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France's "right to die" law

Emphasis on changing behaviour makes question more acute

EDITOR—The question of "right" v "responsibility" to die raised by Maio is only enhanced by the current emphasis on reducing future healthcare costs for a group through societal pressures to alter behaviour.1

When people refuse to change their ways after being told of the individual risks incurred by their current status—being over-weight, smoking, etc—the next step is to create a public backlash against the behaviour, based on the presumed damage to the public good. "Fat people cost us [you] x dollars extra per year."

One wonders how long it will be before there will be a public backlash against keeping various groups of ill people alive, on the basis of how much it costs society.

Joan T McClusky, medical writer

New York, NY 10003, USA jmcclusky.icon@medimedia.com

1 Spurgeon B. France passes "right to die" law. BMJ 2004;329: 1307. (4 December.)[Free Full Text]

Competing interests: None declared.

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/extract/330/7486/311-c

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Hawaii mulls smoking ban for beaches, parks -HI

Violators could be fined $250

Beachgoers are seen on the shores of Waikiki, in this 1998 photograph. Smoking could soon be banned at all of Hawaii's beaches and parks.

Ronen Zilberman / AP file Feb. 12, 2005

HONOLULU - Visitors flock to Hawaii’s shores to snorkel, surf and sink their feet into the unblemished white sands of the state’s beaches. But camouflaged among the coast’s glassy granules lies a hidden peril — seemingly indestructible cigarette butts cast away by smokers.

 In a state where every beach is public, it is possible to light up in the sand outside the toniest oceanfront homes.

State lawmakers want that to stop. Under a bill before the Legislature, smoking would be banned on public beaches and parks, and cigarette butts would have to be tossed only into designated trash bins. Violators could be fined $250.

Several municipalities, including San Francisco and Honolulu, already have some sort of ban.

But Hawaii would be the first state to have such a law on its books. Other states, including Delaware and California, recently failed to pass similar legislation.

Democratic Rep. Kirk Caldwell, author and co-sponsor of the bill, said smoking goes against his idea of basking in the great outdoors.

“When you go to the beach, don’t you think of being in the sun, feeling the wind, feeling the sun on your skin, being in the water? And then there’s someone sitting next to you smoking ... smoke’s drifting down into your face,” he said.

Lawmakers might expect an outcry from those who deal in tourism from countries where cigarette smoking is more socially acceptable than in the United States, he said.

However, he said that when Hawaii counties banned smoking in restaurants a few years ago, tourists didn’t flee as opponents had warned. Reports from the National Restaurant Association showed a 3 percent increase in restaurant revenues in 2003, after bans on Oahu, Maui and Kauai took effect.

And discovering a cigarette butt while digging through the sand could turn off tourists, many of whom come to Hawaii for its pristine, natural beauty, Caldwell said.

Yujiro Kuwabara of the Japan Travel Bureau said the bill is unlikely to be met with much opposition or even surprise from foreign tourists. Even in notoriously cigarette-friendly Japan, smoke-free pedestrian areas have been set up in the nation’s capital.

The only challenge would be to make sure tourists know that things have changed in Hawaii, Kuwabara said.

“As long as we explain the reason to the tourists, I think they will understand,” he said.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6958107/

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Smoking ordinance modified for live music venues -TX

By: News 8 Austin Staff 2/12/2005 12:07 PM

The Austin/Travis County Health Department is changing the way live music venues can host special non-smoking events.

The city streamlined the process of getting a permit and made it easier to open non-smoking venues.
Now venue owners just need to submit a request 10 days before the event instead of 20, and the health department will rule in five days instead of 10.
Also, the venue must be smoke-free from opening time until the all ages show is over.
Under the old rules they had to stay smoke-free all day.
The change comes in response to complaints from the Austin Music Commission.
The new policy only applies to businesses that already have a permit to allow smoking.

http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=131183

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Smoking ban ends as profits fall  -UK

A pub in Kent which banned smoking last June has said smokers are welcome again after profits fell.

The landlord at the Junction Inn in Groombridge said sales of beer had gone down during the six months of the ban.   The Junction Inn had introduced the ban in June 2004

Chris Geer said customers who had stopped using the pub have returned since he allowed smoking again.

Later this week councillors in Canterbury will meet to discuss the next stage of a plan to ban smoking in public places run by the council.

'Alienated customers'

Mr Geer ended the ban in January after figures for the last three months of 2004 showed the pub had sold thousands of pints fewer than in the same period in 2003.

He said: "We felt as though we alienated our local customers - people who live in the village and people who like to come out and have a pint after work and like to have a cigarette at the bar.

"Reintroducing it, those people have started to come back now and the bar sales have gone back to something like they used to be."

Last month pub chain JD Wetherspoon announced it will ban smoking in all its pubs by May 2006.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/4263263.stm

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Mother 'Amazed' by Police Letter on Son's Smoking -UK

By Brian Farmer, PA

A mother today criticised a police inspector who wrote to explain that a police community support officer had spotted her 15-year-old son smoking in the street.
Dawn Geer, 43, of Cottenham, near Cambridge, said she “couldn’t believe that police didn’t have better things to do“.
Police defended the letter saying the PCSO acted properly and the inspector was right to let the youngster’s mother know that he had been in contact with police.
The letter, sent by Inspector Paul Ormerod, said Mrs Geer’s son Karl – who will be 16 in May – had been seen smoking at cigarette at 16.45 on January 4.
“Karl was warned, asked to put the cigarette out but refused,” added the letter. “The police will be taking no further action over this particular incident.”
The letter explained that police were running an initiative to “lessen the likelihood of young people becoming vulnerable to the risk of involvement in crime, either as victims or offenders“.
It added: “The purpose of this letter is to make parents or guardians aware of young peoples’ (sic) actions so that they may take steps to decrease the possibility of young people becoming vulnerable in the future.“
Mrs Geer said: “I don’t like him smoking – I’d rather he didn’t. But I can’t believe that the police don’t have better things to do than to tell a 15-year-old to stop smoking then write to me about it.
“It just seems such a waste of time and money. Is it a crime? I was just amazed to be honest.
“I’ve tried to ring up the inspector a couple of times to talk to him about it but he’s never there and I don’t like talking to a machine.”
A police spokeswoman said there were underlying problems with anti-social behaviour in the area and the initiative was designed to combat the problem.
“It is illegal for youngsters under 16 to buy cigarettes and police officers have the power to ask children not to smoke in public and to confiscate cigarettes,” she said.
“The PCSO was acting within his powers. And we feel it is right and responsible to let parents know when their children have been in contact with police.
“There is no suggestion that the child is being prosecuted or that any further action will be taken.
“And the PCSO’s actions had no effect on any other work we do or any other investigations. Officers are obviously assigned to different roles.“

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4112214

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Bill introduced to ban smoking statewide

Associated Press

HELENA -- A bipartisan group of lawmakers and public health advocates unveiled legislation Thursday that would ban smoking statewide in bars, restaurants, casinos and all other public places.

Six-term Rep. Tim Dowell, D-Kalispell, proposed the measure with three other legislators as a way to save lives and improve the health of smokers and nonsmokers. Tobacco-related illnesses will kill an estimated 1,400 smokers in Montana this year, and a number of nonsmokers, health officials said.

"Eight hours of working in a bar is just like smoking a pack a day," said Richard Sargent, a Helena physician and leading anti-smoking advocate.

Tobacco, retail and restaurant groups declined to comment on the bill when contacted by The Associated Press. Several have opposed smoking bans in the past as an infringement on private property rights and something that should be decided by local businesses.

Dowell's measure would prohibit smoking inside and immediately around all public schools, as well as restaurants, casinos, bars, government buildings and all other workplaces. It cites secondhand smoke research, smoking death rates and "the need to breathe smoke-free air" as reasons behind the legislation.

Private homes, licensed day care centers, health care facilities, motor vehicles, long-term care facilities and hotel rooms would be excluded, as would rooms used for American Indian religious ceremonies.

Voters in Helena approved an ordinance three years ago banning smoking in all public buildings, but the law has been on hold because of court challenges.

Advocates said the law is needed to protect and improve public health, and that local governments should have the power to enact such bans. Critics countered it infringed on private property rights and cost bars big money in an industry where eight of 10 customers smoke.

In 2003, the Legislature tried to exclude casinos from local smoking bans, but the Supreme Court last year overturned the law, saying it failed to expressly prohibit such bans and had no effect on local ordinances.

"For me, being against smoking is a preservation of life issue," said Rep. John Ward, R-Helena, a local business owner who used to chew tobacco. "For those who smoke it's a pursuit of happiness issue and life comes before happiness."

Other supporters said research has shown smoking bans don't hurt casinos and other businesses as suggested by opponents and could keep more youths from picking up the habit.

"Smoke-free public places help prevent our kids from starting a lifetime of addiction, help adults who want to quit smoking and protect our kids, seniors and hospitality workers from deadly tobacco smoke," Sargent said.

In 2002, a statewide poll conducted by Harstad Strategic Research for anti-smoking groups found widespread support for smoking bans. Among 602 registered voters, 66 percent favored and 29 percent opposed such bans, according to the poll.

At least three states -- California, Delaware and New York -- already prohibit indoor smoking, and several others are considering similar bans.

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?tl=1&display=rednews/2005/02/10/build/state/18-smokingban.inc

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Man Stabbed After Going Out For A Cigarette- OR

MOLALLA, Ore. -- Molalla police are investigating an overnight stabbing.

Investigators say a 38-year-old man was stabbed around 2:30 a.m. Monday when he went out on his front porch for a cigarette.

It happened in the 100 block of East Fifth Street.

The victim says he heard something making noise by one of his cars. When he went to check it out, the suspect appeared and stabbed him in the shoulder and in the stomach.

The victim was in stable condition Monday at Oregon Health and Science University. The suspect remains at large.

http://www.koin.com/news.asp?RECORD_KEY%5Bnews%5D=ID&ID%5Bnews%5D=1251

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Hospitals cite free care in arguing for Medicaid funding-IA

DES MOINES, Iowa A new report says Iowa's 116 hospitals were forced to write off 353 (m) million dollars last year in care to patients who couldn't pay and provided 64 (m) million dollars in community outreach services such as counseling, nutrition or health screenings.

In addition, the hospitals lost 70 (m) million dollars providing care to Medicare patients and 14 (m) million caring for Medicaid patients. The report says that's because the reimbursement hospitals get for those government programs is below the cost of providing care.

Kirk Norris, head of the Iowa Hospital Association, says hospitals are losing so much money to charity cases that any additional funding through Medicaid or Medicare would help.

The hospitals are using the study to support a proposed increase in cigarette taxes. Revenues from the proposed tax hike would be used to fill a budget shortfall in the Medicaid program, something Norris said is critical to the hospitals' survival.

http://www.kwqc.com/Global/story.asp?S=2946948

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House has decisions to make before passing budget

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A couple of tantalizing tidbits were unresolved Monday as House lawmakers try to move toward passage of a budget and tax bills by the end of the week.

Appropriations and Revenue Committee Chairman Harry Moberly said Democratic and Republican leaders are looking at a cigarette tax different than the 31-cent-per-pack increase proposed by Gov. Ernie Fletcher. There is also sentiment, among Republicans especially, to do away with the mechanism that would automatically increase the state's cigarette tax if surrounding states raise their own levies.

Moberly also raised the possibility of other changes in Fletcher's tax plan, including the notion of making the tax increases in his package recurring from year to year. Fletcher's plan raises about $110 million in tax money in 2006, but largely because of overlapping tax rates, and the money is not projected to continue from year to year.

"If we do a tax plan, we want to do that much money," said Moberly, D-Richmond. "We would hope it would be recurring."

Democrats are trying a new tactic of working with Republicans in actually putting a budget and tax plan together, and the GOP members are wary of anything that might resemble a tax increase.

GOP leader Jeff Hoover of Jamestown said several of his colleagues have signed pledges that bind them to vote against any tax increase.

On another contentious topic, Moberly said time is running out on expanded gambling as a possible source of new money. Some lawmakers have pushed casino-style gambling, but there has never been a consensus, even among proponents.

"We don't have time to wait around for something to happen on that," Moberly said.

http://www.wkyt.com/Global/story.asp?S=2946750

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Heavy Metal Toxicity Gene Located

Provides a target for preventing toxic effects of cadmium and possibly other dangers

Betterhumans Staff 2/14/2005 4:15 PM

A gene has been identified as responsible for spreading the toxicity of cadmium and possibly other heavy metals, providing a target for preventing their toxic effects in humans.

Found in cigarette smoke, some shellfish and seafood, cadmium is suspected of causing human birth defects, lung cancer and testicular cancer, and is known to damage the central nervous system, kidneys, lungs and developing embryos. It is widely used in batteries, pigments and coatings.

Studying low doses of cadmium in mice, researchers from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio found that a gene called Slc39a8 is involved in transporting cadmium to the testes, causing the death of tissue.

"We suspect that cadmium at higher doses could be transported to other regions of the body via the Slc39a8 gene or another gene in this family," says Daniel Nebert, the study's lead author. "We know that humans carry the same gene and gene family. Thus, we have identified a target that could be used to prevent cadmium's toxic effects in human populations."

This could be particularly important in countries with nutritional deficiencies, as malnourishment can increase the damaging effects of cadmium. Additionally, the researchers think that the Slc39a8 gene may be responsible for transporting other nonessential heavy metals such as lead, nickel and mercury.

"Identification and characterization of this gene in mice is a significant breakthrough that will improve our understanding of how heavy metals actually cause toxicity and cancer in humans," says Nebert.

The research is reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (read abstract).

http://www.betterhumans.com/News/news.aspx?articleID=2005-02-14-2

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NHLBI Study Shows Smoking Cessation Programs Improve Survival

    WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 14 /CNW/ - New findings from the Lung Health Study (LHS) show that intensive smoking cessation programs can significantly improve long-term survival among smokers. Supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), LHS is a landmark study that differs from many other studies of cigarette smoking in that it was a randomized, controlled clinical trial -- considered the gold standard in determining cause and effect; furthermore, the size and duration of LHS enabled it to more accurately measure the risks associated with smoking than other clinical trials. NHLBI is part of the National Institutes of Health.
    LHS followed nearly 5,900 middle-aged smokers who had mild to moderately abnormal lung function but were otherwise healthy when they enrolled in the study. Participants were assigned to either a 10-week intensive smoking cessation program or to usual care (no intervention). The intervention program included behavior modification and use of nicotine gum, with a continuing five-year maintenance program to minimize relapse. After five years, approximately 22 percent of the participants in the smoking cessation program were sustained quitters, with nearly 90 percent of them continuing their success after 11 years. About 5 percent of those who did not receive the intervention were sustained quitters after five years. After an average of 14.5 years, the death rate among those in the smoking cessation program was about 15 percent lower compared to those who received usual care. The results are published in the February 15, 2005, issue of the Annals of Internal
Medicine.
    "This study shows the substantial impact smoking cessation programs can have on public health, even if small numbers of participants successfully quit," said Gail Weinmann, MD, director of the NHLBI Airway Biology and Disease Program.
    Researchers also analyzed mortality data according to smoking habit regardless of whether participants were in the intervention or usual care groups. At the end of the study they found that sustained quitters had nearly half the overall death rate of those who continued to smoke. In particular, death rates of sustained quitters compared to smokers were nearly one-third lower for coronary heart disease and for cardiovascular disease, and less than half for lung cancer.
    In an accompanying editorial, Jonathan Samet, MD, MS, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, notes that the LHS findings prove that "smoking is causally responsible for the increased risk for death in smokers." He asserts, "No one can make a serious claim to the contrary in light of this randomized trial evidence."
    Smoking is the single most avoidable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 22.5 percent of adults (46 million) and 26 percent of high school seniors smoke. Smoking contributes to more than 440,000 deaths per year.
    Dr. Weinmann is available to comment on the study. To interview Dr. Weinmann, please call the NHLBI Communications Office at (301) 496-4236.  To interview an expert about smoking and cancer, please contact the National Cancer Institute Press Office at (301) 496-6641.

    Clinical centers for the Lung Health Study were:

    -  Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
    -  Birmingham, Alabama: University of Alabama at Birmingham
    -  Cleveland, Ohio: Case Western Reserve University
    -  Detroit, Michigan: Henry Ford Hospital
    -  Los Angeles, California: University of California
    -  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University at Pittsburgh
    -  Portland, Oregon: Oregon Health Sciences University
    -  Rochester, Minnesota: Mayo Clinic
    -  Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah
    -  Winnipeg, Manitoba: University of Manitoba
    -  Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota (Data Coordinating
       Center)

    For more information about the Lung Health Study, visit http://www.biostat.umn.edu/lhs/.
    Information about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a condition in which the lung is damaged -- usually due to cigarette smoking -- is available at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Copd/Copd_WhatIs.html.

 Resources to help smokers quit are available at www.smokefree.gov.

    NHLBI is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Federal Government's primary agency for biomedical and behavioral research. NIH is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Additional information about NHLBI-supported research and educational programs are available online at the NHLBI website, www.nhlbi.nih.gov.

For further information: CONTACT: NHLBI Communications Office,  (301) 496-4236, E-mail: nhlbi_news@nhlbi.nih.gov

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2005/14/c4088.html

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Crabgrass for the Bluegrass State  -KY

Gov. Fletcher’s flawed tax-reform plan.

By Paul J. Gessing February 14, 2005, 8:28 a.m.

Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher of Kentucky, having recently announced his tax-reform plan, has been looking for support from state legislators across the political spectrum. There is of course much for taxpayers to like in the governor’s package, including a reduction of the top corporate income-tax rate to 6 percent (from 8.25 percent) and a repeal of the corporate license tax. The impetus for the focus on income taxes is Kentucky’s notoriously unfriendly tax climate for business. In fact, the Tax Foundation recently found that Kentucky had a worse business-tax burden than all but six states, including slow-growth, anti-business Hawaii, New York, West Virginia, and Vermont.

Clearly, the tax-reduction portion of Fletcher’s proposal will be an economic boon for Kentucky. The state is in dire need of an economic “shot in the arm” that will allow it to more effectively compete with its neighbors, particularly Tennessee. As Ohio University economist Richard Vedder points out, in 1970 Kentucky was ahead of Tennessee in per capita income, but by 1990, the average Kentuckian had fallen $1,255 behind the average Tennessean. That gap has only worsened. By 2003 the average Kentuckian made $2,213 less than the average Tennessean. Vedder and others have attributed this yawning gap to two factors: Kentucky’s high income-tax rate and Tennessee’s lack of an income tax.

By taking a whack at his state’s income-tax policies, Fletcher has started a much-needed debate over the taxation of income in the commonwealth. Unfortunately, in order to interest tax-and-spend legislators, the governor has made his tax-reform plan “revenue neutral.” This means that instead of lessening the burden on all Kentuckians by cutting taxes outright, some taxpayers will win and others will lose.

The most prominent losers in Fletcher’s plan would be those who smoke, drink alcohol, or watch satellite television. Smokers would see cigarette taxes rise from 3 cents to 34 cents. This is bad enough, but most troubling is the fact that in the future the cigarette tax would be tied to the cigarette tax rates in surrounding states. Worse, even if nothing new happens, under the governor’s plan the cigarette tax rate would jump to 53 cents a pack by 2008. Alcohol consumers, meanwhile, would see the existing 6 percent sales tax that people pay in restaurants and bars added to package sales of liquor, beer, and wine. Lastly, users of satellite TV services would be subject to a 7.62 percent tax, while telephone and cable television subscribers would see their taxes rise from 6 percent to 7.62 percent. Together, these tax-hike proposals would raise an estimated $214 million in 2006.

In piecing together this complicated, convoluted plan, Fletcher has made both tactical and political errors. For one, the choice between economically vital income-tax reductions and significant tax hikes on smaller groups of people is a false dichotomy. Worse, by proposing a plan that directly harms some of the industries that are too often singled out as whipping boys for tax hikes, Fletcher has hurt his chances for real reform immeasurably.

Instead of gouging a few groups of consumers and industries — industries that have some political clout and are significant employers and taxpayers in Kentucky — Fletcher should act the part of a consistent, conservative governor. That means proposing a frugal budget and looking to cut spending, cut taxes, and reduce the overall size of government whenever possible.

By adhering to the conservative model outlined above, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has achieved approval ratings of more than 60 percent. Fletcher, on the other hand, has upset several business and taxpayer constituencies on the right, while not winning any friends on the left. (Liberals see his plan as shifting taxes from corporations onto individuals.) Regardless of whether his plan is really revenue neutral — it is too complicated to really tell — Gov. Fletcher should have stuck to the basic conservative messages of frugal government and low taxes, not fancy tax-redistribution schemes where good intentions are trumped by economic reality.

— Paul J. Gessing is director of government affairs for the National Taxpayers Union

http://www.nationalreview.com/nrof_comment/gessing200502140828.asp

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Oklahoma prisons go tobacco free

Feb 14, 2005, 01:25 PM

TAFT, Okla. -- A new tobacco-free policy at Oklahoma prisions went into effect Monday for inmates, as well as staff and visitors.

The ban eliminates all smoking, smokeless tobacco and tobacco-like products, including lighters, matches and cigarette papers from prisons.

Cheryl Bryan, a warden's assistant at Jess Dunn Correctional Center in Taft, says if inmates are caught with tobacco products, they can lose credits they've earned or even their chance at parole.

Staff members who disobey the rules also are subject to disciplinary action. And anyone, including visitors, who violates the rules can be charged with a felony count of bringing contraband into a penal facility.

Prison officials say they expect to find hidden tobacco that inmates have tried to secret away for use after the ban goes into effect.

http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=2944996

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Odds are smoking ban won't apply in parlors

By CHRIS BRENNANPosted on Thu, Feb. 10, 2005

HARRISBURG - If Philadelphia tries to snuff out smoking in the workplace, the rule in the city's two planned slot machine parlors may still be, "Smoke 'em if you got 'em."

The law that last year legalized 61,000 slot machines in 14 venues across the state gives the new Gaming Control Board total control over where slot parlors are located and how they are run. And Christopher Craig, an attorney for state Senate Democrats who was instrumental in writing the law, yesterday said Philadelphia would likely have trouble keeping gamblers from lighting up.

Mayor Street last week sent legislation to City Council, introduced by Councilman Michael Nutter, that would ban smoking in most public and private places where people work.

Street's spokesman, Dan Fee, yesterday said the mayor's staff is still trying to determine if the slots law would exempt gaming parlors from a local smoking ban.

"We hope that it does not pre-empt it," Fee said.

Nutter, who pushed a smoking ban in 2000 that stalled politically, yesterday said he thinks the effort should apply to slot parlors.

"This is not a zoning matter," Nutter said. "This is a public health matter."

Street and Nutter have focused on the impact of smoking on employees.

"If a gaming facility is a workplace, and I think it is, I would take the position that it is covered," Nutter said.

The question came up yesterday during a Harrisburg seminar on the slots industry, which is now being created.

Wayne Lemons, director of the Delaware Lottery, said gaming parlors in his state saw a temporary 12 percent decline in business when forced to go smoke-free three years ago.

Linda Kassekert, chairwoman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, said gaming in her state enjoyed a bump up in business at the same time. New Jersey's legislature is now considering a public smoking ban.

"Right now, casinos are exempt," Kassekert said of the proposed law. "That could change."

Pennsylvania's Gaming Control Board could not say yesterday if the slots law would preempt smoking in Philadelphia.

"That's a great question," said board member Chip Marshall. "I never thought, would we get involved in stuff like that?"

Chairman Tad Decker said he wants to know more about the slots law and its impact on a potential smoking ban.

Decker and Marshall emphasized that the law allows municipalities with gaming facilities a 60-day period to offer input before slots licenses are awarded.

Street is putting together a local gaming advisory board to gather the city's views about gaming into a report.

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/10861630.htm?1c

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Delco opinions mixed on Phily smoking ban -PA

By SOLOMON D. LEACH, 02/09/2005

UPPER DARBY - Bar and restaurant owners in Eastern Delaware County could be seeing more ashes in their trays soon. What remains less clear is whether or not there would be a warm reception to them.

The discussion came about after Philadelphia City Councilman Michael Nutter introduced a bill last week - with Mayor John Street's backing - that would make it the first city in the state to ban smoking in almost all workplaces, including bars, pubs, taverns and restaurants.

Nutter's proposed bill would prohibit smoking in any enclosed space in which one or more employees work. The only exceptions in the city would be businesses whose on-site sale of tobacco or tobacco-related products make up 15 percent or more of gross sales.
If the bill is passed, there is a chance that places like Heidi's Tavern on Marshall Road or Cawley's Tavern on West Chester Pike could suddenly become safe havens for Philadelphia smokers seeking acceptance and a place away from the cold.
Would this mean an economic boom, or an intrusion on intimate neighborhood dining spots and watering holes just outside the city?
Five days after the bill's introduction, the reaction is still mixed.
"I think it would affect [business] in the beginning until people figure it out," said Bob Williams, manager of R.P. McMurphy's restaurant. "We might get more business, who knows?"
Last year, when similar legislation transformed bordering Delaware into a smoke-free state, a few taverns in Lower Chichester reported an increase in business and patronage. However, Williams is not optimistic that a ban in Philadelphia would have a sustained impact on the surrounding townships. In his words, the boom would only last for "a short period of time." "After everybody gets all the crinkles out of the system and figures it out, it will be business as usual. It's just a matter of people figuring out a new system," he claims.
Another restaurant owner, Jeff McKinney, was somewhat torn about how the possible changes might alter operations at his two Nick's Old Original Roast Beef eateries - one in Springfield and one in Philadelphia.
"Yes, I do believe Philly people would go to the suburbs and frequent places where you can smoke," he said. "Just by seeing what happened in Delaware you can tell. It will affect business and it will affect the entire tax base."
On the flip side, McKinney speculates that the gains he would experience at his Springfield location would not be enough to balance the losses he would suffer in the City of Brotherly Love.
"In the city, I'm going to lose tons of people," he said. "Out here, I'm not sure."
The pending ban could influence his decision on where to set up his third establishment, he added. Instead of Philadelphia, he might consider another site in the suburbs or begin to explore New Jersey.
Should the bill come to fruition, most workers recognize it would have a two-fold effect: It could serve as a stimulus for monetary gain, but it could also cause more domestic disruption.
"I would assume that it would be a good thing in a business sense, but it could be a bad thing in the type of crowd you get," remarked Heidi's employee, Garry Logan.
Councilman Nutter brought forth a similar bill in 2000 that was struck down, but this time he has eight co-sponsors, including seven council members and Council President Anna C. Verna. That, along with a verbal endorsement by Mayor Street, should make getting nine out of a possible 18 votes a strong possibility. According to Legislative Aide William Carter, the bill is currently being scrutinized by a committee, which could take up to three weeks, and will likely confront even more criticism from residents and club clientele.
While the outcome of the bill remains uncertain, Delaware County resident and bartender Gina Tanni has already contemplated the influence the ban would have on her social life.
"I'm a smoker myself, and I would probably be in the suburbs a lot more often," said Tanni. "When I get off work, I like to go to the city and go to some of the clubs, so I'd be hanging around the neighborhood a lot more often."

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1675&dept_id=18171&newsid=13919938&PAG=461&rfi=9

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Anti-tax group holding Fletcher's feet to the fire

By Ryan Alessi HERALD-LEADER FRANKFORT BUREAU Feb 14/05

FRANKFORT - By Ryan Alessi

Earlier this month, several lawmakers found themselves at odds with a Washington-based anti-tax group for trying to disavow "no-tax-increase" pledges they'd signed.

Now the heat's on Gov. Ernie Fletcher and he's still a believer.

Americans for Tax Reform, run by small-government advocate Grover Norquist, has unexpectedly questioned Fletcher's tax proposal, which had been carefully crafted to do just what Norquist says he wants. It wouldn't raise the overall tax burden on Kentuckians -- or at least that's the way Fletcher sees it.

But in a letter, ATR's chief of staff has warned the governor that the group isn't so sure. ATR thinks the plan may violate the no-tax-increase pledge that Fletcher signed in 2003 as he ran for governor.

So far, Fletcher downplays the letter, calling it "a request for clarification." Caught on a Capitol stairway last week, Fletcher dismissed the issue: "I'm not concerned. Everybody's entitled to their own opinion."

But ATR's Norquist isn't just an "everybody" when it comes to taxes, and Fletcher might not get off the hook so easily.

"The governor is in a real difficult spot," suggested Sen. Tom Buford, a fellow Republican from Nicholasville. Norquist isn't a guy Fletcher needs as an enemy if he dreams of a second term in 2007, Buford says.

"He's built himself a name," Buford said of Norquist. "He's made headway through all those different states. And when he gave the governor his support (for Fletcher's tax plan) last time, but doesn't this time, I think that hurts."

Indeed, Norquist has a record of biting those who stray. ATR is currently waging campaigns against Virginia lawmakers who voted for a tax increase advanced by Gov. Mark Warner last year.

The group's Web site prominently pictures "Virginia's Least Wanted" -- the 34 Republican lawmakers who backed their governor. Warner, a Democrat, is also shown.

More immediately, ATR's ire could hurt Fletcher's chances of getting his tax plan through the General Assembly, where 45 of the 138 members still consider themselves on Norquist's pledge list.

Some Fletcher aides are hopeful that they can avoid political damage by persuading Norquist's group that the governor's plan really does meet ATR's requirement of being "revenue neutral." That means revenue from tax increases is balanced out with cuts in other areas.

In general, the governor's proposal would raise levies on cigarettes, alcohol and satellite television, while cutting personal income taxes and restructuring business taxes.

Damon Ansell, ATR's chief of staff, warned in his letter to Fletcher's staff that the plan might not be "revenue neutral" as advertised, largely because in its current form the cigarette tax would rise automatically over time as surrounding states increase their cigarette taxes.

"This is a recipe for a large and continuing tax increase," Ansell wrote.

Ansell said Friday afternoon that he hasn't yet heard from Fletcher's office.

Daniel Groves, senior advisor to the governor, said he's still working on getting back to them. But he said he's not worried because he's been dealing with ATR about Fletcher's tax plan since last year.

Still, says Rep. Scott Brinkman, a Louisville Republican and one of Fletcher's key allies in the House, Fletcher must walk a fine line. As the state's leader, he's charged with doing what's best for its people. As a politician, he must be mindful of his promises.

"Ultimately it's his decision. He'll have to balance his pledge with the legitimate needs of the people of Kentucky," Brinkman said.

If diplomacy breaks down, administration officials are preparing Plan B.

Stealing a line from Norquist himself, Fletcher's budget director Brad Cowgill notes that the governor made his pledge to Kentuckians -- not to Americans for Tax Reform. So they should be the ones to determine who's right.

"They will have to decide whether the governor has fulfilled his promise or not," Cowgill said. "And I think ultimately they will come to the conclusion that he has."

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/politics/10894661.htm

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Canadian life expectancy varies greatly depending on ethnic origin

Calgary Barbara Kermode-Scott

People living in northern and remote regions of Canada, many of whom are aboriginal (people who are First Nations, Métis, and Inuit), have life expectancies closer to people living in developing countries than with other Canadians, according to Statistics Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Canada has one of the longest life expectancies in the world, but health status and life expectancy vary widely within the country. According to the World Health Organization, life expectancy in Canada in 2001 was 79.5 years (77.0 for men and 82.0 for women). Canada was only 2.1 years behind Japan, which has the longest life expectancy in the world at 81.4 years. Canada has the seventh longest life expectancy for men and the 11th highest life expectancy for women, similar to other wealthy industrialised countries.

The residents of the Richmond area, a relatively prosperous suburb in British Columbia, have the highest life expectancy in Canada at 83.4 years (two years longer than the average in Japan).

In contrast, residents of Nunavik, the Inuit region of Quebec have the lowest life expectancy in Canada, at 66.7 years (66.3 for men and 70.2 for women). Life expectancy in Nunavik falls between that of the Dominican Republic (67.0) and Egypt (66.5), ranked 111 and 112 out of 191 countries. In 2001, the population of Nunavik was 9632, including 8760 people of aboriginal origin.

Statistics Canada also reported low life expectancies in various other northern and isolated parts of Canada. Smoking, heavy drinking, and high mortality rates (partly due to suicides) are also prevalent in these communities. Canada’s National Aboriginal Health Organization has pointed out that, in 2002, the national suicide rate in Canada was 13 for every 100 000 people. In Nunavik, the rate was 82 for every 100 000.

On 27 January 2005, the Health Council of Canada recommended giving high priority to initiatives to reduce health disparities between aboriginal and other Canadians. The council noted that the health of aboriginal people is worse than that of the general Canadian population for virtually every measure of health and every health condition. For example, infant mortality for First Nations people is much higher than the Canadian average (8 v 5.5 per 1000 live births in 1999).

See www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050201/d050201a.htm

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/330/7487/326-d?ehom

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Affect Freedom of Choice

Feb. 12/05

IT'S RIDICULOUS to claim that a full smoking ban would affect smokers' freedom of choice. What about the non-smokers' right to not be bombarded by a cloud of toxic tobacco fumes? I want the right to go out and not be poisoned at a band show in a bar or while eating a meal in a lounge.

N. Boileau

(Boiling over.)

http://canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/Letters/

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Time for warning labels on booze

By MINDELLE JACOBS -- For the Edmonton Sun Sat, February 12, 2005

Liberal MP Paul Szabo has been fighting to get warning labels on alcohol beverages for 10 years. Perhaps this time he'll succeed.

In my mind, the Ontario MP's argument is unassailable. The social, health and criminal impact of alcohol abuse is staggering.

Yet, as Szabo points out, booze is the only potentially harmful consumer product that doesn't have a warning label.

 With people filing product liability lawsuits at the drop of a hat these days, you'd think alcohol manufacturers would jump at the chance to protect themselves.

Almost everything you buy has a warning on it, notes Bob Mann, a senior scientist with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

"If you buy an electric drill, it comes with a warning," he notes. "Alcohol is responsible for more deaths and injuries than electric drills."

Canada should have mandated warning stickers on alcohol years ago, as the U.S. did in 1989, says Mann.

"Other manufacturers are sufficiently responsible to warn consumers about their products. Why can't these guys?" he wonders.

But Howard Collins, executive vice-president of the Brewers Association of Canada, says there's no evidence that labels change people's behaviour.

The association opposes Szabo's private member's bill, which passed second reading in a 225-27 vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

The bill proposes mandatory labels on alcoholic beverages about the effects of booze on consumer health and one's ability to operate vehicles and machinery. It would also require a warning to pregnant women of the link between alcohol and birth defects.

"I'm grateful to have that level of support," Szabo says of the endorsement of his bill by other MPs. "It's got a great chance."

When he was first elected in 1993, he had never heard of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). While on the Commons health committee, he read a report on the devastating effects of FAS and it stuck with him.

He says he was also particularly sensitive to the impact of alcohol abuse because his father was a severe alcoholic.

"It was a tragic situation," he says. "Those kind of things must make you stronger."

He faces formidable opposition, however. The alcoholic beverage industry is one of the most powerful lobby groups in the country, Szabo says.

"They have a lot of money behind them," he adds. He's tried repeatedly over the past decade to push the issue, to no avail.

This is the closest he's come to success since 1995 when a previous bill of his passed second reading. But the legislation died when an election was called.

Opponents of warning labels argue that such a move is a simplistic solution to a complex social problem.

There's a greater need for programs that target those at risk of alcohol-related harm, says Collins.

It's probably impossible to prove whether warning labels are effective or not. How could researchers possibly differentiate between the impact of labels and that of other interventions?

Nevertheless, I side with those who support labels. Such warnings may not be effective by themselves but they constitute additional implements in the toolbox of broader public policy measures.

Collins argues mandatory warning labels could prompt governments to make cuts to other substance-abuse programs. It sounds like he's clutching at straws.

In essence, there is simply no downside to Szabo's proposal. What societal harm is there in warning stickers? None. Szabo has the moral high ground on this issue.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Edmonton/Mindelle_Jacobs/2005/02/12/928567.html

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Fearing violence, VLT losses, hotel owner complies with smoking ban -SK
 Last Updated Feb 11 2005 08:30 AM CST
CBC News WEYBURN – A Weyburn bar owner who has been ignoring the province's smoking ban has changed his mind and will comply from now on.

 Rob Joyal, owner of the Royal Hotel, received thousands of dollars in fines last month after health inspectors and police raided his bar. Both the hotel and patrons were fined in what was the first major test of the province's Jan. 1 smoking ban.

 But Joyal said two incidents earlier this week caused him to change his mind.

 "I had a rather volatile situation in the bar," Joyal said. "It came very close to turning into a violent situation."

Police and inspectors entered the hotel and were confronted by a rowdy group of customers, he said.

 Joyal said rather than see "bloodshed" in his bar, he's going to comply with the smoking ban.

 The other incident was a letter from the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority threatening to cancel his VLT licence if he didn't comply with the ban, he said.

 "It would hurt me, obviously," he said. "I thought it was very underhanded. They would threaten to take away my livelihood."

 Joyal said he still plans to plead not guilty to his smoking fines when the case comes up in court on Feb. 21.

http://sask.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=weyburn-bar050211

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Smoky bars could lose VLTs, province says

Last Updated Feb 11 2005 04:13 PM CST CBC News

 REGINA – Bars that flout the smoking ban risk having their money-making video lottery terminal machines taken away, the government says.

 Earlier this week, a Weyburn hotel operator who has received thousands of dollars worth of tickets for smoking infractions received a letter from the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority saying his VLT licence might be cancelled.

 Rob Joyal, owner of the Royal Hotel, said he'd lose revenue if he lost the machines. He said he's going to comply with the law from now on, but he's not happy with the way the government put pressure on him.

 "I thought it was very underhanded," he said.

 Liquor and Gaming spokesperson Stephanie Choma said VLTs can be removed for a number of reasons, including activity that is deemed contrary to public interest.

 Choma said Liquor and Gaming was informed by the Health Department that the hotel in Weyburn was not following the rules about smoking, so it wrote the letter.

 "Prohibiting smoking in public places is a major policy initiative for the province," she said. "As operator of the VLT program, Liquor and Gaming decided that it's appropriate to require sites where VLTs are located to comply with this legislation."

 Though hotel owner Rob Joyal has now decided to observe the ban, he still plans to challenge the fines in court.

http://sask.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=bars-vlts050211

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Nova Scotia schools designate areas for smokers

CTV.ca News Staff

In a controversial move, several high schools in Nova Scotia's Annapolis valley have designated areas for students to smoke on school grounds -- despite a provincial law prohibiting minors from carrying tobacco.

The school board says its a matter of safety and that this allows students to get their nicotine fixes without having to leave school property.

One student told CTV News: "I think it's a lot better, we don't have to walk so far from school. No traffic or anything."

The school board insists its not a move to condone teen smoking.

"It's a dilemma. There's no good solution. As one board member put it, it's the lesser of two evils," Annapolis Valley school board superintendent Jim Gunn told CTV.

Every school banned smoking two years ago when the province made it illegal for anyone under 19 to carry cigarettes.

But students at Horton High School simply ended up smoking at the edge of school property near a busy road.

After several complaints, the school board decided to ensure the students would be able to smoke closer to the school.

But before students can light up, they must submit a letter from their parents saying that they are permitted to smoke.

Health Promotion Minister Rodney MacDonald said earlier this week that he'll work to compromise with the school board to find other options because the school board's decision is going against provincial regulations.

"We all regret this. We know it's sending a confusing message, but we're trying to deal with the risk to students and disruption to neighbours," board superintendent Jim Gunn told The Chronicle-Herald.

"These students are already smoking. We're just moving them."

The Chronicle-Herald reported that about 200 to 300 students are expected to have their parents' permission to smoke at five out of the eight high schools in the district.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1108237158210_10/?hub=Canada

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Smoking bylaw needs tuning -AB

By Laurel Nadon Editor Wednesday February 09, 2005

Nanton News — The Town’s new smoking bylaw was put in place to protect all people from the negative effects of smoking, but several businesses are getting around that intent.
Signs going up which say that smoking is allowed and minors aren’t is a clear sign that the bylaw needs some adjustments. The point of the bylaw is to ensure that all people can enter a business without breathing smoke. It’s in place to protect staff as well as customers, so the right to a safe work environment is protected.
The intent of the bylaw is to restrict smoking, not which businesses minors can enter. Businesses may think that their minor customers are few and far between, but these youth will become adults who will continue to take their business elsewhere. They have family and friends who will be sure to hear about it if they’re asked to leave a business because of their age.
Any business owners who were against this bylaw being passed had a chance to act. Consideration of this matter by council was written about in the pages of The Nanton News, and the town office also placed ads in the paper advising residents of this.
At the public hearing held Dec. 6, prior to second and third readings of the bylaw, only good things were said of the bylaw. A representative spoke from the High River/Nanton Community Health Council and letters were read from three residents all in favour of the bylaw.
This was the time to protest, not after the fact.
Businesses turning away minors are within their rights. These signs don’t break the smoking bylaw - they have the right to decide who can enter their business. There’s no law either that businesses can’t restrict women, seniors, non-Caucasians or handicapped people, but that would be wrong too.
The bylaw needs to be revamped to include the statement that minors may not be restricted from a public facility as a means to allow smoking.
Let’s get back to the original intent of the bylaw and provide safe work environments. The bylaw needs to protect people, not restrict youth.

http://www.nantonnews.com/story.php?id=142193

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Smoking rooms the big talk at council meeting - AB

by Kevin Gill
Wednesday February 09, 2005

Jasper Booster — Should Jasper’s smoking control bylaw allow for ventilated smoking rooms in bars? That’s one of the central issues council is focused on after deferring second reading of the proposed bylaw at its last regular meeting.
Council made the move so municipal officials could do additional research on designated smoking rooms and to consider input from members of the public who attended the Feb. 1 council meeting.
Only a handful of residents were at the meeting to put forth their points of view about the proposed bylaw, and among them were co-owners of a local business that has operated a designated smoking room since it opened several years ago. Archie Karas of the Downstream Bar told council that the designated smoking room in that establishment has worked extremely well.
“It provides an excellent place for people who do want to smoke to go and provides the rest of the bar with very clean air and a healthy environment,” he said. “Non-smokers seem to enjoy the place thoroughly and nobody has ever complained that they don’t like the presence of the smoking room.”
Karas said that eliminating the option for bars to build smoking rooms would create a series of other problems. Among the biggest would be groups of smokers gathering outside the doorways of bars, especially during the peak summer months.
“There would be a lot of people standing outside a lot of bars smoking a lot of cigarettes,” he said. “It’s going to be a bit of a nightmare to control.”
Mayor Richard Ireland called the work done by the Downstream “progressive,” but explained that designated smoking rooms had been left out of the bylaw in large part because of the direction council was given by residents during a public meeting back in November.
The residents who looked at the issue indicated that a level playing field for businesses was most important.
“In order to achieve a level playing field there had to be a move to an outright ban,” said Ireland.
He added that when you start looking at the requirements for ventilated smoking rooms, some businesses, because of the age of their buildings and their physical characteristics, etc., would just not be able to build such rooms.
Ireland also said that following Banff’s lead of phasing out smoking rooms over a period of several years also did not make sense to council.
“We didn’t want to look at the probability of encouraging people to put in very expensive smoking rooms only to have them remove them a few years down the road.”
Tony Mastrianni of the Downstream Bar also spoke before council, and responded to the concept of a “level playing field.” He said eliminating the option of having a smoking room sets the playing field at a low level. By giving everyone the option to have a smoking room, that sets the playing field higher for everyone, he said, by giving them an opportunity to maximize their customer base, which is what all businesses are after.
No other bar owners spoke before council but Jasper resident Art Jackson, who was involved with the original Smoke Free Jasper petition, did make some comments.
He reminded council why the whole smoking control bylaw process was started in the first place.
“Health to me is the issue,” he said. “It’s not a matter of money, it’s not a matter of inconvenience, it’s not a matter of what it looks like outside on the street - it’s health.”
Second reading of the proposed bylaw is scheduled for the next regular council meeting on Feb. 15 at the Emergency Services Building.

http://www.jasperbooster.com/story.php?id=141913

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It's time to quit the tobacco habit

David Berman Financial Post Saturday, February 12, 2005

Shares at a peak: Litigation risk has subsided - temporarily

Sale of alcohol to minors a concern

Complaints from Chateauguay residents concerning the sale of alcohol to minors in Kahnawake cigarette kiosks have not fallen on deaf ears.
"I spoke to (Kahnawake) Grand Chief Mike Delisle about it and he is preoccupied with the problem," noted Chateauguay Mayor Sergio Pavone. "He showed himself to be very open to discuss it and certain measures have already been taken."
Authorities from the reserve, Pavone says, have asked establishments situated near the Chateauguay border to remove their posters announcing the sale of liquor. "They are putting pressure on the vendors," Pavone said. "I am happy that they are taking the situation in hand. I told them the pressure was starting to mount in Chateauguay."
Kahnawake is also forbidding the sale of alcohol to minors on its territory. But this is not the only place where the law is being stretched, the Mayor noted. "There are underage kids who are frequenting bars and dépanneurs in Chateauguay and elsewhere in Quebec," he acknowledged.
Alcohol in Kahnawake tobacco shops started to spring up in droves following the SAQ strike in Quebec.
This business is legal and is controlled by the Kahnawake Alcohol and Gaming Commission through a series of agreements drawn up with the provincial government a few years ago.
In one boutique advertising red and white wine, Le Soleil noted that the shop was not offering any famous-name brands. The choice was limited to a few products that are available in convenience stores, such as L'Entre-Côte. A few bottles of hard liquor were also available.

http://www.hebdos.net/lsc/edition72005/articles.asp?article_id=79729

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Light, mild and misleading

By GLORIA GALLOWAY Monday, February 14, 2005 - Page A8

Cigarette labelling fools one in four smokers, studies say

OTTAWA -- Studies commissioned by Health Canada show that many smokers remain "confused or misled" by the labels "light" and "mild" and one prominent anti-smoking activist says the fact that cigarette packs still bear these labels is a testament to the strength of tobacco companies.

After a major advertising campaign informed Canadians three years ago that light and mild cigarettes are just as harmful as regular ones, the federal government commissioned two studies -- one in 2002 and one in 2003 -- to monitor how smokers responded to the labels.

Although a majority of the smokers surveyed perceived that all cigarettes are equally damaging to their health, the studies, which have never been publicized, found that one in four still believed the light and mild brands were safer.

"They really established the case that the labels were misleading and that the labels were making [smokers] feel that the cigarettes were safer," said Cynthia Callard, executive director of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada.

"The fact that we have this expertise and action isn't happening isn't so much a signal about government incompetence, it's more about the power of the industry."

Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said this year that he wants to ban the "light" and "mild" labels, which the tobacco companies say refer only to taste. But Mr. Dosanjh also said he would have to consult with the justice minister regarding potential backlash from the tobacco companies. His office was unable to provide information late last week to indicate what steps, if any, he was taking on the matter.

Former Liberal health minister Alan Rock threatened to institute such a ban in 2001 but he was shuffled from the portfolio before he could act. His successors, Anne McLellan and Pierre Pettigrew, did not move on the file.

Because the federal government pushed the tobacco companies in the 1970s to introduce and promote light and mild cigarettes, the government found itself in the uncomfortable position late last year of joining Imperial Tobacco in fighting a class-action suit that charged the packages labelled light and mild constitute consumer fraud. Last week, the B.C. Supreme Court certified that suit, launched by Kenneth Knight of Robert's Creek, B.C.

The decision came a day before Ms. Callard obtained copies of the studies, conducted by a Montreal research firm, that had been shelved in the National Library. The first study targeted 609 smokers in six shopping malls in different areas of Canada. The second was based on phone interviews with 1,198 people, about half of whom were smokers.

Ms. Callard said the studies contain "very important findings" because they show that cigarette package labels do not do what the tobacco companies say they do and just give smokers a cue to flavour.

Smokers surveyed in 2002 said the light and mild labels related to certain cigarette characteristics, including addictiveness, nicotine level and throat irritation -- but not taste. That study found that cigarettes that are labelled light or mild present a more desirable image -- two-thirds of smokers regularly purchase a light or mild brand.

The 2003 survey found significant confusion among smokers regarding the meaning of the words light and mild. While 45 per cent of smokers said they opposed removing the words from package labels, compared to the 37 per cent that approved of removing them, six in 10 said they would not be annoyed if they were taken off the packages.

That second survey also found that the level of resistance would be likely to grow should the removal decision not be properly communicated or explained.

By not releasing the studies the government is "hiding their light under a bushel -- and it's quite a light." Ms. Callard said.

"This is very, very, very good research, and they're not providing people with the information that they need to know."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050214/TOBACCO14/TPHealth/

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Common foods laced with chemical

By ANDRÉ PICARD AND AVIS FAVARO Monday, February 14, 2005 - Page A1

Levels of PBDEs rise, new research shows

Everyday foods consumed by Canadians -- such as salmon, ground beef, cheese and butter -- are laced with chemical flame retardants, according to research commissioned by The Globe and Mail and CTV News.

In fact, the research found that Canadian foods are among the most contaminated with polybrominated diphenyl ethers in the world, with levels up to 1,000 times higher than those found in tests in European countries.

PBDEs are a class of about 25 chemicals that are used as flame retardants in foams, textiles and plastics. They are ubiquitous in modern homes, with the chemicals leeching out of furniture, rugs and electronic products, such as televisions and computers. It is not known exactly how PBDEs migrate from such products into human tissue, but they have been found in industrial sewage sludge, in wildlife and in fatty foods such as meat and fish.

It is unclear what impact the regular absorption of PBDEs has on human health. Nor have scientists established safe levels for the chemicals in humans.

But scientists do say that research conducted on animals -- which suggests these chemicals can impair memory, cause learning disabilities and alter thyroid hormone levels -- is disquieting and should raise red flags.

"These are persistent toxic chemicals . . . and certainly it is undesirable to have these toxic chemicals in our food supply," said Arnold Schecter, a professor of environmental sciences and public health at the University of Texas, who has done pioneering work on PBDEs.

Research done last year on a group of B.C. women found high levels of PBDEs in their breast milk, but the source was unclear.

"All of a sudden you find out you have something awful in your body and you wonder: 'Where is it coming from?' " said Erin McAllister, a Vancouver mother who took part in the study. "We all suspected it was coming from the food."

To find out, The Globe and Mail and CTV News commissioned an independent laboratory, Axys Analytical Services Ltd. of Sidney, B.C., to test 13 foods commonly consumed by Canadians.

Flame retardants were found in virtually all the foods, sometimes at relatively high levels. Farmed rainbow trout had levels of PBDEs of 3,638 parts per trillion and farmed Atlantic salmon 1,942 ppt. Sausage had 242 ppt and butter 384 ppt, while cheese had PBDEs levels of 23 ppt and milk 10 ppt. Only chicken had virtually undetectable levels. Environmental chemicals tend to accumulate in fat, so not surprisingly fattier foods had higher levels.

"Even though we don't know exactly the meaning of these levels for the health of children or adults . . . we think the smaller the amount, the safer it would be for people eating the food," Dr. Schecter said.

But Samuel Ben Rejeb, associate director of the bureau of chemical safety in the health products and food branch of Health Canada, said the level of PBDEs in the country's food supply has been closely monitored for years and there is no cause for alarm.

"The levels found in food are very low. They vary in parts per trillion and very low parts per billion -- levels that in general were found to not pose a health risk for Canadians."

Dr. Ben Rejeb noted that while food is one of the ways people are exposed to PBDEs, it is not the only one and likely not the biggest source of exposure.

Dr. Schecter said that while it is easy to dismiss levels in food as insignificant, the chemicals do accumulate in the body. He said it's also likely PBDEs pose similar risks to human health as their chemical cousins, polychlorinated biphenyls. The use of PCBs was curtailed in the 1970s after they were found to cause birth defects, impair brain and memory functions, and increase the risk of some forms of cancers.

Many European countries have clamped down on the use of PBDEs in the past decade on the assumption that the chemicals are not good for humans.

Peter O'Toole, program director for the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum, the group that represents manufacturers of flame retardants, said PBDEs "have never been demonstrated to have any human or environmental effects. We're far below any level of potential risk to humans."

The benefits of adding these chemicals to household products and mitigating the impact of fires is well established, Mr. O'Toole said. (Fires claim about 400 lives a year in Canada; these rates have fallen since fire retardants became widespread, especially in furniture, although many officials attribute the change to falling smoking rates.)

Beverly Thorpe of Clean Production Action, a Montreal-based consumer group, said the new data on levels of PBDEs in common foods reaffirm her belief that these chemicals should be banned.

"I think it's scandalous that we are still allowing chemical producers to manufacture these chemicals . . . It's scandalous that we are allowing industry to use them as flame retardants."

Ms. Thorpe said her biggest concern is the impact on children who are exposed to these chemicals over a long period of time, and could develop physical and developmental problems. (One popular but unproved assumption is that the rise in rate of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is due to PBDEs.)

"Any synthetic chemical we are finding in breast milk and food has got to be a major alarm signal that we have to stop production of these chemicals," she argued.

Ms. McAllister shares those concerns and is worried about her daughter Jessica, now 18 months old. "Children are inhaling these poisons every day . . . breathing it and eating it every day."

André Picard is the public health reporter at The Globe and Mail.

Avis Favaro is the medical reporter at CTV News.

Next week: Other sources of PBDEs

Chemicals we eat

The following foods were tested for the presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, chemicals widely used as flame retardants. Animal experiments suggest PBDEs may be linked to learning difficulties and thyroid problems.

	Parts per trillion
Farmed rainbow trout	3,638
Farmed Atlantic salmon	1,942
Extra-lean ground turkey	450
Butter	384
Sausages	242
Pork chops	56
Medium ground beef	32
Pacific wild salmon	30
Ice cream	27
Cheese	23
Whole milk	10
Chicken	0

SOURCE: AXYS ANALYTICAL SERVICES LTD.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050214/CHEMIC14/TPHealth/

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Extent of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and its dose-response relation to respiratory health among adults

Wasim Maziak , Kenneth D Ward , Samer Rastam , Fawaz Mzayek  and Thomas Eissenberg Respiratory Research 2005, 6:13     doi:10.1186/1465-9921-6-13

Published 8 February 2005

Abstract (provisional)

Background

There is a dearth of standardized studies examining exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and its relationship to respiratory health among adults in developing countries. Methods- In 2004, the Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies (SCTS) conducted a population-based survey using stratified cluster sampling to look at issues related to environmental health of adults aged 18-65 years in Aleppo (2,500,000 inhabitants). Exposure to ETS was assessed from multiple self-reported indices combined into a composite score (maximum 22), while outcomes included both self-report (symptoms/diagnosis of asthma, bronchitis, and hay fever), and objective indices (spirometric assessment of FEV1 and FVC). Logistic and linear regression analyses were conducted to study the relation between ETS score and studied outcomes, whereby categorical (tertiles) and continuous scores were used respectively, to evaluate the association between ETS exposure and respiratory health, and explore the dose-response relationship of the association. Results- Of 2038 participants, 1118 were current non-smokers with breath CO levels < 10 ppm (27.1% men, mean age 34.7 years) and were included in the current analysis. The vast majority of study participants were exposed to ETS, whereby only 3.6% had ETS score levels < 2. In general, there was a significant dose-response pattern in the relationship of ETS score with symptoms of asthma, hay fever, and bronchitis, but not with diagnoses of these outcomes. The magnitude of the effect was in the range of twofold increases in the frequency of symptoms reported in the high exposure group compared to the low exposure group. Severity of specific respiratory problems, as indicated by frequency of symptoms and health care utilization for respiratory problems, was not associated with ETS exposure. Exposure to ETS was associated with impaired lung function, indicative of airflow limitation, among women only. Conclusions- This study provides evidence for the alarming extent of exposure to ETS among adult non-smokers in Syria, and its dose-response relationship with respiratory symptoms of infectious and non-infectious nature. It calls for concerted efforts to increase awareness of this public health problem and to enforce regulations aimed at protecting non-smokers.

http://respiratory-research.com/content/6/1/13

More Evidence that Passive Smoking Causes Lung Cancer

Two studies recently published in the British Medical Journal confirmed that there is a significant association between passive smoking and lung cancer.

In the first study, researchers affiliated with the International Agency for Research on Cancer found that “environmental tobacco smoke is a risk factor for lung cancer and other respiratory diseases, particularly in ex-smokers.”[1] Researchers from Hong Kong also “found significant dose-dependent associations between passive smoking and mortality from lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke, ischaemic heart disease, and from all cancers, all respiratory and circulatory diseases, and all causes.”[2]

Lung cancer is the most common cancer in the world and is the leading cause of cancer death, with 160,000 deaths in the U.S. annually. The highest incidence of lung cancer is among smokers of tobacco products. However, nonsmokers who live with smokers absorb and metabolize carcinogens that have been linked to an increased incidence of lung cancer. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), or secondhand smoke, is often referred to as involuntary or passive smoking. Researchers have estimated that ETS is responsible for approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths per year among nonsmokers in the U.S.

The European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition (EPIC) study looked at 500,000 healthy volunteers from 10 European countries recruited between 1993 and 1998. They also identified a subgroup of 123,479 never smokers or smokers that had stopped smoking for at least 10 years. The average follow-up of this group was 7 years. Using direct comparisons between those expose and not exposed, these authors reported a 30% increase in all respiratory diseases and a 34% increase in the incidence in lung cancer in people exposed to ETS. The risk of all respiratory diseases was increased by 50% exposure to ETS in previous smokers. When the investigators used more sophisticated statistical techniques that take into account other risk factors, the increase in all respiratory diseases caused by ETS was 70%, with a 76% increase in lung cancer. They also reported that “frequent exposure to environmental tobacco smoke during childhood was associated with lung cancer in adulthood.”

The Hong Kong study looked at ETS at home and death from any cause. They found a “34% increase in all cause mortality” from ETS. They also reported significant correlations between dose of exposure and mortality rates from all causes. The validity of these observations was strengthened by lack of correlation with ETS exposure and accidental deaths.

Individuals who smoke and live with non-smokers can reduce the risk of lung diseases and cancer to their co-inhabitants by refraining from smoking indoors. Individuals can also avoid frequenting places where smoking is still allowed.

References:

[1] Vineis P, Airoldi L, Veglia P, et al. Environmental tobacco smoke and risk of respiratory cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in former smokers and never smokers in the EPIC prospective study. British Medical Journal. 2005;330:277-287.

[2] McGhee SM, Ho SY, Schooling M, et al. Mortality associated with passive smoking in Hong Kong. British Medical Journal . 2005;330:287-288.

http://patient.cancerconsultants.com/news.aspx?id=33263

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Tobacco lobby threatens to derail global antismoking treaty

Fiona Fleck Geneva

World Health Organization officials say that a global anti-tobacco pact that becomes law on 27 February still has a long way to go before its tough antismoking measures are adopted in many countries.

WHO's 192 member states adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003. Since then, 168 countries have signed it; 55 of these have ratified it, but only a few have passed its terms into law.

The convention includes a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, marketing, and sponsorship; tough standards for health warnings on cigarette packets; and a ban on descriptions such as "lights" and "low tar."

At a meeting at WHO's headquarters in Geneva earlier, member states proposed creating an independent body to help them implement the treaty without becoming vulnerable to pressure from the tobacco industry.

Spokeswoman Marta Seoane said that governments had proposed that the treaty secretariat should be accountable to countries that ratify it and that it should be based at WHO. Japan, whose government partly owns and controls the world's third largest tobacco company, Japan Tobacco, had opposed the plan.

Ms Seoane said that WHO member states also agreed to invite non-governmental organisations—who had lobbied hard to fend off industry pressure and push for a tough antismoking treaty—to meetings of the future secretariat.

They agreed that a screening mechanism was needed to keep out pseudoactivists in the pay of the tobacco industry. These proposals will be decided at a meeting in coming months.

"There's still a lot to do; the real work will start now at country level with the implementation of the treaty," Ms Seoane said, adding, "So far the response has been good."

The treaty was adopted despite a sustained campaign by the tobacco lobby via certain governments to dilute it—particularly the United States, Germany, and Japan.

Signs indicate, however, that pressure from the industry has not let up. At the Geneva meeting, the United States proposed a clear reference to global trade rules in the future secretariat's rules of procedure, even though the legally binding treaty gives governments the right to prioritise health over trade issues.

"If this is adopted, advertising, labelling, all of these things could still be attacked under trade law," said Kathryn Mulvey of US non-governmental organisation, Corporate Accountability.

Tobacco companies have shifted their marketing focus away from the rich industrialised West to developing countries. Poor countries are now more vulnerable to the powerful tobacco industry and need support in implementing tough anti-tobacco measures.

Ms Mulvey said that recently a group of Kenyan parliamentarians was invited on a beach holiday by a tobacco company ahead of a debate in the Kenyan parliament on tobacco control.

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/330/7487/325?ehom

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Smoke-free workplaces would hit tobacco profits

Lynn Eaton London

Tobacco multinationals would lose an estimated £310m ($575m; euros in sales every year if UK workplaces were smoke free, claims the BMA's chairman, James Johnson.

His comments come in the foreword to a report, Smoke-free World, from the BMA's Tobacco Control Resource Centre, in which doctors' leaders from eight countries describe the success of antismoking legislation.

"Powerful vested interests peddle myths that smoke-free legislation is unnecessary," wrote Mr Johnson. "They say it is unworkable, unpopular, and will lead to economic ruin. Such predictions are little more than scaremongering. The evidence shows that smoke-free laws save lives."

In the report a statement from the Californian Medical Association seems to confirm this. Smoke-free laws were introduced in California in July 1998, and since then, says its president, Dr Robert Hertza, "California's lung cancer rates have fallen six times faster than in US States without smoke-free laws."

Dr James Reilly, president of the Irish Medical Organisation, said that more than 7000 somkers quit in the six months before the ban on smoking in public places became law in March 2004.

In the recent white paper on public health for England, Choosing Health—Making Healthy Choices Easier, the health secretary, John Reid, announced plans that will partially ban smoking in enclosed public places ( BMJ 2004;329: 1201, 20 Nov [Free Full Text]).

Vivienne Nathanson, BMA's head of science and ethics, said: "These doctors are telling us that partial measures don't work. If you work in a government building you'll be lucky, but if you work in a pub that does not serve food, you'll have a greater chance of developing lung cancer or heart disease.

"It's time for the UK government to play fair and protect everyone from exposure to secondhand smoke at work."

Meanwhile in Cuba, a country renowned for its high quality tobacco used in cigars, a ban has been announced on smoking in public places, including hospitals and workplaces. According to official statistics, 32% of Cubans smoke.

Smoke-free World is available at www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/content/smokefreeworld

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/330/7487/325-a?ehom

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Asbestos related cancer deaths set to rise -UK

Abergavenny Roger Dobson

Deaths from exposure to asbestos are increasing and will peak in the next decade, according to new research. Annual deaths from mesothelioma among men in Britain will rise to between 1950 and 2450 a year between 2011 and 2015, compared with 153 deaths in 1968, say researchers writing in the British Journal of Cancer (published online ahead of print publication) on 25 January (www.nature.com/bjc, doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6602307).

They predict that the total number of deaths since 1968 will rise to 90 000 by 2050, with 65 000 of those deaths after 2002.

In the study, researchers from the Health and Safety Executive, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the Institute of Cancer Research, used Poisson regression analysis to model male mesothelioma deaths from 1968 to 2001 and to predict numbers of male deaths in 2002-50.

The British mesothelioma register contains all deaths 1968-2001 for which mesothelioma was mentioned on the death certificate, and these data were used to predict the future burden of mesothelioma mortality.

The report says that mesothelioma is a formerly rare cancer that is almost always caused by asbestos exposure, with 85% of cases in men. The risk is highest in occupations with substantial exposure to asbestos. The disease is rapidly fatal; most affected people die within a year of diagnosis. It has a long latent period between first exposure and diagnosis, which is seldom less than 15 years and often exceeds 60.

The annual number of mesothelioma deaths in Britain has risen increasingly rapidly, with deaths in 2001 12 times higher than in 1968, says the report. It says that men born in about 1940 have higher death rates than any previous or subsequent birth cohort.

"Using a statistical modelling approach, mesothelioma mortality in Great Britain is predicted to peak at around 1950-2450 deaths per year some time between 2011 and 2015. Around 90 000 deaths are predicted to occur by 2050, with 65 000 of these occurring from 2002 onwards," say the authors.

The report says that after this peak, the number of deaths is expected to decline rapidly. The eventual death rate will depend on the background level and any residual asbestos exposure.

The report cites other studies which have made similar mortality projections for other countries. In the United States, a peak at about 2000-4 of about 2000 cases has been estimated. In Australia, the incidence of mesothelioma is expected to peak at about 700 cases a year in 2010, and in the Netherlands it has been predicted that pleural mesothelioma will peak at about 2028, with up to 900 cases a year. In France, the number of deaths is predicted to reach a peak at 2200 cases a year some time after 2020.

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/330/7487/327-a?ehom

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Dealing with editorial misconduct

What about spin?

EDITOR—With reference to Godlee's article on editorial misconduct I would like to have seen a commitment to apply the same standards of rigour to press releases and media commentary that announce the published research.1 Don't blame hype all on the press. Journals have been known to feed the frenzy by:

-Allowing generalisations to be made from narrow and specific results

-Giving undue prominence to a single "contrarian" result, when many others suggest the opposite

-Allowing evidence free assertions about long term promise of things, such as cures for cancer

-Allowing purely theoretical constructs to be interpreted as reality and empirically based

-Interpreting statistical insignificance as evidence of no effect rather than insufficient power or a demand for excessive though arbitrary confidence thresholds.

And, I'm sure there are more.

Clive D Bates, former director, Action on Smoking and Health UK

London N16 5UF clive_bates@yahoo.co.uk

Competing interests: None declared.

Godlee F. Dealing with editorial misconduct. BMJ 2004;329: 1301-2. (4 December.)[Free Full Text]

Related Article

Dealing with editorial misconduct

Fiona Godlee
1 BMJ 2004 329: 1301-1302. [Extract] [Full Text]

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Environmental tobacco smoke and risk of respiratory cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in former smokers and never smokers in the EPIC prospective study

P Vineis, epidemiologist1, L Airoldi, P Veglia, L Olgiati, R Pastorelli, H Autrup, A Dunning, S Garte, E Gormally, P Hainaut, C Malaveille, G Matullo, M Peluso, K Overvad, A Tjonneland, F Clavel-Chapelon, H Boeing, V Krogh, D Palli, S Panico, R Tumino, B Bueno-De-Mesquita, P Peeters, G Berglund, G Hallmans, R Saracci, E Riboli

1 Imperial College, London W2 1PG

Correspondence to: P Vineis

Objectives To investigate the association between environmental tobacco smoke, plasma cotinine concentration, and respiratory cancer or death.

Design Nested case-control study within the European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition (EPIC).

Participants 303 020 people from the EPIC cohort (total 500 000) who had never smoked or who had stopped smoking for at least 10 years, 123 479 of whom provided information on exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. Cases were people who developed respiratory cancers or died from respiratory conditions. Controls were matched for sex, age (plus or minus 5 years), smoking status, country of recruitment, and time elapsed since recruitment.

Main outcome measures Newly diagnosed cancer of lung, pharynx, and larynx; deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or emphysema. Plasma cotinine concentration was measured in 1574 people.

Results Over seven years of follow up, 97 people had newly diagnosed lung cancer, 20 had upper respiratory cancers (pharynx, larynx), and 14 died from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or emphysema. In the whole cohort exposure to environmental tobacco smoke was associated with increased risks (hazard ratio 1.30, 95% confidence interval 0.87 to 1.95, for all respiratory diseases; 1.34, 0.85 to 2.13, for lung cancer alone). Higher results were found in the nested case-control study (odds ratio 1.70, 1.02 to 2.82, for respiratory diseases; 1.76, 0.96 to 3.23, for lung cancer alone). Odds ratios were consistently higher in former smokers than in those who had never smoked; the association was limited to exposure related to work. Cotinine concentration was clearly associated with self reported exposure (3.30, 2.07 to 5.23, for detectable/non-detectable cotinine), but it was not associated with the risk of respiratory diseases or lung cancer. Frequent exposure to environmental tobacco smoke during childhood was associated with lung cancer in adulthood (hazard ratio 3.63, 1.19 to 11.11, for daily exposure for many hours).

Conclusions This large prospective study, in which the smoking status was supported by cotinine measurements, confirms that environmental tobacco smoke is a risk factor for lung cancer and other respiratory diseases, particularly in ex-smokers.

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/330/7486/277?

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Mortality associated with passive smoking in Hong Kong

S M McGhee, associate professor1, S Y Ho, research assistant professor1, M Schooling, research associate1, L M Ho, senior computer manager1, G N Thomas, research assistant professor1, A J Hedley, chair professor1, K H Mak, consultant, community medicine2, R Peto, professor of medical statistics and epidemiology3, T H Lam, chair professor and head of department1

1 Department of Community Medicine, University of Hong Kong, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China, 2 Department of Health, Student Health Service, 4/F Lam Tin Polyclinic, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China, 3 Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6HE

Correspondence to: T H Lam

   Introduction

Passive smoking can cause death from lung cancer and coronary heart disease, but there is little evidence for associations with other causes of death in never smokers. A recent study showed increased all cause mortality with exposure to secondhand smoke at home but did not examine associations with specific causes of death and dose-response relations.1 We have published estimates of the mortality attributable to active smoking in Hong Kong 2 and now present the related findings on passive smoking at home.

   Participants, methods, and results

 
Details of the sample selection and data collection have been reported.2 Each person who reported a death in 1998 at four death registries was given a questionnaire which asked about the lifestyle 10 years earlier of the decedent and of a living person about the same age who was well known to the informant. Passive smoking was identified in the interview with the question, "Ten years ago, in about 1988, excluding the decedent/control, how many persons who lived with the decedent/control smoked?" Decedents or controls who lived with one or more smokers were classed as exposed. Cause of death was obtained from the death certificate.

 

We selected never smoking decedents and controls aged 60 years or over because there were few younger controls. To avoid selection bias, we included only cases and controls who had a living spouse at the time of reporting. We used logistic regression to derive odds ratios adjusted for age and education, and for sex when men and women were combined.

What is known on this topic

There is strong evidence that passive smoking is causally associated with death from lung cancer, coronary heart disease, and all causes, and also with acute stroke

What this study adds

The dose-response relation between passive smoking and mortality from stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as well as from lung cancer, ischaemic heart disease, and all causes of death, strengthens the causal link

 

We identified 4838 never smoking cases (55% male) and 763 never smoking controls (55% male). All controls were used in the analysis for each specific cause of death.

We found significant dose dependent associations between passive smoking and mortality from lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke, ischaemic heart disease, and from all cancers, all respiratory and circulatory diseases, and all causes (table). The association between mortality and passive smoking did not differ between males and females. Deaths due to injury or poisoning were not associated with passive smoking.

View this table: [in this window] [in a new window]   Number of subjects who were or were not exposed to secondhand smoke at home and odds ratios (adjusted for age and education, and for sex when men and women were combined) for mortality in people aged 60 or over, Hong Kong. Values are odds ratio (95% confidence interval) unless indicated otherwise

   Comment

 
Dose dependent associations between passive smoking and causes of death are consistent with previous findings for lung cancer and coronary heart disease and extend the evidence on stroke. Previous studies have shown associations between passive smoking and first acute strokes,3 4 and we have now shown a dose-response relation with mortality from stroke. Previous studies focused on ischaemic strokes but Chinese populations have a greater incidence of haemorrhagic stroke than do white populations,5 implying that many of the strokes in our study may have been non-ischaemic. Passive smoking probably affects all stroke subtypes, as does active smoking.

 

Our finding of a 34% increase in all cause mortality is consistent with but higher than that (15%) in the New Zealand cohort.1 Exposure to secondhand smoke at home is higher in Hong Kong than in New Zealand due to crowded living conditions. Before the 1990s, awareness of the danger of passive smoking was lower and smokers smoked freely at home.

We focused on passive smoking at home because the proxy reporter could most reliably supply these data, and we adjusted for education, which was also reliably recorded 2 and is a good proxy for social class in Hong Kong. As data on cases and controls were derived from the same proxy, reporting bias should be minimal.2 If our results are not due to residual confounding, they provide further evidence that the dose-response associations between passive smoking and stroke and all cause mortality are likely to be causal.

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See Editorial by Kawachi

This article was posted on bmj.com on 27 January 2005: http://bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136/bmj.38342.706748.47

We thank W L Cheung for help with analysis; the Immigration Department of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for data and assistance; and, in particular, the relatives who provided information.

Contributors: THL, SYH, AJH, KHM, and RP designed and carried out the study on which this analysis was based; SMcG, MS, LMH, and GNT planned and carried out this analysis; and all authors contributed to writing the paper. SMcG and THL are guarantors.

Funding: Hong Kong Health Services Research Committee (#631012) and Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health.

Competing interests: THL is vice chairman and AJH a former chairman of the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health.

Ethical approval: Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong.

   References

1 Hill SE, Blakely TA, Kawachi I, Woodward A. Mortality among never smokers living with smokers: two cohort studies, 1981-4 and 1996-9. BMJ 2004;328: 988-9.[Free Full Text]

2 Lam TH, Ho SY, Hedley AJ, Mak KH, Peto R. Mortality and smoking in Hong Kong: case-control study of all adult deaths in 1998. BMJ 2001;323: 361-2.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

3 Bonita R, Duncan J, Truelson T, Jackson RT, Beaglehole R. Passive smoking as well as active smoking increases the risk of acute stroke. Tobacco Control 1999;8: 156-60.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

4 Iribarren C, Darbinian J, Klatsky AL, Friedman GD. Cohort study of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and risk of first ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack. Neuroepidemiology 2004;23: 38-44.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]

5 Kay R, Woo J, Kreel L, Wong HY, Teoh R, Nicholls MG. Stroke subtypes among Chinese living in Hong Kong: the Shatin stroke registry. Neurology 1992;42: 985-7.[Abstract]

(Accepted 12 August 2004)

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/330/7486/287?

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France's "right to die" law

Emphasis on changing behaviour makes question more acute

EDITOR—The question of "right" v "responsibility" to die raised by Maio is only enhanced by the current emphasis on reducing future healthcare costs for a group through societal pressures to alter behaviour.1

When people refuse to change their ways after being told of the individual risks incurred by their current status—being over-weight, smoking, etc—the next step is to create a public backlash against the behaviour, based on the presumed damage to the public good. "Fat people cost us [you] x dollars e

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 St. Thomas council ok's smoking in bingo halls -ON

By Ian McCallum Times-Journal Staff Tuesday February 08, 2005
Insisting he was not guilty of a “flip flop,” Mayor Jeff Kohler cast the decisive vote Monday as St. Thomas council approved a motion granting charitable bingo halls an exemption from the city’s bylaw to regulate smoking in public places and work places.
The about-face on the bylaw, due to take effect March 1, followed a 15-minute deputation by Jordan Gnat, president of Boardwalk Gaming and Entertainment Inc., on behalf of St. Thomas Bingo Country.
Kohler was joined by Ald. Bill Aarts, Ald. Cliff Barwick and Ald. Heather Jackson-Chapman in approving the exemption to the bylaw while Ald. Marie Turvey and Ald. David Warden were opposed.
Ald. Terry Shackelton and Ald. Tom Johnston were absent from Monday’s meeting.
Seconds after the recorded vote, staff and volunteers of Bingo Country who packed the public gallery, loudly applauded the outcome.
Gnat petitioned council to grant an exemption to the bingo hall until provincial legislation comes into effect May 31, 2006, or the Municipality of Central Elgin passes a smoking bylaw prior to the provincial enactment.
With the reopening of a bingo facility
in Central Elgin last fall, Gnat argued Bingo Country could potentially lose $2.5 million in revenue over the next 16 months if it was not granted an exemption from the smoking bylaw.
He noted Bingo Country accounts for 44 jobs with an annual payroll approaching $500,000 and each year the facility pays the city more than $240,000 in license fees.
“This is all about 16 months of maintaining parity with Central Elgin,” explained Gnat.
Six months ago a move to grant charitable bingo halls an exemption from the bylaw was defeated on a 4-4 vote with Kohler, Warden, Turvey and Johnston voicing opposition.
But Kohler stressed “I don’t view this as a flip flop” moments before he voted in favour of Barwick’s motion to exempt charitable bingo halls from the bylaw.
“I’m not willing to play a crap game with employment,” stressed Kohler. “I’m not willing to risk rolling the dice and 44 jobs are lost.”
While not willing to grant an exemption last August, Kohler explained the introduction of new information from Gnat had to be taken into consideration.
“This is new information and pointing fingers is not going to solve things tonight.”
“Jobs may be in jeopardy because of unfair competition,” added Barwick.
The exemption prompted Warden to issue a warning to members that other charitable groups “will be knocking at our door” in the weeks to come.
“If you do it for one group then you have to do it for them all. You can’t have one set of rules for one set of people.”

http://www.stthomastimesjournal.com/story.php?id=141995

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Bingo halls outside smoking bylaw -ON

Health implications not considered

By Ian McCallum Times-Journal Staff Wednesday February 09, 2005
A decision by St. Thomas council Monday to grant charitable bingo halls an exemption from the city’s smoking bylaw will result in “a lack of health coverage for some individuals” over the next 16 months, warns the chairman of Smoke-Free St. Thomas-Elgin.
The about-face by council that grants an exemption to St. Thomas Bingo Country until provincial legislation comes into effect May 31, 2006, or the Municipality of Central Elgin passes a smoking bylaw, fails to take into consideration any health implications, argues Laura Wall.
Six months ago a move to grant charitable bingo halls an exemption from the bylaw was defeated on a 4-4 vote with Mayor Jeff Kohler, Ald. David Warden, Ald. Marie Turvey and Ald. Tom Johnston voicing opposition.
Wall told the Times-Journal Tuesday
she was aware council would entertain a deputation from Jordan Gnat, president of Boardwalk Gaming and Entertainment Inc., but the introduction of a resolution granting the exemption was not anticipated.
“We’re so close, we’re three weeks away from the bylaw. Certainly we can read the minutes and know a deputation is coming forward. But we didn’t know there was going to be a resolution right then and there. It’s a non-reflective decision of what the implications will be.”
Warden, who along with Turvey, opposed the motion tabled by Ald. Cliff Barwick warned members other charitable groups “will be knocking at our door” in the weeks to come.
“I certainly hope we’re not opening up the floodgates,” suggested Wall.
“But now that an exemption has been granted there may be some other types of businesses within St. Thomas that say ‘we’re unique, we’re special so let’s put our case through.’ That’s why all along we really urged council to hold the line and not grant exemptions.”
Wall says granting exemptions to area bingo halls is “not common.”
“In Middlesex the one county bingo was exempted from the bylaw for a period of one year. No exemptions were made in London and Woodstock.”
ECONOMICS
In voting for the exemption, Barwick along with Kohler, Ald. Bill Aarts and Ald. Heather Jackson-Chapman stressed the negative economic impact on the city should Bingo Country close due to competition from a recently opened hall in Central Elgin, a municipality which is waiting until provincial legislation is introduced in 16 months.
“But this is a health issue,” counters Wall, “and now we’re going to have these workers who were going to be protected as well as the volunteers that participate to raise funds for their charity that will not have this protection for that period of time. And time makes a difference.”
Wall commends council for drafting the smoking bylaw one year ago but adds, “now they’ve opened up the door.”
“Certainly there were people who were thinking next month they could go to the bingo and help raise funds for local charities without having to come home and put all of their clothes into the wash and perhaps undermine their health.”
Ald. Terry Shackelton and Johnston were absent for the exemption vote. They are expected back Monday when council will vote to amend the smoking bylaw for its March 1 implementation.

http://www.stthomastimesjournal.com/story.php?id=142428

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Throne Speech sees healthier, wealthier B.C.

Province also will lead the country in education, jobs, government predicts

By ROBERT MATAS Wednesday, February 9, 2005 - Page A7

VICTORIA -- Gordon Campbell's Liberal government unveiled ambitious plans yesterday to have British Columbians eat their spinach.

The government announced in its Speech from the Throne that it wants to turn the province into the healthiest jurisdiction ever to host the Olympics by getting everyone to eat more fruit and vegetables.

British Columbians have the longest life expectancy in Canada and lead the country in cancer treatment and survival rates.

But the government believes it can do better with an initiative called Act Now that promises to be the most comprehensive health-promotion program in North America.

"Without a doubt, we can achieve the great goal of leading North America in healthy living and physical fitness," the government stated in the Throne Speech, read by Lieutenant-Governor Iona Campagnolo.

The government set specific targets: a 20-per-cent increase in the number of British Columbians who are physically active; a 20-per-cent reduction in the proportion of those who are obese or overweight; a 10-per-cent drop in tobacco use and a 20-per-cent increase in those who eat the recommended daily level of fruit and vegetables.

"Through that initiative, all citizens will work with their family doctors, nurse practitioners, community nutritionists and other members of the health-care team to develop personally tailored health plans," the government said. "Those plans will aim at setting achievable personal healthy goals that help individuals measure their progress throughout their lives," Ms. Campagnolo read. "Through these measures, by 2010, B.C. will become the healthiest jurisdiction to ever host the Olympics."

New Democratic Party Leader Carole James questioned how a political party committed to reducing government interference in people's lives would regulate how much produce everyone is eating.

Mr. Campbell told reporters later the initiative was based on a British program. He said he hopes to set an example. "In spite of the smiles and chuckles, this is a critical part of creating a healthy lifestyle for British Columbians," he said.

The fitness initiative was part of one of the most politically infused throne speeches ever delivered in the B.C. Legislature.

With the next provincial election less than 100 days away, the speech sounded more like campaign rhetoric than a map of government policy. Many of the measures will depend on the Liberals' re-election on May 17.

"Everything about this session will be about the election," NDP member Joy MacPhail, who is retiring after three terms, said outside the legislative chambers. "Everything is about getting votes."

Mike Morton, press secretary to the Premier, said the politicians are in pre-election mode. But, he added, the speech is not just promises: Government initiatives have helped turn around the economy, leading to a surplus that lets the government support a variety of programs.

The Liberals, who won 77 of 79 seats four years ago, could face serious challenges in as many as 30 ridings, political scientist Norman Ruff says.

Although more than 15 incumbents -- including prominent cabinet ministers Christy Clark and Gary Collins -- do not intend to run again, the Liberals anticipate a boost from new, high-profile candidates. Party officials are rumoured to be in intense discussions with a Canadian Olympic hero, wrestler Daniel Igali.

In the Throne Speech, the government also promised to launch an "Asia-Pacific gateway strategy" to better market B.C. products.

And it plans a new Asia-Pacific trade council and a network of centres in key international markets to promote products. The program also calls for opening up the Port of Prince Rupert and expanding the Port of Vancouver.

The speech said the future that British Columbians have worked so hard to create is within their grasp: the province leads the country in job-creation; unemployment is the lowest since 1981; and the number of strikes and lockouts is the smallest in more than 30 years. As well, the record surplus means operating debt can be paid down.

The stronger economy is generating new revenues to support social services, the government said.

In addition to the personal-health initiatives, the government promised to make British Columbia the most literate jurisdiction on the continent and to build the best system of support in Canada for persons with disabilities, special needs and children at risk. The government also made a commitment to the best air and water quality and best fisheries management, "bar none." It also promised to create more jobs per capita than anywhere else in Canada.

"Government is again living within its means with balanced budgets and . . . a record surplus," Ms. Campagnolo read. Tax relief is expected in the provincial budget next week.

"Today, we are entering a golden decade for British Columbia," the speech said.

The government promised to hold university fees at the rate of inflation. It also pledged $1.5-billion for upgrades of schools over 15 years, and $150-million for libraries, textbooks, and art and music programs. If the Liberals are re-elected, they promise to give the Michael Smith Foundation $100-million in 2007 for its work in genome-mapping and cancer research. The B.C. Centre for Disease Control would be expanded to become a Pacific Centre.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050209/BCTHRONE09/TPNational/?query=tobacco

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Search for missing Canadian sailor called off

By SHAWNA RICHER

Thursday, February 10, 2005

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

Halifax — Under the pitch-black skies of a new moon, Robert Leblanc stepped into a breezeway aboard HMCS Montreal to smoke a cigarette as the frigate steamed across the wintry Baltic Sea.

It was about 11:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday. The 24-year-old leading seaman from Halifax had just got out of bed and was soon to start his shift in the kitchen, but first ducked into the enclosed room off the deck.

"He should have come back into the ship, but that was the last time he was seen," Captain Dave Gardham, Maritime Forces Atlantic acting fleet commander, said yesterday.

For reasons that may never be known, the sailor went outside and ended up overboard in fatally frigid waters. He is presumed drowned. His body has not been recovered.

Yesterday afternoon, the navy, working with its Polish counterpart, called off the search-and-rescue operation after about 20 hours.

Eight ships and five helicopters searched about 50 kilometres off the coast of Gdynia, Poland, yesterday, where HMCS Montreal was on a six-month NATO training exercise.

Capt. Gardham said LS Leblanc has not yet been declared officially dead; ships in the area have been notified to be on the lookout for him in the 1-degree waters.

"Picture yourself in Halifax harbour," Capt. Gardham said of the conditions and chances for survival.

"He was an experienced sailor. . . . It's a dangerous business. Our sailors are trained the best in the world. But accidents do happen. On this specific incident, I can't comment. Do we have people who fall over? Not often."

Military investigators will meet the frigate in Gdynia to interview crew and collect LS Leblanc's belongings. Suicide has not been ruled out, Capt. Gardham said.

The young sailor was unmarried and lived in Halifax. His family is believed to live in Western Canada, but has asked the navy to keep their names and where they live private.

On the night the sailor went overboard, the weather was clear. The temperature was 3. The sea was calm, but the upper decks were icy and the crew was ordered not to venture onto them.

Capt. Gardham said it was unlikely that a sailor with LS Leblanc's experience would have ignored those orders, but that if the sea is calm sailors sometimes "forget."

"He may have just stepped out for a look at the stars," Capt. Gardham said.

LS Leblanc joined the crew of HMCS Montreal in December and set sail on the NATO training exercise from Halifax on Jan. 13. He joined the navy in 2000 and previously served aboard HMCS Iroquois, from which he was transferred.

Sue Stefko, a spokeswoman for the navy, described him as "an experienced sailor."

Someone noticed he was missing shortly after 1 a.m. local time and a head count of the ship's 230 crew was ordered.

"When they still couldn't find him they then conducted the same procedure they go through if we had a bomb threat," Capt. Gardham said.

Crew members were assigned to search quickly and thoroughly every nook and cranny of the ship and mark it off with a taped X once it was checked.

"It's very specific and thorough so there's no possibility that someone could come back and think the place had not been searched," said Lieutenant-Commander Denise LaViolette, a navy spokeswoman. "It's all done very efficiently. We don't dilly-dally. Then they went directly into search-and-rescue mode."

In the 90 minutes since he had last been seen, the ship had travelled about 30 nautical miles. It reversed course and launched its Sea King helicopter. A half-dozen NATO and Polish ships, five additional helicopters and local fishing vessels also searched in vain for the sailor.

In Ottawa, during the usually raucous Question Period yesterday the House of Commons fell silent as Keith Martin, the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of National Defence, informed MPs about the tragedy.

"We extend our profound condolences to the Leblanc family and thank our allies for their efforts in trying to recover him," Dr. Martin said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050210.wxsail0210/BNStory/National/

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Cigarette butt litter utterly repulsive  -ON

 London Free Press - Feb 10/05
  LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
       As I walked downtown on Monday, enjoying a most welcome reprieve from the frigid temperatures experienced in January, I was absolutely repulsed by the extraordinarily large number of cigarette butts littering our downtown streets and sidewalks.
      I understand it will be my tax dollars that will pay someone to clean up this wide-spread, disgusting mess after the thaw.
      How come there are no outdoor ashtrays available for people to use, since they can no longer stink up the interiors of our public buildings?
      The bus stops are like a nicotine-stained minefield of rotten butts and ashes, assuming you can see where you are walking through the clouds of smoke generated by those waiting for their ride.
      Our downtown is one big smelly ashtray full of wet, sickening butts thrown from thousands of careless smokers' mouths. Eeew!
      I will do my shopping in a clean mall any day.
      Sandra Mason London

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/Letters/

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Smoker asks others to leave him alone -ON

Windsor Star - Feb 10/05
 letter to the editor Thursday, February 10, 2005
I was just reading a letter on banning tobacco and it makes me sick to think that it takes Johnny Carson's passing to get people to start talking.
Smokers should not have to listen to this banter every day of their life. We all know that you have to be 19 to purchase cigarettes and that 19 is considered an adult in Ontario. Smokers do not go around asking non-smokers why they do not smoke, so why do the non-smokers have to say anything to us?
If you do not like the smoke, that is fine because most public places do not allow smoking. Why do you insist on trying to make our decisions for us? We do not ask you to quit anything that you enjoy.
We all know smoking causes cancer and we still choose to smoke, so leave us alone.
C. White Windsor

http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/letters/index.html

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Ugly labels for fatty food?  -MB

Letter to the editor - Winnipeg Sun - Feb 11/05
It's estimated that "trans fat" is costing Americans $1.8 billion in medical costs.
Do you think we will have "Health Canada" requiring ugly pictures on packages containing trans fat?
Americans are still laughing on our "government" requiring ugly pictures on our cigarette packages. Maybe our government could exploit this avenue and add taxes on foods containing trans fat in order to "help pay for the burden on our medical costs."
John Heinrichs, Winkler
(Sounds like a natural.)

http://www.winnipegsun.com/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/Letters/

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Tobacco Company will appeal ruling on class action certification in British Columbia

    MONTREAL, Feb. 8 /CNW Telbec/ - Imperial Tobacco Canada will appeal the British Columbia Superior Court of Justice's decision to allow certification of a class action against it in BC.
    During the course of the certification hearing, which began on October 25, 2004 and ended October 29, 2004, Imperial Tobacco Canada arguedthat the allegations in the procedures are not appropriate for certification. The judgement only allows certification - a procedural mechanism that allows the case to proceed. It is in no way a judgement of liability.
    The company also named the federal government as a third party in the suit, arguing that the federal government instigated and authorized the development of lower-tar tobacco products. The federal government actively encouraged Canadian tobacco manufacturers to develop, manufacture, sell and promote low-tar cigarettes in Canada.
    Imperial Tobacco Canada provided the Honourable Justice Satanove with details of the federal governments' involvement in the development of "light" and "mild" tobacco products, including: threatened legislation in 1967 requiring that tar and nicotine levels be printed on cigarette packaging and advertisements; pressuring the manufacturers to promote these products throughout the 1970s; and subsequently encouraging smokers to switch to lower delivery products. Up until mid-2003, Health Canada's Web site (lung cancer section) continued to state: "Switching from non-filter to filter or from   high- to low-tar cigarettes may slightly reduce lung cancer risk".
    "This is a copy-cat suit - an opportunistic attempt to cash-in onAmerican-style litigation that in no way reflects the Canadian reality," said spokesperson for the company, Christina Dona. "Imperial Tobacco Canada will put up a vigorous defense to any action of this kind. In the short term, we plan to have a close look at the judgement before formally filing our appeal."

For further information: Christina Dona, Manager, Media Relations, Imperial Tobacco Canada, (514) 932-6161, ext. 2474, Cellular: (514) 704-8717

http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archive/February2005/08/c2080.html

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Proposed ban could make smoking off limits in certain places -TX

ABC13 Eyewitness News By Miya Shay
(02/10/05 - HOUSTON)— The City of Houston is moving closer towards a smoking ban. The mayor has a proposal that specifically lays out where people can and can't smoke.

The proposed ban would not affect bar areas. However, it will affect all Houston restaurants with a dining room. If this proposed ban passes city council – which could take quite a while – there will no longer be smoking in any of the dining areas of Houston restaurants. And that's not all.

Lighting up a cigarette may be something Sal LaGreca enjoys, but he knows it's not popular.

"I think you have to respect other people's views on smoking," he said.

The view from City Hall is that smoking should be banned inside all Houston restaurants.

Restaurant manager Zoi Platsas explained, "We as business owners, we try to accommodate our clients."

Platsas may be worried, but her customers seemed receptive to the idea.

"I like to smoke," admitted Mike Weaver. "But I guess, you know, you have to look out for other people who don't smoke."

If the ordinance passes, dining establishments will have to move all of their ashtrays to bars, because those are the only places that won't be affected. The proposed ban doesn't exempt the light rail stations or city bus stops.

"That's a good thing," concluded one passenger.

These outdoor locations would be smoke-free – an idea some found laughable.

"Especially not outside at a bus stop! Am I the only one that thinks that's weird?" wondered Myrissa Childress.

The final major aspect of the plan would include a ban of smoking in Houston's taxi cabs. It's a noble idea says one cabbie, just not very realistic.

"I think it would be really hard to enforce," said Bill Thomas. "I think it would be a really good social policy, but I don't think the cops should waste their time policing it."

A Houston city council committee will study the proposal during the next week and in the coming weeks you can expect the full city council to take up the issue.

As of January of last year, five states -- California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine and New York -- had smoking bans. Another 72 municipalities including Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and El Paso also have bans in place.

The Washington State Supreme Court struck down a smoking ban that covered several public places including bars, restaurants and private clubs. The court said the health board which imposed the ban, lacked the authority to do so.

poll: should Houston implement a snoking ban?  57.8% yes 42.1% no  752 votes * this is notr a scientific survey

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/021005_local_smoking.html

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Electric Light-Breast Cancer Link Studied

(02-07) 10:26 PST Hartford, CT (AP) Monday, February 7, 2005

College researchers are studying whether electric light changes hormone levels in women and makes breast cancer more prevalent in developed countries.

Richard Stevens, a cancer epidemiologist at the University of Connecticut, said there is no scientific consensus on why there is a higher rate of breast cancer in the developed world. He said literature on breast cancer includes many discredited theories on how the environment and lifestyles may contribute to the onset of the disease.

"We knew more about the cause of breast cancer 20 years ago than we do today," Stevens said. "What we do know is that it must have something to do with industrialized society."

Researchers are looking for new explanations, and Stevens and other researchers are focusing on electric light.

Their theory is that prolonged periods of exposure to artificial light disrupt the body's circadian rhythms _ the inner biological clocks honed over thousands of years of evolution to regulate behaviors such as sleep and wakefulness. They are looking into whether that disruption affects levels of hormones such as melatonin and the workings of cellular machinery, and whether it triggers breast cancer.

"Mankind has only been exposed to these light sources for 150 years or so," Stevens said.

So far, the theory is based largely on suggestive, but inconclusive, observational studies. For instance, night-shift workers such as nurses tend to be more prone to develop breast cancer than day-shift workers, and blind women are less likely to have breast cancer than women with sight.

In a recent study, Stevens and scientists at Yale University School of Medicine identified a possible genetic mechanism that could help explain how artificial light could trigger breast cancer. Pre-menopausal women with a variation of a "clock gene," which helps govern the regulation of the body's response to night and day, tend to have a higher risk of cancer.

"I'm not saying this is a cause, but that the evidence shows it is worth investigating," Stevens said.

Scientists believe that environmental and lifestyle factors, not inherited risks, are the cause of nine out of 10 breast cancer cases.

While smoking is linked to lung cancer and the human papillomavirus to cervical cancer, breast cancer researchers are not sure what lifestyle or environmental factors women should worry about.

Antiperspirants and wire bras are included in some widely circulated but largely rejected theories. And in 2003, the National Cancer Institute convened 100 breast cancer experts who concluded there is no evidence that miscarriages or abortions increase the risk of breast cancer.

Yet epidemiologists such as Stevens say other risk factors must exist and they urge that more studies be conducted.

"We absolutely need studies," said Deborah Winn, chief of the clinical and genetic epidemiology research branch of the National Cancer Institute. "If we have those answers, we might have the potential to improve prevention."

Information from: The Hartford Courant,www.ctnow.com/

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/article?f=/n/a/2005/02/07/national/a102631S10.DTL&type=health

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Minn. Governor Seeks Candy Cigarette Ban

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty Seeks Ban on Cigarettes Infused With Candy Flavors

By BRIAN BAKST Associated Press Writer The Associated Press

ST. PAUL Feb 10, 2005 — Cigarettes infused with lime, vanilla, berry and other candy flavors would be pulled off Minnesota store shelves under a proposed ban by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who accused the tobacco industry Thursday of marketing the specialty products to teens.

"They are clearly undertaking a marketing campaign to promote and market sweetened and candy-flavored cigarettes as a way to attract new smokers and expand market share among youth in Minnesota," Pawlenty, a Republican, said. "This is a terrible practice by these tobacco companies and it needs to be stopped."

Public health officials in two other states Massachusetts and Michigan have sent letters to cigarette makers asking them to halt sales of the flavored cigarettes. The officials questioned whether such sales violate a 1998 agreement by the tobacco industry not to target their products to young people.

Pawlenty appears to be the first governor to promote an outright ban. The products carry names like "Kuaui Kolada," "Twista Lime" and "Winter Warm Toffee."

"The premise that we market to youth, there's no truth to that," said Fred McConnell, a spokesman for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, which makes the flavored Camel brand cigarettes singled out by Pawlenty. "We market to adult smokers only."

Although it is illegal to sell cigarettes to minors, Pawlenty said the flavored cigarettes are drawing in teen smokers anyway. Advertisements in Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan and Glamour magazines have raised the products' profile among young people, he said.

McConnell said R.J. Reynolds only buys ads in magazines with a predominantly adult readership.

Pawlenty cited preliminary data from national youth smoking survey last year as evidence the flavored cigarettes were growing in popularity among teens. The survey of 1,600 smokers between ages 16 and 25 found that 16- and 17-year-olds were two to three times more likely to try the flavored cigarettes than those 20 and older.

A 2004 Minnesota survey found that nearly 27 percent of high school seniors admitted to smoking at least once in a month, as did about 15 percent of freshmen.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=489760

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Smoking Ban Back On Ballot -OH

Bar owners and smokers in the city of Columbus are claiming victory Thursday.

Just weeks after the city-wide smoking ban went into effect a petition challenging the law has been certified. If voters approve the new measure, businesses with more than 65% of sales from alcohol, essentially bars, would be exempt from smoking regulations.

Petitioners collected more than 12,000 signatures in favor of reversing parts of the ban, which means the issue again will be decided by voters in early May.

 http://www.onnnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=2932280&nav=LQlCWFG2

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The U.N.'s Neo-Prohibitionists

By Steve Milloy Friday, February 11, 2005

The United Nations is coming for your booze and it’s starting to fabricate the kind of factoids that the international health nannies will no doubt try to spin into "conventional wisdom."

"The amount of death and disability caused by alcohol globally is similar to that caused by tobacco and high blood pressure," trumpets the media release for a study in last week’s medical journal "The Lancet."

"Overall, four percent of the global burden of disease is attributable to alcohol, 4.1 percent to tobacco and 4.4 percent to high blood pressure. Alcohol is causally related to more than 60 different medical conditions, including breast cancer and coronary heart disease. In most cases, alcohol has a detrimental effect on health," claims the release.

The study authors, from Sweden, Canada and the U.S., claim there’s a "growing contrast between the treatment of alcohol in trade agreements and disputes as an ordinary commodity and the more restrictive treatments of such other commodities as tobacco and pharmaceuticals, which also entail public health risks."

They end their study with a call for a "new international treaty on alcohol control, along the lines of the [United Nations’] Framework Convention on Tobacco Control."

The study’s claims seem largely based on a report from the U.N.’s World Health Organization entitled "World Health Report 2002: Reducing Risks, Promoting Healthy Life" — a document that refers to alcohol consumption and other politically incorrect lifestyle choices as "enemies of health."

But before we fall for the tobacco-ization of alcohol, let’s look a little closer at some of the "analysis" that’s going into the effort to bring about global prohibition.

The claim equating alcohol with tobacco in terms of the "global burden of disease" largely depends on a statistical shenanigan called "attributable risk" that I’ve written about in an earlier FOXNews.com column.

But I will let the U.N. debunk its own calculations in language taken directly from its 2002 report: "Causes [of disease] can add to more than 100 percent. If the scenarios were equally common, 66.6 percent of throat cancer would be attributable to smoking, 33.3 percent to alcohol, 100 percent to genetic causes, and 100 percent to unknown environmental causes, making a total of 300 percent. Causes can, and ideally should, total more than 100 percent; this is an inevitable result of different causes working together to produce the disease, and reflects the extent of our knowledge of disease causation."

So according to the U.N.’s math, we will all get throat cancer. Fortunately for us, however, the U.N. acknowledges that this claim reflects its "knowledge of disease causation" — which, as you can see, is quite impaired. The Lancet study authors claim that the link between alcohol consumption and breast cancer is "clear."

Although linking alcohol intake with breast cancer seems to be a popular scare these days, the data are far from convincing. Study results are conflicting and among those studies that do report a statistical association between alcohol consumption and breast cancer, they typically involve the sorts of weak correlations that aren’t terribly reliable.

Let’s not forget that, other than genetics, no one is quite sure what causes breast cancer. How any of this makes a link between alcohol consumption and breast cancer "clear" is not at all clear to me.

With respect to heart disease, many studies seem to indicate that moderate drinking actually reduces risk. Although the Lancet study authors acknowledge this, they claim that binge drinking increases the risk of stroke or sudden cardiac death. But the data supporting this notion are limited and unimpressive.

No one disputes that over-consumption of alcohol poses health risks, but so is too much of virtually any behavior. If the U.N.’s efforts were limited to combating alcohol abuse, I would not have written this column.

But many in the international anti-alcohol lobby are prohibitionists who apparently feel they need catchy-but-bogus factoids that the anti-tobacco crusaders used to promote anti-tobacco hysteria among the public — for example, "400,000 people die from smoking every year in the U.S." and "3,000 kids start smoking every day," etc.

Finally, I had to laugh at the end of the Lancet study where its authors state, "We declare that we have no conflict of interest."

I suppose that’s true in a world where you can only have a "conflict of interest" if you work for a profit-making entity.

The Lancet authors, however, appear to be heavily imbibing U.N. money — the World Health Organization (part of the U.N.) funded a 2003 study of theirs on alcohol consumption and disease burden published in the journal Addiction. Given the U.N.’s anti-alcohol campaign, isn’t that some sort of conflict of interest?

Steven Milloy publishes JunkScience.com and CSRwatch.com, is adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and is the author of Junk Science Judo: Self-defense Against Health Scares and Scams (Cato Institute, 2001).

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,147073,00.html

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Smokers' patio opens at cancer centre

By Kate Jones 11feb05

MELBOURNE'S leading cancer hospital has built a smoking patio where patients and visitors can light up just metres from the leukemia ward.
The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre spent up to $20,000 in taxpayer funds on the 24-hour designated smoking area, which opens today.

The smokers-only site has ignited controversy in the medical industry and among Peter Mac staff, who treat thousands of patients suffering lung cancer each year.

Hospital workers say that the money could have been better spent on helping Peter Mac's patients.

"They're frustrated they can't get funds for training and essential health services, but the hospital can find money to refurbish for a smoking area," a source said.

The sheltered smoking area is on the second level of the East Melbourne hospital.

A hospital spokeswoman, Anne Rahilly, said the smoking area would stop patients and visitors puffing away near the main entrance.

"Smoking out the front is problematic for us because it can be quite busy out there and some people who come into the hospital don't like cigarette smoke," she said.

But Opposition health spokesman David Davis said the new smoking area only encouraged the potentially fatal habit.

"The direction of policy for the last 40 years has been to restrict smoking, not to make it easier to inhale a deadly product," he said.

Mr Davis said the sight of people smoking at a cancer hospital would upset people.

"Some patients and families may find it offensive to have smoking thrust before them within metres of the leukemia ward," he said.

Health Minister Bronwyn Pike said she expected health services to do everything they could to discourage smoking.

"People only have to step inside a hospital to see the effect that smoking has on them," she said.

Smoking-related illnesses kill 4700 Victorians each year, most from lung cancer.

Lung cancer is the third most common cancer treated at the Peter Mac, which treats more than 191,000 cancer patients each year.

Most of Melbourne's public hospitals have smoking areas, including the Monash Medical Centre, which has 10.

The Alfred has seven smoking sites, Dandenong Hospital five and the Royal Children's, St Vincent's, Frankston and Rosebud have three each.

Most are outdoor areas, well away from wards.

QUIT director Todd Harper said the Peter Mac smokers' patio would protect people from passive smoking.

"Having a smoking area does not mean Peter Mac is encouraging people to smoke - it means they are protecting people from passive smoking," Mr Harper said.

"It's ideal that people don't smoke at all, but the Peter Mac has put in place programs to encourage and support people to quit."

http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,12215945%255E421,00.html

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Bacterial Infection May Cut Esophageal Cancer Risk

By Anne Harding Thu Feb 10, 2005 01:58 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who aren't infected with Helicobacter pylori have a "markedly increased" risk of developing esophageal cancer, a new study shows. However, the findings don't address the issue of whether or not the bacterium should be eradicated, lead author Dr. Catherine de Martel of Stanford University School of Medicine and her colleagues note.

"It's a bad bug, but what we show in this study is that it's not a bad bug in everybody, and perhaps we have to be careful and think a little bit more before we try to treat everybody," de Martel told Reuters Health.

Some research has found a negative association between H. pylori and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and while H. pylori infection is declining in the developed world, esophageal cancer is on the rise, de Martel and her team note in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Researchers have suggested that H. pylori may decrease gastric acidity in some people with the infection, thereby reducing the risk of reflux disease and esophageal cancer, de Martel's group notes.

To investigate the association further, they conducted a study of 128,992 health system members who had undergone a health checkup during the 1960s.

During follow-up, which lasted from 5 to 35 years, 52 patients developed esophageal cancer. These 52 patients were matched to three control patients without cancer, and serum samples that had been collected at the checkup were evaluated for antibodies to H. pylori.

The risk of developing esophageal cancer during the follow-up period was 80 percent lower in H. pylori-positive subjects compared with those who were not carriers, the researches found. The effect was only statistically significant among individuals who were younger than 50 at the time of the check-up, and was not influenced by cigarette smoking or body mass index, other esophageal cancer risk factors.

While this study is not the first to link esophageal cancer to the absence of H. pylori infection, de Martel told Reuters Health, "what is new is the fact that this study has a very strong methodology; it's a big cohort, and they have been followed prospectively."

"H. pylori is one of myriad organisms that chronically inhabit the human body, but this single organism may simultaneously increase the risk of development of ulcers, gastric cancer and gastric lymphoma and decrease the risk of development of esophageal (cancer) and GERD," the authors conclude.

They believe future studies and cost-benefit analyzes "will ultimately identify the healthiest balance between humans and H. pylori."

SOURCE: The Journal of Infectious Diseases, March 1, 2005.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=7597563

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Moore Says Challenge To Mississippi Anti-Smoking Program To Fail-MS

The governor's office of Medicaid filed suit in Jackson County on Thursday asking a judge to give it $20 million now going annually to a Mississippi anti-smoking program.

Former Attorney General Mike Moore, chairman of the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi and whose 1994 lawsuit against the tobacco industry led to the program, said the legal challenge will fail.

The suit was filed in the chancery court where the diversion of funds from the historic tobacco settlement was approved in 2000.

Medicaid executive director Dr. Warren Jones called the diversion of funds "unconstitutional.''

"The original intention of the tobacco settlement was to recoup Medicaid dollars for the state,'' Jones said in a statement. "We believe this motion will ultimately allow the Legislature to fulfill that intention.''

Moore, in a telephone interview, told The Associated Press that he was assured by legislative leaders earlier this week that they supported the Partnership programs.

In a letter to those leaders - including Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck and House Speaker Billy McCoy - Moore said if lawmakers had a better idea what to do with the $20 million he would listen.

"If the legislative leadership came to me and said `we want to do this a different way,' we'd do it a different way,'' Moore told the AP.

The Partnership is a private, nonprofit group that aims its anti-tobacco message at teenagers and preteens. Moore has repeatedly described the programs as an integral part of the multibillion dollars settlement with the cigarette industry.

Gov. Haley Barbour wants the $20 million to go to the state's struggling Medicaid program, which is $268 million in the hole for the year ending June 30.

At the Capitol Thursday, Barbour cited a 2003 report by the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review. PEER said courts don't have the authority to order how public money is spent.

"This suit filed today is fulfilling what the PEER Committee said should be done long before I was governor but that was not done,'' Barbour told The Associated Press.

"Because the order, as the PEER Committee report makes plain, is in violation of state law and of the constitution.''

Moore said the Partnership money woudl not impact the large deficit in Medicaid.

"This fight is not about Medicaid,'' Moore said. "If it was, he would have a plan to solve the $268 million deficit.

"It's a shame Gov. Barbour wants to destroy the number one tobacco prevention program in America,'' Moore said. "This is one of those penny wise and pound foolish mistakes the governor is making. He will lose in court.''

Jones said the money can be better used to help Medicaid participants and continue the anti-smoking efforts.

Moore has said the Partnership is helping reduce smoking among young people which, in turn, will save Medicaid hundreds of millions of dollars in the future.

Moore was the first state attorney general in the nation to sue tobacco companies to recover public costs of treating sick smokers.

Mississippi settled its case in 1997 and was projected to receive about $4 billion over the first 25 years, with payments continuing as long as tobacco companies exist.

Part of the settlement included payment of $61.8 million from tobacco companies for anti-smoking programs aimed at Mississippians under 18.

That money was to last for two years and was used to establish the Partnership. All other settlement payments went to the state, and legislators in 1999 established a health care trust fund for the tobacco settlement money.

In December 2000, as the initial $61.8 million for the Partnership was running out, Moore went to Jackson County Chancery Court and received an order taking the $20 million a year from the state's settlement payments and directing it to the Partnership.

Moore said Thursday that he went to court in 2000 after legislative leaders supported continuation of the Partnership's work.

In its court documents, Medicaid officials contend the 2000 court order violated the terms of the tobacco settlement, violates a state law that requires all tobacco installment payments to go to the health care trust fund and was judicial encroachment on the Legislature's authority to appropriate money.

http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=2931730

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State Supreme Court snuffs Pierce County smoking ban -WA

By Rebecca Cook The Associated Press

OLYMPIA — The Washington State Supreme Court struck down Pierce County's smoking ban today.

The ban was the strictest in the state, covering bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, casinos, hotels, private clubs and most other nontribal businesses.

The Tacoma-Pierce County Board of Health imposed the ban in January of last year, but three weeks later it was overturned by Pierce County Superior Court Judge Ronald E. Culpepper, who said the agency lacked the authority to enact it.

The state Supreme Court agreed, saying the health board's smoking ban conflicted with the state law. The state's less restrictive Clean Indoor Air Act prohibits smoking in most public places, but exempts restaurants, bars, bowling alleys and casinos.

"The (health board's) resolution, by imposing a complete smoking ban, prohibits what is permitted by state law: the ability of certain business owners and lessees to designate smoking and nonsmoking locations in their establishments," Justice Charles Johnson wrote in the unanimous opinion.

"I'm so happy!" said Janis Johnson, owner of the Pegasus Restaurant in Tacoma, where smoking is permitted. She said she ran through the restaurant telling everyone "we won!" when she heard the news.

"This has been a long, hard-fought battle," said Johnson. "They did the right thing."

The smoking ban was challenged in court by the Entertainment Industry Coalition, representing businesses where smoking is allowed. The high court denied the coalition's request for attorneys' fees from the Tacoma-Pierce County Board of Health, because it said the health board's defense was rational and not frivolous.

Two bills in the Legislature this year would expand the state's clean air act. One would ban smoking anywhere minors are allowed, including restaurants but excluding bars; the other would mimic the Pierce County ban and prohibit smoking in all indoor public places statewide. Gov. Christine Gregoire said this week she will sign either one, though the less-restrictive ban stands a better chance of passing.

The Supreme Court case is Entertainment Industry Coalition v. Tacoma-Pierce Co. Bd. of Health, No. 75675-9.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002176216_websmokingban10.html

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Council's health warrior is back to the rescue -PA

 City Councilman Michael Nutter is again standing up for your health.

By: Edward J. Vassallo 02/10/2005

      If it finds nine like-minded champions for clean lungs, Nutter's bill to ban smoking in every workplace, public or private, with at least two employees will become law and the danger of dying from second-hand smoke will be cut in Philadelphia.
      The proposed law, which Mayor Street supports, will be felt mostly at restaurants and corner bars where patrons hole up to swig a cold Bud and drift into nicotine-induced serenity.
      Nutter and Street are worried that what you're inhaling voluntarily is sickening the nonsmoking bartender and his servers.
      Though the employers of these establishments choose to work in an environment they know is smoky- many barkeeps pay tuition to learn the business of dispensing spirits- our lawmakers are frightened by a statistic that 40,000 people per year die from inhaling smoke from those who choose a more perilous lifestyle.
      While that statistic has been disputed for its dubious methodology, Nutter believes it's better to err on the side of health no matter the costs.
      We all know smoking is a deadly, disgusting habit. Your clothes smell and hands yellow as the poisonous drugs fill your lungs. Few nonsmokers select a restaurant's smoking section if given a choice. And in tight spaces necessary for transit (elevators, airplanes) smoking is so intrusive that nonsmokers' air space should be protected by law.
      What concerns us is what we call the "tobacco-shop exclusion." So not to shut down the city's cigar lounges, businesses that earn more than 15 percent of gross revenue from tobacco are excluded from the ban.
      If the danger is so great, how can Nutter allow such an exception? Shouldn't delivery people or mail carriers who enter these shops be protected, too? Are they second-class citizens? What about the nonsmoking son or daughter who works for the family tobacco business?
      We recommend that exception be eliminated.
      We have another concern. The smoking ban will no doubt lead some to kick the habit. According to an American Medical Association report, those who quit smoking can expect to add 10 pounds as Milky Ways replace Camels. Here's the scary part: US Health Department stats show 400,000 people die each year from poor diets and excessive weight. That's 17 percent of all deaths in the country, while tobacco claims 18.1 percent.
      Unless the bill is amended to block smokers from replacing cigarettes with chocolate, candy and potato chips, the Nutter bill could inadvertently cause some poor soul to devour one caramel chunk too many, clog that one working artery, and join the expired 400,000.
      Council must address this. One unnecessary caramel-related death is one too many.
      Has Nutter considered the tragic side effects of deprived smokers driving in an agitated state of tobacco-withdrawal? Motor vehicle accidents alone claim 43,000 lives a year. One unnecessary highway death caused by nicotine-withdraw is one too many. The city should block ex-smokers from getting behind the wheel until they can prove the tobacco monkey is off their backs.
      That brings us to air conditions and heaters. Since tobacco is banned from most work places now, smokers who want to engage in their legal activity must stand outside in both 100-degree and subfreezing temperatures. This will only increase under Nutter's bill.
      How can the city issue fans during heat waves and chase the homeless inside during cold snaps, then allow smokers to face hypothermia and heat-stroke?
      The must issue tax credits to employers who provide temperature-controlled outdoor smoking facilities for workers. One unnecessary case of tobacco-related frostbite is one too many.
      Did we mention the revenue lost to suburban bars and restaurants that allow puffing? How about the cost of new health inspectors? We'll need dozens to check all the local taverns for ashtrays and cigarette-burned table tops and carpeting, all evidence of an uncooperative restaurant owner.
      We applaud City Council for looking out for our health and urge they continue rescuing us from all questionable health threats, no matter how flimsy the evidence or costly the solution.
      It's always better to err on the side of hysteria.

http://www.newsgleaner.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13933755&BRD=2340&PAG=461&dept_id=488595&rfi=6

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A victory for big tobacco

LAST September, the American government's huge lawsuit against big tobacco firms finally went to trial. The government accused the firms of a conspiracy to hide the risks of smoking, and wanted them to hand over a staggering $280 billion in “ill-gotten” gains. Barely five months later, the government's chances of imposing this draconian punishment look slim.

On February 4th, a federal appeals-court panel ruled that the government will not be allowed to get its paws on the firms' profits. The ruling, if it sticks, takes the sting out of the lawsuit, which is proceeding in a lower court. It leaves only the possibility of milder sanctions—perhaps forcing the firms to cover smokers' quitting costs or to submit to yet more restrictions on marketing. Tobacco shares soared on the news. But the government, which declared war on tobacco under President Bill Clinton and has spent $135m so far waging it, may appeal the decision by the three-judge panel to the full appeals court, where it has a decent chance of winning a reversal.

Meanwhile, the broader legal war against tobacco continues. The industry is anxiously awaiting the Florida Supreme Court's ruling on whether it will reinstate a $145 billion verdict won by more than 700,000 sick Florida smokers in the Engle case. History is on big tobacco's side: courts have taken a dim view of these basic personal-injury cases cloaked as class actions. The appeals court that threw out the Engle verdict in 2003 also said that the plaintiffs had no business suing as a class.

Philip Morris is fretting over the Illinois State Supreme Court's pending ruling on its appeal in another case. The plaintiffs used a novel tack that won them a $10.1 billion verdict in 2003. These smokers, instead of suing for harm done to their health, claim that Philip Morris duped them into believing that its more expensive “light” brands were healthier than its regular ones. If they had known better, say the smokers, they would have saved their pennies. The firm needs the support of four out of five judges to reverse the ruling.

Light-cigarette cases of various sorts are proliferating—the current fashionable threat to the tobacco industry. Tobacco firms are being blamed for failing to give warning to smokers that they might unwittingly be taking deeper drags or blocking the ventilation holes with their fingers while smoking these low-tar cigarettes. And, in contrast to basic personal-injury tobacco lawsuits, the courts seem more open to allowing these cases to proceed as class actions.

Two more new waves of litigation are coming, says Bill Farone, a former Philip Morris executive who now testifies often against the industry. Now that the technology for fire-safe cigarettes exists, people are suing when cigarettes start fires. Second-hand-smoke lawsuits, too, are likely to mean big trouble for tobacco firms as other litigants follow the lead of some Florida air-stewardesses, who finally wrangled payment from the industry last year. It may prove hard for tobacco firms to argue convincingly that plaintiffs should have known about the risks of smoking when they never took one puff on a cigarette.

http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3651721

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Bar, tavern layoffs: Is it the NHL effect? -ON

By JOHN PARTRIDGE AND KEITH MCARTHUR Saturday, February 5, 2005 - Page A2

The National Hockey League players lockout has forced Montreal sports bar owner Ziggy Eichenbaum to turn some of his employees into statistics.

Mr. Eichenbaum had to lay off two of 10 workers because business is down about 25 per cent. The rest of the staff at Ziggy's Pub on Crescent Street near the Bell Centre are working shorter days.

Game nights used to bring 20,000 people downtown. "Now you can take a bowling ball and throw it down Crescent Street on a Monday night and not hit anybody," he said yesterday as supposedly last-ditch talks in New York between National Hockey League owners and their locked-out players ended, apparently without progress.

The latest stalemate came as Statistics Canada unveiled a little more evidence that what might be called an "NHL effect" is taking at least a small toll on the economy, beyond lost salaries for the players and lost advertising revenues.

In reporting the unexpected net loss of 5,700 jobs across the country during January, Statscan suggested yesterday that the silence in NHL rinks may be behind a drop in employment in tavern and bars. When Labatt Brewing Co. Ltd. announced plans in December to cut 20 per cent of its white-collar work force -- 240 jobs -- it partly blamed slumping sales at bars and restaurants, which are also suffering the impact of smoking bans.

Worse is likely to come. Hostelries that cater to a hockey clientele say the biggest hit will be if and when the playoffs are cancelled.

Just before Christmas, Statscan estimated that the hockey freeze was costing the economy about $17-million a month, from ticket and souvenir sales and broadcast revenue. If the entire season is lost, the gross domestic product could be reduced by about $170-million.

"There definitely is an 'NHL effect' " said economist Avery Shenfield of CIBC World Markets, but "what you never know is to what extent it's offset by additional spending on other items," he said.

"What you don't see is whether the guy who would have spent Saturday night at a bar watching the hockey game is instead spending more money on a Valentine's Day present for the wife."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050205/NHLEFFECT05/TPNational/

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Bylaw? What bylaw? -ON

Bars are finding creative ways to dodge the smoking ban, and the city is not amused
By LUMA MUHTADIE  Saturday, February 5, 2005 - Page M1

A subtle, street-level sign declared the party at Bird to be private. But passersby who strolled into the College Street lounge bar on Wednesday night were definitely welcome to pull up a seat, order a drink and do something that's now forbidden in most Toronto bars: light up a smoke.

Patrons of the small space above Xacutti restaurant were exempt from the city's non-smoking bylaw because the space had been rented out for what was described as a private function -- one of the strategies bar owners are adopting to enable drinkers with a penchant for nicotine to indulge their habit without having to step out into the cold.

"I didn't realize places like this existed," said Gail MacKenzie, exhaling a plume of smoke.

"But I'm happy that they do."

They may not for much longer, however. Public officials say they're concerned about bars blurring the line between commercial establishments and private clubs, and their growing frustration with loose interpretations of the city bylaw is driving them to crack down.

Evasion tactics range from the artful to the downright audacious: Some are offering membership cards, others are willing to risk their patrons' safety by locking their doors to the general public.

But Rob Colvin, manager of healthy environments and the man responsible for overseeing the enforcement of the smoking bylaw, says most of these attempts to dodge the ban won't pass enforcement officers' scrutiny.

"A private club is run by a non-profit corporation and has to demonstrate that it has a purpose," says Mr. Colvin.

"They need to show that they have regular meetings. And they can't advertise or communicate to the public."

Bird owner Brad Moore doesn't classify his venue as a private club, "because we're not. And that would get me into trouble as far as harassment with inspectors."

But he says the hosts who rent his space out for the night (at a minimum cost of $500 an hour) are free to set the parameters of privacy for their events.

"It's used for private functions on a regular basis," he says. "Sometimes they have a guest list with security at the door. Sometimes they're not so concerned about who comes in and who comes out -- there are so many different rules or considerations for each party."

As for bylaw-enforcement officers' opinion of what goes on in his bar, Mr. Moore is resolute. "These guys come in here like whipper-snappers with attitudes. I'm simply a business operator trying to make a dollar.

"If you're suffocating people, that's not good, but if I'm spending $40,000 on a ventilation system, I don't see why I can't offer a service to someone."

Mr. Colvin says the courts are taking a serious view of non-compliance and have been issuing probation orders and summonses with hefty fines. They can even go as far as ordering a venue's closure or jail time for the offender.

Still, a handful of creative club owners remain undeterred.

The Cloak and Dagger on College sells $10 annual membership cards to its so-called Society of Free Thinkers. These laminated photo IDs bear a digital headshot of the cardholder (taken on the spot) alongside a graphic of Einstein -- and they're all you need to get in on Mellow Mondays and smoke your face off.

Then there's Chalker's Pub Billiards & Bistro, on Marlee Avenue in North York, which bills itself as the headquarters for the non-profit Cosmopolitan Multicultural Society.

Members of the society pay a $5 annual fee to earn the privilege of sparking up inside.

Only the society's board of directors is obliged to sit through meetings, owner Steve Greco explains. He's the manager of the board, which has 24 other members.

"There are a lot of clubs out there that aren't legitimate private clubs, but we're following all the laws -- we have a charter and everything," Mr. Greco says.

And he's prepared to defend this stance in court: Mr. Greco's lawyer is poised to challenge two tickets his client received for smoking violations that could cost up to $5,000 for each infraction.

But counterfeit private clubs are still a rare exception, Mr. Colvin says, noting that compliance with the bylaw has hovered steadily around 97 per cent -- even during the bone-chilling month of January.

It's a sign that bars and patrons are slowly adjusting to the city's new ways, he says.

So much so, in fact, that "private clubs" have become unappealing to some smokers.

"I won't go to them," says Chris Rolfe, while savouring the last drags of his cigarette outside a downtown bar.

"I don't like sitting inside smoky bars any more."

He says he's already cut his habit down from half a pack to three cigarettes a day.

"If I was allowed to smoke indoors, I'd have one going all the time."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050205/SMOKERS05/TPEntertainment/?query=smoking

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All in the Family bandits  -ON

Wednesday, February 02, 2005 -
Investigators trying to crack a rash of convenience store thefts are seeing a family resemblance among the crimes.

Crime Stoppers along with 55 and 13 Division Major Crime units need the public's help in tracking down a band of thieves that span several generations.

The group were caught on tape.

At each store, five to 10 people, some of them young children, enter the shop all at once, fanning out through the aisles and bringing items one at a time to the counter.

Several suspects distract the owner at the front counter while others make their way into the storage area at the back of the store.

While the storeowner is busy serving the suspects at the front counter, the suspects at the rear removed a quantity of cigarettes, money and jewellery, concealing it on them or in large bags.

In one of the incidents, a woman carrying an infant stood watch at the rear of the store. In another incident, two small children began playing in front of the counter, creating a commotion.

The suspects then all leave the store at once.

This group has stolen approximately $58,000 in cigarettes, cash, computer equipment and jewellery. At one location they removed the victims safe from the living quarters above the store.

If you have information about the identity of these people, call 55 Division Major Crime at 416-808-5506 or at 416-808-1306. If you want to remain anonymous and earn a cash reward, call Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477)

All in the Family bandits

http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1505&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

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Smoking injunction dismissed for club owners -NL

CBC News WebPosted Feb 5 2005 09:50 AM NST

ST. JOHN'S  —  The group representing most of the bars and taverns in the province has lost its fight to postpone public hearings on the government's proposed smoking ban.

The Beverage Industry Association applied to the Supreme Court asking for a delay so that a thorough economic analysis of the impact of the ban can be completed.

The provincial government intends to pass legislation this spring that will extend its ban on smoking in public places to include bars, clubs and bingo halls.

Public hearings started this week in Gander, and will conclude Feb. 16 in St. John's.

Marcel Etheridge, president of the Beverage Industry Association, says the government appears to have its mind made up, without assessing the full impact of a ban will bring.

"We are very disappointed, but we're not giving up," says president Marcel Etheridge.

The association may appeal judge David Russell's decision, which was handed down Friday afternoon.

"The timeframe is very, very narrow," Etheridge says.

"You cannot do a social impact study of this industry which is very, very large, which is worth millions of dollars, in a couple of months. It's unrealistic."

Describing many of his members as "ma and pa" operations in rural areas, Etheridge believes numerous clubs will close if they lose regular customers who smoke.

"They're doing it to [our industry], because I guess we're easy to pick on."

Don Burrage, the Crown attorney who fought the application on behalf of government, argued the association has many ways to voice its opposition beyond the public hearings.

Meanwhile, the Beverage Industry Association has another application before the courts, which argues the entire public hearing process is flawed.

http://stjohns.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=nf-clubs-smoking-20050205

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RE: Public Health Inspectors-Working to Protect the Health of Your Community  -SK

    WHITE ROCK, BC, Jan. 21 /CNW/ - Public Health Inspectors in Saskatchewan are an integral part of the Public Health Professional team in your 
communities. Possessing a unique skill-set, Public Health Inspectors are on the front-lines of Public Health ensuring safe drinking water, safe food and protection from exposure to communicable diseases to name a few of the program responsibilities.
    One of the threats to Public Health in Canada today is the use of tobacco products and the exposure to tobacco smoke. 45,000 Canadians die each year as a result of tobacco related illness. As part of an overall Tobacco Reduction Strategy, many communities are introducing legislation to protect the public from exposure to tobacco smoke in public places. It has also been shown that smokers are more likely to attempt to quit in communities where smoking in public places is restricted.
    Public Health Inspectors are responsible for the enforcement of such legislation. Every effort is made to educate business operators on the associated health risks of tobacco smoke exposure and the need to protect the public.
    The vast majority of the business community will understand their responsibility and operate their businesses accordingly however, there are a small percentage of business operators who refuse to acknowledge this responsibility and will challenge legislation.
    These business operators and the sensationalized headlines they provoke do capture the media and the public's attention. The sober reality of the devastation caused by tobacco use in this country seems to be lost, as does the important role of Public Health Inspectors in protecting your community's health.
    The Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors proudly supports Public Health Inspectors in Saskatchewan and urges the citizens of Saskatchewan to stand behind these Environmental Public Health Professionals and look beyond the "smoke screen" of sensationalized headlines.

For further information: Claudia Kurzac, President, Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors, Phone: (604) 714-5683

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2005/21/c5901.html

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Tougher Ontario smoking laws pledged

DEBORA VAN BRENK, Free Press Reporter 2005-02-04 02:09:07
 Mississauga MPP Peter Fonseca gave it up for marathon running years ago. Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara did it cold turkey recently.

Encouraging every other smoker to give up the habit and make healthy choices is one role the provincial government does and should take on, Fonseca insists.

Fonseca, parliamentary assistant to Health Minister George Smitherman, says Ontario intends to enact the toughest non-smoking laws this side of California because it's in everyone's best interests.

"I'd love to see the day where nobody smokes in Ontario," Fonseca said during a stop in London yesterday.

He said that doesn't extend to banning cigarettes outright. But it does mean that as of May 2006, Ontarians should have enough carrots and sticks to encourage them to stop smoking and penalize them if they do.

The tough non-smoking bill is in the legislature and is expected to pass third reading this spring.

It will replace a patchwork of local bylaws with a provincewide ban on smoking in workplaces, including bars and entertainment areas.

Some critics have said the bill is intrusive and harmful to many businesses.

But Fonseca said smoking costs the province's health system $1.7 billion a year and eats up $2.6 billion in productivity.

"The umbrella to this is a healthy Ontario and healthy Ontarians," said Fonseca, who was an Olympic marathoner in 1996.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2005/02/04/919840-sun.html

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Butting out should be Albertans' decision -AB

Love him or hate him, our premier was absolutely bang on with his decision to allow Albertans to decide if a provincewide smoking ban in all public places was right for them.
I ventured out Monday to try to determine if prohibiting smoking would indeed be a death sentence for local watering holes. In a word, according to managers across the city: Nope.
It seems bar managers have resigned themselves to the fact a smoking ban is likely to be put into place, but they aren’t worried about how it will affect their bottom line in the long term.
Some even welcomed the idea.
Customers who smoke, of course, voiced their displeasure with the concept, but said as long as the public is left to decide the issue, they would comply.
ALREADY A HAPPY COMPROMISE
Don Cherry’s manager Brian Simms believes a happy compromise has already been achieved by not allowing smoking in establishments where minors under the age of 18 can be served.
“For a lot of businesses I think, if they were to go to full non-smoking, they would lose a nice few patrons,” Simms said. “Basically (people) want to be able to go out to their favourite place and have a few drinks – they don’t really want to be getting up and going outside every time they want to have a cigarette.”
What is in place now works well for Don Cherry’s because patrons who visit the establishment can do so with their families and not have to worry about second-hand smoke; but if they feel the urge to have a quick puff during their meal, they can simply step into the lounge.
“The setup they have now is a great setup,” said Simms, who agreed customers would eventually learn to accept to an all-encompassing smoking ban.
Red Deer resident Denis Lacroix, 42, said he simply would not frequent any drinking establishment where he was not allowed to smoke.
“They are pushing it too far, where they are trying to make (everywhere) smoke-free, but yet it is a legal substance – because there is good tax money in it,” said Lacroix. “Do you have to make laws about everything?”
While he agrees with not being allowed to smoke in places where children are allowed, prohibiting smoking in establishments that only allow adults is going overboard, he said.
His advice to non-smokers bothered by second-hand smoke was that they can always choose not to put themselves in that environment.
The same goes for those who choose to work where people can smoke, but complain about the effects it has on them physically, he said.
“Government should stay out of it. I’m sure (this place) would be out of business if you couldn’t smoke in here,” he said.
Maddhatters Liquid Lounge manager Mike Lilge would wholeheartedly welcome a full smoking ban in bars.
“I think it would be a great idea,” he said. “I wake up in the morning and it’s just gross. I don’t smoke, but I would rather be smoking than having (to deal with) the second-hand smoke.”
He estimated that about 70 per cent of the people that visit Maddhatters smoke.
“It would be bad for business initially. I think it would (make a lot of business owners angry), but it’s just a matter of adapting.”
Marcel Blais, general manager of Hammerhead Bar and Grill said he thinks it’s only a matter of time before a smoking ban for all public places is implemented.
But what he has seen – Hammerhead is part of a chain in other provinces that have all-encompassing bans – is that business drops off for about the first month.
“People will keep going out. They will modify their lifestyle. They will boycott at first but they usually will come back,” said Blais.n“The ban will come into place for all public places,” he said. “I don’t know when, but it will happen.”
Although customer Gavin Granoien said he would not have come to Hammerhead Monday if he weren’t allowed to smoke he would accept a smoking ban, as long as it wasn’t unilaterally imposed by the province.
He just wouldn’t stay in the bar as long, he said.
“It should be up to the establishment owners and the adults. Let them decide. If most of Grande Prairie wants to say no, then I will abide by that, but if it is one person is saying no to the rest, then I don’t agree with that,” said Granoien.
“It would slow me down,” he said. “Because then I could be going home (to smoke), or I would step out for one and then be going home.”
There you have it. About as clear as a smoke-filled bar, wouldn’t you say?
http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/1bottomline.lasso

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Cold turkey: a 'godawful' tactic- ON

Debora Van Brenk, Free Press Reporter 2005-02-05 03:27:43

The road to the nearest cigarette counter is paved with your best intentions. You wanted to quit by the start of the year but didn't.

Then came Stop Smoking Week and you really meant to butt out. But the furnace conked out and your boss handed you new duties. Who could quit at a time like that?

Now, with each puff, a nagging cramp in your gut says you don't want to smoke anymore. But that twitch in your fingers betrays your resolve.

You're not alone.

About 20 per cent of Southwestern Ontarians still smoke, and half of those will seriously consider quitting this year.

The incentives to butt out are growing: the price of some smokes is about $8.75 a pack; places where smokers can puff are becoming increasingly scarce; and now Ontario is eyeing one of North America's toughest anti-smoking laws.

Most ex-smokers try, and fail five times before they quit.

Starting today, a Free Press series -- consider it more a how-to than a why-to -- looks at kicking the habit.

IT DARN NEAR KILLED HER.

In 1997, after 58 years of puffing, great-grandmother Clara Brown stopped smoking.

Cold turkey.

"For three days I lived on hot water, soda biscuits and aspirin," she says.

Then, when she finally heeded husband Bill's pleas to get medical help, she spent nine days in the hospital intensive care unit in nearby Seaforth.

She was fed intravenously and needed regular gulps from an oxygen mask. She lost 15 pounds from her petite frame.

Hers is the kind of story that churns the stomachs of veteran smokers.

Given a choice, Brown says she wouldn't quit that way again. "It's godawful on your system."

Experts say the success rate for people who try to quit cold turkey -- without extra help such as the patch or medication or counselling -- is an abysmal five per cent the first time around.

But Brown beat the odds; she is still smoke-free.

And her story lends credence to those who say it's possible to quit on your own, and at any age.

She was 16 when her boyfriend Bill, now her husband, gave her her first puff on a cigarette. Bill had started a few years earlier, with dried-up chestnut leaves rolled in newspapers.

"I tried it. I liked it and I never stopped," Brown says.

Cigarettes at the time were 36 cents a pack.

The habit continued for both of them.

Their three kids grew up and had kids and grandkids of their own.

Then, about 15 years ago, Bill quit. It wasn't as tough as he thought it would be.

"I did hit the peppermints for a while. My tongue felt like a gravel road and somebody had run a truck over it,"he says.

Clara kept puffing, although rarely in front of the kids. But her young great-granddaughter's ill health made her think.

"I didn't want to take a chance on losing any of them."

So she quit -- part-way through the carton of cigarettes Bill had given her, as he did every December, as a Christmas gift.

She recalls her grandson visiting her in hospital in tears because of her concern for his daughter's health.

And, even though Clara still keeps ashtrays in the house for visitors, she's determined to stay smoke-free. For good.

"I never had that desire to go back," she says.

LEGAL FIREPOWER

New laws, higher taxes.

That's how the Ontario government wants to pull you into the non-smoking majority, with some of North America's toughest no-smoking rules.

Tobacco taxes were recently jacked up $1.25 a carton, raising the per-package price by 16 cents to about $8.75.

But the province isn't just putting the cash squeeze on smokers: It's also cutting down their dwindling elbow room

Queen's Park is promising a sweeping new law to curb smoking, severely restricting where people can smoke and how tobacco can be advertised, and hiking fines for any violations.

The provincial law, expected to take effect May 31, 2006, will override the patchwork of municipal no-smoking bylaws across the province that have crowded smokers out of most workplaces and into increasingly smaller public places.

The province says its coming crackdown will:

- Ban smoking in all workplaces and many public places, including private clubs, restaurants, bars and enclosed, outdoor patios. Many eateries, including some in London, went to great expense building outdoor smoking areas to get around the city's own no-smoking rules.

- Ban smoking at sports and entertainment venues, casinos, bingos and halls.

- Do away with designated smoking rooms, though some residential care facilities could have controlled smoking areas.

- Allow hotels to set aside some rooms for smoking customers.

- Ban smoking in home-based day cares when children are present.

- Allow home health-care workers to ask that no one smoke in their presence and to leave if smokers don't comply.

- Enforce a nine-metre smoking ban around hospital doorways, though that won't extend to other buildings.

- Ban tobacco promotion at entertainment venues.

- Ban store cigarette displays, a move the industry is fighting in the Supreme Court of Canada over a similar law in Saskatchewan.

- Hold store owners liable if an employee sells tobacco to customers under 19.

- Hike minimum fines for violating the law, with new rates of up to $1,000 -- five times the existing minimum.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2005/02/05/921244-sun.html

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hypocritical view  -AB

Letter to Editor February 7/05

TO THE sanctimonious hypocrites currently attacking smokers: Most of the pollution in the air we breathe comes from carpets, furniture, plastics, industry and auto exhaust. Cruelly forcing smokers into the cold and rain and snow is the latest form of vicious social apartheid and is not fit behaviour for anyone of conscience or professing of Christian beliefs. You should be very ashamed.
R. Jarvis
(Smokers are being squeezed out.)
-----------------------------------------------
WHY IS everyone getting all worked up about the smoking ban? Don't you realize that soon you'll be able to light up anywhere? If the police try to arrest you, you can tell them it's marijuana, not tobacco. That  way, what you're doing will be legal.
G. McLean
(Zing!)

http://canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/Letters/

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Playing field uneven for tobacco farmers - ON

February 7/05

Regarding the column, Farmers should have seen it coming (Jan. 29):
Perhaps Ian Gillespie would develop some empathy if the government added $6 of tax to each issue of The London Free Press while turning a blind eye to smuggled newspapers.
What if Canadian newspapers were held to the highest standards in the world while foreign newspapers were imported into this country without inspection? Could you could compete on a playing field that has been tilted by our own government?
Health Canada and the domestic tobacco companies told farmers to "invest for the future" in 2001 by retrofitting their kilns to eliminate nitrosamines. The average tobacco farmer is $400,000 in debt, largely due to the kiln conversion project. As soon as the project was complete, cigarette taxes were raised and Imperial Tobacco Ltd. started importing large quantities of foreign tobacco of such poor quality it could not legally be offered for sale by a Canadian producer.
The tobacco statements made by Rob Cunningham are an assortment of old statistics, incompetent opinions and twisted facts. It's strange how the anti-smoking groups' estimates of the damage of smoking always rise to stay ahead of the revenues generated by cigarette taxes.

Ontario tobacco growers have three problems:
1. Imperial's imported garbage tobacco.
2. smuggled/bootleg tobacco.
3. broken government promises.
There is no grand ball, Mr. Gillespie. You are welcome to attend the foreclosure auctions.
John Stewart
Eden

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/Letters/

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Albertans want smoking ban: poll

EDMONTON - The majority of Albertans favour a workplace smoking ban, according to a survey commissioned by

an anti-smoking group.

The Ipsos-Reid poll of 800 Albertans found that overall, 68 per cent would like to see smoking banned anywhere people work, including restaurants, bars, casinos and bingo halls.

The survey, paid for by the Campaign for a Smoke-Free Alberta, should help Premier Ralph Klein make up his mind on the issue, the group's spokesman said.

"He stated he would like to see a full public consultation on this issue, and even suggested we may see provincial legislation this spring," Les Hagen said. "This gives him more ammunition to do that."

Health Minister Iris Evans is working on provincial smoking legislation, which should be in front of the standing policy committee by the end of February and could be ready for a vote in the legislature by April.

" From Jan. 26, 2004: Legislature COULD VOTE ON SMOKING BILL BY April

Evans had initially proposed a province-wide ban, but eased off after Klein made it clear he doesn't support the move. While the premier believes steps should be taken to discourage people from starting to smoke, he opposes forcing bars and casinos to ban the habit

He says individual municipalities should make the decision about whether to permit smoking in their communities. However, the Alberta Association of Urban Municipalities has asked the province to make a rule that everyone would have to abide by.

The poll was conducted between Jan. 20 and Jan. 25, and is considered accurate to within +/- 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

http://edmonton.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=ed-smoking-poll20050207

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Alderman wants to fast track smoking ban

POSTED AT 5:23 PM Monday, February 7

A new poll shows the majority of Albertans want a province wide ban on smoking in public places.

And support may be strongest in Calgary.

The Ipsos Reid survey says 70% of Calgarians want smokers to butt out in public places.

That compares with 67% per cent of Edmontonians polled.

Support in the rest of the province is at 65%.

Calgary isn't scheduled to start a smoking ban until January 2008.

Alderman Diane Colley-Urquhart may use the new survey to try to convince her colleagues to move that date forward.

She says other members of city council should sit up and take notice that Calgarians don't want to wait 3 years.

Colley-Urquhart admits this issue will likely have to wait until after the Ward 10 byelection on February 28th.

http://www.cfcn.ca/servlet/RTGAMArticleHTMLTemplate/B/20050207/smoking?brand=generic&hub=&tf=CFCNPlus/generic/hubs/frontpage.html&cf=CFCNPlus

/generic/hubs/frontpage.cfg&slug=smoking&date=20050207&archive=CFCNPlus&ad_page_name=&nav=home&subnav=fullstory

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Tobacco growers’ plight getting worse, says Neukamm -ON

High Canadian dollar harms export opportunities

By Patrick Brennan Times-Journal Staff Wednesday February 02, 2005

AYLMER -- Tobacco growers got some mixed messages from the president of the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Grower’s Association on the coming season, at their winter meeting Tuesday.
Fred Neukamm told about 50 growers that while the prospects for the 2005 crop are the same as last year, the challenges facing the industry in Ontario are getting worse, not better.
“We have delivered a top-quality crop and yet conditions on our market continue to fall far short or our expectations,” Neukamm said to growers at the Saxonia Hall.
A Canadian dollar with a higher value and the failure of Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal government to honour a promise for $50 million in funding are just some of the issues Ontario growers are facing, he said.
The latest projections for the 2005 crop are that growers will be expected to deliver approximately 50 million pounds, plus or minus, Neukamm said. Of that, 18 to 25 million pounds will go to Imperial Tobacco.
On the export scene, Neukamm said that while China is seen as a strong potential market, the strength of the Canadian dollar is a factor.
Add to that black market activity and two increases in tobacco taxes, totalling $6.25 a carton by the Ontario government since it took power.
TAKES AIM
Neukamm took aim at Ontario Agriculture Minister Steve Peters, MPP for Elgin-Middlesex-London, for delaying the $50 million promised to growers.
“Although we have been assured by both the premier’s office and that of Minister Peters that ‘they are working on a program,’ there is definitely cause for concern regarding both the delivery and structure of a program,” Neukamm said. “You’ve all heard from Minister Peters in the media -- he says the money is coming. These are the same messages we’re hearing in our discussions and we have spent countless hours at Queen’s Park and at constituency offices pushing our case to anyone who would listen.”
Neukamm summed up the frustration farmers are experiencing.
“We are tired of empty promises and lectures about tobacco use -- it’s long past time for governments to be responsible and accountable and contribute enough dollars to help relieve some of the chaos it creates,” he said.
Neukamm said Ontario growers had invested time in studying the U.S. buyout offered to certain tobacco farmers as to how it affects world markets and what a grower would receive.
“Circumstances for tobacco growers in Ontario are extremely fragile,” Neukamm said. “We are involved with discussions with customers and with governments that will set our future course as an industry.”
Neukamm said the long-term goal for the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Grower’s Marketing Board is to come up with an industry solution that stabilizes farming, and a long-term exit plan.
As long as Canadians continue to consume tobacco, it should be made from leaf grown in Southwestern Ontario, he said. Neukamm reminded growers the board needs their solidarity to avoid others exploiting any divisions.

http://www.stthomastimesjournal.com/story.php?id=140966

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Casino spokesman says employees' smoking room is being phased out -SK

Veronica Rhodes The Leader-Post Thursday, February 03, 2005 
 Despite firm legislative action to stop smoking in all public places, a government-run casino has an indoor smoking room for its employees.

Bill Davies, spokesperson for Casino Regina, said there is currently a smoking room for employees at the gaming institution, but it is in the process of being phased out.

The casino has a policy that floor employees can't leave the building in their uniforms, even to have a cigarette. Davies said changes will be made in an "orderly fashion" -- the policy will soon be revised and then the smoking room will be shut down.

Since December, employees have known the room would be closed, which Davies said would happen "in the near future."

Establishments are not in violation of the Tobacco Control Amendment Act by having a smoking room for employees, as long as the room is in an area restricted from the public.

But government policy states that smoking is not allowed in any government building.

Health Minister John Nilson said he had no idea the casino had a smoking room until recently.

"I didn't know about this one until it was told to us in the last couple weeks. As far as I know, there aren't other ones," said Nilson.

Rumours have been flying that a smoking room exists in the Saskatchewan Legislative Building, with news of the room even being published in a weekly newspaper recently.

But Nadine Sisk, spokesperson for Saskatchewan Property Management Corp. (SPMC) said there is no smoking room in the home of the provincial government.

Nilson said the casino did not exist when the government policy was instituted in 1994. Recently, operators of the casino raised some questions about whether it was indeed a government building, despite being owned by the province.

"I guess they didn't realize the policy applied to them. So practically, they are correcting that issue that has been identified," said Nilson.

The minister did not believe the casino smoking room should cast any doubt on the province's commitment to the smoking ban.

"Our legislation around smoke-free public places is very clear and it speaks to public places and will continue to do that," he said.

Nilson said an Occupational Health and Safety committee is currently reviewing the issue of smoking in the workplace, among other policies.

http://www.canada.com/regina/leaderpost/news/story.html?id=cbc77460-5aaf-4750-b147-4b9c76226a1e

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Tobacco talks are ‘uphill climb,’ growers told -ON

Tiffany Mayer - SIMCOE REFORMER Friday February 04, 2005

Simcoe Reformer — Tobacco farmers have been given every indication so far that they can expect a repeat of last year’s crop size for 2005.
That message was delivered by Fred Neukamm, chair of the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board, at the growers annual winter meeting in Delhi yesterday.
After two days of crop size negotiations, Neukamm told hundreds of growers that industry and manufacturing stakeholders have indicated their need for domestic leaf will stay at about 50 million pounds for 2005. Exporters have also expressed interest in maintaining their levels in the 35 to 40 million pound range.
Producers grew 87.9 million pounds of leaf in 2004 for domestic and foreign markets.
“Although just meeting last year’s crop size is not our objective, these indications are a far cry from some of the rumoured doomsday scenarios being thrown around on the warehouse floor this winter,” Neukamm said.
Rumours circulating within the tobacco community suggested the crop size could be as low as 60 million pounds. Crop sizes have been dramatically reduced as more Canadian smokers quit the habit and cigarette companies increasingly turn to cheaper imports to meet remaining demand. The Canadian tobacco crop has been virtually cut in half in the past seven years, dropping from 151 million pounds in 1998 to just under 88 million last year.
Neukamm said the board pushed stakeholders to provide information early about this year’s crop after negotiations in 2004 dragged on into late May when many growers had planted a crop without knowing what to expect. That was because Imperial Tobacco refused to accept a concession package from growers that would make domestic leaf more appealing for the cigarette company to purchase.
Despite the early indications, Neukamm isn’t expecting negotiations to be easy.
“These negotiations will be an uphill climb. None of what I’m reporting to you today has been finalized. However, we felt it was important to get a preliminary indication out to the farmers as soon as possible,” he said.
Negotiating price will be the next step in the process as the “nitty gritty of negotiations” begin.
Neukamm also reassured the crowd that the board is doing what it can to secure government funding for growers wishing to leave the industry while maintaining production for those who wish to continue growing leaf.
“Farmers, we are tired of empty promises and lectures about tobacco use. It’s long past time for governments to be responsible and accountable and contribute enough dollars to help relieve some of the chaos that it continues to create,” he said.
But governments aren’t the only ones stirring up potential troubles for tobacco growers. Wednesday, a group of producers refused to leave a closed-door portion of a tobacco board meeting about crop negotiations. The growers’ lack of co-operation forced the cancellation of the meeting
Tobacco board meetings were opened to producers last month, but the board stipulated at the time that there would still be issues that required closed sessions. Meetings involving appeals, human resources and negotiations are not open to the public.
Incidents, such as those Wednesday, make it difficult for the board to function, Neukamm said. They also represent a lack of respect for the electoral process and the bodies governing that process.
Joe Barzo, a tobacco grower from Tillsonburg, said farmers should be supporting the board, not working against it.
“I’m quite satisfied that they’re approaching every possible avenue. They’re fighting an uphill battle with government,” Barzo explained.
He also expressed relief at having some idea about crop sizes so early in negotiations. However, Barzo is still not happy with the prospects for this year’s growing season.
“I’d like to see (crop size) get bigger but I don’t think it will. I don’t know how long we can continue growing with the amount of tobacco we grow now,” he said. “It’s hard to stay in business.”

http://simcoereformer.ca/story.php?id=141483

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The Chronicle Journal Feb. 7/05

Letters to the Editor re: bus driver charged in smoking Violation Jan31/04
A Thunder Bay bus driver was fined 60$ and lost a day's  wages for the crime of smoking a cigarette ("First smoking ticket issued." Feb 1)  He was apprehended due to an anonymous phone call made to public authorities. 
Think about it!
Frank Zaniol
Niagra Falls, Ont.

http://www.chroniclejournal.com/

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The price to pay for smoking ban in pubs -UK

IAN SWANSON SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR
SCOTLAND’S smoking ban is set to cost an initial 2300 jobs, force nearly 150 pubs to close and rob the Chancellor of £59 million a year in tax revenue, a new report claims.
A study commissioned by the licensed trade says the ban would also see turnover drop by £105m and annual profits slump by £86m.
The figures will fuel controversy over the impact of the Scottish Executive’s ban on smoking in enclosed public places, including pubs and restaurants, which is due to be introduced in just over a year.
The Scottish Licensed Trade Association will present its analysis of the costs involved to MSPs next week.
And the Scottish Parliament’s finance committee will also hear evidence from local authorities estimating the cost of implementing the ban at £6m a year. The assessment by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities includes £403,000 for implementing the ban in Edinburgh and £75,000 for West Lothian.
In a written submission to the committee, the SLTA argues that pubs not serving food should be exempt from the ban, in line with proposals south of the Border. It urges a phased approach and claims the economic effects of an outright ban have not yet been fully considered.
Official research released by the Executive at the time the Bill was published claimed the effect of the smoking ban on the hospitality trade could be anything from a loss of £104m a year to a gain of £137m a year.
But the SLTA says the study was "incomplete, irrelevant and rushed". And it claims: "Independent research suggests the financial impact will be far greater than stated."
A study commissioned from the Centre for Economics and Business Research concludes that once a ban is introduced the annual turnover in the licensed trade would decline by £105m, annual profits in licensed premises may decline by £86m and employment could be expected to decline by 2300 jobs initially. About 142 average-sized licensed premises may close as a result of decreased trade and the Exchequer could lose out on a total of £59m in annual tax revenues from Scotland.
Alistair Don, president of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said the hospitality industry in Scotland employed around 200,000 people. "The Executive doesn’t appear to want to look at the financial implications. There are jobs at risk, not just in the licensed trade but all the ancillary trades."
He added that the eventual job loss total could be ten times the 2300 expected to go when the ban is first introduced. "Ireland has already lost 7500 jobs since their ban was introduced in March 2004 - and that’s government figures."
The Cosla submission to the committee highlights the costs councils will incur in recruiting new wardens, training staff and councillors, publicising the ban and even extra street cleaning because they expect there to be more discarded cigarette ends.
Cosla calculates the start-up costs for introducing the ban in April 2006 and the first year of implementing it will be £6m.
The Executive has said it will make some cash available to local authorities to help ease the financial burden of implementing the ban. But Cosla said: "There are concerns the Executive will fund enforcement for an initial period and funding will then decrease, with revenue consequences for councils."
An Executive spokesman said no decision had yet been made on what funding would be available. He added: "We will be discussing the financial implications with Cosla shortly."

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=138622005

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There is powerful evidence that an outright ban on public smoking would save lives, doctors' leaders from across the world say.

A report by the British Medical Association's Tobacco Control Resource Centre describes the success of such anti-smoking laws in other countries.

Ireland has seen drops in cigarette sales and the US state California has reported fewer lung cancers.

But pro-smoking groups called evidence for passive smoking deaths a "myth".

Partial measures don't work Dr Vivienne Nathanson from the BMA

In the recent White Paper on Public Health for England, Health Secretary John Reid announced plans for a partial ban smoking in enclosed public places.

For example, while pubs that serve food would have to enforce a ban, other pubs would not.

The BMA says this is insufficient and doomed to fail.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA's head of science and ethics, said: "I hope John Reid listens to these doctors' testimonies.

"These doctors are telling us that partial measures don't work.

"It's time for the UK Government to play fair, and protect everyone from exposure to second-hand smoke at work."

But a Department of Health spokeswoman said: "As John Reid has made clear, we need to strike a balance between the rights of those who want to be protected against the harmful effects of other people's smoke and the rights of those who choose to smoke.

"That is why we are taking action to deliver a big increase in the number of smoke-free pubs and restaurants in places where food is served while ensuring that people who still want to smoke in the pub can still do so."

Smoke-free law

According to the Californian Medical Association, lung cancer rates have fallen six times faster in California than in US states without smoke-free laws since 1998.

In Ireland, cigarette sales fell by almost 16% in the first six months of the ban, according to the Irish Medical Organisation.

Others oppose an outright ban.

Simon Clark, director of the smokers' lobby group FOREST, said: "The idea that people are dying in their hundreds or even thousands from passive smoking is a myth based on estimates, calculations and statistics which are in turn based on extremely dubious research.

"The evidence falls far short of justifying a total ban on smoking in every public place.

"Most people want no-smoking offices to be the norm, but in pubs, clubs and bars there is clear support for a choice of smoking and no-smoking areas and better ventilation."

BMA chairman, Mr James Johnson, said: "Powerful vested interests peddle myths that smoke-free legislation is unnecessary.

"They say that it is unworkable, unpopular, and will lead to economic ruin.

"Such predictions are little more than scaremongering. The evidence shows that smoke-free laws save lives."

He said if all UK workplaces were smoke-free, the tobacco multinationals would lose an estimated £310 million in sales every year.

Ian Willmore, from ASH, said: "A comprehensive end to smoking in work places and enclosed public places is essential to protect the health of non-smokers and encourage smokers to quit."

The evidence falls far short of justifying a total ban on smoking in every public place Simon Clark, director of the smokers' lobby group FOREST

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4244233.stm

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New Legislation Being Drafted to Ban No Smoking Policy -MI

Lori Dougovito

New legislation is being drafted by State Senator Virg Bernero, legislation that would make it illegal for an employer to fire employees for engaging in legal activities, like smoking, outside of the workplace.

It stems from Okemos based Weyco Inc. banning smoking. In January Weyco began giving mandatory smoking tests, if an employee tests positive then they're fired. Four female employees say they were fired, Weyco says they signed a waiver admitting they were smokers in turn dismissing themselves from the company. Three employees admit signing the waiver, one says she did not.

Bernero hopes to have the legislation introduced in a few weeks.

http://www.wilx.com/news/headlines/1238657.html

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Fired For Smoking -MI

Okemos, Michigan. Feb. 7, 2005 — Four women who were fired from their jobs because they wouldn't quit smoking - are fighting back tonight.

The women worked at Weyco Incorporated in Okemos, Michigan. In November of 2003, their employer told everyone they had to quit smoking -and submit to nicotine tests, or else risk losing their jobs. The policy went into effect last month and four women were fired.

They say it's not a matter of health care, or insurance costs like Weyco says.They say it's infringing on their rights. So - they've enlisted the help of a state senator, (State Senator Virg Bernero/(D) MICHIGAN) who wants to make a law to prevent this from happening again. Weyco says, on its web site, the company would not fire anyone because of their weight. Either way, Bernero says he plans to introduce his legislation in the next few weeks.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/news/2705-smokingfired.html

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Public-Smoking Ban Again To Be Considered For Indianapolis

Ordinance Covers 'Public Places,' Enclosed Workplaces

February 4, 2005

INDIANAPOLIS -- City-county council members will again consider a ban on smoking in public places -- including restaurants and bars -- and enclosed workplaces in Marion County.

Council President Steve Talley said the proposal will be introduced on Monday. A similar proposal was killed in a council committee in November 2003.

The new proposal, which was shown to the news media Friday, defines a pub