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Briefs 3-Final touchline cigarette beckons for coach La Volpe  

Soccer - Former Mexico coach Ricardo La Volpe, one of the few coaches who still smokes on the touchline, will have to curb his habit next season.

The Mexican Football Federation has announced a smoking ban on and around the pitch and "technical areas" in stadiums which will take effect from the 2008/09 season. Argentine La Volpe has inspired a revival at Monterrey since taking charge in January.

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• Cientos de mexicanos recurren la 'ley antitabaco' de la capital 

Hundreds of Mexican today resorted the law that it prohibits to the past smoke in spaces public in the Federal District from 3 of April, by initiative of a group of legislators of the local congress of the capital of Mexico.

The deputy of Partido Socialdemócrata (PSD) Enrique Perez Correa, promoter of the initiative, said to Efe that the resources signed by the citizens will today get to add the thousand.

Sources of the PSD said to Efe that from the noon the plaintiffs go in groups of ten people to the courts of the administrative thing of the DF, in the south of the Mexican capital, to present/display the shelter resources.

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México: Interponen amparos contra ley antitabaco 

Advised by local legislators, more than 1,000 people they interposed shelters against a law antitobacco of the city of Mexico that it prohibits to smoke in any closed public space. (Publicity)

The local deputy Jorge Carlos Diaz, into the minority Social-Democratic Party, informed Monday that already prepares 3,000 shelters more than they will be presented/displayed before the 3 of May, when the term of a month is fulfilled to oppose the norm.

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Officer, someone is smoking! Mexico implements anti-smoking law  

"Officer! Officer! Someone is smoking on the table next to mine!" Starting Thursday, such messages started arriving on Mexico City's 066 emergency phone line, after a restrictive anti-smoking law entered into force.

The controversial legislation says that restaurants, bars, offices, hotels, universities and any other closed public spaces will have to be 100 percent smoke-free.

No separations between smokers and non-smokers will be allowed, and smoking will only be permitted in patios or open-air terraces, that is, in very few of the 35,000 such public establishments around the city.

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墨西哥开始实施《不吸烟者健康保护法》 

墨西哥首都墨西哥城３日起正式实施《不吸烟者健康保护法》，禁止在餐馆、酒吧、商店、地铁、办公室和医院等封闭的公共场所吸烟，让不吸烟者告别“二手烟”。

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Mexico City Gears Up for Smoking Ban 

A law banning smoking in virtually all public spaces in Mexico City -- exceptions include parks, soccer stadiums and outdoor seating areas -- goes into effect Thursday.

The owners of restaurant and bars, which can be fined or even closed if they ignore smoking in prohibited areas, are bristling at the regulations.

Daniel Loeza, vice president of the National Chamber of the Restaurant and Food Industry, said business owners do not want to police their clients.

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• Polluted Mexico City bans smoking 

Mexico City on Thursday banned cigarette smoking in all public places, from bars to office buildings, to reduce the amount of carcinogens inhaled by residents of the smog-filled capital.

The city, home to some 18 million people in the metropolitan area, is the latest large city around the world to pass a smoking ban to improve public health and protect nonsmokers from secondary smoke.

But not all Mexicans are happy about the prospect of smoke-free cantinas where tequila and cigarettes are traditionally enjoyed hand-in-hand.

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Smoggy Mexico City imposes smoking restrictions 

MEXICO CITY--In one of the world's smoggiest cities, the air will soon be clear -- at least inside. A law banning smoking in virtually all public spaces in Mexico City -- exceptions include parks, soccer stadiums and outdoor seating areas -- goes into effect Thursday.

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EDITORIAL: International tobacco control should repudiate Jekyll and Hyde health philanthropy 

So what should global tobacco control workers make of the world’s richest man,1 Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helú, pouring rivers of money into health, education and poverty charities in Latin America? . . .

Slim’s efforts to improve the health of Latin Americans while continuing to profit from tobacco sales is nothing but the latest episode in Jekyll and Hyde duplicity. His continuing "active partnership" with Philip Morris invites consideration of what advice he might be giving them. What will he suggest about compensating the families of tens of thousands of Mexican smokers who died early from smoking Cigatam products? What will he advise that Philip Morris do with their earnings from underage smokers each year? Will he urge that Mexico move all retailed tobacco under the counter as happens in Thailand, significantly raise tobacco tax and be the first nation to introduce plain packaging? Will he fund mass reach, effective graphic campaigns known to reduce sales or support PM’s tepid, feel-good and ineffectual youth smoking prevention campaigns?5

There is now a conga line of health and poverty relief agencies and researchers applauding Slim’s philanthropy and hoping to get in on the action. Business philanthropy is to be applauded but when a philanthropist’s day job is a major contributor to the death and disease that his generosity in part seeks to redress, it is time for all self-respecting agencies to make a stand and refuse to have anything to do with it.

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墨西哥绝大部分封闭公共场所将实现“无烟化” 

墨西哥参议院和首都墨西哥城议会日前分别通过了《禁烟法》修改法案，扩大禁烟范围，使墨西哥的餐馆和办公室等绝大部分封闭公共场所都将实现“无烟化”。

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Puebla Targets Smokers: Anti-tobacco Law to be Adapted  

The Health Commission of the LVII Legislature will begin working next week to homologate the Anti-tobacco law approved by the Congress of the Union to the existing law in Puebla, pointed out this commission’s president Mario Méndez Reyes. He revealed that at a national level 4 million people are affected by breathing problems as a consequence of smoking. In the sate, there are 90 thousand people in this situation, which is why smoking is considered a public health issue.

He admitted that there are no major modifications with respect to the anti-tobacco law that exists in Puebla; however, they are paying special attention to avoid violating the first article of the constitution, regarding constitutional guarantees.

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Mexico City's smoking ban draws praise, and fire  

"It's going to force me to stop," said Hernandez, a student at an elite university in southern Mexico City. "It's not worth it to be out someplace and then have to leave in order to smoke."

Mexico City's legislative assembly on Tuesday passed a smoking ban for public places as draconian as any in the world. Once the ban is implemented, as early as next month, smoking will be banned completely from any public space -- including offices, malls, restaurants and bars.

Also Tuesday, Mexico's Senate followed the lead of the lower house of congress in approving a nationwide, if less severe, ban on public smoking. The federal law would require designated smoking areas for most public spaces and force restaurants and bars to provide separate walled off rooms for smokers. The law imposes fines of up to $40,000 and even jail time for violators.

Mexico, where an estimated 16 million to 18 million people smoke and some 53,000 die each year from tobacco-related diseases, may be about to go cold turkey.

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• Two laws target smokers in Mexico City  

Smokers and restaurateurs and other business owners in Mexico City on Wednesday were debating the ramifications of not one but two groundbreaking laws seeking to curb smoking. Some were scratching their heads over which they would have to obey, and many others expressed skepticism that either would be effectively enforced.

"I'm sure that neither . . . is going to succeed," said Andres Romero Olivares, a 47-year-old accountant, who saw the restrictions as the wrong solution to the nation's health woes.

On Tuesday, the Mexican Senate passed nationwide restrictions on smoking in workplaces, restaurants, bars and other public enclosures, requiring stiff fines for violations and possible 36-hour jail stints for smokers who refuse to comply. That measure, already passed by Congress' lower house, is expected to be signed into law by President Felipe Calderon.

The same day, Mexico City's legislative assembly approved even tougher rules for the capital that would ban indoor smoking in public places. The law tightened restrictions passed last fall, which had allowed bars and restaurants to set aside sections for smokers. . . .

The local measure goes further than the national rules by requiring smoke-free workplaces, restaurants, bars and other indoor public places. Smoking will be allowed only on open-air terraces or in other outdoor areas.

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Mexico City’s New Smoke-Free Law Sets Example for Latin America and World (Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids) 

Setting important examples for Latin America and the world, both the Mexico City legislature and the national Mexican legislature today have taken significant action to reduce tobacco use and its devastating toll.

Mexico City’s Federal District Legislative Assembly (ALDF) has approved historic legislation requiring that all indoor workplaces and public places, including restaurants and bars, be 100 percent smoke-free. The Mexico City legislation is a major step forward in protecting the health of the city’s 15 million residents and workers and adds momentum to the growing, global smoke-free movement. We hope that Mexico City, as one of the world’s largest cities, will serve as a catalyst for similar smoke-free action throughout Latin America and around the world.

In Latin America, Mexico City joins Uruguay, Panama (new law to be implemented April 2008), and three Argentinean provinces in having comprehensive smoke-free laws. Brazil is expected to consider such legislation later this year.

Worldwide, France, Thailand, Turkey, and 11 German states have already adopted or implemented smoke-free laws in 2008. Other countries that have previously implemented strong smoke-free laws include: Bermuda, Bhutan, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Eleven of 13 Canadian provinces, seven of eight Australian states, and 23 of 50 U.S. states (along with the District of Columbia) have also adopted such laws.

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Duro efecto de ley antitabaco en miles de campesinos: el Senado [Hard effect of law antitobacco in thousands of farmers: the Senate] 

Senate demanded to government federal program integral of reconversion productive to support to producers of tobacco, who will be affected with the legislation that she prohibits to smoke in closed spaces, which will vow the next week in the plenary session.

PRI, BREAD and PRD warned that this law will affect the income of thousand of families dedicated to the tobacco production in Nayarit, Veracruz and Chiapas, reason why is indispensable that promote alternative projects.

Similarly, they demanded that the government fulfills the Agreement Frame of the World-wide Organization of the Health (the WHO) for the Control of the Tobacco, with regard to the workers of this economic activity.

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