October 7th, 2012

Question of the Day: Should Jackson public schools ban e-cigarettes and chewing tobacco?

 
Jackson Opinion
 
Brian Wheeler
 

JACKSON, MI — The Jackson School Board on Monday will start looking at whether to ban e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco and strips that contain nicotine. The school district’s interest comes at the suggestion of the Jackson County Tobacco Reduction Coalition.

 
That’s just fine with one reader, nosnownhell, who declared: “You have to be an idiot to smoke anything.”
 
csparks1982, however, argued there is a difference between cigarettes and these products: “E-cigs eliminate the harmful by products of combustion by using vapor to deliver the nicotine. I quite smoking for over 3 months with one, and in that time I went from not being able to breathe to being able to run and walk up stairs (without losing my breath).”
 
The proposed policy would make allowances for nicotine products such as gum and lozenges that a doctor has prescribed. The school board will discuss it Monday but put off action at least until November.
 
What do you think? Should Jackson public schools ban e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco and other products that contain nicotine?

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October 5th, 2012

Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights shamelessly promotes continued smoking; makes false claims about hazards of electronic cigarettes

 
SPRINGFIELD, Va., Oct. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR), a proponent of the “quit or die” approach to smoking cessation, is misleading the public about hazards of electronic cigarettes, according to Elaine Keller, President of The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA). A recent ANR press release also falsely claims that there is “a lack of independent peer-reviewed scientific evidence demonstrating the safety or efficacy” of electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation.

 

FDA-approved nicotine patches, gum, lozenges, nasal sprays, and oral inhalers are referred to as Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) products, but all these products are aimed at reducing the daily intake of nicotine to zero, and all have a 93% mid-year failure rate.

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October 1st, 2012

$ 390 Million: The Legacy of Financing Federal Programs Through Taxes on the Regulated Industry

Editor’s Note:  Financing  federal programs outside the appropriation’s process reduces funding available for other programs

From: Boston Herald

FDA taps 6 ad agencies, including Mullen, for anti-tobacco campaign

By Ira Kantor

The Food and Drug Administration has chosen six ad agencies to help it develop and implement large-scale, nationwide public health education campaigns designed to change attitudes and behaviors toward using tobacco.

The agency confirmed today that agencies handling different tasks under the contract include Mullen Communications, WPP’s Grey Global Group, independent agency Riester, the American Legacy Foundation, True North Communications (DraftFCB), and Interpublic Group’s Campbell-Ewald.

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September 26th, 2012

E-cigarettes gain in popularity as a way to quit smoking

By Jane Kwiatkowski

 

It’s called “vaping” — puffing on an electronic cigarette.

Actor Johnny Depp vaped in “The Tourist,” and actress Katherine Heigl used an electronic cigarette a while back on “The David Letterman Show.”

Electronic cigarettes, made of plastic and metal, have no tobacco. A battery heats a solution that contains propylene glycol (approved by the FDA as a food additive) to create a vapor that users inhale. The solution, contained in a disposable cartridge, is available in dozens of flavors and with various levels of nicotine.

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September 20th, 2012

Cigarette taxes ‘disproportionately burden’ the poor

Myfoxny.com

MONDAY, Sept. 17 (HealthDay News) — New research finds that high cigarette taxes take a heavy toll on low-income smokers, compared to those who are wealthier.

In a study, researchers at RTI International found that poor smokers in New York state — which has the country’s highest state cigarette tax at $4.35 a pack — spent about 25 percent of their household income on cigarettes. Nationally, the average spending was about 14 percent.

By contrast, the richest smokers nationwide and in New York spent about 2 percent of their household income on cigarettes.

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