Researchers with Bay Pines Veterans Affairs Healthcare and the University of South Florida last week announced they have found a compound derived from tobacco that may help memories of Alzheimer’s disease patients. Cotinine, they say, reduces plaques associated with dementia and prevented memory loss in mice with Alzheimer’s disease. The findings were reported online in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease . “We found a co ... Jump to full article >>

UNIK Corporation have found that electronic cigarettes are more popular than ever as smokers turn to these miracle products to get their fix of nicotine without the health risks that are associated with tar and tobacco. The “smoke-like” vapour emitted by an electronic cigarette vaporises within a few seconds, the odour does not linger so your clothes will not smell of tobacco, neither will your car or home! It leaves no visual resid ... Jump to full article >>

THE Consumers Association of Penang welcomes Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai’s recent statement that the Government will fine those caught smoking or possessing illicit or illegal cigarettes in a bid to reduce demand for such cigarettes, leading to a halt of such smuggling and trading activities. Illegal and contraband brands may cost as low as RM2 per 20 sticks pack, while duty-free cigarettes are smuggled by syndicates and sold ill ... Jump to full article >>

Republicans in the North Carolina House of Representatives are taking aim at three trust funds set up to disperse half of North Carolina’s share of the national tobacco settlement, all in the name of balancing the state budget. The money flowing into the state from this settlement is part of the agreement the major tobacco companies made with states suing those firms, under which those companies promise to pay hundreds upon hundreds of million ... Jump to full article >>

Nearly half the cigarettes sold in Hong Kong are illegal because of high prices, a tobacco concern group claims. The finding was based on an informal “survey” carried out by the Vote Against Tax Hikes Alliance, which rummaged through dozens of trash bins in Lok Fu and Lam Tin public housing estates last month, picking up empty cigarette packages. Of the 200 boxes retrieved, 92 were either from the mainland, or on which duty was not p ... Jump to full article >>

The amounts were for destitute and non-paying patients whom medical ethics mandate hospital to treat regardless of their ability to pay. Missouri hospitals lost in a lawsuit against U.S. tobacco firms after a St. Louis jury declared that the cigarette companies are not liable for money spent on people with smoking-related ailments on Friday. The 40 Missouri hospitals claimed in their 1998 lawsuit that Philip Morris unit of Altria Group, the R.J. ... Jump to full article >>

The Rockwood School District has become the first school district in St. Louis County to reach the “gold standard” of tobacco-free policies that are part of the county health department’s federally-financed anti-smoking effort. To obtain that standard, the district has to abide by 40 policies and practices that generally prohibit smoking on school property, enforce the ban on students, staff and visitors, point out smoking cess ... Jump to full article >>

RALEIGH, N.C. — House Republicans want to abolish two trust funds that receive half of North Carolina’s share of the national tobacco settlement and intercept money from the third – a direction health and economic development advocates contend will raise youth smoking rates and discourage economic recovery. The GOP-penned state budget proposal heading to floor debate Tuesday would eliminate by Dec. 31 the Health and Wellness Tr ... Jump to full article >>

No action the Food and Drug Administration and the Obama administration could take would do more to save lives, reduce health-care costs and curb the tobacco industry’s exploitation of children and minority teens than to ban menthol flavoring in cigarettes. Consider these findings from a March report by an FDA panel: Eighty percent of adolescent African American smokers use menthol cigarettes. Most adolescent Hispanic American smokers use me ... Jump to full article >>

A Pennsylvania lawsuit asks that the governor be forced to reinstate adultBasic after the auditor general said the government used one-third of the money legally designated to health programs for other purposes. The state’s adultBasic, a health insurance program for about 41,000 low-income adults in Pennsylvania, ended after funding expired Feb. 28. Money for the program came from a combination of tobacco-settlement revenues and donations from ... Jump to full article >>