STOP launch of PM's Virginia Slim "Super Slim" cigarettes:

From: Snus News & Other Tobacco Products

November 5, 2008 - Antismoking organizations (American Cancer Society Action Network, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, the American Medical Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids) register their protests over Philip Morris USA’s plans to introduce a new Virginia Slims cigarette product with heightened appeal for young women.

Philip Morris USA has said it will launch new Virginia Slim “Super Slim” cigarette in the first quarter of 2009. The cigarette, in both light and ultra light flavors, is smaller in diameter than a standard cigarette and will come in a narrow pink rectangular box with squared ends. While the box will hold the standard 20 cigarettes, it will be slimmer than a standard pack and will apparently be marketed as a “Purse Pack”.

A joint statement of these health-advocacy non-profit agencies stated that “Philip Morris shows contempt for women and their health by putting a pink gloss on a product that causes lung cancer and heart disease, two of the leading killers of women.”

Gene Variants Linked to Risk for Nicotine Dependence and Lung Cancer

A cluster of gene variants on chromosome 15 associated with lung cancer risk also appear to affect risk for nicotine dependence, epidemiologists at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report.
Three independent genome-wide association studies previously identified single nucleotide polymorphisms strongly associated with risk of lung cancer, Dr. Margaret R. Spitz and colleagues explain in the November 5 Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
"The region of interest," they write, "encompasses the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit genes CHRNA3 and CHRNA5 (as well as CHRNB4), which have a defined role in nicotine dependence and have been hypothesized to have a direct role in downstream signaling pathways that promote carcinogenesis."

For full story: Reuters, 2008-10-28

Smoke Free Virginia Regional Conference Calls

UPDATE - MAKING PUBLIC PLACES SMOKE FREE

As follow up to the Regional Meetings that the Virginians for a Healthy Future held this summer, VFHF will be conducting a series of Conference Calls the week of October 27 -31 to provide all members with an update of the “Latest and Greatest” in the campaign to make Virginia smoke free in 2009!

On the calls we will share and discuss with you:

-Plans for the 2009 General Assembly Session - preliminary discussion of strategy
-The Postcard Campaign: how many we have collected - where we have collected lots of signed cards and the areas we need a little more help
-Passage of Local Resolutions in support of Smoke Free Policy
-Great American Smoke Out Day events (Nov. 20th)
-Media Campaign efforts

Call Dates and Times

-October 27 - 2:00 pm (Richmond)
-October 28 - 10:00 am (Roanoke / Southwest Virginia)
-October 29 - 10:00 am (Fredericksburg)5:30 pm (Virginia Beach)
-October 30 - 2:00 pm (Lynchburg)6:30 pm (Northern Virginia)
-October 31 - 11:00 am (All regions)

If you would like to talk with individuals from the city or area from which you live in, we encourage you to choose the call with the name of your city beside it. But, please feel free to participate in the call that best fits your schedule.

Please REPLY TO Nicole Pugar at nicole@vfhf.org or (804) 225-5828 with the date and time of the callyou plan to participate.
Call in information will be forward to those who respond that they will be participating.

VTSF 1st Quarter Reports are Due Today!!!!!!

This is just a reminder to you VTSF current grantees that your 1st Quarter reports are due by COB today. Please make sure you email them to me at hharper@vtsf.org. If you need a copy of this form you can find it here: http://www.vtsf.org/grantees/forms/vtsfqr200809.doc.

Please call or email me if you are having any difficulties with the form or have any questions.

Thanks Central Region Grantees for a Great 2008 Conference

Check the Web if you want no smoke

By TAMMIE SMITH
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Consumers looking for a smoke-free place to have a meal can find that information on the Virginia Department of Health's restaurant-inspections Web site.
The state agency recently added information on fast-food and full-service restaurants' smoking policies.
To check a restaurant's most recent health inspection or its smoking status, go to www.vdh.virginia.gov and click on restaurant inspections.
"During the last couple of years, there have been several bills in the General Assembly that haven't made it through that ban smoking in restaurants," said Gary Hagy, food and environmental services division director at the state Health Department. "That has created a lot of interest by the public. We have gotten letters expressing the desire for restaurants to be nonsmoking. So we decided the least we could do is get some information out."
Hagy said there was already a category to indicate a restaurant's smoking status in the databases used to compile information on inspections.
"We asked our vendor to figure out a way to put this on the Web in a meaningful manner," Hagy said .
The new information indicates whether a facility bans smoking, permits it in designated areas or permits it anywhere on premises. The site also tells consumers what percentage of a locality's fast food and full-service eating establishments are smoke-free. For instance, Richmond, Henrico County and Chesterfield County show 57 percent, 69 percent and 54 percent of restaurants smoke-free, respectively.
Since 2003, the state Health Department's Web site has included food-safety information about restaurants and other food-service facilities based on the more than 60,000 unannounced restaurant inspections done in a year.
State officials say consumers can expect about a week's delay between the time a restaurant inspection report is entered into the database and when the new information will appear on the Web site. Restaurant-smoking-status information can be updated more quickly.
Contact Tammie Smith at (804) 649-6572 or TLsmith@timesdispatch.com.

Virginia's Investment in Tobacco Prevention is Delivering Dramatic Results and Should be Expanded

Statement of William V. Corr, Executive Director, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new survey of youth tobacco use in Virginia shows that the state has made great progress in keeping kids from smoking, underscoring once again that tobacco prevention is a smart investment for Virginia's physical and financial health. The Youth Tobacco Survey found a dramatic 28.6 percent decline in high school smoking over two years - with 15.5 percent of Virginia high school students smoking in 2007, compared with 21.7 percent in 2005. By preventing kids from ever starting to smoke, Virginia can look forward to saving lives by preventing premature, smoking-caused deaths and to saving money by reducing smoking-caused health care costs, which total more than $2 billion a year in Virginia.
This is remarkable progress in a short period of time. We applaud Governor Kaine, the Legislature and the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation for their commitment to reducing the devastating toll of tobacco use by investing in youth tobacco prevention efforts. Virginias challenge now is to build upon its progress by increasing funding for youth tobacco prevention while also investing in cessation programs to help adult smokers quit.
While the survey results represent remarkable progress, there is still much to be done in Virginia to reduce tobacco use - the number one preventable cause of death in the state and across the nation. Currently, Virginia spends $14.5 million a year on tobacco prevention and cessation, well short of the $103.2 million recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC updated its recommendations for state spending in 2007). Virginia receives $320 million a year in revenue from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes and can achieve even greater smoking reductions by spending more of its tobacco revenue on tobacco prevention and cessation programs.

For the full story and credits: http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20080909/pl_usnw/virginia_s_investment_in_tobacco_prevention_is_delivering_dramatic_results_and_should_be_expanded