Cigarette Machines Draw Protests

Using a roll-your-own cigarette machine is easy enough. The machine automatically fills each tube with tobacco and then ejects the finished cigarette into a collection bin, an eight-minute process that produces the equivalent of a carton of cigarettes —10 packs of 20. But officials in some states say operating the machines without a cigarette manufacturer’s license is illegal. In August, Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen, on behalf of Kevin B. Sullivan, state commissioner of revenue services, filed a lawsuit in Superior Court in Hartford against Tracey’s Smoke Shop and Tobacco LLC for illegally manufacturing cigarettes at its two Connecticut stores. Tracey Scalzi, the stores’ owner, said she owns four of the machines at the two stores, which opened about a year ago.

Driver Arrested for Untaxed Cigarettes

Genesee County Sheriff's Deputies stopped a Rochester man who was driving erratically and charged him with transporting more than 15,000 untaxed Kiss cigarettes. Deputies arrested Nedal Abdul Mansour, 48, in the Town of Pembroke. They found 15,560 untaxed cigarettes in his vehicle. Lawmen believe he was trying to transport them across Indian reservation lines. Mansour faces one felony count of possessing and transporting over 10,000 untaxed cigarettes. Those cigarettes cannot be legally removed en masse from a reservation or re-sold elsewhere. Deputies say Abdul was also driving with a revoked license. He was given an appearance ticket.

Women with Breast Implants Shouldn't Smoke

Plastic surgeon warns that smoking may cause women who’ve undergone surgery to lose their nipples. Plastic surgeons have warned that women with breast implants should take care not to smoke – they face the risk of losing a part of their breasts – nipples. Top plastic surgeon Dr Anthony Youn warned on CNN’s health blog The Chart, that smoking before or after a breast lift surgery can cause a woman’s nipples to turn black and fall off. “Women smokers who undergo breast lifts are at great risk of losing their nipples,” he wrote. According to him, “The nicotine in cigarettes and the carbon monoxide contained in cigarette smoke can diminish blood flow to various parts of the body. These toxins act as a virtual tourniquet. If the blood flow to a particular body part becomes greatly reduced or halted, that body part dies.” He goes on to say that in his memoirs, he tells the story of a smoker whose nipples turned purple while undergoing a breast lift surgery. "Purple is the precursor to black. Black is the precursor to falling off.” He ends his blog post by saying “smokers, you have been warned.”

Sower Progress Toward Reducing Teen Tobacco Use

Tobacco use by teens decreased at a slower rate between 2008 and 2011 and more than 50 percent of high-schoolers are still exposed to secondhand smoke The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) today (Monday, Dec. 5) released new information showing that after a decade of sharp declines in tobacco use among teens, progress is slowing. In addition, more than 50 percent of high school students are still exposed to secondhand smoke, despite the passage of the Freedom to Breathe Act in 2007. Equally concerning is that the use of menthol cigarettes has more than doubled among teen smokers since 2000. These findings are included in the report, Teens and Tobacco in Minnesota 2011; Results from the Minnesota Youth Tobacco and Asthma Survey. “We’ve made great progress in reducing tobacco use since 2000, but the most recent findings in this new report give us little to celebrate,” said Dr. Ed Ehlinger, Minnesota Commissioner of Health. “We are failing our youth when you consider that they use tobacco at higher rates than adults and are still being exposed to secondhand smoke. We are setting them up for a future of tobacco-related illness and premature death.”

Excise Hike on Cigarettes

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said that to protect vulnerable people in society, he is proposing to provide a waiver of the household charge of €100 per dwelling for those on mortgage interest supplement and those in certain categories of unfinished housing estates. Provision will also be made to allow payment of the €100 in instalments. The household charge is set to raise €160m a year and is an interim measure pending the design and implementation of a full property tax from 2014. The Minister also said he is initiating a consultation period with the motor industry and other interested parties to start early next year to review options for the improvement in VRT and motor tax in future years. But in the meantime, the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government Phil Hogan will make a provision for an increase in motor tax from January 1. Mr Noonan said this will generate about €47m in 2012 to be used for Exchequer deficit reduction proposals.