Australia first to ban tobacco logos

Australia is poised to become the first nation to require tobacco products to be sold in plain packages, and other countries will follow suit and crimp earnings of companies like British American Tobacco.

Laws passed by the lower house on Thursday and due in the Senate next month will ban logos and colour variations on cigarette packets.

Packets will have to be olive green and carry health warnings within six months from January 1 next year.

“Other countries will follow,” said Anne Jackson, the chief executive of Ash Australia, a non-profit lobby group funded by Cancer Council Australia and the Heart Foundation. “This is a light shining the way for others to do the same and many countries are already considering it.”

Health Minister Nicola Roxon announced the move last April, along with a 25 percent tobacco tax increase and a A$85 million (R643m) advertising campaign to combat smoking, which the government says kills 15 000 Australians each year. Companies have since introduced their own advertising campaigns and legal actions against the move.

This week British American Tobacco lost an appeal for the release of Australian government documents the company said would help it fight the law. The company plans to ask the Australian High Court to review the ruling.

The company would next take its case to the Parliamentary Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, with a hearing scheduled for September 13, Scott McIntyre, a spokesman for the tobacco company, said.

So far the focus had been on the health aspect of the legislation, he said.

“There are a lot of issues outside of health that have to be looked at,” McIntyre said. “There are serious repercussions here. The tobacco company will pursue the case in courts, seeking billions of dollars in damages, if the law is enacted.”

Smoking costs Australia about A$31 billion a year in health and workplace costs, according to the government.

With 15.1 percent of the population aged 14 or over smoking daily, it was the country’s top drug and preventable health issue, the government said.

“There isn’t any safe amount of tobacco you can smoke,” Roxon told Channel Ten television. “It will kill you eventually and we obviously want to make sure the message is loud and clear.”

The tobacco companies say the bill is a breach of the Australian constitution, since plain packaging exceeds the Commonwealth’s acquisition powers. They said they would seek damages for losing the right to use their trademarks, which they claim the government was seizing illegally.

“This would clearly undermine the value of manufacturers’ trademarks and destroy the goodwill built up over many years in consumer brands,” British American Tobacco said in a June 6 submission to the government. “Plain packaging will frustrate brand identification and consumer choice, making smuggled branded products more acceptable to consumers.”

Tobacco retailers convicted

AN investigation by western Sydney health officers recently led to the conviction of four retailers for selling tobacco to people under the age 18.
The offenders were fined various amounts up to $700 and now have criminal convictions.

Under the NSW Public Health (Tobacco) Act 2008, it is a criminal offence to sell cigarettes to anyone under the age of 18 and the maximum penalty is $11,000.

Population health manager Vicky Sheppeard said three tobacco retailers in the Wentworthville area were convicted and fined along with an Erskine Park business.

"Stopping young people's access to cigarettes is important as most adult smokers start smoking before they are 18," Dr Sheppeard said.

"Research shows if the onset of smoking is delayed beyond the age of 18, people are less likely to become regular smokers. It also shows that nearly half of 11 to 15-year-olds who smoke buy their own cigarettes."

Dr Sheppeard said it was a concern that young people could still easily buy cigarettes.

"We want tobacco retail outlets to know that those who break the law can expect to be prosecuted,"' she said.

Merck, Reynolds, Wells Fargo, BofA, Morgan Stanley, Cordish in Court News

Merck & Co. doesn’t have to pay a $32 million jury award to the family of former user of the company’s Vioxx painkiller who died of a heart attack, the Texas Supreme Court ruled.
The court said on Aug. 26 that the family of Leonel Garza didn’t produce adequate evidence showing Vioxx caused the heart attack. Merck, the second biggest U.S. drugmaker, agreed in 2007 to pay $4.85 billion to settle thousands of injury claims over the drug.
Lawyers for the Garzas “did not present reliable evidence of general causation and therefore are not entitled to recover against Merck,” the state’s highest court concluded in an 18- page decision.
Kathy Snapka, one of the Garza family’s lawyers, didn’t immediately return a phone call or e-mail seeking comment on the Supreme Court ruling.
Officials of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck pulled Vioxx off the market in 2004 after researchers linked it to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Former users also criticized the company for downplaying the drug’s health risks and manipulating studies to help promote the drug.
Merck officials countered that Vioxx wasn’t the cause of users’ heart attacks and that the company had properly warned doctors and consumers about the painkiller’s risks.
Merck won 11 of the 16 cases over Vioxx that went to trial starting in 2005. Under the November 2007 settlement, Merck excluded some of the cases it lost, including Garza’s, from being included under the accord.
A jury in Rio Grande City, Texas, ruled in April 2006 that Merck failed to warn doctors of Vioxx’s risks and that the drug caused the fatal heart attack of Garza, 71, in 2001. The jury awarded $32 million to Garza’s widow, which Judge Alex Gabert cut to $8.73 million because of a state cap on punitive damages.
“Today’s decision reaffirms that there is simply no reliable scientific evidence that Vioxx caused” Garza’s heart attack, Ted Mayer, a lawyer for Merck, said in an e-mailed statement.

Merck, Reynolds, Wells Fargo, BofA, Morgan Stanley, Cordish in Court News

Merck & Co. doesn’t have to pay a $32 million jury award to the family of former user of the company’s Vioxx painkiller who died of a heart attack, the Texas Supreme Court ruled.
The court said on Aug. 26 that the family of Leonel Garza didn’t produce adequate evidence showing Vioxx caused the heart attack. Merck, the second biggest U.S. drugmaker, agreed in 2007 to pay $4.85 billion to settle thousands of injury claims over the drug.
Lawyers for the Garzas “did not present reliable evidence of general causation and therefore are not entitled to recover against Merck,” the state’s highest court concluded in an 18- page decision.
Kathy Snapka, one of the Garza family’s lawyers, didn’t immediately return a phone call or e-mail seeking comment on the Supreme Court ruling.
Officials of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck pulled Vioxx off the market in 2004 after researchers linked it to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Former users also criticized the company for downplaying the drug’s health risks and manipulating studies to help promote the drug.
Merck officials countered that Vioxx wasn’t the cause of users’ heart attacks and that the company had properly warned doctors and consumers about the painkiller’s risks.
Merck won 11 of the 16 cases over Vioxx that went to trial starting in 2005. Under the November 2007 settlement, Merck excluded some of the cases it lost, including Garza’s, from being included under the accord.
A jury in Rio Grande City, Texas, ruled in April 2006 that Merck failed to warn doctors of Vioxx’s risks and that the drug caused the fatal heart attack of Garza, 71, in 2001. The jury awarded $32 million to Garza’s widow, which Judge Alex Gabert cut to $8.73 million because of a state cap on punitive damages.
“Today’s decision reaffirms that there is simply no reliable scientific evidence that Vioxx caused” Garza’s heart attack, Ted Mayer, a lawyer for Merck, said in an e-mailed statement.

Three in court over dropped cigarettes

SMOKERS who drop used cigarette butts in the city centre have been warned to expect big fines after four litter louts were prosecuted in court.

Four people were fined at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court yesterday for discarding their cigarette butts on the floor in the city centre.

The Peterborough City Council prosecutions came on the same day The Evening Telegraph started the Bin It campaign to keep the city streets clean after highlighting how the £12.8 million new look city centre has been blighted by yobs spitting chewing gum on to the paving stones.

Of the four summoned to appear at court yesterday, only Alessandro Vacca attended.

Vacca (42) of Four Chimneys Crescent, Hampton Vale, pleaded guilty to throwing down a cigarette butt outside Yorkshire Bank near St John’s Square on April 27.

Vacca was fined £100, and ordered to pay £50 costs and a £15 victim surcharge. The three other litter bugs were all found guilty in their absence.

Marian Marko (51) of Cromwell Road, Peterborough was fined for dropping a cigarette in Long Causeway near Cathedral Square, while Aida Raio (22) of Gladstone Street, Peterborough, was also found guilty of dropping a cigarette in Long Causeway,

Tracey Beckett (43) of Padholme Road, Eastfield, was found guilty of dropping a cigarette butt outside Eastfield News in Eastfield Road,

The trio were fined £125, and ordered to pay £50 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

The fines were handed out by magistrates after all four were given a fixed penalty notice of £75 at the scene - but failed to pay within 21 days.

The sentence was welcomed by council cabinet member for environment capital Cllr Sam Dalton.

She said: “When the economy is suffering people should think of the additional cost to the council. If we didn’t have to clean up litter unnecessarily we would save money that could be spent elsewhere.

“It takes no time at all to put out a cigarette butt and put it in a bin. We have recently put new bins in the city centre so there is really no excuse.

“If people drop litter deliberately they should be prepared to take the consequences and be accountable for their actions. You wouldn’t drop litter at home so why do it in public?”

n Anne Canham, of Flore Close, Westwood, was also prosecuted yesterday for dropping an envelope in Flore Close, and fined £125, ordered to pay costs of £50 and a £15 victim surcharge after being found guilty in her absence of littering.

Donatas Mazonas (24) of Midland Road, West Town, Peterborough, was fined £125, ordered to pay £75 costs and a £15 victim surcharge after being found guilty of leaving three bags of household waste in grassland at Benland, Bretton.

Poor Indonesian families spend more on cigarettes

DESPITE their financial hardships, many low-income families in Indonesia prioritise spending on cigarettes rather than on other needs.

According to the 2009 National Socioeconomic survey, poor households spent 19 per cent of their income on staple foods and 11 per cent on tobacco, 2 per cent for education and 3 per cent on health care. Six out of 10 low-income households report spending on cigarettes.

Ekowati Rahajeng, the Health Ministry's director of non-communicable diseases, said the spending habits could be related to the economic conditions that made low-income people resort to smoking cigarettes, without realizing that spending on cigarettes would only pull them deeper into poverty.

Abdillah Hasan from the Demography Institute at the University of Indonesia calculated the potential loss of consuming cigarettes.

'Let's say they consume a pack of cigarettes a day that cost them Rp 10,000 (S$1.42). In a month, they will spend Rp 300,000 and Rp 3.65 million in a year," Mr Abdillah said. He went on, saying that in 10 years they could save Rp 36.5 million, which could be spent on a down-payment for a house, or pay admission fees to a university for their children.

Therefore, the institution urged the government to issue cigarette control regulations through, among other methods, increasing the cigarette tax, a total ban on cigarette advertisement, health warnings through pictures printed on the cigarette packs and imposing smoke-free areas.

Four nabbed for allegedly smuggling cigarettes

Four individuals were arrested last week for smuggling cigarettes in Cecil County in two separate incidents, according to the state comptroller's office.
On July 30, Maryland State Police pulled over Hammam Sharhan, 19, of Inwood, N.Y., and Jean William, 25, of Far Rockaway, N.Y., on Interstate 95 in a routine traffic stop.
Trooper Joseph Twardowski observed a significant amount of Marengo cigarettes in their 1996 Jeep Cherokee during the traffic stop and contacted the comptroller's Field Enforcement Division, the office reported.
Comptroller agents seized 2,000 packs of illegal cigarettes, valued at nearly $12,000, as well as confiscating the Jeep registered in Georgia.
On Aug.3, comptroller agents arrested Ashraf Bakar, 25, and Jennifer Whisenhunt, 27, both of Germantown, N.C., after receiving a tip from Sgt. Michael Connor of Maryland State Police, the office reported.
Bakar and Whisenhunt were found to be transporting 5,810 packs of contraband cigarettes in Cecil County, worth about $35,000. Agents seized the cigarettes and their 2011 Chevrolet Suburban used to transport them.
All four individuals were charged with transporting contraband cigarettes and possession of contraband cigarettes in the state of Maryland. The transporting charge is a felony, which carries a $50 per carton fine and/or two years imprisonment; and the possession offense is a misdemeanor, carrying a $1,000 fine and/or imprisonment, not exceeding one year.
Statewide last week, comptroller agents confiscated nearly 15,000 packs of the contraband cigarettes and arrested nine people in five separate cases. So far in fiscal year 2012, Comptroller agents have arrested 31 individuals for tobacco violations, seizing nearly 40,000 packs of contraband cigarettes and more than 3,200 packages of Other Tobacco Product (OTP) valued at more than $240,000.
"I am very proud of my agents for their tenacity in ridding our streets of contraband," Comptroller Peter Franchot said Friday. "My office remains committed to aggressively pursuing cigarette smugglers and tax scofflaws to protect the public and law abiding small businesses."
Caron Brace, a spokeswoman for the comptroller's office, said residents are legally allowed to bring two packs of cigarettes across state lines. Maryland tobacco taxes are currently set at $2 per pack, she added.
"Tobacco smuggling disrupts the level playing field that our state's businesses are supposed to operate under," Brace said.

Drunk man took girlfriend's car to buy cigarettes

A Mount Olive resident was arrested at the community pool on a variety of charges, including drunken driving, after the man took his girlfriend’s car without permission because he wanted cigarettes, police said.

Police were called to the pool at 3:01 p.m. Monday about a vehicle that was taken without the owner’s consent.

The subsequent investigation determined that Steven Brennan, 51, of the Budd Lake section of Mount Olive, had asked his girlfriend for cigarettes, but she said that she didn’t have any and wasn’t going to buy any, police said.

Brennan then took his girlfriend’s car without her consent to go buy cigarettes. Police were called to the pool and while the officers were on the scene, Brennan returned to the pool parking lot, police said.

While talking to Brennan, an officer detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage so they gave him a field sobriety test, which he failed. Brennan then was taken to police headquarters where he refused to take the Alcotest, police said.

Charges filed
Brennan was charged with taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent, disorderly conduct, driving while intoxicated, refusal to submit to the Alcotest, careless driving, driving with a suspended license and driving while intoxicated in a school zone.

Brennan also was wanted on a $1,293 Mount Olive Municipal Court criminal warrant and a $1,040 Irvington Municipal Court criminal warrant.

Brennan was unable to post bail on the warrants and was turned over to Mount Olive police. He was then held in the Morris County Jail on the Mount Olive warrant

'Fake' cigarettes seized in Gloucestershire raids

fMore than 30,000 cigarettes have been seized in an anti-counterfeiting operation in Gloucestershire.

During the raid two shops were visited and a vehicle, found to contain 26,400 cigarettes, was confiscated.

All the tobacco recovered is being held on suspicion of breaches of labelling and trademark offences and some is believed to be counterfeit.

A Gloucestershire Police spokesman said a 26-year-old man from Gloucester had been arrested on suspicion of fraud.

He has been released on police bail until 15 September.

A trading standards spokesman said the operation also involved members of Gloucestershire Police and HM Revenue and Customs.

He added the raids were a result of months of intelligence gathering and surveillance.

Man stabbed by girlfriend over cigarette

As if we needed any more proof that nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs on the planet and turns people bats**t crazy when they are forced to go without it, there's this story from the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader about a woman who stabbed her boyfriend in the arm when he refused to get out of bed to get her a cigarette.
From the Times Leader story:
(Kenneth Joseph) Pahler told police he was awakened by (Denise Marie) Cusate yelling at him and asking for a cigarette at about 11:50 p.m. Pahler claimed Cusate became more enraged when he refused to get out of bed to get her a cigarette. Police said in the criminal complaints that Pahler reported Cusate got a kitchen knife and attacked him. Pahler ran out of their apartment after he was allegedly stabbed. Cusate told police Pahler was hitting her and she stabbed him in self defense, the criminal complaint says. Police said Cusate had injuries to her arm, neck and hand.
Seems to me cigarettes might be just one of many issues plaguing this couple, no?

Plain silly: why changing cigarette packets won't alter smoking rates

The public health establishment disseminates many "truths" about health, disease and lifestyle, but sadly, junk science is often the driving force behind these regulatory assaults on drinkers, smokers, gamblers and the overweight.

Exhibit A is the belief that tobacco advertising and promotion are the major reasons young people begin to smoke, and calls for the plain packaging of cigarettes in Australia and New Zealand.

Packaging, it is claimed, is merely an extension of advertising, and because advertising increases tobacco consumption, it is necessary to require all tobacco products to be sold in plain packaging.

Unfortunately, neither this belief nor this policy meets the standards of evidence-based policymaking, which requires decisions based on rigorous, systematic reviews of best practice - that is, interventions that work the best in reducing harm. Evidence alone, not theory or tradition, must drive policy.

The empirical record about tobacco advertising's effect on young people is decidedly mixed.

Large, independent studies have failed to find a statistically significant connection between tobacco advertising, consumption and youth smoking.

This lack of evidence is confirmed by the fact that countries that have had advertising bans for a quarter of a century or more have not experienced statistically large declines in youth smoking.

Consumption and prevalence data from 145 countries finds little evidence that the entire range of tobacco control measures, including advertising restrictions and bans, has a statistically significant effect on smoking prevalence in any nation.

Yet, Australia pushes ahead with draconian restrictions on tobacco brand promotion through legislation to require cigarettes be sold in plain packaging, and New Zealand's associate minister of health wants to follow its lead.

The evidence in support of plain packaging, just as for tobacco display bans, is embarrassingly thin. Most studies show that plain packaging will have no statistically significant effect on youth smoking. None of the so-called evidence about plain packaging provides compelling behavioural evidence that any young person started smoking after seeing conventional displays of cigarette products.

Other nations have rejected plain packaging. For example, Canada briefly considered plain packaging in 1994, but eventually took no action.

More recently, Britain seriously examined the concept in 2008 and 2009, but the then-Labour government concluded that there was insufficient evidence to justify legislation.

Man charged in beer, cigarette thefts from two stores

A Richburg man has been charged in two store break-ins that happened minutes apart.
Chester County Sheriff Richard Smith said a man stole beer and cigarettes from the IGA in Richburg and Campbell's Truck Stop in Chester Wednesday morning.
After an investigation, deputies arrested 19-year-old Travis Lee Lowe. He has been charged with two counts of burglary and two counts of petty larceny, a release from Smith states.

Deputies were first called at 6:56 a.m. to the IGA store on Commerce Drive. An employee reported the glass door had been broken. Surveillance video captured a man identified as Lowe making several trips into the store and leaving with beer and cigarettes.
About 10 minutes later, deputies were called to the Saluda Road truck stop. An employee told officers both doors had been busted out, Smith said. Beer and cigarettes were also taken from this store.
Lowe was in jail Monday on $34,000 bond.

Crackdown on illegal cigarettes in Blackpool

A new operation targeting people who sell counterfeit cigarettes to young people, is under way in Blackpool.

Officers are stopping young people around the town and asking them where they bought their Prefect cigarettes as part of Operation Smokescreen.

About 15,000 counterfeit cigarettes were seized during raids in Blackpool earlier this month.

Officials say they pose a massive health risk sometimes containing 30 times the lead levels of real tobacco.

Lancashire police say counterfeit cigarettes may seem cheap but they can pose a serious danger to health and the proceeds from them are often used to fund other crime.

The crackdown is a joint operation with the local council and the primary care trust.

'Potentially lethal'
The police say test purchases will be carried out at local retailers to identify shopkeepers guilty of supplying counterfeit goods.

Councillor Gary Coleman, said: "From a health point of view all cigarettes are dangerous, but the counterfeit ones are potentially lethal.

"We want members of the public to know if they suspect illegal activity they can report it and we will investigate.

Jane Roberts, Head of Tobacco Control, NHS Blackpool said: "Over-exposure to cadmium can cause irreversible damage to the liver, kidneys and brain.

"Children are attracted to the low price of counterfeit tobacco and the earlier they become regular smokers the greater the risk of developing lung cancer or heart disease."

Danger Of Cigarettes Greater In Women Than Men

When compared with men, women have a significant 25% increase in risk for coronary heart disease caused by cigarettes, according to a large meta-analysis published in the Lancet.

Rachel Huxley and Mark Woodward analyzed data from 2.4 million participants in studies that adjusted for cardiovascular risk factors and found that the female-to-male relative risk ratio (RRR) of smoking compared to not smoking was 1.25 (CI 1.12-1.39, p<0.0001).For every additional year of followup the researchers found an additional 2% increase in the RRR for women (p=0.03).
The authors speculate that their analysis might have underestimated the true difference in relative risk between the sexes, since in many regions women have only started to smoke in large numbers in recent years. “It will be some years before the full effect of smoking on coronary heart disease risk is known in women,” they write. In addition, women smokers tend to consume fewer cigarettes than men and may be more likely to underreport their smoking habit.

Flavored Cigarettes Harder to Quit

Could a mint-flavored additive to cigarettes have a negative impact on smoking cessation efforts? New research from investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) and UMDNJ-School of Public Health shines a light on this topic. It finds that menthol cigarettes are associated with decreased quitting in the United States, and that this effect is more pronounced for blacks and Puerto Ricans.

The findings, which appears in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, are ideally timed as the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products is currently considering banning menthol cigarettes after its own Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) concluded that “removal of menthol cigarettes from the marketplace would benefit public health in the United States.” CINJ is a Center of Excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Previous studies regarding the impact of smoking menthol cigarettes and smoking cessation efforts have produced mixed results. For instance, some research did not take into account the overall population of smokers, while other studies lacked focus on periods of successful smoking cessation and instead targeted attempts to quit. This current study, Smoking Cessation Prevalence among Menthol and Non-Menthol Smokers in the United States, looks at whether those who smoke menthol cigarettes are less likely to quit than smokers of non-menthol cigarettes and whether these findings differ by race/ethnicity as well as among various subgroups of smokers, such as those trying to quit.

Utilizing data from the 2003 and 2006-2007 National Cancer Institute Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey, investigators focused on white, black and Hispanic “ever-smokers,” who were defined as current smokers and former smokers who quit in the past five years. Current smokers were further defined as having smoked 100 cigarettes in a lifetime and smoking every day or some days at the time of the survey. Former smokers were noted as those who smoked 100 cigarettes in a lifetime and were not smoking at all during the time of the survey. Blacks included multi-racial blacks, and the Hispanic data set was further broken down by Hispanic origin (ie: Mexico vs. Puerto Rico). Socioeconomic factors including education and household income were examined for all groups.

Overall, menthol smoking was more common among females and young adults, ages 18 to 24. Menthol smoking varied considerably by race/ethnicity; among blacks, 71.8 percent smoked menthols, which is significantly greater than whites (21 percent) and Hispanics (28.1 percent). However, among Hispanics there were wide variations. Menthol smoking was more common among those of Puerto Rican descent (62 percent) than among those of Mexican (19.9 percent) and other Hispanic origins (26.5 percent).

The study further found that menthol cigarette smoking was associated with lower levels of smoking cessation compared to non-menthol smokers, and this relationship was more pronounced among blacks and those of Puerto Rican descent. A key strength of the study was that the research team examined the relationship between menthol smoking and cessation for five different sample restrictions (e.g., all smokers vs. smokers with quit attempt history). The main finding held true even after analyzing the data using several different samples. “Because our evidence suggests that the presence of menthol may partially explain the observed differences in cessation outcomes, the recent calls to ban this flavoring would be prudent and evidence-based,” the authors state.

CINJ Member Cristine Delnevo, director of the Center for Tobacco Surveillance and Evaluation Research Program, is the lead author of the study. She notes one thing that sets this study apart from others on this subject is further recognizing the diversity of the Hispanic population.

'Illegal cigarette' awareness campaign may get more people smoking

When South Africa took the step to ban cigarette advertising, it was with the hope that the adoption of smoking would end. So, our televisions and movie screens were stripped of beautiful, young, successful and sporty people lighting up a cigarette and enjoying a 'healthy' life.

Slowly the images of the glorious smoking lifestyle faded away; the cigarette was no longer in the upper echelon of our awareness. Relegated to point of sale, pack innovation, permission-based marketing and other dark marketing practices they have, however, persevered. And now they're back.
Consider cigarettes again

Then, this year, cigarette communication has once again taken centre stage, forcing people to consider cigarettes again - perhaps not to the same degree as when B&H commercials promoting skiing and smoking filled the airwaves or when the Marlboro Man made us want to ride off into the sunset on our horse - but they have made it back onto the billboards and interrupted our daily journeys once again, even if its message is somewhat more sinister.

Instead of the lifestyle positioning, the message is all ominous: "Buying Illegal Cigarettes Funds Organised Crime!"

Pamphlets, print ads and billboards all raise the profile of the tobacco product once more, in what is probably a loophole in the legislation overseeing advertising-restricted products.

While there is no recognisable brand to be seen, the Tobacco Institute of South Africa has taken centre stage in communicating that consumers who buy a pack of cigarettes for under R14.50 are probably buying illegal cigarettes, and so are more than likely supporting organised crime syndicates who use the profits of illegal cigarettes to fund their dastardly deeds.

E-cigarettes also contain nicotine

The Department of Health warns the public on the use of e-cigarette or the electronic cigarette. It does not help people quit smoking and it is not safe for human consumption.
Marketers of the e-cigarette claim that it is nicotine-free and contains E-liquid or E-juice which are organic. However, tobacco control advocates said that smokers use it since they get their nicotine fix or kick from it.
DOH regional director Rio Magpantay explained that although the e-cigarette does not emit the same odor and smoke produced by the real cigar, the vapors the e-cigarette emits have carcinogens and toxic chemicals.
The e-cigarette heats a liquid nicotine solution in a disposable cartridge, creating vapor that the smoker inhales. A tiny light on the tip glows like a real cigarette.
This product misleads smokers into believing that this is a way of smoking cessation. Tobacco control advocates wants a ban on the sale of this product since it would only promote the concept of smoking and lure teenagers to the habit.

How (Not) to Quit Smoking: What Will Occupy Your Lesbian Hands?

Did you know that smoking is bad for you? Whoa, neither did I! ‘Cause you know, my parents, teachers, and that lady I bummed a light from on the street told me it was, but I thought they were lying until I sat down and starting doing research for this post right here, and damn! That shit is scary. I’m stressed out. Does anyone have a cigarette?
Ugh, sorry if I’m a little bit grumpy, you guys — I’m trying to quit smoking.
I had my first cigarette when I was 16. I started smoking regularly at 18. I came out as a smoker at 19, because sometimes the truth takes a long time to come to terms with. It was finals week of my freshman year in college. My best friend and I had been up all night ingesting study drugs and shots of espresso, and while standing outside the campus McDonald’s waiting for it to open at 6am rolling cigarette after cigarette, I turned to him and said, “You know, I don’t think this is a social thing anymore.”
At some point you have to stop blaming the big things. You have to stop getting mad at capitalism, booze, Big Tobacco (whatever that means), the abrasiveness of those fucking Truth ads and the deliciousness of cigarettes (mm, cigarettes) and say “I AM A SMOKER (and maybe I’m addicted).”

How to design for NO-Fun – a cigarette packaging case

Usually, companies are trying to evoke positive emotions with their product and packaging design. However, when it concerns health issues and government could have a (opposed) hand in the design, sometimes designing for negative emotions is required. This British design student case for cigarette packaging shows just how to do that.

This new packaging concept for cigarettes from recent UK design graduates Jennifer Noon and Sarah Shaw is in response to the British government’s controversial proposal for plain packaging, which purports that bland and generic cigarette packages devoid of company logos or art would make health warnings more prominent. (Which is not to say that labels wouldn’t work.) (Source: Core 77)

Buy cheap Lucky Strike cigarettes online for discount price.

BRIEF Australia has attracted a lot of press attention in recent months on cigarette packaging. The British government are considering introducing plain packaging to the UK. Here is the response.

RESPONSE The main aim was to change the structure of the pack making it less ergonomic. The pack was developed to be difficult to use and carry. For the warning imagery focusing on aspects which would appeal to the users vanity

Don’t Be Misled By 'Eco Friendly' Cigarette Claims

Most of my patients including the few remaining diehard smokers will tell you I consider smoking an unhealthy and filthy habit. So it was no surprise recently when a patient handed me an advertisement touting a so-called ‘green’ cigarette in an effort to prove otherwise. New magazine ads touting cigarettes with “additive-free” “organic” tobacco use the term “eco-friendly” is prompting smoking foes to cry foul.

Ads for Natural American Spirit cigarettes have appeared in magazines such as Elle, Mother Jones, Field & Stream and Esquire.

The cigarettes manufactured by Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company is owned by Reynolds American Inc.

The company says it’s not saying its cigarettes are safer but that its manufacturing is greener.

Reynolds says its facilities are wind-powered, its farmers use fewer chemicals and 70% of its sales staff, drive hybrid vehicles.

“We try to be good stewards of the environment,” says spokesman Seth Moskowitz. He adds a sister company helps fund Keep America Beautiful.

“The ads are egregious. They are attempting to ‘greenwash’ a deadly and addictive product,” says, Vince Willmore of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids adding research shows cigarettes are not only unhealthy but are also the No. 1 source of litter.

Like my patient, the average person believes “eco-friendly” is better for you. That’s why the new ads are dangerously misleading.

Reynolds has made similar advertising claims. In 2000 the tobacco company ran afoul of the Federal Trade Commission, after advertising its cigarettes are free of additives.

The FTC negotiated a settlement that required the company to include this statement: “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette.”

In 2010 the company returned with ads marketing its “organic” tobacco. 33 state attorneys general demanded a disclaimer saying the cigarette was not safer as a result. For the record, tobacco smoke is a complex mixture of more than 4000 chemicals in the form of gases, particles or both. When you inhale cigarette smoke, dozens of harmful substances enter your lungs and spread through your body.

Cigarette bandit nabbed on Coast

A Gulfport man with local ties has been charged by the Laurel Police Department in connection with a commercial burglary involving the theft of cigarettes.

Sammie Lee Fairley, 48, whose last known address was Dacetown Area in Ellisville, has been taken into custody in Gulfport in connection with the July 21st burglary of a local convenience store.

Investigator Kim Stewart with the LPD said the Rapid Shell Station located at 205 South 16th Avenue was burglarized and several cartons of cigarettes were taken.

According to police, at approximately 11:38 p.m. Thursday, July 21st, the LPD Patrol Division was dispatched to the Rapid Shell Station in reference to an alarm. Stewart said Sgt. Jim Thornhill arrived on the scene and discovered that the front glass door of the store had been broken and the store had been burglarized.

Last year, the City of Laurel along with several jurisdictions in the Pine Belt Region reported commercial burglaries involving the theft of large quantities of cigarettes.

Locally, the Spaceway then located at the intersection of 16th Avenue and Highway 84 West; Dandy Dan’s Dandy Dan’s, located at 615 North 16th Avenue; and George’s Discount Tobacco.

According to law enforcement officials in the surrounding area, during the month of July 2010 they received reports of at least eight commercial burglaries of convenience stores where tobacco products were taken.

Entry was gained by breaking the glass on the front door and Newport cigarettes and Black & Mild Cigars along with an undisclosed amount of money were taken from the stores by two individuals.

Approximately 30 of these types of burglaries were reported in the Pine Belt area, with the majority of the incidents being along the I-59 Corridor from as far north as Jasper County and as far south as Pearl River County.

Stewart said the recent July 21st incident was similar. When the police officer arrived on the scene, “he observed the front door shattered.”

According to police, someone threw a concrete rock through the glass door and the burglar gained entry to the closed business through the broken glass door.

Stewart said with the use of the store’s surveillance tapes, he began working to identify the latest suspect, described as a black male six-foot to six-foot-two-inch in height, weighing about 175-180 pounds wearing a white tank top and faded blue jeans with Timberland boots.

“The video shows that once he entered the store, he had his own plastic garbage bag,” Stewart said. “He took 10-15 cartons of Newports Cigarettes and some cartons of Salem and then exited the store.”

Stewart said a public tip through Jones County Crimestoppers led him to investigate Fairley as the suspect in the case.

“We are grateful for the assistance we received from other agencies and for the public’s help in getting this suspect off the street,” Stewart said. “He was just going from one place to another committing these crimes. They all had the same MO.”

As a result of the investigation, Stewart said, Fairley has been identified as the suspect in similar burglaries in Gulfport, Wiggins and possibly Collins.

“I entered his information on NCIC (National Crime Information Center) and his last known addresses were Ellisville and Gulfport. So, I then contacted Gulfport and asked them to check an address in Gulfport where he had lived before,” Stewart said. “Gulfport authorities went to the address in their jurisdiction and located him.”

Stewart said law enforcement agencies in Laurel, Gulfport and Wiggins currently have holds on Fairley for several charges of commercial burglary and Collins Police Department is considering him as a person of interest in a similar incident in Covington County.

The Collins’ incident occurred on July 19th; the Laurel incident occurred on July 21st; the Gulfport burglary on July 24th; and the Wiggins’ burglary occurred on July 25th.

Stewart said Monday that Gulfport currently has a $100,000 bond on Fairley and he is being held in the Harrison County Jail.

According to the investigator, once Harrison County has completed it’s process, Fairley will be transported to Laurel to face the local charge here.