Eleven years after a federal court ordered the country’s biggest cigarette producers to produce a series of warning ads informing people about the dangers of their products, Big Tobacco is finally preparing to publish those “corrective statements” in TV ads, newspapers, online, and in cigarette packaging. [More]
smoking
Big Tobacco Will Admit In New Ads That All Cigarettes Are Bad For You, Intentionally Addictive
Maine Raises Legal Smoking Age To 21
As the Food and Drug Administration considers lowering the level of nicotine in cigarettes to reduce the likelihood of addiction, some states and cities have taken it upon themselves to discourage smoking at a young age. This week, Maine joined New Jersey, California, and Hawaii to raise the minimum legal smoking age to 21. [More]
You Still Can’t Fire Up An E-Cigarette On Your Flight
If you were hoping to fire up that electronic cigarette on your next flight, you better think again: The use of e-cigarettes is still prohibited on commercial flights, an appeals court ruled Friday. [More]
WHO: Tobacco Isn’t Just Bad For Humans, It’s Also Killing The Environment
From cancer to heart disease and many things in between, the health effects of smoking tobacco are well known. But a new report from the United Nation’s World Health Organization tries to show how all this smoke has affected the environment. [More]
Additional Hoverboards Recalled Over Fire, Explosion Risk
Last year, federal safety regulators recalled 501,000 ”hoverboards” from eight manufacturers amid concerns that the not-actually-hovering devices’ lithium-ion battery packs posed a fire hazard, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has added another manufacturer and 500 scooters to the recall list. [More]
Passenger’s Headphones Explode During Flight
Many travelers enjoy getting a little shut-eye on their trip. While most are awoken by the sound of fellow passengers or small bout of turbulence, a woman traveling from China to Australia woke to the sound of an explosion: her headphones. [More]
Walgreens Still Not Kicking Cigarette Habit, But Makes Some Products Less Visible
Three years after Walgreens said it would evaluate whether or not to continue selling cigarettes, and a year after it said it needed a bit more time to come to a resolution, shareholders for the drugstore chain are questioning the company’s choice to continue selling these cancer-causing products. [More]
Are Cigarette Warnings That Show Actual Harm More Effective At Getting People To Quit?
Imagine you’re holding a package of cigarettes you’re thinking about buying. Which would encourage you to quit: a label with a written warning, or a label with a photo of a throat cancer patient and former smoker who’s had a larygnectomy? According to a new study, labels with photos that show the harm done by smoking are more effective at dissuading people from lighting up. [More]
FDA Warns 4 Tobacco Makers To Stop Selling Flavored Cigarettes Labeled As Cigars
If you want to sell an illegal product, simply slapping on a different label won’t magically make it legal. That’s why the Food and Drug Administration is ordering four tobacco manufacturers to stop selling flavored cigarettes labeled as “little cigars” or “cigars.” [More]
Philip Morris CEO: We Might Stop Making Traditional Cigarettes Someday
After decades of making money off brands like Marlboro, Philip Morris is looking to shift its focus away from traditional cigarettes and toward smokeless products. As part of that effort, the company’s CEO says it may stop making cigarettes altogether — eventually. [More]
Pediatricians, American Cancer Society Take FDA To Court Over Delayed Graphic Warning Labels On Cigarettes
It’s been more than seven years since the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act became law, directing the Food and Drug Administration to bolster warnings on tobacco labels and to create graphic warning images to be printed on cigarette packaging. Even though the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the tobacco industry’s challenge to these labels in 2013, they have yet to materialize. In an attempt to force the FDA’s hand, a coalition of doctors, public health advocates, and anti-smoking groups have filed a lawsuit against the government. [More]
Makers Of E-Cigarettes And Pricey Cigars Want To Avoid FDA Approval And Regulation
Until earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration didn’t have authority to regulate some new or unusual smokeable products that have been growing in popularity, like premium cigars, hookah tobacco, vaping products, and e-cigarettes. However, the industries behind these products are fighting regulation with lobbyists, hoping to do away with the new rule. [More]
California Becomes Second State To Raise Smoking Age To 21
Starting on June 9, California will officially be the second state — after Hawaii — to bar most people under the age of 21 from smoking, buying, or possessing traditional cigarettes. [More]
Chicago Raises Smoking Age To 21, Exempts Feminine Hygiene Products From Sales Tax
Yesterday, the Chicago City Council voted to approve a pair of hot-button measures: One that raises the minimum age for buying cigarettes in the Windy City, and another that does away with the so-called “pink tax” or “tampon tax” on feminine hygiene products. [More]
California Could Be Second State To Raise Minimum Smoking Age To 21
Just days after the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors voted to increase the legal smoking age from 18 to 21, the state’s Assembly passed a package of tobacco bills, including a measure that would raise the state smoking age to 21 and ban the use of electronic cigarettes in public places where traditional smoking is prohibited. [More]
Passenger Arrested For Hijacking NYC Bus After Driver Told Her To Stop Smoking
As comfortable as it would be if the entire world was your living room, it’s not. We all have to abide by certain rules in public about behaviors that wouldn’t fly outside the home — wearing real pants, not having your butt stuck to the couch, etc. — including no smoking on New York City buses. And as one passenger learned recently, no stealing them when you’re told to behave. [More]