Toronto Public Health recommends wider outdoor smoking ban

In an unguarded moment on Monday, President Barack Obama joked that he was able to successfully quit smoking “because I'm scared of my wife.”
Following a Civil Society Roundtable at the opening day of the United Nations General Assembly meeting, an open mic caught the president questioning U.N. Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai about his smoking habit.
“I hope you quit smoking,” Obama said as the two greeted each other after the event.
Kiai said he still enjoyed a smoke from time-to-time, and asked Obama if he had been able to kick the habit.
“I haven't had a cigarette in 6 years...that's because I'm scared of my wife," Obama told him with a grin.

The commander-in-chief’s nicotine habit has gotten plenty of attention since taking the White House. While pushing for passage of health care reform in 2009, he admitted that he still struggled with cigarettes and has continued to smoke on occasion as president “I've said before that as a former smoker I constantly struggle with it.  Have I fallen off the wagon sometimes?  Yes.  Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker?  No,” he said at a press conference in 2009. “I don't do it in front of my kids.  I don't do it in front of my family. And, you know, I would say that I am 95 percent cured.  But there are times where...There are times where I mess up.”In an 2012 interview with iVillage, First Lady Michelle Obama said her husband had been motivated by their daughters to successfully quit for good."I know that his ability to ultimately kick the habit was because of the girls, because they're at the age now where you can't hide," Michelle Obama said. "I think that he didn't want to look his girls in the eye and tell them that they shouldn't do something that he was still doing.

Smoking drivers in grave danger

While travelling towards my house one evening recently, I was shocked to see a driver smoking in the car while driving, and throwing the cigarette on the road, totally unconcerned about the danger he was causing to other drivers.

Studies have shown that smoking while driving increases the probability of a crash. The authorities have also instituted a financial penalty of Dh500 and four black points for such careless drivers. Despite this, I was shocked to see drivers smoking at leisure and throwing cigarette butts out on the road. The cigarettes can ignite other flammable substances, which could be disastrous for other vehicles on the road and lead to a great calamity.

According to local news reports, the number of road accident deaths in the first eight months of this year is much higher than the total number of deaths in the previous year and such an alarming fact could also be attributed to the careless attitude of such drivers. Despite the number of campaigns held and punishments instituted, these drivers are adamant that they would not change. Such drivers need to be caught and punished in a way that they would never repeat this offense again.

As a concerned resident, I appeal to all drivers to drive safely without causing harm to yourself and others. Keep your belts buckled, phones at the side and cigarettes inside. After all, everybody aims to reach their destination safe and sound!

UK scientists: quit smoking and you can still save your skin

The good news is that if you do give up, the skin will start to repair itself. The bad news for those who can't or won't give up (such as devoted smoker Kate Moss) is that the later you leave it, the more irreversible the problems.

Smoking affects the entire body and when it is put under stress  -  in this case with a toxic concoction of carbon monoxide, cyanide, tar, formaldehyde and other chemicals  -  the brain diverts vitamins away from your skin to be used elsewhere.

Cigarette manufacturers: FBR accused of introducing complicated FED system

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has introduced a very complex 'slabs system' of the Federal Excise Duty (FED) for the cigarette manufacturers which has only benefited the multinational companies with stagnation in the incidence of taxes ie sales tax/FED on most popular brands of the product. Tax experts told Business Recorder here on Thursday that the multinational companies and the FBR had deliberately implemented a very complicated excise duty system to charge less amount of FED on popular brands of cigarettes.

Smokers Earn Less Money, So Here Are 7 Frugal Tips to Help You Quit

It’s no secret that smoking is not only horrible for your health but also ridiculously expensive. It’s also true that indulging in the habit causes you to earn less money — about 20 percent less, says a study by researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
It’s not that smokers are less productive. About 60 percent of the pay difference can be attributed to factors like having less education than nonsmokers. But another factor seems to be that people who smoke face a bias in the workplace. A press release about the study, conducted by economists Melinda Pitts and Julie Hotchkiss, explains:
Perhaps their most surprising finding is that the wage gap doesn’t vary by smoking intensity. “A person who smokes one cigarette per day faces a similar penalty as a person who smokes a pack a day,” explained Pitts, who directs the Atlanta Fed’s Center for Human Capital Studies. “Since smoking more cigarettes is known to result in greater health problems and work absences, the fact that the penalty doesn’t increase as smoking intensity increases suggests that the wage penalty is more related to a bias in the workplace against smokers than it is related to lower productivity among smokers,” she continued. Capital cigarettes online.
It’s a nasty habit

New effort under way for St. Joseph smoking ban

A St. Joseph group seeking to ban smoking in most public places is trying a new tactic to put the issue before voters.
The St. Joseph News-Press reports ( http://bit.ly/19LXdRL) members of Smoke-Free St. Joseph are gathering signatures from registered voters on a petition. They'll need nearly 2,200 certified signatures to get their proposal on a future ballot.
Smoke-Free St. Joseph began drafting the proposed ordinance after the City Council voted in May to drop all considerations of a smoking ban.
The group's proposal would ban smoking in all indoor public places except for 10 percent of hotel rooms and private clubs when no employees are present.
It also would allow smoking on the gambling floor of the St. Jo Frontier Casino until casinos in Jackson, Platte or Clay counties go smoke-free.

Smoking down among youngsters

The survey of 3,416 primary and secondary school pupils found that 80 per cent had never tried smoking, compared to 70 per cent when the study was last carried out in 2011.
It also found that four per cent of pupils described themselves as occasional or regular smokers, falling from nine per cent in 2011.
Year five pupils from primary schools and year nine youngsters from secondary schools took part in the Health Related Behaviour Survey.
The study is used by district NHS bosses to collect information about young people’s lifestyles.
Health experts said tobacco use among young people had declined because of new laws on smoking in public places, a ban on tobacco advertising and better education of the dangers of smoking.
Dr Andrew Furber, the