Cancer Doctors Urge Focused War Against Tobacco **(Hold muh cigarette alert)**

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The leading U.S. group of cancer physicians on Saturday urged an immediate $2-per-pack increase in taxes on cigarettes and other steps to curb smoking, which is projected to kill a billion people worldwide this century.

"Oncologists see the end product from smoking. To see a preventable form of cancer is a tragedy," said Dr. Paul Bunn, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists at a news conference at the group's annual meeting.

In a new policy statement, the group representing tens of thousands of cancer experts globally, recommended creation of a "blue-ribbon" panel to focus U.S. government tobacco policy.

Right now, Bunn said, some federal agencies are helping to promote exports of U.S. tobacco products while other agencies are working to cut use. "The goal is a smoke-free world," Bunn said, citing the potential harm to developing nations. "We think regulation and legislation will be required."

A panel of experts cited the dire health costs from smoking, including that one-third of all U.S. cancer deaths relate directly to tobacco. If current trends hold, 1 billion people will die this century from tobacco-related illnesses compared to 100 million in the last century.

The oncologists' statement called for increased efforts to discourage tobacco use, as 1 million Americans take up the habit each year. These included raising federal excise taxes by $2 per pack and requiring disclosure of all ingredients in tobacco products.

"This is a very comprehensive policy statement -- it hits all the issues including (smoking cessation) treatment," said Mayo Clinic researcher Richard Hurt, an expert on cessation and on research into tobacco industry documents on its products.

Hurt said the U.S. Congress seemed stymied on giving regulators power over tobacco, but that state and local governments were putting a crimp in the industry by barring smoking at more and more indoor venues.

Second-hand smoke is an important avenue for the industry to develop new smokers and to hamper quitting efforts by those where are addicted, he said.

Another researcher cited the relatively steep decline in smoking in California, where smoking restrictions are tight.

Things that make you go hmmm! I was really wondering what the SUDDEN hullabaloo was about cigarettes. Now that I pulled some numbers....my tin foil hat is ON! Look at who the US competitors are in the first chart. THEN, look at the amount of money the US makes on tobacco.

World production of tobacco in 1994 was estimated at 6.44 million metric tons. The leading leaf-producing nations were:

China (2,559,700)
US (575,389)
India (524,500)
Brazil (398,000)
Turkey (219,983)
Zimbabwe (209,042)
Indonesia (171,400)
Greece (131,875)
Malawi (130,686)
Italy (130,400)

US Tobacco Production
Tobacco was grown on 124,270 farms in 23 American states and in Puerto Rico. The federal government issued approximately 346,000 allotments to grow tobacco in 1995. The allotment total is larger than the number of farms because some farms are given allotments of more than one type of tobacco.

The acreage harvested was approximately 674,300, up one-half of a percent from 1994, with a yield 17 percent below that of 1994 at 1,962 pounds per acre. The total US harvest was 1.32 billion pounds, down nearly 16 percent from 1994. The types of tobacco grown in 1995 include flue-cured, 38.4 million; Southern Maryland, 18.8 million; dark air-cured, 9 million; and all cigar types, 19.6 million.

Tobacco growing requires about 250 man-hours of labor per acre harvested. By comparison, it takes about three man-hours to grow and harvest an acre wheat. The more than one-half million farm families involved directly and indirectly in producing tobacco in the US were aided by additional seasonal workers.

Tobacco Sales
Nearly all of the nation's tobacco was sold at auction in 136 designated markets. The small remainder was sold directly from farms or by farmers' cooperatives.

The average price of the 1995 flue-cured crop was $1.79 per pound, while burley brought $1.85 per pound. This represents an increase of about 1.5 cents for burley and an increase of 9 cents for flue-cured from 1994 prices.

Crop Income
Tobacco was the seventh largest cash crop in 1995, behind corn, wheat, hay, soybeans, cotton and rice. The tobacco crop was worth almost $$2.3 billion, representing approximately 2.7 percent of the total for all cash crops and farm commodities.

Estimates of cash receipts from the 1994 tobacco crop were:

Millions of dollars

North Carolina $871 Florida $31
Kentucky 615 Connecticut 8
Tennessee 178 Pennsylvania 22
South Carolina 187 Maryland 19
Virginia 147 Missouri 10
Georgia 133 Wisconsin 9
Ohio 28 Massachusetts 2
Indiana 25 West Virginia 5

Tobacco is also grown in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Mexico and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Manufacturing
Factories
In FY 1992, 114 factories in 21 states had federal permits to manufacturer tobacco products. Facilities were concentrated in the southeast and mid-Atlantic states.

In FY 1992, 272 warehouses in 33 states were authorized to export tobacco. Federal permits to manufacture cigarette papers and tubes were issued to four establishments in three states.

Employment
An estimated 42,900 persons were employed in tobacco manufacturing during 1993 on a monthly average basis, representing hundreds of millions of payroll dollars. The 36,700 employees on the production lines in the average month earns $627.95 a week for a 37.4-hour week.

Of all the manufacturing employees, about 80 percent, or approximately 29,500, were employed by cigarette manufacturers, and earned $769.33 for a 37.4-hour week. Over 88 percent of the production workers, or 26,200 employees, were involved in cigarette-making. The rest worked in other aspects of tobacco manufacturing, including stemming and redrying the leaf.

Exports and Imports
The US remains the leading exporter and importer of tobacco. In 1994, the value of US exports of leaf and manufactured tobacco products was $6.7 billion, $1 billion more than 1993. Imports were valued at approximately $853 million, a decline of nearly 45 percent. US tobacco trade contributed more than $5.8 billion to the US trade balance last year. $1.6 billion more than the industry's $4.2 billion trade surplus of 1993. This is a new record.

Tobacco Taxes
About 31 percent of the receipts from domestic civilian retail sales of tobacco products went to federal, state and local treasuries in the form of consumer excise and sales tax. These totaled close to $15 billion in FY 1995 (ending June 30).

Federal, state and local governments collected over $13.5 billion alone in consumer excises on all tobacco products in FY 1995. Cigarette taxes represent 97 percent, or nearly $13.1 billion.

Federal, state and local excises on other tobacco products totaled $421,500 million.

Since 1863, when cigarettes were added to the tobacco products taxed by the federal government, governments at all levels have collected over $299 billion in tobacco excise tax. Cigarettes have accounted for 96.4 percent of that, or $288 billion.

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