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The role of secondhand smoking on the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in elderly men and women living in Mediterranean islands: the MEDIS study  

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Women and Smoking: An Interdisciplinary Examination of Socioeconomic Influences 

Florida Smoker Wins $300M Judgment Against Philip Morris - The Two-Way  

A key issue in the case was Naugle's contention that Philip Morris concealed the fact that smoking is addictive and harmful.

Here's a question:

Does this judgment sound fair?(online surveys)

(The question closes at 9 a.m. ET on Saturday.)

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TOBACCO PRODUCTS LIABILITY PROJECT HAILS $244 MILLION PUNITIVE DAMAGES AWARD AGAINST PHILIP MORRIS AS “ENTIRELY PROPORTIONATE TO THE LEVEL OF REPREHENSIBLE MISCONDUCT BY THE COMPANY” 

Edward L. Sweda, Jr., Senior Attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project (TPLP) at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, was delighted with the jury’s verdict. “Clearly, this jury recognized the outrageous and reprehensible misconduct by Philip Morris and appropriately expressed its outrage by awarding $244,000,000 in punitive damages. This jury went far beyond a slap on the wrists and, instead, hit Philip Morris hard in order to punish the company for its extraordinary wrongdoing and to deter Philip Morris and other tobacco companies from committing similar wrongdoing in the future,” Sweda said.

Mark Gottlieb, TPLP’s Director, noted that “trial lawyers should be encouraged by the success that plaintiffs in Florida have been able to achieve when juries have had the chance to review the evidence of cigarette makers’ astonishing misconduct.”

Thursday’s verdict was the tenth verdict this year in Engle progeny cases in Florida. 8 out of those 10 verdicts have been for the plaintiffs

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• Philip Morris USA Will Seek Further Review of Verdict in Engle Case; Company Says Award is Grossly Excessive 

Philip Morris USA said today it will seek further review of a jury verdict awarding approximately $56 million in compensatory damages and $244 million in punitive damages.

The verdict came in the trial of a so-called Engle case following a 2006 Supreme Court decision that decertified a class action but allowed former class members to file individual lawsuits.

"From the beginning, this case was marked by a fundamentally unfair and unconstitutional trial plan that allowed the jury to rely on findings by a prior jury that have no connection to the plaintiff," said Murray Garnick, Altria Client Services senior vice president and associate general counsel, speaking on behalf of Philip Morris USA.

"Today's verdict was the result of numerous erroneous rulings by the trial judge that allowed the jury to hear extensive evidence totally unrelated to the individual smoker

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• KRASOVSKY: Does tobacco industry need to be saved? 

Tobacco tax increases are the most effective way to encourage people to stop smoking.

Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko, citing concern for the tobacco industry, on Nov. 11 vetoed legislation that would have hiked the excise tax on tobacco products once more.

It is worth remembering that - even though tobacco excise taxes were increased in September 2008, and again in February and May of this year - cigarette prices in Ukraine remain among the lowest in Europe. This leads directly to a public health catastrophe for the nation and creates conditions for rampant smuggling of made-in-Ukraine cigarettes to other nations. . . .

However, tobacco companies in Ukraine claimed that this tax increase would have been disastrous for their business. . . .

Transnational tobacco companies came to Ukraine in 1993. They promised employment, investment and revenue. Now they control 99 percent of the tobacco production in Ukraine. In 1992, Ukraine produced 9,000 tons of tobacco leaves. However, despite huge increases in cigarette production, tobacco growing has almost disappeared in the country. In 1996-2008, the foreign trade balance of tobacco leaves and products was negative for Ukraine and totaled more than $2 billion. It actually means that Ukrainian smokers invested $2 billion in the economies of other nations.

What tobacco companies actually produce is death. . . .

Many politicians in Ukraine already understand that high tobacco taxes are good both for public health and public revenues. I hope that the current and future president of Ukraine will understand this as well.

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Ex-smoker wins $300 million tobacco verdict 

The sister of former Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle on Thursday won a $300 million jury verdict, the largest individual win in the Big Tobacco lawsuits in Florida.

Cindy Naugle, an office manager and bookkeeper at Layton's Garage in Fort Lauderdale, sued Philip Morris, owner of her cigarette brand of choice, Benson & Hedges.

Naugle was found only 10 percent at fault for taking up smoking when she was 20 years old. She quit 25 years later.

Her lawyers, Bob Kelley, Todd Falzone and Todd McPharlin of the Kelley Uustal law firm in Fort Lauderdale, argued that the cigarette maker committed fraud. They contended the tobacco company knew but concealed that smoking cigarettes is addictive and harmful to a smoker's health.

They said Naugle took up smoking in 1968, thinking it would make her look older and sophisticated. She chose the slim, long Benson & Hedges, marketed as sophisticated and feminine, they said.

Naugle, who is 60 now, has emphysema and labors to do the simplest tasks.

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Human Pathogens Abundant in the Bacterial Metagenome of Cigarettes 

The full version of this article is available for free in PDF format.

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• Pricey fight over ban expected 

Backers of a statewide smoking ban say they expect to be outspent by opponents in what's expected to be a hard-fought campaign after deciding Thursday not to appeal a judge's ruling. The decision makes the prospect of a November vote more likely.

However, Attorney General Marty Jackley says he and Secretary of State Chris Nelson will meet today to discuss a possible appeal. A decision is likely within a week.

Jackley said the American Cancer Society's decision not to appeal "is certainly a consideration" as he and Nelson decide the state's course. . . .

If, as Don Rose suggests, the state follows the cancer society's lead and decides not to appeal, the 2010 referendum will follow. Opponents of the ban such as Rose say this is what they've wanted all along. Rose owns Shenanigan's Pub, is a district director of the Licensed Beverage Dealers of South Dakota and was a key organizer of the referendum petition drive that ended up before Trandahl after the Cancer Society challenged the validity of thousands of signatures.

"A vote of the people is what they should have done in the first place," Rose said.

"Our deal was we always wanted to be able to let the people vote," added Mark O'Neill, president of the Licensed Beverage Dealers of South Dakota.

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Two different life stories, one common disease 

Lung cancer has forced Neal and Zisook into a kind of club that no one wants to be a member of. They have become unlikely friends, engaged in a campaign of awareness and compassion in their roles as representatives for the American Lung Association in greater Chicago for November, which is Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

Their messages have a common purpose, if originating from opposite circumstances. Neal wants people to realize that lung cancer is not just a smoker's disease. Zisook suggests parents hammer home the dangers of smoking by asking children to take five family members and five best friends and then decide which five will die.

"You have to put that right in people's faces, and that is horrible, but it is the truth," he said. "Sure, I always knew smoking is bad, but no one ever told me that 50 percent of people who smoke will die from it." . . .

"What we are finding is that because of that stigma, lung cancer is not financially supported in the same way as other cancers," said Harold Wimmer, chief executive officer for the American Lung Association of Illinois of Greater Chicago. "The fact is that lung cancer is the No. 1 cause of cancer-related deaths, but 40 percent of individuals who have lung cancer are nonsmokers."

The disparity in per-patient spending on research each year is striking: For lung cancer it's $1,826 per death, compared with $27,038 for breast cancer, according to 2009 statistics from the National Institutes of Health.

Another disparity: 160,000 people this year will die of lung cancer compared with 25,000 of breast cancer, Wimmer said. . . .

Neal and Zisook are doing their part to raise awareness. And although Neal said "smoking is disgusting" she does not think people should die for taking up a bad habit.

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Tobacco Tax Estimates Remain Right On Target  

Money flowing into the state from the higher cigarette tax remain on target, with economists Wednesday sticking by earlier forecasts that a dollar per pack boost enacted this spring will pull in $850 million this year.

The cash-flow is strong even as cigarette sales fell with higher prices – particularly in North Florida counties adjacent to states with cheaper smokes.

“I think the legislation is working exactly as we’d hoped,” said Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek, who sponsored the cigarette tax hike last spring. “Not only are we bringing in more revenue, we are reducing consumption.”

Waldman downplayed the impact of cross-border sales. But statistics compiled by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which tracks sales, show the biggest declines are in border counties – raising questions about whether people are smoking less, or just traveling out-of-state to get cigarettes.

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A prospective study of smoking, caffeine, and alcohol as risk factors for seizures or epilepsy in young adult women: Data from the Nurses' Health Study II  

Results: Compared with never smoking, current cigarette smoking was associated with an increased risk of seizure (RR 2.60, 95% CI 1.53–4.42), after adjustment for stroke and other potential confounding factors. Past smoking was not associated with risk of seizure, but was associated with modestly increased risk of epilepsy (RR 1.46, 95% CI 1.01–2.12). Long-term caffeine and moderate alcohol intake were not associated with seizure or epilepsy.

Discussion: Cigarette smoking may be associated with increased risk of seizure. More prospective studies are needed to investigate potential factors to ultimately prevent the development of seizures or epilepsy.

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Philip Morris sues N.Y., N.J. retailers 

The Henrico County-based cigarette-maker has monitored retail markets for years to keep fake versions of its brands off store shelves.

This year, Philip Morris has sued 27 stores in New York and New Jersey, which are hotspots for the fakes because of high state taxes, a huge port through which the contraband is easily shipped, and criminal organizations that wholesale the counterfeits.

For Philip Morris, the stakes are simple. In addition to the lost sales, the company doesn't want smokers buying a pack of Marlboros and thinking they don't taste the same, said company spokesman David Sutton. . . .

"The sale of untaxed cigarettes harms legitimate wholesale and retail businesses and costs New York and New Jersey needed tax revenues that could be used to support essential public services," he said.

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• Seventy per cent of Bulgarian smokers wanted to quit, survey says  

More than 70 per cent of smokers in Bulgaria wanted to give up smoking, Yulia Medichkova of the Greenwild Foundation was quoted by Bulgarian news agency BTA as saying on November 19 2009.

Medichkova presented the results of a one-year campaign entitled The Culture of Breathing. Over 50 per cent of Bulgarians approved of increased restrictions on smoking that will be introduced by mid-2010. Bulgaria ranks third in the world in terms of number of smokers, after Japan and Greece, Medichkova said.

What was more worrying, according to another survey released by the Health Ministry on November 17 2009, was that every second pregnant woman in Bulgaria smoked during pregnancy.

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Assessment of Exposure to Secondhand Smoke at Outdoor Bars and Family Restaurants in Athens, Georgia, Using Salivary Cotinine  

Nonsmokers outside restaurants and bars in Athens, Georgia, have significantly elevated salivary cotinine levels indicative of secondhand smoke exposure.

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