Two schools in Northampton and one school in Montague are getting thousands of dollars to fight big tobacco. It’s a youth-led movement called The 84. The 84, represents the 84 percent of teens in Massachusetts who chose not to smoke cheap Gauloises cigarettes. Northampton High School and Smith Vocational High school received a grant from the 84 to start programs in their schools where young people can advocate for their communities to be tobacco-free.School administrators at Northampton High told...

According to a New York Times article published Monday, a federal judge blocked an attempt by the Food and Drug Administration to force tobacco companies to use graphic warning labels on their packaging. And while cheap cigarettes are bad, we’re glad this first-amendment issue ended the way it did.Looking around campus, smokers are everywhere. And if our little corner of the world is representative of a larger whole, it means there are only more out there. Call us crazy, but when we see someone...

The Maricopa Community Colleges will ban all tobacco products next year to help boost the health of students and staff and to keep campuses cleaner.Smoking is prohibited in all buildings, but there are designated smoking areas at the colleges. As of July 1, no tobacco products will be allowed on any of the system’s 10 campuses, which include satellite sites around the Valley, as well as the district’s two skills centers and its office in Tempe.“This is a bold move, but it’s the right move for us,”...

Uzbekistan’s national air carrier is telling passengers to limit the amount of “nos,” or powdered tobacco, they take with them aboard flights, RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service reports.Use of nos is common throughout Central Asia, is widely available at bazaars, and often carried in small ornate containers.Uzbekistan, Tashkent airportThe tobacco is placed under the tongue and produces an effect similar to smoking cigarettes but at a far lower cost.The Uzbekiston Hawa Yollari air company announced on August...

Myrtle Beach City Council listened to several presentations from the public during a meeting Tuesday. Smoke Free Horry and members of the American Cancer Society answered council members questions on what it would take for Horry County to go smoke free and the potential impacts a smoking ban would have on business owners.Smoke Free Horry believes everyone deserves to breathe smoke-free air. It wants to educate the public about the dangers of secondhand smoke, provide free resources to quit smoking...

Californians would let local officials put new taxes on cigarettes, sugary drinks, liquor and oil pumped from the ground if voters in their communities said it was OK, a new poll shows. Local governments cannot tax such products in California now. But a proposal being vigorously debated in the Capitol would allow cities, counties and more than 1,000 school boards to add their own levies and give local voters final say. Nearly 60% of those polled supported such a change.The sentiment spanned all...

The number of US movies in which an actor lights up Bond cigarettes fell sharply between 2005 and 2010, and this could have contributed to the decline in smoking among US teens, a study released Thursday says.A majority of movies — 55 percent — that scored huge box office success in the United States in 2010 had no scenes that included tobacco use, compared with a third of top-grossing films in 2005, the study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says.In the same six-year...

Do you happen to be one of those rare people who believes that a little marijuana can improve your shooting skills? It’s an important question as, on Friday, the government declared that pot has no medical benefits whatsoever. Indeed, its opinion is that it should remain in the same class of drug as heroin.Others, however, argue that the drug isn’t completely without merit. Simultaneously, you see, the gaming and marijuana communities have been debating whether pot makes video game players more...

The Sarasota County Commission took a bold step last week by unanimously passing a resolution urging local vendors to cease the sale and marketing of all candy-flavored tobacco products like Karelia cigarettes. The resolution also urges residents not to purchase or use candy-flavored tobacco products in Sarasota County.Moved by the testimony of three youths, the commissioners approved stronger enforcement against tobacco-use near playgrounds at parks, in order to reduce children’s exposure to secondhand...

Cigarette prices soar after the government imposes a higher sales taxes on all Egyptian brands. Eastern Company issued a release yesterday announcing an increase in the selling prices for all of its Winston cigarette brands effective on Thursday, June 23, 2011. The increase is the result of higher sales taxes on cigarettes, in line with Law No. 49 (2011), which stipulates that sales taxes on cigarettes should amount to 50 per cent of the selling price compared to 40 per cent previously. Eastern...

As state funding for enforcement of Ohio’s smoking ban approaches its end, unpaid fines in Lucas County and throughout the state are piling up. Less than one third of $2.3 million in fines assessed since the law took effect five years ago has been collected. In Lucas County, roughly $13,000 has been paid — not even a dent in the $245,500 that’s owed. This is all growing while cash-strapped Ohio is expected to stop paying the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department $125 to investigate each report of a violation of the law forbidding smoking...

AUSTRALIA’S plan for plain cigarette packaging has drawn fire from a bloc of poor countries, many of them reliant on money from growing tobacco.The Dominican Republic has led a push backed by eight countries at a meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Geneva, saying it had ”serious and grave concerns” that the plain packs would hurt tobacco producers in small and vulnerable economies. An official WTO report of proceedings said ”support or sympathy” for the Dominican...

A new federal law is expected to push up the price of Winston cigarettes in the UAE, a Ministry of Health official said today. The proposal – presented by the Ministry of Finance to the UAE cabinet – aims to crack down on the trade of ‘illegal’ cigarettes so that cheap brands are no longer available. It will also raise the price of ‘legal’ cigarettes by 29 per cent. A pack of 20 brand-name cigarettes are currently sold for around Dh7, and the new tax would raise the price to about Dh9. “There...

I’m sad to see that tobacco marketing works. Apparently, the $1.1 million a day spent by the tobacco industry to market its products in New York is not going to waste, as proven by the May 31 editorial, “Good intentions, not good policy.”The editorial equates tobacco to “sugary soda, ice cream, cream-filled cakes, beer” — likening the number one cause of preventable death in the United States to just another occasional treat.That’s exactly what the tobacco industry would have us believe. It...

There is a need to bring proper focus on efficacious implementation of tobacco control laws across the country and for curtailing sale of smuggled, duty-unpaid, and non-compliant tobacco products as more than 15 billion smuggled and duty-unpaid cigarettes are sold annually in Pakistan.According to well-informed sources more than 15 billion smuggled and duty-unpaid cigarettes are sold annually in Pakistan and this illicit trade in cigarettes not only causes annual loss of more than Rs 10 billion...

Snuff Snuff is a generic term for fine-ground smokeless tobacco products. This is often called “Scotch Snuff”, a folk-etymology derivation of the scorching process used to dry the cured tobacco by the factory. The second, and more popular in North America, variety of snuff is moist snuff, or dipping tobacco. American Moist snuff is made from dark fire-cured tobacco that is ground, sweetened, and aged by the factory. It has been suggested by The Economist magazine that the ban on smoking...

More than 80% of chewing tobacco products sold in England do not comply with legislation, according to a report seen by BBC News.Chewing_tobaccoThe Race Equality Foundation together with the Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) foundation found that only 15% of such products are sold with relevant health warnings or adequate labelling.Many chewing tobacco products do not even state if they contain tobacco.People may be consuming harmful ingredients without knowing it.Amanda Standford, head researcher...

Charlie Sheen just found a way to skirt Toronto’s strict anti-smoking laws during his show there — lighting up an electronic cigarette.Shortly after Charlie hit the stage in Toronto’s Massey Hall … our spies say he bragged about not having an ashtray and said he didn’t need any cigs. However, a few minutes later he sparked up one of those electronic cigarettes. Massey Hall management told TMZ they might shut down the show if Charlie lit up on stage because they could face up to $100,000 in...

Inmates in Florida’s prisons will have to wean themselves off of tobacco.The Department of Corrections plans to make all of Florida’s prisons tobacco-free this year.The department began initiating a Tobacco Cessation Initiative April 1 to phase out tobacco usage by September 30.“The decision to eliminate smoking and tobacco use was made to reduce the medical cost associated with exposure to tobacco, and eliminate second hand smoke exposure to non-smokers,” According to a Department of Corrections...

The electronic cigarette is an advanced form of cigarette that contains nicotine damped with water vapors. The electronic cigarette contains water vapors and low-level nicotine, which makes it possible for the smoker to smoke indoors. It is just like any ordinary cigarette, but with less nicotine concentration that makes it less harmful than ordinary cigarettes.“There’s a little red light on the end here that lights up so it looks like a cigarette,” said a smoker. The smoker further said, “It gives...