Tobacco News

It may be hard to believe but it wasn’t that long ago when doctors would tell you smoking tobacco was perfectly healthy. In fact your doctor would probably offer you one, reassuring you that it is relaxing and no bad will come of it. How very wrong they were!

In 1950 two doctors working with the British Medical Research Council, Professor Austin Bradford Hill and Dr Richard Doll, published a paper which shook the scientific community to its core. The findings, which are today undisputed, demonstrated an undeniable association between tobacco and cancer.
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Motley Fool analyst Anand Chokkavelu highlights a possible buying opportunity in tobacco giant Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM).

U.S. investors normally only have two choices when picking up international exposure in individual stocks: ADRs (foreign companies listed on U.S. exchanges) or U.S.-based companies that do a bunch of business in foreign countries, like Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola does well over half its business outside the United States.

If you don’t mind investing in tobacco, Marlboro-maker Philip Morris International offers us a rare third option. Thanks to the 2008 break-up of Altria (NYSE: MO) (U.S. operations) and Philip Morris International (everywhere else), Ream more »

The International Tobacco Growers’ Association (ITGA) has expressed outrage over the devastating impact the latest set of recommendations from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) would have on the jobs and livelihoods of millions of tobacco growers around the world, according to a statement released this week in Dar es Salaam.The statement said draft guidelines of articles 9 & 10 of the FCTC recommend a ban on ingredients used in manufacturing tobacco products. Read more

Out of the 6.8 billion people on this planet, a whopping 1.1 billion consider themselves smokers. And despite what the Surgeon General wants you to believe, that number is rapidly growing. By 2025, an estimated 1.6 billion will be smokers — a 45% increase. Once you drill down to specifics, these stats are even more shocking.The World Bank estimates that between 82,000–99,000 young people start smoking every day — roughly 85% from mid- or low-income countries, specifically in Asia.Unfortunately, this trend isn’t likely to slow down in the foreseeable future. As emerging economies around the world begin to see an expanded middle class, tobacco use skyrockets. Read more

A lobby group of small retailers protesting the Government’s tobacco price hike is receiving public relations support from Imperial Tobacco, the tobacco giant told a select committee last week. Imperial Tobacco is the manufacturer of West cigarettes and Davidoff cigarettes. The Association of Community Retailers (ACR), set up late last month, had earlier rejected suggestions it was backed by tobacco cash and said it was entirely funded from its members. Read more

Cigarette maker Altria Group Inc. plans to raise prices on its U.S. smokeless tobacco brands like Copenhagen, Skoal and Red Seal.For most brands the increase will be 10 cents a can, which cost on average $4.15 each at retail.Bill Phelps, a spokesman for the Richmond, Va., company, said Friday the company is always evaluating its strategies, when asked the reasons for the price increase.Earlier this month, the company’s Philip Morris USA announced it would raise its price of 8 cents a pack on most cigarette brands, such as Marlboro.Packs of Marlboro have an average retail price of $5.42, he said.Stifel Nicolaus analyst Christopher Growe said in a note earlier this week the price increase for cigarettes was above his estimates. Read more

Last week FIA Safety and Technical delegate Charlie Whiting visited the Silverstone circuit to inspect the new Arena complex. The 760 meter long new Arena layout got the official FIA stamp of approval, and last Saturday British F3 driver James Calado, driving for the British Carlin Motorsport team, wrote history when he won the inaugural race on the new Grand Prix circuit layout. The new section starts just before the Abbey chicane, drivers now turn right into Farm Curve, and to the right into Village Corner before entering The Loop, a tight left handed hairpin. Then they turn left into Aintree Corner which leads to the Wellington Straight, and at the end of the straight the Arena complex joins the old circuit again at the existing tight left-handed Brooklands corner. F1 was the one who advertised Marlboro cigarettes. Read more

The People Against Tobacco Foundation announced today that it has concluded negotiations with four tobacco manufacturers to settle healthcare and smuggling claims of the foundation’s international membership. Read more

The government has notified the ban on FDI in cigarette manufacturing, a decision taken by the Union Cabinet on April 8.
“Manufacturing of cigars, cheroots, cigarillos and cigarettes, of tobacco or of tobacco substitutes” have been put under the list of sectors where FDI is prohibited. Read more

Nine tobacco producing regencies in Central Java are lobbying the government to influence proposed anti-smoking regulations, according to Temanggung Regent Hasyim Afandi.
“It’s not a political move. We just want to protect tobacco farmers. I’ve talked to Magelang and Wonosobo Regents. They agreed. The others will follow,” Hasyim said after joining a mass prayer attended by about 10,000 tobacco farmers at Temanggung Square on Saturday. Read more