Tobacco News on the Web
Archive, September, 1998
Note: These articles wink in and out of existence with the frequency of sub-atomic particles. Many links will be dead. In that case, these pages can be approached as bibliographies, both noting the event, and showing where you might look for further information.
- Few voters had heard of the other three ballot measures featured in
the poll. . . A November ballot measure that would set rules for expanded gambling on Indian reservations is drawing early support, according to the latest Field Poll. . . Proposition 10, which would increase tobacco taxes and promote smoking-prevention programs for children, had a 24 percent recognition rate. . .
- Prop. 10 Child development / cigarette tax Yes 56% No 34% Undecided 10%
- Declaring that smuggling by government officials has reached dangerous levels, Chinese authorities today unveiled plans to prosecute corrupt Communist Party, law enforcement and military officials and to create a national anti-smuggling force. . . Police officers, prosecutors and soldiers have smuggled everything from cooking oil to cigarettes, chemicals and motorcycles into the country, Zhu told the audience. He warned that the era of weak enforcement is over and called for the "execution of notorious smugglers in accordance with the law"
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced today that U.S. cigarette manufacturers purchased 506.4 million pounds of farm sales weight flue-cured tobacco from July 1, 1997 through June 30, 1998, compared to 602.7 million pounds in the 1996-1997 marketing year.
- Bonnie destroyed an estimated $75.2 million worth of tobacco . . . Shaw said early estimates of tobacco losses in his county had doubled in the last few days. "The tobacco has really deteriorated rapidly due the excess wind and rain," he said.
- SUE GILLSON was the tenacious woman who stood by her son's side when he was charged with sexual assault for having sex with his high school girlfriend, then 15-year-old Stephanie Damiana. . . The legal battle involving her son took a toll, both emotionally and financially, she said. "My smoking increased dramatically during Kevin's trial," she said.
- During the hearing, Henney separated herself from DAVID KESSLER . . . "I have a great deal of respect for David Kessler," Henney told the committee. Still, "David Kessler and I are two very different people." She asked the committee to judge her by her management record, which included administrative jobs at the National Cancer Institute, U.S. Public Health Service and both the University of Kansas and University of New Mexico, where she currently serves. Henney, an oncologist, has also served on the American Cancer Society's board of directors and is president of the U.S. Pharmacopeia, a quasi-governmental agency that keeps the records on the active chemicals used in drugs.
- Sen. John Warner, R-Va., asked Henney her intentions about controlling tobacco products now that a federal court has ruled that the FDA had no role in tobacco regulation. "I will abide by the rulings of the court," said Henney. But she noted that the court ruling is under review and may be appealed.
- Though wielding a mischievous sense of humor, HENNEY is serious about science and public health. At 51, she would be the first female head of the FDA, and would follow the tough act of David A. Kessler, who took the agency in such controversial new directions as tobacco regulation while also working to streamline its historically sluggish bureaucracy. A doctor and cancer researcher by training, Henney would replace Michael A. Friedman.
- NEW YORK does not have to reveal the identities of Medicaid recipients and state employees to whom medical benefits were paid to cover smoking-related illnesses, a state judge has ruled. . . . The decision will be published tomorrow. The tobacco companies also will have to pay the estimated $250,000 cost of redacting and encrypting the records, Justice Stephen G. Crane said last week ruling on a discovery motion in State of New York v. Philip Morris Inc., filed in Supreme Court, New York County, IA Part 56. Encryption involves scrambling the information in a computer data field.
- Echoing recent decisions from federal and state courts in Maryland, California, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Oregon, U.S. District Court Judge Thad Heartfield rejected the Texas funds' claims as too remote or indirect. "Sound judicial policy dictates that this action must be dismissed. Standing to bring suit must be limited to those parties directly injured," Heartfield said. The judge further held that "this action is precisely the type of indirect, massive and complex lawsuit the case law advises against."
- This town is tired of teetering on the edge of America. One of the reasons why people here bristle at border controls is, they admit, somewhat larcenous. Smuggling has always been at the heart of the relationship between these towns . . . People here reminisce warmly about the things smuggled as children, such as hard-to-find margarine. . . Sherrard was incensed when federal agents a few years ago helped Canadian authorities bust Calais businesses that were selling cigarettes to people who subsequently smuggled them to Canada. "Our own FBI comes down here and helps the Canadians catch our own people. They were selling a perfectly legal product," he fumed.
- Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, who has a policy of refusing donations from his employees, has collected thousands of dollars in donations from outside lawyers who have been appointed special assistant attorneys general by his office, according to campaign finance records. . . Seven contributions came from lawyers working on the state's multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the tobacco companies. . . . All of the lawyers are working on contingency . . Cafasso said many of the special assistants who contributed to Harshbarger's campaign were hired by other state agencies not controlled by the attorney general.
- Secretary of State SANDRA MORTHAM, stung by her handling of a tobacco company's donations to the state museum and self-promotion in office, lost her bid for reelection in a Republican Party primary . . . State Sen. KATHERINE HARRIS, a Sarasota Republican who capitalized on Mortham's missteps in aggressive mailings to the homes of likely voters, won the party's nomination Tuesday night. . . Revelations of the way she spent $60,000 that PHILIP MORRIS donated to the Florida Museum of History -- on an office party, trinkets for visitors and a promotional video of her hometown -- snowballed with news accounts of her use of the office to politically promote herself.
- Faced with an all-but-certain lawsuit, city officials decided Tuesday not to enforce a ban on most tobacco billboards. Instead, the city will wait for the courts to clarify whether the ban is constitutional and try to persuade billboard companies to voluntarily go along with parts of it, said Common Council President John Kalwitz. The decision, reached in a closed meeting between Common Council members and City Attorney Grant Langley, brought criticism from anti-smoking groups.
- After a testy debate over whether the city should use license fees to discourage tobacco use, the Common Council raised the city's annual cigarette seller's fee from $5 to $50. The 10-4 vote came after a failed effort to raise the fee to $100, the maximum allowed under state law.
- The state should hold onto its $400 million in tobacco stock for now, says a council that advises the state on investment decisions. The Investment Advisory Council recommended on Tuesday leaving decisions to investment managers retained by the state Board of Investment despite board members' request for a divestiture plan. Board members are worried about the profita
- As thousands of students head off to the first day of school today, principals and teachers all over Minnesota are hoping parents brush up on their reading. We're not talking Shakespeare. We're talking student T-shirts.If it promotes alcohol, cigarettes or sex, they might want to leave it at home. For example, the Winona Middle School Student Handbook . . . The dress policy also bans the wearing of hats, sunglasses or jackets inside, as well as excessive makeup and shirts with offensive messages or messages that promote alcohol or cigarettes. .
- In a last-minute budget adjustment Tuesday, commissioners allocated about $90,000 for raises of 2.5 percent to all county employees and elected officials. The money will come from the anticipated year-end fund balance of $2.95 million. That decision was made easier by word that the county will receive $630,000 as its share of the settlement of the lawsuit brought by Texas against tobacco companies to recover smoking-related health care expenses. Commissioner Jonathan Letz said he wants "the lion's share" of the settlement funds earmarked for capital projects.
- Illegal sales of tobacco products to minors in California plummeted to 13.1 percent in 1998, reflecting a nearly 40 percent decrease from the previous year, State Health Director KIM BELSHE said today. "This year's dramatic reduction in the number of illegal sales of tobacco products is encouraging news in our battle to reduce youth access to tobacco," said Belshe. "I commend retailers statewide for enforcing tough state and local policies designed to protect California's children."
- Nearly four years after CONTRA COSTA Supervisor JIM ROGERS proposed a ban on tobacco and alcohol billboards near schools, one company has fulfilled a voluntary agreement to tear down old signs and a second is about to do the same. . . ELLER MEDIA, one of two companies with billboards in unincorporated areas of the county, has already taken down 11 billboards and has put up a more prominent sign along Interstate 680 near Martinez. The second company, OUTDOOR SYSTEMS, is negotiating with Tosco Refining Co. to put up a larger sign at its Rodeo refinery next to Interstate 80. The company has 10 billboards covered by the agreement.
- Republican Senate candidate CHRIS BAYLEY suggested in a television commercial that opponent LINDA SMITH snubbed taxpayers by voting against reforms to the Internal Revenue Service. . . Smith says it's really Bayley, and Democratic incumbent Patty Murray, who are on the wrong side of this issue. "If he (Bayley) says I'm bad for voting against one of the IRS bills, then he would have voted to cut veterans' health care," she said . . . In a rare show of agreement, Murray, Smith and Bayley all say the issue of compensating veterans for smoking-related illnesses is something Congress should take up next year.
- This town is tired of teetering on the edge of America. One of the reasons why people here bristle at border controls is, they admit, somewhat larcenous. Smuggling has always been at the heart of the relationship between these towns . . . People here reminisce warmly about the things smuggled as children, such as hard-to-find margarine. . . Sherrard was incensed when federal agents a few years ago helped Canadian authorities bust Calais businesses that were selling cigarettes to people who subsequently smuggled them to Canada. "Our own FBI comes down here and helps the Canadians catch our own people. They were selling a perfectly legal product," he fumed.
- Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, who has a policy of refusing donations from his employees, has collected thousands of dollars in donations from outside lawyers who have been appointed special assistant attorneys general by his office, according to campaign finance records. . . Seven contributions came from lawyers working on the state's multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the tobacco companies. . . . All of the lawyers are working on contingency . . Cafasso said many of the special assistants who contributed to Harshbarger's campaign were hired by other state agencies not controlled by the attorney general.
- Secretary of State SANDRA MORTHAM, stung by her handling of a tobacco company's donations to the state museum and self-promotion in office, lost her bid for reelection in a Republican Party primary . . . State Sen. KATHERINE HARRIS, a Sarasota Republican who capitalized on Mortham's missteps in aggressive mailings to the homes of likely voters, won the party's nomination Tuesday night. . . Revelations of the way she spent $60,000 that PHILIP MORRIS donated to the Florida Museum of History -- on an office party, trinkets for visitors and a promotional video of her hometown -- snowballed with news accounts of her use of the office to politically promote herself.
- Faced with an all-but-certain lawsuit, city officials decided Tuesday not to enforce a ban on most tobacco billboards. Instead, the city will wait for the courts to clarify whether the ban is constitutional and try to persuade billboard companies to voluntarily go along with parts of it, said Common Council President John Kalwitz. The decision, reached in a closed meeting between Common Council members and City Attorney Grant Langley, brought criticism from anti-smoking groups.
- After a testy debate over whether the city should use license fees to discourage tobacco use, the Common Council raised the city's annual cigarette seller's fee from $5 to $50. The 10-4 vote came after a failed effort to raise the fee to $100, the maximum allowed under state law.
- The state should hold onto its $400 million in tobacco stock for now, says a council that advises the state on investment decisions. The Investment Advisory Council recommended on Tuesday leaving decisions to investment managers retained by the state Board of Investment despite board members' request for a divestiture plan. Board members are worried about the profita
- As thousands of students head off to the first day of school today, principals and teachers all over Minnesota are hoping parents brush up on their reading. We're not talking Shakespeare. We're talking student T-shirts.If it promotes alcohol, cigarettes or sex, they might want to leave it at home. For example, the Winona Middle School Student Handbook . . . The dress policy also bans the wearing of hats, sunglasses or jackets inside, as well as excessive makeup and shirts with offensive messages or messages that promote alcohol or cigarettes. .
- In a last-minute budget adjustment Tuesday, commissioners allocated about $90,000 for raises of 2.5 percent to all county employees and elected officials. The money will come from the anticipated year-end fund balance of $2.95 million. That decision was made easier by word that the county will receive $630,000 as its share of the settlement of the lawsuit brought by Texas against tobacco companies to recover smoking-related health care expenses. Commissioner Jonathan Letz said he wants "the lion's share" of the settlement funds earmarked for capital projects.
- Illegal sales of tobacco products to minors in California plummeted to 13.1 percent in 1998, reflecting a nearly 40 percent decrease from the previous year, State Health Director KIM BELSHE said today. "This year's dramatic reduction in the number of illegal sales of tobacco products is encouraging news in our battle to reduce youth access to tobacco," said Belshe. "I commend retailers statewide for enforcing tough state and local policies designed to protect California's children."
- Nearly four years after CONTRA COSTA Supervisor JIM ROGERS proposed a ban on tobacco and alcohol billboards near schools, one company has fulfilled a voluntary agreement to tear down old signs and a second is about to do the same. . . ELLER MEDIA, one of two companies with billboards in unincorporated areas of the county, has already taken down 11 billboards and has put up a more prominent sign along Interstate 680 near Martinez. The second company, OUTDOOR SYSTEMS, is negotiating with Tosco Refining Co. to put up a larger sign at its Rodeo refinery next to Interstate 80. The company has 10 billboards covered by the agreement.
- Republican Senate candidate CHRIS BAYLEY suggested in a television commercial that opponent LINDA SMITH snubbed taxpayers by voting against reforms to the Internal Revenue Service. . . Smith says it's really Bayley, and Democratic incumbent Patty Murray, who are on the wrong side of this issue. "If he (Bayley) says I'm bad for voting against one of the IRS bills, then he would have voted to cut veterans' health care," she said . . . In a rare show of agreement, Murray, Smith and Bayley all say the issue of compensating veterans for smoking-related illnesses is something Congress should take up next year.
- THE government is likely to make it compulsory for foreign companies wishing to set up wholly-owned subsidiaries in the cigarette sector to furnish supporting
- The parliamentary public hearing on draft legislation to ban tobacco advertising and smoking in the workplace were set for September 22, chairman of the portfolio committee on health Dr Abe Nkomo said on Tuesday.
- The Tobacco Action Group (TAG) on Tuesday welcomed the tabling of the draft Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill in Parliament on Monday. The bill would make a significant contribution to public health in South Africa and protect consumer rights, TAG spokesman Dr Yussuf Saloojee said in a statement. "It will shield children from multi-million rand advertising campaigns designed to get teenagers to think that smoking is cool and smart, and not a deadly addiction."
- Do you want to quit smoking? Have you already quit and find yourself climbing the walls? Or are you simply looking for information on tobacco addiction? Call toll free 1-888-POUMON 9 now. You will be connected with a healthcare professional who can provide you with information and offer the require moral support.
- Malaysian tobacco companies such as R.J. REYNOLDS Bhd. and ROTHMANS OF PALL MALL Bhd. are poised to raise cigarette prices by as much as 5 percent next week in a bid to boost earnings, a Rothmans executive said. . . . R.J. Reynolds is expected to raise prices next Monday on its popular brands
- If the market fails to sustain the rally, one of the biggest potential winners could be Loews, the big cigarette, hotel and insurance conglomerate, that for more than a year has employed the rare corporate tactic of aggressively shorting the overall market. While the company dominated by New York's Tisch family, led by Laurence Tisch, is often closed-mouthed (it declined to comment Tuesday on its investment strategies), numerous money managers and analysts say its bearish bets are still in place and finally making money -- after about $2 billion in trading losses.
- The discovery came about when PROFESSOR CONRAD LICHTENSTEIN of Queen Mary and Westfield College in London began to introduce genes which help resist virus infections into tobacco plants. He was surprised to discover that hundreds of similar genes already existed in the genetic blueprint of the tobacco plants having "jumped" there from other plants. It is believed that these genes are currently inactive but may have been useful to the plant in the past giving the tobacco plants resistance to certain viruses. The scientists now wish to determine the genetic history of the tobacco plant to discover how and when the genetic implant occurred.
- BUNZL believes that it has found the perfect antidote to recession - a TV dinner and a cigarette. These are two businesses which the packaging distributor feels will be unaffected by the chaos on world markets. . . Bunzl also makes filters for cigarettes, a business which should weather a slowdown - sales to Indonesia held up in the first half, despite the ongoing financial crisis.
- There are cigarettes strewn all around Earl Weaver's house -- bedroom, den and kitchen -- but not a one's been lighted. Nor will they be as long as he's alive, said Weaver, the former Orioles manager who is recovering from a heart attack. "I miss smoking, but it just ain't worth it," said Weaver, 68, who keeps several packs around his Hialeah, Fla., home, to deny himself the pleasure.
- A smoldering cigarette started a fire that forced two people in a neighboring apartment to run through flames to safety in central Tucson early yesterday. . . One man was inside asleep on the floor when another man who had been outside by the swimming pool came in to use the telephone. The second man saw smoke rising from the couch, where someone apparently had left a cigarette smoldering,
- Looking for good seats to the U.S. OPEN tennis championships in New York this week? They may be hard to come by, especially now that tennis star Andre Agassi looks in fine form. But tickets can be had. Our colleague JOHN SCHWARTZ, who covers, among other things, tobacco matters, got a note the other day from PHILIP MORRIS Inc. communications director Darienne L. Dennis saying the tobacco company "cordially invites you and a guest to an afternoon or evening of tennis" at the open. . . . Schwartz, of course, would be fired instantly were he to accept the tickets. But if smoking fans out there want some, give Betty a call. And don't cough during the serve.
- Newly emboldened in ongoing talks, the industry has been resisting regulation by the Food and Drug Administration, restrictions on marketing to children, fines if youth smoking does not go down over time, and tougher warning labels - all commitments that were in the original agreement. Big Tobacco is no longer bargaining in good faith. . . . Settling the Massachusetts case separately now would provide a better chance to win back the important health and marketing concessions from the tobacco industry than any national effort. . . To suggest, as some of his opponents have, that walking away from the talks was politically motivated makes little sense.
- Today, we get to be queen. Once we set that tiara firmly in place (a big fat emerald in the center, please, surrounded by pave diamonds) and wave the scepter around a few times just to get the hang of it, this is what would happen: . . Cigarette smokers and beach litterbugs would get a complimentary tour of the storm drain system so that they would understand how the cigarette butts they discard on streets end up on our beaches.
- After years of dissension on the subject, the Minnesota State Board of Investment voted Wednesday to divest the state of its $201 million in tobacco holdings. Rejecting the recommendation of its advisory council, the board approved 4 to 1 a plan to sell most of its tobacco stock over the next three years. Gov. Arne Carlson, long a holdout against divestiture, made a significant reversal Tuesday, saying the tobacco industry's potential liability in lawsuits is "enormous" and poses too great a risk for the state.
- Minnesota will divest itself of $400 million worth of tobacco company stocks over the next three years because of potential liabilities faced by the cigarette makers, Gov. Arne Carlson said on Wednesday. . . Carlson said the move was made because the tobacco companies could be bankrupted paying multibillion-dollar settlements to states including Minnesota to settle lawsuits designed to recoup taxpayer money used to treat ill smokers. "These payments expose the state pension funds to a risk that it is not wise to take at this time," the governor said at a news conference.
- The board voted 4-1 to direct its staff to sell off holdings in companies that derive more than 15 percent of revenues from the manufacture of consumer tobacco products. A council of corporate advisors and state finance officials recommended that decisions about tobacco stocks be left to the state's professional investment managers. The council estimates that the state would lose $2 million from divestiture -- $200,000 in commissions and the rest from selling in a down stock market.
- Pawnshops will have to wait, but tobacco and currency exchange shops can continue to open new stores, the St. Paul City Council decided Wednesday.
- The original resolution would have established a one-year moratorium not only on pawnshops but also on currency exchanges and tobacco shops. Because of concerns that the ban was antibusiness, Council Member JAY BENANAV offered an amendment to drop the latter two types of businesses and shrink the moratorium period for pawnshops.
- LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Los Angeles added secondhand smoke to its lawsuit charging that 16 tobacco companies blatantly violated California's toxic enforcement act by selling their products without telling the public of the risks. On Thursday, City Attorney Jim Hahn amended a July lawsuit to add allegations that secondhand smoke exposes nonsmokers to four dioxin compounds he said were "among the most toxic chemicals known to mankind." The original Superior Court lawsuit was filed July 14. It accuses the companies of violating Proposition 65, the state's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act.
- A San Diego judge will hear several lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in health costs from major tobacco companies. The selection of Superior Court Judge Robert May to preside over the state's tobacco lawsuits ends weeks of speculation. The Judicial Council, which sets policy for California courts, named May on Monday, and letters announcing the decision were received by many involved on Wednesday.
- Idaho's attorney general vowed to appeal the dismissal of the state's multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the tobacco industry, saying the judge turned his back on teen-agers. The suit was thrown out Wednesday by DANIEL EISMANN, a judge for Idaho's 4th District. Eismann said Idaho failed to prove specific violations of Idaho's Consumer Protection Act, antitrust laws and public nuisance statutes.
- Fourth District Judge Daniel Eismann dismissed the suit because the state was either pre-empted by federal law from making the claims it had or had failed to prove specific violations of Idaho's Consumer Protection Act, antitrust laws and public nuisance statutes.
- "This opinion, following an Indiana state court dismissing that state's suit in its entirety, indicates that judges can still view these claims objectively, apply the law properly and not be influenced by the rhetoric directed towards a politically unpopular industry," said Thomas McKim, assistant general counsel for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. "Judge Eismann recognized that the state's complaint was long on generalities attributing bad motives to the tobacco industry, yet was woefully short when it came to specific allegations supporting the claims for recovery contained in the state's complaint. "One other message came through loud and clear in Judge Eismann's opinion. The Idaho legislature -- not its courts -- is the proper forum to decide what the citizens of Idaho want their policies with respect to the sale and marketing of tobacco products in their state to be.
- McGovern jabbed at Harshbarger's legal battle against the tobacco industry. "It's all rhetoric. There's no reality. What has Scott Harshbarger brought home from the tobacco settlement? Nothing," she said.
- On tobacco, McGovern attacked Harshbarger for having agreed to a 1997 national settlement with the tobacco industry that she and other critics said conceded too much to the companies over legal immunity. . . But Harshbarger defended the settlement . . . "That settlement, if it were in effect, would be saving lives today." . . . Harshbarger also tried to turn the criticism to Cellucci, who has come under fire for not taking stronger stands on tobacco-control issues. "It is time we had a governor who will actually stand up to Big Tobacco," he said.
- But here's the problem for McGovern: Agree or disagree with Harshbarger's strategic decisions in the tobacco wars, is it really plausible to portray a man who was the fifth attorney general to file a lawsuit against Big Tobacco as someone "who is all rhetoric" in that complicated fight?
- QUESTION 5: Do you believe special interest lobbyists have too much influence in Annapolis?. . . Parris N. Glendening (D): Yes -- some lobbyists do have too much influence. I have been outraged, for example, at efforts by the tobacco and gambling industries to influence the political process here in Maryland. We need to control that influence, allowing all voices in a public debate to be heard.
- Tobacco manufacturers returned fire in the B.C. government's war on smoking Wednesday, opening their first office outside their traditional Ottawa lobbying grounds. The CANADIAN TOBACCO MANUFACTURER'S COUNCIL also ran full-page advertisements in every daily newspaper in the province. "This isn't a war and there are no secrets," said council president Robert Parker as he announced the new office.
- The Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers' Council (CTMC) will launch in British Columbia dailies tomorrow -- September 2 -- a province-wide public information campaign about various issues the tobacco industry is facing in B.C. CTMC President, Rob Parker, will be in Vancouver and will be available to discuss the campaign with interested Lower Mainland media at 11:00 am.
- James Fenwick, 49, kept the diary of every contraband cigarette trip he made from the Continent to the North-East, Yorkshire and Scotland. . . His diary showed that he had smuggled 259,200 cigarettes and a kilo of rolling tobacco between June and September last year, and he evaded £30,700 in duty. . . He was jailed for eight months.
- The Health and Welfare Ministry has proposed a study on cancer-causing substances in cigarette smoke that could lead to more effective controls on smoking in public, ministry officials said Wednesday
- Two well-known Hong Kong businessmen donated Wednesday 50 million HK dollars (6.4 million U.S. dollars) to the flood victims in the Chinese mainland. Ho Tsu Kwok, general manager of HONG KONG TOBACCO CO. LTD., presented the donation on behalf of the company's chairman, Ho Ying-Kit, and himself to Jiang Enzhu, director of Xinhua News Agency Hong Kong Branch.
- The FOOD AND ALLIED WORKERS' UNION (FAWU) on Wednesday threatened legal action if Health Minister Nkosazana ZUMA did not withdraw the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill as tabled in Parliament on Monday. The union was concerned and angered that on Friday Zuma granted a three-week extension to the submissions deadline for the bill, and then on Monday violated this promise by tabling the bill in Parliament, FAWU media officer Sabata Ngcai said in a statement.
- International Industries, Inc. announced today they are going to double their current amount of cigar vending machines. Fifteen additional machines are now being manufactured. Delivery and placement of all 15 machines is expected to be completed within the next 60 days.
- A British High Court sanctioned the merger plans of B.A.T Industries PLC, clearing the way for the company to combine its financial-services arm with Switzerland's Zurich Group and spin off its tobacco operations.
- London, Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- A U.K. High Court judge cleared B.A.T Industries Plc's plan to split in two, saying objections by plaintiffs engaged in legal action in the U.S. weren't the "primary" concern of the court. The ruling by Lord Justice David Neuberger means the world's second-largest cigarette maker can divide its tobacco and financial-services activities following Zurich Insurance Co.'s decision to buy B.A.T's financial-service division for $18.7 billion. B.A.T shares rose 1.0 pence to 593.5 in London trading.
- London, Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- A U.K. High Court judge plans to rule today on B.A.T Industries Plc's plan to split in two after plaintiffs argued it would reduce the cigarette company's ability to meet future U.S. liability claims. At a hearing in London yesterday, Lord Justice DAVID NEUBERGER said he expects to give his judgment today, though he didn't specify a time. If B.A.T gets the go-ahead, as analysts expect, the world's second-largest cigarette maker will split its tobacco and financial-services activities following ZURICH INSURANCE Co.'s decision to buy B.A.T's financial-service division for $18.7 billion.
- The FT/S&P Actuaries World Indices Policy Committee announces that Allied Zurich PLC and British American Tobacco PLC (formerly B.A.T Industries PLC) will be added to the FT/S&P Actuaries World Index following the de-merger of B.A.T Industries PLC. Subject to listing on the London Stock Exchange the above constituent changes will be effective from Tuesday, Sept. 8, 1998.
- Tabacalera SA shares rose 5.7 percent after Spain's largest cigarette producer and distributor said it plans to sell up to 40 percent of its distribution unit on the stock market.
- Spanish tobacco company Tabacalera said on Wednesday it would create a distribution arm, a move analysts said should help with transparency and give a boost to the company's shares.
- Spanish tobacco company Tabacalera SA (E.TAB) said late Wednesday it will create a new unit called LOGISTA which will handle all of its distribution activities.
- Tobacco and peanuts are relatively stable crops in an uncertain agricultural world plagued by plunging prices, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman told farmers Wednesday. . . "We need to preserve that [tobacco] program so you don't have these massive gyrations," Glickman said. "In the past, when that has happened we had a farm bill with a safety net for when prices got low. The 1996 Farm Bill practically removed that safety net." Addressing about 200 people at a Wilson County tobacco farm, Clayton and Etheridge vowed to try to fix the farm bill's problems.
- The State Department of Forestry says extreme care needs to be taken with any form of fire. The already dry conditions will intensify as more hot, sunny weather moves through. In most forest and mountain areas... smoking will be allowed only in enclosed vehicles on improved roads.
- Marketers question the wisdom of remaining so closely tied to tobacco companies. . . As fan interest booms, racing's dependence on auto, tobacco and beer companies has lessened.
- In the wake of the Clinton/Lewisky Cigar scandal the RNR Tobacco Company today revealed plans for producing a new line of "Femine Tobacco Products".
- Thirty-one people blaming America's tobacco companies for smoking-related health problems and the loss of loved ones filed complaints for damages Thursday in federal court in Sacramento. Their claims of death and destruction of health were in five companion cases: one each for wrongful deaths attributed to smoking, head and neck cancers, cardiovascular disorders, oxygen-dependent emphysema and lung cancer. The suits focus on addictive nicotine . . The plaintiff group spans the region from Redding to Modesto; many live in Sacramento. Their cases all predate 1964, when the federal government first required a surgeon general's health warning on cigarette packages.
- [A] new AG settlement could be announced by end of next week. We believe that virtually all of the 46 states will opt in to the new PM/Lorillard agreement. Having the industry split actually increases odds of all states opting in, since it allows the AGs to receive more than half their money from PM and Lorillard, and still talk tough in demanding that RJR & B&W comply with the public health provisions agreed to by the others . . . We have heard talk that Republicans may try to clarify statutory language to effectively disallow the federal government from recovering their share of Medicaid damages received by the states
- Two U.S. tobacco companies and eight state attorneys general are closing in on an agreement that could resolve most state claims against U.S. cigarette-makers over the costs of treating ill smokers, according to several negotiators in the talks. PHILIP MORRIS COS. and LOEWS CORP. have agreed to restrict most forms of marketing, including a ban on billboards and reduced sponsorship of sporting events, according to participants
- With an eye toward a potential tobacco-suit settlement, WISCONSIN ATTORNEY GENERAL JAMES DOYLE met Thursday in New York City with WASHINGTON STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL CHRISTINE GREGOIRE to learn how negotiations were proceeding between 25 states and tobacco companies. While Wisconsin is not a party to the negotiations, the state could join in the settlement if the deal's terms meet Wisconsin's requirements, Doyle said in an interview from New York.
- Testimony may begin as soon as mid-September in Florida's landmark class-action suit against cigarette makers, with rival lawyers needing just 15 more potential jurors, a court official said on Thursday. Jury picking, now ending its ninth week, began on July 6 with lawyers screening hundreds of people before settling on 81 potential jurors. Trial Judge Robert Kaye of Miami-Dade County Circuit Court wants 96 people screened before lawyers select six jurors, and six to 12 alternates, to decide the case on behalf of Florida's sick smokers.
- FRANK A. LECCE of West Hartford . . . charged that his opponent, Hartford Treasurer DENISE L. NAPPIER, put too many city pension investments in the bond market . . . During a morning taping for WVIT's Sunday morning "CONNECTICUT NEWSMAKERS" half-hour public affairs program, the two candidates for the Sept. 15 primary said they take different approaches to the issue of Connecticut's investments in tobacco stocks. While Lecce said he'd let the General Assembly guide him on whether or not to divest state tobacco interests, Nappier said she'd use her proxy rights to protest the tactics of Big Tobacco, "to mitigate against some of the problems," including marketing to youngsters. . . . The debate between Lecce and Nappier can be seen at 10:30 a.m. Sunday on WVIT, Channel 30.
- A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan, NY upheld the county's smoking ban in restaurants and their bars.
- The great Cuban cigar bust is going up in smoke, with federal prosecutors dropping criminal charges against some well-heeled aficionados who allegedly paid big bucks for the illicit smokes. . . U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White still is interested in prosecuting alleged Cuban cigar sellers like the ritzy Patroon restaurant on E. 46th St. and the exclusive, male-only Racquet & Tennis Club on Park Ave. But charges probably will be dropped against all the buyers.
- Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) and 181 candidates for the Maryland General Assembly, including 74 incumbents, have endorsed a proposal to increase the tax on cigarettes by $1.50 a pack as a way of reducing teenage smoking, an advocacy group said yesterday. The three other active candidates for governor, however, oppose the plan . . . Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey said in an interview that the Maryland Children's Initiative, the group promoting the plan to curb teenage smoking, was unable to provide her reliable data to support its claim that higher taxes lead to a reduction in smoking . . . Two other gubernatorial candidates, Democrat Terry McGuire, a physician from Seat Pleasant, and Republican Charles I. Ecker, the Howard county executive, also oppose the idea.
- "We are on the threshold of passing legislation which will dramatically reduce teen smoking," he said. Some top legislative leaders, who often do not take positions on issues until they come before the legislature, did not sign the pledge. But the tax increase is supported by the majority leaders in both houses -- Sen. Clarence Blount, D-Baltimore, and Delegate John Hurson, D-Montgomery. Maryland's tax now stands at 36 cents a package. Adding $1.50 to that would give Maryland by far the highest tax in the nation, said Tom Lauria, spokesman for The Tobacco Institute in Washington. "That's going to be a boon for D.C., Delaware and Virginia retailers," Lauria said.
- The city of Vancouver will stop prosecuting restaurants for not enforcing its no-smoking bylaw, pending an appeal of a provincial court ruling that the practice is an improper delegation of authority. Francie Connell, director of legal services, said the city is not legally obliged to abide by Wednesday's ruling because it came from a lower court.
- The city of Vancouver cannot make restaurant owners enforce its no-smoking bylaw, a justice of the peace ruled Wednesday. . . . Lawyer Denise Evans, who acted for Doll and Penny's, said the ruling doesn't mean the city can't continue to lay charges against restaurant owners. But she said she would be surprised if it did, given the argument, accepted by Lim, that the bylaw improperly delegates to restaurant owners the responsibility for enforcing no-smoking rules.
- With parched fields of tobacco, corn and soybeans, Triad farmers were looking for the remnants of Hurricane Earl to bring rain when it swirled through North Carolina on Wednesday. . . Although the tobacco crop has been selling well, its quality may be hurt because of the dry weather. "The moisture helps it mature better, and the sun's been baking it out," Ashe said. Without rain, "you'll have a leaf that some of it is ripe and the other half is green."
- GBE International, the London-quoted maker of cigarette machines which issued a profits warning in May, has called in the receivers to its largest subsidiary, GBE International Group. . . There are two subsidiaries which are not in receivership: GBE Bolton, which makes steel frames, and an American company, Legg US Holdings, which supplies spare parts for tobacco machines.
- The CENTRAL EXCISE AND GOLD (CONTROL) APPELLATE TRIBUNAL on Friday upheld the excise evasion charges against ITC, but spelt out a new formula to calculate the exact amount of evasion which the excise department had put at Rs 681 crore. Cegat, however, dropped the penalty of Rs 66 crore against the company along with the Rs 118-crore duty evasion charges against seven contract manufacturers of ITC. The tribunal also waived penalties of Rs 3.15 crore imposed on six former directors of the company.
- The shares of ITC Ltd., India's largest tobacco company, climbed after tax officials said they would not punish the company for failing to pay excise taxes. India's tax court has dropped close to one fourth of the 8 billion-rupee ($188 million) amount from the excise tax-evasion case against the Calcutta-based company, saying it has to pay the taxes but not the penalties. "They are conceding the fact that the company did not intend to evade taxes," said Aditi Syam, ITC spokeswoman in Calcutta said.
- The cigarette makers' next silver bullet is likely to be the spinning off of their tobacco units from the rest of their companies, according to sources inside and outside of the industry. Such a strategy would, first, free their nontobacco divisions from exposure to huge potential litigation losses. Spin-offs also would likely increase the value of their tobacco businesses . . . Despite the obstacles, though, spin-offs are probably still the companies' best hope. If they aren't able to shed their tobacco units, manufacturers will be stuck right back in the same litigation nightmare that drove down their share prices in the first place.
- These companies aren't at the bargaining table with state attorneys general--their combined market share is less than 2%--but they have emerged as a potential stumbling block to a settlement of state Medicaid suits. Free of the billions of dollars' worth of extra costs the deal would impose, not to mention tight new marketing restrictions, Little Tobacco could suddenly be in a position to grab market share. . . "The bottom line is that we don't want to create a loophole for someone to enter the market and not have to bear responsibility for the health issues," says an industry spokesperson.
- Many veteran factory workers have accumulated large sums of money, often up to $500,000, according to employees and investment professionals. Among office workers at Philip Morris, financial planners say it's not unusual to find $1 million profit-sharing accounts. "They have been good to them," said one investment executive who asked not to be identified. "Lord have mercy, they've been good to them." Philip Morris -- the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, Miller beer and Kraft foods -- gives stock to employees based on years of service, salary and other factors, according to company spokeswoman Terry Hanson. She declined to say how much the average employee gets through the stock-based savings plan, which is administered by Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., based in New York.
- Fidelity Investments, which managed about $692 billion in assets at the end of June, reduced its tobacco-related stock holdings to 1.6 percent in June from 2.7 percent of the entire portfolio at the end of last year, the Boston Globe reported in its Boston Capital column. Fidelity remains the largest holder of Philip Morris Cos. and the second- largest in RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp.
- CIGARETTE machine and packaging manufacturer maker Molins yesterday confirmed Peter Grant as chief executive, seven months after it parted company with Peter Harrisson. Molins's shares rose 12.5 to 140p.
- Another movie planned for a late 1999 release is "DUKE NUKEM." Based on the computer game of the same name and produced by Threshold Entertainment (the makers of the "Mortal Kombat" franchise), Duke is being billed as the most politically incorrect action hero ever--a drinking, smoking womanizer whose motto is "A man for whom the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is a convenience store."
- Current Prices Prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary because of local economic conditions. Revelation Smoking Mixture pipe tobacco tin, from Philip Morris, cream-colored enamel, red-and-black logo, 1926 tobacco stamp, 2 inches: $60.
- Brin-Marie Mclaughlin . . . is a witch--a priestess of the Wicca religion--and therefore a Pagan. And she's angry. When she opened her September issue of GLAMOUR . . . McLaughlin saw something that sent her running for the eye of newt. McLaughlin took offense at a two-page full-color CAMEL cigarette ad that employed icons of her religion to sell smokes. It was only a matter of days before McLaughlin put up a Web site protesting Camel's use of Pagan books and imagery, which joined other Pagan Web sites already circulating on the Internet encouraging boycotts and letter-writing campaigns against the cigarette manufacturer.
- And now, thanks to WLIW/Ch. 21, there is Jack Benny again. At 8:30 Saturday night, WLIW is bringing back The Jack Benny Program or The Jack Benny Show, as it was variously titled. . . . But the only whiff of mothballs is given off by the commercials, most of them for cigarettes, which then were not only politically but economically correct. And cool. In a show scheduled for Oct. 10 and first broadcast in 1952, Benny got Humphrey Bogart as a guest and the American Tobacco Co. got Bogie as a commercial spokesman in one booking.
- The Bangladesh national carrier BIMAN banned smoking on its domestic and some international flights starting Thursday, an official said.
- To get more women to buy cigarettes in the 1920s, BERNAYS convinced feminists that public smoking was a sign of liberation. Once they decided to brandish their cigarettes at a Manhattan march -- his idea -- the resulting newspaper coverage did the work for Bernays's client, the American Tobacco Co., the maker of Luckies. . . Based on correspondence he found in some of the Bernays boxes -- more than 50 cartons chronicling an 18-year relationship with American Tobacco -- the author also argues that Bernays suspected that smoking was perilous as far back as the 1930s, despite his assertions years later that he wasn't aware of the dangers at the time.
- Did you take up smoking to stay slim? That was Bernays' idea, too.
- Former World Amateur Champion Mohammad Yousuf on Wednesday was presented a cheque of Rupees one and half lakh for winning the 15th Asian Snooker Championship here on Aug 23. . . Pakistan possesses enormous talent in snooker and hoped that Mohammad Yousuf will help in nurturing talent in Pakistan, he said . Shahid Ahmed Khan, Director of Marketing LAKSON TOBACCO COMPANY, the sponsors of the Asian championship, said the achievements of Yousuf were beyond expectations but it was a great joy that he did it in befitting manner. He said Yousuf will be taken into parlours of various cities so that people could see him in action.
-
Responding to McGovern's criticism of Harshbarger's decision to pursue
litigation rather than a settlement against the big cigarette companies,
a coalition of activists - led by the American Heart and Lung
associations, the Massachusetts Medical Society, and the Tobacco Control
Resource Center - rushed to the attorney general's defense. Her
assertion that Harshbarger "has brought home nothing" in the tobacco
wars is wrong.
- the U.S. government has informed millions of formerly healthy Americans that they are fatties. Its edict on obesity moved 30 million unsuspecting Americans into Lardville. It also succeeded in declaring wartime veterans who smoked government-issued cigarettes suddenly guilty of "willful misconduct," putting them in danger of losing health benefits. . . Those who have wondered what the health enforcers would target after tobacco now have at least a partial answer: high-calorie food and caffeine.
- The VA won through a slippery maneuver - tacking an amendment banning the war-smoking claims on a pork-barrel highway funding bill which sailed through Congress. I don't like the underhanded method by which this was done, but I do think it was the right decision. I can't conclude that the federal government has encroached on my liberty by allowing the tobacco companies to give away cigarettes to the troops. Quite the opposite. Free cigarettes raining down on us enhanced our ability to do the dirty job.
- In the 54th Assembly District . . . DARRYL TOWNS, faces a former ally, Martin Malave-Dilan. Mr. Dilan, a lackluster City Councilman, has charged that Mr. Towns is a do-nothing legislator waiting to take over the Congressional seat of his father, Representative EDOLPHUS TOWNS. Mr. Towns has shown troubling signs that he has his father's soft spot for the tobacco lobby, helping to kill a bill to limit smoking in restaurants around the state. Nevertheless we endorse him because he is an articulate voice who has been trying to create a multiracial, progressive caucus in the Legislature.
- My mother-in-law is a heavy smoker. . . But her addiction has caused problems for her family. . . And I still wouldn't be sure I was doing the right thing. But perhaps it should be me. I'm the newest member of the family, with the least history. I, more easily than the others, could say, "I've never told you this before, but it's hard for me to be around cigarette smoke." At least then she would know. We'd no longer be misleading her by staying quiet. And that would make a difference.
- William Hendricks III, Brown & Williamson's Washington criminal lawyer, declined to comment. Hendricks said that whoever disclosed the contents of the Justice Department filing "acted improperly." "It does appear that somebody has acted in clear contempt of court," said Hendricks, who once served as head of the Justice Department's fraud section that is conducting the tobacco investigation.
- The Justice Department has filed a sealed court brief arguing that lawyers for BROWN & WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CORP. may have participated in a criminal plan to mislead federal regulators, according to those familiar with the matter. The brief concerns a heated behind-the-scenes fight over documents that Brown & Williamson, the nation's third-largest cigarette manufacturer, is seeking to shield from federal prosecutors, citing attorney-client privilege. In arguing that the material should be handed over, the Justice Department is invoking a rule known as the crime-fraud exception . . . In its investigation of all the tobacco companies, the Justice Department has taken a particular interest in the role of lawyers. One company, LIGGETT GROUP, is cooperating with the department and has waived its privilege claims. A former lawyer for the company, LAWRENCE G. MEYER, is involved in discussions with prosecutors about what assistance he can provide.
- Some pharmacies started pulling cigarettes from their shelves yesterday, after Quebec Superior Court upheld a ban on tobacco sales in drugstores. The ban apparently means the end of the legal war that has pitted the Order of Pharmacists against Jean Coutu, one of its own members and chief executive of the largest drugstore chain in Quebec, Le Groupe Jean Coutu Inc.
- Quebec's biggest drugstore chain says it will obey a court order and remove all tobacco products from its outlets. The Jean Coutu Group made the promise in a statement Friday, one day after the chain lost a legal battle in Quebec Superior Court.
- The tabling of the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill in Parliament will go ahead after the Cape High Court on Friday dismissed an application to compel Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma to hand over all information she considered when drafting the Bill. . . The court found the industry's rights would only be threatened if the Bill became law, in which case the industry could seek legal relief. The court ruled that the tobacco industry should not be allowed to frustrate the legislative process by asking for access to information.
- On June 23, GEOFFREY C. BIBLE, the chairman and CEO of PHILIP MORRIS, was voted onto the board of RUPERT MURDOCH'S NEWS CORPORATION. Articles about business synergy fill the front pages, but this drew virtually no coverage. . . What drew Jones' attention? An anti-tobacco activist, Michigan lawyer CLIFF DOUGLAS, had sent the Journal item to every reporter he could think of and urged them to look into the story. The result? Other than Jones, nobody paid the slightest attention.
- Media magnate Rupert Murdoch is set to announce an offer to buy Manchester United today, in a deal that could change the face of European football. . . Sports Minister Tony Banks said he was worried that a takeover of United, one of the wealthiest sports clubs in the world, would give Mr Murdoch too much dominance of the sport and its broadcasting.
- Former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker's law firm was paid $1.4 million by tobacco companies in the first half of 1998 to lobby for reshaping and later for killing a broad bill that included reducing youth smoking, new Senate records show.
- The nation's most influential and aggressive trial lawyers stand to win billions of dollars in fees from lawsuits against the tobacco industry and plan to use those sums in part to fund Democratic candidates and battle business in the courts, Congress and state legislatures. . . Conservative analysts warn that the anticipated flood of cash could be particularly potent on the state level. Plaintiff's lawyers "will, unless checked, literally overwhelm the politics of many states and many, many political races, and will cause a strategic debacle for conservatives, Republicans and New Democrats seeking to rescue their party from the special interest grip of the tort bar," argued Michael J. Horowitz, director of the Hudson Institute's Project for Civil Justice Reform.
- Tobacco companies offered to expedite their preparation for trial, in order to be ready to defend themselves in a year in the state's lawsuit, if the state would agree to try the case in one trial rather than two. . . . There is an urgent public health crisis," said David Golub, a private lawyer working with Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. "We just can't agree to a delay." . . If Sheldon gives Blumenthal the nod, Connecticut would be the only state in the country to attempt the two-trial approach.
- MCGOVERN held HARSHBARGER to account for his strategy in the tobacco wars (she said he should have walked out of talks with untrustworthy representatives of Big Tobacco much earlier) and for his -- by her lights -- lax enforcement of pollution laws.. . . Accordingly, the value of the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor has shot up. And in that race, Governor's Council member Dorothy KELLY GAY of Somerville is giving state Sen. WARREN TOLMAN (D-Watertown), once a big favorite, a run for his money. . . Now Tolman has launched a new TV ad blitz, and "is outspending us about 100 to one," said Kelly Gay adviser Jim Spencer. Tolman trumpets his work on tobacco legislation
- First, O'CONNOR aides complained that state senator and lieutenant governor candidate WARREN E. TOLMAN backed out of an agreement to co-sign a letter on fighting tobacco companies to be mailed in the district. . . "We could have moved ahead with this with a clear conscience, but because of Warren's childish behavior, we decided to kill it."
- LT. GOV. BUDDY MACKAY, going on the offensive in the state's gubernatorial campaign, assailed Republican opponent JEB BUSH for contributions in a raucous rally Saturday . MacKay questioned two contributions received by the FOUNDATION FOR FLORIDA'S FUTURE, a non-partison think tank created by Bush. Two oversized pink checks were held up on either side of MacKay, one for the amount of $70,000, the other for $50,000. "I wonder why if this is a charitable donation, Jeb's not willing to say," MacKay said. "I wonder if it's because it's Big Tobacco."
- But members of the Bozeman business community plan to contact TIM CORFIELD, NIRA commissioner, to present him with alternatives to free tobacco samples. "If the NIRA would like to come back to us with a different proposal, we're still here," said MSU president Michael Malone. "Who knows? There may still be a compromise out there." . . .A leader of the AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION said Friday the group will continue to fight tobacco advertising and distribution at the CNFR - no matter where it is held. "We're going to pursue this nationally," said DENNIS ALEXANDER, of the association's Helena office.
- Plans to bring the College National Finals Rodeo back to Bozeman next June died Thursday because Montana State University officials refused to allow free chewing tobacco to be handed out on campus. . . "I never thought this would be a deal-busting issue," Malone said. "We would like very much to have the CNFR here."
- The COLLEGE NATIONAL FINALS RODEO has long been a Bozeman tradition. The city hosted the event for 25 years before losing it two years ago due to poor attendance. Earlier this year the rodeo announced its intent to come back to Bozeman, but now a debate over tobacco has led CNFR officials to change their plans. . . Montana State University officials agreed to let them advertise on campus, but the companies would not be permitted to hand out free chewing tobacco samples at MSU. Allen Yarnell "We reached the conclusion that an educational institution would not be handing out tobacco samples at its events," explained MSU Vice President Allen Yarnell. "I can't think of another university in the country that would have allowed samples to be handed out on the campus at one of their events."
- One of the Libertarians, JOHN C. ZAJAC of Tucson, said his superior funding makes him a more serious candidate than his opponent, REX A. WARNER of Goodyear. . . Among Zajac's strongest positions is his opposition to the tobacco settlement proposed by McCain . . . Americans have a right "to engage in behaviors that won't be good for their health," Zajac said. . . "If the tobacco (political action committees) want to give me lots of money, I will readily accept it. I feel this is a personal liberties issue," Zajac said. Warner agrees with Zajac's stance on the failed tobacco tax.
- The Field Poll in its most recent statewide survey measured voter awareness and initial reaction to five different initiative measures . . . The initiatives covered are . . . Prop. 10 (Childhood Development Programs and Tobacco Surtax).
- In Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, Somjit Klangjai worked six years in a cigarette factory and did not consider herself poor. But she and 100 others who used to turn tobacco leaves into cigarettes lost everything almost overnight when the factory shut down. She is selling her possessions one by one to keep going. She is down to one hen.
- Is it the beginning of the end of the cigar fad, or maybe just a glut? Whatever the reason, profits at U.S. cigar companies and some Coast retailers are not what they were a year or two ago. GENERAL CIGAR, maker of MACANUDOS, the top-selling premium brand, warned last month that it expected to report earnings per share of just 15 to 20 cents in the third quarter, much less than the 39 cents reported a year earlier or the 27 cents expected by analysts. The warning came just a few days after CONSOLIDATED CIGAR, the biggest U.S. cigar company, reported a fall in net profits from $13 million to $10 million in the second quarter, and said the trend would continue for the rest of the year.
- CEYLON TOBACCO COMPANY LTD. will spend Rs. 36 million to fix the millennium bug. Already all the systems in operation within CTC are fully millennium compliant. The company is in the process of ensuring that critical business partners too are year 2000 compliant.
- The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) today cleared investments worth Rs. 3,500 crores . . . In the case of ROTHMANS, the FIPB has deferred a final decision on the $150 million project by four weeks to seek clarifications regarding the guaranteed quantity of tobacco proposed to be purchased from within the country as well as its export commitment for raw tobaco, processed tobacco and cigarettes. The Commerce Ministry has been asked to seek these details from the company.
- Tobacco took the hardest hit, with $75 million in losses. "We're working just hard as we can to get everything as we can," said Sampson County farmer Kenneth Fann. "We're looking at probably no way to salvage all of it."
- ICELAND, the frozen food retailer, is stepping up its battle for market share by launching a chain of convenience stores. The group will start by converting six of its existing supermarkets. The stores, based in London, will be rebranded under the name ICELAND EXTRA. . . Cigarettes, toiletries and fresh fruit will be at the heart of the extended range.
- Nonetheless, the list contains some of Weiss's favorites, including the highest-yielding issue of all, UST. . . "This is a very well-managed firm that is doing well despite the unpopularity of its main product. Its profit margin is a wide 50% and, most important from my perspective, the dividend payout has been increased in each of the past 31 years, adding up to an annual rate of dividend growth of 16%." For much the same reasons, Weiss also favors Philip Morris, although she notes that it isn't nearly as undervalued.
- Venice was the vision of Abbot Kinney, a New Jersey-born businessman who wanted to create a cultural mecca mirroring the enchantment of Venice, Italy. On July 4, 1905, Kinney unveiled the resort town and amusement park to 40,000 visitors. . . Kinney, who made a fortune in his family business selling the first rolled cigarettes, settled in Southern California in 1880 after a trip around the world. A few years later, he won the swampy land south of Santa Monica in a coin toss with his business partners.
- Southern California Rankings: FICTION 11. NO SAFE PLACE by Richard North Patterson (Knopf: $25.95) A political thriller that tackles our toughest domestic issues, from abortion to tobacco legislation.
- Even as he tours America in "Barrymore," [CHRISTOHER] PLUMMER is simultaneously working on a new MICHAEL MANN film. The film, yet untitled, is about tobacco whistle-blower JEFFREY WIGAND and "60 Minutes" segment producer Lowell Bergman's fight to get Wigand's testimony on the air. When Plummer glances up from his coffee to say that he's playing MIKE WALLACE in the film, he somehow looks for that minute exactly like the television icon.
- Last week, the airline began warning potential offenders that they face arrest on landing unless they cease their unacceptable behavior. The crackdown is triggered by a 400 percent rise in "air rage" incidents globally over the last three years, and is specifically targeted at drunk and abusive passengers and those breaking the airline's worldwide smoking . . Last year, there were some 200 incidents, most related to the airline's smoking ban, a policy British Airways said it has no plans to change.
- He was offered the presidency of several manufacturing companies, new homes, and $50,000 to endorse a cigarette. (He never smoked or drank.) . . . Lindbergh refused all ventures except those related to aviation. "He was very upset," said Harry Bruno, a public relations adviser, "that people would offer him something for nothing."
- Somerville resident CLIFFORD MANSIR, 71, smoked three packs of cigarettes a day for 30 years. He kept a carton in his kitchen and a carton in his car so he'd never be without. Today, he and his doctor are amazed he's even alive. . . "Anyone who survives small cell lung cancer is a fluke, a good fluke," says Finkel, also director of the oncology-hematology clinic at Somerville Hospital. "Although Clifford Mansir did all the right things, quit smoking and underwent treatment, his prognosis still loomed large. The only explanation for his beating such a deadly cancer is that his own unique biology took over. Or a guardian angel."
- Now clean and sober, Slick fesses up to retaining only one addiction. "I smoke every minute that I'm awake and have since I was 15," she says, glaring at the cigarette in her hand. "It's so stupid; it doesn't even get me high."
- Rarely has a Minnesota primary election offered voters an array of talent as impressive as the one on the DFL ballot Sept. 15. . . But Hubert Humphrey III is singularly ready to move into the Capitol's southwest office and govern. . . But the campaign also reveals considerable growth in Humphrey's scope and skill since he was first elected attorney general in 1982 . . . Perhaps he's emboldened by his legal triumph over the tobacco companies this year -- a victory that does him much credit.
- In the first case of an industry lawyer cooperating with anti-tobacco plaintiffs, LAWRENCE MEYER, former outside counsel to Liggett, has agreed to testify for the state of Washington at its trial scheduled to start next Monday.
- Negotiating with a weaker hand than they did a year ago, the states will likely surrender important advertising and marketing restrictions aimed at reducing smoking rates. . . "We are not the Congress and we are not the FDA and we cannot provide everything the industry wanted," said Pennsylvania Attorney General Mike Fisher, a lead negotiator. "We are trying to get very strong public health protection for our kids." "There are some things we have been able to get the industry to give up and there are others where we have not been able to get them to budge," he said Friday.
- Researchers are talking about a drug that could find its way to a precise spot in the brain and render nicotine ineffective. Or another that would short-circuit a chemical reaction that boosts nicotine cravings. Some new treatments are already available. Others will arrive in the next few years, experts predicted at national conference on nicotine and addiction here last month. "Things are happening now that were undreamed of ten years ago," said Jack E. Henningfield, a biologist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and pioneering nicotine researcher.
- Conclusions: Poor health behaviors associated with smoking in parents, particularly mothers, are likely to influence children's long-term risk of having lifestyle diseases. The results may also explain some of the apparent effects attributed to passive smoking in families.
- W. Steven Pray, PhD, RPh, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Weatherford, Okla. When it comes to nicotine addiction, an ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure. While the pharmacist plays an important role in helping smokers "kick the habit," it is also essential for the pharmacist to help prevent patients from becoming addicted to nicotine. By doing so, the profession can help to reduce healthcare costs and save patients money in lost wages due to smoking-related illnesses. . . . Along with focusing on smoking cessation, pharmacists could send the public a powerful message by directing their efforts at preventing nicotine addiction.
- A Florida State University chemist who pioneered an environmentally safe way to manufacture the cancer-killing agent taxol has made a series of further discoveries that may yield a new universe of anti-cancer drugs. Robert Holton and his research group have created thousands of taxol-like drugs that thwart cancers of the lung, colon, prostate, pancreas, breast and ovaries and even offer hope for sufferers of Alzheimer's and polycystic kidney diseases. . . FSU officials have kept the new discoveries a secret until now, hoping to seek as many patents as possible before publicizing them. They caution that the new drugs, known as taxol analogs, are still in preliminary stages. But many potentially could play leading roles in the treatment of cancer in the future.
- Fifty years ago this month, a band of researchers fanned out through the neighborhoods of Framingham, urging residents to sign up for a study designed to track ordinary people to try to detect early signs of heart disease - then, as now, the No. 1 killer of Americans. One of the 5,209 who agreed was Ida Leach, now 83. . . .Along the way, they've discovered most of what we now take for granted about heart disease - that cigarettes increase the risk (1960),
- What issues might swing the race are unclear. BUNNING, as chairman of the House Subcommittee on Social Security, is stressing his expertise in that area and highlighting the accomplishments of the Republican-controlled Congress, ranging from a balanced fed eral budget to welfare reform. BAESLER is countering with his support for the concerns of working people like tobacco farmers, asserting that Bunning's voting record (he has opposed minimum wage increases, for example) places him on the opposite end of the spectrum.
- Two months before Missouri selects a U.S. senator, incumbent Republican Christopher Bond holds a substantial lead over Democratic challenger Jay Nixon in a new media poll. . . What most turned off poll respondents? For Bond, 39 percent said support from tobacco companies and the insurance industry would make them less likely to back him.
- Republican Sen. Christopher Bond said he just wanted to watch Missouri's football season opener and do as little politicking as possible. But his vote that helped kill an anti-tobacco bill shadowed the senator to Faurot Field on Saturday, as a Democratic activist in a cigarette costume distributed literature criticizing Bond. The big smoke was Buttman, a Democratic-sponsored character first made famous through dogging Bob Dole during his losing presidential campaign in 1996.
- Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., is one of the politicians who hopes voters are convinced by the ads and will remember his opposi tion to the bill when they cast their ballots in his re-election bid against Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon. . . David Israelite, a spokesman for Bond, said that Bond was at the meeting of Republican senators June 17 at which Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., assured them that the tobacco companies would continue to advertise. Israelite said that assurance "had nothing to do with his (Bond's) vote." "He does recall a meeting where the subject was discussed," Israelite said. "It was not discussed as a quid pro quo. . . . Kit had already made up his mind" to vote against the bill a day earlier, Israelite said.
- In other matters, Councilwoman HEATHER SOMERS is requesting that the council reconsider a proposed ordinance to ban self-service displays of tobacco products in the city. The proposal was brought to the council last month by a group of teens from Camp Fire Boys and Girls Speak Out! The proposal failed 3-2 despite impassioned arguments by the teens. Two city committees also had recommended approval of the ordinance. The students have said they plan to bring the proposal back to the council next year.
- Heart disease, cancer and accidents are the main causes of illness and death among the 1.3 million people living in counties Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare, according to a major Eastern Health Board report launched today. The health status report, the first profile of the public health status of people in the EHB region, discloses that cancer accounts for about one in four deaths in the region. . . The EHB chief executive officer, Mr P.J. Fitzpatrick, says the report blames smoking as the single greatest preventable cause of illness and death.
- Today's conference at St Thomas's Hospital, London, is organised by the Tommy's Campaign, a premature baby research charity, and marks the start of National Pregnancy Week. It will be addressed by Lady Hayman, the health minister, who will give details of a Government programme to cut premature and stillbirths. Lady Hayman said: "Smoking is a known trigger for premature birth, just as it is a known cause of miscarriage and infertility. We also know that only a third of women smokers give up during pregnancy and those who continue are more likely to be those disadvantaged, in lower socio-economic groups, the unemployed and those without partners."
- Cuba's world-famous tobacco industry, under pressure to hike output but also preserve quality, is on target to produce a record number of cigars this year, an official said on Monday. FRANCISCO LINARES, president of HABANOS S.A., Cuba's state- run cigar export firm, added in an interview published on Monday that two new mid-quality brands would likely be launched next year as part of a major expansion of Cuba's tobacco industry.
- Local and foreign investors could take majority control of the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly (TTM) once privatisation is completed, according to managing director Ong-Art Champoontha.
- TAMMY SELLHORN makes her living following a time-honored North Carolina tradition - she is a tobacco farmer. But in another way, she's a pioneer; she is one of just a handful of women in the state who farm by the golden leaf. News & Observer photographer Corey Lowenstein followed Sellhorn through much of the recent growing season.
- An ad for WINSTON cigarettes, tucked into weeklies across the country, is on a cocktail napkin that's apt to float from the newspaper when it's opened. The napkin has what looks to be a personal budget jotted down on it. On the reverse side, rather small, is the Winston logo, with the ecologically correct message "Who needs plastic?" What this has to do with cigarettes is unclear, but reading the "found" budget (food, $64.50; phone, $36.52; and so forth) is irresistible.
- While Clinton is at it, he should put the GOP on the spot and send up a tobacco bill without any tax increase. Polls show that the public buys the cigarette-company line that a tax hike on cigarettes would hurt working people. . . If the president takes out the tax provisions (which were inserted by knee-jerk liberals at DONNA SHALALA's Department of Health and Human Services), he will have a popular bill. He should send such a bill up to Congress and dare the Republicans to reject it. By framing the tobacco choice so starkly, he will likely get a tobacco bill that he can trumpet as another achievement.
- We must also give some attention to the anti-smoking crowd and its relentless animosity toward the tobacco industry. More marchers to the fore! . . Then, with the throb of this common pulse, we would chant our message to drive out the anti-Reagan, anti-tobacco, anti-business, and anti-military venom that so weakens the fiber of our society and makes us dance to the evil tune of hate rather than the sweet melody of universal love. . . It will be a true demonstration of all-encompassing love and the beginning of a new spirit among humans. . . Liberals of America, lead the way.
- We loathe and detest tobacco companies for their evasion, lies and attempts to trick adolescents and others into taking up smoking. However, the rejection of truth and the acceptance of unproven hypotheses to further one's concept of ethics or social justice is wrong too. Many studies involving secondhand smoke are not convincing, and answers about whether it causes lung cancer are far from established.
- My reference to "egregious mistakes" was therefore referring to the Daily Telegraph reporter's interpretation of the WHO study. I was particularly concerned that the Daily Telegraph story did not contain either any comments from an objective scientific source or any reactions from antismoking advocates. . . They are also the points that have been made in separate complaints to the press councils of both Ontario and BC. There was indeed hyperbole surrounding this story, but it was found in the pages of the Daily Telegraph and its Canadian cousins, not in CMAJ.
- If anyone still doubts that Starr's investigation is not governed by partisan politics, consider the fact that he has defended the tobacco industry, a bloc hardly hospitable to Clinton's agenda, while looking into such issues as whether or not the President may have committed perjury. Yet when the tobacco executives raised their hands before Congress and made the outrageous statement under oath that nicotine was not addictive, Starr's silence was deafening.
- Well, let me tell you what is really disgusting. Disgusting is having SENATOR LOTT sell his vote and his political influence to the tobacco industry and do their bidding by killing the vote that might have saved hundreds of thousands of lives. . . . When it comes to immoral, disgusting behavior, Senator Lott should realize that he lives in a glass house.
- "The VA believes veterans' compensation benefits were designed to assist veterans who become ill or are injured in service to their country," said Ozzie Garza, a VA spokesman. "It goes beyond the government's responsibility to pay compensation for veterans just because they smoked on government time." MICHAEL BLECKER, executive director of SWORDS TO PLOWSHARES, a San Francisco veterans' rights group, says it is ironic that the government has decided to deny smoking disability claims given its role as a purveyor of cigarettes.
- The dying embers of a proposed smoking ban in ARLINGTON HEIGHTS are likely to be snuffed out Tuesday night by a Village Board aiming to protect its businesses. . . It is unlikely that no-smoking signs will hang outside Arlington Heights establishments any time soon. Only two trustees, Stephen Daday and Thomas Stengren, support a total ban.
- Fears that prohibiting smoking among diners and food workers hurt North Carolina's restaurant industry are largely unfounded, a new UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL study concludes. "Until recently, ordinances in many North Carolina counties provided protection from environmental tobacco smoke in workplaces and public places, including restaurants," said DR. ADAM O. GOLDSTEIN, assistant professor of family medicine at the UNC-CH School of Medicine. "Our research shows that this protection resulted in no adverse economic effect on the restaurant industry...and there is no need for exceptions to the ordinances based on such fears."
- The Board of Health is studying smoking regulations adopted by other communities in recent months. Over the next several months, members plan to draft rules and hold public hearings before adopting regulations of their own, said Nancy E. Allen, the town's director of public health.
- Elsewhere in Russia "vegetable oil cannot be bought anywhere in Kazan, imported cigarettes have completely disappeared from Saransk counters, there is no sugar in Ulyanovsk and won't be any," the TV said. "Even Russian tobacco has sold out in Togliatti."
- The Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to allow cent per cent foreign direct investment in tobacco industry in India has been condemned by the National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication. NOTE has also demanded immediate revocation of two more decisions.
- All non-Congress Central trade unions have opposed the move by the Industry Ministry to allow multinational corporations to hold 100 per cent equity for cigarette manufacturing as they feel such a step will have an adverse impact on the employment situation. In a letter to the Prime Minister, the trade unions have asked for his intervention as they apprehend the move is aimed at pre- empting the decision of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) which had deferred its decision on a transnational company's proposal to set up a 100 per cent subsidiary to manufacture cigarettes, pending the recommendations of an Inter- Ministerial committee.
- India's tobacco exports during April-July 1998 were estimated at 40,550 tonnes, showing a marginal decline. In rupee terms, tobacco exports were up 4.14 per cent at Rs 342.84 crore, but that was largely due to the depreciation of the rupee. The fall in tobacco exports during the first four months of the current financial year comes in the wake of last year's significant growth.
- Introduction of an additional cigarette tax scheduled for Oct. 1 is unlikely to take place on time since Diet deliberation of the related bill has been delayed, government sources said Sunday. Proceeds from the tax, which will add about 17 yen to the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes, will supposedly be used to repay debt left by Japan National Railways and the state-owned forestry business.
- Chinese authorities are claiming substantial progress in a campaign to curb rampant smuggling, although problems in enforcement persist, the official newspaper China Daily reported Tuesday. Between July 15 and Aug. 15, border police seized more than 44.4 million yuan (CNY) ($1=CNY8.2799) worth of contraband, including 54 ships, 3,464 boxes of cigarettes, 32 vehicles, 18,364 tons of refined oil and 1,350 tons of refined sugar, the report said.
- He cited the case of a Taiwanese firm, Kanten International Trading Co, which registered the trademarks of SAI FON and KRONG THIP cigarettes . . . Thailand was on the receiving end of US criticism earlier than this year when the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly brought out a brand of cigarettes called MARBLE, with packaging similar to MARLBORO, made by Philip Morris. The government asked the TTM to withdraw Marble as a sign of good faith. "We hope that Washington would cooperate with the Thai government [on the rice issue] after Thailand accepted US demands in connection with tobacco," Mr Piphat said.
- A nicotine oral delivery device, which includes a hollow housing (10) and a hollow mouthpiece (14) which may be detachable connected to the housing (10) or may form with the housing a single piece. The mouthpiece includes a nicotine-containing material (16), in the form of a gel, on one or more of the outer surfaces of the mouthpiece.
- Dubek Ltd. said it earned 1.98 million Israeli shekels, or 2.37 Israeli shekels a share, for the second quarter ended June 30, 1998, compared with earnings of 2.80 million Israeli shekels, or 3.35 Israeli shekels a share, in the same period a year earlier. (All figures in thousands except per-share amounts)
- Souza Cruz, controlled by BAT (British American Tobacco) invested R$2.5mil= to create a new design for the Free cigarette brand, which holds a 17%= share of the Brazilian cigarettes market.
- Tabacalera, the Spanish tobacco company fully privatised in April, plans to spin off its distribution activities into a separate company which will later be floated on the stock market.
- A team of government-appointed investigators headed by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Leonard Tsumba had urged that ROGER BOKA's UNITED MERCHANT BANK (UMB) be liquidated "as a matter of urgency", the official newspaper of the ruling Zanu (PF) party reported yesterday. . . A variety of UMB bailout plans were considered by MUGABE, including giving Boka backing to speculate with up to half the current Zimbabwean tobacco crop. . . "The UMB was grossly mismanaged and was operated in total disregard of laws, rules and regulations. The bank is insolvent to the extent of Z$2,6bn and has incurred large operational losses," the People's Voice says.
- Roger Boka often boasted that as the son of a poor black carpenter in white-ruled Rhodesia, he always won the best-math-student award at school. Later, the story continued, in black-ruled Zimbabwe, his math smarts helped him build a business empire encompassing interests in publishing, banking, mining and tobacco.
- A total 186.6 million kg of tobacco worth over 6.3 billion Zimdollars has been sold to date, a few weeks before the 1997/98 marketing season comes to an end. An official of Zimbabwe Tobacco Association told the national news agency, ZIANA, Sunday the seasonal price was now at 1.77 US dollars per kg, slightly below cost of production.
- Inaugural Cruises Begin In November September 8, 1998 ... Non-smokers, allergy sufferers and others who prefer a smoke-free environment will find true paradise this fall, as CARNIVAL'S PARADISE begins service. She will be the first completely smoke-free cruise ship and will have her home port in Miami. The 2,040-passenger ship offers two brief inaugural cruises: a two-day cruise beginning November 25 and a three-day cruise beginning November 27. On December 6 she begins Sunday departures on alternating seven-night cruises to the Eastern and Western Caribbean. Published rates for the two-day cruise begin at $334; $439 for the three-day cruise. Seven-night cruises begin at $769. Call your cruise agent or 800-327-9501. Subscribers, book for less by calling Best Fares Cruise Club.
- Andy Card remembers how surprised he was the first time he met George W. Bush. "He was tobacco-chewing. He was roughneck-talking. There was kind of a swagger to him," says Card, a former Transportation secretary. "I expected Yale, and I got west Texas." . . . By the time he quit drinking, Bush had already started running, stopped smoking and given up chewing tobacco. "Each step was another exercise in discipline. He likes that. It makes him feel good to give up bad habits," Laura Bush says.
- Santanu Ray; Writer's Workshop . . . A lucky break came from the Imperial Tobacco Company headquarters in Calcutta offering him a tempting job. . . Santanu toured to promote cigarette sales throughout Maharashtra and Gujarat. . . Back in India, the Company relied on Santanu for cigarette promotional drives to compete with the stiff competition from rival companies. . . However, in spite of all his striking achievements, one regret is that he has not remarked on the extent of damage of cigarette smoking to the health of millions of people. It is an irony that in order to earn excise revenue, governments too turn a blind eye.
- In a gain for cleaner politics, Senate Republicans have dropped their effort to oust a top official at the FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION who has been a vigorous foe of campaign fund-raising abuses. As a result, at least for now, LAWRENCE NOBLE, the commission's general counsel, will be able to continue his outstanding work trying to end the practice of using unregulated "soft money" raised by the national political parties for costly ad campaigns for candidates in clear violation of the election laws. . . The attempted lynching of Noble was mounted by Senator MITCH MCCONNELL of Kentucky, who argues that lawmakers have a constitutional right to take money from special interests, especially the tobacco industry. . . The latest word on Capitol Hill is that McConnell may now try . . . another sneak attack as early as this week. . . Proponents of clean elections must do all they can to stop it.
- Raising tobacco taxes may be an option they'd pursue if done to establish an anti-smoking campaign, three congressional candidates say. Four don't like the idea. Those were the general responses candidates in the Nov. 3 election gave to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's questions.
- After early success, California's pioneering attempt to curb smoking has lost its momentum -- perhaps because of political pressure to restrict the program, according to a new report.
- Conclusions. -- The initial effect of the program to reduce smoking in California did not persist. Possible reasons include reduced program funding, increased tobacco industry expenditures for advertising and promotion, and industry pricing and political activities. The question remains how the public health community can modify the program to regain its original momentum.
- While California's anti- smoking program isn't as effective as it was when it was first established almost a decade ago, it's still contributing to a decline in the number of cigarettes smoked in the state, a new study shows. . . The study, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, appears in tomorrow's Journal of the American Medical Association.
- Zahle 98, Lebanon's largest agricultural fair, opened yesterday on a folkloric note before 500 visitors. . . Although more than 1,000 farmers are expected to attend before the show closes on Sunday, few were on hand to display their crops. Zouhair al-Zaatari is a tobacco grower in Chekka. He brought about 75kg of tombac that he offers to visitors who want to taste it on an arguileh. He said he was among the very few farmers displaying farm goods in the fair.
- At the same time, the newly merged ALLIED ZURICH PLC lost ground, reflecting stock analysts' pessimism about the combined financial unit. Analysts said the rise in BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO stock sent a clear message that investors, who had widely seen BAT's tobacco operations as undervalued because of the effect of the financial business, were expecting tobacco price increases in the United States in coming years.
- British American Tobacco Plc's shares rose as much as 15 percent on the first day of trading after its forerunner, B.A.T Industries Plc, split its tobacco activities from its financial-services interests. The company's shares rose 57 to 444.5 pence, buoyed by a string of favorable recommendations from analysts. The maker of LUCKY STRIKE cigarettes is second only to PHILIP MORRIS COS. in world cigarette sales and plans to overtake it. . .
- The Bank of New York announced today that British American Tobacco plc has selected the Bank as depositary for American depositary receipts (ADRs) listed on the Amex. Each ADR represents two ordinary shares and trades under the symbol BTI. British American Tobacco plc, located in London, England, was formed when B.A.T. Industries plc separated its insurance and financial services operations from its tobacco business creating two newly listed companies: Allied Zurich plc and British American Tobacco plc. B.A.T. Industries tobacco operations now operate as BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO, the holding company of a group of companies which manufacture, market and sell tobacco products.
- But tobacco is back in fashion. Shares in the newly demerged BAT rose like gentle smoke rings yesterday, puffed up by the sense that demand for the weed will continue even when world recession hits sales of caviar and champagne. The defensive properties of tobacco are back in vogue.
- AFTER years of hassle at the hands of the anti-tobacco lobby, it is nice to see that somebody at British American Tobacco has retained a sense of humour. The company reappeared on the stock market yesterday (minus its insurance bits), but the old BAT options, traded at Liffe, do not expire until January. So traders at Liffe were tickled to see the company's new codename, TAB.
- B.A.T Industries PLC's divorce is finally coming through, and CEO Martin Broughton couldn't be more pleased to be shedding the company's financial-services side in order to focus on its tobacco business. "The message is that we are a tobacco company, and that we will invest in tobacco and believe it can be an attractive industry," said Mr. Broughton. "With this move, the framework will be in place for us to be more aggressive," he said about the split, which has been eagerly anticipated by investors.
- TEMPORARY SUSPENSION Temporary suspension of listing at 07:30 a.m. today 7th September 1998 at the request of the company, pending implementation of the Scheme of Arrangement.
- About 50 mn cigarettes are annually produced in St. Petersburg, which is twice as much as in Moscow. The gap will grow even bigger due to operation of R.J.Reynolds International Company, which opened production at RJR Petro factory.
- 3,5-diamino-6-(2,3-dichlorophenyl)-1,2,4-triazine and its pharmaceutically and veterinarily acceptable salts have activity in (a) preventing or reducing dependence on, and (b) preventing or reducing tolerance or reverse tolerance to, a dependence inducing agent such as an opioid, a central nervous system depressant, a psychostimulant or nicotine.
- French tobacco group Seita, maker of Gauloises and Gitanes cigarettes, said on Wednesday its net attributable profit for the first six months rose 19.5 percent to 425 million French francs ($73.25 million).
- Tobacco manufacturer Seita SA reported Wednesday that its net profit rose 19.5% to FRF425 million in the first half from the year-earlier period, helped by the end of a freeze on cigarette prices in France, a pick-up in demand for light tobacco and the consolidation of a Polish acquisition in the company's balance sheet.
- The book, ILLEGAL LEISURE, is an account of research over five years which started with a group of 700 14-year-olds at eight schools in the North-west of England. . . . "We live in a society where recreational drug use is becoming normalised," said Fiona Measham, one of the study's authors. "There is a blurring between the illegal like cannabis and the legal like alcohol and tobacco." Fellow author Judith Aldridge, said: "Most (teenagers) are careful and rational consumers, who plan their drug use to occur with friends and in places they feel safe and secure. They often report feeling relaxed, friendly, happy, carefree and confident. These good experiences many times outweigh the bad, especially for drugs like cannabis, amphetamines and ecstasy." . . Alcohol, says the report, is usually the first and the most widely used psychoactive drug tried by young people. Around 42 per cent nominated it or tobacco as their "favourite drug".
- Japan Airlines Co. (JAPNY or 9201) said it will ban smoking on all international flights from next April 1. All Nippon Airways Co. (J.ANA or 9202) said it will eliminate smoking sections on all international routes from next March 28.
- Japan Airlines Co. said Wednesday it will ban smoking on all international flights from next April. . . The company also cited a passenger survey indicating that a majority of passengers supported a smoking ban," JAL said.
- There's a disagreement at the state capitol over who has the power to spend money Mississippi is getting from the tobacco industry. Senator HOB BRYAN, head of the Senate Finance and Committee chairman, told Attorney General MIKE MOORE he's shocked that a NON-profit group is in charge of distributing the 62 Million dollars in question. Some of that money has already been spent, including almost five Million dollars on school nurses and Four-H programs. . . Some state lawmakers say they want more control of spending that money... and the 1999 state legislature will deal with that issue when it convenes in January.
- "We are grateful to the citizens of Lake Havasu City who yesterday voted decisively and overwhelmingly for freedom of choice and against prohibition. We are particularly grateful to our Lake Havasu City members, to the campaign volunteers and to the business owners who worked diligently to resist radical attempts to control the lives and businesses of adults. . . It should not go unnoticed that the prohibitionists attempted to divert attention from the real issue by attacking the National Smokers Alliance. That tactic not only did not work, it gained us many friends and supporters in Lake Havasu City who were able to measure our work and our conduct firsthand.
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, along with three other non-profit statewide health organizations, announced today a statewide counter advertising campaign. . . Partnering with Blue Cross in the effort are the AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION, Northland Affiliate; AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY, Minnesota Division and the AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION of Minnesota.
- Minister of State for Agricultural Marketing H Nagappa today said that the State Government is planning to levy a marketing cess on coffee, sugar, sugarcane and tobacco which are currently sold through the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) yards but are not attracting any cess. Addressing reporters here today, Mr Nagappa said that a proposal to this effect will be tabled in the next Cabinet meeting for consideration.
- Russian Acting Premier Viktor Chernomyrdin has instructed head of the State Customs Committee Valery Draganov to draft within a day resolutions on the enhanced state control over the imports of tobacco and alcohol. . . It is planned to enhance the state control over the imports of alcohol and tobacco through the licensing and a limited number of importers from amongst the leading companies on the domestic market. Thus, the state positions will be reinforced and the rights of major importers, who are suffering great losses because of the alcohol and tobacco contraband, will be protected.
- P&O plans to open three warehouses in French ports selling alcohol and tobacco at low French rates of duty to coincide with the abolition of duty-free next June. Under European Union proposals, when duty free goes, ferry operators will be able to sell goods at the lowest rate of duty on a route.
- RICHARD PETO, professor of medical statistics at Oxford University, presented an analysis of premature deaths. . . "In 1970 British men had the worst death rates in the world from tobacco, but half the adults have stopped smoking since then and Britain has had the world's biggest decrease in tobacco deaths," Prof Peto said. . . Worldwide, however, the death rate from smoking continues to rise rapidly.. .
- It was British scientists in the 1950s who first demonstrated that tobacco was a killer. But Professor Peto said it had taken decades for the message to get through. It was only when the media started taking these views seriously that people's habits began to change. "What actually matters is what journalists think is real," said Professor Peto.
- "If you took 1,000 young adult smokers, one will be murdered, six will die on the roads, but 500 will die from tobacco."
- BRITAIN HAS led the world by halving smoking-related deaths in the past 25 years, mirroring a halving in our consumption of tobacco, according to research by a senior Oxford scientist. But Richard Peto, professor of medical statistics at the University of Oxford, warned that smoking remains the major distinguishing factor in the mortality of people in different social classes.
- Prof Peto said that journalists influenced public health more than doctors or scientists. He said: "Researchers linked smoking to cancer in the 1950s. Doctors believed them in the 1960s, but it was not until journalists believed the doctors in the 1970s that the public took notice." At the moment, in Britain, it would be quite difficult for a journalist to write that tobacco was not a real cause of death. In other countries it was still possible, he said.
- Eric and I had considered stocking up on cash bribes, but we're broke . . . So instead, we decided to give out Marlboro cigarettes. We had stocked up on them in Nong Khai, Thailand, just for that. I don't smoke and I don't like giving out cigarettes. But Eric pointed out that if we had to give them out, it would be to a corrupt cop who already has black lungs. And in a nation where half the people have a hacking cough from bronchitis, which they spread by spitting, how much respiratory harm could three packs of Marlboros add?
- "You can save far more lives by a moderate reduction in the big causes of death than by a large reduction in smaller causes," he said. "Tobacco is still the biggest killer we've got," he told the British Association of Science, adding that 100 million people will die from smoking worldwide over the next 20 years.
- Seita SA may launch one or two acquisitions with its Spanish partner Tabacalera SA before the end of the year to grow its business abroad, the French tobacco company's chief executive, Jean-Dominique Comolli, said Wednesday. "We hope to reach an outcome soon," Comolli said at a press conference to present Seita's first-half results. He declined to say which companies Seita was considering acquiring and when exactly the acquisitions would take place, if at all.
- CIGARRERA LA MODERNA, a unit of British American Tobacco Plc, has scaled back the number of brands it offers in the Mexican market and is relying more heavily on "light" cigarettes, company officials said on Wednesday. "Of the 24 brands we had, today there are only 18," Mauricio Santos, general manager for corporate affairs, told Reuters in an interview.
- CIGARRERA LA MODERNA, the Mexican unit of British American Tobacco Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BATS.L), is projecting 1998 sales of $768 million, little changed from $764 in 1997, a top company official said on Wednesday.
- Now, another chapter in the long history of the "Black Diamond" may soon be written: Alternative crop for tobacco farmers. "I think it's an extremely viable alternative," said Franklin Garland, 46, who operates Garland Gourmet Mushrooms and Truffles out of his Hillsborough farmhouse. Others aren't so sure, but state agricultural experts are considering adding truffles to the list of possible alternative crops for tobacco farmers.
- Listen to streaming audio which contains comments from Christianne Ricchi, chairperson, Distinguished Restaurants of North America at http://www.newstream.com/r98-264.shtml
- It costs almost $73 billion per year to treat U.S. smokers for medical problems caused by cigarettes -- a figure which dwarfs proposed settlements with the tobacco industry, according to a study released Wednesday.
- One way to assess the effect of smoking is to translate the associated medical care burden into dollars, the universal language of decision makers. The total cost of smoking in the United States amounted to an astounding $72.7 billion in 1993. As reported in the September/October issue of Public Health Reports, it is estimated that more than one out of nine (11.1%) personal health care dollars are spent on care of people with smoking-related diseases, according to researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and San Francisco.
- Cigarette smoking led to total U.S. medical costs of some $72.7 billion in 1993, according to estimates from a new study. Researchers from the University of California at Berkeley and San Francisco tallied the number of recorded medical incidents in each state that may be linked to cigarette smoking. Then, using an accepted model, they assigned a price to each incident and computed the total cigarette-related dollar cost.
- But smokers are not quitting in big enough numbers for the United States to meet a long-standing goal of reducing smokers to 15% of the adult population by 2000, according to a new UC Irvine study. With 16 months before the target date, about 24% of American adults smoke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new study concluded that about 21% of adults in the United States will still be smoking on Jan. 1, 2000.
- In all, the book provides the top 10 "career patrons" of 32 influential lawmakers, lists that were compiled from campaign and financial reports that the legislators have filed for themselves and the PACs they control. "The results tell us that Congress has, in some cases, been sold to the highest bidder," Lewis said, citing the list of Gingrich contributors. Among the groups that repeatedly show up in the lists are the Realtors; Auto Dealers & Drivers for Free Trade, a Japanese automobile group; the National Automobile Dealers Association; the National Rifle Association; tobacco companies; the National Right to Life PAC; liquor groups; the National Committee to Preserve Social Security; the AFL-CIO and various labor unions; and the American Medical Association. . . House Minority Leader RICHARD GEPHARDT (D-Mo.) . . Philip Morris Cos. (Cigarettes, New York) $90,948.
- How did Big Tobacco get a $50 billion tax break approved by Congress without anyone raising an eyebrow in protest? The answer, for some, is simple: Money. The tobacco industry sunk more than $30 million into campaigns and political parties during the past decade. In 1996 alone, it spent another $26 million on Washington lobbyists. In return, the cigarette industry got just what it was looking for, says Charles Lewis, author of The Buying of Congress, which was released Wednesday.
- . . . documents how big-money special interests have stolen your right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You cannot shop at the local supermarket or drugstore, visit a hospital emergency room, watch television, pay your taxes or even breathe the air without being directly affected by the decisions that Congress makes. Unfortunately, these decisions increasingly favor the special interests that influence Capitol Hill lawmakers -- at your expense.
- Smoke and Mirrors: Two Case Studies in Congressional Inaction; Regulating the Tobacco Industry: Congress Takes a Bye
- Then, however, the tobacco industry withdrew its support for McCain's bill and turned full force against it. The industry beefed up its already formidable armada of lobbyists and invested $40 million in a public advertising campaign against the legislation. Three and a half months later, on June 17, the Senate killed McCain's bill.
- David Kessler
- It was highly sophisticated, and nothing was what it appeared to be. In some ways they were flank attacks, where the industry would support groups that would go beat up on us or go attack us on issues. Center: On non-tobacco issues? Kessler: Absolutely. They would go after us, start creating sentiments against us, including turning to Congress to come after us on side actions, all being stirred up by the tobacco companies. It's more complicated than that because it's a combination. These groups get support from the tobacco industry; mixing tobacco support with their own ideological views and coming after us. They couldn't come after us directly, because they knew they wouldn't be successful taking us on directly on the issue. So what do they do? They come after us on diversionary issues.
- Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
- Center: Have you seen a significant influence of campaign contributions and special-interest money on Congress over the seven years that you've been in Washington? DeLauro: Oh, absolutely -- most recently, a $50 billion tax break for the tobacco companies that was snuck into the tax bill a few months ago. We turned it around, but that was done in the dead of night.
- John Glenn (D-OH)
- They criticized the President so harshly for making phone calls . . . At the same time, you have these same leaders in Congress putting back in a $50 billion tax credit for the tobacco companies, whose main lobbyist -- at $50,000 a month, and the biggest contributor to past campaigns on the Republican side -- was Haley Barbour. A $50,000 tax credit put in with no hearings, nobody knowing about it, only accidentally discovered after we had passed the bill by Senator [Richa rd] Durbin [D-Illinois] and some of his people. We now have undone that chicanery, but those are some real special interests in government.
- Henry Waxman (D-CA)
- It appeared to have been a conscious decision by the tobacco industry to buy the Republican Party. I can understand why they wanted to buy the Republican Party, because that's the party that's in power right now, but I can't understand why the party decided to sell itself to the industry.
- Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
- One of the members of the other party last year was handing out checks on the floor, from one of the tobacco companies, and got in some hot water over that and got quite a bit of publicity there. But that goes on, and that person is a leader in their party and they raise money -- that's what they do.
- Those are just two examples reported in a book released today by the Center for Public Integrity, which found congressional leaders of both parties backing legislation favored by their big campaign contributors, or opposing measures their givers don't like. "Not only does each politician have a set of career patrons, there is a mutually beneficial relationship going on here," said Charles Lewis, executive director of the center and author of the book. "Almost invariably, the patron has certain favors done legislatively. You know them personally. And when they ask you for a favor, it's going to be almost impossible to say no."
- If the House of Representatives votes today to release Kenneth Starr's full report . . . You also will be able to find it at
- The News & Observer on the Web
- The Nando Times.
- The House site: http://www.house.gov/icreport
- The House Judiciary Committee's home page: http://www.house.gov/judiciary
- A Library of Congress site: http://thomas.loc.gov/icreport
- Amateur lobbying intensified Thursday over proposals for a new agricultural guest worker program. Behind the scenes, meanwhile, a professional operation continued apace, as farm-state lawmakers tried to refine a foreign guest worker measure that might slip around White House objections. . . As championed by the Fresno-based Nisei Farmers League, North Carolina tobacco growers and more than 100 farm groups, the guest worker plan would establish a Labor Department registry to which farmers would apply for U.S. workers.
- The City Council on Wednesday passed a law that will virtually eliminate outdoor alcohol and tobacco advertising in Los Angeles. In a hearing attended by hundreds of elementary and high-school students as well as lawyers for the beer, billboard advertising and tobacco industries and advocates for grocers' associations, the City Council unanimously voted a ban encompassing billboards, grocery store windows and other outdoor venues within 1,000 feet of schools, parks and residential areas.
- Magistrates didn't take action, tabling the subject until the county attorney produces an opinion on legal options. But John Upton, who said he had no ties to either side of the argument (he attended the meeting to ask that the speed limit on his street be lowered), found himself advising the magistrates that clear air would eventually win out over smoke. "Consider the inevitability of a courthouse that's going to be smoke-free," Upton said.
- Nepal and Guyana have the highest per capita consumption of cigarettes in the world, a United Nations report said. The Human Development Report 1998 published by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said adults in both countries smoked an average of 341 cigarettes a year.
- The Togolese Blue Cross Federation (FTCB) and the Togolese Association for the Struggle Against Tobacco Smoking (ATLAT) have teamed up with about a dozen other anti-smoking NGOs to try and make people aware of the dangers of smoking, but they fear their efforts have next to no chance of matching the publicity campaign by cigarette importers.
- Health authorities on Wednesday rejected claims by the tobacco industry that restrictions on smoking would have a detrimental effect on the country's economy. At a joint press conference in Johannesburg, the SA Medical Association, Democratic Nurses' Union and the Tobacco Action Group (Tag) said restrictions proposed by the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill would lower government health costs and increase productivity.
- THE tobacco industry's main contribution to SA's economy was not jobs and wealth but increased health costs and lost productivity, Yussuf Saloojee, executive director of the National Council Against Smoking, said yesterday. Saloojee said more working days were lost in SA as a result of absenteeism caused by smoking-related diseases than from strikes.
- The study, compiled for PUBLIC CITIZEN by Dr. PETER LURIE, said most cigarette labeling laws in developing countries are far weaker than those in the United States and Western Europe. They also fail to uniformly warn that smoking can cause cancer, heart and lung disease and should be avoided by pregnant women. At a news conference, Lurie argued that denying foreign smokers information about the harmful effects of tobacco routinely made available to Americans may contribute to rising rates of smoking in developing countries, as well as growing illness and death rates.
- "A smoker in Argentina will not see any warning on a box of American cigarettes that smoking causes emphysema or heart disease. A smoker in Kenya will be told even less. American cigarette packs in Kenya do not even warn of the harm to pregnant women, that smoking causes lung cancer, or that quitting might be beneficial. All of these are included in current U.S. warning labels," said Dr. Peter Lurie, an author of the study, Smokescreen: Double Standards Between the U.S. and Foreign Countries in Cigarette Labeling, and a Medical Researcher with Public Citizen.
- In a July 24, 1991 memo, unearthed by Essential Action, a Ralph Nader-founded corporate accountability group, Murray Bring, counsel to Philip Morris and a lawyer at Arnold & Porter, a top Washington, D.C., firm suggested to Michael Miles, then Philip Morris incoming CEO, "that we should consider placing health warnings on all of our exported cigarettes."
- Shares in Spanish tobacco giant Tabacalera outperformed a fragile market on Thursday amid rekindled market rumours of a possible near-term hike in tobacco prices, dealers said. By 1040 GMT Tabacalera was trading just 0.29 percent lower at 3,415 pesetas while the blue-chip Ibex-35 index was down 3.36 percent at 8,218.0 points.
- Britain's largest tobacco company Gallaher Group Plc said on Thursday it had held onto its leadership of the UK cigarette market and there is evidence to show the decline in adult cigarette smoking has halted.
- Britain's largest tobacco company Gallaher Group Plc reported a decline in half year profits on Thursday but claimed fewer smokers were quiting. In an interview Chairman and Chief Executive Peter Wilson said regular surveys conducted by Gallaher of consumers indicate that the percentage of adults that smoke has remained stable at about 22 percent over the last six months. "The ongoing surveys we do among consumers indicate that for the first time in many years we have seen stability in the number of people smoking," said Wilson. "It's broadly stable at just over 22 percent of adult smokers," he added.
- State-owned Thailand Tobacco Monopoly (TTM) said on Thursday it has been approached by top world cigarette makers seeking to be its strategic partners. TTM director Ong-arj Champoonta told reporters his agency expected to finalise by late September terms of reference for commissioning advisers that would help it select local and foreign partners under its privatisation plan.
- But the Education Quality Improvement Act (Bill 160) means local boards no longer have the authority to make such adjustments to the school calendar. . . So this year, parent councils, tobacco growers and school boards forged a new and unique partnership to gain education ministry approval for the delay. . . It provides for a delay of four school days and permits students "integral to the harvest" to work an additional week without having absences recorded. . . For the first time, costs associated with the delayed start - tutoring and the learning package - have been picked up by the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board.
- According to historical accounts, Puritans from Virginia moved to Maryland by invitation from the second Lord Baltimore, Cecil Calvert, who hoped they would sign an oath of allegiance to him and help him stabilize control over the colony. The new settlers landed at Greenbury Point in December 1649 and began tobacco farming, calling their settlement Providence. Less than a year later, Baltimore granted Anne Arundel County its charter, naming it after his wife, the Lady Anne Arundel.
- Dr. Walter Adams, an antitrust expert whose concerns about concentrations of corporate power helped shape government policy for three decades, died Sept. 10 at his home in East Lansing, Mich., according to a statement from Michigan State University, where he taught for 46 years. He was 78. . . His last book, "THE TOBACCO WARS," written with Professor Brock, was published last week by South-Western College Publishing of Cincinnati. It was their third book to use the form of a play to teach economics.
- WALTER ADAMS, former president of Michigan State University, died Tuesday of pancreatic cancer. He was 76. . . He wrote 14 books including "The Bigness Complex," "Dangerous Pursuits" and "Monopoly in America." His most recent book titled "THE TOBACCO WARS," was published last week.
- "The industry recognizes the fact that smoke can be bothersome to nonsmokers. Our experience shows that ventilation can play an important role in providing a comfortable and inviting atmosphere in places where smoking is permitted," said Christianne Ricchi, organization chair. The survey results come during a period of change for the city of Boston as it implements its own smoking ban.
- To watch highlights of the press conference announcing the poll results go to http://www.newstream.com
- Despite the intensity of the debate, one thing remains unequivocal -- 77 percent of adult American consumers believe we should find a way to accommodate both non- smokers and smokers in hospitality establishments, according to respondents in a national Roper Starch Worldwide poll released in Boston today. The poll, commissioned by the DISTINGUISHED RESTAURANTS OF NORTH AMERICA (DRNA) -- restaurants recognized for distinguished dining that have earned the DiRoNA award in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico -- demonstrates that consumers favor a reasonable approach to the smoking issue in hospitality establishments, despite the controversy over the last several years.
- The story suggests that there is something sinister about a tobacco company carrying out research into nicotine. Nicotine, however, is an important part of the smoking experience, affecting taste and other sensory characteristics of the product, and having mild pharmacological effects comparable to caffeine. B&W was and is interested in understanding nicotine and those characteristics that make it an important part of the smoking experience. Of course we have carried out research into nicotine and many other constituents of cigarette smoke that we believe are important. However, it is important to remember that scientific research progresses over time. Many comments and documents from the 1960s reflected a poor understanding of smoking behavior and cigarette smoke characteristics. As is the case with all areas of science, many theories were developed and subsequently disproved.
- Officials from health organizations urged Colorado to fund anti-smoking prpograms with money it is expected to win from a lawsuit against tobacco companies, despite a state constitutional amendment that would allow the the revenue to go toward roads and prisons. . . Because of Colorado's taxpayer bill of rights, known as TABOR, there may be limits on how the money can be spent unless a special foundation is set up to handle the funds, officials from health organizations said.
- If granted, the ban would further delay the start of testimony in the pioneering case by extending jury selection, now ending its 10th week. . . But husband-and-wife lawyers Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt have told trial Judge Robert Kaye of Miami-Dade County Circuit Court that they want 22 people, including all smokers, pulled from the pool now.
- Many of the state's legal arguments were thrown out last year by King County Superior Court Judge George Finkle, leaving Washington with little recourse but to sue Philip Morris Cos., RJR Nabisco Corp. and their competitors on the grounds they conspired and violated antitrust laws by agreeing not to develop and sell safer cigarettes to the public. "There's going to be much more emphasis on safer cigarettes" than in previous tobacco cases, said Washington's lead trial attorney, Steve Berman. "There's going to be a whole mess of new documents released, a lot you haven't heard about."
- A complaint filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco charges Lawrence Martin Seidler, a 45-year-old Potrero Hill resident, with smuggling and making false statements on customs declarations.
- Last week the High Court in Cape Town dismissed an application brought by the tobacco industry to stop Dr Zuma presenting her bill to parliament. The bill will drastically curtail tobacco advertising, virtually end sponsorship of sporting events by tobacco companies, and ban smoking in workplaces and public venues.
- Cigarette smuggling is soaring as criminals swap their vans for lorries. The BBC's Lisa Holland reports on the trend towards smuggling with trucksCustoms officers say cigarette smuggling has increased by more than four times over the past five years. A staggering 70% of all hand-rolled tobacco bought in the UK is smuggled in from Belgium.
- BLACK marketeers are running a flourishing multi-million-dollar illegal tobacco trade in Victoria. Cheap tax-free tobacco is readily available at many Victorian tobacconists, milk bars, markets, factory car parks and other outlets. Buyers of the illegal product can make up a pack of 25 cigarettes for 75 cents, more than $5 cheaper than a legal pack. The Herald Sun was easily able to buy materials to make a carton of 200 filter-tipped cigarettes for $6, compared to the retail price of about $45.
- For a company like Zippo Manufacturing Co. in Bradford, the problem is not getting publicity. The problem is getting noticed by the right people - a generation of skeptical college-age kids who have their own ideas about what's cool. . . The new campaign, which has started to show up in youth-oriented magazines like Details and Maxim, won't use a single cigarette. Instead, emotional birthday scenes and candle-lit beaches demonstrate there are a lot of fires to light besides smokes. The new tag line is "Zippo. Use it to start something."
- The fast hands were out in Garrard County to prove they can cut it. There was returning champion Alan "Peanut" Edgington, 34, winner of this year's 17th annual tobacco-cutting contest and its $500 prize. His 228 sticks in 47 minutes and 36 seconds beat out his brother, James Gilbert "Bibo" Edgington's 219 sticks in 47 minutes and 49 seconds. "This is a family thing. We farm together," Peanut Edgington said.
- Thailand Tobacco Monopoly, or TTM, managing director Ong-Ard Champoonta said in a newspaper interview Friday that three international cigarette manufactures could take a stake in the state-owned company. The Nation newspaper quoted Ong-Ard as saying U.S. companies PHILIP MORRIS COS (MO) and RJR NABISCO and U.K.'s B.A.T INDUSTRIES PLC (BTI), had expressed interest in buying some of the 49% of TTM which the government plans to privatize. "We would like to be similar to Japan Tobacco, which is still a monopoly though it has other investors," Ong-Ard told the Nation.
- In the seven years since Turkey abolished price controls that had propped up its state-owned tobacco company, Philip Morris has gotten millions of Turks to cast aside local cigarettes in favor of its Marlboro, Parliament and L&M brands.
- FEWER British smokers are kicking the habit, Britain's largest tobacco company, Gallaher Group, claimed yesterday. Chairman and chief executive Peter Wilson said regular surveys of consumers conducted by Gallaher indicated that the percentage of adults that smoke has remained stable at around 22pc over the past six months. He said: "The ongoing surveys we do among consumers indicate that for the first time in many years we have seen stability in the number of people smoking."
- By John Willman, Consumer Industries Editor The decline in cigarette smoking in the UK appears to have bottomed out with smokers measuring just over 22 per cent of adults, Gallaher Group, the UK's leading cigarette maker, said yesterday. However, the growth in bootlegging meant the decline in cigarette sales was accelerating and had now reached a rate of 6 per cent a year. The group, demerged last year by American Brands, said bootleg products brought in from the Continent were responsible and had eaten into UK sales.
- Gallaher, the largest UK tobacco company, reported sharply reduced first-half profits on Thursday but said that it remained market leader and claimed that the decline in smoking had stopped. Pre-tax profit in the six months to June 30 fell 23 per cent to £128.2m ($212.8m), compared with £166.7m during the same period in 1997. The company announced a dividend of 6.8p a share.
- * Every month, people in Los Angeles County drop 1,094,296 cigarette butts and 88,706 gum wrappers, coffee cups and other pieces of litter on the sidewalk, curbs and gutters, where they eventually wash into the storm drain system and into the ocean.
- "Parental divorce has serious consequences for the physiological well-being of offspring," reports Nicholas H. Wolfinger, PhD, of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, in the September Journal of Health and Social Behavior. "Efforts at substance (abuse) education and prevention should concentrate on the children of divorce." . . For both boys and girls, parental divorce increased the likelihood of smoking in adulthood by about one-third, compared with children who grew up in intact homes. If their mothers remarried, the divorce-linked effect on smoking was dampened somewhat for girls, but not for boys.
- A fire in Baltimore's Hillendale neighborhood has taken the life of a bedridden grandfather. Three members of a the family were able to escape... but 76- year-old Donald Plummer apparently died of a combination of smoke inhalation and a heart attack. Investigators say the fire apparently started because a member of the family was smoking in bed.
- Marsha Lapin would not let her life end without meaning. She had smoked cigarettes for more than three decades and last summer was diagnosed with lung cancer that doctors said would kill her. So she made the last months of her life the most important. She wrote letters to politicians and legislators, railing against cigarettes, and she counseled and pleaded with youngsters to avoid smoking, friends and relatives said. Mrs. Lapin, of Ellicott City, died Monday of lung cancer at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care in Towson.
- What does make sense is curbing the availability of cigarettes. The law already requires that. Boys and girls under 18 years old are not permitted to buy cigarettes. That law must be strictly enforced, all sides should agree. It is the law, and strict enforcement would be a benefit to all. Put that on the billboards.
- In the ultimate analysis, Minnesota will be better off fiscally and in its collective conscience without investments in the tobacco industry.
- I am writing to express the American Cancer Society's strong support for Attorney General Scott Harshbarger's recent decision to pull out of the stalled discussions with the nation's big tobacco companies.
- But the answer is not, as Mr. Coutu had hoped, to therefore allow more stores, including his, to sell cigarettes, but instead for fewer stores of any description to sell tobacco products. Measures making it more difficult for smokers to buy cigarettes can lower the rate of smoking. . . The decision to clear cigarettes out of drugstores is a small step in the right direction.
- 10th District (Brooklyn, including Bedford Stuyvesant, East New York, Canarsie, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill and part of Brooklyn Heights): In the competition for most mediocre member of the New York delegation, Representative Edolphus Towns is always a contender. In his 16 years in Congress, Towns has distinguished himself mainly for his large record of missed votes and his subservience to special interests, notably the tobacco industry.
- If the House of Representatives votes today to release Kenneth Starr's full report . . . You also will be able to find it at
- The News & Observer on the Web
- The Nando Times.
- The House site: http://www.house.gov/icreport
- The House Judiciary Committee's home page: http://www.house.gov/judiciary
- A Library of Congress site: http://thomas.loc.gov/icreport
- Amateur lobbying intensified Thursday over proposals for a new agricultural guest worker program. Behind the scenes, meanwhile, a professional operation continued apace, as farm-state lawmakers tried to refine a foreign guest worker measure that might slip around White House objections. . . As championed by the Fresno-based Nisei Farmers League, North Carolina tobacco growers and more than 100 farm groups, the guest worker plan would establish a Labor Department registry to which farmers would apply for U.S. workers.
- LIGGETT lawyers, as well as trial lawyers purporting to represent all smokers nationwide that may have been harmed by Liggett cigarettes, once again asked Mobile Circuit Court Judge Braxton Kittrell to certify a deal to shield it from current and future lawsuits now besieging Big Tobacco. . . Whether or not Liggett wins the protection it seeks, there's little question that the company and its chairman, Bennett Lebow, have held up their end of the bargain in cooperating with tobacco's foes to make life rough on the biggest and richest tobacco companies.
- A digest of coming events, compiled by Jeffrey Bils. September 13, 1998 When 800 volunteers combed 35 miles of Lake Michigan beaches last year to pick up garbage, they collected more than three tons--10 percent of which was cigarette butts. That works out to 600 pounds of butts. Those numbers could be surpassed this year.
- Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. faces no Democratic challengers as he seeks a fourth term as the head of what he calls "the state's largest law firm." . . Most recently, Curran has taken on the nation's tobacco industry with a lawsuit seeking more than $3 billion to recover Medicaid costs
- Rappaport, 64, a lawyer in Ellicott City, is campaigning on his decades-long record in law enforcement . . . as well as his plans to make the state more friendly to businesses. In particular, he has criticized Curran's decision to file a lawsuit against tobacco companies seeking more than $3 billion to recover Medicaid costs.
- We come here to bury state Senator KENNETH L. MADDY, not to praise him. . . Professionally, he was scrupulously fair, in the traditional legislative sense of giving everyone a shot. Last year, the evil tobacco industry lobbyists . . . went to see Ken. . . Then the lobbyists proposed various sneaky ways to convert the bill into one about bar-smoking, without attracting the attention of us swarming vermin media. . . "No," Ken said. "I want the bill amended on the floor of the Assembly in front of God and many witnesses. Full sunshine. And, by the way, once you turn the bill into your own, you guys are responsible for getting the votes." . . They needed a bill. He gave them their shot. And after that, it was up to them. That's fair.
- Sick of seeing cigarette butts sticking out of the sand at South Florida beaches and plastic containers bobbing in area waterways? . . Next Saturday, Beautiful Palm Beaches Inc. spearheads the local edition of the 11th annual Florida Coastal Cleanup. . . But the most common beach litter remains cigarette butts, Booth said. "People seem to think the beach is their ashtray," she said
- And eight years ago, demonstrating his ability to identify an issue early on, Green, then New York City's Consumer Affairs Commissioner, tackled Joe Camel, the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company's well-known cartoon character, which he denounced as "an obvious effort to lure children into smoking." . . . For example, his early complaint to the Federal Trade Commission about the marketing of cigarettes to minors, put him at the forefront of what would become a major national issue. Last year, the commission brought official charges against R. J. Reynolds, and the company dropped Joe Camel.
- CUSTOMS officials have begun a national crackdown on a black-market tobacco claimed to be defrauding the Commonwealth of $140 million in tobacco tax and raising serious health concerns. The product Chop Chop comes from the nation's main tobacco-growing areas in Mareeba, north Queensland, and Myrtleford in Victoria, and possibly in southern Queensland and NSW.
- PRAGUE -- (Agence France Presse) The number of Czech adolescents who smoke has almost doubled in four years, with a marked rise seen among teenage girls, . . . according to findings from the World Health Organization published in Tuesday's edition of the Dnes newspaper. Not only has the proportion of adolescent smokers risen, the number of cigarettes they consume has also increased
- Major tobacco firms would have to pay Quebecers more than $11.5 billion if a new class-action suit gets to court and succeeds. Lawyers for three smokers have asked Quebec Superior Court to hear the suit against Imperial Tobacco Ltd., Rothmans Inc. and RJR MacDonald Inc. The proposed suit is on behalf of 2.3 million Quebecers who are addicted to nicotine. It seeks $5,000 in punitive damages for each smoker plus compensation for specific damages. Don Brown, president of Imperial Tobacco, said Friday he is confident the request and all its claims will be rejected by the court.
- Further to the filing today of a motion, by three Quebec smokers, before the Quebec Superior Court, seeking permission to bring a class action against Imperial Tobacco, the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Don Brown, issued the following statement: "Since we have just received copy of this motion, it is impossible for us to comment in detail all of the allegations it contains. All we can say is that we intend to defend vigorously the interests of our company, and that we are confident that the Court will, in due course, reject the motion and any claims that might derive from it." The company said it would make no further comment.
- A spokeswoman for Spain's Tabacalera SA (E.TAB) said Monday tobacco products may get more expensive over the next five years, but short-term price hikes are not a definite.
- Tabacalera SA, Spain's monopoly tobacco producer, will not raise cigarette prices in the near term, Tabacalera Chairman Cesar Alierta, said in an interview with El Pais newspaper. Tabacalera prices are 45 percent less than the European average, and with European economic union Spanish tobacco prices will rise to European levels within five years, Alierta said. "That doesn't mean in the short term we are thinking about raising prices," the paper quoted Alierta as saying.
- Profit at ITC Ltd., India's largest tobacco company, may climb more than 23 percent in the six months through September, the Business Standard daily reported on Sept. 12, citing analysts. Its profit may rise to more than 3.7 billion rupees ($87 million) after it raised prices on many of its brands.
- When two of the most unpopular industries in America saw public outrage building against them earlier this year, they realized that traditional lobbying and advertising weren't enough to fend off drastic action against them on Capitol Hill. They needed their own grass roots. Fortunately for the tobacco and managed-care industries, those grass roots were for sale. In the crucial weeks before Congress voted on tobacco-control legislation in June, a grass-roots firm working for the industry got "political influentials" in Republican districts to call their senators and assure them it was ok to kill the bill.
- 09/13/98 Triad's Grassroots Principles Triad Communications
- Letters, E-Mail Messages, Faxes, Legislator-Advocate Meetings, Advocacy Web Sites, In-bound and Out-bound Phone Programs
- 09/13/98 Grassroots Database Development and Management Triad
- A grassroots database allows you to find potential advocates, mobilize reliable advocates for quick mobilization, and track activity by legislative target. For strategic, targeted and reliable grassroots, a database is indispensable. . . Using the StoryBase, you can move beyond finding people willing to urge a "yes" or "no" vote. You can find people with specific stories to tell and work with them to get that story placed with the right audience.
- Bulgaria's Privatisation Agency said on Friday it has appointed Dresdner Kleinwort Benson of London and CAIB of Vienna to advise on the privatisation of one of the country's major assets - tobacco monopolist Bulgartabak.
- HAIRSTYLING FOR A SERIES: "Tracey Takes On ...: Smoking," HBO.
- Q: I have a trick Chesterfield cigarette pack. It looks like a real pack, but is made from cardboard with a tin lining. When you open the top, a clown pops out. When was this made and why? A: You have what is called a "jack-in-the-pack." It was an advertising novelty designed to be displayed in a tobacco shop. We have also seen a Kent cigarette pack squirt gun. Your trick pack dates from the 1940s or '50s.
- For the third year in a row, the NBC comedy was given the association's "Phlemmy" award, handed out to TV shows that glamorize smoking. The dubious honor was announced Friday, two days before the Emmy awards. "Seinfeld," which showed its final new episode in May, was chosen by a panel of more than 50 teen-agers who logged 126 hours of prime-time viewing in April and May. . . Association officials said "Seinfeld" characters Elaine and Kramer helped to glorify cigar smoking and that Jerry Seinfeld also lit up.
- The drama "ER" received the American Lung Association's top honor, the President's Award, for casting tobacco in a realistic role, and the cigar-touting comedy "Seinfeld" was awarded the undesirable Phlemmy for the third year in a row during the Third Annual Phlemmy Awards, held Friday in Hollywood.
- In the corner table of the Holland Park restaurant three hours have passed. Diana Rigg has chain-smoked, laughed throatily, wiped away tears, smiled gappy-toothed smiles, and polished off all the chocolates on the plate of petits fours. When I tell her that, contrary to her reputation, she's not intimidating at all, she takes a thoughtful last drag on the Marlboro Light she is smoking. "Maybe I am," she says, stubbing the cigarette out. "Perhaps this is all a front. I wonder."
- the man who helped to develop the K ration that fed soldiers from World War II through the Vietnam War, died Sunday of Parkinson's disease. He was 83. . . The tin can entrees were concoctions of items such as bacon and cheese. Included in the packages were powdered tea, coffee or lemonade; chocolate; and always cigarettes.
- Clinton announced $8.7 million in federal grants to 93 community groups to fund programs designed to discourage drug, alcohol and tobacco use by young people and urged lawmakers to enact legislation to help the International Monetary Fund deal with the financial crises gripping Asia and Russia.
- 274. Lewinsky 7/30/98 Int. at 12-13; Lewinsky 8/26/98 Depo. at 37-38. In the grand jury, the President declined to answer whether Ms. Lewinsky would be lying if she said he had used a cigar as a sexual aid with her. Clinton 8/17/98 GJ at 110-11.
- In my opinion, it only becomes an impeachable offense if the cigar was Cuban, said Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione. Angriest of all are cigar lovers, who fear that their beloved smokes will become just another symbol of tawdry salaciousness. This is going to hurt the cigar industry, said Carl Paleologos, owner of the See Gar store in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Let's face it, women will hate cigars even more - and they had been the big growth area in the business. . . A woman came in the other day and said, "What's the biggest, fattest cigar you have? It's a joke for my boyfriend,' he said.
- According to Ms. Lewinsky, she told the President that Mr. Nelvis had promised her a cigar, and the President gave her one. . . A. January 7 Sexual Encounter . . . Afterward, she and the President moved to the Oval Office and talked. According to Ms. Lewinsky: "He was chewing on a cigar. And then he had the cigar in his hand and he was kind of looking at the cigar in ... sort of a naughty way. And so ... I looked at the cigar and I looked at him and I said, we can do that, too, some time."
- Kenneth Starr's impeachment report includes a sizzling description of a sex-with-cigar interlude between President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, it was reported last night. The kinky encounter, reported by NBC, is among the many XXX-rated details in the Sexgate prober's report, which Congress plans to let all Americans read today, sources said.
- THOSE merry pranksters at the CHAPPAQUIDDICK SOCIETY, who usually go after the Kennedy clan, are now making sport of BILL CLINTON's scandals. They've just come up with a fund-raising gimmick, a line of MONICA LEWINSKY Presidential Cigars. What this country needs -- a good 69-cent cigar! says the wrapper. Darned if I know what they're talking about.
- Antismoking activists are charging that the state tobacco settlements in Texas and Florida contain measures that may make life easier for Big Tobacco than first thought. Although Big Tobacco will pay billions for health-care costs and antismoking education, WILLIAM GODSHALL, head of Smokefree Pennsylvania, says the settlements contain "tobacco industry protection provisions." . . For instance, the settlements call for laws making tobacco possession by kids a criminal offense rather than simply cracking down on retailers who sell to minors. "That plays into the industry's strategy of positioning smoking as an adult habit," says ROBIN HOBART, co-director of Americans for Nonsmokers Rights.
- An unscientific survey conducted at the Stair Fair by the Senate staff may give an indication of what the public thinks on several issues that may be considered by the 1999 Legislature. Some of those results: . . Thirty-two percent said the state's tobacco lawsuit settlement money ($6.1 billion over 25 years) should be used primarily for health care; 22 percent said it should be used mainly for tax relief; 17 percent cited education; and13 percent said antismoking programs. Other programs also were cited.
- China's massive crackdown on its multibillion-dollar illegal-import market is driving prices for goods higher, the China Daily Business Weekly reported. . . . The price of imported cigarettes in Beijing has skyrocketed 28% since the crackdown began in July, the state-run weekly reported.
- THE Food and Allied Workers' Union (Fawu) has denied allegations that its members at Rothmans International's Heidelberg plant had embarked on a go-slow and committed acts of sabotage by mixing different brands to put pressure on management to meet demands.
- But the concessions had no impact on kids in Torun, Poland, where an elementary school stands just yards from a Camel Planet club billboard--nor in Ho Chi Minh City, where smokers can exchange empty Marlboro packs for a T-shirt or a new pair of binoculars. Big Tobacco may be adhering to a voluntary code of conduct in marketing to smokers at home, but when it comes to selling products overseas, U.S. cigarette makers subscribe to an altogether different set of standards.
- The dry spell has allowed farmers to harvest Kentucky's vast burley tobacco crop without weather-related interruptions. But it has come at a bad time for growers with crops nearing maturity, and has hampered curing of burley hanging in barns awaiting market. The driest spots are in the western half of the state, where rainfall is at least three inches below average for the past 30 days, said Tom Priddy, University of Kentucky agriculture meteorologist. Rainfall in eastern Kentucky is one to two inches below normal, he said.
- Later last night, CLINTON basked in the applause of 600 supporters in the ballroom of the Park Plaza Hotel . . . Clinton then delivered a political and policy speech void of any more apologies or references to his problems at home . . . He criticized Republicans for opposing tobacco legislation and campaign-finance reform, and touted the economic agenda of his administration
- On Thursday afternoon, he stood in his corrugated steel barn near here, just down the road from Mammoth Cave, and tried patiently to explain the economics, the emotions and the politics of growing tobacco, which he has done for a living for the last 30 years, since he was 12 years old. . . . Walden said he resented Clinton as well as former President Ronald Reagan, whom he blamed for driving government-supported prices down so far that only now, 18 years later, were tobacco revenues returning to their former levels. But his deepest scorn was reserved for the four big cigarette companies, which he accused of profiteering and price manipulation. It is they, Walden said, "who give the farmer a real licking, year in and year out."
- The eighth week of Georgia-Florida flue-cured tobacco auctions ended on a downward note Thursday, as nearly two-thirds of the recorded grade bid averages declined.
- Likewise, tobacco that has been harvested or is being harvested now is in good shape. "There's actually three crops of tobacco this year," Barton said. "The one that got flooded and died, the one that got planted in midseason and is excellent, and the one planted late that is hurting." Priddy said some producers are welcoming the hot, dry weather because it dries the tobacco in the field. "If you're getting ready to cut your tobacco, you'd like it not to rain," Priddy said.
- The predominant subject ‹ by far ‹ was the President Clinton-Monica Lewinsky sex scandal. JOAN RIVERS was passing out CLINTON-LEWINSKY cigars on the E! Channel and BRUCE VILANCH, a writer for the Emmys telecast, was hoping to land a celebrity who might agree to whip out a cigar during the broadcast. "I wish I had booked Joan as a presenter," Vilanch said. . . It took no more than the next half-hour for ELLEN DEGENERES and her girlfriend, ANNE HECHE, to want to bolt out of the proceedings so they could smoke cigarettes outside.
- Antonio Nunez Jimenez, who fought alongside Che Guevara and went on to hold top positions in the Cuban government, is dead at 75, Cuban radio reported Monday. Nunez Jimenez died Sunday in Havana, Radio Reloj reported. No cause of death was announced. . . He was an anthropologist who traveled the world and wrote 30 books, including "The Tobacco Book," a history of cigars published in 1994.
- Concord -- Two women who died while trying to escape from a raging fire in their building on Saturday have not yet been identified, the Contra Costa coroner's office said yesterday. The fire broke out about 5:20 a.m. Saturday after a tenant of the 1818 Overhill Road building fell asleep while smoking, said police Lieutenant Matt Morrissey.
- CONCORD -- A cigarette started a fire that killed two people yesterday morning at a residential drug rehabilitation center, police said.
- With its stately manor house, elaborate rose gardens and rolling meadows, the historic BERCLAIR PLANTATION has been home to some of the most prominent families in Virginia . . But thanks to a more notorious proprietor, who was convicted of money laundering in what may be the largest tobacco fraud case in history, the 200-year-old property near here was seized last year by federal agents. Now it is on the auction block. . . The government seized Berclair after Mark Corrigan, 53, . . . was arrested for being a principal player in a conspiracy that spanned five states and generated nearly $54 million from illegal tobacco sales.
- TRUE or FALSE: D. Some century-old Georgia residents smoke a pack of cigarettes a day. The answers? False. . . Researchers in the four-year-old study funded by the American Association for Retired Persons have been following all documented centenarians in eight eastern Massachusetts towns. . . But one habit all but guaranteed to snuff you out before you hit the century mark is cigarette smoking. "Smoking is a huge big deal," Dr. Perls says.
- At the urging of his teacher, Doris Barela-Fossen, Martinez entered his artwork in the CDC's third annual TEEN MEDIA CONTEST for creative communication of tobacco and health information. The contest is also co-sponsored by the Grammy Award-winning group Boyz II Men. In late June, MARTINEZ received word from Barela-Fossen that he had won first place in the poster category.
- there are some who likely are finding an unexpected silver lining: the brand-name manufacturers whose products figure prominently in the independent counsel's case against the president. . . . Smoking materials. Last but not least, we come to the infamous cigar. Was it a Macanudo? A Dunhill? A Don Diego? A Partegas? Alas, on this important issue the Starr report is silent.
- The U.S. did not merely provide its military personnel with cigarettes, it pushed them at us. One of the first commands we heard in basic training was, "Rest! Smoke em if you got em!" . . . What we have is a glaring example of Clinton's duplicity. . . . We are your heroes, America. We gave our future, our lives, limbs and mental health to protect this same government that now would like us to disappear. I leave you with this: A veteran enters a VA hospital with a heart attack. The divinity on duty decides it's smoking related. Where does the veteran go?
- While reading a recent Chicago Tribune Metro/Lake section, I was surprised and disappointed by the promotion of tobacco products, GPC cigarettes. . . I believe the advertisements in your publication are a direct reflection of the editorial stance of a paper
- As a longtime Washington Redskins fan and a ticket holder for 30 seasons, I was deeply disappointed to read that the Redskins have allowed Georgetown Tobacco to open a cigar store inside Jack Kent Cooke Stadium. . . The intent is to add glamour and pizzazz to the "New Jack." The message is the wrong one, especially for the young people who come to these events with stars in their eyes.
- Already, the case has preoccupied scores of attorneys and paralegals in Seattle. The tobacco industry has hired 10 Seattle law firms, whose roles range from major to secondary, depending on the client. The state Office of the Attorney General also assembled a team of five staff attorneys for the case and then brought in outside expertise by hiring three Seattle law firms. One outside attorney, Paul Luvera, is the state's lead trial lawyer.
- The tobacco industry goes on trial today in King County Superior Court, defending itself against a $5.7 billion lawsuit and the accusation that, through an enormous conspiracy, it tricked people about the health effects of smoking. Jury selection is expected to take two weeks, and the entire trial could last three months.
- Dakota County District Judge Edward Lynch has issued an order dismissing class-action lawsuits brought by 17 different law firms that claimed Blue Cross' settlement proceeds should be paid directly to Blue Cross medical policy subscribers. . . "The judge's order to dismiss confirms our belief that the lawsuits were without merit," said ANDY CZAJKOWSKI, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota CEO. "The court's decision allows us to concentrate our efforts on a plan of action to demonstrate how Blue Cross intends to invest the proceeds to benefit our members and all Minnesotans."
- Republican candidate for governor ELLEN SAUERBREY has a big chunk of change in her campaign chest after a Baltimore fund raiser. On the eve of the primary election... Outside the event, a small group of protesters promised to campaign against Sauerbrey because she's opposed to an increase in the state's cigarette tax.
- Sen. CHRISTOPHER "KIT" BOND, R-Mo., has fired off a second ad that never mentions his own name. The ad began airing over the weekend statewide. It talks only about his Democratic challenger, Missouri Attorney General JAY NIXON. It accuses Nixon of directing $400 million in legal business to 36 private lawyers who have "contributed over $180,000" to Nixon's political campaigns over the past 12 years. Nixon campaign manager Chuck Hatfield denounced the ad as full of inaccuracies and innuendoes. Bond campaign manager David Israelite says Bond stands by the ad.
- This year's U.S. Senate contest in Missouri could well set a record for campaign spending - and much of it not by the candidates. . . The tobacco industry, which has spent more than $1 million in television ads in St. Louis to blast the proposed tobacco settlement in Congress, which Nixon supports. Bond sided with the tobacco companies.
- ANDREAS SEIBERT told the INTERNATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION conference there are about 800 lawsuits under way or pending worldwide against tobacco companies.
- An additional cigarette tax is unlikely to be introduced as scheduled on Oct. 1, as Diet deliberations on the bill creating the tax have been delayed, government sources said
- THE Association of Marketers has expressed grave concern over the disjointed and hurried manner in which legislation is being passed in SA. Executive director Derrick Dickens complained particularly about last-minute changes and inadequate consultation about laws affecting business and the economy. . . During the period allowed for comment on the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill, three different versions of the bill were produced - one for interested parties, one approved by cabinet and one tabled in the National Assembly. The bills were tabled in Parliament before the expiry of the period allowed for public comment.
- Ms Norma Cronin, co-ordinator of anti-tobacco programmes for the Irish Cancer Society, said that although the percentage of Irish women smokers had declined from 37 per cent in 1973 to 28 per cent in 1994, the reduction among men had been more dramatic - down from 49 per cent in 1973 to 29 per cent in 1994. "This is a very worrying trend for women - they are not kicking the habit as well as men," Ms Cronin said.
- A less orthodox form of income from the Israeli connection is the smuggling of tobacco brought tax-free from Israel and then carried by mules over the mountains into Syria -- a business estimated to be worth up to $12 million a year.
- The community's purchasing power has been overlooked, said SHIFRA KRIMALOVSKY, whose firm of the same name designs ads and offers advice on how to penetrate the Haredi sector. Her clients include top Israeli food conglomerates and banks, Wrigley's gum and the country's only cigarette manufacturer, DUBEK - "the only certified kosher cigarette brand," as her ad states. "Advertisers are realizing the huge potential in the Haredi sector," she said. "But you have to know how to relate to them. You have to understand what offends them." Krimalovsky - an ultra-Orthodox Jew - understands her market: Slang is out; Scripture is in. Her firm's ads for GOLF cigarettes show a group of pious-looking men studying the Talmud. "Study of religious texts is an ideal in the Haredi world, so we captioned it `For the lips of wise men,"' she said.
- European Parliament written question No E-3530/97 by Gunilla Carlsson (PPE) asking why Directive 92/41/EEC stipulates that snuff packets must be marked with the words "causes cancer", when the link between snuff and cancer has not been proved. The Commission's reply states that the health warnings on smokeless tobacco products were required by Community legislation taking account of the opinion of scientific experts that all tobacco products carry health risks, and that these products are a major risk factor as regards cancer.
- The health threat from tobacco is growing in several Asian and Pacific countries and up to 100 million men now aged below 29 may die of smoking in China alone, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday. . . Regional director Sang Tae Han, of South Korea, singled out tobacco as one of the greatest contributing factors to the growth of non-communicable diseases in the Western Pacific. "I am disappointed to say that in this regard the Western Pacific region has not performed well...Of all WHO regions, the Western Pacific has experienced the highest increase in tobacco use," Han said. In 1994 an estimated 50 percent of men and five to seven percent of women in the region smoked. Figures for 1997 showed that 60 percent of men smoked and eight percent of women.
- Europeans' health is deteriorating and life expectancy in the region is declining for the first time in over 50 years, according to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report issued on Monday. . . The major causes of death were listed as cardiovascular disease, which was responsible for 49 percent of all deaths in Europe and cancer, with tobacco killing an estimated 1.2 million in 1995, about 13 percent of all deaths.
- As part of a CreditWatch resolution, key issues to be examined will include the potential for further individual company or industry settlements, future liability protection, annual payments, FDA regulation, and the potential impact of price increases on domestic tobacco consumption.
- The McCain bill was defeated; however, the ratings of Philip Morris and RJR Nabisco are expected to remain on Rating Watch--Down at least until major litigation (including the state attorneys general Medicaid recoupment lawsuits and certain class actions) are resolved and/or there are a sufficient number of judicial and/or jury decisions so as to conclude with a fair degree of confidence that the industry would continue in large part to prevail in court.
- Tobacco giant PHILIP MORRIS COS. enjoys a reputation for good management, but in a 1996 sexual harassment trial involving behavior at the company's cigarette plant in Louisville, the company conceded that extramarital hanky-panky had occurred. . . Philip Morris attorney Douglas Becker said in his opening statement that the company does not prohibit interoffice relationships. "Now you might say that's not a good business practice, and maybe not," he said. "That's the way we run our business."
- PLAYER'S GOLD LEAF prize scheme "EXPLORE THE WORLD" has been acclaimed as the one of the most successful prize schemes in the history of consumer promotion, and as one of the international tobacco industry's most outstanding promotions to date. Not surprising since over 1.27 million entries were received ! A grand draw picked five lucky winners who won Free World Trip Return Tickets . . . On the occasion of the grand draw, a colourful ceremony was organized by Player's Gold Leaf in Lahore. MICK FENN, Chairman of PAKISTAN TOBACCO COMPANY, the Company's directors, celebrities from the film and show business industry and a large number of social notables attended the evening.
- RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp., the No. 2 U.S. cigarette maker, replaced MCI Communications Corp. in the S&P 500 Index after the close of trading today, Standard & Poor's Corp. said.
- Tobacco company Gallahers last week reported an above market expectation set of interim results to the end of June. . . The international marketplace remains, however, the group's real growth area. Sales increased by 16% to 8.4 billion cigarettes. The Republic of Ireland remains a key market with sales up 6.7%. Successes were also found in France with sales up by a quarter and in the old Soviet Union States of Russia, Ukraine and Kazakstan where a new £12m factory investment has been made.
- Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.'s (B&W) Macon cigarette manufacturing plant, the largest in the world, is steadily increasing its production even though domestic sales are declining. This growth at the subsidiary of London-based British American Tobacco Co. is attributed to exports of such brands as Viceroy, Lucky Strike and Kent. Domestically, B&W's flagship products are GPC, the industry's fourth bestseller, and Kool, the ninth best.
- "This will be our worst crop since 1983," Earl "Buddy" Hance, a Calvert County tobacco grower and head of the Maryland State Tobacco Authority, said last week. "Because of the drought, the leaves are thicker and this is less desirable," Hance said. "It's not going to bring a good price at auction." He said some farmers, including himself, are plowing under some of their tobacco because it is not worth the expense of harvesting. A crop survey completed last month predicted that half of the tobacco harvest in Calvert County will be lost because of the uncooperative weather
- Abstract: A cigarette package comprising an inner and outer section can be slidably connected so that an ashtray portion can be formed when the cigarette package is placed in the extended position.
- Cornell, author of Spin-off to Pay-off (McGraw-Hill, $50), notes that shares in the parent have been trading around $22, while NABISCO stock is around $33. True, RJR has been dragged down by fears it will face huge tobacco liabilities. But at current prices, the market is awarding the cookie unit alone a value equivalent to the market value of the entire tobacco and cookie company. In other words, at $22 a share you could buy RJR Nabisco and essentially pay nothing for the tobacco unit. "Sometimes," Cornell says, "the market doesn't get it.""
- People who put money into "ethical" trusts that avoid investing in tobacco or armaments companies tend to cover their bets by having "conventional" investments too - but they take a clear decision to accept lower economic returns in order to follow a moral line,research has found. A survey of 1,100 people with money in ethical trusts, whose total investments range from £2,000 to £2m, found that on average 69 per cent of their assets were in conventional funds, said Dr Alan Lewis of the CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC PSYCHOLOGY at the University of Bath.
- THE first test of whether cigars are still socially acceptable, post-Monica, comes tonight, when LAUREN HUTTON (hot off the Studio 54 movie) helps artist MICHEL DELACROIX unveil his special Montecristo limited-edition box at Axelle Fine Art Galerie in SoHo. Stogie lovers like NY1's GEORGE WHIPPLE, JULIE HAYEK, LOU CHRISTIE and TAMA JANOWITZ will light up the joint before heading uptown to puff some more at Carnegie Bar & Books on West 56th Street.
- RIP TORN has joined Al Pacino and Russell Crowe in the cast of a feature about tobacco industry whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand. Writer/director Michael Mann ("Heat") is currently shooting the still-untitled Disney project in New York for a planned 1999 release.
- Young people in West Virginia who are volunteering their time and talents to improve their communities are encouraged to apply for the fourth annual PRUDENTIAL SPIRIT OF COMMUNITY AWARDS, administered by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). . . Last year, more than 11,000 students nationwide participated at the local level in the awards program. In West Virginia, Mark Jones from Rivesville, and Tasha Daft from Mannington, were honored as the state's top two youth volunteers for 1998. MARK JONES, West Virginia's top 1998 high school volunteer, started a drug and tobacco prevention program that involves his stage persona, COWBOY DAVE.
- Sen. JOHN MCCAIN is being honored for his leadership in advancing comprehensive tobacco control legislation.
- It looks like some of the boards and commissions in the northwest suburbs are spinning their wheels when it comes to improving the health and welfare of residents--at least when those efforts could impact local businesses. After almost two years of nearly hysterical debate in Arlington Heights, the final vote is non-smokers can hold their breath when they go out to eat . . . Likewise, in Rolling Meadows, even a watered-down effort to post signs warning parents it isn't advisable to bring their kids into the smoking sections got blasted into outer space.
- Attorney General Humphrey has the moral authority to remind the president that we're all supposed to be keeping tobacco away from this country's youth.
- But just try saying cigar these days without eliciting a dirty snicker or sniff of distaste. For now, the cigar has roughly the same social status as the whoopee cushion. . . So it is a reeking injustice that cigars and their devotees, who treat the objects of their affection with such tenderness and care, should be sullied by smuttiness not of their making. . . And how very lucky poor old Sigmund's not alive to see this.
- State attorneys general and tobacco company lawyers have reached agreement on all but one issue in their proposal to settle state claims against the industry, said Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire, who is leading eight state attorneys general in the talks. "My sights are set on the end of this week" for a resolution, she said. The two cigarette makers in the talks -- Philip Morris Cos. and Loews Corp. -- have agreed to restrict most forms of marketing, including a ban on billboard advertising and reduced sponsorships of sporting events, said participants on both sides of the talks. The two are also negotiating for the tobacco industry to pay $196.5 billion over 25 years to settle state claims over the costs of treating ill smokers. The sides are still hashing out the thorny issue of how to control sales and pricing by small cigarette makers that aren't expected to sign on to the proposal.
- Jury experts and trial lawyers say an industry ad campaign criticizing Congressional efforts to raise cigarette taxes has a more potent, indirect message. That message, anti-tobacco lawyers say, is that cigarette companies shouldn't be punished for health illnesses caused by smoking. "One of my biggest concerns is with the jury listening to these damned ads," said Steve Berman, the trial lawyer for the state of Washington
- The county Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 2 last night to support in concept a proposed ordinance banning outdoor tobacco advertisements within 1,600 feet of schools, playgrounds and youth centers in unincorporated areas of the county. . . . Supervisors could not agree on whether to require licenses for all stores or only for the ones proved to have sold cigarettes to underage smokers. The split over licenses means the fractured board will have to vote at least twice more before the ordinance can become law. County lawyers must draft two versions of the law for board consideration.
- An anti-smoking group says the state is spending almost one-and-a-half-BILLION dollars a year on smoking-elated health care. The Tobacco Free Wisconsin Coalition says 14-percent of smoking-related health care costs are paid by taxpayers. T he study was published in the Journal of Public Health Reports.
- On Friday night, members of the city's Workplace Smoking Task Force conducted an undercover investigation at nine bars to verify compliance with the 9-month-old prohibition on smoking in bars, said Deputy City Atty. Adam Radinsky on Tuesday. Radinsky said four of the bars visited were knowingly permitting customers to smoke: J.P.'s Bar & Grill, the Cock 'N' Bull, the Speakeasy and the Daily Pint.
- The Washington County Board reversed its stand on prohibiting young people to sell tobacco products Tuesday by voting to amend its Youth Access to Tobacco ordinance to allow clerks 16 and older to sell tobacco products. The amendment, which passed 4-1, was approved after a lengthy public hearing on the subject. Only Commissioner Mary Hauser dissented . . . "This is not about employment. We are not ... an employment agency. We are a public health agency." The amendment will go before the county board on Tuesday for formal adoption
- With 16 years as Minnesota's attorney general, the most revered name in the state and a highly publicized lawsuit against cigarette makers, Hubert H. Humphrey III enjoyed an early advantage in his bid for the Democratic nomination for governor.
- On top of all that residual goodwill, there was the exquisite timing of Humphrey's smashing victory over the tobacco industry. In late May, as he was fighting for party endorsement, Humphrey and the tobacco companies reached a settlement worth $6.1 billion to the state. . . Apparently, DFL voters weren't impressed with any of that postsettlement naysaying.
- Although he lost the endorsement to Freeman, the Hennepin County attorney, Humphrey came into the campaign after the biggest win of his career: a $6.6 billion settlement for the state against Big Tobacco. . . Humphrey campaigned on his own tobacco victory, 16 years in the attorney general's office and a proposal to cut taxes by $1.4 billion over four years.
- Cigarette sales in Oregon are down 10 percent, and state health officials credit higher cigarette taxes and an unflinching anti-smoking advertising campaign as the reasons. . . Health officials relied on Oregon Department of Revenue data showing that Oregonians bought 3 million fewer packs of cigarettes a year after the passage of Measure 44, which increased the cigarette tax from 38 cents to 68 cents.
- The Bulgarian parliament agreed Wednesday on a draft resolution banning tobacco from radio and television, including cigarette commercials and indirect advertising such as sponsorships of sports events.
- A Liberal Senator's bill aiming to slap a 50-cent levy on a carton of cigarettes should reach the first reading stage in the House of Commons next month. The levy would be used to raise funds to reduce underage smoking. ONTARIO SENATOR COLIN KENNY said the bill is desperately needed to cut down the appalling toll smoking wreaks in Canada -- 40,000 deaths each year.
- For the sake of simplification, the following notes cover only those ingredients or additives present in at least one hundredth of one percent (0.01 percent) of the weight of a filter cigarette. The other substances have been reported to the B.C. government, in accordance with the regulations of the Tobacco Sales Amendment Act. All substances representing at least one percent of the weight of the cigarette are quantified below
- RJR-Macdonald Inc. is still concerned about Health Minister Priddy's announced intention to publicly release bona fide proprietary information
- Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc. has today provided to the British Columbia Ministry of Health disclosure of the additives and ingredients in all cigarette and cigarette tobacco brands sold in British Columbia. This disclosure, which includes detailed information on the components of cigarette papers and filters, is required by the July 31, 1998 regulations made under the British Columbia Tobacco Sales Amendment Act. As was publicly released in 1994, the reports reconfirm that there are no additives to tobacco in cigarettes manufactured in Canada by RBH
- "Stallone wanted me to play a drug dealer in his movie," Chan explains. "I cannot do it. I cannot be a bad guy. I cannot die in a movie, and I cannot be a bad guy. My audience will not accept me. I was offered lot of money to do cigarette and alcohol commercials and I cannot do it."
- Goldman and Glantz confound 2 different concepts in the analysis of media campaigns: target audience and content of message. Young people are a target audience, while issues of industry manipulation and secondhand smoke are particular themessages. . .
We recognize the difficulties associated with comparing California and Massachusetts, including those Connolly and Harris describe. We also recognize the limitations of focus group research. . . Effective tobacco control programs should be directed at a general market with a youth component and include strong anti-tobacco industry and secondhand smoke messages in order to maximize cost-effectiveness. . . .
- Later last night, CLINTON basked in the applause of 600 supporters in the ballroom of the Park Plaza Hotel . . . Clinton then delivered a political and policy speech void of any more apologies or references to his problems at home . . . He criticized Republicans for opposing tobacco legislation and campaign-finance reform, and touted the economic agenda of his administration
- In two areas, in particular, the state Attorneys General have the opportunity to make a long term difference: restrictions on marketing as strong as those the Attorneys General insisted on last year, and a well-funded, independent, long-term public education/counter advertising program.
- But a leader of the talks, Attorney General Christine Gregoire of Washington state, said through a spokesman Thursday that she doesn't expect an agreement this week.
- The nation's top tobacco companies have subpoenaed Arizona's largest school districts, demanding a broad range of materials used since 1950 to educate students about the dangers of smoking. Arizona's largest district, Mesa Unified, is fighting the subpoena as "unduly burdensome" and potentially costly. Three others, Paradise Valley, Peoria and Phoenix Elementary, also have filed objections. And the director of a national anti-smoking group accused the tobacco companies of using the subpoenas as a harassment technique.
- On Friday, September 11, 1998, United States District Court Judge James Gwin refused to dismiss a potential class action suit filed against Philip Morris, RJR Nabisco, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company and other tobacco industry defendants in federal court for the Northern District of Ohio. . . The Court’s ruling allows the case to proceed towards trial which is set for February 22, 1999. This will be the first trial for any such Trust Fund in the country.
- The companies asked that jury selection scheduled to begin Tuesday be pushed back one month. They argued that if a settlement with two companies is imminent, "jurors should not have to speculate about why significant parties are not there a week or two later," said RJR attorney Bradley S. Keller. "If trial begins and then a settlement is announced, a new trial would need to be ordered," the companies wrote in their motion.
- Parliament agreed on a draft resolution banning tobacco from radio and television on Wednesday, including cigarette commercials and indirect advertising such as sponsorships of sports events.
- Since the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires employers to provide a safe and healthy working environment, it may be only a matter of time before a restaurant is charged with exposing its staff to a carcinogenic and asthma-enhancing atmosphere. Since even the tobacco industry agrees that passive smoking is highly dangerous to the unborn, they must also take special care not to employ anyone who is pregnant.
- London restaurant owners and celebrity chefs today warned that a ban on smoking in British restaurants could cost the industry £346 million and the loss of more than 45,000 jobs. The figures are produced in a report due to be published tomorrow by the Restaurant Association of Great Britain - Potential Economic Impact of a Smoking Ban in Restaurants.
- FOUR leading chefs and restaurateurs add their support today to a campaign against a total ban on smoking in Britain's 100,000 cafés and restaurants. In a letter to The Times, ANTONY WORRALL THOMPSON, PRUE LEITH, MICHEL ROUX and ROY ACKERMAN say that a ban could cost their industry hundreds of millions of pounds and thousands of jobs. . . The four, with the backing of the Restaurant Association, made their statement in advance of a government White Paper that may seek to further control smoking in public places.
- We need only look to the United States to see the extent of economic damage that might be inflicted on restaurants by a smoking ban. When a limited ban was imposed in New York, restaurants suffered a 25 per cent rise in the number of closures during the year following the ban, leading to the loss of some 2,779 jobs.
- COMMERCIAL television networks could be forced to use virtual advertising to block out tobacco signs at sporting events within 12 months. The Australian Broadcasting Authority is considering using virtual advertising to push for a tightening up of exemptions to the federal ban on advertising tobacco. This would see all cigarette promotional signage obliterated from viewer's screens during coverage of national and international sporting events.
- Salomon Smith Barney said Thursday it had cut its earnings per share view for RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. to $0.60 from $0.64 for the third quarter and to $2.33 from $2.42 for 1998. Analyst Martin Feldman said: . . "Our estimates have been reduced largely as a result of the severe problems that the international tobacco unit of RJR is experiencing as a result of both currency turmoil and worsening economic conditions in Russia, as well as Southeast Asia."
- CONSUMER PRICE INDEX: AUGUST 1998 The index for other goods and services, which rose 0.7 percent in July, increased 0.1 percent in August. The deceleration largely was attributable to moderation in the index for tobacco and smoking products, which rose 0.1 percent in August after increasing 2.6 percent in July.
- The tobacco and food company said it now is selling the product through 18 tobacco stores in Richmond, Va., headquarters for the company's cigarette-plant operations. . . "What we found are a segment of smokers willing to switch their brand preference for ACCORD's attributes," said a Philip Morris spokeswoman. "This limited retail sales step is the next logical step prior to opening a more traditional test market."
- Abstract: Tobacco products improved by the use of uncured, yellow tobacco low in tar and carcinogenic nitrosamines, treated by microwaving, or convection heating, or freeze drying to kill microbes responsible for curing ...
- World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Gro Harlem Brundtland on Thursday said smoking was potentially the biggest global health threat and called for a total advertising ban on tobacco products. . . Brundtland told a news conference at WHO's Copenhagen-based regional office for Europe. "By the year 2010 tobacco is going to be biggest disease burden globally. Tobacco is a killer. It should not be advertised, subsidised or glamourised . . . You cannot compete with tobacco. Tobacco is the biggest killer, much bigger in dimension than all other forms of pollution," she said.
- And there is this pearl about Gates and Microsoft General Counsel William Neukom dueling over Stefanie Reichel, a Microsoft executive in Germany, at a luxurious London restaurant: " `At my sailing club, men and women alike smoke cigars,' Reichel said, keeping up the social banter. `I like them myself.' "Neukom grinned some more. `I bet you like cigars,' he said."
- JAPAN TOBACCO Inc. on Wednesday asked JAPAN AIRLINES to reconsider its plan to ban smoking on all international flights, JT officials said.
- The JAPAN AIRLINES Co (JAL) ( http://www.jal.co.jp ) and the ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS Co (ANA) ( http://www.svc.ana.co.jp ) have announced that both will ban smoking on all international flights early next year. ANA would make the change from March 28 and JAL would follow on April 1. . . This has raised the ire of the JAPAN TOBACCO INC, which said it plans to protest the ban. The lobby group has demanded that the two top Japanese carriers retain smoking seats on international flights.
- To support Hill's slogan, "Reach for a Lucky Instead of a Sweet," he enlisted experts in the fashion and health industries to write about the benefits of slimness and the dangers of sugar. And after perceiving that there was a social taboo against women's smoking in public, BERNAYS had his secretary, Bertha Hunt, organize a group of young New York socialites to march down Fifth Avenue smoking cigarettes on Easter in 1929. The ensuing news stories about the "Torches of Freedom" march, which did not mention Hunt's occupation or employer, led to similar demonstrations in other cities and helped change public perceptions about women smokers.
- What do 237,709 cigarette butts, 18,248 soda bottles and a miniature coffin containing the carcass of a pet rat named "Jack" all have in common? All were plucked, bottle-by-bottle, butt-for-butt from California's beaches during last year's Coastal Cleanup Day. . . . Discarded butts are expected to be even more prevalent on the beaches this year because of the tightening of restrictions on smoking at restaurants and the workplace, said Judi Shils of the state Coastal Commission . . . "Everyone who goes outside to smoke tosses their cigarettes into the gutters, then rain comes and washes all those butts onto the beach," she said.
- Unfortunately, birds like cigarettes, too -- they line their nests with nicotine-saturated filters. Nationwide, 1.3 million cigarette butts were bagged last year amid 3 million pounds of trash collected along 7,100 miles of coastline. Volunteers in 22 states found otters, crabs, birds, fish, seals and turtles that died after becoming tangled in trash. It is the biggest such water's edge tidy-up in the world. This year, more than 80 countries are participating.
- Volunteers at the 14th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day will gather Saturday to collect trash and recyclable materials along miles of Los Angeles County beaches
- Gubernatorial candidate NORM COLEMAN said Thursday he would use budget surpluses and the tobacco settlement windfall to cut Minnesota income tax rates, phase out the tax that finances the state's health insurance program for the working poor and give one-time property tax relief to hard-pressed farmers. "Cutting taxes is like watering your garden -- it makes things grow," said Coleman
- A state Board of Health committee is giving the public a final chance tonight to make suggestions on how to spend Mississippi's tobacco settlement money. The last in a series of community forums is scheduled in Jackson.
- But the youth's mother, Mary Wilhelm, said that Saratoga School Principal Dale Heinen overstepped his bounds and that there was no harm in wearing such shirts, which depict cartoon characters and carry the slogan, "Outta my way. No Rules." . . Wilhelm said that her son's T-shirt was not disruptive and that parents should have the right to dress their children with any clothes they want to as long as they don't promote sex, drugs, alcohol, tobacco or illegal activities. She said her son went to school last year wearing a "No Rules" T-shirt and also wore one depicting Joe Camel, a cartoon character formerly used to promote cigarettes. School officials did not object, she said.
- Saturday is COASTAL CLEANUP DAY, when volunteers will scour VENTURA COUNTY's beaches along with thousands of other workers up and down the state's coastline. . . "The No. 1 item is cigarette butts," said Jessica Craven, who is coordinating the county event with Beth Sutherland. Last year's county effort netted about 7,000 butts. . . The trashiest spots are likely to be near the mouths of the rivers, Sutherland said. The stuff is carried by streams that drain into rivers that lead to the ocean. "The cigarette butts are not left on the beach; they're thrown from cars and go into the storm drain," she said.
- As their labors in a traditional endeavor attest, the Charles County Fair retains much of its down-home, rural flavor. . . . And perhaps most important, there will be the Thursday crowning of the fair queen -- whose title will be Queen Nicotina LXIII. The appellation has raised controversy in years past, with critics saying it needlessly glorifies tobacco. Its defenders say the title represents nothing more than an homage to the past, to a time long before the surgeon general's health warning, when the county's economy and its seasonal rhythms revolved around its tobacco crop.
- Two major tobacco companies and a group of state attorneys general on Friday recessed talks aimed at settling reimbursement suits, and will not resume negotiations until the middle of next week at the earliest. Negotiations, which have been held in New York, will be delayed in part due to Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, which is on Monday and Tuesday.
- "House Bill 4343 is a bad bill that would set a dangerous precedent for other politically motivated efforts to regulate the content of advertising of products that are legally sold and/or manufactured in Michigan," said Rich Studley, Senior Vice President of Government Relations for the Michigan Chamber. "The legislative history on this issue clearly demonstrates that once state government starts down the slippery slope of censorship, proposals to ban or regulate the content of advertising for other types of products are sure to follow."
- Republican gubernatorial nominee ELLEN R. SAUERBREY received the endorsement of a major Democrat today when former lieutenant governor MELVIN A. STEINBERG withdrew support from Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) because of what he called "a lack of integrity and ongoing scandals." . . . Melvin Steinberg said he differs with Sauerbrey on policy questions such as abortion, gun control, tobacco regulation and collective bargaining. But he added: "I respect differences based on religious or philosophical reasons. I'm pro-choice, but it's integrity and character that count.
- "Dan Lungren voted to ban smoking on the airlines [while in Congress] in the '80s, sued the industry as attorney general and is currently at the bargaining table as attorney general to negotiate a landmark agreement that protects children from tobacco advertising," said his press secretary, Bob Brown. "He was a real Johnny-come-lately on this one," countered Davis.
- Mayor RICHARD RIORDAN signed a bill Thursday banning alcohol and tobacco . . . The law goes into effect in 30 days, with a one-year grace period for advertisers to comply.
- PARENTS should be banned from smoking in their own homes, according to the NATIONAL ASTHMA FOUNDATION. Delegates attending a national conference at the Hilton International Adelaide Hotel this week have called for parents to smoke outside rather than placing their children at risk of developing respiratory problems. The proposed ban would also apply to the family car and other enclosed areas.
- Tobacco advertising at the Melbourne formula one Grand Prix will be banned under a ground-breaking deal between the Federal and State Governments and race organisers. The deal, to be announced next week as part of the federal election campaign, guarantees the race's future and is likely to set a worldwide precedent. It also signals an end to tobacco sponsorship of sport. . . The ban on tobacco advertising will not affect next year's race and will be phased in after 2000.
- Australia should not try to end tobacco sponsorship of Formula One motor racing ahead of the rest of the world, Victorian state premier Jeff Kennett said Friday. . . "I think if the world is moving towards that target date, then we should be part of it," he said. "I don't think we should argue against it. On the other hand, I don't know that there is much value in us trying to do something different from the world because the sport is international. You're not going to be able to run this event with different continents having different rules."
- Teenage smoking has been increasing since the late 1980s, with about one in four secondary students now using tobacco, according to a coalition of 64 health groups calling itself the Heart and Cancer Offensive Against Tobacco. The groups said yesterday that about 330,000 Australian students between 12 and 17 were smokers, spending more than $100million on the habit, despite the fact that it is illegal to sell cigarettes to anyone under 18.
- CHILDREN will smoke more than 27 million cigarettes an average of 22 a week each in South Australia this year and pay more than $4 million in tobacco taxes to the Federal Government. The alarming statistics were issued yesterday by an army of health groups which wants Australia's politicians to commit $64 million to smoking prevention. The Heart and Cancer Offensive Against Tobacco, led by the Heart Foundation and the Australian Cancer Society, includes support from the Australian Medical Association and dozens of specialist medical groups and foundations.
- Brooke Group Ltd. (NYSE:BGL) announced today that it has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend on its common stock of $0.075 per share, payable October 2, 1998, to holders of record as of September 28, 1998.
- Mr Goldstone might well be encouraged. The era of Joe Camel, the Marlboro man, and the other brand icons may be coming to an end, but RJ Reynolds' marketing mavens have seen the future and they have got there first, riding a pack of Winstons -- "No bull", just like the ads say.
- the Commission has decided that it has taken advantage of its dominant position on the Italian market for the wholesale distribution of cigarettes and has engaged in improper behaviour in order to protect that position, particularly through the insertion of compulsory clauses in distribution contracts. AAMS is required to put an end to the infringements, to amend the clauses referred to above and to pay a fine of 6 million ECU within three months of this notification.
- PT Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna's loss widened in the second quarter to 1.18 trillion ($101 million), as the rupiah's collapse triggered a bigger foreign exchange charge. Sampoerna, which makes the popular clove cigarettes known as kretek, posted a foreign exchange charge of 1.28 trillion rupiah in the second quarter, more than the 716 billion in the first quarter.
- JIMMIE DALE GILMORE -- Texan, singer, songwriter and guy who just cares about his voice. . . . "I don't demand it," explained the singer . . . "But I request it. And most of the time -- like 99 percent of the time -- the way things are these days, there's a lot of sympathy. In fact, most of the clubs are very happy about it. . . . These performers include big-name draws like ELVIS COSTELLO and TORI AMOS, alt-country heroes Gilmore and IRIS DEMENT, rocker ROBERT FRIPP, alterna-folkie PATTY LARKIN and, most surprising, Gen-X nymph FIONA APPLE.
- Theater: After recovering from throat cancer, TV's 'Quincy' takes on Willy Loman in 'Death of a Salesman'.
- New York faux jewelry king KENNY LANE, very big on QVC, was in town for business at Saks . . . Kenny has given up cigarettes, but he still has a heavy smoker's cough. He was worried when he took Denise Hale to the opera Tuesday: "I was once at the opera in New York and had a coughing fit and almost got a standing ovation, I sounded so much better than the singers."
- "There's a lot of Clinton-Monica Lewinsky jokes," he said. "But it's all pointed toward them. I like the self-deprecating angle so I hold up a single piece of paper and explain to the audience that it's Ken Starr's report on me. Ceisler pretends to read the report. "On the morning of Sept. 22, 1998, Rich bought a cigar. Later that night, he took it home and ... smoked it."
- FORSTER has previously published several other articles based on the same study data. . . This additional data shows that for the 1,927 eighth-, ninth-and 10th-graders who have ever smoked, 91.3 percent obtained their first cigarette from social sources. Of this same group, 53.7 percent have never bought a cigarette. . . Perhaps the attention being given to the issue of tobacco use by minors needs to focus less on regulating retailers and more on the responsibility of parents, siblings and friends to cease being a source of cigarettes and to discourage minors from smoking.
- MONEY from a tobacco settlement or court victory will help the people of Washington much more if the state government soon can figure out why the money is coming, where it's going and who should get it there. Even during jury selection and heated negotiations, these basic questions remain unanswered. Without a focused strategy, the state is likely to squander its citizens' potential fortune as unwittingly as a careless heir. . . The state has a history of using tobacco money - cigarette taxes - for purposes that have nothing to do with public health. If Gregoire wins or settles this case, the state has an obligation to its citizens to reverse that history.
- Smoking is not about an image, it is about a refuge. It is about instantly connecting with a group of people who don't care what the world says. . . Banning smoking teen-agers from coffeehouses or diners turns them away from yet another place where they may have found some small acceptance. . . . Those nights didn't last forever, but for one perfect moment we thought the freedom would
- Some House Republican aides privately wonder what happened to two bills promised by Republican leaders earlier this year. House Speaker Newt Gingrich asked Ohio Rep. Deborah Pryce, a Republican, to come up with a bill to thwart smoking by teen-agers as a counterpoint to the at least $565 billion tobacco settlement killed by the Senate. . . "Their caucus is so deeply divided that they cannot address substance effectively," says Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat. "Therefore, they are using the present situation to distract the American public and the press from the real issues."
- Neither Teddy Gray Bowden of Bassett nor his attorney, James B. Fienman, would comment yesterday on the class-action lawsuit, the second filed in U.S. District Court in Lynchburg. . . The lawsuit that Fienman filed last week on behalf of Bowden is virtually identical to one he filed for J.P. Buster Vaughan in July. Ten days after filing suit, Vaughan died of lung cancer. Bowden, 43, started smoking at age 14 and was smoking two packs a day by 18, according to his lawsuit. He smoked cigarettes manufactured by R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris Inc.
- No more Marlboro Man. No more splashy color. Outdoor tobacco advertising in King County is about to become pretty boring. The King County Board of Health voted 10-3 yesterday to restrict all publicly visible tobacco signs, including on taxi cabs and in stadiums, to black-and-white text only. The board also banned any tobacco signs within 1,000 feet of a school or playground (except on cabs).
- Construction will start before the end of the year on special rooms to separate smokers from nonsmokers at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Airport officials had hoped to start building the rooms for smokers earlier this year, but they are searching for machinery that will do a good job ventilating smoke from the rooms to outdoors, said airport spokesman Ted Bushelman. "The problem we got into is that most of these air-handling units that everybody's using are not working, because, when you walk by a smoking room, it looks like when you walk in there you could cut it with a knife,"
- The nine smoking areas at the Cincinnati - Northern Kentucky International Airport don't discriminate against people whose disabilities are affected by second-hand smoke, an official has told the Federal Aviation Administration. The comments come in a response by the airport to an Americans with Disabilities Act complaint filed by anti-smoking activists in April. "Smoking areas are not located in proximity to where the traveler must go in order to purchase a ticket, check or pick up baggage or emplane or deplane," wrote Ted Bushelman, the airport's ADA coordinator, in an Aug. 19 letter to the FAA.
- The audio: A female announcer says, "Want to hear something shocking? It's quite a story. Attorney General Skip Humphrey is paying a few trial lawyers more than $500 million because they negotiated a deal with the tobacco companies. Humphrey's private lawyers are making over half-a-billion dollars on this one deal. Humphrey's tobacco deal trial lawyers. How did they get so lucky? Well, they are his friends and political supporters. They're trying to make Skip Humphrey governor. He's made them rich."
- Inspired by the pair's now much-publicized antics in the Oval Office, a cigar distributor in the central Romanian town of Cluj has renamed its product after the former White House intern. Locals apparently can't get enough of "MONICA LEWINSKY" cigars, even to the extent of eschewing ordinary cigarettes.
- At harvest time, what would normally take a crew of workers 20 hours - cutting, hanging and housing an acre of tobacco - takes one farmer 30 minutes . . . The process is at first unsettling for Kentucky farmers, who are used to carefully tending their tobacco . . . What Biosource has learned - and other companies are discovering - is that tobacco is an ideal natural factory for the production of important proteins that are commonly used in antibiotics, enzymes, even cancer medicines.
- The Tobacco and Health Research Institute's goal is to find new, exclusive markets for to bacco. Researchers are hard at work investigating whether tobacco is made up of proteins or other compounds that could be used in commercial or industrial products, such as pharmaceuticals or preservatives. If such useful proteins exist in tobacco, Davies said, the trick is how scientists can make the plant increase the amount of proteins it produces so that extracting them becomes worthwhile.
- Virginia officials predict that this year's drought will be even worse than last year's, when 34 counties were declared disaster areas and losses topped $100 million. Yields for soybeans, the state's second-largest cash crop behind tobacco, are down to their lowest level since the severe drought of 1993. . . Yields in Virginia are lower than last year, but not terrible. Southern Maryland's tobacco crop is struggling.
- The first-half net loss of Indonesian cigarette maker PT HM Sampoerna (P.HMS) confirmed market fears Friday that even die-hard smoking habits in this land of clove cigarettes have succumbed to the severe economic crisis.
- "A single piece of information about you can support a tremendous range of activities," Mulligan says. "For example, if your repeated visits to websites containing information on cigarettes result in free samples, coupons, or even e-mail to you about a new tobacco product, you may not be concerned. However, if your visits to these sites result in escalating insurance premiums due to your categorization as a smoker - now you're beginning to get concerned."
- Backers of Harvard political science prof PETER BERKOWITZ, who was turned down for tenure, hired famed sleazomane TERRY LENZNER to "investigate" the murky details behind their man's rejection. Lenzner, himself a product of the World's Greatest University, is a top-shelf private investigator whose most recent clients include President Clinton and the Brown and Williamson Tobacco Co., which hired him to help discredit whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand. But wait - it gets better. According to GREENBERG, Lenzner muffed the assignment!
- WASHINGTON super snoop TERRY LENZNER is fending off rumors that he's the guy who dug the dirt on REP. HENRY HYDE'S marital infidelity of 30 years ago. Lenzner has close ties with members of the Clinton Administration, and his I.G.I. is one of the nation's top investigative firms. . . But Lenzner's office strenuously denied that the firm had investigated Hyde. Neither Terry nor I.G.I. has had anything to do with the Henry Hyde matter, a spokesman told PAGE SIX's Charlotte Hays. One thing that I.G.I. will not do is investigate private lives.
- "I believe it's the entire industry," said Henry Babb, vice president and general counsel of Standard Commercial Corp. in Wilson, N.C., the nation's No. 3 leaf merchant. One Virginia tobacco official, who asked not to be identified, said, "This is the beginning of something much bigger." Industry officials have received sweeping requests for documents, including internal memos, phone listings and travel vouchers. "This is a volume of paper nobody could digest," one tobacco executive said.
- More than 60 subpoenas from the department's anticrime division in Philadelphia were delivered Wednesday and Thursday to cigarette companies, leaf dealers and individual employees at the firms, government and industry sources said. . . Subpoena recipients said they make far-reaching demands for purchase records, memos, calendars, diaries, Rolodexes, travel vouchers, tape recordings, e-mail messages and other documents -- some dating back to 1986. Some recipients said the subpoenas gave their companies until Oct. 8 to comply.
- The Justice Department is investigating "possible anticompetitive practices" in the way major tobacco companies buy leaf tobacco, officials said Friday. The grand jury investigation follows a preliminary antitrust inquiry begun in January, Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona said. . . . A spokesman for Brown & Williamson, Mark Smith, would not say whether the company is involved. "We have a long policy of not commenting on grand jury investigations," Smith said.
- PHILIP MORRIS, RJR, UNIVERSAL CORP. and DIMON INC. all confirmed receiving the demands for information on tobacco-leaf purchases in what the U.S. Justice Department said was a broadened probe that grew out of a preliminary inquiry it disclosed in January. "The antitrust division is conducting an investigation looking at possible anti-competitive practices involving leaf tobacco," said Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona. . . A person familiar with the case said in January that the case centered on buying practices at tobacco-leaf auctions and didn't target U.S. cigarette makers. "Philip Morris was asked to produce documents relating to tobacco leaf purchases," said spokeswoman Mary Carnovale, adding that she believed no witnesses were called to testify.
- Universal Corporation confirmed today that it has received federal grand jury subpoenas seeking documents and information about the tobacco industry in connection with an investigation being conducted by the Philadelphia Office of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. The company said it is reviewing the subpoenas and intends to cooperate with the investigation.
- Meet PAM LAFFIN. She's 29, has blond hair, a winning smile, two daughters she adores, and a deadly disease. . . Starting today, a series of startling commercials documenting Laffin's battle with death will begin airing morning, noon, and night on stations throughout the state. The Laffin spots are the new $1.5 million centerpiece of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's award-winning antismoking campaign, aimed in part at scaring people to death. Or rather, life.
- State law prohibits North Carolina from participating in liability suits brought by states against cigarette companies over health costs related to tobacco. But the Senate passed a bill that would give the legislature the sole authority to appropriate any money the state receives from any settlement from those suits.
- The Russian government will not seize the property of tobacco producers, a spokesman for Russia's First Vice Premier Yuri Maslyukov said on Saturday. "The government is working on measures to stop illegal deliveries and manufacture of tobacco products," Anton Surikov said commenting on media reports alleging that the government plans to arrest the property of tobacco producers, including foreign ones.
- The Russian government Saturday denied media reports that it plans to monopolize the production and sales of tobacco and nationalize the entire tobacco industry. The government is only considering measures to "put in order" the manufacture and especially imports of tobacco products, Anton Surikov, spokesman for First Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Maslyukov, said.
- A spokesman for Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Maslyukov said the government is considering measures to "put in order" the manufacture and imports of tobacco products . . . RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. suspended making cigarettes in Russia, one of its biggest markets, as major buyers struggle to come up with cash to pay for them.
- of plans to impose a state monopoly on production and import of tobacco, backtracking from Russian news agency and television reports that Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov had declared such a monopoly. The spokesman, Anton Surikov, said "measures to put in order manufacturing and import of tobacco" were being considered, and added that a state tobacco distribution network may be established, but he failed to provide details.
- He said, for example, that Russia wants to encourage foreign investment. But at the same time, in a televised appearance, he hinted that the government may try to impose a state monopoly on alcohol and tobacco. His remarks were not precise, however, and he said a special meeting is being called next week. . . But Primakov's remarks about a tobacco monopoly suggested that he wanted to nationalize a lucrative business into which foreign investors have poured hundreds of millions of dollars. The Tass and Interfax news agencies also quoted Primakov as saying "a state monopoly over tobacco will . . . be introduced."
- RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. suspended making cigarettes in Russia, one of its biggest markets, as major buyers in the economically troubled country struggle to come up with cash to pay for the company's Peter I, Camel and other brands. Russia and other former Soviet states are RJR's second-largest overseas market, after Western Europe. The company said "uncertainties in the market" led it to suspend production. The New York-based company said the halt would last for "only maybe several days."
- Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov announced measures Friday to pull Russia out of economic turmoil but was struggling to complete his government a week after taking office. . . He also announced plans to impose a state monopoly on the production and sale of alcohol and tobacco . . . "The government is starting work aimed at restoring confidence in obligations undertaken inside and outside the country," Primakov said.
- Primakov said that the government plans to introduce a monopoly on the alcohol and tobacco markets, in order to secure revenues for the federal budget. He pledged the government "will get rid of corruption and bribery once and for all."
- But while the sales slump forced RJR to halt production at its St. Petersburg facilities, some Russian cigarette manufacturers say they are gearing up to expand production. "I'm not saying this will definitely happen, but we may be in a position to make the best of a bad situation," said a spokeswoman for one Russian company.
- Bryan-Brown blamed the economic and political chaos that has gripped Russia in recent weeks as its currency has spiraled downward and President Boris Yeltsin had wrestled with efforts to name a new government in the face of parliamentary objections. "We and a lot of other companies have had no choice but to curtail or temporarily cease production in Russia. I can tell you we're not alone," Bryan-Brown said. "There's very little trade going on. We're still selling cigarettes, but it is a struggle."
- Iranian police seized more than 480,000 packs of cigarettes being smuggled into the country through the Gulf, a newspaper reported on Sunday. The daily Kayhan said police coastal units also arrested 308 smugglers using 46 boats to carry the cigarettes during operations which lasted two weeks.
- " . . . tobacco is a major killer. . . . It's a global issue, and we can add to what is being done today around the world. . . . It's an issue where increased awareness and increased knowledge lead to action. . . . Tobacco marketing activities in developing countries have been increasing and are . . . really having an effect--especially on young people and children. This is really dangerous. It should be prevented, and we should help."9
- Government inspectors are poised for an unprecedented crackdown when new anti-smoking laws come into effect on January 4 next year. Smoking will be outlawed in SA anywhere food is served in an enclosed area, including res-taurants, cafes, pubs and food halls.
- Rod Jackson, associate professor of epidemiology at Auckland University Medical School, said New Zealand's status among the top 10 heart attack fatality nations could be blamed on a diet high in saturated fats. . . "I believe butter should have health warnings on the packets telling people they are risking heart attacks," Jackson said. "It should be treated like a cigar only taken once a year at Christmas."
- After their work is done, their paychecks cashed, they go home and shower off the dust of the tobacco fields, the lingering stench of the chicken processing plants, the grime of construction work. They put on designer shirts and freshly laundered bluejeans, their best hats and boots, and head to the Ritz Theater.
- Although some analysts point to the backlash against tobacco companies for the surge in SRI, it's not a new phenomenon. The first socially responsible mutual fund appeared in 1971. . . And a study published in the Winter 1997 Journal of Investing reported that portfolios that used environmental, alcohol, tobacco, gaming and nuclear screens performed just as well or better than unscreened portfolios during the 1987-1996 period
- 09/20/98 Companies That Qualify
- 09/20/98 SRI resources
- "The quality is low," said Brad Powers, assistant secretary of the Maryland Department of Agriculture. "The prices will probably be low, too." . . Tobacco farmers were hit with an especially tough season this year, as heavy spring rains delayed planting and then the summer drought retarded tobacco plants' growth, Powers said. . . Though tobacco accounts for only 8,000 of the 165,000 acres farmed in Southern Maryland, it accounts for roughly two-thirds of agricultural revenue. Thus, when tobacco suffers, the effects ripple through the entire region. "Because such a high percentage of income of the agriculture commodities rests in tobacco," Powers said, "it hurts even more."
- He also failed to note that four years after his sister's death he praised the virtues of tobacco to Southern voters in the 1988 Democratic primaries. "I want you to know that with my own hands, all of my life, I put it in plant beds and transferred it. I've hoed it, I've dug in it, I've sprayed it, I've chopped it, I've shredded it, spiked it, put it in the barn and stripped it and sold it," he declared as if auditioning to be the next Marlboro Man. . . . . Nor did Gore volunteer at the 1996 convention the fact that from 1979 until 1990 he received $16,440 from tobacco's political-action committees and that he had cast votes in the Senate against several tax increases on tobacco.
- Even someone who doesn't care for those nicotine-delivery systems known as cigarettes may understand the allure of an occasional cigar. If offered, I've been known to accept and indeed enjoy the taste and the aroma, up to a point. What is, for me, a once-in-a-blue-moon amusement--an affectation, if you insist--is for others a passion.
- I've been avoiding reading footnotes ever since college, and this is no time to start parsing Ken Starr's report for references to Altoids and cigars. Does anyone really need to know that Monica Lewinsky had the most torrid relationship with a Cuban since Lucille Ball? In fact, if I might be, ahem, blunt, I think we've all heard enough about the president's position on young people's tobacco use. (I can't help it. Every time I hear the word "cigar" now I think of the line Groucho Marx used on his quiz show to a female contestant who'd borne 15 children: "Madam, I like my cigar, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while.")
- That smokers see our beaches as their ashtrays is truly disgusting. What's more, many cigarette butts actually come from miles away. People throw them into the street or gutter, then they wash into storm drains and out onto the beach. The Coastal Clean-up Day is a great event; volunteers should turn out to their favorite beaches today to help. It's just a pity that those who care about clean beaches have to work so hard picking up after slobs.
- The ghost of George Corley Wallace -- down to his commitment to what I call TWL (the Tobacco Way of Life) lives on today in members of Congress like JESSE HELMS, TRENT LOTT and NEWT GINGRICH. They represent a smoother, more intelligent form of Southern politician whose agenda is and will always be the triumph of the rich and the status quo. . . What they do hate is the idea of sharing power with those who can see through their smoke screens to the heart of their greed on issues like tobacco and big business, who can pinpoint the historical origins of their small-mindedness, and who aren't afraid to challenge their self-serving interpretations of the Constitution.
- The two agreements, copies of which were obtained by The Recorder's affiliate publication, The National Law Journal, were negotiated by ROBINS, KAPLAN and four tobacco industry defendants after the case settled in May and the law firm agreed to rip up its retainer agreements with the two plaintiffs in the case, the state of Minnesota and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. "I have never seen anything like this," said professor Lester Brickman
- In a letter sent earlier today, the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Pennsylvania urged Pa. Attorney General Mike Fisher to oppose any settlement of the State's lawsuit that would grant special protection to tobacco companies or that would not achieve significant public health gains.
- Senior Deputy Attorney General JOHN CAMPBELL told a legislative committee that Kansas' lawsuit against tobacco companies seeking reimbursement for medical costs and an agreement that they will stop targeting children in advertising still is on track. However, Campbell said after briefing the Legislative Budget Committee during a Statehouse meeting Monday, things aren't going well in the effort of several states -- including Kansas -- to reach a national settlement.
- Leaders of the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Utah worry that state attorneys general working on a $200 billion settlement with two tobacco giants may weaken previous public health agreements to get cash more quickly. Utah Attorney General Jan Graham is not one of the negotiators with Philip Morris Inc. and Lorillard Tobacco Co. But she's keeping up with the negotiations via conference calls with the team, says her chief of staff Palmer DePaulis, "and as of now, we feel good about the public health policy matters" in the proposed settlement.
- Advertising Age via NewsEdge Corporation : The eight state attorneys general hoping to get an accord to end their suits against tobacco marketers are said to be revising their demanded ad restrictions so marketers would be free to give away unbranded merchandise.
- What is next on the target list for the anti-tobacco side? "Placement of product in that store," said Butterworth. "We want them not to sell their product on the counter, we want it to be behind the counter or above the counter out of reach," Butterworth said. "Out of sight out of mind. We also want to get as much signage down as possible inside the store." . . "The non-economic issues, in my opinion, will drive the talks," Easley said. "There's a gazillion things that would go into (a settlement), but the economic piece is not the top of the totem pole."
- Peoples Creative Ensemble (PCE) is rehearsing for their annual "Youth for the 21st Century" play. The production is an inspirational story consisting of original music, songs, and dance written and performed by youth within the metropolitan Detroit area. It deals with the harmful effects of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. This touring production will perform in Detroit's Empowerment Zone communities, the greater Detroit area, and various suburban communities.
- SENATE ROLL CALL VOTES \ Tobacco assistance payments Exempts from state income taxes federal payments to tobacco allotment holders, tobacco workers, tobacco warehouse owners and tobacco farmers as compensation for losses because of federal legislation. Introduced by Rep. Rex Baker, R-Stokes. Adopted 44-0. Sent back to the House for concurrence. Voting "Yes": John Carrington (R-Wake), Wib Gulley (D-Durham), Ellie Kinnaird (D-Orange), Howard Lee (D-Orange), Jeanne Lucas (D-Durham), Brad Miller (D-Wake), Dan Page (R-Harnett), Eric Reeves (D-Wake), Allen Wellons (D-Johnston).
- Six Argentine provinces are preparing to sue Philip Morris Cos. and British American Tobacco Plc to recover the costs of treating sick smokers . . . The claims by the six provinces would exceed $1 billion, said Gustavo Martinez, attorney general for the Province of Rio Negro, and would represent the latest in a growing number of lawsuits filed against U.S. tobacco companies on behalf of Latin American countries by the same Houston, Texas-based law firm. . . In June, Nicaragua hired Fleming, Hovenkamp & Grayson, the Texas based law firm which sued on behalf of Guatemala . . . There are two tobacco companies in Argentina. PHILIP MORRIS unit MASSALIN PARTICULARES SA has about 63 percent of the country's $2.5 billion-a-year cigarette market. NOBLEZA PICCARDO SAICYF, a unit of BRITISH AMERICAN, has the remaining 37 percent. . . The six provinces -- RIO NEGRO, CHUBUT, NEUQUEN, TIERRA DEL FUEGO, LA PAMPA and SANTA CRUZ -- make up the southern region of Argentina known as Patagonia and have a combined population of about 2 million.
- Overall, losses of the mainland's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) keep piling up but some still make money and stand to bring in more profits in coming years, according to a survey of 58,000 enterprises. . . By contrast, the profit rate of state tobacco companies is 11 per cent, and oil and gas enterprises 10 per cent. Such enterprises are the country's top taxpayers - tobacco contributes 25 per cent of government revenue and oil and gas pays 8 per cent.
- Japan Tobacco Inc. (2914) announced Friday that it plans to acquire an additional 5.65 million shares of UNIMAT CORP. by the end of May 1999, thereby making that company a subsidiary.
- However, the industry has managed to blunt the implementation of a number of policy proposals, such as punitive provincial cigarette taxes aimed at funding health care. For the moment, therefore, the government will concentrate on eliminating the smaller, less efficient manufacturers and upgrading the quality of the cigarettes produced to partly mitigate the health impact. "We will try hard to alter the scattered cigarette production layout and create several large corporate groups," said Ni Yijin, director general of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA).
- Now the Prez and the portly pepperpot have their own cigar. Touted as hand-rolled and dipped, the stogies on sale at Serendipity 3 feature pics of CLINTON and LEWINSKY, along with the words It tastes good and Since 1995 printed on the band.
- Shares in blue-chip BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO PLC (BTI) are up 1.0% around midday Monday in a declining market, as investors look to put money in the perceived "safe haven" of tobacco. "All tobacco stocks are currently outperforming the market because they are perceived as relatively recession-resistant companies," said Nick Bunker, a tobacco analyst at HSBC James Capel, which has a Buy recommendation on the stock.
- Yohay Baking Company, Brooklyn, New York, is introducing their new CIGAR WAFER. This PANETELA COOKIE is panetela sized and Cappuccino flavored. It looks so much like a real cigar -- it' s amazing. Each Cigar Wafer is deliciously creme filled and the Panetela Cookie just melts-in-your-mouth. . . " It' s A Girl" and " It' s a Boy" and " Happy Father' s Day" labels will be available for special occasion gift pack merchandising at various vendor outlets. . . Cigar Wafers are a great gift for men or anyone who desires the taste of the elegant.
- And last week the American Cancer Society started its own $5 million counter-advertising campaign. Suddenly, the tobacco industry ads disappeared. "They went dark last night," society spokeswoman Emily Smith said Wednesday. "They didn't want to be up against the American Cancer Society with our enormous credibility." Tobacco industry spokesman Steve Duchesne called her assertion, "Absolutely ridiculous."
- Tabacalera SA, Spain's largest tobacco company, has told retailers it can't fill orders for several cigarette brands as retailers stockpile tobacco to profit from an expected rise of up to 15 percent in the company's prices, reported Cinco Dias, citing kiosk owners.
- And last week the American Cancer Society started its own $5 million counter-advertising campaign. Suddenly, the tobacco industry ads disappeared. "They went dark last night," society spokeswoman Emily Smith said Wednesday. "They didn't want to be up against the American Cancer Society with our enormous credibility." Tobacco industry spokesman Steve Duchesne called her assertion, "Absolutely ridiculous."
- The American Cancer Society launched its national advertising campaign -- designed to counter the misleading tobacco industry ads that have saturated the country -- today in Sacramento. . . "Big tobacco targeted Sacramento with their misleading ads, and we feel it is our responsibility to set the record straight and let the community know these ads are just more tobacco lies," Henderson said.
- The American Cancer Society on Wednesday unveiled a $5 million advertising campaign to counter what the giant health organization branded as deceptive TV ads by tobacco companies. The anti-tobacco ads will run nationally on CNN and in 11 markets, including Sacramento, all of which had earlier TV spots by the tobacco industry.
- John R. Seffrin, chief executive officer of the group, said Big Tobacco is trying to confuse Americans by describing congressional attempts to tighten regulation of the industry as a bid to raise taxes on working people. "I have been very disturbed by the tobacco industry's most recent efforts to confuse the issues and the American public," Seffrin said. "Big Tobacco's $50 million advertising campaign is full of misconceptions, innuendoes and outright lies. ... We are here today to fight back and set the record straight."
- The AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY Wednesday unleashes a remarkably aggressive antitobacco campaign that attacks Big Tobacco with words and images taken from the cigarette industry's own advertising. The nonprofit group is spending only $5 million on the campaign, peanuts compared with more than $50 million it says the tobacco industry spent on its highly effective ad campaign, which began this spring. But to make its point, the society unabashedly bills the industry as a liar.
- That's the reason Ohio physicians must be strong advocates of an Ohio solution to tobacco problems: Ohio Senate Bill 221.
- Now, why did Ken Starr, the preacher's son, the Pepperdine paragon, choose to inflict this vital data on the public? To understand his true motivations, perhaps it would be useful to think of Starr, not as a prosecutor, but as a film director who has come to realize that his movie is in trouble. To begin with, he has spent four years and $40 million on what is at best a confined, small-canvass story. Not only has he gone over budget, but he's also changed characters and story-lines faster than Stanley Kubrick. And despite his overages, he's nonetheless found time during the production to shoot some cigarette commercials. Indeed, his dedication to the tobacco industry is such that one wonders whether this recurrent business with cigars represents an arcane form of product placement.
- For reasons not addressed in any cigarette advertising I know, the smokers in my audience have decided to keep sucking in product no matter what. So it would be kind of stupid of Camel to spend a ton of money reaching them without fooling or charming anybody -- which is what most kids I know have learned that ads are supposed to do.
- And speaking of a broad base, a varied group of sponsors and hosts not heretofore known as Clinton fans helped pick up the tab last week at the liberal-leaning CENTER FOR NATIONAL POLICY dinner honoring first lady HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON. Besides the usual-suspect labor union and law firm contributors, there were a number of sponsors from places the Clintonites have waged war on over the years . . . Our favorite: the TOBACCO INSTITUTE.
- NPR's Mandalit delBarco reports that California's anti-smoking advertising campaign was once a model for the nation, but critics say the rhetorical teeth have been taken out of the ads so as not to offend business. In turn, the rate at which Californian s quit smoking has slowed. (7:00)
- Residence halls at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will be smoke-free beginning in September 1999. The UW-Madison already has banned smoking in public areas of university housing such as lounges and corridors. The new policy will affect about 6,800 students who live in residence halls, said Paul Evans, director of University Housing.
- The two-sided, blue and gold billboard was erected Monday as part of a joint agreement between Outdoor Systems of Fairfield, an advertising company, and Tony Tammaro, owner of the Market Street property where the sign stands. "It took us three years to get federal, state, county, and city permits for the sign," said Tammaro . . Tammaro, who is in the real estate business, said Outdoor Systems will lease billboard space to advertisers. He said the company has agreed to keep the billboard free of alcohol and tobacco advertisements.
- Democrat RICHARD CORDRAY, facing uphill battle against BETTY MONTGOMERY, gives law students earful Cordray also criticized Montgomery for her decision not to immediately join with other states in suing the tobacco companies to try to recover health care costs caused by smoking. Other states are now enjoying billion-dollar settlements, while Ohio, which joined in the lawsuit frenzy much later than other states, has not received any money, he said.
- Four relatives who pleaded guilty last month to trafficking in untaxed cigarettes, baby formula and government food stamps were placed on probation yesterday. . . . The Saeds, who owned or operated four convenience stores in Franklin County, were named in a 31-count indictment last year charging them with felony corruption, trafficking in food stamps; trafficking in cigarettes to avoid taxes; trafficking in baby formula from the government-sponsored program for Women, Infants and Children; and possession of cigarettes without tax certificates.
- A federal judge has tossed out most of Burlington's anti-tobacco ordinance. The measure was created to restrict tobacco advertising... but storeowners claimed the ordinance limited their right to free speech. Federal Judge WILLIAM SESSIONS is allowing a ban on self-service tobacco displays to continue... but has thrown out the rest of the statute.
- Seen Paul Cellucci's ads, attacking me, distorting my record? You see, he doesn't want you to know the truth. . . He doesn't want you to know he's supported the tobacco companies and vetoed children's health care, while I've stood up to tobacco and worked to expand health care. But now you know.
- The European Union's Social Affairs Commissioner is to get a special award for his efforts to ban tobacco advertising and promote public health, commission sources said on Friday. PADRAIG FLYNN will be presented with the award at the biannual European Respiratory Society Conference on Saturday in Geneva which will be attended by about 10,000 delegates.
- A SCENT of takeover activity among tobacco companies is wafting through Dalal Street, prompting punters to take a long drag on cigarette stocks. . . GODFREY PHILIP INDIA LTD (GPIL), maker of FOUR SQUARE brand of cigarettes, has witnessed a 66-per cent rise in its share price to Rs 506 today, from Rs 303 on September 4. Volumes on the counter, however, have dropped to 1,470 after touching a high of 11,513 on September 18. The grape-vine has it that PHILIP MORRIS may use the recent policy decision by the Foreign Investment Promotion Bureau to permit 100-per cent foreign equity in tobacco companies, to up its holding in Godfrey Philip.
- Two Las Vegas cigar makers face allegations that they did not pay some workers minimum wage or overtime over a three-year period. Eleven men last week sued Las Vegas Cigar Co. and four men sued Don Pablo Cigar Co. in U.S. District Court.
- Good cigar rollers must be recruited from Cuba, Dominican Republic
- Gum Tech International, Inc. announced that it has entered into an agreement to supply the Lander Co. Inc. with nicotine chewing gum for selected countries worldwide. According to Gum Tech President Gary Kehoe, "We intend to pursue the market for nicotine gum very aggressively. This is another step in the company's progression into this lucrative worldwide market."
- WOODROAST SYSTEMS INC. has closed all three of its restaurants -- including one in St. Louis Park -- and has turned over all assets to a secured creditor. . . The company, which recently sold its Shelly's Woodroast restaurant in Rockville, Md., shifted its strategy away from the Northwoods lodge restaurants to a concept called Shelly's Back Room, which promoted cigar smoking. The Back Rooms, now closed, were in Chicago and Washington, D.C.
- A researcher and anti-tobacco activist whose research has been attacked in Congress by tobacco industry allies will give a public presentation at Washington State University on Thursday. STANTON GLANTZ, a professor of medicine at the University of California responsible for early dissemination of tobacco company documents, will give the first talk in a new "WSU Ethics and the University" speakers series at 7:30 p.m. in Todd Hall, Room 130. His talk, "PUBLISHING THE CIGARETTE PAPERS: ETHICS AND ACADEMIC FREEDOM IN A WORLD OF SPECIAL INTERESTS," is sponsored by an informal group of faculty interested in ethics.
- WAS WRONG, according to Dr. JOHN LUIK (LEW-ick) Rhodes scholar, philosophy and political science professor, author and international policy consultant to governments and corporations. . . Dr. John Luik, scientist, author and policy expert, will be available for interviews on Tuesday, October 6th from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. EDT. To schedule an interview, please call the contacts below.
- Much has happened in the 17 seasons since CAL RIPKEN's streak of consecutive games played began: . . . May 16: Surgeon General C. Everett Koop releases a report that concludes cigarettes and other tobacco products are addictive.
- Sponsored by the CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS (CPR), this do-it-yourself guide available at http://www.crp.org/diykit/ will allow you, the voter, to investigate a number of interesting industries currently spending money to make law. Check-ups on topics that range from media darlings like the tobacco industry to quieter issues like ATM machine charges are posted at CPR for anyone to peruse.
- All the same, cigars never seemed that sexy, not even in the hands of movie star MARLENE DIETRICH or bank robber BONNIE PARKER. . . However, to my knowledge, the STARR REPORT is the first document to pinpoint a direct link between sexual pleasure and cigars. The report put a very specific image in my head, and it had nothing to do with selecting the right smoke, smelling the wrapper leaf or cutting, toasting and lighting a cigar. Unfortunately, no amount of scrubbing and flushing will wash it away.
- MARCH 4 . . . From Mr. Kendall to Mr. Bittman, responding to a further request that the President appear before the grand jury: . . Other Administration initiatives are at critical stages. The President is attempting to hammer out national legislation around a tobacco liability settlement.
- A group of cigar smokers has not taken kindly to President Clinton's reported misuse of a fine smoke during an encounter with Monica Lewinsky. We have word from the International Cigar Club that the president, having violated the "secret code of membership," will be forever ineligible to join.
- Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona was in Jackson, Monday. He says President Clinton's crisis has had an effect on capitol hill. McCain said it hurt his efforts to reach a national settlement with big tobacco. . . McCain says he may make another attempt to pass a revised tobacco bill next year.
- NBC switched to its talking heads as a prosecutor asked the president about the use of "an object" during sexual activity. NBC cut away again a few minutes later when Clinton was asked about a cigar, masturbation and phone sex. "We just don't think it's necessary for you to hear all of the very vivid descriptions," Brokaw told viewers. Six other networks -- CBS, ABC, CNN, Fox News Channel, C-SPAN and NBC's own cable outlet, MSNBC -- stayed with the videotape.
- PAGE SIX has made a list of the folks who got it right and the ones who got it wrong. First the winners: Cybergossip MATT DRUDGE went from being nobody to having his own TV show by breaking stories nobody else had the nerve to use. Drudge was first with the semen-stained dress - and the cigar.
- Value, in dollars, of gifts exchanged by Monica Lewinsky and President Clinton, as estimated by Richard F. Driscoll, an antique appraiser in Washington: - Sterling silver tabletop cigarette or cigar holder given to Clinton, $65.
- The bills that the National Journal now rate as "sure losers" this Congress include such high-profile administration causes as campaign-finance overhaul, the tobacco bill and trade legislation
- RAMSEY County officials estimate that they have spent $200 million on medical assistance and indigent care at Regions Hospital. Darwin Lookingbill, head of the county attorney's civil division, estimates that the county would expect to collect $8 million to $30 million from the tobacco companies. The County Board unanimously agreed Tuesday during an executive session to seek proposals from private law firms to pursue the litigation. County officials also agreed to ask HENNEPIN COUNTY to join the possible suit. HENNEPIN County officials previously proposed filing their own suit but haven't made a decision about whether to proceed with such litigation, said Pat Diamond, deputy county attorney.
- Senate Commerce Committee Chairman JOHN MCCAIN (R., Ariz.) attacked White House use of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. ad agency Bates USA to buy media for the government's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. Bates (mostly through sibling shop ZENITH MEDIA) has been handling the account on an interim basis since spring while the WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY conducts an agency review.
- 09/24/98 For the Record LA Times
- Brown & Williamson Tobacco()--The company did not say that "it was only trying to make cigarettes safer" when producing cigarettes using a tobacco plant with unusually high levels of nicotine. The statement was reported incorrectly in an article Wednesday.
- The first company to be convicted in the Justice Department's far-reaching criminal probe of the tobacco industry will pay a $100,000 fine for violating federal law, the Justice Department announced yesterday. In a brief statement, the department implied that the case against DNA Plant Technology (DNAP) Corp. of Oakland was only the beginning of action stemming from the ongoing investigation. "This is the first conviction in the government's ongoing criminal investigation of the tobacco industry," the department said. "Pursuant to the guilty plea, DNAP has been cooperating with the government in that investigation."
- In a deposition two weeks ago in Washington state's case against the tobacco industry, Lawrence G. Meyer, a key adviser to Liggett in the 1970s and 1980s, said the Brown & Williamson lawyer told him and Liggett's general counsel that the effort would "ruin" the industry-and Liggett itself-and was "the dumbest project that he had ever seen." "Brown & Williamson was threatening Liggett's very existence if they marketed or tried to market the cigarette," Mr. Meyer said, according to a transcript of his testimony. Mr. Meyer also recalled a top lawyer at Philip Morris Cos. asking whether Liggett had abandoned the project and calling it "stupid."
- As jury selection began Tuesday in Washington's $3.3 billion suit against the tobacco industry, the state's attorney general said she hoped to reach a settlement before the completion of the trial, which is expected to take two to five months. "It is not unbelievable to believe this could all fall into place," said Christine Gregoire.
- Forty-two potential jurors for the trial of the state's lawsuit against seven major tobacco companies indicated they believe the tobacco companies have been deceptive in their practices and advertising. One man, Juror No. 102, said Tuesday he still remembered the advertisements run by the tobacco industry in the late 1950s that claimed certain cigarettes were healthier. "Doctors prefer Chesterfields" was one slogans then, he said. "They were phony ads," he said. "I don't think the tobacco industry has gotten any better."
- Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire, who has been leading national settlement talks in New York, is to return to Seattle to make a brief opening statement before handing her state's case to a team of outside lawyers. . . Lawyers for the state hope to bolster their antitrust claim with testimony from two new witnesses, LAWRENCE G. MEYER and J. BOWEN ROSS JR., who worked as lawyers for the Liggett Group unit of Brooke Group Ltd. Both men were involved in Liggett's efforts to develop a safer cigarette in the 1970s
- The four largest U.S. cigarette makers' request to delay opening Washington state's multibillion-dollar antitrust suit was rejected by a judge, a ruling that keeps the pressure on for a negotiated settlement. Loews Corp., Philip Morris Cos., RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. and British American Tobacco Plc wanted to forestall the start of the trial because of progress in talks between the state and two of the companies.
- "This is a case we think should be tried," says attorney Jim Milliman of Louisville, Ky., representing Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. "What makes this different from the other cases is that we'll be able to show that the state of Washington has a stake -- an actual financial stake -- in the sale of cigarettes." Tobacco lawyers contend the state's take from tobacco taxes far outweighs its tobacco-related Medicaid costs.
- Health-care costs have surpassed social services as the number-one expense in Hennepin County's budget, accounting for roughly $425 million--about 32 percent--of its more than $1.3 billion in expenditures in 1997. (The county gets roughly 23 percent of its revenue from state and federal sources.) According to Hennepin County Medical Center administrator John Bluford, smoking-related costs for inpatient health care at the hospital topped $54.2 million in the past year alone.
- ALDEASA SA, the monopoly duty-free retailer at Spanish airports, may be able to continue selling tax-free tobacco after the European Union ends duty-free retailing next July because the Spanish government plans a new law, Cinco Dias reported, citing a copy of the draft law. The law would allow Aldeasa's duty-free stores to operate under a separate law governing tobacco sales, it said. The new law would contravene current regulations that require non-duty-free tobacco kiosks be owned by individuals and not companies in order to ensure the independence of the sales network, the newspaper said.
- Without advertising, the likes of Gallaher and Imperial say they are fighting cheap imports with their hands tied. According to David Swan, chief executive of the TMA, the current free-for-all benefits no one. "The preservation of an orderly market is in the interest of the manufacturer and the Government," he said.
- TMA spokesman JOHN CARLISLE said: "The contention is that this is a flawed document. They passed it as . . . a trade article. But as a health directive, which is what we believe it is, it should be left up to the individual member states."
- Striking a blow for freedom of expression? Or pointless posturing by a well-heeled industry, causing unnecessary and damaging confusion? That will be the choice for the High Court in London when it considers the tobacco companies' bid to overturn the Brussels ban on advertising in the next few months.
- The European Court plans to ban almost all tobacco advertising and sponsorship by 2006. . . The EU directive banning tobacco advertising is expected to be passed in Britain at the next session of parliament in November. Poster advertising will be banned in June 2000, press advertising a year later. Sponsorship is to be outlawed in 2003, but sponsorship of worldwide events would be allowed to continue until 2006.
- British American Tobacco Investments Ltd, Gallaher Ltd, Imperial Ltd and Rothmans (UK) Ltd are asking the High Court to refer the directive to the European Court of Justice for a declaration that the directive is illegal and violates several principles of Treaty Law. The companies are taking this action out of their strong belief that, while it is a legitimate role of national governments to act on their concerns about smoking, the European Community does not have legal power to legislate in this area.
- The Tobacco Manufacturers' Association will today announce plans to appeal to the European Court against the measure phasing out almost all tobacco advertising and sponsorship between 2001 and 2006.
- The TOBACCO MANUFACTURER'S ASSOCIATION will announce plans to appeal to the European Court against a measure phasing out tobacco advertising and sponsorship between 2001 and 2006 as U.K. tobacco companies start to fight a European Union ban on advertising, the Financial Times reported, citing no sources.
- Dimon Inc., the world's No. 2 dealer of leaf tobacco, sued one of its directors, ANTHONY TABERER, and some family members over Dimon's $245.6 million purchase last year of Intabex Holdings Worldwide SA. The lawsuit, filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, seeks $110 million in damages for "misstatements and omissions" from financial statements provided by Taberer, according to a Dimon regulatory filing.
- Next year's flue-cured tobacco crop could be the smallest for American farmers since the government began setting poundage limits, the result of waning exports and mounting turmoil in the cigarette industry worldwide. "There is no doubt we will have a quota cut this year," said Arnold Hamm, assistant general manager of the Flue-Cured Tobacco Cooperative Stabilization Corp. in Raleigh. "The question is how much it will be."
- U.S. tobacco production is forecast at 1.53 billion pounds as of September 1, 1998. The 1998 crop is 14 percent lower than last year because of an 8-percent decline in acreage and lower yields.
- Why all the discounts -- with restrictive tobacco legislation fizzling in Washington and a federal appeals court overturning the Food and Drug Administration's attempt to regulate cigarettes? The answer: Few industry executives expect the reprieve to last. In just weeks, a possible settlement of Medicaid lawsuits could wipe out many of the marketing weapons in the industry's arsenal. And the industry has long believed that advertising restrictions -- such as limits on in-store displays or bans on promotional giveaways or billboards -- "freeze" market positions in the $45 billion U.S. cigarette market. When the restrictions hit, it is hard for smaller rivals to persuade consumers to switch brands. "The various manufacturers are trying to consolidate their market positions before the sword of Damocles falls," says Donald Bloom, a retired cigarette distributor. . . "History says marketing restrictions tend to lock in the trends in share," says Morgan Stanley Dean Witter analyst David Adelman. "If you were gaining share, and the industry goes dark, you continue to gain share. If you were losing share, you continue to lose share."
- SMITHKLINE BEECHAM Plc said it won the rights to market and sell ALZA CORP.'s smoking- cessation patch NICABATE in Australia and New Zealand, and also received clearance to sell an anti-smoking patch in China. The U.K.'s No. 2 drugmaker said it took over the rights to market and sell Nicabate in Australia and New Zealand from HOECHST MARION ROUSSEL
- Some $25 billion and 25 years later . . . the incidence of cancer, particularly non-smoking cancers, has escalated to epidemic proportions with lifetime cancer risks now approaching one in two. . . NCI and ACS remain myopically fixated on damage control -- diagnosis and treatment -- and basic genetic research with . . . indifference to cancer prevention. The establishment has trivialized escalating cancer rates and explained them away as due to faulty lifestyle, to the virtual exclusion of the major role of unwitting and avoidable exposures to industrial carcinogens in air, water, consumer products -- food, cosmetics and toiletries, and household products -- and the workplace.
- The President of the American Medical Association, NANCY W. DICKEY, M.D., invites reporters who cover tobacco-related issues to submit their articles to be considered for the AMA PRESIDENT'S PRIZE FOR TOBACCO-RELATED DISEASE REPORTING. . . . Entries must have been published between September 1997 and September 1998 in an advertising-supported magazine that accepts ads for tobacco products. . . CONTACT: LaNae E. Davis of the AMA, 312-464-4418.
- Casino employees are at a greater risk of depression and gambling, tobacco and alcohol addictions than the general population, according to tentative results of a survey of Grand Casinos employees released Wednesday. The rate of compulsive gambling among casino workers is 2.1 percent, compared with 1.1 percent of the general population, says a HARVARD UNIVERSITY SURVEY OF GRAND CASINOS employees conducted for the NATIONAL COUNCIL ON RESPONSIBLE GAMING.
- Condemned killer David Castillo was executed yesterday for fatally stabbing and slashing a Rio Grande Valley liquor store owner more than 15 years ago. . . Castillo asked for a final banquet that included 24 soft tacos, two cheeseburgers, two whole onions, five jalapenos, six enchiladas, six tostadas, one quart of milk, a chocolate milkshake and a pack of cigarettes. Prison officials said all would be provided except for the cigarettes. Tobacco products are not allowed on prison property.
- Stylistically, he will agree, they are quite different. "He was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, and I was raised in Midland, Texas. And there's a world of difference between the two cities," says Bush, who startled the Beltway "suits" when he showed up to help on his father's campaign chewing tobacco. "I am a product of the West and I think that way," he says. "I'm not sure how that translates into behavior or leadership qualities."
- John J. Gotti, the imprisoned-for-life mafia boss, has throat cancer and will have surgery this week, his lawyers said Wednesday. "The doctors say it's treatable and we're optimistic," attorney Bruce Cutler said. "I'm not saying it's going to be a cakewalk, but you know him. He can lick anything."
- Unique Site Designed by Teens, Run by Teens. As American children and teenagers head back to school this fall, many will face pressure from peers to smoke. Every day in this country more than 3,000 youngsters begin smoking. Today the American Lung Association launched a web site where teens can get information about not smoking from their peers. The SMOKE-FREE CLASS OF 2000 site lets teens chat about smoking, learn about the dangers of smoking and share smoking prevention information. . . . Web Site: http://www.lungusa.org/smokefreeclass
- "From the ashes of PAL, like a phoenix, Lucio Tan will emerge a stronger player in the corporate sector," Congressman and financial analyst Joey Salceda told Reuters. . . Tan later joined a cigarette factory as a janitor, becoming a tobacco cook, regulating the mix of the product. . . After Marcos's downfall, the succeeding governments of Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos pursued Tan doggedly, filing cases after cases of tax evasion against him and revising tax laws perceived to be beneficial to his beer and cigarette companies.
- Former Surgeon General C-Everett Koop is continuing his assault on the tobacco industry. Koop addressed the Maine chapter of the American Lung Association yesterday in Portland. Koop calls tobacco executives... "the most dishonest, underhanded, lying, cheating players in the sleaziest game in the country". He says by the year 2025, more than 500-Million people will have died from tobacco- related illnesses.
- The industry so far has waged a low-key campaign. But it is expected to spend heavily on TV ads. The commercials are likely to focus on peripheral issues and fine print. Here are some of the objections you will hear, and some facts to help you evaluate them: . . We cannot afford to continue to ignore the needs of young children. Proposition 10 is not a perfect solution, but it is a reasonable solution.
- An area high school social studies teacher recently told our education reporter about the disruptive impact the Starr report is having in his classroom. "I've got some (kids) who, when they think you're not looking, cough out the word `cigaaaaaar."' Which creates a tidal wave of cat calls and guffaws. . . Shame on Bill for dragging our beloved smokes into the gutter. Before this is over, we cigar aficionados may have to take up a more wholesome habit. Like heroin.
- Jocelyn Kaiser's article "Tobacco consultants find letters lucrative" (News of the Week, 14 Aug., p. 895) presents only one side of the funding story. . . The National Cancer Institute paid Glantz over $600,000 to research tobacco industry lobbying. . . Meanwhile, Glantz "fumes" because the tobacco industry paid scientists to write letters? The funding story cuts both ways. . . The $150,000 spent by the tobacco industry pales in comparison to the hundreds of millions (billions?) of dollars that go into federal and state anti-tobacco programs. . . We are better off focusing on the merits of scientific arguments, not who pays to broadcast them, lest we fall into the trap of shooting the messenger because we do not like the message.
- HAS The STARR report struck a final blow to cigars? . . . The really smart new smoke is the pipe. Talking to some people at Alfred DUNHILL, I learnt that, in America, pipe sales have escalated due to the fact that cigars (even pre-Lewinsky) are regarded as a bit naff. The current dernier cri is, apparently, the straight-grain pipe. Pipes have an advantage over cigarettes and cigars, beyond being simply fashionable . . . Sit in silence, smoking a pipe, and the world will regard you as a deep thinker - whatever trivia you are really mulling over at the time.
- supporters pushing for a quick Senate confirmation of Henney have a considerable task ahead. Time is short, with Congress scheduled to adjourn within weeks and still facing a raft of must-pass spending bills. The U.S. Senate Labor committee passed Henney's nomination - - along with a block of nine other presidential nominations -- in a voice vote. Republican Senator MICHAEL ENZI of Wyoming was the only member of the committee to object to her nomination.
- PETER G. SPARBER, a former spokesman for the Tobacco Institute and now head of Sparber and Associates, is lobbying on behalf of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. against a perennial issue: REP. JOE MOAKLEY's bid for a "fire-safe" cigarette. . . Moakley wants the Consumer Product Safety Commission to set standards for such a cigarette. He also has legislation before the House Commerce Committee and, if it doesn't move this year, Harrington promises Moakley will bring it up again next year.
- A year after winning a $10 million settlement for 14 California counties and cities in a groundbreaking lawsuit against the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., San Francisco officials plan to spend some of The City's share on anti-smoking programs aimed at youth. . . The City is set to use $1.5 million of the settlement money to air anti-smoking television commercials and for health education programs, both of which will target San Francisco's ethnically diverse, younger population. The money also will be used to enforce The City's new ban on tobacco advertising visible from the street and to set up a police decoy program to catch stores illegally selling cigarettes to minors.
- In a campaign for attorney general overshadowed by other statewide races, the fortunes of the candidates are becoming ever more closely linked to the fate of the state's tobacco lawsuit. But there are pitfalls as well for VACCO, a Republican, who has been sharply criticized in the past because New York was slower than other states to file a lawsuit. If no deal is reached, the danger is minimal, but if the deal is perceived as too favorable to tobacco companies, the carping from anti-tobacco forces could hand Vacco's opponent, Democrat ELIOT SPITZER, a powerful campaign weapon. . . Several tobacco companies are also seeking to have New York's suit dismissed on the grounds that the state did not file its lawsuit within the statute of limitations. State Supreme Court Justice Stephen Crane is expected to rule on that issue in mid-October.
- King County Superior Court JUDGE GEORGE FINKLE rejected a claim by Philip Morris Cos. and other cigarette makers that onetime Philip Morris research director THOMAS OSDENE's refusal to answer pretrial questions would unfairly communicate to the jury that the Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation of the tobacco industry. . . Finkle also allowed the state to use what it says is evidence that Philip Morris and the parent of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. conspired to fix prices in SOUTH AMERICA, and that the industry had been subject to antitrust suits by the federal government early this century. And Finkle rejected a bid to block Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist JEFFREY HARRIS from testifying about what he believes the medical-care savings to Washington would have been if the tobacco companies made safer cigarettes.
- Eighty-two potential jurors were dismissed Wednesday, most after King County Superior Court Judge George A. Finkle determined the pool was larger than needed to seat a jury. . . Finkle said he expected to have a jury -- a panel of 12 plus six alternates -- seated today. . . Three potential jurors said they were wearing nicotine patches on Wednesday. Two of them said they were trying to quit, but the third said he was wearing it because he couldn't smoke regularly while in court. "I've got to quit smoking," said one woman, who was wearing a maximum-strength, 22 milligram dose. Asked why, she replied, "I'm tired of feeling guilty every time it comes on TV that someone's dropping dead because of smoking."
- Just weeks before the general election, a conservative anti-tax group has released a report on Democratic state Comptroller H. Carl McCall's votes on hundreds of corporate resolutions. . . . The CHANGE NEW YORK report found . . . McCall voted: Against discouraging smoking and alcohol abuse 83 percent of the time. McCall voted against requiring that RJR Nabisco test its cigarettes additives for safety, adopt more detailed tobacco labeling standards and support efforts to prevent tobacco sales to minors.
- At the height of the tobacco wars this year, Sen. John W. Warner cast important votes that helped Republicans bury sweeping tobacco-control legislation. . . ."If I'd have known it was in there, I'd have gone in and taken it out," Warner added. That day, he sold the Philip Morris stock to avoid a potential political headache. "This is what drives people out of public office!" Warner grumbled. . . By acting swiftly to jettison his Philip Morris stock, Warner satisfied several health and watchdog advocates. "I'm very pleased that when it was brought to Senator Warner's attention, he recognized the perception it might lead to and sold it," said Carter Steger of the American Cancer Society's mid-Atlantic Division. "Senator Warner showed he was an honorable man."
- The historic Berclair Plantation near Fredericksburg was auctioned for nearly $900,000 yesterday to Miltos GEORGAKOPOULOS, a restaurant owner from Austin. . . The federal government seized the property after its former owner was convicted of money laundering in what may be the largest tobacco fraud case in history.
- Republicans listened politely as state Sen. Dan Page (R) recited his "American Dream" story of raising three daughters while fighting high taxes and big government. . . . Still, it will clearly take more than a three-hour visit from Gingrich to transform Page's financially strapped campaign into a serious threat to Etheridge, a tobacco farmer with deep ties to the district who has already raised more than $420,000. Try as he might to attack Etheridge as a tax-and-spend liberal who "hides under a conservative cloak" and has been "silent" on the Clinton controversy, Page, 32, a two-term state Senator from rural Coats, N.C., still needs to convince voters he's a viable alternative.
- Ocean Springs merchants who want to learn more about new state tobacco laws that protect juveniles can attend a police workshop on Monday. The laws that forbid the sale of tobacco products to juveniles age 18 and younger are harder on the businesses that sell tobacco. . . But Ocean Springs police don't want to begin enforcing the laws until they are certain that merchants understand them. "Anyone who is handling tobacco products, or who is considering going into a business with tobacco products needs this seminar," said Detective Louie Miller of the Ocean Springs Police Department.
- Rosalie Lopez of DHS said the agency chose "Chuck" and "Carlos" because it wants to target hard-core middle-age smokers after having focused past publicity efforts on getting young people to quit or avoid smoking. Through encouragement and counseling, it's hoped these older smokers will undertake the struggle to wean themselves away from the tobacco habit.
- DAVIS hit the issue head-on in the debate's only reference to the scandal, ridiculing LUNGREN's television ads that say "character is doing what's right when no one is looking" and calling them "a not-very-subtle attempt to take advantage of the president's problems." Davis suggested Lungren is unfit to make such judgments, given his votes in Congress against school lunches and Head Start, and his actions as attorney general on tobacco and assault weapons. "When you want to apply the character test, you better be able to pass the character test," he said. Lungren retorted that Davis was continuing a pattern of mudslinging.
- His Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. GRAY DAVIS, and anti-tobacco forces say Lungren has been a friend of Big Tobacco who waited too long to join other states in a massive legal assault against the industry. As Lungren absorbs the hits on the campaign trail, two of his top deputies participate in marathon settlement talks in Manhattan between three dozen states and the tobacco industry's blue-chip law firms. The attorney general knows that the stakes couldn't be higher, for the people of California and for his political future. He has assigned 50 lawyers, researchers and clerks to the state's suit alleging antitrust violations and fraud, and seeking reparations for smoking-related illnesses. A sweet deal would provide a boost for Lungren.
- Gray Davis' new campaign ad delivers his most combative message in a TV commercial yet, firing dual shots at opponent Dan Lungren on the issues of character and tobacco. The new ad marked the first time Davis has mentioned Lungren by name, and signaled that the ad campaigns are edging ever closer to the bitter negative spots that turned voters off in the primary campaign.
- Also winning early voter support is Proposition 10, which would raise cigarette taxes 50 cents a pack to finance early childhood development programs. After hearing a description of the measure, 54% of registered voters backed it, 35% were opposed and 11% were undecided.
- according to an Examiner poll. . . Voters also back Proposition 10, a measure sponsored by film director Rob Reiner that would increase the tobacco tax for early childhood development programs. The survey found 55 percent support for the measure to 33 percent opposition and 12 percent undecided.
- Under a new state law that targets underage smokers, stores must put all tobacco products behind counters or lock them up until they're sold. The measure was sponsored by Rep. JOHN COWDERY, R-Anchorage, and signed by Gov. TONY KNOWLES in June. . . the state law is tougher than the city ordinance. It lets the state revoke retailers' licenses to sell tobacco, said Dean Guaneli, a chief assistant attorney general in Juneau.
- In his third annual State of the Child speech, Knowles on Wednesday called for expansion of summer school, more attention to FAS and better quality child care. . . Among the lawmakers in the crowd was state Rep. CON BUNDE, R-Anchorage. Bunde, who chairs the House Health, Education and Social Services Committee . . . "I don't think there was a single Republican initiative he didn't take credit for," Bunde said, mentioning in particular the $1-a-pack tax on cigarettes that Bunde championed two years ago. Knowles pushed the tax as a way to cut teen smoking. Knowles later acknowledged the children's initiatives have been bipartisan
- Each day mules loaded with contraband cigarettes wind unaccompanied along a mountain between the Israeli-controlled zone of Lebanon and Syria, a demonstration that money can be more persuasive than politics in the Middle East. . . "Duty-free tobacco comes from Israel to Shebaa where it is stored before it is loaded and sent to clients in Syria, Jordan and Iraq," he added. "The net profit on each box of tobacco is $10 while the profit from driving a taxi would not exceed $40 a day," the smuggler said. It adds up to millions of dollars a year.
- Priority goals for Russia's new Cabinet, outlined by Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov and others on Thursday: . . . -Strengthening state control over alcohol and tobacco markets to eradicate illegal alcohol production and increase government tax revenues.
- "It is a three-year plan. Last year we informed smokers, this year we give them the means to answer their questions, and next year we will help them to stop," said Didier Brunet, head of the health department at Publicis Etoile, part of French advertising group PUBLICIS SA. The government-funded campaign will cost 40 million francs ($7.1 million) excluding taxes which makes it an unusually large campaign. . . The campaign promotes a telephone information line, Tabac Info Service, that is flagged in television and radio spots, on billboards and on telephone cards. A parallel information service is due to start shortly on the Minitel, France's widely-used teletext service. One aim of the campaign is to persuade pregnant women to give up smoking and not resume once the baby is born, Brunet said. . . The proportion of French people who smoke has fallen from 40 percent in 1990 to 35 percent against a backdrop of sharp price rises and the 1991 Evin law.
- At the fund-raising lunch, Clinton criticized Republicans for blocking proposals he backed on campaign finance reform, anti-smoking legislation, health care and the minimum wage. "The Republican majority in Congress has its priorities wrong -- partisanship over progress, politics over people," Clinton said before leaving Washington.
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota outlined plans Friday to spend $310 million from its share of the state's tobacco settlement on smoking cessation and targeted health improvement programs, but the proposal still has critics and legal hurdles to overcome before it could take effect.
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota proposed Friday that it use its $469 million in tobacco settlement money on an ambitious health improvement program that it says will save its subscribers $2.3 billion in health-care costs over the next 20 years.
- Here's how Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota proposes to spend the $469 million it will receive under a settlement reached with tobacco companies earlier this year.
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota would invest over $300 million in health improvement programs in the next 20 years to benefit its members under a plan Blue Cross has detailed for spending the proceeds from its tobacco lawsuit settlement. Blue Cross will receive $469 million through the year 2003 from tobacco companies, which has a current value of $434 million. The health improvement programs will generate savings estimated at $2.3 billion over 20 years to offset premium costs.
- In a decision handed down by JUDGE JAMES S. GWIN of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Eastern Division, the court denied a motion to dismiss the state-wide class action suit filed by multi-employer health and welfare insurance funds. In the recent opinion, Judge Gwin ruled that the multi-employer health care funds have the requisite standing to bring their suits against the tobacco companies and rejected the contention that the financial injury suffered by the multi-employer funds was too remote to allow the suit to move forward.
- The tobacco industry goes on trial here on Monday for the second in what has become a long line of state-filed lawsuits, and cigarette makers will portray Washington as hypocritical for accusing them of misconduct while collecting taxes on their products.
- After a little more than three days of jury selection, lawyers for Washington state's lawsuit against tobacco companies agreed on 18 people for the jury. The jury of nine women and three men was joined by six alternates Thursday for the King County Superior Court trial, which is expected to take up to five months.
- The state prevailed in all but one of the preliminary motions ruled on by District Judge THOMAS HONZEL in a decision Tuesday. "It is a great ruling from the state's standpoint," said Attorney General JOE MAZUREK . . . "It's just a preliminary step, but a very important one, and it keeps everyone in the mix." Honzel denied separate motions filed by B.A.T. (British American Tobacco) Industries, RJR Nabisco Inc. and RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. and the Tobacco Institute to dismiss Montana's lawsuit for lack of personal jurisdiction. He also denied motions from some of the companies to dismiss the state's lawsuit for failing to state a cause of action and for waiting too long to file the suit. Honzel did grant one motion by some of the companies seeking to dismiss the state's charge that they unjustly enriched themselves to the detriment of the state.
- A commercial flight carrying Missouri Sen. Christopher Bond and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell made an unscheduled landing outside Washington, D.C., on Friday after the pilot saw an engine fire warning light. . . Hubbard alerted The Associated Press about the unscheduled landing, saying he didn't want Nixon's campaign to charge that Bond and McConnell had cancelled because of the anti-tobacco criticism. "They have decided to cancel this trip because they would be arriving too late," Hubbard said. "We are hoping to re-schedule Senator McConnell's visit."
- SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL of Kentucky, head of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee and a leader in the fight to kill the federal tobacco settlement, will be in St. Louis tonight to raise money for Sen. Christopher "Kit" BOND. The $250-a-couple fund-raiser is at the Town and Country home of JOHN and ANN MCDONNELL. John McDonnell is the retired chairman of McDonnell Douglas Corp., now part of Boeing Co.; McConnell sits on the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee.
- SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, chairman of the GOP's national Senate campaign committee, was scheduled to attend two Bond fund-raisers this evening at the St. Louis County residence of millionaire JOHN MCDONNELL. Chuck Hatfield, campaign manager for Bond's Democratic challenger, ATTORNEY GENERAL JAY NIXON, said Thursday that the Republican "should be ashamed" for raising money through "Big Tobacco's best friend in Congress." McConnell was the host of a June 17 meeting in Washington that Bond and other GOP senators attended, and which is now under review by the U.S. Justice Department. According to news reports, McConnell told his colleagues the day senators shelved an anti-tobacco bill that the tobacco industry would run television ads supporting lawmakers who voted to kill it.
- The city's last tobacco operation has been waging a war of the olfactory senses against that '90s beverage, gourmet coffee. Depending on where you are downtown, you'll either catch a whiff of java or the golden leaf. . . "We have visitors comment all the time," he said. "They love the smells. They're earthy, like new mown hay or a granary." . . . Tobacco and roasting coffee seem to complement the tall chimneys of the old tobacco factories and textile mills that make downtown feel so special, Bowman said.
- Tobacco output in Malawi, the world's No. 2 producer of burley leaf for cigarettes, could plummet next year as poor prices for this year's crop prevent farmers from planting, the International Tobacco Growers Association said. In Malawi, second to the U.S. in output of air-dried burley tobacco, prices sank 17 percent to an average of $1.30 a kilogram for the season ended Sept. 16.
- HURRICANE GEORGES cut straight across the DOMINICAN REPUBLIC this week, disrupting and damaging some of the country's cigar factories. The storm killed at least 110 people across the Caribbean--none of them in the cigar industry, according to sketchy reports--and caused more than $1 billion in damages. When this story was posted, Georges was over CUBA.
- DUNCANS INDUSTRIES LTD (DIL), the G P Goenka flagship, has adopted a three-pronged strategy to shed its past legacy of dysfunctional attributes, which basically comprise high cost funds engaged in low-yielding areas of business. . . and thirdly, it will deal with the pending excise issue relating to the tobacco business shed almost twelve years ago and which continues to haunt the company. . . The excise matter relating to New Tobacco Company, a business which was got rid off some twelve years ago, is still hanging fire with a few show-cause notices still to be cleared up.
- So called "socially responsible" investors may turn up their noses at the Triad's tobacco companies, but they can guiltlessly pour money into at least four North Carolina businesses. CITIZENS FUNDS of Portsmouth, N.H., which describes itself as a "socially and environmentally responsible mutual fund company," has named four Tar Heel companies, including three with headquarters in the Triad, to its Citizens Index, a benchmark for social investors. . . The North Carolina four: BB&T CORP. of Winston-Salem; JEFFERSON-PILOT CORP. of Greensboro; LOWE'S of North Wilkesboro [home improvement], and; WACHOVIA CORP. of Winston-Salem.
- Sally Cobb, former model and president of the Brown Derby restaurants, died Tuesday. She was 83. While modeling in the 1930s, she earned the name "the Figure." She also won a national contest to become "Miss Chesterfield" in the tobacco company's advertising campaign.
- Today is Friday, Sept. 25 . . . On this date: . . . In 1904, a New York City police officer ordered a female passenger in an automobile on Fifth Avenue to stop smoking a cigarette. A male companion was arrested and later fined two dollars for "abusing" the officer.
- THE decision by Parliament's health portfolio committee to postpone hearings on the TOBACCO PRODUCTS CONTROL AMENDMENT BILL is wise. The bill is designed to eliminate tobacco advertising over the next eight years or so. While this has social benefits, it is appropriate that more time be allowed for public submissions on the bill, in particular by the powerful commercial interests which oppose the legislation and whose legal claim against Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma for further information on the background to the legislation has failed.
- Third, take advantage of people's wariness of Kenneth Starr; some know of his work for the tobacco industry against the president's effort to get tobacco advertising banned and its use among teens reduced. . . . He is something less than an independent, tell them, and very much less than fair. . . In doing so, don't hesitate to suggest that there are forces even in this country that are not friendly to a strong, people-oriented president. Those forces may believe it will be much easier to control a congressman or a political party's leadership than to control a president elected by all of the people.
- My recent favorite, however, was a remark he made about people who patronize bars. He told Times reporter Dan Morain that, as governor, he would sign a bill to reopen some bars to smoking. He declared: "There's a point of [being] prudish about this. . . . If someone wants to go drink themselves to death, let 'em smoke too." Lungren is a teetotaler who doesn't smoke. I'm not sure who the prude is here. I do know that many people go into bars to socialize with no intention of drinking themselves into the grave. Some are allergic to tobacco smoke. Some don't even drink liquor. But something must be working for Lungren, because the latest Times poll found him running even with DAVIS.
- By remitting the social-worker, Mr. Anna Hazare's three month jail sentence in a defamation case, filed against him for accusing a Sena Minister, Mr. Babanrao Gholap of corruption, the Shiv Sena . . . now wants to appear to be on the side of the anti-corruption campaign . . . Mr. Hazare has been successful with the transformation of RALEGANSIDDHI, a drought-prone village which is now self- sufficient with its own harvested water, plantations and even an all-women panchayat and the sale of betel leaves, nuts, tobacco, bidis and cigarettes is banned - it is another matter its residents go out and consume them in stealth. Mr. Hazare had headed a team to replicate the village experience elsewhere on the Governments' behalf. Will he be back on it now?
- A group of smokers filed a class-action lawsuit Friday accusing the state, 12 counties and nine tobacco companies of unfairly taxing them on cigarettes and exposing them to an addictive substance. Smokers For Fairness, William Steinbarth, Ada Venturelli, Angelo Venturelli Jr., Cia Moore and Daniel Moore claim in a Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that state agencies knew about the addictive nature of nicotine in tobacco products but did nothing to prohibit their sale or warn consumers. The complaint, which seeks unspecified damages, names state Attorney General DAN LUNGREN, Director of Health Services KIMBERLY BELSHE and 12 counties, including Los Angeles.
- "The state has said that people in Arizona, particularly teens, did not know of the health risk of smoking in the '50s and '60s," Eckstein said. "We have said the health risks of smoking have been talked about, advertised and taught for many years." But the tobacco companies won't get much help from Tucson Unified School District. The curriculum office has only recent anti-smoking and tobacco material, said TUSD attorney Jane Butler. "I looked at the copyright. The earliest is 1996," she said.
- It's a defense fund, in case tobacco companies - bitter over McCain's efforts to pass a law that would have added more than $1 to the price of a pack of cigarettes - mount their own independent campaign against him, Pike said. But Ranger says the money is a violation of McCain's promise more than a year ago to keep his spending below $2.2 million. That's how much would have been allowed under the McCain-Feingold campaign reform bill - if that bill had passed. "If he won't keep his word to reform his own campaign, we can't allow him to champion reform nationally," Ranger said, calling on McCain to refund the excess contributions or take his name off the reform bill.
- While campaigning in the mountains this month for a Democratic congressional candidate, ATTORNEY GENERAL MIKE EASLEY criticized Republican REP. CHARLES TAYLOR on several issues, including tobacco, crime and school violence. . . "I'm glad I finally got a letter from Charles Taylor," Easley said. "But what I expressed my displeasure over was his failure to show up or even send staff to the many briefings I gave in Washington, or even respond to my letters and summaries of the proposed tobacco legislation so important to North Carolina farmers."
- TOBACCO - JAY NIXON: Supported the congressional settlement and contends that Bond buckled under pressure from tobacco companies. - CHRISTOPHER BOND: Says the settlement was a "make-lawyers-rich" bill. Contends Nixon is enriching lawyers who support him by hiring them to prosecute Missouri's tobacco case.
- "Lucky trial lawyers" . . . Audio: "What to hear something shocking?" it starts. The voice is female; the tone is intimate, gossipy . . Visuals: Humphrey is seen down in the corner, with a gloomy, pinched facial expression; slightly out of focus. Typography: Key words in red and underlined - reinforce allegations. The approximately $500 million price tag is repeated to multiply the impact.
- Margaret Blakley says she already knows a key facet of Arizona's latest anti-smoking campaign works. . . Blakley will endorse the TV, radio, billboard and print advertising campaign. The 78-year-old Phoenix woman is about to become an ex-smoker, 50 years after she started, having been assisted by the state-financed Helpline. It's designed to help callers overcome difficulties and doubts in their efforts to quit smoking, and Mrs. Blakley said it worked for her. "I would like to give testimony to the Arizona Helpline," she said Friday, praising telephone counselor Roberta Davidson for her help.
- Harshbarger, the state attorney general, said he did not need to sign a pledge because he had never proposed or voted for a tax increase . . But, under questioning, Harshbarger later clarified his position . . . "I supported taxes on tobacco," he said. Former governor William F. Weld had considered supporting the 1992 ballot initiative, but was persuaded by his aides that it would violate his no-new-taxes pledge.
- The wooden ballot boxes were rolled into Town Hall here early yesterday morning for a recount in the state representative race between JOHN BUSINGER, a 27-year House veteran, and RONNY SYDNEY, to whom he lost on election night by 46 votes. . . "John did something that everyone thought was impossible, and that was eliminate smoking in the State House. That was John's doggedness. He was unrelenting in getting the State House to go smoke-free. John, in his own right, was a visionary."
- On the day a city ban on tobacco billboards was to take effect, anti-smoking groups gathered Friday to criticize city officials for delaying enforcement of the measure. The meeting was held . . . in front of a tobacco billboard that is illegal under the ordinance passed by the Common Council in March. . . faced with an all-but-certain lawsuit, officials decided last month to delay enforcement until the courts decide whether the ban is constitutional.
- MAYOR GEORGE MILLER says it's time to stop financially supporting such companies as Philip Morris. "From a moral standpoint, I think it's wrong to continue the investment," Miller said. "The amount of people who die from smoking is a phenomenal number. . . . I don't think we ought to be contributing to their (tobacco companies') wealth." The City Council is to discuss the tobacco investments in its regular study session at noon Monday at City Hall, 255 W. Alameda St.
- Anticipating a legal challenge to a new law banning tobacco and alcohol billboards throughout most of Los Angeles, the City Council has approved a motion directing the city attorney's office to join forces with other cities that face similar challenges. "Basically, we're just asking them to get together with other jurisdictions that are ahead of us on the status of their lawsuits," said Glenn Barr, a deputy to Councilwoman CINDY MISCIKOWSKI
- Gov. PETE WILSON has signed into law a measure that would restrict the use of youths as police informants. . . There would be one exception: Police could avoid getting a judge's permission if the juvenile informant was working undercover on a case involving surveillance of retailers selling cigarettes to underage children.
- AL-ARAB AL-YAWM . . . Tobacco growers ask the government to buy their crop after banks call in debts on local cigarette manufacturer.
- There's a pre-industrial rhythm to harvesting tobacco. . . "Here's the machinery," he said with a grin, holding up a small ax. Tobacco farming is labor intensive because, as Fortney said, "Tobacco is a fussy, fussy plant."
- Mexican conglomerate EMPRESAS LA MODERNA likely will change its name in order to avoid confusion with its former tobacco subsidiary CIGARRERA LA MODERNA, a company source said on Friday. "Empresas La Moderna will change its name," the source told Reuters, requesting anonymity. "Right now the name looks like it will be AGROMOD but that could change."
- "Jinnah," a film about the austere founder of Muslim Pakistan, is an unlikely candidate for Hollywood's silver screen. . . A year after founding the state, the chain-smoking Jinnah died of tuberculosis and his name, unlike that of India's charismatic independence leader Gandhi, faded quickly into obscurity in the West.
- WHILE Toronto is doing its best to undercut Manhattan as a movie-making center, the stodgy Canadian city isn't too sure about wooing our supermodels. I hear that Naomi Campbell's imperious behavior (we're inured to it here) while she's been shooting her new film "Passion of Love" has put some Toronto noses out of joint. . . There were even complaints the diva was smoking in non-smoking areas. I mean, how provincial can you get? These people -- if they really do want to be hip -- are going to have to learn that models are a law unto themselves.
- The town of Dumfries, long known for its Colonial history, plans to honor its earliest residents by building an Indian dwelling at Merchant Park. . . By the 1700s, intertribal warfare and diseases brought by European settlers had taken their toll on the Native American population. Around the same time, Dumfries began to lose its prominence as a port city. It once was a rival to New York, but silt from tobacco farms upstream choked the Dumfries harbor.
- Reading from the preface of his book "THE TOBACCO PAPERS" [sic] Thursday evening, tears welled up in Stanton Glantz' eyes and his voice faltered. . . He was choked up out of gratitude for his employer, the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. Throughout the professor of medicine's analysis and dissemination of previously-secret tobacco company documents, the university "was just unbelievably supportive," Glantz said Thursday during an invited ethics presentation at Washington State University. Glantz knows it doesn't always work that way. Colleagues at other universities sued over tobacco research had been told to find their own lawyers. Some even gave up their tobacco research.
- The PHLEMMY AWARDS, an Oscar-style awards ceremony, will spotlight popular 1990s movies that promote or discourage tobacco use, selected and ranked by more than 150 Washington State teen judges. Today's movie characters are smoking more than at any time in the past 30 years -- the exact opposite of real-life smoking rates, which have dramatically fallen since 1960. Teen judges reviewed 75 popular movies of the late 1990s and rated them for depiction of smoking.
- But once the least committed smokers quit in droves, further reducing the smoking rate became progressively harder. . . The more promising strategies are to raise tobacco taxes and to concentrate on keeping teenagers from taking up the deadly habit. . . California needs to review the effectiveness of its tobacco-control program, with an emphasis on preventing young people from becoming smokers and a realistic understanding that the extraordinary anti-smoking gains made in the early 1990s will not be easily duplicated.
- You want to get outraged about a report? How about this one: Last week the CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY issued a report called "THE BUYING OF CONGRESS," in which it documented the way big money interests - tobacco, drugs, health care, air lines, banks, telecommunications firms, the lot - bribe Congress into passing legislation that favors them and not passing laws that cost them money. The report tells you how much money the industry gave ($30 million from tobacco in 1987-96) and what it got for it (no anti-tobacco legislation). The report came out almost simultaneously with the Senate's action in filibustering campaign finance reform to death. And BENNETT wants us to be outraged at BILL CLINTON's moronic behavior? That's way down on the list, and it should be.
- A red-faced state Department of Health Services questioned his findings, demanded several revisions and then was reluctant to release them. When Pierce refused to alter the analytical thrust of his report and published a pointed version in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the department fired back that he was "too difficult to work with." The department also proclaimed it would not be renewing UCSD's contract for a follow-up survey next year. . . They and their tobacco buddies are doing whatever it takes, including attacking the integrity of respected scientists, to gut a program approved by the voters. And that is despicable.
- "They have 95 people in the jurors' pool and that's enough to pick the jury and alternates," said court spokesman Morton Lucoff. "The plan now is to pick the jury October 7 and have opening statements on October 8 and 9." More than 1,000 people -- many disqualified because of anti-smoker bias or personal ties to sick smokers bringing the lawsuit -- have been questioned since July 6 . . . Testimony in Engle et al vs R.J. Reynolds et al was scheduled to begin October 14, Lucoff said.
- The industry is hoping for a knockout punch at the federal appellate level that does to the labor union class actions what the Castano ruling did to personal injury class actions. . . Settlement update: The timing of the new AG settlement is still pegged by negotiators at late this week. On Wednesday, Philip Morris has a regularly scheduled Board meeting, at which the tentative deal is to be presented. First drafts of the proposed agreement have been circulated to RJR and B&W; plaintiff negotiators are trying to get advance buy-in from at least 40 states
- UJJAL DOSANJH will attend the first day of the trial in which Washington state is seeking to recover tobacco-related health-care costs from seven major tobacco manufacturers. "The Washington lawsuit is covering new legal ground and will involve tactics and concepts that could be useful in our province's own tobacco litigation," Dosanjh said in a news release.
- The BROWN PALACE HOTEL in Denver recently tracked the purchase of luxury items and services by its guests . . . Gold Plated Cigars The most obvious indulgence was seen in CHURCHILL, the Hotel's cigar bar and restaurant where customers are willing to spend up to $295 for a Pre Castro 1954 Dunhill cigar.
- If the tobacco giant is going for a prize for the most disgusting cigarette ad of the century, R.J. Reynolds certainly has my vote. In case you've missed it -- and I truly hope you have -- the humongous billboard features an impeccably dressed older man smiling (or leering) like no tomorrow. Actually, to call him "older" is misleading. We're talkin' old. . . The age only matters because in his arms is a flirty, bejeweled blonde wearing a sexy red dress. He's 70-ish; she's 20. Maybe. And they're not just friends. Bad enough? Wait. "Mighty Tasty!" the billboard screams. "It's a trophy smoke"
- A pair of socially responsible mutual funds is tearing up the charts this year. Is it time for investors to become believers? . . . It's an epiphany of sorts. The funds still shun tobacco companies, liquor distillers and arms makers, but the best of them understand that must make a statement in Morningstar's Principia Pro investment software before they can move on to other forums. The two funds are doing just that. Citizens investors are up 16.58 percent so far this year at recent prices, vs. 10.96 percent for the bellwether S&P 500 index. Domini investors enjoy gains of 11.75 percent. Both are five-star, or superior, funds as Morningstar sizes up the universe. Call (800) 223-7010 for a Citizens prospectus or (800) 762-6814 for a Domini prospectus.
- We think some provisions in the Democratic bill go too far, but that could be dealt with in the normal legislative process, if only the Republicans would allow the process to occur. For a combination of political and doctrinal reasons, they won't, any more than, earlier in the year, they allowed tobacco or campaign reform legislation to pass. They ought to be made to answer for their record, but so far they have not. The president's own agenda has been undercut by his enormous recklessness.
- During those happy hours I spent with my friends, only one encouraged smoking. Many elderly people have respiratory problems, or, like me, simply hate the smell of smoke. If you must light up, it is tactful to go outside into the garden. Why risk upsetting a lifetime friendship for such an insignificant sacrifice?
- Alluding to a recent study that said the number of residents without access to health care now totals 755,000, the attorney general said he would expand the MassHealth program to cover more poor people. He said he would also devote cash from an anticipated - but unresolved - settlement with the tobacco industry to pay for insurance for 200,000 people who do not have it now.
- The Tucson City Council voted yesterday to ban investing employees' retirement funds in tobacco company stock. The city's money managers must withdraw the $3.9 million invested in tobacco companies and buy other stocks with that money, said Kay Gray, the city's finance director.
- Hurricane Georges, he added, killed six people in Cuba, and caused extensive damage to highways, and crops of bananas, coffee, cocoa, yukka, rice and sugar, particularly in the east. Tobacco, however, had been largely spared.
- The Public Accounts of Ontario - the annual summary of the government's spending and income - shows the sale and taxation of so-called sin items amounted to $2.24 billion in the 12 months ended March 31. . . The take on tobacco taxes is up 24 per cent over the previous year to $431 million. All that puffing contributes just slightly less than the budget of the agriculture or natural resources departments, the ninth and 10th biggest ministries respectively.
- The court said it would review a decision by the Alabama Supreme Court barring companies from challenging a state franchise tax as unconstitutional. The plaintiffs include BellSouth Corp. and Seaboard System Railroad Inc. Also, Avon Products Inc., Burger King Corp., Georgia-Pacific Corp., and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the plaintiffs. (South Central Bell Telephone Co. vs. Alabama)
- A Senate-approved plan to shift the costs of administering federal tobacco programs from taxpayers to cigarette companies has been dropped from next year's agriculture spending legislation. The status quo will prevail for now for Kentucky burley growers. "As come-from-behind victories go, this ranks up there with the best," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Louisville Republican who serves on the budget conference committee that killed the proposal this week.
- Charging that California Attorney General DAN LUNGREN can't be trusted to protect the rights of smokers, a trio of plaintiffs attorneys has asked for permission to intervene in the state's case against the tobacco industry. The attorneys, including prominent Los Angeles trial lawyer THOMAS GIRARDI, represent a group called SMOKERS FOR FAIRNESS. In a motion filed Friday in San Diego, they say they are concerned that the attorneys general from different states and the tobacco industry will agree to immunize the tobacco industry from future lawsuits as part of a global settlement.
- It seemed so out of character. A lead tobacco-industry lawyer spending the better part of the morning telling a jury how bad cigarettes are. Tobacco lawyers following him yesterday hedged on that a little, but he had made his point: How can the state of Washington accuse Big Tobacco of keeping secrets about smoking when, it seemed, everybody has known for years that cigarettes are bad?
- U.S. tobacco producers labored to make cigarettes safe, lawyers representing the industry said today in their opening arguments in Washington state's $3 billion-plus lawsuit against cigarette makers.
- The lawyer defending the tobacco industry this morning spent the better part of his speech pointing out how bad cigarettes can be: He displayed writings and textbooks and pamphlets - some 100 years old - calling tobacco foul, poisonous, an enslaver of the mind and soul. Brad Keller, lead lawyer for Big Tobacco, told a jury that it would be impossible for Washington and its citizens not to have known about the health effects of smoking. And so, he said, it is not fair - indeed, it is absurd - that Washington would sue Big Tobacco for tricking people about smoking and its effects.
- "The state was very aware of the health risks of cigarettes," R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. lawyer Bradley Keller said, outlining the industry's response to the state's landmark lawsuit. "The state has to accept responsibility for its choices."
- In a huge courtroom packed on both sides of the bar, a state attorney told jurors that the industry had violated Washington laws since a secret 1953 meeting in which executives of the leading manufacturers allegedly agreed on a uniform response to any concerns about the health impact of cigarette smoking.
- The state of Washington has been a willing partner in the sale of cigarettes, collecting more than $4 billion in taxes since 1955, a tobacco industry lawyer told jurors this morning. "The evidence is going to show the state is the gatekeeper," Brad Keller said in his opening statement in the trial of the state's multibillion-dollar lawsuit against seven tobacco companies. "It made the choice years ago to open up those gates and sell this product."
- The state of Washington opened its case against the tobacco industry by vowing to show that cigarette companies' internal documents will prove they knew more about the risks of smoking than they told the public.
- Paul Luvera, an attorney representing the state, told jurors that internal tobacco company memos from the 1970s make it clear that the industry knew nicotine was addictive. . . He quoted from one: "We are in the business of selling nicotine, an addictive drug." Other memos described nicotine as a poison and suggested tobacco companies should consider themselves drug companies, Luvera said. He contrasted those documents with a video clip from a 1994 congressional committee hearing, when top industry executives said under oath that they believed nicotine was not addictive.
- As officials worked behind the scenes to hammer out a settlement, Washington state put the tobacco industry on trial on Monday and accused it of a 45-year conspiracy to hide the truth about cigarettes. In a huge courtroom packed on both sides of the bar, a state attorney told jurors the industry had violated state laws beginning with a secret 1953 meeting at which top tobacco executives allegedly agreed on a uniform response to any concerns about the health impact of cigarette smoking. "Their goal was confusion," said Paul Luvera, a special assistant attorney general. "Their goal was to give an excuse to the smoker, that well maybe it isn't as bad as these other people say it is."
- Settlement talks over the weekend failed to resolve Washington state's multibillion-dollar claim against the tobacco industry for the health-care costs of treating sick smokers. Opening statements were to begin today in what could be the first lawsuit against the industry to go to a final jury verdict.
- Attorneys for the state said they expected to spend five hours on their opening. Defense lawyers will have a chance to explain their side of the story to the jury on Tuesday.
- The 50-thousand dollar payment is the first of what could be an annual check. . . . Attorney General Tom Miller says he never expected much money from Liggett, but it's nice to have gotten it.
- Iowa has received its first check from a tobacco lawsuit settlement. Liggett Group Incorporated sent the state 50-thousand dollars. In the settlement, Liggett agreed to pay 35 states. They receive 25 percent of Liggett's pre-tax profits for up to 25 years. The settlement was the first admission by a tobacco company that nicotine is addictive, causes cancer, and was marketed to children.
- DFL gubernatorial candidate Hubert Humphrey III promised to fight Republican nominee NORM COLEMAN' s plans to spend much of the state' s $6.1 billion tobacco settlement on tax relief. But Humphrey ran into high-level GOP criticism that he had turned an officially nonpolitical antismoking workshop involving schoolchildren and teachers into a campaign rally. " I think the attorney general has to be very careful about ... using his office to further his political advantage, " said outgoing Republican Gov. ARNE CARLSON, adding that the workshop " appears to be a campaign event paid for by the public."
- The BROOME-TIOGA TOBACCO FREE COALITION weighed in Monday with an 8,000-signature petition urging county lawmakers to adopt a law banning smoking in most public places. "We are amazed and overwhelmed by the response we've had from the public," coalition Director AMIE HAMLIN said Monday.
- But beginning in January, the humidor might be off-limits to customers. That's when a new state law regulating tobacco sales takes effect. The law requires stores to keep tobacco products behind the counter or in locked cases. . . Smokeshops -- where merchandise is 75 percent or more tobacco products -- are exempt because minors aren't allowed in the store. . . Approximately 4,600 retailers in Idaho will be affected by the new law.
- "Government has no business getting involved in raising children," declared Libertarian state executive director JUAN ROS, who made his remarks before a joint hearing of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee, and Assembly Human Services Committee in Los Angeles. The hearing was held to discuss California's Proposition 10 . . . "When the government takes money out of the hands of the working poor, the Libertarian Party cannot support that," Ros added. Ros also pointed out the incentive for a black market that higher cigarette taxes create:
- HOWARD COUNTY government . . . built a penalty box of sorts for its employees yesterday . . . Then the county suddenly decided to take it down . . . "It's like we're going to put these people in a cage," Drown said. "The problem is we want to protect everybody in our society, but I don't know how far it goes." County officials . . . said they wanted to meet with employees and others about the subject of open-air smoking and make recommendations to the next county executive, who will be elected Nov. 3.
- With most contributions coming through its Washington lobbying arm, the Tobacco Institute, cigarette makers have given $54,000 to the Florida Democratic Party and $131,500 to the Florida GOP this election season. Whoever becomes Florida's next governor likely will play a major role in deciding how aggressive to make the anti-smoking advertising campaign outlined by last year's settlement.
- The candidate: JIM BUNNING for U.S. Senate. . . Bunning's accusation that Baesler voted no for mammograms for women and health insurance for children relies on a similar omission. His ad doesn't mention that both programs were components of the far-reaching 1997 balanced budget bill, which BAESLER voted against. Baesler has said that he voted against the balanced budget act -- which also became an issue in his primary race -- because he objected to a cigarette tax it also contained.
- DFL nominee Hubert Humphrey III breathed a thick puff of tobacco politics into the gubernatorial campaign Tuesday, promising to fight Republican Norm Coleman's plans to spend much of the state's $6.1 billion tobacco settlement on tax relief.
- Republican attorney general candidate Charlie Weaver promised strong enforcement of contracts between farmers and processors . . . Weaver said Attorney General Hubert Humphrey III has focused on tobacco to the detriment of enforcing agriculture laws. Humphrey said his office has been active in working with farmers.
- In the latest example of the nationwide trend of cookie-cutter political advertising, the Minnesota Republican Party and Missouri's Republican incumbent U.S. senator, Kit Bond, have used virtually the same televised spot to attack their foes: Minnesota's attorney general, Hubert Humphrey III, who is running for governor, and Missouri's attorney general, Jay Nixon, who is challenging Bond for the U.S. Senate seat. Few viewers in these states are aware that what they thought was a homegrown campaign has been, in effect, nationalized by poll-savvy media experts.
- Research on smoking-related diseases will continue at CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY despite an outside review that was critical of how the money was spent. Creighton will get about $1.3 million in the '98-'99 academic year from the state.
- Former minister for health and family welfare RENUKA CHOWDHURY has criticised the decision to allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment in the cigarette industry. . . The biggest losers would be the Indian farmers and beedi (country cigarettes) workers, she said. Not only was the amended policy made in great haste, and that too to for just one MNC (Rothmans), it came only a day after the secretaries of the ministries of finance, industry and commerce advised on August 26 not to allow FDI of over 50 per cent, she pointed out. Besides, the proposal would not benefit the country in any way.
- Former health minister in the Gujral cabinet RENUKA CHOWDHURY has threatened a movement against last month's decision to remove the existing ban on foreign investment in tobacco firms. . . "There are three million cancer patients in India, and the Eighth Plan wanted tobacco culture to be phased out by 2000," argues Ms Chowdhury who has been active in a volunteer-health group back home in Hyderabad even after ceasing to be a minister. "Most countries, including India, are officially trying to move towards a tobacco-free environment, restricting public smoking and advertising. When we're trying to sort one set of problems, what is the idea of letting more of the mess in from the back door? This is an excellent example of the right hand having no idea what the left hand is up to."
- One in five girls had smoked by the age of 13 and half the 3,964 children from seven to 13 interviewed were victims of passive smoking from their families. The first smoking survey of primary school children was launched in 1995 by the department of community medicine at the University of Hong Kong and completed in June. Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health officials revealed the findings and said tobacco firms were trying to find loopholes in anti-smoking laws launched in July.
- At the close of the auction season Monday 215 million kilogrammes of flue-cured tobacco had been sold at an average price of 173.6 US cents a kilo, compared to last season's 233.26 cents a kilo.
- Tobacco prices in Zimbabwe, the world's third biggest exporter of flue-cured tobacco after the U.S. and Brazil, fell 26 percent as output rose 15 percent, the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association said.
- Tobacco prices at the world's biggest tobacco auction floor by sales volume, Zimbabwe's Tobacco Sales Floor, plummeted 26 percent this year, according to provisional figures released by the floor.
- Murerwa blamed "poor performance of our exports" and speculation for the crisis in the value of the Zimbabwe dollar, which he said was healthy but undervalued. When tobacco sales close today, dealers expect to have sold just more than 213-million kilograms at an average price of $1,74/kg, and mining and manufacturing exports are also depressed.
- Football one of the most popular games in the country will soon have a tournament with an international flavour when CEYLON TOBACCO COMPANY, leading sponsors of the game puff in nearly 5 million rupees for the conducting of the BRISTOL INDEPENDENCE GOLD CUP TOURNAMENT in November. . . Ceylon Tobacco and the FOOTBALL FEDERATION have been scoring for the game and the player for well over a decade
- A day after RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. (RN - news) was forced to cut its profit estimates in crisis-plagued Russia, the world's top two tobacco companies said Wednesday their smaller stakes in that troubled market spared them from having to issue similar warnings. No. 1 tobacco company Philip Morris Cos. Inc. said the bulk of its international sales is in more developed markets including Western Europe, where business "remains as strong as ever."
- Philip Morris Co. Inc., the world's largest tobacco company, said Wednesday it sees "no need at the present time" to warn about its third-quarter profits. The statement came a day after rival RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp (NYSE:RN - news) issued a profit warning, saying the economic conditions in Russia and neighboring countries had hurt its R.J. Reynolds International tobacco unit. Wall Street expects Philip Morris, maker of top-selling Marlboro brand, to earn $0.83 in the third quarter, according to First Call
- New York, Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. shares fell as much as 7.2 percent after the No. 2 U.S. cigarette maker warned declining profit from Russia and other former Soviet states will push third-quarter earnings well below forecasts.
- If RJR elects not to join the settlement, which would suggest no spinoff, we have no doubt there would be a change in control at RJR next year as shareholders elect to unseat the current Board and management. In the latter situation, we would expect the new Board to adopt the settlement put in place by Philip Morris and Loews, install a new management team that can fix RJR International, and move to unlock value via spinoffs, asset sales, etc. That said, we still prefer Philip Morris and UST over RJR, which is likely worth more dead than alive
- RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp., the second-largest U.S. tobacco company, warned that declining profit from cigarette sales in Russia and other former Soviet states will push third-quarter profit well below forecasts.
- The company said it expected its overall profits to be dragged down by a reduction in earnings of its Reynolds International unit and an increase in its corporate tax rate for the remainder of the year. The gloomy projections were released after the market's close on Tuesday. The company's stock closed down 6 cents at $26.31 on the New York Stock Exchange.
- This southern Wisconsin city is staking its claim as the birthplace of the coffee break Saturday, with a celebration featuring the honorary renaming of Hillside Avenue as " Coffee Street." Organizers say the thoroughfare nearest the railroad depot figures prominently in STOUGHTON' s history, both for tobacco production and for the coffee-brewing tradition brought here by Norwegian immigrants. Many immigrants settled on that street, and when the men went off to work in the Mandt Wagon Factory down the road, the women worked in tobacco warehouses that lined the railroad tracks.
- Trying to quit smoking? In that case, you will want to think twice before taking in EMPHYSEMA (A LOVE STORY), which had its Toronto premiere last night at Tarragon Theatre. Then again, it might strengthen your resolve. Emphysema entertains intriguing notions about the irresistible allure of vice and the sensual properties inherent in even the most destructive of habits.
- NAOMI CAMPBELL insists she likes Canada. . . . A column in the Post . . . also said: "There were even complaints the diva was smoking in non-smoking areas" of her hotel and throwing tantrums on the set. Not true, said Campbell, as she puffed on a cigarette. "I don't pay any attention to stuff like that," she added.
- But Varley, the so-called "last of the Bohemians," refused to play by anyone's rules, according to a new biography of the artist by Maria Tippett . . . And there were two rules at the NATIONAL GALLERY he definitely refused to obey. One was to vacate his studio by 5 p.m; the other was to refrain from smoking in the building. By 1937, BROWN was fed up. Varley was given the boot. "Much as I regret interfering with your habits," Brown wrote Varley, "smoking cannot continue."
- Toni House -- the first female to speak for the highest court in the land, who insisted on being called "spokeswoman" lest anyone mistake her for a man -- died yesterday of lung cancer at age 55. . . Though not nearly as recognizable as White House press secretary Mike McCurry, in part because she rarely appeared on camera, House, a chain-smoking gamine, nonetheless was revered and respected by the reporters, filmmakers and documentarians who were her constituency.
- The American Cancer Society has unveiled an aggressive national campaign countering the misleading tobacco industry ads that have saturated the country this summer. These messages seek to remind lawmakers and the public of the tobacco industry's dismal record.
- Watch the national press conference of September 16th
- Watch ACS ad number 1 ("Messages")
- Watch ACS ad number 2 ("Talking")
- "Messages" and "Talking," two new spots produced for the American Cancer Society by The Communications Company, take on the tobacco industry as deceptive and conspiratorial. The ads do not mince words, labeling recent tobacco industry advertising as outright lies.
- If you were traveling along Route 128 tonight, who would pose the greater danger to you -- the driver puffing a Camel or the one quaffing a Michelob? It's not the rightness of the war against tobacco that raises hackles here; it's the selectiveness of it.
- Restaurant and bar owners, with no scientific body of evidence to support their claims that the sky is falling, have tried some minor red-baiting. Alan Eisner, spokesman for the MASSACHUSETTS HOSPITALITY ASSOCIATION, which represents about 70 bars and clubs, has said a smoking ban would create "the People's Republic of Boston." . . . Menino, who could easily have been swayed by such arguments, given the city's drive to attract conventions, has stood firm. He never made tremendous noise about his smoking ban; he quietly listened to the science and then pulled the trigger. For that, restaurant-goers in Boston should be grateful
- Airlines are more interested in cutting costs than protecting people's health in banning smoking, Albert Chan, executive director of the Tobacco Institute of Hong Kong, tells us. . . "Worse still, in some cases, because smoking is banned, the ventilation system is not functioning at full capacity, resulting in relatively poorer air quality in the aircraft." Yes, it is really nice to know that smoking has been banned. Thanks, Mr Chan, for pointing out some of the horrors of smoking, such as smelly curtains, the need for extra cleaning, and the necessity for more fresh air. Perhaps it's not surprising that Mr Chan rang our office two days after sending the fax, to say his views were personal.
- Some of the most expensive lobbying campaigns have been aimed at making sure nothing happens, like the $100 million spent to kill anti-tobacco legislation. "A lot of the best lobbyists are like paid assassins," said Jennifer Shecter of the Center for Responsive Politics, a research group in Washington.
- Five years ago, when the Health Insurance Association of America used its $17 million "Harry and Louise" commercials to help defeat Clinton's plan for universal health insurance, the effort was pioneering. . . And television advertising recently crossed another milestone. The estimated $40 million advertising campaign that the five largest tobacco companies used this spring to defeat anti-tobacco legislation was the most expensive and sustained issue advocacy campaign ever undertaken on legislation
- The suit is unprecedented, both here by the size of the damages sought and in the world because Clalit is the first to sue tobacco companies in other countries for the health damage caused by their products. Clalit director Yitzhak PETERBURG said Clalit regards the suit as "a public mission, not only to get compensation for medical expenses, but also to warn the tobacco companies and force them to act according to the law, providing full information to the public about the contents and likely dangers of their products."
- The lawsuit, filed Monday in Jerusalem's District Court, also seeks punitive damages and unspecified future damages. Those named in the lawsuit include PHILLIP MORRIS, R.J. REYNOLDS, BROWN & WILLIAMSON, LIGGETT & MEYERS, and LORILLARD. Israel's only cigarette manufacturer, DUBEK, its former chief executive officer and its sister company were also named in the suit. The 28-page complaint accuses the companies of withholding evidence on the harmful effects of smoking, targeting minors and being deceptive in their advertising and altering nicotine levels to encourage addiction. The plaintiff, the KUPAT HOLIM KLALIT health fund, insures about 70 percent of Israel's citizens 6 million citizens . . . In addition to monetary damages, the lawsuit seeks to halt the alleged false advertising and the removal of harmful substances from cigarettes.
- Filter-Tips is Canada's first e-zine review of tobacco marketing in Canada. It's offered by Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada as a semi-annual check-up on the promotional activities of the tobacco industry and its associates.
- Export A Ads are Extremely Expert, Eh? Richard Pollay
- Simulating Games to Stimulate Sales
- But what's with a driving simulator in a pub? Isn't that sending a very wrong message about drinking and driving? Maybe this finer point didn't occur to the folks at Imperial Tobacco or maybe they aren't too concerned about young adults taking unnecessary risks. After all, they sent three teams of Player's Racing Team driving simulators to pubs all across Canada to help party-goers test their driving skills against those of other party goers in other pubs. That's 133 pubs. 35 Canadian cities. 268 nights of drinking-and-driving-and-smoking fun.
- Winfield Red Rebels (Against advertising bans)
- Last fall, the Rothmans-Williams-Renault racing team announced that it would become the Winfield team. . . Winfield cigarettes aren't distributed in Canada. That is, Winfield cigarettes weren't distributed in Canada. But once Jacques Villeneuve started to race for Winfield, Winfields were raced to the market. Here was a marketing opportunity that Rothmans, Benson & Hedges (RBH) wouldn't let go to waste. . . RBH also shipped an unreported number of billboards, retail ads, t-shirts, lighters, pennants and other promotional gizmos. Direct cigarette advertising is restricted in Canada. But there are no restrictions on sponsorship promotion of cigarettes.
- Red Kamel Komes to Kanada. And then goes away again
- Trade Mark Tracking
- Trade-mark registration gives insight into the marketing intentions of Canada's tobacco companies. If new marketing measures are on the horizon, there's a strong likelihood that trade-marks are involved. So what can we guess from the registrations of early 1998?
- New Look. New Plans? RJR-REYNOLDS Nudges Its New-look WINSTONS Into Canada
- Market Movements
- Statistics on cigarette shipments for the first half of 1998 have been released by Health Canada. They show that sales are up a little bit over the same period last year, and that established market patterns are continuing (Imperial Tobacco continues to gain over its other two competitors.)
- On November 3, cigar smokers in California have an obligation to vote against Proposition 10, a statewide referendum that would nearly quadruple the tax on cigars, pipes and smokeless tobacco purchased there. If passed, Prop 10 would threaten the very existence of retail tobacconists in California. . . (The fate of tobacconists aside, Prop 10 would also create a massive bureaucracy with no fiscal accountability, rob funding from the public school system and breast cancer research, and exempt itself from the constitutional limit on state spending.)
- With only half an hour remaining, literally not one word had been said about tobacco. . . She bravely told the audience that she was lighting her candle for her daughter Deanna, whom cigarette smoking had killed with lung cancer. It was the first time such words had been uttered all night. . . The next day, at the march itself, JESSE JACKSON gave a modified speech. This time, he railed against the tobacco industry.
- General Cigar Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MPP - news) General Cigar Holdings, Inc. today reported third quarter net income of $5,013,000 or $0.18 a diluted share on sales of $63,398,000 compared to net income of $11,369,000 or $0.40 a diluted share on sales of $70,660,000 in the 1997 third quarter.
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