European Bulletin Monday 19th April 1999

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

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!#  GLOBALink Tobacco - Weekly European News Bulletin
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EUROPEAN BULLETIN – EU9915 19TH APRIL 1999

Headlines

Europe:

Finland: Tobacco industry liable for health damage to smokers?
Finland: New nicotine pill to enter market.
Hungary: Tobaccoland and Hungarotabak merge.
Hungary: The Tobacco and Alcohol Policy Development Project of the
National Institute for Health Promotion (NIHP) takes up leadership of
Hungarian tobacco control activities.
Hungary: Hungarian Parliament passed the law protecting the rights of
non-smokers.
Spain: Spain launches campaign to stop health professionals smoking.

International:

Australia: BAT and Rothmans merger in doubt.
Singapore: Smoking among young women on the rise.
Singapore: Survey on health of Singaporeans.
Tunisia: Law against tobacco takes effect.
USA: Young people who smoke risk permanent genetic damage.
USA: Judge cuts Philip Morris fine

Full Text


Europe:

Finland: Tobacco industry liable for health damage to smokers?

A Finnish Professor, Pekka Puska has argued claims against the tobacco
industry to recoup cost of treating smoking related diseases. He notes
that smoking puts a great burden on the health care system. One in
four Finnish adult smokes daily. Every year, approximately 50,000
deaths are caused by tobacco. For men of working age, approximately 20
percent of their deaths are estimated to be due to tobacco. Mortality
is only the tip of the iceberg since tobacco additionally causes
illnesses and causes inability to work. Tobacco-related direct costs
on health care are estimated to total approximately FIM 2-3 billion
(USD 0.3-0.5 billion) in Finland. According to Puska, the ruling by
the Helsinki Court of Appeal on 31st December 1998 is extremely
significant. According to the ruling, the actions of the tobacco
industry make the industry liable for damages if a due causal
connection can be established.  According to Puska, the amount of
health hazards and costs caused by smoking can easily be proved. Puska
suggests that as an example, the Helsinki University Hospital should
act as a pioneer in the matter and set the process going.

Source: Information Access Company 07/04/99


Finland: New nicotine pill to enter market.

Glaxo-Wellcome has applied for a license to sell Zyban- a new stop
smoking aid containing bupropion in Europe.  The product is expected
to sell well in Finland and in Sweden. The drug should enter Finnish
markets at the turn of the millennium. During research, the drug has
been found to be considerably more effective in helping people stop
smoking than other nicotine products. The drug has not yet been tested
in Europe.

Source: Information Access Company 01/04/99


Hungary: Tobaccoland and Hungarotabak merge.

With effect from 31 March 1999 Austria Tabak and the German
wholesalers CG and Tobaccoland have merged their Hungarian
subsidiaries.

Source: Information Access Company 03-05/04/99


Hungary: The Tobacco and Alcohol Policy Development Project of the
National Institute for Health Promotion (NIHP) takes up leadership of
Hungarian tobacco control activities.

The Tobacco and Alcohol Policy Development Project of the National
Institute for Health Promotion (NIHP) has begun to co-ordinate
Hungarian tobacco control activities. One of the main objectives of
the project is to create an active alliance of most relevant Hungarian
organisations (governmental organisations and NGOs) which plan and
implement tobacco control programmes. Leaders of 12 organisations
expressed their willingness to co-operate to increase the efficiency
and cost-effectiveness of Hungarian tobacco control activities and to
form a new alliance, namely the Hungarian Alliance for Tobacco
Control. The endeavours of the NIHP were backed actively by the
Ministry of Health and the Parliamentary Committee for Health and
Social Affairs. The Alliance has the following goals:
1. Establishing a forum to control the level of smoking in Hungary.
2. Strengthening the cooperation between the member organisations,
promoting to plan, implement, monitor and assess up-to-date prevention
programmes.
3. Making proposals for the elaboration of the tobacco control
strategy of the Ministry of Health, including the assignment of the
priorities.
4. Establishing and maintaining contact with organisations of the
public health and educational field and other professional and
interest representing organisations.
5. Backing the health policy decisions of the Ministry of Health with
regard to the tobacco control and promoting the social discussion of
the decision making.
6. Lobbying for the interests of the health promoting social politics
among the decision-makers.
7. Urging the participation of the media in adopting non-smoking
lifestyle as a social value.
8. Establishing contact and cooperating with international
organisations of similar aims.

Source: Globalink Electronic Conference – Budapest 12/04/99


Hungary: Hungarian Parliament passed the law protecting the rights of
non-smokers.

The Hungarian Parliament has passed a law protecting the rights of
non-smokers, which also regulates the consumption and trade of tobacco
products. The law and regulations are to:
- Determine places where smoking is not allowed.
- Determine where the trade of tobacco products is not allowed.
- Introduce minimum age for purchasing tobacco products (18 years).
- Ban free distribution of cigarette samples.
- Determine the placement and size of general and rotating warnings as
well as the information on nicotine and tar content of the cigarettes
(each of them 4 percent).
- Determine fines for those breaking the law.

Source: National Institute for Health Promotion  14/04/99


Spain: Spain launches campaign to stop health professionals smoking.

Spain’s Ministry of Health has launched a major initiative to
encourage health professionals to stop smoking. The programme started
earlier this month. It will be carried out in collaboration with the
National Committee for Smoking Prevention and is directed at all
doctors and nurses working at the 82 public hospitals and 1115 primary
care centres directly managed by the Spanish Public Health Service,
covering about half the country. As part of the programme, educational
materials are being distributed to health centres and health
professionals are being invited to attend lectures and courses on
smoking cessation. The Minister of Health, Jose Manuel
Romay –Beccaria, said: “The efficacy of measures aimed at preventing
smoking in the general population depends mainly on the health
professionals’ commitment. And such commitment is influenced by their
personal attitudes towards smoking.”

Source: BMJ Vol. 318 17/04/99 pg.1027


International:

Australia: BAT and Rothmans merger in doubt.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is concerned
that the merger between British American Tobacco and Rothmans
International will markedly reduce competition in the Australian
cigarette market. As such, the ACCC is able to block the merger as it
is in breach of the merger provisions of the Trade Practices Act. The
merger would control almost all of the major Australian cigarette
brands with 62 percent of the market share.

Source: Information Access Company 01/04/99


Singapore: Smoking among young women on the rise.

A health survey in Singapore shows a disturbing rise in the number of
young female smokers although the proportion of people who smoked
everyday fell from 18.3 percent in 1992 to 15% in 1998. The survey
shows that 6 percent of women aged between 18 and 24 smoke daily,
double the number of young female smokers recorded in the 1992 survey
and twice that of older women smokers in 1998. According to the
Committee on Smoking Control, the percentage of young
female smokers  in Singapore will continue to increase. One of the
reasons for the trend is that more models and actresses smoke these
days and the images portrayed seem to make smoking more acceptable for
young women.

Source: Information Access Company 08/04/99


Singapore: Survey on health of Singaporeans.

A health survey in Singapore showed that about 22% of those in their
50s and about 32% of those in their 60s suffered from diabetes. The
survey also revealed that Malay men are the heaviest smokers in
Singapore. A high 43.3% of Malay men smoke, compared with the national
average of 15%. Indian men are the second heaviest smokers in
Singapore as three out of 10 of them smoke. As for Chinese men, one in
four of them are smokers but more than three in 10 have high blood
pressure.  Among women in Singapore, the Malays have the worst health
record. Malay women are the heaviest smokers, compared with Chinese
and Indian women.
Source: Information Access Company 08/04/99


Tunisia: Law against tobacco takes effect.

In Tunisia, the number of smokers increased 4 percent per year between
1992 and 1996, and the number of cigarettes purchased rose to 10
billion units. An estimated 5,000 people die every year due to
tobacco, out of a population of 9 million inhabitants. The law passed
in February 1998 to combat the rise in smoking took effect on 27
February 1999. This law bans all audio-visual advertising of tobacco,
all tobacco advertising on billboards, and all tobacco advertising in
publications for minors. Those infringing this law may be fined TD 500
to TD 3,000. This law also bans smoking in public places, and any
infraction may be penalised with a fine of TD 25.

Source: Information Access Company 05/04/99


USA: Young people who smoke risk permanent genetic damage.

Teenagers who take up smoking cause genetic damage that forever
increases the risk of lung cancer; even if they quit later in life,
according to scientists. And the younger the smoking starts, the more
damage is done. John Wiencke, a genetics expert at the University of
California School of Medicine, and part author of the study said there
was powerful evidence that smoking before 18 causes lung damage that
the body can never repair. The findings, published in the Journal of
the National Cancer Institute, are based on an analysis of blood and
tissue from 143 lung cancer patients. The researchers looked for
alterations in DNA that are known to be caused by tobacco and to be
linked to cancer. John Wiencke added that the damage is likely if
smokers start in their 20s, although smoking at any age is unhealthy.
He said: “It’s the starting age that is important. It didn’t matter if
they were heavy or light smokers – what mattered is that they started
young.”

Source: The Express, International Herald Tribune 08/04/99, Scarc
Bulletin 07/04/99


USA: Judge cuts Philip Morris fine

A state court judge in San Francisco cut in half a $50 million
punitive damage award against Philip Morris in a case involving a lung
cancer sufferer, Ms Henley. In an 18-page ruling, San Francisco
Superior Court Judge John E. Munter found it excessive. While ruling
that punitive damages were warranted by evidence in the case, Judge
Munter said a more appropriate amount should be “somewhere between
what was sought and what was given.” The judge settled on $25 million
and ordered Ms. Henley to accept the reduced amount or go to trial
before a new jury to determine punitive damages again. The jury in the
Henley case found Philip Morris liable for fraud and conspiracy.

Source: Wall Street Journal Europe 07/04/99