http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/state/MN.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://www.wqow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12154099 http://tobacco.org/news/298626.html A proposal to ban smoking in cars with kids is back. The bill from Democratic Rep. Nora Slawik (SLAH'-wick) of Maplewood gets a hearing - but not a vote - in a House health panel on Wednesday. The legislation would prohibit smoking in vehicles where children under 18 years old are present. But law enforcement officers couldn't ticket for violations unless they pulled the car over for another reason. AP Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.sctimes.com/article/20100311/OPINION/103110010/1006/Letter--Don-t-allow-smoking-for-drive-throughs http://tobacco.org/news/298293.html A new direction that this ban could take is not only banning smoking in bars and restaurants but in other public locations. It is my belief that we should try to keep more people protected from this secondhand toxin, which contains thousands of chemical compounds. Sixty have been known to cause cancer. I think we should protect the workers of fast-food industries ... by banning smoking as customers use drive-through services. About 41 percent of Americans claim to eat fast food at least once a week, and 21 percent of those are smokers. ... Sometimes they make the choice to smoke as they pass through the drive-through. St. Cloud Times Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.echopress.com/event/article/id/72967/ http://tobacco.org/news/298269.html Every day I hear the stories of people who want to quit smoking and help people who they love quit smoking. They want to feel better, live longer, protect their children and save money – reasons we can all relate to, whether we are smokers or non-smokers. Here are a few facts that not only support this reasoning, but hopefully compel us to quit or convince others to quit. •In one year, a pack-a-day smoker in Minnesota spends $1,814.05 on cigarettes. . . . •More than half of Minnesota’s smokers are trying to quit (Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey, 2007). Statistics like these are proof that stopping smoking ourselves – or supporting others in quitting – is well worth the effort in terms of the lives and money saved. Alexandria Echo Press Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.preventionminnesota.com/doing_page.cfm?oid=6678 http://tobacco.org/news/298038.html The Diverse Racial Ethnic Groups and Nations (DREGAN) project aims to reduce the harm caused by tobacco in Minnesota's Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, and Vietnamese communities. This work represents collaboration with community members, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and ClearWay Minnesota. Blue Cross and ClearWay Minnesota jointly funded the project. The quantitative report, the first of its kind, is distinguished by its origins as a qualitative study, its community-based participatory research process and its comprehensive assessment of multiple aspects of tobacco use in these communities. Both quantitatve and qualitative reports available below. Prevention Minnesota Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2010/03/07/southeast-asian-tobacco-use-study-published http://tobacco.org/news/298037.html A Minnesota report on Southeast Asian cultural perceptions regarding tobacco use was released in February, producing data to better understand the prevalence of smoking in the Southeast Asian communities of Minnesota. Read the reports in their entirety at http://www.preventionminnesota.com/doing_page.cfm?oid=6678."Tobacco use in Minnesota: A Quantitative Survey of Cambodian, Hmong, Lao and Vietnamese Community Members" was completed in November 2009 and released in February as the product of Diverse Racial Ethnic Groups and Nations, a research project to measurably reduce tobacco use in the state's four primary Southeast Asian communities. . . . "This is a very historic study," said Zha Blong Xiong, Ph.D. an Associate Professor with the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. "We haven't had any study like this in Minnesota with over a thousand people participating, using a very vigorous study design which is random sample based on a community based participatory research." Twin Cities Dailly Planet is published by the Twin Cities Media Alliance info@tcdailyplanet.net (Tom Laventure, Asian American Press) Sun, 07 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/86692467.html http://tobacco.org/news/297949.html Starting Sunday people riding buses with the DTA will no longer be able to smoke in bus shelters or transit hubs. That's when Duluth's new ordinance on the prohibition of smoking inside or within 15 feet of a bus shelter will take effect. The No Smoking Ordinance applies to all city bus shelters and transit hubs including those at UMD and Lake Superior College. KDLH NewsChannel 3 Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.downtownjournal.com/index.php?&story=15095&page=65&category=95 http://tobacco.org/news/297693.html So why don't we treat our surroundings as a treasure? Why do we continue to litter and spoil our city? More important, what can we do to turn this around? For starters, let's examine just one area where we could easily do a much better job of litter control -- the disposal of cigarette butts. . . . We get the kind of city we deserve and I think we deserve one that reflects the quality and pride for which Minneapolis is known. If we want a city that attracts people, jobs and dollars, we need to stop littering. If you smoke, that's your decision, but our city needs you to properly place your cigarette butts in an appropriate receptacle or to carry something with you to dispose of them. Most people who litter their cigarettes may not fully understand the consequences of their actions. We hope that once the facts are out, people will be much more hesitant to unthinkingly flick their cigarette butts on the ground. Downtown Journal Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/161290/ http://tobacco.org/news/297490.html The ban has been in place since fall 2007, when UMD became the first public university in the state to institute one. But it’s been more symbolic than anything. Smokers still gather outside university doors and cigarette butts pile up without ashtrays, students have said, because the ban has never been enforced. “There definitely have been groups of people that have ignored it,” said Jackie Millslagle, interim vice chancellor for academic support and student life. “There doesn’t seem to be any outreach to those groups to seek compliance at a higher level.” At the end of March, UMD hopes to roll out a new policy, which will include organized patrols of the campus, especially in the 15 or so “hot spots” where smokers congregate. Instead of tickets, smokers will be asked to extinguish cigarettes and be offered a card with smoking cessation information. Duluth News-Tribune Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=2&a=439923&error=101%20-%20Invalid%20Username& http://tobacco.org/news/297432.html Here's the best idea I've heard in weeks. It was proposed earlier this week by P-B editorial writer Eric Atherton and one of our anonymous online commenters. Both suggested a "deposit fee" on cigarettes, much like some states have on plastic, aluminum and glass bottles. (You get the deposit back once you return the empties.) A bill has been introduced in theMinnesota Legislature to establish a similar bottle deposit law here. In the case of cigarettes, smokers -- or anyone else who wanted the money -- would have the deposit fee returned to them once they turn in the filters to a butt redemption center. Atherton suggests a 10-cent-per-cigarette deposit, meaning you'd collect $2 for every pack's worth of butts you bring in, Rochester Post-Bulletin sellnow@postbulletin.com ( Greg Sellnow) Sat, 20 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.keyc.com/node/33869 http://tobacco.org/news/297341.html There may be new help on the way for smokers who want to kick the habit...The University of Minnesota is looking for volunteers to test an anti-nicotine vaccine.Dr. Dorothy Hatsukami of the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Center says the vaccine basically makes nicotine less pleasurable. . . . Dr. Hatsukami is looking for 50 people who smoke ten cigarettes or more a day to take part in a trial.If you're interested, call 612-626-5155. KEYC Television CBS 12 Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=2&a=438906 http://tobacco.org/news/296992.html The Litter Bit Better campaign from April 17-24 will send volunteers to areas where cigarette butts are particularly piled up. Volunteers will scan the each of the areas before and after the clean-up to estimate how many butts are gathered. Cigarette butts, the No.1 most often littered item in the country, are unsightly and bad for the environment, said Allison Plute, a member of the Litter Bit Better campaign's Anti Cigarette Butt Subcommittee. "Once those cigarette butts enter waterways, they have up to 4,000 different chemicals inside them that could be very toxic to aquatic plants and animals," said Plute, a storm water education assistant for the city's public works department. The focus on cigarette butts is a new initiative of the Litter Bit Better campaign, a grassroots effort started in 2007. The campaign has routinely attracted more than 1,000 volunteers each April. Rochester Post-Bulletin mrussell@postbulletin.com (Matt Russell The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN) Mon, 15 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.fairmontsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/507456.html http://tobacco.org/news/296871.html The brightly colored boxes and flip-top containers promise cherry, chocolate, mint and grape flavors. What they deliver are highly addictive, kid-attracting, disease-inducing tobacco in the form of mini-cigars. That is according to a report released by ClearWay Minnesota and the Association for Nonsmokers - Minnesota, two nonprofit organizations dedicated to a smoke-free state. Unfiltered, the first report of its kind, was released Wednesday and calls the tobacco companies out for alleged continued advertising to kids and teens. The flavored mini-cigars out-maneuver laws that prohibit cigarette companies from mixing child-friendly flavors into their products. Mini-cigars are the same size as cigarettes, come in similar packaging, but are exempt from the laws simply because they are have tobacco in their wrapping, making them cigars, not cigarettes. "People think it isn't an issue anymore," said Mike Sheldon, communications manager with ClearWay. "They are aggressively marketing to capture a new generation of smokers." Fairmont Sentinel Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.weallpaytheprice.com/assets/documents/ten-ideas.pdf http://tobacco.org/news/296818.html Share the Report Through Your Website and Other Communication Channels. 2. Promote the Interactive Website: unfilteredmn.org. 4. Submit a Letter to the Editor. 5. Notify Your Local Media About the Report and Your Outreach Activities.6. Give Presentations to Community Groups. 7. Share the Report With Your Elected Leaders. . . . 10. Host a “Truth In Pink” Girls’ Night Out. The tobacco industry has long marketed smoking to women as a way to be sexy, skinny and glamorous. In recent years, Camel No. 9 cigarettes took these false promises to the next level when it launched with Sex and the City-style girls’ night out parties across the country. Here’s your chance to take back girls’ night and expose one of the ways the tobacco industry targets women: ClearWay Minnesota Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.weallpaytheprice.com/assets/documents/executive-summary.pdf http://tobacco.org/news/296817.html Arguably, no other business in history has better adapted to changing markets and increasing restrictions. Its ingenuity and resilience in the face of a shrinking domestic market—and its willingness to mine new markets in the developing world—help explain how tobacco companies have overcome the decades-long health campaign against them. Specifically, they spend $12.8 billion in the U.S. each year to … Make tobacco a part of our culture Attract and retain customers through target marketing Use public relations to buffer lawsuits and health claims Promote new products Create new markets worldwide ClearWay Minnesota Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.weallpaytheprice.com/assets/documents/full-report.pdf http://tobacco.org/news/296816.html Contents 1. Foreword . . . . . . . 2 2. Introduction . . . . . . . . 3 • Pop Quiz . . . . . . . . . 3 • The Tobacco Paradox . . . . . . . . 3 • The Rules May Change, But the Game is the Same . . . . . . . 5 3. Cultural Integration—“Just What the Doctor Ordered” . . . . . . . . . 6 • Tobacco is Ingrained in Our Culture . . . . . 6 4. Target Marketing—“Wherever Particular People Congregate” . . . . . . . . 8 • Marketing Pioneers . . . . . . . . . 8 • Women . . . . . 8 • Men . . . . . . . . 9 • Racial and Ethnic Populations . . . . . 9 • Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Individuals . . . . . . 10 • Kids . . . . . . . . 10 • Case Study: Joe Camel . . . . . . . 11 • Point-of-Sale Advertising . . . . . . . . . 12 • Becoming a Part of the Social Fabric . . . . . 12 • Case Study: Cigarette Fairies and FUBYAs . . . . . . 13 5. Public Relations—“If You Decide to Quit Smoking . . .” . . . . . . . . . 14 • Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing . . . . . 14 • Image Campaigns: Is the Tobacco Industry Really That Bad? . . . . . . . . 14 • Case Study: Keep America Beautiful . . . . . . 14 • Case Study: Operation Ranger . . . . . . 15 • Case Study: Philip Morris USA QuitAssist . . . . . . 15 • Case Study: The Most Important Image Campaign of All—Kids . . . . . . . . 16 6. Innovation—“Join the Snus Revolution” . . . . . . . . 17 • Not Your Grandparents’ Cigarette . . . . . . . 17 • “It Doesn’t Even Taste Like Tobacco” . . . . . . . . . 17 • “They’re Not Cigarettes” . . . . . 17 • New Nicotine Delivery Devices—Snus and Orbs, Sticks and Strips . . . . . 18 7. Global Opportunism—“The American Dream” . . . . . . . . 20 • International Markets—A New Frontier . . . . . . . . 20 • New Products for Overseas Markets . . . . . 20 • The Global Impact—1 Billion Deaths . . . . . . 21 ClearWay Minnesota Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT