RICHMOND, Va. — Galen Kipe hasn’t smoked a cigarette in more than three months.

He couldn’t kick his habit of 17 years with nicotine patches or gum. He finally put away his Marlboro menthols for good by swapping them for electronic cigarettes, which look like the real thing and give him his nicotine fix but do not contain tobacco.

“It’s the closest thing to what I was doing before,” the 34-year-old steelworker from Asheboro, N.C., said. “I’m still getting the nicotine, but I don’t feel like I’m getting any kind of bad side effects. It can’t be any worse than actual cigarettes.”

As they become more popular, the battery-powered cigarettes have become the center of a fight over how risky they are compared with traditional smokes, whether they’re legal and, if they are, how they should be regulated.

E-cigarettes are made of plastic and metal and heat a liquid nicotine solution in a disposable cartridge, creating vapor that the “smoker” inhales. A tiny light on the tip even glows like a real cigarette.

Nearly 46 million Americans smoke traditional cigarettes. About 40 percent try to quit cold turkey or with other nicotine replacements each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But unlike patches or gums, e-smokes operate in a legal gray area.

The Food and Drug Administration and public health groups have sounded the alarm, saying they contain dangerous chemicals and are being marketed to children, and the federal agency has halted shipments of e-cigarettes at ports nationwide.

Some sellers of e-cigarettes sued the FDA last year after the agency instructed customs officials to refuse entry of shipments into the U.S. A federal judge ruled that the FDA can’t stop those shipments, saying the agency had overstepped its authority. The FDA appealed, and won a stay of that ruling, pending oral arguments that are set to begin next month.

The FDA claims it has the authority to regulate e-cigarettes as drug-delivery devices, which would require proving — probably through expensive clinical trials — that they are safe and effective as a stop-smoking aid.

E-cigarette sellers would like to see them regulated as a tobacco product, which would follow the same restrictions as traditional cigarettes and tobacco products.

Several states have tried to ban the sale of the products. A leading distributor has agreed to halt sales in Oregon following a lawsuit filed by the state. And Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., also wrote to the FDA in March asking that e-cigarettes be taken off the market until they can be proven safe by the agency.

Users and distributors say e-cigarettes address both the nicotine addiction and the behavioral aspects of smoking — the holding of the cigarette, the puffing, seeing the smoke come out and the hand motion — without the more than 4,000 chemicals found in a traditional cigarette.

“When you’re talking about a product that’s essentially Russian roulette, and the alternative is much, much better, you can imagine they’re pretty happy,” said Jason Healy, the president of Charlotte, N.C., electronic cigarette maker Blu Cigs. “Up until e-cigs, there was quit or die.”

First marketed worldwide in 2002 as an alternative to regular cigarettes, e-cigarettes didn’t become easily available in the U.S. until late 2006. Now, the industry has grown from the thousands in 2006 to several million worldwide, with estimated 20,000 to 30,000 new e-smokers every week, according to Healy, whose company is expected to have $30 million in sales this year.

A starter kit, including flavor cartridges, costs about $60. Additional cartridges, equivalent to about 150 cigarettes, are about $25. The cartridges include flavor and different levels of nicotine, or no nicotine at all.

Many e-smokers like Kipe say they have noticed they can smell and taste better and sleep more soundly, plus their clothes, car and breath don’t smell like cigarette smoke.

Still, the FDA has said its tests found the liquid in electronic cigarettes contains substances known to be toxic to humans — besides nicotine, which is itself toxic in large doses — as well as carcinogens that occur naturally in the tobacco in cigarettes. Most e-cigarettes are imported from overseas.

However, the level of those carcinogens was comparable to those found in nicotine replacement therapy like gum and patches, because the nicotine in all of the products is extracted from tobacco, said Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor at the Boston University School of Public Health.

“It’s kind of deceptive to say, ‘Oh, my God, there’s carcinogens in there,’” Siegel said. “The importance is what level of carcinogens. It turns out that the levels are so low that they are 1,400 times lower than in (regular) cigarettes.”

Christian Berkey, CEO of Johnson Creek Smoke Juice, a Wisconsin company that makes the “juice” for e-cigarettes, said its products have only seven ingredients, none of which has ever been deemed unfit for human consumption.

“There’s no combustion, and that’s what it really comes down to,” said Berkey, who has asked the FDA to test its products and is awaiting results.

And Siegel said that while e-cigarettes haven’t been studied in clinical trials, the current evidence is “sufficient to conclude that these products are much safer than smoking.”

Berkey and Healy said they are fine working with the FDA to regulate the products.

“(The FDA) should be regulating it in a way that really allows the potential of the product to be realized rather than a way that just takes it off the market completely and puts an end to the possibility of what really could be a lifesaving product for many smokers,” Siegel said.

Already faced with smoking bans and rising cigarette prices, many Kansas smokers are learning that lighting up will cost them more for health insurance.

And lying about smoking could cost them their job.

A growing number of employers are requiring workers who use tobacco to pay higher premiums in an effort to lower health care costs.

Newton Medical Center recently informed employees that beginning July 1, it will impose a “tobacco-user surcharge” — $35 per two-week pay period — to employees who smoke or have a spouse or dependents who smoke.

“Studies show that folks who use tobacco typically have higher health care costs than those who don’t,” said Todd Tangeman, the center’s human resources director.

“For those who make that choice, it seems reasonable that they would contribute toward their share of the costs.”

Smokers who falsely state on a benefits enrollment form that they don’t use tobacco “will face disciplinary action up to and including termination,” according to a memo issued to Newton Medical Center employees.

Such measures are becoming more common as employers look for ways to battle rising health care costs. Companies that once opted for carrots over sticks — free gym memberships, for instance, or gift cards for attending a health fair — are moving toward surcharges and other punitive measures.

But how far can employers go in dictating workers’ health habits?

Pretty far, say some opponents.

Smoker surcharges “could be the first step down a very dangerous road,” said Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute.

“If you’re going to charge employees for unhealthy behavior, what about the people who go to McDonald’s for lunch every day? Everybody does something in their private life that their doctor doesn’t like.

“The question is, where does it end? And the answer is, there is no end.”

Healthier choices

Newton Medical Center planned to implement its tobacco-use surcharge in January but delayed the move for six months to give workers time to quit, Tangeman said.

“The intent is to help people make a healthier choice,” he said. “It isn’t to be punitive.

“But this kind of puts a catalyst out there…. We believe it will help bring greater awareness about the real costs of tobacco use.”

The California-based Safeway grocery store chain made national news last summer for its Healthy Measures program, which rewards employees for healthy behavior.

Advocates of the so-called “Safeway model” compare it to auto insurance, which for years has tied accident risk to premiums. An 18-year-old man with a sports car and two speeding tickets, for example, pays more than a 45-year-old woman with a sedan and a spotless driving record.

Safeway employees who choose to participate in the voluntary program are tested annually in four areas — weight, tobacco use, blood pressure and cholesterol — and receive discounts for each test they pass.

Those who don’t smoke and who maintain healthy weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels save nearly $800 a year on individual health insurance and more than $1,500 for families.

The Wichita school district is exploring similar measures as part of its overall wellness program, said Shannon Krysl, the district’s director of employee benefits and risk management.

“We have people that are fearful of a ‘fat tax,’ that kind of thing,” Krysl said. “But really the whole purpose of this wellness strategy is to raise people’s awareness that they have to start taking responsibility for their health status.”

Wichita school employees who use tobacco regularly — more than 10 times a year — pay $600 a year more for health coverage. Workers pay another $600 a year if their spouse smokes.

Tobacco-related surcharges or discounts are “becoming fairly common” in Kansas, said Steve O’Neil, life and health manager in the Kansas Insurance Department’s consumer assistance division.

Most operate on the honor system: Employees sign a form stating whether or not they smoke. Few companies pay for costly medical tests that measure nicotine levels in a person’s body, O’Neil said.

The measures “have been around for so long, most smokers have just kind of accepted this is how things are done,” he said. His office rarely fields questions or complaints.

Premiums, charges

The higher premiums for smokers range from $20 to $70 a month.

“We just had to find a number that we thought would get people’s attention, but wouldn’t be so much that people would blatantly lie about it,” said Krysl, the Wichita school district benefits director.

Some, such as the state of Kansas, waive charges for smokers who participate in smoking cessation programs, whether or not they quit.

“Over the long haul, healthier employees cost less and generate fewer claims against the insurance program,” said Peter Hancock, spokesman for the Kansas Health Policy Authority, which administers the state health care plan.

What happens if people lie on the forms — if they say they don’t smoke but then sneak cigarettes or the occasional cigar?

“I don’t think a whole lot happens right now,” Hancock said. “That’s kind of a personnel issue between the employee and his supervisor. At some point, there are consequences to it.”

Krysl said employees caught smoking on district property who haven’t paid the tobacco-user surcharge “have the choice of paying that premium retroactively, or being referred to HR for further disciplinary action.”

“In our case, there’s that added interest in being good role models for students,” Krysl said. “We are people they look up to, and we shouldn’t be smoking.”

Maltby, the workers’ rights advocate, said “there’s nothing inherently wrong” with making smokers pay more. But he worries about the precedent tobacco surcharges may set.

“Everybody’s got something — if it’s not tobacco, it’s alcohol or junk food,” he said. “Maybe you love skiing or scuba diving or riding a motorcycle. All of those carry significant risks. Even your sex life can have medical risks. What if you have a different partner every Saturday night?

“If employers really want to do this effectively, there’s no reason to stop at smoking.”
BY SUZANNE PEREZ TOBIAS
The Wichita Eagle, Jun. 13, 2010

ATHENS, Greece — The Greek government took advantage of World No Smoking Day Monday to announce new plans to ban smoking in public places, although Greeks have proved resistant to previous crackdowns.

“This total ban will be applied to all public places, at work, in restaurants, cafes and bars,” the health minister said in a statement, as the government tried to tighten an already existing but often defied ban.

Casinos and night clubs over 300 square metres (3,229 square feet) are temporarily exempt from the September ruling, given an extra eight months to make the necessary changes.

A bill in preparation should also extend the ban on outside tobacco advertising, to cinemas and street campaigns that hand out free cigarettes.

It is the government’s third attempt to implement a tobacco ban since 2002, the latest coming into effect in July 2009, but with few checks or disciplinary measures in place, Greeks have been quick to break the law.

Over 40 percent of people smoke in Greece, which is the second biggest producer of tobacco in Europe.

The implementation of pictorial warnings on cigarette packs in the local market has reached a deadlock with manufacturers saying that rotational pictures would mean huge costs.

Manufacturers have said that they would have to incur extra printing costs to have five rotational pictures as warnings on the cigarette packets throughout the year and would force them to increase cigarette prices.

According to the Director-General of Emirates Standardisation and Metrology Authority (ESMA), Mohammed Badri, several manufacturers have objected to the concept of having more than one picture warning. “They are not comfortable with the concept of rotating pictures because of the huge costs involved and have asked for changes in the design,” he said.

The recently passed federal No Tobacco Law stipulates that all tobacco products, including cigarette packets, should display pictorial warnings on 50 per cent of the product before
being marketed.

Though the World Health Organisation requires that the warnings cover 30 per cent of the product, the GCC authority for specifications requires display on 50 per cent of the product.

“The manufacturers are also not agreeing to the 50 per cent display,” said Badri. He said another meeting scheduled for next month would decide what course of action would be taken on this protest. Commenting on the decision of the manufacturers/traders, Dr Wedad Al Maidoor, Head of the National Tobacco Control Committee at the Ministry of Health, said, “This is not up to them to decide.

“The specifications are part of the law and all companies need to abide by the law eventually.”

She said several companies have objections to operating in the local market despite the fact that they have already been complying with such regulations in other parts of the world. “Australia demands that 75 per cent of the packs be covered, and companies do it,” she said. Many of the objections were just delaying tactics.

“The companies are just pressuring the authorities but it will not work,” she added.

A local manufacturer said that adding pictures would mean increasing costs by at least 20 per cent. “We need special colour printers and scanning facilities,” said a representative of a Fujairah-based company manufacturing a brand available locally and for export as well.

He, however, said more than the printing costs, the annually increasing price of tobacco is a source of concern. “Each year, tobacco prices go up by 30-35 per cent and if we are forced to increase even 25 fils per packet a year, the customers will feel the pinch,” said the representative who did not wish
to be named.

He also said that if the law required the changes, they would implement them without delay. “All we want is that the law should be the same for all companies,” he added.

ST. PAUL — Anti-tobacco activists spread out around the Minnesota Capitol Wednesday in an effort to convince lawmakers to ban products they say are designed to hook children on nicotine.

A bill due up for a legislative committee hearing Thursday would forbid sale of “e-cigarettes,” designed to give users nicotine vapor without tobacco. The bill also would classify “little cigars” as cigarettes.

“The new products, they are sneaky,” said Dr. Mary Boylan of St. Luke’s Cardiothoracic Surgery Associates in Duluth, who spoke at the rally with about 150 people.

Those at the rally, including many young people, talked to legislators about making the changes to a law that already bans tobacco use in public buildings.

“We will save more lives today than I can being in the operating room all day,” Boylan said about changing the law.

One of the new products, legal to sell now, resembled a breath strip, but the doctor said it provides a dose of addictive nicotine.

“They are under the radar screen,” she said.

DFL lawmakers seek change in health plan

Some Democratic lawmakers want to change a health care program for the poor that was signed into law just three weeks ago Wednesday.

Rep. Tom Huntley, DFL-Duluth, and others announced Wednesday they have a plan to provide permanent health care to poor adults with no children other than the new General Assistance Medical Care program. The plan would take $1 billion of state money to be matched with $1 billion of federal money.

Patients would move off of GAMC onto a newly expanded Medical Assistance Program, and some MinnesotaCare insurance recipients also would move to the new program.

Huntley said the new program would allow rural hospitals to receive better funding when they provide care for the poor. Most rural hospitals would not participate in the new GAMC program, citing its high cost.

But Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s spokesman said Huntley’s plan is based on incomplete tentative information and would cost too much. Brian McClung said the new GAMC program, negotiated between legislative health leaders and the governor, should be given a chance to work before it is scrapped.

Also, McClung said: “There is a significant math problem with this proposal.”

McClung claimed that the Huntley plan was built on use of money from a fund that would be in deficit.

ERA again

An equal rights amendment to the Minnesota constitution is being considered, as it has every year since the federal ERA took effect in 1982.

A Senate committee discussed the matter Wednesday, but took no action. It was unclear if the proposed amendment would be brought up for a vote in the month the Legislature has remaining in its 2010 session.

The amendment proposal would require people be treated the same, regardless of gender.

Refund party

If Dairy Queen’s Blizzard can celebrate its 25th birthday, the Minnesota property tax refund program can do the same, Rep. Paul Marquart, DFL-Dilworth, said.

So, as chairman of the House property taxes committee, he hosted that party Wednesday in an attempt to draw attention to the program, which a third of eligible taxpayers do not collect.

“It helps people stay in their homes,” Marquart said.

Sitting behind a “happy birthday” sign, Former Gov. Wendell Anderson said that his signing of the bill, combined with raising taxes a few years earlier, “made Minnesota in the minds of others, the state that works.”

Alec Olson of Willmar, Senate president when the refund passed, said the concept was “rather radical,” but the program “has brought people together.”

The average property tax refund in 2008 was $683.

Also celebrated was a related program, which provides money to renters.

The EU has declared war against smokers! Brussels wants to eliminate cigarettes with a ‘smoking police’, ashtray bans and high-publicity legal processes against celebrities who enjoy a puff.

A dossier with recommendations for the 27 member states has been released by the EU. The objective – a “100 per cent smoke free environment”.

Health ministers proposed the paper and the EU parliament has approved it.

Member countries now have three years to bring the recommendations into their own legal systems, and in Germany it is set to spark a new debate over the controversial smoking ban.

The new 31-page document makes recommendations for drastic measures to ban smoking in all workplaces, public buildings and facilities:

• Fines: Anyone who breaks the ban will receive a fine. The penalties are intended to be high enough to act as a deterrent. Companies will be threatened with higher fines than individuals and if necessary may even be threatened with the temporary withdrawal of their business permit.

• ‘Smoking police’: The EU states are being asked to set up a system for enforcing the smoking ban, including a system of prosecution. The use of inspectors and enforcement officials is recommended. They will also carry out random spot checks.

• Ashtray ban: It will be the responsibility of all companies and public services to ensure that there are no ashtrays in the building.

• Shock trials: The EU states will be encouraged to carry out sensationalist prosecutions designed to shock the public.

Celebrities who smoke will also be targeted and exposed publicly as smoking offenders.

The document states that if individuals in the public eye have deliberately disregarded the law and this is publicly known, the authorities will demonstrate their commitment to and the seriousness of the legislation by reacting with rigorous and speedy measures, attracting the widest possible public attention.

With these measures, the EU is trying to attack and eliminate smoking as much as possible. The aim is for all enclosed workplaces and public areas to become smoke free, including those which are partly open or enclosed.

The smoking ban will also include all hallways, staircases, toilets, staffrooms, store rooms and lifts that are used at work.

In the future tobacco smoke should not be seen or smelled in the air – it will probably be illegal to light a cigarette!

The dossier even defines smoking as including the ownership or handling of a lit cigarette, regardless of whether or not the smoke is actively being inhaled.

In the middle of the summer Turkey approved a statewide ban on smoking in all indoor public areas, becoming only the seventh nation across European region to adopt such measure.

The ban was massively criticized by local business owners and simple smokers, and even resulted in one victim, when a manager of a coffee house in the west of the country was shot dead after asking one of the customers to put out his cigarette.

Nevertheless, Turkish government decided to strengthen its regulatory role for local tobacco industry. The cigarette-makers are obliged to place written and graphic warning labels on the packs of tobacco products from January 1, 2010.

According to Mahmoud Maloudi, head of the Tobacco & Alcohol Market Regulation Board, agency dealing tobacco and alcohol products, the Board is going to begin warning current smokers with pictures of deceased lungs and written statements and pictures starting Jan. 1, 2010 in place of current warnings that are not vivid enough. Mr. Maloudi said there would be 14 different warnings on various tobacco products shown in order to make smokers aware of potential severe health risks related to tobacco consumption.

In conformity with TAMRD, there are nearly 200 kinds of packages for tobacco products approved for sales in the past. All those packages are required to bear latest written and graphic warning labels.

Tobacco manufacturers will have enough time to modify the production to print new warnings and place them at their products with particular intervals. Tobacco products manufactured by Dec. 31, 2009 that written warnings only, will be allowed to be on the market until July, 1st, 2010.

The aggregate area of both types of warnings should be not less than 65 percent of the entire package, in conformity with the corresponding ordinance. The deadline for the switch to new warnings is Jan. 1, 2011, by that day each tobacco product selling in Turkey must bear new warnings.

Pictorial warnings on tobacco products is a well-known strategy already used by many countries throughout the world, among which are Brazil, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Romania, India, and Singapore. The USA is going to place similar warnings in the nearest future as well.

The European Union Committee on Public Health developed more than 40 pictures involving the effects of tobacco consumption to be placed on the packages of tobacco products. Turkish authorities have selected 14 pictures for the local products.

According to several surveys, visual warnings make 20 percent of current smokers want to quit or even get rid of the habit.

Turkey prohibited smoking in enclosed public spaces last year, but gave eating and drinking establishments a delay to get ready to the ban. The delay expired on July 19, 2009 and the statewide ban became valid. In conformity with the legislation, smoking is banned restaurants, tea and coffee houses, bars and all workplaces. Tobacco advertisements and promotions also were prohibited.

RETAILERS who sell cigarettes to under-age smokers are being targeted in a fresh crackdown by trading standards.

They want to cut the number selling tobacco products to under-18s in the region by 50 per cent.

And that means a pair of ‘smoking police’ who were taken on by the council last year at a £45,220 cost will be given another 12-month contract.

Efforts to carry out test purchasing using under-18s will also continue.

Trading standards manager Edward Beckley will tell councillors on Friday that they still have major issues with retailers illegally selling cigarettes.

He said it was a “major factor” contributing to people who start to smoke in their teens.

And their main weapon has been the enforcement officers who are visiting retailers in a bid to clampdown on the illegal sales.

“Over 370 visits have been made to premises selling tobacco products and more than 90 retailers have requested that we provide awareness training for all thier staff,” said Mr Beckley in a report to the resources committee.

“All businesses visited have been advised that a programme of test purchases will be carried out at a later date.”

The officers are also visiting local schools to recruit young people to carry out the test purchasing.

Since 2005, 131 tests have been carried out with 21 premises illegally selling the tobacco.

Mr Beckley said: “These have resulted in 11 warning letters being sent to the traders and 10 reports being submitted to the procurator fiscal for consideration for prosecution.

“It is the intention that test purchases will be attempted at 10 per cent of tobacco retailers in 2009/10 and 15 per cent in 2010/11.

“Following the provision of guidance to retailers over this period our target is to reduce by 50 per cent the number of retailers who are willing to sell tobacco products to persons who are under age.”

The funding for the smoking police has been handed down from the Scottish Government and will end in March 2011.

Mr Beckley says there are also plans to do the same type of operation with under age sales of alcohol.

The Coalition of Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs) over the weekend held a meeting to put in place strategic measures towards the passage of the Tobacco Control Bill into law.

The bill, when passed into law, would mainly reduce tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco, thereby improving the health of Ghanaians and guests.

The bill seeks to ban smoking in public places, prohibit the sale or offer for sale of tobacco products in health and educational institutions, theatres, sports stadia, and other public places.

The Tobacco Control Bill has therefore been developed to implement the provisions of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

Briefing the press in Accra, on the need for a strong Tobacco Control Law and Art 11 of the FCTC, the President of Vision for Alternative Development (VALD), Mr. Issah Ali, said the FCTC’s objective was to “to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke.”

According to him the FCTC provisions and recommendations included large health warning labels required, text and pictorial warnings thus 30%-50%.

He said FCTC’s Article 13 states that tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, recommends that there should be comprehensive ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorships, including donations.

He said Ghana was using directives to ban tobacco advertisement, which has been very successful.

He pointed out that certain countries had discovered the main causes of smoking tobacco, including countries like Thailand, which has discovered that smoking tobacco causes lung cancer, Egypt discovered that tobacco causes diseases of the heart, and the UK discovered that tobacco destroys the arteries.

CHICAGO, IL – Makers of caffeinated alcoholic beverages have begun responding to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) letter looking in to whether it is permissible for them to add caffeine to their drinks, the Examiner.com reports.

Charles Murray, CEO of Shotpak Inc., maker of Gravity Vodka, said that he has “little doubt that Gravity is safe and complies with all government requirements necessary for its sale in the future,” adding that his company’s “50ml StandUp pouch has the caffeine equivalent of about half a cup of coffee or about one-third of what is allowed.”

Earlier this month, FDA Deputy Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein said that the FDA has not approved caffeine for use in alcoholic beverages. However, this has created some friction with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), the agency in charge of compliance for formulas for alcoholic beverages.

“The TTB isn’t too happy about the FDA stepping into their territory,” wrote Wine and Spirits Daily. “Traditionally the FDA governs food and non-alcoholic beverages, while the TTB oversees beverage alcohol. The FDA says it has jurisdiction because the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act gives it authority over ‘articles used for food or drink’ and thus includes alcoholic beverages.”

According to the FDA, a 12-ounce soft drink may contain a maximum of .02% caffeine, or 68mg. However, that 68mg excludes “natural” caffeine levels, so guarana, yerba mate and coffee-based drinks conceivably could contain more. Also, drinks labeled as “dietary supplements” contain fewer restrictions. All of this spells confusion and frustration for caffeinated alcohol beverage producers.

Noting this, the brewmaster for Mobius Lager, a caffeinated beer containing taurine and ginseng, called the latest FDA action “bureaucratic” and “ridiculous,” adding that his company is formulating a formal response to the FDA. He said that his product is certified with the TTB, as are all products targeted by the recent FDA letter.

What you should know:

Tobacco use in any form is dangerous. Quitting smoking is the single best thing you can do to protect your health.

Smoking is strongly associated with the two leading causes of death in Tennessee: heart disease and lung cancer. Smoking also causes cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach, colon, pancreas, cervix, kidney and bladder, as well as lymphoma and leukemia.

Smoking can cause years of suffering and disability from heart attacks, chronic lung disease and strokes. Smoking is a major cause of erectile dysfunction, cataracts, pneumonia and prematurely aged and wrinkled skin.

Lung cancer is the primary cause of cancer deaths in our region. In the U.S., smoking is estimated to cause nearly nine out of 10 lung cancer deaths, and may be a factor in at least 30 percent of all cancer deaths.

Secondhand smoke hurts those we love. Pregnant women who smoke risk miscarriage. Children exposed to smoke have more asthma and other health problems. Older people exposed to smoke have more heart attacks.

Smoking is still a big problem in Tennessee and in the Mid-South. Nearly one-fourth of all white women and nearly one-fifth of all of African-American women in Tennessee still smoke cigarettes. In 2007, about one-fourth of all men in Tennessee were smokers.

The American Lung Association considers Memphis America’s sixth-worst city for asthma. Cigarette smoke can be very harmful to people who have asthma or other breathing problems.

A 2007 study showed that two out of five city school teens have smoked cigarettes. Tobacco is often a “gateway drug.” Teens who try cigarettes are often tempted to try alcohol, marijuana and other illegal drugs.

Many laws and prevention activities have reduced tobacco use. Taxes on cigarettes have risen sharply in many states, encouraging many smokers to quit.

Tennessee law now restricts where people can smoke. (Go to SmokeFree Tennessee at health.state.tn.us.) However, any restaurant or bar that prohibits minors can allow smoking. About 10 percent of businesses across the state (primarily restaurants and bars) have applied to be exempt from the Tennessee smoke-free workplace law. Research shows tobacco taxes and prohibiting smoking in public places will decrease smoking rates and save lives.

Many health professionals fail to discuss smoking with patients during their checkups.

What you should do

Do not allow smoking in your home, car or office.

If you smoke, respect the rights of others to be smoke free. Protect children from smoke.

If you smoke, quit now. Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW to get free help and information on how to quit.

Ask your primary-care provider for help quitting. Set a quit date and make a plan for success.

Tobacco counseling should be part of your health care services. A prescription might help you to stop smoking.

Avoid doing things that trigger your need to smoke.

Find healthy habits to take the place of smoking. When you think of lighting up, take a walk.

Ask friends who smoke to light up elsewhere.

Avoid secondhand smoke.

If you employ people, make sure that your health plan includes tobacco counseling and stop-smoking benefits.

Teach children about the dangers of tobacco. Let kids know where you stand on tobacco use.

Set a good example. Do not smoke if you expect children and co-workers not to smoke.

Provided by the Healthy Memphis Common Table: healthymemphis.org.

St. Louis County voters on Tuesday simultaneously made most public places there and in the city smoke-free.

With light turnout — about 20 percent of the county’s 705,000 registered voters — about two-thirds of them favored Proposition N, which, with some exemptions, bans smoking in public places on Jan. 2, 2011.

The ban applies to the city also because the Board of Aldermen last month approved a similar measure, contingent on county passage. The city ban, including exemptions, also takes effect Jan. 2, 2011.

With the statewide ban in Illinois, Tuesday’s vote means that two-thirds of the St. Louis area’s population will live in an area that bans smoking in public places.

Meanwhile, Kirkwood voters overwhelmingly passed a separate ban that is more strict than the county’s, in that it applies to all bar-restaurants. The county’s ban exempts bars that don’t sell a lot of food, but does allow municipalities to enact stricter bans. The county’s exceptions also include casino gaming floors and the smoking lounges at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

News of the passage of the county and Kirkwood bans was greeted with cheers Tuesday night at a rally at the Pi restaurant in Kirkwood.

Barbara Fraser, the St. Louis County Council member who sponsored the county smoking ban bill, said she was thrilled by the results.

“It’s a very important health issue for our county, our region, and the whole state,” said Fraser, D-University City. “As a result of the county’s passage of this legislation, the city ordinance will go into effect and, consequently, the entire state could become smoke-free in public places.”

Charley Gatton, chairman of the County Citizens for Cleaner Air, said, “We’re thrilled. It looks like it’s finally happening.”

But an opponent, Gary Voss, said the ban might kill his bowling center, the West County Lanes in Ellisville.

Voss, executive director of the Greater St. Louis Bowling Proprietors Association, predicted that 10 of the 21 bowling centers in St. Louis County would close.

Smokers would go to competitors in St. Charles or other counties which allow smoking, he said.

The county, he said, “doesn’t care for the mom-and-pop bowling centers” and favors out-of-state casino owners.

Voss predicted that his association would challenge the smoking ban in court. The ban, he said, “is so unfair.”

Bill Hannegan, a leading opponent of smoking bans, said he and his supporters soon will consider whether to challenge the constitutionality of the exemption for casinos gaming floors. He called it “special interest” legislation.

Some Kirkwood bar and restaurant owners who fought the last smoking ban proposal there in 2006 did not wage a campaign this time.

“There was no organized opposition in Kirkwood, as far as I know,” said Jeff Rekart, manager of PJ’s Tavern, which allows smoking, and the next-door Jefferson Grill, which is smoke-free.

Rekart said a countywide ban would be better than a city-by-city one.

SCHOOL BOND ISSUES

Four school districts on Tuesday held bond issue elections, mostly for building renovation.

In the Riverview Gardens School District, voters approved a $15 million bond issue. Voters in the Hillsboro district approved an $18 million bond issue.

In the De Soto district, a $11.5 million bond issue was approved and voters in the Winfield district approved a $5 million issue.

Voters in the Lindbergh School District approved a waiver that will make it easier for the district to enact tax increases.

By Phil Sutin
04.11.2009

I would like to commend Gov. Granholm for her recent budget plan, which included a tax increase on cigarettes and other tobacco products. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in Michigan, and a huge burden on taxpayers.

Raising tobacco taxes will generate needed revenue for Michigan, and a portion of that revenue should be used to fund tobacco prevention and to help people quit. Studies in other states show that investing in tobacco prevention simultaneously improves health and saves money. As revenues in Michigan fall, our elected leaders need to consider new revenue sources to fund prevention programs that protect the public’s health.

Gov. Granholm’s proposal to increase tobacco taxes makes good sense. States that increase tobacco taxes experience substantial and reliable increases in revenue. Dedicating a portion of the revenue to keep kids from starting to use tobacco and to helping people quit is essential for saving lives and reducing health care costs.

Copyright © 2009 Mlive
October 12, 2009

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.

A split Constitutional Court on Thursday quashed a petition to ban cigarette advertising on television, rejecting appeals that ads could encourage children to start smoking.

In a five-four decision, the court said the petition filed by two child protection groups and two children was legally baseless.

“Cigarettes are a legal commodity,” Chief Justice Mahfud MD said, reading the court’s ruling. “For that reason, cigarette promotion should also be seen as a legal action.”

The National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak) and the West Java-based Children’s Protection Council had demanded that the court void an article in the 2002 Broadcasting Law that states that commercial ads may be aired by electronic media as long as they didn’t show cigarettes or people smoking.

Judges Maruarar Siahaan, Muhammad Alim, Harjono and Achmad Sodiki voted to annul the article, which would have meant all televised cigarette ads would be banned.

Maruarar said the country’s cigarette industry had been known to harm the right of children to a healthy life. Alim said that cigarettes could cause health problems and shorten life expectancy, while Harjono said the state had an obligation to promote the rights of children.

According to the University of Indonesia’s Demographics Institute, in 2008 some 68 million Indonesians were active smokers and 427,948 people died nationwide from smoking-related illnesses, accounting for 22.5 percent of deaths in the country last year.

“Despite the court having to face both the economic rights of cigarette producers and constitutional morality, the plaintiffs’ demands should be approved,” Harjono said.

However, the other five judges ruled that advertising was a constitutional right for everyone, including the cigarette industry.

Judge Arsyad Sanusi said the Constitutional Court would be acting unfairly if it only focused on the negative impacts of cigarettes, while ignoring the views of cigarette producers, tobacco farmers, the advertising industry and other businesses related to cigarette production.

“In 2008, 400,000 people worked directly in the cigarette industry,” he said. “Meanwhile, there are 2.4 million tobacco farmers, 1.5 million clove farmers, 4.8 million [cigarette] sellers and 1 million workers in related industries such as printing and transportation.”

Government revenue from cigarette taxes was Rp 57 trillion ($5.75 billion) in 2008, while the tobacco industry spent Rp 1.4 trillion on advertising.

Judge Abdul Mukthie Fadjar said banning cigarette ads would be ineffective as well as unconstitutional.

Muhammad Joni, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said although he respected the court’s decision, he would mount another challenge to the Broadcasting Law.

“We will file another judicial review on other articles with the same aim — to ban cigarette ads,” he said. He said judges should compare cigarettes and alcoholic beverages.

“Neither of them are seen as illegal,” he said. “However, ads for alcoholic drinks are banned, while cigarette ads are allowed. There is a strong connection between cigarette ads and the widespread use of cigarettes.”

Copyright © 2009 Thejakartaglobe

Police in Chongqing have detained a man for five days for smoking in a wholesale market, a move they hope sets an example for others who may be tempted to break a new law.

“Before we would give them a warning or a fine, but we found that didn’t work well,” said police officer Xu Yuhang, who caught the 56-year-old man smoking in an evacuation stairway on Saturday.

The man, surnamed Zhao, is the first person detained under the new law, which bans people from smoking in areas considered to be a fire hazard.

“I didn’t know I would be detained for smoking,” Zhao said. “I regret it now.”

Zhao, originally from Hubei province, was visiting his son in Jinhaimen market and had been watching his son’s stall last Saturday morning.

Jinhaimen, the biggest wholesale market in Chongqing, has no-smoking signs everywhere.

Zhao’s son, however, was angry, and said it was unfair to detain his father.

“A lot of people have been smoking there. Besides, we didn’t know about the new regulations. They should at least give my father a chance to know,” he said.

A spokesman for Yuzhong district anti-fire department said they would continue to detain smokers.

“We tried to warn those who smoked in markets and stores, and fined each of them up to 500 yuan ($73), but people were still careless about dangerous smoking,” said the spokesman, who refused to give his name.

Some citizens agree with the son that the punishment is too harsh, especially for an old man.

“If he was being very tough towards the policeman and refused to stop smoking, it would be reasonable to detain him. But he was cooperative and almost scared,” said a woman surnamed Yu who has a stall in the market.

Officer Xu said they did this to remind other smokers not to follow his example.

On Aug 20, the ministry issued six new fire safety regulations, including one that police should detain people who smoke in fire hazard areas.

The regulation followed an anti-fire law that came into effect on May 1, under which those who smoke in places with risks of fire or explosion can be warned and fined. Only in severe cases should the offender be detained for no more than five days, the law states.

On Aug 2, two men in Anshan, of Liaoning province, were detained for three days after smoking in a supermarket. They had started to argue with the policemen who asked them to stop smoking.


Copyright © Chinadaily

The Suffolk Legislature Tuesday voted to ban the indoor use of electronic cigarettes in public buildings, a move it said makes the county the first jurisdiction in the nation to forbid the product.

The 12-1 vote, with four abstentions, puts the so-called e-cigarettes on par with traditional cigarettes, barring their use in Suffolk’s indoor public spaces.

“This vote signals that our local government will not hesitate to take steps to protect the next generation of Suffolk residents from the newest health risks,” said the bill’s sponsor, Legis. Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Harbor).

Electronic cigarettes, which are battery-powered devices that typically look like a traditional cigarette, allow users to inhale doses of vaporized nicotine. Advocates tout them as safer than cigarettes, since there is no tobacco or smoke involved in ingesting the nicotine vapor. Electronic cigarettes have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Also Tuesday, Oregon Attorney General John Kroger sued to stop a Florida company from selling electronic cigarettes in his state. He accused the company, Smoking Everywhere, of making false claims and targeting unsafe products to children.

County Executive Steve Levy is “inclined to look favorably” on the bill, said spokesman Dan Aug.

Tuesday’s vote came after a dozen members of the Long Island Vapors Club, a group of e-cigarette enthusiasts, pleaded with legislators to spare their hobby from public restrictions.

But Cooper said the devices are dangerous and need to be barred from the county’s buildings. “They will be free to use these in the privacy of their own homes, but they will no longer be able to subject innocent people around them to these dangers,” he said.

Legis. Jay Schneiderman (I-Montauk), who voted for the bill before changing his position to abstain after the vote total was announced, said he doesn’t believe electronic cigarettes are as dangerous as traditional cigarettes.

“This may be one of the best ways to quit smoking,” said Schneiderman, a hotel owner. “It might be good for the economy to create vapor lounges as well.” – With AP


August 18, 2009 By REID J. EPSTEIN reid.epstein@newsday.com

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the Oklahoma Tax Commission and tax commissioners filed by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation after the commission seized what it calls contraband cigarettes from tribal delivery trucks.

In his decision issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Terence Kern of the Tulsa-based Northern District of Oklahoma granted the OTC’s motion to dismiss the seizure case because the commission’s “sovereign immunity” exempts it from suit.

He also granted the OTC commissioners’ motions to dismiss because, under the tribe’s arguments, the tribal entity does not constitute a “person” who can bring suit.

The tribe filed the suit in May after the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, working with the Oklahoma Tax Commission, stopped three different tribal vehicles, and seized a total of about $100,000 worth of tobacco out of two of the vehicles. The third vehicle did not have any tobacco in it.

In its suit, the tribe was seeking to have the tobacco returned. The state maintained that the cigarettes are illegal to sell in the state, and thus did not have a tax stamp affixed to them, which would have resulted in the loss of around $42,000 in taxes, according to the OTC.

The Creek Nation is the largest tribe in the state to not sign a tobacco compact. Until recently, the tribe has been at odds with the state for selling cigarettes with low tax stamps reserved for border areas in Oklahoma and continuing to sell cigarette brands not on the Master Settlement Agreement roster and thus illegal.

The
roster, which lists brands that can legally be sold in the state, was part of an agreement reached with cigarette makers in 1998.

A separate lawsuit by the state against several tribal business officials and smoke shop owners who sold non-MSA cigarettes is still in court.

A Tulsa World investigation conducted after the seizures and the lawsuit by the state showed that some Creek smoke shops continue to sell the non-MSA cigarettes.

Kern wrote in his decision that although the tribe was basing its argument on seeking to vindicate “personal rights” violated in the seizure, it repeatedly invoked its sovereign rights in its arguments.

“Despite MCN’s attempt to claim, in one portion of its briefing, that this suit does not concern its sovereign status, the remainder of MCN’s briefing demonstrates that MCN’s claim ultimately invokes MCN’s sovereign rights,” Kern wrote.

“The Court therefor looks beyond MCN’s assertion that it is merely seeking to vindicate ‘personal rights’ and finds that the interest asserted by MCN is one based on its sovereign status and one that a similarly situated private party would not enjoy.”

Kern had asked the Tax Commission in May to hold off on seizing any more Creek Nation cigarettes, but now, with the ruling in the state’s favor, the seizures might resume.

A spokeswoman for the Tax Commission, Paula Ross, declined to say whether the state had any immediate plans to intercept more tribal tobacco trucks.

“We’re pleased by the court’s decision, but we must decline comment on future enforcement actions,” she said.

Tribal officials did not return calls seeking comment on the ruling.
Copyright © 2009 Tulsaworld

FDA and Public Health Experts Warn About Electronic Cigarettes

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that a laboratory analysis of electronic cigarette samples has found that they contain carcinogens and toxic chemicals such as diethylene glycol, an ingredient used in antifreeze.

Electronic cigarettes, also called “e-cigarettes,” are battery-operated devices that generally contain cartridges filled with nicotine, flavor and other chemicals. The electronic cigarette turns nicotine, which is highly addictive, and other chemicals into a vapor that is inhaled by the user.

These products are marketed and sold to young people and are readily available online and in shopping malls. In addition, these products do not contain any health warnings comparable to FDA-approved nicotine replacement products or conventional cigarettes. They are also available in different flavors, such as chocolate and mint, which may appeal to young people.

Public health experts expressed concern that electronic cigarettes could increase nicotine addiction and tobacco use in young people. Jonathan Winickoff, M.D., chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Tobacco Consortium and Jonathan Samet, M.D., director of the Institute for Global Health at the University of Southern California, joined Joshua Sharfstein, M.D., principal deputy commissioner of the FDA, and Matthew McKenna, M.D., director of the Office of Smoking and Health for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to discuss the potential risks associated with the use of electronic cigarettes.

“The FDA is concerned about the safety of these products and how they are marketed to the public,” said Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., commissioner of food and drugs.

Because these products have not been submitted to the FDA for evaluation or approval, at this time the agency has no way of knowing, except for the limited testing it has performed, the levels of nicotine or the amounts or kinds of other chemicals that the various brands of these products deliver to the user.

The FDA’s Division of Pharmaceutical Analysis analyzed the ingredients in a small sample of cartridges from two leading brands of electronic cigarettes. In one sample, the FDA’s analyses detected diethylene glycol, a chemical used in antifreeze that is toxic to humans, and in several other samples, the FDA analyses detected carcinogens, including nitrosamines. These tests indicate that these products contained detectable levels of known carcinogens and toxic chemicals to which users could potentially be exposed.

The FDA has been examining and detaining shipments of e-cigarettes at the border and the products it has examined thus far meet the definition of a combination drug-device product under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The FDA has been challenged regarding its jurisdiction over certain e-cigarettes in a case currently pending in federal district court. The agency is also planning additional activities to address its concerns about these products.

Health care professionals and consumers may report serious adverse events (side effects) or product quality problems with the use of e-cigarettes to the FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program either online, by regular mail, fax or phone.
Copyright © 2009 Toledoonthemove

MANSFIELD — Altoids tins have become the ashtrays of choice at local watering holes.

They’ve replaced all those old, cheap glass ashtrays that departed more than two years ago after Ohio voters passed a referendum to ban smoking in public places.

While you no longer have to worry about getting lung cancer over breakfast at Denny’s, at most veterans clubs and plenty of bars in Richland County, the burn goes on as beery, smoky nights are pretty much the same beery, smoky nights they’ve always been.

“Right after they passed this, I called the health commissioner and said, ‘What do I have to do to comply?’ ” said Joe Sinnett, owner of Joez Lounge.

“And he said, ‘I have no idea.’ So I said, ‘Okay, you make damn sure you let me know what my obligations are on this law. I have got obligations in the liquor laws. I have got obligations with the food license. You let me know. But I’m not doing anything that goes against the Constitution of the United States.’ ”

Sinnett’s bar, off U.S. 30 east of Mansfield, has received 23 complaints under the smoking law, the last shortly before Christmas 2008. He’s been fined at least five times but only paid $200 pending appeals. His last inspection by Sue Osborne, the Mansfield/Ontario/Richland County Health Department’s primary inspector, was earlier this month.

“I don’t know what it was,” Sinnett, 60, said about the latest check, “But I’ve had it. I’ve absolutely had it. I ripped down all the signs.”

He’s owned the place since 2004 and, like most area bar owners, doesn’t have a beef with the smoking ban itself. It’s the onus it puts on bar owners to self-police their establishments that troubles Sinnett and his peers.

“I don’t want to be a cop,” said Paul Hauke, 61, a Sandusky-area bar owner who earned attention less than two months ago for smoking in the halls of the Erie County Health Department.

For that stunt, Hauke became the first person in Ohio charged with violating the ban as an individual.

“We’ve had no leadership at all from the state, county, anybody,” Hauke said. “We’ve been given no direction at all on how to handle anything. I didn’t go into business to police people. If they light up, they know the law.”

Betty Frazier, co-owner of Finish Line Bar & Grill since 2006, says her patrons are like family, and it’s not her place to tell a customer to snub out a smoke.

“We have no smoking signs. We don’t have ashtrays. This bar has been here since 1953. There’s no kids. It’s just friends and family,” Frazier, 45, said. “If you light up, I’m not going to kick you out.”

Sinnett takes his anti-ban fervor to more spiritual levels. The licensed minister goes by “Reverend Joe” and calls his lounge a tabernacle.

“If you get out a thesaurus and break down the meaning of worship, religion and ceremony,’ then I have the right, in worship, to allow people to use tobacco in observance of freedoms denied or people who’ve died and come back,” Sinnett said.

He’s smoked multiple packs a day for more than four decades, mostly Marlboros, and has voluntarily seen a doctor three times — ever — mostly at the behest of a spouse.

Sinnett, of course, isn’t the area’s only scofflaw. The now defunct Clover’s Bar & Grill, Belcher’s House of Rock, The Den and most veterans clubs are serial violators. But they slide because of weak enforcement and a resilient bar culture that says that for many bar-goers, stumbling home smelling of booze and smokes is part of the cost of admission.

“Drinking and whiskey and cigarettes and everything has gone together for centuries,” Gary Craft Jr. said over beers at Finish Line.

Craft, 37, doesn’t smoke.

“I’ve owned two bars in this town and lost one because of the ban,” he said.

Craft now owns Pappy’s, a garbage business. Like fellow bar patrons, he thinks the ban at best is a mixed message.

“I think, golly, haven’t they made enough off cigarettes?” Craft said. “They’ve created a monster, and now they want it to stop.”

The health department, of course, doesn’t agree. Though for environmental health director Matt Work, charged with ban enforcement, the requirements for busting bars and other businesses are such that, most of the time, his hands are tied.

“The only way we can actually enforce this is through a complaint,” he said. “If I walk into a bar and see someone smoking, I have to call the complaint in to the state and hear back from them first. The rules are different than anything else we do.”

Thirty-seven of Ohio’s 88 counties have shed the investigation units at their local health departments and referred enforcement to the state, which has two full-time investigators who follow complaints and scour Ohio’s bars and offices for ashtrays and cigarette butts. Richland County has kept its unit, but health commissioner Stan Saalman admitted to being tempted, like others, to nix it.

“I certainly have those thoughts, especially with the economy turning the way it has. It may be a program that we may consider cutting,” Saalman said. “But I think it’s a very important program for the health of our community.”

The county says it had collected $7,346 in revenues — collected fines and state assistance for enforcement offered when the law was newly enacted — by mid-March on 306 cases. The program has cost some $43,800 in wages. Each case brings in an average of $143 to pursue and brings back an average fine of $23.

“Smoking is not a moneymaker for us,” said Work, who added the department believes in its basic purpose.

Recently, Work met with a reporter at the now closed Clover’s Bar & Grill to observe a typical smoking ban inspection. Before inspector Sue Osborne came in, seven or eight twenty-somethings sat around the bar drinking steadily. A slow night, but still early, one or two patrons smoked casually, using mint tins as ash receptacles. The bartender periodically emptied their contents.

Osborne went about her work with little ado. And before most patrons knew it, ashtrays had been removed, whispered warnings heeded and Osborne was gone. The place slowly emptied.

For those in the fight with long memories, the pivotal moment in the smoking ban came not when Ohio voters, at 58 percent, passed the ban in November 2006, but in the months afterward before the state began enforcing it.

“I would remind everyone that the ballot language people voted for specifically exempted private clubs and family-owned businesses,” said state Sen. Bill Seitz, a Republican from Cincinnati.

The actual ballot language didn’t say as much, but what many ban opponents now say is they never thought some of their favorite haunts would be affected.

“A lot of my friends voted for the ban because they thought it exempted places like (Finish Line),” Craft said.

The American Cancer Society’s Ohio chapter, which was the primary funding force behind the original referendum, disputes the claim. The organization released a survey in May 2008 showing not only did 97 percent of Ohioans know what they were voting for, 63 percent said the ban should remain.

That doesn’t satisfy bar patrons. Mike Weiss, a 43-year-old fabricator and 25-year smoker, said that a restaurant smoking ban and local tavern prohibitions were substantively different.

“If you can’t wait until after you finish eating to have a cigarette,” the Mansfield resident said, “then ease up.”

Seitz argues along many of the same lines. In the spring of 2007, as the Ohio Department of Health had public hearings to refine the smoking ban after its passage, the department became stingy with exceptions. Truckers who drive alone won back their right to puff, but private clubs, despite a late court injunction, never did.

Seitz, along with state Sen. Gary Cates, R-Hamilton, and Sen. Timothy Grendell, R-Geauga County, co-sponsored Senate Bill 120, which would exempt private clubs who have paid employees and family-owned businesses. Still, he recognizes an uphill battle. The bill’s original co-sponsor and fiercest supporter, Sen. Robert Schuler, a Hamilton County Republican, died June 19 after a long battle with an undisclosed form of cancer.

“Obviously, my dear friend Senator Schuler has just been in the ground,” Seitz said on June 26. “The earliest (we do it) will be the fall, practically speaking.”

Dick Allen, owner of Zeno’s, a Columbus bar the state health department says has been cited with five $2,500 smoking-ban fines — second most in Ohio — said legislative action was absolutely necessary.

“We’re hoping that it will pass,” Allen said. “We’re mounting a program with them to fight it on a constitutional level.”

On a recent Thursday at Finish Line, a group of men sat on the patio, in the sunshine, enjoying smokes and beers. Empty, crumpled cans of Busch Light and Bud Light crowded the bar. A band set up. Twenty or so customers sat around circular tables. Frazier, the co-owner, told a visitor about the six different benefit shows she’s hosted for bar regulars and friends. The next, Aug. 1, is for her brother, recently diagnosed with cancer.

Soon, shots of Dr. Mc- Gillicuddy’s Cherry Bomb were poured into hard plastic cups, each with a splash of Squirt. The jukebox blared country music. Partiers grabbed their 4-ounce shots, clinked and cheered.

“To beer and cigarettes!” one celebrant toasted.

As they drank, Frazier recalled what she liked about the place, whose only staff is her two daughters, her husband and herself.

“At 9 o’clock, you’ll be lucky if you have a sitting place,” she said. “This is family.”

The image of a weary soldier puffing on a cigarette after a battle soon could be reduced to a Hollywood cliche if the armed forces adopt recommendations by military health officials to phase out tobacco use.

The Institute of Medicine published, “Combating Tobacco in Military and Veteran Populations,” in June after a two-year study commissioned by the Pentagon and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It calls for phasing out tobacco use in the military over as many as 20 years.

The report cites tobacco for causing health problems that in the short term hamper military readiness and over the long term cost hundreds of millions of dollars a year in medical care and lost productivity.

The report states that soldiers and Marines who have been deployed in combat are far more likely to use tobacco than those who don’t.

Some of the proposals include banning the sale of tobacco on military installations and the use of tobacco in uniform. The institute’s Web site also calls for programs to assist smokers with quitting.

“I don’t think they should be telling me I can’t smoke on a lunch break, as long as I’m in a designated area,” said Petty Officer Mike Argenio, who is stationed at the submarine base in Groton, Conn. “And I have a friend who is a Marine who had a healthy smoking habit when he was in Iraq. When he came back, he stopped smoking.”

Christopher Zendan, spokesman for the submarine base, said the base follows strict Navy smoking policies.

Zendan said most buildings on the base are smoke-free, and that all designated smoking areas are at least 50 feet from government buildings. The Reunion Pub, also on base, has a designated cigar room with sophisticated ventilation and filtration systems.

“We offer tobacco-cessation classes run by our command health clinic,” Zendan said. “We have classes both on base and off base.”

Hitesh Patel, who owns the Mini Mart Food Store across from the base’s main gate, said he does not get many cigarette customers from the base, as tobacco is available at lower cost on the base. He said there could be an increase eventually if sales were banned on the base.

Cynthia Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman, reiterated there is no ban in effect, and that the recommendations have not yet been given to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

She said the evidence is “overwhelming” in regard to the effects of tobacco on health and military readiness, but that the military offers cessation programs and counseling for those trying to quit.
Copyright © 2009 Norwichbulletin

Some people only know Elizabethtown resident William Grimes as the Can Man. He earned the name by riding his bike around town picking up cans. But 69-year-old Grimes, also known as “Doll,” might have to hold off on making his rounds after a hit-and-run damaged his bike.

A collection jar sits on a counter at Danny’s Tobacco, 615 N. Main St. in Elizabethtown, asking customers to donate money to the Can Man.

Sherri Fow, co-owner and co-manager of Danny’s Tobacco, said the money can help Grimes get a new bike after the hit-and-run destroyed his other one.

A white Oldsmobile hit Grimes on July 4 on Main Street, according to a statement issued by Elizabethtown Police, who responded to the incident.

The Oldsmobile fled the scene, but Sgt. Danny Kelly noticed on Sunday a car matching a description of the car from the hit-and-run, according to the statement.

The car’s owner, 20-year-old Joshua S. Williams, of Louisville, admitted to driving the vehicle, police said. According to the statement, Williams said he panicked and fled.

A warrant will be sought for Williams for leaving the scene of an accident.

Grimes had minor injuries, but Fow said he refused to go to a hospital.

Grimes could not be reached for comment.

Fow said she felt bad when she heard the news of the hit-and-run.

“I couldn’t do what he does,” she said. “I don’t care how hot it is, he rides this whole neighborhood.”

She said Grimes saved up money he got from recycling cans to buy the bike he was riding during the hit-and-run.

Grimes comes into Danny’s Tobacco some mornings to get biscuits, Fow said.

She said she’s known Grimes for at least 15 years, and while he doesn’t say much, almost everyone in the neighborhood knows of the Can Man, and many of them save cans for him.

Even though the community may not know him well, that hasn’t stopped them from putting money in the Can Man donation jar.

Fow said one customer put $25 in the jar.

Other $5 and $10 bills were mixed among $1 bills and coins in the jar Friday.

Fow said she might deliver the money to Grimes herself, to make sure he gets it.

Marianne Hale can be

reached at (270) 505-1740.
Copyright © 2009 Thenewsenterprise

Their bags were packed. Their farewells had been said.

Like the rest of the British 38th Regiment Royal Engineers, Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar had shed their jeans and T-shirts for the sand and olive camouflage they’d wear during the next six months in Afghanistan.

All around the barracks in Antrim, Northern Ireland, soldiers threw green canvas bags into huge piles and made last-minute phone calls to family. In just a few hours, they would depart for Helmand Province, a remote desert enclave besieged by the Taliban.

It would be the first combat tour for both Quinsey and Azimkar. They were ready to go — but first, they wanted to enjoy one last night of civilization. So they called Domino’s Pizza to deliver one last hot meal.

About 9:40 p.m., two Domino’s deliverymen showed up at the front gate at the base in Antrim, a town of 20,000 about 22 miles west of Belfast. Quinsey and Azimkar walked outside into the damp, cold March night to meet them. As they approached a two-story brick guard tower, two sentries waved and opened the metal gate topped with razor wire that separated the barracks from the road outside. In the wet driveway, just past a chainlink fence, two Domino’s deliverymen leaned on their cars, a red Mazda and a souped-up blue sports car with a spoiler.

The two young soldiers said hello and handed over the cash.

Then, with an abrupt whip crack, a pop pop pop ripped through the night air. Bullets rained on the driveway, slapping off asphalt. Dozens stung Quinsey and Azimkar and knocked the deliverymen and guards off their feet.

The two gunmen stopped firing. Sudden silence descended as they leapt from a green car. M16s in hand, they sprinted to the men moaning on the ground, leveled their rifles at the two young soldiers bleeding on the pavement, and fired.

The gunmen returned to the car and peeled off to the west. More than 60 spent casings lay smoking among the bodies.

In less than five minutes, the brutal attack left Quinsey and Azimkar dead, the two pizza deliverymen and a pair of guards clinging to life, and the historic 1998 peace agreement between Irish Catholics and Protestants imperiled.

The bullets rang out thousands of miles away, but investigators now believe the assault had its origin in an anonymous cargo ship docked at a bustling South Florida port.

A gray-haired 57-year-old Cutler Bay man with no criminal history named Roman Vidal sold millions of cigarettes that had been smuggled to Dublin criminals who funded the terrorist group that killed Quinsey and Azimkar, investigators say. The charges are just the latest link between black-market U.S. smokes and violent terrorist groups around the world.

It’s the first cigarette smuggling case in Florida with explicit ties to a terrorist organization, but at least four major rings around the country have been busted in the past seven years with proven connections to Hezbollah, the Iraqi Kurdistan Workers Party, and North Korean weapons runners. A four-month-long New Times review of court filings and interviews with investigators reveals exactly why smuggling smokes may be the best racket for America’s enemies.

Underground cigarettes provide huge profits at low risk: a perfect paradigm for violent gangs. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms estimates that states lose more than $5 billion in taxes every year to sales of black-market smokes. And those caught in the act face only a maximum five-year federal sentence and sometimes get less.

Globally, black-market smokes now rival drugs as the most profitable underground product. A recent project by the Center for Public Integrity found that governments worldwide lose up to $50 billion every year in tax revenue. One in every ten cigarettes is sold underground.

Today, federal investigators are working 300 open cigarette smuggling cases nationwide, including several in South Florida. State officials have busted almost 30 smuggling rings in the Sunshine State during the past year. And with cigarette taxes about to increase 300 percent next month, investigators expect the trade to explode.

For the average smoker, those under-the-table, tax-free packs might seem like a bargain. But as the recent history of cigarette smuggling vividly illustrates, when you buy black-market smokes, you never know whose paycheck you’re signing.

The Florida Connection

On January 9, 2006, everything was going according to plan for Roman Vidal. He wore his graying hair combed straight back into a puffy cloud and had a long, weathered face and square glasses.

That morning, the latest shipment from Panama arrived right on time — 730 cases containing 7.3 million cigarettes were inside a 15-meter metal shipping container stacked among hundreds of others on a freighter at the Port of Miami.

As usual, Vidal had already been in touch with his contact in Spain. Funds had been wired from a Portuguese bank into his account. The contacts in Dublin were ready for the shipment of smokes.

But first, Vidal had work to do. After picking up the cigarettes and storing them in a warehouse, he drove to Floors Today, a strip-mall storefront in Kendall. There he bought a few hundred cases of cheap wood flooring.

Later that week, he headed back to the port and with the help of a friend — who would net a cut of the profits — he reloaded the cigarettes into a new shipping container, then piled wood flooring carefully on top of the smokes.
Copyright © 2009 Browardpalmbeach

President Obama receives his daily presidential briefing at 9:30 a.m., followed by an economic meeting and then a meeting with his senior advisers.

At 2:00 p.m., Obama’s expected to sign the Tobacco Act and Family Smoking Prevention from the Rose Garden at the White House. The FDA will receive new authority to regulate tobacco products goods.

The risk of lung cancer increases for those smokers who have a tendency to binge drinking. This was found by the Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study (KIHD), conducted at the University of Kuopio in Finland.

The KIHD study has followed up a cohort of men from eastern Finland for about 17 years. Binge drinking was found be associated with an increased risk of lung cancer among those who had smoked between 1 and 30 years regardless of how many cigarrettes a day they smoked. Meanwhile, binge drinking was not associated with any increased risk of lung cancer among non-smokers.

Because the risks were observed among smokers alone, other effects of smoking cannot be completely ruled out in interpreting the research results.

The study is part of the Academy of Finland’s research programme on Substance Use and Addictions.
Copyright © 2009 Sciencedaily

After more than a decade of struggle — and countless smoking-related deaths — the Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill on Thursday that gives the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco products. The House approved a similar bill in April, also by an overwhelming margin. The days when this rogue industry could inflict its harmful products on Americans with impunity are drawing to a close.

This is an enormous victory for public health. For that, we owe thanks to tireless advocacy by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a nonprofit organization, and strong endorsements from medical groups.

It still might not have passed without the decision by Philip Morris, the industry leader, to accept regulation. The company apparently believes it can thrive better under regulation than its competitors, who complain that it will now be much harder for them to introduce new products to challenge Philip Morris’s dominance.

The bill is not perfect. It will not allow the F.D.A. to ban cigarettes or nicotine — a concession made years ago to avoid drawing intense opposition from smokers and free-market advocates. But the agency will still have far-reaching powers.

It could order a reduction in nicotine levels and the elimination of other harmful ingredients. Companies will also have to submit lists of all their product ingredients and disclose research about their health effects. And all new tobacco products will have to get marketing approval from the F.D.A. Most flavorings used to lure first-time smokers would be outlawed.

To the extent allowed by the First Amendment, the regulators could restrict advertising and promotions to children — industry needs to addict them to keep replenishing the population of smokers — and could shape advertisements aimed at adults as well. The agency could prohibit unsubstantiated health claims about supposedly “reduced risk” products and require larger, more effective health warnings on packages and advertisements.

Funds to support tobacco regulation would come entirely from new fees imposed upon the manufacturers, a reasonable step to prevent siphoning money from other vital regulatory activities at the hard-pressed F.D.A.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the legislation will reduce youth smoking by 11 percent over the next decade and adult smoking by 2 percent. That’s a good start, but clearly the regulators will still need help from strong anti-smoking campaigns.

The House is expected to move quickly to approve the Senate version of the bill. There are few substantial differences. And that is the fastest and surest way to get it to President Obama, who is eager to sign it into law.

It has now been proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that cigarette makers have spent decades making false statements, suppressing evidence of harm, and manipulating the design of cigarettes to increase their addictiveness. Federal regulators should be able to stop many of these abuses — and we hope help prevent more Americans from losing their lives to smoking.


Copyright © 2009 Nytimes

Films with tobacco use should include a certificate in the closing credits declaring that no persons involved with the production of the movie received anything of value (cash, free cigarettes or other gifts, free publicity, interestfree loans or any other consideration) from anyone in exchange for using or displaying tobacco products in the film.

Certification should require a sworn affidavit on public file from the responsible executive at every company with production and distribution credits for the film. This certification should be backed up by appropriately transparent internal procedures within the companies to assure compliance. Under penalty of perjury or fraud, it would encourage executives to keep productions free of tobacco industry influence.

Certification would help discourage tobacco influence through covert, transnational, tobacco-related investments or credit facilities for film productions. Because it is a legal instrument, the actual certification, which would be longer and more technical than the notice required to be shown on screen, must be drawn up with expert legal advice. Because side deals by contractors, employees and even actors are difficult to ascertain, eliminating tobacco imagery entirely from films may be the surest way to reduce the certifying companies’ legal exposure altogether. A procedure is needed for deciding if the film includes tobacco imagery and needs to be certified. This qualification procedure should be categorical in that any film that refers to, shows or implies tobacco use, a tobacco product or a tobacco brand needs to be certified. Many countries already have a voluntary or official regime for registering films, rating them and approving them before local distribution. They may also have specific tax or trade policies for distribution of imported films.

In addition, some countries subsidize so-called “national” films with public money. Such existing mechanisms should be amended to require certification that no payoffs have been accepted for films with tobacco images. Where imported films dominate a country’s film market, it should be a straightforward procedure to require certification of no payoffs as a condition for a film’s exhibition license. The country is simply requiring that the distributor ensure that the film does not violate the national policy against paid tobacco advertising. Also, antiplacement language should be inclusive so as to cover any kind of “consideration”, including gifts, barter (including ad barter), discounted services (such as production services), promotional arrangements, house rents and auto leases, as well as cash or credit extended to an individual or company. Most film productions also take maximum advantage of international business shelters, national- or subnationallevel subsidies and favourable tax provisions. Thus, restricting such tax allowances to films without tobacco imagery may be another consideration at national levels.

Government spending related to smoking and the abuse of alcohol and illegal drugs reached $468 billion in 2005, accounting for more than one-tenth of combined federal, state and local expenditures for all purposes, according to a new study.

Most abuse-related spending went toward direct health care costs for lung disease, cirrhosis and overdoses, for example, or for law enforcement expenses including incarceration, according to the report released Thursday by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, a private group at Columbia University. Just over 2 percent of the total went to prevention, treatment and addiction research. The study is the first to calculate abuse-related spending by all three levels of government.

“This is such a stunning misallocation of resources,” said Joseph A. Califano Jr., chairman of the center, referring to the lack of preventive measures. “It’s a commentary on the stigma attached to addictions and the failure of governments to make investments in the short run that would pay enormous dividends to taxpayers over time.”

Beyond resulting in poor health and crime, addictions and substance abuse — especially alcohol — are major underlying factors in other costly social problems like homelessness, domestic violence and child abuse.

Shifting money from hospitals and prisons to addiction treatment and research has never been politically easy, and it is all the harder now because the federal government and most states face large budget deficits and are cutting many key services. But Mr. Califano said that many preventive measures had rapid payoffs in medical and other expenses.

The work of the center and of Mr. Califano, who was a secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in the 1970s, have sometimes drawn fire from conservatives who put more emphasis on law enforcement than drug treatment and, on the other side, from groups who advocate loosening some drug laws and using needle exchanges and supervised addiction maintenance, as some European countries do, to reduce the personal and societal costs.

Ethan Nadelmann, director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a national group advocating legal reforms, said it was misleading for the report to lump together direct costs of tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse, like ill health, with expenses relating to enforcement of marijuana laws and prison. Many of the criminal justice costs, Mr. Nadelmann said, are not an inherent result of drug use but rather of policy choices to criminalize it.

“Still, the punch line of their report, that society should invest far more in prevention and treatment, makes total sense,” Mr. Nadelmann said.

The new report cites the antismoking campaigns of the last several decades as a promising model: education, higher taxes and restrictions on smoking zones have cut the incidence of smoking by close to half, saving billions in costs. It called for similar efforts to curb under-age drinking and excess alcohol consumption by adults, using higher taxes on beer, for example.

Even with tobacco, far more could be done, according to the report, which noted that only a small fraction of the more than $200 billion the states have received since 1998 under the Multi-State Tobacco Settlement had gone to prevention of smoking.

Federal studies show that the best drug treatment programs pay for themselves 12 times over, the report said, because patients who succeed have quick improvements in health and behavior.

The Columbia center called for legislation to require broader coverage of substance abuse treatment by health insurers. Mr. Califano said that as the new Obama administration tried to rein in spiraling health costs, deepening such coverage would be vital.

Some insurance companies have opposed such a sweeping requirement, arguing that the record of drug treatment is too spotty.

Copyright © 2009 Nytimes

Smoking ban is not a good legislation especially for pub goers. They have taken advantage of the chance for to avoid it.
For example a pub landlady, proposed to beat the cigarettes ban by creating a “smoking rooms” at the Cutting Edge pub in Worsbrough, South Yorkshire, for smoking research.
In these rooms, customers would be able to smoke legally if they have a smoking habit. Since creating such rooms, the customers number raise every day, but pub owner Punch Taverns wants her to stop.
Ms. Fenton, pub landlady said that before introducing the smoking room last Friday only some people came into the struggling pub at weekends.
But since opening the so-called “smoking rooms” the number of customers had jumped almost five-fold.
Ms. Fenton reported: “This is something we really had to do, I didn’t have a choice. We have had estate agents bringing people to actually view the property because it’s up for sale.”
But Barnsley Council said it was due to visit the Cutting Edge for to inform Ms. Fenton that she had “misunderstood the importance of this legislation” and for to clarify the smoking research room.
Then the council will then monitor the situation before taking any further action that may be necessary.
The pub’s owner, Punch Taverns, which has put the building on the market, said: “Punch has censured the decision of our licensee to undertake this. We strongly advise them to stop this activity immediately.”
Barnsley Council reported: “Being in a room in which there are smokers, means being exposed to at least 50 agents known to cause cancer and other chemicals that increase blood pressure, damage the lungs and cause abnormal kidney function”.

Chinese health officials are advocating for laws requiring the placement photos or other graphic images onto cigarette cartons in order to warn people about the risks of smoking.

“An effective warning is very important,” said Yang Gonghuan, deputy director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and director of the National Tobacco Control.

Currently, packs of cigarettes carry only a small text warning reading, “Smoking is harmful to your health.”

Even though it is being promoted by factions within the Chinese government, the proposed new labeling must be ratified by the National People’s Congress in order to become law. To that end, health officials have launched an online petition drive at the popular Web site Sohu.com.

The graphics campaign is part of a larger national effort, “toward a smoke-free China,” intended to reduce overall tobacco use in the country. Under the terms of World Health Organization rules that it agreed to in 2005, China was supposed to ban cigarette sales to minors, amp up warning labels on tobacco, raise taxes and prices on tobacco products, limit people’s exposure to secondhand smoke and place tighter regulations on advertising of tobacco products within three years. Not all those commitments, including the tougher warning labels, have yet been met.

Some of China’s prior efforts to curb tobacco use have included bans on tobacco billboards, on smoking by taxi drivers, and on smoking in public places in Beijing leading up to the 2008 Olympics.

Currently, one third of the world’s smokers — 350 million people — live in China. State-owned tobacco companies made $53.6 billion in 2007 from this market, with sales of two trillion cigarettes per year. As a consequence, an estimated one million people die due to tobacco-related causes in China each year.

Nevertheless, cigarettes remain culturally significant in China, with few people aware of their dangers. It is traditional to give cigarettes as gifts, especially on holidays, and smoking is regarded as an icebreaking activity.