Tobacco.org

BRIANT: Taxing tobacco will shortchange kids  

The $35 billion SCHIP expansion relies on higher tax rates for all tobacco products including raising the cigarette tax by 61� a pack or 156.4%, increasing the tax on cigars up to $3.00 per cigar or 6,000%, and hiking the tax on pipe tobacco and smokeless tobacco by 156.4% as well.

These proposed tax rates are so high that the increases are far beyond fair taxation and become punitive in nature. Moreover, this selective taxation of tobacco products is discriminatory and is leading to the ultimate tax that society and lawmakers can impose, namely, prohibition.

In just the past eighteen months, New Jersey, Michigan, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Maine, New Hampshire, Maryland and Vermont have raised cigarette and/or tobacco taxes only to subsequently collect less tax revenue than before . . .

--Thomas A. Briant is executive director, National Association of Tobacco Outlets, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.

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• Hub seeks more bans on tobacco  

Cigarette sales at Boston drugstores and on college campuses would be banned under sweeping new tobacco control rules likely to win initial approval today from health regulators.

The restrictions, which would give Boston among the toughest antismoking laws in the nation, could go into effect early next year. The rules would also stamp out smoking on the patios of restaurants and bars with outside service; tobacco use has been banned inside since 2003. And, after a five-year grace period, the city would shutter cigar bars, swank salons catering to tobacco connoisseurs, which were exempt from the earlier regulation.

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Boston Eyeing More Smoking Restrictions  

Boston public health officials are considering barring cigarette sales at pharmacies and on college campuses.

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The new tougher rules, if approved on Thursday, would give the city among the toughest tobacco control regulations in the nation.

The rules, which would also bar smoking at restaurants and bars with outside service and phase out cigar bars over the next five years, could go into effect as early as next year.

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Health Blog : For Chantix and Ambien, Ads That Dare Not Speak the Drugs' Names 

And Pfizer, whose smoking-cessation drug Chantix has come under scrutiny for psychiatric side effects, has recently revived ads that send people to mytimetoquit.com.

The site gives readers lots of options to "learn about a prescription treatment option" -- which turns out to mean clicking through to the Chantix Web site.

The campaign isn't designed to circumvent FDA rules, Pfizer spokeswoman Sally Beatty tells the WSJ. "My Time to Quit is designed to encourage people who are thinking about quitting to speak to their health-care provider about the benefits of quitting smoking and available treatment options," she said.

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• Making a Name for Drugs Without Using Their Names ($$) 

Pfizer Inc. has found a way to encourage the use of its antismoking drug Chantix without detailing serious potential side effects through a commercial that doesn't mention Chantix at all.

During NBC's coverage of the Beijing Olympics this month, Pfizer aired a commercial in which a middle-age woman tells the camera, "At 6:30 in the morning, I have a cigarette. And then another on my way to work." During the 60-second commercial, a voice discusses ways to break the habit and directs viewers to Mytimetoquit.com. Visitors to the site find a link to a Chantix site that contains information on the antismoking drug, including the negative side effects.

Such "unbranded product advertising" like the mytimetoquit.com spot is gaining popularity among drugmakers, which in recent months have come under renewed fire from lawmakers for the ways in which they promote drugs directly to consumers.

Under Food and Drug Administration rules, if an ad doesn't directly name the drug, it doesn't have to include the reading of possible side effects

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Potential NYC Mayoral Candidate Wants Taxes Collected on Native American Retailers 

John Catsimatidis, chief executive officer of the Red Apple Group and Gristedes Foods, is taking aim again at two Native America tribes on Long Island for what he claims is an unfair cigarette taxation issue.

In 2006, Gristede’s brought legal suit against the Unkechaug and Shinnecock tribes, contending the tribes violated civil racketeering statutes by selling untaxed cigarettes. Marlboros cost about $4.20 from the tribes’ retailers vs. twice that at New York City retailers after the latest tax hike, The New Yorker reported. The suit was later dismissed.

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VCU Task Force on Corporate-Sponsored Research  

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to report that the University Task Force on Corporate-Sponsored Research, formed in response to the recent media interest in certain research agreements between the University and Philip Morris, held its first meeting today. Chaired by Vice President for Research, Dr. Frank Macrina, this Task Force will be meeting in the days and weeks ahead to continue the dialogue on the nature of the relationships that the University should have with corporate sponsors of research going forward. The members of the Task Force are identified below.

I have asked Dr. Macrina to create a website for the Task Force so members of the University and Health System Communities will be able to follow its progress. . . .

Sincerely,

Eugene P. Trani

President, Virginia Commonwealth University

June 10, 2008

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西山工商局开展户外烟草广告清理工作 发布单位和广告主表示配合 

记者从西山区工商局获悉，根据昆明市创卫的工作目标和要求，西山区工商局近日积极开展户外烟草广告清理检查工作。

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Tobacco control - the Government wants your views  

A new national tobacco strategy may restrict the display of cigarettes, particularly in ways which attract children.

As part of the government's consultation on tobacco control it is asking for opinions on the control of the display of tobacco, in particular at the point of sale. It is also asking for views on vending machines and the possible introduction of plain packaging and a minimum pack size of 20 cigarettes.

A local survey of tobacco displays carried out by Solihull NHS Care Trust visited 108 retail outlets (newsagents, supermarkets and petrol stations) to audit the displays of tobacco. There were more outlets in the less affluent wards of the borough.

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Company car smoke threat  

SMOKING in your company car could land you in court. That was the stark warning from environmental health bosses.

The ban on smoking inside public buildings and work vehicles took effect in Wales in April 2007.

But officers in Neath Port Talbot are still finding individuals and companies who risk being fined.

The law requires vehicles to be smoke free at all times if they are work vehicles or used to transport members of the public, either as part of paid or voluntary work by more than one person - regardless of whether they are in the vehicle at the same time.

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Letter: Tobacco Continues To Seduce Children  

I’m appalled at the number of youth, clearly under the age of 18, I see smoking cigarettes. Joe Camel might be a scheme of the past, but the tobacco industry continues to find ways to seduce our children into becoming smokers. Just visit the local 7-11 store and you will find candy-flavored cigarettes. . . .

I urge Senators Webb and Warner to do their part and work to pass S 625 this year.

We need to stop protecting Big Tobacco and start protecting our children.

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• Shell, Illinois Team to Halt Tobacco Sales to Minors 

Shell Oil Products and its parent, Motiva Enterprises, are taking proactive steps in Illinois to reduce cigarette sales to minors at 14,000 independent retail outlets in the state.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said in a statement that Shell also agreed to pay $100,000 to cover costs incurred by the states’ investigation and negotiation.

To date, this marks the 12th agreement Madigan’s office signed with national retailers, including CVS, 7-Eleven, Wal-Mart and Walgreen’s stores, and gas stations and convenience stores operating under the Conoco, Phillips 66 or 76, Exxon, Mobil, BP and Amoco brand names, according to the statement. . . .

Madigan explained this agreement came as a result of an ongoing, multi-state enforcement effort. In total, the agreements cover more than 90,000 retail outlets across the nation.

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• Citigroup Sued by Brokers It Fired Over Tobacco-Settlement Fund  

Citigroup Inc. was sued by two former brokers who invested billions of dollars in tobacco- settlement money and who claim they were fired to protect the bank when it charged the fund excessive fees.

The brokers, Peter Dunn and Alan Kirman, claim that Citigroup, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, wrongly blamed them for overcharging the tobacco-settlement trust, which holds money paid by the major U.S. tobacco companies as part of a $206 billion settlement with 46 states in 1998.

Dunn and Kirman, in a suit filed July 17 in state court in Florida, claim they were unaware of any fee limits on the settlement money. They claim senior executives, who also were unaware of the limits, blamed them to avoid losing the account when the excessive fees were discovered. . . .

The case is Dunn v. Citigroup Global Markets Inc., 08-CV-80926, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida (West Palm Beach).

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SkyCity cinemas write down hits profit 

The owner of the Adelaide Casino, SkyCity, has reported a fall in annual profit of almost 50 per cent.

Net profit is almost $41 million, dragged down by a multi-million-dollar write down of its cinema business. . . .

The company says smoking bans introduced late last year had a lesser effect on the casino than anticipated.

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Gas station ditches cigarette ad signs  

There are a few things missing around the exterior of the Getty gas station here at the corner of Main Street and Mountain Avenue.

There are no signs advertising tobacco products.

Minhajuddin Mohammed, known to all of his friends here in Cairo simply as "Mohammed," has removed all the tobacco signs on the outside of his station at the request of the Rip Van Winkle Tobacco-free Coalition.

He accepted the "Tobacco-free Challenge" when he learned about it several weeks ago. In return for the removal, Mohammed has been offered $200 as an incentive and, because one of his major interests has been in helping community organizations aid youth, Mohammed has decided that $200 should go to the welfare of the school. His station is across Main Street from Cairo Elementary School.

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