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nd anti-nausea medicines, steroids and chemotherapy pills, choked down some rank iodine and drove to the hospital for CT scans checking the progression of his terminal lung cancer. It's been that way every morning for the 47-year-old Northbrook resident since his diagnosis in the spring of 2007. "The only kind of care they can give me now is palliative care. It's not curable," said Zisook, a lifelong smoker. "If they can't cure it, they have to make you comfortable and keep it from taking over your body for as long as possible." Jessica Neal typically begins her day darting off...

Just Say No Smoking Malcolm A. Kline, December 16, 2009 On Monday the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) gave us some good and bad news. “The report says cigarette smoking was at the lowest point in the survey’s history on all measures for eighth, 10th and 12th graders,” NIDA reported on December 14, 2009. ‘For example, only 2.7 percent of eighth graders describe themselves as daily smokers, down from a peak rate of 10.4 percent in 1996.” “Similarly, 11.2 percent of high school seniors say they smoke daily, less than half of the 24.6 percent rate in 1997.” The...

Just sit back and let big daddy government show you the way. The Democrat Party is assuring us that they know better because they have science, educated people, doctors, all that "expertise" in their control and further more they "care" about us all and they want us to know that they'd never do anything to lead us astray. If you feel like the con is about to begin, you are right. Of course, we don't need mere suspicion to divine that the Democrats are liars. We can look at what government and Democrats have already done in several related areas...

HUNTINGTON -- Bar owners are worried about what a smoking ban would mean for business. We stopped by some establishments in downtown Huntington this evening to ask bar owners about a recent USA Today article that showed bar owners all over the country ignoring smoking bans because paying customers outweigh local fines. Although many like the idea, they're not willing to lose their business for the sake of smoking. Cabell County is on a dwindling list of West Virginia counties that allow smoking in bars. Rivals Sportsbar and Grill bartender Kristan Johnson said she hopes nothing changes. "I think it's...

State Sen. Dan Foster says he'll propose an increase in the West Virginia cigarette tax again this year. CHARLESTON W Va-- State Sen. Dan Foster, D-Kanawha, said he always pushes for a cigarette tax increase. Foster calls a dollar-a-pack hike a good idea for two reasons. "It raises revenue for the state, in the sort-term, greater than $100 million a year," he said. "And, it decreases the number of smokers which has the potential to decreases our long-term health care costs." And, if you believe two-pack-a-day smoker, Dylan Pugh, it might work. Pugh said a dollar increase might be enough...

A just finished audit has shown that massive fraud and multiple violations of Ohio’s voting law has been uncovered in a recent ballot initiative effort. Among other violations, 47 felons were hired illegally by the advocacy group SmokeFree America to collect signatures for issue five, a ballot initiative to ban smoking in Ohio’s small businesses. Kidnappers, thieves and rapists were hired to collect signatures and addresses despite the fact that Ohio election law prohibits felons from working as petition workers. Additionally, the smoking ban was approved for being included on the Ohio ballot by state officials despite the fact that...

Heads up, schmokers: Lighting up near your computer is heresy enough that Apple says it voids your warranty should you need to bring a smoke-exposed computer in for repair. Specifically, in at least two instances in different parts of the country, Apple has voided the warranty and refused to provide repair service on Macintosh computers exposed to environments where cigarette smoke has been present. Calling cigarette smoke residue (tar and whatnot) inside a computer a health risk and a "biohazard," in both cases Apple customers have been denied service despite having time left on a valid warranty. Apple is standing...

A new pill that could cure one of the most lethal forms of cancer is being developed by scientists. British researchers have found that a drug destroys tumours in a form of inoperable lung cancer that kills more than nine out of 10 sufferers. The treatment works by blocking the growth of the cancer cells and eventually causing them to self destruct. In more than 50 per cent of the trials, the treatment, which appears to have no side affects, killed all traces of the disease. "We are very excited about it," said Professor Michael Seckl, the molecular oncologist who...

Apple is apparently telling at least some customers that the amount of cigarette smoke residue inside their computers makes it unsafe for the company to perform warranty service on them, despite the lack of such a clause in the company's warranty agreement. The Consumerist says the complaint as been raised as far as Steve Jobs' office, with no relief for the customers involved. The story was reported on Friday, though the Consumerist said it had sought, but failed to receive, any explanation from Apple HQ over a period of months. (The site is part of the Consumers Union/Consumer Reports organization,...

Mr2001 writes "Consumerist reports that Apple is refusing to work on computers that have been used in smoking households. 'The Apple store called and informed me that due to the computer having been used in a house where there was smoking, [the warranty has been voided] and they refuse to work on the machine "due to health risks of second hand smoke,"' wrote one customer. Another said, 'When I asked for an explanation, she said [the owner of the iMac is] a smoker and it's contaminated with cigarette smoke, which they consider a bio-hazard! I checked my Applecare warranty and...

A cloud is hanging over the Oval Office today as Americans wonder whether or not Smoker-in-Chief Barack Obama is giving up cigarettes during today’s Great American Smokeout.

More than £1 million worth of counterfeit cigarettes filled with rabbit droppings instead of tobacco have been confiscated by customs officials in Spain. The fake cigarettes - due to be sold on the black market as famous brands - were discovered after British holidaymakers in the Canary Islands smelled a rat whenever they lit up. "They stunk. They smell just as you'd imagine burning poo to smell," said one customs official in Tenerife. Police and customs staff arrested 12 smugglers in an undercover operation to intercept the cigarettes as they landed on a boat from China. "They not only smell...

ATLANTA – Cigarette smoking rose slightly for the first time in almost 15 years, dashing health officials' hopes that the U.S. smoking rate had moved permanently below 20 percent. A little under 21 percent of U.S. adults said they smoked, according to a 2008 national survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's up slightly from the year before, when just 19.8 percent said they were smokers. It also is the first increase in adult smoking since 1994, experts noted. ~snip Between 1997 and 2004, the average retail price of a pack of cigarettes — adjusted for...

....They say residents and visitors at Solone's home smoke in the backyard at all hours of the day and night. Several people puffing away at once has resulted in smoke settling in their backyard like a low fog, Richard Ganguet said....

MONTREAL — Inmates who came under a complete smoking ban on federal prison properties in May 2008 will now be able to medicate their frayed nerves with nicotine — at least outdoors. A Federal Court judge ruled Friday that the sweeping ban on smoking "simply goes too far." ~snip~ The judge gave the government 90 days to revise the smoking directive.

Is anyone frightened by the prospect of millions of little Barry Obamas running around the country “organizing” their “communities” around petty causes instead of holding real jobs that do something other than increase government control over every aspect of our lives? I am. And so is Kimberly Legendre, a junior at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). This semester, Kimberly is taking an absurd course called “Foundations of Civic Engagement.” Remarkably, it is a required course at FGCU. After reading the course syllabus and learning more about Kimberly’s experience from my friends at Campus Reform (see www.CampusReform.org) I know two things...

Smoking bans in places like restaurants, offices and public buildings reduce cases of heart attacks and heart disease, according to a report released Thursday by a federally commissioned panel of scientists. The report, issued by the Institute of Medicine, concluded that exposure to secondhand smoke significantly increased the risk of having a heart attack among both smokers and nonsmokers. The panel also said it found that a reduction in heart problems began to take effect fairly quickly after a smoking ban was instituted and that exposure to low or fleeting levels of secondhand smoke could cause cardiovascular problems. “Even a...

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A leading UK hospital has defended its practice of using organs donated by smokers after the death of a soldier who received the cancerous lungs of a heavy smoker. Corporal Matthew Millington, 31, died at his home in 2008, less than a year after receiving a transplant that was supposed to save his life at Papworth Hospital -- the UK's largest specialist cardiothoracic hospital, in Cambridgeshire, east England. Papworth Hospital released a statement saying using donor lungs from smokers was not "unusual." The statement added that the hospital had no option but to use lungs from...

ORONTO (Reuters) – A Canadian truck driver has been fined for smoking in his vehicle because it is considered his workplace, a police spokeswoman said on Friday. A police officer saw the 48-year-old trucker driving on a highway in southwestern Ontario with a cigarette in his mouth on Wednesday, and gave him a C$305 ($290) ticket. The Smoke-Free Ontario Act, adopted in 2006, prohibits smoking in an enclosed workplace or enclosed public area, and that extends to work vehicles, said Constable Shawna Coulter of the Ontario Provincial Police in Essex County.

In an age when smoking has been outlawed in most public places – government buildings, bars and pool halls – a person's home is one of the few places you can puff in peace. Until now. A Dallas woman has filed a lawsuit seeking six figures from a former neighbor and landlord for damage she says was caused by cigarette smoke wafting through adjoining walls of her high-end townhome.

The Senate Finance Committee approved an amendment to the healthcare bill Wednesday that would allow employers to charge workers with unhealthy lifestyles more for their insurance coverage. The amendment, sponsored by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., permits employers to adjust premiums as much as 50 percent according to the level of workers’ health habits, up from 20 percent currently. “Weight gain and unhealthy lifestyles that focus on smoking and lack of exercise have sky-rocketed our healthcare costs," Ensign said in a statement cited by Politico news service. "These costs could be lowered by focusing on what...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Could it be good news for smokers? Current and past-smokers with coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, or peripheral artery disease have less than half the cardiovascular mortality than never-smokers, the initial findings from a new study suggest. But don't be so quick to tell your patients to light up: After accounting for potential confounders, the association was not statistically significant. "The relationship between smoking habit and outcome in patients with established arterial disease remains controversial," Dr. M. Monreal, of Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues write in the September issue of...

New York City to smokers: Butt out of our parks. Health Commissioner Thomas Farley announced yesterday he wants to ban smoking in public parks and city beaches as part of a plan to make New Yorkers healthier. "We don't think children, parents, when they're standing at soccer games, should have to be breathing in smoke from the person next to them," Farley said after unveiling the city's 10-point plan alongside Mayor Bloomberg. "We don't think our children should have to be watching someone smoke." The city could outlaw puffing in parks through legislation passed by the City Council or an...

New York City’s workplace smoking ban six years ago drove cigarette and cigar puffers outdoors. But soon some of the outdoors may be off limits, too: The city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, said Monday that he would seek to ban smoking at city parks and beaches. Dr. Farley said the ban — which officials said may require the approval of the City Council, but could possibly be done through administrative rule-making by the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation — was part of a broader strategy to further curb smoking rates, which have fallen in recent years. The...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. customers who smoke in an Avis or Budget rental car after Oct. 1 will be fined up to $250, the Avis Budget Group said. The ban makes Avis and Budget the first major car rental companies to ban smoking in a North American fleet, USA Today reported Monday. "The No. 1 request we get is for a smoke-free car," Avis Budget Group spokesman John Barrows said. Avis and Budget cars will be inspected on return for the smell of smoke, Barrows said, adding it costs more to clean a smoky car because the car...

An Agency interrogator admitted that, in December 2002, he and another smoked cigars and blew cigar smoke in al-Nashiri's face during the interrogation," said the IG report.

Kanawha-Charleston Health Department Sanatarians made several visits to the bar throughout the night. CHARLESTON W.Va.-- One year later -- and still going strong -- allowing smokers to light up inside the Blackhawk Saloon. Wednesday, the Blackhawk Saloon held it's second annual smoker's night inside the bar. The establishment has been allowing smoking inside since the county wide clean indoor air regualtion went into effect last year. Owner Kerry Ellison says taking away smoking means taking away his business. "I'm in the beer selling business," he said. "If you come in and you want to smoke a cigarette while you drink...

WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration tapped a Veterans Affairs official with a long history of public-health experience to head the agency's new tobacco division. Lawrence Deyton was the chief public-health officer at the VA and initiated smoking-cessation programs that lowered smoking rates among veterans. He has served in the National Institutes of Health, started a community-based AIDS service organization in Washington, D.C., and was a legislative aide with the House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment in the 1970s. His experience at building public-health initiatives should come in handy as the FDA grapples with how to regulate the...

NITRO -- If it's ultimately up to the city of Nitro smoking is now allowed inside Tri State Racetrack and Gaming Center. Nitro City Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to pass an ordinance allowing smoking inside certain parts of the facility. While it's still unclear if the city's ordinance can overrule a county wide regulation prohibiting smoking, Dan Adkins with the track says they're willing to be the first to try. "You know, I kind of look at this as this might be very important because if the legislature does choose to address this issue we've got other facilities like...

A feud in Åkarp in southern Sweden between a cigarette-puffing woman and her smoke-sensitive neighbour has finally been put to rest by Swedish courts. On Friday, the Environmental High Court made a final ruling that the woman may light up as much as she wants to in her own garden. In its decision, the court said that the neighbour had been been unable to prove that the woman's smoke “poses such a significant threat to human health” that the environmental code would prescribe prohibiting the woman to smoke in the garden. The conflict between the neighbours has been an ongoing...

WASHINGTON — Smoking takes years off your life and adds dollars to the cost of health care. Yet nonsmokers cost society money, too _ by living longer. It's an element of the debate over tobacco that some economists and officials find distasteful.

More Dangerous than Smoking? Men who have had sex with men since 1977 have an HIV prevalence 60 times higher than the general population and 800 times higher than first time blood donors, the FDA reports. When it comes to combating cigarettes, the government not only restricts, taxes and bans smoking, it also funds and encourages anti-smoking messages and advertisements. Given the immense health risks of male homosexual sex, shouldn’t the federal government do a comprehensive study on the matter, tax sodomitic establishments, and educate the public and especially young people about the dangers of “gay” sex? Speaking Friday at...

Barred from indulging in public spaces, taxed on their habit, targeted by public health campaigns, shunned socially?

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Back in 2000, it was a program that put West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency ahead of the pack. The idea of making smokers pay more for their benefits hasn't always been liked, but it has worked. The fee started as $5 to $10 extra for workers who smoked. That cost has grown over the years. In July, the premium went up to $30 for single coverage and $50 for a family insurance plan. "I do pay because I'm honest and I don't mind paying the extra money to smoke," said Maurice Washington. Washington works for...

"ANY USE OF TOBACCO WHILE IN UNIFORM SHOULD BE PROHIBITED!" Thats what the medical institute report to the Pentagon concludes. Brian Wise, executive director of Military Families United, decried even the discussion of such a ban. "With all the issues facing our military today and the risks our troops take to protect our freedom, banning smoking should not even be on the radar screen," Wise said in a written statement Wednesday. "Nobody doubts the effects of smoking, but it is not an illegal substance and should not be banned," he said. "Our troops make enough sacrifices to serve our nation....

You might say smoke was coming out of my ears . . . There was NBC's Dr. Nancy Snyderman this morning, arguing that the Pentagon should prohibit soldiers in combat zones from smoking. Snyderman was a guest on Morning Joe for purposes of reporting on her interview of Pres. Obama yesterday on his health care plans. But along the way, she weighed in on the proposal that had been floated, then quickly snuffed, by the Defense Department to deny combat soldiers the right to light up. Mika Brzezinski was grateful for an ally in the fight against letting warriors make...

Combat troops put their lives on the line every day, but there is one risk the government considers too dangerous for them -- smoking. "Combating Tobacco Use in Military and Veteran Populations," a new report by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, advocates restricting smoking in the military and limiting recruitment of those who smoke. As with so many government regulations, this proposed ban may actually do the opposite of what is hoped and put soldiers' lives in danger. Troops returning from deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan "may be" 50 percent more likely to use tobacco than military...

In the early days of anti-smoking fervor, the goal was to protect nonsmokers and children from secondhand smoke in confined spaces, such as restaurants and airliners. But the quest to segregate smokers never really subsided. Officials for the city of Waterbury and Saint Mary's Hospital want to ban smoking not only on hospital grounds, but on sidewalks and other public property surrounding the hospital. Offenders would be subject to fines. The no-smoking zone would cover a fairly large area, linking the hospital zone with four nearby schools where smoking also is verboten. A map of the proposed zone will be...

Workers who quit smoking, lose weight, and eat right could have their health insurance premiums cut by as much as half, possibly saving them thousands of dollars per year, under a measure inserted with little notice this week into the Senate healthcare overhaul bill. Discuss COMMENTS (47) Obama may need to take a closer role on overhaul. The move represents a potential breakthrough on one of the most controversial elements of healthcare overhaul: how to get Americans to improve their well-being without turning government into a medical version of Big Brother. Under the plan, individuals would have a strong financial...

Health care advocates are imploring Republican lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to rethink their opposition to taxes, especially in light of recent poll findings that show Republican voters overwhelmingly in support of increasing tobacco taxes to help solve the state's $26.3 billion deficit. Support for a tobacco tax increase of $1.50 per pack cuts across party lines, according to a survey done by a bipartisan polling team — the Democratic polling firm of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates and the Republican polling firm of Public Opinion Strategies. Nearly three-quarters of all polled support a hike — including 78 percent of...

Currently running: Should the U.S. military ban tobacco use? Yes 31% 21697 No 69% 47193 Total Votes: 68890

As if the military dosen't have enough to worry about, now they want to ban smoking. Uncle Sam wants you...your good enough to take a bullet but don't let us catch you taking a smoke break!

Link only: Ban on tobacco urged in military

President Barack Obama has admitted he has not completely given up smoking. BY PAUL THOMPSON Despite signing the toughest anti-tobacco bill in over 25 years, he confirmed that he still lights up – but never in front of daughters Malia and Sasha. "There are times where I mess up," Mr Obama said at a White House news conference. "As a former smoker I constantly struggle with it. Have I fallen off the wagon sometimes? Yes. Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No. I don't do it in front of my kids. I don't do it in front of...

Convenience stores and smoke shops are urging Cape Coral residents to stock up on cigarettes and other tobacco products before the state implements a $1 tobacco user fee on July 1. Perhaps one of the most publicized bills that passed the Florida Legislature this spring, the $1 user fee is levied against standard packs of 20 cigarettes and for other tobacco products - such as pipe or chewing tobacco - the surcharge will be 60 percent of the wholesale price. The measure is designed to combat teenage smoking and incidences of cancer associated with smoking, yet purveyors of tobacco and...

(CNN) -- In the 1960s and 1970s, Big Tobacco was widely viewed as the model for effective special-interest lobbying. "My own view is that in many ways, the tobacco industry invented the kind of special-interest lobbying that has become so characteristic of the late 20th- and earlier 21st-century American politics," said Allan Brandt, dean of Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The industry was known for its giant spending on political campaigns and effective lobbyists. The industry's representatives often had experience in politics or close ties to major power players. "Today obviously, that lobby is much less powerful and...

The jobs are risky, but very lucrative for those willing to take the risks, and require no previous experience or special training. Almost anyone with a driver's license (or at least the ability to drive) can do this job. How did Obama do it? What People Who Don't Smoke Look Like A recent Senate vote brought tobacco under the regulation of the FDA. The effort, spearheaded by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., in the Senate and Calif. Democrat Henry Waxman in the House (no doubt because of their medical expertise—Kennedy, for example, is considered the government's chief expert on alcohol consumption)....

Asked if the president still smoked, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama has "a struggle with nicotine addiction" every day. Obama has a long history of smoking and a photo emerged of him during the campaign trail smoking as far back as college. During the presidential campaign, he chewed nicorette chewing gum in an effort to kick the habit. Gibbs said he "assumed" the president still chewed the nicorette. The president dodged questions at the start of his administration about whether he was still lighting up. The struggle to quit is one millions of Americans face, and Obama praised...

The AMA cheers Senate passage of legislation that will for the first time allow the FDA to strongly regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products. Passage of this historic legislation by both the House and Senate is a victory for public health over Big Tobacco. “More than 400,000 Americans die needlessly every year as a direct result of tobacco use. The actions resulting from this landmark legislation may make people think twice before picking up a cigarette. The sad truth is that tobacco-related deaths are the number one preventable cause of death in the U.S. Physicians are working not only to...

The American Spectator has a good roundup of all the recent legislative activity to extend tobacco regulations. Another regulation possibly on its way concerns a completely tobacco-less product: the so-called "electronic cigarettes." I was not familiar with e-cigarettes, but the basic idea is this: it looks like a cigarette, delivers nicotine like a cigarette, and even puffs "smoke" like a cigarette (actually water vapor.) But an e-cigarette doesn't have any of the tobacco or additives of a cigarette. It's just a battery-charged cartridge. That's why it's promoted as a safer alternative for people addicted to smoking. But some people aren't...