Tobacco Tax Increase – What’s Wrong with South Carolina??

May 16, 2008 – Tobacco Tax Increase – What’s Wrong with South Carolina?? South Carolina's (SC) cigarette tax is currently 7 cents, the lowest in the nation. It was last raised 31 years ago. On Tuesday, May 6, 2008 the State Senate gave approval to as 50-cent per pack increase in the state’s cigarette tax. The tax is expected to collect $159 million yearly. According to the S.C. Tobacco Collaborative, which represents health groups raising cigarette tax to 57 cents will prevent 35,500 SC kids who are alive today from becoming smokers. In addition, 18,700 adults will quit or won't start smoking. With such positive health benefits that can result from the increase in the cigarette tax why does the Governor Mark Sanford say that he will veto the Senate's cigarette tax hike. Of the $158 million that is expected to be collected $76.5 million will be used to enlarge and grow Medicaid benefits. Based on current Medicaid growth numbers of eight percent annually, $165.2 million will be needed to provide that same level of benefits 10 years from now. The governor is concerned that the raise in the cigarette tax will result in fewer smokers which could result in a financial shortfall in the future in paying for Medicaid. (As we know some states where the tobacco tax has been increased have actually seen an increase in taxes raised; e.g., Iowa, North Carolina but other states have seen a decrease, e.g., Wisconsin.) Governor Sanford agrees with the idea of raising the cigarette tax but would like the money collected to be used to provide tax relief to South Carolinians. Instead of circumventing the governor's veto the groups wanting passage of the bill should work with the governor to obtain agreement on how the money raised should be spent. One non-negotiable item should be the $5 million needed to pay for efforts to prevent smoking or getting people to quit. References: South Carolina cigarette tax hike gets key approval by Jim Davenport, Forbes.com, 5/6/2008; Gov. Sanford: Cigarette Tax Shouldn't Be Used to Grow Government, sc.gov, 5/8/2007 and SC Tobacco Collaborative - Cigarette Taxes. As of May 15, 2008 - the SC House has delayed debate on a Senate-passed cigarette tax bill. Click on image to enlarge.. Read more...

More people in India die due to smoking bidis than all other forms of tobacco combined..

May 16, 2008 - More people in India die due to smoking bidis than all other forms of tobacco combined.. 100 million people in India smoke bidi (beedi) and more people die due to smoking bidis than all other forms of tobacco combined, says a bidi monograph, the first study of the kind conducted anywhere in the world. for every cigarette, eight bidis are sold in India. And what's worse, nearly 2.3% children, aged 13-15 years, have taken to it. While 19 per cent of tobacco consumption in India is in the form of cigarettes, 53 per cent is smoked as bidis. At present, 800,000 people die due to tobacco consumption in India, among whom 600,000 should be due to bidis alone." Bidi may contain lesser tobacco than cigarettes — 0.2 grams, but delivers as much or more tar and nicotine. The monograph, 'Bidi and Public Health' authored jointly by Dr P C Gupta from Healis Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health and Dr Samira Asma from Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta), in partnership with the health ministry, WHO and US Department of Health and Human Services. Definition bidi (beedi) - a cigarette made by rolling tobacco by hand in a dried leaf from the tendu tree (a member of the ebony family). Most bidis are made in India and they come in different flavors. (National Cancer Institute Dictionary of Cancer Terms) 
References: Bidis killing 6 lakh every year: Report,Kounteya Sinha, 5/13/2008; Beedi...India's Silent Killer, 5/13/2008. Click on image to enlarge.. - Incomplete.. 

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Protect Our Children - Make it illegal to use the U.S. Postal Service to deliver any form of tobacco product..

May 15, 2008 - The congressional legislation sponsored by Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., entitled the "Do Not Mail Tobacco Bill" (H.R. 2932) would amend Title 39 of the United States Code, restricting the USPS from delivering certain tobacco products. The bill provides that cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and roll-your-own-tobacco are nonmailable matter, would not be carried or delivered by mail and would be disposed of as the Postal Service directs. It also imposes a penalty of $100,000 for each violation. The bill would add tobacco to the list of items banned from mail delivery and as a result would block Internet sales of cigarettes to minors and those seeking to evade paying state taxes. The Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal believes that Internet sellers of tax-free cigarettes would go out of business if they could not rely upon the Postal Service for delivery. UPS, FedEX and DHL have signed agreements with state attorneys general that they will not deliver tobacco products — but not the Postal Service. Mary Anne Gibbons, general counsel for the Postal Service, said that the Postal Service has taken action to reduce the ability of tobacco retailers to use the mail for illicit sales but acknowledged that their existing authority is limited. The bill cleared the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee by a voice vote earlier this month (May 2008) and now awaits a floor vote in the House of Representatives. References: State urges end to tobacco Web sales by Peter Urban, ConnecticutPost.com, 5/10/2008; McHugh bill would stop mail-order cigarettes by Melissa Campanelli, DMNews, 7/10/2007 Read more...

District of Columbia (D.C. Washington) to double tax on a pack of cigarettes to $2.00..

May 15, 2008 - The D.C. Council has approved a $5.7 billion budget for the next fiscal year that includes a doubling of the cigarette tax to $2 per pack. ( D.C. Council adopts budget; cigarette tax to double, Examiner.com, 5/14/2008) Below comments of William V. Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. The District of Columbia (DC) could expect the $1 cigarette tax increase to prevent about 4,100 young people from smoking; spur 3,100 smokers to quit for good: save 2,100 people from smoking-caused deaths; produce more than $100 million in long-term health care savings; and raise about $11.7 million a year in new revenue. Every 10 per cent increase in the price of cigarettes reduced youth smoking by seven per cent and overall cigarette consumption by about four per cent. ( District of Columbia doubles cigarette tax, Tobacco Reporter, 5/15/2008) Read more...

Public health experts are questioning why menthol flavoring in cigarettes, received special protection as Congress tries to regulate tobacco for the f

May 13, 2008 - Public health experts are questioning why menthol flavoring in cigarettes, received special protection as Congress tries to regulate tobacco for the first time.. Menthol is the most widely used cigarette flavoring and the most popular cigarette choice of African-American smokers. While fewer people are smoking, menthols' share of the overall cigarette market has grown steadily for several years. In 2000 about 26.5% of smokers were menthol smokers, in 2006 you're looking at 28.5% - menthols are approaching 30% of the $70 billion American cigarette market. The latest version of the bill released in July 2007 clove joined menthol as the only additives allowed in tobacco. An earlier version of the legislation released in February 2007 included cloves in a list of artificial or natural flavors like strawberry, chocolate and cocoa that would be banned from cigarettes largely because they had been used to appeal to children. On May 13, 2008 an individual with intimate knowledge of the process that led to the FDA tobacco legislation (Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act) that is currently before Congress has admitted, for the first time, that the legislation represents the results of a negotiation between the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and Philip Morris (PM) and that a major compromise in the bill - the exemption for menthol and clove (TW) was inserted to appease Philip Morris and protect its profits. ( Senator Admits FDA Legislation Supporters Accepted Compromise to Appease Philip Morris; Supporters Sold Out Health of African Americans to Big Tobacco) PM introduced a clove-flavored (cigarettes known as kreteks) version of its Marlboro brand in Indonesia. In March 2005 PM acquired 98% of the shares of PT Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna, Indonesia’s third largest tobacco company behind Gudang Garam and Djarum. In Indonesia, a country of 230 million people, almost 70% of the male population smokes and of these 90% smoke kreteks. You can be sure that PM also has plans to market the clove containing cigarettes in the U.S.A., especially after watching the continuous growth of menthol cigarettes segment. Back on April 3, 2008 we worried this legislation will be flawed because the biggest player in the tobacco industry - Altria - Philip Morris has been directly involved in writing the bill. Image - Spud was the very 1st menthol cigarette - for more on menthol cigarettes. Related news briefs: April 18, 2008, April 7, 2008, April 3, 2008, April 1, 2008, March 28, 2008, March 13, 2008, February 21, 2008, December 10, 2007, December 7, 2007, October 15, 2007, October 5, 2007, August 2, 2007 and July 21, 2007. (TobaccoWatch.org)
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How Do You Beat These Guys?? - Free Cigars for the Troops..

May 12, 2008 - Cigars International (CI) is promoting a special offer - see image. Buy three top handmade cigars for $5.00 and CI will then send three free cigars to the troops. Should this type of promotion even be permitted?? WHO World NO Tobacco Day 5/31/06 – Tobacco, Deadly in Any Form or Disguise. Read more...