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28 Oct 2011 11:04

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Politics: Herman Cain aide Mark Block’s checkered past, abridged edition

  • rise Mark Block started his career in 1974, becoming, at age 18, the youngest elected official in Wisconsin’s history. He spent much of the 1980s coordinating Republican political campaigns in the state.
  • fall In 1997, Block was blocked from Wisconsin politics for a few years for allegedly doing some sketchy stuff with a special interest group. During this time, he worked at Target and his personal life unraveled.
  • recovery In 2005, Block got his mojo back by getting hired as Americans for Prosperity’s director in Wisconsin. He then met a young whippersnapper named Herman Cain, and the rest is chain-smoking history. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Jul 2011 14:09

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World: In Iceland, you might need a prescription to smoke

  • Your doctor may have to give you the go-ahead if you want to keep up the habit. Officials are hoping to do this as an effort to get people to quit. Recently, they’ve raised taxes on cigarettes and they’re on the way to banning them in many public places. Under the proposal, smokers would have to go through treatment programs to try to kick their habit. If they couldn’t pull it off, they’d get prescribed cigarettes. This seems like a bit far to reach, if you ask us, and it could create a black market because it’s so restrictive. Regardless, it should help people quit, should this measure pass —because that’s a lot of trouble to go through for a smoke. (photo via Flickr user mamagrrl) source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jun 2011 14:41

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U.S.: FDA issues graphic warnings to help smokers quit

  • Starting next year, cigarettes Will have to put warnings like this on all their packs. The graphic warnings will cover up about half of the pack — both front and back. (For a slideshow of the graphic images, check here.) They should hit around September of next year. While the FDA says that this will help people quit, others say smokers are already aware of the risk they take when they light up. It’s also worth noting that other countries have had much harsher warnings on their cigarettes for years, and studies have shown they’ve helped people quit smoking. Either way, tobacco companies aren’t happy with this, and neither are many smokers. What do you think? source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Feb 2011 23:17

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U.S.: New rules pose problems for cigarette-loving surgeons

  • If you’re an unemployed smoker, don’t bother trying to be a nurse. Around the country, hospitals are implementing no-smoking-allowed policies for their employees, subjecting new applicants to urine tests and treating smoking as a terminable offense. This isn’t entirely without merit: an average smoker costs their employer about $3,391 per year in health costs and lost productivity. On the other hand, it may set a troublesome precedent for other lifestyle choices that result in higher-than-average health costs (skiing, eating meat from Taco Bell). Oddly, though both the SEIU and the tobacco lobby have voiced opposition to the law, neither are aggressively campaigning against it. (thanks for the tip, toutlejour)  source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Nov 2010 22:20

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World: WHO: Second-hand smoke kills hundreds of thousands each year

  • 600,000 the number of people worldwide who die each year as a result of second-hand smoking (cough, cough)
  • 165,000 the number of children killed each year by second-hand smoke; they’re most heavily exposed to it source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Nov 2010 10:23

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Culture: FDA’s graphic cigarette warnings: Poorly-designed, depressing

  • There are many many others that the FDA wants to put on the sides of packs of cigarettes, and some are amazingly depressing. The problem with these labels is that the design of many of these looks downright amateurish, like they just got a bunch of random stock photos to use. Would a marketing campaign make more sense? We sense a meme coming on. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

02 Jun 2010 10:52

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U.S.: How much cancer can your smokes cause? Depends on the country

  • Americans have more; the U.K., Canada and Australia have less. Ah, nothing like a story about cigarettes to make you feel more alive. Researchers did a test of cigarette butts to see what sort of chemicals and toxins the cigarettes have. Apparently, different countries use different formulas and as a result, different countries have more dangerous smokes. And by different countries, we really mean “the U.S.” (Scary, right?) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

10 Feb 2010 22:01

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U.S.: Most people favor taxing smokers (again) for quick government cash

  • 60% the percentage of taxpayers who would support a $1 cigarette tax increase as a way to raise cash
  • $9 billion the amount health advocates say could be made if the tax was actually implemented source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Jun 2009 20:48

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Biz, U.S.: Up in smoke: The tobacco industry is gonna get FDA-regulated

  • The vote In a historic Senate vote, with just 17 votes against it, Big Tobacco will see its cancer-causing product get treated just like a drug. The house already passed a bill We’re sure a bunch of cigarette industry lawyers are freaking out right now.
  • The details On top of the longtime TV and radio advertising ban, flavored cigarettes (besides menthol) will be banned entirely, along with print ads in youth-oriented publications and cigarette vending machines in non-adult-oriented places.
  • Public opinionIs this a good thing? Depends on who you ask. The tobacco companies of course hate it, and wellness groups love it. But some say the FDA isn’t up to the task, considering how nuts their last six months have been. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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