Don’t ever come back.
H/T Wiel Maessen and Harley. After the anouncement that ASH Australia was to close, it’s been announced that its Dutch equivalent is also to close. Google translation:
STIVORO must cease its activities by December 31, 2013 as an independent organization in all policy development and advice on Tobacco Control.
The financiers of STIVORO – KWF, Lung and Heart Foundation Fund – have already decided in 2009 that according to contract financing STIVORO would be terminated in 2013. This decision was taken at that time because the funds to a new form of tobacco which they themselves play a more prominent role. The Ministry of Health has decided in 2011 to stop the financing of campaigns on tobacco, one of the main tasks of STIVORO. In that year VWS also decided to bring the Trimbos Institute, with the aim of further integration with other substance use (alcohol and drugs). Its other projects in the area of tobacco control, including public education, by 2013,
The disappearance of this core funding for STIVORO the organization is forced to terminate. Its operations as a center for tobacco control
STIVORO In the forty years of its existence pioneered tobacco control in the Netherlands. Now the health funds themselves to fill that role and an important partner for politicians and policy-makers, they are among the Alliance Netherlands Smoke! a small office was that it advises and supports them. Part of the knowledge, archives and networks STIVORO will be transferred. To this office
The general public can for information on smoking and smoking cessation contact the National Center of Excellence Tobacco Control of the Trimbos Institute. This is public accessible via www.rokeninfo.nl or 0900-1995.
The STIVORO foundation will continue to complete. Finish some things even a few years after January 1, 2014.
This may just be another rationalisation of resources. But all the same it does suggest that either money is running out, or governments are becoming disenchanted, or both.
The more antismoking organisations that close down, the better.
And, H/T Harley, is Bulgaria shaping up to repeal its smoking bans? I don’t know. You tell me. Another Google translation:
“If voting is conscientious bill will pass without problems” . That said Spas Pantchev of “Coalition for Bulgaria” with the information that the amendments to the health libarelizirashti ban on smoking indoors , should be adopted by the end of the year. According to him, the DPS, “Attack” and some members of GERD are ready to support the planned changes.
“The ban is not respected, and if a law does not work, you will need it” categorically Spas Pantchev. He explained that the vote on the Health Act will be as soon as 2014 adopted budget.
The opposite view was former Health Minister Desislava Atanasova. “Anyone who smokes has a choice. He can smoke wherever he permitted by law places – outside, in your car, home, where nobody minded because that the right to smokers is impaired, there is a decision of the Supreme Administrative Court in the opposite direction about banning in Kyustendil. “
In his defense Spas Pantchev recalled that in Germany, the court has restored the right of smokers to smoke. In Switzerland it happened after voting in a referendum.
That seems to mean that the Bulgarian ban is widely flouted, and the law isn’t working, so it needs to be changed. And, if everyone votes in the Bulgarian parliament as they’ve said they will, the ban will be repealed or amended.
Frank Davis 
Frank, this new Alliance Netherlands Smokefree is OPENLY supported by Pfizer: http://www.alliantienederlandrookvrij.nl/pfizer/. Obviously they feel safe to do so. They may be wrong ;)
Could these closing downs of these operations be because of their piss poor success rate versus the barrel loads of cash that they receive every year? The wheels falling off the gravy train?
I suspect this is the case. Smokers aren’t quitting smoking like they’re supposed to, or even like they’re all supposed to dearly want to. Why keep pouring money into something so hopelessly unsuccessful?
Same with the Bulgarian smoking ban. Why uphold a law that is widely despised and widely flouted?
I heard from some Health Department civil servants here that govt deliberately has ceased funding of the ‘lobbying for yourself’ and ‘getting sponsoring for yourself lobbying’ type foundations and charities. It was an operation that was carried out some two years ago, called the ‘desert operation’. The closing of Stivoro is a delayed effect of that operation.
Ive got a feeling its happening around the globe…………..I think politically TC has become the biggest liability in the world to every government.
As Frank has said on many occasions Public Health needs to be PURGED everywhere.
I heard from some Health Department civil servants here that govt deliberately has ceased funding of the ‘lobbying for yourself’ and ‘getting sponsoring for yourself lobbying’ type foundations and charities.
And about time too!
Ive got a feeling its happening around the globe…………..I think politically TC has become the biggest liability in the world to every government.
In many ways funding what the people ACTUALLY DISLIKE causes quite few few political shifts. Generally speaking ALL GOVERNMENTS STRUGGLE financially and throwing tax payers’ contribution to lobbying type foundations and “charities” in times when the taxpayer has to work more and longer years with accomanying pay freezes does not endear them to the public.
Apropos freezes; the Winter fuel help for pensioners is being cut, too. The government has not yet announced fund slashing for lobbying type foundations and “charities”.
Another thing; the anti-smokers (being immune to “third-hand-smoke damage when it comes to taxpayers’ contributions to the state) scream loudly “tobacco-shills” when a decision is made they don’t like. How much of the taxpayers’ contributions to the state do the tobacco companies lobby for themselves?
Together with the NGOs, btw. I added some figures to tctactics yesterday about the financial base of a European NGO called Smokefree Partnership (Yes, the ones that tried to sabotage the TICAP conference in 2010. http://tctactics.org/index.php/NGOs#Europe
Those figures describe what’s going on in this field.
Pharma gave € 15,000 in 2008? Is that all? Surely you mean € 15,000,000?
Check yourself…. The link to their Annual Reports is in the article.
Hang on …. What about ‘back-handers’? I mean money laundered via the BMA or RCP? Or grants from Lotto?
ASH UK has NO members. It is ‘wholly owned’ by the College of Physicians. It is a pressure group. How did it qualify for a grant of £500,000 from the Lotto? It makes no sense.
I had in mind to pursue this, but I decided that enquiries from a little old man would carry no weight. So who could pursue it? Forest? The Institute of Economic Affairs?
They should have already done so. These organisations have the where-with-all to do so. It is not somehow shameful to be funded by Big Tobacco. For example, McTear, in the McTear V Imp Tobacco Case, was funded by ASH ET AL.
————-
But I have moved on. I have now moved into growing my own and mixing my ‘powerful stuff’ with herbs. I must record my gratitude to Arnott and co for alerting me to the possibilities. Common herbs can be dried and shredded and chopped, and can be mixed with home-grown ‘strong’ tobacco to produce a very pleasant ‘incense’, whether enclosed within a paper tube or not. Thank you to Health Zealots everywhere. We would never have known. And, Health Zealots, SHOVE YOUR REGULATION THAT “TOBACCO PRODUCTS” CAN ONLY BE PRODUCED IN “REGISTERED TOBACCO FACTORIES” UP YOUR ARSE. We DO NOT accept that we can only consume tobacco products which are produced by approved tobacco companies. That way leads to slavery by dictat. It is much the same as slaves, working in a particular place, being paid wages which MUST BE SPENT in the employers designated shops.
We will not comply. We will disobey. We will argue and argue. We will not be dictated to.
I suppose it’s just a small organisation with a few staff.
Wiel – could you put figures from the funding of WHO onto the tctactics.org site:
Click to access A65_29Add1-en.pdf
The member countries pay $ 1.5 billion in contingent, while the voluntary contributions of individuals, foundations and corporations make up a total of $ 3.1 billion. Among the major voluntary providers are: Gates Foundation, Bloomberg Foundation, the pharmaceutical giants and many private health organizations and NGOs.
Europeans Keep Smoking Crown as French Cigarette Use Rises
Never mind the smoking bans, high taxes and the pictorial death warnings. Europeans still rank as the world’s heaviest smokers.
About 28 percent of adults smoked in 2011 in Europe as more French picked up the habit, according to statistics released today by the World Health Organization’s regional office in Copenhagen. Tobacco-related illnesses cause 16 percent of deaths in Europe, compared with 12 percent globally, the WHO said
Five centuries after Rodrigo de Jerez, a shipmate of Christopher Columbus, imported the habit from the New World and got imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition for fear that Satan was the source of the smoke he exhaled, the continent is still struggling to stamp cigarettes out. The WHO’s statistics suggest that while Europe has led the world in increasing cigarette taxes, the region may need to strengthen smoking bans and advertising restrictions to cut tobacco-related illnesses.
“I’m totally hooked,” said Sarra Nedjai, a 25-year-old Parisian shop worker who smoked her first at 16 and tried to quit two years ago but failed because she says she smelled cigarettes everywhere. “Lung cancer scares me. I know smoking is bad, but I just can’t stop.”
Smoking rose in France, Albania and the Czech Republic between 2005 and 2011, while rates in Switzerland have remained about the same. Russia has the highest rate of men smoking and Austria leads in women smoking.
Tobacco Shock
“This is quite shocking, because people do believe that in Europe many things are done well and that many problems have already been solved,” Kristina Mauer-Stender, the Copenhagen-based tobacco program manager at the WHO for Europe, said in an interview.
In the Americas, smokers account for 20 percent of the adult population. The smoking rate is 25 percent in the western Pacific region and 22 percent in the Mideast.
European smoking rates dropped 7 percentage points between 2005 and 2011, according to the WHO. One of the biggest declines was in the U.K., where smoking dropped to 22 percent for both men and women in 2011 from 37 percent and 35 percent in 2005 respectively.
Austrian women led an increase in female smoking with a 7 percentage point increase, while such figures increased by 3 percentage points or more in France, the Czech Republic and Lithuania between 2005 and 2011, according to WHO data.
‘Alarming’ Rate
Tobacco use among women and girls in Europe is accelerating at an “alarming” rate, the United Nations agency said. Smoking among young girls is now on par with boys in the region, which includes Russia and eastern Europe.
“I’m shocked at how young some of the kids are who stop me on the street to bum cigarettes,” said Raya Hela, 23, a student living in central Paris who started in high school. She gets requests from children in middle school, who are typically 11 to 15 years old.
European countries have led the world in taxing tobacco, which the WHO has said is the most cost-effective way to reduce smoking rates. Worldwide, 32 countries have duties high enough so that 75 percent of the cost of a pack of cigarettes is tax; 25 of those nations are in Europe. A 10 percent increase in tobacco prices cuts consumption by about 4 percent in high-income countries and as much as 8 percent in poorer nations, the WHO has said.
France plans a 20 centime per pack increase in January, scaling back a plan for a 40 centime increase, Le Figaro reported last week.
Flavor Ban
The European Union is considering new rules for smoking and tobacco-related marketing which include a ban on flavored cigarettes, limits on the use of e-cigarettes and increasing the size of the warning labels on packages. A final vote is expected in springtime.
While the EU has banned tobacco advertising in print media, on the radio and Internet, Europe lags behind all other regions in terms of banning marketing in the WHO survey. Only Albania, Spain and Turkey ban all forms of direct and indirect advertising, the WHO said.
Scotland aims to be smoke-free by 2034. Ireland, New Zealand and Finland have also set deadlines to reduce smoking to less than 5 percent of the population.
Football Cigarettes
Electronic cigarettes may undermine the Scottish smoke-free target as tobacco companies may use them to attract new consumers to traditional cigarettes, said Sheila Duffy, head of ASH Scotland, an anti-smoking group. The products aren’t covered by Scotland’s smoking ban, age requirements and advertising restrictions, she said. E-Lites sponsor Scotland’s two major football teams, Rangers and Celtic, and sell e-cigarettes with tips that glow in the club colors.
“That’s aimed at hooking the next generation into nicotine addiction,” Duffy said.
In the U.K., the government is considering requiring plain packaging, eliminating logos and marketing on tobacco packs, a measure Australia has adopted.
The French government should fund more campaigns to prevent teen smoking, said Laura Pivron, a 21-year-old pack-a-day smoker who was braving chilly weather in Paris without coats or gloves to smoke.
“It’s expensive and bad for me, but it also helps reduce stress,” she said. “I would tell kids at school not even to try smoking because once they start it’s impossible to stop.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-03/europeans-struggle-to-put-out-cigarettes-as-nicotine-trumps-bans.html
VAPORIZED: Detroit Obliterates Retirement Funds: 80% Cuts to Pensioners: “This Is Going to Affect Everyone”
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/vaporized-detroit-obliterates-retirement-funds-80-cuts-to-pensioners-this-is-going-to-affect-everyone_12032013
Now, that is strange; according to tobacco control ALL pensioners and those approaching pension age have died the PASSIVE SMOKE death…
STIVORO, don’t forget to hand back ALL the up until now tax payers monies before you disappear into eternal oblivion.
This lot
Nichtraucherinitiative Deutschland e.V.
Needs to be dragged in front of the courts of HUMAN RIGHTS!!
This organisation focuses on the “protection of non-smokers at work and at home” and even offers a 48-page long “guide for non-smoker protection from smoking neighbours” Leitfaden zum Nichtraucherschutz bei rauchenden Nachbarn.
There are quite a lot of smokers who could demand compensation for what this club intends to do to smokers.
California nannies are not good at stopping cancer deaths.
For SmokerVoter.
California has the 2nd lowest smoking rate in the nation.
http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/smoking-adults/
cont
But, there are four states with higher smoking rates that have lower cancer mortality rates.
Arizona, Colorado, Haeaii, and New Mexico. :)
http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/cancer-death-rate-per-100000/
For Harley:
FRom the above sources.
Vermont is 39th on the smoking rates; but, only 15 down on the highest cancer mortality rates.
Montana has the 20th highest smoking rate; but, is only 40th on the cancer mortality rates.
Money spent on tobacco control might as well be flushed down a toilet!!!!
The ranking goes for all cancer deaths/mortality:
Per 100,000 population CDC NUMBERS/ smoking rates from tobacco free kids
Kentucky at 207 Adults in Kentucky who smoke* 29.0% (971,000)
Miss. 200 Adults in Mississippi who smoke* 26.0% (579,300)
West Virginia 196 Adults in West Virginia who smoke* 28.6% (420,500)
Louisianna 196 Adults in Louisiana who smoke* 25.7% (888,300)
Arkansas 193 Adults in Arkansas who smoke* 27.0% (601,400)
Alabama 190 Adults in Alabama who smoke* 24.3% (893,100)
Indiana 187 Adults in Indiana who smoke* 25.6% (1,259,300)
Maine 186 Adults in Maine who smoke* 22.8% (241,400)
Missouri 184 Adults in Missouri who smoke* 25.0% (1,149,600)
Delaware 184 Adults in Delaware who smoke* 21.8% (153,100)
South Carolina 182 Adults in South Carolina who smoke* 23.1% (831,200)
As we can see kentucky has the Highest rate but when we look at the map of kentucky cancer it shows us that its the Coal Mining Mountain region that sets Kentuckys state level Higher than all the rest. When we look at the local county levels they are pretty much in line with the rest of the country. Louisville reports roughly 750 cancer cases in 2010 by the chart yet no mention of out of state cases diagnosed there by the local 5 hospitals and cancer treatment done there by far attracting a higher base rate. Possibly inflating the kentucky numbers for louisville itself.
But even without removing the coal mining regions the rate trends precisely with other states……….
The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce is trying to make a case of smoking causing the highest rates of cancer deaths in the nation here. Yet we see a trend with the other high states with even lower smoking rates. It is indeed a matter of pumping propaganda to get the legislature to go for a statewide ban. While they tell the truth its a mixed message without telling the full story which shows problem that isnt any different than other states listed.
…………………………………………..
Lung and Bronchus. Invasive Cancer Incidence Rates and 95% Confidence Intervals by Age and Race and Ethnicity, United States (Table 3.15.1.1M) *†‡
Rates are per 100,000 persons. Rates are per 100,000 persons.
Note the age where LC is found…………..OLD AGE group incidence hits the 500/100,000 at age 75-85
AGE it seems is the deciding factor……….
http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/uscs/cancersbyageandrace.aspx?Gender=Male&Count=false&Population=false&DataType=Incidence&RateType=CrudeType&CancerSite=All Cancer Sites Combined&Year=2010&Site=Lung and Bronchus&SurveyInstanceID=1
I had run down the list too about 2 weeks ago when the Nazis started their tripe here at home again.
California has at least 4 million smokers more than the entire state population of Kentucky!
Here are some other ways of looking at these smoking and cancer mortality numbers.
1. Folks in Kentucky have a 2.5 times higher smoking rate than folks in Utah; but, only a 1.6 times higher cancer death rate,
2.At 99,792/100,000 Kent. folks not dying from cancer compared to 99,866/100,000 Ut. folks:
a. Kent. folks have 99.93% of the Ut, folks chances of NOT dying from cancer in any given year.
b. Ut. folks are only 1.0007 times more likely to NOT die from cancer than are Kent. folks.
Conclusion:
Even though Kentucky folks have a much higher smoking rate, they have the same chance of not dying from cancer as those folks in the state, Utah, with the lowest smoking rate.
1.6 times damn little is still damn little!!!! :)
Great news about the shutdowns — garyk30 says about the states that have more smoking rates and lower cancer rates. Oh dear that 50.000 number again lol, how many would be classed as a “smoking related disease” -forest fires create PM.25 do California get more of them? Particulates – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particulates
Similarly, particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers, PM2.5, tend to penetrate into the gas ….. Linked to both heart and lung disease, they kill an estimated 50,000 …
Not forest fires but tons of info about incinerators – I cannot put the link in for this one, “Country Doctor”
Industrial air pollution and the country doctor
Dr Dick van Steenis
Dr van Steenis is a world expert on pollution matters.
FRONT PAGE
Well over 18 common diseases involving perhaps 149,000 deaths a year could be conservatively linked to the results of industrial air pollution in the UK, at a cost of some £19 billion annually, representing 40% of the total NHS budget, plus social security and social costs. A recent French hospital survey also found 40% attendances linked to industrial pollution. In Wales, waiting lists to see a hospital consultant rose 800% in the 4 years to October 2001. Regarding cigarettes, the tax collected exceeds the estimated medical damage, similarly fuel tax is greater than health damage from vehicle pollution, but the NHS is subsidising industrial air polluters. The rationale began as “deaths for jobs”, but became “deaths and misery” for excess maximised profits, sometimes linked to “conflict-of-interest payments”.
http://www.countrydoctor.co.uk/education/Education%20-%20Industrial%20air%20pollution.htm
Thank you Rose