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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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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.
[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.”
Eighty-seven harvest seasons later, Varner is done.
And as of Tuesday, so is the system that allowed small farmers to sell the oily, fragrant leaves to the highest bidder, as demand for Virginia's most prominent agricultural product burns down like a slow cigarette ash.
"I enjoyed it. It's done good for me," said Varner, 83, who sold off the last of his crop and is converting his remaining tobacco acres into cattle pasture.
"But it's just a break-even. We're not going to miss it."
Organizers billed the event as the last tobacco auction ever in Farmville, and likely one of the last nationwide.
They say fading consumption, foreign competition, the move toward contract-only growing and the elimination of federal price supports have made such sales obsolete.
Jim Gallant, who gave up smoking completely two years ago, celebrated the occasion by completing a marathon-length (26.24 miles) "Walk-A-Thon" to raise money for the American Lung Association.
The event, which was on Montevideo Middle School's track, was aided by the volunteer help of organizer Jessica Montgomery, a Spotswood senior, and some 50 youth volunteers from Mount Olive Church of the Brethren. . .
"We need this kind of event," said coordinator Montgomery, who had heard about Gallant's effort and called him to volunteer to manage the event.
"We tried to reach all groups, but especially younger ones," she continued. "Smoking starts at an earlier and earlier age, so we have tried to reach kids both in high school and in middle school.
"About 45 percent of high-school age kids smoke," added Montgomery, who was also instrumental in advertising the event among non-church groups.
At the marathon, which started at 8 a.m., Girl Scouts were present with a petition asking kids not to smoke at all, as part of the anti-smoking program sponsored by Girl Scouts.
The 44-hectare (108-acre) state has a population of about 800, but the impact of the new law will also be felt by the 2,000 white-collar administrative workers in the papal palaces.
Nuns are rarely seen to smoke but many monsignors and cardinals are partial to the odd puff and will now have to avail themselves of the picturesque Vatican gardens to indulge their addiction.
Church wags said that the only legal smoke to be found in the Vatican will be that coming from the Sistine Chapel chimney on the election of a new pope.
Effectively, smoking will now be banned indoors throughout the world's smallest state.
The tiny Vatican police force has the power to impose a 30-euro ($30) fine on any offender.
Latin language
Pope John Paul II, a non-smoker, approved the new measure on 4 June.
The smiling Pope, John XXIII, smoked cigars
The law stipulates that "No Smoking" signs should be put up around the Vatican, fuelling speculation that they will be in Latin, the official language of the Catholic Church.
The pope doesn't smoke, but some eminent monsignors have been known to light up.
Tough times are ahead for them as the Vatican is about to end its status as a heaven for smokers.
As of July 1, the Vatican announced Thursday, smoking will be banned in premises open to the public, in offices and in vehicles used by the public. Those caught smoking will be fined 30 euros (nearly dlrs 30).
The law, which was approved by Pope John Paul II, did not specify the places where smoking was banned but presumably they include the Vatican museum, post offices, pharmacy and other locations accessible to the public in the otherwise closed city-state.
While even Italy, which has been lax on enforcement of smoking bans, has begun to crack down, the Vatican has been letting smokers puff away.
Until this year, smoking was permitted aboard the pope's plane when he traveled abroad. While it is now banned, Alitalia still passes out cartons of cigarettes.
Vatican City — "Excuse me, your Eminence, but if you don't put out that cigarette, I will have to slap you with a Papal fine."
That might be the warning a lowly Vatican policeman may have to recite to a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church next week when smoking will be effectively banned indoors in the Vatican.
A law approved by Pope John Paul and made public on Thursday will ban smoking in nearly all closed spaces inside the 43-hectare city-state as of July 1.
Vetatur Fumare"No Smoking," in Vatican City's official language, Latin. Such signs may be posted next week, when an indoor smoking ban goes into effect. Poloz, S.