Borders, of Alexandria, spoke to the sixth-grade class of Weaver Elementary on Jan. 30. Borders, a freshman majoring in exercise science, plays third base and still finds time to give back to the community. Borders discussed the importance of living a healthy, tobacco-free lifestyle and working toward smoke-free communities. She volunteers her time for this tobacco-free Gamecocks campaign because she feels people admire athletes and look to them to make healthy decisions.

“Tobacco and sports just don’t mix. It’s unhealthy and I need a healthy body for my athletic abilities. I believe in working toward smoke-free communities. With smoking, you’re not just affecting yourself; you’re hurting everyone around you,” said Borders.

Read more: Anniston Star – JSU Tobacco Free Gamecock

The Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission recently confirmed that 2012 will mark the end of the Phase I Indemnification Program. Since 2000, the tobacco commission has made available $309 million to Virginia’s tobacco growers and owners, thereby fulfilling its statutory obligation. On April 29, 2010, the commission announced that it was nearing the end of its indemnification obligation and expected the 2012 payment to be the final distribution of Phase I Indemnification funds.

At its Jan. 10 meeting, the commission resolved that upon the end of its 2012 payment distributions, it will cease to operate an indemnification program, and that as of July 1, 2013, any unclaimed indemnification funds will be reallocated to economic development efforts.
The commission will begin its final distribution of Phase I Indemnification payments in June.
Verification for payment forms and applications for payment will be mailed by mid-April to eligible Virginia flue-cured and burley producers and quota owners.
Completed and signed verification for payment forms and applications for payments must be returned by the May 18 deadline in order to be eligible for the June payment.
Claimants can expect a payment equal to that received in 2011, as the 2012 payment rates established by the commission are the same as 2011 rates.
Rates 6.01 cents per pound of basic quota for flue-cured tobacco quota owners and 4.93 cents per pound for flue-cured producers.
Rates are 7.03 cents per pound of basic quota for burley tobacco quota owners and 6.36 cents per payment pound for burley producers.

Gov. Deval L. Patrick will propose increases in state tobacco taxes next week, including a 50-cent-per-pack hike in the cigarette tax and imposition of new taxes on cigars, roll-your-own tobacco, pipe tobacco and smokeless tobacco. The cigarette tax would give Massachusetts taxpayers the fifth-highest cigarette tax in the country and bring the tax on a pack of cigarettes to $3.01. David E. Sullivan, general counsel for the state Executive Office for Administration and Finance, said yesterday that the new tobacco taxes are expected to bring in $72.5 million a year in new state revenue.

Those funds will be used to cover almost half the cost of the estimated $150 million in health insurance subsidies for legal immigrants the state is required to pay by a recent Supreme Judicial Court ruling.

The cigarette tax is among $260 million in tax and fee increases and other money-making measures Mr. Patrick will propose Wednesday as part of his 2013 fiscal year budget.

Mr. Sullivan said about $62.5 million would come from the cigarette tax hike and about $10.4 million from new taxes on other tobacco products.

The governor is also reviving proposals previously rejected by the Legislature to eliminate the sales tax exemption on candy and sweetened soft-drinks and soda that would subject those products to the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax. Estimates are that the candy and soda tax would generate $61.5 million annually, which would be directed to public health programs.

Mr. Patrick will also propose expansion of the bottle bill to require deposits on noncarbonated drinks and bottled water, which would be expected to bring the state about $23 million in unclaimed deposits. Of that amount, about $5 million would be allocated to improved coordination of local recycling programs.

Other money raisers he will propose include:

•$5 million in new revenues from advertising on state websites and vehicles.

• $5.8 million from fee increases for new licensing of adult day care providers.

• Expanded nursing home fees.

• Increases in environmental permit fees.

• $46 million from postponing a tax deduction for large multistate corporations.

• $10 million from changes in the way the state apportions payroll and sales factors in determining corporate taxes.

•$7 million in new taxes from markup of hotel room costs booked through out-of-state, internet-based reservation companies not previously taxed.

•$500,000 from elimination of a tax deduction for losing lottery tickets.

• $23 million from the use of new technology to better enforce state tax collections and identity taxpayers who underreport income.

A BOOZED-UP thug pleaded guilty to verbally abusing his former partner after he turned up at her house and demanded cigarettes. Martin McKenzie (48) of Woodside Street, Kirkwood, Coatbridge, went into a foul-mouthed rage after the woman, mother to his four children, kindly let him in to spend the night – despite the fact their relationship had ended. His actions on December 12 at Peel Place, also Kirkwood, resulted in a one-year community payback order.

McKenzie admitted behaving in a “threatening or abusive manner which was likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm” by shouting and swearing, acting aggressively and threatening his victim with violence.
Fiscal depute Neil Martin said: “At around 11pm, the witness, who was the partner of the accused, was at home with her five children. The relationship had recently ended. The witness was in bed at time and the accused, who had been drinking alcohol, turned up and she let him in to sleep in the house overnight.
“She made some food and he said, ‘I don’t f***ing want that’.
“He began asking her for cigarettes, saying, ‘f*** sake give me a fag. I know you have got f***ing fags’.
“An argument ended with the police being called and they arrived and stopped him while he was leaving.”
Defence lawyer Darran Khorasani admitted his client had been foolish to turn up at the house at all.
But although McKenzie could remember little from the evening’s events, the lawyer pointed out that he accepted he was in the wrong.
Mr Khorasani said: “It was not the cleverest idea to attend (the house) when he was under the influence of alcohol.
“I’m advised that, although he does not fully recollect what happened, he does recall that he was frustrated that he was asked to sleep on the couch, which was not the usual arrangement.
“He doesn’t recall what happened but does accept responsibility.”
Before sentencing McKenzie, Sheriff John C Morris told him that he was “very close to going back to jail”.
The sheriff then placed the accused on a community payback order which involves attending appointments with a supervising officer for one year.
McKenzie was also told to meet integrated addiction services staff in order to deal with his alcoholism.

Voices of Tobacco Victims, a support group of cancer survivors and medical practitioners, led by Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Hospital doctors have asked the state election commission (SEC) to ban political funding by tobacco companies ahead of the civic elections in the state. “We insist that the election commission immediately ban funding by tobacco companies to political parties. We met chief minister Prithviraj Chavan recently to seek the government’s support to our campaign. Political parties are known to go soft on tobacco companies at the central, state and local levels as they get funds from them,” Pankaj Chaturvedi, associate professor, head and neck department, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, said.

According to Chaturvedi, around 90% patients diagnosed with cancer of the head and neck, have a tobacco-use history. Around 50 % suffer from advanced stage cancer and despite treatment survive for about a year, he said.

In Pune, anti-tobacco groups which had supported Anna Hazare’s agitation against corruption, want political parties to take a stand on tobacco addiction. “The PMC had announced a ban on sale of tobacco products, including hookahs, at eating joints. Hookah parlours have come up in Kondhwa, Baner, Kharadi, Bavdhan, Paud Phata, Deccan and Camp. We want political parties to take stand,” Ketan Jamkar, a youth activist from India Against Corruption, said. Political parties taking funds and supporting tobacco industry should be banned from contesting elections, he added.

Medical practitioners across the state have joined ‘Voice of Tobacco Victims’ (VOV) forum. Patients who have lost a part of their body to cancer have come together to speak about the adverse effects of tobacco on their lives and families. The organization has already approached political parties and the state EC and will soon submit a memorandum to the latter.

India has ratified the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2004 and is obligated to adopt and implement effective legislation aimed at reducing tobacco use and tobacco smoke exposure.

One of the FCTC’s guiding principles is that participation of civil society is required in achieving the objectives. VOV, by submitting its demand to the election commission, is taking forward this agenda in the civic polls.

Additional chief secretary of the SEC Chand Goyal said, “There is a demand to ban political funding by tobacco companies and the issue is being discussed at the central and state election commission levels. However, there are technicalities in the decision-making process of the central election commission.”

Satej Patil, minister of state for home and minister for FDA, said political parties must take a stand on funding by tobacco companies. “Tobacco is big menace and unless we make it a political issue we are not going to save the next generation. In fact, there should be consensus within the political fraternity to avoid funding from tobacco companies,” Patil said.

“General elections are a platform to spread the message. We want to mobilise the community and to take up the fight against political funding by tobacco companies,” Bapu Mane, a cancer patient from Pune, said. He has lost a major portion of his cheek to cancer even though he has undergone two surgeries.

Akkatai Gaikwad, who chewed mishri (roasted tobacco), said cancer patients can raise awareness about the tobacco industry – its goals, size and operation, strategies to promote products, and to implement strong tobacco control policies by gaining influence and credibility with policy makers and the public.

According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the tobacco industry in India is divided into three distinct and powerful sectors: Bidis (hand-rolled in tendu leaves), smokeless tobacco (mainly chewing tobacco) and cigarettes. Bidis take up 48% of the market, smokeless tobacco occupies 38% and cigarettes 14% of the market share.

Vilas Baba Jawal, an anti-tobacco campaign activist from Jawalwadi in Satara district, said, “Local elections are important for the anti-tobacco campaign in our taluka. We need zilla parishad and gram panchayat members to support the campaign and not sabotage it. We have asked candidates in local elections to take an oath that they will not take any help from tobacco traders.”

Jawali has already become the first taluka in the state to ban alcohol. Thirteen licensed liquor shops have been closed down officially in six villages. Now, with the women of Nandgane stopping the use of any kind of tobacco, particularly the use of mishri, the taluka is well on its way to becoming tobacco-free as well.

Anti-addiction agenda

City youths want the civic body to initiate action against eateries providing tobacco products, especially hookahs and want political parties to make addiction a poll issue.

The civic body says it can only cancel food licences of restaurants and bars operating hookah bars if traces of intoxicants are found in the molasses collected from these places.

The FDA said there was no special provision or act to help the FDA check hookah bars, the police blamed the PMC for ‘inactiveness’, saying that the state government had issued a notification that the health department of the PMC should enforce the Tobacco Act, 2003.

Survey paints gloomy picture

According to the global adult tobacco survey of 2010, 35% of adults in India use tobacco in some form or the other. Among them, 21% use smokeless tobacco, 9% smoke, and 5% smoke as well as use smokeless tobacco. As per this report, the estimated number of tobacco users in India is 274.9 million.

The 100-day countdown until the government’s ban on displaying tobacco products in large retail stores comes into effect is now underway, meaning the UK’s largest grocers have just three months to ensure they have their shops in order. New legislation announced last March ruled that large stores over 3,000 sq ft will have to hide cigarettes and other tobacco products under the counter or in closed cabinets, with the aim of changing attitudes to smoking and reducing promotion of these products.

While smaller retailers, including thousands of convenience stores nationwide, have been ordered to meet the new criteria by April 6th 2015, larger enterprises such as supermarket superstores must comply by the same date this year.

Retail establishments will be prohibited from displaying tobacco goods to the public except on occasions, for instance when staff need to serve customers or when they are carrying out stock control or cleaning.

On hearing the announcement in 2011, retail representative groups bemoaned the extra expense the new legislation would create, with the British Retail Consortium adding there was “no evidence” to suggest hiding these products would reduce the number of people who smoke.

But even if reluctant, the major supermarkets have embarked on a strategy to remove tobacco displays in their stores, and April’s deadline is set to be met in good time.

A spokesperson for leading grocer Sainsbury’s told Retail Gazette: “We will be using gantries in our larger stores to ensure that tobacco products are not on display.

“Alongside this we will be thoroughly training our colleagues to ensure they comply with the relevant legislation. We are confident that we can meet the requirements of the legislation whilst at the same time still providing great service for customers.”

Co-operative Food said that it will be “fully compliant” with the legislation by April, and it is fitting sliding doors to gantries to hide its tobacco displays.

The UK’s supermarket groups also operate a large number of smaller convenience stores such as Tesco Express and Sainsbury’s Local. Unlike the larger stores in their portfolio, many of these shops do not have to meet the new guidelines until 2015.

“With regard to smaller stores we will of course listen to any feedback we receive from customers, colleagues and the authorities to ensure that by 2015 we again have a solution that not only meets the requirements of the legislation but also ensures we are still able to provide a quality service,” the Sainsbury’s spokesperson added.

Welcoming the government’s decision to ban tobacco displays in retail outlets, CEO of the Action on Smoking and Health charity Deborah Arnott said that it was the right time for a change.

“For far too long large, colourful tobacco displays right by the sweets in shops have promoted cigarettes to children and made smoking seem part of everyday life,” she explained.

“Removing these displays is a critical element of the government’s comprehensive strategy to protect children from the harm caused by tobacco.”

Similar moves were made in the Republic of Ireland in 2009, five years after the country became the first European nation to fully ban smoking in the workplace.

Arnott added: “Retailers have nothing to fear, the evidence from Ireland when the legislation was implemented there was that committed smokers still knew where to buy cigarettes and didn’t need to see the displays to decide what they wanted to buy.”

The UK’s largest retailer, Tesco, said today that it is trialling a new kiosk display in a small number of stores ahead of the introduction of the new legislation.

Serving the Tampa Bay area since 2004, MJM Fine Cigars and Tobacco offers customers access to some of the world’s most rare and hard to find tobacco products. Owner Michael McCarthy, who has been in the tobacco industry since the 1980s, created MJM Fine Cigars and Tobacco seven years ago because he thought there was a need for such a shop in the area. McCarthy says MJM is a full-line traditional tobacconist that carries cigars from more than 75 different manufacturers and features more than 1,000 open boxes. The store also carries more than 500 tobacco pipes and 16 hand-blended custom pipe tobacco recipes.

McCarthy says MJM is unique because the store stocks many small-batch, rare boutique cigars and pipe tobaccos. The store has the ability to obtain the rarest of tobacco products — with the exception of Cuban cigars, which have been illegal since 1963. McCarthy says there really aren’t many products he can’t acquire for his customers.

Like many small businesses across the country, MJM was affected by the hard economic times. In order to accommodate the economic changes, McCarthy adjusted his inventory and purchasing patterns.

“Thank God, our local customers and many throughout the country continue to support us despite the economic conditions,” McCarthy said. “We remain eternally optimistic in America and its ability to bounce back.”

Despite the shaky economy, MJM continues to offer special events at the shop.

“Our monthly events continue to be successful and are a great way for our customers to not only meet industry leaders, but to sample new products all while saving some significant dollars,” McCarthy said.

Come Jan 1, first-time offenders caught with contraband cigarettes will face at least a S$2,000 fine if they are taken to court. And drivers of vehicles using compressed natural gas (CNG) must also ensure their fuel tank is three-quarters full when travelling to Malaysia. These are some of the changes in the new Customs Act that was passed by Parliament yesterday, enhancing enforcement and administration of the legislation.

You want to smoke legal cigarettes? Than buy marlboro cigarettes online from Europe for cheap price.

The Minister of State (Finance), Mrs Josephine Teo, said the number of tobacco-related customs offences jumped by about 24 per cent from 2005 to last year.

The number of repeat offenders during the same period also rose by more than six times.

Repeat offenders will be fined a minimum of S$4,000 under the new law, double the current sum. Those who bring in more than 2kg of contraband tobacco products will be packed off to jail.

Mrs Teo explained that the doubling of court fines for first-time offenders was also necessary because the current minimum penalty could sometimes be lower than the composition sum for minor offences.

Under the new law, Singapore Customs will also be armed with greater powers against those who do not pay up or exploit others.

It will be able to appoint a taxpayer’s bank or employer to recover unpaid duties. And those who commit minor customs offences but do not pay their composition fines will be automatically taken to court.

Traders who furnish false information to third-party agents making declarations on consignments on their behalf will also be liable. Currently, only those who make the false declarations are liable.

Another change relates to the disclosure of information by Singapore Customs to other domestic public agencies.

Currently, all declarations by traders are strictly confidential to protect sensitive commercial data. The information can only be disclosed with their consent or if the information is needed for an investigation, enforcement or prosecution under the Customs Act or the Goods and Services Tax Act.

But Mrs Teo said there may be “over-riding reasons” for such information to be given to other public agencies here, for instance, when national security, public health and safety are concerned.

The change allows information declared by traders to be provided, with safeguards, where public interests are concerned.

British American Tobacco Plc, Europe’s largest cigarette maker, raised 600 million euros ($828 million) from its first bond sale in 16 months. The 10-year securities were priced to yield 123 basis points more than the benchmark swap rate, according to a banker with knowledge of the transaction. That compares with a spread of 105 basis points that investors demand to hold the London- based company’s 4 percent bonds due 2020 it issued in June last year, Bloomberg Bond Trader prices show.

The maker of Lucky Strike and Pall Mall cigarettes sold bonds as European leaders hold emergency talks to ensure their week-old strategy to combat the region’s debt crisis doesn’t unwind. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou rattled markets after announcing a parliamentary confidence vote and his desire for a referendum on the bailout plan for his country.

“Given market uncertainty it is prudent to consider issuing some longer-term debt when the window of opportunity presents itself to pre-fund 2012,” Catherine Armstrong, a London-based spokeswoman for BAT, said in an e-mailed statement. “We intend to take advantage of any windows of opportunity in November to access the markets, but as our ability to access the market is headline and sentiment driven, timing is uncertain.”

Barclays Capital, Citigroup Inc., ING Groep NV and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc managed the sale. The notes were issued by B.A.T. International Finance Plc.

The tobacco company said investor demand was for bonds with maturities in the 2018 to 2022 areas.