Ken, STSI's chart has a gap at its breakout point in late April. The 50 day MA crossing over the 200 day is positive, as you noted, but its a strong downtrend on the 200 day that is going to be hard to overcome, similar to DELL'S chart right now.
Check out this article from London's Sunday Times dated May 6, 2001:
< Sweets Full of Nicotine May Hook Children
by William Peakin
TOBACCO companies are to launch a mint sweet containing as much nicotine as a cigarette, prompting fears that it could tempt children.
The cigalett, sold in boxes of 20 for the price of a packet of cigarettes, has been developed in America for the booming market in smokers who face bans in the workplace, restaurants and other public areas.
Unlike most other non-combustible tobacco products, the cigalett is not chewed or spat out, and has no bitter taste.
It is not seen as an aid to stop smoking; gums such as Nicorette are chewed for around 20 minutes to provide about 1mg of nicotine, but within seconds the cigalett releases the amount of the drug that smokers crave.
"By allowing new tobacco products you are perpetuating the problem," said Amanda Sandford of Action on Smoking and Health, the anti-smoking pressure group. "You could also be encouraging children and young people to use a product containing nicotine."
Cigaletts, made mostly of crushed tobacco and sold under the name Ariva, will be tested this summer in America. "We would hope to pursue sales in the UK," said Paul Perito, president of Star Scientific, developer of cigaletts. Star says it wants to stop selling cigarettes within five years.
One of world's largest tobacco companies, the London-based British American Tobacco, is also backing a mint. Its US division, Brown & Williamson, has agreed with Star to sell cigaletts under its own name.
Ariva packaging says "When you can't smoke" and "Refreshing and satisfying". The company plans to include health warnings and to sell Ariva in a "child-resistant" bubble pack. The sale of tobacco products is banned to people under 18 in America and 16 in Britain.
Although nicotine is addictive, most damage to the body is caused by toxic chemicals formed when tobacco burns. Scott Tomar, an expert on smokeless tobacco and oral cancers, criticised Ariva, saying: "They're making a product with an unknown level of safety."
Tomar, an associate professor at the University of Florida College of Dentistry, added: "Since each Ariva pellet is about 60% tobacco, I would say it's probably going to pose a significant health risk."
John Britton, professor of epidemiology at Nottingham City Hospital, wrote in last week's British Medical Journal that legislation was needed "to encourage the development of alternative products that can deliver uncontaminated nicotine at a dose and rate comparable with cigarettes in a way that is acceptable.
"If, instead of nearly 13m addicted smokers [in Britain], we have 13m addicted to clean nicotine devices, so be it; the result could be 6m lives saved." |
