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Thursday, August 18, 2005
Twice as many Canadian children are suffering strokes
national study confirms
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
(VANCOUVER) Twice as many children are suffering strokes than was previously believed, according to new findings by a Heart and Stroke Foundation and Canadian Stroke Network researcher who is one of Canada’s leading pediatric neurologists.
“We’re seeing double the numbers of stroke in general,” says Dr. Gabrielle deVeber, who will be chairing a session on Stroke in Children and Young Adults today at the 5th World Stroke Congress in Vancouver, B.C. “That’s for both ischemic stroke (blood flow in the brain interrupted by a clot) and haemorrhagic (bleeding into the brain from a ruptured blood vessel). It’s much more common than was previously recognized.”
Report available at: http://www.canadianstrokenetwork.ca/media/releases/release.jun23.2004a.e.pdf
Veterans deserve a place to smoke -ON
Letter Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Ernest (Smoky) Smith is dead. The last surviving Canadian winner of the prestigious Victoria Cross, dead at 91. Sincere condolences go out to his family and friends.
I wonder if anyone else heard it on the news, but when Mr. Smith received his medal, along with it he got 1,000 cigarettes from a grateful nation. I see in the news reports that he enjoyed a drink of scotch and a cigar, presumably in his local Legion hall where one would think he spent a good deal of time with his comrades.
I wonder if Mr. McGuinty or Mr. Smitherman would have the guts to tell this hero he would no longer be allowed to smoke in his Legion. Of course, Mr. Smith lived in Vancouver, so it wouldn't be their problem. And now that he is gone, they won't face that ugly duty if he did visit Ontario.
Unfortunately, there are still many veterans left in Ontario who will be forced out of their Legion halls because of the McGuinty/Smitherman smoking law. All of our veterans are heroes who do not deserve the slap in the face these two are about to give them. These two cowards shame our heroes.
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read it in English, thank a veteran.
KLAUS WINTER Windsor
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/letters/story.html?id=a08ac161-6c3f-42d8-86f9-c7fa9368d56b
Injunction over smoking in Yorkton casino on hold -SK
Karl Kopan Saskatchewan News Network; Regina Leader-Post Wednesday, August 10, 2005
YORKTON -- A court injunction filed by the City of Yorkton against the Sakimay First Nation over smoking at the city's Painted Hand Casino is on hold.
City council is seeking the injunction to force Sakimay, which runs the casino in the city, to adhere to a bylaw that calls for no smoking in all enclosed public places.
The city filed a statement of claim against Sakimay last month. The First Nation owns the property that is leased to the casino.
The matter was heard by Justice Ted Zarzeczny Monday in the Yorkton Court of Queen's Bench.
Wayne Rusnak, lawyer for the city, was to argue the city's side, but no lawyer was present for Sakimay and no materials were on file from a lawyer for the defendants.
Zarzeczny said he had concerns with the city's ability to move forward.
He said a statement of claim is not usually accepted by the court without a statement of damages, the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA) was not named as a defendant in the case -- something Zarzeczny felt was necessary; and he said there was a "lack of clarity" between material submitted to the court and the application.
Zarzecny said although a service agreement is in place between the city and Sakimay for the operation of the downtown Yorkton casino, no penalties or enforcement details of the city bylaws are mentioned in the agreement.
He ordered Rusnak to write a letter to SIGA and Sakimay identifying the next court date. He specified the letter should request the two parties have representatives attend. If there is no legal representation, Zarzecny said Sakimay and SIGA should be aware the court could move the application forward without them.
The matter was adjourned to Aug. 22.
Later Monday during a city council meeting, Coun. Chris Wyatt, who supported the city moving forward with the injunction, said breaches of the smoking bylaw have to be enforced to make sure everybody is treated the same.
If the city is successful in court, Wyatt said it will be up to council to decide whether to discontinue water, sewer and other city services to the casino.
http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/news/local/story.html?id=7bbfa57d-51fe-45fe-b9e9-1e3f8c802175
http://www.smokersclubinc.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1365
Patio smoking ban should be automatic step -BC
Vancouver Province Thursday, August 11, 2005
After moving back to Vancouver from Calgary, I find the city now lags behind the Prairies, which has a higher smoking rate.
The whole point of bringing in the smoking ban was to protect the public, especially children, from the well-documented effects of second-hand smoke.
I don't understand why it should even be an issue to extend the ban, especially when it comes to restaurant patios.
The patio is a part of the restaurant and should automatically be included in the ban.
The latest statistics show only about 15 per cent of Vancouverites smoke.
With such a clear majority of non-smokers in this city, why should we and our families not be able to enjoy dining outside on a restaurant patio without breathing in someone else's smoke?
Leanne Pidde, Surrey
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/news/letters/story.html?id=963d9964-3e73-45bc-82ce-87ad344e0863
Time to butt out on patios
By David Weir Aug 10 2005
So far it's only an idea, but it's one that I believe deserves some serious consideration
This week, we learned the days of smokers enjoying a few puffs on restaurant and bar patios may be numbered because the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority is considering if there should be greater limits on smoking in the City of Vancouver
Among the ideas being tossed around is banning smoking on restaurant and bar patios. Also on the table is whether to restrict smoking near building entrances and whether to do away with indoor smoking rooms all together. An increase in the numbers of complaints about outdoor smoking is what's spurring the latest debate about where smokers can and can't smoke
I agree with why non-smokers want to further restrict where smokers can light up. A couple of weeks ago, I was out to dinner with my fiancee at a restaurant on Sixth Street in New Westminster. It was a sunny evening, so we decided to sit on the patio
Our food arrived just as the people at the next table were finishing theirs. It was then that all four of them lit up cigarettes
There was hardly a breeze that evening, but what wind there was blew the cigarette smoke across our table. Liz took two or three bites of her pasta before pushing it away. She said she lost her appetite because of the smoke. I fared a little better, but the meal didn't taste quite as good as it did the last time we ate there
For us, smoking on the patio spoiled an otherwise nice meal out. And that's part of the reason why so many non-smokers want more places where people have to butt out
There's also the health risks associated with second-hand smoke, so anything we can do to further reduce our exposure to unwanted second hand smoke is a good thing. Now many smokers will say we could have asked to sit somewhere else if the smoke was bothering us. After all, smokers will say, they've been relegated to the patios and under building awnings because they can no longer smoke inside
True enough, they have been outcast in our search for clean air. But does that mean that non-smokers should not be allowed to enjoy a meal on a patio without being forced to breathe in second-hand smoke
There's many places, including a coffee shop that I frequent, where the patio has been taken over by smokers, forcing non-smokers to decide between sitting inside on a sunny day or put up with the smoke. And that's a decision that I don't feel I should be forced to make
This idea of banning smoking on patios is not sitting well with some restaurant owners who worry their businesses will suffer if they are forced to further limit where customers can smoke. They used the same argument before the interior smoking ban was brought in a few years, and so far I've yet to hear complaints of declining profits linked to that ban
So I have a hard time believing that smokers will stop going to restaurants if a total ban is brought in. If anything, they might attract more non-smokers if they know they can enjoy a smoke-free meal on the patio
Plus, if the ban is put in region-wide - not just in Vancouver - it will be a level playing field for all restaurants
Sadly, these ideas are only being considered by Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. The Fraser Health Authority, which runs from Burnaby to Boston Bar, says it's not looking at additional bans and is leaving it up to individual municipalities to consider changing the rules
But I think it's time we take another look at where smoking is and isn't acceptable, not only in Vancouver, but the Lower Mainland
http://www.burnabynewsleader.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=41&cat=48&id=473598&more=
Smoking rate down, restrictions cited
Dan Dugas Canadian Press Thursday, August 11, 2005
OTTAWA -- The smoking rate in Canada has dropped to 20 per cent, a nice round number that has some observers singing the praises of higher tobacco taxes, health warnings and laws to restrict where people can light up.
But the health minister and the Canadian Cancer Society said that despite the good news, including a big drop in the number of young women smoking, much remains to be done to win the battle of the butt.
The Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey from Statistics Canada found that 20 per cent of people 15 or older were still puffing last year, compared to 21 per cent in 2003 and 24 per cent in 2000.
Dr. Murray Kaiserman, director of research, surveillance and evaluation at the agency, said the decline is "exciting news" given how things stood four years ago.
"I would say it's quite a quick drop. At that time, we were probably faced with a resistant core of smokers, we didn't have many of the policies we have in place today. And we predicted taking 10 years to reach this level."
Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said he was pleased to see the smoking rate edge downward.
"Nevertheless, the battle is not won yet," he said in a statement. "We must continue to work to reduce rates among high-risk groups, including young adults and aboriginal groups."
One way to do that is to raise tobacco taxes further, said Rob Cunningham of the Canadian Cancer Society.
"These new reductions in smoking in Canada are very encouraging, we've seen decreases among all segments of the population, but there's a lot we have to do. We need to have higher tobacco taxes, especially in the high population provinces of Ontario and Quebec and banning misleading terms such as light and mild."
He suggested that taxes should rise by at least $10 per carton of 200 cigarettes to counter price cuts by manufacturers for their so-called discount brands.
The Ontario and Quebec governments have kept their taxes lower relative to other provinces largely to avoid a resurgence of the rampant smuggling seen in the 1990s, when about 30 per cent of the population smoked.
According to the survey released Thursday, about 5.1 million Canadians over age 15 smoked in 2004. However, smokers said they were puffing fewer smokes -- an average of 15 a day.
Health Canada says smoking is the most preventable cause of disease and early death in this country, with more than 45,000 people estimated to die prematurely this year in Canada due to tobacco use.
About 22 per cent of men were smokers, compared with 17 per cent of women.
Fewer young women smoked last year, but the habit was harder to kick for young men, Statistics Canada said.
Among women aged 20 to 24, the percentage of smokers dropped sharply, to 25 per cent last year compared with 30 per cent in 2003.
The smoking rate for men in the age group remained steady at about 31 per cent.
Among teens aged 15 to 19, the smoking rate was 18 per cent, with no difference between girls and boys.
While British Columbia stood out with the lowest level of smoking at 15 per cent, the rest of the country showed generally uniform rates of smoking ranging from 19 per cent to 24 per cent.
The survey also found that about half of smokers tried to kick the habit last year.
Francis Thompson, policy analyst with the Non-Smokers' Rights Association, attributes the decline in the overall smoking rate to the policies of various governments.
"We've seen large increases in tobacco taxes, we've seen big new health warnings on cigarette packs ... and most recently we've seen a series of provincial laws on smoking in workplaces, in particular in bars and restaurants that have been really very good."
There have also been restrictions on promotions and the display of cigarette packs at point of sale in some areas, he noted.
Over the course of a year, the tobacco use monitoring survey collected data over the telephone from more than 20,000 respondents.
Cunningham again called on the federal government to ban the terms light and mild, saying they lull smokers into the mistaken belief that the products are somehow less harmful.
The government said it would ban the terms more than four years ago but continues to study the issue
http://www.canada.com/fortstjohn/story.html?id=eeeb7e89-915f-4a64-931e-1517d04a198b
Smoking rate down, but not for young men
Dan Dugas Canadian Press Thursday, August 11, 2005
OTTAWA -- The smoking rate in Canada has dropped to 20 per cent, a nice round number that has some observers singing the praises of higher tobacco taxes, health warnings and laws to restrict where people can light up.
But the health minister and the Canadian Cancer Society said that despite the good news, including a big drop in the number of young women smoking, much remains to be done to win the battle of the butt.
The Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey from Statistics Canada found that 20 per cent of people 15 or older were still puffing last year, compared to 21 per cent in 2003 and 24 per cent in 2000.
Dr. Murray Kaiserman, director of research, surveillance and evaluation at the agency, said the decline is "exciting news" given how things stood four years ago.
"I would say it's quite a quick drop. At that time, we were probably faced with a resistant core of smokers, we didn't have many of the policies we have in place today. And we predicted taking 10 years to reach this level."
Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said he was pleased to see the smoking rate edge downward.
"Nevertheless, the battle is not won yet," he said in a statement. "We must continue to work to reduce rates among high-risk groups, including young adults and aboriginal groups."
One way to do that is to raise tobacco taxes further, said Rob Cunningham of the Canadian Cancer Society.
"These new reductions in smoking in Canada are very encouraging, we've seen decreases among all segments of the population, but there's a lot we have to do. We need to have higher tobacco taxes, especially in the high population provinces of Ontario and Quebec and banning misleading terms such as light and mild."
He suggested that taxes should rise by at least $10 per carton of 200 cigarettes to counter price cuts by manufacturers for their so-called discount brands.
The Ontario and Quebec governments have kept their taxes lower relative to other provinces largely to avoid a resurgence of the rampant smuggling seen in the 1990s, when about 30 per cent of the population smoked.
According to the survey released Thursday, about 5.1 million Canadians over age 15 smoked in 2004. However, smokers said they were puffing fewer smokes -- an average of 15 a day.
Health Canada says smoking is the most preventable cause of disease and early death in this country, with more than 45,000 people estimated to die prematurely this year in Canada due to tobacco use.
About 22 per cent of men were smokers, compared with 17 per cent of women.
Fewer young women smoked last year, but the habit was harder to kick for young men, Statistics Canada said.
Among women aged 20 to 24, the percentage of smokers dropped sharply, to 25 per cent last year compared with 30 per cent in 2003.
The smoking rate for men in the age group remained steady at about 31 per cent.
Among teens aged 15 to 19, the smoking rate was 18 per cent, with no difference between girls and boys.
While British Columbia stood out with the lowest level of smoking at 15 per cent, the rest of the country showed generally uniform rates of smoking ranging from 19 per cent to 24 per cent.
The survey also found that about half of smokers tried to kick the habit last year.
Francis Thompson, policy analyst with the Non-Smokers' Rights Association, attributes the decline in the overall smoking rate to the policies of various governments.
"We've seen large increases in tobacco taxes, we've seen big new health warnings on cigarette packs ... and most recently we've seen a series of provincial laws on smoking in workplaces, in particular in bars and restaurants that have been really very good."
There have also been restrictions on promotions and the display of cigarette packs at point of sale in some areas, he noted.
Over the course of a year, the tobacco use monitoring survey collected data over the telephone from more than 20,000 respondents.
Cunningham again called on the federal government to ban the terms light and mild, saying they lull smokers into the mistaken belief that the products are somehow less harmful.
The government said it would ban the terms more than four years ago but continues to study the issue.
http://www.canada.com/search/story.html?id=8b9356e2-5fc6-44fa-8475-5ed609a4e04e
Quebec's smoking rate slides
CBC News Last updated Aug 11 2005 04:25 PM EDT
Quebec's smoking rate is in steady decline, according to Statistics Canada.
For decades, Quebec has been known as a haven for smokers. Yet even here, smoking rates have been in steady decline.
"For a province like quebec which always had the highest smoking rate, they don't even rank in the top two now," Dr. Murray Kaiserman is the head of research for Health Canada's Tobacco Control Program. "So in other words, smoking rates in Canada are pretty much uniform across the country."
The uniformity suggests all provinces are now collectively working to eliminate smoking, Kaiserman figures.
Fewer women smoking
There was also a significant drop in the number of young women smoking in Canada in 2004, Statistics Canada said Thursday.
In its Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey, the agency said 25 per cent of women aged 20 to 24 smoked in 2004, down from 30 per cent just one year earlier.
However, here was no change for young men. The study found that 31 per cent of men aged 20 to 24 continued to smoke in 2004, the same rate as the year before.
5.1 million smokers
Overall, an estimated 5.1 million Canadians were smokers in 2004. That figure represented 20 per cent Canada's population aged 15 and older.
That 20 per cent accounted for people who either lit up occasionally, or on a daily basis.
StatsCan says those who smoked daily in 2004, on average, went through 15 cigarettes a day.
The data were gathered between February and December of 2004.
Overall, the agency says slightly more men than women smoked that year — about 22 per cent of men were smokers compared with 17 per cent of women.
Lowest in British Columbia
British Columbia, had the lowest overall rate of smokers at just 15 per cent.
The rates of smoking in all the other provinces and territories generally ranged between 19 and 24 per cent.
Also that year, half of all those people who said they smoked had actually tried to quit in the past year.
In terms of Canadian teenagers between 15 and 19 years of age, 18 per cent smoked. There was no difference between young men and young women.
Overall in 2004, there was a small decline in the prevalence of smoking.
Even though the change was not statistically significant, it does confirm a downward trend in Canadian smoking habits, the agency says.
Short end of the cigarette
Quebec tobacco farmers have been paying the price for the drop in Quebec smoking rates.
The numbers mean bad business for Sylvain Ethier, a tobacco farmer in the Mauricie region.
Tobacco could be grown profitably in a small space, Ethier says. However, he was forced to abandon the lucrative crop after demand plummeted, and his biggest buyers stopped buying.
The provincial government bought up his specialized tobacco-harvesting equipment. It was the government's attempt to ease the transition from tobacco to another crop.
It was the least Quebec could do after robbing him of his business in the first place, he complains.
The provincial government's campaign to stop smoking was directly responsible for the cut in production, and consumption of tobacco, Ethier claims.
Now, Ethier says he's trying to grow small berries. But he says they'll never be as profitable as tobacco.
http://montreal.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=qc-smoke20050811
Methamphetamine addiction spreading
CTV.ca News Staff
Methamphetamine is not new. Known in the 60s as "speed", it was a common street drug that was usually taken in pill form. But it lost popularity in the 70s and 80s as cocaine became the drug of choice.
In the 1990s, a smokable crystal form was created that surfaced in California and soon spread. A favourite of the rave scene and the gay nightclub culture, crystal meth became known as crank, Tina or by dozens of other names.
Remarkably cheap and easy to make, its popularity appears to be spreading to rural communities with the help of outlaw motorcycle gangs, and organized crime groups.
What is it?
Methamphetamine is a chemical variant of amphetamine but offers much more powerful effects. It can be snorted, smoked, injected, or swallowed and offers a high that lasts eight hours or more.
"The effects in taking it last much, much longer than cocaine," Det. Darcy Strant of the Edmonton Drug Unit recently recently told CTV's Canada AM.
"Cocaine, if you're smoking it, can be a 20-minute, 40-minute high. With methamphetamine, it's anywhere between a four to 16-hour high."
Meth works by releasing high levels of dopamine in the brain, a neurotransmitter that creates a sense of pleasure. Users describe a feeling of euphoria from the drug and a sudden increase in energy.
One Regina user named "Dave" told CTV's Jill Macyshon last spring "It felt like the best feeling I've felt in my entire life."
"It's like your mind's going 1,000 miles faster than it's supposed to," another meth ex-user named Jim told CTV's Todd van der Heyden.
But it is also highly-addictive and tolerance increases with every dose, meaning that users need more of it to get the same high.
"It hooks you pretty quick, I guess. I didn't like doing it but I kept going out and doing it," "Jim" says.
Meth impairs sleep and leaves users with feelings of irritability and paranoia. Users on a binge will often go days without eating or sleeping, leading to the extreme weight loss that characterizes so many users, and often slipping into psychosis.
An addict going through meth withdrawal will experience shaking, nausea and hyperventilating. Over the long term, the drug will destroy nerve cells, resulting in slower motor functions and impaired memory.
Made from cold medicines
Known as "the poor man's cocaine," a "point" of meth -- meaning one-tenth of a gram -- costs a mere $5 to $10 and can last all day – a key reason for its popularity.
It's also remarkably easy to make. Its main ingredient –pseudoephedrine -- can be found in cold medicines in any drug store.
The pseudoephedrine is extracted by boiling down the medicines and then adding readily available chemicals to turn the substance into meth. Those chemicals include red phosphorus (used to make safety matches), ammonia, paint thinner, ether, and lithium from batteries.
But meth labs are also highly dangerous, creating deadly fumes that can cause massive explosions. After a home-based meth lab is raided, the houses is often filled with chemical residues and has to be quarantined or razed.
Problem spreading west to east
The growing problem of home-based meth labs is particularly bad in British Columbia. There, meth addiction is ravaging Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and trickling into the suburbs and the interior.
B.C. drug treatment centres say that crystal meth addiction is now the most often cited addiction by incoming patients.
Alberta noticed such a problem with meth addiction among its youth, it recently passed a law giving parents the power to force their drug-addicted teenaged children into detox. Red Deer North MLA Mary Anne Jablonski introduced the private member's bill after hearing the horror stories of parents with crystal meth-addicted children.
Saskatchewan also has a crystal meth problem, with at least 10 fatal overdoses this year in Saskatoon alone.
And experts say the problem is moving east, with drug treatment centres in Toronto and Montreal noticing a recent surge in cases.
Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert stresses that the meth problem is "not just a Western problem."
"While we have a higher number of incidents in Western Canada, you can be sure -- no matter where we live in Canada -- unless we take the actions we're taking now you will see this become a nationwide issue."
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1123782275367_119191475
Smoking rate drops to 20 per cent, experts cite high tobacco taxes, warnings
Dan Dugas Canadian Press Thursday, August 11, 2005
OTTAWA (CP) - The smoking rate in Canada has dropped to 20 per cent, a nice round number that has some observers singing the praises of higher tobacco taxes, health warnings and laws to restrict where people can light up.
But the health minister and the Canadian Cancer Society said that despite the good news, including a big drop in the number of young women smoking, much remains to be done to win the battle of the butt.
The Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey from Statistics Canada found that 20 per cent of people 15 or older were still puffing last year, compared to 21 per cent in 2003 and 24 per cent in 2000.
Dr. Murray Kaiserman, director of research, surveillance and evaluation at the agency, said the decline is "exciting news" given how things stood four years ago.
"I would say it's quite a quick drop. At that time, we were probably faced with a resistant core of smokers, we didn't have many of the policies we have in place today. And we predicted taking 10 years to reach this level."
Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said he was pleased to see the smoking rate edge downward.
"Nevertheless, the battle is not won yet," he said in a statement. "We must continue to work to reduce rates among high-risk groups, including young adults and aboriginal groups."
One way to do that is to raise tobacco taxes further, said Rob Cunningham of the Canadian Cancer Society.
"These new reductions in smoking in Canada are very encouraging, we've seen decreases among all segments of the population, but there's a lot we have to do. We need to have higher tobacco taxes, especially in the high population provinces of Ontario and Quebec and banning misleading terms such as light and mild."
He suggested that taxes should rise by at least $10 per carton of 200 cigarettes to counter price cuts by manufacturers for their so-called discount brands.
The Ontario and Quebec governments have kept their taxes lower relative to other provinces largely to avoid a resurgence of the rampant smuggling seen in the 1990s, when about 30 per cent of the population smoked.
According to the survey released Thursday, about 5.1 million Canadians over age 15 smoked in 2004. However, smokers said they were puffing fewer smokes - an average of 15 a day.
Health Canada says smoking is the most preventable cause of disease and early death in this country, with more than 45,000 people estimated to die prematurely this year in Canada due to tobacco use.
About 22 per cent of men were smokers, compared with 17 per cent of women.
Fewer young women smoked last year, but the habit was harder to kick for young men, Statistics Canada said.
Among women aged 20 to 24, the percentage of smokers dropped sharply, to 25 per cent last year compared with 30 per cent in 2003.
The smoking rate for men in the age group remained steady at about 31 per cent.
Among teens aged 15 to 19, the smoking rate was 18 per cent, with no difference between girls and boys.
While British Columbia stood out with the lowest level of smoking at 15 per cent, the rest of the country showed generally uniform rates of smoking ranging from 19 per cent to 24 per cent.
The survey also found that about half of smokers tried to kick the habit last year.
Francis Thompson, policy analyst with the Non-Smokers' Rights Association, attributes the decline in the overall smoking rate to the policies of various governments.
"We've seen large increases in tobacco taxes, we've seen big new health warnings on cigarette packs ... and most recently we've seen a series of provincial laws on smoking in workplaces, in particular in bars and restaurants that have been really very good."
There have also been restrictions on promotions and the display of cigarette packs at point of sale in some areas, he noted.
Over the course of a year, the tobacco use monitoring survey collected data over the telephone from more than 20,000 respondents.
Cunningham again called on the federal government to ban the terms light and mild, saying they lull smokers into the mistaken belief that the products are somehow less harmful.
The government said it would ban the terms more than four years ago but continues to study the issue.
http://www.canada.com/health/story.html?id=50af74ae-3441-43e9-b2ce-86e4342ca84b
Young smokers still lighting up -NS
CBC News Last updated Aug 11 2005 02:37 PM ADT
Young adults continue to make up the biggest group of smokers in the province.
The overall smoking rate for Nova Scotia was 20 per cent in 2004, according to the latest results from the Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey.
But the rate for young smokers between the ages of 20 and 24 was 33 per cent.
HEALTH CANADA: 2004 tobacco use survey
Maureen Summers, executive director of the Nova Scotia division of the Canadian Cancer Society, said young people are the most vulnerable to sophisticated cigarette marketing schemes.
"One of the areas that we're looking for further work in is for the province to adopt legislation to prohibit all tobacco product promotion at the point of sale," she said.
This could include removing the wall of cigarettes often found behind counters at convenience stores and gas stations, Summers said.
Smoking rates in Nova Scotia are dropping.
In 2000, the rate for all smokers was 30 per cent, while the rate for 20 to 24 year olds was about 36 per cent.
Health Promotion Minister Rodney MacDonald said it's "great news" that 78,000 smokers in Nova Scotia have quit in that period, and he credits the government's tobacco control strategy.
But he said he's confident more people will butt out when the province bans smoking in all public places in 2006.
http://novascotia.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=ns-smoking-rates20050811
Patios latest target for anti-smoking crusade -BC
By Steven Addison Staff Reporter Aug 09 2005
White Rock could be the next municipality to ban smoking on restaurant patios.
The City of Vancouver is mulling the idea, due to an increase in complaints about second-hand smoke. Now White Rock Mayor Judy Forster says it's worth looking at.
"We want to promote a healthier environment," Forster said.
"I really think it's something we should look into."
The mayor expects to take the issue to the city's social planning committee, a group of volunteers that provides advice to council on issues such as health.
White Rock and Vancouver were the first to ban smoking indoors in public buildings and restaurants, in 1997, and although the move was panned by smokers and restaurateurs alike, it's proven popular in the long-run.
Bill Lawrence, who owns Sandpiper Pub on East Beach, supported that ban. But he thinks prohibiting smoking on outside decks is a bad idea.
"To go so far as to ban it on outdoor patios...why not ban it on the Promenade? Why not ban it on the sidewalk?"
"The patio is a nice place for smokers, as well as non-smokers."
Lawrence said it is important to accommodate smokers, especially with the influx of visitors anticipated around the 2010 Games.
"We're going to be getting people from all nationalities and all nations," he said.
"In a lot of those nations, people still love to smoke."
Besides, smoke tends to dissipate quickly on patios, lessening health impacts for non-smokers.
Still, Forster said it remains an irritant for non-smokers.
"One of the things that a lot of restaurants have is those garage doors," the mayor said.
"(Smokers) will be out on the deck and the breeze blows the smoke back into the restaurant."
Smokers surveyed on Marine Drive patios Monday said they should be able to puff outside.
"Smoking on a patio is fine. Indoors it's not," Lauren Moreton said, sitting outside Dock's Fish and Chips.
"I'd be a little mad (if it was banned)."
Moreton is vacationing from Calgary with her mother, Donna. In Calgary smoking is outlawed on restaurant patios.
"It's not necessarily a bad thing, because we know we shouldn't be doing it," Donna Moreton said, adding they didn't expect to be allowed to smoke when they sat down for lunch in White Rock.
"Were weren't going to do it, but (the waitress) came over and offered an ashtray."
Outside Nebutaya Japanese Restaurant, Langley resident Natalie Talson and Ottawa's Kara Strang said they wouldn't have a problem butting out if forced to.
"If it was law, I'd agree with it," said Talson, who is uncomfortable smoking in public.
"I try not to...it's totally not the political norm."
http://www.peacearchnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=44&cat=23&id=473222&more=
Smoking may not have killed Jennings -ON
Letter August 11, 2005
Today's medical knowledge does not allow any human to identify smoking, one of the over forty independent risk factors , as the sole cause of Peter Jennings' lung cancer. Nor are our medical experts able to isolate one of the many largely genetic causes of Peter Gzowski's chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
To do so, as tobacco control extremist Stan Shatenstein has done, is simply means of spreading more anti-tobacco falsehoods.
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/comment/letters_story.html?id=61c0ada1-ec63-4d18-9b16-91fb904d7645
N.S. Liberals call for public smoking ban -NS
Broadcast News Friday, August 12, 2005
HALIFAX -- Nova Scotia Liberals say thousands of young people have become needlessly addicted to cigarettes because there has been no province-wide public smoking ban.
Health critic Dave Wilson was reacting to news yesterday that the province is having a tough time convincing young people to quit smoking.
The latest statistics show that 33 per cent of young people between the ages of 20 and 24 continued to light up last year.
That's down only slightly from 2003 and still way above the provincial average.
Health Promotion Minister Rodney MacDonald says the numbers should start to go down once a full-fledged smoking ban is in place next year.
Two years ago, the province instituted a partial ban.
Wilson says, if the minister believes a full ban would be effective, he can't understand why it wasn't implemented in the first place.
http://www.canada.com/national/story.html?id=81a5da96-cdab-44b4-ba4b-0d123377a8aa
Law should be all for one or none for all -SK
Lloydminster Meridian Booster Friday August 12, 2005
No one is going to debate the health effects of smoking or second-hand smoke. No one can argue that it makes you healthier – although some would argue short-term happiness – but it’s not as though smoking is without its perks. Indirectly, at least.
Since the Saskatchewan government unveiled its ambitious anti-smoking legislation this past January, the enforcement of the ban has been aggressive and many small-town businesses have been left with major fines for what many would consider a minor infraction. Small bars and restaurants have already felt the pinch and hotel owners across the province are fighting the province tooth-and-nail.
But all the time there have been those in the background slowly suffering from this legislation – the charities.
Many local charities in Lloydminster alone are feeling the pinch after a dramatic decline in bingo revenues alone have seriously cut back the funds flowing to charities.
Now Saskatchewan’s First Nations are furthering themselves once again in the fight to maintain smoking status in their casinos and similar facilities saying that the smoking ban in bingo halls would take too much money from social agencies on reserves that depend on them for funding. And they have allowed it once again to stem the tide of lost revenues during a three-month trial period.
Well, finally those on both sides of this dispute can agree on one thing – the Saskatchewan government obviously didn’t think this thing completely through.
This isn’t an issue of freedom of choice, or even health concerns. The issue at hand appears to be a short-sighted plan by a government that wanted to win some quick brownie points. In the effort to build healthier communities, this move has left many social agencies ailing.
http://www.meridianbooster.com/index.php?id=525
Patio smoking ban is a Vancouver idea
Wednesday, Aug 10, 2005
Smokers who enjoy a puff on the patios of restaurants and bars aren't yet in the crosshairs of municipalities outside Vancouver
Fraser Health Authority officials say neither they nor local cities have any plans to consider tougher restrictions -or a ban -on smoking on outdoor commercial patios
"We're not aware of any municipality anywhere in the Fraser Health Region pursuing the same track as Vancouver," said FHA spokesman Don MacLachlan
A report outlining possible bans or restrictions on outdoor smoking is being prepared by the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and is slated to come before Vancouver city council in September, said VCHA spokesman Clay Adams
"What happens will be purely up to the city itself," he said. "There's speculation that with municipal elections in September the report may not see the light of day in terms of council discussion until the new year.
It could extend smoking restrictions within the City of Vancouver to cover bus shelters, building entry ways, outdoor sports venues and other areas where people congregate outside
Each city council has local control over the issue, he said. "There is no province-wide approach," Adams said. "It is a municipal-by-municipal approach."
http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=community/burnaby&articleID=2003035
Veterans have earned right to smoke at legion
Letter Friday, August 12, 2005
As a democratic society, we are entitled to our opinions. Well, this is my opinion.
I have been reading in The Star about Dalton McGuinty's report that as of June 1, 2006, Ontario becomes smoke-free. This includes Casino Windsor and also our legions.
What have I done without Mr. McGuinty for over 67 years? I have a university degree that I worked very hard to obtain, while I raised my children. Because of Dalton McGuinty's revelation that we, the Ontario people, need to be a smoke-free province, I and many like me are brainless.
Wow, isn't Dalton a great man to let me know what little brains we Ontarians have? I would like to tell him myself. I have a brain, and like thousands of my neighbours, we are very intelligent people.
If these non-smokers don't like us smoking, tough. We know what we are doing to our bodies, but that is our choice, not these bureaucrats in Toronto nor those among us who have a right to upset our lifestyle.
If you don't like smoke, people have a right not to go into establishments where smoking is allowed. I have noticed many signs on businesses' doors -- "smoking allowed" or "non-smoking establishment" -- so what is the problem with these people? I guess they just want everything their way. Shame on you.
As for our legions: These men made this country safe for you and me. I don't know where you got the survey that most veterans don't smoke.
I know a lot of veterans and when I see them, they have cigarettes or cigars in their mouths, maybe not 100 per cent of them, but at least 45 to 50 per cent. So don't tell me that all veterans don't smoke. Shame on you.
Can the Ontario government match the monies given to this community from Casino Windsor?
Can this government tell the servicemen who came home, you can have your legions but let us catch you smoking in them, and you will be fined and God only knows what else?
PHYLLIS GATES Windsor
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/letters/story.html?id=9f488c5e-cdbd-4673-b1c3-ad78bfd7ab21
Let's penalize businesses that want to allow smoking -AB
Aug 12 2005
Freedom of choice is great and people should be able to choose whether or not to smoke. That choice, however, should not affect anyone else - physically or financially.
Businesses that want to choose not to discourage smoking are indirectly encouraging it and their argument in defence of this action encompasses the possible loss of profits.
The Central Alberta Businesses for Choice group wants Red Deer City Hall to rescind the recent choice to go to a gold-standard smoking bylaw in June 2006.
That bylaw will ban smoking in all public buildings and areas.
That would mean that no person, customer or employee, young or old, would be exposed to second-hand smoke while in public. If this lobby group is successful in its efforts, it will affect all of us physically and financially.
I believe that if the bylaw is nixed, then businesses who permit smoking should have to share the cost created by their actions.
There is no argument that smoking is unhealthy. Smoking causes illnesses that cost a lot of money to treat.
Our Alberta health care system pays for these costs. The premiums that we pay don't even come close to paying for the actual cost to run the system.
Where does the rest of the money come from? Our taxes! That means you and me!
I know that no one chooses to get sick, and I believe we should all be eligible for full free public health care (paid for through a fair tax system).
Currently, businesses are making profits and indirectly, by their own admission, part of those profits results from letting smokers light up in their establishments. Employees and patrons (willingly or not) are being exposed to second-hand smoke, which will likely cause some smoking-related illnesses.
The health care system will take dollars from our taxes to pay these costs.
Why should the full cost be placed on our taxes?
Should not the businesses that are profiting from smoking also have to allocate a portion of their profits to help pay these medical costs?
How would you measure such a cost? It would be impossible to come up with an exact figure based on patrons of a business, but numbers of employees are easily measured.
Maybe a cost every year of $500 per employee should be paid directly to Alberta health care. Maybe $1,000. The number could be determined later.
Freedom of choice is great and I would like to choose not to pay as much in taxes.
If businesses that allowed smoking in their establishments paid some of the health care costs that they are helping create, maybe my choice to have my taxes reduced would be realized too!
Dieter Brandt
Red Deer
http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/
There's No Smoking but I'm still Fuming
I think the city of St. Albert has made a colossal blunder with its much too harsh smoking bylaw. All one has to do is drop in to any local watering hole and listen to the tales of woe.
Servers are claiming severe financial distress as tips have dried up. Add to that the stress of small female servers being forced to reprimand large male patrons who light up anyway with their "go to hell attitude" towards those who condone the smoking bylaw.
Then add to that the stress on bar owners who face heavy fines if someone smokes in their establishment, even though they try to stop them. One local bar owner told me they have closed early on more than one weekend night due to lack of customers with entertainment playing to two or three clients.
Did You Ever Wonder - Why it is illegal to put money in other people's parking meters?
I hear also from bar owners, bartenders and servers that the "regulars" have disappeared which makes the problem all the more devastating.
Regulars, for the uninformed are those customers that visit their local watering holes every day for a drink or two. They are the life blood of any bar as it is they who pay the rent and the light and heat bills. The weekend crowds are the gravy.
And why have the "regulars" disappeared? Simple. 90 per cent of them smoke. And where have they gone?
I see many of those regulars out in their back yards enjoying a beer and cigarette. Since the city has now forced them to go outside of any establishment to have that smoke, they choose to be outside at their own homes. The upshot of this of course is that local liquor stores are doing well, but hundreds of bar staff are hurting needlessly.
Only In Canada - do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.
I think it is becoming quite clear that all those holier-than- thou non smokers who insisted this council ruin local business, never had any intention of going out to a bar. They simply were on a power trip to impose their will on the patrons of bars so that if they chose to come out to a bar a couple of times a year it would suit them just fine.
They better hurry and get out to their favourite bar though. It may be closed soon if the current trend keeps up. While on holidays in Saskatchewan, I spoke with one hotel owner there who is a member of their provincial executive. He told me that 20 hotels have closed in rural Saskatchewan directly as a result of the province wide smoking ban.That is 20 family owned businesses lost to small towns. How many St. Albert loses is yet to be determined. Challenges under the constitution are being mounted again smoking laws everywhere. Many readers tell me they hope bars win and preserve the word "choice" once and for all.
Mosquito control - This is going to floor you, but one SCN reader tells me the best insect repellent they've found, is Vicks VapoRub. I haven't tried it yet, but hey, if the skeeters are eating you alive, most people will try anything.
I hear conversations going around the city about a certain letter to the editor written by a local woman. Although I did not see it as it appeared while I was away, it seems to have caused quite a stir around St. Albert.
I'm told the letter insinuated that the more money you have, the better class of person you become. From what I hear around town, residents take exception to that kind of labelling, but some groups continue to perpetuate the illusion.
Take the Arts and Heritage Foundation for example, who according to a SCN reader are back on their "elitist" kick and sent along the following item.
"Don, this might make an interesting comment for your column to interpret since there was such a lovely letter from the AHF to thank the other paper last week.
" From the AHF "Bravo!" newsletter: Quote: "The Arts and Heritage Foundation of St. Albert (AHF) is very pleased to announce the appointment of St. Albert Gazette Publisher and Rotary Club Member Duff Jamison to our esteemed Board of Trustees.", end quote."
Let me be the first to congratulate Mr.Jamison on his appointment. I have known Duff for many years and he is a fine addition to the board and a hard worker for St.Albert.
But having said that, the announcement author at AHF continues to foster the "elitist" label most local residents give them by the use of one word in that announcement. The operative word being "esteemed".
When will they get it that no one considers them to be "esteemed"? They are simply nice local residents who volunteer their time for a good cause.
If you follow the elitist logic of the AHF, every minor sports coach in the city is "esteemed".
Last time I called one of those guys that, well, you don't want to know what they said. And finally, this from one local Legion member who told me. "You know, it was the daytime crowd that kept our legion going. But our smoking bylaw has changed all that. No one goes there now, they sit at home and smoke. Now they don't even open the bar until 2:00 p.m. and the rumour is that they might not even open if the guys keep staying away."
Seems to me the loss of a legion branch would be a disaster. Think of all the good work they do for charity. My bet is that this council will be squirming soon as pressure mounts to undo this tragedy called the smoking bylaw. The Score: Smoking Bylaw 1 Bingo Halls 0 From two different servers: tips before bylaw average daytime shift: $80 to $110. After bylaw $5 to $20. Jobs lost to date: unknown.
A ROSE to every server in the city who are struggling to make a living in the face of the draconian smoking bylaw.
A WHINE to repressive bylaws applied by council at the urging of pressure groups.
http://saintcitynews.advancedpublishing.com/
Smoking in decline
Editorial -Saturday, August 13th, 2005
ABOUT 20 per cent of Canadians over the age of 15 are smokers today compared to perhaps 31 per cent 10 years ago. This is a large change in a deeply ingrained habit. Further progress in reducing smoking may be difficult, however, because those most likely to quit have already done so. Anti-smoking efforts are poorly tailored to the poor people, people of low education and Indian reserve residents among whom smoking is still common.
Statistics Canada released this week the results of its Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey for 2004 showing a drop in Canada-wide smoking prevalence, so small a drop, the agency said, that it was not statistically significant. Smoking prevalence may have dropped to 20 per cent from the previous year's 21 per cent -- or there may have just been a sampling error in the survey. The survey has been finding pretty steady declines since 1994 in step with increasing taxes, intensified health warnings and the spread of smoking bans in restaurants and other public places. More men than women smoked.
A similar pattern and similar results are found in the United States, where the Centres for Disease Control keeps track of smoking prevalence. The U.S. report for 2003, published in May, found that 21.6 per cent of adults (more men than women) were smokers, down from 22.8 per cent two years earlier. When the 2004 U.S. results are published, they could be expected to show a rate around 21 per cent, a point above Canada's.
The U.S. survey, however, reports some details not covered in the corresponding Canadian report. In the U.S., smoking is much more prevalent among Native Americans (39.7 per cent), people below the poverty line (30.5 per cent) and people without university education (44.4 per cent). Canada's smoking survey does not report ethnicity, income and education of smokers, but ordinary observation suggests that similar results would be found here.
In Manitoba, the provincial government has banned smoking in all public places but it exempts Indian reserves on the grounds that the province has no authority to regulate smoking on reserves. This more or less ensures that reserve residents will continue to smoke in large numbers. People of low income and people of low education have proven more resistant than others to anti-smoking campaigns in the U.S. and they may remain so in Canada.
A first step for Canada would be to identify, in the way the CDC does, the subpopulations in which smoking remains common. The 2004 survey result showing a drop that was too small to be statistically significant suggests that the years of rapid decline in smoking may be coming to an end. Further progress along that line may require more careful research and better knowledge of the smokers.
www.winnipegfreepress.com
The deadly impact of smoking
Letter August 13, 2005
More must be done to publicize the millions who die each year
Could there have been an odder couple of famous Canadians than Peter Jennings and Peter Gzowski?
One was urbane and cool, seemingly born to stare into the camera and seduce viewers. The other was a rumpled suit of a man, a face made for radio, yet bright, gregarious and inviting.
One found fame and fortune in the U.S., the other stayed home and developed a cult following here.
Aside from their proudly Canadian roots and their first name, Jennings and Gzowski shared a dreadful, if common fate. They were long-term smokers who had quit, yet who ultimately died terribly young, at 67, from tobacco-related diseases.
Jennings had quit for close to 20 years but, as he contritely noted when revealing his lung cancer diagnosis this past April, "I was weak and I smoked over 9-11."
Gzowski was mostly defiant about his smoking, filling radio booths and TV studios with toxic palls of smoke, but he too quit a couple of years before he died of emphysema, a form of COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), in 2002.
Gzowski should just be entering his 70s now, with 15 or 20 years of work or retirement ahead of him. And with Tom Brokaw retired from NBC and Dan Rather forced out at CBS, Jennings should be at his desk or in the field, leading ABC News to top ratings for its coverage of Iraq, the Middle East, the space shuttle, human cloning and other stories.
Both men, however, unwittingly and tragically became part of the great underreported story of our day.
Smoking kills over 45,000 Canadians and 440,000 Americans every year -- some five million people around the world, according to WHO (World Health Organization) figures. But it doesn't bleed, so it doesn't lead.
We get occasional reminders about smoking's devastating impact on health when a Yul Brynner, a Nat King Cole, a George Harrison -- or a Peter Jennings or Peter Gzowski -- dies but, for the most part, families suffer their tragedies in private, losing loved ones to cancer and COPD and, in even bigger numbers, to smoking-related heart disease.
The nicotine cartel acts with impunity, but it's not too late to begin demanding it be held responsible for its deadly actions.
Unregulated, slender, deadly sticks of tar and carbon monoxide are killing scores of Canadians every day.
That fact alone should make it into print and on to broadcasts and TV newscasts regularly.
Peter Jennings and Peter Gzowski, at heart both good men and good reporters, would approve.
Stan Shatenstein Contributing Editor, Tobacco Control Co-editor, GLOBALink News & Information Montreal, Que.
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/letters/story.html?id=40d0cb24-4adc-45b7-ab67-61a2edc74b65
Re: Smoking May Not Have Killed Jennings, letter to the editor, Aug. 11
National Post Saturday, August 13, 2005
Does parental smoking not lead to asthma, allergy, ear infection and, at the horrible worst, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in children?
We live in an age of extremism. Some men kill thousands by flying airplanesinto big buildings, others cut off heads and hands of total strangers, still others can be considered extremists for waging preemptive wars that kill and maim tens of thousands.
Thus, I don't take it lightly when I'm referred to as an extremist in the pages of the Post. How is it even possible to be a "tobacco control extremist"? Presumably, one would have to advocate the death penalty for tobacco industry executives or, worse, take the law into one's own fanatic hands. I advocate no such action, of course.
But what "anti-tobacco falsehoods" does letter-writer Eric Boyd think I spread? Of course I can't prove Peter Jennings' lung cancer and Peter Gzowski's chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were tobacco-related, but if it smokes like a duck....
So, whither falsehood? Do 45,000 Canadians not die every year from smoking-induced illness? Is smoking not the leading cause of preventable premature mortality and morbidity? Does parental smoking not lead to asthma, allergy, ear infection and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in children?
Stan Shatenstein, contributing editor, Tobacco Control Co-editor, Montreal.
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/comment/letters_story.html?id=9dceb8c7-d255-4b5f-93a8-dc18bc2d99b3
Bumper tobacco crop expected -ON
By Eric Bunnell Times-Journal Staff Saturday August 13, 2005
TILLSONBURG, Ont. -- Hot, dry weather this summer means the prospect of a bumper crop for Ontario flue-cured tobacco producers.
“It certainly looks like a bumper crop,” Linda Lietaer, a spokeswoman for the Ontario Flue-cured Tobacco Growers’ Marketing Board, said this week.
But that’s not because producers haven’t worked hard at it.
Though tobacco is a dry weather crop, this summer’s periods of near drought have meant irrigation -- and that drives up the cost of production, Lietaer said.
“It adds to the cost significantly, as you can well appreciate.”
And because tobacco is a supply-managed crop, producers can’t just sell more than they are allowed to grow to recoup that cost.
Extra goes into storage for the next crop year.
“Different farmers look at (that) in different ways,” Lietaer said.
“In some Posted at 11:50 am by looped_ca
Monday, August 15, 2005
Canada Second Hand Smoke Bans Legal Action
Second Hand Smoke Bans Legal Action Registration Form
http://www.smokersclubinc.com/modules.php?name=News&file=categories&op=newindex&catid=18
Smoking ban will hurt non-profit organizations -AB
Jul 28 2005
I usually would not write a letter to the editor for any reason whatsoever, but after reading the opinion expressed by former city councillor, Vesna Higham, in the July 19 Advocate, I am compelled to express my opinion as well.
This letter touches on what I feel is a total disregard to the numerous repercussions to the non-profit and service clubs in our community, and the lack of investigation into these repercussions.
Service clubs and not-for-profit societies rely on community charity in order to provide programs and services to a wide range of people in our community.
Bingos and casinos are tools that a great many non-profit clubs use to raise much-needed funds.
How many bingo halls have closed in other provinces as well as Alberta because of total smoking bans, and how have these closures affected the non-profit sector in those areas?
Ian Taylor of The Satellite Bingo Network has done extensive research on this question and the statistics speak volumes.
Talk to the charitable clubs who have had to try to keep their programs and services afloat while competing with countless other non-profit clubs begging for the same hard to come by donations that used to be earned by the clubs via hard-working volunteers at bingos and casinos.
Where will the money come from when one of our bingo halls has to close because of lack of patronage? That will force approximately 60 clubs out, to knock on doors - your doors - trying to keep peer support programs, as well as hundreds of other services, running.
Local business owners are already inundated with requests for donations from local non-profit clubs, and most are generously supporting these clubs as much as their revenues will allow.
What will happen when these requests are doubled or tripled?
Which non-profits will be forced to close their doors in Red Deer?
Will these closures affect you, your children, you parents, people struggling with dreadful diseases, people in wheelchairs, drug addiction programs? I could go on.
There are hundreds of programs in our community that will suffer and die because of the lack of funds, hence many people left without the resources they need to ease their plight.
I guess these non-profit clubs and their services are the select few casualties who will be negatively impacted, as Higham so eloquently put it.
Too bad. I sincerely hope she and others do not need to call on any of these "select few" in the future for assistance. The doors likely will be closed due to lack of funds.
As a footnote: bingo is gambling; casinos are gambling establishments. Children are not permitted in gambling establishments; volunteers who work for non-profit clubs do so of their own free will and do not have to work as a volunteer to supplement their income. Casinos are volunteer driven and bingos are volunteer driven.
It is my honest belief that the implementation of a total smoking ban will irrevocably damage countless service clubs in our community and thereby deprive people who are already in jeopardy of many programs and services that could ease their plight.
Paulette Van Oosterom Red Deer
http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=107&cat=48&id=466518&more=1
Re: Non-Smoker Questions Data Supporting Ban, July 19. -ON
Saturday, July 30, 2005
The 1993 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report your reader refers to, as well as the subsequent Judge Osteen decision, have long been centrepieces of tobacco industry misinformation campaigns.
The EPA has classified second-hand smoke as a Group A carcinogen, which means there is sufficient evidence that it causes cancer in humans. Environmental tobacco smoke has also been classified as a "known human carcinogen" by the U.S. national toxicology program.
Many credible studies have shown the link between second-hand smoke and illness. Researchers with the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Europe have found that exposure to second-hand smoke from spousal, workplace and social sources raises a person's risk of lung cancer by 22 per cent in people who have never smoked, and up to 32 per cent in those with the longest exposure.
Researchers from Minnesota have published data showing that as little as four hours in a casino setting can produce high levels of two potent carcinogens in the blood of those exposed.
Finally, the California Environmental Protection Agency has published research concluding that exposure to second-hand cigarette smoke can cause *** cancer.
These studies add to a mass of research by experts around the world, all of which point in the same direction: Second-hand smoke is a proven cause of lung cancer, heart disease and other respiratory illness.
Supported by two decades of research, the scientific community agrees there is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke. Second-hand smoke has twice as much nicotine and tar as the filtered smoke that a smoker inhales.
All workers should be afforded the right to work in a healthy and safe work environment. Restaurant and bar workers should not be treated as second-class citizens.
By passing provincewide smoke-free legislation, the Ontario government is acting responsibly. The Ontario Smoke-Free Act not only protects citizens from the hazards of second-hand smoke but will also save taxpayers millions of dollars in health care money as the enormous burden of tobacco-related illness eases.
ROWENA PINTO Senior Manager, Public Issues
Canadian Cancer Society, Ontario Division
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/letters/story.html?id=26d504ac-85a2-4336-bfff-8d722a2c41f5
Intriguing news about nicotine
By MARILYN LINTON, TORONTO SUN Sun, July 31, 2005
ONE OF the most intriguing stories to cross my desk last week was found in a magazine published by the Canadian Stroke Network (made up of 100 of the country's best scientists, rehab specialists and clinicians from 24 universities). The story described the work of Dr. Bryan Kolb from the University of Lethbridge who, in giving lab mice the equivalent of one cigarette a day, is showing that nicotine may improve stroke recovery. Apparently it stimulates the production of new connections, just what stroke patients need when their old pathways have been "stroked out." Human studies are in the plan, but since smoking also helps to cause stroke in the first place, this is a study that really needs its creases ironed out before stroke patients ever get to benefit. In the meantime, try pondering some of the following items: They may give you a giggle, introduce you to your butterfly gland, save your liver, improve your swing and strengthen your thumbs.
Report available at: http://www.canadianstrokenetwork.ca/media/releases/release.jun23.2004a.e.pdf
http://torontosun.com/Lifestyle/2005/07/31/1154372-sun.html
Smoking bylaw trial in court Aug. 11, 12 -ON
By Brian Cleeve Wednesday August 03, 2005
The trial of two local businesses charged with violating the municipal smoking bylaw are scheduled in provincial offences court on Aug. 11 and 12.
Lawyer Greg Elliott says that Olympic Billiards and JR’s Tavern in Chatham will face between 30 and 35 charges each of allowing people to smoke in their establishments.
Elliott says the charges date from the fall of 2003 to the spring of 2005.
Chatham-Kent’s bylaw, banning smoking in public places, came into effect in mid-2003.
A number of charges against other businesses have already been resolved through guilty pleas and fines.
The matter has been before the court for almost two years. Part of the time was spent as Elliott argued a constitutional issue that it was up to the municipality, not the individual, to enforce the bylaw.
Meanwhile, a trial against the Arlington Tavern in Ridgetown is scheduled for Sept. 19.
http://www.chathamthisweek.com/story.php?id=175817
Local bingo hall closes -ON
Thursday August 04, 2005
Closure may not be permanent, but charity groups worried about future sources of income for community projects
Strathroy Age Dispatch — No one will be yelling “Bingo” in Strathroy for at least the next 60 days.
Broadwalk Gaming and Entertainment Inc., owner of Strathroy Bingo Country, has decided to temporarily close its Kenwick Mall location, effective this past Monday, Aug. 1.
The move means the 32 charitable organizations locally will have one less way of fund-raising for at least the next two months. It also means the temporarily layoff of 21 Bingo Country staff members.
According to Dave Brock, chairman of the Strathroy Nevada Charities Association, the announcement came as a shock.
“I knew Bingo Country was having trouble, but I guess I didn’t understand to what extend,” said Mr. Brock. “I only heard about the decision on July 25.”
If the decision to reassess the local bingo hall was made in Toronto, Mr. Brock feels he knows why.
“Net revenue in May was very low with each charity only receiving $45 per session they worked,” said Mr. Brock. “This is compared to the average of about $100 per session. I’m sure those numbers get someone’s attention.”
Bingo revenues have decreased significantly since the hall’s one-year exemption to the county-wide smoking ban ended last summer.
Mr. Brock attributes both the decline in revenue and those playing bingo to the smoking ban in Middlesex County and to more casinos in the area.
“There is no doubt the smoking ban affected the turnout,” said Mr. Brock. “However, I was led to believe Bingo Country might close next January.”
In terms of lost revenue for local charities, Mr. Brock estimates that amount to be $10,000 per month. Strathroy-Caradoc Township will lose $5,000 per month in licensing fees.
For several local charities volunteering at bingos, this is the way they raise the majority of their funds.
Mt. Brydges Lioness Club bingo convener Minnie Crouch says her club will need to take a hard look at future donations.
“We will definitely need to prioritize our donations,” said Mrs. Crouch. “Seventy-five percent of our bingo money is donated locally.”
Mrs. Crouch estimates Mt. Brydges Lionesses have received $80,000 through bingo revenue over the past five years.
“There will be a big difference in our bottom line without bingos,” said Mrs. Crouch. “Our other two major events only raise $3,000 per year.”
Mrs. Crouch says the lack of bingos will leave a big hole in her club’s fund-raising efforts.
“Not only will we have less to donate, but our donations will be much lower,” said Mrs. Crouch. “In some cases we will have to turn down donation requests.”
No bingos will make fund-raising a much tougher task, says Mrs. Crouch. “Without bingo we will have to rely more heavily on the public for support. At least with Bingo, the players were coming out because they chose to.”
In the case of the Strathroy Dance Club, no bingo revenue could mean increased registration fees.
Dance Club president Brenda Vanderhoek says currently the money raised through bingo helps defray the overhead costs including rent.
“We have never had to incorporate our rental cost into the registration fees,” said Mrs. Vanderhoek. “Things could get very scary if the bingos aren’t continued.”
An estimated 160 children are members of the club, which holds classes nearly every night of the week.
“We normally hold two major fund-raisers each year,” said Mrs. Vanderhoek. “And that money was usually earmarked for new equipment or costumes.”
Without bingo revenue, Mrs. Vanderhoek feels the club many need to increase fees. “We haven’t increased fees in several years, but that is what makes this club affordable. We aren’t the only dance studio in Strathroy so we must stay competitive with our fees.”
Royal Canadian Legion Sir Arthur Currie Br. 116 uses bingo funds support various youth organizations as well as the VON, SMGH and the Legion band.
Branch president Rosemarie Croswell says a portion of the money is also used to operate the Legion hall.
“Without bingos, we will definitely have to organize more smaller fund-raising events,” said Ms Croswell. “We will also need to reassess what funds we donate.”
Ms Croswell admits to being a bit surprised when she learned the bingo hall was temporarily closing.
“I felt they should have tried downsizing and perhaps cancel a few of the sessions to lower costs,” said Ms Croswell. “The shutdown notice certainly was a shock.”
http://www.strathroyagedispatch.com/story.php?id=176275
Smokers languish in no-man's land 1 -BC
Cindy E. Harnett Times Colonist August 3, 2005
Care home staff in need of a place for cigarette breaks say it's a matter of respect for everyone
Beyond the manicured lawns of the newly renovated James Bay Care Centre in Victoria, two health-care workers in pink uniforms balance themselves on wooden pilings on the fringes of the parking lot.
Banished from smoking inside or even in the facility's sprawling backyard garden, they inhale cigarettes and drink coffee in a sort of concrete no man's land.
"It's humiliating," said Jill Walper, a nurse's aide for 11 years.
Her colleague Rose Young called the situation embarrassing and sad. "We don't have any respect. Everybody -- smokers and non-smokers -- should have rights."
But smoking isn't a right, according to Dianne Stevenson, the Vancouver Island Health Authority's regional manager for tobacco control.
"If they choose to smoke and are educated [about tobacco] and still make that decision -- primarily because it's a very strong addiction -- it doesn't give them the right to force the proceeds of their behaviour on others," she said. "I think what they deserve is some assistance in becoming non-smokers."
As the Capital Regional District cracks down on bar and restaurant "patios" that are more indoor than outdoor space, the health authority is seriously considering banning smoking on the grounds of any health-care facility on the Island.
Currently, no policy is in place. The Clean Air Bylaw prohibits indoor smoking in the capital region. North of the Malahat, there's little consistency. In a separate move, the tobacco control department is trying to snuff out smoking in about five long-term care homes on the Island that have an indoor smoking room.
Both Young and Walper admit workers smoking outside a health-care facility doesn't look good, but wonder where they're supposed to go if they don't want to quit.
Stan Dubas, senior administrator for Central Care Corporation, which runs the James Bay Care Centre, said dealing with the competing interests of smokers and non smokers requires the wisdom of Solomon. "I have to balance the rights of those who don't [smoke] with the rights of those who do."
Dubas said he's told workers that an outdoor smoking area with a picnic table for staff will be created over the next few weeks.
When the Centre reopened in late June after 14 months of renovations, it established a no-smoking policy for all new residents. Of the former residents who returned -- they had relocated to the Gorge Road Hospital during the renovations -- only six were smokers, who retain their right to smoke.
One former resident who retains that right to puff away is a feisty 97-year-old woman who enjoys three cigarettes each day.
"That's where it tears out your heart strings," Dubas said, explaining the conflict as a health administrator of wanting residents to be happy but knowing the activity they are engaging in could kill them.
Twice daily George Watt, 83, arrives at the James Bay facility to visit his wife Mabel, 85, who has Alzheimer's disease. On Wednesday, he carried in his bag of treats -- sweet wine, chocolates and Lawrence Welk music.
The staff who have worked there for years, through labour disputes and wage cuts, treat his wife and other residents like family, he said. "When my wife is in pain, you can see the pain in their faces."
To see those same caregivers banished to the outskirts of the facility "is bloody awful," he said.
The balancing act between the rights of smokers and non-smokers is only going to become more challenging, Stevenson said. In parts of B.C. and around the world, some cities are posting signs on beaches and in parks asking visitors not to smoke.
"[Smoking] takes 20 per cent of our health-care dollars so I think we have a responsibility -- a fiscal responsibility if nothing else," she said.
A few blocks from the seniors' home is the James Bay shopping centre. Its parking lot, outdoor patios and store entrances are often full of smokers, mostly employees taking their work breaks.
One health-care worker said regional smoking bylaws that have pushed people out into the streets have resulted in the creation of little shanty towns for smokers.
At The Empress hotel, where the landmark's postcard image is key, staff have fenced off outdoor smoking -- at least 15 metres away from staff entrances, said Anastasia Martin-Stilwell, the hotel's public relations manager.
"It seems to work well from both sides of the fence."
The problem, say some smokers, is that the dividing line continues to move in favour of non-smokers, leaving them with fewer and fewer places to go and no respect.
http://www.canada.com/victoria/story.html?id=f6917752-09dc-417f-a69e-7b88543d44b4
Smokers languish in no-man's land 2 -BC
Cindy E. Harnett Times Colonist August 3, 2005
Care home staff in need of a place for cigarette breaks say it's a matter of respect for everyone
Beyond the manicured lawns of the newly renovated James Bay Care Centre in Victoria, two health-care workers in pink uniforms balance themselves on wooden pilings on the fringes of the parking lot.
Banished from smoking inside or even in the facility's sprawling backyard garden, they inhale cigarettes and drink coffee in a sort of concrete no man's land.
"It's humiliating," said Jill Walper, a nurse's aide for 11 years.
Her colleague Rose Young called the situation embarrassing and sad. "We don't have any respect. Everybody -- smokers and non-smokers -- should have rights."
But smoking isn't a right, according to Dianne Stevenson, the Vancouver Island Health Authority's regional manager for tobacco control.
"If they choose to smoke and are educated [about tobacco] and still make that decision -- primarily because it's a very strong addiction -- it doesn't give them the right to force the proceeds of their behaviour on others," she said. "I think what they deserve is some assistance in becoming non-smokers."
As the Capital Regional District cracks down on bar and restaurant "patios" that are more indoor than outdoor space, the health authority is seriously considering banning smoking on the grounds of any health-care facility on the Island.
Currently, no policy is in place. The Clean Air Bylaw prohibits indoor smoking in the capital region. North of the Malahat, there's little consistency. In a separate move, the tobacco control department is trying to snuff out smoking in about five long-term care homes on the Island that have an indoor smoking room.
Both Young and Walper admit workers smoking outside a health-care facility doesn't look good, but wonder where they're supposed to go if they don't want to quit.
Stan Dubas, senior administrator for Central Care Corporation, which runs the James Bay Care Centre, said dealing with the competing interests of smokers and non smokers requires the wisdom of Solomon. "I have to balance the rights of those who don't [smoke] with the rights of those who do."
Dubas said he's told workers that an outdoor smoking area with a picnic table for staff will be created over the next few weeks.
When the Centre reopened in late June after 14 months of renovations, it established a no-smoking policy for all new residents. Of the former residents who returned -- they had relocated to the Gorge Road Hospital during the renovations -- only six were smokers, who retain their right to smoke.
One former resident who retains that right to puff away is a feisty 97-year-old woman who enjoys three cigarettes each day.
"That's where it tears out your heart strings," Dubas said, explaining the conflict as a health administrator of wanting residents to be happy but knowing the activity they are engaging in could kill them.
Twice daily George Watt, 83, arrives at the James Bay facility to visit his wife Mabel, 85, who has Alzheimer's disease. On Wednesday, he carried in his bag of treats -- sweet wine, chocolates and Lawrence Welk music.
The staff who have worked there for years, through labour disputes and wage cuts, treat his wife and other residents like family, he said. "When my wife is in pain, you can see the pain in their faces."
To see those same caregivers banished to the outskirts of the facility "is bloody awful," he said.
The balancing act between the rights of smokers and non-smokers is only going to become more challenging, Stevenson said. In parts of B.C. and around the world, some cities are posting signs on beaches and in parks asking visitors not to smoke.
"[Smoking] takes 20 per cent of our health-care dollars so I think we have a responsibility -- a fiscal responsibility if nothing else," she said.
A few blocks from the seniors' home is the James Bay shopping centre. Its parking lot, outdoor patios and store entrances are often full of smokers, mostly employees taking their work breaks.
One health-care worker said regional smoking bylaws that have pushed people out into the streets have resulted in the creation of little shanty towns for smokers.
At The Empress hotel, where the landmark's postcard image is key, staff have fenced off outdoor smoking -- at least 15 metres away from staff entrances, said Anastasia Martin-Stilwell, the hotel's public relations manager.
"It seems to work well from both sides of the fence."
The problem, say some smokers, is that the dividing line continues to move in favour of non-smokers, leaving them with fewer and fewer places to go and no respect.
http://www.canada.com/components/printstory/printstory4.aspx?id=f6917752-09dc-417f-a69e-7b88543d44b4
Health authority going cold turkey -BC
Cindy E. Harnett Times Colonist August 3, 2005
Proposal would ban smoking on grounds of all health facilities
Vancouver Island is on course to become the first health authority in B.C. to ban smoking on the grounds of all health facilities, chief medical health officer Dr. Richard Stanwick said Tuesday. "We hope to have something in the near future," said Stanwick. "Definitely within six months, but I would hope sooner."
Seeking refinements, the health authority's executive and board members have sent the proposed policy back to the medical health officer. One request seeks to offer alternatives for the unique challenges presented by some patients and residents.
Extreme circumstances might include residents receiving end-of-life care, mental-health patients or those dealing with addictions. Exemptions or that "proverbial garden" may be created for their exclusive use. Hospital patients well enough to walk could be forced off the property to smoke, Stanwick said.
"I was instructed to pay special attention to certain groups within the health authority," he said in an interview. "We're using this month of August to address a lot of the concerns.
"We want to make sure we plan this right with the appropriate amount of consultation, and ensure there's a clear implementation strategy as well as a really good communication strategy."
The driving force behind the new policy is an evolving trend in society toward the creation of non-smoking policies and the health authority's focus on bringing the Island in line with health and wellness promotion, said Stanwick. "We are supposed to be a health promoting health authority and we recognize this is the leading cause of preventable death in this country so why would we be encouraging a habit . . . or seen to be doing anything other than helping people to quit," he said.
Moreover, as much as it's important to protect staff from blood-tainted sharp objects, so too should workers be protected from tobacco, he said.
"For many people this is their residence . . . and it is a place where they are often receiving life-giving care, but it's still a workplace for some," Stanwick said. "And it's part of a broader wellness strategy we're looking at for VIHA."
Creation of non-smoking health facilities is a growing trend in the United States, Stanwick said. About 10 other health authorities in Canada have also gone this route including Halifax, Brandon Winnipeg, Calgary and Saskatoon
http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/news/story.html?id=ea77cd04-67df-461d-a012-2f67af2804be
Minister urges compromise on VIHA's anti-smoking efforts -BC
Cindy E. Harnett Times Colonist August 4, 2005
Health Minister George Abbott says the province's health authorities must weigh the benefits of banning smoking in hospitals and seniors' homes with the risk of pushing patients to the edge of the parking lot or beyond.
"I think we need to be careful not to kill people in order to save them from themselves," said Abbott in a phone interview Wednesday.
Richard Stanwick, chief medical health officer, is working on a policy for the Vancouver Island Health Authority to ban smoking on the grounds of all health facilities.
He expects the policy will be ready for public consultation in a month or so and will see VIHA executive and board approval within six months.
Abbott said health authorities are entitled to regulate smoking but must consider compromises for patients who, determined to smoke, might risk their physical health to get off hospital property or harm their mental health or addictions recovery by trying to quit.
"Putting that [policy] barrier in front of them may in some cases prompt them not to smoke, but where people are addicted to tobacco, as they often are, they will go where they need to smoke," Abbott said.
"When the policy is implemented we must be watchful for unintended consequences."
B.C. has the lowest smoking rate in Canada but now trails behind smoke-free legislation in other provinces such as Ontario.
Of Vancouver Island Health Authority's approximately 16,000 employees, surveys suggest about nine per cent smoke.
"It's very low," said VIHA spokeswoman Karin Heimlich.
And of those people who decide to quit smoking, about 80 per cent do so on their own, said Dianne Stevenson, the health authority's regional manager for tobacco control.
However, VIHA is exploring expanding health-care benefits to include more resources to help staff quit smoking.
Nicotine-replacement therapies such as patches are already available to patients.
Stevenson met Wednesday with provincial health officials in Vancouver to talk about possible B.C.-wide strategies --including everything from legislation banning smoking in all B.C. indoor public areas to free nicotine-replacement therapies .
"We want to do as much as possible to assist people and to deal with the fact this is killing them," Stevenson said.
Abbott said to create a plan for B.C. he's taking the next few months to review with staff new programs on ending tobacco use and initiatives in other provinces. He's considering offering financial help to buy nicotine-replacement therapies or to exempt from sales tax those products that help people to give up tobacco.
"I hope we can reach some decision points over a period of months. I'm happy to try some new and innovative things to discourage smoking," he said.
"Ultimately people have to make an informed decision themselves whether they want to quit smoking," Abbott said. "The government can't mandate that people stop smoking, they need to be persuaded that their health outcomes will be dramatically improved if they don't smoke."
B.C. will collect $686 million from tobacco taxes this year. About double that amount will be spent by the health-care system to treat tobacco-related illnesses
http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=e104bb85-21fd-4519-812e-d15f4f877029
Lets adults have choice -AB
August 5, 2005
WE ALL agree that smoking is not good for you, that children should not start smoking, that second-hand smoke may have harmful effects. However, adult Canadians should have a choice. Here is a practical plan that would satisfy reasonable people. The province sells permits that allow a restaurant to permit smoking. The province controls the number of permits sold at a number of maybe 10% or 15% of the number of restaurants in the province. The province sets minimum air-quality standards and monitors them through the Board of Health which already monitors the food and cleanliness in the restaurants. Workers have a fair choice of where to work: 85% no smoking, 15% smoking. Customers have a choice of where to eat. The province collects revenues and oversees the air quality. The business owner has a choice of having an air-filtration system and allowing his smoking customers to eat and smoke in peace. Really not that complicated.
Thomas Laprade Thunder Bay, Ont.
(There must be a catch somewhere ...)
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Letters/2005/08/05/1160086.html
Restaurant patios could become no-smoking zones -BC
CBC News Last updated Aug 5 2005 10:17 AM PDT
The City of Vancouver is considering extending its indoor smoking ban to outdoor restaurant patios, following numerous complaints from non-smokers.
Nick Losito, the regional director of health protection, says the issue is being studied to see how big a problem it really is.
He says smoking outdoors doesn't pose as great a health risk to others as indoor smoking does, but still calls it a concern.
"Certainly on patios at close quarters, I'm not going to say there's no risk, but there's less risk than subjecting people to indoor second-hand smoke. But in large part, it's really a case of personal preference, of comfort, of nuisance than it is a health impact."
* INTERVIEW: The Early Edition's Myke Clark speaks with Nick Losito.
Geoffrey Howes of the B.C. Restaurant and Foodservices Association says targeting smokers is unnecessary and smacks of political interference, calling it "social engineering."
Losito says restaurant patios aren't the only place smoking might be stopped. He says the health authority will also examine no-smoking buffer zones outside office buildings.
Less than 25 per cent of Vancouver residents currently smoke.
http://vancouver.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=bc_smoking-patios20050805
Smoking rats give hope to stroke patients
Calgary Herald Shelley Knapp Saturday, August 06, 2005
A cigarette a day may keep the cardiologist at bay. Or more specifically it could hasten the recovery of stroke patients, according to the findings of one of Canada's leading neuropsychologists.
And now, Brian Kolb, a researcher at the University of Lethbridge, is checking to see if a little bit of pot may do the same.
"So far we've tried nicotine and amphetamines," says Kolb. "What you find with nicotine, is the animals with stroke show better recovery and improvement. It speeds things up."
No, the rats aren't sitting in the lab in velvet smoking jackets, lighting up cigarettes, he adds with a laugh. The nicotine is injected and Kolb has found that the small daily dose stimulates the production of new neural connections, which stroke patients need when their old pathways have been "stroked out."
Kolb cautions that caregivers shouldn't rush out and buy a pack of smokes, either.
"You don't want people smoking, which can cause the stroke in the first place," says Kolb. "We also don't want others running out and putting on (nicotine) patches, because we don't know what the dose should be."
While the whole concept sounds contradictory as smoking is known to cause strokes and heart problems, one Calgary stroke survivor applauds Kolb's research.
"Anything they can do to speed up recovery times is a good thing," says Ashley Schmidt.
Back in Kolb's Lethbridge lab, it will be more than a year until nicotine trials with humans, so the focus has shifted to studying whether marijuana has the same benefit.
So Kolb is using THC, the mood-altering component of marijuana, on rats.
He has already found that it produced changes in normal lab rats, so THC will be injected into stroke rats and studied.
Kolb also knows that many animal activists won't approve of his study.
"Every drug used by people today has been tested first on animals."
A sign on a lab door in Lethbridge also shows how true that is. The poster from the Washington-based Foundation for Biomedical research says that animal testing has extended human life expectancy by 20.8 years.
And the use of rats in research has also gone down. According to the Canadian Council on Animal Care, 332,065 rats were used for scientific purposes in 2002 compared with 594,678 in 1975.
http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/news/city/story.html?id=02e73ae8-5631-4b91-a5e1-222b0c4c9940
Store owners feel punished -MB
By ALANA PONA, STAFF REPORTER August 6, 2005
Would face fines for cig displays
The province hopes a new law forcing retailers to hide tobacco products will help reduce the number of kids who smoke. But store owners and business officials say the law only punishes them.
"The cost of business is going up in the province of Manitoba once again," said Shannon Martin, the director of provincial affairs for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
"The government is imposing another legislation on business owners as they try to address larger social issues."
OUT OF SIGHT OF MINORS
Under the provisions of the Non-Smokers Health Protection Act, which kicks in Aug. 15, retailers will be fined if they fail to keep cigarettes and other tobacco products out of sight of minors.
In addition, window signs must be removed to prevent tobacco advertisements from being visible from outside. The size of signs will be limited, and must use specific wording authorized by the province to describe the cigarettes on sale.
Fines range from $235 to $535 for individuals, $385 to $1,035 for businesses, and $2,035 for first offences for corporations.
"We want to denormalize tobacco," said James Drew, manager of the environmental health unit for Manitoba Health. "If you can get a youth to be 18 or 19 and not be a smoker, there's a very good chance that the percentage drops in their likelihood of becoming a smoker."
But Shannon argues the government should look for other ways to help teens butt out, such as fining them if they are caught with tobacco.
"The onus is just on the business to deal with the issue," he said." It's worth taking a look at young people using tobacco."
Swatantra Sachdeva, otherwise known as Harry, said a sliding door hides his cigarettes at his St. Anne's Road convenience store but he doubts it or the new regulations will help kids butt out.
"If somebody asks me, I don't like this idea," Sachdeva said. "If you know what I sell and if you hide it -- I'm not going to quit smoking cigarettes."
Also on Aug. 15, the province is boosting a host of other fines, including a hefty increase from $235 to $535 for public disturbances in provincial parks. There will also be new fines of $235 for passing stopped emergency vehicles when it is unsafe and for stopping a vehicle on a railway crossing.
http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Winnipeg/2005/08/06/1161874-sun.html
Smokin' headache -AB
By STEVE TILLEY, EDMONTON SUN Sat, August 6, 2005
Folk fest fans might typically be seen as granola-eating, Birkenstock-wearing, underarm hair-growing neo-hippies, and it goes without saying that a certain segment of the festival population is exactly that. You'll generally find them dancing at the side of the mainstage, without worry or care or, let's face it, rhythm.
But the great thing about folk fest is it attracts a huge range of people for a huge range of reasons. Some come for the mainstage headliners, some come to mellow out to the side stage sessions, some come just to eat great food and play in the sun with their families. And lots come to drink.
The beer garden is a focal point of social activity on any given year. I drink more Big Rock on folk fest weekend than in the entire rest of August combined, which is no small feat considering my Big Rock beer rep comrade and his hard-partying roommates live across the street from me, and they have a beer fridge as part of their living room decor.
NEW BYLAW
This year's a little different, though. Keeping with the new city bylaw governing bars and restaurants, you can no longer smoke in the folk fest beer garden. You have to step from the grassy, open-skied compound to the grassy, open-skied hill outside the fence to smoke. And then line up to get back in, if it's a busy night.
To this draconian and perhaps even illogical bit of anti-smoking enforcement, I can say only this: Ha ha, suckers!
Anything that inconveniences smokers is OK by me. I'm not a full-on anti-smoking Nazi or anything, but if I go out of my way not to pass explosive beer-and-broccoli-flavoured gas in front of friends or strangers, why do I have to endure them doing something that stinks around me?
I don't even like kissing girls who smoke, though naturally that doesn't actually stop me from doing so, should the opportunity arise. I mean, just because a delicious pastrami sandwich falls on a filthy floor doesn't mean you're not going to pick it up and eat it. Let's be realistic.
Folk fest organizers said making the beer garden smoke-free is the first step in a plan to have the entire festival eventually purged of burning tobacco (though other kind of flammable plants will presumably always endure). How they'll enforce this remains a mystery, but I think it would be cool to have a platoon of smoke-cops patrolling the hill with Super Soakers. Or Tasers.
FLICK THEIR BUTTS
Right now, though, the no-smoking rule in the beer garden is causing the odd headache, as drunktards - yes, that T is deliberate - flick their butts into the grass before going back in. By the time you read this, there should be barrels set up around the perimeter as makeshift giant ashtrays. Yum.
The one drawback to the smoking bylaw is most of my immediate family members and several of my acquaintances smoke, so I often find myself wondering where everybody in the bar has gone, only to learn they're all outside on the sidewalk (or, in the case of folk fest, on the other side of the fence) having a butt and probably sharing a laugh about something really funny and cool I'll never know about. All because I'm the loser non-smoker who prefers to kill his liver with alcohol rather than his lungs with tar.
Oh well. More beer for me. In fact, I'd be happy to hold your cup of Grasshopper while you go outside to smoke. If I happen to "spill" some before you get back ... well, these things happen. Especially when you're dancing.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Entertainment/FolkFestival/2005/08/06/1162022-sun.html
Re: New Book Calls For Tobacco Buyout, Aug. 2.
National Post Friday, August 05, 2005
As a reformed smoker (2 packs a day for four decades), no one has to tell me about the health benefits associated with quitting. Nevertheless, I'm disturbed when I hear rabid anti-smoking groups perpetuating lies and distortions regarding the "health costs associated with smoking."
According to these geniuses, the health care system would save a bundle if only we would all quit smoking.
No, if we all quit smoking, many, many more of us will wind up spending the last 10 or 20 years of our lives in government-assisted long-term care hospitals, using up thousands of dollars worth of medication, medical and support staff time, food and other resources. I think these costs should be factored in when estimating the cost benefits of stopping smoking.
Jim Bee, Mississauga, Ont.
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/comment/letters_story.html?id=b71a78a4-9171-4185-90fd-f1233075c44d
NHL return has two sides -AB
AT MY local watering hole, the price of beer has not dropped. What has dropped, however, is the number of patrons spending their hard-earned money. Many people tell me that when the NHL returns this fall, they will no longer be going to their favourite watering hole to watch the game like they used to. They will stay home to watch the game, as they can smoke at home, and the beer and food will be cheaper. City council needs to stop meddling in our lives and do the jobs they said they would do when they campaigned for election. I don't remember my councillor campaigning on a platform that included a smoking ban.
Andrew Gregg
(Could hockey's return have a downside?)
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Letters/2005/08/06/1161368.html
Addiction Admission
I AM A smoker. I know it's bad for me. However, I enjoy it. It helps me relax, work better and socialize better. Maybe I should call in an expert to get analysis on why I need to smoke, but in the end I would disregard them and continue on. It is an addiction. I want at least one addiction, lest I end up eating only rice cakes and drinking bottled water. Where's the fun in that?
Geoff Dean
(They're OK with a T-bone on the side.)
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Letters/2005/08/06/1161368.html
Displays going up in smoke -MB
Cigarette sales rules changing
By Mia Rabson Saturday, August 6th, 2005
MANITOBA retailers have just one more week to hide their cigarettes and take down most tobacco advertising or risk a fine of upwards of $2,000.
The now three-year-old Non-Smokers Health Protection Act finally comes into effect Aug. 15, prohibiting the display or advertising of any tobacco-related product anywhere children are present.
The act was passed by the Manitoba legislature in 2002, but has never been implemented because of a legal challenge against a similar law in Saskatchewan. When the Supreme Court last January upheld the Saskatchewan law, Manitoba began moving to implement the same law here.
Fines for failing to adhere to the law range from $235 for individuals, to $1,035 for businesses, and $2,035 for corporations.
Jim Dreu, manager of the environmental health unit with Manitoba Health, said the only smoking-related signs allowed in stores will be those expressing the type and price of products available, such as a carton or a single package.
But even those signs are severely limited. They can't be larger than 150 square inches, the font can't be larger than 70 points, and the signs must have black lettering on a white background. No pictures or graphics are allowed and no brands can be identified.
As well there can be only one sign per till to a maximum of three signs per store and the signs can't be seen from outside the store.
Some store owners are outraged at the law, saying it won't accomplish its intended goals.
"It's going to be harder for me to handle my product, because I'll have to go behind a curtain every time," said Murray Abas, owner of Bargains Galore, a three-store chain that he said was intending to keep its advertising up until the day the law goes into effect.
Abas said the new law raised security concerns for his clerks and defeated is goal. "Now every time I turn around to grab a pack and go behind a curtain, it's dangerous because someone could rob me. Kids are still going to come in and see advertising, anyways."
Dreu said retailers have already received two mailings from the province outlining the rules, and additional advertising will begin this weekend in local newspapers.
He said because retailers have known for years this was coming, most have already taken the necessary steps to comply.
The law is part of a provincial strategy to reduce smoking, particularly among youth. Manitoba anti-smoking lobby groups have long promoted the out-of-sight, out-of-mind philosophy, and say research shows the less kids see of smoking and cigarettes, the fewer kids smoke.
Some store owners agree with the law, saying even though removing their ads would probably result in a loss in profit, and they supported its implementation.
"I think it's a good idea for us to cover up the cigarettes, because it benefits the kids," said Damte Habte, the owner of Selkirk Supermarket. "Most owners don't like the law because it's a drop in income, but it's for the general good."
www.winnipegfreepress.com
Deadly comfort
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1113595699701_109004899/?hub=WFive
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Creating a world where no Canadian fears cancer. That's our vision and together, we can make it happen. Join our team of dedicated volunteers and staff to help us reach our goals.
Senior Coordinator, Smokers' Helpline Projects
Our Smokers' Helpline (SHL) is a free, confidential, evidence-based cessation service, based in Hamilton and available by telephone across Ontario. Working 21 hours per week in this part-time contract position, you will research and develop smoking cessation projects related to Smokers' Helpline intervention and delivery. Experienced in translating research and experiential findings into viable service enhancement, you will develop processes, information content and training related to project implementation, and provide support to the internal site management of the web-based arm of Smokers' Helpline. Draw on your excellent writing, editing and proofreading skills to compile project information and draft reports, and identify and pursue funding opportunities, including grant/proposal writing. A multi-tasking project manager, you have 3 or more years of experience in a similar type of position, highly developed computer skills, and the flexibility to work occasional evenings/ weekends. This position demands a post-secondary education in a relevant discipline such as health promotion, health studies or health sciences, and/or an equivalent combination of education and experience, with an understanding of tobacco control and cessation strategies. A valid driver's licence and access to a reliable vehicle are required for travel within Ontario. Bilingualism in French and English is preferred.
We offer a competitive salary, and an opportunity to contribute to our mission in a great working environment. Qualified non-smokers are invited to send their resumes, indicating salary expectations, by August 16, 2005, to: Director, Cancer Information Service, 328 Mountain Park Avenue, Hamilton, ON L8V 4X2. Fax: 905-387-0376. E-mail: donna.czukar@hrcc.on.ca. We thank all applicants for their interest and advise that only those selected for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls, please.
The Canadian Cancer Society provides equal opportunity in employment and encourages applications from all qualified persons.
Originally published in The Hamilton Spectator Ad# 0796193H
http://jobs.workopolis.com/jobshome/db/spec.job_posting?pi_job_id=7641874&pi_search
_id=455755033&pi_sort=POST_DATE&pi_curjob=46&pi_maxjob=500
Tougher anti-smoking law planned -BC
Richard Chu and Doris Sun Vancouver Sun Monday, August 08, 2005
Bar patios, building entrances targeted under new restrictions
The days of smokers enjoying a few cigarettes on a restaurant or bar patio in Vancouver may be numbered.
The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority is preparing a report for Vancouver council that explores whether to restrict or eliminate smoking on restaurant and bar patios. It will also look at restricting smoking near building entrances and eliminating indoor smoking rooms.
"There's been an increase in complaints and inquiries, that's part of it," said Nick Losito, regional director of health protection for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.
"We've [also] seen Vancouver and B.C., with its progressive smoking restrictions and provisions 10 years ago, fall behind most other jurisdictions in Canada, so it's time to have another look at it."
Currently, Calgary, Edmonton and Saskatoon prohibit smoking in all public buildings and outdoor patios. Calgary prohibited smoking on outdoor patios in 2003, and Saskatoon in 2004. Edmonton's updated smoking bylaw came into effect July 1.
According to 2000-01 Statistics Canada data, only 16 per cent of British Columbians smoke, down from about 25 per cent a decade ago. Almost 160,000 people quit smoking in B.C. in that time.
Anti-smoking advocates like Mann Biagtan of the B.C. Lung Association say part of that reduction has to do with the region's smoking bylaws, and further restrictions to include outdoor patios will likely force smokers to not light up as often.
"In one way or another, some people have thought, 'If we are not allowed and there are consequences for smoking in a public place,' they may lessen the number of cigarettes they smoke on a patio," she said.
Vancouver smokers had mixed reactions to possible restrictions.
"I could see indoors not allowing it because you're indoors, but outside, I don't see a reason why you can't as long as there are ashtrays," said M.J. Kurulak smoking in a Starbucks patio in Gastown.
"I don't like it at all," said 61-year-old Bob Rowden, smoking outside his tour bus on Water Street. "As far as I'm concerned, [if] you smoke outside, you're not bothering anyone. If they don't want to be around you, they can move somewhere else."
George Badea, 31, smoking at a Blenz patio on Granville Street, however, was more understanding. "It's going to be hard, but you have to take into consideration that you're actually polluting the air around you. . . . Maybe I should quit smoking altogether."
Vancouver restaurants and bars operators are concerned about possible changes.
"It's good business for people to have a smoke-free area inside a patio, but going to 100 per cent right away would probably be very hard on our operators because they put them [patios] in for the smokers," said Richard Floody, chairman of the B.C. Restaurant and Foodservices Association.
"Smokers seem to be a vanishing breed, but this is economics and smokers have the power of veto still. If there are six people going out and one person smokes, they're going to end up where that one person can smoke." Floody said he would prefer any new smoking restrictions to be enacted province- or region-wide to provide a level playing field for restaurants and bars and prevent the frustration and confusion that happened when the initial smoking bylaw was enacted 10 years ago.
Back then, "you could smoke in other jurisdictions, so if you were on the border of Burnaby and Vancouver, someone across the street could smoke, but you couldn't [in Vancouver]."
Vancouver Coun. Anne Roberts said the report was commissioned as part of a broader look at addiction based on the city's four pillars strategy on solving drug-related issues in Vancouver.
"We had a report that looked at prevention and strategies around addiction and this is part of the expansion of the whole four pillars approach," said Roberts.
"We're looking at all sorts of addictions when we look at prevention, and smoking tobacco comes into that picture as part of the strategy."
However, smokers can breathe easy for now, as the report's recommendations likely won't be discussed by council until early next year, according to Roberts.
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/story.html?id=beccf623-e88f-489f-894e-31315ab83a93
search nike missile base
http://www.canadianstrokenetwork.ca/media/releases/release.jun23.2004a.e.pdf
Nick Losito joined the Vancouver Health Department as a Public Health Inspector over 20 years ago. He got involved in workplace tobacco smoke control early in his career and became Director of Environmental Health for Vancouver. Nick is currently in charge of Environmental Health for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. He has been an active member in the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors and has served on their National Executive Council. Nick's responsibilities include community noise control; food safety and indoor air pollution. Nick has been instrumental in reforms to protect Canadians from the effects of second hand smoke.
Feb 9 2005 speech Topic: tobacco smoke control in GVRD or BC – Where we are, How we got here, where we would like to be in 2010
http://www.ashrae.bc.ca/bc/events_files/Feb05.doc.
Appeals of Six Separate Orders of Medical Officer of Health for the Northwestern Health Unit under Section 44 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act (HPPA), Revised Statutes of Ontario, 1990, chapter H.7
http://www.hsarb.on.ca/english/decisions/second_hand_smoking_fdr.pdf *have a copy saved
**Toxicology studies absent in smoking theories
By Lynda Duguay. As an example of the overstated risks and how they create false phobias, a list of chemicals in tobacco smoke is listed below and how many cigarettes burning at the same time it would take to reach the lower threshold of danger in a room 20x20 with 9 foot ceilings at standard temperature and air pressure with no ventilation.
Letter Monday, August 08, 2005
Re: Data Supports Ban, July 30. What I find interesting is that the Canadian Cancer Society only references epidemiological studies as their proof that second-hand smoke is a health hazard.
Epidemiology can only show the relative strength of possible relationships. In order to show the cause of a disease, it is required that there be toxicology studies.
Using a simple survey given out to cancer patients asking them to recall exposure to a substance as they are being diagnosed isn't realistic science. This isn't proof, it is conjecture -- at best a biased guess, not proof of cause.
The statistics-based theory that second-hand smoke is a cause of cancer ignores the real science called toxicology.
Dose relationships recognizes safe levels of exposure to potentially hazardous substances. This well-established science allows uranium to be mined, cars to be painted and toll booth workers to survive high levels of exhaust thanks to adequate ventilation, monitoring and compliance to established limits of exposure.
There are only five unique chemicals released in tobacco smoke. All of the other substances in second-hand smoke cited as being of concern occur in far greater quantities and concentrations in everyday life. Sources like candles, cooking fumes, vehicle exhaust, welding fumes and most domestic and industrial processes cause the release into the air of formaldehyde, benzene, Benzo-a-pyrene and thousands of other chemicals in amounts measured in tons as compared to the micrograms released by burning tobacco.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says "in normal situations, exposures would not exceed these permissible exposure limits (PELs), and, as a matter of prosecutorial discretion, OSHA will not apply the General Duty Clause to ETS."
The anti-tobacco campaign is all about fear-mongering, has no real scientific basis, and is just plain wrong. The real data and real science does not support the ban.
It should be the business owners' decision to allow smoking in his business, not a decision made by extremist tobacco control groups. It's better to be safe then sorry, but please, base regulations on real science.
The economy shouldn't suffer when there's no proof of danger.
Lynda Duguay
Allenford, Ont
http://www.smokersclubinc.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1921
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/letters/story.html?id=6c3de67f-a3c4-498e-8dc7-b4d36df8c98d
Smog advisory issued Windsor Star -ON
Monday, August 08, 2005
A smog advisory has been issued today for Windsor and Essex county by Ontario's Ministry of the Environment.
Hot, sunny conditions combined with light southerly winds carrying air pollution from the United States are expected to result in high smog levels.
Environment Canada is forecasting highs of 32 C for today, Tuesday and Wednesday.
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=425d23dc-ad56-4674-9119-49715f08b4a5
Smoking ban studied for outdoor facilities
By PETTI FONG Monday, August 8, 2005 Page S1
VANCOUVER -- The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority is looking at expanding a non-smoking ban to include restaurant patios, bus shelters and large outdoor areas like the Pacific National Exhibition.
Nick Losito, director of health protection for the authority, said complaints about smokers at outdoor restaurant patios have been mounting, and a report about extending the decade-old indoor smoking ban is heading to council.
"We're trying to look at this in the long-term and the goals we are setting," said Mr. Losito. "What is driving a lot of this is not so much public health or protecting public health, it's more about where society is today and where it's going."
The report is still being prepared for Vancouver city council, but Mr. Losito said his staff is considering a ban on smoking in bus shelters, outdoor queue areas, entries to buildings and even public areas where young people play sports and the PNE.
A smoking ban on outdoor patios and public areas could make Vancouver one of the most restrictive cities in North America when it comes to smoking.
San Francisco banned outdoor smoking in most parks, playing fields and tennis courts in July.
A smoking ban in Quebec restaurants and bars won't come into effect until 2006, and Ontario's prohibition on tobacco in workplaces, restaurants, schools and child-care centres doesn't extend to outdoor patios or building entrances.
A ban on smoking in outdoor patios would be easier to enforce than in bus shelters or on playing fields, said Mr. Losito. If outdoor areas fall under new smoking restrictions, he said the health authority would use signs for compliance.
Richard Floody, chairman of the B.C. Restaurant and Foodservices Association, said banning smoking on outdoor patios would work if a section remains open to smokers.
"What concerns me a little bit is such a ban shouldn't be done by municipality. It should be done province wide so it doesn't give an advantage to one municipality over another," Mr. Posted at 10:51 am by looped_ca
Smoking ban studied for outdoor facilities
By PETTI FONG Monday, August 8, 2005 Page S1
VANCOUVER -- The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority is looking at expanding a non-smoking ban to include restaurant patios, bus shelters and large outdoor areas like the Pacific National Exhibition.
Nick Losito, director of health protection for the authority, said complaints about smokers at outdoor restaurant patios have been mounting, and a report about extending the decade-old indoor smoking ban is heading to council.
"We're trying to look at this in the long-term and the goals we are setting," said Mr. Losito. "What is driving a lot of this is not so much public health or protecting public health, it's more about where society is today and where it's going."
The report is still being prepared for Vancouver city council, but Mr. Losito said his staff is considering a ban on smoking in bus shelters, outdoor queue areas, entries to buildings and even public areas where young people play sports and the PNE.
A smoking ban on outdoor patios and public areas could make Vancouver one of the most restrictive cities in North America when it comes to smoking.
San Francisco banned outdoor smoking in most parks, playing fields and tennis courts in July.
A smoking ban in Quebec restaurants and bars won't come into effect until 2006, and Ontario's prohibition on tobacco in workplaces, restaurants, schools and child-care centres doesn't extend to outdoor patios or building entrances.
A ban on smoking in outdoor patios would be easier to enforce than in bus shelters or on playing fields, said Mr. Losito. If outdoor areas fall under new smoking restrictions, he said the health authority would use signs for compliance.
Richard Floody, chairman of the B.C. Restaurant and Foodservices Association, said banning smoking on outdoor patios would work if a section remains open to smokers.
"What concerns me a little bit is such a ban shouldn't be done by municipality. It should be done province wide so it doesn't give an advantage to one municipality over another," Mr. Floody said.
In the past few years, Mr. Floody said, more restaurants have become smoke-free, even on their outdoor patios.
Fred Bass, an advocate for more smoke-free environments and a Vancouver city councillor, said less than 16 per cent of the adult population in B.C. smokes, and that number could be further reduced by restricting areas where people are allowed to light up.
"I will defend smokers' right to smoke and I have done that, as long as their smoke doesn't get in the body of non-smokers," Dr. Bass said.
"Given that 84 or more per cent of people really want fresh air and want to enjoy what the outdoor is like, it seems reasonable to say there should be a limitation on even outdoor smoking."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050808/BCSMOKING08/
Authors should butt out
From the Ottawa Citizen August 8, 2005
A new book that suggests the federal and provincial governments buy out Canada's tobacco companies in order to sell fewer cigarettes makes one wonder what the authors have been smoking.
The business of the Canadian government is not business, but governing. We've spent decades spinning off ill-conceived and inefficient Crown corporations. Why ask our governments to get back into the manufacturing and retail business?
Worse yet is the prospect of governments wielding monopoly control over increasing numbers of products and services. In Ontario, we have such a system already -- the Liquor Control Board of Ontario -- and no one would consider the LCBO a model of efficiency.
There are also moral and practical arguments against the government vending a product known to kill vast numbers of Canadians. The moral issue is self-evident; the practical centres on the legal responsibility for harms that befall smokers as a result of their habit.
Do we really want a situation where the federal government is forced to defend itself against tobacco suits or, more perversely yet, provincial governments sue themselves for smoking-related health-care costs?
In defending their thesis, the authors argue that a Crown corporation or other public entity controlling the tobacco industry would be able to gradually reduce smoking rates by eliminating advertising, making cigarettes less attractive, preventing store owners from being paid for counter-top displays, and creating anti-smoking campaigns.
If all this sounds familiar, it should: each of these initiatives is either already in effect, or being contemplated.
Furthermore, the disincentives appear to be working. Smoking rates have plunged to below 20 per cent, from upwards of 60 per cent in 1965, lending credence to the tobacco industry's contention that smoking can be effectively curbed under the current regulatory regime.
As to the projected cost of buying up the tobacco industry, the authors say it could range from zero (provided the companies simply turn over the keys to their respective operations) to as much as $15 billion (assuming they're so mercenary as to actually want to be paid for their businesses).
What the authors fail to take into account is the ongoing cost of the vast bureaucracy necessary to run the industry, and the eventual elimination of $8.7 billion in annual tax revenue.
On the other hand, since the objective is ultimately to sell less and less product, to generate less and less tax revenue, and to perform worse and worse as a business, perhaps a Crown corporation is the right solution.
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/editorial/story.html?id=b3ebfc7f-4959-4aa5-b501-5db2373ba910
Opponents start petition against impending ban on smoking -AB
By PAUL COWLEY Advocate staff Aug 08 2005
Organizers of a petition to force another smoking vote by city council are about halfway to the 8,000 names needed.
Sheree Davies, spokeswoman for Central Alberta Businesses for Choice, is confident the group will gather enough signatures by the Aug. 19 deadline.
The group wants council to dump the smoking bylaw passed in June, which bans smoking in all public buildings, areas or vehicles beginning June 1, 2006.
Some businesses argue the ban will drive away customers and want a return to the old bylaw, which outlawed smoking in public buildings accessible to those under 18, the so-called silver standard.
If enough names are collected, council could be forced to go to a plebiscite.
"Our strategy is to get them to rescind it completely without going to the expense of a plebiscite," said Davies.
Many out-of-towners, who come to Red Deer for its bingos, casinos and nightclubs, want to sign but can not because the petition is only open to local residents.
There is clearly much support for a return to the previous smoking bylaw, she said.
Red Deer's Royal Canadian Legion has thrown its support behind the effort to revoke the bylaw.
About 54 members met July 28 and all but half a dozen were in favour of a return to the previous bylaw, said legion president Tim McCoy.
"We donate a lot into the community. We're a non-profit organization. It's going to hurt us big time."
McCoy anticipates the legion will take a big revenue hit when smokers are excluded.
The legion ran an advertisement in Friday's Advocate under the slogan "Freedom Won is Now Freedom Lost" with a photo of the bemedalled chests of three veterans.
McCoy supports that sentiment, arguing the smoking ban goes too far and is an assault on individual freedoms.
While legion members wanted to voice their opposition, he doubts city council will back down.
"It probably can't win. But we're not going to stand back and just let it through."
http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/
Youth get splash of info on sun care, dangers of smoking -AB
Awareness event held at Lake Lisgar splash pad in Tillsonburg
Briony Douglas - For the Sentinel-Review Tuesday August 09, 2005
TILLSONBURG - Live to be Cancer Free- be sun safe and smoke-free - that was the message the Oxford County Board of health staff and team of youth were promoting at the Lake Lisgar splash pad in Tillsonburg last week.
Tic Tac Tar was the name of the game. Kids were asked to answer questions about preventing lung cancer and why not to smoke.
“All the games give kids the chance to learn something about sun safety and smoking prevention,” public health nurse Kelly Vanderhoeven said. “We saw the water park as the perfect opportunity for raising awareness on the two topics.”
With the sun beating down and temperatures reaching up to 34 C, this was the perfect day for sun-care awareness. Although the group couldn’t give out any sunscreen for the kids to cover up, they were awarded with plenty of prizes such as hats, Frisbees, balls and UV index watches.
Youth can prevent sunburns and lower the one in seven risk of developing skin cancer by smearing on sunscreen. Vanderhoeven has put together several other sun care awareness activities at different golf courses in the area and at the splash pad at the Southside Aquatic Centre.
In addition to promoting sun care awareness, the special day also focused on the dangers of smoking.
“The purpose of today and everyday is to prevent youths from smoking across Ontario and promote smoke-free living,” said Sharon Sabourin, Oxford Tobacco Strategy supervisor. Studies show that 14 per cent of youth in Oxford County, from ages 12 to 18, are smokers, she said.
Sabourin is in charge of the Action Alliance for youths, which started up in June. There are now 11 health units in Ontario which are hiring youths to help with getting the word out to their peers.
“Hiring youth to communicate with other youth to get the messages across definitely works best,” Sabourin said.
All the youth who attended the splash pad event in Tillsonburg were in their first chapter of training and working towards youth empowerment. Youth get to decide where and when they go to promote their messages, such as sponsored concerts and conferences.
“I would really like to do the concerts, because that’s where most of the youth want to go,” youth leader Cody Longworth said. “This is a lot of fun.”
With an estimated 600 kids filing in and out for the two-hour event, Janet Mccurdy, the program manager for the Town of Tillsonburg was blown away by the results.
“This is wonderful, just wonderful,” she said.
This was also the debut of the new shade tent that the Oxford County Board of Health has just purchased. The board of health is making the tent available to the community. The tent can be loaned out for things such as sporting events or back yard functions, with a deposit of $100, which will be reimbursed when the tent is returned.
http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/story.php?id=177219
The truth behind the numbers: CHA analyzes OECD Health Statistics
OTTAWA, Aug. 9 /CNW Telbec/ - The Supreme Court of Canada's ruling on private health insurance ignited increased debate on the effectiveness of Canada's health system, prompting some to contend that countries with public and private funding and delivery options for acute care services outperform Canada's single payer system. A recent analysis of OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) statistics by the Canadian Healthcare Association (CHA) refutes this claim.
"Our review of current OECD data shows that as a percentage of GDP and on a per capita basis, Canada's publicly-funded health system is in fact less expensive than that of other countries to which it is frequently compared," states CHA President and CEO Sharon Sholzberg-Gray. Canada spends 6.9% of its GDP on publicly-funded health care, which amounts to less than France at 7.7%, Sweden at 7.8%, and Germany at 8.6%.
This analysis is based on a comparison of public expenditures alone - whereas those who advocate that Canada's health spending is high, typically base their argument on a review of both public and private expenditures together. "This is misleading," says CHA Board Chair Alex Taylor, "and we believe that it is crucial to distinguish between public spending and total (public and private together) expenditures."
The data also show that Canada is doing relatively well on some health status measures such as life expectancy at birth. "While Canada can and should do better," notes Ms. Sholzberg-Gray, "it is important to remember that many OECD countries spend considerably more on social services and other health determinants. Health services alone are not the only contributor to a positive health status, though they remain an important factor."
CHA's review also argues that wait times abound in many OECD countries and that the existence of private sector alternatives in funding and delivery has not resolved this issue.
For CHA's complete analysis, together with a chart and bar graphs, please visit our website at www.cha.ca .
Advancing healthcare for Canadians
The Canadian Healthcare Association (CHA) is the federation of provincial and territorial hospital and health organizations committed to preserving and strengthening Canada's health system.
The Canadian Healthcare Association is the national voice of this health network. CHA's mission is to improve the delivery of health services in Canada through policy development, advocacy, and leadership.
CHA's vision is a publicly funded health system that provides access to a broad range of comparable health services across Canada.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/August2005/09/c8392.html
Singing the Blues, Dance -AB
AS A singer for a band I'm very happy with the smoking ban. I was sick of not being able to even talk without my voice cracking for days after I have to sing all night in a smoke-filled bar. Grow up, children. You are addicts. I don't support drug addicts on the street, why should I support you? There are a thousand ways to quit and save money. Try one and keep trying.
R.C. Willis
(Whatcho talking about, Willis?)
---------------------------------------------------------------
I WRITE this letter to encourage the Alano Club, which discontinued its sober dances, to reconsider continuing the dances. The sober dances were cut permanently, I think, as a result of the last smoking bylaw. I just want them to know that I had enjoyed some of the best moments of my life as a result of being a 10-year patron of their dances. I had even met the mother of my daughter there. And so those dances meant a lot to me and others. Even though I am not a recovering alcoholic and, yes, I smoke, I simply enjoyed the environment without the burden of unpredictable drunks.
Darryl Learie
(Put on your red shoes & dance the blues.)
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Letters/2005/08/10/1166192.html
Province tackles competency issue -MB
Changes coming, Mackintosh says
By Paul Egan Wednesday, August 10th, 2005
THE province will make changes to the way Manitobans are declared mentally incompetent and placed under the control of the public trustee, says Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh.
"I have some real concerns that some fundamentals of due process come up short in the current scheme," Mackintosh told the Free Press.
Mackintosh's comments follow media reports that raised concerns about the public trustee taking control over people's finances and lives without justification or a chance for objections to be heard.
Both Manitoba Public Trustee Anne Bolton and director of psychiatric services Dr. Donald Rodgers told the Free Press last week they favour changes to the Mental Health Act.
Bolton said there should be a way to trigger a hearing before someone is declared incompetent and an administrative appeal process should be put in place.
Rodgers said he, too, favours a hearing by an arm's-length panel to resolve disputes.
Mackintosh recently appointed a committee to review the process and relevant legislation, but said it may take several months before changes are implemented.
"There will be change and we're going to now determine whether it can be done administratively or whether legislation has to be changed," Mackintosh said.
He said he'd like to see an administrative appeal process "that is both cost-effective and swift and readily available."
And he wants to look at other checks and balances in the way the province's chief psychiatrist declares someone mentally incompetent.
"We have to ensure the scheme recognizes appointing the public trustee should be a last resort," Mackintosh said.
The changes could potentially open up to administrative appeal hundreds of cases decided under the present system.
www.winnipegfreepress.com
Residents of Ontario town want to join Manitoba
CTV.ca News Staff
There is a growing movement in the Ontario town of Kenora to join Manitoba, after a decline in the forest industry has some residents looking for a brighter future.
"People are upset because they feel they're being ignored."
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1123686168881_24/?hub=Canada
Posted at 10:48 am by looped_ca
Thursday, August 04, 2005
news and science of the world
"Not all carcinogens are known to cause cancer in humans."
- Todd Benson, Alliance for the Control of Tobacco (ACT) , Oct. 24, 2004
Tobacco funding amount and duration list for Robert Wood Johnson
http://www.rwjf.org/portfolios/resources/grantlist.jsp?iaid=143
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare and CORA Services Unveil Unique Venue to Help Spread Dangers of Smoking Message
Aug 2, 2005 10:15 ET
Local Graffiti Artist joins Nicorette(R) Nicotine Gum to Raise Awareness with His Artwork
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Healthcare, marketers of Nicorette(R) nicotine gum, has joined together with CORA Services to celebrate and encourage smoke-free lives with MyCityMyArt, an educational program designed to reach-out to the African-American population about the dangers of smoking. The program -- which includes an art competition, art lessons for children and a virtual art gallery to display their work -- will kickoff in five major U.S. cities this week.
Pose2, a professional commercial artist in Philadelphia, will create a quit-smoking themed mural at 12th & Carpenter St. that will become part of a nationwide competition against four other artists in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. The murals from the five cities will be posted online at www.mycitymyart.com for the public to view and vote for the best mural. The winning artist will be announced in October 2005 and will unveil his design at a prominent location in his home city.
As part of the program, Pose2 will help lead an art class with children from CORA Services to enlist them to create their own creative quit-smoking themed art. Mural designs created by the children will be posted on the Web site, and GSK Consumer Healthcare will donate $7,500 to support CORA Services' art program. Additionally, each child will also receive two color prints of his or her artwork to keep as an important reminder.
"MyCityMyArt is great for the community on two levels, said CORA Services CEO, Dr. Anthony Chunn. "Our kids are exposed to the insights and skills of a professional artist while they also get a smoking prevention message, in addition, adult smokers who want to quit can learn about effective help that is available through various MyCityMyArt educational resources."
"Urban murals have previously been used by the tobacco industry to market their products, so we think it's about time we used this vehicle to help the community," said GSK Consumer Healthcare's Vice-President, Smoking Control, Bill Slivka. "MyCityMyArt is part of our commitment to helping people tap into their inner strength. For many quitters, quitting is a process measured by the little things that help end their relationship with cigarettes. One of these murals or an email with a child's design may inspire a smoker to think about quitting."
Research has shown that African-Americans suffer disproportionately from chronic and preventable disease from smoking, with smoking being the leading cause of death among African-Americans.(1) According to the 1998 U.S. Surgeon General Report, African Americans are 50 percent more likely to develop lung cancer than Caucasian men.(2)
"The MyCityMyArt program delivers the kind of positive, pro-health activity and message we want to be spreading to African-American youth," said Rev. Jesse W. Brown, Jr., executive director of the National Association of African Americans for Positive Imagery. "Unfortunately, the inner city is still an important marketplace for cigarette manufacturers, as they must constantly find new users for their products."
MyCityMyArt aims to help educate the community and smokers about being prepared for the challenges of quitting smoking. Many quitters are not aware that success is much more likely when the person quitting seeks support and uses clinically proven products such as Nicorette(R) nicotine gum. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare's quit-smoking products and their related Web sites have a wealth of information about quitting smoking for adults. The art lessons will also include information for the children about the risks of smoking and what they can do to keep from starting the deadly habit.
"CORA Services is excited to be part of any project that raises awareness of the support available to help people to quit smoking, and that enriches our children's awareness of art and better health. The fewer smokers there are in the community, the more opportunities there are to provide good role models for our children," he added.
The five professional murals can be viewed online and judged by the public at www.mycitymyart.com, starting, August 22nd. The same web site features galleries of the children's art and includes options to send your favorite mural designs to friends and family.
About CORA Services
CORA is a community based, nonprofit, multi-funded agency offering professional human services to children, youth, and their families in the Greater Philadelphia area. Its mission is to enrich the quality of life for children, families and the community by offering programs that promote respect and dignity. Rooted in a tradition of care and compassion, CORA was established in 1971 to respond to the ever-increasing challenges of the community. Consistent with this heritage, CORA pursues the highest possible standards in service to our community. CORA's commitment is to evoke creativity, new perspectives, empowerment and hope in the lives of the children and families it serves.
About GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare is one of the world's largest over- the-counter consumer healthcare products companies. Its more than 30 well- known brands include the leading smoking cessation products, Nicorette(R), NicoDerm(R) and Commit(R), as well as many medicine cabinet staples, Abreva(R), Aquafresh(R), Sensodyne(R) and Tums(R). GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare continues to develop innovative products to help all smokers find their best support system and achieve their goal of being cigarette free.
About GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline is one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare companies. GlaxoSmithKline is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.
(1) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At-A-Glance. Tobacco Use Among U.S. Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups - African Americans, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics, Atlanta: CDC, 1998.
(2) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Tobacco Use Among U.S. Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups - African Americans, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1998:138. Accessed on July 12, 2005 and available at:
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/sgr_1998/index.htm.
Source: GlaxoSmithKline
CONTACT: Rhys Ryan, Porter Novelli, +1-917-709-9326,
rhys.ryan@porternovelli.com; Jennifer May, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer
Healthcare, +1-412-200-3729, Jennifer.l.may@gsk.com
Web site: http://www.mycitymyart.com/
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/sgr_1998/index.htm
http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/myPRNJ.jsp?profileid=1120118&resourceid=3005078
Transportation Bill Passed in Congress to Prevent Discrimination Against Employees With Diabetes
Aug 1, 2005 11:40 ET
American Diabetes Association Led Effort to Repeal Blanket Ban on People with Insulin-Treated Diabetes Driving Commercial Vehicles
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The transportation legislation, passed last week in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, contains an important provision that will help end discrimination against people with diabetes who seek employment as commercial drivers. The American Diabetes Association led a coalition to enable qualified individuals who must use insulin to properly manage their diabetes to operate commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce. Language in the "Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users (SAFETEA- LU)" eliminates a provision in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) 2003 Diabetes Exemption Program that made it almost impossible for anyone with insulin-treated diabetes to even apply to drive commercially and replaces it with a medically sound system for individual assessment. As a result, the intent of the Diabetes Exemption Program will be realized, and qualified people with insulin-treated diabetes will be able to drive commercial motor vehicles.
"These regulations are important not only to people with insulin-treated diabetes who are seeking to drive a truck in interstate commerce, but also people in many other industries that look to the government's standards in their workplace. Anytime a discrimination barrier is torn down -- as this bill will do for commercial driving -- it will have a profound effect," said Lawrence T. Smith, Chair of the Board at the American Diabetes Association.
In September of 2003, FMCSA announced a Diabetes Exemption Program to end the 33-year-old blanket ban on operating a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce for people who use insulin and replace it with a case-by- case assessment that includes over 50 important safety provisions. Unfortunately, despite strenuous opposition of the American Diabetes Association, Congress, industry, labor organizations, and even FMCSA's own Expert Medical Panel, the Diabetes Exemption Program also included a "three year rule" that prevented the vast majority of people with diabetes from even applying under the program.
This Catch 22 provision requires applicants to have driven a commercial vehicle while using insulin for the three years before applying for an exemption under the program. Because of the prior federal blanket ban no one could fulfill this requirement through past interstate driving and it was virtually impossible to fulfill it through intrastate driving. In the nearly two years since FMCSA announced this program, not a single diabetes exemption has been issued -- primarily because of the three-year rule which has prevented most qualified drivers from applying.
The American Diabetes Association hailed the efforts of Congressmen Howard Coble (R-NC) and Peter DeFazio (D-OR) for their tireless work on this issue and for standing up for people with diabetes.
"Our nation's trucking laws should reflect our current knowledge of diabetes and the current practice of diabetes management," said L. Hunter Limbaugh, Chair of the American Diabetes Association's National Advocacy Committee. "This Congressional action is a win-win that will prevent discrimination against people with insulin-treated diabetes while also providing additional commercial truck drivers for industry. Congress deserves credit for putting sound medical science above politics."
Diabetes is one of this nation's most prevalent, debilitating, deadly and costly diseases. While 18.2 million Americans live with diabetes today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in three Americans born in 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime. In 2002, one in 10 healthcare dollars went towards diabetes care. The cost of diabetes in America in 2002 was at least $132 billion.
The American Diabetes Association is the nation's leading voluntary health organization supporting diabetes research, information and advocacy. The Association's advocacy efforts include helping to combat discrimination against people with diabetes; advocating for the increase of federal diabetes research and programs; and improved access to, and quality of, healthcare for people with diabetes. The Association's mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. Founded in 1940, the Association provides service to hundreds of communities across the country. For more information please call the American Diabetes Association at 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383) or visit http://www.diabetes.org/. Information from both these sources is available in English and Spanish.
Source: American Diabetes Association
CONTACT: Zach Goldberg of the American Diabetes Association,
+1-703-549-1500, ext. 2622, zgoldberg@diabetes.org
Web site: http://www.diabetes.org/
http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/includes/contents/printable.jsp?resourceid=3004066
Teen smoking linked to metabolic syndrome
Disorder related to excess belly fat, heart disease and diabetes
AP associated PressUpdated: 12:09 p.m. ET Aug. 2, 2005
Exposure to cigarette smoke raises the risk among teens of metabolic syndrome, a disorder associated with excess belly fat that increases the chances of heart disease, stroke and diabetes, according to a study.
Researchers said it is the first study to establish such a link in teenagers.
“The bottom line to me is: As we gear up to take on this epidemic of obesity, we cannot abandon protecting our children from secondhand smoke and smoking,” said lead author Dr. Michael Weitzman, executive director of the American Academy of Pediatrics Center for Child Health Research in Rochester, N.Y.
For the study, metabolic syndrome was defined as having at least three of five characteristics: a big waist, high blood pressure, high levels of blood fats called triglycerides, low levels of good cholesterol, and evidence of insulin resistance, in which the body cannot efficiently use insulin.
In the study, published Monday in the American Heart Association online journal Circulation, researchers found that 6 percent of 12-to 19-year-olds had metabolic syndrome and that the prevalence increased with exposure to tobacco smoke.
The study found that 1 percent of those unexposed to smoke developed the syndrome, 5 percent of those exposed to secondhand smoke had the disorder and 9 percent of active smokers had it.
Looking at teens who were overweight or at risk for being overweight, the effect of smoke was even more marked, with 6 percent of those not exposed to smoke developing syndrome, 20 percent of those exposed to secondhand smoke getting it and 24 percent of smokers suffering from the disorder.
“What this shows is that the percentages of kids who are at risk is vastly higher if they’re overweight and they’re exposed to secondhand smoke, down to very low levels,” Weitzman said.
Weitzman said it is not clear what it is about smoking that appears to make teenagers more susceptible to metabolic syndrome.
However, in adults smoking has been linked to insulin resistance, a risk factor for metabolic syndrome. Doctors also point out that smoking can lower levels of good cholesterol and raise blood pressure, two more markers for the disorder.
The researchers looked at 2,273 adolescents, using information from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey. The youngsters reported their own use of tobacco. Also, the study looked at measurements of cotinine, a product of nicotine after it enters the body. Two-thirds of teens who did not smoke had cotinine levels that indicated secondhand smoke exposure.
“It’s sobering,” said Dr. Michael Lim, assistant professor of internal medicine in the division of cardiology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. “What it points out is a very high-risk group of people — young adults 12 to 19 — who are exposed to tobacco products and sedentary.”
The number of overweight teens in the United States has tripled in the past two decades.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8789691/
Second-hand smoke risky in pregnancy
PITTSBURGH, July 26 (UPI) -- Researchers say a re-examination of data from earlier studies suggests exposure to second-hand smoke during pregnancy can be risky.
The researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health say such exposure is as detrimental to a developing fetus as is primary exposure through maternal smoking.
In a study published in the online journal BMC Pediatrics, Stephen Grant, associate professor of environmental and occupational health, said both active maternal smoking and secondary maternal exposure result in similarly increased rates of genetic mutation that are basically indistinguishable.
Grant, whose primary area of study is genotoxicity and the mechanisms of DNA repair, added. "These kinds of mutations are likely to have lifelong repercussions for the exposed fetus, affecting survival, birth weight and susceptibility to disease, including cancer."
The finding conflicts with conclusions reached in three previous studies that Grant authored. Those studies largely discounted the effects of second-hand smoke.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20050726-12463300-bc-us-smokestudy.xml
Exploring Links Between Smoking and Weight
7/26/2005
Conventional wisdom holds that smokers gain weight when they quit, which can discourage some smokers from kicking the habit. But new research disputes that belief, the New York Times reported July 24.
Some observers worry that as advocates make progress in curbing smoking, they may unintentionally be contributing to another public-health problem: obesity. As the percentage of Americans who smoke has declined fro 37 percent in 1970 to 22.5 percent in 2002, the prevalence of obesity has risen from 14 percent in the early 1970s to about 30 percent today.
Junk food and lack of exercise play a role in the obesity epidemic, but some think that so many people quitting smoking also contributes to the trend. Many smokers believe that short-term weight gain is the price to pay for quitting. And some economists wonder if smokers are trading one bad habit for another -- quitting expensive, high-tax cigarettes in favor of cheap fast food.
A 2004 study concluded that up to 20 percent of obesity cases could be traced to the decline in smoking, saying that "each 10 percent increase in the real price of cigarettes produces a 2 percent increase in the number of obese people, other things being equal."
But MIT researcher Jonathan Gruber looked at the same data and came to the opposite conclusion: "Raising cigarette taxes causes smoking to fall, but it doesn't lead to obesity," Gruber said. "If anything, it was lower."
Gruber speculated that, in fact, people who quit smoking may also become more health-conscious about things like weight gain and exercise
http://www.jointogether.org/sa/news/summaries/reader/0%2C1854%2C577774%2C00.html
NZ
Smoking bill defeat blow to freedom
Thursday, 28 July 2005, 12:05 pm
Press Release: ACT New Zealand
Smoking bill defeat blow to freedom
Dr Muriel Newman Thursday,
28 July 2005 Press Releases - Other
ACT Deputy Leader Dr Muriel Newman said today the defeat of her Smoke- Free Environments (Exemptions) Amendment Bill was a blow to people's freedom of choice and the rights of New Zealand's small businesses.
The Bill provided for licensed premises to set up smoking rooms for their smoking patrons instead of forcing them outside, such smoking rooms were to be equipped with ventilation devices and to comply with appropriate air quality standards whether or not an establishment decided to set up such rooms was to be their choice.
"I do not smoke, but I believe the Labour Government's smoke-free legislation, passed by Parliament 18 months ago, has created unintended consequences that need to be addressed.
"The primary effect of the smoke-free law is that many people are no longer bothering to go to their local pub or club because of the hassle of being forced to smoke outside in the cold. As a result some small businesses have seen their patronage drop by a half while others have been forced to close. And it's not just the pub and club owners but also the other business that provide goods and services, such as food beverage, maintenance, cleaning and so on," Dr Newman said.
"There is also a growing trend for illegal drinking houses to be set up in private garages and sheds, where there are no liquor licences or smoking police, but also no safeguards - is this what Labour intended?
"But the issue I am most concerned about is the heavy handed approach to elderly New Zealanders. There are many RSA members who have served this country risking their lives fighting for the freedoms that the Labour Government is now stripping away.
"Labour is forcing returned servicemen to smoke outside. They should simply be allowed to smoke in a smoking room set up by their RSA instead of sitting outside in the cold. That's what this Bill was asking for and it's a huge disappointment to people up and down the country that the anti-business Labour Government is so arrogant that they are refusing to allow their problematic law to be reviewed," Dr Newman said.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0507/S00622.htm
Germany fails to ban tobacco ads
BERLIN, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Germany has failed to implement a European Union directive prohibiting tobacco advertising, Deutsche Welle reported Wednesday
A bill banning all tobacco advertising introduced by the governing Social Democrats in May is not likely to make it past the Bundesrat, Germany's upper house, which is dominated by opposition parties. The Christian Democrats in the Bundesrat last month spoke out against the ban.
Brussels this year required EU member states to pass national legislation by the end of July that prohibits advertising for tobacco products in print, broadcast, and online media. In Germany, however, the ban is far from becoming law.
The CDU argues that health legislation lies in the hands of the national government and should not be decided in Brussels.
Nearly all other EU states have turned the directive into a national law.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20050803-13213000-bc-germany-smoking.xml
HOW TO BE AN ACTIVIST
by Elizabeth May
The author, who has no academic credentials for activism, has based the following on over 30 years of campaigning. She is currently Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Canada.
How to be an Activist
There is no formal school for activists. No university degree qualifies the graduate to practice grassroots organizing. Environmental activists, like many other practitioners of social change, come in all shapes and sizes, from all walks of life, and even from all political parties. And all of us learn from experience. On the other hand, we should be able to benefit from the experience of others. Unfortunately, more often than not, people suddenly find themselves in a situation that requires a certain moral heroism. They had not planned to become activists.
Environmental problems themselves create activists. When a toxic landfill threatens the neighbourhood, local lawyers may volunteer to do some legal work, scientists may offer volunteer help and the community of concerned parents suddenly find themselves wondering how to write a press release, circulate petitions, and, even conduct a sit-in in a politician’s office. By the time they are in the thick of a campaign, it is hard to know where to turn for help and advice.
The reality of ordinary people picking up the gauntlet and becoming politically active is largely unknown to the as-yet uninitiated public. By the time the small neighbourhood citizens group gets its issue before the public, its members are already being labeled as “environmentalists”. From that point on, their true identity is lost as surely as Clark Kent’s when he emerges as Superman.
The media labeling process does society a disservice. It cuts off “activists” and “environmentalists” from “normal” people. The general public, as demonstrated by numerous polls, supports the principles of environmental protection and restoration, but usually they believe it is for some other category of people, called “environmentalists”, to do the work they support.
When an environmental group is described as a “special interest” group, there is a blurring between those who protect “special” interests, usually of a financial nature, and those who work on a volunteer basis, usually at personal sacrifice and expense, to pursue a cause in the public good.
The reality of activism, for the environment or any other cause, is that democracy is at work. Citizens are exercising democratic rights. Rather than being the exception to the rule, for democracy to thrive, all citizens should be activists.
A Few Good Starting Points
Recognizing that environmental activism is a democratic right, it is important to have a few good starting points to encourage the neophyte.
- Refuse to be intimidated. If you are told that a subject is too technical or scientific for you to understand, don’t believe it. Elected politicians make these decisions all the time based on general knowledge and their sense of public opinion. The claim of “expert” versus average concerned citizen is inherently anti- democratic and elitist. You may not be an expert. But you can read and understand what experts have to say. Make a note of good quotes (including the source) of expert views concerned with the environment. Start your own card file of references to unleash if someone tries to suggest you don’t know enough to be involved.
- Be creative! Every campaign and issue has its own dynamic. Let your creative juices flow. Maybe satire will work for you. Maybe song. Even conventional campaigns can attract more people if you have an optimistic, innovative approach.
- Don’t take no for an answer. If you want to meet an elected official, call every day. Drop by the office and get to know the staff. Be persistent.The squeaky wheel.
- Ask lots of questions. Get to the bottom of issues. Do your homework.
- Use the telephone. It is a great research tool. Ten times better than writing and asking for information is phoning until you find the person who knows the answer and will immediately send you information. In addition to getting what you want, you may have uncovered a good source for future information - and maybe even an ally in the bureaucracy.
- Be unfailingly polite. Being persistent is not the same thing as being rude. You may be in this for the long haul, so don’t burn any bridges.
- Leave no stone unturned. Think about who knows who. How can you expand your network? Your allies may come from unexpected places, so do not make assumptions. Ask people for help.
- When someone in government does something good for the environment, be sure to give public credit and thanks.
- You can accomplish anything, if you don’t care who gets the credit.
- Remember that politics is also personal. Watch out for burn- out. You’ll need the support of friends and family. Build love into your campaigns.
Some Starting Points
In local organizing, one of the first things you’ll probably want to do is form a group. Don’t re-invent the wheel. Look around. Is there an existing group, with goals similar to your own, that would accept your group as a working committee, or affiliated chapter? If you can avoid going through the incorporation process and the charitable number ordeal by joining an existing group (and co-opting them to your issue in the process), why not try?
If you are organizing your own group, try not to get bogged down in by-laws. Stick to the essentials. If you want to change a decision at City Council in three months, you won’t have time for Robert’s Rules of Order. In order not to lose momentum, and volunteers, make the meetings fun by including some social activity. Plan a pot luck supper first and then work through the agenda efficiently. Folk singer and environmental activist Pete Seeger organized a very successful campaign to clean up the Hudson River. He advised, “Don’t have meetings that only attract the kind of people who like going to meetings.”
Be sure to assign tasks as you make decisions. If someone suggests something new, don’t reject it just because everyone who is heavily involved is already too busy. Say “What a great idea! Will you take that on?” Delegate!
Pick achievable goals. Positive reinforcement is important. So deciding to make your goal “achieving world peace” or “ending hunger” will likely result in burn-out and disillusionment. On the other hand, making your goal to get 10,000 names on a petition to do either of the above is do-able and will have a positive reinforcing impact - you’ll gain strength and enthusiasm for the next goal.
How to get your message in the news media
It is a fact of life that environmental groups don’t have money. Some projects may qualify for government grants, but they are usually the “safe” kind. Planting trees. Picking up litter. While such projects are undoubtedly worthwhile, they are not going to change the world.
Trying to reduce dependency on environmentally damaging and non-sustainable energy sources (like fossil fuels, large scale hydro and nuclear power) fundamentally challenges the status quo. So does trying to end the use of toxic pesticides for cosmetic purposes. If you are working on issues like these, it is hard to obtain the kind of money it takes to gain public (and political) attention through advertising.
The mainstay of your information and awareness campaign is going to be the news media. Hence, the environmental movement and the news media have an awkward and symbiotic relationship: they need us for stories, and the environmental movement certainly needs them. But environmentalists get frustrated with the superficiality of news coverage of issues that threaten planetary survival, and the news media get sick of hearing what they often regard as predictable whining from the greens. So how can you, with little or no media experience, be expected to break through to reasonably accurate coverage of your concerns? First, you should understand a few things about the news media.. Noam Chomsky’s analysis (“Manufacturing Consent”) notwithstanding, you can get your issue in the public eye.
It helps if you are able to see the story from the reporter’s point of view. There are very few newspapers or electronic networks with a full time environmental reporter. You are trying to get a reporter, who has to cover everything from tax hikes to crime on the street, interested in your story.
There are no Woodwards and Bernsteins. Calling and telling them there’s a big story out there if they do some really good investigative reporting will get your message consigned to the waste basket, (or, in an environmentally aware newsroom, the recycling bin.) If you want a reporter to cover your story, you have to do all their work for them. Think it through. Where’s the angle? “A local group of environmentalists are organizing to save the environment” is hardly an earth shattering story. Remember the old adage, “Dog bites man” is not a story. “Man bites dog” is.
Tie your issue to other political events, like elections or previous campaign promises. What are the financial issues? Is taxpayers’ money being wasted? Are jobs being lost? Are the environmental alternatives better for the economy? (They usually are.) Make it interesting to someone who doesn’t give a hydro-electric dam.
Fill in the “5 W’s” : Who, What, When, Where and Why. Make sure all your facts are absolutely accurate.
Write your own press release. It should read like a news story, not like your group’s manifesto. Put in quotes from group representatives. Be sure to include phone numbers so that reporters can call you to get more details and re-work your press release into their own story.
*********************
SAMPLE PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
(Your logo appears here)
Group’s mailing address
Headline in Boldface Appears at Top
DATE: Put the date on which you want the story to be released, or put the words “For immediate release: at the beginning of your release.
TEXT: The first sentence should be clear, factual and grab the attention of the reader. It should tell the press what the story is about.
TEXT EXAMPLE: (City): Citizens Organized to Save Wetlands today announced the results of their audit of the costs of the proposed Department of Boondoggles development.
“By our calculations, reviewed by the firm of Somebody Credible Ltd., the Department of Boondoggles will be increasing the provincial deficit by $300 million by choosing this environmentally sensitive site, instead of merely recycling their existing building,” said group chair, J. Q. Public.
Citizens Organized to Save Wetlands are considering legal action if their current petition campaign is unsuccessful in persuading the Department to re-consider its plans. They are also planning a demonstration in front of Department headquarters to take place next Wednesday, the xth of xx, at 12 noon.
“We are confident that good sense will prevail,” said group researcher I. M. Green, “With the provincial election in the offing, and so many environmentally concerned statements coming from the Premier’s Office, we simply cannot believe that this deliberately wrong-headed policy will prevail.
- 30 -
(It is a convention of news releases that they end with “- 30 -”. It tells reporters that the text has ended.)
Contact information: (Don’t forget to include the name and phone number where people quoted in the release can be reached for comment.)
Send your release to ensure it reaches the media before or on your release date. If you are far from a media centre, you can fax your release, or phone it in to the closest office of the Canadian Press (CP). CP is a wire service. If it puts your story on their service, it will automatically reach television, radio and newspaper newsrooms. It is then the decision of the news director in each outlet whether to use your story. I used to send releases from a town of 45 people in Cape Breton Island down to CP in Halifax, phoning it in right before I went to sleep to get low phone rates. I can remember how astonishing it was to wake up in the morning and hear my release on the radio.
Beyond press releases, you may want to hold a press conference. Don’t do it unless you have a really good story, or can bring in an acknowledged expert who won’t be available as a matter of course. Hold press conferences somewhere familiar to the media. Make it convenient. Try to avoid having to spend money to rent space. Is there a good community centre close to the downtown? Can you get the help of someone in City Council to use City Hall or the Regional Government Centre?
A SHOPPING LIST OF CAMPAIGN TACTICS
The following are tried and true. It is a good idea to try something fairly straightforward initially, with minimum risk of failure.
1) Letter writing campaigns
Politicians really do pay attention to their mail! Especially the volume of mail. As letters mount up on an issue, it will achieve greater importance. At the national level, one letter is considered to represent thousands of people’s opinions. The ratio declines as you move down the government hierarchy, but at the municipal level, fewer people write, so the letters still have clout.
Your letter does not have to be typed. Handwriting is fine. So is word processing. The key is that your letter is original and not recognizable as a pre-printed message. ALWAYS SIGN YOUR LETTERS. Include your address for their response.
Your letter does not have to be technical. You do not have to know everything about an issue to write and express your opinion. It does have to be clear. State explicitly what you want the politician to do. Include a specific question requesting his or her response. If the response misses the point or is inadequate, write again. Remember, at the level of federal and provincial ministers, a staff person in the bureaucracy writes the response. The minister may not even see your letter. Why persist? Because as the number of letters add up, the issue is given greater importance. Sometimes you are even able to educate the bureaucracy, or alert the minister to the fact that the staff has him or her signing inaccurate letters. (My brother in Nova Scotia actually called a Minister at home once to say that he didn’t want to attack the Minister in the press over a particularly lame response to a letter. He gave the Minister a chance by asking him if he knew that the letter prepared by his bureaucrats included misleading information. The Minister didn’t know and was grateful for the call.)
2) Letters to the Editor
Did you know that the letters section is the most read section of any newspaper? Not only do people in your community read the letters, government officials have clipping services that reprint the ones dealing with their area. The federal minister of the environment sees clippings from coast to coast, including letters to the editor, every day.
Letters should be short, direct and well written. Of course, they should be accurate and educate readers about your issue. Watch for opportunities to respond to articles that have been in the paper.
3) Call-in radio & tv shows
There are opportunities for free access to the airwaves. Listen to a show a few times before you call in. Get a sense of the host so you won’t be surprised if they disagree with you. It is easy, anonymous and can get your message to lots of people.
4) Petition campaigns
The U.S. Declaration of Independence was sort-of a petition. Less than fifty people signed it and the rest is history.
Petitions are an excellent first step for new groups. They are tools for public education. The preamble should set out clearly what the issue is and all the reasons for your concern. (Remember the “WHEREAS’s!) They also force you to know clearly what you want from the government. If you want the municipal council to ban pesticide spraying on all public and private lands, say so. If you want them to maintain a handful of pesticide-free parks, say so. But don’t leave a petition hanging with just a general, “we are against pesticides” statement.
Petitions can be circulated door to door, left with sympathetic local merchants, or you can set up a table in the local mall (although this usually has to be arranged fairly far ahead.) If you are trying to solicit support in a public venue like a mall, don’t be shy! Smile and ask people as they come by if they are interested in the environment. If they avert their eyes and walk away, so be it. Leave them alone and KEEP SMILING! Set a goal. Know when you are done and make a big deal out of presenting the petition. Get a sympathetic politician to accept it from you and alert the media.
5) Fundraising
Wait a minute. Isn’t this a shopping list of campaign tools? Well, yes. But good grassroots fundraising is not only a way of raising money, it is a way of raising awareness. (And it also deals with that unspoken question of the uninitiated public, “where do those people get their donations?”)
Grassroots fundraising should involve lots of people as volunteers. Try to get local donations of supplies, advertising, prizes or whatever from local merchants (and of course give them public credit and thanks).
What kinds of things are grassroots fundraisers? Here’s a sample list. But it’s not exhaustive. You can build on these ideas, but better still, come up with your own.
- Potluck suppers with an entrance fee. Fun. Great food. Cheap and you’ll have something for the campaign pot when the dishes are done.
- Bake sales. You can get lots of people involved. Hold it at the local mall, or after church.
- Raffles. Go for donated prizes or make your own. In Cape Breton we raised thousands of dollars with quilt raffles to stop the spraying of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T.
- Hold a community fair! Have clowns. Kids’ events. Sell baked goods, homegrown organic veggies, preserves, handcrafts. Include an auction.
- Ask a local bar if you can have an evening of entertainment for a cause. This will appeal to lots of young people. Musicians are notoriously generous in their support of environmental causes. God bless them.
- Hold an auction. It could be an art auction. Or hold a flea market of odd junk items. Donate services — a deluxe brunch in someone’s home, or catered to your place, a sailboat outing, babysitting, carpentry, barter for cash for the cause!
- Hold a massive yard sale. Recycle all your stuff and raise funds. Sometimes in our community environmental struggles in Cape Breton, I was convinced we just kept selling our old plates and hand-me-downs to each other. But it worked.
- Hold a church supper. Church halls can be rented for not too much, and they are perfect. Big kitchens, well equipped for a crowd and they feel great for community events.
- Order t-shirts or mugs with your message. Sell them at all your events.
You can order great posters from a lot of environmental groups, as well as calendars, t-shirts, postcards and other merchandise. Contact Sierra Club or Western Canada Wilderness for great items.
**************
How to lobby
Whether you’re working to change a policy at City Hall or the federal cabinet, you’ll probably want to sit down and meet with a few of the people who’ll be making that decision. The approach is the same, regardless of how elevated the politician or bureaucrat is. (and, yes, you do have to lobby bureaucrats). As recommended in the “Starting Points” at the beginning of this document: Be unfailingly polite, persistent, network, leave no stone unturned.
Experienced fundraisers say you can reach anyone in the world with only two phone calls. Considering that a radio station in Montreal got through to the Queen of England, who can doubt this is true?! So remember, you may not know the Minister or Mayor now, but there is no reason you can’t get to know them. Don’t be intimidated. Once you have a thorough knowledge of your issue and have done your homework, there’s no reason you can’t go to meet key people and put forward your case in person.
Preparing for the meeting
It is an excellent idea to reduce your key points to a one-page document you can leave with the decision-maker. It’s always easier to write a long document than a short concise one, but the effort to boil down your case is well worth it. Busy people (and the more powerful they are, the busier they are) will never read more than a page.
Think through ahead of time what it is you want the decision-maker to do. I know of environmentalists who’ve gone to see very powerful politicians, laid out their case, and prepared for questions on the merits of their argument, only to be completely unprepared for the person agreeing with them and asking the obvious question: “What do you want me to do about this?”
If the person you’re seeing is in Cabinet, for example, but not the Minister who actually makes the decision, think through exactly what you want. What is the most strategic thing this person can do to advance your case? Is it to speak quietly to someone, to issue a public statement or to introduce you to someone else so you can explain the issue to them? Your one page note should end with a very specific request.
You should also prepare for the personal side of the visit. If nothing else, you will have advanced your cause if the politician is left with a favourable impression - if you’ve started the process of building a relationship. So, do a little research about the person you’ll be meeting. When was she elected to government? Where did he go to university? If hunting and fishing are known to be favourite past-times, build on that to create environmental awareness. Ideally, you’ll find you know someone in common, or that you’ve gone to the same school, or that she was in school with your dad.
Be especially sure to research any previous good deeds for the environment. The best way to start any meeting is to thank the politician for something they accomplished in the past. Even if it was twenty years ago, they’ll feel great to know someone still remembers. And you’ll have them remembering that these issues are (or were) important to them. Don’t ignore the small talk. It may be the best part of your meeting.
If you are going as part of a group, think through how many of you should go. As a general rule, it is a poor idea to have more than three or four people go in to meet with politicians. It is increasingly intimidating for them, and unwieldy as the meeting size grows. Be strategic. If possible do not go to a meeting in a group larger than two or three. Be sure to tell the scheduling person you are dealing with the size of your delegation and the names of the people coming with you. Plan ahead who will cover which points.
The Meeting
Dressing for the meeting is unfortunately something that should be mentioned. Although there is no question that your value as an individual has nothing to do with how you look, you’ll be more likely to reach a decision-maker if you are dressed in a way to which they are accustomed.
Business suits go over better than jeans and sandals. I only wear make-up for media and lobbying. I call it war paint. (As my sister-in-law says, “A girl’s gotta do, what a girl’s gotta do.”)
If you haven’t had time to research this person’s background, you can still look for clues around their office. Diplomas, photos, plaques. Find some way to have a more personal chat at some point in the meeting. Most people love talking about themselves. It puts them at ease. A nervous and impatient person is not easy to influence. And, of course, you may find something that creates some common denominators in your lives.
Many people have a one dimensional image of environmentalists. Somehow they don’t think we have real lives, children, jobs, other interests. Breaking down the stereotypes is a significant part of your task.
Once you’ve had a bit of small talk, move quickly into the main agenda. Be courteous. Show an awareness that this person is probably very busy. Ask at the outset how much time the person has until their next appointment, bearing in mind that meetings often start late and keep backing up. Do not take up more time than has been allotted.
Present your case clearly and calmly. Give the decision maker your one-page note so they can follow along. Provide any more detailed papers you would like to leave as well. If your issue has a visual element, bring photos. Be sure to ask if the person has any questions. If you don’t know the answer to something, don’t bluff! Make a note and promise to get the information. And, then, remember to get it and send it to the decision- maker quickly, the next day if possible. Remember to ask clearly for what you want. And thank them, first, verbally, and then after with a thank you letter which reminds them graciously of any follow-up they offered to do.
Politicians are still just people. They are mostly honest, mostly over-worked, and often wrong.
If you can help them to do the right thing, why not try?
http://www.sierraclub.ca/activist-publication/
Fatherhood and Cancer: Film Critic Joel Siegel Offers Thanks, and a Warning
Aug 4, 2005 11:47 ET 
DURHAM, N.C., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- For film and theater critic Joel Siegel, the past seven years have been a living drama of joy and anguish.
It began with two firsts: the news in the summer of 1997 that his wife, Ena, was pregnant; followed one week later by Siegel's colonoscopy and the words "I don't have good news" spoken by his doctor.
There ensued a battle for Siegel's life, including three surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation, bracketing the birth of his son, Dylan.
Siegel, film critic for ABC-TV's Good Morning America since 1981 and for WABC-TV's Eyewitness News since 1976, describes his journey with colon cancer and fatherhood in the upcoming issue of The Oncologist (as presented to C- Change, May 2005), where he thanks cancer practitioners on behalf of Dylan, now seven.
"I had a seventy percent chance of being alive to witness the birth," he writes of his earliest prognosis. The first surgery, in 1997, followed by treatment that brought about extreme fatigue and other debilitating effects, was just the beginning.
As Dylan approached the age of two, a lesion was found on Siegel's left lung. His colon cancer had metastasized. A few months after that surgery, cancer appeared on his right lung. Less than a year ago, cancer was found in multiple sites of what remains of both lungs.
Siegel warns readers not to delay colorectal cancer screening past age 50. "If I had done one simple thing," he writes, "all of this could have been avoided." A screening colonoscopy at 50 would most likely have revealed pre- cancerous polyps that could have been removed, literally nipping his cancer in the bud.
Siegel has chronicled his experiences in his book, Lessons for Dylan: On Life, Love, the Movies, and Me (Public Affairs, New York, 2004).
He is co-founder, with actor Gene Wilder, of Gilda's Club, a nonprofit support facility for cancer patients named in memory of Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer.
The Oncologist, in its tenth year, is an international peer-reviewed journal from AlphaMed Press serving more than 21,000 physicians. The Oncologist is devoted to medical and practice issues for surgical, radiation, and medical oncologists entrusted with the care of adult or pediatric cancer patients.
Text of featured article: http://theoncologist.alphamedpress.org/cgi/content/full/10/7/558
Web site: http://www.theoncologist.com
Source: AlphaMed Press
http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/myPRNJ.jsp?profileid=1120118&resourceid=3007329
Man accused in Lackawanna Six travels sentenced for smuggling -NY
BUFFALO, N.Y. A Yemeni-American accused of helping send men to a militant training camp has been sentenced in New York.
The man (Aref Ahmed) gets more than three years in prison for a cigarette-smuggling operation.
He was convicted last year of money laundering and trafficking in contraband cigarettes.
Federal prosecutors also accuse him of giving 140-thousand dollars to members of the so-called Lackawanna Six. He hasn't been charged with that, however.
The Lackawanna Six are serving sentences ranging from seven to ten years after pleading guilty in 2003 to providing support to a terrorist organization. Some in the group have said they got money from Ahmed and used it to travel to a camp in Afghanistan.
http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=3645953
Blackfeet Tribe bans smoking and spit tobacco in all public buildings. -MT
The Blackfeet Tribal Business Council passed the Blackfeet Tobacco Free Act on July 21. Beginning Sept. 1, all public places will be smoke free and spit tobacco free on the Blackfeet Reservation. The act states it is "dedicated to all the Blackfeet members who have died and suffer from commercial tobacco-related cancers and illnesses" and "to protect the public health of the Blackfeet Nation, now and in the future."
The act's passage is one of several tribal health initiatives aimed at commercial tobacco and the disease it causes. The tribe resolved in 1989 to maintain smoke and spit tobacco free tribal buildings and programs, and it began and maintained the Blackfeet Tobacco Program since 2000, with funds from the Montana Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. In 2004, the Tribal Health Department initiated a tobacco prevention program, with prevention and cessation strategies.
A unique component of the act is the acknowledgement that, "Blackfeet cultural, spiritual and ceremonial use of tobacco is an inherent immutable component of the Blackfeet cultural landscape...[and] does not ban, prohibit or restrict in any manner the traditional, cultural, spiritual and ceremonial tobacco use by the Blackfeet people."
http://www.goldentrianglenews.com/articles/2005/07/27/glacier_reporter/news/news1.txt
Local man agrees to pay for tobacco sales -CA
By Quintin Cushner/Senior Staff Writer July 28, 2005
Piles of a Santa Maria wholesaler's cash are going up in smoke as he pays back taxes, interest and penalties, which could total more than $200,000, for allegedly hiding from the state his sale of tobacco products.
An attorney for defendant James Adam Wynn said Wednesday in Superior Court in Santa Maria that the man has already paid $107,000 in restitution to the California Board of Equalization.
Though court records show Wynn is accused of dodging at least $123,529 in tobacco taxes, fines on that amount could place him on the hook for more than double that amount.
Wynn, who lives in Nipomo and operates a warehouse in the 700 block of West Betteravia Road in Santa Maria, is charged with two felonies for buying and importing tobacco products - such as cigars and chewing tobacco - from a supplier in Miami, then evading taxes on the products before he sold them to various southern California retailers, said Senior Deputy District Attorney Jerry Lulejian.
Wynn is heading toward a plea bargain that would allow him to serve 60 days in Santa Barbara County Jail and five years' felony probation, provided he pays back the tax debt, Lulejian said.
Wynn, a businessman for more than 14 years who has operated companies named Pacific Wholesale and Lightning Distributing in Santa Maria, maintains he thought taxes on the products had already been paid.
Lulejian counters that Wynn knew or should have known that he was responsible for paying the state.
"The person who first distributes tobacco products in the state pays the tax and has to file a tax return," said Lulejian.
Those costs are then passed on to the retailer, and inevitably the consumer. As pipe smokers and tobacco chewers can attest, paying for their habit is an expensive proposition.
Much of those costs derive from the hefty tobacco product tax rate, Lulejian said. The 2005 tax rate amounts to a 46.76 percent increase over the manufacturer's price.
Lulejian said tax money goes toward state programs, including grants for prosecuting businesses that sell cigarettes and other tobacco products to minors.
Wynn declined to comment at court and later when contacted at his warehouse. His attorney, William Gamble, did not return calls for comment.
The Wynn case returns to Judge James Rigali's courtroom on Aug. 24 for a pre-trial hearing.
Quintin Cushner can be reached at 739-2217 or qcushner@santamariatimes.com.
http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2005/07/28/news/local/news04.txt
Second anniversary of smoking ban -NY
7/24/2005 7:42 PM
By: News 10 Now Staff
It’s the second anniversary of the New York State smoking ban. A controversial law from the beginning, the ban has caused much debate among local business owners and the state.
At Little Gem in Syracuse, owner Doc Good says he has seen a significant drop in profit since the ban went into effect.
Instead of buying beer at local restaurants, bars and taverns, he says customers are choosing to buy retail and stay home. A change which he believes is hurting local business.
“I see a lot more of the mom and pop businesses going out, may be your larger franchises will take over the business, but I do not see a growth in the restaurant and tavern association like we had experienced in the past," Good said.
Good says before the ban went into effect about 85 percent of his customers smoked.
Many of them were veterans who do not support the smoking ban, and see it as a violation of the freedom of choice. Good says the number of those who like the no smoking law does not compensate for those who don't.
http://news10now.com/content/all_news/Default.asp?ArID=46051&SecID=83
Watertown Kicks Ash -WA
Aug 4, 2005 12:15 ET
Hot Spot Becomes Seattle's First and Only 21-and-Over Dance Club to Go Smoke-Free Tomorrow
SEATTLE, Aug. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The dance floor always fills, but tomorrow the room is being cleared ... of smoke, that is. Popular dance club Watertown is saying enough to the puff by turning into a smoke-free establishment. A celebration is planned that tomorrow evening beginning at 5 p.m. (DJ announcement at 10 p.m.) to kick off the club's new, permanent smoke-free status. This is the first dance club in Seattle believed to make the move to non-smoking.
General Manager Patrick Haight felt the time was right to make Watertown a smoke-free dance club.
"It's not just about the smell of smoke on clothing and hair, it's a health concern for many," Haight said. "The need for a smoke free dance venue was clear; we want everyone who comes in to have a good time and not be turned off by second-hand smoke."
Roger Valdez, tobacco prevention manager for Public Health Seattle King County, concurs.
"Making the choice to be a smoke free night club is a gutsy move, but more and more bars and clubs we work with are doing it; They are finding out it's not such a bold move after all, because being smoke free fits the healthy lifestyle choices people are making in this community, such as exercising more, driving less and quitting smoking."
Watertown, with its full bar service and cushy booth seating, has been a Seattle dance club staple for more than five years. A new 80s and 90s "old school" DJ dance format (Fridays) will start on the Aug. 5 "ash kicking." Saturdays will now bring a top 40 and hip hop dance format.
Find Watertown at 106 1st Ave North near Seattle Center; 206-284-5003 Opens at 5 p.m. on Friday and 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday. DJs start at 10 p.m. each Friday and Saturday. Cover charge/admission: Friday $5; Saturday $10, ladies get in free until 11 p.m. both nights. Special privileges apply to groups of eight or more. More at www.watertownbar.com
To obtain information on smoke free initiatives/venues in Seattle and King County, contact Valdez at 206-369-7478 or visit www.smokefreeseattle.org and tobaccoprevention.org. For media inquiries on Watertown, contact Heidi Witherspoon at 206-838-8977.
Get Down at Watertown!
Source: Watertown
http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/myPRNJ.jsp?profileid=1120118&resourceid=3007355
Acess to transcript denied in jail contraband case -PA
By John Finnerty The Daily Item
SUNBURY — A North-umberland County judge declined to order state prosecutors to provide Holly Yucha’s defense attorney a portion of the transcript of the grand jury testimony that led to the indictment of Ms. Yucha and six other Northumberland County Prison guards.
Ms. Yucha, 34, of Sunbury, is facing charges of delivering contraband and criminal conspiracy. She had been employed at
Posted at 10:55 pm by looped_ca
Neighbours want loitering stopped in walkway -AB
by Dave S. Clark Wednesday July 20, 2005
Sherwood Park News — A few Glen Allan residents say they have had enough of the loitering, vandalism and drug use near their property in a walkway that leads to Bev Facey high school.
Joann McMillan and Karen Klein say that ever since Strathcona County has enacted a bylaw that prohibits students from smoking on school property the nearby residents have to deal with the students.
According to Klein and McMillan students now congregate in the walkway that connects Colwill Boulevard with Garland Crescent. McMillan says the students have also ventured onto her property.
“The problem is escalating every year,” said Klein. “We have a reprieve right now in the summer, but God help us in September.”
Klein says she has seen teens smoking drugs, breaking glass, harassing pets and vandalizing the surrounding property but is often hesitant to confront the teens.
“We don’t say anything to them because we don’t want the retaliation,” said Klein. “They don’t care what the neighbours say anyway.”
Klein ended up with a broken fence because of a fight on the walkway at the end of April. The Bev Facey student was tracked down and made to pay $300 for repairs.
“He gave me the money face to face,” said Klein. “He was very apologetic. These aren’t bad kids when they are alone, but they change when in a group.”
Most of the activity happens during the school’s lunch hour, but the neighbours also had problems with people who aren’t students at the school.
Coun. Ken Lesniak says he is concerned about the area and hopes to resolve the problem in the fall when school is back in session.
“It has to be a community effort,” said Lesniak. “The county, the community and the school all have to do what they can.”
He said he hoped he could get the school to make a policy to keep kids out of the area, however, that would be difficult since it is public property.
Lesniak said he would also be in contact with RCMP and the parks and recreation department who maintain the walkway. He also hoped the Facey students’ union would get involved as well.
Const. Darren Anderson of the Strathcona RCMP said bike patrol would do its best to cover the walkway, however, they only ride for a few weeks when school is in session.
Tanya Orr of Elk Island Public Schools said nothing had been reported to the division and that nobody from Bev Facey would be available for comment.
http://www.sherwoodparknews.com/story.php?id=173769
Where else can students smoke? -AB
Wednesday July 27, 2005
Sherwood Park News — I want to respond to an article I read in the latest Sherwood Park News, because I have read about it repeatedly, but only ever from one point of view.
I remember how hard it was when I was underage not to long ago, just to find a “safe” place to smoke. When I say safe, I mean somewhere underaged smokers will not be caught by teachers or police officers. It was an almost impossible task then and still is.
The path between Colwill Boulevard and Garland Crescent is one of the few places that young smokers can go. Even those who legally are allowed to smoke are forced to go there.
I realize that there are bunches of “children” who spoil it for the rest of us. However, there are a lot of us who just want a shaded, out-of-sight place to have a smoke or talk to friends.
We are sorry on behalf of the student body for all the cigarette butts, broken bottles and any drug paraphernalia or usage that goes on. I don’t care for it either.
Please don’t try to cut everyone off from going to the path, although really I don’t think that’s possible seeing as it is public property. Let’s try to find some sort of compromise.
I realize this will not be easy; there are some stupid kids out there nowadays. I realize I ask for compromise but yet offer no solutions myself. I do see things from your point of view, and I hope you see mine as well.
Brandice Hewitt
http://www.sherwoodparknews.com/story.php?id=175211
Saskatchewan hotels challenge smoking legislation -SK
Erin Pritchard Wednesday July 27, 2005
Lloydminster Meridian Booster — The smoking bylaw – an issue of business inequality in the Border City since its inception in January – has now become a matter in dispute for the province.
The Hotel Association of Saskatchewan has taken the province to court to have the bylaw abolished, citing unfair business opportunities for establishments in Saskatchewan.
Currently, casinos on First Nations’ reserves are not required to follow the smoking bylaw because each of the four reserves operating casinos has passed a band bylaw that overrides provincial jurisdiction.
“It’s our position that once those bylaws are in place, then by virtue of what they call the doctrine of federal paramouncy – a rule of constitutional law – the provincial law no longer applies on those reserves,” said Mitch McAdam, crown solicitor with the Constitutional Law Branch of the Saskatchewan Department of Justice.
He said because of the federal Indian Act, native reserves have the ability to pass band bylaws, including matters of its members’ health, that will supersede provincial laws. In effect, band bylaws hold the same power as federally passed laws. Currently, the four reserves in question have passed such laws – a 60-40 split of smoking and non-smoking in the casinos.
The Hotel Association of Saskatchewan is challenging the province under Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (equity guarantee) and wants to see the law thrown out because it creates an unfair playing field for casinos operating off reserves.
“What we’re looking for is some kind of relief. Our revenues are down and what we’re looking for is some kind of compromise with the government,” said Tom Mullin, president of the Hotel Association. “We have had discussions with them, however, they haven’t been particularly interested in a couple of ideas we’ve put across the table.
“Basically, the Charter challenge is saying that if they cannot enforce this legislation on Indian reserves, on businesses that are in direct competition with us, then they would have to throw out the law.”
The province has made an application to have the claim made by the Hotel Association stricken and said Section 15 of the Charter is for individual use, not for the security of commercial business.
A hearing was held this past Thursday in Regina to decide the fate of smoking in the province, but no decision was made. Justice Peter Foley said a decision will be made as soon as possible, but he gave no indication of when the parties concerned would know.
“We’re not in disagreement as far as the jurisdictional issue with the First Nations, they have their federal bylaws and that’s fine,” Mullin said. “When the government provincially tried to legislate a complete 100 per cent ban, they didn’t have agreement from the First Nations and I think that’s the crutch of the matter. It has to apply equally to all businesses.”
As the province and the Hotel Association await a response from the courts, local businesses are hopeful the law will be changed to help bridge the provincial gap created by the bylaw.
“If it’s overturned it will help business for sure,” said Seann Brenan, owner of Cheers in Lloydminster, adding that he doesn’t think kids should be in smoking environments, but business has to be fair.
http://www.meridianbooster.com/story.php?id=175109
Huge native cigarette sales growth queried -SK
REGINA (CP) - The Saskatchewan government wants to keep a closer eye on cigarette sales on aboriginal reserves after seeing a boom in the amount of rebates it pays.
Tax rebates for tobacco sales have increased from $3 million to more than $37 million in five years, according to the department of finance.
http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2005/07/27/fCanada.html
Business battles smoking fines -AB
Larry Fisher Wednesday July 27, 2005
Lloydminster Meridian Booster — Brent Underwood is determined to extinguish a pair of $550 smoking fines that have been burning a hole in his pocket ever since a Prairie North health inspector raided Shawny’s Bar in Marshall on March 11.
Underwood was working the bar that night and was charged with failing to request patrons to immediately stop smoking and with failing to ensure that no things designed to facilitate smoking are provided in the enclosed public place.
However, he says the fines were taken out of context and the small town business owner finally had his say yesterday morning as he represented himself in court at the Maidstone Legion Hall.
“I’ve been waiting for (Tuesday) for a long time,” said Underwood, adding the government has delayed his hearing as long as possible. “I have a pretty good feeling about taking this to court because the wording of the tickets is ridiculous and I think the judge may see the humour in it.
“Especially that second fine with the empty beer bottles being designed to facilitate smoking, I mean in my own words I’ll tell the judge that pretty much covers anything and everything including the floor.”
Underwood said the Saskatchewan government’s smoking legislation and enforcement tactics bother him to this day and that he is going to continue standing his ground until the government butts out.
“I’ve fought these fines tooth and nail since Day 1 and there’s not a chance in hell they will ever see a nickel from me,” he said.
http://www.meridianbooster.com/story.php?id=175108
Can't smokers butt out on patios? -BC
Complaints have coastal health unit looking at smoking in public places -- again
Mia Stainsby Vancouver Sun July 27, 2005
B.C. restaurants are smoke-free, but ever wonder where the smoke has gone?
Restaurant patios -- the primo spot on a warm, sunny day -- have become, by default, smoke pits. Restaurants with patios attract smokers because, well, where else can they eat and smoke in public?
It seems that whenever I opt for a patio seat on a sunny day, sooner or later, smoke comes creeping into my personal space and I expend far too much energy being the polite Canadian, reining in the inner rampage. It is, after all, perfectly legit.
Recently, I was eating inside, watching a woman on a small patio chain-smoking through her meal shrouded in a haze of smoke, some of it drifting into the small restaurant.
There were eight people at her table, including two young children. By meal's end, I am sure the group was gently smoked, like lox.
That I would be appalled and transfixed by someone smoking through dinner shows, I suppose, how far we have come.
And it's not just a summer thing. When I go to buy my organic, fair-trade, decaf coffee in the morning, rain or shine, I walk through a narrow phalanx of smokers in the doorway. The coffee's nice and healthy but I'm steeped in smoke. I've ditched the place a couple of times, but returned to replay the irony of getting my healthy cup of coffee.
It seems I'm not the only one kvetching. Domenic Losito, director of health protection for Vancouver Coastal Health, has received enough complaints from Vancouverites that his office is revisiting the issue of smoking in public places.
"It's something we may well put before council but more as a comfort and aesthetic issue than health," he says about smoking in patio areas. "A dining experience could certainly be spoiled by someone smoking a couple of tables over.
"One thing we are going to look at in the report is the establishment of a bit of buffer zone around doorways. That's an area we get a lot of complaints about. In Halifax, for example, there's a three-metre buffer zone from the door. We've heard from non-smokers, which is about 75 to 80 per cent of Vancouverites. They see prime space being taken up by smokers. But for the time being, it's not strictly a health issue and we'll let the market dictate."
B.C. and California, Losito says, led the way in the non-smoking regulations. "But it's been in place 10 years now and we're quickly falling behind as to where one can smoke. Many jurisdictions have pretty well said no to smoking rooms.
"An ideal situation," he says, looking out his office window, "would be to have two separate patios, like the Cactus Club across the way." It will be the next generation of smoking regulations, he says.
Currently, WorkSafeBC (formerly the Workers' Compensation Board) and the city allow smoking on patios as long as they aren't enclosed in any way and smoke isn't leaking back into the restaurant. Restaurants are allowed to have smoking rooms, however, and staff are permitted to be exposed for "20 per cent of their shift," whatever that means.
WorkSafeBC regulations say a safe outdoor location "may be a ground surface, floor, or deck area; a roof or awning may cover it. Any structure, including a temporary structure such as a tent that significantly obstructs the movement of air may bring the area within the meaning of an indoor workplace.
"For example, an area that has natural airflow obstructed on more than two sides by the presence of windbreaks, such as walls, fences, or other adjacent structures or objects may be deemed to be indoors for the purpose of this section. Walls less than 107 centimetres (42 inches) high or chain-link fencing or similar open structures that minimally obstruct airflow will normally not be considered as a windbreak."
Smoke on the patio, it is reasoned, dissipates and therefore doesn't cause a health risk. "The essential point is that smoke won't collect in an outdoor space. It's not a safety issue. It's a comfort issue," says Scott McCloy, director of communications for WorkSafeBC. "However, long-term exposure to second-hand smoke indoors has been shown in study after study to elevate the risk of negative health effects."
Errol Povah, president of Air Space Action on Smoking and Health, is very vocal on the matter. "Any place with a patio will attract smoking customers as opposed to ones that don't have a patio. There'll be a concentration. If they provide a patio for smokers, there should be an equally large one for non-smokers and if they're not prepared to provide both, then there should be no smoking.
"Why is it that non-smokers cannot be assured of a reasonably smoke-free meal and enjoy the patio? The bottom line is, whether or not I have a smoke-free meal shouldn't depend on which way the wind is blowing. It makes you wonder whether this is 2005 or we're still back in the '60s."
Povah says former labour minister Graham Bruce "gutted the WCB no-smoking regulations, allowing 20 per cent of a worker's shift to be in a smoking room. My position is that smoking should be eliminated entirely in restaurants, if for no other reason than to create what high-ranking people in the restaurant and bar industry have called for -- to maintain a level playing field."
Still, Losito says, B.C. and California are the "two shining examples" that lead the smoke-free way. "We have the lowest per capita of smokers. We're around 16 and 20 per cent of the adult population."
He says it has been universally shown that there is no negative impact and even a slightly positive impact to business upon calling for a no-smoke zone. "There's usually a six-month transitional impact, but, time after time, it's been shown in places like New York and Ottawa there's been a zero or positive impact, even for smokers. More people tend to quit and smoking rates go down, so that's a nice side effect."
He cautions: "You hate to make the smoker the victim because they're already victims of the industry. I'd like to see some [anti-smoking] funds diverted to help them quit."
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/arts/story.html?id=7e7a4e1b-31cd-4b05-b95f-75f1e9df79a4
Bus solves problem -MB
Letter to Editor July 28, 2005
This is in response to the July 27 letter suggesting we ban smoking in cars. Do we really want the government diving deeper into our personal lives? At what point do we stop letting government legislate our actions?
As far as banning smoking in cars, if smoking is so dangerous in a car, what about coffee cups? We should force the car manufacturers to remove those cup holders to reduce the risk of accidents.
What about those mirrors on the visors? How often have we seen women checking their make-up and applying it while driving? Men with their cordless shavers making sure they got all the stubble?
Music can be distracting in a car so we shouldn't allow radios in cars. How about that person beside the driver that carries on some conversation that distracts the driver? If you want to ban one distraction, you should ban them all.
Oddly enough there is an excellent vehicle designed to alleviate all those distractions and reduce the risk of accidents. It's called a transit bus! If you are worried about drivers having accidents because of smoking, let the skilled drivers of our transit system get you to where you want to go!
RICHARD KREIS Winnipeg
www.winnipegfreepress.com
QP still shows butts -ON
By Antonella Artuso, Toronto Sun July 28, 2005
DESPITE PASSING one of the toughest anti-smoking laws on the continent, the Ontario government continues to allow cigarettes to be displayed for sale in its own corridors.
Customers get a behind-the-counter eyeful of the wicked weed in the tuck shop of the Queen's Park Whitney Block. But David Spencer, a spokesman for Health Minister George Smitherman, said the law outlaws "powerwall" displays of tobacco as of May 31, 2006.
http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2005/07/28/1150602-sun.html
****Smoke draws ire -AB
Still lighting up in the Legislature
By DARCY HENTON, LEGISLATURE BUREAU
You can't smoke in bars, restaurants or offices in Edmonton, but you can still light up at the Legislature.
The sandstone dome and its adjacent blue annex building is the last refuge of the workplace smoker.
The Legislature is exempt from the city's no-smoking bylaw.
Government officials and visitors can enjoy a cigarette in the ventilated smoking room in the Legislature's basement cafeteria or in a similar smoking room on the annex's fourth floor.
'HYPOCRISY'
Liberal health critic Laurie Blakeman, a former smoker, calls it "the hypocrisy of the lawmakers."
"It's a huge hypocrisy and it always has been," she said. "We have our very own lawmakers giving themselves exemptions."
She said some senior government officials had their offices registered as designated smoking areas so they can smoke on the job.
The situation appalls civil service union boss Dan MacLennan, who had been pressing the Ralph Klein government to impose a provincewide smoking ban in all public places.
"If you can't smoke in a jail or an office, you shouldn't be able to smoke in that building while school tours are going through," he said. "If it is carcinogenic across the street from the Legislature, it is carcinogenic at the Legislature."
Marisa Etmanski, Klein's spokesman, said the Legislature is a "unique building" that doesn't fall under municipal authority.
However, she said the province will ban smoking in the Legislature when its own no-smoking bill, which received royal assent May 10, takes effect on Jan. 1, 2006.
"It will be smoke-free by January," she said. "We're trying to take care of that."
Les Hagen, Action on Smoking and Health executive director, said the provincial lawmakers should be setting an example for the rest of the province rather than lagging behind.
"Why wait until Jan. 1? They could do it right now," he said. "That doesn't require legislation. That just requires resolve."
He said 1,000 Canadians die annually from second-hand smoke.
NOT LAW YET
Lloyd Carr, a senior manager with the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission, said once Bill 201 is proclaimed, smoking will not be allowed in premises where there are children under age 18.
Currently 86 Alberta municipalities, including Edmonton, have no-smoking bylaws.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2005/07/28/1150685-sun.html
http://www.smokersclubinc.com/modules.php?name=Encyclopedia&op=content&tid=163
Smoking ban cuts Q1 profits by third, gaming corp. says -SK
CBC News Last Updated Jul 28 2005 09:25 AM CDT
Profits at government-owned casinos in Regina and Saskatchewan dropped by almost a third in the first quarter of the 2005-06 fiscal year that began Apri 1 – and the smoking ban is the cause, the Saskatchewan Gaming Corp. says.
Under the smoking ban that became provincial law Jan. 1, smoking is banned in bars, restaurants, casinos and other enclosed public places. The gaming corp. says as a result, net income was down 33 per cent and revenues declined 6 per cent between April 1 and June 30.
To counter the impact of the ban, the gaming corp. increased advertising and hired more staff, resulting in a 14 per cent increase in expenses.
Ironically, although profits were down, attendance was up – average attendance for the first three months of 2005-06 increased 25 per cent at Casino Regina and 21 per cent at Casino Moose Jaw. Although the smoking ban that became law Jan. 1 was also in effect for part of the 2004-05 year, both casinos continued to be big money-makers, according to the gaming corp.'s annual report.
SGC's net income last topped $39 million in 2004-05, an increase of almost $3 million or 8 per cent over the previous year. The two casinos employ about 800 people.
The gaming corp. runs Casino Regina and Casino Moose Jaw but not four Indian-controlled casinos – all which do allow smoking.
http://sask.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=casino-profits050728
Smoking ban blamed for tumbling casino profits -SK
BN July 28, 2005
REGINA -- A new smoking ban has put a serious dent in casino profits in Regina.
Profits at government-owned casinos in Regina and Saskatchewan dropped by almost a third in the first quarter.
Under the smoking ban that became law earlier this year, smoking is banned in bars, restaurants, casinos and other enclosed public places.
The Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation says net income was down 33 per cent for the three-month period.
To counter the impact of the ban, the gaming corporation increased advertising and hired more staff, resulting in a 14 per cent increase in expenses.
Although profits were down, attendance was up by 25 per cent at Casino Regina and 21 per cent at Casino Moose Jaw.
http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/news/story.html?id=69ea9fbf-21de-452c-a3b9-4acbc92c9e1a
Tobacco harvest approaching fast -ON
Jeff Helsdon - Staff Writer The Tillsonburg News Friday July 29, 2005
Area tobacco crops are growing well in the heat that’s been blanketing Southwestern Ontario this summer.
“Tobacco likes the heat as long as there’s enough moisture,” said Denise Beaton, integrated pest management specialist for specialty crops with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. “There's a lot of nice crops out there.”
Most farmers are done topping, but Beaton hasn’t heard of any who have started harvest yet. For farmers who completed topping last weekend, Beaton said they could start harvest as soon as next week. The first week of August is the traditional starting time for the earliest farmers.
As of yesterday (Tuesday) she said most farmers weren’t irrigating as there had been enough rainfall in recent days. That is drastically different from a couple of weeks ago when there was little or no rainfall and everybody was irrigating.
Too much rain has been a problem in some areas. There are some low-lying sections of fields that aren’t well drained that resulted in drowned tobacco after the rain of two weeks ago. Most of this was in the Burford and Brantford area where the soil is heavier.
In the Aylmer area, high winds and rain resulted in plants being partially knocked over. Beaton understands most farmers in this situation were able to stand the plants back up.
The heat has resulted in a few injuries to the crop, although none of it has been severe. Permanent wilt is a condition that usually affects one to two leaves under the heart where the leaves are the most tender. It occurs in the rapid growth stage because the plant isn’t able to take up enough moisture to keep up with the growth. Beaton said damage was typically one to three leaves per plant.
On the disease front, Ontario is still clear of blue mould. There have, however, been some cases of tobacco mosaic virus.
http://www.tillsonburgnews.com/story.php?id=175528
We're losing appetite for dining out -MB
By Kevin Rollason Friday, July 29th, 2005
YOU can blame it on the provincewide smoking ban, the mad cow crisis or flooding in southern Manitoba but any way you slice it, Manitobans are dining out less.
Manitobans spent $82.1 million in restaurants and taverns and on catering last May compared to $84.5 million in May 2004.
A similar drop was seen in April when Manitobans spent $79.8 million compared to $83.5 million in April 2004.
The drop bucks national figures in May, which saw total sales for restaurants, taverns and caterers hit $3.3 billion, a 3.7 per cent increase over May 2004.
Alain Mbassegue, who works in the Service Industries Division of Statistics Canada, said while they don't have the actual numbers available just for Manitoba drinking places, they know that's where a good portion of the drop was experienced.
"Drinking places did go down a lot in Manitoba," Mbassegue said yesterday.
"But we can't say what it's due to. People have to come to their own conclusions."
Jim Baker, president of the Manitoba Hotel Association, said he has come to his own conclusion, and it's that the province's smoking rules have hurt his membership's bottom lines.
Manitoba's smoking ban, which prevents smoking in all enclosed public places under provincial jurisdiction, took effect last October.
"The numbers don't surprise me," Baker said.
"If you could zero in on bars alone, we know it's a significant drop for them."
Baker said experience across North America has shown that while restaurants see a resurgence in business in the months after smoking bans take effect, bars don't.
"Smokers can go without smoking for a bit during a meal, but not with bars. There smoking bans have a major effect."
Saskatchewan, which put its smoking ban in place in January, also saw its food services sales figures drop, from $80.4 million in May 2004 to $75.4 million last May.
But in New Brunswick, which enacted a similar law the same day as Manitoba, food services sales went up from $55.9 million in May 2004 to $61.3 million.
Theresa Oswald, the province's healthy living minister, said "we did expect some short-term negative impact" for restaurants and taverns in the province when the government implemented the smoking ban.
"We knew this would happen," Oswald said.
"But we also know it bounced back reasonably well in Winnipeg after its ban... I would actually be inclined to think there's any number of factors for this (the sales decrease). There's also BSE and horrendous weather conditions.
"With the ban, we expected an initial downturn, but we hope there will be an upturn."
Jeff Glover, chairman of the Manitoba Restaurant and Food Services Association, agreed there are numerous factors for the drop in sales, many of which would be unique to individual businesses across the province.
"The numbers are significant because as an association you look at the dollars spent eating out and eating at home and if sales in the province are down, then we as a province are losing. People haven't gone through a recession so it's more people choosing to eat at home."
Keith Robertson, executive director of the Manitoba Cattle Producers, said sales figures for rural restaurants and taverns would also have been affected by the mad cow crisis.
Robertson said when the province's cattle producers aren't receiving any income, they wouldn't be eating out at the nearest restaurant.
"This is a direct effect of cash flow on farms which in many cases has been extremely diminished," Robertson said.
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
www.winnipegfreepress.com
Get off 'ban wagon'
July 30, 2005
In response to the July 27 letter Ban smoking in cars:
I would like to express my agreement with the letter's statements that smoking in cars can be a distracting activity for the driver. I also agree that children and other passengers shouldn't be exposed to second-hand smoke; it has been established as hazardous for others.
What I cannot agree with, however, is the made-in-Manitoba solution to the problem: Ban It!
Adding one bylaw after another to the already unmanageable regulatory array in this province is not only unrealistic in a financial context, but also has more profound consequences for the limits of law-makers. A society that forces its government to enact policy against every potentially hazardous behaviour must also be prepared to wholly surrender its autonomy and personal freedom. The outcome is absolute.
Intelligence and common-sense cannot be legislated, any more than they can be enforced.
Other activities can also be distracting to the driver of an automobile. Fighting with a spouse, wiping ice cream from a tot's face or applying makeup are just a few. Should we ban all of these, too? Laws and bylaws should be enacted not because they are fashionable, but because they are reasonable.
Isn't it time we got off the "ban wagon"?
JOHN HUDSON Winnipeg
www.winnipegfreepress.com
Phones the problem -MB
Regarding the July 27 letter Ban smoking in cars:
July 30, 2005
It is hand-held cellphones that are the problem. That's why New Jersey banned their use in vehicles a year ago. Smoking is only being blamed for one per cent of distractions, far behind other things. (Also probably the smallest figure that could be used.)
The proposed legislation has almost no chance of passing. Even if it is passed, it likely wouldn't be enforced.
VINCE HARDEN Winnipeg
www.winnipegfreepress.com
Native bingo must play fair — Greenbelt -ON
Charities file complaint with OPP gambling unit, threaten suit
By Elaine Della-Mattia, THE SAULT STAR Local News - Saturday, July 30, 2005 @ 09:00
The Greenbelt Charities Association threatens a lawsuit if the new bingo hall to open in Garden River next week doesn’t operate under the same regulations as other bingo halls in Ontario.
The 33 charities that make up the Greenbelt Charities Association filed a complaint with the Ontario Provincial Police illegal gambling unit alleging that some bingo halls are not operating with proper provincial licences.
The investigation has been forwarded to police services units that have jurisdiction over the Batchewana First Nation and Garden River First Nation lands, said OPP Det. Const. Paul Chafe of the illegal gambling unit in Orillia. “I cannot comment any further because I’m not sure if that investigation is still ongoing or not. You should check with that police service,” he said.
Acting Anishinabek Police Chief William Sayers was in meetings and did not return phone calls earlier this week.
Scott Reid, president of the Greenbelt Charities Association said local not-for-profit agencies are hurting financially due to a number of recent industry challenges, including the city’s non-smoking bylaw.
Reid said his group doesn’t oppose competition, but wants to ensure that each bingo hall in Ontario is required to play by the same rules.
Reid suggests if laws are not enforced equally across Ontario, a legal suit could be filed by the Greenbelt Charities Association against the federal and provincial governments for discrimination.
“We have a plan in place at this time,” he said.
Reid believes his organization won’t be able to compete with a new 11,000-square-foot bingo hall set to open next week on the Garden River First Nation, if it is not licensed by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.
Garden River First Nation runs 14 bingos weekly out of its community centre and has done so for several years.
Chief Lyle Sayers said he hasn’t spoken to anyone from the Greenbelt Charities Association directly about their allegations but has heard “rumblings” about the complaints.
“What we’re doing is trying to create jobs for our people to help our community,” Sayers said.
The new hall, which is expected to grow to a seven-day-a-week operation, has stated it has begun to ask charities from the Sault to participate in bingos there.
Sayers said the new hall plans to gear up slowly to ensure “any of the bugs are worked out” before having area charities hold their bingos there.
“We’ll make an offer to them and it will be up to them to decide if they want to come here or not,” Sayers said.
AGCO is an arm’s length agency that reports to the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services and is charged with administering the framework governing the issuance of charitable gaming licenses.
Ab Campion, spokesperson for AGCO, said the regulatory body has entered into legal agreements with First Nation communities in recent years, granting them gaming licences.
Under the agreement, the First Nation communities must enforce provincial laws dealing with charitable organizations.
The deal is similar to those established with municipalities whereby First Nations can charge charitable organizations up to three per cent of prizes offered as a fee for administering licences.
The Garden River First Nation or Batchewana First Nation are not among the 30 to 35 licences granted to First Nations to date, Campion said.
There are 134 First Nation communities in Ontario.
“If they operate without a licence, then under the Criminal Code, it’s an illegal gaming activity and that falls to the OPP anti-gaming unit,” he said.
Sayers said bingos run on Garden River First Nation are approved by chief and council and the community plans to continue with that.
“There are other First Nation communities that do not have licences. Why is Garden River being targeted?” he said.
“We didn’t complain when Sault Ste. Marie received the charity casino and we don’t get a dime from it for our community.”
Sayers said non-natives complain that First Nation communities rely too heavily on government assistance. “We’re trying to create jobs for our people and help raise money to become less dependent on government and to help offset costs that there is no government money for in our community.”
First Nations had been in negotiations with the province to establish their own licensing system to operate bingos but the talks stalled during the last provincial election and have not resumed, Sayers said.
“I hope they get talking again. We’re not trying to break any laws. We’re trying to help the citizens of Garden River.”
In Sault Ste. Marie, city council reduced the three per cent licensing fee to one per cent to help charities cope with the strain of business loss after it enacted the city’s non-smoking bylaw.
That temporary one per cent licensing fee, which was to expire at month’s end, received a six-week reprieve by council Monday.
Reid said the Greenbelt Charities Association will continue to seek a permanent reduction on that levy.
Sault Ste. Marie MPP David Orazietti said his office has received a number of complaints from various charities, alleging inequities in the system.
He forwarded those complaints to the Ministry of Consumer and Business Affairs and to the Ministry of Correctional Services.
“No elected official should be directing enforcement officers to take action and I won’t suggest what the OPP should do here. That’s not my role,” Orazietti said. “But as a citizen of Ontario I expect the OPP to enforce laws equally across the province if they believe they have the evidence that laws are being broken.”
http://www.saultstar.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=119750&catname=Local+News&classif=News+%2D+Local
Smoke ban enforcer a no-show in court -SK
Larry Fisher Sunday July 31, 2005
Lloydminster Meridian Booster — The judge didn’t have to inhale too much information before dismissing a pair of $550 smoking fines stemming from an incident at Shawny’s Bar in Marshall on March 11.
The charges were thrown out this past Tuesday because the Crown’s key witness – Prairie North health inspector Richard Koroluk, the man who originally issued the tickets – failed to appear in court.
“It wasn’t the way I wanted to do it, I really wanted to say my piece there, but as it turned out we didn’t have to do it and my charges were all dismissed,” said Shawny’s Bar owner Brent Underwood, who had been saving his breath for months as his hearing was initially delayed by the prosecution. “They weren’t exactly rarin’ to go on it anyway and then when the tobacco cop didn’t show up, we waited and waited and finally the judge had enough and just threw it all out.”
Glennys Uzelman, vice-president of primary health services with Prairie North, said miscommunication between the regional health authority and the prosecution was responsible for Koroluk’s absence.
“We are aware those charges have been dismissed … but Richard was not made aware of that (trial) date and that would be the reason he did not attend,” said Uzelman, adding Koroluk’s full intention was to make an appearance and speak to the matter. “He would have been there had he known and we certainly plan on following through on all the other charges that have been laid to date.”
Prairie North health inspectors have handed out 14 fines since the Saskatchewan smoking legislation came into effect on Jan. 1, 2005 – three of them have been paid voluntarily, while the other 11 are being fought. Out of those 11 fines, Underwood’s were the first to make their way before a judge and the other nine are scheduled to be heard in Saskatchewan Provincial Court in October and November.
Uzelman admitted it has been frustrating for the health region to exhaust a lot of time, energy and resources into enforcing the smoking ban only to have a small percentage of people actually pay the fines. But she said she is not entirely surprised the fines are being fought.
“That is certainly within the prerogative of those individuals and those businesses … this is a new law and I would expect it to be challenged to some extent,” said Uzelman.
Underwood is hoping that even though his fines weren’t thrown out based on his arguments, the fact they were dismissed will set a precedent for other business owners and cause a ripple effect across the province.
“I don’t think anyone should be paying these fines … take it right to the bitter end like I did and I think they will eventually give up,” he said. “There’s something in the air and everyone’s fighting the government right now, so that whole (smoking legislation) could come crumbling down one of these days.”
http://www.meridianbooster.com/story.php?id=175781
Yellowhead Casino Visit -AB
Sun July 31, 2005
I VISITED the Yellowhead Casino during the Grand Prix when there were many tourists in town and, thanks to the no-smoking bylaw, was able to play any machine I wanted as there were plenty available. The casino (or bars) weren't prepared for the bylaw when they had all kinds of time to prepare. I wanted to save my machine while outside for a smoke break as it was due to hit. There were no markers available to let other gamblers know that the machine was taken. If I'm smoking outside, I'm not gambling; thus, no revenue. Have they considered an enclosed, heated smoking shelter for the winter or rain? I know smoking is no good for me but I am addicted and can't quit even though I want to.
Bill Demers Fort McMurray
(Keep trying ...)
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Letters/2005/07/31/1154076.html
Smoking At The Auto Motion Car Show -ON
The account of a smoker knowing his rights
http://www.smokersclubinc.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1870
Old bylaw up in smoke
By Kathy Taylor Tuesday August 02, 2005
Pincher Creek Echo — After being burned by its current smoking bylaw, the town has given first reading to one it is sure is flame-retardent.
The town’s smoking bylaw was successfully challenged by Swiss Alpine Restaurant owner Heinz Inabnit.
The judge found the bylaw was too “ambiguous.”
As a result, the town has decided to use the City of Medicine Hat’s smoking bylaw which has held up to two court challenges.
“They’ve been challenged twice and they won both times,” Special Constable Kevin Sonnenberg told council.
While it was given first reading, it wasn’t unanimous.
Councillor Bill Bradshaw voted against the proposed bylaw, which contains a clause exempting the Royal Canadian Legion, private residences, or rooms available for rent in a hotel, motel or bed and breakfast establishment.
Bradshaw asked why council would consider exempting an establishment from complying with the bylaw when they allow children into the facility.
“It (the bylaw) gives the parents the choice,” said Councillor Sharon Smith.
Choosing not to take your children into a place where there is second hand smoke is just common sense, said Smith.
“You can’t legislate common sense,” Smith said.
Council gave the bylaw first reading, with Bradshaw opposed, agreed to advertise it for two weeks, gather some public input, and to discuss the matter further amongst themselves.
The matter will be on the agenda at the next regular meeting of council Aug. 22
http://www.pinchercreekecho.com/story.php?id=175737
Anti-smoking logic -MB
August 2, 2005
Regarding the letter Ban smoking in cars:
The man is talking on a cellphone and smoking a cigarette so of course using typical anti-smoker logic the cigarette is the reason he is not paying attention and goes through a stop sign.
Give us a break!
GORDON FINLAY Swan River
www.winnipegfreepress.com
'Devastating' butt ban -AB
By SORCHA MCGINNIS, EDMONTON SUN Tue, August 2, 2005
A city restaurateur claims butting out has meant jobs have gone up in smoke, while others say it's hard to know what impact the smoking ban will have because of a recent surge in tourism.
Tom Goodchild said that since the city's new smoking bylaw took effect on July 1, he's had to eliminate up to 10 jobs at The Moose Factory, 4810 Calgary Tr.
"It's devastating. Our sales are down 35 per cent," said Goodchild. "We've had to terminate people because there simply isn't the work."
The restaurant has laid off between eight and 10 part-time servers, while those remaining have complained they are making less money in tips.
And Goodchild added he's been forced to say no to the approximately 10 requests he gets from city charities every week because he doesn't have the cash.
He says he'll continue to make donations as long as he can to the charities to which he's made a commitment, including a program that feeds underprivileged kids at inner-city schools.
Assurances by proponents of the ban that business will eventually bounce back as non-smokers reclaim bars haven't been convincing.
"Smoking is a social event," said Goodchild. "People don't suddenly decide they want to change their social habits because there's no smoking."
Other restaurateurs say that with so many visitors to the city in July, it will be a month or more before they know whether to expect a sharp drop in business.
Pat Tarbox, who manages the Sherlock Holmes Pub at West Edmonton Mall and the Rose & Crown Pub at 10235 101 St., noticed an initial 40 per cent drop in business.
However, in recent weeks, business has picked up.
Tarbox says this may be due to an increase in tourism from events such as the Grand Prix of Edmonton and the World Masters Games.
"It's hard to determine," he said. "The owners are kind of waiting for a month with not a lot of events happening, to see if it will tell the tale of what's going on."
Tarbox, a former smoker who backed the high-profile anti-smoking crusade of his late wife Barb, said he hasn't yet been forced to lay off any employees.
Their schedule has been adjusted to reflect a decline in business, with some staff working fewer hours, he said.
Mark Ung, general manager at the Boston Pizza at 4804 Calgary Tr., says the restaurant has been doing well in recent weeks.
Ung said he expects business will soon be a little slower.
"There's been so much going on," he said. "August will be the better test."
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2005/08/02/1156206-sun.html
The New smoking Bylaw - AB
August 2,2005
THE NEW smoking bylaw has driven down the price of a beer in the bar, because they are scrambling for business, and I'm only two steps from being outside to have a cigarette! I can drink more and cut back on my smoking, not disrupting my fellow man in the process. God bless the anti-smoking people. Just be thankful I don't drive.
Geoff Dean
(Most bylaws are a mixed blessing.)
Gov't should buy them out
Mark Kennedy CanWest News Service Tuesday, August 02, 2005
OTTAWA -- Canada's governments should buy out the country's tobacco companies and hand them over to a new "public-interest" agency that manufactures and sells cigarettes so they are less addictive and appealing, says a new book.
Under the proposal, the new agency's fundamental purpose would be to gradually sell fewer cigarettes -- thereby providing the country untold savings in reduced costs to the health-care system, according to Cynthia Callard, Neil Collishaw and Dave Thompson, authors of Curing the Addiction to Profits.
A variety of models -- from Crown corporations, to non-profit companies, to public utilities -- could be considered as the best way to take over the tobacco industry, says the book.
The tobacco companies would be given the chance to voluntarily sell their firms as part of a negotiation, or they could be forced to comply and be paid fair-market value as part of the expropriation.
The book says it is difficult to predict how much it would cost to buy the companies. It says the price tag could be virtually nil if the companies -- already faced with lawsuits from governments seeking money from alleged tax-evasion and the health costs of treating smokers -- decide they're better off to get out of the business now.
Otherwise, it says the total value of the Canadian tobacco market could potentially be $15 billion.
"If buying tobacco companies seems expensive, the cost of allowing them to continue to serve private interests is no less costly," say the authors. "Since society pays the health costs associated with smoking, the cost to Canadians of buying tobacco companies is much lower than the cost of leaving them in place to keep smoking rates high."
In an interview, Callard -- who works with Collishaw at Physicians For a Smoke-Free Canada, a leading anti-tobacco group based in Ottawa -- said the authors want to kickstart a debate about innovative "long-term strategies" designed to reduce smoking rates.
She said that while federal and provincial governments could collectively purchase the tobacco companies, the simpler approach would likely be having the federal government make the move on its own.
The book notes that for nearly 50 years, governments have battled the consequences of high rates of smoking by encouraging individual smokers to recognize the dangers.
"The policies deployed to reduce smoking -- high tobacco taxes, bans on cigarette promotions, health warning labels, public education, etc -- try to modify the mindset and actions of smokers or potential smokers, which is why they are considered to be 'demand-side' interventions."
But from the start, says the book, tobacco companies have stood in the way. The authors say people should not expect companies to behave contrary to their "fiduciary responsibilities."
"The corporation has no moral responsibilities, and is incapable of feeling guilty about this selfish tendency. It does, however, have a legal responsibility to act in the best interests of its shareholders.
"Tobacco corporations, like all business corporations, are not evil, and they are not good; they are incapable of any moral judgment or culpability. Like other rule-driven systems, their behaviour is programmed and predictable. In striving to sell more cigarettes and recruit new smokers, they are doing exactly what they were created to do and what they are required to do (that is, make money). The visible hand of corporate law and the invisible hand of the marketplace both compel tobacco corporations to try to increase tobacco use."
Thus, says the book, as long as the profit-driven companies themselves control the market, they will continue to weaken, bypass and violate tobacco control measures put in place by governments.
"Health regulators may develop more sophisticated and stringent tobacco control measures, but the companies will reply every time with more sophisticated and imaginative strategies to blunt their effect," say the authors.
The book argues that governments should recognize this fact and overcome the problem by influencing the "supply side" of the tobacco industry.
"There are many forms and hundreds of examples of public-interest enterprises, such as co-operatives, public utilities, Crown corporations and non-profit agencies, that can serve as models for creating a new public-interest tobacco manufacturer that has a legally binding mandate to help reduce smoking."
After the purchase, workers and retailers would not stop manufacturing and selling cigarettes but they would be directed to "focus their energies" on new ways to get people to stop smoking.
Under the new system, the companies would: work with public health agencies to devise and implement smoking cessation initiatives; cease all advertising and promotion aimed at increasing demand; adjust the design of cigarettes to make them less addictive and less attractive; and change the retail system so that store owners are not paid for promotional counter-top displays.
Christina Dona, manager of media relations for Imperial Tobacco Canada, said in an interview that buying out the industry is not necessary. "We think that a lot of the health-care objectives the government wants to accomplish can be done through a regulatory regime."
Moreover, she expressed doubt that even if there was an expropriation, federal and provincial governments would want to eradicate an industry that last year provided them with $8.7 billion in taxes.
http://www.canada.com/regina/leaderpost/news/story.html?id=a9e98c44-1da4-4983-9546-5bc77f26908d
Rothmans faces triple threat
By KATIE ROOK
Tuesday, August 2, 2005 Updated at 3:23 AM EDT
Tobacco company Rothmans Inc. is sleeping with one eye open.
Canada's second-largest tobacco company is facing a triple threat from contraband cigarettes, indoor smoking bans and pending litigation.
However, it still managed a first-quarter profit and impressive market share gain. But the momentum may cease.
"This [stock] is expensive," said David Hartley, an analyst with First Associates Investments. "Going forward, it's all about valuation of the stock and I think we've hit the end of the rope in terms of this stock going up. I think the valuations have finally become unreasonably stretched."
An increase in payout ratio (dividends as a percentage of share profit) to 86 per cent from 55 to 60 per cent two or three years ago has caused Rothmans to trade at 20 times earnings, 10.5 times EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) and 20 times free cash flow, Mr. Hartley said. Historically, Rothmans' peers have traded at 12 times earnings, 14 times EBITDA and 12 to 14 times free cash flow.
A week ago, Toronto-based Rothmans reported an increase in first-quarter profit to $29.7-million or 44 cents a share from $23.8-million or 35 cents a year earlier.
Despite an industry-wide decline in volume, the 60-per-cent-owned Rothmans Benson & Hedges Inc. was able to harness growth by being the first of Canada's three tobacco companies to offer discount cigarettes.
Revenue after excise duty and taxes increased to $176-million from $161.8-million.
Rothmans' share of the domestic market increased to 31.3 per cent from 27.9 per cent a year earlier.
"You have to remember market share was only 21 per cent two years ago and now they're at 31.3 per cent. That's a phenomenal management job right there," Mr. Hartley said.
The cigarette price category, or discount cigarettes, barely existed three years ago and now represents more than half of Rothman's business, chairman John Lute said in a conference call.Rothman's price category cigarettes, which include Number 7, Canadian Classics and Mark 10, represented about 38 per cent of total reported industry domestic cigarette sales volume in fiscal 2005, an increase from 7.2 per cent in fiscal 2003 and 18.3 per cent in fiscal 2004.
"As this change took place, we were quick to accept the days of predictability were over and that for the foreseeable future, this industry would be at best variable and at times volatile," Mr. Lute said.
The 4.72-per-cent dividend yield of the sin stock was in line with its peers, Mr. Hartley said. But it was almost identical to the dividend yield of low-risk BCE Inc., Canada's largest communications company, and power producer TransAlta Corp. Mr. Hartley's recommendation and 12-month price target are "under review." The stock closed Friday at $25.40 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
A Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. analysis voiced concerns that Rothmans may be vulnerable regarding market share as competitor JTI-Macdonald Corp. has launched another brand into the lower-tier category at a price lower than both Rothmans' and Imperial Tobacco Canada's.
"[Rothmans Benson & Hedges] has over the past 12 months taken two separate price increases in the discount category; this may make the ability to take further increases more difficult," the report said.Rothmans blamed higher taxes for the proliferation of contraband cigarettes.
"Governments are simultaneously raising taxes to unprecedented levels and placing increasingly rigid restrictions on the industry. This set the stage for the growth of counterfeit and contraband product, which is a growing problem for everyone," Mr. Lute said.In 2004, the RCMP seized 120,582 cartons of contraband cigarettes across Canada, valued at between $40 and $70 each, spokeswoman Nathalie Deschênes said. In 2003, three shipments from China were intercepted and 357,298 cartons were seized.
Indoor smoking bans have led to lower cigarette consumption in the winter, and Rothmans is continuing to research what impact this trend will have on the stock price.
"It seems to make sense that that would be the case, but we're continuing to do analysis," Mr. Lute said.
There have been no developments in litigation brought against tobacco companies, but a positive result for the plaintiffs in British Columbia and Quebec could burden the tobacco industry.
In British Columbia, the Supreme Court is reviewing the province's right to sue tobacco companies for health care recovery costs while class-action litigation is proceeding in Quebec.
"The risk comes in waves the way the market looks at it. When court cases are upon us, the stock tends to contain a greater risk premium than at times when the news is low," Mr. Hartley said.
"I think [litigation] is going to be a factor in the near term if the result is positive for the province."
Smokin'
Rothmans has racked up first-quarter profit and impressive market share gain, but industry challenges could ease its momentum.
Company snapshot
| Headquarters |
Toronto |
| Chairman |
Joseph Heffernan |
| President / CEO |
John Barnett |
| Friday's close |
$25.40 |
| Change from previous |
down 25¢ |
| 52-week intraday high |
$26.99 |
| 52-week intraday low |
$16.76 |
| P/E ratio, trailing |
17.58 |
| Dividend yield |
4.72% |
| Market cap |
$1.72-billion |
| Price / book ratio |
16.87 |
| 1-year total return |
64.37% |
| YTD percentage return |
27.32% |
| Revenue, Q1 2006 |
$176-million |
| Profit, Q1 2006 |
$29.7-million |
SOURCE: BLOOMBERG FINANCIAL SERVICES
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050802.wxredge02/EmailBNStory/Business/
Government told to buy up big tobacco to cut smoking
Mark Kennedy Citizen Special August 2, 2005
Making cigarettes less addictive would help Canada kick habit: book
Canada's governments should buy out the country's tobacco companies and hand them over to a new "public interest" agency that manufactures and sells cigarettes so they are less addictive and appealing, says a new book.
Under the proposal, the new agency's fundamental purpose would be to gradually sell fewer cigarettes -- thereby providing the country untold savings in reduced costs to the health care system, according to Cynthia Callard, Neil Collishaw and Dave Thompson, authors of Curing the Addiction to Profits.
A variety of models -- from Crown corporations, to non-profit companies, to public utilities -- could be considered as the best way to take over the tobacco industry, says the book.
The tobacco companies would be given the chance to voluntarily sell their firms as part of a negotiation, or they could be forced to comply and be paid fair market value as part of the expropriation.
The book says implementing its plan could cost practically nothing to as much as $15 billion.
The price tag could be virtually nil, the book claims, if the companies -- already faced with lawsuits from governments seeking money from alleged tax evasion and the health costs of treating smokers -- decide they're better off to get out of the business now. Otherwise, the value of the Canadian tobacco market could be $15 billion.
The varying predictions reflect just how difficult it is to estimate the cost to buy the companies, and what factors should be used in any estimation.
"If buying tobacco companies seems expensive, the cost of allowing them to continue to serve private interests is no less costly," say the authors. "Since society pays the health costs associated with smoking, the cost to Canadians of buying tobacco companies is much lower than the cost of leaving them in place to keep smoking rates high."
In an interview, Ms. Callard -- who works with Mr. Collishaw at Physicians For a Smoke-Free Canada, a leading anti-tobacco group based in Ottawa -- said the authors want to kickstart a debate about innovative "long-term strategies" designed to reduce smoking rates.
She said that while federal and provincial governments could collectively purchase the tobacco companies, the simpler approach would likely be to have the federal government make the move on its own.
The book notes that for nearly 50 year Posted at 1:31 pm by looped_ca
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