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• Insurance discounts for healthy habits spur debate in Washington 

Who could object to rewarding people who quit smoking, lose weight or start to exercise? The American Cancer Society and the American Heart Assn., for starters.

Some companies are charging lower insurance premiums to workers who meet benchmarks for healthy living. The Senate's healthcare overhaul legislation would expand the trend.

But instead of cheering the proposal, some patient advocacy and health groups are worried that it could mean higher rates for less-fit Americans, possibly pricing them out of their employers' insurance plans.

"It is a way of cherry-picking," said Dick Woodruff, senior director of federal affairs for the American Cancer Society. "We are all for workplace wellness, but when you tie it to the insurance pricing system, it's a real problem."

Critics of the Senate proposal also say that giving special treatment to those who meet a company's fitness standards could undercut one of the marquee promises of the Democrats' proposed overhaul: preventing employers and insurers from discriminating against people on the basis of their health status and preexisting medical conditions. . . .

Opponents hope to water down the Senate provision in the legislative maneuvering ahead. A coalition of patient-advocacy and health groups said in a letter to Congress: "We believe that provisions increasing premium variations allowed under current law can -- if used unwisely -- be a back door to making coverage to the sick unaffordable."

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Has Salina's smoking ban in public places caused bar receipts to go UP IN SMOKE? 

But has the ban, which went into effect May 1, hurt Salina's bar business?

It may be too early to tell from sales data, but many bar owners and managers are ready to declare that it has.

"The customers don't come in like they used to," said Marlene Best, bartender at Ringers Tavern, 433 S. Broadway. "It's not been good."

"I've lost a lot of business," said Barbara Walter, owner of the Koyotee Lounge, 501 N. Fifth. "I've had to lay off people."

Tax data from the state of Kansas doesn't show any clear changes. But then, numbers are available for business activity through the end of June, so only two months of the ban are covered.

The Salina Journal asked the Kansas Department of Revenue for the most recent 24 months of sales tax and liquor tax data for six counties -- Saline, Reno, Harvey, Ellis, Riley and Geary.

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CCS: Don't let your financial future go up in smoke 

The impact of smoking on your health is well documented, but counselors at Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) of East Tennessee know that it can also wreak havoc on a person's financial health. Whether it's helping people struggling with credit card debt or trying to avoid foreclosure, counselors find that tobacco use adds a significant amount to monthly household expenditures and they advise consumers to consider reducing or quitting smoking to save money.

A pack-a-day smoker spending an average of $5.15 per pack could save $1,879 per year by quitting smoking. These funds could be used to cover living expenses, reduce household debt or start a savings plan. Invested in a basic savings plan paying just 3 percent interest, you would have in excess of $21,000 after 10 years. Over 30 years, that figure climbs to more than $91,000.

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LETTER: Do your homework  

Regarding "Activists target smoking loopholes" (news story, Oct. 30): Oklahoma bar and restaurant owners act as if our state would be the first and only one to go smoke-free in public venues. Far from it. If Jim Hopper, president of the Oklahoma Restaurant Association, wants to eliminate his members' concerns about losing business if a smoking ban is enacted, he should contact any other restaurant association president in a state with a similar ban. He'd learn that profits at a majority of restaurants have actually increased.

The New York Times archives include articles printed before New York City's ban was enacted. Get the names of all the interviewed restaurant owners who were worried about their restaurant's potential profit losses. Call those same owners today and ask them how their profits are doing since the ban. Do your homework. And when your post-ban profits increase, remember to thank the groups that pushed for the ban.

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Gambling revenues are down one month after smoking ban 

It's been about a month since the Montana Clear Indoor Act took effect in bars, casinos and restaurants across the Treasure State. According to a Billings gaming distributor, gambling revenues are down 16% to 18% across the state.

On October 1st, the Reno Club in Billings joined hundreds of others businesses in going smoke-free. Now that the smoke has cleared, businesses are taking a hard look at the bottom line.

"My gambling is down about 20% and that could be recession, it could be the weather, it could be just about anything," Reno Club owner John Blair said.

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Leading U.K. Restaurant Chains Post Impressive Sales and Units Gains, Reports Technomic  

Despite the global economic downturn, the leading 100 U.K. restaurant chains grew sales by 3.4 percent in 2008 to nearly £11 billion, and posted strong unit gains, expanding by 7.6 percent to approximately 15,000 locations.

The limited-service segment, accounting for 60 percent of sales for the leading 100 chains, led the group, up 4.7 percent to more than £6.5 billion, while the full-service segment, representing 40 percent of sales, grew by 1.6 percent to over £4 billion. . . .

The implementation of the indoor smoking ban in pubs generated new food customers who had previously avoided smoke. Mitchells & Butlers plc attributed its robust food sales to these new patrons.

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Pete Robinson: Smoke signals from Ireland 

To get a glimpse of things to come we need look no further than a few miles across the water to Ireland, where a number of new reports have surfaced. Curiously they've all failed to appear in the ASH Daily News.

The worst of these is pub closures which, over the last five years, have reached a depressing 1,500 outside Dublin. . . .'' On the contrary Irish smoking rates have RISEN yet again! New figures from the EU show they are now at 33% - the highest for 11 years. That's up 6% since the inception of their smoking ban.

However as I've argued before bans increase smoking numbers, forbidden fruits and all that. So had the pre-ban trend been allowed to continue Irish smoking rates would today be below 22%.

Meanwhile Ireland has witnessed an epidemic of grand-scale cigarette smuggling so there's not even any revenue gains. The EU survey also revealed that today the largest group of smokers - 45% - is aged between 16 and 30, significantly the main target group of the original de-normalisation program. . . .

Yet still the health fascists trumpet Ireland's smoking ban as some kind of 'success', being held up as a model all over the world. Ireland's ASH-equivalent, the Research Institute for a Tobacco Free Society, insist that bar workers health has 'improved' and are calling for even heavier taxes and legislation.

So there you have it. The only reason your livelihood is under threat is to feed the spiteful, insatiable arrogance of these nannying do-gooders. You've already had your behaviour 'corrected' by the hate-mob and lost vital trade as a result.

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Study: Smoking bans, heart attack reduction linked  

Health advocates have received some ammunition in their arguments for more comprehensive anti-smoking legislation in the Shoals.

The nationally-renowned Institute of Medicine released a report, based on nearly a dozen studies from across the United States, Canada, Italy and Scotland, that says smoking bans decrease the risk of heart attacks. . . .

Florence just completed its first month under a smoking ordinance, which required owners to choose between designating their restaurant as entirely smoking or nonsmoking.

And while it's too early to determine its health imprint, business owners already have noticed where it impacts them the most - their wallets.

Initial observations seem to affirm Frieden's belief.

"Business has gotten a little better,"

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• $33B off the puffers: Hit smokers up for health care costs, advocacy group urges 

"The great majority of people who do not smoke should not be forced to pay the costs of people who do," said John Banzhaf, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health.

Banzhaf is urging Congress to hit smokers with a surcharge on health insurance premiums, with the bulk of revenue helping the federal government pay for a reform package.

If smokers got lit up for an extra $60 per month, it would generate $33 billion a year, he estimates.

Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, a Washington-based nonprofit, said making smokers pay more is all about equity.

"Everyone who doesn't smoke pays for the people who do smoke - that to us is not fair," she said, noting how smokers are at higher risk for costly diseases. . . .

Daniel Seidman, director of smoking cessation services at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Columbia, said a smoking surcharge would be an unfair penalty on the poor.

"Resources should be put into the system to make it easier to help smokers quit," Seidman said.

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• 800 million black market cigs smuggled in each year  

THE true number of cigarettes imported illegally into Ireland is more than 800 million a year, it is claimed.

Revenue and gardai seized a haul of 120 million cigarettes in Greenore, Co Louth, worth an estimated €50m this week.

Yet the average penalty for trading in illegal cigarettes -- €423-- is "farcical" and should be increased, a TD said.

"The Government must send a message to the middlemen who trade illegally in tobacco by imposing hefty fines," said Fine Gael justice spokesman, Charlie Flanagan.

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BASHAM/LUIK: Can the UK avert a smoking Irish failure?  

Hence, far from preventing smoking, measures like a display ban actually encourage it in those young people already most susceptible to begin smoking.

Therefore, in a UK with a tobacco display ban, we can expect to see not only more smokers, particularly young smokers, but also an enormous increase in illegal, unregulated, and untaxed cigarettes. That's quite the public health 'success'.

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MT smoke-free law having effects in Great Falls 

It was almost a month ago Montana went smoke free as on October 1st, smoking was no longer allowed in bars and casinos.

They were the last businesses in Montana to go smoke free after a law was enacted in 2005 and they spent months getting ready to go smoke-free.

Some businesses have seen their worst fears have come true. The bartender is still pouring drinks at 'That Bar' in Great Falls, but Kelly Dunn says there are few customers to serve."

"Normally by this time of day, I've got probably ten to 12 people lined up at this bar and right now as it stands I have two in here."

Customers aren't staying as long or drinking as much and Dunn added that the regulars would rather drink at home than deal with smoking in the cold."

"My biggest fear was losing a lot of our regular customers and by the looks of it that's happening...And it's sad because we had a lot of good times in this bar." . . .

But Brick Sports bartender Michelle Gravlin has a different story to tell. "It's gone fine. We haven't had any big changes."

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• Smoking, obesity 'grow as world threat' 

Tobacco and obesity are overtaking hunger and infectious disease as leading causes of death and illness across the developing world, an Australian expert has warned.

As globalisation had lifted millions of people out of poverty, Dr Paul Kowal said free trade agreements had allowed the rapid movement of processed food and tobacco products into the world's poorest nations.

Many developing countries now faced new and mounting health threats from the expanding availability of fast food, soft drinks and cigarettes, he said.

"To increase development in a country, they are forced to open up to transnational corporations including tobacco corporations," Dr Kowal said of the trend emerging in the world's developing nations.

"And there is a clear correlation between the local presence of a tobacco company and increasing tobacco uptake."

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Secondhand smoke's cost adds up for county  

Secondhand smoking costs Marion County $47.5 million or about $54 per person annually in medical expenses, a study released Wednesday by Indiana University researchers finds.

The report, which comes a week before the City-County Council will vote on a stricter workplace smoking ban, cited expenses for ambulatory care, clinic visits, prescriptions, hospital visits and loss of life among nonsmokers. It was sponsored by Smoke Free Indy and Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation.

Nearly 100 adults, children and infants in Marion County died in 2008 from exposure to secondhand smoke, deaths that could have been prevented, the study's authors argue.

Secondhand smoke exposure can lead to lung, breast and other cancers, spontaneous abortions and asthma. In children, it contributes to low birth weight, sudden infant death, allergies and ear infections.

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• Tobacco use in Saskatchewan costs economy $1.1 billion: study 

Tobacco use in Saskatchewan comes at a hefty price in terms of lives lost to tobacco-related diseases and an annual $1.1 billion hit to the province’s economy, says a new study.

The study commissioned by the Canadian Cancer Society Saskatchewan Division, which was obtained by the Leader-Post on Monday, noted that the direct and indirect costs of tobacco are costing every man, woman and child an estimated $1,063.

“And only 18 per cent of these costs are offset through tobacco tax revenue,’’ Janet Rhymes, author of the Genuine Progress Index (GPI) Atlantic report, said Monday.

Using the most recent provincial data, the report costed out the socio-economic toll tobacco use has on the province’s population.

“Although this is an economic exercise, we can never forget the profound life-changing impact for individuals and families who are affected by things like lung cancer, COPD and heart disease,’’ Rhymes said.

The Cost of Tobacco Use in Saskatchewan report found that smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke killed 1,561 people in 2005, accounting for about one out of every five deaths in the province.

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