Tag: smoking ban

  • Smoking ban challenged

    Romania photoThe Romanian Minister of Health, Vlad Voiculescu, has said that social democrat MPs are trying to reverse the provisions of an anti-tobacco law that ban smoking in enclosed public places, according to a story in the Business Review.

    Voiculescu wrote on his Facebook page that the MPs would try to get approval from the Committee for Human Rights for the removal of the smoking-ban provisions.

    He said also that the parliament’s Health Committee, which is led by social democrats, had proposed amendments to the bill that was signed into law this spring.

    “The Senate has tacitly approved the law so that smoking would be possible, practically, in any enclosed space,” Voiculescu wrote.

    The Chamber of Deputies will have the final say on the proposed changes to the law.

    “The current form of the anti-smoking law is just one of the points that deserves to be defended by the whole society, against the interests of the tobacco industry and of the interests of some members of the parliament,” said Voiculescu.

  • Beijing smoking ban will boost vapor, says e-cig inventor

    Hon Lik, the Chinese inventor of the modern e-cigarette, has predicted that Beijing’s new public-places smoking ban will prompt many consumers to switch from smoking to vaping. Although China’s e-cigarette market is still relatively small compared to those in other countries and smoking rates in China remain high, the ban—which took effect June 1—could be the push smokers need to quit combustible cigarettes.

    Anyone who violates the ban on smoking in restaurants, hotels, hospitals, schools and certain outdoor public places will be fined CNY200 ($32.35). Other cities in China are expected to follow suit by implementing similar smoking bans as governments seek to improve public health.

  • Czech Republic approves ban on smoking in restaurants, bars

    The Czech government has approved a draft bill that will ban smoking in bars and restaurants. Previous governments have attempted to enact the same restrictions but ran into opposition, leaving the Czech Republic as the last EU member to allow unrestricted smoking in restaurants. One quarter of Czechs smoke, according to Eurobarometer.

    “With this law, the Czech Republic will embark on a path where the majority of advanced western European countries have gone a long time ago,” said health minister Svatopluk Nemecek, after the center-left cabinet approved the measure. The draft bill must still pass parliament before it can be signed into law by President Milos Zeman.

    Seventeen of the 28 EU states have a total ban on smoking in indoor public places, public transport and workplaces, and many other member states have restrictions on smoking in various places.

    In addition to bars and restaurants, the proposed legislation would also ban smoking—including the use of e-cigarettes—at concerts and indoor entertainment and sports facilities.

    The bill also includes a provision that requires bars and restaurants to offer at least one non-alcoholic drink on their menu at a price that is cheaper than the cheapest alcoholic drink.

  • Judge: U.K. smoking ban applies in prison too

    A high court judge has ruled that the U.K public-places smoking ban must be enforced in state prisons despite the possibility of unrest this could provoke in jails throughout England and Wales. According to Justice Singh, the justice secretary misunderstood an exemption made in 2006 to health legislation that banned smoking in workplaces and enclosed public spaces. Although the government had argued that state prisons were exempt from smoke-free legislation because of their status as Crown premises, Justice Singh ruled that prison communal areas are subject to the laws, therefore the smoking ban must be extended to such locations.

    The exemption in the 2006 Health Act indicated that smoking is allowed in enclosed public places where a person resides permanently or temporarily, which includes prisons, hotels and long-term care facilities. However, the exemption also states that these places should provide designated smoking rooms to avoid subjecting other residents and staff members to secondhand smoke. According to The Guardian, more than 80 percent of prisoners smoke, and the justice ministry fought for the exemption when the health legislation went through parliament—partly in response to warnings by prison governors and unions who said banning smoking in prisons could trigger turmoil among prisoners who use tobacco as currency as well as a legal stimulant.

    To continue providing prisoners with access to nicotine—but also to protect nonsmoking prisoners and staff members from the dangers of secondhand smoke—three U.K. prisons now offer e-cigarettes, which are generally believed to be less harmful than their combustible counterparts. Prisoners are currently permitted to smoke combustible cigarettes in their prison cells—as long as the smoker is over the age of 18 and the door is closed—as well as in outside exercise yards, but they cannot use these products in communal spaces.

    Justice Singh has postponed the implementation of the ban and granted the justice secretary time to appeal against the ruling.

  • Turkey to toughen tobacco laws

    The Turkish government wants to toughen the country’s laws on smoking and alcohol consumption, according to a Trend news agency story quoting a Sabah newspaper report.

    The report said that a new bill would be put before parliament, though it did not indicate when that would happen.

    Under the bill, smoking, already banned in enclosed public places, would be forbidden in open public spaces.

    The bill would ban smoking by public transport drivers, presumably only while operating their vehicles.

    And it would increase the penalties for violating smoking bans.

  • NYC attempts to raise smoking age to 21, Chicago may follow

    New York City put forward a proposal Monday that, if adopted, would make it the first major U.S. city to raise the legal age for buying cigarettes from 18 to 21 — the same age for buying alcohol, according to a story in USA Today.

    The proposal is part of a decade-long, anti-tobacco campaign by outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has imposed some of the highest cigarettes taxes in the country, banned smoking in parks and run graphic ads on the hazards of smoking. Last month, his administration proposed a requirement that stores keep cigarettes out of sight unless an adult customer asks for them.

    Hours after New York City Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Christine Quinn proposed raising her city’s legal smoking age from 18 to 21, Health Committee Chairman George Cardenas (12th) talked about Chicago following the Big Apple’s lead, according to a story in the Chicago Sun-Times.

    “That’s something worth exploring because more kids are smoking now,” said Cardenas, who didn’t immediately provide data to back that up.

  • California lawmakers kill bill to ban smoking inside homes

    A bill to bar millions of Californians from smoking inside their own homes was rejected Wednesday by an Assembly committee.

    Assembly Bill 746 would have made California the first state to venture into personal bedrooms and living rooms with smoking restrictions. It targeted condominiums, duplexes and apartments, according to a story published in The Sacramento Bee.

    Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, proposed the measure to ensure that people who live in structures that share walls, ceilings, floors or ventilation systems with neighboring units are not subject to secondhand smoke.

    The bill was rejected 5-2 by the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee despite several amendments, including one that would have delayed fines from being issued until 2015.

    Landlords already can prohibit smoking in their rental units, through a law enacted last year, but Levine’s bill would have imposed a mandatory ban statewide.

    AB 746 would have permitted outdoor smoking near apartments or condos, but only in an area at least 20 feet from any housing unit and 100 feet from a playground, school or pool. The bill’s critics questioned who would enforce it, how, and what impact the bill would have on habitual smokers or on people with disabilities who could not easily leave their residences to smoke.