The Query Page

If you reply directly to any of these queries, please cc Gene Borio.

Request for Information on Class Action Lawsuits Specifically Involving Smoking-related Birth Defects

I am trying to locate information on any individual or class action suits that specifically cover birth defects potentially caused by a mother using tobacco products during pregnancy.

Robert W. Neill, Jr., Publisher
Mississippi-Law
Daily Online Publication Of The Legal Community
http://members.aol.com/abiaca/law.htm
aj148@mail.lafn.org ----------

Request for Manufacturer-to-Wholesaler-to-Distributor-to-Retail Outlet Information

I am attempting to gather information on a missing part of my knowledge of the tobacco industry -- that of the wholesaler, the distributor and the manufacturer's representative. These might be considered the 'middle men', acting between the tobacco product manufacturer and the retail outlet. What do they do? AND what is their relationship to the retail merchant?
  • 1. How does the tobacco product move from the manufacturer's plant, cross state lines, and get into a corner store?
  • 2. Who carries the tobacco products from manufacturing plant to store (associations and companies, with names and addresses)?
  • 3. Who carries the tobacco point of purchase merchandizing materials into the store?
  • 4. What is the formal and the informal financial and legal arrangement between the wholesaler/distributor/representative and the retail merchant?
  • 5. Given all this, how to use the information to aid in tobacco control?
Larry Breed, DrPH

Request for Alzheimer's/Acetylcholine Study Funding from Non-Industry Source

I am Ed Markin and, from 1986-1995, I served as Director of Research for the Alzheimer's Research Foundation, Inc., here in Virginia. A couple of years ago something interesting happened and perhaps you or some of your BBS members can offer enlightenment.

It was my job to design studies and to (attempt, at least) marry research funds with promising studies proposed by others. In 1994 a mention in a European study caught my eye; it stated that nicotine stimulated the production of acetylcholine in the brain tissues. The reason this caught my attention is, acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter chemical which enables the conscious brain to communicate with short-term/immediate memory and, in the case of Alzheimer's, is the chemical which is lacking in sufficient concentrations to perform this vital function.

A study or at least a preliminary survey of AD victims and appropriate control groups to determine the incidence of AD among smokers seemed a logical suggestion, so I designed the survey and offered it to our board for funding. You'd have thought I'd asked for funds to prove child pornography had health benefits!! It was the same everywhere I went, no one wanted to provide funding for a project that could, conceivably, link anything positive with tobacco!

I am retired now, but still want to do the survey at least. My book, The Alzheimer's Cope Book (Citadel Press, New York) is up for revision next year and I would consider it a crowning coup if I could offer readers something definitive on this topic. Could you suggest an avenue I might investigate to get his thing funded? I'm certain the tobacco industry has programs for this sort of thing but, having been a creature of government grants & programs for so long, I am unsure of who to approach. You may post or refer this to anyone you deem appropriate.

Thank you for any assistance you might can offer, .... R. E. 'Ed' Markin

Request for Tobacco Auction History

7/15/96. I am trying to find out where, in what city, and when the first tobacco auction system. I live in Danville, Virginia where we are proud of our tobacco history. There has been some discussion and disagreement on this subject. I hope someone can help.

Thanks, Pete Jones

Request for Emerging Nations Info for Documentary Film

We are a small, independent documentary film company researching a project on tobacco. I am particularly interested in information, stories, statistics, marketing details, etc. relating to current activities of tobacco companies in developing markets, including China, Africa, E.Europe, the Far East. If you can help or direct us to those who might, I would be very grateful. Please direct your reply to Annie Dodds at october@octfilm.demon.co.uk Many thanks.

Traditional Native American Tobacco Seed Bank and Education Program

TNAT specializes in the preservation of traditional Native American tobacco types, as well as the education of Native American youth about the health dangers of tobacco. While this may seem like a contradiction, it is not, since it is based on the recognition that tobacco is an extremely dangerous and powerful plant, that is considered sacred by native people throughout North, Central, and South America.

Request for pre-1950 Tobacco Leaves

From: teng
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 95 08:17:34 -700
Subject: tobacco leaves

hi, my name is Ray Teng from the University of Rochester, Dept. of Earth & Environmental Sciences. I am interested in determining the initial Iodine 129/127 ratio. I would like to us tobacco leaves collected before 1950, as any leaves collected after 1950 would reflect the bomb (atomic) testing. I would need about 1 gram(dry) of sample and the chemical procedure will destroy the sample.

I would like to know if you could forward this mail message to the correct person or group that may have archive tobacoo leaves.

Thank you for your time and trouble, Ray Teng

Clove cigarette help

I am looking for information on clove and clove-tobacco blend cigarettes. . . I have been smoking these durned things for about 7 years now, and I am extremely hooked. When I tried to go cold turkey about a month ago, I had opiate-like withdrawl symptoms. I am beginning to get very frightened.....If you have come across anything on the subject, I would greatly appreciate a point in the right direction.

I have a lot of info on the anaesthetic and lung-damaging effects of clove cigarettes, but absolutely nothing on their addictiveness. Since I posted this message I have received many similar pleas from people in the same boat. Here's a partial answer from Dr. Frederick Schechter's Clove Cigarette Bibliography

REQUEST FOR RESEARCH INFO

December 10 1995

Could I ask for your assistance in an urgent medical matter? I've got no one else to turn to, and due to lack of money, I can't afford independent retrieval charges.

I need to sue a restaurant for second-hand smoke exposure. I believe that I got a severe headache, choking-sensations, nausea, and tiredness for several hours due to second-hand smoke at a very smoky restaurant.

The restaurant's people are denying that it is possible to get these symptoms from a single exposure to second-hand smoke.

They say that there is no literature that shows that these can happen from a few hours of cigarette smoke.

Can you comment on "what can happen medically from acute exposure to second hand smoke"?

If you have knowledge of such matters, could you please send me copies of useful research papers or medical articles?

Please don't reply by e-mail, as I have only a shared facility. Kindly write me by snail-mail.

Thanks in advance for your help in this matter. I will gladly reimburse your postage and copying costs.

I have joined a grass-roots action group so that more people will see what can be done. I hope to assist others also, who may have suffered similar symptoms from second- hand smoke.

Further, would you advise what kind of tests at the site would be useful in proving / disproving the cause/effect of the smoke?

It may be possible for me to hold not only this restaurant liable, but also to put other hospitality vendors on notice that they knew, or ought to have known, that cigarette smoke can harm people --- even from a single meal's exposure. This in turn, could serve a public-health, public-interest purpose.

Lastly, if you have any old instruments that could help us prove the restaurant's liability, I would appreciate borrowing them to prove to the restaurant management that "there is a problem here!"

(I'm told that there are instruments that can measure the carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and particulates in the air, etc.)

Thank you in advance.

Yours sincerely,

A. Tiongson
c/o Consumer Action Group
6-2400 Dundas St W, Ste 274
Mississauga, Ont L5K-2R8
Canada

- PLS FEEL FREE TO POST THIS LETTER ANYWHERE, AND TO PASS IT ON TO ANYONE ELSE WHO MIGHT BE ABLE TO JOIN IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE ADDICTIVE TOXIC SUBSTANCES.

Smokers on super blue-green algae

Posted upon request from a Cell-tech page

Are there any present or prior smokers that have also tried super blue green algae? We would appreciate any responses being sent to april@calypso.com


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  • ©1996 Gene Borio, Tobacco BBS (212-982-4645). WebPage: http://www.tobacco.org).Original Tobacco BBS material may be reprinted in any non-commercial venue if accompanied by this credit

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