Tobacco.org

Edison State College to ban tobacco usage 

The Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to prohibit tobacco use at its Lee and Collier county campuses, becoming just the third Florida college to implement an all-out ban.

"Smoking produces 400,000 deaths a year in the U.S.," said Edison trustee Dr. Washington Baquero. "It's like crashing a jumbo jet every day, and nobody's doing anything about it."

Edison's Charlotte campus went smoke-free in August, and the districtwide ban takes effect May 17. The policy includes patrons at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, and also prohibits students and faculty from smoking inside their vehicles on college property. Ashtrays will be removed this summer.

Sophomore Stephanie Tague, 20, gives the ban a thumbs-up, saying some smokers cluster near buildings in a cloud of stink.

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More jury verdicts against big firms 

Company executives gauge their standing with the public partly from verdicts U.S. juries hand down in business litigation. In 2009, they weren't very popular.

The top five product-defect verdicts rose 52 percent in total value last year to $620 million as juror attitudes on companies soured amid the recession and rising unemployment, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Among the biggest losers were Altria Group Inc. and Pfizer Inc. . . .

The largest product-liability verdict in 2009 was a $300 million award against Altria's Philip Morris unit in Florida state court. . . .

The $300 million loss in November by Richmond, Va.-based tobacco company Altria included the largest punitive damages verdict of 2009. Punitive damages in that case totaled $244 million while the plaintiff, a former smoker of Philip Morris products who developed cancer, was awarded $56 million for actual harm. . . .

The 2009 tobacco lawsuits stemmed from the largest jury verdict in U.S. history -- the $145 billion punitive-damages award in 2000 against the industry in a class action filed on behalf of Florida smokers.

After that verdict was reversed and smokers were told they could not sue as a group, individual smokers were allowed to bring claims. Their trials started in 2009.

Eight of the 10 tobacco cases decided last year were won by plaintiffs, according to data by the Tobacco Products Liability Project. Thousands remain, with 40 set for trial in 2010.

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Cigarette Makers Ask to Block Ruling in 4,000 Cases (Update1) 

Altria Group Inc.’s Philip Morris USA unit and other U.S. cigarette makers asked a federal appeals court to block federal trial courts from applying a 2006 Florida decision they claim would deprive them of a fair trial in thousands of death and injury suits in the state.

The companies argue that a series of factual findings endorsed by the Florida Supreme Court in a 2006 decision - including that the companies sold defective products, that they conspired to hide information about the health effects of smoking and that they made false statements about their products - can’t fairly be applied in any of 4,000 cases against them in Florida federal court.

The companies claim that applying the 2006 ruling, which came in the Florida’s “Engle” tobacco class action, ‘would compromise an arbitrary deprivation of the defendants’ federal due process rights,” as a lower judge ruled in August 2008.

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Court looks at tobacco appeal in the wake of the Florida Supreme Court's ruling. 

A group of Florida smokers asked a federal appeals court Tuesday not to force each of them to prove that smoking causes illness in the thousands of individual lawsuits moving through federal court.

Such a ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals would mean that the more than 4,000 plaintiffs wouldn't need extensive -- and costly -- expert testimony to prove to each jury that their nicotine addiction caused lung cancer and other diseases.

Tobacco companies, meanwhile, asked the three-judge panel to conclude that the trials don't begin with an assumption that the industry acted with negligence and that their products were defective. Attorney Andrew Frey said that each plaintiff should be required to prove that point in court.

"That's the issue that's really before you today -- can the plaintiffs simply say negligence is established?" said Frey.

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Scottish tobacco display ban laws to be approved 

New laws to end the open display of tobacco in shops in Scotland are expected to be passed by MSPs.

The Tobacco and Primary Medical Services Bill would also ban cigarette vending machines and introduce a registration scheme for retailers.

Ministers said the legislation would tackle Scotland's historic smoking-related health problems.

But some shopkeepers have attacked the bill, saying the measures would be costly to implement.

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Presentation set on chew tobacco danger 

Rick Bender, a former spit tobacco user and oral cancer survivor, will tell his story at a one-hour presentation on from 7 to 8 p.m. Feb. 9 at the MSU Billings Petro Theatre. The presentation is free and open to the public. This program is designed for anyone, but is especially targeted for young adults and teenagers who think that tobacco only causes cancer in older adults.

The event is part of “Through with Chew Week” promoted by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. Bender’s appearance at MSU Billings is sponsored by the university’s Student Health Services and MSU Billings HEROES.

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MITCHELL: Budget sends tobacco trust down in flames 

"Shall be held inviolate."

Pretty serious words.

When the Legislature decided to accept the cash negotiated in former Attorney General Mike Moore's settlement with the group of cigarette-makers who have come to be known as Big Tobacco, Mississippi was riding a wave of prosperity.

The year was 1997. . . .

Actually, Barbour, although he may not remember it, has favored invading the trust before. Fine, with him, though, if lawmakers take the rap for admitting the plan — and it was a good plan — just didn’t work out.

This state, like almost all others, is in a pinch. There would be about $3 billion in the trust had it been kept “inviolate.” As things stand, it has about $220 million and a stack of IOUs from the Legislature. With the governor’s blessing, the $220 million will be spent. The Big Tobacco checks will keep coming each January, but will go right into the General Fund.

Another noble experiment comes to a less-than-noble end.

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EDITORIAL: Time for states to clear the air: Smoking bans save money and lives  

Snuffing out smoking in public places has moved a step closer to reality in Missouri. That's news worth cheering, even if lawmakers may not rush to approve a smoke-free law in 2010.

The conversation has to start somewhere, and newly introduced House Bill 1766 gets a lot of things right.

It would prohibit smoking in restaurants, bars and casinos. It would take precedence over weaker, existing smoke-free laws, including those in Kansas City and St. Louis. . . .

In Kansas, the Senate has approved a smoke-free bill, but the bill is stuck in the House. With Gov. Mark Parkinson's support, the legislation needs to be pushed to the front of the line and signed into law.

In a year of budget crunches in both states, Kansas and Missouri legislators should pass smoke-free bills, which would be good for residents and save money for the states.

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Hospital's no-smoke plan wins 

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center has become the first hospital in North Carolina to achieve statewide "gold star" status for its tobacco-cessation programs.

The rating comes from N.C. Prevention Partners, the advocacy group that successfully lobbied for every acute-care hospital in the state to become 100 percent tobacco free -- the first state to achieve the milestone.

However, a trip yesterday around the main campus of Wake Forest Baptist showed that it's unlikely that the policy -- put in place in July 2007 -- will gain 100 percent compliance from employees, visitors and patients.

About 35 people braved the blustery weather for a smoke around noon, primarily in public areas along the sidewalk, a covered city-bus stop or the Shell service station on Cloverdale Avenue that's yards away from the system's Comprehensive Cancer Center.

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Community College: Art with cigar violates tobacco policy 

A North Carolina college cracking down on smoking says a student-made artwork depicting an instructor with a cigar goes against the campus tobacco policy.

The Sun Journal of New Bern reports that officials asked Craven Community College automotive instructor Robert Hall to remove the image. Students had airbrushed the hood of a drag racing car with a portrait of Hall gripping wrenches and smoking a cigar.

"I think the depiction of a faculty member or anyone else smoking sends a message that we don't want to send," college spokesman Sandy Wall said.

The school has cracked down on campus smoking

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Capitol talks about taxing tobacco 

New Mexico smokers could soon be shelling out more money for cigarettes if a group of democratic lawmakers get their way with a plan to raise the tobacco tax.

A pack of smokes could cost a dollar more if a pair of veteran lawmakers can convince enough of their colleagues that a tobacco tax hike would be good for the state's bank account as well as public health.

Right now the cigarette tax is 91 cents a pack, though it would rise to $1.91 if the law is passed. Other tobacco taxes would increase, too.

"It's a health issue, "

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Government urged to raise tobacco duty  

The Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health, has called on the government to further raise tobacco duty.

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Tobacco Group Opposed to Provisions in Senate Bill 

The Campaign for a Tobacco-Free Indiana is concerned about provisions in a Senate bill moving through the statehouse.

Chair Tim Filler says those concerns relate to a provision in Senate Bill 298 that abolishes the Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Agency and its executive board.

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Stop Smoking Tip Tackles Anti-Smoking Controversies Head-on 

The website Stop Smoking Tip, which has been making major waves in the stop-smoking community since going online last month, is introducing a new section that editors hope will give readers something different to think about. Instead of the usual stop-smoking advice most smokers have already read a thousand times, Stop Smoking Tip's Smoking Buzz section, located at http://www.stopsmokingtip.us/category/stop-smoking-buzz, will address the issue of smoking from a variety of new angles. . . .

The editors of Stop Smoking Tip understand that some of the opinions and coverage included in the Smoking Buzz section may not sit right with everyone, but they maintain that this is not necessarily a bad thing.

For example, founders were split when formulating their opinion on Electronic Cigarettes (e-cigarettes) as a viable stop smoking aid. After a productive debate and several articles (http://www.stopsmokingtip.us/electric-cigarette-will-it-help-you-quit-smoking), they found common ground on what to recommend the visitors of the site.

"It's all about generating conversation,"

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Tobacco growers demand higher prices 

Macedonian tobacco growers are satisfied with the quality of tobacco, its assessment and purchase this year. At the meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture, they evaluated that the average purchase price of MKD 192 and state subvention of MKD 60 were satisfactory. . . .

Moreover, they will demand the purchase price to be 10 to 15 percent higher in future.

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