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VIDEO: Smokers Need Not Apply  

Deep in the heart of "tobacco country," smoking could bar some people from getting jobs.

New research suggests you do not need pills, patches or gum to quit smoking.

Tennessee Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga began testing prospective employees this week for smoking. If the tests come back positive, their chances of being hired go up in smoke.

"It's relevant to creating that healthy lifestyle," Memorial Health Care Systems CEO James Hobson said. "It's relevant to the entire community."

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Smoking ban sparks interest  

MONASH Council will keep a close eye on Frankston Council's trial ban on smoking in shopping strips.

Last Tuesday, Frankston Mayor Christine Richards announced a six-month trial of no-smoking zones in high pedestrian-traffic areas of the Frankston central activity district.

The move has been applauded by health groups, with VicHealth executive Todd Harper calling it a "fabulous win and a way forward for all local communities".

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• Smoking ban in enclosed public places starts Wed 

FROM Ash Wednesday, smokers will no longer be allowed to light up in any enclosed public place. The Ministry of Health yesterday issued a release, announcing that the Tobacco Control Act, passed back in December 2009, will be proclaimed by President George Maxwell Richards and enforced in phases from Wednesday onwards. . . .

At the opening of special meeting of the Council for Social and Human Development (a body made up of Caribbean Health Ministers) last week at the Hyatt, Port of Spain, Health Minister Jerry Narace said he made a commitment to undertake a public education initiative before enforcing all of the clauses of the Act and to work on the specific regulations to support the Act.

'The Ministry of Health will now intensify its public education campaign regarding the Tobacco Control Act, the upcoming proclamation, and the health effects of tobacco use and second hand smoke in general. We shall also be launching a Tobacco Cessation Campaign

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Latest salvo on smokers 

A BAN on smoking at outdoor shopping strips is the latest round fired in the war against cigarettes.

Northern Rivers councils will be looking with interest south of the border after a council in Melbourne's south-east introduced a trial ban on smoking at three of its outdoor shopping precincts.

Frankston City Council will enforce the ban for six months. Smokers will be fined up to $110 if they light up in outdoor areas. . . .

The trial smoking ban by Frankston City Council comes as new research was released showing passive smoking can have a serious impact on a woman's unborn child.

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Firing on all cylinders 

Robust volume growth across all businesses coupled with better profitability helped ITC post a good show in the December quarter, which looks sustainable . . .

Unfavourable taxation against cigarettes in recent years partly explains why volume growth for ITC's cigarette business was not encouraging in 2007-08 and 2008-09. However, it did not disturb the company's apple cart much as ITC still sells three out of four cigarettes in the country. With a portfolio of popular brands like India Kings, Gold Flake, Scissors and Bristol among others, ITC has managed to sustain leadership position.

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EDITORIAL: Poor attempt 

The bill, HB 2642, supposedly calls for a statewide ban on smoking in public places, but would allow smoking inside places with ventilated rooms, and with smoking and nonsmoking sections -- both proven failures in protecting nonsmokers from secondhand smoke. . . .

Calling the bill a "fraud," Gov. Mark Parkinson has promised a veto. He favors a Senate-passed measure to ban smoking statewide in most public places, including restaurants and bars.

But even that proposal offers unnecessary exemptions, including casinos -- some of which, incidentally, will be state-owned.

Government-mandated regulations intended to keep people safe aren't implemented on a pick-and-choose basis, and a public smoking ban shouldn't be, either.

Until lawmakers acknowledge as much, they should steer clear of a statewide ban and let communities like Garden City move forward with ordinances that work.

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NYC's Smoking Ban: Sorry Mr. Mayor, It's 7 Yrs Later And The Issue Is Not Dead 

On March 30, 2003, the New York City smoking ban law -- extended to cover bars and clubs among all other places not previously covered by the 1995 version -- took effect.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "People will adjust very quickly." (1) Anti-smoker advocates backing the law all asserted that people "will get used to it." (2) Using the years earlier ban on smoking in movie theaters as comparison, Bloomberg said, "after a week the stories [about the ban] went away and so did the smoking," in predicting the same would occur with this ban. (3) When the proposal was first announced Councilman James Oddo said, "[Y]ears from now, people will look back with amazement that smoking was once allowed in bars and restaurants." (4)

It's seven years later. They lied.

By all recent media accounts (and others through the years) (5) regarding violations of the smoking ban, it proves, as NYC C.L.A.S.H. has said all along, that it was not popular with bar and club-goers. (6) Polls of the general population presented in the anti-smoker crusaders' arsenal of propaganda tools to support the notion of "popularity" were skewed. It did not represent the segment of the population, nor the employees, directly affected by the ban. The real results reveal that it is unpopular. . . .

Siding with the owners, NYC C.L.A.S.H. agrees that until the day this law will be undone the individual smokers should be fined instead according to that provision in the law. However, the DOH will not do that because they know it will be impossible to control the thousands of people per day instead of the approximate 1300 establishment owners that have been unfairly involuntarily thrust into doing that job for them . . .

It's seven years later. We see the people have not "adjusted to it" or "gotten used to it" and the smoking did not "go away." To quote Christopher Snowden, author of "Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: A History of Anti-Smoking," "Most bans meet the same fate. They usually end with the same kind of passive resistance you see here." NYC C.L.A.S.H. warned as much in 2003. Silk maintains, "This fight isn't over."

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EDITORIAL: OUR OPINION: Local support for smoking ban high 

A group seeking to get the issue on the May election ballot, Smoke-Free San Angelo, started slowly in its effort to gather the required number of signatures in a window of time shortened by delays.

Barely a week after a story about the drive first appeared in the Standard-Times nearly 3,000 additional people had signed, and last week the group submitted the petition to the city secretary with 4,421 names on it. That’s about 1,800 more than the number required.

As previous petition organizers can attest, collecting that many signatures is far from automatic. And this one especially suggests an unusual level of enthusiasm was at work. . . .

Eight Texas cities already have similar smoking prohibitions in place. We’ll find out in three months whether San Angelo joins them.

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• Still no agreement on smoking ban date - JRA 

No agreement has yet been reached between the Ministry of Health and the Jordan Restaurants Association (JRA) on a date to implement the smoking ban in the Kingdom's restaurants, a JRA official said Saturday.

JRA President Zeid Goussous told The Jordan Times that it is difficult to implement the Public Health Law, which bans smoking in public places such as restaurants, before working on society's acceptance of the law.

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• In the Pipeline: Ban on Sale of Single Cigarettes 

DUBAI -- With the region tightening the noose on the nicotine habit in the region, ban on the sale of single cigarettes will be implemented strictly in the country as part of new GCC-wide guidelines formulated last week on advertising and promotional restrictions of tobacco products.

The move is part of a wide range of anti-smoking measures being taken by the government to put an end to the menace and discourage the youth from taking up the habit. Experts say the move will discourage youngsters from seeking a quick drag which is now readily available in retail sales.

The guidelines on controlling tobacco advertisements and promotions that are based on the Singapore model were drafted in Kuwait last week -- over a year after they were proposed. The UAE officials say they are just a small part of a whole range of rules under the newly passed National Anti-Tobacco Law.

According to the guidelines, vendors will require a special permit to sell tobacco while the outlets selling tobacco products will be spaced at least 200-500 metres away from residential areas, mosques, schools, hospitals and clinics.

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• Study highlights smoke risk in Oklahoma restaurants 

Tobacco smoke pollution in Oklahoma City-area restaurants and bars is extremely hazardous and far exceeds Environmental Protection Agency air quality standards, according to a report released by the Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center at the OU Cancer Institute.

Cattlemen's Steakhouse in Oklahoma City is among restaurants that created smoking rooms to comply with Oklahoma law. But a new report suggests smoking rooms provide little protection for workers or customers. Photo by David McDaniel, Oklahoman Archive

The center looked at tobacco smoke levels in 67 Oklahoma City-area restaurant smoking rooms and bars, and found that even restaurants with smoke ventilators had pollution levels harmful to workers and patrons.

The smoke was measured as particulate pollution, which the EPA ranks as hazardous at levels of 151-250 micrograms per cubic meter of air. The particulate level averaged 380 micrograms in restaurant smoking rooms tested by the center, and 655 micrograms in bars.

Dr. Robert McCaffree, co-director of the tobacco center, said researchers knew secondhand smoke was hazardous, but were surprised that pollution levels were so high.

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Smoking ban to light up debate 

A BID to ban smoking in Launceston's outdoor dining areas will be examined at Monday's Launceston City Council meeting.

Alderman Ivan Dean originally brought the motion and after two surveys on the matter it has come back to the council for a decision.

If it is successful, smoking would be banned in the council's licensed on-street dining areas, with the ban beginning on January 1, 2011.

However, outdoor diners spoken to in Launceston yesterday saw no need for a ban to be put in place.

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VIDEO: WestHollywoodRAW: Smoking Ban on Patios?  

Update on Weho stories and an indepth discussion about possible plans to ban smoking for bar patios and 10 feet away from patios.

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• Over 300 flouted smoking ban in January 

ONE MONTH since its implementation and 301 people have found themselves on the wrong side of the law regarding the ban on indoor smoking in public places. So far, police have charged 197 people for smoking and 104 owners or managers of establishments for letting people smoke.

According to data released by the police, officers made a total of 3,665 smoking-related inspections in January. By district, the number of inspections, fines and cases going to court are as follows: Nicosia - 444 inspections, 45 on-the-spot fines, and three cases will be brought to court;

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On-the-spot fines for smoking now in force 

AS FROM January 15, on-the-spot fines for smoking indoors have been increased to €85 from €34, the police said yesterday.

It applies to both smokers and the proprietors of the establishment.

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