17 juillet 2009
Marketing of tobacco products
The Legislation would require tobacco manufacturers to register annually with the FDA and pay
fees assessed by the agency. The bill would require both tobacco manufacturers and
distributors of tobacco products to comply with federal regulations relating to the content,
labeling, and marketing of tobacco products.
CBO has identified two tribal governments
that manufacture and distribute tobacco products. Because those governments would be
required to comply with federal regulations authorized by the bill, they would face
intergovernmental mandates as defined in UMRA. Based on information from tribal and
federal officials, CBO estimates that the costs to tribal governments to comply with the
bill would be small and would not exceed the UMRA threshold for intergovernmental
mandates.
07 juillet 2009
Smoking restrictions in public places and private work sites
As information on the health consequences of exposure to environmental tobacco smoking (ETS) has become more widespread, governments at all levels in many countries have adopted policies to limit smoking in public places and private work sites.
A World Health Organization (1997) survey of
tobacco control policies in 134 countries indicated that the vast majority of countries had some form of
restrictions on smoking in public places. Although the restrictions are primarily intended to reduce
non-smokers’ exposure to ETS, they can also affect the smokers since the restrictions reduce the
smokers’ opportunities to smoke or otherwise raise the “cost” of smoking.
Smoking restrictions may
also alter the perceived norms related to smoking by changing attitudes concerning the social
acceptability of smoking.
The impact which smoking restrictions have on cigarette demand has been evaluated in a number of
studies. In general, smoking
restrictions have been found to reduce both smoking prevalence and average daily cigarette
consumption among smokers. For example, Yurekli and Zhang (2000) estimated that restrictions on
smoking reduced cigarette consumption per capita by 4.5 percent in the United States in 1995.
02 juillet 2009
Tobacco prices at producer level
Almost all tobacco produced is sold unprocessed either to private traders or to TEKEL. Private sector purchases are generally export oriented, dependent on foreign orders. TEKEL’s purchases are for both domestic cigarette production and for export as leaf tobacco. Hence, the prices received by farmers are a weighted average of the prices paid by TEKEL and the private sector. Over the last decade, TEKEL’s share in the purchase of unprocessed tobacco has fluctuated between 48 percent and 83 percent.
Each year, support prices are announced for tobacco of a certain standard (80 percent yield). However, the actual prices paid to the farmers are below the announced prices, since, on average, the quality is substandard. As the private sector buys better quality tobacco, their average purchasing price is higher than that of TEKEL. Figure 6.9 presents the trends in average support prices for tobacco over the last two decades, together with the trends for wheat and cotton, which are grown in the same regions and are the major possible alternative crops to tobacco. The trends are presented as US$prices of the crops, indexed to 1970 = 100.
Over the last three decades the average price of unprocessed tobacco has more than tripled, as have the prices for wheat and cotton. Except for a few years, the prices of the three products have tended to move in the same direction. It has mirrored the trend in overall prices received by farmers in the period. Prices all increased in the early 1970s, fell through the late 1970s and early 1980s, and have generally increased since.