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ASH Daily news for 04 May 2011

HEADLINES

  • Airport introduces charge for smoking

    Belfast International Airport has introduced a £1 charge to smoke a cigarette in a designated area.

    Smokers are asked to put a coin into a machine which opens doors to a special smoking area.  It is thought to be the first airport in the UK to introduce such a charge.

     Travel writer Geoff Hill said imposing such fees seemed like "death by 1,000 small cuts".
     
    The airport said it was responding to customer demand and the fee was covering the cost of building the smoking area.
     
    Source: BBC online, 02 May 2011
    Link: http://bbc.in/llxzqa

  • ASH Wales launches online tool to support quitters

    ASH Wales is behind a new online approach to quitting smoking, called Quitex, which offers personalised support to smokers based on their feedback.

    It offers visitors information about the available options and ways of helping them quit. The system allows them to look at the positive and negative features of each one.
     
    Elen de Lacy, acting chief executive of ASH Wales, said: "We are delighted to launch this new unique online help for smokers. Smokers need services that suit their particular needs and lifestyles and Quitex does just that."
     
    Six key steps are offered through the Quitex website to help people give up the habit and the user is emailed with a follow-up survey to see how successful they have been.
     
    For help and advice to give up smoking go to www.ashwales.org.uk/quitex.
     
    Source: This is South Wales, 3 May 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/kzYEZq

  • Australia: Ignore big tobacco's fight against plain packs

    In an opinion piece in the New Scientist, Simon Chapman, professor of public health at the University of Sydney, Australia, counters tobacco industry claims against the proposed introduction of plain packaging of tobacco products.  He welcomes "Australia's bold plan to remove all branding from cigarettes and their packaging", which he says "is a triumph for public health."

    Source: New Scientist, 02 May 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/ixvuL5

  • USA: Lake County Illinois: Public housing ban comes into effect

    On 1 May, seven Lake County-owned senior public housing complexes went smoke-free, making Lake County's housing authority the largest in Illinois to outlaw smoking throughout entire buildings, including tenants' own apartments.
     
    "We stepped up in order to protect our residents," said David Northern, the Lake County Housing Authority's executive director. " The agency is really proud to say we're making these steps to protect a class of residents."
     
    The new rule is rooted in the concept that everyone has the right to breathe clean, safe air.

    The Housing Authority has worked with the Lake County Health Department since 2008 to help establish the ban, educate people about it and offer help to those who want to quit smoking.
     
    Source: Chicago Tribune, 04 May 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/l0W3Ep

  • China: Public awareness smothered by tobacco lobby

    Professor John Gong from Beijing-based University of International Business and Economics argues that the smoking ban in China which came into effect this week, is likely to prove ineffective, unless it is coupled with specified heavy punishments for violators.

    He argues that the ban has been poorly promoted, because: "The tobacco industry is powerful, intransigent, and deep-pocketed all around the world and China is no exception... The tobacco industry boasts 500 billion yuan ($77 billion) in assets and 60 million employees. It is a strong pillar of the government's tax revenue, providing 600 billion yuan in total." 
     
    "Conflicts of interest are another reason why the indoor smoking ban is destined to failure. The government agency that is responsible for promoting the smoking ban is the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the very organization that is also the regulatory body for the whole tobacco industry."
    Source: Global Times, 04 May 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/jqrcXo

  • Protect kids by giving up smoking

    On World Asthma Day, parents who smoke are being urged to stub out their habit to protect their children’s health.

    Ailsa Rutter, director of Fresh,Smoke Free North East said: “It’s better to prevent asthma than treat it and that is why more and more parents are either quitting or taking [their cigarettes] outside."
     
    GPs and hospitals in the North East see about 13,000 children a year suffering from illnesses as a result of tobacco smoke.
    Source: Sunderland Echo, 04 May 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/ipOYhV

  • German pubs allow smoking despite ban

    More than four out of five pubs in Germany make use of legal loopholes or flout the rules to allow people to smoke, almost three years after a ban, a study by health campaigners has revealed.

    The German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), which sent a team to tour almost 3,000 pubs, bars and restaurants in 10 cities including Berlin, Munich and Duesseldorf for the study, called the results "alarming".
     
    Smoking has been banned in German bars and restaurants since July 2008 but there are widespread exceptions allowing it in separate rooms and in pubs under a certain size.
     
    "Germany desperately needs a simple, comprehensive and blanket law ... as has already been implemented with success in many other countries in the European Union,"  the DKFZ said.
     
    It said that tests showed that separate smoking rooms failed to stop potentially harmful air particles wafting into non-smoking areas.
    Source: Yahoo, 04 May 2011
    Link: http://yhoo.it/ikYzT6