BHUBANESWAR: The decision of the State Government to raise value added tax on cigarettes, bidis and every other form of tobacco products has got the thumbs up from the anti-tobacco campaigners and the medical fraternity. �The move would go a long way in not only saving a large number of lives but also effect reduction in Government spending on treating tobacco-related diseases, they have asserted. �The State Government has increased VAT on c ... Jump to full article >>

A health drive is beginning to target south Asian people who use chewing tobacco unaware of the risks it poses of causing mouth cancer. Medical staff and specialist advisers are working with Bangladeshi, Gujerati and Pakistani communities in Bradford and Keighley in West Yorkshire. Health officials said 90% of mouth cancers in Bradford were caused by smoking. But “smokeless tobacco” such as paan and niswar also causes mouth cancer. H ... Jump to full article >>

Australian women continue to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol during pregnancy, a new study reveals. Research by the Australian Institute of Family Studies has found 18 per cent of women smoked and 38 per cent of women drank alcohol while pregnant, with younger mothers more likely to smoke and older mothers more likely to drink while pregnant. The study, based on data from Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, ... Jump to full article >>

The last time cigarette warning labels got a makeover was more than 25 years ago, but they will be unchanged for at least a little while longer. A federal judge sided on Monday with tobacco companies and has temporarily blocked the Food and Drug Administration’s attempt to slap graphic images on cigarette packs. U.S District judge Richard Leon ruled that tobacco companies, who are suing the government over the move, do not have to put the imag ... Jump to full article >>

Australia is to become the first country to enforce the plain packaging of cigarettes but tobacco companies have vowed to fight the new legislation in court. From December next year, all cigarettes will be sold in olive green packs, which research has shown is least appealing to smokers. Under the new laws, approved by the upper house of parliament, no trademark brand logos will be permitted on any packaging of tobacco products, although compani ... Jump to full article >>

College students who have served in the U.S. conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely than their non-veteran peers to use tobacco, drink in excess and engage in other behaviors that endanger their health and safety, according to a study that appeared in the latest issue of American Journal of Health Promotion. “We also found some protective behaviors where veterans showed particular strengths,” said lead author Rachel Widome, Ph.D., ... Jump to full article >>

BEIJING, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) — A survey conducted by an environmental group finds that a government ban on smoking in indoor public venues has been completely ignored by half of Beijing’s restaurants, a finding that underscores the challenges of controlling tobacco in a country with 300 million smokers. The Daerwen Nature Quest Agency, a civil environmental group, conducted the five-month survey of 51 mid-range and low-end restaurants in ... Jump to full article >>

The Future Fund is mocking the Government’s anti-smoking laws by continuing to hold a $150 million stake in tobacco companies, the Greens say. The $75 billion fund, which was set up in 2006 to help pay federal public servants’ pensions, also owns $180million of shares in businesses involved in making nuclear weapons. General manager Mark Burgess told the Senate’s finance committee yesterday the fund took its environmental, soci ... Jump to full article >>

Last week’s proposal, leaked by Dagsavisen before Minister of Health and Care Services Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen had even so much issued a statement, called for abolishing smoking in outside serving areas, educational and medical establishments, and entrances to public buildings. The ‘smoke-free Norway’ minister’s measures add to an already restrictive practise of a ban on indoor smoking, tightened sales controls, and other proposals to ... Jump to full article >>

Since Saturday, the new law has made it an offence for pubs and clubs to sell tobacco products through vending machines, which is to prevent children from smoking. While some landlords have agreed this will deter many young people from smoking, they also say the measure will put people out of work. Harry Cheeseright, of The Old Farmhouse, in Trendlewood Way, Nailsea, said: “The people who supply these machines will probably go out of business ... Jump to full article >>