Free Republic

Recent bans on smoking and fatty foods reflect a dangerously popular mindset. Twelve years ago, R.J. Reynolds took to the nation’s newspapers to combat proposed tax increases on tobacco. “Today it’s cigarettes,” the ad said. “Will high-fat foods be next?” At the time, tobacco companies were accused of fear-mongering. It was absurd, anti-smoking crusaders claimed, to suggest that their efforts would lead to attacks on tacos and cheese fries. R.J. Reynolds and the tobacco industry lost the battle against sin taxes—all 50 states now levy a hefty excise on cigarettes. Rhode Island smokers pay an additional $2.46 per pack. New...

African restaurants are planning to shelve traditional attractions in the wake of the smoking ban. Restaurant owners said shisha or hookah pipes would be left as merely decorations to hang on walls after the new law comes into effect next year. The ban will mean the end of shisha cafs, whose clients are mainly Muslims and use shisha as an alternative to drinking alcohol, forbidden in Islam. But also the use of the pipes in ordinary restaurants which serve hookahs for smoking fruit-flavoured tobacco as a dessert option. Sherry Eskici, who owns the Mascara Restaurant in Western Road, Brighton, with...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Three years after the city banned smoking in restaurants, health officials are talking about prohibiting something they say is almost as bad: artificial trans fatty acids. The city health department unveiled a proposal Tuesday that would bar cooks at any of the city's 24,600 food service establishments from using ingredients that contain the artery-clogging substance, commonly listed on food labels as partially hydrogenated oil. Artificial trans fats are found in some shortenings, margarine and frying oils and turn up in foods from pie crusts to french fries to doughnuts. Doctors agree that trans fats are unhealthy...

Being a little overweight can kill you, according to new research that leaves little room for denial that a few extra pounds is harmful. Baby boomers who were even just a tad pudgy were more likely to die prematurely than those who were at a healthy weight, U.S. researchers reported Tuesday. While obesity has been known to contribute to early death, the link between being overweight and dying prematurely has been controversial. Some experts have argued that a few extra pounds does no harm. However, this is one of the first major studies to account for the factors of smoking...

An Indian state has banned the sale of soft drinks as the country's highest court told the US beverage giants Pepsico and Coca-Cola to reveal the ingredients of their products."The ban will be in force in all educational institutes, including medical and technical colleges and universities and offenders will be punished," a spokesman from the administration of northern Rajasthan state announced Friday.

Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) has become a convenient morning stop on many hectic commutes. Recent studies have even pointed to coffee’s potential in helping to prevent cirrhosis of the liver. But on ABC, the coffee maker was criticized during a “consumer alert” that treated cups of coffee like a “dose” of a hard drug. The June 19 edition of “Good Morning America” presented Starbucks as akin to a narcotics dealer preying on addicts. Correspondent Elizabeth Leamy explained “many customers love their regular dose.” The camera then cut to a shot of an apparent Starbucks consumer who referred to her relationship with...

GENERATION Xs are at risk of dying before their parents with a new Australian study showing they are becoming obese faster than any other age group. The Sydney University study found adults born between 1966 and 1970 were putting on weight more rapidly than baby boomers and adults of the pre-war generations. Diet and lack of physical activity have been blamed for the Generation Xs being more prone to plumpness, having grown up with television, computer games, fast food restaurants and larger meal sizes. The findings have sparked calls for health campaigns which specifically target Generation Xs and their children,...

House Bill 1046 started out as a joke to just about everyone but Bob Mathis. And now it’s his turn to laugh. The Hot Springs Democrat and reformed smoker spent much of this week in strong opposition to a bill to ban smoking in most workplaces. It was a Mathis amendment that came close to killing that bill, says Gov. Mike Huckabee, the primary supporter of the measure. So when Mathis filed a bill Wednesday evening to ban smoking in cars carrying young children who are restrained in car seats, a lot of people laughed. They didn’t take him or...

There was a big "Coca-Cola" sign on the refrigerator, but all it held was bottled water and juice. The menu offered sandwiches on eight-grain bread. The lunch ladies were pushing salad. The cafeteria at the William E. Cottle Elementary School has undergone a nutritious change this year, and Congresswoman Nita Lowey chose it as the setting Friday for an announcement of legislation aimed at battling obesity in children. "The exploding rate of obesity is one of the most serious health issues our nation faces," said Lowey, a Democrat who represents parts of Westchester and Rockland counties. She said the health...

Bars wait for smoke ban ruling Law takes effect today;7 businesses will learn whether they're exempt By Kymberli Hagelberg Beacon Journal staff writer The smoking ban is now law for many Summit County businesses for at least the next five weeks, but a Common Pleas Court will decide today whether seven bars are temporarily off the hook. Attorney Chris Tipping has filed for a temporary restraining order on behalf of seven clients who own bars in Summit County townships that must comply with the Summit County Clean Indoor Air Ordinance. The law prohibits smoking in bars, restaurants and most other...

Councilman Wants To Ban Smokers From City Jobs A Central Florida councilman wants to ban people who smoke from taking any city jobs, according to a Local 6 News report. Councilman Richard Contreras wants to ban smokers from taking jobs at City Hall, parks and even with the police department in Melbourne, Fla. Current workers would not lose their jobs but applicants would be asked about tobacco use and smokers would be dropped from consideration, according to the report. The reason given for the policy is to cut on health care costs, according to the report. The Centers for Disease...

LONDON: A group of British Muslim doctors has called on Islamic leaders to issue religious rulings against smoking as part of efforts to stamp out the habit. In a commentary published in Saturday’s British Medical Journal (BMJ), the trio point out that Muslim countries have among the highest incidence of the smoking in the world. In Syria and Jordan, half of adult men smoke, while the rate among Indonesian men is more than two-thirds. Efforts to discourage smokers in these countries have been hampered by the entrenched habits of smoking and poor enforcement of anti-smoking laws, the commentary says. But,...

Abstract This discussion examines the use of litigation as a strategy to protect the public health. The history of tobacco litigation provides a model to evaluate potential litigation strategies against other industries that pose a threat to public health, particularly the food industry. This paper demonstrates that although legislation would be a preferable solution, lessons from the tobacco wars suggest that effective national legislation is unlikely at the present time. Based on the differences and similarities between the tobacco and food industries, it predicts the effectiveness of particular kinds of obesity litigation and the food industry’s likely response. The tobacco...

Following a health trend that appears to be brewing up all over the nation, Mayor Judith Rawson has signed a proclamation for the City of Shaker Heights that addresses the issues regarding caffeine intoxication and dependency. In the proclamation the Mayor is "calling upon all Shaker Heights citizens, public and private institutions, business and schools to increase awareness and understanding of the consequences of caffeine consumption." The proclamation also spells out many dangers of caffeine abuse such as heart disease, pancreas and bladder cancer, hypoglycemia, and central nervous system disorders. By getting the word out about the serious dangers of...

In an appalling extension of the nanny state, New York is slated to become the first city to monitor diabetics' blood-sugar levels. It plans to register them like HIV or tuberculosis sufferers and nag them when their levels aren't healthy enough. Drop the cupcake; here come the sugar police. Sensible people will laugh at this, but New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden, an appointee of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is dead serious about the Big Apple's sweet tooth. He's the man behind New York's onerous smoking ban; he doesn't shy from alleging "epidemics." Since Mr. Frieden recently told the New...

CLARKSTON, WASH. - Washington smokers facing a ban on lighting up in bars and restaurants are taking their habit - and money - to Idaho. "I've had regular clientele tell me right to my face they're going to Idaho to smoke," Tony Salerno, owner of Hogan's in Clarkston, told the Lewiston Tribune. Washington voters approved Initiative 901 in November, which bans smoking within 25 feet of doorways, windows and air intakes of public places and workplaces. It took effect Dec. 8. That has left some establishments in Washington near the Idaho border having to compete with bars and restaurants in...

Aldermen reached a tentative agreement today on an ordinance that would make virtually all indoor public places smoke-free, but would give drinking establishments up to three years to comply with the law. Final language of the accord was being fashioned this afternoon as some aldermen sought a two-year deadline for full compliance. The full City Council is expected to vote on the compromise measure Wednesday. Ald. Patrick O'Connor (40th) said aldermen wanted to resolve the controversy "in a way that was amicable, and it was getting pretty ugly around here the last couple of weeks." "Ultimately, people knew we had...

Smoking's inner limits By Jacob Sullum November 19, 2005 If you've gotten used to smoke-free bars, here's a new concept to wrap your mind around: smoke-free cigar lounges. This innovation comes to us courtesy of Washington state's voters, who recently approved an initiative that bans smoking in nearly every indoor location but private residences. The ban makes no exception for businesses whose raison d'etre is tobacco consumption, even if they have ventilation systems that whisk smoke away as soon as it's produced. By forbidding smoking within 25 feet of entrances and windows, it even threatens to eliminate sidewalk smoking sections...

The fact that I have to call Fado, an Irish pub in LoDo, to inquire whether smoking is allowed feels like an assault on my fundamental understanding of freedom. If you can't smoke at an Irish pub, where can you smoke? "Smoke 'em if you got 'em," they say. I was on my way to discuss a recent study that alleges heart attack rates in Pueblo had dropped an implausible 27 percent since a smoking ban was imposed in bars, restaurants and other public places in July 2003. When I get there, Jimmy Powell, my affable bartender, mulls it over...

HARRISBURG -- Mary Molinaro loves bingo, but it's been ages since she's played. "They smoke up a storm in those bingos. It gives me a headache," said Mrs. Molinaro, 72, of Glassport. That's why she's hoping for the passage of legislation that would prohibit smoking in all public workplaces, including restaurants, stores, sports arenas, bars and, yes, bingo halls. Violators would be subject to fines of up to $100 for the first violation, $200 for the second violation within one year and $500 for subsequent violations in the same year. Similar bills have been proposed over the last several years,...