State's latest tobacco challenge is the hookah

Congratulations, California: We've made serious inroads in fighting the tobacco scourge that for decades has killed and sickened millions. Too bad there's another health threat coming up fast in the rearview mirror.

It's called hookah, and as with other tobacco fads of the past, its purveyors have successfully conveyed an aura of harmlessness that masks very real health consequences.

Between 2005 and 2008, according to researchers at UC San Diego, the number of California adults who've used a hookah at some point in their lives jumped by more than 40 percent, to 11.2 percent for men and 2.8 percent for women. They're especially popular with high school and college-age smokers.

Hookahs, centuries-old devices, are in their present incarnation glass pipes used to smoke water-cooled, frequently flavored tobacco. One recent study showed that 59.5 percent of high school students believe a hookah is more socially acceptable than cigarettes, and 46.3 percent believe it is safer. It's not: Hookah smokers are susceptible to the same risks as cigarette smokers. Throw in the possibility of herpes from shared pipes, and it's clear this is a practice worth discussing with the kids.

Tobacco Farming Stirs Debate in Religious Circles

Tobacco farming has become a hot "potato" in most churches as leaders fear it might cause serious factionalism and great loss of much-needed revenue for the upkeep and sustenance of the institutions.

Most church leaders contacted by The Herald refused to speak on behalf of their respective churches preferring to give personal opinions on whether it was Godly or not to grow the lucrative crop.
Tobacco is the crop of the moment with an average selling price of about US$4 per kilogramme.

It has evidently transformed the lives of many people and communities, with some cases of rags to riches being documented.

Investigations by The Herald last week revealed that some churches whose doctrines do not allow tobacco farming end up compromising them considering that most of the income comes from the growing of the golden leaf.

Proceeds from farming are reportedly dominating the tithes and love offerings in some churches to an extent that the churches choose not to debate the issue.

Investigations show that the churches feel the issue was too sensitive and a threat to the oneness of the institutions. Recently, one of the most popular and old churches was trapped in a predicament when a tobacco farmer and member of the church brought a US$600 000 tithe from tobacco sales to the church.

Sources within the church revealed that the leadership debated the issue at national level until the money was finally accepted.

"His tobacco had fetched in excess of US$6 million. There was a debate among the leaders until the money triumphed. The money was finally accepted after the leaders agreed to consider the business aspect of tobacco farming," said an impeccable source.

Mixed reactions came from various representatives, most of whom chose to speak on condition of anonymity.

Although most Christians agreed that there was nowhere in the Bible specifically barring people from growing or smoking tobacco, some challenged the practice on Christian health grounds.

Smokeless-tobacco use hints at higher death rates post-MI

Continued use of a smokeless tobacco called snus—often considered a safer alternative to cigarettes and used by those trying to stop smoking—is associated with an increased risk of death in those who have already suffered a heart attack, new research from Sweden shows.
"Every time we discharge an MI patient who's a snus user, we are faced with the clinically important question of whether they should discontinue use," researcher Dr Gabriel Arefalk (Uppsala University, Sweden) told a press conference today here at the European Society of Cardiology 2011 Congress.

And although the results of his observational study were not significant after extensive multivariate adjustment—so cannot really be used by doctors to advise patients to stop using snus—he said the totality of the evidence points to snus being harmful, including a meta-analysis published in BMJ in 2009 [1], as previously reported by heartwire. The American Heart Association agrees, he adds, having advised against its use.

Nevertheless, the effects of quitting snus post-MI should ideally still be studied in a randomized clinical trial to confirm his findings, Arefalk said.
Arefalk explained that snus—which comes in the form of small sachets (like mini tea bags) or as a loose tobacco powder placed as a bolus under the upper lip for around an hour—has increasingly been used by people in Sweden to try to quit smoking. Use has increased in the past two decades, he said, and has now reached a plateau—around 20% of men and 4% of women use it.

Although smoking is undoubtedly more harmful than snus use and "there is no doubt that if you have to choose between smoking cigarettes and snus use that the latter is less harmful," he says, experimental evidence indicates that the nicotine in snus induces acute hemodynamic effects such as increased blood pressure and heart rate.

Because no study has addressed the question of whether snus users who have had an MI are at increased risk of further events or death if they continue to use the smokeless tobacco, Arefalk and colleagues decided to investigate this important clinical question.

They followed 20 911 consecutive MI patients under aged 75 or less admitted to a coronary care unit in Sweden between 2005 and 2009. Two months after discharge, patients were asked about traditional CV risk factors, including past and present tobacco exposure, snus use, and whether they participated in rehab programs.

Pay more for tobacco products, liquor

With a view to garner additional revenue of Rs 6,000 crore, the West Bengal government has stressed more on tax compliance and simplification of the tax regime. It has also increased tax on foreign liquor and tobacco products other than bidis.

Presenting the Finance Bill in the Assembly on Monday, Finance Minister Amit Mitra put tobacco products such as cigarettes, gutkha and pan masala under schedule D of VAT, which enables the government to charge taxes more than the present 13.5 per cent.

“This has been done to empower the government to impose taxes on these products, which can cause deadly diseases like cancer. We will announce the quantum of increase soon. However, we have kept bidis, which is consumed by the common people, outside schedule D,’’ Mitra later told the media outside the House.

Mitra also raised tax on India-made foreign liquor by bringing it under schedule D. For alcohol sold at MRP (maximum retail price), VAT has been increased from 23 per cent to 27 per cent. Alcohol sold without MRP will attract a VAT of 50 per cent against the current 37 per cent.

Marlboro snus plant in Va being idled

The parent company of Philip Morris USA says it's idling a Virginia manufacturing plant that makes its Marlboro snus smokeless, spit-less tobacco.

Altria Group said Wednesday it is moving production from the York County facility to various facilities of its U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. subsidiary.

The Richmond-based company began testing the product in select markets in 2007 and took it nationwide in March 2010.

Snus are teabag-like pouches that users stick between their cheek and gum. Tax hikes, health concerns, smoking bans and social stigma continue to cut cigarette demand. Tobacco companies are seeking growth in alternatives to keep customers

Spokesman Ken Garcia said as of Wednesday, the plant employed 41 people. The company is working to place as many of those workers as possible at other manufacturing facilities.

One in three Warwickshire shops sold cigarettes to kids

ONE in three shops in Warwickshire were willing to sell cigarettes to children used in undercover sting operations during the last year.

That compares to just one in eight stores in neighbouring Coventry.

Health chiefs warn more work is needed to protect children from cigarettes, despite the number of underage smokers falling nationally.

Richard Hobbs, portfolio holder for community protection at Warwickshire County Council, said it was worrying that children still found it too easy to buy cigarettes.

He promised officers would carry on targeting retailers who flouted the law and their responsibilities.

During the last year trading standards officers have sent children into 27 shops in Warwickshire to buy LUCKY STRIKE cigarettes.

Nine stores served them without asking for identification.

That includes six of out 12 shops targeted in Rugby and three out of five in Nuneaton and Bedworth.

However, just three out of 24 shops fell into the same trap in Coventry.

And none of the 10 outlets tested in Stratford served the youngsters.

Ensuring stores stop serving children is only part of the battle, as many youngsters are still able to convince complete strangers to buy cigarettes for them.

Ban on shop displays of tobacco 'next year'

A ban on displaying cigarettes in shops will not begin until next spring at the earliest, the Health Minister has said.

Edwin Poots wants to introduce regulations barring the tobacco products from view in stores and scrapping vending machines.

Mr Poots said: "Despite all the available evidence on the harm caused by smoking, hundreds of children and young people are still taking up this life-limiting habit each year.

"By removing displays of tobacco products from view in shops, and preventing children from accessing them through vending machines, we are building upon measures already in place aimed at reducing the prevalence of smoking."

Shop owners have highlighted the time it will take them to be ready for the new legislation. There are also legal challenges to the equivalent regulations in England.

Mr Poots said the ban will not commence in Northern Ireland until next spring at the earliest. Vending machine sales should end from February 1 next year.