Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Westminster Wants to Ban Sale of Tobacco Products

The Board of Health in Westminster, a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, is examining the proposal to totally ban sale of products containing nicotine or tobacco. In case such a law will be adopted, Westminster will become the first town in the USA who banned all tobacco sales. The proposed law prohibits sale of regular

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Anti-tobacco campaign urges youth to avoid smoking

National Commission on Tobacco Control education and community empowerment division head Fuad Baradja said young people in Indonesia remained vulnerable to cigarette marketing activities, as tobacco companies frequently sponsored youth sporting events to advertise products, and added that the impact of smoking ran in complete opposition to the purpose of sporting activities.

He said Indonesia was one of the countries with the slowest progress in terms of prohibiting the advertisements, promotions, sponsorship and corporate social responsibility activities of cigarette companies that aimed to bolster their public image, with the youth as their main target.

Government Regulation (PP) No.109/2012 on tobacco control, which still allows cigarette advertisements, promotions and sponsorship via all types of media in Indonesia, had made children targets of exploitation of cigarette companies’ marketing activities. Most popular brand among young people is LD cigarettes http://www.mydiscountcigarette.net/buy/ld

“Children have become a marketing target of the cigarette industry because they are potential consumers that will probably remain tobacco-addicts for life, preserving the existence of the industry,” said Fuad on the sidelines of the Handball Bogor Open in Bogor, West Java, on Saturday.

“One of most effective strategies getting young people addicted to tobacco is through advertising, promotions and sponsorship at events like sporting events,” he went on.

The 2013 Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) data shows that more than 60 percent of smokers started their habits when they were still under 20. Meanwhile, the Global Youth Tobacco Survey data revealed a rapid increase in the prevalence of young smokers aged between 13 and 15-years-old from 12.6 percent in 2006 to 20.3 percent in 2009.

Heri Isnaeni, head of the 2014 Handball Open Bogor organizing committee, said sporting event attendees were mostly young people who were vulnerable to cigarette advertising exposure.

“That’s why we picked ‘A cool handball, a handball without a cigarette’ as the theme of this year’s Handball Open. This aims to encourage young people to achieve at sporting events without cigarette smoking,”

Monday, October 27, 2014

Ypsilanti Bans Smoking at Three Children’s Playgrounds

City Council in Ypsilanti, Michigan, last week approved an ordinance that would prohibit smoking at all three children’s playgrounds in the city. According to Bob Krzewinski of the Ypsilanti Parks and Recreation Commission, they have no intention to make this policy a priority and no one will be sitting out there and writing tickets. The

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Montana: Smokers to Move to Designated Area

When workers in Yellowstone County, Montana, want to smoke during their break, they frequently go outside to a place called “the cave” that is a hole in the wall on the southwest corner of the building. The room under the skybridge located on North 27th Street has an exit-only door, a can for litter and

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Paris bans smoking in playgrounds

Smokers will no longer be allowed to spark up in the playgrounds of one Paris park after a trial smoking ban was introduced for a year. The initiative, which is likely to now be extended to other outdoor public spaces, was introduced over the weekend as part of an official campaign cut smoking deaths in France. Most popular French cigarettes brand is Gauloises http://www.cigarettestrade.com/buy/gauloises

Smoking is already technically banned in all inside public places in France, including cafes, restaurants, stations and museums. But terraces and other places outdoors are not included in the ban, because the chances of smokers harming those sitting around them are considered minuscule.

Now the three playgrounds in the Parc de Montsouris, southern Paris, are off limits to smokers for the next 12 months. Paris deputy mayor Pénélope Komitès said breaches would be punished with a yet to be introduced system of formal warnings and fines.

'For now, we're focussing more on persuading people than on punishing them,' she was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph. After the trial, the city authorities 'will determine whether the measure should be made permanent and extended to other Paris parks,' Ms Komitès said.

The decision to begin the process of banning smoking in the public parks of Paris comes after the mayor of UK capital London, a rival metropolis which competes with Paris in standards wealth, culture and opportunity, called similar proposals 'bossy and nannying'.

Boris Johnson set himself at odds with a health panel he set up after it recommended thousands of acres of London parkland and landmarks including Trafalgar Square should go smoke free.

'This idea in my view, as a libertarian conservative, comes down too much on the side of bossiness and nannying,' said Mr Johnson.

'One feature of life in London is that we are a city that allows people to get on with their lives within the law provided they are not harming anyone else.

'I think smoking is a scourge and it's right to discourage it (but) I am very sceptical at the moment.'

Monday, October 20, 2014

New Mexico: No Smoking in Patios

In restaurants in the state of New Mexico it is not permitted to smoke cigarettes in restaurants and now they are considering banning smoking at patios. The move is voluntary and not imposed by law. Recently the New Mexico Health Department made a survey in which were involved almost 3,000 participants. They were asked their

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Graphic Health Warnings Introduced in 77 Countries

Canadian Cancer Society released a report which shows that there is increasing number of countries where cigarette packs should have graphic health warnings. Canada was the only country in 2001 to implement such policy. Today the talk is about 77 countries that require graphic health warnings.on cigarette packs. By the end of 2012 there were

Monday, October 13, 2014

Kuwait introduces hefty fines for smoking indoors

Importing or storing nuclear substances could lead to the death penalty under a new environmental law that came into effect in Kuwait on Sunday.

The controversial legislation also includes a KD250 ($860) fine for picking flowers, while littering or causing the death of marine and land fauna will incur a KD500 fine for each penalty, and smoking in closed and semi-closed public areas a KD100 fine. Smokers in Kuwait choose premium cigarettes brands such as Dunhill http://www.verycheapcigarettes.biz/cheap-cigarette/dunhill

Other violations include noise and sea pollution.

A new police force division also has been established to monitor the new rules.

The legislation was approved by the previous parliament and came into effect on Sunday.

The Environmental Protection Authority’s deputy director for technical affairs, Mohammed Al Enezi, said the body also had new powers to refer government organisations for investigation if they were believed to be negligent or lenient in enforcing the new rules.

“Violators will be severely punished as well,” he said, according to Kuwait Times.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

New Online Tool for Quitting

In England there was developed a new interactive website to help low-income people to quit smoking. The talk is about StopAdvisor. Health experts say that low-income people may be left out when it comes to innovations in wellness and health. From the new online platform poor people do benefit more than those with high income.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Americans drink less when cigarettes cost more

In the U.S., higher cigarette taxes and strict smoke-free policies not only curb smoking but also lower alcohol consumption, a new study shows.

On a national level, the effect is relatively modest. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that a 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes leads to a 1 percent decrease in per capita alcohol consumption. But states with the highest prices and most restrictive anti-smoking policies, such as New York and Illinois, saw the greatest declines in alcohol consumption.

The study is published online in the October 2014 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Smoking and drinking often go together. Smokers are more likely than nonsmokers to drink alcohol, and heavy smokers are more likely to be heavy drinkers. But while raising cigarette taxes and implementing smoking bans are known to deter smoking, it hasn’t been clear how such policies affect alcohol use. However, cheapest cigarettes are found in online cigarettes shops.

“One of the implications here is that reduced drinking may be yet another health benefit related to tobacco-control policies,” said co-investigator Richard A. Grucza, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry. “It appears that one way to control alcohol consumption is to target tobacco.”

The researchers analyzed changes in cigarette prices and public smoking policies from 1980-2009 and looked at per capita alcohol consumption during that same time period.

“In the last two decades, smoking rates dropped among young people and adults in the U.S., at least partly in response to rising prices and stricter smoke-free air policies,” said first author Melissa J. Krauss, a senior statistical data analyst in the Department of Psychiatry.

Americans consume an average of 2.28 gallons of pure alcohol per person each year. That’s the equivalent of about 486 12-ounce bottles of beer, 5-ounce glasses of wine or 1.5-ounce shots of hard liquor. A standard beer is about 5 percent alcohol, while most wine is about 12 percent and spirits such as bourbon or vodka are about 40 percent alcohol.

Monday, October 6, 2014

Allegheny County Housing Authority Bans Smoking at Five Units

Housing Authority in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, told last week about its intention to prohibit smoking in five of its units. According to county authorities, up to date totally 330 units were designated as smoke-free in the county. The talk is about G.W. Carver Hall in Clairton, Ohioview Tower in McKees Rocks, Andrew Carnegie Apartments in

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Slim Cigarettes Represent Lower Health Risks

A new study suggests that the exposure to nicotine and tar tend to be lower for smokers who use slim cigarettes than regular ones. Today slim type of cigarettes is very popular in several countries worldwide. A number of earlier studies demonstrated that levels of certain chemicals in smoke of slim cigarettes are much lower