Tobacco.org

Hunt For Smokers Who Pushed Commuter 

OFFICERS investigating an incident where a commuter was pushed on to train tracks appealed for witnesses at the scene this morning (August 7).

They also checked trains to try and find the men who pushed Linda Buchanan on to the tracks at Farningham Road station yesterday.

The 58-year-old, from Horton Kirby, suffered a fractured wrist and bruising to her legs when she landed. . . .

* Do you know Ms Buchanan or did you see the incident? Call the newsroom on 01689 885717.

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Hotel owner prosecuted for smoking on her own premises 

Patricia Coupeland was given a 12 month conditional discharge by Blackpool magistrates after she admitted smoking on a smoke-free premises.

Ms Coupeland, 50, of the Cheers Hotel in Blackpool, told a court the hotel was closed at the time and not taking in guests.

She said: "I was in the dining room doing my paperwork and having a cigarette. It was closed as a hotel at the time and was therefore my private home. There were no guests. I only had a friend stay. The health officer came across as vicious and a person with attitude."

Victoria Cartmell, prosecuting for Blackpool Council, told the court that on February 1 environmental health officer Alan Taylor arrived at the hotel to carry out a hygiene inspection. . . .

"The defendant confirmed it was a smoke-free hotel, but said it was her own home and she was free to smoke in her own home.

"The officer said smoking in her private quarters was okay, but not in the bar."

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NY court upholds firing worker over smoking breaks  

A New York appeals court has upheld the firing of a worker who took smoking breaks despite a new policy by her employer.

The court shows the woman, paralegal Karen Krindel of Rochester, was fired in November 2006 after 15 months on the job because she didn't comply with a new written policy that banned smoking breaks.

She applied for unemployment benefits and received about $3,000 worth. But a state Labor Department board later rejected that. The state argues she was fired for misconduct and misrepresented the reason for her dismissal.

The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court agrees. Now Krindel may have to repay the $3,000, unless she wins an appeal.

She argues banning smoking breaks is unfair to smokers who use breaks to re-energize and become less "crabby."

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Expert will teach, not preach about tobacco 

Washington County's message about tobacco use won't be preachy.

Amanda Garcia-Snell, new coordinator for the county's Tobacco Prevention and Education Program, said she'd rather equip people with information.

"We're not just telling people 'smoking's bad,' but 'smoking's bad and here's how you can quit,' " Garcia-Snell says.

Garcia-Snell, who began working for the county in June, will be a liaison to schools, hospitals, property-management companies and other groups. She says she'd like to focus on information about second-hand smoke and exposure along with helping develop smoke-free policies.

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WASHBURN: Lack of ethics in business harms companies, individuals  

When the $1.15-billion fine against Imperial Tobacco and Rothmans' Benson & Hedges was announced last week, it was a paltry sum compared to the companies' actions. . . .

Socrates said, "Vice harms the doer." Even if no one ever finds out and we can get away with doing something wrong, the act hurts us more than it hurts the victims.

But in a cynical world, Socrates appears to be talking into the wind. No one pays attention to this kind of thinking any more. Since Gordon Gekko announced in the filmWall Street,"Greed is good. Greed works," a generation of MBA students has felt it had a license to do whatever it takes to make money.

And, this is the heart of the problem. When people lose trust in business, business loses even more. Business loses when we think every time a corporation sends out a press release, it is full of lies. . . .

Businesses need to take this issue of trust more seriously. It is true; one bad apple spoils the barrel. Not only does it undermine the fundamental economics of the 21st century, but it also deepens the pervasive cynicism, which is a trademark of our times. This distrust spreads like a cancer through all aspects of our lives.

If there is a way out, it will not be legislated. Morals cannot be successfully turned into laws. It is only the actions of individuals of conscience that will make this change possible. It is going to take a massive change of heart. Sadly, it is hard to see how that will happen.

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Playwright Simon Gray dies, aged 71 

Playwright Simon Gray has died at the age of 71, it has been announced.

Gray was a prolific playwright but in recent years attracted a new fan base with his highly candid memoirs.

The writer also penned five novels, including Little Portia, and Breaking Hearts.

Gray's memoirs included The Smoking Diaries and, most recently, The Last Cigarette, in which smoking was a constant theme. The Last Cigarette was in the process of being cast for the London stage. . . .

The writer, who had suffered from aneurysms and prostate cancer and began smoking at the age of seven, once said: "I'm 71 and I have cancer, and I don't really want to spend the time I have left wrestling with smoking."

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Playwright and author Simon Gray dies, aged 71 

The playwright and celebrated diarist Simon Gray has died today aged 71. The author of more than 30 plays for stage and TV including Quartermaine's Terms and Melons, as well as five novels, Gray has recently been much lauded for a series of freewheeling diaries whose mix of high comic anecdote and poignant reminiscence dealt candidly with his failing health.

His latest book, The Last Cigarette, was one of this summer's most recommended books for holiday reading, and he was widely acclaimed as one of the best memoirists of his era.

Chief among these books' eclectic concerns, woven together with apparently effortless style, was the author's regretful addiction to smoking. Gray had managed to conquer his alcoholism - also described in his memoirs - but was unable to tear himself from smoking, even after he was diagnosed with lung cancer last year.

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• Author and playwright Gray dies 

English playwright and diarist Simon Gray has died aged 71.

The author penned more than 30 plays for stage and TV, including Butley, Quartermaine's Terms, Melon and The Common Pursuit, as well as five novels.

Gray recently gained in notoriety for his series of witty memoirs, The Smoking Diaries and The Last Cigarette.

The Cambridge graduate, who often wrote about the trials and tribulations of educated intellectuals, is survived by a wife and two children.

Gray, who once admitted smoking 65 cigarettes a day, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2002.

"I've always been terrified of the consequences of smoking. Now I'm a year older and more terrified than ever," he told the Guardian newspaper last year.

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AFD: Prevent damaging fires caused by cigarettes 

The Austin Fire Department wants to raise awareness about the dangers of cigarettes after carelessly discarded smoking materials sparked three of the five apartment fires in the Austin area in the past 10 days.

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EU plans 'fire-safe' cigarettes 

All cigarettes sold across the European Union will have to be "fire-safe" by 2011, the European Commission has said.

The commission will require the tobacco industry to use extra layers of thickened paper wrapped around the cigarettes to slow the burning process.

"We think that by 2011 at the latest these cigarettes will be on the market," said a commission spokesman.

In 2005-2007 there were 11,000 fires annually across the EU caused by cigarettes, with 520 deaths.

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Butts disappearing, but work still left to do  

The campaign to wipe out the litter of cigarette butts on the streets of Slidell is starting to work, but Bill Mauser, chairman of the Keep Slidell Beautiful Committee, said there is still more to do to sweep the butts away.

"It's all a matter of education and promoting awareness," Mauser said.

In the year since the city began a concerted effort to clean up Slidell, a lot has been done, according to Mauser. No littering signs that include the phrase, "This includes cigarette butts" in big red letters have popped up all over town, especially at the gateway streets like Gause Boulevard and Pontchartrain Drive

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This includes cigarette butts
Addition in big red letters to No Littering signs in Slidell, LA.

• Cigarette smuggler nabbed in Swakop 

POLICE are believed to have busted a prominent Swakopmund businessman after linking him to a haul of stolen cigarettes confiscated from a truck stopped by police at the Vioolsdrift Border Post.

Due to the sensitivity of the investigation, police refused to comment on reports about the arrest of at least one very prominent businessman from Swakopmund. The businessman was arrested in his home over the weekend where documents were apparently found, linking him to the cigarettes confiscated at Vioolsdrift. The harbour of Walvis Bay could now hold the key to uncovering one of the biggest smuggling syndicates in the history of Namibia.

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Cigarette sparks fire on top floor of high-rise; no injuries reported  

A high-rise fire in Waikiki yesterday that caused an estimated $30,000 in damage to a 25th-floor unit was started by a discarded cigarette, according to Honolulu Fire Department investigators.

The fire in unit 2501 of the Kaimana Villa condominiums at 2550 Kuhio Ave. was reported at 12:11 p.m. and contained by 12:20, said Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Earle Kealoha.

Investigators determined the fire started on the unit's lanai

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Cigarette triggers Westfield apartment fire 

A discarded cigarette caused a fire early this morning at the Hamilton Square Apartments south of downtown Westfield.

Westfield firefighters were called to 827 Mindy Court about 12:16 a.m. and found smoke coming from the apartment, Westfield Fire Chief Todd Burtron said in a press release.

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Dopamine Signaling through D1-Like versus D2-Like Receptors in the Nucleus Accumbens Core versus Shell Differentially Modulates Nicotine Reward Sensitivity  

Considerable evidence implicates the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system in the processing of nicotine's reinforcing properties, specifically the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the terminal fields of VTA DAergic projections to the "core" (NAcore) and "shell" (NAshell) subdivisions of the nucleus accumbens (NAc). However, the specific roles of DA D1-like and D2-like receptor subtypes in nicotine reward processing within these NAc subregions have not been elucidated. We report that microinfusions of DA D1-like or D2-like receptor-specific antagonists into NAcore or NAshell double dissociate the rewarding and aversive properties of systemic or intra-VTA nicotine, and differentially regulate sensitivity to the rewarding properties as well as the motivational valence of either intra-VTA or systemic nicotine administration. Using a place conditioning procedure, NAshell infusions of a D2-like receptor antagonist switched the motivational valence of intra-VTA nicotine from aversive to rewarding and potentiated nicotine reward sensitivity to sub-reward threshold intra-VTA nicotine doses. In contrast, NAcore infusions of a D1-like receptor antagonist switched intra-VTA nicotine aversion to reward, and potentiated reward sensitivity to sub-reward threshold nicotine doses. Thus, D1-like versus D2-like receptors in NAcore versus NAshell subdivisions play functionally dissociable roles in modulating systemic or intra-VTA nicotine motivational processing.

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