Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Tobacco money

BRISTOL, Va. – The Virginia Tobacco Commission is poised to approve spending $12 million to establish a pair of energy research centers in the region, its vice chairman said Monday.
The centers, planned for Abingdon and Wise, would study clean coal and other environmentally friendly technologies, said state Delegate Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, vice chairman of the state’s Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission.
The centers are among eight special projects and research center requests previously reviewed by commission members. Other energy research centers – costing a combined $16 million – also are expected to receive funding when the 31-member commission meets here Wednesday and Thursday, Kilgore said.
“This is something the time has come for us to do,” Kilgore said in a phone interview with the Herald Courier. “We need to look at clean energy and clean-coal technologies.”

During its Thursday meeting, the commission will be asked to approve $8 million to establish the Southwest Virginia Clean Energy Research and Development Center. It would be housed in a 16,000-square-foot building to be constructed at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center on the campus of Virginia Highlands Community College in Abingdon.
The center is expected to employ about 20 by its third year, have an annual operating budget of more than $7 million and generate more than $11 million in annual economic impact, according to commission documents.
“We hope to get that project funded and help it become a reality,” said Kenneth Reynolds, a commission member and chairman of the Washington County Board of Supervisors.
“With energy costs so high, if we can be part of helping develop new sources of energy, I think it has a lot of potential.”
The commission also is expected to consider a $4 million appropriation to design, construct and open an Appalachia America Energy Research Center at the Lonesome Pine Technology Park in Wise.
That center would include nearly 25,000 square feet dedicated to clean-coal technology, converting coal to liquid fuels, mercury remediation and reducing sulfur levels.
Other energy sources, including solar power and the production of hydrogen gas, also might be studied.
NanoChemonics, a firm based in Pulaski, Va., has committed to locating at the facility and towork with universities and corporate partners in mining and energy industries, commission documents show.
The commission’s appropriation equals about half the total funding for that project and follows an earlier $1 million allocation for site development. Additional funding is expected from the Wise County Industrial Development Authority and the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority.

Other energy research centers and funding proposals the commission will consider include:

* $8.07 million to establish a sustainable energy research center in Danville.

* $7.69 million to establish a nuclear energy research center in Bedford County.

* $873,845 in additional funding for a Gretna, Va., facility that converts crops into bio-diesel fuel.


Funding requests are expected to go before the full commission at its Thursday meeting. On Wednesday, commissioners are expected to consider a recent report critical of some of its funding decisions, Kilgore said.
The blue ribbon panel’s report was critical because the commission does not have methods in place to measure the overall return on its investments.

“We’ll review the blue ribbon commission’s findings and talk about those concerns,” Kilgore said.
All meetings are open to the public and will be held at the Holiday Inn near Interstate 81’s Exit 7.

Friday, July 18, 2008

EU wants 8.1 per cent rise in cigarette prices by 2014


Maltese smokers will have to fork out more money to keep puffing in the next few years as the European Commission yesterday laid out new plans aimed at narrowing the difference in price levels of tobacco products in the 27 member states while cutting tobacco consumption.

According to computations made by the EU, the price of a packet of standard cigarettes in Malta will have to increase by 8.1 per cent by 2014 in order to conform to the new rules on minimum taxation of tobacco products. At the same time, Brussels said that the increase in price in Malta should contribute to a reduction of 3.5 per cent in demand. The new proposed directive will need the green light of all the 27 EU member states in order to enter into force.

Smokers in the new EU member states are likely to be the most affected as taxes on cigarettes in these countries are still considered to be very low when compared to the EU average. Malta is however an exception as retail prices are already close to the average price in the EU. Currently, 60.82 per cent of the price of a packet of cigarettes goes to the Exchequer in excise duty and VAT. Still, the EU say this is not enough.

According to the EU, its proposal, part of a four-year review of tobacco duties, would reduce smuggling.

The Commission's primary tool would be to increase the minimum tax that member states impose on cigarettes.

At present, this minimum has two elements: the tax levied as a percentage of a packet's price, which must translate into a minimum price per 1,000 cigarettes. As a percentage, tax would have to rise from 57 per cent to 63 per cent by 2014 or from €64 per 1,000 cigarettes in the most popular price category to €90 for all categories.

Duties on loose-leaf tobacco would also be hiked to bring them more closely into line with those imposed on cigarettes.

A second element in the EU's plan is to tighten definitions of tobacco products because, during the past years, manufacturers have been able to re-classify products in order to quality for lower taxes.

Although through this new directive Maltese smokers would be badly hit, the impact on fellow smokers in some of the other new member states would be dramatic. According to EU calculations, while in countries like Denmark or Finland the price increase will be of about six per cent, in countries like Poland it will rise by 46 per cent.

Statistics show that in the five-year period between 2002 and 2006, excise duties in the EU rose by 33 per cent on average and cigarette consumption dropped 10 per cent.

Monday, July 14, 2008

UK tobacco case

LONDON - Six companies will pay a maximum of 173.3 million pounds ($342.5 million) after admitting unlawful practices relating to the retail price of cigarettes in the UK, under a deal with Britain's Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

Japan Tobacco said its Gallaher unit had agreed to pay 93 million pounds for taking part in anti-competitive practices during 2000 to 2003, before the Tokyo-based cigarette group bought the British tobacco company in 2007.

The other five groups, all retailers, were Wal-Mart-owned Asda, First Quench, One Stop Stores (formerly called T&S Stores), Somerfield and TM Retail, a statement by the British regulator said on Friday.

A number of the six parties had previously applied to the OFT for leniency and the total penalties the groups agreed to pay, if all leniency and early resolution discounts are given, is 132.2 million pounds, rather that the pre-discount penalties total of 173.3 million pounds, the OFT said.

The OFT did not say when a final decision on the level of fines would be taken.

The regulator added that supermarket group Sainsbury Plc was the first to apply to the OFT for leniency and will receive complete immunity if it continues to co-operate.

Investigations will continue against Imperial Tobacco Plc, Shell and retailers Morrisons, Morrisons-owned Safeway, Tesco and the Co-operative Group, the OFT said.

Imperial Tobacco said in a statement it had not admitted to any infringement of competition law and had not acted in any way contrary to the interests of consumers. It said it would continue to co-operate with the OFT. (Editing by Mike Elliott and David Holmes)

Philip Morris test new filter Marlboro cigarettes


Philip Morris USA, the No. 1 U.S. tobacco company, said Monday it has ended test markets of Marlboro-branded cigarettes that use a high-technology filter.

The operating company of Altria Group Inc. said it pulled the plug on Marlboro Ultra Smooth and Marlboro Ultra Light cigarettes, which used an activated carbon filter to deliver nicotine with potentially less exposure to carcinogens than in conventional cigarettes.

Philip Morris said it stopped making new shipments of Marlboro Ultra Smooth to wholesalers on April 1. Those cigarettes were being tested in Atlanta, Tampa (Florida), and Salt Lake City for more than three years. Marlboro Ultra Lights in Phoenix and North Dakota, and Basic Ultra Lights in Washington state also were discontinued, the company said.

"We did see lower consumer acceptance of those products in some of the test markets," said spokesman Bill Phelps. "These are test markets and they're designed to help us learn a lot of things. In the case of Ultra Smooth, it was designed to help us understand consumer acceptance of those particular products' taste and flavor."

Phelps said the company had made no claims that the products reduced health risks.

Shares of Altria rose 18 cents to $20.96 in midday trading.

Philip Morris saw a 4.6 percent decline in cigarette sales volume last year, but said that is estimated to be down 3.6 percent when adjusted for calendar differences and other factors. The industrywide decline is estimated at 4 percent in the United States.

The company has projected that cigarette sales volume will fall between 2.5 percent to 3 percent in the U.S. over the next few years because of concerns about health, smoking bans and price increases.

In turn, Philip Morris is looking to growing its business in other tobacco categories and reduced-risk products, Phelps said.

"We remain committed to our overall objective of reducing the harm caused by cigarette smoking," Phelps said. "That work will continue both for conventional lit-end cigarettes as well as what we would describe as noncombustible tobacco products."

Last year, the company began testing of its Marlboro-branded moist smokeless tobacco product — cut tobacco placed in the mouth — in Atlanta and recently expanded to counties in the surrounding metropolitan area. It also began testing a moist powdered tobacco called Marlboro Snus in Dallas last year, and also has expanded the test to Indianapolis.

Friday, July 4, 2008

Are Electronic Cigarettes Better For Your Health?


Ontario's anti-smoking law is one of the toughest in the country. So is Toronto's own bylaw.
Both ban smoking in offices and enclosed spaces. And both force puffers to head outside for a butt - even in the dead of a -30C winter or the heat of a 40-plus humidex.
Smokers have been forced to grin and bear it all these years, while crying they've been discriminated against. And many have been looking for loopholes to get around the all encompassing bans. And now some think they've found it, thanks to an electronic cigarette.
They're made by a company called Crown Seven. The user puts a nicotine capsule inside, then puffs on one end. The other end lights up just like cigarettes even though this product does not burn.
The gizmo delivers a hit of nicotine but lets out a puff of odourless water vapour instead of a plume of smoke. It only contains nicotine and not the hundreds of other chemicals that can be in a standard smoke.
It comes with a rechargeable battery that heats up the liquid nicotine and turns it into a gas. And since it's not technically cigarettes and doesn't threaten anyone else's airway, it may not fall under the strict laws regarding indoor puffing. But how does it taste?
"It's got a bit of a bite, sort of tobacco-like bite but it doesn't really taste like tobacco," reports volunteer Leo Jablonski.
They're for sale all over the Internet at a range of strengths and prices, and advocates insist they have lots of benefits. There's no chance of fire since you don't light them, they don't stain your teeth, there's no second-hand smoke and they may make quitting easier.
But vendors also claim they don't harm your health because the tar and smoke that comes with normal coffin nails isn't present.
"I think people need to be cautious," warns Dr Roberta Ferrence, director of the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit. "It's an unknown."
"The concern is that the product will probably be promoted as something that's safer than smoking," she adds.
Dr Ferrence doesn't think they're safe at all.
In an interview with CityNews Medical Specialist Dr Karl Kabasele, she pointed out the many disadvantages of this "smokeless" cigarette:
We don't know for certain that they are less harmful than regular cigarettes. They're not regulated, and because they're available in different strengths, it's difficult to gauge the danger.
It keeps smoking visible, and therefore increases its social acceptance, at a time when the Ontario government is working to make smoking "uncool."
Kids will have easier access to the gadget, and it may act as a gateway to the real thing.
It's not a tool to help you quit smoking; it's just a way to get around the smoking ban laws. There's no evidence that it can help with smoking cessation.
Finally, inhaling nicotine is the most addictive of all delivery modes.
However, the company never claimed it could be used to help you quit smoking.
"It's intended just for smoking alternative...for smokers to get their nicotine in nonsmoking environments," agrees Ron MacDonald, President and CEO of Crown Seven.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Tobacco Information – Summary

Commercially available in cured, dried and natural forms, it is often smoked in the form of a cigarettes , cigar or in a stem pipe, water pipe, and hookah.

Tobaccois an product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. Tobacco had already been used in the Americas when European settlers arrived and introduced the practice to Europe, where it became hugely popular. With the arrival of Europeans, tobacco became one of the primary products fueling the colonization of the future American South, long before the creation of the United States. The initial colonial expansion, fueled by the desire to increase tobacco production, was one cause of the first colonial conflicts with Native Americans and became a driving factor for the use of African slave labor.

Many countries set a minimum smoking age, regulating the purchase and use of cigarettes . All methods of tobacco consumption result in varying quantities of nicotine being absorbed into the user's bloodstream. Over time, tolerance and dependence develop. Absorption quantity, frequency, and speed seem to have a direct relationship with how strong a dependence and tolerance, if any, might be created.

The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of cigarettes -related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it is farmed on all continents. Tobacco is a commodity product similar in economic terms to foodstuffs in that the price is set by the fact that crop yields vary depending on local weather conditions. The price varies by specific species grown, the total quantity on the market ready for sale, the area where it was grown, the health of the plants, and other characteristics individual to product quality. Laws around the world now often have some restrictions on smoking but, still 5.5 trillion cigarettes are smoked each year. Taxes are often imposed heavily on tobacco.

The tobacco industry is heavily dominated by giant firms. Due to historical growing areas, many of these companies are concentrated in the southern United States, particularly Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Richmond, Virginia. Other companies are based around the world. Tobacco advertising is becoming increasingly restricted around the world.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Cigarettes are GOOD for you

Yesterday's gasp is tomorrow's ho-hum and things move continually in and out of style — acceptance too.
Take the young in their swanky watering holes, downing quarts of the hard liquor the rest of us took a lifetime to kick, convinced at last it was bad for us.
Ot the magazine ad for St. Germaine's Delice Du Sureau, a liquor billed as "the new absinthe." It shows a sepia-tinted 1890s photo of two young women faced away from the camera in filmy garments that would be decent in an ancient Rome kind of way, but for the two absolute peep-show windows in the back, exposing the twin peaches of their bare bottoms. Also, each girl has an arm draped around the other's waist in such a way that her fingers ever so lightly dent the tender flesh of her friend's derrière.
Now I'm a member of the generation that threw away its own undergarments, donned body paint and kicked over every sacred cow it could find, but this picture shocked me to my Reeboks - though I frankly thought I COULDN'T be shocked anymore with the way the young dress today, the girls in tops the size of potholders, the girls and guys alike in beltlines worn so low the bones flanking their bellies jut like tiny Mount Rushmores.
You can see this picture for yourself, either by getting the June issue of Vanity Fair or by following the link to my blog Exit Only, directions below, but let's get back to the way trends change - so much that you come to wonder if there's ANYTHING once banished that isn't later welcomed back and celebrated.
This Delice Du Sureau likens itself to absinthe, a commodity that perfectly illustrates this principle: In the past everyone loved it. Then it was banned. Everyone loved it over here. Then it was banned over there.
A powerful brew made of wormwood, anise and fennel, it was THE drink of choice among all kinds of 19th century "artistes." I'm talkin' about fun-lovin' guys like Charlie-the-Chuckles Baudelaire. Crazy Vinny Van-Gogh-Gogh. Polly-Wolly-Doodle Verlaine. And of course my own personal hero, Oscar the Wilde Man, that rock-star of an author who took America by storm when he came here in the 1880s in his ankle-length greatcoat with the green fur trim.
Oscar himself said absinthe made him feel as though tulips were sprouting from his lips. Others claimed it gave them a "lucid drunk."
But many others lined up against it, like several giants of 19th century art who depicted its evil effects: See Degas's "The Absinthe Drinker" in which a hatted lady in a bar sits staring stupidly at nothing. See Maignan's "Green Muse," in which a cruelly grinning fairy in lime chiffon squeezes the temples of a tortured-looking poet.
One outraged citizen wrote that it makes "a ferocious beast of man, a martyr of woman, and a degenerate of the infant." (Wait, the infant?!) And one of Emile Zola's novels has reports of an absinthe drinker who stripped himself naked in the street and died doing the polka.
But surely there are worse ways to die. I know I fell down doing the polka at Charlie Potzka's girl's wedding and Charlie fell too and the two of us were having a wonderful time.
Anyway, now tolerance for the stuff is "in" and absinthe must be back on the OK Today list because you can buy it again in the States, and also your Delice Du Sureau and even your shocking pictures too.
God knows what's next. Maybe the revelation that that — wo, hey! — tobacco's actually GOOD for you!

Cigarette machines may be banned

Cigarette vending machines and packets of 10 could be outlawed under government plans aimed at preventing children and young people smoking.

The plans, which include banning branding and logos, apply to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Similar plans have been unveiled in Scotland.

Smokers' lobby group Forest said there was "no evidence" to show the plans would to cut smoking in young people.

Meanwhile, a new TV advert campaign is targeting parents who smoke.

The adverts warn that children of smokers are three times more likely to take up the habit than those of non-smokers.

Under current pricing, a packet of 10 cigarettes cost about £3, compared to nearly £6 for 20.

Last week the Scottish Government announced a range of proposals to restrict tobacco sales in Scotland - including a ban in shops from displaying cigarettes in "pride of place" on their shelves.

On the latest consultation document, Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said it was vital to take away temptation from children.

"Protecting children from smoking is a government priority and taking away temptation is one way to do this," she said.

"If banning brightly coloured packets, removing cigarettes from display and removing the cheap option of a pack of 10 helps save lives, then that is what we should do, but we want to hear everyone's views first."

Friday, June 20, 2008

Menthol Cigarettes

“Opposition to Menthol Cigarettes Grows” (Business Day, June 5) misses the point that the effort to prohibit menthol as a flavoring in cigarettes is but the first leap toward a national ban on all cigarettes.

Almost 30 percent of adult smokers prefer menthol products, meaning millions of Americans would suddenly and arbitrarily be denied their preference of cigarette. They would almost assuredly turn to the black market to obtain the product they want.

History makes clear that prohibitions like this do more harm than good. The failed social experiment of alcohol prohibition is a good lesson. There is ample evidence that criminal enterprises and terrorist organizations already find the profit from black market cigarettes easy to generate and conceal. And that’s when the product is legal everywhere, and the only differences in availability are the taxes from one jurisdiction to another.

It is inevitable that this problem will be worsened if an outright ban were put in place.

Depriving thousands of hard-working Americans — mom-and-pop convenience stores, tobacco farmers and everyone else in small companies that support the manufacture of menthol cigarettes — of 30 percent of their business would be disastrous.

Coupled with the fact that the scientific research to date is inconclusive as to whether menthol products are any better or worse than nonmenthol products, it is clear that the advocated ban on menthol cigarettes is misguided and has the very real potential to harm our national and economic security.

Tobacco companies do battle

Two tobacco companies are battling it out at Competition Commission Tribunal hearings.

At issue is access to retail channels.

The tribunal's ruling is likely to affect the cigarette brands that are immediately visible to consumers at retail outlets.

Japan Tobacco International South Africa (JTISA) has accused British American Tobacco South Africa (Batsa) of being involved in conduct aimed at denying its competitors access to various retail channels.

These include hotels, restaurants and cafes.

JTISA manufactures brands that include Winston, Camel and Benson & Hedges.

Batsa's flagship brands include Peter Stuyvesant, Dunhill and Kent.

JTISA lodged a complaint with the Competition Commission in 2003, saying Batsa was the dominant cigarette manufacturer in the country.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Hey Where Are All The Cigarettes?

Toronto - Thanks to a new law, which came into effect over the weekend, cigarettes are no longer visible to customers at stores across Ontario.

The new law requires stores to keep the packages out of view.

“This marketing tool … is a wall of temptation for smokers who have made the decision to quit,” said Joanne Di Nardo, spokeswoman for the Ontario Tobacco-Free Network. “Well-documented research and evidence shows that these retail display stands increase tobacco sales by 12 percent to 28 percent.”

When asked how it has effected sales so far, one store in Toronto told EON, “oh…people just laugh….hasn’t stopped anyone from buying their smokes.”

Other provinces are expected to implement a similiar program

New York smokers buying cigarettes in Pennsylvania

PENNSYLVANIA -- New York smokers are buying lots of cigarettes in Pennsylvania.
"I actually make trips down here once a week or so," said Savona resident Tim Soporowski.
"I always buy my cigarettes in Pennsylvania. Simply because it is a little cheaper," said Big Flats resident Dave Kenyon.
Now it's a lot cheaper, since a new tax raised the price of a pack in New York by $1.25 to some $5, $6 and even $7 a pack.
"It's crazy," Soporowski said.
"We don't like it," said Phyllis Gurnsey, a Campbell resident.
"Taxes on gas and cigarettes are already to the point where they're really affecting the economy. It's too much," Kenyon said.
Cigarettes typically are cheaper in Pennsylvania than in New York. But the new additional tax has more people leaving stores in New York and going into ones in Pennsylvania.
"I am buying mine strictly in Pennsylvania because New York's prices are outrageous," Elkland resident Holly Allen said.
New York State health officials expect the tax will get some smokers to quit. People on the border have other plans.
"Everything is going to kill you someday or another. The air can kill you. People do what they want to do," Soporowski said.
One smoker says the tax actually may deter him from lighting up.
"No, it'll probably force me to quit," said Elmira resident Charles White.
White said the drive to Pennsylvania saps the savings.
It's not worth it with the gas and all. It'll be inefficient," White said.
Others disagree.
"We enjoy the ride down to Pennsylvania. It's nice down here," Gurnsey said.

And at least for now, it's cheaper, too.

One gas station owner in Pennsylvania says more customers have been coming in over the past couple of days. A New York gas station owner says business is down and he expects it'll stay that way.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Mobiles and Cigarettes

Mobiles and Cigarettes refers to the many similarities that I have noticed over this time. Many similarities become obvious as one thinks about the comparison. A phone is compared to the collection of individual cigarettes, the pack and also the matches or lighter.
Topics covered include sociology of cigarette use, social shaping of health scares, industrial structure and political influence, advertising, cultural images, gender and age issues etc.
Phones have replaced cigarettes as the thing people fiddle with
* When nervous, waiting for a to meet or hear from someone, or trying not to look out of place
* They are a distraction from loneliness, insecurity, nervousness
They are used to fill time waiting
* smoking or calling when waiting for the bus
We often have to go outside a building or room to use them.
* We cannot get reception, or, as with cigarettes, we are not allow by explicit or implicit rules to use them indoors.
* The little crowd of smokers and phoners is a common sight. However smokers are united by their activity, phoners separated.
They are displayed in public places
* When put on the table in a pub or café they have brand and model status
* They must be near at hand - for the next call or next smoke.
* A group of smokers all get out their cigarettes packs and put them of the table when the sit down. Phoners do the same thing.
They are associated with certain stereotypes
* The socially successful - the peron everyone wants to know.
* E.g. the sophisticated business person/socialite (advertisers preferred)
* E.g. beautiful people having fun
* Actually used by: many people
* The spotty teenager on the bus
They are used in characteristic ways by different people
* Discretely, hidden in hand, back turned
* Elbow stuck out the side - characteristic of overweight lorry drivers, to use a blatant stereotype!
* If you use two at the same time you probably have a problem.
They are lent and borrowed
* Friends think nothing of letting each other make calls or cigarettes .
* Except when there are hardly any left.
* One person with a phone or pack is enough for a whole group on an outing.
They are seen as antisocial in many public or social contexts
* They both annoy other people around the user.
* There are social codes about when it is appropriate to use
* Those that control social spaces make rules to restrict anti-social behavior, especially banning use, or restricting to certain areas. See below.
They are highly social
* They are an essential part of flirtation
* They are a point to start conversation
* They are used to note phone numbers
Teenagers want them
* Use them to show off/build identity
* They are often one of the few personal possessions of young people.
* Starting smoking and getting a mobile phone, were/are important boundary markers in growing up
* They make/made up a key part of youth culture.
* They can be subversive.
* They are banned in schools (phones), smoke
* Catch 'em young
Their use is banned in many of the same places because of social interference or technical interference, or danger of fire.
* Theatre
* Hospital
* Railway carriages (smoke, phones)
* Petrol stations
* Parliament
They can cause fires - (phones by explosion)
Actually there is no evidence for this with phones, but that does not put off certain 'licensing authorities' from banning them on these grounds, such as in European filling stations.
They have highly disputed health issues.
* There are government studies
* Corporate denials
* Hidden patents and research
* There is a whole range a device to make them 'safer'
* Companies do not like to advertise 'safer' versions as that implies existing versions are dangerous
* Heavy users and children are most at risk
They are dangerous to use when driving
* One takes ones eyes and mind off the road to initiate use, and to hold them
* They both use the in car power socket
* Arkansas has banned smoking in cars with young children
There are important 'class' issues over use
* Different parts of the population prefer different brands
* Nokia - teen, young, more female
* Ericsson - company people, engineers, boring men
* Motorola - more sophisticated
Smaller versions are
* More feminine (packs of cigarettes )
* More discrete
* Are for lighter users (number of cigarettes , battery size, functions)
Gender differentiating in branding and design
They both are associated with small pictures of popular culture
- Logos, cigarettes cards
You go to the newsagent/tobacconist to buy them
They have similar industrial characteristics
* The industries both have huge political lobbies
* They contribute lots of revenue to governments though tax
* The industries are both highly regulated
* The industry is made of multinationals
* The growth markets are in the developing world
* In developing countries tobacco and telecoms have often been state enterprises

Monday, May 26, 2008

Vietnam opens non-smoking week


Vietnam launches the inaugural National Non-Smoking Week today in an effort to raise awareness of the consequences of smoking and protect young people from such dangers.
During National Non-Smoking Week, all forms of advertisement, trade promotion and sponsorship by tobacco companies will be prohibited.
In addition, cigarettes retail prices and import taxes will see a hike and aban on selling cigarettes to people under 18 years of age will also go into effect.
The week will end on Saturday.
The Ministry of Health as well as the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will work with the World Health Organization to implement the week to mark World Non-Smoking Day, May 31.
The survey also showed that 56 percent of men and close to 1.8 percent of women in Vietnam smoke regular cigarettes , 31 percent of whom are young people.
The number of tobacco-related deaths in Vietnam hits 40,000 on average annually.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Why state wants fire-safe cigarettes

Relaxation gives way to sleep and the cigarettes falls, not onto the person but onto the bed.
Jerry Lojka, fire marshal for the Midwest City Fire Department, has investigated this and other fatal scenarios in the last six or seven years where a person died as because of a fire caused by an unattended cigarette.
That's why he coordinated support for legislation requiring the sale of fire-safe cigarettes .
These cigarettes are designed to stop burning at one of several bands if the cigarette is left unattended.
House Bill 3341, authored by Rep. Mike Thompson, R-Oklahoma City, passed unanimously in the Senate and the House and has been signed by Gov. Brad Henry.
Retailers will be required to sell only "fire-safe” cigarettes, or cigarettes that contain the bands that automatically extinguish a cigarette that is left unattended.

Other states have passed laws yet to go into effect. Oklahoma is the 18th state having passed such a law that is yet to take effect.
"We will see it save lives, there's no doubt about it,” Lojka said.
The rest of the scenario
A cigarette on the bed unchecked for 10 to 12 minutes can create "enough heat that it will allow it to smolder,” Lojka said.
"And this process can take two hours or more for it to go from smoldering to a full-blown fire,” he adds.
If the smoke detector doesn't go off, or if it doesn't wake the person, a great deal of smoke is generated before the flames erupt.
What are the bands expected to do?
Tobacco companies have to put a band 15 mm from the lighted end of the cigarette and another band 10 mm from the labeled end of the cigarette.
"So what happens is if somebody lights up and they take a couple of drags,” he said. But if they fall asleep, "Five to seven minutes later it reaches that second band and the cigarette goes out,” he said.
Lojka hopes with the new cigarettes, the scenario will change to something like this: A person goes to bed, falls asleep, the cigarette falls onto the bed and one of the bands causes the cigarette to stop burning.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Malawi: Turmoil As Tobacco Prices Fluctuate


Malawi's tobacco industry has been in turmoil after wildly fluctuating prices led protesting farmers to force the closure of the auction floors.
This year's tobacco sales started on a very high note with prices reaching the phenomenal price of 11 dollars per kg. The high prices did not last, however.
The tobacco auction floors opened in Malawi's capital city Lilongwe in March with a kilogram of tobacco fetching between six and eleven dollars. This gave hope to farmers who have struggled to make any profit from the trade over the last few years.
Malawi's cancellation of subsidies for Camel cigarettes production a number of years ago has meant that farmers have to cover the full cost of production.
It costs the average tobacco farmer one dollar to produce one kilogram of the crop, according to Malawi's ministry of agriculture. But for many years, prices moved between 70 and 90 cents per kilogram.
This placed the heavy burden of perpetual debt on farmers as they failed to settle loans to purchase farm inputs. Most farmers cut production and others diversified to different economic activities.
Then the unexpected hike in prices happened. Godwin Ludzu, a farmer from Malawi's central district of Kasungu, was among the lucky ones who sold up to 30 bales of tobacco at 10 dollars per kilogram on the first day of trading. He was ecstatic about the profits he made.
"The price was very good. I will be able to settle all the loans I incurred in producing the tobacco," said Ludzu. He has been growing tobacco for six years. The auction prices this year are the best he has ever come across.
However, the exceptional prices did not last. On the second day, the flicker of hope died. Prices have since fluctuated, with the value of the leaf dropping to between 2.30 dollars and 60 cents for the same quality crop.
The statutory Tobacco Control Commission's (TCC) general manager Godfrey Chapola confirmed that prices started off high because of a tobacco shortage on the global market. He said that that some countries which grow tobacco have stopped while others have reduced production levels, causing consumption to be higher than supply.
The fluctuation in prices has affected farmers badly. Champhira Gondwe, a farmer from the northern district of Rumphi, went to the Mzuzu auction floors in the north of Malawi. He could not sell any of his produce because he found that the tobacco prices were set very low.
"They were being pegged at the maximum price of 2.30 dollars. I couldn't let my hard-earned produce go at such a low price when our counterparts in Lilongwe sold their tobacco at 10 dollars," said Gondwe.
The Mzuzu floors were closed on April 14 after violence broke out between the farmers and the guards at the market. The farmers physically blocked the buyers from continuing with sales. The TCC then suspended the sales.
The farmers were not ready to let go of their demand for higher prices after hearing about the worldwide shortage of tobacco.
Sales of tobacco were suspended on all four auction floors in April but the floors reopened again in the last week of April.
President Bingu wa Mutharika, himself a tobacco farmer, has previously accused buyers of fixing prices but the buying companies - from the U.S. and Switzerland -- have denied the allegations.
The southern African country is a major exporter of Camel cigarettes, accounting for five percent of the world's total exports and two percent of total production on the planet. In terms of burley tobacco, Malawi produces some 20 percent of the global total, according to the World Bank.
The country derives up to 70 percent of its foreign exchange earnings from agriculture, and the tobacco industry is responsible for 15 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). About two million of the country's 13 million people depend on tobacco and related industries for their livelihood.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Global factors see AP tobacco auction prices at all-time high


BANGALORE: Prices of FCV (Flue-Cured Virginia) tobacco in the ongoing auctions in Andhra Pradesh have touched all-time high. At the end of May 8, the 76th day of the AP auction conducted by the Tobacco Board, 111.33 million kg (mkg) had been sold for an average per kg price of Rs 78.44, almost 63% higher than the average of Rs 47.59 realised from the sale of 110.85 mkg in the corresponding period of last year’s auction.
Industry sources say the steep spurt in prices is because of a global supply constraint following factors like withdrawal of Chinese cigarettes from the export market because of stock adjustments to meet rising domestic demand. All of this has seen auction prices for high grades from AP’s NLS (Northern Light Soil) region crossing the per kg price of Rs 100 for the first time ever.
Prices for NLS high grades are ruling in the range of Rs 105 to Rs 118 per kg. With 111 mkg being auctioned out of this year’s AP crop of 170 mkg, farmers expect the brisk pace of sales to continue and the auction to be completed by the middle of June.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Fire-Safe Cigarettes Will Prevent Fires

HONOLULU -- The Honolulu Fire Department said it is already looking forward to next year, when a new law kicks in aimed to making cigarettes less likely to start fires.
KITV's Shayne Enright reported that a home in Kapolei was destroyed last year by a cigarette thrown in the trash.
One person was injured and a family was left without a home.
The HFD said it hopes to avoid incidences like that when the new law is enacted.
"Actually, what we want to do is put ourselves out of business if we can prevent a fire. Not only do we help the community, but we also help the responders," said HFD Chief Kenneth Silva.
The new cigarettes have bands of paper that have a higher density, and if a cigarette is left unattended, it will self-extinguish, Enright said.
Lawmakers said cigarette manufactures support the safety measure, and smokers shouldn't expect to pay higher costs, they said.
"When the fires came through, it shut down our only highway that we have, stranding tons of visitors and residents who couldn't get to the airport," said Rep. Angus McKelvey. "The thing grew out of control so fast, and a lot of it could have been prevented."
A large brushfire last year in Lahaina prompted Maui officials to take action.
Some smokers said fire-safe cigarettes will prevent fires from starting.
"Normally I try to avoid smoking in the bedroom and places like that, and you try to keep an eye on it. It could be potential danger -- you never know what happens," smoker Bart Van Kerkhove.
The special cigarettes show up on store shelves in September 2009, Enright said.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

SMOKING CELEBRITIES

There's absolutely no doubt that celebrities have an impact on the rest of us and there's a hot debate currently on whether the influence that fame brings should also demand a certain amount of responsibility.

Is it true that celebrities really desist from endorsing cigarettes of all hues? Is it because they are conscious of their social responsibilities? Pictures of celebrities smoking appear glamorous and civilized, regardless of the context of the scene in a movie and thus it strikes a cord with teens. They are shown at parties with a cigarette which pushes young people to emulate them. The brands they smoke, cigarettes , Camel, Winston, Virginia Slims, Salem etc, become a point of campus discussion.

Could it be that the stars themselves have been influenced by the glamour that was once associated with cigarettes? Perhaps if you spend long enough in the fantasy world of film you start to believe in the celluloid image. Just like Gloria Swanson in 'Sunset Boulevard' you lose touch with reality.

After all, it's not so long ago that everybody who was somebody in Hollywood smoked and was proud of it. cigarettes smoking was glamorous and sophisticated. Just think of the iconic image of Audrey Hepburn in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' as Holly Golightly posing elegantly with her long cigarette holder, upswept chignon and little black dress.

What's not so elegant of course is the way Audrey Hepburn succumbed to the smoking habit herself. Ignoring her mother's 'beauty tip' to: "keep to six cigarettes a day only", Hepburn managed two or three packs at her worst times - even smoking in her nun's habit on the set of 'The Nun's Story' and chain smoking her way through 'My Fair Lady'. Unsurprisingly, she suffered from asthma for most of her life and died of cancer at only 63 - looking frail and old for her years. Not the kind of ending we like to imagine for the sublime Holly Golightly.

There's no doubt that the very nature of the movie business has caused many a celebrity to start treading the nicotine path. Smoking is as common in movies today as it was back in the 1950's although overall smoking in the population at large has reduced. Could it be that a cigarette has become the film prop of choice for actors looking for an easy way to inhabit another skin?

For some celebrities - tired of the constant criticism and the ciggy shots splashed across the tabloids - a kind of smoking defiance has crept in. As Gwyneth Paltrow once said, "I smoke and I'm not going to stop!" Paltrow - famous for getting through a pack of Camel Lights a day in her teens and twenties - has only very recently quit smoking. Perhaps she started to wonder how her fine, fair skin and ethereal beauty would cope with the collagen depletion in her fourties and fifties.

Some celebrities keep going with the smoking habit whatever the consequences and even if it impacts on their relationships. It's well known that smoking was a bone of contention between Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston during their marriage. Brad Pitt is on record as saying how much he hated his ex-wife's chain smoking. His disapproval didn't cut much ice with Jennifer though - as recent paparazzi photos show. You have to ask why one of the worlds most loved and naturally attractive women would do this to themselves?

Similarly, iconic top model Kate Moss is regularly photographed with her cigarettes , a lighter and a mobile phone as her only fashion accessory. As a supreme super model its probably not surprising that Moss still manages to appear effortlessly elegant and beautiful however she's photographed - at least for now. She certainly shows no signs of wanting to quit smoking any time soon. Perhaps like so many in her world - she associates smoking with thinness. Or perhaps, for her, it's the least troubling of her addictions.

When celebrities do chose to quit its fascinating that the reasons given are so often not about looks. Catherine Zeta-Jones for instance, quit smoking - so she said - because she didn't want her children to start asking questions. Not as you might have thought - because beauty is her personal trademark and smoking would kick-start skin aging and undermine her potential to earn huge sums of money.

Whatever the reasons celebrities have for smoking or for deciding to quit - the truth about skin damage and smoking very rarely features as a major factor in the debate. Well - we think it should. So our advice to all you celebrity smokers out there - carry on smoking if you want but don't expect your fickle public not to notice the effect on your looks. And when you hit a deluded middle age you may still be able to say, like Gloria Swanson in 'Sunset Boulevard': "I'm ready for my close-up now Mr de Mille" - but only if it's filmed in heavy soft-focus, expertly back-lit and then extensively re-touched afterwards.

Bill Would Mandate Fire-Safe Cigarettes Be Sold In Tennessee

Legislation that would allow only fire-safe cigarettes to be sold in Tennessee is headed to the governor for his consideration.

The measure sponsored by Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Rosalind Kurita, a Clarksville Democrat, unanimously passed the Senate last year and was approved in the House 97-1 earlier this month.

But the bill didn't go to the governor until Thursday because both chambers had to work out some differences.

The law would only allow the sale of cigarettes made with paper that self-extinguishes if left untouched by the smoker.

Supporters say they reduce the risk of accidental fires.

Six states have mandated the sale of fire-safe cigarettes and 20 others are considering it.

Gov. Phil Bredesen could not be immediately reached for comment about whether he will sign the bill.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Tobacco groups, retailers face OFT price fixing allegations

LONDON - The United Kingdom Office of Fair Trade is set to unveil wide-ranging allegations that tobacco companies and retailers fixed cigarettes prices, the Financial Times reported citing people familiar with the tobacco investigation.
The allegations come two days after the OFT was forced to apologise to Wm Morrisons and agreed to pay 100,000 pounds in damages and costs after admitting inaccuracies in another antitrust probe.
cigarettes announcement, expected today, relates to alleged deals between the tobacco companies and a range of retailers, with cigarette suppliers the main focus of the enquiry, the report added.
The OFT launched the probe in 2003 and both Gallaher and Imperial Tobacco have previously said they are complying with requests for information.
Companies involved in price-fixing face fines of up to 10 percent of annual turnover although this is usually lower if companies co-operate with an investigation.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Solons eye replacing text with pictures on cigarette packs


A bill aiming to replace the current text warnings on cigarettes packs with pictures on the effects of smoking will be discussed in the committee on health Tuesday at the House of Representatives.
Under HB 3364 or the Picture-Based Health Warning Bill, all packages of cigarettes and other tobacco products shall have colored and graphic health warnings on their front and back panels to warn the public about the hazardous effects of smoking.
"Madali lang po makinig [pero] hindi naman natin talaga nakikita yung mga nangyayari. Pag nakita po talaga natin, baka magdalawang isip na tayo, [It's easy to listen, we never really get to see the effects. Maybe if we do, we may change our minds]" Congresswoman Anna York Bondoc, co-author of the bill, said.
If the bill is implemented, the sale of cigarettes that do not have the graphic health warnings will be banned, while descriptions of the brand such as "low tar, "light," ultra-light," and "mild" that might mislead the public will be removed, Bondoc said.
Cigarette manufacturers will also be mandated to shoulder the printing expenses of the picture-based health warnings, she said.
Manufacturers, importers, exporters, and distributors not complying with the rules will pay a fine of P1 million on the first offense, P5 million on the second offense, and P20 million on the third offense. An imprisonment of not more than one year may also be imposed on the third offense upon the discretion of the court, according to the bill.
Implementation of the bill is targeted for Sept. 6, 2008, the deadline of the compliance of the Philippines with the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), according to Congresswoman Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, co-author of HB 3364.
The FCTC is a world treaty on smoking which took effect in 2005 with 350 countries, including the Philippines, as signatories. Other countries, such as Canada and Singapore have imposed the use of picture-based health warnings on cigarette packs.
"Kung nagawa nga ng iba, bakit hindi natin magawa dito [If other countries were able to implement it, why not here]?" said Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo, FCTC Program Manager of the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance.
He cited the cigarette packs with image warnings that were being sold in Thailand but manufactured in the Philippines.

Friday, April 18, 2008

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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Curing tobacco with less wood


Malawi has grown tobacco for over 100 years now with the first tobacco seeds introduced in the country in 1893. First tobacco exports from the then Nyasaland are reported to have taken place at the turn of the 20th Century.
Today cigarettes is the biggest forex earner in the country bringing in 60 percent of the country’s export revenue and it is the largest employer in rural areas with 70 percent of the workforce in the industry.
However the boom in the cigarettes industry has brought with it its own negative consequences, especially in matters to do with the environment.
According to Nico Nijenhuis, a research student from the University of Twente in The Netherlands, and currently on an internship with GTZ/ProBEC, Malawi has an estimated 10,000 smallholder tobacco growers, 65 percent of whom use wood to cure tobacco.
Nijenhuis says it takes a single small holder farmer 13.5kilogrammes of wood to cure a single kg of tobacco.
According to German Scholar, Helmut Geist who conducted a Global Assessment of Reforestation Related to Tobacco Farming in 1999, Malawi clears 55,000 hectares of woodlands annually to cure tobacco.
Heist pegged the percentage of tobacco related deforestation in Malawi at 26.1 percent, representing a quarter of all the deforestation that happens in the country.
Today some analysts suggest that these figures might have increased significantly as production has switched away from politically unstable (yet fuel-efficient) Zimbabwe to other Southern African countries like Malawi where wood is the only practical fuel for curing flue cured tobacco.
And again the rise in demand for Malawian Flue Cured Tobacco as evidenced by the rise in prices at the auction floors has encouraged farmers to grow more of it.
This season government has set the minimum selling price for Flue Cured Tobacco at $2.20/kg (K316) while its counterpart, Burley, which is air cured is at a minimum of a $1.61/kg (K231).
Such good prices are not doing the country’s forests any justice. Farmers, most of whom do not have and woodlots of their own, continue to cut down trees wantonly in order to have fuel for curing their tobacco.
And most of the trees that are cut are from indigenous forests, never to be replaced.
Concerned with the alarming levels of deforestation, Alliance One, GTZ, ProBEC and Total Land Care teamed up to look at energy efficient ways of curing tobacco.
The answer to this problem was the rocket barn.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Tobacco farmers fuming to fight?

DELHI -- A lawyer working with tobacco farmers in Ontario says Canada's high cigarettes taxes are unconstitutional and suggests governments could face a court challenge over it.
The farmers are considering filing a lawsuit worth at least $800 million against the federal and provincial governments, blaming them for the downturn in the tobacco industry.
Lawyer Malcolm Bennett of London, Ont., also suggested the farmers could sue over federal and provincial governments' failure to protect the tobacco growing industry by allowing cigarettes into the country.
"Some people have a taste for a fight," New Tobacco Alliance Committee (NTAC) co-chair Garry Proven said yesterday. "We'll represent anyone who wants to go through with this."

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Shatrughan Sinha suggests herbal farming instead of tobacco


There is an urgent need to spread the awareness about the deadly effects of cigarettes products in the nation, particularly in rural areas where most people still remain ignorant to the ill effects of tobacco," said the film-star Shatrughan.

Most importantly he advised the tobacco growers to turn to other crops instead of tobacco, like herbal products. He suggested herbal products because the demand of herbal products is growing `exponentially throughout the world'.

Last year in July 2007, when the 148 nations' Conference on parties (COP-II) meet on global tobacco treaty was held in Thailand , India had demonstrated leadership on behalf of countries in South-East Asian Region to integrate agricultural diversification and alternative crops to tobacco in the comprehensive tobacco control.

Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is the first global corporate accountability and public health treaty in the world.

Though transnational cigarettes corporations like Philip Morris/Altria, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco use sophisticated public relations machinery to claim that tobacco-related agriculture creates jobs and boosts economic development, the facts speak otherwise.

Transnational tobacco corporations have created a supply system that exploits farmers while assuring growth in corporate profits.

Support to farmers and tobacco growing countries is vital.

Only five of the 125 tobacco exporting nations derive more than 5 per cent of their export from tobacco. These five nations are concentrated at the bottom of UNDP's 2006 Human Development Index: Uganda , Zimbabwe , United Republic of Tanzania, Malawi , and the Central African Republic .

Friday, April 4, 2008

Hike Florida cigarette tax by $1 a pack


It’s time for our state to recommit to fighting tobacco use, especially among teens. The dangers of smoking and its toll on lives are not new, but 4,000 kids try their first cigarette every day. We must create ways to keep our young people from lighting up in the first place.
Raising the tax on cigarettes is a proven way to deter kids from starting, and gives current smokers another incentive to quit. Every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes reduces youth smoking by about 7 percent and overall cigarette consumption by about 4 percent.
The District of Columbia and 43 states have raised their cigarettes tax rates more than 75 times since January 2002, more than doubling the national average cigarette tax from 43.4 cents to $1.07 per pack.
Our state is behind the times; Florida last raised its cigarette taxes in 1990. Florida ranks 46th in the nation, as our current taxes are just 34 cents per pack. Even Tennessee, a well-known tobacco-producing state, has introduced cigarette taxes nearly double those in our state.
Budget woes are grabbing headlines these days. Raising the tobacco tax by $1 per pack will raise $822 million annually — a simple solution to our state’s budget deficit and a highly effective way to reduce smoking. It seems like a reasonable solution to me.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Cigar bars, tobacco shops want to bring back smoking


A group of unlikely political activists wants to bring smoking back to some Washington businesses and clubs, more than two years after voters here overwhelmingly approved the nation's most-stringent statewide smoking ban.
A handful of tobacco-dependant and tobacco-friendly businesses recently began gathering signatures for a statewide initiative proposal that would allow smoking in private clubs, cigar bars and tobacco shops. To make the November ballot, they need to collect about 225,000 signatures by the end of June.
"The original initiative went too far," said the sponsor of the latest measure, Joe Arundel, an owner of Rain City cigarettes in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood. "In other states, when they passed this type of legislation, they usually make exceptions for a few places."
"If this (exception) had been written into the original initiative ... it would have passed by literally the same margin," Arundel said. Voters "didn't want to be unintentionally exposed to secondhand smoke. And the initiative we've crafted here would not do that."
But some worry that it's the latest measure, Initiative 1016, that goes too far.
"It could really create a giant loophole in the law," said Carrie Nyssen, advocacy director for the American Lung Association of Washington. "The authors may have thought it was going to be narrow. But we're really afraid that the private club exemption could create some unintended consequences (that) bars could take advantage of."
Further, the exemptions would put employees of those establishments back at risk of breathing dangerous fumes, Nyssen said. "Our position is all workers deserve protection from secondhand smoke," she said.
Backers of the barely funded campaign behind Initiative 1016 acknowledged that qualifying for the ballot would be an uphill battle. Rarely do campaigns collect enough signatures to make the statewide ballot unless they can afford to hire signature gatherers -- and this one cannot.
"This is as grass roots as you get," Arundel said.
According to the initiative, in order to qualify as a cigar bar, the business' food sales must be incidental and it needs to generate at least $25,000 in annual sales of cigars. Backers have distributed petitions in smoke shops, clubs and former cigarettes bars such as Tini Bigs.
In 2005 state voters approved Initiative 901, which prohibits smoking in indoor public facilities and workplaces with no exceptions -- not even cigar lounges or private clubs. The measure also prohibits lighting up within 25 feet of doors, windows and vents of public places.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Smoking tortoise found in China

BEIJING — A tortoise that smokes and appears to be addicted to nicotine has been discovered in China's northeastern province of Jilin, state media reported on Thursday.
The animal is the pet of a man, identified by his surname Yun, who is himself a smoker, Xinhua news agency said, quoting a local newspaper.
One day, Yun teased the tortoise by putting cigarettes butt into its mouth, and to his surprise it started to smoke it, according to the news agency.
From then on, he shared his cigarettes with his pet, Xinhua said.
"It seems to have become addicted," Yun was quoted as saying.
"Whenever I smoke in front of it, it will stick its head out of the water and fidget about until I give it the stub."
Yun proved his claim by putting a cigarettes in the tortoise's mouth in front the paper's reporter and his neighbours, Xinhua quoted the newspaper as saying.
To everyone's surprise, the tortoise finished it in less than four minutes, the news agency said.
Monkeys have been know to smoke in imitation of human beings, the deputy secretary-general of Jilin's Wildlife Conservation Society told Xinhua.
But he said he had never heard of a tortoise lighting up.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Coffee and Cigarettes are Parts of a Balanced Diet

A Wake Forest University showed that drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes are good for you and should be encouraged. It further suggested that legislators should have mandated smoking sections so people can live productive lives.

Dr. Juan Valdez said that coffee should be considered a fruit. Coffee is grown and harvested much like berries and grapes and thus should be considered a fruit.

Dr. Randolph J. Reynolds added that cigarettes contained tobacco, which is grown and harvested like cabbage, lettuce, and other leafy vegetables.

The study also stated that the benefits of a healthy lifestyle can be achieved with as little as 6 cups of coffee and 20 cigarettes per day.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Move to make central jail tobacco-free

In what has come as a fresh initiative aimed at better health of inmates, the authorities at the Nagpur Central Jail have vigorously launched a campaign to ensure that the jail becomes a ‘tobacco-free’ zone.

However, the move has not gone down well with the prisoners. Sounding a note of protest, the inmates have challenged the jail authorities move, with the criterion mentioned in the prison manual that allows tobacco use. Despite a strong opposition and adverse reactions from the prisoners, Nagpur central jail officials have stood their ground so far. And as a step forward, the authorities have withdrawn cigarettes products from the prison canteen.

"Government is spending a big amount on the health of the prisoners. Tobacco is injurious to health," claimed Surinder Kumar, deputy inspector general of police, prisons (eastern region). Several young prisoners dying in the jail has recently raised concern that prompted him to take the decision, he added. "Though I agree that jail manual allows prisoners to use tobacco, we are trying to make an effort for the general well-being of the inmates," Kumar told TOI, over phone from Mumbai.

Kumar said that the tobacco use, particularly by prisoners suffering from ailments like tuberculosis and HIV, is dangerous. "Apart from ruining one’s health, passive smokers also become victims in jail due to restrictions on their free movement," he said.

Dr Rajesh Kochhar, chief medical officer, Central jail, claimed that about 26 prisoners were suffering from tuberculosis and AIDS and of these, eight are HIV positive. "Smoking in prison is certainly a cause for concern and the issue had to be addressed at some point or the other. Prisoners are complaining a lot and are uncomfortable.... we should be able to phase out cigarettes from the jail premises by inculcating better self-discipline and helping them to become strong-willed," Dr Kochhar said.

R U Gaikwad, deputy superintendent of police, Central Jail, claimed that jail authorities were trying to convince the prisoners to desist from cigarettes use. "We are trying hard to convince the prisoners, but we have faced stiff opposition. They have even threatened to take us to court and launch a stir. Unfortunately, they are not trying to realise that the move was taken for their betterment," Gaikwad said.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Ohio proposes 'fire safe' cigarettes


CLEVELAND -- House Bill 500 aims to cut down fire deaths caused by cigarettes .

New York was the first and in all 23 states have already passed legislation requiring cigarette manufacturers provide self extinguishing cigarettes.

The
cigarettes are banded so they stop burning when the smoker stops puffing.

A year after New York's law was enacted, fire deaths blamed on cigarettes dropped by a third.

In 2005, 19 people died from cigarette related fires in Ohio. Fifty-nine people were injured.

Cigarette manufacturers support new legislation as long as it's similar to New York's law.

They're already making banded cigarettes for states that have enacted laws. To learn more about the bill and the campaign click on the links provided below.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Smokers Don't Like New Cigarette Tax

Smokers seem to be protesting a new state tax on cigarettes that went into effect on the first of the year.

The $1.00 tax hike on each pack of cigarettes has prompted a good number of smokers to put down their lighters.

"I've seen a decrease of my customers coming in the store because of the tax. they have to quit," said Debbie Martinez of the Cigarette Depot.

In some cases, smokers get their cigarettes from a cheaper source, such as on-line or in other states.

Some customers who haven't been able to kick the habit, have cut back.

"Before the tax, I may have bought four packs," said one smoker. "Now I buy three, (there's) no other way of dealing with it."

In January of this year, about 24,000,000 packs were sold. Last year, 29,000,000 were sold.

Governor Doyle says calls to the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line have more than doubled since the tax went into effect.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Thief takes cash, cigarettes

Cash and cigarettes were taken during a robbery at the Mac's Convenience Store at King and Bethune streets yesterday morning, city police said.

Police said a man approached the female clerk at 3:30 a.m., produced a black-handled knife with a five-inch blade and demanded money.

He was last seen heading east on King Street.

He's described as white, in his early to mid 30s, standing five-foot-five to six-feet tall.

He has a medium build with short, brown hair and was unshaven.

He was wearing a black coat over another coat, blue jeans and a black Toronto Raptors baseball cap.