Lindsay Lohan’s Tooth Decay Caused By Cigarettes

After examining the pictures that have emerged of Lindsay Lohan’s teeth, celebrity dentist Dr. Pankaj Singh, of Arch Dental Associates, in New York City, says, “This type of damage appears to be from a combination of smoking, drug use and lack of personal care.” Think the discoloration can be caused just by cigarettes? Dr. Singh begs to differ.

According to Dr. Singh, “smoking causes yellowing of the teeth, which we definitely see here in this picture. However, at such a young age, smoking wouldn’t cause the decay and browning you see around the gums. Damage like that is something we see in patients who are using or have used drugs.”

What kinds of drugs can cause this decay? Could marijuana cause the same types of decay as harder drugs?

“The answer is no,” says Dr. Singh, “marijuana and other drugs don’t affect the teeth the same way. Marijuana is smoked and so the heat generated from smoking causes inflammation which can cause damage to the soft tissue. However, drugs like cocaine, crack, meth all have acidic properties which is more destructive to the enamel which ultimately leads to decay.”

Is Cigarette Tax a problem?

I've been reading and hearing a lot of opinions about the extra dollar per pack on cigarettes and it reminds me of what we were taught in school about how America first became a country of its own. The English were charging too much tax on tea and there was a term called taxation without representation.
Shouldn't we tax hamburgers, French fries, doughnuts and candy bars, and anything else fattening? Then we can tax things with too much salt or caffeine.
Do you see where this is going? You can't fairly tax one thing more than another, and the real problem is the budget and the lack of revenue and it's not fair to pick one group of the population to bail out the rest.
The government can't manage the budget with the taxes they have now and can't cut anymore then raise taxes on everything evenly.

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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 .

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.