Tobacco.org

Media for Case: Hunter v. Philip Morris USA, 07-35916 

Case Number:

07-35916

Case Panel:

NELSON, TASHIMA, FISHER

Hearing Location:

Anchorage, AK

Hearing Date:

08/04/2008

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Anti-smoking advocates seek to reduce tobacco use in rural Alaska 

FAIRBANKS — In western Alaska, chewing tobacco is called “iqmik,” a Yup’ik word that health providers would like to see become archaic along with smokeless tobacco.

But for now, “iqmik” is being used in anti-tobacco ads throughout the Yup’ik-speaking area as a teaching tool to discourage chewing tobacco usage.

“Our region (Calista) has the highest number of people using smokeless tobacco,” said Moses Tumlin of Bethel, ATCA’s western region representative.

“It’s unacceptable and not an alternative to smoking.”

Tumlin and Kay Ashton, who works for the American Lung Association of Alaska, are the chairpeople of the steering committee of the Alaska Tobacco Control Alliance, which hosted its third annual Tobacco Summit in Fairbanks this past week.

The number of anti-tobacco crusaders attending the two-day conference from around the state has doubled in size since its inception in 2007.

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EDITORIAL: Clearing the air 

Anti-tobacco crusaders from across the state have gathered in Fairbanks this week to talk about their strategies and successes.

While some of the strategies remain controversial in some quarters, it’s hard to argue that declining tobacco use is anything but a success.

The growing emergence of smoke-free restaurants is one measure of that decline. Eighty percent of restaurants in Fairbanks are smoke-free. Even some bars have stopped allowing customers to smoke.

Such progress has been made without implementing strict government bans. Choice is respected, but Fairbanksans and all Alaskans are making better choices for their health.

During the past decade, smoking by adults has dropped by 20 percent, and smoking by youths has been cut in half.

Part of the credit for this must go to former state Sen. Bert Sharp, R-Fairbanks, who was presented with the “Policy Pioneer” award at the Third Annual Tobacco Summit here Wednesday evening. . . .

he deserves the recognition bestowed upon him. The benefits are clear. The costs are more nebulous and so have been discounted in the policy shift in favor of taxation.

Such debates aside, we should all applaud the simple decline in tobacco usage. The plant is a drain on the health of anyone who becomes hooked on it. The fewer people who end up in that position, the better.

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• Smoking ban dead -- for now: Lack of second kills Soldotna ordinance  

Joe Camel claimed victory Wednesday night as the second central Kenai Peninsula city in as many weeks failed to introduce its own proposed ban on smoking cigarettes in all public places including saloons.

Almost as if scripted, Soldotna City Council members -- including Shane Horan, who initiated the proposal -- sat mute after the ordinance was moved for introduction by Councilman Scott McLane. Failing to be seconded by any council member, the ordinance died.

Mayor Peter Micciche later told about 40 residents who came to testify for and against the ordinance that under Robert's Rules of Order, parliamentary procedure dictates that an ordinance fails if it is introduced and does not receive a second.

The proposal would have expanded Soldotna's ban on smoking in restaurants to include all workplaces and all public places, including saloons and bars in private clubs.

A week ago, the Kenai City Council failed to introduce a similar ordinance.

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Smokers: The bar should stay a bar  

Just a few hours after the city of Soldotna failed to introduce its proposed smoking ban, Barton Mulder sits at the bar in the Maverick Saloon, alternating between sips of beer and drags on a cigarette. Had the ban been introduced and passed, the latter would have been outlawed.

"When I come to a bar, I expect to be able to smoke," Mulder said. "How are you suppose to relax and have a couple drinks when you're a smoker and not be able to smoke?

"I don't think they should be able to take that right away from the bar," he said.

"I shouldn't have to go outside to smoke," said Maverick patron Candy Hurst on Wednesday.

If smoking is banned in a bar, what's next? Hurst asked. Are they going to ban swearing? "It's just one more freedom we're going to lose," she said.

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Proposed Smoking Ordinance for Kenai Not Introduced 

An ordinance that was being proposed by Kenai City Councilmember Hal Smalley to restrict smoking in public places and private businesses failed to receive enough support for introduction at Wednesday night's Kenai City Council Meeting. The council members agreed to send the issue back to the work session level to continue the discussion about adding more restrictions to smoking within Kenai.

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Soldotna Postpones Introduction of Smoking Ban 

The Soldotna City Council decided not to introduce a proposed smoking ban for the community at last night’s meeting. Soldotna City Councilmember Betty Obendorf explained the need for the delay. She said the City Attorney rewrote portions of the proposal.

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Soldotna prepares to debate smoking ban law Wednesday  

Last month, Teens Against Tobacco Use and its parent organization, Peninsula Smoke-free Partnership, made presentations to the Soldotna City Council expressing their displeasure with cigarette smoke in the workplace and other public places.

Some Soldotna business owners followed, expressing their angst over government intrusion into private enterprise.

On Wednesday night, the council is to introduce Ordinance 2009-008, prohibiting smoking in all enclosed public places in Soldotna, all enclosed places of employment, all vehicles owned or controlled by the city and near entrances to enclosed areas of city owned or controlled properties.

The city already bans smoking in restaurants.

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After tobacco infraction, Wal-Mart will retrain all state employees 

A new statewide policy will go into effect at Alaska Wal-Marts after its Kodiak store had its tobacco license suspended for a month after selling tobacco to a minor.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jennifer Spall says all Wal-Mart employees at its Kodiak store will also be retrained after the illegal sale. . . .

She also says the stores plan to implement a statewide policy of checking the identifications of all people attempting to purchase tobacco products.

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State Sting Suspends Walmart Cigarette Sales 

The Kodiak Walmart has had its license to sell tobacco suspended for about a month, because it illegally sold tobacco to a minor. As a result, Walmart plans to implement an I.D.-all policy statewide for all tobacco and alcohol sales, and retrain Walmart employees at the Kodiak store.

Jennifer Spall, Walmart's public affairs officer for Alaska, said the Kodiak incident was a result of human error on the part of a Walmart cashier.

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Wal-Mart in Alaska has tobacco license suspended 

A new statewide policy will go into effect at Alaska Wal-Marts after its Kodiak store had its tobacco license suspended for a month after selling tobacco to a minor.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jennifer Spall says all Wal-Mart employees at its Kodiak store will also be retrained after the illegal sale.

Spall says the Kodiak incident was a result of human error on the part of a Wal-Mart cashier, who keyed in the wrong information about a customer, who was underage.

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• Smoking ban: one year later 

More than a year after the city's clean air ordinance went into effect, people on different sides of the debate continue to disagree about the success of the law that required Juneau's bars to go smoke free.

After years of debate in front of the Assembly, on Jan. 2 of last year all bars were required to ban smoking from their establishments, ushering in a fresh new era of nightlife in the capital.

Marlintini's Lounge owner Ethan Billings, a longtime opponent of the ordinance and member of the Juneau-Lynn Canal Cabaret, Hotel, Restaurant & Retailer's Association, said the smoking ban had a negative impact on his business and those of his peers'.

"Sales are down because of it," he said. "I think if you asked any bar owner that would be true."

A number of other issues came to light because of the ordinance, Billings said.

"If anybody has walked around or been in bars lately, the can see there's people outside of every bar in town, whether there is cigarette butts on the ground, loitering, causing disturbances, whatever, it's basically taking customers out of the establishments and into the sidewalks and streets. And that in turn has affected sales negatively."

Ann House, president of the Downtown Business Association, said the ordinance resulted in a number of concerning issues in the downtown business sector.

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National Report Ranks Alaska No. 1 in Protecting Kids from Tobacco 

Alaska currently spends $9.2 million a year on tobacco prevention programs, which is 86 percent of the $10.7 million recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is one of only nine states that are spending more than half of what the CDC recommends.

Other key findings for Alaska include:

* The tobacco companies spend $28.1 million a year on marketing in Alaska. This is three times what the state spends on tobacco prevention.

* Alaska this year will collect $103 million from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes and will spend about 9 percent of it on tobacco prevention.

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LETTER: Tobacco taxes are a win-win of revenue, lower consumption  

Regarding the recent story regarding tobacco taxes, the purpose of tobacco taxes is to reduce youth initiation and consumption of tobacco products across the board. Revenue is welcomed but it is not the primary goal. Tobacco use kills Alaskans.

Fairbanks could raise their tax to $1 per pack. Other communities, such as Juneau could raise their tax from $.30 to $1. . . .

Tobacco taxes are a "WIN-WIN" for Alaska. The public health benefits and communities generate revenue.

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Tobacco tax upheld in state Supreme Court 

The Alaska Supreme Court on Aug. 29 upheld a Matanuska-Susitna Borough tobacco tax enacted in May 2005.

The tobacco tax is an excise tax paid by people who buy tobacco products, bring or ship them into the borough or make them here. The tax runs about a nickel per cigarette, or about $1 a pack. Other tobacco products are taxed at 45 percent of the wholesale price. The borough, in a written statement, said the tax brings in about $5 million a year.

Borough residents Nola Bragg and Link Fannon opposed the tax during the election and, after it was enacted, filed a lawsuit claiming the borough had no authority to enact the tax without voter approval.

Bragg and Fannon campaigned to repeal the tobacco tax in 2005. Voters rejected a repeal measure placed on the ballot.

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