Tobacco.org

• ARMSTRONG: The Tobacco Wars, Continued  

But a campaign funded by tobacco companies is spending millions on ads to mislead Californians about this life-saving initiative. Why? Prop 29 will add $1 to the cost of every pack of cigarettes sold in California, a state that currently ranks 33rd in the nation on the tobacco tax scale. So great is the power of the lobbyists and so deep are the campaign coffers that every bill or ballot initiative seeking to raise the cost of tobacco has been defeated since the last successful hike in 1988. Even though only 12 percent of Californians smoke. . . .

I also support Prop 29 because I resent the tobacco industry’s ability to influence public policy in their favor – to the detriment of Californians and their state economy – over and over again. . . .

we believe that California voters will see through the tobacco industry interference being doled out in 30-second increments on their televisions day and night between now and June 5th.

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• Why is tobacco control still a problem in Europe? 

Tobacco control in the EU is at a crossroads. Ideally, politicians and civil servants will clearly delineate and make transparent all contacts with the tobacco industry and those in their pay, as per Article 5.3 in the FCTC. We also call on European governments and the EU to take a more robust stance and legislate more effectively to protect European citizens. The first test of the EC’s willingness to do so will be the revision of the Tobacco Products Directive. We await the outcome of that process.

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• HUBER: Tobacco from all nations excluded in trade pact 

At issue * April 2 commentary by Sen. Paul Hornback and Rep. Wilson Stone, "Plans to exclude tobacco from trade pact unfair to state."

The commentary that objected to the Herald-Leader's editorial board's support of the proposed carveout of tobacco from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, known as TPPA, contained misleading information that requires clarification.

Contrary to the implication in the commentary, a tobacco carveout would not apply exclusively to U.S. tobacco, let alone Kentucky tobacco.

TPPA removes tariffs and trade barriers that operate among the partnering countries. A tobacco carveout would apply equally to all tobacco within the TPPA free-trade zone. Removing tobacco from the agreement will not disadvantage U.S. or Kentucky tobacco relative to exports from other countries. It will simply leave tobacco products from all countries in the same competitive position they are in today.

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• Tapu Misa: Tobacco bullies should back off  

In Mill's view, the only freedom worthy of the name "is that of pursuing our own good in our own way ... Each is the guardian of his own health, whether bodily, or mental or spiritual".

Just how helpful this thinking has been to the corporate world was illustrated by the response of Big Tobacco and its friends to the news that the Government has agreed in principle to follow Australia's lead and ban branded cigarette packs as part of its commitment to a smokefree New Zealand by 2025 (meaning less than 5 per cent of the population smoking). . . .

Turia and the Maori Party deserve praise for persuading a right-of-centre government to agree to the goal of a smokefree New Zealand, especially given the fierce resistance to anti-smoking legislation introduced by the Labour Government in 1990 and 2003.

The industry has fought every attempt to restrict its activities. Since 1990, though, the smoking rate has come down from 28 per cent to just under 20 per cent, and a recent survey of Year 10 students shows a growing number aren't taking up smoking.

There's still a long way to go, especially among the Maori and Pacific communities. Health researchers predict plain packaging will help further reduce the number of young people who take up smoking. Given most smokers get hooked before they turn 15, it seems at least worth a try.

This isn't about protecting communities from themselves but from those who prey on them. How far should public policy go? As far as it needs to. What Turia and public health experts know is that, as with other social hazards (gambling, loan sharks, and the proliferation of cut-price alcohol outlets in low-income communities) this has never been a fair fight.

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• PITTS: Hitler comparisons vandalize our national memory  

Requiring him to put up no-smoking signs, is, he reiterated, “very similar” to requiring Jews to wear yellow stars. “It might be smoking today, it might be Big Macs tomorrow, then Coca-Colas the next day, then Jack Daniel’s, then we’re in trouble.”

Yes, he actually said that. And one can’t help but recall the famous thing Martin Niemöller said about the Holocaust: “First they came for the Big Macs, and I did not speak out — because I did not eat at McDonald’s. . . .

For what it’s worth, the experience of a Jew in the Holocaust and a smoker in America are comparable in only one regard: the death toll. The Nazis killed six million Jews in 12 years. Cigarettes kill that many Americans every 13 and a half. Of course, a smoker has a choice. A Jew had none.

And the idea of equating the two is ridiculous, offensive and unworthy of serious people. That should go without saying.

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• STOCKMAN: Philip Morris focuses on the global market 

The first time I ever smoked a cigarette, I was in fifth grade, at a sleepover. My friend stole a Marlboro from her mother’s purse and eight of us girls put it up to our lips in her back yard in the middle of the night. By the time I reached high school, some of my friends had already gotten hooked. They showed off by puffing smoke rings and pointing out subliminal pictures hidden on a pack of Camel Lights.

But in recent years, the coolness of smoking has faded away, in one of the most profound cultural changes of our generation. Today, only 19 percent of Americans smoke, compared to 42 percent in 1965, when the surgeon general declared the habit deadly. . . .

Luckily for Uruguay, a number of allies have stepped in to help. The World Health Organization, which promoted a global anti-tobacco treaty that 173 countries have ratified, has issued strong statements in support. And New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropic foundation is helping Uruguay pay legal bills to fight PMI. “There is a commitment to see Uruguay win,” said Dr. Kelly Henning, director of public health programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “We don’t want countries to think they can’t put in place measures to protect their citizens against the harms of tobacco.”

It is fitting that America, birthplace of the Marlboro Man, is helping other countries kick the habit.

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• GLANTZ: Prop 29 opponents California Taxpayers Assn and California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce have financial ties to Philip Morris  

The California Taxpayers Association (CalTax) and the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, which signed the "No on 29" ballot arguments have long histories of working with the cigarette companies, including "donations" from Philip Morris over the years.

You can see the documents in the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library on them by clicking on these links for CalTax and California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce.

Without much looking, I found payments totaling $30,000 to CalTax from Philip Morris in 2000 and 2001 and totaling $35,000 to the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce in 1998 and 1999. My guess is with a little more looking one could find lots more.

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• PEARSON: Big Tobacco wins again 

A few weeks ago on this page, I wondered whether or not the "love fest" between Oklahoma lawmakers and the tobacco industry would continue this session.

Well, we have an answer: YES! Even in the face of close scrutiny and harsh criticism, a Senate committee has seen to it that cities in Oklahoma will not be able to enact stronger tobacco controls than allowed by state law. That means the tobacco industry can continue to concentrate all its plentiful lobbying resources in one place - the state Legislature - rather than have to deal with dozens of local governments that might care more about their own constituents than some well-compensated lobbyists. (Goodness knows the industry has the money to spend; according to one estimate, Big Tobacco spends a million dollars an hour to market its products.)

In fairness, there was a chance that the local-control legislation might have passed this year. One version made it out of the House and it's possible the Senate also might have passed a measure. But state Sen. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa, would not let the bill come up in his Health and Human Services Committee. "If we're going to ban smoking, let's debate that issue rather than do it piece by piece," he said. . . .

In summary, the surgeon general concluded that the "establishment of smoke-free public and workplace environments; and statewide, community-wide and school-based programs and policies are effective in reducing the initiation, prevalence and intensity of smoking among youth and young adults."

So in other words, if Oklahoma leaders would pave the way for stronger tobacco-control policies at the local level - which has been done in 48 other states - then there's a very good change lots of Oklahoma teens would never take up the deadly habit, and would live much longer, healthier, happier lives.

Lawmakers still have the ability to resurrect a local-control measure. But rather than look out for the future of Oklahoma's young people, some lawmakers appear to be looking out for the future of the tobacco industry. You have to wonder why.

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• YANKLOWITZ: A Smoke-Free World: A Jewish Ban On Tobacco  

Smokers today should be viewed as "cholim" (sick individuals) who we must heal. One cannot claim that "freedom and liberty" allows them to increase their burden on the health care system or bring harm to family members, coworkers, and strangers. Creating a more universal health care system is a social justice issue, but so is creating a society that places collective demands on preventive health practices. A recent study supported by the National Cancer Institute concluded that, from 1975 to 2000, smoking reduction and cessation programs saved nearly 800,000 Americans from death by lung cancer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just launched a new $54 million dollar "scare campaign" based upon new scientific studies showing that the "scarier the message" the more likely to change behavior. We should be scaring people - it's a mitzvah! The tobacco companies invest $10 billion a year in marketing and advertising so we're going to have to fight stronger. We need to redouble our efforts to improve and expand smoking reduction and cessation programs, and to tax and even ban smoking. It is not only a social justice imperative, it is a Torah imperative.

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• David Hockney's smoking hot memo to Andrew Lansley: Keep your mean, dreary views out of my life  

I don't suppose Andrew Lansley has noticed, but the last by-election was won by a smoker - one George Galloway - who was perfectly happy lighting up in front of the cameras.

That is something a Tory or Labour politician or Nick Clegg would never have the courage to do. Or, perhaps, be allowed to do.

The anti-tobacco professionals have gone far too far in a country that prides itself on freedoms.

Denying cigarette companies the right to decorate their cigarette packets is a draconian measure of which Stalin's censorship police would have been proud.

It suggests that the Government thinks it can control our thoughts and our desires.

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• PEARSON: Big Tobacco wins again  

Even in the face of close scrutiny and harsh criticism, a Senate committee has seen to it that cities in Oklahoma will not be able to enact stronger tobacco controls than allowed by state law. That means the tobacco industry can continue to concentrate all its plentiful lobbying resources in one place - the state Legislature - rather than have to deal with dozens of local governments that might care more about their own constituents than some well-compensated lobbyists. (Goodness knows the industry has the money to spend; according to one estimate, Big Tobacco spends a million dollars an hour to market its products.) . . .

In summary, the surgeon general concluded that the "establishment of smoke-free public and workplace environments; and statewide, community-wide and school-based programs and policies are effective in reducing the initiation, prevalence and intensity of smoking among youth and young adults."

So in other words, if Oklahoma leaders would pave the way for stronger tobacco-control policies at the local level - which has been done in 48 other states - then there's a very good change lots of Oklahoma teens would never take up the deadly habit, and would live much longer, healthier, happier lives.

Lawmakers still have the ability to resurrect a local-control measure. But rather than look out for the future of Oklahoma's young people, some lawmakers appear to be looking out for the future of the tobacco industry. You have to wonder why.

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• Dan Morain: Big Tobacco fires up anti-tax effort  

In the coming weeks, Californians once again will witness the industry's formidable power. Cigarette makers Altria and R.J. Reynolds will spend tens of millions of dollars telling us why Proposition 29, the latest attempt by anti-smokers to raise tobacco taxes, is a terrible idea.

In slick television ads, shills will explain how the $735 million that would be raised by the measure annually would be wasted on the creation and operation of a bloated bureaucracy. The industry probably will succeed. It usually does.

Ordinarily, I agree with arguments against initiatives. Proposition 29 on the June 5 ballot has its problems. But my decision is easy any time I have to choose between tobacco companies and cancer researchers, doctors who treat cancer and public health experts who try to prevent cancer.

The industry has "lied, misrepresented and deceived the American public, including smokers and the young people they avidly sought as 'replacement' smokers, about the devastating health effects of smoking and environmental tobacco smoke."

Those words didn't come from some anti-smoking fanatic. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler wrote them in 2006. . . .

One prominent opponent of Proposition 29 is Americans for Tax Reform, the nonprofit corporation headed by professional conservative Grover Norquist. Norquist pushes candidates for office to sign pledges vowing to oppose all tax increases – including tobacco tax hikes.

Norquist has a rich history of involvement with the tobacco industry. Industry documents show Americans for Tax Reform received upward of $1 million from cigarette companies between 1995 and 2000.

Patrick Gleason, a Norquist aide, didn't answer my question about whether Americans for Tax Reform still accepts tobacco money. I took that as a yes.

It's a close call whether tobacco is less popular than career politicians. But to tar the initiative, industry spokespeople write in the California voter guide that a "career politician" is promoting Proposition 29. That'd be former Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata.

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• CROWN: Picture a car filled with second-hand smoke and child in the seat  

Such is the disordered thought process -- the "stinkin' thinkin'" of the addict. The overwhelming power of addiction must be borne in mind when considering the arguments of the opponents of anti-smoking regulations. Such opposition is now mobilising against the legislation that I, together with my colleagues, senators Mark Daly and Jillian van Turnhout, will be introducing into Seanad Eireann, legislation that -- by a simple short amendment to the existing smoking ban -- would extend it to include cars in which children are present.

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• LIEBLING: Smoke-free foster care is common sense; state should act  

Some of Minnesota’s most vulnerable children are at risk from the serious effects of secondhand smoke. It’s time for the state to act in the best interest of children in foster care and protect them from the known cancer-causing poisons and toxins in secondhand smoke. This is why I have introduced a bill in the legislature to prohibit smoking in foster care homes.

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• HONG: Nation should put health before profits 

According to the Ministry of Finance, in the first two months of this year the profits of China's State-owned enterprises were down 10.9 percent year-on-year. But one industry at least bucked this trend, as the profits of the tobacco industry soared by more than 20 percent.

However, the phenomenal profits of the tobacco industry are not good news for this country.

Margaret Chan, the director-general of the World Health Organization, has described the tobacco industry as a "ruthless and devious enemy" and urged governments and civil society groups to unite against tobacco companies.

But in China this ruthless and devious enemy is fighting back. It has developed "Chinese-style" cigarettes that combine medicinal herbs with tobacco, which the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) and the China National Tobacco Corporation claim are healthier than regular ones.

When science and technology becomes the tool of such a moneymaking machine, things can only get ugly.

The technology that produces these "improved" cigarettes has been in use since 2003, but it has now been nominated for the 2012 State Scientific and Technological Progress Award, the country's Nobel Prize. . . .

Writing in the medical journal The Lancet, Minister of Health Chen Zhu said, "Rapid progress in tobacco control will require political leadership at the highest level, not just by China's Ministry of Health."

Encouragingly in this regard, the country's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) mentions tobacco control for the first time, calling for smoke-free public places. Its aim is to help its population to extend their life expectancy by one year during the next five years.

However, such a goal will be unattainable if the government continues to let the tobacco industry kidnap it.

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