Tobacco.org

• The FDA's tobacco road 

Tobacco is simply not like the drugs, medical devices and foods the FDA regulates: There are no demonstrable health benefits to tobacco against which the FDA can weigh the risks that go along with its use. In fact, some in Congress argued the FDA has no place in trying to merely limit the damage caused by a product that causes only addiction and harm. By giving its blessing to the sale of some tobacco products and denying others, they argue, the FDA may lead consumers (perhaps those who haven't had contact with the outside world for the last 44 years) to think those products are safe.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the author and champion of the FDA-tobacco bill, acknowledges that this is an unusual role for the FDA. But short of tobacco prohibition -- which, he says, "isn't going to work" -- the FDA is the only agency equipped to limit and reduce the damage that tobacco use does to the nation's health, and stem the recruitment of new smokers among the nation's youth.

"The FDA is the exact agency that should have that authority -- it's a scientific organization with regulatory powers," Waxman said in an interview.

Here are some of the bill's principal provisions, and the FDA's plans for carrying out its new mandate. . . .

Another of the FDA's most intriguing new powers is the right to demand of tobacco companies details of research they have conducted on the contents and health effects of existing and future products --and, potentially, to release those findings to the public.

That is likely to bring American consumers further details about the estimated 60 carcinogens and 4,000 toxic substances found in tobacco products or created when they're smoked.

It is also likely to bring to light tobacco-sponsored marketing and scientific research on smokers' motivations and behavior, and their propensity to addiction, and what ingredients or advertising messages can enhance that propensity.

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Queens Woman Who Punched Plane Staffer Gets Probation 

A federal judge on Friday called a woman who punched a flight attendant earlier this year a ``mean drunk,'' but he spared her from prison in a separate assault case.

U.S. District Judge John Kane in Denver gave 36-year-old Christina Elizabeth Szele credit for four months of time served and placed her on three years of supervised probation for a charge in March in which she allegedly punched her sister-in-law and pulled her hair in her hometown of Queens, N.Y.

Szele had pleaded guilty in February to interfering with a JetBlue crew member who tried to stop her from smoking on a flight from New York to San Francisco last year. She was on probation at the time of the March incident in Queens.

Szele pleaded guilty to violating her probation by drinking.

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Smoking Ban Not All Bad, Bar Owner Says 

A year after Iowa's statewide smoking ban took effect, one bar owner who worried the ban would sink his business has changed his tune.

Last year, Blues on Grand's Jeff Wagner marked the final hours of smoking by handing out free smokes. His bar had waitresses dressed as communists, offering a tongue-in-cheek resistance to the government intervention.

"I have to go into this optimistic," Wagner said at the time. "I love this place."

He said he was worried that the smoking ban would essentially ban smokers. He said that after a year, it hasn't happened.

"The number of people coming in here is the same," he said. "There are obvious positive changes. It smells better in here. I don't have to clean my smoke eaters as often."

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• Last-minute reprieve for offices ahead of Greek smoking ban 

Greece's health minister Friday announced last- minute exemptions for some offices and casinos, ahead of a public smoking ban to due come into force next week. The Greeks are considered one of the last bastions of smoking in the EU, and the proposed ban has already run into considerable opposition.

Initially, minister Dimitris Avramopoulos had said authorities will enforce without exception smoking restrictions in public places, including offices, restaurants and bars as of July 1.

But with less than a week to go Avramopoulos announced eleventh- hour exceptions regarding offices and casinos.

All offices employing more than 50 people will have the right to maintain designated smoking rooms.

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Group turns in petitions to get smoking ban on ballot in Kirkwood  

A group that wants the city to ban smoking in indoor public places on Friday gave officials petitions that would start an initiative process that could put the proposal on the ballot.

The petitions contain 1,258 signatures, said Mary Murphy-Overmann, president of Healthy Air for Kirkwood, sponsor of the initiative. Anti-smoking supporters needed 1,036 signatures to start the initiative process.

The petitions went to the St. Louis County Election Board for a check of the validity of signatures.

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Smoking ordinance not on Seneca’s radar  

While multiple municipalities in Pickens County have garnered praise from state health officials for their citywide no-smoking ordinances in businesses and restaurants, there appears to be little concern about pursuing similar laws in Seneca.

“Unfortunately that’s one of those things you really do get a lot of mixed emotions on,” Mayor Pro Tem Ronnie O’Kelley said. “I know there are some who would love for us to do it.”

O’Kelley added that many restaurants and businesses in Seneca already prohibit smoking on their own accord. O’Kelley added, however, that he had concerns about a city government restricting personal choices.

“I don’t smoke, so of course I don’t like it,” O’Kelley said. “But you’ve also got to have some personal freedoms. I don’t want to make smokers in Seneca second-hand citizens.”

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• Hookah lounges serve up culture, controversy  

Sky is apparently the first hookah lounge in Fairfield County and one of two in the region that opened this month. Trying to brew a new, culturally diverse pastime, the lounges unintentionally stoked up controversy and confusion among local and state officials who are mulling where they fit in with the state ban on smoking in public places.

The confusion is evident in the reactions of Fairfield and Milford's health departments -- both of which initially told the lounges not to serve food or alcohol on the premises but didn't bar them from opening. Fairfield approved the opening after an inspection.

Milford's department forced The Olive Tree Hookah Lounge to close June 19, about two weeks after it opened in a small shopping plaza on Bridgeport Avenue, citing state law and city ordinance.

However, the department rescinded that order on Friday, following an appeal by Olive Tree owner Sammer Karout and his attorney. . . .

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said his office wasn't consulted regarding the lounges and he'd been unaware of them until contacted by a reporter last week.

They seem "problematic" under state law, but he'd need to know all the details to know whether they're within legal boundaries, he said, adding that the smoking ban is typically enforced by local police.

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Health dept. closes hookah lounge again  

"Inspection of the operation not only confirms but deepens our concerns about health hazards posed by the practice of hookah smoking," Dr. A. Dennis McBride, City of Milford Health Director, said in a news release.

Olive Tree Hookah Lounge, located at 2007 Bridgeport Avenue, was closed for the first time June 25, 2009 after the health department rescinded its June 19, 1009 closure. Both closures state concerns about the public health hazards posed by hookah smoking.

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WINICKOFF: My Turn: Ban Smoking in Public Housing  

Ten years ago, I was the doctor for an 18-year-old with cystic fibrosis whose mother was a heavy smoker. The patient told me how she coughed, wheezed, and choked when she was at home. I became close with her; it seemed she was always in the hospital, and I couldn't help but think it was because she wanted to escape a toxic environment. Three years later, at 21, she died—more than 14 years before a person with cystic fibrosis could be expected to live at that time.

She is not the only young patient of mine to feel the effects of secondhand smoke. More must be done to address this suffering. . . .

change can't come fast enough for children from lower income levels, where rates of exposure to secondhand smoke are especially high—not surprising, given that poor adults smoke at higher rates. Children in densely populated public housing suffer the worst.

That's ironic, since these smoke-filled environments are subsidized by the same government that spends billions of dollars on secondhand-smoke-related disease. . . .

Some people argue that smoke-free regulation weighs against our longstanding cultural values surrounding privacy and protecting the sanctity of our homes. These values are important. But when considering them against the health of a child who has never smoked but is suffering from tobacco exposure in his own building, the choice is clear to me.

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EDITORIAL: There's a reason why Big Tobacco helped write this legislation 

Purportedly, banning flavored tobacco products will reduce youth smoking rates, because teenagers love candy.

To that end, we're going to offer two hypotheticals that we think our lawmakers failed to consider when signing this noble legislation. ("We voted against Big Tobacco! Hurray!"). . . .

Todd: "Well, I just don't know, Jack. I really don't want to get hooked."

Jack: "But the FDA reduced nicotine levels in cigarettes. Plus, look at the cool skull and crossbones on the package. It's a really relevant design for rebellious youth like us. It's like the FDA wants us to start smoking now! Besides, like you said, you only smoke when you drink..."

Todd: "Okay, just this one time won't hurt."

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Like Obama, some Craven County leaders struggled to stop smoking  

The new law particularly aims to curb smoking's appeal to children. It allows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reduce the amount of nicotine in tobacco products, ban candy flavorings that appeal to children and block labels such "low tar" and "light." And while the law doesn't ban nicotine outright, it does allow the FDA to regulate what goes into tobacco products, and to prohibit marketing campaigns aimed at children.

Obama called the regulation "a law that will save American lives." And yet, Obama has said he still battles the urge to light up.

Many of the leaders in New Bern and Craven County say they have fought the same battle, but today they are smoke-free. A few others said that even though they live in a state where tobacco is a top crop, they have never wanted to take a drag.

'It seemed like the thing to do ...'

Mayor Tom Bayliss, who grew up on a tobacco farm, is pretty sure the urge to smoke was somewhere in his blood.

He can remember riding in his family's 1955 Bel-Air Chevrolet, windows rolled up to block the rain, while his parents smoked Lucky Strikes.

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Hookah lounge reopens without permits 

After being shut down last week for potential health hazards, the Olive Tree Hookah Lounge reopened Friday night, without permission from the Health Department or permits to operate as a private club.

Owner Sammer Karout is appealing the Health Department's order to cease operation of his lounge, the future of which may be in jeopardy, pending inspections from health authorities and approvals from the Planning and Zoning Department.

"He shouldn't be open right now," City Planner David Sulkis said.

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Council to consider smoking ban  

But in a few months, Betancourt's smoking customers might have to eat their lunch outside -- if the city council passes an ordinance banning smoking in all public places.

On Thursday, Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas told fellow council members she wanted them to consider adopting the smoking ban at their July 9 meeting. No one objected.

Although Betancourt was one of the island business owners who fought attempts to get the ban adopted in 2006, he won't be fighting it this time.

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Eliminating tobacco use elminates tax revenue 

Health experts want to eliminate tobacco use within 40 years.

If people don't buy cigarettes, that means less revenue for the state and federal governments. Dr. Michael Fiore, Director of the UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, says that's not a problem. He says when people give up their smokes, the high cost of tobacco-related health care will disappear, as will the high cost of lost productivity.

"Nationwide, more than $200-billion is spent every year in additional medical costs and lost productivity costs from smoking. In our own state it's now approaching $3-billion a year."

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CIGAR SURPRISE  

HARRISON Ford got pulled into a wacky publicity stunt the other day when two hotties in black tank tops, shorts and high-heels sneaked past security on the set of his movie, "Morning Glory," at 43rd Street and Sixth Avenue. "He was in between takes with Rachel McAdams when these girls came right out of the blue to present him with a $750 Gurkha cigar," a spy told us. "He got a big kick out of it and thanked them." Turns out the generous cuties were promoting a service called delivery.com.

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