Illinois considers raising age to buy tobacco products

A measure to raise the age to buy tobacco from 18 to 21 in Illinois received initial approval Tuesday, with the lawmaker behind the proposal telling colleagues he wants to make it harder for youth to pick up a lifelong habit.

“Smoking will kill you and before it kills you it will harm your lungs, your heart and other various organs,” said Chicago Democratic Sen. John Mulroe, the bill’s sponsor, before reading the surgeon general’s warning on a box of cigarettes during a committee hearing.

The bill comes as California Gov. Jerry Brown considers whether to sign legislation that would raise the tobacco-buying age to 21 in his state. Last year, Hawaii became the first state in the country to do so. Read More>

Play Ball! Just don’t chew tobacco at Fenway

A controversial piece, or more appropriately, wad, of baseball tradition will be forbidden from Fenway Park this year — the brown, sludge-like smokeless tobacco players have stuffed in their cheeks for decades and spit on the ground.

Instead, bright red “Tobacco Free” signs and flashing video billboard messages are expected to greet fans at the Red Sox home opener Monday, reminding all that tobacco products, including smokeless chew and electronic cigarettes, are prohibited.

Boston became the second US city, behind San Francisco, to ban smokeless products at ballparks. San Francisco’s prohibition started in January, and Boston’s law, adopted last fall, took effect Friday.

The campaign to rid the sport of a product rife with serious health consequences is aimed at influencing youngsters who idolize tobacco-chewing ballplayers. Read More>

A Surprisingly High Number of Major League Baseball Players Still Chew Tobacco

Last month, New York’s City Council voted to ban smokeless tobacco from ticketed sporting events, and Mayor de Blasio has said he’ll sign it into law. The vote followed the passing of similar legislation in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston, with a ban in Chicago set to take effect later this year. The ban applies to any sporting event to which tickets are sold, but it’s expected to hit Major League Baseball teams the hardest, since smokeless tobacco has long been entrenched in big-league dugouts. (It’s been banned by baseball throughout the minor leagues since 1993.) But how many ballplayers actually use smokeless tobacco? Well, a lot.

One recent estimate, from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, places the number of big-leaguers who use smokeless tobacco between 25 and 30 percent. A spokesperson for the organization says that while there aren’t many definitive recent studies, a number of things informed that estimate, including various surveys over the years, as well as informal surveys of individual teams, often by local reporters. (One survey, for instance, of 58 players invited to Red Sox spring training in 2014 found that 21, or about 36 percent, were users.) Read More>

California Legislature admits holding tobacco bills to stall threat

It was less than a week from Gov. Jerry Brown’s announcement of a historic $15 minimum wage deal to the signing ceremony in Los Angeles on Monday. So what’s the holdup for a package of equally landmark tobacco bills that passed out of the Legislature nearly a month ago and have yet to arrive on Brown’s desk?

Sweeping tobacco control bills raising California’s smoking age to 21 and treating electronic cigarettes like tobacco products have cleared the Legislature and are expected to go before Gov. Jerry Brown. Pro-vaping advocate David Hansen has testified against the vaping legislation. He argues that lawmakers are looking to tax the industry and put small store owners like himself out of business.jwhite@sacbee.com

Legislative officials acknowledged on Tuesday something they hadn’t before: the bills are being held to avert a threat from the tobacco industry to start a referendum campaign. They still have not determined when they plan to send the measures to the governor.

“Our job is to ensure the passage of these bills and not to help tobacco companies kill these bills,” Kevin Liao, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, said. “They’ve been willing to use aggressive tactics, so a tool that we have is when we release the bills to the governor.” Read More>

Government Moves To Enforce Bigger Pictorial Warnings On Tobacco Products

NEW DELHI:  The Health Ministry has written to the states and ministries to strictly enforce bigger pictorial warnings on tobacco product packs that became mandatory from April 1.

The government wants manufacturers to cover 85 per cent of a cigarette pack’s surface in health warnings, up from 20 per cent now.

The ministry says even now most tobacco products don’t carry the new warnings and it wants that to change. It has written to several ministries, government departments and states to strictly start enforcing bigger pictorial warnings on tobacco products. NDTV has accessed several of these letters with the ministry emphasising, “the effective implementation of rules requires strong support and involvement of other concerned government agencies.”

A letter has been written to the Foreign Secretary as well. “The norms of bigger pictorial warnings apply to all tobacco products even those which are imported into India. We want our missions in other counties to ensure that word gets out,” said a ministry official, requesting anonymity. Read More>

Rocky Patel of Rocky Patel Cigars to Run for President

With news breaking of cigar maker Rocky Patel’s bid for an independent campaign for President, Arthur Zaretsky — Famous Smoke Shop owner and CEO — has officially announced his support, and the backing of his heritage company, for Patel’s run: “We are overdue in nominating a common-sense candidate like Rocky Patel. I know Rocky. I believe in his platform, and that’s why I support his candidacy for President.” As the head of the country’s largest American-owned premium cigar retailer, Zaretsky is well-acquainted with the new candidate — and given Arthur’s perception of what he calls “overall, a weak field,” notes that the Famous Smoke Shop endorsement was earned on the basis of the platform established by the Rocky Patel Cigars CEO earlier today.

“I’m very concerned about our country’s future,” says Rakesh “Rocky” Patel, CEO of Rocky Patel Cigars. That concern has encouraged the premium cigar maker to make a write-in bid for President of the United States as an Independent candidate.

“Mr. Patel feels the time is right: with the first filing deadlines still 8 weeks away, he has secured enough signatures to compete in 22 states so far — including Tennessee, New Jersey, all of New England and many of the Southeast and Plains states — and is well on his way to a spot on the California, Utah, New Mexico and Texas ballots, with substantial grassroots support.” Read More>

Ohio bill would ease restrictions on indoor smoking at private clubs

Ohio lawmakers will consider adding a new exception to the state’s indoor smoking ban in a proposal that would allow smoking at more private clubs.

The idea would allow smoking in cigar clubs and other private organizations even if the club is adjacent to other buildings, such as within a strip mall.

Representatives with the American Lung Association in Ohio, American Heart Association and American Cancer Society are against the idea.

Ohio Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni, D-Boardman, and Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, are sponsoring the legislation that was introduced this past week.

“I think it would be good for economic development, not only in the Mahoning Valley but in other urban areas where there would be a desire for this,” Schiavoni said. Read More