N.H. Cigarette Tax to Decrease

Smoking in New Hampshire is about to get a little less costly. Democratic Governor John Lynch has announced that he would let a $10.2 billion budget, which includes a 10-cent reduction in state cigarette taxes, become law without his signature, according to the Associated Press.

Lynch (pictured) said the budget does not account for up to $30 million in lost revenues, but said a veto would not lead to a better budget and could cause a government shutdown.

The state's current $1.78 state tax is also already lower than its neighbors: Maine ($2), Massachusetts ($2.51) and Vermont ($2.24). (Vermont's tax will increase 38 cents to $2.62 on July 1.)

According to research conducted by Southern New Hampshire University for the New Hampshire Grocers Association, a 10-cent-per-pack excise-tax reduction could mean $1.7 million more profit for the state's convenience stores, and $12.8 million more in cigarette excise and other taxes (such as business-profit and business-enterprise taxes).

John Dumais, president and CEO of the association, told Tobacco E-News, the companion publication of CSP Daily News, that purchases that might come along with people crossing the borders of New Hampshire to buy cigarettes could include gasoline, food, beverages and even hotel rooms.

"It's primarily to help business, but it ultimately helps the state, because when those cross-border sales come to New Hampshire, they buy a lot of other products," he said.

Irish 'pay most' for alcohol, tobacco

Irish residents are paying 70 per cent more than the European Union average for alcohol and tobacco products, according to a study by statistics agency Eurostat.

Overall, people in Ireland are paying the fifth highest prices in the EU for consumer goods and services, with levels at their most expensive in Denmark and cheapest in Bulgaria.

On average, goods and services cost 18 per cent more here than in the UK. The largest differences between the two countries were in the prices of alcohol and tobacco (28 per cent more) and restaurants and hotel accommodation (26 per cent more).

Irish people are paying above EU average prices in four of the six categories, with both clothing and consumer electronics goods falling just below the 27 country average.

Irish residents face the second highest costs for food and non-alcoholic beverages, some 20 per cent more than the average, with Danish residents paying most and those in Romania and Bulgaria being charged just two thirds the EU average.

The cost of restaurants and hotels here was the joint third highest the EU, behind Denmark and Sweden and tied with Finland. Bulgarians paid 45 per cent of the EU average for these goods.

The cost of alcohol and tobacco products here was almost three times what people in Bulgaria and Romania pay, and 28 per cent higher than in the UK, which was found to have the second highest costs in the category.

“This large price variation is mainly due to differences in taxation of these products among member states,” Eurostat said.

Supreme Court Lets $270 Million Tobacco Award Stand

Cigarette makers must pay to help smokers in Louisiana quit their habit, as the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by tobacco companies in a landmark class-action case.

By refusing to throw out a $270 million jury award, the high court put an end to a case that began in May 1996, when some 500,000 smokers in Louisiana filed a class-action suit against tobacco companies.

As the AP reports, "The smokers prevailed at every step in state courts, but Justice Antonin Scalia temporarily blocked payment of the money in September, citing concerns that the cigarette makers might have been deprived of their legal rights."

Tobacco regulation: Kneecapping the FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration barely had time to start regulating cigarettes before legislation was introduced to weaken its authority.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act was passed in 2009 with sweeping majorities in both houses; its primary goal was to reduce the terrible toll that smoking takes on Americans' health, especially by discouraging young people from taking up the habit. The law gave the FDA the authority to regulate the advertising and packaging of cigarettes, along with ingredients such as nicotine and flavorings that affect how easily the public is drawn into smoking and how addictive the habit is once started. As required in the law, for example, the FDA banned candy flavorings in cigarettes, which make the product more appealing to underage smokers and young adults.
But now that the agency is taking meaningful steps against smoking, Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Montana) has added an amendment to the agriculture appropriations bill that would restrict the FDA's authority over cigarettes and a host of other matters. Currently, the FDA is considering whether to ban one of the most popular and profitable ingredients — menthol — but Rehberg's amendment would keep it from taking that action. No longer would the FDA be able to consider a substance's tendency to attract smokers or make cigarettes more addictive. Rather, the FDA could only ban or limit ingredients that are found to make the cigarette physically more harmful than existing products. Menthol has not been found to do that; it does its damage by drawing people into smoking and keeping them there. Menthol masks the flavor and irritation of cigarette smoke; menthol cigarettes are perceived by consumers as "light" or less dangerous, though they aren't. Studies have found that menthol makes it easier for young smokers to get started and harder for habitual smokers to stop. Unlike restrictions on fruit flavors, a ban on menthol could dramatically affect smoking rates — one-fourth of smokers prefer menthol brands — which is exactly why the tobacco industry is fighting any such restrictions.

In addition to the tobacco provisions, the law would limit the FDA's authority to reject new drugs as long as they had any benefit, even if they fell far short of promises or carried significant risks, and it would be unable to restrict the use of routine, preventive antibiotics in livestock, which has been identified as a significant source of drug-resistant bacteria. About 80% of the antibiotics in this country are used to promote growth in livestock and prevent epidemics from sweeping through herds and flocks under crowded conditions. The measure has been passed by the House Appropriations Committee.

Group honors anti-tobacco advocates

The Rip Van Winkle Tobacco-Free Action last week held its annual recognition dinner, honoring groups and individuals for their work in discouraging smoking and tobacco use.

“Your work is being effective and you should keep it up,” said Assemblyman Peter Lopez, who spoke to the group. “You are not telling people what to do with their lives, you are just educating them so they can make educated decisions.”

Director Karen dePeyster said there has been significant progress in the battle against smoking and tobacco use. In 1964, she said, nearly 50% of adults were smokers.

“Yesterday, we learned from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) the new smoking rates,” dePeyster said. “The national rate is now 17.9%, and the New York State rate is down to 15.5%. So fifty years ago, 4.5 people out of ten were smokers. Now, 1.5 in ten smoke.”

She also pointed out that something that seems so basic now – that smoking is not allowed in restaurants – was just a pipe dream a decade ago.

“Ten years ago, we were imagining what it would be like to go to a restaurant and not be assaulted by smoke,” dePeyster said. “In 2003, the New York State legislature passed the Clean Indoor Air Act, and now we all take it for granted.”

The ceremony’s guest speaker was Kim Alessi, a former tobacco representative for Philip Morris, the leading tobacco manufacturer. She outlined the billions of dollars the industry spends on marketing their product each year.

According to Alessi, tobacco companies spend $12.49 billion on marketing in the United States. Comparatively, junk food and soda companies spend $4.5 billion, and alcohol companies spend $3.13 billion.

And, she said, the companies may deny it, but they do market to children. She said that company memos repeatedly said one of their key target markets are 14 to 24 year olds.

Alessi also told the heart-wrenching story of a man she met while marketing her product at a convenience store. He was at the counter purchasing cigarettes, and she saw “he had a gaping hole in his throat”, and had lost his larynx to smoking.

“This drug, this cigarette is so addictive, this man continued to smoke even after losing his larynx,” Alessi said.

This year, Rip Van Winkle Tobacco-Free Action handed out awards to more two dozen organizations that have made policy changes in the areas of tobacco-free outdoor air, smoke-free housing and tobacco marketing.

Eighteen towns and villages were honored for their work in making various outdoor spaces – like parks and playgrounds – smoke-free. They include the towns of Claverack, Ghent, Ancram, Austerlitz, Germantown, Greenville, Cairo, Copake, Chatham, Kinderhook, Livingston, Stockport and Catskill, and the villages of Coxsackie and Tannersville. Also promoting tobacco-free outdoor air were the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse, the Childcare Council of Columbia and Greene Counties, and Columbia Opportunities and Head Start.

Five companies were honored for making housing smoke-free, including Belmont Management, Kaaterskill Manor, Rivertown Senior Apartments, Hudson Terrace Apartments and Mountainview Apartments.

Leading the way against tobacco marketing were Hannaford Supermarkets and the Hudson and Taconic Hills SADD Chapters.

Students smoke hookah despite health risks

The number of hookah pipes in use seems to multiply every year, but students who smoke them may want to look into the health risks before lighting the coal.
A World Health Organization report said people who smoke hookah for an hour are inhaling as much smoke as if they had burned through 100 cigarettes.
Students who use it say they're not worried about the health risks because they don't smoke very often. Senior business administration major Bridget Edgeworth said she smokes hookah "maybe once a month" and doesn't have a physical addiction to it in the same way people have an addiction to cigarettes.
"I'll wake up with a headache after smoking hookah for a night, but I don't crave it like a cigarette," she said.
HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS WEIGH IN
Kent Bullis, medical director of the Amelia T. Wood Health Center, said smoking hookah is no less harmful than smoking cigarettes, but comparing the two is not as simple as the WHO makes it out to be.
"Hookah is different than cigarettes," Bullis said. "There are different proportions of nicotine versus tar versus carbon monoxide versus numerous other carcinogens. Plus with hookah you are typically adding in whatever source of combustion you are using to get the tobacco to burn."
He said carbon monoxide from coals used to smoke hookah are harmful, but the degree of harm is not something that can be quantified based on recent studies.
"There are studies of Egyptian men who smoke hookah showing what appears to be rates of emphysema 2-3 times higher than one would expect from smoking cigarettes," he said. "These are small studies and have not been duplicated in other populations yet, so it is hard to know how much weight to give them."
Various health organizations have published articles that agree with the 2005 WHO study, but they report different levels of harm caused by smoking hookah causes.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted similar numbers in their reports and emphasized that hookah smoking is not a safe alternative to smoking cigarettes.
An article posted on the Mayo Clinic website said hookah smoking is not safer than cigarette smoking, but gave no definite numbers on how harmful it is. It said the carbon monoxide that's inhaled from using hookah is worse that inhaling the same gas from cigarette smoke.

Merchants Learn Importance of Checking IDs for Beer, Cigarettes

The first line of defense to keep young people from becoming addicted to alcohol and drugs just might be the local grocery store.
A "Merchant’s Roundtable" was held Tuesday at Moundsville's Grand Vue park, presented by the Marshall County Anti-Drug Coalition and the Ohio County Substance Abuse Coalition. They are explaining how to make it clear to their customers that they won't sell beer or cigarettes to juveniles.

To card every customer or only those whose age is questionable is up to each merchant to make the decision.

Merchants know all too well that a 50-year-old buying a pack of cigarettes, who didn't bring his driver's license into the store, can become hostile when he's told, "no ID, no sale."

But that same 50-year-old might be buying those cigarettes or that beer for an underage person.

The alcohol and drug abuse prevention experts suggest to merchants that by having a clearly posted policy saying they card every alcohol and tobacco customer, can protect them from tirades about being unfair.

According to Susan Oglinsky with the Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, a new campaign has been unveiled and it's called United in Prevention which encourages people to hold up Ids so it can show if it's red or blue, the kids are underage. If it's white, then go ahead and sell, Oglinsky added.

They passed out marketing materials which included door signs, stickers, even pins for merchants to wear, saying, "We hold up Ids." And while some customers will complain, others want to see them do this.

Pot-smoking grandparents sparking controversy

Joe Schwartz is a 90-year-old great-grandfather of three who enjoys a few puffs of pot each night before he crawls into bed in the Southern California retirement community he calls home.

The Second World War veteran smokes the drug to alleviate debilitating nausea and is one of about 150 senior citizens on this sprawling, 18,000-person gated campus who belongs to a thriving — and controversial — medical marijuana collective operating here, in the middle of one of the largest retirement communities in the United States.

The fledgling collective mirrors a nationwide trend as more and more senior citizens turn to marijuana, legal or not, to ease the aches and pains of aging. But in Laguna Woods Village, tucked in the heart of one of the most conservative and wealthiest counties in California, these ganja-smoking grandparents have stirred up a heated debate with their collective, attracting a crackdown from within the self-governed community.

Many members of the two-year-old collective keep a low profile, but others grow seedlings on their patios and set up workshops to show other seniors how to turn the marijuana leaves into tea, milk and a vapour that can be inhaled for relief from everything from chemotherapy-related nausea to multiple sclerosis to arthritis.

The most recent project involves getting collective members to plant 40 seeds from experimental varieties of marijuana that are high in a compound said to have anti-inflammatory properties best suited for elderly ailments. The tiny plastic vials, each containing 10 seeds, are stamped with names like "Sour Tsunami."

Under California law, people with a variety of conditions, from migraines to cancer, can get a medical marijuana card with a doctor’s recommendation and join a pot collective to get what they need. All the members of Laguna Woods Village’s collective have medical marijuana cards and are legal users under state law, but the drug is still banned under federal law.

Lonnie Painter, the collective’s president and perhaps most activist member, worries daily about his high-profile position within the tiny community of pot users. The 65-year-old grandfather supplements regular painkillers with marijuana tea for osteoarthritis and keeps stacks of marijuana collective applications on a desk in the living room, not far from the Lego bricks his seven-year-old grandson plays with on his frequent visits.

"We’ve got people who don’t like it here, they don’t like marijuana and they still have that ‘communism’ and ‘perversion’ and ‘killer weed’ attitude," said Painter, who has shoulder-length grey hair, a white goatee and wears several gold necklaces. "What I get more worried about is myself getting put in jail. If you were just a patient you’d be safe, but if you are active and involved in any way in making it available for others, the federal government can come and scoop you up."

In the first two years of the collective’s life, however, Painter and other members have had more trouble from their fellow residents than from the government.

When things first got under way, Painter and three others were growing about two dozen plants with names like Super Silver Haze in the Laguna Woods Village community garden.

Photos show his 77-square-metre plot overflowing with marijuana plants taller than a grown man butting up against the staked tomatoes and purple flowering clematis of other gardeners.

But the Golden Rain Foundation, the all-volunteer board that governs the community, cracked down and prohibited the cultivation of marijuana on all Laguna Woods Village property.

"We thought that it was not proper. It sets a precedent. Our gardens are for flowers and vegetables, and that’s all, and it’s been that way since 1964 or 1965 when this was started," said Howard Feichtmann, who was chairman of the Garden Advisory Group.

"We thought that’s what it should remain and not get involved with medical marijuana or anything else that is considered on the fringe."

Those with medical marijuana cards can still grow the state limit of six mature plants per person in their private residences.

Seneca Nation Wins Stay In Tobacco Tax Case

The Seneca Nation of Indians won a stay in the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court on a state law that attempts to tax tobacco wholesalers' transations with Indian retailers, the Seneca Nation said in a statement this afternoon.
The temporary restraining order is effective until June 20.

"If New York State courts eventually allow this New York State law to stand, it will have two primary results," said Seneca Nation President Robert Odawi Porter. "One, good-paying retail jobs, selling a legal product in Western New York, will be lost; and, two, there will be no change in the Seneca Nation's stand that it will never collect or impose sales taxes for New York State. "If the Nation's businesses need to shift their product mix to render such onerous tax laws moot, they will."

State Supreme Court Appellate Division Associate Justice Jerome C. Gorski granted the order at the Nation's request. It prevents New York State from enforcing the wholesaler taxing law with respect to the Seneca Nation's tobacco commerce while the Nation's appeal is heard and decided by the higher court.
On Wednesday, Justice Donna M. Siwek sided with the state and removed a temporary restraining order blocking state enforcement. Nation attorneys went to the appellate division late Wednesday and the higher court stay was put in place this morning.

Tobacco may deley foetus growth in uterus

The consumption of tobacco by pregnant women may contribute to the deley of intra-uterine foetus growth and cause premature birth of the baby.

This was said to ANGOP last Wednesday by the expert of obstetrics, Rosa Bessa.

According to her, the retardation of foetus growth may contribute to the birth of a child with an inappropriate weight.

In addition she said that smoking may cause changes in the body of the child because of nicotine.

Women are urged not to smoke when they are pregnant.

NATC holds symbolic funeral procession of cigarette

National Alliance for Tobacco Control (NATC) on Tuesday arranged a symbolic funeral procession of cigarette from Arts Council of Pakistan to Karachi Press Club to mark the World No Tobacco Day.

Seminars were organised in various hospitals of the metropolis to raise awareness about the hazards of tobacco, including the Aga Khan University (AKU) in collaboration with NATC, Pakistan Medical Association and Pakistan Chest Society.

Speaking in the seminars, health experts said Pakistan’s inclusion as a signatory in the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FTCT) demanded the country to implement laws for reducing tobacco related mortality and morbidity.

They urged that the government should take concrete steps and implement laws against tobacco usage. They said that the government should raise the tobacco price to curtail its use.

The speakers said that the smoke pollution from tobacco usage at public places such as hotels, cafes and restaurants is very high throughout the country. They applauded the recent resolution passed by the Sindh Assembly to ban Sheesha smoking at restaurants and public places.They said that the media could play a crucial role in highlighting the importance of the theme of this year’s World No Tobacco Day of implementing the FTCT in its entirety.

Dr Javeed A Khan, Prof Department of Medicine at AKU said Rs 1.2 billion are wasted in tobacco consumption in the country and millions of rupees are spent on the treatment of disease developing due to tobacco usage.

Provincial Minister Shazia Marri strongly recommended the youth to avoid tobacco as it castes a bad impact on their personality and deteriorates their health. She said it is also the responsibly of people to refrain from tobacco as they lose their health and money after becoming an addict.

Chest Specialist AKU Dr Ali Zubhair said the growing epidemic of Sheesha, a lethal add-on at public cafes and restaurants is another cause of concern. According to a research conducted by the WHO, an average pipe smoking session of around an hour is equivalent to smoking 200 cigarettes.

He said smoking in developing countries like Pakistan is a part of a global epidemic that the WHO estimates has already killed a hundred million people during last 100 years and could kill 1 billion more during this century.

Medical varsity to be tobacco-free campus

Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University will now be a tobacco-free campus. Use and sale of tobacco products will not be allowed inside the campus from now onwards. Violating the ban would invite a fine. Announcement to this effect was made by vice-chancellor, Prof DK Gupta here on Tuesday. The V-C was addressing at an event to mark World No Tobacco Day. He also spoke at length on the ill effects of tobacco use. Dr Zaka Imam, director, Caner Aid Society, which organised the programme, said that tobacco is the single largest cause of preventable death and illnesses. Nearly eight lakh Indians die from tobacco use every year.

Tobacco consumption is high in Uttar Pradesh too. The Third National Family Health Survey shows that tobacco prevalence in UP is high. It says that 2.4% women and 35.5% men smoke cigarettes or bidi, while 9.2% women and 47.6% men chew paan masala, gutka and other forms of tobacco. The figures released in August 2009 are higher than the ones disseminated by Union Ministry of Health And Family Welfare in its report titled, Tobacco Use in India: Practices, Pattern and Prevalence. The report said that 33.8% men and 3.0 % women smoke, while 36.3% males and 10.9% females chew tobacco in Uttar Pradesh.

Tobacco production to increase this year

EVEN with a metro-wide ban on smoking to take effect in a month, local tobacco production is expected to earn as much as P5 billion in gross revenues.

Production is expected to increase by 5.4 percent to 77 million kilos for crop year 2010-2011 from 73 million kilos in crop year 2009-2010, National Tobacco Administrator Edgardo Zaragoza said.

“We noticed that even local government units are trying to keep the industry alive by encouraging farmers to plant more given the fact that the LGUs get a share in the excise tax from tobacco,” Zaragoza said.

The government collects a tax of seventy-five centavos on each kilo of tobacco. Of this, the LGU gets a 15-percent share from the total excise tax collection on locally manufactured Virginia-type cigarettes as certified by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

In 2010, tobacco excise tax collections exceeded the Finance Department’s projected revenues by 22 percent to P31.6 billion.

Zaragoza said that the increased interest of farmers to plant more tobacco stemmed from the increasing market buying price of local burley and native tobacco.

“At present, cigarette manufacturers buy at an average of P77 per kilo in crop year 2010-2010. The average buying price for the last three crop years was about P80 per kilo,” Zaragoza said.

The tobacco industry appears unfazed by recent developments such as the smoking ban to be enforced by the Metro Manila Development Authority and metro LGUs, the renewed drive to curb tobacco consumption, and even moves in Congress to change the tax structure for tobacco products.

Philip Morris-Fortune Tobacco Corp. remains the biggest bulk buyer, chalking up about 92 percent of local production. The balance is shared by Universal Leaf, an exporter of unmanufactured tobacco or leaf tobacco, and Trans Manila, a company that buys directly from farmers and sells to cigarette manufacturers.

The country’s local production comprise slightly over 50 percent of the industry’s demand for tobacco.

Last year, the industry imported about 70 million kilos of tobacco with high nicotine content for blending with local tobacco. The country’s Virginia, burley, and native tobaccos have low nicotine content and can only serve as fillers.

The country gets unmanufactured tobacco from Turkey, China, Pakistan, India and the United States. Manufactured or processed tobacco comes from France, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and China.

While the country imports high nicotine tobacco, it also sells filler tobaccos to the US, Belgium, South Africa, Korea, Malaysia Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Last year, the country exported 30 million kilos at $3.49 per kilo of unmanufactured tobacco and $6.71 per kilo of manufactured tobacco

Tobacco compliance in Riverside is at all-time high

The Riverside Police Department announced that no violations were found in the third and final round of compliance checks for tobacco retailers in the village.

The compliance checks are performed to determine if local tobacco retailers are complying with state and local minimum-age tobacco laws, which prohibit the sale of tobacco to persons under the age of 18.

The program is funded through a grant from the Illinois Liquor Control Commission’s "Kids Can’t Buy ‘Em Here" Tobacco Enforcement Program. Riverside police educate local tobacco retailers on minimum-age tobacco laws and the importance of verifying the age of customers before selling age-restrictive products, such as tobacco.

Chief Tom Weitzel said compliance percentages have fluctuated since the program began in 1993. The last round of testing indicated a 100-percent compliance rate.

Over the summer months, the youth division will provide retailers with education and resources to facilitate their compliance to minimum-age tobacco laws.