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Smoking population grew in S Korea in 2009 

More South Korean adults smoked last year, with the smoking rate for adults in the second half of 2009 climbing up to 23.3 percent from 22.3 percent a year earlier, a government survey showed Tuesday.

The smoking rate among South Korean men stood at 43.1 percent at the end of the last year, up from 40.9 percent a year earlier, while the rate of female smokers inched down to 3.9 from 4.1 during the same period, according to Seoul's Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs.

Of the 3,000 people aged 19 and older who participated in the survey, 59.1 percent of the respondents said smoking has become a habit, and 32.6 percent cited stress as a reason for smoking.

At the same time, 68.8 percent of the respondents said they tried to quit smoking at least once, on health-related concerns.

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Lail: Smoking ban in restaurants will save lives 

I am a sophomore at Draughn High School and a member of the TRU (Tobacco Reality Unfiltered) Club. I would like to remind people that starting Jan. 2, 2010, smoking will not be allowed inside bars, restaurants or any business that serves food or drinks in North Carolina.

This law is important for a number of reasons. One key reason is that smoke, and its 60 known carcinogens, doesn't stay contained and lingers long after the smoker has left.

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S. Korean tobacco firm to release super slim cigarette 

KT&G Corp. will launch the nation's slimmest cigarette this week, the South Korean tobacco producer said Monday.

The company will release the "EDGE"

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LETTERS: Why smoking ban shouldn’t apply on stage (2 letters)  

JACOB: Smoking ban leaves any compromise out in cold  

I'm sitting in a bar in Warsaw, drinking a coffee, reading newspapers on line and smoking cigarettes. And I can tell you one thing for nothing -- it's a beautiful thing not to be treated like a flea-ridden pariah. . . .

We are all aware of the dangers of smoking, so in a truly civilised society the fairest answer would surely be this -- allow the people who own the pubs and restaurants the freedom to run their businesses as they choose, smoking or non, bearing in mind that cigarettes are still legal in this country. Then allow the public the freedom to choose whether they want to patronise smoking or non-smoking establishments. Finally allow individuals to decide whether they want to work in smoking environments or not. Who loses? No one. That, my friends, is what you call freedom of choice. . . .

Whether we care to admit it or not, it is also discouraging tourism. I come across an article on goireland.about.com entitled Irish Tourism Figures Show Slight Slump in US Visitor Numbers. Nowhere does this article even begin to suggest that the smoking ban is a reason for this 'slight slump' and yet the solitary comment underneath reads:

"I used to visit Ireland on a regular basis. But since the smoking ban I decided it was now off my list of places to visit. I don't visit where I'm not wanted"-- Susan.

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Washington County, Va., tax collection change reflects tobacco's decline  

ABINGDON, Va. - Five years after the tobacco subsidy program buyout, there's another quiet acknowledgement that tobacco is no longer king.

In Washington County, Va., long the state's top burley tobacco-producing county, the change takes effect this year: Property taxes are due long before the crop comes in.

County officials are preparing to implement twice-a-year property tax collection, with half due in May and the other half in November. The board of supervisors voted last year to make a change in 2010 from the traditional late-December deadline. . . .

But more than a move of convenience, the change is a reflection of how much the local economy has changed in the five years since the federal government ended its Depression-era tobacco quota and price support system.

Parker, who has held the office since the mid-1980s, remembers the long lines that would form downtown in late fall when the farmers sold their tobacco. First they'd pay off their fertilizer loan, he said, and then they'd pay their taxes.

"We used to take their tobacco checks and give them their change," Parker said. "They brought their tobacco checks here."

The Dec. 20 tax deadline was set years ago to maximize the time farmers had to sell their crop, Parker said, but also to collect taxes from people before they spent their money on Christmas.

"Our economy has shifted now from tobacco, where all your income came in December. We're geared much more now to a monthly income," Reynolds said.

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Smoker ignites his oxygen tank 

A Montrose man suffered severe burns across 30 to 40 percent of his body and was flown to a Denver hospital Sunday after he sparked a fire at his home while smoking and using oxygen, authorities said.

The fire broke out around 12:30 p.m. at 807 S. 11th St., said Montrose Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Mike Schell.

He said two brothers in their 80s live in the home. The younger brother, who wasn't identified, told firefighters he had left to get something to eat and saw smoke coming from the house when he returned.

He said he was able to pull out his brother, identified as the homeowner, Richard Swyhart.

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EDITORIAL: Unfair: Erratic county rules  

Down in North Carolina, at the very heart of the tobacco industry, the state legislature banned smoking in bars and restaurants, effective Jan. 2. It was a blow to huge cigarette corporations that have dominated the state in the past, employing thousands and helping build Duke and Wake Forest universities.

Virginia, another big tobacco state, likewise passed a statewide ban that took effect Dec. 1 -- but Virginia's new law lets restaurants and bars install separate smoker sections with special ventilation.

So far, 29 states have outlawed smoking in restaurants, the American Lung Association reports, and 24 have extended the ban to bars. The health menace from secondhand smoke has been proven so thoroughly that many legislatures finally are acting to avert sickness and save lives.

If all those legislatures can set statewide rules, why does West Virginia's lawmaking body keep ducking the issue? Why do Mountain State legislators leave the problem in the lap of 55 county health boards? . . .

Legislators in North Carolina, Virginia and many other states faced their public duty. It's time for West Virginia lawmakers to join them.

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LETTER: It's all about smoke 

In reply to Jim McCoy, who rebutted Keith Duryea's no-smoking plea:

I believe McCoy has the right to fill his lungs with tar and nicotine anytime he chooses to smoke in his own home or yard in the company of enabling and supportive family and friends. His home, his clothes, his body, his hair, his furniture, his pets should all be drenched in the stench of cigar, cigarette or pipe smoke day in and day out should he so choose. . . .

McCoy should definitely have his smoke-filled rooms, but I should definitely have my smoke-free environment.

And did I say that some of my favorite people smoke? It's not about people. It's about smoke.

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Tobacco firms lose Sh75bn to dealers in contraband 

Contraband cigarettes continue to enter Kenya through porous border points despite a promise by the government to stem the smuggling wave.

Local cigarette manufacturer Mastermind Tobacco cites Malaba, Busia, Lwakhakha, Port Victoria and Chepkube as the points at which cigarettes from Dubai and India enter the country.

The players in the illicit trade are also said to use Eldoret Airport and the Mombasa port to transport the contraband.

“Cigarettes sourced from Dubai and India find their way into the Kenyan market through the port of Mombasa,” reads the report.

Over the past year, the cigarette manufacturers have lost Sh7.5 billion in revenue due to the trade.

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• Contraband cigarettes swamp EAC 

Lack of co-operations from authorities in dealing with culprits is weighing down on the industry, players claim. According to information available to the Nation, several raids have been conducted and suspects apprehended.

However, the prosecutions have failed the fight, leading to loss in revenue by the authorities as in most cases suspects walk away free. It is estimated that Kenya looses billions of shillings annually to the trade of illegal cigarettes. Independent sources say that the scheme is a cash cow and governments and companies are suffering the consequences.

In a recent article on smuggling of cigarettes in the East African Community, Mr Enoch Walugembe of BAT said companies loose about Sh225 million while traders loose about Sh150 million annually. “This about 25 per cent of the cigarette consumption causing the loss of Sh7.5 billion a year in tobacco taxes,” said Mr Walugembe.

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The Rise and Fall of Tobacco Control Media Campaigns, 1967 -2006  

Extensive research has demonstrated that public education through media campaigns is an effective means to reduce smoking prevalence and tobacco consumption. Aggressive media campaigns that confront the tobacco industry’s deceptive practices are most effective and are therefore a prime target for attack. The tobacco industry has attacked public tobacco control media campaigns since 1967, when the first public tobacco control media advertisements ran.

Through studying tobacco control media campaigns in Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Oregon, and of the American Legacy Foundation, we identified industry strategies to prevent a campaign’s creation, limit the target audience and the content of the messages, limit or eliminate the campaign’s funding, and pursue litigation against the campaigns.

Tobacco control advocates must learn from the past and continue to confront the tobacco industry and its third-party allies to defend antitobacco media campaigns or, despite evidence of their effectiveness, they will be eliminated. . . .

The tobacco industry also worked to divert states’ MSA funds to ineffective programs.62 Philip Morris and Brown and Williamson endorsed prevention programs that focused on "positive youth development" instead of the deceptive practices of the tobacco industry.63(p3) In particular, the tobacco companies were working to secure states’ commitment of MSA dollars to the life skills training program, which used a broad school-based drug prevention approach despite the fact that extensive research funded by the industry indicated that the program was not effective in preventing youth smoking.62 . . .

Rather than learning from the Florida experience, the attorneys general who negotiated the MSA agreed to include a vilification clause83 in the MSA stating that the educational program created by the MSA "shall be used only for public education and advertising regarding the addictiveness, health effects, and social costs related to the use of tobacco products and shall not be used for any personal attack on, or vilification of, any person (whether by name or business affiliation), company, or governmental agency, whether individually or collectively."45(p37–38) Although the vilification clause did not restrict the messages of the American Legacy Foundation’s media campaign, it did result in significant legal battles.83 . . .

During the past 4 decades, the evolution of the messages conveyed to the public through tobacco control media campaigns to focus less on the health dangers of smoking and more on revealing the deceptive practices of the tobacco industry was matched with more aggressive tactics by the tobacco industry to weaken or eliminate these campaigns. There have been 2 significant changes over time. First, the tobacco industry has become more experienced and sophisticated in its efforts to stop these campaigns or, failing that, push them into providing ineffective messages. Second, there is strong empirical evidence that these media campaigns can substantially contribute to a reduction in smoking rates.98 Media campaigns that are aggressive and directly confront the lies and deceptive practices of the tobacco industry are effective; however, that which makes them effective also makes them a target for the tobacco industry.49 The efforts put forth by California and the American Legacy Foundation as they pursued legal battles with the tobacco companies provide a good example of the tenacity needed to successfully defend and promote tobacco control media campaigns.

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Report: 92% of retailers not selling tobacco to minors  

ALBANY -- Retailers across the state were nearly 92 percent compliant with the law prohibiting the sale of tobacco to those under the age of 18, a new report found.

The report, issued by the state Department of Health, analyzed more than 38,000 compliance checks made by state and local law enforcement from October 2007 until September 2008, including so-called sting operations in which minors were purposely sent into establishments to attempt to illegally purchase tobacco products.

More than $1.9 million in fines were levied on 2,424 noncompliant retailers, up from $1.6 million doled out to 2,120 tobacco retailers from October 2006 to September 2007.

The compliance rate decreased slightly compared to the previous year, from 92.4 percent to 91.7 percent.

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• No Ban Here: Some hookah bars are simply ignoring state's new no-smoking law 

Now that North Carolina's no-smoking law has taken effect, most bars and restaurants across the state have thrown away their ashtrays and herded smokers to outdoor patios.

But a few bars are openly flouting the new law, allowing people to puff away indoors as much as ever.

The ones doing so are hookah bars, and their owners argue that, because of a linguistic loophole in the law, the smoking ban doesn't apply to hookah smoking.

Hookahs are long pipes that are used to smoke flavored tobacco. Smokers heat a mixture of tobacco and flavoring, and then use a tube to draw the smoke through a bowl of water in order to cool it. Hookah smoking is popular among college students.

As of last year, North Carolina had about 20 hookah bars or lounges. Most serve alcohol.

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VIDEO: Businesses adjusting one week after N.C. smoking ban 

It’s been one week since North Carolina enacted a smoking ban in bars and restaurants.

The law bans smokers from lighting up in most businesses serving food and drink. Now, those who want to smoke are left out in the cold.

Some feared the move would drive away business, but that doesn’t seem to be the case one week in.

"I think I'm more inclined and I think business will be fine,” Greg Sieman, a nonsmoker, said at the Dilworth Bar and Grill Saturday. "I love it! I love being able to come to the bar and smell like a cigarette by the time I leave."

No smokers braved the frigid temperatures at the grill Saturday.

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