European News Bulletin - 6 September 1999 (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

The latest edition of the European News Bulletin, from Globalink follows.


EUROPEAN BULLETIN EU9932 – 6 September 1999

Headlines

Europe

FRANCE: SEITA seeks sales in Hong Kong and China 

GERMANY: Tobacco companies raise cigarette prices

POLAND: Polish companies fight tobacco, kids advert bans 

SCOTLAND: New Parliament to be smoke-free

SPAIN: Lung cancer in men according to type of tobacco smoked

SPAIN: Tabacalera report rise in profits 


International

SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Airlines to enforce smoking ban 
USA: Cigars sales by mail order or via Internet could be outlawed 



Full Text

FRANCE: SEITA seeks sales in Hong Kong and China 

The French tobacco company Seita SA has joined forces with Nanyang
Brothers to foster sales in Hong Kong and China. The 50%-50% joint venture
will build its development on Nanyang Brothers' cigarette factory in Hong
Kong and distribution network in Beijing, Shanghai and Canton. Nanyang
Brothers is a subsidiary of Shangai Industrial Holding.

Source: Wall Street Journal Interactive, 2/9/99 


GERMANY: Tobacco companies raise cigarette prices

Tobacco companies will increase the price of a pack of cigarettes in
Germany by 15 pfennig, starting next month. A pack of Marlboro will cost
5.35 deutsche marks ($2.9 or 2.7 euros), up from 5.2 marks, and the number
of cigarettes in packs in cigarette machines will be reduced to 17 from
18. The price increase, by companies such as Philip Morris, British
American Tobacco Plc, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. and Reemtsma
Cigarettenfabriken GmbH, is due to higher costs on the dollar's strength,
according to the daily newspaper Bild-Zeitung.  Last month, Philip Morris
and RJ Reynolds, the world's largest tobacco companies, raised U.S.
cigarette prices to distributors by 18 cents a pack.

Source: Bloomberg News, 3/9/99

POLAND: Polish companies fight tobacco, kids advert bans 

Advertising agencies and media services in Poland say they have joined
forces to oppose legal bans on tobacco advertising and commercials aimed
at children which could wipe out more than a third of their market.
"Should advertising aimed at children be banned, we would lose two billion
zlotys, or 40 percent of last year’s advertising spend,"' said Witold
Gawda, president of the Polish unit of the International Advertising
Association, a trade body. Further restrictions on tobacco advertising,
already banned from television, would cost the outdoor market some 126
million zlotys ($32 million), he added. However, the president of the
Polish Association of Outdoor Advertising, Lech Kaczon, said that a ban on
tobacco advertising was inevitable but that the industry was hoping to
delay restrictions until 2001-2002.

Source: Reuters 1/9/99


SCOTLAND: New Parliament to be smoke-free

The Scottish parliament is to be a smoke free environment. It was
estimated that providing smoking rooms would have added at least £30 000
to the costs. On 31 August, parliament's Corporate Body met and agreed to
pay half the costs for assisting staff to stop smoking - this contribution
will not be available to Members of the Scottish Parliament, who will have
to pay the costs in full themselves. ASH Scotland, which has been lobbying
the Scottish Parliament to set a good public example in these areas,
welcomed these decisions.

Source: correspondence from ASH Scotland, 1/9/99


SPAIN: Lung cancer in men according to type of tobacco smoked

A study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology examined
the incidence of lung cancer in Spanish male smokers and the association
of lung cancer with type of tobacco smoked.


Methods: A hospital-based case-control study was conducted between
December 1986 and June 1990. The 325 male patients with lung cancer
included in the study (cases) were compared with 325 age-matched male
controls without lung cancer. Occupation and lifetime tobacco consumption
were requested using a structured questionnaire. The lung cancer odds
ratios (OR) and 95% CI were estimated with multiple logistic regression.

Results: Lung cancer risk increased with cigarette consumption and
duration of the habit. After adjusting for lifetime cigarette consumption
and for socioeconomic level, lung cancer risk was greater among black
tobacco smokers than among exclusive blond tobacco smokers (OR = 5.0, 95%
CI : 2.0-12.7); lung cancer risk among long-term (>=20 years)
filter-tipped cigarette users was lower compared to all other smokers (OR
= 0.4, 95% CI : 0.2-0.7).

Conclusions: The main results of the study (a higher lung cancer risk
among black tobacco users than in exclusive blond tobacco users, and a
lower lung cancer risk among long-term filter-tipped cigarettes smokers
than all other smokers) have been consistent with previous case-control
studies and with studies which took into account past exposure levels.

Source: L Armadans-Gila et al. Cigarette smoking and male lung cancer risk
with special regard to type of tobacco International Journal of
Epidemiology, 1999; 28 (4): 614-619

SPAIN: Tabacalera report rise in profits 

Tabacalera shares rose 2.9 per cent after the company reported first half
profit increase of 29 per cent to 13.34 bn pesetas (80.2 million Euro).
Despite a fall in cigarette sales, the company benefited from its
distribution operation which has continued to diversify. Sales of
non-tobacco products more than doubled in the first half year.

            Source: Wall Street Journal, 2/9/99
                 

INTERNATIONAL


SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Airlines to enforce smoking ban 

Saudi Arabian Airlines Corp has announced that, from 1 September, a
smoking ban would be enforced on its flights to other Gulf Arab states.
The move is part of a plan to gradually introduce smoking bans on flights
to other destinations. An airline official told the official Saudi Press
Agency (SPA) that the smoking ban would be extended in December to flights
to Middle East and African destinations. In June 2000, a partial ban will
include some northern American, European and Asian destinations. The
airline already prohibits smoking on domestic flights.

Source: Reuters, 31/8/99

USA: Cigars sales by mail order or via Internet could be outlawed 

A bill introduced in July before the U.S. House of Representatives, if
passed by both the House and Senate, would effectively eliminate all U.S.
mail order cigar sales and restrict consumer access to cigars at retail
cigar humidors. The bill, H.R. 2579, introduced by Congressman Edward J.
Markey (Democrat-Massachusetts), called the "Cigars Are No Safe
Alternative Act" would impose severe restrictions on the sale of cigars
through the U.S. mail and in tobacco shops. "This bill is one more
indication that we're (Americans) losing our liberties to the
government,"' said Lew Rothman, president of the Whippany, New
Jersey-based 800-JRCigar, the largest U.S. cigar retailer and mail order
company. "If this passes, we'd all (mail order companies) be out of
business."

Bloomberg News, 1/9/99

Amanda Sandford
Research Manager
ASH
102 Clifton Street
LONDON  EC2A 4HW
tel: 0171 739 5902
fax: 0171 613 0531