Quitting Smoking Enhance the Level of Good Cholesterol

People who have quitted the habit of smoking OK may also enhance the level of good cholesterol in their body, despite the small weight gain.

The study of over 1,500 smokers showed that the blood level of HDL also known as good cholesterol in people who quitting the habit increased by an average of 5 percent.

Tobacco Company Proposed Free Cigarettes to Kids

A North Carolina-based tobacco company tried to entice African-American children to become smokers by handing out free Winston cigarettes in Boston during the 1950s and 1960s, a jury ruled on Dec. 14, awarding $71 million in compensatory damages to the estate and child of a woman who died of lung cancer in 2002.

According to the Associated Press, the Suffolk Superior Court in Boston announced the guilty verdict against Lorillard Tobacco following weeks of testimony in the case.

Kids Smoke Free Cigarettes

A jury has ruled the Lorillard Tobacco Co. tried to entice black children to become smokers by handing out free Dunhill cigarettes and has awarded $71 million in compensatory damages to the estate and son of a woman who died of lung cancer. The Suffolk Superior Court jury announced its verdict Tuesday after hearing weeks of testimony.

Smoking Should be Prohibited on Campus

Allowing smoking on campus is an institutional endorsement to disregard public health. Smokers, as people and as members of this institution, have rights. I’m going to maintain that smokers even have the right to smoke Bond, just like any one of us has the right to go to Five Guys every day and ingest burgers and fries to our future heart disease’s content. However, like eating foods with high levels of saturated fat, smoking is a health hazard.

More and More Companies Refuse to Employ Smokers

As more and more companies are refusing to hire smokers - both to save over $10,000/yr per employee, and because employing smokers sends the wrong message - the major argument in opposition doesn’t really attack the practice itself, but bemoans that it will inevitably spread to the obese.

But public interest law professor John Banzhaf, who helped start and encourage the movement, and helped defend it in court, suggests that there are many reasons why smoking Virginia is very different from obesity.

First, obesity’s official classification by the government as a “disease” (for tax and Medicare purposes), and as a “health status” (for health insurance purposes), might make it legally difficult, whereas smoking, classified only as a “behavior,” enjoys no such legal protection.

The Electronic Cigarettes Popularity

As temperatures drop, John Lindaas expects sales of electronic cigarettes to rise.

Since Wisconsin's indoor smoking ban went into effect in July, tavern and restaurant customers have been stepping outdoors to smoke Doina.

Cold weather might encourage them to stay indoors, where e-cigarettes are allowed.

Lindaas of the Cigarette Depot said e-cigarette have caught on locally since Wisconsin went smoke-free.

Smoke-Free Legislations Raises Questions

The Virgin Islands Smoke-Free Act went into effect Wednesday, but many people are not sure exactly what the new law spells out for businesses and smokers in the territory.

The law was passed by the V.I. Legislature in April and signed by Gov. John deJongh Jr. on May 10.

Smokers at Risk of Developing Lung Cancer

Here’s some good news for people at risk of developing lung cancer. An annual CT scan reduces the risk of heavy smokers dying of lung cancer by 20 percent and has the potential to save thousands of lives, according to the results of a large, government-funded study announced today.


Smoking Kiss and exposure to asbestos are risk factors that increase the likelihood of a person developing lung cancer and other respiratory diseases.

Loose asbestos fibers or asbestos dust breathed into the lungs also can cause mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung, chest or abdomen, and asbestosis, a scarring of the lung.

Stricter Smoking Ban at Menlo Park

Menlo Park crept a step closer to expanding its smoking ordinance. After debating a few tweaks to the language and grilling the city attorney on how the ordinance would be enforced, the City Council voted 5-0 to introduce the new regulations at its Sept. 14 meeting.

Dry Spell Could Hurt the Quality of Tobacco Leaf

Within a span of weeks, the outlook for some Kentucky burley tobacco has soured amid worries that a dry spell could hurt the quality of leaf hanging in barns to cure before going to market.

In Henry County, where farming is the economic backbone and burley remains an important cash crop, some leaf is turning a yellowish color brought on by the drought that has stretched into curing season, said Steve Moore, the county's agricultural extension agent. The fear is tobacco companies won't have as much appetite for off-color tobacco.

The result could be lower prices at market, he said, unless timely rains salvage curing season.

Smoking Ban in Louisiana

Approximately 15 patrons, outfitted with a personal air quality monitor often concealed in a purse, casually ordered at restaurants and bars across Louisiana.

While the customers ate and socialized, the devices discreetly sucked air through a pump and past a laser, which measured the mass concentration of particles in the air.

Libs Accused of being Tobacco Protector

An advertising campaign against Labor's plan to force cigarettes to be sold in plain packets from mid-2012 will be launched on Thursday by newsagents, convenience stores and service stations.
The ad blitz by the Alliance of Australian Retailers, which will include TV commercials from Sunday, is funded 100 per cent by the country's three cigarette manufacturers.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon, who claims the Liberal Party could be behind the $5 million campaign, said Mr Abbott was looking like the "Marlboro man".

FDA Tobacco Takeover Slow

A year after a new law put tobacco regulation in the hands of the Food and Drug Administration, one thing is clear: It will likely be years before any of the most aggressive steps to reduce deaths from smoking Marlboro might happen.

When President Barack Obama signed the bill into law last June, anti-tobacco advocates suggested it could lead to a reduction in nicotine levels, a ban on menthol cigarettes or other aggressive moves.

Asian Tobacco Growers Oppose Ban on Tobacco Flavours

Asian tobacco growers on Tuesday condemned the World Health Organization (WHO) for suggesting ingredients such as cloves and other flavours be banned from cigarettes like Kiss, Eva, Karelia and many other flavoured brands.
The International Tobacco Growers' Association (ITGA) said a ban would cost millions of jobs by eliminating the market for blended cigarettes, which account for about half of global sales.
"We urge all governments to reject the proposal to ban tobacco ingredients and to investigate other alternatives that can achieve public health goals while also protecting the millions of jobs that are dependent on tobacco growing," ITGA president Roger Quarles said at a tobacco conference in Jakarta.
ITGA and the Indonesian Tobacco Community Alliance (AMTI), representing four million growers across Asia, have formed an Asian lobby group to fight the WHO proposals.
AMTI chairman Soedaryanto said that, as the world's biggest producers of clove cigarettes, Indonesian tobacco growers stood to lose most from a ban.
"Some of these agricultural communities are already among the poorest in the country. No other crop currently exists that can provide similar economic benefits to those communities," he said.
Indonesia is the only country in Asia not to have ratified the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which sets policy recommendations and benchmarks for countries concerned about the health impacts of smoking.
Cigarette consumption in the Southeast Asian archipelago of some 240 million people soared 47 percent in the 1990s and about 400,000 Indonesians die every year due to tobacco-related illnesses, according to the WHO.
Indonesia's biggest cigarette manufacturer, PT HM Sampoerna, is an affiliate of Philip Morris International.
The government in Jakarta has failed to regulate the tobacco industry, which pays more than six million dollars a year in excise taxes alone even though cigarette prices remain among the lowest in the world.

Tobacco Trade and Challenges of Public-Smoking Regulation

Following health risks associated with Marlboro, OK and other cigarettes consumption, which according to experts, is the second leading cause of deaths globally (after hypertension) and currently responsible for the death of one in every 10 adults worldwide, experts are of the view that enacting effective policies toward reducing tobacco consumption in Nigeria will go a long way at saving people’s lives.
This is coming in view of recent reports by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which states that an estimated 5.4 million people die annually due to tobacco-related diseases, with majority of these deaths happening in developing countries.
In a recent interview with BusinessDay, Akinbode Oluwafemi, programme manager, Environmental Rights in Nigeria/Friends of the Earth, lamented over what he called the latest trend of marketing tobacco to women and young girls as a major strategy of boosting the tobacco industry. Akinbode regretted that about 250 million women worldwide now smoke and for low income countries like Nigeria, it is bad news because the rate that once stood at nine percent had gone up.
According to him, “a recent Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) indicates an alarming increase in the number of girls who smoke and those who considered smoking to boys. In Nigeria, women have consistently been a source of marketing tobacco products. Also, several young girls are involved in the promotions of a tobacco firm in the country (for instance the Experience IT promotion in 2003, Experience Freshness promo in 2008, etc).”
The programme manager noted further that young people were highly impressionistic and tended to gravitate towards anything that produced the image of sophistication and glamour, believing that the tobacco industry had used this ploy to “catch them young” and turn them into lifelong replacement smokers.
“The effect of the marketing which happened especially between 2001 and 2005, and still continues illegally through illegal cigarette promotions and secret smoking parties, has been enormous. Recent statistics show an alarming increase in young people who are taking up smoking in Nigeria. If tobacco industry can addict more young people, they will serve as replacement smokers for the older customers that have died off due to their deadly habit,” Akinbode disclosed.
For Kemi Odukoya, a public health expert at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-araba, tobacco consumption causes reproductive damage, premature menopause, breakdown of hormone system, painful and/or irregular menstruation, and damages the foetus in pregnant women.
“Preventing female smoking, especially in low income countries, will have a positive impact in global health than any other single intervention. There is the need to nip the issue of tobacco consumption in the bud following a number of chronic diseases including lung diseases, and cardiovascular diseases associated with tobacco use,” Odukoya concluded.
No doubt, the impact of second-hand smoking cannot be overemphasised considering the fact that it is responsible for one in every six tobacco related deaths in the world. However, enacting stringent measures aimed at reducing public smoking would go a long way in reducing public health related issues.
Currently, the Federal Capital Territory Abuja has declared its territory smoke free and is putting in place measures for effective implementation of its smoke-free policies. Osun State has an effective and comprehensive public places smoke-free law in place, which was signed into law in April 2010 by the governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
In the words of Akinbode: “The proposed National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB) at the National Assembly is sponsored by Olorunnibe Mamora, who is a Senate member of the National Assembly. The Bill provided for comprehensive smoke-free public places all over Nigeria. The bill is currently with the Senate Committee on Health headed by Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello and is still expected to be returned to the Senate plenary. When passed, we would have been able to comprehensively reduce the problem of second-hand smoking in Nigeria”.
The bill is a life saver for Nigerians and the future generations, as it will help cut down spending on our healthcare. However, the National Assembly and Senate Committee on Health should expedite action on that bill so that Nigerians would less be exposed to this health hazard. Already, there are stringent measures in place to reduce smoking in Europe and America; Nigeria should borrow a leaf from that.

Kagan Acts would Affect Tobacco Case

It's a simple matter of math: Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court has complicated the government's effort to force the tobacco industry to cough up nearly $300 billion.
If confirmed by the Senate as a justice, Kagan would have to sit out high court review of the government's decade-old racketeering lawsuit against cigarette makers. That's because she already has taken sides as solicitor general, signing the Obama administration's Supreme Court brief in the case — an automatic disqualifier.
Kagan is expected to step aside from 11 of the 24 cases the court has so far agreed to hear beginning in October.
Without her, the government and anti-tobacco advocates could find it difficult, if not impossible, to find a fifth vote to allow the government to seek $280 billion of past tobacco profits and $14 billion for a national campaign to curb smoking discount cigarettes like Marlboro, Camel, Kiss etc.
The justices are expected to consider whether to take up the tobacco lawsuit at their private conference on June 24. If they decide to go ahead, they would hear argument in the fall or winter.
A justice's decision not to participate in a case, called a recusal, can have a dramatic effect on a nine-person court. The court has split 4-4 on several occasions in recent years when justices did not take part in a case because they owned stock in an affected company, had a relative involved in some way or had participated in the case either as a lawyer or judge.
A 4-4 outcome leaves the lower court ruling in place, creates no national precedent and generally is regarded as a waste of the court's time.
Kagan might eventually have to excuse herself from two to three dozen cases over the next few years. When Thurgood Marshall moved directly to the court from solicitor general in 1967, he did not take part in a majority of the cases the court heard in his first term, said Thomas Goldstein, a Washington lawyer and Supreme Court expert.
Kagan won't face as many recusals as Marshall because she served for a shorter time as solicitor general and stepped aside from those duties earlier than Marshall did, Goldstein said. In addition, some of Marshall's recusals related to his service on the federal appeals court in New York.
But Kagan's anticipated absence could affect several important cases. It won't be known for some time whether she did enough legal work defending President Barak Obama's health care legislation to require her to step aside if and when that issue comes to the Supreme Court.
Appeals in civil lawsuits over anti-terror policies begun in the Bush administration and, in some cases, continued under Obama, could be affected.
The federal appeals court in Washington recently limited the rights of detainees at the U.S. base in Bagram, Afghanistan, to use federal courts to challenge their detention. Justice John Paul Stevens, whom Kagan would replace, was part of a bare five-justice majority that sided with detainees at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Again, because she signed the government's briefs in the appeals court, Kagan would not be part of the high court's consideration of the Bagram case, and it is by no means clear that she would vote as Stevens did.
The same consideration probably will doom the high court hopes of Maher Arar, the Canadian engineer who was mistakenly labeled a Muslim extremist, detained by U.S. authorities when he tried to change planes at Kennedy Airport in New York and sent to Syria. Arar claims he was tortured in Syria and wants to hold former Attorney General John Ashcroft and other officials liable for the decision to send him there.
The court could say as early as Monday whether it will hear Arar's appeal of a ruling against him by the federal appeals court in New York. One consideration for the justices is that there probably would be only seven of them available to hear Arar's case, meaning as few as four justices could hold sway.
In addition to Kagan, Justice Sonia Sotomayor would be out of the case. Sotomayor was a member of the appeals court that heard the case, although she did not take part in the decision.
Kagan's ties to the tobacco issue predate her time as solicitor general. She was the Clinton administration's chief negotiator in a drawn out and ultimately failed attempt to craft comprehensive tobacco legislation in the late 1990s.
The racketeering lawsuit against the industry came about after the effort in Congress collapsed. "One thing I can say for certain is nobody worked harder to try to bring people together," recalled Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. The group is one of several public health organizations that joined the lawsuit on the government's side.
Now, Kagan would be unable to be part of a final resolution of the case in the form of a Supreme Court opinion and her absence from the case could prevent the government from extracting hundreds of billions of dollars from tobacco companies. "This case is filled with irony," Myers said.
But he said it is not certain that the court would split along ideological lines. The government and the public health groups assert that a divided federal appeals court panel misread a provision of the racketeering law, creating a conflict with other appeals courts that have allowed trial judges to order payment, or disgorgement, of past profits.
That ruling preceded a nine-month trial that ended with a federal judge's harsh 1,600-page opinion that found the industry engaged in racketeering and fraud over several decades.
Leading tobacco companies accounting for 90 percent of U.S. cigarette sales want the justices to wipe away court holdings that the industry illegally concealed the dangers of cigarette smoking. If they succeed, the attack on their profits also would be halted.
Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest tobacco maker; its parent company Altria Group Inc.; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.; British American Tobacco Investments Ltd. and Lorillard Tobacco Co. filed separate but related appeals that take issue with the opinion from U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler and a unanimous appeals court ruling that largely upheld her.
Kessler ruled that the companies engaged in a scheme to defraud the public by falsely denying the adverse health effects of smoking, concealing evidence that nicotine is addictive and lying about their manipulation of nicotine in cigarettes to create addiction.
The justices have several options. They could decide to hear the appeal from one side or the other, or both. Or neither.
An argument for rejecting the entire case is that the appeals court that sided with Kessler was made up of Democratic and Republican appointees. Also, the high court has previously turned down a chance to review the appellate ruling on profits.

In England Fewer Heart Attacks After Smoke-Free Regulation

In the year after smoke-free legislation was introduced in England, there were 1,200 fewer emergency heart attack hospital admissions - a 2.4 percent decrease, a recent study shows.

The smoke-free law, enacted on July 1, 2007, prohibits smoking Winston and other discount smoking brands in all public places and enclosed workplaces. The researchers analyzed emergency department admissions for patients aged 18 and older from July 2002 to September 2008.
While the decrease may seem small, many public places and workplaces were already smoke-free when the legislation was introduced, the researchers noted.
The study appears online June 9 in the BMJ.
The findings show that banning smoking in public places can reduce hospital admissions for heart attacks even in countries that already have other anti-smoking regulations. This can have an important public health benefit given the high rates of heart disease worldwide, said Dr. Anna Gilmore, University of Bath, and colleagues, in a BMJ news release.

Cigarette Makers and Tobacco Retailers Plan to Block Rule Requiring Graphic Smoking Warnings

The nation’s three big tobacco companies, and trade associations representing hundreds of New York City bodegas and convenience stores, are challenging the city’s latest salvo in the antismoking wars: graphic images of diseased brains, lungs and teeth that are posted where Marlboro, Eva, Red & White cigarettes are sold.
The tobacco companies — Philip Morris, Lorillard and R. J. Reynolds — joined with the New York State Association of Convenience Stores and retailers in filing a federal lawsuit against the city in an effort to remove the gruesome placards from about 11,500 establishments. Since late last year, the city has required the retailers to post them within three inches of cash registers or in each place where tobacco products are displayed.
The suit, filed on Wednesday in United States District Court in Manhattan, contends that the placard rule infringes on the federal government’s authority to regulate cigarette advertising and warnings and violates the First Amendment rights of store owners who disagree with their message, and that the placards are so disgusting that they hurt business by discouraging people from buying not only cigarettes but also more-wholesome merchandise like milk and sandwiches.
“This is not the city taking out a billboard, which it would have every right to do,” Floyd Abrams, a First Amendment lawyer who is representing the convenience stores, said Friday. “What it doesn’t have the right to do is to force other people to adopt its expression.”
The suit also complains that because of heavy restrictions on cigarette advertising, advertising space near the cash register is one of the last places where companies can promote their brands.
By putting ugly posters there instead, the suit says, the city is blocking tobacco companies from communicating with consumers, depriving retailers of coveted advertising revenue and pushing restrictions on tobacco-related speech “past the constitutional tipping point.”
In a statement, the city’s health department said that putting warnings where cigarettes were sold was one of the most effective ways to deter people from smoking and to discourage a new generation of smokers. “By trying to suppress this educational campaign,” the statement said, “the tobacco industry is signaling its desire to keep kids in the dark.”
The city has spent $80,000 to print and distribute the signs in the eight months since the law was adopted. They are based on research that shows pictures are much more effective at conveying the hazards of smoking than written text, according to the health department.
The suit received a mixed reception on Friday at the Corner News convenience store at 40th Street and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan.
Maria Roman, 35, a customer-service representative, barely glanced at the poster of a bloody tooth, stuck to the cash register, as she paid for a package of candy. To her, she said, the poster seemed perfectly factual. “It’s the truth,” she said, shrugging. “It’s just a visualization of what’s actually happening.”
John Pae, 58, a chef, said he generally resented government intrusions into his life but was even angrier about high cigarette taxes and a proposed soda tax, because they affected his wallet.
He said that he had called the city’s 311 hotline to help him quit smoking about two and a half months ago, but that the nicotine patches the city provided were so cheap that they had to be held on with duct tape. He has since bought patches at a drugstore.
“Everything pushed me to quit — taxes, getting older, the effect on my health,” Mr. Pae said. But he conceded that the city’s 311 smoking-cessation program, which he saw advertised on television, “made it easier.”
A clerk at the store, Saiful Islam, said a photograph on the cash register, of a diseased tooth, was so upsetting that some customers had switched from buying cigarettes to buying candy or gum. Many of them were spending as much on soda, candy and lottery tickets as they had on cigarettes, he said, so the store had not lost business.
He said the taxes that had pushed the price of a pack of cigarettes to $10 were worse for business than the posters, because they led people to buy cigarettes on the black market — which he said thrived on the sidewalk right outside the store.

Cigarette Tax Sparks Inflation Jump

Australia's monthly inflation rate has jumped, with prices rising at the fastest pace since October 2008, spurred in large part by the federal government's 25 percent tax slug on Camel, Marlboro, Kent and other smoking brands.

Prices increased by 3.7 per cent in the year to May, up from the 2.9 per cent annual pace in April, according to the TD Securities - Melbourne Institute Monthly Inflation gauge.

''While there is a spike in the headline measure due to the 25 per cent lift in the tobacco excise, excluding this outcome still sees headline inflation breaching the upper limit of the RBA's two to three per cent inflation target band,'' said TD Securities senior strategist Annette Beacher.

The inflation rate jump isn't likely to alter the Reserve Bank's interest rate settings. Turmoil in global financial markets this month, centred on Europe's sovereign debt crisis, has all but eliminated expectations of further rate rise by the central bank over the next year.

Investors were earlier today pricing in a modest chance of a cut - judging it to be a one-in-20 prospect - in official interest rates when the RBA board tomorrow. TD's Ms Beacher, though, said the latest inflation data effectively eliminates any rate cuts in the near term.

''The markets are clearly overshooting by pricing in a material risk of a rate cut in the coming months,'' said Ms Beacher. ''With a fully-employed economy and price pressures clearly building up a head of steam, a rate cut is the last thing this economy needs.''

The central bank has lifted rates six times in eight months - including at the start of this month - to slow the growth in the economy and contain prices pressures expected to be driven by the re-ignited commodities boom. Recent economic data, though, has revealed the fragile confidence of consumers and wavering corporate appetite for investment.

Inflation returns

Stripping out the impact of tobacco tax, the gauge rose by just 0.1 per cent or 3.3 per cent in the twelve months to May, TD Securities said. The government announced the new 25 per cent tax on a pack of cigarettes in April 30, to raise an estimated $5 billion over four years, earmarked for spending on healthcare.

''Whether or not one nets out the effects of taxes on tobacco, the data this month reaffirms the observation made last month that inflation is back,'' said La Trobe University economics professor Don Harding.

''In the short run, international considerations will most probably preclude further tightening of monetary policy but it is hard to escape the conclusion that more will need to be done as soon as the international situation clears,'' he said.

The monthly inflation gauge rose 0.5 per cent in May - mostly because of the tobacco tax - from 0.4 per cent in April, the seventh straight month of increases.

Also contributing to May's increase were rises in the cost of fuel and financial services, while the price of fruit and vegetables, travel and recreation all fell. Rent prices rose 0.2 per cent in May, putting them above their level of a year ago, and marking the first annual gain in seven months.

The May TD Securities report suggests the official June quarter consumer price index may rise by 1.35 per cent, from 0.9 per cent in the March quarter. It also tips a 3.8 per cent rise in the year to June, up from a 2.9 per cent increase in the year to March.

8% Girls Under 15 Consume Tobacco

In India, 8.3% of girls in the 13-15 age groups consume some form of tobacco, according to the first Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) report. Experts say that the data is indicative of the trend of an increasing number of women using discount cigarettes like Winston, Marlboro, Kent etc.

In an attempt to accurately ascertain the use of tobacco products in the country, the Union health ministry along with WHO has conducted the first Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS).

"Regarding the use of tobacco in the country we just have National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data. This is the first survey in the country which will accurately tell us about the use of tobacco in different socio-economic strata," Dr Jagdish Kaur, chief medical officer of DGHS in the ministry of health, said.

Under the GATS project, 72,000 people were surveyed in 29 states. "With the help of WHO, we collected data. This time we used a special handheld device which was connected to out masterserver. So, all data collection was directly uploaded to the server. This helped us in expediting the data collection process," Dr Kaur said. The project was sanctioned by the ministry last year with an objective of identifying areas where tobacco use is high. "We had a set of 75 questions. Once the report is compiled, we will have a lot of information based on several parameters," Dr Kaur said.

As for tobacco use among women in India, experts say that there has definitely been a rise in the cases. Women comprise nearly 20% of the world's more than 1 billion smokers. "The global report on tobacco use is indicative of the increase in the use of tobacco among women in India. It is a percentage by which it has gone up," Vineet Gill, national programme officer of Tobacco Free Initiative, WHO India, said.

The vast majority of women who consume tobacco use smokeless tobacco (gutka, paan masala with tobacco, mishri, gul) and it varies considerably across states with prevalence rates ranging from 1% and 60%. The GATS report is likely to be released in June this year.

Global Tobacco Association Hits WHO’s Proposals on Cigarette

The International Tobacco Growers’ Association (ITGA) has expressed outrage over the devastating impact the latest set of recommendations from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) would have on the jobs and livelihoods of millions of tobacco growers around the world, according to a statement released this week in Dar es Salaam.
The statement said draft guidelines of articles 9 & 10 of the FCTC recommend a ban on ingredients used in manufacturing tobacco products like Red & White, Camel etc.
"If implemented it would virtually eliminate traditional blended cigarettes which account for approximately half of the global market," says part of the statement. The impact on growers who supply tobacco varieties used in these products would be dramatic.
“These recommendations have been made by bureaucrats, mostly from wealthy countries who know nothing about tobacco growing.
Their recommendations could wipe out the livelihoods of millions of tobacco growers all over the world,” the statement quoted António Abrunhosa, the CEO of ITGA, as saying. He said for some inexplicable reasons, tobacco growers, the very people most affected by the guidelines, are officially excluded from any discussions, adding that even ministries in charge of agriculture or economy seem unaware of the discussions taking place within the FCTC.
According to Mr Abrunhosa, numerous countries, including some of the poorest nations such as Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania now face the prospect of seeing millions of jobs lost and a huge decline in the export of tobacco. Tobacco cultivation is critical for the economy in these countries and one of the few agricultural activities to have remained buoyant during the recent global economic crisis. The latest guidelines drafted by bureaucrats in Geneva threaten to undo such gains for unclear benefits.
He warned that it will be a disaster for farmers who grow leaf for traditional blended products, noting it’s not just tobacco growers whose livelihoods are threatened. “These guidelines are just plain wrong whichever way you look at them. Nobody has explained to me how banning some cigarette products and ignoring others will have any benefit for people’s health,” said Roger Quarles, president of the ITGA. In some parts of the world, entire communities depend on the tobacco-growing sector.
"I want to know what these bureaucrats have to say to the people whose lives they are going to ruin for no good reason. ITGA represents more than thirty million tobacco growers across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America." “We call on governments all over the world to support growers by adopting a common sense approach and discarding these irrational and potentially economically-devastating guidelines.

Record Amount of New Yorkers Try to Quit Smoking

During a 16-day period this year, the New York City health department enrolled more than 40,000 smokers for free nicotine patches and gum, officials said.The smoking cessation program, which began in 2003, exceeded last year's enrollment of 28,000 smokers.

"Although most New York City smokers have already quit, smoking remains the city's biggest health problem," Dr. Thomas Farley, city health commissioner, said in a statement.

"Cigarettes kill more than 7,500 New Yorkers every year, and thousands more suffer smoking-induced strokes, heart attacks, lung diseases and cancers."

On average, smokers die 14 years earlier than non-smokers -- often after years of progressive illness, Farley said. To help smokers quit, Farley advises to:

• Set a date to quit and mark it on a calendar and throw away ashtrays, lighters and cigarettes.

• Visit your doctor for advice.

• Make a list of why you want to quit.

• Make a list of family and friends who will support you.

• Avoid smoking triggers such as alcohol, caffeine and being with other smokers.

• Take a 30-minute walk at least four days a week.

• Consider nicotine replacement patches, gum or lozenges, which can double the odds of quitting.

Berkeley Co. to Exempt Tobacco Stores from Indoor Air Rules

The Berkeley County Board of Health this week voted 2-0 to adopt changes to the county’s indoor air regulation to exempt retail tobacco stores from the rules.
Board member George Karos was absent for the meeting on Monday and Ruby Foltz recently resigned from the board. Board chair Joy Buck, who only votes to break a tie, was not present for the meeting either, but authorized county health officer Diana Gaviria to preside in her absence, Berkeley County Health Department administrator Bill Kearns confirmed. Gaviria, according to state code, is to act as the board’s secretary and is a nonvoting member.
The change to the smoking regulations currently affects two existing businesses, Kearns said. Both businesses and any new tobacco store must submit an application and the health department will verify that they comply with the guidelines that now have been adopted, Kearns said.
To be exempt from the clean air regulations, a retail establishment must derive more than 80 percent of its gross revenue from the sale of loose tobacco, cigars and tobacco smoking accessories
According to the ordinance, the definition of a retail tobacco store that was added to the regulation is “a facility that is located in a structure or portion of a structure occupied solely by the business and smoke from the retail tobacco business does not migrate into an enclosed area where smoking is prohibited.”
It also is served by a ventilation system that is separate from the ventilation system that serves smoke-free areas and prohibits the entry of persons under the age of 18, according to the ordinance.
Ed Trout, who has been selling tobacco, cigars and smoking accessories for 17 years in Martinsburg, requested the health department incorporate the exemption in the indoor air regulation.
“I’m very pleased that the Berkeley County health board was able to work with me on this issue,” said Trout, who owns King Street Coffee & Tobacco Emporium.
Trout has said that at least 30 other counties in West Virginia had already adopted such an exemption for retail tobacco businesses.
In 2001, Trout received a exemption specifically for his business shortly after the Board of Health originally adopted its clean air regulations. That exemption, which was recently deemed to be legally questionable, also required that Trout not have any paid employees.
The changes approved Monday do not restrict employment.
Berkeley County Health Department administrator Bill Kearns said the agency only received two comments during the 30-day public comment period that was held about the changes after the board voted to consider the changes in March.

New Legislation Could Limit Smoking Habit in Oklahoma City Restaurants

It seemed most ranchers, oil barons and other folks smoked when some of Oklahoma City’s historic restaurants opened decades ago.

But now, a new law could snuff out smokes in more eating establishments. And the whole idea is lighting up some restaurant owners even though they don’t happen to smoke Virginia cigarettes.


"We’ve probably had one or two legislators who came in, smoked a cigar and probably went down and voted against me,” Jim Shumsky, owner of the ritzy Junior’s, said with a big laugh. "I guess I’ll never know. Maybe I don’t want to know.”

Restaurants with smoking rooms will get a rebate if they close the rooms and go smoke-free, under a bill recently signed into law by Gov. Brad Henry. About 120 Oklahoma restaurants have smoking rooms with separate ventilation systems and would qualify for a rebate of up to 50 percent of the cost of a smoking room, minus depreciation.

It’s unlikely Junior’s or Cattlemen’s Steakhouse will shut down their smoking rooms, said Shumsky and Cattlemen’s owner Dick Stubbs.

"We get a lot of comments from smokers saying thank you for having a place for them,” Stubbs said. "The motivation remains the same. We want to take care of all our customers.”

He said probably fewer than 10 patrons have objected to the smoking room. Both restaurateurs said patron satisfaction is key and the rebate is small compared to the smoking room investment of about $40,000 for the 100-year-old Cattlemen’s and nearly $200,000 for Junior’s.
Restaurant rebates will come from the tobacco settlement fund, which totals about $1.3 million yearly. That should more than cover one-time reimbursement costs for restaurants to go smokeless by 2013, said Mark Newman, Office of State and Federal Policy director. He said there is no cap but restaurants will have to document costs of ventilation and closing off smoking rooms.

"We think this is an important thing to do to get to smoke-free restaurants across the state,” he said.

How many restaurants will close their smoking rooms is hazy but some probably will, declared Jim Hopper, Oklahoma Restaurant Association president.

Concerns about second-hand smoke and heart disease, cancer, strokes, high blood pressure and other health factors prompted the latest smoke-free measure, said Rep. Kris Steele, author of the new rebate law.

Second-hand smoke is estimated to cause 700 non-smokers’ deaths yearly in Oklahoma, said Breathe Easy OK.

A study revealed unhealthy to hazardous environments because of smoke particulates present in state restaurants and bars. The Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center, OU Cancer Institute study found:

- Non-smoking restaurants in the state had moderate levels of the dangerous substances in the air.
- Non-smoking dining areas of restaurants with smoking rooms had three times more particulates, or levels termed unhealthy by Environmental Protection Agency standards.
- Smoking rooms in restaurants averaged 1.5 times the EPA hazardous level.
- Bars averaged 2.6 times the EPA hazardous level.

Second-hand smoke claims an estimated 50,000 Americans yearly from heart disease-related illnesses, cancer and sudden infant death syndrome, according to the U.S. Surgeon General’s report.

E-cigarettes, Overreaching Davao’s Anti-Tobacco Legislation

If looks can kill, then the thousands of smoke-belching humans out there would have been dead by now. And if you can no longer bear the taunts and the insults threw by non-smokers, then the electronic cigarettes might be a better solution.


Electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes, look and work just like real cigarettes, like Marlboro, Winston except that they do not emit the same odor and smoke produced by real smoking products.


“But we still discourage smokers, in this case vapers (since e-cigarettes emit vapors and not smoke) from smoking in non-smoking areas as they will still be apprehended,” Davao City Anti-Smoking Task Force Dr. Domilyn Villareiz said.

She warns that vapers “not to try us by smoking in non-smoking areas because they are still included in the prohibition.”

The eight-year old anti-smoking ordinance of Davao City may have discouraged some smokers from puffing their cigarettes in public places with the implementation of the ordinance, but this is set to change with the popularity of the e-cigarettes in the world market.

“This is plainly a circumvention of the Anti-Smoking law because it still promotes the habit of smoking — with the same arm and hand movement and the use of nicotine,” she declared

In general the e-cigarette is a battery-operated device with a cartridge that contains a nicotine solution and other chemicals that is then converted into vapour when the cigarette is used. Some e-cigarettes even come in different flavors to satisfy the craving of the regular smoker.

“We call these e-cigarettes guinea pigs because there is no clinical study that concludes it is safer to use than the ordinary cigarette,” Villareiz said.

She added the regular cigarette contains more than 600 additives, aside from nicotine leaves, but, the moment it is inhaled, the cigarette can release up to 4,000 chemicals.

Villareiz said if the e-cigarettes still contain nicotine, then they can still affect the cardiovascular system and can constrict the blood vessels once the nicotine is inhaled.

“Until there is medical evidence that these e-cigarettes are totally safe, then, we do not recommend it,” she added.

The e-cigarette comes also with a nicotine solution, often called e-juice or e-liquid, which consist of glycerine and propylene glycol which are known food additives. The solutions are offered in different concentrations of nicotine, thus allowing the vaper to regulate his nicotine intake and gradually reduce it. There are also solutions that do not come with nicotine, but with flavors like regular or menthol tobacco, coffee, caramel, vanilla or fruits.

Research shows that e-cigarette solutions can contain the following ingredients: nicotine, gkycerol, propylene glycol, tobacco essence, organic acid, butyl valerate, benzyl benzoate, hexyl hexanoate, and anti-oxidation agent among others.

The e-cigarette is becoming a very famous commodity among those looking for an alternative to the real cigarettes but without the foul smoke odor it emits. Manufacturers of e-cigarettes even market it as a smart choice for those who want even to quit smoking.