Tobacco.org

HOFFMAN: Legislators Blow Chance On Fair Tobacco Taxes  

If you’ve rummaged through your teen or ‘tween’s backpack recently, you might have missed the cigars and smokeless tobacco, hiding in plain sight amid the schoolbooks, pens, iPods and breath mints. It’s not that you’re clueless. Rather, the tobacco companies have cleverly packaged the cigarette-sized “cigars” and smokeless tobacco pellets to masquerade as innocuous lip gloss and breath mints.

With cigarillo names like “Happy Hour” and “Prime Time,” and flavorings like chocolate, strawberry and peach, these products are clearly intended for the middle and high school-age crowd. Low prices, teen-friendly packaging, and the myth that cigars and smokeless tobacco are healthier than cigarettes, makes these products a gateway to a lifetime of tobacco use. Although smokeless tobacco products and cigars cannot legally be sold to minors, there are no laws against underage possession of these items, unlike underage alcohol possession. You can’t blame the tobacco companies. They’re in business to sell products, and if their packaging bamboozles parents and teachers, so be it.

But to bamboozle New Mexico legislators is another story.

Since 1986, a loophole in the tax law has allowed buyers and sellers to avoid the cigarette tax by buying or selling loose tobacco, cigars and spit tobacco in place of higher-priced cigarettes. Simply put, these products are undertaxed compared with cigarettes, due to the influence of the very powerful smokeless-tobacco and cigar lobby.

It’s a loophole New Mexico legislators are unwilling to close. . . .

Only one legislator, Rep. Gail Chasey, countered that HB 133 was a public health issue rather than a taxation issue. Chasey was the only legislator out of five who voted for the bill.

Thank you, representatives Chasey and Stewart, for recognizing that our children’s lives are at stake.

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American Snuff in Memphis sees smokeless tobacco volume increase 

Tobacco company Reynolds American, parent of American Snuff in Memphis, says fourth-quarter profits rose 16 percent as higher prices and productivity gains helped offset declining cigarette sales.

The nation’s second-biggest tobacco company today reported net income of $304 million, or 52 cents per share, for the period ended Dec. 31.

That’s up from $262 million, or 45 cents per share, a year ago. Adjusted earnings were 72 cents per share.

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Commissioner promises complete ban on Gutka soon 

Commissioner Karachi Roshan Ali Sheikh has said all injurious substances would be banned in the city like tobacco, Gutka, betel nut, Pan and other items that beget cancer among humans.

He stated this while speaking as a Chief Guest at an awareness program in Sir Syed Town North Karachi on Saturday. He said it was a need of the hour to ban such items so that innocent lives could be saved from numerous diseases.

‘People are falling prey to different diseases including mouth cancer mainly due to lack of awareness,’ he said, and demanded of the Pakistan Medical Association and non-governmental organizations to come forth and collectively to stem the menace of cancer.

PMA Central Finance Secretary and ENT surgeon at Abbassi Shaheed Hospital Dr. Qaiser Sajjad said according to an estimate Gutika and such tobacco products of around 122 kinds were being sold in the city, imported and smuggled from India and other countries.

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• Cricket Australia in tobacco ad row 

Cricket Australia is facing fines of up to $66,000 for displaying ads in Hindi at the Test cricket series against India that may have been promoting tobacco.

News Ltd reports Cricket Australia has decided to pull the ads, surrendering hundreds of thousands of dollars in income.

The federal Health Department has launched an investigation into the ads in Hindi on the boundary rope for Australia-India Test matches in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Adelaide.

The ads were for a company that makes chewing tobacco and mouthwash and aimed at the massive TV audience in India.

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Commissioner vows complete ban on tobacco, Gutka soon 

The city commissioner has said all injurious substances, including tobacco, Gutka, betel nut, Paan and other items will be banned in the city as these items cause cancer.

Roshan Ali Shaikh stated this while speaking as chief guest at an awareness programme in Sir Syed Town, North Karachi, on Saturday.

He said that it was the need of the hour to ban such items so that innocent lives could be saved from numerous diseases.

“People are falling prey to different diseases, including mouth cancer mainly due to lack of awareness,” he said. The commissioner demanded of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) and non-governmental organisations to help in eradicating this menace from society.

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Collective efforts urged to eliminate use of gutka, chhalia 

Claiming that frequent consumption of chhalia (betel nuts), gutka and tobacco was behind the increasing cases of oral cancer, speakers at a seminar on Saturday suggested that a civil society and city administration coalition be initiated to eliminate their use in the city.

One of the speakers said that even babies were indirectly exposed to hazards due to their mothers’ consumption of gutka and mainpuri — concoctions of betel nuts, tobacco, lime, flavouring colourants, catechu and some other ingredients.

The seminar was held to mark the World Cancer Day by the administration of District Central in collaboration with a couple of nongovernmental organisations, and to highlight the hazards of gutka and mainpuri on human health.

Participants were told that Pakistan was one of the 15 countries of the world which housed two-thirds of the world tobacco users.

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SQUIER: Undoing Iowa's tobacco-control success  

In 2001, in response to the millions of dollars flowing to the state from the Tobacco Master Settlement, legislation was passed that established the Division for Tobacco Use Prevention and Control, with a full time director, a citizen commission to manage and coordinate funding and a youth program "directed by youth for youth." . . .

In the past year, we have seen major attempts to disembowel one of the most successful tobacco control programs in the nation:

* The director of the Division of Tobacco Control, a nationally recognized leader in the field, was let go. . . .

Yet tobacco use remains the most preventable cause of death and disease and will kill more than 4,000 Iowans this year unless we do something about it. The tobacco industry spends more than $100 million a year in Iowa marketing its products and they never quit. This state of affairs make the governor's aspirations to become the healthiest state in the nation quite absurd.

But the circus continues.

A recent bill to address the increasing use of smokeless tobacco products -- such as snus, candy containing tobacco and "dissolvables" -- by creating tobacco-free schools, a bill supported by school superintendents across the state, was passed out of the Senate and the House Education Committee and was then sidelined by the House majority leadership.

Joe Camel seems to have got his nose back under the Iowa House tent!

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Child tobacco use fears  

Children as young as 10 are putting themselves at risk of cancer and other health problems by chewing tobacco meant to be used in shisha pipes, a community leader claimed today.

Salim Mulla, chairman of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, says he regularly sees young people chewing the fruit flavoured tobacco which is meant to be smoked through the pipes.

And today he called for more education and a clampdown on the sale of the tobacco to underage youngsters.

He said: “There is a lot of this happening right across the North West.

“It is a major problem and there needs to be a clampdown by trading standards officers on the sale of this particular type of tobacco, particularly to underage people.

“I would say these kids are 12 or 10. They are definitely under 16.”

Mr Mulla, who is also a councillor in Blackburn, said he has seen youngsters buy other ingredients, such as sweets, from shops to mix the tobacco with.

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A History of the World - Object : Miners tobacco tins 

Tobacco tins were very common among miners. Unable to smoke down the mines, due to obvious fire risks, the miners would instead chew 'twist' tobacco. 'Twist' is made from dark- fired leaf, which is then twisted or spun into a long lengths. It was the cheapest tobacco available. Chewing tobacco also prevented the miners mouths from drying out from breathing in the dust-laden air of the mine.

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LATHEN: Tobacco is NOT an equal opportunity addictor OR killer  

Tobacco related disparities are no accident. Armed with targeted marketing strategies, cigarettes and a whole line of addictive OTPs (other tobacco products), the tobacco industry’s tactics intentionally cause a higher burden on some populations than on others.

Smoking cigarettes leads to many health problems, including cancer, and many of us know one or more of these risks. But most people aren’t familiar with OTPs and the risks associated with using them. Packaged and flavored like candy, OTPs are noncigarette products that range from little cigars and Swisher Sweets to smokeless products like Orbs, which look like Tic Tacs. Cigarettes and OTPs are not marketed or taxed equally, resulting in many tobacco related disparities. . . .

Tax equity, as we call it, would tax OTPs at the equivalent of $2.52 per cigarette pack. If Wisconsin taxed all tobacco products the same it would make it harder for youth and low-income residents to purchase these addictive products, and it would generate tax dollars to help balance the state budget and supplement the TPCP budget.

Tobacco use goes beyond affecting the individual smokers. It affects communities in many ways, and some communities experience more adversity because of higher cigarette and OTP usage. As a community it is our responsibility to work towards reducing tobacco harm because tobacco companies certainly aren’t looking out for our health. Make a difference by writing to your legislatures today about how cigarettes and OTPs affect people in your community.

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BORDOW: Teenage tin men: Addictive smokeless tobacco making comeback 

Tobacco is addictive. So is idolatry.

What, then, must high school athletes think when they see major league baseball players using smokeless tobacco? . . .

"The thing that gets these kids is that they cannot realize it is an addiction," Garagiola said. "They think they're above it but what it does, it takes a grip on them.

"People will get mad at me for saying kids should sit out longer, but the underlying thought is not to win games but to save lives."

Baseball's ban on players carrying the tins in their back pocket is a good start. But it's not enough. As long as players have a wad between their cheek and gum, high school athletes will emulate them. That's why it's up to the coaches.

They shouldn't use the stuff -- "we have to be held to a higher standard," Holmes said -- or allow their kids to use, even during practices. If they do see an athlete dipping, they should contact his parents.

After all, tobacco is addictive. So is stupidity.

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American Snuff settles into new Memphis digs 

Memphis is hundreds of miles from Tobacco Road, but a major tobacco company has staked $130 million and the growing part of its future here.

Reynolds American Inc. later this month finishes moving its smokeless-tobacco American Snuff Co. and 170 employees from a 100-year-old plant near Downtown Memphis to a new, $130 million plant in Southeast Memphis.

Blending and packaging of flagship-brand Grizzly, Kodiak and other moist snuff products has already started in the 787,500-square-foot former HP distribution center at 5106 Tradeport.

The move from the old plant on Keel, north of Downtown, is 60 percent complete, said Gene Crain, American Snuff's senior director of manufacturing.

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• Budgam is first smoke-free district in State 

The central Kashmir district of Budgam has become the first district in the entire State to be declared as smoking free. In an effort to safeguard the health of people from hazardous effects of smoking and tobacco chewing, the administration has banned use of tobacco and smoking at 3500 public places in the district.

While making this revelation during media sensitization programmes organised here, Executive Director of JK Voluntary Health Association A M Mir said the declaration to this effect was made by Deputy Commissioner Budgam Mohammad Rafi on January 26.

Under this declaration, made under Section 4 of Cigarette and other Tobacco Products Act 2003 and COTPA, the administration in Budgam has declared all 3500 public places including health institutions, schools and offices as free of smoking.

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New Market Research Report: Smokeless Tobacco in Israel 

Euromonitor International's Smokeless Tobacco in Israel report offers a comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the market at a national level. It provides the latest retail sales data 2007-2011, allowing you to identify the sectors driving growth. It identifies the leading companies, the leading brands and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market - be the new legislative, distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts to 2016 illustrate how the market is set to change.

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Fears over youngsters chewing shisha tobacco in Blackburn 

YOUNGSTERS are putting their health at risk by chewing tobacco meant for shisha pipes, according to councillors.

Coun Salim Mulla said he had seen youths chewing the tobacco, which comes in a variety of fruit flavours and is often brightly coloured.

Dangers include a risk of posioning from colourings as well as permanent mouth sores and cancers.

The Blackburn with Darwen Council Forum meeting on Thursday had already heard the local authority was taking a hard line on the sale of illicit tobacco.

Echoing calls by Coun Roy Davies for a crackdown on people who buy tobacco for youngsters, Coun Mulla urged further action.

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