Committee chair: $1 cigarette tax passage unlikely

The chairman of the Alabama House panel in charge of the state's general fund budget says a proposed $1 per pack cigarette tax would likely have to be reduced to make it out of committee. Rep. Jim Barton says he thinks increasing the cost of cigarettes will be a tough sell in his committee and before the full House.
Three bills aim to increase the cost of cigarettes, with the revenue going to the fund used to pay for most state operations. The sponsor of 1 of the measures says it isn't a tax increase, but a user fee. Rep. Joe Hubbard says smokers cost Alabama $238 million in health expenses. His bill would put the additional revenue toward Medicaid. Gov. Robert Bentley has threatened to veto any tax increase.

The Electronic Cigarette: Sorting Through the Global Sales Facts

If you smoke tobacco, either cigars, a pipe or cigarettes unless you've been living on a desert island chances are that you've already heard about the electronic cigarette. It's the latest development for smokers that's available in various configurations with names like eGo-T and eGo-C. Even so, no matter what the name of the particular brand or product is they all operate under the same principle, that is that rather than delivering smoke they produce a vapor from liquid nicotine.

 So it's this unique delivery system that has led to so much of the confusion regarding the legality of their sales in various countries around the globe. In some countries such as Australia for instance it's banned then in others like the UK the electronic cigarette is legal. Then again there's the US where it's still up for debate in the courts. It's not the liquid nicotine that's the source of contention because even in countries where it's banned you can still buy nicotine gum for instance. In countries where it's banned as well as in the US, the major point of contention is whether or not the hardware itself is a drug delivery system.

 So in a recent interview with Emilia Feng, CEO Of ecigator.net - a leading manufacturer of electronic cigarettes, she was able to lend some clarity to the issue and what she had to say was really quite interesting. Ms. Feng explains: “The momentum as far as popularity and the use of the electronic cigarette is definitely moving upward. More people around the globe are trying it and the greater majority of them end up sticking with the product.

Now it's been fought over in the lower courts in the US for a few years already with rulings being made and then being subsequently overturned. So now it's left for the Supreme Court to decide on the matter but in the meantime you can still buy them there.” It's a complex issue that for sure isn't being made any simpler by further development of more products and systems. For instance there are two versions of the cigarette now, one that operates off a heat filament and another that uses ultrasound to generate the vapor. Then a lot of the ongoing debate centers around whether or not the electronic cigarette can be marketed as a stop smoking product.

 This is despite it has been statistically shown that more than 30 percent of smokers who make the switch end up completely quitting within two years. Through it all though, one thing is certain, that is that the electronic cigarette is here to stay. In fact even in some countries where it has been already banned, it's only the commercial sales that has been restricted. So people there are still able to buy the electronic cigarette online and have them clear customs as long as they're for personal use. Ecigator is engaged in research and development to produce the latest in promotional electronic items. At their main site you'll find electronic cigarettes at wholesale pricing.

Readers' take on enforcing the no-smoking ordinance in parks

Here are excerpts from emails readers sent me about my column last week on smoking in parks: "I think being subjected to second-hand smoke is such an infringement on my right to live cancer-free. Also, smokers are the biggest slobs on earth. They all throw their butts anywhere they please. Our parks should be protected from their filth. I'll call cops when I see a smoker in the park. IT'S THE LAW, remember? Cindy Smith-Garcia, San Jose "The policeman in the letter to the editor this morning says he won't have any problem 'educating' anyone he sees smoking where prohibited that it's against the law.

That's easy for him to say. Even off-duty, he has his badge in his pocket and the power of the police on his side. Smokers tend not to be from the upper crust of society, and custom has not yet swung far enough for you or me to do that without inviting an unpleasant confrontation. Custom hasn't moved that far yet." Bob Dennis, San Jose "In a perfect world we wouldn't need cops to enforce our laws. The conscience of the individual and his or her morals would guide behavior. Yet, we do not live in a perfect world. We need laws to protect us from one another. We depend upon the brave ones like Linda York to speak up for us timid ones.''

"Why should being outside in the open air, be an issue for second-hand smoke? There are more cars and businesses causing health issues then someone smoking. My mother also died of cancer, and never smoked a day in her life. It is freedom of choice to smoke or not, drink or not, over eat or not. For her (Linda York) to call the police is ridiculous.'' Debi Paris, San Jose "Messaging needs to be clear and readable. Having 'Do Not Smoke' signs hung 10 feet in the air or on a map doesn't help. Messaging is needed to ensure all people are clear on where a person can't smoke as well as where they can smoke. Do the messaging and most of these problems will go away. And Ms York, next time you ask some to stop smoking do it with your cell phone video capture mode.'' Timothy Logan, Santa Clara "Our right to breathe clean air equals our right to clean water.

Each is a resource that we share and a resource that cannot be fenced in and protected by isolation. Polluters of either must refrain from polluting activity.'' Gail Ghose, San Carlos "For enforcement to ignore a law when it puts two people into conflict is ignoring the will of the people. I am sure that law enforcement could rationalize never responding to a low-level enforcement issue -- essentially putting law-making into the hands of law-enforcement. And that would be wrong.'' Gary Bacon, Palo Alto "I firmly believe the council shouldn't pass laws they aren't willing to enforce. This goes for any law, not just bans on smoking. If they can't afford the cops, then they need to start a new lower-grade of nuisance-law enforcement cops, and hire a ton more of them.'' Beth Leonard, Sunnyvale "I am 73 years old and have never smoked a cigarette.

When I was a young woman, I was considered very odd for not smoking. Now I think we are going too far. So many people have stopped smoking. Some have really tried and still failed. Give these poor folks a break. Usually, they are very polite about it and the smoke is highly diluted outside. '' Martha Johnson, San Jose "I am not a smoker. Quite frankly, I detest the smell of smoke. Nonetheless, if Ms. York is bothered by someone smoking in the park, she has the option of moving away. There is no health issue here, but there is the very serious issue of wasting police resources.''

A few more thoughts about smoking in the parks

For a seminar assignment in my junior year of college, our professor, Mr. Dalzell, asked us each to fill a shoe box with something that represented American culture. I stuffed a deflated football in mine, writing a prosaic essay about the violence and thrill of the game. "Do you mean that the culture itself is the football?" Mr. Dalzell asked. His idea -- more subtle than my own -- stayed with me this week as I read the comments people sent me in response to my column about Linda York, the San Jose woman who called the cops to enforce the city's no-smoking ordinance at the Jeffrey Fontana Dog Park.

I had asked whether we should pass ordinances we cannot really enforce. Nearly half of the four dozen comments I got favored the anti-smoking ordinance anyway. About a quarter felt the law went too far. Altogether, they made me understand that this issue isn't so much a matter of absolute fiat. Like Mr. Dalzell's notion of culture, it's more like a football being moved up the field. A few people felt the city should not have an ordinance. "If a law cannot be enforced, it should not be on the books," wrote Richard Fodor, of San Jose.

"I dislike smelling cigarette smoke outdoors, but our lawmakers should stop trying to mother citizens." Others felt that the cops should respond to such calls. "I applaud the woman who stood up for what she believed in and called the police," wrote Peninsula reader Jennifer Powell. "If only they responded with support instead of passively aggressively reprimanding her for wasting their time." Unenforced laws Perhaps the most persuasive notes came from folks who had thought through the possibility that cops cannot always be there.

One was Margo Sidener, the president and CEO of Breathe California, a key mover behind the smoking ordinances. Sidener wrote that the world is filled with so-called unenforced laws -- carpool lanes, pet laws, etc. But she said most folks understand there are reasons to keep them. "We have lots less dog bites, stepping in dog doo-doo, running red lights than we would without them. The same is true for smoking control ordinances." "There may not be the resource to enforce it," wrote John R. Mashey, of Portola Valley.

"But it certainly gives people who want to complain some moral backup to do it if they want." Me? I have sympathy for the cop who tried to explain to York that this was a low-priority call. I work out of the Mercury News bureau at City Hall, where you cannot escape knowing about manpower shortages. But I'm convinced, with Mashey, that the law can offer a template for talk. The best answers are probably better signs and more education.

SRK summoned for smoking in public

The additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) court in Jaipur has summoned Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan for smoking in the stadium during an IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals. The Kolkata Knight Riders owner was caught smoking in public on April 8 in the Sawai Man Singh Stadium.

Anand Singh Rathore, director of Jaipur Cricket Academy, had filed a complaint against him. "Smoking publicly is banned in Rajasthan since 2000. However, Shah Rukh Khan was smoking publicly in front of thousands of spectators. The actor was broadcast live while smoking on the TV channel which was showing the match," said lawyer Nem Singh Rathore who filed the complaint on behalf of Rathore.

Mike Wallace’s connection to Richmond, and big tobacco

Among Mike Wallace’s many accomplishments as a journalist was his crusade against big tobacco, and what he believed to be their executives’ lies about the safety of their products.
But long before Wallace went after big tobacco, he was selling it. He was a very effective pitchman for Parliament and Philip Morris cigarettes.
There can be little doubt that the gravelly-voiced Mike Wallace made a ton of money for Philip Morris and the Richmond workers who made the cigarettes he smoked and pitched on his first big news show.
“So I’m more convinced than ever,” Wallace said in a typical 1950s ad at the beginning of “The Mike Wallace Interview,” “that today’s Philip Morris is something special . . . here is natural mildness, genuine mildness . . .”
There can also be little doubt that tobacco executives saw millions go up in smoke because of Wallace’s pursuit of them and the product he once championed.
He got the huge interview with Brown & Williamson’s former research director, Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, who alleged that firm’s executives knew full well their product was addictive and dangerous . . . and lied about it to Congress.
That interview was famously shelved in Nov. of 1995 because CBS feared it would be sued for encouraging Wigand to break a confidentiality agreement.
But it finally aired in February of 96. CBS 6 covered the fallout from the story, since this is a tobacco town and Philip Morris’ stock plunged.
The next month came the second of a one-two punch.
Dr. Ian Uydess, a Richmond-based researcher who had left Philip Morris in good standing, came forward to say that firm could make a safer, less-addictive cigarette, but hadn ‘t.
Dr. Uydess and his wife, Carol, would spend a lot of time with Wallace during the next few years as they fought to hold the tobacco industry accountable.
“He was an extremely thoughtful and caring person,” Uydess said during a telephone interview with CBS 6. “He was very personally involved in what he was doing at that time.”
Both Uydess and his wife were trusting Wallace with their lives.
Dr. Wigand had seen his life turned upside-down after details leaked about the story before it aired. And that would be just the beginning of the attacks that ruined Wigand’s marriage.
Uydess said Wallace handled their story honestly, with total journalistic integrity.
His story was a carefully measured one in which, at one point, the researcher held up a cigarette, saying he supported the rights of people to enjoy their cigarettes and the manufacturers to make them.
He just wanted them to be a safe as possible.
Dr. Uydess had a second career with the pharmaceutical industry after testifying in hearings and trials that cost the tobacco industry tens of millions of dollars. He says he didn’t get a penny of it.

Anti-smoking group urges Stampede to go smoke-free

As Edmonton snuffs out smoking near all children's parks and sports fields, an anti-smoking group is urging the Calgary Stampede to take the bull by the horns and ban smoking throughout the park.

Calgary already bans smoking cigarettes and cigars at all LRT platforms, bus shelters, arenas, Olympic Plaza and other areas.

But anti-smoking groups says the city can do better.

"I think the festivals and outdoor events, including the Calgary Stampede . . . I'd like to see that even become completely smoke-free, at least the midway," said Les Hagen, the executive director of Action on Smoking and Health.

"There already are a number of high-traffic areas in the city that are completely smoke-free," Hagen said. "What we would propose is just expanding those areas to include areas frequented by children, like playgrounds, sports fields, skate parks, pools and tennis courts."

The Calgary Stampede already bans smoking near the children's midway, all of its food areas and at indoor facilities. There are half a dozen outdoor designated smoking areas and compliance is good, said spokesman Doug Fraser.

"Smokers are familiar with going to special areas now," Fraser said.

Years ago, Calgary's city council debated and dismissed taking the extra step of banning smoking in parks and on pathways.

"It's not on the radar," said the city's bylaw boss, Bill Bruce.

The city also follows the rules of the Alberta Tobacco Reduction Act, which outlines no-smoking policies.

Second-hand smoke is a secondary issue, Hagen said.

"The big health issue is role modelling; that's what this is really all about. The more children are exposed to tobacco use, the more likely they are to take up smoking themselves," he said. "As a society, we have a responsibility."

The City of Edmonton amended its smoking bylaw last week to include a $250 fine for anyone caught smoking within 10 metres of playgrounds, playing fields, skate parks and water parks. It gives Edmonton the toughest outdoor smoking restrictions in Alberta.

The goal is to protect the health of children and reduce the number of role models they see lighting up.

UW-Stout may start smoking fines come fall

The Director of Communications at UW-Stout says the Chancellor may either implement fines or even hire someone to monitor campus to stop smokers.

The Chancellor is having a meeting on Friday morning with the UW legal system to discuss these options.

Tobacco free is what the UW-Stout campus has been since 2010.
It's the only four year public school in Wisconsin to have a tobacco free campus.

But people are still choosing to smoke.

"I'm getting emails, the chancellor is getting complaints our students have said they want us to do something about the people who choose not to comply," said Doug Mell, Director of Communications at UW-Stout in a phone interview.

The Chancellor informed students and faculty on Facebook to try and stop.

"I have been told by certain students who choose not to comply with this that were going to keep violating the policy until you start fining us," said Doug.

Meanwhile a local attorney says the campus should have the right to write citations to the public if smoking on campus.

"The UW system shouldn't have jurisdiction over public sidewalks, so you could see large groups of smokers smoking and saying na na na na, can't fine me" said attorney Harry Hertel.

Students say smokers can often be found in an alley on campus and there were even cigarettes on the ground to prove it

But, if the Chancellor's policies go through and their found smoking there there will be consequences.

"I'm really opposed to it, I feel like if a student or a faculty member, staff member want to engage in smoking then they should be able to in public areas," said Jocelyn MacAskill.

"I have asthma so one of the biggest things for me is having to deal with people who are smokers around me," said Randy Lim.

UW-Stout leaders say they may never get 100 percent of people to stop, but they feel its important to do as much as they can to encourage as much compliance as possible

Suspect arrested in Friendswood tobacco store robbery

Police arrested a Houston man in connection with the April 6 robbery of a Friendswood tobacco store.

Houston resident Joseph Garrett Handy, 47, was out on bond for another offense when police arrested him at 3:45 p.m. April 10 at a motel in northeast Houston, according to a Friendswood Police Department news release.

Police say the events leading to Handy's arrest began around 3 a.m. April 6 when a witness reported Handy and his partner, Terrence Keith Millard, 49, were allegedly breaking into Friendswood-area Tobacco Etc. and clearing the displays of cigarettes.

Responding officers located the suspects' getaway car and a chase ensued, ending when the two abandoned the vehicle on top of a bridge near Interstate 10, according to the release.

Police reportedly caught up with Millard as he jumped into a nearby creek, but Handy managed to escape.

Smoking ban expands to areas of state parks

The New York parks system on Monday implemented a ban on smoking at its playgrounds and pools and created no-smoking zones at its 213 parks and historical sites.

The State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation announced that smoke-free areas will begin to be enforced this month. The ban will include no smoking at many beaches, pavilions and outdoor seating areas.

"State parks and historic sites should be healthy and clean places for our visitors, especially our youngest guests," state Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey said in a statement. "It makes sense to ensure all visitors have a place to go in our parks to enjoy fresh air."

In February, New York City banned smoking at its 1,700 public parks and beaches. The state-owned parks in New York City will become smoke free, state officials said, making the regulations consistent with the city's policy.

New York's 127-year-old park system is the oldest in the nation. The parks and historic sites had 57 million visitors in 2011, and attendance has risen in recent years as the poor economy has led people to vacation closer to home. It dipped slightly in 2011 due to tropical storms that devastated some sites.

The state parks system will install signs at each outdoor location where smoking is prohibited. Smoking will continue to be allowed outdoors elsewhere within the 330,000-acre state park system, such as at state campsites. Smoking will be banned at many areas at Jones Beach on Long Island, but not on the beach itself.

The ban extends to most swimming areas in other parts of the state, such as at the Robert H. Treman and Buttermilk Falls state parks in the Finger Lakes. Smoking will be banned at the swimming areas in Hamlin Beach State Park in Monroe County, but allowed at other Hamlin park beaches were there is no swimming, according to the parks department.

Smoking will be prohibited on the pool decks at Bear Mountain, High Tor and Rockland Lake state parks in the Hudson Valley. It will also be banned at the playgrounds in Beaver Pond and Tallman Mountain state parks. The pool area at the FDR state park in Yorktown Heights will be smoke-free.

Appeals court hears case of graphic tobacco ads

The government on Tuesday defended graphic tobacco labels and advertising that use pictures of rotting teeth and diseased lungs as accurate and necessary to warn consumers about the risks of smoking.

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday asked an appeals court to undo a lower court ruling that said such labels were unconstitutional, violating tobacco companies' free-speech rights.

Mark Stern, a lawyer from the Justice Department representing the FDA, said the labels showing, for example, a man smoking through a hole in his throat were necessary to show the true risks of smoking, including addiction.

"Adolescents notoriously underestimate their ability to resist addiction," he told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

"Do (these labels) accurately and realistically depict the message that this is really addictive? Yes, (they) do."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates some 45 million U.S. adults smoke cigarettes, which are the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States.

Congress passed a law in 2009 that gave the FDA broad powers to regulate the tobacco industry, including imposing the label regulation. The law requires color warning labels big enough to cover the top 50 percent of a cigarette pack's front and back panels, and the top 20 percent of print advertisements.

The FDA released nine new warnings in June 2011 to go into effect in September 2012, the first change in U.S. cigarette warning labels in 25 years. Cigarette packs already carry text warnings from the U.S. Surgeon General.

Reynolds American Inc's R.J. Reynolds unit, Lorillard Inc, Liggett Group LLC, Commonwealth Brands Inc, which is owned by Britain's Imperial Tobacco Group Plc, and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co Inc challenged the rule, arguing it would force them to engage in anti-smoking advocacy against their own legal products.

"You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes ... to figure out what the government is doing here: telling people, 'Quit smoking now,'" said Noel Francisco, a lawyer with Jones Day in Washington, D.C., who represents the tobacco companies.

He said the labels went beyond simple facts about smoking, instead trying to disgust or revolt people about cigarettes.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon sided with the tobacco companies in a February ruling, saying the warning labels were too big and the government could use other tools to deter smoking, such as raising taxes or using factual information on the labels rather than gruesome images.

One of three appeals court judges who heard the case on Tuesday also appeared to question whether the government was going too far in trying to warn people about smoking.

"Could you have a text that says, 'Stop, if you buy this, you are a moron'?" asked Judge Janice Rogers Brown.

And Judge A. Raymond Randolph wondered if the government could also place warning labels on automobile doors with gruesome images of car accidents to warn people about the risks of speeding.

However, Randolph disagreed with the tobacco companies, saying there is no case that shows commercial disclosure should only provide information, not deter use of a product.

The judges will rule on the case later, but any decision is likely to be appealed further and could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court, especially as the tobacco law has led to divergent rulings in lower courts.

The U.S. Appeals Court for the 6th Circuit, based in Cincinnati, upheld the bulk of the FDA's new tobacco regulations last month, including the requirement for warning images on cigarette packs.

'Disgusting' new cigarette packs aim to deter prospective smokers

New cigarette packages with graphic warning labels provide an added incentive for Nanaimo's Karen Snyder to stay on track with her tobacco-free lifestyle.

The new labelling, which covers 75% of cigarette packages, include graphic pictures of a cancer-infected mouth, and of a 42-year-old emaciated, cancer-stricken woman. The images are meant to be disturbing and encourage smokers to quit.

Dr. Derek Poteryko of Nanaimo said the graphic images, while shocking, won't be enough to deter smokers from puffing on a cigarette. But the images could help prevent those considering taking up the habit from starting.

Snyder, manager at Supreme Convenience Number 9, quit three weeks ago by taking advantage of B.C.'s $25-million cessation program. She said the picture wouldn't have been enough to make her quit. But they might just be the ticket to keep her from starting up again.

Snyder is using free nicotine patches to quit through the cessation program. The provincial government launched the financial incentive Sept. 30, recognizing one of the largest issues for smokers is the affordability of anti-smoking aids. Under the program, people can get a 12week supply of patches, gum or pills at no cost.

After having tried to quit "too many times to count," Snyder, 48, hopes she will be able to kick the habit. And the new graphic images have hit home with her.

"The tongue one is disgusting," said Snyder, 48, holding up a cigarette package with a picture of a tongue covered in cancerous sores.

"But they are getting their message across and I think it's going to make people stop and think about quitting. The pictures hit home. My tongue could look like that if I continue to smoke."

Tim Stockwell, director of the Centre of Addictions Research of B.C. and a professor of psychology at the University of Victoria, said the research showed the more graphic the warning label, the more likely smokers were to take notice.

"Something like this arrest the attention," said Stockwell. "It makes one reflect what one is doing. About 80% of smokers would like to give up and this is kind of trigger that can push them into acting on that desire."

Poteryko said any steps to deter smoker from picking up a cigarette are good.

Simpsonville council to take another look at smoking ban

Simpsonville smokers and nonsmokers alike may be waiting with bated breath while the City Council reviews the proposed smoking ordinance.

After changes were made to a proposed smoking ordinance, the council voted 5-2 to table the ordinance so it could review it further. Council members Julius Welborn and Geneva Lawrence voted against tabling it.

The ordinance as proposed encompasses all public places and places of employment, said Russell Hawes, city administrator.

“The effect of this, really, is if it’s a place of employment, it would have to be smoke-free,” Hawes said. “If it’s a public gathering area, be it outside, inside, whatever — smoke-free. That is the major change. ”

City Attorney David Holmes said the ordinance was expanded because “if it is a public health issue, the question then becomes why should the prohibition be limited or restricted to a few places and not others.”

Craig Boatman said the ordinance was so different from the first reading, it should be considered a first reading. Boatman spoke in opposition of the ordinance before the changes were presented.

Councilman Brown Garrett echoed the sentiment.

“I would like to see us at least give this thing two weeks for the people of the city to see the changes that have been made in this ordinance instead of voting it through tonight,” Garrett said.

Councilman Matthew Gooch said he wanted time to dig through the ordinance.

“I’m not going to get into what’s right and what’s wrong, is it bad or is it good. Smoking’s bad, of course, we all know that,” Gooch said. “I want a little time to dig through this to make sure I know what I’m voting for before I say yes or no on it.”

Councilwoman Sylvia Lockaby said she’d received input from both sides of the issue. Councilman George Curtis said he’d received calls as well, with more being against it than for it.

Lawrence said a Bryson Elementary class wrote letters to council, with the majority being in favor of the ordinance.

Garrett said he’d received more input about this ordinance than anything else in his nine years on council.

“We’ve done a lot of things that I thought would be more controversial than this, but this seems to take the cake,” he said.

Great tobacco cover-up beginning in superstores

Supermarkets are beginning to hide away tobacco products before the ban on cigarette displays comes into force on Friday.

The restriction means all shops over 3,000 sq ft must remove packets of cigarettes, cigars, pipe and rolling tobacco from view.

It has been introduced as part of the 2009 Health Act to help cut the number of people who smoke in the UK from 20 per cent to 18.5 per cent of the population by 2015.

In future, shoppers in supermarkets will have to ask to see a price list of products and an assistant will have to open the display before selling tobacco.

The Sainsbury's supermarket in Oadby converted its tobacco kiosk last week.

Amanda Richardson, the store's commercial manager, said: "We implemented the changes to our tobacco kiosk after hours.

"We placed sliding doors in front of the displays and removed other tobacco products from view."

She said: "From now on people will have to request to see a price sheet and prove their age before the sales assistant goes to the cabinet to obtain the product and sell it."

The first supermarket in the country to implement the ban was the Tesco store in The Square, Market Harborough.

It was run as a pilot scheme to be rolled out to its 2,865 stores across the UK before the ban came into force. However, Tesco refused to comment on how the trial went.

The display ban will be extended to small shops in April 2015.

Raj Aggarwal, owner of Londis, in Queens Drive, Wigston, said: "We shall have to see what impact the ban will have on supermarkets. It is the law but it will cost me a lot of money to adjust the counter.

"I think the move will drive more people, including children into the arms of the black market."

The British Retail Consortium estimated that large retailers nationwide would have spent £15 million hiding cigarettes away when the ban becomes operational. It is opposed to the ban. Spokeswoman Sarah Cordey said: "We promote the responsible sale of tobacco products.

"But the Government is also consulting on plain packaging for tobacco products which would make the display ban irrelevant."

Amanda Sandford, a spokeswoman for anti-smoking group Ash, said evidence from Australia and Canada showed banning displays led to fewer young people taking up smoking.

Why govt should get rid of its stake in tobacco co ITC

Should the government take a moral stand and get rid of its stake in tobacco companies like ITC ?

Questions have been raised over why the government has kept ‘strategic’ stakes in some corporate entitities. The government is expected to soon dissolve the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI).
The government reportedly now plans to establish a National Asset Management Co (NAMC) that would sell the government’s stake held through SUUTI in companies like ITC Ltd and use the proceeds for state-run companies.

In 2010 around 5.5 lakh people died due to cancer, the highest number due to tobacco consumption. A debate on CNBC-Awaaz argues that for a government that spends crores on public health, also treating cancer patients, should it hold on to stake in a conglomerate whose chief source of revenue is a tobacco-related product?

Anil Singhvi, chairman of Ican Investment Advisors, said that the chief source of income for the conglomerate continues to be tobacco related products.

“If you say that ITC is in agriculture and running hotels it is merely eyewash, the major source of their income continues to be tobacco,” Singhvi said.

Singhvi pointed out that the Indian government is perhaps one of the only governments in the world which has a strategic stake in a tobacco company and ironically even it’s insurance company Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), which provides life insurance policies, has a stake in the conglomerate.

Dr PC Gupta, of anti-tobacco advocacy group Healis also argued there can be no debate about recent statistics that show that a majority of cancer related deaths are connected to tobacco consumption.

YK Sapru, Cancer Patients Aid Association also said there is no rationale in the government holding stake in a cigarette manufacturing firm given that they spend a lot more on public health in treating patients through the public health system.

Anti-smoking ads ignite desire to quit

They're graphic, disturbing and painful to watch, but they're working. New anti-smoking ads are out, showing real people and the very real damage smoking has caused.

"My fingers started to go, piece by piece," says a woman in one television ad.

In another ad, former smokers with throat cancer are featured, saying "when you have a hole in your neck, don't face the water. Suction out your tube before you eat."

"You're hearing them more and more every single day on the radio, on TV and everytime I hear it, I think 'oh great' you know, here it is again," says James Lavine, a smoker in Tampa.

James Lavine promised to kick the habit after his father, who smoked for decades, got sick.

"I know it's unhealthy. I really do want to try to quit because I don't like it," Lavine said.

Many others are trying too.

"Most smokers I know do want to quit eventually. It's just something they took up and they can't stop," said smoker Francesca Martin.

But for many smokers, these ads are doing the trick. Just two weeks after hitting the air, the Centers for Disease Control says calls to the CDC's Quit Hotline more than doubled, hitting a record high last month.

"I think they're over the top really. They're just for shock value," says smoker Dan Sutter. "I think it's more of a personal choice. I don't think you should be swayed either way by some scary ad on television."

Dan Sutter says he smokes a pack a day, which he admits is too much.

Even so, he's not ready to quit.

"Every day I get a little bit closer. I cut down. Sometimes I stop for a few days and pick it back up," he says.

The new ads aren't just on television. They're on the radio, billboards, newspapers and here online. You can expect to see them for the next couple of months.

Tobacco Worth U.S.$135 Million Auctioned

ABOUT 36 million kg of flue cured tobacco worth US$135 million have been auctioned at an average price

of US$3,70 per kg since the tobacco marketing season started in February. Last year 30 million kg with a value of US$91m had been auctioned during the same period at an average price of US$3,03 per kg.

This marks a 20,88 percent increase in deliveries and a 47,93 percent rise in the earnings.

A total of 471 087 bales have since been laid while 444 389 bales were sold with the remaining 21 525 bales getting rejected.

In the 2011 season a total of 405 509 bales had been laid at this time with 372 219 bales going under the hammer while 33 290 bales were rejected.

The four auction floors have all auctioned 15 million kg of tobacco worth US$55m.

The average price was US$3,66 per kg. All the floors have so far laid 228 413 bales, sold 211 054 bales and rejected 12 186 bales.

On the contract side a total of 21 million kilogrammes with a value of US$80m have been sold so far. The average price was US$3,74 per kg.
A total of 242 674 bales have also been laid while 233 335 bales have been sold with 9 339 bales being rejected. Tobacco Sales Floor has so far auctioned 5 million kg of tobacco with a value of US$19m.

The average price was US$3,69 per kg. TSF laid 76 404 bales, sold 70 104 bales and rejected 6 300 bales in the process. On the other hand Boka Tobacco Floors has sold 5 million kg of tobacco worth US$18m. BTF's average price was US$3,59 per kg.

BTF has laid 77 280 bales and sold 72 107 bales while 5 173 bales have been rejected. Millennium Tobacco Floors on the other hand have sold a total of 2 million kg of tobacco worth US$9m. The average price was US$3,71 per kg.

MTF laid 35 396 bales, sold 32 748 bales and rejected 2 648 bales.

Premier Tobacco Floors have sold a total of 3 million kg of tobacco worth US$9m. PTF's average price was US$3,68 per kg.

PTF laid 39 333 bales and sold 36 095 bales with 3 238 bales being rejected.

Tobacco volumes have been rising in the past few days - something analysts have attributed to a desire by farmers to sell before the Easter Holiday.

This season has seen a marked improvement in service delivery with the long queues that had become characteristic of every selling season disappearing.

Marijuana advocates vow to reopen 'Princeton of Pot' after raid

Medical marijuana advocates on Tuesday vowed to reopen a San Francisco-area college devoted to cannabis cultivation and known as the "Princeton of Pot" a day after federal agents shut down the school in a raid.

Hundreds of protesters rallied in front of San Francisco's City Hall, some on crutches and in wheelchairs and smoking hand-rolled joints. The demonstrators carried signs that said, "Cannabis is medicine; let states regulate" and chanting "Feds off my meds."

Monday's raid on Oaksterdam University, which offers courses on growing and dispensing of marijuana, turned the Oakland-based school into the latest flashpoint between federal law enforcement and medical cannabis advocates in states where pot has been decriminalized for medicinal purposes.

Federal authorities also searched the home of veteranmedical marijuana activist and Oaksterdam founder Richard Lee, as well as a nearby medical marijuana dispensary he runs.

Lee, confined to a wheelchair by a spinal injury, was a leading proponent behind a failed California ballot initiative in 2010 that would have legalized possession and cultivation of small amounts of marijuana in the state for recreational use.

"In a wheelchair, he's a threat," Wayne Justmann, an adviser for medical pot supply shops, said facetiously as he spoke to Reuters at the rally. "He's a guy who's helped so many people."

Rather than targeting Lee, Justmann added, "Go after that guy who killed seven and injured three." He was referring to the former student of a private, Christian college who killed seven people and wounded three others in a shooting rampage on Monday.

Lee himself said he worried that he might be prosecuted.

"They can indict me any day," he said, recounting how he was awakened by federal agents armed with assault rifles appearing at his Oakland apartment with a search warrant. "They can arrest me any day." Agents briefly detained but did not arrest Lee.

The school was closed after agents searched it, but it will reopen Wednesday, Lee's lawyer, Laurence Jeffrey Lichter said.

Although marijuana remains classified as an illegal narcotic under federal law, 16 states and the District of Columbia have enacted some sort of legalized medical-cannabis statutes, according to the Drug Policy Alliance.

In those states, including California, the U.S. government has sought in recent months to shut down storefront dispensaries and greenhouses deemed by federal investigators to be drug-trafficking fronts, as well as those that are located close to schools and parks.

The Obama administration has said it would not single out individual patients who possess or grow their own marijuana in states with medical pot statutes. But federal prosecutors have warned they will continue to go after operations that support for-profit, illegal drug dealing under the guise of medical pot.

Federal action has led to dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries being shut down in California, but so far no one has been charged with criminal activity in connection with the crackdown, Lichter said.

Oaksterdam, widely referred to as the "Harvard of Hemp" and the "Princeton of Pot," opened in 2007 and bills itself as the first cannabis college in the United States.

"Two universities were struck yesterday," said Dale Sky Jones, executive director of Oaksterdam, referring to Monday's raid on her school at the same time a gunman opened fire at the nearby Oikos University. "Federal resources are wasted on failed policy while our cities beg for help with gun violence."

Report shows obesity on rise, smoking slightly down

Counties are being encouraged to compare how they score on a report card issued by the Florida Public Health Institute on Tuesday that measures a county’s health.

The report shows that St Johns, Seminole and Sarasota counties are the healthiest counties based on life expectancy and how healthy people are while they are alive. Putnam, Dixie and Union are some of the most unhealthy counties.

The overall ranking is a reflection of two main categories of health: the mortality rate -- how long someone lives -- and the morbidity rate, which is how healthy they are while alive. The morbidity rate takes several categories into consideration including socioeconomic factors, as well as smoking status, level of exercise and obesity. A new category taken into consideration was the number of fast food restaurants in a county

The analysis is conducted by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and, in Florida, distributed in Florida by the Florida Public Health Institute.

In general, the lower the ratio of doctors and dentists to patients and the lower the uninsured population, the higher the county ranked in health. Counties with higher income levels and higher educational levels also scored better than their counterparts.

The analysis shows that obesity levels are up. Overall an average 24 percent of the population was obese in 2011 compared to an average 26 percent in 2012. Hamilton County has the most obese population, according to the analysis, with 38 percent of the population exceeding acceptable height-to-weight charts.

The analysis shows that the percent of uninsured residents in the state is an average 25 percent. Leon County and St Johns County have the lowest percentage of uninsured residents, with 17 percent of the population without coverage. Hendry has the highest percentage of residents without insurance, with 37 percent of the population under age 65 without insurance.

Residents in Alachua County -- the home of Shands Healthcare -- have have the most physicians per resident with one doctor for every 381 residents. Leon County has the second most number of primary care doctors to patients with one doctor for every 633 residents.

Overall, an average 19 percent of the population smokes. Miami Dade county has the least number of smokers with just 14 percent having a smoking habit while Taylor County leads the state in smoking population. Thirty-two percent of Taylor County residents smoke.

The statewide average of 19 percent is actually a dip from 20 percent in 2011 and 21 percent in 2010.