The average retail price of a pack of cigarettes in Oregon is $5.08. But each pack of cigarettes actually costs the state $18.83 in medical costs, lost productivity and premature deaths, according to a cost-benefit analysis commisioned by the American Lung Association.

The City has proposed the issuance of an alcohol sales permit that comes with several conditions, including an unprecedented one: the requirement that any alcohol sold in the store costs $15 or more, a “price-point condition” that would increase by 2 percent annually.

House Minority Leader John Boehner has two ties to the tobacco industry. He gets a lot of political support and money from it, and he smokes a lot of cigarettes. But putting the political aspect aside, Boehner made one thing clear Sunday: He’s not ready to give up the habit.

Japanese lawmakers are seeking to increase tobacco taxes for a second straight year to curb rising health-care costs in a country where cigarettes sell for less than half the price they do in New York City.“We should aim to boost the tax again next fiscal year,” Yoko Komiyama, a member of Japan’s ruling party and a leader of a group of about 70 lawmakers seeking higher cigarette levies, said in an interview in Tokyo. “The planned increase next month is just the first step and isn’t nearly enough.”

In August, Lateline revealed the existence of a tobacco industry-funded campaign against a looming ban on logos and branding on cigarette packets. From 2012, cigarettes will be sold in plain standardised packages carrying large graphic warnings against smoking. It’s a world-first, hailed by anti-smoking advocates. Following our story, we received a stack of documents which appear to be internal emails, invoices and contracts outlining the precise nature of the involvement of the biggest tobacco company of them all, Philip Morris, and two other tobacco giants.

Two new studies find smoking cigarettes can harm sperm, both in smoking men who may become fathers and in sons born to women who smoked during pregnancy.Both studies in the journal Human Reproduction suggest that both men and women who hope to conceive should kick the habit. The first study finds men who smoke heavily may experience fertility problems stemming from a drop in a certain protein crucial to sperm development as well as damage to sperm’s DNA.

Mercedes-Benz released new photos of the Cigarette Racing AMG boat. The 46-foot Rider is capable of reaching speeds in excess of 130 mph. A pair of twin-turbocharged, 552-cubic inch 1,350 horsepower Mercury Racing engines powers it.

A recent study shows that Washington state has the third lowest smoking rate in the nation. That’s great news and shows the value of public education efforts undertaken by the state Department of Health to get people to kick the nicotine habit.