Free Republic

A new pill that could cure one of the most lethal forms of cancer is being developed by scientists. British researchers have found that a drug destroys tumours in a form of inoperable lung cancer that kills more than nine out of 10 sufferers. The treatment works by blocking the growth of the cancer cells and eventually causing them to self destruct. In more than 50 per cent of the trials, the treatment, which appears to have no side affects, killed all traces of the disease. "We are very excited about it," said Professor Michael Seckl, the molecular oncologist who...

In a U-turn that appears to put penny-pinching before the health of the defenders of the motherland, the army said it would keep giving the cigarettes for another two years. This reversed a decision earlier this year to halt the controversial policy. "Everyone can choose to spoil or not spoil their health," Andrei Zezin, the officer in charge of the army's catering corps, told a Moscow radio station. "We have the cigarettes in our warehouses and therefore we are going to keep handing them out until there are no more left. Realistically, we can meet demand for two years." The...

Wealthy Democratic political gadfly Connie Milstein, who calls herself "an ordinary Park Avenue matron," will now have to change her tune. Sources tells us the heiress to the Milstein real-estate fortune has just gone to contract to buy a Fifth Avenue duplex apartment with a $15.7 million asking price. Milstein made a name for herself in 2000 during the Bush-Gore election when she was caught on camera bribing homeless potential voters with cigarettes in exchange for a vote for Gore. She was eventually fined $5,000 for her spirited activism. Unlike the homeless, Ms. Milstein has signed on to take a...

....They say residents and visitors at Solone's home smoke in the backyard at all hours of the day and night. Several people puffing away at once has resulted in smoke settling in their backyard like a low fog, Richard Ganguet said....

Entitlements: Democrats count on a deadly and declining revenue source to rob from the poor and give to the well-off. It kills private insurance and is income redistribution turned on its head.The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed 289-139 a bill to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program, something President Bush vetoed twice because it expands the program to those who arguably don't need it while increasing the dependence of millions on government. The bill would provide $32.3 billion over 4 1/2 years to add 4 million children to the 7 million already covered in the program. It pays...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline)-Democrats in control of California's Legislature are pushing to raise the state cigarette tax by $1.50 to help raise revenue amid a historically severe cash crunch. But critics say the plan to raise the state's tobacco excise tax could collapse if Democrats are unable to muster at least some Republican support since the state constitution requires a two-thirds vote for tax increases.

We've all been there, a restaurant, church, classroom, shopping aisle and yes a bar, when someone will walk in and the place turns to weeping eyes and sneezing. How well do you think people take it when asked to "remove" their perfume? But due to stories like the people above who fell ill due to someone's perfume I believe people are starting to look at perfume as the next cigarette.

Funeral date set for oldest manPage last updated at 18:44 GMT, Tuesday, 21 July 2009 19:44 UK A public funeral with military honours will be held for Henry Allingham, who was the world's oldest man before his death at the weekend at the age of 113. Mr Allingham, one of the last surviving World War I servicemen, died at a care home for blind ex-service personnel in Ovingdean, near Brighton, on Saturday. He joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915, later transferring to the RAF. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said his funeral would take place at St Nicholas...

Combat troops put their lives on the line every day, but there is one risk the government considers too dangerous for them -- smoking. "Combating Tobacco Use in Military and Veteran Populations," a new report by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, advocates restricting smoking in the military and limiting recruitment of those who smoke. As with so many government regulations, this proposed ban may actually do the opposite of what is hoped and put soldiers' lives in danger. Troops returning from deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan "may be" 50 percent more likely to use tobacco than military...

As taxes on cigarettes have climbed in some jurisdictions, the shipping of untaxed smokes has become big business, authorities say. For example, New York City slaps $1.50 onto the state's $2.75 cigarette tax, and in Fairfax County the state and local tax combined is 80 cents. Meanwhile, Chinese counterfeiters have seized the opportunity for profit and have been flooding the market with hundreds of millions of fake cigarettes, according to U.S. Customs estimates.

Posted on Tue, Aug. 05, 2003 Macon mayor defends trip to Africa Ellis says Ghana could process city's parking tickets By Mike Donila Telegraph Staff Writer Macon Mayor Jack Ellis on Monday defended his plans to visit Africa, saying that his mission, in part, is to encourage Ghanian officials to import more goods from Middle Georgia. Ellis also said that during his weeklong trip he will lay the groundwork to possibly enable Macon's Ghanian sister city of Elmina to process local parking tickets. "Ghana is very important to the city, the state - even the region where we live. They...

Gimme a pack of Baracks. How about a carton of Hope? The newest poster for college students’ rooms across America would show the president posing with a Kool filter stuck in his mouth. Whoa, how cool is Barack, now? Not cool at all. And now that the president has signed into law new federal regulations for tobacco, we can’t let him off the hook. Obama is a cigarette smoker. And if I were a tobacco company executive, I’d market millions of new cigarettes in a colorful package that looks like the campaign colors of change and I’d call them Baracks....

The coin of the realm in the Big House - as penitentiaries are inevitably called in prison films - isn't money. Prisoners make only a tiny amount for their labor and are not allowed other valuables. Instead, they gamble and barter for supplies using . . . cigarettes. A sign of the times in all federal, and many state, prisons But not so much in real life any more. Last year, pressured by health advocates, officials banned smoking - even in exercise yards - in the nation's 115 federal prisons. And state pens - even in places like Florida, where...

President Obama on Monday signed a landmark anti-smoking bill which he said will reduce the number of children who take up smoking and ultimately save American lives. The bill would give the federal government unprecedented authority to regulate tobacco. The law allows the regulatory Food and Drug Administration to reduce nicotine in tobacco products, ban candy flavorings and block labels such "low tar" and "light." Tobacco companies also will be required to cover their cartons with large graphic warnings.

Associated Press-June 12, 2009 "Today Congress sent legislation to the Whte House which woul give the Federal Government vast new powers to regulate and restrict cigarettes..."

Arizona Sen. John McCain voted for a bill Thursday allowing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco, while fellow Sen. Jon Kyl said no. The bill would give the FDA the power to regulate tobacco and cigarettes for the first time. The Senate voted 79 to 17 Thursday for the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. President Barack Obama supports the bill. Obama and Congress approved a large increase to the federal tobacco tax earlier this year to fund expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides health coverage to uninsured minors.

HEALTH Secretary Alan Johnson is being lined up to act as emergency Prime Minister amid growing concerns among Labour MPs about Gordon Brown’s state of mind. The 58-year-old could take over as an interim measure if Mr Brown quits for the sake of his own health after an expected meltdown at next month’s local and European polls. A former postman with a common touch, he is seen as the candidate the Tories fear the most. Senior Labour sources said last night he would be the “magic wand” solution to avert a landslide defeat at the next General Election. An increasing...

RALEIGH -- The state Senate voted Thursday to ban smoking in bars and restaurants in North Carolina, setting the stage for what would be a historic prohibition of a product that created thousands of jobs, built Duke and Wake Forest universities and has long been an integral part of the culture in the nation's top tobacco-producing state. House members passed a tougher version last month, meaning that lawmakers will still have to work out a compromise, assuming the Senate passes the measure in a second vote Monday. The bill passed Thursday by an eight-vote margin, 26-18. The state's tobacco interests...

Police in Nebraska are looking a man who stole cigarettes while disguising himself with a beer carton on his head. Lincoln police Capt. Bob Kawamoto says the man walked into a Kwik Shop convenience store before dawn Monday wearing an empty Bud Light box on his head as a mask. Kawamoto says the man also had wrapped something around one of his hands, suggesting he was armed. But the man never showed a weapon. Police said the bandit left with nine packs of smokes valued at nearly $50.

You know, enough is enough. In what he casts as an attack on litterbugs and nicotine addiction alike, Mayor Gavin Newsom wants to impose a fee on an age-old inhabitant of city streets: the cigarette butt. The proposal, to be introduced next month to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, would add 33 cents to the cost of a pack of cigarettes, to offset the estimated $10.7 million the city spends annually removing discarded butts from gutters, drainpipes and sidewalks. Let's get something started. On the last weekend of every month, cigarette smokers (who use a legal product properly yet...

San Francisco, CA (AHN) - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is hoping to impose a fee on one of the biggest culprits of streets and sanitation systems across the nation: the cigarette butt. Newsom's proposal, which is slated to be introduced next month to the San Francisco Boards of Supervisors, would add 33 cents to the cost of a pack of cigarettes in an effort to offset the $10.7 million the city spends removing discarded butts from the city streets, gutter, and drainpipes. Despite the likely protests from tobacco companies and smokers, Newsom maintains that the new law will help...

For the first time, consumers can actually take a look at how electronic cigarettes are produced in China. New Smoke has published pictures of it's production in Shenzhen. Will this be the future alternative to tobacco?

PARIS (AP) - French customs officers are inspecting a North Korean ship at an Indian Ocean island off the coast of Africa as part of U.N. sanctions prompted by the communist nation's nuclear test, but they found nothing illegal so far, officials said Thursday. It was the first time a country was known to have stopped a North Korean vessel under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718 authorizing searches as part of the sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for its nuclear test. Since the resolution was passed Oct. 14, at least four other North Korean vessels have been stopped, but the countries...

A study published in the journal Behavioral and Brain Functions suggests that nicotine may alter activity in those areas of the brain areas that tamp down anger and other negative emotions when a person is provoked.President Barack Obama is a long-time smoker who was repeatedly unsuccessful in kicking the habit on the campaign trail, and the psychotropic effects of nicotine may be the secret to his oft-commented upon calmness and unflappability – this adulatory Associated Press article by Liz Sidoti being one of the more extreme cases in point ... What an orgy of adoration. Wonder if Sidoti enjoyed a...

Let’s face it, times are tough. With the federal excise-tax increase just going into effect on smokers (and some are bound to be unemployed), it is a cold slap in the face. A friend I know who teaches in prison was talking to a teen inmate who said he was glad excise taxes on cigarettes were going so sky high. When he was questioned why, he replied, “It gives me one more thing I can sell on the street.” Organized crime, street gangs and terrorists are not stupid. They know a good opportunity when the see it. Cigarette smuggling will...

“This week, in honor of Tax Day, CFA is officially launching Tax Bites. In an effort to highlight the hidden burdens imposed by government, Americans for Tax Reform Foundation has estimated average prices and taxes imposed on 13 popular targets for multiple layers of hidden taxes. “

The most important ally of the “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act” is Philip Morris, the largest cigarette maker in the world. The anti-smoking groups, which have only a fraction of Philip Morris’ lobbying clout and no generous political action committees, are sideshows in this debate.

Smoking takes years off your life and adds dollars to the cost of health care. Yet nonsmokers cost society money, too — by living longer. It's an element of the debate over tobacco that some economists and officials find distasteful.

A LAW ordering the Food and Drug Ad ministration to regu late cigarettes is moving through Congress -- but is it truly good for public health? Hint: Cigarette maker Altria (formerly Philip Morris) is one of the bill's strongest supporters. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) has already gotten the measure passed in the House; Sen. Ted Kennedy is on track to get it through the Senate soon. The bill would give the FDA regulatory authority over tobacco -- but in the process, it gives cigarettes a virtual government stamp of approval, while impeding consumers' access to less-harmful alternative forms of tobacco....

Have you wanted to quit smoking or you're just beginning your venture? If the taxes are enough to push you to the edge, you've just decided to make the change, or you have some history of smoking and quitting, we'd love to hear from you.

In Switzerland pre-trial motions are proceeding in a case against several defendants tied to the Mafia who allegedly laundered over 1 billion in Swiss francs to finance an international contraband tobacco smuggling scheme involving the purchase of untaxed U.S. cigarettes. Organized crime also is involved in the contraband tobacco racket on the U.S.-Canada border. And advocates for changing the laws against marijuana and other drugs seriously contend that legalization will remove organized crime from the trade? The "tax it, regulate it" mantra rings hollow to the wise guys.

Young smokers say continual taxation is a drag on their habit.Sixth grader Benji Mader, who waits in the playground for recess to be over at Altoona's Washington-Jefferson elementary school, takes a long drag on his Mal Pal candy cigarettes, knowing it might be his last one.End-ward G. Rendell, governor, announced recently that Pennsylvania is joining a long list of states mulling a tax on candy cigarettes to pay for looming deficits brought on by the impeccable government spending practices under his watch.Young smokers aren't amused."I love the iconic pose of a cigarette smoker, I mean, James Dean, Brando, Obama," said...

It took only 16 days for President Obama to break his campaign promise not to raise taxes on the poor. When President Obama signed the SCHIP bill, increasing the excise tax on Tobacco products by 156%, he raise taxes on 55% of smokers who are the “working poor” and the 25% of smokers who live below the poverty line. This bill is to provide health care to many of these smokers’ children. If he cared about the health of these children, the purpose of the cigarette tax would be to deter smoking because many children from homes of smokers require...

If this doesn't make you quit, nothing will. With a new 62 cent federal tax on cigarettes added this week with the passage of the State Children's Health Insurance Program law, the new price of a pack of cigarettes will soar past $10 in Manhattan. The NYC price is higher than anywhere in the country and more than twice the national average. And beginning April 1, two-thirds of that cost will be made up of city, state and federal taxes.

Paying for the S-CHIP will be up to smokers. Yes, a pack of cigarettes will be federally taxed $1.00. Small cigars $12.50 per 1,000 this year and $50 per 1,000 in 2015. Large cigars will be taxed .50 (8x the current tax). Roll your own is $24.00 more per 1 pound of tobacco. ROLL YOUR OWN!! The tubes for roll your own cigarettes will also be taxed substantially.

The House of Representatives has passed an expanded version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and made it easier for illegal aliens to access the program's benefits. HR 2, the new version of SCHIP, weakens verification requirements. Those who enroll will be required to show only an easily forged Social Security card -- not secure documents proving U.S. citizenship. The legislation also extends benefits to non-citizen children of legal immigrants. The SCHIP bill is designed to provide health coverage to low-income children, a laudable

It is one thing to raise cigarettes taxes to discourage people from smoking, especially the poor for benefits to their health. I guess the democrats figure they can raise cigarette taxes and people will keep smoking so the government can afford to give these working poor people Health Insurance for their children. (Let’s not get into the 2nd hand smoke stuff). Is this making sense? Maybe I read the press release wrong!

House Dems to vote on Obama-favored health planBy KEVIN FREKING – 8 hours ago WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats plan to give President-elect Barack Obama an early victory on health care, specifically children's health care, next week. **SNIP** The legislation will look similar to bills the House and Senate twice approved in 2007. President Bush balked at the additional $35 billion in spending in the two bills as well as the method of payment — a tobacco tax. House Democrats could not muster enough support to overcome Bush's two vetoes. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said lawmakers discussed whether to...

Parents who smoke often open a window or turn on a fan to clear the air of second-hand smoke, but experts now have identified another smoking-related threat to children’s health that isn’t as easy to get rid of: third-hand smoke. That’s the term being used to describe the invisible yet toxic brew of gases and particles clinging to smokers’ hair and clothing, not to mention cushions and carpeting, that lingers long after smoke has cleared from a room. The residue includes heavy metals, carcinogens and even radioactive materials that young children can get on their hands and ingest, especially if...

Cheers To You bar owner Robert Brown wants his customers to smoke if they want to. And Brown said he found a way to keep his private club in Salt Lake City smoker-friendly despite, or maybe because of, the Jan. 1 smoking ban. But Utah Department of Health officials, in a formal declaration issued Tuesday, said that loophole doesn't exist, and the smoking ban stays.

It's important to understand that stopping is not simply about willpower or determination (qualities that Obama personifies). Smoking is an addictive behaviour and to quit you need to overcome the addiction and learn new behaviour. On the addiction front, Obama uses Nicorette gum. He even handed some out to someone in the crowd who said they were trying to quit. But many quitters use it only when they have a craving. That isn't going to work. You need to chew the gum of the right strength as directed, using up to 15 pieces a day. There are dozens of randomised...

There’s no “change” when it comes to politics as usual in The Empire State, in fact the Emperor’s latest edict is not being well-received. Gov. Paterson’s proposed $121 billion budget hits New Yorkers in their iPods - and nickels-and-dimes them in lots of other places, too. Trying to close a $15.4 billion budget gap, Paterson called for 88 new fees and a host of other taxes, including an “iPod tax” that taxes the sale of downloaded music and other “digitally delivered entertainment services.” “We’re going to have to take some extreme measures,” Paterson said Tuesday after unveiling the slash-and-burn budget....

You drink diet soda, so you must be healthier. Right? That's what New York Gov. David Paterson is talking about with his proposal for an "obesity tax" — a 15 percent slap on non-diet sugary soft drinks. Think $1 for a Diet Coke, $1.15 for a Coke. There's just one problem: Studies have found links between drinking diet sodas and obesity and diabetes. A 2005 study at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, and separate studies released in 2007 at the University of Alberta in Canada and the University of Massachusetts found that diet soda drinkers were...

I feel sort of cheated - like discovering that your spouse has been sneaking out the back door with a pack of Pall Malls. It doesn't fit the character type either. McCain, yes. The guy was a two-pack-a-day smoker for 25 years and looks like a man desperately in need of a fix. But Obama? Mr. Coolunderfire? I guess part of it is the way we characterize smokers and smoking in this day and age. What was once accepted, if not encouraged - the Flintstones did a commercial for Winstons in the old black-and-white days of television - is now...

Gov. David Paterson is heading near Indian Country to sign a bill that would call for the state to collect taxes on sales by Indian retailers. Despite urgings by the Seneca Nation for the governor to veto the measure, he is traveling to Oneida County to sign the legislation in Utica on Monday

New taxes, deep cuts to education and health care, and a restructuring of the state's economic development programs will be hallmarks of Gov. David Paterson's first budget plan to be released in two days, according to interviews of people briefed on components. The plan will come with a host of revenue raisers — increased taxes on hospitals and insurance policies, for instance — and at least one new assessment, a so-called obesity tax on non-diet soda to raise $404 million. The governor also is contemplating requiring new license plates to raise cash, reviving sales tax on clothing purchases, removing the...

Forget government bailouts. Scrap tax cuts. Toss into the political incinerator all of those Clinton-era advisors and gurus who are now part of the "Yes We Can" team - and Paul Volcker too.It's all ishkabibble.The real solution to the economic ills that have beleaguered the United States - and the world - is to simply say that a product or service is loved by "The One" - Barack Obama.Then, look out!Amy Lorentzen of the Associated Press writes: Want an example of the change Barack Obama is bringing to the country?Check out cookie sales at Baby Boomers Cafe in Des Moines.Ever...

OAKLAND, Calif. -- A proposed strategy for reducing ocean litter calls for a statewide ban on foam food containers, fees for using plastic and paper bags, and making producers responsible for the collection and disposal of packaging. The California Ocean Protection Council announced its plans (PDF [319KB]) earlier this month and voted on actions for preventing and reducing waste that could end up in the ocean. The state council also aims to change producer and consumer behavior with its three recommendations for reducing packaging waste: adopting extended producer responsibility, prohibiting certain items and charging fees for items that commonly become...

Cigarette sales have dropped by nearly 25 percent in Maryland since the state's tobacco tax doubled in January, as sticker shock apparently has curtailed some residents' smoking and sent others across the border for better deals. Maryland lawmakers voted last fall to raise the tax to $2 a pack to help bridge a budget shortfall and expand subsidized health care. Fiscal analysts predicted that the new rate, the sixth highest in the nation, would cause cigarette sales to drop off, following a pattern with past increases. But the decline during the first six months of the year significantly exceeded their...

About one in five adults in the US still smokes The US House of Representatives has voted to treat tobacco as a drug and have it regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The bill would tighten restrictions on advertising, impose new penalties for selling to children and require all new products to be approved by the FDA. But the White House threatened to veto the bill, saying it would put an enormous burden on the FDA. It also said having FDA approval could make people think cigarettes are safe. Industry funded The bill cleared the House with a...