Free Republic

BOSTON —— The Massachusetts Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday night to raise the cigarette tax by $1 a pack and close hundreds of millions of dollars in so-called corporate tax loopholes. The House passed a similar tax package last month. Gov. Deval Patrick generally supports an increase in the cigarette tax, but the $1 boost will be tied up in negotiations over corporate tax rates before it reaches his desk. The Senate tax package, which passed 31 to 6, would raise nearly $472 million in revenue next year. The House passed a tax package last month that would bring in $80...

HURSDAY, Feb. 28 (HealthDay News) -- It's long been known that smoking causes lung cancer, but a new study is the first to show that the hydrogen peroxide in cigarette smoke is what actually causes healthy lung cells to turn cancerous.Researchers from the University of California, Davis, said their findings may help lead to new treatments for lung cancer and may help the tobacco industry develop "safer" cigarettes by eliminating such substances in the smoke. "With the five-year survival rate for people with lung cancer at a dismally low 15.5 percent, we hope this study will provide better insight into...

This past week I flew to the Los Angeles area for business. My client purchased my airline tickets for me and made my hotel reservations. I told them I wanted a smoking room. They made reservations for me at a Hilton Garden Inn in Arcadia, and another at the Hilton on Century Blvd near LAX. When I checked into the place in Arcadia, they informed me that they were out of smoking rooms (which they knew I wanted), and that if I smoked in the room they gave me I would incur a $75 cleaning charge. Maybe they could switch...

After nearly 30 years of cigerette addiction, it's time to quit. Please, provide useful tips and testimonials. PS: Wife is a part-time smoker also!

BEIJING, China (AP) -- China, home to more than 300 million smokers, has ratified an international treaty prohibiting tobacco advertising and will ban tobacco vending machines, the government said Monday. The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was ratified Sunday by the National People's Congress, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Parliament leaders "supported the treaty by announcing that China will ban tobacco vending machines of any kind" in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, Xinhua said. The treaty requires China to ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship on radio, television, print media and the Internet within five...

(Hammond) - Federal authorities say that two Hoosiers are part of an illegal cigarette ring. The US Attorney's office says 20 people have been charged as part of a ring that acquired cigarettes in Indiana then sold them across the border in Illinois without paying taxes. The suspects were arrested Tuesday. Authorities say the people acquired more than three million cigarettes in Indiana and then sold them in Illinois where taxes on cigarette sales are significantly higher. Each of the defendants was charged with five federal counts of shipping and selling contraband cigarettes. The two from northwest Indiana are 40-year-old...

Michigan Firm Won't Allow Smoking, Even On Employee's Own Time LANSING, Mich. -- A Michigan health care company has fired four of its employees for refusing to take a test to determine whether they smoke cigarettes. The company enacted a new policy this month, allowing workers to be fired if they smoke, even if the smoking takes place after-hours, or at home. The founder of Weyco Inc. said the company doesn't want to pay the higher health care costs associated with smoking. An official of the company -- which administers health benefits -- estimated that 18 to 20 of its...

Vatican City, Vatican City, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- An article in a leading Roman Catholic journal signals that the Vatican may join the public health establishment's crusade against cigarette smoking. The latest edition of the scholarly publication Civilta Cattolica, published by the Jesuits and approved by a top aide to Pope John Paul II, says smokers cannot damage their own health and that of others "without moral responsibility." The article by Giuseppe de Rosa stops short of calling smoking a sin, but says lighting up is "not neutral either in social or indeed moral terms." De Rosa's views, and presumably...

Doctors urged to support hike of cigarette tax By Mary Powers powers@gomemphis.com April 27, 2002 Tennessee Medical Association members heard a plea Friday to help increase the state's cigarette tax. Sen. Rosalind Kurita (D-Clarksville) and Sen. Curtis Person (R-Memphis) urged TMA delegates to lobby for passage of the first such increase since 1969. "It is important to pass this to prevent children from picking up this deadly addiction," said Kurita, whose appeal drew applause from several hundred attending a luncheon at the Adam's Mark hotel. In Tennessee, 41 percent of teenagers use tobacco products, which means Tennessee leads the nation....