ASH Daily News for 18/02/1999

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ASH Daily News
Thursday 18th February 1999
Headlines
Duty free will end say EU officials.
Call for tougher control on tobacco additives.
Dangers of smoking in bed.
Guests to be fined for breaking smoking ban.
Full text
Duty free will end say EU officials.
Calls for a reprieve over the ending of duty free sales were rejected last
night. The European Commission said it would press ahead with its decision to
scrap the practice on June 30th. That means any chance of overturning
the ban is now down to Tony Blair’s powers of persuasion. The Commission
can only be overruled at a summit next month if the Prime Minister persuades
fellow EU national leaders to join him.
Source: Daily Mail, Financial Times, The Guardian, The Express and other
major newspapers 18/02/99
Call for tougher control on tobacco additives.
The government has asked the tobacco industry to explain its use of up to 600
additives in cigarettes. A letter to David Swan, chief executive of the Tobacco
Manufacturers’ Association, from medical officials at the Department of
Health states that the government has "concerns regarding the purpose of
additives in cigarettes" and called on the industry to justify their use.
The letter follows calls by a coalition of groups including British Medical
Association, Cancer Research Campaign and ASH, calling for greater control on
tobacco additives. In a letter to Tessa Jowell, the minister for public health,
they warned that adding sweeteners such as sugar to cigarettes could make them
more palatable to children. Other additives, which raise the alkalinity of
smoke, could increase the effect of nicotine, making the cigarettes more
addictive.
Source: Financial Times, Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Independent
18/02/99
Dangers of smoking in bed.
Several newspapers report that a woman who allegedly wanted to teach her new
husband a lesson about the dangers of smoking in bed has been charged with
burning down their home. Linda Stewart, aged 39, put a lit cigarette on the
couple’s bed on Sunday morning and then walked out of their home in
Columbia, Tennessee, police said. Her husband, Tim, was not home when the blaze
started. When he returned, the house was gutted.
Source: The Times, The Guardian, Evening Standard 18/02/99

Guests to be fined for breaking smoking ban.
An American hotel that bans smoking has introduced fines for those who break
the rules. Hoteliers Judy and Ray Braz, who run a hotel with a strict
non-smoking policy, have become so fed up with guests disregarding their ban
they have introduced a $75 (£47)-cleaning charge. Despite the ban, they
say they occasionally discover while cleaning rooms that a guest had been
smoking. "It is frustrating. You can smell the smoke, and we have to air
the rooms which means they take twice as long to clean," Judy said. Since
introducing the charge at the beginning of the year, Judy admits no guests have
yet been fined.
Source: Caterer &Hotelkeeper 18/02/99
 
 
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