Plain-packaged tobacco no sure thing

Plain packaging for tobacco is no "slam dunk," Prime Minister John Key says. The Health Ministry today released an assessment on the impact of a plan to strip all branding off the packaging of tobacco products. Officials backed the plan, saying it would reduce the likelihood of consumers being misled about the harmfulness of tobacco and increase the effectiveness of existing health warnings. It would also bring New Zealand into line with a plain packaging policy in Australia due to take effect in October. But the paper warned of a ''reasonably high risk'' of legal action that could cost millions of dollars in legal costs alone.

Australia has already been challenged by three countries through the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and by tobacco companies at the High Court for its plain packaging policy. The objections are over the alleged violation of international trade rules and the loss of value in trademarks. Officials said New Zealand would face legal costs of $3m to $6m for "international investment arbitration" and a further $1.5m to $2m to defend a WTO case. Key today said the Government felt it was "likely" to be able to legally introduce plain packaging but it was "not absolutely clear cut". ‘‘There are lots of things we need to consider - I wouldn’t say it’s a slam dunk by any chance that plain packaging will take place but nor would I rule it out.

It really is, genuinely, a true consultation period," Key said. ''As the National Party, we haven’t made the decision yet about whether we would support that any further." He declined to say whether or not the Government might be put off by the potential costs of litigation, saying it was ‘‘far too early to know’’. Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia said plain packaging was "a powerful tool" to help make the country smoke-free by 2025. ''There is strong evidence that plain packaging would further reduce the appeal of tobacco products and smoking in general, strengthen the impact of mandated pictorial health warnings, and reduce false perceptions about the harm from tobacco products," Turia said.

Philip Morris Corporate Affairs Manager Christopher Bishop said there was "no credible evidence" that plain packaging would reduce smoking, but there was "growing evidence of major international concern about the policy". ''Reports about the consideration of plain packaging in New Zealand have already met strong opposition from consumers as well as from many retailers who are against a policy that won’t reduce smoking, but that will add yet another regulatory burden to the way they run their businesses," Bishop said.

Montgomery County, world tobacco king

In the eighteen-nineties, Spain inflicted restrictions upon Cuba’s tobacco trade. Coupled to US protective tariffs, this left open an opportunity for other areas to flourish in the business. In Texas was the primary opportunity. An 1893 document stated, “Montgomery County is the initial point where the successful test will be made in growing Cuban tobacco, and which from the peculiar adaptability of its soil, is to become the centre of the great tobacco industry of Texas” (J.S. Daugherty, Texas, The Lone Star State Book).

Herein lies a story of our county’s enterprising mindset. Witness the stark headlines from Conroe’s Grand Lake Association Company: LOOK! LOOK! Fifteen Hundred Dollars in Gold! This is worth your consideration! We will give $1500 in Gold for the best three hundred pounds of Tobacco grown upon land bought from us at or near Conroe, Montgomery County, Texas. Following were the rules which the Grand Lake Association laid down for the contest, to be decided at “some suitable place at Conroe, Montgomery County, Texas”: First, there must not be less than twenty persons contesting for the premium; “these must present their names before September 1, 1895, at our office at Conroe, Texas.”

Second, the tobacco must be raised upon land bought from the Association, with a down payment of not less than $750. Third, the tobacco entered would become the association’s property “without any compensation whatever after it has been passed by the judges.” Fourth, the judges would be selected from the Editor of the Texas Ranch and Farm journal out of Dallas, the President of the Texas Horticultural Society and the President of the State Agricultural Society. Though Conroe was in the hunt, it was the community of Willis that became tobacco king. At its apex, Willis sported eight cigar factories while the town secured awards for its prime quality product at the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 and at Paris in 1900.

Montgomery County’s reign as world tobacco king was grand, though short-lived. Reasons for the decline included the difficulty of curing and drying the crop and the prohibitive cost of marketing. Furthermore, the Spanish-American War of 1898 rendered the US the new protector of Cuba, resulting in a loss of Montgomery County’s competitive advantage.

Regents urge total tobacco ban on campuses

Ohio’s higher-education board voted unanimously today to urge the state’s public colleges to be leaders in promoting healthy lifestyles by banning smoking and all tobacco products on their campuses. “It’s the right thing to do,” said James Tuschman, chairman of the Ohio Board of Regents. Going tobacco-free would cut health-care costs for students, faculty and staff at the schools, as well as the state, he said. In 2006, state voters approved a constitutional amendment that bans smoking indoors or within 25 feet around building entrance, exits or windows of public buildings and workplaces, but many schools still allow smoking outside.

 Although the Board of Regents can’t force the state’s public two-year and four-year schools to go entirely tobacco-free, it hopes the schools will set a good example. In recent years, several Ohio campuses have been considering whether to go entirely tobacco-free as more people embrace healthier lifestyles, but only one public school has done so: Miami University. Last year, the University of Toledo also banned all tobacco products on campus, but students, staff and faculty can smoke in designated huts around campus or in their personal vehicles.

 Currently, Columbus State Community College, Ohio State University and Ohio University all ban smoking inside campus buildings. Ohio State also has a tobacco-free zone that encompasses 12 buildings including the Wexner Medical Center, Aronoff Laboratory, Biological Sciences building and greenhouse, and several halls. Officials from the schools said it’s too early to say whether their trustees will recommend a total ban on tobacco, but they likely will consider it. Ohio schools should act quickly, Tuschman said, because so far this year there have been an estimated 10,270 new cases of lung cancer in Ohio, with 7,430 of them resulting in death, according toe the American Cancer Society.

The total public and private health-care expenditures caused by smoking is $96 billion — including nearly $5 billion just from second-hand smoke exposure. Secondhand smoke causes heart disease that kills thousands of Americans every year. Smoking also causes cancer, stroke and emphysema, as well as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. More than 10 percent of college students smoke regularly; 27 percent of the state’s 18- to 24-year olds overall are smokers. “Virtually 100 percent of smokers start before they are 26 years old,” said Dr. Theodore E. Wymyslo, director of the Ohio Board of Health.

Grant money aimed at smoke-free rentals

Public health officials in La Crosse County will use part of a $450,000 state grant to persuade more landlords to ban smoking in their apartment buildings. Apartment Association of the La Crosse Area president Pamela Strittmater says that besides the health benefits for renters, it's a safety and cleanliness issue. She says many landlords are already on board.

 The La Crosse Tribune (http://bit.ly/MHz14S ) reports that over the next couple years, $6.6 million will be distributed statewide through the Transform Wisconsin initiative. It's focused on promoting tobacco-free living, healthy food and active communities.

$20K Worth of Cigarettes Stolen From Shop

Three people forced their way into a Petaluma store over the weekend and stole an estimated $20,000 worth of cigarettes, according to the Petaluma police. Surveillance footage recorded three suspects forcing open the front door of Cigarettes Cheaper store around 10:30pm Saturday in the Plaza North Shopping Center on North McDowell Boulevard.

The suspects had empty plastic containers with them and stole approximately 400 cartons of cigarettes. The loss was estimated between $16,000 to $20,000. Police are reviewing the footage for leads on the theft. They are also asking anyone with leads to call the Petaluma Police Department.

Racine groups to promote smoke-free housing

Two community organizations are teaming up to push for smoke-free multi-unit housing complexes across Racine County. On Tuesday, Focus on Community and the Racine County Youth Coalition (RCYC), two organizations that fight against substance abuse, announced their plan to use a $160,000 Transform Wisconsin Impact Grant to campaign for smoke-free housing options, primarily in the Racine metropolitan area and Burlington. The bulk of the funding will be spent on educational and promotional materials, as well as personnel to complete additional research, according to Francie McGuire Winkler, Focus executive director.

The groups have no specific plans to build or convert housing to smoke-free residences, but plan to encourage others to make the switch. Going smoke-free is a “win-win situation” for both property owners and tenants, McGuire Winkler said. Owners will save on cleaning, renovation and insurance costs, and residents’ health will be improved, she said. “It’s not just jobs and taxes that draw people to a community — it’s quality of life,” Mayor John Dickert said at a press conference about the project. Growing up in a “smoking family,” Dickert attributes his and his siblings’ asthma to their childhood environment.

He said he wants to protect today’s children from smoky living quarters, which can be unavoidable in multi-unit housing complexes, even if parents are non-smokers. Kara Wallace, 16, a junior at Case High School, cleans out apartments when tenants leave and spends more time in smokers’ residences. When Wallace went in to clean out the apartment of a woman who had lived there for 11 years, chain smoking, she spent three hours cleaning one window with a razor. “I could not imagine what her lungs looked like if that’s what her apartment looked like,” she said. Good health starts at home, said Dona Winisky of the American Lung Association in Wisconsin.

It is a misconception that health begins in the doctor’s office, she said. It starts “where we live and work and where our kids play and learn.” Focus and RCYC will begin by assessing the needs of the county. From there, they aim to educate property managers about the benefits of going smoke-free. In the second year of the grant, the organizations will focus on informing youth about the dangers of other tobacco products, products that are often packaged to look like candy, according to Joyce Erickson, coordinator of the Kenosha, Racine, Walworth Tri-County Tobacco Free Coalition.

Thirty of Wisconsin’s 72 counties received a total of $6.6 million dollars from Transform Wisconsin, which received a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention several months ago, according to Diedra Nass, who does outreach for Transform Wisconsin. Statewide, grants were awarded based on plans to address issues with smoke-free housing, fruit and vegetable consumption in schools and low levels of physical activity in an effort to improve the overall health of Wisconsin communities.

Most U.S. muni tobacco bonds will default - Moody's

The majority of tobacco bonds sold by U.S. states, counties and cities will default if cigarette consumption keeps falling at a 3 percent to 4 percent annual pace, Moody's Investors Service said on Thursday. Under that scenario, "Bonds constituting 74 percent of the aggregate outstanding balance of all the tobacco settlement bonds will default," the Wall Street credit agency said.

Moody's said it rates 32 tobacco bond securitizations; their outstanding debt is $20.4 billion. The debt is backed by the more than $200 billion in payments cigarette-makers agreed to make over time to states to help pay for the costs of treating ailing smokers.

Tobacco price dispute resolved

The controversy over tobacco price was settled down amicably, as buying season started peacefully amidst an increase of Rs.4 per kg that finally brought the much needed respite to the farmers of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The tobacco growers are appreciating the increase in price of tobacco for the current year. They are expressing gratitude to Minister of State Abbas Khan Afridi who went out of the way for increase despite not very favorable circumstances.

 However, there have been few incidences reported which were of insignificant nature. Some of the protesters misguided by vested interest tried to create uneasy situation but soon the calm prevailed and everything came back to normal. The realization among farmers’ community was clear that some unscrupulous elements were playing at the hands of others and they will be the ones to suffer should they did not come out of their influence.

Due to prevailing law and order situation the manufacturing companies have decided to write to the Commissioner Mardan Region to provide necessary security in various areas at the buying stations. Various farmers’ organizations in Swabi and Mardan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have threatened of dire consequences to the cigarette manufacturers if their demands for increase of tobacco rates were not met.

New law cripples roll-your-own cigarette shops

Two local roll-your-own cigarette shops are precariously close to being snuffed out by a new federal law. Save on pall mall Cigarettes owner Nick Patel, who has one shop in Racine and one in Mount Pleasant, said his sales were slashed by at least 90 percent when the Federal Transportation Funding Act was signed into law July 6. The act essentially defines retail shops with roll-your-own technology as manufacturers, requiring them to obtain a manufacturing permit to operate. Until July 6, Patel and other Wisconsin roll-your-own shops had been operating under a temporary injunction in a Dane County Circuit Court lawsuit expected to be decided later this year.

The Wisconsin Department of Revenue had been cracking down on the shops, maintaining they were evading taxes by claiming they were not manufacturers — even though cigarettes are made on site. But the federal law may make the lawsuit a moot point. RYO Machine of Girard, Ohio, which makes the machines used by Save on Cigarettes, has shut down its reload system, effectively idling its machines. RYO also warned its machine owners they are contractually obligated to obey all laws in operating its machines. Patel has reacted to the plunge in sales by dropping the hours at his 5201 Washington Ave. store from 74 a week to 30.

His store at 3745 Douglas Ave. had slightly shorter hours, but they have also been reduced to 30. Assuming the federal law stays as is, Patel said his chances of staying in business are “slight to none” unless sales of his other products increase significantly. Phil Accordino, president of RYO Machine, had no doubt Friday about his fate. “It was absolutely brilliant on the part of the cigarette companies,” he said. “No one saw this coming, and no one could stop it. “So I’m out of business,” along with his 45 employees. Accordino said that indirectly, manufacturing the machines supported more than 300 U.S. jobs. “There’s no chance, absolutely none, of this being reversed,” he said.

“And that’s the way it is.” For numerous reasons, Accordino said, calling roll-your-own shops manufacturers guarantees they will never get the very expensive permits. “The real travesty,” he said, “is that Congress decided who gets to win and who gets to lose in the marketplace.” Patel said some customers have been using his table-top rolling machines or buying one for home use. He still sells the pipe tobacco they roll cigarettes with and calls it a less dangerous product than what’s in a commercial cigarette.

Crackdown against tobacco sellers in Himachal Pradesh

In a bid to curb rising cancer cases in Himachal Pradesh, the government had banned the sale of tobacco products from Friday onwards but despite ban shopkeepers are still selling the products like gutkha, khaini in their shops due to ineffective monitoring. After finding no effect of ban orders, now excise and taxation department has decided to launch a drive from Monday onwards to destroy the tobacco products. According to sources, from the state headquarter of department directions have been issued to all the districts to conduct raids at the shops to act against the erring officials.

"During raids stock of tobacco products would be checked and shopkeepers would have to show the original bills too," said a senior officials from excise and taxation department. Officials said that despite ban if a shopkeeper sells the product then action under food safety and standards act of 2006. "Besides cancelling the registration and license of such shopkeepers, six months imprisonment and fine upto Rs 5 lakh too could be imposed," added the officials. Sources said that sale of tobacco products like including Khaini, Gutka,pan masala is more in the tourist towns and stockists have hidden their bulk supply and are now clandestinely distributing it to small retailers on demand. In Shimla sale of such products is more in Mall road area where same is being sold despite ban.

Widespread use of tobacco products has resulted into unprecedented rise in number of cancer patients in hill state. Himachal Pradesh had 16405 cancer patients in 2009 that increased to 19705 in 2010 while the number increased to 23241 by 2011-12. Analysis of rising cases had shown that tobacco consumption was one of the main reasons for cancer. According to sources apart from registering 2000 new cases each year, state is also witnessing around 200 deaths and this has been established in the study done by cancer hospital in Shimla. Sources said that 45% patients were suffering with mouth and throat cancer caused by excessive use of tobacco products.

Is the internet as addictive as tobacco?

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I like the internet. I use it a lot. In fact, I work at a senior level in the industry and from here the internet does not look like a fad that will pass any time soon. Hundreds of millions think Facebook is fun, that Google is useful, and that iPlayer is essential. Each day people reach for their phones to see if their latest Instagram is a hit, if a new profile pic is liked, or if they have been retweeted. We do this because it is addictive – literally addictive. Each time there's a new email, our brains reward us with a hit – a dopamine high – which encourages repeat behaviour.

Apparently, it's one of the ways in which we learn. As one behavioural psychologist put it, the internet creates "a dopamine-induced loop", giving us "almost instant gratification of our desire to seek". Computer game manufacturers have long known this, and so they make products, apps or games that are "sticky", in the jargon. Society has long known it too: stories of gamers dying of exhaustion at their keyboards are more than five years old now, not to mention "crackberries". What they want most is for their app to be the first thing to come to your mind when your brain is idle for a second and you think, "What shall I do now?"

But why has the internet industry not asked itself whether it should be taking responsibility for these products, for creating content that is actually designed to be addictive? Does it ask whether building the digital equivalent of a Skinner box or discussing how to manufacture desire is necessarily a good thing? In other words, are we – the internet industry – the new tobacco? And, if we are, what stage of the marketing of this new industry are we at? Is this the equivalent of the 1930s? Are we at the stage of "More doctors smoke Camels"? It is striking that, while there seems to be almost universal agreement that successful app design creates addictive experiences – "an impulse-control disorder that does not involve an intoxicant", if you want to be scientific about it – apparently we do not see this as a problem.

We simply do not define the physical, sociological or pathological implications of compulsive internet use (and the effect on our dopamine levels) as a bad thing. Partly this is because we're all doing it, and we like it (as I began by saying). Also, there's a tendency to construe the gamification of society as a net positive. The X Prize founder, Peter Diamandis, for instance, has called for a "powerful, addictive game" that promotes education. But this benign future is the flipside of a problem that we are already ignoring. We have glamorised it and mocked it out of existence. Consider addictive technologies and children. Parents will know that taking an iPad away from a two-year-old is not something you undertake lightly. Yet we don't worry about that reaction; instead we make videos and post them on YouTube.

Putting a parental lock on a 14-year-old's computer is also likely to lead to weeks of sulking. For some, life without their smartphone is unimaginable. Some of us feel panic at the loss of a phone; others feel adrift if the Wi-Fi goes down. We don't yet console ourselves that we are simply suffering from withdrawal symptoms. There seems a possibility, in other words, that digital can be a problem, not always a solution. And when we focus on the "cuteness" of the symptoms, we risk neglecting the cause. Digital products are not seen in the same light as other consumer goods, and it seems unlikely that anyone will change their behaviour, or developers start making apps less addictive, without some firm encouragement. In the past year, the backers of the US's Stop Online Piracy Act and others have taken on the digital industries and got a bloody nose. What seems surprising, given their relentless focus on the legality (or otherwise) of various digital services, is that their lobbyists missed the potential of health implications for people using digital content that encourages compulsive use.

 They might argue that an internet service is consumed, just like tobacco, alcohol and fast food, all of which are regulated in the interests of the consumer. Society generally agrees that most chemicals that are addictive are bad. Food, too. Sugar is poison, we are told. Why not digital? Bill Davidow makes an equivalent argument far more elegantly in the magazine the Atlantic, saying that the internet is the new fast food. If digital were "regulated", he asks, how would we do that? Is there high-tar digital and low-tar digital? Will we see class actions against developers? Hysteria aside, there is a huge amount of good digital out there, transforming the world, changing lives, making economies grow, educating, and making us fit, happy and connected. It's also fair to say that the internet is only a conduit, a medium, not a cause, just as the iPad is simply a device.

And one cannot be addicted to a tool. (The rate of syringe addiction is not high, either. Syringes have been a good, indeed world-changing, thing.) But we need to recognise that, when a harmless medium delivers its "thing" – its magic, its method, its programme, its app or its effect – the results can be bad, as with bad food. There are the super-foods, and there are the doughnuts. We need to be honest about which digital services are the doughnuts. I already have to explain to my kid how we fucked his planet up and that, yes, it was our fault. I really don't want to have to say we helped to fuck him up too. • This article was written by a director of a global internet services company, who chooses to remain anonymous

Zimbabwe: Tobacco Sales Surpass Last Season

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THE volume of flue-cured tobacco sold so far has surpassed last season's cumulative output. This is the third time in eight years that tobacco volumes have hit the 100 million kg mark, an indication that Zimbabwe is regaining its status as one of the leading tobacco producers in the world. By Monday 132,7 million kg of the golden leaf had been sold. Last year, the tobacco-selling season ended on August 18 after 125 selling days. A total of 132,4 million kg were sold last season with the contract market accounting for 56 percent of the sales.

The continuous increase in tobacco production has been attributed to an increase of the number of tobacco growers. High prices being offered for tobacco has also attracted many farmers to grow the crop. Resettled farmers claim 43 percent of the tobacco sold so far. Farmers have described tobacco farming as one of the viable enterprises although they bemoaned that buyers formed a cartel and held the highest price at US$4,99 per kilogramme.

Meanwhile, deliveries at the auction floors have continued to decline. Auction floors have applied to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board to have the selling season cut while others want auction days reduced from five to three per week. Millennium Tobacco Floor spokes-person, Ms Kudzayi Hamadziripi, said indications were that most farmers have already sold their crop. "We have applied to the TIMB to allow us to operate three days a week to cut operational costs," she said.

Ms Hamadziripi said the increase in the number of auction floors has resulted in the floors getting less deliveries of tobacco compared to last season. Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board chief executive Dr Andrew Matibiri said the board was yet to announce the tobacco selling season closing date. "We are expecting a few million kilogrammes and at the moment I can not give estimates on the total volumes we will get at the end of the season," he said. Dr Matibiri said the TIMB board was going to conduct a meeting to consider auction floor applications. About 150 million kilogrammes of tobacco are expected to go under the hammer this season. The target according to some experts may not be realised as the crop was affected by drought.

Tobacco-control legislation under preparation

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A senior legislator said China's top legislature is actively preparing to introduce more tobacco-control legislation, after a smoking ban in indoor public places seems ineffective, the People's Daily reported Friday. China lacks specialized laws on tobacco control which makes it hard to enforce the bans on smoking in public places, Han Qide, vice chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said Thursday at a forum on smoking control, according to the report. Special research teams have been sent to some developed countries to conduct surveys and acquire knowledge, Han said.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) issued regulations last year banning smoking in all enclosed public locations including hotels, restaurants and theaters. But Han noted that the warning pictures on cigarette packs were not printed, or printed but not in an eye-catching way. "Inadequate publicity leads to people's unawareness of smoking-related harm to health so that there is not a high public support to the smoking cessation measures," Han was quoted as saying.

The central government had promised a smoke-free public spaces by including a public smoking ban in its 12th Five-year Plan (2011-2015) last March. Some believe the whopping taxes and profits created by China's tobacco industry also pose challenges for public smoking prohibition. China is the largest tobacco-producing and -consuming country in the world, with more than 300 million smokers and another 740 million people exposed to second-hand smoke, according to an MOH report released in May.

Hookahs banned in city parks

Water pipes and other smoking implements are now banned from city properties, including parks and beaches. The move is an addition to the recent expansion of the city's Smoke-Free Ottawa bylaw, which bans cigarette smoking on city property. The increasing popularity of water pipes, also known as hookahs or shisha, led the city's health board and council to direct Ottawa Public Health to draft a way to ban the devices on public sites.

While the tobacco ban applies to restaurant and bar patios, the non-tobacco smoking ban does not extend to businesses that offer hookah smoking on their patios. Although shisha can contain tobacco, for the most part it is composed of herbal substances. Still, the smoke from the heated material can irritate the eyes, noses and throats of passersby, according to a public health report. Council passed the bylaw on June 27.

It means that carrying any "lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe, or any other lighted or heated smoking equipment used to smoke any tobacco or non-tobacco substance" is not allowed on city-owned properties. That means the ban also includes drugs such as marijuana. The city report identifies two grounds under which the new bylaw could be contested in court: someone could claim that water-pipe use should be allowed for cultural reasons (it's a popular pastime in the Middle East) and medical marijuana users could argue that it violates their rights under the Federal Marihuana Medical Access Regulations, part of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Battle tobacco use with education, not orders

Campus-wide bans on use of tobacco are being enacted or considered by as many as half of all colleges nationwide, according to a report by The Associated Press. Initially, that may seem like a sound idea. However, such measures may be overly broad and overzealous. Depending on the rationale, a ban on smoking anywhere on campus might even go too far. Increasingly, evidence shows secondhand smoke poses a significant health risk.

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That could be sufficient reason to sequester smokers to areas where smoking would not bother others. Remember, smoking in public spaces and workplaces already is banned in Ohio. While dormitories can be considered private residences, some institutions have banned smoking in dorms. To be sure, we're no fans of smoking. Smoking is a filthy habit that can be a lifelong addiction. But while eliminating the temptation for young adults to begin smoking is a laudable goal, that is not sufficient grounds to deny students who have reached the age of majority from partaking of a legal activity.

And use of smokeless tobacco, while disgusting, also should be an individual decision and not one dictated by a public institution. Private colleges and universities ought to have more latitude for regulating behavior on their properties. Institutions of higher education should prepare collegians to make sound decisions. That experience should involve the freedom to make those decisions, and not just obey public edicts.

Smoking cessation ads trigger calls to Roswell

Smoking quitline counselors operating from Roswell Park Cancer Institute saw a 10 percent bump in calls last month after a series of media ads sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC ended a 12-week national ad campaign in mid-June, featuring profiles of former smokers living with the effects of smoking-related diseases. It was the first time a federal agency had developed and placed advertisements for a national tobacco education campaign.

Nationally, the campaign generated nearly 200,000 additional calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW , a portal that links callers to their state quitlines, and more than 400,000 additional unique visitors to a federal website designed to help people quit smoking. The campaign resulted in a 10 percent increase in calls to the New York State Smokers’ Quitline during the 12-week period. Based at Roswell Park, the state program offers free smoking cessation services such as telephone coaching and free starter kits of nicotine replacement medications.

This spring the state Department of Health ran its own series of ads in conjunction with the CDC ads. More than 50,000 calls came into the New York State Smokers’ Quitline during March, April and May. The CDC called the initial results promising. CDC anticipates some 50,000 smokers will end their addiction as a result of the ad campaign. It is estimated this will result in an annual savings of approximately $70 million dollars in medical and productivity costs.

“These initial results suggest that the campaign will help even more people quit than we had hoped, exceeding our already high expectations,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, CDC director. “More than two thirds of all smokers want to quit. People who smoke die sooner and live sicker. This campaign is saving lives and saving money.”

Group sues to remove no-smoking signs at NY parks

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Smokers’ rights advocates sued New York state on Monday, hoping to get it to remove outdoor no-smoking signs at parks. The group said the signs from the New York Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation subject smokers to hostile confrontations with non-smokers. NYC Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment said the signs are misleading since the Cuomo administration in May suspended planned restrictions that would be enforced with a potential disorderly conduct ticket at state parks, beaches, pools and historic sites.

“Since smoking is, in fact, not prohibited in outdoor locations on OPRHP property, the statements on the signs are false and intentionally misleading,” the suit said. “The signs serve only to fool park visitors into thinking that an unofficial policy has the force of law that must be followed. The signs will also cause smokers to be subjected to hostile confrontations by non-smoking park visitors who will criticize, reprimand and ridicule them, and report them to the OPRHP staff and/or law enforcement personnel, because the non-smoking park visitors mistakenly believe that smoking is prohibited in outdoor areas.”

Earlier this year, the agency said the initial no-smoking restrictions followed the common practice at several park facilities and was made as a consensus rule, which doesn’t require public hearings. That changed after it received objections from the group. Parks officials instead now plan a formal rule-making to designate smoke-free areas in limited outdoor settings within its 178 state parks and 35 historic sites. They still aim to ban smoking in places where many people congregate, such as playgrounds, pools and all state parks in New York City, though not in more remote areas like campgrounds.

The new proposal has not been issued yet, making new regulations unlikely this summer. Meanwhile, signs remain up with voluntary compliance. Parks spokesman Dan Keefe declined to comment on the suit Monday. The suit also opposes issuing new regulations to limit outdoor smoking, asking a state court in Albany to stop the parks office from implementing or enforcing any policy or regulation prohibiting or restricting outdoor smoking or tobacco use on its property. Smoking already is prohibited under state law at indoor facilities in the park system.

Absolute ban on smoking a long shot for Kansas universities

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Jessica Bock, a research associate from Germany at the National Institute for Aviation Research, takes many of her smoking breaks at a designated smoking area near NIAR’s building, on the Wichita State University campus. If Bock worked at one of several universities across the nation that are enacting or discussing total bans on tobacco use, she might have to leave campus in order to smoke. California’s state system will ban all tobacco use in 2013.

A ban on use and advertising at the City University of New York system goes into effect in September, and the University of Missouri-Columbia is going smoke-free in 2014. Ohio higher education officials plan a vote this month urging all public campuses to ban tobacco use. The Kansas Board of Regents, which governs the state’s six public universities, introduced a policy in 2010 that bans tobacco sales and distribution on campuses.

But it has not banned smoking itself. “We have nothing on use,” said Vanessa Lamoreaux, assistant director of communications for the Board of Regents. “Decisions are left up to each individual campus.” WSU follows the Kansas Clean Indoor Air Act standards by offering employees a smoke-free workplace, said Ted Ayres, vice president and general counsel at the university. That means that smoking, including the use of electronic cigarettes, is prohibited in all campus buildings and also within 10 feet of any doorway, open window or air intake that leads into a building, facility or stadium. Other Kansas universities – both public and private – follow the same act, which basically regulates smoking inside and around buildings but not out in the open air, which is the object of a total smoking ban.

 “We are concerned for the safety of all our students,” said Michael Austin, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Newman University, a private university in Wichita. “We try to make sure that the students who smoke don’t affect the health of the students who don’t smoke, but right now we are not considering a tobacco ban on campus.” Friends University, another private Wichita college, restricts smoking to a few designated outdoor areas and has no plans to change the policy, said university spokeswoman Kate Bosserman.

 A total ban is not under discussion at the University of Kansas either, said Jill Jess, director of the KU News Service. According to the surgeon general’s report for 2012, tobacco use among people ages 18 to 25 remains at high proportions nationwide. About a quarter to a third of college students smoke, studies have found.

Federal law could shutter tobacco shops

A provision in a $109 billion transportation funding bill passed by both houses of Congress could drive many roll-your-own tobacco shops out of business. KDKA reports the bill includes language that would subject many roll-your-own tobacco shops to taxes they hadn't previously had to contend with.

The shops also will have to apply for manufacturing permits. Tobacco store owners told KDKA the additional costs could drive them out of business. The transportation bill reauthorized the Highway Trust Fund and provided funding for infrastructure spending for the next two years. It passed just one day before a previous extension was set to expire on June 30.

Before the bill was passed in June, the Business Times reported on the difficulty faced by construction firms and PennDOT planners when budgeting for projects without knowing federal funding levels. Subscribers can read the article here.