Cigarette Sellers Admit To Defrauding Distributors –MN, USA
Oct 17, 2004 9:25 am US/Central
Minneapolis (AP) The owners of several tobacco shops in the Twin Cities have admitted being involved in a scheme that defrauded national tobacco distributors of nearly $1 million in cigarettes.
Zuhair Wazwaz and his cousin, Mike Wazwaz, pleaded guilty to fraud charges in federal court in Minneapolis. The U.S. attorney's office says two of Zuhair Wazwaz's brothers, Waleed and Bassam Wazwaz, are expected to enter guilty pleas next month
The scheme involved Tobacco City stores in Stillwater and Mendota Heights. Authorities say the conspirators had a Jordanian man, Gerard Busman, pose as owner of the shops and ordered $950,000 worth of cigarettes on credit from two tobacco distributors. The cigarettes and Busman disappeared at the same time in 1997 -- Busman on a plane back to Jordan and the cigarettes to other stores owned by the Wazwaz family.

http://wcco.com/localnews/local_story_291102850.html

*watch for prohibition measures to make a come back

Brewer to use beer health labels

Scottish & Newcastle, the UK's biggest brewer, will put health warnings on its beer cans and bottles from next month.

The firm, which makes Newcastle Brown Ale, Kronenbourg and Foster's, will list the units of alcohol in each.

It will add a message urging drinkers not to exceed "three to four units a day for men, two to three for women".

The move comes as the UK Government targets binge and underage drinking, as well as trying to limit the social and health damage done by alcohol abuse.

Confirming a report in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Scottish & Newcastle said that it was a responsible company behaving in a responsible way.

The labels are not required by current UK legislation, but are expected to be adopted by other brewers, the paper said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3750986.stm

It’s the tax rate, stupid –NH, USA

Governor hopefuls can't duck debate on state economy

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of articles examining the key issues in the race for governor of New Hampshire. Next week: Politics get personal.

By COLIN MANNING

N.H. Statehouse Writer

CONCORD — When two successful businessmen run for governor, there tends to be a lot of talk about the economy, jobs and taxes.

Republican Gov. Craig Benson and Democrat John Lynch have discussed what they would do to strengthen New Hampshire’s economy while on the campaign trail, but will anything they do make a difference?

It’s hard to tell.

http://www.fosters.com/October_2004/10.17.04/news/pol_10.17.04a.asp

*This is 19 pages (3 columns) and with many thanks to the author Stanton Glantz, PHD  in Applied Mechanics and the company Repace (the people that said it would take tornado like winds to get rid of cigarette smoke).

Exposure to second-hand smoke:

are we protecting our kids?

A Position Paper by the Ontario Medical Association

http://www.oma.org/phealth/smoke2004.pdf

'How many are there?' MB, CA

Smoke shack found at Transit Sat, October 16, 2004

By FRANK LANDRY, LEGISLATURE REPORTER

It's not just provincial government workers who have been breaking the Manitoba-wide butt ban. Winnipeg Transit employees have been puffing inside an enclosed smoke shack located behind the department's administration offices on Osborne Street. That brings to three the number of illegal cigarette huts identified by The Sun in the past two days.

"The question is how many others are there?" said Tory Leader Stuart Murray. "I know we're doing some social re-engineering here, but the point is there is some legislation in place and (Premier Gary) Doer has to decide if he's going to follow through with it or not."

Morley Calahan, spokesman for Winnipeg Transit, said he didn't realize enclosed smoke shacks were now illegal until reading about it in yesterday's Sun.

'MATTER OF INTERPRETATION'

"It's a matter of interpretation," Calahan said. "We assumed we had the correct interpretation (of the provincial anti-smoking legislation)."

The puffing room is actually a "vintage" bus shelter that has been available to employees who smoke for several years, he said.

Calahan said several windows will be knocked out of the unheated structure by next week so it complies with the province's Non-Smokers Health Protection Act, which kicked in more than two weeks ago. For the time being, puffing will continue, he said.

"At this point, people are still smoking in there during their breaks," Calahan said.

The Sun first reported yesterday that Manitoba Lotteries workers were lighting up in cozy smoking shacks located behind the Club Regent and McPhillips Street Station casinos. As a result of the publicity, Lotteries officials pulled the plug on the illegal tobacco huts, which were heated and ventilated.

Jim Drew, manager of the environmental health unit with Manitoba Health, said he doesn't believe there are many more enclosed smoking shelters out there.

"There's not a lot of little shacks outside of businesses," Drew said. "And it wouldn't make sense for people to install them now."

Drew said if any more are uncovered, scofflaws will be "dealt with" by provincial inspectors, who have the authority to issue warnings and fines.

So far no fines have been levied against businesses and workplaces that continue to allow smoking indoors.

Robert Jenkinson, owner of the Creekside Hideaway hotel in Treherne, is one of the scofflaws. He said he knows at least another 22 rural bar owners who still let patrons puff.

"I guess they're going to come at their own discretion," Jenkinson said of the provincial inspectors.

Should the province allow employees to smoke in shacks outside their workplace?

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2004/10/16/671108.html

Smoking 'em out

Lotto bosses change rules at casino huts

By FRANK LANDRY, LEGISLATURE REPORTER

Hundreds of provincial government employees who were secretly smoking in heated puffing shacks will be forced to step outside today. Until yesterday, Manitoba Lotteries had been allowing its workers to light up in enclosed shelters tucked behind the Club Regent and McPhillips Street Station casinos.

Lotteries officials had a change of heart after The Winnipeg Sun questioned the legality of the ventilated smoking shacks.

After defending the policy earlier in the day, Lotteries spokeswoman Susan Olynik did a flip-flop and told The Sun no-smoking signs would be posted in the cozy 120-square-foot shelters this morning.

"We've been reviewing the provincial legislation and working our way through it," Olynik said late yesterday afternoon. "We will be asking staff to not smoke in those facilities."

'Perfectly legal'

Earlier Olynik said she didn't believe the policy was in violation of the provincewide smoking ban, which kicked in Oct. 1.

"These are not public facilities," she said in the morning. "They are shelters that were constructed for employees for inclement weather. They are perfectly legal. That's something we checked out."

The Non-Smokers Health Protection Act prohibits smoking in most enclosed public and work places in the province.

There are some exceptions, including First Nations and military bases.

Jonathan Hildebrand, spokesman for Healthy Living Minister Theresa Oswald, said Lotteries was still following Winnipeg's smoking bylaw, which allowed for such employee smoking shelters. The tougher provincewide ban takes precedence over the city's crackdown.

"It obviously wasn't caught that the province had different requirements," he said. "They recognized that and now they've remedied it."

Tory Leader Stuart Murray said the province was creating a double standard by not enforcing the butt ban on its casino workers.

"To me, (Premier Gary) Doer either believes in the legislation or he doesn't," Murray said. "He should make up his mind."

Murray said if Manitoba Lotteries employees can smoke indoors, hotel and restaurant staff should also be permitted to light up in special rooms.

But, "it's a slippery slope," he warned, noting the next step would be allowing bar patrons to have their own smoke shacks.

Ray Louie, chairman of the Manitoba Restaurant Association, said it was "a little shocking" to learn government workers had their own smoking huts.

"It seems the rules don't apply to everybody," Louie said. "Some are more privileged then others."

The Manitoba Restaurant Association and the Manitoba Hotel Association had unsuccessfully tried lobbying the Doer government to allow for ventilated smoking rooms in bars and lounges.

Olynik said the decision to force smokers to step outside was made internally without any interference from the NDP government.

The shelters were constructed prior to the province's crackdown on smokers, Olynik said. The one at McPhillips Street Station was built three years ago, and the one at Club Regent was built last year, she said.

"They really have nothing to do with the smoking ban," Olynik said.

Since the provincewide butt ban kicked in Oct. 1, eight reports have been made to the province of scofflaws. Seven warnings have been issued but there have been no fines.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2004/10/15/669721.html

Heather Crowe visits New Brunswick

Sept. 30, 2004 NB 1081

FREDERICTON (CNB) - Premier Bernard Lord and Health and Wellness Minister Elvy Robichaud met with Heather Crowe today to discuss the government's commitment to implement smoke-free legislation as part of the Provincial Health Plan

Crowe, a former waitress in Ottawa, worked for 40 years in restaurants and bars where, as she describes, "the air was blue with smoke". A non-smoker who never lived with a smoker, the 57-year-old was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer in the spring of 2002. She has been featured in Health Canada advertising campaign against the dangers of second-hand smoke. Crowe's visit to New Brunswick is organized by the Canadian Cancer Society 

Premier Bernard Lord and Heather Crowe - Video: (Original) (Interpretation) - (more audio/video)

"I commend Ms. Crowe for her bravery and dedication in sharing her personal struggle," Lord said. "I am pleased that New Brunswick can say it is a proud partner in this change to encourage smokers to break the habit and join the majority of residents who live, work and play in a smoke-free environment."

Smoke-free legislation is expected to reduce exposure to second hand smoke by 80 per cent, cut cigarette consumption by at least 20 per cent, and save the province an estimated $132 million a year in health care costs and productivity losses.

"I am pleased to welcome Heather Crowe to New Brunswick, a province which will provide full protection from second-hand smoke to all workers," Robichaud said. "Her testimony is a touching and convincing one that, I am sure, will encourage other jurisdictions to follow New Brunswick's example by adopting smoking legislation to protect all workers and the general public."

Crowe said the province's plans fit with her goal. "I want to be the last person to die from second-hand smoke at work," she said.

As of Oct. 1, indoor public places and indoor workplaces will be smoke-free in New Brunswick. Smoking will no longer be permitted on school grounds, in retail stores, community halls, conference centres, sports arenas, educational buildings, bingo halls, bars, restaurants and all indoor workplaces.

New Brunswickers can find information on the smoke-free legislation by calling the Smoke-Free Act information line number at 1-866-234-4234 or by visiting http://www.gnb.ca, keyword: Health.

04/09/30

MEDIA CONTACT: Communications, Health and Wellness, 506-453-2536.

http://www.gnb.ca/cnb/news/hw/2004e1081hw.htm

Pinard's claim that she wrote anti-smoking law questioned –CA, USA

A San Luis Obispo doctor, former council member and then-city attorney behind the ordinance say her only involvement was voting to pass it
Ryan Huff The Tribune
Three people key to the passage of San Luis Obispo's landmark 1990 anti-smoking ordinance are questioning state Senate candidate Peg Pinard's claim in television ads that she "wrote the first law banning smoking in restaurants in the entire country."

"I'm astounded," said Jerry Reiss, who served on the City Council from 1987 to 1992. "I don't recall she had any involvement in it other than voting on it."

San Luis Obispo doctor Steve Hansen says he pitched the ordinance to Reiss, who asked then-City Attorney Jeff Jorgensen to write it. Reiss and Jorgensen back up this account.

Pinard was part of the 4-1 vote to approve the measure, which outlawed smoking indoors in most public places -- including bars and restaurants. She said while many people deserve credit for passing the ordinance, her commercial is still accurate.

"When a council passes it, we write it into law," Pinard said in a phone interview Thursday. "I would never take away from what other people did. But four council members voted for it, and I was one of them."

The one who opposed it was late Mayor Ron Dunin, who had pushed for exemptions from the law for bars and gaming rooms.

With passage of the law, San Luis Obispo adopted the nation's strictest anti-smoking law at that time and was the first city in the nation to ban smoking in bars.

Hansen, an internal medicine specialist, said he proposed the ordinance idea after studying data about the harmful effects of secondhand smoke.

"I was the one who brought forward the whole notion of workplace safety for workers who had to bear the brunt of smoking for eight hours," said Hansen, chairman of the American Medical Association's tobacco control program. "I called Jerry Reiss and worked the council."

Jorgensen, who researched and actually wrote the ordinance, declined to say how he felt when he saw Pinard's commercial.

"I will tell you that as the driving force behind it, I think Dr. Hansen's and Jerry Reiss' comments are very credible," Jorgensen said.

The retired city attorney added that the law was complicated because such an ordinance had never been passed in the United States and was heavily lobbied against by tobacco companies.

"Because we were charting new territory, there was a risk that the ordinance would be challenged by tobacco industry and other interests if it went too far or if there wasn't adequate justification for it," Jorgensen said.

Reiss said that if anyone deserves the credit for writing the law, it's Jorgensen.

"Peg didn't write it no matter what her advertisement says," Reiss said. "After seeing that, my inclination is I wonder how accurate the rest of her commercials are."

Pinard acknowledged that she wasn't the only one who wrote the law but said she was a key figure in its passage.

"We only have 30 seconds for an ad -- we can't list everybody's name," she said.

"... It would have never happened without Jerry Reiss, but Jerry Reiss could never do it without me."

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/local/9926529.htm

Government to quit inspecting tobacco
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON -- Legislation just passed by Congress abolishes the requirement that the government inspect imported tobacco to ensure it is not laced with chemicals and pesticides banned in the United States but permitted elsewhere.

That means imported leaf, which U.S. tobacco companies are increasingly relying on, could make cigarettes even more harmful, said Tom Glynn, director of science and trends for the American Cancer Society.

Glynn said about 60 of the 4,000 or so chemicals in cigarette smoke are linked to cancer. "What this may do is just add to that number, making an already toxic product even more toxic," he said.

The Agriculture Department, the Homeland Security Department and the Food and Drug Administration all have authority to inspect other imported agricultural products to ensure they meet U.S. standards. Officials at those agencies said they did not know of another agricultural product that comes into this country without some kind of inspection.

U.S. farmers are unhappy about the end of foreign inspections on tobacco. The change was included in legislation that will pay tobacco growers $10 billion and end a Depression-era program that set price and production controls on American-grown leaf.

The tobacco plan is part of a major corporate tax bill that is awaiting President Bush's signature.

The federal tobacco program included foreign and domestic leaf inspections. Lawmakers were reluctant to retain any part of the program, which growers and cigarettes makers had paid for, and did not want the public to cover any of the costs. The legislation requires cigarette makers to fund the buyout.

Growers had complained for years that the old quota system kept their tobacco prices too high to compete with imported tobacco. But they now say they would like assurances their foreign competitors will not try to lower production costs by relying on pesticides such as DDT, which is banned in the United States.

These farmers also say foreign growers use chemicals not permitted in the United States that make tobacco leaves more pliable and easier to harvest.

"If they know it's not going to be inspected, they're going to take the cheapest route whatever that might be," said Rod Kuegel, a tobacco farmer from Owensboro, Ky.

Kuegel worries that growers in developing countries may take this route. African and South American countries are among the leading exporters of tobacco.

Both Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette manufacturer, and leading rival Reynolds American plan to inspect foreign tobacco that they use and test for outlawed chemicals, company spokesmen said. Philip Morris spokesman Mike Farriss said the costs should be minimal.

Even so, small cigarette manufacturers that sell discount brands are unlikely to conduct such inspections, said Arnold Hamm, assistant general manager of a Raleigh, N.C.-based growers' cooperative.

Lamar DeLoach, president of the Tobacco Growers Association of Georgia, said he is concerned about relying on manufacturers that pledge to test.

"I guess my only problem with that is that other commodities that come into this country have federal inspections, and federal inspections ought to allow the people to know what's coming in," DeLoach said.

"If I'm bringing in bananas, and I just tell the government, 'Well don't worry about inspecting these. I'll do it myself,' how comfortable would you as a consumer feel about me doing that?"

http://newsobserver.com/news/nc/ncwire_news/story/1737649p-8008078c.html

POLICE BEAT -OH, USA

By The Eagle-Gazette Staff

At 1:23 p.m. Wednesday someone broke into the Star Drive Thru, 825 W. Fair Ave., Lancaster.

Officers responded to the alarm and witnesses said a white pickup truck with three people were seen leaving the area when the alarm went off, according to a Lancaster police report.

Stolen items included miscellaneous cartons of cigarettes, plastic trash cans and $574 in cash.

Between 10:15 p.m. and 10:51 p.m. Wednesday someone entered Suds & Stuff, 1649 E. Main St.

Stolen items included $300 in cash and an unknown number of cigarette cartons.

The estimate of damage to a cash register was $200 and damage to a door frame was not estimated.

http://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/news/stories/20041016/localnews/1425999.html

Gunman gets away with $4,500 from dollar store –IL, USA
By Gene Haschak Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Saturday, October 16, 2004

Elgin police Friday were investigating Wednesday's armed robbery of the recently opened Deal$ - Nothing Over a Dollar store at 1015 N. Randall Road, Elgin.

A lone gunman escaped with $4,460 from two cash registers and a safe in the store.

An assistant manager told police she went out to smoke a cigarette about 9:25 p.m. after the store had closed and while other employees were cleaning up.

She told investigators she was grabbed from behind by her sweatshirt, a handgun was placed at the back of her head and she was told to go back into the store.

The gunman forced her to lock the front doors and call over the public address system for the three other employees to go to the front of the store, where he forced them to lie facedown on the floor, police said.

The robber had the assistant manager collect the others workers' cell phones and throw them down an aisle.

"Open the safe and get the money," the robber is quoted in a police report as telling the assistant manager.

"Put the money in there," he said, throwing several store bags at her, the police report said. After stuffing the bags with money and giving them to the robber, he again grabbed her by her sweatshirt, this time throwing her to the floor and yelling to the workers, "Don't turn around or I'm going to shoot you," the reports said.

Before leaving, the reports said, the robber led the four workers into the men's washroom and told them to count to 100 before coming out or he would shoot them.

They left the washroom five minutes later. The robber was gone.

http://www.dailyherald.com/kane/main_story.asp?intID=3827670

Discount tobacco store robbed- IN, USA

PORTAGE -- A Portage cigarette shop was robbed Friday afternoon and police are investigating whether the crime is linked to three similar robberies this week in Lake County.
A Michigan man was arrested Friday evening in Gary in connection with the Lake County robberies, although that man has not been charged in connection with the robbery in Portage. Brett Mallon, 41, of New Buffalo, Mich., was arrested outside a Gary motel. Police said he will be charged today in Lake County with robbing two cigarette shops in Merrillville and one in Dyer.

On Friday, a white man, described as being in his 30s entered Low Bob's discount tobacco store at 3456 Willowcreek Road in the Portage Commons Shopping Center just before 2:30 p.m. The man threatened a clerk at knifepoint and fled with an undetermined amount of money and cigarettes, said Portage police Cpl. John Ryan.
"This early in the day, it is pretty strange," Ryan said about the mid-afternoon robbery in an area of the city that is busy with traffic. The shop is just north of U.S. 6.
The man, described as 5-foot-9, 160 to 165 pounds with shoulder-length dark brown wavy hair and a scruffy beard leading from sideburns, fled the shop and ran south along the storefronts of the shopping center.
He was described as wearing a dark brown or green shirt and blue jeans.
Ryan said the man displayed a knife with a silver blade to the clerk. The clerk was not injured during the robbery.
A police dog picked up his track from the tobacco store, which led west to a storage unit rental business northwest of U.S. 6 at Ash Street. The dog then tracked back to the scene of the robbery.
Police received several calls about the possible spotting of the suspect and searched areas around U.S. 6 and Ash Street, Swanson Road and Aspen Avenue and along the Prairie Duneland Trail. Police searched for the suspect for more than an hour Friday afternoon, but he was not located.
Ryan said police believe the man may have fled to the storage unit rental business and then fled in a vehicle that he had parked in the area.
 Business robbed

Special Casino Tables Provide Clean Air -NJ, USA
Oct 15, 2004 ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP)

At the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, dealers like Linda Lombardo don't have to do "the wave" when smoke gets in their eyes.
A table does it for them.
 http://kyw.com/Local%20News/local_story_289152529.html

LARGE ASTHMA STUDY ACHIEVES STRINGENT CONTROL IN FORMERLY UNCONTROLLED PATIENTS

A 1-year randomized, stratified double-blind parallel-group study of 3,416 patients with uncontrolled asthma showed that the stringent standard of total control was achieved by 41 percent of all patients from 3 separate study groups during at least 7 out of 8 consecutive assessment weeks over the year. The researchers recruited 3 groups of uncontrolled asthma patients: an inhaled steroid naïve group, those on a low-dose inhaled steroid regimen, and a group on moderate dose inhaled steroids.

REPLACEMENT TESTOSTERONE ASSISTS CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE PATIENTS

METAL-RICH PARTICULATE MATTER CAUSES AIRWAY INFLAMMATION

Instillations of environmentally relevant concentrations of tiny particulate matter (PM2.5) from a smelter area in Germany induced distinct airway inflammation in 12 healthy subjects, as compared with PM2.5 from a nearby rural town. Researchers instilled ambient particles (PM2.5) through a bronchoscope into the lungs of the 12 healthy volunteers. The particulate matter was collected at Hettstedt, a city in an 800-year-old German smelting area, and from Zerbst, a rural community 80 kilometers away. The cities are similar in climate and size. The authors said that the levels of transition metals, including zinc, copper, and cadmium, as well as oxidant generation, were several fold higher in the PM2.5 from Hettsted, as compared with Zerbst. They said that increased metal concentrations and consequent oxidative stress is known to promote factors which can lead to the release of proinflammatory mediators. They pointed out that such results had been demonstrated especially for zinc, which is a major component of environmental particulate matter. This material has induced pulmonary cell reactivity and epithelial damage in animals. The study population consisted of 8 women and 4 men, all healthy volunteers who averaged 27 years of age. Each subject had a normal physical exam, a normal lung function test, and no clinically relevant lab findings. Smokers were excluded from the study. The research appears in the second issue for October 2004 of the American Thoracic Society's peer-reviewed American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

http://www2.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-10/ats-ats100804.php

State Revenues Up 10 Percent In First Fiscal Quarter – VA,USA

By BOB LEWIS Associated Press Writer

(AP) - September's state tax collections - the first to reflect new tax increases in Virginia imposed this year - were up by 12 percent, the Warner administration's latest monthly revenue report said Thursday.

September's collections reflect a 17.5-cent per-pack jump in the cigarette tax (to 20 cents a pack) and a 66 percent increase in the tax on recording real estate transactions, both of which took effect Sept. 1.

The report doesn't reflect a one-half cent increase in the state sales tax rate because merchants don't remit their collections until after the close of each month.

The growth, however, was driven by personal income taxes that reflect strengthening statewide job growth and unusually large estate tax collections, Finance Secretary John M. Bennett's report to Gov. Mark R. Warner said.

September is a major revenue collection month. Payroll withholding, which accounts for 62 percent of the state's general revenues, and estimated quarterly payments on non-payroll income totaled $812 million compared with $719 million for September 2003, up 12.8 percent.

http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=2434372&nav=23iiS23r

*ask for a name, of this person dying weekly.  It’s a statistic based on 1992 EPA risks, not a person.

Is ban on smoking the only answer? -UK

Birmingham Post Debate Oct 15 2004

Should the law ban smoking in public places or should it be left to individuals to decide?

Birmingham’s hospitality industry would take a massive hit if a ban on smoking in bars, pubs and restaurants is introduced, claim city licensees.

Bennetts, a watering hole popular with the city’s business community in Bennett’s Hill, was forced to scrap a smoke-free trial after takings dropped by more than 50 per cent.

The Big Smoke Debate, an on-line survey conducted earlier this year, revealed 86 per cent of people in West Midlands were in favour of banning smoking in enclosed spaces.

Although only 58 per cent voted for a ban on smoking in bars and pubs, three out of four people wanted to see smoking in shopping centres outlawed.

Nearly 14,000 people took part in the two-and-a-half month study, the biggest public consultation on a public health issue in Britain.

Campaigners feel that after bans proved successful in several US States and Ireland, licensees in Britain must now try it out themselves.

Paul Hooper, regional spokesman for anti-smoking group ASH, believes, for a ban to be effective, there must be no exceptions. He said: “Passive smoking is a real health hazard and not just the mere irritation some anti-ban lobby groups may claim.

“In order to remove the risk to non-smokers, particularly staff who have no choice about breathing in second hand smoke, a total ban in Birmingham’s bars, clubs, restaurants must be introduced.

“I am not talking about a ban on smokers, but a ban on smoking. Each week one nonsmoker in the hospitality industry in the UK dies due to breathing in other people’s smoke, that ’ s just not acceptable.”

Last month, Imperial Tobacco, which makes John Players, Embassy, Superkings, Lambert & Butler, and Royal cigarettes, reported a drop of nearly ten per cent in Irish sales between January and August this year.

But the slump was blamed on higher tax rather than Ireland’s smoking ban, which came into force in April.

The tobacco firm also pointed out there had been a drop of 25 per cent in trade in Dublin’s pubs and clubs, leading to 2,000 job losses in the city alone.

 Comment No: It's not good for business Oct 14 2004
“There is a certain synergy between enjoying a quiet pint or glass of wine with a cigarette, a fine cigar or a loaded pipe in your favourite local. more

Comment Yes: Time for bars to take action Oct 14 2004
“The time has come for a smoking ban to be implemented and it would take a leap of faith to do so, because we have seen such schemes work in the US and Ireland. more

Is aban only option?

Dropped Match Litter Lout Brands £135 Penalty 'Ridiculous' - UK
By Will Batchelor, PA News

A man who was fined for dropping a used match in the street today branded the punishment “ridiculous“.
Gary Colbert dropped the match in Liverpool city centre while the council was conducting a blitz on litter louts.
He was approached by a council official and appeared before Liverpool Magistrates on Thursday when he pleaded guilty to dropping litter.
He was fined £60 and ordered to pay £75 costs.
Mr Colbert, of Seaforth, told the Daily Post newspaper: “It is ridiculous, it’s a joke.
“People get away with all sorts. I throw a match on the ground and end up having to fork out £135 I don’t have.”
A total of 25 people were given the same punishment by Liverpool Magistrates on Thursday for dropping cigarette-related litter.
A Liverpool City Council spokesman said: “Litter is litter, and that includes matches.
“Research from ENCAMS (an environmental campaign) shows that cigarette-related litter makes up 40% of street litter.
ENCAMS stand for Environmental Campaigns – the charity which runs the Keep Britain Tidy campaign.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3628837

*earlier I have many internet sellers that have made many changes to system.

Action Needed Now to Stop Illegal Traffic in Tobacco

Minors are becoming addicted to cigarettes through illegal, uncontrolled Internet sales.

(PRWEB) October 15, 2004 –

While state and local governments make sporadic attempts to tax Internet tobacco sales, too little attention is being paid to the growing health threat to teens posed by the rampant, uncontrolled online traffic in cigarettes, a newly-formed advocacy group charged.
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/10/emw167684.htm

Debating Groob, Westwood reverses stance on tax hike –KY, USA

By Patrick Crowley Enquirer staff writer
COVINGTON - State Sen. Jack Westwood, who throughout his legislative career has fought against tax hikes, said Thursday he would consider supporting an increase in the state's cigarette tax.

Westwood, a Crescent Springs Republican seeking a third term in Frankfort, said he is aware his comments will draw political fire because in 1996 he signed a pledge not to raise taxes.

"Would I consider that, yes," Westwood said during an hour-long debate with Democrat Kathy Groob at Holmes High School.

Groob, a marketing executive from Fort Mitchell, also said she would consider supporting an increase in the state's tax of 3 cents a pack on cigarettes, the second lowest rate in the nation. Virginia's state tax on cigarettes is 2.5 cents a pack.

Both said they would prefer that the increase be a part of an overall reform of the state's tax code.

But money is so desperately needed, Westwood and Groob said, a standalone increase of the cigarette tax should be considered to pay for health care and other programs.

The debate will be broadcast by the Telecommunications Board of Northern Kentucky on Wednesday at 8 p.m. on INC Channel 16.

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/15/loc_kysenate15.html

McDonald’s UK replacing M with ?

Global restaurant chain McDonald’s is going through a series of drastic changes in the international markets. The most significant of these is the company’s decision to drop its famous golden arches logo in the UK from today. Other important developments include introducing health food such as salad and fruits in its otherwise high fat-containing menu, and also reducing the food servings.
Essentially, McDonald’s is serious about changing its image from a food-chain of obesity-inducing junk foods into a respectable new age health-oriented global restaurant. The trigger for the change has been warnings of an obesity crisis from governments of developed nations; growing public awareness of the high-fat, high-salt nature of a fast-food diet; and the consequent squeeze on the company's bottom-line.
The golden arches logo – which is easily one of the world's most recognisable images, probably only behind Coca-Cola and the crucifix as the best known symbols in the world – is being replaced with a large yellow question mark.
Will McDonald’s Indian operations also witness similar changes? When agencyfaqs! Put in its question across to the McDonald's India office, Vikram Bakshi, the head honcho at McDonald’s India, declined to make any comments. Irrespective of whether the company will introduce changes in its logo and menu in India, it’s a fact that the issue of obesity – especially among children in McDonald’s target group – is a global phenomenon, and India is not an exception to this rule. Surely, many existing and prospective McCustomers would warm up to the thought of the restaurant chain serving a ‘happy and healthy’ meal.
In India, where heart attacks kill millions every year, there have been stray demands that branded junk food companies carry mandatory statutory warnings about associated health hazards – similar to the ones carried by cigarette/tobacco manufacturing companies. Even the junk foods category has seen its share of controversies; the usage of monosodium glutamate (commonly called ajinomoto) over acceptable limits had landed Kentucky Fried Chicken into serious problems a couple of years back.
In the UK, meanwhile, the golden arches logo is being ditched purely because of health concerns that patrons have shown. The two-week campaign, called Change, will contain the line: "McDonald's. But not as you know it", with a yellow question mark replacing the famous M arches.
A bigger issue – assuming the question mark is only a temporary measure to arouse curiosity – is what will happen next? Will ‘?’ serve as a stepping-stone to a brand new logo, or will the golden arches be revived? And if the arches are indeed brought back, will the hiatus mean that they are ‘damaged goods’?
Marketers will vouch for the fact that surely, it takes a lot of courage to ditch one of the world's most recognisable images. In McDonald’s case, it was possibly courage mixed with a generous dose of desperation.
McDonald’s patrons are reportedly disturbed by films such as ‘Super Size Me’, which documents the disastrous damage done to the film’s director Morgan Spurlock's health after a month spent eating nothing but McDonald's fare. For the record, the film has been a box-office hit in the UK.
Sales at McDonald's UK outlets had plunged dramatically last year as concerns mounted over the country's obesity problems. The UK adverts will feature close-ups of McDonald's new healthy options such as salads and fruit. The measures follow the group's recent announcement that it was reducing the size of food portions at its restaurants. Booklets detailing new menu items will also be sent to 17 million households in Britain.
History is not particularly kind about corporate makeovers as British Airways (with their abstract tailfins) or British Telecom (with its multi-coloured globe) have discovered to their cost. But then, the UK market has also seen successful transitions such as Channel 5's logo change to Five. In part, at least, this was due to the rebranding devised by TBWA, the ad agency behind French Connection's hugely successful FCUK campaign. In the case of Channel 5, they deliberately drew a line under the past while retaining brand loyalty.

Essentially, there is no one golden rule to successfully change a logo. There must be a solid logic to it, and it's important that the public does not feel that it is being manipulated.

http://www.agencyfaqs.com/news/stories/2004/10/15/10082.html

Official: Low sales axed RJR product

Team developed a reduced-risk cigarette

BLOOMBERG NEWS WASHINGTON

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. developed a cigarette intended to reduce disease-causing chemicals in the 1990s, then dropped it because it wasn't accepted by smokers, the company's chief of product development testified yesterday.

Jeffery Gentry, who led the team that developed a reduced-risk cigarette known internally as EW, said he believed until at least 1999 that the product, which had a carbon-scrubber filter and a low-nitrogen tobacco blend, should be on the market.

"I believed that EW did pose less risk," Gentry told Judge Gladys Kessler of U.S. District Court in the government's $280 billion racketeering case against Reynolds and other U.S. cigarette-makers.

The Justice Department claims that cigarette companies conspired to resist the development and marketing of safer products to avoid admitting to the public that smoking is dangerous.

The suppression of safer cigarettes is part of a larger, 50-year scheme by the industry to defraud smokers, the government said.

In laboratory testing, EW's carbon filter reduced chemicals suspected of causing disease, including carbonyls, hydrogen cyanide and benzene, Gentry said in written testimony submitted earlier.

Reynolds test marketed six versions of the EW cigarette in Oklahoma under the brand name "Winston Select," from April 1995 through mid-1997, Gentry testified. It sold Winston Select without the EW features in the rest of the United Sates, he said.

EW's taste was rated "good" by smokers who tried it in tests, Gentry said, though they ranked it below their usual brands.

sales made cigarette fail

MDs call for ban on smoking in car with kids -ON, CA

CANADIAN PRESS
The dangers of second-hand smoke are so great there should be a ban on lighting up in cars carrying children, Ontario doctors said today, bringing an immediate outcry from critics who labelled it another attack on personal freedoms.

The Ontario Medical Association said children's exposure to smoke must be curtailed, arguing that their delicate respiratory systems make them especially susceptible to pulmonary disease and cancer.

In a report released this morning, the association said cars were up to 23 times more toxic than smokers' homes and some homes were as bad as bars.

"I don't apologize for being pretty intense," Dr. Ted Boadway, the association's executive director of health policy, said in explaining his plea to crack down on cigarettes.

"It is the No. 1 preventable cause of disease and damage to our population and it is something that (causes) disease and damage doctors see morning, afternoon and all night long, every day."

The proposal immediately raised the ire of some smokers who feared such a policy would tread on individual rights and be impossible to enforce.

"Where is the line?" Gord Smith, a 55-year-old father of three adult children, said as he took a cigarette break in downtown Toronto.

"Is this the start of a whole series of government interventions in our private lives? We as individuals have to take responsibility."

Aside from banning lit cigarettes from day-cares and the family car, the association wants smoking restricted in foster homes and considered as a factor in child custody decisions.

It also wants Ontario's drug benefit plan to cover nicotine replacement therapies and to make parents and caregivers more aware of the dangers second-hand smoke poses to children.

The province, however, has its own plan to combat smoking provincewide.

"I think it's a helpful contribution to the debate, obviously, to be reminding people about the dangers of second-hand smoke, (but) it will not be an element of our upcoming legislation," Health Minister George Smitherman said.

Instead, the forthcoming legislation will impose a "100 per cent ban" on smoking in public and work places, Smitherman said.

"It's the responsibility of parents to act responsibly," he said.

"We depend upon them in many, many ways to do that. The legislation we bring forward will be consistent with our campaign commitment."

The province is expected to reveal its anti-tobacco strategy in the next few weeks.

Several municipalities, including Toronto, Sudbury and Ottawa, already have strict smoking bylaws in place.

Boadway said the government is dismissing a ban on smoking in cars because this is the first time it has been proposed and has never been considered by legislators.

"My experience is that today's `no' is tomorrow's legislation," he said.

Boadway said he doesn't think such a law would be difficult to enforce and just having it on the books would influence people's behaviour.

"Once people understand the seriousness of the problem, people respond," said Boadway.

"People will be responsive to that, just as they were responsive to seat-belt protection."

Nancy Daigneault of the smokers' rights group mychoice.ca called the plan a giant intrusion in private lives.

"The vast majority of smokers out there understand the need to protect non-smokers, which includes their children," said Daigneault, whose group is funded by the tobacco industry.

"The best, rational, approach to an issue of this nature is education."

One 40-year-old mother of five children suggested the policy would be an insult to her parenting skills.

"That's a parent responsibility," said Sue Chiblow, whose children range in age from 10 to 22. "It's just like, what do you feed your kids? You have an obese kid, you have diabetes, it's the same thing. Are they going to start banning potato chips?"

Some Ontario childrens' aids societies already restrict smoking in foster homes in Kingston, Ont., and Toronto, the association noted.

New Brunswick, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories have all approved anti-smoking laws.

British Columbia and Prince Edward Island allow smoking in specially ventilated rooms in restaurants and bars, as does Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia's premier wants smoking rooms eliminated by 2008.

tobacco claims irrational

Hot Springs Mother Arrested for Actions of Her Children –AZ, USA

Hot Springs - Another disturbing case involving young children Thursday, this one out of Garland County. According to authorities, a four-year-old boy tried to kill his two-year-old brother.
The mother is charged with permitting the abuse of a minor.
Amanda Mullins was arrested Wednesday for the actions of her young child. According to police, her four-year-old son woke his two-year-old brother up late Sunday night inside their home on Geronimo Street. He then forced soap into the two-year-old's mouth until he vomited. After that, the boy admits to holding his younger brother's head under water in the bathtub by putting his foot on his brother's head.
The two-year-old passed out.
His mother says she was outside smoking a cigarette and talking on the phone during all this. When she discovered what had happened she called 9-1-1.
The two-year-old is now out of the hospital. The mother says this was not the first sign of aggression in the four-year-old. She says he has held a pillow over the two-year-old's head trying to suffocate him and has jabbed a fork down his throat.
Amanda Mullins could face up to 20-years in prison if she's found guilty. According to state law, the older boy is too young to be charged with a crime.
He's in the custody of his father.

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/1004/180423.html

Lawyer Tells Judge Smoking Killed Great Aunt

Thu Oct 14, 2004 02:52 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Justice Department lawyer blamed cigarettes for the death of his great aunt as the government's $280 billion racketeering case against the tobacco industry took a personal turn on Thursday.

During a heated exchange with tobacco lawyers, the Justice Department's Joel Schwartz told the presiding judge that his great aunt had died of lung cancer after smoking Brown & Williamson's Kool cigarettes for 25 years.

"You can't let those kinds of personal issues come into the courtroom," U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler cautioned.

Schwartz's comment briefly punctured the decorum of the courtroom near the end of the fourth week of the trial that is expected to last months.

Brown & Williamson lawyer David Bernick had asked Kessler to "admonish" Schwartz for referring to cigarette maker RJ Reynolds as having "killed" people's relatives during the questioning of a chemist for the company.

Schwartz had spent the morning questioning chemist Jeffery Gentry about why RJ Reynolds dropped efforts to sell a cigarette designed to be safer than regular brands.

The government suit, launched in 1999, targets Altria Group Inc. and its Philip Morris USA unit; Loews Corp.'s Lorillard Tobacco unit, which has a tracking stock, Carolina Group ; Vector Group Ltd.'s Liggett Group; Reynolds American Inc.'s RJ Reynolds Tobacco unit and British American Tobacco Plc unit British American Tobacco Investments Ltd.

Brown & Williamson, formerly a unit of BAT, was acquired by Reynolds in July.

The government charges cigarette makers lied and tried to confuse the public about the dangers of smoking as part of a 50-year industry conspiracy.

The companies deny the allegations and say they have drastically changed their marketing practices since 1998, when they signed a landmark settlement with state attorneys general that severely restricts marketing and subjects cigarette makers to oversight.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=6505007

Antioxidant Supplements: Worthless -- or Worse?

By Michael Fumento  Published 

Antioxidant supplements, we're told, range from useless to slightly worse than strychnine. "Antioxidants Don't Fight Cancer," the Chicago Sun-Times headlined, while BBC News claimed: "Vitamins Pills Do Not Stop Cancer" and CBS News.com declared: "Docs: Vitamins Can't Fight Cancer." Worse, "Vitamins 'May Cause Early Death'" blared the Scotsman, while Forbes.com warned: "Vitamin Supplements May Boost Cancer Risk."

So should those taking antioxidants (myself included) flush them, or better yet start making funeral arrangements?

Neither. Driving the media frenzy was a full-court press comprising a questionable medical journal report, a spooky accompanying commentary, a more alarming and sensationalist press release, and even a sensationalist quote on the cover. "The prospect that vitamin pills may not only do no good but also kill their consumers is a scary speculation," the cover quote read in part, drawing not from the report at all but from The Spooky Commentary.

According to the Associated Press (AP), in the October 2 issue of the British journal The Lancet, "Scientists pooled the results of 20 years of research [in what's called a "meta-analysis"] involving more than 170,000 people considered at high risk of developing gastrointestinal cancers. Antioxidant supplements investigated included vitamins A, C and E, as well as selenium, in a total of 14 trials."

 http://www.techcentralstation.com/101504G.html

Lawsuit generates windfall for Madison County -IL, USA

Associated Press
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - There's already been a winner in the appeal of a $10.1 billion lawsuit against cigarette maker Philip Morris USA - Madison County, where the case was filed.

The county near St. Louis gets to keep a part of the interest on a $12 billion bond Philip Morris was ordered to post last year before appealing the class-action lawsuit over light cigarettes.

So far, the county has collected more than $1 million and expects a $700,000 payment soon, County Administrator James Monday said.

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/business/9918731.htm

Coastal Community To Ban Smoking On Beach –CA, USA

Law Enforcement Could Issue Citations

UPDATED: 9:21 am PDT October 14, 2004

LOS ANGELES -- Newport Beach today became the third Orange County coastal community to ban smoking on the beach.

The ban will mainly be enforced by park rangers, although law enforcement officers could issue citations under some circumstances, said Sgt. Steve Shulman of the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

But he said officers will take care of more serious crimes before responding to beach smoking violations and that authorities will mostly issue warnings during the first few days after the ban goes into effect.

"It's not our goal to take enforcement action," Shulman said. "It's our goal to get people to comply."

The Newport Beach City Council initially voted 5 to 2 on Aug. 25 to ban smoking on public beaches, piers, beach walkways, floats, wharfs and lookout points.

On Sept. 30, the council again voted to approve the ordinance, which became effective today.

Smoking is already banned in San Clemente and Huntington Beach, as well as the city of Laguna Woods, which is not a coastal city.

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/3821596/detail.html

Pokies legislation creates job fears -AU

Friday, 15 October 2004

South-east South Australian hotelier Guy Matthews says if State Government legislation to remove 3,000 poker machines is passed jobs will be lost.

Mr Matthew's says of his 160 machines he will lose 24 under the proposed legislation.

He says income from his poker machines has let him take on 50 extra staff and has paid for much needed renovations to his hotels.

He says it is a rough time for people working in the industry.

"We also have to contend with the smoking legislation that's coming in as well which says 25 per cent of machines are to be smoke-free, so with the combination of the two we're really up in the air to how it's going to affect profitability and employment of staff," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/northandwest/news/200410/s1220749.htm

Minister disappointed by smoking ban delay

Smoking bans due to be phased in on October 31 will now be delayed until at least November.

The South Australian Government says the delay is because the Legislative Council has not finished debating the Tobacco Control Legislation.

Health Minister Lea Stevens says she is disappointed by the delay.

The first phase of smoking bans will restrict smoking in all licenced venues in South Australia.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1220724.htm

Look Closer –NY, USA

10/14/2004 6:00 PM(WROC-TV)
Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks insists by keeping the rate flat, her budget proposal holds the line on property taxes. But News 8 Now reports a more careful look at the spending plan reveals other ways the county could be collecting more money from you in future years.
Whether you agree with Brooks, or with others who maintain your taxes will likely still go up, there's no denying the county administration aims to take more from you in another way.  Through new, or increased fees, and there are a lot of them.
One fee increase most everyone's heard of already is the proposed 2 dollar, or 70 percent hike for admission to the zoo. Now they say that'll only be in the peak summer season...but honk if you think that could change...Well, close enough.
But if you look through all 724 pages of the budget as we did, you will find dozens more fees...either existing ones being increased or ones which are entirely new.
There's a litany of them which will effect you if you build a new home, fees for driveways and utility hookups just to name a few. There are hikes in your pure waters fees, a sanitized name for sewer bills. There's a new fee if you want your water tested.
Some say the only certainties in life are death and taxes. Now I know it's a sensitive subject, but under certain circumstances the cost of one of those things would increase too.
The budget counts on the medical examiners office to generate close to a million dollars in extra fees. See, here, the cost of an "elective" autopsy will increase 25 percent.
Again that's only if you want one.
And here's a laundry list of tests they apparently used to throw in for free that they want to start charging for. Vendors who sell food at festivals will see their permit go from 40, up to 100 dollars depending on how many days the event runs.
If a bar or restaurant wants to apply for a waiver to the smoking ban, that'll cost them 100 bucks.  Can't be sure how much the county can count on making there though, considering since the clean indoor air act went into effect...the county's yet to grant one.
Oh and there's a new fee to stage a tobacco promotional event.
Some have the idea we're being, nickeled and dimed!
There are so many more fee hikes in here we haven't the time to address them all, so we'll just show you some...while reminding you this is nothing new. Maggie Brook's good friend George Pataki has been doing it for years, holding the line on taxes while charging you more for everything from a fishing license to a car registration. But some say this way's better, let the users of services pay the freight, if they've got the change.
.Will any of this effect you? Well, the fees cover such a wide variety of services that sooner or later, probably...somewhere...yes.

http://www.wroctv.com/news/story.asp?id=15307&r=l

Health Support By Sarah Wright –AZ, USA
Posted: Thursday, October 14, 2004 4:31 PM PDT

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced Tuesday that Mariposa Community Health Center will receive a grant of $866,000 from the federal government.
Thompson made the announcement during the bi-national Border Health Week inauguration reception at the health center.

Jim Welden, MCHC's chief executive officer, said the money will support a new medical and dental clinic to serve Rio Rico and northern Santa Cruz County.
The health center identified Rio Rico as a strategic area of need in 2002.

Welden said, "We are very excited to have this opportunity to make our services more accessible and better serve our community."
Thompson said the health center was awarded the grant money because, "We want you to expand, and grow."

Thompson came to Nogales, along with his Mexican counterpart, the Mexican Secretary of Health, Dr. Julio Frenk Mora, and several state government officials.
Born of a dream

Thompson said the bi-national border health week was born of a dream that he and Secretary Frenk shared, and he hopes it will become an annual occurrence.
He took the opportunity to encourage everyone present to take care of their own health.
"I want to make sure you realize that you have to first take care of yourselves.
"I want you to get your screenings, I want you to get your shots, I want you to make sure that you take your loved ones to the clinics and to the doctor," Thompson said.
He told the audience that when they see someone smoking they should walk up to that person, say "I love you," and take the cigarette out of their mouth.
"You might get a slap," he said, "but I want people to realize that smoking is bad for your health."
Other dignitaries
Former Nogales Mayor Marco López, who is now director of the Arizona-Mexico Commission, and Congressman Raúl Grijalva also spoke on border health issues.
Grijalva said the week's events are an opportunity to "plan for a bi-national commitment to healthy families and to a mutually sound quality of life for all of us who live, work and share this very beautiful and very precious border region."
He said the health week recognizes the two nations' dependency on each other and the responsibilities that each shares.
The border region, he said, is vital to the national development of the United States. Healthy families and quality of life are "part and parcel" to making sure the region reaches its potential.
López said he spoke on the governor's behalf.
The State of Arizona's health campaign this year is "Families in action for health," he said.
He said the state understands the role of the family in "promoting a healthy, sustainable, fruitful lifestyle."
The residents of the Ambos Nogales region, López said, have recognized for years that the border may exist on the ground, but there is no border when families and relationships are involved, especially concerning health.
Healthy families on both sides of the border will make the region more successful, he said.
Mexican Health Secretary Julio Frenk said, "Health is one of the few truly universal aspirations no matter where we come from, no matter what language we speak, no matter what religion we follow."
He said the week's purpose is to reassert that universal value.
The interests of each country and community coincide with the interests of the rest, he said.

http://www.nogalesinternational.com/articles/2004/10/14/news/news1.txt