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From the Director

I had the chance to listen to the industry on Thursday 19 November. Dave Bryans, President of Canada's Convenience Store Association and former Executive of RJ Reynolds, spoke to the New Zealand Association of Convenience Stores in Auckland. With around 150 or so delegates, Stamford Plaza was swarming with tobacco company reps amongst franchised convenience store management. Imperial Tobacco was also there, as were Coca Cola, Mobil and Shell.

In Canada, Bryans said, the four drivers for convenience stores were lottery tickets, tobacco, petrol and alcohol. Canada has five million smokers, representing only 19 percent of the population (we're at 21 percent). Tobacco accounts for 35-70 percent, or on average half, of all convenience store sales.

Here's what Bryans pitched to his audience.

"'Health do-gooders' [that's us] set out to de-normalise decent folks. They push tobacco use out of the charmed circle of normal desirable practice, to being an abnormal practice."

That's correct, I thought, but then Bryans told his audience that retailers were being demonised for selling the product, and retailers have done nothing but comply with the law.

"'Health do-gooders'" are creating laws that hurt poor retailers, and don't work for dropping smoking prevalence either."

That's all not true, I kept thinking. In fact, Bryans painted a completely false picture of retailers AND the health sector in Canada.

"We have to understand what advocacy is," Bryans shook a finger. "Don't fool yourselves; these people will bulldoze your store to stop you... Understand, you haven't won, don't fool yourself... they never give up on their mission."

"'Health do-gooders' are not like Us," Bryans claimed. "Us, we shake hands, do a deal, go home and have dinner with the wife. Not these people, they're like nuns and priests."

Canada's tobacco control community has a very similar vision for 2020 to the Smokefree Coalition here in New Zealand. Bryans estimated there was a tobacco retailer in Canada for every 1400 of the population. He even called that "saturation" for Canada. In New Zealand we have around one store for every 800 smokers!

He painted a bleak picture, using Saskatchewan and Ontario as examples of tobacco retail display ban law gone terribly wrong. He warned that this was what New Zealand's Government could easily buy into. We 'health do-gooders' would sell the Government false estimates of teen smoking being greatly reduced with this measure.

Bryans urged retailers to unionise and collectivise. "Engage with councillors, mayors and MPs," he encouraged. "Tell them about Canada. Prepare yourselves to influence them when the time comes here in New Zealand."

I agree retailers should unionise and, in fact, they are in New Zealand. So if legislation looks like it might change here on tobacco retail display, I imagine we'll have a bit of a slanging match in the media. We will be cast as 'health do-gooders', demonising these poor retailers among local communities. The image is ridiculous, but that doesn't mean it won't be believed by many.

But our eyes have to stay on the prize. If retailers do collectivise over this issue, the Smokefree Coalition should support Government liaison with any new retailers' nationwide network. You know, I think it would be awesome to get a retailers' association amongst our membership!

Read more about Dave Bryans' visit below.

Take care,

Prudence Stone, Director,
Smokefree Coalition

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Turia reiterates smoking kills message to dairies
• Counter arguments on the impact of tobacco retail displays on small retailers
• Best workplace nomination for Tobacco Company an outrage
• Rebutting the tobacco industry, winning smokefree air – 2009 Status Report
• TABINFO ASIA 2009 turns into a win for Thailand's tobacco control movement
• IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion
• Ministry of Health – Tobacco Control Team update
• Smokefree shorts
• Quotable quotes

Turia reiterates smoking kills message to dairies

The New Zealand Association of Convenience Stores (NZACS) needs to stop hiding behind their tobacco displays and face the fact that the products they sell kill.

"One does not need to understand retailing businesses to know that over a 10-year-period 50,000 people have died because of smoking," Māori Party co-leader Tariana Turia said.

Mrs Turia had no sympathy for convenience stores which claim they would fall victim to an increase in costs if forced to remove the tobacco retail signs in their shops.

"It is taxpayers, most of whom aren't corner store dairy owners, who pick up the huge bill for the ongoing health costs created by this killer substance – a substance the NZACS wants to continue to shove in the face of our children and youth every time they enter a shop."

NZACS's attack on anti-tobacco groups was unfair, Mrs Turia said.

"Anti-tobacco groups may not know much about retailing or the operation of convenience store businesses but they know about the value and preciousness of life – and that's what really matters here."

Media Release: The Māori Party, 20 November 2009

Counter arguments on the impact of tobacco retail displays on small retailers

In an 18 November letter to the New Zealand Ban Cigarette Displays Google Group, ASH Director Ben Youdan said a visit to New Zealand by Canadian Convenience Stores Association Head Dave Byrans shows the "tobacco industry is rattled!"

Bryans has been flown over to warn New Zealand retailers that "a tobacco display ban will kill small business" and spoke at the New Zealand Association of Convenience Stores Conference on marketing tobacco in a 'dark market' and the impact of a display ban in Canada.

Mr Youdan said Bryans' visit is significant because it shows the industry is worried. Bryans also went to talk to retailers and MPs in Ireland just as they banned displays, and he made a similar visit to the UK just before MPs were due to vote on display bans.

It is expected Bryans will be meeting MPs while in New Zealand. In preparation ASH has put together some counter arguments to those commonly used by the tobacco industry. These points can help with responses to media stories claiming a ban on displays will destroy local business. They would also be helpful in writing letters to newspapers or to MPs.

You can request a copy of Counter arguments on the impact of tobacco retail displays on small retailers from ashnz@ash.org.nz (Word 323Kb).

The New Zealand Association of Convenience Stores has issued a media release to coincide with Dave Bryans' talk. It highlights an Australian Deloitte study that supports the view that retail bans on tobacco do not work and are hugely expensive.

Best workplace nomination for Tobacco Company an outrage

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and Te Reo Marama are calling for the immediate withdrawal of tobacco company, British American Tobacco (BAT) as a finalist for the JRA Best Workplaces Awards.

ASH Director Ben Youdan says the nomination is nothing but a cynical corporate social responsibility stunt by BAT.

"This is a classical move by the tobacco industry to present itself as a normal business. They no longer succeed in making smoking appear normal, so they're putting effort in to making themselves seem like a respectable corporate entity," he said.

"One out of two BAT customers dies from smoking. Working for them is being a merchant of death, and trying to polish that with awards for being a great workplace is a pathetic attempt to mask this reality from their employees."

British American Tobacco (NZ) has been nominated for an award in the Small-Medium Workplace category.

Employees rate their organisation based on a range of measures, including communication, culture and values, common purpose, learning and development, and reward and recognition.

Te Reo Marama director Shane Bradbrook said a company that produces a deadly product shouldn't be in line for positive recognition.

"What an appalling decision to include a tobacco company as a nominee for a workplace award. This is a company responsible for producing an addictive product that causes illness and premature death," he said.

"We call for this nomination to be withdrawn immediately. It is an affront that JRA believes that this award nomination should be even given to such a counter-productive company that brings no public benefit to this country."

The winners of the JRA Best Workplaces Survey will be announced on 26 November.

Media release: ASH NZ and Te Reo Marama, 24 November 2009

Rebutting the tobacco industry, winning smokefree air
– 2009 Status Report

On 10 November 2009, the Global Smokefree Partnership launched its 2009 status report, Rebutting the tobacco industry, winning smokefree air. The theme for the report is tobacco industry interference.

Rebutting the tobacco industry, winning smokefree air is the first report to detail the tobacco industry's tactics to hold back legislation, as well as the positive impacts of governments, organisations and individuals who are taking on the tobacco industry and winning.

The biggest barrier to smokefree air is the multinational tobacco companies who stand to lose billions of dollars if smokefree laws are implemented. From fake "science" to buying influence, and from scare stories to cover-ups, tobacco companies continue to devote their considerable wealth to stopping smokefree laws in every region of the world.

Download Rebutting the tobacco industry, winning smokefree air.

TABINFO ASIA 2009 turns into a win for Thailand's tobacco control movement

The recent tobacco industry conference, TABINFO Asia 2009, held 11-14 November in Thailand, was successfully disrupted by protest. Organisers of the tobacco industry expo at the conference were prosecuted because they violated Thailand's tobacco control laws.

Hatai Chitanondh, President of the Thailand Health Promotion Institute, said tobacco control advocates and alliances had prepared well for the occasion.

An open letter sent through the press to the Deputy Finance Minister called the industry attendees "merchants of death" responsible for 5.4 million deaths worldwide and 42,000 Thai deaths each year. The Deputy Finance Minister failed to show up for his chair duties, forcing the organisers to start the conference without official fanfare.

A rally of 600-700 students won media attention in front of the expo hall, while tobacco control advocates managed to infiltrate the conference through regular registration. They took pictures evidencing law violations around promoting tobacco products. A complaint was filed to the police and on Day 2 the exhibit hall was invaded by Health Ministry officials and police, locating the law violations and making arrests.

Tobacco industry representatives were charged with violation of Article 8 of Thailand's Tobacco Product Control Act 1992. This article prohibits advertising of tobacco products. Chitanondh said there were displays of many cigarette brands in the exhibit and the violations were obvious.

The expo organisers were prosecuted and fined. This is the first time a tobacco industry expo has been prosecuted because of violation of the tobacco control laws of the host country.

The irony, Chitanondh noted, was that an industry statement posted on one website said, "If we can win Thailand, we can win the world." Thailand's tobacco control movement proved it was not the easy target the industry thought.

GLOBALink, 13 November 2009

IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion

The 20th IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion will take place in Geneva, 11-15 July 2010.

This is a tri-annual world conference organised by the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE), Health Promotion Switzerland and several national and international partners. The aim of this conference is to strengthen the understanding of health and wellbeing as essential resources for a healthy society, environment and economy, as well as achieving sustainable partnerships and results.

The call for abstracts for the conference is open until 30 November 2009. Abstracts for workshops, symposia and oral presentations/posters can be submitted in English, French or Spanish.

For more information, please, see www.iuhpeconference.net.

SMOKEFREE SHORTS

Where possible, links to full articles are provided below each story.

New Zealand

Pub ban stubs out smoking at home

A ban on smoking in bars and pubs has prompted many New Zealanders to stop smoking at home, Ministry of Health research shows.

Next month will mark six years since the passing of smokefree legislation that bans smoking in indoor work environments such as clubs, casinos, bars and restaurants. It came into force one year later in December 2004.

A ministry expert on tobacco, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, says one of the positive spin-offs of the law has been that the number of smokefree homes has dramatically increased. He attributes the trend to a change in attitude – "People started thinking, 'I can't smoke in the pub so I won't smoke in my home.'"

Sunday Star Times, 15 November 2009

University's smokefree plan first in country

The University of Auckland will become New Zealand's first smokefree university next year. From 1 January smoking will be banned on all Auckland University campuses and outdoor spaces, including places previously designated as smoking areas.

In a revision of its smokefree policy, the university decided the old policy was not combating risks to non-smokers from passive smoking.

New Zealand Herald, 20 November 2009

Art of being smokefree

Give us our language, dance, songs, beliefs – but not cigarettes. That's the theme of 13-year-old Sarah Colcord's artwork. The Weymouth Intermediate School student has won first place in the Keeping Kids Smokefree art competition. Her artwork is now being displayed on the back of two buses for three months.

"It's pretty great that my art is getting out there for people to see," she says.

The picture took her a few hours to draw and includes symbols representing her Christian beliefs, Māori and Samoan heritage and south Auckland's music and dance culture.

Manukau Courier, 17 November 2009

Government releases DHB performance data

Data on how well district health boards (DHBs) are performing shows that many are failing to meet their targets.

The first quarterly results of the Government's new health targets were published in newspapers and on the Ministry of Health website on 23 November.

Otago Daily Times, 22 November 2009

Campaign launched to cut patient smoker numbers

Middlemore Hospital has just rolled out a new campaign aimed at curbing the number of its patients who smoke.

A report by the Ministry of Health has revealed only 10 percent of the hospital's patients are given advice on how to quit smoking. That is well short of the Government set goal of 80 percent.

NZ City, 23 November 2009

International

European Union agrees to boost tax on cigarettes

European Union states agreed to raise the excise tax on cigarettes by nearly 30 percent to try to reduce smoking and improve public health, a move that could hurt tobacco manufacturers.

The agreement is part of the EU's drive to combat smoking, which British statistics show kills more than one million men and 200,000 women in Europe each year.

"The directive is intended to ensure a higher level of public health protection by raising minimum excise duties on cigarettes," the EU said in a statement.

TVNZ, 11 November 2009

New smokeless tobacco products in test markets

In 1992 Brown and Williamson researchers' goal was to find "socially acceptable" ways to sell tobacco, according to one of the company's internal research and development documents. It needed to be smokeless, spitless, and not produce an odour. It needed to be fire safe, readily available and not subject to federal regulations.

Their ideas ran the gamut: tobacco pills and lotion, beverages and toothpicks. They even considered a tobacco-derived salted snack and perfume or aftershave.

Salt Lake Tribune, 11 November 2009

Second-hand smoke worse for toddlers and obese children

Toddlers and obese children suffer more than other youth when exposed to second-hand smoke, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009.

Science Daily, 18 November 2009

US adult smoking rate rises slightly

Cigarette smoking rose slightly for the first time in almost 15 years, dashing health officials' hopes that the US smoking rate had moved permanently below 20 percent.

San Luis Obispo Tribune, 12 November 2009

Study says film subsidies underwrite tobacco-friendly movies

A new report takes aim at state movie production subsidies for supporting films that depict smoking. Health researchers at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) estimate that 60 percent of the US$1.4 billion that states offered to attract Hollywood filming in 2008 went to movies with tobacco imagery.

The researchers tabulated that states gave about US$500 million to "youth-rated" movies (PG and PG-13) and about US$330 million to R-rated movies. Combined, that is more than the 41 states that offer subsidies spend on anti-tobacco health programmes, according to Stanton Glantz, an author of the report and a UCSF Professor of Medicine.

New York Times, 11 November 2009

Lobbyists open wallets to influence budget

Gambling interests, natural-gas drillers, and tobacco companies have, since January, spent more than US$4.5 million combined on lobbying efforts, according to expense reports filed last week with the state of Pennsylvania.

Those industries were among the few winners in a US budget ravaged by the recession.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, 9 November 2009

Buying cigarettes and quit-smoking aids from the same company?

Why would a cigarette company buy a firm that makes products to help smokers quit? It's a question that's left many scratching their heads ever since reports surfaced that Reynolds American – the no 2 US tobacco company and the maker of Camel, Kool and Winston cigarettes, among others – is in talks to acquire Niconovum.

ABC News, 12 November 2009

Largest university in the 'tobacco state' bans leaf

The largest university in the tobacco-growing state of Kentucky and home to a tobacco research centre is banning all smoking on campus.

The University of Kentucky has imposed a strict tobacco-free policy that applies everywhere on the sprawling campus. It includes chewing tobacco, pipes, cigars and snuff as well as cigarettes and expands a 2006 ban on smoking in buildings and within 20 feet of buildings.

Wtop, 19 November 2009

Non-smokers top smokers in wellbeing across all incomes

Smokers trail non-smokers in wellbeing, regardless of income bracket, according to Gallup-Healthways Wellbeing Index data collected in 2008 and 2009. In every income group, smokers are less likely than non-smokers to be "thriving" by at least 12 percentage points.

Holding income constant is important because wealthier people are less likely to smoke and typically enjoy higher wellbeing. These findings thus suggest that the link between smoking and wellbeing goes beyond simple economics. In fact, for those making less than US$60,000 per year, not smoking appears to be the equivalent of moving up one income category in evaluative wellbeing.

Gallup, 18 November 2009

Smokers at increased risk of seizures

A recent study determined there is a significant risk of seizure for individuals who currently smoke cigarettes. Boston-based researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School also found that long-term, moderate intake of caffeine or alcohol does not increase the chance of having a seizure or developing epilepsy.

This is the first prospective study to examine the potential risks associated with cigarette smoking, caffeine intake, and alcohol consumption as they independently relate to epilepsy.

Science Daily, 20 November 2009

With aid, Massachusetts poor cut smoking

Lower income Massachusetts smokers have dramatically abandoned smoking amid a major state campaign that vigorously promotes and pays for tobacco addiction treatment, according to a report.

Smoking rates among the poor plummeted 26 percent in the first two years of the ongoing state programme, a striking result that is already drawing national attention to the effort. Officials targeted a population that historically had the highest smoking rates in Massachusetts.

Boston Globe, 18 November 2009

Loophole lets tobacco taxes go up in smoke

US President Obama and Congress increased taxes on tobacco products earlier this year to pay for expanded children's health insurance, but tobacco for roll-your-own cigarettes saw a disproportionate leap, from $1.10 to $24.78 per pound.

Tobacco companies quickly adapted. The Associated Press found that as soon as the tax was on the books, companies all but shut down their roll-your-own brands and reinvented them under a less-restricted, less-taxed category: pipe tobacco.

CBS News, 17 November 2009

Eew, your cigarette's got boogers

Cigarettes are "widely contaminated" with bacteria, including some known to cause disease in people, concludes a new international study conducted by a University of Maryland environmental health researchers and microbial ecologists at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France.

The research team describes the study as the first to show that "cigarettes themselves could be the direct source of exposure to a wide array of potentially pathogenic microbes among smokers and other people exposed to second-hand smoke."

Still, the researchers caution that the public health implications are unclear and urge further research.

EurekAlert, 19 November 2009

US$1 tobacco tax increase for cancer research

Smokers in California will have to dig much deeper into their pockets to buy a pack of cigarettes next year if a proposed ballot measure passes.

The 'Californians for a Cure' plan is aimed at raising millions of dollars for cancer research, smoking prevention programmes and to help bankroll anti-tobacco smuggling efforts.

The plan calls for an increase in the state's excise tax on tobacco, to $1.87 per pack. The money raised would flow into a trust fund. Sixty cents of the dollar raised from a pack of smokes would to go to fund research on cancer and other smoking-related illnesses.

Legal Newsline, 17 November 2009

QUOTABLE QUOTES

"You don't look at that and think 'evil.' You look at it and think, 'That's cute.'"

David Neville, Spokesman for the Utah Department of Health's Tobacco Prevention and Control Programme on smokeless tobacco product packaging by Brown and Williamson.
"New smokeless tobacco products in test markets", Salt Lake Tribune, 11 November 2009

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"The commercially available cigarettes we tested were chock full of bacteria as we had hypothesised, but we didn't think we'd find so many that are infectious in humans."

Amy Sapkota, Assistant Professor in the University of Maryland's School of Public Health, expresses surprise at the wide variety of human bacterial pathogens found in cigarettes.
"Cigarettes harbour many pathogenic bacteria: Study", EurekAlert, 19 November 2009

The Tobacco Control Update is produced by the Smokefree Coalition
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