For the Smoke-Free Environments Law
Project home page, click here.
For the
Smoke-Free Policies in Facilities Serving Older Persons home page, click here.
NEW: MISmokeFreeApartment web site
& Campaign to Promote Smoke-Free Apartments
Visit SFELP's award-winning MISmokeFreeApartment web
site, which has a wealth of information and resources for apartment owners and
for tenants seeking smoke-free apartments. To access the site, click above. To
access a press release describing the campaign, click here. To access a
press release titled Smoke-Free Multi-Unit Housing Came of Age in 2007 which describes the dramatic progress made in 2007,
click here. To
access a press release titled End of Year Heralds Record Numbers of
Smoke-Free Apartments in Michigan and the Nation which describes the enormous progress made in 2008,
click here. To
access a press release titled Smoke Free Multi-Unit Housing in Michigan
& the Nation: A Decade of Enormous Growth, which described the progress made between 2000 and
the beginning of 2010, click here.
News Updated
March 10, 2010; 2 notes posted today
Indiana may eliminate anti-smoking
agency
3/10: According to a Mach 10th CNBC news story: New state figures
show that Indiana's adult smoking rate has dropped to its lowest level in at
least a decade at the same time as legislators are considering a proposal that
would eliminate the state's anti-smoking agency. The plan approved by
the Republican-controlled Senate would transfer the duties of the Tobacco Use
Prevention and Cessation board to the State Department of Health. State Budget Director Chris Ruhl has
told legislators that abolishing the agency could save between $1.1 million and
$1.5 million in overhead and administration. Ruhl said smoking is the only
health issue with its own state agency and oversight -- and he questioned the
board's effectiveness in cutting smoking rates. "If we are making
progress it's very slow, particularly given how much money is being
spent," Ruhl said. The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne reported that
Indiana's adult smoking rate for 2009 dropped to 23.1 percent -- down from 26.9
percent when the board was created in 2000. The Senate voted 32-18
last month for a bill that included eliminating the anti-tobacco board. The
Democrat-led House hasn't acted on the legislation as the General Assembly
faces a Sunday night deadline to adjourn. Kevin O'Flaherty, Indiana's director of advocacy for the
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said that funding levels dropped when similar
stand-alone agencies were eliminated in Ohio and Mississippi. "It was a power grab and a money
grab in those states," he said. "The question is whether Indiana's
efforts would suffer over time due to the switch. There are no parameters in
the bill. It just abolishes the board and folds the assets and responsibilities
in the state department of health." State Health Commissioner Judy
Monroe, who is leaving to take a position with the federal Centers for Disease
Control, said the department could run a tobacco prevention program with fewer
employees than the separate agency, but she cautioned against an "erosion
of funding." "The funding should be sustained," she said.
Click above to access the news story.
Smoking ban
planned in American Samoa
3/10: According to a March 8th Radio New
Zealand report: Smoking will be
banned in workplaces, buses and taxis, restaurants and all public places in
American Samoa under planned new legislation. A person who smokes in a no
smoking zone would be subject to a fifty US dollar fine. The owner or
manager of a public place or place of employment who fails to comply with the
no smoking law would be fined 100 dollars for a first violation and 200 for each
additional violation within one year. The legislation also provides that
a person or business operator who repeatedly violates the proposed law could
have any government issued licenses revoked. Click above to access the
report.
3/8: The following is from a March 6th Kansan report: The Kansas Supreme Court issued a
decision Friday [March 6th] upholding Newton's smoking ban. The Whitesell-Finnel
Post No. 971 Veterans of Foreign Wards and Wayne G. Austin American Legion Post
No. 2, both of Newton, filed a lawsuit Dec. 20, 2007, against the city's
smoking ban. The two fraternal organizations argued the law was
unconstitutional under the Fourth and 14th amendments. They also alleged they
should be exempt from the ordinance as private clubs. The lower court issued a summary judgment in
favor of the city, saying the ordinance did not violate the constitutional
rights of the VFW or American Legion and their members. The lower court also
ruled the lawsuit was preemptive in that neither organization had been cited
under the ordinance. The ordinance was passed on Nov. 13, 2007. It
banned smoking in all public places and all enclosed places of employment in
Newton. The VFW's lawsuit was filed
by Gary Loyd on Dec. 20, 2007. Loyd was later taken off the case and the VFW
and American Legion added. The Supreme Court, in its decision Friday,
said the ordinance did not violate the organizations' members' rights to due
process under the 14th Amendment or the right to privacy under the Fourth
Amendment as asserted by the VFW and American Legion. "PlaintiffsÕ
argument is apparently based on the simplistic notion that a private
organization with a private clubhouse has a constitutional right to
privacy," the court said in its judgment. ... "Upon the merits of the
argument, the city pointed out that a right to privacy action requires the
existence of a fundamental privacy interest and that no court, to date, had
recognized the smoking of tobacco as a fundamental right." Click above to access the full news story.
3/4: According to a March 3rd news report: Menlo
Park's City Council at its March 2 meeting agreed on revisions that would
strengthen the city's smoking ordinance. The revised ordinance will prohibit
smoking in public parks, parking lots open to the public, places of
congregation such as ATM machines and bus stops, and in common areas within
multi-unit residences. Perhaps most significantly, the ordinance
declares second-hand smoke a nuisance -- enabling people to take legal action
against others who smoke in their vicinity, in an adjoining apartment unit, for
instance. The council approved
the wording of the ordinance by a 4-1 vote, with Councilman John Boyle
dissenting. The ordinance will come before the council at a later date, and
will go into effect 30 days after it's enacted. ... The city drafted the
ordinance in response to an extraordinary lobbying effort by Barbara Franklin,
who decided to take up the issue after she was bothered by smoke wafting into
her condominium unit from an apartment below hers. She began making
presentations to the council about the dangers of secondhand smoke in late
2008, and has attended most council meetings since then, often sitting through
the several hours of the meeting. Click above to access the full article.
Secondhand smoke
damages arteries in teens: study
3/4: The following is from a March 3rd Reuters
report: Children as young as 13 who have evidence of secondhand smoke in
their blood also have visibly thicker arteries, Finnish researchers reported on
Tuesday [March 2nd]. Their study suggests that the damage caused by
secondhand tobacco smoke starts in childhood and causes measurable damage by
the teen years. "Although previous research has found that passive smoke
may be harmful for blood vessels among adults, we did not know until this study
that these specific effects also happen among children and adolescents,"
Dr. Katariina Kallio of the University of Turku in Finland, who led the study,
said in a statement. Her team studied 494 children aged 8 to 13 taking
part in ongoing research on heart disease. They measured levels of cotinine, a
byproduct of nicotine that is found in the blood after someone breathes in
tobacco smoke. Click above for the full news story.
Thousands upon
Thousands of Michigan Apartments are Smoke-Free
3/3: As a result of the statewide
MISmokeFreeApartment Initiative begun in 2003-2004, Today there are thousands
upon thousands of smoke-free apartment buildings throughout Michigan. The
number goes almost daily, including market-rate housing, public housing and
other "affordable" housing. To access listings of many of these
smoke-free apartments, go to the MISmokeFreeApartment site by clicking above.
Massachusetts
House gave initial approval to bill to ban smoking in some senior public housing
3/1: According to a Feb. 26th news report: The
Massachusetts House gave initial approval to a bill (H 1181) requiring local
housing authorities to provide for nonsmoking buildings in multi-building
senior housing complexes or for a no-smoking floor in single-building senior
housing. The bill phases in the proposed law, grandfathers in current
smokers and prevents their eviction. The bill still must pass another vote in
the House and then go to the Senate. Click above to access the news report.
To access a copy of H 1181 click here.
Indiana House approves
smoking ban
3/1: The following is from a Feb. 25th news
story: A statewide smoking ban is on the table again at the Indiana
Statehouse. The House of Representatives voted 54-44 Thursday to impose a
statewide smoking ban with just two exceptions: casinos and pari-mutuel horse
racing venues or racinos. "This is something we should have done
three years ago, ladies and gentlemen. I don't think we can wait another year
as has been quoted by the president Pro Tem of the Indiana Senate. That is why
I want to send it back over there," said Rep. Charlie Brown (D-Gary). ...
The smoking ban passed by ten votes so the Senate will have the chance to
concur with the changes or differ and send it to conference committee to iron
out the differences between the bills that passed out of the House and the
Senate. Click above for full article.
Kansas smoking ban passes, on
its way to governor
2/26: The following is from a Feb. 25th Kansas
City Star report: In a landmark
move, the Kansas House passed a statewide public smoking ban Thursday and sent
it to Gov. Mark Parkinson. If Parkinson signs the legislation as
expected, Kansas will join nearly 40 states that have some statewide
restrictions on where smokers can light up. The ban would go into effect July 1. Today's
vote was 68-54. Supporters said they were tired of waiting as ban proposals
languished for years on the legislative agenda. "While we continue
to debate and debate... people are dying," said Rep. Barbara Bollier, a
Mission Hills Republican and a physician. "People are becoming ill, and
they are asking you to help them." In the end, supporters of the ban
used a procedural move to force a vote on the legislation on House floor
Thursday. Since the Senate has already passed the measure it now goes straight
to Parkinson, who has said he supports a ban. The proposed ban would
prohibit smoking in bars, restaurants, workplaces, 80 percent of hotel rooms
and taxi cabs. Casino floors, tobacco shops, private clubs and designated
smoking rooms in hotels would be exempt. The ban will not replace
stricter local smoking bans now in place. Some 39 Kansas cities and counties -- including all in the metro area
-- already ban smoking to some degree. Click above for the full article.
Stimulus Funds
Support Smoke-Free Multi-Unit Housing Project in Michigan
2/19: We're thrilled to announce that the Michigan Department of Community
Health's (MDCH) Tobacco Section has just been awarded a $1.5 million grant for
a 2 year project to greatly expand the smoke-free multi-unit dwellings (SF
MUDS) efforts we have been involved in since 2003. The funding is from the funds the Centers for Disease
Control & Prevention received under the American Recovery &
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) aka "stimulus funding". 15 grants were awarded nationwide (to
13 states), and it appears that only 2 dealt with tobacco or secondhand smoke
issues, and Michigan's appears to be the only one that dealt with SF MUDS. The
other awards dealt with reducing obesity, increasing physical activity,
improving nutrition, and decreasing smoking. This project has as its goal to increase smoke-free public
and other affordable housing in Michigan by making 80% to 90% of all public and
other affordable housing smoke-free by the end of 2011, including tribal public
and other affordable housing. This
ambitious project is a partnership of the MDCH Tobacco Section, the Smoke-Free
Environments Law Project, two tribal organizations (the South Eastern Michigan
Indians, Inc., and the Sault Tribe), and about 10 local health
departments. The project will
involve working closely with local public housing commissions, tribal housing
authorities, other private affordable housing owners/operators, sovereign
tribal entities, and others. The
project starts almost immediately and will go on until February, 2012. You can
access the HHS press release on this by clicking above.
Tenants Should
Press Utah Landlords For Smoke-free Accommodations
2/19: According to a Feb. 17th television report from Salt Lake
City: A recent advertising
campaign urges renters to work with their landlords for help in dealing with neighbors
who smoke. Cristina Flores
reports. To access the video of
this news story, click above.
2/19: The Smoke-Free Environments Law Project maintains an
up-dated listing of all the public housing authorities/commissions in the U.S.
that we know of which have adopted smoke-free policies for one or more of their
apartment buildings. The listing
is done largely in the order in which the policies have been adopted. As of January, 2010, at least 145 local
housing authorities had adopted smoke-free policies for some or all of their
apartment buildings, with about 130 being adopted since the beginning of
January, 2005; an average of over 2 per month. That constitutes an increase in
the number of housing authorities with smoke-free policies of over 866% in 60
months. The 22 states with such
policies include Michigan (33), Minnesota (29), Maine (19), Colorado (13),
California (7), Nebraska (6), Washington (6), Oregon (5), New Hampshire (4),
Alaska (4), Idaho (3), Utah (3), New Jersey (2), Wisconsin (2), Arkansas (2),
Florida, Montana, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Texas and Massachusetts. To access the listing, in pdf format,
click above.
County Health Rankings Include
Smoking Rates
2/18: On Feb. 17th, the County Health Rankings
-- the first set of reports to rank the overall health of every county in all
50 states -- were released by the University of Wisconsin's Population Health
Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation at a briefing in Washington,
D.C. The health rankings include the smoking rates in each county. To
access the rankings web site, click above.
2/17: The following is from a Feb. 9th MSNBC
report: Add a new health threat to smoking: In addition to the harm caused by
actually smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke, so-called third-hand smoke
may also pose a threat, particularly to babies and toddlers. A new
study reveals that the residue of nicotine that lingers on surfaces can react
with another chemical in the air to form potent carcinogens -- chemicals linked
to various cancers. While first-hand smoke is that inhaled directly by the
smoker and second-hand is the smoke exhaled (and inhaled by others), third-hand
smoke is the residue from second-hand smoke. ... "The burning of tobacco releases nicotine in the form of a
vapor that adsorbs strongly onto indoor surfaces, such as walls, floors,
carpeting, drapes and furniture. Nicotine can persist on those materials for
days, weeks and even months," said Hugo Destaillats, a chemist with
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in San Francisco, and one of the authors
of the study. Scientists have been aware for several years that tobacco
smoke sort of sticks to surfaces where it can react with other chemicals. But
reactions of residual smoke constituents with molecules in the air have been
overlooked as a source of harmful pollutants, the researchers of the new study
say. Destaillats and colleagues investigated the formation of harmful
chemicals in the air after exposing material to cigarette smoke. They found
that it reacts with one chemical in particular. "Our study shows
that when this residual nicotine reacts with ambient nitrous acid it forms
carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines or TSNAs," Destaillats said.
"TSNAs are among the most broadly acting and potent carcinogens present in
unburned tobacco and tobacco smoke." Click above for the full story.
2/17: Michigan leads the nation in having 33
local public housing commissions that have adopted smoke-free policies for some
or all their buildings. The most recent was the Manistee Housing
Commission which adopted its policy in December, 2009. The policy applies
to two duplexes and to all future units which have substantial repairs or
renovating. The commission is also considering making certain other of
its buildings smoke-free. Nationwide, there are now at least 143 local
housing authorities with smoke-free policies. To access a list of these
housing authorities, click above.
Suit
over secondhand smoke targets Boston real estate broker
2/11: The following is from a Feb. 9th Boston
Globe story: Alyssa Burrage
says she was smoked out of her new $405,000 condominium. Burrage, a 32-year-old
advertising company employee with a history of asthma, had smelled cigarettes
when she first visited the bright, parlor-level condo in Boston's South End in
2006 with her real estate broker. But the broker, she alleges, assured her that
the owner must be a smoker and the stench would disappear. After Burrage
moved into the Milford Street brick row house, she says, she discovered the
secondhand smoke was coming from one of two men living in the condo below. The
men and the condo association refused to fix the problem, she adds, and she had
to move out. Today, in what tobacco law specialists call one of the
first lawsuits of its kind to go to trial in Massachusetts, a jury is scheduled
to decide whether Burrage's real estate broker is liable for damages. In recent years, there have been a handful of
lawsuits over secondhand smoke in the state, including several disputes between
tenants and landlords in Housing Court. But no one has ever won monetary
damages in a case over smoking fumes, legal specialists say. If Burrage wins in
Suffolk Superior Court, it could encourage similar litigation and open a new
front in the battle over secondhand smoke. Burrage, who has leased her condo out since she left the building in
May 2008, says she dislikes confrontations and is hardly an antismoking
crusader. "I'm certainly not a person who's on a soapbox saying
people shouldn't smoke," she said in the Back Bay office of her lawyer.
"But when it affects somebody else, that's where the line needs to be
drawn. It's an awful thing to not be able to escape from something that's
hurting your health." ... Burrage also sued the two men in the
downstairs condominium -- Edward J. Allan,
who owns the two-story garden-level apartment, and Michael Schofield, the
smoker who has lived with Allan for 13 years -- and the condominium
association. All three defendants settled with Burrage out of court yesterday,
according to Burrage's lawyer, Colleen C. Cook. No details were available. Earlier in the day, Schofield's lawyer defended
his client, saying that when the Massachusetts Legislature banned smoking in
restaurants, bars, and other workplaces in 2004, it specified that it was still
legal to smoke in one's home. "What Mr. Schofield has been doing,
smoking in his home, is perfectly lawful," said Henry A. Goodman, a Dedham
lawyer. Nonetheless, Schofield agreed to pay Burrage a settlement
yesterday because it was less expensive to do that than to pay for his defense
at trial, Goodman said. The case against DeAngelo is expected to raise
thorny questions about the rights of people to smoke inside their own
apartments and the duties of real estate brokers to disclose accurate
information about smoking to prospective buyers. Click above for the full report.
Santa
Clara County wants to ban smoking in apartment buildings
2/3: The following is from a Jan. 26th Mercury
News article: Santa Clara County took aim Tuesday at smokers and drinkers, with
proposals to ban smoking in apartment buildings and toughen penalties for those
who provide alcohol to minors. The smoking proposal was unveiled by
Supervisor Ken Yeager, who was sworn in as the board's new president. It echoes
a controversial law passed last year by Belmont, which garnered national
headlines. ... But his proposed ban on smoking in apartment buildings takes its
inspiration from further north. Belmont last year became California's first
city to install such a ban; Richmond has followed suit, and Menlo Park council
members are still weighing the issue. Yeager's proposal differs in that it
would not target condominiums or townhomes. Yeager also wants the county
to ban smoking in parks, as San Jose has done, and to prohibit pharmacies from
selling cigarettes. Click above for full article.
2/1: The following is from a January 31st Boston
Herald article: Mayor Thomas M.
Menino is opening a new front in his war against tobacco: the city's
cigarette-riden housing projects, which he vows to make smoke-free in the next
four years. "What we are
trying to do is make a healthier environment for people who work and live in
our city," Menino told the Herald. By this summer, smoking could
be banned in more than 100 new units in Boston Housing Authority public housing, which currently sees rates of smoking 50 percent
higher than the general population. According to a 2006 city survey, 15.5
percent of nonpublic housing residents smoke, compared to 23 percent of BHA
renters. ... The newly built smoke-free units include: 14 at Franklin Hill
in Dorchester that opened in October; up to 100 at Roslindale's
Washington-Beech that will open in August; and 100 at Old Colony by 2012. While those units represent less than 2
percent of the BHA's 12,000 units, it's a start, said Menino. "I
would think in the next three to four years every public housing unit will be a
smoke-free unit," he said.
The ban comes amid a perfect storm of factors, according to BHA
officials: Demand by parents. Children in public housing are more likely to
have asthma and to live with or around cigarette smoke, which triggers asthma
attacks. "People are trying to escape second-hand smoke and so we're
trying to create this option for folks," said BHA director of planning
Kate Bennett. Pressure from the feds. In July, the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development "strongly encouraged" public housing
authorities go smoke-free. Click above for the full article and two
related articles.
Kiwis
want cigarettes banned by 2020
1/29: The following is from a TV New Zealand report: Half the nation, including smokers,
support completely banning cigarettes within 10 years, a study has found.
The 2008 Health and Lifestyles Survey compiled nationwide interviews from
the Health Sponsorship Council of 1608 people, including 422 smokers, and has
just been published in the NZ Medical Journal. It found 49.8% of people agreed cigarettes
should no longer be sold in New Zealand in 10 years, 30.3% disagreed and 19.9%
neither agreed nor disagreed. Of the smokers surveyed, 26.2% agreed and 55.3%
disagreed. The study also
showed public support for plain, unbranded cigarette packets and fewer tobacco
retailers. Pacific Islanders, in particular, showed strong support for
the measures. One of the study's authors, Dr George Thomson, from the
University of Otago, Wellington, called on the Government to take action.
"There's now a need for politicians to embrace and act on the idea
of a foreseeable and planned end to tobacco sales through a predicable
timetable by 2020. The public wants more defined action to reduce smoking, and
not a series of incremental steps." Click above to access the full
story.
1/28: According to a January 26th Post-Tribune report: Rather than watch it die a death of a
thousand cuts, State Rep. Charlie Brown of Gary angrily withdrew a bill Monday
that would have banned smoking in public places all over Indiana. Whether
or not he'll call it back before this year's session ends isn't clear.
"I'll have to do some real soul searching on that," Brown, a
Democrat, said. As written, the bill would ban smoking in all public
places except casinos, an exception Brown said he made to avoid becoming a
target of gaming lobbyists. However, the bill was amended three times Monday,
with Brown offering the first.
Brown's amendment would exempt new casinos from local smoking ordinances if
such a law exists in the community. The second amendment, offered by Rep.
Dennis Tyler, D-Muncie, would exempt bars, taverns, private clubs and fraternal
organizations. That, Brown said, defeated the point of his bill. "I
can't for the life of me figure out some of the members of my own caucus,"
Brown said. The third amendment, offered by Rep. Edward Clere, R-New
Albany, exempted tobacco businesses from the smoking ban. After it passed,
Brown saw more amendments coming and pulled his bill. Click above to access the full report.
Vermont unveils new smoke-free housing
web site
1/20: On January 19th, the American Lung
Association in Vermont is launching Smokefree Housing Vermont at
www.smokefreehousingvt.org The website will be the first of its kind in
Vermont and will serve as a resource for the state's tenants, landlords and
property managers. The site includes information on the benefits of smokefree
housing for landlords, steps to implement a policy including lease language and
tenant correspondence, and tips for ensuring awareness and compliance. Renters
can find tips on communicating with landlords, information on tenants' rights
and facts about secondhand smoke. To access the site, click above.
1/12: The Utah Tobacco Prevention and Control Program
is holding its annual statewide conference in Salt Lake City on January 12th.
The keynote will be given by Greg Connelly of Massachusetts who will
discuss Federal, State & Local Tobacco Control in the 21st Century. Jim Bergman of SFELP will do two presentations
on Smoke-Free Multi-Unit Housing: Blazing Trails – Rapidly. One session will be for housing authority
directors and staff, and the second will be for health and tobacco control
professionals. To access the 57-slide PowerPoint that Bergman will use,
click above. To access a pdf copy of the ppt presentation, click here.
1/11: According to a January 5, 2010 press
release: Comprehensive Health Education Foundation (C.H.E.F.), long known
for its mission to promote health and quality of life through education,
announced that it has received a grant from the Washington State Department of
Health for creation of the Washington Public Housing Tobacco Prevention
Network. Under terms of the agreement, C.H.E.F.'s program will be implemented
over a two-year period. Awarded to C.H.E.F. in collaboration with its partners,
the Association of Washington Housing Authorities (AWHA) and Pacific Northwest
Regional Council of National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials
(PNRC-NAHRO), the work under the grant will establish a network whose goal is
to develop a tobacco-free environment for public housing, promote resistance to
tobacco industry marketing, identify and offer smoking cessation support and
resources for public housing residents, and bring partners together to effect
systems change. Since the project will assist housing authorities in
their efforts to adopt and implement smoke-free policies, change norms, and
assist residents with connecting to cessation services, several housing
authorities throughout Washington State have been recruited to participate in
the two-year pilot project. The participating housing authorities include those
in Bellingham / Whatcom County, Bremerton, Vancouver, Everett, Grant County,
Renton, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, and Walla Walla. Click above to access
the full press release.
Asheville's
Hookah Bar will defy North Carolina state law banning smoking
1/11: The following is from a North Carolina
news report: Little has changed at the Juggling Gypsy Cafe and Hookah bar in
Wilmington since the start of the smoking ban in North Carolina Saturday.
Patrons continue to smoke. However, this is not an act of civil disobedience.
Bar manager Denny Best says bar management has found what it believes to be a
loophole in the new ban, allowing customers to continue to smoke tobacco
through the water pipes.... However, buried at the very end of the smoking ban
legislation is an exemption for actors on a live production set. So, thanks to
a web cam and a streaming web site, the Juggling Gypsy is now a stage, and all
the patrons its players. Click above to access the news story.
To Vape or Not
to Vape: Controversy Swirls Around
E-Cigarettes
1/7: Kerry Cork of the Tobacco Control Legal
Consortium has written an article of the above title for the National
Association of Local Boards of Health's NewsBrief. The article discusses the various issues surrounding
e-cigarettes, including the vapors given off by them To access the article, in
pdf, click above.
1/6: According to a news report: Smoking
at all inpatient psychiatric facilities will be banned beginning Monday by the
Alabama Department of Mental Health. The new tobacco-free initiative will
affect Tuscaloosa's state mental health facilities, including Bryce Hospital,
which now bans smoking inside its buildings but allows smoking on the grounds.
The new policy prohibits tobacco products anywhere on campus by
patients, visitors, staff or any other individuals. People with mental illnesses are two to three
times more likely than the general population to be dependent on nicotine,
research has shown. "People with a mental illness tend to live 25 years
less than the average citizen," said John Ziegler, mental health
department spokesman. "The main reason for that is not the mental illness,
it's the unhealthy lifestyle choices." Click above for the full
article.
Denver
theater company to try to take smoking ban case to Supreme Court
1/6: According to a Denver Post report:
Denver's Curious Theatre will petition the U.S. Supreme Court for the
right to smoke non-tobacco products in its theatrical productions, artistic
director Chip Walton announced Wednesday [Dec. 30th]. For three years,
Curious has unsuccessfully argued in various courts that it should be exempt
from the state's indoor smoking ban, contending that smoking is a form of
creative expression that should be protected under free-speech rights. But
in a 6-1 vote Dec. 14, the Colorado Supreme Court refused to grant live
theaters an exemption, saying the promotion of public health supersedes the
right to free speech. Curious says it
has never argued for the right to smoke actual tobacco products. The company,
along with co-plaintiffs Paragon Theatre and the now defunct Theatre 13, asked
instead to be allowed to smoke noncarcinogenic herbs when smoking is called for
in plays. But the Colorado statute specifically prohibits smoking any material
that is packaged, including herbs or teas. ... There is no guarantee the
Supreme Court will hear Curious' petition, which Walton expects to be filed in
March. Walton admits it's a longshot. Click above for the full article.
Little
Rock Housing Authority begins smoking ban at 1 of 3 city-run apartment
complexes
1/4/10: According to a Jan. 2nd news report from
Channel 5 in Arkansas: The Little Rock Housing Authority has banned
smoking at one of three city-run apartment complexes as part of a plan to make
all of its properties smoke-free by 2012. The ban on smoking at
Cumberland Towers in downtown Little Rock began Friday [January 1, 2010], and
similar bans at Parris Towers and Powell Towers will go into effect in 2011 and
2012, respectively. Housing Authority Director Shelly Ehenger says the
regulatory agency has been working on its smoke-free plan since 2008. The
apartment complexes are for low-income families, senior citizens and those with
disabilities. To live at Cumberland Towers or Parris Towers, a resident must be
at least 50. A lighted gazebo will be built on the wooded lawn for use by
those who can't or won't quit smoking. Click above to access the story.
For a related story on this, click here.
1/4/10: The following is from a Jan. 2nd news
report: A local [Portsmouth, N.H.] man police say was smoking in public housing
has been arrested on two misdemeanor charges alleging his cigarette caused a
Dec. 8 fire that required the partial evacuation of Margeson Apartments on
Middle Street. Thomas Perkins, 62, of 245 Middle Street, Apt. 209 was
arrested on a Class B misdemeanor charges of reckless conduct and criminal
mischief, according to Portsmouth Detectives Capt. Corey MacDonald.
Police say the arrest stems from an investigation of a Dec. 8 fire at the
Margeson Apartments complex that serves as public housing for the elderly and
disabled. The fire required the evacuation of many of the building's
residents and a full response by the Portsmouth Fire Department that caused the
shutting down of a portion of Middle Street. The blaze was contained to a
single apartment, but resulted in a smoke condition in the apartment building.
MacDonald said Perkins is alleged to have placed the residents of
Margeson Apartments in dangerous of serious bodily injury in that he smoked
cigarettes in the apartment contrary to public housing rules. Police said Perkins cigarette caused the fire
to start allege the man failed to extinguish the fire or raise an alarm upon
discovering the fire. Perkins was taken into custody without incident and his
misdemeanor charges are punishable by up to a $1,200 fine, but do not carry the
possibility of any jail time. Perkins was released on $2,000 personal
recognizance bail, with the conditions of no smoking on Portsmouth Housing
Property and no alcohol use. Click above to access the news report.
North
Carolina's smoke-free law goes into effect January 2nd
12/30/09: The following is from a Channel 14
news report: Most bars and restaurants in North Carolina will be
smoke-free by the end of the week, as the state's smoking ban goes into effect
Jan. 2. This week, many establishments are making some last-minute preparations
to get ready for the new requirements. "We expect business owners to have
posted No Smoking Signs and also have removed all ash trays from their
establishments," said Lovemore Masakadza, who is with the Mecklenburg
County Health Department. The only places exempt are private, nonprofit clubs,
so bars and nightclubs must comply even if they have membership lists.
Corydon Himelberger, general manager of Howl at the Moon, isn't upset
about the changes. "It is an employee health right to go to work and not
have smoke blown on you," he said. Click above for full story.
12/30: The following is from a Dec. 29th Science
Daily news report about a new
research study of the above title: Children regularly exposed to tobacco smoke
at home were more likely to develop early emphysema in adulthood. This finding
by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
suggests that the lungs may not recover completely from the effects of
early-life exposures to tobacco smoke (ETS). The study is published in
the December 2009 American Journal of Epidemiology. This
population-based research is the first to examine the association of childhood
ETS with early emphysema by CT scan in nonsmokers. Approximately half of the participants in this large
multiethnic cohort had at least one regular cigarette smoker in their childhood
home. Participants with more childhood ETS exposure had more emphysema-like
lung pixels; an average of 20% of scan pixels were emphysema-like for those who
lived with two or more smokers as a child, compared with 18% for those who
lived with one regular smoker, or 17% for those who said that they did not live
with a regular inside smoker as a child. [This study highlights the
value of smoke-free policies in homes and multi-unit dwellings.] To access the news story, click above. For a
copy of the abstract of this research, click here.
Smoke-Free Multi-Unit
Housing in Michigan & the Nation: A Decade of Enormous Growth
12/29: The following is from an end-of-the-year
SFELP press release: "As the first decade of the 21st century ends, we
find that the growth in Michigan and nationally in smoke-free multi-unit
housing has been enormous -- going from virtually no smoke-free housing in 2000
to many hundreds of thousands of units today," according to Jim Bergman,
Co-Director of The Center for Social Gerontology, Inc. in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
which operates the Smoke-Free Environments Law Project (SFELP). "In
2000, it was virtually impossible to find apartment or condominium buildings
that were smoke-free in all the living units, as well as the common areas. This was true in Michigan and in almost every state
in the nation. By 2005, a number of states, including Michigan, Maine,
Minnesota, and California had begun to develop a growing supply of smoke-free
apartments. By the end of the decade, virtually every state has
smoke-free multi-unit housing available, and many states have thousands, if not
hundreds of thousands, of smoke-free units," said Bergman. ... In public housing, funded by the
federal Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) and other federal
and state entities, the growth in smoke-free housing has been equally as great,
if not greater. In 2000, there were only two public housing
authorities in the nation that had smoke-free policies for some or all their
buildings (Kearney, NE and Fort
Pierce, FL). By the end of 2003, just eleven housing authorities had
smoke-free policies. By January, 2005, that number had only risen to
fifteen. But, then the growth sky-rocketed. As of December,
2009, at least 136 public housing authorities in 19 states had adopted
smoke-free policies for some or all their buildings. The growth in the
entire decade was 6700%; since December, 2003, the growth was 1136%; and the
growth in the past 5 years has been over 800%. In Michigan, the Cadillac Housing Commission
was the first public housing authority to adopt a smoke-free policy, doing so
in July, 2005. Today, thirty-two local Michigan housing commissions have
adopted smoke-free policies, covering about 56 apartment buildings/developments
and over 60 townhouses/scattered site units, with about 4,158 apartment units.
That is a 3100% increase in the 48 months since January, 2006. To access
the full press release, click above.
Woman,
62, dies in Quincy fire; Blaze sparked by cigarette; oxygen devices fuel flames
12/28: The following is from a Dec. 27th Boston
Globe report: A woman died yesterday
morning in a two-alarm fire sparked by a cigarette, according to fire
officials. Residents of the city-owned high-rise at 95 Martensen St.,
which houses elderly, low-income, and disabled residents, said they had warned
62-year-old Donna Marani not to smoke in her apartment - especially because she
regularly used home oxygen devices. "She was a smoker," said
Jenn Fell, 31, who lives in the building with her two young sons. "Several
people in the building have warned her about smoking while on oxygen. Smoking
can be very dangerous, and unfortunately everybody lost a really good friend
out of this tragedy." State, local, and Norfolk County officials
determined yesterday afternoon that a cigarette ignited the fire.
"The investigation revealed the cause to be consistent with a
smoking-related fire," State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan told the Globe
yesterday. "And there was home oxygen in the apartment." ... While
firefighters managed to contain the fire to Marani's apartment, significant
water and smoke damage could be seen throughout the building yesterday. Cleanup
crews were on hand all afternoon. Most residents were allowed to return
home, but more than a dozen from units near Marani's apartment were being
sheltered at a Salvation Army facility,
fire officials said. ... Since 1997, 18 people have died and more than 30
others have been severely burned or suffered serious smoke inhalation in fires
across the state involving people who smoked while using a home oxygen system,
Coan said. Air is about 21
percent oxygen, but medical tanks are filled with 100 percent oxygen, which can
fuel intense flames. "Fires related to smoking and use of home
oxygen have been a great concern of mine for a long time," Coan said.
"We have a group made up of fire service personnel, members of the medical
community, oxygen manufacturers, the Red Cross, and others focused on a public
education campaign to highlight the dangers." [It should be noted
that a no-smoking policy could have prevented this tragedy.] Click above
to access the full report.
12/28: The following is from a Dec. 13th Holland
Sentinel article: A new state law
intended to reduce the fire hazard posed by smoldering cigarettes has
frustrated some Michigan smokers, who complain that the safer cigarettes taste
foul. The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, requires all cigarettes sold
in Michigan to be engineered to automatically extinguish when left unattended. To comply, cigarette companies usually add two or
three special bands to the cigarettes' paper that, when lit, reduce the flow of
oxygen to the tobacco, thereby slowing the stick's rate of burn. If a
smoker does not draw on the lit cigarette, the bands effectively smother it.
... Gov. Jennifer Granholm approved the law in June, making Michigan the 49th
state to pass fire-safe cigarette legislation. The new cigarettes won't
end all fires started by smoking materials, but they will help lower the
numbers of deaths and injuries caused by them, said Ronald Farr, Michigan's
Fire Marshal. "It's a life-safety issue," he said. "That's
the single biggest point for them." Fires caused by
smoking-related materials in Michigan killed four people last year and injured
33 others, including seven firefighters, according to the state's Bureau of
Fire Services. Nationwide,
fires ignited by cigarettes claimed 780 lives in the United States in 2006,
according to the Massachussetts-based National Fire Protection Association.
Click above to access the full article.
Smoking
ban in Duluth low-income housing promotes health
12/22: The following is from a Dec. 20th Fox
21 News report: Residents of Duluth
high rise buildings will be living in smoke–free facilities by spring of
next year. Last month, the Duluth Housing and Rehabilitation Authority
passed a smoking ban, effective May of 2010. American Lung Association
representatives say the ban is an attempt to prevent the dangerous effects of
second–hand smoke. Currently, residents at any of the six Duluth high
rise, low-income housing buildings can smoke in their private apartments. Soon,
they will have to leave the building before lighting up. And many
non–smoking residents are pleased. "I think it's a good idea,
because second hand smoke and everything... It's not good for our health,"
said King Manor resident, Ann Abrahm. "They have shared ventilation.
They have shared systems. And we know from the Surgeon General's report in 2006
that there is no safe level exposure to second–hand smoke," said Pat
McKone. McKone is the director for mission programs for the American Lung
Association in Minnesota. Click above to access the full report.
12/18: Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm will
sign into law Friday, Dec. 18th, a ban on indoor smoking in public places.
The Legislature passed the bill Dec. 10 after years of stalemates over
exceptions in the law. The measure allows smoking in three Detroit casinos,
cigar bars, specialty tobacco shops, home offices and motor vehicles, including
commercial trucks. The smoking ban, which takes effect May 1, 2010, makes
Michigan the 38th state with a ban. To access a copy of the new law click
above.
12/18: The World Lung Foundation and the
American Cancer Society's third edition of The Tobacco Atlas is now online. The Atlas provides current world data on topics such as tobacco
use, secondhand smoke, smoke-free areas, and tobacco litigation. It also
has predictions on the future tobacco epidemic. To access a copy of the Atlas, click above.
12/17: University of Michigan School of Public
Health Dean Kenneth Warner discusses the benefits of the new smoking ban passed
by the Michigan Senate and House. You can hear this five-minute Podcast by
clicking above.
New
issue of Legal Update is now online
12/17: The latest issue of the Legal Update, the newsletter of the Tobacco Control Legal
Consortium, is now available. This issue features the Legal Consortium's most
recent publication, "Infiltration of Secondhand Smoke into Condominiums,
Apartments and Other Multi-Unit Dwellings: 2009" written by SFELP's
consulting attorney Susan Schoenmarklin. This expanded update of the 2004
law synopsis covers recent smoke-free housing laws and policies of interest to
landlords, condominium associations and tenants. The Legal Update also includes overviews of recent important tobacco
cases, including a landmark Massachusetts tobacco ruling that allows
"healthy" smokers to sue to force tobacco companies to pay for
medical monitoring to scan for diseases that may develop in the future; a $300
million ruling in the latest individual "Engle progeny" lawsuit against a major tobacco
company; and legal actions related to the new federal tobacco product
legislation. The issue also highlights U.S. and Canadian bans on the
sale, distribution and manufacture of flavored cigarettes, and the World Health
Organization's tobacco control campaign in Africa. Also featured is
Eric Lindblom in the Profiles in Public Health Law section and the"Ask a
Lawyer" column addresses tobacco-free policies on college campuses.
Finally, links are provided to useful tobacco law-related resources and
information on upcoming tobacco law events. To access the Legal Update, click above.
Editorial:
Lawmakers are standing up
12/16: According to a Dec. 15th Traverse City
Record-Eagle editorial: It's
not easy changing public policy that's as old as dirt, no matter how much good
a change will create. And you're guaranteed to make some unfriends along the
way. But two local lawmakers, four members of the Northwestern Michigan
College board of trustees, a Traverse City Commission majority, Munson Medical
Center, the Benzie and Leelanau county boards of commissioners and hundreds of
other public officials have all chose to ban smoking in virtually all
workplaces plus some parks, beaches and campuses. And now, after years
of wrangling the Michigan Legislature has finally approved a ban on smoking in
virtually all workplaces, including bars and restaurants. State Sen. Michelle McManus, a Lake Leelanau
Republican, and freshman Rep. Dan Scripps, a Leland Democrat, both voted for a
bill that would make virtually all Michigan workplaces smoke-free as of May.
The senate voted 24-13 last week to approve the bill. The House, which
had passed similar bills in recent years, approved it again, 75-30, also last
week. Gov. Jennifer Granholm has said she'll sign it. ... At last, it seems the
will of the people -- more than 70 percent of state residents have consistently
supported a ban -- is being heeded. Despite all that Big Tobacco money to the
contrary. To access the full editorial, click above.
Colorado
Supreme Court upholds ban of smoking on stage
12/16: The following is from a Dec. 15th Denver
Post article: In the first decision of its kind, the Colorado Supreme
Court on Monday [Dec. 14th] extinguished hopes that theater actors would be
exempted from a statewide smoking ban after all but one justice voted to uphold
lower-court decisions barring cigarette use in performances. The move
ends a three-year state fight in which a coalition of state and national
theater groups argued in multiple courts that the ban infringed on free-speech
rights and interfered with their abilities to accurately produce plays. Six justices found that regardless of whether
onstage smoking is a form of expression, the ban on smoking in public places is
constitutional because it aims to promote public health rather than stifle free
speech. No other state supreme court has decided a case involving a
free-speech opposition to a state smoking ban, according to attorney A. Bruce
Jones, who said his theater-company clients have not ruled out seeking a U.S.
Supreme Court decision on the topic. Click above for full article.
12/11: The following is from a Dec. 10th Detroit
Free Press report: The House
has sent to Gov. Jennifer Granholm for signing a bill to ban smoking in bars,
restaurants and all other workplaces, but allow smoking on the gaming floors of
Detroit's three casinos. However, the casino bars and restaurants would
be no-smoking zones. The landmark vote followed approval in the Senate on
a landmark bill that anti-smoking advocates have sought for more than a decade,
but which was opposed strenuously by bar and restaurant owners across the
state. The smoking ban would take effect May 1, making Michigan the
38th state with some form of state ban on smoking in public areas. "We have heard the message from the people
of Michigan," said Rep. Joan Bauer, D-Lansing, who cited numerous polls
showing the Michigan public supporting a public smoking ban. The Senate
voted 24-13 on a compromise that was led by Sen. Ron Jelinek, R-Three Oaks.
The House soon afterward voted 75-30 to concur with the Senate version,
with some House members applauding as the tally was announced. Jubilant
anti-smoking advocates celebrated with hugs outside of the House chamber after
the vote. "This is huge. We couldn't be more pleased," said Judy
Stewart, spokesperson for the campaign for Smokefree Air. "Michigan
is finally going to join the ranks of smokefree states. It's a historic
day." Click above to access the Free Press article. According to a Detroit News report: The House voted 75-30 for the long-awaited
measure, which makes exceptions for the three Detroit casinos, cigar bars,
specialty tobacco shops, home offices and motor vehicles, including commercial
trucks. The Senate voted 24-13 for
the bill earlier today. To access the Detroit News article, click here.
To access a copy of the bill as passed, click here.
States Spending Less
to Fight Smoking
12/11: The following is from a Dec. 10th New
York Times article: State governments are collecting record revenues from
tobacco companies but spending less and less of it on antismoking programs,
especially in New York, a group of health and advocacy organizations said in a
report released Wednesday. In the report, titled "A Broken
Promise to Our Children," the organizations said state governments had
reduced spending by 15 percent, to $567 million, for smoking prevention and
cessation programs in the fiscal year that ended in September. State
spending on antismoking programs accounted for only 2.3 percent of the more
than $25 billion that states are expected to collect from tobacco taxes and
payouts from the $246 billion settlement that states reached with tobacco
companies in 1998, the groups said in their 11th annual report since the
settlement. "It's a travesty
that only a small fraction of tobacco settlement funds is actually being used
to support tobacco prevention programs in states," Nancy Brown, chief
executive of the American Heart Association -- one of the groups behind the
report -- said in a statement. States are not required to spend the money
on antismoking programs. The National Conference of State Legislatures reported
Wednesday that states had to fill a cumulative budget gap of $145 billion this
year because of unprecedented revenue declines. States' tobacco-related
revenue has grown because 14 states have raised taxes on tobacco in the
recession and the payouts from the 1998 tobacco settlement increased in 2008.
Click above for the full article. To access the full report, click here.
Two Arkansas housing
authorities adopt smoke-free policies
12/10: In Arkansas, the Little Rock Housing
Authority and the Polk County Housing Authority have each adopted smoke-free
policies for some or all of their buildings. These are the first two HAs
in Arkansas to adopt smoke-free policies. The Little Rock HA has adopted
a smoke-free policy for all three of its high-rise buildings, with a total of
596 units in three buildings (428 units in two buildings for persons aged 50
and over, and 168 units of family housing in one building). The Polk
County HA adopted a smoke-free policy for all 182 units of its housing in 6
buildings. Both HA smoke-free policies go into effect on January 1, 2010.
There are now at least 136 housing authorities in the U.S. with
smoke-free policies for some or all their buildings. to access a list of all
these HAs, click above.
EDITORIAL: End Michigan's shame, pass smoking ban
12/10: The following is from a dec. 8th Detroit
Free Press editorial: The
Legislature has choked before, leaving residents and visitors to this fair
state still gasping as they encounter smoke-filled air in public places like
restaurants and bars. So let's review the arguments as lawmakers
contemplate one more attempt to limit smoking in Michigan. ... In a perfect
world, lawmakers would not exempt casino floors -- their workers deserve clean
lungs, too -- but after years of stalemate any significant smoke-free progress
would be welcome. Which leaves the hope that this time, finally,
lawmakers won't keep blowing smoke. Click above for the full editorial.
A Broken Promise to
Our Children: The 1998 State
Tobacco Settlement 11 Years Later
12/9: The following is from a report released
today: Since the November 1998 multi-state tobacco settlement, we have
issued annual reports assessing whether the states are keeping their promise to
use a significant portion of their settlement funds -- estimated at $246
billion over the first 25 years -- to attack the enormous public health
problems posed by tobacco use in the United States. In addition to the
billions they receive every year from the tobacco settlement, the states
collect billions more in tobacco taxes. This latest report, issued December
9, 2009, finds that the states are collecting record amounts of tobacco revenue
-- $25.1 billion this year alone -- but are spending less of it on programs to
prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. In fact, states have cut
funding for tobacco prevention programs by more than 15 percent in the past year. Only one state -- North Dakota -- currently
funds a tobacco prevention program at the level recommended by the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Only nine other states fund tobacco
prevention at even half the CDC-recommended level, while 31 states and DC
provide less than a quarter of the recommended funding. [Michigan
ranks 48th out the 50 states and D.C.]
This report is issued by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American
Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung
Association and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Click above for a fulll copy of the report.
For a copy of the chart ranking the states, click here.
12/8: The following is from a Dec. 7th Detroit
Free Press report: It could be
light up or lights out for a statewide smoking ban this week in the
Legislature. Senate Republicans will take another stab at prohibiting
smoking in all workplaces, including restaurants and bars. But whether to exempt
Detroit's casinos remains a key question. "It's time to get it
moving," said Sen. Ron Jelinek, R-Three Oaks, who is prodding fellow
Senate Republicans with a compromise. That plan would ban smoking in all
public places, but possibly allow it to some extent at the Detroit casino on
gaming floors, as well as in cigar bars. Smoking would be banned at the Detroit
casino restaurants and hotels, possibly answering concerns of bar owners about
giving a competitive advantage to the casinos. Jelinek and others said
with only a couple of weeks before a long holiday break, the Legislature is
under pressure to act on an issue that's been in stalemate for more than a
decade. ... The issue resurfaced last
week, as Senate Republicans discussed cracking a long-standing impasse: whether
to exempt Detroit's three casinos and cigar bars from a smoking ban that
restaurant and bar owners generally oppose. Click above for the full
article.
Radio
interview in Sault Ste. Marie about smoke-free apartments
12/4: On Dec. 1st, Julie Trotter of the Chippewa
County Health Department and Jim Bergman of TCSG's Smoke-Free Environments Law
Project were interviewed on Talk Radio 1400 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
concerning the MISmokeFreeApartment Initiative. This was part of a 3-day
series of events in the eastern Upper Peninsula to promote smoke-free apartment
policies being adopted for market-rate and affordable housing. The prior
day Julie, Jim and Donna Norkoli of the Sault Tribe Community Health Services
were interviewed on WSOO 1230. On Dec. 1st and 2nd, Jim did presentations
on smoke-free housing in Sault Ste. Marie and Manistique. On Nov. 30th,
Jim, Donna and Julie met with the Sault Tribe Housing Authority board to
discuss the possibility of their adopting a smoke-free policy for some or all
their approximately 500 units of housing across the Upper Peninsula. To access
a podcast of the Talk Radio 1400 interview, click above.
Cigarettes
in Michigan to be 'fire-safe'
12/4: According to a Nov. 29th Muskegon
Chronicle article: Local fire
officials are hailing a new law that will require manufacturers sell only
self-extinguishing cigarettes in Michigan as of Jan. 1. The measure is
expected to save lives and property lost to fires started by unattended smoking
materials. The move is a big step forward for fire safety, local fire
authorities agree. "It is a pretty significant issue in this area; It
rates right behind cooking-type fires as far as the frequency of causing
fires," said Fruitport Township Fire Chief Ken Doctor, a smoker himself.
"We can't dictate how people live. This is just one more step in the
overall fire safety process. Because smoking equipment is such a
significant portion of our business, it is definitely going to have an
impact." Last year, 319 fires across the state were reported to
have started by cigarettes. Four people were killed and 33 people injured in
those fires, which claimed a total property loss of nearly $8.5 million, said
Terry Fobbs, assistant to the state fire marshal. Michigan will become the 49th state to adopt laws
requiring cigarettes sold here after Jan. 1 to self-extinguish if left
unattended. The measure is part of the Fire Safety Standard and Firefighter
Protection Act, passed by the Michigan Legislature this summer. According to
the United States Fire Administration, states such as New York that have passed
fire-safe cigarette legislation have seen a 33 percent reduction in the number
of fire-related deaths and injuries caused by discarded smoking materials.
Click above for the full article.
For Some
Smokers, Even Home Is Off Limits
11/19: According to a Nov. 15th New York
Times article: The movement to ban
smoking in New York City has grown so quickly that no place seems immune --
certainly not restaurants or bars, and public beaches and parks may not be far
behind. Now the efforts are rapidly expanding into the living room. More
landlords are moving to prohibit smoking in their apartment buildings, telling
prospective tenants they can be evicted if they light up in them. This month, the Related Companies will ban
smoking at some of its downtown apartment buildings because of health concerns
about secondhand smoke, according to company officials. Smokers who
already live in any of these buildings will not be affected, according to Jeff
Brodsky, a president of Related, which is a national developer with 17
buildings in Manhattan. But any new renters must promise not to smoke at
home, even if they continue to elsewhere. Kenbar Management, a local
developer, is going a step further. When its new project, 1510 Lexington
Avenue, opens in December, smoking will be banned in all 298 units, in addition
to private and shared terraces. And the typical smoker's refuge -- directly
outside the building -- is also off limits; tenants must agree not to smoke on
any of the sidewalks that wrap around the building, which takes up most of a
block in East Harlem, according to Kinne Yon, a Kenbar principal. The
trend has predictably divided smokers and nonsmokers in New York. To
access the full article, click above.
Santa
Monica tenants demand tougher anti-smoking laws
11/12: According to a Nov. 11th Santa Monica
Daily Press article: There are many
days warm or cool when the windows to Mike Horelick's Santa Monica apartment
remain shut, keeping out ocean breezes, the fragrance of a neighbor's dinner
and cigarette smoke. It's the latter that forces the local screenwriter to
often seal his home, protecting his asthmatic 3-year-old daughter and
9-month-old son from the cigarette smoke that wafts from a neighbor's patio a
floor below. "We shut the doors, we shut the windows, which is
pretty inconvenient and not guaranteed to stop all the smoke anyway," he
said. Horelick is part of a group of residents who are calling on the
City Council to expand an ordinance that bans smoking in all common areas of
apartments and condominiums to also apply to balconies and patios, arguing the
current regulations, while a step in the right direction, don't go far enough.
Click above to access the full article.
Oregon
housing authorities ban indoor smoking
11/6: According to a Nov. 4th news report: Alan
Pape doesn't like going into smokers' apartments. But as the maintenance
mechanic for the North Bend City/Coos-Curry Housing Authorities, it's part of
the job. ... By March, Pape won't have to worry about nicotine-stained walls or
smelling like an ash tray at the end of the day. The two boards of
commissioners for the housing authorities adopted a no-indoor-smoking policy
for the apartments and buildings they own. The Woodland Apartments Preservation
Inc. and Powers Housing Development Inc. -- apartments managed by the housing
authorities -- also passed the same policy. The agencies provide section 8 and
low-income housing in North Bend, Coos Bay, Myrtle Point, Coquille and Port
Orford. Woodland and Powers have units in Empire and Powers. Ned Beman, the
executive director of the Housing Authorities, said the policy will likely
impact 475 residents. He estimated that about 21 percent smoke. The
policy bans smokers from lighting up inside units or other buildings owned by
the agencies. Those who smoke will be allowed to -- but outside at least
10 feet from a neighbor's door. It goes into effect on March 1. ... The
housing authority boards have been mulling the possibility for a few years, but
began seriously discussing it in September, after receiving a notice from the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that urged housing authorities
to adopt such policies. Beman said
the boards unanimously passed the policy because they felt doing so would
protect employees' health, reduce costs of preparing vacant units for rent and
even the playing field for Section 8 residents who already abide by similar
policies. The boards took public comment for 30 days. Those who wrote in
convinced the boards to drop a proposed 25-foot smoking distance to 10 feet,
but otherwise there were few complaints and some positive comments, the director
said. Cleaning up a smoker's apartment -- depending on the extent of the
smoke damage -- can cost up to an extra $1,000 in primer coating, paint and man
hour, Beman said. And often, those units still don't smell good. Click
above for the full article.
Ontario
apartment building going smoke-free
11/6: Russell Chandler has smoked for more than 50
years, but he is willing to curb his habit to be more neighbourly. He is
one of approximately 90 tenants of the South Chatham Village Apartments who
will have to adapt to a smoking ban coming effect at the apartment complex, Jan
1, 2010. "There's no hard feelings that they're doing that,"
Chandler said. Martin Vanderzwan, chairman of the apartment's board of
directors, said the smoking ban has been motivated by reducing the risk of fire
and reducing the known health effects of secondhand smoke. He said most
of the residents responded to a survey on implementing the ban. "It
was almost unanimous that we should have a nonsmoking policy," Vanderzwan
said. There are 67 units in the building, including seven or eight units
occupied by smokers, he said.
Vanderzwan said a meeting was held with tenants where there was good dialogue
and "we came to the conclusion that they're ready for something like
this." He added the tenants who smoke agreed with the ban if the
secondhand smoke bothers people. Vanderzwan said the ban will only apply
to tenants moving into the building in the New Year who sign a new lease with
the smoking ban clause included. The ban prohibits tenants, guests and service
people from smoking in any area of the property, including both private and
common areas, whether enclosed or outdoors. Smokers currently living in
the building will be allowed to smoke inside their apartments only with windows
and patio doors closed. Nick Davidovich, Chatham- Kent's tobacco enforcement
officer, said he's heard of a few other apartment buildings implementing a
no-smoking policy. He added the City of Waterloo recently passed a bylaw making
their public housing smoke-free. "It's kind of a movement happening in
Ontario towards this," Davidovich said. Click above for the full
article.
Cigarette
smoke wafting onto neighbor's patio brings lawsuit
11/6: The following is from a Nov. 5th news
article: This is the story of two neighbors and a dispute over secondhand smoke
in the Sacramento suburb of El Dorado Hills. ... A California couple has filed
a lawsuit seeking relief from their next-door neighbor's second-hand cigarette
smoke. Richard and Donna Ganguet were the first to move into a gated
community for people age 55 and older. That was 2006. Today, they claim the
cigar and cigarette smoke wafts into their yard from the property of neighbor
has caused an intolerable situation. They've tried dispersing the smoke,
first with a small fan (which didn't work) and then by renting an industrial
fan (which was noisy, and they didn't want to disturb other neighbors). They
say they no longer sit on their patio and try to sandwich in swims in the
side-yard lap pool between their neighbors' smoking sessions. The neighbor
is Florence Solone. Her son, his sister and brother-in-law all live with Mrs.
Solone and they smoke outdoors because, "My mother doesn't allow smoking
in the house." He also says he didn't know the smoke was a problem
until his mother learned of the lawsuit, which was filed last month.
Click above for the full article.
10/30: The following is from an Oct. 26th Los
Angeles Times editorial:
Introduced in the United States two years ago, electronic cigarettes are
no longer a novelty item but a popular option for many smokers -- especially
those who want to quit. Inhaling on the cigarette-shaped device activates a
built-in battery, which heats up a mixture of water, nicotine and propylene
glycol to give the "smoker" a vapor hit of the addictive substance
found in cigarettes -- but without the smoke. It even lights up at the other
end, mimicking the tip of a cigarette. E-cigarettes are the latest of
a wave of nicotine-packing products -- including bottled water and lollipops --
to face the wrath of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The agency believes
it has the authority to regulate them.
But marketers of the electronic devices, most of which are made in China, are
putting up a big fight. They have sued, arguing that the FDA has no
jurisdiction over their merchandise because, unlike nicotine patches or gum,
which the agency does regulate, it is not a smoking-cessation product. They
also deny the FDA's contention that e-cigarettes are a drug-delivery device,
which the agency also regulates. In their zeal to avoid regulation,
though, spokesmen for this fast-growing business have been engaging in
doublespeak. They argue that e-cigarettes are just a "smoking
alternative," and in the same breath tout their superiority over gum or
patches as a way to divert smokers from tobacco products. ... The agency wants
sales of the devices halted until, as with other drug products, animal studies
and clinical trials determine whether they are indeed safe. We agree. A check of Internet chat sites shows that the devices
are regularly used by smokers trying to quit tobacco. Should the courts rule
against the FDA, Congress will have to step in. With the ever-expanding
peddling of nicotine in the United States, the public needs federal oversight
of attempts to advance an addictive drug. Click above to access the full
editorial.
Canadian National Conference on Tobacco
or Health runs Nov. 1-4, 2009
10/30: The Program Committee of the Canadian
National Conference on Tobacco or Health is developing a dynamic program to present
the latest evidence, research findings, programs, and activities in Canadian
tobacco control and around the world. More information will be posted as plans
progress. The plenary and symposia sessions will explore the critical
elements of tobacco control's future, while the concurrent sessions will probe
key issues including plain packaging, retail reform, Bill C-32, new products,
new frontiers in second-hand smoke, industry litigation, contraband and the
implication of new nicotine addiction research and the use of NRT's in
cessation. There will be two sessions on smoke-free multi-unit housing
(SF MUDS), and this topic will be touched on in a couple of other sessions. To see the draft program, click above.
Rep. Lori works on Michigan smoking ban
10/29: According to an Oct. 27th WLKM report:
State Rep. Matt Lori is working with a bipartisan group of House
lawmakers to figure out a new strategy for getting a smoking ban signed into
law. Earlier this year, the House approved legislation to ban smoking in
most public places, including bars and restaurants, but that plan has since
stalled in the Senate because it exempts casino gambling floors, cigar bars and
tobacco shops from the proposed ban. Senate leaders have repeatedly said
they will only support a total ban, so as not to create an unfair competitive
advantage for some businesses over others. Last year, the Senate approved a
total smoking ban, but that plan fell six votes short in the House. "It
seems pretty clear the Senate is only willing to support a total ban, no
exemptions, and I think we have enough support for a total ban in the House, so
that's the direction I think we are going to go," said Lori, of
Constantine. The first-term
lawmaker said he is hopeful a vote will happened before the end of the year.
Click above for the full report.
10/28: A review in the Canadian Medical Association
Journal (CMAJ) reveals that Imperial Tobacco Canada attempted to destroy
documents that contained high-quality scientific evidence that cigarette smoke
was carcinogenic and addictive. These studies had significant implications for
government tobacco-control programs. This is the opening analysis of the
60 scientific reports dating from 1967 to 1984. They were destroyed in Canada
in 1992 but stored at British American Tobacco headquarters in the United
Kingdom. "The research standards of the studies reported in the destroyed
documents was equal to and, in many cases, exceeded the standards of
peer-reviewed scientific research published during the same period,"
explains Dr. David Hammond, University of Waterloo, and coauthors. "The
destroyed documents reveal a vast body of scientific evidence on the health
effects of smoking." On September 28, 2009, the province of
Ontario launched a $50 billion lawsuit against Imperial Tobacco. In addition,
British Columbia and New Brunswick have also filed lawsuits against the
company. Several of the
destroyed documents report the carcinogenic components of tobacco smoke and
describe testing for differences between tobacco brands (which differed little
in their carcinogenic activity). Other studies considered the effect of
filters. ... A total of eleven of the destroyed documents focused on original
research about the effects of second-hand smoke. Most of the experiments were
performed on rats. These studies indicated cellular changes from second-hand
smoke. The authors write: "The scientists concluded that second-hand smoke
was in fact more toxic than mainstream smoke "especially for low delivery
cigarettes."" Click above for full news report.
Wynn
Las Vegas sued by workers for second hand smoke risk
10/27: The following is from an Oct. 22nd Las
Vegas Examiner article: Lawyers for
casino employees of Wynn Las Vegas have filed a class action suit citing the
negative health effects of second hand smoke exposure. This is the second high
profile casino employee group to file suit against employers and follows a similar
action by workers at Caesar's Palace (a Harrah's property) which filed
litigation proceedings this past July. The Kamber Edelson law firm from Chicago
is involved in the litigation of both groups and suits. The suit alleges
that chronic employee exposure to second hand smoke leads to an array of
ill-health symptoms including eye irritation, coughing, sore throat, wheezing,
asthma, headaches, and ingestion of carcinogenic toxins and chemicals. Further,
the legalese in the suit includes evidence of measures taken by some Vegas
casinos (eg Bellagio and Palazzo) to reduce exposure to smoke by employees.
As pointed out in a previous Las Vegas Examiner article , casinos
everywhere have always resisted smoking bans in their establishments because of
the high correlation of gambling, gamblers, and smoking. They've resisted it
because they expected such bans to negatively effect revenues and their bottom
lines. The fact that there are numerous smoking bans in other public gathering
venues and not in casinos is a direct testament to casino ownership and
management's power and political influence, particularly in Las Vegas.
Click above for the full article.
10/23: On October 20th, the Charlevoix Housing
Commission adopted a smoke-free policy for its 62-unit Pine River Place
apartments for the elderly and disabled. The policy went into effect immediately
for all new residents and current residents who are not smokers, as well as
guests and staff. Current residents who are smokers are exempted from the
policy for as long as they live in their current unit. Under this new
policy, secondhand smoke and other damage caused by smoking or tobacco products
will not be considered ordinary wear and tear, and some or all of the
resident's security deposit may be retained by the housing commission to cover
costs of damage caused by smoking or tobacco products; damage above and beyond
the amount of the security deposit may be billed to the resident.
Further, it is the resident's responsibility to take steps to keep
smoking residue from building up in units, including more frequent cleaning and
wall washing, etc. Annual inspections of units will be utilized to ensure
that apartment residents are following this part of the policy. Charlevoix
becomes the 32nd public housing commission in Michigan to adopt a smoke-free
policy. It has been our
pleasure working with Rob Harrison, the Executive Director of the Charlevoix
Housing Commission on this policy. Charlevoix is a located in northern
Michigan on Lake Michigan, and is known as "Charlevoix the
beautiful". The 32 Michigan housing commissions with smoke-free
policies have about 56 apartment buildings/developments and over 60
townhouses/scattered site units. A total of at least 4,158 apartment
units are covered by the local Michigan housing authority smoke-free policies.
More are in the pipeline. There are now at least 129 housing authorities
in the U.S. with smoke-free policies for some or all their buildings. To
access a copy of the list of 129 housing authorities in the U.S. that have
adopted smoke-free policies for some or all their buildings, click above.
Institute
of Medicine report concludes smoke-free laws prevent heart attacks
10/23: The Institute of Medicineon October 15th
released its long-awaited report concluding that secondhand smoke causes heart
attacks, while smoke-free laws prevent heart attacks and save lives. The report
also finds compelling evidence that even relatively brief exposure to
secondhand smoke can cause heart attacks. This report makes the case for
smoke-free laws to the media, policy makers and other audiences. It
demonstrates why states and localities that have yet to enact comprehensive
laws should do so quickly; why those that still have loopholes in their laws
should close them; why those currently implementing laws should make sure they
are effectively implemented and strongly enforced; and why states and
localities that have passed and effectively implemented comprehensive laws have
done the right thing to protect health and save lives. The IOM's
materials can be found by clicking above.
More Apartment Owners Using
No-Smoking Strategies
10/23: Warren Nisley liked the "green"
features of the new Morgan at Loyola Station in Rogers Park when he was
apartment hunting. The mixed-use building near Loyola University Chicago
has 152 apartments, is near public transportation and boasts eco-friendly
features such as water-saving fixtures and efforts to improve internal air
quality with low-gas-emitting paints and a no-smoking policy for all residents
and guests. The smoke-free environment wasn't the only criterion for
deciding to live in the building, but it was part of a package that Nisley, 52,
found appealing. "I'm more sensitive to second-hand smoke than I used to
be," said the system architect for Orbitz, the travel Web site.
"I don't disapprove of smoking, but I like the fact that there will
be none." "We decided to design the building according to LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards to promote a healthy
environment and lifestyle," said Pamela Austin, project manager of
development for McCaffery Interests, owner of the Morgan. "No smoking
seemed like a logical extension of that." Opened in May, the Morgan,
1209 W. Arthur Ave., is not the only new apartment building hanging out a
no-smoking sign. AMLI 900, a 24-story rental building at 900 S. Clark St. in
the South Loop, also bans smoking by residents and guests. ... The number of
leases with no-smoking clauses has been growing in recent years, said Maurice
Ortiz, marketing director for Apartment People, a finding service that operates
from the Loop to Evanston. Still,
no-smoking listings are no more than 10 to 15 percent of his firm's total.
"More owners would like to establish smoke-free policies," he
said, but "the market is just too competitive. The current supply of
apartments in Chicago far exceeds the demand and, therefore, forces owners to
be more flexible with their policies and restrictions." McCaffery
and AMLI executives disagree. They contend going smoke-free is a
quality-of-life amenity, a competitive advantage in some cases, thanks to
changing attitudes about health and the environment. Click above for the full article.
10/19: On October 13th, the Monroe Housing
Commission voted unanimously (5 to 0) to formally adopt a smoke-free policy for
all their buildings; earlier, on September 8th, the board had voted to go
smoke-free, but did not have the formal language of the policy before them.
The policy is to go into effect November 1, 2009 for all residents,
including current residents who are smokers. The housing commission has a 7-story, 148 unit,
high-rise for elderly and disabled (River Park Plaza), and a 115-unit family
housing building (Greenwood), plus 30 single family houses; a total of 293
units. The policy will allow smoking outdoors, but only in designated areas, if
any. It was a great pleasure working with Nancy Wain, the Executive
Director of the Monroe Housing Authority on this. Adoption of this policy
makes Monroe the 31st housing commission in Michigan to adopt a smoke-free
policy and the 125th in the nation. To access a copy of the list of 125
housing authorities in the U.S. that have adopted smoke-free policies for some
or all their buildings, click above.
Tobacco
products to be tamped out by 2011 on University of Montana campus
10/19: According to an Oct. 13th article in the Montana
Kaimin newspaper: The University of
Montana is on its way to becoming a tobacco-free campus by fall 2011. The UM
president's office endorsed a timeline for phasing in policy starting this
semester, according to UM Executive Vice President Jim Foley. The first phase
includes sending questionnaires to faculty and staff, because students were
already surveyed. The ASUM Senate passed a resolution supporting the plan last
Wednesday. However, it's not a "take it or leave it" plan,
Foley said. The steps leading to completion in 2011 will give everyone the
opportunity to talk about an issue that should be discussed, he said. Julee
Stearns, UM health promotion specialist and chair of the UM Tobacco Task Force
that drafted the plan, said that as of Oct. 2, there are at least 322
smoke-free campuses and 172 tobacco-free campuses nationwide. Montana Tech will also be completely tobacco-free in
July 2010. The tobacco-free plan, drafted at the request of UM President George
Dennison, aims to ensure the campus environment is healthy and accessible for
everyone, Stearns said. Stearns said 76 percent of UM students surveyed
reported that they encountered more second-hand smoke on campus than in any
other location. Another 71 percent support restricting tobacco use on campus
and over 90 percent think it is important to address tobacco use on campus, she
said. Click above for full article.
Waterloo
Region, Ontario adopts smoke-free policy for affordable housing
10/9: Historic news from the Waterloo Region of
Ontario. On October 6th, the Community Services Committee of the Regional
Municipality of Waterloo (which includes the cities/townships of Waterloo,
Kitchener, Cambridge, Wellesley, North Dumfries, Wilmot, and Woolwich) voted to
approve a smoke-free policy for all buildings and property of "regionally
owned community housing" in the Waterloo Region. The policy covers
about 2,700 units of "social housing", also known as "affordable
or low and moderate income housing". The Waterloo Region Housing
manages 2,591 community housing units owned by the Region of Waterloo, many of
which are elderly and disabled housing. These units are located in
Kitchener, Cambridge, Waterloo, Woolwich and Wellesley. The new policy
will receive final approval at the October 14th Regional Council meeting, and
the approval is certain since the Community Services Committee that voted on
October 6th is a committee of the whole of the Regional Council. The
new policy is historic because it is the first such public housing policy in
Ontario and only the second in all of Canada. With over 2,700 units, it
is also constitutes one of the largest impact policies in the country. The policy says that all new leases signed by
residents after April 1, 2010 will include a provision saying that no smoking
will be allowed inside their units or in common areas, and outdoor smoking by
the resident will be restricted to at least 5 meters away from any windows,
entrances or exits to the building. Ontario provincial laws prevent
the smoke-free policy from applying to current residents. Therefore, the
buildings covered will have to transition to being fully smoke-free over time,
as current smokers move out. Notwithstanding the
"grandfathering" of current smokers, this is a very important victory
and will, undoubtedly, serve as a catalyst for other governmental units across
Canada to also adopt smoke-free policies. The push for this policy began
with resident complaints of secondhand smoke intrusions into apartment units.
In the spring of this year,
representatives of the Waterloo Region Housing Division and the Tobacco Program
of the Region of Waterloo Public Health, together with tenants and the legal
department, conducted a detailed study of the matter, met with residents,
conducted resident surveys, and produced a report which was presented to the
Community Services Committee. Among the key players in this process were:
Mary Sehl, Manager of Tobacco Programs for the Region of Waterloo Public
Health; Irwin Peters, Manager of Waterloo Region Housing; and Laurie Nagge,
Public Health Nurse in the Tobacco Program. Many others were also deeply
involved in this victory, including Pippa Beck of the Non-Smokers Rights
Association, and other tobacco control leaders across Ontario and Canada.
Jim Bergman of the Smoke-Free Environments Law Project of The Center for
Social Gerontology, Inc. had the pleasure to have also worked with the Waterloo
Region folks, and he was invited to speak at the October 6th hearing, together
with Brian King of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY. The
agenda for the meeting, with a link to the smoke-free housing report, can be
accessed by clicking above.
HUD's
ECO-WISE, September, 2009 newsletter focuses on smoke-free housing
10/9: The HUD Eco-Wise newsletter for September
has its lead story "HUD Encourages PHAs to Become Smoke-Free".
The article describes the HUD Notice issued on July 17th which strongly
encourages public housing authorities (PHAs) to adopt smoke-free policies for
their buildings. This very important Notice was a very strong statement
from HUD to PHAs that HUD affirms that such smoke-free policies are legal and
that it make great sense from a health perspective and as a way of reducing
maintenance costs to PHAs. To access the article, in pdf format, click
above.
Nevada
Supreme Court: Smoking ban constitutional, minus criminal sanctions
10/1: According to a Sept. 24th Las Vegas Sun report: The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that
a voter-approved ban on smoking in such places as schools and indoor places of
employment was constitutional. But the court held that the criminal
sanctions could not be imposed because the language was vague. Voters in
2006 approved a change in the law to ban smoking in such places as schools and
indoor places of employment. But the law exempted gaming areas in casinos,
stand-alone bars, strip clubs and brothels. The passage was immediately
challenged by businesses including Flamingo Paradise Gaming, Terrible's Hotel
and Casino, the Nevada Tavern Owners Association and Cardivan Corporation.
Clark County District Judge Douglas Herndon ruled the law was unconstitutionally
vague for criminal enforcement. But it survived the test for civil enforcement.
Chief Justice James Hardesty, who wrote the majority Supreme Court
opinion, said the criminal portion of the law failed to provide sufficient
notice of what conduct is prohibited and it allows for arbitrary enforcement.
Click above for the full article.
HUD's Non-Smoking Policy
Notice for Public Housing Could Stamp Out Tobacco for Good
9/30: The following is from a news note on the
web site of the American Association of Homes & Services for the Aging (AAHSA): Public and Indian housing authorities
are permitted and "strongly" encouraged to implement non-smoking
policies -- including smoking cessation at lease renewal -- the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced July 17, 2009, signaling that
an agencywide shift toward smoke-free federally assisted housing may be in the
offing. AAHSA views this as an encouraging development given that, as
HUD noted, elderly populations -- which make up 15 percent of the residents
living in public housing -- are especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of
smoking. Even though HUD's notice
only applies to public and Indian housing, it's possible that HUD's multifamily
office could follow suit with similar guidance. Until that time, the PIH
notice provides guidance that can be helpful for providers interested in having
smoke free environments in senior housing. Environmental Tobacco Smoke,
officials said, can migrate between multifamily housing units, causing
respiratory illness, heart disease, cancer and other ill effects. Fire is
another concern. Federal data show that in multifamily buildings, 26 percent of
fire deaths in 2005 were smoking-related -- the leading cause of fire deaths.
"By reducing the public health risks associated with tobacco use,
this notice will enhance the effectiveness of the Department's efforts to
provide increased public health protection for residents of public housing,"
HUD said. PHAs have wide latitude to stamp out smoking, as long as they
stay within state and local laws, HUD said. More than 114 PHAs and housing
commissions around the country have gone non-smoking in one or more apartment
buildings so far, according to the Smoke-Free Environments Law Project at The
Center for Social Gerontology, a Michigan-based organization that keeps a
running tally of smoke-free policies in public housing. With this new
notice, there could be a broad proliferation of non-smoking public housing
policies around the country.
Click above to access the AAHSA note.
Waterloo, Ontario region
considers smoking ban in public housing after residents' complaints
9/29: The following is from a September 26th The
Record article: Complaints from
tenants about second-hand smoke have prompted Waterloo Region to consider
banning smoking in their multi-unit dwellings. "In general, I would
support some kind of restrictions with respect to second-hand smoke" said
Coun. Sean Strickland, chair of regional council's community services
committee, which oversees regional housing. A report on the issue is
slated to be before regional council next month. ... While provincial laws ban
smoking in common areas of apartment and condominium buildings, they do not
prohibit smoking in private units. Canadian courts have recognized the
need to protect non-smokers from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke, the
regional report said. Recently, some residential tribunals have ruled that
second-hand smoke seeping into a tenant's home constitutes an unreasonable
disturbance and ordered remedies ranging from repairs to buildings to
permission to break leases. And many landlords in Ontario have included
no-smoking clauses in new tenancy agreements, the report said. About 80
American public housing organizations have adopted smoke-free policies; and
more Canadian municipalities, like the City of Hamilton, are getting on board.
Click above to access the full article.
Smoking bans 'cut heart
attacks'
9/23: According to a Sept. 21st BBC article:
Bans on smoking in public places have had a bigger impact on preventing
heart attacks than ever expected, data shows. Smoking bans cut the number
of heart attacks in Europe and North America by up to a third, two studies
report. This "heart gain" is far greater than both originally
anticipated and the 10% figure recently quoted by England's Department of Health.
The studies appear in two leading journals - Circulation and the Journal of the American College of
Cardiology. Heart attacks in
the UK alone affect an estimated 275,000 people and kill 146,000 each year.
Earlier this month it was announced that heart attack rates fell by about
10% in England in the year after the ban on smoking in public places was
introduced in July 2007 - which is more than originally anticipated. But
the latest work, based on the results of numerous different studies
collectively involving millions of people, indicated that smoking bans have
reduced heart attack rates by as much as 26% per year. Dr James Lightwood, of the University of California
at San Francisco, led the Circulation study that pooled together 13 separate
analyses. His team found that heart attack rates across Europe and North
America started to drop immediately following implementation of anti-smoking
laws, reaching 17% after one year, then continuing to decline over time, with a
36% drop three years after enacting the restrictions. Dr Lightwood said:
"While we obviously won't bring heart attack rates to zero, these findings
give us evidence that in the short-to-medium-term, smoking bans will prevent a
lot of heart attacks. "This study adds to the already strong
evidence that second-hand smoke causes heart attacks, and that passing 100%
smoke-free laws in all workplaces and public places is something we can do to
protect the public." To access the full article, click above.
Distance
Rule Set for Smoking at Rockville, Maryland Playgrounds
9/16: The following is from a Sept. 15th Washington
Post article: Rockville officials are
planning friendly little signs. Maybe something like: "Children at
Play -- Please Smoke 40 Feet Away From the Playground." That's no
nanny-state overreach, they insist. It's about as slight an inconvenience as
the city can muster. "We're really not asking them to go too far out of
their way," said Burt Hall, Rockville's director of recreation and parks.
The city council voted Monday night to ban lighting up near
playgrounds in city parks.
Rockville's park advisory board had unanimously endorsed the plan, which sprang
from a few complaints. Even tighter rules may be on the way. Some residents had pushed for a total ban on smoking
in parks, a concept also floated Monday by a top health official in New York
City. That idea was not voted on Monday, but most on the council said they
would be open to considering a broader ban later. "We're supposed to
be outdoors being healthy, not smoking or spreading secondhand smoke to
others," Mayor Susan R. Hoffmann said. The playground proposal
emerged from fertile territory for smoking bans. Montgomery County's restaurant
smoking ban, which took effect in 2003, was touted as a trendsetter, and
Montgomery College bans the use of all tobacco products on campus, even in
private cars. In Rockville, smoking is banned at a dog park. "It
wasn't a huge groundswell. We didn't hear from hundreds of people. We heard
from three. It was a good idea. It's actually a no-brainer," Hall said.
"Secondhand smoke is proven dangerous. It's also obnoxious."
Click above for full article.
Boise
City/Ada County Housing Authority becomes 3rd Idaho housing authority to go
smoke-free
9/15: The Boise City/Ada County Housing
Authority (BCACHA) has adopted a smoke-free policy for all of its 3 buildings,
with 214 units of elderly, disabled and family housing. The policy will
be effective on November 1, 2009. Idaho is taking a real lead on smoke-free
multi-unit housing for low-income people. Together with the Nampa Housing
Authority and the Caldwell Housing Authority, I believe they now have their
three biggest housing authorities in Idaho all with smoke-free policies for all
their housing. Nampa was first in the fall of 2007, and Caldwell followed
on January 1, 2009. Congratulations to all the Idaho folks who worked on this.
We're pleased to have been able to play a small part in this. To
access the BCACHA web site click above. To access our listing of
smoke-free housing authorities, click here.
New
York City Seeks Ban on Smoking in Parks and Beaches
9/15: The following is from a Sept. 14th New
York Times report: When New
York City's smoking ban took effect in 2003, cigarette and cigar puffers were
driven outdoors. But soon the outdoors -- or at least much of it -- may
no longer be an option. The city's health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A.
Farley, announced on Monday that the Bloomberg administration would seek to ban
smoking in city parks and beaches.
Such bans are rare but not unprecedented. A number of municipalities have
banned smoking in outdoor parks, playgrounds and beaches. In 2007, Los Angeles
prohibited smoking in its city parks in 2007, and Chicago banned smoking along
its beachfront and in parks with playgrounds and play lots. This year,
California lawmakers took up a measure to prohibit smoking in state parks and
beaches. The proposed ban on smoking was contained on Page 10 of a
41-page document [pdf], "Take Care New York 2012," that put forth
health policy goals for the next three years, but it quickly became the focus
of attention on Monday. Dr. Farley said the proposal -- which may require
the approval of the City Council -- was part of a broader strategy to further
curb smoking rates, which have plummeted in much of the city in recent years. The
strategy would, among other things, include increasing local, state and federal
taxes on tobacco and urging organizations and businesses in the city to reject
financing and sponsorship from the tobacco industry. The smoking rate in New York City fell to 16.9
percent in 2007 from 21.5 percent in 2002, the year the city enacted a ban on
workplace smoking. The proposal to ban smoking in parks and beaches drew
praise from public health advocates and criticism from one of the nation's
biggest tobacco manufacturers. Click above for the full article.
COMMENTARY: Say yes to more tobacco taxes
9/14: The following is from an Op-Ed piece in
the Sept. 11th Detroit Free Press
by Univ. of Michigan professor Ken Warner: Gov. Jennifer Granholm's budget plan
includes a tax increase on cigarettes and other tobacco products. These tax
changes are reasonable and strongly supported by voters. ... Raising tobacco
taxes will generate needed revenue for Michigan, and a portion of that revenue
should be used to fund tobacco prevention and to help people quit. Studies in
other states show that investing in tobacco prevention simultaneously improves
health and saves money. For example, between 1989 – when the state-funded
California tobacco prevention program began – and 2004, the tobacco program
saved $86 billion in health care costs while the state spent $1.8 billion on
the program, for a nearly 50-1 return on investment. Gov. Granholm
proposed a 25-cent increase in the cigarette tax and a doubling of the tax on
other tobacco products. While these increases would reap health and economic
benefits, a more significant increase would have a larger impact on both the
public's health and the health of the budget. A 50-cent cigarette tax increase
would raise $108 million in new annual revenue, while equalizing the tax on
other tobacco products would raise another $59 million. In addition, a 50-cent
increase in the price of cigarettes would prevent 48,600 of Michigan's children
from becoming smokers. Equalizing other tobacco taxes with a $2.50 cigarette
tax would reduce youth tobacco use by almost half. Click above for the
full Op-Ed piece.
9/11: On September 8th, the Monroe Housing
Commission voted unanimously (5 to 0) to adopt a smoke-free policy for all
their buildings. The policy is to go into effect November 1, 2009 for all
residents, including current residents who are smokers. The housing
commission has a 7-story, 148 unit, high-rise for elderly and disabled (River
Park Plaza), and a 115-unit family housing building (Greenwood), plus 30 single
family houses; a total of 293 units. The policy will allow smoking
outdoors, but only in designated areas, if any. It was a great pleasure
working with Nancy Wain, the Executive Director of the Monroe Housing Authority
on this. Adoption of this policy makes Monroe the 31st housing commission
in Michigan to adopt a smoke-free policy and the 125th in the nation. To
access a copy of the list of 125 housing authorities in the U.S. that have
adopted smoke-free policies for some or all their buildings, click above.
Leelanau,
Benzie workplaces to go smoke-free
9/8: According to a Sept. 4th Traverse City
Record-Eagle article: Leaders
in Leelanau and Benzie counties made their communities' indoor workplaces smoke-free.
The law is a welcome change that will prevent public exposure to
dangerous second-hand smoke, some believe, while others suggest the new law
infringes on free enterprise and individual choice. The new regulation does
not impact bars, restaurants, tobacco shops and tribal casinos and will become
effective Nov. 16. "I
think it's a great idea," said Ed Beuerle, owner of Northern Lumber
Company in Suttons Bay. Smoking already is forbidden at his business,
primarily because there is "a lot of lumber laying around," he said,
but it's good policy for all businesses. "It's more healthy for
employees working in the stores and for customers. If people want to smoke,
they can walk outside and smoke," Beuerle said. The Leelanau County Board
of Commissioners approved the measure last month and Benzie County leaders did
the same in July. Click above to acess the full article.
Kansas
Governor Parkinson to push for statewide smoking ban and may seek increase in
cigarette tax
9/4: According to a Sept. 1st Lawrence
Journal-World article: Gov.
Mark Parkinson on Tuesday said he would push for a statewide ban on smoking in
public places when the Legislature convenes in January, and he may propose
increasing the cigarette tax. "We are going to put our full effort
behind it," Parkinson said of the smoking ban. His comment, made during a
speech to the Governor's Council on Fitness, drew applause. Andrew
Allison, acting director of the Kansas Health Policy Authority, said he was
pleased to hear of Parkinson's support of a clean indoor air law. Click
above for the full article.
9/2: The latest issue of the Legal Update, the newsletter of the Tobacco Control Legal
Consortium, is now available. This issue features three new publications
from the Consortium, two of which address questions you may have about the landmark
Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which President Obama signed
into law June 22, 2009. The first publication describes key provisions of
the new legislation; the second describes how the new law is likely to impact
tobacco control measures state and local governments can take now that the FDA
will regulate tobacco products and tobacco product marketing. Our third new
publication is an expansion and update of Legal Authority to Regulate
Smoking and Common Threats and Challenges: 2009, written by Cheryl Sbarra, J.D., author of our 2004
synopsis. The Legal Update also features items on a few significant tobacco lawsuits, including
the latest in e-cigarette litigation, a federal class action lawsuit against
Caesar's Palace casino over worker exposure to secondhand smoke, and an
employment case involving a worker who was fired for smoking off the job.
We include an Ask A Lawyer piece by SFELP's Jim Bergman on smoking in
public housing, and items on recent smoke-free laws in Brazil and Taiwan.
We also introduce a new Profiles in Public Health Law feature, which
showcases individuals with distinguished careers and records of accomplishments
in public health law; SFELP's Cliff Douglas is featured. Finally, we
provide links to useful tobacco law-related resources and information on
upcoming tobacco law events. To access the Legal Update, click above.
SMOKE-FREE PUBLIC
HOUSING: IT'S LEGAL, PROFITABLE
& HUD SUPPORTS IT
8/28: On August 26, 2009 at the Texas Housing
Association Annual Conference in Fort Worth, SFELP Director Jim Bergman gave a
presentation of the above title. The presentation focused on smoke-free
policies in public housing, with special attention to the HUD notice issued on
July 17, 2009 in which HUD strongly encouraged public housing authorities
(PHAs) to adopt smoke-free policies for some or all their buildings. Included
in the 56-slide PowerPoint presentation was additional information on ways in
which HUD was now encouraging PHAs to adopt smoke-free policies, including in
their 2009 Healthy Homes Strategic Plan and in their scoring for the award of
HUD stimulus funds to PHAs. Also included in the presentation was
information on the cost savings and fire prevention reasons for adopting
smoke-free policies, as well as demographic and marketing reasons for doing so.
Examples were provided of public housing and other affordable housing
entities that have adopted smoke-free policies, as well as housing industry
trends. To access the 56-slide PowerPoint presentation, click
above. To access a pdf copy of the presentation, with 6-slides per page,
click on here. To
access a copy of the HUD July 17, 2009 Notice click here.
Neighbor
sues over secondhand smoke; Woman with sick child says cigarette smoke comes
through vents
8/6: According to an August 5th story in the New
york City Metro: Christie Ewen's
neighbor is a smoker whose secondhand smoke come through the vents and she's
suing him to make him stop. "We have to keep the windows open,"
Ewen said. "In the winter it's impossible. In the summer we get
mosquitoes." Ewen, 38, says her 3-year-old daughter has respiratory
problems and cigarette smoke keeps the family up at night in their $2 million
Tribeca condo. "It's a common complaint, but not a common
lawsuit," said David Kaminsky, a Manhattan real estate lawyer not involved
with the case. The neighbor could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Ewen failed to rally the two-thirds of the 250 apartments she needed to make
200 Chambers Street a smoke-free building. While apartment life spawns
complaints, it has also bred respect for people's right to behave as they want
within the law. "It's my domain, my castle," said smoker Hector
Fonseca, 50, of Staten Island. "I should be able to do what I want
in private." "People can't play music after 10. You can't cure
fish in your home," Ewen said. "There are rules." To
access the story, click above.
HUD issues notice strongly
encouraging public housing agencies to adopt smoke-free policies
8/6: On July 17th, the federal Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a Notice (PIH-2009-21 (HA)) titled
"Non-Smoking Policies in Public Housing". The notice stated that
HUD "strongly encourages Public housing Authorities (PHAs) to implement
non-smoking policies in some or all of their public housing units."
The notice goes on to encourage PHAs to adopt smoke-free policies in
their buildings, including in common areas and in individual units. The
HUD notice describes the health problems associated with secondhand smoke and
also points out the additional costs to PHAs of rehabbing units in which
smokers have lived. This is an extremely important statement by HUD and
is likely to encourage many more PHAs to adopt smoke-free policies.
Already about 120 PHAs have adopted smoke-free policies for some or all
their buildings. To access the HUD notice on the SFELP site, click above.
7/13: The Smoke-Free Environments Law Project
maintains this up-dated listing of all the public housing authorities/commissions
in the U.S. that we know of which have adopted smoke-free policies for one or
more of their apartment buildings. The listing is done largely in the
order in which the policies have been adopted. As of May, 2009, at least
114 local housing authorities had adopted smoke-free policies for some or all
of their apartment buildings, with about 96 being adopted since the beginning
of January, 2005; an average of over 1.8 per month. That constitutes an
increase in the number of housing authorities with smoke-free policies of about
660% in 53 months. The 17 states with such policies include Michigan
(29), Minnesota (19), Maine (18), Colorado (11), California (7), Nebraska (6),
Washington (5), New Hampshire (3), Oregon (3), Alaska (3) New Jersey (2), Wisconsin
(2), Idaho (2), Florida, Montana, Indiana, and Kentucky. To access the
listing, in pdf format, click above.
7/2: The Malibu City Council on Monday June 22nd
voted to adopt an ordinance that would prohibit smoking in public open spaces
beginning July 31. The ordinance, as proposed, would ban smoking within
20 feet of a public event, such as a farmers' market. It would also ban smoking
within 20 feet of outdoor dining areas on public or private property, such as
hotels and supermarkets. Businesses with outdoor dining areas would be
also required to conspicuously post and maintain "no smoking" signs
within the area. The cost to implement such an ordinance has not yet been
determined, but will be based on the amount of public outreach and level of
enforcement, a city report states. All council members except John
Sibert, who did not attend the Monday meeting, supported the ordinance.
Click above for full article.
7/1: The following is from a June 27th Columbian article: In 1988, they banned it in airplanes. In 1994,
in offices. In 2006, the bars. And this month, they finally banned
smoking in Teri Richard's apartment building. "When I grew up, there
was a big ashtray on everybody's table," said Richard, 53, sitting under a
small corner of awning that stretches 25 feet from the nearest door.
Though Richard and a handful of her neighbors are only the latest of
millions of tenants across the country to choose such indignities for the sake
of an addiction, these tenants have an unusual landlord: the Vancouver Housing
Authority. The new decision by Clark County's subsidized housing agency
to ban smoking in some of its properties reflects Washington's successful
crusade to drive down cigarette use. ... After years of debate, the VHA
banned smoking indoors and on the balconies of Richard's building at the start
of June. The company that manages the
property has left notes on apartments but is still working out how the new
rules would be enforced. On Wednesday, Columbia House in the Hough
neighborhood will become the VHA's second smoke-free property. The agency might
roll the ban out to others of its dozens of buildings across the county , VHA
deputy director LaVon Holden said in May. Most public housing agencies
are doing the same, she said. "It
is just a standard of the business," said Holden, a former smoker.
"We are becoming a culture that is less tolerant of secondhand smoke,
because we now know the downside." The decision will save the agency
about $1,900 for every two-bedroom apartment that doesn't have to be scrubbed
and repainted every time a smoker moves out, Holden said. Smokers' habits
had been making life less nice for some of the Esther Short building's
nonsmokers, who are a majority of the tenants. Click above for full article.
Acting
Surgeon General Issues 'Call to Action to Promote Healthy Homes'
6/12:
According to a June 9th press release from the Office of the U.S.
Surgeon General: Acting Surgeon
General Steven K. Galson, M.D., M.P.H., today issued The Surgeon General's Call
to Action to Promote Healthy Homes at a press conference from the National
Building Museum in Washington D.C. The Call to Action looks at the ways housing
can affect health; its release will initiate a national dialogue about the
importance of healthy homes. "The home is the centerpiece of American
life," Galson, a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service, said
during today's press conference.
"We can prevent many diseases and injuries that result from health
hazards in the home by following the simple steps outlined in this Call to
Action." Some examples
outlined in the Call to Action include preventing falls by taking measures such
as installing grab bars in showers and preparing a fire escape plan. Falls are
the leading cause of injury deaths among older adults. Other steps outlined in the Call to
Action include: 1) Check gas
appliances, fireplaces, chimneys, and furnaces yearly and change furnace and
air conditioning filters regularly. 2) Keep children safe from drowning, lead
poisoning, suffocation and strangulation, and other hazards. 3) Improve air quality in their homes
by installing radon and carbon monoxide detectors, eliminating smoking and
exposure to secondhand smoke, and controlling allergens that contribute to
asthma and mold growth. 4) Improve
water quality by learning to protect and maintain private water wells. Galson
urged everyone from parents and homebuilders to community leaders and policy
makers to embrace the holistic approach to creating healthy homes outlined in
the Call to Action. During the
event, Ron Sims, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) also announced the release of HUD's Healthy Homes Strategic
Plan. HUD's plan demonstrates why
healthy homes is a national priority, describes what steps should be taken to
achieve healthier housing, and highlights the key public and private partners
for implementation.... The release of this document is part of a larger Healthy
Homes Initiative led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services'
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and HUD with support from such
organizations as the National Center for Healthy Housing, the Alliance for
Healthy Homes, and the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning. To access the
full press release, with links to related materials, click above. To access the HUD Healthy Homes report
and info, click here. To access
more Healthy Homes info, click here.
E-Cigarettes: Cigarettes Without Smoke, or Regulation
6/2: The
following is from a June 2nd NY
Times article: During 34 years of smoking, Carolyn Smeaton has tried countless
ways to reduce her three-pack-a-day habit, including a nicotine patch, nicotine
gum and a prescription drug. But stop-smoking aids always failed her. Then,
having watched a TV infomercial at her home here, Ms. Smeaton tried an
electronic cigarette, which claimed to be a less dangerous way to feed her
addiction. The battery-powered device she bought online delivered an odorless
dose of nicotine and flavoring without cigarette tar or additives, and produced
a vapor mist nearly identical in appearance to tobacco smoke. "I feel like this could save my
life," said Ms. Smeaton, 47, who has cut her tobacco smoking to a pack and
a half daily, supplemented by her e-cigarette. That electronic cigarettes are
unapproved by the government and virtually unstudied has not deterred thousands
of smokers from flocking to mall kiosks and the Internet to buy them. And
because they produce no smoke, they can be used in workplaces, restaurants and
airports. One distributor is aptly named Smoking Everywhere. The reaction of medical authorities and
antismoking groups has ranged from calls for testing to skepticism to outright
hostility. Opponents say the safety claims are more rumor than anything else,
since the components of e-cigarettes have never been tested for safety. In
fact, the Food and Drug Administration has already refused entry to dozens of
shipments of e-cigarettes coming into the country, mostly from China, the chief
maker of them, where manufacture began about five years ago. The F.D.A. took
similar action in 1989, refusing shipments of an earlier, less appealing
version, Favor Smoke-Free Cigarettes.
"These appear to be unapproved drug device products," said
Karen Riley, a spokeswoman for the agency, "and as unapproved products
they can't enter the United States."
But enough of the e-cigarettes have made their way into the country that
they continue to proliferate online and in the malls. Click above for full article.
Editorial:
Muskegon Community College should implement total smoking ban
6/2: The
following is from an editorial in the June 2nd Muskegon Chronicle:
Muskegon Community College is on the right track as it moves toward a
campus-wide smoking ban. The board
recently voted to begin drafting a proposal that could prohibit smoking
anywhere on campus. Other options include creating smoking areas or allowing
smoking in parked cars. The board
wants the plan in place by January and wants time to launch an awareness
campaign to educate students, faculty and staff about the ban and to point
smokers toward resources that can help them quit. They can easily make that
goal if they keep moving forward. It's important to allow time for students and
faculty to quit smoking in advance of the ban. The MCC Student Government Association also is pushing for
the ban -- something that several other community colleges, including Grand
Rapids Community College, already have implemented. A total ban is the simplest
and most prudent action the board could take and it may come just in advance of
a statewide indoor workplace smoking ban passed last week by the Michigan House
and under review in the Senate -- although bills to prohibit smoking in the
workplace have been languishing in the Legislature since 2000. To access the full editorial, click
above.
6/1: The
Smoke-Free Environments Law Project maintains this up-dated listing of all the
public housing authorities/commissions in the U.S. that we know of which have
adopted smoke-free policies for one or more of their apartment buildings. The listing is done largely in the
order in which the policies have been adopted. As of May, 2009, at least 112 local housing authorities had
adopted smoke-free policies for some or all of their apartment buildings, with
about 94 being adopted since the beginning of January, 2005; an average of
about 1.8 per month. That constitutes an increase in the number of housing
authorities with smoke-free policies of about 660% in 53 months. The 17 states with such policies
include Michigan (28), Minnesota (19), Maine (18), Colorado (11), California
(7), Nebraska (6), Washington (4), New Hampshire (3), Oregon (3), Alaska (3)
New Jersey (2), Wisconsin (2), Idaho (2), Florida, Montana, Indiana, and
Kentucky. To access the listing,
in pdf format, click above.
6/1:
According to a May 29th Traverse City Record Eagle story: Traverse City leaders hope a new push will help them
extinguish smoking in bars and restaurants. State Rep. Gary McDowell, D-Rudyard, agreed to sponsor a
bill in the Michigan Legislature to allow local control of smoking in bars and
restaurants. It would give local officials the authority to ban smoking in such
places and could spur legislators in Lansing to enact a statewide ban, McDowell
said. "This would allow local
units of government to go ahead and make this decision themselves, rather than
waiting on Lansing. It's a long process and I'm not sure we can get it done on
a state level," he said.
Traverse City officials sought McDowell's help because the local state
representative, Wayne Schmidt, R-Traverse City, opposes the idea and said
smoking rules should be set by business and property owners. McDowell intends
to introduce the bill next week and seek co-sponsors. The bill could get a leg
up in Lansing over a statewide ban because many legislators support local
control on certain topics, he said.
"I feel we need a statewide ban and I think this would snowball
across the state," McDowell said.
The idea is to increase awareness of the dangers of second-hand smoke
and to protect workers at their jobs, he said. The new bill is the brainchild of Traverse City Mayor
Michael Estes and the Traverse City Commission, McDowell said. "I think it's a positive step for
communities," Estes said. "Forget about Lansing making this decision for
us. Give us the local control and let them deal with bigger issues." Click
above for the full article.
5/27:
According to a May 26th news story: A House-authored indoor smoking ban
like the one approved last year now heads to the Senate, still absent an
agreement between the two chambers that doomed the effort in 2008. The proposed
ban that would apply to nearly all indoor workplaces in Michigan, including
bars and restaurants, easily passed Tuesday, 73-31, after attempts to weaken or
strengthen it were defeated. Cigar
bars, tobacco specialty shops and the gaming floors of Detroit's three
commercial casinos would be the lone exceptions in a bill that would make
Michigan the 37th state to enact broad prohibitions on workplace smoking. ...
Last year, however, the Senate stripped out those exemptions. The bill died
months later when House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford, declined to schedule a
post-election vote that smoking opponents were confident they would have
won. Ball and other smoking foes
in the Legislature voted for Tuesday's ban on the understanding that if the
Senate nixes carve-outs for casinos and cigar bars, there would be a House vote
to send an exception-free measure to Gov. Jennifer Granholm for her expected
signature. "If it comes back
a clean bill, we can get the votes to pass it," Ball said. Rep. Timothy Bledsoe, D-Grosse Pointe,
wasn't buying it, saying the bill caves to "powerful special
interests" and "takes us down the same failed path." Senate
Majority Leader Michael Bishop, R-Rochester, says business owners should make
the decision to ban smoking, but says any ban should be a total one. Whether a
majority of his Senate colleagues still feel that way is unclear given what
advocates say is a growing public expectation in Michigan that the Legislature
act. Smoking bans in the states of Wisconsin and North Carolina, home of the
tobacco industry, were signed into law last week. Click above for the full article.
Smoke-free
regulation approved by Benzie-Leelanau Board of Health; Now goes to county
commissioners
5/27:
According to a May 27th Leelanau Enterprise report: A proposal to ban smoking in public
workplaces was unanimously supported last week by the Benzie-Leelanau Board of
Health. The board voted 6-0 to
recommend approval of the proposed ordinance, which was the subject of a public
hearing May 14. Six people attended the public hearing at the Binsfeld Center
in Lake Leelanau and expressed support for the measure, department director
Bill Crawford said. Based on similar legislation in place in Marquette County
and the City of Traverse City, the proposed ordinance prohibits smoking in all
enclosed private and public worksites and public places. It would also include
restrooms, lobbies, reception areas, hallways and any other common use
area. The only sites where smoking
would not be regulated under the measure would be food service establishments,
private residences except when used for child care, health care or adult day
care facilities, tobacco specialty stores, and casinos owned and operated by
Native American tribes. Enforcement would be by the health department officer
or a designee. Upon the first complaint, a subject would receive a warning. A
second complaint (within one year), is punishable by a fine of not more than
$100; second offense, $300; third offense, $500. The ordinance, if adopted by
both the boards of commissioners in both Benzie and Leelanau counties, would
become effective 90 days after final approval, Crawford said. Click above to access the article.
Smoke-Free Multi-Unit
Housing in Michigan: 0 to 100,000s in 5 Years
5/5: On April 30th at a smoke-free housing meeting in
Quebec City, Quebec, SFELP Director Jim Bergman presented an overview of the
smoke-free multi-unit housing initiative in Michigan and other parts of the
United States. The presentation was a part of an all-day meeting sponsored by
the Non-Smokers' Rights Association of Canada (NSRA). Other speakers included
Francois Damphousse and Pippa Beck of NSRA, Karine Fournier, Esq., and Jack
Boomer of the Clean Air Coalition of British Columbia. Bergman's presentation
described the successes Michigan health partners have had in the past 5 years
in assisting apartment owners to adopt smoke-free policies for well over
100,000 rental units statewide. He also discussed how this was achieved and the
barriers that had to be overcome. To access the 45-slide PowerPoint he used,
click above.