Monthly Archives: August 2010

United States of Smokers

Posted on August 30, 2010

About one in five American adults smokes, according to the 2009 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being survey.

Roll-Your-Own Cigarette Machines Help Evade Steep Tax

Posted on August 30, 2010

WOOD DALE, Ill.—Scores of tobacco retailers in the U.S. are taking advantage of a federal tax loophole to offer deep discounts on roll-your-own cigarettes. But the practice is attracting scrutiny from regulators and cigarette manufacturers.

E-Cigarettes Spark New Smoking War

Posted on August 26, 2010

ELMHURST, Ill.—Victoria Vasconcellos, the petite founder of an Internet retailer in this Chicago suburb, is in the thick of a regulatory battle that could affect millions of American cigarette smokers.

Oneidas moving cigarette plant to city of Oneida

Posted on August 26, 2010

The Oneida Indian Nation is moving its cigarette-manufacturing plant from Western New York to Nation land in the city of Oneida – bringing 15 jobs and continued controversy along with it.

YouTube used to sell tobacco

Posted on August 26, 2010

Tobacco companies have turned to video-sharing website YouTube to market their products, new research from Otago University has revealed.

Native Americans call New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s ‘cowboy hat’ remark racist

Posted on August 25, 2010

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s advice to Gov. David Paterson on how to collect sales tax on cigarettes sold on Indian reservations was simple: “Get yourself a cowboy hat and a shotgun” and enforce the law.

New smokeless tobacco products ignite debate

Posted on August 24, 2010

As states make it tougher to light up in public, tobacco manufacturers are rolling out new smokeless tobacco lines — some flavored, some spitless, prompting worries from public health officials about potentially unknown risks of these new products and their appeal to underage users.

Crackdown on teenage smokers

Posted on August 24, 2010

A TOTAL of 15 students under the age of 18 had been caught smoking in public this year and ordered to undergo mandatory treatment at a smoking cessation clinic.

Corporations, profits, and public health

Posted on August 23, 2010

Shortly after taking over as CEO of British Petroleum (BP), Tony Haywood said, “We have too many people [at BP] who want to save the world…we need to concentrate on our primary goal: creating value for our shareholders.” Similarly, a well known anti-tobacco advert features an actor playing a tobacco company executive saying to its customers: “We’re not in business for your health.” Tobacco and oil companies are easy targets, the first causing completely preventable disease and death, the latter consistently befouling the environment and killing endangered species as an integral cost of doing business. Public health, by contrast, is in business “for your health” and in the context of global health, “to save the world”. Are these two enterprises totally incompatible, as editor William Wiist suggests in the title to this collection, or is it possible that the energy of corporations can be directed and managed in ways that can protect and promote the health of the public in a meaningful way?

New York Indian Tribes Balking At Cigarette-Tax Collection

Posted on August 23, 2010

ALBANY – In less than two weeks, the state plans to collect revenue from cigarettes sold to non-tribal members on Indian reservations.

Half Of Top Films Still Feature Tobacco

Posted on August 20, 2010

After peaking in 2005, on-screen smoking in the top movies has declined by almost half to 1,935 recorded instances in 2009. All told, 51 percent of the top movies in 2009 didn’t show tobacco use at all, the first time a majority, albeit a thin one, of big films have been tobacco-free.

China tobacco firms accused of targeting children

Posted on August 20, 2010

China – Chinese tobacco companies are targeting women and children as potential smokers as the market in men has peaked, health experts said on Thursday.

FDA Mulling Ban on Menthol Cigarettes

Posted on August 19, 2010

With their enticing cool and minty flavor, menthol cigarettes have emerged as one of the most controversial products made by the tobacco industry.

COMMONWEALTH v. PHILIP MORRIS, INC.

Posted on August 19, 2010

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania By Michael Fisher, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
v.
Philip Morris, Inc; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company; Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation; B.A.T. Industries, P.L.C.; The American Tobacco Company, Inc. c/c Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation; Lorillard Tobacco Company; Liggett Group, Inc.; United States Tobacco Company; the Tobacco Institute, Inc.; The Council for Tobacco Research-U.S.A., Inc.; Smokeless Tobacco Council Inc.; and Hill and Knowlton, Inc.,
Appeal of: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

Steps to Block New York to Collect Taxes on Native American Tobacco Sales

Posted on August 19, 2010

The Seneca Nation of Indians today called on New York Governor David Paterson and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to delay the State’s planned September 1 start of collection of tax on Native American-sold tobacco products, in order to allow legal actions to reach their conclusion. In a letter to Paterson and Cuomo, Nation President Barry E. Snyder, Sr. set a Thursday deadline for the State to notify the Nation of its willingness to have the issue of the validity of the State’s plan resolved in an orderly fashion, threatening additional legal action if the State is not willing to work with the Nation.