Craig David and Lisa Stansfield Accused to Support Big Tobacco

Three famous British performers have been blamed of supporting the goals of "Big Tobacco" by agreeing to

participate at an Indonesian music festivity financed by one of the country's biggest cigarette companies.
Multi-platinum selling artist Joss Stone should participate at the Java Jazz Festival this week in the billing which also features Craig David and Lisa Stansfield as performers at a three-day festival estimated to be visited by more than 100,000 people in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
The event's principal sponsor is Djarum, the country's third largest cigarette company, which similar to some other producers specializes in the manufacture of clove-flavored cigarettes called “kreteks”. All invited British stars should perform on a stage advertising one of Djarum's major brands.
Campaigners called on the artists to not take part in the festival, blaming Indonesia of not being able to eradicate on tobacco advertising and permitting companies to advertise their products and lure new young smokers by means of an affiliation with worldwide stars and diverse cultural events. David, who several weeks ago agreed upon a new deal with Universal records and is planning to start a world tour, declined the statements, stating he promoted healthy lifestyle and was against smoking but legal guidelines against tobacco was an issue for the Indonesian regulators.
Indonesia has the world's greatest smoking rate for men, about 66%. Additionally Indonesian research found a year ago that more than 400,000 children are regular smokers.
The British singers do not have a special agreement with Djarum, which is a component of a conglomerate held by two of Indonesia's wealthiest men and the most notable of some corporate beneficiaries of the three-day festival. But critics claim that the stars are even so promoting the advertising of cigarettes implying strategies long-since prohibited in other places. The Marlboro Man is still advertised on Indonesian billboards hiking mountains while young women in branded clothes are frequently to be observed at corporate events giving out free samples of Marlboro cigarettes. Cigarette sponsorship has been taken away from latest shows by well known American performers. Advertising by Djarum for a Kelly Clarkson concert was removed after strong protests by fans and anti-tobacco organizations while Grammy-winner Alicia Keys required that sponsorship of one of her concerts by another company be eliminated.

The World Tobacco Industry

Tobacco crop is cultivated in over 100 countries. China is considered the world’s major manufacturer. Other main providers are the United States, India, Brazil, Turkey, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Smoking products are used worldwide. The majority of tobacco is used for smoking; it is the fundamental component for cigarettes, pipes, cigars, roll-your-own, and bidis. Tobacco is also utilized for smokeless tobacco such as snuff or chewing tobacco. More than 80 % of world tobacco is widely used for cigarettes.
Among cigarettes, the global share of the American blend (a blend of Virginia, Burley and Oriental tobacco types) is boosting, and that for dark cigarettes is falling. China owns about 30 % of the whole production and consumption of cigarettes. At 12 % of the overall, the United States is the world’s second biggest maker. Some other major producers are Japan, Indonesia, Brazil and Germany. The global demand for tobacco products in the more developed countries is currently dropping. In the less emerging countries its expansion has slowed up. The international cigarette market is getting more and more concentrated by company. The three greatest corporations sell about 2/3 of the world’s total. In separate countries, the level of concentration can be higher. The cigarette manufacturers have responded to the sluggishness of demand in their conventional markets in three approaches: consolidation, variation, and increasing productivity. Government authorities deal with a dilemma. They currently have both an economic and a social interest in tobacco crop. It offers work opportunities, tax earnings and in particular cases foreign exchange profits. However governments also have a responsibility to guard their population’s health. Curing people from smoking-related diseases can be quite expensive. Generally, authorities deal with these disagreeing difficulties by discouraging demand in a number of ways. Increasing cigarette tax is the most popular method. Various have sued the cigarette manufacturers trying to recuperate the price of treating people for smoking-related diseases.
Global works prospective in the tobacco handling industry are not positive. Consolidation, privatization, greater productivity and sluggish demand increase together have a dampening impact on employment prospects. Job opportunities in countries with excessive costs and decreasing demand look mainly insecure. But in an open world economy it is eventually up to the giant companies to determine where to focus production, and which market will be supplied from where.

Tobacco use in Indiana

Tobacco use is also a well-known risk factor for heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes. Using the BRFSS, questions included whether respondents were currently smoking. For all adults, the prevalence of smoking has decreased from 27.6% over the past seven years (2002 to 2009). For most age groups (excluding 18-24 and 65+), however [95% CI contains national median for 18-24 and 65+], smoking rates in Indiana remain higher than the national median.

YEAR % n =
2002 27.6 1533
2003 26.1 1391
2004 24.9 1529
2005 27.3 1416
2006 24.1 1442
2007 24.1 1359
2008 26.0 1108
2009 23.1 1943

Tobacco Control in Ontario Today

The health evidence which encouraged those addicted to tobacco to quit in large numbers began to emerge in the 1960s.
Tobacco industry products have no safe level of use and are highly addictive. They are also the only consumer products that kill when used as intended by those who make them, and kill half of their long-term users prematurely.
No other industry’s products have caused anywhere close to the number of deaths and cases of disease resulting from tobacco addiction—more than 13,000 annually in Ontario alone.
Ontario Medical Review • April 2010 1 severity of addiction of individuals in the 1960s to the 1980s, it is clear that large numbers quit with or without the benefit of legislation, high taxes, or cessation programs.
Beginning in the early 1990s, Ontario governments implemented increasingly comprehensive legislative, programmatic, and financial responses to tobacco addiction. Sales to youth under 19 were prohibited. Workplaces and public places were made smoke-free (a policy extended to vehicles transporting children under 16 in 2009). Retail tobacco advertising and displays were prohibited. In order to reduce addiction initiation,media and programinitiatives intensified targetedmessages to young people. Following the 1994 federal and provincial tobacco tax reductions in response to the smuggling crisis, provincial tobacco tax levels began to climb again. (Ontario’s stalled in 2006 as a result of the proliferation of contraband tobacco, discussion of which follows below.) These advances have led some in themedia and the government to ask whether tobacco control is in fact “done.” Others ask whether tobacco addiction should be categorized as simply one among many other chronic diseases and associated risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes, physical inactivity, and alcohol and drug abuse.
The absolute number of Ontario smokers today—about 2.1 million — is a much smaller proportion of the population compared to past decades, but still remains relatively high. Some have asked if this can be due to recent immigration to the province from jurisdictions where smoking prevalence is high. In fact, recent survey research data show that:
• The large majority of Ontario smokers speak English at home (1.8million);
• Are white (1.6million);
• Are born in Canada (1.6million);
• Learned and understood English as their first language (1.5 million).

Despite high incidence of addiction in their countries of origin, the same survey found that 9% of South Asian Canadians, and 10% of Chinese Canadians, reported smoking behaviour levels of prevalence that are considerably below the general population average. The picture is different for Ontario’s aboriginals, whomake up 5%(or 106,500) of all Ontario smokers, with a 40% smoking prevalence rate. There are also signs that the impact of efforts tominimize tobacco’s effect on Ontario society may have begun to weaken.
Unlicensed cigarettemanufacturers in Ontario,Quebec, and New York State are distributing illegal cigarettes across Ontario, and have taken up an increasing share of the tobacco market. By 2009, between one in five and one in two cigarettes smoked in Ontario were classified as contraband.

Contraband also fosters an atmosphere of lawlessness and disrespect for authority in many communities where the trade flourishes. Finally, it undermines existing tobacco control programs and legislation. Contraband tobacco is much cheaper than licensed tobacco, is free of government taxes, warnings, and many retail restrictions. The cheapest and most prevalent form of contraband is clear plastic bags of 200 cigarettes. These are manufactured and packaged in a half dozen locations in Ontario, Quebec, and northern New York State

Ontario’s response to the tobacco problemtoday can thus be characterized both by success and the significant challenges that still must be addressed. Physicians face a similar duality: progress in the evolution of treatments and patient outcomes, but challenges with respect to treatment complexity and resources, as will be described in the next section. The simple fact is that there are still far toomany Ontarians suffering from entirely preventable tobaccoinduced illnesses.

American Cancer Society to Manage New Effort Against Tobacco in Africa

ATLANTA -The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given a grant of $7 million over five years to the American Cancer Society to lead and coordinate the African Tobacco Control Consortium, a global coalition of public health-oriented organizations focusing on using evidence-based approaches to stem the tobacco epidemic in Africa. In addition to the Society, the consortium includes the Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI), Africa Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA), Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK), and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union).

In a part of the world that is notably affected by HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other infectious diseases, cancer is emerging as a serious public health threat. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, much of the rise can be attributed to widespread tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the world, and according to the World Health Organization, if current trends continue, tobacco use will cause one billion deaths worldwide during this century.

As the managing organization, the Society will collaborate with consortium partners to implement an ambitious tobacco control program across the 46 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The overall goal will be to reduce tobacco use in these countries by implementing proven strategies at the national and local level. The consortium will:

• assist national governments and civil society to implement policies such as advertising bans, tobacco tax increases, graphic warning labels, and the promotion of smoke free environments that are in line with the requirements of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world’s first public health treaty;

• advocate for further tobacco control resources in the region;

• protect existing laws from tobacco industry efforts to overturn them and halt crucial progress;

• conduct research to improve/inform future tobacco control work.

“We are excited to be part of this important new effort,” said John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., the organization’s chief executive officer. “Tobacco companies have begun to target developing countries as tobacco control efforts in high-resource countries have yielded tough restrictions, and we will make sure that the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have the information and tools to protect their citizens from preventable diseases and death caused by tobacco.”

“This development will be instrumental to help achieve a coordinated response to the rising rate of tobacco consumption and looming tobacco epidemic in the Africa Region,” said ATCRI’s Acting Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi of Nigeria.

As part of its ongoing efforts to save lives and help people stay well, get well, find cures, and fight back against cancer, the American Cancer Society has expanded its efforts around the world. In December 2009 several leaders attended the largest-ever gathering of health and government leaders in Africa for a conference on preventing a projected cancer epidemic in Africa. The Society also funds more than 75 tobacco prevention and cancer control grants in African countries, and has conducted workshops to educate journalists and advocates about tobacco and cancer control issues. It is also a leading voice in the Global Smokefree Partnership, which recently published a report calling for greater protection of Africans from secondhand smoke, and exposing the efforts of tobacco companies to fight against tobacco control progress in African countries.

The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with nearly a century of experience to save lives and end suffering from cancer. As a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers, we fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. We save lives by helping people stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early; helping people get well by being there for them during and after a cancer diagnosis; by finding cures through investment in groundbreaking discovery; and by fighting back by rallying lawmakers to pass laws to defeat cancer and by rallying communities worldwide to join the fight. As the nation’s largest non-governmental investor in cancer research, contributing about $3.4 billion, we turn what we know about cancer into what we do. As a result, more than 11 million people in America who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year. To learn more about us or to get help, call us any time, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.For more information on our global programs, now in more than 20 countries, visit www.cancer.org/international



Andrew Becker
Director, Media Relations
American Cancer Society