Tobacco.org

Smoking law to hit teens 

If the proposed Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill is passed as law, the sale of tobacco products at hospitals and universities will be a thing of the past.

The new law would also see the sale of tobacco products prohibited to people under the age of 18.

The bill proposes that the minimum age for the legal sale of tobacco products be raised from 16 to 18.

Briefing the standing committee on social development on the bill, a representative of the national Health Department said that among the steps to reduce the purchase of tobacco products by minors would be the regulation of the display of tobacco products at retail outlets. . . .

The committee will hold public hearings on the bill, starting in George on Monday morning.

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Cigarette smuggling burns up Mekong Delta province  

Officials were pleased when tobacco smuggling was hampered by the rainy season - until industrious smugglers turned to using boats on the canals in the Cambodia-bordering province of Long An.

Vo Van Cuong, deputy police chief of Long An's My Quy Dong Commune, Duc Hue District, said traffickers transported the contraband by boats at speeds of 50 kilometers per hour, which is too quick for the underequipped local constabulary.

Though My Quy Dong is a "hot spot" for cigarette smuggling in the Mekong Delta province, commune police have seized only 2,000 packs of cigarettes so far this year.

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Casinos urge level playing field on smoking front 

Two Calgary gambling companies want the province to close a smoking-ban loophole that permits gamblers to light up at first nation casinos.

Gamehost Income Fund, which owns the Deerfoot Inn and Casino, says it made nearly a million dollars less in the second quarter of 2008 -- a slide of more than five per cent compared to last year.

Sam Switzer, who owns the Elbow River Casino, estimates his profits are down by at least 25 per cent. . . .

After Alberta's smoking ban took effect, both the Tsuu T'ina Nation, which opened the $40-million Grey Eagle Casino last December, and the Stoney Nakoda Nation, which launched the $60-million Nakoda Entertainment Resort in the spring, invoked federal bylaw exemptions for native lands.

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Candy cigarettes for kids spark anger  

A NEW sweet shop in Paisley town centre has been slammed for selling packets of chocolate cigarettes to young children.

The cartons - which contain eight lookalike cigarettes - are selling for 40p a pack at Candy Kisses in the High Street.

Yesterday angry mum Lydia Smyth, 32, fumed: "I couldn't believe it when I saw these packets of fake ciggies on the shelves. . . .

However, Sammy Rostron, manager of the shop, played down the row over the confectionery.

She said: "It really is just a fuss over nothing. They are just sweets. If people want to buy them, and they appear to, then we will sell them.

"If they don't then they won't."

And an anti-smoking campaigner has called on parents to stop their kids buying the Krakatoa and Coronation confectionery and others like them.

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• No smoking while driving 

Come 2009, Dubai would be outlawing smoking while driving. If it does, Dubai would become probably the first city in the Middle East to penalise people who smoke behind the steering wheel.

The Dubai Road Safety Strategy, being prepared by a Sweden-based consultancy company, is likely to be implemented next year.

The strategy would focus on several traffic safety issues, including smoking while driving, Hussain Mohammed Al Banna, Director of Traffic Department at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) told Khaleej Times on Tuesday.

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• Smoking banned in all Punjab prisons 

THE Punjab government has announced a ban smoking in all the prisons of the province.

Punjab Prisons Minister Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor, while addressing the inaugural session of workshop on "Tobacco Smoking-A Preventable Epidemic" at the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Tuesday, said the level of awareness about the hazards of smoking, second hand smoking, responsibilities and authorities under the law and the initiatives taken by the government for tobacco control was extremely low among the masses. He further said there was a dire need to evolve an effective strategy for the implementation of the existing laws. On this occasion, the minister announced an immediate ban on smoking in all the prisons of the province.

The workshop was organized by the UHS Centre for Health Environment Studies in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO), Tobacco Control Cell, Ministry of Health, Punjab Health Department and Green Future.

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• Cigarette truck hijackers ‘well-balanced’  

TWO Cape Town brothers convicted along with six co-accused of a string of serious crimes were “well-balanced” men, a church pastor told the Cape High Court yesterday.

Pastor Richard de Beer, who visited Selwyn and Virgil de Vries regularly at the Goodwood Prison where they were being held, told the court rather than send the pair to prison, he would suggest he be allowed to prepare them for the Christian ministry.

Both men – and their co-accused – were involved in the hijacking of cigarette-laden vehicles belonging to the British American Tobacco Company (BAT). De Beer was testifying before Judge Leigh Bozalek and assessors about his impression of the brothers, who will probably be sentenced this week together with their co-accused, on 25 counts of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, kidnappings, armed robberies, racketeering and money-laundering. . . .

the pastor told the court both brothers had made a full confession to him, had come to their senses, and now wished to make peace with their Creator.

De Beer said they were “deeply remorseful” about the suffering they had caused their families, and their experiences in prison had strengthened their faith. . . .

Questioned by prosecutor Helene Booysen, De Beer said he was a lay preacher and had had no formal pastoral training.

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Study: Smoking bans, gambling mix  

Smoking bans don't cause financial hardship to bingo halls and other charitable gambling operations in Kentucky, according to a University of Kentucky study released yesterday.

The findings run counter to the experience of some Louisville bingo supporters, who say there was a huge decline in revenue after metro government began enforcing a strict smoking ban in July 2007 that removed exemptions for the halls.

The study, commissioned by UK's College of Public Health, looked at charitable gambling revenues before and after smoking bans took effect in 13 Kentucky counties, including Jefferson. It acknowledges that there has been a decline in charitable gambling revenue but says a number of other factors -- from unemployment to the high cost of gasoline -- have had an impact.

The study found that total gross revenues, for all charitable gambling in all 13 counties, dropped by an average of $1.5million a quarter after enactment of the bans, an amount the study says is statistically insignificant.

Data for the study came primarily from the Kentucky Department of Charitable Gaming. The study also used economic data, including unemployment rates and other labor force statistics, from the U.S. Department of Labor.

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Councilman proposes changes to smoking ban  

Smoking could be prohibited in bingo halls and all workplaces, not just ones the public has access to, if a proposal to revise Lexington's 4-year-old smoke-free law is approved.

Urban County Councilman David Stevens plans to introduce on Tuesday a smoking ban revision that would close loopholes that exempt some workplaces and private organizations and would tighten the exemption for retail tobacco stores.

The goal of the changes is "to correct evasions in the law and to extend it to workplaces to protect more people," Stevens said.

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• Study says smoking ban doesn't hurt bingo  

Smoking bans that have popped up around Kentucky haven't put a dent in bingo's bottom line, a new study shows.

"We found there's really no link between smoke-free laws and bingo revenues, one way or the other," co-author Ellen Hahn said Monday. She is director of the University of Kentucky's Tobacco Policy Research Program.

Bingo has been a major fund-raiser for a number of groups, including public-school sports and band booster clubs in Lexington.

The study comes as the Urban County Council prepares to consider tweaking the city's 2003 indoor smoking ban. Among the proposed changes to be introduced at a council work session Tuesday is language that would clear the air in bingo parlors.

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Carcinogens From Car Exhaust Can Linger 

The daily exposure to free radicals from car exhaust, smokestacks and even your neighbors’ barbecue could be as harmful as smoking, according to a new study. Many combustion processes, such as those in a car, create tiny particles that may act as brewing pots and carriers for free radicals — chemicals believed to cause lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

The findings are from Barry Dellinger of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, who reported them August 17 in Philadelphia during a meeting of the American Chemical Society. Whether the exposure equates to smoking one cigarette or as many as two packs a day remains difficult to determine, he added.

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Newly Detected Air Pollutant Mimics Damaging Effects Of Cigarette Smoke 

A previously unrecognized group of air pollutants could have effects remarkably similar to harmful substances found in tobacco smoke, Louisiana scientists are reporting in a study scheduled for presentation today at the 236th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Inhaling those pollutants exposes the average person up to 300 times more free radicals daily than from smoking one cigarette, they added.

The discovery could help explain the long-standing medical mystery of why non-smokers develop tobacco-related diseases like lung cancer, said H. Barry Dellinger, Ph.D., the Patrick F. Taylor Chair of Environmental Chemistry at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

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Smoking ban an abuse of power, bar owners group says 

Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health members overstepped their authority when they enacted a countywide smoking ban in bars and gambling parlors, a decision that has led to a decline in state revenue from video lottery poker machines, according to a statewide group that represents the businesses.

The West Virginia Association of Club Owners & Fraternal Services is urging Kanawha County bar and gambling parlor owners to file insurance claims against the Health Department, if they can prove their profits have dropped since the expanded smoking ban took effect July 1.

The amount of money bar and gambling parlor patrons pumped into the poker machines dropped by $1.2 million from June to July in Kanawha County - a 9 percent decrease, according to state Lottery Commission data.

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• Bar to test county smoking ban with a 'smokers' day' 

Kerry Ellison says it's time to test Kanawha County's six-week-old smoking ban.

At 4 p.m. today, Ellison plans to open the doors of The Black Hawk Saloon in Charleston, put out 24 new ashtrays and allow his customers to light up - in violation of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department's anti-smoking regulations, which took effect six weeks ago.

"It's smokers' day," said Ellison, whose bar is at 100 E Point Drive, across Kanawha Boulevard from the Charleston Moose Club. "I'm willing to throw myself under the bus to find out what the Health Department is going to do."

Ellison said competing bars in the area have flat-out ignored the new rules . . .

Ellison has repeatedly called the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department to complain about his competitors, yet nothing is done, he said.

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Editorial: Tobacco's a stretch for FDA  

In essence, the bill is another large-scale effort by the federal government to tell us something we already know too well -- that smoking kills hundreds of thousands of Americans every year.

But in this case, we're simply not convinced it's necessary to grow the size of the federal government to deliver that warning.

For one thing, no amount of FDA regulation will change the fact that cigarettes, though deadly, even when used properly, still are a legal product for adult use.

And we'd much rather see the FDA spend its time, talents and resources concentrating on current, pressing issues . . .

We also question the value of the bill, even if it works as advertised, given that it contains a massive loophole for tobacco companies. . . .

We believe the Senate can't afford to get bogged down in a debate over tobacco at a time when several other critical issues are awaiting action. . . .

Any delay in flood assistance caused by a fight over tobacco legislation would be unacceptable. . . .

we think it's possible that new measures to curtail marketing, expand warning labels and increase education could be accomplished without growing government or over-stretching the FDA.

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