Rhode Island may be the smallest state but we do big things. We are trendsetters in the Tobacco Control Movement. Rhode Island has the second highest cigarette excise tax, the third lowest youth smoking rate and now, our capital city has put Rhode Island on the map once again.
Providence has made major history in the fight against the tobacco industry. Providence has put Rhode Island on the map. In a landmark decision handed down recently, the federal First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the City of Providence’s anti-tobacco laws prohibiting the sale of fruit-flavored tobacco products and eliminating the use of promotional discounting strategies usually aimed at kids, such as buy-one, get-one.
Thanks to a grassroots network of organizations that includes Tobacco Free Providence, the Providence Mayor’s Substance Abuse Prevention Council and the City of Providence Healthy Communities Office, fewer youth will have access to the deluge of new candy-flavored and inexpensive tobacco products.
Flavored cigars, in particular, have exploded in popularity among our kids. National surveys show high-school students are twice as likely as adults to report smoking cigars in the past month, and young adults (ages 18-24) smoke cigars at even higher rates (15.9 percent).
Despite the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s ban on flavored cigarettes in 2009, the tobacco industry continued to market sweet-flavored products to attract teenagers. Flavored cigarettes were simply modified to fit the legal definition of “cigars” by adding a tobacco leaf wrapper. Dissolvable forms of tobacco make it easier to conceal its use. All of these products, despite their colorful and attractive labels, threaten the public’s health.
Knowing that a high price tag also helps keep tobacco products out of the hands of kids, Providence commendably went a step further. Eliminating price promotions, such as the use of coupons, will keep prices high and Providence teenagers from becoming replacements for the tobacco industry’s dying customers. The 2000 U.S. Surgeon General’s Report, “Reducing Tobacco Use,” found that raising tobacco-product prices decreases the prevalence of tobacco use, particularly among kids and young adults with limited financial means.
The court’s decision has national significance. The ruling allows for similar laws to be passed in other cities, towns, and states. It is an important victory in the fight against a Goliath-sized enemy and paves the way for our struggle against binge drinking, gun violence, and diabetes and heart disease caused by poor nutrition and inadequate exercise. We can improve people’s health and strengthen our democracy even in the face of big marketing and expensive lawyers.
I commend Providence, the organizations that fought for the passage of these laws and the community that supported it. There is still much work to be done across the state at the retail point of sale and also on an environmental level.
Promoting smoke-free public places, such as beaches, parks, recreational areas and college campuses, reduces secondhand-smoke exposure and makes it more difficult to find places to smoke. I encourage all Rhode Island cities and towns to learn more about the benefits of healthy policy changes at the local level.
Source: http://www.providencejournal.com
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Hookah Smoke Less Harmful Than Cigarette Tobacco
Hookahs, or water pipes, and the tobacco used in them may be considered "the first new tobacco trend of the 21st century" and may be less harmful than cigarettes.
In new research presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society, hookah tobacco and smoke contain lower levels of four toxic metals than those found in cigarettes.
"Any form of smoking is dangerous, and our studies on toxic metals in hookah smoke are taking the first steps toward the necessary animal and human studies that will establish a clearer picture of the relative dangers of hookah and cigarette smoking," Joseph Caruso, Ph.D., who led the study, said in a statement. "It is very difficult to compare hookah smoking with cigarette smoking because they are done so differently."
A team of scientists collected 12 different varieties of hookah tobacco made in the U.S. and Middle East and broke them down to liquid form. Test results showed that hookah tobacco contained fewer toxic metals, such as arsenic, lead, cadmium and chromium, than those in cigarette tobacco.
While some believe the difference lies in filtering smoke through water, Caruso said his team’s findings point to the composition of shisha itself. The specially prepared tobacco for water pipes contains molasses, honey and flavoring agents and lower levels of toxic metals. Caruso’s team did not detect excess amounts of the toxic metals in the hookah water.
Despite the recent findings, Caruso said there are difficulties comparing the two kinds of tobacco. Previous studies have shown that a typical hourlong hookah smoking session involves 200 puffs – equivalent to five to 10 packs of cigarettes, according to the World Health Organization. An average cigarette smoke takes 20 puffs.
In April, a study conducted by the University of California San Francisco showed that hookah smoke contained different kinds of harmful toxins that expose smokers to heart or respiratory conditions, and to higher levels of benzene, long associated with leukemia risk.
“People want to know if it is a lesser health risk if they switch from cigarettes to smoking a water pipe on a daily basis,” UCSF research chemist Peyton Jacob, said in a statement. “We found that water-pipe smoking is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking, nor is it likely to be an effective harm-reduction strategy.”
A hookah, also known as narghile, shisha and goza, is a water pipe with a smoke chamber, a bowl, a pipe and a hose. Specially made tobacco is heated, and the smoke passes through water and is then drawn through a rubber hose to a mouthpiece.
“Young people are very interested in it,” Ryan Saadawi, the lead graduate student on an American Chemical Society study examining the effects of hookah smoking, told Vice.com. “Cherry apple and bubble gum are more enticing than Marlboro Red.”
Source: http://www.ibtimes.com
In new research presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society, hookah tobacco and smoke contain lower levels of four toxic metals than those found in cigarettes.
"Any form of smoking is dangerous, and our studies on toxic metals in hookah smoke are taking the first steps toward the necessary animal and human studies that will establish a clearer picture of the relative dangers of hookah and cigarette smoking," Joseph Caruso, Ph.D., who led the study, said in a statement. "It is very difficult to compare hookah smoking with cigarette smoking because they are done so differently."
A team of scientists collected 12 different varieties of hookah tobacco made in the U.S. and Middle East and broke them down to liquid form. Test results showed that hookah tobacco contained fewer toxic metals, such as arsenic, lead, cadmium and chromium, than those in cigarette tobacco.
While some believe the difference lies in filtering smoke through water, Caruso said his team’s findings point to the composition of shisha itself. The specially prepared tobacco for water pipes contains molasses, honey and flavoring agents and lower levels of toxic metals. Caruso’s team did not detect excess amounts of the toxic metals in the hookah water.
Despite the recent findings, Caruso said there are difficulties comparing the two kinds of tobacco. Previous studies have shown that a typical hourlong hookah smoking session involves 200 puffs – equivalent to five to 10 packs of cigarettes, according to the World Health Organization. An average cigarette smoke takes 20 puffs.
In April, a study conducted by the University of California San Francisco showed that hookah smoke contained different kinds of harmful toxins that expose smokers to heart or respiratory conditions, and to higher levels of benzene, long associated with leukemia risk.
“People want to know if it is a lesser health risk if they switch from cigarettes to smoking a water pipe on a daily basis,” UCSF research chemist Peyton Jacob, said in a statement. “We found that water-pipe smoking is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking, nor is it likely to be an effective harm-reduction strategy.”
A hookah, also known as narghile, shisha and goza, is a water pipe with a smoke chamber, a bowl, a pipe and a hose. Specially made tobacco is heated, and the smoke passes through water and is then drawn through a rubber hose to a mouthpiece.
“Young people are very interested in it,” Ryan Saadawi, the lead graduate student on an American Chemical Society study examining the effects of hookah smoking, told Vice.com. “Cherry apple and bubble gum are more enticing than Marlboro Red.”
Source: http://www.ibtimes.com
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Will E-Cigarettes Save Big Tobacco?
Back in April, I asked if E-Cigarettes would relight Big Tobacco’s prospects. I had my doubts.
E-cigs seemed to be a more pleasurable version of a nicotine patch: something that an existing smoker might switch to for health reasons but not exactly an attractive or glamorous product for someone who doesn’t already smoke. (Humphrey Bogart would not have been as cool in Casablanca with an e-cig dangling between his lips. This is an indisputable fact, not an opinion.) It certainly made sense for Altria, Reynolds American RAI -3.43% and the rest of Big Tobacco to get in on the action; it’s better to extract a little more revenue from defecting cigarette smokers than to lose them altogether.
But investors should be realistic about the potential for e-cigs to make Big Tobacco a growth industry again. It’s not going to happen. Though there are hundreds of millions of tobacco users worldwide (the World Health Organization puts the number of tobacco users at over 1 billion), public health campaigns, legal restrictions, and changing consumer tastes have put cigarette smoking in terminal decline in the developed world. As a sobering (no pun intended) case in point, American teenagers are more likely to use illegal drugs than to light up a cigarette.
Perhaps most damaging, new “plain packaging” rules are directly assaulting the single most valuable assets of Big Tobacco companies: their brands.
In Australia, all cigarette boxes look identical, regardless of brand: plain white boxes with the brand name written in a uniform font, size and placement. Oh, and the same graphic photos of people dying of lung cancer on the back.
Similar rules are being considered in Canada, India, the UK and the European Union. Big Tobacco is fighting it tooth and nail on trademark and intellectual property grounds, and I consider their objections valid. But the assault on branding seems to be the next front in the ongoing war of attrition between public health advocates and Big Tobacco, and if history is any guide, the public health advocates will win.
This brings me back to e-cigarettes. Altria is jumping into the e-cig market with a new product under the brand name Mark Ten. Nowhere on the packaging will there be any prominent mention of Altria or its best-known brand, Marlboro.
I’m left scratching my head here. There are over 250 e-cigarette brands currently on the market. While I don’t see a smoker paying a large premium for a Marlboro-branded e-cig, I would certainly expect them to gravitate to a brand they already know. In failing to use the Marlboro name, Altria seems to be neutralizing its single biggest strength: a consumer brand that is behind only Coca-Cola KO -1.27% and Anheuser-Busch InBev ’s Budweiser in name recognition.
This would be tantamount to calling Diet Coke “Healthy Pop” and leaving all mention of the Coke brand off the can. It’s madness.
If Big Tobacco is wanting to start fresh with new branding because of the toxic association between the existing brands and those filthy, old traditional cigarettes, they are wide off the mark. Their market is existing smokers, not nonsmokers. Unless they brand e-cigs as “portable flavored hookahs” or something with novelty appeal, it’s hard to imagine this product appealing to a young, unbiased consumer.
This brings me to a related topic. I noted last month that marijuana stocks were a terrible investment. The companies engaged in legal production and marketing are small, poorly capitalized, and not likely to still be in business five years from now. But as the legal regime surrounding their product continues to be relaxed, there may be room for a large, well-capitalized company to sweep in and take over the market. Big Tobacco’s massive production and distribution machine could be easily tweaked for the new product—which could be branded under familiar brand names such as Marlboro or Camel.
A lot of Americans would be put off by this, of course. Fully 49% of Americans are against marijuana legalization for very valid reasons. But the question Big Tobacco needs to ask is this: can their reputation get any worse than it already is?
Big Tobacco is already a pariah industry under constant attack. What would they have to lose by marketing marijuana cigarettes in Colorado and Washington? It’s hard to see a loyal cigarette smoker kicking the habit because of additional bad publicity.
At any rate, if Big Tobacco is going to continue to be a good investment for its shareholders, management needs to focus on leveraging their core brands. The alternative is to slowly fade away.
Article source: Forbes
E-cigs seemed to be a more pleasurable version of a nicotine patch: something that an existing smoker might switch to for health reasons but not exactly an attractive or glamorous product for someone who doesn’t already smoke. (Humphrey Bogart would not have been as cool in Casablanca with an e-cig dangling between his lips. This is an indisputable fact, not an opinion.) It certainly made sense for Altria, Reynolds American RAI -3.43% and the rest of Big Tobacco to get in on the action; it’s better to extract a little more revenue from defecting cigarette smokers than to lose them altogether.
But investors should be realistic about the potential for e-cigs to make Big Tobacco a growth industry again. It’s not going to happen. Though there are hundreds of millions of tobacco users worldwide (the World Health Organization puts the number of tobacco users at over 1 billion), public health campaigns, legal restrictions, and changing consumer tastes have put cigarette smoking in terminal decline in the developed world. As a sobering (no pun intended) case in point, American teenagers are more likely to use illegal drugs than to light up a cigarette.
Perhaps most damaging, new “plain packaging” rules are directly assaulting the single most valuable assets of Big Tobacco companies: their brands.
In Australia, all cigarette boxes look identical, regardless of brand: plain white boxes with the brand name written in a uniform font, size and placement. Oh, and the same graphic photos of people dying of lung cancer on the back.
Similar rules are being considered in Canada, India, the UK and the European Union. Big Tobacco is fighting it tooth and nail on trademark and intellectual property grounds, and I consider their objections valid. But the assault on branding seems to be the next front in the ongoing war of attrition between public health advocates and Big Tobacco, and if history is any guide, the public health advocates will win.
This brings me back to e-cigarettes. Altria is jumping into the e-cig market with a new product under the brand name Mark Ten. Nowhere on the packaging will there be any prominent mention of Altria or its best-known brand, Marlboro.
I’m left scratching my head here. There are over 250 e-cigarette brands currently on the market. While I don’t see a smoker paying a large premium for a Marlboro-branded e-cig, I would certainly expect them to gravitate to a brand they already know. In failing to use the Marlboro name, Altria seems to be neutralizing its single biggest strength: a consumer brand that is behind only Coca-Cola KO -1.27% and Anheuser-Busch InBev ’s Budweiser in name recognition.
This would be tantamount to calling Diet Coke “Healthy Pop” and leaving all mention of the Coke brand off the can. It’s madness.
If Big Tobacco is wanting to start fresh with new branding because of the toxic association between the existing brands and those filthy, old traditional cigarettes, they are wide off the mark. Their market is existing smokers, not nonsmokers. Unless they brand e-cigs as “portable flavored hookahs” or something with novelty appeal, it’s hard to imagine this product appealing to a young, unbiased consumer.
This brings me to a related topic. I noted last month that marijuana stocks were a terrible investment. The companies engaged in legal production and marketing are small, poorly capitalized, and not likely to still be in business five years from now. But as the legal regime surrounding their product continues to be relaxed, there may be room for a large, well-capitalized company to sweep in and take over the market. Big Tobacco’s massive production and distribution machine could be easily tweaked for the new product—which could be branded under familiar brand names such as Marlboro or Camel.
A lot of Americans would be put off by this, of course. Fully 49% of Americans are against marijuana legalization for very valid reasons. But the question Big Tobacco needs to ask is this: can their reputation get any worse than it already is?
Big Tobacco is already a pariah industry under constant attack. What would they have to lose by marketing marijuana cigarettes in Colorado and Washington? It’s hard to see a loyal cigarette smoker kicking the habit because of additional bad publicity.
At any rate, if Big Tobacco is going to continue to be a good investment for its shareholders, management needs to focus on leveraging their core brands. The alternative is to slowly fade away.
Article source: Forbes
Thursday, June 13, 2013
New Smokeless Products From Japan Tobacco Inc
Today you may find tobacco in different varities such as cigars, cigarettes, snus, orbs, sticks, strips. Many people like to consume smokeless tobacco products (such as chewing tobacco and snuff) in addition to cigarettes. Smokeless tobacco products are perfect for using in public places where smoking cigarettes is prohibited. Last year these products became very popular among Japanese. However the growing popularity of smokeless tobacco does not lowers demands for tobacco cigarettes.
Snus is a smokeless tobacco product created in Sweden. How snus is used? Snus is placed in mouth, thus smoker enjoys flavor and aroma of tobacco without producing smoke. Last years its popularity has grown rapidly among smokers due to the unique property to use tobacco without smoke. Snus is Swedich national tobacco product which became popular in many countries of the world.
Zerostyle Snus is a successful line of smokeless products produced by Japan Tobacco Inc. After its introduction the product acquired popularity in a very short time. This kind of product does not require to be lightened and produces no smoke which usually annoys people around. Thus it makes possible to use this product everywhere without annoing someone.
Japan Tobacco Inc used its best knowledge of consumer needs and modern technologies in development of Zerostyle Snus. Japanese consumers higly appreciate these efforts. They like to put in mouth these powdered tobacco in sachets and enjoy aroma and flavor of tobacco.
Zerostyle Snus Regular is characterized with roasted flavor and mild sweetness. Zerostyle Snus Mint possesses a wonderful mint flavor. Both varieties are packed in stylish black boxes.
In the beginning Japan Tobacco Inc plans to sell these new products in 150 stores in Osaka City..
Thursday, June 6, 2013
FDA Will Ban Menthol Cigarettes
African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council used the World No Tobacco Day (May 31) to ask FDA to ban menthol cigarettes as they encourage more African Americans to smoke cigarettes.
As you probably know, menthol is a substance obtained from peppermint or oils.
Besides this, the Council made up a petition and calls people to sign it. The petition was presented to FDA in April.
Council representatives say menthol cigarettes have a harsh taste and it attracts more people to smoking them. Beginners and youth choose menthol cigarettes for their first smoking experiences.
Statistics shows that 19.4% of black people smoke and among them 82.6% prefer menthol cigarettes. Smokers can inhale menthol cigarettes longer than other cigarettes and this may cause lung diseases.
In the USA, in 2009, the FDA banned such cigarettes flavors as grape, strawberry, vanilla, orange, coffee and cinnamon in the course of the programm Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, but menthol cigarettes were not banned. To say, In Brazil menthol cigarettes were banned.
Council representatives claim manufacturers use special marketing tricks to attract African Americans and to make them buy menthol cigarettes. Thus they use more menthol cigarettes ads in black communities. These ads are larger and are placed close to schools. Besides this, in black communities menthol cigarettes are cheaper, experts say.
In 2002 there was made a research called "The African Americanization of menthol cigarette use in the United States," and it showed that tobacco industry has successfully promoted the idea that menthol cigarettes are safe. The idea was especially promoted among African Americans. Moreover, tobacco companies donated money to different organizations to encourage groups to support them. On the market there are numerous brands producing menthol cigarettes.
Experts say that the number of people smoking menthol cigarettes is increasing.
Friday, May 31, 2013
ICICI Lombard Smoking Habits 2013
A survey called
"ICICI Lombard Smoking Habits 2013
" in Mumbai, India, has revealed that half of smokers in India consider that smoking within particuls limits is absolutely safe for their body. Half of smokers continue to smoke cigarettes even if they know about harmful effects of their smoking habit.
Big number of respondents (almost 77%) said that if they would smoke from time to time this would have no negative effects on their body. In the survey participated 914 regular smokers from Delhi, Mumbai. Bangalore, Kolkata, aged 18-35, who smokes at least one cigarette a day.
The results of this survey were revealed today in connection with World No Tobacco Day.
Besides this, the survey reveals that 67% of respondents began to smoke at the ages 16 - 20.
87% of smokers said that they started to smoke under the influence of friends. Another important factor here is pressure at work and cigarettes help people to relax.
In Mumbai 32% of respondents said they smoke 7-10 cigarettes a day and namely this city is on top in India. In Kolkata 29% of people smoke less — only 4-6 cigarettes a day.
43% of respondents from Bangalore smoke 2-3 cigarettes a day and Delhi has only 35% of smokers who smoked only one cigarette a day, the lowest numbers.
When the talk is about quitting smoking, 22% of smokers from Mumbai and 32% in Kolkata said that their family support played a big role.
A big number of smokers from Bangalore (31%) and Delhi (29%) said
The report also revealed that 5% of total cancers are tobacco-related. Among them 75% of people duseased with cancer are males.
Big number of respondents (almost 77%) said that if they would smoke from time to time this would have no negative effects on their body. In the survey participated 914 regular smokers from Delhi, Mumbai. Bangalore, Kolkata, aged 18-35, who smokes at least one cigarette a day.
The results of this survey were revealed today in connection with World No Tobacco Day.
Besides this, the survey reveals that 67% of respondents began to smoke at the ages 16 - 20.
87% of smokers said that they started to smoke under the influence of friends. Another important factor here is pressure at work and cigarettes help people to relax.
In Mumbai 32% of respondents said they smoke 7-10 cigarettes a day and namely this city is on top in India. In Kolkata 29% of people smoke less — only 4-6 cigarettes a day.
43% of respondents from Bangalore smoke 2-3 cigarettes a day and Delhi has only 35% of smokers who smoked only one cigarette a day, the lowest numbers.
When the talk is about quitting smoking, 22% of smokers from Mumbai and 32% in Kolkata said that their family support played a big role.
A big number of smokers from Bangalore (31%) and Delhi (29%) said
The report also revealed that 5% of total cancers are tobacco-related. Among them 75% of people duseased with cancer are males.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Marlboro Maker Moves Into E-Cigarettes
Altria Group (MO)
makes the Marlboro brand and is the world's largest cigarette
manufacturer. But sales of tobacco products have been in decline for
years, so Altria and others are looking at electronic cigarettes to make
up for some of their lost tobacco sales.
Altria said last week that it plans to roll out an e-cigarette later this year, as it tries to catch up to rivals who already have them on the market.
Lorillard (LO) has a leading brand – blu eCigs. And Reynolds American is looking to expand sales of its Vuse brand. British American Tobacco is working on what it calls a new "tobacco inhalation device" that is not an electronic cigarette.
The market so far is pretty small. According to The Wall Street Journal, sales totaled just $500 million dollars last year – less than one percent of tobacco sales. But the market for e-cigarettes is expected to double this year, and continue to grow.
And with tobacco sales declining, the industry needs a new source of revenue. Altria reported that cigarette sales in the U.S. tumbled 5.2 percent in the first quarter, and the industry-wide drop has been even steeper.
So how do these e-cigarettes work, and are they really any healthier than traditional tobacco-rolled cigarettes?
An advertisement we found on several popular websites lists some of the benefits. It claims e-cigarettes do not have any tar, tobacco or carbon monoxide. It also says there is no second-hand smoke.
The FDA is expected to release its report on e-cigs any day now. It doesn't currently regulate them, but is likely to push for that oversight responsibility. So far, it's said only that "further research" is needed into the potential health benefits and risks.
As we said, Altria is starting from behind, but analysts say it can use its size and strength to quickly catch up. Some say an acquisition is likely.
While e-cigarettes hold the potential to offset some of the sales declines, there's also the possibility that they could accelerate that trend, by cannibalizing existing sales. But some estimates, 20 percent of all smokers in the U.S. have tried e-cigarettes.
For smokers there are other benefits to the alternative. There's no second-hand smoke, you won't small like a cigarette, and you could save money. Each cartridge, which roughly equals a pack of cigarettes, costs about $2 – considerably less than the real thing.
Article source: http://www.dailyfinance.com
Altria said last week that it plans to roll out an e-cigarette later this year, as it tries to catch up to rivals who already have them on the market.
Lorillard (LO) has a leading brand – blu eCigs. And Reynolds American is looking to expand sales of its Vuse brand. British American Tobacco is working on what it calls a new "tobacco inhalation device" that is not an electronic cigarette.
The market so far is pretty small. According to The Wall Street Journal, sales totaled just $500 million dollars last year – less than one percent of tobacco sales. But the market for e-cigarettes is expected to double this year, and continue to grow.
And with tobacco sales declining, the industry needs a new source of revenue. Altria reported that cigarette sales in the U.S. tumbled 5.2 percent in the first quarter, and the industry-wide drop has been even steeper.
So how do these e-cigarettes work, and are they really any healthier than traditional tobacco-rolled cigarettes?
An advertisement we found on several popular websites lists some of the benefits. It claims e-cigarettes do not have any tar, tobacco or carbon monoxide. It also says there is no second-hand smoke.
The FDA is expected to release its report on e-cigs any day now. It doesn't currently regulate them, but is likely to push for that oversight responsibility. So far, it's said only that "further research" is needed into the potential health benefits and risks.
As we said, Altria is starting from behind, but analysts say it can use its size and strength to quickly catch up. Some say an acquisition is likely.
While e-cigarettes hold the potential to offset some of the sales declines, there's also the possibility that they could accelerate that trend, by cannibalizing existing sales. But some estimates, 20 percent of all smokers in the U.S. have tried e-cigarettes.
For smokers there are other benefits to the alternative. There's no second-hand smoke, you won't small like a cigarette, and you could save money. Each cartridge, which roughly equals a pack of cigarettes, costs about $2 – considerably less than the real thing.
Article source: http://www.dailyfinance.com
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