Incredible article on tobacco

[Kangaroo495]

The language used in this article is really the embodiment of the anti-tobacco extremists' mind set. It's almost comical. Of course, cigarettes are bad for you, but this mind set is (as we all know well) also lumped on cigars.

Australia leading the war on tobacco

Shin Young-soo

Tobacco is the only legal consumer product that kills up to half of its consumers when used exactly as the manufacturer intends.

And it kills in prodigious numbers. Nearly 6 million people worldwide die each year from tobacco-related diseases. That's more than the total for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

In the World Health Organisation's Western Pacific Region, where I am Regional Director, we estimate that two people die every minute from a tobacco-related disease. One in three of the cigarettes that are smoked globally are smoked in our region - a disturbing statistic that tells us that governments have to be far more vigorous if they are to turn back this evil scourge.

Not surprisingly, then, WHO is keenly interested in the Australian Government's proposal to press for plain packaging for cigarettes, along with bigger and blunter warnings on packets about the dangers of smoking. WHO fully supports these measures, which will give effect to commitments under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), which has been ratified by 170 countries, Australia included.

Article 11 of the WHO FCTC requires governments to implement measures to ensure that tobacco packaging is not false or misleading or likely to create an erroneous impression about the characteristics or health effects of the contents. We believe that plain packaging will do that job very nicely - and, in doing so, could save many Australian lives in the long run.

It is no surprise that the cigarette manufacturers are doing their best to derail the legislation. With other forms of advertising banned in Australia, they know that once they lose the seductive colours and logos on packets, they will be identified for what they are: thoroughly unglamorous merchants of death and disease.

In recognition of Australia's world-leading role in the war on smoking, Health Minister Dr Nicola Roxon is to receive a special award from the World Health Organisation's Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan. The Director-General's Special Recognition certificate cites Dr Roxon's "unwavering leadership" in the field of health and describes the proposal to introduce plain packaging as a "bold and breakthrough" approach that is inspiring political leaders in other countries. I will have the honour of presenting the certificate in a ceremony in Canberra on May 31.

The tobacco lobby's response so far to the plain-packing proposal has been both predictable and desperate. Apart from threatening to sue the Government for loss of intellectual property rights, cigarette companies have talked of slashing prices and flooding the market with cheap cigarettes. Note how they make no attempt to defend their product on health grounds, despite their discredited insinuation that so-called "lite" or "low tar" cigarettes are less harmful. For them, it's all about profits and not about lives.

Tobacco causes over 20 different diseases, many of them fatal or disabling. It is responsible for over 71 per cent of all cases of lung cancer deaths globally, 42 per cent of chronic respiratory disease deaths and nearly 10 per cent of all deaths from cardiovascular disease. Passive or second-hand exposure to tobacco smoke causes an estimated 600,000 deaths a year globally.

We're told that 15,000 people die in Australia every year from tobacco-related illnesses, and that the seven leading causes of death are all linked to smoking. The social, health and economic costs of tobacco-related illnesses are estimated at more than $30 billion a year - and this is not taking into account the anguish suffered by families and friends affected by death or lingering illness.

Faced with tough laws and declining sales in Australia, the tobacco industry is seeking new targets overseas, particularly women, young people and people in low- and middle-income countries. Of WHO's six regions, the Western Pacific has the fastest increase in smoking by women and young people, the greatest number of smokers, and the highest rates of male smoking prevalence.

In the poorest households of some low-income countries in the Asia Pacific region, as much as 10 per cent -17 per cent of total household expenditure goes on tobacco. This means that families have less money to spend on essential items such as food, health care and education. The high price of treating tobacco-related diseases is compounded by economic losses. Smokers are less productive workers, due to sickness and absenteeism. And deaths from tobacco often occur during the productive years of life, depleting a nation’s workforce.

This situation is intolerable. WHO is urging governments to recognise that there is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry's interests and those of the nation. This is why we are so enthused by Australia's plain-packaging legislation. If passed, it would set new global standards and encourage governments in the Asia Pacific Region to also get tough with the tobacco industry.

Minister Roxon has acknowledged she will have a fight on her hands, but she says she is ready. I'm sure she is. And WHO is ready too to lend any support it can. We see what is happening in Australia as potentially a tipping point in the global war on the tobacco companies and their life-destroying product.

Dr Shin Young-soo is WHO's Regional Director for the Western Pacific

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2732044.html

[bolivr]

It's extreme isn't it. I am ashamed to be in the 'world leading' country with laws coming up that feed people spouting such shrill rhetoric. This bloke needs to get his hand off it.

And what exactly is this 'smoking related' illness? it is a phrase that conveniently blames tobacco for everything from hair loss to gangrene toes.

Probably originates in a hospital questionnaire with questions like

have you ever attended a hotel or club before smoking was banned indoors?

has anyone in your family ever smoked?

Have you ever smelt tobacco smoke?

answer yes to any and whatever you have baby, its smoking related.

And - to quote the article:

Article 11 of the WHO FCTC requires governments to implement measures to ensure that tobacco packaging is not false or misleading or likely to create an erroneous impression about the characteristics or health effects of the contents.

Well, I see the pictures of disease on the packets as false and misleading, really, honestly, how much do you have to smoke to get green teeth or bung toes like that? Smoking might contribute but it is dishonest to indicate that smoking will surely lead to such things which is what the pictures try to convey.

ok, rant over

Might be time i moved to a more cigar friendly country Kanga!

[IcedCanuck]

It is already like that in Canada. Tobacco products cannot be advertised. There are huge stickers on each pack of cigarettes and box of cigars. The picture takes up the majority of a pack of cigarettes. Some of the pictures are real nasty. Stores are also forbidden from displaying tobacco products as well. Cigarettes tend to be on shelves behind the cashier at corner stores and after the anti-tobacco laws were passed they all had to have these door/panels in front of them so they are no longer visible. I don't smoke cigarettes so that doesn't really bother me. The part that really sucks is that there are stores that have walk in humidors which customers are now no longer allowed to enter because of the laws. Not only that but the person running the store is only allowed to enter a walk in humidor or open a humidor for one customer at a time. So if there is a line up of 10 customers who all want to buy boxes of cigars the humidor will have to be opened and closed ten times even if they all want the same thing ... it is absolutely ridiculous.

[gigabyte056]

The part that really sucks is that there are stores that have walk in humidors which customers are now no longer allowed to enter because of the laws. Not only that but the person running the store is only allowed to enter a walk in humidor or open a humidor for one customer at a time. So if there is a line up of 10 customers who all want to buy boxes of cigars the humidor will have to be opened and closed ten times even if they all want the same thing ... it is absolutely ridiculous.

Seriously, Canada needs a better pass-time activity or something, your legislators have way too much free time to have thought this so thoroughly.

Next thing will be you have to hand over the list and the money and come back in two days after the waiting period is over.

[IcedCanuck]

Actually now that I think of it again it's a Provincial law not a federal one so it's the Ontario government that did it. If you are caught smoking in your vehicle with a child in it is a big time fine as well I believe. Smoking on government property is illegal even if you are in your car. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they made it illegal to smoke anywhere except your own home. Many landlords are now including clauses in leases that state you are not permitted to smoke inside. You can still smoke out on a balcony if you have one. I bet one day the clause will be changed to anywhere on the property.

[Puros Y Vino]

The stupidity is astounding. They want to create a health crisis out of the pursuits of individuals. I'll concede that cigarettes are vile and packed with enough chemicals if named would fill a list a mile long. Cigars are natural. Just cured/fermented leaves. They are not the tools of nicotine addicts. Rather, a relaxing and contemplative hobby which was equated with the same romanticism as those who sip fine spirits and wine. We need to speak up more about these intrusions into our personal lives. If the government wants healthier citizens, make the food supply healther, put higher taxes on fast foods, punish automobile manufacturers that can't either reduce their emissions or create alternatively propelled vehicles, go after manufacturers that spew ashes of crap into the surrounding area. Geez, I could go on. I can respect others not wanting to be around smokers so let us have our own spaces, walk into humidors on our own and get the hell out of our damn business!

[Rehman]

The article was entirely about cigarettes. I wish these people would just say "cigarettes" and not "tobacco". Not distinguishing between cigars and cigarettes is the appalling thing about all this anguished do-gooding.

[danclough]

Passive or second-hand exposure to tobacco smoke causes an estimated 600,000 deaths a year globally.

This number is completely pulled from someone's ass, right?

[frenchkiwi]

i have no great problem with the article itself having seen many of my grandparents generation die 10 to 20+years before their time due to cancers directly caused by cigarette smoking

but cigar smoking is completely different, and that is hard enough to explain to your average joe. so much simpler for taxes, policymaking, health warnings just to wage war on Tobacco.

Ultimately, until someone funds a comprehensive study of actual life cigar smoking (rather than feeding cigars to volunteers who are habitual cigarette smokers etc), the health ministries etc will never bother to make the difference.

maybe we should set up a trust fund for such a study.

plenty of anti- "cigar regulation" lobbying money floating around in the US but all targeted at the freedom from regulation argument rather than winning the "health outcomes" argument.

[TexS]

With other forms of advertising banned in Australia, they know that once they lose the seductive colours and logos on packets, they will be identified for what they are: thoroughly unglamorous merchants of death and disease.

Hmmmm... I just received a package of tobacco from a reputable dealer in Australia . It had a huge sticker of a rotten mouth on it, and something to the effect of "smoking kills". It was hardly a "seductive" package. I didn't really pay much attention, though... I was too busy lighting up a fantastic cigar. I guess the "unglamorous merchant of death and disease" reared it's ugly head.

Nothing pisses me off more than some ******* who doesn't know how to mind his own business. Seriously, have you nothing better to do than worry about my personal habits? Get a life.

It reminds me of a funny conversation I once had...

A fella and I were talking about smoking when he says,"you know those things will kill ya?"

I replied, "nope. My grandfather lived to be 98 years old."

He says, "did he drink and smoke his whole life?"

I said, "no, but he knew how to mind his own friggin business."

[Colt45]

plenty of anti- "cigar regulation" lobbying money floating around in the US but all targeted at the freedom from regulation argument rather than winning the "health outcomes" argument.

Exactly.

It's why we don't drive on the wrong side of the road, don't celebrate queen's birthday, and haven't surrendered our guns at government's whim.

We can try to separate one tobacco user from another, but to me it's folly. Making it a health argument versus a freedom argument plays into the

WHO's hands.

In another thread, Dicko asked when will it stop? When we stop it.

[gigabyte056]

It reminds me of a funny conversation I once had...

A fella and I were talking about smoking when he says,"you know those things will kill ya?"

I replied, "nope. My grandfather lived to be 98 years old."

He says, "did he drink and smoke his whole life?"

I said, "no, but he knew how to mind his own friggin business."

Damn good one.

Cigars and Cigarettes have nothing in common, cigarettes are disgusting and habitual.

cigars are more like drinking good red wine as opposed to drinking 2 $ bottles out of a brown paper bag, surely the government should be able to tell the differences if they weren't that busy lining their own pockets and harassing their aids.

[leojvs]

Hmmmm... I just received a package of tobacco from a reputable dealer in Australia . It had a huge sticker of a rotten mouth on it, and something to the effect of "smoking kills".

FAKE! That mouth was found to be a make up artists' work. The woman is real, the rotton mouth wasnt.

[Kangaroo495]

Tobacco is the only legal consumer product that kills up to half of its consumers when used exactly as the manufacturer intends.

evil scourge.

they will be identified for what they are: thoroughly unglamorous merchants of death and disease.

war on smoking

For them, it's all about profits and not about lives.

Tobacco causes over 20 different diseases, many of them fatal or disabling.

the tobacco industry is seeking new targets overseas, particularly women, young people and people in low- and middle-income countries.

she will have a fight on her hands, but she says she is ready.

global war on the tobacco companies and their life-destroying product.

It reminds me of some fanatical religious right-wing preecher. Why do people have to get so extremist about it? As soon as the topic of smoking comes up, otherwise reaosnable people turn into rabid, feverish zealots. This is what annoys me.

[gr8tdanz]

Honestly, is there anyone who has access to cigarettes these days that does not already know they can cause cancer and a host of other diseases??

Spend the money on something else. Stop "educating" the educated.

[CaptainQuintero]

You know the funny this is when the evil tobacco smokers are all dead (lol) they will just move onto something else. There was a news report on the BBC last week which was totally legitimate which claimed that if you drank six cups of coffee a day, you would be 20% less likely to get cancer.....

I think that sums up how the media operates in the West and unfortunately it's indicative of how the future will be.

Unless Elvis comes back and takes his place as King of the World and we enter a new phase of human enlightenment and happiness

[mazolaman]

It would be interesting to find out how much damage Cigars do in comparison to cigarettes.

Cigarettes are full of all sorts of rubbish.

The cigarette companies are pretty nasty,so it no surprise that these people treat it like war.

There are new "smokeless" cigarettes,which are designed to prevent passive smoking.

A certain red coloured cigarette company have managed to get these banned in some parts of the world(by some buying of leading politicians).

As stated above by others,we know our hobby won't be good for us(other than relaxation),but we make an educated choice.

And as I keep saying every time this comes along.....ban high fat food,ban the internal combustion engine,ban sunbathing........ban alcohol.......

And anyway,the planets population will be 9.5 billion by 2050,we need to keep the numbers down a bit.

China realises this,and dishes out cigarettes to it's citizens.

I also think that our health services realise how much tobacco realted illness cost,and would like to limit this.This is mainly due to the fact that the drugs companies can keep us living past our time for years,on expensive pills.....this is what costs the health services money......drugs companies.

[gigabyte056]

It would be interesting to find out how much damage Cigars do in comparison to cigarettes.

Cigarettes are full of all sorts of rubbish.

The cigarette companies are pretty nasty,so it no surprise that these people treat it like war.

There are new "smokeless" cigarettes,which are designed to prevent passive smoking.

A certain red coloured cigarette company have managed to get these banned in some parts of the world(by some buying of leading politicians).

As stated above by others,we know our hobby won't be good for us(other than relaxation),but we make an educated choice.

And as I keep saying every time this comes along.....ban high fat food,ban the internal combustion engine,ban sunbathing........ban alcohol.......

And anyway,the planets population will be 9.5 billion by 2050,we need to keep the numbers down a bit.

China realises this,and dishes out cigarettes to it's citizens.

I also think that our health services realise how much tobacco realted illness cost,and would like to limit this.This is mainly due to the fact that the drugs companies can keep us living past our time for years,on expensive pills.....this is what costs the health services money......drugs companies.

Quote from Yes, prime minister:

"I reiterated that we were discussing over 100,000 deaths each year. Humphrey agreed immediately.

Yes, Prime Minister but in a very overpopulated island. And there arent enough jobs for everyone anyway. The benefits of smoking greatly outweigh the ill-effects: cigarettes pay for one-third of the total cost of the National Health Service. We are saving many more lives than we otherwise could because of those smokers who voluntarily lay down their lives for their friends. Smokers are national benefactors.

So long as they live, I reminded him grimly.

So long as they live. He nodded. And when they die they save the rest of us a lot of money. And anyway, theres always more coming along to replace them. Not that any direct causal link has been proved, as I said before."