Too Little Known on Smokeless-Tobacco Risk

A key advisory committee warned the Food and Drug Administration Wednesday that little is known about the health effects of so-called modified-risk tobacco products, suggesting makers of smokeless tobacco and other alternatives to conventional cigarettes face high hurdles before they can market them as less harmful. The report by the Institute of Medicine coincided with another government-sponsored study showing cigarette use hitting historic lows among U.S. teenagers, even as more youths have turned in recent years to smokeless products such as moist snuff and pouches called snus. The FDA is studying whether to allow companies to advertise some tobacco products.

Regulate Sales of Electronic Cigarettes, Boston News

Boston city officials are stepping up efforts to regulate electronic cigarettes that deliver nicotine and individual cigars that have become popular with people looking for cheaper alternatives to discount Cigaronne cigarettes. E-cigarettes are battery-powered plastic and metal devices that heat a liquid nicotine solution in a disposable cartridge, creating vapor that users inhale. The Boston Public Health Commission on Thursday approved a proposal to immediately treat e-cigarettes like tobacco products. That includes requiring retailers to obtain permits to sell them, banning their use in the workplace and restricting their use to adults. The board also approved banning the sale of single-sale cigars by requiring that they be sold in their original manufacturer packaging of at least four. The rule becomes effective at the end of January. The board also doubled fines for retailers that violate tobacco control regulations.

More New York Railways Prohibit Platform Smoking

There’s one less place to enjoy a cigar outdoors as the anti-smoking annexation of New York continues. Metro North and Long Island Railroad platforms will join the list of territories lost as the campaign against outdoor smoking presses forward. Current rules already prohibit smoking on trains and in any indoor area associated with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But the new law now extends to include ticketing and boarding areas and platforms with open air, effectively banning outdoor smoking from all railways. In order to smoke, rail patrons will now have to light up in parking lots or other off-premises locations before enter- ing their station, making hearing—and catching—a train much more difficult. Similar restrictions were already in place in New York City and New Jersey stations.

County Plans to Push Smokers Away from Entrances

Chester County employees and visitors to the county’s various buildings will have to haul their ashes away from public entrances if a new smoking policy is adopted Wednesday by county commissioners. The policy would forbid smokers from lighting up within 25 feet of any entrance to a county building, including the privately owned West Market Street building in West Chester where the county has administrative offices. Smoking would be permitted only in designated areas out of the way of the public. The new policy was suggested by the county’s Wellness Committee, made up of employees in the county’s Health Department and its Human Resources Department, said Karen Florentine, county human resources director.

Smoking Costs Much More Than The Price of Cigarettes

Most people only consider the cost of cigarettes when they calculate how much smoking discount Esse cigarettes is costing them. It’s easy to calculate this cost as you know exactly how much you are handing over in cash for each pack of cigarettes you purchase. The truth, however, is that the cost of cigarettes is only a small portion of the overall cost of smoking. Most smokers forget to take into account the higher cost of insurance (auto, life, health) for being a smoker, the way that smoking devalues assets (car, home, furniture, etc) and other costs that one might skip over if they didn’t think too hard about all those little extras that add up when you smoke. The below infographic from Cost of Smoking clearly shows that the cost of smoking is a lot more than just the cost of the cigarettes:

The City’s War on Cheap Cigarettes

There's a magical place in Chinatown — for now — called Island Smokes, where the price of a pack of cigarettes hovers around $5. The trick is that you have to make them yourself — the shop sells "all natural" tobacco and papers, and has machines where customers can assemble the raw supplies. The city is suing the store: "By selling illegally low-priced cigarettes, defendants not only interfere with the collection of city cigarette taxes, they also impair the city’s smoking cessation programs and impair individual efforts at smoking reduction, thereby imposing higher health care costs on the city and injuring public health," says a lawsuit filed last week. The company's lawyer contends, "We are selling the contents that produce the cigarette and it’s up to the user to make them," comparing it to "making your own beer." "Just leave people alone,” one customer told the New York Times. "In this economy, no one can barely afford food, let alone a pack of $15 cigarettes."

Tobacco Companies Challenge Efforts in US, Australia

Tobacco companies are fighting efforts in the United States and Australia to make their products less appealing. In Washington, a federal judge last week blocked the Food and Drug Administration from requiring new warning labels on cigarette packs. Judge Richard Leon ruled in a case brought by five tobacco companies. The judge temporarily stopped a new federal rule to require large new warnings starting next September. These include color images such as a dead body or diseased lungs. Simple text warnings now appear. Congress called for color images showing the dangers of smoking, similar to what Canada does. But the tobacco companies say the new requirements violate their free speech rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Judge Leon said the FDA could not require the new labels before a lawsuit against the government is decided. Some experts say the process could take years. The judge said he believes the Marlboro cigarette makers are highly likely to win their case.