http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/state/NY.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://news10now.com/cny-news-1013-content/top_stories/488270/suny-cortland-says-no-thanks-to-big-tobacco?ap=1&MP4 http://tobacco.org/news/293104.html Studies show 18 to 25-year olds have the highest rate of tobacco use at 18 percent nationwide, and it's the only group whose numbers are not going down. SUNY Cortland has partnered with the Onondaga County Health department to address the issue, and educators told Tamara Lindstrom that means saying no thanks to big tobacco. . . . Concerns like these are driving SUNY Cortland to take a closer look at smoking policies. "Our buildings are tobacco-free. Our entire campus is not tobacco free. So we want to look at the outdoors because secondhand smoke certainly is a concern," said health educator Catherine Smith. That's just one of the initiatives included in the Colleges for Change program. The program aims to reduce smoking among students through education and tougher tobacco policies. About 14 percent of SUNY Cortland students smoke, lower than the national average. But educators want to see that number go down. News 10 Now Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://gawker.com/5405777/the-inalienable-right-to-smoke http://tobacco.org/news/293072.html Several large NYC landlords are moving to ban smoking inside their own apartment complexes, and on the sidewalks outside them, as well. Clearly, this violates our just-made-up list of Places People Can Always Smoke, No Takebacks. Gawker Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/business/local/article/B-FAKE20_20091119-221406/306841/ http://tobacco.org/news/293036.html The Henrico County-based cigarette-maker has monitored retail markets for years to keep fake versions of its brands off store shelves. This year, Philip Morris has sued 27 stores in New York and New Jersey, which are hotspots for the fakes because of high state taxes, a huge port through which the contraband is easily shipped, and criminal organizations that wholesale the counterfeits. For Philip Morris, the stakes are simple. In addition to the lost sales, the company doesn't want smokers buying a pack of Marlboros and thinking they don't taste the same, said company spokesman David Sutton. . . . "The sale of untaxed cigarettes harms legitimate wholesale and retail businesses and costs New York and New Jersey needed tax revenues that could be used to support essential public services," he said. Richmond Times-Dispatch dress@timesdispatch.com (David Ress) Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.observertoday.com/page/content.detail/id/532423.html?nav=5047 http://tobacco.org/news/293002.html In conjunction with The Great American Smoke Out, an annual event aimed at helping people quit smoking, Westfield Memorial Hospital will become a tobacco-free campus today. According to a press release from the hospital, the new policy will prohibit the use of any type of tobacco product such as cigarettes, cigars, pipes and chewing tobacco anywhere on the hospital's grounds, and the policy will affect all employees, physicians, visitors, patients, volunteers, vendors and other medical staff. "As a healthcare provider, we were going to do it for a year, but we had so many changes with the Berger Commission that we didn't want to do it until now," said Tina Newell, a community educator at Westfield Memorial Hospital. Dunkirk Observer Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.thevillager.com/villager_342/gristedeschief.html http://tobacco.org/news/293001.html The freshly remodeled Gristedes supermarket on 25 University Place has expanded its space, adding new sections for beer, hot food, a salad bar, bakery and organic products, all looking like crowd-pleasers beneath Thanksgiving decorations strung above the aisles. But cigarettes are no longer on sale here -- seemingly a sign of the times in this upscale Greenwich Village neighborhood near New York University. "We haven't had them for some time now," said an assistant manager who identified himself only as Thomas. He noted that cigarettes are available at other Gristedes stores in New York (about 20 still carry them), even though he believes the demand is down. The main reason for the decline in tobacco sales, another Gristedes manager said, is that "people know where they can get them elsewhere" for half the price that conventional retailers in New York charge -- upward of $95 per carton, with $4.25 in state and city taxes tacked on. He was alluding to untaxed tobacco sold on Indian reservations, a subject that has bedeviled convenience-store operators and New York governors from Cuomo to Paterson. Led by its Greek-born owner and C.E.O., John Catsimatidis, a longtime New York City mayoral wannabe who smokes an occasional cigar, Gristedes Foods Inc. has claimed in protracted litigation that Indian merchants on two Eastern Long Island reservations are luring away New York customers, and even helping to fund organized crime gangs and terrorist groups like Hezbollah with bulk sales, a charge some politicians dismiss as absurd but others solemnly repeat. . . . Since he cares so much about health, why does he sell any cigarettes at his grocery stores? "There is such a thing as freedom of choice," the mogul replied. "I lecture my wife, who smokes, and tell her, Why don't you just have one or two instead of more? It's like what the Greek philosophers say: Everything in moderation." The Villager lincoln@downtownexpress.com (Mary Reinholz) Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.njbiz.com/article.asp?aID=79857 http://tobacco.org/news/293000.html Reyes Grocery Store and Sunny’s Supermarket , in Newark, were among the defendants named in litigation brought by tobacco company Philip Morris USA. NJBIZ editorial@njbiz.com (João-Pierre Ruth ) Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://pmusa.com/en/cms/Media/Company_Announcements/2009/Philip_Morris_USA_Sues_Retailers_to_Stop_Counterfeit_Cigarette_Sales.aspx http://tobacco.org/news/292998.html Philip Morris USA (PM USA) filed lawsuits against ten retailers selling counterfeit versions of the company's Marlboro� brand cigarettes in New York and New Jersey. "The New York metropolitan area continues to be a lucrative market for counterfeit and contraband cigarette smugglers," said Joe Murillo, vice president and associate general counsel, Altria Client Services, speaking on behalf of PM USA. "High excise taxes, coupled with New York state's lack of effective tax enforcement, only makes the problem worse," added Murillo. "These lawsuits are the latest in a series of filings by Philip Morris USA aimed at combating the sale of counterfeit cigarettes in New York and New Jersey," said Murillo. Since May 2009, Philip Morris has filed lawsuits against 27 retail locations in New York and New Jersey for selling counterfeit Marlboro� brand cigarettes In addition to violating many trademark laws, counterfeit cigarettes are almost always sold without the appropriate federal and state excise tax. The counterfeit cigarettes purchased from the retailers named in today's suits bore no tax stamp or a counterfeit tax stamp. As a result, the applicable excise taxes were not paid. . . . Eastern District of New York Maria’s Deli Grocery 143-20 101 Avenue, Richmond Hills, NY 11419 Loveras Grocery 996 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225 Southern District of New York Aloshe Mini Market 1889 Guerlain Street, Bronx, NY 10461 El Barrio Grocery Deli 39 West 183rd Street, Bronx, NY 10453 Fernandez Grocery Corp. 1665 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10029 Philip Morris USA Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hy-WvTEUVDCmAD1HRofmcMSAkj6AD9C2MIM81 http://tobacco.org/news/292997.html Philip Morris USA is accusing 10 New York and New Jersey retailers of selling counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes. The nation's largest tobacco company announced the federal lawsuits against the retailers Thursday. AP Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/11/19/2009-11-19_scoff_scoff_nyers_say_theyll_be_smokin_on_national_quit_day.html?r=lifestyle/health http://tobacco.org/news/292995.html New York City has one of the lowest smoking rates in the country - just 16% - after years of aggressive ad campaigns and strict smoking laws, including the city's groundbreaking smoking ban at bars and restaurants. A new ad campaign launched this year shows a disgusting blackened lung caused by years of smoking. Previous anti-smoking ads showed a Bronx woman with 20 amputations she said resulted from smoking. But about 1.3 million New Yorkers still smoke, the Health Department says, and getting the holdouts to kick the habit might be the hardest part. New York Daily News sgoldsmith@nydailynews.com ( Samuel Goldsmith DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER ) Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/smoking_ban_at_onondaga_county.html http://tobacco.org/news/292984.html Syracuse, NY -- It appears as if Onondaga County's ban on smoking within 100 feet of hospital property is working at Crouse and Upstate University hospitals, which implemented it this morning. There are bright yellow signs announcing the ordinance on the sides of the buildings and on fences. While cigarette butts line the sidewalks of those hospitals like the aftermath of long-gone parties, there were no smokers to be found near the hospitals this morning. A drive around the hospitals at 8:15 a.m. uncovered no smokers. A block away, seven smokers were found an hour later in a private parking lot behind Varsity Pizza on Crouse Avenue. The lot is surrounded by buildings and not visible from the street. Syracuse Post-Standard Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/syracuse-area_hospitals_enforc.html http://tobacco.org/news/292982.html Four Syracuse hospitals are using today's Great American Smokeout to kick off their enforcement of a new Onondaga County law that forbids smoking within 100 feet of a health care facility. The law, which went to effect Nov. 1, affects Upstate University, St. Joseph's. Crouse and Community General hospitals. Smoking is prohibited on any sidewalks, streets and parking facilities within 100 feet of those facilities as long as a sign is posted that warns of the ban. Those caught breaking the law could be fined $50. The hospitals, which lobbied the County Legislature to pass the law, delayed enforcing it until the annual Great American Smokeout to Syracuse Post-Standard Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/866558.html http://tobacco.org/news/292947.html There seem to be two Dr. Alan Blums. One is a tweedy academic — the family medicine professor and director of the Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society at the University of Alabama who has devoted his dead-serious career to the prevention of tobacco-induced illnesses. The other is the self-described “Bart Simpson of the anti-smoking movement” — the alter ago who donned a fake pharmacist’s lab coat Wednesday to help set up “Your Cancer and Drug Store,” an exhibition on tobacco advertising that opens today in the Buffalo Museum of Science. . . . The approach reflects a lesson learned in 1977 when Blum, then a Miami hospital intern and nascent anti-smoking crusader, lost a contentious radio talk show debate with a tobacco industry spokesman while the host, Larry King, blew smoke in Blum’s face. Ever since, “I’ve tried to bring some humor and satire to a depressing issue that many people take very seriously,” Blum said. The strategy has included “house calls” to tobacco festivals and “anything else we could do to ridicule the brand names.” Satirical references abound in “Your Cancer and Drug Store,” which was gleaned from a trove of tobacco advertising and promotional materials that Blum started collecting 15 years ago and now fills 2,500 boxes in his Alabama center. He started by buying items distributed by cigarette companies that a Connecticut store owner had accumulated over two decades. “He must’ve thought it had collectible value, but it cost more to ship it [to Alabama] than I paid for it,” Blum said. From the outset his goal was to mount an exhibition that underscored the everyday irony of seeing tobacco products on the shelves of pharmacies that dispense drugs prescribed to combat cancer, heart disease, hypertension and other diseases linked to smoking. “I wanted to do an over-the-top, walk-through exhibit,” he said, citing the role that drugstores have played in keeping America smoking. “I’m not going after individual pharmacies as much as the chains that own them.” . . . By touring “Your Cancer and Drug Store,” he said, “you are looking at origins of cancer just as much as you would by looking through a microscope.” Buffalo News tbuckham@buffnews.com (Tom Buckham News Staff Reporter) Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://media.www.dailyorange.com/media/storage/paper522/news/2009/11/19/Feature/Toback.Smoking.Hookah.Not.Worth.The.Health.Risk-3836836.shtml http://tobacco.org/news/292946.html Smokers who think that trying hookah as a healthier alternative to cigarettes are way off base. Hookah smokers inhale a greater volume of smoke, worsening the effects of the chemicals in the tobacco. "Data from several different countries reveals that�a single hookah-use episode lasts for about 45 minutes and can easily involve over 100 puffs," said Thomas Eissenberg, professor�of�psychology at Virginia�Commonwealth�University, whose research is funded by a grant for the National Cancer Institute. "Each puff is about 500 ml in volume, while a single cigarette-use episode lasts about 5 minutes and can involve about 10-12 puffs of about 30-50 ml each. We are talking 100 times the smoke inhalation for a hookah-use episode, 50,000 ml total volume relative to a�single cigarette-use episode, 500 ml total volume." . . While it is widely known that cigarette smoking is bad for your health, hookah is possibly even worse. Hookah smoking is becoming popular across the country with hookah cafes opening up in many cities. Last semester, a hookah bar opened on Marshall Street but closed after just a few months. I guess the cost to expose one's self to cancer must have not worked well in this economy. Daily Orange Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2009/11/19/city-may-make-public-housing-smoke-free-zone http://tobacco.org/news/292944.html Finding a place to light up a cigarette can be difficult these days, but for public housing residents, smoking may soon be close to impossible. Following the wave of recent anti-smoking laws, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently sent a memo strongly encouraging public housing authorities nationwide to “implement non-smoking policies in some or all of their public housing units.” Although the New York City Housing Authority has yet to institute any laws locally, the memo has sparked a heated debate about the merits of such policies. For some, this legislation is a direct infringement on privacy and other basic freedoms. But others see this as an opportunity to encourage healthy environments and mitigate persistent problems of asthma. “You can’t smoke anywhere, now you can’t smoke at home?” said Audrey Silk, founder of the smokers’ rights group New York City Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment. . . . “Your home should be your castle, no matter whether you own it or not,” she said. “The city here is creating a divide in classes. People in housing are there because they can’t afford anything else. Now these people would be punished for their personal situation by having their right to smoke taken away. This is an intolerance campaign.” Joanne Koldare, director of the New York City Coalition for a Smoke Free City, also said she sees smoking in public housing projects as an issue of individual rights. But for her, this is the right to be free from the harms of secondhand smoke. “Those people living in low income housing should be able to live in a complex that doesn’t have smoking,” Columbia Daily Spectator Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2009/11/great_american_smokeout_says_k.html http://tobacco.org/news/292889.html On Thursday, please join the brave people across the state in a death-defying act -- quit smoking, even for just one day. Nov. 19 is the Great American Smoke-Out. Tobacco use continues to be the leading cause of preventable death. It kills in so many ways -- preventable deaths due to diseases like lung cancer, heart disease, asthma and chronic lung disease, pancreatic cancer and accidental deaths from fires. The list goes on and on. I am a registered nurse, and I have seen the pain and suffering firsthand during my entire professional life. Syracuse Post-Standard blogs Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT