Tobacco stocks stay, despite lawsuit, Alward says

New Brunswick Premier David Alward says he won't order the sale of the province's holdings in several tobacco companies, despite a government lawsuit that accuses the companies of intentionally harming provincial residents, preying on children and engaging in "unconscionable acts." "That is not something I am in a position to question or direct," Alward said of tobacco investments made by the Crown-owned New Brunswick Investment Management Corporation (NBIMC), which invests government employee pension funds.

“The New Brunswick Investment Management Corporation is an independent body. They have a mandate to seek to build the best returns,” he said. CBC News reported this week that provincial pension managers at NBIMC have been buying up stock in several tobacco companies that the provincial government is suing in court. The province currently holds more than 878,000 shares — worth about $44 million — in British American Tobacco, Philip Morris and its parent company Altria Group, Imperial Tobacco and R.J. Reynolds.

The investments come despite the fact that the province accuses each of the companies of "deceit and misrepresentation" in their business practices over the years and is seeking millions in compensation for health care costs caused by smoking. "The defendants engaged in unconscionable acts or practices and exploited the vulnerabilities of children and adolescents and persons addicted to nicotine," the government says in its statement of claim.

"Knowing that cigarettes were addictive and would cause and contribute to disease, the defendants intentionally inflicted harm on persons in New Brunswick, by manufacturing, promoting and selling cigarettes, for profit and in disregard for public health." The Canadian Cancer Society has called on the province to sell its tobacco holdings, but on Wednesday, NBIMC president John Sinclair said pension managers were bound by instructions issued by the provincial government to maximize returns and not investing in tobacco would violate their duty to the pension funds.

Tobacco Groups Win Challenge to FDA Cigarette Label Rule

Tobacco companies defeated a U.S. law forcing cigarette packaging and advertisements to display images such as diseased lungs, persuading a federal appeals court that the requirements violate their free speech rights. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington today ruled that Food and Drug Administration regulations mandating visual-image warnings of smoking’s health risks, along with the telephone number 1-800-QUIT-NOW , are “unabashed attempts to evoke emotion” and “browbeat consumers” to stop buying the companies’ products.

“These inflammatory images and the provocatively named hotline cannot rationally be viewed as pure attempts to convey information to consumers,” U.S. Circuit Judge Janice Rogers Brown wrote in her majority opinion. Commonwealth Brands Inc., Liggett Group LLC and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co. sued the FDA last year, claiming the mandates for cigarette packages, cartons and advertising, passed as part of the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act, violated the First Amendment.

The companies said in court papers that complying with the requirements would cost them a total of about $20 million. The mandate, scheduled to go into effect next month, was put on hold by a lower-court judge while the appeals court considered its legality.

Tobacco farmers’ survival at stake, lawmakers told

With their survival at stake, tobacco farmers and workers will troop to the Senate today to ask the senators to reject the 700 percent increase in the tax on low-grade cigarettes as proposed by the Department of Finance. The Senate ways and means committee chaired by Senator Ralph Recto will conducts its third public hearing today on the proposal.

 While promising to pass the sin tax bill by December, Recto however assured all stakeholders in the tobacco industry the increase would be reasonable to generate maximum revenues without so much dislocation and disruption. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who both came from the tobacco-producing provinces have opposed the DOF-proposed excise tax hike because of its adverse effects on the industry and the lives of over 2 million farmers and workers.

 Asuncion Lopez, spokesman of the Philippine Tobacco Growers Association, assailed the proposed tax increase in the wake of the campaign promise of President Aquino that he would not impose new taxes during his watch. She said that the exorbitant tax proposal would wipe out their means of livelihood and displace not only farmers, but also the over 2 million workers and their families. “The farmers’ sector is asking all our senators to please consider the interests of the tobacco farmers, our families and all tobacco stakeholders who will be drastically affected by the proposed tax increase,” Lopez said on the eve of the public hearing.

Largest-ever tobacco study finds 'urgent need' for policy change

About half the men in numerous developing nations use tobacco, and women in those regions are taking up smoking at an earlier age than they used to, according to what is being called the largest-ever international study on tobacco use. The study, which covered enough representative samples to estimate tobacco use among 3 billion people, "demonstrates an urgent need for policy change in low- and middle-income countries," said lead researcher Gary Giovino, whose report was published in the British medical journal The Lancet.

The figures bolster statements by the World Health Organization that while much of the industrialized world, including the United States, has seen a substantial reduction in smoking in recent years, the opposite trend is under way in parts of the developing world. Ruling shows 'big tobacco can be taken on and beaten,' Australia says. The WHO warns that "if current trends continue, it will cause up to one billion deaths in the 21st century."

The new study, the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), focused on countries in which smoking is known to be a growing problem. "The burden of tobacco use is moving," says Giovino, who formerly oversaw the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The tobacco epidemic takes different forms in different countries," he said in an interview with CNN, pointing out that chewing tobacco and other smokeless forms are part of the problem. "But manufactured cigarettes are dominating." Giovino now runs the University at Buffalo's Department of Community Health and Health Behavior in Buffalo, New York.

The study, conducted between 2008 and 2010, found that across 14 developing nations, 49% of men and 11% of women used tobacco. Most of them smoked -- 41% of men and 5% of women. Numbers were highest in Russia, where 60% of men and 22% of women used tobacco; China, where 53% of men and 2% of women were tobacco users; Ukraine, where 50% of men and 11% of women used tobacco, and Turkey, where 48% of men and 15% of women used tobacco.

In some countries, smoking rates may now be even higher than they were in 2010, WHO officials say. "One place where we know it's gone up, unfortunately, is Egypt -- as a result of the revolution," said Edouard Tursan D'Espaignet of WHO''s tobacco control program. The GATS study found 38% of men and less than 1% of women smoked in Egypt as of 2010.

Shia Community Chooses Tobacco over Evacuation

Joint forces from the Indonesian National Army (TNI) and Police on Tuesday, August 28, patrolled the location of conflict between Shia and Sunni communities in Sampang, Madura. The patrol was led by Sampang Precinct chief AKBP Adj. Sr. Comr. Solehan, who was accompanied by Human Rights Commissioner Hesti Armiwulan.

After walking almost 3 kilometers, the team arrived in the location of the first attack: the house of the Sampang Shia leader, Tajul Muluk. The team then moved to the IV Karang Gayam Elementary School where 11 Shia followers gathered at a house that survived the conflict. Sampang Precint chief Solehan and Sampang Precinct Operations Division chief Comr. Alvian requested the remaining Shia community take refuge at the Sampang Sports Arena.

However, one of the residents, Buk Sabar, refused to be evacuated. “My tobacco has not been rolled up; I don’t want to evacuate,” Buk Sabar told police. Ignoring the request evacuate, the Human Rights Commissioner, a member of Kontras and reporters also urged Buk Sabar to evacuate. He refused nonetheless, despite the fact his house had been burnt down. “

After my tobacco is rolled up, I will evacuate. I don’t have a house anymore,” said Buk Sabar. Police managed to ask 10 people to evacuate while Buk Sabar remained in the location guarded by the police. Buk Sabar’s name is recorded as one of the residents who had not been evacuated. “This is one of the difficulties in evacuating the Shia community,” said Solehan.

Big Tobacco Shills Trying to Stop GMO Labeling in California

The food industry really hates it when you compare them to Big Tobacco. They try to deny the negative association by claiming that food is different from tobacco. Of course that's true, but why are the same consultants who have worked for the tobacco industry now shilling for Big Food, opposing the ballot initiative that would require labeling of all foods containing GMO ingredients?

Hiring Secret Consultants for the Dirty Work

The latest financial filings in California for the "No on 37: Coalition Against the Deceptive Food Labeling Scheme" reveal a $7,500 payment to the Sacramento-based political consulting firm MB Public Affairs. Here is how The Los Angeles Times described the firm last year: "MB Public Affairs is headed by Mark Bogetich, a garrulous operative known to his friends as 'Bogey,' who has helped a number of Republican candidates neutralize their opponents. In recent years, MB Public Affairs has worked for Altria, once known as the Phillip Morris Cos."

Bogetich has also been called "the go-to guy for [the Republican Party]" and "the only game in town." The Los Angeles Times article explains how last year MB Public Affairs filed more than 50 Public Records Act requests to dig up dirt on a small but effective group called the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. No wonder, given that the organization has scored such important victories as a living wage for workers, which would threaten plenty of businesses.

But which ones? Who knows, because by hiring MB Public Affairs to do its dirty work, the food industry gets to keep its nose clean -- a classic Big Tobacco tactic. Well-known brands such as PepsiCo (which I wrote about last week) and Kraft don't want to be associated with negative campaigning, so they farm out the job to consulting firms. In this case, they went right to the top (or the bottom). Things are likely to get ugly.

Okla. tobacco settlement panel certifies $26.8M

A state board has certified $26.8 million in earnings from Oklahoma's share of the tobacco settlement money to use this year on health care programs and to reduce tobacco use in the state. The Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust Board of Investors certified the earnings during its regular meeting Wednesday. The board oversees the investment of Oklahoma's share of the national Master Settlement Agreement that states reached with tobacco companies in 1998. In 2000, Oklahoma voters approved the creation of a constitutionally protected endowment to fund health programs. The endowment now receives 75 percent of Oklahoma's share of the tobacco settlement money and currently contains more than $700 million. The other 25 percent of the tobacco money is appropriated by the Legislature.

New E-Cig Study Sparks Debate

The study, which was reported on the WebMD website, showed that smokers were far more aware of electronic cigarettes, and very likely to try them. This indicates it is likely that the devices are not attracting the interest of young people or non-smokers as some public health experts have feared. Growing Awareness and Growing Use "People have their own reasons for trying vapors," said Chad Maynard, spokesperson for ElectronicCigarette.net.

"But no one is marketing them for that purpose and we couldn't say whether or not they would be effective. Our website is there to help people who decide to try vaping, learn more about it and make an informed choice about which brand to try, regardless of why they want to try them. Bottom line is that e-cigs are growing in popularity, though, no question about that." Approximately 40% of those surveyed were aware of vaping devices, and the awareness was highest among cigarette smokers. Currently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate them because they are not marketed as stop smoking devices.

And manufactures seem happy to avoid promoting them that way, although it is increasingly clear that many smokers feel they are worth trying as a way to either kick the habit or cut down. While some public health experts advocated for the Food and Drug Administration to ban the devices, others have raised the issue of what would happen to the growing number of people who are vaping, especially those who are former smokers. On his blog tobaccoanalysis.blogspot, Dr. Michael Siegel of the Department of Community Health Sciences of Boston University School of Public Health raises concerns that pulling e-cigs off the market would push former smokers back to traditional cigarettes, damaging their health further.

Siegel also claims there is "ample evidence" that vaping poses much less risk to health than traditional smoking and that vaping devices provide an alternative to smoking to 1.8 million people. "All we can do is wait and watch. We would welcome more research, but don't see any valid reason for an outright ban," Maynard said.

New Smoking Patterns Are Cause For Alarm

People light up fewer cigarettes these days, but the number of cigars and the amount of pipe tobacco used for roll-your-owns smoked each year is on the rise. And, while the total amount of tobacco consumption continues to drop, that decline is slowing. Between 2010 and 2011, tobacco use dropped by less than 1%. The reason may be economical, at least in part, as industry has figured out ways around taxes meant to discourage smoking.

“The data suggest that certain smokers have switched from cigarettes to other combustible tobacco products, most notably since a 2009 increase in the federal tobacco excise tax that created tax disparities between product types,” write the authors of the report, part of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report for Aug. 3.

 Changing Habits

Smokers puffed on more than 435 billion cigarettes in 2000. By last year, that number had dropped by a third, to less than 300 billion. Those same 11 years, however, also saw non-cigarette tobacco consumption more than double, from about 15 billion cigarette equivalents to just under 34 billion, a 123% rise. 

More than other forms of tobacco, smokers really took to pipe tobacco for roll-your-owns. The CDC report estimates that consumption of such tobacco increased by almost 500% between 2000 and 2011. Pipe tobacco, the report states, shot up in popularity after a 2009 excise tax increased the price of cigarette-equivalent roll-your-own tobacco. That price hike, the authors suggest, contributed to a 573% increase in pipe tobacco consumption between 2008 and 2011.

Non-smoking benefits start day after you stop

I thought that by now, 25 years of no smoking, my risk for a heart attack or lung cancer would have vanished. According to a friend, who thinks he is an MD, that's not the case. He says you never repair the damage done by smoking, and you always have an increased chance of developing cancer or a heart attack. Is that the case? -- W.W. Dr. Donohue: That's not the case. The benefits from not smoking begin the day after a person stops.

Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide, a gas that displaces oxygen from red blood cells. Smokers, therefore, are in a constant state of reduced oxygen supply. That lack ends the day after stopping cigarettes. Most studies estimate that 15 years of not smoking provide former smokers with the same risk of having a heart attack as those who never smoked. The cancer threat might never disappear entirely. However, after 15 years of abstinence, the risk of lung cancer drops from a high of 20 times that of a nonsmoker to around four times that of a nonsmoker. Some feel that the risk eventually will disappear completely.

 Estimates vary from results of different studies. Everyone agrees, however, that the dangers of smoking eventually go up in smoke if a person stops. Dear Dr. Donohue: I am writing to see if the medicine you get in the U.S. is the same as in Canada. My husband and I take Nexium. Our insurance company won't cover its costs, even though our doctor explained that we have tried other drugs in the Nexium family, but they don't work for us. Do Canada's Nexium and the United States' Nexium have the same ingredients?

-- R. Dr. Donohue: The same manufacturer supplies both Nexiums. In Canada, Nexium is marketed as a tablet; in the U.S., as a pill. The active ingredient is the same. Nexium is a member of the group of medicines called proton pump inhibitors. These medicines stop the production of stomach acid.

Milton health board says no to smoke-free buffer zone Read more: http://www.patriotledger.com/topstories/x739403750/Milton-health-board-says-no-to-smoke-free-buffer-zone#ixzz22rWAjOKq

Smokers can continue to light up in front of stores and offices after the Milton board of health decided against setting up a 25-foot smoke-free buffer zone around business entryways Monday night. Board members said they supported the idea of a buffer zone, but that it would be nearly impossible to enforce. “Philosophically, we’re on board,” board Chairwoman Anne Fidler said. “It was really more of a compliance issue and how to enforce it.”

Fidler said that in East Milton Square and Lower Mills, the buffer would force smokers to either stand in the middle of the street or in front of residences to comply. Town meeting member and former Selectman Diane DiTullio Agostino, who advocated for the buffer, said it would make it possible for people who are sensitive to second-hand smoke to use local businesses more freely. “I’m still pushing for that,” she told the board members, referring to the buffer.

Agostino said she has a medical condition that makes it difficult for her to breathe around smoke, exhaust fumes and other irritants. While the board didn’t adopt tougher smoking regulations, Health Director Michael Blanchard said a townwide ban on smoking at outdoor seating areas at restaurants, coffee shops and cafés that the board passed in March is working well. The ban applies to about six establishments and requires them to have posted no-smoking signs near outdoor seats and to enforce the ban.

Businesses caught violating the ban can be fined $100 for a first offense and as much as $300 for a third or subsequent offense, but only if a member of the health department witnesses the violation.

12 Investigates: Black market cigarettes

People are making a fortune selling cigarettes on the black market. It's a billion dollar criminal enterprise that brings with it, guns, drugs and violence. The parent company of Philip Morris USA, Altria, which owns about half of the US cigarette market, has an entire division devoted to spotting fake cigarettes. "Job one is to protect the integrity of the brands, the integrity of the legitimate retailers where it's sold," said Joe Murillo, a vice president and Associate General Counsel for Altria. The company isn't just dealing with copy-cat cigarettes either, people are smuggling smokes out of Virginia and re-selling them in states like New York.

Here's the problem: in Richmond, a pack is taxed .30 cents. In New York City, the tax is $5.85. That's a profit of $5.55 a pack. The justice department estimates states are losing around $5 billion a year in tax money. People are even stealing Virginia's dollars by counterfeiting commonwealth tax stamps placed on the packs. Cigarette smuggling is more profitable to criminals than heroin or cocaine and are found in the same circles as money laundering, gun smuggling, and drug trafficking. "Oh, without a doubt, it's organized crime. This is organized crime at it's highest level because of the sophistication," said Rich Marianos, a special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The police are leaning more and more on the cigarette makers to help them catch the criminals. "Our goal is to protect the legitimate channel of distribution and these illicit sales that are being done out of vans and boot legging are not legitimate retail sales," said Murillo. About 10 years ago, Altria created its brand integrity department. Altria invited us inside its evidence room at its Henrico County headquarters. This is where cigarettes from actual criminal cases sometimes end up. Here inspectors are trained to spot the fakes. With magnifying glasses, they look for covert features on the packages. They even check the quality of the actual cigarettes.

China is the biggest maker of fake cigarettes sold in the US. "Counterfeit cigarettes are made under really terrible conditions. abroad. many times in china in factories that are in caves," said Murillo. There's another way these inspectors can catch the fakes. Under a black light, some counterfeit cigarettes packs will actually glow. Altria even monitor's markets. looking for strange trends in sales. to lead police to the smugglers. "We don't want our product used in any criminal activity. Our product is for adult Marlboro smokers and that's where we want to keep it," said Murillo. Altria's also protecting its bottom line. Every time a fake pack of cigarettes is purchased, it takes money out of Altria's pockets.

Battle over marijuana dispensaries continues in L.A.

Five years ago, the Los Angeles City Council thought it had reined in an explosion of pot businesses across this sprawling metropolis with a moratorium against new medical marijuana dispensaries. Hundreds more opened. Now Los Angeles, with 762 documented dispensaries and scores more thought to be operating under the radar, has approved an outright ban on storefront marijuana providers. The city also enacted a controversial plan for medical marijuana users to grow their own pot.

But many question whether Los Angeles – where Snoop Dogg blazes a fatty joint in ads for "free bong hits" at Hollywood's KushMart and City Compassionate Caregivers near downtown invites patrons to "medicate" in its 3-7 p.m. "happy hour" – has finally figured out how to control its marijuana landscape. While hundreds of dispensaries have closed elsewhere in California amid local crackdowns, federal raids and threats of prosecution, the City of Angels flutters in an alternative cannabis universe. Los Angeles has become the morality play for medical marijuana and a failure of city regulation. It has lost key court rulings in favor of dispensaries and in some cases failed to enforce local standards that withstood legal challenges.

After its ineffectual 2007 moratorium, the city in 2010 passed a medical marijuana ordinance setting a limit of 186 dispensaries. Scores of stores shuttered, and the city threatened legal actions against 450 others that refused to close. But then a judge's order froze the ordinance. And another city effort to stem pot operations – holding a lottery to set a limit of 100 dispensaries – drew a slew of lawsuits. Even as Los Angeles won in court – such as a 2011 ruling affirming the city's right to restrict dispensaries – it failed to stop new pot clubs from opening, often with retail licenses not specifying that they sold. Some of Los Angeles' oldest and most reputable cannabis establishments blame city leaders for the chaos.

"Six years ago when we yelled and screamed for regulation, they didn't have the stomach for it," said Yamileth Bolanos, a cancer survivor who runs the Pure Life Alternative Wellness dispensary on La Cienega Boulevard. "And now because they didn't do anything, every greedy (expletive) and their mama came to L.A." to open dispensaries. "Maybe the city wanted it to get so out of control that they had to ban it … ," Bolanos said. "Maybe that was the evil plan to begin with." Los Angeles was one of the last major cities in California to try to tackle the spread of cannabis outlets, which now flourish in much of the city. As many as 250 dispensaries sprouted on Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley. Pot leaf signs greet traffic on Melrose Avenue near Hollywood. At a recent council meeting, Yolanda Rodriguez, a mother of small children from the Boyle Heights community, complained about pot smells from cannabis clubs that smothered the sweet bread scents of the neighborhood panadería.

Councilman José Huizar, who represents Rodriguez's East Los Angeles district, led the move for the dispensary ban. He argued the city had dithered too long, creating an intractable challenge. "If we wait any longer" to close stores en masse "we will continue to chase our tail," Huizar said. The City Council voted 14-0 last month to ban dispensaries and use some of the $2.5 million the city has collected in voter-approved medical marijuana taxes to mail closure orders to cannabis clubs and pursue legal actions to shutter them. Council members also approved a motion to consider future exemptions that may allow dozens of dispensaries opened before the 2007 moratorium to stay in business. Advocates say there are hundreds of thousands of medical marijuana users within the Los Angeles city limits. Under the ban, they can cultivate or share cannabis in groups of three or fewer people.

The city plan will let hospices, home health care agencies and primary caregivers provide marijuana to sick people who have a doctor's recommendation. It's not clear who would grow that marijuana. "That will never work," said Brian Berens, whose Westside Green Oasis successfully sued the city to stay in business in 2009 and has no intention of closing now. "Nobody in their right mind – for or against marijuana – can think that is the right way to go." Brennan Thicke of the Venice Beach Care Center dispensary said the plan means his 500 regular patrons would have to form 167 marijuana-growing groups, spending $4,000 or more each for lights and indoor gardens and driving landlords crazy with wiring and irrigation. Councilman Dennis Zine, who championed the city's 2010 dispensary ordinance, wonders whether Los Angeles can succeed in its latest attempt to rein in its teeming cannabis industry.

"Whichever way we go," Zine said, "there will be another cycle of lawsuits." The city's latest efforts come amid continuing confusion over the rights of local governments and marijuana providers. While medical marijuana has been legal in the state since 1996, state legislators have provided only vague guidelines on how it can be distributed. The state Supreme Court is reviewing four cases involving conflicting local ordinances in cities that have sought to license or ban dispensaries. Meanwhile, California's four U.S. attorneys charge that marijuana outlets are profiteering in violation of both federal and state laws. In counties across the state, including Sacramento, U.S. authorities have raided dispensaries or scared hundreds out of existence with letters threatening landlords with prosecution.

Both Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley and City Attorney Carmen Trutanich have taken aggressive stances, declaring that all marijuana sales at dispensaries are illegal. But that didn't stop the downtown Vermont Caregivers from staging its "grand opening" in July, offering a "premium joint + bong" with purchase of an ounce of pot. Nor did it dissuade the MedStar dispensary from opening recently on Melrose Boulevard in a storefront adorned with a rainbowed-colored mosiac of cannabis leaves, medical crosses and glistening stars. Danielle Noah, MedStar's assistant manager, said marijuana stores are woven into the tapestry of Los Angeles "and it's completely unrealistic to try to put a ban on it."

MP backs call on cigarette packaging

A REVELATION that almost 2000 youngsters in Fife are regular smokers, some of them as young as 10, has led to calls for cigarettes and other tobacco products to be sold in plain packaging. A recent survey by Cancer Research UK discovered around 1960 children between 10-15 years old smoke often in the Kingdom, while 930 people in Fife die every year through a smoking-related illness. Area MP Lindsay Roy is among those backing the charity’s ‘The Answer is Plain’ crusade, after admitting he was “horrified” to hear about the statistics.

 He said: “Anything that can be done to discourage young people from starting smoking must be done. “It is essential that we do everything we possibly can to prevent people, especially children, starting smoking, and selling cigarettes in plain packing would be a positive move. “It’s a measure which is likely to prove popular: in a recent YouGov poll, 80 per cent of Scots taking part agreed that tobacco marketing is harmful to children.”

 The charity’s research also showed that more than a third of all cancer deaths in Scotland, 35 per cent, are due to smoking. It said the campaign is a “really important step”. A spokesman added: “The tobacco industry is relying more and more on stylish tobacco packs to recruit new smokers. “With eight out of 10 smokers starting by the age of 19, plain packs will take us one step closer to a future where people don’t start smoking in the first place.” Mr Roy said he’s also keen that people who already smoke but want to quit get help.