Tobacco.org

• Tobacco mints a lot like candy? 

The "mints" in your child's pocket might give much more than a sugar high, the Federal Drug Administration is warning.

They might provide a jolt of nicotine.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is test-marketing tobacco-infused mints in Columbus and two other markets. The company says the mints are for adults who want an alternative to cigarettes.

Critics warn that the so-called "dissolvable tobacco" products will appeal to youngsters.

"It's in a colorful candy box and looks just like candy," said school nurse Eva Garchar of Cincinnati, who saw the Camel Orbs during a lecture at a nurses convention last spring. "All the people in the audience were disheartened by that."

Test-marketing of the mints started in the spring in Columbus bars, gas stations and markets. Two other flavored tobacco products, Camel Sticks and Camel Strips, joined them in the past few months.

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• Waterloo region considers smoking ban in public housing after residents’ complaints 

Complaints from tenants about second-hand smoke have prompted Waterloo Region to consider banning smoking in their multi-unit dwellings.

“In general, I would support some kind of restrictions with respect to second-hand smoke” said Coun. Sean Strickland, chair of regional council’s community services committee, which oversees regional housing.

A report on the issue is slated to be before regional council next month.

Strickland said the issue is riddled with concerns such as a municipality’s right to prohibit a person from smoking in their own home to enforcement of such a ban.

The region receives an average of five calls a month from tenants complaining about second-hand smoke seeping into their dwellings from other units and open windows.

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BRITTON: Why are smoking bans so good at cutting heart attack rates?  

What is the explanation for this reduction? First some sober facts. Smoking still kills around 100,000 people in the UK each year. Lung cancer remains the biggest killer, but in close second and third place come heart disease, and the combination of chronic bronchitis and emphysema now referred to as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Stopping smoking at any age reduces the risk of dying from all of these conditions, but usually reductions in numbers of hospital admissions and deaths for lung cancer and COPD take years to materialise.

For heart disease, however the picture is very different. This is because when non-smokers inhale cigarette smoke it has a rapid and powerful impact on the blood clotting mechanisms involved in triggering heart attacks. What's more these effects reverse within days after smoke exposure stops.

What this means is that avoiding tobacco smoke cuts the risk of a heart attack almost immediately - and it is this that has led to the marked reductions in hospital admissions and deaths.

The ban has also helped many smokers to give up their habit. . . .

The health benefits and NHS costs saved are vast; indeed, one of the lasting legacies of the present UK government is that it has done more to tackle smoking than any other in history, making the UK a world leader in tobacco control.

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• VIDEO: Hone Harawira interviewed by Paul Holmes 

PAUL Well talk about the reformed smoker, welcome back, Mr Hone Harawira the Maori MP, he used to smoke, now he wants to lynch the tobacco company executives. The facts are simple, more than 7,000 New Zealanders smoke, nearly half of Maori smoke.

HONE HARAWIRA Seven hundred thousand actually Paul.

PAUL More than 700,000 New Zealanders smoke, nearly half of Maori smoke and one in three Maori die from smoking cigarettes. . . .

PAUL But prohibition on drugs doesn't seem to work, we know from the United States in the 1920s with alcohol, dope is banned in New Zealand as well, but plenty of dope around, P is banned, plenty of P around.

HONE Again, those things still flourish in the blackmarket because most people still want them, most cigarette smokers don't want to smoke, it's an addiction that they don't actually enjoy. You can't create a blackmarket in a situation where people don't really want the product.

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• Lady Victoria Hervey is puffing them but is the 'no-cancer' cigarette really a healthy option?  

Sarah Harding has been spotted puffing away on one and Kate Moss is said to be on the waiting list for the most unlikely must-have accessory of London Fashion Week: an electronic cigarette.

Perhaps even more surprising is the woman who is touting these little white sticks around town: Lady Victoria Hervey.

The 32-year-old former It girl has just returned from Los Angeles, where she had been pursuing an acting career, as the face of SmokeStik Royale, a luxury electronic cigarette, which she has helped to design. . . .

'I was even able to smoke this on the plane,' says Lady Victoria, 'and the crew were all asking for a drag.'

The SmokeStik Royale is pearlised, emblazoned with the Hervey family crest - a crown and snow leopard - and has a bejewelled tip.

Despite the camp styling, there is a serious side to Victoria's mission. Her father Victor, the sixth Marquis of Bristol, died in 1985, aged 69, from the chronic lung disease emphysema, the result of a lifelong tobacco addiction.

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Kent | Four million cigarettes uncovered 

A Hungarian lorry driver has been arrested after more than four million cigarettes were found at Dover.

Customs officers who stopped a Hungarian-registered lorry at the Kent port on Thursday found an estimated £708,000 worth of cigarettes.

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Cigarettes display ban 'will hit stores' and could create black market, say shops  

Retailers are warning that the looming ban on cigarette displays will create a boom in black market tobacco and may prove the final straw for thousands of struggling small shops.

The proposed legislation, which returns to Parliament on October 12, is part of a Government drive to deter young people from smoking.

The new curbs are expected to come into force in supermarkets from 2011 and in small shops from 2013. But convenience store groups say the Government has misled Parliament over the cost to retailers of removing cigarettes from sight.

Black market: Cigarette displays have long been a feature of convenience stores and their absence could create an underground market, retailers say

A similar ban in Canada has been blamed by retailers for the closure of many convenience stores. It is also said to have fuelled a growing market in contraband cigarettes.

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MTSU market will take hit with tobacco-sale ban  

The Tennessee Board of Regents voted to ban the sale of all tobacco products from all institutions in the TBR system.

MTSU is believed to be the last TBR campus allowing the sale of tobacco products.

"All of our TBR buildings have gone smoke-free," said David Gregory, TBR vice chancellor of administration and facilities development. "It is somewhat inconsistent, then, to sell tobacco."

Ron Ellis, who works at the Chick-fil-A in Keathley University Center, said the ban on tobacco sales at Dwight's is going to be "rough."

"I come in here every day to get cigars," Ellis said, as he bought a couple from student store clerk Rami Abounassif.

The removal of tobacco products from the shelves of the convenience store could take away 40 percent of Johnson's sales.

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VIDEO: Policy Stops Cig. Sales On Regents Campuses  

He has operated Dwight's Mini Mart on the MTSU campus for 15 years. Even though he's blind, he's can stock shelves with the best of them.

"I've done it so long, I've memorized each location so I know where everything goes," he said.

Tennessee Board of Regents members unanimously adopted a general policy Friday preventing the sale of tobacco and alcohol on the college campuses they oversee.

"That's going to be pretty tough," said Johnson.

The Board of Regents' decision is effective immediately, but it is going to allow Johnson to sell his remaining inventory; he just wants be able to order any more.

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Tobacconist calls FDA ban off target  

In Yelm, police said they haven't seen a problem with flavored cigarettes.

Yelm police and school resource officer Bill DeVore said he's seen a decrease in the number of children smoking this year.

"I haven't seen anyone with flavored cigarettes," he said.

When DeVore confiscates cigarettes, he said they tend to be standard, non-flavored brands.

Though he hasn't encountered flavored brands with teens, he does approve of the new regulations. . . .

Local tobacco merchant Mark Ryan isn't happy about the regulations.

Ryan said the FDA isn't going to accomplish its goal of reducing the number of young smokers. . . .

Though irked by the new regulation, and possible upcoming regulations, Ryan is the first to admit the products he sells are dangerous.

"I'm an anti-tobacco, tobacco person," he said.

Tobacco, as used in traditional Native American ceremonies is a beautiful thing, Ryan said. What cigarette and tobacco companies have done and added to the product makes it the harmful, addictive substance it is today.

Ryan knows first hand. He's been addicted for about 30 years, and even a heart attack last week hasn't stopped him from lighting up; he's only cut back a little.

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VIDEO: Explosion may have been caused by cigar 

OKALOOSA COUNTY, Fla. - An early morning explosion wipes a house off the map. . . .

Firefighters believe the victim was in the kitchen and lit a cigar, when the home exploded. They still don't know what caused it. Gas crews, along with the state fire marshal are investigating what could have happened.

The victim, who was not identified, was flown to U.S.A. Medical Center, where he is still listed in critical condition.

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Government Discourages Tobacco Planting After AFTA 

PASIR PUTEH, Sept 26 (Bernama) -- Tobacco planters, especially those in the districts of Bachok and Pasir Puteh, should not continue to depend on the crop after the Asean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) comes into effect starting Jan 1, next year.

International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said the government would not encourage planters to continue after that and instead was working on the introduction of alternative crops.

"This is because the production cost is too high compared to neighbouring countries," he told reporters during the Pasir Puteh Parliamentary constituency Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations here, on Saturday.

Over 500 people including those of Chinese and Siamese descent participated in the celebrations, which was also attended by the Pasir Puteh Umno Division Chief Zawawi Othman.

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Chelsea's Wigan defeat tests Carlo Ancelotti as he tries to kick smoking habit 

Carlo Ancelotti would have been thankful for the ban on smoking in Premier League grounds as Chelsea surrendered their eight-game winning run against Wigan yesterday. . . .

He was famous for dragging on a cigarette in Serie A as the nerves got too much for him during AC Milan's matches.

The coach has spurned the use of an anti-smoking patch and is relying on chewing gum to ease his craving. 'It has been difficult but the team have made it easier for me,' says Ancelotti.

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FDA Ban On Flavored Cigarettes A Strong First Step Under Family Smoking Prevention And Tobacco Control Act 

"The American Academy of Pediatrics applauds the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its quick implementation of the ban on fruit-, candy- and clove-flavored cigarettes. The swift action by the FDA, under the authority of the new Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, marks the beginning of a historic time for public health advocates and pediatricians. FDA regulation of tobacco will make smoking and tobacco products less appealing and less available to children, our most vulnerable citizens.

"The Academy has a longstanding commitment to strong tobacco regulation, and we were pleased to support the historic passage and signing of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Candy and fruit flavorings have unfortunately been some of the most egregious examples of marketing tobacco products to children, and the Academy supported the inclusion of this ban in the legislation.

"We also commend the recent appointment of Lawrence Deyton, MD, MSPH, to lead the new Center for Tobacco Products at the FDA.

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JACKSON: Let’s ban all flavors of cigarettes  

IT WAS a good first step by the Food and Drug Administration to ban candy- and fruit-flavored cigarettes this week under its new powers to regulate tobacco. The next and much bigger step is ending Menthol Madness. . . .

Medical journal studies over the last four years have found that smokers of menthol cigarettes are significantly more likely to have difficulty quitting smoking and that tobacco companies have deliberately manipulated menthol levels (as they did with nicotine) to lure younger smokers with "milder'' taste. While menthol cigarettes are nearly 30 percent of the overall US market, 44 percent of smokers ages 12 to 17 reported smoking menthol brands.

The menthol exemption also leaves dangling in political midair explosive charges of racism. . . .

But with at least a year to go before possible banning, Big Tobacco is systematically hooking as many new smokers as possible. Martin Orlowsky, the CEO of Lorillard, which makes the top-selling menthol Newport, said this month, "We will continue to leverage the very strong brand equity position Newport has, particularly in key markets where the opportunity - that is, menthol opportunity - is greatest.''

As to where those "key markets'' are, Reynolds American CEO Susan Ivey said in 2006, "If you look at the demographics of menthol, it is very urban. It has always had a strong African-American component. It's always had actually a strong Caucasian component. What has changed a lot in the last five years is a lot of additional Hispanic in that demographic. . . . we would see that menthol would have additional opportunity.''

The FDA cannot close that window of opportunity too soon.

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