Tobacco.org

Tobacco Talk: Helping Veterans Kick the Habit  

Richard T. McCarthy, veterans' service officer for the city of North Adams, is all too familiar with the reasons why so many veterans smoke.

A Vietnam-era vet, McCarthy served in the Army Airborne. He told me that, for every hour of training, they'd get a 10-minute break and the order, "Take 10 and light 'em if ya got 'em."

In those days, cigarettes were subsidized by the military. They came in C-rations pack, and free cartons were passed around. Sure enough, many vets first started smoking when they joined the service. Maybe this is one of the reasons veterans still smoke at a higher rate than the general population.

In Massachusetts, veterans smoke at a 33 percent higher rate than other adults the same age. And they pay the price by suffering from more cancer, heart disease, respiratory diseases and other illnesses caused by smoking.

Now through June 30, Massachusetts veterans, members of the National Guard and their families who call the state's Quitline at 1-800-Try-to-STOP are eligible for a free four-week supply of nicotine patches and telephone support to help them quit smoking.

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• NYC suit claiming Internet cigarette taxes fails  

New York's top court says New York City lacks legal standing to sue Internet cigarette retailers for lost taxes under state business laws.

The Court of Appeals says the city and state now charge $4.25 per pack in excise taxes, which are owed by purchasers in New York.

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• Oregon investigates electronic cigarette company 

The Oregon Attorney Generals office is investigating a Florida-based company that operates Electronic Cigarette kiosks at local malls.

The company, called Smoking Everywhere, Inc. is coming under fire for allegations it falsely markets the product and allegations it markets to children.

“We need to have proof that these products are safe.” Said John Kroger, state attorney general. . . .

as strawberry and mint.

On the company’s website there is a glowing endorsement from celebrities Danny Boneduce and Jose Canseco as they appeared on the Howard Stern Show.

“I mean, kids can still look cool, with these cigarettes, “ Said Artie Lange, comedian on the show.

Electronic cigarettes have gained support from those people who don’t want second-hand smoke. . . .

NewsChannel 8 took an undercover camera to a kiosk.

We did see a child listening to the sales pitch but she was accompanied by her mother.

There also is a sign that clearly reads the products are for adults 18 and up.

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Fire-safe cigarettes mandate takes effect July 1 

Indiana smokers may notice some small changes in the cigarettes they purchase beginning July 1. Fire-safe cigarettes have a reduced propensity to burn when left unattended and have proven to decrease the number of home fires.

Fire-safe cigarettes place two bands on the cigarette paper that are less porous than the surrounding paper. These bands require smokers to inhale at these bands to increase oxygen and the temperature of the burning cigarette paper enough to burn through the bands.

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LETTER: E-cigarette smokers are not welcome 

The June 7, 2009, Tribune had a sickening picture on the front page — a female smoking a cigarette that wasn’t a cigarette, it was an electronic smoking device. It didn’t break the state smoking ban because it didn’t have carcinogens that contain nicotine.

All of the no-smoking signs I have seen do not spell out what a person can or cannot smoke. They just say “no smoking,” period. Who is going to police what is in these electronic smoking devices? I will not patronize any business that allows them. . . .

Anyone smoking that device will not be welcome in my house or in my church.

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Australia urged to approve plain-packaged cigarettes  

* Video: Health taskforce recommends plain cigarette packaging (Lateline)

* Video: Cigarette packaging decision may set world standard: expert (Lateline)

A Canadian doctor says the time is right for the Government to pursue the introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes.

A recommendation to begin selling cigarettes without advertising logos is expected to be handed to the Federal Government by the preventative health taskforce.

Moves towards implementing plain packaging in Canada were unsuccessful.

But the executive director of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, Cynthia Callard, says tobacco companies no longer have the same influence they had 10 years ago. . . .

She expects Australia could be one of the first countries in the world to bring in plain packaging for cigarettes.

"I think it would be one of the best contributions that the Australian Government could make to global health," she said.

"To establish plain packaging as a normal and effective measure so that other countries could pass it more easily."

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Website set up ahead of spike in tobacco tax  

The 2009 Florida Legislature passed "Protecting Florida's Health Act," which levies a surcharge on both cigarettes and tobacco products, excluding cigars.

The surcharge on both cigarettes and tobacco products will be administered, collected and enforced by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation's Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco.

In preparation for the July 1, 2009 effective date, ABT launched a new Web page to help educate cigarette manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers and the public. The new Web page provides helpful information about the new legislation including frequently asked questions, payment options, required documents and much more.

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Class Action Lawsuit Limits Up In Smoke? 

Some attorneys are warning that California businesses may want to brace for the effects of a recent state Supreme Court decision that could "open the floodgates" to frivolous and nuisance class-action lawsuits.

Proposition 64 was a 2004 ballot measure aimed at reining in such lawsuits. But, according to some, the 4-3 California Supreme Court decision against tobacco companies in the latest round of class-actions against them appears to have negated some of that proposition's intent.

After years in which California had what corporate defense attorneys characterized as the most liberal class-action standing requirements in the nation, many believed the passage of Proposition 64 would usher in an era of fewer so-called frivolous lawsuits. . . .

Thus, the court sent it back for trial, allowing tobacco companies to be sued by plaintiffs for having been deceived into smoking.

Justices did not duck the issue of possibly negating the voters' intent when they passed Proposition 64, acknowledging, however vaguely, that the decision in Tobacco II bypasses the measure.

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Pittsburgh restaurateur converts Downtown space into cigar bar  

Robin Fernandez is turning over some new leaves into fine cigars.

The Downtown Pittsburgh restaurateur has converted a former restaurant space he occupied on Penn Avenue into the Long Ash Club, a cigar and wine bar that operates out of the same location as the former Mia Cucina, which closed at the beginning of 2009.

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Louisiana House panel OKs higher cigarette taxes  

Louisiana should raise cigarette taxes by 50 cents per pack, with similar increases for cigars and chewing tobacco, and use the proceeds on cancer research and smoking prevention and cessation programs, a House committee voted Monday.

Rep. Karen Carter Peterson's bill would raise an estimated $92 million in the fiscal year that begins next month, and nearly $500 million over the next five years, according to the Legislative Fiscal Office. Peterson, D-New Orleans, cited polls showing higher tobacco taxes are popular among voters as a way to pay for health care.

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Tobacco-control bill clears hurdle  

The Senate easily overcame a final legislative hurdle Wednesday to a bill that for the first time would give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco products.

The bill advanced toward almost certain passage in a 67-30 vote that ended the possibility of a filibuster. A final vote could come as early as Thursday.

The action brings anti-smoking groups and their allies in Congress a step closer to a goal that has eluded them for at least a decade: granting the FDA authority to impose new rules on the production, sale and marketing of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

"Every day that we delay having the FDA take on this responsibility and begin controlling the marketing and sale of these products, we run the risk of more and more children starting the habit," said Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, Connecticut Democrat, a lead sponsor of the bill.

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• Senate bill takes aim at 'tobacco candy' 

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is test-marketing dissolvable products in three cities and says they are designed for adults.

Some lawmakers disagree. They call the products tobacco candy and say they are designed with one thing in mind: to get kids hooked on nicotine. They want to give the government power to restrict sales.

"Tobacco candies are clearly designed to appeal to children through both packaging and taste," said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. "This is not a safe product. This is not safe tobacco. It is a product that, like cigarettes, causes cancer and kills."

Merkley and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, have co-sponsored a provision in the Senate tobacco bill requiring the government to study health effects of dissolvable tobacco. The Food and Drug Administration would be given authority to restrict how the products are marketed and sold.

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UPDATE 2-Tobacco bill moving toward final US Senate vote  

* Senate vote likely on Thursday to approve bill

* House has already passed its version of tobacco bill

* Final legislation may go to White House soon

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AUDIO: Will tobacco regulation change cigs?  

STANTON GLANTZ: It's kind of like trying to push a balloon into a box that isn't quite big enough.

That's researcher and anti-tobacco activist Stanton Glantz at U.C. San Francisco.

GLANTZ: You can push down the levels of one thing or another but in doing that you usually push up the level of other bad things.

Glantz worries Congress has made too many concessions in this legislation, like letting the tobacco industry sit on a scientific advisory panel. Other political compromises were probably inevitable, like no outright ban on nicotine. That's the stuff that makes cigarettes so addictive. Matthew Myers is president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

MATTHEW MYERS: We've tried prohibition before. Prohibition of an addictive product with 40 million American users won't produce a public health benefit.

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• Kilgore OKs smoking ordinance 

Lighting up in some area businesses, stores and public places is all snuffed out.

The Kilgore City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a citywide anti-smoking ordinance that will take effect in the next 30 days.

"We want to give businesses time to prepare their signs and get things in order before this is to take effect," Mayor Joe T. Parker said.

Under the ordinance, smoking is prohibited in all restaurants and bars where less than half of revenue comes from alcohol sales.

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