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• Philip Morris USA Sues Retailers to Stop Counterfeit Cigarette Sales  

Philip Morris USA (PM USA) filed lawsuits against ten retailers selling counterfeit versions of the company's Marlboro� brand cigarettes in New York and New Jersey.

"The New York metropolitan area continues to be a lucrative market for counterfeit and contraband cigarette smugglers," said Joe Murillo, vice president and associate general counsel, Altria Client Services, speaking on behalf of PM USA. "High excise taxes, coupled with New York state's lack of effective tax enforcement, only makes the problem worse," added Murillo.

"These lawsuits are the latest in a series of filings by Philip Morris USA aimed at combating the sale of counterfeit cigarettes in New York and New Jersey," said Murillo. Since May 2009, Philip Morris has filed lawsuits against 27 retail locations in New York and New Jersey for selling counterfeit Marlboro� brand cigarettes

In addition to violating many trademark laws, counterfeit cigarettes are almost always sold without the appropriate federal and state excise tax. The counterfeit cigarettes purchased from the retailers named in today's suits bore no tax stamp or a counterfeit tax stamp. As a result, the applicable excise taxes were not paid. . . .

Eastern District of New York

Maria’s Deli Grocery 143-20 101 Avenue, Richmond Hills, NY 11419

Loveras Grocery 996 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225

Southern District of New York

Aloshe Mini Market 1889 Guerlain Street, Bronx, NY 10461

El Barrio Grocery Deli 39 West 183rd Street, Bronx, NY 10453

Fernandez Grocery Corp. 1665 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10029

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• Philip Morris USA sues over counterfeit Marlboros 

Philip Morris USA is accusing 10 New York and New Jersey retailers of selling counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes.

The nation's largest tobacco company announced the federal lawsuits against the retailers Thursday.

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• EDITORIAL: Pass the Atlantic City casino smoking ban 

The legislature, after allowing casinos to escape the statewide indoor smoking ban in 2006, has refused to close this loophole. Lawmakers continually have chosen casino balance sheets over the health of the average Joe. But this is a moral, not economic issue: What amount of money makes it acceptable to put people's lives at risk?

We know the answer: None.

And that's why there's a tobacco stain on New Jersey's soul.

The Atlantic City council has a second chance to do the right thing and pass a casino smoking ban immediately. . . .

Opponents of the ban insist gambling and drinking and smoking go together. Well, actually, they don't. Studies have found that the majority of gamblers don't drink and 82 percent of them don't smoke.

Through all of the debate, one argument remains indisputable: Second-hand smoke kills.

But in New Jersey, cash trumps cancer risks.

"A 100 percent smoking ban would be catastrophic," said Mark Juliano, CEO of Trump Entertainment Resorts. "Right now, we can't face another negative."

Since when is saving lives a negative?

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• Atlantic City to debate casino smoking ban again  

"I like it the way it is now. If they banned smoking in Atlantic City, I would go to the Indian reservation casinos in Connecticut just to smoke," DePierro vowed as her husband, James, nodded his head in agreement.

A year after Atlantic City delayed a total smoking ban at the request of the powerful gaming industry, city officials are again debating whether the casinos should go smoke-free. City Council backed away from a ban last year amid warnings that smokers would take their business elsewhere, further depressing casino earnings in the soft economy.

But council members also promised then to revisit the issue in a year. Just as it was on Oct. 8, 2008 - when it voted 5-4 to scrap the smoking ban - council remains divided.

The timing of a new vote is unclear. On Friday, the City Clerk's Office released the agenda for the next council meeting on Wednesday and it did not include the smoking ban.

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• N.J. assemblywoman seeks sale restrictions for e-cigarettes 

State Assemblywoman Connie Wagner (D-Begen) said she is concerned that e-cigarettes are being marketed to children because they offer flavors like chocolate, banana and strawberry.

The Democrat from Paramus intends to introduce a bill in the Legislature subjecting them to the same restrictions as pipes and regular cigarettes. . . .

Wagner's bill would prohibit their use in public places and workplaces.

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• N.J. prevails in lawsuit against out-of-state tobacco seller Red Jacket  

The state government has prevailed on all counts of a lawsuit it filed a year ago charging New-York-based cigarette seller Red Jacket Tobacco with illegal business practices related to the advertising and sale, by mail order, of "tax free" cigarettes in New Jersey, Attorney General Anne Milgram announced Monday.

In a decision issued by state Superior Court Judge Maria M. Sypek, Red Jacket and its owner, Lesley A. Hoag, were ordered to pay more than $760,000 in penalties, costs and fees requested by the state Division of Consumer Affairs and the state Division of Taxation.

Sypek found that Red Jacket violated state laws by selling cigarettes in New Jersey without a license, and by selling cigarettes not listed in the New Jersey Tobacco Manufacturer's Directory.

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• VIDEO: Officials target electronic smoking devices 

"Smoke in taxis" flashes across a flat-screen television at the unambiguously named Smoking Everywhere kiosks. "Smoke at sporting events. Smoke at the movies. Smoke at the office."

To bring the message home, a salesman at Westfield Garden State Plaza took a drag and blew three perfectly formed rings toward shoppers strolling out of J.C. Penney.

According to the product's marketers, that substance may look like cigarette smoke, but it's as harmless as water vapor. It's almost completely odorless, they say, and it dissipates in seconds.

But some North Jersey health officials aren't convinced.

Buoyed by a recent Federal Drug Administration study that found electronic cigarettes may contain carcinogens and toxic chemicals -- including diethylene glycol, a substance found in antifreeze -- state and local officials have issued warnings about using them or leaving them where they can be reached by children.

Paramus health officials said they are alarmed by reports of people using electronic cigarettes at Westfield Garden State Plaza and are considering a ban on the use of e-cigarettes in indoor public places or work environments, just like regular cigarettes. It would be one of the first bans of its kind in the country.

"The safety of these things cannot be assured," said Paramus Health Department Director John Hopper. "Our concern is the effect to the non-smoking public who may be breathing the vapors of these things -- because they do give off vapors -- in public places." . . .

Darnell White, who owns Smoking Everywhere franchises at the Westfield Garden State Plaza and Palisades Center malls and sells electronic cigarettes online at smokingeverywhere.biz, defended his company, saying it refuses to sell to children under 18 and claiming the product keeps people from smoking traditional cigarettes.

"Anything that gets people away from regular cigarettes is a plus in my book," said White, himself a non-smoker. "At the end of the day, this product has helped hundreds of people to stop smoking." . . .

But smokeless cigarette distributors say the agency has overstepped its authority. Smoking Everywhere sued the FDA in April after the agency seized several of its shipments.

As for Paramus' possible smoking ban, White says he won't let it pass without a fight.

"The name of the company is Smoking Everywhere," he said. "Everywhere means the malls also."

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• Buono Bill Would Ban Smoking In Public Parks And Beaches 

Citing studies that document the health risks to non-smokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke, as well as environmental concerns, Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) said today she is introducing a bill to ban smoking at all state, county and municipal parks and beaches.

“While cigarette smoking has declined dramatically since the first Surgeon General’s report more than 40 years ago, tobacco continues to take a deadly toll,” Sen. Buono said. “A report on tobacco use in America by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies found that among the 440,000 annual deaths caused by tobacco are 50,000 non-smokers killed by the smoking of others.”

Sen. Buono, chairwoman of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, said the IM report points out smoking kills more people each year than AIDS, alcohol use, cocaine use, heroin use, homicides, suicides, motor vehicle accidents and fires, combined.

An avid runner, Senator Buono has drawn from her personal experiences running in public parks, prompting this legislation. "This issue has been on my agenda for a long time,” Sen. Buono said. “Now we have empirical data which support the passage of this public health and environmental protection measure.”

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• UPDATE: Lawmaker aims to ban smoking at NJ beaches and parks 

Three years after New Jerseyans were banned from smoking indoors, a top state lawmaker wants to keep them from lighting up in many outdoor spots as well.

"It's moved beyond a nuisance to a health hazard," said Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex), who plans to introduce a bill when the Legislature returns, likely in November.

The push follows a similar proposal this week by New York City's health commissioner and comes amid a national debate over the cost of health care. In launching her proposal today, Buono cited studies showing that secondhand smoke can cause health problems, even if the smoker's outside.

For example, a child who is outdoors with a smoking parent can experience significant exposure, a Stanford University study found. It also showed that even short-term exposure to outdoor smoke for people at risk of, or who have, heart disease could be "life-threatening."

"Parks and beaches are places that people go with children in order to breathe the fresh air and to exercise," Buono said.

Smokers "don't have a right to impose these health risks on the nonsmoking public," she added.

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• Jersey Town Bans Smoking on Beach, Boardwalk, Sidewalk  

But little Bradley Beach is about to one-up everybody.

The mayor and town council say they will soon pass an ordinance to ban smoking on the beach, the boardwalk, in fact, all the way out to the curb of Ocean Avenue (that includes a sidewalk).

"I usually don't come here that much because I have bad asthma and I really can't take it," says Calli Dobrzynski, a member of the Mayor's Youth Advisory Board.

So Calli asked her fellow board members to support smoking zones for their beach. . . .

The total beach and boardwalk smoking ban won't take effect until after this summer's season is over.

But when they took the idea to the council, the adults decided to go a step further and just ban smoking. Period.

"Why stop at a partial ban? Why not just say we are committed to keeping our beach clean and our people healthy," said Mayor Julie Schreck.

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• Seaside rolls out no-smoking zones on beaches  

SEASIDE HEIGHTS -- After nearly a year of considering options, the borough this week unveiled no-smoking sections on the beaches.

The borough adopted an ordinance at the end of 2008 giving the council the authority to designate no-smoking zones, Borough Administrator John Camera said. In June, the council set rules that allow smokers to remain in the 20 feet closest to the boardwalk, but the rest of the beach is designated as nonsmoking.

"It seems like a pretty good compromise. We don't want to turn anyone away," Camera said, adding that the governing body considered many different options to balance the needs of smokers and nonsmokers.

"They have already received some concerns from residents that it's not enough of an area, or it's not being enforced enough," he said.

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• VIDEO: What is an E-Cigarette? 

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• Complete smoking ban begins at state psychiatric facilities 

Beginning today, smoking will be banned in all areas of the Greystone Park and Ancora psychiatric hospitals, with similar bans to follow at three other state psychiatric facilities, Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Velez said.

Smoking already is forbidden inside state psychiatric hospitals. The measure extends the ban to outdoor areas and affects patients, employees and visitors.

The ban comes 15 months after Gov. Jon Corzine signed legislation that divided the state's mental health community; proponents praised the health benefits for patients while opponents said the ban it violates patients' civil rights.

"This initiative mirrors what is being done at hospitals, medical centers and corporations throughout the country and supports the Division of Mental Health Services' efforts to embrace a system which focuses on wellness and recovery," Velez said.

Deputy Human Services Commissioner Kevin Martone cited a national study from 2006 that showed people with mental illness live an average of 25 years less than the general population. Some 75 percent are estimated to be addicted to nicotine, contributing to the premature death, the study found.

"That's not acceptable. Our intent is to increase the life-spans of our patients, not to shorten them,"

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Our intent is to increase the life-spans of our patients, not to shorten them. As providers of health care, our state psychiatric hospitals should treat the illness, whether it is schizophrenia, nicotine dependence or high blood pressure.
Deputy Human Services Commissioner Kevin Martone, on the extension of NJ's smoking ban in psychiatric hospitals to the entire campus.

• Belmar tightens beach smoking rules even further 

Cigarette breaks on the beach here are about to get more complicated.

Already known as the first beach in the continental United States to limit smoking to designated areas -- under a law passed in 2001 -- Belmar now plans to limit those areas even further, the Township Council announced today.

Until now, smokers were allowed to light up within 100 feet of smoking signs that stood every 400 feet along the beach. All told, 20 percent of the beach was set aside for smoking, enough to allow smokers to set up their chairs within the designated areas.

But beginning this beach season, each smoking area will shrink significantly, some to as small as 20 by 30 feet. Smokers will need to walk to the designated areas every time they feel an urge to puff.

And, unlike before, the boundaries of the smoking areas will be delineated by a plastic chain or a rope, to make enforcement easier.

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• NJ man pleads to smuggling 16 million cigarettes 

A New Jersey man pleaded guilty Tuesday to smuggling nearly 16 million cigarettes he bought from undercover federal agents in Virginia to sell in New York and New Jersey.

Mark A. Frondelli, 48, of Parlin, N.J., admitted as part of a plea agreement in U.S. District Court in Alexandria that he paid more than $2.3 million in cash in 47 separate transactions with undercover agents between November 2007 and August 2008.

Nearly all of the purchases were made in northern Virginia, though some were made in New Jersey and Maryland. . . .

Mike Campbell, a spokesman for the Washington field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said Fairfax County has become a hot spot for cigarette smugglers. As cigarette taxes have increased in some states, so has the profit opportunity for smugglers.

Campbell said one recent case involved an offer to pay for contraband cigarettes with a kilogram of cocaine; another case revealed links to Korean organized crime.

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