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.