March 18, 2004

New figures out today show that there is a continuing fall in the number of people in England who smoke.

The General Household Survey statistics show that smoking prevalence among adults aged 16 and over has dropped from 28% when Smoking Kills', the Government's White Paper was published in 1998, to 26% in 2002.

This provides evidence that the Government is on track to meet the target of 24% in 2010 having met the 2005 milestone early. Smoking prevalence among manual groups decreased from 33% in 1998 to 31% in 2002.

In 2002/03, 26 per cent of adults (aged 16 and over) in Great Britain were cigarette smokers.

The percentage of adults who smoked cigarettes fell substantially in the 1970s and the early 1980s from 45 per cent in 1974 to 35 per cent in 1982. After 1982 the rate of decline slowed and then levelled out from 1992, at around 26 to 28 per cent.

In the 1970s men were far more likely than women to be smokers. In 1974, 51 per cent of men and 41 per cent of women smoked cigarettes. During the 1970s and 1980s the gap between men and women narrowed. It has still not disappeared completely. In 2002/03, 27 per cent of men and 25 per cent of women were cigarette smokers.

Young women are drinking and smoking more than ever, according to new figures released by the government.

The General Household Survey, put together from interviews with more than 20,000 people, has raised concerns about women's habits.

Weekly drinking levels amongst young women have increased significantly and smoking has become much more popular with teenage girls.

Campaigners blame increased income and marketing aimed at young women.

Smoking and drinking among younger men is declining but the health message seems to be lost on their female counterparts, according to a survey.

The report, Living in Britain, found men aged 16 to 19 were smoking less " down from 30% in 2000 to 22% in 2002.

Yet among women in the same age group the trend was upwards, with 29% of them smoking, compared to 28% in 2000, the survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found.

The number of smokers in England has dropped to 26% of over-16s, figures revealed today.

When the Government published its White Paper Smoking Kills in 1998, 28% of adults over the age of 16 smoked.

Figures from the General Household Survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that this figure fell to 26% in 2002 " just 2% short of the 24% target set for 2010.

This amounts to a drop of around 800,000 smokers in four years.

Smoking among manual workers, where rates tend to be higher, also fell from 33% to 31% over the same period.

The government's strategy to reduce obesity, smoking and sexually transmitted diseases will fail without a "radical shift" towards preventing ill health rather than simply curing it, a healthcare thinktank warned today.

The King's Fund said that ministers needed to end their obsession with targets and waiting lists, and instead develop practical measures to help people stay healthy.

It warned that the public consultation on improving the nation's health, recently launched by the health secretary, John Reid, would have little impact if the NHS remained exclusively preoccupied with treating illness.

The slight fall in smoking announced today by National Statistics is encouraging but shows that tougher measures are needed to bring the smoking rates down faster, said health charity ASH. The data show that the overall proportion of adult smokers fell from 27% in 2001 to 26% in 2002. [1]
. . .

"The recently published Wanless review of the future of public health noted that the current government targets on smoking were unambitious'. We endorse this view and believe smoking rates could be driven down further by tougher measures. Legislation to make all workplaces smokefree, for example, could result in 1.6 million fewer smokers. [3]

scientists at Dundee University have discovered smoking could be the cause of stress, rather than a stress-busting solution.

A team of scientists, led by Professor David Balfour, chairman of the European Board of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, have revealed that smoking causes physical changes in the brain that stop the body's natural stress-busting hormone serotonin being released. . . .

Professor Balfour and his team discovered that physiologically, smoking can actually cause depression and have the opposite effect to what smokers believe. He said, "Thus we have a paradox. Smokers say it relieves stress whereas research shows otherwise. Nicotine stimulates neural pathways, the role of which is to signal to the brain that something nice has happened. This is how you learn which things are pleasant."

This lack of serotonin means people who smoke are less likely to be able to cope with stressful situations and consequently suffer higher levels of stress than non-smokers.

The short term relief smokers get from lighting up a cigarette is caused by the chemical nicotine

Government efforts to tackle obesity, smoking and sexually transmitted diseases will fail unless prevention, not cure, is given priority, a report says.

Ministers must look at practical measures to help people stay healthy, according to the King's Fund.

The call follows a consultation by the government to ask what measures could be taken to improve public health.

A White Paper will be published in the summer, using the research findings.

Thirty-five percent of lung cancer patients with advanced disease and a poor prognosis who were treated in a trial with a new drug showed an improvement in symptoms and were still alive one year after starting treatment, says Australian lung cancer specialist Associate Professor Michael Boyer. 3

Professor Boyer was in New Zealand this week to present his findings on trials using AstraZeneca's Iressa to oncologists throughout New Zealand.

He says the new drug, which was gazetted in New Zealand four weeks ago, "works, improves patients' quality of life, is durable, effective, reduces the size of some tumours and is tolerated better than chemotherapy".

Liberal Democrats today slammed the Government's complacency on tackling smoking.

An announcement from the Department of Health today shows that smoking among adults aged 16 and over has dropped from 28% in 1998, to 26% in 2002. But statistics show that smoking levels remain barely unchanged over a decade.

Paul Burstow MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, said:

"The Government is being dangerously complacent. They have tried to spin a story which is not supported by the facts.

"The statistics show quite clearly that smoking levels have barely changed for over a decade. . . .

"Much more needs to be done to tackle the numbers of young women who smoke. Smoking is Britain's biggest killer and the price of dithering and complacency will be lives shortened and more deaths."

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania compared smokers using a nicotine patch to those using nicotine nasal spray. They found that the spray works better for African Americans. Why?

Glynn said, "African Americans may be metabolizing nicotine differently than white Americans. They need more nicotine, and nasal spray provides that more quickly."

The study also found that the nasal spray is more effective for obese people. That's because eating and smoking may be linked to a similar reward pathway in the brain and a chemical called dopamine. So, the researchers believe, the nasal spray may immediately stimulate the same feeling of satisfaction that food and smoking provide.

Officials with the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Commission said Monday they expect the state to receive its full portion of tobacco settlement funds for fiscal 2004-05 next month. . . .

The settlement is expected to bring Arkansas between $50 million and $60 million a year totaling about $1.6 billion over 25 years, with the money to flow in perpetuity.

"I am confident we will get the full amount this year or somewhere in the vicinity," said Bill Lefler, chairman of the nine-person commission. Estimates of the state Bureau of Legislative Research put Arkansas' share for the upcoming fiscal year at $55.2 million. . . .

Only four states -- Arkansas, Mississippi, Maine and Delaware -- were given passing grades for using the settlement dollars to fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs

Cigarette manufacturers who weren't part of a multibillion-dollar lawsuit settlement with the state may get hit with a 50-cent-per-pack tax that could raise between $50 million and $100 million.

While the Republican-led Legislature usually bristles at the idea of raising taxes, in this case supporters say it is only fair that if the four largest manufacturers have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the state each year, small manufacturers also should.

"It is a tax," said Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland. "You can't hide from that fact. The purpose is noble - it's equalization."

And supporters say the state is losing money because the settlement agreement is based on the so-called "Big Four" market share, which has been eroded by smaller manufacturers who sell cigarettes for about $2 a pack less...

When the four manufacturers - Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorillard - settled, they combined for about 98 percent of the market, said Dockery, who is sponsoring the Senate bill (SB 2112). She said that has decreased to about 85 percent since the settlement six years ago.

The Golden Leaf Foundation has awarded a $2 million grant to the North Carolina Rural Economic Center to help bring broadband Internet access to 32,000 locations, including 50 public schools.

The foundation says that 39 counties east of I-95 will share in the benefits of the grant.

Installation of the broadband infrastructure is a $13.1 million technology initiative organized by the Albermarle Pamlico Economic Development Commission. The APEC Eastern North Carolina Initiative grant was one of 53 totaling $9.67 million made by the Golden Leaf board in its 2003 round of annual grantmaking.

The project comes as Public Health faces a $4.5 million shortfall this year that officials blame on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's rollback of vehicle license fees. The department let go 20 of its 155 employees last month and borrowed $1 million in revenue from a 1998 tobacco settlement.

A federal judge Wednesday rejected the tobacco industry's attempt to dismiss the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit against it on the grounds that the suit attempts to usurp Congress' exclusive power to regulate commerce. . . .

Judge Kessler denied the tobacco industry's attempt to have the suit dismissed on the grounds that it violates the U.S. Constitution's separation of powers among the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government. . . .

In a written statement, William Ohlemeyer, Philip Morris USA vice president and associate general counsel, said the industry has "several viable defenses" in addition to the separation of powers argument.

"Philip Morris USA intends to present a vigorous defense to the government's claims and believes it ultimately will prevail," Ohlemeyer said.

A company affiliated with the Oneida Indian Nation intends to ask New York state for a license to serve alcohol at Turning Stone Casino Resort.

The Nation's step means it could soon offer alcoholic beverages to Turning Stone patrons in areas other than the gambling floor. But it also raises the possibility of a new avenue of contention between the Nation and New York state. . . .


Abe Acee, owner of Nothin' Fancy Cafe and Bar in Vernon, doesn't believe the casino would steal business if it receives its liquor license, but said the ability patrons would have to drink and smoke at the casino is troubling. New York state has barred smoking in most bars, but the Oneidas are not subject to the anti-smoking law.

"They've stripped our rights, but the Nation has both now. They have smoking and drinking," Acee said. "What's good for one is good for all."

A MASS meeting of publicans will take place tomorrow as last-ditch efforts are made to force a climbdown on the smoking ban.

But the organisers of the event, the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI), will refrain from telling members not to implement the ban and are not expected to endorse any radical action against it.

However, they will use the meeting to send a renewed message to Health Minister Michel Martin that they believe the ban is unfair, unworkable and a threat to livelihoods.

Five months after Solana Beach became the first California city to ban smoking on the beach, San Clemente has joined the movement — and a coalition of anti-tobacco and environmental groups is pushing the idea in other cities along the coast.

On Tuesday, the Santa Monica City Council will consider an ordinance that would prohibit smoking on its beach and pier. In Los Angeles, council member Jack Weiss is working with the city attorney's office and is close to drafting a similar law.


Meanwhile, anti-smoking activists say they have had discussions with officials from other coastal cities — including San Diego, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Beach and Newport Beach — though they have received no commitments.

"As far as we're concerned, this is a public health issue. Others see it as an environmental issue," said Glenn Maddalon, executive director of the Orange County chapter of the American Lung Assn. "I would hope that, eventually, cities up and down the coast enact a ban on smoking on all the beaches."

AN extra 200 million cigarette butts could be dumped on the streets when the smoking ban begins, according to Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL).

Launching its annual anti-litter campaign yesterday, the group said it was inevitable smokers would take their litter outside with them.

"In the US, cigarette butts account for three times as much litter as food wrappers. They are also especially susceptible to running off into our waterways," said chairman Dr Tom Cavanagh.

He points out that if the smoking ban leads to a 10% shift in cigarette smoking from indoors to outdoors . . .


IBAL will be monitoring litter levels in 30 towns and cities across the country, as well as in bus stations, train stations and third-level campuses. . . .

Dr Cavanagh said the country needed "First World" levels of cleanliness if hi-tech industry was to continue to come here.

THE coach of Greece's national basketball team is being hunted down by Swedish debt collectors after he lit up illegally during a recent match in Sweden and set off a fire alarm, forcing firefighters to rush to the scene.

The minister, who was using his St Patrick's trip to see a smoking ban in action, was invited to meet the movie star in State Capitol Buildings in Sacramento on Tuesday.

Upon arriving in the governor's office, the Corkman spotted the ex-Terminator's Lawrence of Arabia-style smoking tent erected over part of an open courtyard outside his offices. His staff call it a deal-making area. A spokeswoman for the minister said the star told Mr Martin he believes a tobacco-free society is a good thing.

"But he said he likes the odd cigar so he had the tent erected. He also said the office is very formal for meeting people, so he likes to bring them into the tent. He knew the staff were embarrassed but he decided to go ahead with it anyway." . .

The minister also visited Apple Computers - which has a plant in Cork - to discover they do not allow smoking anywhere on their property. . .

Mr Martin also met other politicians and officials who briefed him on the Californian ban. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom told Mr Martin he owns a number of restaurants and an off-licence, and said the ban had not had an adverse affect on business - but in some cases had increased it.

The Bergen Board of Freeholders will be evaluating an ordinance that looks to ban smoking in all county-owned recreational areas. The ordinance, which was introduced on Wednesday, makes smoking illegal in all county parks, playgrounds, pools and athletic facilities...

Bergen freeholders will vote on the ordinance sometime next month. If approved, the smoking ban would be enforced by the Bergen County Police Department and park security. Violators could face a $50 fine. Accompanying the ordinance is a resolution asking all 70 of Bergen's municipalities to consider banning smoking in local recreation facilities.

A Nevada group trying to prohibit smoking in most public places - except bars and the gambling areas of casinos - filed an initiative petition Wednesday aimed at forcing the 2005 Legislature to impose the ban.

The filing of the petition by the Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition coincided with final legislative approval in Idaho of a bill to ban smoking in all public buildings except bars and bowling alleys.

Kendall Stagg, the Nevada group's policy director, said that once enough signatures are collected the petition will go to state lawmakers - and if they don't go along with the idea it will go to a public vote in 2007.

"Last year we watched dumbfounded as a bill to ban smoking in day care facilities and video arcades was defeated in the Legislature," Stagg said. "The public's strong support for restricting smoking in public places must be mobilized to carry this important battle back to the state's lawmakers."

Over the objections of most of North Idaho's representatives, the Idaho House on Wednesday voted to ban all restaurant smoking in Idaho, with just bars and bowling alleys exempted.

SB 1283, which had earlier passed the Senate, cleared the House on a 44-26 vote and was headed to Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, who is expected to sign it into law. If so, it would take effect July 1.

Folks in the Sagebrush BBQ in New Meadows may just keep lighting up even if the state requires restaurants to go smokeless this July.

"I'm in open rebellion," said restaurant and bar owner Rick Burden. "I'm going to ignore it. I'm not going to comply just off-hand. There's too much at stake. My debt load is far too much. I can't allow an arbitrary regulation like this to put me out of business."

A bill passed by the House on Wednesday morning bans smoking in all restaurants and most other public places. It now awaits Gov. Dirk Kempthorne's approval. . . .


The smoking ban has seen an unlikely run of success at the Statehouse. In a building full of free-market Republicans, few ideas seen as infringing on business rights make it very far.

Several lawmakers have tried to derail this along the way.

The Irish Cigarette Machine Operators Association has announced its intention to hold its AGM in the North this year due to the impending workplace smoking ban.

The Armenian parliament has turned down a draft law restricting smoking. The bill had suggested imposing of ban on sales of tobacco products to underage persons, as well as smoking at all health, culture, sports, educational facilities, at other public premises and at transport.

The author of the bill, Chairwoman of the Permanent Parliamentary Commission for issues of science and education, culture and youth Granush Akopyan said the number of smokers is steadily growing in the republic. . . .

Local observers are certain the bill has been voted down by influential parliamentarians engaged in the import of tobacco or lobbying the tobacco business.

The use of cannabis by teenagers can act as a trigger to smoking cigarettes, or can reinforce the habit in those who already smoke. Although it was previously known that most cannabis users also smoke tobacco, this new study shows that the reverse can also be true.

Canadian Cancer Society's Janice Reynolds sends a big thank you to all the students and teachers who participated in the Do You Think Butts are Gross? anti-tobacco contest.

The response was amazing, Reynolds said.

"We received posters, poetry, plays and videos," she said. "The creativity of the students was again amazing."

CANNABIS is leading many teenagers to take up smoking, it is claimed.

Researchers found around 40 per cent of 13 to 15--year-olds use the illegal drug before ever trying cigarettes.

An Edinburgh University survey showed they only moved on to tobacco when the Class C drug was unavailable.

Dr Gill Highet, of the university's health, behaviour and change unit, interviewed 59 boys and girls for the study. . .

She added: 'We recommend that services which tackle risk-taking behaviour in teenagers should be more co-ordinated, with closer links between smoking cessation services and drugs education programmes.'

Teenage Birmingham lads are the biggest smokers in Britain an alarming new survey has revealed...


The survey was carried out by teen magazine SORTED.

All 30 establishments in Marshfield that hold a tobacco license were checked during the February sweep and just two, CVS and the Hess gas station, failed.


Cigarette sales snuffed out until June


The CVS pharmacy in downtown Marshfield won't be selling any cigarettes until June.

The store's tobacco license was suspended for 90 days last week by the board of health after a minor purchased a pack of cigarettes during a compliance check in February. The suspension began Friday.

"We hate to suspend a license because we know the financial loss it creates," said Marshfield Board of Health Chairman Gerald Maher.

According to board of health records, a 17-year-old girl bought cigarettes from a teenage clerk in CVS Feb. 9 during a sting launched by the South Shore Boards of Health Collaborative/Tobacco Control Program. During the illegal sale, the teen was not asked to show identification, nor asked about her age.

Illegal cigarette sales to minors have jumped throughout the state during the past three years, with the most widespread violations typically occurring in communities that eliminated tobacco control programs, according to data released by an anti-smoking advocacy group.

In the past three years, funding for the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program was cut by 95 percent, nearly wiping out resources for its nationally recognized efforts to prevent and curb smoking.

During that same period, the statewide average of illegal cigarette sales to minors jumped from 8 percent to 13.9 percent in the 92 communities that have faced huge reductions in their local board of health tobacco control programs, an increase of 74 percent.

The proposed cuts were discussed by the Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, but the panel's chairman, Sen. Durrell Peaden, R-Crestview, said they were preliminary . . .

Other proposed cuts include a popular anti-tobacco program that pays mostly for advertising and has been credited with helping reduce teen smoking. The Senate panel proposed eliminating it.

THE Chancellor got his sums wrong on cigarette duty yesterday and had to be corrected. Duty on a packet of 20 cigarettes would go up by the annual inflation rise of 8p for public health reasons, Gordon Brown said.

Wrong, said Customs and Excise, the rate would go up by 9p. Mr Brown had forgotten the VAT.

The slip was described by the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association, as an unfortunate mix-up. Tim Lord, chief executive, said he hoped that it was not "a smokescreen to make the increase in cigarette tax (look) lower than it really is".

Anti-smoking campaigners gave a cautious approval to the Chancel-lor's announcement that a pack of 20 cigarettes will go up by 8p.

But they warned cuts in Customs and Excise jobs should not ruin efforts to tackle cigarette smuggling.

Paul Hooper, West Midlands spokesman for anti-smoking lobby group ASH, said: "The rise was not as much as it might have been - we would have argued for a rise of around 10p that would have helped save lives. The worry is there will be cuts in front line customs officers which may lead to an increase in smuggling of cigarettes."

Rising cigarette taxes are leading to a significant increase in store break-ins and could trigger a spate of armed robberies at convenience stores across Ontario if allowed to continue, say shop owners and retail-industry officials.

"I had four break-ins within a 10-day period," said a manager of a convenience store near King and Bathurst streets. "They break the window, go inside, take the cigarettes and leave," said the man, who did not want his name used.

The man said he was "sure" the break-ins, which continued until he began hiding the cigarettes at night, were a result of the cigarette tax increase that took effect this past November. "For sure," he said. "It's easy money . . . we never had a problem before."

The group Retailers Against Smuggling reacted angrily to the 8p per packet duty rise on cigarettes.

Spokeswoman and shopkeeper Audrey Wales said: "Yet again, the Chancellor has ignored the effect that his high tobacco tax policy has on retailers like myself.

"Put simply, it is forcing us out of business as the criminal activity of tobacco smuggling eats into the sales of the corner stores."

The anti-smoking charity ASH described the inflation-linked duty rise on cigarettes as a "missed opportunity"...

Gareth Davis, chief executive of Imperial Tobacco, said: "Although this is an inflation-only increase for the fourth successive year, we remain concerned that as long as UK tobacco tax is among the highest in the world, there will be an incentive for smugglers to buy tobacco products in lower-taxed markets and resell them illegally in the UK."

The Tobacco Workers Alliance reacted with dissapointment following the Chancellors decision to increase tax on tobacco. The alliance which is made up of employers and workers believes the failure will lead to increased levels of smuggled tobacco entering the country. They also fear that this will augmented by cuts in resources following the planned merger between Customs and Excise with the Inland Revenue.

PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde has denied suggestions that the border is out of police control and that paramilitaries were free to hijack trucks.

Mr Orde spoke after reports that Gallaher's tobacco company is exporting its cigarettes to England and then to Dublin rather than risk crossing the border by land.

After a meeting with President George Bush at the White House yesterday, Mr Orde said that his first priority was to protect lives.

"We police all parts of Northern Ireland. Some bits are more difficult than others. That's no different to my experience in London

A mainlander was yesterday sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment for his role in sending counterfeit cigarettes from Hong Kong to Vietnam.

The District Court was told that had the counterfeit cigarettes passed for the genuine article they would have been worth about HK$19 million.

Chen Xiaobao, 35, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the Customs and Excise Department (C&E) in relation to applications for export permits.

THE decision to increase the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes by 8p leaves tobacco retailers facing an uncertain future, it was claimed yesterday.

Reacting to the Chancellor's Budget Statement, Audrey Wales, the National Spokeswoman for Retailers Against Smuggling and a Ballymena shopkeeper, said: "Yet again, the Chancellor has ignored the effect that his high tobacco tax policy has on retailers like myself.

"Put simply, it is forcing us out of business as the criminal activity of tobacco smuggling eats into the sales of the corner stores. Is it any wonder that tobacco smugglers see an opportunity when the Chancellor sets the price of cigarettes in the UK higher than anywhere else in the EU and substantially higher than many countries beyond the EU?''

An operation by Customs squads, assisted by a foreign expert, has led to one of the biggest hauls of counterfeit cigarettes in Malta.

The Customs Department's public relations office said that nearly nine million cigarettes of different brands were found at Malta Freeport in a 40-foot container being transshipped from Slovenia to Dubai.

The cigarettes are of the Marlboro, Dunhill and Merit brands and the lesser-known Marble, packed in boxes containing 10,000 cigarettes in 890 cartons...

Customs said that had the consignment been destined for importation to Malta through the normal legal channels, the cost in VAT, excise duty and Customs duty would have amounted to nearly Lm500,000. An estimate shows that the government's takings from cigarettes amount to Lm10 per carton of 2,000.

The Entertainment Industries Council, Inc (EIC) announced today its nominations for the 8th Annual PRISM Awards, which honor the accurate depiction of drug, alcohol and tobacco use and addiction. The PRISM Awards, which are presented by EIC in partnership with The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a component of the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, will take place Thursday, April 29, 2004 at the Hollywood Palladium, and the 8th Annual PRISM Award Honors will be telecast on May 16, 2004 on the FX Network.

The Rockland County Board of Health has assessed the following fines against businesses found guilty of violating health and sanitary codes . . . .

The Armenian parliament has turned down a draft law restricting smoking. The bill had suggested imposing of ban on sales of tobacco products to underage persons, as well as smoking at all health, culture, sports, educational facilities, at other public premises and at transport.

The author of the bill, Chairwoman of the Permanent Parliamentary Commission for issues of science and education, culture and youth Granush Akopyan said the number of smokers is steadily growing in the republic.

Armenian residents spend 25 million dollars a year for cigarettes and other tobacco products. The after-effects of this addiction are manifested in the growth of lung and cardio-vascular diseases and malignant tumors. The spread of the smoking habit among adolescents and young people, as well as women is especially disturbing.

Eight area stores have been snagged in the latest cigarette sale sting by the health department.

Six of the stores were fined from $250 to $300 and two pleaded not guilty and are awaiting a trial after they were charged with selling a pack of cigarettes to a 16-year-old working for the health department, according to the town sanitarian, Arif Akhtar.

Towns around the state conduct similar operations each year. The state Department of Health reimburses the township $60 for each store inspected along with a nominal fee to the teenager

Therefore, it is essential that we act and act now to sustain the ability of the American Legacy Foundation to continue to reach out to our nation's children as broadly and as effectively as it has for the last several years.

When state attorneys general settled their lawsuits against the tobacco companies in 1998 through the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), the MSA itself and the attorneys general and other state officials in their public comments made it clear that reducing smoking among our nation's children was the agreement's foremost goal. At the time of the MSA, state attorneys general who negotiated the agreement understood that it was critically important that the public education campaign mandated by the MSA continue well beyond the minimum five-year period for which funding was guaranteed if the intent of the MSA was to be fulfilled. They indicated that it was their expectation that it would do so. You don't correct a problem like youth tobacco use that was decades in the making in just five years.

A leading anti-smoking advocate has urged district councils to participate in education and promotion campaigns, which he says are as vital as legislation.

Council on Smoking and Health chairman Homer Tso addressed a dozen district councillors at an anti-smoking meeting yesterday.

``Legislation is a must, but promotion and education is also important,'' he said.

``What's the point if we rush in to legislate a law that is not enforceable?''

Tso said the amendment made to the smoking ordinance in 1997, which allows restaurants with less than 200 seats not to provide a non-smoking section, had proved ineffective.

An elderly woman in Ponderosa escaped from a fire early Tuesday.

The woman had been smoking in bed and a cigarette started the mattress on fire, said acting District 8 chief Dan Blystone.

A Discarded cigarette caused a house fire which killed a 41-year-old man, an inquest heard.

Gerry McShera, of Vale Drive, Shirebrook, died on September 22 last year from fumes. Firefighters say the blaze was caused by a cigarette stub discarded by Mr McShera.

A carelessly discarded cigarette ignited a fire at an apartment complex in southwest Houston overnight.

Firefighters say the fire at the Fountainview Lodge II apartment complex was started by a cigarette butt in a trash can. Two apartments were destroyed by fire.

So why does the average Andhra politician feel so shy to light up in public?

Our image matters, says a local neta, refusing to be named. We don't want the public to see us the way we are in private. Has netaji even bothered to find out whether he offends public opinion? . . .

"You know," says Jayaprakash Narayan, Lok Satta national convener. "Nehru started it all. He loved his smoke, he loved his drink, but his personal likes and dislikes were kept from the public."

Narayan adds, "It was all part of an elaborate strategy of image building. They wouldn't even expose his bald pate. To me, all this is cultivated hypocrisy."

But would the voter really bother if netaji were a smoker? "No, I don't believe so. The Indian public is far more forgiving and discerning than in the West.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it revised its outlook on the second-largest independent leaf tobacco processor DIMON Inc. to stable from positive. At the same time, DIMON's 'BB' corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings were affirmed.

Kool is staging a massive series of events this year to celebrate the energy and creativity of the urban Hip-Hop culture.

The cornerstone of the celebration is Kool Mixx 2004, the largest and most prestigious DJ competition anywhere. Now in its sixth year, Kool Mixx is a coast-to-coast clash of the hottest rising DJs. The competition gives DJs the opportunity to showcase their mixing talents and compete for top cash prizes.

"Kool understands the vibrant urban world of the trendsetting, multicultural smoker," said Ludo Cremers, divisional vice president, brand marketing.

Analysts at JP Morgan issue a "neutral" rating on Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT.L), while raising their estimates for the company. The fair value is set to 1240p.

Shares of Imperial Tobacco Group, a leading British tobacco products company, are currently trading at 1182p.

One of the biggest question marks over R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc.'s proposed purchase of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. is what antitrust regulators will or will not do about it.

"In our view, the greatest uncertainty rests with securing the FTC c