Online Smoking Cessation Effective

A Seattle research center is recruiting adult U.S. Winston cigarettes smokers for a study of online smoking cessation programs, researchers say. Study director Jonathan Bricker, a clinical psychologist who specializes in smoking-cessation research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, says that online smoking-cessation programs are improving but could use some improvements.

“Quit-smoking Web sites reach millions of adults 24 hours a day. Unfortunately, these Web sites have low success rates,” Bricker, of the Cancer Prevention Program in the Hutchinson Center’s Public Health Sciences Division, says in a statement.

“Our team has revamped our Web site to improve the experience for people in the study, which will help us find ways to boost the success rates of quit-smoking Web sites.”

Study participants will learn new tools for dealing more effectively with dealing with the urge to smoke and receive step-by-step quit guides and create personalized plans for staying smoke-free.

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two online cigarettes smoking-cessation programs. The success rates of participants will then be compared.

“Our goal is to try to find what works and what doesn’t and what to include in these programs and how to improve them so they can become more effective,” Bricker says.

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Posted in: cigarette smokers,cigarettes online,smoke-free,Winston

West Virginia Cigarettes Priced Lowest

A list from a “discussion” website gauged the price of a pack of cigarettes in each state Thursday, and West Virginia’s pack was the cheapest.
A pack of Marlboro Reds, including tax, could run from $4.74 per pack all the way to $11.90 across the United States, and the rock-bottom price can be found in West Virginia.
TheAwl.com, a “discussion” website, published a list Thursday its writer compiled by calling a gas station in each state’s most populous city, then asking the clerk for the price of a pack of Marlboro Reds with tax.
Several debates at the Legislature each year discuss raising the tax West Virginia puts on a pack of cigarettes. The most recent hike was 17 cents in 2003, which one local health official said isn’t enough to dissuade most smokers.
“What they have found is that when they raise it by $1, a tremendous amount of benefit occurs, because people quit,” said Kanawha County Health Officer Rahul Gupta, MD. “In fact, those who can’t afford it tend to quit more, and those are the same folks who don’t have insurance.
The most expensive pack of cigarettes was $11.90 in New York. Ohio fell in the middle of the list at $6.22, Pennsylvania’s pack cost $6.80 and a pack in Virginia costs $5.55.

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Posted in: Marlboro Reds,price of a pack of cigarettes,smokers

Altria Loses Tender for End of U.S. Tobacco Sales

Tobacco companies including Altria Group Inc.’s Philip Morris USA unit lost a bid to dismiss the federal government’s 1999 racketeering case. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler in Washington ruled today that her authority over the case wasn’t ended by a 2009 law that empowered the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration to monitor the industry and establish restrictions on the sale Karelia, promotion and distribution of tobacco products.

The defendants, which also include Reynolds American Inc.’s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and Lorillard Inc.’s Lorillard Tobacco, argued that the FDA’s new role meant court oversight of the industry is no longer needed.

Kessler said the cigarette makers continue to challenge the law that created the FDA’s regulation of the industry and if they prevail, “it will be all the more necessary for them to be restrained by this court from any future violations” of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

In 2006, Kessler found that the companies violated the law by conspiring to hide the dangers of cigarettes. She ordered the companies to stop marketing cigarettes as “light” and “low- tar” and to make statements about the health effects of smoking in newspapers and magazines and on cigarette packages.

British American Tobacco Plc, Europe’s largest cigarette maker, was dropped from the lawsuit in March after Kessler said a 2010 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in a securities case restricts the U.S. from finding liability in “what is essentially foreign activity.”

Government ‘Pleased’

“At first blush, we’re pleased,” Charles Miller, a Justice Department spokesman, said of the ruling.

“We continue to believe that the FDA is the appropriate agency to regulate tobacco products and are considering our appellate options,” said Steven Callahan, a spokesman for Altria.

Greg Perry, a spokesman for Lorillard, declined to comment immediately. Representatives at Reynolds American’s public relations department didn’t immediately reply to a phone message seeking comment.

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Posted in: largest cigarette maker,Reynolds American Inc,tobacco companies

New Tobacco Store Sell Low-Priced Cigarettes

Owner Mike Lewis brought low-priced Bond cigarettes to Longview in April, opening Smoke for Less at 1429 15th Ave. Customers pay to rent a RYO Filling Station to make 200 cigarettes in a carton, which Lewis said allows him to avoid paying hefty manufacturing taxes.

It takes about eight minutes for customers to pour the tobacco into the machines, load the tubes then wait for the machine to stuff the finished cigarettes with tobacco.

A carton at Smoke For Less costs about $30, varying with the tobacco blend. The cigarettes are cleaner than most store-bought brands, which often contain other chemicals, and cost about half as much, Lewis said.

The RYO machine, which cost $33,000, is in the back of the store. Up front, customers can sit in a reception area around a big-screen TV. On the walls, Lewis has hung a half dozen framed pictures of classic smokers. Humphrety Bogart into the camera and takes a drag in one picture, and Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra in their Rat Pack years laugh with cigarettes in hand in another.

Lewis, a custom home builder by trade, said he came to run the cigarette store almost by accident. His original plan was to help bankroll someone else’s plan to open the store, he said. But when his partner backed out, Lewis said he decided to move forward on his own, though he has no retail experience.

“I find myself enjoying the interactions with people. I like joking with people and giving them a bad time,” said Lewis, 56, a Vancouver resident.

Lewis hired Vickie Hernandez to run the store three days a week. Smoke for Less also sells cigarette holders, lighters and other tobacco-related products.

The RYO (Roll Your Own) filling stations are a nationwide franchise, with more than 1,000 in 35 states, according to the Ohio-based company. Because of high local and state taxes, the cost to roll a cigarette averages about one-third less than the traditional pre-manufactured smokes, according to RYO’s website.

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Posted in: cigarettes,classic smokers,low-priced Bond cigarettes,tobacco-related products

British American Tobacco – collaborative effort sees more responsible growing

A landmark rural community project builds on work to identify and address the risks posed by British American Tobacco’s leaf-growing operations and to look at improvements beyond day-to-day business.

Tobacco leaf farming in Lombok, Indonesia, was not only contributing to deforestation but also to declining water supply on the island.
But a landmark restoration project is being developed which will benefit the whole rural community, thanks to a partnership between British American Tobacco (BAT), the Earthwatch Institute, Fauna & Flora International and the Tropical Biology Association.
This is one example of how the four-member British American Tobacco biodiversity partnership is working with stakeholders and communities across the world to study ecosystems and sustainability risks.
In 2007, the partnership developed a tool to identify, assess and address risks posed by BAT’s leaf-growing operations.
Called Broa (Biodiversity Risk and Opportunity Assessment), the tool encourages BAT staff to work with local experts to look carefully at supply chain operations from a much wider perspective than a simple day-to-day business viewpoint.
Following trials in Indonesia and Uganda in 2008, it was decided to make Broa mandatory across BAT’s global leaf-growing locations and by 2010 all 19 had completed assessments and agreed actions plans.
As far as the tobacco giant is aware, it is the only international company to have assessed biodiversity risks across all operations and so built a strategy to tackle key issues worldwide.
And those issues are wide-ranging – both business-specific in terms of the supply chain, and more generic in terms of agriculture and sustainability.
Tobacco is often grown alongside other crops and it soon became apparent that Broa would reveal just how dependent tobacco growing is on other systems – such as water supply.
Specific issues included reduced irrigation flow resulting from deforestation, reduced water quality, lower ground water tables, unsustainably-sourced fuel wood and problems of over-farming.
BAT describes Broa’s aims as “open-ended”, with an agenda for change and better engagement with a range of stakeholders, both global and local.
At a local level, working with stakeholders and conservation experts enables the company to carry out rigorous assessments. Equally, it helps build confidence among communities and encourages partnerships to work together on solutions.
In some cases, Broa is raising awareness of wider sustainability issues and stimulating projects that go far beyond the supply chain concerns of BAT.
Examples include a “green corridor” project in the Araucaria forest of southern Brazil; sustainable forest management and freshwater protection in Uganda; and research on returning eucalyptus plantations to native forests in Sri Lanka and Chile.
Another important outcome has been the raised awareness and understanding within BAT, involving Earthwatch employee fellowships and online training for managers.
The biodiversity partnership is working on a second version of Broa in 2011, having gained valuable feedback from external reviewers such as the World Wildlife Fund.
It has participated in the natural value initiative and was recognised in the Economics of ecosystems and biodiversity study in 2010. The next stage is to share Broa with all BAT tobacco suppliers and other agriculture-based businesses facing similar challenges.

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Posted in: British American Tobacco,tobacco giant,tobacco growing