Tobacco.org

Shortage of Packaging Materials Likely to Blight Tobacco Auctions 

ZIMBABWE'S tobacco auction floors will open their doors to merchants next month amid concerns over the availability of crucial packaging materials.

Industry players disclosed this week that the annual tobacco auctions, a key generator of the country's export receipts, would start on the April 22 and stretch through to October.

Officials at the country's three auction floors, the Zimbabwe Tobacco Auction Centre, the Tobacco Sales Floor and Barley Marketing Zimbabwe told The Financial Gazette that foreign currency shortages hampered efforts to import wrapping paper and this could once again affect the commencement of the marketing season.

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• STOSSEL: Where There's Smoke, There's a Lawyer 

Do you smoke? Well, you better be careful where. I don't smoke, and I don't like the smell, but what some people are doing to smokers makes me say give me a break.

Galila Huff was sued by her neighbor's who allege that the smell of smoke from her cigarettes enters the common space of the apartment...

"Without any question, the legal system has become a tool for bullying in this country," said Philip Howard, chair of the legal reform group Common Good. "And if you're a lawyer, and you don't have to go out and spend money for another lawyer, you can use it as a hammer."

"People think of lawsuits as kind of a neutral process & have your day in court," Howard said. "Being in a lawsuit is a traumatic event, and if someone sues you, for almost anything & it's just like a bludgeon. It changes your life. You can't sleep at night." . . .

This week, he sent Huff a settlement agreement with a new list of demands that she must meet if she hopes to get out from under his lawsuit. It includes one that says she will not seek any further publicity.

"I don't want to harm anyone. I'm trying not to smoke," Huff said. "But you know, I cannot do more than that. This is my demon, I'm a smoker. What can I do? I'm smoking for 40 years."

What can she do? Does she have to move? On Thursday night she agreed to his demands. Give me a break.

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• Tobacco fund ready to fight 

Leaders of Ohio's leading anti-smoking foundation took steps yesterday to block a move by Gov. Ted Strickland and legislative leaders to divert 85 percent of the foundation's money into an economic-stimulus package.

Board members of the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation predicted that Strickland's gambit would turn back the clock on efforts to discourage Ohioans from smoking and help them to quit.

They took two moves yesterday to try to thwart the "raid." First, the foundation board moved to hire a lawyer to determine whether the Strickland transfer is legal. Second, the anti-smoking group arranged its own transfer: moving more than 70 percent of its endowment to three health-related nonprofit organizations that are out of reach of Strickland and legislative leaders.

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• Rell talks with tribes about banning smoking at casinos 

Gov. M. Jodi Rell is asking legislative leaders to withdraw a bill on banning smoking in many areas of the two Indian casinos in Connecticut while she tries to reach a deal with tribal officials.

Rell has written to top state lawmakers informing them that she has begun preliminary talks with the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, which run Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun, respectively.

But the governor says the tribes are asking for the legislation to be withdrawn as a prerequisite to continued discussions.

Rell says she is concerned that smoking is posing health dangers to casino patrons and workers, but she also says a smoking ban could result in the casinos losing business and cutting jobs.

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C.P. goes smoke-free  

Crown Point officials say the city's new smoking ban is no joke.

"We think the smoking ban will provide an environment that will allow people to be healthy ... and make their own choices," city Chief of Staff Keith Stevens said.

Passed by the Crown Point City Council in December, the city's smoking ban begins today, outlawing smoking in all enclosed public places except for bars, private clubs, private residences, retail tobacco stores and designated hotel and motel rooms.

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Experts Urging Smokers To Replace Cigs With Exercise 

EXPERTS are urging smokers to replace cigarettes with exercise in a bid to help them stub out the habit.

Research has revealed physical exertion can help reduce nicotine cravings - a theory backed by local experts.

Adrian Butterworth, manager of Bolton's Stop Smoking Service, said: "Exercise has long been known to reduce cravings in a person quitting smoking because moderate exercise causes the release of the same chemicals in the brain that nicotine does.

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Op-Ed / Brad Pfeiffer: Deterring drug abuse through good examples 

For starters, good citizens must implant in young people a solid understanding that drug abuse is ruinous to health and happiness, and very costly to society in general. The lessons are free--just have those serious talks with the young people in your life. But no matter what any well-intentioned person says, actions will speak louder than words. Setting good examples is paramount. We see that children of parents who smoke tobacco (arguably the most prevalent harmful drug in our society) have an increased likelihood of smoking, even if their parents tell them not to. Even before studies verified this correlation, people understood about adult influence on youth. Thinking back, I have to respect my aunt, now in her late 70s and struggling with emphysema, for at least never smoking around us kids.

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Historic tobacco vendor fears new law will bring ruin 

The glass windows at the front of Old Morris Tobacconists at 1116 Government St. have been frosted, "but we know it's not enough," said owner Rick Arora.

Like many other businesses that sell tobacco products, the landmark Victoria shop, which has been open since 1892, is facing a tough battle complying with new provincial legislation that took effect Monday. It prohibits the display of tobacco products in stores accessible to people under 19 years of age.

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Fighting teen tobacco use one song at a time  

This week, Family Guidance Center of Ironton held "Guitar Hero" tournaments as part of Kick Butts Day at two Lawrence County middle schools, challenging students' skills on the video game and offering them more reasons to say no.

"I told them we promote young and old people living a healthy lifestyle," prevention and development manager Mollie Stevens said to more than 40 Chesapeake Middle School students Thursday afternoon. "That segued to why we're here, to have good and clean fun."

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Police seize pot, tobacco 

A 54-year-old Springdale man is facing charges related to a seizure of marijuana and contraband cigarettes.

RCMP members executed search warrants at The Cadillac Lounge and a Main Street residence in the town. As a result, police seized over 20,000 contraband cigarettes and 470 grams of marijuana.

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Tobacco gets record price of Rs 100 a kg  

GUNTUR: Tobacco got a record price of Rs 100 a kg at Gopalapuram auction centre in West Godavari district on Friday.

So far the highest price quoted at the tobacco board auction platforms in the State was Rs 95 a kg only. About 67.5 million kg of tobacco was sold at the auction centres so far against the total crop size of 158 million kg for the season.

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Hospital smoking restriction fails 16-9 in Senate 

A bid to ban smoking outside the doors of Tennessee hospitals failed in the Senate this week, but the sponsor vowed to bring the measure back for a revote.

Sen. Tim Burchett, a Knoxville Republican, proposed legislation that would have extended a no-smoking zone around any health-care facility to 75 feet outside of the buildings, to keep patients and employees from having to walk through cigarette smoke on their way inside.

After some debate, the measure failed 16-9 Thursday, just one vote short of the 17 votes needed for a constitutional majority. A half-dozen senators in the session simply didn't vote, including former Lt. Gov. John Wilder and one senator from Nashville, Democrat Thelma Harper.

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Owen Sound fire cause released Written by Jim Birchard 

The Ontario Fire Marshal's office has wrapped up the investigation into a fire at an east side apartment building Sunday night and the cause has been determined as improper disposal of cigarette.

The investigator interviewed the occupant of the unit where the fire occurred and the individual indicated that he butted the cigarette in the ash tray and then dumped the butt into the garbage.

The fire which began early Sunday evening in a bedroom had left the resident in a Toronto Hospital with serious injuries

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Public supports smoking restrictions:poll 

The majority of people living in Saskatchewan want tougher restrictions on smoking, according to a survey released by the Canadian Cancer Society.

"Saskatchewan is the number one province in the country for smoking and the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region is number three among health regions in the country," said Dr. Leo Lanoie, medical health officer with the health region. "We know that smoking is very detrimental to people's health ... I think banning smoking is a great idea."

The survey, which was released on Tuesday in the provincial legislature, shows that 85 per cent of Saskat-chewan residents support banning smoking in all indoor workplaces, while 84 per cent want smoking banned on all school property.

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Study says smoking next pack costs men $222, women $94 

How many smokers would be able to afford that next pack of cigarettes if they had to pay in advance the full cost of smoking them? Chemically captive to an endless cycle of bouncing between insula pathway urges, craves and anxieties, and dopamine pathway "aaah" reward sensations, few ever stop to reflect upon the lost income their slow-suicide and premature passing will eventually cost them and their loved ones.

What is the full cost of a smoker killing themselves early? A study now in press for the Journal of Health Economics found that the "economic value of the premature mortality due to smoking dwarfs the purchase price of cigarettes." According to the study, the 2006 mortality cost per pack for men was $222 and for women $94.

The study, authored by Vanderbilt University Law School economics Professors W. Kip Viscusi and Joni Hersch, statistically determined the per cigarette pack price of the economic value of life lost by the average smoker. . . .

Whether male or female, obviously, smoking more cigarettes per day or earning greater wages than this study's "averages" would cause a smoker's true per pack price to be significantly higher.

The next time you plop your hard earned money down on the sales counter try to picture the full cost. If that picture is disturbing, visit the Internet and master the "Law of Addiction," the most important quitting lesson of all. Knowledge and understanding truly is a quitting method.

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