Tobacco.org

• 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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• VIDEO: Balloon Dad Forced Cigar on Infant Son  

Ten years before the Balloon Boy hoax, Richard Heene pulled an equally unfunny stunt -- only this time his kid really was in danger.

We've obtained footage of Richard Heene from 10 years ago -- trying to shove a cigar into his then infant son Bradford's mouth -- while posing him with an empty bottle of beer ... and it's all for the cameras.

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• Lily Allen flouts French smoking ban in Paris as she performs in a plunging leotard 

Lily Allen showed her rebellious side last night as she flouted France's smoking ban on stage in Paris.

In between verses, Lily puffed away on a cigarette as she performed in a skimpy leotard at the City of Light's Le Zenith venue.

But the 24-year-old singer provided a distraction from her smoking with her slashed-to-the-navel leotard. . . .

Lily has publicly declared her love of smoking, so it's unlikely she'll be quitting any time soon.

She said: 'I love smoking… I don't really want to say it, but I do.' . . .

While Lily doesn't appear to be too worried about the health affects of smoking, she admitted she suffers from mild arthritis.

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• Yao Ming joins Chinese celebrities to push anti-smoking campaign  

Basketball superstar Yao Ming and famed soprano Peng Liyuan Monday became the new faces of China's anti-smoking campaign, which health officials said is still a tough task in the world's largest tobacco market.

Both Yao and Peng were not present at a meeting of the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control (CATC) in Beijing, where their representatives received certificates from the association.

It is believed that they would appear in public service advertisements persuading the people not to smoke at public places or to give up the smoking habit. . . .

The CATC's anti-smoking campaign was previously supported by other Chinese celebrities including table tennis player and Olympic gold medalist Zhang Yining and actor Pu Cunxin. Pu also joined some 40 actors and actresses to launch a campaign to advocate smoking-free films.

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• Five Questions About ‘The Last Smoker in America’  

Yes, disgruntled smokers, there is a new musical for you.

“The Last Smoker in America” is making its premiere as a full stage production on Monday at the 45th Street Theater as part of the New York Musical Theater Festival.

The show's book and lyrics are by Bill Russell, who was nominated for a Tony Award for his book of the 1997 musical “Side Show,” and the composer Peter Melnick (“Adrift in Macao”), a grandson of Richard Rodgers.

During a break in rehearsals, Mr. Russell shared his thoughts on smoking in the 21st century, his passion for outsiders and the legacy of “Side Show.” Following are excerpts from his conversation. . . .

What’s ironic is that the theater we’re performing in used to be called the No Smoking Playhouse, at least 20 years ago. I remember that vividly.

Q.

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• Light Up, Michael. We’ll Pay Your Tab! 

The Beverly Hills Cigar Club (BHCC) has offered to pay the $100 fine, if the basketball legend wants another smoke during the President's Cup golf matches, which start today in San Francisco. . . .

"Smoking a fine cigar in the open air landscape of a golf course should be a basic right," says BHCC CEO Vin Lee. "If Jordan wants to enjoy another round with a great cigar, we'll pay the fine. In fact, we'll give him a box of Louixs, our finest Rosado blend, or his favorite cigar, and pick up the tab."

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• Michael Jordan caught smoking 

San Francisco is asking basketball superstar Michael Jordan to snuff out the cigars, after he was caught on the front page of The Chronicle's Sporting Green breaking the city's ban on smoking on public golf courses.

City officials sprang into action after seeing the full-color photo Tuesday of the NBA Hall of Famer enjoying a good cigar while teeing off at Harding Park's 14th hole during a Presidents Cup practice round.

In an interview with PGATour.com, Jordan was asked how many cigars he planned to smoke during this week's tournament.

"Well," Jordan replied, "that depends, because I heard this is a public place, so they limit what you can smoke. I'm not even supposed to be smoking, but this was a practice round and no one said anything."

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• Roll-up cigarettes’ popularity on the rise with women, report reveals 

More than one in four adult smokers now use pouch tobacco and roll-up cigarettes, with a particularly sharp rise in the proportion of women users, research shows.

Analysis of smoking habits in England suggests a cultural shift in the use of tobacco, with one in five white-collar professionals who smoke now using roll-ups rather than conventional cigarettes.

While roll-ups may once have been the habit of the working man and the spit and sawdust pub, their use among women has risen sharply in recent years.

In 1990 just one in 50 female smokers used hand-rolled tobacco, compared with one in five in 2007.

The trend, revealed in Statistics on Smoking in England 2009, was described as partly a cultural shift -- with roll-up smoking less stigmatised and more "hip" among the middle-classes -- and partly economic, with rolling tobacco significantly cheaper as it has not been subject to severe tax rises placed on other forms of smoking.

Some famous smokers of roll-ups include the actresses Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham-Carter.

The report, compiled by the NHS Information Centre and published yesterday, also shows that the number of people aged 35 and over admitted to hospital for smoking-related diseases has risen by a fifth since 1997, from 1.2 million to 1.4 million.

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• in Memoriam / Patricia Henley: Won Landmark Judgments Against Tobacco Companies 

Patricia’s gumption, and her desire to do the right thing, would carry her into battle against a huge corporation she knew had lied to her—and which was lying to and recklessly endangering all of our children. When her legal battle ended, she directed a portion of the monetary gain to the Patricia Henley Foundation supporting opportunities for children in the performing arts.

When Patricia was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer in 1997, and given four months to live, she researched and discovered thousands of documents from the tobacco industry indicating that they lied about the additives in cigarettes, and the dangers of these ingredients to their customers. Her response to those who had trouble reconciling her righteous wrath with her lifetime of smoking was to point out the unethical marketing to teens. . ..

successfully sued Phillip Morris and the jury awarded her $51 million. It was, at that time, the first award in an anti-tobacco case in California, and the first case in the United States where punitive damages were upheld against a tobacco company. Appeals, over seven years, reduced the award to $10.5 million.

The Patricia Henley Foundation was finally funded in Santa Barbara in 2005 after the State Supreme Court refused to lower the judgment another time. Patricia, defying the medical professionals’ estimates of her longevity, focused the foundation on the mission on “inspiring the voice of youth through creative arts.”

The result was the Theatre of Life for Children (TLC), whose production of “A Tribute to the Musical” sold out three shows at The Marjorie Luke Theatre. . . .

Patricia never told anyone to stop smoking but only to make informed decisions. She described for performing cast members how her voice descended from soprano to lower-than-alto as a result of smoking. She was scheduled to cut a country western CD called Hard Lovin’ Lady (a title she gave herself after three marriages). But her voice had become so raspy that her guitarist joked, “I don’t think they make music in your key.”

In her opening statement during the trial, Patricia’s attorney Madelyn Chamber held up a pack of cigarettes and told the jury, “This is a case about a pack of lies.” . . .

Their high-powered attorneys’ attempts to confuse the issues didn’t sway one juror from finding the Phillip Morris executives guilty. . . .

It sent shock waves around the world when Patricia won this historic lawsuit. “HENLEY IS A HERO,” shouted a headline in a French newspaper. Patricia appeared on 20/20 and was featured in People and Forbes magazines. After her victory, she didn’t stop; she diligently wrote letters to corporations such as Disney to ask them to make Disneyland and Disney World smoke-free.

Fall of 2008 brought an end to the remission of the cancer that was supposed to have taken Patricia a decade earlier. She held on, with her usual courage, until July 31, 2009.

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• Lady Victoria Hervey is puffing them but is the 'no-cancer' cigarette really a healthy option?  

Sarah Harding has been spotted puffing away on one and Kate Moss is said to be on the waiting list for the most unlikely must-have accessory of London Fashion Week: an electronic cigarette.

Perhaps even more surprising is the woman who is touting these little white sticks around town: Lady Victoria Hervey.

The 32-year-old former It girl has just returned from Los Angeles, where she had been pursuing an acting career, as the face of SmokeStik Royale, a luxury electronic cigarette, which she has helped to design. . . .

'I was even able to smoke this on the plane,' says Lady Victoria, 'and the crew were all asking for a drag.'

The SmokeStik Royale is pearlised, emblazoned with the Hervey family crest - a crown and snow leopard - and has a bejewelled tip.

Despite the camp styling, there is a serious side to Victoria's mission. Her father Victor, the sixth Marquis of Bristol, died in 1985, aged 69, from the chronic lung disease emphysema, the result of a lifelong tobacco addiction.

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• VIDEO: Hockney calls for 'smoking rooms' 

British artist David Hockney is backing calls for a review of the smoking ban which he says is destroying "bohemia".

The 72-year-old lifelong smoker is supporting moves by a cross-party group of MPs to amend the UK smoking laws.

They want people to be able to light up in designated smoking rooms to prevent pubs that are losing trade closing.

Mr Hockney told the BBC's Politics Show he missed being able to smoke in his favourite cafe in East Yorkshire while admiring the view.

He accused former Prime Minister Tony Blair and his successor Gordon Brown of interfering in his life and said: "I loathe them for it."

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• Richard Branson makes high-profile plea on cigarette packs 

Sir Richard Branson has waded into the debate on plain cigarette packaging and urged MPs to back a bill on new tobacco control measures.

Branson wants more to be done to stop children being sucked into a "lethal addiction", according to a story in today's Daily Mirror, and is backing a campaign to protect children from tobacco marketing.

"Getting rid of cigarette vending machines will help save lives. And plain packaging will help take the glitz and glamour out of tobacco," the founder of the Virgin group of companies is quoted as writing in a letter to newspaper editors.

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• Jaques Chirac may have cigarette habit erased 

Officially, Mr Chirac, 76, delayed the release of Mémoires – the much-awaited tome recounting his life from birth until 1995 – so he could re-read it one last time.

But Le Parisien claimed there were concerns the picture would break laws banning the "direct or indirect" promotion of tobacco and may have to be airbrushed.

The cover photo, featuring Mr Chirac in deep thought and thick glasses, was taken in 1976, some 12 years before he kicked the habit.

Mr Chirac is the latest in a string of celebrities to have their tobacco habit airbrushed out of photos or posters. . . .

Mr Chirac's publisher, Nil, denied any "censorship or self-censorship", insisting the release had been delayed as Mr Chirac was abroad on a visit to Africa, and the fuss was "absurd".

The newspaper Le Figaro remained dubious, saying it understood that a politician might no longer want to be associated with this "accursed object", but that it was "questionable to want to erase from the past anything that doesn't correspond to our contemporary values".

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• VIDEO: Leukemia, stem cell scientists, N.Y. mayor get Lasker Awards  

One of the most prestigious prizes in medicine is being awarded this year to scientists working on stem cells and leukemia — and to New York's mayor for his fight to cut tobacco use. The Lasker Awards, which are announced today, have been given since 1945. They recognize the contributions of scientists, physicians and public servants internationally working to cure, treat and prevent disease.

"It's right up there with the Nobel Prize," says Gary Sieck, a research director at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. "The people who get it are at the top." . . .

THE MARY WOODARD LASKER PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD

Michael Bloomberg, 67

Mayor of New York

* VIDEO INTERVIEW

Bloomberg is honored for his efforts to get people in New York to stop smoking and start eating better. His initiatives helped lead to a decline in tobacco use among New York teens, and a greater use of healthful ingredients by New York restaurants.

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• 'Ghost' star Patrick Swayze dies at 57 

Actor Patrick Swayze has died at the age of 57 after struggling with pancreatic cancer for almost two years, his publicist says. . . .

Swayze was also known for being a heavy smoker. In a January interview Patrick said one of the reasons that he would still continue to smoke was to lesson his daily battles.

"It's just I've been dealing with one thing as it comes at time, you know… in the… order that it's trying to kill me. Will stopping smoking now stop anything, change anything? No. But, when it looks like I may live longer than five minutes, I'll drop cigarettes like a hot potato," he told ABC on January 6, 2009.

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