Friday, March 30, 2012

The big apple Mayor Takes on Global Smoking

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently donated $220 million of his own money through his charitable foundation to scale back smoking everywhere. The hassle will focus principally on countries where tobacco use is most prevalent.

New York is increasingly a health conscious city. There is no smoking in restaurants, in bars or perhaps in public parks. That's the entire results of the mayor's aggressive anti-tobacco health policies during the last decade.

The city also runs advertising campaigns alerting residents to the risks of smoking.

Aiming to elevate cigarette taxes

Bloomberg says his donation might be aimed partially at convincing governments overseas to elevate cigarette taxes. He says such taxes are the only major factor to deter smoking. Bloomberg notes that a pack of cigarettes in Manhattan costs about $12.  

"Only 7 percent of our children report they smoke, and only 14 percent of adults. Those are amazing numbers - way down from where it was 10 years ago, and that’s why life expectancy in Ny city is three years more than America as an entire.”

Bloomberg said five countries account for half the smoking on the planet: China, India, Indonesia, Russia and Bangladesh.  

Last year in India, singer Shaan released a music video in Bollywood, Mumbai’s entertainment capital, titled Don’t Play together with your Life.

"It's a a part of our campaign to switch the deliberating the youth and to cause them to understand of their language and of their ways in which there isn't any heroism or machismo in chewing tobacco, or smoking cigarettes, or [that] it'll make you cool, otherwise you shall be a hero. It's nothing like that,” said Shaan.

Pushback likely from tobacco groups

Bloomberg’s effort seriously is not more likely to go unopposed. For instance, Ukraine recently filed an international Trade Organization suit against Australia for a law that requires plain paper cigarette packaging. Ukraine argues the law hurts Ukrainian tobacco growers who're in search of export markets. And the tobacco industry itself is fighting back. Cigarette producer Philip Morris fears that generic packaging will strip the corporation of value related to brands. Spokeswoman Anne Edwards spoke on Australian radio.

"You could have no sympathy for us whatsoever, but i believe the primary is an identical; you can’t just take people’s property without compensation,” said the Philip Morris spokeswoman.

Bloomberg is undaunted. He says his donation will also be used to aid stop some varieties of tobacco advertising and to make smoking unglamorous.



From WhatNewsToday.net

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