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With just about 50 days to go before the Commonwealth’s landmark smoking ban goes into effect, Governor Timothy M. Kaine is joining dining patrons and community leaders across Virginia today to highlight restaurants that have already gone smoke-free. The new law—called “monumental” in one of the nation’s biggest tobacco-producing states—takes effect December 1 and will prohibit smoking in nearly all restaurants across the Commonwealth. The Governor is visiting successful restaurants in Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke and Fairfax County that have voluntarily gone smoke-free.
“This historic public health measure will only enhance the high quality of life Virginians have come to enjoy by protecting restaurant patrons and employees from the serious health risks of secondhand smoke,” said Governor Kaine. “With a growing number of Virginia restaurants that have already found they can be both smoke-free and successful, I encourage other restaurants to go smoke-free before December 1 to immediately protect restaurant-goers and workers alike.”
By enacting a ban on smoking in the Commonwealth’s bars and restaurants, Virginia joins the 27 states and the District of Columbia which have already passed similar legislation. Virginia’s law permits narrow exceptions for private clubs and restaurants with designated smoking rooms that are structurally separate and independently vented from non-smoking dining rooms.
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Gov. Timothy M. Kaine will be in Norfolk today to help kick off the countdown to the state's restaurant smoking ban.
Kaine will speak at 8:30 a.m. at Panera Bread, 739 W. 21st St., a news release from his office says.
The state's smoking ban takes effect Dec. 1.
Kaine also plans to events to kick of the smoking ban in Richmond, Roanoke and Burke, the release says.
RICHMOND -- Farming, David Ferrell says, "is all I ever wanted to do."
At age 20, the recent Virginia Tech grad sees a good future in farming, even for tobacco, a crop that has sustained his family's farm in Charlotte County for several generations.
Despite the many uncertainties in tobacco, including declining U.S. smoking rates, rising tobacco taxes and regulation of the industry by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Ferrell and his brother, Kevin, 24, are investing in tobacco production. They are following in the footsteps of their father, Timmy, 50, who is still active in the operation.
"When I finished school and made my decision about coming back to the farm, I thought about whether there was a future in tobacco, and I think there is," David Ferrell said. "Tobacco will always be grown. How much I don't know, but I do feel it has a future."
He describes the farm as "a true agribusiness" now. Unlike the smaller tobacco farms of 10 or 20 acres limited by federal quotas attached to the land, theirs is an unregulated operation increasingly using mechanization, and producing 150 acres of leaf for tobacco companies on a contract basis.
Two Eastern Shore men were sentenced to probation Monday after pleading guilty in federal court to trafficking thousands of cartons of contraband cigarettes.
Senel Cuce, 29, co-owner of the Sunrise Family Market and Pizzeria in Exmore, and his manager, Ali Riza Zulam, were placed on five months of home detention with electronic monitoring.
Both immigrated here from Turkey. Zulam, 41, of Poc omoke City, Md., obtained permanent residency and is married to a U.S. citizen so he likely will not be deported.
Cuce, however, has not obtained residency and will face deportation proceedings. Cuce used to live in Norfolk, where he ran Sunrise Pizzeria on Tidewater Drive several years ago. He now lives in Melfa.
The two admitted selling dozens of cartons of cigarettes at a time to black marketeers who would deliver them to New York and Pennsylvania, where cigarette taxes are much higher than in Virginia. The two were arrested earlier this year after selling contraband cigarettes to undercover federal agents.
Whether he's talking Marlboro cigarettes, or Altria's recently acquired Black & Mild cigar or Copenhagen snuff lines, Hayes is on the front line of one of the fiercest battles in business.
The main battlefield is at the counters of convenience stores, drugstores and smoke shops such as Cigarettes Unlimited.
The objective is more shelf space.
The main weapon is money.
The Federal Trade Commission's latest report on cigarette sales, advertising and promotions, released last week, said major tobacco companies spent $9.2 billion on discounts to retailers and wholesalers in 2006, largely in return for shelf space. Cigarette companies keep their contracts closely guarded secrets.
The gains, sometimes, are counted in inches.
"It is amazing," Price said of salespeople for tobacco companies. "They will argue over one pack on that rack: 'He's got one more pack than I do.'" . . .
Altria will not disclose terms or incentives paid -- or, for that matter, even the number of salespeople working with retailers -- but a recent paper in the medical journal Tobacco Control estimates that roughly two-thirds of stores that sell tobacco in the U.S. have some kind of contract with Philip Morris.
Working with retailers is critical to other tobacco companies, too.
"We have to work where we are allowed as hard as possible," said Reynolds American spokeswoman Maura Payne. Reynolds, the second-biggest cigarette company also owns the second-largest smokeless company, but keeps its cigarette and smokeless sales teams separate.
Their aims are simple, even if terms of contracts and incentives are among the most closely guarded business secrets in the tobacco industry, retailers say.
"They want people walking into your store to know the product they want is in stock, that it's fresh,"
Smokers still huddle outside the doors of more than half of America's hospitals -- and 65 percent of Virginia's -- a new study found.
But the study, published this week in the medical journal Tobacco Control, says more hospitals are moving to having a completely smoke-free campus.
In central Virginia, HCA's Chippenham and Johnston-Willis campuses went tobacco-free -- even banning smokeless tobacco -- last year, said Karen Nelson, executive director for marketing.
In November, HCA's Henrico Doctors', Parham Doctors' and Retreat Doctors' campuses will follow suit. John Randolph Medical Center in Hopewell will go tobacco-free sometime after that, Nelson said.
Big changes are coming to the tobacco industry, and we've ramped up our coverage in the Richmond Times-Dispatch to keep you informed.
Tobacco has long been a focus of our coverage -- the business has been a key component of Virginia's economy since soon after its founding at Jamestown. Now more than ever, Richmond is at the heart of the industry.
We are home to the nation's No. 1 cigarette-maker, Philip Morris USA, and its parent company, Altria Group Inc. Philip Morris operates one of the largest cigarette plants in the world in South Richmond. Altogether, Altria employs more than 5,000 in the Richmond area.
Myriad other tobacco-related businesses big and small populate the region, from venerable tobacco broker Universal Corp. to more recent arrival Swedish Match North America.
The health consequences of smoking continue to be widely debated, with long-sought legislation to ban smoking in restaurants finally making it through the General Assembly this year.
One of the real tests of how federal regulation will affect tobacco use could be something you'll spot at a convenience store counter.
A new law signed by President Barack Obama yesterday will, among many changes, move all tobacco products -- snuff and cigars as well as cigarettes -- behind the counter.
How they share space back there could clear the way for more competition in a market now dominated by Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc.
It's competition that Chesterfield County-based Swedish Match North America is hoping for, and a rule it believes could lead to something it's long wanted: more space on retailer's shelves for its snuff and chewing tobacco.
"It's back to old fashioned blocking and tackling, how to be more competitive -- including against cigarettes," said Gerry Roerty, Swedish Match's president and general counsel.
Both Richmond-area tobacco companies broke with most of the rest of the tobacco industry in supporting the regulation of tobacco by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. . . . .
"This puts Philip Morris absolutely in control of the American market," said Alan Blum, director of the Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society at the University of Alabama. "This means Marlboro is king."
It is also likely to make oral tobacco -- snuff and similar products -- a major public-health issue, he said.
Swedish Match thinks regulation could open up the market, especially for its oral tobacco, Roerty said.
Swedish Match North America is a Richmond-based company that has been in the smokeless tobacco business in the United States for more than 100 years -- our brands include Red Man chewing tobacco and Timber Wolf and Longhorn moist snuff. . . .
Swedish Match supports meaningful and effective regulation of its tobacco products, believing that manufacturers and regulators should provide consumers with information about tobacco products, so that consumers can make educated choices about which products to purchase.
It is our belief that the FDA bill, which we supported, calls for a regulatory scheme that, if appropriately implemented and administered, would allow adult tobacco consumers to make such choices. . . .
Swedish Match is prepared to work closely with retailers to make sure that adequate, visible shelf space is maintained to allow adult tobacco consumers to make educated choices about which product they want to purchase. By doing so, our company believes that retailers have the greatest opportunity to experience continued growth of the moist snuff category.
In summary, while Congress has completed its work on federal tobacco legislation, the FDA will have to go through an extensive process to establish the specific rules that govern the production, sale, and marketing of smokeless tobacco, cigarettes and roll-you-own tobacco.
Communities are often defined, at least in part, by the businesses that call them home. The history of our great commonwealth has been closely intertwined with tobacco since the first days of Jamestown.
Tobacco has played and continues to play an important role in Virginia's economy. . . .
By supporting FDA regulation, we hoped to provide leadership in helping resolve many of the issues that concern the public, our consumers, the public health community, and our tobacco companies, including a framework for guidance on harm-reduction efforts.
Is the legislation is perfect? No. The bill awaiting the president's signature is the result of compromises by all involved. There are some provisions that we believe cross constitutional limits, and we made our views well-known on that. . . .
Clearly, regulation will mean changes for the industry. Many have fought against regulation and continue to resist the changes it will bring, claiming some companies will gain a unique competitive advantage from this legislation. To the contrary, the legislation establishes a level playing field for all industry players.
As in any industry, the companies that best meet the evolving preferences of their consumers while adapting to a new environment will be the ones that succeed. That is exactly what we plan to do.
In the end, having clear rules established by a federal agency should provide more predictability for how all tobacco businesses are expected to operate. And that predictability will best serve the interests of our consumers, employees, retirees, suppliers, and the countless others who benefit from the fact that Altria calls Richmond home.
--Martin J. Barrington is executive vice president and chief compliance and administrative officer for Altria Group Inc.
Many have fought against regulation and continue to resist the changes it will bring, claiming some companies will gain a unique competitive advantage from this legislation. To the contrary, the legislation establishes a level playing field for all industry players.Philip Morris exec Martin J. Barrington offers more of the company's traditional straight-talk, this time on the FDA bill.
A discriminatory bill currently pending in the Canadian Parliament would endanger agricultural jobs and could signal a worldwide movement against Virginia burley. If passed, the bill would essentially ban all burley exports from the U.S. to Canada, resulting in far-reaching, negative implications for the burley growing industry.
The Virginia tobacco industry generates hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Virginia tobacco farms are typically small family farms with few alternative crops capable of generating the per acre returns necessary to support their operations.
"More than 900 Virginia farmers depend on the production of tobacco to support their farming operations and rural communities," said Wayne Pryor, President of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation. "Farm sales of tobacco in Virginia will exceed $70 million in farm value this year, and this bill would have a devastating impact on Virginia agriculture."
The original intent of the bill (Canada Bill C-32) was to ban only candy-flavored little cigars. But it has been written so broadly that it will apply to all cigarettes and will ban all flavorings used with Virginia-grown burley, effectively prohibiting the manufacture and sale of American blend cigarettes - with Virginia-grown burley tobacco - in Canada. American blend cigarettes contain burley tobacco and use certain ingredients to aid in the manufacturing process and to provide the products with their distinct taste. Unlike the products that are supposed to be targeted by the bill, these American blend cigarettes do not have a fruity or sweet odor or flavor.
Virginia corrections officials have quietly begun banning cigarettes in some state prisons and plan to make the entire system tobacco-free by February 2010. The health measure follows a national trend but has left public-safety advocates worried that inmate control could become more difficult.
The policy represents the latest in a series of anti-smoking steps taken in a state where tobacco has dominated the economy and politics for generations. A ban on smoking in restaurants goes into effect Dec. 1, and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) began the process in late 2006 of banning smoking in most state office buildings.
"We've all seen the writing on the wall, all around the country and over the past several years," said Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections. He said prisoners and employees of Virginia's 32,600-inmate system were notified this year that tobacco would be banned completely after a one-year implementation period.
Already, eight of 40 prisons are either smoke-free or allow employees to smoke only in designated areas away from inmates . . .
Virginia follows the federal prison system, as well as states including California, Texas, Michigan and Colorado, in instituting smoking bans in prisons over the past few years. Maryland has banned tobacco products at all 24 state prisons, inside and out, since 2001.
As in other states, the effort in Virginia has raised concerns about maintaining safety in state prisons.
Smokers who have tried to kick their habit may have used gum, patches or even the “cold turkey” method but probably not a computer. It may seem unusual but Dr. Scott Strayer, physician and researcher in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Virginia Health System, thinks it can help. He received $1.3 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, to further develop and evaluate an online smoking cessation tool that puts information and counseling techniques in the hands of primary care physicians—literally. The three-year study will evaluate QuitAdvisorMD, an application for use on handheld computers that doctors can use during routine office visits to help patients quit smoking.
“Most people are aware of the health hazards associated with smoking. The QuitAdvisorMD tool to be developed with this funding is based on principles of Motivational Interviewing (MI), which has been shown to increase the likelihood of future quit attempts, even though a person may not be ready at that particular visit,” says Strayer.
MI is best described as a patient-centered counseling style that helps the subject work through their conflicting feelings about an issue. In this case, it is a desire to quit smoking while simultaneously craving that next cigarette. Since patients are seen in primary care settings more often than any other sector of the U.S. healthcare system, primary care physicians are well positioned to provide this smoking cessation support with QuitAdvisorMD.
A New Jersey man has pleaded guilty in Alexandria federal court to purchasing thousands of cartons of cigarettes, the latest in a growing number of cases targeting smugglers who buy truckloads of cigarettes in Northern Virginia and sell them in other states without paying taxes on them.
Mark A. Frondelli, 48, entered his plea May 26 in U.S. District Court to one count of transporting, receiving, possessing and purchasing contraband cigarettes. He admitted in court documents that he had purchased more than 77,000 cartons of untaxed cigarettes from undercover agents about 44 times in Northern Virginia, mostly in Alexandria and Annandale. He put them in a box truck to conceal the cartons and drove to New York and New Jersey to sell them, the documents said.
Christopher Amolsch, an attorney for Frondelli, said he was lured into smuggling by the high potential for profit. . . .
Smuggling operations have long relied on suppliers in Virginia, where the state tax of 30 cents per pack is among the nation's lowest, partly because of the tobacco industry's historic prominence and political influence in the state.
Smugglers purchase cigarettes in Virginia, through criminal means or legally in bulk from wholesale outlets, and sell them in the New York area. . . .
Campbell said cigarette smuggling in Northern Virginia and nationally is increasingly a large-scale criminal enterprise, run by Russian, Asian and other organized crime groups. Federal officials have also linked the smuggling to terrorism since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, saying that terrorists use it to fund their activities.
With a new law going into effect in Virginia in December that puts more restrictions on, but does not entirely ban, smoking in restaurants, Warner said he's likely to make his restaurant smoke-free, despite his concerns about how some customers might react.
"I will be happy to go nonsmoking completely, but I don't know if all my patrons will be," he said. "I know it is nonsmoking even in Paris now, but we are in tobacco country here."
Warner and many other local restaurateurs are grappling with the potential financial impact of the new law. Some no-smoking experiments here and changes in laws elsewhere offer insight into how the new law could affect the bottom line. Meanwhile, the hospitality industry expects the law to essentially ban smoking in most eateries. The law prohibits smoking in restaurants unless there is a smoking room that is physically separated and independently ventilated from nonsmoking areas. However, it exempts private clubs such as lodges, and nonenclosed outdoor areas of eateries.
The Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association opposed the smoking legislation . . .
Some restaurant owners and industry officials say the law likely amounts to a de-facto ban on indoor smoking in eateries, because it is unlikely that many business owners will try to install separate smoking rooms and ventilation, especially in a down economy.