Tobacco.org

• New Policy to Tighten Smoking Ban in Federal Buildings  

Government workers at federal buildings who want a cigarette break will have to take a stroll before they light up, according to a new federal policy.

A regulation published last week in the Federal Register by the General Services Administration prohibits smoking in the courtyards of federal buildings, or within 25 feet of doorways and air intake ducts. It also bans designated smoking rooms in federal buildings. The policy is to be implemented within six months.

The regulation replaces an executive order signed by President Bill Clinton in 1997 that prohibited smoking in federal buildings but allowed smoking in designated rooms or outdoor areas. Anti-smoking advocates viewed the exceptions as significant loopholes that exposed co-workers and passersby to secondhand smoke, and they welcomed the new regulation.

"We see this as a major victory," said Heather Grzelka, director of media relations at the American Lung Association. "This is going to go a long way to protecting workers from exposure to secondhand smoke."

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Program seeks to discourage restaurant patio smoking  

OROVILLE -- Somewhere between a handful and dozens of restaurants in Butte County may still allow smoking in outdoor dining areas, but health officials would like to see that end.

The results of a phone survey recently completed for the Butte County Health Department reveals that two-thirds of those contacted would encourage the enforcement of smoke-free patio and outdoor dining, and be more likely to patronize restaurants that do.

Raul Raygoza, with the county's tobacco education program, said 134 restaurants in Chico and Oroville were placed on a list to be contacted.

Raygoza said the list was compiled with the help of restaurant health and safety inspectors, who kept track of eateries with outdoor seating that don't appear to specifically prohibit smoking.

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ROBERTSON: Hampton proposes license to kidnap children 

Rep. Susan Kepner wants to make it easy to abduct the children of smokers. In this latest assault by the Nicotine Nazis, Frau Kepner is leading the charge to ensure we are not allowed within 25 feet of a playground if we're smoking. . . .

Somehow, when I went to the polls last November, I had a feeling it would be imprudent to put a graduate of the Fazio Institute of Cosmetology into a political office. Following that aversion to making blatantly idiotic choices, I did not vote for Frau Kepner. Unfortunately, I was in the minority and she wormed her way in by a reported margin of 406 votes. The actual number was probably 666 votes.

A kidnapper with a 35-pound kid under his arm can get a pretty good running start if he snags one from the other side of the sandbox. . . .

When I was growing up, we were taught that playgrounds were a place to share with other children. If Kepner has her way, the children will be able to share, but the adults will not. Great way to teach our children manners and cooperation by example, Susan. Way to go.

At least I now understand the dangers of voting for someone who spent years sniffing peroxide fumes.

-- Lily Robertson will soon be recognized by the gold Phillip Morris emblem legally required to be displayed on her coat for easy identification purposes on her way to the smoker's ghetto, or can be contacted by e-mail at canopicjargon@gmail.com.

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Smoking banned on Barnstable public beaches 

HYANNIS - Starting next spring, smokers will no longer be allowed to light up at Barnstable beaches.

Town Manager John Klimm today announced a smoking ban at Barnstable's 13 public beaches and ponds.

The ban, implemented at the request of the town's Recreation Committee, makes Barnstable the first town on the Cape, and one of few around the state, to ban smoking.

"The fundamental decision was based on the repeated requests of our users to do more in terms of beach cleanliness," Klimm said yesterday. "Filth on the beach, especially cigarette butts, is always one of the biggest complaints."

Each year, the smoking ban will be in effect each year during the tourist season, from May 15-Sept. 15. During that time, smoking will only be allowed in specified smoking areas, to be reserved in the parking lot at each beach and pond.

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Outdoor smoking ban under consideration in San Luis Obispo  

In 1990 the city passed a ban on smoking in public buildings, including bars and restaurants. It was the first of its kind in the country.

California adopted a statewide law in 1994, adding bars to that list four years later.

San Luis Obispo City Council members are considering a ban on outdoor smoking in public places. It is an issue that has some smokers fuming. Talk of a ban on smoking outside in San Luis Obispo has some smokers fearing some of their personal freedoms are vanishing.

"It's a little ridiculous, honestly. It's a free choice that people have. It's kind of like banning drinking," said smoker Janine Thompson.

Complaints to the city council about second-hand smoke and litter from cigarette butts is prompting council members to take action.

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• EDITORTIAL: Outdoor ban request prompts Escondido smoke screen 

Fourteen cities, the county and the port have adopted smoke-free ordinances for public outdoor spaces.

And then there is Escondido . . .

Members of Escondido's Youth Commission on May 23, 2007, asked the City Council to consider a smoking ban at parks, trails and other open spaces. . . .

This fall, youths organized by the Vista Community Clinic and other nonprofits swept 11 Escondido parks and picked up 26,456 cigarette butts. They made a presentation last week . . .

Councilman Sam Abed was not supportive: “Personally, I am against government regulations – especially on personal issues ... to have a blanket regulation, it violates the people's right to smoke ... definitely you are going to see a good democracy here.”

Pardon us, councilmen, but what we are seeing is bad democracy here. . . .

Two-thirds of cigarettes are sold at convenience stores nowadays. The average convenience store, according to an industry association survey, sold $393,327 worth of cigarettes in 2006.

Abed owns a gasoline station that sells cigarettes, revenues undisclosed. . . .

By standards of morality and fair play, Abed needs to recuse himself from council discussions and votes about smoking. . . .

The Fair Political Practices Commission, which oversees California's Political Reform Act, has an informal eight-step test to guide public officials on potential conflicts of interest. . . .

On one side are Escondido residents wanting to enjoy publicly owned outdoor spaces without having to inhale secondhand smoke, youth activists, nonprofits, and such damning statistics as 100 Escondidans will die in 2009 from the effects of smoking.

On the other side are Escondido Councilman Sam Abed and a big red sign saying, “Cigarettes For Sale.”

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On one side are Escondido residents wanting to enjoy publicly owned outdoor spaces without having to inhale secondhand smoke, youth activists, nonprofits, and such damning statistics as 100 Escondidans will die in 2009 from the effects of smoking. On the other side are Escondido Councilman Sam Abed and a big red sign saying, 'Cigarettes For Sale.'
The San Diego Union Tribune tears into Convenience Store owner and City Councilman Sam Abed.

EDITORIAL: Common-sense enforcement  

enforcement will get more complicated outside. Shooing smokers away from the entrance of a restaurant, bar or store is one thing, though we hope businesses don't end up painting stripes 20 feet from entrances like so many three-point lines on basketball courts. And how aggressively should the city pursue the individual who's smoking a cigarette as he walks along a sidewalk downtown or in Aggieville, passing one business after another?

The law is the law, but enforcement efforts ought to be guided by common sense. Outdoors, at least, those ought to involve a no-harm, no foul approach.

That might not satisfy zealots who would just as soon criminalize smokers, but nothing short of a tobacco-free world would likely do that.

Our hope is that prosecution is reserved for citizens who repeatedly disregard — defy — the ordinance. Our expectation is that compliance will not be a serious problem, and that citizens in and near public establishments will be breathing cleaner air.

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Researchers call for smokefree outdoor areas (Head to Head / Should smoking in outside public spaces be banned? 

Many outside public spaces should be smokefree to help stop children becoming smokers, say researchers in an article published on bmj.com today.

George Thomson and colleagues argue that outdoor bans in parks, car parks, beaches, and streets will reduce smoking being modelled to children as normal behaviour and thus cut the uptake of smoking. . . .

But Professor Simon Chapman from the University of Sydney, argues that outdoor bans infringe personal freedom and that evidence for extending bans to outdoor settings is flimsy.

He points out that there are few differences between the chemistry of tobacco smoke and that generated by campfires or barbecues. Zero tolerance of tobacco smoke in outdoor public settings is nakedly paternalistic, he writes.

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Smoking should be banned outside, researchers suggest  

Further restrictions on smoking in public places would mean fewer children would be exposed to cigarettes and people smoking them making them less likely to want to take up the habit themselves, a series of experts have written in the British Medical Journal.

Others said the moves are 'nakedly paternalistic' and infringe on personal freedoms without strong evidence that such a ban would be beneficial.

Earlier this week ministers announced that displays of cigarettes and other tobacco products will have to be removed at the point of sale, meaning in effect they will have to be sold from 'under the counter'.

Further restrictions will also be introduced to ensure children cannot buy cigarettes from vending machines, through the use of tokens, electronic ID cards or remote control activation of the machines by the shopkeeper or landlord. . . .

Simon Chapman, professor of public health at the University of Sydney, in Sydney, Australia argued against the idea.

He said: "The ethics here is about respect for the autonomy of individuals to act freely, providing their actions do not harm others.

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Should smoking in outside public spaces be banned? No ($$) 

Indoor smoking bans draw their ethical authority from extensive research showing harm from prolonged and repeated exposures in homes and workplaces, over many years. By contrast, recent agitation to extend bans to outdoor settings like parks, car parks, beaches, and streets is supported by flimsy evidence. . . .

In most of the world smoking remains a normal, unremarkable, and unregulated activity. Health workers in those nations are desperate to convince governments of how reasonable it should be to remove involuntary tobacco smoke exposure in occupational and indoor public settings. They marshal evidence about disease caused by long term exposure and staunchly defend the credibility of that evidence from the predations of the tobacco and hospitality industries, intent on exposing those risks as trivial. Opponents of clean indoor air will point to campaigns against outdoor smoking and argue that advocates actually want to ban smoking everywhere. Such views are likely to undermine the credibility of advocacy for evidence based smoke-free policies to the great detriment of hundreds of millions of citizens.

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Should smoking in outside public spaces be banned? Yes ($$) 

After success in stopping smoking in public buildings, campaigns are turning outdoors. George Thomson and colleagues argue that a ban will help to stop children becoming smokers but Simon Chapman (doi:10.1136/bmj.a2804) believes that it infringes personal freedom . . .

We may not yet be certain that outdoor smoke-free areas reduce smoking uptake; the necessary studies have not been carried out. However, where there is uncertainty in policy making, any assessment of the balance of benefit and harm should put the protection of children first.22 This is because of the extent and severity of the hazard that taking up smoking poses to children and the theoretical and empirical evidence for a role modelling effect on smoking uptake. The principle of giving primacy to the protection of children is also underpinned by international treaty obligations. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that in making policy, children’s rights must be put first, and governments "shall undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights."23

Adverse effects from outdoor smoke-free areas are largely restricted to the possible loss of amenities for some smokers.

We argue that society has an ethical duty to minimise the risk of children becoming nicotine dependent smokers. A reasonable step is banning smoking in selected outdoor areas frequented by children. Children need smoke-free outdoor places now, to help normalise a smoke-free society.

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Teens ask for Escondido smoke ban 

A group of high school students is urging the Escondido City Council to ban smoking in parks.

The students told the council at its meeting Wednesday that most cities in the county have already banned smoking in parks and that Escondido should join them.

The group presented the council with 26,456 cigarette butts collected in Escondido parks during seven park cleanup campaigns in September, October and November.

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Smoke-free mandate set to begin Jan. 1  

Oregon smokers will be compelled to pay careful attention to where they light up starting Jan. 1 when the state's new Smokefree Workplace Law goes into effect.

The mandate bans smoking in most public places and workplaces with only a few exceptions.

"It's designed to protect employees and patrons from second-hand smoke," Kelly Jensen, R.N., tobacco prevention and education coordinator, Malheur County Health Department, said.

According to information provided by Jensen, public places are defined as any enclosed area and opening to the public, and place of employment means every enclosed area under the control of an employer that may be frequented by employees.

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UK to ban even outdoor smoking  

The University of Kentucky plans to ban smoking on all campus property, including outdoor areas, as early as next fall, President Lee Todd said yesterday.

UK would join Campbellsville University as the only Kentucky campuses to impose a complete smoking ban, according to the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation. Other campuses ban smoking indoors.

UK already bans smoking in all campus buildings, including dorms, and outside its medical facilities.

"I think there clearly are indications that second-hand smoke is an issue," Todd said after the UK board of trustees met yesterday. "And I do think that smoking is a health hazard."

Nationally, about 255 public and private colleges and universities are completely smoke-free

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ESCONDIDO: Council upbeat about smoking ban for city parks  

Council members said Wednesday that they were open to adopting a ban on smoking in all Escondido parks, but they stopped short of asking City Attorney Jeff Epp to draw up an ordinance that would implement such a ban.

Instead, the council directed a group of teen volunteers and health care leaders to work with the city's Community Services Commission on the early stages of such legislation.

Only four of the 18 cities in San Diego County have not adopted such bans: Escondido, Vista, Santee and Lemon Grove.

The council discussed the issue after some teens marched around the council chambers with a transparent plastic sack containing 26,456 cigarette butts. The teens said they collected the butts this fall at parks throughout Escondido.

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