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• Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Internet Tobacco Bill 

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved legislation yesterday that will help combat online cigarette sales and prevent youth access to tobacco products.

The Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act closes gaps in current federal laws regulating “remote” or “delivery” sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products. The bill enhances penalties for violations and provides law enforcement with new tools to combat the innovative methods being used by cigarette traffickers to distribute their products.

“Tobacco smuggling has developed into a popular, and highly profitable, means of generating revenue for criminal and terrorist organizations,” said Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), noting that cigarette trafficking, including the illegal sale of tobacco products over the Internet, costs states billions of dollars in lost tax revenue each year.

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• Organizations Call on U.S. Senate to Pass Legislation Preventing Tax‐Evading Online Cigarette Trafficking (PDF) 

Representatives of law enforcement groups, public health organizations and trade associations today gathered on Capitol Hill to urge the Senate to pass S. 1147, the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009 (PACT Act). This legislation will help combat online cigarette sales that have robbed hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues from the states and that undermine state laws that prevent youth access to tobacco products. This bill closes gaps in current federal laws regulating “remote” or “delivery” sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products.

These organizations were joined by Sen. Herb Kohl (D‐WI) and Rep. Anthony Weiner (D‐NY), advocates of combating illegal cigarette sales. Numerous stakeholders have worked with Sen. Kohl through the years to pass the PACT Act, which was passed in the House of Representatives this May.

“The PACT Act will strengthen our tobacco laws to ensure that law enforcement has the tools they need to investigate and prosecute cigarette traffickers, said Sen. Kohl. “Each day we delay its passage, terrorists and criminals raise more money, states lose significant amounts of tax revenue, and kids have easy access to tobacco products sold over the internet.” . . .

Organizations represented at the press conference included the National Association of Convenience Stores, American Wholesale Marketers Association, National Black Police Association and Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. . . .

The American Wholesale Marketers Association also released its latest findings from a study it conducted examining the prevalence of illegal Internet cigarette sales and the cost to the country. In the study AWMA found the cost to states in illegal cigarette sales could be upwards of $5 billion per year, and that with online sales there is almost no age verification at the time of purchase.

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• Coalition Pressures Senate to Pass Cigarette Anti-trafficking Bill  

The illegal sale of tobacco products through the Internet leads to tax evasion and tobacco use by young people, members of Congress and merchants said Tuesday.

The Coalition to Stop Contraband Tobacco urged the Senate to pass a bill that would address the issue. The bill is scheduled for a vote Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"Each day we delay its passage, terrorists and criminals raise more money, states lose significant amounts of tax revenue, and kids have easy access to tobacco products sold over the Internet," said Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., who sponsored the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act.

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• Physicians Urge FDA to Justify Condemnation of E-Cigarettes 

"We urge FDA to make public the laboratory data behind the July 22 condemnation of electronic cigarettes, along with comparable data on pharmaceutical nicotine products and conventional cigarettes. Then, on the basis of these data, either fully justify or retract the July 22 condemnation of electronic cigarettes," says Joel L. Nitzkin, Chair of the American Association of Public Health Physicians Tobacco Control Task Force in a letter to the FDA.

The letter specifically targets the new tobacco legislation that passed through Congress this summer which gives the FDA power to regulate tobacco products in the United States and notes that the success rate of current smokers who attempt to quit by using pharmaceutical aids is as low as 5%. Making smokers more aware of less harmful alternatives, snus and e-cigarettes included, could significantly reduce the amount of smokers who die due to tobacco-related illnesses.

"Contrary to prevailing conventional wisdom, virtually all the heart and lung disease from conventional cigarettes, and an estimated 98% of the cancer mortality, are due to direct inhalation of fresh products of combustion deep into the lung. Our best estimate (based on the work of Pankow et al and others) is that only about 2% of the cancer mortality from cigarettes is from the named carcinogens commonly found in tobacco products," says the letter. The FDA's study in July found miniscule amounts of carcinogens in a few e-cigarette cartridges, but failed to provide any data on the amount of those same carcinogens in pharmaceutical nicotine products.

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• AP IMPACT: Tobacco execs quickly find tax loophole 

With a simple marketing twist, tobacco companies are avoiding hundreds of millions of dollars a year in taxes by exploiting a loophole in President Barack Obama's child health law.

Obama and Congress increased taxes on tobacco products earlier this year to pay for expanded children's health insurance, but tobacco for roll-your-own cigarettes saw a disproportionate leap, from $1.10 to $24.78 per pound. Some predicted the tax would kill the roll-your-own industry, which had offered a cheaper alternative to packaged cigarettes.

But tobacco companies quickly adapted. The Associated Press found that as soon as the tax was on the books, companies all but shut down their roll-your-own brands and reinvented them under a less-restricted, less-taxed category: pipe tobacco. It's still destined to be rolled and smoked, but it's taxed at barely a tenth the rate, $2.83 per pound.

Normally, pipe tobacco is coarser and moister than cigarette tobacco. But nothing says it has to be. In fact, the federal government says the only distinction between the two is how it's labeled. That effectively gives tobacco marketing executives an opportunity to shape the company's tax rate. . . .

Anti-tobacco groups say it's deception, and not just because of the taxes. While flavored cigarettes are now banned in an effort to reduce the appeal of smoking to children, no such ban applies to pipe tobacco, allowing companies to sell black cherry, vanilla and other varieties. "This is a direct challenge to the federal government," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.

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• E-Cigarettes Under Fire  

As more cities ban smoking in restaurants and bars, there is a newer product to the United States that makers claim you can still smoke indoors. It's under fire from cities across the country, the Food and Drug Administration and a metro parent.

If you've been to the mall lately, you may have seen a kiosk selling electronic cigarettes. We've found the kiosks at Independence Center and Oak Park mall.

If you walk past the kiosk at Oak Park, a salesperson will ask if you smoke.

At Smoke51 we were shown a product that closely resembled a real cigarette. It comes with a battery and filter and even comes in flavors.

"There's a heating element that steams water, nicotine, and flavor so you're going to see me blow out smoke but it's actually steam or water vapor," the salesman said.

There are many questions about how this product is marketed.

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• Tobacco czar maps new agency's path 

Today Dr. Lawrence Deyton, who at 57 still goes by his childhood nickname of "Bopper," is the nation's first anti-smoking czar. He directs a new agency in the federal Food and Drug Administration -- the Center for Tobacco Products -- that is writing rules to govern the previously unregulated tobacco industry.

In last week's interview, Deyton twice stressed that he is not an anti-tobacco zealot.

"I am not an expert in tobacco," he said. "But I am an expert in public health, and I am an expert in government health programs."

And what Deyton promises is "methodical, science-based tobacco regulation."

But Deyton already has been greeted with worry from growers in tobacco-producing states like Kentucky, and three lawsuits from the industry challenging the agency's authority to restrict advertising and marketing.

The center was created under a sweeping anti-smoking law passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on June 22.

Its three key goals are to reduce youth smoking rates, which in recent years have leveled off at about 20 percent; to reduce the overall toll of tobacco-related disease, which annually kills more than 400,000 Americans; and to provide the public with information about the ingredients of tobacco products and their health effects.

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• Insurance discounts for healthy habits spur debate in Washington 

Who could object to rewarding people who quit smoking, lose weight or start to exercise? The American Cancer Society and the American Heart Assn., for starters.

Some companies are charging lower insurance premiums to workers who meet benchmarks for healthy living. The Senate's healthcare overhaul legislation would expand the trend.

But instead of cheering the proposal, some patient advocacy and health groups are worried that it could mean higher rates for less-fit Americans, possibly pricing them out of their employers' insurance plans.

"It is a way of cherry-picking," said Dick Woodruff, senior director of federal affairs for the American Cancer Society. "We are all for workplace wellness, but when you tie it to the insurance pricing system, it's a real problem."

Critics of the Senate proposal also say that giving special treatment to those who meet a company's fitness standards could undercut one of the marquee promises of the Democrats' proposed overhaul: preventing employers and insurers from discriminating against people on the basis of their health status and preexisting medical conditions. . . .

Opponents hope to water down the Senate provision in the legislative maneuvering ahead. A coalition of patient-advocacy and health groups said in a letter to Congress: "We believe that provisions increasing premium variations allowed under current law can -- if used unwisely -- be a back door to making coverage to the sick unaffordable."

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• N.C. court rules against tobacco payments 

Maryland tobacco farmers won't receive about $13 million in payments from cigarette manufacturers under a ruling Friday from the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Officials with the Maryland Department of Agriculture said the state had sought to require that Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Lorillard Tobacco Co. honor an agreement to compensate farmers for the declining sales of tobacco expected from a settlement between the tobacco industry and states over the health care costs of smoking.

"Our farmers have been done a big injustice," said Patrick McMillan, assistant agriculture secretary. "The source of income they were led to believe they were going to get has been taken away from them."

The case stemmed from a disagreement over whether the manufacturers were obligated to continue paying farmers under that agreement after Congress approved in 2004 a $10 billion buyout for tobacco farmers nationally, to be financed by taxing the cigarette industry.

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• FDA Warns Companies against Marketing Illegal Flavored Cigarettes 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is enforcing the flavored cigarette ban provision of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act) by issuing several warning letters to companies continuing to sell illegal flavored cigarettes to consumers in the United States through their Web sites.

The warning letters directed the companies to cease the marketing and sale of these products immediately or to take other appropriate action to bring the products into compliance with the law. Failure to do so may result in additional regulatory actions such as seizure or injunction. In addition, FDA requested a written response from each of the companies within 15 days outlining the corrective actions taken.

Enforcement of the flavored cigarette ban is FDA’s effort to remove cigarettes that contain certain candy or fruit flavors from the marketplace. Removal of these products from the market will assist in the prevention of children and adolescents from starting to smoke and in the reduction in death and disease caused by smoking.

“FDA takes the enforcement of this flavored cigarette ban seriously,” said Lawrence R. Deyton, M.S.P.H, M.D., director of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. These actions should send a clear message to those who continue to break the law that FDA will take necessary actions to protect our children from initiating tobacco use.” . . .

Report possible violations of the flavored cigarette ban: www.fda.gov/flavoredtobacco

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• FDA warns Web companies not to sell flavored cigs 

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that it has warned several companies to stop selling banned flavored cigarettes to U.S. consumers online.

The agency sent letters this week to more than a dozen Web-based companies saying they are violating a new ban and asking the companies to describe in writing what action they have taken to comply.

The FDA banned candy-, fruit- and clove-flavored cigarettes in September. Federal health authorities and regulators say those products appeal especially to young people and are thought to attract new smokers.

"FDA takes the enforcement of this flavored cigarette ban seriously," Dr. Lawrence R. Deyton, director of FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement. "These actions should send a clear message to those who continue to break the law that FDA will take necessary actions to protect our children from initiating tobacco use."

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• State Medicaid Coverage for Tobacco-Dependence Treatments --- United States, 2007 

The prevalence of tobacco use among adults in the United States has been reduced by half since the 1960s (1,2). Despite this progress, low-income populations, such as Medicaid enrollees, continue to smoke at substantially higher rates than the general population (33% versus 20%) (1). The Public Health Service's Clinical Practice Guideline (2) and the Partnership for Prevention's Call for ACTTION (3) recommend comprehensive insurance coverage of tobacco-dependence treatments without barriers such as copayments, limitations in duration of treatment, prior authorization, and stepped-care therapy. Healthy People 2010 aims to expand coverage of evidence-based treatments for nicotine dependency to all 51 Medicaid programs (objective 27-8b) (4). To monitor progress toward that objective, in 2007, the Center for Health and Public Policy Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, surveyed all 51 Medicaid programs. This report summarizes the results of that survey, which found that 43 (84%) programs offered coverage for some form of tobacco-dependence treatment to Medicaid enrollees in traditional fee-for-service (FFS) Medicaid, with four Medicaid programs adding coverage since 2006 and 20 programs adding coverage in the past decade. Only two states (New Mexico and New Jersey) reported access to tobacco-dependence treatments without any limitations or restrictions. Of the 25 states covering pharmacotherapy for Medicaid enrollees in both FFS and managed-care organizations (MCOs), only 13 covered the same tobacco-dependence treatments for enrollees in both populations. Research demonstrates that providing access to comprehensive tobacco-dependence treatments increases quit rates. Providing Medicaid coverage for these treatments would ensure that all enrollees can access and benefit from these treatments.

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• Most state Medicaid programs offer limited access to tobacco-dependence treatment 

Medicaid coverage for various smoking cessation treatments is limited in most states, according to a report published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly.

Although smoking rates in the United States have been reduced by half since the 1960s, smoking rates among low-income adults are higher than in the general population (33% vs. 20%). According to the report, 43 of 51 (84%) state Medicaid programs offer some form of tobacco-dependence treatment in a traditional fee-for-service manner. Twenty Medicaid programs have added coverage over the last decade and four Medicaid programs have added coverage since 2006. Of the 43 programs that offered tobacco-dependence therapies, 41 placed some form of limitation on the coverage in the form of copayments (32 states), limiting duration of treatment (25 states), requiring prior authorization (21 states) and requiring enrollment in behavioral modification programs as a precondition for receiving pharmacotherapy (13 states). Only New Jersey and New Mexico offered access to tobacco-dependence treatments with no limitations or restrictions on coverage.

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• Judge rejects challenge to tobacco marketing regs 

A federal judge ruled Thursday that tobacco companies hoping to block new restrictions on their marketing have little chance of succeeding.

The companies had asked U.S. District Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr. to issue a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit they filed in August claiming new tobacco regulations violate their right to free speech.

The companies, including two of the industry's three largest, are challenging provisions of a law that gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration new authority over tobacco. In a 29-page decision, McKinley outlined the arguments in the lawsuit and found that blocking the provisions was not warranted. . . .

The companies say the law, which takes full effect over three years, prohibits them from using "color lettering, trademarks, logos or any other imagery in most advertisements, including virtually all point-of-sale and direct-mail advertisements." Their complaint also says the law prohibits tobacco companies from "making truthful statements about their products in scientific, public policy and political debates."

The tobacco makers say new mandated warnings for cigarettes would relegate their branding to the bottom half of cigarette packaging and make it "difficult, if not impossible, to see."

In its response to the lawsuit, the FDA said the new marketing rules do not restrict free speech and serve a greater public health interest.

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• Seneca Nation of Indians president to meet with Obama today  

Seneca President Barry E. Snyder Sr. will travel to Washington, D.C. to participate in a first-of-its-kind national Indian nations conference to be staged by President Barack Obama. The all-day conference will take place today.

"During his 2008 presidential campaign Obama promised to go beyond a government-to-government relationship with Native Americans and create a nation-to-nation relationship. This conference indicates he is interested in giving nations a true voice," President Snyder said. "I look forward to taking part in this critical dialogue."

In October 2008, Obama pledged, if elected, he would appoint an American Indian policy advisor to his senior White House staff and would host an annual tribal leadership conference. . . .

In recent weeks, the Seneca Nation has made a strong stance against renewed efforts by some New York State elected officials to collect taxes on tribal tobacco sales. The Senecas have reiterated their position that long-standing federal treaties prohibit states and other governments from taxing Indian nations. The Senecas are also looking for federal assistance to overturn the Kempthorne policy which prohibits off-reservation gaming.

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