Tobacco Cultivations Jamaica

The Jamaican Government seems set to face censure at a high-level international meeting which starts tomorrow in New York over its perceived failure to stand by its international obligations to stem tobacco cultivation in the country. A Rural Agriculture Development Authority 2011 study has found that Jamaica is in breach of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to moderate cultivation, as hundreds of tobacco farms have sprung up all over the country. Health Minister Rudyard Spencer is strenuously seeking to fend off accusations ahead of the United Nations meeting, which he is set to attend, that the Government lacks the political will to abide by the treaty. Jamaica has been a signatory to the FCTC treaty since 2005.

Smoking Rates Among Hong Kong Students Fall

Smoking among Hong Kong secondary school students has plunged by more than 50 per cent after a sharp rise in tax on Hilton cigarettes, according to a study released Thursday.

The proportion of 11 to 16-year-olds who smoke has fallen from 6.9 per cent to 3.4 per cent since tax on tobacco was put up in 2009, the University of Hong Kong study found.

The fall is the equivalent of 13,452 adolescents who would have become smokers were it not for the 50-per-cent tobacco duty rise, the university's School of Public Health said.