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Cancel the tax on tobacco products in California

The great success of Big Tobacco in branding the proposed cigarette tax California’s government boondoggle sent a message that could be repeated in other states, as the tendency to vote for the opposition. After a flurry of campaign advertising, the industry managed to reduce support for a $ 1-pack tax support of cycling legend Lance Armstrong of the two-thirds vote in the March draw on Election Day.

While the outcome remains unclear, on Wednesday afternoon, a feat experts say undermines the once-popular measure could scare off enemies of tobacco in other states. $ 47 million advertising campaign – which is barely, mentioned the word “tobacco” – showed that cigarette manufacturers are moving away from arguing about its products and looking for other ways to attack the tax initiatives.

“If they’re talking about smokers, the majority of people in California do not smoke,” said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College in Pomona. “Instead, they talk about wasteful spending, and most people in California against wasteful spending.” In March, a statewide poll suggested that the proposal 29, which would use tax revenue to fund cancer research, will be held with the approval of two thirds. With hundreds of thousands of voices will continue to rely on the environment, it may be days or more before the winner is declared.

Taxes have been shown to reduce smoking, especially among young people, but in campaign advertising, tobacco companies have ignored the issue of smoking and the taxes in full, and instead focus on the problems of the state can work in an attempt to distribute income. The strategy is not easy to sow doubt in the minds of some voters. Many newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, opposed the action, declaring their unwillingness to join the tobacco companies and the general support of such taxes of sin. They argued that the proceeds should go directly to the State that Governor Jerry Brown announced last month, now faces a deficit of $ 16 billion.

The situation resembles the 2006 California cigarette tax measures that have led to a large margin to the tobacco companies spent $ 66 million to win his ads, including those with a doctor’s Central Valley. The same doctor was a center of anti-tax campaign this year. Proposition 29 resulted in early returns Tuesday for most of the mail ballots were counted. But as sites began to count the votes on Election Day, the measure fell behind and started back on the fraction of a percent. Health care and anti-smoking advocates said they would not allow California’s fierce struggle to keep them from challenging the tobacco industry in the future.

“They do not like to lose a big campaign like this, because they know what motivates us,” said Danny McGoldrick in Washington, DC-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “I think they were trying to send a message to other states, not to try it, but I think people are now more than ever decided to take them.”Armstrong and the Coalition for Tobacco Control Group said that they raised about $ 12 million to support the measure. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg made headlines when he was hit in the $ 500,000 to help offset the industry donations.

But efforts were dwarfed by the $ 47 million raised opponent’s great distances, even for the hottest races of the state. For comparison, Jerry Brown has spent about $ 36 million in 2010 to become a successful proposal by the Governor of California and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and his allies spent $ 47 million to repel recall task this week. The most populous state of the country has become a problem for proponents of the tax on tobacco products in recent years. Californians approved a raft of restrictions on smoking in the late 1990s and helped to drive smokers away from the beaches, from the bus station, and in some cases out of their cars and apartments.

Famously health-conscious state did not raise taxes on tobacco since 1998, while the rest of the country caught up. If the new tax is passed, California would still have only 16 highest tax rate in the country. The vast majority of past taxes on tobacco products have been approved in the statehouses, and not the election, according to data compiled for the Associated Press, the campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Missouri voters are expected to weigh in on tax increases on tobacco products in November, and such proposals await action in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Illinois statehouses, according to the campaign.

In California, where the smoking rate is just 12.1 percent, lawmakers have defeated more than 30 attempts to raise tobacco taxes in the last 30 years. Anti-smoking advocates say that far from discouraging them, every defeat in the election teaches them how to make their initiative are less vulnerable to attack. “This shows that spending 47 million dollars can make people confused, and when people are confused, they tend to vote no,” said Stan Glantz of the University of California at San Francisco Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.

If the measure was sent the money directly to the bleeding in the general fund of the state, the opposition campaign would not have been able to raise the range of tax dollars leaving California, he said. “But they probably would have thought of something else,” he said.

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Taxes on tobacco products

Californians voted overwhelming to endorse Proposition 28, which will make radical changes within the time limit, the law in California. But the fate of the proposal 29, which would increase taxes on tobacco, remains uncertain in early returns. Proposition 28 would reduce the number of years; lawmakers could serve from 14 to 12 years, although they could serve all these years in one house.

If the proposal 29 managed to maintain their early lead, tobacco taxes can be increased by $ 1 per pack, on top of 87-percent tax already in place. Most of California’s coast, along with Bay Area counties — including Santa Clara, Contra Costa and San Mateo — were carrying the yes vote on the tobacco tax, while Los Angeles County was narrowly siding against the ballot measure in the early voting.

In 25.5 percent of the 21,993 government sites reporting “yes” campaign on 29 clung to a thin lead, 50.6 per cent to 49.4 per cent, a margin of 30,000 votes with more than 2.4 million votes counted. “We are encouraged because we were ahead from the start,” said Jim Knox, a spokesman Yes 29 campaign. “I do not know if the initiative campaign has never won in the face of $ 46 million opposition campaign. It would be historic on many levels. We feel confident, because we think voters will see through the smokescreen of the tobacco companies.”

No 29 campaign, however, still hopes to win pulled, said Beth Miller, a spokesman for the campaign. “It’s still very early, and apparently it’s very close,” Miller said. “We talked all the time, as voters looked at, they reject the measure based on the deficiencies contained therein. We expected that it would close and we think that this will be a long night.”

The measures to change the term limits law of California, Proposition 28, winning 2 to 1. “It seems that the majority of Californians understand that Prop. 28 would tighten the time limit still give legislators the tools they need.” said Dan Schnur, director of the University of Southern California’s Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics. If the proposal passes of 29, about $ 735 million in annual revenue will go to research, smoking cessation programs, a means of buying and law enforcement efforts to reduce tobacco black market.

The measure was supported by the organization of health care, such as the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong. The number of anti-tax group headed by the opposition campaign, but the tobacco giants Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds, the U.S. funded the effort, outspending “yes” campaign, $ 46 million to $ 10 million.

The opposition claims that the initiative to create a new state bureaucracy, run by un-elected officials who may decide to send the proceeds out of the state research institutions in circumstances where the tax dollars needed to fix the $ 15.7 billion state budget deficit. Proponents argue that the tobacco companies were just trying to protect the nearly $ 1 billion in profits and have been smoke to distract from the real issues.

For comparison, Proposition 28 was stealthily slides on the main campaign, until last week when opponents began branding the media blitz action “scam.” In the last-minute effort, opponents raised $ 834,900, most of them for television advertising and the robot calls and the support of voters remains high in the polls.

Supporters, including the Los Angeles Federation of Labor and the League of Women Voters, raised about $ 2.3 million. But they have most of it to collect signatures to put the measure on the ballot, and counting on the support of the editorial and other “free media” to persuade voters. Lawmakers are now able to serve three to two years in the Assembly and two four-year term in the State Senate. Measure would not benefit any of the current policy, unlike the previous two initiatives in 2002 and 2008, voters rejected i

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Firm hired for tobacco lawsuit has a connection to Redford

Tory government is faced with questions of political patronage, it became clear after Thursday, $ 10 billion lawsuit against the tobacco industry, the province is now partially controlled by Calgary, whose partners include the Prime Minister Alison Redford ex-husband.

Although it is expected to take years to resolve, massive action can be very profitable for the state and its lawyers, who lead the case on contingency-fee basis. This means that the law firms involved are expected to receive a portion of any settlement or judgment, which can be hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.

While the province said that his legal representatives chosen through an open and competitive tender process, an opposition MLA said that the process deserves more attention.

“Something smells bad”, Wildrose justice critics Saskiw Shane said. “There are millions upon millions of legal fees should be made, and it looks like they made an agreement with one of his buddies. They campaign on the principles of openness and transparency, but nothing seems to have changed.”

Saskiw noted that while the six other Canadian provinces were united in their lawsuits against big tobacco on hiring the same legal consortium led by a national firm Bennett Jones, Albert decided to go with different views.

Provincial ad lawsuit on behalf of this week’s recovery Tobacco Lawyers LLP as legal consortium of Alberta, but did not specify which companies were included in the group.

Corporate data show, the consortium includes the Calgary firm Jensen, Shawa Solomon, Duguid and Hawkes. Name in the title refers to Robert Hawkes, who Redford’s former husband and was a member of her transition team when it won the PC leadership last fall.

Lead partner Carsten Jensen said that his firm is one of two from Alberta, tobacco-related recovery Lawyers LLP, and the other Cuming Gillespie. Those firms will represent the region in the court, but will provide a coalition of legal firms outside the province to help with funding and research, including the American firm that has experience with tobacco litigation, he said.

Jensen said that the coalition has the right to represent Alberta at competitive rates conducted by Alberta Justice in late 2010. Final agreement was signed with the province in June 2011, but details are being kept secret, in part because the tobacco industry questioned the validity of the case, the fee in this case.

Jensen said the Hawks did not participate in the bidding or negotiations, and will have nothing to do with the case. Dan Laville, spokesman for Alberta Justice and Attorney General, said that the area used the “rigorous” review process during the Bid phase. “This consortium has the right mix of experience and knowledge,” he said, adding that he wanted to Alberta some idea of his legal team.

Saskiw said he would ask the government for more information about how the tender process was conducted. He said that the province has to answer why he went to a consortium led by Bennett Jones, which is the best lawyers in Alberta and experience in such cases.

He said it is unclear how law firms could do in relation to the very specific nature of the case. However, personal injury cases that are working on the basis of contingency lawyers are seeing 20 to 30 percent of the judgment or settlement. “You can imagine that even 10 percent of 10 billion dollars, you can go to that if it is successful.” The lawsuit, expected to be filed in the next two weeks, will seek to recover costs for medical expenses decades for the treatment of smoking-related diseases.

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Australia says the Big Tobacco WTO help applicants

• Plan for Australia on the gray box call

The tobacco industry provides legal advice in Ukraine and Honduras in their problems in Australia, a new package of tobacco rules of the World Trade Organization, the Australian Health Minister Jane Halton said on Tuesday. “We know that the tobacco companies, because they recognized it, provide legal advice to members of the WTO in order to induce them to take action against Australia,” she said.

Halton spoke at the event on the sidelines of the annual ministerial meeting of the World Health Organization in Geneva, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan called for intensified “fight tooth and nail against one of the worst enemies of public health – tobacco industry.” Australia plans to introduce tough new rules for the tobacco packaging from 1 October, which will force manufacturers to abandon various colorful ads and sell their cigarettes uniformly gray bags with no decoration. Other tobacco products such as cigars should follow this example, on December 1.

“We believe that dealing with one of the last forms of tobacco advertising in this country – a package,” said Halton. “We are very confident that we can resist these attacks, our government will not be intimidated.” Smoking rates in Australia fell to 15.1 percent in 2010 to some 30.5 per cent in 1998. “Our goal over the next few years will reach 10 percent and, hopefully, lower,” she said.

Honduras and Ukraine to the WTO to challenge the motion, saying it was unfair to restrict trade, although no country has a significant share of the Australian market.  “We are far from both countries, and we are very, very little trade with them,” said Halton. And the plaintiffs have “requested consultations” with Australia, the first step in WTO litigation. The first round of talks was held last month, she said.

“We believe that some people in the meeting were British American Tobacco lawyers,” she told Reuters, adding that she was not aware of any date of the second round. The representative of the British American Tobacco has confirmed Reuters, the company provides assistance to address the WTO, but can not confirm that BAT lawyers were directly involved in the negotiations.

If the case is not settled by negotiation, Honduras and Ukraine can ask the WTO to establish a group of arbitrators to judge the dispute. If Australia were to lose, it may be forced to cancel some of its rules on tobacco products. Two trade dress, attracted a large number of countries as a third party observer disputes, and some diplomats see them as tests in the fight against tobacco companies to stop the global flow control, dramatically tightened the rules for the sale of cigarettes over the past decade.

British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco and Philip Morris began to High Court challenges to Australian laws, saying they violate its trademark rights. Halton told Reuters, that it is expected that the Supreme Court decision could come in October. She also said that health should be taken into account in trade in the future. “When we negotiate new trade agreements, we must be very clear that the right to health of our society is of paramount importance. We will make sure we live up to our obligations under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control,” she said, referring to the WHO treaty ratified by 174 countries.

Philip Morris “Chief Financial Officer Hermann Waldemer said he expects other countries to challenge the rules in the WTO, Australia, according to transcripts provided by the analyst calls a Thomson Reuters events st. Philip Morris spokesman told Reuters earlier this month that the firm was established to support the government, the problem of Australia’s simple packaging, but it does not support Ukraine in its complaint to the WTO.

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States could see more tobacco payments this year

States are estimated to receive about 1% more in annual payments from tobacco companies this year than in 2011, offering more money will be available to return billions of dollars of municipal bonds, tobacco payments.

It is expected that the state will receive about $ 6.1 billion from tobacco companies this year, according to figures released by the National Association of Attorneys General. Last year they collected about $ 6.03 billion. Payments are made according to the 1998 settlement, the States agreed health-related claims against tobacco manufacturers.

Tobacco companies should make their annual payments on April 15, but will make their April 16 this year because April 15 falls on a Sunday. The amount actually collected may be somewhat different if some companies are unable to make payments in the past year, the default is 20 million dollars. Payments are based on U.S. consumption of cigarettes in the previous calendar year.

Cigarette consumption has declined faster than expected over the past few years, forcing Virginia, Ohio and California, to use the reserves last year to pay the investors who own tobacco bonds. It was not clear whether the slight tick in payments will be sufficient to capture the state of their reserves again.

Cigarette consumption fell by 3.5% in 2011 after declining by 3.8% in 2010 and 8.6% in 2009, according to industry research group Department of Science Associates. The companies that signed the 1998 agreement may hold some payments if they lose market share to other producers who have not yet signed. Companies are not required to hold a so-called “non-participating manufacturer adjustment,” but last year the three original signatories – Reynolds American Inc (RAI), Lorillard Inc (LO) and Altria Group Inc (MO) – continued, the money from the state.

Although the fee for that year was founded in 2011, cigarette consumption, not participating manufacturer adjustment of the three original signatories based on 2009 sales. Adjusting this year is about $ 780 million less than the approximately $ 825 million in the previous year, according to the Attorney General. Even if the consumption of cigarettes continues to decline, the less this year, the adjustment helps states with a small tick in the tobacco payments. Approximately $ 6.1 billion in tobacco payments is estimated this year includes setting.

The market share of signatories continues to grow. Their combined share amounted to 84.71% in 2011, the most since 2007, when the figure was 84.77%, in accordance with the Attorney General. The market share for companies that have not signed an agreement in 1998 was 5.65%, the lowest since at least 2003, according to the Attorney General.

Vikram Rai, a credit strategist at Citi, said that a small tick in the actual payments this year will be a plus for Bond brand of cigaretes, despite the short-date bonds could rally more. Furthermore, if the original signatories to continue to recover market share from companies that have not signed an agreement to adjustments in the future should be lower. Cautious investors have traditionally avoided because of the risk of tobacco bonds, while others were brought to their high yields. Tobacco bonds are generally more volatile than other municipal bonds, as well as offer juicy returns, although they also have the potential to outperform.

Later take into account the relationship of tobacco consumption is declining in more recent years, to turn to a more risk-averse investors. For example, Ohio, listed in a study in 2007 bond prospectus, which is estimated at 1.8% per annum reduction in cigarette consumption.

Forty-six states signed the 1998 agreement, and there is about $ 30 billion of tobacco bonds in circulation.

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Advocates of tobacco in Indonesia say: Light Up!

This is more or less generally accepted that smoking is harmful to health. But some people in Indonesia, where smoking is a kind of national pastime, claim otherwise. Issues of smoking in Indonesia have been allocated in the last month, when local media reported that an eight-year boy in West Java smoked two packs of cigarettes a day.

Videos smoking two-year-old boy from Sumatra has received more than 17 million views on YouTube, since it was uploaded in May 2010. Anti-smoking campaign, said cases of smoking among children may be just the tip of the iceberg. Indonesia has the third highest number of smokers after China and India. Nearly 66 percent of Indonesian adults, or more than 50 million people smoked in 2007, according to the Ministry of Health, an increase compared to 62.2 percent in 2001. The ministry said that two percent of children between the ages of 10 to 14 years consume cigarettes.

Health legislation in Indonesia, passed in 2009, lists tobacco as a dependency. Nevertheless, the government plans to restrict the promotion of cigarettes in the country, where concerts and sports events are regularly supported by tobacco companies faced continued opposition from the cigarette and other interests of Indonesians who say they are trying to protect domestic industry.

The book was created in February, offering the latest example. The book argues that anti-tobacco campaign of Indonesia is part of a plot to destroy the kretek, the type of local clove cigarettes from tobacco and other allegedly secret ingredients that are traditional for the country. In the book titled “The Murder of Indonesia: Global conspiracy to destroy the Kretek”, argues that anti-smoking campaign in the country, in the same spirit as propaganda against coconut oil, sugar, salt and other local industries that use a lot of Indonesians .

The authors – three little-known researchers, who say that they operate independently of each other and concerned about the persistence of local traditions and livelihoods – argue that anti-smoking efforts are part of a larger scheme of economic neo-colonialism, to reduce competition in the domestic market to foreign importers and the establishment of trade imbalances.

They note that the U.S. banned clove cigarettes in 2009, the family smoking prevention and tobacco control law, which gave the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the tobacco industry. Supporters of this move say it was designed so that young people are not picking up smoking. But Indonesia has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. in the World Trade Organization, arguing that the act of violating international trade rules, because it was not applied uniformly, as it does not apply to menthol cigarettes. WTO granted the petition and on Wednesday threw out the U.S. appeal against the ruling.

“Although the U.S. denies our kretek, Philip Morris, U.S. multinational companies, poached our largest kretek companies and is currently the market leader in Indonesia,” the book says. “It’s ridiculous.” It was not immediately possible to reach officials of Philip Morris. A spokesman for PT HM Sampoerna Tbk, Indonesia’s largest cigarette company, owned by Philip Morris, could not be reached for comment.

The book, endorsed by the artists, writers, and even university professors, said that kretek industry employs 30 million people, directly or indirectly, contributed to 62 trillion rupees ($ 6.8 billion) in the state treasury in 2010. Some people in Indonesia to go further, arguing that smoking can have health benefits.

A team of scientists and physicians headed by nanochemist Greta Zahar designed specially treated cigarettes, called Divine cigarettes, which they say could serve as a channel for detoxification. Scientists say that nicotine is not harmful itself, but that commercial cigarettes are dangerous because they contain traces of mercury, highly toxic metal. Dr. Zahar reportedly developed good cigarettes by introducing aromatic “scavengers” – substances that react with and remove the mercury. The team treated thousands of cancer patients in a clinic in Jakarta since 1998, some of which show the effectiveness of the method.

“We were able to transform the toxic fumes of cigarettes in the stage when they are no longer toxic, and where we have proved this with the biological and medical point of view of experiments”, the team said on its website divinecigarette.com. Lily Sulityowati, head of the Ministry of Public Health Center for Health Promotion said: “We constantly remind people that smoking is dangerous to our health. “It is impossible to close the tobacco factories, but we have to inform the public that smoking is harmful to health.”

In 2010, former Australian diplomat, Murray Clapham, wrote the opinion piece in the Jakarta Post of Indonesia come from scientists, a lot of criticism of many in his native country. Mr. Clapham died of prostate cancer at 72 last year. Fuad Baradja, Chairman of the Foundation of smoking in Indonesia, said in a conspiracy theory and science for the alleged good cigarette litter. “I do not think at all,” said Mr. Baradja, a former actor, now a doctor who helps people quit smoking. “For every scientist who says the Indonesian tobacco is good, there are thousands of scientific studies that show the dangers of smoking.”

Lily Sulityowati, head of the Ministry of Public Health Center for Health Promotion said: “We constantly remind people that smoking is dangerous to our health.” “It is impossible to close the tobacco factories, but we have to inform the public that smoking is harmful to health.”

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How ACTA stinks of Big Tobacco

If the industry that brings five million deaths a year to anyone involved in the development of public policy?
From the beginning, Big Tobacco is one of the driving forces for anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA). To my surprise, this important nugget of information was usually overlooked in the discussion of this controversial agreement.
Shortly thereafter, he became executive director of British American Tobacco (BAT) in 2004, Paul Adams took part in a conference on fraud organized by the World Customs Organization in Brussels. In his speech, Adams said that the fake cigarettes affects more than most other products. Forgery “destroys the value of the brand and product integrity,” he said.
Adams then concluded that the risible BAT is an ethical company, while the counterfeiters do not have enough conscience. “Even in my own industry, where our product has its known health risks of counterfeit versions are made with all sorts of untested and sometimes completely illegal additives and without our strict quality control, clearly put added risk to consumers,” he said.
BAT is part of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), who was closely involved in the process of negotiating ACTA. In 2008, the ICC Jeffrey Hardy sent a memo to the EU, the U.S. and other countries in drawing up the contract. ACTA was necessary, he says, because “theft of intellectual property is not less a crime than physical property theft.”
Hardy has been busy lately complex steps Australia – the other ACTA signatories – to require that all cigarettes be sold in plain packaging. It is instructive that in the statement of Hardy in April last year, almost identical to the case put forward by Paul Adams, seven years ago. “Plain packaging makes it easy to pack, to be copied forgers, discovering consumer products with unknown and potentially dangerous ingredients, and it makes it more difficult for consumers to identify the manufacturer responsible for responding to complaints and problems,” said Hardy.
From his office in Paris, Hardy was trying to prevent the introduction of similar measures in Europe. For example, he called on John Dalli, the commissioner of health the EU, rather than offer a simple package in a planned revision of the tobacco legislation of the Union (Dalli promised to publish a new anti-smoking advice by the end of this year).
So what’s going on here? From the available evidence suggests that Big Tobacco spends multi-pronged attack to save his ill-gotten gains. One of the most hazardous industries in human history, not just pretending to be concerned about health care, he pretends to be a defender of intellectual property rights, which are nominally designed to stimulate creativity and innovation.
The introduction of plain packaging would be a reasonable way to try to make smoking less attractive to young people. Some brands of printing them puffing on Gitanes helps to cultivate an atmosphere of carefree Gallic, Marlboro brand of cigaretteshas long been associated with the freedom of the Wild West. But if all cigarette packets look the same and logos were banned, the manufacturers of tobacco products will be deprived of what marketing strategists call “unique selling points.”
Whether legal or contraband, tobacco is a toxic substance. In his new book, The Golden Holocaust, Robert Proctor, which supports the production and sale of cigarettes should be outlawed, I am inclined to agree. However, if the tobacco to be sold, it’s better than cigarettes are regulated and subject to high taxes than promote crime (in my opinion, however, “lawful” The tobacco industry is also a criminal, there is no other word that accurately describes his attempts to suppress information on how smoking causes cancer).
But the fact remains that the police and customs officers already have broad authority – if not the resources – to combat cigarette smuggling. There is no compelling reason for the introduction of the new agreement as an ACTA to deal with this scourge. And the fact that the tobacco industry seeks to prevent easy packing initiative should raise suspicions about his agenda and his attempts to resurfacing itself as socially responsible.
(WHO), World Health Organization’s Convention on Tobacco Control, requires state agencies to ignore the economic interests of cigarette manufacturers in determining policy. Members of the European Parliament, therefore, must ask the tough questions about the role Big Tobacco plays in ACTA. If – as seems the case – cigarette industry uses misleading arguments to defend their interests, the MEPs have to break the agreement.
There are many other reasons, of course, why ACTA should be rejected. It was a secret, it could have far-reaching consequences for the free flow of ideas by banning many types of file sharing on the Internet, and this could enable large pharmaceutical companies require that the transportation of essential medicines in the world’s poor have limited or even stopped.
Concerned citizens are obliged to seek the motives of supporters of ACTA. Johnson & Johnson was the WHO’s efforts to obstacles, three new drugs, for which it has patents that people with AIDS. The participation of companies in the space-ACTA coalition should not be considered separately from the despicable position on this issue.
More than nine million people with HIV in Africa, Asia and Latin America do not have access to medicines they need. By 2030, eight million will die from tobacco use worldwide, if current trends continue. Hollywood, Big Pharma and Big Tobacco have joined forces to sell ACTA. Why should someone buy something from this toxic alliance?
 

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The state puts a flame to roll your own tobacco stores

Young roll your own retailers of tobacco by Bob Peckinpaugh to the last, desperate gasp.He has already closed its sister city in the store for a turn of events has caused regulators Kansas.
Peckinpaugh in the double-$ 32,500 car rental customers to convert the bags and boxes of loose tobacco in cigarettes filtered paper to sit back in a strip shopping center. There is no appeal of a sophisticated device providing 200 cigarettes in 8 minutes, Smokes Cigarette sales in the University fell to $ 6.52 on Wednesday and $ 1.42 at midday Thursday.
“Without a car we have no business,” said Peckinpaugh, who moved to Lawrence in the autumn of last year and discovered a set of self-rolling of the field. “If we do not resume within a few days, we will close this store.” Both of his establishments licensed Kansas Department of Revenue, but the Kansas State Fire gave up about 20 ‘roll of his own businesses throughout the state.
Cease and desist letter was released in February, with reference to fire a law providing for cigarettes rolled in commercial establishments to use a paper type, as shown on the basis of laboratory tests to withstand a fast burn rate. Peckinpaugh, however, said that the special paper was not available to roll your own retailers
“I understand why they’re angry,” said Seth, Valery, General Counsel to the Kansas Fire Department. “We make compliance with fire safety laws. It is a matter of national security. They simply flooded the market.”
The agents entered the state stores to wrap electrical plugs on the mechanical features of cars rolling tape. Shop owners have been warned that any resumption of use of the equipment can be hit with steep fines. To date, three companies have ignored the order. The penalties are under consideration. Apparently, none of this kind of shop exist in Topeka.
Large manufacturers of cigarettes under the laws of the state, paying $ 250 fee every three years to confirm the laboratory tests showed each brand and style of the cigarettes sold to those companies in Kansas have been made with paper treatment to dramatically reduce their ability to start fires.
Kansas regulators are only a safety standard for sophisticated, expensive mills.
Handheld units available in some stores, and is able to produce 200 cigarettes per hour and is still allowed, Peckinpaugh said. There is no state law prohibiting people from rolling their own cigarettes. The group roll their own government, business – RYO Kansas Coalition – organized to consider the legal issues in response to the actions related to the Kansas Fire Protection, Department of State revenues and Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.
Tom Erickson, owner of Trader Jacks tobacco in Shawnee, said officials entered his shop, recorded with his car and pointed out a $ 10,000 fine will be waiting for him if he pulled off a plastic fork and went back to work.
“I understand if you do not like smoke,” Erickson said, “but for them to close me, without a court order just not right.” “It is unfortunate that our Attorney General, who was elected by the people to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law has allowed such an overly aggressive actions to take place,” he said.
April 2 at the National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, Massachusetts, reported 610 civilian deaths in the United States during 2010 were associated with smoking material fires. There were 90,800 fires, smoking materials in the course of the year by $ 663 million in property damage.
Lorraine Carli, vice president of the association of fire, said that the decline in smoking fire deaths at record low levels may be associated with a reduction in the number of smokers and raising industry standards for mattresses and upholstered furniture. The third factor was the beginning of 2003 the demand of cigarettes sold in the United States, were to be made with fireproof paper, she said.
“The adoption of fire-safe cigarette legislation is proving to be a giant step forward in reducing the leading cause of death, house fire,” said Carly.
Peckinpaugh said the national and state mandates on paper should not be used in stores, like him, because they are technically the sale of tobacco and paper – not fully formed cigarette subject to the requirement. “We sell the tobacco and paper, and rent a car,” Peckinpaugh said. He said the merger of paper and tobacco was carried out without the help of customers by store employees. Tobacco is poured into the funnel.. A couple of buttons pressed. Ready-made cigarettes appear.
This is the same as someone in the laundry detergent who buys and leases the car clean clothes, he said. Peckinpaugh protest flyer taped his idle mills expressed opposition to “illegal” raid. The pilot reference quote he attributed to the Attorney General that “all that is really great and inspiring is created by man that is able to operate freely.”
Peckinpaugh find irony in the row. “I invested my life savings at the store,” he said, “and was forced to terminate my lease and dismiss their employees. Kansas kills jobs when they have to create them.”
 

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Taxes on tobacco products

Arena developers did not say how much money from the tobacco tax will help to strengthen the development around the hockey arena complex Allentown, but they recognize that it is so much money that cigarette-selling wholesale generating company is prohibited from leaving the zone of the arena tax.
Downtown Wholesale, wholesale cigarettes, with headquarters in the area Neighborhood Improvement Allentown, will be held hostage in the area until the city pays the credit he should build its $ 158 million hockey arena for the Phantoms minor league. This is the only company that can never leave, in accordance with the contract master developer conditionally approved last week the Allentown Commercial and Industrial Development Authority.
“Well, I would not use the word hostage, but yes, City Center Wholesale is contractually obligated to remain in the bottom,” said the lawyer ACIDA Jerome Frank. “Downtown generates a large amount of revenue Bottom. Basically it protects and provides a revenue stream.” Downtown Wholesale officials will not say how heavy the flow, but also a unique 130-acre tax Allentown district is designed to collect all state and local taxes except for property taxes, for use in the construction of the arena and surrounding development. And a few things generate state tax dollars as sales of cigarettes.
For each pack of cigarettes sold in the state with the $ 1.60 tax on tobacco. In 2010, the city center east of Allentown purchased wholesale basis Dorward Wholesale and moved it to the area, Dorward sold 4.5 million packs of cigarettes and cigarette state tax is paid $ 7.2 million in 2011. State Department of Revenue officials said that the sale of cigarettes to happen to improve the areas of tax revenue a cigarette, to be eligible for use in construction-related arena. Most of those 4500000 cigarette packs were sold outside the zone. However, City Center has created a wholesale model, which allows for much more sales occur in the zone before they are delivered in dozens of outlets.
Downtown Wholesale is a subsidiary of City Center Investment Corporation, which is co-owner Joe Topper. Topper also owns Lehigh Gas Corporation, which operates 180 stores and gas in six states, including 45 in Pennsylvania. This allows you to buy their gas Lehigh cigarettes to the new City Centre Hall Street Wholesale warehouse in the tax area, in front of the distribution of its stores. If the distributor of cigarettes store is created in the area of the neighborhood, where the improvement of their customers pick up their cigarettes, the tax on these transactions fall within the zone, regardless of where the retail stores, said the State Department of Revenue spokeswoman Elizabeth Brassel.
Investment Officials Town Center would not discuss how much Bottom entitled to a tax wholesale company generates, but ACIDA CEO Scott Unger said that, as expected, millions of dollars a year. That’s why city officials Investment Centre, in its development agreement with ACIDA, agreed to hold a cigarette seller in the zone as long as it exists, which is expected to be the 30th year of his life in bonds to be sold to pay for construction.
“This company produces a significant amount of revenue and income plays an important role in assisting in financing the project arena and related development,” Unger said. “This ensures that the developer pays a share of the cost.” City Centre investment is stills the only developer that has been approved to improve the revenue area. It was suggested that three office buildings and a hotel totaling $ 200 million in investments and was approved at $ 135 million line of credit that can be returned to the tenant area of increasing income tax.
Under the agreement, the master developer to get approval ACIDA that line of credit, City Center Investment agrees to pay at least $ 3.8 million per year to finance a portion of the arena complex, which will be used for hotel guests and office tenants, such as parking deck, the setting for banquets and restaurants. Downtown Investment Chief Operating Officer Jim Harbaugh said that the company offered a stipulation that the city center remain in the wholesale area. He did not comment on how much revenue it generates, but said that it is more convenient to require wholesale company to stay in the area because it has only 20 people.
“Lehigh Gas $ 2 billion a year business with a place in six states,” Harbaugh said. “It would be unfair to require her to stay in the area for 30 years. Anything can happen. Center City Wholesale made the most sense.”
In fact, ACIDA stated that it makes the most of the dollars and cents.

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Local Tobacco-Free Parks

In recognition of the impact Butts Day March 21 Chippewa County Health Department, the Su-Tribe Community Gant conversion project, and the Su-Tribe Community Health program, the partners Chippewa County Tobacco-Free Living Coalition united to highlight tobacco-free parks policy in Chippewa County and Su-Tribe seven county service area.
Tobacco litter is poisonous to children and animals, and discarded cigarette butts are the most common form of litter. Studies show that cigarette butts are toxic, slowly decompose, and costly to remove. Cigarette butts were found in the stomachs of fish, whales, birds and other marine animals and can cause digestive blockages. Children usually pick them up and try to put in your mouth. In addition, cigarette butts, who do not represent fully, extinguished the fire and burn risk.
“Without tobacco policy for outdoor recreation are very important to protect and promote health and the environment, and growing support for these policies in our society,” said Julie Trotter, chairman of the person life without tobacco coalition. “Passive smoking causes heart disease, respiratory tract, ear infections, and worsens asthma. Children, the elderly, persons with special needs, health, and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to health risks caused by passive smoking, even outdoors. Activities for children should mean to play among the cigarette butts or being exposed to secondhand smoke. In addition, tobacco use in outdoor recreation is not the behavior we want to model for children in our society. Studies show that tobacco-free policies can help prevent or reduce youth tobacco use “she concluded.
Steady progress has been made with this initiative at the local level in recent years.
City of Sault Ste. Maria was adopted tobacco-free recreational resolution, which covers more than a dozen recreational areas in the city of Sault Ste. Mary, from August 2010. Su-Seal Recreation Area, Project Playground, Malcolm Park Pond Fishing Kids, Sherman Park beach and playground, and several other areas of the site have been designated as tobacco-free. The resolution also requires the Pullar Stadium and ice rink at the Kane to be free of tobacco.
Su-Tribe Housing Authority adopted a tobacco-free policy for children’s playgrounds in the city of Su-Tribe housing sites from April 2011.
Kinross Charter Township adopted a tobacco-free resolution for the baseball fields, playground, fitness trail around the center and Kinross Leisure, October 2011. Partners in the Delta County worked with the city of Escanaba, as a result of smoke, outdoor air Decree from July 2011. Regulation requires outdoor areas within 100 feet of city buildings, nine playgrounds, ball fields, six, guarded beach, pool, and Webster, two ice rink that smoking.
For these reasons, the WAC and the Su-Tribe Community Health Partners to continue to highlight this important health initiative. Donna Norkoli, Su-Tribe community transformation grant project coordinator, said: “Our first step is to increase tobacco-free, outdoor recreation areas will inspect local government settlement of their interest in the creation of village parks tobacco-free. Su-Tribe will partner with local tobacco prevention coalitions and other community members in this initiative. ”
“We are ready to provide information and assistance to decision makers, and community members at the local level,” said Trotter and Norkoli.