OTTAWA — The federal government plans to introduce legislation Tuesday that, if passed, would make good on a campaign promise to ban flavoured tobacco products that are considered appealing to children. The bill, “An Act to Amend the Tobacco Act,” also is expected to mandate that mini-cigars, called cigarillos, must be sold in packages of at least 20, and that all tobacco advertising and promotion in print and electronic media that may be viewed and read by young people is prohibited. More details will be revealed when the bill is introduced in the House of Commons by Health Mini ... Jump to full article >>

Cape Town – A cigarette firm has labelled sections of the health department’s proposed amendments to regulations of the sale of cigarettes as “silly”. “What is the intent of the legislation? They’ve amended this legislation, looking to limit the independence of traders to communicate at the point-of-sale,” British American Tobacco regulatory affairs manager Jerry Gilbert told News24. “Small traders won’t be able to sell cigarettes within one metre of anything that might attract kids. The logic seems to be that seeing cigarettes will likely ... Jump to full article >>

National grocery store chain Safeway Inc. has filed a federal lawsuit claiming that San Francisco’s ban on the sale of tobacco products in pharmacies and stores that contain pharmacies is unconstitutional. Safeway says the prohibition should be lifted because it discriminates against retailers that have in-store pharmacies. In August 2008 San Francisco passed a law that prohibited the sale of tobacco at pharmacies but exempted grocery stores like Safeway and “big box” retailers such as Wal-Mart and Costco that happen to contain pharmacies. San Francisco is the first U.S. city to ini ... Jump to full article >>

The former chairman of Circuit City Stores Inc. and CarMax Inc. has joined the board of directors of a local company that makes smokeless tobacco products. Star Scientific Inc. said Thursday that it has named Richard L. Sharp to its seven-member board. The Henrico County-based company makes smokeless, spitless, oral tobacco products under the brand names Stonewall and Ariva. Star Scientific shook up the tobacco industry in the late 1990s and early 2000s by contracting with farmers to produce reduced-carcinogen tobacco, but the company has not turned a profit in years as it pursued a decade-lo ... Jump to full article >>

St. Paul, Minn. — The Minnesota Senate is considering legislation that would raise the tax on so-called little cigars to the same rate as cigarettes. The tobacco products are the same size as cigarettes, but are currently taxed at a lower rate. Anti-smoking activists say the little cigars are targeted to children. The bill would bring in additional revenue to the state, but Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, told members of the Senate Taxes Committee Thursday that her main goal is to stop children from smoking. “The number one addiction out there for these kids is tobacco,” Rosen sa ... Jump to full article >>

A new report released by the Food and Drug Administration advisory panel has warned that the use of menthol cigarettes is on the rise among teens, especially among black teens. According to the report, more than 80 percent of black teen smokers and over half of Hispanic teen smokers use menthol cigarettes while the product accounts for over 30 percent of the total cigarette sales in the US. Menthol cigarettes have been under the scanner of the FDA for some time now with the health agency coming up with a draft report stating that there was “insufficient evidence” to back the claim that me ... Jump to full article >>

The presence of LGBT themes in cigarette ads surprised a crowd of people at a workshop during the Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference at the University of Michigan last month. Because LGBT people are more likely to smoke cigarettes, the industry has responded accordingly. According to the American Legacy Foundation, sexual minorities are 1.5 to 2.5 times more likely to smoke cigarettes. Bisexual women are up to 3.5 times more likely to be smokers. Cigarette companies strive to associate with LGBT people – but not to come across as a pro-LGBT company, said Jai ... Jump to full article >>

A bill to allow smoking in cigar lounges and tobacco shops in Washington has been moving forward in the state Legislature, but it has been controversial every step of the way. Senate Bill 5542, which had a hearing in the Senate Ways and Means Committee today, would set up special smoking endorsements people could buy and contribute the money to the state’s Basic Health Program, a proposal supporters say would be safe but opponents argue would be bad health policy for Washington. Sen. Jerome Delvin, a Richland Republican and the bill’s sponsor said it was a good opportunity for the state to ... Jump to full article >>

BATON ROUGE — Health advocates, business interests and the cigarette lobby are expected to collide during the upcoming regular session when lawmakers debate how much smokes should cost and where they should be used. Tobacco and Louisiana politics have shared an interesting history, whether it’s more recent — like the spit-cup ways of Timmy Teepell, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s chief of staff, who inspired the state House to adopt an internal ban on tobacco products — or further back — such as 1926, when the Legislature passed its first cigarette tax. That inaugural tax was one penny fo ... Jump to full article >>

INDIANAPOLIS, March 16 (UPI) — Dissolvable tobacco products — pop-into-the-mouth replacements for cigarettes — have the potential to cause mouth diseases, U.S. researchers say. John V. Goodpaster of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis and colleagues say the first dissolvable tobacco products in pellet, stick and strip forms went on sale in 2009 in test markets in Indianapolis; Columbus, Ohio; and Portland, Ore. The products contain mainly nicotine, along with finely-ground tobacco and a variety of flavoring ingredients, sweeteners and binders. They are marketed ... Jump to full article >>

Two decades after a Pinellas County legislator first proposed it, the state of Florida is finally ready to outlaw smoking by prison inmates. That prisoners are still casually lighting up in the rec yard, years after many other states stopped the practice, is testament to the legacy of tobacco industry influence in Tallahassee and the reluctance of a rigid prison bureaucracy to change with the times. Gov. Rick Scott’s new prison boss, Edwin Buss, arrived in Florida from Indiana a few weeks ago and was shocked to discover a smoky haze in prisons he visited. His former state banned smoking in p ... Jump to full article >>