Skoal Dry Tobacco Packs are being test marketed in Austin, TX and in Louisville, KY. ..

July 14, 2007 - Skoal Dry Tobacco Packs are being test marketed in Austin, TX and in Louisville, KY. In Austin Skoal Dry is going head-to-head with Camel Snus. As you can see from the images the refrigerated Camel SNUS was initially selling for $4.69 while the Skoal Dry Skoal Dry that was suppose to sell for $3.50 -$4 a tin (containing 20 pouches)had an inital introductory price of 99 cents. Maybe they have the same motto as the new deeply discounted smokeless tobacco product Bobcat: "Price gets em, quality keeps em" - see Newsbrief - June 6, 2007. It should read"Price gets em, ADDICTION keeps em." Images from the Tobacco Prevention & Control Program, Texas Department of State Health Services. Click on images to enlarge..(TobaccoWatch.org)

Camel SNUS Images - Convenience Store...

July 12, 2007 - Camel SNUS Images - Convenience Store... Click on Image to Enlarge.. (TobaccoWatch.org)

Congratulations to Richard H. Carmona, M.D., MPH, 17th Surgeon General of the

July 11, 2007 - Congratulations to Richard H. Carmona, M.D., MPH, the 17th Surgeon General of the United States. His comments on Smokeless Tobacco from SNUS.biz, "Young people may be especially attracted to smokeless tobacco if they perceive it to be safer than cigarettes. The evidence is clear that the use of smokeless tobacco is a gateway to cigarettes."This hero was the first federal government public health official to state, "There Is NO NEED FOR ANY TOBACCO PRODUCTS IN SOCIETY." 2006 Surgeon General's Report—The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke Secondhand smoke (involuntary smoking) in America. (TobaccoWatch.org)

Tobacco control people feel a sense of accomplishment when the price of a tobacco product is increased...

July 10, 2007 - Tobacco control people feel a sense of accomplishment when the price of a tobacco product is increased. It is well known that higher cigarette prices result in lower overall cigarette consumption. (Most studies indicate that a 10% increase in price will reduce overall cigarette consumption by 3% to 5%.) But the tobacco companies come right back at you doing just about anything to keep a cigarette smoker. Recently, we came across an ad in June 2007 issue of Glamour Magazine (also same ad Inside Magazine, June 2007) where a person gets FOUR FREE packs of any RJR Tobacco's Pall Mall cigarettes by sending in 4-UPCs from any cigarette brand. (TobaccoWatch.org) The World Conference on Tobacco OR Health August 6-11, 2000 Tobacco Fact Sheet: Raising tobacco prices through tax increases can be one of the most powerful weapons in the fight to control tobacco-related disease and death. It can provide dramatic public health benefits, raise substantial new government revenue, fund important health programs and generate a surprising level of public and political support.

Democrats want spending increase for children's health insurance (SCHIP)..

July 9, 2007 - WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's 45 million smokers will probably help pay for the spending increase that Democrats want for children's health insurance, say analysts familiar with deliberations on Capitol Hill. Democratic lawmakers will push for $50 billion in new funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program over the next five years. To pay for that increase, they must find new sources of revenue or cut existing programs. (USA Today) An extra 61 U.S. cents per pack is what American smokers would pay to finance expanded health insurance to about 2 million children under a tentative agreement worked out Tuesday between Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee. The tobacco tax increase would boost the tax per pack from 39 cents to 1 U.S. dollar, an increase of 156%. (July 17th - also the federal tax on a cigar could rise from 5 cents to $10 per cigar.) It would raise about 35 billion dollars during five years to pay for the largest expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) since its creation a decade ago. "It really does come down to a choice between children and tobacco," said Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., who originally proposed the 61-cent increase. "This is a 'two-fer.' It does decrease smoking, and it does connect public health care costs with one of the drivers of that cost, and that's tobacco." (Chinaview.cn July 7, 2007)
Let's Increase the TAX on all tobacco products.. - from The New York Times article by Robt. Pear - July 14, 2007 - The plan calls for proportional increases for other tobacco products. Renewal of the children’s insurance program, which is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2007 is the most important health care issue facing Congress this year, lawmakers of both parties say. Get It Done..

Is this a coincidence??

July 8, 2007 - Is this a coincidence?? The 1st issue of the magazine XXL was published in 1997. RJR Tobacco came out with KOOL XL, the smoother and wider cigarette introduced in late 2006. I really don't think this is a coincidence but a deliberate attempt on the part of RJR to get more African Americans hooked on their tobacco products so that they become addicted and then become dedicated tobacco customers for rest of their lives. About XXL Magazine: (from magazine.com) XXL is an urban lifestyle magazine that covers all aspects of hip-hop culture As THE new voice of the Hip-Hop Generation, XXL focuses on music, style, sports, and politics with intelligence, sophistication, integrity and, ost of all, respect. Looking through a few issues, it doesn't look like the magazine accepts tobacco advertisements. (RAI's largest reportable operating segment, RJR Tobacco, is the second largest cigarette manufacturer in the United States. RJR Tobacco's largest selling cigarette brands, CAMEL, KOOL, PALL MALL, DORAL, WINSTON and SALEM, are currently six of the ten best-selling brands of cigarettes in the United States. (MarketWatch-DowJones May 4, 2007)Click on images to enlarge