Australia pulls out Indian gutka ad

The recent India-Australia cricket matches drew angry protests from anti-tobacco activists. The reason was the display of an advertisement by an Indian chewing tobacco company. The Australian cricket administrators were quick to react and have ordered the immediate removal of the advertisement.

In Short

sonia's take: While the Centre plans to move the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill in the current session of Parliament, Congress president Sonia Gandhi recently suggested four amendments to it. She said employment should be guaranteed to anyone who offers to work for the prescribed wage, not merely to the below poverty line people. Also, once applicable, the guarantee shouldn't be open to withdrawal.

Smoking out death

A landmark global tobacco regulation that came into force on February 27, 2005, is expected to save the lives of over 500 million people from the dangers of smoking. The World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) bans direct advertising and sponsorship of cigarettes and use of misleading adjectives like "light" and "low tar" for them. Cigarette packets will now have to carry visual warnings about the danger of smoking. Sale of cigarettes around schools and to minors has been banned. FCTC is the first official global public health treaty.

In Court

Turn of fate: Oyster fishers of Louisiana, us, received a major setback when the Louisiana Supreme Court rejected their us $1.3 billion claim of loss of livelihood due to a coastal restoration project. A total of 130 oyster fishers had leased water bottoms in Breton Sound. They sued the state on the ground that its 1991 freshwater diversion programme had destroyed their oyster beds by channelling Mississippi River water and sediment into the strait.

For those dead...and alive

The biggest tobacco trial till date began in the us on September 21, 2004, in which the government has filed a us $280 billion civil suit against tobacco giants, charging them with concealing, for decades, the harmful effects of smoking and for illegally marketing cigarettes to children. Apart from recovering the money from the accused, the lawsuit is also aimed at formulating stricter tobacco legislation.

Towards global tobacco control

the World Health Organisation (who) recently released the draft tobacco treaty text. This would be the basis for final negotiations on the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (fctc) which, when adopted, will be a significant step towards combating global tobacco menace.

Coughing up

tobacco giant Philip Morris has been ordered to pay a record fine for misleading consumers about tar levels in its products. A Los Angeles court directed the company to pay a compensation of over us $3 billion to a chain smoker suffering from lung cancer. In addition, Richard Boeken, the smoker, has been awarded us $ 5.54 million in compensatory damages to pay for medical bills, lost wages and suffering. The amount is the largest sum of compensation ever given in a smoking-related lawsuit.