The german war against cigarettes
Germany had the world's strongest anti-smoking movement in the 1930s and early 1940s, during the Nazi period. Hitler, who was a chain-smoker, was expelled from school at age eight after being caught smoking. He gave up smoking when he was 35 years old and dreamed of making all Germans quit, too.
Bans on smoking in public spaces were introduced along with bans on advertising, restrictions on tobacco rations for women, and the world's most refined tobacco epidemiology, linking tobacco use with the already evident epidemic of lung cancer.
Today, in the German (and European) war against cigarette smoking, German Consumer Affairs Minister Renate Kunast has stepped up the offensive: Kunast published, in 2005, a list of about 200 cigarette additives, and wants those deemed carcinogenic or addictive banned -- throughout Europe. Read more »
There seems to be a bit of confusion in the efficient US Army
At the beginning of 2001 some Third World countries and the European Union took legal action in the United States to try to get back billions of dollars in tax revenue they had lost on cigarettes smuggled in by Big Tobacco, a group made up mostly of American companies.
A federal judge ruled that, based on the "Revenue Rule", a longstanding common law doctrine, a Court in America will not take legal action in contraband issues involving the activities of American companies in other countries.
April 26th 2005: for the first time, the Supreme Court said that a provision of the U.S. common law does not prevent the use of federal courts to litigate over foreign tax matters involving commerce, and breathed new life into the foreign lawsuits. Read more »
Good news for smokers and non-smokers: the lung cancer vaccine is arriving from Cuba
In the late 1700s, physician Edward Jenner injected a young boy with cowpox to test his hypothesis that those who were infected with that disease never contracted the vastly more serious smallpox. A few weeks later, Jenner gave the boy a dose of smallpox. Fortunately for the boy, it worked, and Jenner is known as a hero and a pioneer in vaccination.
These days 3 Cuban drugs have been prepared for Phase II clinical trials. The most promising vaccine, a compound called SAI-EGF, is set to start its trial late this year or early in 2006.
A biotech startup figured out how to cut federal red tape and so CancerVax became the first U.S. company to license cancer drugs from Castro's island.
Maybe we are approaching the day when smoking will not imply health risks, but just some dust in the lungs, which could be removed by coughing. Read more »
Big Tobacco Not Admitted to the Formula I Grand Prix Race of Monza.
Ferrari are running with colour-only branding after recent legislation
It was decided by the Court of Monza, following a petition presented by the Codacons, the coordination association for the defence of consumer rights, that asked to prohibit Ferrari from publicizing the Marlboro trademark.
A rigorous sentence "effective immediately", notified on August 29th, the eve of the Monza Gran Premio, followed with great interest by the entire population of Italy. It affirmed that harm to the collective interest by Ferrari is undisputable.
So Ferrari's "Rosse" had to race without their sponsor, as the Consumer Associations had requested: The Law is the Law! This is how it may have appeared to the public. So Philip Morris in Italy doesn't count, people may have thought. Read more »
Starting from 2010, the world's 1.3 billion smokers might have a powerful new way to kick the habit
This new drug works by stimulating the production of antibodies in the blood. The antibodies stop nicotine from entering the brain and producing the addictive sensation craved by smokers. The vaccine approach has the potential to dramatically alter the way we will treat smoking addiction in the future. This medical product has been fully effective on 50% of the 341 heavy smokers who took part in the study conducted by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Cytos Biotechnology, that is aiming to get it on the market by 2010.
The company plans phase III trials aimed at showing the vaccine is not only safe, but works in 100% of the cases. Read more »
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