HEADLINES

• Cheshire: Halton leads way in smokefree playgrounds
• Cheshire: Cigarette causes house fire in Ellesmere Port
• Wales: Smokers - Who's Watching You!
• BAT says fall in cigarette sales slowing
• USA: Anti-Worker and Tobacco Lobbyist?: Smoking Ad 'Exposes' the Real Herman Cain

• Cheshire: Halton leads way in smokefree playgrounds

  Halton is leading the way in smoke-free playgrounds. A total of 71 play areas will be covered by the voluntary Play Smokefree code developed by local heart health charity Heart of Cheshire.

  A survey of Halton and St Helens residents, 43% of them smokers, highlighted three-quarters were in favour of the code.

  Source: Liverpool Echo - 24 October 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/vBIW91

• Cheshire: Cigarette causes house fire in Ellesmere Port

  Firefighters were called after a discarded cigarette filled a house with smoke in the early hours.

  They found smoke pouring from the windows, but that the fire had quickly gone out.

  Firefighters rescued an elderly man from the smoke-filled building, who had become trapped after trying to use a stair lift to escape the house.

  An elderly couple were treated for smoke inhalation at the scene.

  Source: Ellesmere Port Pioneer - 27 October 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/srDWE2

• Wales: Smokers - Who's Watching You!

  Smokers in Rhondda Cynon Taf are being asked to “Bin their Butts” and clean up their act as smoking related waste is highlighted as the biggest eyesore on our streets.

  The Council’s dedicated Streetcare Enforcement team regularly patrol the streets and towns of Rhondda Cynon Taf in a bid to catch smokers red handed – the message is clear you never know “who’s watching you” when you mindlessly throw your butts on to the floor so “Bin Your Butts”!

  In a special Halloween themed video that can be seen online, residents can witness what can happen when eco-criminals throw their cigarettes on to the floor, in play areas, outside pubs and out of their cars. Although the DVD is a tongue-in-cheek style 3 minute video it sends a very serious message that this will not be tolerated in Rhondda Cynon Taf and those caught will be issued with a fixed penalty notice of £75.

  The video can viewed by clicking here.

  Source: Aberdare Online - 27 October 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/sqZ6l5

• BAT says fall in cigarette sales slowing

  The world’s second largest tobacco company has said the number of smokers cutting back in the economic downturn was moderating.

  British American Tobacco (BAT), which has more than 300 brands, said cigarette volumes were down 0.6% year-on-year at 523 billion in the nine months to 30 September, compared to a 1% drop last year.

  The group said its four core brands – Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, Kent and Dunhill – were up 8%, despite excise-driven price increases and the threat of illegal trade.

  Source: nebusiness - 27 October 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/tlminn

• USA: Anti-Worker and Tobacco Lobbyist?: Smoking Ad 'Exposes' the Real Herman Cain

  Cain shot out some highly rated contenders for presidential nomination with his quick wit and easy-to-grasp policies. However, images of his campaign chief smoking a cigarette in a web advertisement have ruffled many feathers and set off media investigations into Cain's past. The revelations are unlikely to help his cause.

  A video shot as a Web ad for Cain, shows campaign chief Mark Block saying some words into the camera and then taking a puff from a cigarette.

  When the ad became controversial, Block tried to douse allegations about the connections to the tobacco industry, saying that the message behind the ad was to tell supporters that the Cain campaign was on a roll.

  However, political commentators are already establishing clear connections between the cheeky advertisement and Cain's deep-rooted connections with the tobacco industry. According to them, the Cain campaign could have been trying to use the ad to send a signal to the tobacco industry.

  The New York Times wrote that Cain had links to the tobacco industry and that he had tried to boost liquor sales by opposing the lowering of blood alcohol limits. 

  "He allied himself closely with cigarette makers fighting restaurant smoking bans, spoke out against lowering blood-alcohol limits as a way to prevent drunken driving, fought an increase in the minimum wage and opposed a patients’ bill of rights — all in keeping with the interests of the industry he represented," the report states.
  
  According to thinkprogress.org, he represented a trade association for McDonalds, Burger King and other fast food establishments and that he lobbied on behalf of tobacco industry giants like R.J. Reynolds and Phillip Morris.

  See also: Herman Cain’s smoking video: What was the message? - Washington Post

  Source: International Business Times - 27 October 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/suFOP6