Tobacco News

Barnstable was the first town on Cape Cod to ban smoking in restaurants, and it is poised to be the first to consider the ban of tobacco products at pharmacies and stores with pharmacies in them. Board of Health Chairman Dr. Wayne Miller told his colleagues this week that he would like to consider similar regulations to the ones adopted by the Boston Public Health Commission.

“I believe this board has always been proactive in tobacco health issues, so I would like us to consider this,” he said at the close of the Nov. 8 meeting. Ream more »

BURLEY tobacco sales have surpassed last season sales by 90 percent, the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board has revealed.

TIMB statistics released recently showed that a total of 260 812 kilogrammes of burley have been sold compared to 25 646kg that were sold same period last year. This year, prices have declined as the leaf has been sold at an average price of US$1,31 per kilogramme while same period last year, buyers were offering US$2,62 per kilogramme. Ream more »

One year after a $1 increase in Utah’s excise tax, sales of tobacco products have dropped 15 percent.

The decrease has lawmakers and anti-smoking advocates cheering, pointing to it as an encouraging sign that the increased levy has spurred people to stop smoking, as CNBC.com reported. However, tobacco industry insiders counter that people may just be buying their tobacco products at out-of-state retail stores.
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Jim Gibbs fears the days may be numbered for his South Salt Lake tobacco shop.

His business at The Tobacco Store has dropped sharply — a trend he blames on the long-running recession and a sharp increase in Utah’s tobacco tax. He’s already had to lay off one part-time worker and is probably going to have to cut his own salary in half.

“I might be on a slow decline of going out of business,” Gibbs said. “I’m just barely hanging on.”
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Because of increased tobacco use among youth in the UAE, there is an urgent need to introduce standards on the sale of products like sheesha tobacco and loose tobacco for the midwakh (pipe), a leading health official here has said.
These standards should include a mandatory health warning on tobacco packaging, as well as testing of contents before the tobacco products are put on sale, Dr Widad Al Maidour, head of national tobacco control committee at the Ministry of Health, told Gulf News. Ream more »

I’m sad to see that tobacco marketing works. Apparently, the $1.1 million a day spent by the tobacco industry to market its products in New York is not going to waste, as proven by the May 31 editorial, “Good intentions, not good policy.”
The editorial equates tobacco to “sugary soda, ice cream, cream-filled cakes, beer” — likening the number one cause of preventable death in the United States to just another occasional treat. Ream more »

THIRTY-EIGHT million kilogrammes of flue-cured tobacco worth US$112 million has been sold since the tobacco marketing season began in February.

This is about seven million kilogrammes more than the 31 million kg worth US$94,7 million sold during the same period last year.
According to the latest statistics from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, 511 306 bales have been laid so far. Of these 471 129 went under the hammer while 40 177 were rejected. Ream more »

A Harare-based Chinese tobacco purchasing firm, Tian Ze Tobacco Company, on Thursday opened a new tobacco sales floor in the Zimbabwean capital catering specifically for its contracted farmers.

The company invested about 1 million U. S. dollars in setting up the sales floor, and has entered into a partnership with a local company to process tobacco sold at the floors.
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It’s fascinating to watch the political dance around tobacco. Politicians tell us all about the evils of smoking tobacco and offer very public displays to curb people of the habit. But at the same time, they sit back and rake in the taxes drawn from people buying the legal product. In recent years, we have seen greater restrictions on where people can smoke and how vendors can display and sell tobacco products.
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It continues to get harder for minors to purchase tobacco products in Winnebago County. Ninety-four businesses licensed to sell tobacco products were checked in 2010 to see if they would sell products to people under the age of 18. Only five of the businesses sold tobacco to minors, for a non-compliance rate of 5.3 percent — a 20 percent drop from the 25.2 percent countywide non-compliance rate in 2009.
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