WASHINGTON  – President Barack Obama has signed the strongest anti-smoking measure ever, calling it an extraordinary accomplishment that will help keep children from getting hooked on cigarettes.

Standing in the Rose Garden with a number of lawmakers and other guests, Obama declared: “It is a law that will save American lives.”

The legislation gives the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented authority to regulate tobacco and cigarette marketing.

Obama himself has struggled to quit smoking. He acknowledged in his comments how difficult it can be to quit the habit.

The White House embraced the law with a sun-splashed ceremony, and the dozens of invited guests included children from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids who were personally introduced by Obama.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.  – Hundreds of workers from North Carolina cigarette factories owned by Reynolds American Inc. plan to protest the possibility of higher cigarette taxes.

The Winston-Salem-based company is paying to send busloads of employees to the General Assembly in Raleigh on Tuesday. Spokeswoman Maura Payne said the second-largest U.S. tobacco company is paying its employees as if they were at work.

The company is trying to prevent lawmakers from raising the state’s excise tax on cigarettes to help close a spending gap of more than $4 billion.

Gov. Beverly Perdue proposed increasing the tax by $1 per pack. House and Senate budget plans didn’t include that proposal. Congress this year raised the federal cigarette tax by 62 cents a pack.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – Members of a House committee have removed a provision that would raise North Carolina’s cigarette tax by 25 cents per pack.

The House Finance Committee agreed Tuesday morning to delete the cigarette tax increase contained in a proposed $940 million tax plan. That would reduce the package by $123 million.

Rep. Van Braxton of Lenoir County offered the amendment. The Democrat said the tobacco industry already has been hit enough this year by a federal cigarette tax increase and a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars.

The 22-7 decision means less money available to restore cuts in the proposed $18 billion spending package for next year.

The House Appropriations Committee is reviewing the budget proposal and was expected to vote on it later Tuesday.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – North Carolina’s senators are working to oppose legislation to let the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulate cigarettes.

Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan offered amendments during debate in the Senate to weaken the regulation bill. Burr is a Republican and Hagan is a Democrat, but both fear regulation of cigarettes could severely damage the state’s tobacco industry.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Wednesday that the senators teamed up as the Senate health committee discussed details of the bill.

North Carolina is the nation’s top tobacco producer and grows $686 million worth of the crop. Tobacco manufacturers employ 10,000 people in the state.

State lawmakers are considering banning the sale of novelty lighters.State Fire Marshal Wayne goodwin is leading the charge to get toy-like lighters off store shelves.

The cigarette lighters are shaped like toy cell phones, cartoon characters, even a knock-off of that famous fish Nemo.

Goodwin is concerned children will burn themselves with the lighters found in convenience stores, tobacco shops, hardware stores, even some dollar stores.

“Folks may say, what’s the big deal? They are novelty lighters. Well they are toy lighters. We’ve demonstrated time and again these lighters can cause serious injuries,” said Goodwin.

Senator Austin Allran, (R – Catawba County) sponsored the bill in the Senate which passed 46-to-2.

Senator David Hoyle, (D -Gaston County) questioned if we need a ban. He said adults need to take responsibility.

Now the House is considering the measure.

North Carolina could soon join at least four other states; Maine, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oregon in prohibiting the sale of the novelty lighters.

Last month, Goodwin said a child playing with a novelty lighter started a fire at a Jamestown, NC convenience store.

“Thankfully no one was hurt, but I’m concerned that if this bill is not made law, someone will get hurt next time,” said Goodwin.

The United States Fiore Adminstration reports more than 30 percent of the fires that kill children are set by children playing with lighters or matches.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – The state Senate wants cigarette lighters shaped like cell phones, cartoon characters and toy rifles to be snuffed out in North Carolina.

Senators voted overwhelmingly Thursday to ban the retail sale and distribution of novelty lighters.

The bill’s chief sponsor, Sen. Austin Allran of Catawba County, said young people have been burned by playing with lighters that look like toys. A state task force looking to reduce child deaths wants the change.

Task force chairman Tom Vitaglione says four states have banned such lighter sales and 16 other states are considering bans. Sen. David Hoyle of Gaston County voted against the bill, which now goes to the House. Hoyle questioned if the bill was necessary and whether adults should bear some responsibility.

Winston-Salem Journal Editorial

As legislators face what is likely to be at least a $2.1 billion revenue shortfall for the next fiscal year, there is talk of a major cigarette-tax increase to close the budget gap.

If legislators raise cigarette taxes this year, however, they should do so not for budget reasons but for those related to public health. North Carolina should raise the cigarette tax only if legislators determine that it will make this a healthier state.

Although a tax bill is unlikely to emerge from the General Assembly until this summer, it is important that North Carolinians begin to consider this possibility now. There are good arguments on both sides.
Many in our area have long opposed cigarette-tax increases because Forsyth County depends on the industry for jobs.

When taxes go up, cigarette use goes down. North Carolina has raised its cigarette tax twice in the past five years, and the percentage of the population smoking has dropped both times.

In addition, as we have argued in the past, cigarette taxes are inherently regressive. Smoking is addictive, and when the tax goes up, some addicts will be squeezed. The extra $2.50 for a carton of smokes hurts the low-income smoker much more than his counterpart in the executive suite.

Similarly, cigarette-tax increases are not good public-tax policy because they start a downward spiral in the very revenues they raise.

As smokers quit or scale back because of the high price of cigarettes, the state collects less revenue per unit of tax. Good revenue policy is built on taxes that grow with the economy, not the other way around.

Nonetheless, the health evidence against smoking is overwhelming. And the costs to our society that arise from smoking are enormous. A great many of these costs are borne by taxpayers through federal and state health-care programs.

When North Carolina raised the cigarette tax by 25 cents in 2005, the impact was immediate. Researchers found that fewer youngsters were smoking. Another nickel increase in 2006 led to another drop.

The federal government raised its 39-cent-a-pack tax to $1.01 yesterday. The new revenue will go to child-health programs. North Carolina now charges a total of 35 cents, lower than all but five other states.

If it is clear that these tax increases improve public health, then legislators should make that the basis of any decision to raise the cigarette tax. That way, programs can be designed to help low-income smokers quit and to keep young people from starting in the first place. And the revenue from the tax increases can pay for those efforts.