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Beijing to enact extended smoking ban in May 

Beijing will enact a new citywide public smoking ban on May 1, in a push for a smoke-free city during the Summer Olympics this August.

The new regulation extends the smoking ban to more public venues and indoor areas in medical facilities, elementary, secondary and primary schools, museums, business halls, public transportation, cultural heritage sites, and sports venues and fitness centers, China News Service reported Thursday.

"Banning public smoking is in line with international conventions, and fulfills our promise of a smoke-free Olympics," Sun Xianli, vice director of the Beijing Committee of Patriotic Public Health Campaign, was quoted as saying. "We have intensified smoking control in public areas as part of pledge to host a Green Olympics, Scientific Olympics and Humanitarian Olympics."

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Minorities get less help quitting smoking 

African-Americans and Hispanics are less likely than whites to receive help in quitting smoking, the American Cancer Society says.

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, also found men and those lacking a usual source of medical care were less likely to receive advice to quit smoking.

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• Smoking ban fight begins 

CLINTON -- Local bar owners are joining with bar owners from across the state to file an injunction against the statewide smoking ban.

An injunction informational meeting hosted by the Clinton Organized Bar and Restaurant Association was held Thursday night at The Odeon in Lyons to explain how local bar owners can be proactive in fighting the smoking ban, which goes into effect July 1. The meeting was attended by bar owners from all over Iowa, some driving several hours to attend and show their support.

COBRA President Jon Van Roekel said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the objectives of pooling resources to form a central organization, raising money to hire the "best constitutional attorney" in the state to represent every Iowa bar owner by garnering at least $200 from each bar and file an injunction in time to stop the state from enforcing the smoking ban.

"I ask you, is $200 from your establishment worth your rights?" Van Roekel said.

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Alliance One to give ex-CFO $308,000, benefits - Triangle Business Journal: 

The ousted chief financial officer of tobacco distributor Alliance One International will receive a $308,000 severance payment and other benefits.

Morrisville-based Alliance One (NYSE: AOI) says in a filing that James Cooley will get health benefits through March 2009 in addition to his severance.

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"Last Word"-Up in Smoke 

GHARIB: And finally tonight, smoking could be hazardous to your job. A Whirlpool factory in Indiana has suspended 39 workers without pay for lying about whether they smoke. . . .

And Paul, Federal law lets an employer charge more for insurance premiums because of unhealthy habits, but it doesn't say what to do if a worker lies about it.

KANGAS: Lying is a bad habit too. So they ought to jack those premiums still higher.

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Program aims to boost smokers' efforts to quit 

Smokers in Aiken County looking to kick the habit but needing an extra push will now have access to a free program.

The Aiken Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Services held a training session Thursday morning for the American Cancer Society's Freshstart -- a four-session program designed to help people stop smoking.

"There wasn't a smoking-cessation program free of charge in Aiken County," said Michael Brazier, of the American Cancer Society. "We felt there needed to be one in this area to help people stop smoking."

Alphia Dunbar, of the Aiken Center, said they teamed up with the cancer society to invite people from other agencies and businesses to become facilitators in the hopes of starting smoking cessation programs across the area.

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Smoking Ban Pushing Pool Players Out Of KC  

A big part of Kansas City's bar culture may soon go up in smoke.

Some pool players are looking for pool tables in other places because of the city's new smoking ordinance, which will ban smoking at bars and restaurants.

Rob Blair, co-owner of the Peppermill Bar and Grill in south Kansas City, said the smoking ban will kill a major part of his business -- pool leagues.

"It's huge. It's what this bar is built on. We're not a pool hall, we're a neighborhood bar and grill, but our pool tables are our biggest draw," Blair told KMBC's Jere Gish.

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PRUCHA: Smoking habits 

Although I feel like I’ve answered Anna’s question appropriately, given the moment, I wonder how long it will be before questions about smoking come up again. As we traipse through the city on our way home, we pass several smokers and I note that Anna is at eye level with a cigarette butt held when walking.

Several years ago when I taught English to 8-year-old Michal, he always made a show of pointing, making loud coughing sounds and exclamatory cries of “How disgusting!” in English whenever we encountered someone with a cigarette. While I was embarrassed by the fervor of Michal’s reactions, I had no idea how my feelings would change once I became a mother myself. . . .

According to a recent survey, most Czechs (59%) are in favor of a ban on smoking in restaurants, although a much smaller number (39%) would support smoke-free environments in bars and cafes. However, despite several recent attempts, the Czech Parliament has yet to muster enough votes to pass a smoking ban. One of the strongest opponents is the current Czech President, V�clav Klaus. In spite of being a non-smoker himself, Klaus has repeatedly thrown his weight against the proposed smoking ban in restaurants, sighting it as on infringement on a citizen’s privacy and refusing to acknowledge the harm of second-hand smoke. Although Klaus’s behavior has certainly made passing the legislation much more difficult, the trend in other European countries like Italy and Ireland, and some larger cities including Paris and Berlin, is decidedly anti-smoking and I hope, sooner rather than later, the Czech Republic will join the “in-crowd” of EU member states with smoking regulations.

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• Will our casinos keep smoking? 

Observers of the gambling industry said casinos in the mid-Atlantic region increasingly are going smoke-free. New Jersey joins Delaware, which banned smoking at casinos in 2002.

Some Midwestern states, such as Illinois and Colorado, also have banned smoking in gambling parlors.

Atlantic City's ban likely will make it easier for lawmakers to ban smoking at Pennsylvania's casinos, said Clyde Barrow, director of the Center for Public Analysis at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

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• U.S. Cancer Prevention Stalling? 

Some important U.S. cancer-prevention trends -- such as less smoking and more mammograms -- have stalled, the American Cancer Society warns.

Cancer deaths are down because of huge gains made over more than a decade of cancer-prevention efforts. Far fewer Americans smoke, far more get regular cancer screening, and lots more of us use sunscreen when we're outside. The result: Fewer U.S. cancer deaths.

We may have started taking these annual gains for granted, suggests Vilma Cokkinides, PhD, the American Cancer Society's�strategic director for risk factor surveillance. Cokkinides is co-author of the American Cancer Society�report, Cancer Prevention & Early Detection Facts and Figures 2008.

"These trends have been very favorable in the past, saving a lot of lives," Cokkinides tells WebMD. "It is concerning we are stalling. We want to see further improvements so we can save more lives." . . .

* Smoking rates for adults and teens dropped from 1997 to 2003. But they haven't gone down since then -- and 21% of adults and 23% of teens still smoke.

* For every dollar states spend on tobacco-control programs, the tobacco industry spends $24.

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MCKEON: WITH SMOKING BAN IN CASINOS, NEW JERSEY FINALLY KICKS THE HABIT  

Assemblyman John F. McKeon, co-sponsor of� the New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act, today welcomed the Atlantic City Council's passage of an ordinance that will ban smoking in casinos as of October 15.

Gaming areas in Atlantic City's eleven casinos were exempt from the statewide ban on smoking in workplaces and indoor public places that took effect in 2006. The city council unanimously voted last� night to ban smoking on casino floors.

McKeon made the following statement:

"Come October, New Jersey will finally kick the habit and close the last loophole that kept our smoking ban from truly being state-wide.

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Shia LaBeouf Smoking Charges Dropped 

Shia LaBeouf will no longer face prosecution over a charge of unlawful smoking as Los Angeles authorities dropped the misdemeanour count on Thursday.

The Transformers star was cited for lighting up in a non-smoking shopping area in February. . . .

Did Shia get off lightly? Do you think celebrities who disobey the law should be made an example off? Be sure to leave your comments below?

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• Underground sales rise as plastic bags with illicit tobacco trucked across Canada 

The tiny convenience store, set amidst the dive bars and seedy hotels in Winnipeg's tough north end, is just one of thousands of final destinations on Canada's burgeoning underground railroad for illicit tobacco.

An RCMP website says that officers seized 618,077 cartons of cigarettes across the country last year - an all-time record, and five times the amount seized in 2004.

Police say most of the contraband comes through the Akwesasne reserve that straddles the borders between the United States, Ontario and Quebec. It then streams up and down the Trans-Canada Highway in a steady, relentless flow of trucks, vans and cars.

"When I arrived here in 2001, there was just one manufacturer set up on the American portion of the Akwesasne Mohawk territory, and now there are over a dozen of these tobacco factories, and they are run by organized crime groups," said Sgt. Michael Harvey of the Central St. Lawrence Valley RCMP detachment based in Cornwall, Ont.

Using cheap loose tobacco from states such as North Carolina, the factories manufacture plain, unmarked cigarettes and divide them into plastic bags of 200, police say.

The "baggies," as they are often called in the underground trade, have sold like hotcakes for years in Ontario and Quebec . . .

Smuggling has become so big that RCMP detachments along the Trans-Canada Highway in eastern Ontario pull over transport trucks filled with contraband tobacco on an almost daily basis. . . .

The Mounties and the U.S. Coast Guard have sworn in some of each other's officers, allowing them to chase smugglers across the border.

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Alcohol, tobacco use falls: report 

The use of tobacco, alcohol and illegal drugs has fallen, but the attitudes of teenagers towards alcohol remain worrying, according to a new report.

The 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, undertaken by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), shows tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs use all fell between 2004 and 2007.

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J Sainsbury "Totally Immune" To OFT Tobacco Probe Fines 

J Sainsbury PLC (JSAIY) said Friday it will have total immunity from any fines imposed by the Office Of Fair Trading at the conclusion of its investigation into tobacco price fixing in the U.K.

The OFT said earlier Friday it is investigating possible price fixing by two tobacco manufacturers and 11 retailers over tobacco products in the U.K.

The U.K.'s third-largest supermarket group said Thursday it had cooperated fully with the OFT on the matter since 2003, "and, as a result, can expect total immunity from any potential resulting fines in the event the OFT concludes there has been an infringement."

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