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Arizona counties turn to churches, schools to fight smoking  

Beginning this fall, all of Arizona's counties will be part of a new battle against smoking.

State health officials will be trying a new approach by blitzing churches, Block Watch groups, social-service agencies, schools and neighborhood associations with anti-tobacco information.

The Arizona Department of Health Services' new battle against tobacco is aimed at specific groups of tobacco users.

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Tobacco: Keeping it sacred 

Lung cancer is the main cause of cancer death for both men and women in Ontario and the risk of getting lung cancer is higher when you smoke commercial tobacco.

"Commercial tobacco use is much higher within the Aboriginal population," says Nancy Korstanje, manager of community integration and promotion at Smokers' Helpline. "Aboriginal people have used tobacco for thousands of years for rituals, ceremonies and medicinal purposes. It is important to know the difference between Sacred Tobacco and commercial tobacco."

There are more than 10 different plants related to Sacred Tobacco, which when used properly can communicate to the Spirit World and to the Creator. Commercial tobacco products, however, are addictive and smoking is the number one preventable cause of death in Ontario.

The good news is that it's never too late to quit smoking commercial tobacco. . . .

Whenever someone is trying to quit, the Canadian Cancer Society Smokers' Helpline at 1 877 513-5333, and Smokers' Helpline Online at www.smokershelpline.ca

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Group petitions pope on tobacco  

For the first time since 1979, the pope is making a visit to the nation's capital. From April 15 to 17, Pope Benedict XVI will be in Washington, D.C., talking about issues in our world today and addressing college students at Catholic University. The pope will also make a stop in New York City. Though he is not stopping in Boston, the Physicians and Nurses Against Tobacco (PANAT), will be directly addressing the pope in an advertisement in The Boston Globe in an effort to ban the use of tobacco.

In addition to their advertisement in the newspaper, PANAT has started a petition against the use of tobacco. The names of those who sign the petition, which can be accessed online, will be collected and printed in The Boston Globe. According to the petition, "[Signers of the petition] will implore [the pope] to join us in publicly condemning the production, distribution, sale, and use of tobacco."

The petition also asks for the pope, not only as a religious leader but also as a head of state, to declare the Vatican the first tobacco-free country.

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• Muslims and Cigarette Smoking 

Both Said and Aceves knew that smoking was very harmful to their health, but neither could resist the lure of the powerful addiction. “There is not a single organ in the body that is not affected by the negative effects of smoking,” said Dr. Maher Hathout, a retired cardiologist and the director of the Islamic Center of Southern California. . . .

Arguing whether smoking is halal (lawful) or haram (unlawful or forbidden) has been a contentious issue among Islamic scholars. Some argue very strongly that it is haram, while others prefer a less damning word called makrouh, or discouraged. “There is no direct text that addresses the issue of smoking, there are only general principles,” said Sheikh Yasser Fazaga, imam and community leader at the Mission Viejo mosque. “That which is tayib (good) is lawful and that which is khabeeth (evil) is unlawful,” he added. Acknowledging that smoking was classified as being evil, Fazaga disagreed with those who declare smoking haram, arguing that there was no clear text forbidding it as the Qur’an says, “And He (God) detailed to you that which He has made unlawful.” However, many scholars disagree, Making the case that mixed views on smoking are due to the fact that cigarettes did not exist at the time when the Qur’an was revealed in the 7th century A.D., these scholars are of the opinion that the nicotine habit is undeniably haram. In a decree issued by the Permanent Committee of Academic Research and Fatwa in Saudi Arabia, the statement was unanimous. “In view of the harm caused by tobacco, growing, trading in and smoking of tobacco are judged to be haram (forbidden). The Prophet (PBUH) is reported to have said, ‘Do not harm yourselves or others.’ Furthermore, tobacco is toxic, and God says in the Qur’an that the Prophet, (PBUH), ‘enjoins upon them that which is good and pure, and forbids them that which is harmful.’”

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• The Rev. Gary Wachtel leading a smoking ban protest parade in Olney 

Wachtel is organizing a smoking ban protest parade at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Wachtel invites smoking advocates to join the parade route, which will run from the 600 block of East Main Street west to the Richland County Courthouse.

Parade advocates hope to encourage state lawmakers to repeal Illinois' three-month-old smoking ban. . . .

"We will be smoking during the parade," Wachtel said.

To be legal, a smoker is forced to walk in the street on Main Street, Wachtel said.

"You can't be on the sidewalk because you're within 15 feet of the business's doors," Wachtel said.

Wachtel said he has received "pretty good support" from residents of Southern Illinois. . . .

Wachtel does not pastor a church, but he serves as chaplain for the local American Legion.

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• Marba to Become Kingdom's First Tobacco-Free Community 

Fed up with an unhealthy habit, village leaders in Marba, 150 km north of Yanbu, have vowed to make their hometown the Kingdom’s first tobacco-free community.

“Convinced of the health hazards of consuming tobacco, local shopkeepers are cooperating with our efforts,” Saud Saad Al-Orfi, chief of the village, told Arab News.

The ban includes sheesha . . .

Abdullah also pointed out that several scholars in the Kingdom have issued fatwas prohibiting tobacco smoking.

Village leaders will take their campaign to local schools for the benefit of teachers and students. Some have even called for Friday sermons highlighting the dangers of smoking.

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• Tobacco-free zone? Pope urged to stomp out butts in Vatican City 

Physicians and Nurses Against Tobacco, a Rhode Island-based organization, is asking Pope Benedict XVI to support its campaign for a tobacco-free society.

The group's petition, posted online, appeals to the pope not only to denounce the sale and use of tobacco during his April 15-20 visit to the United States, but also to declare Vatican City the world's first tobacco-free state.

"We hope to convince him to make this gesture as an example to other religious and political leaders and policymakers," the petition says.

Some might dismiss the initiative as a publicity grab, but there is no denying that tobacco is a serious health issue. . . .

Bishop Boccardo made waves a few years ago when, as a papal trip planner, he shut down smoking on the plane that took the pope on his foreign visits.

For years after Alitalia instituted a ban on in-flight smoking, members of the papal entourage and journalists continued to light up on the pope's chartered plane. They were encouraged by the fact that Alitalia gave every passenger a free carton of cigarettes. . . .

even though the Holy See has expressed support for a World Health Organization convention on tobacco control, the Vatican continues to sell tobacco products to its employees at a discount. . . .

On a moral level, the church has never defined smoking as a sin. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the gift of physical health requires "reasonable care" of the body, and more specifically says: "The virtue of temperance disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco or medicine." . . .

The 19th-century Pope Pius IX, for example, built a tobacco factory for cigar rolling in Rome's Trastevere neighborhood. The Latin inscription boasts that the pope thus provided the city with "a factory for processing nicotine leaves."

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Churches Join Fray On Smoking Ban 

As a conference committee of the Pennsylvania General Assembly holds hearings this week to reconcile House and Senate versions of a workplace smoking ban, prominent religious organizations are urging enactment.

Pennsylvania Faith United Against Tobacco and the Pennsylvania Council of Churches, which represent various Protestant, Adventist and Orthodox Christian denominations, emphasized the health hazards of tobacco use. They posited that its use leads to 20,000 deaths in Pennsylvania each year and that second-hand smoke causes 3,000 of those.

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Coalition of Faith Groups Urge Legislative Conference Committee to Approve Comprehensive Smoke-Free Law and Protect All Pennsylvania Workers From Secondhand Smoke 

Pennsylvania Faith United Against Tobacco, a diverse coalition of faith leaders from across the state, held a press conference today at the Capitol to urge the Legislature to enact comprehensive smoke-free legislation that covers all workplaces and protects all Pennsylvanians from the dangers of secondhand smoke.

"We in the faith community know what must be done to protect the countless number of Pennsylvania workers who are still exposed to the serious health harms of secondhand smoke," said Rev. Sandra Strauss, Policy Director for the Pennsylvania Council of Churches. "We have a moral obligation to urge our elected officials to pass this critical legislation because each and every one of our brothers and sisters deserves the right to breathe clean, smoke-free air."

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• Physicians and Nurses Against Tobacco (PANAT) Petition Pope Benedict XVI to Condemn Tobacco Industry, and Tobacco Use, and Declare Vatican First Tobacco- Free Country 

Physicians and Nurses Against Tobacco, Inc., (PANAT) an organization of physicians, nurses, health-care officials and supporters, are petitioning Pope Benedict XVI to condemn the production, distribution, sale and use of tobacco, and, as a Head of State, to declare the Vatican the first tobacco-free country. PANAT is petitioning the Pope as a political, spiritual, and moral leader to set an example for others entrusted with a similar duty to protect.

PANAT, through its official web site, http://www.unholysmoke.org, is assembling a petition addressed to the Pope that will be published in The Boston Globe newspaper in April 2008 on the occasion of the visit of the Pope to the United States to address the General Assembly of the United Nations.

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• Doctors aim to ban tobacco in the Vatican 

Reflecting the gravity and addictiveness of the health problem, two dozen area doctors and nurses are appealing to a higher authority to curtail cigarette use. When Pope Benedict XVI visits the United States in April, they plan to come armed with a petition with thousands of names asking the pope “to declare the Vatican the world’s first country to ban tobacco in its entirety.” They are asking the pope to also “condemn the production, distribution and sale” of cigarettes and all tobacco products. They are citing nicotine’s addictive force and that more than 5 million deaths a year worldwide is traced to smoking. “We are frustrated over the lack of action on the part of our leaders whose job it is to protect and advocate for the common good,” said Dr. Claude Curran, a city psychiatrist treating addicts and co-founder of Physicians and Nurses Against Tobacco. Curran said they selected the pope not only for his religious, moral and spiritual leadership but because “he’s the head of a country. … He’s not only the Vicar of Christ. He’s also the defender of man,” Curran said. “Who’s going to protect us if he doesn’t?” . . .

They plan to publish the petition in New England newpapers during Pope Benedict’s first visit to the country, to Washington, D.C., and New York City April 15-20. . . .

“Group of Girls Puff at Cigarettes as a Gesture of Freedom,” read the New York Times headline of April 1, 1928. Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, asked years ago by Curran and a couple others how to reverse the worldwide cigarette curse he helped bolster, planted the idea of petitioning the pope. “Let us stomp out the ‘torches of freedom’ and bring something else to light: The eradication of tobacco,” PANAT says.

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[H]e’s the head of a country. . . . He’s not only the Vicar of Christ. He’s also the defender of man. Who’s going to protect us if he doesn’t?
Dr. Claude Curran, a Mass. psychiatrist treating addicts and co-founder of Physicians and Nurses Against Tobacco, which will petition Pope Benedict XVI when he visits the United States in April “to declare the Vatican the world’s first country to ban tobacco in its entirety.”

• Rabbis to battle smoking in haredi public 

Leading rabbis and the Jerusalem Municipality have joined forces in a battle against the widespread habit of smoking in the haredi public, in light of studies indicating that the sector has the highest rate of smokers in Israeli society.

The Health Ministry and local haredi authorities will also take part in the effort.

In a campaign that will be launched Thursday, rabbis will issue halachic rulings banning smoking. The rulings will be posted on bulletin boards and buses, and published in the community's pamphlets.

The decision to launch the campaign ahead of Purim was based on the fact that during the holiday it is usually considered legitimate for children to smoke cigarettes. . . .

"Studies have shown that most haredi smokers smoked their first cigarette during Purim, as part of a defective practice which permits teenagers, and even children, to smoke on the holiday," Jerusalem Municipal Council Member Shlomo Rosenstein, explained.

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• Imams Decry Smoking  

An increasing number of areas are now prohibited for smokers.

This would emphasise the dangers of puffing especially to passive smokers, religious leaders revealed in their Friday sermon yesterday.

Imams said that the nation has widened areas prohibited for smoking. . . .

"We must obey the constructive advice that calls us to refrain from smoking. It's better to be safe than sorry. We should be able to think and differentiate the good from the bad. We should respect others who use the same facility and should not think selfishly only about one's wishes."

Imams added, "There are many matters that can threaten one's life, one of which is cigarette smoking. The health experts too have supported this theory through research.

"Efforts to awaken the public on its dangers have been repeatedly highlighted in the media and Friday sermons, but have sadly fallen on deaf ears," they said.

Cigarette smoking can still be seen everywhere, be it at prohibited places . . .

Ummah should be grateful for such well being and must not be destroyed. Cigarette smoking may not kill one instantly, but the poison could risk one's life. Hence, cigarette smoking resembles a suicide attempt," the religious leaders said.

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Faith United Against Tobacco 

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and leaders from multiple religious denominations have launched a national campaign -- Faith United Against Tobacco -- to mobilize the faith community to support proven solutions to reduce smoking.

Religious leaders have long played a critical role in addressing the nation’s social challenges, especially in protecting children and other vulnerable people. Helping to reduce tobacco use, the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States, is a natural extension of these efforts. The faith community can be a powerful force in protecting our children and reducing the terrible toll of tobacco.

Religious groups participating in this campaign include United Methodist, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, National Council of Churches, Seventh Day Adventists, American Muslim Foundation, Southern Baptist Convention, Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, Church Women United, Church of the Brethren and Islamic Society of North America.

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• Second-Hand Smoke at the Ansonia Prompts Lawsuit 

A dispute over second-hand smoke between neighbors at the Ansonia, a majestic Beaux-Arts building on the Upper West Side, has resulted in litigation and more unwanted attention for the luxurious building.

The Ansonia faced a lawsuit last October from residents who said their home in the edifice -- which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places -- had become infested with "a horrific plague of roaches." The building, which upon its completion in 1904 was well-known as the first air-conditioned hotel in New York, is now becoming equally well-known for the litigiousness of its residents. . . .

[Note to readers: After this early version was published, Mr. Selbin and Ms. Huff gave interviews. A more detailed article by Anemona Hartocollis, the Manhattan court reporter, has been published online and will appear in Saturday print editions. In addition, Mr. Selbin has responded below to reader comments.]

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