Tweet LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB Fox 41) — Both Kentucky and Indiana receive poor grades in the American Lung Association’s State of Tobacco Control 2010 report. It looks at whether the laws in individual states are protecting people from tobacco-related diseases. The report grades each state in four categories — tobacco prevention and spending, smokefree air, cigarette taxes, and cessation coverage. Kentucky received an “F&# ... Jump to full article >>

Tweet WASHINGTON — By late March, manufacturers of most tobacco products must begin giving the Food and Drug Administration information on new additives and other alterations in their products — enabling the agency for the first time to weed out chemical or manufacturing tweaks that make cigarettes and other products more addictive or otherwise more harmful. The FDA was directed to collect ingredient information by the 2009 Tobacco Control A ... Jump to full article >>

Tweet BEIJING — China’s addiction to huge revenues from its state-owned tobacco monopoly is preventing anti-smoking measures, potentially costing millions of lives in the country with the world’s largest number of smokers, experts warned Thursday. The health and other costs of smoking already exceed the tobacco industry’s economic contributions by at least $9 billion, said a report prepared by a group of prominent Chinese ... Jump to full article >>

Tweet TOKYO — When the Japanese government raised the tax on cigarettes on Oct. 1, it could have started a public health revolution in this land of heavy smokers. The tax increase should also have been a bonanza for Pfizer, the world’s biggest pharmaceutical company, which makes the leading drug to help smokers break the habit. Instead, it became a missed opportunity. Despite ample notice of the change, Pfizer failed to produce enough of the ... Jump to full article >>

Tweet Japan Nov Core CPI -0.5% Y/Y, 21st Drop In Row, But Above Oct -0.6% Japan Nov Total CPI +0.1% Y/Y, 2nd Y/Y Rise in Row Central Tokyo Dec Core CPI -0.4% Y/Y Vs Nov -0.5%, 20th Drop In Row Japan CPI Shows Nov Energy Costs +3.9% Y/Y Vs Oct +4.0% Japan’s national core consumer prices fell 0.5% in November from a year earlier, posting the 21st straight y/y drop and indicating that the economy is still mired in deflation, data releasedTue ... Jump to full article >>

Tweet Tobacco production is booming in Zimbabwe as small farmers attempt to cash in on high prices worldwide. Farmers have also been spurred on by Zimbabwe’s adoption of the US dollar following the collapse of its own currency, with 99 per cent of all tobacco grown in the country now exported. Operators of a farm outside Zimbabwe’s capital Harare are harvesting a fine crop of lush 16 leaf plants to be smoked dry – the Virginia m ... Jump to full article >>

Tweet Alliance One International, Inc. (NYSE: AOI) announced today that it is implementing several strategic initiatives to better position the Company to serve its customers consistent with the evolving market environment. The Company is realigning its organization and strengthening its management team to address the changing business models of its customer base and reallocating resources to increase efficiency and better support its core busi ... Jump to full article >>

Tweet The international cigarette maker “Marlboro” will introduce on the Bulgarian market cigarette boxes with 10 pieces each, instead of the common 20. The information is listed in the tobacco products registry of the Finance Ministry. The brands “Red” and “Gold” will cost BGN 2.70 compared to BGN 5.20 for the 20-pack. “Philip Morris Bulgaria” told the daily “Dnevnik” they are generally ... Jump to full article >>

Tweet Mr Soros, who has long campaigned for drug policy reform, said laws against cannabis were “clearly doing more harm than good” and had not stopped it becoming the most widely used illegal substance in the US and other countries. Writing in the Wall Street Journal under the headline “Why I support Legal Marijuana,” he said prohibiting the drug was “unenforceable.” Mr Soros, perhaps the most famous ever hed ... Jump to full article >>