http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/category/sports.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://www.nwasianweekly.com/2009/11/16th-asian-games-to-be-tobacco-free/ http://tobacco.org/news/293080.html The 16th Asian Games, part of the worldwide Olympic movement and governed by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), will be “going smokeless” with firm prohibitions on the sale of tobacco products and tobacco sponsorship of the Games. The Asian Games are the second largest sports event in the world after the Summer Olympic Games. Governed by the Olympic Council of Asia, the 16th Asian Games follows all mandates of the International Olympic Committee in which Games’ organizers are prohibited from accepting sponsorship of the Games by tobacco manufactures. Organizers are also prohibited from allowing the sale of cigarettes or tobacco products at any athletic venue. Northwest Asian Weekly China Asia Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=456428 http://tobacco.org/news/292938.html The ban on cigarette sponsorship for sports activities, especially football, will not be withdrawn by the government, deputy minister of Youth and Sports Datuk Razali Ibrahim told the Dewan Rakyat Thursday. Razali said there will be no change in the government's commitment to support the World Health Organisation's (WHO) global ban on cigarette companies sponsoring any kind of sports activities under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Malaysian National News Agency ramjit@bernama.com (Ramjit) Malaysia Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.pr.com/press-release/192554 http://tobacco.org/news/292694.html Sensei Chris Feldt, owner and chief instructor for Samurai Karate Studio, located in Columbia, SC, Richland Northeast, announced today that he was introducing a new anti-smoking program as part of his karate curriculum. The flash card program, was developed by Tom Callos, creator and team coach of The Ultimate Black Belt Test and the New Way Network. PR Worldwide, Inc. Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.novanewsnow.com/article-400838-No-more-smoking-on-the-sidelines.html http://tobacco.org/news/292615.html The Town of Windsor is considering a bylaw to ward away secondhand smoke. With a vote of 3-2, Council approved first reading of the Protection from Secondhand Smoke Bylaw. The matter will go to second reading at the November 24 council meeting. If passed, no one will be permitted to smoke on any property owned or leased by the Town. This includes all town parks, playgrounds, recreational facilities, trails and building lands. Windsor’s chief administrative officer Louis Coutinho says the bylaw is not about trying to fine people, but about educating people in a healthier community. “Secondhand smoke is a health hazard.” Still, those caught violating this bylaw could be subject to a fine of up to $200. NovaNewsNet cmarsters@hantsjournal.ca (Christy Marsters/The Hants Journal) Canada Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.wellandtribune.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=2171333 http://tobacco.org/news/292567.html City councillors want people to leave their cigarettes at home when they accompany children to baseball and soccer games at municipal parks. Welland is developing a draft bylaw to prohibit people from smoking during sports events at city parks. "I think it would be a great thing for parents, grandparents of children ... to butt out during the games," said Ward 5 Coun. Rocky Letourneau, who first raised the issue at a city council meeting in the summer. If people need to have a cigarette, Letourneau suggested they leave the area. Welland Tribune abenner@wellandtribune.ca (Posted By ALLAN BENNER/Tribune Staff ) Canada Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169832.php http://tobacco.org/news/292192.html Six years after the ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship in the UK, a London-based sports body stands accused of breaching the law by promoting a cigarette brand on its website.[1] The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) which represents the world's top male tennis players, is responsible for the sponsorship contracts for the various international tournaments. The next ATP World Tour tournament, which is due to take place in Basel, Switzerland from 31 October to 8 November, is sponsored by Davidoff, a cigarette brand manufactured by Imperial Tobacco. The Swiss indoor tournament is believed to be the only one in the world to be sponsored by a tobacco company. British-based Imperial Tobacco acquired the Davidoff cigarette brand in 2006 and has exploited the weak law in Switzerland which still allows events to be sponsored by tobacco companies, although tobacco advertising on television is banned. However, the televising of the event means that tobacco advertising will be beamed into the homes of more than one billion people worldwide, [2] contrary to Article 13 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which has been signed by 160 countries worldwide. [3] ASH has written to the ATP urging the organisation to end its ties with the tobacco industry when the current contract comes to an end and is seeking clarification from the Department of Health regarding the possible breach of UK law. Medical News TODAY UK Switzerland Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://wfmz.com/view/?id=1292403 http://tobacco.org/news/292091.html For one in three sports fans, watching the game and lighting up a cigarette go hand in hand. And those are the fans an anti- smoking group hopes to reach during the World Series. [ WEB LINK: ( Tobacco Free Wellness Program ) ] WFMZ-TV Channel 69 webmaster@wfmz.com Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.slate.com/id/2234341/ http://tobacco.org/news/292073.html Have baseball players always used smokeless tobacco? Yes. In the mid-19th century—baseball's formative years—chewing tobacco was enormously popular in the United States. Early ballplayers likely chewed tobacco for the same reasons as other American men, but they soon discovered baseball-specific benefits. It spurs saliva production and lubricates the mouth in the dusty infield environment. When fielding gloves came into vogue in the 1870s and 1880s, players moistened the leather with spit. Pitchers used the juice from a chaw to prepare the notorious spitball, which was widely permitted until 1920. It's not surprising that chewing tobacco has become identified with baseball. Both pastimes came of age when America was Slate Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/health-news/2009/10/31/top-athlete-joins-fight-to-stop-girls-smoking-91466-25056626/ http://tobacco.org/news/292055.html TRIATHLETE Helen Jenkins has urged the Welsh Assembly Government to do more to prevent teenage girls from smoking. Helen, the 2008 world triathlon champion, who lives in Bridgend, has become a patron of the anti-smoking charity Ash Wales. One of her first jobs as a non-smoking role model has been to meet teenage girls from Cardiff and Caerphilly during a visit to the Senedd. And the 25-year-old has called for the Assembly Government to take more action as it emerged that almost one in four teenage girls in Wales smokes. Helen said: "To learn that nearly one in four 15-year-old girls are regularly smoking is staggering. WalesOnline UK-Wales Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front/Federer_fires_up_anti_smoking_emotions.html?siteSect=105&sid=11425120&ty=st http://tobacco.org/news/291942.html As Roger Federer sets out to win his fourth consecutive Swiss Indoors title in Basel, a debate has reignited over tobacco sponsorship in sport. The tournament, which has been sponsored by Swiss luxury brand Davidoff since 1994 and starts on Monday, is one of the last in the world to be sponsored by a tobacco company – and health campaigners aren't happy. "First of all, linking sport and tobacco is utterly perverse," Jürg Hurter, president of Pro Aere, Switzerland's largest organisation against passive smoking, told swissinfo.ch. "Second, the tobacco industry – who aren't idiots – try to get around tobacco promotion laws by sponsoring sporting events or by branding various products." Pascal Diethelm, director of the anti-smoking group OxyRomandie, said last year "players drowned in an advertising soup for Davidoff". "At the end of the match the young ball boys and ball girls received a medal from Roger Federer in recognition of having served the cause of Davidoff so well. Each medal bore the Davidoff logo in order to make sure that these potential smokers would know which cigarette brand to choose," he said. . . . "This discussion is like the Loch Ness monster – it comes back every year!" Jürg Vogel, a member of the Swiss Indoors organising committee, told swissinfo.ch. "Davidoff sells not only tobacco but also perfumes and other accessories. I think you have to see the whole picture. swissinfo Switzerland Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/the-platform/commentary/2009/10/bowling-proprietors-against-proposition-n/ http://tobacco.org/news/291915.html After years of watching 37 other states enact policy on restricting smoking in public places, St. Louis County voters will decide on Nov. 3 if Proposition N should be passed to ban smoking in some public places on Jan. 1. Opinions are strong, for and against. But voters are being asked to make a decision on a weak and confusing referendum because it doesn’t totally ban smoking. The proposal passed by the St. Louis County Council exempts casinos, bars with limited food sales and Lambert Airport. The owners of St. Louis County’s 21 bowling centers oppose Proposition N with the opinion that if smoking is to be banned, it should be prohibited statewide in all public places. St. Louis Post-Dispatch Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.fox2now.com/news/ktvi-stl-county-smoking-ban-bowlingalleys-102709,0,5105176.story http://tobacco.org/news/291910.html With an estimated 20 percent of business at stake, bowling alleys are becoming the battlegrounds for the St. Louis County smoking ban on next week's ballot. The proposed ban has several exemptions for casinos and bars but not for bowling alleys. So owners and users are being very vocal when it comes to a smoking ban, especially since it is only a short drive to other locations where you can smoke and bowl in the same place. Bowling a couple frames is a favored past-time. For many knocking down pins goes with lighting up smokes. "A lot of them smoke studies show 20-30 percent of bowlers do smoke," argues Tom Shucart of Hazelwood Bowl. KTVI myfox St. Louis Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/899790.html http://tobacco.org/news/291790.html A San Luis Obispo doctor is continuing to speak out against Cal Poly for allowing students to accept scholarships from the smokeless tobacco industry as prize awards in collegiate rodeo events. University officials say Cal Poly has no basis to deny students scholarship funds from a legal source, and university officials note that no tobacco-related advertising is allowed at school events under a campus policy. Five years ago, Cal Poly officials supported creating a fund that could be an alternative to tobacco-industry scholarships, but that idea was rejected by tobacco opponents. Stephen L. Hansen, a physician and representative of the county Tobacco Control Coalition, said he's outraged that the chewing tobacco industry lures students to a cancer-causing product through scholarships San Luis Obispo Tribune nwilson@thetribunenews.com (Nick Wilson) Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.fox2now.com/ktvi-stl-county-smoking-ban-bowlingalleys-102709,0,7344853.story?track=rss http://tobacco.org/news/291787.html With an estimated 20 percent of business at stake, bowling alleys are becoming the battlegrounds for the St. Louis County smoking ban on next week's ballot. The proposed ban has several exemptions for casinos and bars but not for bowling alleys. So owners and users are being very vocal when it comes to a smoking ban, especially since it is only a short drive to other locations where you can smoke and bowl in the same place. Bowling a couple frames is a favored past-time. For many knocking down pins goes with lighting up smokes. "A lot of them smoke studies show 20-30 percent of bowlers do smoke," argues Tom Shucart of Hazelwood Bowl. If a majority of voters in St. Louis County say yes to Proposition "N" next week, smoking at Hazelwood Bowl and most other public places would be illegal by 2011. With the Ford plant across the street gone, Shucart fears a smoking ban will chase many of his remaining customers away as well. KTVI myfox St. Louis Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/oct/27/tobacco-still-stains-the-majors/ http://tobacco.org/news/291724.html For my couch time, Major League Baseball does its postseason almost as well as "The Office" does body language. Brilliant. Except for all the spittin' and chewin' or, worst of all, both in one quick camera shot. How does that look in HD? . . . But MLB holds fast to a disgusting tradition, something not allowed in most workplaces or public buildings throughout America. You don't see it in the NBA, NFL, NHL or college sports. You don't see it at bookstores or restaurants. Even stodgy NASCAR got rid of its Cup race tobacco sponsorship. Only big league baseball, thanks to a stubborn union and inept owners bent on ruining all their good publicity with close-up shots of outfielders stuffing bad stuff into their mouths. . . . Francona is not the only one. One of your favorite players, maybe someone you know or have met, might have trouble with this image-ruining habit. Next time you meet such a player, instead of spewing praise, remind them that doctors and the American Dental Association have weighed in. . . . Too bad it's too late for some. Jack Krol was the manager of our Charleston Rainbows for three seasons, 1988-1990, and briefly served as interim manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1978 and 1980. In 1993, the same year minor league baseball banned smokeless tobacco, the long-time chewer had part of his tongue removed. Krol, a great guy, died of oral cancer in 1994. He was 57. Charleston Post & Courier letters@postandcourier.com (Gene Sapakoff The Post and Courier ) Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT