Monday 10 may 2010
1
10
/05
/May
/2010
13:02
Mumbai: UK-based Imperial Tobacco Group Plc and Mumbai-based Barakat Food & Tobacco Pvt Ltd have entered into an import and distribution
agreement for the Davidoff brand of cigarettes in India. Davidoff cigarettes will be available in the ‘Classic’ and ‘Gold’ Premium Line versions and will be distributed in a number of key cities
in India.
“We are pleased that this agreement allows us to enter the Indian market with Davidoff, one of the Group’s flagship cigarette brands. We are confident that Barakat's expertise in FMCG
distribution and merchandising will be mutually beneficial ,” said Colin Matthews, regional managing director for Africa, West Asia and Indian sub-continent, Imperial Tobacco.
By Laura
0
Monday 3 may 2010
1
03
/05
/May
/2010
13:21
A New Canada man who told police he usually picked up about seven cases of illegal cigarettes whenever he visited Ontario now owes the court more than
$6,200.
Lloyd Maxwell Fancey, 61, pleaded guilty to charges under the federal Excise Act and the provincial Revenue Act in Bridgewater provincial court Wednesday.
Police searched his home on the Sarty Road March 8 and found a total of 7,061 illegal cigarettes. He told officers most were for his own use, although he occasionally sold a few or gave a few
away to friends.
Judge Anne Crawford fined Mr. Fancy the minimum for each offence — $1,200.37 under the Excise Act and $5,058.58 under the Revenue Act. She gave him until October to pay the fines or return to ask
for more time to pay.
By Laura
1
Monday 26 april 2010
1
26
/04
/Apr
/2010
14:19
The desire to give up could be genetic rather than down to willpower, a study of thousands of puffers’ DNA has found.
Two genes were found to be linked to the nicotine dependence while two others were connected to nicotine metabolism.
They can cause a desire for an extra half a cigarette per day on top of the usual intake and raise the likelihood of developing lung cancer, the report states.
The findings could result in more personalised, and therefore more effective, treatments to help smokers give up.
‘Smoking is bad for anyone’s health. It is even worse for some,’ said the report’s lead author, Prof Kari Stefansson, head of Decode Genetics in
Reykjavik.
‘These variants suggest that those for whom nicotine is more addictive are driven to smoke more, increasing their exposure to environmental risk.’
Prof Stefansson, whose study is in Nature Genetics, added that the discovery of the variants ‘gives us a solid starting point for finding answers to advance personal and public health’.
By Laura
0
Monday 19 april 2010
1
19
/04
/Apr
/2010
12:58
These days, Canadian convenience stores are feeling the pressure from all sides: more illegal tobacco sales, rising credit card fees, higher labor costs and increased store security costs,
the Telegram reports.
The Atlantic Convenience Store Association fingers illegal tobacco as one of the biggest culprits. The association would like more enforcement and higher fines for sellers and purchasers of
contraband cigarettes.
Around 658 convenience stores in Newfoundland have banded together to fight contraband tobacco. “Certainly, it’s a growing issue in the Atlantic area
and in Newfoundland,” said Glenn Sullivan, retail manager for North Atlantic. “In the past year, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have made three major busts of contraband product on the west
coast [that had come] across on the ferry.”
Cathy Ivany, who manages Stockwood’s Bakery and Deli, said that contraband tobacco really harms stores like hers. “For a consumer to purchase a carton of cigarettes from us, you’re looking at
$80-odd to $90, plus tax. Whereas they can go buy contraband - 200 cigarettes which is the equivalent of a carton - for about $20.”
The association asked St. John’s South MP Siobhan Coady to volunteer at a local convenience store last week. She spent two hours at a North Atlantic store, getting to know the issues faced by
store owners and their customers.
“They have a major concern with contraband tobacco...[and] the other one is the credit card and debit card issues they’re facing and the associated costs,” she said.
Mike Hammoud, president of the Atlantic Convenience Stores Association, would like to see other MPs following Coady’s experience. “We need the MPs and provincial governments to recognize the
problems and to, more importantly, start taking some action,” he said.
For Sullivan, the hardest thing for convenience stores is simply surviving from one year to the next. “In some parts of Canada, we’re seeing 10 percent of convenience stores closing every year.
In Newfoundland last year, the number of stores declined by six percent,” he said.
By Laura
1
Thursday 15 april 2010
4
15
/04
/Apr
/2010
10:53
What started with a few students has become a districtwide policy.
The Basehor-Linwood School Board Monday night approved, 6-1 with member Wynne Coleman opposed, a plan to make the district tobacco free.
Three Basehor-Linwood High School students in Bobcats Against Destructive Decisions (BADD) brought the idea to the school board at its December 2009 meeting, citing numerous reasons why students,
teachers and the rest of the Basehor-Linwood community would benefit from such a policy.
“The majority of smokers begin smoking before (high school) graduation,” sophomore Ethan Duffey said at the December meeting. “Also, many students don’t realize the addictive nature of
tobacco.”
Banning tobacco use at all times on all school grounds would significantly change students’ perceptions on smoking and would reduce exposure to second-hand smoke, Duffey said.
The policy will begin to be enforced July 1 and will ban all tobacco use, including smokeless tobacco, on school grounds and at all school-related functions such as dances and athletic
events.
Coleman said she understood the motivation behind the policy was to protect people from second-hand smoke, so she didn’t see why smokeless tobacco had
to be prohibited, as well.
“What does chewing tobacco have to do with (second-hand smoke)?” she asked. “And what role does that give someone to say, ‘Would you please take that out of your mouth?’”
High school principal Sherry Reeves said chewing tobacco was included because it aligned directly with the students’ reasons for requesting a no-tobacco policy.
“The students’ motivation was healthy choices, so that does include smokeless tobacco,” Reeves said.
The district will begin posting signs to notify the community of its new policy, and those seen smoking at or around school grounds after July 1 will be asked to remove the chewing tobacco or put
out the cigarette.
Though Superintendent David Howard said getting the word out might be tough, he believed it was a sound policy that might ensure state health and wellness grants for USD 458 in the
future.
“I think it’s going to be difficult for us in the beginning to enforce, especially with chewing tobacco,” Howard said. “But this isn’t uncommon. There aren’t many schools that don’t have smoking
policies. I don’t foresee it as being a huge deal.”
Also on Monday night, the board:
• Heard a Project Lead the Way presentation by Reeves.
• Heard a strategic planning presentation from several community members chosen to be on the strategic planning committee. The committee is working on a final document to bring to the board for
future district planning.
• Heard a Parents as Teachers presentation from Jacki Himpel, who told the board about the hearing screenings the organization had been successfully conducting at Basehor daycares, as well as its
plans for playgroups.
• Saw a presentation from Linwood Elementary Principal Cindy Heibert about the school’s use of Promethean products introduced this school year.
• Heard an online enrollment update from Assistant Superintendent Mike Boyd, who said the online enrollment process was nearly ready. Parents will be able to download all enrollment forms except
for the fee sheet from the district’s Web site for the 2010-2011 school year. The district will have each family’s forms ready when they arrive for enrollment to make the process run smoother and
faster.
• Heard a construction report from Chris Claflin. Work continues to progress on the new middle school, and the projected May moving date is still on target, Claflin said.
• Approved, 7-0, Board of Education Policy JBC concerning out of district attendance. The policy was amended to accommodate extraordinary circumstances to allow certain children to attend
Basehor-Linwood schools while living outside the district.
• Approved, 7-0, new insurance policies for student accidents. The policies can be taken out by parents for as little as $22 a year and will save the district approximately $13,000 a year in
insurance expenses.
• Approved, 7-0, a contract with Daktronics in the amount of $9,922 for new baseball and softball scoreboards.
• Approved, 7-0, a contract with Atlas in the amount of $1,340,222 for high school track and football field renovations.
By Laura
1
