http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/org/ctfk.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/tobacco_unfiltered/post/2012_01_30_otp http://tobacco.org/news/332914.html States around the country are getting wise to the tobacco industry's promotion of products such as sweet-flavored cigars and smokeless tobacco as a way to hook kids and offset the decline in cigarette smoking: Increasingly, governors and lawmakers are proposing higher taxes on "other tobacco products" that too often have been left out when cigarette taxes are hiked. Raising tobacco taxes remains the best way to keep kids from using tobacco, help current users quit and raise much-needed revenues for cash-starved state budgets. But leaving out smokeless tobacco, cigars and other tobacco products when cigarette taxes have been hiked has created a price gap that keeps other tobacco products relatively inexpensive -- and more affordable to kids. The tobacco industry has exploited this loophole as it steps up its marketing of smokeless tobacco and pushes "little cigars" -- some of them flavored like candy and fruit to appeal to kids. Fortunately, state officials around the country are moving to close the tobacco tax gap: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids unfiltered@tobaccofreekids.org Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/press_releases/post/2012_01_31_indy http://tobacco.org/news/332913.html The Indianapolis City-County Council last night delivered a long-awaited victory for health and the public's right to breathe clean air by voting to make all restaurants and bars and most other workplaces smoke-free. We urge Mayor Greg Ballard to sign this legislation into law and protect all Indianapolis residents and workers from the serious health hazards of secondhand smoke. Mayor Ballard should reconsider his threat to veto the legislation unless it is weakened by adding even more exemptions. Polling has shown that 70 percent of Indianapolis voters support a law to make all restaurants, bars and other workplaces smoke-free. With the nation's eyes on the city as it hosts the Super Bowl, there is no better time for Indianapolis to set a positive example for health and join the growing list of great cities that are smoke-free. Indianapolis is one of the largest U.S. cities without a strong smoke-free law that includes restaurants and bars. Nationwide, 29 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and more than 640 cities have laws requiring smoke-free restaurants and bars. As the Indianapolis City-County Council recognized, no one should have to put their health at risk in order to earn a paycheck or enjoy a night out. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids mcocco@tobaccofreekids.org Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/press_releases/post/new_study_massachusetts_program http://tobacco.org/news/331732.html A newly published study shows that Massachusetts saved more than $3 for every $1 it spent on services to help beneficiaries in the state's Medicaid program quit smoking. This study provides compelling evidence that comprehensive coverage of tobacco cessation services can save lives and dramatically reduce state and federal health care spending. All states should provide comprehensive Medicaid coverage for smoking cessation treatments. Previous studies have found that hospital admissions for heart attacks and coronary heart disease fell dramatically among Massachusetts Medicaid beneficiaries after the state began providing comprehensive coverage for smoking cessation medication and counseling in July 2006. Admissions for chest pain also fell. . . . The Massachusetts experience demonstrates that a comprehensive approach, including media campaigns that promote the program, counseling and medication, works. The new study, conducted by researchers at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services and published in the journal PLoS ONE, examined the cost implications from reducing these hospital admissions. It concludes that every $1 that Massachusetts invested in the program yielded $3.12 in savings for cardiovascular-related hospital admissions alone. The savings from these health gains came in little more than a year after the smoking-cessation benefits were used, demonstrating that states can realize immediate budget gains from helping Medicaid beneficiaries quit. These are conservative savings as they do not include long-term savings or savings that may occur outside the Medicaid program. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids mcocco@tobaccofreekids.org Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/press_releases/post/2011_12_29_orange_bowl http://tobacco.org/news/331302.html The Orange Bowl Committee has done the right thing for the nation's kids and health by canceling a planned three-year sponsorship by Camacho Cigars. The committee's action sends a powerful message that tobacco has no place in sports, and certainly should not have a place at the Orange Bowl, one of the nation's premier collegiate sporting events. This sponsorship would have helped market tobacco products to young fans, putting them at risk of developing a deadly addiction. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids mcocco@tobaccofreekids.org Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.tobacco-on-trial.com/2011/12/31/order-28-remand-consent-order-between-usa-intervenors-and-lorillard-re-document-disclosure-obligations-dec-27-2011/ http://tobacco.org/news/331279.html Upon consideration of the Joint Motion for Consent Order Between the United States, the Public Health Intervenors (hereafter "Plaintiffs"), and Lorillard Tobacco Company (hereafter "Lorillard") Concerning Document Disclosure Obligations Under Order #1015, and the entire record herein, it is hereby ORDERED that: A. Lorillard will deposit, on or before the dates indicated below, the amounts indicated below with the Registry of the Court: Friday, January 13, 2012 $217,000 Monday, December 31, 2012 $217,000 Tuesday, December 31, 2013 $216,000 Total: $650,000 B. The Registry of the Court will, upon receipt of each of these installments, disburse the funds to the University of California, San Francisco (hereafter "UCSF"). C. Lorillard will make these payments primarily in lieu of its prior obligations under Order #1015 to code the person mentioned, organization mentioned, and brand mentioned fields and as part of a resolution of the scope of Lorillard's coding obligations for documents posted on its public document websites as a result of production in court or administrative actions in the United States concerning smoking and health, marketing, addiction, low-tar or low-nicotine cigarettes, or less hazardous cigarette research both prior to November 15, 2011, and on or after that date. . . . A. This Consent Order is without prejudice to Lorillard's argument that Order #1015 does not apply retrospectively, and no party will cite this Consent Order as a basis for arguing that any other part of Order #1015 applies retrospectively. Tobacco On Trial Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/press_releases/post/2011_12_15_prevention http://tobacco.org/news/331269.html A study published today by the American Journal of Public Health provides some of the strongest evidence yet that tobacco prevention and cessation programs not only reduce smoking and save lives, but also save money by reducing tobacco-related health care costs. The study found that from 2000 to 2009, Washington state's tobacco prevention and cessation program saved more than $5 for every $1 spent by reducing hospitalizations for heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease and cancer caused by tobacco use. Over the 10-year period, the program prevented nearly 36,000 hospitalizations, saving $1.5 billion compared to $260 million spent on the program. These are real savings in tobacco-related hospitalization costs from 2000 to 2009, not projected savings in future health care costs. According to the study's authors, the total savings are even greater when other tobacco-related health and productivity costs are included, in addition to the hospitalization costs. The study further found that Washington's smoke-free workplace law and the state's multiple cigarette tax increases also contributed to smoking declines and health care savings. This study sends a powerful message to the nation's elected officials that disease prevention initiatives, including programs that prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, are essential to improving health and reducing health care costs in the United States. It comes at a critical time as funding for such programs is under attack at both the federal and state levels. The study shows why Congress should protect the Prevention and Public Health Fund created by the health care reform law rather than slash funding by as much as 68 percent, as some lawmakers have proposed. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids mcocco@tobaccofreekids.org Thu, 15 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/press_releases/post/2011_12_14_monitoring_the_future http://tobacco.org/news/331268.html In good news for the nation's health, the Monitoring the Future survey released today shows that youth smoking declined significantly in 2011 and smoking rates are at the lowest levels on record for all three grades surveyed - grades 8, 10 and 12. This news is especially welcome following several years in which youth smoking declines had nearly stalled. However, the rate of decline continues to be slower than in years past, underscoring the need for elected officials at all levels to step up implementation of proven strategies to reduce tobacco use. For all three grades combined, the proportion who said they smoked in the past month fell to 11.7 percent in 2011, down from 12.8 percent in 2010. The largest drop came among 10th graders, whose smoking rate fell from 13.6 percent to 11.8 percent. The 2011 smoking rate was 6.1 percent for 8th graders and 18.7 percent for 12th graders. . . . To accelerate progress and prevent backsliding, elected officials at all levels must step up implementation of the solutions that we know work. In addition to increasing tobacco taxes and enacting smoke-free laws, it is critical that the states restore funding for tobacco prevention programs that have been cut by 36 percent over the past four years. These cuts threaten continued progress against tobacco. It is shameful that the states this year will collect $25.6 billion in revenue from the 1998 state tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend only 1.8 percent of it -- $456.7 million -- on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. At the federal level, Congress must protect the Prevention and Public Health Fund created by the health care reform law to support disease prevention efforts that improve health and reduce health care costs. . . . This year's survey reports for the first time on youth use of small cigars, finding that 23 percent of 12th graders -- including 27 percent of boys and 12 percent of girls -- have smoked small cigars in the past year. It is important that the survey continue to track youth use of all tobacco products as the tobacco industry introduces new products that entice youth. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids mcocco@tobaccofreekids.org Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/press_releases/post/2011_12_14_doj http://tobacco.org/news/331266.html Judge Kessler ordered tobacco companies to continue disclosing internal documents until 2021. This requirement is critical to preventing continued tobacco industry wrongdoing and to exposing and stopping the industry's efforts to deceive the public and market to children. The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library will become an even more valuable resource for researchers, journalists, regulators and members of the public. The documents provide an important window into what the tobacco industry knows -- and tries to hide -- about the health harms of its products, how it manipulates its products and how it markets them. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids mcocco@tobaccofreekids.org Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/pressoffice/2011/2011_12_20_orangebowl.pdf http://tobacco.org/news/330987.html As public health groups that combat the use of tobacco and its devastating toll on American families every day, we urge the Orange Bowl Committee and the NCAA to cancel a cigar company sponsorship of the Discover Orange Bowl. Tobacco has no place in sports, and the promotion of cigars at such a prestigious sporting event entices youth and young adults, putting them at risk of developing a deadly addiction. We were deeply disappointed to read the recent announcement by Davidoff of Geneva, parent company of Camacho Cigars, that it has signed a three-year agreement making Camacho Cigars a corporate sponsor of the Orange Bowl Festival, which includes the 2012, 2013 and 2014 Discover Orange Bowls, the 2013 Discover BSC National Championship game and related fan events. The 2013 Discover BCS National Championship game will draw particularly intense fan interest and media attention. Under the sponsorship agreement, Camacho Cigars will have a substantial presence at Sun Life stadium, with cigar lounges open to fans, and there will be a Camacho Club Lounge at the Orange Bowl Game Day Fan Zone, the largest pre-game event. The Camacho Cigars logo is also featured on the official Orange Bowl website. The sponsorship should be cancelled because it promotes tobacco use, the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. The association of cigar smoking with one of the nation’s top collegiate sporting events sends the wrong message to impressionable young fans and helps market cigars as athletic, masculine and cool. Linking tobacco use to sports also downplays the serious health risks of tobacco products. This blatant promotion of cigars at a high-profile sporting event continues the tobacco industry’s decades-long practice of using sports and entertainment sponsorships to promote tobacco products, especially to youth. . . . The Orange Bowl Committee and the NCAA have an obligation to eliminate the Camacho Cigar sponsorship to protect the health of fans and to ensure that college athletic events provide proper role models for youth. We ask that you do your part to help curb the terrible toll of tobacco use on America’s children and families. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/press_releases/post/2011_12_20_orange_bowl http://tobacco.org/news/330986.html Major public health groups are calling on the Orange Bowl Committee and the NCAA to cancel a cigar company sponsorship of the marquee college football game, saying that promoting tobacco at sporting events entices teenagers and young men, and puts them at risk of developing a deadly addiction. Davidoff of Geneva, parent company of Camacho Cigars, last week announced that it has signed a three-year deal making Camacho Cigars a corporate sponsor of the Orange Bowl Festival, which includes the 2012, 2013 and 2014 Discover Orange Bowls, the 2013 Discover BCS National Championship game and related fan events. The 2013 Discover BCS National Championship game will draw particularly intense fan interest and media attention. Under the sponsorship agreement, Camacho Cigars will have a substantial presence at Sun Life stadium, with cigar lounges open to fans, and there will be a Camacho Club Lounge at the Orange Bowl Game Day Fan Zone, the largest pre-game event. The Camacho Cigars logo is also featured on the official Orange Bowl website. In an open letter to the Orange Bowl Committee and the NCAA, 10 major public health and medical groups said the cigar sponsorship should be cancelled because it promotes tobacco use, the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. The groups are the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Cancer Society, American Society Cancer Action Network, American Dental Association, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, American Medical Association, Legacy and Oral Health America. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids mcocco@tobaccofreekids.org Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/press_releases/post/2011_12_15_brazil http://tobacco.org/news/330985.html The Brazilian government has taken historic action to protect the health of the nation's more than 190 million citizens by enacting a comprehensive tobacco control law. Signed by President Dilma Rousseff today, the new law will make Brazil the largest country in the world to go completely smoke-free, adding momentum to a movement sweeping across Latin America to protect citizens from the deadly toll of tobacco use and secondhand smoke. The new law requires all enclosed workplaces and public places to be smoke-free, bans tobacco advertising at point of sale, increases tobacco taxes and requires large health warnings on both sides of cigarette packs (current law requires graphic warnings covering the entire back of the pack, but no warning on the front of the pack). The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids joins international health advocates in congratulating Brazil for enacting this life-saving measure into law. "We applaud President Rousseff and the Brazilian Congress for taking truly historic action to reduce tobacco use and save countless lives," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "In doing so, Brazil has set a powerful example for the world and added to Latin America's rapid progress in fighting the tobacco epidemic and standing up to the tobacco industry." Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids mcocco@tobaccofreekids.org Brazil Thu, 15 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jG4gyZ78JwFhR3iSXoubz7IzM7Bg?docId=CNG.409326a7a960e6419497c9b6fd1f6faf.5a1 http://tobacco.org/news/330556.html President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday signed a law banning smoking in all enclosed public spaces in Brazil. The new text will make Brazil, which has a population of more than 191 million, the largest country in the world to go smoke-free. It amends a 1996 law which allowed smoking in specially designated, ventilated areas. New norms must be regulated by Congress to set the values of fines that will punish violators, the official Agencia Brasil said. Agence France Presse Brazil Thu, 15 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/tobacco_unfiltered/post/2011_12_13_cigars http://tobacco.org/news/330503.html The tobacco industry has maneuvered around marketing restrictions aimed at protecting youth and found yet another way to hook kids when they're young: Flavored "little cigars" that are so cheap kids can easily afford them, and so sweet with kid-friendly flavors that some young smokers believe they're less addictive than cigarettes. The Washington Post reports that in some states, cigar smoking among high school students, particularly boys, has become more prevalent than cigarette smoking. The cigars come in flavors such as strawberry, watermelon, vanilla and chocolate. Because they are taxed at much lower rates than cigarettes and can be sold separately, kids find them much more affordable and accessible than cigarettes, which can cost more than $5 a pack. One young man from Arlington, Va. told the Post that high school kids smoke the little cigars "because they think they're less addictive, it looks better and it's cheaper." Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids unfiltered@tobaccofreekids.org ( Posted by: Editor ) Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/tobacco_unfiltered/post/2011_12_14_cigars http://tobacco.org/news/330502.html Still, nearly one in five kids will graduate from high school as smokers. And the tobacco industry is trying to make sure that it hooks more of them. The industry still spends about $10 billion a year to market cigarettes, it's spending record sums to promote smokeless tobacco - and smokeless use among youth has soared. The new survey, while not showing a continued increase in smokeless use, nonetheless showed no significant decline. More than 14 percent of 12th grade boys said they currently use smokeless products. And kids are clearly experimenting with small cigars, which the industry is marketing in kid-friendly flavors such as strawberry, watermelon, vanilla and chocolate. The survey showed that 23 percent of 12th graders -- including 27 percent of boys -- have smoked small cigars in the past year. Luckily, people like The Washington Post cartoonist Tom Toles see this for exactly what it is: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids unfiltered@tobaccofreekids.org ( Posted by: Editor ) Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/press_releases/post/2011_12_14_iom http://tobacco.org/news/330501.html As required by the 2009 law granting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority over tobacco products, the Institute of Medicine today issued a report regarding the type of scientific evidence and research the FDA should require of tobacco companies seeking to make "modified risk" claims about tobacco products. Modified risk products are defined in the law as "any tobacco product that is sold or distributed for use to reduce harm or the risk of tobacco-related disease associated with commercially marketed tobacco products." Given the industry's long and deadly history of deception, the IOM calls for rigorous, comprehensive and independent scientific evidence before any tobacco company will be allowed to claim that any of its products are less dangerous than other products. This report lays out a comprehensive scientific roadmap for the FDA to follow in reviewing applications for modified risk tobacco products. It demonstrates the need for rigorous science, conducted and evaluated independent of the tobacco industry, before the industry is allowed to market any modified risk products. It underscores the importance of the FDA considering the broad public health impact of introducing such products and not just the impact on individual tobacco users. And it properly puts the burden on tobacco manufacturers to produce adequate scientific evidence before allowing them to claim that any tobacco product reduces the risk of disease. The IOM report makes it clear that the FDA must set a high scientific bar for allowing such claims given the industry's history of deception about its products and of falsifying science Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids mcocco@tobaccofreekids.org Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT