The Norwegian Ministry of Finance is excluding the $518 billion Government Pension Fund Global from investing in 17 tobacco companies including British American Tobacco, Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco.

The Ministry of Finance drafted rules states the fund will exclude all companies that produce any tobacco, regardless of the amount the company produces.

This means the pension fund will exclude more companies than those companies that are described as “tobacco” by index providers.

Information regarding each company’s involvement in tobacco production was sourced from index provider, FTSE Group, and analysis of company websites.

Alliance One International, British American Tobacco, Philip Morris, Altria Group, Imperial Tobacco Group, Souza Cruz SA, Universal Corp VA and Reynolds American Inc are among those excluded from the fund’s investment universe.

Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global is a very active responsible investor. Last year, the fund placed the European engineering conglomerate, Siemens AG, ‘on observation’ after it was revealed the company had been embroiled in corruption early last year.

Many in Hollywood are up in arms over the decision by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to give an “R” rating to the romantic comedy It’s Complicated. The decision had nothing to do with scenes of sex or violence in the film starring Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. Rather, the R rating was applied because of a scene showing two characters smoking marijuana. According to the MPAA, the act of getting stoned without consequences for the characters on screen was too much to give the movie a PG-13 rating.

The ruling has outraged those in the industry who disagree with the MPAA’s habit of awarding violent films, like Terminator: Salvation a PG-13, while branding It’s Complicated with the harsher R rating.

“It’s another outrageous example of the lunatic priorities of the MPAA, which claims to serve the interests of parents but actually dances to its crazy drummer, happily handing out PG-13 ratings to unbelievably violent movies like Terminator: Salvation while whipping out the R rating at the first sign of a few naked breasts or, God forbid, an unsheathed penis,” wrote Patrick Goldstein in the Los Angeles Times.

Examples cited by other critics of the MPAA include Woody Allen’s PG-13 Crimes and Misdemeanors, in which a man has his mistress murdered with no bad consequences, and the PG comedy 9 to 5, which shows Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin getting high without consequences.
-Noel Brinkerhoff

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay plans for Lambert-St. Louis International Airport to be completely smoke-free when the city’s new smoking ban takes effect in January 2011.
And that includes the airport’s smoking lounges.

Slay commented on his blog this week after fielding questions from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about a conflict between the new St. Louis County smoking ban which exempts the smoking lounges and the city ban which does not. Both take effect on Jan. 2, 2011.

Slay noted that the airport is a “political hybrid,” in that it is in St. Louis County but owned by the city. But the decision on smoking, Slay said on his blog, belongs to the city, “as owner of the facility.”

St. Louis County counselor Patricia Redington said the smoking lounge exemption is clear in the county ordinance.

But, she added, “If the city hands out citations to smokers in the lounge, the city’s authority to do so will be an issue between the city and the people who are charged and will not be the county’s concern.”

The nine smoking lounges have been in operation since 1997; smoking is banned everywhere else inside the airport.

Slay’s comments were posted on his website Wednesday. Earlier in the week, Lambert spokesman Jeff Lea said the airport planned to follow the St. Louis County law.

The next day, after Slay’s statement, Lea added, “The city, as owner and operator of the airport facility, can certainly follow stricter regulations than those imposed by St. Louis County.”

Longtime anti-smoking activist Martin Pion and his group, Missouri GASP (Group Against Smoking Pollution), have been trying since at least 1993 to rid Lambert of smoking. About 150 airports around the U.S. do not allow any smoking.

“This is a travesty this has been going on for too long,” Pion said of the lounges.

When told of the mayor’s position, Pion called it “fantastic.”

The exemption for airport lounges was in the county ban approved by St. Louis County voters on Nov. 3.

Airport Director Richard Hrabko had argued for the lounges in a letter to the County Council in August.

The letter said the airport had spent “several hundred thousand dollars to construct and maintain 9 smoking lounges for the use of our passengers and employees. These units have sophisticated ventilation systems and capture virtually 100% of the secondhand smoke.”

Without them, his letter continued, “we will create a terrible situation with scores of people standing in front of the terminals and in the garages smoking and creating an annoyance to nonsmokers as well as a constant policing by the airport staff.”

County Councilwoman Barbara Fraser’s bill was amended to exempt airport smoking lounges after Hrabko’s letter was received.

St. Louis Alderman Lyda Krewson, who sponsored the city smoking ban bill, said she would “certainly support getting rid of smoking lounges if we can figure out a way to do it. Many cities have, and I am sure we can, too.”

Hrabko said in a statement this week that eliminating the smoking rooms could cause problems for nonsmokers.

“Banning smoking throughout the airport has the potential to cause significant security issues with passengers having to leave secure areas to smoke outside, and then return through security screening,” he said. “We create a bigger problem for our customers by not having smoking lounges.”

Slay referenced Hrabko’s position on his blog, saying, “Airport director Dick Hrabko, who is retiring, has made some strong arguments in the past about the logistics and security of moving smokers outside the terminal. However, I will work with the incoming airport director to see how Mr. Hrabko’s issues can be addressed.”

Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, who has served the last seven years as American Airlines’ managing director in St. Louis, will take over as Lambert director on Jan. 1.

Health minister investigating ban on addictive water pipe tobacco as study shows greater risk to young people

The message from Health Minister Jakob Axel Nielsen is clear: young people are hitting the hookahs too much and the addictive tobacco used in the water pipes should be banned.

A parliamentary majority supports a ban on the sweet-flavoured tobacco used in water pipes, and Nielsen agreed measures needed to be introduced to protect the young.

‘It’s a really bad idea to have sweet addictive tobacco in water pipes and worrying that it’s become so popular among young people, which is why I’m investigating whether we can introduce a ban in Denmark,’ Nielsen said to DR News.

The move comes on the heels of a study carried out by the National Cancer Society and Maastricht University, which found young people who use water pipes are three times as likely to smoke regular cigarettes.

About 800 Danish students aged 15-16 were monitored for a year as part of the study. Most had tried smoking cigarettes, but were not regular smokers, while about half had tried smoking using a water pipe.

The study showed that boys in general used water pipes more. But it confirmed that the more any student smoked from a pipe, the higher the risk of them becoming regular cigarette smokers.

About two thirds of common tobacco used in water pipes consists of additives, and the Cancer Society would like to see a ban on sweet tobacco similar to that introduced in Germany.

‘Children and young people don’t experience it as real smoking because it tastes and smells sweet. But the smoke is dangerous – partly in and of itself and partly because water pipes provide an easier way for young people to get into heavier cigarettes,’ said Poul Dengsøe Jensen, project leader in the Cancer Society.

‘I think the tobacco should be banned like in Germany, where tobacco containing more than 25 percent sugar and other additives is illegal,’ he said.

12 November 2009 Cphpost

A proposal that would ban smoking on the outdoor patios of bars and restaurants is under fire from Saskatchewan’s hospitality industry.

The Saskatchewan government is looking at updating its no-smoking law, and one of the changes would be a ban on patio smoking. While Saskatoon already has such a ban, Regina and other cities don’t.

Health Minister Don McMorris told CBC News a proposal for a provincewide ban may be coming soon.

Tom Mullin, president of the Hotels Association of Saskatchewan, calls the plan unfair. The industry is still reeling from anti-smoking legislation brought in several years ago, which banned smoking in bars, he said.

Business dropped 25 per cent and has never fully recovered, he said.

Since hotel owners built outdoor patios as a response to that law, they should be allowed to continue to permit smoking there, he said.
Built for smokers

“We made the investment to cover off the smoking issue by building decks and having them outdoors and having our patrons having to go outside, so that should be enough,” he said.

Meanwhile, anti-smoking advocates were hailing the proposed change, as well as a proposal to ban smoking in vehicles when there are children present.

Banning smoking on patios provincewide is a great idea, said Donna Pasiechnik, a spokeswoman with the Saskatchewan branch of the Canadian Cancer Society.

“Our concern, of course, is for the workers, working those patios and for the patrons who want to enjoy those patios just as much as smokers during the summer,” Pasiechnik said. “I’m hearing more and more about people complaining that patios are not smoke-free.”

The cancer society also wants pharmacies to stop selling cigarettes, she said.

The proposed new smoking law is expected to be introduced during the fall sitting of the legislature, which started last week and runs to early December.

October 26, 2009 CBC

Of the two proposals on the table for funding grants for Illinois college students, the Republicans plan for another round of tax amnesty makes more sense than nearly doubling the state’s tax on cigarettes.

About 137,000 students receive money based on financial need through the Monetary Assistance Program – about 3,500 of them attend Illinois State University. Illinois Wesleyan University has 430 students eligible for MAP grants; Heartland Community College has about 900, according to school officials.

The budget approved by the Legislature and signed by the governor provided only enough money to support MAP grants for the fall semester, leaving colleges wondering whether they could find money elsewhere in their budgets to help these students and leaving students wondering whether they will be able to complete their education.

The failure to directly address the MAP grant and other funding issues before adjourning this summer showed a complete lack of responsibility by lawmakers and the governor.

For the governor to go around now, spearheading rallies for “save” MAP, while he did little to prevent the half-baked budget that created this problem, is a political snow job.

But, this editorial will focus on the cigarette tax. Tuesday’s editorial will tackle the proposed tax amnesty.

Democrats are touting a dollar-a-pack tax on cigarettes as the savior for MAP. However, such an increase would give Illinois a higher state tobacco tax than any of its surrounding states except Wisconsin, where the tax is $2.52 a pack compared to the proposed $1.98 tax for Illinois.

When county and city taxes are included, the extra dollar would push Chicago ahead of New York City as the city with the highest combined taxes on a pack of cigarettes.

It’s plain to see how that would send people near the borders to stores in other states, not only to buy cigarettes but to fill their fuel tanks and buy snacks and other items while they are there. That would potentially decrease revenue, not only from the tobacco tax but also from sales taxes and motor fuel taxes.

In addition, the extra dollar a pack would likely inspire more people to quit smoking – good for individuals’ health and overall health care costs, bad for revenue generation – and could cause more people to buy cigarettes over the Internet, smuggle them across the border or even steal them.

Add to this the question of whether a small group of taxpayers – those who still smoke – should be burdened with financing a significant portion of a program that is a general state benefit.

A smaller tax increase – perhaps 25 cents a pack – might be justifiable to raise more revenue without unduly affecting border-area businesses and smokers themselves. But a dollar-a-pack is too much.

Pantagraph, October 12, 2009

ALMATY — Kazakhstan’s government said Tuesday it would impose a total ban on smoking in public places and raise the drinking age to 21, a rare step in the hard-drinking, heavy-smoking former Soviet Union.

“We are now following the recommendations of the World Health Organization, according to whose data more than 30,000 people die every year in Kazakhstan from smoking,” health ministry spokeswoman Agmagul Abenova told AFP.

“We also continue to struggle against alcoholism, and therefore have introduced new regulations against it,” she added.

The new regulations, published in Kazakh newspapers on Tuesday, come into effect October 9.

Kazakhstan already bars people from smoking in public venues, such as stadiums and on public transport, but the new rules extend the ban to the Central Asian country’s notoriously smokey bars and nightclubs.

Although many European nations have public smoking bans, few ex-Soviet countries have followed suit, and none besides conservative Tajikistan have raised the legal drinking age.

Kazakhstan’s smoking ban does not match the strictness of neighbouring Turkmenistan where former dictator Saparmurat Niyazov barred smoking even on the streets.

Alcoholism and smoking-related illnesses are a major health problem in the former Soviet Union, which saw a huge decline in average male life expectancy following the collapse of Communism nearly two decades ago.

Kazakhstan’s drinking age was previously 18.

La Casa de la Habana is a lavish two-story cigar-centric venue opening in Harmonie Park/Paradise Valley. The 7,000-square-foot space will include retail, which is already open, as well as a cigar and martini lounge and a VIP cigar club, which will open in a few weeks.

The retail aspect of La Casa includes a Spanish cedar walk-in humidor stocked with cigars from around the world. Aficionados also will find cigar and pipe accessories, wine and a shoeshiner — plus the skills of Luis Acosta, a Cuban master cigar roller, who is La Casa’s in-house cigar maker.

In another wing of the building, Camancho Cigan & Martini Bar will serve cigars, premium coffees, martinis and mojitos with a side of live music.

The second floor of La Casa is closed to the public. The VIP cigar club has a labyrinth of smoking lounges, a meeting room, private lockers-slash-humidors, WI-FI, and a VIP only bar.

La Casa is owned by Ismail Houmain and has other locations in Toledo, OH, Ann Arbor and Plymouth. The Harmonie Park location will celebrate its grand opening on October 23 and 24. It is situated at 1502 Randolph.

Source: Maria Petrenko, La Casa de la Habana
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

It may be a symbol of Middle Eastern culture and a trendy pastime for British youths, but the shisha water pipe that burns sweet scented tobacco is just as bad for your health as smoking cigarettes.

Research from Britain’s Department of Health and the Tobacco Control Collaborating Center showed that people who regularly smoke shisha can suffer from dangerous levels of carbon monoxide — similar to sucking on a car exhaust or entering a room with a faulty boiler.

“We are trying to say to people ‘if you want to do it, this is the effect it will have on you,’” said Paul Hooper of the Department of Health.

Hooper said results varied on how individuals inhaled the smoke, but one session of shisha smoking can result in carbon monoxide levels at least five times higher than the amount received by one cigarette.

Shisha, traditionally smoked in Middle Eastern countries, has grown in popularity in Britain, with many young people smoking the water pipe in cafes and bars around the country.

The shisha pipe, also known as a hookah or nargile, works by burning flavored tobacco on hot coals and enables users to suck the shisha through an ornate water vessel positioned underneath.

The findings showed that many shisha smokers were unaware of the dangers and didn’t think of shisha as smoking.

Hooper gave an example of a pregnant woman who quit cigarette smoking to protect her unborn baby but kept smoking shisha. When she was tested for carbon monoxide, she had an extreme reading of 70 parts per million (ppm) of carbon monoxide as opposed to 30 ppm expected from a heavy smoker.


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