Can we have a tobacco free society?

World Anti Tobacco Day (also known as No-Tobacco Day) is observed throughout the world on 31st May every year to encourage the tobacco users to abstain from consumption of all forms of tobacco.

This trend of observing 31st May as international Anti Tobacco day was started in 1987 , when the World Health Assembly(WHA) of World Health Organization (WHO) passed a resolution WHA40.38, which ultimately formed World No Tobacco Day (WNTD). The primary objective of WNTD was to give information about the deadly components of tobacco and its effects.

According to the report of World Health Organization titled `The Tobacco use and Control Effects' issued in 2008-09, around 9.7 percent teenage girls in India use some form of tobacco. Similarly, 17.3 per cent teenage boys have taken tobacco. The study also revealed that tobacco use in India started at quite a young age and in many cases at schools.

To safeguard our younger generation from the deadly effects of tobacco. Tobacco day is celebrated as an awareness day to draw the people’s attention towards the harmful effects of tobacco on human body. Anti tobacco day is supported by governments, individuals, non -profit organizations, public health organizations and even by smokers. Seminars and events on World Tobacco Day are organized by health organizations and governments while emphasizing on punchlines and pictures to motivate people to quit consuming tobacco permanently. Creating and distributing brochures, posters , fliers, press releases, websites and videos are also considered an integral part of the World No Tobacco Day.

Every year on this day, the WHO chooses a theme for the day that carries global message to quit smoking. Many themes are intended to reveal facts about tobacco industry which misleads general public through advertisement. On May 31st 2008 complete ban on tobacco advertising was imposed .

But different people have different opinion about the World Tobacco Day. For many, WNTD is a challenge to create a tobacco free society. On the contrary, some consider it as futile exercise to curb smoking. However, WHO in January 2011, has selected ‘The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control’ as the theme of Tobacco day 2011 which is considered the world’s primary tobacco curbing instrument.

World No Tobacco Day 2011 will be observed on 31st May, Tuesday. On this specific day, various health organizations, governments and World Health Organization exhibit the latest tobacco-related information and research to create awareness among the public.

Tobacco plain packaging to pass despite Opposition

THE federal government's push for the plain packaging of tobacco is set to whistle through Parliament regardless of what Tony Abbott decides.
But Labor's plan to means-test the 30 per cent private health insurance rebate is in danger of collapse, with the independent MP Bob Katter saying yesterday he would not support the measure.
The government intends to introduce the plain packaging legislation into Parliament in July, by when the Greens, who support the measure, will control the Senate.

The government needs four extra votes in the House of Representatives should the Coalition, which is divided over the issue, oppose it. Yesterday those four votes were guaranteed.
Apart from the Greens MP Adam Bandt, the Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie also said he backed the changes, especially as his brother had died of lung cancer 10 years ago.
The NSW independent Tony Windsor said he supported the change and ''if I had my way, I'd ban the bloody things''. The West Australian National Tony Crook announced his support on Tuesday.
The other NSW independent, Rob Oakeshott, is yet to state a position but is inclined towards supporting it. Of the six cross-benchers, only Mr Katter is opposed.
The Nationals oppose the proposed plain green packets primarily because they see them as an erosion of tobacco companies' property rights. Several Liberals are of a similar view, while a small but growing group believes health is more important than property rights.
At least one of these MPs, the West Australian MP Mal Washer, a medical doctor, said he would vote for plain packaging regardless of party policy.
The Queensland MP Alex Somlyay said plain packaging would deter people from taking up smoking, which was more important over the long term than trying to discourage existing smokers with price increases.
To try to defuse the issue, Mr Abbott told his party room the Coalition would wait to see the final legislation before adopting a position. This has left the opposition exposed to government claims that it is resisting because it still accepts donations from tobacco companies.
''Get this monkey off your back. It's may be a rich monkey but it's a monkey nonetheless,'' the Mental Health Minister, Mark Butler, taunted in Parliament.
The opposition will oppose the plan to means-test the private health rebate, which would begin to phase out the 30 per cent rebate for singles on incomes of more than $80,000 and couples on combined incomes of more than $160,000.
Mr Windsor has indicated he will oppose the means test and Mr Katter said he too would vote against it, fearing it would drive more people into an already stretched public system.

Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick calls for smokeless-tobacco ban

"For too long, Major League Baseball players have used tobacco on the field, in the dugout, the bullpen and, of course, before millions of fans who watch on TV," Kendrick wrote. "I know that many players are addicted, and that's part of the problem."

During Thursday's game, Kendrick said he speaks to the Diamondbacks each spring about the responsibilities that come with playing in the major leagues. Because of the collective-bargaining agreement, he knows the organization can't prevent them from using smokeless tobacco, but it has asked players, at minimum, not to carry the tobacco can in their back pockets during games, visible for all to see.


"It's clearly a serious health issue for those who do it, and our game has a responsibility to provide leadership to young people," Kendrick said. "Our players are role models, and young people follow their lead. We need to recognize the influence we have on kids."

In his editorial, he wrote that he hopes change is on the way.

"This is what Major League Baseball and the players union must consider as we enter another round of contract talks in which a possible prohibition on the use of smokeless tobacco is on the table," Kendrick wrote. "Commissioner Bud Selig has said that the league will propose a smokeless tobacco prohibition like the one that's been in place in the minor leagues since 1993. I hope owners and players will seize this opportunity and do what's right."

The full editorial will run in next week's Republic.

Duke getting close

Zach Duke's first start with the Diamondbacks appears to be getting closer.

The 28-year-old left-hander, who broke his pitching hand during spring training, will pitch for Triple-A Reno on Monday, and if all goes well, he likely will join the rotation next week.

"We hope to get six innings and 90 pitches out of him," manager Kirk Gibson said. "So if everything goes fine, he'll start (next) Saturday (at Houston.")

Duke started Wednesday for high Class A Visalia, hitting 88 mph. He allowed five hits, an earned run, no walks and struck out four in five innings.

"The worst was actually the first inning," Duke said.

"I think I threw eight pitches and looked up and had the bases loaded with nobody out. But I was able to settle down from that point and really found a good rhythm and flooded the strike zone."

The Diamondbacks acquired Duke in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates in November. He was 8-15 with a 5.72 ERA in 29 starts last season, but he has yet to make his Arizona debut.

"The frustrating part is watching these guys go out every day and not being able to contribute or help them out," Duke said. " I'm just thankful the rehab is going very well at this point. Hopefully, we'll keep it going in that direction and get back as soon as possible."

Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick calls for smokeless-tobacco ban

"For too long, Major League Baseball players have used tobacco on the field, in the dugout, the bullpen and, of course, before millions of fans who watch on TV," Kendrick wrote. "I know that many players are addicted, and that's part of the problem."

During Thursday's game, Kendrick said he speaks to the Diamondbacks each spring about the responsibilities that come with playing in the major leagues. Because of the collective-bargaining agreement, he knows the organization can't prevent them from using smokeless tobacco, but it has asked players, at minimum, not to carry the tobacco can in their back pockets during games, visible for all to see.


"It's clearly a serious health issue for those who do it, and our game has a responsibility to provide leadership to young people," Kendrick said. "Our players are role models, and young people follow their lead. We need to recognize the influence we have on kids."

In his editorial, he wrote that he hopes change is on the way.

"This is what Major League Baseball and the players union must consider as we enter another round of contract talks in which a possible prohibition on the use of smokeless tobacco is on the table," Kendrick wrote. "Commissioner Bud Selig has said that the league will propose a smokeless tobacco prohibition like the one that's been in place in the minor leagues since 1993. I hope owners and players will seize this opportunity and do what's right."

The full editorial will run in next week's Republic.

Duke getting close

Zach Duke's first start with the Diamondbacks appears to be getting closer.

The 28-year-old left-hander, who broke his pitching hand during spring training, will pitch for Triple-A Reno on Monday, and if all goes well, he likely will join the rotation next week.

"We hope to get six innings and 90 pitches out of him," manager Kirk Gibson said. "So if everything goes fine, he'll start (next) Saturday (at Houston.")

Duke started Wednesday for high Class A Visalia, hitting 88 mph. He allowed five hits, an earned run, no walks and struck out four in five innings.

"The worst was actually the first inning," Duke said.

"I think I threw eight pitches and looked up and had the bases loaded with nobody out. But I was able to settle down from that point and really found a good rhythm and flooded the strike zone."

The Diamondbacks acquired Duke in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates in November. He was 8-15 with a 5.72 ERA in 29 starts last season, but he has yet to make his Arizona debut.

"The frustrating part is watching these guys go out every day and not being able to contribute or help them out," Duke said. " I'm just thankful the rehab is going very well at this point. Hopefully, we'll keep it going in that direction and get back as soon as possible."

More than half of Bihar's population uses tobacco products

More than 50 per cent of the population of Bihar uses tobacco products leading to the loss of many lives every year, Bihar health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey said on Friday.

"As much as 54 per cent of people in Bihar use tobacco products and a large number of them die every year," Choubey said while addressing a workshop on tobacco.

Almost 2,200 people using tobacco products die everyday in India, he said, adding "An estimated 40 out of 100 patients are afflicted with cancer following tobacco use".

Choubey said he would ask the medical officers to strictly ban use of 'gutkha', 'bidi' and other tobacco products outside the hospitals across the state.

The minister also called for for simplification of the Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution Act (COTPA) 2003, on cigarettes and other tobacco products.

California, Ohio Use Reserves for Tobacco Bonds

California, Ohio and Virginia will use reserve funds to pay interest and principal on bonds backed by tobacco company payments under a 1998 health-care settlement, according to a report by Herbert J. Sims & Co.

Payments to the states by Altria Group Inc. (MO)’s Philip Morris unit, Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) and other companies have declined on lower U.S. cigarette sales and as the companies lose market share to tobacco manufacturers that didn’t participate in the settlement, according to Richard Larkin, director of credit analysis at Sims in Iselin, New Jersey.

“Any time you see a municipal bond go to their reserve fund, it’s a significant sign of trouble,” Larkin said in a telephone interview. “It’s not an imminent default, but it’s a sign that cash flow is certainly far weaker than any of us thought.”

U.S. states have more than $107.6 billion in outstanding bonds backed by the 1998 settlement, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Under the settlement, tobacco companies agreed to reimburse states $246 billion for treating smoking-related illnesses. The companies make annual payments each April.

The amounts paid to the states declined 5.6 percent this year, mostly because Altria’s Philip Morris decided for the first time to withhold disputed payments, Larkin said, citing data from the National Association of Attorneys General. In 2010, the payments fell 16 percent after the federal government raised cigarette excise taxes 61 cents.

Payments in Escrow

Since 2005, Reynolds and Lorillard Inc. (LO) have put a portion of their payments into an escrow fund, arguing that they’re entitled to refunds because they’ve lost market share to other producers such as National Tobacco Co. LP, which didn’t sign the 1998 accord.

Philip Morris made its full payments to the states, even though the tobacco company disputed them, until this year, when it withheld $267 million, Larkin said. Philip Morris disclosed the escrow payment in an April 15 statement.

California’s Golden State Tobacco Securitization Corp. and Ohio’s Buckeye Tobacco Settlement Financing Authority may use debt-service reserves to meet the minimum required interest payments on Dec. 1, according to bond filings.

The Virginia Tobacco Settlement Financing Corp. will need to use debt reserve funds for its Dec. 1 payment, he said.

Issuers such as Golden State are special entities set up to sell debt backed by the tobacco-settlement money. The states don’t guarantee interest and principal payments on the bonds.

California Reserve Plan

California plans to draw $5.35 million from reserves to help make a $68.3 million interest payment on series 2005 bonds and $7.7 million to make a $87.9 million interest payment of series 2007 bonds, both due Dec. 1, said Tom Dresslar, a spokesman for Treasurer Bill Lockyer.

“Like any other issuer, the state doesn’t relish, to say the least, being forced to draw on reserves,” Dresslar said. “Hopefully, we won’t have to be in that position again.”

Kurt Kauffman, Ohio’s debt manager, said his state expects to use $6 million to $8 million in reserves in December, based on current projections.

“We have a $389 million funded reserve so that offers a significant degree of protection to investors,” Kauffman said in a telephone interview.

Virginia’s director of debt management, Evelyn Whitley, said her state will draw $3.6 million from reserves to make a Dec. 1 interest payment.

“I don’t think it should come as any great surprise,” Whitley said. The state filed a notice when it didn’t make sinking-fund payments last year, she said, and investors “realized it was cutting it close then.”

Lower Investment Returns

Besides payment declines, California and Virginia also received lower-than-expected investment returns on their debt- service reserves, Larkin said. Both states put the money in investment contracts with Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEHMQ), which filed for bankruptcy in 2008, he said.

While it’s unlikely that more Americans will take up smoking, the outlook for tobacco bonds may improve if U.S. states win a legal challenge to the companies that are withholding payments, Larkin said. About $2 billion held in escrow would go to the states, he said.

“That boost in cash flow would be significant,” Larkin said. “If the states lose, it will look a lot worse.”

New York wins ruling in tribal cigarette tax clash

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second District, in a decision released on Monday, annulled an injunction that had prevented New York from enforcing cigarette tax laws that had been due to go into effect on September 1, 2010.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Taxation was not available to say if New York might now start collecting cigarette taxes. Seneca Nation of Indians President Robert Odawi Porter said the tribe would continue their battle.

Several New York governors have tried and failed to collect the disputed taxes. In 1997, then-Governor George Pataki backed down on an effort to collect the reservation store cigarette taxes after 12 state troopers were injured in tire-burning protests by two upstate tribes.

The injunction on enforcing the cigarette tax laws had been granted by the Northern District's federal court. The appeals court rejected that decision, saying tribes failed to demonstrate they were likely to succeed on merits of their case.

The appeals court, which lifted all court stays pending appeal, also upheld the Western District federal court's decision to deny a request by the Seneca Nation, the Cayuga Nation, the Unkechauge Nation and the Mohawk Tribe to stop the state from levying the cigarette taxes.

New York's decades-long battle to collect taxes on cigarettes bought by smokers who are not members of Native American tribes could grind on because the appeals court sent the cases back to the lower courts.

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman estimated that lost tax revenue amounts to $500,000 a day. New York state's cigarette taxes are among the nation's highest at $4.35 a pack.

"Today's decision respects tribal rights and at the same time represents an important victory for the state to collect deserved revenue and to protect public health," said Schneiderman.

New York City Mayor Bloomberg, a former smoker who banished cigarettes from parks, bars and restaurants, estimated the state could get as much as $500 million a year from Native American cigarette taxes.

Bloomberg has sued to block blackmarket sales of cigarettes over the Internet. Referring to the court decision, he added: "It will also greatly reduce New York City's tax losses caused by the bootlegging of unstamped cigarettes."

New York, like many states, has yet to see tax revenue rebound to pre-recession levels, which heightens its desire to collect the lost cigarette tax revenue.

The tribes say they do not have to charge cigarette taxes -- or fuel taxes either -- because of their sovereign immunity. "We will continue fighting against this overreaching action by the state to protect our treaty rights, tobacco commerce and all the jobs it supports," the Seneca president said.

New York state tried to sidestep the issue on sovereign immunity by requiring the wholesalers, which sell reservation stores millions of cigarettes a year, to collect the taxes. Native American smokers would not have to pay the taxes as each tribe would get a set amount of tax-free cartons.

The Oneida, Cayuga and Unkechauge had argued that forcing the wholesalers to charge the tax "imposes an impermissible direct tax on tribal retailers, or alternatively, imposes an undue and unnecessary economic burden on tribal retailers," the appeals court said in its decision.

But the appeals court noted the U.S. Supreme Court has decided that Native American governments are not authorized "to market an exemption from state taxation to persons who would normally do business elsewhere."

Rhode Island Lawmakers Consider Lowering Cigarette Taxes

Well here’s a different twist: Rhode Island’s General Assembly is planning to review a proposal that would lower the state’s cigarette excise tax by $1 per pack.

The Associated Press reports that the bill runs counter to a trend that has seen dozens of states consider raising cigarette taxes to help reduce budget deficits.

Proponents of the Rhode Island bill argue lowering the cigarette tax would provide a boost to Rhode Island’s tobacco retailers by attracting smokers from neighboring states. Lawmakers in New Jersey and New Hampshire have adopted a similar strategy, introducing bills earlier this year to lower their state tobacco taxes.

Rhode Island assesses a $3.46 state tax on each pack of cigarettes — the second-highest state excise tax in the country.

Put it in your pipe and smoke it, say hookah lovers

“They are forcing us to smoke behind closed doors now, this is how things go wrong in this country,” said Owais, a banker in his early 30s, sitting at a well-known café in Zamzama. For him, the government is out to ban things that “people enjoy the most”.
Indeed, pro-hookah people are quick to point out that the ban on smoking and using other addictive substances should be the government’s first priority. “What about the people who chew ghutka?” asks a college student sitting next to Owais. “Why ban something harmless?”
But the shisha is not harmless, as many people believe. It delivers a hit of tobacco worth 100 cigarettes, all deceptively masked by the fruity flavours of strawberry and apple.
A paper published in the Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association as far back as in 1993 studied the percentage of carbon monoxide in the hookah using local charcoal. Small hookahs delivered the most of the poisonous gas to the smoker’s lungs and as the size of the hookah increased, the level dropped because of the volume of air in the water base, fire bowl volume, pipe length, etc. Hookah smokers are additionally exposed to the carcinogenic or cancer-causing effect of hydrocarbons and heavy metals in the charcoal, according to the British Medical Journal.
Dr Javaid heads the anti-smoking cell in Sindh. He quoting a recent survey by the International Journal of TB and Lung Diseases, France, which said almost 50 per cent of youngsters in Pakistan smoke shisha.

Take a look for cheap Al Fakher melon flavour online.

The restaurant owners
Café owners have reacted with the argument that the customer is always right. As business owner Shahbaz Mukaram in Defence Phase VII, put it: “Customers do not listen to us at all. Rather they dictate what we do”.
“If we ban smoking at our restaurant, where will the poor smokers go?” asked Fatima Lodhi, a manager at Time Out at The Forum shopping mall. She stressed that they did have a patio but because of the heat people generally preferred to sit inside where there is a non-smoking section. Ajay Solanki, the owner of Café Coffee Day at Zamzama, also pointed out that they had a non-smoking area. The same goes for most other Zamzama establishments.
But according to Dr Javaid Khan, an associate professor and consultant chest physician at the Aga Khan University Hospital, separate smoking sections are an illusion. Air conditioners in restaurants and cafes help spread the smoke all over. Even if the management feels that it is doing people a service, “I want to inform them it is far more dangerous for their customer’s health that they can imagine.”
The Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Health Ordinance 2002, declares that public spaces, for instance restaurants, hotels, cafeterias, are smoke-free zones. Other spaces that fall in this category are a “place of public work or use” such as waiting areas, a hotel lounge, eating houses, amusement centres and places visited by the public.
The government has made sporadic attempts to enforce the rules. In June 2009 and again in the same year in July, it declared that public spaces had to be smoke free. Sindh Public Health Director Dr Masood Ahmed Solangi said that for about six months the cell has sent “hundreds of emails and written notifications” to Pizza Hut, for example. “After a while we got to know that no action has been taken at all,” he told The Express Tribune.
Pizza Hut at Bahadurabad was one outlet that was warned. The head of Pizza Hut is out of the country, informed its manager Usman. He refused to speak about laws and suggested that the marketing team be contacted. Marketing manager Mohammed Ammar explained that he has to consider business too. “The very fact that people go out to restaurants is to relax and enjoy,” he said. “We do not want to spoil it for them. We have to look at it from their point of view as well.”
He acknowledged that they had received notifications from the government and doctors but added that that due to “time constraints” he could not promptly reply to them.
“These people are educated and understand the law better than us,” said Dr Solangi. “But after a while we’ll have to take a stronger stance and take action to stop it.”

Tobacco giants threaten to slash cigarette price over Australia's plain packaging plans

At the launch of a multi-million dollar campaign against the government's proposals, British and American Tobacco Australia (BATA) said more people would end up smoking if plain packaging was introduced.
BATA warned that uniform packets would make illegal imported cigarettes made in China and Indonesia and known as "chop chop" easier to disguise and would eventually force prices down sharply as tobacco companies tried to compete.
Last month, Australia unveiled the world's toughest laws on tobacco promotion that would see cigarettes sold in ugly olive-green packets plastered with graphic health warnings. Under the plan, due to take effect next year, all logos would be removed and replaced with the brand name in a small, specific font.
But BATA has vowed to fight the move, warning that it will backfire and spark a boom in black market tobacco.
"When all cigarette packs look the same and lose their trademarks and distinguishing features, counterfeiters will have a field day mass producing packets to smuggle into Australia," David Crow, BATA's chief executive said.
BATA owns brands such as Dunhill, Benson and Hedges and Winfield.
"Could (the price of) cigarettes halve over time? In the longer term, potentially yes," he told the Herald Sun newspaper, saying the cheap prices "basically means more people will smoke, more kids will smoke".
Mr Crow said there was no evidence that plain packaging would reduce smoking and BATA has claimed that the new legislation would infringe international trademark and intellectual property laws.
But Nicola Roxon, the health minister, said she was prepared for a fight and said that excise could easily be raised if cigarette prices fall.
"I think we are in an extraordinary position where they say they want to protect their brands and profits but then they say they will slash prices to get people hooked onto smoking," she said.
Statistics from the government show that each year 15,000 Australians die of smoking-related diseases and that tobacco use costs the country Aus$31.5 billion annually in healthcare and lost productivity.
Although Australia would be the first country to mandate plain packaging for cigarettes, New Zealand, Canada and Britain have considered a similar policy.

Louisiana Senate panel approves dedicating tobacco settlement money for college scholarships

The Senate Finance Committee voted 6-2 to send Senate Bill 53 to the floor for debate after rejecting an amendment that would have steered 30 percent of the tobacco proceeds to need-based scholarships. The committee also approved Senate Bill 52, a companion measure.
The bills by Sen. John Alario, R-Westwego, are a critical part of the budget puzzle, as Gov. Bobby Jindal's 2011-12 spending recommendations already assume that the Legislature will go along with the plan and that statewide voters will give their approval in the fall.
Supporters of the amendment said it has a twofold purpose: to provide a steady financing stream for the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, which pays in-state college tuition for any qualifying Louisiana high school graduate, and to free up state general-fund dollars that otherwise would be used for TOPS.
The program is costing the state about $130 million this year, but that's projected to climb to $174 million in the upcoming fiscal year because of tuition increases that have either been approved or are in the works.
"A solution is certainly needed to establish the stability of this program," said Phyllis Taylor, whose husband, the late New Orleans oilman Pat Taylor, helped launch the program.
But opponents said the amendment would end up usurping money that otherwise would be used to support health-care programs, charter schools and other programs that currently get a cut of the tobacco proceeds.
"The question is, what do you want to constitutionally protect?" said Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, who said she would rather have the money spent on health care.
Louisiana's 1998 agreement with cigarette makers calls for the state to receive $4.6 billion during the first 25 years, spread out in annual payments. Three years later, in 2001, the state elected to sell 60 percent of the income stream to investors for an up-front payment of $1.2 billion, most of which was placed in the Millennium Trust.
Interest earnings from the trust fund, which also receives the remaining 40 percent of the tobacco income stream, are currently spread evenly among three education and health care programs.
Alario's amendment would cap the Millennium Trust at $1.38 billion -- the balance it had at the start of this fiscal year -- and dedicate the future income stream to TOPS.

Global Tobacco Giant Pledges to Root Out Child Labor

It's not often the human rights community celebrates a victory in Kazakhstan, but this week offers an opportunity with news that global tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PMI) has – under international pressure – committed itself to improving conditions for migrant workers on tobacco farms in Kazakhstan.

The news comes nearly a year after Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a damning expose of the conditions tobacco pickers were suffering in Kazakhstan, with many working in what HRW described as “virtual bondage.” The watchdog found abuses including the “frequent use” of child labor (it documented 72 cases, including children as young as 10) and cases of forced labor.

PMI has now declared itself “committed to achieving safe and fair working conditions on all farms from which it sources tobacco and to progressively eliminate child labor and other labor abuses where they are found."

It also pledged to implement an Agricultural Labor Practices Code, regulating working hours and salaries and obliging farmers to ensure fair treatment, safe working conditions and the right to collective bargaining for their employees.

PMI is working on this with the international NGO Verite, which on May 2 issued a report sponsored by the tobacco company on labor conditions on Kazakhstan’s tobacco farms.

That report shows that “many challenges remain,” Martin King, PMI Senior Vice President Operations, said, while professing himself “pleased with the progress that has been made in Kazakhstan.”

HRW welcomed the news in a press release. “Philip Morris International's commitments to ensure protection of workers, including migrant workers, in Kazakhstan and in more than 30 other countries, is profoundly significant," Jane Buchanan, senior Europe and Central Asia researcher was quoted as saying.

HRW also cautioned that enforcement and monitoring of the commitments were vital.

The international human rights community can hail this as a stellar example of watchdogs applying successful pressure on global companies to root out abuses. In Kazakhstan, though, one question remains: What is the government doing to protect well-documented and frequent abuses of the rights of migrant workers?

Hartsville approves tobacco-free ordinance for city parks

Hartsville City Council has given unanimous final approval to an ordinance that makes city parks tobacco-free.

The ordinance, passed during Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, bans smoking as well as the use of other tobacco products in all of the city’s public parks and other outdoor facilities owned by the city. The ordinance calls for a $25 fine for each violation.

“Our goal is first and foremost to protect the children,” Hartsville Mayor Mel Pennington said. “We want to approach this from a customer service standpoint. We would hope that officers will courteously ask smokers and tobacco users to stop what they are doing before writing any citation. We are not looking to lay down the hand of the law.”

Before approval of smoking ordinance, council heard some discussion as to the wording of the ordinance and whether “general public” and “common-use” areas pertained to city-owned sidewalks and parking lots.

On the advice of City Attorney Marty Driggers, Councilmember Johnny L. Andrews offered an amendment to include “excluding sidewalks and parking lots adjacent to businesses” in Section I of the ordinance. The amendment was seconded and approved.

The city will be required to post signs at the entrance of designated areas that clearly state that smoking and tobacco use of any kind is prohibited.

The city already prohibits smoking and other tobacco use in city-owned buildings and vehicles.

During council’s April meeting, Pennington stressed the city is not at a point at which officials are prepared to consider a ban on smoking in private businesses such as restaurants.

Also during Monday’s meeting, also approved first reading of a $12.8 million proposed budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year. The budget breakdown is: general fund, $7,928,854; utilities fund, $3,563,252; solid waste fund, $1,030,000; hospitality fund, $706,195; accommodations tax fund, $94,650; and stormwater utility fund, $201,000.

The proposed general fund budget includes funding for merit raises for employees of from 1 to 3 percent based on performance evaluations.

In addition, council approved increasing the millage rate by 1.6 percent to 127.98 mills for the 2011-12 Fiscal Year.

Council will hold its regular monthly work session May 23 and is expected to review the budget with revised figures then. Final approval of the budget is expected in June.

In other business Monday, council also approved a recycling sponsorship with Sonoco and voted to have the city discontinue its participation in the county’s Pay-Per-Throw Program, more commonly known as the yellow bag program.

Taxing small tobacco; liquidating part of a trust

Sen. Jeff Wentworth’s concealed-handgun amendment got all the attention, but there were a couple of other noteworthy additions to Senate Bill 1581, the education-related fiscal measure that’s meant to generate revenue and savings to help fund the state budget for the next two years.
Senate Bill 1581 by Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, initially would have freed up about $30 million through the next two years by limiting advanced placement program fee subsidies and ending the award of early high school graduation scholarships. Students who’ve already been awarded the scholarships would have six years to use them from the date they were awarded.

But the Senate went further, adding a levy on smaller tobacco companies that Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said would raise $50 million through the next two years. The levy would apply to products of companies that weren’t part of the state’s tobacco lawsuit settlement with large tobacco companies.

Hinojosa was careful to call the levy a “fee,” since tax measures must originate in the House. But Ron Hinkle, representing the Small Tobacco Coalition, said the proposal wouldn’t raise as much as Hinojosa suggested and that it wouldn’t pass constitutional muster because it would amount to a tax on just one segment of the industry. The vote was 24-7.

Proceeds from the levy would go to a tobacco endowment set up by lawsuit proceeds that supports health-related higher education institutions. Senators on Monday agreed to liquidate $100 million of the $420 million fund and distribute $10 million apiece to each institution.

That’s a scaled-down version of a proposal Ogden originally had that would have liquidated the entire endowment and allowed each institution to use the money as they see fit. The original proposal met with resistance because lawmakers said the endowment was meant to be a permanent method of generating income for the institutions.

The $100 million would help offset a proposed $320 million cut to health science centers’funding through the next two years.

“My opinion is it’s their money. We ought to just let them do what they want with it,” Ogden said, but he added, . “This was a good compromise.”

Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, who had objected to liquidating the fund, said, “That’s a much better alternative. I still would have preferred to provide $100 million more in” state general revenue instead.

The $100 million is what the institutions said was the bare minimum increase they needed to get by, according to the senators.