The Assembly on Wednesday adopted 14 bills on a host of subjects, including amendment to the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax (VAT) Act, 2006, which provides for increased taxation on tobacco varieties and mobile phones.Four bills were adopted to amend the VAT to facilitate a number of measures, which include a hike in tax on edible oil, tobacco products, mobile phones, iPods, DVDs and CDs.

Despite warnings in public places and on cigarette boxes, more  people are smoking and transgressing the Tobacco Products Control Act of 1993. The fact of the matter is that what we are witnessing now is that smoking cigarettes in South Africa is like an outbreak of a disease.Most people, young and old, are smoking in public places, which is in contravention of the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Act of 1999 and law enforcement agencies do nothing about the transgressors. My understanding of the application of the law is that if there are transgressors of the anti-smoking laws there must be a penalty.

Eye catching and attractive promotional advertisements have strong influence on human minds, especially on youngsters. Consequently, they are more likely to practice the unhealthy habits of tobacco consumption as well as smoking, in case the displaced tobacco products succeed to grab their attention for a while, suggested Cancer Research UK in its recently complied report.

The University of North Dakota is proclaimed to be a tobacco-free campus, but you wouldn’t be able to tell without the signs posted around campus. Between classes there are a number of smokers milling about and heading to classes, getting their nicotine fix before sitting through another grueling hour of lecture. For a campus with a policy against the use of tobacco products, I have been a part of a few too many circles of smokers waiting around outside a building for their next class. Now, there are designated areas on which smokers and chewers are permitted their vices, namely city streets like University Avenue and a good chunk of streets north of it, but observance of the policy is shaky at best. Even right out in front of Student Health Services is free game for many smokers, all because there is no enforcement of the policy.

Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi on Monday said that it is his responsibility to safeguard the health of the people of the state by banning harmful products like gutka and tobacco.Addressing a group of people assembled under the Voice of Victim of oral cancer, who met him to get his support for their initiative for fighting the growing menace of chewing tobacco products and banning their sale in the country, Modi said these products not only cause physical pain to the victims but also lead their families to undergo emotional and mental trauma, besides incurring severe financial expenses on treatment. He said he would certainly work on anti-tobacco measures.

The Food and Drug Administration has responded to claims from cigarette makers that new graphic-warning labels due to take effect next year violate tobacco companies’ free speech rights.The federally-mandated labels, which must occupy the top half of the front and back of a cigarette pack, are due to include images such as a man exhaling smoke through a hole in his neck and will be accompanied by such messages as “Smoking can kill you.”

People who quit smoking show improvements in their overall personality, according to University of Missouri researchers.Andrew Littlefield, a doctoral student in the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Science, said the data indicates that for some young adults smoking is impulsive.“That means that 18-year-olds are acting without a lot of forethought and favor immediate rewards over long term negative consequences. They might say, ‘I know smoking is bad for me, but I’m going to do it anyway.’ However, we find individuals who show the most decreases in impulsivity also are more likely quit smoking. If we can target anti-smoking efforts at that impulsivity, it may help the young people stop smoking.”

A captive orangutan is being forced to quit smoking after picking up the habit while living in a state-run zoo in Malaysia.Malaysian wildlife officers seized the orangutan, named Shirley, from the zoo in southern Johor last week after officials decided her living conditions were not up to standard, America’s ABC News reports.Melaka Zoo director Azhar Mohammed said Shirley, who is believed to be 20 years old, was most likely not addicted to cigarettes.