Everett Youth Promote Tobacco-free Living

Teens in Everett Against Substance Abuse (TEASA), a youth group affiliated with the Everett Community Health Partnership, organized a successful “Kick Butts Day” event at Everett High School on March 28th. The event highlighted the fact that most Everett youth have chosen to lead tobacco-free lives.

At the event TEASA partnered with health education classes at Everett High School to mobilize over 300 students to make a pledge to be tobacco free. The students’ photos, as well as their statements, were displayed on a mural that will be hung at Everett City Hall. Other students drew chalk outlines of figures on the school’s track, representing lives lost to tobacco. Youth also plastered the school with messages from The 84 Movement, including the fact that 84% of youth in MA choose not to smoke and the various ways that youth are specifically targeted by Major Tobacco companies. TEASA is member of The 84, which helps youth organize to take action to protect their communities from the influence of the tobacco industry.

“It is important for teens in Everett to hear the message that most of their peers are not smoking, even when perceptions make it seem otherwise. In fact, in Everett, 90% of high school students have not used a cigarette in the past month,” said Jamie Stein, TEASA Coordinator.
With studies showing that 90% of adult smokers started before they turned 18, raising awareness about the number of students who are tobacco free and identifying the underhanded marketing tactics used by the tobacco industry to entice youth to start are important tools in the fight against tobacco addiction. TEASA’s event at Everett High School was so powerful that the group has been asked to bring their photo mural project to middle school-aged youth at the Keverian School.

The 84 Movement is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program and is managed by Health Resources in Action. For more information on the work being done to combat Big Tobacco around the State visit www.makesmokinghistory.org and www.The84.org.

About the Metro Boston Tobacco Free Community Partnership, a Program of Health Resources in Action

The Metro Boston Tobacco-Free Community Partnership supports communities’ efforts to lower smoking prevalence and exposure to secondhand smoke; enhance state and local tobacco control efforts by exposing tobacco industry tactics, mobilizing the community to support and adopt evidence-based policies, and changing social norms. Funded by the Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention program Community Partnerships serve as a resource for local coalitions, health and human service agencies, municipalities, and workplaces on tobacco intervention efforts.

Monsanto and Big Tobacco Blamed for Birth Defects

Monsanto, Philip Morris and other U.S. tobacco giants knowingly poisoned Argentinean tobacco farmers with pesticides, causing "devastating birth defects" in their children, dozens of workers claim in court.
The farmers, on their own behalf and for their injured children, sued Altria Group fka Philip Morris Cos., Philip Morris USA, Carolina Leaf Tobacco, Universal Corporation fka Universal Leaf Tobacco Company, Monsanto, and their affiliates and Argentine subsidiaries, in New Castle County Court.
The farmers grow tobacco on small family-owned farms in Misiones Province and sell it to U.S. tobacco distributors. Most of Argentina's tobacco is grown in Misiones, a rural northeastern province.
The farmers claim the tobacco companies asked them to use herbicides, pesticides and other toxic products made and distributed by Monsanto, and assured them the products were safe.
They say the defendants "wrongfully caused the parental and infant plaintiffs to be exposed to those chemicals and substances which they both knew, or should have known, would cause the infant offspring of the parental plaintiffs to be born with devastating birth defects."
Birth defects cited in the 55-page complaint include cerebral palsy, psychomotor retardation, epilepsy, spina bifida, intellectual disabilities, metabolic disorders, congenital heart defects, Down syndrome, missing fingers and blindness.
The farmers claim Philip Morris and Carolina Leaf used a tobacco brokerage company, Tabacos Norte, to buy tobacco from the farmers and sell them crop production supplies, including herbicides and pesticides.
Tabacos Norte, based in Misiones, was created by Carolina Leaf and Philip Morris' Argentine subsidiary in 1984, to produce tobacco fit for the North and South American markets, according to the complaint.
The farmers say the tobacco companies that bought their crops asked them to replace the native tobacco with a new type, used in Philip Morris cigarettes, which required more pesticides.
They say the defendants pushed for excessive use of pesticides and failed to warn them of the dangers or provide them with information or protective gear.
Most farmers in Misiones used Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide made by Monsanto, to kill weeds and clear tobacco fields, according to the complaint.
Monsanto and Philip Morris told them to use glyphosate frequently and in quantities beyond that necessary for effective weed control, the farmers say.
"Monsanto defendants, the Philip Morris defendants, and the Carolina Leaf defendants promoted the use of Roundup and other herbicides to tobacco farmers in Misiones even though they were on direct and explicit notice that at all relevant times farmers in Misiones, including the instant plaintiffs, lacked the necessary personal protective equipment and other safety knowledge and skills required to minimize harmful exposures to Roundup," the complaint states.
"What is more, at all relevant times Tabacos Norte, the Monsanto defendants, the Philip Morris defendants, and the Carolina Leaf defendants did not recommend protective measures to farmers and their families in Misiones. In fact, aforementioned defendants actively recommended and/or required that contracted tobacco farmers, including the instant plaintiffs, purchase excessive quantities of Roundup and other pesticides.
"At all relevant times, defendants were on direct and explicit notice that fruits, vegetables and farm animals designated for family consumption would be contaminated with pesticides including Roundup if contract farmers followed the defendants' aggressive chemical application specifications for tobacco cultivation."
Monsanto's pesticides contaminated the farmers' non-tobacco crops, water wells and streams meant for family use, exposing their families to the toxic substances, the farmer say.
"The plaintiff tobacco farmers' lack of training and instruction on the safe disposal of unused Roundup and other pesticides caused further exposure," the complaint states. "Leftover pesticides were discarded in locations where they leached into the water supply."
The farmers claim their exposure to the pesticides caused their children's birth defects.
They claim that Monsanto and the tobacco companies, "motivated by a desire for unwarranted economic gain and profit," ignored health risks associated with pesticides.
The farmers seek compensatory and punitive damages for negligence, product liability, breach of warranty, ultra hazardous activity, aiding and abetting, willful and wanton misconduct and violations of Argentine laws.

'John Terry' off Indian cigarette packets

Lawyers for the Chelsea player threatened to take legal action earlier this year after they discovered that a blurry photograph showing a man closely resembling the 31-year-old was being used on cigarette packets for an anti-smoking campaign.

While continuing to deny that the image was of Terry, Indian health officials now say that a decision has been made to replace it with another image.

A senior official from India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare told an Indian newspaper: “The picture could be of any man. It is only the fertile imagination of some who see Terry in it.

“However, the controversy has been an unseemly one, and so we are looking at a fresh set of warnings.”

In the picture, Terry appears topless with a mock sketch showing his lungs heavily tarred above a banner that reads:“Smoking Kills.”

The image was approved for release by the Indian health ministry last year after being supplied by the government’s Directorate of Visual Publicity.

Terry’s rep, Keith Cousins, said at the time: “We have reviewed this matter with our client and have instructed solicitors to take appropriate action.”

Pressure to disqualify tobacco study for award

Pressure is mounting on China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) to refuse to consider a tobacco research program for a top science award, after the World Health Organization (WHO) stepped into the debate.
China Tobacco (China National Tobacco Corporation), affiliated to the State Tobacco Monopoly, has applied to have its research into supposedly less harmful cigarettes included on a list of initiatives up for the 2012 National Award for Science and Technology. Its application is open to appeals until early May.
Chinese health experts have attacked China Tobacco's potential crowning, saying the recognition would violate the spirit of the award, under which it is clearly stated that research considered should not be against the protection of public health.
But a spokesman for the MST said earlier that new research in the tobacco sector is praiseworthy if it can reduce the harm brought about by smoking.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Dr Michael O'Leary, the WHO's representative in China, said there is substantial risk in research being used to suggest some tobacco products are less harmful than others and therefore may be more safely consumed.
"Such misleading information can be very harmful to public health," according to O'Leary. "There is no safe level of tobacco consumption. The effective way to reduce the harm is to reduce the number of people who smoke or who are exposed to second-hand smoke."
He said attempts to suggest some cigarettes are safer occur in many countries, and are usually part of tobacco industry campaigns to deceive the public and encourage smoking.
China has more than 300 million smokers, about 1.2 million people die from tobacco-related diseases every year in the country, and another 740 million are exposed to second-hand smoke, health experts say. They add that China faces a particularly tough battle to prevent the interference in anti-smoking work of China Tobacco, with its lucrative tax contributions and status as a government agency.
Tobacco research projects have been honored seven times in the annual National Award for Science and Technology over the past decade, the Beijing Times has reported.

UT tobacco ban encourages healthier habits among users, cancer research funding

After years of heated debate over the use of tobacco on campus, UT announced Wednesday it will prohibit the use of tobacco products on all University property effective this month.

The UT Board of Regents approved the new tobacco policy on Monday, making UT the fourth institution under the UT System to implement a ban.

University spokeswoman Adrienne Howarth-Moore said people will be able to use tobacco in the 15 temporary designated areas on campus during the first year of implementation but will be required to adhere to the policy by Feb. 28, 2013. The policy prohibits the use of tobacco products on University-owned sidewalks, parking areas, walkways, attached parking structures and buildings. Tobacco will only be allowed at the temporary designated tobacco areas, and for educational or clinical purposes, fine arts productions, sponsored research and off-campus graduate housing facilities.

The University’s previous policy only prohibited smoking within buildings and required people to smoke 20 feet away building entrances.

Howarth-Moore said sidewalks adjacent to UT property, such as the sidewalks on Guadalupe Street, will not be included in the ban. The ban will also exclude sidewalks and property on Guadalupe Street, Dean Keeton Street, Red River Street and Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard.

She said the University will be removing ashtrays surrounding campus buildings in the next couple of months, launching an educational campaign and putting up signs to inform the UT community about the new policy. She said at this time there are no plans to implement a financial penalty if people violate the ban and repeat violations will be directed to the appropriate student, faculty and staff liaisons.

Howarth-Moore said the UT administration understands the challenges this new policy places on people who are current tobacco users, but hopes people will see this change as an opportunity to quit and take advantage of tobacco cessation resources on campus.

“If people choose not to take advantage of the tobacco resources we are providing, we hope that this gives them time to adjust their work schedule and start to think about how they will implement this policy in their work or school day,” Howarth-Moore said. “This is the right direction for the University.”

UT first announced plans on Feb. 9 to possibly change its tobacco policy after the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas announced new rules requiring all institutions receiving cancer research funds to become tobacco-free by Aug. 31. If the University did not comply with the new rules, it would not be eligible to receive future funding from the institute. The institute provides approximately $31 million for more than 20 professors working on cancer research. UT plans to apply for $88 million later this year.

In a February campus-wide email, University officials stated they planned to develop a policy by March 1 to meet the deadlines stated by CPRIT. Howarth-Moore said there was a misunderstanding on the deadline to be in compliance with the new policy.

Kristen Doyle, Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas lawyer and a cancer survivor, said March 1 was the adoption date of the new rule and grantees have until Aug. 31 to develop a new policy.

Doyle said although she has not seen the policy, it seems like UT has gone above and beyond banning tobacco in buildings where cancer research takes place, the minimum requirement the institute called for.

Doyle said she thinks it is great UT has adopted a tobacco-free policy on campus.

“Preventing people from taking up both smoking and tobacco use, especially now when they’re in college, will help them for the rest of their lives,” Doyle said. “As a cancer survivor, I hope someone else won’t have to have that awful moment and hear, ‘Oh, you’ve got cancer.’”

Howarth-Moore said although the University had previously considered only banning tobacco use in buildings and areas where cancer research took place, they decided against it. Many professors and graduate students conducting research will often have their lab in one building but may go to the library in the Main Building to analyze their research, Howarth-Moore said, and that makes the building a cancer research facility.

Howarth-Moore said new research facilities are added and change every semester and would make a tobacco ban only encompassing cancer research buildings difficult and confusing to implement.

Matthew Haviland, president of the UT Texas Public Health Organization, said he thinks the tobacco ban will contribute to the improving the health of students and potentially decreasing insurance costs.

The organization conducted a survey last semester and found that out of 1,551 respondents, 77 percent indicated they wanted a stronger tobacco policy at UT. Among the people who identified as smokers who took the survey, about one-third said they wanted stricter limits on tobacco use.

Haviland said he sat on a committee with administrators to discuss the possible implementation of a tobacco ban and expected the announcement.

He said he hopes this encourages the city of Austin and schools across the U.S. to consider banning tobacco.

Elderly woman accused of running major marijuana ring

An elderly Oklahoma woman is accused of running a major marijuana drug operation out of her Craig County home.

The investigation began about five months ago when Craig County Deputies and Vinita Police got a tip that a large amount of marijuana was being sold out of the home of 73-year-old Darlene Mayes.

After months of investigation and surveillance, the drug task force served a warrant at her home Monday evening.

Around 6:45 Monday evening, Vinita Police, Craig County deputies and Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics agents raided the picturesque farm of the retired DHS worker.

Investigators thought Mayes was a major player in the drug trade, but even they were surprised at what they found: six pounds of marijuana, guns and $277,000 in cash.

"It was an extreme wow moment," said Vinita police chief Bobby Floyd.

He says he expected to find marijuana, but was stunned by the sheer amount of cash -- much of which was stuffed in garbage bags and vacuum sealed in plastic bags.

"We kept finding more cash and it was so surprising that it was just laying around," Floyd said. "It was in closets, underneath the bed. But it wasn't really hidden."

"We think we really put a big dent in the drug trade in Northeastern Oklahoma," said Craig County Sheriff Jimmy Sooter.

He believes Mayes was a supplier to not only the Vinita area, but also to Tulsa and surrounding states.

"We are right in the corner. We've got Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas not far away," Sooter said. "We feel like it was coming in from all over. And we think this is a real good arrest."

The forfeited cash will be split between the Craig County Sheriffs Office, Vinita Police Department and Craig County District Attorney's office.

The money will be used to fight drugs.

"It helps with the equipment," Floyd said. "It helps to send my guys to proper schooling. We do a lot continuing education. And we really focus on drug interdiction."

The bust was the result of a new partnership between the three agencies.

"By ourselves, we can do the job," Floyd said. "But when are together, we are really strong and efficient."

Darlene Mayes faces a total of five criminal charges: possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, maintaining a dwelling where drugs are kept or sold, possession of a firearm in commission of a felony and failure to affix tax stamps.

Sooter says the investigation into the drug bust is ongoing and more arrests are possible in the future.