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Electronic cigarettes, which deliver nicotine without tobacco or combustion, are the most important harm-reducing alternative to smoking ever developed -- one that could prevent millions of premature deaths in the United States alone. Yet bureaucrats and politicians seem determined to negate that historic opportunity through regulations and taxes that threaten to cripple the industry. When a court-set deadline for "premarket" approval of vaping products came and went on Sept. 9, the Food and Drug Administration had received millions of applications but had not approved any. As a result, the agency says, every vaping device and nicotine liquid sold in the...

Michigan's state Senate and House passed a smoking ban that will make indoor smoking illegal, save for gambling areas, cigar bars and cigar shops. The measure, HB 4377, passed by a vote of 24 to 13 in the Senate and was overwhelmingly approved by the House in a vote of 75 to 30. The legislation will become law when Gov. Jennifer Granholm signs it; she has come out in favor of such legislation, according to press reports from Michigan. The law will go into effect May 1. Exemptions to the legislation include cigar bars, tobacco stores and casinos. A smoking...

A cigarette tax-funded program that pays for breast cancer screenings for low-income women will stop accepting new patients Jan. 1, public health officials said this week. Officials said the decision came as a result of “unprecedented fiscal challenges” to the program which they hope to reopen by summertime.If “Every Woman Counts” reopens July 2 as planned, its scope will be scaled back significantly. Although women ages 50 and older will still be eligible, women ages 40-49 will no longer be screened. State officials acknowledged that women ages 40 to 49 who had been served by the program will no longer...

BEIJING -- It looks like a regular cigarette. It even gives off curlicues of white smoke like a regular cigarette. But it's electronic. The smokeless smoke is being marketed as a healthier alternative to smoking and a potential way to kick the habit. The battery-powered device produces a nicotine-infused mist that's absorbed directly into the lungs. Because no burning is involved, makers say there's no hazardous cocktail of cancer-causing chemicals and gases and no secondhand smoke. But health authorities are skeptical. The World Health Organization has said there's no evidence to back up contentions that e-cigarettes are a safe substitute...

It is one thing to raise cigarettes taxes to discourage people from smoking, especially the poor for benefits to their health. I guess the democrats figure they can raise cigarette taxes and people will keep smoking so the government can afford to give these working poor people Health Insurance for their children. (Let’s not get into the 2nd hand smoke stuff). Is this making sense? Maybe I read the press release wrong!

Sex and the ciggie If your teens watch "Sex and the City," the sex isn't the only thing you have to worry about. Virtually every teen girl interviewed as part of a new Health Department report on smoking said the show influenced their deadly habit. "Whenever I think of how to smoke, it's the way Sarah Jessica Parker exhales, and I'm like obsessed," one 10th-grader said. "I love her, and the way she exhales is very memorable. She kind of ... elongates her neck and exhales into the air." About 11% of teenagers smoke, according to the Health Department. The...

Psst! Hey kid! Come over here and jump off this bridge! All the cool kids've done it 'n you're the only one left! It won't hurt, it'll be fun. Anyhow, if ya don't do it, I'm gonna come back 'n bugya, 'n bugya, 'n bugya forever till ya do. With that sort of reasoned discourse in the background, accompanied by taunts of "You smell like an ASHTRAY!", Philadelphia finally jumped on the bandwagon and banned smoking. Well, sorta. They banned it unless you're a bar that agrees not to feed its customers anything healthy, one that's well-off enough to have...

Can you believe this? I just got a letter in the mail from Allnative about my tobacco products that I order. "Effective immediately, AllNative.com, as well as many other cigarette retailers around the country, is being forced by the major credit card companies (Discover, MasterCard, Visa, and American Express) to eliminate credit and debit card purchases for cigarettes and other tobacco products. We were notified on Friday, May 19th that they were "pulling the plug" immediately with no time for us to notify our customers." When did this country go communist? This is freaking nuts. I called AllNative and they...

BEIJING, China (AP) -- China, home to more than 300 million smokers, has ratified an international treaty prohibiting tobacco advertising and will ban tobacco vending machines, the government said Monday. The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was ratified Sunday by the National People's Congress, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Parliament leaders "supported the treaty by announcing that China will ban tobacco vending machines of any kind" in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, Xinhua said. The treaty requires China to ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship on radio, television, print media and the Internet within five...

Grandchildren of smokers at risk NEW research suggests women who smoke while pregnant are putting their grandchildren as well as their children at risk, writes Jonathan Leake. The study suggests that some of the chemicals in smoke can permanently alter the DNA of those exposed to it in ways that can be inherited by smokers’ children, grandchildren and possibly subsequent generations too. The researchers analysed asthma rates in both the children and grandchildren of women who smoked during pregnancy. They found the grandchildren of such women had 2.1 times the normal risk of developing asthma. The children of women who...

Ireland smoke-free will never be at peace, to rather disrespectfully paraphrase the famous rhetorical avowal of its dead, non-smoking teetotaller patriot Padraic Pearse. Or so it seems right now, anyway, a matter of hours into what some are describing as a seismic cultural shift. In recent weeks one felt that many of Ireland's smoking classes were in a state of outright denial at the impending introduction of Europe's first ban on smoking in the workplace. Now, facing into an era of smoke spies and freephone snitch lines, such hype seems to be rather less fanciful than at first appeared. For...

Concerned that banning smoking in bars and restaurants will hurt local businesses, city councilors want the Boston Public Health Commission to back off its proposal. ``We have economic concerns,'' said Councilor at Large Stephen J. Murphy, chairman of the council's Committee on Public Health that drafted a report opposing the ban. ``We're kind of concerned about what's going to happen to our establishments in (the city's) border areas,'' he said, explaining that he didn't want his local Hyde Park bars and restaurants to lose business to spots in Dedham, where smoking is allowed. Similarly, Dorchester residents could go to pubs...

Guest Opinion: Reasons for businesses to not allow smoking By GAIL BECKNER and LAURA BEHENNA Some Helena businesses have chosen to allow smoking on their premises again since city court judge Myron Pitch ruled Helena’s clean air ordinance unconstitutional because of a minor procedural issue. The Lewis and Clark City-County Health Department would like to point out, however, that the substance of the ordinance is unchanged and it is still in effect. Although the city is not currently enforcing the ordinance until the city’s appeal of Judge Pitch’s ruling is decided, we want to emphasize that the facts about secondhand...

<p>As Delaware's indoor smoking ban enters its third week, most establishments appear to be observing the law - even though opposition is growing among some tavern and restaurant owners who complain they are losing business.</p> <p>People were smoking in only two of 33 bars and restaurants visited by News Journal reporters last week. Many tavern owners and patrons said they are obeying the law while organizing to try to overturn or amend it when the General Assembly returns in January. Several owners said they think they have lost 20 percent to 50 percent of their business since the ban went into effect on Nov. 27.</p>

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is avidly anti-smoking, said on Friday he wanted to toughen the city's anti-smoking law by banning cigarette smoking in all restaurants and bars to protect workers. "It is just a health risk that workers should not be exposed to," Bloomberg said at a news conference. "If there were asbestos in the air we would immediately close the place down ... this is just as dangerous." If the New York City Council passed the amendment to a 1995 law that forbids smoking in all restaurants with more than 35 seats, America's...

NEW YORK, Dec 11 (Reuters) - New York officials agreed on Wednesday on a tough new anti-smoking policy, one of the most stringent in the country, that would ban smoking in most public places including bars, nightclubs and restaurants. The agreement by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council leadership will now be put to a series of public hearings and a vote by the full City Council. The legislation is expected to be passed and to become law as early as January. The measure represents a significant toughening of the existing bans on smoking in the most populous U.S....