Carreras commends police for counterfeit cigarette bust

 KINGSTON, Jamaica — Carreras Limited is commending the St James Street Crime Unit and the Counter Terrorism and Organized Crime Investigation Branch (C-TOC) of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) for a bust last week of 58 cartons of counterfeit Craven A cigarettes.

In a media release, the cigarette distribution company said the seized items had an estimated street value of $545,200 and represented “significant headway in the fight against illicit cigarettes”.

Carreras singled out C-TOC for particular praise, saying the branch has been relentless in its efforts to stamp out the illegal trade in cigarette products, which now account for almost 20 per cent of the total cigarette market in Jamaica.

Managing director of Carreras Limited, Marcus Steele, was quoted in the release as saying: “The recent dramatic hike in the Special Consumption Tax on cigarettes has provided even greater fuel to the illicit trade in cigarettes, which only gets more lucrative with increasing levels of taxation on cigarettes implemented by the Government. This unfortunately equates to more revenues lost by the Government, which we estimate to be almost $2 billion annually"

Resource : http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Carreras-commends-police-for-counterfeit-cigarette-bust

CEI E-Cigarette Lawsuit Takes on Activist Agencies

The battle over electronic cigarettes heats up even more this week as the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s general counsel Sam Kazman argued in court today against a federal regulation banning use of electronic cigarettes on planes. The lawsuit, filed by CEI and the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association (CASAA), says the Department of Transportation overstepped its authority when it decided to prohibit vaping on all airplanes. People may think health concerns must have spurred the regulator crackdown, but that is contrary to all the scientific evidence showing that vaping is relatively safe in the short term and certainly less harmful than smoking traditional cigarettes.

Until the DOT decided to ban the use of vapes on a plane (alleging that vaping counts as smoking), airlines were fully able to prohibit their use and most did. However, in March 2016, the agency decided to impose a new prohibition under Congress’s anti-smoking airlines statute. The agency did this despite the fact the DOT itself admitted five years earlier that e-cigarettes neither burn tobacco nor produce smoke and without providing evidence of harm to passengers.

So, if the ban wasn’t necessary, why did they do it? Sure, the sometimes fragrant vapor and a fear of unknown risks might make fellow passengers uncomfortable. This, of course, is why most airlines voluntarily barred vaping on planes already. But I would argue that the motivation of regulators has nothing to do with protecting airline passengers’ health and more to do with scaring consumers away from vaping.

Despite the fact that almost every single study to look at the actual health effects of vaping has found them to be much less harmful than traditional cigarettes, advocates—in and outside of the government—want Americans to think they are just as deadly as regular cigarettes, which kill upwards of half their users.

In 2016 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deemed electronic cigarettes tobacco products, putting them under the same onerous pre-market approval requirements as traditional cigarettes, despite the fact that e-cigarettes contain no tobacco. By the FDA’s own admission, this will eliminate around 98 percent of the existing e-cigarettes on the market.

Most recently, as I wrote, the Surgeon General’s office released its first report on vapes, calling the products “a public health threat” and urging an increase in “evidence-based messages about the health risks of e-cigarette use.”

Much of this fear seems to stem from the overly-precautionary approach taken by many health agencies. They can’t get in trouble for what they don’t permit in the first place, right? And, many health advocates and activists do their part to stoke fears. Some anti-smoking researchers have been trying desperately to find any evidence for possible long-term risks associated with vaping. But these efforts are far from “evidence based.” For example, a recent study found that vaping caused temporary arterial stiffness and has been used by many—including researchers who know better—to say that vaping is “as bad for the heart as cigarettes.” Yet, the study merely demonstrated what scientists already knew; that nicotine causes arterial stiffness, just as caffeine, exercise, and even stress do. Arterial stiffness, in and of itself, does not increase the chances of developing cardiovascular disease. Yet, even the study’s authors are intentionally trying to spread this misconception.

When most airlines already banned vaping on planes for the comfort of their passengers, why would DOT feel the need to step in and—without authority—force that decision on all airlines? Are they trying to stoke consumer fears about the second-hand effect of vaping and trying to further connect vapes with traditional cigarettes? While their motives might be good (if they genuinely believe vaping has risks) the effects will almost certainly be extremely unhelpful should they succeed.

Nicotine itself appears to be relatively harmless, or at least, no more harmful than caffeine. However, as our government’s agencies scare consumers off of vaping and eliminate the incentives current smokers have to switch from cigarettes to e-cigarettes, the more people will continue their deadly smoking habit and the more of them will die. DOT, the FDA, and the Surgeon General ought to keep their noses out of this and let scientists, private businesses, and consumers make up their own minds about the risks and benefits of switching to e-cigarettes. 

Resource :https://cei.org/blog/cei-e-cigarette-lawsuit-takes-activist-agencies

Cigarette tax hike, food sales tax cut fail to pass muster in Kansas House

Rep. Henry Helgerson, D-Wichita, failed to win backing for an amendment elevating the state’s per-pack tax on cigarettes from $1.29 to $2.79. His plan was to create more financial incentive for people to stop smoking and to generate new revenue to help reduce the long-term unfunded liability in the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System. (File photo illustration/The Capital-Journal)

Members of the Kansas House rejected Monday amendments to bills that would more than double the state’s sales tax on cigarettes and eliminate a handful of sales tax exemptions to find $56 million to pay for a 1 cent reduction in the state’s tax on food.

House members also granted final approval to legislation upgrading regulation of amusement park facilities in wake of a fatality during 2016 at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kan. Caleb Schwab, the son of Rep. Scott Schwab, eid while riding the park’s 168-foot-tall Verruckt slide.

The water slide bill was sent to the Senate on a vote of 124-1, with the dissenting vote cast by Rep. Jack Thimesch, R-Cunningham.

On tax policy, Rep. Henry Helgerson, D-Wichita, failed to win backing for an amendment elevating the state’s per-pack tax on cigarettes from $1.29 to $2.79. His plan was to create financial incentive for people to stop smoking and to generate revenue to reduce the long-term unfunded liability in the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System.

“If someone has a better way to reduce KPERS, I’d like them to bring it down,” Helgerson said.

Rep. Steven Johnson, an Assaria Republican who chairs the House Tax Committee, and Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, spoke in opposition to Helgerson’s plan. Johnson said another tobacco tax hike might be on the horizon, but Senate Bill 96 was the wrong vehicle. Carmichael said hitting Kansas with one more sales tax increase would be improper, despite indirect health benefits of a higher tax on cigarettes.

“Do I want to raise a terribly regressive tax?” Carmichael said. “I suggest that is terribly wrong.”

In January, Gov. Sam Brownback recommended the 2017 Legislature approve tax increases on tobacco and liquor to help contain a budget deficit. He proposed a $1 increase in the per-pack tax rate on cigarettes. To close a 2015 budget deficit, the Legislature and Brownback agreed on a 50-cent-a-pack increase on cigarettes.

Rep. John Whitmer, R-Wichita, offered an amendment — defeated 32-85 — to reduce the state’s sales tax on food to 5.5 percent. In 2015, Brownback and legislators hoisted the sales tax to 6.5 percent to generate operating revenue.

Whitmer said $56 million needed to finance shrinkage of the food sales tax would come from deleting sales tax exemptions on lottery tickets, bingo cards, custom computer software, dues paid zoo organizations, drill bits and explosives used for energy exploration, and other sales.

“I’ve tried to pick the ones that were low-hanging fruit,” Whitmer said. “Sales tax on food is regressive.”

Rep. Tom Sawyer, D-Wichita, said the state’s unreasonably long list of sales tax exemptions should be overhauled by legislative committees sorting through implications of each change. Adjusting tax exemptions on the House floor without input from Kansans isn’t prudent, he said.

Resource :http://cjonline.com/news/local/state-government/2017-04-02/cigarette-tax-hike-food-sales-tax-cut-fail-pass-muster-kansas

Researchers report new method to measure free radicals in cigarette smoke

Smoking cigarettes can lead to illness and death. Free radicals, which are atoms or groups of atoms with unpaired electrons, in inhaled smoke are thought to be partly responsible for making smokers sick. Now researchers from Penn State College of Medicine and College of Agricultural Sciences report a method for measuring free radicals in cigarette smoke that could help improve our understanding of the relationship between these substances and health.

John Richie, professor of public health sciences and pharmacology is lead investigator. The study, "Variation in Free Radical Yields from U.S. Marketed Cigarettes" appears in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) journal, Chemical Research in Toxicology.

Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Understanding why is a challenge, given that cigarette smoke is a complex mixture of more than 7,000 compounds. Much of the blame has been placed on the 93 cigarette-related carcinogens and toxins on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's list of hazardous and potentially hazardous chemicals. But previous studies have reported that risk assessments based on these compounds underestimate the actual number of illnesses caused by smoking. Accounting for free radicals, which are known to cause oxidative damage in the body, could help fill that gap. But they are not listed on the FDA's list and are difficult to study because they don't stick around for long. So Richie and colleagues wanted to find a reliable way to measure free radicals in cigarette smoke.

The researchers developed a standardized protocol for measuring free radicals in smoke first by using a control cigarette and a technique called electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometry. They then applied the same protocol to 27 varieties of commercial cigarettes. The study found that the levels of gas-phase radicals ranged widely across the varieties while particulate-phase radicals showed less variability. An analysis of potential factors accounting for the differences found that highly ventilated cigarettes tended to produce lower levels of both gas- and particulate-phase free radicals. The researchers say their method could be used to assess people's exposure to free radicals and help determine potential health effects.

Resource  :http://www.news-medical.net/news/20170404/Researchers-report-new-method-to-measure-free-radicals-in-cigarette-smoke.aspx

Govt releases new pictorial warnings for tobacco products

Replacing the existing images, the Health Ministry has released a new set of pictorial warnings for mandatory display on packets of cigarettes, bidis, and chewing tobacco with effect from April 1 this year.


Replacing the existing images, the Health Ministry has released a new set of pictorial warnings for mandatory display on packets of cigarettes, bidis, and chewing tobacco with effect from April 1 this year.

Under the new rules, manufacturers will now need to display graphic pictures of throat cancer on cigarette and bidi packets and pictures of mouth cancer on chewing tobacco packets.

According to the public notice on the Health Ministry's website, the government notified the new health warnings on October 15, 2014 and issued a notification dated September 24, 2015 for mandatory display of new health warnings covering 85 percent of the principal display area on all tobacco products from April 1, 2016.

"As per Rules, during the rotation period of 24 months, two images of specified health warnings as notified in the Schedule, shall be displayed on all tobacco product packages and each of the images shall appear consecutively on the package with an interregnum period of 12 months.

"Further as per notification dated March 24, 2017, all tobacco products manufactured on or after April 1, 2017 shall display the second image of specified health warning," the notice said.

It further said any person engaged directly or indirectly in production, supply, import or distribution of cigarettes or any other tobacco products shall ensure that all tobacco product packages have these specified health warnings.

"Violation of the provisions is a punishable offence with imprisonment or fine as prescribed under section 20 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 2003," it said.

India is third among countries with the largest pictorial warnings on tobacco products, according to a recent report.
The Health Ministry has implemented, from April 2016, large pictorial health warnings occupying 85 percent of the principal display area of tobacco packs and on all forms of tobacco.


Resource :http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/markets-business/govt-releases-new-pictorial-warnings-for-tobacco-products-2252215.html