Campus considers going tobacco free

College is when some smokers begin a lifelong habit, but those who attend the University may soon have to take that habit elsewhere. Five University groups are discussing and developing their points of view on the possibility of the campus being tobacco free. The idea of a tobacco use policy on campus came about through an Ohio Board of Regents resolution passed July 23 encouraging colleges and universities to become tobacco free.

The Board of Regents, located in Columbus, serves as a coordinating body for Ohio higher education and is responsible for advising the Chancellor, leader of the University system of Ohio, on issues of statewide importance affecting higher education, according to its website. The five groups, including Administrative Staff Council, Classified Staff Council, Faculty Senate, Undergraduate Student Government and Graduate Student Senate, will hopefully submit their decision to President Mary Ellen Mazey by Thanksgiving, said Jill Carr, senior associate vice president of Student Affairs and dean of students.

The decision to go tobacco free or to stay with the current policy may come down to culture. “I think you’re starting to see a different culture movement,” said USG President Alex Solis. Faith Yingling, director of Wellness, said Ohio culture has shifted to tobacco and smoking policies and that similar initiatives have been going on nationwide for a while now. “As more states and places implement smoking-related policies, it seems only natural that places like college and universities would take up those initiatives as well,” Yingling said.

Twenty-two percent of students at the University use cigarettes, according to the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment data report in Fall 2010. “Certainly there’s more tobacco use than we’d like to see,” Yingling said. Departments at the University have also done surveys of the students. Eric Teske, staff assistant in the department of Recreation and Wellness, surveyed 691 graduate and undergraduate students in a variety of departments and majors. Forty-three percent believe campus should be smoke-free and 21.1 percent are frequently bothered by smoke at the University, according to the survey, which was done in April. Yingling and Teske plan to survey faculty and staff next.

“We try to make sure we’re getting an accurate portrayal of what students want and what faculty and staff want,” Yingling said. The positives of a tobacco-free policy would include protecting the air people breathe, reducing secondhand smoke and improving people’s long term and short term health, Yingling said. Carr said the positives concerning health are obvious, but the way students feel about the possible policy may not be as simple. “I think we’re all aware of the health related issue of a person who makes the decision to smoke,” Carr said. “The cons are that a smoker may feel that they’re losing some personal right on campus.”

There is an emphasis on health and wellness at the University, Mazey said. “Having a no smoking policy really supports that health and wellness focus of our campus,” Mazey said. Yingling said if a policy were to go into place, the University would offer programs to help people quit. “We’d work hand in hand with the counseling center and the Student Health Service to make that happen,” she said. “Certainly we want to provide those resources for those who want to quit.” There are typically a fair amount of smokers who are already trying to quit, and since it’s a long process, Teske said he hopes the policy would be helpful.

"Hopefully it will be extra motivation for them with University support, hopefully they will and be able to get some kind of help,” he said. There is currently an alcohol and other drug specialist at the University with whom students can meet for free to discuss addiction, Teske said. Mazey said she hopes the decision to be tobacco free or to stay with the current policy will be made this academic year.

USG recently had a meeting about the possibility of a tobacco-free campus, Solis said there were mixed opinions. “I think it’s going to be a tough process if the University chooses to go with this initiative,” Solis said. Once the constituent groups have submitted their decisions, depending on the decision, a committee will be formed to draft a policy, Carr said. Carr will chair the committee, which will include two members from each constituent group, she said.

EU tobacco directive 'close to stalling'

EU-wide plans to further regulate tobacco are under threat, according to a commentary in the medical journal The Lancet. A revised Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) is thought to be close to stalling, with the authors of the comment claiming that any more delays "will raise serious questions about whose interest the EU Commission is promoting".

The issues are considered in a special report on The Lancet News podcast, which features an interview with John Dalli - who gave up his position of EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy recently following a complaint from a cigarettes company of financial impropriety.

 His resignation may hold up the revised directive, even though the wording has been cleared both legally and administratively and is ready to move to the next stage. Public health bodies from across Europe and a group MEPs have all called for there to be no further delays in the Commission releasing the draft directive. Just 48 hours after Dalli's resignation, laptops and documents were stolen during a break-in at the Brussels offices of a group of anti-tobacco campaigners. One of the organisations burgled in Brussels was the Smoke free Partnership.

The series of events has "set alarm bells ringing" for one of the authors of the comment piece in The Lancet, Martin McKee, Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Professor McKee said uncovering the truth may not come soon enough for the directive and added, "the only beneficiaries of delay are the tobacco companies". Paul Belcher, senior EU Government affairs advisor at the Royal College of Physicians in London, said the situation was affecting people's confidence in the EU's ability to make decisions and undermining efforts to protect people from the health problems caused by tobacco.

Smoke free Partnership director Florence Berteletti, said: "A few months ago, we exposed the tobacco industry's block, amend and delay tactics on the 2001 Tobacco Products Directive and warned that these tactics are being deployed again in this review process. At the time, we emphasised that policy-makers need to be aware of how the tobacco industry tries to influence the legislation - and when it cannot, to block or delay the process. "We are now witnessing a major potential setback in the TPD review and we call on the Commission, European Parliament and on Member States not to let themselves be detracted from the goal of reviewing legislation to improve public health in Europe.

We strongly urge Vice President Maros Sefcovic to ensure that the TPD review proposal is released before the end of the year as was promised by the Commission." Jean King, Cancer Research UK's director of tobacco control, said: "Following the resignation of John Dalli, the EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Affairs, we are concerned that this development threatens to further delay the review of the TPD. "Cancer Research UK is calling for larger warnings (including pictures) on both sides of the packet, plain packaging and regulation of flavourings and additives, to protect young people from the marketing of this highly addictive and seriously harmful product.

"A stronger Tobacco Products Directive is urgently needed to help protect people from tobacco marketing and reduce youth smoking rates. Tobacco causes 650,000 deaths each year in Europe. We are witnessing a major potential setback in the TPD review and we call on the Commission, European Parliament and Member States to ensure that the TPD review proposal is released before the end of the year as was promised by the Commission."

India's attempts to ban chewing tobacco stymied by black market

India's efforts to ban the sale of chewing tobacco have been stymied by uneven enforcement by states and a thriving black market. Known as gutka in Hindi, chewing tobacco is more popular than cigarettes and is consumed by an estimated 65 million Indians, including many children, according to India's food and health ministry. India banned the sale of gutka in 2001 but it is up to individual states to enforce the ban. So far, 14 of the 28 Indian States have enforced the ban on its sale with five more considering the doing the same.

Last week, the north-east Indian state of Mizoram became the latest state to impose the ban. Delhi, meanwhile, enforced the ban in September. In the capital, Rakesh Kashyap, 22, runs a tobacco shop in Defence Colony and hides a stash of gutka in a drawer under the main table where other products, including cigarettes are on display. Autorickshaw and taxi drivers are the biggest customers of gutka at his stand.

"It helps them to get through their long shifts," said Mr Kashyap. Store owners like Mr Kashyap and the companies that produce chewing tobacco are working to find ways around the ban. Retailers now sell the chewing tobacco and its other contents - known as paan masala - separately. In some cases, manufacturers advertise that their product is tobacco-free, when it is not. "Companies are taking the tobacco out of paan masala, so people who want to continue to use gutka buy the paan masala and the tobacco separately and we mix it for them," said Mr Kashyap. The new mix costs four rupees (Dh0.27) — four times the price of chewing tobacco and equal to the price of a single cigarette.

"The ingredients are not banned and they available locally," Sanjay Bechan, executive director of the Smokeless Tobacco Federation, which represents smokeless tobacco companies that produce gutka. "The government has not banned the cultivation of tobacco, areca nut, or catechu leaf. A shopkeeper can still mix and sell them, this is permitted under law." Mr Bechan warned that without proper manufacturing facilities, the gutka market will remain flush with unregulated, possibly dangerous gutka mixtures. He also warned that the ban could create space for organised crime to being manufacturing the product.

"The ban is not the solution, you're only replacing manufacturers with a mafia," said Mr Bechan. It is estimated the gutka ban will lead to 1.5 to 2 billion rupees in losses to the smokeless tobacco industry. Mr Kumar confirmed that the supply of gutka has not declined in the market. He did say that there is increasingly "a black market" for the pre-mixed packs. They are sold at triple their normal retail prices and are often smuggled from nearby states whether or not the ban was in place.

Food and Drug Administration officials in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, some of the first states to impose the ban, complained this month that gutka manufactured in the state of Uttar Pradesh - where the ban was imposed in April - are still being found in their states. Sanjay Kumar, 30, a taxi driver in New Delhi said many of his friends used to consume up to 20 packets of gutka a day. "It is cheap, so they don't have to restrain themselves on how much they use. If they smoke, they can only afford four or five cigarettes a day," he said. "This ban hits the common man hardest, rich people can afford cigarettes."

Is Now the Time to Buy Imperial Tobacco?

I'm always searching for shares that can help ordinary investors like you make money from the stock market. So right now I am trawling through the FTSE 100 (UKX) and giving my verdict on every member of the blue-chip index. Simply put, I'm hoping to pinpoint the very best buying opportunities in today's uncertain market.

Today I am looking at Imperial Tobacco (ISE: IMT.L) (NASDAQOTH: ITYBY.PK) to determine whether you should consider buying the shares at 2,300 pence. The average analyst estimate for this year's earnings per share is 199.6 pence (6.2% growth) and a dividend per share of 104.6 pence (10% growth). Trading on a projected P/E of 11.5, Imperial appears cheap compared with its only London-listed competitor, British American Tobacco, which has a projected P/E of 15.9.

Imperial's low P/E and slowing growth give a PEG ratio of 1.91, which implies Imperial's share price is expensive for the earnings growth the firm is expected to produce. The dividend is strong, boasting a 4.4% yield, which is currently larger than the income from BAT -- with a three-year compounded average dividend increase of 14.7%. The dividend is also twice covered, giving Imperial room for further payout growth. Imperial returned 1.5 billion pounds to shareholders through buybacks and dividends during 2012, and, during the past 10 years, an investment in Imperial has returned more than 150%!

Imperial looks cheap. What about future revenues?

Changing tobacco habits and regulation throughout the world continue to chip away at Imperial's cigarette volumes, though sales have been bolstered by ongoing price increases. Indeed, Imperial is expected to announce a 3% drop in volumes, but a 4% increase in revenues, within its year-end results at the end of October.

The predicted performance is down mostly to the company's product strategy; Imperial is a world leader in the high-margin premium-cigar market and the rolling-tobacco market, giving Imperial more room for product price increases.

At this point I should mention that the tobacco sector has seen many acquisitions over time, and I would not rule out seeing Imperial become prey to a larger rival, thereby providing potential capital growth and possible downside protection. While other investors may have their doubts about Imperial, looking at past performance and the recent share-price weakness, I do not.

Growth is slowing, but Imperial still has the resources to significantly improve shareholder returns. The tobacco industry has faced many challenges over the past decade, yet Imperial has still managed to significantly outperform the wider stock market. Overall, I believe now looks to be a good time to buy Imperial Tobacco at 2,300 pence.

Quit cigarettes by 40 to live extra 10 years

WOMEN who smoke can increase their life expectancy by 10 years if they quit before middle age. A study of more than 1.3 million women found that stopping smoking before the age of 40 avoids more than 90 per cent of the increased risk of dying caused by continuing to smoke. Most of the increased death rate resulted from smoking-related diseases such as lung cancer, chronic lung disease, heart disease or stroke.

The risk rose steeply with the quantity of tobacco smoked, but even light smokers on fewer than 10 cigarettes a day doubled their likelihood of dying. The research, based on results from the Million Women Study, was published in The Lancet to mark the 100th anniversary yesterday of the birth of Richard Doll, one of the first people to identify the link between lung cancer and smoking. The women were recruited to the study between 1996 and 2001, at ages 50-65. They completed a questionnaire on lifestyle, medical and social factors and were resurveyed by post three years later.

The NHS central register notified the researchers when any participant died, giving the cause of death. Women were traced for an average of 12 years from the time they first joined. So far, 66,000 of the participants have died. Initially, 20 per cent of those who took part were smokers, 28 per cent were former smokers, and 52 per cent had never smoked. Those who still smoked at the three-year resurvey were nearly three times likelier than non-smokers to die over the next nine years.

The key finding was that both the hazards of smoking and the benefits of stopping were bigger than previous studies suggested. Smokers who stopped at about age 30 avoided 97 per cent of their excess risk of premature death. Although serious excess hazards remained for decades among those who smoked until 40 before stopping, the excess hazards among those still smoking after 40 were 10 times bigger. Professor Richard Peto, from the University of Oxford, a co-author of the study, said: "Smokers who stop before reaching middle age will on average gain about an extra 10 years of life."

Illicit cigarettes burn holes in SA

A large tanker truck with a tanker trailer stops at the Beit Bridge border post. It has just crossed the border from Zimbabwe. The driver presents his credentials to the border officials and declares his tanker truck empty. But customs agents are ready. They have had a tip-off and leap into action. The truck is full of illicit cigarettes - thousands upon thousands of them. The smugglers had gone to great lengths to keep their cargo hidden.

They had cut open the truck and trailer’s petroleum tanks, stacked in the cigarettes and carefully closed everything up again, repainting the truck. They also left open spaces at the inspection hatches so that a dip stick check would show the tanks were empty. That is the sort of effort smugglers will make to keep their trade going. The larger the scale of the operation, the greater the effort. And the scale is huge. On Wednesday last week, R6.5 million worth of illicit and counterfeit cigarettes were shredded, pulverised and dumped. The 800 cases were seized from smugglers during an attempt to bring them into the country. That is why it is easy to categorise cigarette smuggling as organised crime.

Because organised crime has structures and systems in place that provide the infrastructure for such illegal ventures, the same infrastructure could be used for moving drugs, stolen goods, hijacked cars and human trafficking. Police liaison officer Andre Traut said cigarette smuggling was a very serious problem. “We do not turn a blind eye to any crime, and although I do not want to attribute other crimes to the situation, it is a fact that there are a lot of illegal cigarettes being sold here… ” he said. “If you support the sale of illegal cigarettes, you are supporting a crime. And, in the end, you are supporting other serious crimes.”

Illicit trade damages the businesses of the legal tobacco industry and the market is better off being entirely free of it, said the Tobacco Institute of Southern Africa. “It deprives the government of revenues, promotes criminal activity, misleads consumers into buying products of dubious quality and hampers efforts to block underage sales,” the institute said. “Illicit trade harms brands and prevents the legal trade from competing fairly and openly and undermines the regulations governing the legitimate industry.” But only governments could tackle illegal trade effectively through policy and enforcement, it said.

“Illicit trade should be treated as a serious offence and adequate resources should be dedicated to ensuring effective enforcement. We are committed to working with the government in public/private partnership to develop and implement strategies to combat the problem.” The sale of illicit cigarettes was not a problem in formal retail, said Henry Bam, owner of the Uitzicht Spar in Kraaifontein. “Franchises and large retailers get their cigarettes through formal structures and systems and centralised buying helps to avoid any problems with this kind of thing,” he explained.

“Formal retailers will only buy through regular channels, because they have to properly account for sales. Bam said the greatest problem lay with informal retailers and sidewalk stalls. “Sometimes, these people do not even realise what they are buying, they just like the price,” he said.

New York’s kicking butts

Smokers with low incomes who continue to spend on cigarettes, despite NY’s high taxes. The “Great Cigarette-Tax Lie” (Patrick Basham and John Luik, PostOpinion, Oct. 8) promotes a novel idea: Cut taxes on cigarettes to take the financial burden off of lower-income people. Then, when they get sick, we can hospitalize them on the public’s dime. Maybe we should approve butts through food stamps, too.

Cigarette taxes have helped to address big- picture problems in a significant way, like reducing smoking rates. New York has reduced adult smoking rates to 14 percent . Big Tobacco spends millions of dollars on manipulative marketing in New York every day, and low-income communities are heavily targeted. These communities also have less access to continual cessation resources.

It’s not easy to quit, and even harder if you’re being treated in sporadic intervals. New York is able to find such success in reducing smoking rates because of the state’s comprehensive and effective cessation strategies, of which taxes are only one.

California City Bars Smoking In Duplexes, Condominiums And Other Multi-Family Homes

A San Francisco suburb on Monday banned smoking in duplexes, condominiums and other multi-family homes, with city leaders saying they hoped to lead a wave of such regulations across California and ultimately the country. The City Council in San Rafael, a community of 57,000 people about 15 miles (24 km) north of San Francisco, voted unanimously for the ban, following a handful of other California municipalities that have outlawed smoking in buildings with as few as two units.

"We are happy to blaze a trail," Mayor Gary Phillips said before the vote. "We're most happy to be in the forefront of the issue because we think it will greatly benefit our residents and those visiting San Rafael, and we think it will set the tone for other cities as well." Tobacco-control experts predicted that the tough smoking ordinance in San Rafael could touch off a larger movement in other states and cities. "The San Rafael ban is a very significant event because it will spread," said Robert Proctor, a Stanford University history of science professor.

"We're on the downslope of a big curve. Smoking peaked in 1981 with 630 billion cigarettes sold in the United States. Now it's down to 350 billion. And that number will keep on going down until smoking is a distant memory." San Rafael is the state's ninth municipality to completely restrict smoking in multi-unit housing, said Pam Granger, advocacy manager for the American Lung Association in California. Granger said California was the only state where local jurisdictions have banned smoking in homes. The ordinance has generally been supported by residents who have spoken at city council meetings, although two smokers came out to oppose the ban on Monday evening.

Survey finds customers like Reynolds American

Customer satisfaction with Reynolds American Inc. increased by 4 percent to a score of 81 out of 100, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index by the University of Michigan. The study was released today. Reynolds edged Philip Morris USA as the industry leader, whose score of 80 was unchanged from 2011.

Overall customer satisfaction with tobacco products was up for a third consecutive year to an average score of 79. This year's increase completes the cigarette industry's recovery from a sharp downturn in customer satisfaction reported in the 2008 index when new tobacco taxes drove up retail prices.

“In the midst of a weaker economy, price plays a role in both slowing consumption and keeping the cigarette industry’s satisfaction lower relative to other nondurable categories,” according to Claes Fornell, founder of the index. “At the same time, tobacco users continue to view the quality of cigarettes to be quite high.”

Smoking ban to be considered in Arlington

If you want to have a smoke while you shoot pool in Arlington, you might be out of luck. The city council Tuesday night will consider a ban on smoking in certain businesses. According to the council's agenda, members will consider altering the current smoking ordinance, last updated four years ago.

If approved, smoking would be banned at billiard halls, nightclubs, public parks, bowling alleys and strip clubs. Also included are the private clubs at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Currently, these kind of businesses are allowed to have smokers as long as they don't employ anyone under the age of 18, have proper HVAC systems, and their business doesn't open into a hotel or other public place. Smoking is already illegal in Arlington restaurants.

E-Cigarette Coupons from Professional Electronic Cigarette Maker Brand

E-Cigarette Coupons from Electric-Cigarette-Maker.com are offered now, and this will end until Oct. 27, 2012. Electric-Cigarette-Maker.com introduced its new micro electronic cigarette on July 29 for the UK sector, and the response continues to be incredibly good about this new item, which often can enable customers quit smoking speedily. According to the Electric-Cigarette-Maker.com marketing and advertising division, micro electronic cigarette sells nicely in Britain industry, and among the all e-cigarettes products and solutions, micro electronic cigarette continues to be the most effective vendor of electronic cigarette goods in the UK.

Mr. Rogers, a senior supervisor of Electric-Cigarette-Maker.com, mentioned, "Thanks for your digital cigarette testimonials from UK shoppers actually. Like some major electronic cigarette manufacturers, we are going to do our finest in the future. Electronic smoking cigarettes are a product composed of a microprocessor, a vaporizing engineering in addition to a nicotine solution filled chamber. It's operated by rechargeable lithium batteries and is particularly out there in a number of attractive flavors to assist people today switch to your more significant smoking cigarettes doing the job encounter.

We have now been a person of the greatest e cigarette supplies, and therefore are sending out e cigarette coupons for e-cigarette sale now. Now we have a top of the range creation line, so we've self confidence on everything we have been selling which has a life span guarantee. Why can micro electronic cigarettes help quitting using tobacco? Mr. Rogers, defined, "Electronic cigarettes adopt the normally used Nicotine Swap Treatment, that is guaranteed to continuously lower the quantity of nicotine inhaled.

Other than adopting Nicotine Swap Treatment method, digital cigarettes hardly ever modify the smokers' habitual conduct, that is the most important advantage of them. Its effect genuinely is substantial towards the people who smoke, who utilized to fail to stop smoking just before. E-cigarette, which will not include the hundreds of poisons generally current in tobacco goods, can bring the digital cigarette marketplace additional rewards.

Marijuana backers courting conservatives

Campaigns to legalize marijuana for recreational use in three Western states are courting conservatives to endorse their cause. Most Republicans — including Mitt Romney — oppose making pot legal in Colorado, Oregon and Washington. But a handful of conservatives have signed on. They include former presidential hopefuls Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul, as well as the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson.

Legalization activists are appealing to Western individualism, states' rights and a mistrust of federal government to make their case to conservatives. Tancredo, a former Republican congressman from Colorado, compares the federal government's prohibition on marijuana to New York City's ban on sugary sodas.

Group rallies in support of marijuana legalization

About 75 people, many of them women, gathered at the Capitol on Monday for a rally in support of marijuana legalization proposed in Measure 80. “People want marijuana and they are going to get it? Why not tax it?” asked Madeline Martinez, sole owner of the nation’s first cannabis café, which opened in Portland in 2009. She is also a former peace officer.

Supporters of Measure 80 said that cards for the state-run medical-marijuana program are becoming increasingly costly, and that would-be recipients cannot get access to doctors willing to grant the necessary permission and supplies of the drug for those who do not grown their own or have a designated caregiver do so. Oregon’s 1998 law does not permit sales. The ballot measure would allow adults to grow their own or buy it from state-licensed stores, where it would be taxed.

Imperial Tobacco Group Rating Lowered to Reduce at Nomura (ITYBY)

Imperial Tobacco Group (NASDAQ: ITYBY) was downgraded by research analysts at Nomura from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report released on Monday. Shares of Imperial Tobacco Group opened at 76.37 on Monday. Imperial Tobacco Group has a 52 week low of $66.89 and a 52 week high of $84.01.

The company has a market cap of $38.215 billion and a P/E ratio of 14.08. Imperial Tobacco Group PLC (Imperial Tobacco) is a tobacco company. Through the Company’s total tobacco portfolio it provides consumers a range of brands and products, including cigarettes, fine cut tobacco, cigars and snus.

Marlboro Box Defaced in Australia Where Future Is Now

Remember when a pack of smokes came with glitzy logos, rich foil sleeves, and romanticized language describing the pleasures within? Well, the future of marlboro cigarette packs is on display in Australia, and it’s not that pretty: large, graphic images of gangrenous limbs and cancer victims, with brand names printed in a uniform font on a background legally defined as “drab dark brown.”

Tobacco products complying with the world’s first plain- packaging laws have started arriving in stores, as an Oct. 1 manufacturing ban on the country’s A$10 billion ($10 billion) tobacco industry comes into force, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its Oct. 8 issue. While a U.S. court in August blocked the first change to that country’s tobacco health warnings in more than two decades, more stringent plain- packaging rules like Australia’s are already being examined in the U.K., New Zealand, Turkey, and the European Union.

 “With so many countries lined up to ride on Australia’s coattails, what we hope to see is a domino effect for the good of public health,” Margaret Chan, the World Health Organization’s director-general, said in an August statement. Government standards set out the images and health warnings that must cover 75 percent of the front of cigarette packets -- a gangrenous foot, a tongue cancer, a toilet stained with bloody urine and a skeletal man named Bryan dying of lung cancer. Further warnings must appear on the sides and cover 90 percent of the back. Court Reasons The High Court of Australia today released its reasons for dismissing in August a challenge from tobacco companies that claimed the government illegally seized their intellectual property without proper compensation.

 The judges’ panel, led by Chief Justice Robert French, said in a 6-1 decision that because the government didn’t benefit from the removal of the trademarks, it didn’t have to compensate the companies and the law was valid. By requiring so much of the packaging to dramatically show that smoking is neither glamorous nor safe, health officials are betting they can create a greater deterrent than the postage- stamp-sized, health-related images that previously graced Australian packs.

 “The pictures are becoming bigger. You can’t ignore it,” said Ash Alhusban, fingering the butt end of a cigarette on a break from his job as co-manager of Opera Convenience, a small store 500 meters from the city’s opera house. “When I saw them I said, believe me, I will do my best to stop smoking.”

Popular E-Cigarette Website Offers Exclusive 10% Off Coupon

October is here, and that means one thing to smokers; it means that the habit of smoking tobacco is about to become a chore. Retreating to the outdoors for that hourly smoke break will no longer be fun, but a bitter cold experience that makes smokers rue the day they ever puffed that first cigarette. But thankfully, there is a solution that solves that issue and so many more: electronic cigarettes.

In celebration of the switch from Summer to Fall, a popular e-cigarette review website called the E-Cigarette Festival is offering a huge discount on the top electronic cigarette brand in the world. On the E-Cigarette Festival website, it's hard to not to notice that Smokeless Image steals the show. They are featured in the number one ranking slot and the Smokeless Image review is full of glowing words about the product. Marcel Rockingham, the owner and head writer of the website, claims that Smokeless Image is far and away from the rest of the competition. “Yeah, Smokeless Image is just in a different league of electronic cigarettes.

They released their VOLT battery back in 2011 and it completely changed the game. It creates massive amounts of vapor that give you full satisfaction, and the battery lasts what seems like forever on a single charge. Their flavors are great, they have some excellent accessories and their starter kit prices are much, much lower than average. And if that's not enough to convince you that this product is the ultimate e-cigarette solution, we've decided to start offering an exclusive 10% off discount code that works on any product across their entire site,” exclaimed Rockingham when asked about Smokeless Image. For those who want to get started with electronic cigarettes today, Smokeless Image is perhaps one of the greatest options on the Internet.

They have starter kits ranging anywhere from $20 to just under $100, so whatever your budget there is an option for you. This is especially true when one considers the special 10% coupon being offered by Rockingham and his team. But no matter what price one pays for their starter kit, whether the VOLT Pack Kit ($20) or the VOLT Premium Kit ($94.99), they will be receiving the extraordinary VOLT battery technology that makes these e-cigarettes so special. To redeem the Smokeless Image coupon, simply enter code YOURVOLT34 when checking out of their website.

10% will automatically be deducted and the shipment of the best electronic cigarette will be on its way to wherever the house is. But anyone interested should act soon because this coupon expires in a few weeks, and after that everyone will be looking at paying full price for all their products. Also running through October, the E-Cigarette Festival is offering a free e-coupon-book that is filled with several great coupon codes for various brands. Simply enter an email address when you visit the E Cigarette Festival website and receive access to a full digital coupon book unlike anything else found online.

Untaxed cigs found on Jax Hgts man

A Jackson Heights man has been charged with possessing thousands of untaxed cigarettes and counterfeit tax stamps, the Queens district attorney’s office said. Investigators recovered 11,423 packs of untaxed cigarettes and more than 21,559 counterfeit cigarette tax stamps from a storage structure in Corona and a gold Toyota Sienna minivan parked nearby, which Jackson Heights resident Manuel Espinal-Ramirez, 54, allegedly used to store and transport the cigarettes, the DA said.

District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement that the untaxed cigarettes and counterfeit stamps would shortchange the city and state out of almost $200,000 in tax revenue if sold. “For every dollar or $2 a store owner or consumer saves by purchasing an untaxed pack of cigarettes, the honest taxpayer becomes the victim by being forced to dip into his or her pocket to pay higher taxes,” Brown said. It is illegal to sell cigarettes in the city without a joint city and state tax stamp, the DA said. Only licensed stamping agents are allowed to have untaxed cigarettes in their possession, the DA said.

Espinal-Ramirez, who lives at 95th Street and 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, was arraigned Sept. 22 before Queens Criminal Court Judge Susan Melendez, the DA said. He was charged on 21,559 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument and violations of state law regarding taxation of cigarette and tobacco products, according to Brown. If convicted on all charges, he faces up to 15 years in prison, the DA said.

City and state tax investigators allegedly saw Espinal-Ramirez on Sept. 21 leaving the Toyota Sienna and going into the storage structure, at the rear of 100-15 35th Ave. in Corona, with an opaque plastic bag allegedly full of cigarette cartons, the DA said. In addition to seizing the cigarettes and stamps, the investigators also took $6,741 in cash from the storage structure, Espinal-Ramirez and the Toyota Sienna, according to the district attorney.

They also seized a GPS in the minivan, the DA said. The investigation was conducted by the city Department of Finance and the state Department of Taxation and Finance. “We will continue our work together to vigorously pursue and prosecute those who attempt to profit from tax evasion,” state Tax Department Commissioner Thomas Mattox said in a statement.

To smoke on stage or not to smoke

Let me make it very clear first. I used to be a very heavy smoker. I smoked at least two packs of cigarettes a day, on top of enjoying quite a few pipefuls of tobacco, while I was working as managing editor of The China Post. I also smoked cigars my friends gave me as presents. Well, that's more than half a century ago. I quit smoking after I had a heart attack at London's Regent Park in 1988. I've been a teetotaler since. But from time to time, I would dream I was smoking. That means subconsciously I wanted to smoke a cigarette or two. As a former heavy smoker, I'm never against smoking.

Life is short and work is long. And everybody has the right to enjoy himself while he can to forget his miserable life of a work ant, be it smoking or drinking or anything else, so long as it doesn't cause someone else trouble. That's why a theatergoer in Taipei, bothered by cigarette smoking on stage at the National Theater in the heart of our not-so-beloved city, filed a complaint with our municipal health bureau more than four months ago. Oscar Wilde's “The Importance of Being Earnest” was staged at the National Theater from May 24 to 27. There was a scene in which Jack Worthing smoked cigarettes, and one offended viewer recalled that a theater is supposed to be free of smokers and sent a letter of complaint to the health bureau, accusing the protagonist on stage of breaking the smoking ban, a misdemeanor that is punishable by a fine.

On complaint, a good Jack in the office took a retarded action threatening to write a ticket and asking the National Theater to produce evidence against the actor who played Jack Worthing. The letter requesting evidence was sent on June 11. P. T. Huang, director-general of arts at the National Theater, snapped back, refusing to produce any evidence for reasons that the smoking ban in public places like theaters isn't applicable on stage. She retorted that the ban, which is in force at the theater, can't be enforced on stage where performing arts are forever.

She must be right, for the good Jack in the office relented and didn't send a ticket to the actor. Nevertheless, an official letter was forwarded to the National Theater on Sept. 11 with a demand that no one be allowed to smoke on stage and the theater authorities see to it that the smoking ban is strictly enforced everywhere within its domain. Moreover, they were asked to help give publicity to the smoking ban. Smoking is harmful of course, both to smokers and the non-smokers nearby. But, the offended theatergoer seems to have overreacted.

I didn't ask my doctor friends to find out exactly how much he or she or anybody else in the audience was harmed by the tobacco smoke Jack Worthing spread out of stage but I do believe it's miniscule, to say the least. After all, cigarette fume is no nerve gas that may kill. A couple of minutes you're exposed to cigarette smoke from a smoker not in your immediate vicinity certainly won't kill you or cause cancer of the lung or, I firmly believe, harm you in any way possible.

Employee took cigarettes, lottery tickets

The Monroe Police Department arrested an employee of a Monroe store on Wednesday and charged him with felony theft. Zechariah Q. Britt, 21, 205 Graceful Lane, Monroe, is accused of taking cigarettes, scratch-off lottery tickets and food from a Chevron Store on Garrett Road. Britt was hired in August and the thefts were reported Sept. 22. Police said the investigation revealed that while Britt was working, he took the items without paying for them.

According to the arrest report, Britt admitted to the thefts. He was booked into Ouachita Correctional Center and charged with felony theft. The total of the items was $659.41. The suspect posted $200 bond and was released.

TOBACCO: MORE EFFICIENT FLU VACCINE-MAKER?

With flu season only a sneeze away, the vaccines that swell arms across North America this year will still be made with chicken eggs. However, a flu pandemic could call a Canadian biopharma company into action. In clinical trials now, their method uses tobacco plants to produce flu vaccines affordably in weeks rather than months.

 "This one little plant can do 50 doses," said Andy Sheldon, CEO of the Canadian biopharma company Medicago that is developing tobacco-based vaccines. "Whereas when you're looking at one egg, which is what people use when they're making influenza vaccines, they can get about two doses." Most flu vaccines remain egg-based, manufactured using living chicken embryos. This technique has limits, though. It makes vaccine production challenging to scale up and difficult to change when new viruses emerge.

The 2009 swine flu pandemic had gone through a second wave before a vaccine was ready. NEWS: What To Expect From The Flu This Fall Medicago, with help from U.S. defense grants, is one of several companies seeking a more effective replacement for eggs. Plants have been eyed as an alternative since the early 1990s, according to pioneering plant researcher Charles Arntzen. Currently the co-director for Arizona State University's Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, Arntzen said that several other plant species, including tomatoes, had initially been studied as possibilities.

San Rafael officials approve tough new smoking rules

San Rafael officials approved the county's toughest anti-tobacco ordinance to date on Monday, banning smoking from all apartments and condominiums, in addition to parks, bus stops, restaurant patios and many other outdoor spaces. The measure is aimed at protecting people from secondhand smoke, officials said. "What we are really considering is the impact of others," Mayor Gary Phillips said Monday before voting with his four city council colleagues to approve the ordinance. The ordinance includes special restrictions for the downtown area, banning smoking from sidewalks and plazas except while smokers are "actively passing on the way to another destination."

The new rules are similar to those adopted by the city of Larkspur, the county Board of Supervisors and other Marin agencies. However, San Rafael is the first to ban smoking in all apartments and condos; others allow designation of some units for smoking. In San Rafael, landlords, condo boards, employers, public event organizers and the city manager could still designate some outdoor smoking areas, with restrictions. The areas would have to be 20 feet away from places where smoking is banned and 100 feet away from children's areas or recreation areas such as playgrounds and swimming pools.

The San Rafael ordinance spells out some indoor areas where smoking would still be allowed including single-family houses, vehicles, up to 20 percent of hotel rooms and tobacco shops that are not attached to other structures. Actors in theater productions may smoke onstage if "smoking is an integral part of the story and the use of a fake, prop, or special effect cannot reasonably convey the idea of smoking in an effective way to a reasonable member of the anticipated audience," according to the ordinance. Several members of the meeting spoke in favor of the ordinance at the city council's meeting Monday.

"I wish that this would happen all over the United States," said Jane Levinsohn, adding she hoped her hometown of Corte Madera would pass a similar ordinance. "People don't really don't know how much damage is done by secondhand smoke," said Michael Harr, a resident of the Highlands of Marin apartment complex in North San Rafael. "It's kind of a strange psychological denial that smokers have." San Rafael activist Jonathan Frieman said he opposed the ordinance because the designated smoking areas would be too close to areas where smoking is banned. He said smokers should have to stay farther away. "We should make them work to go kill themselves," he said. Enforcement of the San Rafael ordinance would be complaint-driven, officials said.

Landlords would be asked to incorporate the ban into their lease documents, and the county's Health and Human Services department will handle reports for first violations. "Hopefully there are not going to be that many second violations," said Bob Curry, who coordinates the department's tobacco program and consulted with San Rafael officials on the city's ordinance. "Based on past ordinances we're fairly confident that this is not going to be a major problem once we do the outreach and the education in the community."

Smoking On The Rise In Youth Movies

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Onscreen tobacco use increased by 34% per movie last year in films targeted at children and teens, according to a new study. Researchers say the dramatic rise in smoking scenes in top-grossing U.S. movies with a G, PG, or PG-13 rating ends five years of steady decline in onscreen tobacco use. “The growth in onscreen tobacco use in 2011 reversed years of progress toward tobacco-free youth-rated movies,” write researcher Stanton Glantz, PhD, of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues in Preventing Chronic Disease.

 Studies have shown exposure to onscreen smoking encourages young people to start smoking. Reducing youth exposure to tobacco use in movies is a goal of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Smoking Surge in Youth Movies In the study, researchers counted use or implied use of a tobacco product by actors in movies with a box office gross that ranked in the top 10 for at least one week in 2011. The results showed the total instances of tobacco use, almost exclusively smoking, rose by 7% per movie from 2010 to 2011.

 Tobacco incidents rose by 34% in movies rated G, PG, or PG-13, and by 7% in movies rated R. The biggest increase in onscreen tobacco use was in movies aimed at the youngest audiences. The average number of tobacco incidents per movie rated G and PG rose by 311% in 2011, up from less than one smoking scene per movie to more than three. No-Smoking Policy Backfires Researchers say the increase in onscreen smoking means the motion picture industry is no longer progressing toward the goal of reducing onscreen tobacco use to curb youth smoking.

 From 2005 to 2010, three major movie studios (Comcast/Universal, Disney, and Time Warner) had policies designed to discourage smoking in their movies. These efforts reduced average tobacco use per youth-rated movie by more than 90%. But the study shows that those policies didn’t hold up in 2011. Studios with a smoking policy had an average of 7.6 more instances of tobacco use in their movies in 2011 compared with 2010.

Studios without any smoking policy actually had 1.3 fewer examples of tobacco use in their movies in 2011. Researchers say the results suggest a change in the movie rating system is needed to encourage movie studies to reduce tobacco use in movies and combat youth smoking. “The reversal of progress toward less onscreen smoking in youth-rated movies underscores the need to rate movies with tobacco imagery as R, establishing an industry-wide market incentive to keep youth-marketed movies tobacco-free,” the researchers write.

New smoking policy at SWOCC

The first week of classes at Southwestern Oregon Community College just ended and students now have to smoke in designated areas. They're marked by a sign and sometimes a picnic table at 12 locations around campus. In the past, students at SWOCC could smoke anywhere on campus as long as they were ten feet from a building. To keep up with new state policies, and after conducting student surveys, the change was put into place July 1st.

 Housing Director, Jeff Whitey, says there haven't been any problems so far. "It's obviously going to be an adjustment period, and the college is trying to do its best to notify everybody and provide the resources. We have the website up that offers all the smoking resources here in the community as well as on campus," he said. Both smoking and non-smoking students seem to think it's a good idea. Levi Duvall is a transfer student who doesn't smoke.

He said, "You should be able to smoke in certain places but not all around the campus area where there's people that really don't want to walk around and smell cigarette smoke all day. You know to stay away from the designated areas if you don't want to smell cigarettes." Marian Browning, a second year student who smokes, thinks it's a positive change, but says it takes away some freedom.

 "It used to be an open campus and there's be ash trays everywhere and we could walk along campus and smoke smoke, and now we have to be in certain areas and it kind of takes the freedom away a little bit," she said. Some say the smoking areas can even bring people together. Marian says she already made some new friends. According to Whitey, the designated smoking areas will soon be covered. He hopes this happens before it starts to rain.

SGA talks smoke-free campus, creates mixed reaction

The university could soon join numerous higher education institutions in becoming a smoke-free campus, according to Student Government Association adviser, Marilyn Prime. Prime, the director of University Student Centers, said a group of students came to SGA members last spring with concerns about the secondhand smoke they were inhaling on campus. As a result, SGA senators created a proposal for a smoke-free campus and are working with university officials on a plan, she said.

 “We are a great institution and we should align ourselves with other great institutions,” Prime said. Senior and SGA President Michelle Barineau stated in an email that members conducted a survey last spring that revealed 74 percent of the 634 students polled supported the idea of making the university a smoke-free campus. Other colleges in the country have enforced this rule as well, she said. “SGA’s 2012 research has found that at least 774 colleges or universities across the nation have adopted 100 percent smoke or tobacco-free campus policies, which includes both indoor and outdoor areas across the entire campus and residence halls,” Barineau said. According to Barineau, 420 colleges implemented a smoking ban in 2010 and 530 campuses were smoke-free as of 2011.

Both the University of Maryland and Towson University do not allow smoking on campus. University officials will look at campuses with smoke-free policies as models for their own initiative and discuss these plans with their constituents, Prime said. She said it would probably take one to two years to enact a smoking ban. Prime said Delaware’s laws that make restaurants smoke-free give the university’s initiative backing.

Currently, the university already has rules that limit smokers from smoking near the entrances of buildings, she said. Senior Evan Acuna, an occasional smoker, said he understands that rule, but he would not be in favor of a complete ban on smoking. “I don’t think anyone walking around with a cigarette is bothering anyone,” Acuna said. “I mean, people live here too. This is home for some people, and if people want to step outside and have a cigarette they should be able to.”

While Prime is working on the smoking ban initiative, she said university officials are concerned about remaining respectful toward smokers. “If they are going to look at bringing a policy that is smoke-free or tobacco-free there has to be programs to help those individuals who currently smoke who want to stop,” Prime said. “Resources need to be created.” According to Michael Gilbert, vice president for Student Life, many smoke-free schools offer programs to help faculty and students quit smoking.

He said university officials need more feedback from the community to create a successful proposal. “It is a complicated issue since it involves staff, faculty and guests, so we have to be thoughtful and deliberate in the review of the issue,” Gilbert said. “It is complicated because it affects so many.” Sophomore Katie Kramedas said although she thinks a ban on smoking could be controversial because people have the right to smoke, she supports the idea.

Smoking the most common cause of emphysema

Emphysema is defined as dilation of the ends of the airway in the lung. This dilation is permanent and occurs from the destruction of the lung tissue that is responsible for the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. The destroyed areas of lung include the alvoeli. These are the tiny air sacs where the blood comes into close contact with the inhaled air and gas exchange occurs. To be effective, there needs to be a large amount of these alveoli.

With destruction, there is a loss of the amount of surfaces available for oxygen to enter and carbon dioxide to exit the bloodstream. Emphysema is one of the two main components of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The other is chronic bronchitis. Most people with COPD have a combination of both components. Smoking is the most common cause of emphysema. Other risks include second-hand smoke, air pollution, occupational gases and toxic fumes and exposure to cooking fire without proper ventilation.

There are inherited forms of emphysema that are made significantly worse by the exposure to cigarette smoke. Shortness of breath, worse with exertion, fatigue, cough, wheeze, chest tightness and recurrent respiratory infections are common symptoms of emphysema. A pulmonologist can diagnose emphysema based on a patient's history and physical exam. This is confirmed by breathing tests, known as pulmonary function tests.

These tests can show obstruction to the flow of air and demonstrate an enlargement in the volume of air in the lungs. There is no cure for emphysema. The lung tissue has already been destroyed. Stopping smoking is the most important intervention to prevent progression of the destruction. Inhalers can help open up the bronchial tubes and unload trapped air.

Acute infections must be treated early and aggressively to prevent worsening of the lung disease. Pulmonary rehabilitation programs can improve a patient's strength and ability to exercise. Ultimately, in patients with severe disease, a lung transplant evaluation should be undertaken.