Voice of Tobacco Victims, a support group of cancer survivors and clinicians, led by Tata Memorial Hospital Mumbai doctors have asked the State Election Commission (SEC) to ban political funding from the tobacco companies before the civil elections in the state.

The punch-drunk tobacco industry has been dealt yet another blow as the Canadian province of Ontario is the latest administration to proceed with a law to return money for smoking-related diseases.
They are seeking 50 billion dollars in damages.

As the March deadline approaches for the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Committee to produce a report to the FDA on its findings on menthol, Bob Bannon, director of investor relations at Greensboro, N.C.-based Lorillard Tobacco Co., took some time out to discuss his company’s menthol business and more. You recently introduced a non-menthol cigarette. How are the non-menthol cigarettes doing, and what are your hopes?As the non-menthol segment of the cigarette industry accounts for approximately 70 percent of total sales, our recent national launch of Newport Non-Menthol was an opportunistic move designed to leverage Newport’s strong brand equity among adult smokers into this large market segment.

KANSAS CITY, MO. (kcur) – Kansas City’s smoking ban has had little, if any, impact on business at area eating and drinking establishments. That’s according to a new study, which looked at sales data before and after the ban was enacted in 2008. John Taurus, an economics professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, coauthored the study. He says any changes in sales that did take place were related to the overall economic climate.

Austin, Texas, is one of the hip U.S. destinations being featured in a new marketing campaign for Camel cigarettes. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has unveiled cigarette packs bearing the names of Austin and other cities, such as Las Vegas, New Orleans, San Francisco and Seattle, and plans to sell the limited-edition packs in December and January, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Two San Fernando Valley tobacco wholesalers have been charged with evading California excise taxes on noncigarette tobacco products, federal prosecutors announced Monday.Eight federal indictments were unsealed charging 15 people and three businesses for not paying taxes on cigars and chewing tobacco, including Pay-Less Wholesale of North Hollywood and Wholesale Palace of Burbank.

The tobacco industry and crucial marginal voters turned on Australia’s first female Prime Minister Julia Gillard Wednesday as she struggled to get her flagging election campaign back on the front foot. Gillard continued her assault on conservative rival Tony Abbott’s economic credentials as the race to the August 21 polls hit the halfway mark, warning Australians that he presented a “pretty frightening vision of the future”.

The US Supreme Court gave a substantial victory to major tobacco firms Monday, rebuffing an appeal that would have allowed the government to pocket 280 billion dollars of their profits.The decision not to hear the case dealt a potentially fatal blow to long-running government efforts to penalize tobacco firms for 50 years of allegedly deceptive practices aimed at getting people hooked on smoking, the most preventable cause of premature death in the United States.