Cigarettes Use is Ugly & Deadly for Someone

Governments around the world should try to address the epidemic brought by “ugly” and “deadly” tobacco use, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday.

“We must turn back the global tobacco epidemic. On World No Tobacco Day, I urge all governments to address this public health threat. Tobacco use is not stylish or empowering. It is ugly and deadly,” he said in a statement issued on the observance of World No Tobacco Day.

Noting that tobacco marketing has targeted women by associating cigarettes like Lady, Karelia etc and their use with beauty and liberation, Ban urged governments to act accordingly.

“Governments everywhere must take action to protect women from tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, as stipulated in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control,” he said.

Studies show that some 200 million women worldwide smoke and the number is growing.

The Convention also calls on governments to protect women from second-hand tobacco smoke, especially in countries where women feel powerless to protect themselves and their children.

As World Health Organization data show, of the 600,000 people who die each year from second-hand smoke, nearly two-thirds are women.

Around the world, more than 1.5 million women die each year from tobacco use. Most of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. Without concerted action, that number could rise to 2.5 million women by the year 2030.

Citing a recent WHO study showing that the number of girls and boys who smoked was about equal in half the 151 countries surveyed, Ban said: “This finding is even more worrisome since young people who smoke are likely to continue in adulthood.”

Campaign Against Illegal Cigarettes Makes Durham Stop

Every day in this country at least one more convenience store closes its doors for good. Hannah Lee doesn't want hers to be one of them.

"I'm worried," Ms. Lee admitted Friday as she stood behind the counter of her Convenience Plus shop on Thickson Road in Whitby. "We don't know what's going to happen."

Ms. Lee, a convenience store operator for 20 years, has lent her voice to a campaign being undertaken by the Canadian Convenience Stores Association that calls for swift action to blunt the impact of contraband cigarettes on shop owners. The association claims a sharp drop in sales of legitimate smokes is having a negative impact on stores, which depend heavily on tobacco sales.

Ms. Lee said tobacco sales account for more than one-third of her shop's revenues, and that smokers coming in for cigarettes can often be depended upon to buy other items. But rising prices -- it costs more than $10 for a pack of premium smokes like Marlboro or Lucky Strike brands -- are luring more and more smokers to cheap contraband cigarettes.

And shop owners worry that the July 1 imposition of the harmonized sales tax, which will add another eight per cent to the cost of tobacco, will only exacerbate that situation.

That's why the association is calling on the provincial government to cut the taxes it imposes on cigarettes, one of a number of measures being touted as representatives undertake a 25-city blitz aimed at raising awareness about the issues surrounding contraband tobacco.

The group is pushing the provincial and federal governments to address the issue, Ontario Convenience Stores Association chairman Wendy Kadlovski said during a stop May 21 in Whitby. She said an estimated 2,400 convenience stores have gone out of business in the past few years.

"We play by the rules and we pay our taxes and we want to support our communities," Ms. Kadlovski said.

"Our government is losing hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes," to contraband cigarettes, she said.

The association is promoting a number of measures including taxation and stepped-up law enforcement to target smugglers.

The association cites statistics indicating up to half of the cigarettes smoked in Ontario are contraband, and that many of those smokes are winding up in the possession of young smokers; a recent study of butts found outside eight Durham Region high schools indicated one-fifth were contraband, Ms. Kadlovski said.

The availability of bogus smokes to young people troubles Whitby-Oshawa MPP Christine Elliott, the Conservative critic for health and long-term care, who said all levels of government can fight the problem by enforcing existing laws.

"We just shouldn't have contraband cigarettes available, period. They're illegal and we need to crack down on it," she said.

Sentara Respected for No-Smoking Regulation

For its effort to reduce the exposure of patients, employees and visitors to cigarettes smoke, Sentara Healthcare has earned the American Cancer Society’s “Excellence in Workplace Tobacco Control” award.

“Live the Mission” is Sentara Healthcare’s slogan for its 100 percent tobacco-free environment initiative. The program, Tobacco Free Environment, bans smoking and prohibits smokeless tobacco products anywhere on campus.

“We are excited to be recognized by the American Cancer Society,” Sentara CEO Dave Bernd said in a new release. “We believe a tobacco-free environment sends the right message to our employees, patients, visitors and vendors. We believe Sentara’s mission, to improve health everyday, is best led by example.”

Sentara’s program also offers a four-week education and support program titled “Get Off Your Butt! Stay Smokeless for Life!” The program focuses on the needs of each individual in her desire to quit smoking and is open to all Sentara employees, as well as members of the Hampton Roads community.

“Support buddies” are welcomed and encouraged to attend. The classes offer in-depth explanations of nicotine addiction and the most effective ways to break the habit.

Employees who are not able to attend the classes are given a workbook and a self-help compact disc to help guide them through the quitting stages. They are also given nicotine patches at cost, along with nicotine gum and incentives to quit through Mission: Health, Sentara’s health and prevention program.

Employees can continue to engage in services, even after they have completed the program. Additionally, the program is free of charge and is offered multiple times a year, at various locations, to make it easily accessible for all employees.

Alverine Mack, the program coordinator, credits the program’s staff for its success.

“The entire team has done a tremendous job,” she stated in the release. “It’s estimated that about 49,000 people die each year from second-hand smoke. By implementing the TFE program, Sentara is actively trying to improve the health of its campus for all who come here.”

Reynolds Tobacco Tops List for Board Diversity

The most diverse corporate board in North Carolina is at a company that sells tobacco, which has long been thought of as a male-dominated industry.

But Reynolds American Inc., based in Winston -Salem and run for the past six years by chief executive Susan Ivey, has a board where half the members are women are minorities. That’s a far higher percentage than most other N.C. companies, according to a study released today by the UNC School of Law.

According to the study, which is part of the school’s Director Diversity Initiative, N.C. companies are lagging the Fortune 100 when it comes to putting women and minorities on their boards. The study, which examined the 50 largest companies headquartered in North Carolina, found that 12 percent of the corporate board members were women, and 7 percent were minorities.

Each of those measures are up about 1 percentage point from the last survey, in 2006. But they’re below the average for Fortune 100 companies, which have about 17 percent female board members and about 15 percent minority board members, the UNC study said. UNC gave kudos to the 16 N.C. companies whose boards were at least one-quarter women or minorities, with Reynolds at the top of the list. Charlotte-based Piedmont Natural Gas Company Inc., Family Dollar Stores Inc., SPX Corp., Bank of America Corp., Polymer Group Inc. and Goodrich were also recognized.

Eleven of the N.C. companies had no women or minorities on their board, including five that are based in the Charlotte area: EnPro Industries Inc., Sonic Automotive Inc., Polypore International Inc., Cato Corp. and Speedway Motorsports Inc.

UNC’s Director Diversity Initiative also holds training anti-smoking programs on board diversity and maintains a database of potential board candidates.

IN RESPONSE: Letter an example of illogical reasoning

Larry Lee's letter (April 29) promoting the city's smoking ban is yet another example of illogical reasoning and the consequences of government intrusion into our daily lives. 

He says using an argument about a ban on overweight people is so ridiculous as to be laughable. 

Yet these bans that Lee ridicules are popping up and being promoted across the country by politicians and those tiresome people who are trying to save the human race from itself.

"A smoking ban would create overall fairness," Lee writes. For whom? As the situation exists today in our community, the vast majority of restaurants are non-smoking, while a precious few have smaller designated smoking areas. Some businesses offer a choice. What's wrong with that? 

"The air belongs to everyone," Lee writes, but the "everyone" he refers to excludes smokers, even in smaller designated smoking areas.

Also, Lee discounts people who would drive to smoking-friendly cities or counties. I am one of the many who drives from smoking ban counties into others that provide freedom of choice.

Here's a clue: Stay out of the smaller smoking areas in the few restaurants that still provide them. 

I choose to not dine in non-smoking restaurants. 

By the way, in all fairness, I don't smoke cigarettes. But I do smoke stinking cigars, which I consider one of life's simple pleasures.

This is not about a smoking ban. What Lee and the smoking police want is total control over our daily lives. 

The "what's next?" is as real as apple pie.

Karl Penn is a resident of Evansville.

Australians must stop smoking!

Australia's Federal Government's move to increase cigarette taxes up to 25 percent which will increase prices by up to $3 a pack or $15 a week with simpler packs is considered to be just a "waste of time" for some smokers.

According to Australian Medical Association, four million Australians are smokers and this rate is lower compared in low socio-economic areas, prison and indigenous segments of the population.

People from Centro Wodonga voiced out their opinions regarding the changes made.

"I am more worried about the price of smokes going up," Darren Pollard said.

"The change in packaging will make no difference to young people. They will smoke if they want to smoke."

But Andrew Lavender, state president from AMA believes that the new regulations will force smokers to stop the habit.

"We would like to see the cost of cigarettes increased even further because it's the single biggest way we can make people give up smoking.

"Cigarettes are still about 50 per cent cheaper here than in Europe."

Dr. Lavender reveals that plain cigarette packs particularly targets the youth and those people who are just about to begin smoking.

"Cigarette makers are in the business of selling cancer; ideally it would be illegal but they should not be able to make it attractive as a means of trying to sell it to the youth."

The law is foreseen to start by July 1, 2012 banning the use of attractive texts, branding and logos on cigarette packets.