Madison May Extinguish Smoking on Beaches and in Public Parks

 There are no ifs, ands or butts about it. Madison town leaders, and many residents, believe it’s time to extinguish smoking at town parks, ball fields and town beaches.

“It’s a great way of taking that out of the public’s eyes so that the youth doesn’t have to look at the smoking and think that that’s something that they may want to do in the future,” said Pete O’Hanlon of Madison.

Resident Peter smokes Doina Soft cigarettes for years and does not like the new move saying it is discriminating.

This evening, as part the 7 p.m. Board of Selectmen meeting, there is a public hearing scheduled where residents can comment on the a proposed measure to ban use of all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.

“One of the rolls of recreation across the country is to promote healthy lifestyles,” said Scot Erskine, Madison’s director of recreation, whose commission recommended the measure after an annual statewide recreation conference.

“They thought that it would be a much more helpful situation to not have secondhand smoke around,” said First Selectman Fillmore McPherson.

James Repace, a secondhand smoke consultant, says smoking outdoors still creates a hazardous environment for all.

“Failure to ban smoking in outdoor public venues may expose nonsmokers to levels of secondhand smoke as high or higher than received in indoor spaces, where smoking is unrestricted,” wrote Repace, who contends wind blowing in the wrong direction, coupled with multiple cigarette sources, presents the worst outcome.

Eighty-one percent of all Connecticut adults do not smoke. If the Board of Selectmen adopts this measure, the ordinance would take effect 15 days from its passing.

“I know, if I’m sitting at a picnic table and someone is sitting in the next picnic table, smoking a cigar, smoking a cigarette, it can be very offensive,” said Rich Santanelli, a former smoker.

Seattle Commissioners to Ban Smoking in Parks

Park commissioners in Seattle, Washington state, want to prohibit use of cigarettes in all city parks. In case the law would be adopted, smoking is going to be banned in all public zones under the city’s parks’ jurisdiction. However, the law would not make part of the Seattle Municipal Code. On April 16 there would

New Cigarette Packaging Scares Smokers

 GOVERNMENT has introduced a new anti-smoking campaign that involves the use of hideous graphic images on cigarette packs to discourage smokers.

The health ministry's spokesperson Ester Paulus said the new cigarette packaging is part of the amended Tobacco Control Act of 2010.

She said the amended regulations call for all foreign companies that export cigarettes into the country to feature the images on their products to discourage smoking.

“All cigarettes packages should have the type of pictures that show types of diseases that come as a result of smoking so that people can stop smoking. People should stop smoking,” said Paulus.

Dunhill and Peter Stuyvesant are some of the companies that have put on their cigarette packets images of cancer-infected lungs, rotten teeth and all sorts of deformities that come as a result of smoking.

The graphic images have sent smokers squirming in fear of getting cancer and other smoking related diseases.

People who spoke to The Namibian yesterday said they were definitely scared and some made promises to quit when they saw the packaging while others say the addiction to smoking overrode their fear and they continue to buy the cigarettes anyway.

Thirty six-year-old John Karumba who has been smoking for the past seven years, said he changes the casing so that he doesn't have to look at those scary photos.

Another smoker Charlie who uses R1 Slim Ultra online said when he goes out to buy cigarettes, he makes sure that he asks for the ones in the old packages that do not have the graphic images.

“It is very discouraging to see those photos. But I will not stop smoking now, maybe next year,” said Charlie.

Smoking Ban in Rock Hill Parks Failed

Smokers in Rock Hill city, South Carolina, are delighted that smoking will be allowed in city parks, because City Council rejected proposed smoking ban on Monday. Totally there are 21 parks and recreation zones in Rock Hill city and the Council was discussing better ways to regulate tobacco use in public places of the city.

Standardised Packaging: Tobacco industry claims for compensation "blown out of the water"

On the day MPs are debating the Regulations prior to a vote, a Legal Opinion has been published which concludes that standardised (“plain”) packaging of cigarettes and other tobacco products is compatible with European law, and compensation would therefore NOT be due the tobacco industry. The talk is not about buying cigarettes online.

The Opinion was commissioned by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and Cancer Research UK from Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor of Law at HEC Paris and Global Clinical Professor at NYU School of Law, and Amandine Garde, Professor of Law at Liverpool University. They conclude that: “In this Legal Opinion, we have focused on the compatibility of the UK draft Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations with EU law.

We concluded that all the packaging requirements they propose are compatible with both the EU TPD and, more generally, EU law.” They also state that: “Our analysis suggests that the UK Department of Health enjoys a broad margin of discretion to introduce a standardisation scheme of tobacco products… The evidence supporting standardised packaging keeps accumulating. The Chantler Review [3] adds to the calls for standardised packaging … The UK’s proposed regulations and its Impact Assessment draw on this evidence and present it is as clearly as possible [given] the conditions the TPD and the EU Treaties lay down to determine the validity of a national scheme standardising tobacco products.”

The Opinion also states that the Regulations are lawful under EU law relating to trademarks, and “fundamental rights”, both of which do not prevent Member States from introducing legislation to protect public health.

The tobacco industry has claimed that the industry would be due billions of pounds in compensation [4] if standardised packaging were to proceed in the UK, but this Opinion demonstrates these claims are not substantiated.

Professor Alemanno said:

“Our analysis demonstrates that under current EU law the UK Government is entitled to regulate the packaging of tobacco products well beyond what the EU prescribes. The UK government therefore enjoys considerable freedom of action in regulating the presentation of tobacco products, particularly given the overwhelming evidence of the harm that tobacco consumption causes. There is also a carefully established and strong evidence base supporting the introduction of standardised packaging. For these reasons, we believe that any challenge by the tobacco industry against standardised packaging under European law is unlikely to succeed.”

Oregon Discusses Benefits of Tobacco Tax Hike

Oregon’s State Legislature discusses cigarettes tax increase which is expected to help cover state’s budget deficit and encourage smokers quit. The bill under the name HB 2555 raises cigarette tax in Oregon by $1.00 per pack, and 20% of revenues from the tax will be used on quit smoking programs. Besides this, transportation programs for

Reynolds American’s CEO on Merging, Managing and Smoking

 Susan Cameron , chief executive of Reynolds American Inc., is skilled at bringing two companies together. She proved that in 2004 when she guided Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. and Brown & Williamson through a $3 billion merger. She led the combined companies for seven years and retired in 2011.

Reynolds’s board asked Ms. Cameron to return last year to oversee the company’s $25 billion acquisition of Lorillard Inc. The deal is awaiting Federal Trade Commission approval, but she is pushing ahead with preparations to bring Lorillard’s top brand, Newport, into Reynolds, which will make the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based company a stronger rival to market-leading Altria Group , Inc., which makes Marlboro. If you want to know where to buy Marlboro cigarettes online, go to http://www.mydiscountcigarette.net/buy/marlboro

The Wall Street Journal talked to Ms. Cameron about the factors that go into a successful merger, the ability to recruit young workers to a tobacco company and the future profile of cigarette smokers. Here are edited excerpts from that interview.

 WSJ: What are the keys to combining two companies?

MS. CAMERON: Making sure you have a plan that all parties have agreed to is essential. We set up planning teams right after this transaction was announced.

A customer wants to order Newports from us, day one.

WSJ: How do you achieve that?

MS. CAMERON: You appoint people, and it’s their full-time job for two years. Somebody who is the project manager for the manufacturer integration—that is [his] job. You don’t leave it to chance.

WSJ: What mistakes have you made in previous mergers that you want to avoid?

MS. CAMERON: In the first merger, I was convinced we could create the new company’s culture in three years. That was ridiculous. I think it took seven or eight.

WSJ: Why does it take that long?

MS. CAMERON: It’s generational. If you have managed a certain way and you have been successful, by the time I get you to change, you’ve probably now retired. And the next group is excited and ready to manage people in the new way.

WSJ: How do you recruit employees to work in a stigmatized industry like tobacco?

MS. CAMERON: People in their 20s and 30s are different from people growing up in the ’90s who watched these clowns up there swearing nicotine was good for you. Ever since they have known about tobacco, it’s clear that it’s bad to smoke. For this generation, it’s either they will or they won’t. When we post a job, I felt much worse in the ’80s or ’90s than I do today. It’s different.

North Dakota Rejected Tobacco Tax Increase

House of Representatives in US state of North Dakota rejected an ordinance to raise taxes on tobacco products from $0.44 to $1.54 per package. Republican Vicky Steiner voted against the tax increase and explains that she did not support the bill because it affects vulnerable layers of society much more than layers with higher income.