Stop smoking fraud claim probed

From BBC News

Evidence of irregularities in government programmes to help smokers quit has been uncovered by BBC London.

The investigation suggested "Tobacco Advisors" had made false claims for money from local health authorities.

Harry Singer of Kensington and Chelsea, west London, is accused of claiming £45 per person, for people who say they had no involvement in the scheme.

Mr Singer denies any wrongdoing. The government said NHS stop smoking services had been "hugely effective".

A statement from the Department of Health said: "This year £56m was allocated to the NHS for smoking cessation services.

"We know that NHS stop smoking services have been hugely effective in helping people quit."

Training programme

The government's Smoking Cessation programme was set up nine years ago and pays doctors, pharmacists and community groups £45 for every patient they get to quit for four weeks.

Mr Singer runs the Threshold Kensington and Chelsea Residents' Association in Earl's Court.

He undertook a government funded training programme to become a qualified Tobacco Advisor and received £90,000 from the local health authority.

As part of the investigation BBC London tracked down some of the 2,000 people Mr Singer made claims for.

One of them, James Campion, who is a social smoker, denied ever taking part in the scheme although he did recall signing a petition in support of the no smoking ban.

Another person on Mr Singer's list told BBC London he has never smoked and another quitter on the list was Mr Singer himself.

Mr Singer claimed of the £45 received per claimant, £25 went to a "community kitty" administered by him. A further £15 went to his clipboard team and £5 was given to the people who signed up, he said.

In an separate investigation, Anil Shah was fined £1,800 on Friday after being found guilty of false accounting.

Shah, who runs a chemist in Shepherd's Bush, west London, was convicted at Blackfriars Crown Court last month.

Dr Robert West, who designed the Smoking Cessation programme, said he was not surprised suspect claims are being made.

"The problem is that the system is open to abuse. We need to tighten up monitoring, we need to tighten up the financial controls.

Smoking ban offers mixed results

From The Daily Journal

Some stopped coming. Some started coming back. Others come, but every few hours they go outside to smoke a cigarette.

The statewide smoking ban on indoor businesses began last year on April 15, and local business owners are finding out the actual results associated with it.

Don Bernardi, owner of Bernardi's on East Wheat Road, said the ban stinks.

"It's hurt all of the bars," he said, blaming the ban for $60,000 in lost revenue over the past year. "Now after they work they just stop off at a liquor store, buy a six-pack and go home."

The bar has a cigarette machine. Bernardi's customers can buy them, but they can't smoke them.

"People will smoke no matter what," he said. "The customers are not happy. When someone comes in they want to sit back and have a cigarette."

Loyle Lanes on South Delsea Drive built a wooden deck with a cover for its smoking customers.

General Manager Michael Loyle said business has picked up during the day.

When the smoke disappeared, it left a more family friendly atmosphere.

Loyle is president of the Bowling Proprietors Association of South Jersey, which hired a lobbyist to oppose the state bill. Loyle said the ban has lit a fire with some owners, especially those who compete with establishments in Pennsylvania that don't have a ban.

But Rick Kott, 37, of Millville appreciates the smoking area.

"I can smoke outside, and the wood of the deck is a lot better on the shoes," he said.

At the Buena Tavern on Route 40 in Buena Vista, the customers aren't huffing and puffing about the ban, according to owner Sunday Simons.

Business has doubled in the past year, and Simons attributes a lot of that to the ban.

"All the people who don't smoke now come in," she said. "It's great now. I didn't realize how many people stopped coming in because it smelled so bad."

Matthew A. Walker contributed to this story.

Why should we, in fact, stop smoking?

The world is filled with folks who think that the power of your will is enough to make you stop smoking. Of course, this deep-thinking attitude comprising so much wisdom can only come from non-smokers. But for smokers, who have tired to quit smoking so many times only to fail over and over again, it is clear that they need all the help they can get because their problem’s solution doesn’t lie simply with will or desire.

Anyone knows that smoking is not good for us and for those around us. All smokers should at least be aware of the fact that they are addictive to or passionate with a habit that produces pain, suffering and, ultimately, premature death. They all should feel responsible for intoxicating innocent people around them with secondhand smoke. And this is not fair at all. Non-smokers should not be forced to breathe other people’s smoke. There are more than necessary fabrics and cars pumping toxic smoke and gases in the air we all breathe, and that should be more than enough.

Authorities bring their own official contribution to the global stop smoking attempt. Higher prices for cigarettes and alcohol have been established and forced on the market. Special places have been created for smokers to puff nicotine so that not to force non-smokers to inhale secondhand smoke. Today, more like never, authorities intensified their efforts to determine people quit smoking in public places covering workplaces, schools, and hospitals. Quite soon, countries like France will subject even restaurants, bars, nightclubs and casinos to such stop smoking regulations.

World Health Organization makes public terrifying press releases when announcing the number of deaths caused smoking every year. US Center for Disease Control (CDC) Statistics show that a skyrocketing figure of 46.2 million adults smoke cigarettes only in the US. Most of them will die from tobacco-related diseases. Cigarettes smoke produces disabilities like cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and respiratory diseases and can even negatively affect your musculoskeletal system. Moreover, the sad fact is that many infants die simply because their mother did not quit smoking during pregnancy and shortly after.

There is one comforting hope to fight back all these figures: you can always choose to stop smoking. And once you quit smoking, the human body can start healing any damage caused by tobacco and smoke inhaling. Many smokers are surprised to hear and more than often, they refuse to believe that only one year after you quit smoking, the risk of a heart attack or sudden death caused by smoking is reduced by 50 per cent. Male smokers who quit smoking between around age of 35 can add up to 15 years to their life, while female quitters belonging to the same group can extend their lives with up to 12 years. But if you are at ages 65 to 69 and you stop smoking, you only increase the life expectancy by up to 3 years, which is good compared to nothing. But is would be much better if you stub out smoking before it is too late.

Of course, it is your life and you can do what ever you want with it. You can choose to permanently have a bad smelling breath and be avoided by other people when you try whispering something face to face. Why enjoying the rich taste of food or why bother eating at all when you can savor a nicotine filled cigarette? Especially if your bosses got on your nerves and you feel like all the anxiety and pressure and nervousness vanish along with the smoke of the cigar.

Smoking in public is targeted

News from MySA.com

Smoking in Texas may soon become a private affair. A House bill working its way through the Legislature would place a statewide ban on lighting up in all public places and workplaces, including restaurants, bars, sports arenas and convention centers.

It's causing quite a debate amongst those who own, manage and frequent local restaurants and bars.

The legislation has Oscar Trejo holding his breath. Trejo, who works as the general manager of Liberty Bar in San Antonio, says his restaurant-bar already follows the city's limit on public smoking.

"I would like to keep things the way they are," he said. "But, eventually, I know the state ban is going to come. I just hope not too soon."

Although he doesn't smoke, Trejo says the economic success of his business rides on all patrons, whether they smoke or not.

"It will affect my business because it will mean we will be segregating smokers and nonsmokers, and I don't want to do that," he said. "We'll be segregating our smokers even more by not allowing them a place to come and smoke. Some of our regulars might stop coming."

Meanwhile, Tony Cantu, owner of Audry's Mexican Restaurant in San Antonio, is rejoicing about the prospect of smoke-free legislation.

"It's more of an economic situation for me," he said. "I need to utilize all the chairs and tables in the restaurant, and the majority of my customers are nonsmokers."

Cantu oversees a staff of nine employees. His restaurant has been a nonsmoking establishment since 2000.

"I think it's great," he said. "We were a nonsmoking restaurant way before it was mandatory in the city, and I would say we all feel a little healthier."

And for healthier staff and customers across the state, Cantu supports House Bill 9.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Myra Crownover, D-Denton, creates a statewide smoking standard. It would eliminate smoking in workplaces and public places. So far, the bill has the support of 44 representatives.

State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, filed an identical companion bill, Senate Bill 368.

"This is not a bill that says whether or not one should or should not smoke," Crownover said. "This is a bill that says you cannot negatively affect the health of our workers in the state of Texas."

Smoke-Free Texas, a health coalition comprising the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association and Texas PTA, is spearheading the smoke-free initiative.

San Antonio is one of 47 Texas cities with some type of limit on public smoking. San Antonio's municipal code requires restaurants to go smoke-free or to enclose smoking areas with four walls while creating a 10-foot buffer zone between smoking and nonsmoking areas.

Yolanda Arellano, executive director for the San Antonio Restaurant Association, a part of the Texas Restaurant Association, said the legislation creates a statewide standard that everyone would follow.

"There are so many different municipalities and codes," she said. "If we do this statewide, everyone would be on the same playing level and we wouldn't have an issue."

She said the 2003 municipal smoking code put many San Antonio businesses, including Maggie's Restaurant on San Pedro Avenue, out of business.

Meanwhile, the debate on the smoking ban continues, and smokers are lighting up while they can.

Malaysia threatens to fix cigarette prices to cut smoking

News from AFP

Malaysia on Friday threatened to control the price of cigarettes to stop multinational tobacco sellers from lowering them to encourage smoking and sales, state media reported.

Health Minister Chua Soi Lek said he had given JT International, British American Tobacco, and Philip Morris two weeks to end what he said was a price war after meeting with officials from the companies.

"The health ministry views this price war seriously," Chua was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

"The government normally imposes high tax with the hope that when prices of cigarettes go up, there will be a drop in the demand, although we understand that at some stage it will encourage smuggling," he said.

"But of late, it looks like efforts by the government are being challenged by these companies with them drastically reducing prices, some to unreasonable levels," he said.

The minister said that the price of cigarettes was only three ringgit (0.87 dollars) for a packet of 20, before costs and taxes are added, and that the low prices are thwarting government efforts to discourage smoking.

A packet of cigarettes in Malaysia costs up to 7.50 ringgit after taxes and costs.

Chua also threatened other actions against the companies, who dominate the market in Malaysia, if they failed to cooperate.

"If they cannot cooperate and want to increase their cigarette sales, it is time the ministry considers taking several actions," he said.

Actions could include compulsory registration with the ministry so it can monitor tar and nicotine levels to ensure products meet government standards, he said, according to Bernama.

The government may also enlarge health warnings, currently on the side of most cigarette packets, to cover 60 percent of the boxes to discourage smokers, he added.

Smoking prevention campaign burning out

News from www.news-leader.com

ABCs of Secondhand Smoke program needs new funds to continue.

Time is running out on a program that got rural parents to stop smoking around their children, reducing the risk of exposure to dangerous secondhand smoke.

April 30 marks the end of a three-year, $300,000 grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health that funded the ABCs of Secondhand Smoke program.

It was free to Head Start families in Douglas, Wright, Howell, Shannon and Oregon counties. Community Partnership of the Ozarks manages the program, and it's implemented by Head Start.

Last school year alone, many of the 290 parents who participated reported they either stopped smoking altogether in their homes and cars, stopped others from smoking in their homes and cars, smoked fewer cigarettes or quit smoking altogether, said Sylvia Persky, program director and CPO's associate director.

Now CPO is looking for alternate grants to help the families that need it most. It would take about a $125,000 grant to extend the program a year, she said.

"This is a good cause," said Michael Carter, community policy specialist with the state's Bureau of Health Promotion.

"Rural counties tend not to have the same level of prevention resources we have in Greene County or in more urban areas," said Carter, who also serves on CPO's Ozarks Fighting Back advisory board.

There's less state money for it, too.

All of Missouri's portion of the 1998 tobacco Master Settlement Agreement was diverted from tobacco-prevention education to the general fund. Missouri gets some help from the federal Centers for Disease Control.

The lack of state funds makes the ABCs program even more important, Carter said.

"Particularly in the area of maternal-child health, they have a higher incidence of mothers who smoke around the kids and while they're pregnant, which the ABCs program does address," Carter said.

"We already know nationwide data show kids in an environment where one or two parents smoke in the house tend to be less healthy, they have a higher incidence of inner-ear infections, they tend to be more ill, particularly if they have a predisposition to asthma," and then often become smokers.

"When I used to see kids in cars with one or two parents smoking, I started calling them 'rolling gas chambers,' which is really what they are," Carter said.

Persky is confident the ABCs program helped change that in the homes of the 290 parents/guardians who participated in the 2005 to 2006 school year.

Surveys before and after the program showed the number of parents who said they smoked in the home dropped from 49 percent to 18 percent, and the percentage of parents who smoked in the car with their children present dropped from 61 percent to 30 percent.

"We've seen some people stop smoking, but we've also seen them take their cigarettes outside and away from the kids," said Howell County Head Start volunteer and nurse Letitia Lewandowski.

"My husband is a doctor and it's been eye-opening for him because people actually say, 'We didn't know that smoking causes my kid's asthma," she said. "He realized doctors are not telling patients about that ... So he has started educating the doctors to make patients aware of this."

She works with 180 children and 80 to 100 parents in the four Howell County Head Start centers.

Parents attend three free sessions, during which they learn about the dangers of secondhand smoke to children and ways to change their smoking behavior. Children attend three free sessions, where they learn about their lungs, secondhand smoke dangers and how to ask adults politely, "Please don't smoke around me." It works, Lewandowski said.

"They come back and tell us they do it, and the parents don't smoke around them...We had a huge number of people stop smoking in the car."

The successes in Howell and the other counties have attracted national attention, Persky said.

In 2006, The ABCs of Secondhand Smoke received the Exemplary Substance Abuse Prevention Program Award from the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors and the National Prevention Network.

The award honors outstanding achievements in substance abuse prevention.

Continuing the program this year could help CPO generate more funds, too. CPO could then use $30,000 in federal funds to be evaluated by federal health officials and possibly certified as a "best practices" model program, Carter said.

If certified, the ABCs of Secondhand Smoke program would be publicized nationwide and other prevention agencies could "purchase" the program materials from CPO. Those funds could then be used to fund more projects for the Ozarks, he said.