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Odds are you’re a bit worried about your children and young teens watching prominent scenes of characters smoking on both TV and on the big screen. The good news is that smoking in top-grossing movies has declined steadily since the early 2000s and is actually showing a 56 decrease in the last decade. This is good news for parents who don’t want to have to monitor their directstartv.com channels too Read the rest of this entry »

It has been known for decades now that cigarette smoking is very dangerous not only to the smoker, but to others around them, in the form of secondhand smoke.

Since the 1970′s it has been known that cigarette smoking has been linked to cancer and heart disease. It was during that time that the then surgeon general of the United States, C. Everett Koop, advocated the use of warning labels on cigarette packages.

This warning on the side panel of the cigarette packages, states that smoking cigarettes is dangerous to an unborn child, and can cause lung cancer and heart Read the rest of this entry »

For many years, cigarette ads were a staple of television advertising. That is long gone.

As the dangers of tobacco smoking were slowly discovered and revealed, the television networks began to feel that the cigarette ads were not the type of ads they wanted to sponsor their programming. With most people starting to smoke cigarettes while still in their teen years, television did not want to condone a dangerous, almost always addictive behavior, and rightly Read the rest of this entry »

Smokers have developed a persecution complex as many state governments have turned to cigarette taxes as a way to raise revenues. They have found out that if they raise the taxes on cigarettes too high, people will find aways around them. When people need a nicotine fix, they will find any number of ways to get one. The most common way of getting around the excessive cigarette taxes is to smoke cigarillos or for people to roll their own cigarettes. The Read the rest of this entry »

Tobacco laws have been growing by leaps and bounds from state to state. Whether it’s New York, where buying a pack of cigarettes could rise upwards of 10 per pack due to taxes, or other states where the smoking age is no longer at 18, it’s at 19, and many are trying to make it climb, states rights are at the forefront of the fight to control consumers freedoms.

The national smoking age in the United States is 18 years old, however some state legislatures aren’t happy with that age, and have imposed laws that raise the limits. Read the rest of this entry »

Starting May 23rd, New York smokers will be faced with a new decision: put out their cigarettes in parks and beaches, or face a 50 fine.

This question was raised by a new public smoking ban that was signed into law in February.

This ban has dismayed many New York smokers who have already lost the ability to smoke inside bars and restaurants, and face cigarettes prices of 13 a pack, must now be wondering if there will be Read the rest of this entry »

As product advertisements become more vivid and suggestive, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is fighting to suppress or even eliminate tobacco companies advertising and gifting. Because the media used in advertising is suggestive of cigarette smoking being cool and harmless, the FDA fears these messages are targeting teenagers and other underage consumers. The administration is hoping to prevent young consumers from smoking and believing that the habit is not unhealthy.

The FDA has created several laws pertaining to the tobacco industry. These laws were made Read the rest of this entry »

In many states smoking tobacco cigarettes is now unlawful within restaurants, bars and many other establishments. This change has been made as many people have been forced to inhale second hand smoke whenever they want to eat at a restaurant or visit a bar. Children who do not have a choice in the matter have been subjected to inhaling the toxic smoke.

Now tobacco advertising that has had cartoon like characters such as the Camel cigarette ads have in the past have had restrictions put on them. Most consumers will agree that cigarette Read the rest of this entry »