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Ramadoss wants Rs.1 bn more for anti-tobacco campaign 

Union Health Minster Anbumani Ramadoss said Monday he would seek around Rs.1 billion (Rs.100 crore) more from the central government for the anti-tobacco campaign, for which Rs.4.25 billion (Rs.425 crore) has already been provided.

Members of parliament, state legislatures, panchayats (village councils) and teachers would be involved in the campaign against tobacco consumption, he said at a function at Bangalore Medical College.

'My ministry will seek additional Rs.1-1.25 billion to take forward the campaign,' Ramadoss said.

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Tobacco-Free Kids activity kits available  

Schools and community groups that want to participate in Tobacco-Free Kids Week 2009 can reserve free Activity Planning Kits from the Anne Arundel County Department of Health. The kits can be requested from the Learn To Live Line, 410-222-7979, or the TFK Week page of the Smoking Stinks Web site, smokingstinks.org.

The county's 14th annual Tobacco-Free Kids Week will be March 1 to 7. . . .

Tobacco-Free Kids Week is part of Smoking Stinks, a Learn To Live program of the county health department.

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• DOH head to share Taiwan's experience in anti-smoking drive at WHA  

Department of Health (DOH) Minister Yeh Ching-chuan said Sunday that if he can attend the annual conference of the World Health Assembly (WHA) in May, he will share Taiwan's experiences in fight against smoking with other participating countries.

Yeh made the remarks while attending an event promoting smoke-free taxis ahead of the Jan.11 implementation of the revised Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act that imposes a strict ban on smoking indoors in public places, including on taxis.

Noting that Taiwan is on par with, or even outperform, Singapore, Hong Kong and Scandinavian countries in efforts to establish a smoke-free environment, Yeh said he looks forward to sharing Taiwan's experiences in this regard with other countries at this year's conference of the WHA-- the top decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), a U.N. specialized agency.

Although Taiwan is no longer a WHO member since its expulsion from the United Nations, Taiwan's health minister has since 1997 consistently headed a delegation to Geneva in May when the WHA convenes its annual meeting to convey Taiwan people's desire to have a voice in the WHA. Because of China's opposition, Taiwan's DOH minister usually could only be seated in the WHA conference hall's public gallery.

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• Central Virginia benefitting from tobacco settlement money  

Some of Virginia's "tobacco settlement" money this year helped pay for cattle chutes, a set of metal bars that makes it a little easier and safer for Eric Morgan and farmers like him to do the work that leads to better herds of beef cattle.

Bedford County farmers who had the right qualifications found 38 grants were available this year -- of up to $3,000 each -- when Virginia's Tobacco Commission chose to fund a Central Virginia Beef Expansion Project.

Much larger amounts of tobacco settlement money have gone into a broadband network, college scholarships, and economic-development projects of every stripe since 2000, when Virginia started disbursing funds it gained from the National Tobacco Settlement.

Central Virginia Community College and entities in three nearby counties -- Appomattox, Bedford and Campbell -- benefited from $10.7 million in Tobacco Commission money over those years.

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SMOKIN'! How The American Tobacco Industry Employs PR Scum To Continue Its Murderous Assault On Human Lives 

Brill's analysis inspired Bernays to stage a legendary publicity event that is still taught as a model in PR schools. To sell cigarettes as a symbol of women's liberation, he hired beautiful women to march in New York's prominent Easter parade, each waving a lit cigarette and wearing a banner proclaiming it a "torch of liberty." Bernays made sure publicity photos of his smoking models appeared world-wide.

Decades of saturation cigarette advertising and promotion continued into the 1950s via billboards, magazines, movies, TV and radio. Thanks to Bernays and other early pioneers of public relations, cigarettes built a marketing juggernaut upon an unshakable identification with sex, youth, vitality and freedom. The work for the tobacco industry, in turn, earned PR widespread credibility and launched the rise of today's multi-billion dollar public relations industry.

The Truth Hurts

IN 1952, READER'S Digest ran an influential article titled "Cancer by the Carton." A 1953 report by Dr. Ernst L. Wynder heralded to the scientific community a definitive link between cigarette smoking and cancer. Over the next two years, dozens of articles appeared in The New York Times and other major public publications: Good Housekeeping, the New Yorker, Look, Woman's Home Companion. Sales of cigarettes went into an unusual, sudden decline.

The tobacco czars were in a panic. . . .

AT HILL'S SUGGESTION, the industry created a group called the Tobacco Institute Research Committee (TIRC), and ran a full-page ad, titled "A Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers," in more than 400 newspapers. The ad acknowledged tobacco companies had a "special responsibility" to the public, and promised to sponsor "independent research" aimed at "learning the facts about smoking and health."

This pretense of honest concern from a respected figure worked its expected magic. Opinion research by Hill & Knowlton showed only 9 percent of the newspapers expressing opinions on the TIRC were unfavorable, whereas 65 percent were favorable without reservation. . . .

After all, as PR pro Kirk Hallahan recently observed, new technology has already made you superfluous. "Today, with many more options available, PR professionals are much less dependent upon mass media for publicity," Hallahan stated in the Summer 1994 Public Relations Quarterly. "In the decade ahead, the largest American corporations could underwrite entire, sponsored channels. Organizations such as Procter & Gamble might circumvent public media altogether and subsidize programming that combines promotional and otherwise conducive messages--news, Talk Shows, infomercials, or sponsored entertainment or sports.... Channel sponsors will be able reach coveted super-heavy users...with a highly tailored message over which they exert complete control."

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What to Expect from the Tobacco Industry  

This document is intended to provide you, the smokefree advocate, with a realistic overview of the strategies, tactics, and messages that are frequently used by the tobacco industry and its allies to oppose smokefree indoor air laws. This should provide you with more questions than answers, as there are more in-depth resources available from ANR and other organizations relating to the various topics covered herein.

By educating yourself and others about what to expect from the tobacco industry, you can more effectively anticipate and counter the misinformation and noise that will surface in your campaign for smokefree air. Inoculating policymakers, media, coalition members, and the public about what to expect will help them take Big Tobacco misinformation with a healthy grain of salt. . . .

Front groups are generally business coalitions or associations funded by the tobacco industry, which appear in opposition shortly after a proposed law becomes public knowledge. These groups approach the local business community, predicting dire consequences from enactment of the law, such as by citing undocumented figures of loss of business in cities that have already passed laws.

The groups often hold meetings with local businesses, encouraging them to organize against the proposed law and providing assistance, such as posting flyers, circulating petitions, and sponsoring mail-in postcard campaigns. Representatives may testify at public hearings, but more often will attend without speaking, avoiding lawmakers' questions about their local membership, length of existence, and funding sources.

These groups have names like "Committee to Preserve Property Rights" (in Montrose, CO); "Valley Business Owners Inc." (in Mesa, AZ); and "Citizens Against Government Interference" (in Texas). Search the ANR Foundation's Tobacco Industry Tracking Database(c) at www.tidatabase.org for possible relationships between the tobacco industry and a new front group in your community.

Advocates should carefully study local campaign laws and seek to shine the light on the funding of these groups and their connections to the tobacco industry.

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State Won't Pay For Quit-Smoking Programs 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Some are questioning why the state's heath care program, TennCare, won't pay for programs to help people quit smoking but does pay for lung transplants.

Regina Trevino is tethered to an oxygen canister because of emphysema and other diseases. She used to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day and tried to quit but couldn't.

"My lungs are the age of a 119-year-old woman, and I'm 49. That speaks for itself," said Trevino.

She's waiting for a lung transplant that will cost about $150,000, but TennCare will pay for it. Yet TennCare does not pay for quit-smoking programs, which would cost about $100 a month per patient.

Dr. Aaron Milstone, a pulmonologist at Vanderbilt Medical Center, calls it a travesty.

"The real need is there because they have a lot of illnesses that are directly related to tobacco abuse, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and emphysema," said Milstone. . . .

One of every four Tennesseans is a smoker. Those who want help quitting smoking should visit the state's Tennessee Tobacco Quit Line or call its 24-hour hotline at 800-QUIT-NOW.

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EDITORIAL: No smoking: Teen smoking rates drop. Time for legislation to help more quit.  

According to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the number of high school students who smoke fell from 20.3 percent to 19 percent in 2007.

That’s a significant drop. But not nearly good enough.

Imagine if one out of every five high school students in the state was diagnosed with cancer. Parents and legislators alike would be vigilant to find a cure as quickly as possible. . . .

Yet when it comes to smoking, we won’t even enact laws to protect the innocent from the deadly consequences of second-hand smoke. . . .

Government has, in a way, become a co-conspirator with the tobacco companies. Since 1998, when a settlement was reached, the states have received $203.5 billion in tobacco-generated revenues — $79.2 billion from the settlement and an additional $124.3 billion in taxes from tobacco sales. The more cigarettes that companies like Philip Morris sell, the more money the states take in.

A substantial portion of that money was intended to be used to curb smoking and to care for those already ailing from smoking-related diseases. But so far only a measly $6.5 billion, or 3.2 percent, of the funds have been used to prevent smoking. There is a fear, in some levels of government, that if smokers stop altogether, it might mean the loss of a steady source of state revenue. We’ve agreed to turn a blind eye to smokers, for a nominal fee.

Thankfully, teenagers still have that knack for spotting hypocrisy in adults. They’re on to us.

They get that nicotine is an addiction that they can live better and longer without.

Now if only our legislators would act as wisely.

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• Teenage smoking at record lows  

Where Big Tobacco once called the political shots, state programs are cutting into the cigarette companies' future customer base.

North Carolina's anti-smoking programs have cut teenage smoking to record low levels, according to a new study by researchers at UNC Chapel Hill's medical school.

The percentage of middle school students who smoke dropped from 5.8 percent in 2005 to 4.5 percent in 2007; the share of high school students who smoke fell from 20.3 percent to 19 percent, according to what's billed as the first comprehensive independent evaluation of the state Health and Wellness Trust Fund's anti-smoking efforts.

Smoking among kids in ninth through 12th grades has declined nationally from a peak of 36.4 percent in 1997. That drop flattened in 2003, a trend bucked by the recent declines here.

The trust fund gets a quarter of the state's payments from the 1998 national settlement . . .

Among several recommendations, they said the state needed to do more to reach young adults who aren't in college. The trust fund plans to do more about adult smoking, with test programs set to launch in January that will target smoking among two groups that are particularly vulnerable: pregnant women and people with mental illness.

For now, the trust fund has three anti-smoking initiatives: a set of programs aimed mainly at teens; another set aimed at college students; and a free telephone counseling service called QuitlineNC to help those who want to quit or help someone else quit.

At Broughton High School in Raleigh, students walk across the street to a spot known as "Smokers Corner" to light up.

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Study: Teenage smoking down in North Carolina  

Programs designed to reduce teenage smoking in North Carolina are having an effect, according to a new study by researchers at the medical school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reports that the study showed the percentage of middle-school students who smoke dropped from 5.8 percent in 2005 to 4.5 percent in 2007. The number of high school students who smoke fell from 20.3 percent to 19 percent.

The results come from what is being called the first comprehensive independent evaluation of the state Health and Wellness Trust Fund's anti-smoking efforts.

Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue, chairwoman of the trust fund since its creation in 2001, called the results gratifying and a "tremendous sign of progress" for an initiative that has sometimes had to buck North Carolina's pro-tobacco forces.

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• Tobacco Industry Efforts to Undermine Policy-Relevant Research  

The tobacco industry, working through third parties to prevent policy-relevant research that adversely affected it between 1988 and 1998, used coordinated, well-funded strategies in repeated attempts to silence tobacco researcher Stanton A. Glantz. Tactics included advertising, litigation, and attempts to have the US Congress cut off the researcher's National Cancer Institute funding. Efforts like these can influence the policymaking process by silencing opposing voices and discouraging other scientists from doing work that may expose them to tobacco industry attacks. The support of highly credible public health organizations and of researchers' employers is crucial to the continued advancement of public health.

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Teens Who Brush Off Risks More Likely To Smoke 

Teens who misjudge the dangers of smoking are considerably more�likely to start, a new study announces.

Researchers determined that in the 395 high school students they pursued for two years, those who laughed off the risks of smoking were three times more susceptible than others to pick up the habit.

"This is the first paper that really shows that perceptions truly predict behavior," senior researcher Dr. Bonnie L. Halpern-Felsher said.

The study also indicates that their concepts about the long and brief results of smoking are just as significant, stated Halpern-Felsher, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. . . .

The study notes that anti-smoking propaganda targeted at teens ought to tackle the immediate risks, Halpern-Felsher noted in the report published in the American Journal of Public Health.

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Cigarette packs must have graphic warnings  

At least two brands of cigarettes produced by each cigarette companies here must have graphic health warnings as of two days ago.

Forty per cent of space on the front of the boxes must have one of six pictures showing the health effects of smoking. . . .

Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said by March 1, all brands produced by the cigarettes companies here would be required to carry the graphic warnings. Speaking after chairing the MCA presidential council meeting here yesterday he said: "From June 1, there will be a total ban on the sale of cigarettes packs without graphic warnings."

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• Bars take hit as noose tightens on smoking in public 

When Alberta's Tobacco Reduction Act kicked in last year, the new law transformed the province from a smoker's haven to a leader in limiting where people can smoke.

The legislation's final phase took effect Thursday. Stores that sell prescription drugs will no longer be allowed to sell cigarettes, unless they have gas bars, erected mall kiosks or created separate enclosed spaces for smoke sales.

Tobacco sales have also been outlawed at health-care facilities and post-secondary schools.

While many bars, bingos and casinos contend they've taken a significant financial hit because of the smoking ban, it's been business as usual at some restaurants.

Okotoks' In Cahoots Bar and Grill welcomed the provincial law forcing it and its competitors to go smoke-free, said manager Esther Vanderermeulen.

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Kentucky To Again Offer Tobacco Quit Line 

Anyone who wants to quit smoking or chewing tobacco can call the tobacco quit line. It will connect the caller to a counseling center in Mississippi, where professionals will offer support and tips for tobacco cessation.

Dr. William Hacker with the Cabinet for Public Health says this time of year is a popular time to quit, and many Kentuckians will need help.

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