“Healthy Holmes Healthy Communities”
Governor Charlie Crist has proclaimed March 21 through March 28 as Tobacco Free Florida Week to promote the Florida Quitline and local cessation services while raising awareness of the impact of secondhand smoke among at-risk populations.
During the week, Floridians will be encouraged to recommend friends and loved ones to contact the Florida Quitline for help in overcoming their addition.
“Tobacco Free Florida Week is a statewide call to action that is essential in spreading the word about the dangers of secondhand smoke,” said Kim Berfield, Deputy Secretary of the Florida Department of Health.
Statistics from The Florida Bureau of Tobacco Prevention shine light on the prevalence of tobacco usage within Holmes County. Survey results show that 62.7 percent of county middle school students and 62.1 percent of county high school students confirmed exposure to secondhand smoke. In 2008, 21.4 percent of mothers reported smoking during their pregnancy and current estimates suggest that there has been no significant decline in these percentages.
Project GreenVax Makes Vaccines Out of Tobacco Plants Instead of Eggs
Did you get a H1N1 flu shot? You can thank unhatched chicken eggs for that. But a new venture dubbed Project GreenVax aims to take animals completely out of the equation by making vaccines with tobacco plants.
In traditional influenza vaccine production, scientists inject the virus into fluid surrounding a chicken embryo. After many days of incubation, the eggs are opened and the virus is removed and purified to make a vaccine. It’s a slow process–it takes two weeks to make an egg-based vaccine. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates it would take a whopping 900 million eggs to make 300 million doses of vaccine.
Enter Project GreenVax, a venture spearheaded by the Texas Plant-Expressed Vaccine Consortium that plans to use plants instead of eggs to make high-yield, low-cost influenza vaccines. The venture has received $61 million in funding from the TPVC and DARPA for its approach, which involves infecting tobacco plant leaves with a virus, grinding up the leaves, and separating the antigens.
GreenVax is beginning construction next week on its 13,500-square-meter facility at the Texas A&M Health Science Center in Bryant, Texas. When completed in approximately 8 weeks, the prefab facility will house nine modular pods to grow tobacco plants and perform research.
There’s still plenty of work to be done before we start getting injected with plant-based vaccines. FDA rules for the vaccines are still a bit dicey, for one. That’s because scientists haven’t been able to produce a single approved plant-based vaccine in over a decade of research. But if GreenVax succeeds, the company could save lives in the case of a pandemic–while it would take the entire planet’s labs 12 months to make three billion doses of H1N1 vaccine using the egg approach, GreenVax claims that its single facility in Texas could scale up to generate 100 million vaccines each month.
Altria profit up but cigarette volumes shrivel
Altria Group Inc. said Thursday that its fourth quarter earnings rose 7% even as cigarette volumes continued to shrivel, and the tobacco titan said the business outlook for 2010 remains challenging.
Altria (MO 19.61, +0.24, +1.24%) earned $725 million, or 35 cents a share, in the quarter
ended , from $679 million, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue at the Richmond, Va.-based maker of Marlboro cigarettes rose 29% to $6.01 billion from $4.65 billion.
On an adjusted basis, the company said it would have earned 39 cents a share in the latest quarter.
The average estimate of analysts polled by FactSet Research had been for the company to earn 40 cents a share on revenue of $4.17 billion.
The company said the business environment for 2010 is likely to remain challenging, as adult consumers remain under economic pressure and face high unemployment.
Its tobacco operating companies also continue to see competitive promotional activity. It also expects that continuing state budget issues may lead to excise tax increase proposals in many states in 2010.
Altria forecast that its 2010 profit to be $1.78 to $1.82 a share, including estimated charges of 7 cents a share related to exit, integration and implementation costs, UST-acquisition related costs and SABMiller (UK:SAB 1,666, -32.00, -1.88%) special items.
Excluding items, profit is forecast to be $1.85 to $1.89 a share.
Altria spun off Philip Morris International (PM 45.70, +0.17, +0.37%) at the end of March
2008 in a move designed to separate the fast-growing overseas cigarette business from a U.S. unit hobbled by litigation worries, huge payments to states and seemingly inexorable year-on-year volume declines.
About a year ago, it closed on the acquisition of smokeless tobacco and wine maker UST.
During the period, Philip Morris USA’s domestic cigarette shipment was down 11.4% while its flagship Marlboro brand’s retail share was down 0.4 percentage point to 41.7%.
On the brighter side, smokeless tobacco brands Copenhagen and Skoal’s combined volume rose 7.8% versus the prior-year period, driven by the successful launch of Copenhagen Long Cut Wintergreen
“Marlboro displayed resiliency in an intensely competitive promotional environment, and we are also pleased with the strong retail share and volume growth of Copenhagen in the fourth quarter of 2009,” said Michael Szymanczyk, chief executive, in the earnings report.
How I stubbed out cigarettes
A SOUTH Yorkshire mum kicked her 20-a-day habit with the help of a scheme encouraging people to keep their homes and cars smoke-free.
Nicole Shackley from Mexborough signed up to the Smokefree Homes initiative and believes it is helping her stay focused and motivated to keep away from the cigs.
The voluntary scheme is run by NHS Rotherham, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, Rotherham 2010 and Voluntary Action Rotherham and aims to raise awareness of the hazards of tobacco smoke in people’s homes and cars.
Nicole, aged 26, a smoker for nine years, signed up to protect her son Joe from smoke. She said: “I was decorating the house one day and noticed how stained the ceilings were from the tobacco smoke, so thought if that’s what it’s doing in my home, what’s it doing inside our bodies?”
Since making the change she is enjoying a cleaner and fresher house, and is spending the money she saves on fresh ingredients and cook books.
She added: “Having a smoke-free home has really helped me to stop smoking and stay quit.”
‘Furniture’ in container turns out to be cigarettes
A container declared as carrying furniture was actually a cover to smuggle cigarettes worth about RM1mil.
The Selangor Customs Department foiled the smuggling attempt following a tip-off, said its director Roslan Yusof.
Upon inspecting the container, the officers found cigarettes worth RM1.72mil. The unpaid levy for the cigarettes amounted to RM4.23mil. The cigarette packets carried the Malaysian Government’s warning label but not the duty stamp, he said.
Roslan added that the shipment had come from Cambodia to Port Klang. He said a company director would be detained soon to help with investigations.
The officers also seized a variety of liquor from a store at Jalan Bukit Rahman Putra in Sungai Buloh on the same day. The liquor was worth RM248,424 with an undeclared levy of RM379, 001.97.
Roslan said the owner of the premises had been identified and would be questioned soon.
He said the enforcement unit also foiled an attempt to smuggle in kretek cigarettes valued at RM102,672 with an unpaid duty of RM318,762.72 on Jan 25.
Roslan said the officers intercepted two vans at Batang Berjuntai on Jan 25. The drivers of both the vans managed to escape after abandoning their vehicles at an oil palm plantation.
Councilman Proposes Tobacco Sales Buffer Around Schools
Following the Los Angeles City Council’s approval of a marijuana dispensary ordinance that would establish a 1,000 buffer zone around schools, Councilman Bernard Parks has proposed to establish such a zone for tobacco sales.
While few would argue that it’s advantageous to have a pot shop within 1,000 feet of a school, we’re guessing that merchants, especially proprietors who’ve sold groceries and other necessities for years, will be up in arms over this one: Many mom-and-pop shops are near or even across the street from schools.
Parks’ proposal, however, leaves the door open to a law that “grandfathers existing tobacco retailers in close proximity to schools,” but with the caveat that they would face tougher penalties if they’re caught selling cigarettes to minors and with a blackout of sales during school hours.
“Currently, there are no zoning regulations or local laws that prohibit tobacco sales near schools,” Parks writes in his motion. “Community advocates and concerned parents have expressed their desire for policy solutions to address tobacco sales near schools.”
ITC Net Profit Jumps 27%
ITC Ltd., India’s largest cigarette maker by sales, Friday posted a 27% rise in second quarter net profit, helped by an overall strong performance in all its business operations.
Net profit for the October-December period rose to 11.44 billion rupees ($247 million) from 9.03 billion rupees a year earlier, the company said in a statement.
Net sales increased 18% to 45.32 billion rupees from 38.33 billion rupees, helped by higher sales at its tobacco and non-tobacco consumer goods segments, agribusiness and paperboards business.
The results beat analysts’ expectations. A Dow Jones Newswires poll of 10 analysts, on average, expected net profit at 10.80 billion rupees on revenue of 44.32 billion rupees.
ITC, in which British American Tobacco PLC (BTI) owns a 32% stake, said gross revenue from cigarettes rose 13% to 44.23 billion rupees.
Pre-tax losses for the non-tobacco consumer goods segment narrowed to 860.3 million rupees from 1.27 billion rupees a year earlier, while gross revenue grew 24% to 8.92 billion rupees.Quarterly revenue from ITC’s hotels business fell 2.2% to 2.65 billion rupees.
Gross revenue from the company’s paperboard, packaging and printing business grew 26% to 8.45 billion rupees.
Revenue from agribusiness, which involves trading in commodities such as rice, soybeans, coffee and leaf tobacco, rose 46% to 9.05 billion rupees.
Smokers, soda drinkers, students to feel budget pain
It’s a budget that hurts almost everyone — from smokers who would pay $1 more for a pack of cigarettes, to lovers of sugared beverages who would pay a penny more an ounce, to students at public universities who would see their grants lowered.
It’s a spending plan that is full of wish lists and that again proposes selling wine in supermarkets, collecting taxes on Indian- sold cigarettes and closing four prisons in hard-hit upstate counties.
“The days of continuing taxation and the days of continuous spending have got to end,” Gov. David A. Paterson told lawmakers in a theater near the Capitol as he announced the 2010 spending plan that he calls a “recovery budget.”
“The era of irresponsibility has got to stop,” he said. “The age of accountability has arrived.”
To help erase a $7.4 billion deficit, the governor wants to cut $5.5 billion and add $1 billion in taxes and fees.
He urged them to choose “responsibility over popularity” and to join him in standing up to special interests that will demand spending restorations and that have been “demonstrating no responsibility for the times in which we are in.”
“The mistakes of the past … squandering surpluses, papering over deficits, relying on irresponsible gimmicks to finance unsustainable spending increases … have led us to a financial breaking point,” Paterson said.
Even though the cuts far outweigh new taxes and fees, the budget grows slightly because of increases in Medicaid and social services, plus increases in state worker pensions and wages contained in previously signed union contracts. The budget will total $134 billion, which the governor says is 0.6 percent higher than the current year’s fiscal plan but below the expected 2 percent inflation rate.
The budget also counts on another $430 million in revenues that don’t increase fees or taxes, such as more aggressive tax enforcement, and $565 million in various fiscal maneuvers that result in one-year savings … known as one-shots.
The budget also envisions about $4.6 billion in federal stimulus funds coming to New York from last year’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The stimulus pot for 2010 would have been more, but the Legislature grabbed $400 million earmarked for 2010 when it closed a 2009 deficit in December.
Among the major areas covered in the spending plan:
• School aid: Aid will drop by $1.1 billion to an overall level of $20.5 billion, although that follows a 72 percent increase over the past decade.
Paterson said his plan will be based on a district’s wealth and student need formula. That means wealthier suburban districts will take a relatively larger hit than city districts such as Buffalo.
To ameliorate some of the cuts to schools, Paterson proposes steps to help them save money, such as a four-year moratorium on state-imposed mandates that do not include funding to pay for them and repeal of the Wicks Law, a union-friendly statute that drives up construction costs for public works projects like new school buildings.
• SUNY and tuition: The state university system is also in line for major state aid cuts, with state support declining by $118 million and cuts in state payments to community colleges coming to $285 per student, or about $80 million. Students would see individual Tuition Assistance Program awards cut by $75, merit award scholarships eliminated and graduate students ineligible to get TAP awards.
In return, SUNY colleges would get broad new powers to set their own tuition rates, and tuition overall would be permitted to increase based on an inflation formula that the administration believes will help families plan for annual tuition increases.
• Cigarettes and soft drinks: Many of the governor’s proposals for tax increases are tapped for specific purposes. For instance, the $1-per-pack increase in the cigarette tax — to $3.75 — and a tax on beverages containing sugar — one cent per ounce — would go to health care programs.
Paterson said the tobacco tax will reduce smoking rates by 14 percent by making the product too costly for some smokers, while the soda tax will control rising obesity levels, especially in children. Paterson believes that consumption of sugared beverages could drop as much as 10 percent.
• Indian tax collection: Paterson is ordering the tax department to end a policy of “forbearance” on the collection of taxes on cigarette sales by Indian retailers to non-Indian consumers.
While he said he respects Indian sovereignty, Paterson said he is taking a first step that would lead to wholesalers ending tax-free sales of cigarettes to the tribes — a divisive issue for the state and its tribes for two decades. Paterson said he wants to create “equality of opportunity” for non-Indian retailers who have been put at a competitive disadvantage.
The state will ask a state court in Buffalo to lift the current injunction on collecting taxes on Indian cigarette sales. He said the tax agency will take six months to consider public comments on soon-to-be-proposed regulations on the matter.
Paterson said he will work with the Indian tribes to enact the tax collection in “a peaceful and efficient manner.” He did not say how that would work, a key lapse since Indian tribes, led by the Seneca Nation, have repeatedly said the tax-free sales are protected by long-held treaty rights.
During this morning’s address to lawmakers, a handful applauded his vow to begin collecting taxes on Indian cigarette sales - otherwise, lawmakers sat on their hands during most of the speech.” This is no disrespect to the Indian Nations,” Paterson said, adding that he will continue to negotiate with the tribes on the long-simmering dispute.” They need an opportunity to survive,” Paterson said of the non-Indian stores.
No revenues, however, are expected in the coming fiscal year that begins April 1 from taxes on Indian cigarette sales, Paterson said, because the tax collection regulations have yet to be drafted. A state law is already on the books to carry out the edict.
• Aid to local governments: This fund will will drop as much as 5 percent. For Buffalo, a 1 percent cut is proposed, resulting in a $1.7 million cut from current state assistance. Most suburban towns and villages in the region will see this kind of state aid sliced 5 percent.
• STAR property tax: The budget calls for some modest changes to the STAR property tax program, such as cutting benefits to homes worth more than $1.5 million.
• Other cuts: Virtually every area of the budget is on the governor’s cut list, including an $80 million trim for the state’s Environmental Protection Fund. Paterson would impose a moratorium on state purchases of forest preserves and open space.
State Police cadet training classes would be delayed until 2011, resulting in about 250 fewer troopers. Four prisons — in Clinton, Wayne, Essex and St. Lawrence counties — would shut down. The administration said the closings can be accommodated because the prison system has seen a steady drop in inmate levels in recent years.
The budget also seeks to consolidate some courts and state agencies. Summer youth programs would be cut, as would planned increases in public assistance grants. Some psychiatric wards would be shut down, as would some highway rest stops. Critics say the plan will force some parks to close, and maintenance and snow removal spending for roads is cut.
A long-criticized fiscal gimmick … which saw the Thruway provide free maintenance for a downstate highway … would end, with the state picking up the costs.
The governor also wants to raise money by installing cameras on highway work zone areas and roads with “dangerous” stretches. It would be worth $71 million a year.
The state would get out of the business of dog licensing, leaving it—and the revenues— to localities.
• No layoffs: The governor proposes no layoffs of state workers but counts on another pay freeze for non-union state workers. Unions have refused to amend their contracts to permit pay freezes or furloughs. Paterson expects that the portion of the state work force he controls — which totals about 131,000 employees and does not include agencies such as SUNY — will drop by about 625 positions by spring 2011.
• Wine in grocery stores: By permitting grocery stores to sell wine — a long-fought battle between the food and liquor stores — the governor plans to add $93 million in tax revenues.
• Other revenue sources: A tax also would be imposed on the natural gas coming from the Marcellus Shale formation in the Southern Tier, and the state would legalize — to get money — mixed-martial arts contests known as ultimate fighting.
To attract gambling dollars, Paterson proposes a 24-hour-a-day Quick Draw, a game that treatment experts deride as Crack Draw for its addictive ways. The game is now permitted to be played 13 hours a day.
Paterson’s budget would make it more expensive to file a case with the state’s court system, which he says is designed to help slow the number of frivolous cases. The move, however, would also raise $41 million for the cash-starved state.
• Spending cap: The governor is again pushing his state spending cap idea, which would hold spending below the inflation rate. If that is achieved, the resulting $1 billion in savings could be passed along in 2011 to fund a property tax relief effort — worth about $1,000 per recipient — aimed at lower-and middle-income homeowners. Lawmakers last year rejected his spending cap idea.
“The only way we can emerge from this crisis is through shared sacrifice,” Paterson said a letter to New Yorkers. “We must stand up and demonstrate that we can make the tough decisions necessary to address our financial difficulties with honesty, forthrightness and candor.”
Court Reverses Ohio Victory Over Cigarette Ad
An Ohio appeals court has reversed a decision that a cigarette company’s advertisement in Rolling Stone magazine violated a tobacco industry settlement.
Ohio and several other states brought lawsuits over an R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. ad in Rolling Stone that ran alongside a November 2007 feature story illustrated with drawings.
Ohio officials and the lower court said the ad’s placement amounted to using cartoons to sell cigarettes, violating a promise in the industry’s 1998 settlement with multiple states.
The appeals court in Columbus ruled Thursday that Reynolds had no say in the content that Rolling Stone chose to run next to the ad.
The ruling overturns a 2008 decision in the state’s favor. Ohio attorney general’s office spokeswoman Kim Kowalski says the office has not yet decided whether to appeal.
Study Shows Teens More Likely To Drink Alcohol Than Smoke Cigarettes
New research says teens see smoking as being riskier than drinking alcohol or other drug use.News 12’s Jennifer Hudspeth tells us why teens are more likely to pass up a cigarette and why they feel drinking is more acceptable.She’s involved in eight different activities at Loyola High School, but there’s one teenage trend Taylor Clements says she’ll never try… Smoking…Taylor says, “It’s just not even an option, not even something I would consider doing.”And Taylor’s not alone… according to research from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, there are many teens just saying ‘NO’.Taylor says, “I think everybody knows it’s bad, some people might try it once just to see what it’s like but everybody knows the consequences of it and knows it’s not the best decision to make so I think a lot of people stay away from that.”In fact the national study says about 70 percent of 12 to 17 years old see great risk in smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.Mike McGinnis says, “The information is pretty clear cut in terms of the risks of tobacco use and to me it’s very encouraging in terms of kids getting messages.”Jennifer Hudspeth says, “While teens are definitely get the message that smoking is unhealthy, that message gets a little blurry when it comes to drinking and drug use.”McGinnis says, “Alcohol again, this has been a multigenerational issue and drugs always becomes complicated simply because there’s always something new coming along.”Only 40 percent of teens saw binge drinking as risky behavior, and only 34 percent saw great risk in smoking marijuana on a monthly basis.Liz Schmidt says, “It’s something that can make themselves feel good just for the moment and it doesn’t last just for the moment, it has long tem consequences like addictions, things they might not think about at the time.”Whether it’s drugs, drinking or smoking… Taylor will turn it down, and she hopes others will do the same.Taylor says, “I’m confident in the choices that I make, and I know I’m making healthier choices and I hope other people will start to realize that and everybody sees that binge drinking or smoking aren’t the best things to do and just stay healthy, and stay away from it.”In Mankato, Jennifer Hudspeth News 12.
