Mentholl cigarette smokers can exhale in relief: their Kools won’t be losing their cool anytime soon. A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel has declined to recommend a ban on menthol cigarettes, even though the study group conceded that a ban would improve public health. The decision follows a 2009 federal ban on candy flavorings in cigarettes because of their potential allure for young smokers. The panel’s decision not to recommend a menthol ban is potentially a big victory for tobacco companies, in particular Lorillard Inc., makers of Newport, the country’s top-selling menthol cigarette. Lorillard’s stock price jumped more than 10 percent shortly after a draft of the panel’s report was made public.

Nearly three months after the Union Cabinet decided not to change pictorial warnings on tobacco products for one more year and asked the Union Health Ministry to give a wider choice to manufacturers, the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) is ready with more options. According to officials, the DAVP this month submitted pictures showing different facets of mouth cancer and lung cancer to the Union Health Ministry. The warnings will be notified after Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad shortlists them.

Police arrested four men who they said believe robbed two convenience stores within the same hour Sunday morning.Investigators were called to the Kun and Go at 154th and Pacific streets at 2:21 a.m.A witness told police that two men entered the store wearing face masks, hooded sweatshirts and gloves.

Unlike smoking bans adopted recently in other Missouri cities — and three others up for vote April 5 — the proposed Springfield ordinance contains almost no exceptions. The ban, which covers electronic cigarettes as well as traditional tobacco products, allows smoking indoors only in private homes and vehicles and up to a quarter of the rooms for rent in hotels.In contrast, ordinances going before voters in Cape Girardeau, O’Fallon and Webb City all include exemptions for tobacco retail shops and some private clubs. In O’Fallon, free-standing cigar bars could continue to allow smoking, as well.

A move is in the works to have the city join a handful of communities statewide in banning the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products by local health care providers, including chain pharmacies and other drugstores, and institutions of higher education. At the request of the City Council, City Manager Michael V. O’Brien is recommending amendments to the city’s tobacco control ordinance to implement such a ban, as well as regulate the advertising of tobacco products within the city.

Countering the tobacco industry’s efforts to market flavored tobacco and nicotine candy products is going to cost the Davis County Health Department thousands of dollars. However, the county is going to be getting a whole lot of funding help from the state.On Tuesday, the Davis County Commission approved a contract with the state health department to receive $10,000.

by Deborah Arnott : As evidence the industry cites the 1990s, when tax increases were followed by tobacco smuggling ballooning out of control. Smuggling certainly did go up, due to a vast expansion in British cigarettes being sold overseas, destined to be smuggled straight back to the UK – with tobacco manufacturers benefiting from the increase in sales of their products at a cheaper tax-free price.

A state senator wants to keep electronic cigarettes out of kids’ hands by making it a petty offense for merchants to sell them to minors and for minors to buy them.“If we’re going to say minors can’t buy regular cigarettes, it doesn’t seem valid to say they can have access to electronic cigarettes,” said Sen. Steve Yarbrough, R-Chandler. “Hopefully a few less young people will suffer nicotine addictions with this ban.”