Some people quit smoking to save money or to improve their health. William Peloubet is trying to quit because it’s now banned in the condominium complex where he lives. “We’re trying,” said Peloubet, 39, who lives in his mother’s condominium on Old Colony Way with his girlfriend. “It’s time to quit anyway.” Old Colony is the first Cape condominium association known to ban smoking in the private apartment-like units that people call home, real estate and condo experts said in January when the proposed ban first made the news. Owners’ votes, ... Jump to full article >>

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kanawha County health officials will stand by a smoking ban at Tri-State Racetrack & Gaming Center. Dan Adkins, vice president of Hartman & Tyner Inc., which owns the Nitro racetrack and casino, has been trying to get an exemption from the county’s smoking ban at the racetrack. Track owners believe the smoking rules have cost Tri-State $9 million in revenue since the ban went into effect last year. Last week, county officials were asked if they supported enforcing the county’s indoor smoking regulations even if it meant putting Tri-State out of bus ... Jump to full article >>

Chalfont’s Chestnut Street Park will soon be smoke-free. Borough council recently agreed to ban tobacco from the public park, if only on a voluntary basis. “We want to promote the idea of non-smoking,” said borough Manager Melissa Shafer. “This is more of an educational outreach effort” than a legal action. The park is home to Lenape Valley baseball and soccer programs, and officials hope encouraging the facility to be tobacco-free will send a healthy message to children and adults. Set to start this fall, Shafer said smokers will have a designated area in the par ... Jump to full article >>

No Demonstrated Public Health Benefit “The electronic cigarette is not a proven nicotine replacement therapy. WHO has no scientific evidence to confirm the product’s safety and efficacy.” World Health Organization, Press Release, “Marketers of electronic cigarettes should halt unproved therapy claims” (September 19, 2008) “Makers and retailers of these products have been making unproven health claims about their products, claiming that they are safer than normal cigarettes and asserting that they can help people to quit smoking. Absent scientific evidence, t ... Jump to full article >>

Turkey — a nation of smokers — on Sunday extended a ban on indoor public smoking to bars, restaurants and even to the traditionally smoke-filled village coffeehouses. The ban came into effect despite protests from bar and coffeehouse owners who fear it will ruin businesses that have already been hit hard by the economic crisis. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government barred smoking in offices, public transport and other public places in May 2008 in an effort to reduce the country’s high smoking rate and the effects o ... Jump to full article >>

If reform can’t be credibly financed, it’s not worth doing. The status quo is a powerful force in American politics, capable of killing good and bad ideas alike. Gauging by the increasingly vehement opposition to the latest bid to overhaul the nation’s sickly health care system, this effort, like the one proposed by President Clinton in 1994, could die as well. And yet health care reform keeps rumbling forward, driven by a new president who has made it a priority and a public that does not appear to be as conflicted as official Washington. In poll after poll, people state th ... Jump to full article >>

Six-year-old Hailey Ryan-Leach is a heartbreaking sight as she enters Wollongong Hospital with a protective face mask to undergo post-chemotherapy treatment. Her little body has been slugged with six courses of chemotherapy since she was diagnosed with lymphoma. But the mask isn’t a result of her disease. It is necessary to protect her from the haze of toxic cigarette smoke at the Loftus St entrance. Hailey completed her treatment in April and now visits Wollongong Hospital once a week to have a line in her chest cleaned and re-dressed. Hailey’s father, Todd Leach, is outraged at ... 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 >>

Health warnings on cigarette packs that combine strong pictures with written warnings are most effective in motivating smokers to quit smoking and deterring those who have never smoked or who have quit. The warnings should cover at least half of the packet and be part of a mass media campaign. This is the conclusion of a report from the German World Health Organization tobacco control centre in Heidelberg, which presents the results of 20 international studies as evidence for combined warnings. Unlike 30 countries worldwide, among which in Europe are the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Romania, L ... Jump to full article >>