Eco-friendly cigarettes? One company is attempting to make that claim.According to story that ran yesterday (Eco-friendly cigarette ads make tobacco foes fume), Natural American Spirit’s new cigarette ads appearing in such magazines as Wired, Mother Jones and Marie Claire are attempting to make this claim.Really? Yep, thanks to their use of “additive-free” organic tobacco and a whole other host of environmental efforts by the manufacturer, Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co, these cigarettes are green, they say.But (no surprise) anti-smoking activists aren’t buying it.

Forget the FDA’s graphic cigarette packaging planned to scare American smokers. R.J. Reynolds wants smokers to think more positively… about the environment.Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., a subsidiary of the U.S. tobacco giant, has been buying magazine ad space in magazines such as Esquire, Elle, Wired, and Marie Claire to advertise its “earth-friendly,” “additive-free,” organically-grown Natural American Spirit cigarettes.Eco-friendly cigarettes? The process to make them is plenty green – wind-powered, few chemicals used, recycled packaging materials, a salesforce equipped with hybrid cars — but the smokes themselves are just as likely to cause lung cancer as the nonorganic ones, USA Today reports.

The city wants an ordinance that would punish stores that sell tobacco to underage youth. Also, the city has won a $300,000 grant to improve safety on Pacific Coast Highway.To fight what critics call the glaring problem of tobacco sales to underage youth in Malibu, the City Council Monday night directed city staff to prepare a tobacco licensing ordinance that would require local businesses that sell tobacco to register with the city.It was also announced Monday night that the city had received a $300,000 grant from Caltrans to improve safety on Pacific Coast Highway.The tobacco ordinance, proposed by Mayor Pro Tem Laura Rosenthal, would require the 16 stores that currently sell tobacco products in Malibu to register with the city. Once registered, the stores would be subject to two to three undercover sting operations per year by the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station to assure compliance.

Heads of educational institutions including school principals, proctors and university vice-chancellors will soon have powers to challan anyone found selling tobacco products in the vicinity of these establishments.In a major development meant to check illegal sale of tobacco products around schools and colleges, the Ministry of Health has proposed an additional notification under the existing Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COPTA) to list people who will have the power to enforce the provisions of the law.

Yesterday, Philip Morris International Inc., was one of the companies whose stocks touched new highs. On July 21, the company reported earnings for its June-ending quarter. Reported EPS at $1.34 topped the analysts’ consensus of $1.21 by 10.74 percent. Currently, analysts’ target price estimates range from a low of $62 to a high of $81 with a consensus of $75. Should you invest in Philip Morris International Inc.?

The Centre will soon authorise school principals and municipal staff to challan shop-owners selling tobacco products to students or around educational institutions, which is not permitted under the law.The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 prohibits the sale of tobacco products to those below the age of 18 years and near educational institutions.