Tobacco.org

• EDITORIAL: On tobacco industry cultural appropriation 

The cover of this issue features Santa Claus images from the travelling exhibition, “Merry X-Ray and A Happy New Lung: When Santa Sold Cigarettes”, created by Alan Blum . . .

An important concept in cultural appropriation is the idea of a cultural “invader”. According to one writer, “Invaders arrive without warning, take whatever they want for use in whatever way they see fit. They destroy without thinking anything that appears to them to be valueless. They stay as long as they like, leave at their own convenience. Theirs is a position of entitlement without allegiance”.1 Tobacco companies are possibly the first and arguably the ultimate corporate cultural invaders, relentlessly seeking to link their products to every conceivable cultural symbol, icon and image. These include, but are not limited to nurses and doctors as symbols of purity and health, sports figures as symbols of vigour, babies and children as symbols of harmlessness/innocence, Native Americans and other indigenous groups as symbols of authenticity, military images as symbols of toughness, landmarks as symbols of the exotic or the enduring. Images such as those accompanying this editorial (figs 1–4), taken from the Stanford University collection of 20th century tobacco advertisements, “Not a cough in a carload” (http://lane.stanford.edu/tobacco/index.html), also exemplify this phenomenon. Truly, nothing is sacred—including the sacred. A few years ago, this was illustrated by a Tobacco Control piece on cigarette calendars from the Philippines featuring the Virgin Mary.

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• Levin Papantonio Law Firm Announces Tobacco Verdict: R.J. Reynolds Must Pay $9.2M to Florida Family 

(GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Plaintiff Carolyn Gray sued R.J. Reynolds and a jury has now determined that the company must pay $7 million in compensatory damages and $2.2 million in punitive damages related to the death of her husband, Charles Gray.

According to Matt Schultz of Levin, Papantonio, Thomas Mitchell Echsner & Proctor, P.A., Charles Gray began smoking at the age of 11 or 12 in the late 1940s, and was addicted to Camel cigarettes by age 15. Mr. Gray died from lung cancer at the age of 59 in 1994, after having switched to Winston cigarettes for the last 40 years of his life. The tobacco company R.J. Reynolds manufactures both the Camel and Winston brands.

After an extended trial in which Schultz and Pensacola attorney Robert Loehr represented the plaintiff, the jury ruled that the company was 60 percent at fault for Mr. Gray's death, while he was himself 40 percent at fault. The jury further found that Mr. Gray relied on R.J. Reynolds' fraudulent representations

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Bartender: Smoking ban snuffs out Super Bowl business 

"Last year's Super Bowl was very full. The bar was full, and as you can see now, it's not even a quarter full. Ever since October 1 came about, we've lost a lot of revenue in gambling and also in sales too," Sannes said.

Sannes did say that business is still steady, and they are hoping for a return to normal within the next six months.

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Dr. Daniel Seidman: Defragmenting Healthcare: Science, Medicine and Smoking 

The lag between what we know about helping smokers and what we do to help them opens a window into the gaping hole between scientific knowledge and clinical practice.

Research has developed a way to take the nicotine in the tobacco leaf and turn it into an effective medicine to help smokers. Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is very helpful with the physical element of smoking addiction. . . .

What is the magnitude of the consequences of the smoking addiction on our health care system and why should we be concerned about it? Smoking causes a wide variety of illnesses, including 30 percent of cancers and heart disease . . .

In an example of the law of unintended consequences, some of the public health measures designed to get people to quit and to protect non-smokers have gotten smokers instead to train themselves to smoke only at certain times and places. This trend, called "intermittent smoking", plays into the deepest wish of many smokers which is to have control over their smoking rather than free themselves of the habit completely.. Studies now show a significant group of smokers are using NRT not to quit but to control their smoking. In contrast to the NRT-only and the anti-NRT approaches, the science of helping smokers strongly suggests taking a comprehensive approach to smokers who want assistance to quit. The evidence is that combining medication and counseling therapies is just better than trying these alone. . . .

Why, despite the advances of science, are we not making the best treatments available to those who smoke? . . .

As we consider health care reform, let's not forget those one thousand smokers (and the families and friends they leave behind) who die each and every day in the U.S. from disease caused by smoking. Helping smokers quit in a more holistic way is supported by science. It is also likely to be one of the most cost-effective ways to lower the nation's healthcare costs, and help end the tremendous suffering caused by this most prevalent addiction.

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Utah Legislature: Committee OKs cigarette tax increase 

A bill that would impose a $1.70 tax on a pack of cigarettes in Utah cleared a House committee Friday morning on a split vote.

HB196 was opposed by two members of the House Health and Human Services Committee, who noted that the bill amounts to using tax policy to change social behavior.

Retailers who spoke against the measure said Utah's relatively small group of smokers -- Utah has fewer tobacco users per capita than any state -- are not likely to quit because of the tax increase.

One opponent said Utah smokers will just resort to purchasing tobacco products online or drive to neighboring states.

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LETTER: No debate 

I fully defend the right of people to express their opinions. This debate, however, is over. It has been over a half-century since it was proven that smoking is a catastrophic health hazard to smokers and those around them. The negative health effects of smoking have been a catastrophic burden on the American health care system. Smoking in public places should have been banned decades ago. Money, politics and bad government ethics are the only reasons it wasn't.

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EDITORIAL: Smoke-free plan is solid  

Boston Mayor Tom Menino's plan to ban smoking in city housing may draw some controversy. But the mayor has used some hard numbers to back up his call for a gradual transition to entirely smoke-free public housing by 2014.

Yes, there are critics who argue that the city has no business serving as the smoking police, and that the restrictions being proposed discriminate against poor people who can't afford to move.

But Menino has the numbers - not to mention a growing national trend - on his side. . . .

As to the charge of violating the rights of people who have little choice over where they live, what about the rights of their nonsmoking neighbors in the same predicament?

The world didn't end when smoking was banned in the workplace. Nor will it end if smokers who live in public housing are asked to step outside to light up.

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University considers revising campus smoking policy  

Nicholls officials requested suggestions from various committees on ways to change the University's smoking policy to better enforce smoking restrictions on campus.

Eugene Dial, vice president of student affairs and enrollment services, said he asked several University committees to propose ways to enforce and alter the current smoking policy, which states no one can smoke on walkways or within 25 feet of a building on campus.

"If we don't get people following the policy, I see us going to a non-smoking campus," Dial said.

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CARTER: Smoking ban infringes on rights 

A recent bill proposed by Rep. Walt Bivins, R-St. Louis, would ban smoking in public places throughout Missouri.

By passing this bill, legislators are coming into your business and regulating what you can or cannot do. The last thing we need in this country is more government intrusion in our lives, telling us what to do at our own businesses. Although I am not a smoker, nor do I enjoy the smell of smoke, I am a conservative. Conservatives believe in individual freedoms and rights. . . .

If we allow the government to socialize our health care system, this could be a justified ban. By allowing the government to socialize our health care, we give them complete control over every aspect of our lives, because every thing we do affects our physical or mental health in one way or another. Telling citizens they cannot enter smoking establishments will be within their authority.

Those on the far left who criticize me and say this is a ludicrous claim are kidding themselves. With socialized health care, we have no way of knowing what the government will regulate next.

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VIDEO: Part-time smokers put health at full-time risk 

For some people, lighting up is a commitment that lasts a lifetime. But for others, their relationship with cigarettes is more like dating, only smoking on occasion. And while the smoking rate has gone down, the number of part-time smokers is on the rise. "Being a part time smoker allows some people to be able to kind of deny that they're using tobacco," said Serena Chen of the American Lung Association.

The rise in what's called "part time smoking" is likely the result of tobacco education and smoke-free laws.

Chain smoking is viewed as socially un-acceptable, but the occasional cigarette? Studies show many young people will give it a try. A recent study shows that 18-29 year olds are twice as likely to be non-daily smokers than 50 to 64 year olds.

But experts say part time smoking can be just as dangerous.

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• Egypt's anti-smoking campaign faces challenges 

The Egyptian government has been exerting strenuous efforts in cooperation with local NGOs to curb smoking, a disconcerting habit spreading widely in the most populous Arab nation, especially smoking hookah or "Shisha" as known by Egyptians.

The most conspicuous measure taken by the government is compelling tobacco manufacturers and importers to print warnings on their products including photos that show the dangers of smoking to lives. Some photos showed damaged lungs with a warning "smoking causes lung cancer," others for a pregnant woman with a warning that goes "smoking causes embryo distortion" and sometimes the photos show a child blocking his mouth and nose with smoke at the background and a warning "smoking harms passive smokers."

However, the governmental campaign was countered by smart solutions from defiant smokers, apparently in challenge of the measures.

At the early beginning of the campaign, some smokers used to hide the warning photos with a small piece of blank paper or even with substitute beautiful drawings.

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Editorial: Smoking ban 

All but 12 of the 50 states have some sort of ban on smoking in public places. Missouri is one of the dozen without a statewide regulation. . . .

But many businesses say any decision about smoking limits should be up to business owners, not the state or federal government. These advocates of smoking privileges say their customers can decide whether or not to patronize them without government sanctions.

Legislative debate is one way to inform Missourians about both sides of this issue.

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Part-time smokers putting their health at risk full-time risk  

If you light up every now and then but still don't consider yourself a smoker, don't be fooled. Here's why part-time smokers are putting their health at full-time risk.

For some people, lighting up lasts a lifetime.

"I started when I was 17 years old. I smoked for 11 years," said one smoker.

But for others, the relationship is more like dating.

"Yeah, I started casually. I started in the bathroom," said another smoker.

Smoking rates may have gone down, but for one group, tobacco use is on the rise.

"Being a part-time smoker allows some people to be able to kind of deny that they're using tobacco," said Serena Chen, American Lung Association.

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INGRAM: Third-hand smoke study ridiculous 

Heavy sigh. Where do I begin?

Everything is more dangerous to infants and children. They're smaller and they're weaker. The only thing this study is doing by bemoaning the fate of children is inciting the scared, over-privileged non-smokers to throw a fit. . . .

Non-smokers think they can scare the country into banning cigarettes for good with this stupid third-hand smoke nonsense, and they're probably right. I foresee a time in the not too distant future where the non-smokers win and we'll have to start bootlegging our dirty habit from Mexico. By then, the brilliant minds behind the third-hand smoke study will have invented fourth-hand smoke and begun a campaign for that. Don't ask me what fourth-hand smoke is. My brain hurts just trying to fathom it.

But you still can't stop us smokers. And I'd rather shake hands with somebody that just smoked a pack of Pall Malls than shake hands with a non-smoker who just came out of the bathroom.

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Bournemouth has highest rates of new cases of lung cancer in the South West 

AN AMBITIOUS campaign to halve the number of smokers in the next decade has been launched, as latest figures reveal that Bournemouth has one of the highest rates of new cases of lung cancer in the South West.

Although 211,035 smokers in the region have kicked the habit with NHS support since 2000, almost 35 per cent of its 16- to 24-year-olds smoke – the worst in England.

Despite years of hard-hitting education campaigns, health warnings and gruesome pictures on cigarette packets, 45 teenagers start smoking every day in the South West.

Also of concern is that one in 10 of the region’s adults still think second-hand smoke has little or no impact on children’s health, and 17 per cent of its pregnant women continue to smoke.

Now the aim is to reduce the proportion of smokers of all ages in the region from 21 per cent to single figures by 2020.

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