Tobacco News

British American Tobacco Plc, Europe’s largest cigarette maker, was dropped from the U.S. government’s racketeering lawsuit after a judge in Washington ruled the U.S. no longer has the authority to hold the U.K. company liable for hiding the health hazards of smoking.

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler today said a 2010 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in a securities case restricts the U.S. from seeking liability from “what is essentially foreign activity.”
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The issue of ban on menthol cigarettes has become a bone of contention for the US government. As the news of possible ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is hitting the corners of the society, clan of tobacco companies like Lorillard, Reynolds and Altria Group’s Philip Morris USA has pushed their efforts to oppose the stipulated action.
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What’s new: By denying the liquor license application Tuesday of Oasis Hookah Bar, 315 S. 16th St., Omaha’s City Council gave the owners time to get their landlord’s consent before they go before the State Liquor Control Commission in May.
The details: Co-owner Jesse Hill has applied for a liquor license so he can sell non-alcoholic drinks at his hookah bar, which offers special tobacco to be smoked on-site using a large water pipe. Ream more »

State Senator Yarbrough wishes to keep electronic cigarettes out of children’s hands by making this a petty criminal offense for merchants to sell them to minors and for minors to buy them. “If we’re going to say children cannot purchase normal cigarettes, it does not seem valid to say they are able to have access to electronic cigarettes,” mentioned Sen. Steve Yarbrough, R-Chandler. “Hopefully this will keep many young individuals from nicotine destructive addictions with this ban.” Ream more »

A new report issued Friday by a local health care organization shows a rise in smoking among teens in upstate New York, mirroring a nationwide trend. Meanwhile, trends that once showed a decline in adult smoking rates have begun to level off.

“This is a disturbing set of findings because of its implications for the future,” said Dr. Robert Holzhauer, vice president and chief medical officer for Univera Healthcare, which prepared a fact sheet on cigarette smoking in New York. Ream more »

Area kids are joining the fight against smoking and unhealthy lifestyles.

The Gifts Coalition in Lynchburg organized Kick Butts Day and held it at E.C. Glass Wednesday.

Organizers say it celebrates youth activism and tells tobacco companies they need to stop targeting kids with their ads.
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A federal panel ruled on Friday that the removal of menthol cigarettes from sale would be beneficial to United States public health, but fell short of recommending such action.

The chairman of the panel, Dr. Jonathan Samet, professor of medicine at the University of Southern California, said there was a scientific basic to support the proposition that menthol cigarettes were more deleterious than regular ones. The risk, the panel said, was not that menthol smokers had an increased risk of disease, but that menthol cigarettes made smoking more attractive because the flavor is less harsh.
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Two Democratic legislators plan to introduce a bill Tuesday that would raise the state’s cigarette excise tax by $1 a pack.

A co-sponsor, Sen. William Purcell, D-Scotland, said he is committed to its introduction, even though he knows the odds are slim of getting the bill out of a subcommittee, much less through a Republican-controlled General Assembly.
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Several Kentucky farmers have filed a class-action lawsuit against a leading tobacco merchant they say failed to honor contracts to purchase burley tobacco from them at the end of the 2010 crop year.
Now some of the farmers say they would rather leave the business than gamble on tobacco.
The lawsuit, which was filed against Universal Leaf North America last week in Harrison Circuit Court, says hundreds of farmers have lost what amounts to millions. Ream more »

Beginning on 1 May, smoking in public places will not be allowed in China’s cities and towns.

According to the Health Ministry, the new regulation will disallow smoking in buses, restaurants and bars, but it will be permitted in workplaces.
Data from the World Health Organisation showed that almost a quarter of China’s population smoke and one million die every year from smoking-related illnesses.
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