According to some of the citizens of Wales, smoking bans in pubs and clubs ought to have a re-thinking. Pubs are closing down at an especially fast rate and many are feeling their pockets tightening due to the credit crunch, cheap supermarket prices and smoking bans.
Most smokers do understand that for a non-smoker their second-hand smoke can be very damaging, and that it is not fair for them to have breathe smoke in public places. What the Welsh smoking population is hoping for is some understanding and a few licences, which would allow for smoking to be legal in designated indoor premises. Even if only one in five pubs had designated smoking areas would be better than having one in five pubs shut down.
Which is true - this would make everyone happy not only in Wales but all over the world. If you do not like Sushi or Italian food, you always have the choice to go to a restaurant you like. Why should this be any different for smoking and pubs?
[Via: WalesOnline]
A strange as it may sound, In West Bengal the Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is losing money in state funds because of his smoking habit. If it weren't for his passion for puffing he would be getting millions of dollars in international funds to help anti-smoking campaigns.
A World Health Organisation (WHO) said, "I myself formulated two applications on behalf of Kolkata to fund the city to curb tobacco consumption and make it a smoke-free zone. But both were rejected by the Bloomberg Initiative as the administrative head himself smokes in public."
Over the past six months the state's capital, Kolkata has applied for grants to control tobacco consumption several times, with the Bloomberg Initiative - a programme in the global community aimed at curbing tobacco use in countries that have low income.
The strangest twist of fate is that in this part of India is that nearly 70 percent of males consume tobacco, which is an extremely high rate.
West Bengal seems like a place that would really needs the funds and just because one leader is smoking does not really seem like a reason to refuse funding.
[Via: The Times of India]
This week on September 11th the Clean Indoor Act was put into action in Pennsylvania. Smoking has been banned from restaurants, bars, retail stores and bingo halls. Fines will be enforced, with the smallest fine starting at $100 for the first fine, $200 for the second and $500 for any fines afterwards.
Under this act smoking is defined as, "the carrying by a person of a lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe or other lighted smoking device."
This means that smoking will be banned on university campuses as well. A third-year student said, "When I heard about this law I almost cried. Too many people do it, they can't arrest everyone. It isn't legal to smoke cigarettes. It doesn't make you a bad person if you do."
There is a variety of opinions on this subject but mostly it is the smokers who are against the law and non-smokers who are for the law.
This final observation is only logical. Of course, smokers are upset that their right to freedom is being violated in some way.
[Via: The Quad]
In Kansas City smoking is to be banned in cigar stores and smoke shops, there is one man who is trying to fight this amendment. According to him, "We need a place where smoking is permitted and children are not."
Kendall Culbertson is the owner of the Outlaw Cigar Co., a cigar shop, he said "Kansas City voters have declared their preference for a smoking ban in most public places but, in drafting the law, anti-smoking forces failed to exempt obvious locations like cigar shops and smoking clubs."
Culbertson feels that these omissions were simply a mistake and he hopes that some exemptions will be made by the voters, who are voting for the smoking ban in April.
"I believe it is illogical that casinos can allow smoking while their primary business is gambling, but cigar stores like mine can't permit smoking even though our primary business revolves around our customers being able to enjoy premium, handmade cigars in our 800 sq. ft. smoking lounge."
This is definitely a valid point that has probably been overlooked in many places and if the U.S. is a democratic and free country each person should have to do what they please in the areas designated for it.
Teens are the next generation of smokers, which is why they are vital to the tobacco industry. They [tobacco industry] is interested in keeping their profit margins high, which is why they go to any means possible to get teenagers smoking.
Many tobacco companies will spend nearly $100 million on advertising to put themselves in a better light. Advertisements for cigarettes are usually found in magazines in countries where that's legal, which have a large audience of young people.
According to a certain poll of teens and adults, teenagers are more likely to remember a tobacco ad that they have seen in the past couple of weeks than adults. Teenagers feel that they are target by tobacco companies and they feel it is still easy for them to buy tobacco.
This is direct proof that the problem of tobacco addiction cannot be stopped with tobacco bans, what needs to be think about is the number of young people that become addicted to tobacco.
