Salem-News.com Tobacco articles Page 4

Op Ed:
U.S. Supremes Blew Another:
Defy Historic Impacts of Cigarettes
To Save Philip Morris Billions

Arrogance costs money and the tobacco pushers have plenty of those death-stick dollars to spend.

(SALEM) - Tobacco propaganda to build addiction and hide health impacts is as old as the slave-trade on which this poison-product industry was first built.

Slavery, you will recall, took nearly 100 years to be resolved, supported during that time by other Supreme errors.

For many years tobacco suppliers falsely claimed their product was no poison-pill in-a-roll, threatening human health; and that only personal choice should be the criterion for broad public usage.

US Supreme Court Throws Out 79.5 Million Dollar Award in Smoking Case

The US Supreme Court threw out a 79.5-million- dollar award to the family of a man who died from lung cancer, the court said in a decision released Tuesday.

(WASHINGTON) - he highest US court found that a lower court had allowed jurors to go beyond compensatory damages for the smoker's family and instead blame Philip Morris USA for other smokers' health concerns.

The decision will likely give additional support to companies targeted by liability suits, Bloomberg financial news reported.

The case involved a 1999 award by a county court jury to the family of Jesse D Williams, a janitor who died in 1997 of lung cancer at the age of 67.

A state court in Oregon had earlier reinstated the 79. 5-million- dollar ruling against Philip Morris given the "extreme and outrageous circumstances" which saw the company continue to aggressively market cigarettes despite clear evidence of the cancer-causing properties.

A county court jury had originally awarded the punitive 79. 5 million award on top of 821,000 dollars in compensatory or actual damages, which were later reduced under state law to 521,000 dollars.

Op-Ed: Tobacco Company Disagrees With Harvard Report

Philip Morris company's response to the "Cigarette Tax Buys Back A Healthy Future for Oregon Kids, Eases Pain For Those-Addicted" Op-Ed that ran on Salem-News.com in February.

(RICHMOND, Va.) - The recent report by Harvard University that concluded Philip Morris USA and other tobacco companies have deliberately increased the amount of nicotine that smokers get from cigarettes over the past seven years, if true, raises legitimate public and scientific concerns.

News of this report has increased the volume of those voices that favor regulation of cigarettes by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Philip Morris USA continues to support the legislation introduced in 2005 to grant the FDA authority over the product including the regulation of tar and nicotine.

Op Ed:
Cigarette Tax Buys Back
A Healthy Future for Oregon Kids,
Eases Pain For Those-Addicted

Oregon’s Original Plan Perverted, Needs Reversal NOW

(SALEM) - THIS is NOT your ordinary tax-hike, former Gov. Barbara Roberts declares, but “A taxing means to a healthier Oregon”.

Oregon is THE ONLY STATE in the nation to lower its tax on cigarettes in the LAST TEN YEARS.

Roberts, for decades a respected voice in Oregon --not only for political savvy but for old-fashioned household common sense--totalizes the tremendous dollar-draining damage done by tobacco addiction among ALL Oregonians; with special/attention to those surely by now recognized as the most vulnerable advertising targets for those who deem the dollar worth more than the doomed human lives-affected: Oregon’s always-vulnerable teens-and-younger.

Carolina Tobacco Company Reaches Settlements With State of Oregon

As part of the agreements, CTC will pay more than $350,000 to Oregon’s general fund.

(PORTLAND) - Carolina Tobacco Company, a privately-held, leading manufacturer of “price-value” cigarettes sold under the brands ROGER® and KINGSBORO®, announced Monday two settlements with the State of Oregon that reinstate the company’s authorization to distribute its ROGER® products in the state.

One settlement, part of a national agreement with 45 states and the District of Columbia, resolves a dispute over the company’s status as the manufacturer of its ROGER® brand from November 1999 to April 2003.

During this period, ROGER® brand cigarettes were produced, under CTC’s direction and control, by House of Prince Riga, a Latvian company.

Oregon Records it`s Lowest Rate of Tobacco Sales to Minors

The highest rates of sales to minors occurred at mini marts, small food markets and gasoline stations.

(SALEM) - Coming off the most encouraging results ever, Oregon this month begins a new round of unannounced visits to the state's tobacco retailers to check compliance with laws forbidding sales to minors.

In the 2006 inspections, clerks at 11 percent of the 489 retailers visited sold to minors.

That is the state's lowest recorded rate in the 12 years of the program.

Counties in which 10 or more retailers were visited, and in which the sales rates were equal to or better than the 11 percent statewide rate, were Benton, Coos, Deschutes, Jackson, Jefferson, Josephine, Klamath, Lincoln, Linn, Wasco and Washington.

If a state records a sales rate of more than 20 percent, it can lose up to 40 percent of its federal substance abuse prevention and treatment block grant.

Researchers Say Tobacco Companies Have Increased Addictive Nicotine in Cigarettes by 11 Percent

Approximately 900,000 persons become addicted to smoking each year.

(BOSTON) - A reanalysis of nicotine yield from major brand name cigarettes sold in Massachusetts from 1997 to 2005 has confirmed that manufacturers have steadily increased the levels of this agent in cigarettes.

This independent analysis, based on data submitted to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) by the manufacturers, found that increases in smoke nicotine yield per cigarette averaged 1.6 percent each year, or about 11 percent over a seven-year period (1998-2005).

Nicotine is the primary addictive agent in cigarettes.

Report Card: Oregon Gets F For Fifth Year in a Row in Tobacco Prevention Funding

Data from the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System showed Oregon's adult smoking rate declining to 18.5 percent, a drop from 20 percent in 2004.

(SALEM) - Oregon received a failing grade in tobacco prevention funding for the fifth year in a row, according to the annual American Lung Association State of Tobacco Control report issued Tuesday.

The report graded the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico in four categories: smoke-free air, tobacco taxes, funding for tobacco prevention and restrictions on youth access to tobacco products.

In September 2006, Gov. Kulongoski announced that he would push for an increase of $0.845 in cigarette taxes in the 2007 legislative session.

OSU Study: Tobacco Industry Prevention Ads May Actually Have Negative Effects on Teens

Researchers found that there was a 12 percent increase in the likelihood that 10th-and 12th-grade students would become smokers if they watched prevention ads targeted at their parents.

(CORVALLIS) - Tobacco company-sponsored anti-smoking advertising aimed at youths not only has no negative effect on teen smoking, it may actually encourage youngsters to smoke, according to a study co-authored by an Oregon State University researcher.

Oregon`s AG Announces $55.4 Million Settlement with Tobacco Manufacturers

Long-standing dispute over money owed the MSA ends; Oregon to receive $600,000

(SALEM) - Attorney General Hardy Myers today announced the State of Oregon will receive $615,000 under a $55.4 million settlement reached with House of Prince A/S and Scandinavian Tobacco, S.I.A. to resolve a dispute over enforcement of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA).

The MSA requires tobacco manufacturers to make annual payments to the states, to compensate for billions of dollars in health care costs associated with tobacco-related diseases under Medicaid.