The Delaware County Health Board has asked its attorney to draft a comprehensive ordinance that would ban smoking countywide.

County commissioners approved a smoking ban four years ago but excluded bars, truck stops along Interstate 69 and bingo halls that became private clubs that bingo players could join.

Cecilia Williams of the Tobacco Free Coalition of Delaware County tells The Star Press that she thinks the commissioners would enact a comprehensive ban if there were enough public support.

Source: Chicago Tribune

Some industry players are, however, concerned that a vigorous fight-back by the sector will be counter-productive, attracting international attention to the issue.

Last week, Kenya’s capital Nairobi became the latest urban area to outlaw public smoking, following in the footsteps of the smaller municipalities of Nakuru, Kangundo and Mombasa. Nakuru, Kenya’s fourth largest city, pioneered the bans three months ago.

Other Kenyan cities expected to pass smoking curbs in the next two weeks include Eldoret and Kisumu. Uganda’s tobacco control lobby welcomed the Kenyan bans, pointing out that they were in line with those in such cities as New York, London and Dublin.

“The Environmental Action Network (TEAN) highly commends the city and municipal councils of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kangundo and Nakuru for their recent by-laws to ban smoking in public places,” said the organisation’s spokesperson Phillip Karugaba last week. “The new bans are in line with the fact that Kenya was the first country in the region to ratify the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).”

Kenya ratified the FCTC in June 2004, while Tanzania and Uganda ratified this year, in April and June respectively.

According to the city of Nairobi ban, those found smoking in public areas, including the streets, will face a fine of Ksh2,000 ($30) or a six-month jail term for a first offender and Ksh3,000 ($45) or a nine-month jail term for a repeat offender. Within 24 hours of announcing the ban on Tuesday, 10 offenders were arrested and fined a total of Ksh20,000 ($300), sparking protests from the tobacco industry.

“This all-encompassing ban on smoking is unconstitutional and is without due regard to the right of smokers,” said Mastermind Tobacco Ltd spokesman John Kirimania. “By approving these by-laws, the Local Government Minister and the respective town clerks have misdirected themselves.”

Those sentiments were supported by BAT Kenya, the country’s largest tobacco company with a turnover of Ksh12.1 billion ($178 million) and a pre-tax profit of Ksh1.8 billion ($26.5 million) in the last financial year.

Between themselves, Kenya’s tobacco companies sell an estimated 7 billion cigarettes to a market that Ministry of Health officials say includes an estimated one million minors. The ministry says that it spends more than the estimated Ksh7 billion ($103 million) the tobacco industry pays in compounded taxes to “mop up” the health effects of smoking.

The bans by the Kenyan town and city councils are the second prong of a strategy devised by the country’s tobacco control activists, who have long complained that the enactment of national control legislation has been blocked by vested interests for more than six years.

As a result, Kenya’s Tobacco control Bill has been published every year since 2001, but has always lapsed and never been passed into law. Last week, however, the Bill went through its second reading and indications are that it will be passed before parliament goes on recess in August.

Source: Nation Media

Warren Custis of the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) in Salisbury says bars and restaurants will miss out on a major part of their business.

“It’s wrong to try to tell someone where to smoke at,” said Custis.

Custis also mentions that businesses spend lots of money installing smoke eaters. This device sucks up the smoke when its in the air allowing for separate smoking and non-smoking sections.

“Restaurants and bars have them, now it’s useless,” said Custis.

“They tell me they’re expensive to run, some places run them and some don’t,” said Don Kersey.

The statewide smoking ban includes bars, restaurants, and private clubs. Lawmakers tentatively agreed to the ban last week, a formal agreement may be reached Monday. The bill then heads to Governor Martin O’Malley, who plans to sign it.

Maryland would join Washington D.C. and Delaware with statewide smoking bans.

Source: WBOC

Vince Rennich, a table games supervisor, doesn’t buy the argument that his dismissal was part of a larger staff reduction as the new owners reorganize the property.

“They threw me under the bus,” the Somers Point man said Monday. “They took the opportunity to get rid of me.”

A Tropicana spokeswoman declined comment on the reason behind the layoff. But since Columbia Entertainment took over for Aztar Corp., a couple hundred employees have been let go.

“This is not an easy thing. We’re sensitive to the people who work here,” said Tropicana president and CEO Fred Buro The casino offered a six-week severance package, Rennich, 49, said.

Rennich sued the Tropicana last summer, alleging failure to protect employees against secondhand smoke on the casino floor. Rennich, a nonsmoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer two years ago and had part of his lung removed.

Rennich said he never saw the firing coming.

“I didn’t think they had the nerve to do it,” he said. “How can you do that to someone. I’m devastated. I have no job, no benefits. Health insurance will cost me $800 month. Who’ll hire a guy with lung cancer who is suing the casino industry?”

He also ruled out going to court to get his job back at the Tropicana “I don’t want them if they don’t want me,” he said.

Rennich said he will continue the fight for a full smoking ban on the casino floor. “This is not about me. It’s what’s happening in Atlantic City. It’s not OK for us to die.”

Last year, the state enacted a smoking ban, but exempted the casinos for fear of an economic downturn. Atlantic City council introduced its own ordinance to close the loophole, but last month backed off, approving an amendment to permit separate smoking areas on 25 percent of the casino floor. Plans for the separation must be submitted to the state Department of Community Affairs by mid-September, five months after the ordinance takes affect April 15.

The state has since revisited the exemption. Last week, the Senate Health Committee approved a measure to ban smoking on the gaming floor. Rennich testified at the hearing.

Tropicana’s Buro last week said the casinos would likely go smoke-free by installing gaming-free smoking lounges.

“That seems to be the most practical way,” he said.

Rennich supports the move. “We pitched that idea to them. This is all about worker’s safety. We’re not trying to get people to stop smoking. But no one should have to die to earn a paycheck,” he said.

Source: Courier Post

The state is to aid would-be quitters by handing out coupons for the purchase of Nicotine patches and chewing gum.

Helplines which advise smokers on how to give up have seen business boom.

” I would say the number of calls we get has doubled. Around 500 calls come in per day – 300
asking for help in how to beat the addiction and around 200 for information concerning the new law. Most people appear to be coming to terms with the new reality,” said a spokesperson for the helpline.

A key question is whether the authorities will enforce the ban.

In 1991 France introduced a reform ordering restaurants and bars to set up smoking and non-smoking areas and this is widely ignored.

A series of fines will act as the stick with individual puffers facing a 68 euro fine. Those in charge of the business or building will be slapped with a 135 euro fine going up to 750 euros for repeat offences.

This makes the 22-year-old a natural choice to be one of the public faces of an eight-week advertising campaign launched today by the Calgary Health Region to help young adults butt out.

“The anti-smoking campaign … has been a huge influence on my decision,” said Black Horse during the program’s launch at Theatre Calgary.

The program features Black Horse and other young people in a series of public service announcements, posters and transit ads that highlight the challenges of nicotine addiction.

The almost $400,000 campaign targets Aboriginals, post-secondary students and tradespeople in the 18-24 age group.

The message is timely, said Susan Mide Kiss, CHR tobacco reduction project coordinator, given a steady increase in the number of young people taking up the habit.

“Smoking rates among the young adult population are rising, about 27% in the last year, while rates in Aboriginal communities are even higher,” she said.

“We want to support young adults who want to reduce or quit tobacco use.”

Mide Kiss added the beginning yesterday of National Non-Smoking Week and Calgary’s new smoking bylaw help to stimulate awareness about the dangers of smoking, the leading cause of preventable illness and disease in the Calgary area.

The smoking bylaw, which faces a court challenge Feb. 8 by 35 local bar and restaurant owners, could actually help curtail the cravings of smokers, said Linette Soldan, community services coordinator with the Canadian Cancer Society’s Alberta and North West Territories branch.

“Statistics show these bylaws help smokers either reduce their amount or look at quitting altogether,” she said.

Source: Calgary Sun

The Liberals say it’s not a double standard to allow casinos in Windsor and Niagara Falls to build shelters for smokers even though bars and restaurants cannot. Health Promotion Minister Jim Watson says casinos can build smoking shelters because their primary business is gambling, not serving food and alcohol.

But critics say the casinos are in the hospitality industry, just like bars and restaurants, and should not be allowed the advantage of smoking enclosures.

Michael Perley of the Ontario Coalition for Action on Tobacco says casinos serve food and drinks as a major inducement to attract patrons, just like bars and restaurants.

The opposition parties accuse the Liberal government of trying to protect its own dwindling casino revenues at the expense of the private competition. A tobacco-industry funded lobby group says the government should let restaurants and bars construct smoking shelters to level the playing field with the casinos.

Source: TB Source

The prospect — an imminent reality — raises a question that smoker and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre might have enjoyed contemplating: Will France still be France without widespread smoking in public?

A new ban on smoking in French offices and other public buildings begins next month and will ensnare bars, cafes, restaurants, hotels and casinos from 2008 onward.

France is following the lead of other European countries such as Ireland, Italy or Spain. But cigarettes for many remain as much a part of the French art of living as wine and fatty foods.

“It’s very worrisome,” award-winning author and smoker Maurice Druon said of the ban. “For four centuries, tobacco was a wonderful thing. … It was said to be the ‘holy herb,’ and now it’s been decreed as horrifying.”

Source: Det News

Dad-of-one John Smith was sheltering from the rain in a doorway yards from an official smoking bay when he was caught.

Bosses at the Michelin Tyres factory, in Dundee, sacked the 35-year-old on the spot for gross misconduct.

But tyre technician John, who worked for Michelin for more than 12 years, says the firm, who recently made 100 employees redundant, took advantage of his offence to cut more costs.

He said: “My backside didn’t touch the floor after I was caught.

“But I would have been let off with a caution if this happened a couple of years ago. The company were letting a lot of the workforce go and they saw an opportunity to get rid of me for free.”

John, whose appeal against the decision was rejected, added: “It was pouring with rain and the smoking bay, which was a couple of paces away, wasn’t covered so I was standing in a doorway to stay dry.

“I couldn’t believe it when I was hauled in front of the management. I worked for Michelin for over 12 years and know how important fire regulations are in a tyre factory and I would never take risks.”

John, who has a 10-year-old daughter, is worried his pension and benefits rights will be affected because he was dismissed.

And after last week’s 650 job losses at Dundee’s NCR factory, he knows that competition for work in the city will be high.

Michelin, who are one of the city’s largest employers, revealed plans for “significant investments” to secure the plant’s long-term future last year – but at a cost of 10 per cent of jobs.

Yesterday, a company spokesman refused to discuss the details of John’s case.

He said: “Smoking regulations in the Michelin tyre factory are very robust for obvious reasons.

“There are signs throughout the plant outlining the rules and we have specific smoking bays for our workers to use.”

In August last year, machine operator Malcolm Muirhead was sacked for having a cigarette outside a paper mill.

The 39-year-old was outside the Tullis Russell building in Markinch, Fife, next to a heating unit when he was caught.

The dad-of-one claimed he had to smoke there because he was not allowed to leave the grounds during his breaks.

Malcolm, who has smoked for 22 years, said: “This is a very draconian way to deal with smokers.”

Source: Daily Record

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) is due to announce today that it has approved Champix after clinical trials showed that nearly half of smokers given the drug were able to give up their habit.

The decision has been welcomed by charities and medical experts who yesterday described Champix as a significant step forward in the therapies made available for British smokers. It puts Scotland ahead of England, where guidance on the use of the drug is due to be published later this year.
continued…

Unlike nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs) such as patches, which release nicotine into the blood, Champix, whose technical name is varenicline tartrate, provides relief from withdrawal symptoms by sending a neurological signal to nicotine receptors in the brain.

By stimulating these receptors, smokers are provided with relief from their cravings. However, the drug also partially blocks the same receptors, ensuring that if a patient relapses they will not receive the same level of pleasure from smoking a cigarette.

Steve Crone, chief executive of Quit, a charity which helps people give up smoking, welcomed the SMC’s decision.

He said: “Varenicline will give Scottish smokers more choice from a good range of clinically proven treatments. Using varenicline and getting the right support could significantly increase a smoker’s odds of successfully quitting.”

Champix is the second non-nicotine drug to be licensed as a therapy for smokers in the UK. Its predecessor, Zyban, which was licensed in June 2000, was designed as an anti-depressant.

It is thought to work by regulating the brain chemicals dopamine and noradrenaline, which are believed to be linked to cigarette addiction and has been claimed to be twice as effective as NRT therapies in helping people to give up.

However, Champix has proved more effective and less likely to produce adverse side effects than its predecessor.

As part of its assessment of Champix, the SMC used data from two studies which involved more than 2000 smokers. It studied three groups who were given Champix, Zyban and a placebo.

Among the patients given Champix, which is administered as a tablet, 44% were able to give up smoking, compared with 30% of those given Zyban and 18% of those given a placebo. After 12 weeks, smokers taking the new drug had four times greater odds of stopping smoking than those on a placebo and two times greater odds of stopping than those on Zyban, the studies found. Clinical trials have also found that, among 4000 smokers who were treated with the drug, the number of treatments that had to be discontinued due to adverse effects was similar to those treated with a placebo.

Dr Alex Bobak, a London-based GP and expert on quitting smoking who has been involved in trials of Champix, said he had found the drug effective with patients who wanted to give up smoking.

“It is the first drug that has been designed for the purpose of giving up smoking. I have trialled it with patients and have certainly found it extremely helpful,” he said.

“One of the big differences from Zyban is that it is much better tolerated, there are much fewer side-effects. I’m very excited about using it.”

A spokesman for Ash Scotland, which campaigns against smoking, said: “We would welcome the introduction of any properly tested and licensed treatment that can help Scotland’s smokers to quit.

“There is a huge challenge in Scotland, where around 13,000 people die every year because of tobacco use.”

Source: The Herald

The long-time smoker jokes the ban has overturned one of the traditions of the century-old Kowloon Cricket Club he belongs to.

“They really hit us on the head when they let women in here,” he quips, a plastic nicotine inhaler between his lips.

“But this is almost as bad as that,” he adds before cueing a shot in the club’s once smoky snooker den.

Unlike France, which will allow smokers to ease into the new year before implementing a partial smoking ban in February, Hong Kong’s ban came into effect at midnight on New Year’s eve.

The new laws bring Hong Kong, a city of seven million, in line with places like Ireland, New York and California, by banning smoking in offices, restaurants, most parks and beaches.

So far, implementation seems to have been smooth, with the government’s team of enforcement inspectors only prosecuting seven violators since last week.

While some of the city’s restaurants and “cha chan teng”, or hole-in-the-wall eateries, have begrudged the dip in business from the ban, others showed signs of embracing change.

“There’s been no effect on our business,” said Wong Sing-fan, the bespectacled boss of the 56-year-old Mido cafe in Yaumatei, as she stood behind her cash register. “I welcome the ban.”

Across the harbour in the raucous Red Box Karaoke lounge in the teeming Causeway Bay district, managing director Anthony Lock said business had fallen up to 20 percent on the first weekend after the ban, with clients consuming less and leaving earlier.

But for regular karaoke crooners like John Chan, the ban was something to savour whilst belting out the latest Canto-pop hits.

“It’s super, I don’t have to smell like cigarettes all day.”

Violators face fines of up to HK$5,000 (330 pounds) after a court summons, though the government says spot fines could be introduced within 18 months.

The government has proclaimed the smoking ban a success so far, but critics say it has instead forced smokers onto busy streets where smoking is still allowed, and to other spots where enforcement is problematic, such as in stairways and toilets.

“Now, if we need a smoke, we go out. We run in and out of buildings all day,” said Ah Chun, a teenager who was lighting up with five friends on a crowded shopping street.

The ban is also not absolute, with over 800 bars, saunas, nightclubs and mahjong parlours granted exemptions till mid-2009.

Anti-smoking advocates are hopeful the Hong Kong’s ban will set a precedent for tougher smoking laws in China, which has 350 million smokers, more than any other country.

Esther Ng, a social smoker and reveller at the Lan Kwai Fong nightlife hub, complains the ban will not resolve one of Hong Kong’s most pressing problems — the pollution which the University of Hong Kong estimates kills 1,600 people a year and costs $HK21.2 billion.

“Having the ban’s one thing. But what the government really needs to do is sort out the air pollution,” she says. “That’s what’s really killing us.”

Source: Scotsman.com

Besides the cost of buying cigarettes themselves, you’re probably spending more money on life insurance than a non-smoker. “On average, you’re paying close to a thousand dollars more per year… if you have a half million dollar policy, which a lot of people have,” says Hennessey. But, the moment you stop smoking, your premium will go down.

Life insurance isn’t the only thing that may cost you more: your health insurance costs will go up too. Smokers pay, on average, close to five hundred dollars more each year than non-smokers. “That’s understandable,” says Hennessey. “Nobody wants to pay down the line – the risks of lung cancer, emphysema, diabetes, all the problems that are associated with smoking.” Because smokers are at a higher risk for these and other diseases, health insurance companies charge them more to cover costs that may crop up later in life.

Smokers can lose money when it comes to their cars as well. Car resale values go down by almost two-thousand dollars if the car was owned by a smoker. “It’s [money] you lose simply because of the smoke in the car, the wear and tear that comes from the cigarette burns,” says Hennessey. “I tell a lot of people to lease a car rather than buy. You cannot lease a car if you’re a smoker because those burns will kill you when you go to bring it back in and you can never get the smell out.”

So when it comes to making your New Year’s resolutions, this year, consider quitting smoking. It may be a good move health-wise, but it doesn’t hurt financially either.

Source: CBS News

Kumar Mangat, the producer of “No Smoking,” told the Mumbai Mirror newspaper that he has hired a cameraman to catch offenders in action.

“Many people try to smoke on the sly, so I have told my cameraman to be very alert at all times,” said Mangat. “Sometimes when caught the offenders protest that 500 rupees (US$11) is too high an amount,” the daily quoted Mangat as saying.

However, he insists they pay up and plans to donate 112,000 rupees (US$2,488; euro1,874.91) collected over the past two months to a cancer hospital.

The movie is about a chain smoker, played by Bollywood heartthrob John Abraham, who undergoes rehab to help him stop smoking and save his marriage.

Abraham has quit smoking and has not been caught cheating, he said.

Among those recently fined was upcoming actor Ranvir Shorey.

“I think this fine is a bit heavy on the pocket, but it’s done in good spirit,” Shorey told the newspaper. “Anyway I’m trying to quit smoking, so I think this should help.”

Source: AP

The singer, who smokes up to 60 cigarettes a day, has already given up drugs and alcohol and now wants to kick another unhealthy habit.

Robbie – who was fined £60 for smoking onstage in Australia last week – is so desperate to quit nicotine he has even planned to visit a hypnotist on New Year’s Eve.

He said: “I want to give them up for good in 2007. Seeing a hypnotist on New Year’s Eve seems a good idea to me.”

The ‘Angels’ singer has made several attempts to give up cigarettes in the past including a fitness drive last summer.

However, Robbie gave into temptation after just a few weeks – because he was worried about piling on the pounds.

He admitted at the time: “I smoke loads and I really don’t want to anymore. But I’m terrified of giving up. I’m a fat bloke inside this body and the minute I stop smoking, I will put on weight.”

Researchers found that a group of heavy smokers who cut down to as few as five cigarettes per day still inhaled many more toxic substances than long-term light smokers.

Why? Because they inhaled more often and more deeply from each cigarette in an unconscious bid to get the same amount of nicotine that their bodies are used to.

This habit is known as ‘compensatory’ smoking, and it may reduce any health benefits of cutting down on cigarettes, according to a study in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

‘The best way to reduce risk for disease is to quit smoking altogether,’ said lead author Dr Dorothy Hatsukami, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota.

Dr Hatsukami said her findings are consistent with what has been seen in studies of smokers’ disease rates. That research suggests that people who cut their smoking by half lower their risk of lung cancer by no more than a quarter – and their odds of other smoking-related ailments, like heart disease and serious lung conditions like emphysema, by only a few per cent.

‘It’s a good explanatory factor for why you don’t see a reduction in cardiovascular and pulmonary disease,’ she said.

That doesn’t mean there is no reason for cutting back on cigarettes. Smokers who can’t quit cold turkey can still trim down their number of daily cigarettes as a first step, Dr Hatsukami said.

But that should be only the first step in the process of quitting entirely, she said. – Reuters.