More than 1.2million children begin the day by eating junk food or smoking cigarettes instead of having a proper breakfast, a survey shows. One in four seven to 14-year-olds snacks on crisps, chocolate or biscuits before going to school while one 14-year-old in 30 just has a cigarette. The survey found that many parents gave out ‘breakfast money’ so their children could buy food on the way to school instead of eating at home. However, a substantial slice of that went on unhealthy snacks. Children spend £646million a year on biscuits and cake as well as Peperami meat snacks, pas ... Jump to full article >>

You can’t do it at work. You can’t do it at school. You can’t do it at bars. You can’t do it in your car  at least not in front of the children! In a few Ontario municipalities, including Arnprior, you can’t even do it on the beach or at the park. Exactly where can you do it? In the privacy of your own apartment? Some don’t even want you to do it there. Might disturb the neighbours. We’re talking, of course, about smoking. It’s been eight years since Ottawa passed its bylaw making it illegal to smoke in workplaces or in public buildings, inclu ... Jump to full article >>

Tens of thousands are just ”collateral damage” to multinational companies. THE tobacco industry in Myrtleford died in late 2006 when British American Tobacco and Philip Morris decided they could buy tobacco leaves cheaper elsewhere. Indeed they could, with about 85 per cent of global production now coming from developing countries such as China, Brazil, Zimbabwe and Malawi. What they didn’t reveal is the human cost of this low-priced leaf. Seventy-eight thousand children are employed in the tobacco farms of Malawi in conditions barely better than slavery, daily enduring gross ... Jump to full article >>

A new study finds that smokers in rural Indonesia finance their habit by dipping into the family food budget — which ultimately results in poorer nutrition for their children. The findings suggest that the costs of smoking in the developing world go well beyond the immediate health risks, according to authors Steven Block and Patrick Webb of Tufts University. The study is published in the October issue of Economic Development and Cultural Change. Using surveys of 33,000 mostly poor households in Java, Indonesia, the researchers found that the average family with at least one smoker spend ... Jump to full article >>

While living in the San Fernando Valley in early 2006, I remember thinking how ludicrous it was that the Calabasas City Council had adopted an ordinance that basically eliminated the ability for anyone to smoke in public. The secondhand smoke control ordinance specified that smoking was prohibited in all public places where other persons could be exposed to secondhand smoke, including indoor and outdoor businesses, hotels, parks, apartment common areas, restaurants and bars where people could reasonably be expected to congregate or meet. At the time, as a half-a-pack-a-day smoker, I felt perse ... Jump to full article >>