Bloomberg News exposes the Billion Dollar Kitty Litter Loophole
Editor
Mar 1, 2013
Tobacco companies have a long history of secretly adding things to their products that could make them more addictive, appealing or harmful.
Add another example to the list: Bloomberg News reported today that some of Cheyenne International’s cigars have a filter containing sepiolite, a clay material used in kitty litter.
Continue reading Another Low for Tobacco: Kitty Litter in Cigars
posted March 01, 2013
Tobacco companies manipulate products to attract kids
Editor
Sep 4, 2012
An editorial in The New York Times calls on elected officials and the Food and Drug Administration to close tax and regulatory loopholes that tobacco companies have exploited to keep some products cheap, flavored and appealing to kids.
"Give the tobacco industry credit for ingenuity," the Times wrote. "Just when it looked as if federal regulators could block their ability to addict children and young adults, several companies that make cigars and pipe tobacco have sidestepped the barriers by taking advantage of loopholes in federal law."
Continue reading NY Times Editorial: Close Loopholes in Tobacco Regulation
posted September 04, 2012
Cigar smoking jumps among African-American teens
Editor
Aug 14, 2012
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new survey results last week showing that youth cigarette smoking continues to fall, but it had troubling news about cigars.
Continue reading Sweet, Cheap and Colorful – No Wonder Some Cigars Are Popular with Kids
posted August 14, 2012
Low-tax products attract kids and keep smokers hooked
Editor
Aug 3, 2012
A new report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that tobacco companies are manipulating their products to avoid taxes and regulations aimed at reducing smoking, undermining the fight against the nation’s leading cause of preventable death.
In particular, tobacco companies have mislabeled roll-your-own tobacco as pipe tobacco and increased the weight of many cigars to escape higher tobacco taxes imposed by a 2009 federal law. By keeping the prices of these products low, tobacco companies are attracting kids and keeping smokers hooked.
Continue reading CDC Report Exposes Tobacco Companies’ Latest Tricks to Promote Smoking
posted August 03, 2012
Raising taxes on tobacco products will protect kids and save lives
Editor
May 23, 2012
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has signed a life-saving increase in the state's tax on little cigars and smokeless tobacco, products that the tobacco industry is marketing heavily in a bid to entice youth to use tobacco.
Lower tax rates on cigars and smokeless tobacco compared to cigarettes have helped fuel an increase in teen use of these products. While cigarette smoking among Maryland high school students has decreased nearly 40 percent since 2000, cigar use has increased by more than 11 percent during the same period.
Continue reading Maryland Leads with First Tobacco Tax Hike of 2012
posted May 23, 2012
Push toward higher taxes on cigars, smokeless, loose tobacco
Editor
Jan 30, 2012
States around the country are getting wise to the tobacco industry's promotion of products such as sweet-flavored cigars and smokeless tobacco as a way to hook kids and offset the decline in cigarette smoking: Increasingly, governors and lawmakers are proposing higher taxes on "other tobacco products" that too often have been left out when cigarette taxes are hiked.
Continue reading Tax Hikes Proposed on All Tobacco Products as States Seek to Close Loopholes, Thwart Industry
posted January 30, 2012
Tobacco-free bowl game set for tonight
Editor
Jan 4, 2012
Tonight's Orange Bowl game in Miami will kick off without the cloud of a tobacco sponsorship hanging over it: Bowl officials cancelled a planned three-year sponsorship by Camacho Cigars after public health groups, three U.S. senators and thousands of activists protested that the sponsorship would have helped market tobacco products to young fans.
Continue reading Update: Orange Bowl Outlook Sunny After Cigar Sponsorship Dropped
posted January 04, 2012
Camacho Cigars and smoking lounges have no place in sports
Editor
Dec 20, 2011
Ten national public health and medical groups have called on the Orange Bowl Committee and the NCAA to cancel a cigar company sponsorship of the marquee college football game to prevent tobacco marketing at one of the nation’s premier sporting events.
Davidoff of Geneva, parent company of Camacho Cigars, last week announced that it has signed a three-year deal making Camacho Cigars a corporate sponsor of the Orange Bowl Festival, which includes the 2012, 2013, and 2014 Discover Orange Bowls, the 2013 Discover BCS National Championship game and related fan events. The 2013 Discover BCS National Championship game will draw particularly intense fan interest and media attention.
Continue reading Orange Bowl Must Drop Tobacco Sponsorship
posted December 20, 2011
But new industry tactics to hook kids include smokeless tobacco and "little cigars"
Editor
Dec 14, 2011
Cigarette smoking among American youth has dropped to record lows, with just 11.7 percent of kids in grades 8, 10 and 12 reporting that they smoked in the past month.
The annual Monitoring the Future survey released today shows that since youth smoking rates peaked in the mid-1990s, they have dropped dramatically — by 71 percent among eighth graders, 61 percent among students in 10th grade and 49 percent among those in 12th grade.
Continue reading Teen Cigarette Smoking Drops to Record Lows
posted December 14, 2011
Sweet flavors and low prices entice kids to smoke "little cigars"
Editor
Dec 13, 2011
The tobacco industry has maneuvered around marketing restrictions aimed at protecting youth and found yet another way to hook kids when they're young: Flavored "little cigars" that are so cheap kids can easily afford them, and so sweet with kid-friendly flavors that some young smokers believe they're less addictive than cigarettes.
Continue reading Cheap and Sweet Like Candy – Kills Like Tobacco
posted December 13, 2011
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