The governmental committee for humanitarian issues and social policy has approved a draft law on amending some Ukrainian laws regarding the strengthening of control over the sale of alcohol and tobacco, the press service of vice premier Ivan Vasiunyk has reported. The new draft law expands a list of places where sales and consumption of alcohol and tobacco are banned. In particular, the law bans from drinking alcohol and smoking at public transport stops, in underground passages and trade and entertainment centers, children’s and sports playgrounds, not taking into account places for smo ... Jump to full article >>

40-year survey of 19,000 men reveals benefits of healthy living in middle-age Doctors have for the first time quantified the effect of the three major killers of middle-aged men: smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Men who smoke and fail to give up, or to control their blood pressure and cholesterol (where necessary) are sacrificing 10 to 15 years of their lives. Results from the 40-year Whitehall study, landmark research into 19,000 civil servants begun in the late 1960s, shows that men who reached the age of 50 with all three risk factors lived on average to the age of 73, whi ... Jump to full article >>

“I DON’T need family-dinner studies to guilt-trip me,” said Shannon Rubio, a mother of three teenage boys from Spring, Tex. “I do it to myself.” But just in case, Mrs. Rubio, here is the latest, from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University: Teenagers who eat with their families less than three times a week are more likely to turn to alcohol, tobacco and drugs than those who dine with their families five times a week. Mrs. Rubio works for a human resources firm. Her husband, a tugboat mechanic, lives offshore four consecutive nights, followe ... Jump to full article >>

CIGARETTE manufacturers are pleading for a respite from frequent changes in applicable excise rate for their products, and urged the government on Friday to defer implementing still more changes soon after the last adjustments shall have been in place by 2011. Chris Nelson, Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. managing director, told reporters the latest adjustments have just been adopted this year and already there are plans to junk the existing four-tier system and adopt a single rate by 2012. This, at a time when the domestic market went down 30 percent in the first half, Nelson sa ... Jump to full article >>

Solano County advocates have targeted Vallejo as “ground zero” to push for tobacco licensing control. The Solano County Tobacco Prevention and Education Program and the Solano Tobacco Education Coalition are stepping up efforts to urge Vallejo leaders to require licensing of local tobacco vendors. The point of local ordinances aimed at tobacco sellers would be to cut down on illegal sales to minors, agency officials said. Working locally with Fighting Back Partnership and the Vallejo Alcohol and Tobacco Policy Coalition in recent years, the education programs recommend that tobacco ... Jump to full article >>

As President Obama signs what is said to be the most powerful anti-smoking act, it seems time to question the fairness of the impact this has on smokers. It seemed at first that, although many didn’t particularly like the act that banned smoking in public places in Illinois, they understood it. We have a right to smoke; they have a right to breathe clean air. Fairly simple, right? However, the new laws that will be taking effect question moral boundaries in some opinions. The new law will ban the production of “flavored” tobacco products and the use of the word “light&# ... Jump to full article >>

The steady march to rid parks and playgrounds of cigarette butts spread to Zion this summer after a group of students surveyed residents and then pushed the Park District to enact the ban that most supported. The 752 acres of parkland went smoke-free in mid-June, although the ban ends at the fairways of the two golf courses and carries no penalties. Park District officials are betting smokers will heed the signs and police themselves. “We’re just going to take it real slow,” said Rich Walker, Zion’s director of parks and recreation. “We’re certainly not int ... Jump to full article >>

So I was sitting in a leather couch at El Cid’s, watching my cigar smoke drift upward and listening to the guys talk about politics and stuff that really matters in life, like the tobacco tax going up again. El Cid’s has been a nice place to go to hide. No editors at the old Rocky, may it rest in peace, knew about it. And, by God, the tobacco-less creatures would never venture into North Denver to find it. El Cid’s is on West 44th Avenue, just east of Sheridan. If you had a fair throwing arm, you could hit Wheat Ridge with a rock. But why would you want to? I enjoyed my visit ... Jump to full article >>