Tobacco.org

• Lula stubs out smoking habit  

It took a health scare and a sense of creeping mortality but, after half a century, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva appears to have finally quit smoking.

Brazil's president revealed that he had not smoked for more than 40 days and had renounced his beloved cigarillos, small cigars often made without filters. It puts him in the company of his idol, Fidel Castro, as one of the few serving leaders to have quit smoking while in office.

Barack Obama could only wish: he is still struggling to give up, according to his first medical examination since taking office.

Lula was preparing to fly to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland in January when his blood pressure shot up, forcing him to cancel the trip and spend a night in hospital. It made the 64-year-old ponder a habit dating from adolescence. "The good thing is that I quit smoking ... I don't have any more time to experiment with my life," he told the Associated Press. He apparently did it through willpower. . . .

Venezuela's Hugo Chávez quit some time ago but confesses to relapes. "Occasionally I smoke a cigarette, but I'll never do it in public because it's a bad example.

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Anti-tobacco groups form new coalitions  

The head of anti-tobacco programs in Rock County is now heading up a five county alliance.

Debbie Fischer, who runs the Rock County Youth2Youth program, says the state legislature cut 55% of the funding for tobacco control and prevention efforts to help plug the budget deficit. The programs funded by that money have had to adapt to the new environment by combining resources.

What used to be 42 anti-tobacco coalitions in the state have now been combined into 13 "multi-jurisdictional coalitions."

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Inquiry pushed to ask Govt why Maori still smoking 

A Maori tobacco researcher says the Maori Affairs Select Committee inquiry into smoking needs to ask why successive governments have done nothing to help Maori to quit.

Dr Marewa Glover has been running anti-smoking campaigns and research for almost two decades.

She says governments have sat by and watched Maori die, despite a succession of national hui highlighting the problem, Waatea News reports.

"We know what it does to marae, we know its killing our elders," she says. "The inquiry needs to be asking why the Government hasn't done something more effective to stop the harm." . ..

Labour Party leader Phil Goff says the government is not doing enough to target smoking among Maori.

He told Waatea News the select committee inquiry into the tobacco industry and the effects of smoking on Maori is an important step in addressing a major public health issue.

But he says young Maori women in particular are not getting the message that smoking is harmful.

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Harawira calls for complete tobacco, cigarette ban 

The country's biggest cigarette company looks set for a fiery reception when it fronts MPs looking at the impact of tobacco on Maori.

Parliament's Maori Affairs Select Committee is in Auckland, hearing submissions on its inquiry into the tobacco industry.

British American Tobacco sells 3/4 of all tobacco and cigarettes in New Zealand.

The company will tell MPs to clamp down on illegal sales, sales to under-18s, and set a minimum price for cigarettes.

Maori Party MP Hone Harawira will be there and says British American is just offering a few token concessions.

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Tobacco giant to put its case to inquiry 

The country's biggest tobacco company will tell a parliamentary committee it will fight for the right to display cigarettes in shops.

But Maori MP Hone Harawira will be asking "as many questions as possible" when British-American Tobacco appears today before an inquiry into the tobacco industry and its effects on Maori health - and says the company is simply seeking "ways and means to allow them to continue to sell their poison".

British-American Tobacco, or BAT, is the first, and biggest, of three tobacco companies that have made submissions to the Maori Affairs select committee.

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Will Fenty sign St. Patrick's Day cigar bill in time? 

Here's the timing issue: The bill was transmitted to Mayor Adrian Fenty on March 8. The mayor now has 10 business days to decide whether to sign or veto the measure, taking him to March 22.

But Saint Patrick's Day is on March 17, so if the mayor doesn't act before then, the Friendly Sons won't be able to light up at their big event at the Capital Hilton next Wednesday.

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Governor to sign indoor smoking ban bill on Friday  

Gov. Mark Parkinson on Friday will sign a bill banning indoor smoking in most indoor spaces.

The measure, House Bill 2221 would bar indoor smoking starting July 1, although it does allow smoking on the gaming floors of the state-owned casinos. The measure overrides less comprehensive local smoking bans such as the one in Wichtia.

The governor, a Democrat, has pushed for the smoking ban this year and been a vocal supporter of the measure.

He is scheduled to sign the bill 10 a.m. on Friday.

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Parkinson to sign smoking ban  

Gov. Mark Parkinson plans to sign Friday a landmark bill imposing a statewide indoor smoking ban.

Topeka and dozens of other Kansas cities already have a smoking ban, but the statewide measure blocks smoking in restaurants, bars, workplaces, taxi cabs and most hotel rooms. Exceptions were written into the bill for private clubs, tobacco shops, casino floors and designated smoking rooms in motels.

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New pictorial warnings on tobacco products from June 1 

Come June 1 and cigarette packets and tobacco products will carry a new set of pictorial health warnings, an NGO said Wednesday.

Binoy Matthew of Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI), an NGO said: 'The ministry of health and family welfare March 5 notified the new pictorial health warnings which will be implemented on all tobacco products from June 1.'

'Since the news came just a few days before the No Smoking Day, which is today, we are very happy. VHAI had field tested these pictorial warnings in seven states in the country and found them to be most effective,' he told IANS.

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• Now cigarette and gutka packs to carry a cancerous mouth 

The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry has issued a new pictorial warning for cigarette and tobacco packs. It will come into effect from June 1.

The new picture, notified on March 5, shows a cancerous mouth. The warning reads: "Tobacco causes mouth cancer."

It replaces the earlier pictures of a scorpion and lungs. The scorpion sign was meant for gutka or chewing tobacco packs, while cigarette packs were to carry diseased lungs.

Now, the mouth cancer warning will be common for both gutka and cigarette packs. The pictorial sign will cover 40 per cent of the pack, as before.

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• £23m bid to find 'safe' cigarettes 

BRITISH American Tobacco is investing £23m into its Southampton base in a bid to develop a “safe” cigarette.

On national No Smoking Day, the Daily Echo can reveal that the company now employs more people in the city than when it made billions of cigarettes a year.

It means Southampton is now home to one of the world’s leading smoking research centres, which is currently examining 40 different varieties of safer cigarettes.

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THOMAS: A smoke-free journey 

On a brisk March night when I was 16, I spent time with some friends at a 7-11 in Boise. . . .

On the day when I smoked my first cigarette, about 3,900 other American teenagers were doing the same, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

I was not alone.

Similarly, the day I had my last cigarette and slapped on a nicotine patch, Feb. 27, 2010, most of my friends were still lighting up. It seemed like everyone on campus was smoking I couldn't go anywhere without smelling the odor that had become so wonderful to me.

I felt alone.

I decided to quit smoking after almost two years of habitual smoking. I'm tired of being smelly, out of breath and a nuisance to my friends with asthma. I'm tired of being hooked on something that will eventually kill me. . . .

Overall, everything is better since I quit. However, it's not this easy for everyone. According to the American Cancer Society, 70 percent of smokers want to quit. Over the next few weeks, I will be tackling issues related to quitting smoking -- nicotine replacement therapy, medications, smoking and the mentally ill and teenage smoking.

I hope by sharing my story I can convince others to quit. I want to enjoy a long, healthy life.

Everyone deserves that chance.

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Barbara Bedell: Cigar lovers raise $9,500 for wounded soldiers  

One incredibly successful event took place at 1 p.m. Feb. 27 despite the region's powerful storm that caused many power outages and road closures. It was a cigar lovers' dream event, the fifth one in as many years. It brought 145 of the 180 expected to the Meadowbrook Lodge in New Windsor. They traveled from as far away as California, braving the weather even when planes were grounded. Because the popular catering house had no power, like thousands of other structures throughout the region, the group elected to host the event in the parking lot.

More than $9,500 was raised for the Warrior Transition Unit/Family Readiness Group -- Wounded Warrior Program at West Point, where 100 soldiers are being cared for.

For the fifth year, the fundraiser was chaired by cigar lover and patriot Charlie Baranyai of Cornwall

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Turlock teens hear about science of smoking 

Sixteen years ago, Victor DeNoble testified before Congress about the addictive qualities of nicotine and how his research was suppressed by the tobacco industry.

These days, the scientist travels the country telling students about the harmful effects of cigarettes and other tobacco products. He delivered the message Monday to 400 students attending two assemblies at Pitman High School.

The former whistle-blower will speak at Turlock High School on Friday as well as schools in San Joaquin County this week as part of the Kaiser Permanente "Don't Buy The Lie" anti-smoking program. Kaiser has run the program in Sacramento-area schools for 17 years and extended the campaign to the Northern San Joaquin Valley this year.

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Big Tobacco's biggest secret  

STOCKTON - Victor DeNoble has traveled the land the past 15 years accompanied by a frozen monkey brain, a frozen human brain, a true-life tale of corporate espionage, a stand-up comedian's timing and a million reasons not to smoke.

But no preaching.

"I'm not here to tell people what to do," DeNoble told about 200 students at Chavez High School on Tuesday afternoon.

The message, though, was easily discernible. And, coming as it did from a former behavioral scientist for Philip Morris, it was profound.

It's a message the 60-year-old DeNoble is bringing to Stockton for the first time this week, with additional visits scheduled for today at Plaza Robles and New Vision high schools, and at Venture Academy on Thursday.

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