Tobacco News

OAK BROOK, Ill. — More than a year removed from the largest federal levy in history, the state of tobacco is strong, albeit changed.
Cigarettes, despite ongoing unit declines, continue to generate high rings and propel market basket purchases. At the same time, other tobacco products (OTP), from the strongholds of moist smokeless and cigars to the promising prospects of oral products, are rapidly transforming convenience stores from cigarette-center outposts to total-tobacco depots. Ream more »

ISLAMABAD: People who smoke the so-called light cigarettes in the belief it cuts their risk of smoking-related diseases like cancer are in fact at equal risk, says a new study.
The only way to reduce smoking-related health risks is to quit smoking altogether because all cigarettes are deadly, says the study.
Hilary Tindle and other researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine studied more than 12,000 smokers, mostly women, and found that people who smoke light cigarettes reduce their chances of quitting significantly, reported science portal EurekAlert.
Ream more »

The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the federal government in a long-running case in which it sought huge damages against tobacco firms.

The US government was appealing against a lower court ruling that it could not take $280bn (£185bn) of tobacco firms’ profits to help people quit smoking.

The court also rejected an appeal by the tobacco industry against a ruling that it had violated racketeering laws.

Tobacco shares rose on news of the first ruling.
Ream more »

To the casual observer, the cigarette display at Northside Liquor in Mason City may look the same as it always has.
But recently, some small changes have been filtering in. “Most of the cigarettes we sell, most of them they are just showing up with a new look but a lot of them [are] still the same,” said Gulshan Abbas, a store manager.

You see, packs can no longer be labeled as “light”, “low” or “mild”. It’s part of an effort to get fewer people smoking. “Gets rid of that false perception that a light, low tar or mild cigarette is better for you or a healthier option,” said Teresa Symens, of the Cerro Gordo Department of Public Health.
Ream more »

CORONATION Street legend Liz Dawn has backed The Sentinel’s quit smoking campaign.

Liz – who played Vera Duckworth for 34 years in the long-running soap – suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and believes she would have died if she hadn’t beaten her 20-a-day habit.

She said: “I was diagnosed with lung disease about eight years ago. I thought I just had asthma, so it was a shock.

“I had been getting out of breath really quickly. It got so that if I was doing a scene on Coronation Street, I would get to the set while the scene before was being filmed. I would have to sit down straight away.
Ream more »

Fire investigators have determined that smoking caused a fatal fire in Wellesley on June 12.
The fire on Swathmore Road killed 81-year-old Mary Ellen Thomas, and officials believe that a lit cigarette ignited her clothing or that her clothing made contact with an electric burner while she was trying to light a cigarette, State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan and Wellesley Fire Chief Richard DeLorie said in a statement today.
Smoking is the leading cause of fire death in Massachusetts even as fire prevention technologies have improved over the years, Coan said.
Other improvements, including so-called “fire safe” cigarettes that are designed to burn themselves out, have decreased these numbers lately.
Ream more »

SECRET stashes of exotic tobacco products have been found in a series of raids.
The swoops have uncovered a booming black market in so-called shisha, also known as hookah, on Tyneside.

HM Revenue & Customs officers seized more than 100 kilos of the tobacco, which is either chewed or smoked through water pipes, during a special operation codenamed Fairground.

The strikes happened at two ethnic food stores in Newcastle’s West End and another in Gateshead town centre.
Ream more »

Futbol or football?

From the Los Angeles Times

Despite complaints that there’s too little scoring in soccer and the possibilities of draws are anticlimactic, the U.S. television audience doubled between the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. American children are playing soccer in greater numbers, and fans are filling stadiums across the country, although they may be there as much to see the Mexican national team as our own professional league. So while from Iran to Argentina, Iceland to Australia, much of the planet was counting down the days to last week’s launch of the World Cup in South Africa, the United States remains something of an outlier.

Ream more »

Quitting smoking using hypnosis or hypnotherapy seems to be the number one celebrity way to quit smoking in 2010. Kate Moss who we wrote about recently at Ukmedix News has confessed to using hypnotherapy as a smoking cessation tool as have Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Drew Barrymore.
s a remedy to quit smoking hypnotherapy has had proven results with a certain people. The fact that you are prepared to sit there and pay for a session of hypnosis to quit smoking shows that you are serious and committed about ridding yourself of your harmful habit.
Ream more »

A SHEFFIELD man caught selling counterfeit cigarettes in a council clampdown has been fined £600.
Gary O’Brien, aged 61, of Halsall Drive, Darnall pleaded guilty to possessing illegal cigarettes without proper health warnings at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court.

He also admitted offering tobacco for sale that was not legal in the UK as no tax had been paid.

Officers from Sheffield Trading Standards and South Yorkshire Police confiscated the tobacco and cigarettes during a raid to clamp down on the cheap and illicit tobacco in Sheffield pubs and communities.

Philip Glaves, Sheffield Council’s chief trading standards officer, said: “This is not a victimless crime.
Ream more »