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[GLOBALink-nbeu] EUROPEAN NEWS BULLETIN - EU9825 29 JUNE 1998 (fwd)
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!# GLOBALink Tobacco - Weekly European News Bulletin
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EUROPEAN NEWS BULLETIN - EU9825 29 JUNE 1998
CONTENTS:
EUROPE - GENERAL
GERMANY: Challenges EU tobacco ad ban.
EUROPE - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES
AUSTRIA: Deaths linked with smoking.
BELGIUM: Tobacco ad ban.
DENMARK: Decline in the number of smokers.
FRANCE: Sales of shredded tobacco in 1st quarter.
GERMANY: BTM bets on cigars.
SCANDINAVIA: Merger between tobacco companies.
SWEDEN: Skandia sells shares in tobacco companies.
UK: BAT bids to catch up in tobacco wars.
UK: Date set for tobacco trial, a first in Europe.
UK: 'Staggering' increase in children who smoke.
UK: Tobacco explained - the truth about the tobacco industry...
in its own words.
INTERNATIONAL - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES
USA: BAT unit wins key US appeal.
USA: Clinton squeezes cigarette makers.
USA: Effect of smoking cessation counseling on recovery from alcoholism:
findings from a randomized community intervention trial.
EUROPE - GENERAL
GERMANY: Challenges EU tobacco ad ban.
The European Union (EU) Directive banning virtually all forms
of tobacco advertising and sponsorship by 2006 has been formally
adopted by EU member states - the vote was 11 to 15 (Germany and
Austria voted against the Directive, Spain and Denmark abstained).
Under the terms of the Directive tobacco advertising and sponsorship
bans will be phased in. EU member states will have:
-3 years to ban tobacco advertising on outdoor poster sites and in
Cinemas;
-4 years to end tobacco advertising in newspapers and magazines;
-5 years to end tobacco sponsorship of sports and cultural events
- except for Formula One motor racing sponsorship which will be
phased out in 8 years;
-in addition, tobacco industry branded products, for example, Camel
boots and Marlboro clothing, must be changed (within 3 years) to
avoid direct linkage with cigarette packet colours and designs.
The German Government, however, has announced that it is to
launch a legal challenge against the Directive on the basis that
it is a health protection measure and thereby the responsibility
of individual states. Germany also claims that the ban violates
the principle of freedom of expression and that the effect on
branded products would amount to an infringement of property
rights. Cigarette smoking in Germany remains the highest in
north west Europe and it seems that the Government is attempting
to win votes in the forthcoming general election by challenging
the Directive. The challenge will be filed in Luxembourg by the
beginning of September, shortly before the general elections in
Germany. Political analyst have observed that Chancellor Helmut
Kohl is already positioning himself as the defender of German
national interests fighting against excessive EU centralisation.
The UK Government has expressed confidence that there was a firm
case for the ban under legislation to bring about a single market.
It must also be noted that all three legal services of the key
European institutions have already accepted that the Directive is
properly based. However, the final decision on the challenge will
rest with the European Court of Justice. Unless and until a legal
challenge is successful, the Directive remains law and EU member
states must implement it. The UK Government has indicated that the
time-scale for incorporating the ban into British law would be set
out later this year.
Source: Financial Times 23/6/98; The Times 23/6/98; The Times 23/6/98
EUROPE - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES
AUSTRIA: Deaths linked with smoking.
It is estimated that about 14,000 deaths annually in Austria are
linked with smoking. Approximately 18-49% of the 20,000 or so
strokes occurring in Austria annually are estimated to be related
with smoking. A smoking link is suspected in 30-40% of acute cardiac
infarctions.
Source: Die Presse (DP) 27 May 1998 p.12
Language: GERMAN No. 06644103
Source: Information Access Company 26/6/98
BELGIUM: Tobacco ad ban.
The Formula One motor racing lobby lost on Friday June 26 1998
its third court case in an attempt to overrule the Belgian law,
which bans all tobacco advertising and sponsorship for tobacco
products and which will come into force on January 1999. There
is still a fourth court case going on and there will probably be
an attempt to change the law in the parliament before the end of
the year. The number of court cases is a good indication that we
really have a good law......
Luk Joossens.
Source: GLOBALink communication from Luk Joossens, spokesperson
for the Belgian Coalition against Tobacco 28/6/98
DENMARK: Decline in the number of smokers.
The number of smokers in Denmark has been reduced by 400,000
from 1988 to 1998, according to the results of a study produced
jointly by TobaksskaderVdet, the Danish anti-smoking organisation,
Kraeftens Bekaempelse, the cancer organisation, and Hjerteforeningen,
the organisation for heart and cardiac diseases. There are now
1.5mn smokers, that is 35% of inhabitants over 12 years of age,
compared with 44% ten years ago. In 1998, 37% of men are smokers,
down from 47% in 1988, and 41% of women. According to Poul Ebbe
Nielsen, the chief physician at TobaksskaderVdet, there are one
million ex-smokers in Denmark. In 1997 alone, the number of ex-
smokers increased by 120,000. However, 46% of smokers smoke more
than 15 cigarettes a day, up from 37% in 1988. Among teenagers,
16-19 years of age, 20-25% are daily smokers. The highest number
of smokers are found among those of 40-49 years of age, compared
with those of 30-39 years of age ten years ago. Although the fall
in smoking prevalence is a cause for some optimism, the report
also shows that more than 10,000 persons in Denmark die of smoking-
related illnesses annually. In 1996, 10,691 persons died of smoking-
related illnesses, 4,810 of whom were older than 75 years of age.
In Denmark, lung cancer, heart arteriosclerosis and chronic lung
diseases are the most frequent smoking-related diseases which
smokers die of.
Source: Jyllands-Posten (JYP) 15 Jun 1998 p.2
Language: DANISH Nos. 06644934; 06644935
The report also reveals that treating patients who have contracted
smoking-related illnesses cost the Danish national health service
a total of DKr 3.6bn (US$ 0.5bn) a year. When the costs of smoking
to the economy of lost working capacity, sick-leave etc., is added,
the costs reach DKr 4.1-7.4bn. Tax revenues from tobacco products
total DKr 7.3bn a year.
Source: Jyllands-Posten (JYP) 15 Jun 1998 p.2
Language: DANISH No. 06644936
Source: Information Access Company 26/6/98
FRANCE: Sales of shredded tobacco in 1st quarter.
In France shredded tobacco sales totalled 619 tonnes in March
1998, down 3.5% from March 1997. Sales dropped 0.2% in the first
quarter of 1998, compared with the same period in 1997. Hand
rolling tobacco, the principal market segment, represented 454
tonnes, down 2.2%, while pipe tobacco and other smoking tobacco
fell to 165 tonnes, down 6.9%. Overall, sales of premium brands
fell: Drum 50/40 dropped 34.5%, Ajja 17 LZger 50 dropped 13.4%.
However, Ajja 17 Extra LZger 50 recorded the sharpest rise, up 2%.
Although Rothmans' market share rose 0.7% to 13.9%, the other
manufacturers volume market shares dropped: for Douwe Egberts,
it dropped 3.6% to reach 10.8%, for SEITA it dropped 0.7% to
reach 45%, and for BAT it dropped 0.4% to reach 10.1%. There
were 21.718bn tobacco products units sold in the first quarter
of 1998, up 3.5% compared with the same period in 1997, for a
turnover of FFr 18.4bn, up 7.8%. Sales of cigarettes totalled
19.569bn units, followed by sales of 1.691bn units of shredded
tobacco, and sales of 374.4mn cigar units.
Source: Revue des Tabacs (YZW) May 1998 p.4
Language: FRENCH Nos. 06644840; 06643494
Source: Information Access Company 26/6/98
GERMANY: BTM bets on cigars.
After a test launch in January 1998, Badische Tabakmanufaktur
Roth HUndle (BTM) is preparing the Germany-wide launch of its
first filter cigarillo, Macoba (BTM is a subsidiary of the German
tobacco company Reemtsma). BTM is also going to launch its cigar
brand Van Oost. Retail prices range from DM 2.20 apiece for a
cigarillo senorita to DM 4.80 for a corona and DM 6.50 for a long
corona. BTM has created a new distribution subsidiary called Liberty
Cigar Company GmbH which will focus on its cigar marketing activity.
BTM, traditionally a cigarette company, has moved into other tobacco
markets because the tax advantages for hand rolling tobacco will
expire at the end of 1998. With its West Quickies and West Quickies
Lights, BTM currently has a market share of 46% of the hand rolling
tobacco market in Germany.
Source: Die Tabak Zeitung (TZ) 05 Jun 1998 p.7
Language: GERMAN No. 06644914
Source: Information Access Company 26/6/98
SCANDINAVIA: Merger between tobacco companies.
The largest tobacco company in Scandinavia is to be formed through
a merger between the Danish company Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni
and Norwegian Tiedemanns. The merger is due to Skandinavisk
Tobakskompagni's threat to withdraw Tiedemanns' licence to produce
the cigarette brand, Prince after the year 2000, according to Johan
Henrik Andresen Jr., who is the owner of Tiedemanns. Tiedemanns
will own a 17.2% stake in Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni. Prince has
a 57% share of the Norwegian cigarette market.
Source: Dagens Nyheter (XSU) 16 Jun 1998 p.A14
Language: SWEDISH No. 06643850
Source: Information Access Company 26/6/98
SWEDEN: Skandia sells shares in tobacco companies.
The Swedish insurance company Skandia is to sell all its share-
holdings in tobacco companies and it will not in future purchase
such shares. This was the decision made by the management of Skandia
after the finance daily newspaper, Finanstidningen, published an
article stating that Skandia still retained its shares in Japan
Tobacco and the Spanish tobacco company Tabacalera despite selling
off its holdings in the Swedish tobacco company Swedish Match a
year ago, following public pressure. When the story was published,
the Swedish Cancer Fund and A Non-Smoking Generation, criticised
Skandia for retaining the shares in the foreign tobacco firms.
Britt-Marie Lindblad, the Cancer Fund's expert in tobacco matters,
criticised the insurance company for owning shares in tobacco
companies while making use of ethical issues in its marketing
strategy.
Source: Finanstidningen (XTB) 13-15 Jun 1998 p.03
Language: SWEDISH No. 06644945
Source: Information Access Company 26/6/98
UK: BAT bids to catch up in tobacco wars.
In its efforts to find ways to bypass European Union (EU)
restrictions on tobacco advertising and sponsorship by diversifying
into new marketing areas, BAT is to test market its Lucky Strike
Originals mail order catalogue this month (June) in the UK,
Holland and Spain. The catalogue, which is already distributed
in Germany, sells household goods made exclusively for the brand.
Marketing analysts believe that through trade market diversification
(TMD), that is brand stretching, that BAT is planning to extend
into fashion, alcohol and travel. The benefit to BAT of following
this path is that it could transform itself into a diversified
company not wholly dependent on tobacco. Other cigarette companies
have already exploited TMD. Philip Morris began its TMD activities
in the early 1970s. The company now owns over 1,000 Marlboro Classics
stores around the world selling clothes. RJ Reynolds also has a
clothes line in its Camel brand. The shoes it makes are targeted
at young adults. BAT's diversification options are being explored
by its TMD company World Investment Company (WIC), which has an
income of approximately $100m and a research and development budget
of L10m a year. BAT has seconded Hans Jurg Niedermann, its world-wide
director of trade marketing, to head WIC. Commenting on BAT's TMD
activities, Clive Bates, Director of ASH, said: "TMD is a very
effective form of advertising because the images of various glamorous
products are transferred to the cigarettes themselves." Under the
terms of the recently agreed EU Directive on tobacco advertising
and sponsorship, tobacco companies will be allowed to continue with
TMD marketing so long as the appearance of the products is distinct
from imagery used on their parent tobacco products. This means that
the Camel brand name can still appear on boots, but it will not be
able to use the same logo as the one on its cigarette packets. Mr
Bates added: "Tobacco advertising is like a balloon full of money.
If you squash it down in one place it bulges somewhere else. And
this is why TMD is moving on apace, because cigarette companies
realise the curtain is coming down in Europe, the US and elsewhere."
Source: Marketing Week 25/6/98
UK: Date set for tobacco trial, a first in Europe.
In the UK, Judge Michael Wright has set a January 2000 trial
date for a landmark lawsuit against the tobacco industry, thus
clearing the way for Europe's first group-action case by lung-
cancer sufferers against cigarette manufacturers. The suit against
Britain's two biggest tobacco companies Imperial Tobacco PLC
and Gallaher Group PLC, is being closely watched in Britain and
abroad as a test of strength between the growing tobacco-control
lobby in Europe and the tobacco industry. Judge Wright, however,
left open the issue of how many plaintiffs will be allowed to take
part in the trial. The suit has been filed on behalf of 53
plaintiffs, but the defence is claiming that 37 of these might
fall outside the statute of limitations. In general, litigants
claiming damages for personal injuries have three years, after
suffering or diagnosis of their injuries, to pursue a claim. Judge
Wright said he will hold a hearing in November to decide the issue.
The plaintiffs have filed the suit on the basis that the tobacco
manufacturers knew by the 1950s that their products were lethal
but negligently refused to reduce tar levels and to strengthen
health warnings on cigarette packaging. Martyn Day, the UK lawyer
who is leading the plaintiffs' case, said that the judge's decision
to set the trial date was "a great step forward" after years of
procedural delays.
Source: Wall Street Journal (Europe) 24/6/98
UK: 'Staggering' increase in children who smoke.
The number of children smokers has risen 70% in the last decade.
The figure has been rising steadily in recent years after a reduction
in the early eighties following health campaigns targeting the habit.
The figure means that 13% of 11 to 15 year olds are now smoking as
compared to 8% in 1988. Clive Bates, the Director of ASH, described
the figure as "staggering". He said that the increase showed: "a
massive failure of Government health education policies". The figures
were disclosed in a written answer from Tessa Jowell, the Public
Health Minister, in response to a written question from Paul Flynn
MP (Labour, Newport West). Ms Jowell provided the following table
of information:
England
Prevalence of regular smoking among children aged 11-15
Year Percentage Number (000)
1980 - -
1982 11 4
1984 13 4
1986 10 3
1988 8 2
1990 10 2
1992 10 2
1993 10 2
1994 12 3
1996 13 3
Notes: Numbers of children aged 11-15 smoking regularly are rounded
to nearest 10,000
Source: Smoking Among Secondary School Children Surveys, 1982-1996,
conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
England
Prevalence of smoking among adults aged 16 and over
Year Percentage Number (000)
1980 39 14,000
1982 35 12,700
1984 33 12,400
1986 32 12,200
1988 31 11,800
1990 29 11,300
1992 28 10,700
1993 - -
1994 26 10,200
1996 28 10,800
Notes: Number of adult smokers are rounded to the nearest 100,000.
Source: General Household Surveys, 1976-1995, conducted by the ONS.
Source: Daily Mail 23/6/98; HoC Hansard WA Col: 388-89 22/6/98
UK: *Tobacco explained - the truth about the tobacco industry...
in its own words.
Thousands of internal tobacco industry documents released through
litigation reveal the most astonishing systematic corporate deceit
of all time, reaching as far back as the 1940s and continuing right
up to the present day. ASH has undertaken a survey of the documents,
extracted 1,200 relevant and revealing quotes, and grouped these
together under common themes. A subset of these are set out in this
report*. The industry's own internal documents belie its cosy
explanation of itself - as a supplier of a legal product used for
a widely-enjoyed social habit by adults who are fully aware of the
risks and choose to take them to experience the pleasures.
The report shows what the tobacco companies knew about the dangers
of smoking, when they knew it, and how they acted on their knowledge
on major contentious areas such as smoking and health, nicotine
addiction and marketing to children. Publicly, the industry has
denied marketing to children, yet evidence in the report shows
that they were doing just that. For example, Terence Sullivan, a
sales representative for RJ Reynolds in Florida, said: "We are
targeting kids, and I said at the time it was unethical and maybe
illegal, but I was told it was just company policy." When he asked
whether junior high school or younger children would be targeted
the reply was said to be: "They got lips? We want them."
Announcing the release of the report*, Clive Bates, Director of
ASH, said: "We expect this report will be of great value to lawyers
and victims of tobacco-related disease contemplating legal action
against the companies. It gives a brilliant insight into what is
going on inside the companies, and shows that the industry's public
statements have been at sharp variance with its private knowledge
and behaviour."
Commenting on the report, Tessa Jowell, the Public Health Minister,
said: "This appalling catalogue of evidence from a range of sources
shows very clearly the gap between what the global tobacco industry
knew privately and what they have said publicly."
ASH believes that the report will have valuable political
ramifications. It cited the Government's Scientific Committee on
Tobacco and Health recommendation to the Government that it should
require of the tobacco industry: "... normal standards of disclosure
of the nature and magnitude of hazards of smoking to their customers,
comparable to that expected from other manufacturers of consumer
products", as justification for a strong tobacco control policy.
Confronted by the evidence of its own documents, the industry must
now tell the truth and accept these points:
1. Smoking is a cause of lung cancer and other fatal diseases.
2. Over 100,000 people die prematurely in the UK as a result of
smoking.
3. The industry is really in the drug business and the drug is
nicotine.
4. Nicotine is a powerfully addictive drug, in the same manner as
heroin or cocaine.
5. That teenagers are inherently important to the tobacco market and
have been targeted.
6. That advertising increases total tobacco consumption and hence
causes harm.
7. That advertising is one of several important influences on youth
smoking.
8. That low tar cigarettes offer false reassurance and no significant
health benefit.
9. That passive smoking is a cause of respiratory disease in children
and lung cancer and heart disease in adults.
10.That it has the normal duty of any manufacturer to make its products
as safe as possible.
ASH recommends:
1. The Government and tobacco industry should explain if and how
they intend to act on the SCOTH recommendation. As a minimum, the
Secretary of State should write to the Chief Executives of the
companies operating in the UK, asking them to accept the facts
and realities detailed in the report.
2. The Secretary of State should initiate an inquiry, similar to the
inquiry into the mis-selling of pensions, in which an industry
that has systematically deceived the public and acted improperly,
is thoroughly investigated.
3. An appropriate Select Committee in Parliament should consider
holding a 'truth session' on tobacco to establish the facts and
realities set out in the report and supported by the documents
referenced in it. The appropriate Select Committee could question
Ministers and tobacco Chief Executives to establish a factual basis,
accepted by Parliament, for UK tobacco policy. It is vitally important
that the basic modus operandi of the tobacco industry is understood
in Parliament while it considers the Government's White Paper on
tobacco policy.
4. On the basis of the information in the report and the vast and
authoritative literature regarding tobacco, the Government should
subject the contents of tobacco products and smoke to strict legally
binding regulatory control. The documents show that tobacco is
uniquely hazardous and that tough policies should be advanced in
the forthcoming White Paper and supported internationally through
a WHO convention.
The report is available from ASH, 16 Fitzhardinge Street, London
W1H 9PL. Price L10 including postage and packaging.
Source: London, Action on Smoking and Health 25/6/98; ASH press
release 25/6/98; Department of Health press release 25/6/98; British
Medical Association news release 25/6/98; Liberal Democrats press
release 25/6/98
INTERNATIONAL - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES
USA: BAT unit wins key US appeal.
A Florida Court of Appeal has reversed a two-year-old landmark
jury verdict against Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation (a
subsidiary of the UK tobacco company BAT Industries). The court
ruled that the Grady Carter suit should never have been allowed
to proceed to trial because he waited longer than four years after
learning that he had lung cancer to sue. According to the court,
the statute of limitations in 1996 had expired (Mr Carter filed
the suit in 1995, after discovering that he had contracted lung
cancer in 1991). In addition, the three-judge panel ruled that
documents stolen from Brown and Williamson in 1994 were improperly
admitted into evidence. Furthermore, they decided that Mr Carter's
attorneys should not have been able to argue that cigarette warning
labels were inadequate because a 1969 federal law found that cigarette
warning labels after 1969 sufficiently warned individuals about the
health risks of smoking. That law, the 1969 US federal Cigarette
Labeling Act, prohibits state-law claims that cigarette warning
labels after 1969 did not adequately warn of the health risks of
smoking. The value of shares in BAT increased 26p to 592p following
the decision. Grady Carter filed his lawsuit against Brown and
Williamson on the basis that the company had negligently withheld
damaging information about nicotine and produced a defective product.
The court at the time awarded him $750,000. Although the Court of
Appeal has reversed this decision, experts on tobacco litigation
said that while they had not reviewed the decision, the ruling
appeared largely limited to the specific's of Mr Carter's case.
Source: Wall Street Journal (Europe) 23/6/98; International Herald
Tribune 24/6/98; The Times 24/6/98; The Guardian 24/6/98; Financial
Times 24/6/98; Evening Standard 23/6/98; SCARCNet Daily Bulletin
23/6/98
USA: Clinton squeezes cigarette makers.
Following the recent defeat of the US tobacco bill, President Bill
Clinton has issued an executive order directing the Department of
Health and Human Services to begin documenting which tobacco brands
are popular with young smokers between the ages of 12 through to 17,
as part of the annual National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. The
failed tobacco bill called for such research. A Government official
said that as a result of the survey: "We'll [the Government] be able
to see which [tobacco] companies are targeting youth." When President
Clinton issued the executive order, he said: "Parents quite simply
have a right to know... Once this information becomes public,
companies will then no longer be able to evade accountability and
neither will Congress."
Studies detailing the cigarette brand preferences of teenagers have
been carried out in the past. A 1993 national survey of 1,031 smokers
aged 12 - 18 conducted by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention,
revealed that six in ten teenagers smoked Marlboros, and that the
Marlboro brand was the most heavily advertised brand of cigarettes
in 1993.
Source: International Herald Tribune 23/6/98; The Guardian 23/6/98;
International Herald Tribune 23/6/98; The Independent 23/6/98;
SCARCNet Daily Bulletin 23/6/98
USA: Effect of smoking cessation counseling on recovery from
alcoholism: findings from a randomized community intervention trial.
In the US drug treatment counsellors often discourage efforts to
quit smoking during the early stages of alcohol recovery. One
concern is that encouraging smoking cessation at that time may
conflict with a central tenet of Alcoholics Anonymous ("First
things first"). A second concern is that advocating smoking
cessation would deter some individuals who are willing to quit
drinking, but not smoking, from completing treatment. However,
at least four factors support development of smoking cessation
programmes for recovering alcoholics: (1) rates of smoking in
alcoholics typically exceed 80%; (2) many recovering alcoholics
are heavy smokers; (3) smokers who drank excessively in the
previous year are much less likely to quit than smokers with no
recent history of alcohol abuse; and (4) tobacco, not alcohol,
has been found to be the leading cause of death among former
patients of an addictions treatment programme. Studies reporting
follow-up data for recovering alcoholics who were encouraged to
quit smoking during or shortly after the onset of sobriety have
been consistently positive. This study assessed the effects of
a smoking cessation programme for recovering alcoholics on use
of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs after discharge from
residential treatment. A randomised community intervention trial
design was used in which 12 residential drug treatment centres
in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska were matched and then randomly
assigned to the intervention or control condition. Approximately
50 adult residents (in-patients) from each were monitored for 12
months after treatment discharge. Participating residents in the
six intervention centres received a 4-part, individually tailored,
smoking cessation programme while those in the six control sites
received usual care. The results showed that both moderate and
heavy drinking rates were reduced in the intervention group.
Intervention site participants were significantly more likely
than controls to report alcohol abstinence at both the 6-month
(OR = 1.59) and 12-month assessment (OR = 1.84). Illicit drug
use rates were comparable. The effect of the intervention on tobacco
quit rates was not statistically significant. The study concluded
that counselling alcoholics in treatment to quit smoking does not
jeopardise the alcohol recovery process. However, low-intensity
tobacco interventions were unlikely to yield high tobacco quit
rates. (Author abstract.)
Source: Addiction 1998; 93(6): 877-887
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!# GLOBALink EUROPE - Tobacco-Control News Bulletin - Weekly
!# Editor: Bunmi Akinade - ASH UK - mailto:ashuk@globalink.org
!# Support: Ruben Israel - UICC - mailto:israel@globalink.org
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