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Consumption of beer and cigarettes kept the economy going in the first quarter of 2008 as post-poll violence took its toll on the country’s wellbeing. Food, beverages, and the tobacco sub-sectors increased by 3.1 per cent in the January to March.
"The key contributions to this increase were the production of beer, cigarettes and maize meal," an analysis by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicated. Overall, the country’s economic growth, as measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) slowed in the first quarter to record the lowest growth rate in the last six years at negative 1.3 per cent.
Robust growth
Government projections put full year economic growth at 4.5 per cent down from 7.1 per cent recorded in 2007, mostly driven by a robust growth in second half of 2008.
All other manufacturing sectors whose key indicators include cement production (normally relied on as an indicator of the level of activities in the construction industry), manufacture of textiles, clothing and footwear, throughput of crude petroleum among others, declined by 0.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2008.
"The economic implication of the post-election violence and the loss incurred was the main cause of the decline in some key sectors of the economy," the bureau said in its quarterly economic review.
Worst hit were the hotel and restaurant industries estimated to have declined by 60.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2008 compared to a growth of 10.1 per cent in the same period of 2007.

Cigarette sales will be licensed in the same way as alcohol is, if an influential group of Cumbria county councillors get their way.

A new council report puts the case for stricter controls on tobacco sales and tougher sanctions on shopkeepers that flout the rules.

It is likely to form the basis of a county council response to a Government consultation on smoking, which could in turn lead to a change in the law.

Cleator Moor South and Egremont county councillor Simon Leyton chaired a group of councillors that drew up the report, The Last Gasp.

He said: “Licensing tobacco products would act as a powerful deterrent against the sale of cigarettes to children.

“Alcohol is licensed and there is no reason why the sale of tobacco should not be subject to similar regulation.”

The Last Gasp argues that, if retailers were licensed, those who sold cigarettes to children or traded in bootleg tobacco products could have their licences revoked.

It also calls for shops to be allowed to sell nicotine replacement products more widely alongside cigarettes.

Both measures would require changes in the law.

The report was approved by the council’s health and wellbeing scrutiny committee this week and goes before the full council next Thursday.

Councillors took evidence from a range of experts.

They also commissioned the Cumbria Youth Alliance to survey attitudes to smoking among 2,000 young people.

A handful of companies are beating the smoking ban by offering smokers an electronic way to legally get their nicotine fix while indoors. is a smokeless, sleek black tube with a rechargeable battery and a nicotine cartridge.
And unlike a normal Davidoff cigarettes, the tube releases a cloud of water vapor in the atmosphere, making it legal to smoke indoors.
"I buy cigarettesusually, so this is right up my alley," said smoker Monique Ownes, who said she now prefers smoking electronically.
However, smoker Jacob Asbill said he wasn’t too impressed by the new device. "Looks like a pen actually," Asbill said. "If it looks more like a cigarette and if it tasted more like a cigarette."
The American Lung Association says that even without the smoke, nicotine has its own dangers, and is linked to cardiac disease and high blood pressure. Even though the state says the E-Cigarette is exempt from the smoking ban, it’s still up to individual businesses to decide whether smokers can use it indoors.
Each nicotine cartridge is equal to a couple packs of cigarettes. The device runs around $100, excluding the price of the cartridges. A cigar sells for about $50. Ruyan America is the manufacturer of the E-cigarettes and cigars.

PRAGUE - Czech tobacco group Philip Morris CR sees no reason for further tax hikes on cigarettes in the next several years after the last rise at the start of the year, weekly Euro reported, citing the group’s new CEO.
‘After a rise in the consumer tax in January 2008, the Czech Republic fulfilled and passed the minimum tax, and therefore we do not see a reason for raising the rate for several years,’ Euro quoted Alvise Giustiniani as saying in an interview.
The tobacco group’s Czech market share has eroded in recent years amid fiercer competition and tax hikes on cigarettes, and analysts expect the company to face challenges in 2008 due to strong stockpiling from competitors.

TOBACCO, alcohol and illicit drugs cost Australia $56 billion a year.
A study has revealed the social and economic toll of drug-linked illness, premature deaths, lost productivity, crime and accidents. It found drug-related burden has jumped more that $20 billion since 1998-99, when a similar study put the figure at $34.5 billion. The latest findings, to be released today by Health Minister Nicola Roxon, put the lost productivity associated with tobacco at $16 billion.
Ms Roxon said the huge costs involved reinforced the need for drastic preventative measures. "What sets this Government apart from our predecessors is recognition that the rise of preventable chronic disease also poses a frontline economic challenge," she said. "Poor health adversely affects workforce participation and productivity - something we can’t afford at a time of a skills shortage."
The Government-commissioned research, by professors David Collins and Helen Lapsley, showed the social and economic cost of alcohol was $15.3 billion in 2004-05. cigarettes cost $31.5 billion, or 56 per cent of all drug-related costs.
The social and financial costs associated with illicit drugs were estimated more than $8 billion. The Productivity Commission recently called for 20 per cent of the health budget to be spent on preventative health measures.
But just 2-5 per cent of health spending goes towards prevention. VicHealth director Todd Harper said there was a great opportunity now to boost preventative health programs. "We need an approach that recognises good health care and prevention have benefits way beyond the savings in the healthcare system," Mr Harper said.
"We know that one of the most effective investments in tobacco (control) alone has been national social marketing campaign, which has been shown not only to be effective, but also to save money. "We would be spending less than $10 million a year on those ads and yet they are one of the most effective strategies we have available."
cigarettes, alcohol abuse and obesity will be the top three priorities in the Rudd Government’s preventative health strategy. The Government has also promised to commission a special economic report by the Treasury, outlining the benefits of preventative health measures.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Congress on Wednesday moved a step closer to handing the Food and Drug Administration broad new authority to regulate tobacco and cigarettes products, despite concerns voiced by many lawmakers that the agency cannot handle its current workload.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 38-12 for legislation that would allow the FDA to reduce nicotine levels and require larger and more informative health warnings on cigarette packs. A Senate committee has already approved similar legislation.
Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans were divided on the legislation, with 11 voting for it. Those who opposed it said the agency has had enough trouble ensuring the safety of the nation’s food supply and medicine. "This legislation, if it becomes law, would require the FDA to take on a task that is enormous, complex and completely outside its regulatory experience," said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the ranking Republican on the committee. "It will almost necessitate a diversion from its core functions."
Barton said the Federal Trade Commission was better suited for the job. But Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the "unfortunate state of affairs" at the FDA did not mean the agency should ignore the harms of tobacco.
"It simply means that when we give the agency this additional responsibility, we also must give it the resources necessary to handle the job and to handle it well," Waxman said. To address concerns about resources, the legislation calls for the assessment of user fees on tobacco companies. The assessments could initially generate $90 million this year. By 2018, that amount would increase to $755 million. Aides said the fees would be assessed based on market share.
Health groups have been highly supportive of the legislation. "This bill will put a stop to decades of Big Tobacco marketing, aimed at addicting each new generation of young people to their deadly products," said Daniel Smith, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
More than 400,000 people die from smoking-related illnesses each year. Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., noted that both of her parents died from lung cancer, and she asked lawmakers to consider the financial toll that additional smokers generate when they come down with smoking-related illnesses. Proponents say various aspects of the legislation would deter people from taking up cigarettes or from using cigarettes that they may view as less dangerous because of their labeling.
The legislation would ban candy-flavored cigarettes, which attract younger smokers. It would also prohibit terms such as "light" or "mild" which many consumers mistakenly believe means the products are safer. The Bush administration has voiced qualms about giving the agency responsibility for tobacco regulation because some people could get a false sense of security about the safety of tobacco products.
For decades, the FDA said it lacked authority to regulate tobacco so long as cigarette makers did not claim that smoking provided health benefits. In 1996, it reversed course and cited new evidence that the industry intended its products to feed the nicotine habits of the roughly 45 million Americans who smoke. Tobacco companies sued, and the case eventually landed in the Supreme Court. In 2000, the court ruled 5-4 that Congress did not authorize the FDA to regulate tobacco.
Some smaller tobacco manufacturers endorsed the legislation after it was amended so that they would have more time to meet new testing and reporting requirements. The National Association of Convenience Stores also said it would no longer oppose the bill, though the trade group stopped short of endorsing it. Lawmakers amended the legislation so that retailers getting orders to stop selling tobacco because they illegally sold tobacco to minors could have the orders modified or terminated if it’s determined they took effective steps to prevent such sales.
Also, some lawmakers representing districts with a strong tobacco farming presence voted for the bill after it was amended so that products containing foreign-grown tobacco would have to meet the same standards applied to domestically grown tobacco.

Liggett Group will convert all of its domestic cigarettes production standards to meet all state fire safety standards by January of next year, the company has announced.
The Mebane-based cigarette maker said in an announcement that the move is "consistent with cigarettes fire safety standards enacted by a growing number of states." The company will continue to meet all deadlines for fire safety standards in individual states that become effective before January, the company added.
CEO Ronald Bernstein said the company will make changes both to its cigarette paper and to its production methods to meet all the guidelines required in different states, while continuing to produce what he called "best-in-class" cigarettes.
"Converting our production to make all of our cigarette brands fire-standards-compliant nationwide consistent with that commitment," Bernstein said.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski plans to announce a renewed push to increase Oregon’s cigarettes tax to pay for expanded children’s health care when he delivers his state-of-the-state address today in Portland.
Details are being worked out, but the Democratic governor is expected to announce he is resurrecting an idea that was left for dead after Oregon voters trounced Measure 50, which would have increased the state tax on a pack of cigarettes by 84.5 cents.
"The failure of Measure 50 last November was a setback, but I refuse to treat it as a defeat. Kids can’t wait," Kulongoski said Thursday.
The cigarette-tax increase is one of the key elements of Kulongoski’s annual address in which he also will outline plans to seek more revenue to upgrade Oregon’s transportation system, possibly with gas- tax increases or higher state vehicle- registration fees.
Additionally, Kulongoski said he will push to increase the corporate minimum tax — set at $10 in 1931 and unchanged since — and dedicate the money to Oregon’s rainy-day fund to shield schools, health-care providers and other services from getting hammered in the next economic downturn.
Kulongoski’s chief of staff, Chip Terhune, acknowledged that the shaky economy could make those revenue increases a tough sell with lawmakers.
"This is ambitious," Terhune said. "He is reaching hard for this one. But frankly, the governor continues to believe that making sure that children have health insurance is critical and that transportation infrastructure is in dire need of reinvestment." Kulongoski also will outline further plans to combat global warming, which could include offering new incentives to encourage use of all-electric cars. He also will push for reallocating existing state revenue to provide increases in funding for K-12 and for higher education, as well as for Head Start preschool programs.
Terhune said Kulongoski’s proposals amount to a "road map" for the coming election year in which he will try to drum up support for those ideas before forwarding them to the 2009 Legislature for consideration. The cigarette-tax increase will reprise a long political battle in 2007, which ended with voters soundly defeating the proposal after a record-shattering $12 million TV blitz financed by the tobacco industry.
Terhune said Kulongoski’s new cigarettes tax proposal will be less than the 84.5-cent-per-pack proposal that was rejected by voters. And he said it will be written in more specific terms to make it clear that all of the money goes to children’s health programs.