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** 18 May 2021
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** UK
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** The extent of Tory LGA dominance revealed (#1)
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** South East: Woman caught smoking directly below neonatal unit at Milton Keynes Hospital (#2)
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** International
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** Imperial Brands profit jumps in first-half on rising tobacco prices (#3)
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** US: PMI faces import ban in Reynolds patent fight (#4)
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** The Netherlands: Next government must increase efforts to ban smoking (#5)
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** UK
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** The Conservative party has consolidated its predominance within the Local Government Association (LGA) following its gains in this month’s local elections. The independents are also doing slightly better overall.
After gaining seats across many former Labour strongholds in the North of England and the Midlands, the Conservatives increased their lead from 38.4% to 39.9%. In comparison, Independents have edged from 11.3% political proportionality of the LGA to 11.9%. Labour has slipped from 37.8% to 35.8%, and the Lib Dems have not budged on 12.4%.
The percentages represent the proportion of councillors representing councils that are members of the LGA.
Nominations for LGA political leadership positions close next month. The LGA’s political groups will then vote for their chosen leaders, formally appointed at the LGA’s annual general meeting during its conference in July.
Source: Local Government Chronicle, 17 May 2021.
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** Residents in Milton Keynes are calling for better management of the smoking ban on the hospital site. Since 2017 the hospital has been a smokefree zone, and outside smoking areas have been removed to discourage people from smoking anywhere near the building.
But the ban is frequently ignored by patients and visitors alike, and cigarette butts are a common sight around exits to the building.
One man had enough when he spotted a woman smoking at 6am, directly underneath the window to the neonatal unit and right next to a no-smoking sign. He took to Facebook to voice out his displeasure, saying: "I rarely get angry, but today I must admit I did with this woman smoking outside Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust whilst stood next to a sign explaining that above her head is the children's intensive care (neonatal unit) windows, where the most delicate little babies are often struggling to stay alive. It makes me so incredibly upset as I know first-hand her disgusting secondhand smoke goes into the rooms of these babies.”
The man said smoking also happens at the main entrances, where people walking in or out are forced to inhale secondhand smoke. A hospital spokesman said: “Milton Keynes University Hospital is an entirely smoke-free site. This means patients, visitors and staff are not permitted to smoke anywhere on the hospital grounds. This includes all outdoor areas, including the car parks.”
Source: MK Citizen, 17 May 2021
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** International
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** Imperial Brands reported a modest rise in first-half revenue on Tuesday (18 May), helped by higher cigarette prices and double-digit sales growth of heated tobacco products and cigars in the United States.
Shares of the company rose 2.5% as chief executive Stefan Bomhard said his five-year plan to turn around the group, laid out in January, was working.
The company said revenue for the six months ended 31st March totalled £3.57 billion, up 3.5% year-on-year in constant currencies, even as it faced “lower US trade inventories” compared to the same period a year earlier when global coronavirus lockdowns spurred tobacco retailers to stock up on cigarettes.
Cigarette sales, however, were hit by a drop in sales at airport duty-free stores as well as a weaker tourist season in parts of southern Europe, compared to a year ago.
Source: Reuters, 18 May 2021
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** Philip Morris International (PMI) is facing a possible import ban of its IQOS heated-tobacco sticks to the US after losing the first round of a legal trade battle with British American Tobacco (BAT). A US International Trade Commission (USITC) judge has issued an initial determination on the British American Tobacco lawsuit against Philip Morris, finding that PMI’s IQOS heated-tobacco products technology infringes two BAT patents.
The judge’s findings are not public to give both sides time to redact confidential information. The next step is a likely review by the full commission, which has the power to halt products at the US border and is scheduled to complete the investigation by 15th September 2021.
BAT’s subsidiary Reynolds American Inc said it expects the judge will recommend an import ban as they claimed that PMI infringed three patents - two for an electrically powered device with a heater to generate an aerosol and one for a control body.
PMI has argued that, even if a patent violation is found, it is not in the public’s interest to keep the IQOS out of the US.
Source: Bloomberg Quint, 15 May 2021
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** Tobacco control lobby groups, supported by heart health charity Hartstichting, cancer charity KWF Kankerbestrijding and pharmaceuticals company Pfizer, have called on the next government to ban smoking and bring in strict regulations for alternative products.
The outgoing government has put up prices and limited sales outlets as steps towards a smokefree generation by 2040, and the number of smokers has gone down from 25% to 20% in the last five years. Some 20,000 people die from smoking related diseases in the Netherlands every year.
However, despite the drop in the number of smokers, the total amount of tobacco consumed has not gone down. “The remaining smokers are smoking more,” lung specialist and long-time campaigner Wanda de Kanter told the Financieele Dagblad.
Source: Dutch News, 17 May 2021
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