Update on Smoking Bans Around the World

The noose tightens.

Smoking bans are everywhere. But what does the global picture look like as 2011 gets underway? Herewith, a brief rundown of the smoking situation in assorted countries, courtesy of an analysis late last year by BBC News.

-- Canada. In a nation known as one of the toughest of all when it comes to regulating cigarettes, the Canadian Medical Association Journal says the strict laws have been responsible for “cutting hospital admissions for heart and respiratory problems by about a third.”

-- China. In contrast, 2010 gave observers little reason to think that the Chinese government was actually going to enforce the promised national ban on smoking in public places. Enforcement varied from city to city but in general remained vague at best. Only about 25 % of the adult population believes that smoking is linked to cancer. “The country has an estimated 350 million smokers. For every three cigarettes lit worldwide, one is smoked in China,” according to BBC News.

-- Germany. The smoke-free movement hit some snags in Germany, where a ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants in 2008 has been fiercely resisted in some quarters. Tavern owners complain of lost income, and the bans are also disliked “because of an earlier crackdown on smoking initiated by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime,” says BBC News. Nonetheless, cigarettes were banned from Munich’s Oktoberfest for the first time in history.

-- France. Curiously, in a nation that was expected to rise up as one against workplace smoking bans, “correspondents say attitudes to smoking have changed dramatically in France since the 2007 ban, and any fears that people would generally ignore the laws have proved false.”

-- United Kingdom. Smoking is banned almost everywhere—“nearly all enclosed public spaces”—in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. This year, England may become the first nation to sell cigarettes in plain brown wrappers—a move government officials hope will make the packages less attractive to younger smokers.

-- Iran. Back in 2003, Iran banned smoking in public buildings. According to the BBC, the measures have had “little effect. However, in July 2010 smokers were banned from taking high-ranking jobs in the Iranian government, the news agency ILNA reported.”

-- Russia. The heavy-smoking Russians continue to astound: “A 2009 survey by the World Health Organization found that Russia has 43.9 million smokers—about 40% of the population.” About 60% of Russian men smoke. 500,000 people die of smoking-related illness each year. The Russian government is considering a blanket no-smoking policy for enclosed spaces—starting in 2015.

-- Uruguay. The host of a recent international summit on tobacco control strategies, Uruguay has adopted some of the toughest anti-smoking laws in the world—so tough that the government was forced to back down on some of its sweeping new restrictions due to tobacco industry pressure.

-- Australia. Starting last September, there was no smoking “in cars carrying children, on sections of beaches, and within 10m (32ft) of playground equipment.” Australia also bans smoking in public workplaces, and plans to follow England’s lead in forcing tobacco companies to use plain wrappers for cigarette packages.

-- United States. California, a state that almost managed to pass a proposition legalizing marijuana, has the strictest and most extensive set of anti-tobacco laws on the planet. Smoking is banned not just within public buildings, but also within 20 feet of public buildings, and on all state beaches.

Graphics Credit: http://www.nicotineedge.com/

Can I Smoke in Here?

New tobacco map highlights state differences.

An interactive online map set, showing state-by-state variations in smoke-free laws, cigarette tax rates, and rates of tobacco control spending, has been put together by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and is now available for viewing at the foundation’s Public Health site HERE.

“Users will be able to see whether a state is ahead or behind the curve in protecting and promoting health,” says Michelle Larkin, the leader of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Public Health Team. “We know from the research that the two most effective policies to pursue are raising tobacco taxes and putting smoke-free air laws into place,” says Larkin, adding that “these two policies help to prevent youth from ever starting to smoke and they also help smokers quit.”

To that end, the interactive maps that comprise the project can be used to track changes from state to state in smoke-free legislation and taxation rates over time. A third map can be used to track the extent to which states are complying with CDC recommendations for tobacco control expenditures. (Answer: most of them aren’t.)

The hope is that the interactive tobacco map will provide policymakers with a nationwide picture of tobacco policy, using the state-by-state breakdowns to predict trends and to demonstrate how the tobacco control landscape has evolved and changed over the years.

The RWJF Tobacco Map uses data from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and Americans for Non-Smokers’ Rights.

Obama Comes Clean

Signs nicotine control act, admits he still lights up.

The new anti-smoking legislation, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, prevents the advertising of tobacco to children and puts tobacco under the purview of the Food and Drug Administration for the first time.

In signing the bill, Obama was compelled by reporters to admit to his nicotine addiction during a press conference. "Look, I've said before that as a former smoker I constantly struggle with it. Have I fallen off the wagon sometimes? Yes," Obama said in an article about the news conference by Sheldon Alberts of Canwest News Service.

Typically, for a smoker who can’t quite quit, Obama defended himself by saying, "I don't do it in front of my kids. I don't do it in front of my family."

Obama was said to have convinced his wife to support his bid for the presidency by agreeing to give up cigarettes—a campaign pledge he has not been able to keep, by his own admission.

During the Tuesday press conference Obama compared his addiction to nicotine to an alcoholic's need for a drink. "I don't know what to tell you, other than the fact that, you know, like folks who go to (Alcoholics Anonymous) you know, once you've gone down this path, then, you know, it's something you continually struggle with, which is precisely why the legislation we signed was so important, because what we don't want is kids going down that path in the first place."

During the press conference, an exasperated Obama sought to turn the questions away from his own lingering addiction. "First of all, the new law that was put in place is not about me. It's about the next generation of kids coming up," he said. "So I think it's fair . . . to just say that you just think it's neat to ask me about my smoking, as opposed to it being relevant to my new law. But that's fine. I understand. It's an interesting human interest story."

Graphics Credit: obamasmoking.com

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