Law to ban smoking in vehicles with children

The anti-tobacco federal law, which will come into force next year, will ban smoking in private vehicles if a child younger than 12 years is present in the car.
The Ministry of Health has announced the executive regulations of the anti-tobacco flaw, which were approved by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in the Cabinet’s Resolution No. 24 issued on July 21, 2013.  The said resolution will come into effect six months from the date of its issuance.
The regulations are part of the government’s efforts to establish an effective national anti-tobacco strategy to protect public health. Parliament cigarettes.
The ban on the vehicles aims to protect children from being exposed to cigarette smoke. The law also aims to reduce smoking among youth. A study carried out in Abu Dhabi showed that 28 per cent of children aged 15 years and younger, are smokers, while 30 per cent of people aged 18 and above are smokers.
The law bans any content that advertises tobacco products, such as newspaper advertisements, TV commercials and animations. It also bans importing tobacco products that are not in line with technical standards set by the UAE, and any violations regarding such imports can lead to a one year prison sentence and a fine ranging from Dh 100,000 to Dh 1 million, in addition to the confiscation of products.
The law also provides specifications on the packaging of tobacco products. All products must now display a large warning label on the front to raise awareness on the dangers of tobacco, and not to mislead them. Violators will be fined Dh100,000 to Dh1 million, and the fines can be doubled if the offence is repeated.
Tobacco products cannot be displayed near items marketed for children, or sportswear, health, food and electronic products. Tobacco products are also forbidden to be sold in locations that are 100 metres away from places of worship, and 15 metres away from kindergartens, schools, universities and colleges.
Shisha cafes will also have to be at least 150 metres away from residential areas. The regulations also specify that these cafes’ working hours will be from 10am to 12pm. Shishas will not be served to customers younger than 18 years of age, and the cafes will be forbidden from delivering shishas to apartments.
Growing or producing tobacco for commercial purposes will also be forbidden, and current manufacturing plants have been given a grace period of 10 years to sort out their situation, and tobacco farms have been given a two-year grace period.
The UAE ratified the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), the first international treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO, in November 2005. The UAE anti-tobacco law was drafted by the Ministry of Health in 2006. In December 2009, the UAE issued its own federal anti-tobacco law.

New route to smoking addiction for adolescents: electronic cigarettes

E-cigarettes have been widely promoted as a way for people to quit smoking conventional cigarettes. Now, in the first study of its kind, UC San Francisco researchers are reporting that, at the point in time they studied, youth using e-cigarettes were more likely to be trying to quit, but also were less likely to have stopped smoking and were smoking more, not less.Parliament Cigarettes .
"We are witnessing the beginning of a new phase of the nicotine epidemic and a new route to nicotine addiction for kids," according to senior author Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, UCSF professor of medicine and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at UCSF.
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that look like cigarettes and deliver an aerosol of nicotine and other chemicals. Promoted as safer alternatives to cigarettes and smoking cessation aids, e-cigarettes are rapidly gaining popularity among adults and youth in the United States and around the world. The devices are largely unregulated, with no effective controls on marketing them to minors.
In the UCSF study, the researchers assessed e-cigarette use among youth in Korea, where the devices are marketed much the way they are in the U.S. The study analyzed smoking among some 75,000 Korean youth.
The study appears online in the current issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
"Our paper raises serious concern about the effects of the Wild West marketing of e-cigarettes on youth," said Glantz.
Despite industry claims that it markets only to adults, e-cigarettes have achieved substantial penetration into the youth market. In the U.S., the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that the majority of adolescent e-cigarette users also smoke regular cigarettes, and that the percentage of middle and high school students who use e-cigarettes more than doubled from 2011 to 2012. An estimated 1.78 million U.S. students had used the devices as of 2012, said the CDC.
In the UCSF study, the researchers report that four out of five Korean adolescent e-cigarette users are "dual" smokers who use both tobacco and e-cigarettes.
The authors conclude that young e-cigarette smokers "are more likely to have tried quitting smoking, which suggests that, consistent with cigarette marketing messages, some youth may be using e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid...Use of e-cigarettes is associated with heavier use of conventional cigarettes, which raises the likelihood that actual use of e-cigarettes may increase harm by creating a new pathway for youth to become addicted to nicotine and by reducing the odds that an adolescent will stop smoking conventional cigarettes."
The data for the study came from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey, an annual, nationally-representative survey conducted by the Korea Centers for Disease Control in 2011. The sample included 75,643 youth in grades 7 through 12.
Sungkyu Lee, PhD, lead author of the paper and a UCSF postdoctoral fellow at the time that he conducted the study, noted that e-cigarette use has skyrocketed in Korea: less than one percent of youths had tried the product in 2008 when the device was first introduced, compared to more than nine percent in 2011. Lee is now on the staff of the National Evidence-Based Healthcare Collaborating Agency in Seoul, Korea.
Among students who used e-cigarettes, eight percent were concurrently smoking conventional cigarettes. After adjusting for demographics, current cigarette smokers in the study were found to be much more likely to use e-cigarettes than non-smokers.
The researchers also found that the odds of using e-cigarettes were considerably higher among students who had made an attempt to quit smoking than those who had not. Students no longer using cigarettes were rare among current e-cigarette users, the researchers said.

Teen makes miraculous progress nine months after synthetic marijuana nearly kills her

Emily Bauer's family was told in December the teenager would never recognize them again. She had suffered multiple strokes after smoking synthetic marijuana, and a large portion of her brain was damaged. She would be unaware of her surroundings and never regain control of her arms and legs, doctors said.
Nine months later, 17-year-old Emily returned to Cy-Fair High School in Cypress, Texas.

Now she rolls through the hallways with the help of aides who also read materials to her and take her notes. Emily is still partly blind and can no longer read or write, but she spends her mornings in class and afternoons taking steps and working toward recovery in therapy.
Emily's family believes her near-death experience was caused by synthetic marijuana, a dangerous substance also known as Spice, K2 or fake weed. It contains dried, shredded plant material and a variety of chemical compounds that are supposed to give users a high similar to smoking pot. Fake weed is marketed as a "safe" and "legal" alternative to drugs — although the National Institute on Drug Abuse says it is neither — and is sometimes sold as potpourri or incense at gas stations, head shops and convenience stores.

Smoking vet allowed to stay in home

A 90-year-old, WWII veteran was on the verge of being evicted from his apartment in Newington over a smoking rule and on Tuesday, he went to Housing Court in Hartford to avoid eviction.
Andy Nowicki, who is on oxygen and has trouble walking, and his 90-year-old wife, who suffers from dementia, live at his apartment at the Cedar Village Elderly Housing Complex.
Cedar Village is run by the Newington Housing Authority.
Nowicki received eviction papers this summer after he said he isn't able to follow the new rule requiring residents to smoke at least 10 feet outside their homes.
War wounds and other ailments can make it tough for Nowicki to get outside. He said he has done the best he can on his scooter, but sometimes he could only make it to a breezeway outside his apartment.
"I think there's nobody here to stand up for our elderly," said his daughter Janet Nowicki. "And if I wasn't here, my brother wasn't here, my family wasn't here, where would they be?"
On Tuesday, Nowicki was surrounded by fellow veterans at Housing Court. He said he would rather be in battle with them, than deal with the Newington Housing Authority.
"I'd rather go back to the infantry and be in the outfit I was with," Nowicki said.
Janet Nowicki spoke up for her parents, contacting state Sen. Paul Doyle, who volunteered to represent Andy Nowicki for free.
"I think today common sense prevailed," Doyle said. "This should have happened months ago."
Tuesday after hours of mediation, both sides reached an agreement.
The Housing Authority director left court without talking to Eyewitness News, but the station did learn they won't evict Andy Nowicki and his wife.
Andy Nowicki will still have to abide by the 10 foot rule when he smokes, but in order to make that possible the housing authority will make his apartment handicapped accessible in the next 30 days. Nowicki and his wife will also be moved to the top of the list for a fully handicapped accessible apartment when one becomes available.
Doyle said he is also working with the veterans affairs commissioner to put in a ramp and canopy. Veterans told Eyewitness News they were happy to help, but are disappointed it got to this point.
"I just learned one thing today," said veteran Russ Meek. "I saw how the state of Connecticut can really waste money on something so inappropriate as trying to pick on a 90-year-old veteran."

Illegal Tobacco Cost Australia A$1 Billion: KPMG Report

Illegal tobacco sales deprived the Australian government of about A$1 billion ($946 million) of taxes in the 12 months ended in June, according to a report commissioned by cigarette makers. Winston cigarettes online.
Accounting firm KPMG LLP released the study today as the first since a federal law prohibiting the sale of cigarettes in branded packages took effect Dec. 1 to discourage smoking and reduce related spending on health care. Illicit sales increased 1.5 percentage points to 13.3 percent of total shipments, while consumption didn’t drop in the year, according to the report.
Planned increases in tobacco taxes will cause illegal sales to increase, the report said, citing Scott McIntyre, a spokesman for British American Tobacco Plc’s Australian unit. Australia announced plans in August to boost tobacco excise to raise more than A$5 billion and help narrow the country’s fiscal deficit over the next four years.
“Instead of steep excise hikes, more resources for agencies and greater enforcement of plain pack laws by the health department will see a reduction in illegal tobacco sales,” McIntyre said.
Officials from Australia’s health department didn’t immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment on the report, sent to the department’s media section.

Price Differentials

Taxes made up about 63 percent of the price of a packet of cigarettes last year in Australia, where a pack of 25 costs about A$20 for the best-selling brands. A pack of 20 Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) Marlboro brand cigarettes sells for A$15.96, compared with A$1.08 in Vietnam, A$2.66 in China and A$10.29 in Singapore, according to the KPMG report.
British American Tobacco, Philip Morris International Inc. and Imperial Tobacco Australia Ltd. commissioned the KPMG report.
About 17.4 million kilograms (38 million pounds) of tobacco were consumed in Australia in the year, matching the level in the previous 12 months and compared with 18 million kilograms in 2011, according to the report.
Australia last year banned the sale of cigarettes in packaging depicting tobacco companies’ trademarks and logos. Cigarettes are now sold in olive green packs, with graphic and written health warnings covering 70 percent of the front of a package. Brands are shown in uniform font at the bottom of the package.
Australia’s top court upheld the validity of the law on Aug. 16, 2012, dismissing a challenge from the tobacco companies arguing that the government illegally seized their intellectual property.
KPMG said tobacco companies set specific terms of reference and the report was issued to the parties “for information only.” The accounting firm didn’t specify the terms of reference in the report, which covered the 12 months ended June 2013.

Why Consumers Change Brands

Decades ago, a major cigarette brand won a lot of attention with the tagline “I’d rather fight than switch.” Today, U.S. consumers are switching brands to the tune of $1.3 trillion, and marketers appear to be swinging back with empty gloves. According to the recently released Accenture Global Consumer Pulse Survey, 51 percent of U.S. consumers switched their retailers, banks, cable companies and other service providers in 2013. That is up 5 percent from 2012, and it represents $1.3 trillion in lost sales to the dropped brands. Worse, to a loyalty marketer like me, is that only 18 percent of those surveyed said they feel like their service providers offer them tailored experiences. As the report states: “The gap between the use of digital technologies and the ability of companies to use them to improve customer experiences is highlighted by the survey’s findings that, among the 10 industries covered by the report, none made noticeable progress in providing customers with a tailored experience in 2013.

 Esse cigarettes online.

” Not surprisingly, then, that the rate of loyalty among those surveyed consumers rose just 1 percent in the year, while their likelihood to recommend a brand rose 2 percent. These are troubling numbers, but it does not mean we loyalty marketers are down for the count. Rather, we should take these stats for what they are: an alarm bell. The loyalty marketing industry invests billions of dollars in personalization technologies, yet 82 percent of people do not think they are provided relevant experiences. Something is breaking down, and I suspect it is in that pipeline that runs between acquiring the technology and deploying the experience. The data insights are not being used to woo and wow the customer, but to craft eye-catching promotions that are relevant only to the expiration date. Companies tend to default to price as competition heats up, but you can only cut so far before hitting bone. To prevent the switch, brands should sprinkle their price tactics with some true personalization, which can be achieved through analysis of customer data. Why not try to create a brand experience that stands apart, based on what you know about customers? I’m not sure how dire the situation is and how far we are going to have to go to really push the metrics upwards, but it’s a complete miss if we are not taking advantage of the investments we make in this area. I’ll underscore the point with another finding from the research: 51 percent of those surveyed said they expect specialized treatment for being a good customer. Read more at http://www.business2community.com/loyalty-marketing/consumers-change-brands-0669505#E06Y8yWi1cmbtVwW.99

Tobacco Is No Longer Tolerated at Valley City Parks

On the heels of a state wide smoking ban in public places, a North Dakota city is taking it one step further. Tobacco use is now against the law in city parks and several other city-owned areas in Valley City. Valley News team's Eric Crest clears the air on where smoking is, and is not, allowed in the city.
It wasn't long ago that the state of North Dakota decided it was time to embrace a new smoking ordinance.
"I loved it I absolutely loved it," says, Heather Hildebrant of Bismark.
The state wide ordinance kept cigarettes out of businesses and the approach to their entrances.
"I can bring my son outside and go anywhere and not worry about people smoking outside of buildings or inside of them anymore," adds Hildebrant. Cigaronne cigarettes .
Recently Valley City took it one step further. A handful of city property will be tobacco free now too.
"They can't smoke in any park owned property, any activity arenas outside, in any of our buildings," explains Dick Gulmon the President of the Park and Recreation Board for Valley City.
That includes playgrounds, spectator areas, athletic fields, concession areas, and even parking lots on nearly all of the cities property.
"It's our responsibility in managing the parks and recreation programming to set an example of a healthy lifestyle," says Gulmon.
"It drives me insane. They're not only effecting their body they're taking the choice away from everyone else around them that don't want it in their system," adds Hildebrant.
The Tobacco Prevention Coordinator in Valley City says by eliminating all tobacco use in public parks in town their not just reversing the normalization of tobacco use, but they're also impacting generations to come.
"I think it's the effect on the youth. I think promoting that healthy lifestyle and not seeing cigarette butts in the parks, and (not to mention) what that can do to the environment. But promoting that for the youth and setting that example," says Gulmon.
Because as the state and cities alike continue taking steps like these, it's the youth, that will reap the benefits.
"It's their choice I guess. What they want to do with their body. But it just bugs me when they do it around other people cause then we're stuck with the consequence of their choices," says Hildebrant.
Not all public parks in Valley City are tobacco free just yet. The local Tourist Park Campground and Bjornson's Public Golf Course did not end up on the list. The park board mentioned that out of concern for a loss of business to neighboring communities, they made an exception.