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Local News

EMPLOYEE SMOKE BREAKS

Source: Workplace.ca (ca)
Date: 2003-01-27

Unscheduled employee smoke breaks cost Nova Scotia employers a total of about $571,000 a day, a provincial government report says.

With so many workplaces smoke-free, when employees go outside to light up, their lost productivity costs employers about $208 million in lost wages each year, according to the report “The Cost of Tobacco in Your Workplace,” released by Cancer Care Nova Scotia, a program of the provincial Department of Health.

Smoking also costs the Nova Scotia health system $168 million a year or about $461,000 a day, the report says.

Second-hand smoke is the leading cause of workplace death, the report states. Food services workers have a 50% higher rate of lung cancer than the general population.

The report also says that every dollar that an employer invests
in an employee smoking cessation program yields nearly $9 in
long-term benefits.

State News

SMOKING BAN SLOW PROCESS

Source: Ft. Myers (FL) News-Press
Date: 2003-01-28
Author: KAREN FELDMAN

It's been a turbulent three weeks for area restaurants as they
struggle with the new ban on smoking.

Those that have opted to implement the ban draw the ire of
smokers, while those who've elected to wait for the Legislature
to enact an enforcement policy get flak from those expecting a
smoke-free meal.

One thing's for certain: the air won't clear until there's a
precise set of requirements and penalties, a process that likely
will stretch until July 1 the deadline designated in the
amendment for an enforcement bill to go into effect.

National News

IT'S OFFICIAL: PHILIP MORRIS IS REDUBBED ALTRIA GROUP

Source: Dow Jones via Yahoo
Date: 2003-01-27
Author: Christina Cheddar Berk

More than a year after first announcing its intention to change
its name, Philip Morris Cos. said Monday its switch to Altria
Group Inc. (NYSE:MO) is official. . .

"This name change is entirely cosmetic in nature," said Merrill
Lynch & Co. tobacco analyst Martin Feldman. "We would not expect it to have any impact on the company's equity valuation. The cost of implementing this change is described by the company as immaterial."

The company will launch an advertising campaign created by Bcom3 Group's Leo Burnett USA to promote the new name and explain Altria's structure. The campaign, which will include print,
television, Internet and direct-mail components, will run for
about eight weeks.

The effort kicks off with print ads that use the metaphors of
running water, a tree, a bridge and columns to communicate
attributes such as financial and brand strength.

The television ads will begin in mid-February and run on
business, financial and public affairs programs. Internet
advertising also will begin at that time.

Tobacco and Youth

RETELLING THE 'TRUTH'

Source: Ad Week
Date: 2003-01-27
Author: Alicia Griswold

New television commercials from Maxxcom's Crispin Porter +
Bogusky for the State of Florida Department of Health's "Truth"
campaign take a less aggressive tone than previous work.

The Miami agency's second effort on behalf of the Tallahassee,
Fla.-based client continues to educate viewers on the dangers of second-hand smoke. But unlike the earlier "Lab Rats" campaign, which featured poisoned rodents, "Bubble Guy" poses the question, "If you could live your life without second-hand smoke, how would you do it?"

According to CP+B associate creative director Tom Adams, you would need to live in a bubble. "We're getting a little closer
to the individual in these," he said. "So we wanted to use a
different tone."

In two 30-second spots that broke earlier this month, a man in a
clear plastic bubble interacts with friends and family in
various locations. The device protects him from smoke, but
separates him as well. CP+B hopes that isolation resonates with the ad's primary target: teens.

Research

COME TO LEBOW COUNTRY

Source: Wired
Date: 2003-01-28
Author: Joshua Davis

Dan Dienner steps out of his 150-year-old barn looking like an
Amish rock star. He's wearing the standard-issue straw hat and
the classic half-beard, but he's also got a square-jawed
handsomeness, blue-tinted sunglasses, and a Nextel cell phone
holstered on one hip. . .

But the bucolic setting isn't exactly what it seems. Drying
inside Dienner's barn are 10,000 pounds of genetically modified tobacco - one of the most scientifically advanced agricultural products in the world. "Amish law doesn't say anything about growing genetically modified tobacco," he says.

Inside his house, Dienner offers me a seat beneath a kerosene
lamp and explains why he accepted a contract from Vector Tobacco
. .

At 64, Bennett LeBow should be nearing the pinnacle of his
career as a tobacco tycoon. Instead, he's struggling to prove
himself. After 16 years as CEO of Vector, he hasn't managed to
push the company's market share above 3 percent. . . With his
close-cropped beard and monogrammed shirts, LeBow suggests Hemingway done over as a multimillionaire corporate executive. He motions for me to sit beside him at Vector's hulking conference table. . .

"Seventy percent of smokers say they want to quit, and 40
percent of them try," he explains, sliding the carton in front
of me. "If we can make products that speak to even a fraction of
those people, we'll make a lot of money." . .

It was a huge failure. The brand has managed less than $6
million in sales to date - that's about what Marlboro does in
four hours - and, though it's still available, the Omni is not
being advertised. "The fact is," LeBow now says, "it's hard to
build a marketing campaign around reduced polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons because nobody knows what they are." . .

LeBow isn't willing to wait that long to launch the Quest. So
he's in the position of introducing a smoking-cessation product
without uttering the words "smoking cessation." That's leading
to some bizarre marketing materials. . .

GlaxoSmithKline is even angrier.

Health and Cessation

ANTI - TOBACCO CAMPAIGNS: WORKING OR JUST GOING ... UP IN SMOKE?

Source: The Columbian
Date: 2003-01-26
Author: KEN OLSEN, Columbian Staff Writer

America has one of the lowest smoking rates among large nations and one of the highest obesity rates. Yet the dollars to fight fat are virtually nonexistent.

States, meanwhile, have been so flush with anti-tobacco
money, they have used it for everything from fixing potholes to
giving tax rebates. . .

Although states are putting a small share of their tobacco
settlement dollars into fighting the habit, they still plowed
about $390 million into the effort in 2001 alone. It's not clear
what portion of that was money well-spent.

Public health agencies and anti-tobacco advocates swear by
the effectiveness of these programs. But they insist that it
takes a combination of anti-tobacco approaches in order to be
effective.

Washington state is a "comprehensive approach" advocate. And state anti-tobacco officials say they cannot say how well each component works.

"The way this kind of evaluation is done, there's no way to
isolate what had led to a decline in smoking," said Terry Reid,
manager of the state's tobacco and prevention control effort.
"It really does all work together."

That's in dispute. So is the effectiveness of many of these
individual anti-tobacco efforts. . .

"Smoking and per-capita alcohol consumption, which have
declined substantially over the past 40 years, have been the
focus of research and policy work for years," Sturm said. "Yet
obesity, which can have far more serious health consequences,
has received far less interest."

More money ---- including some of the tobacco settlement
money that doesn't go to smoking programs ---- needs to fund
efforts to fight fat, Sturm said.

Tobacco and Politics