Winston maker says reduction in tobacco use way below expectations

Higher excise tax rates may have fueled an increase in government revenues, but tobacco consumption fell at a pace much slower than what Philippine officials were hoping for, according to the Japanese maker of the Winston and Camel brands of cigarettes.

In a press briefing last week, Japan Tobacco International (JTI) Philippines general manager Manos Koukourakis said the Aquino administration can exceed its P51.6-billion excise tax collection target for cigarettes this year. "From a government perspective, this is a successful legislative measure, because at the end of the day, it will achieve the target it has. The government in that respect did a good job," Koukourakis said. In the first six months, excise taxes slapped on cigarettes reached P22.4 billion, or 53 percent more than the P14.6 billion raised in the same period last year. The tax take from alcohol products hit P16.2 billion in the first half, or 37 percent more than the P11.8 billion a year ago. Taxes raised from both "sin" products climbed 46 percent from P26.4 billion last year to P38.5 billion this year. But while tax collections improved, cigarette use -- another policy objective of the law hiking sin taxes -- fell in the low double-digits, or way below the government's forecast of halving tobacco consumption. "If we go back one year ago, other companies in the market said that the introduction of excise tax will reduce the consumption of cigarettes by 50 percent. Our company was a little more optimistic, we were thinking about 40 percent," Koukourakis said. At the height of the policy debates over excise taxes, the government cited a University of the Philippines study showing that higher rates would cut tobacco consumption by at least 51 percent. Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp (PMFTC), which accounts for at least eight out of every 10 sticks of cigarette sold in the Philippines, made the same forecast in raising concern about the potential job loss of an increase in taxes. "What happened is that we were all mistaken. The reality is that the total market consumption fell by around eight to 12 percent, or more or less 10 percent, and not by 50 percent," Koukourakis said. He said the less sharp drop in cigarette use can be traced to the entry of cigarette brands that sold for P1 a stick or P17 a pack. "Before the 'sin' tax enactment, you had less than 10. Now you have more than 30 products. That means that consumers have cheaper choices than they had before," Koukourakis said. Despite the influx of these cheaper brands, JTI expects to maintain its 3.2 percent share of the local market. "Our company decided consciously not to participate in this. JTI Philippines will have no brands at P1 per stick, or at below P20 per pack. We could never be in a position to do it," Koukourakis said, adding that competing with cheaper brands would result in losses of P8-10 a pack for the company. "We are doing okay, slightly better than our targets. Even with the sin tax, we expect that we will meet our targets," he said. "The Philippine market is a lucrative market. One thing that is certain is our company is here to stay," he added. Apart from Winston and Camel, JTI also manufactures and distributes the Mevius brand (formerly Mild Seven). JTI used to outsource production of its cigarettes to Fortune Tobacco Corp. Source: http://www.interaksyon.com/business/68920/after-sin-tax-hike--winston-maker-says-reduction-in-tobacco-use-way-below-expectations

GATS Report and Tobacco Use in Nigeria

Recently, a report by Global Audit on Tobacco Survey (GATS) indicated that incidence of tobacco use in Nigeria is low, a report that may not go down well with the civil society groups that campaigned against tobacco smoking, advertisement and production.

Tobacco smoking in various parts of the world had been a topical issue leading to its ban in some public places in many parts of the world.

Not until recently, the Lagos State House of Assembly proposed the Non-Tobacco Smoking Bill, which seeks a total ban on smoking in public places.

The Bill, however, did not get the nod of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, led By Mr. Anthony Ibafor, representative of hotel and club owners and tobacco distributors, who argued that the Bill would lead to unemployment, if tobacco smoking was totally banned. Reacting to the proposed bill, the Head of Regulatory Affairs of British American Tobacco of Nigeria (BATN), Mr. Sola Dosumu, expressed the company's support for the passage of a balanced and evidence-based Bill for the industry. He also stated that it was in the interest of stakeholders to ensure the passage of a balanced, workable and evidence-based Bill, adding that it would help to reduce the impact of tobacco on public health in the country. Dosumu went further to say that BATN had always supported appropriate regulation for the industry in Nigeria and had co-operated and collaborated with government agencies towards ensuring that existing regulations were enforced. On the other hand, Representative of Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance and other CSOs, Nurudeen Ogbara, sought for total ban of tobacco smoking in the public.

Today, GATS report has lent credence to Dosumu's views as a cardinal factor of modern life, which is the adoption of constitutions by nations of the world and one of the reasons for adopting same is to put in proper perspective ways and manners of peaceful co-existence among the citizens of the particular country. One basic inclusion in such constitution is human rights and freedom of choice. Even though those rights are enshrined in the constitution, the authors are mindful of the need to restrict the exercise of those rights to persons of certain age and above. One of such rights is the universal adult suffrage, which empowers adults of 18 years old and above the right to vote in an election so long as the person is of sound of mind. This is premised on the thought that at 18, and barring any mental deficiency, the person is capable of making an informed and reasonable judgment. The same is the issue of alcoholic beverage and tobacco consumption in many countries, Nigeria inclusive. If the report of the survey is right that "Nigeria has a relatively low rate of tobacco smoking compared to other countries, then we must safe guard this by having the appropriate laws that is suited to our local context in place and not simply copy one that will cause more problem in the country. Given Nigeria's peculiarity, coupled with the physiological make up of the human mind to crave that which is shrouded in mystery, the chances that over flogging the issue, as some anti-tobacco campaigners are clamouring for are high. In order not to regress in the tobacco use roll back campaign, anti-tobacco use advocates and the government in particular should thread softly, Mr. Tomiwa Alegusi, a tobacco distributor, said.

The reality of the modern world is that stringent laws inexplicably grow interests in the particular habit that it seeks to discourage. The more the law around a practice gets stringent, the more the curiosity around it grows, leading to increased indulgence in the act. We should be mindful of this in formulating more stringent anti-tobacco legislation. While the push for public health must be sought, we should, however, avoid sensationalism for the sake of advocacy. It is also pertinent to do a reality check on the anti-tobacco measures and laws that several countries have adopted over the years with a view to ascertain if they are achieving results or not. Arguably, countries that have adopted harsh regulations as anti-tobacco laws are feeling the effect of increased tobacco smuggling leading to astronomical rise in the sales and purchase of illegal products and funding of criminal groups. Among such countries are Ireland, Canada and South Africa. On the other hand, countries that have adopted moderate laws which are well balanced and applicable and enforceable locally have little incidence of smuggling, examples are Ghana and Russia.

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201307290456.html

Poor Diet, Tobacco Use and Lack of Physical Activity Taking Toll on Nation's Health

While we're living longer, poor diet, tobacco use and inadequate physical activity are negatively impacting our health. These are some of the findings of research released this week by the U.S. Burden of Disease Collaborators, prompting much discussion and debate. To those of us on the front lines of promoting workplace health this comes as no surprise. This study should only add to the sense of urgency that we as a nation must have in solving this crisis. There is a direct link between the health of the U.S. workforce and the overall well being of the U.S. economy. Currently, greater than 50 percent of Americans live with one or more chronic disease. With this rising burden of chronic disease comes rising costs within the health care system, and increased premiums at a cost to employers. Compounding this, employees with chronic disease take more sick days and are less productive on the job. Workplace health is of significant importance to the economic productivity of the nation and critical to reducing the national debt. The U.S. is slipping behind its major Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Countries (OECD) competitors regarding improvements in population health. Specifically, the U.S. falls in the bottom 20 percent of the 34 OECD countries for the following chronic diseases: ischemic heart diseases (rank: 27), lung cancer (28), COPD (32), diabetes (31), cardiopulmonary (31), chronic kidney disease (31), and hypertensive heart disease (27). Poorer health today could translate into lower productivity tomorrow. This is the first major analysis of the health status of the U.S. population in more than 15 years, led by a global collaborative of scientists from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. The study found that while Americans are showing progress in reducing death rates (adjusted for age, across a variety of diseases), we aren't living healthier. Additionally, death rates from illnesses associated with obesity, such as diabetes and kidney disease, as well as neurological conditions like Alzheimer's disease, are on the rise. Poor diet, tobacco use and physical inactivity are driving the disease burden. The negative impact on our health care system cannot be understated as people who live longer and unhealthier lives are costly -- not only in terms of health care spend, but the impact on the productivity of our workforce and the ability of U.S. businesses to compete in a global economy. A point made recently in the Bipartisan Policy Center's recent report. None of this is news to The Vitality Institute, a global health think tank focused on reducing chronic disease risk. In fact, we recently released new data indicating a dangerous gap in the chronological age of Americans and their risk adjusted Vitality Age, as calculated based on a variety of factors including those cited in this new report. So now that we so clearly understand the problem, what are we going to do about it? To that end, we've recently assembled The Vitality Institute Commission. We're bringing together prominent thinkers in health and business including: Dr. Rhonda Cornum, with deep expertise from the Department of Defense; Susan Dentzer, with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Ginny Ehrlich, with the Clinton Health Matters Initiative; Jeff Levi, with Trust for America's Health; Ellis Rubinstein, with the New York Academy of Sciences; Dr. Dennis Schmuland, with Microsoft; and Dr. Kevin Volpp, from the University of Pennsylvania. All with the urgent goal of placing the power of evidence-based prevention at the center of health care policies and actions in the U.S. Better evidence, smarter laws and higher levels of innovation we believe could make a difference. There is strength in numbers, and we are working with corporations, associations, federal, state, and local government to identify multi-stakeholder solutions that will address the issues facing our nation's health in bold and transformative ways. For the U.S. to maintain its economic competitiveness, our health policy efforts need to address the risk factors of preventable chronic diseases that disproportionately affect the U.S. population (e.g., physical inactivity, diet, and alcohol and tobacco consumption) by effectively investing resources to ensure that each individual has the opportunity to make beneficial contributions to society and therefore progress the economy. We will soon issue a call for wide participation to harness the myriad of great ideas and actions already making a difference at the community, city or state level to ultimately improve America's health.