Circumvent Smoking Bans with Electronic Cigarettes

Smoking bans are getting out of control, but the electronic cigarette is quickly becoming the dominant alternative to those who are suffering from them. At one point, you could justifiably expect to be restricted from smoking on public forms of transportation or in your office but nowadays bans are extending far beyond the confines of public buildings. Some North American cities even prohibit smoking in parks or on city streets. So what does a smoker do if they want to enjoy a cigarette but smoking bans prohibit them? Many of them switch to the Green Smoke e-cigarette and enjoy the freedom of smoking everywhere.
In the 1950s smoking was a carefree activity that nobody spent much time thinking about. But as scientific evidence has mounted showing how smoking is harmful to not only the smoker but the innocents breathing second hand smoke as well, governments have run wild banning smoking everywhere from bars and restaurants to almost everywhere. Luckily, electronic cigarettes represent a smokeless alternative that allows smokers the freedom to enjoy their habit in many of the places that actively ban smoking.
With no second hand smoke, the smoking bans do not apply to e-cigarettes. When no thick smoke and toxic smells are released by electric cigarettes, green smokers can finally have their cake and eat it too. And to add a cherry on top of that cake, use coupon code “disc10-1170” when you make your order, it will give you 10% off your new e-cigarette kit.

FDA Begins Looking into E-Cigarettes

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, says it is looking at electronic cigarettes.
At issue is whether the cigarettes are better for smokers.
Users of the new devices are getting around smoking bans, because the e-cigarettes give off a vapor, not smoke.
But the FDA is now getting involved, saying the e-cigarettes it tested had carcinogens.
Some states have passed measures to restrict the sale of the cigarettes.

Clerk cited in underaged tobacco sale

GENEVA – A gas station clerk was charged with selling tobacco to a person under age 18 as part of a compliance check of tobacco venders, police said.
Hina J. Patel, 38, of the 800 block of Bode Road, Elgin, was charged, Wednesday, Oct. 14, with making the sale at Geneva Shell, 1491 E. State St., police said. The compliance check occurred Oct. 7.
Police Cmdr. Julie Nash said the undercover compliance check was done at 12 establishments in the city that sell tobacco. Police rely on an underaged person whose ID shows he or she is underage to purchase tobacco. In Illinois, the legal age to buy tobacco is 18.
All but the clerk at Geneva Shell refused to sell, Nash said.
"We do this for the very obvious reasons of the dangers of smoking," Nash said. "And it's our attempt to help those who don't always make the best decisions for themselves, to keep them safe. And to make sure businesses are only selling tobacco to those old enough to make the appropriate decisions. It's about looking out for the kids."

The undercover compliance checks are similar to those done at liquor establishments to see if an underaged person will be served or sold to. But what is different is, the charge goes to the person who sold, not to the owner of the establishment. In the case of a liquor violation, the seller can be charged as well as the person who holds the liquor license.
"We are only citing the person who sold he cigarettes," Nash said. "We have never actually cited businesses before. I don't know why that is, but it definitely should be looked into."
According to police reports, the teen working with police asked to buy a pack of Newport cigarettes. Patel asked to see identification, examined it and then sold the pack of Newports for $7.02, to the undercover teen, according to the report.
Patel told police she miscalculated the birthday on the identification, according to the police report.
A spokesman for the gas station said Patel no longer works there. A message left for a manager was not returned Wednesday. Patel has an unlisted phone number and could not be reached for comment. She is to appear in court Nov. 17.

Kelantan To Give Incentives To Premises Not Selling Cigarettes

KOTA BAHARU, Oct 21 (Bernama) -- The Kelantan Government is willing to consider giving incentives to any business premises which does not offer cigarettes for sale.
State Women, Family and Health Development Comittee chairman Wan Ubaidah Wan Omar said the incentives were in line with the state government's aspiration to ensure the people did not inculcate the smoking habit.
She was replying to Dr Nik Mazian Nik Mohamad (PAS-Gaal) at the State Assembly sitting here Wednesday.
Meanwhile, state local government, tourism and culture committee chairman Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said the state government was firm in going ahead with the plan to implement hudud law, if given the green light.
"PAS has taken all the necessary moves to uplift the status of Islam by approving the hudud law in 1993," he said in reply to a question from Abdul Halim Abdul Rahman (PAS-Chetok).
On other development, the Kelantan Government denied that the second Sultan Yahya Petra bridge project, implemented by the federal government, was a political issue linked to the next general election.
Replying to Abdullah Yaakub (PAS-Air Lanas), state housing, works, utilities and environment committee chairman Maj (Rtd) Md Anizam Abdul Rahman said construction of the project was ongoing, according to the initial plan and specifications.

Smoking bans reduce heart attacks

Indoor smoking bans have reduced heart attacks in smokers and non-smokers, according to US research.
Earlier this week Britain’s MPs voted to end the display of tobacco in shops and ban its sale from vending machines. This new study is another blow to big tobacco.
The report, from the Institute of Medicine for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, provides the best evidence to date that banning smoking from workplaces, restaurants and bars can reduce cardiovascular-related health problems.
A panel of experts reviewed 11 studies of smoking bans in the United States, Canada and Europe. All showed reductions in heart attacks of between 6% and 47%.
The difference is partly down to methodology but also, says the report, the context of the ban. Factors such as the information provided on the ban, education and outreach efforts on the dangers of secondhand smoke, and support for smoking cessation programmes are difficult to separate from the impact of the ban itself.
This said, the panel noted the ‘remarkable consistency’ in the link between a ban and a reduction in heart attack. The 205-page report estimates that exposure to secondhand smoke could raise the risk of heart disease by 25-30%.Clear benefits to non-smokers
‘Secondhand smoke kills,’ said CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden. ‘What this report shows is that smoke-free laws reduce heart attacks in nonsmokers. There is a causal relationship. Smoking bans decrease the rate of heart attacks.’
Not all US states have smoking bans. Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said: ‘In the United States, 27 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have enacted smoke-free laws that include restaurants and bars. The new report should spur the remaining 23 states to enact comprehensive laws that include all workplaces, restaurants and bars.’
Committee chairwoman Dr. Lynn Goldman of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore predicted the report would help inform political debate in US states where new bans are under consideration. ‘This really communicates the benefits for nonsmokers,’ she said. ‘Nonsmokers are at risk. It's always been an important point. Now we know it's not only in terms of cancer risk but cardiovascular disease risk.’
Dr. Elizabeth Ross of the American Heart Association, which strongly advocates smoking bans, said: ‘We obviously want to encourage smokers to quit. But we also want to promote public policies which ban smoking that would expose nonsmokers to the risk of heart-attack from second-hand smoke.’

Yao Ming enlisted as China anti-smoking ambassador

BEIJING — Basketball star Yao Ming has joined up with the wife of China's vice president to lead an anti-tobacco campaign in the country with the world's largest number of smokers, state media said Tuesday.
The NBA All-Star Houston Rockets centre was named as an ambassador to the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control and is expected to appear in public service announcements urging people not to smoke, Xinhua news agency said.
Also named was pop singer Peng Liyuan, the wife of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, the report said.
About 350 million Chinese, or nearly 27 percent of the country's population, smoke cigarettes, with the nation consuming up to one-third of the tobacco products sold annually worldwide, said the report, citing the association.
Up to one million Chinese die every year from lung cancer or cardiovascular diseases directly linked to tobacco consumption, it said.
In 2006, Yao, the most successful Chinese player in the NBA, joined a Wild Aid campaign against the eating of shark fin's soup, a popular Chinese delicacy that has left the fish at risk of extinction.
Peng has also served as a spokeswoman for a public awareness campaign against the stigmatisation of HIV/AIDS sufferers.

State receives seven complaints in first week of smoking ban

State health officials have received just seven complaints about businesses violating a statewide smoking ban that took effect a week ago.
The Montana Clean Indoor Air Act outlawed smoking in all public buildings except bars and casinos four years ago. As of Oct. 1, bars and casinos also had to begin observing the ban.
Five of the complaints made to the state Department of Public Health and Human Services were about businesses that should have gone smoke-free in 2005, said Stacy Campbell, director of the Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program. Only two were about a bar or casino.
Businesses that violate the ban receive an educational letter after a first offense. A second offense brings a warning and third, fourth and fifth offenses result in $100, $200 and $500 fines.
No complaints were made in Yellowstone County, said Hillary Harris, director of population health at RiverStone Health.
"As far as we know, it's going really, really well," Harris said. "We're really pleased."
In addition to the handful of complaints, the state fielded 25 calls from people with questions about the ban, Campbell said.The most-asked question was about whether the ban mandates how far smokers must stand from the entrance of a building. It does not.
The next-most common question was about electronic cigarettes. Some establishments began selling e-cigarettes, which steam tobacco and emit a vapor instead of smoke, as a way to placate their smoking customers.
But Campbell said the devices are not legal to sell in Montana and are considered cigarettes under the Clean Indoor Air Act.
Montana was the 18th state to enact a comprehensive smoking ban. Another 14 states ban smoking in some public places.
About 16 percent of Montanans are smokers, compared with 20 percent of Americans overall.
Calls to the Montana Tobacco Quit Line did not significantly increase in the last week. The Quit Line offers free counseling and nicotine replacement products.
Campbell said the Quit Line might get busier as the weather turns colder and smokers no longer want to stand outside.
"I think the Montana winter is going to be a cessation aid," she said.

House committee investigating flavored cigars

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce is investigating whether two tobacco companies are trying to skirt a federal ban on flavored cigarettes by offering their products as cigars instead, according to letters sent to the companies by the committee's chairman.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., sent letters to California-based Kretek International and North Carolina-based Cheyenne International targeting their products on Friday.Both companies had previously sold flavored cigarettes, which were banned last month. They have recently released flavored cigars that are close to the size of a cigarette but are wrapped in tobacco leaves rather than paper and contain cigar tobacco.
Waxman is asking both companies to defend the products, provide sales figures and all communications about the decision to market the flavored cigars.
Kretek International, the largest distributor of clove-flavored tobacco products in the U.S., filed suit last month asking a federal court to decide whether its new Djarum-brand filtered cigars fall under the ban. A Kretek spokesman did not immediately return an e-mail message seeking comment.
A spokesperson for Cheyenne International did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

Working in clean air

Do you remember when the surgeon general’s warning about the dangers of smoking first appeared on a pack of cigarettes? It’s been awhile.
The first surgeon general’s report on smoking’s ability to kill a person was delivered in 1964. The warnings showed up on cigarette packaging about a year later.
It’s been nearly a half-century since those events, and the anti-smoking movement is still inching along. The latest step was taken last week by officials at Marian Medical Center in Santa Maria, when they made all of the group’s campuses tobacco-free.
Bravo!
We understand that some smokers may, instead, be booing Marian’s decision. Smoking is legal, after all, and many people feel their rights are being denied when they find themselves in areas where they could smoke, but are prohibited from doing so by government or executive fiat.
What many smokers don’t fully realize is how pervasive their smoke can be. It is truly amazing how a person lighting up a dozen or more feet away, outdoors, can transform a clean-air space into a gagging purple haze.
We’re fairly sure future historians will characterize smoking for what it really is — one of the cruelest hoaxes ever pulled off by a specific industry.

Smoke free bars all across MT

Some Missoula bars have just one more day to allow smokers into their establishments. It's part of the Clean Indoor Act which means by Thursday, no smoking is allowed in bars and casinos.  
The Rhino in Downtown Missoula is one of the those bars yet to go completely smoke-free. But it is on board with the smoking ban, supporting it from day one as a part of the Montana Tavern Association.  
The co-owner says he knows its a controversial issue, but the Rhino waited to go smoke-free until the deadline in order to keep loyal clients happy. 
"To me I didn't want to get caught up in the that so I am just waiting until the deadline and that's when we are going to go non smoking," explains Rhino Co-Owner, Brad Martens.  
The Rhino will set up a smoking booth outside for its clients.