Tobacco.org

Turning cigarette boxes into rosaries  

Gently mounting each bead onto a pin until finally making a loop, Elena S. Mabano is reminded how she has endured life's painful battles in every rosary she makes.

A devout Catholic, she calls herself, 57-year-old Mabano scours empty cigarette ream cartons, cutting them into long narrow pieces, with each strip rolled into a bead, an unusual material used to make a string of beads to keep count of a religious devotion.

“I don't really tell them (customers) that it's made from cigarette boxes because they don't bother to ask what it's made of because,“ she says.

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Tobacco City opens in Jamestown  

Cleaning crew steals cigarettes, rug cleaner from Winn-Dixie  

Cigarette sparked Macy’s blaze, FDNY investigators have learned  

Investigators believe a cigarette tossed on sidewalk outside the Herald Square building slowly burned through an expansion joint lined with caulk at the base of the building. The smoldering butt then dropped into a space between the store’s basement ceiling and first-floor.

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• Judge hears arguments on seized cigarettes 

A state Supreme Court judge listened to arguments Friday afternoon on whether New York can tax American Indian cigarettes leaving reservations in New York and traveling to reservations in other states.

On Jan. 23, William Cagle was driving a tractor-trailer in the town of Waddington that was carrying about five million Signal Brand Cigarettes from Ohserase Manufacturing LLC, Hogansburg. His destination was HCI Distribution Corp. on Winnebago Tribal lands near Omaha, Neb.

Mr. Cagle was stopped at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint and state police seized 26,000 cartons of cigarettes valued by agents at up to $2 million, according to court documents.

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• Indonesia's Tobacco Bill Goes Up in Smoke 

A tobacco control bill was first named to the House of Representatives’ list of priority legislation for deliberation and passage in 2009 — and there it smoldered until last October, when it was abruptly dropped from the list.

Rohani Budi Prihatin, a House staffer who helped draft the “bill to control the health impact of tobacco products,” fears legislators are unwilling to revive it over concerns its passage could hurt industry players.

“The draft is ready, we finished it a long time ago,” he said. “But as you can see, no House members want to discuss this. All of them remain tight-lipped.”

Ignatius Mulyono, chairman of the House Legislative Body, said the legislation needed to undergo major revision.

“When will it be back on the list? When they review the substance and title of the bill, because it’s very biased toward the anti-tobacco lobby,” he said. “None of the parties supported the bill, so we had no option but to drop it.”

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• Lawmakers to Consider Lowering Cigarette Tax Next Week 

The House Finance Committee next week will discuss legislation proposed by State Rep. Robert Phillips that would lower the cigarette tax by $1 per pack.

Similar to a bill he introduced last year, the legislation aims to draw more revenue back into Rhode Island with lower prices. The bill, Phillips says, would make Rhode Island, which has one of the highest cigarette taxes in the nation more competitive with Massachusetts and Connecticut

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EDITORIAL: County sends solid message about secondhand smoke 

The American Cancer Society reports that 30 separate U.S. surgeon generals, since 1964, have sounded the alarm on secondhand smoke. It essentially boils down to this: There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.

Our local governments should step forward as leaders in the campaign to reduce the public’s exposure to these toxins anywhere on publicly owned property.

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16th World Conference on Tobacco or Health 

• Smoking laws target apartments, condos, co-ops 

With smoking now forbidden in bars, restaurants, stores, schools and many parks and beaches throughout the Lower Hudson Valley, housing has become the latest battleground between people who smoke and those who don't.

Rockland is one of the first municipalities in the state to tackle the issue of smoking in apartments, condominiums and co-ops.

A new law has gone into effect requiring owners of properties with three or more units to have a policy stating where smoking is allowed and where it isn't.

The law requires that all tenants be provided with a copy of the policy, that prospective tenants be informed of the policy during lease or rental negotiations and that copies of the policy be posted in public areas of the multiple dwelling.

"It's not a smoking ban," said Judi Hunderfund, director of environmental health for the Rockland Health Department. "The intent is to empower tenants so they know what the policy is and what they are getting themselves into."

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• Appeals court to hear arguments on graphic cigarette labels 

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VIDEO: Kan. Fire Marshal forbids "Roll Your Own" cigarette machines  

• Big Tobacco campaigns on freedom ($$) 

The footage resembles a music video for an anarchist punk-rock band. Policemen, warning signs, CCTV cameras and spiked fences appear in a rapid sequence of black and white shots. A thrashing guitar soundtrack begins - cue the message: "Welcome to Nanny Town".

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New smoking rules help those wanting to stop, says Andrew Lansley 

Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, has hailed the ban on smoking in public places for the way it had changed attitudes and ensured that smoking was ceasing to be a "part of life".

As a ban on tobacco promotion in large shops came into force in England on Friday, Lansley pledged to press ahead with measures to discourage smoking.

He said the new rules were designed to ensure all large shops and supermarkets in England must hide cigarettes and tobacco products from public view. "It's also about supporting smokers who want to give up," the health secretary told BBC Breakfast.

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Verona joins list of cities with public smoking bans