Discarded cigarettes cause of fire in mobile home

Discarded cigarettes in an ash tray in the bathroom is what investigators say caused a mobile home fire off Stone Street Extension Monday afternoon.
Timothy McKinnan was asleep Monday afternoon and woke up to the smell of smoke at about 12:52 p.m., said Jesse Gwynn, a fire inspector with the Alamance County Fire Marshal’s office.
McKinnan was able to get out of the trailer, located in a mobile home park off of Stone Street Extension in Haw River, but he was taken to Alamance Regional Medical Center for smoke inhalation, Gwynn said. McKinnan’s condition wasn’t immediately known.
When firefighters with Haw River and Mebane fire departments responded to the call, there was smoke and fire coming out of the bathroom window. The flames were contained to the bathroom and hallway, but there was heavy smoke damage to the trailer, Gwynn said.
The American Red Cross of Alamance and Caswell counties was called to provide emergency assistance to McKinnan.

Students charged in marijuana probe

Several Hobbs Middle School students’ education might be up in smoke after being caught in possession of marijuana.
The Press Gazette has confirmed that three students at Hobbs Middle School were charged with a second degree felony on charges of possession and intent to distribute marijuana on school property on December 9. Due to the fact that they are juveniles, their names are not being released to the public.
According to Hobbs Middle School principal Stephen Shell, 12 students were found to be in possession of cigarettes or marijuana after several students came forward to administrators about the illegal issue.
The two week long investigation started after tips from numerous students led administrators to 9 separate children who were either tipped off for being in possession, or were found to be in possession.
A second incident occurred almost a week and half later, putting three more students in the hot seat for possession. Stephen Shell, the principal at Hobbs Middle said cases like these are rare in middle school settings, and this is the second time a case like this has occurred in his 3-year term at Hobbs.
According to a Santa Rosa Sheriff’s report, .4 grams of marijuana and another bag containing marijuana joints was seized during the Dec. 9 investigation. Twenty cigarettes were also seized from the sheriff’s office as evidence.
As of press time, a representative from the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office was not available for comment on the case.
“This is my third year here, and we had one situation prior to that my first year as principal,” Shell said.
Shell said the incident surprised him, but was glad students were comfortable enough to come to administrators about the students.
“It’s surprising because you hope that no one is doing it, and if they are, you hope it’s not a middle school student doing it,” Shell said. “I’m glad students were comfortable enough with the administrators here and were able to open up to us (about the students).”
According to the sheriff’s report on Dec. 9, a student admitted to a teacher that he/she had paid another student $10 to purchase some marijuana. After the student admitted to the purchase, he/she supplied the teacher with the Ziploc baggie, which also contained a pack of cigarettes, which the student admitted getting from their house.
Shell, who has worked in middle school education for almost 14 years said correct action was taken towards the incident concerning both the cigarettes and the marijuana. A resource officer from Milton High School was sent out to retrieve the string of students during both occurrences.
“A resource officer from Milton High School, who also serves our school was called out and came into the school and assisted with finding the students,” Shell said.
The students in possession of cigarettes were not booked by the sheriff’s office, but instead were disciplined by the school according to the sheriff’s report.
All of the students booked with possession of marijuana were automatically handed a 10-day suspension from the school. It will now be up to the school board to decide what happens after their suspension.
“We have zero tolerance in the school system for this type of incident,” Shell said. “After a 10-day suspension, the school board will have a hearing to decide where to put the student from there.”
Right now, Shell said he is unaware of what will happen, but in most cases, the students are sent to an alternative placement school for one calendar year. If the child’s behavior improves while at the facility, they may be allowed to return to their original school before the end of their serving time.
“It’s up to the school board what will happen to them after the 10 days,” Shell said.
Despite the incident, Shell said students are prone to being exposed to illegal substances in any school system, and was glad that several came forward about the incident.
“That’s tough to do when you are a student, and it’s tough for them to take the positives out of that,” Shell said. “No matter where you are, most kids are being exposed to those things.”
Shell said the best thing a student can do when exposed to bad influences is walk away from the situation. Parents, Shell said, should also play a role in educating their children about what’s right and wrong.
“Parents should be involved in their child’s life. Parents need to be upfront with their children, and educate them on what should and shouldn’t occur,” Shell said. “The students probably feel they want to be part of a group, and don’t think of the consequences before they occur.”

Fla. wants citizens to report tobacco tax cheats

Florida is trying to enlist citizens in a campaign against tobacco tax cheats.
The state made the trade in illegal cigarettes more lucrative this year by increasing the cigarette tax by $1 a pack.
The Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco on Wednesday announced that it'll begin paying informants up to 50 percent of fines collected for illegal cigarette sales.
The agency also has set up a toll-free hot line to report sales of cigarettes without the required tax stamp.

Galveston smoking ban amended, OK for tobacco shops

Smokers in Galveston will be allowed to light up in certain public spots.
The smoking ban adopted in July by the Galveston City Council, and set to take effect Jan. 1, has been amended to allow smoking in stores that sell tobacco and cigars.
A final vote came Thursday.
The change will allow smoking in tobacco and cigar stores, but those businesses are banned from selling alcohol or allowing drinking on the premises. Tobacco shops must install ventilation systems and be off limits to anyone younger than 18.

Staten Island man sentenced in stickup at Va. cigarette distributor

A Staten Island man has been sentenced to six years in prison -- and with a potential for 22 more years if he misbehaves -- for his role in an armed stickup in Virginia that netted cigarettes and cash.
Ariel Peisahovish, 26, was sentenced in Stafford Circuit Court on robbery, abduction and firearms charges, a court spokeswoman said today.
In September, Peisahovish cut a plea deal stemming from the April 10 incident at a Stafford cigarette distributor. Stafford is about midway between Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Va.
Peisahovish's two accomplices, Vyacheslav Elentulch, 24, and Dmitry Khavkin, 26, both of Brooklyn, also cut plea deals. Authorities did not provide a street address for Peisahovish.
According to prosecutor Eric Olsen, Peisahovish and Elentulch pulled a gun on a clerk after Khavkin had gained entry before the store opened. Khavkin knew the clerk.
Peisahovish and Elentulch then tied the clerk's arms to a chair with packing tape and loaded the loot into a van they had rolled up to the store, the prosecutor said.
Before leaving, the suspects took the clerk's driver's license and threatened her.
Employees at a nearby business saw the suspects leave, followed the van to get the plate number and called police. Officers stopped the van as it headed north on Interstate 95.
Cops found almost 1,200 cartons of cigarettes, $4,000 cash and two guns inside, said Olsen.

Man found guilty of smuggling E3.9m cigarettes

A man has been arrested for transporting 499 master cartons of cigarettes worth E3.9 million without the necessary papers from the customs and excise department. He was sentenced to 16 months in jail or a fine of E3 500.
Carlos Gil (28) was facing three counts was found guilty in all of them . He committed the crimes on December 8, 2008. He appeared before Nhlangano Magistrate Mandla Mkhaliphi where the Crown was represented by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Nkosinathi Maseko. Gil was represented by lawyer Chicken Dlamini.
On count one, Gil has been found guilty that on December 8, 2008 he was found driving a white Isuzu truck registered SD 393 MG with the 499 master cartons of cigarettes all valued at E3.9 million.
On count two, Gil has been found guilty of an offence where he was accused of being found driving the same vehicle carrying the said goods without the necessary documents from the Customs and Excise and these being goods worth E3.9 million.
He was arrested by Lavumisa Police.
In regard to count one, Magistrate Mkhaliphi sentenced Gil to seven months in jail or E1 500 fine. The magistrate also sentenced the accused to seven months in jail or E1 500 fine on the second count. On the last count, he was sentenced to two months in jail or pay a fine of E500.
The brands that Gil was transporting in the truck are:
144 YES master cartons, 290 BOSS master cartons and 65 ACE master cartons.

Tar Heel tobacco growers vote to continue funding research on crop

North Carolina tobacco growers have agreed to continue funding tobacco-agricultural research for another six years.
More than 92 percent of tobacco growers in the state who voted favored the North Carolina Tobacco Research Check-off Referendum, which calls for growers to allocate 10 cents per 100 pounds of flue-cured and burley tobacco to tobacco research and education. The referendum is voted on every six years and must be approved by two-thirds of voters to pass.
The funds are collected at buying stations by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and then allocated to North Carolina State University by the North Carolina Tobacco Research Commission. Since 1991, the program has raised nearly $300,000 a year to support projects at NCSU.
"The tobacco check-off funds have resulted in many important developments for the state's burley and flue-cured tobacco farmers, including variety development, improved nitrogen management, advanced curing technologies and breakthroughs in pest and disease management," said Johnny Wynne, dean of NCSU's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Tobacco growers have been forced to fund nearly all research into improved tobacco agriculture practices. The federal government ceased tobacco research funding in 1994, and state support has declined due to budget deficits.
"This referendum is critical for North Carolina tobacco growers to remain competitive in the world market," said Keith Oakley, president of the North Carolina Tobacco Foundation. "By voting to continue this self-help program, the state's tobacco growers are making an important investment in the future of tobacco production, research and education in North Carolina."

EU targets cigarette smugglers and organized crime, but who’s winning?

The problem of illicit trade, tobacco smuggling and organized crime enjoys unprecedented attention at the top European level in these days, especially in Brussels, where European governments say they’re going to fight back harder than ever. Why? The illegal trade in tobacco robs EU countries of nearly 10 billion euros ($14.78 billion of potential profits, and the return on investment in smuggling tobacco for the criminal gangs is more than 370 percent. “This problem cost my company 120 million euros ($179.728 million) across the EU last year. But it is in the interest of all European citizens that this illegal activity is tackled because it cost European shopkeepers and small businesses around 700 million euros. This is money that should be going to fund social services and is instead going to criminal gangs,” Michael Kraushaar, Head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs for cigarette maker BAT’s western European operation told New Europe.
Twilight or smugglers’ New Moon?
Three leading Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) took the initiative to gather together some of the top officials in law enforcement and politics to discuss the problem of organized crime and put together a new game plan for fighting it. “One of the key factors that enhance the illicit activity of the organized crime groups is the huge return on investments. For instance in the market of counterfeit medicine, one US dollar generates a profit of up to 1000 dollars,” said Carlo van Heuckelom, Head of the EUROPOL Financial and Property Crime Unit during his presentation on the second forum on illicit trade organized by European Parliament on 17 November.
UK Liberal Democrat MEP Bill Newton Dunn, Hungarian S & D Edit Herzog and German EPP member Andreas Schwab said they helped organize the event to raise awareness and educate EU institutions and the public about the impact of illicit trade across society. Herzog emphasized that bringing up the topic of organized crime to the forums was designed to push lawmakers toward becoming more active in the battle.
“I believe there is a growing awareness of the problem at the European Parliament and we hope this continues. A number of senior European politicians have realized how politically and economically serious this problem is and they are working in the EP to educate Members. European citizens need to realize that the trade in smuggled tobacco is not a victimless crime but is in fact a crime that leaves us all worse off,” said Kraushaar.
New attention has been paid, especially in the media, to the problem of tobacco smuggling raised after authorities in Ireland on October this year announced that they had confiscated more than 120 million contraband cigarettes, considered to be the largest single seizure ever made in the EU. Ireland, together with Germany and UK, is the main destination for contraband cigarettes, where profits from illicit sales are greatest. Irish MEP Gay Mitchell told the European Parliament (EP) that 97 percent of illegally trafficked cigarettes are “evading the legitimate tax net to the cost of the European taxpayers.” Mitchell also opened the topic of the health implications from smoking, saying that “The health risks are extraordinary and half of all patients in the largest hospital in Ireland are admitted with smoke-related illnesses. If you check in all European Member States, you will find that the situation is the same,” added Mitchell. Where’s the solution?
EU anti-fraud commissioner Siim Kallas of Estonia, in reaction to appeals from the Parliament for a more active policy on tobacco smuggling and organized crime, acknowledged that it is a “really huge issue, which hurts the budgets in the EU Member States and said the fight against cigarette smuggling is clearly very important priority.” But, he added that, “We can only facilitate and provide intelligence. We have special possibilities to help Member States but to ‘catch the cigarettes’ is a duty of Member States.”
On the other side, as Kraushaar said, industry actors see a lack of the coordination on the EU level. “We appreciate the efforts the EU institutions are making to tackle the illicit tobacco trade. But ideally, we would like to see increased coordination on an EU level and also to see the new Commissioner responsible to take a lead in the fight.” The same point was stressed by the co-organizer of the forum on the illicit trade, Newton Dunn, who told New Europe there is a weakness in cross-border policing in Europe. “Crimes which are committed across open borders can only be effectively countered if law enforcement is given the same facility. The member states of the EU will never be willing to totally share their national police intelligence and resources. So, weakness in cross-border policing in Europe will remain - until a federal police force with cross-border powers is created for the EU,” he said.
A new approach and solution has been offered by EUROPOL office, which sees the priority in preventing the trade in counterfeit goods at its source. “Modern and organized crime is evolving, with business-mid approach and links to many other illegal activities, such as money laundering, illegal employment, illegal immigration, drugs trafficking. The main challenging issue is to stop the trade in counterfeit goods at its source. Internet evolves as a huge source of counterfeit products, therefore this problem needs to be addressed urgently by Law Enforcement,” added Heuckelom.
The possibility of creating a European version of the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI,) has been brought up for the discussion. Newton Dunn said sees Europe in the same position today that US states were in 70 years ago. “With open state borders they had to develop a FBI. The EU’s member states will eventually realize that they have to do the same; the longer they drag their feet, the greater the success of the cross-border criminal gangs,” he said.

Police nab Zim cigarette smuggling ring

The police have said they are still on the trail of smugglers suspected to have driven trucks loaded with high quality cigarettes into Botswana from Zimbabwe.
This is contrary to reports that the culprits have been arrested and slapped with a P15,000 fine. The suspects escaped after the police confronted them, abandoning the contraband. The police recovered 133 boxes containing 66,500 cartons of Pacific cigarettes, 108 boxes with 54,000 cartons of Derby cigarettes and 128 boxes containing 64,000 cartons of Sevilles cigarette. The total number of the boxes was 469 with 184,500 cartons. The police assumed that the smugglers were avoiding declaration of the boxes to customs as cigarettes are one of the highly taxed goods. It is said the goods are worth P20 million.
Apparently, buoyed by their success at smashing what could be one of the biggest smuggling rings between Botswana and Zimbabwe, Tshesebe Police Station commander, Superintendent Mojaboswa Mathitha said yesterday that they will intensify their patrols at the border to deter “those who have a propensity to commit such crimes”. The police have detained a 27-year-old man from Serowe who they arrested at Jackalas No 2. The man was apparently driving a truck, which was on its way to help one of the cigarette- loaded trucks that was stuck in the mud.
The other truck drivers managed to escape on foot. The arrested man took the police to the owner of the trucks who is being investigated.
Mathitha said the two men are likely to be charged with abetting smuggling. It is suspected that the cigarettes were to be smuggled into Botswana to be exported to Asian countries such as India and China.

Want to Quit Smoking? Don't Turn to Light Cigarettes

Smokers who switch to a low-tar, light or mild brand of cigarette will not find it easier to quit and in fact may find it harder, researchers reported on Tuesday.
They found that smokers who traded to light cigarettes were 50 percent less likely to kick the habit.
"It may be that smokers think that a lighter brand is better for their health and is therefore an acceptable alternative to giving up completely," Dr. Hilary Tindle of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who led the study, said in a statement.
Her study of 31,000 smokers found that 12,000, or 38 percent, had switched to a lighter brand.A quarter said they switched because of flavor but nearly 20 percent said they had switched for a combination of better flavor, wanting to smoke a less harmful cigarette, and as part of an effort to give up smoking completely, Tindle's team reported in the journal Tobacco Control.
Those who switched brands were 58 percent more likely to have tried to quit smoking between 2002 and 2003 than those who stuck with their brand. But they were 60 percent less likely to actually succeed in quitting, Tindle's team found.
"Forty-three percent of smokers reported a desire to quit smoking as a reason for switching to lighter cigarettes. While these individuals were the most likely to make an attempt, ironically, they were the least likely to quit smoking," Tindle said.
Other research has shown that so-called low-tar cigarettes have just as much tar, nicotine and other compounds as regular cigarettes.

Tobacco ban helps UK, state’s health for future

On a campus constantly rife with disagreement — usually between the UK administration and the students who attend classes here — the 800 pound gorilla on this campus is about ready to be uncaged.
After months of preparation and anticipation, Thursday will be the day UK leaves tobacco behind.
Since the ban went public, smokers have made their frustrations clear as the rules have gradually changed.
In the not so distant past, smoking was a deeply entrenched part of the campus culture. Forget smoking outside — people were allowed to smoke inside within the past decade. Much of the art department calls the Reynolds building, named after tobacco baron R.J. Reynolds from when the building was a tobacco warehouse, home, and many of the lofts near campus boast the same past.
But with the ban, UK is no longer looking to the past, but to the future.
In four or five years, only a relatively small number will remember what it was like to use tobacco on this campus. In that time, this year’s freshman class, the last one to see tobacco use at UK, will be on the way out. The fresh faces that will come after them will never know what they missed.Nor will they care.
UK is responsible for the greater community. As the state’s flagship unversity with so many resources and such a far-reaching influence, it must be a leader in the tobacco-free movement.
The university and the state have obvious deep ties to the controversial crop. Historically, Kentucky has been one of the most important tobacco states in the nation. Even now, the effects of tobacco are visible from UK continuing to benefit from a cigarette tax to many tobacco farmers still making a living from tobacco.
Yet, UK’s responsibility extends beyond providing people a place to smoke and promoting a habit for the sake of economics and history. UK now has to be creative and find ways to ensure the economically viable ways to use tobacco.
While the ban may take away from one aspect of tobacco consumption, UK can be a leader in alternative ways to using the crop, such as textiles, cosmetics and even medicine.
Additionally, UK must show its commitment to the health aspect of the ban. Devoting its resources to help quit tobacco and making those resources more accessible to students, faculty and staff will be necessary.
With any measure of this magnitude, there will be initial backlash. As forward thinking as this historic ban is, it is clear that compliance will not happen overnight — but the objective is a longterm solution that will help cure Kentucky of one of its worst ills.
Yes, the input of students, faculty and staff is something that needs to be crusaded for everyday on this campus. But 20 years down the road, we’ll all look at this decision and realize its benefits.
Sure, there will probably be disregard and backlash in the weeks following the ban. And students exercising a right to protest isn’t something to frown upon.
The implementation hasn’t always been correct, but the solution is.
Going tobacco-free is possibly the best decision UK has made all year.

Contraband cigarettes seized

An Ontario man is facing charges in Manitoba after he was found to be transporting contraband cigarettes.
The man was arrested Monday afternoon when he was stopped by a police officer for an equipment violation on his van, RCMP said.
The officer was patrolling the Trans-Canada Highway near Angle Road in Portage la Prairie at around 1:30 p.m. when he noticed the van was missing the rear bumper and a tie down strap was hanging out the back.
When he approached the van, the officer noticed a large quantity of cigarettes in the rear of the vehicle, RCMP said.
The driver, a 31-year-old man from Ontario who currently lives in British Columbia, was arrested under the Federal Excise Act, and the vehicle was searched.
Police seized 12 cases of contraband cigarettes, each containing 50 cartons, totaling 120,000 cigarettes. The value of the contraband cigarettes is estimated at $24,000.
The driver, whose name has not been released by police, was released on a promise to appear in provincial court on Dec. 10 in Winnipeg.
Charges are pending under the Federal Excise Act and the Provincial Manitoba Tobacco Tax Act, RCMP said. A tax penalty of $66,600 could also be assessed, RCMP added.
The investigation into the matter is continuing.

Tobacco use to stop at hospitals

Hoping to improve local health and limit health-care costs, the New River Valley's hospitals are joining together and joining a growing number of businesses that limit tobacco use.
Representatives of HCA and Carilion announced Wednesday morning that their hospitals, physician practices and outpatient centers throughout the New River Valley would go tobacco-free Jan. 1 for employees and guests.
Those facilities include Carilion New River Valley Medical Center near Radford and HCA's Montgomery Regional Hospital in Blacksburg and Pulaski Community Hospital in Pulaski.
Carilion Giles Community Hospital will be tobacco-free when it opens in the spring.
Currently, employees and visitors must go outside the facilities to use tobacco products. Come Jan. 1, tobacco use will be discouraged inside and out.
The heads of three hospitals appeared Wednesday at the New River Valley Mall to discuss the initiative that they hope will save lives and cut down health-care costs.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly one in five U.S. deaths each year is a result of tobacco use, according to a media release.
Approximately $150 billion is spent each year in health care for smokers, said Jim Thweatt, interim chief executive officer at Pulaski Community.
And about 25 of all health-care costs are spent treating "modifiable" health risks, he said, including smoking.
"This is the right example to set for our community," said Don Halliwill, president of Carilion NRV, which employees about 1,000.
"People come [to hospitals] to get well," said Scott Hill, CEO of Montgomery Regional, where close to 600 work. "This is a no-brainer."
All three hospital chiefs said lessons were learned over the past two years from a similar joint effort in Roanoke.
In July 2007, the two companies' facilities in the Roanoke Valley went tobacco-free. Halliwill said the important lessons were take your time and communicate why with employees. That's why he said employees were given a year's notice of the decision to give them time to seek smoking-cessation programs.
"This is not a condemnation of individual personal choices," he said. "This is not a political decision."
Instead, he said, it was about giving employees, patients and visitors an "appropriate health-care environment."
Despite the announcement coming two years after the Roanoke Valley went tobacco-free and after General Assembly legislation mandated many restaurants go smoke-free on Dec. 1, Halliwill denies the New River Valley is behind the times.
Nationally, he said, only about 50 percent of hospitals are tobacco-free. By year-end, he said, that will be 70 percent in Virginia.
"We're not behind," he said. "We were just ahead of the curve in Roanoke."

Rise in number of tobacco farmers

At least 17,000 tobacco farmers have registered to grow tobacco with the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board for the 2009/2010 agricultural season.
The number of farmers intending to plant tobacco in the forthcoming season is a marked improvement on the 10,000 registered during the previous agricultural season.
Deadline for registration was last Friday.
The TIMB chief executive officer, Dr Andrew Matibiri, said the high registration of farmers was a result of the mobile registration undertaken by the board.
“Farmers heeded the call to register during the campaign we undertook by conducting mobile registration with farmers around the country,” Matibiri said.
He said the mobile registration had gone a long way in ensuring that prospective farmers got registered on time to enable proper planning of what inputs were needed.
“There will be no further extension of the deadline. The initial deadline for registration was October 31, but this had to be moved to allow interested farmers to come forward.
“We are strict on registering new growers and we will not issue new grower numbers after the due date,” he said
Matibiri said the board spent time in educating farmers about the effects of side marketing their crops and failure to honour agreements with input companies with whom they were under contract.

Statues used to smuggle cigarettes

A CARDIFF woman is facing jail for smuggling cigarettes into Britain hidden under religious statues.
Nicola Stretton, 34, hid the cigarettes in a false compartment of a consignment of Buddha figurines shipped into Southampton from Thailand. Customs officials found hundreds of packs of Marlboro Reds, L&M Lights and L&M filters during a search of the container.
Cardiff Crown Court yesterday heard Stretton was on holiday in Thailand when she noticed that cigarettes were £1 for a pack of 20. She set up a company called Finishing Touches to import religious figures to sell them on eBay and at markets. But the court heard it was a smokescreen to smuggle 857,000 cigarettes into the country.
Office manager Stretton denied failing to pay duty of £144,570 but was found guilty at Cardiff Crown Court. Stretton, originally of Cardiff, but now living in Hereford, was freed on bail but warned she could be jailed when she is sentenced later this month.

Smoking in Pregnancy Tied to Bad Behavior in Kids

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who smoke while pregnant risk having hyperactive preschoolers who can't pay attention, a large study from the UK hints.
Although previous studies have demonstrated significant risks for school-aged boys, this is the first time an association has been shown between smoking during pregnancy and problems for girls and for boys as young as 3, the researchers point out.
Dr. Kate E. Pickett, of the University of York, Hull-York Medical School and colleagues looked for ties between smoking in pregnancy and behavior and attention problems in more than 13,000 3-year-old boys and girls in the UK Millennium Cohort Study.
As part of the study, a wide range of information was gathered including family economic status, education level of parents, ethnicity, parents' marital status, financial difficulties and maternal smoking, drinking or drug use.
Questions were also asked about the children to assess behavior and hyperactivity-inattention problems such as how easily their child was distracted or if their child was prone to temper tantrums, fight with or bully other kids, argue with grownups, steal, lie, and/or cheat.
In all, nearly 10 percent of women reported smoking heavily (+10 cigarettes a day) throughout their pregnancy, 12.5 percent were light smokers (less than 10 cigarettes a day), and 12.4 percent tried to quit, the researchers note in a report published this week in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Even though no ill-effects of even heavy maternal smoking during pregnancy were recorded for most boys (61.6 percent) and girls (71.7 percent), the risk of developing behavior or attention problems increased with maternal prenatal smoking, the researchers found.
They also found that the effect of smoking during pregnancy was different in boys and girls. Boys exposed to cigarette smoke in the womb were more likely to have behavior and attention deficit problems, while girls with this exposure were more likely to experience behavior problems alone.
Girls whose mothers quit smoking during pregnancy had a lower risk of behavior problems than girls whose mothers never smoked leading the researchers to conclude the mother's "the ability to quit" may be a characteristic of "restraint and easy temperament" that the daughters inherit.
Smoking throughout pregnancy carries the highest risk for both boys and girls, according to the data. "Overall, the most important factor seems to be smoking continuously throughout pregnancy, more than amount smoked," Pickett said.
"Persistent heavy smokers had a higher risk of having a boy with conduct problems than light smokers. For conduct problems in girls, any continuous smoking seemed to matter more than amount. Similarly, for hyperactivity-inattention problems both light and heavy smokers had similarly elevated risks compared to non-smokers," Pickett explained.

Learn tobacco curing energy efficiency in Danville

DANVILLE — Manage soaring energy costs related to flue-cured tobacco production.
Local tobacco producers will explore options at the free “Tobacco Curing: Energy Efficiency Conference” sponsored by Virginia Cooperative Extension and the Southern Piedmont Agricultural Research and Extension Center on Nov. 12.
Attendees will gather information on flue-cured tobacco energy efficiency technologies and practices, wood-fired boiler systems, use of micro-biorefineries for the production of renewable energy and bioproducts and the cap and trade legislation.
Virginia Foundation for Agriculture Innovation and Rural Sustainability provides funding for the conference at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Cigarette Companies Use Color, Rather than Words, To Convey Message

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is being given new authority to regulate the manufacturing and marketing of tobacco, after President Obama signed the '”Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act" into law last June. Starting next summer, large labels, warning about the health risks associated with smoking, must cover at least half of the front and back of cigarette packs. Certain flavored cigarettes will also be banned, and words like 'light' and 'mild' will no longer be allowed. The FDA cites studies that show those words give consumers a false sense that a ‘light’ or ‘mild’ cigarette is less harmful or may be easier to quit.
A few brands have already dropped those terms from their packaging. What used to be Pall Mall full flavor, light, and ultra light cigarettes, are now called ‘Red’, ‘Blue’ and ‘Orange’. Salem now labels their cigarettes ‘Box’, ‘Gold Box’, and ‘Silver Box’, and use an increasingly light shade of green. While those words may not seem to mean much, the new packaging is still getting a message across.
Even without words like 'light' on the packaging, many of the people we showed the new packaging to still perceived the lighter or brighter colors to be lower in nicotine, tar, or tobacco, and less harmful.
"Certain colors do elicit certain responses, feelings, emotions", said Tom Neal, Director of Brand Development at Kinziegreen in Wausau. He says with the tobacco already so heavily regulated, they're using the methods that are allowed as effectively as possible. "As the color scheme goes from darker towards lighter, you're seeing they're trying to say to the consumer the things they can't really say with words."
So while cigarette companies won't be able to say 'mild', 'light', or 'ultra-light', by using a cool, calming blue, an energetic orange, or even a natural, healthy light green, would-be customers are getting the message. That's something that has health officials concerned.
"They're trying to make the consumer believe that they are getting a healthier product as a result of the packaging.", said Renee Trowbridge, a public health educator for Marathon County. "They are doing a very good job of making it appealing."
Trowbridge works with teens who have been using tobacco, and says they're more affected by packaging and advertising than most consumers. She says that's something the tobacco companies are well aware of. "Their main strategy is to continue to make and market a product that appeals to young people", she said. "We know about 90 percent of people who smoke started before the age of 18."
Neal speculates that the regulations against the tobacco industry will continue to tighten. But he believes tobacco companies will simply continue to evolve their marketing to make their product appealing. "The advertisers are going to see what they can do how far they can push and what's available to them."
Trowbridge says the latest restrictions are a step in the right direction, but says until cigarettes stop appearing in magazines, films, and other places where young eyes see them, tobacco products will continue to find new consumers. "I think even if you did generic black and white packaging on cigarettes you are still going to have a product that will appeal to our young people", she said.

Crushing Cigarettes In A Virtual Reality Environment Reduces Tobacco Addiction

ScienceDaily (Oct. 28, 2009) — Smokers who crushed computer-simulated cigarettes as part of a psychosocial treatment program in a virtual reality environment had significantly reduced nicotine dependence and higher rates of tobacco abstinence than smokers participating in the same program who grasped a computer-simulated ball, according to a study described in the current issue of CyberPsychology and Behavior.Benoit Girard, MD, Vincent Turcotte, and Bruno Girard, MBA, from the GRAP Occupational Psychology Clinic (Quebec, Canada), and Stéphane Bouchard, PhD, from the University of Quebec in Gatineau, randomly assigned 91 smokers enrolled in a 12-week anti-smoking support program to one of two treatment groups. In a computer-generated virtual reality environment, one group simulated crushing virtual cigarettes, while the other group grasped virtual balls during 4 weekly sessions.
The findings demonstrate a statistically significant reduction in nicotine addiction among the smokers in the cigarette-crushing group versus those in the ball-grasping group. Also, at week 12 of the program, the smoking abstinence rate was significantly higher for the cigarette-crushing group (15%) compared to the ball-grasping group (2%).
Other notable findings include the following: smokers who crushed virtual cigarettes tended to stay in the treatment program longer (average time to drop-out > 8 weeks) than the ball-grasping group (< 6 weeks). At the 6-month follow-up, 39% of the cigarette crushers reported not smoking during the previous week, compared to 20% of the ball graspers.
"It is important to note that this study increased treatment retention. All too often individuals drop out of treatment prior to completion. It will be interesting now to go further and compare this to other popular treatments such as the nicotine patch," says Brenda K. Wiederhold, PhD, MBA, BCIA, Editor-in-Chief of CyberPsychology and Behavior, from the Interactive Media Institute, San Diego, CA.

A call to arms for tobacco store owners

Let us consider the case of a cigar store owner. No food is served. No alcohol is available. The only products are cigars, tobacco products and accessories. Because no alcohol is served, it doesn't qualify for status as "Specialty Tobacco Bar."
Let us also assume that this establishment is owned by a retiree, the sole employee. He started this store because of his love of cigars. He has become something of an expert and customers often seek out his advice, much in the way a wine enthusiast may seek the opinion of a sommelier.
Under the expanded ban he will not be allowed to sample a new cigar in his own store in order to provide advice for his customers.
Who is being harmed and needs to be protected by the expanded ban? Does he not have the right to run his business to the best of his ability?
I would urge all tobacco store owners to call their City-County Council member and urge him or her to vote against Proposal 371.

Man arrested for stealing $6K of cigarettes and beer

A wanted Georgia man was arrested by Gainesville police for stealing more than $6,000 worth of cigarettes and Steel Reserve beer from a Chevron early Wednesday morning.
After leaving the Chevron, 3845 NE 15th St., 41-year-old Oscar Tellez drove east and was peeking inside the Citgo at 1606 NW 13th St. from his truck when police spotted him, GPD spokesman Keith Kameg said.
When officer Ariel Lugo approached Tellez, he jumped into his truck and drove away.
Police dog K-9 Justice found Tellez hiding at the CVS construction site on Northwest 16th Avenue, Kameg said.
Entering a construction site without permission is a felony offense.
"When you refuse to come out of a situation and we give you ample warning, we will send our dogs out 100 percent of the time," Kameg said.
Police found the stolen items from the Chevron inside Tellez's truck, which was stolen in Georgia.
According to Kameg, there have been similar gas station thefts, which police believe may be connected to Tellez and are under investigation.
Tellez was charged with grand theft auto, loitering and prowling, trespassing on construction site, fleeing and attempting to elude, resisting arrest without violence and driving without a license.

Fears smoking bans could inflame tensions in overcrowded WA prisons

Inmates at WA's maximum security Hakea Prison will be banned from smoking in their cells from Monday - prompting fears from prison officers it could further increase tensions in the State's overcrowded jails.
As part of the Department of Corrective Services' smoking reduction policy, inmates at Hakea will be banned from smoking in their cells during the day from next week, according to John Welch, secretary of the WA Prison Officers Union.
Mr Welch said while the union agreed that passive smoking in prisons was potentially harmful to his members, of more immediate concern was the effect a tobacco ban could have on the mood of already tense inmates.
"They will have to wait until they get outside of the units before they will be able to smoke again.
"In a broad sense our members don’t like passive smoking - but when you are really overcrowded ... and in the middle of all this heat it is very difficult for the staff to manage.
"Hakea is at about 140 per cent capacity, Casuarina is at nearly 180 per cent - it is very difficult in that environment to manage such an enormous cultural change - and we are very sensitive how we are going to be able to manage it safely."
A statement from the Department of Corrective Services confirmed Hakea had begun stage one of a smoking reduction process, which involves reducing smoking in cells during daylight hours.
But Custodial Operations Assistant Commissioner Jon Peach said he was "keenly aware" of pressures on prison officers - and would be monitoring the situation.
"The Department remains keenly aware of current pressures on the prison system and will monitor the process carefully. Staff safety remains a priority," Mr Peach said.
According to the Department of Corrective Services website, the intention had been for all enclosed areas in WA prisons, including cells and units, to become smoke-free on June 30 this year, in an attempt to "realign the prison environment with community standards on smoking".
Mr Welch said that because of fears over the effect the ban would have on inmates, the policy had been more gradually introduced, but it would eventually become universal.
"80 per cent of inmates smoke, so it is not like the rest of society. Imagine trying to ban smoking in pubs in the 1950s," Mr Welch said.
"It was intended some months ago that there would be a much more aggressive approach to bringing these smoking bans in.
"There does seem to be a push from the Department to continue, despite the levels of overcrowding.
"The proposal is that eventually we will roll to a situation where people are only going to be able to smoke outside, and then ultimately we will move to a no smoking environment - and we have great fears about that."
According to the Department, prisoners who continue to breach the new rules on smoking will lose privileges. But they will be given free Nicotine Replacement Therapy treatment, as will staff.
But Mr Welch said that making cigarettes effectively contraband - when they are currently used as currency - could be a nightmare to police.
"The reality is that is always hard to stop contraband coming into prisons, so it will be very difficult if we then make tobacco a further contraband," Mr Welch said.
"It is very difficult when you have 4750 prisoners in the system designed for 3350 to introduce a ban of this sort."

MPs approve cigarette vending ban

The removal of cigarettes from public display is a step closer after MPs said vending machines should be banned and shops should keep stocks out of sight.
MPs supported a backbench amendment to outlaw cigarette vending machines in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has its own separate bill.
The vending machine amendment to the government's Health Bill was passed by the Commons without going to a vote.
The bill passed its third reading and will now go before the House of Lords.
The vending machine ban was proposed by the former Labour minister Ian McCartney, who said it would "change history".Mr McCartney said vending machines gave young children access to cigarettes and condemned them as an "outrageous loophole in our country's safeguards" against tobacco.
He said tobacco was still "the only product in Britain that can be sold legally, which routinely kills and injures its customers".
The Conservatives had questioned the wisdom of banning shops from putting cigarettes on public display during a recession, when many smaller retailers were suffering from a lack of business. Newsagents say the proposal could cost them £250m in lost sales.
'Completely false'
Tory backbencher Philip Davies said: "This is the nanny state gone mad. On every conceivable level this particular ban is wrong.
"It goes against the principle of individual responsibility, free choice and people making their own decisions."
Mr Davies said it was "completely false" to suggest people would be more likely to buy cigarettes because they were displayed in shops.
He argued: "As someone who was a retailer for 12 years, can I tell you that tobacco is not an impulse purchase in the same way that cream cakes are."
But health minister Gillian Merron said the ban would help to stop new generations taking up smoking.
She said: "The tobacco industry constantly recruits young people to replace those who give up smoking or die each year.
"We are of course aware of how the current economic climate is affecting small business which is why we will not commence the effect of this legislation until 2011 for larger stores and 2013 for smaller shops."
Ms Merron said she was opposed to an outright ban on vending machines but the Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, said he would not oppose Mr McCartney's measure in the Lords.
He said: "The remaining amendments that have been voted through go over to the other place (the Lords) in a well-drafted and legally workable form.
"I will watch with interest how his proposals are received in another place but the government will not seek to overturn them," he added.
The chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), Deborah Arnott, said the vending machine ban had "made a strong Bill even stronger".
The Scottish Parliament is considering a similar ban on vending machines and public displays of tobacco.

Man uses truck to break in store and steal cigarettes

SPOKANE -- Police and deputies are searching for a man who used a truck to break into a gas station to steal cigarettes and money Thursday morning.They say the man first tried to use the fire extinguisher to break in the Conoco on Geiger Blvd., but when it didn't work he used a silver Dodge Dakota to smash through the entrance.
The owners of the store tell us the man stole more than 100 packs of cigarettes and whatever money was left there overnight.
The crash into the store set off an alarm, then the owners were called. The owners tell us this is the fourth time they've had damage done to their building by people trying to steal from them.
The owners have released their security camera video to us, which shows the whole incident. The suspect was dressed in all black, including a face mask and got away in that silver truck.

Gas station cigarettes, cash and liquor taken

Cash, cigarettes and bottles of liquor were taken during an armed robbery at a gas station in Northwest Peoria early Tuesday, police said.
An employee told police he was in a back office at Huck's, 3819 W. War Memorial Drive, about 3:40 a.m. when he heard the front bell go off. When he came out to see who had walked in, he was met by a man with a mask partially covering his face, according to a police report.
The 23-year-old employee said the man pointed a gun at him, ordered him to the front and then emptied the cash drawer. The man also took money from an unlocked safe, several packs of cigarettes and four bottles of liquor.
The robber put a gun to the employee's head and ordered him to take the tape out of the store's video surveillance system, but he didn't know how to use the digital system, he told police.
When the gunman apparently thought he heard someone entering the store, he took the employee with him out the back door and made him lie down, then ran toward the tree line east of the store.

Higher Cost A Deterrent To Smoking

Connecticut's decision to hike the state cigarette tax to $3 per pack was a no-brainer. The new rate, effective on Oct. 1, will raise millions in urgently needed state revenue, will convince more people to quit smoking and will slash health care costs associated with smoking-related illnesses.
One of the greatest benefits is that more teenagers will not take up the dirty habit in the first place. The national Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids estimates that Connecticut's $1-per-pack tax increase will deter 24,000 youths from becoming addicted smokers, and will convince 10,000 adults to quit. The group also projects $520 million in health care savings. These are significant numbers.
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death and disease in Connecticut, claiming 4,700 lives each year and costing the state $1.63 billion annually in health care bills, the group says.
State officials estimate the higher tax will bring in nearly an extra $100 million in revenue this fiscal year, money desperately needed to support essential services.
Now that Connecticut has shown leadership by boosting the cigarette tax rate, it ought to take the next logical step and devote more dollars to smoking cessation programs. Nicotine is one of the toughest addictions to overcome, but with help smokers can kick the deadly habit.
Connecticut for years has allocated a pittance to smoking prevention and cessation efforts. Currently, the state spends less than 2 percent of $447 million in tobacco-generated revenue for these programs, far below what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends.
Connecticut can do better. Lawmakers who saw the wisdom of raising taxes on cigarettes ought to demand that some of that new revenue be used to support effective smoking cessation programs.

Schoolgirl's TV bid to stop mum smoking

SCHOOLGIRL Molly Elvin hopes to persuade her mum to quit smoking for good after being filmed for a hard-hitting new NHS campaign.
The eight-year-old from Hammersmith put herself up for the national TV and poster campaign after going through the trauma of seeing her grandmother die of smoking-related cancer two years ago.
Now short ads of Molly talking movingly from outside her home in Flora Gardens are being broadcast at peak TV soap-watching times to try to encourage more people to stub out their last cigarette.
In the ad, Molly appeals to mum Sam to give up because she does not want her to die.
Molly says: "Hi mum, I know you're watching Coronation Street. I don't want you to smoke because I don't want you to go through what your mum went through. Because it will just make me really, really sad and because I don't want you to die. I don't know what I would do without you."
Sam, 42, managed to give up for six months once before before starting smoking again. She has now vowed to give up for good before Christmas.
She said: "It was quite upsetting just to hear Molly say the things she said, but it was really powerful and I've promised her I'm definitely going to try to stop. I didn't realise before how strongly she felt about me smoking.
"There's been a lot of attention since – Molly even ended up going on Sky and on This Morning with Peter Andre. I'm really proud of her and all the things she said."

Gas station robber demands cash, cigarettes, cigars

A masked man with a handgun robbed a gas station convenience store near Wilmington, stealing cash from the till and grabbing cigarettes and cigars, state police said today.
The robbery happened at about 9:50 p.m. Sunday at a BP Shore Stop in the 3500 block of Miller Road, said state police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh.The man entered the store, displayed a black handgun and demanded money from the till, he said.
After the clerk complied, the man took several packs of Newport cigarettes and some cigars before fleeing on foot, he said.
The robber was described as about 6 feet tall, with an average build, and was wearing a mask, a black baseball cap, a dark-colored long-sleeved shirt with a collar and light-colored horizontal stripes, dark-colored pants (possibly green), white sneakers and white gloves.
Police released surveillance images of the man.

€1.5m seizure of Dublin-bound cigarettes in Spain

A shipment of contraband cigarettes worth €1.5m, which was believed to be headed for Ireland, has been seized in Spain.
Nine hundred cases of cigarettes were found hidden in a container which arrived at the Basque port of Bilbao from south-east Asia. Spanish authorities believe they were destined for Dublin.
Detectives are now hunting for those behind the smuggling attempt.

Cigarette Kingpins: Indian smoke shops are feeling the heat

NEW YORK (AP) – After doing time for possession and an accidental killing, crack dealer Rodney Morrison decided he was finished with drugs. He threw himself a “retirement” party in 1993 and got into a new line of work: tax-free cigarettes.
It was a business operating in a gray area of the law, and the riches were enormous.
Within a decade, the smoke shop Morrison opened on Long Island’s little Poospatuck Indian Reservation had become one of the state’s biggest dealers in untaxed cigarettes. Other drug dealers soon took note and followed him into the business.
By 2007, one in every seven packs sold in New York state came from either Morrison’s shop or three others on the reservation, all four managed by people with a history of drug dealing, The Associated Press found in a review of court and business records.
Those four stores sold 9.9 million cartons of cigarettes that year, or enough to supply every smoker in New York City with a pack a day for 31/2 months.
Now, it may all be going up in smoke for the cigarette kingpins of the Poospatuck reservation.
Dismayed by the lost tax revenue, New York City has waged a legal battle that could put shops like Morrison’s out of business. This month, Poospatuck stores may have to begin collecting taxes for the first time because of a federal judge’s ruling that untaxed sales to non-Indians are illegal.
Morrison, 42, is in deeper trouble. He could get up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 25 in a case in which federal prosecutors set out to blame him for a murder but wound up convicting him of illegally trafficking in cigarettes.
Other states have also struggled with the sale of untaxed cigarettes at reservation smoke shops, and federal prosecutors have filed smuggling charges in recent years against a few dealers in Idaho and Washington. But the cigarette trade on New York’s reservations dwarfs the business in other states, with 304 million packs sold in 2007 alone.
The Poospatuck case is being watched closely. If the court decisions are applied to all reservation smoke shops statewide, they could doom a $6 billion-a-year business in Indian tobacco that now accounts for a third of New York’s cigarette sales.
The Poospatuck reservation covers just 55 acres at the edge of a suburban neighborhood in the town of Mastic, about 60 miles from New York City. Fewer than 300 people live there. The centuries-old preserve of the Unkechaug tribe has long been impoverished, with many residents living in trailers.
It has about a dozen smoke shops in all, for one major reason: Indian sovereignty.
Because the state doesn’t collect sales taxes on Indian land, cigarettes bought there can cost less than half of what they do in New York City, which has the nation’s highest tobacco taxes. In the city, a carton of Marlboros costs about $95, including $42.50 in state and local taxes.
As a result, “buttleggers” – operating, investigators say, with the assistance of some store owners – buy large quantities of cigarettes on the reservation and resell them in the city at a big markup. Some of those packs wind up on the shelves of convenience stores and bodegas. Others are sold on the street by “$5 men.”
“There’s no difference between the cigarette business and the drug business. It’s the same type of individuals involved,” said Kyron Hodges, a former drug dealer from Brooklyn who joined legions of street hustlers transporting tax-free cigarettes from the Poospatuck reservation to the city. “I took all of my street knowledge and applied it to cigarettes.”
Technically, New York law allows reservation merchants to sell tax-free tobacco only to members of the tribe for their personal consumption. And in recent years, police have arrested at least 220 people leaving the Poospatuck reservation with loads of cigarettes.
But until now, the rule has never been enforced against the smoke shops themselves, despite the loss of more than $700 million a year in state and local tax revenue. Since the mid-1990s, New York governors fearful of stirring up tribal unrest have instructed state tax officials to leave the smoke shops alone.
And so, as state authorities looked the other way, Morrison’s business boomed, grossing $172 million in one 41/2-year period, according to bank records. He bought homes, land and businesses throughout the U.S. and Latin America, stashed $30 million in foreign banks and collected $1.7 million worth of luxury watches.
Morrison’s lawyer, Billy Murphy, said his client’s transformation from drug dealer to entrepreneur should be viewed as a success story.
When Morrison was 20, he killed a 6-year-old boy while blasting off shotgun rounds in a friend’s yard. He pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and was sentenced to probation. Later, he got a year in jail for drug possession.
“Rodney decided to give it up and go legit,” Murphy said. “He retired from the drug business and went into the cigarette business because he thought it was legal.”
Prosecutors, though, said Morrison didn’t change his methods. He kept a gun in his office. He talked tough. And when a wave of violence swept the reservation, people began pointing fingers.
The car of one smoke shop owner was firebombed. Another shop owner was beaten and robbed. Armed men burst into a tribal council meeting and threatened the chief’s life. Then, in 2003, a former Morrison employee with a rival cigarette business, 23-year-old Sherwin Henry, was shot to death on a Brooklyn rooftop.
After the incident at the tribal council meeting, Morrison seemed pleased people were afraid of him, an employee later told prosecutors. “Every now and then you have to bite people,” he said, according to the worker.
Meanwhile, Morrison held himself out as a respectable businessman, joining the local Chamber of Commerce.
Morrison wasn’t the only person on the reservation with a checkered past.
His estranged half-brother, Shawn, began managing The Golden Feather smoke shop after finishing a seven-year prison term in 2004 for drug dealing. The Smoking Arrow Smoke Shop was managed for a time by a former member of Morrison’s drug crew. And Monique’s Smoke Shop was run by a man who served six months for drug dealing in the 1990s.
None of the men are Indian, but all of them are married or connected romantically to Indian women, and that entitled them to run businesses on the reservation.
During hearings over a lawsuit brought by New York City, a former smuggler and an undercover state tax investigator testified that many of the Poospatuck stores welcomed illicit business.
Some were lookouts, watching for police patrols. Others split large orders into smaller transactions to hide big deals. There were tales of late-night meetings in parking lots where cash was exchanged for garbage bags filled with cigarettes.
Morrison was arrested in 2004 and indicted on federal racketeering charges accusing him of Henry’s murder and a string of other violent crimes. Prosecutors said he paid $15,000 to have Henry killed because he was stealing customers away.
At trial, Morrison’s lawyer argued that most of the charges were concocted by jealous competitors. The jury acquitted Morrison last year on most counts, including the murder, but found him guilty of racketeering for selling untaxed cigarettes to non-Indians.
The verdict came as a shock to scores of reservation smoke shops across the state engaged in a nearly identical business.
Morrison’s lawyers have appealed his conviction, saying the state’s policy was “so hopelessly confused ... it is impossible for a citizen to know the law.”
In denying Morrison bail last week, U.S. District Judge Denis R. Hurley, who will sentence the cigarette dealer, called him “a cunning individual with dangerous proclivities” and said that, despite the verdict, he believed Morrison had “set up the scenario” that resulted in Henry’s murder.
Since the trial, state courts have continued to send conflicting messages about the smoke shops’ legal obligations. As recently as July, a state appeals court threw out a case against a Cayuga Nation store in western New York, saying it could not be prosecuted for selling untaxed cigarettes.
Things could come to a head in the next few weeks. In her Aug. 25 ruling in the city’s lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon ordered the Poospatuck stores to start collecting taxes on sales to non-Indians in 30 days.
Shawn Morrison recently decided to close. Rodney Morrison’s store is still in business, but like the others is in limbo. Philip Morris, the maker of Marlboros, ordered wholesalers last year to stop selling its products to shops on the Poospatuck reservation because of the smuggling.
The Unkechaug chief, Harry Wallace, blames a few “dirty dealers” for ruining the business.
“The unscrupulous guys come in, and all they care about is building their own personal fortune and then engaging in quasi-legal activity,” Wallace said. “All of a sudden, we are all criminals. We are getting blamed for someone else’s actions.”

Cigarette sales on Six Nations tied to issue of sovereignty

I love the smell of a fresh-lit cigarette. The ascending smoke randomly curling through the air was common. One after another marked the hours of my days. Twenty-five years ago, people were allowed to smoke in the hospital. It wasn't like it is today. Now we identify smokers by their huddling presence at doorways to public buildings. I remember when the cost of an entire pack was below $2. Today, it's five times that amount. Smoking was a habit I would eventually give up.
Mostly store merchants at Six Nations of the Grand River sold cigarettes in the 1980s. They were given a quota that dictated how many cartons a retail outlet was allowed to purchase for resale. It wasn't anything like it is today. As many as 200 smoke shops are now estimated to litter the landscape of the reserve. A few years ago, a map of the reserve used as a tool for tourism had smoke shop locations marked on it as if they were a tourist attraction. All that was needed was the replica of a giant cigarette in Veterans Park, smoke rising from it rivalled only by the Camel billboard in Times Square.
The situation begs the question, "How do they all make any money?" I've talked to a few people who either run or own smoke shops and the answer is, "They don't." That is not unless they sell inventory in large quantity. But not all of them can afford to purchase the inventory to do high volume business.
Some businesses can afford to deal in high volume business. The cigarettes manufactured at Six Nations by Grand River Enterprises do have taxes paid on them by the manufacturer to the Canadian government, as much as $120 million a year, according to one figure. This business is the largest employer at Six Nations and willingly pays taxes to the Canadian government, even though the business is located on Six Nations of the Grand River territory. Today, some of the owners of Grand River Enterprises are indicted in the United States for trafficking in contraband cigarettes.
Last fall, there was some attempt by the elected band council and the confederacy council to organize the smoke shop merchants by introducing regulations but it proved to be a monumental task after having the industry go unchecked and unregulated for so long. Not only has the cigarette industry grown in correlation with government taxation on the product but it is also mired in the issue of sovereignty, which makes it defendable. But for those who don't agree with the changing landscape of the reserve, how far does the obligation go to defend the cigarette industry in the name of sovereignty?
It's one of those issues where you may not agree with it in principle but it's part of a bigger issue that is a vital part of a culture of a people. Sovereignty to Six Nations is like clean air to humanity: it's not given up willingly and must be defended.
When the RCMP came calling at Six Nations almost two years ago to see what could be done about the selling of "illegal" cigarettes, the elected council told them that there were no such thing as "illegal" cigarettes being sold at Six Nations and it was their job to monitor Canadians to make sure they paid the taxes on products. Two years later, that is exactly what police are doing as they stop people and confiscate the cigarettes they have purchased on the reserve as they leave the tax free zone. That raises other questions: Can they stop everybody and confiscate their cigarettes? And can they monitor every exit leading out of Six Nations continually? The short answer is: no.
So, what's the solution? The government could lower taxes on cigarettes but that would be taking away their own revenue stream. They could pour more money into education, which could encourage more people to quit smoking and lower the demand part of the supply and demand chain. They could increase the penalties for non-native people not paying taxes on cigarettes purchased on a reserve. However, none of these possible solutions is guaranteed to decrease cigarette customers coming to Six Nations to purchase product.
I don't agree with the economic development at Six Nations in terms of the cigarette industry. I hoped the economy could be run by some product other than one that causes disease and death to so many people who use it.
Allan M. Brandt in his book, The Cigarette Century, cites projections "that in the course of the twenty-first century, one billion people across the globe will die of tobacco-related diseases." The other aspect of taking the sacredness of a medicine and selling it in another form for personal financial gain conflicts with the Great Law, the values and principles upon which Haudenosaunee society is based.
There are those people who also believe that the cigarette industry is inextricably linked to the increase in crime in the community.There are those who say that not all cigarette outlets are 100% native-owned and people are being used for their rights. There is a definite need for research to be done in this area in order to capture a clear picture of what is happening at Six Nations in terms of crime.
I grew up on the reserve. I lived at my grandparents' home at Sour Springs corner where the door was left unlocked the majority of the time. It wasn't like it is today. I only need to bring up the topic of crime and my ears are filled with stories about "gun-toting seniors" and "crack orphans." The social problems that result from an unsafe community are becoming more difficult to ignore. Community meetings where crime and safety are the only topics for discussion are happening now.
Yes, the cigarette industry has given the community a stream of revenue but in a very unbalanced way. To say the entire community has benefited would be an untrue statement. It has made some people multimillionaires. It has changed the reserve in a most drastic way. It has polarized the economic field of a small community. It has raised questions regarding links to crime. It has strained family relationships and it has branded the Reserve with an image that has overshadowed more positive ones.
The cigarette industry is the dark part of the issue of sovereignty. Having said that, I must defend sovereignty because to not defend it invites abolishment. I may not agree with what is sold but I must defend the right to sell it.
L. M. VanEvery is a journalist from Six Nations of the Grand River who wishes everyone would quit smoking.

MPP introduces bill to cut tobacco taxes

Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett has submitted a private member's bill before the Ontario legislature on its first day back from the summer break, which calls for a dramatic reduction in the tax on cigarettes and cigars to fight the contraband trade.
His bill, which passed first reading Monday and will be up for second reading on Sept. 24, would replace the current Ontario Tobacco Tax with a new one that lowers the rate by 33% to 8.23 cents per cigarette from 13 cents per cigarette, and to 37.7% on a cigar from the present 56.6%.
His bill also calls for the change to be done in conjunction with the federal government's tax policies.
"We must lower the taxes on those products legally to match the prices of the contraband trade, which carries on activities that allow cigarettes to be sold without paying proper taxes," Barrett said in a telephone interview after first reading.
"What I am proposing is to do what we did in 1994 when contraband got out of control due to taxes that were too high. The situation changed as soon as taxes were lowered to a more acceptable level."
Because the bill is one of the first out of the starting gate in the fall sitting and will be up for second reading in less than two weeks, Barrett acknowledged that MPPs in all parties know little about its purpose.
So he has prepared a sales job to lobby them on the necessity to use a change in tax policy to attack a contraband trade that now accounts for more than 50% of cigarettes on the street and robbed Ottawa and the provinces of an estimated $2.5 billion in 2008 alone.
Barrett will explain his bill before the Progressive Conservative caucus today.
His office has also prepared an package with background information on his bill to be distributed to every MPP in all three political parties.

How To Dissuade Your Children From Smoking Cigarettes

Have you ever looked in the mirror and wondered who was looking back at you? As you all know we age every day, but when you smoke cigarettes this aging process starts to speed up. Young people usually start smoking because they think it makes them look older or cooler. They do not know that doing this will certainly make them look older than they actually are, eventually anyway. These cigarettes will not only make them look older sooner, it will also bring them closer to death sooner as well. This is a fact that they often overlook at the time they start smoking. They might end up with one or more of the cancers that come from smoking early in their lives. We have so many people in hospitals with these cancers that they might never have gotten if they had never started smoking cigarettes.

Young kids do not realize the pity that older smokers feel for them when they see them smoking. Older smokers realize the pitfalls of smoking that the young smokers have not had to deal with yet. You should try to make your child understand that smoking cigarettes is not the right thing for them to do. If you need to scare them a little, you could take them to a hospital where there are cancer patients dying that smoked. Let them talk to the patients to find out what cancers they have and the medicines that they are on trying to fix their problems. Let these patients talk to your child alone as they might be able to get through to them better if you are not in the room.

You might be surprised to find out their ages when asked. Most of them might not look their age because their bodies have aged so much. These people might look many years older than they really are because of the smoking. Have them talk to as many people in the hospital as they can. If you both have a strong stomach you might even take them down to the morgue and let them talk to the people that do this job. These professionals might be able to show your child the cancers and what they do in terms of their bodies. This in itself might keep this child from even starting.

If you find that your child has already been smoking, then get them to talk it over with you so that maybe you can with the help of these professionals get them to quit. If you get to them quickly enough, you can get them to quit easier. Sooner or later reality sets in with any smoker and they will sometime or another have a desire to quit even if they never do. Preventing someone from ever starting to smoke is the key to them never becoming addicted. Parents have to be very vigilant when it comes to keeping their children away from cigarettes. If you smoke cigarettes in front of your children, you might as well be lighting one up and handing it to them because chances are very good that they will smoke eventually and then how are you going to feel?

Thousands of cigarettes seized in Londonderry

Thirty locations on both sides of the River Foyle were visited by officers from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) supported by the PSNI in operations that targeted the
sale of illicit cigarettes. During the raids seizures amounted to 48,181 cigarettes,
kilos of hand rolling tobacco as well as counterfeit DVD's, CD's and football jersey's.
As part of an ongoing programme of visits to businesses across Northern Ireland (HMRC) officers involved in the Londonderry raids used new hand-held scanning equipment to quickly identify counterfeit non UK-duty paid tobacco products. The scanner detects covert security markings on the packaging, invisible to the naked eye, and gives an instant indication of counterfeit or smuggled tobacco.
Brian Dixon, Specialist Investigations, HMRC said: "The unregulated sale of illegal cigarettes and tobacco is not a victimless or harmless crime, and encourages otherwise honest people to trade with criminals. The gangs behind this form of criminality are motivated solely by greed and personal gain. Their lavish lifestyles cost the taxpayer around £3 billion per year in unpaid duty.
"We are tackling tobacco fraud at all points of the supply chain, from smuggling and storage through to sale, and we are now using new technology to quickly identify the illegal and counterfeit products.
"We will continue to work with our partner agencies, the PSNI and the Organised Crime Task Force, to combat this crime but we are also keen to work closely with local people. We would encourage anyone who knows of someone selling cheap or duty free cigarettes and tobacco to contact our hotline on 0800 59 5000."
Investigations into the origins of the seized products are ongoing.

Tobacco shop will fight charges

Tobacco Haven isn’t a cigarette manufacturer despite claims by the state, says the attorney for the small tobacco shop in Brookline facing an unusual legal action against its use of roll-your-own cigarette machines.
Acting Attorney General Orville “Bud” Fitch filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the tobacco shop in Merrimack County Superior Court, alleging that the operation sidesteps the federal settlement between tobacco manufacturers and the state.
The company has a pair of 4-foot tall “roll your own” machines in its store. Customers buy one of three types of loose tobacco and paper tubes with filters, then use the machines to turn them into cigarettes at about half the cost of name-brand cigarettes.
Jeffrey Burd, of Cincinnati, one of several lawyers who will represent Tobacco Haven in court, said this business doesn’t make Tobacco Haven a manufacturer.
“Tobacco Haven rents its machine to customers. They can buy or rent,” said Burd. He contrasted the shop’s operation with a hypothetical cigarette manufacturer in North Carolina that can produce several hundred cigarettes in seconds, while it takes minutes to roll the same number at a tobacco shop.
Burd will make his case in Merrimack County Superior Court at 11 a.m. Oct. 13, when the state brings its case against the tobacco shop.
The state filed the suit this week, about three weeks after contacting the tobacco shop’s owner, Joseph Correia Jr., asking if the business was manufacturing cigarettes.
Burd said he responded with a four-page letter that explained why Tobacco Haven is not a cigarette manufacturer.
Under two state laws, the Non-Participating Manufacturers Act and the Directory Act, tobacco manufacturers must make payments to the state based on the number of cigarettes they sell.
Burd argues that stores all over the country are operating similar machines that allow customers to make their own cigarettes at a significant savings, without paying the federal tobacco settlement taxes levied on manufacturers.
The in-store rolling machines are larger and faster than the ones consumers buy for home use, Burd said.
And local residents as well as ones from neighbor Massachusetts are flocking to the store.
“Roll-your-own cigarettes has gone through the roof,” said Keith Spano, manager at Castro’s Backroom in Nashua. “It’s an extremely cheap way to do it. I heard there’s a line out the door at (Tobacco Haven) with people that just wait from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, everywhere.”
Tobacco Haven’s big draw appears to be the price. A carton-worth, or 200 machine-rolled cigarettes cost $25.99. Cartons of many name-brand cigarettes cost more than $40.
Peter Labrecque drove from Nashua for exactly that reason. He said a carton of his old brand of cigarettes cost about $42.
“It’s more a matter of what I can afford right now,” he said. He said there’s not much of a difference between the store’s machines and rolling his own cigarettes at home, except convenience.
“Would it be different if I rolled them in my own home? Why would that be any different?” he said.
Mary Kavanaugh drove about 20 minutes from Lunenburg, Mass., because her old brand of cigarettes cost more than $60 per carton.
“I think it’s a great thing to help out the people. We just can’t afford all these new taxes on everything,” she said.
At Smokin’ Deals in Nashua, customers have a choice among five different tabletop models of take-home cigarette machines and eight handheld versions ranging from $25 to $63, according to manager Cindy Demanche.
“We’re overselling machines, tobacco, tubes and rolling papers,” Demanche said. “Every time the taxes go up, more and more people are looking for them. They’re fed up with all these tax increases.”
Depending on the model, it can take five to 15 minutes to roll out a pack of 20 cigarettes at home, she said.
“I’ve heard about (Tobacco Haven) from some of my customers, Demanche said. “They think it’s the coolest thing ever that they can do it in a store and not take it home.”
But others don’t seem to think so and the state wants Correia to halt his make-your-own cigarettes procedure until the apparently unprecedented matter is cleared up.
Burd and New Hampshire officials both say they believe the Brookline case is the first of its kind in the nation.
Sales of personal cigarette-rolling machines in the U.S. skyrocketed about 10 years ago, following the national tobacco settlement that required manufacturers to pay millions of dollars to states for healthcare for Medicaid patients suffering from tobacco-related illnesses.
Americans have been rolling their own cigarettes for decades, although the rise in sales of the machines 10 years ago was the first since the Great Depression, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Federal and state taxes on cigarettes have continued to climb over the past decade.
New Hampshire has collected roughly $50 million in tobacco-settlement money. Little of it has gone for health care. Instead, it has been placed in the general fund.
The future of this fund was a major concern of the state in filing the lawsuit, Assistant Attorney General David Rienzo said Tuesday.
Failing to take action against small cigarette manufacturers, he said, could lead to complaints and legal action against New Hampshire from the large companies that pay the bulk of the settlement money.

New ‘fire-safe’ cigarettes drawing smokers’ ire

THIBODAUX — Starting today, self-extinguishing cigarettes are what local smokers should find in their packs.The so-called fire-safe cigarettes, indicated by the letters “FSC,” have bands of paper several layers thick surrounding the tobacco, making it more likely to go out if it’s not actively being smoked. The goal is to prevent fires and deaths associated with lit cigarettes.
Starting today, vendors must buy and sell fire-safe cigarettes in Louisiana. Eighteen states already require the special cigarettes. Louisiana and 13 others will join the list this year.
The change has some smokers upset.
Nick Richard, 58, of Thibodaux, says he must relight his Marlboro Ultra Lights up to three times per cigarette.
“If you put it down for more than a minute it goes out,” Richard said. “It’s just a huge pain.”
Mark Tortorich, owner of the Tobacco Outlet Discount in Thibodaux, said some of his customers are unhappy at the change.
“Customers have been complaining,” Tortorich said. “Some people say it tastes different, others don’t like having to relight it. I tell customers to call their cigarette manufacturers.”
Manufacturers say the change won’t affect cigarettes’ taste or appearance.
“There are no additional chemicals,” said Frank Lester, a spokesman for tobacco company R.J. Reynolds said. “The difference is the paper bands.”
Lester and David Sutton, a spokesman for tobacco compnay Philip Morris, say smokers must still be careful.
“It’s important to point out to consumers that anything that burns, if handled carelessly, will still burn,” Sutton said. “Nothing that burns is fire safe.”
Manufacturers who sell cigarettes in violation of the new standard could be fined up to $100 per pack. Subsequent violations could result in higher fines.
Stores are allowed to sell any remaining stocks of non-fire-safe cigarettes purchased prior to today.
Chad Mire, Thibodaux’s assistant fire chief, said the new cigarettes should help reduce fires caused by unattended cigarettes.
“It’s a great thing,” Mire said. “Anything that can benefit fighting or preventing fires is a good thing.”
Richard, however, says he remains unhappy with the change, especially given the recent tax increases on his smokes.
“I’m very upset by this,” he said.

Find A Reason To Quit Smoking Cigarettes And Reclaim Your Life

There are many millions of people in the world that smoke cigarettes everyday of their lives. Everyone knows that there are many ailments that come from smoking cigarettes and one of the biggest killers is cancer. No one wants to go to the doctor and hear him say that they have cancer in their lungs, liver, intestines, pancreas, or any of the many other places it can be in your body. This disease kills hundreds of thousands of people each year and the numbers are not going down enough to really notice.

Cancer is something that no smoker wants to think about. Most all of them can tell you that they know it is damaging their lungs and they are even running the risk of getting lung cancer, but they still continue to smoking cigarettes or other tobacco products. It seems as people get caught up in their everyday life and stay so busy, they do not stop to think about what they could be giving up by continuing to smoke. The ones that have been smoking for many years and are middle aged, probably have kids or maybe even grandchildren. A big priority in the lives of most people is family, especially your children and their children.

There are all kinds of reasons that you could come up with to help you quit smoking and the biggest one should be yourself and your health. How can you claim to love others so much when you are choosing to kill yourself slowly and will not likely be with them for as long as you could. Continuing to smoke cigarettes will do damage to the body that not even the strongest of willed people can not over come later in life. Nobody wants their kids or even grandchildren to see them looking old and sick, but the truth is that the carbon monoxide that they have breathed all of their life has robbed them of their youthful appearance. This is a deadly chemical that a smoker has been inhaling into their lungs for many years.

Not only will cigarettes rob you of your youthful look, you will find that eventually you are going to realize the amount of money that you have lost over the last many years of supporting this habit.
So, if you are still smoking cigarettes, talk to your doctor about the possibilities of getting on a program or anything you can do that will get you off of cigarettes. If just looking at your family can not make you quit, just imagine not being able to ever look at them again because you had to die too soon.

FDA warns of e-cigarette risks

The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers about potential health risks associated with electronic cigarettes.

Also known as "e-cigarettes," electronic cigarettes are battery-operated devices designed to look like and be used in the same manner as conventional cigarettes.

Sold online and in many shopping malls, the devices generally contain cartridges filled with nicotine, flavor and other chemicals. They turn nicotine, which is highly addictive, and other chemicals into a vapor that is inhaled by the user.

The FDA said it is concerned that e-cigarettes can increase nicotine addiction among young people and may lead kids to try other tobacco products, including conventional cigarettes. In addition, the products may contain ingredients that are known to be toxic to humans because clinical studies about the safety of these products for their intended use have not been submitted to the FDA.

Of particular concern, the FDA said, is that e-cigarettes are sold without any legal age restrictions and are available in different flavors such as chocolate, strawberry and mint, which may appeal to young people.

In addition, the devices do not contain any health warnings comparable to FDA-approved nicotine replacement products or conventional cigarettes.

Consumers may report serious problems with e-cigarettes to the FDA through the MedWatch program, online or at 800-FDA-1088.

Thousands of illegal smokes seized

A New Brunswick man is facing charges after being arrested early Monday morning with 130,000 illegal cigarettes.
The 54-year-old from Sainte-Anne-de-Kent, who has not been identified, was stopped for speeding on the Trans-Canada Highway 104 in Debert at 12:30 a.m. Police investigating the speeding noted a strong odour of raw tobacco from inside the car
and the RCMP Customs and Excise Unit was called in. Inside the vehicle 650 clear plastic zip-lock bags, each containing 200 cigarettes, were discovered.
“This has been the second apprehension in less than a week indicating that, despite higher prices for the illegal tobacco at the point of origin, there is still a demand for the product,” said Cpl. John Currie.
The man was released to appear in Truro provincial court on Oct. 28 to face charges under the Federal Excise Act and the provincial Revenue Act.
Last Wednesday afternoon a truck was stopped for speeding near the Cobequid Pass toll-booth and a subsequent search led to the seizure of 1,250 cartons of illegal cigarettes. A 34-year-old Indian Brook man is to appear in Amherst provincial court on Oct. 28 to face Customs and Excise Act charges.

Mall kiosk challenged for selling 'electronic cigarettes'

Anti-smoking activists are pushing Jordan Creek Town Center managers to evict a kiosk selling "electronic cigarettes."
The battery-operated devices contain no tobacco, and they don't emit smoke, but activists worry they will lure young people into inhaling noxious fumes.
The sleek kiosk, called Smoking Everywhere, opened a few weeks ago in the West Des Moines mall.
It offers small white-and-tan devices that look like cigarettes. Instead of tobacco smoke, they give off a heated vapor containing nicotine, which is the most addictive part of cigarettes.
Kiosk manager Joshua Ross said he doesn't understand why there's a fuss about his wares. "What you inhale is steam. It's about the same as what comes off a bowl of soup," he said, puffing on a demonstrator model. The vapor he exhaled had very little odor.
Ross touts his product as a safer alternative for people who want to quit or cut down on smoking.
"I guarantee you, cigarettes will kill you 20 times faster," he said.
The American Lung Association isn't buying it. The group recently wrote to mall managers, asking them to evict the stand, which is upstairs near the Baby Gap and Bath & Body Works stores.
"Due to the fact that Jordan Creek Town Center is a family-oriented environment and an establishment many young people frequent, we believe it is crucial that you remove this vendor from your mall immediately, not only for the health of mall employees but also mall guests," the association wrote to the mall's leaders. The group is asking its members to write to mall managers with similar requests.
Kerry Wise, the lung association's director of mission services, noted in an interview that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently put out a warning about e-cigarettes.
The warning said the devices could contain cancer-causing chemicals and other toxins, including diethylene glycol, an ingredient used in antifreeze.
Wise said she is unclear whether the devices are safer than real cigarettes.
"The research isn't there on it," she said.
She said she was unsure whether the mall could legally break its lease with the kiosk, which is owned by a Kansas City company.
Wise said she is particularly worried about the fact that the devices come in flavors, including chocolate and vanilla.
"That targets a younger audience," she said.
Ross pointed to a sign on his kiosk, reading: "Must be 18 to try or buy."
He said the rule is strictly enforced.
Ross said he doesn't know of any other retailers selling e-cigarettes in the Des Moines area, though he said such stands are common around the country.
He dismissed the FDA's warning as "propaganda." He said most of his customers already are smokers who want to curtail or quit their habits. The e-cigarettes also allow them to get their nicotine in many nonsmoking areas, including bars, malls and even most airplanes.
"People tell me it's the best thing they've ever done," he said.
Many of the devices are sold online, including by Ross' brand. The company's Web site offers the "Freedom to Smoke Anywhere." It features glamorous people using the product. "Looks like a cigarette. Feels like a cigarette. Tastes like a cigarette. But it isn't a cigarette," the site says.
Ross said the devices are cheaper than cigarettes, which have shot up in price because of recent federal and state tax increases. The metal e-cigarettes cost about $180, but their refill cartridges are only $3. Each cartridge is equal to about two packages of cigarettes, which could cost $14, he said.
Randy Tennison, the mall's general manager, did not respond to requests for comment. Wise said mall managers have not responded to her group, either.

Smoking no longer trending down

WASHINGTON - The decades-long decline in smoking by Americans has stalled for three years, the first time smoking rates have leveled off for that long since the federal government began collecting statistics more than 40 years ago.

After more than a decade of steep decline, moreover, smoking rates for high school students also have hit a plateau in the past few years and even increased a bit. This comes amid controversy over the targeting of young women by the R.J. Reynold's Tobacco Co. with its Camel #9 cigarette - which is packaged in "hot-pink fuchsia" and claims to be "light and luscious."

Together, the data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thursday present a worrisome picture of smoking patterns, experts said, especially because the trend had been downward for so long.

"Anytime we are not seeing a decline, it's a cause of real concern to us," said Corrine Husten, head of the epidemiology branch of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health. "Smoking is the biggest cause of preventable disease we have, and we need to bring down the rates as quickly as we possibly can."

According to the CDC report, about 20.8 percent of American adults are smokers - with 80 percent of them (36.3 million people) smoking every day and the rest smoking on some days. Adult smoking rates declined more than 15 percent from 1997 to 2004 but have been stubbornly unchanged since.

Husten pointed to several likely reasons for the unwelcome news.

Cigarette companies have been spending billions of dollars to offset tax increases and discount their products, and funding has been cut sharply for several very successful state anti-smoking campaigns, she said.

Some anti-tobacco advocates said the Bush administration has not made tobacco control a priority and has not highlighted or promoted the issue. In part, they said, the stalled smoking rates are a result.

William Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the administration has been "AWOL regarding tobacco control - doing little or nothing." He called it "inexcusable that elected leaders have not done more given the overwhelming scientific evidence of what works to reduce tobacco use among both children and adults."

The relatively unchanged price of cigarettes since 2002 is considered important because more people stop smoking due to cost than for any other single reason. That is especially true of younger smokers. While a number of states have increased tobacco taxes, the federal government has not raised its rate for more than a decade, and President Bush has strongly opposed a proposal in Congress to increase the tax as way to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

The administration has also been skeptical of a bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco. FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach told Congress in October that the agency did not have the funds to take on regulation of tobacco and had reservations about regulating a product known to be harmful.

Von Eschenbach said in a statement that "the bill could undermine the public health role of FDA." Two major reports this year - one by Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and another by the President's Cancer Panel - called for FDA regulation of tobacco.

The administration has also declined to send the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to the Senate for ratification. The treaty, signed by the United States in 2004, would require some toughening of U.S. anti-smoking efforts. So far, more than 150 of the 168 nations that signed the treaty have ratified it, but the State Department has consistently said it is still studying the document.

The price of cigarettes increased after tobacco companies agreed in 1997 to pay billions to the states to settle a suit seeking compensation for Medicaid costs related to smoking-related disease. But statistics collected by the Federal Trade Commission show that tobacco companies then dramatically increased their advertising and marketing budgets - from $6.7 billion in 1998 to $15.1 billion in 2003 and $13 billion in 2005. From 2003 through 2005, price discounting accounted for more than 70 percent of the promotion expenditures.

David Sutton, a spokesman for Philip Morris USA, which supplies about half of the American cigarette market, said the company agrees with the public health community that the "best way to reduce the health effects of cigarettes is to quit or not start in the first place." But he said that in the highly competitive domestic market for adult smokers, companies had to offer discounts to retailers to keep old customers and attract new ones.

Since 2000, there also has been a drop of 20 percent in state spending to keep children, in particular, from taking up smoking and to encourage and help smokers to stop, the CDC reported. That decline was especially stark in several states that had had aggressive and effective programs, including Massachusetts, Florida and Minnesota.

Some of the spending decline results from cuts in state appropriations and some from decline in the amount of money available from the tobacco settlement. Under that landmark agreement, the amount paid by the tobacco companies declines if cigarette consumption falls off, or if more than 1 percent of the cigarette market is captured by small and foreign companies not covered by the settlement - a threshold that was reached some time ago.

The rate of cigarette smoking began to fall steadily after the 1964 surgeon general's report on tobacco's health risks, though the decline leveled off for two years in the mid-1990s.

The new data, in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released Thursday, did not include specific information about youth smoking, but other reports have shown a similar leveling off among them in the past several years.

The controversy over R.J. Reynolds' Camel #9 - which came on the market in February - has reached Congress, where Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., has denounced the company's advertising for targeting women, especially young women. She and 40 others members of Congress twice wrote to 11 women's magazines asking them to stop running its ads, which generally feature slinky clothes in black and pink. One ad tells women the Camel #9s are now "available in stiletto" - longer, thinner cigarettes. Capps has also accused RJR of scenting the cigarettes to taste like a chai latte.

The CDC report showed a small drop-off in adult smoking in the first three months of 2007, but Husten said it is not considered significant and that smoking rates often come in low at the beginning of a year.

Among the CDC findings was that in 2006, almost 37 percent of people with smoking-related chronic disease were still smoking - a considerably higher percentage than in the general population.