Second-hand smoke seeping through walls has many housing associations considering creating smoke-free flats An increasing number of complaints by tenants over cigarette smoke from adjoining flats have resulted in housing companies considering how they can establish smoke-free complexes. KAB, the country’s largest administrator of non-profit housing, already presented the idea back in December, and now Fredensborg Housing Association has put forth a fully completed plan for several non-smoking housing blocks. However, implementing the no-smoking policy could face many obstacles – ... Jump to full article >>

All Vermont workplaces become smoke free today as a new state law goes into effect, banning the designated smoking areas that were allowed under the previous law. Public places have been virtually smoke free since the 1987 Smoking in the Workplace law was passed, and then updated under the Clean Indoor Air act of 1993. Those laws permitted businesses to have segregated areas indoors where smokers could light up. The new law, which lawmakers approved this past session, makes it illegal to smoke anywhere inside a public building. “We have known about the dangers of second-hand smoking for ... Jump to full article >>

THE ban was guaranteed to change the smoking industry for better or for worse when it was introduced two years ago. Jo O’Donnell has met with doctors and landlords to see how the rules have affected smoking and drinking habits across the North East TWO years after smoking was banned in bars, pubs in the North East are reporting huge losses in custom and alcohol sales. Across the country pubs and clubs are calling time and closing at a rate of 50 a week. And now the full impact of the change has been felt, landlords say they have been let down over promises non-smokers and families would ... Jump to full article >>

In January, something once considered unthinkable will come to pass. Across North Carolina-once the heartland of tobacco-smoking will be banned in bars and restaurants. Smokers will have to go outside to indulge, and hookah bars will close down. The only exceptions the law allows are for cigar bars and private, nonprofit clubs. “This is a bad idea,” declares a man who identifies himself only as “Steve,” finishing off a cigarette on the lower floor of Broadway’s (smoking allowed inside). “Private enterprise allows a bar owner to choose whether or not to allow ... Jump to full article >>

BUENOS AIRES – Six years after signing the global World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Argentina is the only Latin American country that has not ratified it, for fear of losing tens of thousands of rural jobs in seven provinces. The WHO convention, the first global public health treaty, was signed in 2003 by then President  Kirchner (2003-2007). But parliamentary ratification is still pending. The treaty requires signatories to adopt a comprehensive ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship of events by tobacco companies within five years of ... Jump to full article >>

For the non-smoking public, nothing takes the luster off a night out on the town with friends or a dinner with the family like a smelly, smoke-filled environment. But even worse than a foggy social atmosphere is the actual harm that second-hand cigarette smoke does to the lungs and circulatory system of those who inhale it. It’s a condition the public and many public officials are getting serious about — including those in North Carolina. Senate lawmakers stepped up for better public health last week when they gave preliminary approval, voting 26-16, to ban smoking in the stateR ... Jump to full article >>