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Japan Tobacco Profit Rises 13% on International Sales (Update2) 

Japan Tobacco Inc., the world's third- largest publicly traded cigarette maker, said full-year profit rose 13 percent after the takeover of Gallaher Group Plc helped increase overseas sales.

Net income was 239 billion yen ($2.3 billion) in the 12 months through March from 211 billion yen a year earlier, Japan Tobacco said in a statement to Tokyo's stock exchange today.

The maker of Camel and Mild Seven cigarettes purchased U.K.-based Gallaher last year to increase tobacco sales in Europe and Russia as smoker numbers fall in its home market. The contribution of overseas cigarette sales to total revenue doubled to 41 percent over the past year.

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• TV presenter joins London day of action against BAT 

Television entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne joined campaigners outside the London headquarters of British American Tobacco today as shareholders arrived for the company's annual general meeting. [1]

The Day of Protest was organised by the campaigning charity ASH, which has been researching BAT's activities in Africa. Its report, BAT's African Footprint, says that while smoking is declining in the West, BAT's profits in Asia and Africa grew by £2 million to £470 million last year.

Mr Bannatyne, the business philanthropist on TV's Dragon's Den, is a fierce anti-smoker. He had arrived back in the UK after a two-week trip to Africa to investigate BAT's involvement in the tobacco trade there for himself. "I was making a documentary for BBC2 ," he said. "I have been looking at their marketing tactics all over Africa and I don't like what I have seen."

He said he would be posting his views on YouTube, and asking members of the public to join him at the tobacco corporation's next year's annual meeting - by buying a single BAT share, giving them the right to attend the meeting and ask questions.

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LI cigarette dealer guilty of conspiracy, cleared of murder 

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. - The owner of an Indian reservation smoke shop that prosecutors claim is a major supplier of black market cigarettes was convicted of racketeering conspiracy Thursday, but acquitted of charges that he waged a campaign of arson and murder to protect his multimillion dollar business.

A federal jury sitting on Long Island deliberated off and on for a month before delivering the split verdict in the case of Mastic cigarette dealer Rodney Morrison. The marathon trial began in November.

The jury refused to convict Morrison of the most heinous charge, an allegation that he ordered the slaying of a one-time business protege who had opened a rival smoke shop. The victim, Sherwin Henry, 23, was shot to death on a Brooklyn rooftop in 2003.

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Austria wary of banning smoking 

While many European countries have imposed smoking bans in bars and restaurants, Austria, afraid of hurting businesses, has so far resisted legislation preventing people lighting up where they please.

After a six-month break, the ruling Social Democrats and conservatives returned to the negotiating table this week to discuss a no-smoking policy in public places, an issue that has deeply divided politicians.

Conservative Health Minister Andrea Kdolsky and the Social Democrats want to protect non-smokers without hurting businesses, while the environmental Greens and trade unions are calling for a total ban.

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• 95 percent of 1,000 tons of tobacco illegaly obtained  

Selar, Smyrna, İmeks, and Şerbetli are four firms producing flavored nargile tobacco. The annual sales rate of these firms is about 24 tons. But "tömbeki," a special type of tobacco used in nargile, is only produced by Tekel. The four firms established during 2004-05 to supply flavored tobacco for the domestic market as a result of the recent spread of nargile smoking have tended to exports due to the hegemony of illegal tobacco penetrating the domestic market from abroad, and the increase in taxes. . . .

The Aegean city of İzmir is the center of nargile manufacturing. But Istanbul, too, played its part until a few years ago. Workshops in Kapalıçarşı (the Grand Bazaar) were working hard to supply nargiles to more than 200 souvenir shops in the bazaar. But 25 of about 40 workshops in Kapalıçarşı had to close down due cheap nargiles that were imported from China three years ago. . . .

The latest ban on smoking of tobacco products, including the nargile, was approved in Parliament on Jan. 3, 2008. Nargile cafes have been given an extension of one-an-a-half years to implement the ban.

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• Austrian government agrees on smoking bans by 2009 

After months of intra-coalition wrangling, Austria's government on Wednesday agreed on introducing smoking bans in cafes and restaurants by January 1, 2009.

Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer said the compromise found between Social Democrats and the conservative People's Party was a 'step in the right direction.'

The ban is, however, far from total, as restaurants will still be able to have smoking sections, albeit in separate rooms. At least 50 per cent of a restaurant's space must be non-smoking the government compromise said.

Restaurants, bars or cafes smaller than 50 square metres will have to decide whether to go all non-smoking or remain cigarette-friendly.

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Bullseye Saloon Letter 

Mr. John Linc Stine,

Can you look tens of thousands of Minnesotans in the eye and explain to them why Indian casino patrons and actors have more rights than they do? Can you explain why you are trying to enforce this blatant discrimination?

My name is Robert Ripley, and I own the Bullseye Saloon in Elko New Market, MN. Channel 5 News recently did a story on our theatre nights, and on the MDH actions, and inactions regarding them. Here are a few things that myself, my employees, my customers, and tens of thousands of hard-working Minnesotans would like to tell you:

First, my customer base, like the majority of hometown bars across the state of MN, is composed primarily of blue-collar working people. . . .

We Minnesotans are asking the MDH to stop regulating our personal rights, liberties, and freedoms. The Minnesota legislators that cast their vote for this Clean Indoor Air Act must have forgotten about all the hard-working blue-collar citizens that are represented by this letter. I, no, WE ask you John Stine, and our MN state legislators, to stop trying to regulate the amount of smoke that goes into the fire fighters lungs. Stop regulating how many carcinogens the line cook breathes in everyday. And stop trying to manage the risks of construction workers and bartenders. Just because something is "Not good for you," does not mean it has to be illegal. Please keep this in mind today while you drink your coffee or your soda pop, and eat your fast food…. before unconstitutional laws take those "unhealthy" freedoms away from you.

Sincerely, Robert Ripley, My Employees, My Customers, And Tens of Thousands of Hard-Working Minnesotans

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Bullseye Saloon Event Calendar 

Smoker's Rights Rally!!

SATURDAY MAY 3RD 2008 WE ARE FIGHTING FOR YOUR RIGHTS, AND WE NEED YOUR $UPPORT!

$10 TICKET AT THE DOOR GETS YOU ALL THE TAP BEER YOU WANT FROM 4-8PM

Fight Back!! Get your "Freedom Fight '08" t-shirts and show people where you stand!

Special Guest Speaker: Sheila Kromer - owner of Barnacles Resort and pioneer of "Theatre Nights" smoking in bars!

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Up in Smoke, Part Two 

Added: February 20, 2008 (Less info)

Performance of the Tobacco Monologues at Barnacles on Mille Lacs

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• High drama in the courts: Bar owners try to skirt state's smoking ban 

Dressed in his favorite Renaissance Festival outfit, complete with tights and feathered cap, Mark Benjamin was the very romanticized image of the Bard this winter as he encouraged other "actors" at Barnacles Bar in Mille Lacs, Minn., to light up and act out in a creative attempt to take advantage of the theater exception to the statewide smoking ban in October.

Later this year, Benjamin will get a chance to say fie to the law again, but this time he'll be telling it to the judge. Benjamin will represent Tom Marinaro, owner of Tank's bar in Babbitt, Minn., who was ticketed for "directing" a play that allowed patrons to smoke. On May 6, Robert Ripley, owner of the Bullseye Saloon in Elko, Minn., will go before a Scott County judge for the same charge. Ripley said Benjamin will also participate in that case. . . .

Some have declared themselves exempt private clubs, other have said they don't understand the "no" in "no smoking." They've lost in the courts. Benjamin's odds of winning are probably about the same.

Consider Taverns for Tots, a group of Toledo, Ohio, bar owners who banded together to tap into the exemption that allowed smoking in private clubs in the city. . . .

Although news of Minnesota's theatrical approach to the ordinance went viral over the Internet, a search did not turn up any proprietors outside the state who tried the same trick. Maybe others are waiting to see what will happen in Minnesota.

If they head up to Virginia later this year, they'll get a hint when Benjamin and Mike Kearney, city administrator for Babbitt -- a town that covers about 108 square miles just south of the Canada -- argue the law before a St. Louis County judge. They'll even get a chance to see what it's like for the folks who slog through snow at the end of April just to get to Tank's Bar.

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Inmates can keep on puffing, for now 

Federal prisons were supposed to go completely smoke-free on Wednesday, but Correctional Service of Canada has decided to instead phase its smoking ban in gradually.

The ban will be first introduced Monday in maximum-security facilities.

Medium-security facilities will follow suit May 20, with minimum-security prisons going smoke-free on June 2.

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Resolution prevents smoking around Oswego County buildings 

Smoking outside county buildings in Oswego County could get a lot tougher. An Oswego County legislative committee passed a resolution Monday banning smoking within 35 feet of all county buildings.

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• Study shows how smoking results in smaller babies 

Scientists have discovered how smoking during pregnancy can result in babies of low birth weight, according to a new study.

Previous research has linked smoking with negative effects on the unborn child, including low birth weight and premature birth.

Now researchers at the University of Sydney say there is a significant association between smoking during pregnancy, an effect on blood vessels and growth restriction in the unborn baby.

The effect on blood vessels is described as endothelial dysfunction; a state that can lead to reduced dilation of blood vessels, inflammation of the vascular (blood vessel) wall and an increase in the incidence of blood clots. . . .

The results, published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, revealed that the women who smoked during pregnancy had persistent endothelial dysfunction, which remained at a constant level whether one or two cigarettes had just been smoked or following a nine-hour break from smoking.

Strong links were also found between endothelial dysfunction and intrauterine growth restriction, which carries an increased risk of babies dying around the time of birth.

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Where There's Smoke... ($$) 

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Brief Secondhand Smoke Exposure Depresses Endothelial Progenitor Cells Activity and Endothelial Function: Sustained Vascular Injury and Blunted Nitric Oxide Production  

Objectives: This study sought to analyze the effects of acute secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure on the number and function of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) over 24 h. . . .

Conclusions: Brief exposure to real-world levels of SHS leads to sustained vascular injury characterized by mobilization of dysfunctional EPCs with blocked nitric oxide production. Our results suggest that SHS not only affects the vascular endothelium, but also the function of EPCs.

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