ASH.ORG

At the BP spill hearings, Republican Parker Griffith noted that "the greatest environmental disaster in America has been cigarettes," and he's certainly correct with regard to many measures such as loss of life, and the cost to the American economy.

Today's congressional oil hearings are being compared by some to the hearings when the executives of the seven major cigarette makers testified before Congress about their policies. But the problem is just a drop in the bucket compared to smoking.

Several recent polls and surveys show growing public support for penalizing employees who smoke by making them pay more for their health insurance, reports Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), America's first antismoking organization.

A new survey shows that almost half of all large companies already penalize employees' unhealthy behaviors, or plan to do so shortly, a trend likely to be accelerated by the new health reform law which permits if not encourages it, reports ASH

A new report shows that financial incentives offered by companies trying to save money by getting employees to lose weight are largely ineffective as well as quite costly, but shifting the cost of smoking is obviously effective and costs nothing.

Bans on smoking in public places are saving lives, as well as money, by slashing hospital admissions from a wide variety of diseases; a phenomena just documented in Arizona where the state's indoor smoking ban slashed admissions by as much as 33%.

The importation of e-cigarettes will be banned indefinitely as the result of a unanimous ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals which provides strong support for the FDA's position.

E-cigarettes are running into more legal trouble, with outright bans, restrictions, import interceptions, law suits, and even potential criminal liability for sellers, reports Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

ASH recently stood up to an e-cigarette company which tried to bully a newspaper into retracting a story critical of their product. There was no retraction, and imports of the product are being banned nearby.