Tobacco.org

• Philip Morris International Rises in Initial Trading (Update1) 

Philip Morris International Inc., spun off by Altria Group Inc. last week, rose as much as 7.1 percent on its first day of New York trading after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Stifel Nicolaus & Co. urged investors to buy the stock.

The overseas company will focus on selling more Marlboro cigarettes in emerging markets now that it's separate from Altria, which aims to sell more snuff to mute falling U.S. cigarette demand, Michael Branca, a Lehman analyst in New York, wrote today in notes to investors. He rated the overseas company as ``overweight'' and Altria as ``equal weight.''

The March 28 spinoff of Philip Morris International gave investors shares in the world's largest publicly traded cigarette company, which accounted for two-thirds of its parent's profit. The move leaves Altria with a leading share of U.S. cigarette sales and a plan to expand its Marlboro brand into smokeless tobacco.

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• Christy Hardin Smith: McCain's Cronies: Charlie Black And Big Tobacco  

McCain's decade of work on tobacco, one of the most significant efforts of his congressional career, has earned him enmity from the industry and from some fellow Republicans over the years. At the same time, public-health advocates have celebrated his support of tobacco regulation. But now, some antismoking activists are disappointed that the presumptive Republican nominee for president has backed off from the tobacco tax, which they consider key to improving public health....

The memo noted that among the Philip Morris representatives slated to attend a meeting with McCain was Charlie Black, who was a lobbyist for the tobacco company and is now McCain's senior campaign adviser.

In an interview, Black said McCain initially welcomed industry representatives to make their case in various ways and said the Arizona Republican wanted to strike a compromise that would satisfy the industry and public-health advocates....

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New discussion on smoking ban 

Fresh debate has started in the government over the question of regulating smoking in bars and restaurants.

The health spokeswoman for the Austrian Social Democrats Sabine Oberhauser wants a complete ban on smoking, saying that it would be the fairest decision for all. But People's Party health minister Andrea Kdolsky has so far put off a planned discussion due to scheduling conflicts and prior engagements.

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• CHAPMAN: Should we pay Indigenous Australians to stop smoking? 

Kevin Rudd has announced a $14.5m injection of funds to lower smoking in Indigenous communities. . . .

A paper in last week's Lancet poses an intriguing question.

In a report from Mexico, the Oportunidades program, which sees dirt poor Mexican villagers given "Conditional Cash Transfers" (CCTs) if they comply with a set of requirements such as attending health care, using free food supplements and enrolling kids in school, has seen remarkable improvements in increased height for age, reduced stunting, and reduced obesity. . . .

With smoking, those who want to keep the habit can, while those interested in being paid to stop could sign on and be assisted with evidence-based cessation products to quit (although more than 85% of smokers stop without any formal assistance).

Payment could be staggered to ensure that temporary quitting lasted more than a few days or weeks. Smoking status is easily checked by a simple salivary test for cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine. Health insurance companies have of course been doing something very similar for decades: giving customers massive discounts if they don't smoke.

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New smoking restrictions start today 

Another round of restrictions on where you can smoke in BC kicks in today. There will be no more smoking chambers in BC pubs or casinos, and most public doorways now come with a three metre smoke-free buffer zone.

One smoker this morning says he understands it's all for the good of the whole but he says new rules won't do much to help him kick the habit.

New rules also affect those who sell smokes.

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Smoking ban brings burdens and benefits, other cities show 

Kansas City's April ballot proposal to prohibit smoking in bars and restaurants has prompted the same debate here as in virtually every other city that has weighed or approved such a ban:

Should public health trump business owners' rights?

Few dispute that long-term secondhand smoke exposure is harmful -- including for bar and restaurant employees. Advocates of the ban say smokers can simply step outside to indulge their habit, and everyone else benefits.

But Kansas City's restaurant and tavern owners say such policies put them at an unfair disadvantage and could devastate their business.

Academic studies show that some businesses have suffered losses, but the overall economic effect has been minimal.

A May 2006 report by University of Kansas researcher Michael H. Fox found a 4 to 11 percent reduction in revenues for neighborhood and sports bars in some communities, but not for restaurants.

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Fitchburg to enact smoking ban; Middleton considers ban 

On Tuesday, Fitchburg will join Madison and other cities across the state in its smoke-free status. Also that night, the Middleton City Council will decide if the city attorney should draft for discussion an ordinance prohibiting smoking in taverns and bars. The city already bans smoking in restaurants.

"There 's no ordinance before the City Council yet, " said Mike Davis, Middleton city administrator.

The Fitchburg City Council delayed implementing the smoking ban until April so smokers wouldn 't be forced outside for the first time during the winter. The delay also allowed bars and restaurants to establish outdoor seating, said Michael Zimmerman, Fitchburg 's economic development coordinator.

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Big tobacco tax hike ahead? 

Gov. David Paterson and legislative leaders huddled behind closed doors and inched toward a budget deal on Sunday that could include increasing cigarette taxes by at least $1.25 per pack.

Those familiar with the talks said the enhanced tax would be on top of the current $1.50 tax per pack upstate and $3 per pack in New York City, making New York the leader in such surcharges on smokers. The tax, as proposed, would reap about $265 million more in revenues, although an overall financial plan was still in flux late Sunday.

They said the plans are to be printed into budget bills to be voted on as soon as today.

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16 establishments fined under smoking ban law 

Sixteen local clubs, taverns and restaurants have been fined between $100 and $1,000 in the first 10 months since the statewide smoking ban took effect last May, while warnings were issued in 20 other instances.

"I think we're doing what we were asked to do, but the first thing we try to do is work with the business," said Robert Zehentbauer, tobacco educator for the Columbiana County Health Department.

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'Children abused with cigarette burns'  

A 45-year-old man from Ramle is under arrest for abusing his eight children, aged 5-12, with his girlfriend, 36, police said Monday.

According to suspicions, the father would beat the children with a pipe and would burn cigarettes on them as punishment.

The allegations were uncovered as a result of a complaint submitted to the city's welfare services.

The father, who was responsible for raising his eight children along with his girlfriend, had long been suspected of routine abusive behavior.

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• Tobacco funded Mass. researchers 

The nation's largest cigarette maker has paid for scientific research at four Massachusetts universities since 2000, a practice that critics of the tobacco industry liken to the Mafia underwriting crime fighting.

Philip Morris USA, which makes Marlboro and other top-selling cigarette lines, gave grants to scientists at Boston University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Massachusetts, company spokesman David M. Sylvia said Friday.

The research supported by the company touched on conditions such as heart disease and cancer that are linked to smoking. The grants given by the Philip Morris External Research Program were not used to develop new tobacco products or refine existing brands, but they may have helped the company rehabilitate its public image.

When accepting Philip Morris money, the researchers had to promise to disclose the source of their funding in scientific publications, Sylvia said, and the company, in turn, promised not to meddle in the research.

Still, industry foes said research paid for by tobacco companies is irredeemably compromised.

"Taking money from the tobacco industry to conduct scientific research is like the DA taking money from the Mafia to conduct investigations of crime," said Gregory Connolly

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Taking money from the tobacco industry to conduct scientific research is like the DA taking money from the Mafia to conduct investigations of crime.
Gregory Connolly, a Harvard School of Public Health professor and former director of the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program.

Rauchless Inc. Announces Breakthrough in Manufacturing Costs for the "Smokeless" Cigarette 

ParaFin Corporation (ParaFin) (PINKSHEETS: PFNO): ParaFin Corporation previously announced it has acquired the exclusive North American distribution rights for "Rauchless," the world's first electronic "smokeless cigarette" and will distribute them through its subsidiary "Smokeless Inc."

Rauchless Inc. disclosed to ParaFin that inventor and Vice President of Research & Development Dr. Robert Wang has made changes in the design of the electronic cigarette that reduces the manufacturing costs of the product. The "Rauchless" product is a complete smoke free device, identical in appearance to a cigarette, that gives smokers the same oral sensation of smoking a cigarette without the harmful effects of burned tobacco and of generating second hand smoke.

Elwood Sprenger, CEO of "Smokeless Inc.," reported the design changes will result in cost savings of approximately 35% in the manufacturing process of the "smokeless" cigarette.

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Mobiles 'more harmful than smoking' 

MOBILE phones will overtake asbestos and smoking as a leading public health danger, a top neurosurgeon says.

Research by Canberra Hospital's Vini Khurana found that in the next four years, the full impact of brain tumours caused by mobile phones would be revealed.

Dr Khurana's report, Mobile Phones and Brain Tumours - A Public Health Concern, has sparked debate in the UK and the US.

"It is anticipated that this danger has far broader public health ramifications than asbestos and smoking, and directly concerns all of us, particularly the younger generation," Dr Khurana said in a research paper.

In the paper published on his website, Dr Khurana said industry and governments needed to take immediate steps to reduce the impact of mobile phone radiation.

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Beijing Bans Smoking In More Public Areas 

Beijing, which has promised a smoke- free Olympic Games, will ban lighting up in most public places from May 1.

The city, hosts of the summer Olympics in August, has barred smoking in public venues like schools, sports arenas and movie theatres.

The ban will be extended to restaurants, bars, internet cafes, hotels, offices, holiday resorts and all indoor medical facilities, the China Daily said.

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• BARS v. CITY OF AUSTIN  

Plaintiffs are owners of stand-alone bars in Austin, Texas. They filed this action against the City of Austin seeking a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief relating to the enforcement of Austin’s ordinance prohibiting smoking in enclosed public places, including bars, restaurants, and workplaces. The district court declared the “necessary steps” provision of the ordinance unconstitutionally vague on its face and permanently enjoined the City of Austin from enforcing it. The City of Austin appeals the district court’s judgment and injunction, arguing that: (1) the case is nonjusticiable because plaintiffs lack standing and their claims are not ripe; (2) the “necessary steps” provision is not unconstitutionally vague; and (3) the district court abused its discretion in permanently enjoining the enforcement of the “necessary steps” provision. Some plaintiffs have also appealed the district court’s denial of their motion for attorneys’ fees. Plaintiffs’ appeal has been consolidated with the City of Austin’s appeal.

We REVERSE that portion of the district court’s judgment declaring the “necessary steps” provision of the ordinance unconstitutionally vague, VACATE the provision of the permanent injunction enjoining enforcement of said provision, and otherwise AFFIRM the judgment. We also AFFIRM the district court’s denial of attorneys’ fees.

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