The use of menthol cigarettes is rising among adolescents and is “very high” among minority youth, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel said in partial draft report released Monday. The Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee could make a recommendation about whether menthol flavoring should be banned. The panel’s report is due next week. Menthol cigarettes account for about 30% of total cigarette sales in the ... Jump to full article >>

LONDON (AP) — The cigarette packs piled into prominent displays behind store counters and supermarket checkouts in England can’t be missed. They occupy prime retail real estate, helping to keep addicts hooked and quitters tempted. But the government announced a ban on them Wednesday, a move that will keep cigarettes hidden away and make it just a tad more difficult for smokers to find their fix. “We cannot ignore the targeting of y ... Jump to full article >>

New Delhi: Even as India waits for harsher pictorial warnings on all tobacco products – a new ban is put in place for plastic packaging of gutka. The Supreme Court’s landmark decision to ban the use of plastic in sachets for storing or selling tobacco, gutka and pan masala came into effect across the country from March 1 this year. “This is basically a part of the environment ministry’s revised plastic waste management� ... Jump to full article >>

A proposed menthold cigarette ban has tobacco companies fighting US health regulators in court in an effort to stop consideration of the ban. Lorillard Inc and Reynolds American Inc’s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co unit filed a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration based on “conflicts of interest and bias among members” of the FDA advisory panel, which is researching the possible ban. The lawsuit accuses three tobacco adv ... Jump to full article >>

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) – St. Mary’s Medical Center is planning to ban tobacco use starting this summer. WSAZ-TV reports that the Huntington hospital plans to go tobacco-free on June 27. Tobacco use already is prohibited inside hospital buildings. St. Mary’s says it will eliminate three outside designated smoking areas. St. Mary’s says the tobacco-free initiative is a way to show its commitment to healthy living. At least ... Jump to full article >>

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin has urged Major League Baseball to ban smokeless tobacco use on the field, in the dugout and in the locker room. In a letter to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and the MLB Players Association, Durbin and fellow Democrat Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey say “use of smokeless tobacco by baseball players undermines the positive image of the sport and sends a dangerous message to young fans.” Twenty-eight years ago MLB en ... Jump to full article >>

China’s film industry grossed a record 10.17 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) at the box office last year. Mindful of its powerful impact, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television asked the nation’s filmmakers this week to make their productions free of smokers and tobacco products. In the administration’s eyes, TV and films should not encourage smoking, especially among young people. A survey by the Chinese Associati ... Jump to full article >>

SALT LAKE CITY — A bill before the 2011 Legislature would outlaw flavored tobacco products targeted at children, but at least one shop owner says the measure could inadvertently ban certain types of pipe tobacco as well. Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, said his bill, HB170, is an attempt to stop the sale of flavored tobacco products, which are similarly packaged like candy and gum. “They’re really targeting children with their ma ... Jump to full article >>

New Delhi: Environment Ministry today issued a notification banning the use of plastics for packaging gutka and other tobacco products after it was pulled up by the Supreme Court for not implementing the law regulating the use of the environmentally harmful polymers. The Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 also bans the packaging of foodstuffs in recycled plastics or compostable plastics. On February 2, the Supreme Court had ref ... Jump to full article >>

You wouldn’t think peach-flavored cigarillos would cause such a ruckus. Legislation to ban sales of kid-friendly tobacco products inspired fervent testimony from both supporters and opponents at a recent legislative hearing in Olympia. Public-health officials maintained that the brightly colored, flavored products start teens down a dark road to lifetime nicotine addiction. But critics countered that banning the popular products would bank ... Jump to full article >>