Coakely Health Report
February 22, 2012 – UK quit smoking campaigns come under fire February 22, 2012 – 10:07 am, by Melissa Sweet Quit smoking campaigns in the UK that promote nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) are wrong to discourage the “cold turkey” approach, and could learn a lesson from Australian efforts, suggests Simon Chapman, professor of public health at the University of Sydney. ***
Paul A. Achoa
KingofHowTo.com
Recently, the Food and Drug Administration conducted an electronic cigarette review to test the safety of these popular electrical devices. According to the agency, the results of its examination revealed some troubling issues; and it has issued a report warning consumers about the potential health risks associated with the products.
What is an e-cigarette?
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices designed to provide users with nicotine and flavor by converting the drug into an inhalable vapor. Most of these devices are designed to resemble traditional cigarettes; however, some may look like other products, such as USB memory devices or pens.
NACS Online
ALBANY, NY – New York has seized more than 5 million cigarettes produced by Native American companies since June for failure to pay state excise taxes, the Buffalo News reports.
State officials said the seizures represent roughly $1.5 million in taxes that its sellers were intending to avoid.
Last summer and pursuant to a court ruling, New York began enforcing a state law prohibiting wholesalers from selling untaxed cigarettes to Indian retailers for sale to non-Indians.
Convenience Store Decisions
By Lou Maiellano.
Imagine, if you will, that European explorers land in Africa, North America or South America in the 14th, 15th or 16th centuries. Upon landing, these explorers find the inhabitants of these exotic new lands drinking a strange, energizing brew and smoking the dried beans of a native tree in hand carved pipes.
But in this case, the brew is from tobacco and the smoke is from the coffee bean. The beverage delivers the energizing effects of nicotine and the pipe delivers the stimulation of caffeine in its rich, aromatic smoke. Given that set of facts in this brief, retelling of the history of the new world, how would today’s world be different? I think we know.
Editor’s Note: Attached below is a study from the Adam Smith Institute, Plain Packaging: Commercial expression, anti-smoking extremism and the risks of hyper-regulation. Key points emphasized in the study include:
1. “One in nine cigarettes smoked around the world is counterfeit or smuggled. The illicit market lowers prices, fuels underage consumption, deprives the treasury of tax revenue and makes an unhealthy habit still more hazardous.”
2. “190 billion counterfeit cigarettes are made each year in China alone and 65% of the cigarettes seized in the EU are counterfeit.”
CBS News
CBS/AP) So much for being safer. An electronic cigarette blew up in a Florida man’s face, leaving him in a hospital with severe burns, missing his front teeth and a chunk of his tongue.
Fire officials said Wednesday that the man had switched to electronic cigarettes to try and quit smoking, and that the scary situation was caused by a faulty battery.
“The best analogy is like it was trying to hold a bottle rocket in your mouth when it went off,” said Joseph Parker, division chief for the North Bay Fire Department. “The battery flew out of the tube and set the closet on fire.”
Jeff Stier | The Food and Drug Administration’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) has posted a draft summary of their report on dissolvable tobacco products. The report is available for download here. The report was required by Congress and will be considered by the FDA is it evaluates how to regulate newer dissolvable tobacco products.
I attended portions of the meetings held in preparation for this report, and offered my comments as part of the open hearing. A video of my testimony is available here. I am disappointed with TPSAC’s approach so far.
Editor’s Note: Sorry we are old school. We see no compelling reason for federal employees to turn to the Congress as the first institution for redress as opposed to the last institution. There are a number of channels the employees could have used to address their concerns prior to turning to the Congress. The federal managers who took actions to correct the actions of the disgruntled scientists should be promoted.
Jeff Stier | The Food and Drug Administration’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) has posted a draft summary of their report on dissolvable tobacco products. The report is available for download here. The report was required by Congress and will be considered by the FDA is it evaluates how to regulate newer dissolvable tobacco products.
I attended portions of the meetings held in preparation for this report, and offered my comments as part of the open hearing. A video of my testimony is available here. I am disappointed with TPSAC’s approach so far.
BBC: ‘Toxic’ risk of counterfeit cigarettes sold in Sussex
From: BBC
Counterfeit cigarettes being sold in Sussex contain abnormally high levels of cancer-causing chemicals, a BBC investigation has revealed.
BBC South East Today found some brands had eight times as much lead as normal cigarettes.
Hastings MP Amber Rudd said many people were not aware of the dangers posed by brands smuggled into the country.
A pro-smoking lobby group said the high level of taxation on legal cigarettes was driving the illegal trade
The tests follow a BBC investigation in October into the illegal cigarette trade in Hastings and St Leonards.