Chinese resist campaign to stub out cigarettes at weddings

HEALTH EXPERTS and tobacco control officers in China have started pushing the notion of tobacco-free weddings as part of the country’s anti-smoking drive, but are struggling to convince people not to light up at wedding parties.

About 300 million adults in China smoke and 540 million people of all ages are affected by second-hand smoke, according to industry estimates quoted by the Xinhua news agency.

More than half of Chinese men smoke (including almost half of all male doctors) and 2.4 per cent of women, although that figure is rising.

The smoking ban introduced by the health ministry in March has been fairly successful.

It is remarkable to notice how China has been transformed almost overnight from a place clouded in cigarette smoke into a relatively smoke-free environment.

However, as smoking is so much a part of the cultural norm, it is proving difficult to get people not to light up at weddings.

At a typical wedding, each place setting is completed with a packet of cigarettes alongside a bottle of baijiu (white spirit).

The bride moves through the tables, lighting up the cigarettes of male guests and pouring a shot of baijiu.

“Prohibiting smoking in wedding receptions is an effective way of raising public awareness,” Lu Yajuan, the head of the tobacco control project for Shanghai’s disease control and prevention centre, told Xinhua.

Mr Lu said the centre started to recruit volunteer couples-to-be early this year to hold tobacco-free weddings, but just a few of the 200 couples it reached promised to hold non-smoking ceremonies.

“So there remains a lot to do to make tobacco-free weddings a popular practice in our country.”

A big problem is that while young couples were aware of the dangers of smoking and backed anti-smoking rules, their parents were less enthusiastic, and few couples wanted to have tobacco-free weddings as they were worried about losing face or alienating their parents.

In just two cases were receptions held without cigarettes: one in Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province, where the couple donated the 2,800 yuan (€330) saved to a charity for children, and the other in Zhaoyuan in Shandong province.

Suspect wanted for stealing cigarettes

Chesapeake police are asking for the public's assistance in locating a suspect wanted for stealing from convenience stores.

Police said on September 11, a suspect entered a convenience store located in the 3900 block of Portsmouth Boulevard and removed several cartons of cigarettes from the counter without paying for them.

On September 14, police said a similar incident occurred at another convenience store located in the 2900 block of Yadkin Road.

In both incidents, the suspect was seen leaving in a white 4-door Hyundai.

HPV More Dangerous Than Cigarettes in Throat Cancer

HPV, the same virus known to cause cervical cancer in women, may be more harmful in the development of throat cancer than cigarettes. According to a study published yesterday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers found a sharp increase in HPV related throat tumors over the last 20 years (1984-2004). Researchers examined 271 tissue samples from throat tumors that were collected over 20 years and discovered that 16 percent of older tissues samples tested positive for HPV, while 72 percent of recent samples were HPV positive.

How Does HPV Cause Throat Cancer? Why the Increase?

HPV is spread through sexual, skin-to-skin contact. Contrary to popular belief, no intercourse in necessary for the virus to be transmitted. Researchers believe the increase of HPV-postive throat cancers is related to oral sex, a sexual practice that has increased over the past two decades. The number of people infected with HPV has likely risen, as well. The change in sexual behavior combined with the increasing number of HPV infected people is why we are seeing this increase.

Research focusing on HPV related throat cancer is not a new concept, but these findings, showing such a drastic increase are paramount. In light of the the new findings, HPV surpasses tobacco as the primary cause for throat cancer.

Shops are warned over cigarette sale

CALDERDALE businesses have been reminded it will be illegal to sell tobacco products from vending machines from October 1.

The change is the first of several being made to the way tobacco products are to be sold in England, including limited circumstances where tobacco products can be legally displayed with effect from 6 April 2012.

The Government wants to drive down the prevalence of smoking, particularly the sale of tobacco products to underage smokers, over the next five years.

As part of the drive, West Yorkshire Trading Standards carried out a week of test purchasing from cigarette vending machines in pubs and hotels.

Out of the 38 premises visited, 63 per cent were non-compliant with underage sales laws and on only three occasions was the test purchaser challenged and a sale prevented.

Current legislation makes it an offence to sell tobacco products to persons under the age of 18, including from a vending machine.

Graham Hebblethwaite, Chief Officer of West Yorkshire Trading Standards, said: “There is a big change in the law in this area and will effectively ban the sale of cigarettes from vending machines. Premises with a cigarette machine will need to take steps in the next three weeks to ensure they comply with the new law. We will be undertaking some test purchase visits, in the forthcoming months to check compliance.”

Calderdale councillor Conrad Winterburn (Lib-Dem, Greetland and Stainland) , deputy chairman of the Trading Standards Committee, said: “This law will remove one of children’s favourite supply lines for cigarettes, and, in turn will help to improve the health of young people.”

Cigarette sale sparks St. John's arrest

Police in St. John's believe they solved a gas station break-in and theft quickly early Monday thanks to video surveillance footage and a tip from the public saying a man was trying to sell cigarettes by the carton downtown.

They put that anonymous call together with video from shortly after midnight which showed a couple of people breaking into the Esso station on Kenmount Road and taking a large quantity of cigarettes.

The result: a man, 30, and a woman, 36, were arrested.

Police seized their van and recovered Vogue cigarettes, but they're not saying how many cartons were stolen.

The man and woman are facing charges of breaches of court orders and public mischief. Both were scheduled to make a court appearance Monday.

Big tobacco uses The Castle in legal blue

BIG tobacco says the federal government's plan to ban company branding on cigarette packs is as unjust as the commonwealth's attempt to acquire Darryl Kerrigan's home in the Australian film The Castle.
British American Tobacco Australia has told a Senate inquiry that Labor's plain-packaging legislation is badly drafted and unfair.
Top silk Allan Myers QC said the draft laws would "extinguish the most valuable uses of trademarks" without compensation.
"If the parliament wants to enact plain-packaging legislation, it's pretty simple - they face up to the fact that they're taking people's property away and pay for it," Mr Myers told the committee hearing in Canberra.
"The trademark in a broad sense is being appropriated for the benefit of the commonwealth.
"The acquisition of property simply doesn't refer to marching in and taking someone's house like in The Castle or some film."
But other legal experts, including officials from the attorney-general's and health departments, disagree.
Melbourne University law professor Simon Evans essentially told Mr Myers he was dreaming.
Prof Evans agreed trademarks were considered property under section 51(xxxi) of the constitution and they could not be acquired without just compensation.
But he argued the commonwealth was not acquiring the brands but rather restricting their use.
Prof Evans also drew on Darryl Kerrigan's fictional battle to make his point.
"It's not like The Castle where the commonwealth gets the benefit of the house in order to operate the airport," the academic said.
"On current authority there is very little prospect that the High Court would conclude that the plain-packaging legislation effects an acquisition of those property rights."
Prof Evans said there was "very little risk" big tobacco would win a High Court challenge because there was no transfer of property and the government would not use the trade mark.
Health department general counsel Chris Reid agreed.
"The department is quite confident here that there would not be an acquisition of property," he said.
Australian National University law professor Matthew Rimmer told Tuesday's hearing the same argument applied in relation to international intellectual property rights agreements.
The Gillard government wants all cigarettes to be sold in drab olive-brown packs from mid-2012.
It has two bills before parliament to make that happen: the main legislation and an associated bill to amend the Trade Marks Act.
Both have already passed the lower house and are expected to sail through the Senate with the support of the Greens.
BATA has said it will challenge the laws, once passed, in court.

Philip Morris International: Attractive, Undervalued Growth Stock

Philip Morris International, Inc. (PM) is a leading cigarette maker that distributes its products outside of the United States. The company was spun off from the Altria Group (MO) in March 2008 in order to avoid the deleterious effects of ongoing legislation against the tobacco industry. For years now, the industry has been a favorite whipping boy for its increasing revenues. I believe the split from Altria Group has already been favorable for PMI and not yet fully appreciated by the market. I further believe that years of aggressive consumer rights lobbying have resulted in the unintended consequence of creating high barriers to entry that deny competition and product improvement.

And yet we still know Philip Morris for its famous brand name cigarettes: Marlboro, Longbeach, L&M, Parliament, and the always sexy Virginia Slims. What we might not be familiar with is that Philip Morris International has carved out a lucrative international market and sells its products entirely outside of the United States. PMI is a $120B market-cap company, while the parent it was spun off from (Philip Morris USA of the Altria Group) is less than half that at $56B.

Since PMI became its own separate company in March 2008, shareholder value has increased by around 39% while the Altria Group has gone up by around 21%. During the same time period, the S&P has been down approximately 12.1%

Several factors are driving value creation for the leading cigarette maker. First, the company sells its products in more than 180 nations with total shipment around $900B for 2010, a 4.1% increase from the preceding year. It sells local brand cigarettes in each country: Sampoerna A, Dji Sam Soe, and Sampoerna Hijau in Indonesia and Optima and Apollo-Soyuz in Russia, to name just a few. Indonesia and Russia make up PMI's largest markets. While local brands help retain a strong marketing appeal, international cigarettes continue to represent a large portion of sales at 70%. The biggest brand-name product, Marlboro, makes up 33% of shipment volume for the company.

In the vast majority of the nations PMI sells to, it is either the number 1 or number 2 producer in terms of market share. Another reason why I am bullish on this stock is because it operates in emerging markets and is gaining a foothold there to lock out competition. While tobacco companies are intensely regulated when it comes to marketing in the United States, they are comparatively lightly regulated abroad. This presents an opportunity for PMI to create loyal customers before the competition does. Philip Morris is in the perfect position now to attract a market that has historically been loyal to first purchase brands.

Moreover, many of the nations the firm markets its products to have emerging economies. Asia, in particular, will drive growth in the future. Philip Morris has a market share of around 16% in the $5.6 trillion international cigarette market. The company is growing in Indonesia, Korea, Colombia, Serbia, the Philippines, among many others.