European News Bulletin

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

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EUROPEAN NEWS BULLETIN - EU9832 24 AUGUST 1998

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CONTENTS:

EUROPE - GENERAL

EUROPEAN UNION: Excise duties.
EUROPEAN UNION: Tobacco subsidy.

EUROPE - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES

FRANCE: Tobacco production in Alsace in 1997.
SPAIN: 1998 1st half sales for Tabacalera.
SPAIN: Smoking slightly down.
UK: Imperial acts to halt 'Drum' sales.
UK: New 48m pounds Sadler's Wells will be first London
theatre to ban smoking.
UK: Passive smoking in pregnancy.

EASTERN EUROPE - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES

POLAND: Analysis and comment.
RUSSIA: Sales of tobacco products grows.
RUSSIA: Views vary in wake of rouble's fall.

INTERNATIONAL - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES

USA: Study shows mothers who smoke during pregnancy
transmit cancer-causing substances to newborns.


EUROPE - GENERAL

EUROPEAN UNION: Excise duties.

In a parliamentary written question John
Whittingdale (Conservative, Maldon and
Chelmsford East) asked the Chancellor of the
Exchequer what discussions had taken place with
other European Ministers about the harmonisation
of excise duties. In a written response, Dawn
Primarolo, Financial Secretary, HM Treasury,
noted that excise duty rates on alcohol, tobacco
and oils within the EU were discussed in ECOFIN
on 23 October 1995. For tobacco products, the
European Commission published its report on its
biennial review of the minimum rates in June.
The first discussion, at official working group
level, was scheduled to take place in September
1998. Discussion in ECOFIN was expected to
follow.

Source: HoC Hansard WA Col 669-670 31/7/98


EUROPEAN UNION: Tobacco subsidy.

In a parliamentary written question Baroness Jeger asked what
was the present annual subsidy being paid from
the common agricultural policy funds to tobacco
growers in the European Union; and what
proportion of this was paid by United Kingdom
taxpayers.

In a written response, Lord Donoughue, the
Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, noted that in
1997, the EU spent 998 million ECU (670
million pounds, sterling*) on subsidies under the EU tobacco
regime. Member states contributed to the EU
budget as a whole and not to any particular
part. The UK's contribution was about 17%
before our Fontainebleau abatement was taken
into account.

*Using an exchange rate of 1 ECU = 0.67128 pounds, sterling.

Source: HoL Hansard WA Col: 67 20/7/98


EUROPE - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES

FRANCE: Tobacco production in Alsace in 1997.

In 1997 according to the Planters Federation,
the 700 Alsatian tobacco producers produced
5,200 tonnes of tobacco for a turnover of FFr
110mn. Source: Revue des Tabacs (YZW) Jul-Aug
1998 p.4 Language: FRENCH No. 06669345

Source: Information Access Company 21/8/98


SPAIN: 1998 1st half sales for Tabacalera.

The Spanish tobacco producer Tabacalera sold
2,000mn units in the first six months of 1998
(+8.5% on 1997 same period). Cigar sales grew by
4.06% to 382mn units. Havana cigars
'Montecristo' sold 6mn units, and 'Farias'
cigars lead the machine-made cigar sector.
Source: Expansion (EXN) 08 Aug 1998 p.5
Language: SPANISH No. 06668895

Source: Information Access Company 21/8/98


SPAIN: Smoking slightly down.

According to the Spanish Ministry of Health, and
based on the latest health survey, there was a
slight decline in smoking in Spain from 38.1% of
the population in 1987 to 35.7% (over 16 years
of age) in 1997. The average cigarette
consumption is 17 per day. Women are the
heaviest smokers according to the survey.
Source: Cinco Dias (CDS) 12 Aug 1998 p.31
Language: SPANISH No. 06670293

Source: Information Access Company 21/8/98


UK: Imperial acts to halt 'Drum' sales.

Imperial Tobacco has applied for an injunction
to prevent its rival Gallaher from selling a
hand-rolling tobacco with the same name as one
of its brands, despite the fact that the
Imperial product is not sold under the Drum name
in the UK. Imperial's brand Drum is understood
to be the third highest selling hand-rolling
tobacco brand in the UK because of illegal
imports. On August 5, Imperial issued a High
Court writ asking for an injunction to stop
Gallaher from "passing off" goods by using the
name Drum. The writ also aims to prevent
Gallaher from using "any trademark which, or the
essential part of which, is identical" to Drum.
 In the UK, Imperial's product is sold under the
name Duma. Swedish Match owns the distribution
rights. A full hearing is scheduled to take
place in the High Court in January 1999.

Source: Marketing Week 20/8/98


UK: New 48m pounds Sadler's Wells will be first London
theatre to ban smoking.

The newly refurbished Sadler's Wells theatre in
London is to ban members of the audience from
smoking anywhere in the building. It is
believed that this is the first major theatre in
London to implement such a policy. The only
exemption to the ban will be for the performers
who have been allocated a smoking room. Chief
executive Ian Albery said, "We have thought it
through very carefully. We did some research
and there was no indication that people would
not come because it was a no smoking theatre.
Nor do we think we will lose much revenue at the
bars. Any losses will certainly not amount to
the costs caused by smoking, which could total
25,000 pounds a year through extra cleaning or through
damage to carpets and vinyl floors or chairs in
the foyer." The theatre was refurbished at a
cost of 48 million pounds. ASH spokeswoman, Amanda
Sandford, said that the ban showed that the
theatre appreciated the dangers of passive
smoking. She added, "In an ideal world, the
theatre would have banned smoking backstage too.
 But many people in the arts do smoke, and the
theatre seems to have taken a realistic
approach." Sadler's Wells is scheduled to
reopen on the 12th of October.

Source: Evening Standard 17/8/98
The Guardian 18/8/98
Daily Telegraph 18/8/98
The Independent 18/8/98


UK: Passive smoking in pregnancy.

The problems of passive smoking in pregnancy
remains under-appreciated by both healthcare
workers and the public. Smoking in pregnancy is
associated with numerous complications for both
mother and baby. Many pregnant women appreciate
that their own cigarette smoking may have ill
effects on the foetus, but limited information
is available to pregnant women on the potential
harm of their inhaling the cigarette smoke of
others. Meconium analysis indicates that
nicotine metabolite concentrations in infants of
passive smokers are not significantly different
from those in infants of active light smokers
(meconium means the brown, semi-fluid material
which collects in the bowels of a child prior to
birth, and which should be discharged either at
the time of birth or shortly afterwards.)
Foetal exposure to tobacco smoke may therefore
be substantial even as a result of maternal
passive smoking. A small study, based in the
UK, was conducted to determine the prevalence of
passive smoking among pregnant women at home and
in the work place and how many women received
advice against smoking. Data were collected
prospectively by anonymous self administered
questionnaire from 113 women attending a public
antenatal clinic. The response rate was 100%.
Sixty women were primiparous (that is women
giving birth to their first child), 48 were
single, and 62 were in employment outside the
home during their pregnancy. Forty seven women
smoked, 26 were ex-smokers, and 40 had never
smoked. Nine of the 26 ex-smokers had stopped
just before or during the current pregnancy.
Overall, 81 women were exposed to passive
smoking during pregnancy (72%), 41 being exposed
at home only, 18 at work only, and 22 at home
and at work. Forty of the 62 women who were
employed were exposed to passive smoking. Most
smokers were also exposed to passive smoking (38
out of 47). Advice against smoking had been
given to 56 women during their current pregnancy
and to 28 at some stage in the past, but 29
women had never received such advice. The
results of the study indicated that the
prevalence of passive smoking in pregnancy was
high. The authors of the study note that the
results relied on a questionnaire as a measure
of maternal passive smoking and may have
underestimated the extent of the exposure.
Although the number studied was small, the
research indicated that passive smoking in
pregnancy may be a bigger problem than is
generally appreciated. (Truncated author
abstract.)

Source: BMJ 1998; 316: 1981 27/6/98
Mail on Sunday 23/8/98


EASTERN EUROPE - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES

POLAND:  Analysis and comment.

In Poland, the stringent tobacco control law is
having a positive effect in reducing tobacco
consumption, smoking is now forbidden in public
buildings and tobacco duties have been
increased, the amount levied being dependent on
the length of the cigarette.  As a consequence,
during the first quarter of 1998 cigarette sales
fell by 11.3% compared with the same period of
1997.  Tobacco company Reemtsma recorded a fall
in sales of 11.60% to 5.04 bn pieces during the
first quarter of this year.  Nevertheless,
according to the tobacco industry trade journal,
World Tobacco, Reemtsma is to continue with its
investment in new machinery at the factory it
has built for its subsidiary, Reemtsma Polska
SA, near Pozan.  According to Reemtsma Polska's
Financial Affairs Manager, Detlef Moede,
"Investments in the Polish market are very
important.  We have a chance here to become a
production centre for the whole of Europe."  In
1997, the company produced 25.3 bn cigarettes in
Poland, that is, 27.5% of the country's 95 bn
-per-year cigarette market.  The 1997 annual
report of its German-based parent company,
Reemtsma, noted that its Mocne brand, with a new
variant, Mocne Jasne, had become Poland's
biggest brand..  Line extensions of the Mars,
Ares and West brands had also been introduced.

Source:  World Tobacco July 1998


RUSSIA: Sales of tobacco products grows.

There seems to be a lack of uniform data on the
Russian tobacco market, for example, according
to various sources, sales of tobacco products
grows annually by 1.5-2%. At the same time,
estimation of the size of the market varies from
 100 bn cigarettes (All-Russian Centre for
Investigation of Public Opinion VTsIOM), to 240
bn (Deloitte & Touche) or 420 bn (other
sources). Differences in estimation can be
explained by the large share of smuggled or
illegally produced cigarettes, usually of low
quality. In addition, tests conducted by the
National Fund of Consumers' Protection have
shown that the tar and nicotine content of
cigarettes sold by retailers is higher than
those indicated by standard testing. Source:
Novye izvestiya (ESK) 13 Aug 1998 p.4
Language: RUSSIAN No. 06670857

Source: Information Access Company 21/8/98


RUSSIA: Views vary in wake of rouble's fall.

US tobacco company, RJ Reynolds (RJR) officially
opened an expanded $300 million (186 million pounds, sterling)
cigarette factory in Russia this month (August),
saying that the rouble's problems could not
undermine its commitment to the Russian market.
Steven Goldstone, chief executive of RJR
Nabisco, RJ Reynolds parent company, said, "This
(the roubles fall in value) is not going to
affect our long-term plans,". However,
according to workers at the St, Petersburg
plant, orders for cigarettes have decreased in
recent months. They also claim that production
of three Russian brands have stopped altogether.

Source: Financial Times 19/8/98


INTERNATIONAL - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES

USA: Study shows mothers who smoke during pregnancy
transmit cancer-causing substances to newborns.

The first direct evidence that a
tobacco-specific cancer-causing substance is
passed on to the developing foetus when a
pregnant women smokes has been revealed at a
national meeting this month (August) of the
American Chemical Society, the world's largest
scientific society. The study was undertaken by
scientists at the University of Minnesota Cancer
Center. In the landmark study, Dr Stephen S.
Hecht, found by-products of the nicotine-derived
chemical NNK in the first urine of babies born
to smoking mothers. NNK is unique to tobacco
and is one of the strongest carcinogens in
tobacco smoke. The results of the study
suggests that not only is the chemical absorbed,
but processed by the foetus. Blinded samples of
the first urine from 48 babies, both from
smoking and non-smoking mothers were sent to
Hecht, by researchers in Germany, Gerd M.
Lackman, Ulrich Salzberger and Uwe Tollner.
During analysis of the samples, Hecht found no
NNK-metabolites in new-borns of non-smokers but
detected them in 22 of 31 samples from new-borns
whose mothers smoked during pregnancy. Hecht
said that, "The results demonstrate that uptake
of NNK by non-smokers begins before birth."
This is significant because pregnant women who
smoke during pregnancy continue to smoke after
pregnancy, thereby exposing their children to
this carcinogen for many years. Levels of NNK
by-products in the babies were approximately 10%
as great as in the urine of adult smokers.
Hecht said that this was "substantial when one
considers that exposure of the developing foetus
to NNK would have taken place throughout
pregnancy." In the US, approximately 61% of
pregnant smokers do not give up smoking during
pregnancy (in the UK approximately one-third of
pregnant women smoke. Only one in four pregnant
smokers succeeds in stopping at some time during
pregnancy.) Commenting on the results of the
study by Dr Hecht, Dr Leslie L. Robison, who
co-ordinates epidemiological studies nation-wide
for the Children's Cancer Group in the US, said,
"to identify the carcinogens in the urine of a
new-born is a major documentation of the
potential role and the transmission of those
compounds" that should give epidemiologists
greater incentive for further study. Clive
Bates of ASH said, "babies whose mothers smoked
when pregnant suffered from one of the nastiest
forms of passive smoking. Everything possible
should be done to help pregnant women quit
smoking."

Source: The Guardian 24/8/98
The Independent 24/8/98
The Times 24/8/98
Daily Mail 24/8/98
American Chemical Society press release 23/8/98

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ASH
16 Fitzhardinge Street
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UK
Tel: 0171-224 0743
Fax: 0171-224 0471
http://www.ash.org.uk

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