With Bloomberg already besieged by protests and angry letters calling for an apology over his offensive “cowboys and Indians” statement, Governor Paterson says he is worried about possible “violence and death” over the state’s plan to collect taxes on cigarettes sold on Indian reservations. Paterson said, “There will be quite an uprising and protest to this, but I am going to maintain this policy…The state police tell us over and over again that there could be violence and death as a result of some of the measures we’re taking.”

Meanwhile, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Arcara has reserved his decision on whether to grant the Seneca Nation of Indians a temporary restraining order against New York State’s enforcement of the new tax laws. But whether or not the order is granted, the Seneca seem ready for a fight. One post on the Seneca Voice blog reads, “Lets start setting up some fires here and there just to let the public know that we are serious and we are ready to battle if this is what it is going to come to.”

Because of the impending tax collection, the Onondaga Nation says they will most likely stop selling national brand cigarettes at the beginning of September. Lawyer Joe Heath told Syracuse.com, “Unless something changes, as of Sept. 1 we won’t be able to sell major brands that are untaxed. It doesn’t make that much sense to sell them at the same price as people can get them at the convenience store across the street.” Instead, they will sell only Indian-made brands, and Paterson seems fine with that plan. “They can make their own cigarettes and they can sell the cigarettes on the reservation as they are entitled to by federal law. Once they come off, or anyone else comes off, of their sacred land with cigarettes that are not being taxed by New York state, we are going to address that issue.”

University Park, Pa. — Bans on alcohol and tobacco marketing are among the least effective tactics for combating underage drinking and smoking, according to a Penn State economist, who has studied the effects of advertising since 1985. “My conclusion is that the emphasis on advertising bans and similar regulations in the public health literature is misplaced,” said Jon Nelson, professor emeritus of economics.

“More effective policies need to be sought to deal with issues of youthful risk-taking associated with alcohol and tobacco.”
Among the deficiencies, Nelson reported that there were problems with how researchers selected people to participate in their studies and how they drew conclusions from the data they collected.
“The studies, in fact, are deficient in so many respects that the big question is whether there’s any influence of marketing at all, especially the mass media,” Nelson said.
Policy makers and advocacy groups use these studies to initiate and justify bans on alcohol and tobacco product advertising in order to lower the social costs associated with using these products and to promote youth health. According to Nelson, the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization are among the organizations that uncritically cite these studies in their advocacy of tobacco and alcohol advertising bans.
Nelson recommended several ways to improve studies on youth alcohol and tobacco behaviors. Researchers who explore advertising’s influence on youth drinking and smoking should better identify why variables, such as peer and parental influences, are included in the study and choose variables that more effectively measure the exposure of alcohol and tobacco marketing in youth behavior.
In a recent review of 20 youth drinking studies and 26 youth smoking studies published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Nelson found that only 33 percent of the results were statistically significant in linking marketing with youth drinking. He considered only 49 percent of the results significant on marketing and youth smoking behavior.
“These studies should be done against a well-defined scientific standard for an empirical investigation,” said Nelson. “There is really no such thing as a perfect study, but the object should be to get closer to those acceptable standards.”
Nelson identified longitudinal studies that measured the influence of a range of alcohol and tobacco marketing efforts including mass media, in-store displays, branded merchandise, movie portrayals and brand recognition. The participant in a longitudinal study is interviewed or surveyed over two or more years.
Nelson looked at these studies in two categories, youth drinking and youth smoking. Although these studies had common features, they were treated separately because they used slightly different models to explore advertising receptivity and exposure. Nelson then offered critical assessments of the studies in each category, paying particular attention to the consistency of empirical results among the studies.
The review reinforced findings in Nelson’s previous work. In 2001 and 2010 studies, he showed advertising bans in European countries did not reduce adult alcohol consumption. In 2003 and 2006 studies, he reported a similar finding for tobacco advertising bans.

From live.psu.edu, August 18, 2010

FLINT (WJRT) — (08/15/10) — Smokers may feel ‘put out’ because of the recent indoor smoking ban. But a new business in Flint is keeping them at ease about putting smoke in the air. Business is well underway at Let’s Roll Tobacco. There, smokers are rolling their own cigarettes with machines, and it’s saving them a lot of money. The Tobacco Rolling Machines drops cigarettes one-by-one in the bucket. The machine has Lori Coffee smiling.

Coffee is getting what she says is hard to come by for a smoker, a financial break. “We were buying six packs at a time. It was $40, and you get a whole carton for $28 here. So, it’s all about the money.”

Let’s Roll Tobacco just installed their third rolling machine on Friday, and the deal each one brings has the room packed.

“I think it’s great. We needed a break. The taxes on cigarettes are just outrageous and it hurts a little bit. It’s very, very hard to quit,” explained Coffee.

Manager Zach Smith says buying the machines was a big investment. “$31,000 for each machine. We have three of them here. It’s a pretty penny, but we make it back within a short amount of time.”

Let’s Roll Tobacco Customer Rich already rolled his own cigarettes before trying the machine. He says he does it because it saves him time. “I used to take a half-hour every night, but this takes only half an hour for a whole week.”

Smith explains exactly how the business is saving smokers the big bread. “It’s considered a self-serve. We have customers do all the filling in the tobacco, filling in their tubes and stuff like that. That’s why we can sell it for so cheap.”

The savings makes customers like Coffee regulars. She plans on coming back. “Probably once a week at least.”

All together, the machines cost $93,000. But Managers aren’t worried about the money. They expect to make it all back in just a couple weeks.

From abclocal.go.com, August 16, 2010

Tobacco giant Philip Morris has been forced to admit that child workers as young as 10 have been subjected to long hours working on tobacco farms with which it has contracts in the Central Asian state of Kazakhstan.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch, migrant workers at the farms, mostly from neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, were subjected to conditions that often amounted to forced labour, as employers contracted by tobacco farms that sold their produce to Philip Morris International had their passports confiscated and were often made to do additional work for no pay.

The company, which sources tobacco from Kazakhstan for cigarette brands sold in Russia and other former Soviet states, said it was taking “immediate action” to stop the abuses.

In many cases families were expected to pay back unrealistic debts to intermediaries who had arranged for their journeys to Kazakhstan, in schemes that bear all the hallmarks of people trafficking. The report also documented 72 cases of children working on the farms.

Philip Morris produces brands such as Marlboro and Chesterfield in over 150 countries around the world, and purchased 1,500 tonnes of tobacco from Kazakh farms in 2009.
The company issued a statement yesterday saying it is “grateful” to Human Rights Watch for raising the issues, and “is firmly opposed to child labour and all other labour abuses”.

The company says it is implementing a range of measures to ensure the abuses end, such as working with local government and NGOs to ensure school access for children of migrant workers, and implementing a system of third party monitoring to ensure tobacco farms comply with strict guidelines.

Jane Buchanan, the report’s author, blamed the Kazakh government as well as Philip Morris for the abuses. She said yesterday that progress had been slow with the authorities in discussions over bureaucratic hurdles and the need to provide schooling for migrant workers’ children.

“The commitments from [the government] have been very vague,” she said. “It has been a lot of work to get them to accept the idea that migrant workers, even if they are working illegally, still have fundamental rights.”

According to Buchanan, Human Rights Watch had first approached the tobacco conglomerate with the allegations in October last year, and there has been a “regular and constructive dialogue” since.

“However, we have done some more research recently, and it’s clear that not all the things they promised have been fully implemented yet,” she said.

One woman told the report’s authors that young children had developed red rashes on their necks and stomachs after working with the tobacco, and there were also cases of dangerous pesticides being stored in living areas.

During a single work day, tobacco harvesters can be exposed to a similar amount of nicotine as would be found in 36 average-strength cigarettes, and workers are at risk of contracting Green Tobacco Sickness, where nicotine is absorbed through the skin from contact with tobacco leaves.

The illness causes nausea, vomiting, headache, muscle weakness and dizziness, and children are particularly susceptible due to their small body size.

Migrant workers come to Kazakhstan from impoverished neighbouring countries such as Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan where there are few job possibilities. They are allowed to enter for up to 90 days without a visa, and the complications in securing official work permits mean that many end up working illegally, and are thus at their employers’ mercy.

In one of many such stories, Almira, 45, travelled to Kazakhstan from Kyrgyzstan with her husband and two children last year. They were promised by the intermediary who drove them to a tobacco farm in rural Malybai that they would be paid a minimum of $US2,300 for their work over the season.

However, when they arrived they were told they would have to work off debts from the journey, and had their passports confiscated by the landowner.

“He treated us really badly,” recalls Almira. “We couldn’t defend ourselves, since we were on his land after all. We worked for 11 to 13 hours a day. The work was really hard.” The family contemplated running away, but this was impossible. “Our passports were with the landowner, and we had no money. If we left, then all of our work would be for nothing. And without money, how would we even get back home from there?”

BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) — China’s education and health ministries have moved to curb smoking at educational institutions, limiting smoking to designated areas in higher-learning institutions and forbidding smoking at lower-level schools. In a joint notice issued Tuesday, the two ministries prohibited anyone, including students and visitors, from smoking at elementary or secondary schools, nurseries and kindergartens, as well as at vocational schools.

Furthermore, no tobacco products may be sold on campus.

At institutions of higher-learning, no faculty, staff, students or visitors will be permitted to smoke on campus in non-smoking areas like classrooms and libraries.

Teachers will be required to refrain from smoking in front of students.

Additionally, tobacco control must be integrated into new students’ orientation programs.

The notice also forbids tobacco advertising at schools. It also asks for no-smoking signs to be posted in conspicuous locations at schools.

China is home to over 300 million smokers. Each year one million people die of smoking-related diseases.

Original article: news.xinhuanet.com

With Valentino Rossi out until mid-August at the earliest, his Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo has quietly moved to the top of the Moto GP ladder, taking his fourth win out of six races at the classic Assen track in the Netherlands last weekend. Lorenzo was fastest in every session, took pole, got hounded for a bit by Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and a resurgent Casey Stoner on the Marlboro Ducati, but then as his harder rear tire came in he simply motored off into the distance. Stoner pounded on Pedrosa for a while but couldn’t get past, finally fading back to finish third, his first podium of the year.

Stoner and Pedrosa both benefited from great starts, while Ben Spies on his Tech 3 Yamaha also got a superb jump, quickly moving into second behind Lorenzo and holding up Pedrosa and Stoner for several laps. He eventually finished an excellent fourth, proving that his podium third place in the U.K. the previous weekend was no fluke.

With a 47-point series lead at the one-third point in the series, Lorenzo is looking strong for the 2010 title, particularly with Rossi out of the picture indefinitely and nobody else able to consistently match his pace.

A dark horse for “most improved rider of the year” has to be Randy de Puniet, on the LCR Honda team, the smallest and most cash-strapped team on the circuit. De Puniet was near the top of the time sheets both at Silverstone and here at Assen, and had a wrestling-match style battle with Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso in the last few laps for sixth. Despite obvious traction problems from badly worn tires, de Puniet passed the factory bike several times, and only just missed out on fifth in the last corner, to his obvious fury and frustration.

Nicky Hayden, on the second Ducati, had his worst outing of the year, finishing seventh. He had an okay start but got blocked in the first turn and lost a lot of time both there and getting past the blockers, and by then he could do nothing about the leaders despite running at nearly their pace.

Silly season has started early this year, with chit-chat and rumours about 2011 taking more blog and magazine space than the actual racing. All four of the “aliens” — Rossi, Lorenzo, Pedrosa, and Stoner — have contracts ending this year, as in fact do many of the other riders. That makes the game of musical chairs even more active than it usually is.

The latest rumour is that Stoner has decided to leave Ducati for Honda, who are desperate for somebody who can win consistently (Pedrosa and Dovizioso just haven’t delivered the goods). Honda sponsor Repsol insists on a Spanish rider, so Pedrosa’s seat is probably safe, except that Ducati has been chasing him.

Over at Yamaha, Rossi has been asked to take a big salary cut of several million euros as part of an austerity budget. He was apparently willing to consider it until he found out that his cut would go to double Lorenzo’s salary; now he’s not a happy camper. Back in Italy, Philip Morris (Marlboro cigarettes, Ducati’s main sponsor) would kill to get Rossi on a Ducati, and have reportedly offered him 15 million Euros to join the squad. If Rossi does that, suddenly Pedrosa is more or less stuck with Honda, unless he moves to Yamaha. But since he and Lorenzo don’t get along …

From cmgonline.com, by Larry Tate, June 29, 2010

As the international health community increases its efforts to fight smoking, the International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA) is worried about the impact it would have on the livelihoods of millions of African tobacco growers. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), established under the World Heath Organization (WHO), calls on signatory countries to implement measures to reduce tobacco use in member countries. To date, 168 governments have signed onto the treaty.

Countries operating under the anti-tobacco treaty have taken a variety of measures to reduce tobacco usage. In Canada, cigarette packages are concealed under the counter to reduce visual temptation to buy them. Estonia prohibited the introduction of tobacco-vending machines, and Brazil promised that it would work on helping its tobacco growers switch to sustainable alternative crop.

But António Abrunhosa, CEO of ITGA, says the treaty is flawed because it excludes the interests of tobacco farmers.

“For some inexplicable reason, tobacco growers, the very people most affected by the guidelines, are officially excluded from any discussions. Even ministries of agriculture or economy seem unaware of the discussions taking place within the FCTC. There doesn’t seem to be any balanced form of representation whatsoever,” said Abrunhosa in a statement.

ITGA represents over 30 million tobacco growers around the world and says that in some countries, entire communities depend on tobacco as a cash crop, a crop that has been able to maintain a stable market despite the recent global economic recession.

However, countries such as Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Tanzania, which most-heavily depend on tobacco farming, could face the loss of millions of jobs if the demand for tobacco exports is significantly reduced.

At the same time, Africa is also one of the world’s largest consumers of cigarettes, inflicting high health costs on impoverished nations. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in 2007 Africans smoked 400 billion cigarettes, 15 percent of which came from the illicit tobacco market.

ITGA President Roger Quarles said that the WHO has not yet proposed a viable alternative industry that could replace tobacco farming in Africa.

The director of the FCTC tobacco framework, Laurent Huber, says that to completely implement the treaty in every country would take time, as tobacco-growing countries must find alternative income-generating industries.

“We are promoting public health through the Framework Convention Alliance. … Tobacco is still growing at this stage, there is not immediate risk,” says Huber.

Huber also said that in Africa in particular, the farmers barely make any money from tobacco crops since they need to import the seeds and the pesticides.

Hubert went on to say, “Tobacco is not a normal, usual product. It needs to be treated a little differently because it’s a leading cause of mortality … it’s not an unreasonable response for a major global problem.”

Quarles makes the point, however, that even if banned, tobacco would find its way into the black market since there will always be people who smoke.

“There will always be that 15 percent of people who know the [health] risk factors and are willing to accept the consequences,” says Quarles, pointing out that already a large number of cigarettes are smuggled across the border into Canada to avoid paying high taxes.

But Huber thinks this argument does not hold, and anyone who makes a living off of a product will try to create a sense of fear if such product is at risk of leaving the market.

“Tobacco, like anything else will enter the black market and is an issue of corruption,” he said, adding that most of the cigarette trafficking is coordinated by the tobacco industry in the respective countries.

From theepochtimes.com, June 25, 2010

June 22 marks the first time in American history that terms like light, ultra-light, low, mild and medium can no longer legally be used in the marketing and sale of cigarettes. The United States will be the 71st country (we’re behind, of course) to outlaw the labeling of cigarettes as “light” — an underhanded ploy promoting the idea that certain cigarettes have lower tar and nicotine content than others. Given that “light” smokes account for about half the cigarette market, the antismoking legislation, passed last year, stands to throw a wrench in tobacco companies’ deceptive marketing practices. But the tobacco industry is revving up to try to deceive smokers and potential smokers in different ways that may circumvent the new law.

Already major light brands are being repackaged with colors associated with, well, lightness. Camel Lights will be Camel Blues. Marlboro Lights and Ultra-Lights will, respectively, be Marlboro Gold and Silver. Pall Malls previously trumpeted as filtered, lights and lights menthol will now come in a rainbow of colors intended to convey tobacco “intensity” — red, blue and orange.

The brains behind the $13-billion-a-year cigarette marketing industry know that colors and packaging make a difference. Research has shown that 79 percent of people think that cigarettes packaged in a light blue box contain less tar and are safer than those in a darker hued package. And certain colors — like blue — are perceived to be less strong than, say, red.

In other countries where the practice of labeling cigarettes “lights” has been banned for a while, marketers have turned to using letters and numbers that similarly skew consumers’ perception of the health drawbacks to smoking cigarettes, and ultimately deliver the “same messaging as light or low,” says Gregg Haifley of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.

Big Tobacco goes to all this trouble, of course, because it pays off. The whole concept of light cigarettes was born of the Surgeon General’s 1964 report that directly linked cigarettes and smoking to cancer and other diseases. Fearing a drop-off in smokers, the industry spun the story that you should pick light or mild cigarettes as an alternative to quitting. (Around that time, a cigarette brand called True featured a female tennis player saying: “Considering all I’d heard, I decided to either quit or smoke True.” The athlete, naturally, picked True.)

Although contemporary cigarette companies officially claim only that “light really refers to flavor,” they’ve been more than happy to let consumers reach their own conclusions.

From alternet.org, June 22, 2010

ALBANY, N.Y. (WIVB) – New York State smokers will be sending millions more of their money up in smoke, now that lawmakers have passed the most expensive tobacco tax in America. Sen. George Maziarz warned, “There will be a clash of cultures here in this state.” Sen. Maziarz is referring to a Native American backlash over a sales tax increase on cigarettes. The tax increase passed, despite the state’s Republican senators all voting “no” to raising the sales tax. The plan also allows New York to collect tax on Indian reservations from non-tribal customers. “You really wonder if this isn’t just phony revenue. If they’re putting this out there, knowing they’re not going to collect it, just to get through the budget process,” wondered Sen. Maziarz.

Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer said New Yorkers are already overburdened.

Sen. Ranzenhofer commented, “You’re continuing to drive more and more people from this state.”

The tax will be raised from $2.75 to $4.35, making a pack cost over $9. The tax on cigars pipe and chewing tobacco and other tobacco products will jump from 46 percent of the wholesale price, to 75 percent, all of this is expected to bring in around $440 million this year.

And while lawmakers continue to pass the entire budget, another extension was voted on, but the deadline came a bit too late for New York’s Budget Division. Some of the 153,000 state workers due to be paid Wednesday now likely won’t get paid until at least Thursday.

Lawmakers voted on just over a billion dollars in savings Monday. This was the 12th time that lawmakers voted on a budget extension. Governor David Paterson has given the legislature a deadline of next Monday.

From wivb.com, June 22, 2010

Utah’s oldest smoke shop is scheduled to close on June 30, a day before a state tobacco tax hike goes into effect. The owner of the historic shop blames Utah’s cigar tax, the second highest in U.S., while the rate for cigarettes will tie with Montana for the nation’s 18th highest.
“Why would the Utah Legislature pass a law that forces someone to go out of business?” asked customer Bill Staker, as he picked up a box of cigars for half the regular price. “It’s the same as highway robbery, without the mask or a gun.”
Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, who fought for years to raise Utah’s tobacco tax, said he’s surprised that Jeanie’s is going out of business.

Christensen had discounted warnings from Jeanies’ owner Gary Klc that the higher taxes on cigars and pipe tobacco — the mainstay of his business — would force him to close his shop at 156 S. State St.
“I felt it was one of those things that people speak out in reaction to something, and think better of it later,” said Christensen. “I hate to see any business impacted by the government that actually goes out of business. But on the same hand, these are business that are selling a dangerous drug. I wish them all luck as they go into a different field.”
Klc (pronounced Kelch), had also that said he could not come up with $125,000 on July 1 to cover the higher tax on his existing inventory, among the state’s most-extensive stock. He said it was too big an investment for products that will be taxed at some of the highest rates in the nation.
In Murray, the Tinder Box, open for nearly four decades, is staying put.
“We’ve reduced our inventory so we won’t have to pay more taxes on products we had already paid taxes on,” said Manager Ken Crandall. “We’re also looking for some good cigars at a lower price point. We’ll make this work — at least we hope we can.”
Jeanie’s employee Tom Calder, one of four workers who will lose jobs, said it’s sad that Utah is losing a classic, old-time gentleman’s shop that harkens back to the 19th century. Despite the high-end products and leather chairs where customers relax and read, Jeanies catered to a broad spectrum of customers.
Klc, a nonsmoker, was known for cashing checks for some of his regular customers, mostly day labors and disabled who would have had to pay a fee elsewhere. Klc said he will miss his customers most, particularly the ones who often dropped by on Saturday mornings to chat.
“The funeral is almost over,” said an emotional Klc of the family business that began in the 1940s when his late father bought out the old United Cigars store on State Street. The shop’s name changed through the years, finally to Jeanie’s in honor of Klc’s mother.
At this point, Klc, 50, has no immediate plans, other than to save some of the historic memorabilia, such as the life-sized Punch wood sculpture, signifying a cigar manufacturer that first registered its brand in 1840, and a Utah cigar box, recalling the days when dozens of factories in Salt Lake City manufactured the smokes.
So far this year, bills increasing tobacco tax rates have become law in three other states: Hawaii, New Mexico and South Carolina. In 2009, bills increasing tobacco tax rates became law in the District of Columbia and 13 states, including Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wisconsin.
Nationwide, state tobacco tax collections for 2007 totaled $15.2 billion, compared to state alcohol beverage taxes of $5.1 billion.

By Dawn House, June 4, 2010, sltrib.com

Foot-square posters of decayed teeth, cancerous lungs, and stroke-damaged brains are sending a strong message about cigarettes in New York City — and sending some convenience store customers out the door.Retailers in the city, joined by the country’s Big Three tobacco firms including Henrico County-based Philip Morris USA, yesterday filed suit in federal court to overturn a new city Board of Health requirement to post the signs, which began to be enforced March 1.

“Our customers are nauseated by graphic images of diseased organs,” said James S. Calvin, president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores.

“People coming in to buy milk, a lottery ticket, they have to look at those things,” he said. “We’ve literally had people say: ‘I’m not coming into your store anymore; I don’t want my kids to see that.’”

The signs must be posted either within 3 inches of each cash register or at each place where tobacco products are displayed. In the often-cramped space of city stores, the signs can end up taking space that store owners would rather use to display or sell products, Calvin said.

Philip Morris USA, meanwhile, is concerned that the city is trying to pre-empt federal law governing warnings on tobacco products.

“We don’t want to see a patchwork of regulation here,” said David Sutton of Altria Client Services, acting as spokesman for the cigarette company, which is owned by Altria Group Inc.

Sutton said Philip Morris is also concerned because the signs can displace point-of-sale advertising, one of the few places left for its marketing materials under federal regulation and a 12-year-old legal settlement with the states.

The company also believes the regulation violates the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.

The complaint the retailers and tobacco companies filed says the signs do not describe the risks of smoking in purely factual terms while their exhortation to “Quit Smoking Today” and vivid images reflect “a message that [we] would not carry at the point of sale,” if not required to.

The city’s Law Department is reviewing the complaint, a spokeswoman said.

By DAVID RESS June 4, 2010, timesdispatch.com

Treasury pushed for a“tobacco control strategy” rather than excise tax increases when plans to cut smoking rates were discussed, papers show. The Government went ahead with tobacco tax hikes, starting at 10 percent for factory-rolled cigarettes in April, with two more hikes to come over the next two years. Papers obtained by The New Zealand Herald under the Official Information Act showed Treasury recommended to Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia that the Government use a range of tools to prepare a“tobacco control strategy” rather than ramp up excise tax.

It said excise increases were“not highly effective” despite information from the World Health Organisation suggesting it was the single most effective way to encourage quitting and achieving a drop in smoking prevalence .

Quitline has reported calls increasing 100 percent since the price of tobacco went up.

NZPA |  June 2, 2010