Tobacco News

The Berkeley City Council will consider recommending an analysis on an ordinance that would give landlords in Berkeley the power to ban smoking in their tenancies.
The recommendation, proposed by Councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Max Anderson and set to come up at the council’s meeting Tuesday, asks the city’s Community Health Commission and Rent Stabilization Board to analyze the possibility of crafting a smoke free housing ordinance similar to California Senate Bill 332, which went into effect Jan. 1and which gives landlords the right to make their rental properties smoke free. Ream more »

Business is delaying the introduction of the law to stop smoking in public places and regulate tobacco sale and production, a senior health official says.

At a meeting of the GCC Tobacco Control Committee, with representatives from all six Gulf states, Dr Mahmoud Fikri, the undersecretary for health policy at the Ministry of Health, said the law was in the final stage of approval and awaiting cabinet approval.
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Postdoctoral physics student Patrick Coles has started a petition to ban smoking on the Carnegie Mellon campus.

As of last Thursday, the petition had received a total of 534 signatures on ipetitions.com. Coles said that he was “quite pleased by the support” his petition has received. “We are at the point where we should start talking to the administration,” he said. “The main issue is to protect people’s right to breathe clean air and to promote a healthy campus,” Coles said.
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The Casper City Council agreed Thursday to continue on schedule with consideration of a smoking ban proposal.
Initial discussion of the proposal is scheduled for Feb. 13 and a detailed ordinance has yet to be constructed. Mayor Kenyne Schlager suggested during the work session that a separate public meeting be held at a later date to debate the issue. Councilman Paul Bertoglio agreed, adding that two meetings may be necessary. Ream more »

The City Council is set to consider new regulations in city parks that include banning smoking and could require permits for “any games” played in the city’s 73 parks.
The smoking law would forbid smoking within 100 feet of parks and beaches and also ban the disposal of tobacco products. Groups could apply for smoking permits for their activities.

The law would also require trainers and instructors using parks for commercial classes to get permits. Ream more »

Illinois officials say the recession, which hit in December 2007 — and not just a statewide smoking ban implemented in 2008 — played a significant role in the decline of revenue that state’s gaming facilities.

But still, risking a decline in gaming revenues by enacting a comprehensive smoking ban that includes Casino Aztar may cause the Evansville City Council to shy away from including the riverboat in a proposed expansion of the city’s smoking ordinance.
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Our lack of a workplace smoking ban in Indiana has become an embarrassment, especially with the Super Bowl looming before us. Even many Republican lawmakers who refused to address the issue for years appear ready to pass something.

There must be a convincing message from business leaders to elected officials that Indianapolis and Indiana are well behind the curve of hundreds of American cities and 29 states that benefit economically from smoke-free laws. Lawmakers may finally understand that convention and other business opportunities may bypass us because of our smoky environments, which visitors from out of state resent.
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The University of California is banning cigarettes and all other tobacco products from its campuses over the next two years, in a move designed to both protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke and prevent young people from developing the bad habit.

Students and staff alike will be prohibited from smoking anywhere on a UC campus – including outdoor spaces, parking lots and private residences. There won’t be any designated smoking areas.
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Anti-smoking advocates may finally be on the verge of getting a stronger statewide smoking ban passed by the General Assembly.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers in both the Senate and House is pushing to ban smoking in most public places and workplaces, including bars. The only exemptions it includes are the gambling floors of casinos and pari-mutuel betting parlors, private clubs and cigar and hookah bars. Various forms of a smoking ban have passed the House five times, only to die in the Senate. But with Gov. Mitch Daniels throwing his weight behind the idea this time, supporters are crossing their fingers that this is finally the year.
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For the first time since he took office seven years ago, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is pushing for a statewide public smoking ban.

The Indiana House of Representatives has passed a ban several times in recent years, but the measure has always failed in the Senate. Daniels has never opposed a ban in the past, but he hasn’t advocated for oneeither. The Republican governor said mounting evidence showing the damaging effects of secondhand smoke and growing public sentiment in favor of a ban led him to make it a priority for the legislature’s 2012 session, which will be his last as governor.
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