Amid fiscal turmoil, House votes to cut tax on loose-leaf tobacco

As many places across the country raise tobacco taxes — in an effort to reduce usage and save on public health costs down the road — the Texas House has gone in the other direction.

Members of the Texas House on Wednesday approved a bill to lower a tax on Red Man and other brands of loose-leaf chewing tobacco.

When Rep. Allan Ritter, R-Nederland , laid out House Bill 2599, one freshman House member from Central Texas couldn't believe his ears.

"I just had to clarify. It's cutting taxes to chewing tobacco?" a shocked Rep. Jason Isaac, R-Dripping Springs, asked from the floor.

Heart link to chewing tobacco

Indian cardiologists have produced what they say is the first evidence to show that chewing tobacco can constrict the blood vessels of the heart within minutes and possibly raise the risk of heart attacks.

Their study on men who volunteered to chew a single gram of tobacco while having their hearts monitored has revealed significant reductions in the diameters of coronary arteries within 10 minutes after they began chewing.

The cardiologists from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, say their findings highlight the rapidity with which a habit long associated with mouth cancer can also put the heart in danger by constricting coronary arteries.

Senators call for baseball chewing tobacco ban

Two U.S. senators have urged the heads of Major League Baseball and the players union to ban the use of smokeless tobacco products on the field and in the dugout and the locker room.

A similar ban on chewing tobacco has been in place in baseball's minor leagues for decades. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin and New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, both Democrats, said it was time for the major leagues to follow suit.

"We now know conclusively that smokeless tobacco endangers the health of baseball players who use it, but it also affects millions of young people who watch baseball," Durbin and Lautenberg wrote in a letter to baseball commissioner Bud Selig, which was made available to news organizations on Tuesday.

In the letter, they cited a survey that found use of smokeless tobacco products by high school boys has increased by 36 percent since 2003.