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Senate moves forward with government tobacco takeover By Michelle Malkin  •  June 11, 2009 05:33 PM Photoshop credit: Mike On June 2, I called attention to the Democrats’ plans to complete a government tobacco takeover.The next step took place today while America slept. Another day, another industry grab: Congress struck the government’s strongest anti-smoking blow in decades Thursday with a Senate vote to give regulators new power to limit nicotine in cigarettes, drastically curtail ads and ban candied tobacco products aimed at young people.Cigarette foes say the changes could cut into the 400,000 deaths every year caused by smoking and reduce the...

Take someone with too much time on their hands and a ridiculously moralistic and self-righteous worldview, combine that with activist government and what do you get? A city that bans smoking in your own home, that's what. One California town has taken misguided activist government to a new place - private residences...

Distinctive packaging for cigarettes may be replaced by plain black and white lettering under Government plans to reduce smoking, it has been announced. The Government has plans to ban brightly coloured packets, remove cigarettes from display and stop the cheap option of a pack of 10 A red packet of Marlboro or a gold Benson and Hedges wrapping could become a thing of the past after research showed children easily identify brands and link smoking to being "cool". Along with putting cigarettes under the counter in shops, banning packs of 10 and restricting vending machines, it is one of the...

Do you smoke? Well, you better be careful where. I don't smoke, and I don't like the smell, but what some people are doing to smokers makes me say give me a break. For the last 12 years, Galila Huff has owned Caffé la Fenicé, a restaurant serving Italian food on the Upper West Side of New York City. Smoking there is forbidden. New York state bans it in all restaurants and bars. Huff's apartment is a few blocks away at The Ansonia, an ornate turn-of-the-century building that both Babe Ruth and Arturo Toscanini once called home. Huff lives there...

FDA: Connection between Chantix, psychiatric problems ‘increasingly likely’The Associated Press updated 1:33 p.m. PT, Fri., Feb. 1, 2008WASHINGTON - Government regulators said Friday the connection between Pfizer's anti-smoking drug Chantix and serious psychiatric problems is "increasingly likely."The Food and Drug Administration began in November investigating reports of depression, agitation and suicidal behavior in patients taking the popular twice-daily pill.The agency's announcement comes two weeks after Pfizer added stronger warnings to the drug. In doing so, the company stressed that a direct link between Chantix and the reported psychiatric problems has not been established, but could not be ruled out.In a...

Poll: Two-thirds of Wyoming voters support statewide smoking ban CHEYENNE, Wyo. - A statewide poll shows that two-thirds of Wyoming voters support a ban on smoking in public places, including restaurants and bars. The poll, commissioned by the American Cancer Society in Wyoming and other health organizations, also found that 74 percent of registered voters believe the right of customers and employees to breathe clean air outweighs smokers' right to light up indoors. "It shows that the people of Wyoming would absolutely support a smoke-free Wyoming," said Loretta Wolf, spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society in Wyoming. The American Cancer...

Two cities in California are now considering unprecedented legislation that would ban smoking inside apartments and condos. We're talking private property and the right to legislate what goes on behind closed doors, in your own, private home. The City of Belmont, CA won initial approval last week to ban smoking in your home, if you live in an apartment or condo. The measure could trigger fines and actual eviction. The same measure is being considered in the city of Calabasas. In Bangor, Maine, a city councilman, oops, coulcilperson, Patricia Blanchette has submitted preliminary legislation to make Maine one of the...

A British millionaire who has reportedly hired outgoing Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife, Cherie, to fight the New Labour Government's ban on smoking, described Tony Blair as an "a***hole" on peak-time radio on Sunday. Sixty-three-year-old Dave West, a lapdance boss, resorted to the use of unparliamentary language after claiming that human rights lawyer Cherie Blair, 52, thought his club should be exempted from new cigarette laws. Interviewed onj BBC Radio Five, West was quoted by The Sun a saying that Tony Blair was an a***hole for introducing the smoking ban. When Nicky Campbell, the show's host, said that there was...

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Mayor Bloomberg is decrying the state of the 2008 presidential race, faulting the major party candidates for offering shallow, simplistic prescriptions, and scolding the press for failing to demand more from those seeking the White House. During an appearance at Google's headquarters in Silicon Valley yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg said the televised debates among the presidential candidates have been, in essence, a waste of time. "They have absolutely nothing to do with the job and the qualifications. And they don't tell you anything about whether or not any of those candidates would be good or bad presidents....

Pub patio heaters for smokers will produce 'as much pollution as a small city'By DAVID DERBYSHIRE - More by this author » Last updated at 22:00pm on 10th June 2007  Pubs are installing patio heaters in outdoor smoking areas Patio heaters installed by pubs to keep smokers warm on chilly nights could soon produce as much carbon dioxide as a small city, it has been claimed. Next month's smoking ban has triggered huge demand for the gas-fired heaters from pubs, restaurants and clubs creating legal outdoor smoking areas. But according to experts, a single heater releases more carbon dioxide...

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Thirty years after it began as just another quirky movement in Berkeley, Calif., the push to ban smoking in restaurants, bars and other public places has reached a national milestone. For the first time in the nation's history, more than half of Americans live in a city or state with laws mandating that workplaces, restaurants or bars be smoke-free, according to Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights. ''The movement for smoke-free air has gone from being a California oddity to the nationwide norm,'' said Bronson Frick, the group's associate director. ''We think 100 percent of Americans will live...

New Self-Snuffing Cigarettes To Prevent Fires Six States Requiring Safer SmokesUPDATED: 2:42 pm EST January 4, 2007 STOCKTON, Calif. -- Many smokers are willing to walk a mile for a Camel, but will they be willing to puff a little harder? A new California state law that took effect this week requires stores to sell cigarettes that are designed to go out if the smoker stops puffing or drops the cigarette. Six states have adopted legislation requiring the self-snuffing smokes in an effort to prevent fires. The new cigarettes have tiny paper bands through which flame is not supposed to...

See for example this thread first. Hawaii has said it, no joke In public places, you can't smoke Have they slit their wrists with regard to tourists Will this stunt help to drive the state broke?

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY: Board votes to ban smoking in many public, unincorporated areas -- No one in unincorporated areas of Contra Costa County will be able to smoke in neighborhood parks, on restaurant patios or along public trails after the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed outdoor smoking restrictions Tuesday that it hopes other cities in the region will copy. Supervisor Mark DeSaulnier of Concord proposed the idea last year, saying the increased incidence of heart disease and other illnesses linked to smoking cost the county $228 million per year.The new law, which takes effect Nov. 17, will ban smoking in...

LISBON - A judge’s directive giving custody of a child to a father instead of his smoking ex-wife is consistent with court rulings that smoking may be used in making such decisions, an appeals court said. The 7th Ohio District Court of Appeals, in a ruling last week, upheld the decision by the Columbiana County Common Pleas Court in favor of Joel Pierce of nearby Leetonia over his ex-wife, Tammy Pierce of Sanford, Fla. “The Ohio Supreme Court has catalogued the risks of secondhand smoke to children and courts have used the fact that a parent smokes as a factor...

Not many know Debi Austin by name. But it's hard to shake the image of her in the public service announcement where she takes a drag from a cigarette through a hole in her throat. The Stanislaus County Office of Education is counting on Austin, a longtime smoker who had her larynx removed because of cancer, to deter local students from using tobacco. "It's amazing how many of our young people are smoking," prevention director Vicki Bauman said. "They're resilient and they think they're untouchable. Sometimes you have to use the shock factor." Thursday, nearly $330,000 in tax money from...

Anti-smoking groups are planning to increase the pressure on the movie industry to get actors to quit lighting up on the silver screen. Anti-tobacco activists worldwide plan to march Thursday from the Washington Convention Center to Motion Picture Association of America headquarters and call on the MPAA to take action to reduce smoking in the movies, including requiring an R rating for any movies with a non-historical depiction of smoking. The march and protest by various anti-smoking groups convening here for the World Conference on Tobacco or Health will follow the release of a study by the nonprofit, anti-smoking group...

Down through the years, I've attempted to warn my fellow Americans about the tyrannical precedent and template for further tyranny set by anti-tobacco zealots. The point of this column is not to rekindle the smoking debate. That train has left the station. Instead, let's examine the template. In the early stages of the anti-tobacco campaign, there were calls for "reasonable" measures such as non-smoking sections on airplanes and health warnings on cigarette packs. In the 1970s, no one would have ever believed such measures would have evolved into today's level of attack on smokers, which includes confiscatory cigarette taxes and...

America's largest foodmaker and its biggest cigarette company for years have likened themselves to distant siblings, giants that just happened to be owned by the same parent company. In fact, Kraft Foods Inc. and Philip Morris USA have pooled expertise in search of making more-alluring foods and cigarettes since the dawn of their corporate pairing two decades ago, a Tribune examination of tobacco-lawsuit documents has found. Documents show Northfield-based Kraft collaborated on flavor issues with some of the same Philip Morris brain researchers who probed what gives cigarettes their kick. None of those scientists was more controversial than Frank Gullotta,...

A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed Roger Valdez, director of tobacco prevention for Public Health– Seattle & King County. He is in charge of Seattle-area enforcement of the statewide smoking ban approved by voters in November. I call him the tobacco czar. We were talking about how enforcement was working out, including the 25-foot rule. In the midst of our chat, Valdez said something remarkable. "Americans think they have a lot of rights they really don't have. Smoking is one of those things where people think they have the right to smoke, but you don't." He used "you" in...

Beginning in the new year, the 77 Westin hotels and resorts in Canada, the U.S. and the Caribbean are banning smoking in all of their guest rooms and public areas. Anyone caught smoking in their room will have $200 added to their bill as a cleaning fee. Westin said it will be the first upscale hotel chain to go completely smoke-free. Anyone who wants to light up will have to go to a designated smoking area outside. "Industry research, as well as our own research, confirmed a clear consumer demand for a clean, smoke-free hotel environment," Westin Hotels senior vice...

The Weyco Inc. executive who gained global attention earlier this year for his tough anti-tobacco workplace policy is under fire again. Howard Weyers, founder of the Okemos-based benefits administrator, has been accused of sexual harassment. Weyco Inc. also is named as a defendant in the lawsuit filed Oct. 19 in the Ingham County Circuit Court by former employee Christine Ramon. A response to the lawsuit hasn't been filed, but attorney Erin Gravelyn of the Dickinson Wright law firm said she will "defend the claims vigorously" for Weyco and Weyers. Ramon said she was advised to not talk about the case...

ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles County health officials are focusing a new anti-smoking program at gays and lesbians, who they say are nearly twice as likely to smoke as the general population. The "Last Drag" campaign aims to reach gays and lesbians through print ads and efforts in bars and clubs - where health officials say many smokers picked up the habit to begin with. "When a lot of gay men and women come out, they come out in the bar culture, and the bar and club culture has really established a culture where it's OK to smoke,"...

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- The city's highly publicized court case that grew out of a voter-approved smoking ban has gone up in smoke. Lincoln voters approved a smoking ban that went into effect in January. It prohibits smoking in all buildings accessible to the public, including bars that do not sell food. But the smoking ban does not apply to private vehicles. [oas:siouxcityjournal.com/news/nebraska:Middle1] So soon after it went on the books, Gary Walker parked his motor home -- which he dubbed "The Freedom Flyer" and decorated with American flags -- outside of his son's Hi-Way Diner and allowed patrons to...

With smokers being increasingly shunned in public places, Japan's largest cigarette maker is offering a rare treat -- tickets to a film preview where they can smoke all they want. Japan Tobacco, which sells nearly two-thirds of the nation's cigarette products, will invite 150 lucky smokers who won a lottery to a private showing of the film-noir thriller "Sin City" next Monday, said company spokesman Tsuyoshi Miyashita. Anyone over 20 years of age could apply, but there was one condition attached -- they had to pledge that they smoke. "The event is to provide a rare opportunity for smokers to...

Maori have every right to enjoy smoking, gambling and eating fatty foods if they want to - and Maori health workers who say otherwise are just brainwashed "house niggers". That's according to the authors of a controversial new book on Maori health published by one of South Auckland's largest Maori health providers. The Kotahitanga Community Trust, a taxpayer-funded charitable organisation in Counties Manukau, provides health care for more than 5000 patients - 4000 of whom are Maori. The book, Maori Health, was co-authored by trust chairman Peter Caccioppoli and Rhys Cullen, a GP at the trust's Papakura practice and published...

The city’s smoking ban never sleeps. Tiffany Hurter, a bartender at Conroy’s, found that out the hard way this week. Hurter became the city’s first nonbusiness owner or manager cited under the city’s workplace smoking ban early Wednesday. Police officers received a tip that the bar was serving drinks after the legal cut-off time of 2 a.m. on Wednesday. A police officer went to the bar, 3115 W. Sixth St., and found no drinking but discovered Hurter smoking a cigarette while talking with a fellow employee and a couple of other friends Hurter had agreed to give a ride. Hurter...

Last night I saw a new anti-smoking commercial. The narrator was comparing smoking to drowning, while the visual showed water filling a house, complete with a drowning a person. The last image showed a submerged body suspended in water inside a home. My sister and I just exchanged glances as in "How poor in taste is that?" especially with regard to all those who drowned as a result of Katrina and the aftermath. It reminded me of the Koolaid commercial that played during a newscast reporting the Jonestown massacre. I just wondered if others saw it and what their thoughts...

A classified ad from automobile firm Toyota in Asker and Bærum specifying that smokers will not be employed has sparked controversy. "This is lifestyle fascism. You have to ask, what next? Will it be the fat, the ugly, those with heart trouble or smelly feet?" said social medicine professor Per Fugelli. A full-page ad in local newspaper Budstikka made it clear that smokers were unwanted at the Toyota offices in the Oslo suburb. "People must be aware that a car firm has large open areas. Out of consideration to both the working environment and clients we must be very clear...

Smokers beware: Puffing within 25 feet of the door of a publicly used building, a park or in other public spaces could cost you $500 or a year in prison. But if alcohol is being served or you're rolling the dice, well, smoke 'em if you got 'em. The Metro Council narrowly approved an anti-smoking ordinance filled with exemptions Wednesday. Some council members expressed concern about enforcing the new ban. The long list of exemptions includes bars and lounges, restaurants with liquor licenses and casinos. "You can smoke -- with limitations. You can drink -- with limitations. You just can't...

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- The day the Legislature approved a smoking ban for most North Dakota businesses, Dennis Laches put a sign on his laundry and television repair shop, announcing he would close when the ban took effect Aug. 1. "Nobody knew if he was going to go through with it," said Troy Mosbrucker, the mayor of Mott, a town of about 800 in southwestern North Dakota. "He had a point to prove, and he proved it." As promised, Laches closed his business that day. He said it had nothing to do with his pack-a-day habit. Rather, he said, it...

The smoking threads are conspicuously lacking in appropriate graphics lately. Post your graphics here! A few (hopefully clever) examples: >P>

OLYMPIA – Grady Russell thought he'd found a great bargain. A smoker for more than six decades, the retired Ephrata, Wash., carpenter found an Internet company two years ago that sold cigarettes – taxed at the ultra-low Kentucky rate – for slightly more than $1 a pack. Delighted with the savings, Russell started placing orders, 10 cartons at a time. Then, last year, he got a letter in the mail. The state Department of Revenue told him he owed Washington taxes on all those cigarettes. Advertisement "I hate it," Russell said. But he paid up, dutifully calculating the number of...

APPLETON (AP) - At Jokers Bar, the staff of eight has been laid off. Owner Tony Schaefer said he's now working the bar with his brother. Schaefer is among many business owners still fuming a month after a ban on smoking at all indoor workplaces was enacted in this city. The ban was approved by 56 percent of voters in an April 5 referendum and went into effect on July 1. Madison's similar smoking ban went into effect on the same day, although there was no referendum preceding it. "We'll be closing up" if business doesn't improve, Schaefer said. "The...

LONDON - Sir Richard Doll, the British scientist who first established a link between smoking and lung cancer, died Sunday at age 92, Oxford University said. The epidemiologist died at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford after a short illness, said the university, where Doll worked at its Imperial Cancer Research Center. The exact cause of death was not immediately released. Doll's seminal 1950 study, which he wrote with Austin Bradford Hill, showed that smoking was "a cause, and a major cause" of lung cancer. Doll remained active up to his death, releasing a follow-up study to the 1954 report...

  Bangladesh bans smoking in public places Agence France-Presse Dhaka, March 14, 2005|17:49 IST       A law banning smoking in public places and tobacco advertising came into force across Bangladesh on Monday and was hailed an important first step by anti-tobacco campaigners. The Smoking and Tobacco Product Usage (Control) Act was passed by the Bangladesh parliament late Sunday."We are pleased that the government has passed this act. It is a significant first step although the real challenge of the law will be its implementation," said Nurul Islam, president of Adhunik, the country's leading anti-smoking group."We have asked the...

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Brussels has launched a pan-European anti-smoking campaign of 72 million euro. At the same time, the EU gives out about a billion euro in subsidies for tobacco producers every year. The second biggest EU anti-smoking campaign is targeted at young people, as the average age of youngsters reaching for cigarettes has fallen to thirteen in Europe, health commissioner Markos Kyprianou told journalists on Tuesday (1 March). Statistics show that around 650,000 EU citizens die in relation to smoking annually, while EU member states pay about 100 billion euro per year in tobacco-related health care costs. Commissioner...

PERHAPS I shouldn't have been surprised at my reception last week at a Lakewood, Ohio, hearing on banning smoking in restaurants and bars. Such events tend to bring out the penny-ante dictators. After all, when customers can readily find smoke-free facilities and nobody's forced to take a job, such bans are inherently authoritarian. But these people made Mussolini look like freedom's friend. The nine-member commission appointed to advise the city council on the ban originally arranged to have six witnesses testify. Three for and three against, right? Try six for and zero against. Then they relented and deigned to allow...

The answer: Mercedes Martinez, Josefa Gamet and Mr. Unbelievable. The question: Name two Cuban women and a guy in St. Paul affected by smoking bans. Martinez, 72, and Gamet, 62, were pictured in Tuesday's Pioneer Press puffing on big cigars at their tourist stand in Old Havana, Cuba. The caption informed us that the Cuban government banned smoking in a variety of public places, including restaurants. Tourist stands could be exempted, where the likes of Martinez and Gamet wear costumes that apparently put tourists in mind of Cuban authenticity as it might be demonstrated by wearing multiple strands of beads...

I've been thinking quite a bit about the Weyco case and wondering if something can be done. Clearly, as a private employer, the employer did nothing unconstitutional in precluding smokers from working for him. But is there some other recourse for the employees who face the loss of their jobs? I think these people have a good argument that they are protected by the Americans With Disabilities Act, that the employer has discriminated against them on the basis of a disability, an addiction to cigarettes and/or nicotine. Not only would I like to see these people not lose their jobs...

Mon 8 Nov 2004 The First Minister is expected to announce an all-out ban on smoking in public places on Wednesday. Picture: Phil Wilkinson  McConnell plans get out on total smoke ban HAMISH MACDONELL SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR  Key points • Smoking ban looks likely to be announced on Wednesday• Lack of public support may overturn decision, however• Large fines to act as deterrent to any wayward smokers Key quote "The First Minister is aware that the vested interests and the lobbyists will try to pick off MSPs and press for exemptions from the ban ahead of the parliamentary process....

Ramsey County board OKs smoking ban Jackie Crosby, Star Tribune September 15, 2004 STPONLINE Ramsey County Commissioners unanimously voted to approve a smoking ban in restaurants on Tuesday, saying it was a good compromise and a step in the right direction for public health. Establishments that make more than 50 percent of their sales from alcohol could apply for an exemption, which could cost $100 or $200.

Lawmaker wants smoke-free Pa. bars and restaurants Tuesday, July 20, 2004Pittsburgh Post-Gazette An influential state senator is proposing to extend smoking bans into Pennsylvania’s bars and restaurants. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery County, today announced he would push for legislation that would follow a pattern set by seven other states, including California and New York. A press release from Greenleaf said business is actually up in New York City bars and restaurants. In Florida, where smoking is banned in restaurants but not bars, restaurant business increased, Greenleaf said. __________________________________________ More details in tomorrow’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate approved a plan to give the government broad new powers to regulate the cigarette industry, including the ability to eliminate harmful ingredients in tobacco products and forbid advertising that appeals to children.The measure empowering the Food and Drug Administration to oversee the sale, marketing and manufacturing of cigarettes was linked on the Senate floor Thursday to a $12 billion buyout of tobacco farmers.An unlikely coalition of anti-smoking advocates and tobacco-state senators pushed to secure the 78-15 vote to add the twin measures to a massive corporate tax bill that the Senate then passed on a...

CHARLESTON-- A picture of a Mail Pouch sign on a barn has been a fixture at the West Virginia State Museum since it opened in 1976 but anti-smoking advocates say something is missing from the exhibit -- a sign warning of smokeless tobacco's health risks. Officials with two anti-smoking groups want the Division of Culture and History to post the warning when the museum, which is closed for renovation, reopens later this year. But that is not likely to happen. ''It's being treated as a cultural icon as far as we're concerned,'' said Nancy Herholdt, former commissioner of Culture and...

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Leona Fitzpatrick is going to court -- in order to go to the senior prom. She's been barred from her prom for smoking -- and not even on school grounds. The Hillsboro, N.D., School Board has rules against students using alcohol, tobacco or drugs. Students can be kicked out of extracurricular activities for violating the no-smoking rule. Now, Leona is seeking a court order so she can go to the dance. Her parents point out that she's 18 and legally allowed to smoke in North Dakota.

I saw an ad on tv last night from truth.com and it said that very 8 seconds someone dies from smoking related diseases. so in 1 minute = 7.5 people die in 1 hour = 450 people die in 1 day = 10,800 people die in 1 week = 75,600 people die in 1 month = 302,400 people die in 1 year = 3,628,800 people die. does that seem far-fetched to you do? (like a a football field of rainforest lost a day.) How do we call them on this?

Feb 19, 2004 7:31 am US/Central St. Paul (AP) Rep. Ron Latz said a bill that would ban smoking in all public buildings, including bars and restaurants, "catches Minnesota up with other states." Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, and Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, planned a news conference Thursday to announce their measure that also would ban or restrict smoking in places of employment such as taxicabs, day-care centers and residential health care facilities. The bill is strongly supported by the Minnesota Smoke-Free Coalition, a statewide organization consisting of large health care companies. "We have been pushing this since our founding in...

<p>NEW YORK -- Carnival is ending its smoke-free cruises aboard the Paradise.</p> <p>The 2,052-passenger ship has operated since its introduction in 1998 as a smoke-free vessel, cruising from Miami to the Caribbean with a zero tolerance for cigars and cigarettes among both passengers and crew.</p>

Couple demands halt to neighbor's smoking Restraining order sought over nuisance to health By Phil Trexler Beacon Journal staff writer Robert Zangrando has had it up to his chest, nose and eyes with his neighbor's smoking and he's taking her to court to get her to quit. Zangrando, a retired University of Akron history professor who lives in Stow, was in Summit County court Thursday with his wife and lawyer. Together they are seeking a restraining order against his next-door neighbor, Nicole Kuder, 28, that would prohibit her from smoking outdoors within 30 feet of her condominium. Zangrando, 71, and...