End Smoking NZ says cigarettes released for sale fell 11% in 2010. In 2009 3697 million cigarettes were released for sale by manufacturers, decreasing to 3343 million in 2010. And End Smoking NZ said in total, cigarette sales decreased 54% per adult from 1990 to 2010. Chairman Murray Laugesen said the number of cigarettes per adult is now at its lowest in 90 years. “We can thank the record 119 MPs from all parties who voted in April 2010 to increase tobacco excise,” Dr Laugesen said. He said the increased tax on hand-rolled cigarettes, the Maori Affairs Parliamentary CommitteeR ... Jump to full article >>

The Chinese regime launched a public ‘no smoking’ policy on Monday—that’s five years after it signed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Under the new ban, people cannot smoke inside public spaces. Business must display “No Smoking” signs and outdoor smoking areas must not adversely affect non-smokers. [Li Fei, Beijing Resident]: “Actually, I am a smoker but I support the ban on smoking in public places, especially in restaurants. Usually the air in restaurants is not that good and they are quite crowded. If there are people smoking t ... Jump to full article >>

The Nova Scotia government announced a five-year tobacco control strategy on Wednesday, aimed at reducing smoking rates among young people in the province. Health Minister Maureen MacDonald said the province wants to reduce smoking rates among 20- to 24-year-olds from 29 per cent to 20 per cent by 2015-16. Within the same time period, Nova Scotia also wants to reduce smoking among teenagers from 15 per cent to 10 per cent. “It is troubling to hear that one out of five tobacco vendors are still selling to minors,” MacDonald told reporters. “This is unacceptable.” [captio ... Jump to full article >>

The pace of Massachusetts cities and towns banning tobacco sales at pharmacies appears to be accelerating: Of nine such bans that have taken effect since early 2009, four began this year, and more are under consideration. South of Boston, Sharon defeated a proposed ban April 11, but the Wareham Board of Health may opt for one, according to Bob Collett, director the Cape Cod Regional Tobacco Control Program. Collett made a presentation to the Wareham board recently. “I’m confident that it will happen there,’’ he said. “They do understand the obvious hypocrisy of selling tobacco in a ... Jump to full article >>

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa— Linn County will consider new restrictions on the sale of smokeless tobacco. The Gazette is reporting the county Board of Supervisors will vote next month on ordinances that would prohibit the sale of dissolvable tobacco products, such as strips and sticks in the county; ban buy one get one free sales of products; and prohibit adult-only temporary structures, such as fair tents, from giving away samples of smokeless tobacco. Supervisor Linda Langston is predicting the measures will pass. Langston and others say the ordinances are being proposed to protect children. Manag ... Jump to full article >>

Editors at The Australian have made clear their opposition to the Federal Government’s proposals to legislate plain cigarette packaging that incorporates graphic health warnings. The paper’s Friday 8 April editorial Smokescreen or deterrent? argues that smoking rates have been dropping for decades without this “latest proposal for even more hideous cigarette packaging”, managing to imply that tobacco control legislation enacted to date has played no part in this trend. The editorial states that cigarette manufacturers should be allowed to present their brands to consumers in much the ... Jump to full article >>

The new animated children’s movie Rango has a lot of characters smoking. The main character, a chameleon voiced by Johnny Depp, swallows a cigar at one point and breathes fire in the plot that revolves around a lawless outpost in the Wild West. Should this movie be restricted to those 18 and older in Ontario because it shows tobacco products? The Peterborough County-City Health Unit says yes — and endorses more restrictions on movies that depict any type of tobacco imagery including showing a pack of cigarettes on a table — because of studies showing that youth exposed to these movi ... Jump to full article >>

The Government tabled the Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2011 at the Legislative Council today to increase tobacco duty by 41.5%, or 50 cents a cigarette, as proposed in Financial Secretary John Tsang’s 2011-12 Budget. The proposal came into immediate effect on February 23, the day of his Budget Speech, under the Public Revenue Protection (Dutiable Commodities) Order 2011. The order gives provisional legal effect to the proposal for four months. The Government said the long-term objective of tobacco-control policy is to curb cigarette consumption and further reduce smoking prevale ... Jump to full article >>

A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shows both the intended and unintended consequences of cigarette taxes. According to an analysis of Internet search data, the 2009 U.S. federal cigarette excise tax increase successfully drove many smokers online to find ways to quit smoking, but more often smokers responded by shopping online for tax-free or cheap cigarettes in an apparent effort to evade the tax hike. The study is the first evaluation of smokers’ responses to the tax, which increased from $0.39 to $1.01 per pack under the State Children� ... Jump to full article >>

Texas can’t afford to stop funding its tobacco control programs. Tobacco is a deadly addiction that costs Texans $20 billion every year in medical costs, lost productivity and premature deaths. Tobacco is the No. 1 cause of preventable death in Texas, with more than 24,500 deaths each year in Texas linked to tobacco. And Big Tobacco spends an estimated $854 million every year to market its products to Texans. The state of Texas currently spends just $10 million of the $1.8 billion it collects each year in tobacco settlement and tobacco tax revenue to help prevent children from smoking an ... 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 >>