No-smoking rules in city parks not always followed

Two moms — who sat on either side of a small no-smoking sign — lit up Monday in Austin Park. One of them was relaxed on a park bench while the other one sat on the cool grass beneath a tree. Both were watching their children splash around in the spray park and claimed they had not seen the sign. All city parks are tobacco-free since City Council banned smoking a year ago. The sign reminds visitors that there are “Young Lungs at Play” and that the park is a tobacco-free zone. But since it depends on smokers to voluntarily abide, the policy has not been fully effective.

“If I was more aware of it I would have no problem going across the street,” said one mom who asked not to be identified. “It will definitely make me want to look up the law now. I’m not the only one, there were others smoking.” Penelope, who asked that her last name not be used, said that she had smoked while on the bench. She too said she was not aware of the policy and took out a small plastic pouch to show that she had not littered with the butts. Neither woman was familiar with Batavia, with one being from Wyoming County and the other a new resident. “I like the fact that you can’t smoke near the hospital or on school grounds,” Penelope said.

“If someone told me about (the policy) I would put out my cigarette.” Kiersten Richenberg, who was babysitting for neighbors, noticed the smoking, she said. She also did not know of the city’s policy but didn’t think that would matter. She doubted she’d go over to a stranger to remind them. She was in favor of the ban. “There are a lot of little kids around,” she said. Kevin Keenan, coordinator of Smoke-Free NOW at GCASA, said he has been concerned about the policy since it passed last July. “We need to get more signs,” he said. “

Some people are smoking still. We could use a little education from the city. I think at this point it’s out of sight out of mind.” City Councilwoman Rose Mary Christian, who did not vote for the ban, said the city has got enough to worry about right now. “Smoking signs are the least of my problem to think about. I can tell you that neighborhoods and all residential properties are concerns to everyone. We also have many streets in the city that need repairs,” she said.

“The railroad tracks on Swan Street are horrible. The drugs sold in the city happens to be another problem. People are suffering domestic abuse. Our police department needs people to be vigilant and report any suspicious people in neighborhoods. Churches have been vandalized, cars broken into and home burglaries have occurred. We need to have infrastructure and neighborhoods safe for residents in the city.”

Tobacco tax, St. Louis police change will be on ballot

Missouri voters will see proposals to tax tobacco and turn over control of St. Louis police to local authorities in November, but they will not vote on payday loan regulation or a minimum wage hike, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan announced Tuesday. The payday loan initiative fell 270 signatures short of the number needed in the First Congressional District, according to figures released by Carnahan’s office. The minimum wage proposal was 510 signatures short in the Third District and 1,091 short in the First.

The tobacco tax proposal would add 73 cents to a pack of cigarettes, 25 percent to the cost of loose tobacco for cigarettes and 15 percent to all other tobacco products. The money raised, an estimated $283 million to $423 million annually, would be divided among public schools, higher education and smoking eradication programs. The St. Louis measure would repeal a Civil War-era law that puts the police under the control of a Board of Police Commissioners appointed by the governor. The rulings Tuesday on the petitions seem likely to set off a new round of litigation.

The ballot language written by Carnahan and State Auditor Tom Schweich was approved last week by the Missouri Supreme Court for the tobacco tax, payday loan and minimum wage proposals. The payday loan and minimum wage initiatives were pushed as a coordinated campaign for both measures by a coalition of community, faith, labor and student groups, said Sean Soendker Nicholson, director of Progress Missouri. They intend to go to court to force another look at the signatures submitted in St. Louis, where only 49 percent of the signatures submitted were counted, he said.

According to figures Nicholson said came from Carnahan’s office, 76 percent of the signatures submitted in Boone County were found to be valid and 80 percent of the signatures submitted in Jefferson County were valid. Jefferson County is part of the Third Congressional District, where the minimum wage proposal fell 510 signatures short. “We are going to fight in court to make sure the valid signatures are counted,” Nicholson said. The payday loan proposal would cap interest on the short-term loans at 36 percent. The minimum wage proposal would increase the wage to $8.25 an hour and require an annual adjustment based on price levels.

Report Reveals 'Horror' of Tobacco Farming

Tobacco farming is harmful to the environment and to the farm workers with multinational tobacco companies contributing to the problem by exploiting local farmers, new research has revealed. A recent review of research on the environmental health impact of tobacco farming found that it degrades the environment, harms workers, and ultimately leads to the loss of land resources and biodiversity. The article in the journal Tobacco Control highlights tobacco farming problems, such as excessive use of chemicals and extensive deforestation, and found that multinational tobacco companies' actions contribute to these problems.

In South Africa, about 13 234 hectares of arable land is taken up by tobacco plantation, and the country produces around 16 000 metric tons of tobacco a year. Most of the world's tobacco farming takes place in the developing world, with Malawi being the largest producer in Africa, assigning 183 052 hectares of land to tobacco (a staggering amount considering the small size of the country).

The second biggest producer in Africa is Zimbabwe which grows tobacco on 79 917 hectares of arable land. The biggest producer in the world is China which uses 1 266 113 hectares for growing tobacco. For the study, Natacha Lecours from the Non-Communicable Disease Prevention programme in Canada, and colleagues reviewed 45 scientific articles on the topic. They found that tobacco farming causes green tobacco sickness (GTS) in farm workers who absorb nicotine through the skin when handling wet tobacco.

GTS causes muscle weakness, headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, abdominal cramps, breathing difficulty, diarrhoea, chills, fluctuations in blood pressure or heart rate, and increased perspiration and salivation. "As a monocrop, tobacco plants are vulnerable to a variety of pests and diseases, which require the application of large quantities of chemicals," the authors wrote. Pesticide poisoning is common among workers and those living near tobacco-growing fields. Exposure to these chemicals causes respiratory, neurological, and psychological problems. Studies have found pesticide sprayers in this industry are at increased risk for neurological and psychological conditions due to poor protection practices.

 Apart from deforestation and soil degradation, cigarettes farming is also associated with the destruction of ground water resources, sedimentation of rivers, reservoirs and irrigation systems, climate change, and species extinction due to habitat fragmentation and overexploitation, said the authors. "Tobacco absorbs more nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium than other major food and cash crops, and therefore, tobacco growing decreases soil fertility more rapidly than other crops." In Bangladesh and Kenya, researchers found that expanding tobacco production displaces farming of traditional food crops, a practice that can lead to food insecurity. The research also revealed that tobacco companies engage in contract farming - a system through which tobacco firms deal directly with local farmers.

Contract farming creates a cycle of indebtedness for farmers, who find themselves owing companies significant sums for payments advanced as agricultural inputs year after year. "For many tobacco growers in India and Bangladesh, the income gained from this system is barely enough to sustain themselves, or is insufficient to meet the most basic needs," the authors wrote. In many countries tobacco companies also control the production and the sale of agrochemicals, which the authors claim further creates a cycle of indebtedness for farmers and encourages the use of harmful chemicals. "Tobacco company practices disadvantage farmers by locking them into a supply and compensation system controlled by the tobacco companies."

In the commentary to the article, the editor points out that tobacco companies lure governments and other leaders into believing that tobacco is an economically viable crop and a major source of revenue, while hiding the truth about the accompanying environmental and health losses. "For example, while Tanzania earns about US $50 million annually from tobacco revenue, more than US $40 million is spent to treat tobacco-related cancers alone."

What have the tobacco and pharma industries got in common?

The tragicomic potential of this scenario makes it sound like a scriptwriter’s dream. There’s the pharma marketing exec pondering how to maximise the market for the company’s smoking cessation products. And then there’s the tobacco chief strategising a “mutually beneficial” alliance with a company that profits from helping smokers to quit. Now for the reality… Marita Hefler, a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney and News Editor for the BMJ journal Tobacco Control, has been investigating recent revelations of an alliance of interests between the pharmaceutical and tobacco industries.

A recent report by medical journalist Michael Woodhead in the health practitioner newsletter 6 minutes exposed how the pharmaceutical and tobacco industries are active members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a powerful right-wing lobby group which opposes Australia’s introduction of cigarette plain packaging. In the US, ALEC works closely with legislators to advance the interests of its corporate members and ensure laws favourable to America’s biggest corporations. Its members consist of legislators and the private sector, although 98% of its funding is from corporations, trade associations and corporate foundations.

 Members of ALEC’s Private Enterprise Board which provides input to ‘model legislation’ include representatives of Altria (think Marlboro) and Reynolds American (Camel cigarettes), together with pharmaceutical companies Pfizer Inc, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Bayer and industry lobby group the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

ALEC’s lobbying extends beyond the US through its International Relations Task Force, co-chaired by a representative of Philip Morris International. ALEC has acted as a defacto front group for the tobacco industry in the US as part of a relationship dating back to 1979. It has been diligent in opposing regulatory restrictions and supporting strategies to improve public perceptions of tobacco companies.

Beech Grove rejects smoking ban, welcomes Indy smokers

Beech Grove will keep its smoke-filled bars for as long as possible. The City Council voted 5-2 Monday night against a proposed smoking ban identical to those passed in Indianapolis and Lawrence. The council approved the ban on first reading July 23, said Mayor Dennis Buckley, but four bar owners speaking against the ban convinced the council Monday that a ban would hurt their business. Buckley supported the ban, and at one time, he said, so did most of Beech Grove’s bar owners. Then smokers started congregating in the city.

“At the time Indianapolis imposed it, three bar owners here were ready to do the ban also,” Buckley said Tuesday. “But after the city of Indianapolis imposed the ban, these bars got busy. The bar owners had a change of heart and decided their financial worth was of much greater importance than the health of patrons.” Beech Grove’s ban would have affected five bars and four fraternal clubs, he said. A statewide law already bans smoking in most other types of businesses.

“I’m going to say about 80 percent of people in Beech Grove probably desired to have the ban in place,” said Buckley, who estimated he had heard Tuesday from about 200 people disappointed by the council’s action. “I would have voted for it if I was on the council. Bar owners have already made arrangements for outside areas for smokers.” One local bar owner, however, said smoking bans deprive business owners of their rightful freedoms.

“A lot of our customers who don’t smoke still want this to be a place where people have a choice,” said Jan Oates, 54, Beech Grove. She co-owns Harvey’s Tavern in the 600 block of Main Street. The mayor, Oates said, should be doing everything possible to sustain businesses rather than supporting proposals that, in her opinion, would hurt them.

“He’s just going to be the mayor of Amtrak and the Speedway gas station if he’s not careful,” she said, “because we won’t have any other businesses left.” Her bar has operated since 1949, when her business partner’s parents opened it, she said. The other four bars in Beech Grove are The Grove Tavern, Lucky’s Pub, O’Gara’s Pub and the Silver Bullet.

ConCourt upholds smoke ad ban

The Constitutional Court has turned down a legal challenge against a ban on smoking advertisements, the National Council Against Smoking (NCAS) said on Tuesday. The court declined a request by British American Tobacco SA (Batsa) to hear an appeal of a judgment upholding the ban by the Supreme Court of Appeal in June of this year, NCAS said in a statement.

"After examining the cigarette company's application for leave to appeal the judgment it 'concluded that the application should be dismissed with costs, as there are no prospects of success'," the council said. It had joined the court case between Batsa and the government with a "friend of the court" brief. NCAS executive director Yussuf Saloojee said he welcomed the Constitutional Court decision and argued that it confirmed that the country's tobacco laws were fair and based on science.

"The freedom of teenagers to grow up healthily is more important than the freedom of the tobacco companies to advertise a deadly addiction," Saloojee said. The NCAS said the recent court case stemmed from a challenge that began in 2009 to a ban on using social media and one-on-one advertising for tobacco companies.

It said Batsa had wanted the courts to find the extension of the advertising ban to social media and one-on-one to be unconstitutional. Saloojee argued that challenges to laws to curtail smoking were an "on-going struggle" with court challenges from tobacco companies. "Yet, on the only occasion that the courts have actually tested the tobacco law it has been [found] to be reasonable and justifiable," Saloojee said.

Sunnyvale Bans Smoking in Parks, Town Facilities

After much debate, Sunnyvale is taking its smoking ban to the next level by banning smoking in all park spaces and town facilities. The Town Council voted 3-2 to ban smoking in all parks and town property such as City Hall and the library -- including in vehicles in the parking lots of those facilities. "It is certainly a health issue, and we have folks who want to come to the park and enjoy the park without having to deal with the issues of secondhand smoke," Town Manager Scott Campbell said.

The Town Council agreed on a ban on park properties, but the question came down to whether or not residents would be allowed to smoke in their cars while parked at parks and town facilities. "How would we enforce that? It was really about being too difficult to enforce if we did it any other way," Campbell said. Christopher Wand, a smoker, said the ordinance goes too far. "Around here, I think like a 50 foot away from an entrance or that would be OK to limit, but in my own vehicle or on my own property -- that a little too harsh," he said.

"It's taking control of something that I should be in control off." But Kellie Nelson said she welcomes the smoking ban. "The smoking has gotten really really bad lately," she said. "They'll be smoking all kinds of weird things, and the smell drifts into play area where all the kids are playing, and I have asthma and I don't want to be around that." The Town Council will light up more debate as it looks at a possible smoke ban in other public areas, such as restaurants. Officials are working on a survey to find out how people would feel about a smoking ban in all public areas.