Tobacco News

Ahmed Lizneen was just 14 when he first smoked. What started as an “experiment for fun” has now become a habit – he has struggled to quit over the years, but to no avail.

“It was my friends who gave the cigarette to me first. I had it for fun. Then I also started buying. Not the whole pack, but a few cigarettes at a time as it was cheaper. Slowly it became an addiction. I tried to stop many times, but just could not,” Lizneen explained.
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Smokers hit by hefty price rises are flooding Quitline with calls for help. Twenty South Canterbury smokers contacted the quit group over the first three days of the year. Staff expect that figure to reach 200 by the end of this month, compared with 140 for the same period in 2011 and 62 in January 2010. Nationally, 1200 people have signed up to quit in the first three days of January.
The last of the three tiered increases in the tobacco tax came into effect on January 1, pushing the price of a pack of 20s to $14.
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Quitline has been inundated with calls from people in Taranaki wanting to ditch the durries.

Since January 1, 95 people in the region have registered wanting to kick the habit but it’s not yet clear whether cost or conscience is the motivator.

Cigarette prices jumped by 10 per cent on January 1 – the last of the Government’s three-phased tobacco tax increases announced in April 2010. This brings an average pack of 20s to just under $15.
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The three largest U.S. tobacco producers are pushing through wholesale price increase across most cigarette brands for the second time this year, a sign the firms continue to command strong pricing power.

Altria Group Inc. MO -0.45% and Reynolds American Inc. RAI +0.05% are enacting 5-cent per-pack increases, while No. 3 player Lorillard Inc. LO +0.00% is pushing through a 6-cent hike. Reynolds American enacted its price hikes on Friday, while the increases from Altria and Lorillard are planned for Monday.
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In what clearly is a massive push in the direction of getting smokers in New Zealand to quit smoking, the cost of cigarettes will be increased from the New Year’s Day.

As a result of the increase to take effect from January 1, 2012, the cost of a standard pack of 20 cigarettes will witness a 14.6 percent rise; thus breaking through the $15 price tag. The tobacco-hike move in New Zealand comes in the wake of the observations by Dr Jeffrey Wigand – a scientist and tobacco industry whistleblower – who is of the opinion that even though the country has progressed in terms of fighting tobacco addiction, there was still a lot of more work required.
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TOBACCO companies have been accused of trying to lobby various finance ministers into not imposing budget tax hikes on cigarettes — in order to profit from their own price increases.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) said it wanted “at least” a 50 cent increase in the cost of a packet of 20 cigarettes and other tobacco products in the December Budget.

In a letter to Finance Minister Michael Noonan it produced an analysis of Government tax increases on tobacco products — and the hikes by companies themselves — over the course of a decade.
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Brookline’s selectmen have thrown their weight behind a resolution that would ban tobacco sales at schools and pharmacies.
At their Tuesday evening meeting, the board unanimously voted for the article, which Town Meeting member Tommy Vitolo is bringing to the Special Town Meeting in November. The article was one of several the selectmen considered at the meeting. Ream more »

Nageswar Rao of Ngpadu village in Prakasam district of coastal Andhra Pradesh, a farmer who has grown only tobacco for more than three decades, is anxious about his future.
Despite the golden crop having given him handsome returns for decades, Rao is sceptical mainly due to huge rise in the cost of production while price realisation from tobacco this year remains low. It’s due to bumper crops in Brazil and Zimbabwe. Ream more »

A list from a “discussion” website gauged the price of a pack of cigarettes in each state Thursday, and West Virginia’s pack was the cheapest.

A pack of Marlboro Reds, including tax, could run from $4.74 per pack all the way to $11.90 across the United States, and the rock-bottom price can be found in West Virginia.
TheAwl.com, a “discussion” website, published a list Thursday its writer compiled by calling a gas station in each state’s most populous city, then asking the clerk for the price of a pack of Marlboro Reds with tax.
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Health officials have welcomed the enhanced tax on tobacco products which last weekend culminated in the price increase of most low-end cigarettes but left premium brands untouched.

Deputy director of Medical Services William Maina also said the move to fund cancer screening equipment in the Budget would be a positive spin-off in the government policy.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been pushing governments globally and in recent months held seminars for African tax and treasuries officials in Nairobi to push its case. Ream more »