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• Oklahoma activists target smoking loopholes  

Anti-smoking proponents say they will push once again for legislation to close loopholes in state law that permit smoking in some bars and restaurants.

The intent is to protect workers from the health effects of secondhand smoke, representatives of the American Heart Association and the state Health Department said.

On Thursday proponents said they would seek legislation similar to a bill that died in the Oklahoma House this year.

The bill would remove exemptions to anti-smoking legislation approved in 2003. The exemptions allow smoking in stand-alone bars and in separately-ventilated smoking rooms in restaurants. . . .

Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and disease, said Dr. Alan Blum, a family medicine professor at the University of Alabama and director of the Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society.

Blum said restaurant groups that oppose bans are influenced by tobacco companies that want to protect their profits.

"Basically, it's about health over money," Blum said.

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Foes to target smoking loopholes 

Anti-smoking proponents say they will try again to pass legislation that closes loopholes in state law that allow smoking in some bars and restaurants.

The intent is to protect workers from the health effects of secondhand smoke, representatives of the American Heart Association and the state Health Department said. On Thursday, they said they would seek legislation similar to a bill that died in the Oklahoma House this year.

The bill would remove exemptions to anti-smoking legislation approved in 2003. The exemptions allow smoking in stand-alone bars and in separately-ventilated smoking rooms in restaurants.

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Ballard Weighs In On Smoking Ban Debate 

ust days after a controversial comprehensive smoking ban was voted down in the City-County Council, Mayor Greg Ballard weighed in on why he didn't actively support the ban.

When he ran for office, Ballard said he would support a smoking ban, but reports from some media outlets accused him of convincing the council to vote against the ordinance.

Ballard said Thursday that he didn't influence anyone, but that his support for the ban waned as he considered who would have been affected.

"I've been pretty clear that I'm never going to tell an Iwo Jima vet that he can't smoke in the VFW. You can take that for what it's worth," Ballard said. "I think there's something out there, but I wish they would concentrate on the health and stop demonizing everyone."

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Ridding City Of Butts  

While ordinances and state laws have kept public places free of smoke, it has increased the amount of cigarette litter on the street.

This month Keep Sidney Beautiful kicked off its Cigarette Litter Prevention Program to help fix that problem. The program is designed to help educate the public about properly disposing of cigarette butts. These strategically-placed ash trays serve as a reminder that partially-smoked cigarettes, matches and packaging all classify as litter.

Grant funding was used to purchase 11 ash receptacles to be placed in the downtown district.

Keep America Beautiful awarded Keep Sidney Beautiful $1,500 to purchase these receptacles.

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Smoking ban battle hits hurdle 

Chris Carter, of the Smokers Rights Movement UK-Ireland, has been fighting the ban for two years after he became the first person in north Down to be issued with a penalty ticket for smoking in a public place.

Mr Carter, 57, a former security employee, from Dufferin Avenue, Bangor, wants Judge Grant to state the legal reasons for dismissing his appeal against a �250 fine.

But in the Appeal Court in Belfast today Mr Carter, who is conducting his own case, was told that the court had not the power to compel Judge Grant to state his reasons in writing.

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31st Street neighbors wary of hookah bar 

Although thoughts about a potential hookah lounge on 31st Street are mixed, most of the neighbors are of a single mind: They don't want it.

On Oct. 22, news of the plans to open Braison's Hookah Lounge at 143 S. 30th St. became public when owners Brandon Bowman and Adam Gregg had to go before the Newark Zoning Board of Appeals to ensure the lounge would be allowed in the medium intensity business zoning district. The lounge was expected to open today.

The board approved the establishment, but neighbors say the story in The Advocate was the first they heard of the plans.

"My main concern is that they passed it without anybody's input that lives there," resident Todd Thomas said.

Residents fear the hours and products might make the lounge comparable to a bar.

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MT smoke-free law having effects in Great Falls 

It was almost a month ago Montana went smoke free as on October 1st, smoking was no longer allowed in bars and casinos.

They were the last businesses in Montana to go smoke free after a law was enacted in 2005 and they spent months getting ready to go smoke-free.

Some businesses have seen their worst fears have come true. The bartender is still pouring drinks at 'That Bar' in Great Falls, but Kelly Dunn says there are few customers to serve."

"Normally by this time of day, I've got probably ten to 12 people lined up at this bar and right now as it stands I have two in here."

Customers aren't staying as long or drinking as much and Dunn added that the regulars would rather drink at home than deal with smoking in the cold."

"My biggest fear was losing a lot of our regular customers and by the looks of it that's happening...And it's sad because we had a lot of good times in this bar." . . .

But Brick Sports bartender Michelle Gravlin has a different story to tell. "It's gone fine. We haven't had any big changes."

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BITIKOFER: Tobacco On Tuesday 

I have not made a study of studies, but it stands to reason that frequency and intensity of exposure come into play - and I have rarely seen those cited. The danger from second-hand smoke and a host of other things we ingest is relative to exposure.

Passionate proponents would have us believe that a passing whiff of cigarette smoke endangers lives. Passionate opponents would have us believe that bar and restaurant business will evaporate like smoke if patrons can't light up.

There has long been a national movement toward smoke-free public environments that will be nearly complete when all bar and restaurant smoking is forbidden. That is the direction of the public tide. It is unlikely that will reverse anytime soon. But the question is raised about how much freedom of living we are willing to trade for ridding our lives of risk - or more specifically, ridding the lives of our neighbors of risk whether or not they choose healthier lifestyles. . . .

So go to the polls on Tuesday. Voter turnout is predicted to be light. Your vote can make a difference. You can choose restriction or you can vote for freedom of the marketplace. It is your choice. And we will all learn to accept the outcome, however it falls. Won't we?

Or will we take one modicum of successful control and find new targets?

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• Cumbria | Ice cream man in cigarette scam 

A man from Cumbria has admitted selling counterfeit cigarettes to a child from his ice cream van.

Anthony Wharton, 61, of Marsden Street, Barrow was caught by trading standards officers who found him selling cigarettes to a 16-year-old.

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IUS smoking ban draws small protest  

A protest Thursday by a handful of students against Indiana University Southeast's tobacco-free policy resulted in four students receiving referrals after they refused to put out their lit cigarettes at the request of school officials.

School spokeswoman Jenny Johnson Wolf said the students were referred to the vice chancellor for possible disciplinary action.

"We're glad to see the students taking an active role, but we have to enforce policy," she said.

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It’s no smoke: IU Southeast students protest smoking ban 

A small group of students at Indiana University Southeast protested the university's tobacco-free policy by lighting cigarettes and smoking on campus Thursday afternoon.

Three students received referrals after campus police asked them to put out their cigarettes and they refused, but the protest remained peaceful. Another half dozen students joined in the protest or carried signs but chose not to smoke.

Ian Girdley, a sophomore English and journalism major, organized what he called the "act of civil disobedience."

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Fire victim may have been smoking in bed 

A 64-year-old man died yesterday morning in an apartment fire that Prairie Township firefighters suspect was triggered by smoking in bed.

Roger Robertson apparently was overcome by smoke as he tried to escape the bedroom of his second-floor apartment at 5311 W. Broad St., Fire Chief Steve Feustel said. The building is located in what was once the village of New Rome.

Franklin County Coroner Jan Gorniak listed smoke inhalation as the preliminary cause of death after an autopsy yesterday.

Firefighters who responded to a 911 call at 4:05 a.m. found Robertson's body just outside the bedroom.

"The fire started in the bed," Feustel said. "It appears he collapsed as he was leaving the bedroom."

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Smoking predicts suicidality in BD patients 

Current cigarette smoking is a predictor for current and 9-month suicidal ideation and behavior in bipolar disorder (BD) patients, suggest US study results.

Studies have shown that BD patients are four times as likely to have nicotine dependence than the general population. Furthermore, cigarette smoking in BD individuals has been associated with suicidal behavior, although the precise relationship between the two remains unclear.

To investigate, Michael Ostacher (Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts) and colleagues examined the association between smoking, suicidality, and prospective suicide attempts in 116 BD patients over a 9-month period.

In total, 27% of patients were smokers who showed significantly higher rates of lifetime substance abuse disorders (61% vs 33%), were younger (37.3 vs 46.7 years), and had an earlier age of BD onset (14.4 vs 18.4 years) compared with non-smokers.

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Lung Myeloid Dendritic Cells Coordinately Induce TH1 and TH17 Responses in Human Emphysema  

Exposure to tobacco smoke activates innate and adaptive immune responses that in long-term smokers have been linked to diseases of the lungs, cardiovascular system, joints, and other organs. The destruction of lung tissue that underlies smoking-induced emphysema has been associated with T helper 1 cells that recognize the matrix protein elastin. Factors that result in the development of such autoreactive T cells in smokers remain unknown but are crucial for further understanding the pathogenesis of systemic inflammatory diseases in smokers. Here, we show that lung myeloid dendritic cells were sufficient to induce T helper 1 and T helper 17 responses in CD4 T cells. T helper 1 and 17 cells are invariably present in lungs from patients with emphysema but not in lungs from normal individuals. Interleukin-17A, a canonical T helper 17 cytokine, enhanced secretion of CCL20, a chemoattractant for dendritic cells, and matrix metalloproteinase 12, a potent elastolytic proteinase, from lung macrophages. Thus, although diverse lung factors potentially contribute to T helper effector differentiation in vivo, lung myeloid dendritic cells direct the generation of pathogenic T cells and support a feedback mechanism that sustains both inflammatory cell recruitment and lung destruction. This mechanism may underlie disease in other elastin-rich organs and tissues.

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• Dendritic Cells Spark Smoldering Inflammation In Smokers' Lungs 

Inflammation still ravages the lungs of some smokers years after they quit the habit. What sparks that smoldering destruction remained a mystery until a consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine found that certain dendritic cells in the lung - the cells that "present" a foreign antigen or protein to the immune system - provoke production of destructive T-cells that attack a key protein called elastin, leading to death of lung tissue and emphysema.

A report of their work appears in the current issue of Science Transformational Medicine. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute estimates that 2 million Americans have emphysema, most of them over the age of 50 years. People with emphysema find it harder and harder to breathe as the lung's air sacs or alveoli are destroyed, causing holes in the lung and blocking airways. They have difficulty exchanging oxygen as their lungs become less elastic. Cigarette smoking is the greatest risk factor for the disease that contributes to as many as 100,000 deaths each year.

In previous work, Dr. Farrah Kheradmand, associate professor of medicine - pulmonary and immunology at BCM, and colleagues had shown that T-helper cells and some enzymes in the lung destroyed tissue in the lungs of emphysema patients. . . .

When the embargo lifts, this report will be available at http://stm.sciencemag.org/

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