PUBLIC health experts say a campaign that links plain cigarette packaging with children buying ”chop chop” – unbranded loose tobacco – from criminal gangs is grossly misleading and indicative of a desperate industry. The Association of Australian Retailers, which is bankrolled by big tobacco, has been running advertisements claiming children as young as 14 are smoking illegal tobacco smuggled by ”highly organised cr ... Jump to full article >>

HARTFORD,Conn. — U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal encouraged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to protect public health by removing menthol cigarettes from the marketplace. The Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee found evidence that tobacco companies often include menthol flavors in their products both to entice certain demographics such as young children and teens to use tobacco, and to make it harder for them to quit. “ ... Jump to full article >>

A federal panel ruled on Friday that the removal of menthol cigarettes from sale would be beneficial to United States public health, but fell short of recommending such action. The chairman of the panel, Dr. Jonathan Samet, professor of medicine at the University of Southern California, said there was a scientific basic to support the proposition that menthol cigarettes were more deleterious than regular ones. The risk, the panel said, was not t ... Jump to full article >>

TOBACCO GIANT Lorillard crows as the FDA cowers. Last week, an advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration found that removal of menthol cigarettes would benefit public health. But the panel stopped short of recommending a ban, prompting stocks of Lorillard, the king of menthol cigarettes, to shoot up from roughly $79 a share to roughly $90. The panel report comes three months after a Suffolk Superior Court jury awarded the family of Mari ... Jump to full article >>

Public health advocates have squared off against retail business owners over a Senate bill that would ban the sale of some flavored tobacco products. Advocates say flavored tobacco is a means of hooking young smokers. Washington tobacco retailers argue that they have enough regulations to cope with and that the state should focus on existing laws that prohibit anyone under the age of 18 from buying tobacco. They say a ban on flavored tobacco wi ... Jump to full article >>

According to a recent report, raising the price of tobacco products through excise tax increases is the most effective way to reduce tobacco use in Turkey, which is a win-win situation for public health and government revenues. The tobacco excise tax is calculated on an ad valorem basis. However, if the calculated tax falls below a minimum amount, a specific tax rate applies. As of Jan. 1, 2010, the ad valorem tax is 63 percent of retail price. ... Jump to full article >>

The manufacturer of Skoal and Copenhagen chewing tobacco has agreed to pay $5 million to the family of a North Carolina man who died of cancer in what is thought to be the first wrongful death settlement in a smokeless tobacco case. It was unclear because of the way the settlement was reached what effect it might have on potential litigation against chewing tobacco manufacturers, an industry segment that has been the target of far fewer liabili ... Jump to full article >>

One of the most effective public health interventions is increasing tobacco taxes to reduce youth consumption. Studies show that every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes reduces youth smoking by 7 percent and overall cigarette consumption by about 4 percent. GRAND FORKS — Nov. 18 was the Great American Smoke Out, an event held each year to encourage smokers to quit for a day or quit for life. While this worthy event has been in ex ... Jump to full article >>

An upcoming cigarette display ban in the United Kingdom, passed as a part of the 2009 Health Act, is not sitting well with tobacco groups and corner store trade bodies, and both have been “barraging” government officials with claims that the ban will trigger an increase in illegal sales while forcing many small retailers out of business. The lobbying effort comes in advance of a display ban that is to take effect next October for supermarket ... Jump to full article >>

Recommendations made by the Maori Affairs Select Committee’s inquiry into tobacco are strongly endorsed by the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) which says that adopting the proposals would have a dramatic effect on improving public health and reducing health inequalities. “Tobacco is our greatest preventable cause of death and illness, killing 5000 every year. Smoking rates among Maori are double that of the general population and cont ... Jump to full article >>