Farmington to Decide on Smoking-Ban Ordinance

Data shows that among American states the highest smoking rate is registered in Missouri. However, soon the state of affairs is going to change as officials in Farmington decided to make their city smoke-free. Stuart Landrum, Mayor of Farmington, told that among neighboring cities only Arnold has a smoking ban in place. Besides it in

Vote expected in U.K. on plain packaging for cigarettes

The latest government attempt at plain cigarette packaging in the United Kingdom is sparking a fierce response from two British tobacco manufacturers. However, industry analysts and marketing officials said Friday they doubt there will be a spillover effect in the United States despite a similar push by anti-tobacco groups.

According to several UK media reports, Parliament members are expected to vote on plain packaging by March 30. The initiative is based primarily on regulations enacted in Australia in 2012 that have produced mixed results to date. If the British proposal is enacted, it would go into effect in May 2016. It would ban brightly colored packs and require packs to be uniform in size, shape and design and to carry large picture health warnings.

British health minister Jane Ellison said plain packaging was a "proportionate and justified response" because of the health risks associated with smoking, according to The Guardian newspaper.

British American Tobacco Pic, owner of 42 percent of Reynolds American Inc., said the plain packaging proposal "is a serious error of judgment given the clear evidence from Australia that plain packaging has not achieved any of its public health objectives and has increased illicit trade to its highest level in seven years."

The main plain-packing arguments expressed by Australia government leaders are that the packaging would help reduce overall smoking rates, reduce youth smoking rates and increase the effectiveness of health warnings. According to media reports, youth smoking rates have risen in Australia since 2012 and overall smoking rates have been flat.

A similar plain packaging proposal has been pushed among U.S. anti-tobacco advocates and Food and Drug Administration officials since 2009. However, advocates' biggest goal - requiring graphic warning labels on the top half of packs - has been stuck in neutral for nearly two years. Two separate federal courts are split on whether graphic warning labels violate tobacco companies' free-speech rights under the First Amendment.

U.S. tobacco companies increasingly rely on cigarette packaging to build brand loyalty and grab consumers - one of the few advertising avenues left to them after the government curbed their presence in magazines, billboards and TV They argue the proposed warnings went beyond factual information into anti-smoking advocacy.

Imperial Tobacco Group Ltd. has agreed to spend $7.1 billion to buy all of Lorillard Inc.'s operations outside its Newport brand in a three-way deal involving Reynolds, the maker of Camel Black cigarettes. Imperial offered similar comments to BAT on the plain packaging proposal, saying "it is regrettable that this issue has been caught up in knee-jerk electioneering at the expense of evidence-based policy making."

Smoking Ban in Place in Ann Arbor Parks from February

Starting from February 1, city of Ann Arbor in US state of Michigan will no longer allow smoking in its 73 parks with playgounds and 4 downtown parks. The change was approved around ten months ago, when the City Council passed an outdoor smoking ordinance permitting the city administrator and Park Advisory Commission to designate

Does Europe have a smoking-cessation secret?

 Tobacco is likely the most addictive chemical we humans encounter (except maybe for Oreo cookies. Yes, someone studied them and found an addictive result). The search continues for aids to help people quit tobacco use. However, some people do not want to quit as smoking superslim cigarettes is their favorite habit.

Nicotine gum, lozenges, patches, (all called nicotine replacement therapy), some drugs first intended for psychiatric disease treatments, counseling, hypnosis, etc. have all been tried. Currently the favorite in the United States is a drug called varenicline — brand-name Chantix.

Varenicline was derived from a drug called cytisine. The plant Cytisus laborinium (Golden Rain acacia) first was used as a smoking substitute during World War II. This led to it being used as a smoking-cessation aid, with the extraction of the chemical cytosine coming later. The drug company Pfizer created different forms of it, called analogs, leading to varenicline’s formulation and its fast-track approval by the Federal Drug Administration and introduction in 2006 to the United States.

Cytisine and varenicline both bind to the cell receptors for nicotine, of which there are many. The one they have the most affinity for is nicotinic acetylcholine receptor apha4beta2, the cell receptor that appears to mediate nicotine dependence. They only bind partially to give less kick than nicotine itself, but still decrease cravings.

Cytisine has been available in the former socialist economy countries of eastern Europe since 1964. Made by the Bulgarian drug company Sopharma AD and sold as Tabex, it has never been available to most of the rest of the world. A new study from New Zealand reported in the Dec. 18 New England Journal of Medicine compared the cessation results of cytisine to varenicline.

It pointed out right away that the cost of cytisine was far less than all others. The authors listed 25 days of cytisine cost $20 to $30, nicotine replacement therapy for 8 to 10 weeks cost $112 to $685 and varenicline cost $474 to $501 for 12 weeks.

Virginia: Fines for Exposing Kids to Tobacco Smoke

An official in the state of Virginia wants to protect kids from tobacco smoke in vehicles and proposed to introduce a bill which would make it an illegal action. The talk is about Todd Pillion, who has filed House Bill 2171. The bill prohibits use of cigarettes in cars where kids under eight are present.

In Newburgh Tobacco Selling Stores Need Local License

City Council in Newburgh, New York, approved on Monday a new licensing requirement which regulates more strictly sale of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products in shops. From March 1, 2015, gas stations, convenience stores and all shops that do sell tobacco products need to have a city license. In order to get it,

Is Smoking Ban Needed in New Orleans?

In her effort to snuff out smoking at bars and casinos in New Orleans, Cantrell has stressed the need to protect the health of workers and of the musicians who play at such venues.

She notes that Louisiana ranks among the states with the highest number of residents dying annually of cancer. She also disputes arguments made by some bar owners that they’ll lose business because of the ban, noting that in New Orleans customers can pour a drink into a go-cup before stepping outside for a cigarette.

But the prospect of having people loitering outside late at night to smoke and perhaps drink worries owners of some bars tucked away in residential neighborhoods.

“It’s the city that’s putting this rule in place, and they’re putting more of these quality-of-life issues on the table without a real good solution to the problems that are going to arise out of them,” said Bill Walker, who has co-owned the Lost Love Lounge in the Marigny since 2010. Besides this he is a smoker of Davidoff Gold cigarettes.

Walker is in the awkward position of also serving as the head of One Marigny, a neighborhood association.

Cantrell told The New Orleans Advocate last week that she has a solution for that, too: She plans to revive discussion on New Orleans’ seemingly dormant noise ordinance once work on the smoking ban is finished.

“It’s kind of like having to vet it again with the new members of the council,” she said about the proposed noise ordinance, which drew widespread criticism and prompted a parade of musicians to storm the council chamber a year ago to voice their disapproval. “But I think a lot of work went into that, and that’s why I feel like we’ve got to pick it back up, because of the work, and we’ve got to finish the job on that.”

In the meantime, a five-member City Council committee last week moved forward with the smoking ban after a nearly three-hour meeting at which more than 150 people sought a chance to speak on the topic.

The measure appears to have the backing of a majority of council members, Cantrell said. Another public meeting on the proposal is slated for 5 p.m. Wednesday in the council chamber, and the council seems likely to vote on the issue Jan. 22.

Fort Collins to Vote in February New Smoking Ban

In 2014 the state of Colorado became famous in the USA due to legalization of recreational Marijuana use. However, not all smokers will be happy soon. As Coloradoan writes, the city of Fort Collins is going to vote on an ordinance that could expand the existing smoking ban and it will include a number of

New Orleans' smoking ban debate to spark up in council committee

The latest drive to permanently put out all cigarettes in bars, casinos, bus stops, parks and prisons in New Orleans heads to the City Council this week for a public debate two months in the offing.

Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell announced her plans to let people weigh in on the most comprehensive ban against the unhealthy habit yet introduced in this traditionally permissive city. The council's Community Development Committee is scheduled to assemble at 10 a.m. Wednesday (Jan. 7).

Cantrell, who co-authored the proposed ban with Councilwoman Susan Guidry and introduced it to the council in November, said in a statement that the new law "would go a long way in terms of protecting our workers and improving public health."

But she left open the door for possible changes, saying that airing the proposal in public would help shape it into "the best possible legislation."

The so-called "smoke-free ordinance" has already received some blow-back. The state police in December announced that Louisiana stood to lose up to $104 million in public revenue every year generated by Harrah's Casino, the Fair Grounds race track and video-poker halls in New Orleans should the ban be implemented.

As it stands now, the 25-page proposed ordinance would prohibit any type of smoking, including tobacco, marijuana and electronic smoking devices, in public spaces, businesses, private clubs, bars, prisons, schools, parking garages, stadiums, parks and shelters for bus and streetcar passengers. It would also keep smokers 25 feet away from buildings where smoking is banned and 200 feet away from any school.

Off the hook would be private residences, specially designated hotel rooms, tobacco shops, designated rooms in assisted living facilities and any business that manufactures, imports, distributes or processes tobacco products.

Smoker Pit opposes the change as he uses Parliament cigarettes http://www.cigarettesplace.net/parliament-cigarettes for 10 years and it would be hard for him to quit.