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TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Foreign Ministry has condemned remarks by Republican presidential candidate John McCain that exporting cigarettes could be a way of killing Iranians.

The state-owned English language IRAN daily has quoted ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini denouncing the remarks as “inappropriate” and describing McCain’s attitude as “regretful.”

Last week, McCain was asked about an Associated Press report that the U.S. exported $158 million worth of cigarettes to Iran during the Bush administration in spite of restrictions on U.S. imports.

“Maybe that’s a way of killing them,” McCain said. He then said that he was joking.

Iran has officially announced that it supports neither U.S. presidential campaign but does hope the election will bring a change in U.S. foreign policy.

TOKYO, - Most Japanese smokers would quit if the price of cigarettes were to triple, as could happen under a proposed tax scheme, the chief executive of Japan Tobacco told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

Japan Tobacco, the world’s third-largest cigarette maker and half-owned by the government, is facing the threat of potential tax hikes, which could more than triple cigarette prices to 1,000 yen ($9.34) a pack.

Chief Executive Hiroshi Kimura also said other price hikes would be difficult given the current business climate.

The company has already seen costs rise even as it grapples with a declining domestic market, where the population is shrinking and consumers are becoming more health-conscious, resulting in a market that has contracted for nine straight years.

“Given the fact that demand is on a decreasing trend, the impact of this would be incalculable,” Kimura said.

“If prices reached 1,000 yen, 80 to 90 percent of smokers would quit and the rest would probably cut back.”

Japan Tobacco makes Mild Seven cigarettes and owns the Camel, Winston and Salem brands outside the United States.

A pack of Mild Seven currently costs 300 yen ($2.80), while other brands such as Marlboro set consumers back around 320 yen — a far cry from the 5.66 pounds ($11.19) a pack costs in Britain.

Rising costs in everything from tobacco to transport and the material used for packages have put the company under additional pressure, but Kimura said that hiking prices — which the company had previously said was one option — would be tough.

While declining to comment directly on whether a decision on a price hike would be made in the current business year that ends March 2009, he said: “It would be extremely difficult.”

“CAN’T STOP THINGS FALLING”

The company sees domestic demand falling by 5.2 percent compared to the previous year, of which 1 percent will be due to the influence of newly introduced age-identifying smart cards now required to buy cigarettes from vending machines.

Kimura said he expects this negative influence to fade as more smokers acquire the cards, which were introduced on July 1 to prevent underage smokers from buying cigarettes.

“Overall, we can’t stop things falling. The question is just how much it falls,” he said.

Japan Tobacco last year acquired Britain’s Gallaher Group for about $15 billion to vastly increase its international sales.

The company’s overseas tobacco business more than doubled its operating profit to 205.3 billion yen in the past year, while profit from its domestic operations slipped 9 percent to 222 billion yen as the market shrank for a ninth straight year.

Kimura said his company hoped to expand into Asia to take advantage of its huge population, with expansion into India, Indonesia and China being considered, but did not give details.

For the fourth quarter ended March 31, Japan Tobacco’s operating profit was 63.8 billion yen, up from 58.5 billion yen a year earlier. For the full year, profit jumped 30 percent to 430.5 billion yen.

But Japan Tobacco forecast a 28 percent fall in operating profit this year due to an accounting change, its first drop in eight years.

The company said profits would fall this business year as it begins to amortise goodwill — the excess paid for a company above the value of its assets, which includes intangible assets such as brand names — related to the Gallaher acquisition.

Japan Tobacco shares shed 1.8 percent on Monday, sliding to 434,000 yen. The stock has fallen 35 percent this year, partly due to fallout from a food scare earlier this year involving pesticide-contaminated dumplings the group, which also operates a food business, imported from China.

($1=107.10 yen)

 

Supermarkets must pay a multimillion pound fine for ripping off smokers in collusion with Gallaher, the tobacco company, it was announced yesterday.

Asda and Somerfield have admitted fixing the price of cigarettes and overcharging customers under a secret deal with the manufacturer of brands including Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut. The Office of Fair Trading said that a total of £173.3 million in fines and costs had been agreed in one of the biggest settlements of its kind.

Other firms that admitted colluding in the pricing scam include the owner of Threshers, the off-licence chain, and One Stop convenience stores, which must contribute towards the settlement. But the lion’s share of the fine — £93 million — will be paid by Gallaher, owned by Japan Tobacco.

The OFT has been investigating an alleged price-fixing cartel in Britain’s £15 billion-a-year market for cigarettes and rolling tobacco for five years. In April it announced that 11 companies were suspected of swapping price information and linking prices with rival brands between 2000 and 2003.

Other accused firms are fighting the allegations. These are Imperial Tobacco, which owns the Embassy, John Player and Golden Virginia brands, Tesco, Morrisons, Safeway (now taken over by Morrisons), the Co-op and Shell, for its petrol station stores. If they are found guilty of collusion they face serious penalties under the Competition Act.

If they are found guilty of collusion they face serious penalties under the Competition Act and stand to be fined as much as 10 per cent of turnover of each product involved in the cartel.

Sainsbury’s was also part of the original investigation but turned whistleblower and handed over all its papers identifying unlawful practices. It is to be spared a fine provided it continues to assist the investigation.

The six companies fined yesterday made prompt admissions of illicit competition practices in return for lenient fines.

A spokesman for Japan Tobacco said: “We acquired Gallaher’s last year and after applying due diligence in all of this we decided to apply for leniency and have agreed to pay £93 million in fines.”

An Asda spokesman said that it had also agreed to a multimillion-pound fine. “We put our hands up quickly and admitted we have done some wrong but we are not the villains of this piece,” he said.

However, Imperial Tobacco insisted that it had admitted any infringement of the law. A spokesman said that it took compliance with competition law “very seriously” and said that it rejected any suggestion that it had acted in any way contrary to the interests of consumers. “Imperial Tobacco has co-operated fully with the OFT throughout and continues to do so,” he said.

John Fingleton, chief executive at the OFT, said: “The OFT’s objective is to make markets work well for consumers and the economy alike. A cornerstone of this is the principle that companies should set their prices independently.

“The OFT is very pleased that the early co-operation of these parties has enabled the swift resolution of some of this case, which will significantly reduce the costs of pursuing the investigation for the OFT and the businesses concerned.”

The action by the OFT in taking a more active role stamping out cartels and price fixing by manufacturers and retailers has delighted consumer groups such as the National Consumer Council.

Jill Johnstone, its director of policy, said last night: “We are pleased that the OFT is snuffing out cartels as price-fixing clearly cheats consumers.

“One of the biggest issues is that we have no way of knowing when price fixing occurs — often it takes a whistleblower to come forward.”

Deborah Arnott, director of Ash (Action Against Smokers for Health), said that Gallaher had “shown complete contempt for its customers”. The OFT had suggested that the two tobacco firms, which make nine out of every ten cigarettes smoked in Britain, were the hub of the scheme, passing on information to retailers about what their rivals would be charging for leading brands. The net effect was that the prices of competing brands were kept at a comparable level across supermarkets, Shell petrol stations, Thresher offlicences and other outlets.

The regulator’s inquiry unearthed a complex web of indirect communications between retailers and two tobacco groups on future prices with various retail companies acting as middlemen.

Ontario’s anti-smoking law is one of the toughest in the country. So is Toronto’s own bylaw. Both ban smoking in offices and enclosed spaces. And both force puffers to head outside for a butt - even in the dead of a -30C winter or the heat of a 40-plus humidex. Smokers have been forced to grin and bear it all these years, while crying they’ve been discriminated against. And many have been looking for loopholes to get around the all encompassing bans. And now some think they’ve found it, thanks to an electronic cigarette.
They’re made by a company called Crown Seven. The user puts a nicotine capsule inside, then puffs on one end. The other end lights up just like cigarettes even though this product does not burn.
The gizmo delivers a hit of nicotine but lets out a puff of odourless water vapour instead of a plume of smoke. It only contains nicotine and not the hundreds of other chemicals that can be in a standard smoke. It comes with a rechargeable battery that heats up the liquid nicotine and turns it into a gas. And since it’s not technically cigarettes and doesn’t threaten anyone else’s airway, it may not fall under the strict laws regarding indoor puffing. But how does it taste?
“It’s got a bit of a bite, sort of tobacco-like bite but it doesn’t really taste like tobacco,” reports volunteer Leo Jablonski. They’re for sale all over the Internet at a range of strengths and prices, and advocates insist they have lots of benefits. There’s no chance of fire since you don’t light them, they don’t stain your teeth, there’s no second-hand smoke and they may make quitting easier. But vendors also claim they don’t harm your health because the tar and smoke that comes with normal coffin nails isn’t present. “I think people need to be cautious,” warns Dr Roberta Ferrence, director of the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit. “It’s an unknown.”
“The concern is that the product will probably be promoted as something that’s safer than smoking,” she adds. Dr Ferrence doesn’t think they’re safe at all. In an interview with CityNews Medical Specialist Dr Karl Kabasele, she pointed out the many disadvantages of this “smokeless” cigarette:
We don’t know for certain that they are less harmful than regular cigarettes. They’re not regulated, and because they’re available in different strengths, it’s difficult to gauge the danger. It keeps smoking visible, and therefore increases its social acceptance, at a time when the Ontario government is working to make smoking “uncool.”
Kids will have easier access to the gadget, and it may act as a gateway to the real thing. It’s not a tool to help you quit smoking; it’s just a way to get around the smoking ban laws. There’s no evidence that it can help with smoking cessation.
Finally, inhaling nicotine is the most addictive of all delivery modes. However, the company never claimed it could be used to help you quit smoking. “It’s intended just for smoking alternative…for smokers to get their nicotine in nonsmoking environments,” agrees Ron MacDonald, President and CEO of Crown Seven.