The Stetson University Faculty Senate has endorsed a proposal by the university’s Health and Wellness Values Council for a tobacco-free campus. While no vote was taken Monday night, about 20 faculty were in attendance and many made positive comments about the proposal and eventually gave an endorsement, university officials said. Discussion about the proposal continues, said Cindi Brownfield, director of news and media relations. The Health and Wellness Values Council will make another presentation in March to the staff organization called Quality of Service.

With support from employees, the council hopes to bring the proposal to President Wendy Libby and her cabinet in the coming months. Any policy change would be up to the university’s Board of Trustees, Brownfield said. The proposal, which prohibits all tobacco products including cigarettes, calls for a one-year phase in if approved by the board.

Currently, employees and students can’t smoke within 50 feet of building entrances, doors and vents.

Roll your own is one way cigarette smokers can cut down on the cost of a pack. That could change, however.
A Senate bill that cleared with one dissenting vote Monday is designed to treat the roll-your-own cigarettes as manufactured products and saddles them with the standard 55-cent per pack excise tax. “I spend a lot of my time down here and try not to be hypocritical,” Sen. Orphy Klempa, D-Ohio, told reporters after casting the lone opposing vote on the cigarette bill. “I’ve always voted against ‘sin taxes’ — cigarette taxes and beer taxes and all the other taxes. I’m not going to change my philosophy on that.”

Klempa said he has always strived to avoid voting in a hypocritical fashion and remain steadfast in his beliefs.

“Unfortunately, too many people in politics are hypocritical and I don’t want to be one of them,” the senator said.

Health and Human Resources Chairman Ron Stollings, D-Boone, said roll-your-own outlets must abide by the required health warning labels as with ordinary packaged cigarettes.

In other matters, the Senate took a step toward thwarting copper thefts that target communications and utility services and also moved to create a new crime of “child erotica.”

Disrupting communications and public utility services becomes a felony under SB212, punishable by a prison term of 10 years, or a $10,000 fine, or both.

Sen. Herb Snyder, D-Jefferson, noted this is one of two measures aimed at countering a rash of copper thefts, blamed largely on drug users looking for copper to convert into quick cash.

A second measure, up for a vote today, would make it a crime for a junk dealer to buy copper that he or she knows was stolen.

Crimes against children already cover pornography, but a new twist is added in SB596.

This makes it a misdemeanor to produce, display, own or distribute images of children that aren’t pornographic but defined as erotica, explained Judiciary Chairman Corey Palumbo, D-Kanawha.

Images depicting partly clothed but not for commercial legal uses, such as a catalog, but are produced to arouse another sexually are targeted, the chairman said.

“State Police have told us they are finding people who have in their possession images of kids which are certainly inappropriate but they don’t fall under our definition of child pornography and there’s no way to prosecute them,” Palumbo said.

“This would not cover your grandchild’s picture in a bathing suit or in the bathtub.”

In a related vein, the Senate approved SB606 that allows for the forfeiture of property in child pornography convictions and computer crimes, excluding real property.

Another bill amends the definition of “advanced nurse practitioner” with “advanced practice registered nurse.”

Stollings said the proposal encompasses anesthetists, midwives, specialists and practitioners.

Calling it an emerging issue, the local health unit is calling on the province to provide guidance on the enforcement of hookah pipe smoking in Waterloo Region. On Tuesday, regional councillors passed a motion asking the province to monitor water pipe use in Ontario and address enforcement complexities under the Smoke Free Ontario Act regarding water pipes. “We want the province to delve into the issue and provide clarity,” Dr. Liana Nolan, the region’s medical officer of health, said in an interview.

Smoking a hookah — also known as a water pipe or shisha — comes with multiple health risks such as exposure to second-hand smoke and transfer of communicable diseases by sharing the apparatus.

This risky new behaviour is particularly popular with teens and young adults.

Locally, there are seven known water pipe parlours located in restaurants and the interest is growing.

At least one local restaurant owner has been convicted for not having proper health warnings on their shisha packaging, and information gained from that investigation led to the seizure of over $2 million worth of tobacco-laced shisha in Oakville, a regional report said.

The legal problem, Nolan said, is current laws geared to keeping bars and restaurants tobacco-free don’t apply to the aromatic smoke swirling from these exotic water pipes.

“The Smoke Free Ontario Act wouldn’t apply if it was a tobacco-free product, so that is the crux of the issue,” the medical officer of health said.

Despite this legal problem, Nolan said the region has successfully prosecuted a hookah bar under this provincial act.

The other problem, she said, is shisha is not a regulated product so it does not have to follow the same packaging rules as tobacco.

“So when an (regional) enforcement officer walks into a premise, they see a product, but they don’t know for sure whether it has tobacco in it or not” adding to enforcement difficulties, Nolan said.

“From a provincial point of view more clarity around the issue would be helpful and giving us the tools to enforce it more clearly would be helpful,” she said.

“My expectation is this is going to continue to be an issue and it is going to continue to grow. It is not going anywhere,” Nolan said.

The government of the Philippines will update the nations excise taxes on the sale of cigarettes, to lower the country’s smoking rate and to increase government revenues. On February 28th the House of Representatives of the Philippines held a hearing on a new bill proposing an overhaul to the excise taxes imposed on the sale of cigarettes in the Philippines, which will instate a single unitary tax rate to be adjusted annually in line with the level of inflation in the country.

The government currently estimates that the new tax could raise as much as PHP 400 billion in tax revenues by 2016, of which approximately PHP 225 billion will be used to create new projects to help local farmers convert their tobacco plantations to other types of crops.
The Department of Health of the Philippines has suggested that a portion of the newly raised revenues should be allocated to healthcare and programs to discourage smoking. It is estimated that up to 55 percent of the population of the Philippines currently uses some form of tobacco products.
The Department of Health explained that smoking is more common amongst poorer members of society in the country, and increasing the taxes on cheaper brands of cigarettes could push prices out of the reach of many smokers.
The proposed tax is opposed by a number of politicians in the Philippines, who claim that the new measure will lead to a significant increase in the occurrence of smuggling of tobacco into the country.

Medical marijuana plant grows would move indoors if the Madera County Board of Supervisors gives final approval next month to regulations on cultivating the plants. On Tuesday, the board unanimously approved the first reading of the proposed ordinance. A second hearing and the final vote is scheduled for March 13. The ordinance would allow qualified medical marijuana users to cultivate plants in no more than 100 square feet of space on property they own and live at, said Norman Allinder, Madera County planning director.

The number of plants grown within that space would not be regulated, he said.

“This isn’t a value judgment” on medical marijuana users, Allinder said, but an attempt to accommodate qualified users and stop drug dealers. In recent years, drug dealers have moved marijuana plantings from Madera County mountains into backyards or houses, often taking over the whole house, he said.

Restricting cultivation may help curb the crime and violence often associated with outdoor marijuana gardens, Madera County Sheriff John Anderson said in a report to the board.

Under the medical marijuana ordinance, only property owners could grow medical marijuana and only indoors, either in one room of a single-family house or in a detached building.

The growing space would be limited to 100 square feet and the plants could not be taller than six feet. That’s about the size of a laundry room or a garden shed. “We want to keep cultivation from taking over the whole house,” Allinder said.

Indoor plantings would not be allowed in commercial or industrial areas or within 2,000 feet of public buildings, such as schools or churches.

A staff report on the ordinance noted that use of medical marijuana is allowed by state law, but is illegal under federal law.

Violation of any part of the county’s ordinance would be a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

If you smoke or use tobacco, one of our region’s largest employers is no longer willing to hire you. Starting this week, the Centra health care group in Lynchburg is turning away applicants who test positive for tobacco use. “We are a healthcare organization, so I think people really do look to us to set the pace for healthy behavior,” said Centra President and CEO, Michael Bryant. Centra already bans tobacco use on all of its properties. Beginning March 1, if you want to work for the company, you’ll have to pass a tobacco screening.

“I think this is one way that we can demonstrate to the community that we’re indeed serious about providing the healthiest environment, not only for our employees, but ultimately for our patients and families,” Bryant said.

Attorney John Falcone, who specializes in employment law, says the Centra policy is legal.

“Typically, if a tobacco-free hiring policy is done correctly, it does not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act,” said Falcone, referencing a law most attorneys cite when trying to prove employment discrimination.

Regardless of the legal implications, some believe the rule is simply unfair.

“It’s very discriminatory, because their smoking doesn’t really affect their job,” said Charisse Wade, a non-smoker who doesn’t think it’s right to turn away prospective workers who do use tobacco.

“What you do on your own personal time shouldn’t effect them hiring you,” Wade said.

But smokers like Anthony Dean believe Centra’s policy will be a good incentive.

“I think it’s really fair, because they’re trying to help people who need to stop smoking,” said Dean.

And that’s the idea behind the policy, according to Bryant.

“It’s meant to be a positive, supportive environment,” Bryant said. “Stopping smoking or helping others to stop is the right thing to do.”

Centra is following the lead of other health care providers in Virginia. Hospital groups in Charlottesville and Richmond already have this policy.

People who already work for Centra won’t be subject to the new rule.

Spokespersons for Carilion Clinic and Lewis Gale in Roanoke say neither health system is planning to institute a tobacco-free hiring rule, but both do offer incentives to help employees quit smoking.

Smokers rushing to city airport’s smoking lounge now have to face up to a grim reality. Staring straight at them is a two-foot-long poster showing how tobacco-related cancer can permanently alter a person’s visage. In fact, the airport may be among the very few spots in the city or even the country to put out such an anti-tobacco message. Although the Union government issued a notification on August 11, 2011, making the poster mandatory outside every vendor who sells tobacco products-be it cigarettes or gutka-little has been done to ensure its implementation.

At the airport too, it was an anti-tobacco activist’s letter to the Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL), which ensured that the law was followed. On February 11, activist Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, an associate professor at Tata Memorial Hospital in Parel and closely associated with the Smoke Free Mumbai project, found a tobacco major’s counter near Mumbai airport’s gate number A3 blocking a portion of the emergency exit.

“I wrote to the airport manager pointing out this as well as the violations to the Tobacco Control Act,” said Dr Chaturvedi. “As per the amended Section 6 of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Product Act, every tobacco shop must display a 2 X 1 feet warning at the point of sale. This warning contains a picture of mouth cancer along with a text warning. The airport shop didn’t have any such display,” he said.

Within 10 days, MIAL officials put up a poster with a grim picture and a warning against sale of tobacco products to people under 18 years of age. An MIAL spokesperson said: “MIAL considers passenger feedback seriously and we believe that this is just another step in improving our service quality. ”

The anti-tobacco lobby is, predictably, happy. “If airport authorities can ensure that companies put up such a poster, why cannot city health officials do the same,” asked Dr Chaturvedi.

Dr P C Gupta of NGO Healis, which works in the field of tobacco control, said that health authorities have done little to ensure that the warning poster is put up at every point of sale. “The amended Act was implemented in August 2011 but no punitive action has been taken so far. Dr Gupta pointed out that tobacco companies usually help vendors by providing lights or colourful panels. “This may be preventing them from putting up such anti-tobacco posters in their shops,” he felt.

Mumbai’s executive health officer Dr Anil Badiwadekar, however, said that the BMC has been holding meetings with NGOs and associations to ensure the law is implemented in full. “There was a delay because of the elections but we will soon ensure that vendors put up the signages,” he added.

Times View

Almost a decade back, India was among the first countries in the world to embrace anti-tobacco policies. Implementation has, however, been slow. A case in point is the amended Section 6 of the Cigarettes & Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003. Released in August 2011, the amendment wants vendors to put up a signage with a grim photo and text spelling out that it is an offence to sell tobacco products to those below 18 years of age. It would do well to the city’s, and the nation’s, heal8th if youngsters are discouraged from taking up this life-threatening habit.

British American Tobacco, maker of Lucky Strike cigarettes, is making a comeback in the Philippines. The company pulled out of the local market nearly 4 years ago after a failed taxation case at the Supreme Court, which it says would have leveled the playing field in the local tobacco industry. Now, British American Tobacco is back because it expects the Aquino government will institute the reforms it fought for in 2008. “With the change in administration, very strong signals from the Aquino government that excise tax reform is on top of the agenda, the company made a decision to suspend that withdrawal and come back in full force,” said James Lafferty, general manager of British American Tobacco Phils.

British American Tobacco was fighting a law that imposes higher taxes on cigarette brands that entered the market after 1996. That meant higher taxes for brands like Lucky Strike, which was introduced in 2001; and lower taxes for its competitors.

Lafferty said the proposed increase in excise taxes on tobacco, which is pending in Congress, will make it easier for them to compete.

“The single concept that is important to us is the level-playing field… I don’t care how we fix the level playing field. There’s one way which says every cigarette will pay the same excise tax. That is a very contentious point, that’s the single tier. That’s one way to fix it,” he said.

“I just want to get in the ring and get the gloves on. Right now, what you have is a system that ropes off the market place and allows only one company to effectively compete fairly.”

Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco, which controls over 90% of the market, is opposed to the new measure. It insists the new taxes won’t accomplish the government’s aim of boosting revenues or reducing smoking.

British American Tobacco says otherwise.

“Who could be opposed to a level-playing field? The only person who can be opposed to that are the people who benefits from the monopoly,” Lafferty said.

Lucky Strike is actually already back in the market and it has been on sale for about a week. But the cigarettes are mostly imported from Malaysia.

Lafferty said they will only invest in factories here, when President Aquino makes good on his promise to make the Philippines more business-friendly.

Current Texas Tech policy bans smoking within 20 feet of any building entrance on campus, but change is in the air. “We don’t want to appear that we are infringing on anyone’s rights,” said Texas Tech Spokesman Chris Cook. Cook is talking about a tobacco-free zone at the Big Red Spread, one even more extensive than before. The change is due to the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas announcing a new tobacco-free policy.

“CPRIT has now asked those entities that are receiving funding, those buildings in which research is being conducted, institute a policy of a smoke free zone,” Cook said. “This includes in and around the buildings, and that extends to the sidewalks that are adjacent and the parking areas that are controlled by those areas.”

Cook said CPRIT helps fund at least five buildings around the Tech area, including the Health Science Center.

“The buildings affected by this are electrical, computer and chemical engineering, experimental and agriculture science, and psychology,” Cook said.

Tech student Julian Wright likes to smoke and said it is a nice stress reliever. She said she has the right to do what she wants, when she wants.

“I’m paying a crap ton of money to be here,” Wright said. “I pick up after myself, but I can’t speak for everyone. That’s something that’s impeding on my rights to do what I want.”

Tech students who are non-smokers said the policy may be a healthy idea, but not necessarily a good one.

“I think it’s usually up to the individual as far as public health concerns for overall breathing in second hand smoke,” Tech student Joy Henderson said. “I’m not really a fan of that. At the same time I don’t believe in telling other people what not to do.”

“They should kind of get the choice to do it or not and I don’t think Tech should tell them if they can smoke on campus,” Tech student Kristen Carr said.

Texas Tech now has to update its current operating policy, which will need approval by the Texas Tech Board of Regents. Cook said they will meet this week.

“That policy has to be approved by our highest authority,” Cook said. “Once that policy is approved, then we can start the implementation process.”

Cook said he hopes the process will be completed as soon as possible so Tech can continue receiving the research funding.