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Fire Destroys Windsor Locks Tobacco Sheds 

WINDSOR LOCKS - Fire crews from Windsor and Windsor Locks spent Monday evening battling a massive fire that has destroyed several tobacco sheds

The fire broke out at a tobacco shed on Rainbow Road near Route 20 in Windsor Locks around 4pm. Over a hundred firefighters were called in from surrounding towns to combat the intense flames, which created thick plumes of black smoke visible for miles.

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Fire destroys tobacco barns in Conn. 

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn.--More than 100 firefighters have been battling a blaze that has destroyed several tobacco curing sheds in Windsor Locks.

The fire broke out at one of the hulking barns on Rainbow Road around 4 p.m. on Monday.

Thick black smoke was visible for miles in the Connecticut River Valley.

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Take Action 

TAKE ACTION AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL

Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association ends its national sponsorship agreement with big tobacco

The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) announced in early October that the US Smokeless Tobacco Company (USSTC) will not renew their national sponsorship agreement with the PRCA after 2009. Take action now: use the language in the materials below to call the media's attention to this historic event, praise the PRCA for this decision, and encourage them to seek a healthy sponsor to replace big tobacco!

* Press release congratulating the PRCA for ending its sponsorship agreement with USSTC

* Open letter congratulating the PRCA for ending its sponsorship agreement with USSTC, sent to PRCA Commissioner Karl Stressman on October 15, 2009 . . .

Buck Tobacco has partnered with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in a grassroots email campaign to ask PBR to enter the mainstream with the help of partners who better complement their positive message. Visit the Campaign's website where you can send letters to PBR leadership and sports journalists and make your voice heard on this important issue!

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• Grassroots Activists Congratulate Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association for Ending Tobacco Sponsorship  

The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) announced last week that the US Smokeless Tobacco Company (USSTC), which recently merged with Altria Group, will not renew their national sponsorship agreement with the PRCA after 2009.

"We applaud the PRCA for ending tobacco sponsorship of its rodeos," said Andrea Craig Dodge, director of the Buck Tobacco Sponsorship Project. "Tobacco marketing including sampling booths, scoreboards, banners, and ads give young rodeo audience members the message that using tobacco is part of being an adult cowboy or rodeo fan."

For several years, a number of tobacco control advocates and community members have called for an end to tobacco sponsorship of rodeos. "Rodeo has been around since the 1800's - long before tobacco sponsorship of rodeos began in 1986," said "Cowboy Ted" Hallisey, director of Cowboy Ted's Foundation for Kids. "Without big tobacco, rodeos will move into mainstream sports because they will be more comfortable for children and families to attend," he said.

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Police: Mom Left Baby Home Alone To Rob Store Of Tobacco  

Jacqueline Moore, 20, of Rockwood, is accused of putting on a mask and pointing a toy gun at a clerk at the S & S Quick Stop. Police said Moore demanded all of the snuff tobacco behind the counter. The clerk refused, and Moore allegedly fled the scene.

Moore was arrested on charges including leaving her 5-month-old baby home alone.

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• SJC: Philip Morris may have to pay for diagnostic tests for smokers  

Massachusetts' high court said today that cigarette maker Philip Morris USA may have to pay for diagnostic chest exams so smokers can get early warning they have developed lung cancer.

In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court said that Massachusetts law has an antiquated definition of negligence that must be updated. Historically, plaintiffs had to show explicit injury -- such as a broken leg -- before the other party can be ordered to pay for diagnostic tests. Writing for the court, Justice Francis X. Spina said that legal thinking had to change.

"Modern living has exposed people to a variety of toxic substances," Spina wrote. "Illness and disease from exposure to these substances are often latent, not manifesting themselves for years or even decades after the exposure."

Spina added, "Our tort law developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries ...We must adapt to the growing recognition that exposure to toxic substances and radiation may cause substantial injury which should be compensable even if the full effects are not immediately apparent." . . .

"The overwhelming majority of federal and state courts have rejected class certification of smokers' claims, including those seeking medical monitoring," Murray Garnick, Altria senior vice president and associate general counsel, said in a statement. "Six of the last seven state supreme courts to consider the issue have refused to recognize claims for medical monitoring based on the risk of future injury.''

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Modern living has exposed people to a variety of toxic substances. Illness and disease from exposure to these substances are often latent, not manifesting themselves for years or even decades after the exposure. Our tort law developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . . . We must adapt to the growing recognition that exposure to toxic substances and radiation may cause substantial injury which should be compensable even if the full effects are not immediately apparent.
MA Supreme Court Justice Francis X. Spina, writing for the court in the Donovan medical monitoring suit.

Cigarette Maker May Have To Pay For Chest Exams, Mass. Court Rules 

The highest court in Massachusetts ruled unanimously Monday that cigarette maker Philip Morris may have to pay for computerized chest scans for its customers in an effort to detect early-stage lung cancer.

In its ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court upheld a federal lawsuit filed in 2006 by three Massachusetts residents -- Patricia Cawley of Rockland, Kathleen Donovan of Randolph and James Teague of Lowell -- who each wanted a diagnostic chest exam known as a CT screening, but whose health insurance plans would not cover the scans.

Lawyers for the three plaintiffs -- all of them long-time smokers -- argued in the suit that Philip Morris should have to pay for their CT screens because the company had manufactured a product that contains a known carcinogen, putting its customers at high risk of lung cancer.

Boston attorney Neil T. Leifer is one of the plaintiffs' lawyers.

"We allege that Philip Morris made a defective product that contained carcinogens at a time when they could have made a safe product," Leifer said, "and as a result there are a lot of people who used their product and are at risk for lung cancer."

So, he says, Philip Morris should have to foot the bill for a test that could help save their lives.

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Court: Smokers may sue for payment on lung cancer screenings  

Cigarette maker Philip Morris may now be sued by long term smokers who have not yet developed lung cancer, a Massachusetts court ruled Monday.

The Supreme Judicial Court's unanimous ruling gives a go-ahead to a group lawsuit in the state that seeks to force Philip Morris into paying for smokers' medical screening for lung cancer.

The "[court] said that Massachusetts law has an antiquated definition of negligence that must be updated," The Boston Globe reported. "Historically, plaintiffs had to show explicit injury -- such as a broken leg -- before the other party can be ordered to pay for diagnostic tests. Writing for the court, Justice Francis X. Spina said that legal thinking had to change."

In his opinion, Justice Spina explained that diseases caused by exposure to toxic substances are "often latent," the Globe added, "not manifesting themselves for years or even decades after the exposure."

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Court allows smokers’ lawsuit for chest scans  

Cigarette maker Philip Morris USA Inc. might have to pay for chest scans so long-time smokers can get early warning of lung cancer, the highest court in Massachusetts ruled today.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled unanimously that under some circumstances, Massachusetts law recognizes a claim by individual smokers for medical monitoring even without the presence of an actual injury.

The ruling means a lawsuit filed by three Massachusetts smokers can move forward in U.S. District Court. If a jury decides in favor of the smokers, Richmond, Va.-based Philip Morris could be required to pay for low-dose computed tomography scans, which can detect early-stage lung cancer.

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• E-CigaretteDirect.com Sales Increase, Amazon Removes Electronic Cigarettes 

E-CigaretteDirect.com Sees Increase in Sales As Amazon.com Removes Electronic Cigarettes Many top internet retailer are going to stop selling and supporting the sale of electronic cigarettes on their website. Amazon.com reportedly has sent a notice to all its resellers with the following message:

We are writing because it has come to our attention that you have listed a product that we have determined is inappropriate for Amazon.com. We have prohibited the sale of electronic cigarettes, electronic cigars, electronic pipes, nicotine nebulizers, refill material for any of these, and similar products on our site.

Paypal has already canceled electronic cigarette accounts after receiving a notice of potential legal liability from ASH.

These larger websites closing sales of the electronic cigarette have really allowed individual websites that sell e-cigarettes to thrive. Gina King of E-CigaretteDirect.com states that "sales have never been better. Amazon was selling off-brands of electronic cigarettes. We only sell top name brands. This means that our customers can come back and purchase refill cartridges and accessories and be assured the products will work with their electronic cigarette". Several small internet retailers have sprung up on the web selling these electronic cigarettes directly from China. "Again, the problem you have is that each brand is different and you cannot mix and match accessories and refills," states Ms. King. "We are a trusted one-shop stop that consistently has repeat business."

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Sussex | Man held over £1m cigarette haul 

A lorry driver from East Sussex has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to smuggle five million cigarettes from France into the UK.

UK Border Agency officers discovered the haul, thought to be valued at £1m, in a lorry at Newhaven ferry port.

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• Cancer-Free Smokers Can Sue Philip Morris, Court Says (Update1)  

Philip Morris USA can be sued by cancer-free smokers seeking a court order that the company pay for medical monitoring for signs of the illness, the highest court in Massachusetts ruled.

Answering two state-law questions referred to it by a federal court where the smokers proposed a group lawsuit is pending, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court today ruled that the long-term yet cancer-free smokers can pursue their monitoring claim according to state law.

“We must adapt to the growing recognition that exposure to toxic substances and radiation may cause substantial injury which should be compensable even if the full effects are not immediately apparent,” the high court said.

Philip Morris USA, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, is a unit of Richmond, Virginia-based Altria Group Inc. In a statement issued by an in-house attorney, the company disagreed with the court’s findings.

The smokers’ suit was filed in 2006 by Massachusetts resident Kathleen Donovan and two other people living in the state.

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L.A. billboard owners squash 'Land of the Lost' anti-smoking ads  

But what the New York Times' Brooks Barnes reveals online today is that L.A. billboard owners, already enormously unpopular for shamelessly installing an ever-growing assortment of hideous video billboards, refused to accept ads from the AMAA publicly calling out the studio for its on-screen promotion of smoking. The AMAA had previously announced that the studio "found to be the biggest smoking offender would be publicly shamed on nearby billboards." But when the AMAA went to buy billboard space, every local billboard vendor refused to sell.

According to the AMAA, the billboard vendors, who take in a huge amount of revenue from (surprise!) movie industry advertising, weren't going to let their favorite clients be embarrassed in such a public way from an anti-smoking organization. It's yet another black eye for L.A., which has allowed billboard pollution to run rampant without even putting up a fight.

But let me give the last word to AMAA President Nancy Kyler, who says: "It's a sad day when movie studios can promote smoking to youth, but public health advocates cannot find a billboard in the whole city of Los Angeles that will run an ad to alert the public about the problem."

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Man accused of beating woman to death after being denied cigarette 

The first homicide in recent Storey County history was allegedly committed Sunday night because the suspect was denied a cigarette, officials said.

Killed was Eileen Pruitt, 47, who succumbed to injuries suffered from a fatal beating, allegedly at the hands of 22-year-old Ryan Bonnett, 22.

Storey County Assistant Sheriff Gerlad Antinoro said witnesses reported that Bonnett brutally beat Pruitt after she denied his request for a cigarette.

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Smoke-free proving to be heart-healthy  

Cigarette smokers who were bummed about the smoking ban in restaurants, offices and other public places should know that their sacrifice has decreased the cases of heart attack and heart disease.

It's widely known that cigarette smoke is toxic to cigarette smokers, according to cardiologist Dr. Marc Klapholz, but unfiltered secondhand smoke can also cause complications.

A report by the Institute of Medicine, a federally commissioned panel of scientists, found a significant reduction on heart problems after the smoking ban was in place Ð in smokers and non-smokers.

Klapholz said that for non-smokers who shared indoor spaces with those who light up, the secondhand smoke could be more toxic than smoke that directly enters a smoker's lungs.

"A cigarette burns for two minutes, (and) they might be inhaling for 30 seconds or a minute," said Klapholz, director of the Department of Cardiology and professor of medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's medical school. "Most of the smoke goes into the ambient environment."

Klapholz said the IOM report develops a full picture, that cigarettes not only cause problems, "but when you stop it, it prevents things."

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