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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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 .

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.

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.

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.

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.