Tobacco.org

American Snuff settles into new Memphis digs 

Memphis is hundreds of miles from Tobacco Road, but a major tobacco company has staked $130 million and the growing part of its future here.

Reynolds American Inc. later this month finishes moving its smokeless-tobacco American Snuff Co. and 170 employees from a 100-year-old plant near Downtown Memphis to a new, $130 million plant in Southeast Memphis.

Blending and packaging of flagship-brand Grizzly, Kodiak and other moist snuff products has already started in the 787,500-square-foot former HP distribution center at 5106 Tradeport.

The move from the old plant on Keel, north of Downtown, is 60 percent complete, said Gene Crain, American Snuff's senior director of manufacturing.

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Efforts to curb cigarette smoking failing in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama 

As students, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama flunked the no-smoking class.

The three states racked up a row of F's from the American Lung Association's annual report card that grades states on their efforts to curb cigarette usage. The State of Control report looks at four categories: tobacco prevention, control and spending; state smoking restrictions; cigarette tax rate; and state cessation coverage.

Out of the three states, Tennessee has the highest number of smokers -- 20 percent of adults and high school students -- and the highest number of deaths from smoking per 100,000 population.

However, Alabama and Georgia are not far behind in both percentage of smokers or deaths caused by smoking, with all three states ranking high in national percentages. . . .

In its annual report, the Lung Association found many states regressed in 2011. No state passed a strong smoke-free air law, and Nevada weakened its existing law. No state increased its tobacco tax significantly and more than a dozen states cut or eliminated funding of tobacco control and prevention programs.

Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama all spend only a fraction of the recommended funding for tobacco prevention and control spending.

In addition, three states have some of the lowest cigarette taxes in the nation, with Georgia's ranking fourth lowest, Alabama coming in at fifth and Tennessee adding a few more pennies at the 13th lowest tax in the nation.

It doesn't look as if 2012 will bring many improvements in the tri-state region

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• Fairmount Apartments smoking ban first for Chattanooga  

Jesse Lawrence has smoked for more than 20 years, but she supports the Chattanooga Housing Authority's policy to make Fairmount Apartments the first nonsmoking public housing site in the city.

"If you know you're living in government property, you have to live by their rules," said Lawrence, who lives in East Lake Courts.

Lawrence, who said she's been trying to stop smoking for a year, is among the Chattanooga public housing residents who will be watching in March when the $4.6 million Fairmount Apartments opens with its nonsmoking policy.

CHA board members are scheduled to discuss the nonsmoking rule at its board meeting Tuesday.

If all goes as planned when Fairmount opens, CHA will become one of more than 285 public housing sites nationwide -- about 10 percent of the country's total -- with a ban on indoor smoking, according to the Michigan-based Smoke Free Environment Law Project

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MILSTONE: Smoking: Focus on workers quitting, not a hiring ban  

The idea that businesses should not hire tobacco users may look good on paper, but it doesn't provide a solution to the larger issue: ending addiction to a deadly substance.

A Jan. 12 article in The Tennessean, "More employers refuse to hire tobacco users," reported on the growing trend . . .

Larger companies should consider contacting the American Lung Association about developing a series of on-site "Freedom from Smoking" classes in the workplace.

I believe a company's tobacco policy must recognize that we're dealing with tobacco dependency, a powerful addiction that threatens the health of the individual and, yes, contributes to rising health-care costs in Tennessee. We don't solve this by being exclusionary; we solve this tobacco crisis by developing proven, benevolent cessation programs that help Tennesseans live a healthier, better life.

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Cop fired for violating city's non-smoking policy 

NEWBERN, Tenn. -- A Tennessee police department says it has fired an officer after 17 years on the force because he repeatedly smoked cigarettes inside the precinct in violation of the city's no smoking policy.

Newbern police Sgt. James Bishop was terminated last week. A 2007 city policy prohibits smoking inside all municipal offices and buildings. . . .

Dunivant said he continued to get complaints about Bishop smoking indoors and was forced to fire him.

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Newbern police officer fired for repeatedly smoking in police precinct  

A Newbern Police officer of 17 years was terminated from his position at the Newbern Police Department last week for allegedly smoking repeatedly inside the precinct despite warnings.

Sgt. James Bishop was terminated from his position as sergeant for violation of Newbern's No Smoking policy. The State Gazette obtained a copy of Bishop's termination letter, which Newbern Police Chief Harold Dunivant sent to Bishop.

In the letter, Dunivant states under the city's no-smoking policy, smoking is prohibited in all municipal offices and buildings, which includes the police department. . . .

"Under the circumstances, I am forced to conclude that your continued violation of both the no smoking policy, and my several warnings and admonitions, constitutes willful and intentional work related misconduct under the city's personnel policy and state law, which justify the termination of your employment," stated Dunivant in the letter to Bishop.

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Prawns and tobacco find a home together on some farms 

Some farmers now grow niche crops instead of or in addition to tobacco. Niche crops are aimed at a particular market, but choosing what to plant can be difficult. Professor Tony Johnston at Middle Tennessee State University says most tobacco farms are relatively small.

TONY JOHNSTON: "The big issue for all the tobacco growing states is to find those small crops, those niche crops that would provide enough cash flow with fairly similar amounts of area on which you plant your crops."

Some tobacco farmers have chosen to raise prawns, or freshwater shrimp. This kind of shellfish is used in different foods and often served cold in what Americans call shrimp cocktails. The British call them prawn cocktails.

Tennessee farmer Jane Corbin says she got into this aquaculture business almost by accident.

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EDITORIAL: Smoke free policy at MTSU good for campus  

MTSU is clearing the air on its campus this semester with the institution of its previously approved commitment to become a tobacco-free campus. It's a responsible move overall that protects the health of students and faculty alike by shielding them from the damaging effects of second-hand smoke. . . .

The university has cut prices on nicotine-replacement products sold at the campus pharmacy through spring semester and is also offering cessation consultation. We hope such services are utilized by those who would like to make a break from an unhealthy habit, and we suspect those thousands of nonsmokers on MTSU's campus each day are breathing a bit easier knowing that the chances of walking into a cloud of deadly smoke on campus is being snuffed out.

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EDITORIAL: Smoke free policy at MTSU good for campus 

Yes, there's no debating that smoking is deadly and addictive. And it is now public policy to reduce the number of smokers in our midst, apparently in an effort to protect people from themselves, but also to address the drain on public health resources stemming from smoke-related diseases. (But including chewing tobacco and snuff, as well as smokeless electronic cigarettes and other similar devices in MTSU's policy strikes us as Big Brother morphing into the morality police.)

In announcing the tobacco free campus move last summer, MTSU President Sidney McPhee said that "more than 400 colleges and universities across the nation are completely smoke-free on their campuses." According to McPhee, the main reason for the tobacco-free move is to maintain a healthy and safe environment for all students, faculty, staff and visitors. That's a laudable goal, and thankfully efforts have been made by the university to assist tobacco users in weaning themselves from cigarettes.

The university has cut prices on nicotine-replacement products sold at the campus pharmacy through spring semester and is also offering cessation consultation. We hope such services are utilized by those who would like to make a break from an unhealthy habit, and we suspect those thousands of nonsmokers on MTSU's campus each day are breathing a bit easier knowing that the chances of walking into a cloud of deadly smoke on campus is being snuffed out.

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Want that job? Quit smoking and boost your odds 

More U.S. job-seekers are facing an added requirement before they can land a job: no smoking at work or anytime.

But, so far in Tennessee, only one hospital company, in Chattanooga, has gone so far as to block smokers from being hired. And some say a 22-year-old state law pushed through by tobacco lobbyists may be playing a role in turning other businesses away from exploring the idea.

Under that 1990-era law, employers are barred from firing employees for using legal "agricultural products" such as tobacco, though there's no mention about smoking as a factor in decisions on who gets hired.

"That's a gray area in the statute," said Kara Shea, an attorney in the employment law practice group at Miller & Martin PLLC in Nashville. "I definitely tell employers in Tennessee: 'Don't fire people because (they) smoke.' Hiring, I tell them that it's risky, but not illegal."

The single East Tennessee hospital that makes hiring decisions by taking smoking habits into consideration contends it took that step to set a good example, not necessarily to cut health-care expenses. . . .

Not everyone agrees with the don't hire smokers movement, and even in the public health community the issue stirs a degree of outrage.

"These policies represent employment discrimination. It's a very dangerous precedent," says Michael Siegel, a professor at Boston University's School of Public Health. He says the restrictions punish smokers rather than helping them quit.

Federal laws do not consider this sort of no-smoking hiring policy illegal because they don't recognize smokers as a protected class, says Chris Kuzynski with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

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Hookah bar hosts dance party  

Tarboosh, a hookah bar on Franklin Street, opened just a few months ago and is already hosting a second dance party, starting 10 p.m. Saturday. Owned by Fatah Hantouli and Hisham Dhair, both Jerusalem natives, Tarboosh offers 25 flavors of shisha (tobacco) and many Mediterranean dishes.

The idea for holding events at Tarboosh sprouted from three loyal customers. W. Alexander Elliott, Kara Jensen and Jenna Perry had an epiphany one night while relaxing and enjoying Tarboosh's Turkish coffee. They decided the hookah bar would be a perfect place to set up DJs and have an event.

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Tobacco Farmers Facing Uncertain Future  

"At one point it got kind of hostile. The local farmers, family farmers, we feel like they don't care about us." Tim Harrell is a Tobacco farmer in Tennessee.

He was inside a closed door meeting Friday in Greenville where Phillip Morris U.S.A. announced they were closing down their tobacco buying operation in east Tennessee.

According to farmer John Cavin, this will affect the local economy in several ways. "This station serviced 138 farm families that produced 6 million pounds of tobacco, that generated 10 point 5 million dollars in sales."

Cavin estimates that the area economy will lose up to 25 million dollars a year.

Phillip Morris U.S.A. spokesman Ken Garcia told me this was simply a business decision they had to make. "To better align our operations that we have to but both burley and flu cured tobacco. We have stations in Yanceyville, North Carolina and Danville, Kentucky."

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Tobacco farmers expect Philip Morris to announce station closure 

Local tobacco farmers expect bad news this week after years of shrinking sales. They're worried Philip Morris will close a key facility in Northeast Tennessee.

For decades, Greene County boasted the biggest burley hauls in the state. But by 2010, the county had slipped to sixth as fewer and fewer farms cultivated the cash crop.

The Philip Morris receiving station in Midway (also called Tennessee Valley Tobacco Services) still takes in 6,000,000 pounds of burley tobacco a year -- most of it from Upper East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.

"It will be roughly $10.5 million in sales lost if this receiving station closes," Jonathan Cavin said.

Cavin, of Cavin Farms, said 138 farmers use the station. They're worried Philip Morris -- and parent company Altria Group -- will close it and direct shipments 175 miles north to Danville, Kentucky.

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MTSU campus to go tobacco-free in the new year  

A new year will bring a hardline new policy on the Middle Tennessee State University campus. The university will go entirely tobacco-free.

The policy will ban every type of tobacco from campus. It sparked some opposition when the university first announced it earlier this year, but those pushing the change see it as the right step.

"The new tobacco policy prohibits the use of all tobacco products on campus, including cigarettes and cigars, chewing tobacco and snuff and smokeless tobacco devices," said Lisa Schrader, director of health promotion at MTSU.

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Knoxville roll-your-own-cigarette shop gaining popularity 

It's a concept that's caught on around the country, and now it's in Knoxville. They are stores with machines that will let you roll your own cigarettes.

Nationally, there has been some controversy over the roll-your-own-smokes machines because customers don't have to pay a cigarette tax.

However, the state of Tennessee does not appear to be kicking up a fuss over it.

Smokes 4 Less on Western Avenue advertises up to 50% off a carton of cigarettes.

Customer Erica Smith was making a carton Thursday, and says she's never going back to traditional cigarettes. "Because they burn longer, slower and they are cheaper."

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