A smoker is more likely to kick the habit if a spouse, friend, co-worker or sibling did..

May 22, 2008 -  A team of researchers who showed that obesity can spread person-to-person ( NEJM 357(4):370-379, 2007) has found a similar pattern with smoking cessation. Not surprisingly, the greatest influence was seen in close relationships. When a spouse stops smoking, the other partner is 67 percent less likely to smoke. Similarly, when a friend quits, the odds of the other continuing drops by 36 percent. The odds are similar among co-workers and siblings. The findings back up previous studies showing that peer influence plays a key role in people's decision to stop lighting up and provide evidence that the "buddy system" used by smoking cessation, weight loss and alcoholism programs to change addictive behavior works. References: The Collection Dynamics of Smoking in a Large Social Network, N. Christakis and J. Fowler, NEJM 358(21):2249-2258, 2008;Smoking is addictive, but quitting is contagious", EurekAlert.org, 5/21/2008. Researchers say smokers tend to quit in groups by ALICIA CHANG AP Science Writer, MercuryNews.com

Swedish Match's (SM) Red Man Premium Moist Snuff hiding under the radar..

May 22, 2008 -Images (to the left) are from an ad that appeared in June 2008 issue of Popular Mechanics. (Red Man also has a co-promotion with Maxim magazine - see related news briefs below.) Note that they are giving away free cans for each potential customer. SM in their 1st quarter 2008 report did state that volumes of Red Man moist snuff contributed significantly to the volume increase. These give-aways have to stop if we want to keep people from starting to use tobacco and have people quit (possibly because of increase in cost). SM have a number of promotions to convince people that Red Man Premium Moist Snuff is the way to go, e.g., sponsor of Rolling Thunder Modified Racing Cars. SM in March 2008 announced the national launch of Red Man Moist Snuff after being test marketed in 11 eleven states for a short time.
Swedish Match is not subject to the same restrains on marketing as USST and cigarette manufacturers since they did not sign onto the tobacco master settlement agreement (MSA). (M. Cummings, Roswell Park)

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco pulling out all the stops with Camel SNUS..

May 22, 2008 -  Tobacco companies take great pride in their mailing lists of tobacco users. Mike Szymanczyk now the CEO of Altria, Inc. states that Philip Morris owes their success to the ability to connect with adult tobacco consumers through the in-store experience and the development of one-to-one relationships using their database of 25 million adult cigarette smokers (Remarks, Investor Presentation, 3/11/2008). Over the last few days, Reynolds has mailed out promotional material highlighting "a fresh new way to Camel - CAMEL SNUS. In this mailing two coupons for a free tins of Camel SNUS can be found. RJR has just expanded their test marketing of Camel SNUS to nine other urban areas making a total of 17-test sites. - news brief This expansion of test marketing surely wasn't justified because SNUS sales in general have not gone well in th U.S.A. Paper on Subject of market expansion.Images of Camel SNUS ads - entertainment magazines. Related: Reynolds American first quarter 2008 profit disappointing..; Three of the four largest U.S. cigarette makers are no longer a smart investment.; Further initiatives by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR)... 

American University Beirut (AUB) Lebanon and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) awarded $2.8 million from U.S. NCI to study toxin exposure and hea

May 21, 2008 -  Led by Professors Thomas Eissenberg at VCU and Alan Shihadeh at AUB, the team will conduct a multi-disciplinary study which combines clinical research methods, state-of-the-art technology developed at AUB, analytical chemistry, and cellular biology to examine the effects of smoking water pipe tobacco on the heart, lungs and cell biology in individual users by measuring their toxin exposure as well as the toxin content of water pipe tobacco smoke. The team will also study group water pipe tobacco smoking in cafés - examining the effects of sharing a water pipe on levels of toxin exposure and content. Finally, the team will compare toxin exposure and effects between water pipe tobacco smoking and cigarette smoking. (Team has been awarded a $2.8 million research grant, ArabianBuisness.com, 5/21/2008) For related news briefs: May 9, 2008. 

Bioavailability Better With Fuisz Tobacco film strips compared to nicotine chewing gum..

May 21, 2008 - A cross-over clinical study comparing the absorption of nicotine from the use of Fuisz Tobacco's dissolving tobacco strip and the use of a nicotine 2mg chewing gum was carried out. The Fuisz Tobacco strip containing 75 mg's of tobacco delivered substantially higher peak nicotine plasma concentration than the 2 mg nicotine chewing gum control product. This suggests that the Fuisz Tobacco strip delivers nicotine more than five times more effectively than the SNUS tobacco format, which is considered to represent the most efficacious smokeless tobacco format for nicotine delivery currently available. ( Fuisz Tobacco Announces Clinical Study Results for Fuisz Tobacco Sheet Strip; Super Enhanced Bioavailability of Nicotine From Its Tobacco Sheet Strip Supports Efficacy of Low Dose Tobacco Product, PR Newswire, 5/20/2008) Related news brief: Tobacco Products When You Can't Smoke.

Tobacco Display Ban Deadline of May 31, 2008 Looms in Ontario and Quebec..

May 20, 2008 -
The relevant subsection of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act specifies that, “no person shall display or permit the display of tobacco products in any place where tobacco products are sold or offered for sale in any manner that will permit a consumer to view any tobacco product before purchasing the tobacco product.” FACT SHEET 1.1: RETAIL DISPLAY OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS, last updated July 27, 2007) It is well known that the display of cigarette packages functions much like cigarette advertising in the minds of children, increasing their perception that cigarettes are easy to obtain and facilitating their recall of brand names (Wakefield M et al., An experimental study of effects on schoolchildren of exposure to point-of-sale cigarette advertising and pack displays. Health Education Research 2006;21(3):338-347). Ontario Convenience Stores Association (OCSA) said that more than half of the 10,000 c-stores in Ontario are not ready. One survey has shown four in five smokers want a ban on tobacco advertising in shops to stop youngsters starting the habit.Related news brief: Tobacco displays are on their way out in an increasing number of countries.. Meanwhile in the U.S.A. - Philip Morris is hard at work competing for prime tobacco display space in c-stores.

Turkey's ban on pubic smoking goes into effect on Monday, May 19, 2008..

May 19, 2008 -  Under the provisions of the "Law to Prevent the Dangers of Tobacco Products" smoking will be banned in enclosed areas of all public buildings -including the corridors- education and health institutions, cultural and sports centers and on all public transportation. Those who defy the ban will be fined 50 YTL ($40.65), a fine of 20 YTL ($16.25) will also be imposed for discarding empty cigarette packets and cigarette butts in the street. The ban will be introduced in restaurants, coffeehouses and cafeterias as of July 19, 2009. But, if these places share a space with trade centers, cinemas, airports, bus terminals, sports and entertainment centers or shopping malls, which are not allowed to have designated smoking areas, then they, too, will be subject to the ban beginning today. Also, The brand names of cigarettes, producer names, logos and other symbols connected to tobacco products are banned from advertisements under the law. References: Turkey's "public places smoking ban" goes into effect on Monday, hurriyet.com, 5/19/2008 and Smoke-free life begins in Turkey as of today, Today's ZAMAN, 5/19/2008. In Turkey Philip Morris International (PMI) has 41% of the cigarette market share and British America Tobacco (BAT) on acquiring Tekel, Turkey’s state-owned cigarette company, goes from 7% to 36% of the market. ( BAT in $1.7bn deal for Turkey's state-owned cigarette group Timesonline) PMI is test marketing Marlboro Intense in Turkey. Turkey signed the WHO FCTC public health treaty on April 28, 2004 and it was ratified on December 31, 2004. (TobaccoWatch.org)