Federal officials began grappling Tuesday with one of the thorniest issues surrounding the regulation of tobacco: whether to ban menthol, the most popular cigarette flavoring, which is smoked by millions of Americans every day.
The issue carries great importance for public health advocates and tobacco executives. But it also has racial implications, since menthol cigarettes are overwhelmingly popular among African Americans.
A scientific advisory panel that will advise the Food and Drug Administration on regulating tobacco opened a two-day meeting Tuesday and began reviewing hundreds of published studies on menthol cigarettes. The panel, largely made up of scientists, physicians and public health experts, has a year to make a recommendation to the FDA on menthol cigarettes, which are used by about 26 percent of smokers and make up almost one-third of the $70 billion U.S. cigarette market.
Menthol cigarettes are especially popular among young smokers. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 62 percent of middle-school students who smoke begin with menthol cigarettes, whose minty taste can mask the harshness of tobacco.
About 75 percent of African American smokers use menthol brands, and tobacco companies heavily advertise menthol products in black communities and media.
Many African American smokers view menthol cigarettes as "soothing" and "smooth," and less harsh and dangerous than regular cigarettes, according to a 2008 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But there is no evidence that menthol cigarettes are less lethal than regular cigarettes. Although African Americans smoke fewer cigarettes compared with white smokers, they have higher rates of lung cancer, stroke and other tobacco-related diseases.
"When you peel away the layers, this is an economic issue for the tobacco industry," said William S. Robinson, executive director of the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network, which wants the FDA to ban menthol cigarettes. "We're talking about $18 billion a year; that's a serious hit for them," Robinson said in an interview.
When Congress passed a historic law last year that gave the FDA the power to regulate tobacco, it also banned candy and spice flavorings such as chocolate and clove, saying cigarette makers used those products to hook youngsters into a lifetime addiction. But it exempted menthol from the ban, saying it wanted the FDA to study the issue and report by 2012 whether restrictions on it would serve the public health.
That prompted a letter of protest to Congress from seven former U.S. health secretaries, who said that allowing menthol-cigarette sales to continue would "trample the health" of African Americans. They called it a "loophole big enough for a herd of wild animals to romp through."
Lorillard, which makes Newport, the country's most popular brand of menthol cigarettes, said in a statement Tuesday that menthol cigarettes are no more dangerous to health than standard cigarettes. "Menthol, obviously, has been used for decades in food, drink, cosmetics and other products," the company said. "And the science is clear and compelling that there is no differing health risk between menthol and non-menthol products. With respect to public health, using the best methods available to science, it is clear a menthol cigarette is just another cigarette and should be treated no differently."
But the scientific advisory panel has not yet reached that conclusion, and it spent Tuesday listening to FDA staff members present their review of 343 research papers on menthol cigarettes, published between 1921 and 2009.
Under the law passed last year, the FDA can demand for the first time internal studies and data from the tobacco industry. One of the advisory panel's goals during its first meeting is to determine what additional information it will request from the industry.
Robinson said that could be key in settling the debate about whether menthol poses a particular danger to public health.
"We still have questions about the role of menthol, regarding initiation of smoking and continued addiction and difficulty in quitting," he said. "Under this new law, the industry has to turn over documents at a level that's unprecedented. They have to share their scientific information. When we begin to know what they know, hopefully that will lead to a ban on menthol products."
Apr 20, 2010
Ghana Must Show Greater Commitment to Tobacco Control
Accra — A team led by Dr. Ahmed E. Ogwell Ouma from the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was in Ghana last week to assess the country's level of implementation of provisions of the convention.
The team met with the media and the Civil Society Coalition on Tobacco Control among others. What came up during these meetings clearly indicates that Ghana, one of the 40 countries that took the lead in ratifying the Convention, has done very little in ensuring the implementation of the Convention.
In the first place, as it may have become common knowledge now, the country is yet to pass the Tobacco Control Bill into law in spite of the glut of advocacy by civil society on same. Different stories keep coming up as to where the bill actually is at the moment. Rumours have it that the delay is because government does not intend passing the bill in isolation but as part of the law on public health.
The fact that the law has not been passed, means that the country is lagging far behind in operationalizing key articles of the treaty.
Article 11 for instance says that after three years of the coming into force of the convention, member countries shall adopt and implement laws to ensure that tobacco product packaging and labeling do not promote the product by any means. Same article also calls for bolder and clearer health warnings on the packages.
As reported on page three of this paper, the country has failed to honour its obligations under the treaty on several fronts in spite of the fact that it ratified the Convention in 2004 and adopted it in 2005.
The situation is a source of worry for the leader of the team from the WHO, Dr. Ogwell Ouma. He told Civil Society Organizations working on Tobacco Control that his team was in Ghana because of the 'good name' the country has earned for itself internationally. He however expressed misgivings that if Civil Society and indeed government do not step up their efforts, the goodwill could wane.
Tobacco, as it has been shown by health experts, is depriving the world of significant numbers of its people. Nations, including Ghana, are losing a lot of their human resource to tobacco-induced deadly cancers and other complications associated with the use of the substance. It is argued that the cost of treating tobacco related sicknesses far outweighs the income governments make from the tobacco trade.
It is for these and other reasons that Public Agenda adds it voice to the many calls for the government of Ghana to pass the Tobacco Control Bill into law, without further delay, and to ensure that Ghanaians are saved the health hazards associated with tobacco use. The country needs every single one of its human resource; none of that should be lost through tobacco related diseases.
The team met with the media and the Civil Society Coalition on Tobacco Control among others. What came up during these meetings clearly indicates that Ghana, one of the 40 countries that took the lead in ratifying the Convention, has done very little in ensuring the implementation of the Convention.
In the first place, as it may have become common knowledge now, the country is yet to pass the Tobacco Control Bill into law in spite of the glut of advocacy by civil society on same. Different stories keep coming up as to where the bill actually is at the moment. Rumours have it that the delay is because government does not intend passing the bill in isolation but as part of the law on public health.
The fact that the law has not been passed, means that the country is lagging far behind in operationalizing key articles of the treaty.
Article 11 for instance says that after three years of the coming into force of the convention, member countries shall adopt and implement laws to ensure that tobacco product packaging and labeling do not promote the product by any means. Same article also calls for bolder and clearer health warnings on the packages.
As reported on page three of this paper, the country has failed to honour its obligations under the treaty on several fronts in spite of the fact that it ratified the Convention in 2004 and adopted it in 2005.
The situation is a source of worry for the leader of the team from the WHO, Dr. Ogwell Ouma. He told Civil Society Organizations working on Tobacco Control that his team was in Ghana because of the 'good name' the country has earned for itself internationally. He however expressed misgivings that if Civil Society and indeed government do not step up their efforts, the goodwill could wane.
Tobacco, as it has been shown by health experts, is depriving the world of significant numbers of its people. Nations, including Ghana, are losing a lot of their human resource to tobacco-induced deadly cancers and other complications associated with the use of the substance. It is argued that the cost of treating tobacco related sicknesses far outweighs the income governments make from the tobacco trade.
It is for these and other reasons that Public Agenda adds it voice to the many calls for the government of Ghana to pass the Tobacco Control Bill into law, without further delay, and to ensure that Ghanaians are saved the health hazards associated with tobacco use. The country needs every single one of its human resource; none of that should be lost through tobacco related diseases.
Apr 15, 2010
Indonesia takes U.S. to WTO over clove cigarette ban
Like many trade disputes, this one involves health standards and whether they are being abused for protectionist purposes. It centers on the clove and tobacco blends known as kretek that dominate the tobacco market in Indonesia but are little smoked outside the Southeast Asian country.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned cigarettes with fruit, confectionery or clove flavors last September, arguing such cigarettes were particularly attractive to children.
But the U.S. ban does not include flavored cigarettes that are produced widely in the United States and smoked by about 19 million Americans.
Indonesia argues that discriminates against foreign producers of flavored tobacco to help domestic manufacturers.
"They have to prove that menthol doesn't have a bad impact," said the official, who asked not to be identified.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative's Office said U.S. officials were studying Indonesia's request for consultations, which comes as the two countries have been taking steps to boost trade and investment ties.
President Barack Obama abruptly canceled a trip to Indonesia in March to lobby for healthcare reform, but is expected to visit the country this year.
MENTHOL YES, CLOVES NO
U.S. tobacco companies told the FDA on March 31 that adding menthol did not make cigarettes more harmful or addictive [ID:nN31100715].
Under WTO rules, the two countries now have 60 days to resolve their differences through consultations, otherwise Indonesia can ask the WTO to create a panel of experts to rule on the issue.
The case is only the fifth brought at the WTO by Indonesia, the world's 21st biggest exporter.
Kretek cigarettes account for the bulk of tobacco consumption in Indonesia, the world's fifth biggest tobacco market, although unflavored or "white" sticks are gaining in popularity.
Indonesian exports of cigarettes and cigars totaled $357.8 million in 2008, the last year for which data is available.
Only relatively small numbers of kretek cigarettes are exported, and anecdotally they are coveted by young people in the United States who see them as an alternative to more conventional brands.
Foreign tobacco producers, keen to gain a bigger share of expanding markets for cigarettes in emerging economies, have been buying up Indonesian manufacturers to acquire kretek brands and expertise and build on the potential for white stick sales.
Last June, the world's No. 2 cigarette maker, British American Tobacco, bought an 85 percent stake in Indonesia's fourth largest cigarette maker by volume, PT Bentoel Internasional Investama.
Philip Morris International acquired the majority of Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna in 2005. Other Indonesian manufacturers include Gudang Garam and unlisted conglomerate Djarum.
Supervising the consultations with Indonesia will be one of the first tasks of the new U.S. ambassador to the WTO, Michael Punke, whose Senate confirmation was held up for six months by a Republican senator from the tobacco-growing state of Kentucky.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned cigarettes with fruit, confectionery or clove flavors last September, arguing such cigarettes were particularly attractive to children.
But the U.S. ban does not include flavored cigarettes that are produced widely in the United States and smoked by about 19 million Americans.
Indonesia argues that discriminates against foreign producers of flavored tobacco to help domestic manufacturers.
"They have to prove that menthol doesn't have a bad impact," said the official, who asked not to be identified.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative's Office said U.S. officials were studying Indonesia's request for consultations, which comes as the two countries have been taking steps to boost trade and investment ties.
President Barack Obama abruptly canceled a trip to Indonesia in March to lobby for healthcare reform, but is expected to visit the country this year.
MENTHOL YES, CLOVES NO
U.S. tobacco companies told the FDA on March 31 that adding menthol did not make cigarettes more harmful or addictive [ID:nN31100715].
Under WTO rules, the two countries now have 60 days to resolve their differences through consultations, otherwise Indonesia can ask the WTO to create a panel of experts to rule on the issue.
The case is only the fifth brought at the WTO by Indonesia, the world's 21st biggest exporter.
Kretek cigarettes account for the bulk of tobacco consumption in Indonesia, the world's fifth biggest tobacco market, although unflavored or "white" sticks are gaining in popularity.
Indonesian exports of cigarettes and cigars totaled $357.8 million in 2008, the last year for which data is available.
Only relatively small numbers of kretek cigarettes are exported, and anecdotally they are coveted by young people in the United States who see them as an alternative to more conventional brands.
Foreign tobacco producers, keen to gain a bigger share of expanding markets for cigarettes in emerging economies, have been buying up Indonesian manufacturers to acquire kretek brands and expertise and build on the potential for white stick sales.
Last June, the world's No. 2 cigarette maker, British American Tobacco, bought an 85 percent stake in Indonesia's fourth largest cigarette maker by volume, PT Bentoel Internasional Investama.
Philip Morris International acquired the majority of Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna in 2005. Other Indonesian manufacturers include Gudang Garam and unlisted conglomerate Djarum.
Supervising the consultations with Indonesia will be one of the first tasks of the new U.S. ambassador to the WTO, Michael Punke, whose Senate confirmation was held up for six months by a Republican senator from the tobacco-growing state of Kentucky.
Mar 29, 2010
Smokeless tobacco more popular than cigarettes
Some high school nurses say they have noticed fewer students smoking cigarettes, but they can't be sure if more are switching to smokeless tobacco as a substitute.
"(There is) definitely less smoking that we can detect on their clothes," said Marlborough High's Virginia Gadbois, a school nurse since 1986, after the release earlier this month of a survey that indicates teens have switched from cigarettes to other tobacco products.
The report, conducted by the state health and education departments and funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, surveyed middle and high school students about their tobacco habits. It concluded that for the first time, high school students are using more smokeless tobacco and cigars than regular cigarettes.
The study says 16 percent of high school students said they had used cigarettes in the past 30 days, whereas 17.6 percent said they had used other kinds of tobacco products.
High school nurses say they haven't noticed any increase in such products, but don't deny students are using them.
"I'm not saying it's not here, I'm sure it is. I'm saying I'm not seeing it," Gadbois said.
She said she no longer smells smoke wafting from the girl's bathroom.
Nicole Marcinkiewicz, a nurse at Natick High School, said she hasn't dealt with any complications due to smokeless tobacco, such as oral cancer.
Still, organizations like Tobacco Free Mass, a policy organization based in Framingham, say youth are drawn to products like flavored tobacco lozenges, small flavored cigars and dissolvable bags of flavored tobacco.
"It's not surprising given the fact that the tobacco industry markets their products to young people," Executive Director Russet Morrow Breslau said.
These products cost between $1 and $7, she said, whereas a pack of cigarettes costs as much as $9.
"That points to the fact that youth are price-sensitive. They are turning to these less expensive products that are marketed to them," Morrow Breslau said.
The education department's study follows a proposal in Gov. Deval Patrick's fiscal 2011 budget to increase the sales tax on smokeless tobacco and cigars to the same level as regular cigarettes.
While these products are already taxed at rates varying from 30 to 90 percent, the governor's budget would raise the taxes to about 110 to 120 percent of their cost - the same increase imposed on cigarettes in 2008.
"These things weren't increased back then, and the idea is to sort of catch up," said Robert Bliss, a spokesman for the Department of Revenue.
Some Massachusetts legislators say raising the tax is a good way to discourage young people from buying tobacco.
"This is a product that's causing a lot of damage to people, hurting a lot of people, killing a lot of people. It makes no sense to me that a product like that wouldn't be taxed," said Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, the Senate sponsor of a bill mirroring Patrick's budget proposal. The bill was recently sent to a study committee.
Rep. Peter Koutoujian, D-Waltham, who led the 2008 effort to increase cigarette tax by $1 per pack, spoke Wednesday at an anti-smoking rally.
"I'm not interested in taxes for raising money. However, if you can reduce consumption of a product that's going to be addictive, that'd be a tax I'd consider," Koutoujian said yesterday.
Other legislators, including Rep. Danielle Gregoire, D-Marlborough, and Rep. Alice Peisch, D-Wellesley, are wary of any new taxes.
Peisch said she likes the idea of an increased tax to dissuade young people from using tobacco, but she is hesitant to support any new taxes this year.
Peisch said her stance "is less connected to the merits of the particular tax on smokeless tobacco and more connected to the lack of support for taxes at this point in general."
Speaker Robert DeLeo has said the House budget will not include new taxes.
"(There is) definitely less smoking that we can detect on their clothes," said Marlborough High's Virginia Gadbois, a school nurse since 1986, after the release earlier this month of a survey that indicates teens have switched from cigarettes to other tobacco products.
The report, conducted by the state health and education departments and funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, surveyed middle and high school students about their tobacco habits. It concluded that for the first time, high school students are using more smokeless tobacco and cigars than regular cigarettes.
The study says 16 percent of high school students said they had used cigarettes in the past 30 days, whereas 17.6 percent said they had used other kinds of tobacco products.
High school nurses say they haven't noticed any increase in such products, but don't deny students are using them.
"I'm not saying it's not here, I'm sure it is. I'm saying I'm not seeing it," Gadbois said.
She said she no longer smells smoke wafting from the girl's bathroom.
Nicole Marcinkiewicz, a nurse at Natick High School, said she hasn't dealt with any complications due to smokeless tobacco, such as oral cancer.
Still, organizations like Tobacco Free Mass, a policy organization based in Framingham, say youth are drawn to products like flavored tobacco lozenges, small flavored cigars and dissolvable bags of flavored tobacco.
"It's not surprising given the fact that the tobacco industry markets their products to young people," Executive Director Russet Morrow Breslau said.
These products cost between $1 and $7, she said, whereas a pack of cigarettes costs as much as $9.
"That points to the fact that youth are price-sensitive. They are turning to these less expensive products that are marketed to them," Morrow Breslau said.
The education department's study follows a proposal in Gov. Deval Patrick's fiscal 2011 budget to increase the sales tax on smokeless tobacco and cigars to the same level as regular cigarettes.
While these products are already taxed at rates varying from 30 to 90 percent, the governor's budget would raise the taxes to about 110 to 120 percent of their cost - the same increase imposed on cigarettes in 2008.
"These things weren't increased back then, and the idea is to sort of catch up," said Robert Bliss, a spokesman for the Department of Revenue.
Some Massachusetts legislators say raising the tax is a good way to discourage young people from buying tobacco.
"This is a product that's causing a lot of damage to people, hurting a lot of people, killing a lot of people. It makes no sense to me that a product like that wouldn't be taxed," said Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, the Senate sponsor of a bill mirroring Patrick's budget proposal. The bill was recently sent to a study committee.
Rep. Peter Koutoujian, D-Waltham, who led the 2008 effort to increase cigarette tax by $1 per pack, spoke Wednesday at an anti-smoking rally.
"I'm not interested in taxes for raising money. However, if you can reduce consumption of a product that's going to be addictive, that'd be a tax I'd consider," Koutoujian said yesterday.
Other legislators, including Rep. Danielle Gregoire, D-Marlborough, and Rep. Alice Peisch, D-Wellesley, are wary of any new taxes.
Peisch said she likes the idea of an increased tax to dissuade young people from using tobacco, but she is hesitant to support any new taxes this year.
Peisch said her stance "is less connected to the merits of the particular tax on smokeless tobacco and more connected to the lack of support for taxes at this point in general."
Speaker Robert DeLeo has said the House budget will not include new taxes.
Mar 15, 2010
Bill takes aim at cigarette smugglers
A new law targeting cigarette smugglers has cleared both houses of the General Assembly and now goes to the governor for his signature.
The House of Delegates on Wednesday joined the Senate in unanimously passing Senate Bill 476, sponsored by Sen. John C. Watkins, R-Midlothian.
The bill would establish additional penalties for "any person who sells, purchases, transports, receives, or possesses unstamped cigarettes" in Virginia.
Cigarettes are stamped in most states to ensure that the tax on them has been paid. If a pack of cigarettes is sold in Virginia without a stamp, that means no tax has been paid to the commonwealth.
In Virginia, the tax on a pack of cigarettes is 30 cents. In South Carolina, the tax per pack is 7 cents, and that state doesn't stamp its cigarettes. Smugglers often purchase cigarettes in states with low tobacco taxes and sell them illegally in states with higher tobacco taxes, pocketing the difference as profit.
If Gov. Bob McDonnell signs SB 476 into law, first-time offenders would be charged $2.50 a pack, up to $500. For a second violation within 36 months, the fine would be $5 per pack, up to $1,000. And for a third violation, the penalty would be $10 per pack, up to $50,000.
If authorities determine that the violator had a willful intent to defraud the commonwealth, the penalty would be $25 a pack, up to $250,000.
On another tobacco-related issue, the House last week also gave final approval to SB 478, which would change the tax on moist snuff tobacco.
Currently, snuff is taxed at 10 percent of the manufacturer's sales price. Under SB 478, which was proposed by Watkins, the tax would be 18 cents an ounce.
The House voted 92-6 for the bill. It passed the Senate last month, 38-2. If McDonnell signs the bill, it would take effect on Jan. 1, 2011.
Bill Phelps, a spokesperson for the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., said the bill would help both tobacco companies and the commonwealth. Phelps said it makes sense to change the tax on snuff to an excise tax, as Virginia taxes gasoline or beer. That way, the tax is based on the amount of the product sold, not the quality.
"We think that taxing moist tobacco by weight ... is a fair way to tax the product," Phelps said.
He said taxing snuff by the ounce will provide a more stable source of revenue for the commonwealth, because the price of snuff has gone down every year for the past six years.
The House of Delegates on Wednesday joined the Senate in unanimously passing Senate Bill 476, sponsored by Sen. John C. Watkins, R-Midlothian.
The bill would establish additional penalties for "any person who sells, purchases, transports, receives, or possesses unstamped cigarettes" in Virginia.
Cigarettes are stamped in most states to ensure that the tax on them has been paid. If a pack of cigarettes is sold in Virginia without a stamp, that means no tax has been paid to the commonwealth.
In Virginia, the tax on a pack of cigarettes is 30 cents. In South Carolina, the tax per pack is 7 cents, and that state doesn't stamp its cigarettes. Smugglers often purchase cigarettes in states with low tobacco taxes and sell them illegally in states with higher tobacco taxes, pocketing the difference as profit.
If Gov. Bob McDonnell signs SB 476 into law, first-time offenders would be charged $2.50 a pack, up to $500. For a second violation within 36 months, the fine would be $5 per pack, up to $1,000. And for a third violation, the penalty would be $10 per pack, up to $50,000.
If authorities determine that the violator had a willful intent to defraud the commonwealth, the penalty would be $25 a pack, up to $250,000.
On another tobacco-related issue, the House last week also gave final approval to SB 478, which would change the tax on moist snuff tobacco.
Currently, snuff is taxed at 10 percent of the manufacturer's sales price. Under SB 478, which was proposed by Watkins, the tax would be 18 cents an ounce.
The House voted 92-6 for the bill. It passed the Senate last month, 38-2. If McDonnell signs the bill, it would take effect on Jan. 1, 2011.
Bill Phelps, a spokesperson for the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., said the bill would help both tobacco companies and the commonwealth. Phelps said it makes sense to change the tax on snuff to an excise tax, as Virginia taxes gasoline or beer. That way, the tax is based on the amount of the product sold, not the quality.
"We think that taxing moist tobacco by weight ... is a fair way to tax the product," Phelps said.
He said taxing snuff by the ounce will provide a more stable source of revenue for the commonwealth, because the price of snuff has gone down every year for the past six years.
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