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.

RICHMOND, VA. — Two Virginia tobacco giants — Richmond-based Altria Group and Swedish Match’s Chesterfield County-based North American operations — are clashing over the state’s excise tax, and the battle could have echoes across the country, according to a recent media report.

As reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the question coming between the two is whether or not the state should levy the excise tax by the units sold — as Altria wants, with its relatively more expensive premium brands of snuff — or should it levy a tax that’s a percentage of the price, which is the position urged by Swedish Match now that it has carved out a healthy chunk of the market with its less-costly brands.

“Imagine you’re in a Cadillac and I’m in a junker and we’re driving up to the toll booth. Are you going to feel it’s fair if your toll is twice mine?” said William Phelps, Altria spokesman, in the report.

However, Gerry Roerty, Swedish Match’s vice president and general counsel, sees it differently: “We have a market that’s developed with one kind of tax, where someone has seen market share fall from 80 percent to 50 percent, and now we’re talking about a change,” he told the newspaper. U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., long before Altria acquired it in 2009, once had about 80 percent of the smokeless market, according to the report.

The proposed change in the state’s excise tax would mean lower-priced products, such as Swedish Match’s Timberwolf, will likely see higher taxes, while premium brands such as Altria’s Copenhagen and Skoal will pay less, the newspaper reported.

Virginia now taxes smokeless tobacco at 10 percent of the wholesale price. Legislation in the state Senate and House would change the tax to 18 cents an ounce for moist snuff.

Both bills originally left the 10 percent tax on other tobacco, including the old fashioned “loose-leaf” or chewing tobacco, such as Swedish Match’s flagship Red Man brand. But Republican Sen. John Watkins amended his legislation to include a proposal from Swedish Match to tax loose-leaf tobacco on the basis of units of sale. The bill proposes a 21-cent tax on small pouches of loose-leaf chewing tobacco, which are usually 3 ounces and account for most sales, rather than a per-ounce tax. Larger pouches would pay at different rates, a complication that has drawn opposition from the wholesalers who pay the tax.

On a per-ounce basis, the loose-leaf tobacco rates in Watkins’ bill would be lower than the proposed snuff tax, but Swedish Match’s Roerty said that reflects the fact that chewers use about three times as large a pinch at a time as do snuff dippers.

Texas didn’t make that distinction, and with the higher rate it levied per ounce, pushed the price of a carton of 12, 3-ounce bags to close to $100, according to the report.

“People drive to Oklahoma now for Red Man; it’s disappearing from the shelves,” Roerty noted. “Loose-leaf has been shrinking 7 percent to 10 percent anyway, but the Texas tax just about wiped us out. … Wholesalers and retailers say our customers can’t pay that and we’re not going to order it, and I can’t really blame them.”

His hope is that if Virginia makes the change, Texas will listen and follow suit.

LONDON, – European shares edged higher on Tuesday, led by banks though investors remained wary of the debt problems in Greece and other peripheral euro zone economies.

The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of leading European shares closed 0.2 percent higher at 980.96 points in choppy trade, after rising 0.7 percent on Monday to snap a three-day losing run.

The index has fallen 6.2 percent so far this year but is still up 52 percent from a low hit in early March 2009.

Banks .SX7P were the among the top gainers in Europe, though they pared some gains towards the end of the session. Traders said comments by Fitch Ratings that Britain was among the most vulnerable of triple-A sovereigns took some of the wind out of UK banks.

HSBC (HSBA.L), Banco Santander (SAN.MC), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) and Barclays (BARC.L) advanced 0.3 to 2.8 percent. Swiss bank UBS (UBSN.VX) fell 5.4 percent after reporting clients withdrew far more money than forecast.

European banks have lost 11 percent this year after being hurt by concerns over the euro zone debt and U.S. President Barack Obama’s plans to limit banks’ ability to take risk.

Earlier, European stocks rose on expectations about a rescue for Greece after news that European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was leaving a meeting of central bankers in Australia early to attend a European Union leaders’ summit in Brussels this Thursday.

ECB, however, said Trichet was changing his plans and return to Europe purely because of logistics.

Greek bank shares .FTATBNK, after falling for four straight sessions, surged 8.6 percent, with Alpha Bank (ACBr.AT) up 14.9 percent and EFG Eurobank (EFGr.AT) up 10.9 percent.

“This is a little bit overblown … you know it’s going to be bailout eventually. Is it the EU? Is it the IMF? It doesn’t matter. They are not going to default,” said Robert Quinn, European strategist at Standard & Poor’s equity research.

“What we are waiting on is a political solution, not an economic solution … They have a different time scale.”

A senior German ruling coalition source said after the European market close that euro zone countries have decided in principle to help debt-stricken Greece.[ID:nLDE6182EG]

Across Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 .FTSE put on 0.4 percent, Germany’s DAX .GDAXI added 0.2 percent and France’s CAC 40 .FCHI rose 0.2 percent.

MINERS UP, DEFENSIVES DOWN

Miners were in demand, with Anglo American (AAL.L), Rio Tinto (RIO.L), BHP Billiton (BLT.L) and Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC.L) up 1.5 to 3.7 percent.

Defensive shares, such as drugmakers, utilities, tobacco firms and telecoms, were also weaker, with investors favouring beaten-down banks. Unilever (ULVR.L), E.ON (EONGn.DE), Novartis (NOVN.VX) and Imperial Tobacco (IMT.L) eased 0.2 to 1.6 percent.

Drugmaker AstraZeneca (AZN.L), however, was up 1.3 percent after U.S. approval for expanded use of Crestor strengthened its position in the highly competitive cholesterol drug market.

Among other individual movers, Swatch Group (UHR.VX) soared 4.8 percent after it posting forecast-beating full-year profit and maintained a positive outlook for 2010, easing worries a flagging economic recovery may hit demand.

Wind turbine maker Vestas (VWS.CO) surged 7.8 percent on news of a planned roadshow for bond investors and a Canadian order, traders said.

On the downside, Unibal-Rodamco (UNBP.PA) shed 6 percent after the Franco-Dutch property group issued disappointing 2010 guidance with its annual profits.

By Dominic Lau, Reuters
9 Feb. 2010

Frustrated by a lack of federal regulations governing electronic cigarettes, Arizona policy makers are taking the initiative to ban sales of the tobaccoless devices to minors.

Senate Bill 1053, sponsored by Sen. Carolyn Allen, R-Scottsdale, makes it a petty offense to sell, give or furnish the cigarettes to underage teens.

E-cigarettes, as they are called, resemble traditional cigarettes and emit a puff of nicotine vapor when inhaled. A major distributor, NJOY, is based in north Scottsdale.

The bill glided through the Senate’s Committee of the Whole on Thursday. It must get final approval in the Senatebefore advancing to the House.

According to a Senate bill fact sheet, there are no federal regulations regarding e-cigarettes and they are not required to display health warnings like conventional cigarettes.

Jennifer Boucek of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office said the danger lies in the cigarettes’ ability to attract young people with flavors such as strawberry and chocolate.

“We believe children are at risk now,” Boucek told The Arizona Republic.

Boucek said the Attorney General’s Office proposed the idea to Allen, who could not be reached for comment. The law also prohibits minors from accepting or possessing the cigarettes, with fines of up to $300.

Despite efforts by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to detain imports into the United States, a federal judge ruled earlier this month that distributors are free to import them. Electronic cigarettes are largely manufactured in China.

NJOY CEO Jack Leadbeater said the devices are for committed adult smokers only. The company has taken “numerous steps” to ban access of the products to young people, he said.

“We applaud taking steps to protect our youth, while maintaining appropriate access to the adult committed smokers,” Leadbeater said.

An opponent of the bill, Rick Galeener, said he is tired of government regulations invading personal freedoms. Galeener, who smokes regular cigarettes, said he believes political correctness has gone too far.

The FDA has denounced the cigarettes as “highly addictive” due to their nicotine content. Public-health experts said that more should be done to regulate marketing of the products, which are mostly sold online and in shopping malls.

An analysis released by the FDA last year showed some samples of the cigarettes contained carcinogens and toxic chemicals such as diethylene glycol, an ingredient found in antifreeze. The analysis has been disputed by distributors and users of the cigarettes.

Florence City Council members voted 4-3 against an ordinance that would have imposed a smoking ban in most public places.

Voting against it during Council’s regular meeting Monday afternoon were councilmen Ed Robinson, Billy D. Williams, Bill Bradham and Steve Powers. Voting in favor of it were Mayor Stephen J. Wukela, Councilwoman Octavia Williams-Blake and Councilman Buddy Brand.

At least 12 city residents signed up to speak about the ordinance before council members voted, though not all of them did. Of the 10 who addressed council, five were for the ordinance and five against.

The ordinance would have prohibited smoking in such places as restaurants, bars, educational and health care facilities, common areas of apartment buildings, as well as many other places.

The council members who supported the ordinance, along with Wukela, said smoking poses a public health issue. They, and many residents, say smoking bans have worked in other areas across the state and across the country, and many of them believe the ban could work just as well in the city.

Williams Blake said before the vote that the ordinance is not about people’s right to smoke

“This ordinance is designed to protect employees and the public from the hazards of inhaling secondhand smoke,” she emphasized. “The city of Florence has already shown its commitment to a smoke-free work environment for our employees. Since we are protected, we should not feel at rest until every employee in this city has the same protection as each council member.”

Williams-Blake reiterated that the ordinance had been adopted by 28 other cities and counties in the state and has been upheld twice by the S. C. Supreme Court.

“I’m very pleased to see the turnout of supporters and non-supporters we had today,” Williams-Blake said following the vote. “This shows that people are passionate about the issue.

“I’m disappointed that it didn’t pass. I think the new alliance among councilmen Powers, Robinson and Williams is ‘interesting.’ But I don’t think this is the end. I think we can regroup under the spirit of compromise. Nobody here disagreed today that smoking is harmful”

Wukela said he believes it is the right choice for Florence.

Among others, the proposed ordinance would have prohibited smoking in such enclosed public areas as galleries, libraries, museums, bingo facilities, elevators, convention facilities, conference centers, exhibition halls, educational facilities (public and private), health care facilities, hotel and motel lobbies, licensed childcare and adult daycare facilities, and polling places.

Smoking also would be banned in apartment lobbies and hallways, condominiums, trailer parks, retirement facilities, nursing homes and other multiple-unit residential facilities, private clubs when being used for a function to which the general public is invited, restrooms, lobbies, reception areas, hallways, and other common-use areas.

In addition, smoking would have been prohibited in public transportation facilities, including buses and taxicabs and ticket, boarding and waiting areas of public transit depots, retail stores, service lines, shopping malls sports arenas and rooms, chambers, and places of meeting or public assembly, including school buildings.

The ordinance included certain outdoor areas “when the use involves a gathering of the public, regardless of the number actually assembled for the event, performance or competition,” as well. This includes amphitheaters, ball parks and stadiums when in use for athletic competitions or public performances, parades and special events on public streets and city property (although the city manager has the discretion, but not the obligation, to establish designated smoking areas in or in proximity to the parade or event area), dining areas in encroachment areas on public sidewalks, plazas and parks and dining areas on decks, balconies and patios of restaurants and bars, public places and public sidewalks abutting acute care hospital property lines, and zoos.

November 9, 2009 2.scnow

New Delhi: Pictorial warnings on cigarette packets recently introduced by the government are about to be phased out, reports say. It is its a clear attempt to safe guard the interest of the people involved in the tobacco industry and to keep the governmen’ts crucial vote bank intact.

Initially, there were some gruesome pictures that depicted the worse possible effects of tobacco on the human body. These pictures were first notified by the Health Ministry in July 2006 as pictorial warnings for cigarette and gutka packets. But these pictures were shot down by the Group of Ministers (GoM) as ‘objectionable’.

Former Union Labour Minister, Oscar Fernandes said, “If we’re talking about making the pictures harsher, we may as well shut down the industry. There are several districts in West Bengal where poor bidi workers earn their livelihood from this.”

In a meeting of the GoM chaired by Pranab Mukherjee in July 2007, it was decided that the picture of the dead body be replaced with a ’suitable’ one.

The minutes of the meeting available with CNN-IBN show that in the GoM, Pranab Mukharjee said, “A number of representations have been received from the bidi industry that employs a large number of workers from the weaker sections of society. The basic issues raised by the bidi industry relate to the size, colour and obnoxious nature of the pictorial warnings. Keeping this is view, the pictorial warnings may be modified.”

The GOM also asked the Health Ministry to consult the Ministry of Law and remove the ’skull and cross bone’ as a warning sign.

On February 26, 2008 the GoM finalized the pictures in which the pictorial warnings were completely watered down from the graphic ones to ones that make one wonder if the warnings are in fact serious enough or not.

Pranab Mukhejee won from the Jangipur constituency. It is notable that the Jangipur constituency has a sizable population of bidi workers. Votebank politics may well affect the way the smoke blows in the bidi, cigarette warning.

Nov 02, 2009
By Seemi Pasha / CNN-IBN

Once again, there’s talk on Capitol Hill of raising Utah’s tobacco tax by about $76 million in light of an expected shortfall of $850 million.

The question is, where’s the rest of the money going to come from?

Certainly there is every reason to try to convince smokers that they’ll live a lot longer and save a bundle if they kick their addiction. They and the world would be healthier and smell much nicer if they did.

But if we’re going to ask cigarette smokers to pay up, what about all the others hounded by their own vices?

People are always talking about ice cream and diet soda, but what about the people who drive fast and tailgate in giant pickups that clearly have never seen a construction site? Those gas-guzzlers can’t be helping the quality of our air, which also kills a number of people every year.

And what about the overreaching skiers, boarders, hikers and boaters who put themselves in harm’s way, which costs state, county and city coffers a lot of money in rescue or recovery operations. Or people on rocket bikes who blindside me on the freeway as they roar by. I don’t know who I worry about more, them or me.

Utah has the nation’s lowest smoking rate, and backers of the tobacco tax hike are hoping that 3,000 teens and 10,000 adults would be persuaded to quit. The state also ranks just 36th in the nation for its tax rate, which would rise by about 65 cents a pack if the legislation goes through.

Still, lawmakers themselves seem torn by the issue. Gov. Gary Herbert says he won’t ask for any tax hikes in his budget, and legislative leaders — with a couple of exceptions — basically say it’s nuts to ask for more taxes in a time when far too many of us are barely getting by.

Getting back to the smoke itself: It’s a relief to walk into a store or restaurant or bar and not breathe other people’s smoke.

But for those who do smoke or dip or chew, it’s a matter of personal choice, which at between $30 and $60 for a carton of cigarettes, for example, already is expensive.

There are those, however, who have little but a smoke to soothe them. I have a friend who lives on disability and Medicaid. He doesn’t drink and has to be reminded to eat every day, so for him, a cup of coffee and a cigarette is a soothing way of marking the hours of his day.

For the record, I smoked my last cigarette at about 1:15 a.m. on Sept. 15, 2002, and I don’t miss it. Once in a great while, though, when things get frantic, I think about walking outside and taking that first hit and calming down a little.

I agree that tobacco use can kill you, or make you sick, or cost your employer money for time off. But I also know how tough it is to give it up when sometimes, it seems like it’s the only thing you’ve got.

Sltrib pegmcentee@sltrib.com

After the Student Senate meeting Sunday night, smokers might have to go farther from campus buildings to light up, due to the smoke-free resolution that will be voted on.

The resolution states that students must be at least 20 feet away from all buildings in order to smoke.

Student Senate President JoEllen Flanagan said the resolution came up about three weeks ago.

Sophomore Samantha Goode, director of Health Services for Student Senate, is involved with Community Alliances for Smoke-Free Environments (C.A.S.E) and originally sponsored the resolution. Goode did not respond to e-mails and phone calls from the Index requesting comment. C.A.S.E. provided Goode with a majority of the statistics in the resolution, Flanagan said. Student Affairs chair Senior Kristyn Potter now sponsors the resolution.

Smoking won’t be banned altogether, but there will be more specific rules regarding where smoking is prohibited on campus. The resolution is not the same as a bill, meaning if it is passed, it will not become law, she said.

In addition to staying at least 20 feet away from all buildings, the rules include moving away from individuals who request it when smoking and refraining from smoking on major pathways during peak hours. Research about designated smoking areas for future use is planned as well.

Student Senate is a steppingstone for the resolution to be approved by the Board of Governors. The Board’s policy does not include anything about smoking – only the Residence Life policy does. Technically, students who live off campus can smoke as close to buildings as they want, and the distance rule includes only residence halls, not academic buildings, Flanagan said. The

goal of the resolution is to make the smoking policies consistent, such as having to smoke 20 feet away from all buildings, she said.

Benefits from the resolution include increased respect between smokers and non-smokers, such as being courteous by not blowing smoke in someone else’s face, Flanagan said. A disadvantage is that the resolution is not a student vote, so some representation is lost, she said. Students might feel as if campus is a prison and they aren’t free to do as they choose, she said.

There are around 20 voting senators, while the Senate body consists of about 50 students. Flanagan does not have a vote on the resolution, but she does have a veto.

“It’s looking at … [the vote] as, well, whose voice is very vocal that doesn’t have a vote doesn’t technically matter,” Flanagan said. “So it’s kind of like behind the scenes lobbying to make sure you get the majority of the votes to pass it.”

Flanagan said she thinks the Senate is in favor of the resolution because she hasn’t heard many complaints. She said the resolution probably will pass in its current state because a vast majority of voting senators made very mild forms of recommendations, and they’re not asking for anything extreme. Flanagan did not say whether she supported the resolution because she is concerned that it does not reflect student opinion. Flanagan is doubtful the resolution would affect potential Truman students.

“Kids are going to smoke if they want to smoke somehow, at least that’s what I believe,” she said. “It’s kind of like sex. I mean kids are going to do those sorts of things – you’re just not going to stop them.”

If the resolution were passed, research into designated smoking areas would begin. But the responsibility of the resolution would then leave the Senate – they are only advocating it. If the resolution does not get passed, it cannot be brought up again until the next legislative session.

John Gardner, interim director of Residence Life, said the Residence Life policy states that if a student is smoking closer than 10 feet from a residence hall, the incident is documented and sent through the Residence Life conduct system.

“One of the concerns with that is that we have ashtrays that are attached to the top of trash cans and are cemented into the ground that are about 10 feet away from the buildings,” Gardner said.

Smoke flowing into a student’s window is another serious offense – because of the danger of secondhand smoke – that the policy prevents, he said.

Students smoking in residence halls are not a huge problem, and the number of students beginning to smoke has decreased, Gardner said. There also are few conduct cases concerning students smoking too close to the residence halls because overall the students who do smoke are respectful of other people, he said.

Residence Life and Student Senate have had several discussions about smoking on campus. One suggestion that has ended up in the resolution is to allow students to smoke 20 feet away from all buildings, but that did not seem promising.

There are not many places on campus that are 20 feet away from every surrounding building, so most trash cans would have to be moved to make that proposition possible.

Gardner said the goal is to have healthy students making good decisions, and respecting their peers’ health. He said that if the resolution is passed, the campus would be a healthier environment for students, but some students might feel as if they’re losing their individual rights.

If the resolution is not passed, Residence Life will keep its policy the same, but if the resolution is passed, Residence Life will enforce the new policy, he said.

“I do believe that the more we can get smoking away from the buildings, it will benefit us,” Gardner said.

Freshman Claire Tichenor, who does not smoke, said she has heard about the vote this Sunday and thinks the resolution benefits the non-smokers. Squirrels can even become addicted to nicotine from eating littered cigarette butts, she said.

“Personally, I would like that [the resolution pass], because I don’t like the smell of it, but I’m sure smokers will be [upset],” she said.

Freshman Molly Haman, who smokes, said she also heard about the resolution that will be voted on Sunday. Haman said the resolution is a bad idea and has no relevance because all smoking is done outside, and if someone is bothered by smoke they can move away. Smoking is a basic freedom, she said. Other non-smokers who have said that they are being poisoned by smoke and are overreacting, Haman said.

“If you’re 18 and you can buy tobacco, you should be able to smoke outside,” she said.

However, Haman said the concept of designated smoking areas could work if there are enough of them in convenient locations, she said.

“I just think that it’s really, really stupid for Truman to try to take away something that is pretty much a basic freedom,” Haman said. “I really don’t see what the problem is. If people are that bothered by cigarettes, then I don’t know what’s wrong with them.”

Elizabeth Koch
10/22/09

The swelling cost of North Carolina’s State Employees Health plan must be brought under control. But testing workers for tobacco use and charging more for those whose body fat index doesn’t measure up is among the least palatable ways to go about it and demonstrates a lack of effort.

Despite minimal support in Congress for so-called “fat tax” measures aimed at reining in health care costs, state governments are increasingly moving in that direction. State officials in Raleigh announced last week that North Carolina is to become the second state to implement extra health insurance fees for obese employees and those who smoke.

Tobacco use, poor nutrition and inactivity are the leading causes of preventable deaths in North Carolina, says Anne Rogers, director of integrated health management for the State Employees Health Plan.

“We’re trying to encourage individuals to adopt healthy lifestyles,” she said.

Most people are not encouraged, however, by the thought of government seeking to control personal lifestyle decisions by dipping further into individual paychecks.

Government, in this instance, is acting from an employer perspective. But as a mammoth employer in North Carolina — its health plan covers 600,000 workers, retirees and teachers — the state’s actions can set the tone for other employers struggling with rising health insurance costs. In that sense, every employer-covered worker in the state has a stake in how this decision plays out.

As with all issues within the health care debate, there are compelling arguments on both sides of this one. Some insist it is completely fair to require those who pursue unhealthy lifestyle habits to pay more for health insurance. But there are better methods for encouraging healthier lifestyles than attaching punitive measures to specific behaviors.

By that measure, there are any number of bad habits with potential for taxation and government exploitation.

A better approach would be along the lines of consumer-directed health strategies like those employed for Medicaid recipients in some states. Those programs provide financial incentives for recipients who engage in wellness programs and healthy behaviors.

While those consumer-directed strategies may not provide immediate short-term gain, they are ultimately more positive and empowering for individuals than pricing policies that rush down the slippery slope toward a nanny state.

ZAGREB, Croatia — Nicotine lovers in Croatia are celebrating. The country has lifted a smoking ban on bars and cafes.

On April 1, Croatia banned indoors smoking in all public places, and bar owners say the restriction has halved their profits and forced many of them to close.

About a third of Croatia’s 4.5 million people are believed to be smokers.

So the government announced Friday that it will ease the ban, allowing spacious cafes and bars to have separate smoking areas, while smaller ones can decide whether to allow smoking or not.

Smoking places will, however, have to install extensive ventilation systems. The owners are given six months to adapt.

In the European Union, 12 countries have, or are planning, some kind of ban on smoking in public places.

The Lowe’s YMCA and Lake Norman Regional Medical Center are teaming up to present “Fresh Start,” an American Cancer Society program designed to help anyone ready to quit.

“The goals of the program are to teach people what kind of smoker they are, whether it’s habitual, meaning you pick up a cigarette at certain times like with your coffee or after eating; or addictive, which means you go through severe withdrawal without having a cigarette or nicotine,” said Mitzie McCurdy, LNRMC director of community outreach. “Once you determine what type you are, you can figure out what will assist you while quitting.”

Dr. Sever Surdulescu, of Lake Norman Pulmonary, said most of his patients started smoking because of social habit, peer pressure and a false perception that they would lose weight or eat less.

“In the long term, smoking can cause bad breath, yellow teeth, wrinkled skin but also mouth cancer, throat cancer, lung cancer, bladder cancer, esophageal cancer, heart disease, clogged arteries,” he said. “Also, the cost of medical insurance is increased and it depreciates the value of your car and house.”

McCurdy said within 20 minutes of quitting, benefits begin to appear.

“Your lung capacity immediately starts to improve, your cancer risk decreases, blood pressure drops, shortness of breath decreases and that tell-tale smoker’s cough will go away,” she said.

Surdulescu added that taste buds regenerate, breathing is easier, there is a decreased risk of heart attacks and strokes and a reduced risk of chronic lung disease(COPD).

The smoking cessation program is designed to help people achieve those benefits, McCurdy said.

“It creates a good support system and it might help you get on board with quitting,” McCurdy said. “You need to make sure you’re really ready before attempting to quit. It takes a lot of time and effort, and if you’re stressed out due to money and the economy or if you’re having trouble at work, this might not be the time.”

To get ready, be pro-active, advised Surdulescu.

“Get informed about the side effects of smoking, effects of smoking on your households but also get informed on the symptoms one may encounter when stops smoking,” he said. “Craving for nicotine, nervousness, even depression and weight gain could be side effects.”

He suggested making a plan to quit and setting up a date to quit; asking for friends, family and your doctor’s support; exercising by walking or get a gym membership; and avoiding other smokers.

Copyright © 2009 2.statesville

AUSTRALIANS will be told to drink and smoke less and eat less junk food by a new preventative health watchdog that will begin monitoring the health system within months.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon said legislation for a National Preventative Health Agency would be introduced into Parliament within the next fortnight, forming a key part of the Government’s plan to reduce preventable illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

The independent but publicly funded agency will be responsible for a major preventative health advertising push, policy advice, health surveillance, consultation and research. It will begin in January, staffed by government-appointed population health experts.

But it is also likely that some of the more extreme policy interventions recommended by the high-profile Preventative Health Taskforce will not be adopted.

Ms Roxon said the Government’s strategy would be to take a leadership role, without ”necessarily always having to regulate and tax”.

Although declining to comment on specific proposals, Ms Roxon said: ”I am absolutely focused on how Government action can leverage change within the community rather than pretending that a regulatory approach on its own will solve these quite complex social problems.”

Her comments follow the release last week of the taskforce’s 300-page blueprint for preventive health, with a raft of policy prescriptions, including the possibility of higher taxes for unhealthy foods, higher cigarette and alcohol taxes, phasing out television advertising of junk food to children, a ban on all tobacco advertising and phasing out alcohol advertising during sports events.

Ms Roxon said the Government’s approach would be to ”engage the whole community” and ”push, cajole and lead” families, schools, workplaces, industries, clubs and community organisations to encourage healthier living.

The report said about 32 per cent of Australia’s total burden of disease was linked to smoking, drinking, obesity and other preventable risks.

Taskforce chairman Rob Moodie said the preventative health community had been waiting for more than 20 years for such an agency, but it would need to be independent and well-funded to make a difference.

Professor Moodie said that while he did not think Ms Roxon’s comments were out of step with the taskforce’s recommendations, regulation and higher taxes would have to be an important part of the strategy.

”The point to be made is that in many of the regulatory issues, there is extremely high community support,” he said. ”I mean, if you look at the work around licensing of alcohol outlets or promotion of junk food to kids, then you’ve got landslide victories in support of greater government regulation.”

Ms Roxon said a recommendation that the average price of a packet of 30 cigarettes be lifted to $20 within three years would be considered as part of the Government’s review of the taxation system being conducted by Treasury secretary Ken Henry. An overhaul of the alcohol excise regime will also be considered by the Henry review.

VicHealth chief executive Todd Harper said it was correct that the ”whole-of-community approach” favoured by Ms Roxon would be needed to tackle obesity and excessive alcohol and cigarette consumption.

The new agency will initially be given $17.6 million of federal funding to cover operating costs over four years, although that does not include any additional cash set aside for specific advertising campaigns and other programs.

Copyright © September 6, 2009 Smh

SENECA FALLS, N.Y. — A state judge for a second time refused Thursday to order the return of 176,000 cartons of cigarettes seized last November during raids on the Cayuga Indian Nation’s two upstate New York convenience stores.

Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Fisher ruled in December that the tribe could not sell untaxed cigarettes but his decision was overturned by a state appellate court, which said the Cayugas could resume selling tax-free cigarettes.

“The landscape has changed a little bit, but it’s the same holding that it was evidence seized as part of a criminal action and does not have to be returned at this point,” said Phillip Spellane, the attorney for Cayuga and Seneca counties.

Meanwhile, the two counties have challenged the appellate court decision. If accepted, their appeal would be heard by the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court.

“The judge believed since there was a pending appeal … it would not be appropriate for him to return the cigarettes,” said attorney Lee Alcott, who represented the tribe.

Fisher ruled without prejudice, which means the Cayugas could come before him again to ask for return of the cigarettes once all the appeals are exhausted, Alcott said.

Fisher also denied the tribe’s request that the counties put up a bond to cover the value of the cigarettes, which was estimated at more than $500,000.

Alcott also argued the cigarettes are a perishable commodity with a limited shelf-life.

County authorities seized the cigarettes and business computers Nov. 25 from the tribe’s LakeSide Trading stores in Union Springs and Seneca Falls. County officials said the stores were violating state law by selling cigarettes without charging the required tax and owed $485,000 in state excise taxes.

The Cayugas claim they are exempt from collecting the taxes because their businesses are protected by their sovereign nation status.

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Brooklyn issued a ruling barring a group of smoke shops on Long Island’s Poospatuck reservation from selling tax-free cigarettes to the general public, saying their location on tribal lands didn’t exempt them from state and federal tax law.

U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon ruled that only members of the Unkechaug tribe, which controls the reservation, had a right to buy cigarettes there without paying taxes, not non-Indian customers.

The judge stayed the ruling for 30 days to give the shops time to appeal, which they said they would.

Spellane and Alcott differed over whether the federal court ruling would have any bearing on the Cayuga’s case in state courts.

Indian smoke shops have enjoyed a huge business in cigarettes since the mid-1990s, in part thanks to a string of governors who have refused to enforce state laws that were supposed to set up a system for taxing sales to the general public.


© Copyright: Newsday

The black market cigarette and tobacco trade could flourish if a law banning retailers from displaying tobacco products was introduced, the NZ Association of Convenience Stores says.

Association chairman Roger Bull said new research from Britain showed three quarters of retailers were concerned that a display ban would displace tobacco sales to the black market.

Displaying tobacco products discouraged black market trading because authorities were able to ensure tobacco products were legitimate and carried appropriate health warnings, Mr Bull said.

“If you’ve got them on display, they’ve got to have all the certificates and anyone can come in and check.

“There is not the opportunity for the black market to flourish like it does when they are not open to display.”

New Zealand retailers were concerned about the impact of black market trading on their businesses, Mr Bull said. In the year to June, New Zealand Customs seized a monthly average of 51,000 cigarettes and 13,000 grams of tobacco illegally imported into the country.

The Government should take retailers’ concerns into consideration when looking into banning the display of tobacco products, Mr Bull said.

A private member’s bill seeking to ban the display of tobacco products has been submitted by Labour MP Iain Lees-Galloway, but is not currently under parliamentary consideration.


Copyright © 2009 Nzherald

South Korea’s cigarette imports surged over the past 10 years amid steady demand for foreign brand products, the Korea Customs Service said Tuesday.

South Korea imported 11,478 tons of tobacco products last year, compared with 29 tons in 1998. This marked a 396-fold gain over the past decade.

Tobacco imports were worth $77.5 million, compared with $220,000 a decade ago.

Cigarette imports have been growing fast since 2000 on increasing demand for foreign brands. South Korea brought in a total of 1,410 tons of foreign tobacco products in 2002 and it surged to 6,857 tons the following year. The import stayed in the range between 6,000 tons and 7,000 tons until 2007.

During the first half of this year, South Korea’s cigarette imports amounted to 5,733 tons, up 6.3 percent from the same period a year earlier. In terms of value, they are worth $41 million, which is also 16.5 percent higher from a year earlier, the data showed.

By country, cigarettes produced in the Philippines amounted to 4,448 tons, making up 77.6 percent of the total import during the first half of this year. Malaysia ranked second with an 8.1 percent share, followed by France and Japan with 6.7 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively.

Most of them carry brands of high-profile multinational tobacco companies based in the United States and Europe.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s cigarette exports remained at 157 tons in the first half of this year. Of the total, 72.6 percent went to Iran, followed by China and Singapore with 41 tons and 1 ton, respectively.


Copyright © 2009 Koreatimes

STOCKHOLM, July 17 – Tobacco products maker Swedish Match AB (SWMA.ST) posted a rise in second-quarter earnings on Friday and said it expected higher sales and operating profit in the second half of the year versus 2008 levels.

Pretax profit rose to 791 million Swedish crowns ($101 million) from a year-ago 574 million, adjusted for the divestment of a South African pipe tobacco and snuff operation.

The mean forecast for pretax profit in a Reuters poll, which included that business, was for a 705 million profit.

The company said the businesses it sold made a net profit of 41 million crowns in the period. It did not give a pretax figure.

The firm sells tobacco products such as cigars, lighters and wet snuff — a tobacco product sold mainly in the United States and Scandinavia, but banned elsewhere in the European Union.

The operating margin for its key product wet snuff — which accounted for around 58 percent of total operating profit last year — dipped to 42.6 percent from a year-ago 43.6 percent, lagging an expected 42.8 percent in the Reuters poll.

The cigar division’s operating margin rose to 24.9 percent from 20.2 percent in the same period the previous year and versus a mean forecast of 18.9 percent.

Copyright © 2009 Reuters

GIs, Marines and others, taking a break from tough and dangerous duty, will still be able to light up a cigarette, thanks to a decision this week by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Gates did the right thing.

In doing so, Gates rejected a recommendation contained in a Pentagon-commissioned study. That study urged the Pentagon to ban all tobacco products on military bases and to prohibit military personnel from smoking while in uniform — even if they are in combat.

As a spokesman for the defense secretary said, U.S. armed service personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan “are under enormous stress and strain, and the secretary does not want to compound that stress by taking away from them one of the few outlets they have to relieve that stress.”

That doesn’t mean the military should encourage smoking and, in fact, it doesn’t. Gone are the days when the Army routinely included packs of Lucky Strikes in soldiers’ rations. Gates said he will pursue the recommendation to move toward a smoke-free military.

The Pentagon report is undoubtedly correct that tobacco use in the military — both smoking and smoke-free products — creates problems for the military by causing cancer, heart disease and other problems.

But ending the use of tobacco among the military should begin with education and efforts to prevent smoking among new military personnel. It should not involve taking smokes away from people working in harm’s way on behalf of their country, men and women involved in some of the most stressful situations they’ll ever be in during their entire lives.

The move by tobacco companies to drop cigarette prices is both good and bad news, an organisation helping smokers to quit said today.

Over the past few weeks, both British American Tobacco New Zealand and Imperial Tobacco have cut the price of some brands by as much as $1.10.

The Quit Group’s executive director, Helen Glasgow, said the reductions indicated that demand for cigarettes had fallen and tobacco companies were trying to entice customers back.

“That is the good news,” she said.

“It’s the first I’ve heard of cigarette prices going down, which is quite surprising. It probably means, because of tight times, people are smoking less and thinking more about quitting.”

The group runs quit-smoking programmes, including Quitline, which offers free telephone support nationally, as well as internet and text services, which Ms Glasgow said 48,000 people used in the past year.

However, she said the price reductions were also a cause for concern, as price was a key factor in whether people continued to smoke.

“It’s also more likely young people will buy cigarettes if they become more affordable,” she said.

“That is always a worry for us. Internationally, the countries that have the highest prices have the lowest prevalence of smoking.”

Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia said tobacco companies appeared to be treading a fine line by making smoking more affordable in the economic recession.

Last month, Mrs Turia advised the Ministry of Health to investigate whether the price reductions were legal under the Smokefree Environments Act.

“I have huge concerns about what they are doing,” she said.

“It is outrageous that on one hand the Government is spending millions of taxpayer money to stop smoking addiction and on the other hand these companies are enticing smokers to consume more.”

Mrs Turia said she expected feedback from the ministry by the end of the month.

If the companies were found to be in breach of the Act, she would not hesitate to recommend that they be taken to court.

Copyright © 2009 Voxy

A proposal by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to levy a fee on cigarettes to help pay for the city’s cleanup of discarded butts received backing from a Board of Supervisors committee Monday.

The mayor’s office, however, Monday lowered the originally proposed 33-cent-per-pack fee to 20 cents.

Newsom praised the decision by the Budget and Finance Committee, which is expected to forward the item to the full board next week.

“All litter creates unnecessary costs for the city and its taxpayers,” he said in a prepared statement, adding, “Cigarette butts are a big part of the problem.”

The cleanup also removes toxins that can leach from the cigarette butts into groundwater or the bay and ocean, he said.

Newsom proposed the fee in May, saying it would help recover part of the more than $44 million the city spends each year cleaning litter from sidewalks and gutters. About 25 percent of that, he said, is spent on removing cigarette butts.

The reason for lowering the proposed fee Monday was to remove the costs for street sweeping—done regularly and not necessarily just to remove cigarette butts—from that equation, leaving the fee to make up only costs for cigarette cleanup that is done by hand, according to Department of the Environment spokesman Mark Westlund.

“You want to have an amount that is entirely defensible,” including from any legal challenge by cigarette manufacturers, Westlund said.

“It might not seem fair to include street sweepers,” said Westlund, “because we would in all likelihood continue those at the same frequency that we’re doing now.”

“We want this to be defensible fees that anybody can realize are just,” he said.

According to Westlund, the 20-cent cigarette fee, to be collected from retailers, is expected to garner about $6 million yearly for the city departments responsible for manual cleanup of cigarette butts, primarily the Department of Public Works and the Recreation and Park Department.

Copyright © 2009 Cbs5

Croatia’s cafe and restaurant owners launched a petition on Wednesday to modify a law banning smoking in public, saying it is crippling businesses already weakened by recession.

The government enforced the law on May 6, much to the displeasure of Croatia’s one million smokers.

They make up a third of the 4.4 million population in this European Union candidate country, where cigarettes had been taken for granted for years.

The guild of cafe and restaurant owners organised the signing of a petition in all major towns. It will ask the government to allow smaller premises to choose if they want to cater for smokers or non-smokers.

“We do want to protect non-smokers but this law was adopted before the recession. Many things have contributed to the downturn of our sector, but the biggest decline came after the law took effect,” said Zlatko Puntijar, who heads the guild.

“With this petition, we want to show the government and parliament that the law should be modified,” he said.

The organisers said they expected strong support for the petition, which closes on June 30.

Local business daily website Business.hr said 121 cafes or restaurants had to close in the past month.

Croatia has been badly hit by the global crisis and its economy is expected to shrink up to 4 percent this year, for the first time in a decade.

The tourism industry has also urged the government to reconsider restrictions on Sunday trading seen as a concession to the powerful Roman Catholic Church, saying they force shops to close too early in the day during the summer season.
Copyright © 2009 Reuters

The following companies may have unusual price changes in Japanese trading on June 15. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and share prices are from the previous close. The information in each item was released after markets shut, unless stated otherwise.

Accordia Golf Co. (2131 JT): The golf course owner lifted its net income projection by 1 percent to 9.7 billion yen ($99 million) for this fiscal year ending Mach 31, reflecting a clerical error related to internal transactions among its group companies. The stock slid 0.3 percent to 75,400 yen.

Chubu Electric Power Co. (9502 JT): The utility will restart two thermal power plants in early July to make up for a drop in capacity because of the unplanned closure of two nuclear reactors, President Toshio Mita told reporters in Tokyo. The stock rose 1.4 percent to 2,160 yen.

Computer Engineering & Consulting Ltd. (9692 JT): The software developer posted first-quarter net loss of 631 million yen, compared with a 402 million yen profit a year earlier. The company cited falling sales and goodwill depreciations in units. The company slashed its full-year profit outlook 85 percent to 200 million yen, with less-than-expected sales. Also, Computer Engineering cut its planned first-half dividend to 10 yen from 15 yen. The stock fell 1.3 percent to 755 yen.

Cybozu Inc. (4776 JT): The Internet software developer said first-quarter net income plunged 54 percent to 77 million yen, with a 9.8 percent drop in sales, citing higher costs for its research and development. Cybozu slumped 1.5 percent to 20,100 yen.

Fintech Global Inc. (8789 JT), Intrance Co. (3237 JT): Fintech, an investment bank, said it will buy a 1.18 percent stake in Intrance, a property management company, as part of a business alliance. Fintech declined 3 percent to 3,280 yen. Intrance slipped 2.2 percent to 13,000 yen.

Inaba Seisakusho Co. (3421 JT): The utility shed maker posted a nine-month net loss of 59 million yen, a reversal from the 586 million yen profit posted a year earlier, as steel materials costs and stricter methods for evaluating its inventory assets more than offset labor and personnel cost savings, Inaba said in a release. The stock added 0.2 percent to 975 yen.

Japan Tobacco Inc. (2914 JT): The world’s third-largest publicly traded cigarette maker said it has agreed to acquire Tribac Leaf Ltd., an independent tobacco supplier. Japan Tobacco rallied 3.6 percent to 303,000 yen.

Kissei Pharmaceutical Co. (4547 JT): The drugmaker is considering lowering its minimum trading unit to 100 shares from 1,000 shares, aiming to improve the stock liquidity and increase the number of shareholders, Kissei said in a release. The stock sank 2.2 percent to 2,185 yen.

Miraial Co. (4238 JQ): The maker of silicon boxes for semiconductors had a first-quarter net loss of 160 million yen, compared with a 696 million yen profit a year earlier, with a 59 percent plunge in sales. The stock rose 0.4 percent to 1,919 yen.

Mitsumura Printing Co. (7916 JT): The printing service company will raise its stake in a privately-held affiliate that engages in printing newspapers to 65 percent from 35 percent. The company boosted its full-year net income forecast 4.7 percent to 555 million yen and sales outlook 7.3 percent to 24.3 billion yen, reflecting the stake increase. The stock gained 2.2 percent to 327 yen.

Park24 Co. (4666 JT): The parking-lot operator said May sales on a parent basis climbed by 7.6 percent to 6.92 billion yen from the same month a year earlier. Park24 added 0.5 percent to 858 yen.

Tokyo Dome Corp. (9681 JT): The baseball stadium operator posted a first-quarter net loss of 2.54 billion yen, reversing a 2.36 billion yen profit a year earlier, as a decline in the number of Japan’s Giants baseball games and concert events caused an 11 percent drop in sales, Tokyo Dome said in a release. The stock advanced 1.9 percent to 322 yen.

Univance Corp. (7254 JT): The maker of transmission units for motor vehicles will offer a severance package to cut about 250 jobs under its plan for reorganizing three domestic plants and two overseas plants. The company expects to take a 1.1 billion yen charge this fiscal year in light of the early retirement program, which won’t have an impact on its earnings projection posted last month, Univance said in a release. The stock added 0.9 percent to 223 yen.
© Bloomberg

Blockbuster movies are less likely to portray smokers than they have in the past, according to a new study. What’s more, this decline in on-screen smoking may have occurred in tandem with a drop in the number of adolescents who have lit up in real life.

While the study can’t prove that one is related to the other, the findings would seem to support what critics have long said: Smoking by glamorous (or even not-so-glamorous) people on the silver screen is like free advertising for cigarettes.

A second study, also published in a letter in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests that the portrayal of gun use has slightly declined in children’s movies as well.

“Reducing smoking in movies probably helped to reduce rates of smoking in kids,” says study author James D. Sargent, MD, a professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School and the codirector of the Cancer Control Research Program at Norris Cotton Cancer Center, both in Lebanon, N.H. “We are on the right track aiming at movies, yet half of movies still contain smoking and more work needs to be done.”

About one-third to one-half of adolescents who begin smoking may do so because they see smoking in the movies, some research suggests, and the tobacco industry has spent big bucks in the past to make sure cigarettes appeared in popular movies, according to Smoke Free Movies, a University of California San Francisco project. For years, public health groups have encouraged the movie industry to voluntarily reduce depictions of smoking.

Copyright © News.health

Exposure to smoking in movies is high In an analysis of more than 1200 US-produced live action films – nearly the entire body of feature films released to theatres both by major studios and by independent producers in 1999-Various methods have been used to measure the exposure of adolescents to tobacco imagery in movies.

Although there is a lack of available data on in-home media, it is possible to estimate tobacco imagery exposure that adolescents receive from motion pictures using publicly available cinema audience composition and box office sales data.iv Using 12 months of US audience survey data from 2005–2006, research indicates that adolescents aged 12–17 years are 2.7 times more likely than adults over 18 years old to report that they go to theatres to see films at least twice a month (33.6% of adolescents vs. 12.4% of adults) and 2.8 times more likely to report going at least once a week (9.6% of adolescents vs. 3.4% of adults).

Adolescents in this sample were also more likely than adults to go to the cinema at all (95% of adolescents vs. 77% of adults) (16).v Based on US audience age composition (by rating), box office (gross revenue from ticket sales, by film) and tobacco imagery incidence (by film) for the period 1999–2006, viewers aged 12–17 years were subject to 20% of the 45 billion estimated tobacco impressions delivered by films in United States and Canada theatres. These totalled 8.8 billion tobacco impressions, or 1.1 billion impressions annually on average, just from films viewed by adolescents in theatres. This is almost four times more in-theatre tobacco impressions per capita than for children aged 6–11 years and 18% more tobacco impressions than for viewers aged 18–34 years.

The difference is due to the ratings mix of films adolescents attend (more like those watched by young adults than by children) and the frequency with which they go to the cinema (more often than children or adults). In addition, exposure to adult-rated films, in which smoking is more common, increases with age. According to in-theatre surveys, US children aged 6 – 11 years constituted 36.9% of the theatre audience for movies rated G and PG, but only 1.2% of the audience for R-rated movies. Adolescents aged 12–17 years constituted 23.9% of the G/PG audience, in addition to comprising 12.6% of the audience for R-rated movies.

WHO

Water pipes (hookah) might be a safer way to smoke, but they are as damaging to the teeth and gums as the cigarettes.

Hookahs have long been used for smoking tobacco in the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Asia. Hookah lounges are also becoming increasingly popular in the US and other countries. The pipes consist of a long tube attached to a glass or plastic container that holds water in its base, BBC radio reported.

The tobacco, which is flavored with fruits and sugar syrup, is burnt using charcoal. Because the smoke passes through the water before the smoker inhales it, water pipes are believed by some to filter out the harmful substances in tobacco smoke.

However, water pipe smoke contains the same toxins as cigarette smoke. Previous studies have suggested that hookah smoking increases heart rate and blood pressure and impairs lung function.

Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm studied 262 adults in Saudi Arabia, where hookah smoking is widespread, to find out if hookahs are as tough on the teeth as cigarettes.

Overall, 31 percent smoked water pipes exclusively, while 19 percent smoked only cigarettes. Another 20 percent used both smoking methods, and the rest 30 percent were non-smokers.

The researchers found that about 20 percent of all study participants had signs of gum disease, which is marked by inflammation and redness in the gums in its earlier stages and later, destruction of the bones and soft tissue supporting the teeth, possibly leading to tooth loss. But while only eight percent of non-smokers had gum disease, 30 percent of water pipe smokers and 24 percent of cigarette smokers were affected.

When researchers weighed other factors, such as study participants’ ages, they found that water pipe smokers were five times more likely to show signs of gum disease than non-smokers. Cigarette smokers had a nearly four-times greater risk than non-smokers.

It’s not clear why tobacco smoking promotes gum disease, but it’s highly likely, that it harms the bones that support the teeth. Hence, the findings suggest that tobacco from a water pipe is equally harmful to the teeth as cigarettes.

Copyright © 2009 Dawn

The number of smokers in Saudi Arabia has increased to six million, including 600,000 women, said Naif Al-Saeed, director of the Charitable Society to Combat Smoking in Al-Ahsa province.

He said 45 percent of women smokers in the Kingdom are in the Eastern Province. There are also 772,000 teenage smokers, including intermediate and secondary school students, he added.

Meanwhile, Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Majed will launch an anti-smoking campaign to enlighten the public on the negative effects of smoking.

Abdullah Al-Othaim, chairman of the Charitable Society to Enhance Awareness on the Harmful Effects of Smoking and Drugs, said the campaign would target 18,000 students.

Saudi Arabia is the fourth largest importer of cigarettes in the world. Thousands of workers die annually as a result of inhaling the smoke of fellow smokers during working hours. A recent poll, which included smokers and nonsmokers, revealed that an estimated 98 percent would like to ban smoking at their work environments.

Get your cigarettes by mail? Better load up quick, after the House passed a bill that will make that impossible.

The bill was Rep. Anthony Weiner’s Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act. It bars the U.S. Postal Service from handling any tobacco products, and makes it a felony to break local tax laws.

The bill is aimed at black market smuggling, which costs New York City about $150 million a year (and has earned Hezbollah about $1.5 million).

“This new crack down on the illegal sale of tobacco will close a major source of finances for global terrorists and criminals,” Weiner said. “Every day we delay is another day that New York loses significant amounts of tax revenue and kids have easy access to tobacco products sold over the Internet.”

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) is sponsoring the measure in the Senate tommorow. Details of the bill are after the jump.

New York City – The House today passed legislation to give law enforcement new tools to crack down on smugglers of tobacco and curb illicit tobacco sales over the Internet. The Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (PACT) of 2008, sponsored by Representative Anthony D. Weiner (D – Brooklyn and Queens), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, passed the House today by a vote of 397 to 11.

The bill makes it a felony for selling tobacco in violation of any state tax law and effectively ends Internet tobacco smuggling by stopping shipments of cigarettes through the United States Postal Service. FedEx, UPS, and DHL have already agreed not to mail tobacco.

By some estimates, New York State loses $1 billion from tobacco smuggling. A study by Rep. Weiner’s office found that New York City may be losing as much as $150 million due to Internet tobacco sites. According to a recent Government Office of Accountability (GAO) report, Hezbollah profited $1.5 million from the sale of illegal tobacco from 1996-2000.

PACT contains the following measures: 1. Strengthens the Jenkins Act: Increases existing penalties from a misdemeanor to a felony, making it a federal offense for any seller making a sale via telephone, the mail, or the internet to fail to comply with all state tax laws. The legislation also empowers each state to enforce the federal law against out-of-state sellers sending delivery sales into its state by giving state Attorneys General the authority to seek injunctive relief and civil penalties against violators. 2. List Enforcement: Empowers the Attorney General to compile a list of delivery sellers who fail to comply with this act or states’ tax laws. 3. Age Verification: Requires internet and other remote sellers to verify the purchaser’s age and identity through easily accessible databases. It also requires the person accepting delivery to verify their age. 4. Tobacco as Non-Mailable Matter: Makes cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products non-mailable matter through USPS, except in limited cases. While FedEx, UPS and DHL have agreed not to ship tobacco products, USPS has continued to deliver tobacco products bought over the Internet. 5. ATF Inspection Authority and Funding: Grants the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives inspection authority for distributors of cigarettes and creates a penalty for those who refuse inspection. Additionally, the legislation would provide the ATF new resources to crack down on tobacco smuggling, including creating a regional tobacco trafficking team in New York City.

Weiner said, “This new crack down on the illegal sale of tobacco will close a major source of finances for global terrorists and criminals. Every day we delay is another day that New York loses significant amounts of tax revenue and kids have easy access to tobacco products sold over the internet.”

Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said, “We applaud Representative Weiner for working tirelessly to pass the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (H.R. 1676). The PACT Act will help prevent and reduce smoking and other tobacco use by preventing the illegal sale of tax-evading, low-priced cigarettes and smokeless tobacco over the Internet and making sure that Internet and other mail-order sellers do not sell to minors. Indeed, the PACT Act offers Congress a unique opportunity to fight crime, protect federal and state tax revenues, and promote public health, all at the same time.”

Copyright © 2009 Nydailynews

A survey of bars and restaurants shows that Hookah bars and country liquor bars have the worst air quality. This the result of a survey carried out by city NGOs and the BMC  to assess the impact of the smoking ban in Mumbai city six months after it was enforced.

“Youngsters who go to these places do not realize that the air quality in these hookah bars is worse than walking around the garbage dumping ground in Deonar,” said Dr P C Gupta
Smoke Free Campaign, Mumbai.

Hookah bars have been under the scanner for a long time. In fact way before the ban on smoking in public came into place.

Last year civic authorities had cancelled the licenses of several hookah bars on the grounds that they were serving it to minors. While hookah has a very small amount of nicotine it has charcoal smoke that damages the lungs.

Most youngsters though are divided on the matter.

“I live in Mumbai and I don’t believe there is more pollution inside the bar than on the streets,” opined a Mumbaikar.

“I don’t believe hookah bars are polluted at all. There is much more pollution outside,” said another.

While health officials refused to comment on camera, the report they say will lead to a renewed crackdown.

Copyright © 2009 Ndtv

Abuse of anything can harm the human organism. For example, too much food causes obesity, too much drinking leads to alcoholism, too much salt can cause health problems such as kidney stones, and even too many sweets lead to cavities.
But in the case of smoking, only a little bit of it can be harmful for smokers and even for non-smokers. The smokers’ lungs are as dirty as an ashtray that is not cleaned for a month, said an-i-smoking researchers.
The main ingredient of cigars and cigarettes it is tobacco. In general tobacco was discovered for to help people cure certain ailments, but because people like to spoil themselves, they have encouraged the business of smoking.
Because of the cigarettes industry millions of jobs have been created. And even businesses and state economy flourished because more and more people started smoking and then became addicted.
The lifespan of a smoker and someone who inhales secondary smoke has shortened dramatically. But even after the discovery that smoking is bad for people’ health, no one have banned the substance till today.
Death is a normal incident. But it should be happening as a course of aging naturally, like old age. People also die because of stress, poverty, and their incapacity to cure themselves. However, research reveals that the leading cause of death today is smoking.
All the studies and research point to smoking as being harmful to people health. Instead of being concerned too much about the profit and tax revenues, people should pay attention to the fact that they are killing themselves through smoking.
And people should remember that life is more important than profit!