Smoking ban has saved 40,000 lives in the UK
The nationwide smoking ban has triggered the biggest fall in smoking ever seen in England, a report says today. (source)
More than two billion fewer cigarettes were smoked and 400,000 people quit the habit since the ban was introduced a year ago, which researchers say will prevent 40,000 deaths over the next 10 years.
Smoking was outlawed in all enclosed public spaces in England, including pubs and restaurants, on 1 July 2007 after a prolonged political battle that split the Government and inflamed critics of Britain as a nanny state.
But longer term opposition to the ban never materialised: more than three out of four people support the law, and compliance has been virtually 100 per cent.
Similar bans were introduced in Scotland on 26 March 2006 and in Wales on 2 April 2007. Doctors said they were astonished by the numbers quitting. Robert West, director of tobacco studies at the Health Behaviour Research Unit, University College London, who carried out the study, said: "These figures show the largest fall in the number of smokers on record. The effect has been as large in all social groups – poor as well as rich. I never expected such a dramatic impact." There was no guarantee that smoking rates would not start to rise again, after falling, and it was crucial to maintain the downward pressure, Professor West said. Currently around 22 per cent of the adult population smoke in Britain.
"If the Department of Health can keep up the momentum this has created, there is a realistic prospect of achieving a target of less than 15 per cent of the population smoking within 10 years," he said.
The survey of 32,000 people in England interviewed before and after the ban took effect found the decline in smoking had accelerated. In the nine months before the ban it fell 1.6 per cent compared with 5.5 per cent in the nine months after the ban. Researchers estimate on the basis of these figures that 400,000 people quit smoking as a result of the ban.
The findings are to be presented at the UK National Smoking Cessation Conference in Birmingham tomorrow. The study, by Cancer Research UK and its partners, is the first in the world to examine the impact of a smoking ban in isolation from other tobacco control measures.
Jean King, Cancer Research UK's director of tobacco control, said: "The smoke-free law was introduced to protect the health of workers from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke. The results show it has also encouraged smokers to quit. These laws are saving lives and we mustn't forget that half of all smokers die from tobacco-related illness. We must do everything possible to continue this success – we now need a national tobacco control plan for the next five years."
Cigarette sales fell by 6 per cent in the past year, according to the market research company, Neilson. In the 10 months from July 2007 to the end of April 2008, 1.93 billion fewer cigarettes were sold in England and 220,000 fewer in Scotland (where the smoking ban was introduced a year earlier), equivalent to a total decline in sales over the full year of 2.6 billion.
Jake Shepherd, the marketing director at Neilson, said smoking had been hit by a triple whammy, which accounted for the dramatic effect.
"In addition to the smoking ban, sales have been hit by the outlawing of the sale of tobacco to under-18s and the increase of duty on tobacco, which is pricing cash-strapped smokers out of the market," he said.
Pubs have also suffered from the ban, with 175 million fewer pints sold in the nine months from July to last April as smokers have been driven outside.
Total sales of alcohol fell 8 per cent, compared to a steady 3 per cent fall in previous years, just under half of which was attributable to the smoking ban, according to Neilson.
Mr Shepherd said: "The wet summer of 2007 added to the downturn. The winter months were particularly bad – sales fell 9.3 per cent from November to January when smokers would have been reluctant to stand outside in the cold to have a cigarette."
Proposals to restrict the sale of cigarettes by removing them from display and a ban on vending machines are under consideration by the Government. The anti-smoking pressure group ASH said that further action was necessary to curb smoking by young people.
Deborah Arnott, the director of ASH, said: "The smoke-free legislation has been a fantastic success and is hugely popular. But what it also shows is a hunger for more action.
"There is still much more that needs to be done. The Government should focus on measures to shield children from tobacco industry marketing while parents and carers can do much more to protect children from exposure to secondhand smoke."
A survey of 1,000 people with lung conditions by the British Lung Foundation found more than half said they had suffered fewer attacks of breathlessness from exposure to smokers in pubs and restaurants, and more than a third said it had helped keep them out of hospital.
Dame Helena Shovelton, the foundation's chief executive, said: The smoking ban has helped to save the lives of people with breathing problems by cutting down their exposure to passive smoke. People with smoking-related lung conditions know how devastating it is to be struggling for breath. A smoke-free atmosphere gives our lungs a new lease of life."
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Full Version: the old smoking thread
Dutch smoking ban: No tobacco in your joints, cafes ordered
Dutch coffee shops, long considered as synonymous with the Netherlands as tulips or attacking football, face a new challenge from today when a ban on smoking tobacco in restaurants and cafes comes into effect. The owners claim the law, which will allow customers to light up potent tobacco-free pure cannabis joints but ban milder spliffs in which tobacco is mixed with cannabis, threatens to put hundreds of them out of business.
As most patrons prefer milder joints in which cannabis is mixed with tobacco, and only 18% favour much stronger, pure cannabis spliffs, the fear is that the days of the coffee shops could be numbered. The catering industry said 1,600 coffee shops across the country were up for sale because their owners were convinced their businesses were doomed.
Wilhelm, who has run his cafe since 1985, said the law was in danger of "tearing the heart out" of Amsterdam's social life. "The focus of the De Tweede Kamer has always been social contact," he added. "They'll destroy that with what I see as a ridiculous law."
The Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, which is responsible for enforcing the ban, said it had trained around 200 inspectors. "They can tell the difference between a mix or a pure joint from its smell and appearance," said a spokesman.
Some coffee shop owners have sought alternative ways to deal with the conundrum and allow their clientele to still enjoy a tobacco-free cannabis spliff without it being too strong. One inventor, who calls himself Evert, is doing a roaring trade in £400 vapourisers - in which hashish or cannabis is heated to 180C and the resulting steam is directed into a balloon from which smokers inhale. The vapouriser is claimed to be the mildest way to consume pure cannabis.
While some cafes have said they will simply lay on more pure cannabis brownies or "space cakes", others have built smoking chambers within their premises which are off-limits to staff. Some are also providing alternatives to tobacco, such as the herb coltsfoot.
Martial von Beenkom, owner of Boerejongens (Young Farmers) on the outskirts of Amsterdam, has turned his cafe into a smoke-free tea salon where he will sell cannabis on a takeaway basis. "Most people come here to buy their grass which they then smoke elsewhere," he said.
The health minister, Ab Klink, said the law would stay, arguing that as well as helping to improve people's health it might help to stamp out idleness. "Consumers who spend the whole day hanging out in coffee shops will find other things to do," he said. - source
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Dutch coffee shops, long considered as synonymous with the Netherlands as tulips or attacking football, face a new challenge from today when a ban on smoking tobacco in restaurants and cafes comes into effect. The owners claim the law, which will allow customers to light up potent tobacco-free pure cannabis joints but ban milder spliffs in which tobacco is mixed with cannabis, threatens to put hundreds of them out of business.
QUOTE
"It's a bit like saying to someone you can go into a cafe and you can buy a beer, but you can't drink it there - you'll have to stick to whisky, rum and vodka," said Paul Wilhelm, owner of De Tweede Kamer, a popular Amsterdam coffee shop.
As most patrons prefer milder joints in which cannabis is mixed with tobacco, and only 18% favour much stronger, pure cannabis spliffs, the fear is that the days of the coffee shops could be numbered. The catering industry said 1,600 coffee shops across the country were up for sale because their owners were convinced their businesses were doomed.
Wilhelm, who has run his cafe since 1985, said the law was in danger of "tearing the heart out" of Amsterdam's social life. "The focus of the De Tweede Kamer has always been social contact," he added. "They'll destroy that with what I see as a ridiculous law."
QUOTE
Mark Jacobsen, chairman of the BCD, a nationwide association of coffee shop owners, said proper implementation of the law would require inspectors to check each cannabis joint for tobacco content. "It's absurd. In other countries they look to see whether you have marijuana in your cigarette, here they'll look to see if you've got cigarette in your marijuana."
The Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, which is responsible for enforcing the ban, said it had trained around 200 inspectors. "They can tell the difference between a mix or a pure joint from its smell and appearance," said a spokesman.
Some coffee shop owners have sought alternative ways to deal with the conundrum and allow their clientele to still enjoy a tobacco-free cannabis spliff without it being too strong. One inventor, who calls himself Evert, is doing a roaring trade in £400 vapourisers - in which hashish or cannabis is heated to 180C and the resulting steam is directed into a balloon from which smokers inhale. The vapouriser is claimed to be the mildest way to consume pure cannabis.
While some cafes have said they will simply lay on more pure cannabis brownies or "space cakes", others have built smoking chambers within their premises which are off-limits to staff. Some are also providing alternatives to tobacco, such as the herb coltsfoot.
Martial von Beenkom, owner of Boerejongens (Young Farmers) on the outskirts of Amsterdam, has turned his cafe into a smoke-free tea salon where he will sell cannabis on a takeaway basis. "Most people come here to buy their grass which they then smoke elsewhere," he said.
The health minister, Ab Klink, said the law would stay, arguing that as well as helping to improve people's health it might help to stamp out idleness. "Consumers who spend the whole day hanging out in coffee shops will find other things to do," he said. - source
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QUOTE
The Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, which is responsible for enforcing the ban, said it had trained around 200 inspectors. "They can tell the difference between a mix or a pure joint from its smell and appearance," said a spokesman.
Sounds like the job of a QUISLING.....
Hey, I'm still on the snus. Stopped from new years until last month. Fuck it. Ill try again over the summer.
I haven't smoke a cigarette since April 2, a month before my daughter was born.
I used Zyban and it worked really well. The biggest obstacle was overcoming the first drinking session without a smoke. I survived, but still get an urge for a puff when I have a beer in hand.
END!
I used Zyban and it worked really well. The biggest obstacle was overcoming the first drinking session without a smoke. I survived, but still get an urge for a puff when I have a beer in hand.
END!
QUOTE (doggybag @ Jul 1 2008, 02:10 AM) 
Smoking ban has saved 40,000 lives in the UK
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I've just spent some days in the UK for all its culture shock worth. I wasn't stabbed but I did see a few things which also need to banned (if we are talking saving lives). Food should be banned and so should alcohol. Seriously. Ciggies are nothing in comparison. I'd even argue that the banning of cigs has increased the amount of booze being consumed. You have no idea what it is like here till you see it with your own eyes. Smoking is the least of the problems and all it has done is put many people out of work. All the old school community pubs are empty. Its really sad.
Smokers are banned from fostering
Smokers in a north-east London borough will not be able to foster children from January 2010 - unless there are "exceptional circumstances". source
The ban was passed on Tuesday evening by Redbridge councillors who voted unanimously in favour of the policy.
Redbridge Council wants to protect children from "the damaging effects of passive and second-hand smoke".
But the Fostering Network said it was concerned the policy could prevent good people from becoming foster parents.
This is another attempt to stigmatise smokers and separate them from the rest of society
Forest, smokers' rights group
Cabinet member for children, Tory councillor, Michael Stark, said: "We know this is a difficult issue because some people will feel it is an intrusion on personal freedoms, but we also know that smoking increases the risk of serious illness in childhood."
A spokesman for the national charity Fostering Network said: "We certainly view this as a good move in terms of creating a smoke-free environment for a child, but we don't agree that a blanket ban on any smokers becoming foster carers is the right thing."
The council said the new policy was the result of scientific evidence which showed second-hand smoke to be a cause of lung cancer and childhood respiratory disease.
It said young children were particularly susceptible to the effects of second-hand smoke because their lungs and airways are small and their immune systems immature.
'Mixed reactions'
The risk of cot death, asthma, middle ear disease, pneumonia and bronchitis is also said to be higher if children live in a home where people smoke.
All new applicants to the foster care programme will be told at an early stage that they will not be able to foster if they smoke, unless there are "exceptional circumstances", the council said.
Existing foster carers who smoke will be given help to give up.
A spokesperson for the smokers' rights group Forest: "This is another attempt to stigmatise smokers and separate them from the rest of society.*
"This discriminates against plenty of people who would have made excellent foster carers, and so it is damaging not only for them but also for the children that they would have fostered."
The plans met with mixed reactions from foster carers before the vote but the majority of fostered children consulted previously were in favour of the policy.
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* .... er, yeah, ...... right
WTF is that ??
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"It will change your life," I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral. "I know,"she says, "no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous holidays..."
But that's not what I mean at all. I look at my friend, trying to decide what to tell her. wow power leveling,I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes.I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing will heal, but becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will be vulnerable forever.
I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper without thinking: "What if that had been MY child?" That every plane crash, every house fire Cheap WoW Gold,will haunt her. That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die. I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to the primitive level of a bear protecting her cub.
I feel I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood. She might arrange for child care, but one day she will be going into an important business meeting, and she will think her baby's sweet smell. She will have to use every ounce of discipline to keep from running home, WoW Power Leveling.just to make sure her child is all right.
I want my friend to know that every decision will no longer be routine. That a five-year-old boy's desire to go to the men's room rather than the women's at a restaurant will become a major dilemma. The issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that a child molester may be lurking in World Of Warcraft gold,the lavatory. However decisive she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself constantly as a mother.
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I want to describe to my friend the exhilaration of seeing your child learn to hit a ball. I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog for the first time. I want her to taste the joy that is so real it hurts.
My friend's look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes. "You'll never regret it," I say finally. Then, squeezing my friend's hand, I offer a prayer for her WoW Gold,and me and all of the mere mortal women who stumble their way into this holiest of callings.
If you're finding it tough to land a job，try expanding your job－hunting plan to include the following tactics：
Set your target.While you should always keep your options open to compromise，you should also be sure to target exactly what you want in a job.A specific job hunt will be more efficient than a haphazard one.<
Schedule ample interviews.Use every possible method to get interviews——answering ads，using search firms，contacting companies directly,surfing the Web，and networking.Even if a job is not perfect for you，every interview can be approached as a positive experience.
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Make it your full－time job.You can't find a job by looking sporadically。You have to make time for it.If you're unemployed and looking，devote as much time as you would to a full－time job.If you have a job while you're looking，figure out an organized schedule to maximize your searching time.
Network vertically。In the research phase of your job hunt，talk to people who are on a level above you in your desired industry.They'll have some insights that people aoc gold,at your own level won't have，and will be in a good position to hire you or recommend you to be hired.Keep your spirits up.Looking for a job is one of the toughest things you will ever have to do.Maintain your confidence，stay persistent，and think positively，and eventually you will get a job that suits you.
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