Philip Morris International Inc. (PM), Reynolds American, Inc. (RAI), Lorillard Inc. (LO), and other cigarette makers may be seeing lower demand and increased government regulation, but their stocks have been among the most profitable and stable during the economic crisis. The cigarette industry has been remarkably robust throughout the global economic downturn – it turns out that smokers will cut just about everything but their smokes from th ... Jump to full article >>

A handful of players on both the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies have played this year’s World Series with a wad of tobacco in their mouths. Have baseball players always used smokeless tobacco? Yes. In the mid-19th century—baseball’s formative years—chewing tobacco was enormously popular in the United States. Early ballplayers likely chewed tobacco for the same reasons as other American men, but they soon discover ... Jump to full article >>

Supporters of a petition drive to overturn a smoking ban adopted by the Topeka City Council have begun offering a Web site at topekansagainsttheban.com, said Topekan Gail Trembley, one of the drive’s organizers. Petitions can’t be signed on the site, though it can be used to download petitions or donate money to the effort. The Web site indicated Sunday that 1,609 people had signed the petition as part of an effort to repeal the coun ... Jump to full article >>

COLLEYVILLE, TX, November 01, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ — What started as a noble cause with lobbying groups like the American Cancer Society, Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights and Mother’s Against Drunk Driving, is now morphing into a multi headed monster as they became a victim of their own success. Both have campaigned and succeeded in getting stricter laws on drunk drivers and smoking which most all of us applaud. They donR ... Jump to full article >>

St. Louis (KMOV) – Tuesday is election day for people in the St. Louis area. One of the biggest issues on the ballot is Proposition “N,” which would enact a limited smoking ban in St. Louis County. If it passes a St. Louis city smoking ban will go into effect. Another issues on the St. Louis County ballot is Preposition “e-911.” If passed, it would create a one-tenth of-a-cent sales tax to improve emergency responde ... Jump to full article >>

NEWPORT NEWS – The good news for Jarry K. Ratliff is that he might avoid the $25 fine he faces for smoking in a local McDonald’s last week. The bad news? He still faces armed robbery, abduction and gun charges that could land him in prison for a long time. Ratliff, 27, a McDonald’s employee, was discovered as a fugitive Oct. 26. That came after a Newport News police officer at the drive-through of McDonald’s, on Jefferso ... Jump to full article >>

Richard and Donna Ganguet live in the Four Seasons gated development in El Dorado Hills. They say the neighbor’s tobacco smoke settles in their backyard and seeps in through their windows. Conflict with neighbors was the last thing Donna and Richard Ganguet expected to encounter when they moved into a gated community for people age 55 and older. “In a senior community, you think we’ll all be compatible and have the same values ... Jump to full article >>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Philip Morris International joined with U.S. tobacco industry groups on Thursday to ask President Barack Obama’s administration to challenge Canada’s new law banning flavored cigarettes and small cigars. Their request comes even as the administration takes its own steps to ban candy, clove and other flavored cigarettes. “Canada’s ban on blended cigarettes violates its WTO (World Trade Organization ... Jump to full article >>

Is using smokeless tobacco just as harmful as smoking, or is it potentially a safer option? Getting a definitive answer to that question has proved elusive despite centuries of medical research. Resolving the issue, and providing clarity amid the heated rhetoric, has prompted a new series of medical studies sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. One set focuses on whether such smokeless products as snus and the dissolvable products from R.J ... Jump to full article >>

The head of Britain’s leading medical research organisation rounded on the government yesterday for sacking its principal drugs adviser. Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, chief executive of the Medical Research Council, said scientists must be allowed to give “unfettered advice without the fear of reprisal”. His criticism followed the abrupt dismissal of David Nutt on Friday. This weekend Nutt said many of his colleagues on the advisory council on t ... Jump to full article >>