Tobacco groups seek to challenge UK display ban

Imperial Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International (JTI) and British American Tobacco said on Monday they are to seek a judicial review of the relevant sections of the Health Act 2009, in which the UK government is looking to impose the display ban to discourage smoking.

Imperial, which makes Lambert & Butler and Richmond cigarettes in the UK, said there is no evidence to suggest children start smoking or that adult smokers continue to smoke as a result of the display of tobacco products.

"If this misguided legislation is implemented it will simply fuel the growth in the illicit trade of tobacco and create a huge cost burden for retailers who are already under considerable pressure as a result of the difficult economic climate," said Chief Executive Gareth Davis in a statement.

JTI, which took over Gallaher in 2007 and makes Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut cigarettes in the UK, called the regulations "unreasonable and disproportionate" and said it had no option but to start the legal process to challenge the ban.

BAT, which makes Rothmans and Pall Mall cigarettes, added there was no evidence to show the move will cut smoking rates in the UK, but argued it would damage competition and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of small businesses.

It said driving legal trade from public view will encourage illegal traders.

The Health Act 2009 requires cigarettes, cigars, pipe and roll-your own tobacco products to be hidden from view in England, Wales and Northern Ireland from October 2011 in large retailers and from October 2013 in smaller outlets.

Scotland is pushing its own banning legislation through its own parliament.

Only government will influence price of alcohol and cigarettes

ONLY the government has the power to influence the price of alcohol and cigarette products that are subject to excise tax in the event the unsolicited proposal by Sicpa Security Solutions SA successfully hurdles the so-called Swiss challenge.

Sicpa director for institutional relationships Hans Schwab emphasized this point in a briefing at the Makati Shangri-La on Friday as his company’s bid to win a government contract enters its third year.

Sicpa has offered to cure the rampant underreporting and smuggling of cigarettes and alcohol in the country with a proprietary process seen ramping up excise-tax collection by some P70 billion a year.

Schwab said the government will not have to spend a single centavo for a technology able to track and trace for tax purposes each exciseable product at any point of its production, distribution and eventual sale.

While the government immediately benefits from the system in the form of ramped- up collection, Sicpa will only get to bill the government for the service only after the system is up and running, Schwab said.

Because Sicpa assumes all the cost of putting up the system, there should not be any price increase on the sale of exciseable products, Schwab said.

“We provide the technology at absolutely no start-up cost to the government. Sicpa assumes all of the cost of deploying the system. We get paid on per-pack once the system is fully operational. At the same time the government starts paying Sicpa, it also starts benefiting from the incremental revenue, so on net basis, there is no cost whatsoever to government,” Schwab said.

“If after this the government still decides to pass on the cost despite the fact that it is a fraction of the additional revenue or if it still decides to pass on that cost to the manufacturer, then that is its choice,” Schwab added.

He also noted it has taken Sicpa three times longer than usual in the Philippines to complete a bid that should normally last them four to six months elsewhere.

He said while Turkey produces more or less 4 billion packs of cigarettes every year, the Philippines only produces 4.5 billion packs.

Turkey also manufactures 67 tobacco product lines while the Philippines has 150.

Schwab acknowledged unsolicited proposals in the country have a long and difficult history hurdling government requirements.

But he vowed to push forward and leave it to his principals in Switzerland to decide whether giving up was preferable over wanting to continue with the project.

“Giving up is something our shareholders will have to decide. But as long as we’re asked to wait and continue negotiation with government we will do so,” Schwab said.

Hospitalization Rates For Heart, Respiratory Ailments Drop In Toronto Because Of Smoking Ban

Toronto registered a 39 percent decline in heart ailment hospitalizations and a 32 percent drop in confinements due to respiratory conditions. The city attributed the drop to a city-wide three-phased smoking ban Toronto imposed beginning 1999.


The study covered a decade – from 1996 to 2006 – which includes three years prior to the smoking prohibition. The capital city of Ontario banned in 1999 smoking in all work places, in 2001 at all restaurants and in 2004 at all bars.

The 39 percent and 32 percent slip in hospitalization were observed in 2004, three years after Toronto prohibited smoking inside restaurants. During that year, heart attacks also decreased by 17 percent.

Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences Fellow Dr. Alisa Naiman, one of the study’s authors, said aside from the smoking ban, other factors that contributed to the decline in hospital confinement for the two smoke-related ailments were the hike in tobacco taxes, new advertising rules on tobacco products, graphic warnings on the danger of lighting up and improvement in handling chronic ailments such as asthma and angina.

Naiman wrote, “Our results serve to expand the list of health outcomes that may be ameliorated by smoking bans. Further research is needed to establish the types of settings in which smoking bans are most effective. Our results lend legitimacy to efforts to further reduce public exposure to tobacco smoke.”

The study came out in the Tuesday edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.