ALBANY -- After a Friday of furious budget activity, the Legislature returns to the Capitol today to vote on Gov. David Paterson's latest provocative one-week budget extender -- including a chunky tax hike on cigarettes and tobacco products as well as stepped-up tax enforcement on sales of tobacco products on Indian reservations.
Under the plan, the current tax on a pack of cigarettes will rise from $2.75 to $4.35. The tax on other tobacco products -- such as cigars, chewing tobacco and pipe tobacco -- will increase from 46 percent to 75 percent. The increases are scheduled to take effect Sept. 1 and raise $290 million annually, according to the Paterson administration; stepped-up enforcement on Indian sales is expected to collect $150 million more.
Over the weekend, forces on either side of the debate over smoking weighed in. Altria, the parent company of cigarette giant Philip Morris, released a packet of information arguing that the hike would be an unfair burden that would hurt consumers and retailers, and could lead to increased illegal trafficking.
The American Heart Association was one of several groups that came out in support of the boost: "The higher the better," said Julianne Hart, the state organization's advocacy director.
The inclusion of the new taxes will make the extender harder to support for any of the three Republican senators who enabled last week's emergency appropriation to pass over Democrat Ruben Diaz Sr.'s "no" vote. The extender's defeat would lead to a broad government shutdown.
Sen. Hugh Farley, R-Schenectady, said last week that he wants to keep the state running, but would refuse to vote for anything that contains new taxes.
The Senate's Democratic majority will also take up a series of budget bills dealing with government operation, transportation, environmental protection and other sectors. The bill were passed by the Assembly on Friday but lagged in the Senate due to the absences of several Democrats.
Paterson and legislators still have to tackle the thorniest portions of the budget: the state's revenue plan and education funding.
The budget deadline for this fiscal year passed on April 1. Paterson said last week that if a final budget plan isn't settled this week, he'll put the remainder of his budget proposal into the extender to be passed on Monday, June 28.
понедельник, 21 июня 2010 г.
понедельник, 14 июня 2010 г.
Stephen Strasburg = Smoking Fastball + Smokeless Tobacco
By now, everyone knows that Washington Nationals ace pitcher, rookie Stephen Strasburg is the real deal.
His debut lived up to all the hype, with the 21-year old throwing furious heat into the seventh inning. He had 14 strikeouts and no walks, getting his first major league win against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 5-2 win Tuesday evening.
But what I had somehow missed in all the coverage leading up to his debut is this: the young man uses dip, that is, smokeless tobacco.
Reading some of the Washington Post coverage Wednesday morning, I came across a description of the Nats clubhouse scene which starts off with a mention of Strasburg's wife:
While Rachel was making an early run on the Nationals' Team Store — coming away with a bagful of limited-edition Strasburg 37 jerseys, and paying full price — her husband was taking batting practice in an indoor cage, with a tin of dip tobacco in his back pocket and a pinch between his gum and lower lip.
As Phil Rizzuto and Harry Caray might have said: Holy Cow! Or as was said in an earlier baseball era, say it ain't so.
So Strasburg has a weakness after all.
Major League Baseball has for years wanted to get rid of smokeless tobacco, a known carcinogen which causes some of the most hideous cancers of the mouth and throat imaginable. It has been banned in the minors since 1993, though players there still sneak it.
For years, there's been a concerted effort to keep young people from starting the dip habit, especially because of the mistaken impression that it's safer than smoking tobacco.
The mlb.fanhouse.com site has an informative story that provides plenty of background on the use of the product in the majors and efforts to prohibit it. Apparently, the players' union has opposed a ban.
But there are players who support a ban, who understand that they are role models to youngsters, according to the Fanhouse piece:
An excerpt from the piece:
"I would be for [a ban]," A's infielder Eric Chavez said. "I don't do it. Sometimes when I'm watching the games you see a guy throw in a big dip and the camera focuses in on it, I know kids are watching. You want guys to be able to do what they want. Everyone is an adult, but you also have to be aware of the message that you send to kids. ... Since I don't dip, I think I'd be an advocate for trying to get it out of the game, or at least off the field."
As was made clear last night, Strasburg draws a lot of attention and will no doubt be a role model for many youngsters, especially because, by all accounts, he is a humble and level-headed young man.
So his use of snuff is the kind of practice many people will find worrisome, not only for the personal health of one of the most gifted young pitchers baseball has ever seen but for the message it could send to many youngsters who may try to imitate their newest hero.
His debut lived up to all the hype, with the 21-year old throwing furious heat into the seventh inning. He had 14 strikeouts and no walks, getting his first major league win against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 5-2 win Tuesday evening.
But what I had somehow missed in all the coverage leading up to his debut is this: the young man uses dip, that is, smokeless tobacco.
Reading some of the Washington Post coverage Wednesday morning, I came across a description of the Nats clubhouse scene which starts off with a mention of Strasburg's wife:
While Rachel was making an early run on the Nationals' Team Store — coming away with a bagful of limited-edition Strasburg 37 jerseys, and paying full price — her husband was taking batting practice in an indoor cage, with a tin of dip tobacco in his back pocket and a pinch between his gum and lower lip.
As Phil Rizzuto and Harry Caray might have said: Holy Cow! Or as was said in an earlier baseball era, say it ain't so.
So Strasburg has a weakness after all.
Major League Baseball has for years wanted to get rid of smokeless tobacco, a known carcinogen which causes some of the most hideous cancers of the mouth and throat imaginable. It has been banned in the minors since 1993, though players there still sneak it.
For years, there's been a concerted effort to keep young people from starting the dip habit, especially because of the mistaken impression that it's safer than smoking tobacco.
The mlb.fanhouse.com site has an informative story that provides plenty of background on the use of the product in the majors and efforts to prohibit it. Apparently, the players' union has opposed a ban.
But there are players who support a ban, who understand that they are role models to youngsters, according to the Fanhouse piece:
An excerpt from the piece:
"I would be for [a ban]," A's infielder Eric Chavez said. "I don't do it. Sometimes when I'm watching the games you see a guy throw in a big dip and the camera focuses in on it, I know kids are watching. You want guys to be able to do what they want. Everyone is an adult, but you also have to be aware of the message that you send to kids. ... Since I don't dip, I think I'd be an advocate for trying to get it out of the game, or at least off the field."
As was made clear last night, Strasburg draws a lot of attention and will no doubt be a role model for many youngsters, especially because, by all accounts, he is a humble and level-headed young man.
So his use of snuff is the kind of practice many people will find worrisome, not only for the personal health of one of the most gifted young pitchers baseball has ever seen but for the message it could send to many youngsters who may try to imitate their newest hero.
понедельник, 7 июня 2010 г.
CDC Finds Higher Levels of Cancer-Causing Chemicals in U.S. Cigarettes
People who smoke certain U.S. cigarette brands are exposed to higher levels of cancer-causing tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), the major carcinogens and cancer-causing agents in tobacco products, than people who smoke some foreign cigarette brands. This was one of the findings from the first-ever study to compare TSNA exposures among smokers from different countries. CDC researchers compared mouth-level TSNA exposures and urine biomarkers among smokers from the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia. Results of this study are published in the June issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention.
“We know that cigarettes from around the world vary in their ingredients and the way they are produced,” said Dr. Jim Pirkle, deputy director for science at CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Laboratory Sciences. “All of these cigarettes contain harmful levels of carcinogens, but these findings show that amounts of tobacco-specific nitrosamines differ from country to country, and U.S. brands are the highest in the study.”
The types of tobacco in cigarettes vary by manufacturer and location of production. The U.S. cigarette brands studied contained “American blend” tobacco, a specific mixture of tobacco from the U.S. that contains higher TSNA levels. The Australian, Canadian, and U.K. cigarette brands were made from “bright” tobacco, which is lighter in color and flue cured. Changes in curing and blending practices could reduce U.S. smokers’ exposure to one type of cancer-causing compound, however, this would not necessarily result in a safer product.
Study collaborators enlisted 126 persons from Australia, Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. who smoke cigarettes daily to participate in the study. Cigarettes smoked by study participants represented popular brands in each country.
Scientists measured chemicals in cigarette butts collected by each smoker over a 24-hour period to determine how much of a certain TSNA entered the smokers’ mouths during that period. They also collected urine samples from study participants to find out how much breakdown product from this TSNA appeared in the urine. Comparing the results from these two types of sampling showed a correlation between the amount of one TSNA that enters the mouth and the amount of its breakdown product that appears in the urine. This is the first time this relationship has been documented.
“We know that cigarettes from around the world vary in their ingredients and the way they are produced,” said Dr. Jim Pirkle, deputy director for science at CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Laboratory Sciences. “All of these cigarettes contain harmful levels of carcinogens, but these findings show that amounts of tobacco-specific nitrosamines differ from country to country, and U.S. brands are the highest in the study.”
The types of tobacco in cigarettes vary by manufacturer and location of production. The U.S. cigarette brands studied contained “American blend” tobacco, a specific mixture of tobacco from the U.S. that contains higher TSNA levels. The Australian, Canadian, and U.K. cigarette brands were made from “bright” tobacco, which is lighter in color and flue cured. Changes in curing and blending practices could reduce U.S. smokers’ exposure to one type of cancer-causing compound, however, this would not necessarily result in a safer product.
Study collaborators enlisted 126 persons from Australia, Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. who smoke cigarettes daily to participate in the study. Cigarettes smoked by study participants represented popular brands in each country.
Scientists measured chemicals in cigarette butts collected by each smoker over a 24-hour period to determine how much of a certain TSNA entered the smokers’ mouths during that period. They also collected urine samples from study participants to find out how much breakdown product from this TSNA appeared in the urine. Comparing the results from these two types of sampling showed a correlation between the amount of one TSNA that enters the mouth and the amount of its breakdown product that appears in the urine. This is the first time this relationship has been documented.
вторник, 1 июня 2010 г.
Malaysia gov't faces tobacco wrath over ban delay
A tobacco giant that exhausted its inventory of small cigarette packets in anticipation of a ban threatened Thursday to take legal action against the Malaysian government for reportedly deciding to delay the prohibition.
The Malaysian affiliate of Philip Morris International voiced disappointment with what it called a "precipitous" decision that would be "a devastating blow not only to our business but to foreign investor confidence in Malaysia."
Tobacco companies in the Southeast Asian country have been phasing out parts of their inventory and manufacturing equipment in recent months ahead of a government ban on cigarette packets containing fewer than 20 cigarettes that was supposed to take effect June 1.
However, the financial newspaper The Edge reported Thursday that the government had decided to postpone the ban. The Malaysian Insider news website later quoted Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai as saying that authorities feared the ban would spark a surge in demand for illegally produced cigarettes.
Health Ministry officials said they could not immediately comment on the reports, and that Liow was traveling late Thursday and could not be contacted.
"In the absence of clarity surrounding this decision, (we) will have no choice but to evaluate all possible avenues, including legal recourse, to recover any losses the company may suffer," Richard Morgan, the managing director of Philip Morris in Malaysia, said in a statement.
"How can any corporation plan for its future and maintain its viability in an environment of such legal uncertainty, where decisions that are supposedly set in concrete can be overturned so rapidly and without any consultation?" the statement added.
The government had been planning the ban for years as part of efforts to curb smoking among young Malaysians who consider smaller cigarette packs more affordable.
The Malaysian Insider quoted Liow as saying the government would make a final decision in "a few months" on when the ban might be enforced.
The Malaysian affiliate of Philip Morris International voiced disappointment with what it called a "precipitous" decision that would be "a devastating blow not only to our business but to foreign investor confidence in Malaysia."
Tobacco companies in the Southeast Asian country have been phasing out parts of their inventory and manufacturing equipment in recent months ahead of a government ban on cigarette packets containing fewer than 20 cigarettes that was supposed to take effect June 1.
However, the financial newspaper The Edge reported Thursday that the government had decided to postpone the ban. The Malaysian Insider news website later quoted Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai as saying that authorities feared the ban would spark a surge in demand for illegally produced cigarettes.
Health Ministry officials said they could not immediately comment on the reports, and that Liow was traveling late Thursday and could not be contacted.
"In the absence of clarity surrounding this decision, (we) will have no choice but to evaluate all possible avenues, including legal recourse, to recover any losses the company may suffer," Richard Morgan, the managing director of Philip Morris in Malaysia, said in a statement.
"How can any corporation plan for its future and maintain its viability in an environment of such legal uncertainty, where decisions that are supposedly set in concrete can be overturned so rapidly and without any consultation?" the statement added.
The government had been planning the ban for years as part of efforts to curb smoking among young Malaysians who consider smaller cigarette packs more affordable.
The Malaysian Insider quoted Liow as saying the government would make a final decision in "a few months" on when the ban might be enforced.
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