Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Youth to Youth teens against lowering tobacco tax rates

A New Hampshire House Bill scheduled to hit the state Senate floor today could lower tobacco tax rates, and area teens are hoping to see it snuffed out.

"I just honestly don't think it's a good idea," said Dover Youth to Youth teen Maddie Retrosi, 15. "This bill would not be a good thing."

The House Bill in question, HB156, has already passed in the House and plans to decrease the tobacco tax from $1.78 per pack of cigarettes to $1.68. It would also decrease the tobacco tax on other tobacco products from 65.03 percent to 48 percent of the product's wholesale price.

Cigarettes like Marlboro Red brand or Virginia cigarettes are very demanded and their prices are raising.

Although the bill states it will reduce state revenue, it also estimates it will encourage more sales. The Department of Revenue Administration claims lowering the tobacco tax rate could increase sales by 2.7 percent for cigarettes and about 23.02 percent for other tobacco products — a number Youth to Youth teens said they are afraid to see.

"The higher tax rate has been shown to reduce the rates of tobacco use," said Dover sophomore Krystina Gibbons, 17.

Gibbons and her peers said there seems to be a correlation between teen smoking and the tobacco tax.

"Youth rates are higher when the tax rate is lower," she said, adding she sees many Dover teens taking up smoking when the price is right.

Gibbons, and other teens with Youth to Youth, said it's because teens have a "less expendable budget than adults do."

According to a 2000 U.S. Surgeon General's Report called Reducing Tobacco Use, raising tobacco-product prices decreases the prevalence of tobacco use, particularly among adolescents and young adults.

Despite the bill anticipating to ease taxes for state businesses, Youth to Youth teens are hoping their voices are heard. Dover sophomore Kaitlyn Hutchins spoke before the state Senate earlier this month to make sure their beliefs wouldn't be lost in the shuffle.

"Our age group is targeted," she said, adding cigarette advertisements are aimed toward teens.

Hutchins said she hopes the state does not give teens any more incentive to take up smoking.

The proposed bill has already passed the House on a 236-93 vote. The Senate is expected to take up the bill today.

Friday, April 8, 2011

FDA Says Star Products Not Part Of Tobacco Law

Tobacco maker Star Scientific Inc. said Wednesday that the Food and Drug Administration has informed the company that two of its dissolvable tobacco lozenges aren't covered by the law regulating tobacco, clearing the way for them to be marketed and sold.

The small Virginia company, which has sold tobacco products that dissolve in the user's mouth since 2001, said the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products say that its Ariva-BDL and Stonewall-BDL products aren't subject to regulation.

The news drove Star's stock up 34 cents, or about 9 percent, to close at $3.96 in trading Wednesday.

Star Scientific had asked the FDA to certify the products as "modified risk" tobacco products under a 2009 law, making itself the test case for a big issue of whether the agency would allow certain products to be marketed as less harmful than cigarettes.

The company says the lozenges contain "below detectable levels" of certain cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco and its smoke. The tablets contain tobacco's addictive component, nicotine. Star Scientific has said its method of tobacco cultivation and preparation creates tobacco leaves with low levels of some carcinogens.

How the FDA handles "modified-risk" products is being closely watched by the public health community and bigger tobacco companies, which are looking for new products to sell as they face declining cigarette demand.

But Star Scientific said the agency's notices from Dr. Lawrence Deyton, the center's director said, "At this time, only cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, smokeless tobacco and roll-your-own tobacco are subject" to the law and that based on the company's submissions, the products are not currently subject to regulation.

In a statement Wednesday, the FDA said it recognizes there are uncertainties whether nicotine-containing products derived from tobacco should be regulated as drugs or tobacco products. The agency added that it is considering its legal and regulatory options regarding these products.

Star Scientific had believed the products fell under the jurisdiction of the Center for Tobacco Products, and the company was somewhat surprised by the agency's determination, spokeswoman Sara Troy Machir said in an interview with The Associated Press.

However, the distinction may come in how the product is made.

"Yes they are absolutely tobacco products under the definition, but when we get into the manufacturing process that's where we are hamstrung because it's absolutely proprietary information," Machir said.

Some public health experts were puzzled by the FDA's move. Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the agency unnecessarily created a loophole in the law that opens up a "real threat of significant abuse" by other companies claiming a similar exemption.

The FDA still must address the issue of dissolvable tobacco. By next March, its scientific advisory panel must complete a report and recommendations on the products, which are being sold by Star and other tobacco companies. The agency also has expressed concerns that dissolvable products contain a lot of nicotine and could be particularly appealing to kids and young adults.

R.J. Reynolds, maker of Camel Blue cigarettes which is owned by Reynolds American Inc. in Winston-Salem, N.C., is test-marketing dissolvable, finely milled tobacco tablets, strips and a toothpick shape under the names Camel Orbs, Camel Strips and Camel Sticks. Richmond-based Altria Group Inc., owner of the nation's largest tobacco company, Philip Morris USA, is test marketing wooden sticks coated with finely milled tobacco under the top-selling Marlboro brand in Kansas.