Ed Rendell, governor of Pennsylvania wants to pay for providing health insurance

February 20, 2008 - for people who don’t have it, by adding an additional 10-cents per pack tax on cigarettes (to $1.45 - why not more??) plus a new 36-cent tax on moist snuff/chewing tobacco and pipe/rolling tobacco and a new 3.6-cent tax per cigar - Let's Get It Done - Already. Pa. politicians are in lust with sin taxes, phillyBurbs.com, 2/20/2008 (Rendell actually introduced a proposal to increase the cigarette tax by $0.10 per pack as well as levy a new tax on other tobacco products to help fund his plan to provide health insurance to all Pennsylvania residents back in January 2007. - excerpted from: Borys Krawczenuik, Rendell Would Raise Cigarette Tax a Dime, Scranton Times-Tribune, January 27, 2007.) The Dummies - July 1, 2007 - Pennsylvania already taxes cigarettes, but is the only state in the union that doesn't tax other tobacco products.. Also, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell is proposing an excise tax on tobacco... William T. Godshall - MPH, the Executive Director of Smokefree Pennsylvania, a proponent of the use of snus recently co-authored a paper with Dr. Brad Rodu (December 2006 issue of the Harm Reduction Journal) entitled, "Tobacco Harm Reduction: An Alternate Cessation Strategy for Inveterate Smokers". When we asked Mr. Godshall how can we limit the distribution of moist snuff pouches so they don't get in the mouths of kids. He responded: The 1992 Synar Amendment, and laws in every state (and many local jurisdictions) sharply reduced tobacco sales to youth, and the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement sharply reduced cigarette and smokeless tobacco advertising and promotions that had previously targetted youth. Meanwhile, tax hikes on cigarettes and other tobacco products have further reduced youth consumption of those tobacco products. Click on image to enlarge..(TobaccoWatch.org) Read more...

Altria Group Dropped From Dow Jones..

February 19, 2008 - Bank of America Corp. and Chevron Corp. will replace tobacco company Altria Group and manufacturer Honeywell International in the Dow Jones industrial average of 30 actively traded blue chip stocks, giving the stock market’s best-known indicator bigger slices of the banking and energy sectors. Altria, better known by its former name, Phillip Morris Cos. The maker of Marlboro cigarettes last year spun off its Kraft Foods division after earlier selling most of its Miller Brewing unit, and it will soon corral its international tobacco operations into a separate company. The blue chip index’s parent, Dow Jones & Co., said the slimmed down Altria will be too small and narrowly focused to warrant inclusion in the Dow. Phillip Morris became part of the index in 1985. While Altria’s makeover prompted the decision to alter the index for the first time since 2004, Dow Jones also reviewed the other 29 components. The changes, which take place today (Tuesday, February 19, 2008), are the first since April 2004. The 30 stocks are chosen by the editors of the Wall Street Journal (which is published by Dow Jones & Company), a practice that dates back to the beginning of the century. ( Dow Jones index to replace Altria and Honeywell by Tim Paradis - ASSOCIATED PRESS, The Buffalo News BUSINESS Today, 2/19/2008) Some related news briefs regarding the Altria split: More on Philip Morris International of the Future.., With less restrains PMI looks to the future.., With the spin off of Philip Morris International the parent company of Philip Morris, Altria, will become a company focused on various tobacco markets in the United States.., Altria Announces Spin-off of Philip Morris International Inc.., Tomorrow Altria Board Expected to Announce Decision to Split Philip Morris International (PMI) From Philip Morris USA.. and . Click on image to enlarge..
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New Jersey May Ban Certain Flavored Cigarettes..

February 19, 2008 - The sale of flavored cigarettes would be prohibited in New Jersey under a bill (S-613) that was approved by a state Senate panel yesterday. The bill, approved by the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee by a vote of 8-1, now heads to the full Senate. "Flavored cigarettes are a sales gimmick brought to you by the same minds that thought Joe Camel was a good idea," said Sen. Joseph F. Vitale (D-Middlesex), the chair of the panel who sponsored the bill along with Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex). "Offering cigarettes in various candy flavors is a blatant attempt by the tobacco industry to recruit children into a life of smoking, and all the negative health consequences that such a life carries." The bill would prohibit the sale or distribution of cigarettes made to taste like fruit, chocolate, vanilla, honey, alcoholic beverage, herbs or spices. Menthol and clove cigarettes are exempted from the prohibition, and the measure does not apply to cigars, cigarillos, pipe tobacco and smokeless tobacco. The bill was approved by the full Senate last session, but did not receive Assembly consideration before the end of the session last month. (by Scott Goldstein, NJBIZ, 2/15/2008) With the move away from cigarettes it would be important for this bill to also include flavored cigars, cigarillos, pipe tobacco and smokeless tobacco. UST's Skoal a very popular moist snuff has many different flavored smokeless tobacctastes to mask the tobacco taste. Skoal is available in a variety of flavors Wintergreen, Straight, Mint, Cherry, Classic, Spearmint, Berry Blend, Vanilla Blend, Apple Blend and Peach Blend (also Citrus Blend). Flavored pipe tobacco cigar brands like Middleton's Black & Mild Cigars, the top selling cigar package in the U.S. (as of 9/2004 - ACNielson) is very popular with young Americans. Several different flavors are available including Mild, Apple, Mild FT Filter Tip, Mild Cherry-Vanilla, Cream, Vanilla and Wine. (Middleton is now owned by Philip Morris USA) There's also whiskey flavored cigars, e.g., Bikers Butt Bourbon Corona. Related news briefs: PM USA recently acquired John Middleton, Inc. maker of Black & Mild (B&M) Cigars and C-store news - R.J. Reynolds Tobacco (RJR) is removing more Camel SNUS signs by the gasoline pumps... Click on image to enlarge.. (TobaccoWatch.org)
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EU Scientific Committee Concludes: Insufficent Evidence to Lift Ban on SNUS..

February 18, 2008 - EU Scientific Committee Concludes: Insufficent Evidence to Lift Ban on SNUS.. General conclusion of the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) is that smokeless tobacco products (STP) are addictive and their use is hazardous to health. STP contain various levels of toxic substances. Evidence on the effectiveness of STP as a smoking cessation aid is insufficient, and relative trends in progression from STP into and from smoking differ between countries. It is thus not possible to extrapolate the patterns of tobacco use from one country where oral tobacco is available to other countries due to societal, and cultural differences the patterns of tobacco use'' to other countries, the committee said. Evidence that the snuff, known as snus, may help Swedish smokers stop isn't sufficient to lift an EU ban because it's not possible to extrapolate. For example, overall smoking prevalence in Norway, as well as in young Norwegians, has decreased at the same rates in men and women during the last decade, whereas a marked increase in snus use during this time period has only occurred in young men. The benefits of lifting a ban would be offset by the risk that consumers who might never have smoked would start using snus, or that consumers who quit smoking for the product would continue using it indefinitely, the panel said. Now the European Commission must decide to accept or reject the commitee's conclusion. "This conclusion implies that there will be no impetus for a change in policy for a lifting of the ban," wrote David Hayes, an analyst at Lehman Brothers. Related news briefs: EU officials said that Snus might appeal too much to young people.. and SCENIHR received the assignment from the European Union (EU) Commission to investigate the health risks of smokeless tobacco products, including Swedish snus. Read more...

License Could Be Required to Use Tobacco..

February 17, 2008 - Professor Julian Le Grand, Chairman of Health England has come up with a great idea. Smokers could be forced to pay £10 ($19.61 USD) for a permit to buy tobacco if a government health advisory body gets its way. Professor Le Grand, a former adviser to ex-PM Tony Blair, said cash raised by the proposed scheme would go to the National Health Services. Le Grand added: "70% of smokers actually want to stop smoking. "So if you just make it a little bit more difficult for them to actually re-start or even to start in the first place, yes I think it will make a big difference." He said it was the inconvenience of getting a permit - as much as the cost - that would deter people from persisting with the smoking habit. "You've got to get a form, a complex form - the government's good at complex forms; you have got to get a photograph. "It's a little bit of a problem to actually do it, so you have got to make a conscious decision every year to opt in to being a smoker." A department of health spokeswoman did not rule out such a scheme as part of the next wave of tobacco regulation. ('£10 licence to smoke' proposed, BBC News, 2/15/2008)

Related news brief: SMOKERS, heavy drinkers and obese people will be banned from NHS treatment under a new plan..

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