http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/state/AL.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://www.selmatimesjournal.com/news/2008/oct/01/tobacco-industry-downturn-causes-cigar-factory-clo/ http://tobacco.org/news/271866.html The increased battle against tobacco — smoking restrictions, rising taxes and government regulations — has resulted in part to the closing of The Cigar Factory in Selma. An official at the factory said Tuesday the last production day is Nov. 14. People will receive paychecks through Dec. 5, said Vlencon Brown, the plant manger. Altadis U.S.A. owns the plant, which has manufactured blunt-shaped cigars. Richard C. McKenzie, senior vice president of human resources for Altadis, said a decrease in consumer demand for the blunt-shaped cigar is another reason for the factory’s closure. Selma Times-Journal Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1220429733325250.xml&coll=2 http://tobacco.org/news/271216.html The Hoover City Council passed an ordinance Tuesday night to restrict smoking in public places while allowing exemptions that include bars, pubs and restaurants with enclosed smoking areas with separate ventilation. The council voted 6-0 in favor of the Comprehensive Second-hand Smoke Control Ordinance. It takes effect Jan. 2. The vote capped years of talk about a stronger smoking ordinance in Hoover, replacing a law passed in 1993 that applied only to buildings owned or managed by the city. Advocates say the new ordinance is intended to limit exposure to second-hand smoke and to discourage teens from picking up the addictive habit. Birmingham News mcason@bhamnews.com (MIKE CASON News staff writer ) Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.al.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/living/122025695033140.xml&coll=2 http://tobacco.org/news/270545.html Dr. Alan Blum knows where the smoking gun lies in the case of who-knew-what-when in the dispute over tobacco and lung cancer. . . . The archive reaches back more than 200 years. From the 1980s onward - the period during which Blum has been collecting - its level of detail is enormous. "This is a 30-year daily biopsy of the tobacco industry and its promotion, advertising and marketing, along with the anti-smoking movement," said Blum, who is also a practicing physician and holds the Gerald Leon Wallace endowed chair in family medicine. . . . The collection is contained in 2,500 boxes, most of which are in public storage. A small portion of the collection is housed in the basement of Nott Hall. It's not open to the public, but provides assistance to researchers, health officials and universities. "We are considered a resource for the World Health Organization," Blum said. . . . Blum is also highly suspicious of efforts to bring the cigarette industry under control of the Food and Drug Administration. He has testified before Congress against the legislation, which was written with the assistance of Philip Morris. It's just another ruse, he said, but this time the tobacco industry is co-opting one of the primary government agencies responsible for the nation's health. Birmingham News dparks@bhamnews.com (DAVE PARKS News staff writer ) Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.andalusiastarnews.com/articles/2008/08/09/news/news04.txt http://tobacco.org/news/270142.html A recent survey conducted by the Alabama Department of Public Health boasted a 17.5 percent decrease in smoking among Alabama high school youths, but Pride Surveys conducted among local sixth graders paint a different picture in Covington County. The ADPH announced through a press release Wednesday that recent surveys revealed a 17.5 percent decrease in smoking among high school youths from 2006 to 2008. According to the ADPH, about 22.1 percent of high school students said they smoked in the 2008 survey compared to nearly 27 percent who reported they smoked in 2006. . . . Susan Short, executive director of the Children's Policy Council, said the decrease revealed by the ADPH's survey was promising, but she is more concerned with numbers revealed by Covington County's Pride surveys. According to Short, 8.3 percent of 121 sixth graders surveyed in Andalusia's city schools said they smoked, which she said is the exact same percentage as last year. Short said 17 of the surveys were thrown out due to discrepancies found in the answers. . . . "The surveys are designed to ensure each student pays attention to the questions asked," she added. "One question may ask how many times per day a student smokes and then another question further into the survey asks if the student smokes. If the two answers do not match, then the survey is discarded." Researchers pay particular attention to the numbers of adolescents who use tobacco because it is considered a gateway drug to the use of alcohol and drugs. Andalusia Star-News Sat, 09 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1218528910249610.xml&coll=2 http://tobacco.org/news/269921.html Don't let the short item at the bottom of Monday's Health section escape your attention: "Teen smoking falls in state," is the headline on the 16-line brief, but the information should have much more impact than the space it takes up on the page. For years, Alabama has been one of the most tobacco-friendly states in the nation. We don't have any significant tobacco farming, yet our Legislature acts as if it's one of the largest cash crops in the state. Lawmakers resist raising tobacco taxes, enacting a strong, statewide anti-smoking policy, and even spending more than a fraction of the money needed to educate smokers on the risks of a cigarette habit. . . . Also encouraging is nearly half of the students who smoke say they want to quit. . . . The Legislature must pass state Sen. Vivian Figures' bill that will ban smoking in many public places. Each year, Figures introduces the bill. It passed the Senate this year before getting bogged down in the House. The bill prohibits smoking in restaurants, workplaces, sports arenas and the like. Studies have shown that teens in towns with strict smoking bans are 40 percent less likely to become smokers. Generally, if people don't pick up the habit as teenagers, they aren't likely to smoke as adults. We know what we can do to further reduce teen cigarette smoking and tobacco use, and it's no secret. The only question is whether the Legislature will choose to help the state's vulnerable teenagers instead of bowing once again to a hard-lobbying tobacco industry. Birmingham News Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20080812/NEWS/808120311/-1/COMMUNITIES http://tobacco.org/news/269919.html The state Health Department also has a new teen cessation project that uses advertising on television and radio, as well as a MySpace page. Alabama also uses a public health Life Skills program for sixth-graders in some schools. It has proved to be effective in reducing the risks of alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse, Williamson said. These programs are showing results, borne out by the latest teen smoking survey. The Legislature should find more money to expand these programs to every school in the state. They will save not only public health dollars in the future, but lives as well. That's a sound investment by any standard. Florence Times Daily Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080807/NEWS02/808070312/1009/news02 http://tobacco.org/news/269695.html More of Alabama's high school students are seeing the light: fewer of them are lighting up. The Alabama Department of Public Health released some of the data from its 2008 Youth Tobacco Survey on Wednesday, showing a 17.5 percent decrease in teen smoking compared with 2006. The survey was given in 43 public high schools earlier in the year, and the results are based on a sampling of nearly 1,400 students who turned in usable questionnaires. Youth Tobacco Prevention and Cessation director Barry Riddle said that it's hard to pinpoint exactly what led to the drop from nearly 27 percent in 2006 to about 22.1 percent in 2008, but that programs offered by the department certainly helped. AP Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/117561.php http://tobacco.org/news/269693.html Alabama high school students are getting the message that smoking isn't cool, according to the results of the 2008 Youth Tobacco Survey conducted by the Alabama Department of Public Health's Tobacco Prevention Branch. There was a 17.5 percent decrease in high school students who smoke in 2008 compared to those who said they smoked in 2006, according to the survey. About 22.1 percent of high school students said they smoked in the 2008 survey compared to nearly 27 percent who reported they smoked in 2006. . . . Teens who want to quit tobacco can call the Alabama Tobacco Quitline, 1-800-Quit-Now, for free counseling Medical News TODAY Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1216714553263470.xml&coll=2 http://tobacco.org/news/269077.html Young people heading to Pelham on Wednesday to see skateboarding legend Tony Hawk at Verizon Wireless Music Center will also get a dose of The Truth, a nationally recognized youth smoking prevention organization. The group is known for statements such as, "Tobacco companies' products kill 36,000 people every month. That's more lives thrown away than there are public garbage cans in NYC." The Truth organization strives for commercials and media campaigns that target 12- to 17-year-olds, said Tracy Anne Ronquillo, part of the Truth team visiting Pelham. The campaign, launched in February 2000 by the American Legacy Foundation, strives to explain the tactics of the tobacco industry, the truth about addiction, and the health effects and social costs of smoking. Birmingham News losburn@bhamnews.com (LISA OSBURN News staff writer ) Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.alexcityoutlook.com/articles/2008/07/08/news/doc4872bdf81a81e835198170.txt http://tobacco.org/news/268397.html The wording of part of the smoking ordinance brought discussion between Alexander City Mayor Barbara Young and the city council at Monday night's council meeting. Section 4, subsection A, which regards prohibition of smoking in places of employment, includes a line prohibiting smoking in vehicles. Alexander City Outlook Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://rawstory.com/news08/2008/06/24/justice-for-sale-how-big-tobacco-teamed-up-with-the-gop-to-crush-democrats-in-the-south/ http://tobacco.org/news/267552.html As a result of the tobacco lawsuits, some Republican politicians and tobacco industry lobbyists -- such as now-Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour -- appear to have become implacable foes of the trial lawyers who had frustrated them and their clients. . . . In Mississippi, the corporate client was big tobacco -- and their chief lobbyist now sits in the Mississippi governor's chair. The second aspect of the strategy is the politicization of US law enforcement by the Bush administration, . . . In addition, by targeting Paul Minor, Barbour and his backers ensured a glacial freeze in contributions to Democratic candidates, since other Democratic trial lawyers were afraid of being targeted by the US Attorney's office as well. . . . That summer, the Mississippi state legislature had begun holding hearings on whether to enact tort reform, the strategy promoted by the tobacco industry to limit settlements to plaintiffs which had been so effectively used by Rove to defeat Democratic judges in both Texas and Alabama and pass pro-corporate legislation. A few months later, Mississippi newspapers began to print leaked allegations that the FBI had launched an investigation of Paul Minor -- a leading opponent of tort reform . . . In early 2004, Haley Barbour took office as governor of Mississippi. Almost immediately thereafter, he called a special session of the legislature to ban class action lawsuits and cap damages in almost all tort cases. In 2006, Barbour won a lengthy court battle to completely withdraw funding from an anti-smoking program which had been highly successful in reducing smoking among middle school and high school students. Big tobacco had finally accomplished its goals through the use of the political machine. Raw Story https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=donate@rawstory.com (Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane) Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://new.times-journal.com/story.lasso?ewcd=be384faee3a73ee5&-session=FPTJ:D149FE770f10c1B8B3XMJ3E47F6E http://tobacco.org/news/267284.html A series of questions regarding banning smoking in public places in Fort Payne is expected to be on the municipal election ballot on Aug. 26, according to City Clerk Jim McGee. But the question remains as to what those questions will be. McGee said the Fort Payne City Council is expected to develop the questions at an upcoming meeting. The council waited to take up the smoking ban in March because of a bill in the state Legislature that would have banned smoking in restaurants and work places across Alabama. Fort Payne Times-Journal Thu, 12 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.clantonadvertiser.com/articles/2008/06/08/news/d-news.txt http://tobacco.org/news/266889.html Once a year, before the end of school, the Alabama Board of Education, Alabama Department of Public Health and the Alabama Center for Disease Control get together and administer an anonymous survey for student's in grades 6-12 to fill out about smoking and tobacco use. Last year, the results were mellow compared to this year's highs. Demetra Peoples, tobacco prevention coordinator for Alabama's Public Health Area 8, said officials were expecting lower numbers this year but were surprised to see them growing. "The numbers did just what we didn't want them to do. They rose. So now we are trying to figure out ways to help reduce those numbers," Peoples said. Clanton Advertiser Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/121213891251070.xml&coll=3 http://tobacco.org/news/266170.html The Senate approved a state public smoking ban Thursday afternoon, but the legislation could have difficulty passing the lower chamber. The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile, bans smoking in most restaurants, stores and sporting areas, while providing exemptions for private homes, most bars and private clubs. Smokers would also be banned from smoking within 10 feet of the doors or windows of an establishment where smoking had been banned. Mobile Press-Register Fri, 30 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1211274977291180.xml&coll=3 http://tobacco.org/news/265598.html The House of Representatives had yet to consider a smoking ban by late Monday night ‐ the last day of the legislative session ‐ and the bill appeared unlikely to win approval. The House was bogged down by filibusters for most of the day, slowing action on bills debated before the smoking measure, which would ban smoking in most restaurants, workplaces and indoor public areas. Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, sponsored the anti-smoking bill. She has championed similar measures for more than a decade. Figures indicated she would be disappointed if it failed to pass before the midnight end of the session. Mobile Press-Register Tue, 20 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT