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‘Great American Smokeout’ in Washington promotes Lung Cancer Awareness Month 

Pictured is an image from last year's Great American Smokeout in downtown Washington. This year's event will be held Nov. 19. WASHINGTON -- November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month and the "Great American Smokeout."

What a terrific time to draw attention to an ever-increasing issue that faces many New Jersey (and Warren County) residents, says Community Prevention Resources of Warren County, Inc.'s Leeanne Del Prado, Community Partnerships Coordinator for a Tobacco Free NJ. . . .

"We, as a community, cannot ignore the statistics nor can we deny the direct correlations to tobacco usage and sickness and death," said Del Prado. "We should commemorate efforts to stop smoking and recognize that lung cancer is fatal sickness in Warren County by supporting a smoke free environment. Your efforts can make a bigger difference than you think."

If you or someone you know would like to quit smoking and needs assistance, contact Leeanne Del Prado at Community Prevention Resources of Warren County, Inc. 908-835-1800. For further information about Community Prevention Resources, visit www.communitypreventionresources.org.

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ACSID Looks to Give the Boot to Cigarette Litter on Atlantic Avenue  

In an effort to reduce the impact of unsightly litter gracing Atlantic Avenue, the Atlantic City Special Improvement District (ACSID), in conjunction with Keep America Beautiful, Inc. (KAB), has implemented the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program along a designated portion of Atlantic Avenue between North Carolina and Kentucky avenues.

The ACSID secured a $500 grant from KAB and provided an extra $765 towards the purchase of six (6) 4.5 gallon steel outdoor cigarette urns. Heavy duty, weather-resistant and fire-safe, these urns come complete with a three-sided message center that will allow for point-of-display advertising of the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program along Atlantic Avenue.

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In Bergen, are Ferriero's inmates running the asylum? 

Democratic incumbents Julie O'Brien and Vernon Walton have seized on attacks against tobacco companies as a critical issue in a race for Bergen County Freeholder. They are blaming GOP challenger John Driscoll, who is a field sales representative for Lorillard Tobacco, for his role in enabling children to smoke cigarettes. "As a mother and a grandmother I know how hard it is to keep kids away from cigarettes. John Driscoll's efforts aren't helping. It takes your breath way," O'Brien said. Maybe it's smart politics that O'Brien has shifted the debate away from property taxes and Ferriero (by the way, he picked her too).

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Atlantic City may vote next week on casino smoking policy 

The city official who was among the most vocal supporters of a resort-wide smoking ban now wants it off the table.

Calling it a restriction is really more accurate. No matter what local lawmakers decide, certain casino lounges likely could continue to allow smoking, Councilman Bruce Ward said Wednesday.

"Smoking is outlawed in every workplace in New Jersey except casinos," he said.

City Council likely will vote next week on exactly how to limit lighting up on casino floors, according to Councilman Dennis Mason.

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• EDITORIAL: Pass the Atlantic City casino smoking ban 

The legislature, after allowing casinos to escape the statewide indoor smoking ban in 2006, has refused to close this loophole. Lawmakers continually have chosen casino balance sheets over the health of the average Joe. But this is a moral, not economic issue: What amount of money makes it acceptable to put people's lives at risk?

We know the answer: None.

And that's why there's a tobacco stain on New Jersey's soul.

The Atlantic City council has a second chance to do the right thing and pass a casino smoking ban immediately. . . .

Opponents of the ban insist gambling and drinking and smoking go together. Well, actually, they don't. Studies have found that the majority of gamblers don't drink and 82 percent of them don't smoke.

Through all of the debate, one argument remains indisputable: Second-hand smoke kills.

But in New Jersey, cash trumps cancer risks.

"A 100 percent smoking ban would be catastrophic," said Mark Juliano, CEO of Trump Entertainment Resorts. "Right now, we can't face another negative."

Since when is saving lives a negative?

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Smoke-free proving to be heart-healthy  

Cigarette smokers who were bummed about the smoking ban in restaurants, offices and other public places should know that their sacrifice has decreased the cases of heart attack and heart disease.

It's widely known that cigarette smoke is toxic to cigarette smokers, according to cardiologist Dr. Marc Klapholz, but unfiltered secondhand smoke can also cause complications.

A report by the Institute of Medicine, a federally commissioned panel of scientists, found a significant reduction on heart problems after the smoking ban was in place Ð in smokers and non-smokers.

Klapholz said that for non-smokers who shared indoor spaces with those who light up, the secondhand smoke could be more toxic than smoke that directly enters a smoker's lungs.

"A cigarette burns for two minutes, (and) they might be inhaling for 30 seconds or a minute," said Klapholz, director of the Department of Cardiology and professor of medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's medical school. "Most of the smoke goes into the ambient environment."

Klapholz said the IOM report develops a full picture, that cigarettes not only cause problems, "but when you stop it, it prevents things."

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• Atlantic City to debate casino smoking ban again  

"I like it the way it is now. If they banned smoking in Atlantic City, I would go to the Indian reservation casinos in Connecticut just to smoke," DePierro vowed as her husband, James, nodded his head in agreement.

A year after Atlantic City delayed a total smoking ban at the request of the powerful gaming industry, city officials are again debating whether the casinos should go smoke-free. City Council backed away from a ban last year amid warnings that smokers would take their business elsewhere, further depressing casino earnings in the soft economy.

But council members also promised then to revisit the issue in a year. Just as it was on Oct. 8, 2008 - when it voted 5-4 to scrap the smoking ban - council remains divided.

The timing of a new vote is unclear. On Friday, the City Clerk's Office released the agenda for the next council meeting on Wednesday and it did not include the smoking ban.

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LETTER: Make all public places 100 percent smoke free  

As a cardiologist and regional president of the American Heart Association in New Jersey, I remain gravely concerned about our state's safeguards against exposure to second-hand smoke, specifically as this unresolved public health issue lingers in Atlantic City casinos.

The link between second-hand smoke and cardiovascular disease is indisputable. According to the American Heart Association, an estimated 35,000 heart disease deaths annually are associated with environmental tobacco smoke.

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Boonton students smoking in pocket park draw mayor's eye 

BOONTON - Students are standing in a pocket park next to John Hill School to get their nicotine fix before school, according to Mayor Cyril Wekilsky, who said he wants to do something about it.

Wekilsky said every morning he drives past a little patch of land next to the John Hill School that was dedicated to the town a few years ago so it could be maintained and he is upset to see anywhere from five to 10 or 15 young people he said look as if they are seventh and eighth graders standing on the property "smoking up a storm."

Like most school districts, the grades K-12 Boonton Schools prohibit smoking on school grounds.

"I think we need to address it," said the mayor, who acknowledged an attempt to do something about young people smoking around the high school a few years ago had not succeeded.

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• N.J. assemblywoman seeks sale restrictions for e-cigarettes 

State Assemblywoman Connie Wagner (D-Begen) said she is concerned that e-cigarettes are being marketed to children because they offer flavors like chocolate, banana and strawberry.

The Democrat from Paramus intends to introduce a bill in the Legislature subjecting them to the same restrictions as pipes and regular cigarettes. . . .

Wagner's bill would prohibit their use in public places and workplaces.

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• N.J. prevails in lawsuit against out-of-state tobacco seller Red Jacket  

The state government has prevailed on all counts of a lawsuit it filed a year ago charging New-York-based cigarette seller Red Jacket Tobacco with illegal business practices related to the advertising and sale, by mail order, of "tax free" cigarettes in New Jersey, Attorney General Anne Milgram announced Monday.

In a decision issued by state Superior Court Judge Maria M. Sypek, Red Jacket and its owner, Lesley A. Hoag, were ordered to pay more than $760,000 in penalties, costs and fees requested by the state Division of Consumer Affairs and the state Division of Taxation.

Sypek found that Red Jacket violated state laws by selling cigarettes in New Jersey without a license, and by selling cigarettes not listed in the New Jersey Tobacco Manufacturer's Directory.

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NJ judge fines NY firm for illegal tobacco sales 

A New Jersey judge has imposed more than $760,000 in penalties and fees against a New York-based tobacco seller that offered mail-order, "tax-free" cigarettes to New Jersey consumers.

New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram announced the ruling in the state's lawsuit against Salamanca, N.Y.-based Red Jacket Tobacco on Monday.

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EDITORIAL: Cigarettes still kill 

Living in a college town, it is not a strange sight to see huddles of people standing outside of bars or just walking down the street lighting up and smoking cigarettes. . . .

The search for a safer cigarette will never be over. Even though electronic cigarettes produce no harmful smoke, there is still nicotine vapor being sucked into your lungs. The safest cigarette is no cigarette at all. This e-cigarette idea might be a way to start weaning people off traditional cigarettes, but it won’t be safer or help people quit completely. It can be the starter version for the patch. You still get the feeling like you are smoking but it is not the real thing. . . .

It might be something cool to try once, but when it comes to convenience and the feeling people want or need while smoking, traditional cigarettes are the way people are going to go.

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New Jersey Tobacco Settlement Bonds Are Smoking: Chart of Day 

Now may be the time to sell your tobacco bonds.

The CHART OF THE DAY shows how one issue, the Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation of New Jersey’s 5 percent bond due in 2041, has outperformed the Bond Buyer 40, a price index of long-term benchmark municipal debt, since the end of the first quarter of 2009. The New Jersey security gained 83 percent by the end of the third quarter, while the index rose 32 percent.

Long-term tobacco bonds, sold by states and municipalities to cash in on their shares of the 1998 settlement with cigarette makers, have rallied more than any other major segment of the municipal market this year, according to Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch & Co. About $37 billion of such bonds have been sold.

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AC set to renew battle over casino smoking ban  

e remains as hazy as the cigarette smoke over the blackjack tables.

Atlantic City was set to ban all smoking last October, but backed off when the recession hit, promising to reconsider in a year.

But there's still no consensus on whether to stick with the current arrangement, which permits smoking on 25 percent of the casino floor, or to try again for a total ban.

"Right now, I don't see where many minds have changed on council," said City Council President William "Speedy" Marsh, who plans to poll council members soon on the issue.

Marsh, who has battled health problems over the past year, said he personally favors trying again for a total ban on smoking. . . .

But the casinos continue to oppose a total ban. Already battered by the poor economy and fierce competition from Pennsylvania and New York slots parlors, the gambling halls fear even further revenue declines they say would happen when their smoking customers take their business elsewhere.

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