Smoking menthol cigarettes may make butting out for good harder: study
TORONTO (CP) - Menthol and regular cigarettes appear to be equally harmful to the cardiovascular system and lungs, but smokers of menthols may have a harder time butting out for good, new research suggests. In a study that followed more than 1,500 smokers over 15 years, U.S. researchers found that those who smoked menthol cigarettes in 1985 were more likely to still be smoking in 2000: almost 7...
Payment processing firm to stop servicing unlawful online tobacco retailers
New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo Wednesday announced an agreement in which Creative Cash Flow Solutions, Inc. will stop providing electronic payment processing services to online tobacco retailers, which illegally sell cigarettes over the internet. When the unlawful nature of online tobacco sales was brought to their attention, Long Island-based CCFS immediately agreed to cease prov...
Tobacco Companies Cut Marketing Spending
WASHINGTON (AP) -- After setting a record high in 2003, tobacco companies spent less money marketing and advertising their products in 2004 and 2005, a federal agency said Thursday. Promotional spending by the five largest U.S. cigarette makers dropped to $14.15 billion in 2004, down from $15.15 billion in the previous year, and fell further to $13.1 billion in 2005, according to a report issue...
Cigarette smuggling case winds down
Federal prosecutors are wrapping up -- without going to trial -- an investigation of eight people accused of smuggling millions of dollars worth of cigarettes from North Idaho to tribal smoke shops in western Washington. A trial date was cancelled Friday with guilty pleas from four final defendants, including accused ringleader Louie Mahoney, of Plummer, Idaho. The latest guilty pleas came e...
Ban cigarettes from school campuses
Everyone claims they believe school children shouldn't smoke. Everyone claims adults should set good examples for school children. But not everyone wants to back up their words with action. On Wednesday, April 18, something inexplicable happened in the Education Committee of the Tennessee Senate - two local senators, Bill Ketron and Jim Tracy, voted to kill a ban on smoking on school grounds. (...
JT completes Gallaher takeover
Japan Tobacco finished the takeover of Britain's Gallaher Group for $ 15 billion Wednesday, both sides said, in the biggest Japanese overseas acquisition ever. The move also allows Japan Tobacco Inc., the world's third-largest cigarette company, to expand outside of Japan, which has seen declining smoking rates. The takeover of Gallaher, the maker of Silk Cut and Benson & Hedges cigarettes, ...
Agency sued over seized cigarettes
Five Kentucky-based wholesalers and one based in Southern Indiana are suing the Kentucky Revenue Department, alleging that cigarettes they are distributing are being unfairly seized. The wholesalers and their trade association, the Kentucky Tobacco & Candy Association, claim the state is taking packs on which the 30-cent tax was properly paid because machines that affix the tax stamps miss some...
Smokers Stock Up Across State Line
BETHANY, Mo. -- Iowa's recent cigarette sales tax hike has turned out to be a boon for Missouri businesses. More than two weeks ago, Iowa raised the tax by $1 a pack to $1.36. Missouri's tax is 17 cents per pack. Supporters said the extra tax money would both help pay for health care and cut down on smoking. It has also resulted in many smokers shopping across the state line for cigarettes. ...
Illegal cigarettes up in smoke under tough new campaign
Law enforcement agencies in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho Friday destroyed more than 200,000 packs of smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes in the battle against the illicit tobacco trade in Vietnam. The burnt cigarettes, worth over VND1 billion (US$62,309) and bearing the Jet and Hero brand names, came under the radar to be confiscated since last October. The two brands make up some 91 perce...
Agency sued over seized cigarettes
Five Kentucky-based wholesalers and one based in Southern Indiana are suing the Kentucky Revenue Department, alleging that cigarettes they are distributing are being unfairly seized. The wholesalers and their trade association, the Kentucky Tobacco & Candy Association, claim the state is taking packs on which the 30-cent tax was properly paid because machines that affix the tax stamps miss som...