Parks’ smoking ban taking effect immediately

The Boston Parks and Recreation Commission approved a smoking ban Monday in city-run parks, immediately making it illegal to smoke cigarettes, marijuana, and other “lighted or vaporized” substances under the penalty of a $250 fine.

The ban covers the 251 parks, squares, cemeteries, and other spaces run by the Parks and Recreation Department, including Boston Common, the Public Garden, and Franklin Park.

“What this has really done is allowed people to understand that this is another place where smoking isn’t allowed, and there is good reason for that,” said Barbara Ferrer, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, who spoke in favor of the ban before the Parks Commission vote Monday.

“This amendment is necessary to maintain the health and safety of our public parks and ensure that these valuable resources can be enjoyed by all Boston residents,” Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a letter supporting the ban. The City Council approved the ban in November.

No one spoke in opposition to the ban Monday, officials said.

Jacque Goddard, spokeswoman for the commission, said her department and others will launch an advertising campaign to alert people to the law. The Parks Department will post signs about the ban and the fine, and her department and the Health Commission will pass out informational materials.

The goal, officials said, is for people to enforce the ban themselves, by alerting others about the new ordinance.

Ultimately, Goddard said, police, who spoke in favor of the ban, and park rangers will enforce the measure. The ban is an expansion of an existing law that prohibited smoking at so-called tot lots.

Six other large US cities have similar bans, including Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, according to the Health Commission. In Massachusetts, 35 municipalities have banned smoking in parks, beaches, or some other public space.

Philip Morris International, Leading Maker of Cigarettes

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Total smoking bans effectively help smokers quit

To protect nonsmokers, many cities have banned smoking in public places, but a recent study shows that total smoking bans - in the home or public places - help smokers to cut back or quit completely.

The researchers, from the University of California-San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, published their results in the journal Preventive Medicine. Dr. Wael K. Al-Delaimy, from UCSD and study author, says that California was the very first state to ban public smoking in certain places in 1994.

According to the County of San Diego, California state law prohibits smoking within 20 feet of entrances, exits and windows of public buildings. And regarding private buildings and residences, many management companies put policies in place that prohibit smoking at their facilities. Many cities have also enacted smoking bans in recent years.

The city of Beverly Hills, for example, initiated smoking restrictions in outdoor dining areas in 2007 - deemed the "90210 Fresh Air Dining" ordinance. A year after it was put in place, the city reported positive feedback.

According to Smoke-Free San Diego, over 440,000 people in the US die each year from tobacco-related diseases, making it the leading cause of preventable death. Along with causing cancer and cardiovascular disease, smoking creates increased risks for infertility, preterm delivery, stillbirth and low birth weights.

Though the negative effects of first- and second-hand smoke have been widely reported, the issue of third-hand smoke has recently become a hot topic.

Third-hand smoke encompasses everything left after a cigarette is put out, including toxic particulates that stick to hair, clothing, cars and carpets, among other surfaces.

Warnings on Every Cigarette Encourage More Smokers to Quit

A research showed that health warnings on every cigarette would encourage more people to quit smoking. The talk is about timelines that demonstrate smokers that every cigarette shortens their life by 11 minutes and a list of toxic substances found in cigarettes that affect health negatively.The results of the study were published in Tobacco Control

Tax Collected on Tobacco

Last December, Treasury collected $423 million, while during the next seven months the combined take was $390m. The figures include both imported tobacco and excise from Imperial Tobacco's factory in Petone.

In December 2011 the amount of tax collected on tobacco, at $370m, was more than the following six months combined. Customs Minister Maurice Williamson was not concerned by the tactics. "As long as tobacco companies are abiding by the law then it's up to them how they behave," he said. Smokers interviewed on the subject were baffled to learn that increases in January did not necessarily go to the Government.

For Imperial Tobacco, which runs New Zealand's only cigarette factory, excise is triggered when product crosses a "bond line" in its warehouse, timed at the company's discretion. Brendan Walker, Imperial Tobacco's New Zealand manager, said the company's aim was to ensure it had product when customers wanted it, but he did not dispute there was a windfall opportunity each year.

"We, like any other business, will look at maximising any efficiency we can," he said. A spokeswoman for British American Tobacco, which has close to 75 per cent of the New Zealand market, all with imported products, said the company was focused on paying taxes which were due "in as efficient a way as possible".

US tobacco giant Philip Morris, the manufacturer of Marlboro Red cigarettes, has not replied to written questions. A tobacco industry source said some smokers did buy up large in December, as did retailers, with reports of dairy owners borrowing money from family members to maximise the potential windfall.

But the source conceded the companies used a similar tactic. "Everyone in the chain is speculating," the source said.

Wellington taxi driver William Dunn, who after about 40 years of smoking is struggling to kick his 10-cigarette-a-day habit, said he assumed that when the cost of a pack of cigarettes went up each January, the increase immediately flowed to the Government.

"I'll bet 98 per cent of people think that money is going to the government," Dunn said."You would have thought the tobacco companies are making enough money without having to do that."

Quit Smoking in 2014

Quitting smoking is a most popular New Year’s Resolution. Everyone knows that smoking is harmful to the body so every year more and more smokers promise to and successfully quit the habit. Secondhand smoke can cause allergic reactions and asthma in some people and stop healthy development of lungs in kids. Therefore, smokers should not

New tobacco regulations in Franklin

The Board of Health will hold a public hearing next month on whether to pass comprehensive new tobacco regulations. The three-member board scheduled the hearing for its Jan. 7 meeting, set to begin at 10 a.m. at the Municipal Building, 355 East Central St. Health Director David McKearney wrote the proposed regulations.

If passed, the controls would reshape how the town handles tobacco sales, raising the legal age to purchase tobacco products to 19 and establishing a tobacco and nicotine delivery products permit, administered by the board. Currently the town does not have a local tobacco permit for businesses, which still must acquire a license from the state Department of Revenue in order to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Largely the board supported the rigorous regulations. However, two members protested increasing the purchase age to 21 — a stipulation included in the first draft of the regulations — and chose 19 as a compromise.

"I think (the age) should stay at 18," Philip Brunelli said, pointing out that if teenagers can go to war at 18, they should have the right to smoke a pack of cigarettes, as well.

Businesses that sell tobacco products would find themselves with a new fee to pay should the regulations pass. In addition to the state license, they would have to pay the board an annual fee of $150 for a local tobacco permit. The board can then make unannounced periodic inspections of the business.

The board also seeks to regulate how businesses sell certain tobacco products. Under the regulations, businesses cannot sell single cigars under $2.50, self-service displays of tobacco products are prohibited and roll-your-own cigarette machines are banned.

In addition, the regulations tighten the town’s rules on smoking in public places. The board intends to bar smoking at so-called hookah bars, membership and association clubs, such as the American Legion, as well as at any town buildings, parks or recreation areas. This includes marijuana and electronic cigarettes.

Tobacco Use Among Teens in West Virginia Declined

Experts say that tobacco use among young people in West Virginia is declining, Recently West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Division of Tobacco Prevention revealed data that demonstrates the percentage of high school students who said they have never used any kind of tobacco products has raised from 20.6% in 2000 to 46.1%

Georgia regents consider tobacco ban

SMOKERS' days may be numbered on many of Georgia's college campuses, as the state Board of Regents considers a total tobacco ban for all 31 institutions in the university system. The ban is being pushed by Regent Thomas Hopkins, an orthopaedic surgeon from Griffin who wants it to apply to students, staff and visitors.

The proposal, which he would like the regents to discuss early next year, follows a national trend of similar bans - promoted as health initiatives - implemented at schools, parks, around hospitals and in restaurants. Last September, the US Department of Health and Human Services launched a national tobacco-free college campus initiative to promote bans like Hopkins is proposing. The initiative counts more than 1100 colleges and universities in its smoke-free fold.

“Most of these kids start smoking at school because they think it looks cool and they're away from home and their parents,” Hopkins said. “But, it's not healthy and I would hope we would do something about that.” The board is likely to have some opposition from students. Student smokers see the ban as an intrusion on their rights.

“We're paying to go to school and we should be allowed to do this. We're not in high school anymore,” said Foster Bass, a botany student at Georgia Perimeter College. Bass and his friends were standing outside on a recent day, across from the cafeteria in an area where smoking is allowed on the college's Clarkston campus. Many in the group had been smoking about a quarter of their lives.

“This is not right and this ban would be ridiculous,” said Matthew, 19, a computer engineering student at GPC who didn't want to give his last name. “It would be just one more way of banning our freedom. I think they put too much emphasis on not smoking. This isn't illegal. We're not selling drugs.”

Smoking in all enclosed state-owned or -leased facilities - including dorms and classrooms - is already banned in Georgia. The proposal before the regents would apply to outdoor spaces on campuses, said Valerie Hepburn, a former college president who is leading the overhaul of the University System of Georgia's health benefits plan. Discussions about tobacco-free campuses have been ongoing since the university system launched its public health research and teaching programs in 2003, but this is the first time the regents will consider a system-wide ban.

Details of how to implement the ban have to be worked out, Hepburn said. A policy would have to be drafted, a compliance date would have to be set and the system would have to work with the schools and local health departments to provide students and staff with help to stop smoking and using tobacco.

Graphic Warning Labels on Cigarette Packs could Reduce Smokers in the US

A new study published in Tobacco Control journal demonstrates that graphic warning labels on cigarette packs resulted in decrease in smoking rates in Canada by 20% in 2009. The authors of the study say that if the USA introdused graphic warnings, it would help to decrease significantly number of smokers in the country. However, FDA