Tobacco News

British American Tobacco (BAT) Zimbabwe volumes during the year to December 2013 dropped about 17 % to 1,301 billion sticks manufactured in the previous year because of a decrease in the market size. This comes after the 30 % price boost taken on affordable segment in December 2012 in opposition to a 50 % excise raise to around US$15 per mille, the company’s finance leader Mr. Peter Doona stated analysts several days ago. Read more

More than £ 44 million has been invested in tobacco companies to local councils in the West, despite their new responsibility for the development of public health. Read more

Cigarette packs are unlikely to carry graphic warning labels in the near future as a result of certain actions of the Supreme Court and the Food and Drug Administration. This is a setback, though perhaps temporarily, for the campaign of the federal government to reduce the damage to health caused by this very dangerous product. A positive feature is that the Supreme Court left intact most of the forces of the FDA’s regulation of the industry. Read more

Smokers who successfully quit may enjoy yet another health benefit: improved cholesterol profiles. A boost in “good” cholesterol comes with quitting despite weight gain after putting out the last cigarette, hints a new study. If confirmed in future research, the finding could shed light on the strong, yet somewhat mysterious relationship between smoking and heart health. Up to 20 percent of heart disease deaths are currently blamed on smoking, but researchers haven’t yet had a clear understanding of what lies behind the effect.
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WITH WORRIES about the economy and stress over the Thanksgiving holiday, you may have forgotten that Nov. 18 was the Great American Smoke Out. This annual event encourages Americans who smoke and or use tobacco products to quit for a single day, with the hope that they will eventually quit for good.
Quitting for good is not only the healthiest thing to do, but the most intelligent, too. During the recent holiday, I had the displeasure of reminding a relative of the oh-so-obvious facts about the dangers of cigarette smoking.
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A research study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health reveals the prevailing connection between mothers smoking during their pregnancy and law violations committed by their grown-up offspring. The Harvard School of Public Health in Boston conducted the studyunder researcher Angela D. Paradis and her co-workers examining data of 3,766 research participants. Ream more »

A federal law is restricting the words “light,” “low,” and “mild” from tobacco products now on the market, as health officials launch a campaign to inform smokers that there’s no such thing as a safe cigarette. Under the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, a tobacco company can’t use the words “light,” “low,” and “mild” on any cigarette products now on the market unless FDA has issued an order allowing it—and that hasn’t happened. Ream more »

Two lighters are lit. One is held to the end of a cigarette while the other is held to a piece of charcoal on top of a hookah. Both items are being lit to produce tobacco smoke.
We know tobacco causes multiple health problems, but is one method of smoking it safer than the other?
In an anonymous poll of FGCU students, cigarettes were deemed worse. Out of 35 students polled, 63.2 percent said they believed smoking a cigarette is safer than a 45-minute hookah session. Ream more »

MOSCOW — One woman said children as young as 10 working in the fields developed red rashes on their stomachs and necks as they harvested tobacco for use in cigarettes made by Philip Morris.
Another migrant laborer working in the tobacco fields in Kazakhstan said a farmer confiscated her identification papers and withheld pay to force her to continue working despite dismal conditions. Ream more »

BRUSSELS — Europe’s health commissioner said on Thursday he is working on proposals to tighten bloc-wide advertising and marketing constraints on tobacco products.Malta’s John Dalli said Brussels can neither legislate nor impose firm anti-smoking measures on European Union member states, but plans to revisit existing EU laws in order to make tobacco products “less attractive”. Read more