BACK AND FORTH: Does Bloomberg’s Anti-Tobacco Campaign Go Too Far?

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently proposed legislation that would ban public displays of tobacco products, strengthen penalties on retailers who evade tobacco taxes and require retailers to raise the prices of certain tobacco products, the New York Times reports.

The most controversial part of the legislation would require retailers to store tobacco products in places where customers cannot see or access them. If tobacconists opt to display their produces, they would have to ensure that minors who visit their stories do so with a parent or guardian.

THE PRESIDENT: A Look Back at Obama’s First Four Years in Health Policy

President Obama was inaugurated last month, launching his second term and providing an opportunity to reflect upon the health policy legislation and decisions in his first term. While obvious focal point is the landmark but controversial Affordable Care Act, which Obama signed in March 2010 and his administration has spent much time implementing, Obama and his administration’s other health policy issues might have received less notice. However, from tackling fraud in government health programs to addressing obesity, the White House’s health policy efforts ran the gamut. Below are summaries of some of those other health policy efforts.

AHL’s TOP STORY: Judge Declares Graphic Tobacco Warning Label Requirement Unconstitutional

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon yesterday ruled that a federal law requiring tobacco companies to include graphic warning labels on cigarette packages is unconstitutional, the Washington Post reports (Wilber/Brown, Washington Post, 2/29). The ruling comes less than three months after he issued a preliminary injunction blocking FDA from enforcing the requirement (Strom, New York Times, 2/29).

WHAT WE’RE READING: Zombie Beneficiaries Cause High Medicaid Spending in Md.

• “State Made Medicaid Payments for Dead People,” Baltimore Sun: Zombie beneficiaries rejoice.

WHAT WE’RE READING: How Is Your Mustache Coming Along?

• “A good reason to grow a mustache,” Sacramento Bee: “Movember” means mustaches and porn star jokes — all for a good cause.

INTERESTING READS: White House Staffers Trim Fat; Obama Kicks Butts

• “White House Staffers Lose More Than 110 Pounds, Credit Michelle Obama’s Healthy Eating Focus,” AP/Washington Post: The First Lady’s nutritious domestic policy is seeing results close to home.

Blame the Movies

State and other governments may be violating their own public health policies and goals when subsidizing or offering tax credits to the movie industry, especially when major motion pictures directly or indirectly promote smoking, according to a report published in PLoS Medicine.

Study author Stanton Glantz — a University of California San Francisco professor of medicine — said the situation is one “where governments today are now spending taxpayer money to sell cigarettes to kids.”

The Smoking Network

Teens who spend more time on social networking sites are five times more likely to use tobacco, three times more likely to drink alcohol and twice as likely to smoke marijuana, according to a recent study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. Researchers found that social media increases the likelihood that teens ages 12 to 17 will see images of people smoking or drinking.

Many of Us Can Look Forward to Brain Shrinkage

Diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure and being overweight can all cause the brain to shrink, according to the latest Framingham Heart Study. Researchers assessed the risk factors of 1,352 residents of the Massachusetts town who were an average of 54 years old at mid-life. When they aged to 61-67 years, researchers gave them a cognitive test and an MRI.

It’s Not That Teenagers Don’t Listen; It’s That They Can’t Hear You

And it may be the result of secondhand smoke.