Demand for smoke-free housing on the rise in Metro Vancouver

California’s Sonoma County is going to be the envy of Lower Mainland residents who have to put up with the secondhand smoke of their neighbours.

Starting on May 10 next year, all new multi-unit residences in the county will be smoke-free. Then, as of January 12, 2013, the ban will extend to all existing multiple-dwelling units like apartments and condos.

While Sonoma’s smoking prohibition may appear to be too ambitious for Canadian jurisdictions, a more modest approach could work.

Vision Vancouver’s Tim Stevenson is open to the idea that future multi-unit premises should be completely smoke-free.

“Even the people who smoke say if they try to live together, it’s so much smoke, they’re practically choking to death on each other’s smoke,” Stevenson said in a phone interview with the Georgia Straight.

However, the four-term councillor also noted that he’s concerned about how this measure would impact a certain sector of the city’s population. Having served on the board of the First United Church, he has seen how cigarettes are important to many Downtown Eastside residents dealing with addictions and mental illness.

“To ask them not to smoke or tell them they can’t smoke, they would be faced with the choice of not having living space or being out on the street—or trying to lie,” Stevenson said. “And the problem that that gets into is other residents in the building who don’t smoke report them, and then you get conflict.”

But, outside the Downtown Eastside, Stevenson sees no problem with having new smoke-free residential buildings. According to him, the city doesn’t have a smoking ban in its housing properties.

The proposal of putting in smoking bans in future buildings in Canadian municipalities was among the recommendations made by UBC endocrinologist Stuart Kreisman.

Writing in the October issue of the B.C. Medical Journal, the St. Paul’s Hospital doctor stated that this will help meet the demand for smoke-free homes.

When he was living on the top floor of a condo building in downtown Vancouver, Kreisman had to endure the secondhand smoke wafting up from units below him. He later asked to be transferred to the bottom floor.

Should smoking ban be extended?

IT’S been nearly four years since the smoking ban was first introduced in the Isle of Man.

The legislation was welcomed by many but greeted with dismay from the licensed trade and many of the island’s 18,000 smokers.

Four years on, it has become, for the most part, an accepted part of life in the Isle of Man.

Now public health officials are looking to extend the ban – and are preparing to go to public consultation on legislation to ban smoking in cars when young children are present.

The Isle of Man could have been a pioneer, with proposals to ban smoking in public places first mooted in 1986.

But it was not until March 30, 2008, that the island’s public buildings, workplaces and work vehicles went smoke-free – by which time similar bans were already in place across the UK and in Ireland.

Bushy’s brewery boss Martin Brunnschweiler believes a ‘sledgehammer was used to crack a nut’.

He said: ‘It wasn’t great for the licensed trade but we were expecting it to be worse. It was the older people I felt sorry for, the people in the clubs whose whole social life was affected.

‘Personally, I was disappointed that the Isle of Man could not come up with a tailor-made solution for a small community rather than just following the UK and Ireland.’

Douglas publican Geoff Joughin believes business in pubs is at an all time low and the smoking ban is partially responsible.

He said: ‘It is a major contributory reason for more home drinking and a considerable rise in alcohol consumption due to unmonitored amounts being consumed.

‘In parts of Europe, smoking bans are being reconsidered. In Germany and Holland smoking areas have been reintroduced and in Spain the new government has stated it is going to relax the ban because of a severe loss of tax revenue at a very difficult economic time.’

Ivan Bratty, food safety manager in the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture, is responsible for enforcing the ban.

He said: ‘As far as premises are concerned, we haven’t had any problems at all. We have not had any complaints for some time.’

What remains a problem, however, is smoking in work vehicles and Mr Bratty is urging people to inform on those who breach the ban.

Mr Bratty said written warnings had been sent to a couple of companies.

He said: ‘Smoking in work vehicles has been a problem and we would like that to stop. But unless we get a registration it’s difficult to find out who they are. We need more people to inform us if they see it happening.’

One downside of the smokefree legislation has been the piles of cigarette butts that can build up in the street outside bars and offices.

Mr Bratty said: ‘A lot of licensed premises are very good at clearing up first thing in the morning. The piles of butts are usually outside offices with office workers treating the doorway as an ash tray.’

Prior to the smoke-free legislation, an island-wide Stop Smoking Service, Quit4You, was launched.

The aim of the service was to provide free practical advice, support and vouchers for Nicotine Replacement Therapy to anyone who wants to quit smoking from Specialist Stop Smoking Advisors.

It has proved to be extremely popular. To date, nearly 1,900 people have attended the Quit4You service, with quit rates around 50 per cent – which are comparable with the UK.

Anita Imberger, tobacco strategy co-ordinator said: ‘The majority of clients who attend our Quit4You Stop Smoking Clinics have been very positive about the benefits of the smokefree legislation.

‘Many clients who come to see us report that they have felt more anti-social and stigmatised because they have to smoke outside. For some people, this has been one of the key factors motivating them to quit.

‘Others report that the smoke-free legislation has helped them reduce the number of cigarettes they are smoking when they are out at pubs or at work. For those who are quitting and trying to remain smoke-free, no smoking in the pubs and restaurants has really helped them achieve this goal.’

Anita said the legislation has raised people’s awareness of the risks of secondhand smoke and a lot Quit4You clients have already stopped smoking in their house, or restricted it to certain areas.

Latest surveys show that 19.1 per cent of adults in the Isle of Man smoke, which is significantly fewer than the North West of England (22.5 per cent).

Give your family a priceless gift this year: Stop smoking

For years, anti-smoking messages have gone out to the Marin community through GAS, the Great American Smoke Out, and the Take a New Year’s Resolution to Stop Smoking campaign.

The 22nd annual New Year’s Resolution to Stop Smoking campaign, a national effort sponsored by Pharmacists Planning Service Inc., runs through Feb. 12 (Super Bowl day).

The stop-smoking campaign has helped a great number of Americans kick the habit. Not only are these people helping themselves, they are helping their neighbors by reducing secondhand smoke, which has more than 400 chemicals the average person inhales — 43 of which are known to cause cancer.

Pharmacies, public health and nonprofit organizations throughout the nation are participating in an all-out effort to alert and educate the public to the dangers of smoking
Pharmacists Planning Service Inc. has received national awards and honors for its ongoing efforts to better the public’s health. Its many campaigns include starting GAS, Diabetes Month, Poison Prevention Month, and efforts to ban the sale of cigarettes from all pharmacies.
PPSI, a California nonprofit corporation, offers a large number of health awareness programs to promote public health and education. PPSI is the originator and sponsor of National Poison Prevention Month. Approximately once per month it implements a new program on the website. To extend its research and incorporate as much information as possible, PPSI also offers links to other health education websites. Thank you for your continued interest and support.

Tobacco jar produced in Austria for export

I have been researching online to attempt to find the maker of this apparently black statue whose hat comes off. On the bottom it says "Austria 5" and numbers above that "8058." There also is a very small rectangle with "ZT" next to it. Any information would be helpful.
A: You have a figural tobacco jar. It was made in Austria as marked. Figural tobacco jars were produced in Austria for export to the United States and other countries by numerous pottery companies. The jar you have falls into two categories of collector interest — Black Memorabilia and Tobacco Jars. I think it was made prior to World War I. Potential dollar value is $100 to $200.

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Q: My husband received a small painting — round and about the size of a dinner plate. The floral design is painted on a thin piece of wood, almost like a veneer layer. The artist was his great-great grandmother, who lived from 1840 to 1905, so it is fairly old. The back of the piece is cracked in several places, although the picture in the front is not damaged. Do you have any idea of where I could find someone who might be able to restore this type of work?

Growers disappointed with tobacco board

Mohammad Farooq and his brother Sahibzada, who grow tobacco in Swabi district, told Dawn that tobacco companies forced them into buying tobacco-specific pesticides from them hurting their business interest.

They said they struggled to buy pesticides for maize and wheat from dealers after ignoring them at the time of buying pesticides for tobacco.

“Companies tend to dictate their terms to us. They use their tobacco purchasing agreements signed with growers to their advantage,” Mr Sahibzada said.

Under the Martial Law Regulations-487, tobacco companies are required to submit to the PTB the details of their requirements for the ensuing tobacco crop by October 21 every year. On the basis of those details, they make agreements with growers for purchases.

When contacted, secretary PTB Nauman Bashir rejected the growers` complaints and said the board took all possible steps under the regulations to protect the growers` economic interests.

He said had PTB not taken care of the growers` interests, fights would have broken out between the growers and tobacco companies.

“It is because of us that growers get a fair price of their yields every year and enjoy a protected and stable market,” he said.

Khalid Khan, president Kissan (farmers) Board, said tobacco companies didn`t give growers hybrid seeds free of cost. “They charge Rs1,000 for supplying hybrid seeds for one acre against the previous rate of Rs200,” he said.

However, the PTB secretary rejected Mr Khalid`s stand and said: “It`s impossible. No company can do that.”

He said all tobacco companies supplied free hybrid seed of RGH-4 variety and others to growers, adding that not a single rupee was paid by growers for hybrid seeds.

A PTB official, however, said growers bore the cost of hybrid seeds when companies faced their shortage.

Mr Bashir said the requirement for Flue Cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco for the upcoming crop had been fixed at 67 million kilogrammes, almost one million kilogrammes less than that of the last year.

He said the measure had been taken to protect the growers` interest.

“Last year, some small tobacco companies signed purchase agreements with growers but later backed out and didn`t procure tobacco to the loss of growers.

However, this time we have ignored these companies resulting into reduction in the FCV requirements for the next cropping season,” he said.