A proposed ban on smoking in all bars, restaurants and work sites across the state is igniting a big-money fight at the Texas Capitol.

Anti-smoking forces are lining up against the tobacco industry and some restaurant owners, with lobbyists from both sides seeking to win over lawmakers.

“We’ve got a lot of national resources that are focusing on this,” said Sen. Rodney Ellis, a Houston Democrat who proposed the legislation. “Texas is a trendsetter state on so many issues.”

Sixteen states, including California and New York, already have comprehensive smoking bans; 13 others are considering them. Houston, Austin, El Paso and other Texas cities already have comprehensive smoking bans.

Ellis’ proposal is aimed at eliminating secondhand smoke in indoor public places. It would ban smoking in government offices, private workplaces, restaurants, bars and the seating area of outdoor entertainment events. It also would prohibit smoking within 15 feet of the entrances to those places. The bill proposes a fine of up to $500 for violating the ban.

The bill, which was filed Tuesday, must survive legislative committees before facing a vote from lawmakers during the legislative session, which ends May 28.

Smoke-Free Texas, a coalition of the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, American Heart Association and Texas PTA, is pushing the measure.

The American Cancer Society and the American Cancer Society High Plains Division, which sponsored the poll, have 11 lobbyists for the legislative session, according to the Texas Ethics Commission.

Leading opposition to the ban is tobacco giant Philip Morris USA Inc. Spokesman David Sutton said the company advocates helping people avoid secondhand smoke in public places, but wants business owners to have flexibility in accommodating them.

There are ways to protect nonsmokers short of a complete ban, he said, such as separate rooms for smokers and high-quality ventilation.

“Total bans on indoor smoking fail to respect the comfort and choices of both smoking and nonsmoking adults,” he said.

The Texas Restaurant Association also figures to be a major player in the debate.

“Increasingly we see that cities are adopting bans,” said executive director Richie Jackson. “We have some concerns. One is, we want a level playing field — if you’re going to ban smoking in restaurant bars that you don’t allow smoking in bars. That’s an ongoing equity issue with us.”

Joining a throng of health officials to promote the legislation were Dallas restaurant owner and executive chef Kent Rathbun and Austin-based blues musician Marcia Ball.

Ball, a former smoker, said while smokers can make their own choices about whether to light up, waiters, entertainers and non-smoking patrons don’t have a choice about breathing secondhand smoke if it’s in the air. Customers won’t stop going to bars and restaurants if they can’t smoke inside, she said.

“They, we, can adapt,” she said

Source: Am New York

Thursday marks an important health and cultural shift for France when a new law comes into force banning smoking in public places. Offices and other public buildings come under the new legislation but cafes, bars, restaurants, hotels and casinos are exempt until 2008.

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.

Floyd Black Horse is a smoker who’s decided to quit.

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

A new squabble has broken out between the food and hospitality industry and the provincial government over Ontario’s smoking regulations. Smoking is banned in all public places in this province, including restaurants, bars and bingo halls. But there are cries of protest following a decision to allow the building of smoking shelters at a couple of the province’s casinos.

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

Imagine French cafes free of cigarette smoke, without smoldering butts or ash underfoot.

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