Tobacco.org

A look at SC's new tobacco-use surcharge  

The state Budget and Control Board on Thursday approved a tobacco-use surcharge on health insurance premiums.

WHAT IT DID: Public employees will pay an additional $25 a month if they or family members covered under their plan smoke or chew tobacco.

WHEN: The surcharge takes effect Jan. 1, 2010.

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• VELASQUEZ: A Week in the Tobacco Fields 

The last week in July, I worked as a laborer in a tobacco field in North Carolina to get a better idea of the conditions these workers face. North Carolina leads the nation in heat stroke deaths. Many of the past cases happened in July and August when men are not only battling the heat, but also nicotine poisoning.

During the week, I gained an even greater admiration and respect for the workers. While they often are portrayed by the talking heads on radio and TV as law breakers and terrorists, the reality is that those who can come with a visa to work do so. But the demand for agricultural labor exceeds the supply, so these workers come any way they can. The men I worked with were law abiding and only came here to be able to support their families back home.

I wrote a daily blog of my work in the camp. Here are some excerpts from the blogs. . . .

July 29: At 6:30 a.m. I was already clammy from the humidity and dressed in my next set of shirt and trousers which is almost a must unless you want to wash clothes every night. You can’t help but get tar and nicotine all over so careful avoidance and contact minimizes the ingestion. The gloves I got yesterday helped a lot, they worked great. I did have to throw them away tonight as they were pretty sticky and black with what would have been on my hands.

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AFL-CIO NOW BLOG | Farm Labor Leader Spends Week in the Tobacco Fields 

Members of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) in North Carolina harvest 26 different crops ranging from cucumbers to tobacco to Christmas trees. By far, harvesting tobacco is considered the worst, the riskiest and the dirtiest of the jobs.

FLOC founder and president Baldemar Velásquez felt compelled to experience what the tobacco workers go through each day. So for a week in July, he worked as an unknown field laborer in an all-male group at a North Carolina farm to see firsthand the conditions of tobacco workers. Tobacco workers are paid between $7 and $9 an hour. Velásquez is donating the money he made to FLOC’s fund for widows of union members.

In his Point of View column “A Week in the Tobacco Fields” on the AFL-CIO website, Velásquez recounts through excerpts of his daily diary his experiences and emotions working with the men in the hot fields.

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County goes for Big Tobacco gold 

It's pouring in Suffolk.

At least, that's the financial forecast from the county Legislature, which voted July 31 to securitize its tobacco settlement money, an option Suffolk officials said they had been holding in reserve for a rainy day. The transaction trades the long-term income for up-front cash to battle next year's projected $126 million revenue shortfall.

The Legislature decided 14-2, with one abstention, to entrust securitization of its tobacco income to the Suffolk Tobacco Asset Securitization Corp., a development corporation chaired by Chief Deputy County Executive Jim Morgo. The STASC plan involves selling the majority of Suffolk's yearly income from the 2001 settlement between 46 states and Big Tobacco for $185 million spread out over the next five years, with $60 million available toward the 2009 shortfall.

The deal has Suffolk trading off 36 percent of its settlement income through 2012, and then 75 percent through 2032, while receiving slightly less than 52 cents on the dollar total -- a number that could fluctuate depending on market factors, according to county financial advisers.

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Cause of quitting drives Durham teen 

Chad Bullock stands in front of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which, thanks to his efforts, is now smoke-free.

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State looking to tax Indian tobacco products 

Seneca officials say its burden their people shouldn't have to bear. Fewer customers are willing to pay the increased price.

"We're not part of the problem, we're actually part of the solution to New York's economic woes right now," Nephew said.

The Indian Nation contends it’s a major contributor to the Western New York economy, raking in $313 million in tobacco sales in 2007. They say if the state taxed those sales, it would be a $71 million loss to their economy.

State looking to tax Indian tobacco products

Lawmakers are preparing to return to Albany on Tuesday to take part in Governor Paterson's emergency economic session.

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Tobacco sales training class offered Aug. 26  

The Lee County Sheriff's office is offering a training class for local tobacco retailers on how to effectively refuse sales to minors.

The class is set for 7 p.m. Aug. 26 at the sheriff's office near Montrose.

The class will teach clerks the basics of Iowa's tobacco laws and the fundamentals of drivers license evaluation, age verification and situational evaluation.

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• Tar Heel Senator Vows to Block Tobacco Regulation Bill 

Sen. Richard M. Burr , R-N.C., has promised to drag out debate, offer amendments, and do whatever he can to ensure “a full and lengthy debate and lengthy amendment process,” should the bill (HR 1108) come to the floor. . . .

In addition to his threats to run out the clock and offer amendments, he was waged a more public campaign to argue that the FDA is not the proper venue for tobacco regulation. Burr has previously argued that cigarette content might more logically be regulated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and packaging and labeling might be placed under the purview of the Federal Trade Commission. . . .

“You can’t represent North Carolina and say regulation of tobacco is not important,” said Burr, when questioned about the reasons for his opposition to the bill. “I haven’t opposed regulation of tobacco, I’ve just opposed putting it at the FDA,” he added.

Burr said the state’s tobacco industry “is not as dominant a manufacturing base as it once was.” . . .

Neither company has given large donations directly to Burr’s campaign, but have instead sent contributions to his leadership committee, the Next Century Fund. Reynolds’ political action committee gave $10,000 in the current election cycle, and Lorillard $5,000, according to data from CQ MoneyLine.

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Survey: Almost 10% of local sixth graders smoke  

A recent survey conducted by the Alabama Department of Public Health boasted a 17.5 percent decrease in smoking among Alabama high school youths, but Pride Surveys conducted among local sixth graders paint a different picture in Covington County.

The ADPH announced through a press release Wednesday that recent surveys revealed a 17.5 percent decrease in smoking among high school youths from 2006 to 2008. According to the ADPH, about 22.1 percent of high school students said they smoked in the 2008 survey compared to nearly 27 percent who reported they smoked in 2006. . . .

Susan Short, executive director of the Children's Policy Council, said the decrease revealed by the ADPH's survey was promising, but she is more concerned with numbers revealed by Covington County's Pride surveys.

According to Short, 8.3 percent of 121 sixth graders surveyed in Andalusia's city schools said they smoked, which she said is the exact same percentage as last year. Short said 17 of the surveys were thrown out due to discrepancies found in the answers. . . .

"The surveys are designed to ensure each student pays attention to the questions asked," she added. "One question may ask how many times per day a student smokes and then another question further into the survey asks if the student smokes. If the two answers do not match, then the survey is discarded."

Researchers pay particular attention to the numbers of adolescents who use tobacco because it is considered a gateway drug to the use of alcohol and drugs.

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Estabrook: State using, not helping smokers 

Bottom line: It isn't fair or ethical to place the state's entire financial burden on smokers. The New York state economy is far too dependent on people who are sick or addicted. Consider: smokers often become very ill with exorbitant medical bills and they tend to die young, freeing up pension funds. Why would Albany care about people who are suffering when they generate so much revenue?

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LOTT: Where There's Smoke, There's Government Intrusion  

This is still a free country, right? Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to more closely regulate the wages that firms pay workers and to more strictly regulate tobacco products by putting them under FDA supervision. . . .

The Democrats' "Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act" is a strange creature. It prevents the FDA from banning existing tobacco products. However, products introduced after Feb. 15, 2007, must receive FDA approval . . .

Smokers, like those who eat ice cream, have trade-offs. Some might like the taste, others its calming effects. But smoking may also reduce the risk of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases as well as cancers of the thyroid, breast and skin.

In any case, whether it is hang gliding or smoking, it ought to be the customers' preferences that count.

Proposals such as Obama's for a national ban on smoking in public places have their own problems. The ultimate objection to smoking focuses on the harm that it imposes on others. The evidence for harm from second-hand smoke is extremely weak . . .

smoking in restaurants should not be considered a common pool problem subject to government intervention. Restaurants that allow smoking don't base their policy merely on their love of smokers; they are responding to competitive pressures and customer preferences. . . .

If employers provide a work environment that employees don't like (say, because some object to smoky air), employers have to pay more to get people to work there. Restaurant smoking is more like a private fishery than a common pool.

Nonsmokers may feel better off because of bans, but what they gain is less than what smokers lose. If the opposite were true, it wouldn't be necessary to impose the bans.

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Kate Moss: My red hot kiss with Ol' Blue Eyes  

The supermodel was just 21 when the extraordinary episode took place in 1995 at the singer's star-studded 80th birthday party in Hollywood. . . . .

‘I was sitting down having a cigarette, and he spotted me and made a beeline to me. He got all of his security to close in so Johnny couldn’t get to me.

‘So we were encircled and he’s like, “How are you doing, little lady?”

‘And I said, “Happy birthday, Frank,” and he just lunged for me. He kissed me on the lips, then gave me a filterless cigarette. I came off all lightheaded. He was fabulous.’

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Cigarette tax forces some to cut back  

On June 2, the tax on a pack of cigarettes in New York state increased from $1.50 per pack to $2.75 per pack in hopes that the increase would prompt more smokers to quit the habit.

"Today, New York state becomes the national public-health leader in tobacco taxation," Michael Seilback, senior director of public policy and advocacy for the American Lung Association of New York state, said in a prepared statement on the day the new tax went into effect. "This increase will eventually save the lives of over 77,000 youths who will be prevented from becoming smokers and save more than 37,000 adult New Yorkers from a tobacco-caused death by helping them quit."

The success of the tax hike: Still undetermined. Are people really quitting? It's tough to tell, but there are certainly people out there who are cutting back.

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Smokers steamed over cigarette tax hike  

Canandaigua, N.Y. -

A few local smokers and a convenience store owner are not looking forward to a potential hike in cigarette taxes, currently in the works in Albany as the state tries to make ends meet at budget time.

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Discarded cigarette blamed for fire 

MOUNT PLEASANT -- An estimated $10,000 to $15,000 in damage resulted after a fire late Saturday afternoon on the deck of a home on the village's southeast side. Careless use of smoking materials has been cited as the cause of the fire. . . .

Fire officials said the fire started after a neighbor discarded a cigarette into a plastic trash container. Cigarette butts previously had been placed in the container, but in those cases the cigarettes had been drenched with water first, officials said. The fire was ruled accidental.

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