrity described Canada as having “a runaway black market,” complete with brazen heists from tobacco farmers, mobster- and gang-related crime, and even violence against police.
Of course, these unintended consequences are not limited to Canada. Examples of theft, violence and organized crime involvement in the illicit cigarette trade are reported with great frequency here in the United States, too.
In December 2008 we published a study with colleague Patrick Fleenor, titled “titled “Cigarette Taxes and Smuggling: A Statistical Analysis and Historical Review,” designed to measure the smuggling rates of 47 contiguous states. We recently updated the model to include changes to the Federal Excise Tax.
Based on that model, we believe that hiking taxes $1 per pack will lead to a leap in the total smuggling rate in Washington from 39.3 percent to 51.5 percent. That is, 51.5 percent of the cigarettes smoked in the state of Washington will be contraband.
We also expect legal paid sales to drop by at least 20 percent over 12 months following the tax hike, but as a direct result of smuggling, not from people quitting smoking. Research shows that as much as 85 percent of the after tax-increase change in cigarette sales is a function of tax avoidance — as opposed to smoking avoidance. The smuggling will occur in two major forms: casual and commercial.
Casual smuggling typically involves individual bargain hunters shopping for themselves or perhaps a friend over the state border or perhaps on the Internet.
Commercial smuggling involves large-scale organizations that ship semi-tractor trailers and vans long distances and maintain complex distribution systems.
Our estimates indicate that nearly 30 percent of the smuggling will come from these commercial haulers. It’s worth noting that some of the trailers are actually hijacked from underneath legitimate truckers themselves.
Anyone familiar with the history of alcohol prohibition knows that much of the booze consumed in the states then was brought in illegally from Canada. Today’s policymakers are engaging in a form of “prohibition by price” — making cigarettes effectively illegal by raising their costs — so we’re reliving many of the unintended consequences of that era.
Consider some parallels: violence against police, corruption of law enforcement, the sale of adulterated products manufacturerd by illegal producers (“bathtub smokes,” anyone?), smuggling, theft, hijacking, expansion of organized crime syndicates and even the sale of “loosies” – cigarettes illegally sold one stick at a time. (During Prohibition, men would sell single shots of whiskey to factory workers leaving manufacturing plants in the Detroit area.)
If state lawmakers wish to hike cigarette taxes, they must do so with the knowledge that the new rate is likely to generate a fraction of the new revenues they suspect and much more in the way of crime.
Today’s cigarette smuggling issues — on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border — are the product of an addiction: Politicians addicted to the tax revenue generated by the sale of a legal product that people want.
Michael D. LaFaive is director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a research and educational institute headquartered in Midland, Mich. Todd Nesbit is a Penn State economist and Mackinac Center adjunct scholar.

Tobacco rivals lobby for smokeless tobacco

The pursuit of a reduced-risk niche for smokeless-tobacco products has put archrivals Reynolds American Inc. and Philip Morris USA on the same lobbying path.
It's not likely the manufacturers will collaborate on their efforts to convince the Food and Drug Administration to position smokeless tobacco as part of a potential middle ground between cigarettes and nicotine-cessation products such as gum and patches.
In recent years, the manufacturers have bought their way into highly competitive marketplace positions in moist snuff.
Reynolds is considered as the industry leader in innovative smokeless products, while Philip Morris is dipping its toes with Marlboro Snus in test markets.
Still, having the top two U.S. cigarette companies pushing for regulatory changes may lend itself to more clout together than either could get on its own.
"This is truly historic, as the largest tobacco companies are now advocating regulatory policies to reduce cigarette consumption, disease and death," said Bill Godshall, the executive director of SmokeFree Pennsylvania. The group is among the leading advocates for promoting smokeless products as a less-harmful alternative to cigarettes.
"I'm extremely pleased they've decided to prioritize consumer health over short-term cigarette revenue and profit."

Tenn. Attorney General Sues Cigarette Manufacturer

Tennessee's attorney general is seeking an injunction that would require a Colombian cigarette manufacturer to make back payments of $300,000 to the state and pay penalties.
According to a news release from Attorney General Bob Cooper's office, Procesadora Nacional Cigarillera, or Pronalci, is required by law to make payments into an escrow account for all cigarettes sold in Tennessee. The money is to cover the health care costs incurred by the state to treat smokers in Tennessee.The lawsuit states the unpaid fees are from cigarettes sold in Tennessee in 2009.

Connecticut going after online cigarette buyers

Connecticut officials are going after more than 900 state residents who bought cigarettes on the Internet but didn't pay state sales taxes as required by law.
The Department of Revenue Services announced Thursday that it mailed sales tax bills to 928 people this week, based on information provided under federal law by companies that sell cigarettes online.
The state's cigarette tax jumped from $2 to $3 a pack on Oct. 1 as state officials sought to boost revenue because of the state budget deficit. Connecticut's cigarette tax is the second highest in the country, after Rhode Island's $3.46 per pack tax.
The bills mailed this week are for sales tax and interest owed for online cigarette purchases made between 2007 and 2008.

Cigarette Tax Increase?

Next year smokers might be paying even more for cigarettes.
Governor Mark Parkinson is considering a tax increase for a pack of cigarettes. The increase might help healthcare or plug holes in the state budget.
Currently, the state's cigarette tax is 79 cents a pack. The tax was last raised in 2002, when lawmakers used the new revenues to plug budget holes. Since then, they've resisted further increases to raise money for health programs.