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In an effort to reach a younger audience that's especially susceptible to be persuaded to light up, anti-smoking have made an effort to increase their cause's "hip" factor. The American Lung Assoc. of Delaware understood that vehicle graphics could fulfill that need. The organization hired Signs Now's Wilmington, DE-based franchise to produce 199 sq. ft. of graphics for a 1998 Pontiac Firebird. The campaign's slogan, The Anti-Ash Brigade, required methodical installation.
The Wilmington, DE Signs Now franchise created this wrap for the Delaware chapter of the American Lung Assn.
"The wrap integrated graphics from five different board games, which took some effort to successfully piece together," Mark Carlson, the shop's owner, said. "The side graphics comprise single, front-to-back panels. The hood graphic is also a single piece. The rear spoiler needed extra care to wrap its underside, but it provided a nice parking line to hid the panel joint."
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To Wes Westmoreland I say bull.
Mr. Westmoreland asked in commentary what makes smoking different from hamburgers, hot dogs or driving over 35 miles per hour. Well let's first address hamburgers and hot dogs When somebody else eats something it does not cause me to be unhealthy. I repeat when somebody else eats something it does not make an innocent person sick. . . .
Mr. Westmoreland suggested that the government could let people smoke themselves to an early grave because it would save the government money in the short term. Let me explain to you how that would work. First most people who die from smoking don't die instantly so before they go most rack up huge medical bills treating cancer or lung failure, thus Medicare and Medicaid costs. Second once those people are dead the government pays out Social Security to surviving spouses and children in some cases for many years. Do you suggest that the government not pay those benefits to smoking families? The main reason why smoking should be banned are the people who work in these bars and restaurants.
Most people think cigarette smoking is a scourge and higher taxes will help stamp it out. That's true and, to a great degree, a noble thought.
However, for state legislators, and now Congress, increasing the tax on cigarettes is more an easy way to raise money than a public health issue. The temptation is an easy one: to plug whatever budget gap exists, raise the tax on cigarettes and argue it's for the public good. Delaware did it in 2007 and Gov. Markell is proposing it for this year. . . .
Since the federal tax just went up 62 cents a pack, even more smokers can be expected to stop. That will bring every state's point of diminishing returns even closer.
Translation: Cigarette taxes are short-term revenue solutions. If the taxes were really about the health of smoker, the tax would be a lot higher.
Big new federal taxes on tobacco products have local store owners concerned about the impact on their businesses.
Starting April 1, large cigars will be taxed at 40 cents apiece, up from 5 cents. Federal cigarette taxes will increase from 39 cents per pack to $1.01. And the tax on roll-your-own tobacco will jump from $1.10 per pound to $24.78.
In the 12 years since the settlement, Dosal has seen its share of the Florida market climb from less than 1 percent to more than 15 percent. It sells four brands: 305's, its most popular; DTC; Romy; and Competidora. Most sell for about $1.40 to $1.80 a pack retail. . . .
''We sell on price. End of story,'' Yolanda R. Nader, Dosal's chief executive and chief financial officer, says matter-of-factly.
Now, Dosal is afraid its business may be snuffed out by Big Tobacco's push to persuade Florida lawmakers to hit Dosal and other small cigarette makers with the same 50-cents-a-pack settlement fee.
If Dosal has to raise prices to cover the fee, it says, it will lose its cost advantage. Dosal says smokers will defect to other brands, including discount cigarettes made by Liggett Group, a unit of Miami's Vector Group, which reached its own settlement with Florida. Liggett doesn't charge the 50-cents-a-pack fee. . . .
Eliminating the price disparity between discount cigarettes and other brands means that smokers can't simply switch brands to avoid the increased cost, notes Eric Lindblom, director for policy research with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
''By closing the gap, there's nowhere for that smoker to go but to quit or cut back, and that's what we want smokers to do,'' Lindblom says.
Requiring the fee also would eliminate the need for the state to increase the excise tax on cigarettes by $1 a pack, Sutton says. Florida legislators are considering raising the tax to raise about $1 billion a year. Florida's excise tax is 33.9 cents, the fifth-lowest in the country.
State officials have enacted a law mandating that stores in the First State only sell fire-safe cigarettes.
The effort initially began in 2001 to combat residential fires caused by careless smoking. According to Assistant State Fire Marshal Michael Chionchio, six of the state's 12 fire fatalities in 2007 were reportedly started by cigarettes and there were almost 50 cigarette-related fires throughout the state in 2008 that caused $370,000 in damage.
On Jan. 1, when the new state law took effect, Delaware joined 22 other states and Washington D.C., in mandating fire-safe cigarette laws.
There is now tangible evidence to back up claims that secondhand smoke adversely affects nonsmokers, particularly the secondhand smoke that is increasingly being outlawed in public places in communities across the country. . . .
In addition to long-term health effects, smoking increases the danger of fire. Most states, including Maryland, now require that all cigarettes sold in-state be "fire-safe." . . .
Delaware's newly enacted law took effect Jan. 1., which is good for Maryland because residents who travel across the state line to avoid sales tax on their cigarettes will now be buying the same safer product that's sold in-state. . . .
The combination of making cigarettes less likely to ignite an accidental fire and less acceptable -- even banned --in more public venues should reduce the number of untimely deaths attributed to the smoking habit. More importantly, it should greatly reduce the number of smoking-related deaths among nonsmokers.
Few people realize just how long the effort to put fire-safe cigarettes on the market has been going on. Federal legislation was first proposed in 1974 and has been fought tooth and nail ever since by the tobacco industry. During that time, thousands died from fires started by dropped or misplaced cigarettes.
When supporters of fire-safe cigarettes realized the heavy lobbying effort was thwarting federal legislation, they started going to the states for relief. New York enacted the first state law in 2004, 30 years after the first attempt in Congress.
Delaware's new law went into effect Jan. 1, although Phillip Morris USA started shipping the new cigarettes -- marked on the side as FSC -- last summer. . . .
For those who insist on continuing their smoking habits, at least now their cigarettes are a bit more safe in Delaware, and that's a good thing.
A man was injured Sunday when he sparked a fire by lighting a cigarette while on oxygen, fire officials said.
It was the state's fifth fire this year that was started by an open flame near oxygen, Assistant Fire Marshal Michael Chionchio said.
Sunday's blaze broke out at 5:30 a.m. at the mobile home in the 36000 block of Estate Drive in the Camelot Mobile Home Park, near Rehoboth Beach.
It was lunch time at Irish Eyes Pub, on the waterfront in Lewes, when someone smelled smoke.
The restaurant managers got the 10 employees and several tables of patrons out of the building before smoke and flames engulfed it.
No one was injured but the year-old building was reduced to little more than a shell, said Kathy Newcomb, one of the owners. The interior was gone. . . .
The cause has not been determined, though Newcomb said there is some speculation that a smoldering cigarette rolled under the building, caught fire and was stoked by high winds.
After a fast-moving fire caused by a discarded cigarette claimed three lives near New Castle last year, state fire officials urged legislators to mandate fire-safe cigarettes in Delaware.
Beginning 12:01 a.m. Thursday, a new law will require all cigarettes sold in Delaware be reduced ignition propensity cigarettes -- better known as fire-safe cigarettes.
"This is a significant step in Delaware," Assistant State Fire Marshal Michael Chionchio said. "The goal for us is fire prevention."
Delaware joins 22 other states, plus the District of Columbia, in enacting fire-safe cigarette laws. New York was the first state to pass such a law in June 2004.
Laws in Delaware, Iowa, Oklahoma, Texas and Pennsylvania all take effect Thursday.
Another 15 states have laws that take effect later in 2009 and in 2010, while New Jersey and Maryland implemented fire-safe cigarette laws this year, according to the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes.
This New Year will bring not only a clean slate and fresh start but fire-safe cigarettes for all the draggers buying smokes from the state of Delaware.
A new law requires that all cigarettes sold in Delaware, starting January 1, must be fire-safe. Fire-safe meaning the cigarettes should extinguish themselves in about 15 to 20 seconds if not smoked.
DOVER -- The head of Delaware's Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement has been fired, and the division's supervisory agent is on the way out as well.
In a statement released Tuesday, Department of Safety and Homeland Security Secretary David Mitchell said DATE director Daniel Kline was terminated Monday, and that agent Michael Downs had been suspended with the intent to terminate last week.
The two men were suspended with pay in August following a complaint that state officials said involved "serious impropriety."
Rehoboth Beach commissioner Paul Kuhns says town council members will have more discussions later this year about a possible smoking ban on the beach.
Kuhns says the discussion is being driven by complaints about litter on the beach and on the boardwalk and complaints about second-hand smoke.
It's important that Tennesseans are aware that assistance is available when they choose to quit. In my job, I encourage people each day to stop using tobacco -- to recognize this unhealthy behavior as one that could have potentially fatal consequences.
--Barbara Forbes, MSN, GNP
coordinator of the Institute for Smoking Prevention and Cessation
Vanderbilt Dayani Center
There's too much money being made from cancer.
Just like gas, cigarettes are taxed and Uncle Sam wants to make sure there's continued profits being made, while trying to appear as a public health protector.