 FROM
THE DIRECTOR'S DESK
Want a hot investment tip? Tobacco pays!
Recently I have read several articles about the profitability of the tobacco industry, including one which highlighted a
member of the industry being awarded for social responsibility. How bizarre!
The most recent article was an interview
with (London based) Australian tobacco executive Paul Rayner lauding his business acumen and highlighting his success in building his
company into the corporate giant that it has become. I notice though, in this somewhat sycophantic article, that there were no
questions about his own smoking or his views as to whether or not his children should take up smoking.
The Council for Socially Responsible Investment reported on the NZ Government's investments in tobacco companies last December.
It is true to say that much of the Government's investment strategy is handled at arm's length (in some cases at double arm's length)
but surely one area where it should be crystal clear that investment is an absolute 'no no' is in tobacco.
New Zealand has a strong record of tobacco control at the highest levels. Our current Prime Minister, Helen Clark, was a pioneer
in tobacco control at a time when it was very controversial. She was responsible for the parent legislation around which our current
smokefree environments legislation is based.
Surely then it is not too much for Government to dis-invest in tobacco companies.
According to one of the authors of the report of the Council for Socially Responsible Investment, there is now a window of
opportunity to put pressure on the Government in this instance. There are things I can do, and I will do them but you can help as
well.
Why not contact your own MP and tell him/her what you think on the matter? Writing is good, a face to face interview is better.
One of our strategies is industry de-normalisation. What better way to show the industry that it is unloved but for the
Government of the people to withdraw their money. Now that is something that would make Paul Rayner
sit up and take notice!
There's one other matter I'd like to quickly address.
In this Update you will read about the decision by the South Wairarapa District Council to exempt sports grounds from its
smokefree playgrounds policy. While the council is to be applauded for at least making playgrounds smokefree, its reasons for not
doing the same in parks are a little hollow.
Sports grounds of all places should surely be smokefree? Smoking and sport just do not mix, no matter what the tobacco industry
would like us to think. To suggest that parents might not come to watch their children play if they are not able to smoke, does a
disservice to the parents of South Wairarapa.
Talk of lack of enforcement resources is also a red herring. We know from
experience with other smokefree venues that compliance is rarely a problem, and
when someone does light-up, peer pressure usually comes into play. I hope the
South Wairarapa health community puts some pressure on to get this policy
changed, and the Coalition would be pleased to help with this in any way we can.
Have a good fortnight.
Mark Peck
Director
Smokefree Coalition
IN THIS ISSUE:
- Light, mild and smooth? Yeah right
- Health Canada seeks stronger graphic warnings
- Graphic ads lead counterattack on smoking
- Californian cigarette tax could skyrocket
- Increase in women taking up smoking
- Women smokers fear quitting will lead to weight gain
- Sport fields escape smoking ban
- Ash media analysis report: June 2006
- Pacific Islands Heartbeat smoking cessation service
- Blast from the past
- Quotable quotes
- Media themes
LIGHT, MILD AND SMOOTH? YEAH RIGHT
A new survey shows terms such as light, mild and smooth create considerable confusion about the harm caused by cigarettes.
The survey, conducted by researchers from Massey University and supported by ASH New Zealand, suggests the New Zealand Government
should urgently review the descriptors used on cigarette packets.
Following on from earlier work that examined how Australian consumers interpreted "light", the current study examined how a
sample of New Zealand adolescents interpreted "light" and "mild", and an alternative, "smooth", which Australian tobacco
manufacturers plan to use as a replacement for "light" and "mild".
Professor Janet Hoek, from Massey University's College of Business, led the research and said the results showed young
people often incorrectly perceived brands labelled as "light", "mild" or "smooth" as less harmful or less addictive.
Professor Hoek states, "We now have research from New Zealand demonstrating substantial misinterpretation of these terms
among young people."
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has entered into arrangements with several tobacco companies that will
see the removal of the words "light" and "mild" from cigarette packets. It will also see the tobacco companies pay for a
remedial campaign designed to correct false beliefs held by smokers.
ASH NZ Director Becky Freeman says, "The tobacco industry has routinely exploited every opportunity to attract new users
to their lethal product. As promotion channels have become less available, they have paid more and more attention to the
design of their packages and the words used on these. We urge the Government to follow Australia's lead and afford New
Zealand citizens the same level of protection."
Professor Hoek concurs with the need for regulatory action. "We know that young people are seduced by the glamorous
imagery the tobacco industry still associates with smoking and that, because of this, they do not understand how addictive
nicotine is, or the longer term risks of smoking."
"Terms such as "light", "mild" and "smooth" are widely misunderstood by young people, and create the impression that
cigarettes labelled in this way are less harmful or less addictive."
Ms Freeman calls upon the government to ban the use of deceptive descriptors. "There is compelling international evidence
that these descriptors imply health benefits that are simply not delivered - if this is not deception, it is hard to know what is."
A full copy of the research can be supplied on request. Please email Sneha Paul at
spaul@ash.org.nz or call 09 5207804.
HEALTH CANADA SEEKS STRONGER GRAPHIC WARNINGS
 Health Canada is considering new, even more graphic images on tobacco products to reinforce the negative health effects of
smoking - a move that is being both lauded and criticised.
Cynthia Callard, executive director of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, says the 16 colour pictures that now grace
cigarette packages - including images of yellow, rotting teeth, a limp cigarette warning of impotence, a pregnant woman smoking - are
powerful, cost-effective tools in the fight against smoking.
Canada led the world in 2001 when it launched the 16 coloured pictures on packages coupled with 16 different warnings
inside packages with quitting tips. Brazil and other countries soon followed.
Since then, Canadian smoking rates have declined 2 percent (from 5.4 million smokers 15 and older in 2001 to just over
5 million during the first half of 2005). Anyone suggesting this is insignificant, says Callard, is missing the complexity of the
equation. The time has come, however, to replace the now stale images.
Evidence from a focus group study conducted by Health Canada last year, and echoed in other studies, indicates that while
the old images still get noticed, many smokers now avoid those they dislike (by rejecting certain packages at point of purchase)
and rationalising why the messages don't apply to them (eg, I'm too young to get sick).
The new images were tested last year on four groups of smokers (two in Halifax, two in Montréal) 18 years and older and
included photo-shopped images of a pregnant woman and a foetus, both smoking, and a man dying of lung cancer as his wife and
daughter sit next to him. A Health Canada spokesperson said the goal was to test basic concepts and reactions. A final
decision on new images has not been reached, and new pictures are not expected before late 2007 or 2008.
The Non-Smokers Rights Association, however, is not impressed with Health Canada's new shock ads.
Executive Director Garfield Mahood says the concepts under review focus on individual responsibility instead of the product
as the cause of problems. He fears new messages will do little to reduce deaths caused by smoking.
"We're dealing with an epidemic, and epidemics require dramatic, aggressive, earth-shaking responses from governments,"
says Mahood. "And this is not what we're seeing with the latest round of warnings."
Canadian Medical Association Journal, 18 July 2006
GRAPHIC ADS LEAD COUNTERATTACK ON SMOKING
The New South Wales State Government is considering forcing retailers to display on counters the sort of graphic images
now on cigarette packets.
After launching a television advertising campaign containing images of a woman suffering from mouth cancer, the minister
assisting the Health Minister on cancer issues, Frank Sartor, said he was also considering banning cigarette packets from shop
displays.
Mr Sartor said retailers may be forced to mount graphic images on their counters if they "obfuscated" over not having
packets on display.
"The campaign against smoking... [is] a work in progress... We'll tighten the screws... and if we have to do more with
displays we will," he said. "But it may be that putting graphic displays on counters might be a bit more effective...
than hiding packets."
The Sydney Morning Herald revealed in March that Mr Sartor had abandoned his 2004 proposal to ban cigarettes from display
in supermarkets and shops. Documents indicated the idea was dropped because the Government believed it more important to ban
smoking in pubs and clubs. The minister had argued that the display ban was not so important because the Federal Government had
forced cigarette companies to put graphic images such as gangrenous feet onto packets.
Last month, a parliamentary committee recommended the Government force retailers to have a maximum cigarette display space
of only one square metre. Mr Sartor said yesterday he would look at that recommendation, but "we might even want less [space] than
that".
He said the anti-smoking campaign had to be mounted "sequentially or incrementally... or you just antagonise a whole lot of
people in a hurry."
The minister also defended smoking ban concessions for pubs and clubs given to the hotel lobby, which donates more than
$1 million a year to the Labor Party. At least 75 hotels were allowed a second smoking room in the phase-in period of the ban,
and when the full ban comes in, rooms in hotels can be called "outdoor areas" even if only 25 per cent of the room is outdoors.
Also, no pub or club has been fined since the first stage of the smoking ban began in July 2005, despite 282 warnings.
Mr Sartor said legislation requiring all tobacco vendors to register with the Government over the next year would make any
move to enforce changes on tobacco retailers easier. The Government is spending $10 million a year on anti-tobacco advertising.
At the launch a mouth cancer survivor, Karen Thompson, told how she underwent surgery at age 40 in 1999. She
had discovered she was close to developing cancer after noticing her tongue had white blotches and she was suffering from
persistent mouth ulcers. She cut down on her smoking, but it was too late.
"I endured a seven-hour operation... Part of my tongue and mouth tissue were removed. I lost a lot of teeth... [and]
had a tracheotomy," she said. "I used to think giving up smoking was like losing a good friend... Quit. Don't leave it like
I did. Don't put it off until it's too late."
Sydney Morning Herald, 27 July 2006
CALIFORNIAN CIGARETTE TAX COULD SKYROCKET
A ballot measure in California calling for a 300 percent increase in the tobacco tax is the latest in a national trend to
stamp out smoking by making it too costly. California's tax increase would go further than other states by creating the highest
levy on cigarettes in the nation.
Experts say tax increases in other states have reduced smoking and increased revenues. But they say the increases also bring
problems such as smuggling, gang activity and the shuttering of small retailers.
"After significant tax increases, revenue rises, consumption falls, perhaps most among young people, and evasion increases,"
says Brian Stenson, deputy director of the Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, N.Y.
The proposal would increase the tax on cigarettes to $3.47 a pack from the current 87 cents. Similar increases would apply to
cigars and other tobacco products. That would send the average price of a pack of cigarettes from $4 to $6.55, says the California
Department of Health Services.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opposes the tax increase.
Paul Knepprath, lobbyist for the American Lung Association of California, says the goal is worthy. "Taxing tobacco will reduce
smoking. That's been proved in every state that's raised tobacco taxes," he says. "It makes it more difficult for people to smoke
and purchase cigarettes."
The initiative would also raise an estimated $2 billion or more a year in new revenue. That money would go toward health causes,
including direct aid to hospitals.
However, the tax increase could hurt California retailers, says Charles Janigian, president of the California Association of
Retail Tobacconists.
Janigian says the increase would force small retailers, particularly cigar and pipe shops, out of business. Smokers could
save by going across the state line. On the Internet they could buy a 10-pack carton for $34.70 less than what they'd pay in
California.
"It would drive more and more business to the Internet and to mail-order companies outside the state of California who are not
required to collect and pay tax," he said.
There is another risk when one state's prices are much higher than other
state's. A 2004 report by the agency then known as the General
Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said tax increases on cigarettes open up a lucrative black market to
unlawful
groups looking for ways to fund their activities.
"As cigarette taxes increase, so do the incentives for criminal organisations, including terrorist organisations, to smuggle
cigarettes into and throughout the United States," the GAO report said.
The median state tax, per pack, is 80 cents, and the federal tax is 39 cents. The highest tax on a pack of cigarettes is in
Rhode Island ($2.46) while the lowest, in Virginia, is just 30 cents.
USA Today, 24 July 2006
INCREASE IN WOMEN TAKING UP SMOKING
 More women are lighting up cigarettes around the world even as the smoking rate declines for men, activists attending an
anti-smoking conference say.
About 12 percent of women worldwide smoke, and that figure is expected to rise to 20 percent by 2025, according to a
report by the International Network of Women Against Tobacco. The group relied on World Health Organization data.
About 48 percent of men smoke, but that number is expected to decline, according to the report made public on Friday at a
conference sponsored by the American Cancer Society.
Lorraine Greaves, project leader on the report, said tobacco company marketing is nudging up the female smoking rate in
poorer countries, much as it did in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s.
Ms Greaves, executive director of the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women's health, said billboard ads for
cigarettes overseas portray attractive, modern-looking women as smokers. Billboard ads are banned in the United States.
The report said ad campaigns geared toward women overseas have "served to change cultural beliefs about women and smoking",
and it cited several countries where such shifts had occurred. For example, it noted that in Turkey, where it used to be "quite
unacceptable for a woman to be seen with a cigarette", the rate of smoking among women is now similar to that of men.
Ms Greaves and other women's health advocates noted that a World Health Organization treaty aimed at curtailing tobacco
use contains measures designed to cut women's smoking rates, including recommendations for strategies that target women specifically.
The United States has signed the treaty, but it has not been sent to the Senate for ratification.
"Where is the good will?" asked Patricia Lambert, a legal adviser to the South African Ministry of Health, referring to the delay.
World Health Organization officials also said they intended to republish and distribute internationally a California study
that cited a causal link between second-hand smoke and breast cancer. The US Surgeon general has said there is too little
evidence to conclude a causal link exists.
Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 July 2006
SPORT FIELDS ESCAPE SMOKING BAN
Smoking will be prohibited at South Wairarapa playgrounds, but not sports grounds. Sport fields will be exempt from South
Wairarapa District Council's initiative among fears it could discourage parents from watching their children play.
A tight budget and lack of staff to enforce a bylaw ban means the council has opted instead for an educational approach
with no punitive action to be taken.
South Wairarapa Mayor Adrienne Staples said the idea of telling smokers to butt out in areas where children played had not
stirred any negative response from the community.
The policy was designed to encourage people not to smoke in council controlled areas used by children for recreation.
"We can have staff tap people on the shoulder and say 'Please put that out' but they can in turn tell us that we have no power
to stop them and they will be perfectly within their legal rights to continue," she said.
It was hoped smokers would eventually succumb to peer group pressure. "Maybe there will be other mums and dads at the park
who like the smokefree idea and will not be afraid to tell a smoker to take notice of the signs.
No-smoking signs will be erected at playgrounds at Lake Ferry, Martinborough, Featherston and Greytown by early September.
Aside from the issue of cost, which the council cannot find within its budget, an all-grounds wide ban would discourage people
from attending events, Mrs Staples said. "I would rather have some kid out there playing sport and dad standing on the sideline
with his cigarette rather than not taking his child down to support him because we say we would prefer him not to smoke.
We have to weigh up the positives and the negatives."
South Taranaki District Council announced smokefree parks last year and has since been followed by the Gisborne and Upper
Hutt councils.
The Dominion Post, 28 July 2006
ASH MEDIA ANALYSIS REPORT: JUNE 2006
ASH Communications Advisor Sneha Paul regularly undertakes an analysis of
print media coverage and in this issue we present her findings for June 2006.
There were a total of 293 articles on smoking-related stories in the month of
June. This is a decrease from 361 in May 2006.
The table below indicates the numbers of stories that were published in the print media by category.
| Category |
Number of Stories |
| Asian smoking |
1 (0 in May) |
| Cessation |
23 (19) |
| General |
155 (121) |
| Litigation |
8 (37) |
| Parental smoking |
1 |
| Picture warnings |
14 (57) |
| Second-hand smoke |
5 (8) |
| Smoke-free Environments Act |
2 (7) |
| Smokefree environments |
12 (8) |
| Smokefree schools |
1 |
| Smoking and health |
14 (8) |
| Smoking and pregnancy |
1 |
| Tobacco control |
19 (2) |
| Tobacco industry |
2 (12) |
| World Smokefree Day |
29 ( 47) |
| Youth smoking |
6 (27)27 |
| Total |
293 |
The stories were then broken down into three categories: positive, negative and neutral. Stories favourable to
smokefree issues are classified as positive, those unfavourable are classified as negative and general stories that
are neither favourable nor unfavourable to smokefree issues are classified as neutral.
| Positive/Negative/Neutral Stories |
Number of Stories |
| Positive |
74 (124 in May) |
| Neutral |
215 (227) |
| Negative |
4 (10) |
| Total |
293 |
If you have any queries regarding this report, please contact Sneha Paul
at spaul@ash.org.nz.
PACIFIC ISLANDS HEARTBEAT SMOKING CESSATION SERVICE
 Supporting Pacific People to Access subsidised NRT - patches and gum.
Free Training for Health Professionals:
Introduction to Smoking Cessation
This workshop is designed to enhance the skills of health professionals and community health workers in providing
brief intervention for patients. It is ideal for providers who wish to provide complete support for clients with tobacco-related
conditions.
 Date: 23 and 24
August 2006
Venue: Te Amorangi
Richmond
Conference Room
Christchurch
Starting Time: 9:00am - 4:00pm
Morning tea and afternoon tea will be provided.
For more information contact:
Anthony Leaupepe
Smoking Cessation Training Facilitator
04 472 2780 ext. 2
anthonyl@nhf.org.nz
BLAST FROM THE PAST
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True?
Brand: True - Lorillard(1975)
Full Text: The man wearing the Rupert Bear trousers says: "I'd heard enough to make me decide one of two things: quit or
smoke True. I smoke True. The low tar, low nicotine cigarette. Think about it."
Retrieved from: 20th Century Tobacco Ad Collection Collected by Richard Pollay, catalogued by Roswell Park Cancer Institute
http://roswell.tobaccodocuments.org/pollay/dirdet.cfm
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QUOTABLE QUOTES
"All work in this area should be directed towards providing consumer reassurance about cigarettes and [smoking].
This can be provided in different ways, e.g. by claiming low deliveries, by the perception of low deliveries, and by the
perception of 'mildness'."
British American Tobaccos, 1977
"First of all, don't even start [smoking] because it's opening the door to having a stroke. I'm convinced of that. And the
macho business of 'must have it, can't do without it', quite frankly is a load of rubbish."
Horowhenua stroke victim Brian Stokoe,
Horowhenua Kapiti Chronicle, 20 July 2006
"...the tobacco companies have almost tripled their advertising spending from US$5 billion five years ago to US$15 billion
recently. Advertising, obviously, is pushing tobacco to show that it is glamorous, increases your sexual attractiveness and
makes you look cool. I am not sure quite how effective this is for our modern-day educated teenagers, but certainly something is
making them smoke."
Dr Chris Kalderimis, The Dominion Post, 24 July 2006
"I was one of them. Yes, me! I should have known better but, coffee in one hand, ciggie in the other - What a treat it was. But
I quit. Was it the warnings on cigarette packs? Fear of vascular disease? No, I just couldn't breathe when I went for a run."
Alice Bergan, Eureka Street, 25 July 2006
MEDIA THEMES
Programme helps deployed soldiers quit
Quitting smoking was the last thing Master Sgt. David Dulen expected to do when he deployed to Iraq last September.
The pack-a-day smoker for more than 20 years had considered quitting many times. Then his wife quit last year.
"The opportunity to quit while deployed to Iraq never crossed my mind; in fact, I told my wife that I would have to
wait until after the deployment to quit and come online with a smoke-free life," he said
Long periods of downtime between missions and cigarettes being readily available - and at times even cheaper than in the
United States - pose an obstacle to anyone wanting to quit while deployed, said Capt. Amy Jackson, a physician assistant
at Camp Striker.
However, a few soldiers in the camp of 4,500 troops paved the way for Dulen's road to being smokefree when they approached
Jackson to ask if a smoking-cessation programme was available. There wasn't, so she started one.
"These guys were asking for something that I'm supposed to offer them as a provider," she said. "I thought it was
awesome that they asked."
In designing the four-week programme, Jackson used every possible tactic to help quitters quit. Soldiers can receive nicotine
patches, gum and prescription drugs to help them stave off the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. They attend classes on the
health benefits of quitting, stress management and relaxation. They also have Jackson and her medics to turn to for suggestions
on how to cope when the cravings come.
"I encourage them to drink more water, play games on their smoke break, take a walk around their work area, exercise, read
their smoking-aid handbook, put a toothpick in their mouth after chow instead of lighting up or take up a new hobby -
anything to take their mind off their addiction," she said.
Word of the programme quickly spread and so far 53 smokers have joined. Sixteen smokers who used tobacco for a total of
203 years quit for good; eight of them had smoked for more than 10 years.
Twenty-six soldiers didn't stick with the programme, often bailing at the two-or three-month mark. Jackson thinks they'll
quit eventually.
"When I started the programme, many of my peers recommended that I not be discouraged if I didn't see any success given
our environment, mission and stress level," she said. "I am very pleased with the outcome and am still hopeful for those
who attended the course, knowing that the seed has been planted and they may always try again to quit."
Jackson plans to follow up with her quitters after they return to the United States to see how they're managing during a
time when they may be tempted to smoke.
"Getting back into the 'old routine' may include smoking in the car that they used to smoke in before they deployed.
There will be some nights out on the town, and alcohol and tobacco go hand in hand," she said. "If their spouse smokes,
it will be difficult to avoid the temptation, but a support system may get them past the adjustment period to avoid temptation."
Dulen said he's through with cigarettes.
"I no longer have the desire to smoke," he said. "I have my days when I think I am a little stressed and say, 'Boy, I could use
a cigarette.' But I don't smoke, so I believe that I will be smokefree the remainder of my life."
Army News Service, 17 July 2006
No NSW pubs fined despite 282 warnings
Not one New South Wales pub or club has been fined since new smoking laws were introduced over a year ago - despite 282
warnings being issued.
And the Health Department admitted yesterday there was not one dedicated full-time officer employed to inspect pubs and
clubs to ensure new smoking bans are being upheld.
The NSW Health Tobacco Information Line has received 68 complaints since July 3 when the second stage of the ban - limiting
smoking to 25 per cent of floor space - was introduced. No action has been taken against the operators of those establishments.
A Health Department spokeswoman said complaints related to smoking in more than one room of the premises or in more than 25
percent of the total area; non-smoking areas at all; 1.5m buffer or physical barrier between smoking and non-smoking areas;
and smoking in defined no-smoking areas, such as at the bar.
At least five complaints had been made against one inner-western Sydney pub alone, which continued to defy the rules.
"Many hoteliers are not complying. The pubs believe they have won," the source said.
The Health Department spokeswoman said: "Environmental health officers have taken a largely educative approach regarding
this legislation and there have been no prosecutions or fines." She said that, apart from inspecting pubs and clubs, the 52
environmental health officers oversee legislation concerning cigarette sales to minors and tobacco advertising.
Smoke-Free Australia's Stafford Sanders said the government would be policing the law if it had a strong commitment to the
issue. "We think the time for education is long passed and the community is again running well ahead of the government on
these changes," he said. "The government, through WorkCover, is supposed to be ensuring safe working places and this is
clearly not the case."
NSW Daily Telegraph, 18 July 2006
Nicotine in a bottle
Canadian smokers may soon have a new alternative to lighting up a cigarette to soothe their need for nicotine - and it
comes in a bottle.
Nic Lite is a lemon-flavoured, water-based nicotine drink that contains four milligrams of organic nicotine - equivalent to
the amount of the drug found in two cigarettes.
In a statement released in June, the makers of Nic Lite said they plan to roll out the product in more than 50 U.S. airports,
targeting nicotine-addicted airline passengers facing smokefree flights.
"We attempted to find other products that might have the same biological effect on people to help them when they can't smoke,
or in our case, when they can't smoke and shouldn't smoke," said Joseph Knight, CEO of the California-based Nico Worldwide Inc.,
the makers of Nic Lite.
"We tried a lot of different product combinations and herbs and things, and the only thing that really works is the nicotine
molecule itself."
The product is being touted as a way to cope with smoking bans, which proves timely for Ontario and Quebec where enclosed
workplaces and public places went smokefree on May 31.
Some experts are questioning how effective Nic Lite is in its delivery of nicotine.
Even nicotine replacement therapies such as the patch and gum don't transmit nicotine to the brain as quickly as a cigarette,
said Joanna Cohen, director of research and training for the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit.
"Nicotine water you have to ingest, it has to go into your stomach, you have to absorb whatever there is in there, and it's
probably quite dilute, and then eventually it's going to have to get your brain."
Canoe Network Health, 26 July 2006
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