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ASH Daily news for 13 May 2011

HEADLINES

  • Surrey: 'Recluse' died in fire caused by cigarette

    A fire that killed a pensioner at her home is likely to have started after she fell asleep while smoking in bed, an inquest heard.

    Joy Gold, 80, died of smoke inhalation on November 13 last year after a fire at the house on Bracken Path, Epsom.

    Neighbour David Hanks and a passing dog walker risked their own lives to enter the burning cottage and pull Miss Gold out but she never regained consciousness.

    During the inquest at Woking Coroners’ Court on Wednesday (May 11), deputy coroner Dr Karin Englehart heard that Miss Gold had not left the house for several years but had a carer who visited twice daily to clean and cook for her.

    Source: Get Surrey - 12 may 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/lh4heJ

  • USA: Upper West Side condo votes to ban smoking

    A condominium on the Upper West Side of New York City has taken the step of prohibiting residents from smoking inside their apartments.

    Even smokers who moved into the building before the ban must abide by it. The building is one of the first in the city to approve such an extensive ban. (Several rental buildings introduced bans last year, but established tenants who smoked were not affected.)

    Owners in the building, a 32-story glass tower at Broadway and 99th Street, voted 47 to 3 to approve the ban late last month. There are 68 owners in total.

    Enforcement will be complaint-driven. The first complaint will draw a $150 fine, and the fine for each succeeding complaint will increase by $150.

    Source: New York Times - 12 May 2011
    Link: http://nyti.ms/ksZv3A

  • Bogged down on big issues, Iraq takes aim at smoking

    In a country where the power blinks out several times a day, where filling up a gas tank can take hours and motorists stew in seemingly endless traffic jams, smoking is one thing that seems blissfully easy.

    But following the lead of New York, London, Paris and scores of other Western cities, Iraqi lawmakers are now trying to push smoking to the margins of public life here, to the frustration of many of their constituents.

    On Sunday, they are set to consider a law that would ban smoking from schools, universities, government offices and a wide range of private businesses, including restaurants and cafes. Billboards advertising cigarettes, which wallpaper commercial districts of Baghdad, would be outlawed. And cigarette companies would be forced to print harsher warning labels.

    But some Iraqis called Parliament’s effort a quixotic waste of time by a legislature that has dithered on questions of greater import, and the prospects for passage of the tobacco ban are cloudy, at best.

    Source: New York Times - 12 May 2011
    Link: http://nyti.ms/lfDwyV

  • Guam: Bill bans smoking in cars with kids

    The parliamentary Committee on Health and Human Services, has introduced Bill 188 to ban smoking in vehicles when children are present. The intent of the bill is to set a regulatory standard protecting children under 18 years old from second-hand smoke. Those found in violation will have to pay a fine.

    Guam has smoking regulations that protect against smoking in restaurants, theaters and public and private buildings, to name a few. Violation of these smoking regulations carry fines from $75 to $750, in line with Judiciary of Guam fee increases that went into effect last month.

    Source: Guampdn - 11 May 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/iepTym

  • Ukraine: Running out of options, tobacco companies employ dark marketing

    Tobacco companies are using covert marketing tactics to target Ukrainian youths.

    Using social media like Facebook and involving international artists and DJs, Camel organizes musical events to draw public interest towards its brand indirectly in order to engage with existing or future smokers.

    The parties are organised by Urban Wave, Camel Cigarette’s promotion company, which is licensed to Japan Tobacco International.

    “The sole purpose of Urban Wave is to distribute cigarettes to their demographic inside the venue of these parties,” said Andriy Skipalsky, chairman of LIFE, a coalition of anti-tobacco non-profit organizations.

    Skipalsky said this concept of “dark marketing,” although legal, is how tobacco companies increasingly engage with target market groups, namely youth.

    “Its covert because it’s below the radar and once consumers are engaged with a pseudo-brand, the true brand – Camel – can engage with them,” he said. “It appears like any other form of human communication but it’s somewhat subversive because it intends to promote the cigarette brand’s interests.”

    Increasingly, tobacco marketers are using covert marketing concepts since they are staring imminent regulation in the face.

    Ukraine has already banned tobacco advertising in television, radio and the press as well as “external advertisement” such as billboards

    Kostiantyn Krasovsky, head of the tobacco unit for the Ukrainian Institute of Strategic Research under the Health Ministry, said tobacco companies employ people to stand near tobacco kiosks, or points of sale, where they promote cigarettes, gather personal information to build databases from which direct mailing and other marketing techniques are used to reach out to consumers.

    But a current bill in parliament could end all this.

    A bill is registered that would ban all types of tobacco advertisements, including event sponsorships. More than 300 of the legislature’s 450 lawmakers voted for the bill in its first reading in 2010.

    Source: Kyiv Post - 13 May 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/kPyhUK

  • China: As Beijing corners market, a smoking ban can’t work

    Journalist Mitch Moxley reports on his experience of the new smoking ban in China.

    On May 1, the day a nationwide ban on smoking in public places came into effect, I was working in a small café near the Lama Temple when I noticed an ashtray had been placed on my table.

    Turning away from my computer, I asked the café’s owner if it would be alright to smoke.

    “Of course,” she said.

    When I told her about the new smoking ban, she said she wasn’t aware. A group of young Chinese at a table next to me, listening in on our conversation, laughed out loud. Several of them were smoking.

    Beijing has tried to ban smoking in public places before, with little effect, and this time will likely be no different.

    Cigarettes are big business in China, and the government has a direct stake in the tobacco industry.

    In a recent informal survey of a dozen-odd restaurants, bars and cafés around town, almost all those I visited were in violation of the ban or had no intention of complying. Many hadn’t heard of it.

    Recent reports suggest the costs of smoking may already outweigh economic gains brought in by the tobacco industry. And an estimated 3.5 million Chinese will die each year from tobacco-related illnesses by 2030.

    But for now establishments who want their customers to butt out are facing an uphill struggle. At Jing Wei Zhai, a well-known restaurant that serves up traditional Beijing fare, the woman at the front counter says her bosses have instructed the wait staff to stop clients from smoking if they see them light up.

    “We’ll try,” she says, “but we don’t know what to do if they refuse to listen. Some will. Some won’t.”

    Meanwhile, a customer is smoking at a nearby table. When asked if he’s aware of the smoking ban, the man begrudgingly stubs out his cigarette. “Ok,” he says, “I know.”

    Source: The Globe and Mail - 11 May 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/jOBHsA