Pro-smoking smartphone apps spark a fiery debate

Australian researchers identified more than 100 smartphone applications that appear to promote smoking. The study highlights the challenges governments face in keeping tobacco advertising laws in step with technology, reported France 24.

Applications designed for smartphones that tacitly or overtly encourage smoking are shaping up to be the latest front in the battle against cigarette advertising.

A study released this week in the British Medical Journal’s public health magazine, Tobacco Control, put the spotlight on the so-far overlooked phenomenon of using smartphone apps to promote or encourage smoking.

A team of Australian public health researchers at the University of Sydney identified 107 apps promoting a pro-smoking message on the Apple App Store and Android Market (now Google Play).

Just as the range of tobacco products is diverse, so too the types of apps, from simple wallpaper downloads of popular brands to programmes that simulate stubbing out of cigarettes, and animated games that recreate social smoking situations. The apps are either free or downloadable for a small fee, and while some include measures to verify that users are above a certain age, others do not.

One app, called 'Ashtray', transforms the smartphone screen into a garbage can. A short tap on the screen deposits cigarette ash into the bin, while a prolonged tap discards the entire cigarette.

 Users can choose between three backgrounds for the garbage can, or use their phone camera to place it in a photo of their favourite spot for a smoke.

In another app, 'Puff Puff Pass', users select a caricature then choose a pipe, cigar or cigarette, and venue (lounge room, outdoor setting, office, or limousine). The rules of the game include a time limit to smoke two drags before passing it on to the next caricature, whereupon a player can win points or is reprimanded.

Electronic cigarettes not a drug device, judge says

Electronic cigarettes will remain on the market for now, after a federal judge's ruling this week that could have wider implications for federal regulation of tobacco products.
Some tobacco-control advocates warned that if upheld, the ruling could give rise to a host of new, nicotine-laced products that historically have been restricted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The preliminary ruling said electronic cigarettes are not drug-delivery devices but should be treated as tobacco products.
"This opens the door for manufacturers of non-tobacco products to insert nicotine, a highly addictive substance and, in certain uses, dangerous, into a wide variety of non-tobacco products that would previously have been forbidden," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Made mostly in China, the tube-shaped e-cigarettes are battery-powered and include a heating element that vaporizes a mix of nicotine and a type of alcohol for the smoker to inhale. Imported e-cigarettes have been advertised in the United States as alternatives to conventional cigarettes, sometimes with claims that e-cigarettes are less harmful to smokers' health.
The FDA considers e-cigarettes to be unapproved drug-delivery devices and has halted some shipments into the country, prompting a lawsuit by two importers based in Florida and Arizona. The companies say they have sold hundreds of thousands of e-cigarettes in the U.S. in the past two years, but the FDA action has depleted inventories and threatened their businesses.
Judge Richard J. Leon of U.S. District Court in Washington sided with the importers, issuing a preliminary injunction on Thursday ordering the FDA to stop blocking importation of e-cigarettes. Leon wrote that the importers are likely to prevail in their argument that e-cigarettes are not subject to regulation by the FDA's drug division.
Instead, e-cigarettes fall under the agency's new authority to regulate tobacco products, Leon wrote.
Congress passed legislation last year that for the first time gives the FDA oversight of the tobacco industry. Among other powers, the agency has authority to review for approval any new products that claim to be less harmful than conventional tobacco products.
"This case appears to be yet another example of FDA's aggressive efforts to regulate recreational tobacco products as drugs or devices," Leon wrote.
The FDA "has not cited any evidence that electronic cigarettes are any more an immediate threat to public health and safety than traditional cigarettes, which are readily available to the public," Leon wrote.
The ruling, if upheld, raises questions about how the FDA will approach "hybrid products" that contain nicotine but are not clearly either traditional tobacco products or nicotine-cessation products, said John F. Banzhaf III, a professor of public-interest law at George Washington University.
Banzhaf said the FDA could argue on appeal that the judge overstepped by failing to give deference to the agency's scientific expertise.
"The question of how best to regulate [novel products] . . . should lie first with the agency and not the judge, who does not have any particular skill or expertise in this field," he said.
Myers with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said he believes the decision will be overturned on appeal. "I think it is a misunderstanding of long-standing law," he said.
The FDA said it is reviewing the ruling and considering options.
"Nicotine in products currently regulated as drugs and devices is derived from tobacco products, but that doesn't make them tobacco products," Myers said.

Armed man takes cash, cigarettes from Shawnee convenience store

An armed man took cash, cigars and cigarettes from a Shawnee convenience store in the early hours of Monday.
Shawnee police reported that at 2:45 a.m., a man entered the 7-Eleven at 11023 Johnson Drive and asked the clerk for cigars. The clerk turned around to retrieve the cigars, and when the clerk turned back, the man had produced a gun, Shawnee Police Capt. Bill Hisle said.
The man demanded cash and cartons of cigarettes. Before leaving, he told the clerk to go lay down in the back room and not call anybody. A K-9 unit search indicated the man went north across Johnson Drive to the Hartman Harware parking lot, where the trail ended, Hisle said, so he likely got in a car parked there and drove away.
Hisle said the man is described as a black male in his mid-30s, 5-foot-10 and 170-180 pounds with a mustache. He was wearing all-black clothing, including a stocking cap, jacket, pants and gloves. Anyone with information should contact.

Bulgaria Introduces Staggering Cigarette Tax Hike

Bulgarian smokers will have to swallow a raise in excise duties on cigarettes and their prices as of January 1, as the government struggles to curb smoking and relieve the health care system.
Under a decision that the parliament took at the end of November, a BGN 101 excise duty for 1000 cigarettes is introduced instead of the previous BGN 41, while the proportional tax is 23% of the sales price instead of 40,5%. The latter will affect mostly expensive cigarette brands.
The tax for tobacco for pipes and cigarettes is set at BGN 100 per kg.
The new duties increase the price of a pack of cigarettes anywhere between BGN 1,10 and 1,40 making the price of the best-selling “Victory” brand BGN 5 instead of the current BGN 3,40.
Opponents to the tax hike claim that it will boost cigarette smuggling and may lead to the bankruptcy of the dominant state cigarette maker Bulgartabak.
Bulgaria has the second highest percentage of smokers in Europe and plans to ban smoking in all public spaces as of June next year.

Government Prepares Draft Bill on Tobacco Control

The government is drafting a bill on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). “This is to protect Indonesian youth today and in the future from the dangers of smoking,” said the Health Department’s Head of Public Communication Center, Lily S. Sulistyowati in a press release last week.
The FCTC is a legally-binding international convention applicable to countries that ratify it. The FCTC has been adopted by acclamation by the World Health Assembly on May 2003 and will be effective if a minimum of 40 nations ratify it. At the end of February 2004, 95 countries, including the European Union, had signed the convention.
The previous government had regulation No.19/2003 about Regulations on Cigarettes and Health. The law regulates the size and the type of health warning, time limits for cigarettes advertisements in electronic media and tar and nicotine level testing.
Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih admitted she faces a dilemma over this issue. Duties on cigarettes is considered as a major source of revenue for both the central and regional governments. But on the other hand, cigarettes are a threat to health. Tobacco epidemic data in the world shows that tobacco kills more than 5 million people every year. If this continues, in 2020 there will be 10 million deaths and 70 percent of them will take place in developing countries. “This is the challenge we have to face to protect the young generation from the dangers of smoking,” said Endang, in her press release.
Indonesia is one of the countries which consume the most tobacco, the fifth after China, United States of America, Russia and Japan, with an estimated consumption of 220 billion cigarettes in 2005.
Head of Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) Husna Zahir called on the Health Minister to be more objective in facing the Draft Bill on Tobacco. Husna hoped that Endang will be firm on the issue.”Tobacco provides big revenues to the state , but that is not the Health Minister’s area,” said Husna yesterday.
As Health Minister, she continued, Endang should be thinking more about how to avoid cigarette exposure to children and teenagers and improve the health conditions of active or passive smokers. Husna added that state revenue matters or scholarships from tobacco companies should not be an obstacle in issuing policies on cigarettes and tobaccos. “If she (Health Minister) sees it that way, she’s only looking at the problem half-heartedly. Who does she want to protect?”Judging by the Health Minister’s ambivalence, Husna is worried that the Tobacco Draft Bill discussion will be a tough exercise.”Efforts at controlling tobacco will be at risk,“ she said.

New Mich. cigarette law has some smokers fuming

A new state law intended to reduce the fire hazard posed by smoldering cigarettes has frustrated some Michigan smokers, who complain that the safer cigarettes taste foul.
The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, requires all cigarettes sold in Michigan to be engineered to automatically extinguish when left unattended. To comply, cigarette companies usually add two or three special bands to the cigarettes' paper that, when lit, reduce the flow of oxygen to the tobacco, thereby slowing the stick's rate of burn.
If a smoker does not draw on the lit cigarette, the bands effectively smother it.
Ashley May, a 22-year-old smoker from Roseville, told The Detroit News that the fire-safe smokes taste foul and are hard to keep lit.
"I don't like them," she said after a drag from a Kool. "You have to constantly puff on them every 30 seconds or else they're going out. And then when you try to re-light them, they taste horrible."
Although May and her husband Ed do not like the fire-safe cigarettes, they said they are a good idea if they end up reducing the number of house fires caused by unattended cigarettes.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm approved the law in June, making Michigan the 49th state to pass fire-safe cigarette legislation.
he new cigarettes won't end all fires started by smoking materials, but they will help lower the numbers of deaths and injuries caused by them, said Ronald Farr, Michigan's Fire Marshal.
"It's a life-safety issue," he said. "That's the single biggest point for them."
Fires caused by smoking-related materials in Michigan killed four people last year and injured 33 others, including seven firefighters, according to the state's Bureau of Fire Services.
Nationwide, fires ignited by cigarettes claimed 780 lives in the United States in 2006, according to the Massachussetts-based National Fire Protection Association.
With Michigan's new law looming, tobacco retailers such as Joe Odisho, the owner of Smokers' Planet in Roseville, have heard plenty of complaints about the new cigarettes.
"I've had people come in (and) ask if I have a brand without (the fire-safe cigarettes) and then turn around and walk out when I tell them 'no,"' he said.
Under the new law, cigarette manufacturers that want to sell their products in the state have to register them with the state's Bureau of Fire Services. They also must certify that their cigarettes were made with the self-extinguishing technology.
The state will charge cigarette makers a $1,250 fee to register each family brand of their products they want sold in Michigan. The companies will also have to re-certify their products every three years.
The packaging for cigarettes must carry a special mark on them -- FSC for Fire Standard Complaint -- as well.
Any manufacturer, distributor or retailer who continues to sell unsafe cigarettes after Jan. 1 faces fines of $100 per pack and seizure of the product, according to the law.

Diplomats arrested for cigarette smuggling

Swedish police have arrested two North Korean diplomats on suspicion of smuggling 230,000 cigarettes into the Nordic country, the Swedish Customs Office said Friday.
The pair, a man and a woman who have diplomatic status in Russia, were stopped by Swedish customs officers Wednesday morning as they drove off a ferry from Helsinki, the Finnish capital.
Customs officials discovered Russian cigarettes in the car driven by the couple, Swedish Customs spokeswoman Monica Magnusson told Reuters.The two North Koreans claimed diplomatic immunity.
"They were accredited as diplomats in Russia, but had no accreditation in Sweden," she said. "They were arrested on suspicion of smuggling."
Magnusson added that the pair were still being held by Swedish police and that she was not aware of them having any contact with North Korean officials since their arrest.
Sweden's Foreign Ministry said it had been informed of the arrests but would not comment directly on the matter, saying it was a criminal case and was being handled by the police.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Cecilia Julin said foreign diplomats are only immune from criminal prosecution in countries where they have been accredited with the authorities.
"If you come to Sweden and commit a crime, you're just like any other foreign national," she said.
Sweden is one of only seven countries to have an embassy in North Korea, treated by much of the world as a rogue state due to human rights abuses and its possession of nuclear weapons despite opposition by the international community.The Foreign Ministry said the arrests were primarily a police matter, but that the North Korean embassy in Sweden was in contact with the ministry over the matter.
An official at the North Korean embassy in Stockholm said earlier he had no knowledge of the arrests.

Cigarette maker Lorillard to seek next CEO

Cigarette maker Lorillard Inc. has begun seeking a successor to Chief Executive Martin L. Orlowsky, whose contract expires next year, the company said in a regulatory filing Thursday.
The maker of Newport menthol cigarettes, based in Greensboro, N.C., told the Securities and Exchange Commission that said its board of directors plans to replace Orlowsky after his contract expires Dec. 31, 2010.
Orlowsky, 67, has served as president and chief executive officer since January 1999 and became chairman of the board in January 2001. The company said it "will weigh all relevant options" as part of the process.
Lorillard, the oldest continuously operating U.S. tobacco company, spun off from Loews Corp. in 2008.

Ice cream man in cigarette scam

A man from Cumbria has admitted selling counterfeit cigarettes to a child from his ice cream van.
Anthony Wharton, 61, of Marsden Street, Barrow was caught by trading standards officers who found him selling cigarettes to a 16-year-old.
He pleaded guilty at Furness and District Magistrates Court to three charges of selling counterfeit cigarettes.
He also admitted one count of selling cigarettes to a minor.
Wharton admitted he would often sell cigarettes to children whom he thought looked old enough, but he failed to ask for proof of age.
After a raid at his home on 14 October 1,360 counterfeit cigarettes were found.
Wharton must pay court costs of £350 and surrender all counterfeit cigarettes.
He was also ordered to complete 60 hours unpaid community work.

Even One Cigarette Every Once In A While Could Be Harmful

If you think one cigarette now and then won't do any harm -- think again.
A new study out of Canada's McGill University says smoking just one cigarette can stiffen arteries by 25%.
Doctors measured arterial stiffness in smokers and non-smokers between 18 and 30 at rest and after exercise.
After exercise, non-smokers saw artery stiffness decrease.
But when smokers had just one cigarette, stiffness increased nearly 25%.
Researchers say this shows smoking just a few cigarettes a day impacts the health of our arteries.
They say damaged arteries can compromise our bodies ability to cope with physical stress, like climbing stairs or running to catch a bus.
Stiff arteries are also a symptom of atherosclerosis, a build-up of fatty acids and a type of heart disease.
They've also been linked to mental decline.
Researchers presented the study to a meeting of the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress.

Queensland bans smoking in cars with kids

QUEENSLAND has banned smoking in cars carrying children under the age of 16.
Deputy Premier and Health Minister Paul Lucas said the new laws would start from January next year and apply on all public roads.
"These new laws are about reducing the exposure children have to tobacco smoke," Mr Lucas said yesterday.

The legislation was passed in Queensland parliament yesterday as part of measures contained in the Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2009.
The Government described its anti-smoking laws as being the toughest in the country, including smoking bans for indoor and outdoor public places as well as restrictions on retail advertising, display and promotion of tobacco products.
In Queensland alone there are 276,000 smokers with children aged under 16, the Government said.
"The level of tobacco smoke inside a vehicle is very high, and we know young children involuntarily exposed to tobacco smoke in confined environments have significantly increased health risks, including bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma, ear infections and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome," Mr Lucas said.Other states are also introducing bans on smoking in cars with children.

French parliament committee approves cigarette hike

ARIS (Reuters) - A French parliamentary committee approved on Wednesday a measure that would add 6 percent to the price of a packet of cigarettes from next year.
The social affairs committee of the National Assembly, or lower house, adopted an amendment to the 2010 social security budget specifying a 0.6 percent hike in cigarette taxes that would lift the overall price of cigarettes by 6 percent.
The amendment was adopted ahead of a full debate on the social security budget in parliament next week.
The government has declared its intention of pushing for higher cigarette prices to discourage smokers, despite objections from bars and cafes licensed to sell tobacco, which say they have already been hard hit by indoor smoking bans.

Stop smoking service celebrates 10 year anniversary

MORE than 12,000 smokers have quit in the past decade, a Buckinghamshire organisation has said, as it celebrates its ten year anniversary.
The NHS Stop Smoking Services said it has helped 12,070 people give up cigarettes.
The service estimates that over 70,000 lives have been saved through its work in the last decade.
During this period smoking prevalence among the general population has dropped from 28 per cent to below 21 per cent.
Joanne Wilson, Public Health Practitioner, said: “In Buckinghamshire, we have achieved a major reduction in the prevalence of smoking, and the Buckinghamshire Smokefree Support Service continues to support around 2,000 smokers a year to successfully give up.
“Stopping smoking is without question the single biggest decision that anyone can make to improve their health.
“The creation of free NHS Stop Smoking Services in 1999 was a hugely significant milestone in helping people achieve this goal. She added: “It is vital that we continue to make smokers aware just how easy and convenient it is to access support in their own neighbourhood.”

Aldermanic Committee Postpones Vote on St. Louis Smoking Ban

The St. Louis Board of Aldermen's Health Committee yesterday delayed voting on a bill to ban smoking inside city bars and restaurants.
Tuesday's meeting was adjourned so aldermen could wait until next week to receive an estimated economic impact of the ban. Chief among the aldermen's concerns is a ban proposed in St. Louis County that goes before voters on November 3.
The county ban would still allow smoking in "drinking establishments" that earn three-fourths of their income through the sale of alcohol. The city ban, meanwhile, would ban smoking in all bars and restaurants without exception.
As alderman Stephen Conway told St. Louis Public Radio yesterday, the fear is that the city could lose the tax revenue of smokers if it enforces a stricter ban.
"The original presumption was that we wanted to be level," Conway told the radio station. "And today I think everybody was shocked, and obviously it was so overwhelming that none of my colleagues wanted to jeopardize the city businesses as compared to the county."
Conway says the city could lose 15 percent of its sales tax revenue without a level playing field.

City postman accused of selling cut-price cigarettes

A retailer in Galway City has lodged a complaint to the Customs division of the Revenue Commissioners about a postman who is allegedly selling cut-price cigarettes while he delivers the post.
The newsagent who made the complaint has experienced a drop of up to 40 per cent in his takings in tobacco sales since the part-time postman started flogging the half-priced packs while on his rounds in the area.
The practice has become a major problem for retailers, who believe they lost nearly half a million in revenue to the black market in 2008. The cigarettes are sourced in Eastern Europe, where a pack costs just 74c, or are counterfeit brands made in the Far East.
Some of Ireland’s leading brands are being copied by counterfeiters, complete with forged Irish tax stamp and dual language health warning.
They are then sold on for €3-€4, half the price of a pack sold over the counter here.
There have been numerous examples of illegal sales on the black market in the last few years. Pizza delivery staff in Dublin, an insurance salesman in Limerick, a real estate agent in the Westmeath and Offaly areas, have all been reported to customs officials for selling tobacco. It has also become increasingly prevalent on market days in large towns.
Retailers against Smuggling (RAS) is a lobby group that has been set up to curb the practice which is funded by tobacco companies and representing retailers and major chains such as SuperValu and Topaz garages. They claim up to 10,000 jobs could be lost through the phenomenon. Overall cigarette sales are down 30 per cent, but they say there is no corresponding fall in the number of smokers. Some 30 per cent of traditional newsagent revenues come from cigarette sales.
Spokesman Paddy Donohoe says smuggling tobacco is extremely lucrative with little or no risk attached. One 40ft container of cigarettes from Ukraine could result in profits of amost €2m.
While penalties for drugs smuggling attract jail terms, there has not been a single custodial sentence for smuggling tobacco in Ireland yet, with just minimal fines for those caught, he said.
The Government has increased the excise on cigarettes by more than €1 in the last three budgets, which is fuelling the illegal trade in Ireland, which has the highest price in the EU for cigarettes.
Research conducted by RAS found that in the first six months of this year, there were 51 seizures of smuggled cigarettes. In all, 29 of those seizures involved foreign nationals.
There have been just seven prosecutions for those caught selling counterfeit cigarettes between January and June – six of them foreign shopkeepers or traders. Overall cigarette sales are down 30 per cent, but they say there is no corresponding fall in the number of smokers.

Ryanair To Sell Smoke Free Cigarettes Onboard

Europe’s largest low-cost carrier, Ryanair, will allow smokers to get their nicotine fix on board by inhaling ‘smokeless’ cigarettes, the airline has announced.
The new range of ‘clean’ cigarettes, which do not have to be lit but provide a nicotine hit for smokers, are available on all Ryanair flights, the airline said.
Ryanair has said that smokers no longer need to worry about long flights without a cigarette as it launches new range of smokeless cigarettes to ensure passengers get their required nicotine hit without breaking the law by lighting up in the cabin.
Smoking has been illegal since the 1990s on all commercial flights, but keen to cater for passenger demands; Ryanair has introduced Similar Smokeless Cigarettes, which look and feel like a real cigarette and deliver a small amount of nicotine through inhalation.
The smoke-free cigarettes are available to passengers aged over 18, while a pack of ten costs six euros.

STF seize illegally imported cigarettes

STF personnel launched a pre-dawn raid on a secret hideout of underworld gangsters in the Imbulgoda, Pahala Imbulgoda area, and seized a large stock of illegally imported cigarettes valued over eight million rupees.
Police spokesman Senior DIG Nimal Mediwake said following information received the STF raided a secret location of a leading underworld gangster and seized a consignment of foreign cigarettes.
The consignment was worth at least eight million rupees and it was hidden in an underground of a house located in Pahala Imbulgoda.