The headlines are as recent as a puffed smoke-ring, wafting intact: Australia proposes regulations mandating plain packaging. Plain, in this instance, bears no relation to the “less is more” school of thought subscribed to by many designers; rather, it means sans logo, branding images, and color. Furthermore, promotional copy will be limited to brand name and product designation, and even then of a standard font, size, position, and color. In dwarfing contrast to that austerity, will be graphic, color photos of cancer, augmenting prominently-placed warnings. The intended end-result ... Jump to full article >>

Australian Unity has been rewarding its members to butt out, and with more and more women taking up smoking it seems more puff is needed in quit smoking messages. Australian Unity’s head of Health Amanda Hagan said, the announcement of the federal governments plan to remove tobacco advertising and increase the price of cigarettes, couldn’t have come at a better time. “According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, more Australian women each year are being diagnosed with smoking related diseases with tracheal and lung cancer overtaking breast cancer as the leading cause o ... Jump to full article >>

Children who begin smoking do not recognize that being irritable is an early sign of addiction, University of Massachusetts researchers said. “Previous studies have already shown that there is a strong correlation between symptoms of nicotine dependence and nicotine addiction,” Dr. Chyke Doubeni said in a statement. “This study shows that adolescents who start smoking, don’t appear to recognize the early signs of dependence.” Doubeni said other signs of early dependence on nicotine include a desire to smoke or craving for a cigarette. The study is based on data fr ... Jump to full article >>

Being a front runner in the global fight against tobacco use, Australia has introduced a landmark measure to prohibit brand logo and product info on cigarette packs by 2010, a law that would eliminate flagship logos such Marlboro chevron and Pall Mall emblem from the shelves. According to the measure, the tobacco companies would be banned from placing any brand labels, colors or text on the packs of their products. Instead, the packs would only contain uniform black-and-white letters, and the most part of each pack will be occupied by graphic health warnings. But tobacco industry is preparing ... Jump to full article >>

WHEN the last of Australia’s tobacco farms closed near the Victorian country town of Myrtleford about three years ago, Australian law enforcement agencies thought it would shut down a black market in what smokers know as ”chop chop”, or unbranded loose-leaf tobacco. But, it seems, little has changed. ”My corner store sells me half a kilo of chop chop under the counter for $70,” says a hard-core smoker in Geelong, who does not want to be named. ”That makes me 400 cigarettes and costs me less than half it would to buy them legitimately.” Sydney Universit ... Jump to full article >>

Syria has been considered a paradise for smokers for quite a long time, but now, this image is likely to be left in the history. Though it is still unclear how vigorously it will be enforced and how long it will last, however, from April 21st, smoking is banned in all public places under a law signed by Syria president Bashar al-Assad. The legislation prohibits lighting up in all restaurants and bars, hospitals, sport and educational facilities, workplaces and cinemas. The decree will only exempt restaurants and cafes that have separate outdoor venues or designated and separately-ventilated in ... Jump to full article >>

A smoking ban that few are expected to abide by went into effect in Syria Wednesday, a country where people light up even in hospitals. The ban targets most public places such as restaurants, cafes, schools, universities, hospitals, parks, movie theaters, museums and public transport. The law, which also forbids the sale of cigarettes to minors, was approved six months ago by President Bashar Assad, a British-trained eye doctor. The Middle East’s favorite pastime — smoking water pipes — is also prohibited in public under the new law except in well-ventilated and designated areas. Als ... Jump to full article >>

A non-government group has taken to task nearly a dozen local government units to task for naming some of their streets after popular cigarette brands, products that “have consistently contributed to over 10 Filipino deaths a day.” The Quezon City-based Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP) also threatened to sue the LGUs should they persist in putting up the street signs. Doing so is a “blatant violation of Republic Act No. 9211,” otherwise known as the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2007. FCAP executive director Ma. Encarnita Limpin asked the ... Jump to full article >>

China is home to 30 percent of smokers across the worlds, an as well is the largest cigarette maker and tobacco grower. Such enormous tobacco consumption resulted in severe health complications among Chinese people, so China government has recently initiated a campaign to reduce smoking in the country together with Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Finances, local and international charity organizations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Bloomberg Initiative. After ratifying the landmark worldwide Convention on Tobacco Control, Chinese officials have been committed ... Jump to full article >>

Struggling Valladolid have appointed Spanish football’s Red Adair for what will now, inevitably, be a wild fight for survival. Javier Clemente is nails. Real Valladolid’s new coach, known as the ‘Blonde of Barrakaldo’, is the foul-mouthed, feisty chain-smoking football manager who knows no fear, laughs in the face of danger, and thinks nothing of checking himself out of hospital against doctors’ advice and driving from Bilbao to Belgrade with four broken ribs, a fractured collarbone and a punctured lung. The man who could start a fight in an empty house but would ... Jump to full article >>

A rising number of prescriptions for drugs to treat obesity and to help people stop smoking are being handed out in Scotland. Figures yesterday estimated that more than 10,500 people in Scotland are on daily drug treatment for obesity. The statistics also revealed a 31 per cent increase in prescriptions for smokers trying to kick the habit in the past year. Experts have warned that smoking and obesity remain two of the greatest challenges facing public health in Scotland. Yesterday’s figures showed that 394,420 therapies to help smoking cessation were prescribed in Scotland during 2009 ... Jump to full article >>