Singapore is keeping a close eye on a development in Australia in which tobacco companies are banned from displaying their distinctive colours, brand designs and corporate logos on cigarette packs. Australia is the first country in the world to introduce such plain packaging requirements, which tobacco companies have challenged on grounds of trademark rights infringement, said Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang in Parliament on Monday.

He was replying to Dr Janil Puthucheary (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC) who was concerned that Singapore’s strict tobacco control measures could be at risk as a result of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations, given the challenge the Australian government is facing on its tobacco regulation.

The TPP is being negotiated among the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

New cigarette safety standards have been introduced in an effort to cut the number of people killed in house fires. The new regulations mean that each cigarette sold in the EU must meet a reduced ignition propensity (RIP) requirement. One of the most significant requirements being that a cigarette paper must have special bands down its length so that once the cigarette has been lit, it will go out if it is not actively smoked. The change has been welcomed by safety campaigners and anti-smoking groups.

The Department for Communities and Local Government reported that around 2,800 fires in the UK were caused by smoking materials in 2008, 101 people died and 932 were injured in smoking related accidents.

It is hoped that the new regulations would prevent many of these smoking related accidents and fatalities.

Martin Dockrell from Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) said: “Cigarettes are without doubt the most dangerous consumer product on earth – they kill 50% of people who use them. Finland has already introduced RIP cigarettes – last year the number of smoking-related fire deaths there fell 40%. You have to ask yourself why the tobacco companies resisted this change for so long. This simple change will dramatically reduce the number of household fires.”

Councillor Susan Hall from The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority’s Community Safety Committee said; “Cigarette fires are a killer, destroying lives and properties across the country every day. These new safety standards amount to an all-out attack on the single biggest cause of fire deaths in the country. But people still need to take care. Never smoke in bed and always dispose of cigarettes carefully.”

The London Fire Brigade has campaigned since 2005 to get such measures put in place.

Harford County government says it plans to impose a complete smoking ban on its properties, owned or leased, though it isn’t clear what specific properties fall into that category. The Harford County Department of Administration will conduct a public hearing on the proposed rule and regulation requiring county government property to be tobacco-free on Dec. 5 at 2 p.m. in the second floor conference room, Harford County Government Administration Building, 220 South Main St. in Bel Air.

“Basically there will be no smoking on county property,” Bob Thomas, the chief spokesman for county government said Monday. The county currently bans smoking in all its buildings, but not on the grounds.

“There’s been an issue at the county office building, where smokers congregate down the handicapped ramp and also at a picnic table on the parking lot,” Thomas said.

The proposed tobacco-free rule and regulation states: “Smoking and use of any tobacco products is prohibited on all property owned, leased or operated by Harford County, Maryland (the ‘County’). This consists of all buildings and grounds, including exterior open spaces, parking lots and garages, driveways and recreational facilities. In addition, smoking is prohibited in any vehicle owned or leased by the County.”

Besides cigarettes, cigars and pipes, “smoking” is defined as the use of other tobacco products such as snuff and chewing tobacco, as well as, e-cigarettes.

The tobacco ban will take effect Jan. 1, 2012; however, the regulation has a provision for the county to provide a designated smoking area outside any leased county facility that is under contract to be used prior to the ban taking place.

Employees who violate this regulation are subject to disciplinary action, according to the regulation. Visitors and/or vendors who are observed violating this regulation will be required to cease the violation, or will be asked to leave the premises.

Thomas could not immediately provide specific details on the properties that will or will not be affected by the ban. He did say he had been told the libraries’ grounds would not be covered by it.

The tobacco-free rule and regulation is expected to be posted on the county’s website sometime on Tuesday.

The federal Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products is well into its congressionally mandated mission to regulate tobacco. But a Republican lawmaker’s amendment to the fiscal 2012 agriculture spending bill would endanger the FDA’s ability to continue regulating tobacco products, according to Democrats and health advocates. The appropriations measure is slated to come to the full House this week.

At issue is an amendment by Rep. Dennis Rehberg, R-Mont., requiring the FDA to base its decisions on “hard science.”

The congressman, a former cattle rancher, said he was concerned about the FDA’s regulation of animal drugs, and he won approval of the amendment in the Appropriations Committee.

The agency is trying to ban hog and other livestock producers from administering antibiotics to animals in an effort to fatten them faster. Public health officials have said antibiotics in livestock are a factor in the development of drug-resistant bacteria that are harmful to people.

But Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., a long-time critic of the tobacco industry, and other Democrats said Rehberg was trying to interfere with the FDA’s authority to prevent the tobacco industry from putting ingredients in their products that would appeal to children.

“The Republicans have launched a pernicious assault on the (2009) Tobacco Control Act,” Waxman said. “There is no excuse for disarming FDA and giving the tobacco industry a blank check to continue to market tobacco to children and young adults.”

He said he will try to strip Rehberg’s language from the bill when it reaches the House floor.

“We strongly urge the full House of Representatives to reject this special interest giveaway to the tobacco industry that would harm the health of our nation’s children,” said a joint statement by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association.

Those groups also played a little political hardball, pointedly noting that the 29 House members who voted for Rehberg’s amendment in committee took $289,927 in tobacco industry political action committee contributions in the last three elections.

When the NewsHour’s global health team visited China last year for stories on tobacco, obesity and other health issues, they found a smoker’s paradise and an anti-tobacco advocate’s nightmare. People lit up constantly in restaurants and parks, cigarettes made popular gifts for special occasions and business was hopping at tobacco shops. The country has an estimated 350 million smokers, more people than the entire population of the United States. More than half of adult men smoke.

“If you’re trying to quit, don’t come here,” wrote Ray Suarez. “The telltale odor of smoke, or a just-stubbed out butt, seems ever present.”

A new government policy banning smoking in public venues is now aiming to put a dent in the country’s smoking culture, or at the very least make smoking more inconvenient.

Starting this week, China’s Ministry of Health is strengthening its tobacco rules to require 28 types of businesses, including bars, coffee shops, hotels and stadiums to become 100 percent smoke-free. A notable exception to the regulation is office buildings.

“This is really an encouraging first step … it really sets a baseline for local governments and provincial governments,” said Kathy Chen, China director for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

The government move is especially significant because the tobacco industry in China is a state owned and controlled monopoly. Cigarettes are big business, with taxes on tobacco products bringing in at least 5 percent of the government’s total revenue.

The decision brings China closer to fulfilling the tenants of the World Health Organization’s global anti-tobacco treaty, which the country backed five years ago but has been slow to implement.

“What is going to be key is public support and a social norm change where non smokers feel like they have the right to tell smokers ‘This is a non-smoking place, please put out your cigarette,’” said Chen.

The new policy requires business owners to post no smoking signs, and delegate staff to stop people from lighting up. Outdoor smoking areas must be away from sidewalks, and cigarette vending machines will no longer be allowed in public places.

Fines for business owners who violate the rules could range from 1,000 yuan (about $150) to 30,000 yuan (about $4,600), according to the new policy, but there are still questions about how the regulation will be enforced on a local level, and whether these fines will really be imposed.

“Publicizing a regulation is one thing, forcefully implementing it is another,” said Yuanli Liu, the director for the China Initiative at the Harvard School of Public Health who is serving as part of the health policy and management committee for the Chinese government. He warns the policy can be undermined easily if local governments, many of which benefit from the tobacco industry and sales, don’t buy into the regulation.

“This change will take a while, you don’t expect this new policy to become a panacea, a silver bullet to fix all the problems,” he said.

The tobacco industry and the government are intertwined in China but the policy doesn’t mean promotion of tobacco will stop. Liu noted tactical counter campaigns by the tobacco industry have already begun in response to these regulations, including promotion of new lower nicotine brands and publicizing charitable donations.

But unlike similar bans enacted in cities in the United States, there has not been an organized push-back from owners of bars and restaurants, said Chen, who has been monitoring media coverage in papers across China.

For the policy to make a real impact, Liu argued more needs to be done to educate the public and health workers about the real dangers of tobacco in tandem with new regulations.

“There is still a lack of strong belief in the harmful effects of smoking. People will cite examples of visible leaders who were chain smokers, like Chairman Mao, and lived a long life,” Liu said. Many doctors and medical students are also smokers, sending mixed signals to patients.

But the down-side to having so many people lighting up is also becoming evident. As Suarez reported last year, one million deaths a year in China are now attributed to smoking-related illnesses, and worker productivity is lost to these diseases as well.

“There is increasing awareness because of the alarming rates of growth of non communicable disease, of lung disease, stroke, cardiovascular disease,” Chen said. “You see the balance starts to tip.”

While many remain skeptical of how the new regulation will play out, Chen points to the recent push before the 2008 Beijing Olympics to make the city smoke free as an example that change is possible. Hotel lobbies in the city used to be wall to wall smoke, she said but since the efforts that has changed.

“Making it inconvenient and socially unacceptable to smoke does become a driver for people to quit,” she said.

One minute a Hardin County correctional officer was guarding inmates, and minutes later she was out of a job, under arrest and behind bars in one of the cells she used to watch over. Angela Sue Fomby, 36, was arrested Monday afternoon when the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office became aware she had attempted to bring tobacco products into the jail for several inmates. Sheriff Ed Cain fired her on the spot and put her behind bars.

She bonded out of jail the next day.

We learned Angie Fomby had worked at the Hardin County Jail since July. She previously worked as a jail captain in Newton County.

Sheriff Cain says his office received information Fomby was bringing tobacco products into the jail. They are prohibited.

His deputies checked the information and found that Fomby had brought tobacco products to work this past Monday but left them in her car.

When confronted she admitted to bringing tobacco products in once before, according to the sheriff.

He says Fomby was a good worker and something like this has never happened at the jail.

However, in other jails and prisons across the country it’s known to happen when officers start to build friendly relationships with inmates.

Sheriff Cain says he holds his officers to the same standards and rules as the inmates. Whether it’s tobacco or drugs behind bars, it poses a safety issue.

“When you have a correctional officer doing this it’s dangerous for everyone,” Sheriff Cain told KFDM News. “Certainly dangerous to the correctional officers because you never know how far this is going to go. And there are other people working in there. Starts out as an innocent cigarette or part of a cigarette or smokeless tobacco. Then it goes to drugs, then it goes to cell phones and weapons. The next thing you know you’ve got a bad situation.”

Sheriff Cain says he realizes people make mistakes. He says what Fomby is accused of doing doesn’t make her a bad person. It’s her actions that are wrong.

But the sheriff is clear: if you pull these types of stunts in his business then you shouldn’t be working in law enforcement.

“These officers have an integrity and a character that they want to keep. And when you’ve got someone on their shift doing something like this, it damages not only their shift but the whole jail, the whole sheriffs office.”

If convicted of the 3rd Degree Felony of prohibited substance in a correctional facility, Fomby could face 2-10 years in prison and up to a $5,000 fine.

HARDIN COUNTY – Sheriff Ed Cain told KFDM News he has fired a correctional officer caught through surveillance video smuggling tobacco into the Hardin County Jail.

Angela Sue Fomby, 36, is charged with delivering a prohibited substance in a correctional facility. The charge is a 3rd Degree Felony. She could face 2-10 years in prison and up to a $5,000 fine if convicted.

Fomby was arrested Monday and released Tuesday after posting $3,000 bond.

Sheriff Cain told KFDM News she admitted to the crime.

She was hired in July of this year.

“We had a suspicion she had been delivering tobacco in jail for several weeks,” Sheriff Cain told KFDM News. “They checked surveillance video and phone conversations and confirmed it.”

The Sheriff said it didn’t take long to bring the investigation to a resolution.

“She was confronted Monday,” said Sheriff Cain. “She was arrested at 5 p.m. Monday, about one hour before her shift ended.”

Sheriff Cain said Fomby isn’t denying the charge.

“She admitted to it,” said Cain. “I fired her on the spot and arrested her.”

He told us there is zero tolerance for prohibited substances in a correctional facility.

“We file on inmates for doing it. Employees are no different. They should know better.”

The sheriff said guards or inmates who deliver prohibited substances can compromise security.

6 News reporter Lindsey Kovacevich interviewed Sheriff Cain early Wednesday afternoon. Watch for his comments in tonight’s newscasts.

With these words the reader is launched into a strange netherworld that revolves around cigarettes. It is a place devoid of rules, morals, or polite behavior. One in which the culture dictates that anything goes, and everything is up for grabs. The Cigarette Book: The History And Culture Of Smoking collects hundreds of items that reflect this worldview, all are part and parcel of the smoking lifestyle.

As the title indicates, the book is focused almost exclusively on manufactured cigarettes, as opposed to other tobacco products. The cigarette as we know it today is a uniquely twentieth century phenomenon. In 1900, tobacco was mainly consumed in pipes, cigars, or cigarettes of the roll-your-own variety. By 1910, sales of factory-rolled cigs had exploded, reaching 8.6 billion for the year. The Cigarette Century had begun in earnest.

The huge sales broke the nascent industry wide open. Suddenly everyone
had important business dealings with the tobacco companies. These included reps from advertising, corporate sponsors, labor and industry, pro-smoking groups, anti-smoking groups, health studies… the list is endless, because it has never stopped growing, and never will.

The Cigarette Book compiles this unwieldy group of interested parties in a format much like that of a small encyclopedia. The first entry is “aardvark” (which refers to a surreal Winston ad) and the final is “Zippo” (about the iconic lighter). Each item is explained with a few brief, descriptive paragraphs, some of which include illustrations.

One thing that makes this such an enjoyable read are the peculiar things the authors discovered. Take the entry titled “Global Warming.” In 2006, former tobacco farmer Al Gore stood in front of a group from the UN and told them that cigarettes were a “significant contributor” to global warming. Apparently he even managed to keep a straight face when he said it.

Ever wonder what the biggest boondoggle the cigarette companies ever faced might be? It was a brand called Premier, the world’s first smokeless smoke. The public hated it, and Premier lasted about as long as New Coke did. When the brand was rolled out in 1988, the overall cost was estimated to be over $300 million.

The “Slang” section features obscure terms used for cigarettes over the years. These include “Durries” (from Australia), “Gaspers,” (for cheap brands), “Tabs” (Specific to Northern U.S.), and the ever popular “Coffin Nails,” which has been traced back to a magazine article published in 1867.

There are some celebrities who will always be associated with smoking. A number of them are profiled, including Frank Sinatra, Yul Brynner, Bette Davis, John Wayne, and Laurence Olivier. Beginning in 1956, Sir Laurence even had his very own “Olivier” brand of cigarettes. Legend has it that he blackmailed theatres to stock only Olivier brand smokes in their vending machines if they ever wished for him to grace their stage.

Quite a few U.S. Presidents were smokers, but none were as devoted to the habit as Lyndon Johnson. At his peak, LBJ smoked three packs a day. Another heavy smoker in the world of politics was “Uncle Joe” Stalin. While he puffed like a chimney in meetings, nobody else was allowed to smoke at all.

On the opposing team, Adolph Hitler quit his pack a day habit and became the original anti-smoking zealot. Much like the evil-doers of today, Hitler taxed and banned cigarettes everywhere he could. According to the book, when der Fuehrer killed himself, the first thing his staff members did was break out the smokes.

The Cigarette Book is full of interesting, funny, and sometimes downright bizarre bits of trivia about smoking. Whether you are a three pack a day LBJ type, or an anti-smoking fanatic like Hitler, you are bound to find something to enjoy here. My copy now resides in the holiest place of all for books. In the bathroom, right next to the toilet.

A Rochester man accused of trafficking 580 cartons of untaxed cigarettes and more than 1,200 untaxed cigars is facing felony charges. Juan V. Virella, 31, of 65 Hortense Street was charged last week with attempt to evade or defeat tax, possession of untaxed cigarettes, possession of counterfeit stamped cigarettes and fourth-degree tax fraud, all felonies and possession of untaxed cigars, a misdemeanor, Jamie Woodward, acting commissioner of the state Department of Taxation and Finance announced today.

Virella was arrested at Juan’s Ghetto Nick Nacs and Things, 210 Lyell Ave, Woodward said. State taxation investigators found the untaxed cartons of cigarettes and cigars, some of which were labeled with counterfeit tax stamps.

The seized cigarettes and cigars represent an estimated $30,000 in unpaid taxes to the state, Woodward said.

Virella was arraigned in City Court last week and was released on his own recognizance. He is scheduled to return to City Court on Dec. 1.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office assisted with the case.

Smoking is the practice where a substance is burned and smoke is inhaled, tobacco the main offender is followed by, opium and cannabis. The most widespread method of smoking today is through cigarettes, whether through a hand rolled paper with tobacco inside or through industrially manufactured cigarettes.
Tobacco smoking is the most common form while opium and cannabis are far less popular. About 1 billion people in the world practice this unhealthy habit. The English language adopted the term smoking in the late 18th century, before than it was called drinking smoke.

The history of Smoking dates to 5000-3000 BC when tobacco was grown as an agricultural product; it was used in cleansing rituals by religious leaders. Smoking tobacco and or other hallucinating drugs were used to make contact with the spiritual world. The earlier civilizations also believed that tobacco was a gift from god and exhaled smoke was capable of carrying the prayers and thoughts to heavens.
In 1612, John Rolfe became the first settler to successfully raise tobacco as a cash crop in Virginia, US. Its demand quickly grew and was referred to as brown gold. Frenchman Jean Nicot was the pioneer who introduced tobacco in France from where it spread to England. The word nicotine is derived from the name of the Frenchman Jean Nicot.
Initially like tea, coffee and opium, tobacco was also used for its medicinal purposes but later its use as a medicine subsided and it was only used for recreational purposes. Murad IV, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, was the first human in history to impose a ban on the use of tobacco; he declared it to be a threat to health and morality of the Ottoman society.
Smoking is a very hard and difficult habit to break since a cigarette contains nicotine, which is extremely addictive, and there is every reason to believe it is more so today.
People begin smoking for a variety of reasons, some believe that they look cool and they use it as a mean to attract attention, some start because their friends and family members smoke and some start because of stress and smoking will overcome that stress whether at work, home or school. Statistics, however, show that 9 out of 10 smokers begin before the age of 18.
Tobacco smoking is of two basic types depending upon the willingness to inhale smoke. A person will be called an active smoker, if he is smoking by his own choice whereas the passive smoker is a non smoker who inhales the smoke by being in the presence of an active smoker.
It has been acknowledged world wide that both types of smoke inhaling are extremely dangerous to human health.
Some interesting facts about the hazards of smoking are:
· About 111,000 people die annually due to active or passive smoking.
· One person dies in every 5 minutes with smoking related diseases.
· About 40% of the total number of fires in a year is caused by smoking accidents.
· Tobacco is most widely grown cash crop in most countries; hence less land is available for growing food crops.
· Burning tobacco causes pollution, since it emits 4000 dangerous gases into the atmosphere.
· Cigarettes produce two gases, methane and carbon dioxide, which are responsible for global warming through green house effect.
· Nicotine increases the blood pressure thus increasing the chances of a heart attack and stroke.
· Chest infection and bronchitis leads to lung cancer, ultimately harming the life of the smoker and the people around him.
· Passive smoking can cause sore eyes, sneezing, runny nose, headaches, coughing, wheezing and hoarseness.
· Children of smokers are prone to a very high risk of getting all those diseases that a smoker may have and sometimes even worse because they have a lower level of immunity than adults.
· There is a ten years reduction in the average life of a smoker as compared to a non smoker.
· It can cause cracked lips, yellowish teeth, sores and mouth ulcers.
· A smoker lacks stamina and can not actively participate in sports.
China, India and Brazil are the top three tobacco producing nations. Tobacco has been a principal cash crop for decades hence a great deal of research is being carried out on biological and even a genetic level. The first virus identified by humans was a tobacco mosaic virus; it is an RNA virus that infects plants especially tobacco and other members of the family solanaceae.
The world no tobacco day is celebrated on May 31 it is a global celebration with a view to achieve a 24 hour period of abstinence for smokers. Global attention is also drawn towards the ill-effects of the use of tobacco and the number of deaths world wide from tobacco use are also brought into the light.
Smoking produces two green house gasses that are altering our atmosphere and are directly related to climate change; it is just one more challenge for the world to over come.

From: www.starcitynews.com