Past News for October '06

October 31
Smokers who loiter outside 'too noisy to be tolerated'Smokers who loiter outside 'too noisy to be tolerated' - Health - Times Online
Smoke & Mirrors - NDP court appeal is about votes, not equality - (Isn't it all!)
School smoking ban returns after outcry -Leeds - the ignorant and the experts tell those who know the job (again)
Threat of smoking ban snuffed out - BC
Judge Rules Smoking On Stage Is Illegal In Colo.- Denver
Wood stoves need banning - Canada?
Poll shows support for smoking ordinance - Fort Wayne but only just!!

October 30
Lawyer: £150 will dodge smoke ban - Scotland - A legal loophole for clubs??
Fury at NHS trust ban on smoking in own home - Yorkshire
In Columbus, city's own ban seems to be working just fine - "But it has hurt smaller, mom-and-pop taverns in Columbus, Lessner said."
DeKalb CEO vetoes strict smoking ban - QUOTE - US - "Sometimes our government goes too far, and I think this is one of those cases."

October 29
Jones: Smoking Ban Too Strict - US - Dekalb County
The way the police treat us verges on the criminal - Comment in The Guardian
Privacy & Property -Rental agency bans all smoking on its premises - Winnipeg
Judge rules bartender's smoking is legal - New Jersey
A year after city smoking ban, tobacco lounge still in business - Chicago

October 28
An MPs intransigence or 'make like an ostrich' - correspondence with a Welsh MP
'Freedom Flyer' operator, mayoral candidate dies -
Survey: Fewer smoke in Stark - "You're going to die," the boy said ...... "Because you smoke. ... We learned it in school," the boy replied.
Link to American Council on Science and Health - Real Scientists and Science
Letter-Vote for smoking accommodation - Nevada
Fears as smoking ban results reversed - Ireland
Smoke ban stirs clouds of distaste -CHEYENNE -"My tips are less than half of what they used to be," she said. "Business during the daytime has just been hammered."

October 27
Fears as smoking ban results reversed - Ireland - Irish Cancer Society
A SMOKE SCREEN - Opinion
Smoking ban leads to increased littering in Highlands - Lots of comment
David Davidson MP92004): A ban on smoking would be based on unproven assertion and prejudice
Lawyer lights a fire under smoking ban - Madison, WI.
Tenants to be banned from smoking at home
Publicans reminded of duty and told to curb alfresco drinking

October 25/7
Nothing new due to Essential supplies trip - Just a thought - smokers control 25% of disposable income - You can control where it goes!! - the Black market was only the start.
Smoking will be OK in some small bars - Pittsburgh

October 24
MUM LOSES CUSTODY OF SON, 6 BECAUSE SHE'S A SMOKER - Let's get real - "legal experts said it was possible a Scottish court could reach a similar decision."
The Workplace: In Europe, smokers 'need not apply' - That Tobin twit - Setting the scene for the future??
'I'm just off out for a crafty harmless fag' - BAT work towards a less dangerous cigarette
Smokers fuming over ban - The Sun -"However, other doctors argue that delaying operations for lifestyle reasons could increase long-term costs." - OPS BAN ON THE FAT AND SMOKERS
Thirty Years of Brass - Oregon - A smoking ban would be “the end of pubs as we know them,”
Secondary Smoke - A good read from antibrains
Smoking ban hurts Loto Quebec -

October 23
SIX-YEAR-OLDS TAUGHT TO STOP DADS SMOKING - Staffordshire
Against Restaurant Smoking Bans - By Thomas A. Lambert
Bill Leak: Giving up a vice for good old bludging and hypocrisy - Australian comment on an anti-smoker
Group pushes to alter smoking ban - US Springfield - Beverage association chief says council will hear proposal to end ban at bars
Increasing the stress - letter about hospital bans
UBS Downgrades Punch Taverns To Reduce - Punch has some weak pubs that are vulnerable to the impact of a smoking ban
Employers make your private life their concern
Council bans its workers' smoking - Croydon

October 22
Less puff, more huff as quitters pile on kilos -Australia
The pubs pouring on to the market - Bolton, Lancashire
£1.3M A DAY GOES UP IN SMOKE -CASH TOLL ON POOREST FAMILIES SUNDAY MAIL EXCLUSIVE -Maxwell disputes ASH et al beliefs!!!!!!
Why smoking may have a health benefit -
SIX-YEAR-OLDS TAUGHT TO STOP DADS SMOKING - Wasn't it Hitler that tried this?
Cigarette tax hopeless - A touch of commonsense

October 21
Smoking Ban Challenged -Omaha
Smokers facing hospital operations ban - Norfolk UK -"Smokers are being ordered to try to quit their habit before surgery or risk losing the chance of an operation " - and the Daily Mail Give up or we won't operate, smokers told
Hospital set to extend ban on smokers to 15m from buildings - Peterborough
Smoke-free zones eyed for city Smokers could be forced to butt out in public places - City of Richmond

October 20
Butting out at bingo hurts profits to charities: report - Edmonton's(Canada) bingo halls have seen a $6.8-million drop in profits to charities
Panel revises county ban on smoking - Pittsburgh - 12 exceptions a year for charitable fundraising!!!
Gaelic or Latin. It's all Greek to me .- (lower section of article) Some semse from Brian Montieth MP
Youth pubs hardest hit by Scots stub-out -
No smoking breaks for council staff from new year - South London
Coming soon: invitation-only smoking parties? - Houston

October 19
Non-smokers left out in the cold as ban blows up in our faces - Ireland - "Please come back into the pub guys — we miss ye! "
Planning laws hit listed pubs - Licensees of listed pubs could find it impossible to trade under the upcoming smoking ban because of council bureaucracy.
Legions get a pass under new smoking bylaw - Calgary
Great Bend committee nixes smoking ban - US
New rules on drinking in crackdown -Edinburgh + Advice on alfresco smoking needed, say police - Borders
AA Group Wants Smoking Ban Exemption - Omaha - life is tough enough for AA members trying to fight alcohol addiction, and losing smoking, too, could send people into a relapse
Leave the smokers alone - US - Salt Lake City -can't seem to keep drugs, alcohol or violence out of parks, so why not continue the persecution of innocent smokers
So much for ‘personal' habits - US- Smoking can get you fired in some places
The school where smoking is allowed - A sensible solution to a difficult problem with typical ASH 'understanding' !

October 18
Greene King sells 150 pubs - Dump them before the ban??
Officials split on ban in bars - Opinion - City of Columbia
Smoking ban an attack on choice - Cincinnati
‘I don’t think the government needs to regulate it’ - South Carolina
NHS Blog Doctor - An alternative view of the NHS from the inside - Remember the NHS is run efficiently (NOT) by the DoH who pushed the smoking ban through
Ban burns small businesses - Toronto - "People stay home. People have more house parties"
Pubs warned over noisy smoking ban - Who forced smokers out? The pub or Government? Answers on a poscard to party leaders please.
Nonsmoking sections carry risk - Someone's done a litle study "The average particle level for restaurants with smoke-free sections falls under what the Environmental Protection Agency says should be the limit people are exposed to in a 24-hour period" and most of us don't stay there for 24 hours
Business owner says he faces ruin - Springfield, Illinois -"...promised that non-smokers would pack smoke-free establishments. "They lied," Bassford said. "I am broke......."
A small nod to freedom in Fishers - Fort Wayne - "People are exercising their personal property rights, and many of them are coming to a smoke-free decision on their own? Wasn’t that once called freedom? What a concept."
TRAFFIC WARDENS FEEL THE WRATH OF SMOKERS FORCED OUT OF THEIR PUBS - The Blame Game?
Hospital smoking policy cannot be forced on public - but the Nannys try.
Carcinogen-laced pesticides poison public places- or maybe just the public?


October 17
German ban on smoking in public buildings is unlikely
Once we’ve eliminated cigarettes from the movies, cookies and romance can’t be far behind
CIGARETTE SALES IN SCOTLAND - Daily Record - Challenge to McConnell
Smoking ban goes up in smoke in Fishers - Indiana
Letters | The smoking gun - Philadephia
Expert: Curb film smoking, aid teens - More Stanton Glantz toffee
Busted Ban - US - Austin - AND - Rework smoking ban language, attorney urges city - It seems that someone thinks there could be problems
Germans Smoking Fewer Cigarettes, More Cigars - AND "sales of tobacco products in the third quarter of 2006 declined 10.1 per cent from a year ago to 5.9 billion euros (7.4 billion dollars). " That's without a ban!!!

October 16
One 'no smoking' sign will be enough to remind customers about the ban - British Hospitality Association - Why bother with any if all places smokefree!!!
Why so slow to ban smoke? - by Aiden Kelly - Indiana(?) - A lot of truth about the real state of play in Ireland
Clampdowns on smoking stirring flames of discontent - ContraCosta Times -"It's very troublesome to me because this is crossing the line from being an anti-smoking movement to an anti-smoker movement," he (Siegal) said. "It's one thing to clear out the smoke in a workplace, (rather) than the smoker from the workplace."

October 15
Cigarette sales up 5% despite smoking ban - Scotland - and "in Ireland cigarette sales are now higher than before the ban, which was introduced in March 2004. " - Surely an indication that hardline total bans are counter-productive.- Cigarette sales up despite ban

Prop. 201 look-alike law already being tested in Ireland - chosen(?) dialogue from Ireland
Smoking ban sparks unlikely friendships - New Jersey

October 14
Home visits patients get stub-out hint - Dundee have lost the plot
Not smoking but how daft can they get? - Ban for boy with two snacks

October 13
U.K. smoking ban threatens to douse pub sales - A good summary of what to expext with evidence from Scotland
Ban will stub out poorer pubs, warns Sheps' chief - and - Smoke ban will cull poor pubs says brewery chief
Hospital bans smoking inside, outside facility - Where does this lunacy stop!! "...if employees leave the hospital property and return smelling like smoke, "they'll be held accountable."
Need More Friends? Start Smoking! - "smoking at Mac is as much about socializing as it is about nicotine." So we'll cut out socializing?
Pub smokers' haven plan gets up neighbours' noses - some sense against the NIMBYs

October 12
German justice minister rejects smoking ban for restaurants -
Will France take to smoking ban? - Interesting Article.
Dutch Conservatives Crack Down on Coffee Shops - Amusing account of officialdom versus the coffee shops
Pubs face ban over heaters - Pubs could be banned from using fixed heaters in outdoor smoking shelters
.

October 11
Game plan: the business of Bingo - Canada - Bingo is Suffering BADLY
Houston in Crisis - Lots of amzing comments including "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights..............."
Non-smokers should leave smokers' butts alone - Student comment from Illinois
Businesses say ban will smoke revenues - US - "A physician and chairman of the Columbia/Boone County Board of Health, Szewczyk on Monday told members of the Columbia City Council he has seen no evidence suggesting otherwise.
Bingo night over, VFW shuts building -US -The smoking ban cut their income so much that they stopped bingo and are unable to pay the bills on their building on Owen Street.
Watchdog brands 200 NHS trusts weak - Further evidence, if we need it, of how useless the DoH is.
City's pub landlords failing to stub out noisy street smokers - Edinburgh
Smoked out? - Dorset - "Apparently, simply showing smokers the door and expecting them to have a cigarette on the pavement won't be a realistic option."

October 10
What Exactly is a Public Place? - Bill Gibson Letter
Smoke group calls for pub tax break
FACTBOX-Smoking bans around the world
Highly taxed French smokers fume at '08 ban
Bans 'don't force smokers to quit'
Alan Canes 'despotic' smoking ban - The district council's only independent member Alan Caine tried to argue that councilors' own homes were effectively used for council purposes and therefore would fall under the ban.
Surge in noise complaints following smoking ban - Edinburgh
NI to allow stage smoking after 2007 ban
Officials come up with alternatives to smoking ban - Houston
Cheyenne bar owners plead to reconsider smoking ban - sales are down from 20 percent to 50

October 9
Health Commitee Efforts against GCSE Marking Scheme - ungraded!!
Study exposes 'iron chain' linking poverty and smoking - ASH -usual biased thinking
Map smokes out people hooked on cigarette habit - ASH & CancerResearchUK map - Shows who's going to be hit hardest by the ban - Map at www.ash.org.uk/html/mappingproject/mappingproject.html
Westminster to seek ban on smoking outside premises - Westminster Council
Medical Journals Slammed By Former Editor - Medical journals have become "creatures of the drug industry" rife with fraudulent research and packed with articles ghost written by pharmaceutical companies
Smoking ban fires up county workers - Georgia -voted to have county staff look into creating limited designated smoking areas
Bosses want a say in what we weigh - Mich. law banning discrimination worries employers who want to curb unhealthy behavior.
Kicking the habit - Bridlington with access to a forum
They’ve got it covered - basically an advert but from Scottish & Newcastle "......while business is 10 per cent down overall in Scotland, in pubs where they have done something, it has made a difference.”

October 8
New Fodder For The Next Clean Air Fight: Smoke-Filled Cars - Interesting that they mention a level above a "threshhold"
Sunday Herald Letter condemning Kerr
Foul habits are our right - US letter
Are you ready to ban smoking in bars? - Tuscon
Smoking ban costs Punch - UK Punch Group
Stay the course on smoking ban - Fort Wayne - worried about business pressure
Ban too stringent - Hospital smoking ban comment
Municipal Assn. to fund defense of smoking ban - US Sullivan's Island - Bert's Bar has sued the town
Smoke screen - NI - Home Owners can be fined
Smokers say farewell to final contest - Norfolk Pipe smokers
Labour bids to put UK at heart of online gambling - can't smoke in the pub but we're encouraged to get into debt at home!!!!!!!
Smoking ban is blamed as city bingo club closes from August 10 with mention of the Forge Centre, Glasgow where sales have slumped since the ban

October 7
Mental patients fear - Australia - "Staff say if they try to stop patients from leaving to smoke they are attacked"
Forest Party @ the Tory party Conference
Smoke ban deters gamblers - from August - "The drop in gambling means about $60 million a year less from pub charities for sports and community groups"

October 6
Has UK become a dictatorship? - 2 pro replies to the North-east article (Oct 3rd)
Al Gore explains the real reason behind the pro-smoking ban agenda - Worth a laugh
Pubs to pay for street smoking - Oxfordshire - £500 to put tables outside!
Rise in lung cancer in nonsmokers puzzling MDs - Canada - What a puzzle - Shame they wasted so much money chasing smokers!
Air cleaners in London restaurant welcome smokers and non-smokers
Should Bucks be next to ban public smoking? - US + comment
Fair Air Association of Canada
Onorato Suggests Smoking Ban Amendments - Pittsburgh less restrictive legislation and - Not Everyone Agrees With Smoking Ban
Gambling payout for pubs eases smoking ban blow - No smoking but increase gambling - There's sense!
TUC urges employers on smoking ban - States the usual 'Around 700 workers die every year through passive smoking, according to official research,..." Research or mathematical gymnastics
Pubs expect profit to go up in smoke - Australia -"for the first two months of the ban club and hotel income has fallen in nine different regions across the State"
Smoking ban has ups, downs - US
No blowing smoke II - US -Pittsburgh Letter

October 5
Smoking ban anxiety - Australia losses
Smoking ban fires up county workers - US - Coweta County
Brewer's three million pound plan for ban - £10,000 per pub!!
Outside areas facing squeeze - UK concern
Pub smoke area plans in the pipeline - Dundee -"...main reasons for refusal of most of the applications so far had been that many were from pubs in largely tenement areas, where the establishments had flats above."
Smoking hotline’s a load of hot air - "hotline employee who answered the call was hesitant and ill-informed"
A Rude Bloke - Comment that doesn't pull punches

October 4
Was former Surgeon General Carmona ousted for his junk science conclusions in a June 2006 report?
Why Germany Remains a Smoker's Paradise - With amazing Irish Claims -Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said in mid-July: "Not a single pub has had to close its doors because of financial losses caused by the smoking ban."
Bar Squares up to 8pm outdoor ban - Harborough, Leicestershire
UNIFORM BAN ON SMOKING - Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital - Will comments be printed?
City helps bars build patios for smokers - US
Editorial: Over-regulation is a bad habit, too - US opinion
ANTI-BAN CAMPAIGNERS THREAT - Fife
Backers lose bid to remove rival issue - OHIO
Office Of Tobacco Control Points The Finger At Foreigners - Whoops, the Irish Bans not working

October 3
Leave smoking rules to owners' - US letter
Ban this ... - US Letter
Going up in smoke - Wichita Falls considering smoking ban
Calls for May smoke ban in England -
Smoking ban ‘will hit Cumbria hard’ - Pro-Choice comment at last
Smokers don’t want to fight traffic to puff outside school - Prince Edward Island
Indoor bans leave cigar clubs out in the cold - Australia
Landlords give their verdict six months into ban

October 2
Smoking workers lose sack appeal - Well I suppose it's back to Tescos NOT MORRISONS
Bingo calls for MSPs to back rescue -Scotland
Ban on cigarette 10-packs delayed - Why bother - commonsense says this could make matters worse
Fears for future of rural pubs - Shropshire
A collection of Passive Smoking/Enstrom articles Warning: the health police can seriously addle your brain - Study fails to link passive smoking with cancer - Complaint over Sunday Telegraph article on passive smoking is rejected - I just want to hear the truth about passive smoking - Passive smoking may not damage your health after all, says research - All from The Daily Telegraph
AND to add to the defence Second-hand Smoke is Harmful to Science - Defending Legitimate Epidemiologic Research
Big Apple now an old prune US
Fort Wayne Letters - Motive for smoking ban is to control people + others
From November 2002 - BMA calls for a ban on smoking in public + quote from DoH -"While we agree that completely smoke-free places are the ideal we do not think a universal ban on smoking in all public places is justified while we can make fast and substantial progress in partnership with industry,"
New risk from smoking: losing your custody case - US
Smoking survey results debatable - US - Says restaurant, bar business down sharply; some owners confirm, others deny
Inside Column: Woe is the castigated smoker - US opinion
Lawyers tell councils to lift ban on outdoor smoking areas in pubs - Australia
Smoking bans may threaten pubs', clubs' licences - Australia - No outside area = no License!!!
Stupid things (10/2) - US comment

October 1
Activists target Mesa utility bond issue - US - ‘Wait a minute. I can’t smoke in my office, and all of my employees smoke,’ ”
DENNIS SEID: Opponents, proponents both right on smoking ban - US argument for choice
A few from Scotland - PITTODRIE SMOKE BAN PUT ME OFF - STOP HARASSING SMOKERS WHO DRINK OUTSIDE - FIGHT GOVERNMENT OVER SMOKING BAN
Commuters ignore smoking ban - Australia