Smoking Ban and Tobacco Use, Montgomery County

Montgomery County leaders are considering tightening restrictions on tobacco use again, this time with a smoking ban on any property owned or leased by county government. The ban—proposed by Councilwoman Nancy Floreen—would apply to the land around recreation centers and county buildings, for example, but not bus shelters and sidewalks, The Examiner reported. Floreen, a breast cancer survivor, will announce more details at a news conference Thursday timed to coincide with the Great American Smokeout, which the American Cancer Society holds to try to cut into the nation’s 44 million smokers.

Mills County Plan to Quit Smoking

Sheri Bowen wants Mills County to be healthier. The Mills County Public Health administrator is encouraging residents that smoke cigarettes to use the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout as a starting point for quitting. “ We're asking folks to consider stopping smoking,” she said. Bowen said some residents plan to quit on the Smokeout date, Nov. 15, while others are using the day to focus on a “quit date.”

Tobacco Use Dropped, Teen Smokers in Kentucky

Fewer teens are smoking these days — which is welcome news for many health advocates. A recent report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says current tobacco use and cigarette smoking dropped for middle and high school students nationally from 2000 to 2011. Among middle school students, current tobacco use dtropped from 14.9 percent to 7.1 percent, and current cigarette use dropped from 10.7 percent to 4.3 percent. Among high schoolers, tobacco use dropped from 34.4 percent to 23.2 percent, and cigarette smoking dropped from 27.9 percent to 15.8 percent. While the report didn’t break down the statistics by state, Kentucky consistently ranks at or near the top for tobacco use in surveys. In the 2011 Kentucky Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 24 percent of high school students reported smoking cigarettes at least once during the 30 days before the survey, and 17 percent reported using chewing tobacco, snuff or dip.

Civil Society Support Anti-Tobacco Legislation

The civil society organizations and medical practitioners announced all out support to the government of Khyber Pakthunkhwa for its endeavour to make necessary legislation against smokeless tobacco (naswar) and demanded strict laws against its use and selling to protect people from its dangerous health hazards. Dr Liaqat Ali, a general medical practitioner and Chest Specialist told APP that one of the causes of lung, stomach and mouth cancer is the use of naswar, which is also contributing to bronchitis, kidney, heart and other diseases.

Smoke-Free campus in USM

The University of Southern Mississippi started its new smoking policy Tuesday on its Hattiesburg campus. The policy bans tobacco use inside all university buildings, facilities and vehicles. Advertisement, distribution and sale of tobacco products and discount OK cigarettes are also banned from the campus and all publications. Littering of tobacco-related products is also prohibited. Violators could face fines or other disciplinary action. The stricter smoking policy does not affect the Gulf Park campus, but will soon change.

Texas Reduces Amount Allocated To Tobacco Prevention Programmee

Texas is one of the places in the US where children get into smoking from a very tender age, say about 14 years. This has led to a rise in the number of cancer cases and eventually death in young age. Not for once but for many times it has been said that tobacco is one such cause of death in Texas which could be preventable. In Texas alone, more than 24,000 people die annually, but it seems very little on the part of the state government to be doing something about it. There is no end to revenues which gets generated from tobacco tax or from other tobacco settlements.