City Commissioners passed a resolution Tuesday banning city employees from using tobacco products while on the clock. Employees can still smoke on unpaid lunch breaks, but only away from city owned or maintained buildings, parks, walkways and the immediate surroundings. The resolution passed 4-3 and excludes Largo roads and sidewalks. City employees are already prohibited from smoking in city vehicles. Susan Sinz, human resources director, retooled the resolution discussed in the May 3 commission meeting by removing the portion that would have given hiring preference to non-smokers. Commissioner Harriet Crozier was among those opposed to passing the resolution for a tobacco free workplace if it was bundled with a hiring preference. “I don’t know how you got the impression we wanted everything rolled into one,” Crozier said at the previous commission meeting. This time Sinz … Read entire article »

The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit is rolling out a pilot program aimed at preventing tobacco vendors from selling cigarettes to minors. So far this year, 24 charges have been laid against area stores for selling cigarettes and tobacco products to those under 19. That’s the highest number since 2007, when 19 WIN00710732_1_2 charges were laid. “This level of continued noncompliance is unacceptable,” the health unit’s director of health promotion Liz Haugh said in a news release. “Selling cigarettes to anyone under 19 years of age has been illegal since 1994 and there is no logical reason for these infractions to keep occurring.” The stores where charges have been laid will have to undergo educational sessions for all of their staff. The health unit’s tobacco enforcement officers use teen “test shoppers” who visit convenience stores … Read entire article »

Retailer Gaby Harraca is smarting over a Federal Government plan to enforce plain packaging on tobacco products from next year.Mr Harraca, who owns Foodworks Jindalee, rejects suggestions the new regulations will lower smoking rates but is adamant he will feel the consequences at the cash register. “It will create more work for us,’’ Mr Harraca said. “It’s time-consuming and we’re going to have to train more staff on what to do because they will need to know where the cigarettes are and what type. “Re-training will set me back $700 for my staff and considering we only make a minimal profit on cigarettes, I’ll be the one hurting.’‘ Cancer Council Queensland tobacco programs’ team leader Rachel Hull said the benefits of plain packaging may outweigh the negative effects retailers will face. “More than 3400 … Read entire article »

Quitting smoking experts have always believed that telling those close to you about your decision to kick the habit as integral to one’s success. For 100.3 The Point DJ Justin Mallow, that meant telling literally everyone who would listen. “If I started again I would have to leave the country. Everyone in the whole world knows that I quit. I talked about it so much on air, and continue to talk about it,” Justin said. Justin’s recent on air quitting smoking campaign now has him as a smoke free for three months, though he said his success is largely due to those that helped him in the process. The Southern Adirondack Tobacco Free Coalition and Glens Falls Hospital’s Tobacco Cessation Center worked with him in his efforts to quit smoking. In late 2010, 100.3 … Read entire article »

It’s tax season and also the time of year when tobacco manufacturers write checks to state governments for their annual share of an estimated $200 billion settlement(due to be paid out over 25 years) that Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds,producer of Camel Blue cigarettes Brown & Williamson and Lorillard struck with attorneys general in 46 states. For investors in nearly $54 billion in municipal bonds backed by checks from these tobacco companies, the payments offered both good and bad news for their anticipated return on investment. Their bonds are safer because fewer Americans quit smoking this year than in 2009. Tobacco manufacturers are forced to pay states based on a percentage of how many cigarettes are shipped each year.  In 2010, that number dropped about 4%, translating into about $7 billion in payments … Read entire article »

A recent survey of close to 8000 smokers in UK, US, Canada and Australia has found that many smokers are blissfully misled by the labeling on cigarettes of certain types. For instance, the survey found that smokers actually vouch for the “mild” and “low tar” brands, and their relatively lowered risk of health problems. Worse still, they actually believed some cigarettes were safe and did not cause as much harm as the other varieties. The findings published in the Journal Addiction, showed that many smokers believed that slim cigarettes do not cause as much harm. It is time smokers educate themselves about the health hazards of smoking, and cigarette smoking is highly injurious to health. … Read entire article »