India’s smokeless tobacco epidemic claims actor whose character fought “gutka king”
Editor
Sep 16, 2011
Tobacco does not spare even Superman.
Shafique Sheikh, a 25-year old Indian actor, became a local celebrity playing Superman in a spoof of the popular superhero movies. In Sheikh's version of the film, Superman battled an evil "gutka king" who wants to flood the town with cheap, addictive chewing tobacco.
In real life, the former textile worker had begun using the local form of smokeless tobacco — gutka — at age eight, consuming as many as 40 packets daily until he was diagnosed with a pre-cancerous condition in his jaw when he was 18.
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posted September 16, 2011
Legacy’s truth® video turns the tables to show youth how addiction harms
Editor
Sep 14, 2011
Philip Morris International CEO Louis Camilleri told company shareholders in New York recently that it's "not that hard to quit" smoking. But the words of a real smoker, sick and wheezing, speak truth to tobacco industry power.
In a new video from Legacy’s truth® campaign, "Steve" speaks through a tracheotomy hole, coughs and wheezes as he sets the story straight: "Having my vocal cords removed definitely helped me quit smoking…and talking."
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posted September 14, 2011
Company documents show how PMI targets local brand to youth
Editor
Sep 12, 2011
With Indonesia in the grip of what it calls an "uncontrolled tobacco epidemic," ABC’s 20/20 turns its cameras beyond the shocking images of smoking babies and schoolchildren to spotlight the role of lax government regulation and Philip Morris International’s marketing to youth.
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posted September 12, 2011
CBS News highlights "tiny tobacco tariffs" in 15 states
Editor
Sep 8, 2011
After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new data this week showing the rate of adult smoking nationwide declined to 19.3 percent in 2010, CBS News decided to look at what it calls a "cigarette tax shocker" — the stunningly low rate of cigarette taxes in the 15 states that rank near the bottom in taxing cigarettes.
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posted September 08, 2011
Students return to smoke-free campuses
Editor
Sep 7, 2011
Though lots of pizza and late nights still make college life a health challenge, exposure to secondhand smoke is becoming less of a threat: More than 500 campuses around the country are now completely smoke-free.
Prohibitions on smoking in residence halls, classrooms and other indoor spaces have long been common, but increasingly, students and faculty have advocated for — and won — smoke-free policies that apply anywhere on campus, including outdoor spaces such as athletic stadiums and parking lots. Among the smoke-free venues are all 33 campuses in the Arkansas state university system, and the 23 campuses of the City University of New York.
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posted September 07, 2011
Washington Post column says labels, FDA law, protect youth from deadly addiction
Editor
Sep 2, 2011
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius takes on the tobacco companies that filed suit to block new graphic warning labels from appearing on cigarette packs, saying this would be "a huge setback for our children’s health."
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posted September 02, 2011
Tobacco control is urgent step and a “best buy” for saving lives
Editor
Sep 1, 2011
The World Health Organization has issued urgent warnings about the growing health threat from non-communicable diseases — such as heart disease, cancer, chronic lung diseases and diabetes — that now cause three out of five deaths around the globe. Tobacco use is a risk factor for all of these diseases, and the WHO says effective tobacco control is a "best buy" that governments can take to save lives, prevent disease and reduce health care costs.
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posted September 01, 2011
In country of smoking baby, tobacco giant targets young men with outrageous billboard
Editor
Aug 30, 2011
From Philip Morris International’s Indonesian subsidiary Sampoerna comes a new billboard with a jaw-dropping slogan: "Dying is better than leaving a friend. Sampoerna is a cool friend."
See it in the full post.
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posted August 30, 2011
Say latest legal challenge is another bid to push deadly product
Editor
Aug 29, 2011
Newspapers around the country have reached their own verdict on the latest tobacco companies' lawsuit challenging the new, graphic cigarette pack warning labels required under the 2009 law giving the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco.
The decision: Big Tobacco is guilty again.
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posted August 29, 2011
60 Minutes provides timely reminder of Big Tobacco's lies
Editor
Aug 23, 2011
Last week, major tobacco companies again showed their aversion to the truth when they filed yet another lawsuit to block the FDA from implementing new, graphic warning labels on cigarettes.
The new warnings show and tell the truth about cigarettes — that they are addictive and deadly, causing cancer, heart disease and other serious illnesses. But the tobacco companies claim that being forced to tell the truth would violate their First Amendment rights.
Thanks to CBS's "60 Minutes," we have a timely reminder of just how far Big Tobacco will go to suppress the truth.
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posted August 23, 2011
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