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AMA calls for restrictions on tobacco displays  

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) says the Victorian Government should ban or restrict retail tobacco displays within 12 months.

The president of the AMA's Victorian branch, Dr Doug Travis, says the State Government can do more to reduce tobacco-related deaths from almost 4,000 a year.

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• Austrian parliament strengthens anti-smoking law  

Austria's parliament on Wednesday approved a law that will further limit smoking in bars and restaurants, in a last-minute move before voting its own dissolution ahead of early elections in September.

The new law, which will come into force on January 1, 2009, will force all establishments of 80 square metres (861 square feet) or more to build separate smoking-rooms if they choose to serve smokers.

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Austria parliament tightens smoking restrictions  

Austria's parliament is tightening smoking restrictions in food and drink establishments.

The law passed Wednesday requires restaurants and bars larger than 861 square feet to create separate smoking sections. It prohibits minors and pregnant women from working in spaces where they are exposed to smoke.

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Two years of pain after smoking bans: hotels  

An international study showing smoking bans in restaurants, bars and nightclubs have no financial impact on businesses is flawed, according to a Queensland industry group.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) released a report today and found public smoking bans are effective and largely pain-free, after examining more than 900 studies and government research.

The group concluded that smoke-free policies implemented in bars and restaurants have no impact on business activity.

The results are in contrast to Queensland Hotels Association figures, which show an average seven per cent downturn in revenue during 2006 - the first year of smoking bans in Queensland.

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Fatal refugee blaze started by stray cigarette 

The fatal fire that broke out at a refugee centre in Klagenfurt on Thursday claiming the life of an African refugee has been explained as the result of a cigarette.

One refugee died and three others were seriously injured after jumping from a second story window to escape the fire. 17 refugees were also slightly injured

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• LN: Austria takes tough stance on cigarette imports 

Austrian customs officials have started imposing tough fines on persons bringing Czech cigarettes to Austria and in addition they confiscate all the non-permitted cigarettes they find, the daily Lidove noviny wrote Tuesday.

Czechs taking out more than one carton of Czech cigarettes while travelling for holiday to Croatia via Austria could be severely punished because the Austrian customs officials have started imposing tough fines on all drivers who violate "the tobacco law" while crossing the Austrian border, the paper says.

Under the law, passed shortly before the Czech Republic joined the Schengen area without border checks last December, one person can only take out 200 pieces of cigarettes with the Czech-language health warning message while travelling from the Czech Republic to Austria.

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• Smoking enhances risk of asthma among Austrian teenagers 

Austrian teenager smoke generally and therefore enhanced the risk of suffering asthma, the Austrian Society of Pneumology said in a research results released on Monday, a day before the World Asthma day.

"20 percent of the 15-year-old boys and 25 percent of the 15-year-old girls smoke daily," said the research, about 50 percent students in the vocational schools smoke. Teenager who never smoke are only around 20 percent.

The situation of teenagers who worked in gastronomy is particularly serious with a smoking rate of 70 percent, which mainly attribute to the negative influence from those smoking colleagues and guests.

Josef Riedler, an Austrian specialist on respiratory diseases in childhood and adolescence of Austrian Society of Pneumology, said passive smoking would lead to asthma

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Austria wary of banning smoking 

While many European countries have imposed smoking bans in bars and restaurants, Austria, afraid of hurting businesses, has so far resisted legislation preventing people lighting up where they please.

After a six-month break, the ruling Social Democrats and conservatives returned to the negotiating table this week to discuss a no-smoking policy in public places, an issue that has deeply divided politicians.

Conservative Health Minister Andrea Kdolsky and the Social Democrats want to protect non-smokers without hurting businesses, while the environmental Greens and trade unions are calling for a total ban.

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• Austrian government agrees on smoking bans by 2009 

After months of intra-coalition wrangling, Austria's government on Wednesday agreed on introducing smoking bans in cafes and restaurants by January 1, 2009.

Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer said the compromise found between Social Democrats and the conservative People's Party was a 'step in the right direction.'

The ban is, however, far from total, as restaurants will still be able to have smoking sections, albeit in separate rooms. At least 50 per cent of a restaurant's space must be non-smoking the government compromise said.

Restaurants, bars or cafes smaller than 50 square metres will have to decide whether to go all non-smoking or remain cigarette-friendly.

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• Sparks flying in cigarette dispute 

Industry and Trade Minister Martin Říman is now calling on groups afflicted by Austria’s limit on Czech cigarette imports, like the “trafika” newsstands dotting the border, to sue the country through the European Union legal system.

Austrians are allowed to bring only 200 cigarettes, 100 cigarillos, 50 cigars or 250 grams of loose tobacco home from their visits to the Czech Republic — limits that technically should apply only to non-EU states. For member states, the EU sets guideline levels four times higher.

“This is not about getting more money to flow into the state treasury. It’s a matter of principle,” said Tomáš Bartovský, spokesman for the Industry and Trade Ministry. “[In this case] one EU member state is restricting the free trade of goods from another member state.”

It’s atypical for member states to file complaints against each other, hence Říman’s plea to tobacconists, Bartovský added.

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Anger After Students Allowed To Smoke On School Trip 

A COLLEGE has come under fire from parents and anti-smoking campaigners after a group of young students were allowed to smoke with staff supervision during a trip abroad.

More than 200 youngsters from Northallerton College, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, went on a skiing trip to Austria during the Easter holidays.

A group of 16 students, who are aged 15 and 16 and are not legally allowed to buy tobacco, were allowed to smoke cigarettes under the supervision of staff.

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Smoking costs hit Austrian economy  

Austria's economy is burdened by additional costs of 511 million euros ($A864.64 million), or 0.23 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product, per year due to smoking, according to a study just released.

If losses in productivity arising from smoking - including health care costs, or early retirement or death because of smoking-related illnesses - were deducted from the income generated by tobacco taxes, the negative economic effects were obvious, the Institute for Higher Studies said.

They compared the real costs and benefits with costs occurring in a hypothetical non-smoking society.

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• Austria wary of banning smoking  

While many European countries have imposed smoking bans in bars and restaurants, Austria, afraid of hurting businesses, has so far resisted legislation preventing people lighting up where they please.

After a six-month break, the ruling Social Democrats and conservatives returned to the negotiating table this week to discuss a no-smoking policy in public places, an issue that has deeply divided politicians.

Conservative Health Minister Andrea Kdolsky and the Social Democrats want to protect non-smokers without hurting businesses, while the environmental Greens and trade unions are calling for a total ban.

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A compromise deal, due to be presented in mid-May, suggests that all pubs, cafes and restaurants have a sectioned-off area for non-smokers

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Fans to light up at Euro 2008 

Vienna - Fans wishing to light up at Euro 2008 matches will be free to do so as neither Austria nor co-hosts Switzerland plan to apply a smoking ban in the stadiums.

News reports in both countries said domestic law permitted smoking in the stadiums and that Europe's football body Uefa will also not insist on a cigarette ban.

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• Most Austrians want humane ban on smoking 

A poll of 810 people by the Klagenfurt Humaninstituts shows that 44 per cent of Austrians favour a "humane" smoking ban in bars and restaurants, 32 per cent support a "radical" ban, and 24 per cent have no opinion. . . .

Institut head Franz Witzeling says that it should be possible to come up with a compromise solution to the question of smoking indoors in establishments open to the public without "panic-mongering."

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