The reasoning of 16-year-old Joe Binder of Lisle is typical of teenagers who opt for a once-obscure variety of Indian cigarettes called "bidis." "If I'm going to inhale noxious fumes, I'd prefer the fumes of a leaf rather than the fumes of a piece of paper," Binder said. Dubbed the poor man's cigarette in India, bidis are unfiltered smokes packed with tobacco flakes and hand-rolled in tendu or temburni or other leaves that are secured with a string at one end. ...

By Inigo Gilmore in Jerusalem and David Wastell, Diplomatic Correspondent Two American tobacco companies are being sued by the European Union in connection with billions of cigarettes smuggled into Iraq since the Gulf war in breach of United Nations sanctions. ...

Nearly 40 anti-tobacco youth coalitions across the state, including one in Craig, roamed their communities Saturday, picking up cigarette butts to fill a body bag that will be used in a protest against tobacco companies. Jenna Stiefel, a senior at Moffat County High School, participated. She and her peers filled 7 gallon-sized bags full of discarded cigarettes. They sent them off to Denver Monday morning. ...

I am Professor John Banzhaf of the George Washington University Law School in Washington D.C. For more than 30 years, I have also served as Executive Director and Chief Counsel of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), our nation's oldest, largest, and possibly most successful US antismoking organization. That means that I have been fighting the war against smoking on a full-time professional basis — and winning — for more years than most of the people in this room, and than most of those who appear before this panel. ...

States Feel Lost Tax Revenue Pinch as Smokers Turn to the Internet for Cigarette Deals If you buy cigarettes on the Net, you may soon have to ante up the state taxes you've been able to avoid until now. That's because of a startling conclusion made in an investigation Congress asked for earlier this year. The federal Jenkins Act dictates that Web cigarette vendors must provide the names of their customers so states can collect taxes from them. The General Accounting Office looked at 147 Web sites that sell cigarettes and came to a startling conclusion. ...

ENEVA, Oct. 14 — Tackling one of the top health scourges in the world, officials from 191 governments are gathering next week to begin negotiating a new global treaty aimed at controlling the use of tobacco and curbing smoking, especially among adolescents. ...

World Health Organization [10/12/99] The World Health Organization (WHO) believes in fair and transparent dialogue with all sectors of society working to advance the cause of public health. As the world's premier health agency, WHO works closely with ministries of health in Member States, health professionals, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), media and with the private sector including pharmaceutical companies and private industry. WHO values their inputs and believes that together the world can achieve WHO's goal of health for all. ...

Tina Childs heard the melody of the ice cream truck, marched to the rim of her south Sacramento cul de sac and glared at the driver who sold cigarettes to kids for a quarter. He continued driving. For wary parents, backup is on the way. City officials are crafting an ordinance -- like 35 others in California -- that would ban mobile vendors from selling cigarettes and force every tobacco retailer to buy an annual permit. ...

PRNewswire [10/21/98] According to a Gallup survey released today, the number of smokers who are very interested in quitting has increased dramatically in the last five years. One third of all current smokers (36 percent) are very interested in quitting, a 20 percent increase over the number reported in a 1993 survey. The majority of smokers believe that if they don't quit, smoking will eventually kill them. ...

Nando Times News and World Health Organization [10/21/98] http://www.nandotimes.com, http://www.who.int/ Smoking is set to become the biggest single cause of death and disability on Earth, with tobacco use worldwide reaching epidemic proportions, according to a World Health Organization report published Tuesday. Thinking of lighting up? Read on -- the following statistics and statements are drawn from the WHO report: ...