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Smoking ban forum discusses air filtration 

Air filtration systems to curb second-hand smoke got an airing Monday night.

Bill Hannegan, a major opponent of banning smoking in indoor public places, suggested that air filtration systems could be alternative. He and St. Louis County Councilwoman Barbara Fraser, D-University City, the sponsor of the ban on the Nov. 3 St. Louis County ballot, spoke at a forum of the Clayton Chamber of Commerce.

Effective air filtration systems “produce air cleaner than outdoor air,” Hannegan said. The filtration systems, Fraser said, “get at the issue of smell, but are not effective in eliminating fine particle concentrations and gases.” . . .

Hannegan said second-hand smoke is a significant health concern. He said supporters and opponents could have worked out a compromise on a smoking ban that would both protect the public and not hurt businesses.

Some alternatives could involve air filtration systems and limiting smoking to areas that only would admit people more than 21 years old, Hannegan said.

Fraser said studies and experiences of businesses in Ballwin, which fully implemented a smoking ban in 2006, show that bans help rather than hurt businesses. Hannegan pointed to businesses in Ballwin that suffered since the smoking ban.

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LETTERS: Proposition N:Save jobs, tax dollarsand freedom: Vote No  

The editorial "Their smoke, your health" (Oct. 25), in favor of the St. Louis County smoking ban, did not provide all the reasons why people are opposed to Proposition N, which will be on the Nov. 3 ballot. The ban is unfair, isn't needed and could cause a loss of jobs and tax dollars for St. Louis County.

Perhaps the most obvious reason to oppose the smoking ban is that it needlessly would infringe on the freedom of those who want to enjoy a cigarette in places where smoking is allowed. Any person bothered by such establishments has the freedom to not patronize them.

And modern filtration systems have all but eliminated the dangers of secondhand smoke. . . .

On Nov. 3, St. Louis County voters can save jobs, save tax dollars, save freedom and help many small businesses stay in business by voting "no" on Proposition N.

Bill Hannegan -- St. Louis

Editorial: 'Option 2' best proposition for Waco smoking ordinance  

The Waco City Council is voting on a prospective smoking ordinance on Tuesday. The council will vote on whether to add additional restrictions to the current policies or to ban smoking altogether except in private locations and retail tobacco stores. Through either method, the council hopes to lessen secondhand smoke to non-smokers.

Waco's current smoking ordinance generally forbids smoking at indoor workplaces but allows smoking in bars, small food establishments and small businesses.

While The Lariat supports council's valiant effort to reduce secondhand smoke, passing an ordinance that completely removes the ability to smoke from every place except for homes, tobacco stores and outdoor areas would be too large of a detriment for some businesses.

Those that smoke have every right to patronize the same businesses as non-smokers. Instead of banning smoking altogether, council should take a closer look at what the council is calling "Option 2," an ordinance that is less strict in that it would ban smoking in restaurants and other businesses that do not have separate ventilation for its smoking parties.

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ORR: Respiratory tract infections in Inuit children: "Set thine house in order"  

Lower respiratory tract infection is a major cause of illness and death among the Inuit children of Nunavut. . . .

The search for risk factors for lower respiratory tract infection in Inuit children has taken researchers to the 3 corners of the epidemiologic triangle: environment, host and agent. In this issue of CMAJ, Kovesi and colleagues6 explore the relation between environmental indoor air quality and lower respiratory tract infection in Inuit children. . . .

The prevalence of smokers in the study sample (93.9% of households) and a failure to differentiate the location of smoking (inside or outside the house) precluded any meaningful analysis of this variable as a risk factor for lower respiratory tract infection in the household child. . . .

Well-designed prospective community studies to determine the full spectrum of infectious causes of respiratory tract infection in Inuit children are lacking. With regard to the host, we have an incomplete understanding of genetic markers for susceptibility or resistance to infectious and inflammatory disease among the Inuit. Deficiencies in humoral and cell-mediated host genetic response to infections and to selected vaccines have been identified among the Inuit.4,15

Apparently heeding the admonishment of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah to "Set thine house in order" (Isaiah 38:1), the government of Nunavut developed the Nunavut Ten-Year Inuit Housing Action Plan,9 which calls on the federal government to honour its obligations to the Inuit of Nunavut. The word "thine" should be understood to encompass joint "ownership" of the task on the part of funders, designers, builders and occupants. The word "order" defines an environment that supports and promotes health in its broadest sense. . . .

Key points

* Inuit children experience high rates of illness and death from lower respiratory tract infection

* Overcrowding (due to an undersupply of housing) and inadequate ventilation (because of high occupant density, construction problems and harsh climate) of houses have been identified as associated factors

* Healthy housing in northern communities is required to improve the health and well-being of Inuit children

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• Smokers in Croatia go back in bars as tobacco ban lifted - temporarily 

On April 1, Croatia banned indoors smoking in all public places, and bar owners say the restriction has halved their profits and forced many of them to close. . . .

So the government announced Friday that it will ease the ban, allowing spacious cafes and bars to have separate smoking areas, while smaller ones can decide whether to allow smoking or not.

Smoking places will, however, have to install extensive ventilation systems.

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• Geneva's smoking ban returns after one-year break 

A ban on smoking in public places will return to Switzerland's Geneva canton after being approved in a referendum Sunday, a year after a court ended a first bid to prohibit lighting up.

Geneva's residents voted 81.77 percent in favour of bringing back the ban, with only 18.3 percent voting against.

A canton-wide smoking ban in public places was originally introduced on July 1, 2008, after the state government used a first referendum as grounds for pushing through the move.

But the Federal Tribunal ruled three months later that the ban should not have been passed by the canton's lawmakers before the state's government enacted legislation. . . .

The new rules allow bar, hotel and restaurant owners to fit out special smoking rooms in their establishments . . .

Supporters of the ban are opposed to this compromise, however, and said Sunday they would appeal to the Federal Tribunal.

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• Dutch govt to change smoking law after court defeat 

The Dutch government vowed Friday to change the law to keep bars smoke free after it suffered two successive defeats in court against bar owners challenging a smoking ban.

A cabinet statement said the government would introduce changes to legislation in order to make sure that "a uniform obligation" applied to all.

Dutch bar owners won two victories earlier this year in their fight against a smoking ban on their premises.

Two different courts found that the law, aimed at protecting staff from second-hand smoke inhalation, unfairly discriminated against small, one-man operations . . .

The cabinet said the planned changes would make allowances for the introduction of "innovative air sytstems" if they could be proven effective enough to be an alternative to a dedicated smoking area in small bars.

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Richland kills plan to ease ban on smoking  

Public health advocates turned back an attempt to make an exception to Richland County's smoking ban Tuesday.

"Smoke-free's the new norm," Ian Hamilton, with the S.C. Cancer Alliance, said later.

The Richland County Council undermined Councilman Jim Manning's effort to protect a bingo parlor in his district that invested $300,000 in separate heating and air systems and divided the business in two before the county went smoke-free last year.

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• Shanghai may become China's first city to ban smoking in public places  

Shanghai may become one of the first Chinese cities to ban smoking in public places. A smoking ban is supposed to be implemented in the city by the end of the year. How strict it will be, depends on city lawmakers who are set to discuss a draft that outlines several options which could be adopted.

The draft includes four types of smoking bans: The most strict bans smoking both indoors and outdoors in kindergartens, schools and hospitals and public transportation waiting areas. Venues such as restaurants, gyms, and work places would be required to set up designated smoking areas. While owners of other public venues would be required to adopt their own smoking bans.

Officials say more discussions are needed on how to divide space in restaurants and hotels.

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Council approves smoking ban 

The Jacksonville City Council amended the city's smoking ordinance during its meeting Monday night. The new law, initially proposed by Councilman Mark Jones during a work session on April 28, would prohibit smoking "in all enclosed public places within the city."

Businesses that currently use a ventilation system approved under the previous smoking ordinance, which was passed into law on February 14, 2006, are allowed to continue having smoking areas for 15 years after which time those businesses will have to become smoke-free.

According to Mark Williams, the city building inspector, only two businesses in Jacksonville currently allow smoking by using the ventilation system -- Huddle House and Pelham's Bar.

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Tri-State Racetrack Asks for Exemption from Smoking Ban  

Officials with Tri-State Racetrack and Casino were at the Kanawha-Charleston Health Board meeting Thursday asking for an exemption from the smoking ban. If that doesn't work, officials say they will try to get an exemption by other means.

Dan Adkins, vice-president of the racetrack's parent company, told board members that Tri-State has lost $15 million. He says they track their customers and he can attribute $9 million of the loss to the smoking ban.

Adkins asked board members to consider an exemption. He says they have the capability to create a smoking and a non-smoking section in the casino.

Board President Brenda Isaac says she is not inclined to making an exemption. She says research shows separated ventilation systems do not work and that it would not be fair to other business owners.

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The Fix - What's the Best Way to Clean the Air in a House?  

A. Air researchers talk about the Rule of 1,000: anything released indoors is about 1,000 times more likely to be breathed in than something released outdoors.

"It doesn't take a lot of something released indoors to cause exposure," said Dr. Kirk Smith, a professor of global environmental health at the University of California, Berkeley. "Even in California, which has among the strictest controls on smoking and among the lowest smoking rates in an industrial country, a significant fraction of total pollution exposure is from smoking."

Indoor pollution is, in a word, potent. And our attempts to combat it often make it worse.

"People think incense or candles are beneficial, but of course they're not," Dr. Smith said. "It's just combustion, and the smoke has the same health effects as cigarette smoke . . .

But filter-based cleaners can be effective at removing pollen, dust or smoke, which have larger particles. Dr. Shelly Miller, an air-quality researcher at the University of Colorado, Boulder, said she bought a HEPA (or high-efficiency particulate air) filter-and-fan-based cleaner that helped combat forest-fire smoke at her parents' home in San Bernardino Valley, Calif.

Before buying the unit, which cost about $80, she said, she made sure it had a clean-air delivery rating (or CADR) certification from the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, which measures the amounts of pollen, dust or smoke the model can remove. . . .

In general, Dr. Miller said, she doesn't advocate the use of air cleaners, which she considers the equivalent of using a broom to clean up M & M's spilled on the floor. Or, as Dr. Smith put it: "The best way to not have polluted air is to not have sources of pollution in the house."

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EMAIL OF THE DAY (WEDNESDAY 

I was listening to your show today and wanted to call in, but was unable. I am going to Madison tomorrow to attend the public hearing before the Committee of Health and Healthcare Reform, but was unable to attend today's hearing given such short notice (24hrs and 35min).

I manage Havana Lounge & Cigar in West Allis, WI. We entertain cigar smokers, have $250,000 worth of cigars in our humidor (the average cost per cigar is $9.00), we spent an initial $10,000 in air cleaners and another $8,000/yr maintaining them. We pay approximately $60,000/yr in tobacco and sales tax. . . .

Banning smoking tobacco, a legal product, is just the beginning of government interference in the rights of business owners to run their businesses as they see fit.

The Governor recommends implementing a statewide smoking ban in order to prevent Wisconsin children from starting to smoke and to motivate adult smokers to quit. The ban will prevent thousands of premature deaths from secondhand smoke exposure and improve the overall health of Wisconsin residents. It is estimated that the smoking ban will result in over $1 million in savings to the Medicaid programs during the first 18 months after implementation.

Interestingly enough, R.J. Reynolds paid the state of Wisconsin $1,089,221,006 since 2007. The Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) provided $246 billion . . .

The budget claims that the state spends $2.16 billion in Smoking Attributable Health Care Costs attributable to smoking. Of the $2.16 billion, $573 million is spent on or in the nursing home, yet in the budget, you are permitted to smoke in an assisted living facility. As stated in the budget:

SECTION 2137. 101.123 (3) (i) of the statutes is created to read:

101.123 (3) (i) A room used by only one person in an assisted living facility as his or her residence. . . .

We provide a service to those who wish to smoke. You have a choice whether or not to patronize our lounge. In my opinion, the government does not have the right to take our freedom of choice. My understanding is, the government is: of the people, by the people, for the people! Thank you for your time,

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The Fix - What's the Best Way to Clean the Air in a House?  

Q. What's the best way to clean the air in my home?

A. Air researchers talk about the Rule of 1,000: anything released indoors is about 1,000 times more likely to be breathed in than something released outdoors.

"It doesn't take a lot of something released indoors to cause exposure," said Dr. Kirk Smith, a professor of global environmental health at the University of California, Berkeley. "Even in California, which has among the strictest controls on smoking and among the lowest smoking rates in an industrial country, a significant fraction of total pollution exposure is from smoking."

Indoor pollution is, in a word, potent. . . .

But filter-based cleaners can be effective at removing pollen, dust or smoke, which have larger particles. Dr. Shelly Miller, an air-quality researcher at the University of Colorado, Boulder, said she bought a HEPA (or high-efficiency particulate air) filter-and-fan-based cleaner that helped combat forest-fire smoke at her parents' home in San Bernardino Valley, Calif.

Before buying the unit, which cost about $80, she said, she made sure it had a clean-air delivery rating (or CADR) certification from the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, which measures the amounts of pollen, dust or smoke the model can remove. Some units are better at eliminating one pollutant than another, so the information allows consumers to pick the unit that best suits their needs.

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EDITORIAL: Stub out the butts 

There is every cause to rejoice and not one worthy of lament as we approach the almost certain passage of a statewide ban on public smoking.

Smoking ban opponents are raising the usual ghosts. A ban, worries the Tavern League of Wisconsin, will hurt businesses. A wealth of evidence says otherwise. . . .

It is too bad that there isn't just a bit more flexibility in the bill before the Wisconsin Legislature. It would have been good to allow the creation of separate smoking rooms--not the smoking sections we have now that don't stop the movement of air, but separate rooms with separate ventilation systems. That would allow people to eat and smoke if they wish, and it would maintain smoking as an individual choice.

Indeed, choice has always been at the heart of the smoking ban debate. People may smoke, but no one should be forced to breathe tobacco smoke. Business owners should control what happens on their property, yet they should not be allowed to compromise public health. It is true that people can avoid establishments which allow smoking, but that becomes difficult or impossible when one is traveling, and of course employees can't avoid breathing tobacco smoke at all.

The only lament we have is that the ban took so long to become reality.

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