Newspaper editorials and sports columnists around the country are calling for the Major League Baseball players union to finally end the game's unseemly addiction to tobacco by agreeing to ban the use of smokeless tobacco in the next collective bargaining agreement.
A quarter century ago, Kentucky lawmakers responded to a proposal for smoke-free indoor air by lighting up cigarettes in a legislative chamber.
Now smoke-free advocates in the tobacco-producing state are getting a stunningly different reaction — a strong endorsement from the state's leading business group.
A California-based company is promoting flavored cigars called 'Hoodwraps' to inner-city youth, using names such as 'Da Bomb Blueberry' and 'Swag Berry,' and even handing out free samples in downtown Indianapolis.
Trendsettah USA is marketing the cigars with 'street teams' — inner-city youth recruited to give out the samples. The slogan for Hoodwraps: 'So Hood. So Good.' The aggressive promotion has angered local tobacco-control advocates, who note that urban youth in Indiana are more likely to begin smoking at an earlier age than the national average.
Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, a long-time tobacco-control champion, hit a homerun on the floor of the Senate yesterday when he made a compelling speech aimed at getting smokeless tobacco out of Major League Baseball.
Among millions of viewers who will watch the start of the World Series tonight, Durbin noted, are kids who will see their baseball heroes and imitate 'that little puff in the lip, that can in the pocket. And they think that’s part of being a great baseball player.'
With the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals set to begin the 2011 World Series Wednesday night, four U.S. Senators called on the Major League Baseball Players Association to protect players' health and the well-being of millions of young fans by agreeing to a contractual ban on tobacco use at games.
Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct) urged in a letter to Players Association executive director Michael Weiner that the ban be effective in the 2012 baseball contract. The senators noted that the World Series is likely to be watched by an estimated 15 million viewers, many of them children.
It's that time of year again — nominations for the 2012 Youth Advocates of the Year (YAYA) Awards are open!
World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan has accused the tobacco industry of dirty tricks and unethical behavior in its latest efforts to challenge tobacco-control laws and policies around the world.
The Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals can do more than make baseball history as they face off in the American and National League championship series.
The players can help break Major League Baseball's addiction to smokeless tobacco by voluntarily refraining from using tobacco during the high-profile playoff games, viewed by millions of kids in the United States and around the world.
Altria and altruism just don't mix.
Neither does the tobacco giant's financial sponsorship of an 'Adolescent Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Symposium' in Nashville next month.
Spurred by reports that the Chinese National Tobacco Corporation is sponsoring at least 100 elementary schools — promoting their brands and logos among children — CNN interviewed Dr. Judith Mackay of the World Lung Foundation on the role the state-owned company plays in fostering the tobacco epidemic in China.
Seeking to speed progress on tobacco control and save lives, the European Commission is providing 5.2 Million Euros (U.S. $7 million) to help low and middle-income countries effectively implement the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first global public health treaty.
While the United States has made huge progress in reducing smoking, not all Americans are benefiting equally. Where you work can make a big difference in whether you smoke — and how healthy you are.
In an apparent attempt to lure young smokers, China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC) is sponsoring at least 100 elementary schools in China.
CNTC financed construction of these schools, which are named after Chinese cigarette brands and sometimes bear slogans such as 'Talent comes from hard work, Tobacco helps you become talented.' Many of the schools also feature the company's logo of a green tobacco leaf.
Millions of moviegoers who saw the Hollywood blockbuster 'Moneyball,' this weekend watched a multi-million dollar advertisement for getting tobacco out of Major League Baseball.
Brad Pitt plays Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane with tobacco tucked in his cheek, spitting repeatedly into a cup. Though Major League Baseball asked Sony Pictures to remove the scenes of tobacco use, the movie company says it kept them in for authenticity.
And that’s the problem.
Missouri’s meager, 17-cents-per-pack cigarette tax — the lowest in the nation — could be raised by 80 cents, reducing smoking and generating $300 million to help fund public education, state universities and programs to help smokers quit and keep kids from starting.
It’s truly a win-win for the state.
The Clinton Global Initiative has assembled a coalition of businesses, civic leaders and health advocates — including the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids — to lead a global effort for smoke-free workplaces.
When Republican Rick Snyder ran for Michigan Governor he promised to be a strong conservative and 'one tough nerd.' Now that he's in the executive mansion, Snyder is showing his toughness by standing up to efforts by Big Tobacco to lower the state's cigarette tax.
From New York City comes more evidence that we know how to win the fight against tobacco and just need the political will to implement proven solutions.
In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has provided that political will by championing a comprehensive strategy that includes a high tobacco tax, comprehensive smoke-free law and hard-hitting media campaigns that discourage kids from smoking and encourage smokers to quit.
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.
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.'