tobacco

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Obama Signs Smoking Crackdown

(Newser) - President Barack Obama cited his own long struggle to quit the cigarettes he took up as a teenager as he signed the strongest-ever US anti-smoking bill today and praised it for providing needed protections for future generations. "It is a law that will save American lives," Obama said....

Tobacco Bill's Winners: Philip Morris, Lawyers
Tobacco Bill's Winners: Philip Morris, Lawyers
OPINION
Jun 18, 2009 7:55 AM CDT

Tobacco Bill's Winners: Philip Morris, Lawyers

We're smoking less because it's dumb, not because of policy: Will

(Newser) - President Obama might have praised Congress' tobacco bill, but for George F. Will, the new legislation gives just two muscular groups reason to celebrate: Philip Morris and "the Democratic Party's fountain of funds, the trial bar." New restrictions on cigarette advertising will help Philip Morris vault over competitors,...

Obama Sees 'Victory' in Passage of FDA-Tobacco Bill

(Newser) - President Obama praised the passage of a bill allowing the FDA to regulate tobacco products as “a long time coming," the Hill reports. The legislation, which sailed through the House this morning, grants the agency new power to regulate tobacco ingredients and marketing. "After a decade of...

Senate OKs Tough New Tobacco Regulations

(Newser) - Congress struck the US government's strongest anti-smoking blow in decades today with a Senate vote to give regulators new power to limit nicotine in cigarettes, drastically curtail ads, and ban candied tobacco products aimed at young people. Cigarette foes say the changes could cut into the 400,000 deaths every...

Senate Poised to Pass Tough New Tobacco Law

Bill will give FDA authority to regulate marketing, content of tobacco products

(Newser) - The Senate is expected this week to pass sweeping new legislation to regulate tobacco, reports USA Today. The bill, which may go to a vote as soon as today, gives the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco and will require larger health warnings on packets, end the use of claims...

Cigarette Companies Lied, Appeals Court Rules

(Newser) - Tobacco companies engaged in “deceits” and knowingly marketed cigarettes without regard for consumers’ health, violating civil racketeering laws, a federal appeals court ruled today. In upholding the verdict in a landmark case brought by the Clinton Justice Department in 1999, the court refused to overturn a district judge’s...

SF Smokers May Have to Cough Up for Butt Cleanup

Mayor proposes hefty tax hike to make smokers cover litter removal

(Newser) - San Francisco's mayor believes non-smokers shouldn't have to cover the costs of cleaning up cigarette butts, the New York Times reports. Gavin Newsom has proposed a 33-cent tax on each pack of cigarettes sold, which he says will cover the $10 million a year it costs to pick up after...

Chinese Workers Ordered to Smoke More

(Newser) - Seeking to stem the flow of cigarettes over the border and bolster the local tobacco industry, a Chinese county has ordered local officials to puff only local cigarettes, the Times of London reports. In March, Gongan county mandated that civil servants on its payroll smoke 230,000 packs of locally...

Urine Test Predicts Smokers' Lung Cancer Risk

Detectable chemical IDs smokers with lots to lose

(Newser) - A chemical detectable in urine can help predict which smokers are prone to lung cancer, NPR reports. A 10-year study of 500 smokers found that those with the highest levels of nicotine and NNAL—created as the body metabolizes tobacco—were 8.5 times more likely to develop cancer. Researchers...

Consumer Prices Dip in March
 Consumer Prices Dip in March 
Apr 15, 2009 1:18 PM CDT

Consumer Prices Dip in March

Prices drop 0.1%, despite tobacco hike

(Newser) - Consumer prices dipped unexpectedly in March, leaving prices over the past year falling at the fastest clip in more than a half-century. The recession is expected to keep a lid on inflation as widespread layoffs dampen wage pressures and weak demand keeps companies from raising prices. Consumer prices edged down...

'Lost' Child in Anti-Smoking Ad Really Cried

Filmmakers let kid lose sight of mom to make spot more effective

(Newser) - A new anti-smoking ad that shows a child crying after he loses his mother in a crowded train station portrays genuine distress, MSNBC reports. The 4-year-old—acting with his real mother—was allowed to lose sight of her for "a very brief moment," said an exec with the...

House Hits Big Tobacco; Senate Battle Up Next

Advocates and enemies of big tobacco brace for Senate battle

(Newser) - The House today agreed to give the FDA broad new powers over tobacco products, the New York Times reports. The House voted 298-to-112 to pass the bill, but the real fight will come in the Senate, where one North Carolina Republican has already threatened a filibuster. Ted Kennedy plans to...

Gillibrand Spent Years Defending Big Tobacco

As a young lawyer, NY senator worked for Phillip Morris

(Newser) - Kirsten Gillibrand, Hillary Clinton’s Senate successor, spent years as a Phillip Morris lawyer involved in some of its most sensitive cases in the 1990s, the New York Times reports. As a junior lawyer, Gillibrand helped fend off a federal perjury investigation against the tobacco giant, fighting off prosecution demands...

Florida Jury Awards $8M to Smoker's Family

Philip Morris vows to appeal verdict

(Newser) - Philip Morris must pay $8 million to the widow and son of a 55-year-old lung cancer victim, a Florida jury says. Jurors in the closely watched case decided that the cigarette maker hid the health risks and addictive qualities of cigarettes, the Miami Herald reports. Stuart Hess smoked about two...

Addiction Led to Smoker's Death: Jury

Widow scores first blood in potentially groundbreaking trial

(Newser) - Addiction to cigarettes caused chain smoker Stuart Hess’ death from lung cancer, a Florida jury ruled yesterday, paving the way for his widow to receive damages from Phillip Morris. The case is the first of 8,000 to spin out of a landmark 1994 class-action suit. That case's $145 billion...

Tax Soda: It's the New Tobacco
 Tax Soda: It's the New Tobacco 
OPINION
Dec 18, 2008 10:27 AM CST

Tax Soda: It's the New Tobacco

Less obese, less diabetic America just a couple of laws away

(Newser) - The cigarette tax "was the biggest health care breakthrough in the last 40 years in the United States," and its successor may be the 18% tax on non-diet soda New York Gov. David Patterson is pitching, writes Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times. Not only do empty...

Fewer Than 20% of US Adults Smoke, a First

Rate drops, though 43M still light up; 443K die yearly as result

(Newser) - Smoking in the US is at its lowest since cigarettes became widespread after World War I, Reuters reports, with fewer than 20% of adults in the country lighting up—the lowest figure on record. Observers credit the gradual decline to awareness, bans on smoking in public places, and prohibitive taxation....

Tobacco Crackdown Aims to Douse Smuggling Efforts

Making supply chain more transparent among goals of international talks

(Newser) - Negotiators from over 150 countries are working with the World Health Organization to shape a proposal intended to combat the global trade in illegal cigarettes, Portfolio reports. Anti-tobacco advocates say current measures are insufficient to stem the illicit production or smuggling that accounts for 11% of worldwide tobacco sales, and...

High Court Appears Cool to Smokers' Suit

Marlboro ads make people really inhale, lawyers tell high court

(Newser) - Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical over a lawsuit against Philip Morris cigarette ads today, McClatchy reports. A group of Maine smokers claim that ads for Marlboro Lights are deceptive, saying the company knew smokers would inhale more deeply on them and draw in more chemicals. At stake is the power...

India Readies Smoking Ban; Unruly Public Shrugs

Prohibition carries $5 penalty in country with average income of $1K

(Newser) - India is about to institute a ban on smoking in public places, including bars, restaurants, hotels and hospitals, the Wall Street Journal reports. The ban, which begins Thursday, is being greeted warmly by health officials, with skepticism by smokers on the ground. “Such rules are made and broken every...

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