R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has agreed to end its Camel Farm marketing campaign and pay $150,000 to settle a lawsuit by Maryland, which had accused the tobacco giant of using cartoons and brand-name trinkets in advertising to target young consumers, the Maryland attorney general’s office announced Wednesday. Maryland’s regulator contended that the marketing campaign violated the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement that states reached with major tobacco companies when it used cartoons and brand-name giveaways to promote cigarettes. Maryland was one of nine states that sued Reynolds in late 2007, and the first to settle. As part of that settlement, Reynolds also agreed not to distribute any marketing materials created for the campaign, the state regulator said.

Melanoma is the fastest growing cancer in the U.S., as well as the leading cause of cancer deaths in women ages 25-29. The World Health Organization has declared the UV light used in tanning beds to be just as carcinogenic as asbestos and cigarettes. Exposure to UV radiation, especially at a young age, is a well-known cause of melanoma.
As a 20 year-old melanoma patient, I am painfully aware of the seriousness consequences of tanning. As a teen I used tanning beds, naïve to the consequences of UV exposure, like many of my friends. If young women are hearing the facts, they aren’t listening.
UV exposure should be handled the way handle cigarettes – illegal to sell to minors. Instead, the federal health care bill has proposed a 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services. If the bill passes, tanning won’t be made illegal for minors because the U.S. government is unlikely to halt a new revenue stream it has created.
Let’s get real – a 10 percent tax won’t stop minors from tanning. This tax is only going to benefit the government.

The state of New York is facing a 7.4 billion dollar deficit and Governor Paterson wants to close that gap by taxing sugary beverages and cigarettes.
So FOX 40 hit the streets of Binghamton to find out what this will mean for convenience stores and their customers.
If Governor Paterson gets his way, every time someone buys a pack of cigarettes or a sugary beverage from a convenience store it will cost them more.About a dollar more for cigarettes, and 16% more for a bottle of soda.
Taxes some residents say are unfair.
“$51.40 just pure tax on one carton of cigarettes, that’s insane,” said the owner of Cordisco’s, John Cordisco.
“They are always harping on cigarettes and soda, but what’s wrong with beer, beer kills just as much as cigarettes do to,” said Whitney Point Resident, Rosann Larue.
In his budget address Tuesday, Paterson said the taxes would save lives and billions in health care costs, but these long-time smokers don’t agree.
“I’ve been smoking for 30 years and I keep paying more every time it goes up, so I don’t see it as much of a deterrent,” said Binghamton Resident, Todd Forkey.
“It might slow down me smoking, but people will still pay,” said Binghamton Resident, Marcus Melvin.
The taxes would also affect convenience stores.The owner of Court Street Fuel Stop says cigarettes make up 40% of his total sales, and another tax would turn customers away.
“I’m going to lose more business on this if the price goes up, then business is going to go down for sure,” said Mike Gill, The Owner of Court Street Fuel Stop. The owner of Cordico’s says he’ll have to raise prices just to compensate.
“All the other prices in the stores go up to account for the loss in sales, because that’s $1.08 your not spending in the store anymore,” said Cordisco.
Cordisco also says the taxes would prompt local customers to cross the border to buy their goods at a cheaper price.
“There’s a term called diminishing retuns, that you end up with less than when you started, the boot legging will be even worse,” said Cordisco.
For now, Paterson’s tax proposals are just that–proposals, convenience store customers and business owners will have to wait and see what the legislature decides.

The number of Chinese smokers is over 0.35 billion, more than the total population of America. The sharp growth of China’s Cigarette Industry makes up the most important part of national economy.
In 2008, the total domestic cigarette sales volumes were 2180.5 billion, increasing by 2.6% of 2124.35 in 2007. The market scale of Chinese cigarettes passes 100 billion US Dollars in 2008.
In 2008, brands in process of Chinese cigarette industry were one hundred and fifty-five, decreasing by 20 in 2007. Cigarette types in process were eight hundred and seventy-one, decreasing by five in 2007. The average yield of single brand in process was 14.25 billion, increasing by 2.1 billion of the same period in 2007 and increased 17.3%.
In 2008, national top 20 brands cigarette sales reached to 939.2, increasing by 14.85% of 817.75 billion of the same period of last year. The proportion in total sales volumes was 43.1%. The accumulative sales revenues of top 20 brand cigarette were 411.09 billion Yuan (58.7 billon US Dollars), accounting for more than 50% of the total sales revenues.

A FAMILY had a lucky escape when a discarded cigarette caused a blaze which destroyed a bedroom.
Grandmother Jacqueline Mayer had emptied an ashtray into a bin and left her room to take her morning shower when the fire started.
When the 55-year-old smelled smoke minutes later, she returned to the bedroom to find the blaze had already taken hold.
Her husband John fetched water to try to extinguish the flames, but it was too late.
Mrs Mayer said: “I was only gone about four minutes. When I opened the bedroom door the flames were already going up the wall. I had a curtain covering the wardrobe and that had gone up. It was awful.”It was unbelievable how fast it spread – if we’d gone out somewhere we would’ve lost the whole house.”
Mrs Mayer’s 12-year-old granddaughter, Kimberley Mayer, and son Anthony’s partner, Kelly Hughes, were downstairs when the fire broke out, at around 10.15am on Saturday.
Everyone was safely out of the Aspire Housing-owned property, in Gilbert Close in Kidsgrove, when firefighters arrived to tackle the blaze.
There were two smoke alarms fitted in the house, but only one was working.
Mrs Mayer’s bedroom was gutted, and smoke damage caused to the whole of the upstairs.
She said: “Every single item of clothing I had has gone. I’ve had to beg, borrow and steal so I’ve got something to wear. My bag was in there and the heat melted my purse.
“Aspire have been good and offered to put us up in a hotel, but we would rather stay here an get the place sorted out.
“We’re living downstairs and waiting for someone to come round and assess the damage.”
Mrs Mayer’s son Scott and his partner Michelle Lightfoot also live at the house. Scott, aged 31, said: “I was out at the time and came back to see the fire engine and firefighters in my mum’s bedroom. All sorts of things were going on in my mind. I was so relieved that everyone was OK.”
Mrs Mayer, who has lived in the house for 25 years, said she will dispose of her cigarettes more carefully from now on. She said: “This has certainly been a wake-up call. It’s scary how fast the fire got going, and I would tell other people to be careful. We’re just really lucky nobody was hurt.”
Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service also warned smokers of the dangers of causing fires in their homes.
Station manager Mick Daniels said: “Tobacco is designed to stay lit, so cigarettes and cigars can easily start an accidental fire, especially if you are tired, not alert or have been drinking alcohol. We would urge smokers to either kick the habit altogether, smoke outside their property or ensure they always extinguish their cigarettes properly, especially last thing at night.
“Had this fire occurred during the hours of darkness then the outcome may well have been different.”

A Cedar Rapids man was robbed at knife point for cigarettes late Saturday night, Jan. 2.
Rick Griffith, 55, was walking with his girlfriend when two men approached the couple at the corner of 20th Avenue and J Street SW at around 11 p.m. One of the suspects brandished a knife and took $10 worth of cigarettes. Neither Griffith nor his girlfriend was harmed in the incident, and they continued to walk to Hy-Vee on Wilson Avenue, where they did some shopping before calling the police.
The two suspects were riding in a silver Neon with two other males. One was around six-feet tall and the other stood at around five feet tall. Both were wearing hooded sweat shirts and one wore a red bandanna across his face.
Police are still investigating the incident.

A Swedish court has sentenced two North Korean diplomats to eight months in prison for trying to smuggle cigarettes into the Nordic country.
The Stockholm District Court ruled Wednesday that the diplomats — a man and his wife — cannot claim diplomatic immunity because they are not stationed in Sweden. They are based in the Russian port city of St. Petersburg.
The couple were arrested last month when they arrived in Stockholm on a passenger ferry from Finland. Officers found 230,000 cigarettes hidden under blankets and baggage in their car.
Police have withheld the diplomats’ names.