Free Republic

LONDON: A group of British Muslim doctors has called on Islamic leaders to issue religious rulings against smoking as part of efforts to stamp out the habit. In a commentary published in Saturday’s British Medical Journal (BMJ), the trio point out that Muslim countries have among the highest incidence of the smoking in the world. In Syria and Jordan, half of adult men smoke, while the rate among Indonesian men is more than two-thirds. Efforts to discourage smokers in these countries have been hampered by the entrenched habits of smoking and poor enforcement of anti-smoking laws, the commentary says. But,...

Abstract This discussion examines the use of litigation as a strategy to protect the public health. The history of tobacco litigation provides a model to evaluate potential litigation strategies against other industries that pose a threat to public health, particularly the food industry. This paper demonstrates that although legislation would be a preferable solution, lessons from the tobacco wars suggest that effective national legislation is unlikely at the present time. Based on the differences and similarities between the tobacco and food industries, it predicts the effectiveness of particular kinds of obesity litigation and the food industry’s likely response. The tobacco...

Following a health trend that appears to be brewing up all over the nation, Mayor Judith Rawson has signed a proclamation for the City of Shaker Heights that addresses the issues regarding caffeine intoxication and dependency. In the proclamation the Mayor is "calling upon all Shaker Heights citizens, public and private institutions, business and schools to increase awareness and understanding of the consequences of caffeine consumption." The proclamation also spells out many dangers of caffeine abuse such as heart disease, pancreas and bladder cancer, hypoglycemia, and central nervous system disorders. By getting the word out about the serious dangers of...

In an appalling extension of the nanny state, New York is slated to become the first city to monitor diabetics' blood-sugar levels. It plans to register them like HIV or tuberculosis sufferers and nag them when their levels aren't healthy enough. Drop the cupcake; here come the sugar police. Sensible people will laugh at this, but New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden, an appointee of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is dead serious about the Big Apple's sweet tooth. He's the man behind New York's onerous smoking ban; he doesn't shy from alleging "epidemics." Since Mr. Frieden recently told the New...

CLARKSTON, WASH. - Washington smokers facing a ban on lighting up in bars and restaurants are taking their habit - and money - to Idaho. "I've had regular clientele tell me right to my face they're going to Idaho to smoke," Tony Salerno, owner of Hogan's in Clarkston, told the Lewiston Tribune. Washington voters approved Initiative 901 in November, which bans smoking within 25 feet of doorways, windows and air intakes of public places and workplaces. It took effect Dec. 8. That has left some establishments in Washington near the Idaho border having to compete with bars and restaurants in...

Aldermen reached a tentative agreement today on an ordinance that would make virtually all indoor public places smoke-free, but would give drinking establishments up to three years to comply with the law. Final language of the accord was being fashioned this afternoon as some aldermen sought a two-year deadline for full compliance. The full City Council is expected to vote on the compromise measure Wednesday. Ald. Patrick O'Connor (40th) said aldermen wanted to resolve the controversy "in a way that was amicable, and it was getting pretty ugly around here the last couple of weeks." "Ultimately, people knew we had...

Smoking's inner limits By Jacob Sullum November 19, 2005 If you've gotten used to smoke-free bars, here's a new concept to wrap your mind around: smoke-free cigar lounges. This innovation comes to us courtesy of Washington state's voters, who recently approved an initiative that bans smoking in nearly every indoor location but private residences. The ban makes no exception for businesses whose raison d'etre is tobacco consumption, even if they have ventilation systems that whisk smoke away as soon as it's produced. By forbidding smoking within 25 feet of entrances and windows, it even threatens to eliminate sidewalk smoking sections...

The fact that I have to call Fado, an Irish pub in LoDo, to inquire whether smoking is allowed feels like an assault on my fundamental understanding of freedom. If you can't smoke at an Irish pub, where can you smoke? "Smoke 'em if you got 'em," they say. I was on my way to discuss a recent study that alleges heart attack rates in Pueblo had dropped an implausible 27 percent since a smoking ban was imposed in bars, restaurants and other public places in July 2003. When I get there, Jimmy Powell, my affable bartender, mulls it over...

HARRISBURG -- Mary Molinaro loves bingo, but it's been ages since she's played. "They smoke up a storm in those bingos. It gives me a headache," said Mrs. Molinaro, 72, of Glassport. That's why she's hoping for the passage of legislation that would prohibit smoking in all public workplaces, including restaurants, stores, sports arenas, bars and, yes, bingo halls. Violators would be subject to fines of up to $100 for the first violation, $200 for the second violation within one year and $500 for subsequent violations in the same year. Similar bills have been proposed over the last several years,...

A U.S. consumer group Wednesday called for cigarette-style warnings on soft drinks to alert consumers that too much of the sugary beverages can make them fat and cause other health problems. People who overindulge in soft drinks are also more likely to develop diabetes and have decaying teeth, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) said in a petition to the Food and Drug Administration. The warnings are especially necessary to help counter the growing number of youth who drink soda, said the center, which has previously put out reports publicizing the health-threatening qualities of other popular foods...

Junk food faces expulsion at N.J. schools 6/6/2005, 7:49 p.m. CT By JEFF LINKOUS The Associated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Junk food and soda will be all but expelled from New Jersey public schools by the start of the 2007-08 academic year under regulations announced by the state Monday. The new rules will halt selling or serving foods during the school day that are high in fat and sugar. Even portions of whole milk will be rationed. "We are setting New Jersey's children on a course they can follow even as adults for longer, healthier and more enjoyable lives,"...

ALBANY, New York (AP) -- Flavored cigarettes have names that sound like exotic drinks -- Winter Warm Toffee, Twista Chill and Kauai Kolada -- and are advertised on the pages of glossy magazines -- Rolling Stone, Glamour and Elle. Teens are lighting them up -- and, consequently, lawmakers are trying to ban them. Congress is considering a bill to prohibit the sale of flavored cigarettes as are New York, Minnesota, West Virginia, Connecticut, Illinois, North Carolina and Texas. At least one tobacco company, Reynolds American Inc., has already stopped advertising them. Another, Altria, doesn't make candy- or fruit-flavored cigarettes and...

Little Rock - "Quit Digging Your Grave With A Knife and Fork" In the words Governor Huckabee, that's the key to becoming healthy and the name of his new book. The book is not a guide on how to lose weight, it's advice on how to get healthy and for the Governor, it's the beginning of a new adventure. Friends of the Governor gathered at the mansion to celebrate the upcoming release of his new book. (Governor Mike Huckabee) "I think it does have an appeal. People say what? Quit digging your grave with a knife and fork? But really...

On behalf of Oxford Vision 2020, a partnership dedicated to preventing the forecast worldwide growth of chronic diseases, the authors suggest that 12 lessons learnt from attempts to control tobacco smoking could be used to tackle the chronic disease epidemics evolving from unhealthy diets and a lack of physical activity Introduction This year three new books have been published about the progress made globally in research, policy, and actions to control tobacco smoking. In addition, Sir Richard Doll reported this year on 50 years of following British doctors to document the impact of smoking on their health.4 We have reviewed...

The whole world is about three drinks behind. -- Humphrey Bogart HOW DID IT come to this? When was it decided that the dorks and the squares, the button-down mediocrities for whom a third Friday-night beer is the height of excess, would be calling the shots? Who empowered these teetotaling chumps, these jogging crypto-fascists with spotless livers and unblackened lungs, to decide where we smoke and how we drink and what we eat? The Declaration of Independence professes a commitment to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But apparently when it comes to substance abuse and foods of dubious...

The owner of a US company who forced his employees to quit smoking or leave their jobs has now said he also wants to tell fat workers to lose weight or else. His ban on tobacco use, at home or in the workplace, led four employees to quit their jobs last week at Michigan-based Weyco, which handles insurance claims, reports Reuters. The employees refused to take a mandatory urine test required of Weyco's 200 staff by founder and sole owner Howard Weyers, a demand he said was legal. "If they don't want to take the test, they can leave," Weyers...

And in Hospital Lobby, McDonald's Fights Back CLEVELAND -- The Pizza Hut is shuttered, its neon sign collecting dust on the floor. But knocking down the Golden Arches has proved far more difficult for Toby Cosgrove, the new head of the Cleveland Clinic. A heart surgeon who has cleaned out a career's worth of clogged arteries, Cosgrove didn't think Big Macs, supersize fries and inch-thick, six-cheese pizzas belonged in the lobby of a hospital renowned for its cardiac care. So he decreed the fast-food joints had to go. Pizza Hut went quietly. But McDonald's, halfway through a 20-year lease, has...

WASHINGTON - Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson resigned Friday, The Associated Press learned, broadening an exodus that has emptied more than half of President Bush's Cabinet before he takes the oath of office for a second term. Thompson submitted his resignation to Bush, and planned to announce his departure at a Friday afternoon news conference, said an official close to the former Wisconsin governor who asked not to be identified. Mark McClellan, the government's Medicare chief and brother of White House press secretary Scott McClellan, is Thompson's likely successor, officials said. Thompson's resignation brings to eight the number...

Smoking could be banned in every cafe, restaurant and most pubs in England within a few years under plans being unveiled by the government on Tuesday. BBC News has learned the White Paper on Public Health will plan to make most enclosed public areas, including offices and factories, smoke-free. Only private clubs, where members voted to allow smoking, and pubs which do not serve prepared food would be exempt. The plans mean that up to 90% of bars could be smoke-free within a few years. BBC correspondents say the proposals go further than had been expected. But some opponents of...

Adverts for junk foods would not be shown on television before 2100GMT as part of a government plan to tackle obesity. Manufacturers and advertisers will be urged to agree a voluntary code of regulation, according to reports in two Sunday newspapers. The proposal is contained in the government's Public Health White Paper, to be published this week. Other measures include a new "traffic light" labelling system identifying unhealthy foods. This White Paper had been expected to back a ban on advertising junk food during children's TV hours. But Ofcom figures showing 70% of children's television viewing takes place between 6pm...