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European News Bulletin - 16 November 1998 (fwd)
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!# GLOBALink Tobacco - Weekly European News Bulletin
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EUROPEAN NEWS BULLETIN - EU9843 16 NOVEMBER 1998
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CONTENTS:
EUROPE: SPECIFIC COUNTRIES
ANDORRA: Tobacco smuggling to be penalised
AUSTRIA: Unhappy smokers
FINLAND: Tobacco clinic at Porvoo hospital
FRANCE: Tobacco taxes - manufacturers protest
NORWAY: Review of smoking-related costs
NORWAY: Call for drastic measures against smoking
NORWAY: 47% would give non-smokers extra day off
SPAIN: Profits up for Miquel Y Costas & Miquel
SPAIN: Doctors and smoking habits
SPAIN: Smokers club alerts members to smoker friendly airlines
SWEDEN: Tobacco case withdrawn
INTERNATIONAL
CHINA: SB targets Nicabate patch at China
THAILAND: Sex warning to be printed on cigarettes
THAILAND: Smoking to be banned at Government House
EUROPE: SPECIFIC COUNTRIES
ANDORRA: Tobacco smuggling to be penalised
The authorities of Andorra will consider tobacco smuggling as an offence.
Access to the accounts of tobacco operators will be permitted.
Source: Information Access Company, 29 October 1998
AUSTRIA: Unhappy smokers
Almost 1.1mn people in Austria smoke. According to Professor Dr Rudolf
Schoberberger from the Institute of Social Medicine at the University of
Vienna, 53% of smokers are not happy about smoking. However, no more than
12% of smokers want to kick the habit, while another 32% want to reduce
smoking. 8% want to swap for lighter cigarettes.
Source: Information Access Company, 28 October 1998
FINLAND: Tobacco clinic at Porvoo hospital
A smoking cessation clinic is to be begin operations in the Porvoo Hospital in
southern Finland on a trial basis. The project will study how systematic
rehabilitation treatment can be combined with ordinary outpatient
department operations. All patients of the lung department or medical ward
will be given a form to fill in about their smoking habits. Additionally,
patients will be given information on the operations of the tobacco clinic
and rehabilitation treatment. The project will study the patients' smoking
habits and their willingness to quit. A follow-up study will be conducted
a year later
to find out how many have stopped smoking. The project is funded
by the Porvoo Hospital and Finnish National Agency for Welfare and Health.
The results will be available nationwide.
Source: Information Access Company, 29 October 1998
FRANCE: Tobacco taxes - manufacturers protest
French cigarette manufacturers have protested against the 1.6% rise on
consumer tax on tobacco products voted in on the 29 October 1998. According
to the CDIT, the French tobacco information and documentation centre, this
will effectively lead to a 10% increase in sale prices in France. For
example, a FFr 2 increase will be put on a packet of Marlboro currently
retailing at FFr 19.40. The CDIT believes that the situation will be
worsened by an increase in other forms of tobacco product sales
(such as sales on the Internet or contraband goods) which currently account
for 2% (by value) of cigarette consumption. It is also expected to lead to
a price war, as manufacturers decide to launch new cheaper brands of
tobacco products.
Source: Information Access Company, 1 November 1998
NORWAY: Review of smoking-related costs
A government agency is to estimate the total smoking-related costs to the
society.
The study will look at costs caused by health care, sick leave,
premature retirement
and reduction in production. In 1988, the smoking-related costs to
the society
were estimated at NOK7bn (US$933mn) whereas revenue in the form of VAT and taxes
amounted to NOK4bn. This survey is expected to give enough information to
authorities to
assess the usefulness of an extra day off for those who do not smoke.
Source: Information Access Company, 28 October 1998
NORWAY: Call for drastic measures against smoking
The President of the Norwegian Medical Association, Petter Aarseth,
has suggested that non-smokers should be given an extra week's holiday.
According to Hans Petter Aarseth, absence due to illness among smokers is
more common than among non-smokers. Furthermore, smokers spend a great
deal of their workday doing other things than working. He is calling for
drastic measures to combat smoking as restrictions, campaigns and scare
tactics have not proved successful in making young people
refrain from smoking. However, according to Robert Salomon, head of the
Occupational Research Institute, there is no scientific evidence
corroborating the claim that smokers are less productive.
Source: Information Access Company, 27 October 1998
NORWAY: 47% would give non-smokers extra day off
A survey carried out by the polling agency Opinion in Norway indicates that
47% of the interviewees would be willing to give non-smokers an extra day
off whereas 45% were negative towards the proposal and 8% were undecided.
60% of the non-smokers in the survey were positive towards the proposal
whereas 22% of smokers were against it.
Source: Information Access Company, 28 October 1998
SPAIN: Profits up for Miquel Y Costas & Miquel
In the period January-September 1998, the Spanish cigarette papers company,
Miquel y Costas & Miquel, recorded a consolidated net profit of Pta 1,297mn,
representing a year-on-year growth of 6.6%. Turnover for the company was up
4% at Pta 11,178mn. The company plans to invest Pta 7,000mn in upgrading
its plant facilities in Tortosa, Valencia and Barcelona by the year 2000.
There are also plans to set up a the second plant in Latin America, in
Brazil.
Source: Information Access Company, 31 October 1998
SPAIN: Doctors and smoking habits
The Spanish health authorities are carrying out a programme to reduce the
habit of smoking in medical staff in the 82 hospitals and 1,115 primary care
teams which are part of the state health institution, Insalud.
According to a survey carried out by Insalud, the number of doctors and
nurses who smoke has decreased in 11 years from 49.2% to 33.9%, while
figures for the total Spanish population in the same period show a decrease
from 38% to 35.7%. Doctors smoke less than the nursing staff, and male
medical personnel smoke less than their women counterparts. Nearly 32.8% of
the Insalud doctors have already given up smoking, and 43.4% expect to give
it up in two years time. Some 94.6% doctors are reported to show concern
about the risks of smoking.
Source: Information Access Company, 29 October 1998
SPAIN: Smokers club alerts members to smoker friendly airlines
The Spanish 'Club de Fumadores por la Tolerancia' smokers tolerance club,
which has some 35,000 members, has begun distributing to its members a
list of airlines which still allow smoking.
Source: Information Access Company, 30 October 1998
SWEDEN: Tobacco case withdrawn
The legal proceedings against the tobacco company Swedish Match have been
cancelled as the plaintiff Ann Gustavsson, who suffered from lung cancer,
has died. Ms Gustavsson's lawyer, Leif Silbersky, says it would be too
difficult
to pursue legal action. However, he says he is willing to take up
proceedings again for another client. Swedish Match has rejected the
accusation that Ann Gustavsson's lung cancer was caused by smoking.
Source: Information Access Company, 30 October 1998
INTERNATIONAL
CHINA: SB targets Nicabate patch at China
SmithKline Beecham UK intends to launch a nicotine patch as the first
smoking cessation product in China, and has also reached agreement with
Hoechst Marion Roussel and Alza to acquire Nicabate, another nicotine
patch, which is the leading smoking cessation product in Australia and New
Zealand. SB's Nicoderm CQ holds a 39% share in the US smoking cessation
market, and SB now holds the Nicoderm's marketing rights in most countries
in the world.
Source: Information Access Company, October 1998
THAILAND: Sex warning to be printed on cigarettes
Starting from 5 November 1998, bigger warnings taking up one third of the
front and back of cigarette packets have to be printed by tobacco producers
for all cigarettes sold in Thailand. There are ten messages to be selected
by the tobacco companies. They include smoking: causes lung cancer, causes
brain haemorrhages, kills, causes heart failure, leads to other addictions,
speeds up ageing, cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is dangerous
to people close to smokers, dangerous to unborn children and causes sexual
impotence. Thailand will be the first nation to have sex warning printed on
the cigarette packets. There is evidence to show that smoking affects
men's reproductive, urinary and sexual functions. It deforms sperm and thus
cuts down blood flow to the penis and might be related to higher incidence
of miscarriage in cases where the father is a smoker.
Source: Information Access Company, 28 October 1998
THAILAND: Smoking to be banned at Government House
The Prime Minister of Thailand, Chuan Leekpai has endorsed a new policy
which will
include a smoking ban at the Government House starting from the week of
31 October 1998. This follows a smoking ban in government offices and
public places.
A maximum fine of B 2,000 will be imposed on people who smoke in
prohibited areas.
Source: Information Access Company, 31 October 1998
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