Friends drive you to pick the butt more than kick it

Washington, June 12 (IANS) Friends can influence behaviour of your kid a lot and researchers have found that friends exert influence on their peers to both start and quit smoking, but the influence to start is stronger.

"What we found is that social influence matters. It leads nonsmoking friends into smoking and nonsmoking friends can turn smoking friends into nonsmokers," said Steven Haas, an associate professor of sociology and demography at Pennsylvania State University in the US.

However, the impact is asymmetrical - the tendency for adolescents to follow their friends into smoking is stronger, Haas explained.

There are a number of reasons why peer influence to start smoking is stronger than peer influence to quit.

"In order to become a smoker, kids need to know how to smoke, they need to know where to buy cigarettes and how to smoke without being caught, which are all things they can learn from their friends who smoke," Haas noted.

But nonsmoking friends are unlikely to have access to nicotine replacement products or organised cessation programmes to help their friends quit.

The findings may also apply to other aspects of adolescent behaviour.

"This may apply well beyond smoking," Haas said, adding, "There may be similar patterns in adolescent drinking, drug use, sex, and delinquency."

Sweets makers work to keep names off e-cigarettes

Owners of brands geared toward children of all ages are battling to keep notable names like Thin Mint, Tootsie Roll and Cinnamon Toast Crunch off the flavored nicotine used in electronic cigarettes.
Now the owners of those trademarks are fighting back to make sure their brands aren’t being used to sell an addictive drug or make it appealing to to children.
The issue of illegally using well-known brands on e-cigarette products isn’t new for some. For a couple of years, cigarette makers R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and Philip Morris USA have fought legal battles with websites selling e-cigarette liquid capitalizing on their Camel and Marlboro brand names and imagery.
The companies have since released their own e-cigarettes but without using their top-selling brand names.
“It’s the age-old problem with an emerging market,” said Linc Williams, board member of the American E-liquid Manufacturing Standards Association and an executive at NicVape Inc., which produces liquid nicotine.
“As companies goes through their maturity process of going from being a wild entrepreneur to starting to establish real corporate ethics and product stewardship, it’s something that we’re going to continue to see.”
Williams said his company is renaming many of its liquids to names that won’t be associated with well-known brands. Some companies demanded NicVape stop using brand names such as Junior Mints on their liquid nicotine.
In other cases, the company is taking proactive steps to removing imagery and names like gummy bear that could be appealing to children.
“Unfortunately it’s not going to change unless companies come in and assert their intellectual property,” he said.
And that’s what companies are starting to do more often as the industry has rocketed from thousands of users in 2006 to several million worldwide, bringing the issue to the forefront.
“We’re family oriented. A lot of kids eat our products, we have many adults also, but our big concern is we have to protect the trademark,” said Ellen Gordon, president and chief operating officer of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc.
“When you have well-known trademarks, one of your responsibilities is to protect (them) because it’s been such a big investment over the years.”
General Mills Inc., the Girl Scouts of the USA and Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. are among several companies that have sent cease-and-desist letters to makers of the liquid nicotine demanding they stop using the brands and may take further legal action if necessary.
The actions highlight the debate about the array of flavors available for the battery-powered devices that heat a liquid nicotine solution, creating vapor that users inhale. The Food and Drug Administration last month proposed regulating electronic cigarettes but didn’t immediately ban on fruit or candy flavors, which are barred for use in regular cigarettes because of the worry that the flavors are used to appeal to children.
It’s growing pains for the industry that reached nearly $2 billion in sales last year in the face of looming regulation. E-cigarette users say the devices address both the addictive and behavioral aspects of smoking without the thousands of chemicals found in regular cigarettes.
There are about 1,500 e-liquid makers in the U.S. and countless others abroad selling vials of nicotine from traditional tobacco to cherry cola on the Internet and in retail stores, often featuring photos of the popular treats. Using the brand name like Thin Mint or Fireball conjures up a very specific flavor in buyers’ minds, in a way that just “mint chocolate” or “cinnamon” doesn’t.
“Using the Thin Mint name— which is synonymous with Girl Scouts and everything we do to enrich the lives of girls— to market e-cigarettes to youth is deceitful and shameless,” Girl Scouts spokeswoman Kelly Parisi said in a statement.

Smoking campaign targets women

Former Miss Universe Rachael Finch underwent a dramatic makeover to show just how lighting up accelerates the aging process by decades.
The former beauty Queen is used to getting made up but today she underwent a transformation of a different kind - the 25-year-old was given a much older and less glamorous look.
Research shows for young women, appearance is a driving factor, in the decision to give up smoking. That's why this campaign aims to highlight the detrimental effects
It shows how cigarettes lead to deeper wrinkles a dull complexion and stained teeth. Cigarettes also prematurely age a person by 10 to 20 years.
Doctors say they see the immediate effects of smoking in patients every day.
"I feel like if they saw what I could see they wouldn't smoke," dermatologist Dr Claudia Curchin said.
"They would realise they look terrible as a result of smoking."
"It was very confronting, scary but I was really happy to do it to see, to be able to show my face and show what it can look like," Ms Finch said.The stunt was designed to show what smoking will do, to a young women's face. Figures show the habit is higher among females aged between 18 and 24.
"We are very concerned about what is an alarming upswing in the number of young women and girls that are taking up smoking and we have to something differently," Health minister Lawrence Springborg said.

In Russia, new anti-smoking law alarms tobacco giants

Tough new anti-smoking legislation that comes into force on Sunday in Russia has dismayed cigarette companies as they face the prospect of declining sales and tighter regulation of their industry.

Russia was once seen as a key emerging market for the tobacco industry with its high number of heavy smokers keen to switch to Western brands, but from June 1 there will be a blanket ban on smoking in restaurants, cafes and hotels.

In the first stage of the ban, Russia last year outlawed smoking on municipal transport as well as in public spaces such as schools, administrative buildings and hospitals.

The stringent new law also bans all forms of tobacco advertising and requires that packs of cigarettes be hidden from customers at the point of sale. Smokers will have to choose their brand using a catalogue without images or logos.

"This is some of the harshest anti-smoking legislation in the world," said Alexander Lyuty, the communications director in Russia of British American Tobacco (BAT).

According to the state statistics agency Rosstat, the number of smokers in Russia -- 40 million out of a population of around 143 million -- has remained the same since 2010.

Every year, 400,000 Russians die from smoking-related illness.

But Russia's smokers are gradually cutting down. Only 19 percent of smokers get through more than a pack a day, half as many as seven years ago, according to state polling agency VTsIOM.

In 2013, the tobacco market in Russia contracted 7.5 percent, Lyuty said.

The reasons included rising prices for packs of cigarettes, which Russia is taxing more heavily.

"In the last five years, taxes on cigarettes have grown by 25 percent," said Lyuty. A pack that cost around 25 rubles in 2010 is now sold for 59 rubles ($1.70/1.25 euros).

The price still seems derisory to Western Europeans, but Russians with their lower spending power are already seeking out cheaper alternatives.

- Rise of counterfeit brands -

"As a result, the demand for fake cigarettes is growing," said Lyuty.

Fake or counterfeit cigarettes are designed to resemble well-known brands but sold much more cheaply.

Their sales more than doubled in the third quarter last year, reaching almost 20 percent of sales in some Russian regions such as Dagestan in the North Caucasus, which borders Azerbaijan, according to Rosstat.

Others are buying cigarettes smuggled from Belarus and Kazakhstan -- where their sale price is 30 to 50 percent cheaper than in Russia, Lyuty said.

But despite the steady growth of counterfeit cigarettes, some in the tobacco industry said that their impact should not be overestimated.

"We are mainly talking about a very convenient excuse to hide our falling sales," said an employee at one of the major tobacco companies, asking to remain anonymous.

"The main concern of the tobacco industry participants in Russia is more and more harsh regulation of what we do for publicity, which prevents us from recruiting new consumers and therefore reaching our targets," the source said.

"We are being forced into invisibility," said one official at the US tobacco giant Philip Morris, who declined to give his name.

- New law targets youth -

The average age when Russian children first try smoking is among the lowest in the world, with some puffing on cigarettes from the age of 10 or 12, according to the Russian Union of Paediatricians.

It is the young who are the most sensitive to price hikes and a ban on advertising, meaning that these measures have had a stronger effect on them than on older people, said Roman Grinchenko, an analyst at Investcafe.

"As a result of the rise in prices, the tightening of regulation and the measures that the government is using to fight the promotion of smoking, the number of minors who are smoking has fallen," Grinchenko said.

The new measures made no impression on long-term smoker Irina Stonyakina, 42, who has smoked heavily for 20 years.

"I prefer saving money on food to stopping smoking, even if the price of a pack goes up five times."

"This new law won't lead to anything, even under the Soviet Union we didn't stop lighting up," Stonyakina told AFP.

The new legislation may not become truly effective until the depths of winter when smokers find themselves forced to light up on pavements in freezing conditions outside cafes and restaurants, said Maxim Korolyov, an analyst at Russia Tobacco Media Group.

As smokers opt for e-cigarettes, are they really safer?

Jessica Zelonis feels healthier since she quit tobacco nearly eight months ago, but she hasn't quit smoking. Well, she doesn't smoke tobacco, she “vapes” — ihaling a vapor from “juices” in her electronic cigarette device. Zelonis, 31, of Pittston, is one of many people who have stopped lighting up and started igniting electronic cigarettes. They inhale a flavored vapor, some with high level of nicotine. “I still get the sensation of smoking,” Zelonis said. “But I don't wake up every morning coughing, I have no chest congestion and my clothes don't stink.” Zelonis said she was vacuuming her carpet at home when she got winded. She said she immediately quit tobacco and went to the e-cigarette device. She went from smoking a pack and a half day to occasionally taking hits on her e-cigarette.

On this recent day, Zelonis was inhaling an orange crush juice with a medium level of nicotine. Her goal is to get off of nicotine. Response to FDA The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just released its long-awaited draft regulations for electronic cigarettes, commonly called e-cigarettes and other alternatives to smoking. The proposed rules that would: • Ban sales of e-cigarettes to anyone under 18; • Add warning labels; • Require FDA approval for new products. The FDA followed that up with proposing to extend its authority to regulate cigars, hookahs, nicotine gels and pipe tobacco. The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA) said the regulations offer little benefit. According to CASAA, the leading advocate for the current and future consumers of low-risk alternatives to smoking, the FDA proposed rules will inflict harm on consumers. “This is a classic case of government imposing a 'solution' and then looking for a problem,” CASAA President Julie Woessner said in a news release. “The regulations do nothing to address real concerns, and instead are a slow-motion ban of the high quality e-cigarettes that have helped so many smokers quit. The rules would mostly require busy-work filings that impose huge costs with little apparent benefit.” CASAA Scientific Director Dr. Carl V. Phillips said the FDA has “cherry-picked the available evidence, blindly accepting any assertion that favors aggressive regulation and ignoring the overwhelming evidence about the harms that these regulations would cause.” While the regulations don't openly ban the refillable devices, proponents say they impose a costly registration and approval process that would effectively eliminate them. In the CASAA release, Phillips said the higher quality the e-cigarette device is — along with the appealing flavors of the juices used to create the vapor — the better chances are for smoking cessation. “Many former smokers report that they were always tempted to go back to smoking while using the smaller devices with imitation tobacco flavoring, but they quit smoking for good when they found better hardware and flavors that no longer reminded them of smoking,” Phillips said. According to CASAA: • It is estimated that as many as a million American smokers have quit or substantially reduced their smoking thanks to e-cigarettes. • Many are already making plans for a “black market” if the FDA regulations take effect. • Those smokers who are using e-cigarettes in a transition stage could easily return to smoking — and future potential switchers may never be able to make the transition — if the restrictions on high-quality products are imposed. CASAA President Woessner, who quit smoking thanks to e-cigarettes, fears such impacts. “If I had been limited to only those products that would exist under this regulation, I would probably still be smoking,” she said. Favoring flavors Local e-cigarette users, like Zelonis, raved about the products, claiming better health and a more enjoyable experience over tobacco smoking. “I just feel healthier,” Zelonis said. “I recently had a head cold and I had no chest congestion issues. I feel like I have more lung capacity.” And Zelonis said she has no desire to return to tobacco, even with her husband, Kristopher, still smoking cigarettes in her presence. She said peer pressure got her into smoking years ago, but she said she will never go back. “And it's much cheaper,” Zelonis said. “My initial cost was $40 and the juice I use costs about $10 per month. Plus I find myself taking fewer hits during the day.” Zelonis bought her e-cigarette device at Primal in the Pine Mall on Kidder Street. She learned about the products and the juices and she found the staff at Primal to be knowledgeable and the products sold are high quality. Mark Sweeting, 27, of Kingston and formerly of North Carolina, works at Primal. Sweeting started smoking tobacco at age 13, but he quit a year ago when he started using e-cigarettes. “I haven't smoked tobacco since,” he said. “At first I was using a juice with a high level of nicotine and I gradually went down. A lot people people ween themselves off of nicotine.” Sweeting says he no longer feels congested when he wakes up, and he generally feels much healthier. Sweeting said Primal deals with “top-notch” companies, like Mount Baker Vapor, who he says is a self-regulated company that conducts studies and uses pharmaceutical grade ingredients in its juices.

Sweeting said e-cigarette products are sold in varying degrees of quality. He said the lower-priced products are not as effective as the devices sold in high-end stores like Primal. Even though there are no age restrictions on the sale of e-cigarette products,

Primal doesn't sell to anybody under 18. E-cigarette option Cooper Sechrist, 19, of Mountain Top, smoked tobacco for five years before opting for e-cigarettes. “I haven't touched a cigarette since,” he said. “My clothes don't smell anymore, I don't have the bad taste of stale smoke in my mouth and I feel better.” Sechrist said he was concerned about the health effects from smoking tobacco. Now, he said he enjoys the fruitier flavored juices in his e-cigarette device. “I definitely recommend e-cigarettes,” he said. “It's much cheaper too; I've saved a lot of money by quitting tobacco.” But Sechrist's girlfriend, Rachel Skiro, 18, of Mountain Top, still smokes tobacco, a habit she began seven years ago. “I'm not ready to quit,” she said. “I think you have to be ready to quit something you're addicted to. There's a lot of psychological stuff involved. I will quit eventually, and I'm sure I'll save a lot of money.” Rick Eisenhauer, 46, of Berwick, is a corporate trainer who started using e-cigarettes on Oct. 15, 2012. He said he and a group of about 60 co-workers decided to go the e-cigarette route to stay off tobacco. “I just had a medical check-up and I have 97 percent lung capacity,” Eisenhauer said. “And I don't wake up constantly coughing and hacking.”

North Carolina to consider new e-cigarette tax

North Carolina, the nation's longtime leader in tobacco production, is now considering a new tax on its tobacco-free relative — the electronic cigarette — after a state committee approved draft legislation Tuesday.
The proposal will now head to the Republican-led North Carolina General Assembly to consider during its upcoming session, which begins Wednesday. A House-Senate study committee unanimously approved draft legislation for the new excise tax and support was widespread across the aisle, even coming from some unlikely groups.
The typically anti-tax Republicans are on board and Winston-Salem based tobacco giant Reynolds America essentially asked for it.
The tax rate would be applied by volume, at 5 cents per milliliter of the liquid used in e-cigarette cartridges; significantly less than current tax rates on traditional tobacco products.
Reynolds America, based in Winston-Salem, is the nation's second-largest cigarette producer and has historically opposed higher state cigarette taxes.
"I promise you, you've never heard me or anyone in any other industry stand up and ask for their products to be taxed, but yes, ma'am, we are (asking to be taxed,)" said company Vice President David Powers.
A Reynolds electronic cigarette carries a 0.5 milliliter cartridge and is equivalent in puff counts to a pack of tobacco cigarettes. Other brands can carry a cartridge of 1 milliliter or more. The new tax would add about 2.5 cents to the cost of lighting up one e-cigarette compared to the 45 cents currently added to a pack of regular cigarettes. All other tobacco products, such as snuff or pipes, are taxed at 12.8 percent of their price, according to documents produced by the state Revenue Laws Study Committee.
Powers said because the federal government has already classified e-cigarettes as a tobacco product, the company asked legislators to create the tax to ensure it would be applied fairly, and reflective of the lower health risk e-cigarettes pose.
"It's eventually going to get taxed. We want it to be done the right way," he said. By taxing the liquid volume of the e-cigarette, the proposal covers all the e-cigarette products on the market in the same way at a fair rate, he said.
Electronic cigarettes neither have tobacco nor emit smoke, but create a vapor from a nicotine liquid that is heated up with a battery.
Powers said it is hard to predict how many cigarette users will eventually move from traditional tobacco to e-cigarettes because the Reynolds company currently only sells its brand of e-cigarettes in Colorado and Utah. It plans to launch the product nationwide later this month.
Sen. Floyd McKissick, D-Durham, noted that the low rate could cause significant state revenue losses down the road.
"That will have an impact upon us when we do our budget projections for lost revenues ... moving from 45 cents to 5 cents," he said.
If the tax passes, it is expected to generate about $5 million in revenue by 2015, according to the state Revenue Laws Study Committee.
The new tax proposal also includes a provision to ban e-cigarettes from state jails and prisons and prohibits them from being distributed to minors.
Only one other state has passed an excise tax on e-cigarettes, though several others are considering similar taxes. South Carolina is proposing the same 5 cent volume rate. Minnesota adopted a plan to tax e-cigarettes at 95 percent of their wholesale rate and Washington state is considering a 75 percent tax, according to research conducted by committee staff.
The e-cigarette industry generated $1.8 billion in sales in 2013, according to Nielsen data. The state estimates that 87-102 milliliters of e-cigarette liquid is sold in North Carolina each year.

How to Quit Smoking: Practice

A fundamental step in the process of learning how to quit smoking is plain old practice is a must. Smoking cessation can't be rushed, so try to relax and think of time as your quit buddy. The more of it that you put between you and that last cigarette you smoked, the stronger you'll become. We spent years learning to associate smoking with literally every activity in our lives, good, bad or indifferent. Unlearning those associations takes time and practice.

 So, it’s true that people quit smoking every day without the benefit of this forum. I believe, though, and I can’t imagine who would disagree, that support is vital to smoke-freedom for most. The articles that you can access from the site home and the posts here will reinforce your resolve. Education is key and essential for long-term success.

I’ll say it again…quitting smoking cigarettes is not easy. It’s exhausting at times, and there are mood swings and minds games, and it is all part of the process of becoming someone who is not a slave to cigarettes. Quitting smoking is not easy, but is it easier that living with or dying from a smoking-related illness. It can be tiring, but not as tiring as chemotherapy and radiation treatments. It takes some effort, but not as much effort as it takes some to try to take their next breath. If you are in your 20’s or 30’s and think you have decades to smoke before you do any real damage, please think again. It is about perspective, and as you progress through this process, your perspective will change. Mine has…for the better and forever.

We have become a society who demands instant gratification, and patience has gone by the wayside. I believe some things are still worth waiting for, and I KNOW that smoke-freedom is one of them. The veterans who stick around here do so because we know how great it feels to be smoke-free. It does get better, and it does get easier, and you owe it to yourselves to give yourselves however long it takes to feel good about being smoke-free.

So…rant, whine, scream…whatever it takes to get you from where you are to where you want to be, but PLEASE DON’T SMOKE! I promise that quitting smoking will not kill you, and if you let it, it can even be one of the most amazing experiences of your life.

Common habit as smoking and movies

Since media is one of the major factors that bring up a child’s mind, the authorities are anxious about the information the teens get from TV, radio, Internet. There are several filters that allow caring parents control the videos watched by children or block the websites that would bring wrong message to teens.
All the films have ratings according to which a parent can decide if it is ok to show the movie to children. There are strict rules for language, violence, drugs and sex in films, but what about such common habit as smoking?

The research made by Dartmouth Medical School and Norris Cotton Cancer Center shows that one-third of the American teenagers start smoking because they learn it from movies. “We found that as the amount of exposure to smoking in movies increased, the rate of smoking also increased,” says Dr. James Sargent, one of the leaders of the research.
The other studies show 38% of 6,500 American teens under 14 say they were initiated to smoke by the way it is featured in movies. Another interesting thing is almost all smokers start the habit at their teens, but only 50% of them have enough strength to give it up.
AMAA has been protesting trying to make Hollywood stop advertising the bad habit in so many pictures and making them rate the films with smoking at adult rating: R in the USA. Although Motion Picture Association of America promised in 2007 to do something about exposure of smoking, there has not been much result.
Such popular latest summer movies among the teenagers as The Dark Knight, The Incredible Halk and Iron Man feature actors smoking cigars. Out of top box-office or rental movies there are G-rated ones with smoking like: 102 Dalmations, Muppets from Space, Tarzan; and PG-rated Atlantis: The Lost Empire, George of the Jungle and The Rainmaker.
One of the main fighters for smoke free movies is American Medical Association Alliance (AMAA). According to their studies more than half of the films which are connected to children or teens show the characters smoking. In more than 25% of them the actors feature lighting cigars.
The study shows while in 2002 57% of G, PG and PG-13 have some kind of smoking episodes, in 2007 this number went down only to 49%. It is not that big of a difference and Hollywood has to do better than that.
While a child is growing up it is up to parents to show a good example and talk about the harmful effect smoking does to a person’s body. Just because Mother or Father smoke doesn’t mean they should let the children decide to chose for themselves whether to have this habit or not. The talks about tobacco and smoking influence on person’s everyday life should be done with children while it is possible and they are young enough to accept the right point of view.

Cigarette Sales Decline as TV Features Fewer Smokers

Annenberg Public Policy Center researchers make the case that fewer depictions of smoking on TV hastened the drop in cigarette sales.

In what they are calling the largest-ever study linking tobacco use to television, researchers on Thursday said that a decline in the depiction of characters smoking in TV shows has led to a significant drop in the sales of cigarettes.

Researchers analyzed 1,838 hours of primetime dramas on broadcast TV -- cable was excluded -- that aired from 1955-2010 and determined that, at its peak in 1961, there were 4.96 instances of tobacco use per hour of programming. In 2010, that had dropped to just 0.29 instances per hour.
The researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, after adjusting for the rising cost of cigarettes, concluded that each instance of tobacco use was associated with 38.5 fewer cigarettes sold per person, per year in the U.S.

The study makes that case that TV wasn't merely reflecting a drop in cigarette smoking, but in part causing the drop. The study determined this by attempting to adjust for the impact of TV commercials for cigarettes, which have were banned in 1971, as well as for the rising number of news reports about the harmful effects of smoking.
"We've been telling people for years that smoking is bad for their health, and it hasn't been working because it's so powerful an addiction, and on-screen portrayals of tobacco use is a powerful incentive to smoke," study co-author Dan Romer told The Hollywood Reporter.
"TV characters who smoke are likely to trigger the urge to smoke in cigarette users, making it harder for them to quit," added lead author Patrick Jamieson.
While researchers looked at all tobacco use -- including pipes, cigars and chewing tobacco -- all categories were lumped together and correlated with cigarette sales. Romer said, though, that roughly 90 percent of instances of "tobacco use" in the TV shows watched were, indeed, the smoking of a cigarette.
The study estimated that the decline in tobacco use on TV had almost half as much impact on smoking as did price increases -- as price increases led to a per capita decrease in cigarettes of 18 packs a year, while declining TV depictions can be credited for a per capita decrease of nearly nine packs annually.
For the study, researchers analyzed shows culled from the Top 30 primetime broadcasted dramas each year as measured by Nielsen, including such shows such as Dragnet, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, The Fugitive, Charlie's Angels, Miami Vice and ER.
"Hollywood can take credit for reducing smoking," Romer said. "On the other hand, it may have contributed to smoking by its portrayal on cable TV ... but we did not include that in our research."

The Un-Divorced

JOHN FROST and his wife had been unhappily married for much of their 25 years together when his company relocated him in 2000. So when he moved from Virginia to Knoxville, Tenn., he left her behind.
At first, it wasn’t clear what would happen next. Would she follow him? Or would they end up divorced?

The answer: neither. “After a few months,” Mr. Frost said, “we both realized we liked it this way.”

Technically, the two are married. They file joint tax returns; she’s covered by his insurance. But they see each other just several times a year. “Since separating we get along better than we ever have,” he said. “It’s kind of nice.”

And at 58, he sees no reason to divorce. Their children have grown and left home. He asked himself: Why bring in a bunch of lawyers? Why create rancor when there’s nowhere to go but down?

“To tie a bow around it would only make it uglier,” Mr. Frost said. “When people ask about my relationship status, I usually just say: ‘It’s complicated. I like my wife, I just can’t live with her.’ ”

The term “trial separation” conjures a swift purgatory, something ducked into regretfully and escaped from with due speed, even if into that most conclusive of relationships, divorce. We understand the expeditious voyage from separation to divorce, the desire for a clear-cut ending that makes way for a clear-cut beginning. We hardly look askance at the miserably married or the exes who hurl epithets in divorce court.

But couples who stubbornly remain separated, sometimes for years? That leaves us dumbfounded. “I see it all the time,” said Lynne Gold-Bikin, a divorce lawyer in Norristown, Pa., who is the chairman of the family law department at Weber Gallagher. She can cite a docket of cases of endless separation.

With one couple separated since 1989, the wife’s perspective was, “We still get invited as Mr. and Mrs., we go to functions together, he still sends me cards,” Ms. Gold-Bikin said. As for the husband, “He cared for her, he just didn’t want to live with her.”

But at his girlfriend’s urging, he finally initiated divorce proceedings. Then he became ill and she began taking over his finances — a bit too wifelike for him. “He said, enough of this, there’s no reason to get divorced,” Ms. Gold-Bikin recalled.

Among those who seem to have reached a similar conclusion is Warren Buffett, the wealthy chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Mr. Buffett separated from his wife, Susan, in 1977 but remained married to her until her death in 2004. All the while, he lived with Astrid Menks; they married in 2006. The threesome remained close, even sending out holiday cards signed, “Warren, Susan and Astrid.”

Also in the ranks of the un-divorced: the artist Willem de Kooning had been separated from his wife for 34 years when she died in 1989. Jann and Jane Wenner separated in 1995 after 28 years but are still married, despite Mr. Wenner’s romantic relationship with a man.

Society is full of whispered scenarios in which spouses live apart, in different homes or in the same mega-apartment in order to silence gossip, avoid ugly divorce battles and maintain the status quo, however uneasy. In certain cases, the world assumes a couple is divorced and never learns otherwise until an obituary puts the record straight.

Separations are usually de facto, rarely pounded out in a contract, and family law is different state to state. But even long-estranged couples are irrefutably bound by contractual links on issues like taxes, pensions, Social Security and health care.

Divorce lawyers and marriage therapists say that for most couples, the motivation to remain married is financial. According to federal law, an ex qualifies for a share of a spouse’s Social Security payment if the marriage lasts a decade. In the case of more amicable divorces, financial advisers and lawyers may urge a couple who have been married eight years to wait until the dependent spouse qualifies.

For others, a separation agreement may be negotiated so that a spouse keeps the other’s insurance until he or she is old enough for Medicare. If one person has an existing condition, obtaining affordable health care coverage is often difficulty or impossible. The recession, with its real estate lows and health care expense highs, adds incentives to separate indefinitely.

Smoking a habit for the poor

When smoking first swept the United States in the early decades of the 20th century, it took hold among the well-to-do. Cigarettes were high-society symbols of elegance and class, puffed by doctors and movie stars. By the 1960s, smoking cigarettes had exploded, helped by the distribution of cigarettes to soldiers in World War II. Half of all men and a third of women smoked.

But as evidence of smoking’s deadly consequences has accumulated, the broad patterns of use by class have shifted: Smoking, the leading cause of preventable death in the country, is now increasingly a habit of the poor and the working class.

While previous data established that pattern, a new analysis of federal smoking data released on Monday shows that the disparity is increasing. The national smoking rate has declined steadily, but there is a deep geographic divide. In the affluent suburbs of Washington, only about one in 10 people smoke, according to the analysis, by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. But in impoverished places like this — Clay County, in eastern Kentucky — nearly four in 10 do.

“It’s just what we do here,” said Ed Smith Jr., 51, holding up his cigarette in a hand callused from his job clearing trees away from power lines. Several of his friends have died of lung cancer, and he has tried to quit, but so far has not succeeded.

“I want to see my grandson grow up,” he said.

The new study, which evaluated federal survey data from 1996 to 2012 to produce smoking rates by county, offered a rare glimpse beneath the surface of state-level data. It found that affluent counties across the nation have experienced the biggest, and fastest, declines in smoking rates, while progress in the poorest ones has stagnated. The findings are particularly stark for women: About half of all high-income counties showed significant declines in the smoking rate for women, but only 4 percent of poor counties did, the analysis found.

This growing gap in smoking rates between rich and poor is helping drive inequality in health outcomes, experts say, with, for example, white women on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder now living shorter lives.

No smoking ordinance up for vote in Kennett

Elections are right around the corner and one southeast Missouri town is talking about the upcoming ballot.

It's not a candidate that's creating a stir, but a city ordinance that would ban smoking in public places.

Many businesses in Kennett do not permit smoking in their buildings.

Some restaurants recently changed their policies, while others have been smoke-free for years.

Mr. C's restaurant has been serving the people of Kennett for 55 years, but 15 years ago they said no to smoking indoors.

"Some of our customers, they were kind of upset," said Mr. C's co-owner Linda Pender. "But a lot of them agreed with it, thought it was right. We had a couple that got mad and said they wouldn't be back, but a few months later they came back. Nobody's really had any problems with it."

The possibility of a smoking ban in Kennett has stirred a strong response from many in the community.

"Our customers are very upset with it," said Tobacco Superstore Manager Rita Cole. "They feel like it's taking their privileges away in Kennett. That they're allowed to smoke wherever they want to."

The ban would prohibit smoking inside public places, businesses and private clubs.

It would also be illegal to light up within five feet of outdoor playgrounds and entrances to buildings.

"I think it's a good idea," said Pender. "I'm not a smoker myself. Never have been. And I know a lot of people do. But with the way people are sick and everything now I think it would be a good idea."

"If they want to smoke in their home or on their job and it's ok with their owners or corporations then that's up to them," said Cole. "But we think it's wrong that they're trying to ban smoking in Kennett."

Cole thinks this ban may negatively affect restaurants, but she thinks the tobacco business will thrive.

"I think people are going to smoke regardless. It's an addiction and if they have to just sit in their home and do it they will smoke," Cole said.

The town seems split between pro-and anti-ban votes.

But Cole added, "I believe when it comes down to it the majority of people will be against banning it."

It will be up to voters to decide on April 8.

The mayor says this is the first time a no-smoking ordinance has appeared on the ballot.

5 Texas inmates get sick smoking synthetic pot

Five inmates at an East Texas jail have been hospitalized after smoking a synthetic marijuana cigarette that was smuggled into the lockup.
The Gregg County Sheriff's Office on Monday said four inmates were treated and returned to custody. A fifth inmate spent last Friday night in a Longview hospital before being discharged back to the jail.
Lt. Kirk Haddix says a jailer apparently missed the fake marijuana cigarette when booking an inmate. Haddix said jailers became aware of the problem when one inmate appeared to have seizures.
No jailers have been disciplined as the investigation continues.

Drop in smoking threatens embattled tobacco bonds

Two Western states with some of the nation's lowest smoking rates are considering cracking down even more by raising the tobacco age to 21.
Utah and Colorado lawmakers both voted favorably on proposals Thursday to treat tobacco like alcohol and take it away from 18- to 20-year-olds, a move inspired by new research on how many smokers start the habit as teenagers.
"By raising the age limit, it puts them in a situation where they're not going to pick it up until a much later age," said Marla Brannum of Lehi, Utah, who testified in favor of the idea there.
In Colorado, the testimony was similar - that pushing the tobacco age could make it harder for teens to access tobacco, and possibly reduce usage rates among adults.
"What I'm hoping to do is make it harder for kids to obtain cigarettes," said Rep. Cheri Gerou, a Republican who sponsored the measure. Chesterfield Blue
Both proposals face several more votes. But they're the furthest any states have gone to curb access to cigarettes by teens. The director of tobacco studies at University College London didn't know of any other countries considering a tobacco age threshold of 21, but he said raising the tobacco age from 16 to 18 in the United Kingdom proved to be "a public health winner."
Altria Group Inc., which owns the country's largest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, said in a statement Friday that they support 18 as the minimum age to purchase tobacco, which Congress approved in 2009.
The company, whose tobacco brands include Marlboro, Parliament and Virginia Slims, said states should wait until the Food and Drug Administration finishes a pending study of about raising the purchase age higher than 18.
"While we recognize that these are difficult issues, we believe Congress has established a thoughtful process for understanding the issue better, and we intend to engage in that process, with FDA, as it takes its course," the statement said.
Altria said the company supports efforts to prevent underage use of tobacco.
A paper published last year in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine said that 9 out of 10 daily smokers in the U.S. have their first cigarette by 18 years of age, and that about 90 percent of cigarettes purchased for minors are obtained by people between 18 and 20 years old.
The Washington-based Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids advocates the higher smoking age and argues that it could make a serious dent in tobacco deaths down the road.
"We see this as sort of an added step to reducing smoking rates," in addition to higher tobacco taxes and other curbs, said Campaign vice president Peter Fisher.
Armando Peruga, program manager of the World Health Organization's Tobacco Free Initiative, said he supported the U.S. proposal, provided that it would be strictly enforced and that it was accompanied by other tobacco control measures, such as high taxes and smoke-free regulations.
"It needs to be part of a comprehensive policy to counter the tobacco industry's influence on young people," Peruga said.
Four states, including Utah, already require tobacco purchasers to be 19. The others are Alabama, Alaska and New Jersey.
Fisher said the 21-for-tobacco bills are also pending in state legislatures in Hawaii, Massachusetts and New Jersey. Maryland lawmakers considered and rejected the idea this year. New York City last year raised the tobacco age to 21, as did Hawaii County, Hawaii.
Utah already has the nation's lowest smoking rate, about 12 percent in 2011 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Colorado isn't far behind, at about 18 percent in 2011, according to the CDC.
Despite the low rates, health advocates in both states testified that a higher tobacco age could depress the rates even further.
"Moving it to later, obviously we can help reduce use," said Bob Doyle, head of the Colorado Tobacco Education and Prevention Alliance.
When the legal age of smoking was raised from 16 to 18 in the U.K., there was a significant drop in the number of people who started smoking, University College London's Robert West said.
"The ages from 18 to 21 is a period of huge uptake and even if you're able to delay (teenagers) from starting smoking rather than preventing it altogether, there would be a significant health benefit. You're essentially allowing the rather scrambled adolescent brain to settle down and avoid smoking during that period before they turn 21, after which they may decide they absolutely do not want to smoke anyways," he said.

Smoking Luggage Reported at LaGuardia Airport, Police Say

Authorities responded to reports of a smoking bag at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, according to Joe Pentangelo, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.

Terminal C of the airport had been evacuated, according to Breaking News Network, an emergency-alert monitoring service. BNN reported that the package was subsequently deemed harmless and the evacuation canceled.
The Port Authority didn’t immediately return calls seeking to confirm the evacuation or its termination. Monte Carlo Silver

Bigger Prices For Cigarettes From Tobacco Producers

Bigger Prices For Cigarettes From Tobacco Producers

Pallmall 's Site on Strikingly

Pallmall 's Site on Strikingly

Kicking off Saturday and taking place once a month thereafter, protesters against a recently enacted smoking ban on Boston public property will descend upon the city's storied Boston Common as a show of defiance. A Facebook event page aptly titled Boston Common Smoke Out/Vape Up! is encouraging smokers to disobey the municipal ordinance and light up their cigs, stogies, joints and blunts in the center of one of The Hub's most iconic landmarks.
But they shouldn't. And neither should you.
As a former cigarette smoker and proponent of individual liberties, I find the notion that people would try to promote what's been scientifically proven to cause cancer and a slew of other fatal diseases – redundant almost to the point of annoyance – a deeply misguided and warped view of one's constitutional rights.
While yes, I believe to a rather liberal extent that people should be able to ingest whatever they please and degrade their bodies in the most disgusting of manners as they so choose, it seems they fail to realize the direct endangerment of those around them which should be paramount.
I very much enjoy walking through Boston Common. The amount of history and identity amassed throughout the years over its sprawling 50 acres is like nothing else in the country. Adjacent to the land is Beacon Hill, the Boston Public Gardens line another border and an eerie though lionized cemetery calls an isolated corner home. It goes without saying that Boston Common is a picture of illustrious beauty.
That beauty is lost when the pathways and greenways are littered with cigarette butts and blunt wrappers. In fact, its embarrassing to present such a grimy space to those who travel the world to view what they expect to be a place of purity and antiquity.
The last thing I want while enjoying all of these intricacies is to start jonesing. That's what happens sometimes when I jaunt along through, soaking up all of the happenings while imagining those of yore, as I pass someone and catch a crave-inducing whiff of the nasty looking cig hanging from their lips.
Even more disheartening is seeing young parents strolling along with their little tykes having to make their way through a cloud of carcinogens when all they want to do is enjoy the natural amenities afforded by our fare city. According to the American Cancer Society, cigarette smoke "contains more than 7,000 chemical compounds. More than 250 of these chemicals are known to be harmful, and at least 69 are known to cause cancer." Lucky Strike cigarettes.
I put it to you, smoker: as you light up and take another drag of poison, is your protest really worth the harm being brought upon those dispassionate about your habit?
According to the demonstration's Facebook page, the goal of the event is to challenge the law simply because they find it to be "unenforceable at best and selectively enforceable at worst." Nowhere is mentioned rights, liberties or the contention of governmental overstepping. Simply, the founders of this event "are outraged to learn that there will now be a $250.00 fine for smoking outdoors in a Park in Boston."
I have no problem with peaceful protests. In fact, I agree when Thomas Jefferson referred to general rebellion as a natural manure for the tree of liberty. But that is only true when it serves the common good. Smoking on public property is simply self-serving.
Nobody's telling you not to smoke. Go right ahead. Enjoy systematically losing minutes off your life with every puff. Take it to the sidewalk, street corners, rooftops, wherever. But don't subject your neighbors and community to the same demise. Have a little self-respect. Have respect for your fellow man. And keep in mind that the law is meant to have your health and best interests at heart.

Ohio State University Marks Anniversary Of Report That Linked Cigarettes To Death

Representatives from The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and other officials commemorated the 50th anniversary of a Surgeon General report that linked smoking to lung cancer and chronic diseases.  Parliament Aqua Blue

In 1963, 42 percent of Americans smoked - virtually everywhere - airplanes, offices, and restaurants.

But then Surgeon General Luther Terry wrote that smoking cigarettes could kill you.

Today, just 19 percent of adults smoke, and the rate of deaths has dropped dramatically.

The rate is especially impressive among young people.

"Just last month, we learned that smoking among 8th, 9th and 10th graders was below 10 percent," said Robin Koval, President and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation. "That is an amazing achievement."

The Ohio State University became a "smoke free" campus this week.

A new American Medical Association report shows that since 1964, eight million people have been spared a premature death because they never smoked, or quit smoking early - and they gained, on average, almost 20 years of life.

However, it isn't all good news.

Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death.

Nearly a half million Americans die each year due to smoking, and eight million people are living with at least one serious chronic disease caused by tobacco.

Illegal tobacco seller Roger Gerrey sold cigarettes to children

A man who turned his Devon home into a shop selling illegal cigarettes to school children has been spared a jail sentence.

Roger Gerrey, 65, from Lemon Place, Newton Abbot, was selling fake brands to children, Exeter Crown Court heard.
In two raids on his house nearly £13,000 in cash and £14,000 worth of tobacco were discovered.
Gerrey was given a 12 month sentence, suspended for two years, after admitting seven offences.
He admitted two offences under the trademark laws, three under consumer protection laws and two of selling tobacco to children. Continent Superslims
The court heard that Gerrey's house was raided by Devon trading standards officers in June 2013 when 602 packets of rolling tobacco and 555 packets of 20 cigarettes worth about £14,000 were found, along with £11,870 in cash.
Gerrey admitted that the money came from selling illegal tobacco, but despite knowing that he was under investigation he continued to sell illegal tobacco.
The money seized from Gerrey was forfeited by the court.
Roger Croad, Devon councillor with responsibility for trading standards, said Gerrey had been convicted of a "serious criminal offence".

China, world's leading tobacco user, moves to ban indoor public smoking

China, the world's largest tobacco consumer, is aiming to ban indoor smoking in public areas by the end of the year.

About one in three cigarettes smoked in the world is in China, according to the World Health Organization. And more than half of Chinese men smoke, according to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey in 2010.

Although the nation's health ministry issued guidelines in 2011 to ban smoking in places like hotels and restaurants, they haven't been "strictly enforced," according to Xinhua, China's state-run news agency.

The China's National Health and Family Commission is now working on a tobacco control law with clear punishments, according to Xinhua.

Davidoff iD Orange

China's smoking habit

The country's health authorities estimate over a million deaths from tobacco-related diseases every year. The WHO warns that if tobacco use is not decreased in China, these deaths will increase to 3 million by 2050.

Last month, Chinese government officials were told not to smoke in public places such as hospitals, public transport or schools to set a good example for the public.

The latest moves by the Chinese government on tobacco are "hopeful," said Dr. Judith Mackay, the senior adviser at the World Lung Foundation, who examines tobacco issues in China.

About 32 Chinese cities have passed their own rules to restrict public smoking, she added.

"China stands on its own in the magnitude of the problem," said Mackay. "Unless there is change in China, we won't proceed further in reducing the tobacco epidemic in the world."

Tobacco use in China has far-reaching consequences, she said.

"This isn't a health problem. It's a huge economic problem. There's all these things ranging from medical and health care costs, the costs to the families and there's the cost of secondhand smoke."

Success against smoking: Your Say

Fifty years ago, a Surgeon General's report concluded tobacco causes lung cancer, launching a public health campaign that has cut smoking rates in half. Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:
Nothing ticks me off more than people who try to tell others how to live. Yes, there are health issues related to smoking, but we should have the right to live our lives the way we see fit. Too many people want to force what they consider to be "the right way to live" on others.

• Parliament Aqua Blue

— Colin Yapp
Fewer people smoking is better for them and for all of us. The tobacco industry is still taking action to keep its business alive. Big Tobacco companies will lie to hide the bad effects of their products and try everything to increase the number of people hooked on them.
— Modesto Rodriguez Montes
Raising taxes on tobacco successfully reduces consumption. A high tax may be necessary to achieve that effect, but that would also help the government imposing the tax. There are also follow-on effects from fewer smokers: Fewer lost workdays due to illness and fewer cancer deaths. Tobacco is addictive, but when confronted with higher prices, some will quit, others will moderate their intake and fewer will begin. Very few tax increases merit my support. This one does.
— Marvin McConoughey
Cigarettes are a normal part of living for many Americans. And many people who do smoke are the least financially well off. Taking more money from poor people via a tax on tobacco is not the answer; it just hurts those people on a day-to-day basis.

Stop-smoking battle still raging 50 years after surgeon general published health risks

More than four in 10 American adults were smokers — and so were a lot of kids — 50 years ago when the surgeon general first announced that smoking kills. The report "Smoking and Health" said bluntly that smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer and is linked to other serious diseases. In the half-century since that report came out on Jan. 11, 1964, an estimated eight million deaths have been prevented by stop-smoking efforts, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

 About 42 percent of American adults smoked in 1964, and that number has plummeted to about 18 percent. The reduction in tobacco use is believed to account for a substantial portion of gains made in life expectancy in America, which has risen by five years since that first report on tobacco dangers. But despite widespread knowledge of these dangers, along with increased taxes, advertising bans, warning labels on tobacco products and laws limiting smoking, some haven't quite managed to kick butts. That fact bothers a coalition of anti-tobacco nonprofits that this week called for renewed, vigorous efforts to reduce tobacco use. One of the groups, The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, points out that nearly 44 million American adults and 3.6 million adolescents and children smoke. The four conditions most linked to tobacco use — heart disease, cancer, lung ills and stroke — are still the top causes of death in the United States. There are two things blocking progress, said Dr. Les Beitsch, chairman of Medical Humanities and Social Sciences for the College of Medicine at Florida State University. First, nicotine is incredibly addictive to those who use the product. Second, corporations are addicted to the massive profits they make off that first addiction, he said. "We’ve made enormous progress, but we can’t declare victory when tobacco is still the No. 1 cause of preventable deaths in the United States," Vince Willmore, the spokesman for The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, told the Deseret News. "We know how to win this, and it cannot take another 50 years. We cannot afford another 50 years of death and disease caused by tobacco." The toll The vast majority of smokers began at or before they were 18 years old. Tobacco-Free Kids notes that each day more than 3,000 American children try cigarettes for the first time. Recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics reported that about 443,000 Americans die prematurely each year from smoking-related causes. Tobacco use costs about $96 billion in the United States in health care bills and $97 billion in lost productivity. Worldwide, tobacco is believed to kill almost six million people a year. "Tobacco is, quite simply, in a league of its own in terms of the sheer number and varieties of ways it kills and maims people," Dr. Thomas Frieden, CDC director, wrote in a JAMA Commentary. "Images of smoking in movies, television and on the Internet remain common; and cigarettes continue to be far too affordable in nearly all parts of the country." A coalition of organizations believes implementing proven programs and policies can end tobacco's stranglehold on smokers. In a joint statement Wednesday, they asked for "bold action" by government to achieve three goals: Reduce smoking rates to less than 10 percent within 10 years; protect all Americans from secondhand smoke within five years; and "ultimately eliminate the death and disease caused by tobacco use." The groups in the coalition are the American Academy of Pediatrics; American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network; American Heart Association; American Lung Association; Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights; and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and Legacy. Experts would also like tobacco companies to cough up the money to fund anti-tobacco efforts, or at least stop contributing to the toll. The coalition highlighted Federal Trade Commission data showing that the tobacco industry will spend the equivalent of $1 million each hour this year to market cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products. The companies, it said, fight efforts to limit marketing, design their products to appeal to kids and aim to create and sustain addiction to nicotine.Glamour Super Slims Lilac

 Some progress has been impressive, but efforts to curb tobacco use have been hampered by tobacco manufacturers, Beitsch said, adding that it earlier appeared the tobacco industry "was going to work with us, even with the master settlement of the 1990s. But they never really honored commitments to tell the truth and work in an honorable way." It is hard to make progress, he noted, when a "so-called partner doesn't really intend to collaborate." Bright patches Beitsch sees definite bright spots in anti-smoking efforts, though. Very few health practitioners smoke. Some states, including Utah, have already met goals set for 2020 in terms of reducing tobacco use. Florida is an example of a state that reached goals for reducing tobacco use in middle schools and high schools. The high school smoking rate peaked at 36.4 percent in 1997, but was down to 18.1 percent in 2011, according to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted by CDC. The recent Monitoring the Future Survey found smoking among high school seniors cut in half since 1997, down to 16.3 percent in 2013. American adults have also cut the number of cigarettes they smoke. Adult per capita consumption has gone from a high of 4,345 in 1963 to 1,232 in 2011. A study in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that without the anti-tobacco efforts of the past 50 years, per capita cigarette use would have been five times higher in 2011 than it was. Researchers say smoking by men declined an average of 25 percent in 187 countries from 1980 to 2012, and by 42 percent among women. But with population growth, the raw number of smokers globally has grown, and rates remain high in some countries. For men, smoking is very common in Russia, Indonesia and Armenia, for instance, while women smoke in higher-than-average numbers in Chile, France and Greece. While the United States was first to sound the alarm about tobacco dangers, it lags behind many countries, Beitsch said. Read more at http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865594016/Stop-smoking-battle-still-raging-50-years-after-surgeon-general-published-health-risks.html#zr6tkQsqJguWoryP.99