Tobacco companies researched the relationship of smoking and drinking in smokers and then identified and put in place marketing to specifically capitalize on that relationship, according to a new University of California study published online in the American Journal of Public Health.

The study, published online prior to October print publication, finds that tobacco companies performed extensive research on smokers' alcohol-related behaviors, and pursued a wide variety of marketing strategies to capitalize on those behaviors.

The study's authors investigated tobacco companies' knowledge about smokers' simultaneous smoking and drinking. The study also looked at marketing strategies linking cigarettes with alcohol and the benefits tobacco companies sought from these marketing strategies 

Tobacco company investigation indeed confirmed the association between alcohol use and tobacco use, according to what the researchers found in tobacco company documents. Researchers identified three main types of marketing strategies that tobacco companies used to link cigarettes with alcohol. That marketing included joint sponsorship, joint promotion and cigarette promotions featuring alcohol or alcohol paraphernalia.

Tobacco companies' numerous marketing strategies linking cigarettes with alcohol may have reinforced the use of both substances, according to the study's authors.

This week "60 Minutes" posted a story about what it describes as the "most famous and controversial whistleblower piece in the annals of '60 Minutes.'"

According to "60 Minutes," whenever it broadcasts a whistleblower story, conversation there always turns to this particular piece: An interview with former big tobacco research scientist Jeffrey Wigand.

Mr. Wigand, who since has made appearances in Nebraska telling his story, was, according to "60 Minutes," "the first major tobacco insider to reveal that cigarette companies were consciously trying to get us hooked on nicotine, despite tobacco executives' public statements to the contrary."

The historic importance of this story has prompted "60 Minutes" to post the full interview of the tobacco industry whisteblower, which was aired in two parts, so that it will be available for all interested in viewing it.

Mr. Wigand's choice to act as a whistleblower came at great personal cost. He suffered job loss, loss of health insurance, marriage problems and threats on the lives of his children.

The story inspired the Hollywood movie, "The Insider."

Whether you have never seen this interview or have seen it time and time again, it's worth another look.

The following is a statement by Matthew L. Myers, President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids on the FTC Report on cigarette and smokeless tobacco advertising issued Friday.

WASHINGTON, DC (August 1, 2011) – The Federal Trade Commission on Friday reported that cigarette marketing expenditures in the United States declined from $12.5 billion in 2006 to $10.9 billion in 2007 and $9.9 billion in 2008.  The FTC also reported that smokeless tobacco marketing increased from $354.1 million in 2006 to $411.3 million in 2007 and $547.9 million in 2008.  When measured from 2005, smokeless tobacco marketing has more than doubled (from $250.8 million to $547.9 million).

While it is a positive step that cigarette marketing has declined, the tobacco companies continue to spend huge sums to market their deadly and addictive products. Counting both cigarette and smokeless tobacco marketing, the tobacco companies spent $10.5 billion on marketing in 2008 – nearly $29 million each day and 52 percent more than they spent at the time of the 1998 settlement of state lawsuits against the industry, which was supposed to curtail tobacco marketing.

Tobacco companies in 2008 spent 20 times more to market tobacco products than the states currently spend on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit (the states spent $517.9 million on such programs in fiscal year 2011).  This huge mismatch between how much tobacco companies spend to encourage tobacco use and how much states spend to discourage it is a major contributing factor to the slowing of smoking declines in recent years.

It is especially troubling that smokeless tobacco marketing more than doubled from 2005 to 2008 and increased by 277 percent since 1998.  This has contributed to a 36 percent increase in smokeless tobacco use among high school boys between 2003 and 2009 (from 11 to 15 percent reporting smokeless tobacco use in the past month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

Much of smokeless tobacco marketing in recent years has been aimed at enticing kids to start and at discouraging smokers from quitting, undermining efforts to reduce tobacco use.  Tobacco companies continue to aggressively market traditional smokeless tobacco products, often in kid-friendly candy and fruit flavors (such as vanilla, cherry and apple Skoal).  They have also introduced an array of new smokeless tobacco products, many like R.J. Reynolds’ Camel Sticks, Strips and Orbs that appeal to kids because they look, taste and are packaged like candy and are easy to conceal.  Increasingly, manufacturers have marketed smokeless tobacco as a complement to cigarettes in the growing number of places where smoking is not allowed.  Marketing for R.J. Reynolds’ Camel Snus has used the slogan “Pleasure for wherever,” specifically encouraging use of the product in offices, bars, airplanes and concerts.  Similarly, advertising for Philip Morris’ Marlboro Snus stated, “So next time smoking isn’t an option, just reach for your Snus.”  These products and marketing campaigns clearly discourage smokers from quitting – and truly protecting their health.

The continuing high level of tobacco marketing show why we need aggressive action by all levels of government to stop the tobacco epidemic. The Food and Drug Administration must effectively exercise its new authority over tobacco products and marketing, while the Administration and Congress should fund and implement the federal government’s new Tobacco Control Strategic Action Plan.  The states must pick up the pace of their efforts to increase tobacco taxes, enact smoke-free laws and fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs.

Tobacco use is the nation’s number one cause of preventable death, killing more than 400,000 people and costing $96 billion in health care bills each year.   These deaths and costs are entirely preventable if elected officials at all levels fight tobacco use as aggressively as the tobacco companies market their deadly products.

The amount spent on cigarette advertising and promotion by the largest cigarette companies in the United States declined from $12.49 billion in 2006 to $10.86 billion in 2007, and again to $9.94 billion in 2008, according to a report released Friday by the Federal Trade Commission.

The largest spending category in both 2007 and 2008 was spending on price discounts 
paid to cigarette retailers or wholesalers in order to reduce the price of cigarettes to consumers. This category accounted for $7.70 billion, or 70.9 percent of total spending on advertising and promotion in 2007, and $7.17 billion, or 72.1 percent of that total, in 2008.

The number of cigarettes sold or given away to wholesalers and retailers in the United States declined from 350.5 billion in 2006 to 342.8 billion in 2007, and to 322.6 billion in 2008.

A separate report on the major manufacturers of smokeless tobacco products in the United States found that their spending on advertising and promotion rose from $354.1 million in 2006 to $411.3 million in 2007 and to $547.9 million in 2008. The dollar value of sales by these manufacturers rose from $2.59 billion in 2006 to $2.70 billion in 2007, and $2.76 billion in 2008, and the amount by weight of smokeless tobacco sold rose from 115.82 million pounds in 2006 to 118.23 million pounds in 2007, rising again to 119.92 million pounds in 2008.

To read the full reports, click on Federal Trade Commission Cigarette Report for 2007 and 2008, and Federal Trade Commission Smokeless Tobacco Report for 2007 and 2008.

Promoting tobacco products at a music festival?

Giving away coupons for them?

Selling dollar-a-pack cigarettes?

Giving away design-your-own t-shirts?

Can anyone say, Big Tobacco alive and well in Omaha?

It’s all true, and it’s all happening now, as reported by the Omaha World Herald.

The Red Sky Music Festival in Omaha features music, a battle of the bands – and Big Tobacco.

That’s right. Marlboro has set up a trailer at the Red Sky Music Fesival.

At the trailer, Marlboro is presenting and providing coupons for its new product, snus. Snus is a moist powder tobacco product originated from a variant of dry snuff, that’s used by placing it under the lip.

The "Marlboro Experience" tent also offers cigarettes for sale at a discounted rate — $1 for a pack of any Marlboro variety, according to the World Herald.

“It's Marlboro's attempt to promote smoking,” wrote World Herald writer Josefina Loza.

The trailer also offers a design-your-own T-shirt station, where visitors can pick a shirt size, color and logo from a touch-screen computer and have the shirt screen-printed at the trailer.

And the Marlboro trailer sits next to a trailer for Playstation. Photos on the Playstation trailers’ Facebook page show young kids enjoying that trailer, just steps away from Marlboro, cigarettes and snus.

In Nebraska each year, 2,200 kids start becoming new daily smokers. The devastation tobacco causes is well known.

In a time where the dangers of tobacco use are well known, and when most people become addicted to tobacco products as kids, it’s disappointing that the Marlboro has been permitted to set up a trailer at a major music festival.

TD Ameritrade has a smoke-free policy for the stadium, and for that it should be commended. The next step is for that policy to be extended to include tobacco industry sponsors and vendors.

Would you like to share your thoughts on Marlboro visiting Red Sky 

Nebraska Governor Signs Legislation to Cut Tobacco Prevention, Cessation Program

This past week, the Nebraska Governor signed legislation that would, among other actions, cut Nebraska's program to prevent smoking and tobacco use and help Nebraskans quit smoking and other tobacco products.

LB378 transfers $485,700 from the Tobacco Control and Prevention Cash Fund to the Health and Human Services Cash Fund, and makes other transfers. 

The new funding level will be $2.4 million for Nebraska's program to prevent tobacco use and help Nebraskans quit smoking and quit tobacco use, down from $2.9 million.

Tobacco Settlement Compliance Bill Passes
Monday May 23, the Nebraska Legislature passed regulations intended to keep the state in compliance with an agreement with tobacco manufacturers.

Sen. Mike Gloor of Grand Island introduced LB590. The bill changes laws regulating tobacco licenses, tobacco sales, cigarette taxes, the state directory of cigarettes, escrow deposits under the Master Settlement Agreement and reporting requirements.

According to the Unicameral Update, the tobacco settlement bill, among other provisions, would include the following enforcement measures:

• requiring nonparticipating manufacturers to post bond and certify they have posted such bond;
  
• holding importers liable for escrow deposits of nonparticipating manufacturers;
  
• requiring nonparticipating manufacturers to make escrow payments on a quarterly basis;
  
• increasing the frequency of stamping agent reports and holding agents liable for nonparticipating manufacturers escrow payments if their products are stamped;
  
• revoking stamping agent licenses for inadequate reporting, outstanding escrow deposits or sales of unstamped cigarettes;
  
• requiring cigarette manufacturers and importers to report all sales into Nebraska within 15 days;
  
• removing manufacturers from the state directory that fail to submit required reports; and
  
• revoking stamp agent licenses and removing manufacturers from the state directory for violations of similar laws in other states.

The bill passed 48-0.

Smoking Rates Up in Dawson County
Smoking rates are up in Dawson County, according to Terry Krohn, Two Rivers Public Health Director. Krohn made that report to the Dawson County Board of Commissioners, according to the Lexington Clipper-Herald.

Nebraska Lagging in Reducing Smoking, UNMC Dean Says
Nebraska is lagging in reducing smoking, according to the dean and professor of the College of Public Health at UNMC. In a commentary published in the Omaha World Herald, Dr. Ayman El-Mohandes encouraged Nebraskans to make a plan to quit smoking.

Tobacco Industry Meeting Gets Visit from Nebraska Students
Five Nebraska students went to New York City to learn about the tobacco industry and attend a Philip Morris shareholders meeting.

“I joined because I wanted to learn more about what big tobacco companies were doing and now that I’ve been in it, I really want to stop them from targeting the youth and trying to get the youth to start using tobacco,” Kearney High School sophomore Sky Oldham told the Kearney Hub.

"I wanted to get my word across to Philip Morris that the youth don't like that they are targeting youth, targeting us," Oldham said. "I wanted to get my word across that we don't like what they're doing."

At the shareholders meeting Philip Morris CEO Louis Camilleri told a nurse that smoking "is not that hard to quit," according to the Associated Press.

The youths were protesting the rising global toll of tobacco-related death and disease caused by Philip Morris' products, according to Nebraska.TV.

Five big tobacco executives each made more money last year than Nebraska spends on efforts to promote tobacco free kids and help Nebraskans quit smoking and quit tobacco use.

Combined, the total compensation for these five executives was $66.5 million. That's 22.9 times the $2.9 million that Nebraska spends on its efforts to prevent tobacco use and to help Nebraskans quit smoking and quit tobacco use. In fact, it's more than the 24 worst states on prevention spend combined.  

That's according to a blog post by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids published Friday. 

"Guess the lifestyles of the Big Tobacco Execs are worth more than the health of our kids," Danny McGoldrick, Tobacco-Free Kids Vice President of Research, said in the post.

The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids reports that:

• Two Reynolds' American executives — former CEO Susan Ivey and her replacement, Daniel M. Delen earned a combined $23 million last year;
  
• Lorillard's former chief executive, Martin Orlowsky, pulled down a cool $18.8 million in 2010 — a 90 percent increase over fiscal 2009;
  
• Murray Kessler, who replaced Orlowsky as Lorillard CEO in September, received $3.7 million for 2010; and
  
• Michael E. Szymanczyk, chief of Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc., pulled in $20.7 million. That's more than double his compensation in 2009.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that Nebraska spend $21.5 million on efforts to promote tobacco free kids and to help Nebraskans quit smoking and quit tobacco use. The earnings of Reynolds' American top two executives alone is more than the $21.5 million recommended level of funding for Nebraska, and is 7.9 times the $2.9 million Nebraska currently spends on those efforts.

Tobacco Unfiltered, the blog of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, provides the full report. That report includes comparisons of the earnings of these Big Tobacco executives to states spending on efforts to prevent and reduce tobacco use.

A new video from  truth®, the nation’s largest smoking prevention campaign for youth presents the shocking truth of tobacco use: Six real people suffering from tobacco-related disabilities that visibly show the realities of the harms of tobacco use addiction.

According to Tobacco Free Nebraska's "Data and Trends on Tobacco Use in Nebraska," a larger proportion of Nebraskans died from tobacco-related cancer (39.2 percent) than from tobacco-related cardiovascular disease (24.7 percent) and respiratory diseases (36.1 percent). These deaths bring devastation to Nebraskans and their families. 

At the same time, many Nebraskans live with the health impact of tobacco use. 

In fact, about 8.6 million people in the United States are living with serious illnesses attributed to smoking. For many, it means suffering on a daily basis, and drastic changes from their pre-disease lifestyles.

“Unsweetened truth” highlights the devastation of living with tobacco-related health problems. In the spot, six real people suffering from tobacco-related disabilities are featured on a parade float. As the float travels along, spectators can see the obvious physical disabilities each person is living with. They can also hear the half-dozen participants “singing” a tune about the many different flavors used to enhance tobacco products. 

The spot highlights a new fact: Tobacco companies can’t sell candy-flavored cigarettes, but they still sell other tobacco products in over 45 candy flavors.Living with tobacco-related diseases can mean living with the effects of cancers of the mouth, throat and neck; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; emphysema; and loss of voice. Anyone who uses tobacco has the potential to develop such diseases.

Watch the video here. 

A webinar scheduled for Friday, February 18, will highlight new findings from research in the February 2011 Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine that show that substantial amounts of tobacco images are present in television programming popular among youth. 

Webinar presenters will talk about why images of smoking in movies, media and television have a profound effect on youth smoking initiation. 

The webinar, presented by the American Legacy Foundation, will discuss what public health, policy leaders and the entertainment industry can do together to avert tobacco-related disease and death through responsible depictions of smoking in media.

Speakers  will include Ursula Bauer, Ph.D., MPH, Director, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC; Colin Crowell, Crowell Strategies – Telecommunications, Technology Policy Expert, formerly with the Federal Communications Commission and Congressman Edward Markey; and Cicely Gilkey, Producer, AMC’s Mad Men Season 3 DVD documentary Clearing the Air: The History of Cigarette Advertising.

The webinar is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. central time, Friday, February 18.

It will be moderated by David Dobbins, Chief Operating Officer of the American Legacy Foundation.

Click this link the day of the even to learn the impact of smoking on American's youth will be available at this link on the day of the event. 
No call-in or password will be necessary.

An original CNBC documentary, "Cigarette Wars" will inside Americas original cash crop -- the companies that sell tobacco, the people who smoke it, the elected officials who are trying to get rid of it, the federal law enforcement agencies who are fighting it on the black market and the Kentucky farmers who grow it.

The documentary plans to look at tobacco companies, smokers, elected officials who face the issue, and federal law enforcement agencies

It will look at American tobacco farmers as they go through record drought, as well as how the tobacco industry thrives even in the face of the evidence of the tremendous harms of tobacco use. And it will look at cigarette taxes and criminal tax avoidance.

CIGARETTE WARS, will premiere on Wednesday, March 2nd at 8pm CT. It will repeat that evening at 9pm CT, 11 pm CT, and midnight CT.

The documentary will also repeat on Sunday March 6th at 9 pm CT.