New Campaign Against Fraud Cigarettes

Stoke City’s Salif Diao has become the face of a new campaign against fake Esse cigarettes.

The Stoke-on-Trent City Council iniative is being backed by the club and saw posters featuring an image of the midfielder unveiled ahead of their clash with Blackpool on Saturday (December 11).

Smoking in the Airport Not Permitted

Smoking balconies are in the domestic and international departure lounges.

Under Northern Territory Government legislation, which comes into force on January 2, smoking Kent will be banned in all non-licensed public outdoor eating and drinking areas.

Smoking Banned in Apartments

The elderly residents at the Danville Development Corp. properties will no longer have to deal with secondhand smoke.

Residents are no longer allowed to smoke Vogue anywhere in the building, even in their own apartments. Instead, each property has built or will build a covered outdoor smoking area. The cost of each structure varies on location, but it costs several thousand dollars for each property.

Children Exposed to Cigarettes Smoke

Children who lived in apartments with non-smokers had higher levels of a tobacco by product in their blood than children from smoke-free single-family homes, according to a new study that suggests multiunit housing is a significant source of second-hand smoke.

Internet Tobacco Advertising Restricted in Australia

Australia will move on Wednesday to restrict internet tobacco advertising, preventing retailers from promoting cheap or tax free Sobranie cigarettes, as part of a campaign to cut smoking rates by 10 percent by 2018.

Young Australians, aged 24-29, currently have the highest rate of smoking among Australians, who currently have a nearly 20 percent rate of smoking overall.

Tobacco Co. Never Will Manufacture Cigs For Kids

Leslie Adamson said the white truck that stopped at the Boston housing project she grew up in brought adults and children running, much like a visit from the ice cream man.

But instead of sweets, the truck brought free cigarette samples.

Tobacco Products For Sale Would Be Banned

A planned crackdown on tobacco displays and instant fines for shopkeepers caught selling to minors has local retailers preparing to hide away Hilton cigarettes.

Banning Smoking in Parks and at Beaches, New Law in NY

New York City is pursuing a tough new policy that would shoo smokers out of public parks, beaches and even the heart of Times Square - one of the most ambitious outdoor anti-tobacco efforts in the nation.

Smoking While Pregnant Harms Kids' Motor Skills

Women who smoke during pregnancy risk harming their future child's coordination and motor abilities, especially those of boys, a new study suggests.

The dangerous effects of smoking Camel cigs during pregnancy are already widely known — babies are more likely to be born prematurely or with low birth weight, and are up to three times more likely to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chinese Cigarettes Contain Bad Tobacco

A Chinese health official has blamed the alleged shoddy quality of domestic tobacco on the "self-policing" system in China's tobacco industry, Health News reported Wednesday.

Jiang Yuan, vice director of the tobacco control office with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), made the remark in an interview by Health News, after returning from the ninth Asia Pacific Conference on Tobacco or Health hosted in Australia.

Tobacco industry fights Australian cigarette bans

Australia’s tobacco industry is to launch a multimillion dollar blitz against the ruling Labor party’s plain cigarette pack policy as the election race entered its final weeks, reports said today.

Indoor Smoking Ban in Wisconsin

Wisconsin is just one week away from adopting the indoor Winston smoking ban. Smoking will no longer be allowed in any enclosed establishment such as places of employment, bars, restaurants and other public facilities; and the ban has many people torn.

Why Does Woman Suffers from Fatal Lung Disease

A mother is having an incurable smoking ailment, in spite of the fact that she has never lit any Marlboro,Eva cigarettes in her life.

Lynda Mitchell, 52, who is on her last legs from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, has always loathed tobacco.

The mom of one believes that her parents are responsible for her sickness, who each lighted 60 cigarettes in a day.

New Anti-Tobacco Propaganda in Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is preparing to post propaganda pictures in some 9,000 locations where tobacco is sold using a federal stimulus grant of $316,000 to at least partially pay to print them. That hardly contributes to job creation and economic recovery in the state, according to the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association.

Why Menthol Cigarettes Should be Banned?

Menthol cigarettes like Karelia, Kiss, Eva etc now account for more than one-quarter of all cigarettes sold in the U.S. In fact, menthols -- often described as "cooling," "soothing," and "smooth" -- make up a growing share of the shrinking cigarette market. Between 2004 and 2008, the percentage of adult smokers who smoked them increased from 30 percent to 34 percent.

New Proposal to Prohibit the Display of Cigs in Guernsey

Shops in Guernsey face being banned from displaying tobacco and other discount cigarettes like Kiss, Virginia, Marlboro, etc if a proposal from health officials gets the backing of the States.

The Health and Social Services Department also wants stricter rules surrounding tobacco vending machines.

Deputies are being asked to agree to ban the display of tobacco at the point of sale and restrict vending machines to adult-only establishments.

The proposals will go before the States in June.

In 1996, the States became the first government in the British Isles to ban tobacco advertising.

The proposals also include making tobacco vending machines token operated and ensuring all products imported into the island include pictorial warnings.

The A-Team Should Quit Smoking

Liam Neeson wants the stars of The A-Team to wear nicotine patches instead of chain smoking cigars if there is a sequel.

The actor plays John 'Hannibal' Smith in Joe Carnahan's big screen adaptation of the hit 1980s TV show. The film is about a group of US Army Special Forces soldiers who become mercenaries after they escape from jail, where they were sent after they were convicted of a crime they didn't commit.

Liam's character is famous for his love of cigars, which horrified the actor, who quit smoking Marlboro in the 1990s. He tried to use rubber cigars at first, but was chain-smoking again by the second day of filming.

"I stopped smoking 16 years ago, it was a real issue for me," Liam told Australia radio programme The Kyle and Jackie O Show. "Joe insisted I have cigars and because it was Canada, they don't have a trade embargo with Cuba and the props guys got me these amazing Cuban cigars.

"I got them to make rubber ones, because I didn't want to be puffing on a cigar, but Joe, who is a big cigar smoker said, 'No, it looks so false!' I said, "Joe, I'm an addict! I can't smoke this stuff!' Day 2 and I discovered cigars. It was dangerous!"

Liam has now managed to wean himself off tobacco for a second time, and has already decided he will never smoke for a film again. If there is a sequel to The A-Team, he is planning to suggest his character wears nicotine patches instead of smoking.

"If we do a sequel, I think I'll have to insist on no cigars," Liam said. "We'll all have patches on instead."

Higher Levels of Cancer-Causing Chemicals in U.S. Cigarettes

People who smoke certain U.S. cigarette brands are exposed to higher levels of cancer-causing tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), the major carcinogens and cancer-causing agents in tobacco products, than people who smoke some foreign cigarette brands like Doina,Marengo,Eva etc. This was one of the findings from the first-ever study to compare TSNA exposures among smokers from different countries. CDC researchers compared mouth-level TSNA exposures and urine biomarkers among smokers from the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia. Results of this study are published in the June issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention.

“We know that cigarettes from around the world vary in their ingredients and the way they are produced,” said Dr. Jim Pirkle, deputy director for science at CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Laboratory Sciences. “All of these cigarettes contain harmful levels of carcinogens, but these findings show that amounts of tobacco-specific nitrosamines differ from country to country, and U.S. brands are the highest in the study.”

The types of tobacco in cigarettes vary by manufacturer and location of production. The U.S. cigarette brands studied contained “American blend” tobacco, a specific mixture of tobacco from the U.S. that contains higher TSNA levels. The Australian, Canadian, and U.K. cigarette brands were made from “bright” tobacco, which is lighter in color and flue cured. Changes in curing and blending practices could reduce U.S. smokers’ exposure to one type of cancer-causing compound, however, this would not necessarily result in a safer product.
OLFA North America

Study collaborators enlisted 126 persons from Australia, Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. who smoke cigarettes daily to participate in the study. Cigarettes smoked by study participants represented popular brands in each country.

Scientists measured chemicals in cigarette butts collected by each smoker over a 24-hour period to determine how much of a certain TSNA entered the smokers’ mouths during that period. They also collected urine samples from study participants to find out how much breakdown product from this TSNA appeared in the urine. Comparing the results from these two types of sampling showed a correlation between the amount of one TSNA that enters the mouth and the amount of its breakdown product that appears in the urine. This is the first time this relationship has been documented.

Smoke-Free Parks Issue Revisited

Approval of a no smoking policy in portions of county parks will go to a Legislature vote next month. Legislature Chairman William Ross, C-Wheatfield, will put a resolution on the body’s July 27 agenda, he said Tuesday. Before then, the unabashed backer of smoking discount cigarettes like Marlboro discouragement wants legislators to review a variety of sign mockups and pick the phrases they can live with.

“I’m bringing the resolution back, and we’re going to vote on it,” Ross asserted.

The county was hit up earlier this year, by the Erie-Niagara Tobacco Free Coalition, to erect no-smoking signs in areas of county parks where children are most likely to congregate: pools, beaches, playgrounds, athletic fields and restrooms.

Legislators have vigorously debated the wisdom of OK’ing signs that chastise a legal activity. Phrases such as “Our park is smoke-free, please don’t smoke or litter” and “Young lungs at play: This is a tobacco-free zone,” come perilously close to sounding like law when there isn’t one to enforce, opponents say. A proposed policy declaring child-centered areas of county parks to be tobacco-free was tabled last month.

Daniel Stapleton, county public health director, appealed to legislators Tuesday to read the signs as encouragement, nothing more. He’s not asking for a law against smoking in county parks and doesn’t believe the phrasing of signs shown to legislators so far conveys anything more than a suggestion.

“This isn’t a matter of trying to take people’s rights away. The signs are just some gentle reminders: Hey, kids are here, don’t smoke here,” Stapleton said. “There won’t be signs in the parking lot, or the pavilions, just where children play.”

When asked, adult smokers typically will refrain from lighting up around children, Stapleton said. The point of the signs is to encourage consideration for children, who are more adversely affected by secondhand smoke — and also are less likely to take up the habit if they don’t see adults doing it, he added.

Legislator Phillip “Russ” Rizzo, I-North Tonawanda, likened the signs to police cars: Their mere appearance discourages criminal activity, and the police didn’t have to do anything except drive them.

“I think these signs will deter people from smoking ... in the presence of other people,” he said.

Legislator Renae Kimble, D-Niagara Falls, still isn’t sold on them. Phrases declaring parks or areas of parks are “tobacco-free” and “smoke-free” still sound too much like law to her.

“We may not like the fact that people smoke, but they have a legal right to do so. ... This language needs to be changed; it needs to be toned down,” she said.

The Erie County Legislature recently adopted a sign policy for county parks seeking visitors’ voluntary compliance with no-smoking requests in recreation areas.

Cigarettes Use is Ugly & Deadly for Someone

Governments around the world should try to address the epidemic brought by “ugly” and “deadly” tobacco use, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday.

“We must turn back the global tobacco epidemic. On World No Tobacco Day, I urge all governments to address this public health threat. Tobacco use is not stylish or empowering. It is ugly and deadly,” he said in a statement issued on the observance of World No Tobacco Day.

Noting that tobacco marketing has targeted women by associating cigarettes like Lady, Karelia etc and their use with beauty and liberation, Ban urged governments to act accordingly.

“Governments everywhere must take action to protect women from tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, as stipulated in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control,” he said.

Studies show that some 200 million women worldwide smoke and the number is growing.

The Convention also calls on governments to protect women from second-hand tobacco smoke, especially in countries where women feel powerless to protect themselves and their children.

As World Health Organization data show, of the 600,000 people who die each year from second-hand smoke, nearly two-thirds are women.

Around the world, more than 1.5 million women die each year from tobacco use. Most of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. Without concerted action, that number could rise to 2.5 million women by the year 2030.

Citing a recent WHO study showing that the number of girls and boys who smoked was about equal in half the 151 countries surveyed, Ban said: “This finding is even more worrisome since young people who smoke are likely to continue in adulthood.”

Campaign Against Illegal Cigarettes Makes Durham Stop

Every day in this country at least one more convenience store closes its doors for good. Hannah Lee doesn't want hers to be one of them.

"I'm worried," Ms. Lee admitted Friday as she stood behind the counter of her Convenience Plus shop on Thickson Road in Whitby. "We don't know what's going to happen."

Ms. Lee, a convenience store operator for 20 years, has lent her voice to a campaign being undertaken by the Canadian Convenience Stores Association that calls for swift action to blunt the impact of contraband cigarettes on shop owners. The association claims a sharp drop in sales of legitimate smokes is having a negative impact on stores, which depend heavily on tobacco sales.

Ms. Lee said tobacco sales account for more than one-third of her shop's revenues, and that smokers coming in for cigarettes can often be depended upon to buy other items. But rising prices -- it costs more than $10 for a pack of premium smokes like Marlboro or Lucky Strike brands -- are luring more and more smokers to cheap contraband cigarettes.

And shop owners worry that the July 1 imposition of the harmonized sales tax, which will add another eight per cent to the cost of tobacco, will only exacerbate that situation.

That's why the association is calling on the provincial government to cut the taxes it imposes on cigarettes, one of a number of measures being touted as representatives undertake a 25-city blitz aimed at raising awareness about the issues surrounding contraband tobacco.

The group is pushing the provincial and federal governments to address the issue, Ontario Convenience Stores Association chairman Wendy Kadlovski said during a stop May 21 in Whitby. She said an estimated 2,400 convenience stores have gone out of business in the past few years.

"We play by the rules and we pay our taxes and we want to support our communities," Ms. Kadlovski said.

"Our government is losing hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes," to contraband cigarettes, she said.

The association is promoting a number of measures including taxation and stepped-up law enforcement to target smugglers.

The association cites statistics indicating up to half of the cigarettes smoked in Ontario are contraband, and that many of those smokes are winding up in the possession of young smokers; a recent study of butts found outside eight Durham Region high schools indicated one-fifth were contraband, Ms. Kadlovski said.

The availability of bogus smokes to young people troubles Whitby-Oshawa MPP Christine Elliott, the Conservative critic for health and long-term care, who said all levels of government can fight the problem by enforcing existing laws.

"We just shouldn't have contraband cigarettes available, period. They're illegal and we need to crack down on it," she said.

Sentara Respected for No-Smoking Regulation

For its effort to reduce the exposure of patients, employees and visitors to cigarettes smoke, Sentara Healthcare has earned the American Cancer Society’s “Excellence in Workplace Tobacco Control” award.

“Live the Mission” is Sentara Healthcare’s slogan for its 100 percent tobacco-free environment initiative. The program, Tobacco Free Environment, bans smoking and prohibits smokeless tobacco products anywhere on campus.

“We are excited to be recognized by the American Cancer Society,” Sentara CEO Dave Bernd said in a new release. “We believe a tobacco-free environment sends the right message to our employees, patients, visitors and vendors. We believe Sentara’s mission, to improve health everyday, is best led by example.”

Sentara’s program also offers a four-week education and support program titled “Get Off Your Butt! Stay Smokeless for Life!” The program focuses on the needs of each individual in her desire to quit smoking and is open to all Sentara employees, as well as members of the Hampton Roads community.

“Support buddies” are welcomed and encouraged to attend. The classes offer in-depth explanations of nicotine addiction and the most effective ways to break the habit.

Employees who are not able to attend the classes are given a workbook and a self-help compact disc to help guide them through the quitting stages. They are also given nicotine patches at cost, along with nicotine gum and incentives to quit through Mission: Health, Sentara’s health and prevention program.

Employees can continue to engage in services, even after they have completed the program. Additionally, the program is free of charge and is offered multiple times a year, at various locations, to make it easily accessible for all employees.

Alverine Mack, the program coordinator, credits the program’s staff for its success.

“The entire team has done a tremendous job,” she stated in the release. “It’s estimated that about 49,000 people die each year from second-hand smoke. By implementing the TFE program, Sentara is actively trying to improve the health of its campus for all who come here.”

Reynolds Tobacco Tops List for Board Diversity

The most diverse corporate board in North Carolina is at a company that sells tobacco, which has long been thought of as a male-dominated industry.

But Reynolds American Inc., based in Winston -Salem and run for the past six years by chief executive Susan Ivey, has a board where half the members are women are minorities. That’s a far higher percentage than most other N.C. companies, according to a study released today by the UNC School of Law.

According to the study, which is part of the school’s Director Diversity Initiative, N.C. companies are lagging the Fortune 100 when it comes to putting women and minorities on their boards. The study, which examined the 50 largest companies headquartered in North Carolina, found that 12 percent of the corporate board members were women, and 7 percent were minorities.

Each of those measures are up about 1 percentage point from the last survey, in 2006. But they’re below the average for Fortune 100 companies, which have about 17 percent female board members and about 15 percent minority board members, the UNC study said. UNC gave kudos to the 16 N.C. companies whose boards were at least one-quarter women or minorities, with Reynolds at the top of the list. Charlotte-based Piedmont Natural Gas Company Inc., Family Dollar Stores Inc., SPX Corp., Bank of America Corp., Polymer Group Inc. and Goodrich were also recognized.

Eleven of the N.C. companies had no women or minorities on their board, including five that are based in the Charlotte area: EnPro Industries Inc., Sonic Automotive Inc., Polypore International Inc., Cato Corp. and Speedway Motorsports Inc.

UNC’s Director Diversity Initiative also holds training anti-smoking programs on board diversity and maintains a database of potential board candidates.

IN RESPONSE: Letter an example of illogical reasoning

Larry Lee's letter (April 29) promoting the city's smoking ban is yet another example of illogical reasoning and the consequences of government intrusion into our daily lives. 

He says using an argument about a ban on overweight people is so ridiculous as to be laughable. 

Yet these bans that Lee ridicules are popping up and being promoted across the country by politicians and those tiresome people who are trying to save the human race from itself.

"A smoking ban would create overall fairness," Lee writes. For whom? As the situation exists today in our community, the vast majority of restaurants are non-smoking, while a precious few have smaller designated smoking areas. Some businesses offer a choice. What's wrong with that? 

"The air belongs to everyone," Lee writes, but the "everyone" he refers to excludes smokers, even in smaller designated smoking areas.

Also, Lee discounts people who would drive to smoking-friendly cities or counties. I am one of the many who drives from smoking ban counties into others that provide freedom of choice.

Here's a clue: Stay out of the smaller smoking areas in the few restaurants that still provide them. 

I choose to not dine in non-smoking restaurants. 

By the way, in all fairness, I don't smoke cigarettes. But I do smoke stinking cigars, which I consider one of life's simple pleasures.

This is not about a smoking ban. What Lee and the smoking police want is total control over our daily lives. 

The "what's next?" is as real as apple pie.

Karl Penn is a resident of Evansville.

Australians must stop smoking!

Australia's Federal Government's move to increase cigarette taxes up to 25 percent which will increase prices by up to $3 a pack or $15 a week with simpler packs is considered to be just a "waste of time" for some smokers.

According to Australian Medical Association, four million Australians are smokers and this rate is lower compared in low socio-economic areas, prison and indigenous segments of the population.

People from Centro Wodonga voiced out their opinions regarding the changes made.

"I am more worried about the price of smokes going up," Darren Pollard said.

"The change in packaging will make no difference to young people. They will smoke if they want to smoke."

But Andrew Lavender, state president from AMA believes that the new regulations will force smokers to stop the habit.

"We would like to see the cost of cigarettes increased even further because it's the single biggest way we can make people give up smoking.

"Cigarettes are still about 50 per cent cheaper here than in Europe."

Dr. Lavender reveals that plain cigarette packs particularly targets the youth and those people who are just about to begin smoking.

"Cigarette makers are in the business of selling cancer; ideally it would be illegal but they should not be able to make it attractive as a means of trying to sell it to the youth."

The law is foreseen to start by July 1, 2012 banning the use of attractive texts, branding and logos on cigarette packets.

Number of licences to grow tobacco more than doubles since quota system nixed

It was supposed to be a goner, but after shrivelling to near extinction, Ontario's tobacco crop is ready to rebound big-time this year.

And for at least one industry observer and critic, the rebound doesn't pass the smell test and is being done on the backs of taxpayers.

The number of people licensed to grow tobacco this year has more than doubled, to 264 under a new licence system from 118 under the old quota system. After years of dwindling tobacco production, the federal government scrapped the quota system two years ago. Tobacco growers, mostly centred in the Elgin-Oxford-Norfolk area, were paid a total of $286 million for their quota in return for a vow to get out of the industry permanently.

Fred Neukamm, chairpman of the Ontario Flue-Cure Tobacco Growers Marketing Board, estimates this year's tobacco crop should jump to 22.5 million kilograms, up from 10 million kilograms last year.

That's far below the peak production of 108 milloin kilograms in 1974, but it's roughly equal to Canada's annual consumption of cigarette tobacco, said Neil Collishaw of Ottawa-based Physicians for a Smoke Free Canada.

Collishaw said that because of loopholes in the exit program, many of the same tobacco growers that took the buyout are back in business by striking a deal with a licence holder who could be a friend or relative who did not take the buyout.

With the rebound of tobacco production, he said, the federal tobacco buyout program appears to have done little but enrich tobacco quota holders, while tobacco production has rebounded enough to meet domestic demand.

"Tobacco growers can thank the taxpayers," Collishaw said.

But Neukamm said the number of producers and the crop size has increased because manufacturers are putting more Ontario tobacco back in their cigarettes.

Under the new system, farmers sell their tobacco on contract directly to manufacturers. Under the old marketing board system, manufacturers paid a premium price for Ontario tobacco and gradually substituted it for cheaper imported tobacco.

'Smoking ban violated my human rights 'claims High Down prisoner

An man addicted to cigarettes is seeking compensation after a prison officer denied him tobacco for a week as punishment for bad behaviour. 

Jack Richard Foster, a prisoner at HMP High Down, in the border of Banstead and Sutton, decided to take action after a prison officer he swore at decided to discipline him by not allowing him to smoke. 

His lawyers claimed today (Tuesday, March 23) at High Court that his human rights were violated and he should have been given nicotine patches or gum to satisfy his cravings during the ban. 

The court was told Foster was denied tobacco and earnings for seven days, and had his canteen privileges removed for 14 days in February 2008 when he was 19 years old and a young offender at the jail. 

Philip Rule, representing Foster, said the punishment was in violation of his rights under the 1998 Human Rights Act. 

Foster intends to claim damages under the European Convention on Human Rights if the case succeeds, the court heard. 

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: “We cannot comment on ongoing investigations.” 

The case has been adjourned and a date for a new hearing is yet to be set.

50-cent cigarette tax passes in Senate

The Senate gave final passage to a 50-cent cigarette tax increase Wednesday, closing debate, at least temporarily, on an issue lawmakers have wrestled with for years.

The vote to hike the cigarette tax, which has been stuck at 7 cents a pack since the 1970s, was 32-12, which is a slight erosion in support from the Senate's initial approval of the measure before Easter.

The increase goes to the House now, which approved a 30- cents a pack cigarette tax increase in its budget several weeks ago. 

Republican Gov. Mark Sanford is expected to veto the Senate measure, however.

If Senate support holds, however, the margin the bill passed with Wednesday is sufficient to override Sanford.

The major change made to the bill the Senate approved 10 days ago is where money will come from to fund an I-95 Authority for infrastructure development, and to promote S.C. agriculture.

That $4 million will now come from interest accrued by the tobacco settlement several years ago, which lawmakers said averages about $10 million a year.

Under the amended cigarette tax bill passed by the Senate, $3 million will go for infrastructure development in counties adjoining the high-poverty I-95 corridor, and $1 million will go for agriculture promotion.

Promoted by Sen. John Land, D-Clarendon, with the aid of Finance Committee chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, and Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, the amendment earmarks the $4 million only when it is available and not otherwise obligated, lawmakers said.

The amendment, which was passed by the same 32-12 margin as the overall bill, was further altered by Sen. Greg Ryberg, R-Aiken, so that the I-95 provision automatically sunsets after five years, though lawmakers could vote to stop the subsidy at any time.

In order for the cash-strapped I-95 counties to receive the tobacco interest money, they must put up a $2 match for each $1 they receive.

Land said development along I-95 has not blossomed because there is no water and sewage service readily available along the interstate, which is a costly necessity for business development.

The Senate-passed cigarette tax increase also includes money for cancer treatment at MUSC in Charleston, and for smoking cessation programs, both of which also were included in the pre-Easter bill.

Is this proof smoking lowers your IQ? Study suggests those on 20 a day are less intelligent

Smoking has long been known to damage lungs and cause heart disease. But it could also lower your IQ, research has found.

Young people who smoke regularly are likely to have markedly lower intelligence levels than those who do not smoke, and, according to the study of 20,000 young adults, the heavier the smoker, the lower the IQ.  

Those who smoke a pack or more of cigarettes a day averaged an IQ seven and a half points lower than that of those who do not smoke.

A typical 18 to 21-year-old smoker was found to have an IQ of 94, while non-smokers of the same age averaged 101. 

Those who smoked more than a pack a day had particularly low IQs of around 90. An average intelligence IQ score ranges from 84 to 116 points.

Crucially, brothers scored differently depending on whether or not they smoked. 

Despite similar environmental conditions, non-smoking siblings achieved higher IQs than their smoking brothers.

The results come from a study of 20,000 young men conducted by the Sheba Medical Center at the Tel Hashomer Hospital in Israel.

Dr. Mark Weiser, who led the research, said it is unclear whether smoking causes IQ levels to drop or whether less intelligent people are simply more inclined to smoke.

'It was really quite a straightforward study,' he said. 

'We looked at cross-sectional data on IQ and smoking cigarettes, and looked at people's smoking status and their IQs.

'IQ scores are lower in male adolescents who smoke compared to non-smokers and in brothers who smoke compared to their non-smoking brothers. The IQs of adolescents who began smoking between ages 18 to 21 are lower than those of non-smokers.

'It's very clear that people with low IQs are the ones who choose to smoke. It's not just a matter of socioeconomic status - if they are poor or have less education,' he said.

Dr Weiser suggested the results could confirm a previously held conviction that those with lower IQs tend to make poorer decisions regarding their health – that they are more likely to take drugs, eat unhealthy food and exercise less.

The study could also be used to prevent smoking in young people by targeting those with lower IQs, Dr Weiser said.

Researchers found that 28per cent of the teenagers polled smoked one or more cigarettes a day, three per cent admitted to having smoked in the past, while 68 per cent of the young men had never smoked.

In 2004, researchers from the University of Aberdeen first found a possible link between smoking and reduced mental function.

Hundreds of volunteers who had taken part in the Scottish Mental Survey in 1947 aged 11, retook tests 53 years later.

Smokers performed worse than ex-smokers and those who had never smoked. 

Scientists cannot yet conclusively explain the link between impaired lung function and cognitive ageing but it has been suggested that smoking could put the brain under oxidative stress, which causes DNA damage.

Teen Smoking Called a 'National Catastrophe'

Moscow's top doctor said Friday that smoking-related diseases were growing and warned that teenage smoking was leading to a "national catastrophe."

Dr. Leonid Lazebnik painted a grim picture of the harm that tobacco was causing Russians, telling a round table that 65 percent of men and 30 percent of women have smoked at some time in their lives.

In contrast, Lazebnik said, the figures in the mid-1980s were 48 percent of men and 5 percent of women.

He said 24.6 percent of Muscovites are smokers.

"But the scariest thing of all is our future," Lazebnik said. "In Moscow, 73 percent of boys and 65 percent of girls smoke. I see this as a national catastrophe."

Lazebnik did not provide figures for the growth in smoking-related diseases.

City Hall and federal officials attending Friday's round table promised to lobby for laws that restricted smoking in public places and limited cigarette sales.

"We will have no success without a legal base," said Yulia Grimalskaya, deputy head of City Hall's department for family and youth policies.

She said her department was lobbying for a ban on selling cigarettes in kiosks, the licensing of tobacco sales and high fines for smoking in public places, including restaurants.

Nikolai Gerasimenko, first deputy head of State Duma's commission for health protection, called for higher excise duties on tobacco products, which he said would clear the market of contraband cigarettes and drive up cigarette prices, making them less affordable.

Russia has the lowest excise duties on tobacco goods in Europe, said Dmitry Yanin, chairman of the board at the International Confederation of Consumer Societies.

Yanin urged a ban on tobacco advertising and smoking in public places. "Smoking-free zones would boost Moscow's tourist potential," Yanin said.

Gerasimenko complained that foreign tobacco makers were making money at Russia's expense.

"They get their profits, while we spend lots of money on medical treatment," he said.

About 10 percent of tobacco traders on the Russian market are foreign, he said.

Lyudmila Stebenkova, head of the Moscow City Duma's commission for public health protection, suggested that restaurants consider offering smoke-free days.

She also said the public needed to be educated about the dangers of smoking through anti-tobacco billboards. Her commission is responsible for creating such billboards, including one that depicts a hand squeezing a dirty sponge, which is compared to a smoker's lung, that was used in a citywide campaign late last year.

According to a survey conducted by the state-run VTsIOM polling agency in December, those billboards, which were posted around the city in November, had led 7 percent of respondents to quit smoking.

The survey questioned 1,000 Muscovites, all of them smokers or former smokers, a VTsIOM spokeswoman said by telephone. It offered no margin of error.

New way of cigarette smuggling discovered

Since the Health and Welfare Surcharge on tobacco was implemented in 2002, the smuggling of small cigarette brands is getting a lot more serious, according to
Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor Corporation (TTLC).

Illegal cigarette sellers first created their own brand of cigarette, and got the cigarettes manufactured in the Mainland and other Asian countries. They imported a small proportion of the cigarettes into Taiwan through legal means, and smuggled the rest.

When the smugglers were questioned, they could provide proof that their cigarettes were registered and were sold legally. Also, the majority of these cigarettes were sold at betel nut stalls and night markets. It was hard for the customs offices to find enough evidence to prosecute the illegal groups.

TTLC believes that these illegal tobaccos have a market share of almost 10 percent.

In the past, most illegal cigarettes were counterfeited cigarettes selling under well-known brands. However, once they were caught, the smugglers had to face criminal charges and also had to pay the cigarette companies for their losses. By the new way, they can avoid both charges.

Custom offices estimated that more than NT$5 billion of tobacco tax was evaded through cigarette smuggling each year. For every pack of illegal cigarettes sold, NT$35 tax income was lost. In 2009, 10.27 million packs of tobacco were confiscated, 5.81 million more than 2008, accounting a 130 percent increase.

On Feb. 8, Taichung Custom Office had found smuggled cigarettes valued at NT$50 million, the biggest cigarette-smuggling case in 10 years.

Study compares advertising tactics between indoor tanning and tobacco industries to market unhealthy products

While the proven negative health consequences of smoking and tanning are undeniable, tobacco and indoor tanning advertisers would like consumers to think otherwise. In fact, a new study comparing the tactics used in advertising tobacco and indoor tanning products found several similarities in how these two industries market unhealthy products.

In the report entitled, "Comparison of advertising strategies between the indoor tanning and tobacco industries," published online in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, dermatologist David A. Jones, MD, PhD, FAAD, in private practice in Newton, Mass., presented results of an observational study which concluded that both industries employ advertising strategies to counteract health concerns of their products in order to positively influence the consumer's perception of smoking and indoor tanning and drive industry demand.

"The indoor tanning industry reported domestic sales in excess of $2.7 billion in 2007 , and it relies heavily on advertising to sell the misleading idea of a 'safe' or 'healthy' tan to the public," said Dr. Jones. "Even though it is well documented that UV radiation from natural sunlight and indoor tanning devices is a known cause of skin cancer, the public is not always aware of the serious health risks associated with indoor tanning - and the tanning industry's advertising practices capitalize on this fact."

In reviewing 2,000 advertisements from four large tobacco advertising image databases, Dr. Jones and his colleague, Jennifer Herrmann, MD, identified four key strategy profiles that were used to sell their products. These strategies included: mitigating health concerns, appealing to a sense of social acceptance, emphasizing psychotrophic effects, and targeting specific population segments. Dr. Jones added that tobacco advertising was selected as a reference framework because it is well documented and designed to promote a product with known health hazards.

Subsequently, a collection of approximately 350 contemporary tanning advertisements was compiled from a variety of sources - such as industry magazines, salon and industry Web sites, and in-store promotional materials - and evaluated based on the four key strategies identified in the tobacco advertisements.

As the increased incidence of lung cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and other health risks linked to smoking continued to mount over the years, the tobacco industry adjusted its advertising strategy to mitigate these known health risks. Specifically, the tobacco industry recruited physicians as crucial allies in marketing their products, reassured the public that their brands had competitive health advantages, and commended the intelligence of smokers for choosing cigarettes marketed as "safer" cigarettes.

Using Physicians as Allies
Dating back to the 1930s and 1940s, Dr. Jones and his colleague found that physicians wearing white lab coats frequently appeared in cigarette advertisements - using the doctor's image to reassure consumers that cigarettes were safe. Similarly, indoor tanning advertisements have resorted to using physicians and citing medical research studies to try to persuade the public that indoor tanning is somehow "safe" or "safer" than tanning outdoors.

"The thinking behind these ads is that if physicians do something, then somehow it must be okay," said Dr. Jones. "However, these ads omit the results of a recent survey indicating that 100 percent of dermatologists and 84 percent of non-dermatologist physicians would discourage UV tanning for non-medical purposes, even in healthy patients."

Promoting Misleading Health Advantages
When awareness of the health risks of cigarettes began to grow in the 1950s and 1960s, the tobacco industry responded with what it coined as "safer," "filtered" cigarettes. Dr. Jones noted that the goal of these ads was to convince consumers that filtered cigarettes provided protection from harmful effects of smoking, but without admitting that smoking was detrimental to one's health.

To dispel growing concerns about the dangers of UV exposure, the indoor tanning industry countered with "harm reduction" campaigns that were similar to those used by the tobacco industry. For example, some advertisers began promoting their tanning beds as "UVB-free" or "99% pure UVA" during the 1980s when research confirmed that UVB rays are carcinogenic. These ads, of course, failed to mention that UVA rays also are harmful and can cause skin cancer.

Another popular harm reduction tactic used in tanning advertisements is to promote the health benefits of vitamin D production from UV exposure. In these types of ads, consumers are led to believe that UV exposure from both natural sunlight and tanning beds is beneficial in producing vitamin D, which research suggests may provide protection against heart disease and other cancers.

"What these ads omit is that UV exposure increases your risk of skin cancer, and there are safer ways to get this important vitamin," said Dr. Jones. "An adequate amount of vitamin D can be obtained from vitamin D supplements - without the health risks of obtaining vitamin D from intentional UV exposure."

Nothing Smart about Ads that Appeal to the Consumer's Intelligence
Another tactic used by tobacco manufacturers in advertising is to try to somehow make consumers believe they are "smart" by smoking a certain brand of cigarettes over another brand. Dr. Jones and his colleague found that the indoor tanning industry makes similar appeals to the intelligence of consumers by promoting sunburn prevention at tanning bed facilities through trained professionals who teach consumers how to "tan safely" without getting sunburned.

"This tactic fails to mention that tanning to prevent sunburn provides only an SPF protection of 3, while simultaneously causing damage to the skin that can lead to future skin cancers," said Dr. Jones. "In addition, studies also show that staff members of indoor tanning facilities do not always enforce the tanning intensity of tanning beds and time regulations of their patrons."

While Dr. Jones and his colleague concluded that further consumer education about the dangers of tanning is needed, they also point out that the lack of government regulation has allowed the tanning industry to thrive on the public's misconceptions about tanning through deceptive advertising practices.

FTC Bans Misleading Indoor Tanning Ads
Recognizing the seriousness of this issue, in January 2010 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a consent order that prohibits the Indoor Tanning Association (ITA) from making false health and safety claims about indoor tanning. The American Academy of Dermatology (Academy) raised its concerns about the false statements being made by the ITA with the FTC in 2008 after the ITA launched an advertising campaign designed to portray indoor tanning as safe and beneficial.

"The American Academy of Dermatology commends the FTC for its investigation into the false and deceptive health and safety claims about indoor tanning being perpetuated by the indoor tanning industry," said dermatologist David M. Pariser, MD, FAAD, president of the American Academy of Dermatology. "The scientific facts are clear: Exposure to UV radiation - either from the sun or from artificial light sources such as indoor tanning - increases the risk of developing skin cancer, including melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer."

Weight fears of teenage smokers

TEENAGE girls desperate to keep their weight down may be leaving themselves open to a greater health risk – because they can’t kick the cigarettes.

Now a York doctor has sent out an appeal for youngsters whose believe their smoking habit will stop them from over-eating to stub out their potentially more damaging use of tobacco.

It comes after a new study by the government’s food watchdog the Food Standards Agency (FSA) revealed girls in their teens eat more unhealthily than anybody else, shunning the recommended intake of fruit and vegetables and missing out on vital nutrients.

Dr David Fair, of the Jorvik Medical Practice, said one of the problems he and other GPs had encountered as they tried to steer teenagers towards a healthier lifestyle was that they believed stopping smoking would cause them to gain weight.

He also believes teenagers need to be more aware of the problems they may be storing up for the future by not taking enough notice of their health.

“I’ve seen young girls smoking in place of eating healthily because they see cigarettes as an antidote to obesity, but this only exacerbates their potential long-term health problems,” he said. “It’s quite common for people to put weight on when they stop smoking because cigarettes have the effect of reducing a person’s appetite and taking away food cravings. Sometimes, they are also cheaper than food.

“This can be more of an issue with older people who are already overweight, but there is a balance – which is quite difficult to strike – and my advice is that it is better to stop smoking than to put a bit of extra weight on. It will still result in them being fitter and happier.”

Dr Fair also believes one of the barriers to the healthy-eating message is youngsters choosing fast-food restaurants – which he says “don’t seem to have suffered in the financial crisis” – ahead of healthier alternatives. He said: “They may be choosing this ahead of physical exercise because, again, it is cheaper than paying membership fees and buying sports kit. It’s inevitable that part of being an adolescent is that thinking about your life and health when you get older is not part of the mindset. That’s not necessarily a medical observation, but perhaps something I remember from being that age.”

Underage smokers using taspo cards

About 30 percent of middle and high school students who are below the legal age to smoke buy cigarettes using taspo IC cards, which were introduced to prevent minors from lighting up, according to a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry study panel.
The panel, chaired by Nihon University Prof. Takashi Oida, said about 40 percent of these underage taspo users obtained the cards from home or family members.
The panel conducted the survey on minors' smoking habits on 240 middle and high schools nationwide in autumn 2008, and 96,000 students in 172 schools responded.Regarding the introduction of taspo cards, which are used to confirm whether purchasers are of legal adult age when buying cigarette packs from automatic vending machines, 61 percent of the underage students who said they regularly smoke once a month or more said it has become more difficult for them to buy cigarettes.
But 29 percent also said they had bought tobacco using taspo cards. Among students that smoke daily, 42 percent said they had used taspo cards.
Regarding how they acquired the cards, 15 percent said they brought the cards from home; 22 percent said they borrowed cards from family members; and 7.9 percent said they undertook procedures on their own to obtain the cards from the tobacco industry's card-issuing authority.
The percentages of students who smoke at least once a month were 2.9 percent among male middle school students, 2 percent among female middle school students, 9.8 percent among male high school students, and 4.5 percent among female high school students. These figures marked a considerable fall from those of the previous survey 12 years ago--11 percent of male middle school students, 4.9 percent of female middle school students, 31 percent of male high school students, and 13 percent of female high school students.
"As fewer youths regard smoking as being cool, [the phenomenon of] minors' smoking has been steadily decreasing," Oida said. "Though taspo cards are effective to a certain degree, family members' cooperation is necessary."

Celanese Counts On Cigarette Smoking, Soda Drinking To Raise Earnings

Celanese Corp. (CE), a Dallas chemical company, is counting on a rebound in cigarette smoking and soda-pop drinking to drive its earnings higher in 2011 and 2012.

As part of its consumer specialty segment, Celanese manufactures a sweetener for soft drinks and a product that is used for cigarettes filters. Its customers include Altria Group Inc. (MO), its Philip Morris International (PM) spin-off, and PepsiCo Corp. (PEP).

"These tend to go into decline later in the cycle. We think that demand has bottomed out," Dave Weidman, chief executive and chairman of Celanese said in an interview Tuesday. But he was cautious about seeing any improvement for 2010, instead forecasting increases in the next two to three years.

Celanese swung to a small fourth-quarter profit Tuesday and topped analyst expectations. But the consumer specialty segment, what Weidman describes as a " late-cycle business," saw a volume decline because of soft demand for cigarettes and soft-drinks in global recession.

In January, Altria, the biggest U.S. tobacco producer, reported about a 11% to 12% decline in cigarette volumes in the fourth quarter and has a cautious outlook for the following year. "The business environment for 2010 is likely to remain challenging as many consumers continue to be under economic pressure based on high unemployment," Michael Szymanczyk, chairman and chief executive of Altria, said during an earnings conference call Jan. 28. Pepsi and Philip Morris International are scheduled to report quarterly results Thursday.

Celanese has three business segments that manufacture other chemicals used in paints, textiles and medical devices. The company has more than 30 industrial plants in North America, Europe and Asia.

The $4.2 billion company is "aggressively" pursuing several acquisitions that range in size of a few million dollars to just under $500 million in all three of geographic locations, Weidman said. "We like to stay in businesses that are similar to businesses that we have today," Weidman said. Weidman declined to give a timeline for when any of these deals could close.

Its largest segment by revenue, the acetyl intermediates division, had " significant volume recovery and margin expansion" in the fourth quarter. Its revenue climbed 13% as the segment returned to profitability.

"Much of the beat came from very strong results in the company's core acetyl intermediates business from which the company generates over 50% of its revenues," Hassan Ahmed, an analyst with Alembic Global Advisors in New York, wrote in a note to clients.

Celanese posted earnings of $5 million, or 2 cents a share, compared with a prior-year loss of $155 million, or $1.09 a share.

Excluding impacts such as income-tax gains and provisions, the latest quarter had a 50-cent profit from continuing operations while the year earlier had a 40- cent loss. Revenue rose 7.9% to $1.39 billion on improved demand.

Weidman expects that in the next year Celanese's earnings per share should increase because the company has closed plants in Europe and Mexico meaning it will have lower taxes and less depreciation to report.

Shares of Celanese rose 40 cents, or 1.4%, to $29.97.

One stop health shop opens on High Street

A one stop health shop has opened in Lincoln’s city centre on Friday, February 5th. The facility aims to help people stop smoking, deal with weight problems and be aware of sexual transmitted diseases.The old tourist information centre, in the Cornhill, has been transformed into the Phoenix NHS Health Shop. It will offer stop smoking advice for free, as well as lifestyle tips for weight management. Young people will also be able to request self-testing kits for Chlamydia.

The Phoenix Health Shop was officially opened by Gillian Merron, the MP for Lincoln. After cutting the red tape, she gave a speech in which she congratulated all who had been involved in the project and spoke about stop smoking legislation that she, as Minister of State for Public Health, has passed: “I am very proud that I took the legislation through parliament, the bit of the health bill that calls time on tobacco displays and vending machines, both of which tend to appeal more to young people in terms of getting tobacco.”

Merron said in an interview with The Linc: “We have a duty to help people, particularly young people. Many smokers tell me they took up when they were very young so we have a responsibility not just to provide these services but to have laws in place to make sure we help young people from smoking.”

“All I have ever done is smoke three cigarettes in one night at my friend’s 21st birthday and I never wanted to smoke again because, honestly, I couldn’t speak the next day. So I have never been a smoker but what I do know is that it is a big challenge, because it is an addiction, to give it up and that’s why we have to help people, because we can’t just leave people to die.”

Gary Burroughs, Lincolnshire Tobacco Control Strategy Manager who also attended the opening, knows that the new NHS Health Shop will be a success. The Phoenix Stop Smoking Shop in City Square is being used as a template for the new facility and Burroughs said: “What we did find was that it was too small, too many people wanted to use it and the demand for it was that great that we had to find an alternative. What it also proved was that local people prefer to actually be seen in that environment rather than say seeing a pharmacist or their GP.”

Judge Orders F.D.A. to Stop Blocking Imports of E-Cigarettes From China

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Food and Drug Administration to stop blocking the importation of electronic cigarettes from China and indicated that the devices should be regulated as tobacco products rather than drug or medical devices.
Judge Richard J. Leon of Federal District Court in Washington issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by two distributors of the so-called e-cigarettes, which are battery-powered tubes that heat liquid nicotine into an inhalable vapor and are meant to simulate the taste of tobacco. 
The distributors say the vapor contains virtually none of the cancer-causing chemicals of traditional cigarettes, but the F.D.A. says it has not been proved safe.
“This case appears to be yet another example of F.D.A.’s aggressive effortsto regulate recreational tobacco products as drugs or devices,” Judge Leon wrote. 
With the passage of landmark tobacco legislation last year, he added, the Food and Drug Administration’s new tobacco division will be able to regulate the contents and marketing claims of e-cigarettes in the same way it is about to begin regulating traditional tobacco products. But the agency’s drug division cannot ban the devices, the judge ruled.
The Food and Drug Administration issued a brief statement: “The public health issues surrounding electronic cigarettes are of serious concern to the F.D.A. The agency is reviewing Judge Leon’s opinion and will decide the appropriate action to take.”
Ray Story, vice president of Smoking Everywhere, a Florida company that filed the suit, said the ruling was a victory for smokers who want a safer cigarette.
“The public will have a much less harmful alternative to tobacco products,” Mr. Story said. “Wherever they’re sold, we are going to be sold.”
Jack Leadbeater, chief executive of Sottera, an Arizona company that joined the suit, said border authorities would have to stop blocking and seizing imports and would have to release thousands of impounded e-cigarettes and millions of nicotine cartridges.
Mr. Leadbeater, chairman of the Electronic Cigarette Association, estimated that the products were a $100 million business nationwide.
Matthew L. Myers, president of the antismoking advocacy group Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the ruling opened “a gaping loophole” in the F.D.A.’s ability to regulate non-tobacco products containing nicotine.
He said the judge’s decision “ignores the common sense distinction” the F.D.A. has long drawn between traditional tobacco products like cigarettes and cigars and “a host of non-tobacco products, ranging from toothpaste to lollipops to water, in which manufacturers have added nicotine, a highly addictive substance.”
Mr. Myers’ organization and other health groups had promoted legislation to give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products. But he said the law, signed by President Obama last June, was intended for traditional tobacco products, not electronic ones where nicotine levels and flavors could be easily adjusted.
Mr. Myers said e-cigarettes posed several potential serious risks to public health, including lack of controls on potency, a means to discourage current smokers from quitting by providing an alternative in smoke-free spaces and the possibility “these products could serve as a pathway to nicotine addiction for children.”
Judge Leon argued that the devices should be regulated in the same way as cigarettes. The judge also agreed with the distributors that e-cigarettes were not marketed as medical devices to help smokers quit, as the Food and Drug Administration had argued, but rather as safer substitutes to give users “the nicotine hit that smokers crave.”
The plastic tubes, shaped like cigarettes, have a heating element to vaporize a refillable liquid nicotine mixture. They have electronics to monitor air flow so that when a user inhales, the device delivers a vapor with a taste and feel that the distributors say simulates cigarette smoke.
Traditional cigarette makers have not been involved in the fledgling industry.

Writ plea against ‘weak’ tobacco warnings

The warnings on tobacco products are weak and convey no message, the Old Students Association of the P.G. College, Secunderabad, has alleged. The Association has filed a writ petition in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh challenging the inaction of the government in implementing the law and neglecting the health of citizens.
The pictorial warnings on tobacco products like cigarettes in other countries were very explicit and really sent the desired message to the smoker. After their introduction, the tobacco companies in those countries had reported a decline in sales, Association general secretary A Ramakrishna and Harinath Reddy said at an interaction on Sunday. “However, in our country the pictorial warnings on tobacco products are not only weak but also look like a piece of complicated art which no one understands,” they added.
The Central Government has framed the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules 2008, which mandate pictorial warnings on tobacco products in colour. But the warnings were being carried in black and white and looked like an image showing water flow between two rocks, they said.
Further, while the Rules required pictorial warnings on both sides of the packet, they were being printed only on one side. The Government made it mandatory to rotate the specified pictorial warnings every 12 months and even that was not being followed, they charged.
Strong pictorial warnings on tobacco products was an evidence-based measure to warn the users and thus empower the consumer, they explained and added that their nonimplementation amounted to violation of the right of an individual to healthy life, granted by Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

Boost in Md. cigarette taxes a boon for smugglers

Gov. Martin O'Malley promotes entrepreneurship. Kyun Hong seems to have answered the call.
According to comptroller's agents, he packed his Severna Park house with cigarettes and snuff bought across state lines and resold them to Baltimore retailers without paying Maryland's tobacco tax.
If he is a tobacco smuggler - he hasn't been convicted and didn't respond to a detailed message left at his house - he has competition. The doubling of Maryland's cigarette tax two years ago has inspired uncounted numbers of small businessmen to do what comes naturally: Buy low and sell high.
Nowhere else in the country do smugglers need to drive so short a distance to make so much money. Thanks to the abyss between Maryland's cigarette tax and those of its neighbors, a pop across the Potomac for a van-full of smokes can easily net $5,000, even if you split the profits with the Maryland stores that buy them.Lawmakers hoped to increase revenue and discourage smoking when it raised the tax. But it also seems to have energized the Maryland underworld and increased crime. The tax increase has delivered benefits, but its costs are rising, too.
Tobacco-smuggling busts roughly tripled in the first fiscal year after Maryland's tax went from $1 to $2 a pack. They're on track to equal those levels again this year, but traffickers nailed by tobacco-enforcement agents are probably only a teeny portion of what goes on.
Maryland may be No. 1 in the country in cigarette smuggling, according to calculations by Michigan's Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a pro-markets think tank.
Hard data on smuggling are nonexistent because so much is undetected. But Mackinac researchers compared legal cigarette sales with each state's actual level of smoking as shown by federal health surveys. The difference was probably smuggling.
They also accounted for tax increases and the proximity of low-tax states to project how higher taxes would boost smuggling. With next-door Virginia taxing smokes at only 30 cents a pack, the Mackinac center calculates, as many as half of all cigarettes consumed in Maryland these days are illegal.
People who supported the tax increase cheer what looks like an amazing plunge in Maryland smoking. But they're looking only at official figures.
"This shows that the dollar tax increase did exactly what public health advocates predicted," Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative, said a few months ago.
Come on, Vinny. Legal sales have plunged because smokers and smugglers save $17 a carton by driving south and loading up the trunk.
The $2 tax has surely dissuaded some teens from starting to smoke, and for that reason alone, it can be defended. But the 18 percent drop in official cigarette sales that took place after the tax increase does not mean Maryland went on a health binge. Nationally, cigarette sales have been declining by 2 percent or 3 percent per year.
Meanwhile Maryland is nurturing another thriving, illegal industry. Enforcement agents seized $140,000 in illegal tobacco from Hong's house, said Jeff Kelly, director of field enforcement for Comptroller Peter Franchot.
"It was just piled up," he said. "It formed its own hallway. It was hard to get around."
Officials also got what might have been a good look at Hong's distribution system - a list of 54 Baltimore shops that they took to be customers or potential customers. That gives an idea of how pervasive illegal sales may be.
As of Tuesday, Franchot's people had visited most of the stores and busted half a dozen for having untaxed tobacco.
Tobacco smuggling isn't as violent as drug smuggling, but wait: According to Kelly, some dealers are switching from heroin and cocaine to tobacco because it's easier and just as lucrative. Sometimes law-enforcement officials report links between tobacco traffickers and terrorists.
These entrepreneurs aren't doing Maryland any good. Kelly's office has fewer than two dozen people to stop tobacco smuggling. The same folks have to track liquor and gasoline sales, too.
Last week, I wrote a column supporting an increase in Maryland alcohol taxes, so maybe you're wondering about the apparent flip-flop. But Maryland's booze taxes are way below those of its neighbors, and alcohol is harder to smuggle.
Like all politics, taxes are the art of the possible. The cigarette-smuggling boom shows yet again that policies have side effects, and Maryland does not operate in a smoke-free vacuum.

Local Man Arrested for Smuggling Cigarettes

An investigation by the Maryland Comptroller’s Office that spanned several weeks turned up 130,000 sticks of untaxed tobacco products, along with more than 2,600 illegal cigarettes.

Comptroller Peter Franchot says Kyun Hong from Severna Park is at the center of it all. Agents watched him transport a large quantity of tobacco products, but where he got it from is still unknown.

The Avenue Bar on Greenmount Ave. received a $500 citation in connection with the case, but the manager says he buys cartons of cigarettes from wholesalers and he doesn't know Hong.

"We expect all the cigarettes are good to sell for retail, but unfortunately those few cigarettes we had wasn't stamped," said Sung Kim, manager, The Avenue Bar.

Kim showed us the boxes he has now with a stamp saying "Maryland Tax Paid."
He plans to take his case to court. Caron Brace with the comptroller's office says these underground operations are more common than you may think. One reason may be the taxes on cigarettes - $2 per pack in Maryland versus 30 cents in Virginia.

"Especially in this economy, people are trying to get around whatever they can. But when you have another business down the street that is paying their taxes, it's just not fair," said Brace.

Sung Kim thinks he's being unfairly targeted. He calls himself a victim of the wholesaler.

"I don't know how in the world those things can happen, but it happened."

The Maryland Comptroller's Office says it lost more than $25,000 from this one operation.

The investigation is far from over. More businesses may be named, and the comptroller's office hopes to track down where Hong was getting the tobacco.
He is charged with transporting and possession of contraband cigarettes.

Booze and fags are fatal fire risk says senior Croydon firefighter

Giving up cigarettes and alcohol can significantly cut the risk of being involved in a fatal house fire, Croydon’s senior firefighter has said.
Borough Commander Kevin Biggs said almost a third of fatal fires in London homes are alcohol related, while more than one in three are started by cigarettes or other smoking materials. 
He said: “Health reasons aside – what better excuse do you have to stop smoking and cut back on alcohol? 
“When people are intoxicated they are more likely to take risks, their responses become slower and they can fall asleep easily. “It’s a lethal combination.” 
Common causes of house fires included people failing to put cigarettes out properly, and candles or cooking being left unattended after people have fallen asleep.

How Can We Reduce Tobacco Use?

What steps need to be taken to reduce the growing use of tobacco both in America and around the world? That’s a question that is addressed in a new American Cancer Society report which provides suggested policies, activities, and interventions designed to help make reduced tobacco use a reality.
The report, which was headed by Thomas Glynn, PhD, the American Cancer Society director of Cancer Science and Trends, notes that tobacco is used by at least 1.3 billion people around the world and that more than 14,500 people die each day as a direct result of its use. Based on figures from the National Cancer Institute, an estimated 430 people died of lung cancer each day in the United States in 2009. 
The new report includes a list of 21 challenges for governments, advertisers, healthcare providers, policy makers, and others to take up and follow through on to help reduce tobacco use. Among the items is one that the report says is the one most important action: increase and maintain support for the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The FCTC, which is the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO), was formed in response to the global problem of rising tobacco use to develop regulatory strategies. The treaty has been embraced by 168 parties thus far, according to the FCTC website.
Another challenge mentioned in the report is to reduce targeting of youth by tobacco company advertising. Youth-specific marketing is a top priority for the tobacco industry because they need to establish “replacement smokers” for those tobacco users who quit or die. It is also a well-established fact that the younger people begin to smoke, the more likely they are to continue smoking into adulthood.
Currently, the rate of tobacco smoking among teenagers is higher than it is among adults. According to a 2007 survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 50 percent of high school students had tried smoking cigarettes. In 2008, more than 25 percent of children age 12 or older were using tobacco, which equals about 71 million teens who were smoking cigarettes. 
Increasing tobacco taxes is another challenge noted in the report. This tactic is considered perhaps the most effective way to reduce tobacco use. A 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes is generally accepted to result in at least a 7 percent reduced demand for tobacco among youth and 4 percent among adults, according to the CDC.
Do you want to stop smoking? The report states a need for increased access to comprehensive treatment for tobacco smokers. If just 50 percent of current smokers were able to quit by 2020, the World Bank estimates that more than 180 million lives could be saved by mid-century.
Some of the other challenges presented in the report include: reduce tobcco use by physicians and other healthcare professionals, decrease tobacco targeting of women, reduce exposure to secondhand smoke, decrease illicit smuggling and trade of cigarettes, increase regulation of all tobacco products, and make health warnings on tobacco packaging more graphic. On this latter point, the FCTC guidelines call for graphic warnings on at least 50 percent of the cigarette package.
While the American Cancer Society provides a comprehensive list of challenges to reduce tobacco use, the authors also note that there are still additional items that could be included. The report notes that “Tobacco control is unique in the public health and disease control field because it encompasses such a wide range of issues.” These issues make reducing tobacco use a challenge that will require the efforts and talents of many people, working together, for quite some time to come. The complete list of 21 challenges is detailed in the report, published in CA: Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

Cigarette tax hike could lead to more smuggling

A recent increase in the private consumption tax (ÖTV) on cigarettes may lead to more cigarettes being smuggled into Turkey from neighboring regions and a consequent drop in the country's tax revenues.According to the corporate relations director of British American Tobacco, Tuna Turagay, speaking to the Anatolia news agency, the recent ÖTV hike has scared tobacco producers, as it may create further incentive to smuggle cigarettes from neighboring countries. While a pack of cigarettes costs TL 7 in Turkey (3.3 euros), it costs 1.13 euros in Syria and about 1 euro in Turkey's eastern neighbors. In Western European nations such as France, Spain, England and Germany, a pack of cigarettes ranges from 3.75 euros to 6.9 euros in England.
The share of smuggled cigarettes in total cigarette consumption in Turkey was 7 percent in 2007, meaning a tax revenue loss of $1 billion. This share is 27 percent in England “despite the fact that it is an island nation,” said Turagay. If Turkey were to have a similar percentage of smuggled cigarettes, the amount of tax revenue lost could be over $4 billion. He added that smuggled cigarettes make up 50 percent of the total in Quebec, Canada, and 36 percent in Malaysia, due partly to high prices of cigarettes in these areas. Turagay revealed that this figure was as high as 20 percent in eastern regions of Turkey and that they feared smuggling would spread into larger metropolitan cities such as Ankara and İstanbul.
Turagay also stated that these price increases would hurt the poor the most, noting that before the ÖTV hike, a smoker would spend 19 percent of the minimum wage on cigarette consumption, while this would swell to 23 percent with the tax increase. “It’s not easy for everyone to stop smoking, and with wages as they are, it’s much more attractive to consume smuggled goods. This is our main concern,” said Turagay.
Turagay called on the government and the cigarette industry to work hand-in-hand to address this issue and stated that the public should be informed about the risks involved in buying smuggled cigarettes. Recalling that every pack of cigarettes is approved by the Tobacco and Alcohol Market Regulatory Agency (TAPDK) before being put on the shelves, he said: “Smuggled cigarettes are not approved or tested by any agency [in Turkey]. This is risky for consumers. Therefore, the government, the private sector and the public need to fight this problem together.”

Mel Gibson's 'Hellish' War With Cigarettes

Mel Gibson has gone through a lot of drama in his long Hollywood career. But nothing seemingly comes close to finally quitting his 45-year smoking habit. Moving onto Day 9 without cigarettes, an edgy Gibson spoke to reporters at a press conference promoting his long-awaited return to the screen in 'Edge of Darkness.' The clear message was resuming acting: not so tough. Quitting the cancer sticks: "hellish." More on Mel's "torture" after the jump!

1,450 cartons of cigarettes seized at checkpoint

Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers have foiled another attempt to smuggle cigarettes into Singapore.
Some 1,450 cartons of cigarettes were found in compartments concealed in the ceiling of a bus ferrying factory workers at the Woodlands Checkpoint early Wednesday morning.
The potential customs duty and GST payable amounted to some S$110,000.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the Malaysian bus driver was promised 1,500 ringgit if he successfully delivers the contraband items. 
The driver claimed that he would only be given further instructions after he had sent all the workers to their workplaces.
The case has been referred to the Singapore Customs for further investigation.

Trying to quit smoking? Encouragement works better

In the same week that would-be quitters got the depressing news that they're at higher risk of developing diabetes for roughly a decade after stopping smoking, a study published Thursday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has made a remarkable discovery:
Positive messages are a better way to help you quit!
It turns out that phone counselors staffing Quitlines, which are an increasingly popular and effective way to support smokers in kicking the habit, might be more effective if they reframed their comments to be positive, a study conducted by Yale University researchers found.
So instead of telling a smoker in the grips of nicotine withdrawal, "you gotta resist the urge to light up, or else you'll be more likely to die an early and painful death," the counselor might say, "if you resist the urge to light up, you're very likely to live a longer life!"Whodathunkit?
Actually, the effectiveness of scary versus positive messages in discouraging people from smoking is very much an active subject of research right now. With its new regulatory powers over tobacco, the Food and Drug Administration is empowered to dictate that cigarette packaging has prominent warnings about the dangers of smoking or the importance of quitting. Amid growing evidence that scary, graphic images of blackened lungs and death actually backfire, the agency is deliberating just what kinds of messages will sway consumers best from buying cigarettes. 
The Yale study found that the consistent delivery of such "gain-framed" exhortations to quit made smokers using the quit-lines more likely to attempt a program of smoking cessation and more likely to have continued abstaining from cigarettes when they were contacted two weeks later. At the three-month mark, alas, the difference between the two disappeared--a testament, perhaps, more to the addictive powers of nicotine than to the weakness of positive thinking.
Even more remarkable, perhaps, is that these were would-be quitters who were taking antidepressants to aid in their effort. That may have made them more amenable to hopeful, positive messages encouraging them to stay the abstinence course.
Nevertheless, the authors of the study argued that positive messages of encouragement--which are neither more expensive nor more intrusive to deliver than messages that are scary or more neutral--are worth trying for states and institutions running quit lines. And their study showed that it's possible to get operators to deliver "gain-framed" messages consistently, with just a little training.
So, let's go back to that diabetes/quitting study published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, and think how to "gain-frame" that message.
Old: "Hey, while you're jones-ing for that cigarette, you want to be careful not gain too much weight, because for the next three years, you're at much higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes."
New: "You know, if you can just quit smoking now, you're going to lower your risk of developing diabetes to that of someone who never smoked in about 12 years!"
See? It's that easy!
Is giving up cigarettes your New Year's resolution, or have you done so in recent years? Here's the National Cancer Institute's guide to all things quitting, and here's the American Cancer Society's guide, also available in Spanish. And here's a guide to all the research that says you should do so. And if you think that packing on the pounds is an inevitable effect of quitting, check out this authoritative website.

New Year, New Resolve to Quit Smoking

With the new year comes a new push to help thousands of Kentucky smokers kick the tobacco habit once and for all. Many have already decided to stop smoking but need help. Former smokers admit quitting is not easy, but credit their success to the many tools already available for helping smokers succeed.
Irene Centers, program manager for Tobacco Prevention and Cessation in Kentucky, says one common problem is that smokers don't always know where to get help.
"First of all, nicotine is a very addictive drug and usually people make several quit attempts before they are successful."
More than 8,000 Kentuckians die of illnesses caused by tobacco use each year, says Centers. She says smoking is not only a health concern, but a financial concern for the state, and Kentucky's approach is to save lives and money by offering comprehensive tobacco cessation treatments.
"There are a lot of proven cessation treatments and medications, such as group counseling and phone counseling, which can double your chances of success."
The Quit Line, 1-800-QUIT NOW, offers one-on-one counseling for tobacco users. Other resources are available to smokers who are serious about making the change, she adds. 
"A lot of the local health departments and even employers often offer nicotine replacement therapy, either free or at a reduced cost, which is an excellent resource."
Quitting smoking is the single best thing a smoker can do to improve his or her health, according to the experts.

Selah armed robbery nets cash, cigarettes

For the second time this week, an armed robber took cash and cigarettes from a store in the Yakima area.
The incident was reported late Wednesday at the Shell gas station off Interstate 82 near the main gate to the Yakima Training Center.
Yakima County sheriff's deputies say a man knocked on the store's locked door just before 11:30 p.m. When an employee opened the door for him, he showed a gun and demanded money.
He received an undisclosed amount of cash and also took the cigarettes before he left, deputies said.
Immediately after, callers reported gunfire in the area. Authorities believe the robber may have fired the shots to intimidate the clerk and a witness at the store.
Deputies, state troopers and training center police soon arrived but could not locate the suspect.
He was described as a clean shaven, light complected Hispanic in his 20s, about 6 feet tall and 180 pounds. He was wearing a blue stocking cap, black coat and black jeans.
On Monday night, two men armed with machetes robbed the Yakima Walgreens store at 40th and Summitview avenues of cash and cigarettes.
In another robbery in which cash was taken, two men armed with guns held up the Shell station on South First Street in Selah on Tuesday night.