The commercially-available cigarettes that we tested were chock full of bacteria, as we had hypothesized, but we didn't think we'd find so many that are infectious in humans. If these organisms can survive the smoking process -- and we believe they can -- then they could possibly go on to contribute to both infectious and chronic illnesses in both smokers and individuals who are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke.
— Lead researcher Amy R. Sapkota, an assistant professor in the University of Maryland's School of Public Health, on the study that will appear in an upcoming edition of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. / Cigarettes harbor many pathogenic bacteria / ScienceDaily, Thursday, November 19, 2009.
For the first time in history, we have the tools in hand to prevent a pandemic.
— Dr Otis W Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. / Africa heading for 'smoking epidemic' / BBC Online, Tuesday, November 17, 2009.
I wanted to do an over-the-top, walk-through exhibit. I’m not going after individual pharmacies as much as the chains that own them.
— Prof. Alan Blum, on his Buffalo, NY, ad exhibit that explores the role that drugstores have played in keeping America smoking. / Clearing air on cigarette ads / Buffalo (NY) News, Thursday, November 19, 2009.
Your Cancer and Drug Store: One-stop shopping: prescriptions, cigarettes, urgent care and chemo.
— Alan Blum's mock-drug store: an exhibition on tobacco advertising that opens today in the Buffalo Museum of Science. / Clearing air on cigarette ads / Buffalo (NY) News, Thursday, November 19, 2009.
If a court says these types of errors are okay, where does that land us on the next petitions? What other things are going to be okay then, and then we get to a point of is there integrity left in the petition process?
— South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley, on the smoking ban ruling. / Smoking Ban Ruling May Impact Petition Process / KELOLAND TV (Sioux Falls, SD), Monday, November 16, 2009.
The Golden Holocaust
— A judge in Florida has ruled that Robert Proctor does not have to give his notes and unpublished manuscript of his forthcoming 800-page book to RJR. / Historian of Science Can Keep His Scribblings on Tobacco Studies, Judge Rules / Science, Wednesday, November 11, 2009.
We collect $25 billion a year -- states and localities -- from settlement agreements and taxation, and spend less than 3 percent of that on tobacco control.
— Thomas Frieden, head of the CDC. / Smoking Declines Stall as Taxes Sought by CDC Chief (Update1) / Bloomberg News, Thursday, November 12, 2009.
The difference between the states making the most progress and the states not making progress is really stark and shows that government policies make a difference. It’s ironic that when we spend more than $7,500 per person, per year, on clinical curative care, we’re struggling to try to spend $10 a year on prevention.
— Thomas Frieden, head of the CDC. / Smoking Declines Stall as Taxes Sought by CDC Chief (Update1) / Bloomberg News, Thursday, November 12, 2009.
New York is a role model. While the rest of the country is stagnant, New York is a demonstration that its comprehensive effort is working.
— Matthew Myers, president of the nonprofit Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, on NY's drop of adult smokers to 16.8 percent. / As national smoking rates rise, NY's drops / (Long Island, NY) Newsday, Thursday, November 12, 2009.
At the national level, we’re kind of stuck. Now we’re back to where we had been. Too many bars, restaurants, and construction sites are still exempted from smoke-free laws.
— Matthew McKenna, MD, MPH, director of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, on the relatively unchanged smoking rate over the last few years.
/ Cigarette Smoking's Decline Levels Off / WebMD, Thursday, November 12, 2009.
For the first time in history, we have the tools in hand to prevent a pandemic.
— Dr. Otis W. Brawley, the chief medical officer of the American Cancer Societym, on the release of "Global Voices: Rebutting the Tobacco Industry, Winning Smokefree Air.".
/ Report says about 90 percent of Africans not protected by smoke-free laws / Xinhua Newswire, Wednesday, November 11, 2009.
Taking judicial notice
— The Ohio 12th District Court of Appeals "took judicial notice" of an "avalanche of authoritative scientific studies" that say second-hand smoking poses risks to children, and so ordered all parties to protect a 9-year-old from second-hand smoke.
/ Court bans mom from smoking near child / Cincinnati (OH) Enquirer, Sunday, November 8, 2009.
If limiting distribution and limiting the visibility of this dangerous product reduces smoking in communities, we believe pharmacists would be more than happy to be part of the program
— San Francisco entrepreneur Stuart Skorman, who wants to make pharmacies the only places that sell tobacco products. / Push to restrict tobacco sales to drugstores / San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, November 6, 2009.
It is not an advertisement if there are no words.
— Ms Chim, a vendor who said tobacco companies helped her renovate her stand by adding display boxes, and were still paying her about HK$3,000 a month in "advertising fees"--even though her posters and banners had been taken down as Hong Kong's final phase of its advertising ban took effect. / Display boxes for cigarettes may be illegal ($$) / South China Morning Post, Monday, November 2, 2009.
A fully scientifically-based Misuse of Drugs Act where drug classification
accurately reflects harms would be a powerful
educational tool. Using the Act in a political way to
give messages other than those relating to relative
harms undermines the Act and does great damage
to the educational message.
We also have to fully endorse harm reduction
approaches at all levels and especially stop the
artificial separation of alcohol and tobacco as
‘non-drugs’.
— Professor David Nutt / Estimating drug harms: a risky business? (PDF) / Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (uk), Thursday, October 1, 2009.
The Good Life—that is the art of living. A culture of its own that revolves around taking time, perceiving the world with all the senses in order to experience the fine nuances of pleasure.
— Davidoff's "The Good Life" campaign. The Davidoff Swiss indoor tennis tournament is under fire.
/ Tobacco sponsorship of tennis tournament goes ahead because of weak Swiss legislation, says campaigning group / British Medical Journal, Monday, October 19, 2009.
Modern living has exposed people to a variety of toxic substances. Illness and disease from exposure to these substances are often latent, not manifesting themselves for years or even decades after the exposure. Our tort law developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . . . We must adapt to the growing recognition that exposure to toxic substances and radiation may cause substantial injury which should be compensable even if the full effects are not immediately apparent.
— MA Supreme Court Justice Francis X. Spina, writing for the court in the Donovan medical monitoring suit. / SJC: Philip Morris may have to pay for diagnostic tests for smokers / Boston (MA) Globe, Monday, October 19, 2009.
[W]e got 80 percent of the people who were going to quit smoking to quit smoking. That's great, but the next 20 percent is going to be tough. Smoking tends to be a disease of poverty and lack of education. Thirty years ago, 50 percent of the population smoked and now we're down to roughly 25 percent. What we have left is a very select group of people.
— Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology/oncology at Ochsner Health System in New Orleans. / Smoking Keeps Its Grip on Urban Poor / HealthDay [HealthScout], Friday, October 16, 2009.
Golden Holocaust: A History of Global Tobacco
— Tentative title of Robert N. Proctor's work-in-progress. RJR is battling in a Florida court for a sneak preview. / Scholars' Right to Keep Unpublished Work Private Is at Issue in Lawsuit / Florida Board of Governors - State University System , Wednesday, October 14, 2009.
Tobacco packaging is no longer the 'silent salesman' it once was, now it shouts loudly. These screams for attention are used to defy advertising bans and drown out health warnings. The industry will fight tenaciously but the only consistent and effective policy response is generic packaging.
— Professor Gerard Hastings , lead researcher based at the Institute for Social Marketing at the University of Stirling. / Tobacco Research Reveals The Packet Racket / Medical News TODAY(UK), Tuesday, October 13, 2009.
I found no support for the claim that a display ban is likely to cause a reduction in smoking prevalence.
In contrast, tobacco price increases, driven mainly by increases in taxes, had a negative and statistically significant impact on smoking prevalence. Furthermore, other tobacco control measures, like bans on smoking in public areas and health warnings on cigarette packages were effective tobacco control measures, as they had a negative and statistically significant effect on smoking prevalence.
— Display bans must be tremendously threatening to Philip Morris if its own report establishes taxes, warning labels and smoking bans as effective tobacco control measures. It seems PM would prefer ANYTHING but a display ban. / The effectiveness of display bans: the case of Iceland (PDF) / Banning the Display of Tobacco Products (Philip Morris International) (ch), Thursday, October 1, 2009.
It's just to protect our ability to show our product in stores. We are not seeking changes to the law prohibiting smoking in public places or that prohibit tobacco advertising.
— Philip Morris spokesman Peter Nixon, on the Irish lawsuit. / Cigarette giant fights ban on advertising in shops / Irish Independent (ie), Monday, October 5, 2009.
The country is swamped in legislation that is making life very difficult for compliant retailers like me. The ban on the display of cigarettes is just one example of a piece of over-regulation that has negatively affected my business. As a law-abiding retailer, I have a responsibility to my employees to make sure that I can continue to employ them going forward.
— Donegal Town shopkeeper Maurice Timony--the local presence Philip Morris partnered with to bring a lawsuit in Ireland--sounding just like a corporate press release. / Shopkeeper and cigarette giant unite to fight Irish tobacco law / The Guardian (uk), Monday, October 5, 2009.
I certainly had no idea about any of this at the time. I take responsibility for publishing the piece, and feel that airing some of the internal fight over it would violate confidences.
— Then-New Republic editor Andrew Sullivan, on publishing "No Exit," the 1994 Betsey McCaughey item on Clinton's Health Care plan. / SULLIVAN: Betsy McCaughey And Big Tobacco / The Atlantic Monthly, Tuesday, September 29, 2009.
We find it unbelievable that the Government of Ontario - a senior partner in the tobacco industry for more than 50 years - would use taxpayers' dollars to sue legal tobacco companies rather than invest in eliminating the contraband market
— Imperial Tobacco Canada, on Ontario's lawsuit. / Government of Ontario lawsuit is "hypocrisy", says Imperial Tobacco Canada / Canada Newswire (CNW) (ca), Tuesday, September 29, 2009.