Oklahoma cities and towns would have more power to crack down on smoking in public under a plan unveiled Monday by health officials and a group that represents local governments. Public health advocates joined with the Oklahoma Municipal League to ask state lawmakers for legislation that would allow local governments to adopt tobacco policies that are more restrictive than the current state laws. Smoking is now banned in most indoor places to which the public has access, but there are numerous exceptions including bars and some restaurants. State statutes prohibit cities and towns from enactin ... Jump to full article >>

Eddie Lemon has an associate’s degree from Taft College near Bakersfield. He’s certified to work as a sheet metal operator and to drive a forklift. He has experience as a dishwasher and a cabinetmaker. He also has a criminal record. The 47-year-old Lemon believes that has made it all but impossible for him to find a job in one of the worst economies in decades. And as prisons are forced to reduce their inmate populations because of overcrowding and budget shortages, some economists fear that could lead many of them back to a life of crime. “In a bad economy, there are fewer j ... Jump to full article >>

Rates of lung cancer in women have soared in a sign that efforts to persuade them to quit smoking have failed, new research revealed today. While the number of cases in men has fallen, the killer disease was shown to be claiming a growing number of victims among the opposite sex. Lung cancer in women in England increased by 10 per cent between 1987 and 2006, climbing from 32.3 cases per 100,000 to 35.4 per 100,000 during the 19-year period. While preventing smoking is key to reducing lung cancer, most of the work to encourage people to give up cigarettes has been focused on men, the report pub ... Jump to full article >>

The Missouri Gaming Commission is expected to announce Wednesday which city will be awarded the state’s 13th and final casino license. Last week, state regulators issued a report favoring Cape Girardeau over proposals for St. Louis and Kansas City. But that report apparently did not consider two important pieces of legislation concerning smoking bans. The first — mentioned here earlier this month — is a bill that would exempt Illinois casinos from that state’s blanket smoking ban on businesses and public places. The second is a local measure up for vote this April in Ca ... Jump to full article >>

Just last week the Finance Minister, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, read the budget on the increment of tobacco tax for health reasons, and also to better align with international agreements on excise duty on cigarettes, which will rise from 140 to 150 percent. Tobacco is known as very dangerous to human health, especially, to those who do not smoke. This is because exhaled cigarette smoke could be very cancerous, due to the tobacco content in it. It has been noted that tobacco is projected to kill over 10 million smokers and passive smokers by 2030, with 70 percent in developing countries, including Gh ... Jump to full article >>

As Virginia’s anti-smoking law for restaurants and bars approaches its one-year anniversary, not one fine has been issued locally. And public complaints of alleged violations by businesses have slowed to a trickle. About 2.3 percent of the state’s more than 27,000 restaurants were found to be out of compliance with the law in the past year, said Gary Hagy, director of the state Health Department’s Division of Food and Environmental Services. Many of them may have since corrected the problems, he said. “I think the numbers show that the restaurant and hospitality industr ... Jump to full article >>

Tobacco farmers have expressed jubilation over the outcome of a recent global convention on tobacco control held in Uruguay that allegedly resulted in the protection of the tobacco industry against “excessive and restrictive” guidelines in the manufacture of tobacco products. At the same time, the Philippine Tobacco Growers’ Association (PTGA) through its president Winston Uy commended the Philippine delegation to the convention headed by Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya for reportedly being able to convince delegates from other nations not to digress from the real intent of the Worl ... Jump to full article >>

Venessa McLellan, a professional tobacconist with The Leaf Cigar Company at 28 Market Court in Hattiesburg, has qualified for membership in the International Premium Cigar Pipe Retailers Association. With more than 2,000 members throughout the U.S. and 31 foreign countries, IPCPR is the leading non-profit industry organization representing retailers, manufacturers and distributors of hand-made cigars, pipes and accessories. Stores displaying the IPCPR logo are recognized as premier purveyors of premium tobacco products. As a member of IPCPR, McLellan has access to IPCPR resources for market re ... Jump to full article >>

Maple Leaf netminder Jonas Gustavsson marvelled this week at a little known statistic about former NHL star Steve Larmer that doesn’t appear in record books: He puffed his way through more than a pack of cigarettes each day of his career. The topic was athletes and smoking — Wednesday in Toronto, Larmer helped launch a quit-smoking aimed at young athletes — and the genial Gustavsson found it hard to believe after being told the former Chicago Blackhawk and New York Ranger forward performed at such a high level in a 13-year career while being addicted to cigarettes. “I wouldn’t be abl ... Jump to full article >>

I-Jeanerette, resigned his position Wednesday and assumed the job of commissioner of the Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control. Hebert said his 4 years in local office and almost 16 years in the House and Senate, serving as chairman of the House and Senate Insurance Committees and as a member of the Judiciary Committee that has oversight authority over ATC regulations, gives him credentials for the job. “I’ve served my time (in the Legislature) and I’m moving on,” he said. “I’ve come a long way from a little city councilman in Jeanerette” at age 25. He ... Jump to full article >>

A federal judge in Maine yesterday denied class-action status to four lawsuits accusing Philip Morris USA of misleading smokers about the health risks of light cigarettes. The ruling by U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock Jr. concerns lawsuits that were filed in Illinois, Maine, California and Washington, D.C., alleging that Henrico County-based Philip Morris USA marketed light cigarettes as healthier than regular cigarettes in violation of various consumer-protection and false-advertising laws. The lawsuits are among 15 cases that were consolidated for pre-trial proceedings in federal court. ... Jump to full article >>