Ken Wassum, Senior Product Manager, Tobacco:   The slight increase in smoking prevalence detected by the National Health Interview Survey is cause for concern but probably not alarm. The upward trend was small (less than 1%) but it should definitely give us pause. Smoking prevalence has reduced over the years due to a number of factors. The increasing cost of smoking from excise taxes and price increases, as well as smoke-free indoor air restrictions, have both led to reductions in smok... [More]

Ken Wassum, Senior Product Manager, Tobacco:   Today President Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, giving the FDA increased regulatory responsibility over the way tobacco is manufactured, labeled, and sold in the US. This was truly a historic moment and a meaningful first step to control the devastation caused by smoking in this country. While many tobacco control advocates wanted stronger regulatory oversight by the FDA, the vast majority see this ... [More]

Ken Wassum, Senior Product Manager, Tobacco:   Last week’s 79 to 17 vote enabling the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco products was a historic moment. Forty-five years after the Surgeon General Report in 1964, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives in America. Notice I said “potential to save lives" rather than “will save lives.” We will have to keep an eye on the man behind the screen to make ... [More]

Alex Wright, Quit Coach Supervisor, Service Delivery:   As a UK citizen my attention has been captured recently by the BBC news reports of a woman thrown onto the railway tracks for asking two men to stop smoking in the station. To put some context on this domestic light transit in the UK runs on electricity passed through a third rail on the track at 720 volts. This was a very terrible thing indeed and could have been the headlining news article for a lot longer than one day. This is t... [More]

Erin Thompson, Manager, Marketing:    On July 23, New York became the first state in the nation to outlaw smoking in centers for recovering addicts. New York’s state-run rehabilitation centers have been smoke free for over a decade, but the new policy will require private treatment centers to follow suit. Proponents of the policy argue that recovery centers should provide an opportunity to learn skills for overall health rather than swapping out one addiction for another. Thanks t... [More]

Sean Bell, Senior Vice President, Strategic Development:   Free & Clear's CMO, Tim McAfee, is a man of proud Scottish heritage, so I think he must be particularly pleased with today's news published in the  New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) and reported on in the Wall Street Journal. In the study, the authors prove conclusively that not only do public smoking bans work to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke in nonsmokers, but also in reducing the number of hospital admissions... [More]

Yuki Yang, Senior Director, Client Services:   Washington State’s smoking ban, passed on December 8, 2005 prohibiting smoking in all indoor public places and workplaces including restaurants, bars, taverns, bowling alleys, skating rinks and non-tribal casinos, still evokes strong emotions by smokers and non-smokers. Recently, a local watering hole owner and new patron exchanged words about the bar’s non-compliance to the ban. The bar’s patrons happen to be ex-patriots from countries whe... [More]