Editorials
Poll Comments: Smoking Shelters
Thunder Bay's Source
Web Posted: 10/8/2004 11:28:25 AM  

Should Thunder Bay workplaces be REQUIRED to set up outside shelters for smokers during the winter months ?

Yes (53.2%)

No (46.8%)

Total votes: 820

Eg: response reported:

As a non smoker i really like the idea of a non smoking enviroment, but i do think there should be some kind of shelter for the smokers. for 2 reasons, just cause they smoke doesnt mean that they should have to stand in the cold and rain. have you ever watched someone trying to light a smoke in the raind or wind. it is funny, like a tease.....so close yet so far. the second reason being that it might get them away from the doors in front of the buildings i want to enter. what is the point of having non smoking buildings when we non smokers have to walk through it everytime we enter or leave a building. so i vote yes.

http://www.tbsource.com/Editorials/index.asp?cid=70434

NHS cracks down on smokers -ON, CA
By ALLAN BENNER, Tribune Staff  

Local News - Wednesday, October 06, 2004 @ 09:00

A sign at the main entrance to Welland’s hospital warns smokers to keep nine metres away from the doors. A new initiative developed by all Niagara’s hospitals as well as the Niagara Regional Public Health Department is geared towards ensuring the law is obeyed.

WELLAND - Despite the threat of a $5,000 fine, deterring smokers from lighting up just outside hospital doors hasn’t been easy.
“In the past we’ve certainly had some challenges in trying to enforce that,” said Tim Mackey, the Niagara Health System’s regional director of engineering.
The 1994 provincial Tobacco Control Act bans smoking within nine metres of any entrance to hospital buildings, carrying a maximum fine of $5,000 for violators.
Despite the 10-year-old law, the Niagara Regional Public Health Department is receiving an increasing number of complaints from people who have had to walk through a cloud of smoke on their way to the hospital, said Linda Rix, the health department’s chronic disease prevention manager.
 “In the last two weeks of October, that’s when the enforcement gets serious. We will be ticketing anyone who is in violation,” she said. “That’s staff, patients, visitors, whoever. If they’re in violation, they’re going to get a ticket.”
But Rix is hoping the number of real tickets handed out will be few.
“We’re not out to punish, we’re out to get compliance,” she said.

http://www.wellandtribune.ca/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentID=81905&catname=Local+News

Health agency boss won't be gagged -MB, CA

Martin allowing him as much latitude as he needs, 'doctor to the nation' says
By GRAEME SMITH
Monday, October 11, 2004 - Page A4 WINNIPEG -- Nobody has the power to silence the Chief Public Health Officer, David Butler-Jones says, as he begins to define his new role as Canada's leading health advocate and disease-outbreak co-ordinator.

When Prime Minister Paul Martin named Dr. Butler-Jones "doctor to the nation" last month, to head the new Public Health Agency of Canada, some observers were skeptical. The former Saskatchewan health officer was not sure how many staff he would command, and it was unclear whether he would be fully independent from Health Canada.

In an interview, however, Dr. Butler-Jones said many of those questions have been answered. Ottawa has the power to dismiss him before his five-year term ends, he said, but nothing would keep him quiet if he felt the health of Canadians was at stake.

"If somebody wants to fire me over me doing my job, well, they have the prerogative to fire me."

The doctor hastened to add that he does not expect such a showdown, because Mr. Martin promised publicly to give him as much latitude as necessary to fulfill his mandate as head of the agency. Dr. Butler-Jones said he will consult frequently with government, as he did recently when issuing his first health warning, a release about diseased hamsters.

The text of that announcement was checked with Health Canada, he said, but if there had been disagreement, he would have had the final word. "I would have said this is the reason, these are the rationale, these are the risks. And this is what public health will say to this issue."

Dr. Butler-Jones has experience standing up to governments. When an Alberta medical officer was fired for supporting the Kyoto Protocol, Dr. Butler-Jones spoke out in defence of his colleague.

He became accustomed to fending off people with political connections while serving as Saskatchewan's chief medical officer of health, he said.

"For example, the work around tobacco and secondhand smoke has largely been off to the side of people's desks."

Precautions such as training food handlers at restaurants must be strengthened, he said: "That's the thing that translates once in a while to 1,500 or 1,000 people sick."

He added: "You could just go on and on and on with the list of things that public health used to do, doesn't do any more, is expected to do a lot more and relative to a decade ago has less capacity to do it with."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20041011/HEALTH11/TPHealth/

Inspectors can close smoking workplaces: minister –MB, CA

WINNIPEG - Some of the inspectors enforcing Manitoba's new anti-smoking law have been given the power to shut down workplaces that violate the law.

But the government is promising it won't actually use that power.

New rules approved by the provincial cabinet allow Labour Department inspectors to treat violations of the smoking ban as violations of the Workplace Safety and Health Act.

Under that act, inspectors have the power to issue stop-work orders if they feel a violation poses a serious threat.

Don Hurst, an assistant deputy minister of labour, says smoking violations will not be treated that harshly.

And he says most employers will comply with the smoking ban, which also includes fines of up the $3,000 for a first offence.

Health Department inspectors are also enforcing the smoking law, which took effect last Friday.

Soundoff:

Name: Joel Occupation: Location: Ottawa Come on Manitoba. The smoking ban in Ottawa actually increased business for its bars and restaurants. It does seem draconian at first but you will get used to it. For the smokers, you will tend to smoke less (therefore you save money) and the non-smokers will go out more (more money for the owners). It works, you just have to let it.

Name: Buck Email: wellduh.ca Occupation: Location: The smoking ban has made going out in B.C. a pleasure,no smoke in your face,no stinking clothes just clean air.
Times are changing everyone had better get use to these changes,smoking is becoming as detestful as drug use.
After 31 years of smoking I finally woke up and realized how stupid and expensive this addiction was.I quit.
http://www.canada.com/winnipeg/soundoff/story.html?id=1c6ecd94-dc50-4c39-9ff6-e4b5305ade80

Will Smoking Ban Apply To First Nations Casinos?-SK, CA
Oct 08, 2004

Saskatchewan's upcoming smoking ban is not a done deal for every business in the province, according to First Nations leaders who are still deciding what will happen in their casinos. The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) and the provincial government say they are working together to find a solution, but they disagree on who has the final say.

The province says its law will apply to First Nations casinos, but the FSIN says that decision is up to the First Nations chiefs and bands. "It is about health and wellbeing, but it's also a business decision that gives us back our own money that we earn in our own casinos," says Morley Watson, first vice chief with the FSIN.

"Our casinos contribute to programming in our respective First Nations communities across this province. It goes to help our young people [and] our elders." Health Minister John Nilson maintains provincial laws apply in First Nations casinos, and he says that is spelled out in gaming agreements between the two groups.

Both Nilson and Watson say they hope to reach an agreement that is acceptable to both sides before the end of the year. The province-wide smoking ban goes into effect January 1.

http://www.gamblingmagazine.com/ManageArticle.asp?C=280&A=12109

*Smoke free Jasper initially sponsored by: Cancer Society, where do they get enough funding for expensive radio ads?

Smoking bylaw remains the hot election issue -AB, CA

by Dustin Walker

Jasper Booster — The most aggressive campaign during this municipal election isn’t being launched by a politician.
Smoke Free Jasper is placing local newspaper and radio ads, setting up dozens of signs and handing out hundreds of posters all urging Jasperites to vote for the proposed smoking bylaw that will be on the municipal ballot on Oct. 18.
“We will be working hard to ensure information gets out to all Jasper residents before the vote,” said Art Jackson, of Smoke Free Jasper, in a press release. “Our message is simple: protect your health and improve our community by voting in favour of the proposed smoking bylaw.”
Members of the organization said the campaign is intended to focus on how the proposed bylaw will protect employees who currently work in smoky environments, while avoiding the more contentious technical details of the legislation.
“It will be about bringing it back to what the intention of this bylaw is,” said Smoke Free Jasper member Ginette Marcoux-Frigon. “We’ll use this renewed energy that we have these next couple of weeks to clarify the issue.”
Despite the campaign, no one has publicly expressed opposition to having a local smoking ban - the issue being debated is simply the nature of the bylaw.
John Glaves, a non-smoker who spearheaded a petition opposing Smoke Free Jasper’s proposed bylaw, said that many people want a Jasper specific ban on smoking. Glaves added that he was able to get 335 signatures in only two days.
“It’s not about smoking, everyone knows we’ve got to go non-smoking, it’s about bringing in a law that makes sense for Jasper,” said Glaves. “They (Smoke Free Jasper) are getting away from the finer points of the bylaw (in their campaign), which would make Jasper a very difficult place to police.”
One of these “finer points” of the proposed bylaw include no smoking within six metres of a business entrance.
“We’re a tourist town, and we have people from all over the world come here,” said Glaves. “How do you tell a Dutch person that he’s got to pay a $50 fine for smoking on the sidewalk?”
Smoke Free Jasper, however, has said that the six-metre rule is something that could be more easily enforced on a complaint basis only.
The bylaw also does not allow ventilated smoking rooms in bars or smoking on patios - both of which have also sparked some concerns.
Rico Damota, a candidate in the municipal election who worked with Glaves on the petition, said that Smoke Free Jasper’s campaign “is a waste of peoples’ time and energy.”
“Either way, we’re going to get a no-smoking bylaw, (town) council has already said that they will do it,” said Damota. “To put an extra push for their own particular bylaw is silly, it’s militant and it’s uncalled for. There’s so many other issues we could be focusing on.”
During the civic election, Jasperites can vote for the bylaw proposed by Smoke Free Jasper.
Or, they can also vote against it and on a second ballot question, vote for or against council drafting its own smoking bylaw with public consultation.
If voters support the proposed bylaw, another public vote is needed in order for any changes to be made in the first three years after it is passed. From three years to 10 years, council can make a change if they advertise the proposed change - no vote is required. After 10 years a change can be made in the same way council can change any regular bylaw.

http://www.jasperbooster.com/story.php?id=120338

*who funded Heather Crowes  trip?

Some Gatineau Residents Demand Smoking Ban –QC, CA
Bob Perreault
Thursday, October 7, 2004

A coalition of Gatineau residents is demanding the Quebec government act now on the issue of smoking in public places.

The group has enlisted the help of Ottawa's Heather Crowe, a non-smoker who contracted lung cancer after 40 years of working in hotels and restaurants.

Crowe tells CFRA News, her cancer is now in remission.

Quebec's Charest government is said to be considering a ban by next year but not until after lengthy public consultations.

http://www.cfra.com/headlines/index.asp?cat=1&nid=20389

Smoking politicians face 'cage' in Ireland

By Shawn Pogatchnik October 09 2004 at 03:55PM
Dublin, Ireland - Some of Ireland's lawmakers are about to go behind bars - because they can't stop smoking on the job.
A new outdoor smoking area due to be unveiled next week at Ireland's national parliament will allow smoking legislators to puff away in a glass-roofed shelter lined with vertical black metal bars.
Some smoking lawmakers, who opposed Ireland's decision March 29 to ban smoking from all indoor workplaces including the Leinster House parliament building, say the structure is cramped and undignified.
"It's a cage," complained lawmaker Finian McGrath, who noted that the structure was about the size of a bus-stop shelter and had no heating. "Come December, people will freeze."
Another lawmaker, Noel Davern, said he planned to wear long underwear to cope. "So long as I can get my fix without getting wet, it'll keep me happy," he said.
The shelter seeks to accommodate lawmakers who previously smoked freely in the parliament's busy in-house bar. Within days of the ban John Deasy, justice spokesperson for the main opposition Fine Gael party, got into a shouting match with security guards after he was prevented from smoking at the emergency exit door of the bar - and then lit up several cigarettes indoors in defiance. He was fired from his justice post.
Opinion polls indicate strong public backing for the ban, but owners of Ireland's more than 10 000 pubs and bars complain they have lost business from the 30 percent of adults who do smoke.
In July, a few pubs launched a rebellion against the ban, but health authorities quickly stubbed it out. On Monday, a judge imposed about R70 000 fine on the co-owners of Fibber Magees in the western city of Galway, the pub that was most prominent in encouraging customers to break the law.
Ireland, which was inspired by anti-smoking measures in New York City and California among other US localities, was the first nation to impose such a ban. Norway and India have followed suit. - Sapa-AP

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=24&art_id=qw109732356299B264

New Quit Smoking Program Proves 90% Success Rate

Quit smoking without chemicals, patches or gums. A novel approach to kicking the habit.

(PRWEB) October 9, 2004 -- The statistics are frightening: 90% of adult smokers who tried, failed to quit smoking in the past year. However, there is a new and completely safe, chemical free way to stop smoking for good. In 2003, Rick Beneteau, author, internet entrepreneur and smoker of 39 years, developed the program “Quit Smoking Right Now”. And he quit.
In less than three hours you can learn how to quit smoking for life without cravings or weight gain. The Quit Smoking Right Now Program does not involve pills, patches or gums. Some of the knowledge revealed in the The Quit Smoking Right Now Program runs counter to current popular belief. For example, did you know nicotine is not the primary addictive chemical in cigarettes? The Quit Smoking Right Now Program informs you of the most addictive chemicals in cigarettes (many of which are illegal to dump in landfills) and teaches you how to combat the cravings they cause. Knowledge of the addictive chemicals added to cigarettes, understanding the marketing philosophy of tobacco companies and recognizing the message given by society about smoking will empower you to quit forever. Armed with the right knowledge you will have the power and ability to quit.
 http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/10/emw166107.htm

Adverse Health Effects and Medical Costs Associated With Smoking During Pregnancy, Preventable

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement by Cathy Melvin, Ph.D., MPH Chair of the National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit and Director, Smoke-Free Families National Dissemination Office:

    Neonatal health care costs linked to maternal smoking are estimated at $366 million per year, according to the latest data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  These soaring costs are preventable and more importantly, so are the devastating health effects on women and their unborn babies, according to today's edition of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

    The National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit is working on several fronts to reduce the rate of smoking during pregnancy, including working with states to provide them with technical assistance and access to resources.  As part of this effort, the National Partnership encourages state officials to take action by accessing state-specific data provided by the CDC's Maternal and Child Health Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Costs software (MCH SAMMEC).

    Organizations like The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which support the National Partnership, helped fund the development of the MCH SAMMEC software so that states can measure the cost effectiveness of prevention and cessation treatment strategies for women who smoke during pregnancy.

    Today's MMWR also reports that smoking during pregnancy has declined in the United States (1990-2002), due largely in response to public education campaigns.  However, according to the latest Surgeon General's Report, The Health Consequences of Smoking, up to 22 percent of pregnant women continue to smoke.  In addition, 10 states have reported recent increases in smoking by pregnant teens.  On behalf of The National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit, I am encouraged by the downward trend in smoking during pregnancy, but maintain that there is much to be done to reduce the percentage of pregnant smokers to less than 1 percent as recommended in Healthy People

2010.

    The National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit is a coalition of diverse organizations that have joined forces to improve the health of this and future generations by increasing the number of pregnant smokers who quit smoking.  Through a nationwide effort to reach women, providers and communities, the National Partnership hopes to ensure that all pregnant women in the United States are screened for tobacco use, and receive best-practice cessation counseling as part of their prenatal care.  The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the largest U.S. foundation devoted to improving the health and health care of all Americans, funds the National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit. * They are also the owners of pharmaceutical company

computer spews out more numbers

* they got an inch, now they want the mile

Memo wants smoking banned AT HOME -UK

Oct 10 2004

Crazy council bosses want staff to report people who smoke in their own homes, and refuse to stub out their cigarettes.

The barmy idea, dreamed up by health and safety chiefs, is revealed in a Birmingham City Council memo leaked to the Sunday Mercury.

It reads: “When employees are called upon to visit service users at home it has to be accepted that the service user is entitled to smoke in their own home.

“Employees in such instances may politely request that the service user refrains from smoking, taking into account their own personal safety throughout the duration of the visit.

“Where the service user refuses to co-operate, the employee should report this incident immediately to their manager.

“Upon receipt of such information managers should review the risk assessment.”

Last night a council insider said: “This is about as daft as you can get.

“If some official walked into Dot Cotton’s home in EastEnders and told her to snub out her fag, it would be dismissed by viewers as too far-fetched.

“But it is really happening. It’s the ultimate example of the nanny state.

“What next? Will we see the council asking people not to have a few drinks in their own home?

“If social workers or home helps are going to report people for having a cigarette, then we’re just going to be even more unpopular than we already are.”

Simon Clark, of FOREST, said: “Smokers are already fighting for what few rights they have left.

“This farcical memo is certainly the first example of a local authority going this far in people’s own homes.

“It’s typical of the crass hysteria surrounding smoking at the moment.”

Coun Alan Rudge, Cabinet Member for Equalities & Human Resources, said: “We have a duty of care for the health and safety of employees.

“But this has to be balanced, in a commonsense and practical way, with the requirement to deliver a service to residents.

city council is trying to ban smoking in homes

Smoking study to laud Brits
 By Quentin Webb Sun 10 October, 2004 10:16

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Europe-wide study of anti-smoking policies due out this week will pour scorn on German and Czech efforts to curb the habit while praising Iceland and Britain for their battle against tobacco.

Luk Joossens, who co-ordinated the report for the European Network for Smoking Prevention, told Reuters the dossier would single out Luxembourg and the Czech Republic for criticism over their cheap cigarettes.

The report, to be released on Tuesday, ranks the European Union's 25 member states, as well as neighbours Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland, for their progress on a range of anti-smoking measures recommended by the World Bank.

Iceland comes top as it has taken almost all of the Bank's measures to heart, Joossens said. Britain also scores highly, particularly for making cigarettes so expensive with tax.

World Bank research suggests raising prices by 10 percent cuts cigarette consumption in a wealthy country by four percent.

Data from Philip Morris France, a unit of Altria Group Inc., shows a packet of 20 Marlboro cigarettes cost 6.60 euros (3.68 pounds) in Britain in January, but 2.90 euros in Luxembourg.

"The UK certainly is doing very well on government spending, on cessation programmes and on prices, but it's doing very badly on smoke-free places," Joossens said.

In March, Ireland became the first country to ban smoking in restaurants, bars and pubs. Norway and Malta have since instituted similar bans and incoming European Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou last week urged all EU governments to follow Ireland's example within five years.

Luxembourg and the Czech Republic both had a "very bad" policy of keeping cigarettes cheap in relation to wages, Joossens said.

"Germany is certainly lagging behind," Joossens said. "It's in the lowest 10 countries, so it could clearly do better."

The study marked countries on six anti-smoking measures to calculate a total score. The criteria include raising tax on cigarettes, smoke-free policies in offices, bars and restaurants, anti-tobacco advertising and clear warnings on cigarette packets.

The survey also rated access to treatment for nicotine addiction and increased government "tobacco control" budgets, which go to fund other anti-smoking measures.

The World Health Organisation says tobacco is the world's second biggest killer, claiming some 5 million lives every year.

Joossens said his study, which also examined smoking rates over the last two decades, showed a decline in adult smoking. But smoking among young people has not fallen over the last 10 years in most regions.

study marks couontries on criteria

Hospital grapples with issue of patients smoking at entrance –BC, Canada

By Sarah Young Alaska Highway News
Friday, October 08, 2004

It’s a common sight outside the main entrance to the Fort St. John Hospital — patients in standard issue hospital gowns clutching IV poles with one hand and a cigarette with the other. Just a few feet away visitors often sit on a bench, smoking and filling up a nearby ashtray with butts.

It’s an odd scene, considering the smokers are gathered right in front of a health care facility. And while the hospital’s director of nursing says it’s not the image they’d like to portray, she said they don’t have much choice.

“It has been a big issue with how it looks to have patients smoking outside the hospital,” said Angela De Smit. “We have a policy in terms of no smoking in the building…but we need an area where patients can still be visible in case somebody happens to faint.”

Patients naturally gravitate towards the main entrance, she added, because it’s accessible for those in wheelchairs or people carrying IV poles with them. The possibility of establishing a more secluded outdoor smoking area isn’t feasible because it would incur the cost of making it wheelchair accessible — and spending money on a smoking area to preserve the hospital’s image isn’t acceptable either.

One smoking patient said she was told there was no smoking allowed after 9 p.m. when the front door is locked.

“But I think you can go by the emergency entrance after that,” she said.

Hospital policy states there is no smoking between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. for patient safety concerns.

“We can’t monitor patients’ safety as well after hours because of the decrease in staff, so we try to limit smoking during that time,” said De Smit.

Banning smoking outside the hospital for health reasons presents a problem as well since patients are already under a great deal of stress, she explained.

“When in hospital patients are at one of their most vulnerable moments and they may choose to smoke or not smoke. But lots of people when they’re sick, quitting smoking is just another stress in life so we try not to be judgmental.”

Rates of smoking are higher in the North than anywhere else in the province — over 30 per cent of Northerners smoke compared to the provincial average of about 20 per cent. From 1993 to 2000 there were 2,263 deaths in the North that were considered smoking attributable, 894 of them from lung cancer. Over half of the deaths were people under 75.

As a way to combat those statistics, Northern Health has been considering whether the region’s health care facilities and the surrounding grounds should be 100 per cent smoke-free, a policy currently in place in the Calgary Regional Health Authority.

“It’s not beyond our reach,” said medical officer of health Dr. Lorna Medd. “It’s something we plan to study and we’ll make suggestions to our executive on developing a similar policy for Northern Health.”

A 100 per cent smoke-free policy would mean those patients who opt to continue smoking outside during their hospital stay would have to cross the street, but Medd stated that would be a “very small portion” of the smoking patients. For the most part, efforts are made to encourage patients to quit smoking through literature, counseling and medication such as the patch or Zyban pills offered by Northern Health’s Nicotine Intervention Counselling Centre (NICC) program.

As for the image of a smoke-filled hospital entrance, Medd acknowledged that it’s far from what they’d like to portray.

“It’s not good and we know that, but putting a 100 per cent smoke-free policy in place takes time and we don’t expect it to happen quickly here.”

http://www.canada.com/fortstjohn/story.html?id=c3f9eb70-d8e7-468f-9ea8-9483ebc504fb

Patio smoke bylaw cloudy ON, CA
City officials struggle to define `enclosed' areas
`The short answer is, we're going to shut them down'

ANDREW MILLSSTAFF REPORTER
Toronto bar owners are waiting to learn how far they can go to protect smokers against the elements this winter.

The smoking bylaw does not spell it out, and city officials are sending mixed signals about the rules for enclosed patios.

"The short answer is, we're going to shut them down," said John Filion, chair of the city's board of health.

But until there is a longer, more detailed answer, Toronto's 5,000 or so bar and club operators are kept wondering.

George Pandremenos, general manager at C-Lounge on Wellington St. W., isn't sure whether the wooden fences that line two sides of his covered patio break the rules.

"If ventilation is really the issue here, I don't see why something like this would be considered part of an enclosure," he said.

The bylaw allows patrons to smoke on patios because the second-hand smoke dissipates and the health risk is significantly reduced.

Enclosing the area would break the ban, says Filion.

"For the purposes of the bylaw, enclosed means what keeps the smoke in," he said.

But Gene Long, spokesperson for Toronto Public Health, which enforces the bylaw, points to a "frequently asked question" on the city's website, which says that a canopy over a patio is fine, but a canopy with rolled-down walls is not. The website does not address how many walls actually constitute an enclosure; Long said that in cases where bars have three-walled structures, "a reasonable case can be made that it is an outdoor patio."

At Hemingway's Restaurant in Yorkville, part of the rooftop patio is enclosed, and manager James Owen said smoking is not allowed there.

Like many of the larger bars in and around Toronto, Hemingway's has purchased propane heaters to keep its outdoor patios somewhat warm.

"It's not going to be warm enough to sit and eat out there, but you can have a smoke without your jacket on," Owen said.

In the next few days, bar and club operators should expect to get a letter from Toronto Public Health that outlines patio dos and don'ts, Long said.

But what this letter will say has not yet been decided.

"Part of the thing here is that we really are counting on good faith and common sense and our experience since June 1 (when the bylaw took effect) is that we have not had a lot of difficulties," Long said.

"Anybody who is clearly violating the bylaw, they'll hear from us."

Filion outlined two mechanisms the city can use to shut down bars with improperly enclosed patios: It can revoke licences that allow bars to have patios on city property (mainly on sidewalks), or bylaw officers can issue tickets under the smoking bylaw or even take the bar operators to court.

But until what constitutes an enclosed patio becomes clear, the second option seems unlikely.

And if the city is constantly having to fill loopholes bar operators find in the bylaw, Filion warned that they may ban smoking on all patios at all times.

"That would be a last resort," he said. "I don't think we'll get to that."

patios still cloudy

Restaurant fights smoking ticket – SK, CA

SASKATOON   - A Saskatoon restaurant is fighting a $100 ticket under the city's new smoking ban.

Management at Kelly's Kafe and Korner Pub received the ticket when a health inspector found customers smoking on the restaurant's outdoor patio.

All public places and private clubs in the city went smoke-free on July 1. The City of Saskatoon bylaw also includes outdoor seating areas associated with those establishments.

But Kelly's Kafe manager Irene Balan says it is not fair for a business to be penalized for the actions of the customers.

"They were informed and we have all the signs up, so how can we control them?" asks Balan. "Are we going to physically take their cigarette out of their mouth?"

"If we've informed them, then we can stop serving them, but they're still going to smoke," adds Balan.

The Saskatoon Health Region has issued eight warning letters and two tickets to business owners since the smoking ban came into effect.

No customers have been fined, even though authorities have the power to fine them.

http://sask.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=smoking_ticket041008

Special Session Update Day 2  KY,USA
Kentucky lawmakers are back in the capitol for day two of the special session. At issue... healthcare for state workers and retirees.

The real work of the House Budget Committee began this morning, and there is at least general agreement that something will be done to help workers with their health insurance.

Any remedy almost surely will involve a greater state subsidy to help pay for it. Lawmakers have two major options... keep the current system and subsidize it with more money or develop a new system.

The first inclination is to retain the old system. More money is expected to be available to the state from increasing revenues and there is no sentiment to raise taxes, so legislators say they will have to move money around to subsidize the health plans. Some say that's a temporary fix.

Representative Jon Draud will introduce a bill to raise the cigarette tax by 75-cents per pack. Chairman Harry Moberly says he doubts an increase in the cigarette tax will be considered this session and says it's more likely to be part of overall tax reform in the February session.

http://www.wkyt.com/Global/story.asp?S=2395720

Beacon Hill Roll Call
Friday, October 8, 2004

FINES FOR CIGARETTE SALE VIOLATIONS (H 4913)- House 21-134, rejected Gov. Mitt Romney's amendment to a budget provision increasing the fines on retail stores that sell cigarettes at a cost that is less than the cost that the retailer paid for the cigarettes and on wholesalers who sell cigarettes at less than the cost to the wholesaler. The current fine is up to $500. The budget provision increased the fine to up to $5,000 for a first offense, $15,000 for a second offense and up to $30,000 for subsequent offenses. It also requires the reporting of a third offense to authorities for possible disciplinary action concerning the offender's license. The governor's amendment would increase the fine to up to $5,000 for each offense and eliminate the reporting requirement. Amendment supporters and opponents agreed that the fine should be increased but differed on the amount of the hike. They both said that these violations are serious offenses that are designed to escape the excise tax on cigarettes and lower their price to make them more affordable for teenagers. Amendment supporters said a standard $5,000 fine for all violations is sufficient and argued that the hike to up to $30,000 for a third offense is excessive. Amendment opponents said it is time to get serious with these violators and argued that it is important to increase the fines for additional offenses. (A "Yea" vote is for increasing the fine to $5,000 instead of the three-tiered approach of $5,000, $15,000 and $30,000. A "Nay" vote is against the increase to $5,000 and favors the three-tiered approach).

     Reps. Coppola - Yes, Poirier - Yes, Travis - No.  New policy will ban tobacco on school property

 http://www2.townonline.com/norton/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=101592

Armed robbery foiled –IW, USA

by Stephen Byrd of the Muscatine Journal

MUSCATINE, Iowa - A sharp-eyed store clerk as well as a nearby police officer combined for a quick arrest of an armed robbery suspect Wednesday evening, according to Muscatine Police Department officials.

Authorities said this morning that Jeremy R. Frans, 22, address unknown, was arrested at 5:05 p.m., two minutes after attempting to rob the Cigarette Outlet, 1504 Park Ave., with a pellet gun.

"Frans gave the clerk a note and lifted up his shirt, showing a pellet gun in his waistband," Police Lt. Brett Talkington said this morning.

Frans then ran out of the store on foot with $317.62 in cash, but immediately ran into Muscatine police officer Mike Walker, who was in the area in his squad car, patrolling the Muscatine Mall.

Talkington said that Walker chased Frans north to an alley behind the Muskie Motel, 1620 Park Ave. He was later arrested at the corner of Grand Avenue and Harrison Street.

"I give a lot of credit to the store clerk, because she called 911 right away and had a great description of the suspect," Talkington said. "And we were lucky to have someone already in the area for a quick response."

The store clerk, identified as 62-year-old Mariann Walker, of Muscatine, received praise from her boss, Jane Norwood, as well.

"Yesterday was Mariann's first-year anniversary at the store," Norwood said this morning. "Right after she called 911, she called me and said, 'We've been robbed and I need more money for the cash register'.

"She sounded so calm."

When Norwood arrived at the store, rushing from her home in Fruitland, she found Walker helping a customer.

"I asked her if she was all right," Norwood said. "And she told me that she was a little shaken, but OK now."

Frans was later taken to the Muscatine County Jail. He is scheduled to be charged with second-degree robbery at the Muscatine County Courthouse this morning.

http://www.muscatinejournal.com/articles/2004/10/07/news/news1.txt

Marlene Garcia
October 8, 2004
School district employees who smoke could be banned from lighting up on any school district property or at district-sponsored events.
About 50 students filled the smoking area next to Churchill County High School during a break Wednesday morning. Photo by Kim Lamb
A revised tobacco policy on its way to approval by the school board will forbid any use of tobacco on district property, in district-owned vehicles and at any school-sponsored event. The policy applies to students, teachers, staff and visitors, including those attending sporting events.
The current policy allows principals to designate a smoking area for adults as long as it is not within view of students.
At E.C. Best Elementary School, Principal Scott Meihack said he doesn't foresee a problem with the policy banning tobacco products.
There are only one or two smokers on his staff, he said. During breaks and lunch periods, they drive down the street or go behind the Babe Ruth backstop at the extreme end of the school to have a cigarette.
"For us at the elementary level, it's pretty much a non-existent problem," Meihack said.
During the summer, he said, a full-time custodian and a part-time custodian both smoked but no children were on school grounds.
"They sat outside the boiler room in the summer months," he said.
Meihack said other school districts with strict tobacco policies have had to address the problem of adults lighting up on their way to their vehicles after games, or people smoking in outdoor bleacher areas.  
At the high school, Vice Principal Jim Sustasha said there are only a few employees who smoke and there is currently no designated smoking area on campus that he's aware of.
Superintendent Donn Livoni said the district was recently contacted by the American Lung Association, which informed him that new laws allow school districts to prohibit tobacco use entirely on school property.
"We will have a smoke-free, drug-free, alcohol-free school district, 24/7 and 365 days a year," he said.
The new policy will apply to groups that rent school facilities in the evenings and on weekends. Announcements will be made at sporting events and other extracurricular activities that alert those attending that tobacco use is prohibited.
"Are we going to have cigarette police out there on Sunday morning after church? No," said Livoni. "But if we see a pile of cigarette butts we might talk to the pastor."
School board trustees recently approved the first reading of the new tobacco policy recently. It will become law after a second reading.

Smoking at work outlawed

BREWING giants and pub chains are gathering a 'war chest' to challenge a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants.- UK

It is understood a £50,000 fighting fund has already been raised, with leading firms such as Belhaven and Tennent getting involved.

The Scottish Executive's consultation on banning smoking in public places ended last week and an announcement could be made as early as the end of this year by Jack McConnell.

However, many pubs and clubs fear the move would lead to a loss in trade and job cuts.

Several major operators in Glasgow have been approached about backing the fighting fund.

The cash will be used to fund a PR company which will lobby MSPs, while newspaper adverts will spell out the case against a smoking ban.

The fund is being managed by the Scottish Beer and Pub Association, which lobbies on behalf of the licensed trade.

The trade is furious at the way the consultation on the ban on smoking in public places has been carried out, accusing Mr McConnell of having made up his mind long before all views had been gathered.

Gordon Miller, of the SBPA, said "significant resources" were being pooled to push the trade's case within the next few weeks.

He added: "We've heard there will be an announcement by the end of the year and we will be putting our message across over the next few weeks.

"We agree the status quo is not an option but believe smoke-free areas are the way forward."

A source close to one major brewer said: "Belhaven owns hundreds of pubs across Scotland and a ban on smoking in its pubs could have a massive impact on its trade. A fund is something it will be involved in.

"Tennent no longer owns any pubs so perhaps it's not as big an issue, but it is also looking closely at this."

A Scottish Executive spokesman said: "The licensed trade has been fully involved in the consultation process and was represented on the panel of all four of the major local seminars we have held on the issue.

"Ministers are committed to making a decision before the end of the year."

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/print/news/5031283.shtml

Republican link to cigarette heist- Ireland
Republican paramilitaries carried out a £2 million cigarette heist in Belfast, police revealed today.

By:Press Association

Although Chief Constable Hugh Orde refused to blame the IRA for the robbery, which saw a family held hostage, he confirmed a report would be sent to the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) terrorist ceasefire watchdog.
Unionists immediately claimed the Provisionals were behind the weekend raid on a warehouse owned by tobacco giant Gallaher, and estimated the paramilitary organisation had raked in up to £15 million in similar crimes over the last year.
The IMC`s next report will be critical in assessing whether the IRA has abandoned violence and restored enough confidence for devolution to return to Northern Ireland.
But a senior Democratic Unionist warned that involvement in major thefts could also stop them going back into a power sharing administration with Sinn Fein.
Ian Paisley junior said: "Even if we have an end to decommissioning, as they claim there may be, we could not allow ourselves to be associated with any organisation that is making money from ill-gotten gains."
Mr Orde confirmed Republicans are heavily suspected of the latest robbery at a meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board in Belfast.
It is understood a gang held a family from the Ardoyne district of the city captive while a member of staff was forced to open up the warehouse on an industrial estate less than five miles away.
Sam Kinkaid, the assistant chief constable in charge of crime operations, told the board it was a well organised raid linked to paramilitaries with a republican background.
He added: "All paramilitary groups in the last five to six months have been involved in serious robberies in Northern Ireland. That`s on both sides of the community."
These operations included a half a million pounds theft from an Ulster Bank in Strabane, County Tyrone during the summer when two families were held hostage.
That theft has been attributed to the splinter Irish National Liberation Army, but Mr Paisley insisted the provisionals were by far the most heavily involved.
"I estimate that between £10 and £15 million has been taken in the last year," he claimed.
"The vast majority is, I believe in the hands of the Provisional IRA.
"Northern Ireland is facing a major criminal gang wave and this money is finding its way back into the coffers of the IRA.
"In the Gallahers` case the family was held hostage and the location where they were held means that it could not have been carried out without being sanctioned by the provisionals."
A spokeswoman for Gallaher said: "We can confirm that our products were amongst those stolen.
"As this is currently being investigated by the police we are unable to comment further."
http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=51251&pt=n

Draud cries in the wilderness – KY, USA

State Rep. Jon Draud is like a broken record, but the song he's singing about raising the state's cigarette tax makes so much sense we want to give him a Grammy, again, for his lyrics.

Sense, that is, to everyone but the 137 men and women in Frankfort this week to try to find a solution to the health insurance crisis that has state workers and their dependents shaking with anger and panic. A benefits plan unveiled recently by Gov. Ernie Fletcher for 2005 would greatly increase the costs to teachers and other state workers, costs that are already the highest in the nation. Under the threat of a teachers strike, legislators are meeting in an extraordinary session to try to alleviate the financial burden.

Draud, a Republican from Edgewood, plans to file a bill to increase the state's tax on cigarettes by 75 cents and direct a portion of the new revenue to health care. Although he has championed increasing the tobacco tax without success before, the idea is a good one for several reasons.

One, it's the only idea thus far that brings money into state coffers. The rest of the legislature hasn't a clue how to pay for the help they want to lend teachers (and save their political lives in the approaching election). In fact, the prevailing thought right now, incredibly enough, would simply put off the financial considerations until a later day.

Kentucky's cigarette tax, at 3 cents a pack, is already the lowest in the nation (the U.S. average is about 70 cents) and well below that of any border state. Twenty-three states have raised their cigarette taxes in the last two years. Kentucky hasn't done so in 34 years. It's estimated such an increase would bring in nearly $300 million a year.

Two, a hike in the cigarette tax would perhaps give urgency to the need to reform Kentucky's entire obsolete tax code. Fletcher tried to do that earlier this year, but his plan didn't even get a thorough discussion from the divided legislature.

Many legislators have signed a special interest group's restrictive pledge to vote against any and all tax increases; others insist that the tax plan must be "revenue neutral,'' whatever that is. Both groups should drop their political pandering.

Three, research shows increased taxes on cigarettes caused a percentage of young people to kick the habit, which of course would greatly lower the costs of health care in the first place.

Makes sense, doesn't it.

http://www.kypost.com/2004/10/08/kedita100804.html#

County fears rise in drug deaths –KY,USA
Post staff report
Campbell County officials believe there may have been as many as seven opiate and prescription drug-related deaths there over the last three months, already exceeding the six during the first half of this year.

Four of the seven most recent deaths have been confirmed as opiate-related by state medical examiners, but Campbell County Coroner Mark Schweitzer said in the three other cases, preliminary observations at the time of death pointed to opiate use.

If those three are confirmed as opiate-related, that would bring Campbell County's total for the year to 13.

Boone County has seen only three opiate deaths so far in 2004, while Kenton has seen 10. In Hamilton County, there have been 31 deaths from opiates.

The major culprit in Campbell right now looks to be heroin, possibly a more potent supply. State medical examiners say that seven of the 10 confirmed drug-related deaths this year in Campbell County stemmed from some type of opiate  use.

The state ruled that an overdose of heroin, one of the most common opiates, caused the deaths of a 23-year-old Newport man and a 41 year-old Southgate woman in August.

Schweitzer said in the last two weeks he has seen four deaths in which preliminary observations pointed to heroin or prescription drug use.

Those signs include foaming on the victims' mouths and drug paraphernalia on the premises.

The latest death was on Sept. 19, a 38-year-old Dayton man.

Schweitzer declined to identify the victims because state medical examiners hadn't made official rulings yet.

"We're definitely seeing a lot of these cases, but I don't know if that means we're necessarily going to have more of these types of deaths than we did last year," said Schweitzer, noting that last year Campbell had about 20 opiate/prescription drug-related deaths. "These seem to occur in waves, but we'll just have to see."

The spike in drug-related deaths in Campbell could signal that there is a new supply or supplier in the area, officials say.

Jim Liles, executive director of the Northern Kentucky Drug Task Force, said opiate and prescription drug abusers tend to take the same amount each time. But they can run into a potentially fatal problem if an especially potent or tainted supply comes into the market and users don't adjust their fixes.

"It's a case where you have people using a drug that is 10 percent pure and then all the sudden moving up to something that is 90 percent pure and their bodies just can't take it," Liles said. "A lot of times, the user will still have the needle stuck in their arm when we find them."

Deputy Campbell County Coroner Al Garnick, who worked the two heroin deaths in August, said both appeared to be linked to an especially powerful supply of the drug.

After shooting up, the Dayton man had time to take only a single bite of a sandwich before he died. And the Southgate woman who overdosed was holding a cigarette that had burned all the way down to her hand, leaving Garnick to surmise she lit the cigarette shortly after shooting up and didn't live long enough to finish it.

"I've never seen this many drugs on the street, and I've been a coroner for 19 years," he said. "The situation is getting worse, not better."

Schweitzer and Garnick worry that they could see more drug deaths if funding for law enforcement programs such as the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force continue to see budget cuts.

Liles had to cut his budget after he received only $167,000 in state money -- $9,000 less than he'd asked for -- for the program. Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties each kick in about $100,000 each, and law enforcement agencies loan officers.

The rest of the strike force's budget has come from drug forfeiture money, but most of that has dried up, Liles said. That's attributed to two factors: an absence of big cases in recent months from which to make forfeitures, and a trend to more small, transient drug operations such as mobile methamphetamine labs, where there are fewer assets to confiscate.

http://www.kypost.com/2004/10/08/heroin100804.html

Robert Moore students clean up riverbank -On, CA
 By Michael Hilborn October 07, 2004
    The Fort Frances waterfront is looking a little cleaner today, thanks to the efforts of some of the town’s youngest citizens.
    Three classes from Robert Moore School spent Thursday morning scouring the riverbank from Crowe Avenue to the Sorting Gap Marina—and came up with an astonishing amount of other people’s leftovers.
    Enough, in fact, to fill 10 large garbage bags without even venturing too close to the water’s edge for safety reasons.
    The students also stopped to pick up trash as they made their way to the waterfront from the school.
    The clean-up was organized by the Rainy River Watershed Program as part of the Great Canadian Shoreline Clean Up, which is based in Vancouver.
   And what was the most common form of trash? “Cigarette butts,” said disgusted Grade 7 student Becky Jolicoeur.
    Robert Moore educational assistant Debbie Deschamps was not surprised at the findings. “Last year, there were 157,000 cigarette butts picked up across Canada,” she said.
    The three classes—Grade 4, Grade 7, and Grade 8—kept a record of what they found and turned it in to Catherine Warren, a project officer with the Rainy River Watershed Program, which is co-ordinating the clean-up.
    Warren said the results will be forwarded to Vancouver and added to the national statistics.
    Based on the students’ findings, the most common forms of trash they found were—in descending order—butts, food wrappers, plastic bags, foil wrappers from cigarette packs, and picnic wastes.
    After completing the job, the students were treated to popsicles before returning to class.

http://www.fftimes.com/index.php/1/2004-10-07/18676

Businesses have rights AB, CA
Dear Editor:
In its infinite wisdom, our city council has given the residents of our fine city the unprecedented opportunity to make their own decision on the proposed bylaw regarding smoking. Whether a person smokes or not, there is a much more important matter of people’s inalienable right to live their lives – and run their businesses – the way they choose, without constant harassment and criticism from "interfering busybodies" (i.e. the anti-smoking coalition). This particular bunch of busybodies even had the audacity to threaten city council with legal action when it looked as though they might not get their own way. I know what they need, but unfortunately it’s unprintable.
With the above in mind, I exhort every citizen who is sick to death of being pushed in one direction or another by people who know what’s best for them (ha, ha) to get to the polling stations along with the smokers and make it very, very clear to Airdrie’s "interfering busybodies" that we are all very capable of living perfectly adequate and productive lives without their unwanted help and guidance. Incidentally, you might just vote for a new mayor and the odd alderman or two while you are there.
– J. Brian Pocock, Airdrie, Alberta

http://www.airdrieecho.com/story.php?id=120655

The Workmens compensation board of British Columbia impact of ban study

there is a negative effect on the bars from the ban

http://www.worksafebc.com/news/campaigns/ets/assets/pdf/ecoimpact.pdf

Some of the nation's leading researchers exploring the relationship between air pollution and heart disease will visit the University of Louisville for a two-day symposium and public forum.

The events, which will be held on Oct. 16-17, will focus mainly on fine-particle pollution, which has been documented as a health problem in Louisville and numerous other communities across the country.

Fine-particle pollution consists of tiny bits of soot and other material less than 1/30th the diameter of a human hair.

The public forum will be geared toward a general audience, while the symposium will be technical.

Both gatherings are free and open to the public.

Cardiovascular disease is the nation's leading cause of death, and Kentucky ranks third in the country with a heart-disease rate of 616 per 100,000 people, according to UofL's Center for Environmental Cardiology, which is presenting the symposium.

While researchers have spent considerable time examining the effects of smoking, diet and genetics on the heart, the UofL center last year received a $7million federal grant to look into environmental causes of heart disease.

"There is a strong link" between heart attacks and fine-particle pollution, said Russ Prough, a professor of biochemistry at the UofL School of Medicine and one of the program's organizers.

The symposium is expected to draw as many as 45 medical researchers from around the country, Prough said.

They will discuss what they know so far and possible research proposals, he added.

The National Institute for Environmental Health Science and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provided funding for the symposium and forum.

The EPA in June identified 243 counties — home to 99million people — that it said were violating a health-based national standard for fine-particle pollution.

Jefferson County in Kentucky and Clark and Floyd counties in Indiana are among them, as are 16 other counties in the two states.

EPA officials estimate that enforcement of its fine-particle standard will save 15,000 lives nationally every year.

The reason for the forum is to "get a public dialogue going" on fine-particle pollution and health concerns, said Russ Barnett, research director of the university's Kentucky Institute for the Environment and Sustainable Development.

"From the beginning, we felt that it was important to have an opportunity for the Louisville community to hear about some of the new research findings and have an opportunity to raise their own questions for the experts," said Dr. David J. Tollerud, chairman of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at UofL's School of Public Health and Information Sciences.

To take part

What: A free public forum on cardiovascular disease and air pollution, geared to a general audience.

When: 5-7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 16.

Where: Kornhauser Health Sciences Library, 500 S. Preston St., Louisville.

"It should be a learning experience for the community," said Arnita Gadson, environmental justice coordinator at the university.

For more information: Call Russ Barnett at 852-1851 or Arnita Gadson at 852-4609.

http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/10/07ky/B8-cardio1007-4517.html

Program makes suspensions less frequent, more fruitful –KY, USA

By Nancy C. Rodriguez
nrodriguez@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journa It started with an empty milk carton thrown in the gym at Henderson County South Middle School, then escalated into a fight.

But Matt Welch's involvement in that altercation last year didn't result in a three-day suspension, a mark on his attendance record and zeros for the classwork he missed.

Instead, as part of a community service program in the Henderson school district begun last year, Matt was assigned a different punishment — wiping down cafeteria tables and picking up trash on school grounds.

Most important, educators say, he stayed in school.

"I'd rather do what I (did) than get suspended," said Matt, now a freshman at Henderson County High School.

Henderson is one of six Kentucky school districts participating in the Community Service Work pilot program, which finds alternative punishments for students who get in trouble, instead of suspending them and ordering them to stay home.

Educators say the new program already is producing results, keeping students engaged in classwork while exposing them to community service and linking them to counselors who can help change their behavior.

Even better, they say, the programs are helping to lower the number of suspensions in districts that recently have posted some of the state's highest rates.

Henderson County and the other districts — Bowling Green Independent, Fayette County, Harlan Independent, Middlesboro Independent and Owsley County — all received two-year federal grants of between $33,305 and $195,219 from the U.S. Department of Education's Safe and Drug Free Schools Program. The money paid for the design and operation of the programs through this school year.

All six reported significant drops during the 2003-2004 school year, according to data released this week by the Kentucky Center for School Safety.

At Owsley County and Harlan Independent, suspension rates fell 73 percent.

"It's helped us tremendously," said Owsley County High School principal Teresa Barrett, adding that the program is popular with parents.

The districts also report that few students repeat the program. In Fayette County, for example, only 5 percent of students have returned to the program.

"The intent of any consequence is to stop the behavior," said Michael McKenzie, principal at Lafayette High School in Fayette County. "The behaviors that resulted in the suspensions prior were reduced, and that's pretty exciting stuff."

Indiana, which also received a federal community service grant, is still compiling data on the effectiveness of its programs, but early indications are that it has improved student behavior, said Lora Miller. Miller is a consultant for student assistance with the Indiana Department of Education, which oversaw the grant.

Jon Akers, executive director of the Kentucky Center for School Safety, said that if the trends continue, the program will offer a promising alternative for Kentucky public schools, which have seen suspensions rise 12 percent overall between the 2001 and 2003 school years.

In 2003, more than 84,000 students were suspended in Kentucky, the majority for nonviolent offenses like disturbing class, smoking and skipping detention.

Daniel Losen, a law and policy research associate at The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, said suspended students often spiral downward — falling behind, being held back, dropping out and often ending up in the court system.

http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/10/07ky/A1-suspension1007-8359.html

   California Appellate Court Upholds Daniels Decision

 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Oct. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/-- The Fourth Appellate District Court of Appeal in California has upheld the dismissal of a class- action lawsuit filed against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation and other major U.S. cigarette manufacturers.

    The lawsuit, brought by Devin Daniels and other individuals as class representatives, was filed on behalf of all California resident minors (under the age of 18) who smoked one or more cigarettes between April 2, 1994, and Dec. 31, 1999, and who were exposed to the defendants' marketing and advertising activities in the state during that period.

    Superior Court Judge Ronald Prager had granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment on Sept. 13, 2002, principally on First Amendment and preemption (by the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act) grounds.

    On Oct. 6, a California court of appeal panel upheld that decision

primarily on the basis of preemption, concluding that, "Congress has given the FTC [Federal Trade Commission] the exclusive authority to address society's concern about smoking and health by regulation of cigarette advertising and promotion, and has preempted 'state regulation of cigarette advertising that attempts to address the same concern, even with respect to youth.'"

    Martin L. Holton III, vice president and assistant general counsel for R.J. Reynolds, said, "We are pleased that the court of appeal agreed with Judge Prager and with us that the plaintiffs' efforts to use state laws to regulate lawful cigarette advertising and promotion were not appropriate."

california youth marketing case dismissed

Fitch Ratings assigns a 'BBB' rating to New Jersey Economic Development Authority's $1.4 billion cigarette tax revenue bonds, series 2004. The bonds are expected to be offered the week of Oct. 4 through negotiation with a syndicate led by Citigroup and will be due June 15, 2007-2034 with term bonds subject to mandatory sinking fund redemption; optional call at par on dates to be determined. The indenture requires any moneys in the surplus fund to be used to call bonds. Prepayments are thus expected and are intended to shorten the life of the issue.  This is two grades above junk status (risky investment)

businesswire.com bond rating

GOP roundtable: Southwest House candidates make their cases -MN, USA

By Scott Russell

Less government is a constant, but some differences emerge

Heart nurse Amy Vrudny of Armatage said she is running for the state House of Representatives because she wants to work on healthcare issues.

For Nokomis East's Susie Valentine, an intake worker at St. Joseph's Home for Children, her motivation to run includes working for tougher penalties for sexual predators and domestic abusers.

Loring Park resident Tom Gromacki, a former College Republican leader now an insurance adjuster, said he wants to press for a state override of the recently passed Minneapolis smoking ban and support key party planks, such as right-to-life issues, his political starting point.

East Calhoun resident Jeremy Estenson, who works for the Minnesota House Republican staff, said he wants to push to lower taxes -- but a significant motivation in his race "is to prevent [Rep.] Frank Hornstein from going out and spreading resources across other tight races."

Vrudny (District 63A), Valentine (District 62B), Gromacki (District 60A) and Estenson (District 60B) are running uphill battles, trying to unseat strongly favored Democratic incumbents in districts that include all or parts of Southwest. The Southwest Journal invited them to a roundtable discussion at Dulono's Pizza, 607 W. Lake St., to talk about their backgrounds, motivations and ideas.

http://www.swjournal.com/articles/2004/10/07/news/news01.txt

*notice they don’t have an alternative

Editorial: Publishing tobacco tar measurements on packets BMJ Volume 329, pp 813-4 BMJ 9 October 2004 edition

Newswise — Labelling cigarette packets with tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide measurements is misleading and should be stopped, argue cancer experts in this week's BMJ.

The tar delivery of cigarettes is routinely measured with a machine and, with the exception of the United States, stated on every packet as a legal requirement in almost every country in the world. It is accompanied by measurement of nicotine and often carbon monoxide.

Yet these measurements are now known to be misleading for two reasons. Firstly, human smoking patterns vary greatly and are not mimicked by the machine. Secondly, modern cigarette design encourages over-inhalation, which may lead to the smoker taking in much greater amounts of tar and nicotine than are measured by the machine.

The tobacco industry has also modified cigarette design, making the modern cigarette at least as dangerous as its predecessor, despite a dramatic lowering of tar delivery.

Tar measurement and labelling has served the tobacco industry well, say the authors. It has underpinned claims that cigarettes were light or ultralight and has seemingly, and falsely reassured many smokers who might otherwise have quit the habit.

They believe that machine measured figures for tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide should be removed from the packet, and a realistic measure must be established for regulatory purposes.

The current health warnings deal qualitatively with the risks of smoking very well, and misleading figures on the packet can only do harm, they conclude.

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/507484/

WASHINGTON -- Anti-smoking advocates are bemoaning what they consider a lost opportunity when lawmakers this week agreed on a $10 billion payout for tobacco farmers without also imposing new regulations on the industry.

Now, these advocates say, the tobacco industry will continue marketing cigarettes to children and making unsubstantiated claims about new products.

"We're extremely disappointed," said Wendy Selig, a lobbyist for the American Cancer Society. "Congress has missed this huge opportunity to do the right thing."

Most tobacco companies opposed an effort in the Senate to link the tobacco farmer aid, which was added to a corporate tax bill, and a plan to give the Food and Drug Administration oversight of the sale, manufacturing and marketing of tobacco products.

Steve Watson, a spokesman for Lorillard Tobacco Co., said the agency's authority was too broad and that the advertising restrictions would made it impossible for new brands or products to become popular with smokers.

He contended that only industry leader Philip Morris would benefit because it already has such solid name recognition with its Marlboro brand.

"Marlboro's going to have to get its monopoly the old fashion way," Watson said. "They're going to have to earn it as opposed to having the government give it to them."

Philip Morris lobbyist John Scruggs denied his company was looking to shore up its role as the market leader. He said one reason his company pushed for the FDA legislation was because it wants clear guidelines on how to communicate with consumers about products under development that may lower the risk of smoking-related diseases.

The most recent data shows there are approximately 45 million adult smokers in the United States.

http://www.wkyt.com/Global/story.asp?S=2401742

Look Who's Behind 'Tort Reform' -USA

by Dan Zegart from the forthcoming October 24, 2004 issue of The Nation

Just as the GOP convention was about to kick off in late August, the US Chamber of Commerce made an unusual announcement. Although it had never in its 100-year history endorsed a presidential candidate, the organization vowed to help pump $10 million into TV ads in seven battleground states urging voters to support restrictions on lawsuits. Such restrictions have been endorsed by George W. Bush and opposed by John Kerry. Calling it “a make or break election for legal reform,” chamber president Thomas Donahue charged that “lawsuit abuse destroys jobs, drives doctors out of business and forces companies into bankruptcy.”

The purpose of Proposition 12’s severe restrictions on victims’ rights was to lower malpractice insurance premiums, which had seen double-digit increases. In Texas, as elsewhere, the tort reformers exploited the rate hikes as part of a scare campaign to sell reform. However, the facts show that the legal system is not driving insurance rates. Tort actions at the state level—meaning personal-injury lawsuits, everything from product liability to traffic accidents to libel—have fallen 5 percent in nine years, according to the National Center for State Courts.

More specifically, malpractice filings declined nationally by about 4 percent between 1995 and 2000. And while a recent analysis of the Medicare population estimated that medical errors kill 131,000 people annually, making it the fourth leading cause of death, medical suits are only 5 percent of personal-injury filings, with product liability cases another 5 percent. Plaintiffs lose 60 percent of product cases and 70 percent of malpractice suits.

Not only are socially significant lawsuits like malpractice and product liability a small fraction of the legal picture but numerous studies show that capping damages doesn’t affect insuance premiums. One survey examined insurance rates between 1985 and 1998, then ranked the states according to the severity of their restrictions on lawsuits. Increased severity did not produce lower rates. In Texas, where malpractice filings dropped 20 percent in the nine years before Proposition 12, the liability picture has been little improved by its passage. About a third of doctors will see a decrease of 12 percent—after cumulative increases of 147 percent. The rest will either get no relief or double-digit increases.

According to J. Robert Hunter, Federal Insurance Administrator under Presidents Ford and Carter, caps don’t work because liability rates reflect not litigation costs but the insurance industry’s own practices. During good times, insurers write policies even for the worst risks to generate cash for investment. When the stock market tanks, rates climb steeply to cover losses. The current liability crisis, Hunter notes, coincided with the market downturn that began in the summer of 2001. And since the insurance cycle is international, the “hard market” also drove up premiums in Canada, Australia and France. “And those countries have totally different legal systems,” Hunter says.

The irony is that just as virtually the entire country finishes retooling its civil justice system, the hard market is easing and insurance costs are edging downward, a trend that became evident in late 2003 and for which tort reform is unjustly receiving credit, according to Hunter.

The numbers show that lawsuits are an insignificant cost both to businesses and to health providers, for whom they represent less than 2 percent of spending. In short, the lawsuit-abuse crisis is a hoax. Yet the Republican right has launched one of the great propaganda blitzes of recent American history to yank the teeth from the civil jury.

The solution was born in south Texas in 1991, when the Rio Grande Valley Chamber of Commerce, infuriated by a $2.5 million verdict to two Mexican-Americans illegally fired from a sugar mill, launched Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, which plastered billboards across the valley with slogans like “Lawsuit Abuse: Guess Who Picks Up the Tab? You Do,” according to a joint study by the Center for Justice and Democracy and Public Citizen. The cigarette companies were already deeply involved in the issue, and Philip Morris provided generous start-up funding for Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. Thanks in large part to tobacco largesse, there were CALA groups all over the country by the mid-1990s. In 1993 and 1994, while a politically green George W. Bush received instruction from Mike Toomey, soon-to-be lobbyist for Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Karl Rove, a consultant to Philip Morris, was convincing Bush to exploit the lawsuit-abuse issue in his first gubernatorial campaign, according to the book Bush’s Brain, by James Moore and Wayne Slater. Tort reform proved a powerful weapon. Although of little interest to voters, the issue, according to Rove himself, was a magnet for corporate donations—among numerous other benefits.

“By publicizing all the horrors of the tort system, they get a lot done,” explains Pamela Gilbert, a lobbyist for plaintiff’s lawyers. “You pass legislation that curbs their liability—that’s the ultimate prize. But short of that, you affect juries, you affect elected officials, you affect judges, you affect the entire discourse of the United States.” Best of all, by doing harm to plaintiff’s lawyers, Gilbert notes, tort reform would help defund the Democratic Party, a key piece of strategy for the Rove Republicans in the new millennium.

With a uniform message and national structure, the “lawsuit abuse” campaign grew exponentially in the states in the 1990s. Trial lawyers and consumer groups fought back with hastily erected alliances. The tort reformers effectively used distorted anecdotes about minor injuries bringing absurd verdicts. The trial lawyers’ counterpunch to “lawsuit abuse” was “tort deform,” which sounded like a bad joke from a faculty cocktail party.

Now the message has become so familiar it has jumped the fence from think tanks to John Stossel, drive-time radio and David Letterman’s Top Ten, coming perilously close to turning Americans against the civil jury, perhaps our most radically democratic institution. Its success can be measured by sitting in a Texas courthouse and hearing potential jurors recite, one after another, that there are just too many frivolous lawsuits.

There are, of course, plenty of things wrong with the civil justice system. It has high “transaction” costs, meaning money that should go to victims is eaten up by lawyers and others, but worst of all, it is haphazard. In 1991 a Harvard University study of medical malpractice in <