In the heyday of cigarette smoking, a pack a day was “just what the doctor ordered.” Of course, the purported health benefits of smoking have been largely debunked, and cigarettes today are associated with serious health hazards.

But smoking may still have at least one advantage: protection against the development of Parkinson’s disease. A large-scale study published in Wednesday’s online edition of the journal Neurology further bolsters the connection and concludes that the longer you smoke, the less likely you are to develop the illness.

In 2007, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health analyzed 11 separate studies and concluded that cigarette smoking protected against Parkinson’s but that benefits waned once a smoker quit. But the effect was a strong one: Smokers were 73 percent less likely to suffer from Parkinson’s than those who’d never lit up.

The latest study, while showing less dramatic results, offers a larger sample of subjects and could yield new clues about the mechanism by which cigarettes improve the brain’s resiliency to Parkinson’s.

A team at the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences examined 305,000 men and women over age 50. At a 10-year follow-up, half of 1 percent of the study’s participants had developed Parkinson’s.

More years of smoking were associated with less risk. Those who smoked for less than a decade had a 4 percent lower risk than nonsmokers, compared with a 41 percent reduced risk among participants who’d been lighting up daily for more than 30 years.

The number of cigarettes smoked didn’t appear to have any effect.

The study’s lead researcher, Dr. Honglei Chen, said he doesn’t foresee tobacco or other cigarette ingredients being considered as potential treatments for Parkinson’s. But the information “could guide the development of studies on various tobacco components … to help understand the relationship between smoking and Parkinson’s disease,” he told Health Day.

Further research could determine which chemicals are responsible for bolstering the brain against the illness, which targets the central nervous system and causes dozens of symptoms, of which physical tremors are the most obvious.

The cause of Parkinson’s still eludes researchers, but some suspect exposure to environmental toxins is to blame. One study of 143,000 adults concluded that those who’d been exposed to heavy doses of pesticides were 70 percent more likely to develop the disease.

The new research is good news for ongoing efforts to better understand Parkinson’s disease. But the cons of smoking still outweigh the pros, so the study’s authors are advising against lighting up as a preventive measure.

www.jwhomes.com
Posted By – Paul Crawley – Updated On: 3/9/2010 6:02:34 PM

ATLANTA – One day after about 100 supporters urged the Georgia State Legislature to pass an extra dollar cigarette tax, another group of 100 or so rallied against it at the State Capitol — that and any other tax increase.

Sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, Tuesday’s group included many tea party activists as well as several conservative Republican lawmakers.

Even though the General Assembly is wrestling with balancing a budget with a hole of more than $1 billion, the protestors said raising taxes is not the answer.

“Step one is don’t raise taxes. Step two is stop the bleeding. Stop spending people’s money so much,” said national anti-tax activist Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, the keynote speaker.

While Tuesday’s crowd also railed against President Obama and the U.S. Congress, who don’t have to balance the federal budget, they also called for no tax hikes and less spending in Georgia.

Some conservatives in the Republican controlled legislature are split over whether to raise the cigarette tax or to accept GOP Governor Sonny Perdue’s call for a hospital bed tax.

Smaller government is a long held dream of GOP conservatives, some of whom feel their day has finally come now that Georgia’s tax revenues continue to tank.

“I certainly believe there’re areas that state government needs to shrink,” says State Representative Tom Graves (R-Ranger), who attended the anti-tax rally.

“We’re for less spending in all levels of government and we’re certainly for reducing the tax burden on individuals here in Georgia,” Rep. Graves added.

Sponsors of a higher cigarette tax had accused the organizers of Tuesday’s rally of accepting money from the tobacco industry.

Monday they circulated a news release promoting the anti-tax rally that was paid for by Altria Client Services on behalf of Philip Morris, USA, the nation’s large cigarette maker.

But after the anti-tax rally, organizer Virginia Galloway of Americans for Prosperity said the news release was not theirs, but one put out by the cigarette company itself.

“It caused some confusion, unfortunately, and a lot of people got the idea that we were sending out that invitation and that Altria was paying for us to send out that invitation, which was not the case at all,” Galloway told 11Alive News.

On Monday House Speaker David Ralston, who opposes a higher cigarette tax, told 11Alive News he’d been invited to the rally, but wasn’t aware of any possible connection to Philip Morris.

Rep. Ralston said that would not change his plans to attend, but he was noticeably absent.

Some who attended the rally said they had a photo made with Ralston inside the capitol earlier in the day.
By Paul Crawley
3 March, 2010

St. Louis, MO. February 15, 2010 – St. Louis, Missouri will be a center of the pipe smoking world at noon this Saturday, February 20.

That’s when International Pipe Smoking Day will be celebrated at the 22nd Annual Gateway Area Pipe Show at the Heart of St. Charles Banquet Center. Local briar lovers will be raising their pipes in a salute to their pipe smoking brothers and sisters around the world as a show of friendship and unity that reaches across all borders, according to the Bob Callaway, spokesperson for the St. Louis Pipe Club, sponsor of the show.

International Pipe Smoking Day was designated by a group on Smokers Forums three years ago as a day on which pipe smokers everywhere could tell their story and educate others about the rich history and traditions of the noble art of pipe smoking. The group dedicated it to the worldwide community of pipe smokers that is bound together by a shared love of pipes, pipe collecting and the social aspect of pipe smoking. They respect informed choice and the responsible adult use of smoking tobacco and envisions a world where governments act in good faith and integrity.

“International Pipe Smoking Day provides an opportunity for briar lovers everywhere to stand up and demonstrate with pride that we are still enjoying our pipes despite all the restrictions and increased tobacco taxes that the anti-tobacco forces have imposed on us. They just don’t understand the significant benefits that pipe smoking offers,” Callaway said.

International Pipe Smoking Day is supported by the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association of some 2,000 retailers of premium tobacco products; the International Committee of Pipe Clubs, which has members in more than 25 countries; and by the United Pipe Clubs of America, with its more than 20 member clubs in the United States. Many other pipe clubs in this country and abroad also will hold special events on or around February 20 to mark the day.

“Our motto is ‘Relax with Your Pipe’ and that’s the idea we want to get across,” says Vernon Vig, President of UPCA which, according to the organization’s website was founded in 2002 to promote and protect the interests of the American pipe smoking community.

“Pipe smokers are mature, considerate adults. We don’t want to bother anyone, and all we ask in return is a little common sense and consideration on the part of others,” said Vig.
###

For more information, go to www.ipsd.eu; www.unitedpipeclubs.org, www.smokersforums.co.uk and www.pipeclubs.com.

Contact: Bob Callaway, 636-946-8555

Vernon Vig. 646-823-4543
vervig37@gmail.com

Tony Tortorici, 678/493-0313
tony@tortoricipr.com

Restaurant workers and patrons in Lebanon are being exposed to hazardous levels of tobacco smoke, thus prompting researchers and business owners at an AUB conference to call for complete smoking bans in closed public areas.

Organized by the AUB Tobacco Control Research Group, the conference, which was recently held in Gefinor-Rotana Hotel, assessed smoke-free policies in indoor areas at four educational institutions, five private offices and companies, and nine food and drink establishments. The conference also presented the findings of a 2008 air quality survey at 28 different venues in Lebanon—including restaurants, pubs, and hospital cafeterias—which was conducted by the National Tobacco Control Program at the Ministry of Health.

“More than 90 percent of the venues surveyed had unhealthy to hazardous air quality,” said George Saade, who heads the program. Saade, who is also a cardiologist, said that in several venues, especially in Ramadan tents that fog up with nargileh smoke, the aerosol monitor they were using would lock, indicating that the air pollutant levels were higher than the maximum level it could measure—or 400 times higher than acceptable levels set by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
The aerosol monitor was placed at the venues under study for a minimum of 30 minutes, during peak hours.

With more than 135,000 individuals working in the restaurant business in Lebanon and millions of tourists and locals who are patrons at such venues, immediate action is needed, said Saade.

“Policies and laws that ban secondhand smoke from public areas are an effective strategy to reduce workers’ exposure to this toxin,” said Saade. “This, in turn, may translate into improved health outcomes for these employees.”

Secondhand or passive smoke contains nearly 5000 chemical compounds, at least 172 toxic substances, including 67 known human or animal carcinogens, said Saade, adding: “There is no acceptable exposure level to secondhand smoke.”

Assessing smoke-free policies at schools and universities, a team led by assistant research professor Rima Nakkash found that although teenagers are aware of the harms of smoking, they still take up the unhealthy habit. “The solution: to implement smoke-free policies in schools and universities,” said Nakkash, also an active member of the Tobacco Control Research Group.
In fact, AUB’s experience with implementing smoke-free policies has proved rather promising, said Monique Chaaya, associate professor of epidemiology and statistics at AUB and a member of the Tobacco Control Research Group. In the first year after the smoke-free policy was implemented on campus, almost half of staff members and 18 percent of students thought they had reduced their smoking frequency.

Indeed, educational institutions that ban or restrict smoking on their premises noticed a significant health benefit related to smoke-free policies. Currently, more than 60 percent of Lebanese teenagers 13 to 15 years old smoke some kind of tobacco.

Moreover, the 2005 Global Youth Tobacco Survey had shown that smoke-free policies in schools and universities help students and teachers quit smoking and also discourage teenagers from taking up the habit.

The AUB research group also found that private companies had no problem enforcing smoking bans, but researchers recommended that bans be accompanied by smoking cessation programs to help smokers quit.

Meanwhile, a study of nine food and drink establishments found that if a national law that bans smoking in all closed public places is passed, the hospitality sector would willingly comply. “In general, no problems were encountered when an employee at a café or pub would ask a patron to stop smoking in compliance with the establishment’s smoke free policy,” said Nakkash, citing study results.
Nakkash and others concluded, based on findings, that there is a pressing need for a law that bans smoking in public areas in addition to a body that would ensure the enforcement of the law.

Moreover, studies conducted in the United States, Canada, and Britain have shown food and drink establishments do not lose any business—often even attracting more clients—when they adopt smoke-free policies. Researchers do not find such results surprising, as they note that the majority of any country’s population are non-smokers.

According to Hussam Eid, Zaatar wu Zeit’s marketing director and a smoker himself, a London study showed “that the only businesses that were substantially affected by smoke-free policies were Laundromats: because people don’t need to wash off the stench of tobacco from their clothes the next day.”

© 2009 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

Opening a retail outlet to sell a product that many people consider harmful might seem risky in the best of times, let alone in a down economy.

But at least four tobacco-related businesses have opened recently in Wichita or are close to doing so.

Jason Webster and Neil Edwards recently opened the Humidor Cigars & Lounge at 8558 W. 21st St.

It’s a spin-off from the smoke shop next door to ABC Discount Wine & Spirits, Webster said. “We kept expanding the humidor and finally we just ran out of space” and moved the cigar part of the business to a separate building. The front half is the retail area; the back half is a cigar lounge.

A Humidor also opened recently at 2221 N. Woodlawn. That one is owned by Rick Daugherty.

Mary and Maher Gerges just opened Shesha Tobacco Shop in Towne West Square.

It’s in a space where another tobacco shop was a few years back and offers a variety of tobacco, including cigars and tobacco for hookah water pipes.

Space at 2821 W. 13th St. is being remodeled for Steve’s Smoke Town, according to signs outside.

Webster said business at the smoke shop has been steady through the years.

But “I see fewer smoke shops than there used to be” around Wichita. “That’s probably helped us maintain some of our business.”

David Flax, who owns four Tee Pee’s Smoke Shops in Wichita and two in Newton, has seen others leave the business and said it would be tougher to open a new store now than it was 15 years ago, when he started.

“There’s so much stuff in the last 15 years that has changed,” he said, mentioning attitudes about smoking, the number of products available, state regulation and the price of cigarettes.

He has seen customers switch to roll-your-own tobacco and electric cigarettes that give the user a dose of nicotine without smoke. And to stay in business, he has to stock those as well as the cigarettes that they can buy anywhere else for the same price.

“You have to have everything the customer wants,” he said, and a customer who can find only two of the three things he wants will shop elsewhere.

Valeria Stanford manages Central Smoke Shop, which has been open about two years. She said the first three months or so were a struggle, “but we’re doing well.”

Customers complain about increasing prices but keep buying, she said.

The shop offers some convenience store products as well as tobacco, she said, but “what’s keeping our doors open is the cigarettes.”

Webster, of the Humidor, said he thinks people — especially younger ones — are looking for inexpensive ways to indulge themselves, and cigars and other tobacco products give them a way.

“I think it’s a younger generation that’s driving our business now,” he said.

With more space for cigars and a lounge in which to smoke them, he said, “we’ll increase our sales enough to hopefully make this thing work.”

BY KAREN SHIDELER
November 25, 2009, Kansas

When the federal government raised the tax on the loose tobacco people use to roll their own cigarettes a staggering 2,000 percent, companies stopped selling “loose tobacco.” Smokers stopped buying it. Very little of the projected tax revenue of $35 million per month appeared.

Yet smokers still roll their own cigarettes and still legally buy the ingredients.

Pipe tobacco is taxed at a rate of $2.83 per pound. Loose cigarette tobacco is now taxed at $24.78 per pound. Although pipe tobacco is, in general, cut rougher and sold moister than that used for cigarettes, there is no legal distinction between the products. They are taxed based on what their labels call them.

In just a few months, the production of tobacco labeled for pipes rocketed from 270,000 pounds per month to 1.7 million pounds per month. The production of tobacco labeled for cigarettes plummeted from 1.5 million pounds per month to 660,000.

It shows what happens when taxes unfairly target specific behaviors and assault narrow groups. Savvy producers and consumers have switched to unusually dry, unusually fine “pipe tobacco” for rolling their smokes.

There is no justification for hiking the tax rate of any legal product 2,000 percent. It places an undue burden on consumers of a legal product, and in this case, it placed an undue burden on the group of mostly small businesses that produce loose tobacco.

The tax increase, enacted alongside hikes in the federal levy on cigarettes and cigars, is pointlessly discriminatory. Why should people who place their tobacco in cigarettes be charged 10 times as much tax as people who place their tobacco in a pipe?

Again and again we see that taxes meant to change the behavior of the taxed backfire. They rarely raise the revenue their proponents promise, generally don’t cause people to act as predicted and often create unintended consequences.

The fairer a tax is, the harder it is to evade. An income tax, if the government stopped providing deductions targeted to manipulate behavior, would be fair and almost impossible to circumvent. A sales tax, if the government applied it to all items rather than excluding goods and services it wants you to buy, would be fair and almost impossible to evade. A property tax, if it simply reflected a set rate multiplied by the current value of property rather than varying based on behavior legislators want to encourage, would be fair and almost impossible to evade.

Seemingly incapable of learning, the federal government is now looking to set stricter legal distinctions between pipe and cigarette tobacco in an attempt to collect its money. Unmentioned is the issue of why the tax on one should be 10 times the tax on the other.

Perhaps government policymakers think pipes are cool and intellectual, and home-rolled cigarettes are just uncouth. If so, that’s a poor rationale for tax policy.

November 17, 2009 Goupstate

There is a long list of people who are barred from entering the shop of Edinburgh tobacconist Alan Myerthall. Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling, the chancellor, and former first minister Jack McConnell are all at the top, due to their support for the smoking ban, which tobacco retailers claim has been a nail in the coffin of their industry.

Now, ministers in the new Scottish government will also be turned away from the Leith Walk establishment if the proposed point-of-sale ban on the display of cigarettes and tobacco goes ahead.

The smoking ban has seen the demise of a number of Myerthall’s peers, including the 100-year-old Glasgow institution Herbert Love, but the shelves in The Pipe Shop, Myerthall’s store, are a tobacco lover’s heaven. They are stacked with thousands of products, all related to cigarette, pipe and cigar smoking.

If the legislation goes ahead, retailers such as Myerthall, whose wife’s family founded the tobacconist store more than 50 years ago, will be forced to keep cigarettes, rolling tobacco and cigarette papers out of sight under the counter, or behind a screen.

“Everyone in the trade is against it,” said Myerthall, who sells around £1m of smokingrelated products a year. “I have already had to change my whole business due to the smoking ban.”

The bill, which aims to reduce young people’s exposure to tobacco products and cut the number of teenage smokers, has been granted first stage approval by Scottish ministers, while a similar scheme for England and Wales was given the go-ahead by Westminster earlier this week. It is now awaiting approval from the House of Lords.

But although the ban is welcomed by health charities and education groups, small businesses that rely heavily on cigarette sales are worried. Stores such as newsagents and corner shops generate about a third of their sales from tobacco, according to the Tobacco Retailers Alliance (TRA). They are concerned not because the cigarettes themselves generate a large amount of cash — high taxation gobbles up the majority of any profits — but because they rely heavily on cigarette sales to bring customers in. A survey carried out this year by the TRA claimed three-quarters of shopkeepers in Scotland believe their businesses could be under threat as a result of the ban.

Although most retailers accept that regular customers buying their usual brands are not likely to stray from their local vendor, they fear that passing trade may favour supermarkets where they think they are more likely to find their chosen product, resulting in a drop in ad hoc sales of milk, bread and other groceries.

Fiona Barrett, spokeswoman for the TRA and a newsagent on Glasgow’s Byres Road, said: “If we don’t sell their preferred brand, they will have to go through the process of deciding on an alternative without looking at the packets. If we don’t have their second choice, they will have to do the same thing all over again, whereas at the moment, they can see what we have on offer and can choose.

“Instead of going through all that, we are worried they will just go straight to a big supermarket where they are more likely to get their first choice straight off.”

She added: “The loss of trade may just push people over the edge who have already been struggling to keep going.”

Retailers have also raised concerns about the ban increasing the time spent on each transaction, as well as worries over security due to their having to turn their backs on customers to access the products from behind a screen or a shutter.

In a financial blow to cash-strapped businesses already hit by the recession, compliance alterations would have to be made to existing “gantries” — the cigarette display shelves used by retailers — and although some tobacco companies have indicated that they may meet the bill for these, what that would mean in practice is not clear.

While multiple retailers such as supermarkets would have to comply with the new rules by 2011, small shops have until 2013 to prepare for the ban, which the government claims will give them ample time to make the alterations in the process of “normal refurbishment” to their shops.

“We are working with businesses as much as we can,” said a spokeswoman for the Scottish government. “This is not about incurring extra costs for them but is about getting the tobacco products out of the sight of children. Otherwise, we are giving mixed messages to children, telling them that smoking is bad, but when they walk into a shop, the products are lit up in lights.”

In Ireland, where a similar scheme has been in place for four months, Philip Morris, the maker of Marlboro, and the independent retailer Maurice Timony recently filed a joint lawsuit with the High Court in Dublin seeking to stop the ban, claiming it threatens business, fuels the smuggling of contraband cigarettes and restricts their ability to provide trade and services, violating Irish constitutional law and EU law.

An Irish study last week showed that 97% of stores were adhering to the new rules, which if broken could mean a €3,000 fine or six months in prison for the retailer.

While all sides claim to agree that reducing the number of teenage smokers is a good thing, retailers are sceptical that removing products from shelves will make a difference.

But Sheila Duffy, chief executive of ASH Scotland, disagrees. “We know from many years of research that advertising by the tobacco industry encourages young people to experiment with smoking, experimentation which frequently results in a lifelong addiction to a product that kills half of its long-term users,” she said.

“Since most forms of tobacco advertising and event sponsorship by the tobacco industry were banned in 2003, we have seen an explosion of brand variants from tobacco companies.

“This tactic enables big tobacco [companies] to take maximum advantage of one of their last remaining marketing opportunities — the increased brand presence on their brightly-lit and enticing retail gantries, familiar sights in shops across the country.”

In a unique dispensation, under the Scottish rules, specialist tobacconists such as The Pipe Shop would be allowed to leave smoking paraphernalia and cigars on show, but they would still have to remove from sight non-specialist cigarettes and rolling tobacco.

With just 20% of his turnover coming from the products he will have to hide, Myerthall, who has already shifted his focus to pick up more mailorder trade from overseas in the wake of the smoking ban, is confident that he will overcome the new legislation. He believes there will be loopholes in the law, having heard of shops in Ireland covering up the offending items with opaque plastic sheets, allowing the branding to be clearly seen underneath, or painting the brand names on top of a cover.

Whether such sneaky methods will slip through the net of any new law in Scotland remains to be seen. The details of the legislation will be finalised as the bill completes its passage through parliament over the next few months.

“We will find a way around it,” said Myerthall, optimistically. “We might not be as educated as these MSPs, but we’re more wily.”

By Jane Bradley, October 18, 2009 Timesonline

Wisconsin has become the next-to-last state to require so-called fire-safe cigarettes.

Gov. Jim Doyle signed the bill a year-and-a-half ago and the law took effect on Oct. 1.

Fire-safe cigarettes are designed to snuff themselves out if they’re not smoked for a certain length of time.

The idea is to prevent fires started by cigarettes that are left smoldering.

Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, tried for five years to require fire-safe cigarettes, soon after New York became the first state to mandate it.

Now, every state but Wyoming has similar laws on the books although some won’t actually take effect until next year or 2011.

The National Fire Protection Association says 800 Americans die each year from fires caused by smoking materials.

But not all smokers are crazy about the new cigarettes.

Milwaukee tobacco retailer Jeff Steinbock says some of his customers complain that the new smokes don’t taste as good and they have to keep lighting them up because they go out too quickly.

Steinbock says it’s another case of blaming the product instead of people for their irresponsible behavior.

October 12 2009 Riverfallsjournal

A “fire-safe” product that you light up?
It’s the new state-mandated cigarette in Wisconsin.

In a nutshell, the new cigarettes don’t burn as well as the old ones – which is good, if you want to prevent accidental fires, bad if you have to keep flicking your Bic.

Since Oct. 1, when Wisconsin became the 49th state with a fire-safe law, distributors have been required to purvey only the new variety of smokes.

They’re not fire-proof, supporters of the law acknowledge, but they are less likely to continue burning when left unattended.

According to the state Department of Commerce, manufacturers typically wrap fire-safe cigarettes with two or three bands of less porous paper that act as “speed bumps.”

When the cigarette is left unattended, the burning tobacco reaches one of the speed bumps and extinguishes itself, the department says.

One of the chief backers of the Wisconsin bill, which Gov. Jim Doyle signed into law in April 2008, was state Sen. Judy Robson. The Beloit Democrat called it the most important fire safety step since smoke detectors.

Robson pursued the legislation after New York in 2004 became the first state to mandate fire-safe cigarettes. New York saw a decline in fires that caused death or major property damage, said Nadine Gratz, one of Robson’s aides.

“The chances are a whole lot better that it will go out before any fire starts,” Gratz said of the new cigarettes.

Dozens of states have adopted fire-safe cigarette mandates in the past several years, partly as a result of a push by the National Fire Protection Association, which says about 800 people a year in the U.S. die in fires caused by smoking materials.

Only Wyoming has no such law, according to the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes.

In about a dozen cases, the laws are scheduled to go into effect in 2010 or 2011.

Smokers have voiced two main complaints about the new cigarettes, which have been in stores since about August, said Jeff Steinbock, owner of Uhle Tobacco Co. in downtown Milwaukee.

If you don’t puff on them fast enough, they go out.

And they don’t taste right.

Steinbock, who doesn’t smoke cigarettes, complained about the law by phone while fishing for musky in Rhinelander on Friday.

“I guess my problem is you blame the product for irresponsible behavior. How far do we need to protect ourselves?” he said.

There is at least one side effect that’s good for business: a jump in the sales of disposable lighters.

“I think if you have dough to invest, I’d buy Bic lighters,” Steinbock said.

By Tom Kertscher of the Journal Sentinel

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – A year after the nation’s second-largest gambling resort scrapped a plan to go totally smoke-free in its 11 casinos, the issue remains as hazy as the cigarette smoke over the blackjack tables.

Atlantic City was set to ban all smoking last October, but backed off when the recession hit, promising to reconsider in a year.

But there’s still no consensus on whether to stick with the current arrangement, which permits smoking on 25 percent of the casino floor, or to try again for a total ban.

“Right now, I don’t see where many minds have changed on council,” said City Council President William “Speedy” Marsh, who plans to poll council members soon on the issue.

Marsh, who has battled health problems over the past year, said he personally favors trying again for a total ban on smoking.

“Every dollar you have in life doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t have good health,” he said. “This is a health issue.”

But the casinos continue to oppose a total ban. Already battered by the poor economy and fierce competition from Pennsylvania and New York slots parlors, the gambling halls fear even further revenue declines they say would happen when their smoking customers take their business elsewhere.

“A 100 percent smoking ban would be catastrophic,” said Mark Juliano, CEO of Trump Entertainment Resorts, whose three Atlantic City casinos are operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. “Right now, we just can’t face another negative.”

So far this year, Atlantic City’s casino revenue is down 15.1 percent, and there are about 400 fewer casino jobs than there were at the start of the year. Since the first of eight slots parlors opened in Pennsylvania, touching off Atlantic City’s downward spiral, the city has lost nearly 8,900 casino jobs.

Atlantic City actually did ban smoking for two weeks last year , but by accident. It approved a ban months in advance, then acted too late to legally prevent it from taking effect.

During the two weeks that all smoking was banned in Atlantic City casinos, several of the gambling halls said their revenue losses doubled.

Councilman G. Bruce Ward said marketing Atlantic City as a smoke-free destination could bring in new customers who now shun the gambling halls.

But Councilman Dennis Mason said Atlantic City would be placing itself at an even greater disadvantage by banning smoking; the Pennsylvania slots parlors allow it on 50 percent of the gambling floor.

“We should go to a 100 percent smoking ban when all the other casinos in neighboring states do it,” he said. “It’s got to be a fair and equal footing in this recession. There’s no other way to go right now.”

WAYNE PARRY
The Associated Press

As of midnight, September 21st, all flavored cigarettes – except for menthol – will be banned from production and sale nation wide.

What is Included in the Cigarette Flavor Ban?

Any cigarettes with flavoring, other than menthol, are covered in the ban. This includes long-time favorites, like clove cigarettes. So far, it does not include flavored cigars or pipe tobacco, and some companies, like Djarum, a well-known clove cigarette producer, are turning instead to ‘tiny cigars’, clove cigars roughly the same size as the clove cigarettes.

More Tobacco Restrictions to Come

This is one of several steps taken by the FDA because of a law President Obama signed in late June, giving the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products. In the future, it is planned to also implement further restrictions on tobacco advertising, and require large health warnings on the top half of cigarette packages, similar to those already found on cigarettes in Canada. It will also prevent cigarette companies from marketing cigarettes as mild, light, or low tar.

Why was This Ban Passed?

There are a large number of factors as to why this ban passed. Around 45 years have passed since studies linked the use of tobacco to respiratory disease, like emphysema, and heart disease; some officials have been calling for stiffer regulation ever since. Although some restrictions have passed previously, such as certain advertising restrictions and raising tobacco taxes, the bill passed by President Obama is one of the largest steps taken to curb one of the leading contributors to many health conditions.

This particular part of the new restrictions, the cigarette flavoring ban, is specifically intended to help reduce under-age smoking, to stop the habit before it starts. Many studies have shown that the flavored cigarettes appeal most to younger people, not least of all because it masks the harshness of the inhaled smoke and thus makes it easier to start smoking.

British artist David Hockney is backing calls for a review of the smoking ban which he says is destroying “bohemia”.

The 72-year-old lifelong smoker is supporting moves by a cross-party group of MPs to amend the UK smoking laws.

They want people to be able to light up in designated smoking rooms to prevent pubs that are losing trade closing.

Mr Hockney told the BBC’s Politics Show he missed being able to smoke in his favourite cafe in East Yorkshire while admiring the view.

He accused former Prime Minister Tony Blair and his successor Gordon Brown of interfering in his life and said: “I loathe them for it.”

“I am not that interested in politics. I didn’t care about any until recently,” he added.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Smoking rooms with good ventilation systems would be an excellent idea

KA Owen, Bristol

East Yorkshire Conservative MP Greg Knight, who also supports the campaign, says that without a relaxation of smoking laws hundreds more pubs and clubs may be forced to close as they lose trade from smokers.

Smoking was banned in England in all public indoor spaces, including places of work, pubs, restaurants and nightclubs in 2007. The ban also applies in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

SHREVEPORT, – Nearly two years have passed since 53-year old Patty Easom of Shreveport was killed in a ferocious fire, born from a cigarette she had left on her sofa. While the Easoms continue to mourn her loss, according to a new report, cigarette-ignited fires like the one that killed Patty are all too common.

The Coalition for Safe Cigarettes (CFS), recently characterized cigarette-ignited fires as a leading cause of home fire deaths in the United States and they conclude that between 700 to 900 people per year – smokers and non-smokers alike, are the victims of a preventable death.

Starting January 1st, 2010 all tobacco dealers will be required by law to sell a new fire-safe cigarette, which many fire-safety proponents say is a measure long over due. Shreveport’s Assistant Chief of Fire Prevention, Randy Stephens, agreed and added, “… that any reduction in these cigarette-ignited fires would help save lives and benefit our community.” Experts say the new fire-safe cigarettes will burn slower when they are left unattended through a technique that wraps the cigarettes with multiple bands of paper. These multiple bands of paper act as “speed bumps,” and purportedly cause the cigarette to self-extinguish.

We investigated these new fire-safe cigarettes to see if they would perform as promised and help reduce the number of cigarette-ignited fires. Along with the help of the Shreveport Fire Department, we recreated a similar scenario to the tragic fire that claimed the life of Patty Easom. On the grounds of the Shreveport Fire Department, a sofa was placed inside a specially designed room called a “Burn Building.”

First, the fire-safe cigarette was lit and placed it on the sofa. Then a regular cigarette was lit and placed it on the opposite end of the sofa.

Nine minutes later, the fire-safe cigarette had practically self-extinguished, while the regular cigarette still burned vigorously and had welded a hole into the couch.

The test was done a second time, but this time the fire-safe cigarette did not work. Almost 14 minutes had passed and the fire-safe cigarette was still burning, while the regular cigarette self-extinguished.

The team recreated the test for a third and final attempt and shortly after, the fire-safe cigarette had succeeded again and self-extinguished.

The results of the investigation revealed that the fire-safe cigarettes did not work every time. Shreveport’s Assistant Chief of Fire Prevention, Randy Stephens, clarified the outcome of the test. “All cigarettes have the potential to start a fire but this is a fire (safer) cigarette.”

According to Stephens, if the fire-safe cigarette does its job two out of three times, it is still an invaluable tool for saving lives. One that could have made a difference for Patty Easom and hundreds like her.

Copyright © Sep 14, 2009 Ksla

CIGARETTE sales should be banned from pubs and clubs, say anti-smoking campaigners, who point to the results of world-first research carried out in Sydney.

The combination of being in the company of smokers at a venue where tobacco is also for sale softens the resolve of would-be quitters and can turn a one-off cigarette into a full-blown relapse, a study has found.

Wendy Oakes, tobacco control manager for the Cancer Council NSW, which funded the research, said long-term smokers would not be disadvantaged if cigarettes were removed from sale in licensed premises.

”Smokers have very habitual buying patterns. Smokers don’t run out of cigarettes,” she said.

Such a move would instead ‘’support people to keep the resolve they’ve already made … not constantly harassing people and tempting them” as they tried to quit.

The new results revealed ”a very strong association amongst people who said they had quit between having a cigarette and buying a pack of cigarettes”, Ms Oakes said.

Outdoor smoking areas in otherwise smoke-free pubs meant people ”clustered there in social groups [allowing] people to continue to smoke in very socialised ways”, and borrowing a cigarette from a friend could quickly lead to a purchase.

Cigarette machines in pubs may be operated only by token and only by a staff member, but this might not be enough to break the nexus, Ms Oakes said.

”We would like to see vending machines removed from pubs and clubs because the work done shows that it is a trigger area,” she said.

In world-first research, Suzan Burton from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management asked smokers intending to quit to record their smoking and cigarette purchases in a diary over four days.

She found they were much more likely than non-quitting smokers to buy them at bottle shops and bars rather than supermarkets, suggesting impulse buying.

Their smoking was disproportionately influenced by the presence of other smokers. If family or friends smoked around them, they were three times as likely to light up.

”Allowing cigarettes to be sold in pubs is allowing people to be targeted at their most vulnerable,” said Associate Professor Burton, a consumer behaviour expert who conducted the study with colleague Lindie Clark.

Tobacco availability seemed to conspire with alcohol and relaxation to knock people off the wagon and stopping such sales ”might be a relatively efficient method of preventing relapse”.

The study is the first to track the behaviour of people as they try to give up smoking, letting the researchers see how consumption aligned with cigarette availability and social behaviour. Previous research has been based on quitters’ retrospective recollections, which are notoriously unreliable.

Most smokers say they would prefer not to smoke. About half make a quit attempt in any six-month period.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

EL CAJON — El Cajon’s tobacco licensing ordinance — one of the toughest in the state — is resulting in fewer stores illegally selling cigarettes to youngsters, backers say.

Five percent of 125 stores in El Cajon sold tobacco to youths who served as underage decoys in fiscal 2008, according to a report released last week. A similar survey in 2004, before El Cajon’s ordinance was enacted, showed that 40 percent of the city’s stores sold tobacco to minors.

El Cajon Councilman Gary Kendrick, who pushed for passage of the ordinance, said the numbers show that it’s working.

“It’s a tremendous success by any measure,” he said.

The El Cajon City Council approved a tobacco licensing ordinance in June 2004 to curb underage smoking. The city was the first in San Diego County to adopt such a law.

If El Cajon tobacco retailers violate the law by selling to minors, fail to ask for ID or do not display the proper signs, they risk a $1,000 fine or a 30-day license suspension. Retailers who violate the law four times in five years face the permanent loss of their licenses.

Many tobacco retailers were opposed to the law from the start, saying they were already taxed enough. Tobacco retailers were initially required to pay a $198 annual fee, which has since risen to $675 to cover the costs of enforcing and administering the program.

Samantha Dabish, vice president of the Neighborhood Market Association, said the cost of the permit is a financial burden for small stores. Educating business owners should be a higher priority than penalizing them, she said.

“We think (city officials) could work more as a team with the retailers rather than set them up,” said Dabish, whose association represents 2,000 retailers in California, Arizona and Nevada.

Since El Cajon’s passage of the measure, Vista and the city of San Diego have also approved ordinances requiring tobacco retailers to buy a license. Solana Beach approved an ordinance in July but it hasn’t gone in effect, while Del Mar is considering a similar ordinance.

The Center for Tobacco Policy Organizing, a unit of the American Lung Association, lists El Cajon among 63 communities in California with strong tobacco ordinances in effect for more than a year. More than 80 communities have passed ordinances, but some have provisions that make them ineffective, the group said.

Debbie Kelly of the American Lung Association said cities with strong tobacco licensing laws have seen dramatic decreases in tobacco sales to minors.

“These ordinances are very important,” she said. “If it’s harder for a kid to get their hands on tobacco, then maybe they just won’t do it.”

Communities Against Substance Abuse, an El Cajon nonprofit, has a $32,751 contract with El Cajon to recruit teenagers posing as cigarette buyers to ensure the law is being enforced.

One of the youths, 16-year-old Alma Alvarez, a senior at Steele Canyon High School in Jamul, said a clerk at one store urged her to buy a three-pack of cigarettes on sale when she asked for a pack of Camel Lights.

“It can be easy for a young person to obtain tobacco products if the laws regarding tobacco sales to minors are not consistently enforced,” Alvarez told the El Cajon City Council.


Union-Tribune

Anne Krueger: (619) 542-4575;

A lawsuit against two tobacco companies went to the Helsinki Court of Appeals on Monday. The plaintiffs are two women who have smoked for a long time, and who are seeking damages from the Amer Group and the Finnish subsidiary of British-American Tobacco.

While some American victims of smoking-related diseases have managed to Finns have successfully sued tobacco companies for their smoking-related illnesses, this has not happened in Finland.

In the first phase of the lawsuit, Helsinki District Court found for the defendants, saying that the plaintiffs were aware of the dangers of smoking.

Court cases against tobacco companies have become a specialty of Erkki Aurejärvi, Professor Emeritus of Civil Law. Appearing on YLE’s morning television programme on Monday, Aurejärvi was very critical of the Finnish justice system, which he said is not capable of making important decisions.

“Courts in Finland do not make decisions which they fear might lead to something important”, Aurejärvi said on YLE.

Tobacco Industry Documents as Evidence

Aurejärvi has acquired documents from the tobacco industry, which came up during court trials in the United States. The documents focus on the risks linked with smoking.

The plaintiffs argue that tobacco companies have deliberately marketed their products to children. Aurejärvi says that cigarettes have contained additives to make smoking easy even for young children. The tobacco industry has developed additives that expand the bronchial tubes, making it easier for children to inhale smoke.

Aurejärvi also alleges that tobacco companies have deliberately tried to maximize nicotine addiction.

“It is science that has been practiced in laboratories behind closed doors since the 1950s.”

Deceptive Advertising of Light Cigarettes Alleged

The plaintiffs in the ongoing appeal are two smokers, one of whom suffers from emphysema and the other has lung cancer. They smoked light cigarettes, and a major issue in the case is whether or not the tobacco companies have engaged in deceptive marketing.

“Light cigarettes were marketed as light products. ‘You can smoke these with a good conscience’.” Auerjärvi notes that light cigarettes were created as an alternative to quitting cigarettes.

A decision in the case is expected next spring.

Copyright © 2009 Yle

Miami, FL – A new study confirms what has already been likely known to most smokers – cigarettes lessen taste buds’ abilities over time.
Greek scientists studied 62 Greek soldiers’ tongues using electrical stimulation to test the taste threshold of the men and endoscopes to measure the number and shape of a certain taste bud.

Lead researcher Pavlidis Pavlos, of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, said there were statistical differences detected between the taste buds of smokers and non-smokers.

The researchers said they noticed that the tongues of the 28 smokers in the group had flatter taste buds with a reduced blood supply.

The study was published in the journal BMC Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders.

Copyright © August 20, 2009 Allheadlinenews

Hundreds of Turks have taken to the streets of Ankara to protest against a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants which was brought in last month.

Many of the protesters are cafe owners who say the ban is hurting trade and want smoking to be allowed in special areas of their establishments.

The government banned smoking in most enclosed public spaces in May last year and extended the ban last month.

Turkey has 20 million smokers but polls suggest most people support the ban.

Turkey aspires to become a member of the EU, and the ban brings the country into line with most EU countries.

Anyone caught lighting up in a designated smoke-free area faces a fine of 69 lira ($45; £28).

Bar owners who fail to enforce the ban could be fined from 560 lira for a first offence up to 5,600 lira.

On Tuesday about 1,000 protesters gathered in a park outside the health ministry buildings with brightly coloured banners daubed with slogans and, inevitably, many cigarettes.

“Don’t add a coffeehouse crisis to the economic crisis,” one banner read.

Other banners threatened that the party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a supporter of the ban, would suffer at the next election.

Copyright © 18 August 2009 BBC

Millions of taxpayer dollars are going up in smoke as the Patrick administration moves to buy a pricey high-tech cigarette tax-stamping system despite little evidence of counterfeit butts in the Bay State, lawmakers charged yesterday.

Gov. Deval Patrick – who has wrangled with the state’s two major zoos over $4 million in state funding – plans to shell out nearly $5 million over the next three years for the new digital stamper.

“I’ve looked at this issue, and quite frankly (administration officials) don’t seem to have made the case that we need to move to this technology,” said Rep. Antonio Cabral (D-New Bedford), who co-chairs the legislative committee on bonding.

“The money would be better spent somewhere else on local aid or restoring any of the services we had to cut,” Cabral said.

Sicpa, a Swiss company, has been awarded a $4.7 million contract for digital equipment to stamp cigarette packs instead of the stickers used now. The state is expected to spend $800,000 in fiscal year 2010 because the system won’t be implemented until midway through the year.

“This is another example of an incredibly mismanaged government. On the one hand you have the governor making unwise budget cuts that are turning services upside down, but on the other hand the state’s wasting millions on useless contracts,” said Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei (R-Wakefield).

But Robert Bliss, spokesman for the state Department of Revenue, said the new system would protect millions in funding the state receives every year from a 1998 tobacco settlement. If tobacco companies believe the state isn’t protecting their profits, they can file a lawsuit and potentially hand over less cash, Bliss argued.

The Bay State is expected to collect a total of $2 million from tobacco companies under the settlement.

Bliss also frets that the state may see a spike in counterfeit cigarettes, despite only 1,800 cigarette packs out of 117,000 seized in the state had the fake stamps.

“While we have not seen a tidal wave of them, we are beginning to see some cases,” Bliss said. “We figure where there’s a few caught, there might be more coming down the road.”


Copyright © 2009 Bostonherald

Puducherry (PTI): The Puducherry government on Wednesday announced an increase in the rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) on cigarettes from 12.5 per cent to 20 per cent in its budget for 2009-10.

The Puducherry Chief Minister V Vaithilingam, who also holds the Finance portfolio, presented a Rs 4,133-crore budget for the Union Territory for 2009-2010 in the Assembly.

Mr. Vaithilingam said the rise in VAT on cigarettes was aimed at discouraging consumption of cigarettes.

He also announced that food and drinks sold by the Indian Coffee Workers Cooperative Society Ltd here would be exempted from VAT.

He said the Planning Commission had pegged the plan size of Puducherry for 2009-10 at Rs 2,250 crore. This comprises of state’s own resources of Rs 1,016.15 crore, Central assistance of Rs 273.59 crore and borrowings and negotiated loan of Rs 960.26 crore.

The non plan allocation is Rs 1,846.20 crore and an amount of Rs 36.80 crore is also provided under the Centrally sponsored schemes, he added.

Meanwhile, alleging that the Congress government under Vaithilingam failed to implement several schemes and to ensure balanced development of all the regions, legislators belonging to opposition AIADMK and CPI staged walk out from the House.

AIADMK legislators A Anbalagan said that he and his party colleagues were walking out to mark their protest against government’s failure in ensuring development of Puducherry.”


Copyright © 2009 Hindu

Firemen have given their supporting to a move to introduce “fire safe” cigarettes in Scotland, because almost half of the fire deaths in Scotland are attributed to smoking.
Fortunately many of these deaths are preventable. Reduced ignition propensity cigarettes, more commonly known as fire-safe cigarettes, are self-extinguishing cigarettes that are far less likely to start fires when handled carelessly by smokers.
Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), Stewart Maxwell, wants Scotland to become the first country in Europe to introduce the cigarettes, which go out fast if unattended.
He has lodged a parliamentary movement which has the written support of all eight Scottish fire and guard services.
As it is known fire safe cigarettes are less likely to continue burning when left unattended. This because they have a special manufactured method.
One method used by manufacturers is to wrap cigarettes with two or three thin bands of less-porous paper which act as “speed bumps” to slow down a burning cigarette.
The burning tobacco will achieve one of these speed bumps and self-extinguish.
The state of Vermont in the US introduced legislation in 2005 to ensure that all cigarettes were fire safe – and later recorded no fire deaths attributed to cigarettes in 2007 and 2008.
Mr. Maxwell is calling for a change in the law at Westminster, which has control in this area, to make the cigarettes compulsory.
He said: “I am therefore delighted that all the fire brigades across Scotland have indicated support for my motion and hope that this will see early moves to see this legislation introduced as soon as possible. I will now be writing to the cabinet secretary for justice to seek his support in pressing the UK Government to introduce such legislation.”
Anti-tobacco researchers are sure that the introduction of this little known but important technology would bring about a very significant improvement in Scotland’s fire safety record.
Today, 25 states have passed fire-safe cigarette laws, with state laws going into effect on a regular basis. Nevertheless, there is still hard work ahead as states must maintain, enforce and strengthen the existing fire-safe cigarette laws.

Ryanair is allowing passengers to puff on “smokeless” cigarettes during flights.

Cabin staff on short-haul services sell the devices – which can be legally smoked in public places – at £6 for a pack of 10.

The cigs are promoted as a nicotine fix for people who can’t wait until they land for their next fag.

A passenger said: “The stewards were brandishing the packs as they walked down the aisle. No one bought any.”

Martin Dockrell, from Action on Smoking and Health, said: “Our concern with these products is that there isn’t much evidence as to their safety.”

The cigs use cartridges of nicotine that are inhaled before a water vapour that resembles smoke is breathed out by the user.

The fags do not contain tobacco or any of the harmful chemicals found in normal cigarettes.

Copyright © 2009 Mirror

With most of the world in recession, expensive habits are fading fast. But international tobacco companies are still making smokers pay up for a hit.

While many consumer-products companies have capped prices, the likes of Philip Morris International and London-listed British American Tobacco are raising them. With cigarette sales likely in permanent decline in some markets, producers have focused on price.

Heard on the Street columnist John Jannarone explains to Simon Constable how premium cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris is actually getting a boost from foreign governments. Plus how industry consolidation is giving profits an extra lift.

That has helped some tobacco companies smoke market expectations. PMI’s shares have risen 8% since Thursday morning, when it said higher prices had boosted second-quarter profits. In the European Union prices rose about 5%, the fastest pace in over a year, according to Thilo Wrede of Credit Suisse.

And tax laws can actually work in favor of premium tobacco companies. Many countries tax cigarettes by the pack rather than as a proportion of the retail price.

That has caused low-end cigarette prices to rise more quickly than premium cigarettes. In France, for instance, premium cigarettes only cost 15% more than the cheapest option, according to Morgan Stanley’s David Adelman.

The threat of price competition has also eased after large mergers such as Imperial Tobacco’s purchase of Altadis and Japan Tobacco’s acquisition of Gallaher. A consolidated industry is less likely to start a price war.

Granted, the recession means some consumers are trading down. PMI has been hurt by the trend in Russia, for instance, where premium brands still cost a multiple of the cheapest. But even in Russia, PMI gained share last quarter with Parliament, an ultra-premium brand.

When consumers eventually feel richer again, companies with the most expensive brands will benefit most. PMI, spun off from Altria last year, generates more than half its profit from premium brands, according to Mr Wrede. Such brands account for about a third of BAT’s profit.

PMI trades at 13.2 times consensus 2010 earnings, while BAT commands a multiple of 11.6 times. Investors may be tempted by the cheaper option, but in the long run they should find the top drawer more rewarding.
Copyright © 2009 Wsj

Provost Umphrey attorneys Bryan Blevins and John Cowan have recently filed a class action in federal court over light cigarettes.

Earlier this month, the Southeast Texas Record reported on a lawsuit filed in Arkansas alleging that the country’s largest tobacco companies have been misleading consumers on the actual nicotine and tar content of their light cigarettes.

Blevins’ suit, which was filed July 20 in the Eastern District of Texas, mirrors the Arkansas suit and accuses Philip Morris, Altria Group and Reynolds American of deceiving consumers.

The Provost Umphrey law firm was also involved in the filing of the Arkansas suit.

The proposed class is represented by Jefferson County resident David Charles V. Hanson III, who claims the defendants misled him into believing light cigarettes were less harmful than regular cigarettes.

According to the suit, Hanson started purchasing various brands of cigarettes in the 1950s.

He claims he first smoked regular cigarettes, but then switched to light brands “believing that Defendants’ light cigarettes delivered less tar and nicotine and were less harmful,” the complaint states.

The consumer class action will include all Texas residents who from July 20, 2005 until the end of the litigation purchased cigarettes labeled as “light” or “ultra-lights.” So far, the class includes at least 100 members seeking more than $5 million in damages.

“This consumer class action concerns Defendants’ … advertising of light cigarettes as delivering less nicotine … and being less harmful … despite Defendants knowledge that these representations were false,” the suit states.

The suit accuses the defendants of designing their light cigarettes to register lower levels of tar and nicotine during testing than the levels actually delivered to consumers.

The plaintiff argues the tobacco companies intentionally manipulated the design and content “by modifying the tobacco blend, weight, rod length, and circumference, using reconstituted tobacco sheets and expanded tobacco; and by increasing the smoke PH levels of the cigarettes through chemical processing and the use of additive such as ammonia, resulting in the delivery of great amounts of tar and nicotine.”

The suit alleges that the defendants knew that their representations that light cigarettes delivered less nicotine and were less harmful were false, deceptive, misleading and unfair.

The defendants are accused of breaching express and implied warranties, violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, unjust enrichment and fraudulent concealment.

The lawsuit requests a restitution of money paid at retail for light cigarettes, disgorgement of profits, the establishment of a constructive trust to reimburse the class for economic damages and establishment of a smoker cessation program.

Plaintiffs are seeking actual, compensatory and consequential damages, but not damages for personal injury or health care claims.

Blevins is lead attorney for the plaintiffs.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Thad Heartfield.

Case No: 1:09cv00704-TH
Copyright © 2009 Setexasrecord

MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) – The Moscow City Council has banned smoking in bars and private clubs, relegating smokers to designated areas at least 20 feet away from entrances and prohibiting any indoor smoking rooms.

That’s got some bar owners concerned. Mark Deleve, owner of the Third Street Market, says the ordinance dramatically alters the structure in which bar owners operate.

But proponents, such as 26-year-old Katie Whittier, said the ban would protect public health.

Idaho law already prohibits smoking in public buildings, except bars and clubs. The state law also allows for cities to impose additional restrictions.

A public hearing on the proposed fines – ranging from $10 to $50 for violations – is set for Aug. 3. If the fees are voted into effect, the ban kicks in on Aug. 4.


Copyright 2009 Kivitv

Shillong, Mizoram has earned the dubious distinction of being the state with highest consumers of tobacco products, according to a survey by the National Family Health Survey.

The North Eastern states are among the highest tobacco consuming states, with Tripura ranking second with 48 per cent followed by Manipur with 42 per cent.

Meghalaya with 32 per cent consumers stands fifth on the list of the states in the country where 2500 people die due to tobacco consumption everyday, the statistics that were revealed at an advocacy workshop yesterday said.

Acting tough, Meghalaya government has instructed all the retail shop keepers and the owners of the cinema halls to strictly follow the guidelines under the Control of Tobacco Products Act (COPTA).

An owner of three homes or more must pay income tax on rent generated from leasing homes through “jeonse,” or rental based on a lump sum key deposit, as early as next year.

The government is also considering “sin taxes” on alcohol and tobacco.

The Strategy and Finance Ministry yesterday said it is devising measures to tax home rent from jeonse just like tax on monthly rent to resolve a shortfall in tax revenue and reduce tax exemptions and cuts for high-income earners.

The Korea Institute of Public Finance, which was commissioned to conduct a study by the ministry, held a public hearing on reforming the tax system for home rental at the Korea Federation of Banks building in Seoul yesterday.

Announcing the interim results of its study, the think tank said, “We should impose a rental income tax on an owner of three jeonse homes or more, and exempt a home owner whose key deposit for jeonse is 300 million won (235,600 U.S. dollars) or less.”

It also suggested a plan to offer tax deductions to tenants who pay monthly and bimonthly rent to help ease rent costs for low-income workers.

Owners of two or more homes or expensive homes have had to pay tax on their rental income but owners of jeonse rental homes were exempt, leading to controversy over equity in taxation.

Joo Yeong-seop, head of the ministry’s tax policy bureau who served as a panelist at the hearing, said, “Since we are considering introducing the income tax on jeonse home rental for the first time, we believe it desirable to tax owners of three homes or more and on more than a certain amount of jeonse key deposits.”

If the government limits the payers of income tax on home rental to those with three or more homes, the number of such taxpayers is projected to reach 560,000. Chances are high that the taxes they will pay will reportedly be determined by multiplying 60 percent of a jeonse key deposit by a tax rate to come up with the amount of payable tax.

Since many oppose income tax on jeonse key deposits, however, the plan will likely face intense dispute before being introduced. Critics say landlords could pass the tax on tenants, which in turn will increase real estate costs.

The ministry is also considering a drastic hike in taxes on external non-economy items that are considered to have a negative effect on society, including tobacco and liquor.

Copyright © 2009 Donga

The hosts had a message for President Obama – we’ve got ‘em, so smoke ‘em while you’re here. But America’s most famous wannabe ex-smoker was having none of it, and instead encouraged Russians to quit for health’s sake.

Russia is a smoker’s delight – ashtrays in hotel elevators, cheap cigarettes readily available. The Tuesday edition of the Moscow Times, an English-language paper, urged the American president to use his time here to re-embrace the habit he’s trying to kick.

The paper even gave him the Russian translation for bumming a cigarette: “Mozhno strelnut u vas sigaretu?”

“You are among friends, smoking friends, so enjoy yourself,” the paper wrote, pointing to the inexpensive price per pack – the equivalent of $1.25 – as proof that someone would gladly hand over a cigarette.

There were no reports of Mr. Obama lighting up, and the White House says the president doesn’t smoke in front of his wife and children, who accompanied him on this trip.

Mr. Obama said he offered advice to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on reducing the smoking rate in Russia.

“We talked about the fact that government programs can be initiated, but to the extent that there’s been success in the United States around reducing smoking levels, it’s not only a matter of changing laws – it’s also been changing attitudes, so that people feel that they need to change,” Mr. Obama told a gathering of civil society activists Tuesday afternoon.

At the White House last month, Mr. Obama resorted to legal muscle rather than attitude change. He signed a bill to bring cigarettes under tighter government control, require more prominent health warnings and force companies to halt cigarette marketing campaigns that the government says are aimed at getting children hooked.

During the signing ceremony, Mr. Obama talked about his own struggle with nicotine addiction, which began in his youth.

Russian lawmakers have contemplated a nationwide ban on smoking in public, but it’s a tough sell. Reporters walking out of the Kremlin after Monday’s news conference between the Russian and American presidents remarked on the strong smell of cigarettes detectable well inside the building.
Copyright © 2009 Washingtontimes

Tobacco earnings in Malawi, the world’s largest producer of the burley variety, have fallen 31 percent after 14 weeks of trading compared with a year earlier, according to Auction Holdings Ltd., a buyer.

Earnings from tobacco fetched $161.2 million by June 23, compared with $233.9 million during the same period a year earlier, Auction said in a statement handed to reporters in Blantyre today.

During the period, farmers sold 99.5 million kilograms (219 million pounds) of tobacco at an average price of $2.08 per kilogram, compared with 98.7 million kilograms at an average price of $2.24 last year.

While the government has set a minimum price of $2.15 per kilogram, buyers are offering farmers less than that because the leaf is of a poorer quality than last year and as the global recession curbs demand.

Tobacco is Malawi’s main foreign exchange earner, accounting for 60 percent of the country’s export earnings. Burley tobacco is a lower-grade variety of the leaf used to fill cigarettes flavored with higher-grade flue-cured tobacco.


Copyright © 2009 Bloomberg

The Isle of Wight is turning into a smoke-free zone for the day, becoming the first island in the UK to try to stamp out the scorned cigarette.

The Needles on the Isle of Wight

An arm stubs out a cigarette on the Isle of Wight’s Needles

The move is to mark the second anniversary of the nationwide smoking ban in public buildings.

The Isle of Wight hopes it might lead to other UK cities doing the same and maybe even help create a smoke-free British Isles.

“We are delighted to lend our support to this campaign,” said the IoW’s assistant tourism director John Metcalfe.

“We pride ourselves on our green and beautiful island and we are also extremely keen to promote healthy lifestyles so visitors and residents can fully enjoy all we have to offer.

“The island is known for its stunning scenery, award winning beaches and a great selection of outdoor pursuits such as walking, cycling and sailing.

“We believe the island is the best place in the UK to fill your lungs with healthy fresh air. We are affordable and with 350 ferries per day, we are easy to reach wherever you are in the UK.”

The initiative is being supported by NHS Smoking Cessation Services, QUIT and the Isle of Wight council.

Another sponsor, Nicorette, is offering support to anyone who needs it, with activity centred around the island’s capital, Newport.

“Obviously, we’re not going to be locking up people who are smoking,” a spokeswoman told Sky News Online. “But we’ll be trying to offer encouragement to those who want to give up.”

Research shows 20% of adults on the Isle of Wight smoke, with more than two thirds wanting to give up.

Greece, meanwhile, is the latest EU country to impose a ban on smoking – it will be its third attempt in a decade to stamp out the country’s love affair with cigarettes.

But critics fear loopholes in the legislation and its unpopularity mean it could suffer the same fate as previous anti-smoking bids.

Around 20,000 Greeks die a year from tobacco-related ailments and 42% of the population smokes.

Greece lags behind many of its European peers who have outlawed smoking in public places in recent years.


Copyright © 2009 News.sky