Tobacco.org

Hard-living chimp sent to rehab 

A HARD-LIVING chimpanzee has been sent to rehab by worried zookeepers in a bid to cure him of his addictions to cigarettes and booze.

Ex-circus performer Zhora picked up his vices after moving to a zoo in the southern Russian city of Rostov.

"The beer and cigarettes were ruining him. He would pester passers-by for booze," the local Komsomolskaya Pravda paper said.

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Sky Connection pledges to fight Hong Kong tobacco proposals 

Hong Kong-Mainland China border crossings such as Lo Wu are vital for Sky Connection's tobacco business

HONG KONG. Government proposals to abolish inbound tobacco allowances for travellers would have a severe impact on cigarette sales, notably at shops on the border with the Chinese Mainland. That's according to leading travel retailer Sky Connection, which says it is already lobbying vigorously against the proposals, announced last week by Hong Kong Financial Secretary John Tsang.

Sky Connection operates Arrivals (as well as Departures) shops at Hong Kong International Airport and serves inbound travellers from China at its shops on the land border.

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LETTER: RITZ: Getting farmers off tobacco 

Re: $286M Buyout Gone To Ashes, Feb. 24.

This article raises some questions about the Tobacco Transition Program. Readers should know that the previous tobacco quota system put producers in a desperate situation . . .

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada will begin auditing producers in April, to ensure that tobacco licences have not been granted to producers who participated in the program or their spouses and dependent children. Further audits will ensure that program requirements are being met. If the audit process shows that any program recipient violated the terms and conditions of the Tobacco Transition Program, they will be required to repay all of the funding from the program with interest.

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Luqman-technologies.com refuses to provide SEO Service to an American Tobacco Company  

SEO Company Luqman-technologies.com has announced to work for an American Tobacco Company which has been looking for quite some time to use their search engine optimization and search engine marketing services Luqman says during talking to media online

Luqman said, said Tobacco company attracts children’s with number of both print and electronic media campaigns smoke in very young age, their online ads display they have been targeting 5 years old and even younger Childs, I have personally watched few online campaigns and video’s and this is when I was planning never let my search engine optimization and search engine marketing team work on Tobacco campaign.

Luqman added we at SEO Company will never work for any companies which are promoting child abuse, child labor or selling drugs or in other extreme activities be it pornography, drugs and terrorism activities.

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Smoking cessation: New nicotine lung delivery technology promising 

When compared to the nicotine vapor delivery system used in the Nicotrol/Nicorette inhaler, the new technology proved more effective at delivering nicotine to the blood stream. As a result, it provides immediate relief of withdrawal symptoms, according to Duke University Medical Center researchers. Users also reported the new nicotine delivery method was more tolerable than the current inhaler because it caused less throat irritation.

"We wanted to replicate the experience of smoking without incurring the dangers associated with cigarettes, and we wanted to do so more effectively than the nicotine replacement therapies currently on the market," said Jed Rose, Ph.D., director of the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research where the technology is being developed. He presented the data today at the Society for Nicotine and Tobacco Research (SRNT) in Baltimore, MD.

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DJ Unk Wants Listeners to 'Smoke On,' Did He Learn from Heart Attack Scare?  

On one of DJ Unk's latest mixtape songs "Smoke On," I expected to hear an entire anthem about smoking. I found it interesting that he waited until he got good into the song to finally say, "spark up a kush blunt

and smoke some more, smoke on." Personally I'm hoping he stops smoking altogether, especially due to his August 2009 scare with a heart attack.

Popularly known for songs like "Walk It Out" and "Two Step," DJ Unk was rushed to the hospital on Sat., Aug. 29, for medical attention. He was only 26 years old at the time. Don't believe the hype that one has to be AARP-member ages to get a heart attack. DJ Unk tweeted that he'd have "no more hot wings, no fried food, no more seafood!" and joked about eating air and water. From his tweets, I wondered how many other young, black men were having heart attacks at an early age.

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Barack Obama Smoking 

Status: Fake (composite)

Technique of Fakery: Composite Images.

Date and Time Period: Circulating online since early 2008; (2005-Present)

Themes: Politics

Barack Obama has admitted to being a smoker, though before he launched his presidential campaign he resolved to quit the habit. (By his own admission, he has had a few lapses.) Nevertheless, there are hardly any photos of him smoking, largely because his campaign makes great efforts to stop such photos getting out, fearing negative public reaction.

In early 2008 the top photo began circulating online, showing Obama with a cigarette in his mouth. It is not real. The original photo (bottom) was taken by Kwame Ross on Aug. 3, 2004 while then-State Sen. Obama met with constituents at the University of Illinois while campaigning to become a U.S. Senator.

An unknown hoaxer digitally added the cigarette into the photo.

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Continuing pattern, Fox Nation posts "hoax" photo of Obama smoking 

Discussing President Obama's recent medical check-up, which reportedly noted that Obama "has not kicked the smoking habit," Fox Nation posted a doctored photo of Obama with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. As the Museum of Hoaxes notes, the photo is a "fake" spread during the 2008 campaign. From The Fox Nation:

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VIDEO: Can Obama Teach Country How to Overcome Bad Habits? 

The 48-year-old, 180-pound Obama was declared "fit for duty" and in excellent health by White House physician Jeffrey Kuhlman this weekend, after his first physical exam as president. But the doctor expressed concern about problems that millions of Americans share, cigarette addiction and high cholesterol.

"Getting cigarettes totally out is what you have to shoot for," said ABC News' Dr. Richard Besser. "He shouldn't give up. He's in a great position to teach the country about how hard it is, but how you can succeed."

Even among those who use the nicotine gum, 30 to 40 percent revert back to smoking, Besser said. . . .

"The president continues to chew nicotine gum," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday.

Obama spoke about his proclivity for Marlboros in an interview with McClatchy Newspapers in June.

"I don't do it in front of my kids," he said. "I don't do it in front of my family. And, you know, I would say that I am 95 percent cured.

"There are times where I mess up," Obama added. "Once you've gone down this path, then, you know, it's something you continually struggle with."

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Michelle fumes as Obama fails to quit smoking  

US President Barack Obama just can't quit the smoking habit -- despite firm pledges to his wife. . . .

On that occasion he called himself a "former smoker".

But he was clearly more candid with Capt Jeffrey Kuhlman of the US navy, his personal physician, whose choice of words left no doubt that he is in fact a current smoker.

No known photographs exist of him smoking as president, although plenty have been faked, including one of him dressed as the Marlboro Man.

He cannot light up inside the White House since it is designated a no-smoking building, and he dislikes being asked about his habit by reporters.

His preferred brand is thought to be Marlboro, and he is believed to minister to his nicotine cravings on the West Colonnade, which leads from the Oval Office to the Rose Garden.

Mrs Obama has never smoked or had much sympathy for her husband's apparent inability to quit.

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Generation of transgenic plants expressing antibodies to the environmental pollutant microcystin-LR  

We describe the engineering, regeneration, and characterization of transgenic tobacco plants expressing a recombinant antibody specific to microcystin-LR (MC-LR), the environmental toxin pollutant produced by species of cyanobacteria. The antibody was created by a genetic fusion of the antigen-binding regions of the microcystin-specific single-chain antibody, 3A8, with constant regions from the murine IgG1{kappa}, Guy’s 13. IgG transgenes were controlled by a leader peptide that targets the transgene products to the secretory pathway and also allows for rhizosecretion. The antibody, extracted from the leaves or rhizosecreted into hydroponic medium by transgenic plants, was shown to have functional binding to MC-LR. Antibody yields in transgenic plant leaves reached a maximum of 64 µg/g leaf fresh weight (0.6% total soluble protein), and the rate of antibody rhizosecretion reached a maximum of 5 µg/g root dry weight/24 h. Rhizosecreted antibody bound to MC-LR in hydroponic medium, and transgenic plants grew more efficiently on medium containing MC-LR compared to wild-type controls. This proof of concept paves the way for applications to produce diagnostic antibodies to microcystin-LR, remove it from the environment by phytoremediation, or enhance yields in crops exposed to MC-LR.

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Genetically engineered tobacco plant cleans up environmental toxin  

Tobacco might become as well known for keeping us healthy as it is for causing illness thanks to researchers from the U.K. In a new research report appearing in the March 2010 print issue of the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) scientists explain how they developed a genetically modified strain of tobacco that helps temper the damaging effects of toxic pond scum, scientifically known as microcystin-LR (MC-LR), which makes water unsafe for drinking, swimming, or fishing. This plant could serve as a major tool for helping keep water sources safe to use, especially in developing nations.

"We hope that our study will ultimately lead to a reduction in the exposure of humans, livestock, and wildlife to environmental pollutants," said Pascal M.W. Drake, Ph.D., co-author of the study, from the Centre for Infection at St. George's University of London.

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Smoking complaints fall in Ohio, rise in Hamilton Co. 

Complaints filed against businesses violating Ohio's smoking ban have fallen each year since the ban was enacted, except in Hamilton County where they rose, the Dayton Daily News reported Sunday.

Ohio voters approved the ban in 2006, and since enforcement began in 2007 complaints have fallen from 21,604 to 9,228 in 2009. Nearly 49,000 complaints have been filed since the ban took effect.

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• In prisons, tobacco now contraband  

A year after Ohio prisons instituted a cold-turkey smoking ban, taxpayers can expect to shell out a little less for medical care for inmates suffering from emphysema and other respiratory diseases.

But the ban - which includes chewing tobacco and snuff - also gave birth to a lucrative contraband market in state prisons. Sources said tobacco has become as valuable as marijuana, with a single cigarette selling for $10, a pack of cigarettes going for $200 and a can of loose tobacco for $300.

An indication of how hot a commodity tobacco has become came last month when officials uncovered a plan for a woman to secretly drop tobacco at the Governor's Residence in Bexley. Inmates working there planned to smuggle the tobacco back into the Pickaway Correctional Institution. The drop was scuttled by top State Highway Patrol officials.

Prison medical personnel said one out of three inmates with serious respiratory ailments, such as emphysema, bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, have shown marked improvement in the year since the ban took effect.

That led to lower use of inhalant drugs over a three-month period - a savings of $90,000.

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Upper St. Clair may ban smoking at parks, playgrounds 

Upper St. Clair commissioners Monday night began considering a plan to ban smoking in township parks and playgrounds.

Spurred by a recent request from a resident who said her asthmatic grandson was exposed to cigarette smoke at a neighborhood playground, commissioners debated whether to ban smoking altogether or designate areas where smokers can light up.

"There's no doubt in my mind that smoking around kids or anybody is dangerous," said Commissioner Preston W. Shimer, who supported a designated smoking area for employees outside of the township community and recreation center in Boyce Park.

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