Tobacco News

The World Health Organization, in its latest report on what it calls the global tobacco epidemic, has accused cigarette manufacturers in rich countries of transferring the epidemic to developing countries.

This is mainly due to very tight tobacco marketing rules for minors at home and the perception that developing country governments with lucrative youth markets, like the Philippines, are easier to handle.

This is especially urgent for tobacco firms in the United States this year.

Fifteen years after it first proposed rules banning the sale and marketing of tobacco products to teenagers, top Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials have just announced they would finally put the rule into effect.

The 1995 proposal could not be enforced by the FDA because the US Supreme Court ruled that legislation was needed to empower FDA to regulate tobacco products.

That legislation was passed and signed by President Barack Obama last June 2009. The rule goes into effect June 22 this year.

In fact, the tobacco industry adopted under pressure many of the FDA’s proposals while the litigation was going on. This is true with RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co., makers of Kool, Camel, and Winston brands.

And every state banned tobacco sales to minors, although enforcement provisions vary widely.

The new rules, FDA says, provide consistent enforcement mechanisms across the country.

“The historic rules we are issuing today will help our kids to stay healthy,” Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Services secretary said at a news conference published in its website.

Sebelius said that each day 4,000 people under 18 try smoking for the first time and 1,000 of them become daily smokers.

The health secretary, who has been praised by the US president for her role in getting the US Congress to pass a landmark health care overhaul bill, will be aided in her anti-smoking efforts by the recent signing of that bill into law.

The law extends health insurance coverage to 32 million Americans that include a big youth constituency covered by the anti-smoking rules.

The rules also bar sponsorship of entertainment or sporting events by tobacco companies, even by smokeless tobacco products.

It would not allow non-tobacco products to have the same names as those on tobacco products. And it restricts outdoor ads near schools.

One tobacco marketer, for its part, now supports a ban on the use of tobacco brands in non-tobacco products like Marlboro t-shirts and other clothing that provide marketing messages through means other than ads.

The rule also bans sales of packages with less than 20 cigarettes because it is cheaper and more attractive to young buyers; bans all vending, self-service displays, or other informal sales in other areas that have not been restricted to adults only; and bans free samples of tobacco products.

FDA inspectors will enforce compliance. Violations could lead to warning letters, fines and seizures.

These are all implementing rules that will make a difference, FDA says.

Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives has just passed legislation requiring those who sell tobacco on the internet to collect sales tax; prohibits distribution of tobacco products through the mail; and mandates that age and identification be checked by store clerks at points of purchase.
The US Senate has already passed the measure and President Obama is expected to sign it into law soon.

by Frankie Llaguno, Newsbreak