EUROPEAN NEWS BULLETIN - EU9835 21 SEPTEMBER 1998 (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

!# ---------------------------------
!#  GLOBALink Tobacco - Weekly European News Bulletin
!# ---------------------------------



EUROPEAN NEWS BULLETIN - EU9835 21 SEPTEMBER 1998

CONTENTS:

EUROPE - GENERAL

EUROPEAN UNION: No-smoking award

EUROPE - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES

AUSTRIA: First institute for nicotine addiction.
GERMANY: Development of Korber AG.
IRELAND: Rise and rise of the dreaded weed.
NORWAY: Young people say no to tobacco and
drink.
SWEDEN: Smokeline starts operations.
SWEDEN: Swedish Match denies responsibility.
UK: Restaurants fear a smoking ban.

EASTERN EUROPE - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES

RUSSIA: RJR's cigarette habit curbed by rouble trouble.

INTERNATIONAL - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES

USA: Has the California Tobacco Control Program
reduced smoking?


EUROPE - GENERAL

EUROPEAN UNION: No-smoking award

Mr Padraig Flynn, the European Union Social Affairs
Commissioner, who led the campaign against tobacco
advertising, has been honoured by the European 
Respiratory Society.

Source: Sunday Telegraph 20/9/98


EUROPE - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES

AUSTRIA: First institute for nicotine addiction.

Europe's first institute for nicotine addiction
has opened in Vienna, Austria. In addition to
diagnosis and therapy for nicotine addicts, the
institute will also concentrate on research.
Initially, the project is privately financed.
Therapists working at the institute will analyse
the type of addiction and develop individual
treatment methods for the smokers. Source: Die
Presse (DP) 03 Sep 1998 p.11 Language: GERMAN
No. 06682853

Source: Information Access Company 18/9/98


GERMANY: Development of Korber AG.

In 1998, Korber AG is expected to record a
turnover decrease of about 10% to DM 2.2-2.3bn.
 In 1997, overall turnover had risen from DM
2.313bn to DM 2.428bn. The 1998 decrease is
anticipated because of the poor performance of
Korber's cigarette machinery division. In 1997,
turnover of that division fell from DM 1.323bn
to DM 1.275bn due, it seems, to investment
restraints of the US industry and the targeting,
to the point of saturation, of the Chinese
market. So far, this situation has not changed.
 As a result of the downturn it seems that
Korber is considering moving into cigarette
manufacturing. Source: Handelsblatt (HT) 09
Sep 1998 p.15 Language: GERMAN No.
06683989

Source: Information Access Company 18/9/98


IRELAND: Rise and rise of the dreaded weed.

The latest smoking prevalence figures from
Ireland make disturbing reading. Smoking is
rising across Ireland, 30% of all adults now
smoke, at the beginning of the decade the
figures was 28%. Doctors are concerned that an
incredible 29% of all school children between 12
and 18 are smokers. Valerie Coghlan,
administrator of ASH Ireland, said, "It's
alarmingly fashionable for girls to smoke.
Youngsters don't want to know about the problems
they might face in their 50s. Many experiment
with cigarettes and become addicted before they
know it." By law children under the age of 16
are not allowed to purchase cigarettes, but a
recent ASH survey in Dublin, Cork, Carlow and
Wexford showed that nine out of ten shops sold
cigarettes to 12-year-olds with no questions
asked.

Source: Sunday People 20/9/98


NORWAY: Young people say no to tobacco and
drink.

A survey carried out by police authorities among
1,129 tenth-graders (16-year-olds) in Bergen,
Norway, indicates that smoking as well as
alcohol consumption are on the decline among
the young. Twenty per cent of the young people
interviewed said that they were regular smokers
and 53% admitted to having tried smoking. The
corresponding figures last year were 24% and 63%
respectively. Only four per cent said they
used snuff, a 2% decline from 1997. Sixty-three
per cent admitted to drinking alcohol, the same
figure as 1997. According to Police
Commissioner, Eivind Pettersen, the decline is a
result of the of general information about
smoking, drinking and preventive methods
circulated by school authorities. The
tobacco-control law has also contributed to the
decline. Source: Bergens Tidende (XSK) 04 Sep
1998 p.03 Language: NORWEGIAN No. 06683939

Source: Information Access Company 18/9/98


SWEDEN: Smokeline starts operations.

A helpline for smokers who wish to give up
smoking has started operations at the Centre for
Tobacco Prevention at the Huddinge hospital in
Sweden. Senior physician Hans Gilljam, who is
responsible for the smokeline, says that smokers
accessing the service will be given tailor-made
advice. During a test period last summer, 400
smokers called the helpline. The initiators of
the helpline are the Public Health Institute,
Apoteket AB, the Cancer Fund and the Heart-Lung
Fund. They will market the smokeline with the
help of television sketches featuring Monty
Python comedians. Source: Dagens Nyheter (XSU)
 05 Sep 1998 p.A06 Language: SWEDISH No.
06682872

Source: Information Access Company 18/9/98


SWEDEN: Swedish Match denies responsibility.

In an attempt to influence public opinion and
publicise its position, Swedish Match, the
Swedish tobacco company, has in a letter to the
Stockholm District Court stated that it does not
consider itself liable for damages in the case of
Ann Gustavsson who died recently of lung cancer.
 The suit is seen as a test case in Sweden. Ms
Gustavsson's legal adviser, Leif Silbersky, has
based the case on the premise that her cancer
was caused by smoking and that Swedish Match was
responsible for the cancer because there were no
health warnings on cigarette packaging when Ms
Gustavsson started to smoke many years ago.
Swedish Match, predictably, claims that there
are several risk factors for contracting cancer
such as heritage, environmental factors, dietary
habits and immune defence. Source: Dagens
Nyheter (XSU) 09 Sep 1998 p.A05 Language:
SWEDISH No. 06684395

Source: Information Access Company 18/9/98


UK: Restaurants fear a smoking ban.

A report published by the Restaurant Association
has been criticised as 'scaremongering' by ASH.
According to the results of the report entitled,
Potential Economic Impact of Smoking Ban in
Restaurants, a total ban on smoking in the UK
would potentially cost the restaurant industry
L346 million in turnover and result in a loss of
over 45,000 jobs. However, Clive Bates, the
Director of ASH, said that the Association
"based the survey on the false premise that
smoking is to be banned in all restaurants, but
this isn't even under discussion. What matters
is that some space is made available for the 72%
majority that don't smoke and, in general, don't
like having their meal flavoured with other
people's smoke." Even if a total ban on smoking
were imposed, there is survey evidence that only
one in four smokers would stop going to
restaurants. A complete smoking ban would also
bring in new customers - three and a half
million people in Britain have asthma and many
people avoid smoky places altogether. In
addition, research based in California has shown
that smoking restrictions do not result in
economic hardship for restaurateurs. Mr Bates
added that, "The real issue here in Britain in
1998, which the Restaurant Association fails to
address, is that of offering consumer choice.
There is no war on smokers but restaurants
should give much greater thought to the large
majority of people who don't smoke."

Source: The Times 17/9/98
The Independent 17/9/98
ASH press release 17/9/98


EASTERN EUROPE - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES

RUSSIA: RJR's cigarette habit curbed by rouble trouble.

RJR Nabisco stopped production at its new
Russian plant this month (September) because of
the fall in value of the rouble and technical
problems. The stoppage comes less than a month
after RJR said it would invest another $120
million in its St Petersburg plant in an attempt
to become the dominant foreign producer in the
world's fourth largest cigarette market. The
rouble was close to a low of 20 to the American
dollar, 60% down over the past month. About 37
billion cigarettes a year are made at the St
Petersburg plant, economic analysts believe that
RJR was forced to shut down because much of its
product is held up in the distribution chain.

Source: The Guardian 19/9/98


INTERNATIONAL - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES

USA: Has the California Tobacco Control Program
reduced smoking?

Comprehensive community-wide tobacco control
programmes are considered appropriate public
health approaches to reduce population smoking
prevalence. A study examined trends in smoking
behaviour before, during, and after the
California Tobacco Control Program. The
initiative started in 1989 and introduced the
use of increased tobacco excise taxes to
continuously fund a large, co-ordinated
state-wide effort to reduce the health costs
associated with smoking. Per capita cigarette
consumption data (1983-1997) were derived from
tobacco industry sales figures. Adult (18 years
and older) smoking prevalence data were obtained
from the National Health Interview Surveys
(1978-1994), the California Tobacco Surveys
(1990-1996), the Current Population Surveys
(1992-1996), and the California Behavioral Risk
Factor Survey and its supplement (1991-1997).
Trends were compared before and after
introduction of the programme, with the period
after the programme being divided into two parts
(early, 1989-1993; late, 1994-1996). Change in
cigarette consumption and smoking prevalence in
California was compared with the rest of the
United States. The results revealed that per
capita cigarette consumption declined 52% faster
in California in the early period than
previously (from 9.7 packs per person per month
at the beginning of the programme to 6.5 packs
per person per month in 1993), and the decline
was significantly greater in California than in
the rest of the United States. In the late
period, the decline in California slowed to 28%
of the early programme so that in 1996 an
average of 6 packs per person per month were
consumed. No decline occurred in the rest of
the United States, and in 1996, 10.5 packs per
person per month were consumed. Smoking
prevalence showed a similar pattern, but in the
late period, there was no significant decline in
prevalence in either California or the rest of
the United States. In 1996, smoking prevalence
was 18% in California and 22.4% in the rest of
the United States. The study concluded that the
initial effect of the programme to reduce
smoking in California did not persist. Possible
reasons included reduced programme funding,
increased tobacco industry expenditures for
advertising and promotion, and industry pricing
and political activities.  The study noted 
that the public health community must 
determine ways in which the
California Tobacco Control Program can be
modified to regain its original momentum.
(Author abstract.)

Source: JAMA 1998; 280(10): 893-899 09/9/98


!#
!#
!#
!# GLOBALink EUROPE  -  Tobacco-Control News Bulletin  -  Weekly
!# Editor:   Bunmi Akinade - ASH London
!# Support:  Ruben Israel   - UICC - mailto:israel@globalink.org
!# Join GLOBALink !      http://www.globalink.org/glob/appl.html