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Llangefni pensioner burned in lighter accident  

A 68-YEAR-old pensioner suffered 20% burns to his body after a fire at his Llangefni home yesterday afternoon.

Firefighters were called to the house in Capel Uchaf at 4.51pm to find that the man had suffered burns after trying to refill a cigarette lighter with gas.

The lighter had ignited and burned his lower body.

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Smokers asked to keep butts off beach 

How many really yucky things can be said about dirty cigarette butts tossed onto the sand, sidewalk or street? If you're “Mr. Butty,” a guy who dressed yesterday in a felt, head-to-calf costume to mimic the forgotten end of a cigarette, a lot.

“They mess up our sewer systems,” Mr. Butty, also known as Chris Lydick, said as he waved to people in cars and pedestrians in Mission Beach. “Critters mistake them for food and the plastic filters get caught in animals' digestive tracks.”

Lydick, an insurance broker, joined fellow members of the Surfrider Foundation yesterday morning for its seventh annual “Hold Onto Your Butt” awareness campaign.

Many of his colleagues piled on the reasons that butts are bad: . . .

Most participants waved signs with phrases such as “I Don't Like To Swim In Butts,” “Fish Don't Smoke” or “Don't Trash San Diego.”

Passers-by seemed to be largely in support.

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Simon Gray, 71; British Playwright and Memoirist  

Celebrated British playwright Simon Gray, known as much for his lacerating dark comedies as his outrageously self-castigating memoirs, died of lung cancer Aug. 6 in London. He was 71.

Mr. Gray began smoking heavily at 7 . . .

A pathologist's son, Simon James Holliday Gray was born Oct. 21, 1936, in Hayling Island, England. After the British declaration of war in 1939, his chain-smoking mother took him and a younger brother (who later died of alcoholism) to live with relatives in Montreal. . . .

Although he gave up drink, he continued to smoke prodigiously. He wrote with satisfaction about finding a doctor at a party who agreed to treat his prostate cancer: "A smoking urologist was bound to be my sort of urologist."

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Two killed in Upper East Side fire 

A fire tore through an Upper East Side apartment, killing two people.

Two people are dead and two firefighters were injured in the fire.

Firefighters say they were called to 327 E. 93rd Street . . .

Authorities haven't determined what caused the blaze, which left two firefighters with minor injuries, but they believe smoking in bed was a factor.

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Fire Kills Two in Manhattan  

Flames and smoke engulfed an apartment the Upper East Side early Sunday, killing a man and his 89-year-old mother, the police and fire officials said.

The cause of the fire at 327 East 93rd Street remained unknown Sunday afternoon, but fire officials there were no indications that it was suspicious. Other apartments in the five-story building were damaged by smoke and water, but the fire was contained to the victims' third-floor apartment.

The victims were identified as William Roberts, 65, and his mother, Anna Roberts. Neighbors said Mrs. Roberts was largely confined to the apartment, venturing out into the hallway with a walker on occasion. Mr. Roberts was widely described as passing his days on the front stoop of the building, sipping beer and smoking cigarettes

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Organist Rents Radio City to Play, Fulfilling Wish  

Col. Jack Moelmann, a retired Air Force officer from O'Fallon, Ill., blew $118,182.44 on a one-night stand in New York on Saturday. It was everything he had dreamed of, and more: three hours with the mightiest of the mighty Wurlitzers, the legendary pipe organ at Radio City Music Hall.

Colonel Moelmann, a retired Air Force officer, sold seats for $50, but had to spend almost $120,000 of his own to perform. . . .

The star seemed nervous, traipsing out to the Avenue of the Americas for a cigarette before the concert and another during intermission because no-smoking rules apply to headliners' dressing rooms.

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Cigarette ban to hurt small businesses 

Plans to ban visible cigarette displays in NSW shops, supermarkets and tobacconists will threaten the viability of small businesses, a lobby group says.

The Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA) said it's yet to see any evidence that a visibility ban has any effect in reducing the amount of people smoking.

It said in the Saskatchewan province in Canada, the first area to bring in such a ban, youth smoking rates had increased.

COSBOA chief executive Tony Steven said the ban will only change where smokers buy their cigarettes.

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Smoking: Declining in Arkansas 

New research shows that Arkansas is making definite headway in its fight against tobacco use in the state. Three separate studies indicate positive outcomes, including significant reductions in adult smoking, lower hospitalization rates for diseases related to tobacco use, and positive results for youth smoking. This news is significant because tobacco use has been linked to the top three causes of death in the state which are heart disease, stroke and cancer.

"From the beginning, Arkansas has pledged its tobacco-settlement funds strictly to health programs, and these are the benefits of that investment," Governor Mike Beebe said. "Continuing this trend can help curb the spiraling costs of health care for Arkansans."

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• After Promising To ‘Never’ Give Up Fighting Big Tobacco, McCain Gives Up 

Last month, the House passed legislation — sparking the ire of conservatives — that would grant the FDA stronger regulation power over the tobacco industry, mirroring a 1998 proposal authored by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). At the time, McCain said he would “never” give up on his anti-tobacco efforts.

As the Wonk Room noted, however, McCain recently signaled that he had doubts with the House legislation, stating he wouldn’t “commit to voting for it until he sees the final legislation.” Roll Call reports today that McCain is “declining to embrace” his own legislation:

The campaign of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) is declining to embrace McCain’s own 1998 tobacco bill, legislation that would have raised taxes to the tune of $516 billion over 25 years. … Asked repeatedly last week whether McCain still backs the bill and if he thought it was a good idea, senior adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin declined to answer directly.

But he noted that some of the aims of the legislation did not pan out as hoped for after the tobacco industry and the states settled on their own. … And McCain today does not support raising taxes on cigarettes, his adviser said.

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• McCain Drops Smoke Tax ($$) 

The campaign of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) is declining to embrace McCain's own 1998 tobacco bill, legislation that would have raised taxes to the tune of $516 billion over 25 years.

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• Cigar Rights of America Going on Tour 

On a daily basis, your freedom to enjoy a cigar is being stripped away by an overzealous antismoking movement. This is what the Cigar Rights of America, a new smoker's rights organization, declares on its Web site, and it is kicking off a four-day Freedom Tour next week to spread this call to arms and educate smokers as to what they can do about impending antismoking legislation.

The tour begins on August 19 with a gala dinner in New York City, where attendees will learn about the CRA's mission and meet some of the heaviest hitters in the cigar industry who are also founders of the CRA. Cigar icons such as Carlos Fuente Sr. and Carlos Fuente Jr., Jorge Padr�n, Litto Gomez and Ernesto Perez-Carrillo will talk about the problems facing the premium cigar industry and discuss how consumers can become actively involved in the CRA's program. . . .

On August 19, about 20 cigarmakers will assemble at the Hudson Terrace in New York City for the tour's launch. Tickets for the New York event cost $300, which in addition to an open bar, hors d'oeuvres, dinner and cigars, includes a one-year membership to CRA and a Freedom Tour T-shirt.

On August 20, the group of cigarmakers will split, half attending an event in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the other half going to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The following day two separate events will be held in Chicago before the group unites again for the tour's concluding event in Orlando, Florida, on August 22.

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• EDITORIAL: Making toxins tasty 

Think the tobacco industry no longer influences public policy? If the debate over a tobacco bill before U.S. Congress is any indication, Big Tobacco can still force governments into making awkward compromises.

The bill, which would allow the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products, bans cigarettes flavoured with chocolate, fruit or spices. It bans all cigarette flavours, in fact -- except menthol, which just so happens to be the most popular. . . .

Banning or restricting products to which millions of consumers are clinically addicted is a tricky business, not just because it offends libertarian principles but because it's hard to do. Even some health groups have said prohibiting such a popular product as menthol or flavoured cigarettes could have negative impacts, like driving smokers to the illicit cigarette market.

This is undeniably true. But the popularity of flavoured cigarettes among youth is a problem that needs solving, one way or another, and as long as the tobacco industry wields significant influence, it will remain that way.

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Jones admits to turning to drink  

Steve Jones has revealed that he began to drink heavily after giving up cigarettes.

The T4 presenter said he struggled to cope when he quit his 40-a-day habit three years ago.

He told Attitude: "I went through hell for six months. I went to a really dark place. I can't remember a thing, I was that drunk.

"I thought: 'To take away smoking, Jesus, is there any point going on?' I felt really depressed about it."

The 31-year-old added: "I replaced every cigarette I would have with a tequila shot. I ate and put on weight."

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'Smoking Jesus' picture continues to embarrass media in Asia  

Bangalore (ENI). Pictures on the Internet depicting Jesus smoking a cigarette and holding what appears to be a can of beer have caused repeated trouble for media in Asia in recent months.

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Proposed smoking ban near playgrounds gets key support 

Lighting up within 50 feet of local playgrounds and other park areas primarily used by children would be prohibited under a plan that received some influential support today.

Three weeks after the proposed smoking ban near playgrounds in city and county parks won the Common Council's unanimous backing, a county official and anti-smoking advocates endorsed the plan.

"I am in favor of the idea of no smoking within 50 feet of any playground within a park," County Parks Commissioner James E. Hornung Sr. told Council members in a letter.

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