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• United Nations warns of untold damage to seas on first World Oceans Day 

Human activities are exacting a "terrible toll" on the world's oceans and seas, UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon warned here on Monday in a message marking the first United Nations World Oceans Day.

"Vulnerable marine ecosystems, such as corals, and important fisheries are being damaged by over-exploitation, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, destructive fishing practices, invasive alien species and marine pollution, especially from land-based sources," Ban said in his message. . . .

The report also noted that smoking-related activities, such as cigarette filters, tobacco packets and cigar tips, account for 40 percent of all marine litter in the Mediterranean, while in Ecuador smoking related rubbish accounted for over half of the total coastal litter in 2005.

"This report is a reminder that carelessness and indifference is proving deadly for our oceans and its inhabitants," said Philippe Cousteau, CEO of Earth Echo International and an Ocean Conservancy board member, in a message to mark the launch of the report. "There are solutions that everyone, everywhere in the world can adopt to make a positive difference for our water planet."

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Sick of smoking? Here’s how to complain. 

Californians haven't been allowed to light up at work since 1995. And voters banned smoking in bars, restaurants and casinos three years later.

Still, the county's health department is still fielding enough complaints from residents fed up with second-hand smoke that officials recently posted instructions for how to report violations of the law on their website. . . .

A list of who's getting cited and the outcomes was not immediately available.

No OC business has ever been shut down because people are lighting up. But when the cops do get involved, businesses are faced with fines. The first offense is $100 plus court costs, $200 for second-time offenders, and $500 for a third violation. Plus, CAL-OSHA -- the state agency that ensures workplace safety, becomes involved. And that agency can pursue even larger penalties if police cite and convict a business three times in a year.

So how do you complain? Call 714-541-1444 if you speak English or Spanish, or 714-834-6645 if you speak Vietnamese. Calls can be anonymous.

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Smoked out 

d Forbes in Vol. 15 / Iss. 45 on 06/03/2009

In January, something once considered unthinkable will come to pass. Across North Carolina--once the heartland of tobacco--smoking will be banned in bars and restaurants.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em (for now): Hookah Joe's owner Joseph McHugh and bartender Cara Diggins enjoy a puff. Hookahs fall under the new state smoking ban, which will take effect Jan. 2, 2010.

Smokers will have to go outside to indulge, and hookah bars will close down. The only exceptions the law allows are for cigar bars and private, nonprofit clubs.

"This is a bad idea," declares a man who identifies himself only as "Steve," finishing off a cigarette on the lower floor of Broadway's (smoking allowed inside). "Private enterprise allows a bar owner to choose whether or not to allow it in their establishment. That's the way it should be. It's a scary precedent for government to try to control people's choices."

But right beside him, "Raymond" (who's also an occasional smoker) couldn't disagree more.

"No, I think the ban's necessary,"

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EDITORIAL: our view: Snuffing out tobacco  

But the government's determination to rein in the tobacco industry poses another problem -- the livelihood of thousands of farmers and tobacco growers.

North Carolina is a tobacco state. Last year, tobacco was the top cash crop, according to The Associated Press with $686 million in receipts.

Despite continued government intervention and the longstanding evidence about the harm of tobacco, many families have opted to continue to grow the lucrative crop. The proposed regulations could have wide-ranging impacts on our state's farmers who may need help shifting to other crops that contribute to a safer society. We support efforts to stop the use of tobacco, but we firmly believe the government and the industry must not turn their backs overnight on these farmers. To do so would further imperil the family farm and potentially erode the cultural foundation of many rural North Carolina communities.

We are highly skeptical of the FDA's ability to handle any more responsibility given its current staffing and funding and we fear the impact of these new regulations would be extremely harmful to the farmers unless they have another avenue to maintain an agricultural community. We believe the Congress should ensure it gives the executive branch all the tools and funding needed to make new regulations work fairly. And additionally, the Congress and the executive branch must protect our farmers from being victimized by the government's "good intentions." Without this two-pronged approach, any attempt to curtail tobacco use will simply go up in smoke.

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• Video: truth(R) Asks: 'Do You Have What it Takes?'  

The ad campaign, called Do You Have What It Takes? asks real-life job-seekers whether they would be willing to participate in the types of decisions and situations that tobacco industry executives have made or encountered. The new campaign rolls out at the end of May with television, print, cinema and online advertisements, along with a new Web site and social-networking elements.

Despite the national recession, the tobacco industry remains a very profitable and stable industry. However, even with economic hardship, recent research studies find -- if given the choice -- many Americans would choose not to work in the industry and already have a negative opinion of the tobacco industry

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Alliance One International Reports Continued Earnings Growth for Fiscal Year 2009 - Yahoo! Finance 

ance One International, Inc. (NYSE: AOI - News) today announced results for its fiscal year ended March 31, 2009.

For the year ended March 31, 2009, the Company reported net income of $132.6 million, or $1.50 per basic share, compared to net income of $16.9 million, or $0.19 per basic share, for the prior fiscal year.

Robert E. Harrison, Chief Executive Officer, said "By all measures Alliance One had a very solid year that fully met our expectations. Our global and talented workforce executed extremely well against our plans in a turbulent environment, both from a supply and demand standpoint as well as from a highly volatile foreign exchange environment. We were able to navigate through the various growing and selling seasons globally in close consultation with our large customer base to ensure that the economics along the supply chain were appropriate in order to ensure the security of future supply. The scenario we see going forward as a result should reflect crop sizes sufficient to serve future demand, weather permitting. We continue to work closely with our global farmer base to ensure their sustainability while using our significant agronomy resources to also ensure that best practices and total product integrity is being maintained in the face of increasing product regulation.

Mr. Harrison concluded, "Heading into the coming year our balance sheet is in good shape with strong liquidity and is well positioned to support future growth. As we look forward global supply and demand remains dynamic with flue-cured tobacco near equilibrium and burley filler styles potentially in some degree of over supply due primarily to the large Malawi crop this year that should adjust itself the next. Our global footprint, customer initiatives, new products and expense discipline are all contributing to our improved performance and our commitment to drive further shareholder value."

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Rise Seen in Colorectal Cancer in Under-50 Adults (Update2)  

Colorectal cancer rates are rising in adults younger than 50 with the biggest jump, more than 5 percent, recorded in those ages 20 to 29, a study found.

People older than age 50 began getting tested routinely for the disease in the mid-1980s, leading to a 2.8 percent yearly decline from 1998 to 2005 in adult men overall, according to the American Cancer Society report. . . .

While tobacco and alcohol are potential risk factors for colorectal cancer, the researchers said they are unlikely to explain the rate increase because alcohol intake has edged down since 1981, and tobacco use takes at least 30 years to lead to colon cancer, the study said.

“I was alarmed reading this. I had no idea this was happening,” said Peter Gann, a physician and cancer epidemiologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine in a telephone interview. “The big news has been the decline in incidence. Of course, this is a population that is not screened so it wouldn’t be affected by screening.”

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FG to Enforce Ban on Smoking  

The Federal Government is set to enforce the no smoking ban in public places in the Federal Capital Territory and advocate for a legislation to ensure its total ban in the country.

The Minister of Health, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin who gave the hint while speaking during the world no tobacco, lamented that 'tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the world, responsible for many diseases.

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Women benefit from smoking cessation 

It's never too late to stop smoking. Each year tens of thousands of women die from lung cancer, which has passed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer death among women. Almost 90 percent of these deaths will be due to smoking.

"It's no real secret that smoking isn't a healthy habit for anyone, but growing research suggests women are more vulnerable to the damaging effects of cigarettes than men," says Michele McPherson, thoracic services coordinator at Blount Memorial Hospital. We don't really know why, McPherson says, but it could be because women have smaller lungs. McPherson points out, "There also could be genetic differences in the way that men and women metabolize cigarette smoke, based on the genes they inherit."

Not only does smoking increase the risk for lung cancer in women, it places them at greater risks for other cancers like cervical, pancreatic, stomach, kidney and cancer of the mouth. Women who smoke, especially after menopause, have lower bone density, McPherson says, and a higher risk for broken bones and fractures.

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• Senate Clears Way for Debate on Tobacco Regulation (Update1)  

The Senate cleared the way for a final debate in a decade-old fight over whether the $80-billion- a-year U.S. tobacco industry should be policed by drug regulators.

Lawmakers voted 61-30 to limit deliberations on a measure that would empower the Food and Drug Administration to restrict ingredients such as tar and nicotine, review all new products and expand warning labels on cigarette packages. The House passed a similar measure April 2.

Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, urged lawmakers to allow consideration of an amendment permitting consumers to import cheaper medicines from other countries, including those used to treat the harmful effects of smoking. Majority Leader Harry Reid objected to the proposal, saying it was off-topic and would prevent the tobacco bill from passing.

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China Scene: South: Woman asks man to quit before tying the knot 

A cigarette doesn't have to come between a man and woman. It's the tale that a woman in Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, taught her fianc.

The man, Li, gave up smoking after his girlfriend promised to marry him only if he stopped smoking within a year.

Li was a heavy smoker but they got married last month.

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• Smoking kills - but few aware 

One-third of doctors in the country do not know smoking causes coronary heart disease, and nearly four in five do not know passive smoking can cause sudden infant death syndrome, a report revealed yesterday.

Also, three in five smokers do not know that smoking causes heart disease, and four in five do not know it could lead to a stroke, the national tobacco control office of the Ministry of Health said in the report.

The figures have not changed much since 2002 and "the country faces an extremely difficult situation in tobacco control", Yang Gonghuan, director of the office, said as she released the report to mark yesterday's World No Tobacco Day.

Anti-tobacco campaigners are calling for graphic warnings on cigarette packs

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Researchers determine predicting factors of positive lung cancer diagnoses in chest radiographs 

A study published in the June 2009 issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology determined several predictors of a positive lung cancer diagnosis after having an abnormal chest x-ray. Dr. Martin Carl Tammemagi of Brock University in Ontario and his team of US researchers examined the chest radiographs of 12,314 individuals obtained through the National Cancer Institute's Prostate Lung Colorectal Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO). They found that older age, lower education levels and a longer smoking history were all associated with a "true positive" diagnosis for lung cancer in those individuals with an abnormal screening chest radiograph.

A "true positive" radiograph represents an accurate reading for lung cancer. Other factors that contributed to a "true positive" diagnosis include a family history of lung cancer and a suspicious mass in the upper/middle chest region.

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FDA Tobacco Regulation: Gateway to Even Less Safe Food 

Before delving into the food safety issues, I have to touch upon the paternalistic excesses that are driving this legislation in the first place. . . .

And the utopian logic behind "helping smokers help themselves" is that the people who smoke for whatever reason, often stress-related, will metamorphize into lifestyle puritans with this simple nudge by Henry Waxman. The reality is that just about everybody needs a release from stress, and cigarettes are the outlet of choice for millions of Americans. . . . Just about everybody who has any background with the FDA concedes the agency in its existing form can in no way afford to take on regulation of tobacco on top of its already overloaded to-do list. That leaves only one option. The FDA will be forced to reallocate funding and employees away from inspecting the safety of our food products and prescriptions and towards reformulating the ingredients list of Marlboros and coloring photos of black lungs on cigarette packs.

And of course, all this is occurring in the aftermath of safety breakdowns for food items ranging from green onions and spinach to peanuts. . . .

There will be a steep price to pay for the almost inevitable dereliction of duty by the FDA without a massive insurgence of resources that seems very unlikely to happen in these frugal times. I know if I was in the Senate, I would be attempting to attach an amendment to this legislation that opens the government up to class-action suits deeming the state to be responsible for the death or hospitalization of individuals if proper food inspection was not conducted because FDA bureaucrats were too busy studying cigarettes.

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六成医生吸烟，医卫系统打响禁烟战 

每到5月31日“世界禁烟日”前后，全国控烟禁烟的“声音”才开始多起来并进入人们关注的视野，而在大部分时间里，人们都没有认识到香烟的危害以及全面戒烟的紧迫性。

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