Entries by Erin Hill-Oban

The Post's View: Raising all federal tobacco taxes can stop tax avoidance

By Editorial Board, Washington Post ENACT A LAW, and companies will find loopholes to exploit. That was the fear which drove lawmakers in 2009 to raise cigarette taxes together with taxes for roll-your-own tobacco and small cigars, both easy substitutes for cigarettes. To prevent manufacturers from shifting toward lesser-taxed alternatives, Congress equalized taxes between all three […]

Tobacco Companies Have Made 9 Changes To Cigarettes, And They're All Scary Bad

Eric March, UPWORTHY After the tobacco companies lost that major lawsuit in the ’90s, I always assumed they just sort of quietly went away. But nope. Turns out, they just laid low for a while, rebranded, and poured tons of money into figuring out these diabolical new ways to get and keep people addicted to […]

Smoking Kills (Your Organs): 6 Major Organs Damaged By Cigarette Smoke

By Chris Weller, Medical Daily Coughing up heaping globs of mucous isn’t even the half of it. Neither is losing all sense of stamina, or coming home to a stale-smelling house with yellowed walls and furniture. No, the biggest consequences of smoking are, by and large, ones you will never see. These, however, tend to be […]

Tobacco tax law reportedly cost U.S. billions in revenue

By Reuters Media WASHINGTON – A 2009 law that raised federal taxes to discourage smoking cost the U.S. government billions of dollars in lost revenue as manufacturers relabeled products and consumers shifted to cheaper pipe tobacco and large cigars, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a report released on Tuesday. The GAO estimated $2.6 billion to $3.7 billion in […]

Taxes on cigarettes help reduce number of smokers

By Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids The Hill Science and experience have demonstrated conclusively that cigarette tax increases are highly effective at reducing smoking, especially among kids. Thus, the conclusions in a Gallup poll The Hill recently wrote about (“High cigarette prices aren’t stopping smokers,” July 18) are inconsistent with what […]

Report: Smoking bans, cigarette taxes linked to lower suicide rates

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah mental health and public health officials say a new report that links stronger anti-smoking initiatives to lower suicide rates suggests an added benefit of states’ prevention and cessation efforts. The report, published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, found that public health interventions, such as raising cigarette taxes and imposing […]

Florida jury awards $23.6 billion verdict in big tobacco lawsuit

By Jacob Passy, NBC News R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company must pay $23.6 billion to the estate of a man who died of lung cancer in what may be the largest verdict for a single plaintiff in Florida state history, according to attorneys. A state jury awarded the punitive damages Friday to the estate of Michael Johnson […]

The young and poor are keeping big American tobacco alive

By Roberto A. Ferdman, The Washington Post Big American tobacco wants to get bigger in America. Reynolds American Inc., which sells both Camel and Pall Mall cigarettes, has agreed to acquire rival and Newport menthol-maker Lorillard for an estimated $27.4 billion. If approved, the deal will effectively combine the portfolios of two of the country’s largest cigarette companies—as […]

Smoking may increase suicide risk, study says

By MONTE MORIN, Los Angeles Times It’s well known that cigarettes are bad for your health, but does smoking make you more likely to kill yourself too? In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, authors argued that smoking and suicide may be more closely related than previously thought. The researchers analyzed suicide […]

PLAYERS MAY CONSIDER TOBACCO BAN DISCUSSION IN '16

By RONALD BLUM, Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Major League Baseball players say they may consider whether to discuss a possible ban on chewing tobacco when they negotiate their next labor contract in two years. For now, they hope individuals decide on their own to stop dipping. Players’ union head Tony Clark said Monday that several […]