Tublay passes tobacco ordinance

In order to promote a healthful environment and to protect the constituents of the municipality from the hazards of tobacco smoke, a balanced policy on the use, sale, advertisement and distribution of tobacco products was proposed.

The ordinance known as the “Smoke Free Ordinance of the Municipality” aims to safeguard public health and ensure the well being of all its constituents by protecting them from harmful effects of smoking and tobacco consumption.
The proponent also cited the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003 (RA No. 9211) which prohibits smoking in certain public places whether enclosed or outdoors; prohibits the purchase and sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products from and to minor and in certain places frequented by minors; imposes bans and restrictions on advertising, promotion and sponsorship activities of tobacco companies; and directs local government units to implement these provisions.

The country’s Clean Air Act 0f 1999 also declares the right of citizens to breathe clean air, prohibits smoking inside enclosed public places including vehicles and other means of transport, and direct local governments to implement this provision.

The ordinance will be applied in public places like centers of youth activity including schools, recreational facilities for persons under eighteen years old and will include but not limited to playgrounds; elevators and stairwells; locations which are fire hazards specifically gas stations and storage of flammable liquids; buildings and premises of public and private hospitals, and health centers; public conveyances and public transportation facilities; and food preparation areas.

The designated area for smoking must be fully separated from smoke free area by continuous floor to ceiling or floor to solid partitions which are interrupted only by doors equipped with door closers, and which must be constantly closed except when a person is entering or exiting the area.

Moreover, the ordinance states the sale or distribution to, as well as the purchase from, any minor or cigarettes and other tobacco products is absolutely prohibited. In case of doubts as to the age of the buyer, retailers will verify, by means of any valid form of identification paper containing both the photograph and the date of birth of the bearer that the buyer is at least eighteen years old. Further, ignorance of real age is not a defense.

Cigarettes, oxygen tanks sparked fatal blaze

A woman killed in a fire at her northeast Spokane home died of smoke in inhalation after a cigarette smoke ignited her oxygen tanks, fire officials said Monday.

Inez L. Williams, 67, had oxygen flowing when fire consumed her home at 4128 E. Providence Ave. Friday about 2 p.m., said Brian Schaeffer, assistant fire chief.

Fire officials ruled the accidental fire was caused by “careless smoking” with medical oxygen, Schaeffer said.

Firefighters fought through heavy flames and smoke and were hit with fragments from pressured oxygen tanks exploding in the blaze, which also killed several dogs and cats.

“They all truly did everything they could to reach her,” Schaeffer said, but the blaze was not survivable.

“The story is all too familiar and just as tragic,” he said. This fatality and all of the other ones where a fire is responsible for someone dying in a residence is preventable by installing working sprinkler systems combined with alerting systems (smoke detectors).”

Friends and family described Williams as an animal lover who had lived at the property for decades.

Raiders steal 1,000 boxes of cigarettes in Smallfield store break-in

Thousands of pounds' worth of cigarettes were stolen in a night-time break-in at a store in Smallfield.

The cigarettes, worth an estimated £5,000, were stolen by a gang of burglars who forced their way into the Co-Op store in Redehall Road.

Detectives believe up to five raiders entered the shop last Wednesday (July 13) between 11.20pm and 11.40pm.

One burglar broke in, and once having got into the store, was joined by the rest of the gang who had got out of a black or grey Peugeot 307, which stopped directly outside the shop.

A Surrey Police spokeswoman said the gang took about 1,000 boxes of cigarettes.

Officers were this week reviewing CCTV footage from cameras inside the store, and were talking to witnesses.

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Investigating officer Detective Constable Kerry Akehurst said: "A number of witnesses have already come forward and were spoken to by officers at the scene.”

Det Con Akehurst said: “It is crucial anyone else who witnessed the burglary unfold, or perhaps who saw the Peugeot 307 in the area before or after the incident, comes forward.”

She said: "This is not the first time the store has been burgled, and it follows a similar burglary at a Co-Op in Bookham on Friday, July 1.

“Surrey Police is working closely with the Co-Op and colleagues in neighbouring Forces, and it is vital we catch this group of offenders.”

She continued: "CCTV from the store is being viewed, but I appeal to members of the community to come forward with any information they have which will help my investigation.”

She added: "Those responsible for this burglary will need to sell their stolen wares, therefore if you know someone selling cheap cigarettes, or you are offered them for sale, please think twice and report it to an officer, as they may have originated from this offence."

The first raider who broke into the store was a white man, who was about 6ft tall and of muscular build.

He was wearing a dark coloured balaclava, a dark grey hooded top and dark trousers.

The other suspects were all wearing dark coloured hooded tops and dark trousers. They had their faces concealed by a balaclava, except one suspect who had a scarf wrapped around his head.

Youth gets jail for murder attempt over cigarettes

He tried to kill his friend because he was refused cigarettes. A trial court has sentenced a youth to a three-year jail term for trying to kill his friend with the help of two others.

District judge S K Sarvaria also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on North West Delhi resident Aman Sethi, who often used to borrow cigarettes from his friend Pankaj Kumar Jha but slashed his neck with a razor when told that his demands would no longer be met.

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Sethi tried to kill Jha with the help of two of his juvenile friends, who are undergoing separate trials at the Juvenile Justice Board.

The court awarded the jail term to Aman, dismissing his plea for leniency on the grounds that he was a young student.

Tobacco flea beetles a threat if not managed

Most transplant insecticide applications for tobacco provide excellent control of tobacco flea beetles for the first three to four weeks that the crop is in the field.

After several years of using these treatments, it is easy to forget what can happen if preventive control is not used, and the crop is not checked for damage for some time.

Tobacco flea beetles can severely affect a tobacco crop in several areas of a field causing substantial damage before the infestations are detected.

Budworm and tobacco hornworm

Watch for budworm and tobacco hornworm infestations, especially in the earliest set fields. These are the ones generally selected by female moths for egg laying.

Both species spend the winter deep in the ground as pupae, so they are not affected by the severity of winter weather and have a good survival rate.

There are many options for worm control on tobacco, but infestations need to be caught early for best results.

Check randomly-selected plants scattered over the field. Budworms will be in the tops of plant, chewing small round holes in leaves and leaving coarse pepper-like droppings. An average of five live worms per 50 plants is enough to justify control. Avoid treating when high temperatures cause upper leaves to curl to protect plant buds. Curled upper leaves also protect feeding budworms.

The same five live worms per 50 plants is used for determining the need for hornworm treatments. These caterpillars will be found in the upper third of the plant.

(Source: Lee Townsend UK Extension Entomologist)

Watch tobacco fields closely

I have been seeing damage on several tobacco fields from budworm and hornworm feeding. Most producers will probably spray with Orthene 97 for control. The recommended rate is 0.75 lbs. per acre. Other options include Dipel, Warrior, Tracer and other pesticides. Beware of Endosulfan 3E, as some tobacco contracts prohibit its use. Always follow label directions and rates. Harvest intervals vary by product.

Keep eyes open for frog eye

As always, keep an eye out for frog eye and target spot on your tobacco this summer, and spray accordingly with Quadris.

Generally an eight-ounce per-acre rate will give effective control without leaf flecking.

A 10- to 14-day spray schedule may be needed if rainy periods set in.

Educational programs of the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability or national origin.

Raids target illegal tobacco trade

A MAJOR crackdown has been launched on peddlers of illegal tobacco in Blackpool.

Police and trading standards officers have raided homes and seized thousands of illegal cigarettes.

The latest came in Grange Park where two pensioners are suspected of being involved in a supply ring. Fears are growing contraband and counterfeit tobacco – often laced with toxic chemicals – is flooding into the town and ending up in the hands of smokers and children.

Tests on a shipment seized recently showed high levels of lead – up to six times higher than in normal tobacco.

The operation was mounted after Grange Park residents were sold packets of rancid smelling tobacco which caused sore throats and nausea.

The latest raid, at an address on Dinmore Avenue, netted 3,000 illegal cigarettes.

It is the second time the property and its residents – a 65-year-old man and his 66-year-old wife – have been visited by authorities.

Last September officers seized around 15,000 illegal cigarettes worth £7,000 and a further £2,500 cash.

Paul Crook, Blackpool Council’s public protection officer, said ‘fag houses’ and ‘community Robin Hoods’ were becoming more prevalent in the town.

He said: “You can find up to two or three houses on an estate selling counterfeit tobacco which has been imported from anywhere from Luxembourg, Belgium or Bulgaria.

“It’s a huge problem because these so-called community Robin Hoods are often the frontmen for a larger organisation which could be involved in serious crimes including drugs and sex trafficking.

“Not only that but we recently carried out test reports on a haul of tobacco which revealed levels of lead and cadmium up to six times higher than found in normal tobacco.”

MTSU stubs out campus tobacco

As Middle Tennessee State University continues to position itself for the future and approaches its centennial celebration, it will join about 250 institutions of higher education across the country by declaring itself a tobacco-free campus.

Based on a recommendation by the university’s Environmental Health and Safety Committee, President Sidney A. McPhee recently revised current policy to create a tobacco-free campus, effective Jan. 1, 2012. The new policy will prohibit the use of all forms of tobacco anywhere on campus except in private vehicles.

Numerous reasons support enacting this policy. Most importantly, MTSU is committed to providing a healthy living, working and learning environment for its students, faculty and staff. The new policy will reduce harm from secondhand smoke and provide an atmosphere that encourages tobacco-free lifestyles.

The health risks of tobacco are well-known. The surgeon general’s report in 2006, which recognized that there is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke exposure, was a watershed document for conversations surrounding creation of smoke-free and tobacco-free public spaces.

Tobacco use is the leading cause of premature illness and death, but science also shows the devastating effects of tobacco use can be reversed in time. It is anticipated that a tobacco-free campus will help motivate students and employees to quit using tobacco, potentially adding to the quality and duration of their lives and creating a protected space for non-users to avoid environmental exposure.

Becoming a tobacco-free campus will also add to the overall campus aesthetic. Brand-new buildings, pedestrian walkways and landscaping have enhanced the beauty of the MTSU campus, but the litter of cigarette butts and smokeless tobacco containers often can detract from the campus’ appearance. Creating a tobacco-free campus is one more stride that MTSU is taking to aid in the “greening” of the university that is desired by students and employees.

New Option For Tobacco Addiction In Holistic Market

Holistic healers have long treated patients for tobacco addiction with beneficial in-office therapies, but there has never been a good product for use between office visits that didn't include nicotine replacement or pharmaceuticals, until now. Quit Tea LLC has partnered with Chiropractic Outfitters and K-Med Services to distribute Quit Tea, their natural stop smoking aid, to the chiropractic and acupuncture markets.
Since launching in May 2010, Quit Tea has been popular with chiropractors across the United States and Canada as a supplemental product to their holistic therapies, or as an option to recommend for tobacco addiction. Dr. Douglas Yost, a chiropractor in Shoreview Minnesota said, "my patients love the flavor of Quit Tea, have had decreased cravings to smoke, and will definitely continue using the tea to help them quit smoking."
The treatments performed by holistic healers include cold laser therapy, acupuncture, hypnosis, behavioral modification therapy, and nutrition. Quit Tea fits into this market of in-office therapies as an effective natural product that can be used in between sessions to greatly increase quitting success. Chiropractors want to be able to recommend and provide good natural products to their patients, and for smoking cessation, there are not many out there. Recently people have been turning to the holistic practices as an alternative to pharmaceutical products like Chantix, Zyban, and nicotine replacement products. These products can help, but are expensive, have many side effects, and often provide low rates of success.
There are over 49,000 chiropractors in the United States. Having chiropractors stock to resell or provide samples of Quit Tea to their patients helps create exposure and build credibility for Quit Tea as a serious smoking cessation aid. “We quickly realized there is a big opportunity in this market, which has been lacking good options,” said Matthew Bucklin, president of Quit Tea LLC.

Zimbabwe Tobacco Board Considering 20 Applications to Open Auction Floors

Zimbabwe is considering at least 20 applications from companies wanting to start tobacco sales in the country as existing auction houses battle to cope with rising supplies from farmers.
“We are reviewing the applications,” said Andrew Matibiri, chief executive officer of the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, which oversees the industry, by phone today from the capital, Harare. Zimbabwe currently has three auction floors, he said.
The southern African nation is trying to boost tobacco output, still below peak levels of about 236 million kilograms (520 million pounds) achieved in 2000, before President Robert Mugabe’sZimbabwe African National Union-Front party sponsored often-violent seizures of most white-owned farms.
Production slipped to as low as 58.6 million kilograms in 2009, reflecting the political and economic crisis that peaked during 2008. Output of the leaf may rise to about 170 million kilograms this season as more farmers grow the crop and as the nation’s “economic environment” improves, Matibiri said in an interview on Feb. 16.
“We have sold 120.9 million kilograms so far and judging by these figures it looks like we will end the season at around 145 million kilograms,” he said today. The quality of the leaf so far this season has “been really good.”
Zimbabwe has earned $331 million from tobacco sales so far this season, up from about $276 million at the same point last year, Matibiri said.
Zimbabwe is the world’s sixth-largest exporter of the flue- cured variety of the leaf, which is also known as Virginia tobacco. It lags behind Brazil, India, the U.S., Argentina and Tanzania, according to the website of Universal Corp., the world’s biggest tobacco-leaf merchant.

Give the Men Tobacco and Leave the Women Alone

The most any writer can reasonably hope to gain for his troubles is a fair hearing in life and a little appreciation after he’s gone. Ernest Hemingway achieved the rare feat of becoming the world’s most famous novelist while he was still very much alive. For his trouble he received a Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and at least one good pot shot from most of the literary lights of his day.

William Faulkner attacked his simple, declarative sentences by saying “he has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.” Vladimir Nabokov dismissed his overtly “masculine” subject matter as nothing more than “deep” boy stories. Gore Vidal, who hated everyone, seemed unable to forgive Hemingway for the way he treated older writers who had helped him get his start, namely Sherwood Anderson and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

As the 20th century drew to a close the P.C. brigade had added predictably and for good measure that he was a misogynist, a homophobe and a racist. By 1992, Hemingway was so deeply out of fashion that Frederick Busch of the New York Times felt the need to apologize for even admiring him, which he did in an unfortunate little article entitled, “Reading Hemingway Without Guilt.”

One thing even his critics never discounted, however, was the enormous influence his style had on other writers. This was already apparent in 1954 when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature for “his mastery of the art of narrative … and for the influence he has exerted on contemporary style.” Fifty years after his suicide on July 2, 1961, at his home in Ketchum, Idaho, it is taken for granted that Hemingway did more to change the style of English prose than any writer of the 20th century.

Until recently, I found this preoccupation with Hemingway’s style a bit off- putting. It seemed to imply a lack of substance — why else would all the focus be on his style? Thinking thus, I avoided him for the first several years of my reading life.

When I did finally decide to read Hemingway for myself, the first thing I noticed was that I didn’t notice his style. What stood out to me was not his tough, terse prose or his repeated use of “and” in place of commas, rather it was just how deeply substantive he was.

My favorite Hemingway short story provides a good illustration. In “The Butterfly and the Tank,” a man is killed in a crowded Madrid bar for playing a practical joke. This is the story, but it is not the point. The story begins, “On this evening I was walking home from the censorship office to the Florida Hotel and it was raining. So about halfway home I got sick of the rain and stopped into Chicote’s for a quick one. It was the second winter of the shelling in the siege of Madrid and everything was short including tobacco and people’s tempers and you were a little hungry all the time and would become suddenly and unreasonably irritated at things you could do nothing about such as the weather.”
Chicote’s is crowded; full of smoke, singing, laughter, men in uniform and the smell of wet leather coats. As the singing grows louder, a civilian in a brown suit squirts a waiter with a flit gun. Everyone laughs except the waiter, who is indignant. Delighted with his success, the man squirts the waiter twice more, lightheartedly. By now the music is dying down and three men in uniform grab the man and rush him out into the street where you hear the smack of a fist hitting his mouth. Moments later the man comes back into the bar. “He had the flit gun again and as he pushed, wide eyed and white faced into the room he made one general, unaimed, challenging squirt, holding it toward the whole company.” Almost immediately the man is pushed into a corner of the bar and shot.

When the narrator returns to Chicote’s the next day the manager solemnly informs him that “in the flit gun … he had eau de cologne. It was not a joke in such bad taste, you see?” As they ponder the previous night’s events, we learn that the man had bought the flit gun and cologne to use for a joke at a wedding and had announced his intention. He had bought them across the street. There was a label on the cologne bottle with the address. The bottle was in the wash room and it was there he had filled the flit gun. He had come into Chicote’s on account of the rain.

Eventually the manager, with his “relentless Spanish logic,” concludes that it was really just gaiety and that no one should have taken offense. “Listen,” said the manager, “How rare it is. His gaiety comes in contact with the seriousness of the war like a butterfly … like a butterfly and a tank.”

Ore. medical marijuana clinic manager convicted

A southern Oregon woman who manages a clinic that helps people obtain medical marijuana cards has been convicted on drug manufacturing and delivery charges, The Daily Courier reported Friday.
Brenda Thomas, 44, was the manager of the Hemp and Cannabis Foundation clinic in Grants Pass. The foundation, headed by longtime Portland marijuana activist Paul Stanford, has clinics in nine states, where doctors examine patients looking for state authorization to use pot to treat medical conditions.
A Josephine County jury deliberated for about an hour Thursday before convicting Thomas after a six-day trial that included testimony about medical marijuana growers regularly using the cover of providing medicine for patients to pile up hundreds of pounds of illegal weed they can sell on the black market at low risk of going to jail.
The case against Thomas began with an October 2009 traffic stop on Interstate 5 in neighboring Jackson County, where a Nevada couple was pulled over and told Oregon State Police they purchased marijuana from Thomas for $1,000.
Under Oregon's medical marijuana law, patients can have someone else grow pot for them, but growers cannot charge patients for the marijuana they produce. They can only collect for expenses, such as electricity and fertilizer.
Police later raided Thomas's home in Wilderville and seized more than 200 pounds of marijuana worth an estimated $500,000.
During the trial, defense attorney Foster Glass attacked the motives of the lead investigator in the case, Grants Pass police Detective Ray Myers, a member of the Rogue Area Drug Enforcement team and a critic of the state's medical marijuana program.
Myers is still under investigation in a complaint filed last fall claiming that, while on the job, he campaigned while against a ballot measure to legalize marijuana dispensaries.
"He has a vendetta . to try to destroy the whole medical marijuana program," Glass said in his opening statement.
Meyers denied the allegation.
"The defense tried to make this into something personal I had against the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program and that's not true,"?Myers told The Daily Courier on Friday. "The only thing I want, we want, is that people abide by the law."
Other large medical marijuana cases are pending in Josephine County, including three against men who are accused of dispensing marijuana from storefronts in Grants Pass. Myers played key roles in those busts.
Glass said he expected an appeal in the case.

Province targets tobacco industry

The province is looking for some legal firepower to go after Big Tobacco.

Nova Scotia and Manitoba plan to join other provinces in trying to recoup health-care costs incurred from the 1950s to the 1980s, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

Justice Minister Ross Landry says the industry must be held accountable for promoting tobacco use in the province.

"This matter is about the medical evidence that shows the substance was addictive, and there were issues with the tobacco companies in the disclosure of that information," he told reporters Thursday in Halifax. "And as a result of that action, people got addicted and illness and disease resulted in our society."

Nova Scotia and Manitoba plan to hire a legal firm with broad-based experience in tobacco-related law and the resources to take on the case.

Landry couldn’t say how much such a case could cost the province, or the amount being sought from the tobacco companies.

"We need to get a legal opinion on what the benefits are, what the costs are, and at that time we can make an evaluation as to the cost," he said.

The firm would be paid on a contingency basis — that is, only if the provinces were successful in recouping costs from the industry.

Heath and Wellness Minister Maureen MacDonald welcomed the move, noting that recouping health-care costs is part of the province’s new tobacco control strategy.

"Certainly from a financial point of view, it has an impact," MacDonald told reporters Thursday. "It diverts resources that perhaps we could put (elsewhere) if we didn’t have to do that. The human toll is not something you can put a price tag on."

The Canadian Cancer Society estimates smoking-related illnesses cost the province about $200 million each year.

Tobacco companies have in the past "wilfully misled" governments and consumers on the health effects of their product, said Nick Langley, manager of public issues for the society’s provincial division, after the announcement Thursday.

"I think there’s a need to get the truth on the matter and we look forward to the lawsuit, as other provinces have gone that route."

New Brunswick, Ontario, British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador are actively pursuing lawsuits. Quebec and Alberta have announced they’ll look into legal action.