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• House panel forwards ban on hookah, e-cigarettes 

Hookah pipes and e-cigarettes would be banned in public places under legislation a Utah House committee approved Thursday.

HB245 sponsored by Rep. Bradley Last, R-Hurricane, proposed to amend the state's Indoor Clean Air Act to define the use of electronic cigarettes and hookah pipes as smoking, therefore prohibiting their use in public places.

"I understand that there are strong feelings about this," Last told the House Government Operations Committee. "I think this is a very good place to start regulating, making sure we protect the public even though there are some things we don't know necessarily."

Rep. Craig Frank, R-Cedar Hills, voted against the bill, saying he lacked data on the effects of e-cigarettes and hookah pipes and how the devices fit into the indoor clean air act.

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Ogden council mulls outdoor smoking ban 

in Ogden, the ban might soon involve some outdoor locations as well.

The Ogden City Council is considering an ordinance to regulate smoking outside.

The draft ordinance states that tobacco smoke is a form of air pollution and is a danger to the public health that also discourages some residents from using public facilities.

Under the ordinance, smoking would be banned at the following outdoor locations in Ogden:

• Within or on outdoor public access property;

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Bill to charge Medicaid tobacco users more takes a smoke break 

Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, asked a legislative committee Thursday for help in developing a "wellness" program in the state that would use higher co-pays to encourage healthy behavior among the state's members of Medicaid, the federal health program for low-income individuals and families. Ray argued that smokers pay different premiums with private insurance, so why not with the federal program. "If it works with private insurance, why can't we take it and work it in with Medicaid?" Ray asked.

Ray's House Bill 247 would seek a waiver from the federal government to allow the state to charge an increased co-pay of $2-$3 per visit to state Medicaid patients who use tobacco products. Ray said the program could be used to help cover costs of administrating the federal program and encourage patients to quit smoking since it would also allow patients to waive the cost if they signed up for a smoking-cessation program.

"This rolls back to personal responsibility. . . .

At a meeting of the House Government Operations Committee, the bill faced opposition from health-care advocates like Dr. Jennifer Brinton of the Utah Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, who worried the added cost would have a chilling effect on dialogue between vulnerable Utahns and their physicians.

"Studies show smokers already underreport their smoking

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CRAMER: Choking children with smoke is not a right  

Limiting children's exposure to secondhand smoke is one of those simple but important pieces of legislation. A bill was introduced last year that dictated a fine for smoking in a car in the presence of children. There was no language that pulled the child from the family nor anything about calling parents wicked for smoking. It just recognized that secondhand smoke, especially concentrated in a car, is harmful and dangerous to children and should be stopped.

The majority of representatives did not see it that way. There were speeches about parental rights or the invasion of government into the sanctity of the home. These principles I support, but the application in this case dirties the virtue behind those concepts.

We have rights with responsibilities. We have freedom of speech except in such cases as yelling "Fire" in a crowded theater. Our right to swing our arms in the air ends at someone else's nose.

Further, the rights of the parents terminate at the point of abusing a child. This is well established. This is good law; it is good social policy; it is something that all legislators support. They write the laws that reflect the community's outrage at the pain of the victims and the betrayal by their parents who are supposed to protect.

Therefore, our law creators must understand that exposure to tobacco smoke is hurtful; it is abusive when imposed upon a child who has no choice. It damages all who inhale, even those not holding the cigarette. The surgeon general clearly reports the effects of secondhand smoke. There is an abundance of studies with important conclusions. These are divided between those conditions "where the evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relationship" and "the evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer a causal relationship." . . .

Forget the welfare of the child for a second and think money. We scream about the rising cost of health care, especially that funded with tax dollars, and we do nothing to alter parental behaviors that escalate the costs. A wheezing child or a child with a lower respiratory illness or an ear infection should be seen by a doctor and treated. All of this costs money.

In the sausage making of law, there is continuous clash of interests. Rights are defined, preserved and rights are limited. Harmful acts are deemed unacceptable. Smoking with children in a car is not a right. It is wrong, and legislators should act accordingly.

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• Bill seeks Medicaid surcharge for smokers  

If private health insurers can add a surcharge for smokers, why not Medicaid?

That's the argument behind a bill Utah Republican Rep. Paul Ray has proposed that could become a first-in-the-nation state law imposing a higher co-payment for tobacco-using residents enrolled in Medicaid. Although Medicaid recipients in Utah do not pay premiums, some are required to pay up to $5 co-payments for prescriptions or doctor visits.

According to the American Lung Association, smokers enrolled in Medicaid smoke at a rate 60 percent greater than the general population. Ray said smokers on Medicaid cost Utah $104 million annually.

"If they're paying $7 a day for a pack of cigarettes, they should be able to pay a $2 to $3 co-pay," Ray said.

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E-CIGARETTE BAN: Opponents of e-cigarette ban say they're being unfairly targeted  

The Utah Vapors Association says e-cigarettes don't have any of the harmful effects caused by second-hand smoke produced by regular cigarettes, but House Bill 245 would place them in the same category as cigarettes.

"The vapor that comes from an electronic cigarette is just that; it's water vapor. It's no different from vapor that comes from a humidifier in a department store on display," said Aaron Frazier with the Utah Vapors Association.

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• Utah children are experimenting with e-cigarettes 

The local organization of parents and teachers on Tuesday put electronic cigarettes at the top of its list, along with alcohol, drugs and other tobacco products, hoping to get state leaders to take notice of increasing trends among children and teens.

Nearly 8 percent of Utah's twelfth-graders reported they had experimented with e-cigarettes and 3 percent had used them in the past 30 days, according to a 2011 Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health survey of more than 55,000 Utah school children, conducted by the Utah Department of Health. For the first time, the agency this year paid to add questions concerning e-cigarettes, however, the data remains unpublished at this time. . . .

Among 19- to 24-year-olds, 25 percent reported having tried e-cigarettes and 9 percent continued to use them, according to the health department.

"There's a lot of danger associated with these cigarettes," Utah PTA President Gainell Rogers said. "It is a safety issue for our children as well as a health issue."

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Bill to ban e-cigarettte, hookah use in public places put on hold pending clarifications  

Too many questions and concerns over a bill that would ban the smoking of e-cigarettes and hookah pipes in public places prompted a panel of lawmakers Monday to put the legislation on hold.

HB245, sponsored by Rep. Bradley Last, R-Hurricane, would amend the state's Indoor Clean Air Act to define the use electronic cigarettes and hookah pipes as smoking, therefore prohibiting their use in public places.

Public testimony before the House Government Operations Standing Committee was largely divided between the health risks of using e-cigarettes and hookah pipes and the rights of adults who are made aware of the risks to use the products.

But some lawmakers said they had reservations about a bill that would effectively put hookah bars out of business when the data over health risks is unclear. Representatives of the Huka Bar and Grill in Murray said the bill would put 90 people out of work.

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• VIDEO: Legislature considers ban of hookah lounges, e-cigarettes 

Hookah lounges and e-cigarette users could soon be going up in smoke following a proposed bill to the Utah legislature. The proposed bill has already become an early controversy for legislators on the first day of session.

House bill 245 would amend the Utah Indoor Clear Air Act to include tobacco products used in hookah pipes and electronic cigarettes, banning the use of these products in a public environment.

Since the debate over indoor hookah smoking has heated up, business is down for smoke shops and hookah lounges in the state. Opponents to the bill say hookah tobacco and e- cigarettes do not produce harmful second-hand smoke.

"If I burn a cigarette here, you can smell it from there," said Haydar Altalibi. "If I smoke (from a hookah), you behind me can't smell it."

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Bradley Last, said the science about the tobacco products has not determined whether the products are safe to use or not. . . .

However, legislators say, where there is smoke, there is probably fire.

"I think this is one of those things where we have to say, someone is inhaling nicotine and they are blowing it out in the air, even though you can't see it," Rep. Last said. "Is that a health risk we want to consider from a policy perspective?"

The ingredients of hookah tobacco are different from traditional cigarettes, with 0 percent tar and less than half of a percent of nicotine. However, the determining factor will not be what is inside the product, but what is coming out of a users' lungs and into public air.

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Clock ticking on smoking at publicly funded mental health, substance abuse treatment facilities in Utah 

The wellness initiative is a joint project between the Utah Department of Human Services and the Utah Department of Health. It seeks to improve clients' overall health and lengthen the life spans of people in substance abuse and/or mental health treatment. Research shows these clients have shorter life spans than the general population, largely due to poor physical health. Smoking contributes to many of these issues.

As part of ramping up to the deadline, the Utah Division of Substance Abuse & Mental Health asked local substance abuse/mental health authorities to survey its staff and clients regarding the opportunities and barriers to moving to a tobacco-free status.

Most respondents said tobacco cessation was a step in the right direction. Although some clients indicated they did not like the no-tobacco policy, they said it would not preclude them from seeking treatment.

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• Clock ticking on smoking at publicly funded mental health, substance abuse treatment facilities in Utah  

It's been 10 weeks since Willard, an aide at Weber Human Services' mental health residential treatment facility, quit smoking.

He can tell you off the top of his head the number of days remaining before Weber Human Services becomes smoke-free under the statewide Recovery Plus initiative. The program requires mental health treatment and substance abuse treatment programs in Utah that receive public funding to be tobacco free by the end of the year. . . .

The wellness initiative is a joint project between the Utah Department of Human Services and the Utah Department of Health. It seeks to improve clients' overall health and lengthen the life spans of people in substance abuse and/or mental health treatment. Research shows these clients have shorter life spans than the general population, largely due to poor physical health. Smoking contributes to many of these issues.

As part of ramping up to the deadline, the Utah Division of Substance Abuse & Mental Health asked local substance abuse/mental health authorities to survey its staff and clients regarding the opportunities and barriers to moving to a tobacco-free status.

Most respondents said tobacco cessation was a step in the right direction. Although some clients indicated they did not like the no-tobacco policy, they said it would not preclude them from seeking treatment.

Both clients and providers said the policy was a significant "culture change."

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• Utah to explore penalties for smokers on Medicaid 

Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, is sponsoring legislation that would impose higher co-payments for tobacco-using Utahns enrolled in the low-income health insurance program.

The measure may be a first nationally though other states have, in recent years, passed laws requiring applicants for food stamps, cash assistance and Medicaid to undergo and pay for drug testing. The rationale: Taxpayer money shouldn’t support someone’s drug habit.

Ray voices the same sentiment, saying, “I’m not trying to be mean to smokers. But people who are voluntarily putting their health at risk ought to pay more toward their health care.”

Equally important, says Ray, is the imperative to snuff out tobacco use. . . .

Without seeing the bill, which is still under draft, low-income advocates don’t have much to say about it. But the approach is not favored by the American Lung Association.

“We support carrots, not sticks; policies that encourage people to stop smoking,” said Jennifer Singleterry, the Washington DC-based group’s cessation-policy manager.

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City planning commission OKs smoke shop law  

The Tooele City Planning Commission gave an affirmative nod to a new ordinance that restricts the location of smoke shops in Tooele at their meeting Wednesday evening.

After a brief public hearing, the planning commission voted 6-1 to advance the ordinance to the city council with a favorable recommendation.

The 30-page zoning ordinance bans any new tobacco shops within 1,500 feet of any school, park, recreational facility, youth center, library, church, other tobacco store, residential area or area zoned for residential use. The ordinance also forbids any such shops on Vine Street.

The only dissenting vote on the issue came from Phil Montano.

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City planning commission OKs smoke shop law 

The Tooele City Planning Commission gave an affirmative nod to a new ordinance that restricts the location of smoke shops in Tooele at their meeting Wednesday evening.

After a brief public hearing, the planning commission voted 6-1 to advance the ordinance to the city council with a favorable recommendation.

The 30-page zoning ordinance bans any new tobacco shops within 1,500 feet of any school, park, recreational facility, youth center, library, church, other tobacco store, residential area or area zoned for residential use. The ordinance also forbids any such shops on Vine Street.

The only dissenting vote on the issue came from Phil Montano.

“We’ve overstepped our bounds with this regulation,”

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Secondhand smoke is harming pets 

A Davis County Health Department educator and a nationally recognized Davis County veterinarian, according to recent studies, contend secondhand smoke has serious effects upon pets within the household.

They hope that by educating pet owners who smoke about the dangers of secondhand smoke and the risk it poses to their pets, that it will encourage them to quit smoking.

Studies show nearly 30 percent of pet owners who smoke would try to quit if they learned secondhand smoke could harm their pets, while fewer than 2 percent would quit smoking for the sake of their children, according to Gloria Yugel, a community health educator with the Davis County Health Department.

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