Teen Smokers Become Adult Smokers

A new study from Sweden reveals that having low peer status in adolescence is a strong risk factor for regular and heavy smoking in adulthood. Researchers from Stockholm University in Sweden used a large database that followed the lives of more than 15 000 Swedes, mainly from the Stockholm area, from birth to middle age. The researchers isolated 2 329 people who were interviewed once at age 13 about peer status at school and again at age 32 about their smoking habits. The results indicate that the lower a young person's status is among his or her school peers, the more likely that person is to become a regular (less than 20 cigarettes per day) or heavy (20+ cigarettes) smoker in adulthood.

Smoking Ban and Tobacco Use, Montgomery County

Montgomery County leaders are considering tightening restrictions on tobacco use again, this time with a smoking ban on any property owned or leased by county government. The ban—proposed by Councilwoman Nancy Floreen—would apply to the land around recreation centers and county buildings, for example, but not bus shelters and sidewalks, The Examiner reported. Floreen, a breast cancer survivor, will announce more details at a news conference Thursday timed to coincide with the Great American Smokeout, which the American Cancer Society holds to try to cut into the nation’s 44 million smokers.

Mills County Plan to Quit Smoking

Sheri Bowen wants Mills County to be healthier. The Mills County Public Health administrator is encouraging residents that smoke cigarettes to use the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout as a starting point for quitting. “ We're asking folks to consider stopping smoking,” she said. Bowen said some residents plan to quit on the Smokeout date, Nov. 15, while others are using the day to focus on a “quit date.”

Teenagers Prefer Flavored Tobacco

On a day when trick- or- treaters and candy reign supreme, Tobacco Free Florida is warning parents to pay attention to candy flavored cigars and snuff, which it says are being marketed to teens. One in three high school students reports they have tried smoking cigarettes at least once. Teen smoking level mirrors those of adults; just under one in five. That’s down from 27 percent 15 years ago when the state started its anti-smoking campaign. Now SWAT, or Students Working Against Tobacco, say they are being targeted once again through flavored tobacco. “For instance this orange tootsie roll flavor kind of looks like this cigar right here”, says Matthew Goodson, Students Working Against Tobacco. Reporter: “So you think this is an obvious attempt to market to kids?” Goodson: “I definitely agree. I definitely think so”. Students say the flavored cigars are popular on high school campus. “Maybe the smoking of cigarettes are down, but you see a lot of people smoking “blacks”, chewing tobacco”, says a local high school junior.

Cigars Taxed, Senators Smokers

More than a dozen lobbyists for retailers and tobacco companies argued Tuesday before state senators considering whether to seek an estimated $15 million or more in improved tax collections by changing how cigars are taxed. The Department of Revenue testified before the Tax Collection Technology Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee that 7-23 percent of tobacco sold in the state is not taxed as required by law. That’s because cigars are usually sold separately, unlike cigarettes and chewing tobacco, which come in packages that carry a tax stamp.

Tobacco Sales in Iceland Increased

Sales in loose tobacco in Iceland have increased by 34 percent during the first nine months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to data from the State Alcohol and Tobacco Company of Iceland (ÁTVR). At the same time, sales in cigarettes, the price of which has risen to over ISK 1,000 (USD 8, EUR 6.30), have decreased. Arnþór Indriðason, staff member at tobacco store Björk, says a lot of his customers have started to roll their own cigarettes over the last year since the price of a pack of cigarettes increased.

Tobacco-Free Campus, Virginia Cigarette Smokers

In my 20 or so years of life, I have never once smoked a cigarette. Scientific research has compiled mountains of evidence suggesting cigarette smoking is bad for one’s health. Although this is the case and I personally do not smoke cigarettes, I would never tell someone they could not smoke cigarettes, as long as they were of legal age. However, the government does not share my philosophy. On Sep. 12, the assistant secretary of health at the U.S. Department of Human Services, Howard Koh, announced the launch of a tobacco-free college campus initiative.

Australia and Tobacco Companies Rights

Australia did not violate tobacco companies' intellectual property rights by forcing them to sell cigarettes in plain packets, Australia's highest court said on Friday, killing off any domestic challenge to the plain-packet ruling. Australia's highest court in August dismissed a challenge by international cigarette companies to tough anti-tobacco marketing laws in a major test case that means from December 1, cigarettes and tobacco products must be sold in plain green packets with graphic health warnings, such as pictures of mouth cancer and other smoking-related illnesses.