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.