HEADLINES

• Two million illegal cigarettes seized in East Lancashire in two months
• Scotland: Making Mental Health Services Smoke-Free
• Honduras bans smoking in public places
• Video: Tobacco company whistleblower takes on Montana
• Cigar makers target Cuban women

• Two million illegal cigarettes seized in East Lancashire in two months

  More than two million illegal cigarettes have been seized in the past two months in East Lancashire.

  Health chiefs disclosed the figure as they drew up a plan to reduce the harm that smoking and illicit tobacco has on the lives of people in the area.

  The tobacco, which is illegal because it has either been smuggled into the country or is counterfeit, is thought to be responsible for four times as many deaths as drugs.

  Source: Lancashire Telegraph - 20 February 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/hmVINc

• Scotland: Making Mental Health Services Smoke-Free

  Guidance to give residential mental health patients and workers the same protection from second-hand smoke as others throughout Scotland was published on Monday.

  Smoking has been banned in public places since 2006. However, residential mental health facilities are exempt from the ban and smoking is allowed in designated rooms.

  The guidance is designed to help residential mental health facilities to become smoke-free although there are no plans to introduce a statutory ban.

  The guidance can be found on the Health Scotland website, here.

  Source: eGovMonitor - 21 February 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/eOM4Mb

• Honduras bans smoking in public places

  A ban on smoking in public places and some private areas went into effect on Monday in Honduras, the latest among half a dozen Latin American countries to pass anti-tobacco laws.

  Smoking is now banned in buildings, offices, supermarkets and malls, bars, discotheques, hotels, gyms, public parking lots and public transportation, with fines of up to 6,000 dollars for infractions.

  However, special booths will be set up on some private establishments affected by the measure.

  The law also bans tobacco advertising.

  The Guardian adds: The law bans all smoking in most closed public or private spaces and orders smokers to stand at least six feet away from nonsmokers in any open space.

  The law that went into effect on Monday doesn't clearly ban smoking at home. But it expressly says relatives or visitors can summon police to deal with smokers at home.

  Source: Yahoo!/AFP - 21 February 2011
  Link: http://yhoo.it/he3riR

• Video: Tobacco company whistleblower takes on Montana

  One of the whistleblowers responsible for bringing down the major tobacco companies in the 90s is hitting five Montana cities in five days.

  Dr. Victor DeNoble worked for the largest tobacco supplier in the United States. DeNoble was allowed to break his sworn silence to the tobacco companies in 1994 telling Congress the companies were lying about how lethal their products actually are.

  “If you stop the funding, it will stay low for a while, and then like every other disease, it will creep back up. Three or four years from now, you’re having to redo all the tobacco control programs, and not only are you now having to treat people, now you’re doing prevention again,” comments DeNoble on what he says would happen if Montana lessens funding. 

  Source: NBC Montana - 21 February 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/gPGQO9

• Cigar makers target Cuban women

  Cuba's state-owned tobacco company is wooing women, with their very own version of the famous Havana cigar. But is cigar-smoking destined to remain a man's world?

  Hundreds of cigar distributors, businessmen and tobacco lovers are descending on Cuba this week for the annual Havana cigar festival.

  The world of Habano smokers is predominantly male, but the island's largest cigar manufacturer has now set its sights on the other half of the world's population - women.

  The result is the Julieta, a milder version of the renowned, strong-flavoured Romeo Y Julieta brand, which was founded in 1873.

  The Julieta is bigger, 4.75 inches (12cm) long, 0.5 inches (13mm) wide, and far more pungent.

  Women have a long association with cigar smoking - according to anthropologists, ancient Mayan women were just as likely as their menfolk to smoke dried tobacco.

  But in modern times it has never really taken off.

  Source: BBC Caribbean - 21 February 2011
  Link: http://bbc.in/ibvEw7