Tobacco.org

Levin (63) puffs his way to top 

Spencer Levin took one last drag on his cigarette, stamped it out in the rough and climbed into the bunker behind the 17th green. He set up quickly, took a quick glance at the hole and splashed out.

The ball landed about 10 feet from the hole, bounced twice and rolled into the cup for an eagle-2 that pushed him to 14-under par yesterday in the second round of the Phoenix Open at Scottsdale, Ariz. A few minutes - and another cigarette - later, he parred the 18th for an 8-under 63 and a three-stroke lead.

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BORDOW: Teenage tin men: Addictive smokeless tobacco making comeback 

Tobacco is addictive. So is idolatry.

What, then, must high school athletes think when they see major league baseball players using smokeless tobacco? . . .

"The thing that gets these kids is that they cannot realize it is an addiction," Garagiola said. "They think they're above it but what it does, it takes a grip on them.

"People will get mad at me for saying kids should sit out longer, but the underlying thought is not to win games but to save lives."

Baseball's ban on players carrying the tins in their back pocket is a good start. But it's not enough. As long as players have a wad between their cheek and gum, high school athletes will emulate them. That's why it's up to the coaches.

They shouldn't use the stuff -- "we have to be held to a higher standard," Holmes said -- or allow their kids to use, even during practices. If they do see an athlete dipping, they should contact his parents.

After all, tobacco is addictive. So is stupidity.

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AZ woman burned after cigarette ignites oxygen tank 

A Peoria women suffered serious burns when the cigarette she was smoking sparked a flash fire inside her home near 87th Avenue and Bell Road.

"Oxygen acts just like gasoline in flames and heat," said Rick Piccard with Phoenix fire. "It's a fuel and actually causes whatever is around you to burn much more rapidly. So flames in an oxygen rich environment like oxygen tubing and towels immediately ignite."

Piccard said the woman is in serious but stable condition.

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Smokers satisfy habit elsewhere 

Despite the UA Health Network’s attempts to make its campuses a tobacco-free zone, smoke breaks may not be over just yet.

On Jan. 1, the network implemented a new policy that prohibits the use of tobacco both inside and outside its facilities, including the University of Arizona Medical Center-University Campus, South Campus and affiliated clinics.

“Everything is going really well,” said John Marques, vice president and chief human resources officer for the network. “We have had a good response from our staff and there has only been a few situations when people visiting the center were found smoking and told about the new policy.”

The ban is in place to prevent patients at a medical facility from being exposed to secondhand smoke, and also to encourage smokers to make better health decisions, Marques said.

On top of the policy, the center has also created a campaign to help employees, family members and friends quit smoking. The Quit and Win Tobacco Free Living Program developed by the Department of Family and Community Medicine is one of the options created to help people quit.

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PFD: Woman's Face Burned While Smoking, Using Oxygen 

PEORIA, Ariz. - A fire in the northwest valley leaves a woman badly burned.

Crews were called to home near 87th Avenue and Bell Road Tuesday morning.

Firefighters say the woman who uses an oxygen tank was smoking a cigarette and the tank caught fire.

Her face was burned while trying to put out the flames.

"She had been doing this for years and it had never caught up with her. Today was the day it caught up with her," said Dep. Captain Rick Picard of the Peoria Fire Department.

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The issue: Health risks of hookah smoking 

What we're looking at

State Rep. Kimberly Yee, R-Phoenix, said during a House Judiciary Committee hearing that smoking a hookah for an hour is as dangerous as smoking 100 or more cigarettes.

The comment

"One hour of hookah inhalation is equal to smoking 100 to 200 cigarettes in that hour."

The forum

She made the statement during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Jan. 12.

Analysis Yee is the sponsor of House Bill 2034, which would make it illegal for minors to possess a water pipe, also known as a hookah. It's already illegal for minors to smoke tobacco, but Yee's bill would impose a $100 fine or 30 hours of community service on any minor found with a hookah.

The bill also would make it illegal to sell a water pipe to a minor.

Studies by leading scientific health organizations, including the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, verify Yee's assertion that people smoking a hookah inhale far more smoke than they would smoking a cigarette. . . .

Bottom line: Several reports confirm that during one hour of hookah smoking, a person can inhale 100 to 200 times as much smoke as is contained in a single cigarette. While some have criticized these studies, they are still the most current and reputable resource on the subject.

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Bill would make possession of hookah by minor illegal 

the Legislature may soon make hookahs, water pipes or any other item used for consuming tobacco illegal for minors as well.

House Bill 2034 proposes to make it a petty offense to sell or give such an item to a minor or for a minor to buy or possess such an item. The penalty for a minor would be a $100 fine or 30 hours of community service.

Bill sponsor Rep. Kimberly Yee, R-Phoenix, said constituents asked her to propose the measure because of a growing concern with kids smoking hookahs at local cafes.

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2 killed, 1 wounded in Arizona smoke shop shooting 

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Authorities were searching for a gunman after a shooting at a Phoenix-area smoke shop left two dead and one person wounded.

Peoria police say the shooting occurred about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at The Euphorium Emporium smoke shop. It was unclear if the two people who were killed were employees or customers of the family-owned shop and police say there's no known motive for the shooting.

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CARPENTER: Campus should be smoke free 

University of Arizona Medical Center has made its own New Year’s Resolution: banning smoking anywhere near the building. Hallelujah! Smoking should be banned at all hospitals. It’s great one so close to home made this rule. If you work in the medical field, wouldn’t you, of all people, be aware of what smoking does to you? Or, if you were visiting someone in the hospital, why would you go outside and kill yourself a little more by having a cigarette? So now we not only say good bye to the “butt-huts” — which were the designated smoking areas at the hospital — but also to smoking in the parking lot, or in a car on the property. . . .

There has been an outpouring of support for the hospital’s decision. “I’ve had no one come to me other than folks applauding us for the decision,” John Marques, chief human resources officer and vice president of the network, told the Arizona Daily Star. This tobacco-free environment may be a tough transition for patients, visitors and especially the workers. But there is hope for them, and this act will be a positive effect on their life in the long run. Hopefully, Sander will see that the ban of smoking on the UMC premises was a positive movement, and will allow the main UA grounds to follow this path to a cleaner, smoke-free campus.

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Humana refuses to hire smokers in Arizona 

If you light up a cigarette, it will snuff out your chances to land a job with health-insurance giant Humana in Arizona.

The Louisville-based health insurer said Wednesday that it will no longer hire workers in Arizona who smoke or use other tobacco products, part of a trend of employers who are cracking down on tobacco use among workers.

To enforce the tobacco ban that starts Friday, Humana will test new employees for nicotine use during a pre-employment urine drug screen.

Humana representatives say it makes sense for a company in the health-care field to lead by example. Smoking's harmful effects on human health are well-documented, and Humana seeks to promote health and wellness -- starting with its workers.

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UA snuffing out cigarettes at hospitals 

The University of Arizona's network of hospitals an clinics is going completely smoke-free -- outdoors as well as inside -- beginning Jan. 1.

The UA Health Network's new tobacco-free policy affects the University of Arizona Medical Center - University Campus (that's UMC to those not used to the new name), the University of Arizona Medical Center - South Campus and dozens of clinics across Tucson and Southern Arizona.

Although smoking has been prohibited inside the hospitals for many years, smoking was permitted in designated outside areas. These outdoor shelters will be removed by Jan. 1, UAMC's Katie Riley said in a press release.

To ease the transition to a tobacco-free environment, The University of Arizona Health Network is offering free smoking-cessation treatment to its nearly 7,000 employees and to their dependents, Riley said.

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• Arizona legislative panel rejects recommendation to mandate smoking cessation coverage [Arizona Capitol Times] 

A joint legislative panel today refused to recommend a proposal that would require insurance companies to cover programs to help people stop smoking.

The panel's rejection doesn't preclude those who are advocating for the coverage from asking the Legislature next year to adopt it, but it does make it more difficult for them to succeed.

Given the current political climate, the idea couldn't have been offered at a worse time, one Republican senator said.

"Is the atmosphere conducive to an additional mandate right now? No way," said Sen. Adam Driggs, a Phoenix Republican who co-chairs the Senate Banking and Insurance and House Banking and Insurance Committee of Reference.

"Do we gain nothing from all the town halls that the congressmen have been doing over Obamacare? This is a little bit of a microcosm of that," he said.

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Richard Carmona Announces Arizona Senate Bid 

Bush-era Surgeon General Richard Carmona announced today he is running in Arizona's open-seat Senate race, handing national Democrats a recruiting victory in a contest that could be competitive next year.

"After talking with my family, my friends, and fellow Arizonans, I have decided to run for the United States Senate," he said in an email statement.

According to published reports, among those who encouraged him to run is President Barack Obama.

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Community colleges prepare for tobacco ban  

A picture of untreated "hairy tongue," a jar of tar, another jar filled with green phlegm, a replica of stained teeth with ulcer-covered gums and tongue, a blackened lung, nail polish remover and rat poison all lined the IGNITE (Influence, Guide, Network for Inter-Collegiate Tobacco Education) table at Mesa Community College's student center. . . .

Starting July 1, 2012, smoking and tobacco products will be banned from Maricopa County Community College District property.

"As an educational institution, we have an obligation to lead the way in matters of health awareness and education," said Chancellor Rufus Glasper in a press release last month. "When this policy goes into effect, our district and its 10 colleges will join hundreds of other colleges and universities across the country in what is a growing trend."

About 500 American universities and colleges prohibit on-campus smoking, tobacco or both.

And while the ban was announced in October, Nov. 16 marked the formal introduction of the Maricopa BreatheEasy initiative, a program designed to help those who work and learn at a Maricopa Community College school transition to a smoke- and tobacco-free campus. The formal announcement was in conjunction with the Great American Smokeout, a national campaign by the American Cancer Society to help people quit smoking.

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Couple and pets die in house fire  

A couple and their three dogs died in a house fire on Wednesday according to Glendale Police.

Glendale Police Department Public Information Officer Tracey J. Breeden said, Glendale Police responded to a house fire in the 12000 block on N. 62nd Drive about 10:20 in the morning. . . .

The victims which died in the fire were Glenn Lopes, 55, and his wife, Deborah Lopes, 52, along with their three dogs.

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