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 >>

It’s been 12 years since the major class-action Tobacco Settlement Agreement was made between the attorneys general of 46 states, including Indiana, and the four largest tobacco companies. Indiana’s share of the settlement created a trust fund for a state program dedicated to tobacco control. Ten years after the Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation (ITPC) organization was formed and significant progress has been made to reduce smoking ra ... 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 >>

The American Lung Association calls for an increase of $1.50 per pack to reduce youth smoking. AUGUSTA – An anti-smoking organization is calling on lawmakers and Gov. Paul LePage to increase the state’s cigarette excise tax by $1.50 per pack. Thursday’s call for raising the tax to $3.50 per pack came as the American Lung Association released its annual tobacco report card. Maine’s tax of $2 per pack tied for 10th highest ... Jump to full article >>

Marie Evans recalled she was 9 years old when she first started getting free cigarettes in the Boston housing project where she lived. At first, she traded them for candy, but she said she started smoking them herself at age 13. Four decades later, Evans died of lung cancer. Now, an unusual lawsuit is set to go to trial in Suffolk Superior Court, accusing the maker of those cigarettes — Lorillard Tobacco Co. — of deliberately trying to entic ... Jump to full article >>

I’m a lightweight; always have been. I didn’t get properly drunk until I was 25, on a night out which culminated in a spectacular public vomiting in a Chinese restaurant. Ever wondered what the clatter of 60 pairs of chopsticks being simultaneously dropped in disgust might sound like? Don’t ask me. I can’t remember. I was too busy bitterly coughing what remained of my guts all over the carpet. Not a big drinker, then. Lik ... Jump to full article >>

U.S. health officials issued new federal rules Thursday cracking down on the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to children and teens. New national bans on vending machine sales of cigarettes, free samples, tobacco company sponsorship of sporting events and even full-color cigarette ads are all part of the rules issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The rules, which go into effect June 22, “will help our kids stay healthy ... Jump to full article >>

Does your teenage or college-age daughter read fashion magazines such as Glamour or Vogue? Does she smoke? If the answer to both of those questions is yes, she may have been influenced by a series of advertisements for Camel cigarettes that appeared in those and other magazines in 2007, a new study suggests. The four largest tobacco companies in the United States—including R.J. Reynolds, the maker of Camels—are prohibited from “directly or ... Jump to full article >>

The study of 494 children showed that those with higher levels of exposure to secondhand smoke from ages 8 to 13 had, by age 13, significantly increased blood vessel wall thickness and functioning problems, both of which are precursors to arterial structural changes and hardening. Greater exposure to tobacco smoke also was associated with higher levels of apolipoprotein B (apoB), a component of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or “bad” ... Jump to full article >>

The evidence that cigarette prices and adverts affect young smokers is terribly weak. The government needs to base policy on evidence, not dogma. Tobacco policy currently rests on two claims: tobacco advertising and promotion are the major reasons why young people begin to smoke; and young people are particularly sensitive to the price of cigarettes. From these two claims follow the central elements of tobacco policy, namely that all forms of ... Jump to full article >>