Smoking ban in Ukraine

On Dec. 16, smoking in Ukrainian cafes, nightclubs and restaurants will be forbidden.

On results of some researches 86 percent of Ukrainians are waiting for appearance of restaurants and bars with smoking forbidden; 54 percent smokers consider that a waiter’s right to work in a smoke-free premise is more important than their own right to smoke inside.

One of the Ukrainian nongovernmental organizations popularizing smoke-free restaurants and bars in the country is “For a Ukraine Free From Tobacco Smoke’ public organization coalition.

Biggest graduate intake at Imperial

Imperial Tobacco says that it has taken on 30 graduates – its biggest such intake to date –as part of a strategy to invest in its ‘talent pipeline’.

‘The newcomers on our 2012 Graduate Programme will gain experience of different areas of the business across the globe in the next two years,’ the company said in a note posted on its website.

‘Imperial’s Graduate Programme has grown from the first intake of just six graduates back in 2010, informs Tobacco Reporter.

‘The current intake attended an intensive induction course to learn about the history, structure, strategy and business of Imperial.

‘This included an evening event inBristolhosted by Alison Cooper [chief executive] and members of the Operating Executive.’

“Our success in the future will depend on the quality of the people we attract now,” said Koos Mennen, director of organisation and people development.

“We are committed to further investment in these programs and providing all our graduates with opportunities to grow and develop.”

Companies count cost of smoking

Smokers are costing the UK economy £1.4 billion by taking an average of two or three days more sick leave per year than their non-smoking colleagues, a new study by the University of Nottingham has revealed.

The study said the £1.4bn lost in the UK due to smoking-related absenteeism was only one of the numerous costs of smoking in the workplace.

Research by Dr Jo Leonardi-Bee and Stephen Weng based at the university's UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies also found others costs included productivity lost to smoking breaks and the cost of cigarette-related fire damage.

Dr Leonardi-Bee said: "Quitting smoking appears to reduce absenteeism and result in substantial cost savings for employers."

The report, published in the journal Addiction, analysed 29 studies from around the world which were conducted between 1960 and 2011 and covered more than 71,000 workers, This Is Nottingham reported.

Pro-smoking smartphone apps spark a fiery debate

Australian researchers identified more than 100 smartphone applications that appear to promote smoking. The study highlights the challenges governments face in keeping tobacco advertising laws in step with technology, reported France 24.

Applications designed for smartphones that tacitly or overtly encourage smoking are shaping up to be the latest front in the battle against cigarette advertising.

A study released this week in the British Medical Journal’s public health magazine, Tobacco Control, put the spotlight on the so-far overlooked phenomenon of using smartphone apps to promote or encourage smoking.

A team of Australian public health researchers at the University of Sydney identified 107 apps promoting a pro-smoking message on the Apple App Store and Android Market (now Google Play).

Just as the range of tobacco products is diverse, so too the types of apps, from simple wallpaper downloads of popular brands to programmes that simulate stubbing out of cigarettes, and animated games that recreate social smoking situations. The apps are either free or downloadable for a small fee, and while some include measures to verify that users are above a certain age, others do not.

One app, called 'Ashtray', transforms the smartphone screen into a garbage can. A short tap on the screen deposits cigarette ash into the bin, while a prolonged tap discards the entire cigarette.

 Users can choose between three backgrounds for the garbage can, or use their phone camera to place it in a photo of their favourite spot for a smoke.

In another app, 'Puff Puff Pass', users select a caricature then choose a pipe, cigar or cigarette, and venue (lounge room, outdoor setting, office, or limousine). The rules of the game include a time limit to smoke two drags before passing it on to the next caricature, whereupon a player can win points or is reprimanded.

Lagos Assembly Considers Anti-Smoking Bill

A bill towards prohibiting smoking in designated places for connected purposes yesterday scaled through the first reading at the Lagos State House of Assembly. The bill, which is a private member bill sponsored by member representing Eti-Osa Constituency 2, Mr. Gbolahan Yishawu, was read on the floor by the Acting Clerk of the House, Segun Abiru.

The bill if passed into law, will prohibit people from smoking tobacco, or anything, which contains tobacco, or any other substance in any place designated as 'No Smoking Area'. From the commencement of the law, it shall be an offence to smoke in the presence of a child under the age of 15 years in any vehicle or location listed or not listed.

Smaller tobacco tax increase would work better

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Let's consider the size of the proposed tobacco tax increase in Proposition B. It's over five times the current tax. It would go from $1.70 to $9 per carton. Missouri does have a low tobacco tax, but a more than five times increase is obviously pure greed. Everyone would be outraged if the sales tax went up five times, say from 6 percent to 30 percent. And what would you be paying if your property tax was five times higher?

Wouldn't it be fairer to all parties involved if the tax wasn't so high? If the rate was doubled, it would still be a large increase but it would be considerably more tolerable to everyone. Schools would still get a subsidy, jobs would not be lost, tobacco users would not be hit so hard in the pocketbook and Missouri's total revenue would be larger instead of a decrease in revenue that a economics professor has calculated.

Joseph Haslag, a professor from the University of Missouri, has findings that show Missouri would actually lose at least $34 million a year in tax money if Proposition B would pass. This revenue would have to be made up somewhere, and all of us would pay. Let's be reasonable and vote this increase down and let the legislators come up with a more fair compromise.

Kids who smoke menthol more likely to get hooked

Kids who experiment with menthol cigarettes are more likely to become habitual smokers than their peers who start out with the regular variety, new research findings suggest.

In a study of tens of thousands of U.S. students, researchers found that kids who were dabbling with menthol cigarettes were 80 percent more likely to become regular smokers over the next few years, versus those experimenting with regular cigarettes.