Smoking


Smoking

Totalitarian hell: Sweden votes to extend smoking ban to most public places

Smoking ban in Sweden
© Shutterstock/Zitke
Sweden is banning outdoor smoking in certain public places, including playgrounds and train station platforms.

In a 142-120 vote on Wednesday, the Riksdagen extended the smoking ban as of July 1, 2019.

Smoking in outdoor restaurants and entrances to booths for smokers will also be banned.

In Sweden, smoking is currently allowed in designated smoking areas in most workplaces and public places.

Official figures show only 11 per cent of the Swedish population of 10 million smoked daily in 2016, with about 10 percent smoking occasionally.

Comment: For the truth about tobacco and why the PTB want to stamp out smoking, see:


Beer

The UK town where over half the pubs have vanished

Pubs vanish in Accrington, UK
© Mark Waugh for the ObserverThe Arden Inn in Accrington town centre.
Fifteen years ago, taxi driver Basharat Khan would drive past the Hyndburn Inn on Accrington's Blackburn Road and marvel at how packed it was. He never went inside - he doesn't drink - but he noted its reliably heaving beer garden.

These days, Khan is inside the building most days: six years ago he converted it into a halal butcher's shop, which he runs with his son, Waqar. Instead of pints of bitter, the pair sell 3kg of keema (mince) for £10.50 and give out Indian sweets rather than peanuts to their customers.

The Hyndburn Inn is one of 50 pubs in the east Lancashire district of Hyndburn to have closed since 2001, when the borough boasted 95 - a drop of 53%. Only Newham in east London has lost a higher percentage in that period, according to official figures released last week that show more than a quarter of the UK's pubs have closed since 2001.

Khan thinks he knows why: "The smoking ban. I've been driving a taxi for 29 years and since the ban people don't go out nearly as much. They think 'sod it, I'll stay at home.'"

Smoking

Smoking ban hits Switzerland's train stations

No smoking!
© Fotolia/vege
Smoking openly inside Swiss train stations will be banned from 1 June 2019.

From this date on, smokers will have to use designated smoking areas or smoke in front of the train station.

This development comes following three different types of smoking trials, implemented by the Association of Public Transport (VöV), in six Swiss stations on 1 February 2018.

These tests saw Basel, Nyon and Zurich Stadelhofen go completely smoke-free, while smoking areas and lounges were introduced in Bellinzona and in Neuchâtel respectively.

Better air quality, less pollution and saving money on cleaning are being cited as the key reasons behind the smoking ban decision.

No Entry

South Korea bans smoking within 10 meters of daycare centers, kindergartens

Smoking ban in S. Korea
© YonHap
Smoking will be banned within 10 meters of child care facilities starting from the end of December.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Wednesday that the latest amendment to the National Health Promotion Act banning smoking within 10 meters of kindergartens and day care centers will go into effect Dec. 31.

The act aims to protect children from secondhand smoke, the ministry said.

Cities and districts are required to place signs notifying the public of the smoking ban, and those caught violating the ban will be slapped with a fine of 100,000 won ($88).

Smoking

University of Toronto to implement total smoking ban on campuses

University of Toronto smoking ban
© Nakita Krucker/Toronto Star (file photo)
The University of Toronto is banning smoking on campus starting next year.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2019, smoking tobacco, cannabis and vaping will not be permitted on its three campuses, the university announced Nov. 9.

"We wanted to extend and update our smoking policy to ensure that we have a healthy campus and part of that was to ensure that we didn't have any smoking on the campus," said Kelly Hannah-Moffat, the university's vice-president of human resources and equity. "The policy that we currently have is decades old."

The ban does not apply to Indigenous ceremonies or medical accommodations.


Comment: Just tell them it's part of your religion to smoke. In fact, this being the University of Toronto, tell them you identify as a smoker and are standing up for your right to be recognized as such...


The university's smoking policy was last updated in 1995.

Comment: It's no coincidence that the mania for banning tobacco smoking was the opening act in the cultural war. First they came for your ciggies to soften you up for totalitarianism; then they implemented the 'war on terror' to repeatedly shock you; then they 'unveiled' their nouveau realité of permanent identity politics war...


Stop

FDA to ban sale of flavored e-cigarettes

FDA ban on e-cigarettes
© Getty Images
The Food and Drug Administration is planning to ban flavored e-cigarette products, a drastic step in response to a dramatic increase in vaping among teenagers.

According to The Washington Post, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb is expected to announce a ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, which represent the majority of vaping products sold, in convenience stores and gas stations across the country. The announcement could come as soon as next week.

The agency will also impose new rules to curb illegal sales of e-cigarettes products to minors, including age-verification requirements on online sales, according to the Post.

The FDA did not respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

Gottlieb has threatened a ban on flavored e-liquids if five of the products' largest manufacturers can't come up with adequate plans to help keep e-cigarettes out of the hands of those under the age of 18.

Smoking

A first in Britain: City council in Scotland bans staff from smoking and vaping ANYWHERE during work

Scottish city council smoking ban
© PA
A council is to become the first in Britain to ban employees from smoking or vaping at all during working hours.

Dundee City Council has said it wants to reduce the number of adult "role models" seen with cigarettes in public and does not distinguish from other tobacco products.

The city has some of the highest rates of smoking in the UK, while men in the city have some of the lowest life expectancy rates.

The local authority plans to "promote positive health messages" and "protect the health of employees".

A stringent new policy told staff anyone not complying would be subject to disciplinary action - including if they smoked in the street, stepped off the premises to have a fag during a tea break, or were travelling to a different location.

Comment: Hitler would be so proud.

Adolph Hitler: Vegetarian, teetotaler, anti-smoking campaigner


Smoking

UK hospital asks snitches to trigger anti-smoking alarm if people smoke outside

smoking alarm hospital
Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, is using the blue buttons to deter people from smoking directly under the windows of the maternity ward
Smokers puffing away near hospital buildings are being shamed into stubbing their cigarettes out by pre-recorded messages saying, 'Someone's mummy or daddy is having cancer treatment'.

Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, is using the speakers to deter people from smoking directly under the windows of the maternity ward.

Staff, visitors and patients can now push a blue button to activate one of nine pre-recorded messages, which are played via a loud speaker outside the hospital entrance where smoking is a prevalent problem.

The messages include the voice of a child saying: 'Please don't smoke outside our hospital. Excuse me, do you think you can put out your cigarette.

'Someone's nanny, granddad, mummy or daddy is having cancer treatment today. Thank you.'


Comment: Where are the alarms for people eating junk food outside the entrance? Don't believe the anti-smoking hysteria: Also check out SOTT radio's: The Health & Wellness Show: The Truth about Tobacco and the Benefits of Nicotine


Smoking

Flurry of proposals issued by Finland's health ministry to make country smoke-free by 2030

Proposals made by Finland's Ministry of Social Affairs and Health include raising smoking age limits, major tobacco tax hikes and smoking bans in many places

Finlands proposals to go smoke-free
© Pixabay
Finland has set a goal to make the country smoke-free by the year 2030. In order to reach that goal in time, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health submitted a lengthy list of proposals which will likely addressed by the new government after next year's elections.

"Smoke-free" is a bit of a misnomer, because in reality the goal is to reduce tobacco use to a level of less than five percent of the population. That includes all nicotine products, including cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, nicotine-containing e-cigarette products and others.

Today about 12 percent of adults in Finland smoke tobacco. Three percent of the population uses the orally-ingested tobacco product snus, even though the sale of it has been banned in Finland for years.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health's new measures proposal was submitted to parliament on Friday.

Comment: See also:


Quenelle

Survey shows 6 out of 10 Thailand train passengers ignore smoking bans

Thailand train passengers ignore smoking ban
© Bangkok Post (file photo)
About six out of 10 train passengers violate tobacco control laws by smoking on board, according to findings from a survey by the Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Centre.

The survey was carried out among passengers on a total of 72 trains on four routes, according to Roengruedi Pathanwanit, deputy director of the centre.

These are the Bangkok-Chiang Mai, Bangkok-Ubon Ratchathani, Bangkok-Nong Khai and Bangkok-Hat Yai-Surat Thani routes.

Conducted last year, the research was based on interviews with 578 passengers.

Dr Roengrudi said the study aimed to find out whether the smoking ban under the 2017 Tobacco Control Act had been well observed.