Fresh Tobacco and Cigarette News Online

LETTER: Smoking ban laws don't make much sense

2011-01-18T15:50:00.000+02:00

Some smoking bans now include smokeless tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

The FDA has ruled that tobacco companies cannot tell the public that smokeless tobacco products and electronic cigarettes are 95 percent to 99.5 percent safer than smoking cigarettes or cigars.

There is no smoke, ergo there are none of the harmful toxins that are associated with smoking.

When questioned about their reasoning for including smokeless tobaccos and electronic cigarettes in their bans, government officials will often cite that they don't want smokers using these items to circumvent the no-smoking policies.

So they tell people you want them to quit smoking and yet at the same time you also take away their rights to use smokeless tobacco products in the place of cigarettes or cigars? Something just is not right about that thinking.

Dorothy Taylor

Study Links Chemicals to Diabetes, Obesity

2011-01-18T15:49:00.000+02:00

Diabetes and obesity may result from exposure to chemicals and pesticides in cigarette smoke, chemicals in plastic, and arsenic, U.S. government researchers said Thursday.

Michael Gallo, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, reported the results of the recent study during a workshop this week. He said the link between smoking while pregnant and a child's risk of future development of type-2 diabetes and obesity was strong. "It is consistent with our understanding of how diabetes and obesity develop," he told Reuters Thursday.

"Perhaps less recognized is the consistent association with increased risk of offspring being overweight or obese later in life," Dr. Kristina Thayer, director of the National Toxicology Program Center for Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction, told AOL Health. "Maternal smoking during pregnancy is consistently associated with an increased risk of offspring being overweight or obese during childhood, adolescence or adulthood,"

According to Thayer, this pattern is initially detectable in young children and continues through adulthood. It is supported by laboratory findings that monitor animals who are treated with nicotine during development. In addition to smoking during pregnancy, exposure to secondhand smoke and pesticides during both pregnancy and childhood are linked to diabetes and obesity.

Thayer also says that a number of anti-psychotic medications are linked to diabetes and metabolic disturbances that can lead to weight gain and obesity.

"Like many complex diseases, it is likely that many factors contribute to the development of diabetes," explains Thayer. "It is unknown to what extent environmental chemicals may be contributing to the current epidemics of diabetes and obesity, but it is clear that additional research is warranted to follow-up on the reported associations."

Thayer recommends focusing on risk factors we can control for diabetes and obesity. That means pursuing and maintaining a lifestyle that includes healthy eating and regular exercise.

Tobacco health labels won’t convince addicts, association says

2011-01-11T10:42:00.000+02:00

The Minister of Health last week announced plans to expand health warning labels on Canadian cigarette packages, a move meant to discourage young adults from starting to smoke, and to encourage long-time smokers to quit cigarettes. But one interest group is skeptical that the expanded labels will actually lower smoking levels.

“There’s some scientific evidence that suggests it will help, but if you read the commentary that people have written in the papers, they’re addicted, so they’re going to continue to smoke,” said Steve Tennant, vice president of the Canadian Convenience Stores Association (CCSA), whose members credit between 40 and 50 per cent of annual sales to tobacco products, with independent downtown Ottawa stores seeing sales as high as 60 per cent.

Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre joined Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq at Tunney’s Pasture Dec. 30 to announce the plan, which includes expanding health warning labels on cigarette packages from 50 per cent to 75 per cent of the cover, and adding real victims’ testimonials about their struggles with smoking-related diseases.

Canadian anti-smoking activist Barb Tarbox, who died of lung cancer in 2003 after a whirlwind tour of the country to show young Canadians what happens if you smoke, will be featured in her dying moments on some of the new labels. Many new labels will be in colour.

The plan will also launch a new anti-smoking campaign on social media sites such as Facebook, and will introduce a nation-wide toll-free quit line.

“We know that having health warning labels on packages is still one of the most effective ways to warn smokers of health hazards. Therefore we will toughen efforts to make them bolder and bigger,” said Aglukkaq.

But Tennant believes these kinds of initiatives do not really make much difference, particularly for long-time smokers. “If you want to buy cigarettes from us, you’re going to buy cigarettes from us,” he said.

Indeed, one Quickie employee in Ottawa South said cigarette sales at his store have actually gone up since convenience stores have had to keep tobacco products hidden from view.

“Whether you can see it or not, you know we sell cigarettes,” Tennant said. “All it does is slow down service, but as for sales it doesn’t really affect them.”

Tennant added that if the Canadian government really wants to tackle smoking in Canada, it needs to focus on a bigger problem: contraband.

“It’s great to govern the legal products, but it’s frustrating to see business eroding around you because of contraband products that don’t have health warning labels, that don’t pay the taxes, that follow none of the guidelines the Feds have put in place,” he said. “What we get frustrated with is that the Ontario government especially and the Feds don’t take action on the amount of contraband flowing into the country, particularly into areas like Ottawa,” which is bookended by contraband hubs in Cornwall and Montreal.

In 2008, contraband cigarette seizures jumped to its highest level ever, hitting nearly 967,000 cartons, compared to only 29,000 cartons in 2001. Much of that contraband circulates around Ontario.

The Canadian Cancer Society and the Heart and Stroke Foundation both sent representatives to the conference to offer support to the government’s initiatives.

“This outstanding package of new measures will increase awareness of tobacco’s health effects and will reduce smoking among both youth and adults,” said Daniel Demers, director of national public issues at the Canadian Cancer Society. “The announcement comes just in time for New Year’s and provides a further impetus for the many Canadians who will make a resolution to quit smoking.”

The new health warning labels will appear on cigarette packages “as soon as possible” Aglukkaq said, but she wouldn’t give any sort of time line.

SPD's DeSalle in sticky situation amid tobacco allegation

2011-01-04T15:23:00.006+02:00

A Sandusky police officer caught last year with 50 grams of methamphetamine in his locker is now on administrative leave for apparently chewing tobacco on duty and denying it, police said.

Supervisors placed James DeSalle, a 12-year veteran, on paid leave Wednesday and scheduled him for a pre-disciplinary hearing at 2 p.m. Monday.

In question is a Nov. 5 domestic call at an East Shoreway Drive home, where another officer twice saw DeSalle spit a dark-brown substance on the ground while leaving the home.

When supervisors later asked him if he was chewing tobacco, DeSalle denied it and said he was allergic to a cat in the home, police said.

A video camera in DeSalle’s police cruiser recorded footage of him spitting a substance onto the ground, police said.

Confronted with the video, DeSalle denied he’d been chewing tobacco on duty.

Sandusky prohibits its police officers from using tobacco products on duty.

DeSalle told officers he had tobacco in his mouth only when he was outside his cruiser at a First Street address, according to a pre-disciplinary letter his supervisors sent him.

But the video footage doesn’t support that, the letter said.

“It’s very unprofessional and I’m trying to raise the professional bar (in the department),” Sandusky interim police Chief Jim Lang said.

Lang, who plans to conduct the hearing, declined to speak specifically about DeSalle’s case, but said allegations of this nature could result in an officer being placed on unpaid leave.

More troubling, perhaps, are DeSalle’s past reprimands.

In July 2009, DeSalle was replaced as the handler of Justice, Sandusky’s police dog.

He’d been in charge of Justice for about a year but was reassigned after repeatedly requesting time off at night and weekends, when the police dog is used the most, Lang said.

While reassigning DeSalle, supervisors inventoried his locker and discovered 50 grams of methamphetamine.

The drugs, according to DeSalle’s personnel file, had never been assigned to him.

DeSalle told his supervisors he was using the drugs to train the police dog and intended to notify them about the methamphetamines, but never got around to it.

It’s unknown why DeSalle needed 50 grams of meth to train the dog, rather than just a gram or two.

When the Register reported on DeSalle’s reassignment at the time, then-interim police Chief Charlie Sams had said supervisors were investigating other possible improprieties by DeSalle, though they declined to specify what those were.

According to law enforcement officials, a typical “one-hit” dose of meth is one-fourth of a gram. A gram of meth sells on the street for about $100, making the street value of 50 grams about $5,000.

Three months after that incident, DeSalle received a written reprimand for failing to turn on his cruiser’s video camera during calls. His personnel file noted it was the fourth such incident for him in 2009.

His personnel file also shows he drove recklessly last fall — about 47 mph in a 25 mph zone — while responding to a non-emergency call about a mattress and box spring in the middle of Milan Road.

DeSalle told his supervisors he was concerned someone could have been hurt.

According to Sandusky Municipal Court records, DeSalle has also had a history of money problems with financial, medical and utility companies. A government agency also garnished some of his wages, his personnel file shows.

In regard to DeSalle’s earlier performance, Lang said he doesn’t let an officer’s past cloud his judgment when evaluating an incident now in question.

“I want to give everyone a fair, honest chance,” Lang said.

Family of Barb Tarbox wants her deathbed image on cigarette packs

2010-12-28T16:03:00.000+02:00

he family of an Alberta anti-smoking activist is pushing to have a photo of the woman on her deathbed used on cigarette packages in Canada.

Tarbox, who died of lung cancer in 2003 at 41 years old, spent her final days as the poster child for Alberta's anti-smoking movement. Before she was confined to a hospital bed, Tarbox spent almost every waking moment lecturing students and working for anti-smoking groups.

A similar health warning using the same photo of Tarbox was recently proposed for American cigarette packages by the U.S. Food and Drug Adminsitration. The best choise for your health is to quit smoking cigarettes.

"It is very disheartening to know that Barb's warning may not see the light of day in Canada while (possibly) appearing on millions of cigarette packages in the United States," said her husband Pat Tarbox.

"One of Barb's last wishes was to have her dying image conveyed on cigarette packages. Barb was selflessly committed to preventing others from experiencing her fate. It would be a terrible shame if Canadians are deprived of Barb's message. The Prime Minister has the ability to get these warnings approved and to provide Canadians with further protection from the deadly consequences of tobacco use."

According to Les Hagen of Campaign for a Smoke-Free Alberta, the federal government has put any decision to use the image on hold indefinitely.

He says the Commons Health Committee doesn't know if the image would be effective with children and teens, and that the more pressing issue is contraband cigarettes.

The issue has been on the table in Ottawa for seven years, he said, adding the government should be embarrassed that the U.S. is moving much quicker on using the image of a Canadian victim of lung cancer.

Pat Tarbox said the image of his wife in her final moments is the first time a real person would be used on cigarette packaging, and that it's a message that will reach children and adults.

Meanwhile, he's calling on all Canadians to contact the Prime Minister's office or Health Canada to get the issue back on the agenda.

Health Canada has invested millions of dollars in the development of the new health warnings including 60 focus groups held across the country.

Research has revealed that the current health warnings have lost their impact over time.

Tobacco is the leading avoidable cause of premature death in Canada—resulting in 37,000 deaths annually.

When Doctors, and Even Santa, Endorsed Tobacco

2010-12-22T15:54:00.001+02:00

PEOPLE who remember when tobacco advertising was a prominent part of the media landscape — and others who recall what they learned in Marketing 101 — probably recollect that actors like Barbara Stanwyck and athletes like Mickey Mantle routinely endorsed cigarettes.
But how about doctors and other medical professionals, proclaiming the merits of various cigarette brands? Or politicians? What about cartoon characters in cigarette ads? Or children? Babies? Even Santa Claus?

Those images — some flabbergasting, even disturbing — were also used by Madison Avenue to peddle tobacco products. An exhibit that opens on Tuesday in New York presents cigarette ads from the 1920s through the early 1950s in an effort to demonstrate what has changed since then — and what may not have.

The exhibit, of hundreds of print ads and television commercials, is titled “Not a Cough in a Carload: Images Used by Tobacco Companies to Hide the Hazards of Smoking.” The first part of the title is borrowed from a slogan for Old Gold cigarettes, a brand that subsequently boasted in its ads of being “made by tobacco men, not medicine men.”

•

The exhibit will be on display through Dec. 26 at Healy Hall at the Science, Industry and Business Library of the New York Public Library, 188 Madison Avenue, at 34th Street. It can also be viewed online (tobacco.stanford.edu).

The exhibit is the brainchild of Dr. Robert K. Jackler of the Stanford School of Medicine, who described himself in an interview as “an accidental tourist in the world of advertising.”

“The very best artists and copywriters that money could buy” would work on cigarette accounts, said Dr. Jackler, who is also chairman of the department of otolaryngology, head and neck surgery.

“This era of over-the-top hucksterism went on for decades,” he added, “and it was all blatantly false.”

The genesis of the exhibit was an ad from around 1930 for Lucky Strike cigarettes, which shows a doctor above a headline proclaiming that “20,679 physicians say ‘Luckies are less irritating.’ ”

“That captivated me,” Dr. Jackler said.

The Luckies doctor was joined in Dr. Jackler’s collection of about 5,000 ads by scores of scientists and medical professionals — doctors, dentists, nurses — making statements that are now known to be patently untrue. “Not one single case of throat irritation due to smoking Camels!” is a typical assertion.

“I was struck by the noble depiction of the medical profession, bemused and surprised, actually,” said Kristin McDonough, the Robert and Joyce Menschel director of the Science, Industry and Business Library.

“Some of the claims being made in the ads, you did not have to be a scientist in a laboratory to dispute,” Ms. McDonough said, citing ads that smoking certain brands “does not cause bad breath” or “can never stain your teeth.”

Other approaches that could cause double takes (if not whiplash) among contemporary consumers include ads featuring Santa Claus, for brands like Pall Mall; senators like Charles Curtis of Kansas, who endorsed Lucky Strike before he was elected vice president in 1928; cartoon characters like the Flintstones and penguins, for brands like Winston and Kool; children, who appear as accessories for their smoking parents; and babies, for brands like Marlboro cigarettes.

•The exhibit also includes copious examples of more traditional cigarette endorsements by athletes — occasionally in uniform — and entertainers. Some promoted multiple brands during their careers; for example, Mantle, the New York Yankees outfielder, pitched brands like Camel and Viceroy, while the actress Claudette Colbert endorsed at least five, Dr. Jackler found.

A primary purpose of the exhibit, Dr. Jackler said, is to connect the dots between now and then. He likened ads from decades ago intended to encourage women to smoke — “Blow some my way,” for Chesterfield, and “You’ve come a long way, baby,” for Virginia Slims — to the campaign last year from R. J. Reynolds Tobacco to introduce a version of Camel cigarettes for women called Camel No. 9.

And there is a theme that runs from vintage tobacco ads to contemporary ones, Dr. Jackler said: “It’s all about youth marketing. The intent is to turn youth, ages 12 to 22, into youthful smokers.”

Documents from the George Arents Collection on Tobacco from the archives of the Science, Industry and Business Library will also be on display. The exhibit was seen in cities like Boston and San Francisco before arriving in New York.

Outlook cools for menthol cigarette flavor

2010-12-17T11:21:00.002+02:00

That cool, throat-numbing sensation some smokers find in their cigarettes could go the way of other products the federal government has deemed dangerous.
Menthol, a natural compound found in the mint plant, soothes sunburns, tempers coughs and helps tame an achy tummy, but on cigarettes, some health experts argue, it's a ruse. It makes the poison that is tobacco go down more smoothly, tricking the youngest and most foolhardy smokers.
Last year, Congress passed far-reaching tobacco regulations that, among other things, banned chocolate- or strawberry-flavored cigarettes, saying they lured kids to smoke by dressing up cigarettes as candy.

Cigarettes which contain menthol are considered to be more addictive than regular cigarettes. Regular cigarettes are Vogue cigarettes and Camel cigarettes.

But Congress passed on regulating menthol cigarettes, which account for one-third of cigarettes sold in the United States. Instead, it called for a study and more discussion by the Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA took the debate to Raleigh, N.C., on Wednesday, when big tobacco executives met public health officials in a conference room at the Marriot Hotel downtown to discuss the new law on cigarettes and how the FDA would go about enforcing it.
Outside, dozens of workers from Greensboro, N.C., who make their living manning machines that make menthol-laced cigarettes, paced in the bitter cold. For Lorillard Tobacco workers, who produce Newport cigarettes, menthol is an ingredient that makes their brand pop with flavor, and those cigarettes have been their ticket to a middle class life.
"This is about my livelihood. I've got responsibilities," said Darsey Campbell, who has logged 40 years at Lorillard Tobacco, cleaning and servicing equipment. "We have to worry when the government starts messing with one more thing. Don't they have enough to do?"
The conundrum for federal officials is clear: Cigarettes are bad; jobs are good. Can there be a winner?
"Undeniably, this is a very controversial issue with a lot of moving parts," said Jeff Ventura, spokesman for the FDA.
With cigarettes, the federal government is now engaged in an awkward dance. On one hand, America needs jobs more than ever, and government officials want to avoid jeopardizing the product, and market share, of a major U.S. manufacturer. Cigarette makers who use menthol insist that banning menthol will simply push production overseas or into an unregulated black market.
But the government also doesn't want people to smoke; it is the No. 1 preventable cause of death in the U.S. Smoking attacks the lungs, making smokers prone to chronic sickness and heavily reliant on health care. The FDA is adamant about not wanting kids to pick up a cigarette and start the habit.
Public health officials want cigarettes to taste as bad as they are for a smoker's health, and menthol undermines that. The product, which can be made synthetically, tempers the burn cigarettes bring to the throat. If kids feel that burn, they may never pick up another cigarette, some health officials argue. Studies show that the biggest consumers of menthol cigarettes are young people and members of minority groups.
Campbell, the Lorillard worker, smokes Newports flavored with menthol. She has almost all her life and wants government to stay out of her business.
"I'm grown. It's my choice," she said.
Campbell's biggest concern, though, isn't her smoking habit but rather her job. She's one of about 2,000 people working for Lorillard in Greensboro, where generations of families have found jobs that pay enough for them to buy homes and take care of their families.
Lorillard executives won't predict what would become of the Greensboro plant should the FDA ban menthol in cigarettes. The company just started making a menthol-free Newport last month, but it's too soon to say whether it will catch on, said Bob Bannon, Lorillard's director of investor relations.
Lorillard's corner of the cigarette market depends on menthol, which workers spray on tobacco before rolling it in paper. They make a third of the menthol cigarettes sold in the U.S., accounting for about 10 percent of the total cigarette market.
"It's tough to say what impact we'll feel," Bannon said. "We're trying to measure what adult smokers' reaction would be in the scenario that it disappears. We just don't know, but we think the number of people who would quit altogether would be low."
FDA officials say they are a long way from having an answer to the menthol question. And they may simply decide to not answer it. Congress obliged them to study, and scientists have been meeting to do just that. A report is due to the FDA in March, but after that, there are no deadlines or expectations.
"The FDA has made no statements about potentially banning menthol," said Lawrence R. Deyton, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products.
Campbell and about 30 of her co-workers didn't want to take chances. Outside the Marriot on Wednesday, they pushed signs into the air, reminding tobacco executives and FDA officials that they, too, have a stake in the future of menthol in cigarettes.
THE POWER OF MENTHOL
Menthol has been commonly used to flavor cigarettes since the 1950s. About 30 percent of all cigarettes sold in the U.S. contain menthol. A third of those are made by Lorillard Tobacco in Greensboro, N.C., which produces Newport cigarettes.
Scientists have reported that menthol dulls the senses and makes smoking easier for new smokers and harder for regular smokers to quit.
How does menthol do it?
-Soothes the respiratory tract
-Masks harshness of smoke
-Anesthetizes the throat
-Tastes good
-Increases production of saliva

Heavy smokers or cash addicts? Suspects steal store's tobacco products

2010-12-17T11:03:00.002+02:00

SAN ANTONIO -- Suspects broke into a west-side convenience store. Surprisingly, they weren't after the ATM.

This time, they got hundreds of dollars in cigarettes. The incident took place at a Valero convenience store on a major thoroughfare, right near Loop 410.

San Antonio police got the call for this alarm just after 4 a.m. Wednesday in the 7300 block of Culebra Road.

The store was selling brands like Pall Mall cigarettes or Winston cigarettes.

They arrived to find that the thieves pried the door open and walked in. Once inside, they broke into the cigarette cabinet and raided the place of other tobacco products.

Clerks are still taking inventory of the stolen merchandise. The items will likely be sold on the black market. Retailers sell cigarettes for close to $6 a pack. No one is sure how much the bandits could make off of this illegal yield.
Either way, police believe a video camera caught the tobacco theft.

The ugly truth

2010-12-02T14:09:00.000+02:00

We already know that tobacco can kill us. So why is the federal government about to require all cigarette packages and advertising to include graphic — if not downright gruesome — reminders of that fact?

Well, we already know what’s in a box of breakfast cereal or a can of chicken noodle soup, too. That doesn’t stop purveyors of those products from dressing up their appearance to make them appear more delectable than the next brand on the shelf.

Image matters. It moves people to buy things. Now, finally, we’ll have laws to move people not to buy things that not only kill them, but add huge costs to the health care system that non-smokers pay for. The tobacco companies have long known that images matter. They didn’t invest all that money in Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man just to throw money at graphic artists and rugged actors.

So, now that Congress has finally given the Food and Drug Administration the power to really regulate tobacco sales and marketing, the FDA and its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, are rolling out the proposals for the new warning labels for packs and ads.

They include photos and drawings that illustrate directly and sometimes harshly what happens to smokers: A skeletal cancer patient obviously on death’s door. A body with a huge scar down the middle of its chest. A person who has already lost his larynx to throat cancer and still smokes. A middle-aged man clutching his chest, his face twisted in pain.

By the proposed rules, now out for public comment, cigarette packs sold after Oct. 22, 2012, will have to devote half of the surface of every cigarette pack to one of those images. Cigarette advertising will have to include the images, too.

It’s about time.

For years, the tobacco industry has used its considerable clout over Washington to keep its products free of the same level of regulation that has long been considered minimal for everything from baby food to automobiles. The result has been an industry devoted to marketing a product that kills 1,200 Americans every day.

An outright ban on tobacco products would be unworkable. There are too many addicts out there, and any attempt to put the law between them and their smokes would create a black market the size of a small nation.

But it is clearly in the public interest for the government to act in ways that help smokers quit and, more importantly, stop the next generation from picking up the habit. We just can’t afford it.

Taxes Spurring Smokers to Quit

2010-11-30T12:46:00.000+02:00

New research indicates that the recent tax rate rise on tobacco products has greatly increased the number of New Zealanders who are trying to quit smoking.

The number of New Zealanders attempting to quit smoking has risen 93 percent since the April tobacco tax rate increase. This assessment was released on November 17th in new research published by The Quit Group. Paula Snowden, Chief Executive of the Group, commented on the findings, saying, “The majority of smokers wish they had never begun smoking and our survey shows that an increase in tobacco prices provides the trigger some smokers need to begin their quitting journey.”

In the month following the latest tobacco tax increase 4 000 New Zealanders registered with Quitline, a telephone service designed to aid individuals in their attempts to quit smoking. According to the report, the number of callers was almost double that of the same period in 2009. Over 25 percent of those calling claimed that they had never attempted to quit smoking within the previous 12 months, and over 66 percent cited the tax increase as one of the reasons they decided to quit.

Paula Snowden praised the development, and the Government’s upcoming supplementary tax rate increases, but claimed that there were still more work to be done. She urged the Government to accept a proposal mandating the use of plain packaging on all tobacco products and banning the display of any tobacco products.

Higher prices mean less smoking, less tobacco production/importation

2010-11-24T15:10:00.000+02:00

New Zealanders are smoking 1.3 billion fewer cigarettes a year than ten years ago, according to data produced by Statistics New Zealand for the Smokefree Coalition.
In the last quarter, since tobacco's tax rise, New Zealanders consumed 280 million manufactured tobacco products, and 243 tonnes of loose tobacco.
Smokefree Coalition Director Dr Prudence Stone said last year's fourth quarter result was 757 million or so cigarettes, while this fourth quarter it was 405.5 million.
"That's 351.5 million fewer cigarettes consumed than the same quarter last year."
Dr Stone believes the drop in consumption resulting from April's excise tax increase, has also led to significant drops in production and imports for domestic consumption.
"Consumption looked to be slowly climbing at the end of 2009's financial year with production and imports reaching NZ$3.4 billion (up from $2.8 billion in 2008). The tax increase has nipped that frightening trend in the bud.
"That the last significant drop in production levels occurred in 2000 when tobacco's excise tax was also increased significantly, by 20 percent, shows how effective price is as a tobacco control measure."
Dr Stone says she's confident the next tobacco tax increases scheduled for January 2011 and 2012 will force similar drops in tobacco production and imports over the next two years.

FDA Continues Fight to Regulate Electronic Cigarettes

2010-11-19T17:11:00.000+02:00

The Food and Drug Administration has authority to regulate so-called "electronic cigarettes" that vaporize nicotine but do not contain tobacco, a Justice Department lawyer argued today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Last year, a federal judge in Washington ruled the government improperly blocked an inbound shipment of e-cigarettes into the United States, saying that the FDA doesn’t have authority to regulate the product because it is not marketed for therapeutic uses such as to treat smoking addiction.

DOJ’s Alisa Klein of the Civil Division today tried to convince a three-judge appeals court panel to reverse the trial judge’s issuance of an injunction against the FDA. The appeals court stayed enforcement of the injunction pending resolution of the dispute.

Garre_gregory_kagan_#3056D6Latham & Watkins partner Gregory Garre (at left), who chairs the firm’s Supreme Court and appellate practice group, represented Scottsdale, Az.-based Sottera, which sells e-cigarettes under the brand “NJOY.”

E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that resemble real cigarettes. The FDA blocked the importation of e-cigarettes on the ground that they are unapproved drug devices under the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Tobacco products are generally exempt from the drug and device provisions of the FDCA.

The Tobacco Control Act of 2009 gives the FDA authority to regulate “tobacco products,” a term that was closely scrutinized today by the appeals court panel consisting of Judges Merrick Garland and Brett Kavanaugh and Senior Judge Stephen Williams.

Klein of the Justice Department said the FDA has long regulated nicotine products that include smokeless cigarettes, nicotine lollipops and nicotine inhalers. In 2008, the FDA refused to allow the importation of “Nicogel,” a hand gel made of liquefied tobacco. The FDA said the gel was an unapproved drug.

“If electronic cigarettes are a safe method of nicotine maintenance, that could be approved if the science supports it,” Klein said in court.

Garland questioned what he called the “unique” procedural element of the case. The government’s position in the litigation is established in a blocking order—stopping the shipment of electronic cigarettes—and not in a detailed administrative record. Kavanaugh and Williams examined the extent to which Congress can step in to fill a regulatory void to clarify the scope of FDA regulatory authority.

Garre, arguing for NJOY, said the product is not marketed as a smoking cessation device. He said if the FDA could show that the e-cigarettes are marketed for therapeutic reasons, the injunction against the FDA would not apply.

Montana’s teen-led movement against Big Tobacco

2010-11-10T12:22:00.000+02:00

All of you are being targeted by the tobacco industry to replace former smokers.

According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the tobacco industry is spending over $15 billion annually, and over $41 million every day, to promote its products to young customers.

And every day, 4,000 young people try their first cigarette.

The tobacco industry knows that the more you are exposed to tobacco advertising, the more likely you are to start tobacco using tobacco products and become addicted.

So what can you do?

Recognize the power you have to effectively take on one of the leading preventable causes of death-commercial tobacco use. If current trends continue, over 6,000,000 children alive today will die as a result of cigarette smoking.
Join Montana’s teen-led movement reACT against corporate tobacco.
Educate the community about tobacco industry and how they are spending billions of dollars on magazine advertisements, point of purchase advertising, and promotions that make tobacco use appear desirable.
Fight to reduce store product placement and marketing efforts through “Store Alert” type projects that help rid retail stores of tobacco clutter.
Ask store owners and managers to keep all cigarettes behind the counter, reduce the amount of advertising of interior ads to the areas behind the counter and support stores that are doing a good job of limiting tobacco marketing.

Know this! Your involvement will enhance community-wide efforts to combat pro-tobacco influences, change social norms around tobacco use, and reduce public exposure to secondhand smoke.

The Associated Press CARLISLE, Pa. -- Two men are under arrest after police say they were stopped in Pennsylvania driving a tractor trailer carryin

2010-11-02T10:20:00.001+02:00

CARLISLE, Pa. -- Two men are under arrest after police say they were stopped in Pennsylvania driving a tractor trailer carrying stolen cigarettes worth $3 million.

Authorities say 37-year-old Juan Almaguer and 52-year-old Alcide Fraguela-Casanova were transporting more than 25,000 cartons of stolen cigarettes when they were pulled over Monday on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, near Carlisle. State police say the cigarettes were stolen from a Tennessee warehouse.

Almaguer, of Cedar Park, Texas and Fraguela-Casanova, of Miami, face charges including possession of stolen property and tax evasion. They are being held without bail pending preliminary hearings scheduled for Wednesday.

It was unclear if either man had an attorney.

SNUS NEWS & OTHER TOBACCO PRODUCTS

2010-10-26T10:29:00.002+03:00

July 23, 2010 - Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) said Thursday, July 22nd that its second quarter profit fell 9.5% from last year, hurt mainly by costs related to plant closings and change of sales force.

Reynolds American Inc. is the parent company of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.; American Snuff Company, LLC; Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., Inc.; and Niconovum AB.

The company noted that higher cigarette and moist-snuff pricing, productivity gains and higher moist snuff volume more than offset lower cigarette volume.

Cigarettes..
R.J. Reynolds , producer of Camel cigarettes shipped 20.3 billion cigarettes in the second quarter, down 9.5% from a year earlier. Industry-wide cigarette volumes fell 7.1% in the second quarter, the company noted. In the 2009 second quarter, shipments were skewed higher by the timing of the U.S. tax increase. The company shipped 20.3 billion cigarettes in the quarter, down 9.5 percent from a year earlier, but key brands Camel and Pall Mall both increased market share. Reynolds also shipped 97.1 million cans of smokeless tobacco under brands like Grizzly and Kodiak.

R.J. Reynolds' two growth brands, Camel and Pall Mall, both posted second quarter cigarette share and volume gains. Camel's second quarter volumes increased 2.7% year-over-year, while its retail market share grew 0.3 percentage points to 7.8%. Pall Mall's second quarter volumes increased 9.7%, while its retail market share grew 1.8 percentage points to 7.0%.

R.J. Reynolds' total second quarter cigarette market share of 27.9% was down 0.8 percentage points from the prior year quarter. This was largely driven by the losses on its de-emphasized private label brands which now represent a total of only six tenths of a share point.

Excluding private label brands, the company’s volume performance was better than that of the industry with the decline of 6.9% in the quarter and 3.9% for the half. R.J. Reynolds' first-half cigarette shipment volume was down 6.3% compared with an industry decline of 4.9%. Camel and Pall Mall each reported second quarter cigarette volume and share gains. Those two growth brands now account for more than half of the company’s total share and volume. Their combined second quarter market share was 14.8% up 2.1 percentage points. Camel's second quarter cigarette market share of 7.8% was up three tenths of a point from the prior year quarter. Camel’s menthol styles including Camel Crush increased half a share point to 1.8 share of market in the quarter. Camel also continues to make progress as a total tobacco brand. Camel Snus remained stable at three tenths of a share on a cigarette equivalent basis and on a moist snuff equivalent basis; Camel Snus had a second quarter share of 3.5%.

Now turning to Pall Mall, which continues to deliver excellent performance. Pall Mall increased its second quarter market share to 7% that was up 1.8 percentage points from the year ago period and up 0.5 share from the prior quarter.

Smokeless products - American Snuff:
American Snuff Co. is the second largest U.S. manufacturer of smokeless tobacco products. Its key brands are Kodiak, Grizzly and Levi Garrett. The company's second quarter sales increased to $182 million from $169 million a year earlier.

American Snuff. American Snuff's second quarter adjusted operating income was $85 million down 7.1% from the prior year quarter. That decline was due to lower volume on roll-your-own and other non-core tobacco products which more than offset higher moist snuff pricing and volume. American Snuff also had higher second quarter costs relating to the timing of promotional spending and FDA compliance.

Grizzly's appeal among a broad base of moist snuff consumers is the recently introduced Grizzly 1900 Long Cut. A natural product with a traditional long cut, Grizzly 1900 Long Cut has performed well since its introduction earlier this year. American Snuff continues to focus on enhancing Grizzly's brand equity and value to consumers. The recent addition of embossed metal lids is improving the brand's quality perceptions among moist snuff consumers.

American Snuff's premium Kodiak brand, even though Kodiak share of shipments has experienced a modest decline in the first half of this year, the brand's volume has increased despite being significantly out promoted by other premium moist snuff competitors. Camel Dip the company's latest premium introduction is bringing innovation to the moist snuff category and is performing well. Camel Dip which leverages Camel's authentic heritage was expanded to selected outlets in 10 additional

American Snuff total moist snuff shipment volume grew 3% for the quarter, for the first half which eliminates the impact of trade inventory fluctuations; the company's moist snuff shipments increased 7.1%. As Susan mentioned, industry shipment were up about 9% for the quarter and the half while consumer off-take was up about 6%.

American Snuff's share of shipments for the second quarter was in line with the prior year quarter at 29.4%. Grizzly's second quarter shipment volume increased by 4.2%. For the first half, the brand continued to outpace industry consumption with a 7.6% increase. And Grizzly's share of shipments increased slightly to 25.5% in the quarter. The brand also improved its position in the fast growing pouch segment, accounting for nearly 25% of all pouch sales in the second quarter. Share of shipments for American Snuff's premium Kodiak brand declined 0.2 percentage point from the prior year quarter, and Kodiak's volume was down 5.5% in the second quarter but up 2.6% for the half. So that's an overview of American Snuff. Now we'll take a look at productivity.

Cigarette packs get colorful for 'light' label ban

2010-06-28T16:04:00.002+03:00

Goodbye, Marlboro Lights. Hello, Marlboro Gold Pack.

"Light" cigarettes are going up in smoke by the end of June, but their names and packaging are getting a colorful makeover.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says cigarette packs no longer can feature names such as "light," "mild," "medium" or "low," which many smokers wrongly think are less harmful than "full-flavor" cigarettes.

Cigarette makers are replacing those words with colors such as gold, silver, blue and orange on brands that make up more than half of the smokes sold across the country.

Anti-tobacco advocates say the colors are just as bad as the words, but tobacco companies argue they have a right to let smokers know which products are which.

Companies insist the words tell smokers about the taste, feel and blend of a cigarette, not health risks. The cigarettes usually feature different filters and milder-flavored blends.

Long years of advertising, however, emphasized measurements of lower tar and nicotine in "light" cigarettes, even though those were measured with smoking machines that don't mirror how real smokers puff. For example, smokers will inhale more deeply or smoke more cigarettes if they're not getting the amount of nicotine they want.

Studies show that about 90 percent of smokers and nonsmokers believe that cigarettes described as "light" or have certain colors on the packages are less harmful even though "all commercial cigarettes are equally lethal," said David Hammond, a health behavior researcher at the University of Waterloo in Canada.

Colors shape perceptions of risks on all products, Hammond said. For example, mayonnaise and soda usually use lighter colors on their packaging to distinguish between diet, light and regular products.

He called the removal of those few words on cigarette packs "necessary but not sufficient measures" to improve public health or reduce false perceptions.

"This is essentially mopping up the worst excesses of what the courts in the U.S. have judged to be deceptive advertising," he said. "Tobacco companies are going to need words to distinguish their brands; it's just a question of identifying what descriptors or words lead to false beliefs."

He suggested the FDA take the ban even further and restrict both color and words such as "smooth" and "slim."

Other countries are considering going even further. The Australian government proposed legislation last month that would make manufacturers sell cigarettes in plain, standard packaging, without colors and logos. More than 40 countries already have laws prohibiting terms similar to what the FDA is banning.

The idea of further packaging restrictions has the industry gasping for breath.

"Absent this information, massive confusion in the marketplace would result," James E. Swauger, vice president of regulatory oversight for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the nation's second-biggest cigarette company, wrote in a letter to the FDA.

Swauger warned that, if the FDA were to go as far as banning colors, consumers wouldn't be able to distinguish between brands, and manufacturers could be limited to one type of cigarette per brand because they'd have no other way to distinguish their products.

The company, owned by Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Reynolds American Inc., made slight changes to some of its brands' packs, but for some, it was simply removing the words like "light" on already colorful packages.

The nation's largest cigarette company, Philip Morris USA, made more than 150 packaging changes to comply. It also has included inserts in packs and displays at retail locations telling customers to "In the Future, Ask For..." the new name or color of their brand.

For example, the company is replacing its Marlboro Light cigarettes with Marlboro Gold Pack; its Marlboro Menthol Milds will be known as Marlboro Menthol Blue Pack. Philip Morris USA is owned by Altria Group Inc., based in Richmond, Va.

While customers may already see some of the new packaging in stores, calling their smokes by their old names may be a harder habit to break than smoking itself.

"I'll ask for Newport Light 100s, and I'll let them decipher it," said 52-year-old Joe McKenna, a teacher and longtime smoker from Pearl River, N.Y., whose brand made by Lorillard Inc. is now known as Newport Menthol Gold. "It's just kind of ridiculous in the sense that you know they're harmful for you."

Carreras relaunches Youth Smoking Prevention campaign

2010-06-23T13:40:00.000+03:00

CIGARETTE distributor Carreras last week relaunched its Youth Smoking Prevention (YSP) campaign with the support of the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Child Development Agency (CDA).
The programme, which will run through August 2010, will cost the tobacco company $1.5 million to implement, according to Carreras' Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Manager Christopher Brown.
"We believe Carreras must ensure that it remains actively cognisant of the views and expectations of the broader group of stakeholders, not just those who consume the products, but also those who have become the eternal critics of the tobacco industry," Brown said at the launch.
Under the Child Care and Protection Act it is illegal to sell cigarettes to persons under age 18 and Carreras, with 99 per cent market share, is the largest distributor of cigarettes locally.
Brown explained that the company's trademark representatives had initiated ongoing dialogue with its 2,500 retailers to exercise greater vigilance in prohibiting the purchase of cigarettes by persons under 18.
He said retailers must verify the age of those who purchase cigarettes where possible through identification, and in cases when they are in doubt, they must not sell. Addressing the media at the launch, Brown said that those retailers found to be delinquent in abiding by this request would be penalised by having their distribution right revoked.
"Our objective is to effectively tackle underage access to cigarettes at the point of sale in 100 per cent of the 2,500 retail outlets islandwide which carry Carreras' tobacco products," said Brown. Carreras' outlets represent 40 per cent of the total number of outlets carrying tobacco products.
The rebranded effort, first launched in 2008, will now feature the logos of the MOE and CDA on all YSP point of sale communication materials, which Brown said would add credibility to the programme. A new logo that is easier to read sends out a direct message that: "I/We don't sell cigarettes to persons under 18. It's the Law."

DNA and key enzymes being damaged by smokeless tobacco

2010-06-21T14:52:00.000+03:00

According to a new research, adverse effects of smokeless tabacco are not limited just to the mouth it can also damage the normal functioning of the enzymes contained in the human body.

The enzymes are said to play an important role in the hormone production, namely, sex hormones, oestrogen and testosterone, production of vitamin D and cholesterol is also said to be affected.

Smokeless tobacco is also said to damage the genetic material contained in the kidneys, liver and lungs.

However scientists have little information on the adverse effects of smokeless tobacco on other parts of the human body.

But it is mentioned by colleagues and Krishna Khanduja that they have noted widespread recognition on the harmful effects of smokeless tobacco on the mouth which also include the risk of getting oral cancer and gum disease.

The chemicals and potential carcinogens contained in the extracts of smokeless products are absorbed into the blood stream and are circulated through the body. Laboratory rats were used for the evaluation of the changes in genetic material and enzymes by using the extracts if smokeless tobacco.

The study states that, "not only did smokeless tobacco damage the genetic material in DNA but also alters the function of the, family of enzymes called CYP-450."

The study also states, "worldwide use of products is noted but are most commonly used in places like, Southeast Asia, Northern Africa and the Mediterranean region,"

The study also adds, "the users of the smokeless tobacco products are highly unaware of the adverse effects, therefore, smokeless products are used to treat, headaches, toothaches and stomachaches.

This false impression increases the use of smokeless tobacco products among youngsters the use of these harmful smokeless tobacco products is increasing among children, teenagers and women apart from men. Immigrants from the South Asian region and other dental and medical students also have increased usage of these products."

The adverse effects of these products has been on the rise although the harmful effects are known to researchers.

The study has also been published in the ACS' monthly journal of chemical research in toxicology.

Shaker Heights: One of the 'tobacco-free' school districts

2010-06-18T11:28:00.000+03:00

haker Heights City School District has joined "The Movement," a 100 percent tobacco-free initiative for Cuyahoga County school districts.

The Movement is sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Comprehensive Partnership for Tobacco Reduction (The Partnership), and is under the direction of the Cuyahoga County Board of Health (CCBH).

Funded by the Ohio Department of Health, the goal of The Movement is to encourage all 31 school districts within Cuyahoga County to enact a 100 percent tobacco-free policy.

To be considered 100 percent tobacco-free, a school district must prohibit the use of all tobacco products, such as cigarettes, chew, snuff, etc., by everyone (school visitors, faculty, students) on all school grounds, including school events, regardless if they are on school property or away.

With the addition of Shaker Heights, 19 school districts, approximately 61 percent of all the school districts, have such a policy in place and they include:

Bay Village, Beachwood, Bedford, Berea, Brecksville/Broadview Heights, Garfield Heights, Independence, Lakewood, North Royalton, North Olmsted, Olmsted Falls, Orange, Richmond Heights, Rocky River, Solon, South Euclid/Lyndhurst and Westlake.

The remaining 12 school districts that don't have a 100 percent tobacco-free policy are:

Brooklyn, Chagrin Falls, Cleveland Metropolitan, Cleveland Heights/University Heights, Cuyahoga Heights, East Cleveland, Euclid, Fairview Park, Maple Heights, Mayfield, Parma and Strongsville.

Tobacco loophole in child health law costs $250M

2010-06-03T13:02:00.000+03:00

WASHINGTON — A tobacco tax loophole in President Barack Obama's children's health insurance program cost the government more than $250 million in its first year, public health officials say.

The loophole allowed companies to avoid huge tax increases on loose rolling tobacco by relabeling their product as pipe tobacco. The simple marketing twist lets companies pay $2.83 per pound, rather than the $24.78 per pound levied on rolling tobacco.

That proved an expensive technicality in the way the government pays for health insurance for poor children. Almost immediately, tobacco companies ramped up production of pipe tobacco to record levels and curtailed production of roll-your-own tobacco.

Daniel Morris, who tracks tobacco production data at the Oregon Department of Health, first identified the loophole late last year. In November, The Associated Press highlighted the millions being lost, but it was unclear at the time whether that represented a short-term change in production or a long-term trend.

The trend has not changed. In March, the one-year anniversary of the tax change, companies produced more than 2 million pounds of pipe tobacco. It was a record month for an industry that steadily produced about 270,000 pounds a month before the tax changed.

In a memo to colleagues last week, Morris estimated the U.S. lost more than $250 million in tax revenue in the first year of the law. States are losing money, too, because many base their taxes for roll-your-own and pipe tobacco on the wholesale price, which includes federal taxes.

"The magnitude was larger than I initially expected," Morris said. "I was expecting that once the loophole was identified, there'd be action to fix it."

Such action has stalled. The Obama administration said last year it would release new rules for differentiating roll-your-own tobacco from pipe tobacco, but it has yet to do so.

"We're still studying, from a technical standpoint, how to distinguish between the two products," said Arthur Resnick, a spokesman for the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.

And on Capitol Hill, a bill to raise taxes on pipe tobacco to the same level as loose tobacco has yet to be debated.

"With the money we're losing, the deficits we have and the priority this administration and Congress have put on health care, to not find that revenue is just wrong," said Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., who wrote the bill to close the loophole.

Pipe tobacco is normally too coarse and moist to roll into a cigarette, but nothing says it has to be. The administration says the only distinction between pipe tobacco and roll-your-own tobacco is how it's labeled.

Norman Sharp of the Washington-based Pipe Tobacco Council said the small, legitimate pipe industry supports regulations distinguishing between traditional pipe tobacco and roll-your-own tobacco, which he said is being mislabeled.

"It's not really a loophole. It's fraud," Sharp said.

Morris said pipe tobacco production, and the lost revenues that go with it, could climb even higher because of a similar technicality in another law. In trying to crack down on tobacco smuggling, lawmakers prohibited shipping cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco through the mail.

But the law didn't say anything about shipping pipe tobacco.

‘No Tobacco Day’ sends message to youth

2010-06-01T16:06:00.001+03:00

Health officials yesterday urged youths, especially females, to be wary of the harmful effects of smoking and tobacco use on their health and that of the community at large.

They were taking part in a one-day public seminar to mark the ‘World No Tobacco Day’ organised by the Supreme Council of Health’s Anti-Smoking Campaign Committee with a slogan: “Boys and Girls For Change: Tobacco Control Now”.
Observed around the world every year on May 31, ‘World No Tobacco Day’ is meant to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption across the globe.

The day is also to draw global attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and to negative health effects, which currently lead to 5.4mn deaths worldwide annually.

The World Health Organisation’s theme for the year is “Gender and Tobacco with an emphasis on marketing to women”.

Making a speech on behalf of the HE Minister of Public Health and SCH Secretary General, Abdullah bin Khalid al-Qahtani, assistant minister for Medical Affairs at the SCH, Dr Saleh al-Merri said that since July 2002, Qatar has adopted several important measures to prevent the use of tobacco and all its derivatives.

These include strict vigilance on the age of those buying tobacco products, banning of its sale to school-going students and penal action against those who violate the rules on smoking areas in public places and buildings.

He said the ministry has launched a large scale campaign against tobacco by publishing several leaflets and booklets highlighting the harmful effects of tobacco and its derivatives.

“One billion cigarettes are smoked a year in Qatar and while 40% of the smokers are adult, 22% are teenagers and the country’s smoking rates were found to be double of those in Europe,” he pointed out.

The official said that Qatar has spent more than $150mn a year on treating smoking-related diseases. “We have set up special smoking cessation clinics in Hamad Hospital and Al Khor Hospital and we have plans of opening three more to provide services on how to quit smoking to people,” he mentioned.

He mentioned that the country will also ensure that at least 30% of the cigarettes package shows dangers of tobacco.

Public Health department director Dr Mohamed al-Thani highlighted that every six seconds, one person dies because of smoking and one among every 10 adults dies due to smoking.

“Qatar has taken stringent measures to combat smoking and the use of tobacco and its derivatives,” he mentioned.

WHO regional office consultant Dr Ibrahim Kalatani urged youths to be ambassador for change by abstaining from smoking saying that minors and women were becoming more exposed to tobacco products both at home and in the public arena.

“The harmful effects of tobacco is not limited to cigarettes only but other products such as Shesha is also very dangerous to health and the unfortunate thing is many non-smokers are falling victims of passive smoking as they are being forced to inhale 4,000 chemical substances against their will,” he said.

Highlights of the event were exhibition of different smoking cessation techniques, distribution of information pamphlets and showcasing of prize winning entries of inter-school painting competition organised for students by Anti-Smoking Society Qatar.

Short documentary films packaged by the WHO were also featured during the event.

Young Indian women falling victim to tobacco?

2010-05-31T14:06:00.001+03:00

Did you know that 8.3 percent of Indian girls between 13-15 years of age consume some form of tobacco? The statistic acquires significance as World No Tobacco Day is observed Monday with an emphasis on the marketing of tobacco to women.

“Adolescent girls are a major target of opportunity for the tobacco industry, they are trying to hook young girls through advertisements,” Bhavna Mukhopadhayay, executive director of the NGO Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI), told IANS.

“Some advertisements on TV bring back well known cigarette brands and certain advertisements in magazines inform that girls who smoke can become slim and glamourous.”

May 31 is marked by the World Health Organisation as World No Tobacco Day and this year’s theme is “Gender and tobacco with an emphasis on marketing to women”.

In India, the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to youngsters below 18 is banned. But the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) 2009 for India found that 8.3 percent of girls in the 13-15 age group consume some form of tobacco. Around 2.4 percent of the girls consume cigarettes and 7.2 percent consume other tobacco products.

A new WHO report, “Women and Health: Today’s Evidence, Tomorrow’s Agenda”, says tobacco advertising is increasingly targeting girls.

Data from 151 countries reveals that around seven percent of adolescent girls smoke cigarettes as opposed to 12 percent adolescent boys. In some countries, the number of girls who smoke cigarettes equals that of boys.

Many girls in Indian cities who smoke consider it “cool”. Working women cite peer pressure, stress at home and workplace and odd working hours as reasons. Several girls aged between 15 and 20 frequent hookah bars for fun and “relaxation”.

Although owners of hookah bars vehemently deny breaking the law, youngsters can be seen puffing away inside.

“Around 10 popular hookah bars function in Delhi alone and many ask their customers for age proof,” said Ashok Srivatsav, a hookah manufacturer.

But Komal Sharma, 15, a frequent visitor to hookah bars in Delhi, said: “I often go with friends to a hookah bar in Vasant Vihar but no one asks me for any ID proof.”

Gynaecologists point out that diseases such as chronic bronchitis and even cancer of urinary bladder or stomach can be caused by smoking hookahs.

Admits a staffer at a hookah bar, “Flavoured hookahs definitely contain nicotine and many youngsters initiate the smoking habit with it. Schoolchildren, particularly girls, frequent these places.”

As per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), over 54 million women use some form of tobacco. Apart from smoking, women in India, particularly from rural areas, use smokeless tobacco like gutka, paan masala with tobacco, mishri and gul.

Many unwittingly become tobacco victims.

“While many girls use tobacco as a fad or for relaxation, many rural women work as beedi rollers for hours and suffer from tobacco related diseases,” said Ms. Mukhopadhayay.

“Approximately, there are over four million women beedi rollers and two million tendu leaf pluckers in India. Handling and inhaling tobacco dust and volatile components of tobacco puts them at a high risk of cancer, chronic lung diseases, tuberculosis, asthma and adverse gynaecological problems,” she added.

Margaret Chan, director general of WHO, commenting on the report, said: “Protecting and promoting the health of women is crucial to health and development - not only for the citizens of today but also for those of future generations.”

Smoking Amongst Teenagers

2010-05-26T16:47:00.002+03:00

Teenage smoking is a big cause for concern today. The majority of adult smokers are said to start smoking as teenagers. Eventually they get hooked to smoking for life. Smoking is said to be the leading cause of preventable deaths. Every year millions of people die across the world because of a smoking related condition such as heart disease, lung ailment or cancer caused by smoking. Health experts want to curb smoking amongst teenagers but are finding it tough to do so. In spite of imposing bans on tobacco advertising and applying a ban on smoking in public places, there is no significant decrease in the number of teenagers who smoke.

Peer pressure is said to be the biggest reasons why teenagers get attracted towards smoking. Just because their friends are able to hold a cigarette and smoke like adults do, they too take up the habit. Initially, things appear to be in their control. They enjoy the thrill of participating in a forbidden activity. However, it soon becomes a habit and they find it difficult to get over their addiction.

The other factor that attracts teenagers towards smoking is the fact that media has glamorized cigarette smoking. Teenagers want to emulate their favorite stars and smoke in their style. Besides, children who see their parents and elder siblings smoking are more likely to start smoking early.

Health experts believe that strong steps should be taken to curtail the habit of smoking amongst teenagers. Parents and teachers must inform young boys and girls about the harmful effects of cigarettes. Children must be informed that smoking may initially appear to be pleasurable and glamorous but it is actually not so. If you notice a tendency for smoking amongst your teenage kids or siblings, you can even take them to a counselor so that they are able to better understand the repercussions of smoking at an early age.

For those who have unfortunately become addicted to smoking need not feel defeated. Though not so easy, smoking cessation is very much possible in spite of the number of years you have been smoking and the number of cigarettes you have been smoking in a day. Thanks to the advancements in medical science, there are effective smoking cessation aids available today.

Study Finds New Hazard in Third-Hand Smoke

2010-05-25T17:00:00.003+03:00

Most people take the dangers of smoking and second-hand smoke seriously, but a study published in the January 2009 edition of Pediatrics shows this is not enough. A newly discovered hazard, labeled "third-hand smoke," poses considerable risk, even more so because it is not always obvious.

A cigarette in the hand or a room full of smoke is conspicuous and easy to avoid. But what about after the cigarette's been put out and the smoke disappears? Doctors from MassGeneral Hospital for Children in Boston say the dangerous toxins are still present, even if they are no longer visible. Smoke from tobacco products leaves a residue behind which exposes you to carcinogens, heavy metals and radioactive materials.

Dr. Jonathan P. Winickoff, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, explains: "Third-hand smoke is the tobacco smoke contamination that remains after the cigarette is extinguished. It's the toxic layer that is deposited on every surface indoors where a smoker lights up: in cars, on smokers' clothing and hair."

In the study, researchers surveyed 1,500 households in the United States to determine if people were aware of the hazards of third-hand smoke. Most smokers and nonsmokers agreed that second-hand smoke was an obvious danger. However, only 65 percent of nonsmokers and 43 percent of smokers thought third-hand smoke was hazardous to children. Most people, and especially those who smoke, simply aren't aware of the risks of third-hand smoke.

"When their kids are out of the house, they might smoke," says Dr. Winickoff. "Or they smoke in the car. Or they strap the kid in the car seat in the back and crack the window and smoke, and they think it's okay because the second-hand smoke isn't getting to their kids."

He points out you can smell tobacco smoke on someone after they've been smoking or in a room where people have smoked. "Your nose isn't lying," he said. "The stuff is so toxic that your brain is telling you, 'Get away.'"Dr. Philip Landrigan is a pediatrician who heads the Children's Environmental Health Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He thinks the term "third-hand smoke" is right on the money.

"The central message here is that simply closing the kitchen door to take a smoke is not protecting the kids from the effects of that smoke," he said. "There are carcinogens in this third-hand smoke, and they are a cancer risk for anybody of any age who comes into contact with them."

Of course, if you're an adult you can choose to remove yourself from any situation which exposes you to third-hand smoke. For children, whose developing brains and bodies are highly susceptible to the harmful toxins in smoking tobacco, the choice is not always in their hands. It's up to adults to take responsibility for our children's health by preventing them from being exposed to these toxic substances.

Youth group goes downtown to discourage smoking

2010-05-24T15:52:00.003+03:00

Willie Pappas doesn’t smoke and he doesn’t want anyone else to use tobacco. Pappas is a member of the Local Youth Leadership Club, whose members were on Adamson Square in Carrollton Wednesday afternoon trying to get their message out.

“A lot of these cigarette companies are trying to get the kids smoking cigarettes, so we’re out here trying to tell people what’s in cigarettes,” said Pappas as he and other club members held anti-smoking signs and passed out pamphlets to passersby describing the harmful chemicals in cigarettes. “People need to know what the kids are smoking and what their kids are smoking, and maybe then they won’t smoke. They think it’s a minor drug, that it won’t do much harm to them, but they don’t realize all the chemicals that are in it. We’re just trying to make them aware.”

The club is in partnership with the Carrollton Housing Authority and is funded by a grant through District 4 Public Health. The group is in favor of a $1 tax increase on packs of cigarettes for a simple reason that could save lives, said Brandolynn Marenco, abstinence education coordinator with the Housing Authority.

“If taxes are increased on tobacco products then people are going to be less likely to buy them and more likely to quit if the price is going up,” Marenco said.

House Bill 39, sponsored by Rep. Ron Stephens, who represents portions of Bryan, Chatham and Liberty counties in southeast Georgia, would raise the state taxes on each pack of cigarettes by $1, increasing the per-pack tax from 37 cents to $1.37.

Stephens said the state is in a major revenue crisis, with the Georgia General Assembly needing to plug a $1.1 billion in the state budget before the session ends sometime in late April or early May. An additional $1 on cigarettes would not only provide $350 million in new revenue, Stephens said, but it would also put the ever increasing burden of paying for health care for tobacco-related illnesses on the smokers themselves.

Under the current tax structure, Georgia’s cigarette tax generates about $237 million a year, but the state spends $537 million a year treating smoking-related illnesses in Medicaid patients alone.

Marenco said the problem is that cigarette companies target the younger generation in the hopes of getting them hooked an early age and then making them a customer for life. “They call our teens their future customers,” she said.The dangers in cigarettes are very much what’s not seen, in that they contain chemicals that are commonly understood to be harmful, Pappas said.

“I think that they [tobacco users] know that it’s not good for them, but most of them don’t know all the chemical things that are what makes them bad,” said club member Brandon Rowe. “But they are really bad.”

Camel No. 9 Campaign a Favorite Among Teen Girls

2010-05-21T15:17:00.005+03:00

Disturbing New Data Reveal Teens More Likely to Smoke as a Result Washington, D.C. – A new study by the University of California at San Diego and Legacy shows that the 2007 R.J. Reynolds’ cigarette campaign, Camel No. 9, may have been effective in encouraging young girls to start smoking.

The study, being released by the American Academy of Pediatrics, looked at teens’ responsiveness to different tobacco marketing campaigns over the past five years and concluded that even after legal restrictions in the Master Settlement Agreement prohibited the targeting of teens through advertising, teens continued to be responsive to tobacco marketing and those who were receptive to it were 50 percent more likely to start smoking as a result.

“R.J. Reynolds is the same company that brought the American people Joe Camel, which at one time was recognizable to 90 percent of six year olds,” said Cheryl G. Healton, DrPH, President and CEO of Legacy. The release of this new research coincides with Women’s History Month and underscores the fact that the tobacco industry first began to aggressively market to women in the 1920s and continues to do so today. “While tobacco marketing campaigns have been targeting young women for 90 years, this research shows that sadly, despite all we know about the deadly toll of smoking, tobacco companies continue to successfully find ‘replacement smokers’ among our nation’s young girls,” said Healton.

The study enrolled more than one thousand 10-13 year olds in 2003 and followed them 5 times through 2008, asking participants to report a brand of “favorite” cigarettes. Specifically, teens who reported having a favorite cigarette ad at baseline were 50 percent more likely to have smoked by the fifth interview. The proportion of boys who reported having a favorite ad remained stable across all five surveys; however, it was found that after the launch of Camel No. 9, the percentage of teen girls who reported having a favorite cigarette ad increased by 10 percentage points, with Camel accounting for nearly all of this increase.

Camel No. 9 has been featured in top fashion and entertainment magazines geared for women, using stylish packaging and advertising featuring black, bright pink and teal colors and a name evocative of women’s fashion icons. In 2007, Legacy spearheaded a diverse group of public health and women’s public interest organizations calling for Camel No. 9 cigarettes to be taken off store shelves. In addition, more than 40 members of Congress called on women’s magazines to refuse advertising for this product, because the members saw such ads as direct attempts to attract girls and young women to smoking.

“This study provides the evidence that the Camel #9 campaign was clearly very attractive to underaged adolescent girls, effectively encouraging them to start smoking” said John P. Pierce, Professor of Cancer Prevention at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center in San Diego, “With 44 percent of underaged adolescents having a favorite cigarette advertisement in 2007, clearly the commitment that the tobacco industry made in 1998 that they would not target teens is far from being met.”

These results underscore the importance of our efforts to stop these types of campaigns and counter-market to youth who are so susceptible to them,” Healton added. Research shows that nearly 80 percent of current smokers started before the age of 18. And despite the knowledge of tobacco’s deadly toll, in the United States, nearly 20 percent of women still smoke and each year 174,000 women lose their lives to tobacco-related disease. In fact, lung cancer is the leading cancer killer of women in the United States, surpassing breast cancer.

Camel No. 9 Cigarette-Marketing Campaign Targeted Young Teenage Girls was funded by grants from Legacy, the National Cancer Institute, the Tobacco Related Disease Research Program and the University of California – San Diego.

Belarus Inhales Russian Cigarettes

2010-05-20T14:42:00.001+03:00

Beginning from April 1, Belarusian market opened for unlimited import of Cigarettes produced in Russia. Canceling the quotas on cigarette import to Belarus is one of the conditions of Moscow-Minsk bilateral agreement which might be signed already on March 1. However, import quotas is just one of the barriers preventing the sales of Russian Cigarettes in Belarus from rising.

Belarus has had quotas on cigarette import since 1997. Since 2001, it has been allowed to import only Cigarettes costing over $0.26 per pack. In 2002, 4.103 billion Cigarettes were imported to Belarus, in 2003 – 3 billion, in 2004 – 3.6 billion, in 2005 – 3.07 billion. Setting the quota for 2006, Belarusian government said it will be 1.5 billion Cigarettes, with the total amount of market being 18 billion.

Beginning from April 1, import quotas might be canceled within the implementation of the agreement between Russian and Belarusian prime ministers Mikhail Fradkov and Sergei Sidorsky. If the agreement is signed on March 1 as planned, then the cigarette quotas will be cancelled already by April 1.

Tobacco companies say the lifting of quotas will be good for the business. However, it does not guarantee the free import of Cigarettes to Belarus, since there exist other restrictions. For instance, every importer of Cigarettes has to obtain a license in the cou8ntry’s trade ministry. Yet, Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade said that it “regards such licenses as administrative obstacles for trade” and promised to “insist that they are cancelled”.

ALA Refuses to Support Legislation Prohibiting Electronic Cigarette Sales to Minors

2010-05-20T14:21:00.002+03:00

The American Lung Association (ALA) has been actively encouraging state bans on the sale of electronic cigarettes (“e-cigarettes”), despite the growing body of evidence indicating that they are a safer alternative to traditional smoking. These actions are contrary to their stated goals of preventing lung disease.

The American Lung Association (ALA) has been actively encouraging state bans on the sale of electronic cigarettes (“e-cigarettes”), despite the growing body of evidence indicating that they are a safer alternative to traditional smoking.

According to Spike Babaian, president of National Vapers Club, “We believe the American Lung Association has lost track of its mission by waging a war on a product that has produced nearly a million former smokers.”

In a memorandum in support of proposed legislation (S7234) in New York which would ban all sales of electronic cigarettes, the ALA focuses primarily on concerns that electronic cigarettes are marketed to children. “For this reason,” said Babaian, “it is particularly disturbing that ALA deliberately refuses to support legislation aimed at preventing the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors.”

In February of this year, at a Utah House Health and Human Services Committee meeting, Rep. Phil Riesen of Utah, said “I've been sitting here contemplating whether or not we should propose banning electronic cigarettes, and I'm hearing a lot of testimony from folks who say that it's helping them stop smoking,” and he went on to say, “I don't think we ought to ban them anymore than we should ban Nicorette or patches or anything that is helping people to quit.”

Are Kids More Likely To Smoke Menthol Cigarettes?

2010-05-19T17:12:00.000+03:00

The regulation of tobacco is now a reality. Today marks the first public meeting of the Food and Drug Administration's advisory panel set up to deal with complex scientific issues involving tobacco. Last year, legislation was enacted that for the first time authorized the FDA to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products. One of its first charges is to answer the question – does menthol make cigarettes more harmful?

The overwhelming weight of highly credible and reliable science suggests that the answer is no. The use of menthol in cigarettes is an area in which extensive scientific studies have actually taken place. At least a dozen epidemiology studies, as well as several large smoke exposure biomarker studies have been conducted. Menthol in cigarettes has no meaningful effect on public health.

Advocates of a ban on menthol focus on two main topics – initiation and cessation. They claim that youth start smoking with menthol over non-menthol cigarettes. And, they allege that quitting smoking is far more difficult for those who smoke menthols.

Let's start with cessation. Quitting smoking can be difficult for all smokers. Several large national studies have shown no differences in dependence or cessation for menthol cigarettes. These studies are broadly representative of the total smoking population. Further, the overwhelming weight of epidemiology shows that menthol and non-menthol cigarettes are the same in terms of disease occurrence across races and sexes, and is strongly consistent with the conclusion that menthol cigarettes are no more difficult to quit.

No one wants kids to smoke. Through positive steps that public health advocates and tobacco companies like mine have made resulting from the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, youth smoking is at an all time low.

The majority of underage smokers report that their usual brand is not menthol. In fact, when you take a close look at the impact of menthol cigarettes on youth smoking rates, the data show that the use of menthol cigarettes may actually have a slight inverse relationship to the rate of youth smoking. Twenty-one states have a menthol market share that is higher than the national average. Of these, twenty have a youth smoking rate lower than the national average.

Based on these measurable outcomes, menthol cigarettes are clearly not associated with higher youth smoking rates.

Lorillard is dedicated to doing everything within our power to follow the new rules and regulations. Implicit in our commitment is an expectation that the FDA will likewise follow its rules and regulations, providing a fair hearing and assuring its actions are based on legitimate and objective scientific data.

Legitimate, objective scientific data should be a critically important component in this regulatory proceeding, just as it should be in any other FDA proceeding that deals with drugs or medical devices. Our nation is built on the foundation that regulatory agencies must base their decisions on the best science available. Good science should not become "science that supports what we want to do."

Good science should seek to apply rigorous empiricism to marshal relevant facts. That type of science should be paramount in the FDA's process, not anecdotal or behavioral surveys that are subject to bias and cannot be replicated.

It is critically important that menthol be evaluated without emotion or invective. This can only be accomplished if the FDA and its scientific advisory committee follow a course of meticulous objectivity in examining the conclusions reached by various scientific studies and the design and integrity of these studies – and, importantly, the motivations of those authors.

The challenge to adhere to the science must be met successfully by the FDA. Doing otherwise would undermine the integrity of this important regulatory agency. And it could well lead to unfair and unnecessary regulation of other legal products or industries, depriving citizens of their right to choose products that may be controversial or unpopular.

Private club aims to keep cigar smoking sociable

2010-05-10T15:47:00.000+03:00

David Meyer leaned back in a leather-upholstered chair and smoked a Davidoff Aniversario No. 3. Seated nearby, Kelly Morrison savored a Davidoff 1000 and Rich Carney a Davidoff Puro D'Oro.

The three lounged and puffed in the members-only Commonwealth Cigar Club one floor above David and Renee Meyer's Milan Tobacconists retail store in Roanoke.

An annual fee of $1,000 and a biometric lock that reads fingerprints offer entry into the not-for-profit club, which formally opened April 16. Cigar aficionados living outside a 50-mile radius pay $500.

"The club is something Renee and I have always wanted to do," David Meyer said. "We just always envisioned a nice place for people to come and enjoy a cigar."

A dress code forbids hats and sandals and calls for collared shirts.

"There is a board that reviews all applications," he said.

Citing privacy, Meyer would not disclose members' names.

He said the club is intended to serve "like-minded people" but emphasized that demographics vary among the 30 people who have joined to date.

"Believe it or not, our members have all kinds of income levels," Meyer said.

So far, three women, including Renee, are members.

"We would like to get 50 members," Meyer said. "If we get 50, the club will be self-sufficient."

The Commonwealth Cigar Club occupies the second floor of the historic three-story building owned by the Meyers at 309 S. Jefferson St. The couple live on the third floor.

He would not say how much the club's limited liability company has invested to create the handsomely appointed club, which is a separate entity from Milan Tobacconists.

"People do not have to buy their cigars from us," Meyer said.

Membership provides access to private lockers in a room where the humidity is held to about 70 percent to retain cigars' ideal characteristics.

Pipe smokers can join, too. Two filtration systems serve smoke duty.

The Commonwealth Cigar Club has an ABC license that allows members to bring their own spirits, which are stored in individual lockers. Meyer said the club is the first of its kind in Virginia and that its unique setup prolonged the process of applying for and receiving the alcoholic beverage license. As a private club, it is exempt from Virginia's new law that prohibits smoking in restaurants.

Carney said he enjoys the taste and relaxation associated with a fine stogie, which he said typically requires an hour to smoke.

His favorite cigar is a Padron 2000, which features tobacco grown in Nicaragua.

"It's a very high-end taste for a very affordable cigar," Carney said.

Meyer said good, hand-rolled cigars generally range from $3 to $30 each.

Many cigar growers fled Cuba after the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro and left with the seeds for the tobacco famed for quality and taste. Some growers ended up in Honduras, Nicaragua and elsewhere -- including the Dominican Republic, which has achieved renown for tobacco used in prestigious brands such as the Davidoffs smoked by Meyer, Carney and Morrison.

One review of the Davidoff Aniversario line describes the cigars as "velvety to the touch" with notes of "pepper, grass and a touch of earth."

Carney is not a member of the Commonwealth Cigar Club.

"It's a tremendous luxury and a luxury I cannot share with my family," he said. "I come up here as a visitor."

In 2000, David and Renee Meyer purchased Milan Tobacconists from her father, Don Roy, and stepmother, Myriam, who had acquired the longtime downtown business, known as Milan Brothers, from brothers Joe, Herb and Ellis Milan in 1994. Milan Bros. was long famous in the Roanoke Valley for its tobacco products and as a place to discreetly peruse and purchase "girlie magazines." The Meyers accentuated and enhanced the former and deep-sixed the latter.

In 2008, the Meyers moved the business down South Jefferson Street after they purchased the three-story building at 309, which once housed Lee & Edwards Wine Merchants, for $600,000 in July 2008.

Like other tobacco products, cigars are linked to cancer. And even though most cigar smokers do not inhale, the risks remain.

Stogies have fans and foes. One recent Internet search for the phrase "cigar stink" pulled up about 1.4 million entries.

But cigar connoisseurs, men and women, celebrate the aroma and taste of fine, hand-rolled cigars and the relaxation of savoring their slow, steady burn.

Arabic ad has smokes under fire

2010-05-03T15:57:00.000+03:00

A SOCIAL marketing campaign targeting Arabic-speaking smokers in southwest Sydney has recorded a significant drop in tobacco use.

The “Ma’feesh cigara men gheir Khosara” (There is no cigarette without loss) campaign saw smoking rates drop by more than 5 per cent.

The tobacco control project focused on Arabic communities in Liverpool, Canterbury, Bankstown and Campbelltown.

Promotions on Arabic radio stations, billboards, bus advertisements and in Arabic language newspapers emphasised the health risks of smoking.

Following the campaign, bilingual interviewers surveyed more than 1000 participants to determine smoking rates.

Associate professor Chris Rissel from Sydney South West Area Health Service said the impact on tobacco use was significant.

“We focused on how smoking harms the family household. That was quite powerful,” Dr Rissel said.

“We had an overall drop in the prevalence of smoking from 26 per cent to 20 per cent.”

The study, published in the journal Health Promotion International, also reported a decline in the number of smoke-free homes of almost 8 per cent.

The marketing campaign had the biggest impact on married men over the age of 40 and the highest socio-economic groups, as well as the unemployed.

Researchers will continue to work with cafes and retailers to show the health impacts of inhaling smoke through water pipes.

Dr Rissel said the health effects of flavoured water pipes can be worse than cigarettes.

Ga. man who left jail for cigarettes gets 20 years

2010-04-26T16:56:00.000+03:00

Authorities say an inmate who broke out of jail, then returned after stealing 14 packs of cigarettes, has been sentenced to 20 years.

Prosecutors told The Florida Times-Union inmate Harry Jackson, 26, escaped his cell at the Camden County Jail last year and went to the exercise yard to retrieve cigarettes he had expected would be tossed over a fence.

They say that when the contraband wasn't there, Jackson scaled the fence, broke a window at a convenience store and grabbed cigarette packs only to be arrested upon his return.

Jackson pleaded guilty to burglary and escape charges Monday. Prosecutors say he had been jailed on charges including driving with a suspended license. His lawyer, William Ashe, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

Camel Orbs Tobacco Candies Are Toxic For Young Children

2010-04-20T14:32:00.000+03:00

A new study finds that smokeless tobacco candy could be dangerous for children as it contains nicotine that can be addictive.

The candies are called Camel Orbs and each one contains a small amount of nicotine minus the nasty smoke present in cigarettes.

The products are dissolvable, and are designed for smokers looking for that nicotine fix when they are somewhere where smoking is not prohibited.

The candies come in childproof packs, but children have been known to find ways to open these packs and ingest the dangerous candies.

“Infants are susceptible to accidental tobacco ingestion because of a natural curiosity and a tendency for oral exploration,” wrote researcher Gregory N. Connolly, DMD, MPH, of Harvard University and colleagues in Pediatrics. “As taste discrimination develops, young children may be more attracted to flavored tobacco products. Ingestion of as little as 1 mg of nicotine by a small child can produce symptoms such as nausea and vomiting.”

“In light of the novelty and potential harm of these dissolvable nicotine products, federal and other public health authorities are advised to study these products to determine the appropriate regulatory approach, on the basis of their potential to cause poisonings and create addiction among youths,” the researchers write.

Vote on electronic cigarettes ban postponed in Ill. House committee

2010-04-15T14:10:00.000+03:00

Advocates of electronic cigarettes aren’t allowing their chosen alternative to tobacco to become contraband in Illinois quietly.

The Illinois Senate passed legislation that would prevent the sale of the battery-operated e-cigarettes with little attention last month. That changed this morning in a House committee to consider the legislation, SB3174.

The plastic cylinders often look like real cigarettes but dispense a vapor rather than smoke, along with a dose of nicotine.

Former smokers who use the products and retailers who supply them objected to an outright ban, suggesting that lawmakers should look at regulation of e-cigarettes first. Several former smokers said they tried every FDA-approved smoking cessation tool but still couldn’t quit the habit until finding the e-cigarettes.

State Rep. Constance Howard, D-Chicago, said she also was a former smoker and understood how difficult quitting could be.

“I just wish there was something like these around before my mother died,” she said, to applause from the assembled e-cigarette proponents.

Sponsoring state Rep. Marlow Colvin, D-Chicago, said the FDA hasn’t approved the products yet and have found examples of carcinogens and other chemicals in the cartridges. He and lobbyist Kathy Drea with the American Lung Association said the state should prevent people from buying the e-cigarettes until the FDA has ruled on their safety.

But at the request of committee members asking for more information on that process, Colvin postponed a decision on the bill until next week.

Cigarette Cartoons Are "Uncool," AG Says

2010-03-29T16:33:00.000+03:00

Tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds will pay Connecticut $150,000 to settle a lawsuit over an advertising campaign in Rolling Stone Magazine.

The 2007 spread for Camel cigarettes violated a master tobacco agreement banning the use of cartoons in cigarette advertising, according to state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

"This campaign improperly employed cartoons to sell cigarettes, enticing kids into addiction, illness and early death", Blumenthal said in a news release.

The ad appeared in the Nov. 15, 2007 issue of Rolling Stone, and included a four-page fold out poster."These ads hark back to the insidious and disingenuous 'Joe Camel', the cute and cool cartoon character designed to appeal to kids", Blumenthal said.

R.J. Reynolds denied the ad campaign violated the agreement, and paid the $150,000 to cover the state's legal costs.

Man admits to scheme in Stafford smuggling case

2010-03-15T14:51:00.000+02:00

One of the 14 people charged in a major contraband cigarette probe started by the Stafford Sheriff's Office was convicted yesterday for his role in a murder-for-hire scheme.

Xing "Andy" Xiao, 32, of Fairfax pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and other charges yesterday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.

Xiao and 13 others were arrested in November following a 14-month investigation that began after a Stafford detective got information about an illegal cigarette-trafficking business in the area.

The investigation, which included federal agencies, revealed the purchase of 388,000 cartons of contraband cigarettes that were sold or destined for sale in New York. The cigarettes were valued at $77 million.

More than $8 million in cash, nearly 40 firearms and drugs--including 32,000 hits of ecstasy--were used to purchase the cigarettes.

Most of those arrested have already pleaded guilty to various charges.

According to court records, Xiao purchased or traded for 15,000 cartons of contraband cigarettes in May 2009. The cigarettes were kept at a storage facility in Stafford.

Xiao told undercover officers that the cigarettes were stolen from the facility and he had hired a hitman to kill the man he suspected of the theft. The man's wife was also to be killed.

Xiao was in jail from June to September, but an associate of his provided information regarding the couple's New York residence and paid an undercover agent posing as a hitman $7,000.

The hitman was to receive another $8,000 when the job was done.

Chen X. "Jay" Jiang, 21, of Brooklyn pleaded guilty recently to his role in the murder plot. Xiao will be sentenced on May 21.

Stafford Sheriff Charles Jett said his officers and others put their lives in danger to stop the criminal organization.

"This was a very dangerous criminal enterprise," Jett said. "The citizens of this region can be proud of [the officers'] efforts."

Stafford authorities said the 32,000 ecstasy pills are a record amount for the area. Each pill has a street value of between $15 and $25, court records state.

The conspirators also sold or traded more than 275,000 fraudulent Virginia and New York State cigarette tax stamps between July 2008 and October of last year.

In New York, the stamps are worth $4.25 a pack.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Fairfax County Police Department were among those involved in the probe.

Saudi Arabia mulls anti-smoking law

2010-03-10T13:18:00.000+02:00

DUBAI - Saudi Arabia is considering an anti-smoking law that will ban the cultivation of tobacco, penalise people for smoking in public areas and increase duties on cigarette imports, Arab News reported on Tuesday.

The Shoura Council, an appointed consultative body, discussed a draft law on Monday, the newspaper said.

The Saudi move follows a recent decision by the UAE government to ban smoking in most public areas, part of legislation aimed at stemming the rising number of smokers in the Gulf state.

The UAE anti-smoking legislation, whose implementation has been delayed as officials work on the details, also requires all tobacco products carry health warnings, bans their advertisement and makes selling products to anyone under 18 illegal.

Smokers in Saudi Arabia spend some $2.13 billion on cigarettes every year and number around six million people or a quarter of its population.

British American Tobacco slips after results

2010-03-01T15:21:00.000+02:00

British American Tobacco, maker of Dunhill and Lucky Strike, has raised a note of caution this morning about unemployment hitting its sales but posted a sharp rise in 2009 earnings and reported signs the global economy is recovering.

The cigarette maker has recommended a final dividend of 71.6p, which together with the interim dividend, will take 2009 dividends to 99.5p, an rise of 19%. The rise in earnings came as BAT reported a 17% rise in in revenues to £14.2bn.

But the shares were down 2%, or 43.5p, at £21.87.5 in late morning trading after a strong recent run. The wider FTSE 100 was flat at 5343.

Chairman Richard Burrows sounded a note of cautious optimism about the outlook:

"There are signs that the global economy is beginning to improve, although unemployment, which is an important influence on our business, may continue to rise in developed markets. We have a very clear strategy and excellent management, with a well balanced portfolio of brands. Our unrivalled geographic spread mitigates risk for shareholders and will help us maintain sustainable growth and build shareholder value."

Around the world, BAT saw variations in sales, with Russia particularly tough. BAT said tobacco industry declines in both Russia and Japan knocked sales volumes for its Kent brand by 4%. But Dunhill rose by 9% and Lucky Strike volumes were up 4% with growth in Germany, France, Italy and Chile, partially offset by declines in Spain, Japan and Argentina. Pall Mall saw the strongest growth, up 10%.

Analysts were largely positive about the results. Chas Manso de Zuniga at Evolution Securities highlighted that margins were better than expected across geographies barring Western Europe and maintained a "buy" recommendation and £22.50 price target on the shares.British American Tobacco, maker of Dunhill and Lucky Strike, has raised a note of caution this morning about unemployment hitting its sales but posted a sharp rise in 2009 earnings and reported signs the global economy is recovering.

The cigarette maker has recommended a final dividend of 71.6p, which together with the interim dividend, will take 2009 dividends to 99.5p, an rise of 19%. The rise in earnings came as BAT reported a 17% rise in in revenues to £14.2bn.

But the shares were down 2%, or 43.5p, at £21.87.5 in late morning trading after a strong recent run. The wider FTSE 100 was flat at 5343.

Chairman Richard Burrows sounded a note of cautious optimism about the outlook:

"There are signs that the global economy is beginning to improve, although unemployment, which is an important influence on our business, may continue to rise in developed markets. We have a very clear strategy and excellent management, with a well balanced portfolio of brands. Our unrivalled geographic spread mitigates risk for shareholders and will help us maintain sustainable growth and build shareholder value."

Around the world, BAT saw variations in sales, with Russia particularly tough. BAT said tobacco industry declines in both Russia and Japan knocked sales volumes for its Kent brand by 4%. But Dunhill rose by 9% and Lucky Strike volumes were up 4% with growth in Germany, France, Italy and Chile, partially offset by declines in Spain, Japan and Argentina. Pall Mall saw the strongest growth, up 10%.

Analysts were largely positive about the results. Chas Manso de Zuniga at Evolution Securities highlighted that margins were better than expected across geographies barring Western Europe and maintained a "buy" recommendation and £22.50 price target on the shares.

Thousands march in support of Turkey tobacco workers

2010-02-22T16:27:00.000+02:00

About 20,000 people took to the streets here Saturday in support of tobacco industry workers who are locked in a bitter labour row with the government.
The protesters marched under close police scrutiny through central Ankara to a pedestrian area where hundreds of workers left jobless by the privatisation of state tobacco company Tekel have been camping since early December.
"The Tekel workers are not alone," "The working class will fight," read some of the placards brandished by demonstrators.The workers, who number some 12,000, have demanded they be transferred to other public jobs, preserving their existing rights, but the government has offered them only a status as seasonal workers with much lower salaries.
The row has grown into the most embarrassing labour movement for the ruling Justice and Development Party since it came to power in 2002 with promises to defend the rights of the working class and the poor.Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has given the workers until the end of the month to either accept the new status or face unemployment, threatening to send police to demolish their make-shift tent city in the heart of Ankara.
Thousands of public employees went on a one-day strike earlier this month in solidarity with the workers after reconciliation talks between the government and trade unions collapsed.

Battle Over U.K. Cigarette Packaging Gears Up

2010-02-16T14:42:00.000+02:00

Tobacco companies are digging in to fight a possible U.K. ban on one of their last marketing tools: cigarette packaging.

The U.K.'s Department of Health said Monday that it would consider mandating generic packaging for all cigarettes as part of an aggressive campaign to halve smoking rates by 2020.

Such packs would be white or brown with the brand name written in simple type and no logos or colors allowed. The packs would continue to carry large health warnings.

In a report, health officials called colorful packaging the "silent salesman" for tobacco brands and said evidence suggests that without it, consumers could be more likely to note the health warnings and less likely to wrongly believe that some cigarettes are less harmful than others.Other countries, including Canada, have considered mandating plain packaging, but, amid heavy resistance from the tobacco industry, none has yet done so.

The U.K. said it would "carefully consider the case for plain packaging," including weighing "the legal implications of restrictions on packaging for intellectual property rights and freedom of trade."

The tobacco industry was quick to voice its intention to protect those rights on Monday. British American Tobacco issued a statement saying the U.K. would have "a huge fight on its hands" if it tried to ban current packaging.

"Brands are valuable corporate assets, and the government risks breaching various legal obligations relating to intellectual property rights, international trade and European law," the statement said.

An Imperial Tobacco Group PLC spokesman cited the company's long-standing position on plain packaging: that it would "expropriate valuable corporate assets in which the company and its shareholders have invested for more than a century" and possibly place "the U.K. government in breach of a range of legal and treaty obligations."

Philip Morris International Inc. and other cigarette makers argued that there is no evidence showing that plain packaging reduces smoking rates. A few weeks ago, a spokesman said, Philip Morris launched a Web site, www.plain-packaging.com, that is dedicated to fighting plain packaging. The site argues that generic packs "will create confusion, violate trademark rights and likely spur the growth of low price and illegal cigarettes without actually reducing smoking rates."

Health-policy experts scoffed at the idea that plain packaging wouldn't reduce smoking. "We have strong evidence that restrictions on other forms of marketing have helped reduce tobacco use, and there's no reason to think that would be any different for packaging," David Hammond, assistant professor of health studies at the University of Waterloo, said.

He said studies have shown that people are more likely to notice and believe health warnings when colorful packaging is stripped away. Other studies have shown that plain packaging makes the product less appealing to consumers, and particularly to children.

There is also evidence that removing colors from packages makes consumers less likely to wrongly believe that one type of cigarette is less harmful than another, he said.

Cigarette companies are no longer allowed to call certain brands "light" or "low tar" in many markets because such cigarettes are just as harmful as others, but consumers still associate the light, silvery colors long used on such brands with a healthier product, Mr. Hammond said.

To halve the nation's smoking rate to 10% of the population by 2020, the U.K. also plans to crack down on the sale of contraband cigarettes, which are often sold from private homes at discount prices; maintain or increase the "real value" of tobacco duties; ban vending-machine cigarette sales; and offer extra support through the state-run health system for people who want to quit.

The U.K. plan will also require cigarettes to be removed from in-store displays and be sold instead from under the counter.

Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Will Patrol the Super Bowl for Underage Drinking

2010-02-08T15:57:00.000+02:00

As the Saints and Colts battle for the National Football League’s top spot, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco will be cracking down on underage drinking at Super Bowl events. ABT agents will patrol the Super Bowl to arrest underage drinkers and ensure a safe environment for fans.
Underage drinking prevention is one of the division’s top priorities. The division works to combat underage drinking through a three-tiered approach—education, prevention and enforcement. One prevention effort is Tailgaters Urging Responsibility & Fun, or TURF. TURF was launched by the Charmer Sunbelt Group, and former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason is the official spokesperson. Partners include Brown-Forman, and CBS Radio. This initiative aims to positively impact the game environment for everyone with tips for a successful celebration, responsible alcohol consumption reminders and actionable steps each and every fan can take to ensure that the game, and the tradition of tailgating, is preserved.
The mission of ABT is to keep alcohol and tobacco out of the hands of underage persons, to ensure that licensed establishments are in compliance with the laws and rules regulating the industry in Florida, and to collect taxes and fees related to these industries.
The department’s mission is to license efficiently and regulate fairly. The department licenses more than one million businesses and professionals ranging from real estate agents, veterinarians, and accountants to contractors and cosmetologists.

Cigarettes May Cause Infections

2010-02-04T16:55:00.000+02:00

The tobacco in cigarettes hosts a bacterial bonanza — literally hundreds of different germs, including those responsible for many human illnesses, a new study finds.

“Nearly every paper that you pick up discussing the health effects of cigarettes starts out with something to the effect that smokers and people exposed to secondhand smoke experience high rates of respiratory infections,” notes Amy Sapkota of the University of Maryland, College Park. The presumption has been that smoking renders people vulnerable to disease by impairing lung function or immunity. And it may well do both.

“But nobody talks about cigarettes as a source of those infections,” she says. Her new data now suggest that’s distinctly possible.

If these germs are alive, something she has not yet confirmed, just handling cigarettes or putting an unlit one to the mouth could be enough to cause an infection.

The idea that tobacco might contain viable germs isn’t just idle conjecture. Several research teams have isolated bacteria from tobacco that they could grow out in petri dishes. Those earlier investigations tended to hunt for — and, when found, attempted to grow — only one or two species of interest, Sapkota says.

What’s novel in her study: She and her colleagues probed for genetic material from any and every bacterium in a cigarette’s tobacco. Under sterile conditions, the researchers opened up cigarettes and then performed a series of tests on the leafy bits. For instance, they isolated all of the ribosomal material and then homed in on its long, species-specific stretches known as 16S regions. These genetic segments were then compared to 16S patches characteristic of known bacterial species.

Sapkota’s team had 16S probes for close to 800 different bacteria and found matches to many hundreds in the four brands of cigarettes screened: Marlboro Red, Camel, Kool Filter Kings and Lucky Strike Original Red. These cigarettes are “among the most commonly smoked brands in Westernized countries and represent three major tobacco companies,” Sapkota notes. All were purchased in Lyon, France, where she was completing her postdoctoral studies.

Among the large number of germs whose DNA laced these cigarettes were: Campylobacter, which can cause food poisoning and Guillain-Barre Syndrome; Clostridium, which causes food poisoning and pneumonias; Corynebacterium, also associated with pneumonias and other diseases; E. coli; Klebsiella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, all of which are associated not only with pneumonia but also with urinary tract infections; and a number of Staphylococcus species that underlie the most common and serious hospital-associated infections.

Sapkota’s team lists many of these — including the most prevalent bacteria in the tobacco they studied — in a paper published early, online in Environmental Health Perspectives.

Some people have criticized the idea of infectious cigarettes, arguing that as tobacco burns, it would kill any germs present. But Sapkota is not so sure that’s true. The tobacco farthest from the burning tip might be a balmy temperature, from a bacterial point of view. And here’s “a really wild idea,” she says: What if the smoke particles traveling through the still-unburned part of a cigarette pick up some germs and then ferry them deeply into the lung, where they’re unlikely to be cleared? Wouldn’t that be the prescription for disease?

Of course, there’s also plenty of chances for a smoker to become exposed prior to lighting up. And, of course, the potential for highest oral exposure would come from chewing tobacco — and nasal exposures from snuff.

Sapkota, an environmental health scientist, plans to follow up her preliminary data to see which types of tobacco are most likely to host viable germs, and whether those bacteria are transported into the body, either during smoking or by the insertion of unburned tobacco products (including chewing tobacco) into the mouth.

Several thousand potentially toxic chemicals have been isolated from cigarettes. Sapkota says that it’s not hard to imagine that the number of germs hosted by tobacco products could rival that of the carcinogens and other poisons residing in or produced by burning tobacco.

How so, when she’s only found genetic material indicting hundreds of germs? Owing to the bacterial probes available when Sapkota began her tobacco work, she was only able to screen for 700-odd species. But newer probes on the market can now screen for the bacterial 16S genetic material of 5,000 or more germs. And if she used such huge batteries of probes now, she said she fully expects she could turn up at least 1,000 hitchhiking bacterial species in tobacco products.

Avatar Movie, Firelight E Cigarette - Which Is More Popular

2010-02-01T14:04:00.000+02:00

Just about a year back almost nobody had heard of e cigarettes and it was rare to see anyone using this product, but this is not the case as of late. A short stroll down any city street or public gathering proves different. "We really feel the reason for the huge surge in our traffic is due to the recent ruling of electronic cigarettes. Consumers who have been on the fence about choosing this smoking alternative are probably a big portion of our increased traffic." states Jeff Smith, President.
The popularity is so amazing that special interest groups are injecting negative news to keep the masses scared of a product that has no known or published complaints or adverse affects for 3 years in the US market. Other public health officials and scientist are stating that the product has merit and should be available to the general smoking population based on scientific studies that support harm reduction products.
Jeff told us another reason for the tremendous spike in visitors and sales is their new brand e cigarette called "Firelight" which was just launched a month ago. "Consumers who have been on the fence about choosing this smoking alternative, I beleive, are taking their hesitation and turning it into action." Electronic Cigarettes USA carries the popular "Firelight" e cigarette with complete starter kits starting at just under $30. Since the introduction of these smoking alternatives common prices for these starter kits have been anywhere from $90 -$150.
"We are just so excited that we can offer a high quality, low priced smoking alternative like the Firelight e cigarette" At this very time and moment, are electronic cigarettes just as popular as the blockbuster movie Avatar? Jeff often ponders that question. "With several weeks gone by now and sales through the roof, I often wonder if the Firelight e cigarette is as popular as the Avatar movie."

Glendora store robbed at gunpoint

2010-01-29T16:49:00.000+02:00

Gloucester Township police are searching for a gunman who robbed 7-Eleven convenience store on Evesham Road early Wednesday before fleeing on foot.
Police responded to a call from the store at 940 W. Evesham Road about 1:55 a.m. When they arrived, a clerk told them the suspect pulled a firearm in the store and demanded cash and cigarettes, according to the police news release.
The clerk gave him a large quantity of cash and several packs of cigarettes, after which the suspect ran on Station Avenue toward the Black Horse Pike.
The suspect was reported to be a black male, wearing a black coat, black jeans, black ski mask and black gloves. He was approximately 5-foot-11 to 6-foot-1 with a thin build.

Governor to get tough on cigarette tax

2010-01-27T15:14:00.001+02:00

The Paterson administration will soon advance new tax regulations to begin the collection of excise taxes on cigarette sales by Native American retailers, a top aide to Gov. David A. Paterson said Wednesday. The move was sharply condemned by a top Seneca Nation leader.
The release of the regulations will start a six-month clock for public comment, which means the state could begin collecting the taxes as early as July.
While advocates of collecting the tax expressed some skepticism about another governor promising to break the long dispute with Indian tribes, they also said Paterson’s move is the first major step on the issue in years.
“The governor will enforce the law, and we are taking steps necessary to do that. There shouldn’t be any doubt about that,” said Peter Kiernan, the governor’s counsel.
In the meantime, Kiernan said, the state will continue what he said are serious negotiations with a number of tribes, including the Seneca Nation, to try to reach “price equality” arrangements in which the price of a pack of cigarettes would be the same on and off reservations.
But J.C. Seneca, a tribal councilor and co-chairman of the Seneca Nation Foreign Relations Council, rejected the Paterson administration’s claims that there are talks with the Senecas to resolve the tobacco tax dispute.
“At no time, never, when I’ve been at the table have we been negotiating anything with the state,” said Seneca, who has meet with Paterson and his lawyers on at least two occasions.
“I don’t think we’d ever sell tobacco products at the same price as off-reservation. That would not be beneficial to our retailers or our economy, because we wouldn’t have any. If the governor and Legislature had their way, we’d be out of business. It would be devastating to our economy and the economy of Western New York,” he said.
“They need to leave us alone and let us do our business and create opportunities for our people,” Seneca added.
The governor Tuesday proposed a $1-per-pack tax increase — to $3.75, the nation’s highest — in order to help bring money to the cash-starved budget. But the budget plan also included a vow to end the state tax department’s “forbearance” policy of not enforcing laws already on the books to collect the cigarette taxes.
“The governor concluded he could not raise the tax by a dollar, which would further exacerbate the unfair competitive landscape that exists between sellers on non-Native and Native land, without taking the next logical step in pursuit of our policy, which is price equality,” Kiernan said.
The state has two tax-collection laws on the books that have been halted by a court order. The most recent, signed by Paterson in 2008, would put the legal burden on wholesalers to ensure that all cigarettes they sell to retailers have a state tax stamp affixed to the cigarette packs. Kiernan said there are only about four wholesalers who sell tax-free to the New York tribes. He said the intent of the governor’s plan is to ensure the provisions of that law are followed by the wholesalers.
The issuance of the regulations is, Kiernan said, a first step in the state’s plans to get the injunction against the tax collections lifted.
“Our fervent wish is that during the next six months, while the regulations are out there for comment, that we will conclude a lot of these negotiations” with Indian tribes, Kiernan said.
Russell Sciandra, director of the Center for a Tobacco Free New York, said the governor’s plan will put him in a better negotiating position with some tribes. “He clearly has strengthened his hand,” Sciandra said.
Sciandra questioned, though, what incentive the Seneca Nation, the top Indian sellers of tax-free cigarettes in the United States, might have in cutting any deals for price equality with the state.
Non-Indian retailers checked their enthusiasm.
“It’s a mix of hopefulness and skepticism,” said James Calvin, executive director of the New York State Association of Convenience Stores. “History has taught us to be skeptical of any new promises coming from the governor’s office on this issue. There’s a long trail of deliberate delay, deceit and broken promises, primarily by Gov. Paterson’s two predecessors.”
If lawmakers agree, the $1-per-pack tax hike takes effect June 2. That, though, would be before any collection effort, giving Indian retailers an even bigger pricing advantage, Calvin noted. He said Paterson should collect the Indian taxes before considering a tax hike.
Seneca said the Paterson move will harm relations with Native Americans. “We’re going to hunker down and dig in. If the state is going to take a position that they want conflict and controversy, then that’s what they are going to get,” he said.
Seneca said he is considering proposing his own six-month comment period about whether to give the state access to the Thruway that cuts through the tribe’s Cattaraugus reservation.
“He’s talking out of both sides of his mouth,” Seneca said of Paterson’s plan to move to collect the tax but negotiate with the tribes.

Paterson's new cigarette, sugared drink taxes could affect Elmira residents' spending habits

2010-01-25T13:55:00.000+02:00

As part of his budget plan, Gov. David Paterson wants to increase the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1 and add a penny tax per fluid ounce of sugared drinks.
Local residents spending part of Saturday afternoon in downtown Elmira expressed mixed reactions to the governor's plan.
Some, like Peter Recktenwald, admit that the increase could coax them to change their consumer habits.
Recktenwald, who recently moved to Elmira, said he has already experienced higher taxes at his new home, and he intends to buy less sugared beverages and quit smoking as a result of the plan.
The taxes will only hurt the poor, he said, explaining that those who can still afford the products will continue to buy just as much.
Among those who would be unaffected by the new taxes is Matt Bryant, who said any increase in cost won't change his buying habits for soft drinks.
Bryant quit smoking a few months ago, just in time to escape the proposed tax hike on cigarettes.
Non-smokers Mike and Sue Harris also said the taxes wouldn't affect their buying habits, but added that they don't purchase enough sugared drinks to notice the change.

Jefferson City Considers Smoke Free Ordinance

2010-01-21T14:40:00.000+02:00

Although several businesses in Jefferson City have banned smoking on their property, one anti-smoking coalition does not believe it's enough to keep the air clean.
The 'Smokefree Jefferson City' coalition gave the city council a report on Tuesday that showed how hazardous exposure to secondhand smoke is. The report contains results from a recent study the University of Missouri conducted. The coalition hopes the report will cause the city council to seriously consider an ordinance. Jefferson City is one of six remaining state capitals without a smoke-free ordinance.
The results showed places that allow smoking contain high levels of fine particulate matter (PM) pollution, which is harmful to the lungs. The study found the average PM level for public places that allowed smoking was almost sixteen times higher than the PM levels for smoke free places. Researchers also found that only two smoked cigarettes in a public place raises the PM levels to a hazardous level.
Coalition member Felicia Poettgen said a smoke-free ordinance not only cleans up the air, but it also helps decrease heart problems.
"The scientific evidence is consistent," said Poettgen. "There is a causal relationship between secondhand smoke and heart disease. We encourage our city council to consider a policy for smoke free workplaces and public places as a compelling, yet simple way to reduce heart attacks in our community."
One city council member said passing a smoke-free ordinance would not be an extreme decision but rather a logical step in the right direction.
"When you go to a restaurant, you expect clean water," said city councilwoman Carrie Carroll. "You expect your food to be safe to eat and cooked to a certain temperature. So when I look at clean water and food, clean air is just a part of that. It's part of the whole environment."
The report is only the first step in the process of presenting an ordinance. Poettgen said the coalition will officially present the ordinance sometime in the spring. Until then, city council members will hold meetings to more thoroughly discuss the issues surrounding an ordinance.

Californian pleads guilty in Blue Stilly tobacco tax scheme

2010-01-18T11:19:00.000+02:00

A California-based cigarette broker has admitted his part in a $20 million scheme to sell contraband cigarettes to the Blue Stilly Smoke Shop on the Stillaguamish Reservation.
Rick Conn pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to traffic in contraband cigarettes and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. He admitted that he brokered a cigarette deal between Cowlitz Candy and Tobacco and the Arlington smoke shop.
Prosecutors allege that the Cowlitz Candy illegally sold untaxed cigarettes to the Blue Stilly.
The shop was owned by Ed and Linda Goodridge, their son Eddie Goodridge Jr., and a relative, Sara Schroedl.
Authorities believe the Goodridges were able to avoid paying more than $20 million in cigarette taxes by faking invoices and disguising the ownership of the shipments.
The Goodridges were on the tribal council when they took over operation of the shop.
They were sentenced to prison in March and were ordered to pay more than $25 million that should have gone to Washington state through tobacco taxes.
Conn and two other co-conspirators are scheduled to be sentenced April 16.

Teacher sacked after handing cigarettes to pupils... who were being punished for smoking

2010-01-11T13:03:00.000+02:00

A teacher lost her job after admitting giving cigarettes to pupils while supervising them in the ‘naughty room’ after they had been caught smoking.
Jane Eccles handed them to a boy, who could be as young as 13, and a girl of at least 15 years of age after claiming the ‘confrontational’ children had ‘bullied’ her.
But after bosses at the top secondary Sir Christopher Hatton School in Wellington, Northamptonshire found out, the 60-year-old was fired.However, Mrs Eccles, who smokes herself, avoided being struck from the national register after a disciplinary case was heard at the General Teaching Council (GTC) in Birmingham.
Colin Hinds, business manager at the foundation school, said: ‘This was an extraordinary and isolated case, the likes of which the school has never seen in its history.
‘Our parents rightly expect school staff to be the best possible role models for their children.
‘Parents should be reassured, not only by the swift and appropriate action the school has taken in this case, but also by the high standards of care and professionalism which our dedicated team of staff exhibit every day and which must be maintained.’
Mrs Eccles had been appointed supervisor of the School Exclusion (ISE) Room, where pupils caught smoking are taught in isolation for two days, in September 2007.
But less than year after landing the role, she succumbed to pressure by children sent there and handed out cigarettes.
She gave one to a boy in Year 9, which spans the ages of 13 and 14, and another, on a separate occasion, to a girl in year 11, in which pupils are aged between 15 and 16.Neither student was named nor any ages provided.
Mrs Eccles said that the male pupil involved had threatened her with violence unless she handed over a smoke.
‘The lad was very confrontational and I was frightened for my safety,’ she told the GTC panel.
‘I was on my own with this boy when he became threatening. He was a real handful, and I gave him the cigarette.
‘When he was caught smoking it, he told them he had got it from me.‘During a hearing with the school I did explain that the child had become confrontational, but I was still dismissed.’
The second incident, involving the Year 11 girl, also came to light during the investigations.
Mrs Eccles admitted: ‘The female pupil asked for a cigarette so I did give one to her. There was no threatening behaviour on her part.’
The teacher, who lives in Kettering, Northamptonshire, insisted that she had only given both students cigarettes on one occasion, despite the GTC committee finding that she had done so ‘at least half a dozen times’.
She added: ‘The whole ordeal has made me very ill and I have had to seek counselling.
‘As a result of this I joined MIND, the Mental Health organisation, and have since been working for it. I have given up teaching and wouldn’t like to set foot in a school again.’
A GTC statement said: ‘At an investigatory interview, Mrs Eccles admitted, and the Committee finds, that she had supplied to two pupils from Years 9 and 11 on approximately half a dozen occasions, with cigarettes and matches while on the school premises.
‘The Committee also finds that Mrs Eccles was aware of the law regarding the supply of cigarettes to minors and the terms of the School’s no-smoking policy.’
The GTC issued Mrs Eccles with a reprimand which will remain on the register for two years.

Davao City seeking ways to discourage cigarette sales

2010-01-05T11:02:00.000+02:00

The city council plans to amend its anti-smoking ordinance to make it more difficult for people to buy cigarettes.
Among the proposals is to ban retailing cigarettes per stick, as well as on selling these on the streets, Councilor Peter T. Lavina said. This, he added, should make it difficult especially for the poor to spend their money on so-called sin products.
But the councilor said the city council would also look for ways to cushion the impact of low cigarette sales on affected street vendors.
He said a hearing would be set with these vendors, among other affected parties, noting that big retailers have already stated opposing the proposal.
"We need to listen to everyone on the issue," he said, adding that retailers had opposed the city’s 2002 ordinance banning smoking in public places such as restaurants and popular venues for meetings and leisure.
Establishments that want to have smoking areas must provide for enclosed areas and must not expose employees to smoke.

Ballarat doctors support smoke price rise plan

2009-12-29T15:59:00.000+02:00

SMOKERS could soon be sacrificing a lot more than their lungs if a new proposal by Victorian doctors to nearly double the price of cigarettes is given the go-ahead.
Sick of the enormous strain smoking-related illness places on the state's health system, the Australian Medical Association Victoria has put a world-first plan to Health Minister Daniel Andrews, proposing the price of a packet of smokes be boosted to $20.
AMA Victoria president Dr Harry Hemley said doctors believed hitting smokers in the hip pocket was the only effective way to see a marked decrease in smoking, the state's leading cause of preventable death.
"We think that given all that's been tried, this definitely will be the single most important thing to prevent people from smoking," he said.
"The unit of cost has proven over and over again the most discouraging thing to smokers."
Under the radical new proposal, Dr Hemley said tobacco vendors would have to be licensed to sell cigarettes, a move the AMA Victoria believes would significantly reduce sales to minors, and extra funds gained from cigarette sales would be poured back into the hospital system.
It would raise the cost of smokes by 10 cents a cigarette in July 2010, 15 cents in 2011 and another 20 cents in July 2012.
Dr Hemley said though AMA Victoria was not of the opinion it would drastically increase the numbers of smokers giving up, it would go a long way to stopping people taking up the highly addictive habit in the first place.
"Minors would be the ones most effected by the transaction levy, making them less likely to buy," he said.
"We want a new generation who don't smoke.
"The tobacco transaction levy would net the Government $3 billion over four years, which would more than fix a lot of problems with the state budget and the burden of disease associated with smoking."
Ballarat and District Division of General Practice chief executive officer Andrew McPherson said most doctors would welcome an push to cut smoking rates.

£3,000 worth of cigarettes stolen from Windermere supermarket

2009-12-23T13:22:00.001+02:00

RAIDERS broke into Booths supermarket in Windermere shortly after midnight on December 15 and took off with £3,000 worth of cigarettes.
Police said that the offenders spent about five minutes in the store on Victoria Street while the alarm was activated and believe they made off in a car.

Golden Tobacco sparkles on property development plan

2009-12-22T11:07:00.000+02:00

The announcement was made after trading hours on Monday, 21 December 2009.Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 111.95 points, or 0.67%, to 16,713.15.
On BSE, 25,720 shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 46,735 shares in the past one quarter.
The stock hit a high of Rs 114.80 and a low of Rs 110 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 126.55 on 17 November 2009 and a 52-week low of Rs 36 on 9 March 2009.
The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 21 December 2009, falling 4.83% as compared to the Sensex's 2.47% decline. It outperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 9.45% as against 0.84% fall in the Sensex.
The small-cap cigarette maker has a current equity capital of Rs 17.60 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.
The current price of Rs 110.75 discounts the company's Q2 September 2009 annualised EPS of Rs 0.27, by a PE multiple of 410.
The board also approved a proposal for development, or sale of properties at Andheri (Mumbai), Hyderabad and Guntur. The company will hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on 18 January 2010 to take shareholders' approval.
On 24 September 2008, Golden Tobacco's board of directors had approved a demerger of realty business in into a separate company. Shareholders will get one equity share in the new company for each share held in the existing company.
Golden Tobacco's net profit slumped 92.70% to Rs 0.12 crore on 20% rise in net sales to Rs 29.99 crore in Q2 September 2009 over Q2 September 2008.
Golden Tobacco manufactures and markets cigarettes and processed tobacco. The company makes various categories of cigarettes, namely full flavor, lights, ultra lights, menthol, menthol lights and extra menthol lights.
Promoters have pledged 5.28 lakh shares representing 3% of the equity capital of the company. The total promoter shareholding in the company is 27.19% (as on 30 September 2009).

Rapper jailed in cigarette thefts

2009-12-21T11:04:00.000+02:00

Authorities say a New Orleans man who rapped under the stage name T.T. Tucker has been booked in the theft of almost $20,000 worth of cigarettes in Meraux and New Orleans.
The Times-Picayune reports police are looking for two more suspects.
St. Bernard Parish sheriff's deputies say 41-year-old Kevin Ventry was arrested Monday.
Deputies say Ventry is accused of the Dec. 5 theft of $8,000 worth of cigarettes from the Meraux Pit Stop and a 2008 burglary in New Orleans in which $10,000 worth of cigarettes were stolen.
In the Meraux heist, deputies say nearly 200 cartons of cigarettes and a case of premium whiskey were reported stolen from the store's storage area while the store was open for business.

Cigarettes mutate smokers' genes

2009-12-21T11:02:00.000+02:00

The Independent reports that smoking 15 cigarettes can cause a genetic mutation. Describing a new study that attempts to map the tumor-causing mutations, the article identifies the first documentation of "all of the mutations acquired during the lifetime of a cancer patient."
By studying the cancer patients' genomes, scientists hope to figure out the cause of cancer (in other words, what makes a healthy cell become a tumorous cell) and, thus, ways to successfully treat the disease. The article references research done on a lung-cancer victim who had DNA mutations linked to toxins from cigarette smoke and another patient with skin cancer who had mutations caused by sunlight.
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, U.K., performed the research, called the Cancer Genome Project. They hope to decode the entire DNA sequence for a tumor cell to better identify the mutations. The Independent cites researcher Dr. Peter Campbell, who says his study has identified some specific mutations caused by cigarette toxins. "We can say that one mutation is fixed in the genome for every 15 cigarettes smoked," he says. His research sequenced the cancer cell genomes 60 times and compared it to the map of a healthy cell from the same patient.
The successful gene maps allow the scientists to investigate the history of the tumor cells, pointing to specific "imprints of ... environmental mutagens [mutation-causing agents] on DNA." In other words, for the first time, the researchers can look to the specific causes of these prevalent cancers and better inform their research of treatment and prevention.

Woman scares off would-be store robber with gun

2009-12-18T09:44:00.000+02:00

It started off as a simple request for a cigarette. It ended with a would-be convenience store robber fleeing after the clerk retrieved her gun, the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office said.
About 8:47 a.m. Wednesday, a man entered the Country Corner Store at 3370 Price Grange Road near Eden and asked for a cigarette.
Tivis Smith, 68, was about to oblige. But as she opened a pack of cigarettes, the man demanded she "give it up or I'll shoot you," according to the sheriff's office.
Smith refused. She retrieved her firearm and displayed it, prompting the man to flee on foot on Price Grange Road toward Stoneville, the sheriff's office said.

Higher taxes on tobacco, more access to healthy food needed in Oklahoma

2009-12-14T14:27:00.000+02:00

A report released Thursday on making the state healthier recommends increasing taxes on tobacco, improving access to healthy food choices and encouraging the building of more sidewalks and bike trails.
The Oklahoma Health Improvement Plan focuses on tobacco use, obesity and children's health. It also makes recommendations for improving access to medical care.
The plan was mandated by the Legislature in 2008 through Senate Joint Resolution 41.
The resolution directed the State Board of Health to prepare a report tat outlines a plan for the improvement of physical, social and mental well-being.
"Current national state health rankings place Oklahoma at 49th," State Board of Health President Barry Smith said. "We find this unacceptable.
"We recognize that Oklahomans face a variety of barriers to good health due to poverty, lack of insurance, limited access to primary care, and risky personal health behaviors associated with diet, physical activity and smoking."
If Oklahoma matched the national average in health indicators, about 5,320 Oklahoman lives would be saved every year, Smith said.
Each pack of cigarettes costs the state's economy $7.62 in medical costs and lost productivity, according to the report.
The report recommends extending state law to eliminate smoking in all indoor public places and workplaces, except private residences. It also recommends increasing the number of tribes that voluntarily eliminate commercial tobacco
abuse in tribally owned or operated worksites, including casinos.
"Sixty-five percent of Oklahoma adults are either overweight or obese, and 31 percent of Oklahoma youth are either overweight or at risk of being overweight," the report said.
The report recommends health-related fitness testing in all public schools. It also calls for incentives for grocery stores or farmers markets to locate in underserved areas.
In the area of children's health, the report recommends increasing preconception care; minimizing prenatal sexually transmitted diseases; increasing the number of women who receive prenatal care in the first trimester; and minimizing unintended pregnancies.

Cigarette haul worth £7,500 taken from Martin's

2009-11-30T14:51:00.000+02:00

CIGARETTES worth more than £7,500 have been stolen from a newsagents in Canute Place.
The burglars broke into Martin’s via the roof in the early hours of Thursday, November 19, and as well as stealing the cigarettes an amount of cash was also taken.
When the Guardian contacted Martin’s they were unavailable to comment on the incident.
Sgt Andy Preece, from Knutsford neighbourhood policing team, said: “The investigation is still on going but we are confident that we may get some where.
“We are waiting for CCTV from the shop and although the system was having problems we are hopeful that it has still been recorded.”

Price of beer soon to rise as govt re-imposes ad-valorem tax

2009-11-27T10:58:00.000+02:00

Government is considering re-imposing ad-valorem tax on alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as on tobacco products.This means the prices of these products could soon go up.
Excise duty on these products is fixed, but with the re-introduction of the ad-valorem tax, a percentage will be charged on the ex-factory price of each item.
This implies that the amount paid as tax could go up when the product price goes up.
Government says it is bringing back the ad-valorem tax because a study it carried out over a 10-year-period shows the State is losing money by not imposing specific taxes on these products.Although government is yet to come out with the percentage it intends to charge, businesses are already expressing displeasure over the new move.

Map Togo to ban smoking in public

2009-11-23T17:13:00.001+02:00

Togo is considering a bill to ban smoking in public. The Ministry of Health of the West African country said tobacco related deaths in the country has reached alarming proportions and it is about time it saves its citizens. Smoking prevalence in the tiny country is 31.3% and civil society organizations are helping to save the situation.
A representative of the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Sadjo-Hetsi Dzrevon said: “Tobacco has killed a lot of people in Togo that is why the ministry of health is concerned and working with NGOs to stop this dangerous trend”.
The National Alliance of Consumers and Environment of Togo said in a document: “Tobacco consumption is spreading more and more, especially among the youth. The tobacco industry is increasingly directing its harmful advertising toward young people by sponsoring youth oriented cultural activities. Even though the state has banned tobacco advertising in public and private media, the advertising still exists in many forms in Togo.”
At the moment there is an ongoing legislative process on tobacco control which is expected to culminate into a national legal document that will support the promotion and implementation of the framework convention on tobacco control.
“If these documents are adopted by the legislators it will strengthen existing structures on the ground and also provide a more reliable data on tobacco control in the country.
“Before now we have no consistent data on Tobacco control, with this situational analysis document, we now have a document that we can rely on, we now have a guide that will help us to work on policies. The document is very important for stakeholders working on tobacco control issues in Togo,” Dr. told AfricaNews reporter in Lome.He said: “At the ministry of health we are happy that there is now a reference document that will guide legislation and necessary action on tobacco control.”

Remember ‘blue seal’ cigarettes

2009-11-20T11:44:00.000+02:00

A SWISS company is proposing to put in place a system where tax stamps will be affixed on every pack of cigarette and every bottle of liquor to raise more revenues for the government.
The company, SICPA, wants to make it appear affixing stamps on highly taxable goods is a fool-proof way of curbing smuggling and tax evasion by manufacturers. The reality is that it is selling a fraudulent bill of goods.
It’s only about 20 years now that cigarettes and liquor have been free of the green BIR stamp on every pack and bottle (imported liquor still carries the strips). The rationale for doing away with the strips was that they constituted additional cost to consumers and that it was far more simple to just monitor the withdrawals of cigarettes and alcohol products from the manufacturing plants.
Also, tax strips proved to be ineffective in curbing smuggling which the system originally was meant to combat. Remember "blue seal" cigarettes? The term was derived from the color of the manufacturers’ stamps at the top of the pack. Over the manufacturers’ strips, BIR stamps were supposed to be laid to show tax had been paid.
SICPA claims its stamps cannot be counterfeited. In this land of fake peso bills, diplomas, passports and even visas, does SICPA really want us to believe its stamps could not be faked? Even a reasonable facsimile would do as in the previous experience with BIR stamps. The BIR stamps, it will be recalled, were also printed in security paper with watermark. A close look at the genuine BIR stamps and the fakes would show which was which. But to repeat, this did not discourage the smugglers.
But the biggest objection to the SICPA proposal is that it will raise prices by an estimated P1.50 a pack, a cost that will be passed on to consumers. Out of that P1.50, about P1 will go to the government and P0.50 to SICPA.
Given that kind of sharing, why does not the government simply increase the specific tax on cigarettes across-the-board by P1 a pack? The government collects the same revenues. The consumer gets a P0.50 break.
The only loser would be SICPA and, presumably, its sponsors who are ramming the proposal down the throat of the BIR.

Fatal fire blamed on cigarettes

2009-11-17T10:41:00.001+02:00

A 50-year-old man has died after an early morning house fire in Stranraer in the south west of Scotland.
The blaze in the ground floor bedsit broke out at about 0530 GMT in Corsewall Crescent.
Dumfries and Galloway firefighters required breathing apparatus and managed to recover a man from the house, but he failed to survive.
Investigators later blamed the fire on discarded smoking materials which lit combustible materials in the house.

Tobacco Warehouse Has Second Fire In 2 Days

2009-11-13T15:44:00.000+02:00

- Fire officials along with the Kentucky State Police are investigating two fires that happened over the weekend in Maysville.
The fires took place on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon at a former tobacco warehouse on Elizabeth Street.
The Maysville Fire Department, Lewisburg Volunteer Fire Department and Maysville-Washington volunteer fire department were dispatched to both fires.
When firecrews arrived at the scene they discovered heavy smoke coming from the building.
A Maysville firefighter says Sunday's fire started in the basement of the building.
Fire chief, Eric Bach says he would consider the fires suspicious, but they are still determining if it was arson. An arson investigator and state police officials are trying to determine the cause of the blazes.
There were no reports of injuries.

Light cigarettes will not help you quit, study says

2009-11-10T15:48:00.000+02:00

Don't light up that Marlboro Light assuming it's a good way to start weaning yourself off cigarettes.
People who switch to "light" cigarettes are 50 percent less likely to stop smoking than people who puff away on standard brands, according to a new report in the journal Tobacco Control.
Many people believe light cigarettes are healthier than regular smokes, even though they're not, said Dr. Hilary Tindle, lead author and an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. So when people shift to light brands they may lose motivation.
Also, it's possible that people who switch are "hardened" smokers who haven't been successful at giving up their habits in other ways, she said.
The study analyzed data from a government-sponsored survey of more than 31,000 smokers. Thirty-eight percent had switched to light cigarettes, and of that group, 43 percent said they'd changed because they wanted to stop smoking, among other reasons.
People who switched were more likely to try to quit than those who didn't (51 percent versus 41 percent), but less likely to actually stop smoking (9 percent versus 17 percent).
Cigarette-makers don't disagree. "Light cigarettes will not help you quit smoking," said Bill Phelps, a spokesman for Altria Group Inc., which owns Philip Morris USA, maker of Marlboro Light. "People concerned about the health effects of smoking should quit altogether. There is no safe cigarette."

Reynolds raising cigarette prices

2009-11-10T15:47:00.000+02:00

A decline in demand is not keeping R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. from raising the list price on its cigarette brands by 6 cents or 8 cents a pack for wholesale customers.
The price increase, announced yesterday, will take effect Monday.
David Howard, a spokesman for Reynolds, said that the company doesn’t comment on its pricing strategy, but the decision comes five days after Philip Morris USA announced a price increase of 6 cents a pack, which went into effect yesterday.
Reynolds is raising list prices less than a week after reporting that its cigarette-shipment volume fell 11 percent in the third quarter to 20.6 billion cigarettes. Reynolds said that the industry decline was 12.6 percent.
Howard said that the list price is increasing 6 cents a pack for its growth brands - Camel and Pall Mall - and also for Doral, GPC, Kool, Misty, Salem and Winston. All but GPC are considered as support brands.
The list price is being raised 8 cents a pack for its other brands, which include Capri, Eclipse, Lucky Strike, More and Vantage.
Charles Norton, the portfolio manager of the USA Mutuals Vice Fund, said that Reynolds is likely to be able to sustain the third price increase related to its cigarettes since September 2007.
In March, Reynolds raised the list price in the range of 41 cents to 78 cents a pack for wholesale customers, including 41 cents to 44 cents for most of its growth and support brands.
The increase was in response to Congress passing the 62-cent increase in the federal excise tax to pay for expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. That tax increase went into effect April 1.
In September 2007, Reynolds raised its cigarette prices by a range of 5 cents to 15 cents a pack, including 15 cents for Camel.
“Strong pricing power is one of the underpinnings of our positive view of tobacco, which is a much more important driver of earnings than volume,“ Norton said.
Reynolds said in its third-quarter report that it had a slight market-share drop in cigarettes to 28.2 percent. The market share for Camel, the lead Reynolds cigarette brand, dipped slightly to 7.7 percent. Pall Mall’s market share was at 5 percent, up 2.3 percentage points from a year ago.
A temporary price discount in the spring on Pall Mall attracted smokers wanting to spend less on cigarettes in the recession. Even after the discount ended in May and prices were raised to counter the excise-tax increases, Pall Mall maintained a higher market share.
The company began another discount promotion for Pall Mall on Oct. 5.
Reynolds also raised its full-year earnings projections last week to a range of $4.60 to $4.70 a share - from $4.40 to $4.60 - as a sign of confidence in its strategies.

Man charged with stealing computer, cigarettes

2009-11-09T13:00:00.001+02:00

An Iowa City man has been arrested on charges for participating in several thefts and burglaries, including stealing 350 packs of cigarettes from a Tiffin store.
Eli James Vargason, 18, 1112 Hotz Ave., was charged with third-degree theft, possession of marijuana and drunken driving after he was pulled over for an expired registration about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. According to the arrest reports, police found a computer case with a mini laptop computer inside that had been reported stolen from a Tiffin man and marijuana.He was then considered a suspect in other ongoing burglary investigations, including an Oct. 31 break-in at the Casey's General Store in Tiffin in which Vargason allegedly smashed the front glass door and took about 350 packs of cigarettes, police said. He was charged with third-degree burglary for that break-in, police said.Vargason remained Friday in the Johnson County Jail on a $16,000 cash bond.

Compliance rates on tobacco sting too low: P.E.I.

2009-11-05T15:11:00.000+02:00

P.E.I. is planning to toughen the rules for retailers who repeatedly get caught selling cigarettes to minors.The change was prompted by a near record number of stores nabbed during recent compliance checks. Forty-two retailers received a warning, and four more were fined.
The Health Department has been criticized in the past by the Canadian Cancer Society for being too lenient. Retailers only get a warning the first time if they're caught, and a $250 fine if they're caught again. The slate is wiped clean for everyone every three months.
Joe Bradley, manager of environmental health for the province, told CBC News Wednesday the latest results show there's a need to get tougher with repeat offenders.
"We're disappointed. There's no question the compliance on this particular round is probably 80 per cent or a little below 80 per cent, and that's the lowest that we've seen in some time," said Bradley.
"A retailer that has been issued a fine probably would be considered high risk in the future. We're still working on this and we hope to have it finalized within the next couple of weeks or so."
Bradley said retailers will be notified about the changes. He expects new legislation to be in place by Jan. 1.

Tobacco prices distort competition

2009-11-02T16:49:00.000+02:00

Ireland’s policy of setting a minimum price on tobacco products distorts competition, a legal advisor to Europe’s highest court has said.
In the case of Commission of the European Communities versus Ireland, the Advocate General said binding prices restricted manufacturers’ freedom to set prices, thereby posing a risk to free competition.
The opinion of the Advocate General is not a final judgement, although the court generally follows it 80 per cent of the time.
The European Commission took Ireland to Europe’s highest court in 2008 over its policy of setting a minimum price on tobacco products to protect public health.
Under an agreement with the Irish Tobacco Manufacturers' Advisory Committee, the Department of Health has a minimum price for 20 cigarettes of about €1.30. This was set using information on volume sales supplied by the tobacco companies for filtered and unfiltered cigarettes.
The Government says the agreement with the tobacco manufacturers was made for the primary purpose of preventing low-cost selling of tobacco products in Ireland.
By setting a minimum retail price for a packet of 20 cigarettes it undermines the ability of retailers to provide special cut- price offers on certain brands. Price control is also seen as a viable way to protect children from becoming addicted to cigarettes and to encourage existing smokers to quit, according to the Department of Health.
In his legal assessment of the arguments the Advocate General said “increases in excise duties are therefore a less intrusive measure than minimum prices, which are thus not necessary”.
A statement issued by cigarette company John Player & Sons today aid “while we don’t oppose the Commission’s view that tobacco manufacturers should have the freedom to determine retail prices for their products, the fact remains that the real minimum price for 20 cigarettes in Ireland is the street price of €4 - €5 euro due to widespread illegal cigarette selling.
This greatly incentivises criminals by giving them huge margins while denying Government badly needed revenues. 1 in 4 cigarettes smoked in Ireland today is not even bought in an Irish shop”.

Halifax County Schools seeing red in fight against drug and tobacco use

2009-10-30T12:43:00.000+02:00

HALIFAX — Students, teachers and administrators came together during this week to say “Drugs are not authorized in My Space” in the Halifax County School District. They did this by wearing red ribbons and Doris Thompson, Southeast Halifax High School’s program coordinator, was excited about her school’s activities. “We (the district) combined Tobacco Reality Unfiltered (TRU) with the Red Ribbon activities and called them our TRU/Red Ribbon Week,” she said.
Thompson said Southeast kicked off activities Monday with the Teens Against Tobacco Use (TATU) members releasing 25 red balloons in the senior courtyard.
She said other activities include renewals of pledges to remain tobacco and drug free, “Because tobacco is a drug, too,” she said. Students also received red wrist bands, Wednesday. Later this week they receive “Smarties” candy to remind them to “Be Smarties. Don’t use tobacco and drugs.”
While all schools in the district participated on some level, the high schools seemed most involved in the activities. Students at Northwest wore red ribbons or dressed in red Wednesday to celebrate being drug and tobacco free. They hung red ribbons in the halls and on doors, and participated in other activities.
Ebony Hamiel a senior at Northwest Halifax High School said being drug and tobacco free gives her feelings of self respect and self worth. “Being drug free helps me think better,” she said. She said she believes people can get further in life and have a better outlook on life if they stay drug free.
Raven Lee agreed. “Drugs aren’t good for you. I plan to go far in life, so I plan to stay drug free. Also, I’m part of TATU.
MATCH administrative assistant and coordinator of many of the districts events, Regina Lewis said there are lots of good reasons for schools to celebrate and encourage students to be drug and tobacco free. She also said there’s a history involved in the nationwide observance.
In a news release, Lewis noted the observance stemmed from the March 1985 slaying of federal narcotics agent Enrique Camarena in California. “A letter was circulated across the country calling for Americans to unite in their commitment to work to reduce the demand for illegal drugs in their communities. The red ribbon would be a symbol of their commitment,” she said.
This year Oct. 26-30 is Red Ribbon Week across America. “Americans are asked to come to a greater understanding of the threat to their society in terms of lost potential, more violence, and the impact on our quality of life,” said Lewis.
Lewis said watching the destructiveness of drugs is disheartening. “Although in the years since 1985, much has been done to increase awareness, to educate our young people, and to reduce the demand for drugs ... We must remind ourselves that there is such justice in our cause that it can be embraced and supported by millions. We should continue to be uplifted by every red ribbon we see, united in our purpose.”

Contraband cigarettes are a menace to our kids

2009-10-28T14:28:00.000+02:00

The unchecked proliferation of contraband cigarettes in Canada is undermining government efforts to curb smoking, especially among youngsters.
A study made public this month said contraband cigarettes are gaining rapidly in popularity, at the expense of regular taxed cigarettes, among high-school students.
No wonder. The illicit ones are cheaper, and there's no pesky enforcement of age limits.
This study was, it's true, financed by two groups that are losing money to contraband: big tobacco firms and store owners. But that doesn't disprove the findings, such as that almost half of butts found on or near school grounds come from contraband smokes.
This black and grey market urgently needs to be brought under control, and not only because of the problem of sales to kids. Lost tax revenue, to Ottawa and to the provinces is another reason to clamp down. There's also the problem of systematic disrespect for the law.
But the most urgent problem, we think, involves young people. Research says that the younger a person is when he or she starts smoking, the more likely tobacco addiction becomes, with everything that implies about long-term health concerns.
Tobacco-related illness costs Canada more than $4 billion a year. We don't need a new generation of smokers to add to an already grim toll of disease and early, preventable death.
In recent years, governments have worked to make it as difficult as possible for minors to get their hands on cigarettes. Store-owners are liable to hefty fines if they are found selling tobacco to anyone under 18.
Ratcheting up the price through taxes is another weapon governments have used to stop youngsters from smoking. It's a tactic that worked like a charm -- until contraband tobacco flooded the market.
In the brief, halcyon period when Canada cracked down hard on illicit cigarettes, between 1982 and 1992, smoking among minors plunged by an impressive 60 per cent. It took a 500-per-cent jump in taxes to put cigarettes out of kids' financial reach. But in 1994, Canada dropped tobacco taxes in an effort to stop the illicit tobacco trade. Consumption went right back up, and the damage to a generation rose with it.
High taxes do not automatically lead to a jump in contraband tobacco use, according to Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada. The western provinces had the highest provincial tobacco taxes in 2008, and the lowest percentage of contraband cigarettes. That's because Western Canada has less access than Ontario and Quebec do to sources of cheap contraband smokes. Quebec and Ontario tobacco taxes were far lower, but contraband took up a far bigger slice of the pie.
The solution is the same as it has always been: enforcement. All that's missing is political will.

Display ban on tobacco 'benefiting criminals'

2009-10-26T11:22:00.000+02:00

A BAN on displaying tobacco products in stores is putting money from tills straight into the pockets of criminals, shopkeepers claimed yesterday.
Retailers Against Smuggling (RAS) said cigarettes sales had fallen dramatically in recent months, with the black market fuelling job losses and costing the industry hundreds of millions of euro.
It maintained cigarette sales can be as high as 40 per cent of a retailer’s annual turnover.
William Hanley, RAS spokesman, said the Office of Tobacco Control’s (OTC) point-of-sale ban had practically wiped out the legal tobacco trade.
“Criminals are costing our industry hundreds of millions every year and we are staring down the barrel of thousands of job losses throughout the country,” said Mr Hanley. “Sales have fallen dramatically since 1st July.”
The point-of-sale display ban came into force in July, with shop-owners caught flouting the law facing a fine of €3,000 or six months in prison.
The OTC, which maintained it was a pioneering move to prevent underage smoking, recently revealed 97 per cent of shops were complying with the law.
Revenue’s Customs Service recently revealed it has seized cigarettes with a retail value of about €30.5 million so far this year.

Clerk cited in underaged tobacco sale

2009-10-22T13:19:00.000+03:00

GENEVA – A gas station clerk was charged with selling tobacco to a person under age 18 as part of a compliance check of tobacco venders, police said.
Hina J. Patel, 38, of the 800 block of Bode Road, Elgin, was charged, Wednesday, Oct. 14, with making the sale at Geneva Shell, 1491 E. State St., police said. The compliance check occurred Oct. 7.
Police Cmdr. Julie Nash said the undercover compliance check was done at 12 establishments in the city that sell tobacco. Police rely on an underaged person whose ID shows he or she is underage to purchase tobacco. In Illinois, the legal age to buy tobacco is 18.
All but the clerk at Geneva Shell refused to sell, Nash said.
"We do this for the very obvious reasons of the dangers of smoking," Nash said. "And it's our attempt to help those who don't always make the best decisions for themselves, to keep them safe. And to make sure businesses are only selling tobacco to those old enough to make the appropriate decisions. It's about looking out for the kids."
The undercover compliance checks are similar to those done at liquor establishments to see if an underaged person will be served or sold to. But what is different is, the charge goes to the person who sold, not to the owner of the establishment. In the case of a liquor violation, the seller can be charged as well as the person who holds the liquor license.
"We are only citing the person who sold he cigarettes," Nash said. "We have never actually cited businesses before. I don't know why that is, but it definitely should be looked into."
According to police reports, the teen working with police asked to buy a pack of Newport cigarettes. Patel asked to see identification, examined it and then sold the pack of Newports for $7.02, to the undercover teen, according to the report.
Patel told police she miscalculated the birthday on the identification, according to the police report.
A spokesman for the gas station said Patel no longer works there. A message left for a manager was not returned Wednesday. Patel has an unlisted phone number and could not be reached for comment. She is to appear in court Nov. 17.

Lawmakers question tobacco firms over ban on flavored cigarettes

2009-10-19T13:15:00.000+03:00

Two members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to two tobacco distributors regarding reports the companies were attempting to circumvent the Food and Drug Administration ban on the sale of certain flavored cigarettes.
Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D, Calif.) and Rep. Bart Stupak (D, Mich.) wrote Kretek International in Moorpark, Calif., and Cheyenne International in Grover, N.C., and addressed concerns that both companies had repackaged their flavored cigarettes as filtered or "little" cigars.
On Sept. 22, the FDA, under authority of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, banned sales of most flavored cigarettes.

Stop-Smoking Vaccine in the Works

2009-10-13T14:52:00.000+03:00

MONDAY, Oct. 12 (HealthDay News) -- The National Institute on Drug Abuse has given a $10 million grant to a Maryland company to help it in the final phases of research regarding a possible anti-nicotine vaccine.
Nabi Biopharmaceuticals of Rockville will launch a phase III study of a potential vaccine called NicVAX. The study, which could be the last step of research if the vaccine works, represents the most advanced investigation of a smoking-cessation vaccine.
The vaccine is designed to help people quit smoking and not relapse. According to a statement by institute director Dr. Nora D. Volkow, the vaccine has received "fast track" designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and has survived a successful "proof-of-concept" study.
There's no guarantee that the study will prove that the vaccine works, nor is it clear whether it will get federal approval if it does. But researchers are hopeful.
The vaccine works by making the immune system kick into action when it detects nicotine. The idea is that antibodies will bond to nicotine molecules and prevent them from entering the brain, where they give smokers the high that they crave.
Study results are preliminary so far, but they suggest that smokers who develop high levels of the antibodies in their bodies are most likely to quit for good. Researchers reported few side effects.
They expect that the vaccine will be effective for six to 12 months after it is given.
In the United States, tobacco use is linked to 400,000 deaths a year, according to background information.

3 Held After Break-In

2009-10-09T14:03:00.001+03:00

Three Warsaw men are in custody after allegedly burglarizing the Murphy Oil Co. station near Walmart early this morning.
According a report from the Warsaw Police Department, the Murphy Oil Co., 2500 Walton Boulevard, Warsaw, was burglarized around 2 a.m. today.
A truck driver, who was delivering fuel to the station, which was closed at the time of the incident, reportedly saw the men break a window at the business and take several items from the store, including cigarettes, lottery tickets and cash.
Warsaw Police Officer Brandon Zartman stopped a vehicle near the intersection of Airport Road and CR 350N, and found three men who reportedly had items from the store in their vehicle.
Christopher D. Spangle, 24, Dale William Stamper, 21, and Nicholas Daniel Hall, 18, were arrested and booked into the Kosciusko County jail on charges of burglary to a business, theft from a business, aiding and abetting or inducing a burglary. Hall also was charged with possession/consumption of alcohol by a minor. All three men are being held on $5,000 bond.
Two of the three men reportedly have confessed to the crime; however, police have not said which two admitted to the burglary.
The incident remains under investigation by the Warsaw Police Department.

Tobacco Disappears From Health Law

2009-10-07T15:18:00.000+03:00

A section regulating tobacco as an addictive substance in the newly passed Health Law has been removed despite approvals from the legislative and executive branch, a former lawmaker has revealed on Wednesday.
Hakim Sorimuda Pohan, a former member of the drafting committee of the health law who was no longer elected for the 2009-2014 term said on Wednesday during a discussion on “Corruption on Health Law” in Jakarta, that Section 2 of Article 113 could not be found in the final document at the House of Representatives.
The missing section was written as follow: ”Addictive substance as referred in section (1) includes tobacco; solid, liquid, and gas products that contain tobacco which are addictive and could harm its users and or their immediate surroundings.”
Hakim said the change could come from the legislative or the executive branch and said the Health Department have denied any knowledge about the change. Hakim said exclusion of the section is a criminal offense, and should be thoroughly investigated to bring the perpetrator(s) to justice.
Kartono Muhammad a health expert which was also a member of the drafting team said punishment should remain to be imposed to the perpetrators although the section could be automatically re-incorporated into the article.
Chairman of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (Yayasan lembaga Konsumen Indonesia) Tulus Abadi said this is the first time such crime was uncovered. While a researcher from the Political Corruption Division of the Indonesia Corruption Watch, Abdullah Dahlan said the section cold automatically be restored into the Law, as it has been passed during the house plenary session.

SSB men torture Nepali man to death

2009-10-05T14:04:00.000+03:00

BIRGUNJ, Oct 4: A man in Rautahat died on Saturday night allegedly due to physical torture by Indian Seema Surakshya Bal (SSB) personnel across the border.
SSB personnel from Sitamadhi Base Camp at Jamuniya arrested and tortured Mukul Raya Yadav, 35, of Surmajuwa VDC-8 in Rautahat district when he was on way to bordering Indian town of Ghodasan to sell tobacco.
Yadav died a few hours after he arrived home following torture by the Indian border security personnel on Saturday night, according to family members. Yadav arrived home late night in critical condition after the SSB men set him free.
Yadav, before breathing his last, had told family members that SSB men detained him for four hours and beaten up severely for no apparent reason.
Locals closed bordering Bankul Bazar on Sunday protesting the death of Yadav. They also chanted strong slogans against the SSB and demanded compensation to the victim´s family and punishment for the guilty.
Late Yadav is survived by four sons and two daughters.
Meanwhile, local administration in Rautahat has taken up the issue with local Indian authority, according to Chief District Officer of Rautahat Kamalesh Kumar Sinha. "They have told us that they would investigate the incident," Sinha.
The body has been taken to the district headquarters Gaur for post mortem.
Locals in bordering villages have alleged that the SSB personnel have stepped up their excesses in recent months. They complain that SSB men often beat up and manhandle locals living in bordering areas of Bara, Parsa and Rautahat.

Ontario Government Launches $50B Tobacco Lawsuit

2009-10-01T14:36:00.000+03:00

TORONTO – The Ontario government announced earlier this week that it is suing tobacco companies for $50 billion “for past and ongoing health-care costs linked to tobacco-related illness,” CBC News reports.
Ontario's action follows the lead of at least two other Canadian provinces.
"Ontario is taking the next step towards recovering taxpayer dollars spent fighting tobacco-related illnesses,” said Ontario's Attorney General Chris Bentley. “We are joining British Columbia and New Brunswick in initiating a lawsuit to recover health-care costs from tobacco companies.”
Ontario said that the $50 billion figure represents the cost that it has paid providing health care for smokers since 1955.
Earlier this year, Ontario passed a law, The Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, that allows it to sue to recover past, present and ongoing tobacco-related damages.
The New York Times writes that the defendants in the case include the Altria Group and some of its Philip Morris subsidiaries, British American Tobacco of London and its Canadian unit Imperial Tobacco as well as R. J. Reynolds and JTI-Macdonald, a Japan Tobacco unit that is in bankruptcy proceedings.
Eric Gagnon, a spokesman for Imperial Tobacco, called the Ontario government “hypocritical” for filing a lawsuit, adding, “What’s happening is double dipping…You’re taking a billion dollars of taxation out of the industry every year, then you turn around and sue the industry.”

Browne defends alcohol and tobacco hikes

2009-09-29T14:01:00.000+03:00

Government's move to increase to cost of alcohol and tobacco will help save lives, says Minister in the Ministry of Finance Mariano Browne.
Browne defended the increases at the Senate sitting yesterday saying that Government intends to promote healthy living and in effect reduce the amount of money it spends on health care.
He also said this measure would prevent young adults from consuming too much alcohol and tobacco.
"We are acutely aware and we are sensitive to the fact that cheap booze puts it in easier reach of young adults and in some instances children. On this basis alone we consider that the new rates on excise duties on alcoholic beverages and tobacco are indeed long overdue and well justified," he said.
He said this initiative will steer young smokers and drinkers away from these habits as they tend to be more responsive to price.
"Raising the duties on alcoholic beverages and on cigarettes is justified because the $1.6 billion on tobacco and alcohol tax revenue over the past three years does not even come close to off-setting the staggering public health and safety cost of alcohol and tobacco consumption," he added.
Browne stressed that alcohol consumption causes a number of diseases to the heart, stomach and liver.
With respect to smoking, Browne said people who stop the habit even well into middle age avoid the risk of lung cancer. He said those who stopped smoking before avoid 90 per cent of the risks related to tobacco consumption.
"It is in fact this Government's objective to reduce the financial budget of the State for health care treatment of medicinal or medical conditions associated with lifestyle health risks that emanate from alcohol and tobacco consumption," said Browne.

Tennessee attorney general warns against selling individual cigarettes

2009-09-25T15:16:00.000+03:00

Lose the “loosies,” the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office warned today.
Removing cigarettes from the pack and selling them individually must be stopped, several state agencies warned the public and businesses.
Single cigarette sales pose a health threat to young people because they are usually easier and cheaper for them to purchase than a full pack.
Health officials are concerned that the availability of individual cigarettes may attract young people as an easy way to begin smoking.
The Attorney General’s Office recently sent 23 tobacco retailers alleged to have sold single cigarettes a warning letter, advising them to stop because such action is illegal in Tennessee. The letters were based on complaints received by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. Tobacco retailers may be subject to penalties of up to $1,000 per violation under the law for selling single cigarettes.
“We will prosecute those who ignore the law by continuing to sell single cigarettes after we’ve warned them not to do so,” Atty. Gen. Bob Cooper said.

For cigarette smokers, a more bitter taste

2009-09-23T14:09:00.000+03:00

In less than a week, clove cigarettes and all other flavored tobacco will be pulled from the shelves, substantiating the Food and Drug Administration's first directive controlling the sale of tobacco products. "It continues to be a shock every day for customers," said Co-owner of Davis Newsbeat, Janis Lott.
On June 22, President Barack Obama signed into law, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, effectively giving the FDA wide ranging authority to regulate tobacco.
Flavored tobacco was the first targeted because critics say artificial additives like cherry, grape, chocolate, and spiced cigarettes such as cloves, appeal to youths and lays the groundwork for a smoking addiction. The law only applies to rolled cigarettes, and menthols were spared in this particular prohibition.
In other words, mint is out, but menthols are acceptable. According to Lott, Nat Sherman's Hint of Mint packaging will soon read "menthol," but it's contents will be unaffected. As for cloves, Lott said, "there is a contingent of people who buy these cigarettes," adding that flavored tobacco constitutes about 15 percent of the cigarettes sold at Newsbeat. Kretek International Inc., which imports Djarum-brand cloves from Indonesia, holds a 97 percent U.S. market share with its line of Djarum clove cigarettes, a staple of Indonesian smoking culture. The U.S. market for clove cigarettes is about $140 million annually, with about 1.25 million clove smokers.Cloves have been imported to the U.S. since the 1960s and are mostly smoked by people younger than 30.
With America as Kretek International's fifth largest importer, the company has found a loop hole in the FDAs ban. Kretek is now manufacturing cigars, close to the size of a cigarette and flavored with clove, vanilla and cherry. The difference? Cigarettes are wrapped in thin paper, cigars in tobacco leaves. While the cigars also are made with a different kind of tobacco, the taste is similar. The cigars come 12 to a pack, rather than 20 for cigarettes, but cost nearly half as much.
But the Djarum-brand facelift may not appeal to all smokers. Andy Singh, owner of the Tobacco Store in Woodland, said a customer recently purchased ten packs of the clove cigarettes in anticipation of the prohibition.
Oddly enough, that same customer first told Singh that selling flavored cigarettes would become illegal on Sept. 22.
"I don't smoke so the customers know better than I do," Singh said. But delayed notification from either the FDA, or state and county agencies that manage tobacco licenses, according to Lott, means little time to inform customers and scale back on purchasing from vendors.
It wasn't until Monday that the FDA issued a letter to members of the industry warning of prosecution to those selling what they labeled as "adulterated products," beyond Sept. 22.
The letter reads, "manufacturers, distributors, and retailers may be subject to injunction actions, civil money penalties, and/or criminal prosecution for violating the requirements of the Act."
Lott ordered several cartons of cloves requested by customers, but for the most part is pairing down purchases. Singh has stopped purchasing the cigarettes and said he will throw away what remains after the cutoff date.
Lott said the decision to ban flavored tobacco is politically driven and indicative of a "nanny state." "Eliminating tobacco products all together will never happen because it's easy to vilify and it's easy to tax," she said. "I don't know what's right or wrong, I just have to go with the flow."
Future directive under the FSPTCA include the revision and strengthening of cigarette warning labels that will also contain a list of ingredients, as well as the elimination of the terms light, low, and mild on tobacco products.

A Pennsylvania tax idea goes up in smoke

2009-09-21T15:18:00.000+03:00

HARRISBURG - When it came to raising new sources of desperately needed revenue, stogies and chaw appeared to be the lowest-hanging fruit.
Every other state imposes excise taxes on smokeless tobacco, and all but one other - Florida - do so on cigars. And the idea was widely popular in the Keystone State, public-opinion polls showed.
So how did the ripe-for-the-picking products avoid being affected by the cornucopia of taxes that top lawmakers announced last week would balance the state budget?
Johnna Pro, press secretary for the House Majority Appropriations Committee, has a theory.
"Because the majority of people negotiating the budget are cigar-chomping men," she said. "It's sexism."
That tongue-in-cheek reasoning aside, Pennsylvania lawmakers have clearly rebuffed an idea that most agree could have generated $38 million in new tax revenue this year.
Last week, leaders of three of the four caucuses announced that they had reached a budget agreement on a $27.9 billion spending plan. They said the package provided $1.2 billion in new revenue that the state could count on for years to come, including a 25-cent-per-pack hike in the cigarette tax.
But still no tax on smokeless tobacco or cigars - a proposal that seven out of 10 Pennsylvanians support, polls have shown.
Antitobacco groups said they were stunned that the products were not included in the plan as they had been led to believe by top legislators.
"It makes zero sense," said Kevin O'Flaherty, the Northeast advocacy director for the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. "It's fine to raise the price of cigarettes. . . . But it increases the disparity in price between cigarettes and other tobacco products, and that encourages kids to use those products."
Already, he said, the rate of 16- to 25-year-olds in Pennsylvania using those products is twice the national average.
Senate Democrats supported taxes on cigars and smokeless tobacco, and Brett Marcy, a spokesman for House Democrats, said that caucus had supported the proposal but was unsuccessful getting Senate Republicans to sign off.
"We agree that it is a commonsense tax and a ready source of revenue," he said. "But the political realities being what they are dictated that it may not be possible this budget year.
"There was just not an appetite in the Senate Republican caucus to look at those options."
Erik Arneson, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware), said leaders dropped the cigar and smokeless-tobacco tax because of its minimal effect on closing the budget deficit.
"The amount which would be raised . . . is so relatively small that it is immaterial to producing a balanced budget," Arneson said.
Yet the parties did reach compromises on other, even smaller, budget items. For instance, they agreed to take $25 million annually from the profits of the state-run liquor-store system and use it for general government functions.
Gov. Rendell has vowed to veto the three-caucus compromise budget, arguing that it is built on "phony" and overly optimistic revenue figures that, when they don't materialize, will put the state in this very position next year. He also said the spending plan shortchanged education.
Legislative leaders from the three caucuses spent much of yesterday in closed-door talks with administration aides in hopes of ending the budget standoff. Senate Republican leaders said late yesterday that a final budget agreement could be hashed out today, setting the stage for approval by the bipartisan conference committee as early as tomorrow. The state, which began its fiscal year July 1, has been operating under a stopgap spending plan.
Rendell repeatedly has said that taxing snuff, chewing tobacco, and cigars was a no-brainer, and he has expressed frustration that the General Assembly hasn't agreed with him.
"It is a special interest that continues to be treated as special," said Gary Tuma, Rendell's press secretary. "The administration favors taxing these products as other states do. Not doing so defies logic."
The tobacco taxes also weren't in the revenue mix in another compromise plan offered by Rep. Sam Smith (R., Jefferson), the leader of House Republicans, who were not party to the three-caucus budget agreement.
"When you listen to the governor and the Democratic leaders, they are literally saying 'tax it because it is not taxed,' " said Steve Masking, Smith's spokesman. "We don't believe that something should be taxed just for the sake of taxing."
Sharon Ward, director of the Harrisburg-based Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, said she believed Republicans were sticking to their "no-new-tax pledge" and "listening to their inner Rush Limbaughs" when they decided to forgo the smokeless-tobacco and cigar taxes.
"It's discouraging that they would bypass a revenue idea that has virtually no impact on Pennsylvanians and minimal impact on industry," she said.

Ministers accused in tobacco display ban row

2009-09-17T15:16:00.000+03:00

Retailers claim government misled Lords over cost to shops of placing cigarettes out of sight.

The government has been accused of misleading parliament over the cost for retailers of implementing the controversial tobacco display ban.
Internal documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that officials at the Department of Health (DoH) were warned by manufacturers that they had dramatically underestimated how much it would cost retailers to modify their shops to comply with the ban.
The display ban is part of the health bill, which is due to come before parliament in October. Under the proposals, cigarettes would still be available to buy but would be placed out of sight. Customers who wanted to purchase them would be given a list of products for sale.
The legislation will ban the display of cigarettes in supermarkets from 2011 and small shops from 2013.
Lord Darzi, the health minister, told the House of Lords this year that shops would pay as little as £120 each to install sliding screens in their premises. In a Lords debate in March, the government minister Baroness Thornton said that the cost "could be as little as £120".
The figure was also quoted in government briefing notes sent to peers in the Lords who oppose the display ban. The Conservative party and the Liberal Democrats are both likely to vote against it.
But according to the internal documents, which have been posted on the DoH website, the £120 figure was calculated in January this year after a quote had been obtained from a Canadian manufacturer, 4 Solutions Display. When Phil Beder, the company's vice-president, was made aware of the figure being quoted, he wrote to the DoH and to Ash – an anti-smoking pressure group, which had also quoted the figure in its literature – to ask that it be withdrawn.
In an email sent to Ash, dated 29 April this year, Beder said that the price quoted was based on a bulk order and did not include shipping or installation costs. He forwarded the correspondence to the DoH on 30 April, saying that he wanted to "clarify" the company's position.

Beder told Ash that he wanted "to make sure you are not making additional assumptions on costs to suit your internal needs. 4 Solutions cannot produce, deliver and install for the minimal dollars you are publishing. I trust your organisation will ensure the entire financial story is told to all."
Ash responded by telling 4 Solutions that it was confident its figures were correct.
The Canadian manufacturer also wrote to the National Federation of Retail Newsagents, which is opposed to the ban, confirming that the full cost would be far higher than the figure quoted by the DoH. When the federation emailed the DoH on 15 May to highlight the discrepancy, an official replied saying: "We are confident of the validity of the estimates that ministers have been quoting."
Small retailers have been lobbying against the display ban, arguing that independent shops cannot afford to refurbish their outlets at a time when many of them are already suffering a fall in sales as a result of the recession.
The Association of Convenience Stores, which represents more than 33,000 local shops, estimates that the new equipment required to remove tobacco from customers' view could cost the convenience industry as much as £252m.
It claims the minimum a single store could expect to pay is £1,850 but that this could rise to as much as £4,985. Small shops say that the ban will benefit larger retail chains and supermarkets, which can afford to implement the changes.
When asked about the allegations a spokeswoman at the DoH said that the government remained committed to introducing the ban.
The DoH said: "Point-of-sale displays have already been removed in a number of countries, including Canada, [where] removing point-of-sale display has coincided with a fall in smoking prevalence rates among 15 to 19-year-olds from 29% in 2002 to 19% in 2007."

Why Does Lung Cancer Occur in Non-Smokers?

2009-09-15T16:48:00.000+03:00

While cigarette smoking is an undisputed cause of lung cancer, not all cases of lung cancer occur in smokers or former smokers. Gani Fawehinmi, who is reportedly a non-smoker, died of lung cancer on September 5, 2009. Although not every non-smoker suffering from lung cancer will have an identifiable risk factor for development of the disease, a number of conditions and circumstances have been identified that will increase a non-smoker’s chance of developing lung cancer.

Passive smoking, or the inhalation of tobacco smoke from other smokers sharing living or working quarters, is an established risk factor for the development of lung cancer. Non-smokers who reside with a smoker have a 24% increase in risk for developing lung cancer when compared with other non-smokers.

Radon gas, a naturally-occurring gas that forms when uranium decays, is another known cause of lung cancer. Radon gas can travel up through soil and enter homes through gaps in the foundation, pipes, drains, or other openings.

Asbestos is a compound that was widely used in the past as both thermal and acoustic insulation material. Microscopic fibers of asbestos break loose from the insulation material and are released into the air where they can be inhaled into the lungs. Asbestos fibers can persist for a lifetime in lung tissue following exposure to asbestos. Both lung cancer and a type of cancer known as mesothelioma are associated with exposure to asbestos.

Air pollution from vehicles, industry, and power plants, can raise the likelihood of developing lung cancer in exposed individuals. It has been estimated that up to 2,000 lung cancer deaths per year may be attributable to breathing polluted air, and many experts believe that prolonged exposure to highly polluted air can carry a risk for the development of lung cancer similar to that of passive smoking.

Cigarette thieves hit councillor's business

2009-09-11T15:02:00.000+03:00

A Wanganui businessman and district councillor is several thousand dollars out of pocket after burglars smashed into his Westmere service station.
Ray Stevens, who owns Double S Motordrome on State Highway 3, said the two burglars took less than two minutes to break into the station, grab cigarettes and tobacco, and leave.
“They were definitely professionals – they knew what they were after.”
Mr Stevens said he has video footage of the break-in early on Thursday, which the police have seen. Several weapons, including a hammer, were also found near the service station.
Mr Stevens is offering a $1000 reward -- $500 for return of the stolen goods and $500 for information leading to an arrest.
Senior sergeant Dave Kirby from Wanganui police said that in the past two weeks there had been several Wanganui premises targeted for cigarettes, tobacco and cash.
“These things go in phases and we seem to be in a phase where [burglars] are after cigarettes and cash.”Mr Kirby said it was a timely reminder for businesses who kept cigarettes on their premises to ensure they had adequate security.
Meanwhile, Manawatu police are investigating a possible link between a service station burglary yesterday morning and a series of other burglaries in the region recently.
One man appeared in Palmerston North District Court and another is due to appear next week after two men broke into the Ashhurst Service Station and stole a cigarette stand.
Police chased the men for 30 minutes before they were finally stopped by road spikes in Foxton.
Detectives were investigating whether the burglary was linked to service station ramraids and burglaries in Rongotea, Foxton and Sanson in recent months.
Police spokeswoman Kim Perks said the Westmere burglary was some distance from the Manawatu burglaries, but there were some similarities between them that had police interested.
“At this stage we can’t say there’s a link but we will certainly be looking into it.”

Environmental cigarette company? You decide

2009-09-07T15:49:00.000+03:00

Environmental initiatives are often great. But when implemented by Altria’s Philip Morris USA, they beg the question of why and if a tobacco company can in fact lessen its environmental footprint.
First, are they genuine? While Altria failed to comment, Danny McGoldrick, Vice President of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, said the tobacco companies have a history of trying to shape their images with marketing ploys, “going green” is nothing new.
"The target isn’t kids or smokers, and the objective isn’t to reduce smoking, the target is always policy makers and the objective is to stop policy makers from increasing tobacco taxes, passing smoke free laws, or funding tobacco cessation programs that we know work- their own documents tell us this", McGoldrick said.
But the issue is not just about why Altria is going green, but is it really making a difference? Altria says it is, the tobacco company has reduced their packaging waste, water and emissions the last four years.
Eric Asche, Senior Vice President of Marketing at the American Legacy Foundation said that while reducing one's foot print is great, it does not balance out the 400,000 lives lost to tobacco every year or the 1,200 lost every day.
“Our job is to continue to point at what they are really up to and that is all the while they are trying to manufacture this new image- they are still addicting our kids and they are still selling a deadly product", said McGoldrick.

Nicotine does not cause cigarette addiction

2009-09-04T09:48:00.000+03:00

An ASU professor is challenging widely held conceptions about smoking, including challenging the view that nicotine is addictive.
Peter Killeen, emeritus professor of psychology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, presented his research findings for the National Institute on Drug Abuse on the Tempe campus Wednesday afternoon.
The talk was called “Reefer Madness: There ain’t no such Thing as Addiction to Nicotine.”
NIDA initially invited Killeen to look into ways to improve scientific research on drug abuse, specifically nicotine addiction.
“I came up with a shocking discovery,” Killeen said. “There’s no such thing as nicotine addiction.”
“It’s time to get our heads straight,” Killeen said. “What causes the tremendously addicting power of cigarettes is the drug cocktail of nicotine,” he said, not nicotine itself.
Before he got into his findings, Killeen said he wanted to make clear that tobacco kills.
“[Tobacco] is the number one preventable cause of death in developing nations,” he said. “Half of the people who are lifelong smokers will die of smoking-related illness.”
And yet, he said, the mass addiction to cigarettes and the public knowledge of tobacco’s deadliness creates a paradox.
There is something missing in the equation, Killeen said: A sufficient answer about what causes the powerful addiction.
For years, researchers have maintained that nicotine is the cause of tobacco addiction.
But Killeen said new evidence suggests otherwise.
“A large portion of the research on tobacco studies is done on nicotine. But the research has not been very reinforcing,” Killeen said. “Nicotine in itself is not very rewarding. You can go to any drugstore and buy a packet of Nicorette chewing gum.”
But people don’t overdose on Nicorette chewing gum, he said.
“Studies have shown that none of the nicotine replacement therapies — chewing gum, inhalers, patches — none of those are addictive,” he said. “Nicotine is not addictive. So what’s going on?”
The cause of addiction is the release of monoamine oxidase inhibitors, or MAOIs, along with nicotine, Killeen said.
While nicotine affects the release of dopamine, or the “reward hormone” that affects emotions and movement, MAOIs help regulate dopamine levels, Killeen said.
“When you put together something that directly releases dopamine and another thing that helps the brain clean up excess dopamine, you’ve got a one-two punch,” he said. “It is my hypothesis that it’s a combination of nicotine with some of these other chemicals that causes the powerful addiction.”
Killeen said publicizing his research is important in moving forward with the study.
“Not everybody knows that nicotine is not addictive,” he said. “This negatively affects both the research and public opinion.”
Many people are hesitant to accept the research’s implications, but Killeen said his hypothesis is hard to deny.
“I presented this position to 20 of the world’s experts,” he said. “And though some were shocked and insulted, no one could argue that my case was untrue.”
ASU Director of Campus Health Services Allan Markus said it would take a thorough clinical trial to further prove Killeen’s hypothesis.
“The overall scientific evidence from research, going back many, many years, proves that nicotine is addictive,” Markus said.
Anthropology sophomore Marisa Rios said the social aspect of smoking appeals to her.
“What makes me smoke is not the jonesing or need for a fix every 15 minutes,” she said. “What makes me smoke is stress or just wanting something to do.”
Killeen said even though the addiction to cigarettes is highly chemical, a large part of quitting comes from creating distance from these social smoking situations.
Of 100 smokers who decided to quit, only 10 are still abstinent after a year, meaning there is a 90 percent relapse rate, Killeen said.
“There’s no such thing as a cure, in the sense that there’s always a very small but real possibility of relapse [for successful quitters],” Killeen said. “You can’t ever let down your guard.”

Junk food tax is not much different from a cigarette tax

2009-09-02T10:37:00.000+03:00

Forgive my friend, Gary, here. He prefers name-calling to actually making a point. The point is, like me, he doesn't mind a tax on cigarettes, because it will pull in revenue while also discouraging a harmful practice -- smoking, which despite Gary's splitting of hairs, is no longer the physical threat to his health he wants to make it out to be, since the proliferation of no-smoking zones (thankfully) has removed much of the concern about secondhand smoke.
No, just like obesity, smoking is a serious societal problem, because it creates huge health issues, which, excuse Gary's ignorance, does hurt him, and you and me, too. That's because obesity -- one of America's most serious and costliest health crises -- significantly raises health care premiums for everyone. Just like the idiots who ride motorcycles without a helmet, jacking up my rates every time they spill their brains on the highway. (By the way, I think Gary supports a helmet law, too.)
We are a nation on such a sugar high, most of us won't admit that we are the very fat people we make jokes about. Our kids are so fat, juvenile diabetes is one of the biggest health threats confronting tomorrow's leaders.
What are we going to do about it? Sit around and tell more fat jokes? Whine about the "nanny state" taking control of our choices?
Please. If you want to gorge yourselves on Oreos and Ding-Dongs, don't let me stop you. You want to stuff your kids' mouths full of French fries, pizza and soda, knock yourself out.
But taxing the poor choices you make, and the impact they have on the rest of us, is a smart strategy toward shaking some people out of their diabetic coma. And if it helps bring down the deficit along the way, all the better.
And please, don't get me wrong. I am not immune to sugar cravings. But I don't mind paying an extra dollar to indulge in my mint chocolate chip cookie ice cream, or yes, my Girl Scout cookies. Please, I pay out the nose for Thin Mints anyway, and happily, because they go toward a good cause.
That's the point here, too -- the cause: a healthier America. Personally, I'm willing to dig a little deeper to contribute toward the greater good. Isn't that the American way?
If you splurge every now and then on an unhealthy treat, it won't leave you too much the worst for wear, in the waistline or the pocketbook. But if you eat poorly every day, under the sin tax, it will cost you both ways. Creating a financial incentive toward healthier living is just smart economics. Money is the only thing that talks to some people.
And saying poor people will pay the price is knee-jerk liberalism at its worst. Anyone can eat healthy cheaply. Many people are just too lazy to try to figure out how, largely because they've never had a good reason. A tax on junk could be just the incentive they need.
Those of you who think it'll be so hard to figure out what's junk food and what's not, go back to elementary school. A kindergartner can tell the difference. It's not heart surgery.

Tobacco Tax Gaining Legislative Support

2009-08-26T14:46:00.000+03:00

The appetite to raise taxes seems to be growing as the Utah Legislature prepares for an anticipated $700 million budget shortfall. This is especially true for the tobacco tax proposed by Davis County Republican Representative Paul Ray.

“I do not support any type of tax increase normally, but again, this is a tax where the tobacco companies are making billions of dollars off of people — they’re killing people. You know, they’re using blood money, basically,” Ray says. “But yet, the state, this is the only way we have to recoup the money that we’re paying for health care for smokers and so to me it’s a legitimate way to do that.”

Ray’s proposal would nearly double the sales tax on a pack of cigarettes from 69.5 cents to $1.31. Then it would automatically re-set the tax at one cent above the national average, which Ray believes is fitting because Utah doesn’t have many smokers.

Ray says there was enough support to pass his tax increase earlier this year, but legislative leadership wanted to save it as an option for next year. There’s also talk of raising other taxes, including the gas tax and the income tax. But Senate President Michael Waddoups says the tobacco tax increase is the most likely to pass.

“I think there’s a number of revenue sources that need to be looked at,” Waddoups says. “The easy one is the tobacco tax that was discussed last year in my body. I wouldn’t say it was unanimous, but I think it is going to be the easiest one to pass.”

State leaders cut a billion dollars from the budget last year, but about 40 percent of that was restored by federal stimulus money. Without that federal assistance coming in next year, lawmakers might tap up to half of the state’s $420 million Rainy Day Fund.

Lawmakers eye $100 million tax hike

2009-08-26T14:44:00.000+03:00

Utah lawmakers are mulling over a $100 million tax increase and tapping into the state's rainy day fund.
The discussions come along with a new assessment on the state's revenue situation. The latest numbers indicate Utah will have a $700 million budget shortfall by the time the Legislature convenes in January. That's after lawmakers have already made cuts in the neighborhood of a billion dollars, according to Speaker of the House David Clark.
The Santa Clara republican told KSL News lawmakers are currently weighing all of their options, not just a tax increase or rainy day fund.
"We didn't use our rainy day fund last session. We kept much of it aside," Clark said. "We anticipate using, including the $100 million we set aside for education, [a total of] about $300 million of that solution."
Clark says even after that, Utah would still need to find another $300 million to cut somewhere.
"The equation is you either have to have more revenue coming in--that means taxes--or you have to make sure that you cut your spending," he said.
One possibility: a hike in Utah's tobacco tax. A proposed bill would almost double it to about $1.30 per pack of cigarettes. That could raise $30 million.
The top leader in the Utah Senate says he thinks state senators do support a tobacco tax increase. He calls it a slam dunk.
Other options include an increase in the gasoline tax or re-establishing some of the state sales tax on unprepared food.
Gov. Gary Herbert says he aims to first find efficiencies in government to help make up for the shortfall then possibly look for cuts.
"I'm concerned about any kind of tax increase," Herbert said. "Philosophically, I believe that tax increases dampen the opportunity for the economy to grow. And right now, with the economy just being flat at best, another burden in the form of a tax increase probably ends up being counterproductive."
But advocates for children say raising taxes is a good idea.
But let's make sure that those taxes do not hurt low-income people who are already suffering most in this recession," said Allison Rowland, budged and research director for Voices of Utah Children.
No decisions have been made yet, and they won't be before the legislative session that begins in January. However, the discussions going on now mark the first time lawmakers have put a dollar figure on possible tax increases.

Some smokers start growing tobacco

2009-08-21T10:46:00.000+03:00

RICHMOND — Something unusual is cropping up alongside the tomatoes, eggplant and okra in Scott Byars' vegetable garden — the elephantine leaves of 30 tobacco plants.
Driven largely by ever-rising tobacco prices, he's among a growing number of smokers who have turned to their green thumbs to cultivate tobacco plants to blend their own cigarettes, cigars and chew. Byars normally pays $5 for a five-pack of cigars and $3 for a tin of snuff; the seed cost him $9.
"I want to get to where I don't have to go to the store and buy tobacco, but I'll just be able to supply my own from one year to the next," Byars said.
In urban lots and on rural acres, smokers and smokeless tobacco users are planting Virginia Gold, Goose Creek Red, Yellow Twist Bud and dozens of other tobacco varieties.
Although most people still buy from big tobacco, the movement took off in April when the tax on cigarettes went up 62 cents to $1.01 a pack. Large tax increases were also imposed on other tobacco products, and tobacco companies upped prices even more to compensate for lost sales.
Some seed suppliers have reported a tenfold increase in sales as some of the country's 43.3 million smokers look for a cheaper way to get their nicotine fix in a down economy. Cigarettes cost an average of $4.35 a pack, home growers can make that amount for about 30 cents.
It's the latest do-it-yourself movement as others repair their own cars, swap used clothes and cancel yard work services to save money.
"Cigarette smokers say, 'Yeah, we're going to die of cancer, but do we have to die of poverty as well?'" said Jack Basharan, who operates The Tobacco Seed Co. Ltd. in Essex, England. Virtually all of his increased tobacco seed sales have been in the U.S., he said.Provided the tobacco isn't sold or traded, the Food and Drug Administration doesn't regulate homegrown tobacco. Most people grow for cigarettes, but some blend their own cigars and chew.
A grower who purchased one of Johnson's Oriental and Turkish blends for $24.50 could satisfy a pack-a-day habit for more than three years, according to Johnson's calculations.
However, growing and processing tobacco can challenge even the best gardeners. The nearly microscopic seeds must initially be grown inside and transplanted after the threat of frost has passed.
The plants are susceptible to an army of pests; must be topped, or pruned, to encourage leaf growth; require rotating every few years; and require the proper chemical soil balance. The leaves must be cut and hung to dry.
A seed started in March can be ready to smoke as soon as October. Some anxious growers have been known to microwave leaves to hasten the drying. For purists, the leaves can be cured, or aged, like a fine wine for up to three years.
"It's actually very labor intensive," said Ed Baker, general manager of Cross Creek Seed Inc. in Raeford, N.C., the No. 1 tobacco seed supplier in the U.S. "There's a reason why cigarette companies make all that money. If it was that easy, everyone would be growing their own tobacco."
Cross Creek has seen a big increase in seed requests from home growers but it sells in volume. It's smallest seed offering is 90,000 seeds for $170.
Novices and veterans can find smoker-friendly havens like howtogrowtobacco.com, a Web site that offers growing and curing tips, often including angry posts over ever-increasing taxes and smoking restrictions.
Arthur Skora, 42, records his success growing and curing in Greenwood, Wis., on a how-to DVD he sells online.
"Most of the people who are ordering are just getting fed up with prices and basically they're not going to take it anymore," Skora said.
Saving money wasn't the only motivation for Matt Schoell-Schafer, a landscape architect in Kansas City, who has 50 plants growing in his urban garden.
"It's not being a victim to their manipulation of this product," said Schoell-Schafer, 34, who enjoys an occasional cigar or cigarette. "So I'm sort of liberating myself by growing it myself."