Tobacco.org

Adenocarcinoma Of The Esophagus Increasing In White Men And Women 

The incidence of adenocarcinoma of the esophagus in the United States increased among both white men and women between 1975 and 2004, according to a study published in the August 12 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The overall incidence of esophageal cancer has been climbing in white men, holding steady in white women, and decreasing in black men and women. Previous reports suggested that the increase in white men was due to an increase in one type of esophageal cancer called adenocarcinoma.

To get a more detailed picture of the population trends, Linda Morris Brown, Dr.P.H., of the National Cancer Institute and RTI International in Rockville, Md., and colleagues analyzed data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. They identified 22,759 cases of esophageal cancer in white patients diagnosed between 1975 and 2004 and 9,526 of those were adenocarcinoma of the esophagus.

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Weaver fury is calming 

The ongoing controversy surrounding Councilman Dave Weaver's alleged comments about Armenian smokers in a June 26 Pasadena Weekly article appeared Tuesday to have fizzled.

Only one speaker at the City Council meeting, Vache Mangassarian -- a staunch Weaver critic -- returned to berate the councilman over the article despite expectations in the past week that a larger contingent of critics would take to the speaker's podium at the meeting.

Critics, including representatives for the Armenian National Committee-Glendale Chapter, maintained their calls for Weaver to resign, issue a full apology or for his colleagues to censure him based on assertions in the Pasadena Weekly article that Weaver had tied opposition to the city's coming anti-smoking ordinance to Glendale's "substantial and politically influential Armenian community."

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• Reporter, editor defend smoking-ban article 

The Pasadena Weekly reporter who touched off a furor three weeks ago, when it came to light that his June 26 article had incorrectly attributed comments about Armenian smokers to Mayor John Drayman, appeared live on cable television Thursday to defend his work.

The reporter, Carl Kozlowski, was unassuming in his defense on "The Larry Zarian Show" on Thursday while discussing an error in which he incorrectly attributed to Drayman comments Councilman Dave Weaver allegedly made about Armenian smokers and the influence they may have in opposing Glendale's upcoming smoking ordinance.

The cover article was widely circulated at City Hall about five weeks after it published and set off what has been an ongoing protest of Weaver by the Armenian community, especially the Armenian National Committee Glendale Chapter.

"I certainly didn't want to cause a rift in the community," Kozlowski said.

But he did not back down from Weaver's accusations that the Pasadena Weekly had distorted his comments and had fabricated some of the indirect quotations in the article. . . .

A week prior, Councilman Ara Najarian said he was satisfied with Weaver's explanation that his comments were taken out of context and that he never tied opposition to the coming smoking ordinance to Glendale's "substantial" Armenian smoking population.

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UHRICH: Burned in a smoking war 

Much negative political hay has been made of a story that the Weekly published recently about a proposed smoking ban in Glendale in which one of the characters was misidentified by one of our reporters.

That person, Mayor John Drayman, is opposed to smoking, just like the person the paper actually quoted, Councilman Dave Weaver, the only one of five council members to return calls for comment on the proposed ordinance, which if enacted will be one of the toughest prohibitions of its kind in Southern California.

Although it took him more than a month after the publication of the June 26 story to complain, Drayman called the paper to do just that late on the morning of July 30 -- a Wednesday, a few hours before that week's edition went to press. Drayman told Publisher Jon Guynn that he had not seen the story until it was pointed out to him the previous night by City Hall gadfly Barry Allen, and that he took particular exception to a part in which he -- not Weaver -- was quoted saying "there will be a lot of opposition from one segment of the population that loves to smoke."

But now it appears that from the end of June until today we've been the only ones to own up to myriad mistakes made in figuring out exactly who said what and why in the ongoing debate over smoking in Glendale . . .

Maybe, and we're sorry if anyone took it that way. But here's something that others knew and we didn't until recently: The Armenian National Committee, which is complaining the loudest about us and Weaver's insensitive comments, just conducted a survey of 740 people around the city which found that even though most people do not smoke (61 percent), 51 percent also do not support prohibiting smoking on sidewalks, 50 percent do not want smoking banned on outdoor patios, 50 percent do not support a smoking ban in apartment units, 63 percent believe such bans infringe on their "individual freedoms," and -- get this -- 70 percent would take the issue out of the council's hands and put it on the ballot for a vote. . . .

Isn't it time some of these other players -- Weaver, the ANC and the other local papers -- did the same?

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LA Observed: Glendale and its Armenian smokers 

The Pasadena Weekly has run a surprising commentary by editor Kevin Uhrich in response to a controversy over whether a Glendale city official referred to residents of Armenian heritage being opposed to an anti-smoking ordinance. The paper says its reporter got some stuff wrong, and the story mushroomed. The named players are Glendale Mayor John Drayman, Councilman Dave Weaver and PW reporter Carl Kozlowski.

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'Cigar City' 

TAMPA - Hoping to escape labor issues, Vicente Martinez Ybor became the first Key West cigarmaker to move his operations to Tampa. . . .

That's part of the story visitors will see and hear at the $52 million Tampa Bay History Center, scheduled to open in December in the Channel District. The three-story building, under construction for nearly a year, will take visitors from the Tampa Bay area's prehistory through the arrival of the Spanish explorers, the Seminole Indian wars, Civil War, coming of the railroad and rise of the modern city.

Cuban, Spanish and Italian immigrants came to work in the cigar factories and related businesses, creating an unusual culture that continues to help define Tampa more than 120 years later.

They built their own clubhouses in Ybor City

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• Government Gets Hooked on Tobacco Tax Billions 

In HBO’s series “The Wire,” the charismatic thug Omar Little took a bullet to the brain while buying a pack of Newport cigarettes.

If Mr. Little had completed the transaction before falling dead to the grungy floor of a corner grocery, he would have paid 39 cents in federal taxes and a Maryland state tax of $2 per pack.

And those taxes are one reason a ban on menthol cigarettes is unlikely.

Mr. Little’s brand, Newport, is the leading menthol brand and the cigarette of choice among many African-Americans. . . .

The decision to exempt menthol from the flavoring ban may appear illogical until you dissect the economics of cigarettes and their impact on government. A growing reliance by the states and federal government on cigarette taxes — as well as a popular proposal to increase federal taxes by 61 cents to an even $1 per pack to finance the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, S-chip — provide a sort of insurance policy for the continued survival of menthol cigarettes. . . .

Unless menthol smokers switched to other types of cigarettes, a menthol ban would cut nearly a third of the tax revenues for states and federal governments. . . .

Mr. Orlowsky’s vehemence on the subject is not surprising. A ban on menthol could deliver a mortal blow to Lorillard, obviously a problem for its investors and employees, but, not quite so obviously, a problem for state governments.

Lorillard’s share of the tobacco settlement payments to states for last year was nearly $894 million. . . .

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• Newports: Tobacco CEO Tells "Truth" About Cigarette Ads 

"The truth is that Lorillard markets its Newport brand cigarettes to adult smokers of all ethnicities," writes Lorillard CEO Martin Orlowsky to the Chicago Tribune today. . . .

Lorillard doesn't have to market disproportionately to African-Americans, because the market share of menthols in the black community is already massive. Look at Orlowsky's own math:

The truth is that there are twice as many Caucasian menthol cigarette smokers as there are African-American menthol cigarette smokers.

African-Americans are about 13% of the US population. Whites are about 74%. There are roughly six times more whites than blacks in the US, but only two times more white menthol smokers. Disparity? Duh. . . .

Newport cigarettes contain menthol, which may make them less harsh-tasting and easier for experimenting teens to smoke, Gerlach and colleagues say. They also suggest that expanded advertising campaigns may have helped increase the brand’s popularity.

Nobody has to target underage smokers. Target 18-year-old smokers! Their kid brothers will totally pick it up.

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• LETTER: ORLOWSKY: Defending the marketing of menthol cigarettes  

Your story "Blacks seen as targets of menthol; Exemption for additive troubles many critics" (Page 1, Aug. 13) mischaracterizes the facts regarding the marketing of menthol cigarettes. It is but one more example of a coordinated effort by paternalistic moralists through the media who neither know the facts or the science about menthol in cigarettes nor care to learn them.

This campaign is seeking to take away a smoker's choice to smoke menthol cigarettes, or to smoke at all. It is a blatant effort to impose a politically correct agenda on the American public with the unfortunate assistance of the media. . . .

The truth is that Lorillard markets its Newport brand cigarettes to adult smokers of all ethnicities. The truth is that our marketing is not disproportionately directed to African-Americans. The truth is that we do not target underage smokers. The truth is that there are twice as many Caucasian menthol cigarette smokers as there are African-American menthol cigarette smokers. I challenge those who want to prove otherwise to come forward with evidence to support their charges. . . . .

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• Blacks seen as targets of menthol  

Eighty years after a man named Lloyd "Spud" Hughes, as legend has it, accidentally mixed his tobacco with menthol crystals, Congress is fighting over whether to ban these popular flavored cigarettes.

Mentholated cigarettes started out in the 1920s with such names as Spud, Listerine, the Original Eucalyptus Smoke and Snowball. Today they're sold as Newport, Kool and Marlboro Menthol, the smokes of choice among the black community.

Critics charge they are products designed specifically to lure young blacks into a lifetime of tobacco use. . . .

the issue of what, if anything, should be done about menthols has proved complicated for political Washington --and for smokers. . . .

"We see this as a huge issue," said Jan Roberts, a registered nurse who runs the Genesee County Asthma Network, in Flint. "It certainly seems like the tobacco industry has a pretty strong hold on our community."

The Congressional Black Caucus, whose members represent many of the densely populated and largely black urban centers where menthol cigarettes are most popular, is split on the menthol question as well. . . .

A 2002 report, "The African Americanization of menthol cigarette use in the United States," found that tobacco companies nearly doubled their market share in the African-American community from the early 1960s through the late 1970s. Part of the campaign, the report said, was built on a perception that menthols are safer to smoke than non-menthol brands.

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• Editorial - Smooth and Dangerous?  

When the House of Representatives passed a pioneering bill last month to give the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco products, one of the most contentious issues it faced was whether to also ban the use of menthol flavoring in cigarettes.

The House punted; its bill directed federal health officials to promptly assess the public health impact of mentholated cigarettes. With millions of Americans currently smoking menthol cigarettes, the question needs to be answered quickly. . . .

The Senate should follow the House's lead and give the F.D.A. regulatory control over tobacco. Then the F.D.A. should move as quickly as possible to determine the effects of menthol and what should be done to regulate or ban it. Americans need to know, once and for all, whether menthol makes cigarettes even deadlier.

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Esperanza Urges Congress to Pass Historic Tobacco Legislation 

Esperanza, the largest Hispanic faith-based organization in the country, presses Congress to take advantage of opportunity to prevent youth smoking and pass H.R 1108, "The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act." This legislation gives the FDA the ability to regulate tobacco products and marketing in order to prevent tobacco companies from targeting youth.

"With H.R. 1108 the FDA would have the ability to further restrict sales of tobacco products to children and require more meaningful warnings on tobacco products," said the President of Esperanza Rev. Luis Cortes.

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Virginia dig searches for black Southern heritage 

Construction equipment began digging this week in Shockoe Bottom at the former site of Lumpkin's Slave Jail, an infamous stop in the former Confederate capitol's once-thriving commerce in enslaved men, women and children.

The Richmond Slave Trail Commission is attempting to link key stops in slavery's footprint _ from a James River port where slaves were transported to an old, long-forgotten burial ground and, ultimately, the former site of Lumpkin's Jail. The ambitious project aims to explore the legacy of slavery and the Civil War beyond heroic memorials to Confederate leaders that were erected in the city. . . .

Ana Edwards, an activist who has been involved in the preservation of a historic blacks-only burial ground near the Lumpkin site, said the story of Shockoe Bottom's slave-trading history is essential to understanding American history.

"This was a corporation, this was a business development," Edwards said. "Slavery was the key element on which the economy was developed."

The decline of labor-intensive crops such as tobacco led to a vast movement of slaves during the Civil War. Too many acres had been devoted to the crop and successive plantings depleted the soil, so farmers shifted to crops that no longer required slave labor. Slaves for farm labor were still needed in the Deep South.

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Tubbs Jones Votes to Support the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act 

"The Congressional Black Caucus has worked for years with smoking cessation programs targeted at cutting the rate of smoking in African-American communities," said Rep. Tubbs Jones. "This is not the 'perfect bill' we all would have hoped for, however, this bill provides meaningful oversight and regulation of a product that is responsible for one in every three cancer deaths in the United States. I am alarmed that 21.6% of Ohio's youth are smokers and applaud the provisions of this bill that will require a study to be conducted looking at the prevalence of youth tobacco use. I am also pleased that the bill will require the federal government to work with state and local governments to develop strategies to prevent underage tobacco use in communities with a disproportionate use of menthol cigarettes by minority youth."

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• Take Away Their Menthols? Is That Cool?  

Those who support the ban of menthol include seven former federal secretaries of health and human services, African-American antismoking advocates and some Congressional Black Caucus members. Those opposing the ban of menthol include Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette company; other Black Caucus members; and major public health groups, which said a compromise was needed so as not to derail the legislation.

In this maelstrom of debate are the smokers. There are those like Mr. Heath, who is African-American, who reject such wholesale interference with personal choices, and there are others who believe that having their menthol cigarettes snatched away may be just what they need to end their habit.

AN entertainment executive with a major Hollywood studio who smokes Marlboro Smooth, a newly introduced menthol, said he did not want the government "telling me anything." . . .

"For me, I think I'm addicted twice, once to the menthol and then second to the tobacco," said one smoker in a small group discussion with black adult smokers in the Atlanta area, which was held by the C.D.C. and summarized in a study published this year in Ethnicity & Health, an academic journal.

Marketing campaigns have greatly influenced consumers. . . .

Of course, some smokers had their eyes wide open when they succumbed to the habit.

Katherine Dozier, 24, a wedding planner in Los Angeles who is white, said she started smoking regularly about a year ago, when a Hollywood club passed out Camel No. 9 menthols as a promotion. She was struck by the "cute" black-and-turquoise box with a pink camel, and said the cigarettes were obviously aimed at young women. "You just don't see men smoking them because they wouldn't be caught dead with these pink and green boxes," she said.

Ms. Dozier liked the cigarettes, finding them "really smooth and minty and very light," she said. "They didn't make me cough."

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