Tobacco.org

Winona State University to Ban Cigarette Smoking on Campus 

Winona State University will soon ban smoking, both indoors and outdoors, on its campus. Starting Jan. 12, no smoking or tobacco use of any kind is allowed within campus boundaries.

Jump to full article »

No enforcement of anti-smoking law in Barguna  

The Anti-tobacco law is yet to enforce in the district as general people as well as members of law enforcers smoke cigarette at public places without any care or fear.

In the initial stage when the Anti-smoking law was promulgated, those who used to smoke at public places stopped their old habit considering punishment under the law.

But with the passage of time, the smokers started the same practice everywhere, including in buses, tempos and launches, as there was no implementation of the law anywhere in the district.

Smoking was banned at academic institutions, offices, courts, cinema halls premises, etc under the law

Jump to full article »

Smoking to be banned at Grossmont, Cuyamaca  

Smoking will be prohibited at Grossmont and Cuyamaca colleges, which have about 27,000 students, beginning Thursday.

The new policy will be mostly self-enforced, though public safety officers or designated employees will have authority to issue warnings or citations.

The Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District will join other local jurisdictions that have adopted similar policies in recent years.

Jump to full article »

Tobacco Ban at MSU Effective Today  

Tobacco is now banned at Minot State University.

Chewing tobacco and cigarettes were banned with the beginning of the new year.

The new ban includes vehicles parked on university grounds.

Jump to full article »

Faculty members rail against campus smoking ban 

Grabbing a quick smoke between classes has become impossible for Lock Haven University political science professor Robert Storch.

An indoor and outdoor smoking ban imposed at Pennsylvania's state university system in September means Storch must walk off campus whenever he craves nicotine - a 20-minute roundtrip excursion that he cannot cram into a 15-minute break between classes.

"I find it ridiculous," Storch told a Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board hearing examiner yesterday. "You feel like a leper anyway. It's really very demeaning."

Storch was among a handful of professors at the 14 universities who testified about the smoking ban during a hearing on an unfair-labor-practice complaint filed by the State System of Higher Education's faculty union. A ruling is not expected before February.

The 5,900-member Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties wants the ban rescinded. The policy was imposed with virtually no warning, and the union argues that any changes should have been negotiated.

Jump to full article »

Universities, union clash over smoking ban 

Grabbing a quick smoke between classes has become impossible for Lock Haven University political science professor Robert Storch.

An indoor and outdoor smoking ban imposed at Pennsylvania's state university system in September means Storch must walk off campus whenever he craves nicotine - a 20-minute roundtrip excursion that he cannot cram into a 15-minute break between classes.

``I find it ridiculous,'' Storch told a Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board hearing examiner Tuesday. ``You feel like a leper anyway. It's really very demeaning.''

Storch was among a handful of professors at the 14 universities who testified about the smoking ban during a hearing on an unfair labor practice complaint filed by the State System of Higher Education's faculty union. A ruling is not expected before February.

The 5,900-member Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties wants the ban rescinded. The new policy was imposed with virtually no warning, and APSCUF argues that any changes should have been negotiated with the union first.

Jump to full article »

• Faculty, employees fight campus smoking ban 

But it's not just his campus that's affected by the non-smoking policy, it's all 14 universities owned by the State System of Higher Education. System officials say the ban complies with the state's new Clean Indoor Air Act.

Besides Lock Haven, the schools include Indiana University of Pennsylvania, California University of Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock and 10 others around Pennsylvania. Indoor smoking had already been largely banned on the campuses, but it's the ban on outdoor smoking that has some teachers, other school employees and students riled up. The system has more than 112,000 students.

The Association of Pennsylvania State College & University Faculties, which represents 6,000 professors and coaches at the 14 state-owned universities, has filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the state Labor Relations Board over the new anti-smoking policy, claiming it's too broad and was unilaterally imposed.

A hearing on the complaint was held yesterday by state hearing officer Donald Wallace, who may rule in February.

Jump to full article »

Faculty, staff argue against smoking ban at state universities 

The union representing 6,000 professors and coaches at Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities brought its beef about a new campus-wide ban on smoking to the state Labor Relations Board today.

The unfair labor practice complaint was filed by the Association of Pennsylvania State College & University Faculties. It's upset with the State System of Higher Education for imposing a ban on smoking, outdoors as well as indoors, on all 14 campuses. The ban took effect Sept. 11, when the state's new Clean Indoor Air Act took effect.

System officials said they believe they are correctly interpreting the act by banning smoking in all outside areas on all the campuses. Indoor smoking had been largely banned before the new law.

Several professors who are APSCUF members testified today that it takes at least twice as long, as much as 20 minutes, for them to walk out of their offices and go to the nearest public street off-campus in order to smoke. That compares to just a few minutes, under the old policy, because all they had to do was step a few feet outside their buildings.

Union spokesman Kevin Kodish said the state system unilaterally imposed the new no-smoking rule, which should have been bargained with the union because it changes working conditions.

Jump to full article »

Portrait of a Smoker: A Personal History 

Tiedge is one of many students who smoke and holds an ambivalent opinion on state law banning smoking within 20 feet of a district-owned building. His feelings stretch over to a similar citywide ban prohibiting smoking in outdoor dining and shopping areas and within 20 feet of building entrances, which was officially passed by the Pasadena City Council on Oct. 20.

"As far as the law goes, I don't know how they're going to enforce that," he says, echoing a common bemusement.

The 21-year-old English major is an interesting case study, because he's a new smoker - a year and a half fresh - as well as a second-generation smoker.

He's also a member of a dance club. You might think smoking would exact a physical toll on him at odds with his smoking habit, but Tiedge is not eager to quit.

Jump to full article »

More colleges stamp out smoking  

College campuses are going smoke-free in rapidly growing numbers across the USA.

More than 140 campuses now are completely smoke-free, more than triple the number that had banned smoking as recently as March 2007, said Frieda Edgette, of the lobbying group Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights.

An additional 30 campuses are smoke-free with a few exceptions, such as designated smoking outdoor areas, and at least 500 campuses have smoke-free policies in residential housing, she said.

The most recent major development came last month, when the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) announced a smoking ban at all state-owned universities, after the state passed a ban prohibiting smoking in most work and public places in June. That made the state's 14 universities, attended by more than 110,000 students, smoke-free.

"The momentum is growing," Edgette said.

Jump to full article »

LETTER: Ban on tobacco funds doesn't threaten academic freedom 

Prof. Carl V. Phillips's letter was an entertaining -- as opposed to enlightening -- read because he confuses the issue substantially.

As a U of A graduate student who has raised concerns, in my capacity as a representative on the General Faculties Council (GFC), about the university's continued acceptance of considerable sums of money from the tobacco industry, I feel compelled to respond.

Phillips makes a strong case for academic freedom. The interesting thing is that, in fact, no one is trying to interfere with the freedom of Phillips or any other academic to study, write, or speak publicly about research on smokeless tobacco, or tobacco.

The concern is that the funding for this research is, in part, being provided by the tobacco industry itself. Questioning the appropriateness of this source of funding does not compromise academic freedom. . . .

True academic freedom, of which Phillips speaks highly, can only be achieved if the source of the funding does not have a strong vested interest in the outcome.

Jump to full article »

LETTER: No safe alternative 

It's hard to understand why the University of Alberta still employs apologists for Big Tobacco.

Prof. Carl V. Phillips's unimaginative defence of "new and promising ideas" that can "reduce ... risks by 99 per cent" would be laughable if he wasn't serious. He directs us to his website, TobaccoHarmReduction.org for details, where one can find a link to another website, smokersonly.org, which contains the wisdom of another academic, Dr. Brad Rodu.

Rodu is another proponent of smokeless tobacco and is also joined at the hip with the tobacco industry. Unfortunately for Rodu, he has attracted the attention of the American Cancer Society as well as the American Dental Association. . . .

One can only hope that reason will ultimately prevail. Phillips may moan about "attacks on academic freedom" and creatively call legitimate concerns "anti-health activism," but the end result will be the same -- an industry that peddles death and disease will one day cease to exist.

Jump to full article »

LETTER: New Year's resolution 

The absurd suggestions by Prof. Carl V. Phillips fly in the face of the very principles of public health. His comments on academic freedom are fatally flawed and present as a thinly-veiled example of his shameless promotion of smokeless tobacco. To promote smokeless tobacco as an alternative to cigarettes is deceptive, as it keeps the brain's craving centre stimulated.

A new year is a good time to reflect on what's ahead, and perhaps make some big decisions. Smokers are encouraged to seek out the help they may need to quit, such as safe medicinal support and talk therapy.

Jump to full article »

LETTER: U of A right to take tobacco cash for research 

If we can all be allowed to make up our own little report cards, I would like to submit my own and since mine grades the degree of academic integrity, I award As to the University of Alberta and its president, Indira Samarasekera. High marks to all for not kowtowing to special-interest groups.

As I see it, the university can either forgo all industry support, which would mean a billion-dollar bill being passed onto taxpayers, or continue the tradition of accepting help from those who can best afford it, but within well-established guidelines.

And how were the report cards for Action on Smoking and Health, and Physicians for a Smoke Free Canada? When marking for integrity and for advocating in the public interest, I am afraid no more than a C. (It would have been a D, but I gave them a few points for effort.)

Jump to full article »

LETTER: Research saves lives 

Re: "Universities fail the test," by Les Hagen, Letters, Dec. 11, and "U of A's double standard," by Dr. Charl Els, Letters, Dec. 13.

Les Hagen and Dr. Charl Els are upset with the U of A for accepting funding from tobacco companies.

How much research has been accomplished by this funding? How many lives have been saved by the outcome of this research?

I know that smoking is bad for you. I smoke and I understand it is an addiction as well as a social habit. Will I die from a smoking-related disease? Who knows? I do know that at some point, I will die.

The U of A should continue to accept tobacco funding because it needs the money to do the excellent work and research.

Jump to full article »