Is the Sponsorship of Anti-Smoking Ads by Tobacco Companies Ineffective?

Under the MSA agreement, the tobacco industry is obligated to pay up to $300 million per year unless their control of the market dips below 99.05%. It did, but the rate still hovers in the 90th percentile. As a result, a support group for American Legacy Foundation was formed in 2004 called Citizens’ Commission to Protect the Truth.

Reports vary on whether anti smoking adverts have been effective. The Truth is reported to have some of the most effective results to this date. Teenage tobacco users dropped in the first two years of the debut of Truth anti-smoking ads by one million.

http://www.ecigarettedirect.co.uk/ashtray-blog/2011/08/most-shocking-anti-smoking-ads-why-they-do-not-work.html

According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the Truth has been the most effective anti-smoking campaign to this date. More children are able to recall the edgy ads led by youth activists and state that they made an impact on their decision not to smoke.

At the same time, The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has issued some controversial facts stating exactly the opposite. The report is staggering.

It cites several occasions where RJ Reynolds actively tried to thwart honest efforts towards state-backed anti-smoking initiatives, as well as particular instances where they lobbied against state legislation to increase the price of cigarettes. No surprise here. Especially since, most experts agree that the real war against tobacco resides in a crunch on the pocketbook.

Some of the Most Staggering Statistics about Anti-Smoking Ad Campaigns

One of the most comprehensive studies on smoking ads by the National Cancer Institute titled The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use concluded that anti smoking campaigns funded by tobacco industry are “generally ineffective”.
Most children couldn’t recall anti smoking youth campaigns.
The anti smoking campaigns geared towards adults was reported to increase youth’s interest in smoking.

http://www.ecigarettedirect.co.uk/ashtray-blog/2011/08/anti-smoking-ads-make-some-smokers-smoke-more.html  

Remember the Phillip Morris campaign “Think. Don’t Smoke.”? So do most of the children that saw it—and in a favorable light.
Several experts are of the opinion that the “Tobacco is Whacko” actually encouraged the rebellion of the youth population and drive more youth towards smoking.

An excerpt from S. 1403 (The IDEA Full Funding Act) is posted below. You will notice that a portion of this legislation even refers to itself as the “Saving Lives by Lowering Tobacco Use Act”. They are openly admitting that they want to make tobacco so expensive that people cannot afford to use it….

SEC. 3. TOBACCO TAX INCREASE AND PARITY.

(a) Short Title- This section may be cited as the ‘Saving Lives by Lowering Tobacco Use Act’.

(b) Increase in Excise Tax on Small Cigars and Cigarettes-

(1) SMALL CIGARS- Section 5701(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘$50.33’ and inserting ‘$100.50’.

(2) CIGARETTES- Section 5701(b) of such Code is amended–

(A) by striking ‘$50.33’ in paragraph (1) and inserting ‘$100.50’, and

(B) by striking ‘$105.69’ in paragraph (2) and inserting ‘$211.04’.

(c) Tax Parity for Pipe Tobacco and Roll-Your-Own Tobacco-

(1) PIPE TOBACCO- Section 5701(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘$2.8311 cents’ and inserting ‘$49.55’.

(2) ROLL-YOUR-OWN TOBACCO- Section 5701(g) of such Code is amended by striking ‘$24.78’ and inserting ‘$49.55’.

(d) Clarification of Definition of Small Cigars- Paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 5701(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 are each amended by striking ‘three pounds per thousand’ and inserting ‘four and one-half pounds per thousand’.

(e) Clarification of Definition of Cigarette- Paragraph (2) of section 5702(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting before the final period the following: ‘, which includes any roll for smoking containing tobacco that weighs no more than four and a half pounds per thousand, unless it is wrapped in whole tobacco leaf and does not have a cellulose acetate or other cigarette-style filter’.

(f) Tax Parity for Smokeless Tobacco-

(1) IN GENERAL- Section 5701(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended–

(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘$1.51’ and inserting ‘$26.79’;

(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘50.33 cents’ and inserting ‘$10.72’; and

(C) by adding at the end the following:

‘(3) SMOKELESS TOBACCO SOLD IN DISCRETE SINGLE-USE UNITS- On discrete single-use units, $100.50 per each 1,000 single-use units.’.

Please notice that some of the tax increases are absolutely mind blowing. For example, the tax rate on pipe tobacco is going from 2.8311 cents to $49.55.

Now that is a tax increase you can really sink your teeth into.

Nine years after the Big Apple banned smoking in its restaurants, the New York City Council on Wednesday voted to ban smoking in city parks and on city beaches, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a written statement.

The council voted 36 to 12 in favor of the ban, much to the chagrin of those who think the government is overstepping its role into its residents’ lives.

Read entire article

Food: The Ultimate Secret Exposed

People the world over, but especially in the United States are under chemical attack. Deadly and dangerous toxins ranging from Aspartame to Fluoride, GMO, Mercury-tainting, pesticides, cross-species chimeras, plastic compounds in chicken, high fructose corn syrup, cloned meat, rBGH and new aggressive GM species of salmon have all entered into our diets and environments– whether we want it or not.

Many of these substances knowingly cause or are linked with sterility, low birth weight, miscarriages, smaller or deformed offspring, as well as organ failure, cancer, brain tumors and Death itself, what you DON’T know about on your grocery shelves can hurt you. Further, Alex demonstrates that a pattern of buried studies, fraudulent statistics and a will reduce global population all point to the deliberate criminal poisoning of the food and water supply.

Additional Information You Should Know About
Common Chemical Linked to a Slew of Health Problems

Signal Variety, Inc. is a tobacco retailer that owns and operates Signal Street Variety Store in Rochester and the Tobacco Depot and Cigarette City, both in Seabrook. Company President Richard Rigazio has filed a lawsuit in Strafford County Superior Court against Attorney General Michael Delaney and Commissioner of Revenue Kevin Clougherty regarding the state's position that cigarette rolling machines in one of the Seabrook stores classify the company as a cigarette manufacturer that should be held to the same standards and requirements as other manufacturers.

The lawsuit explains customers purchase loose tobacco and hollow paper cigarette "tubes" and pay a separate fee to "rent" a rolling machine. The lawsuit likens it to what occurs in a Laundromat when a consumer pays a fee to use a washer or dryer.

"The sale of loose rolling tobacco by the ounce, related quantities of tubes and rolling machines to individual consumers has always been quintessentially and archetypically retail," the lawsuit states.

The in-store, consumer-operated machines are a recent retail market phenomena and "the State has taken the position that the installation of these machines transforms a retailer into a cigarette manufacturer," the lawsuit says.

A "Master Settlement Agreement" arose from a mid-1990s lawsuit more than 40 states, including New Hampshire, brought against the four largest cigarette manufacturers, the lawsuit explains. In exchange for annual payments in proportion to their market share and restrictions on future advertising and marketing, the large manufacturers were granted some relief in that manufacturers not part of the MSA are required to place in escrow for 25 years an amount roughly equivalent to the per cigarette MSA payments made by the four largest companies, according to the lawsuit.

"This has the natural and fully intended consequence of raising their costs so that any competitive advantage … is reduced," the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit claims the arrangement violates the New Hampshire Constitution and Signal Variety petitions the court to prohibit the Attorney General from enforcing the escrow on its operations. Signal Variety claims it is not a tobacco manufacturer or a wholesaler. The lawsuit claims that for MSA purposes, rolling tobacco is already considered a fully manufactured cigarette and the escrow obligations therefore fall on the "roll your own tobacco" manufacturers.

The cigarette and tobacco tax is also taken up in the lawsuit. The state imposes a tax of $1.78 on each pack of 20 cigarettes. Effective June 10, the tax rate for tobacco products other than cigarettes and except premium cigars raised from 48.59 percent to 65.03 percent of the wholesale sales price, according to the Department of Revenue website.

"Signal Variety purchases rolling tobacco only from licensed wholesalers who have paid the state tobacco tax for the product. It sells the rolling tobacco to consumers at a price that takes the state tobacco tax into account," the lawsuit states. "The Department of Revenue is apparently investigating the question of whether the same tobacco should be taxed a second time as cigarettes once consumers roll it in Signal Variety's machines. The tobacco would be subject to double taxation if, and only if, Signal Variety is deemed to be a 'manufacturer' for state tobacco tax purposes."

The lawsuit asks the court to find that cigarettes customers roll from loose rolling tobacco not be subject to the cigarette tax in addition to the tobacco tax.

When reached Wednesday, Rigazio declined to comment and referred all questions to his attorney, Andrew Schulman of Bedford. Schulman said the case is in response to a lawsuit the Attorney General's office has filed against Signal Variety in Merrimack Superior Court.

He declined to speak about the case further since it is a pending matter. He did note it is similar to another case the state filed against North of the Border Tobacco, LLC and Roll Your Own, LLC.

In documents from that case, the Attorney General argued the defendants are involved throughout the manufacturing process and are therefore the manufacturers regardless of who turns on the machine or whether the customer brings his or her own materials to the machine.

In an order dated May 14, Merrimack Judge Larry Smukler found that "the process of selling loose untaxed tobacco, which is then immediately rolled into cigarettes retained by the customer in cigarette rolling machines conveniently located on the premises, is clearly a subterfuge to circumvent statutory requirements."

The judge ordered North of the Border Tobacco to refrain from allowing customers to use the machines in conjunction with pipe tobacco, or else make required escrow payments.

Attempts to reach representatives of the Attorney General or Department of Revenue Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Court documents indicate a temporary hearing date of Aug. 19, with an appearance date targeted from Sept. 14.

Source: Citizen.com

Several New Tobacco Regulations Take Effect June 22, 2010:

• No More "Light" or "Mild" Cigarettes
• More Restrictions On Sales, Giveaways
  Retailers will now no longer be able to sell cigarette packages with fewer than 20 cigarettes. Cigarette vending machines will be outlawed except in "very limited situations." Also, free samples of cigarettes are no longer allowed as part of a marketing plan by the tobacco companies.
• Strict New Marketing Rules
  Tobacco companies are also not allowed to sponsor any athletic, musical, social or cultural event or team. Hats and T-shirts will not be allowed to be sold with any tobacco brand or advertisement on them. Finally, any advertisement for cigarettes or smokeless tobacco will not be allowed to use music or sound effects.

Newton Medical Center recently informed employees that beginning July 1, it will impose a "tobacco-user surcharge" - $35 per two-week pay period - to employees who smoke or have a spouse or dependents who smoke.

Smokers who falsely state on a benefits enrollment form that they don't use tobacco "will face disciplinary action up to and including termination," according to a memo issued to Newton Medical Center employees.

Wichita school employees who use tobacco regularly - more than 10 times a year - pay $600 a year more for health coverage. Workers pay another $600 a year if their spouse smokes.

How much more discrimination are smokers going to take before they start pushing back? Perhaps they might consider quitting those dead-end jobs and taking their futures into their own hands. Profit hungry companies have understood for years how company provided health insurance acts to enslave people to their jobs.

There are other options for smokers who refuse to work for these discriminatory employers. And, with Obamanized Socialized Health Care around the corner, anyone should be able to get coverage regardless of their employment status.

It means that the Jenkins Act is rendered obsolete and has been replaced by the new Federal imposed PACT Act.

It is important to note, the ATF has the authority RIGHT NOW, even before the Act goes into full effect, to enter, inspect and/or seize records from ANY U.S.A. located (established) online – mail order business office or headquarters. Many of the current online sellers are urging their customers to “stock up” prior to June 30th because of the US Postal Service shipping issue… What they are not telling customers is that any past or future purchase info now could end up in the hands of the authorities!

Especially since it is believed to be deliberately discriminatory against Native American (Indian) businesses AND various points within the Act are believed to be unconstitutional. But “after passage” legal challenges and court battles take time & cost large sums of money… So much so that it is estimated that at least 99% of all current online & mail order tobacco outlets whose legal point of sale is in U.S.A. jurisdiction will not survive…There is no doubt that because of the PACT Act over 1,000 jobs will be lost in this industry on June 30th and many more will follow. Yet your president continues to claim he is against anything that causes job losses; even after he signed this Act into law!