Tobacco Products

Clover, the discount-store division of Strawbridge & Clothier, said yesterday that it would no longer stock or sell cigarettes or other tobacco products after current supplies run out. The decision followed naturally from the stores' earlier decision to ban smoking by employees and customers in Clover stores and offices effective Aug. 5, a company official said. "We made the decision to have a smoke-free environment with our employees, and one thing led to another," said Robert Hofner, vice president for stores.

RICHMOND, Va. - Talk about a smoke break. Tobacco companies have introduced almost no new cigarettes or smokeless-tobacco products in the United States in more than 18 months because the federal government has prevented them from doing so, an Associated Press review has found. It's an unprecedented pause for an industry that historically has introduced dozens of products annually, and reflects its increasingly uneasy relationship with the Food and Drug Administration, which in 2009 began regulating tobacco.

Suppose you're at a function sponsored by Temple University, but being held at an off-campus establishment. And you want to smoke. Well, you'll have to light up in the hallway or outside on the street. That's how far-reaching the no-smoking ban is that Temple implemented yesterday. No smoking in any campus buildings - not even in the restrooms. No smoking in classes, lecture halls, offices, hallways or dormitories. The ban even extends to university-owned vehicles and university-sponsored functions that are held off campus.

Life may soon get tougher for young smokers in Evesham. Under an ordinance introduced unanimously last night by the Township Council, minors - those under 18 - would face a warning, then subsequent fines if caught smoking in public, on school property or in open view anywhere. Even the possession of tobacco products by minors in open public view would be illegal under the ordinance. A first offense would result in a written warning that also would be sent to parents. Each subsequent offense would carry a fine of $50 to $500.

Major league baseball has announced a sweeping ban of all tobacco products by all minor league personnel effective June 15. No cigarettes or any smokeless tobacco products will be allowed on the field, in the dugout or the clubhouse or on team transportation. At least partly because the ban doesn't extend to major leaguers, there was an immediate and predictable howl of protest from the younger players. "It's a violation of our rights," Scranton/Wilkes-Barre outfielder Tony Longmire, a smoker, told The Scranton Times before the Red Barons game against Columbus.

RICHMOND, Va. - Sales of tobacco to minors in the U.S. reached an all-time low in 2011 under a federal and state inspection program intended to curb underage tobacco use, according to a report released Thursday. The "violation rate," which measures retailers that were willing to sell tobacco to underaged youth, has fallen from about 40 percent in 1997 to 8.5 percent in the last fiscal year, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. The rate is based on the results of random, unannounced checks to see whether stores would sell tobacco products to a customer younger than 18. In March, the U.S. Surgeon General said more needs to be done to keep young Americans from using tobacco, including new bans and increased taxes on tobacco products.

A former Ridley Township police officer was found guilty of assaulting a Wawa clerk, the Delaware County District Attorney's Office said Monday. Brian Decker, 34, of Swarthmore, was tried before Judge Patricia H. Jenkins. He was off-duty when he struck a female Wawa manager who had requested proof of age when he purchased tobacco products in December 2009. The manager of the Folsom-area store was treated for a black eye and bruises. Decker was later fired. Jenkins found Decker guilty of simple assault and harassment, and set sentencing for November.

IBELIEVE that the Philadelphia fails to fulfill its duty of prohibiting the sale of tobacco products and alcoholic beverages to minors. It is appalling that a great number of teens and preteens have easy access to such harmful substances. Over the years, I have seen advertisements against smoking, but there are still commercials promoting the consumption of alcohol. Nevertheless, it is easy for the adolescents of today to acquire tobacco products and alcoholic beverages. It disturbs me to see many of my fellow students smoking cigarettes after school or easily purchasing cigarettes at nearby stores adjacent to our school.

Delaware County officials today announced the arrests of four Philadelphians in a four-county burglary spree targeting gas stations and convenience stores. The defendants stole and then resold cigarettes for cash to support heroin habits, officials said. The four were responsible for 17 nighttime burglaries in Delaware, Chester, Montgomery and Lancaster counties over a 10 week period, according to G. Michael Green, the Delaware County district attorney. The group would break a window or door at the store, steal tobacco products and be gone in minutes.

Creating a "Cigarette-Free School Zone" seemed like a simple proposal at first: Minors caught using or possessing tobacco products within 1,000 feet of school property would be fined up to $500. But now, township officials are questioning whether their proposed tobacco regulations, originally billed as an extension of the school district's existing "Drug-Free School Zone," would include any public place in town. "What we portrayed and what we are passing aren't the same thing," council member Mike Muchowski said last week.

The federal government and the vast majority of states, including New Jersey and Pennsylvania, inadequately fund tobacco-use prevention programs, according to a leading health advocacy group. In its annual State of Tobacco Control report, to be released Wednesday morning, the American Lung Association gave the Garden and Keystone States failing grades for programs to protect citizens from tobacco-related diseases. New Jersey receives an annual $997 million and Pennsylvania $1.4 billion in tobacco-related revenue.

RICHMOND, Va. - Talk about a smoke break. Tobacco companies have introduced almost no new cigarettes or smokeless-tobacco products in the United States in more than 18 months because the federal government has prevented them from doing so, an Associated Press review has found. It's an unprecedented pause for an industry that historically has introduced dozens of products annually, and reflects its increasingly uneasy relationship with the Food and Drug Administration, which in 2009 began regulating tobacco.

RICHMOND, VA. - Tobacco companies have introduced almost no new cigarettes or smokeless tobacco products in the U.S. in more than 18 months because the federal government has prevented them from doing so, an Associated Press review has found. It's an unprecedented pause for an industry that historically has introduced dozens of new products annually. Officials at the FDA say that the reviews of applications for new products have taken so long because of "significant deficiencies" and because the agency is taking extra care in reviewing products that pose public-health risks.

A fight for the hearts and minds - not to mention the lungs - of every American who's lighting up for the first time or thinking of kicking the smoking habit is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a split ruling that accorded Big Tobacco little-deserved deference, a federal appeals court in Washington last week struck down the Food and Drug Administration's bold and sensible plan to require graphic warnings about the dangers of smoking on cigarette packs. The court majority ruled that the FDA requirement violates tobacco firms' free-speech rights, saying it goes too far in seeking to "browbeat consumers into quitting" smoking.

RICHMOND, Va. - Sales of tobacco to minors in the U.S. reached an all-time low in 2011 under a federal and state inspection program intended to curb underage tobacco use, according to a report released Thursday. The "violation rate," which measures retailers that were willing to sell tobacco to underaged youth, has fallen from about 40 percent in 1997 to 8.5 percent in the last fiscal year, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. The rate is based on the results of random, unannounced checks to see whether stores would sell tobacco products to a customer younger than 18. In March, the U.S. Surgeon General said more needs to be done to keep young Americans from using tobacco, including new bans and increased taxes on tobacco products.

When Congress gave the Food and Drug Administration regulatory power over tobacco products, the industry actually promoted the plan. But that support seems to have lasted about as long as a typical smoke break. As soon as the FDA banned one of the cigarette makers' favorite marketing ploys — the sale of cigarettes with healthy-sounding names like light, mild, and low-tar — the companies cried foul. They then promptly took other steps to market supposedly less-harmful cigarettes to smokers, even while admitting as an industry that "there is no safe cigarette.

WASHINGTON - Tobacco companies will be required to report the levels of dangerous chemicals found in cigarettes, chew, and other products under the latest rules designed to tighten regulation of the industry. The preliminary guidance issued Friday by the Food and Drug Administration marks the first time tobacco makers will be required to report quantities of 20 chemicals associated with cancer, lung disease, and other health problems. The FDA will require companies to display the information in a consumer-friendly format by next April.

AMSTERDAM - It's getting surprisingly easy to light up in the Netherlands these days - cigarettes, that is. Even as the Dutch government hardens its famous tolerance policy on marijuana, it is taking an increasingly relaxed stance toward tobacco, bucking the trend in nearly every other developed country. In 2010 it exempted some bars from a smoking ban, and now it plans to reduce spending on antismoking ad campaigns and end funding for health-care programs to help people kick the habit.

RICHMOND, Va. - The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that it planned to regulate smokeless electronic cigarettes as tobacco products and would not try to regulate them under stricter rules for drug-delivery devices. The news is considered a victory for makers and distributors of the devices. E-cigarettes are plastic and metal devices that heat a liquid nicotine solution in a disposable cartridge, creating vapor that the "smoker" inhales. A tiny light on the tip even glows like a real cigarette.

Tinicum Police Officer Joe Marino was settled in with a fine cigar - a Punch - for a nighttime burglary surveillance when he spotted what he thought was the suspect's vehicle. The seven-year veteran had already spent a few nights watching the Valero gas station on Governor Printz Boulevard, a two-time victim of smash-and-grab bandits targeting area gas stations and convenience stores. On Jan. 7, just before 1 a.m., his marked patrol car was hidden across the street from the Valero.