Tobacco.org

Bend parks plan smoking ban, other rule changes  

A few big changes are coming to the Bend Parks and Recreation District. New items up for discussion and decisions in coming weeks include a tobacco ban at all public parks to revised dog leash rules. . . .

Another proposed rule change is banning all tobacco products on district property.

David Visiko of Deschutes County Heath Services was one of the people who proposed the idea to the board.

"We're trying to create a social norm that most people don't smoke," Visiko said. "Our numbers here in Deschutes County is about 17 percent of adults smoke, so generally that is, most people choose the healthier behavior."

It's an easy sell to some parents, like Erin Colley.

Jump to full article »

Second hand smoke and your heart topic of WVU lecture 

· A grassroots coalition of people who want to ban smoking in public places in Monongalia County has failed to get the local Board of Health to take up the issue.

Stanton Glantz, Ph.D., is a professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco.

He refers to cigarettes as tiny smoke stacks emitting plumes of toxic chemicals. His research focuses on the health effects of second hand smoke, particularly on the heart.

“People have understood for a long time that smoking and second hand smoke increase the risk of getting heart disease over the long term, but now it’s very clear that probably an even bigger risk is the immediate effects and if you are exposed to second hand smoke for around 20 minutes at the level that you typically see in a bar that’s enough to effect your blood and your blood vessels in a way that increases the risk of a heart attack,” Glantz said.

Jump to full article »

Pro & Con: Should the General Assembly raise the state tobacco tax? 

Have a Smoke at Your Child's Expense  

A new study has found that teenagers who are exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke are more likely to have changes to their blood vessels that could lead to heart disease later in life.

Researcher Katariina Kallio of the University of Turku in Finland says her study on teenagers extends previous research, which found cardiovascular damage in grown-ups who breathed in other peoples' smoke.

"We know previously that in adults there is that kind of association, but we didn't know that in adolescents," she said in a telephone interview. "So somehow it was a surprise that there is already in adolescents these kinds of changes."

Jump to full article »

Norco mulls smoking ban in parks 

Norco city officials plan to discuss a no-smoking ordinance for local parks.

A youth group focused on healthy and safe activities for young people is presenting the idea at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Norco City Council meeting.

Jump to full article »

EDITORIAL: Pay a fair share 

Today, Dosal's not so tiny. Its Romy, 305's and other brands make up 20 percent of all cigarettes purchased in Florida. It's the state's third biggest cigarette vendor.

No doubt, a good part of Dosal's success comes from the fact that the price of its cigarettes doesn't include a surcharge that covers the state's smoking-related health costs. Philip Morris and the other companies that settled with Florida do include the surcharge, contributing to their products costing more than Dosal's.

The competitive advantage that gives Dosal isn't what interests us here. What does is the fact that Dosal's not paying its share of the costs associated with selling the same products as its competitors. . . .

A sensible bill sponsored by Sen. Thad Altman of Viera would remedy that, adding a 2-cent surcharge to each Dosal cigarette, or 40 cents a pack. That still would give Dosal some breathing room -- companies to the original settlement now pay out about a dime more than that.

But it also would enable the state to better pay down its share of Medicaid and other expenses tied to smoking, from emergency room visits to long-term care.

And the additional 40-cents-a-pack would likely keep more people from getting hooked on smoking. . . .

This year the Legislature's needing to close a $3-billion deficit. Perhaps, legislators may find it harder to resist a second time the revenue that a surcharge on Dosal products would bring. It could amount to at least $70 million annually, and millions more in matching Medicaid money from the feds.

The Legislature would need to ensure that the money collected would go not to pay government salaries, build ball fields and pave roads, but to pay the state's costs stemming from tobacco use.

Which was the principal reason for making tobacco companies ante up in the first place.

Jump to full article »

Utah Senate will debate 2 tobacco tax bills 

The Utah Senate plans to debate two bills on Thursday that would increase the state's tobacco tax.

Utah's tax per pack of cigarettes is now 69.5 cents.

Jump to full article »

LETTER: BASHAM: Tobacco substitute  

Sir, President Obama's long-term failure to quit smoking ("Smoking gun shows Obama has failed to kick habit", Mar 2) is a timely reminder that, as smoking isn't going to vanish, the development of less hazardous products is an imperative. Yet, the Government appears to favour nicotine replacement products over cigarettes, with a preference heavily advocated by the pharmaceutical industry. Given how unattractive these are to smokers, as well as their high failure rate, it's not clear that promoting such alternatives is in either smokers' interests or the public interest. Further, the Government's bias against safer cigarettes may not serve the public's interest either.

There are still several million British adults who continue to smoke and it's to this group that harm-reduction products should be directed. Such reduction is, therefore, a legitimate extension of earlier initiatives to reduce the health burden of smoking.

Jump to full article »

Smokers ignoring St. John's hospital rules 

Newfoundland and Labrador's largest health authority, Eastern Health, is fuming about how often its anti-smoking policy is being broken.

At the Health Science Centre in St. John's, smoking is prohibited everywhere on the property, but people are still lighting up a few feet from the front door.

"It's not fair. The way I figure it, if you … [want] to smoke, you should be able to," Ann-Marie Squires told CBC News, as she smoked less than 20 metres from the hospital's emergency entrance Tuesday.

Behind her, standing right next to the entrance and a big no-smoking sign, another man was also smoking.

Jump to full article »

EDITORIAL: Lawmakers should tax cigarette makers equally 

No one, especially Florida lawmakers, should feel sympathy for major tobacco companies because their market share of a poisonous product is shrinking in the state. . . .

lawmakers need to recognize that conditions have changed since the settlement was reached in 1997. Dosal is no longer a little company with a minute share of the market.

This is not, as Dosal wants lawmakers to believe, a battle between David and Goliath. This is about applying a surcharge to a sizeable company that manufactures a dangerous product. Forty-eight other states have come to the same sensible conclusion. Florida shouldn't take the opposite stance.

Time is of the essence. Smokers can even purchase cigarettes online without any taxes being charged, the industry reports, depriving Florida of lawful revenue.

And with the steep increase in state and federal cigarette taxes in Florida over the last year, many North Florida residents are purchasing cigarettes in Alabama and Georgia, where taxes are lower, reducing revenue even more.

Lawmakers shouldn't forget: Tobacco-related diseases and illnesses kill about 28,600 Floridians a year.

The state's economic loss from smoking is estimated at $12.5 billion.

And taxpayers have had to pay billions of dollars in health care costs.

As Butterworth has written urging lawmakers to extend the surcharge to Dosal, "It is time to finish the job Florida started in 1997 and make all of Big Tobacco pay."

Jump to full article »

VIDEO: Investigators believe cigarette sparked deadly fire 

Authorities believe a cigarette sparked a deadly fire in Cayuga County. They've concluded their investigation into last month's fire on First Hill Street in Port Byron. Gerard Inman, 68, was killed in that fire.

According to an autopsy, Inman died from smoke inhalation. And while the official cause is listed as "undetermined," officials say all indications point to a cigarette being the source.

Jump to full article »

GUHA: In Defense of President Obama’s Smoking Habit - 

When you're trying to rebuild the country--and to a greater extent, the world--after the last guy in charge took a wrecking ball to everything and then gaily skipped out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with a pocket full of posies and not even a slap on his wrists, a few coping mechanisms are to be expected. And as far as political leaders go, Obama could do worse than to suck on cancer sticks from time to time. (Spitzer has! Sanford has! Edwards has!) . . .

With such a prolific history of puffing presidents, Obama is clearly in good company. More importantly, there was never any outrage to be had. Which makes published medical histories like this seem invasive. For parents who are concerned that Obama is setting a bad example for children, a little bit of coddling goes a long way towards rectifying any unwanted behaviors.

Jump to full article »

Smoking not so hot these days  

Alberta's tobacco consumption is expected to decrease for the third year in a row.

But the head of an anti-smoking agency is calling for further tax increases and stricter legislation to continue the trend until smoking is obsolete.

Les Hagen, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said quarterly projections indicate tobacco consumption will be down for fiscal 2010, establishing a three-year trend of the decline in Alberta. . . .

However, Statistics Canada reports that between February of 2009 and January of 2010, Canadian tobacco production was up month-over-month 10 times in the 12-month period.

Hagen said further tax increases are necessary to help combat the approximately 3,000 deaths linked with smoking in Alberta each year.

"To this day, Alberta still has some of the most inexpensive tobacco in the country," he said, adding there needs to be more restrictions on marketing and hopefully the initiation of plain packaging.

Jump to full article »

DION: Nothing good to be said for smoking  

I am a reformed smoker, one of that band of vehement crusaders who can self-righteously scorn those who smoke.

I despise the smell of dirty ashtrays, the odour of that grey film that wafts around our clothes, our hair and into our lungs.

There is nothing good that can be said about smoking. . . .

In December 2009, the ACT Assembly passed new laws making all public eating and drinking areas 100 per cent smoke-free, however enclosed or otherwise, by the end of 2010.

The arguments against smoking cannot be disputed but are we in danger of living in a nanny-state?

Smoking is still legal and so is eating a Big Mac but neither of them can be considered good for you and if you do enough of both, health problems will undoubtedly be the result.

The difference of course with smoking is that it can detrimentally affect someone else.

But then alcohol is legal too and police officers are quick to point out that the majority of crimes that they deal with on a day-to-day basis, are alcohol-related. . . .

But to be fair we have been lied and sold to by experts.

I remember my father protesting when his doctor told him to stop smoking. From a young age he had been told by the cigarette companies that smoking was a good thing to do.

Once hooked on the weed, he found it, after many years of regular smoking, impossible to give up.

We no longer have that excuse; there cannot be a single person in the western world, who doesn’t understand the dangers of smoking.

Unfortunately we still have to get to grips with alcohol.

Jump to full article »

• Wrongful death suit against tobacco firms gets under way  

In the case being tried before Circuit Judge Robert Roundtree in Gainesville, Hall contends that her husband, Arthur, a lifelong smoker, became addicted to the nicotine in cigarettes.

Arthur Hall died in 1995; his death certificate lists the cause of death as lung cancer.

The case is the first to be heard in north central Florida after a landmark ruling by the Florida Supreme Court in 2006. . . .

Attorney Rod Smith summarized the family's case for a jury of six women and two men.

He said Arthur Hall, born in 1938, took up smoking at the age of 14 and continued for most of his life. He tried numerous times to quit but was unsuccessful until 1994, just a year before his death.

Cigarette manufacturers knew there was a defect in their product that made it addictive, but did not publicly admit it, Smith told jurors. Even though they knew about the dangers, the suit contends, tobacco companies concealed information from smokers about the impact of cigarettes on their health.

First to testify for the plaintiff, Smith said, will be an expert on addictions.

Speaking on behalf of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., attorney Dennis Murphy told jurors, "This case is about Mr. Hall. That is one thing both sides can agree on."

He warned that it is not about sympathy, adding "you must decide the case on its facts."

"The case is not about whether smoking can be addictive," he said. "It can be. But not everyone who smokes becomes addicted." . . .

In summary, Murphy said, "We know Mr. Hall could quit smoking because he did quit smoking." . . .

"The conduct of R.J. Reynolds tobacco company had no effect on Mr. Hall."

Jump to full article »

The conduct of R.J. Reynolds tobacco company had no effect on Mr. Hall.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. attorney Dennis Murphy, to jurors in an Engle-progeny case.