Tobacco News

A proposed ban on smoking and other forms of tobacco use on all city property, even outdoors, goes before city councilors on Thursday. The new tobacco ordinance is up for the first of two readings by city councilors at their meeting, which is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at City Center.

The ban would apply to all city parks and athletic fields and, except for designated smoking areas, the outdoor areas surrounding all city buildings. Violators of the proposed new ban could be subject to a $50 fine. Before that, though, city parks staff or police would warn violators to stop, officials said.
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With the former health minister already preparing for a High Court battle with tobacco companies over plain packaging legislation, Ms Roxon said yesterday she would approach state governments to “consider whether there are options” for a separate legal challenge, with the possibility of individual suits or a class action by states a real possibility.

“We are looking at options for what is an appropriate way to reduce levels of smoking in Australia and we can look at whether the tobacco companies are appropriately being held to account,” Ms Roxon said.
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The outgoing leader of the University of Missouri System’s Board of Curators plans to spend the coming year helping persuade Missourians to increase the state’s tobacco tax. Warren Erdman, who ends his term as board chairman next month, is involved in a group planning to pitch an initiative that would place a 73-cent tobacco tax hike on the November ballot.

The language still needs approval from the secretary of state, and organizers would have to collect roughly 100,000 signatures from registered voters to get it on the ballot.
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Following an announcement Wednesday that Altria Group Inc.’s Philip Morris USA is raising its cigarette prices, Reynolds American Inc. also confirmed a five-cent list-price increase. And Lorillard Inc. is also reportedly instituting a six-cent increase.

David Howard, spokesperson for Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Reynolds, told CSP Daily News, that its increase affects its growth brands of Camel and Pall Mall, as well as its support brands of Winston, Salem, Kool, Doral and other others. The increase went into effect December 9.
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On Nov. 9, St. Joseph’s Hospital hosted the New York State Smokers Quitline’s “Action to Quit” summit. This important program brought employers, health care facilities, insurance companies and county government together in an effort to improve the physical and financial health of our community by developing more tobacco-free workplaces and by enhancing smoking cessation health benefits for employees.
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RoBritish American Tobacco (BAT) is gearing up to take on the Australian government in a High Court challenge against its plan to enforce a plain packaging law for cigarettes. According to AFP, BAT is claiming the legislation violates its intellectual property rights.

The new law, which goes into effect December 1, 2012, would require all tobacco products sold in the country to be packaged in plain, beige wrapping. The packaging would also feature health warnings and disturbing images, such as diseased lungs and sick babies.
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Middle and high school students from across the state gathered at the Georgia National Fair Grounds Nov. 11-12 to launch a statewide, youth-led campaign to establish 100% tobacco-free schools policies in Georgia’s public schools.

The Healthy Schools Leadership Summit 2011, coordinated by a nonprofit called Youth Empowered Solutions, was held in partnership with the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH).
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Politics, not science, is the root of the global warming debate, Dr. Naomi Oreskes argued Thursday afternoon. When it comes to the science, she said, there is no debate.
Oreskes demonstrated throughout her lecture there has been a scientific consensus about the validity of global warming dating back to the 1900s. The sole scientific debate that has existed in any point of time was over the effects of global warming and when it would occur – both of these debates have since been settled in the scientific community. Ream more »

When a new anti-smoking law went into effect in Washington state six years ago, it drew an imaginary line. Smoking was banned in all public places and work areas, requiring people who light up to stay at least 25 feet away from doors, windows and vents leading to such spaces. Officially titled the Smoking in Public Places Act, the law – at the time – was the most restrictive yet to be adopted by any state in the nation.
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In the past few decades, smoking, which was once a common habit, has been pushed to the fringes of society.
In 1975, Minnesota became the first state to ban smoking indoors. The rest of the country began to follow.
Within the next 20 years, most states adopted some sort of smoking ban — some required smoking sections in restaurants, other required all-out bans in public places.
Louisiana has banned smoking from restaurants in past years, but has yet to ban it in bars and casinos. Ream more »