Tobacco.org

• More hotels go completely smoke-free 

Amid growing public concern about the dangers of secondhand smoke, the number of lodgings prohibiting smoking indoors has tripled in three years, according to a USA TODAY analysis of American Automobile Association data.

There are more than 8,300 smoke-free lodgings in the USA -- nearly 6,000 more than in 2005, AAA's figures show.

CHART: Smoke-free hotels across the USA

More than 7,000 of the smoke-free lodgings are hotels, motels, inns and B&Bs, while the rest are condos, cottages and other rentals.

AAA has the most extensive list of smoke-free lodgings, but the total is undoubtedly higher.

Jump to full article »

UPDATE: Speedway smoking ban  

Kansas Speedway will ban smoking in the grandstands and all enclosed areas of the complex beginning in 2010.

The policy, however, will not be enforced at the planned Hard Rock Casino & Hotel expected to open on the Speedway grounds sometime next year, with a hotel and other non-gambling amenities expected to start opening by late 2010.

“This has no effect on the casino,” Joe Weinberg, Cordish Co. principal and president of Kansas Entertainment Investors LLC partnership that will own the casino.

“We will allow smoking in the casino” and throughout most of the proposed hotel’s 300 rooms, said Weinberg.

Jump to full article »

• Rees put brake on smoke bans 

NATHAN REES has been dubbed the key man behind what was criticised as a soft approach by the former Carr government to introducing bans on smoking in hotels.

The recently retired head of the Australian Hotels Association, John Thorpe, dropped the bombshell at a farewell celebration in his honour, thanking the Premier for being an architect of the controversial delay in a full smoking ban in hotels.

Sources told the Herald Mr Thorpe said at the function on Tuesday that of all those who had helped him in government, the one person he was most grateful to was a policy adviser to the former health minister Craig Knowles who had now become the Premier. Mr Rees was heavily involved in the policy decision announced by Mr Carr which resulted in a ban in only half the indoor space of hotels in 2005, and a quarter of hotels' indoor space in 2006.

Even the full ban in July last year was controversial because less than a quarter of "outdoor" areas has to be outdoors to allow people to smoke there.

Mr Thorpe confirmed his comments, made to an audience of 600, to the Herald and said Mr Rees supported hotels with the staged ban and had gone against the wishes of the Cancer Institute head, Jim Bishop, who wanted to see a full ban immediately introduced in hotels.

Jump to full article »

• Ban on smoking gains overwhelming response in Kerala  

Earlier, you could at least find a few puffing cigarettes furitively at bus stands and railway stations as there is already a Court directive against smoking in Kerala, but the Centre's recent ban is fast ensuring that such incidents do not occur anymore, thanks to the special initiative taken by police.

"Smoking in public places is even otherwise punishable in the state since 1999, following a High Court directive. But what the recent ban has done is to take up the issue more seriously, demanding the police to be more effective', says City Police Commissioner Anoop Kuruvilla John.

`The ban has been reasonably well-enforced in the state even earlier, when the guilty had to personally appear in the Court to pay a fine upto Rs.500', he says, adding that on an average, about 350 cases were booked a month in Kozhikode alone till recently. . . .

Interestingly, many hotels and restaurants have come up with signboards issuing warnings against smoking, thereby solely leaving it to the customer to run the risk of being apprehended in case of violating the ban.

Reports from neighbouring Malappuram district say that the `urge' for smoking has driven smokers even to use-and-pay public toilets.

Jump to full article »

Few Hotels Have Rules Against Women Smokers  

LORD BYRON'S shocked protest against the immorality of the waltz, when first he saw it danced, is a subject of polite mirth in this generation. Nowadays even the cry against "smokes-for-women," although it thundered through New York within the memory of men still ... [ END OF FIRST PARAGRAPH ]

Note: This article will open in PDF format.

Jump to full article »

Smoking ban will affect business: Shack owners 

Even as the government is gearing up to prohibit smoking in public places from October 2, owners of pubs and shacks claim that this move 'would affect their business and reduce their clientele'.

"More than 90% tourists, especially foreigners, who come to the shacks come to drink, smoke, make merry and enjoy the beauty of the sea. If we ask them not to smoke, then it will reduce our clientele and affect tourism," said All Goa Shack Owners Welfare Association president, Cruz Cardozo.

He said that they would be making a representation to the government to relax the ban for the tourists who visit the shacks, as 90% of the guests smoke. "

Jump to full article »

• Sensing legal trouble over Oct 2 smoking ban, govt rushes to SC  

Sensing a spate of litigation in high courts challenging its decision to completely ban smoking in public places from October 2, the Centre on Friday rushed to the Supreme Court seeking transfer of all such petitions from the HCs to the apex court for a uniform adjudication.

The first of such apprehended litigation has already been filed in the Delhi high court by ITC, one of the largest cigarette manufacturers, and Indian Hotels Association arguing that the notification banning smoking made no distinction between a public place and private space.

Jump to full article »

ITC, hoteliers appeal against smoking ban 

ITC and Indian Hotels Association have moved the Delhi high court challenging the Union government's notification that bans smoking in "public places", including hotels and restaurants, from October 2.

They have argued that the notification makes no distinction between private space and public space.

On Wednesday, ITC fielded senior advocate Soli Sorabjee, who argued that the rule was unjustified as it included private offices like a lawyer's chamber or an artist's studio. "Private office cannot be called a public place as these are not accessible to the general public," Sorabjee told the court.

Sorabjee told the bench headed by Justice Vikramjit Sen that the government had no power to take such a decision as the act under which the notification was issued had already been stayed by the Madras high court.

Jump to full article »

ITC challenges smoking ban  

ITC Ltd on Wednesday approached the Delhi High Court challenging the Central Government's notification that slapped a ban on smoking in all public places and other establishments from October 2.

A Bench comprising of Justice Vikramjit Sen and S L Bhayana deferred the hearing till September 30 after the Central Government contended that a case related to the issue was coming before the Supreme Court September 29.

Besides ITC, two others petitioners, including Indian Hotels Association, have moved separate pleas challenging the May 2008 notification issued by the Health Ministry.

Jump to full article »

• ITC moves HC against smoking ban 

Indian Tobaco Company (ITC) Ltd, on Tuesday approached the Delhi High Court challenging the Centre's notification banning smoking in private offices and other establishments from October two.

Under the curbs, those caught smoking in public places and other private organisations will be fined Rs 200 which may increase to Rs 1,000.

So far, smoking is banned only in public places and in private offices an area has been allotted as smoking zone for the cigarette smokers.

Besides ITC, two others petitioners including Indian Hotels Association have also moved separate plea challenging the May 2008 notification issued by the Union Health Ministry.

Jump to full article »

Clinton Smoking Ban Takes Effect 

It is now illegal to smoke in bars and restaurants in Clinton. A ban on lighting up in public places took effect Friday. The new ordinance also prohibits smoking in most hotel and motel rooms in the city.

Violators can be fined up to $500. And businesses that don't comply can face first time offense of $100.

The Clinton board of aldermen unanimously adopted the ban last month. . . .

Bar and restaurant patrons must remain at least 30 feet away from the main entrance before they can light up.

Jump to full article »

Ramadoss smokes out smokers from public, private places 

Come Oct 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, and smoking in public places and even private buildings anywhere in the country will become a punishable offence.Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss Tuesday said the government is committed to curb tobacco consumption among the people and has set the deadline of Oct 2 to ban smoking in public places.

“If you want to smoke, go out to a street where there are no people,” Ramadoss told reporters.

Earlier, smoking was only banned in government buildings but as per the new rules, all buildings, including private ones, will be smoke-free zones.

Jump to full article »

Bad news for smokers  

Smoking in public places will now come for a price from October 2 with those puffing away to be fined Rs 200 which may increase to Rs 1,000.

And there is bad news for employers too. They also could be fined if someone is caught smoking on their premises.

Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said on Tuesday that the ban from the day coinciding with Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary would also cover hotels, restaurants and offices.

Jump to full article »

LEE: How to get a non-smoking room in China  

The concept of non-smoking areas is foreign to most businesses here. You can ask for a non-smoking section in a restaurant, and you get the table next to the puffer with the stinkiest cigarettes in the world (worse even than the legendary Russian tar-babies.) The other day I watched a cook in a Schlotsky's Deli light up a cigarette as he was preparing a ham on rye. Stand in a crowd of people, and the smokers will exhale in your face as they talk. . . .

I had been in my room - which stank of stale smoke - less than a minute when there was a knock on the door. I opened it to young porter who rushed in and grabbed the two ashtrays in the bathroom and on the desk. He then left.

Voila! I now had a non-smoking room.

Jump to full article »

Court looks at pub's open shutter case  

IN A move residents fear will push more antisocial and violent behaviour on to the streets, the Coogee Bay Hotel - one of Sydney's biggest pubs - plans to replace the tinted windows in its ground floor bars with bi-fold shutters opening to the beach- front and Coogee Bay Road.

Smokers will now be able to linger longer on the street, chat to their mates sitting by the window, be passed a beer or two, and watch the big game on the hotel's giant TV screens.

This year the hotel has been nominated by the Australian Hotels Association for an award for outstanding community service, despite ranking second on a police list of the number of assaults

Jump to full article »