New year's resolutions: can you really change your life?

The dawn of a new year is when we make pledges for self-improvement. But by the end of January, 90% of us will be back to our old ways. So can human beings really make lasting changes to their behaviour? If so, how? Irma Kurtz, agony aunt at Cosmopolitan for 40 years, and philosopher Jules Evans try to work out a formula for success. Joanna Moorhead listens in. Irma Kurtz: There are some things we can't change – our lineage or our genes or our animal urges. But practically anything else we can … and I think we're the only animals who can do that. Jules Evans: I'm not sure I'm very good at changing myself, or that I'm a self-controlled or morally good person. But about 10 years ago I did manage to change, over the course of about a year. I managed to get out of a phase of anxiety and depression. From that I've taken the idea that you can change yourself – but it's definitely hard work, and you need a really strong motive to do it. IK: A lot of change depends on accepting what can be changed – you need to know what's unchangeable as well. JE: I got into philosophy through cognitive therapy. And one of the tenets of that is that acceptance is active, not passive. It's actually quite transformative to allow yourself to like yourself. IK: Acceptance is success, not failure – sometimes change isn't for the better.

Smoking and tobacco: news and resources round up

Research has found that more than a third of smokers still believe that the health risks associated with smoking are "greatly exaggerated". The Department of health has responded with this hard-hitting campaign showing the direct link between smoking and cancer. As well as highlighting health risks to your students, this video could be a good starting point for a debate on the impact of advertising, too. The tobacco atlas of the world - map This fascinating data map, the tobacco atlas, published by the American Cancer Society and World Lung Foundation, looks at key indicators of the tobacco industry from cigarette consumption to share of the total cigarette market by country. There's some analysis of the data here too. Why Zimbabwe's tobacco industry is unhappy with WHO

Branded Cigarettes More Attractive

As a major tobacco company continues to lobby against plain packaging new research shows smokers find branded packets more appealing, stylish and sophisticated. British American Tobacco (BAT) - which represents nearly three-quarters of the country's tobacco market - launched a major advertising campaign against plain packaging earlier this month. It is in response to a Government consultation document which proposes stopping tobacco companies using the design of packaging to promote their Lucky Strike discount Cigarettes.

BAT's main focus in the campaign is that plain packaging shows New Zealand has little respect for international brands and says this will cause trade problems. "New Zealand has signed a number of international trade agreements which are very clear about the need to protect intellectual property," general manager of BATNZ Steve Rush said. However, those in favor of plain packaging say tobacco companies are only concerned that the change will reduce the number of smokers - a statement backed up by research revealed this week.

Health minister powerless against cigarette stickers

Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek says she cannot do anything to stop stickers being placed on plain-packed cigarettes. Ms Plibersek, however, says she is confident the stickers will not undermine the Government's efforts to reduce smoking rates. The Government's plain packaging laws came into effect just over a month ago. But it has also been a month since a Queensland company launched the stickers, which are designed to cover the plain packets and are marked with the slogan "It's your box, it's your choice".

New push at Capitol to outlaw electronic cigarettes for kids

To a state senator, nicotine is nicotine regardless of whether the product delivering it is chewed, smoked or inhaled as mist, and all forms should be illegal for minors. SB 1209, authored by Senate Majority Whip Adam Driggs, R-Phoenix, would add electronic cigarettes to a list of products including cigars, cigarettes and chewing tobacco that are illegal for minors to possess. “These new products have a lot of the same materials and the same concerns, so it’s basically just updating our current laws with modern changes in the industry,” Driggs said. Similar bills have been proposed for the last several years but failed to pass both chambers. “I think it’s a meritorious bill,” Driggs said. “We already have the underlying bill that we want to keep cigarettes and other tobacco products from our children.” The Senate’s Judiciary and Commerce, Energy and Military committees unanimously endorsed Driggs’ bill this week, sending it to the floor by way of the Rules Committee. Don Isaacson, who represents tobacco company Reynolds American, said electronic cigarettes aren’t intended to appeal to children. “The main attraction (of electronic cigarettes) appears to be allowing people who currently smoke cigarettes to get off of smoking,” he said. Isaacson noted that a recent law against selling hookah pipes to minors has been successful. HB 2034, passed in 2012, made selling the pipes to minors or minors possessing them a petty offense. As with the hookah pipe law, Driggs’ bill would make it a petty offense for minors to possess electronic cigarettes and for others to sell, provide or give them to minors. Electronic cigarettes heat liquid solutions containing nicotine, which users inhale as mist. This does away with the smell, smoke and many of the harmful carcinogens in traditional cigarettes, said Ben Palmer, spokesman for Tobacco Free Arizona. “A lot of folks think it’s safe,” he said. However, electronic cigarettes can be just as dangerous for children, he said. “It still mimics the behavioral aspects of smoking,” he said. “It looks too much like smoking and precipitates the notion that smoking is cool.”

The Night They Burned Tobacco Down

By Jim Callahan, Convenience Store Solutions

I recently saw a statistic that declared tobacco was no longer king in convenience stores. While that is not yet true for most of us, it’s about to become an indisputable fact.

The entire country now gets to enjoy the extra $6.10 per carton federal tax. Now my home state of Georgia is not satisfied with its measly $3.70 per carton tobacco tax and is keen on following the feds lead.

Tobacco Companies Fight Display Ban In Britain

Britain’s three biggest tobacco companies are fighting for the right to display their products, asking for a judicial review of the Government’s upcoming ban on the display of cigarettes and other tobacco products in stores, Brand Republic reported. Britain’s Health Act 2009 requires all cigarettes, cigars, pipe and rolling tobacco products to be hidden from view in England, Wales and Northern Ireland starting October 2011 in large shops and beginning October 2013 in smaller stores. “The display ban will damage both competition and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of small businesses by imposing high compliance costs on them,” said Michelle Healy, general manager of British American Tobacco UK. “Driving the legal trade from public view will also play into the hands of illegal traders.”

Commonwealth Brands To Relocate

Tobacco company Commonwealth Brands is relocating its headquarters, WBKO News reported. Now stationed in Bowling Green, Ky., Commonweath Brands is moving its headquarters to Goodlettsville, Tenn. Some 83 employees will make the move, no later than April of 2011. Formed in Bowling Green, Ky., in 1991, Commonwealth Brands also has a cigarette manufacturing plant in North Carolina. It is a subsidiary of the Imperial Tobacco, which bought Commonwealth in 2007.

Selling Tobacco Products: How To Obtain Cigarette License.

A Tobacco license or a retail cigarette/tobacco license is a legal document issued by the concerned state department (as well as city/county) which signifies that a business is legally allowed to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products in accordance with the state law from a specified location to the consumers who are allowed to buy them.
What Is Retail Tobacco License?