E-cig shop fails smoke-free compliance check

By Anne Millerbernd, Fargo Forum

FARGO – One of five Fargo businesses failed a smoke-free law compliance check Thursday.

Fargo police checked the shops to ensure that electronic cigarettes weren’t being used in a prohibited area, and E-Cig Empire at 4900 13th Ave. S. failed, according to a release from Fargo Cass Public Health.

It’s the second time the business has failed a compliance probe within 12 months. A report was sent to the Cass County State’s Attorney’s office for consideration of charges.

People who smoke in prohibited areas can be fined up to $50. Business owners who fail to comply can be fined up to $100 on the first violation, $200 the second time and up to $500 each time after within the same year. A business owner could also lose his or her permit or license.

The state’s smoke-free law includes vaping and Fargo police conduct compliance checks quarterly or on a need basis.

http://www.inforum.com/news/3766136-e-cig-shop-fails-smoke-free-compliance-check

Cases of kids poisoned by e-cigs increasing in Minnesota

By Andy Rathbun / St. Paul Pioneer Press
Minnesota has seen a jump in the number of children poisoned by e-cigarettes and their liquid refillables, the Minnesota Department of Health said Wednesday.
From 2013 to 2014, the number of e-cigarette and e-liquid poisonings among Minnesota children 5 and younger rose 35 percent — the second year the Minnesota Poison Control System has seen a significant increase of nicotine poisonings related to e-cigarette products, the health department said in a news release. Poisonings from these products rose from three in 2012 to 62 in 2014.
E-cigarette products can contain a fatal amount of nicotine for a child, and about half of the cases last year were treated at emergency departments. Children can confuse the products, which are often flavored, with a candy or drink, the department of health said.
In January, a new state law took effect requiring child-resistant packaging for e-liquid products.
“This past year Minnesota took a big step to keep kids from accidently ingesting these potentially fatal e-liquids,” Minnesota Health Commissioner Ed Ehlinger said in a statement. “But parents should still use caution and store the products out of the reach of children.”
The symptoms that can result from nicotine poisoning include nausea, seizures, diarrhea, vomiting and difficulty breathing.
The department of health issued a nicotine heath advisory Wednesday that also warns teens and pregnant women of possible nicotine effects.
The drug can harm brain development during adolescence and harm fetal brain and lung development, the department said.
http://www.inforum.com/news/3763762-cases-kids-poisoned-e-cigs-increasing-minnesota

Star Tribune: Mpls. considers restrictions on flavored tobacco products

By Eric Roper Star Tribune

The sale of flavored cigars in convenience stores could soon come to an end in Minneapolis, where city officials are mulling the state’s first ban on the products at most traditional locations to curb youth tobacco use.

Anti-smoking advocates and small retailers squared off at a packed City Council hearing Monday over a proposal that would restrict sales of flavored tobacco products from more than 300 allowed locations to just under two dozen specialty tobacco shops. Similar bans have been enacted in New York City and Providence, R.I.

A council committee delayed a vote on the proposal, which targets flavored cigars, smokeless tobacco, shisha for hookahs and e-cigarette juice — but excludes menthol flavors. It would also set a minimum price on all cigars at $2.60 — echoing measures passed in Bloomington, St. Paul, Maplewood and Brooklyn Center.

Supporters said low-cost flavored cigars, sold under brands like White Owl and Swisher Sweets, are especially harmful because they entice young people to start smoking. A recent study of 530 underage youth in north Minneapolis found that more than half of the 313 who had used tobacco reported at one point smoking a cigar or cigarillo.

“Luring people to an addictive product with cheap prices and candy flavors before they’re old enough to know better doesn’t … give kids much choice,” testified Latrisha Vetaw of Northpoint Health and Wellness Center. Some of the non-tobacco flavors mentioned in the ordinance include chocolate, honey and vanilla, as well as fruits, herbs and candy.

City records show that 362 businesses are currently authorized to sell tobacco products in Minneapolis, though about a quarter of them are bars that largely sell cigarettes. The proposal would limit flavored tobacco sales to approximately 21 “tobacco products shops,” which generate 90 percent of their revenue from tobacco-related sales. It also clarifies that customers must be 18 to enter those stores.

Convenience store owners at Monday’s hearing challenged the necessity of the change, noting that it is already illegal for them to sell tobacco to minors. City records show that out of more than 350 undercover compliance checks each year, only about 6 to 7 percent result in violations for selling to a minor.

They also said that restricting tobacco sales threatens one of their core revenue streams. “Forty percent of our sales in the convenience store industry comes from tobacco. … That’s the industry average: 40 percent,” said Steve Williams, owner of Bobby and Steve’s Auto World, which has several locations. “So we’re affecting the viability of a lot of convenience stores.”

Ahmad Al-Hawari, who owns four convenience stores around the city, said while flavored cigars account for less than 5 percent of their business, the change could result in lost customers.

“A customer will walk or drive to a smoke shop, buy his flavored tobacco as he wishes … and then he’s going to buy cigarettes and pop from there,” Al-Hawari said. “He’s not going to go back to the convenience store.”

The federal government banned all flavored cigarettes except for menthol in 2009, but did not apply the same restrictions to cigars. Cigars may also be sold individually, versus in packs like cigarettes, making a common price about 99 cents each, according to a city staff report.

Paul Pentel, an internist at Hennepin County Medical Center, said their low cost also makes cigars an appealing option for adults who already smoke.

“In my clinic, I am very alarmed by the number of patients I see who have switched to cheap cigars because of the cost of cigarettes,” Pentel said. “For these patients, cheap cigars are a missed opportunity to quit smoking.”

New York City banned the sale of flavored tobacco products in 2009, except for at a handful of tobacco bars. A ban in Providence, R.I., went into effect in 2013. The state of Maine has also enacted a ban on small, flavored cigars.

Four Minnesota cities have already established minimum cigar prices. The minimum is $2.10 in St. Paul and Brooklyn Center, and $2.60 in Bloomington and Maplewood, city staff said.

Council Member Blong Yang, a cosponsor of the ordinance change, said he was drawn to the issue after seeing in the recent study from Breathe Free North, a program of Northpoint, that children have too much access to flavored tobacco. It also appears to be disproportionately affecting minority communities, he said.

“Every single convenience store that you go to it seems has all this stuff right in front of people, basically,” Yang said. “And it’s screaming for people to buy it because it’s there.”

The council’s health, environment and community engagement committee is expected to vote on the measure in two weeks, with a final vote before the full council possible in July.

http://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-mulls-restrictions-on-flavored-tobacco-products/306572261/

Reuters: US tobacco companies drop lawsuit vs FDA over labeling

The three largest U.S. tobacco companies on Tuesday dropped their lawsuit accusing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of exceeding its authority by closely monitoring the content of their product labels after the agency said it would reconsider its rules.

Altria Group Inc, Reynolds American Inc and Lorillard Inc dismissed their case after the FDA on May 29 said it would review whether to mandate advance approval for label alterations such as changes to logos and background colors, or the use of descriptors such as “premium tobacco.”

In their April lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., the companies said the 2009 Tobacco Control Act limited FDA authority to pre-approve label changes to two “narrow” circumstances: products claiming to lower tobacco-related risks, or when prior approval is required by regulation.

By expanding its oversight to cover how labels look, the FDA violated the tobacco companies’ commercial speech rights under the First Amendment, the complaint said.

The plaintiffs included Altria’s Philip Morris USA, Reynolds American’s RJ Reynolds and Lorillard Tobacco, whose respective cigarette brands include Marlboro, Camel and Newport, and some of their smokeless tobacco units.

In its May 29 statement, the FDA said it would not act against tobacco companies that do not seek pre-approval for label changes that create “distinct” products otherwise identical to those being sold, or where the only change is the quantity in each package.

The FDA said the interim policy would remain in place while the agency decides whether to adopt new label approval procedures.

Altria spokesman Brian May said there was no need to pursue the lawsuit in light of the FDA’s announcement. Reynolds American spokesman David Howard declined to comment. Lorillard did not respond to a request for comment.

FDA spokesman Michael Felberbaum declined to comment.

On May 26, Reynolds American won U.S. antitrust approval to buy Lorillard, combining the second- and third-largest U.S. cigarette companies.

The case is Philip Morris USA Inc et al v. FDA et al, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, No. 15-00544.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/06/03/us-tobacco-companies-drop-lawsuit-vs-fda-over-labeling/

U.S. News: Nevada Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval secures unlikely win with approval of big tax increase

By MICHELLE RINDELS, Associated Press

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Nevada’s Republican governor, Brian Sandoval, secured an unlikely victory Monday when the conservative state Legislature approved a huge tax increase at his urging as part of a plan to boost education spending.

The $1.1 billion package raises taxes on businesses and cigarettes, and it makes permanent a $500 million bundle of temporary payroll and sales taxes.

Sandoval’s win comes on the last day of the legislative session, and the proposal’s fate had been in doubt until late Sunday when several skeptical Republicans in the state Assembly pledged support.

The plan had faced vocal resistance for months, led by anti-tax conservatives emboldened by election victories in November that increased their majorities in both chambers.

Many critics noted that Nevada voters had overwhelmingly rejected a similar business tax plan and said the lawmakers shouldn’t go against their wishes.

Sen. Don Gustavson said legislators “should be ashamed of themselves to force through the largest tax increase in Nevada’s history that includes the type of tax that voters did not support.”

“And you wonder why our constituents distrust politicians?” he added.

Gustavson and Sens. Pete Goicoechea and James Settelmeyer, all rural Republicans, were the only opposition in the Senate, which passed the tax plan 18-3 Monday.

That vote came after the Assembly passed the plan 30-10 Sunday night after heavy-hitting business groups lined up behind it.

The tax increase will allow Sandoval to pump millions of dollars into programs for poor students and children learning English. The state has lagged behind others for years in education rankings and on school funding, but it has consistently rejected efforts to raise revenue.

Republican Sen. Scott Hammond had been among the skeptics, but he said his concerns about accountability had been eased, in part by the passage of his bill allowing students to use public funds at private schools.

“I can assure you that there have been significant reforms. We have one of the best, if not the best, school choice reform programs now in the nation,” Hammond said. “For that reason, I can support this.”

Elements of the plan include:

— A hike in the business license fee. The fee for corporations would rise from the existing $200 a year to $500, while the fee for the rest of the business entities would remain at $200.

— A hike in the payroll tax. Sandoval’s plan raises the state’s existing modified business tax from 1.17 percent to 1.475 percent of wages beyond the first $200,000 a company pays out each year and sets the rate at 2 percent of those wages for the mining industry and financial institutions. Companies would still get to deduct health care premiums for employees from the calculation.

— A “Commerce Tax” on gross revenue. Industry-specific tax rates will apply to businesses with more than $4 million in Nevada revenue each year. Businesses can count 50 percent of their commerce tax bill as a credit against their modified business tax bill — a provision that’s intended as a perk to those who employ people. The commerce tax aims to capture more money from capital-intensive businesses such as mines and those that do business in Nevada but aren’t based here.

— A flexible payroll tax rate. The plan allows the state to lower the modified business tax rate if revenues from the new commerce tax and MBT rate bring in more revenue than projected.

— An extension of “sunset taxes.” More than $500 million of the plan comes from making a set of expiring payroll and sales taxes permanent.

— Cigarette taxes. The bill raises a tax on cigarette packs by $1, which is expected to generate about $100 million over two years.

http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2015/06/01/nevada-gop-governor-secures-unlikely-win-with-tax-increase

Reuters: Cigarette warnings work better with pictures, study shows

By Lisa Rapaport, Reuters

Gruesome photographs on cigarette packages may deliver more effective anti-smoking messages than words, a new analysis finds.

Researchers reviewed previous studies comparing images to text warnings on cigarette boxes and found pictures commanded more attention, elicited stronger emotional reactions, summoned more negative attitudes and made it more likely that smokers would vow to quit.

“They say a picture is worth a thousand words — that really seems to be the case here,” said lead study author Seth Noar, co-director of the interdisciplinary health communication program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Globally, tobacco kills about six million people a year, and the annual death tally is expected to reach eight million by 2020, according to the World Health Organization. Smoking can cause heart disease and lung cancer, even when exposure is second-hand, and it can lead to asthma and other breathing difficulties in children who live with smokers.

Just 30 countries, representing about 14 percent of the world’s population, require warning images on at least half of the front and back of cigarette packages with anti-smoking messages in the local language, according to the WHO.

In Australia, for example, cigarette packages have graphic images of sick or dying smokers on the wrappers.

To see how well grotesque images on cigarette packages work as a deterrent, Noar and colleagues analyzed data from 37 experiments involving more than 33,000 people. Every study included in the analysis showed participants both words and pictures to measure which approach was better at discouraging smoking.

The studies reviewed were done in 16 different countries, though most were in the U.S., Canada or Germany, and were published between 2000 and 2013.

Relative to text, images convinced people to think more about the effects of smoking, lowered cravings and increased aversion to cigarettes, the analysis found.

Eight of the studies examined whether participants thought the pictures were effective. This subset of experiments found smokers and nonsmokers thought pictures would encourage them not to start smoking or motivate them to cut back and urge others to quit as well.

When the researchers analyzed data across all of these studies, they found pictures were significantly better than text alone at motivating people to avoid cigarette use.

“Smokers know that cigarettes are bad for them, but they likely tune out vague warnings that they have seen for years, such as ‘smoking causes cancer,’” Noar said by email. “Seeing images of diseased lungs and people suffering from the negative health impacts of smoking appear to affect smokers in ways that simple text-only messages cannot achieve.”

All but one of the studies included in the review lacked data on how the images or texts might impact behavior, the researchers acknowledge in the journal Tobacco Control. The studies also didn’t follow people over long periods of time or measure how repeated exposures to the images might influence behavior, the authors note.

Because smoking is often a social behavior, more research is needed on how social interactions might influence the impact of anti-smoking images on packages, the researchers wrote.

Images may help reach an audience that’s particularly vulnerable — people with lower literacy or education levels, said Jim Thrasher, a researcher in health behavior at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.

“Even among these disadvantaged groups where smoking rates are highest, pictorial warnings are a promising way to stimulate smoking cessation,” Thrasher, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.

They may also help young people get the message about smoking, said David Hammond, who researches addiction and cigarette packaging at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

“One of the challenges for cigarette warnings is that many of the most severe health consequences don’t appear for a number of years,” Hammond, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. “Images help to make these health consequences more salient and real for youth and young adults.”

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/features/3756926-cigarette-warnings-work-better-pictures-study-shows

LA Times: California Senate votes to restrict e-cigarettes as tobacco products

By PATRICK MCGREEVY

The state Senate on Tuesday approved a bill that would ban electronic cigarettes from restaurants, theaters and other public places in California where smoking is prohibited to address health concerns.

Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) said his bill would treat e-cigarettes, also known as “vaping” devices, as tobacco products because they often use nicotine and are popular with teenagers.

Youth e-cigarette use rising; heart group calls for regulation

“Of great concern is that the fastest growth segment of new users is among middle and high school students who are now smoking electronic cigarettes,” Leno told his colleagues. “They are advertised on television. They are advertised on billboards.”

The measure, which would also subject e-cigarettes to the same licensing requirements as tobacco, was approved by a 24-12 vote, with Sen. Jeff Stone of Murrietta the only Republican to vote for the bill.

Senate Republican leader Bob Huff of Diamond Bar said e-cigarettes work on vapor that does not spread as much as tobacco smoke, so they should be treated differently in public.

“E-cigs are used by people trying to kick the tobacco habit,” Huff said. He voted against the bill, saying the state should wait until the federal government takes action.

Stone noted that his mother was a former smoker who died of cancer. He said the tobacco and vaping industries are marketing e-cigarettes to young people with flavors including watermelon, tutti frutti and cotton candy while the vapor has nicotine derived from tobacco. He said “vaping” is a gateway to cigarette smoking.

“Now we are exposing a whole new generation of millenials to this fashionable way of smoking tobacco in a way that is going to jeopardize their lives,” Stone said. The measure next goes to the Assembly for consideration.

http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-california-senate-votes-to-restrict-ecigarettes-like-tobacco-products-20150602-story.html

Reuters: California Senate votes to raise smoking age to 21 from 18

LOS ANGELES | BY ALEX DOBUZINSKIS
The California Senate voted on Tuesday to raise the legal smoking age in the most populous U.S. state to 21 from 18, in a move that could make California one of the states with the highest smoking age.
The measure was approved by the Senate 26-8 and must now be approved by the state Assembly.
“We will not sit on the sidelines while big tobacco markets to our kids and gets another generation of young people hooked on a product that will ultimately kill them,” Senator Ed Hernandez, a Democrat and the bill’s author, said.
“Tobacco companies know that people are more likely to become addicted to smoking if they start at a young age,” Hernandez added in a statement.
The Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, has said that increasing the smoking age to 21 would result in more than 200,000 fewer premature deaths nationally for those born between 2000 and 2019.
The Cigar Association of America opposed the bill, contending that 18-year-olds can serve in the military, vote and sign contracts and should thus enjoy the right to smoke, according to the Los Angeles Times.
David Sutton, a spokesman for Altria Group Inc, the parent of Philip Morris USA, said in an emailed statement that Altria believed states should defer to the federal government and “allow FDA and Congress the opportunity to think through this issue further before enacting different minimum age laws.”
Representatives for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, a unit of Reynolds American Inc, did not return calls seeking comment.
Hawaii lawmakers approved a measure in April to raise the smoking age to 21, and that is awaiting the state governor’s signature. Democratic Governor David Ige has not indicated whether he will sign the measure, and has until June 29 to decide whether to veto it, a spokeswoman for his office said.
Since 2013, New York City has required tobacco purchasers to be 21 or older, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. No state has a smoking age that high, but Alabama, Alaska, Utah and New Jersey set it at 19.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis and Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Sandra Maler)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/02/us-usa-smoking-california-idUSKBN0OI2EI20150602

Opinion: Cigarette smoking’s growing income gap

By: Peter Orszag

The income gap between smokers and nonsmokers has grown. And it’s something companies may need to address directly in their efforts to help employees kick the habit.

Over the past several decades, smoking rates have fallen sharply among high-income, highly educated Americans and not as much for less educated, low-income people. The result is that, in 2013, the smoking rate exceeded 20 percent for people with a high school degree or less while among those with a graduate degree it was just 5.6 percent. Among people living in poverty, smoking was almost twice as common (29 percent) as among those at or above the poverty line (16 percent).

The good news is that the financial incentives many companies are considering, and some are now using, to help people quit smoking can work, as a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine shows. The researchers randomly assigned employees of CVS Caremark and their relatives and friends to different groups, which were given various financial incentives to stop smoking. This study did two fabulous things that are unfortunately quite unusual in the corporate wellness field: It used a randomized controlled trial (to boost confidence in the causality of its results), and it paid careful attention to the teachings of behavioral economics – testing, for example, whether carrots or sticks were more effective.

The results were encouraging. People who were told they would receive an individual bonus of $800 for quitting stopped at almost three times the rate of those not offered any direct financial inventive. Behavioral theory generally suggests, though, that loss aversion would work even better. In other words, if subjects made an initial deposit that they would stand to lose if they failed to quit, that would provide an even stronger incentive. And that was indeed the case, the researchers found, but people had to be willing to make the deposit in the first place. And because many were not willing to do that, the bonus approach was more effective overall. So unless a company finds a way to force its employees to follow the stick approach, the bonus works better.

These findings were widely reported in the news, but one thing went largely if not entirely unnoticed: A table in the appendix to the study showed that, for each of the four kinds of interventions studied, the share of high-income smokers who quit – those earning $60,000 or more – was larger than that of lower-income smokers. The reason, according to the study’s lead author, is that lower-income smokers were less willing to participate under any of the incentive programs offered. That was true despite the bonus or deposit being the same dollar amount for everyone, and therefore a higher share of income for lower-paid workers.

Reducing smoking among any group of employees is a good thing, and companies should act on this new research. At the same time, it is reasonable to be concerned about the gap in smoking rates by socioeconomic status, which is one of the forces widening the gaps in life expectancy by education and income. To reverse this trend, disproportionately larger dollar bonuses may be needed to get lower earners to quit.

Contact Peter Orszag at porszag3@bloomberg.net

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2015/05/26/cigarette-smokings-growing-income-gap/27977649/

Forum editorial: Minnesota tobacco use down

The anti-tobacco work of ClearWay Minnesota in conjunction with other tobacco cessation efforts has had remarkable results in reducing smoking rates among all age groups in Minnesota. It’s a record worthy of high praise. It’s unambiguous evidence that focused, science-based anti-tobacco campaigns can work.

Numbers released last week by ClearWay show only 14.4 percent of Minnesotans smoke cigarettes, down from 22.1 percent in 1999. The decline through the time period has been steady, and corresponds to increased education and imposition of legal restrictions on smoking in public places. Add new medical research about second-hand smoke, and graphic anti-smoking television advertising, and it appears the multi-faceted message is getting through.

But not to every age cohort.

In ClearWay statistics from 2010 to 2014, smoking hardly dipped at all (1 percent) in the 25-44 year-old group, from 19.7 percent to 18.7 percent. A similar slight improvement was measured in the 45-64 year-old cohort, compared with a huge drop (from 21.8 percent to 15.3 percent) in Minnesotans age 18-24. Which could lead to the conclusion that some Minnesotans don’t get smarter as they age. But whatever the reason, the overall percentages of all Minnesotans who smoke is down over the longer study period, and that’s good news for smokers who quit, non-smokers and reduced impacts on health costs associated with tobacco use. The trends are good.

ClearWay is not resting on its excellent record. In the eight years it has left in its mandate (funded by the national tobacco settlement of a few years back), the agency’s agenda includes raising cigarette taxes, which all studies show discourage young people from purchasing tobacco, and raising the age for tobacco purchases from 18 to 21. Again, research finds that raising the age to beyond high school age contributes to fewer high school students trying tobacco. New York City and Hawaii have already taken that step.

There is still much to be accomplished to achieve as smoke-free a society as possible. A lot has been done, often led by private sector companies that banned smoking from the workplace before cities and states enacted overall smoking bans in buildings and, in many instances, outdoor public spaces. Decades of research into smoking-related illness and death, and the proven health hazards of secondhand smoke, have been the underpinnings of changing public policy. ClearWay’s work and similar complementary efforts have been pivotal in changing the way enlightened Americans view tobacco use.

Forum editorials represent the opinion of Forum management and the newspaper’s Editorial Board.

http://www.inforum.com/opinion/editorials/3751883-forum-editorial-minnesota-tobacco-use-down