Who Consumes The Most Tobacco and Alcohol

With spending habits waning amid soaring interestrates and rising gas prices, it is perhaps useful to note the trends in the stickiest of spending habits - tobacco, alcohol, and fast food...

Norway tops the heap in terms of alcohol and tobacco spend...

How Smoking Affects Your Body And Appearance

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it is well-known that smoking cigarettes or inhaling secondhand smoke can lead to a myriad of health problems down the line. If you still need convincing, read on to learn about how smoking directly affects different parts of your body and your physical appearance.

Skin

Ironically, while smoking a cigarette may look “cool” when you’re relaxing, it is actually making you less physically attractive with every puff. Studies show that smoking causes premature sagging and wrinkling of the skin, so that smokers can look about 1.5 years older than nonsmokers. Since smoking also decreases the amount of oxygen in the blood, the skin also takes on a gray, ashen tone, replacing the natural glow or blush of healthy skin. It also slows down the wound healing process, so unsightly scars and stretch marks can become more prominent.

Body Weight & Fat

Contrary to popular belief, smoking can actually make you fatter. According to studies conducted by the American Society for Clinical Nutrition, heavy smokers tend to have greater body weight than nonsmokers. Smoking can cause insulin resistance, an important hormone that regulates body fat storage. The fact that smokers cannot breathe smoothly can also lead to a decrease in exercise and a sedentary lifestyle, hence making it difficult to shed pounds.

Lungs

When you inhale a mouthful of cigarette smoke, you are literally killing off the cilia in your airways. Cilia are the hair cells in your throat that helps the airway expel mucus or irritants, so without them, the smoker would be coughing away nonstop at all the mucus buildup in the throat due to the irritants from the smoke. Not only do the risks of esophageal, throat, mouth, and lung cancer increase dramatically, the lung’s ability of getting oxygen for the body also decreases. Lastly, cigarette smoke coats the walls of lungs with tar (yes, the stuff we pave roads with!), and it can take 10 years or for the body to neutralize the substance.

Heart & Blood

Since the lungs cannot get adequate oxygen to flow through the body, the heart works harder to get what little oxygen there is throughout the body. The blood pressure and rate also increases. Elevated CO2 levels in the blood also causes cholesterol deposits on the blood vessel walls, so clotting is more frequent, and the blood becomes stickier and less fluid. Hence, heart attack, stroke, and other life-threatening cardiovascular problems can easily become a reality with smoking.

Hormones

The amount of toxins and carcinogens in cigarette smoking causes the body to go into “alert mode,” which results in internal inflammation everywhere. Stress hormones are secreted from the adrenal glands above the kidneys, increasing the blood pressure (hence the usual jolt of energy smokers receives). Your blood also goes into overdrive to try and rid the body of such toxins. Smoking also messes with insulin, an important metabolic hormone, so it also increases the risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes.
Sources:

• American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
• Women’s Health magazine
• Ohio State University Medical Center
• MSN – Healthy Living

What is the most ethical tobacco company or cigarette brand?

• I believe American Spirit purport to be made from 100% organic tobacco with no chemical additives. The purpose of many of the additives in cigarettes is to affect the body in various ways so as to make it more susceptible to nicotine. Choosing not to put them in is either an ethical choice or a clever marketing ploy.
  Seth, Edinburgh, Scotland

• How can any tobacco company be ethical? They target children worldwide as the next generation of smokers, expand sales in developing countries with less stringent advertising regulations and lower public awareness) are desperate to induce even more women into smoking by associating cigarettes with "caring /feel-good" factors. And from an economic perspective (which seems to be the only thing that counts these days), our increasingly ageing populations simply cannot afford to lose their expensively educated young people so prematurely.
  Sheila Kirby, Esbjerg, Denmark

• I back what Vince says. People have many ideas of what "ethical" is, and it changes over time. The American Indian peace pipe has a different ethical tone to it than the much-maligned Marlboro co. To me, there's a good side and bad side to all things, and since all things are connected, we all have links to something "unethical". Eg: computers run off electricity, which is generally sourced from a mix of fossil fuels, nuclear and renewables, produced by various companies for mixed motives, operated by many different people, who have a much better chance of getting to know each other (and themselves) if they can access the internet and have these discussions. Peace (& yes, I smoke, but not 100% of my time is spent smoking!)
  René Thomas, Huddersfield, UK

• I am a Mohawk living on a reservation in NY, USA. People here do make cigarettes but we encourage young people not to smoke and leave that to a decision made by adults. I do not apologize for my people trying to survive by making a legal product. Also, a company here exports cigarettes to the UK called 1st-nation. These are made with ethically sourced tobacco from Malawi benfitting the underpaid farmers there, and employs Mohawk Natives living on our reservation. I believe these are the first ever Ethically Sourced cigarette. Thanks
  Andre, Akwesasne New York, USA

• 1st-nation have recently launched in the UK and are probably the closest thing to Fairtrade that we are going to get. They voluntarily pay the farmers a premium and also invest in agricultural diversity for these farmers. The various Fairtrade organisations have illogically refused to provide support to tobacco products, so 1st-nation is working with local Malawi farming authorities to set their own ethical standards. Additionally, the brand is priced similarly to other mainstream brands.
  Pritesh Mody, London UK

• Tobacco producers started adding a pesticide to their crops in the 1950's. Cancer was never linked to tobacco previous to this pesticide being added to the crop. Is organic tobacco the answer for those who choose to smoke?
  Andrew, South Shields England

BAT Converts Korea

In Seoul, shoppers at a 7-ll convenience store stare at packs of Kent Convertible cigarettes which have just been launched exclusively in the city. The packs are apparently equipped with different colored flashing lights that are signalling for attention.
In Busan, on the other side of the country, a Korean businessman places several packets of Kent Convertible that he purchased in Seoul that morning on the table in front of colleagues and associates, dispensing individual sticks or entire packets to his enthralled guests.
In an upstairs bar frequented by American expatriates, a visitor is handing out Kent Convertible sticks around the bar, demonstrating the technique required to release the menthol flavor and then increase its strength to a riveted crowd of smokers.
Within three weeks of its launch, BAT’s new Kent Convertibles cigarette had gained unprecedented market share, exceeding BAT’s expectations and attracting smokers to its new smoking concepts, and marking another significant – and unique - product launch in a country that has been described as a “must win” market for cigarette manufacturers.
The Korean market has become a sort of testing ground for new products and innovative smoke concepts, with brand variants researched, designed and manufactured specifically for the country’s smokers.
The patented flavor capsule technology incorporated in the unique charcoal filter system which lends the filter the ability to “convert” from a regular charcoal filtered light cigarette to a menthol stick, and then to increase the amount of menthol released into the smoke by rolling it between the fingers (“click and roll”) is claimed to represent the most significant innovation in filter technology since filters were invented.
The product has caught on rapidly, with Korean (and ex-pat) consumers buying in to the concept with gusto, proving once again that Korea is a market that embraces change and innovation.
“Korea was chosen as the market in which to launch Kent Convertibles because Koreans love innovation, they are open to new things that add value and functionality in a product,” confirmed Jeremy Flint, BAT Korea’s CORA executive director talking to Tobacco Asia recently. “Koreans love to see high-tech functionality in high-end products. BAT was looking for something to capture the imagination of Korean consumers. While flavor capsules are not new, - they’ve been around for two or three years in other markets – the charcoal filter and convertible technology incorporated in the filter – which should not be confused with boost products, which have also been around for a while,. offers something unique.”
Clearly, the Korean consumer thinks so as well. Initial sales reports indicate Kent Convertibles gained a market share of over 2.3% in Greater Seoul in key accounts within a month of its launch..
The brand was launched nationwide in mid-August, and is expected to continue to show the sort of performance experienced in Greater Seoul as its appeal is clearly in tune with the Korean consumer mindset.

Manufacturing, marketing, promotion and health consequences

The two injunctions at issue sufficiently specify the activities enjoined as to provide Defendants with fair notice of the prohibited conduct. The district court did not abstractly enjoin Defendants from violating RICO or making false statements, but instead specified the matters about which Defendants are to avoid making false statements or committing racketeering acts: the manufacturing, marketing, promotion, health consequences, and sale of cigarettes, along with related issues that Defendants have reason to know are of concern to cigarette consumers.
This is not a generalized injunction to obey the law, especially when read in the context of the district court’s legal conclusions and 4,088 findings of fact about fraud in the manufacture, promotion, and sale of cigarettes. These injunctions may be broad, but breadth is warranted “to prevent further violations where a proclivity for unlawful 68 conduct has been shown.”
Defendants complain that the volume of findings in this case actually make understanding the injunctions more difficult and chill speech because some of the district court’s findings present “express prohibitions” whereas others, like the use of white filter paper for cigarettes, “simply reflect the district court’s disapproval” of aspects of Defendants’ business practices without finding the conduct fraudulent.
This objection answers itself, as the plain terms of the injunctions prohibit only conduct that would constitute a racketeering act or a “material false, misleading, or deceptive statement or representation,” not all activities the court mentioned in its findings.

EU wants 8.1 per cent rise in cigarette prices by 2014

Maltese smokers will have to fork out more money to keep puffing in the next few years as the European Commission yesterday laid out new plans aimed at narrowing the difference in price levels of tobacco products in the 27 member states while cutting tobacco consumption.

According to computations made by the EU, the price of a packet of standard cigarettes in Malta will have to increase by 8.1 per cent by 2014 in order to conform to the new rules on minimum taxation of tobacco products. At the same time, Brussels said that the increase in price in Malta should contribute to a reduction of 3.5 per cent in demand. The new proposed directive will need the green light of all the 27 EU member states in order to enter into force.

Smokers in the new EU member states are likely to be the most affected as taxes on cigarettes in these countries are still considered to be very low when compared to the EU average. Malta is however an exception as retail prices are already close to the average price in the EU. Currently, 60.82 per cent of the price of a packet of cigarettes goes to the Exchequer in excise duty and VAT. Still, the EU say this is not enough.

According to the EU, its proposal, part of a four-year review of tobacco duties, would reduce smuggling.

The Commission's primary tool would be to increase the minimum tax that member states impose on cigarettes.

At present, this minimum has two elements: the tax levied as a percentage of a packet's price, which must translate into a minimum price per 1,000 cigarettes. As a percentage, tax would have to rise from 57 per cent to 63 per cent by 2014 or from €64 per 1,000 cigarettes in the most popular price category to €90 for all categories.

Duties on loose-leaf tobacco would also be hiked to bring them more closely into line with those imposed on cigarettes.

A second element in the EU's plan is to tighten definitions of tobacco products because, during the past years, manufacturers have been able to re-classify products in order to quality for lower taxes.

Although through this new directive Maltese smokers would be badly hit, the impact on fellow smokers in some of the other new member states would be dramatic. According to EU calculations, while in countries like Denmark or Finland the price increase will be of about six per cent, in countries like Poland it will rise by 46 per cent.

Statistics show that in the five-year period between 2002 and 2006, excise duties in the EU rose by 33 per cent on average and cigarette consumption dropped 10 per cent.

Hey Where Are All The Cigarettes?

Toronto - Thanks to a new law, which came into effect over the weekend, cigarettes are no longer visible to customers at stores across Ontario.

The new law requires stores to keep the packages out of view.

“This marketing tool … is a wall of temptation for smokers who have made the decision to quit,” said Joanne Di Nardo, spokeswoman for the Ontario Tobacco-Free Network. “Well-documented research and evidence shows that these retail display stands increase tobacco sales by 12 percent to 28 percent.”

When asked how it has effected sales so far, one store in Toronto told EON, “oh…people just laugh….hasn’t stopped anyone from buying their smokes.”

Other provinces are expected to implement a similiar program

Mobiles and Cigarettes

Mobiles and Cigarettes refers to the many similarities that I have noticed over this time. Many similarities become obvious as one thinks about the comparison. A phone is compared to the collection of individual cigarettes, the pack and also the matches or lighter.
Topics covered include sociology of cigarette use, social shaping of health scares, industrial structure and political influence, advertising, cultural images, gender and age issues etc.
Phones have replaced cigarettes as the thing people fiddle with
* When nervous, waiting for a to meet or hear from someone, or trying not to look out of place
* They are a distraction from loneliness, insecurity, nervousness
They are used to fill time waiting
* smoking or calling when waiting for the bus
We often have to go outside a building or room to use them.
* We cannot get reception, or, as with cigarettes, we are not allow by explicit or implicit rules to use them indoors.
* The little crowd of smokers and phoners is a common sight. However smokers are united by their activity, phoners separated.
They are displayed in public places
* When put on the table in a pub or café they have brand and model status
* They must be near at hand - for the next call or next smoke.
* A group of smokers all get out their cigarettes packs and put them of the table when the sit down. Phoners do the same thing.
They are associated with certain stereotypes
* The socially successful - the peron everyone wants to know.
* E.g. the sophisticated business person/socialite (advertisers preferred)
* E.g. beautiful people having fun
* Actually used by: many people
* The spotty teenager on the bus
They are used in characteristic ways by different people
* Discretely, hidden in hand, back turned
* Elbow stuck out the side - characteristic of overweight lorry drivers, to use a blatant stereotype!
* If you use two at the same time you probably have a problem.
They are lent and borrowed
* Friends think nothing of letting each other make calls or cigarettes .
* Except when there are hardly any left.
* One person with a phone or pack is enough for a whole group on an outing.
They are seen as antisocial in many public or social contexts
* They both annoy other people around the user.
* There are social codes about when it is appropriate to use
* Those that control social spaces make rules to restrict anti-social behavior, especially banning use, or restricting to certain areas. See below.
They are highly social
* They are an essential part of flirtation
* They are a point to start conversation
* They are used to note phone numbers
Teenagers want them
* Use them to show off/build identity
* They are often one of the few personal possessions of young people.
* Starting smoking and getting a mobile phone, were/are important boundary markers in growing up
* They make/made up a key part of youth culture.
* They can be subversive.
* They are banned in schools (phones), smoke
* Catch 'em young
Their use is banned in many of the same places because of social interference or technical interference, or danger of fire.
* Theatre
* Hospital
* Railway carriages (smoke, phones)
* Petrol stations
* Parliament
They can cause fires - (phones by explosion)
Actually there is no evidence for this with phones, but that does not put off certain 'licensing authorities' from banning them on these grounds, such as in European filling stations.
They have highly disputed health issues.
* There are government studies
* Corporate denials
* Hidden patents and research
* There is a whole range a device to make them 'safer'
* Companies do not like to advertise 'safer' versions as that implies existing versions are dangerous
* Heavy users and children are most at risk
They are dangerous to use when driving
* One takes ones eyes and mind off the road to initiate use, and to hold them
* They both use the in car power socket
* Arkansas has banned smoking in cars with young children
There are important 'class' issues over use
* Different parts of the population prefer different brands
* Nokia - teen, young, more female
* Ericsson - company people, engineers, boring men
* Motorola - more sophisticated
Smaller versions are
* More feminine (packs of cigarettes )
* More discrete
* Are for lighter users (number of cigarettes , battery size, functions)
Gender differentiating in branding and design
They both are associated with small pictures of popular culture
- Logos, cigarettes cards
You go to the newsagent/tobacconist to buy them
They have similar industrial characteristics
* The industries both have huge political lobbies
* They contribute lots of revenue to governments though tax
* The industries are both highly regulated
* The industry is made of multinationals
* The growth markets are in the developing world
* In developing countries tobacco and telecoms have often been state enterprises

Malawi: Turmoil As Tobacco Prices Fluctuate

Malawi's tobacco industry has been in turmoil after wildly fluctuating prices led protesting farmers to force the closure of the auction floors.
This year's tobacco sales started on a very high note with prices reaching the phenomenal price of 11 dollars per kg. The high prices did not last, however.
The tobacco auction floors opened in Malawi's capital city Lilongwe in March with a kilogram of tobacco fetching between six and eleven dollars. This gave hope to farmers who have struggled to make any profit from the trade over the last few years.
Malawi's cancellation of subsidies for Camel cigarettes production a number of years ago has meant that farmers have to cover the full cost of production.
It costs the average tobacco farmer one dollar to produce one kilogram of the crop, according to Malawi's ministry of agriculture. But for many years, prices moved between 70 and 90 cents per kilogram.
This placed the heavy burden of perpetual debt on farmers as they failed to settle loans to purchase farm inputs. Most farmers cut production and others diversified to different economic activities.
Then the unexpected hike in prices happened. Godwin Ludzu, a farmer from Malawi's central district of Kasungu, was among the lucky ones who sold up to 30 bales of tobacco at 10 dollars per kilogram on the first day of trading. He was ecstatic about the profits he made.
"The price was very good. I will be able to settle all the loans I incurred in producing the tobacco," said Ludzu. He has been growing tobacco for six years. The auction prices this year are the best he has ever come across.
However, the exceptional prices did not last. On the second day, the flicker of hope died. Prices have since fluctuated, with the value of the leaf dropping to between 2.30 dollars and 60 cents for the same quality crop.
The statutory Tobacco Control Commission's (TCC) general manager Godfrey Chapola confirmed that prices started off high because of a tobacco shortage on the global market. He said that that some countries which grow tobacco have stopped while others have reduced production levels, causing consumption to be higher than supply.
The fluctuation in prices has affected farmers badly. Champhira Gondwe, a farmer from the northern district of Rumphi, went to the Mzuzu auction floors in the north of Malawi. He could not sell any of his produce because he found that the tobacco prices were set very low.
"They were being pegged at the maximum price of 2.30 dollars. I couldn't let my hard-earned produce go at such a low price when our counterparts in Lilongwe sold their tobacco at 10 dollars," said Gondwe.
The Mzuzu floors were closed on April 14 after violence broke out between the farmers and the guards at the market. The farmers physically blocked the buyers from continuing with sales. The TCC then suspended the sales.
The farmers were not ready to let go of their demand for higher prices after hearing about the worldwide shortage of tobacco.
Sales of tobacco were suspended on all four auction floors in April but the floors reopened again in the last week of April.
President Bingu wa Mutharika, himself a tobacco farmer, has previously accused buyers of fixing prices but the buying companies - from the U.S. and Switzerland -- have denied the allegations.
The southern African country is a major exporter of Camel cigarettes, accounting for five percent of the world's total exports and two percent of total production on the planet. In terms of burley tobacco, Malawi produces some 20 percent of the global total, according to the World Bank.
The country derives up to 70 percent of its foreign exchange earnings from agriculture, and the tobacco industry is responsible for 15 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). About two million of the country's 13 million people depend on tobacco and related industries for their livelihood.