ASH, 102 Clifton Street, London EC2A 4HW Tel: 020 7739 5902 Fax:
020 7613 0531

ASH Daily News

26 July 2001

Headlines

US professor to call for smoking curbs in London
Ken Livingstone on a GLA ban
He doesn't!

Full Text

US professor to call for smoking curbs in London

The newspapers report today on the arrival of Professor Stanton Glantz from
the University of California to give evidence to a Greater London Assembly
committee investigating the benefits of a city-wide ban on lighting up in
public.

The Greater London Assembly has been exploring the feasibility of a ban on
smoking in public places in London to limit the harm done through passive
smoking. The GLA's smoking in public places committee will hear the
professor speak on the health risks from passive smoking. Chairwoman
Jeanette Arnold said: "The health of Londoners is of great importance to the
assembly. Everyone has the right to breathe clean air regardless of whether
they smoke or not."

The depth of press interest in the arrival of Professor Stan Glantz to
address the GLA committee is on account of his reputation as a formidable
opponent to the tobacco industry. The Professor helped win a stringent ban
on smoking in public places in California in 1995 and has also helped US
state attorneys win a total of $208 billion in settlements with the tobacco
lobby. In 1994 he was handed 4000 pages of internal documents belonging to
the tobacco company Brown and Willliamson. Dr Glantz published the documents
as 'The Cigarette Papers', accepted as the most damning evidence against the
tobacco companies. 'The Cigarette Papers' lead to former President Bill
Clinton regulating cigarettes as a nicotine delivery agent. The episode also
formed part of the background for the film 'The Insider' with Al Pacino as
an investigative journalist and Russell Crowe as a company scientist.

Dr Glantz was a NASA engineer in the sixties who became interested in
cardiology after investigating the effects of space travel on the human
heart. After arriving at Waterloo in London, he said: "A ban on public
smoking in London is long overdue . People have a right to go about their
lives without being asphyxiated."

He added: "This is an idea whose time has long since come. It is popular
with the public and it is time for London to catch up with other world
cities and become smoke free. I am great believer in civil liberties but I
don't believe someone has the right to poison someone else. A cigarette is a
little toxic waste dump on fire."

However, the investigation by the GLA into a city wide ban has also come
under criticism, since the assembly does not have any power to legislate on
the issue. All it can do is make recommendations and provide a 'moral lead'.
As a result, the Mayor of London has been criticised for wasting time and
money by holding an inquiry on a ban.

Tory members on the GLA committee are opposed to the ban, both being
smokers. Richard Barnes, who smokes 20 a day said: "This is just the
interfering nanny state", adding rather unhelpfully "I'd rather die young,
thank you."

Forest, the smokers rights group, which is largely funded by the tobacco
industry, said such a ban might work in California, where the weather
allowed people to go outside all year round, but would be unwelcome and
unworkable in London."

Source: The Independent, 26 July 2001; Evening Standard, 25 July 2001-07-26


Ken Livingstone on a GLA ban

The following is a letter published in The Mirror by the Mayor of London in
response to an earlier (24 July 2001: LA Law's a Drag) report the paper:

"Your report is wrong to say that I am promoting a ban on smoking in public
spaces. In fact this is the proposal of the London Assembly. I want to make
it clear I am against a blanket ban on smoking in public places which I
think is impractical and overly restrictive.

Of course smoking should not be unrestricted.

I would like taxi drivers to be able to stop smoking in their cabs if they
want to. But I think London is more like New York than Los Angeles - we'll
be more inclined to have voluntary arrangements rather than something
enforced by government."

Source: The Mirror, 26 July 2001


He Doesn't!

After days of rumours and whispers about whether Prince William smokes or
not, a spokeswoman at St. James Palace asserted "He tried one a few years
ago but he absolutely hated it. He has never tried it ever since. He thinks
it is a dreadful habit and is very anti-smoking."

Amanda Sandford, spokeswoman for Action on Smoking and Health said: "If
William has declared himself a non-smoker, then that is great news.
Hopefully those who look up to him will adopt the same lifestyle."

Source: The Mirror, The Sun, 26 July 2001

Naj Dehlavi
ASH
102 - 108 Clifton Street
London EC2A 4HW
Tel: +44 (0)20 7739 5902
Fax: +44 (0)20 7613 0531
Web: http://www.ash.org.uk