Two schools in Northampton and one school in Montague are getting thousands of dollars to fight big tobacco. It’s a youth-led movement called The 84. The 84, represents the 84 percent of teens in Massachusetts who chose not to smoke cheap Gauloises cigarettes. Northampton High School and Smith Vocational High school received a grant from the 84 to start programs in their schools where young people can advocate for their communities to be tobacco-free.

School administrators at Northampton High told 22News that they were interested in starting a chapter at the school after they found a slight increase in the number of students who smoked.

“Smoking, cigarette smoking, increases as the child gets older. The biggest jump we saw this year was among our seniors and it was still about 20 percent,” Northampton High School Health and Safety Director Karen Jarvis-Vance said.

“We’ll be gathering data within our community and working with Smith Vocational High School students as well, and we’ll be assessing the data to determine our needs here in Northampton,” said Tricia Armstrong, a wellness teacher at Northampton High School.

More than $6,000 was split up evenly between Northampton High School, Smith Vocational School, and Turners Falls High School. Those at Northampton High say that they are aiming to work with the other chapters to fight for tobacco-free environments. There are already 84 chapters of this program at area schools all over Massachusetts.

Some of them have helped pass legislation that bans the sale of tobacco in pharmacies. Currently, 19 communities in the state including Boston and Worcester, ban the sale of tobacco in pharmacies. This measure has been a topic of contention the past few days because state health officials are considering a statewide ban, which will prohibit the sale of tobacco products in pharmacies all across the state.

According to a New York Times article published Monday, a federal judge blocked an attempt by the Food and Drug Administration to force tobacco companies to use graphic warning labels on their packaging. And while cheap cigarettes are bad, we’re glad this first-amendment issue ended the way it did.

Looking around campus, smokers are everywhere. And if our little corner of the world is representative of a larger whole, it means there are only more out there. Call us crazy, but when we see someone inhaling hazardous chemicals into their lungs, they’re not usually being forced to do so.

People smoke out of habit, knowing full well the possible consequences to their health. Health effects are written right there on discount Chesterfield cigarette packages in black and white, and that should be enough.

The FDA’s attempts to put staged photos of a corpse or a man breathing smoke out of a tracheotomy hole are just that –– staged, and therefore trying to influence public opinion. Frankly, that’s not the FDA’s job. As a government institution, they shouldn’t be stepping into an advocacy role, but instead should provide facts and figures.

That’s why we think Richard Leon, the judge who blocked the FDA’s attempts, did the right thing. Not only would the images be an encroachment on commercial free speech, but the new packaging would have been used to encourage smokers to quit from photographs that weren’t even technically real.

We’re big boys and girls, FDA. If someone wants to smoke a cigarette after a long day, that’s completely their prerogative. It’s between them and the surgeon general.

The Maricopa Community Colleges will ban all tobacco products next year to help boost the health of students and staff and to keep campuses cleaner.

Smoking is prohibited in all buildings, but there are designated smoking areas at the colleges. As of July 1, no tobacco products will be allowed on any of the system’s 10 campuses, which include satellite sites around the Valley, as well as the district’s two skills centers and its office in Tempe.

“This is a bold move, but it’s the right move for us,” said district spokesman Tom Gariepy. Over the next several months, he said, the colleges will provide help for students, staff and faculty who want to quit smoking, including cessation classes.

Bob England, director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, spoke in favor of the initiative at the district’s governing-board meeting last week. About one in four Arizonans ages 18 to 24 are smokers, a bit higher than the national average for that age group, he said.

The initiative, announced by Chancellor Rufus Glasper this month, was years in the making.

Michele Hamm, an exercise-science faculty member at Mesa Community College and a member of the Wellness Maricopa group that worked on the initiative, said the issue was first raised when voters passed a statewide smoking ban in 2006.

Much discussion and research followed, and the group gathered data from other colleges, including the Ozarks Technical Community College system in Missouri, one of the first in the nation to ban tobacco products, in 2003.

“One concern was whether the ban would cause an enrollment drop,” Hamm said. “But there was no significant impact on enrollment.”

Campus cleanliness was a big part of the push, she said.

“The facilities directors emphasized how much time their staffs spend cleaning up after tobacco users – cigarette butts that miss the ashtrays or are put out on the walls. They have to sandblast to get the ash off,” she said.

Hamm said a committee will look at how other colleges handle enforcement. There are about 142,000 students and about 8,800 full- and part-time faculty and staff members districtwide.

“Some (colleges) have fines, and others have put it into the student code of conduct, where (violators) would meet with the dean,” Hamm said. “Another option is to have them complete a cessation class to waive the fine.

“We’re looking at some creative ways to not just say, ‘You’re bad, give us your money.’ ”

Diana Martinez is a program specialist in the Student Life and Leadership Office at Phoenix College, as well as that campus representative for IGNITE, a partnership with Tobacco Free Arizona that educates college students.

“We’re very diverse in our community here, and we have a lot of international students, and smoking is part of their culture,” Martinez said. “So it’s great to provide them the information here.”

Policy changes such as the tobacco ban are key to improving health, England said.

“Everyone knows that tobacco is a health risk. No one is unaware of that,” he said. “Education can only do so much, and, frankly, we’ve pretty much exhausted what you can do with individual education.

“But tobacco-related policies can have an enormous impact.”

England said the Smoke Free Arizona Act, which went into effect in 2007, proves that.

“The rationale for that was to protect workers from secondhand smoke, but it also demonstrated something else. The year it was implemented, the adult smoking rate in Arizona went down by 20 percent. One in five smokers quit.

“That shows that when you have policies that make smoking less convenient, that provides the incentives that many smokers need to finally kick the habit,” England said.

Myrtle Beach City Council listened to several presentations from the public during a meeting Tuesday. Smoke Free Horry and members of the American Cancer Society answered council members questions on what it would take for Horry County to go smoke free and the potential impacts a smoking ban would have on business owners.

Smoke Free Horry believes everyone deserves to breathe smoke-free air. It wants to educate the public about the dangers of secondhand smoke, provide free resources to quit smoking through a hotline and inspire the county’s youth to stay tobacco free. 6,300 kids under the age of 18 become new daily smokers each year.

The organization told council members that more than 1,500 people called and asked for kits to quit smoking in Horry County alone. The response to ‘Quit For Keeps’ was so overwhelming, it actually ran out of resources like nicotine gum or patches, and will offer the supplies again in August. It also said 99 percent of the people who answered a recent survey were in favor of a smoke-free county.

Advocates for a smoke-free county said the fight for a ban must start on a local level, rather than a state level.

Ultimately, council members asked for more specific information pertaining to the 41 cities in the state, including Charleston, that have implemented smoke-free ordinances. Members hope to find out the most convenient ways to transition.

Do you think Horry County should go smoke-free? Why or why not?

Cigarette prices soar after the government imposes a higher sales taxes on all Egyptian brands. Eastern Company issued a release yesterday announcing an increase in the selling prices for all of its Winston cigarette brands effective on Thursday, June 23, 2011.

The increase is the result of higher sales taxes on cigarettes, in line with Law No. 49 (2011), which stipulates that sales taxes on cigarettes should amount to 50 per cent of the selling price compared to 40 per cent previously.

Eastern Company’s cigarette retail prices will rise by 20 per cent on average, with the cheapest pack of cigarettes (20 cigarettes per pack) selling for EGP5.00 against EGP4.25 per pack.

Eastern Company’s most popular brands, Cleopatra Gold and Cleopatra Box, which collectively represent 60 per cent of its local brand sales, would be sold for EGP5.25 and EGP6.00 per pack, respectively.

The company increased its prices by an average of 8.4 per cent on nine local brands on Mar 23, 2011.

As state funding for enforcement of Ohio’s smoking ban approaches its end, unpaid fines in Lucas County and throughout the state are piling up.

Less than one third of $2.3 million in fines assessed since the law took effect five years ago has been collected. In Lucas County, roughly $13,000 has been paid — not even a dent in the $245,500 that’s owed.

This is all growing while cash-strapped Ohio is expected to stop paying the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department $125 to investigate each report of a violation of the law forbidding smoking in public buildings.

No money for following up on complaints of alleged smoking violations is contained for any local health department in Gov. John Kasich’s proposed $55.7 billion, two-year budget. The state provided $1 million for that purpose this year.

Funding for the “quit line” that helps smokers kick the habit also would be cut by 83 percent.

Still, local health officials say they’re not going to back off from enforcing the smoking ban. Toledo in 2003 enacted its ban — well before the state — so there’s a local history of opposing smoking in public, said Alan Ruffell, the department’s environmental health director.

“We’re committed to enforcing the rule,” Mr. Ruffell said. “We took the lead on the smoking ban. We had our ban before the state ban took effect.”

With the enforcement funding cut in the budget, advocates also are calling for financial support from the state. One way to raise $50 million annually for smoking ban enforcement, cessation assistance, and other programs would be to increase the tax on noncigarette tobacco products, including small filtered cigars that have been gaining popularity, said Shelly Kiser, advocacy director for the American Lung Association of Ohio.

Ohio’s $1.25-a-pack tax on cigarettes is about 55 percent, while the tax on cigars and other products is 17 percent, Ms. Kiser said. Some lawmakers have expressed interest in the idea of equalizing the taxes, but so far none has championed it, she said.

“It’s a lot cheaper to buy these things,” Ms. Kiser said. “The use of these other tobacco products is going up.”

Because of the funding declines, local health departments are weighing other options. Hiring someone to do inspections so the department doesn’t have to pay existing employees overtime on nights and weekends is among cost-cutting options the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department is considering, Mr. Ruffell said.

The Wood County Health Department may have to turn enforcement over to the state, which would be a disappointment to voters who supported the ban, said Brad Espen, the department’s environmental health director.

The Williams County Health Department, Van Wert County Health Department, and 35 other local health departments already have turned enforcement over to the Ohio Department of Health, which currently has one employee spending 1,000 hours a year doing investigations, or about 20 hours a week.

“I’m concerned that we will see an increase in smoking in public places again,” said Mr. Espen, adding that smoking-ban complaints in Wood County have declined by more than half. “We’ve made a great start, and it would be a shame to give up the program.”

Smoking-ban advocates say a decline in state funding for prevention and cessation programs already has had a negative effect. At one time, tobacco settlement funds had supported those programs and, more recently, smoking ban enforcement, and the state’s telephone tobacco ”quit line.”

After falling off in 2008, the percentage of adult Ohio smokers also is on the rise, while the rate among Michigan residents and Americans overall continues to decline, according to 2010 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last year, 22.5 percent of adult Ohioans smoked, up from 20.3 percent in 2009 and 20.1 percent in 2008. In Michigan, 18.9 percent of adults smoked last year, and 17.3 percent did nationwide, according to the CDC.

The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department and other groups are in the midst of updating local statistics on smoking and other health-related factors. The last study, from 2007, showed 23 percent of Lucas County adults smoked, down from 29 percent in 2003.

Holly Kowalczk, a tobacco treatment specialist at St. Luke’s Hospital, said she believes smoking is on the rise in northwest Ohio. Local residents have lost their jobs and health-insurance coverage, and it’s cheaper to buy cigarettes than pay for smoking cessation treatment, she said.

“Historically, we’re a very high tobacco use area,” Ms. Kowalczk said. “As times get tougher, our vices … go up.”

Funding for Ohio’s ”quit line” for smokers also could be reduced under the two-year state budget being discussed. There is $1 million for the line in the state’s proposed budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, down from $6 million, but it is slated to receive no state support during the fiscal year starting July 1, 2012.

Smoking, however, every year costs Ohio nearly $4.4 billion in health-care expenses and another nearly $4.9 billion in lost productivity, according to the American Lung Association of Ohio.

St. Luke’s Hospital continues to have a comprehensive Tobacco Treatment Center, even as state funding for cessation programs largely has dried up. Established about 15 years ago and financially supported by the Maumee hospital, the center addresses prevention, cessation, and intervention in 16 local school districts; provides programs for employers; has a free weekly support group; and does both inpatient and outpatient services.

“St. Luke’s has made a commitment to continue doing this,” said Ms. Kowalczk, adding that the hope is to spread services throughout new parent company ProMedica.
The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department currently has a $52,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Health, which is down from $75,000 last year, said Stuart Kerr, tobacco prevention coordinator.

Last year, the health department started working with Neighborhood Health Association and other medical providers so they can educate patients about the dangers of smoking. School regulations and enforcement are part of the grant’s focus this year. The hope is to add cessation programs to the health department’s slate, as well as educating students, Mr. Kerr said.

The concern, though, is that all money for programs advocating non-smoking and ban enforcement will dry up, he said.

“I kind of feel that the state is making money by taxing the product, and some of it should be put back into education and enforcement activities,” Mr. Kerr said.

Many neighborhood bars and other smoking-ban opponents continue to hold out against the law, which was built around using fines to help pay for enforcement. Among their assertions is that the ban is unconstitutional, as enforcement has focused on fining business owners, not actual smokers as allowed by the law.

Collection rates for Lucas County are at roughly 5 percent. Three Toledo bars — Rip Cord, Delaney’s Lounge, and Mayfly Tavern — account for more than half of the $245,000 owed in Lucas County.

“Until the state starts collecting the fine money, I’m sure they’ll continue to do what they’re doing,” said Mr. Ruffell of the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department. “That’s where the system is weak.”

Ban opponents claimed a victory when Toledo’s Pour House bar successfully fought a $500 fine, receiving a court ruling the bar could not be penalized because a smoking patron disobeyed. A Pour House bartender had told the patron he couldn’t smoke, but the bar was fined after the man left a cigarette burning in a mint tin.

Other lawsuits could have broader implications.

A lawsuit pending before the Ohio Supreme Court involves a Columbus bar, Zeno’s Victorian Village, that has not paid mounting smoking ban fines.

Until a decision is made on that lawsuit, which could take six to eight months, Lucas County Common Pleas Court lawsuits against Rip Cord and Mayfly Tavern seeking fine payments have been put on hold, said attorney Maurice Thompson of 851 Center for Constitutional Law, which represents both Toledo bars and Zeno’s.

If bar owners put signs up about the smoking ban, remove ashtrays, and take other measures to notify patrons that smoking isn’t allowed in their establishments, they should not be fined, Mr. Thompson said. Smokers breaking the ban should be fined by health departments, but are not, he said.

“They’re just picking and choosing what part of the law they want to enforce,” Mr. Thompson said.

Michigan — which is wrapping up the first year of enforcing its smoking ban — is not seeing such legal opposition and has had few complaints of violations to its smoking ban.

Michigan’s law has some key differences from Ohio’s.

Patios in Michigan are not exempt from the smoking ban unless no food or drink is served on them. But Michigan allows smoking in cigar bars, specialty tobacco shops, and in Detroit casinos.

Plus, local health departments in Michigan can order cease-and-desist orders on businesses not complying with the law after other options have been exhausted.

Infractions have not been an issue in Monroe County, where only a couple of complaints have been filed since enforcement of the ban started and no fines have been levied, said Harry Grenawitzke, acting health officer for the Monroe County Health Department.

“It’s been going well,” Mr. Grenawitzke said. “It’s been pretty well accepted.”

Across Michigan, only 117 fines have been levied, and there have been less than 1,500 violations reported, said Orlando Todd, tobacco program specialist at the Michigan Department of Community Health.

Unlike other states, citations are not the main thrust of Michigan’s smoking ban, Mr. Todd said.

“We’re concerned more about education on getting compliance,” he said.

A new federal law is expected to push up the price of Winston cigarettes in the UAE, a Ministry of Health official said today. The proposal – presented by the Ministry of Finance to the UAE cabinet – aims to crack down on the trade of ‘illegal’ cigarettes so that cheap brands are no longer available.

It will also raise the price of ‘legal’ cigarettes by 29 per cent. A pack of 20 brand-name cigarettes are currently sold for around Dh7, and the new tax would raise the price to about Dh9.

“There is already a proposal from the Ministry of Finance. I don’t know when it will pass but the government agreed to increase the tax. Once it is passed, it will work,” said Dr Wedad al Maidoor, head of the National Tobacco Control Committee at the Ministry of Health.

Dr Maidoor made the statement today at a press conference to announce that the UAE will participate in the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) along with the World Health Organisation.

“We call it indirect taxation; it is not custom taxation, it is something else. This will be an increment of Dh2 to Dh4,” she said. “Of course it is a small amount, but the whole GCC is working to have more and more increases. As you know, in the GCC countries there are no taxes, but I think on tobacco there is a move and all the GCC are asking for it.”

I’m sad to see that tobacco marketing works. Apparently, the $1.1 million a day spent by the tobacco industry to market its products in New York is not going to waste, as proven by the May 31 editorial, “Good intentions, not good policy.”
The editorial equates tobacco to “sugary soda, ice cream, cream-filled cakes, beer” — likening the number one cause of preventable death in the United States to just another occasional treat.
That’s exactly what the tobacco industry would have us believe. It has changed some cigarette packages to look like sleek packages of gum, enticing our youth and creating the impression that cigarettes are just another item you can pick up at your local CVS.

Tobacco is not like any other product. When used as intended, it kills 50 percent of users, according to the World Health Organization. Exposure to tobacco marketing in stores is a primary cause of youth smoking, studies show. When that exposure is at a pharmacy that dispenses medical advice and prescriptions, the message is dead wrong. We are telling our youth that tobacco is just another consumer item.

The editorial says that “no one’s health is at risk because someone is in a drugstore to buy tobacco products.” But studies show that young people are more likely to be influenced by cigarette advertising than by peer or parental smoking. Those who start smoking as teens may end up among the more than 25,000 who die from tobacco-related deaths each year in New York.

I applaud Marra’s Pharmacy and the dozen other independent Capital Region pharmacies that have stopped tobacco sales because they recognized the incongruity of selling the cause and remedy for disease. It is unfortunate that chain pharmacies have failed to do so, except when forced by law (as in Boston).
A majority of New Yorkers (69 percent, according to our study) and nearly all pharmacists nationally support ending tobacco sales in pharmacies. The Albany County Legislature would do well to listen to those served and employed by pharmacies.

There is a need to bring proper focus on efficacious implementation of tobacco control laws across the country and for curtailing sale of smuggled, duty-unpaid, and non-compliant tobacco products as more than 15 billion smuggled and duty-unpaid cigarettes are sold annually in Pakistan.

According to well-informed sources more than 15 billion smuggled and duty-unpaid cigarettes are sold annually in Pakistan and this illicit trade in cigarettes not only causes annual loss of more than Rs 10 billion to the national exchequer, but also undermines public health agenda as these tobacco products fail to comply with regulations issued by the Ministry of Health.

Most of these packs do not even carry the Urdu health warning. The regulations prohibiting consumer promotions are also blatantly violated. And flagrant disregard of anti-tobacco laws and without effective on-ground implementation of various laws, the current regulations do not fully serve the avowed public purpose of tobacco control.

It is pertinent to mention here WHO has announced that the theme for 2011 World No Tobacco Day is the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. In line with the spirit of Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Government of Pakistan has already enacted various tobacco control measures through the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Health Ordinance 2002. The said law contains, provisions restricting Public Place Smoking, restricting Advertising and Promotion of tobacco products and prohibiting sale of cigarettes to minors.

It may be recalled here Pakistan is the 5th country in Asia, and the 26th country in the entire World, to introduce pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs under The Cigarette Printing of Warning Ordinance, 2002.

More than 80% of chewing tobacco products sold in England do not comply with legislation, according to a report seen by BBC News.Chewing_tobacco

The Race Equality Foundation together with the Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) foundation found that only 15% of such products are sold with relevant health warnings or adequate labelling.

Many chewing tobacco products do not even state if they contain tobacco.

People may be consuming harmful ingredients without knowing it.

Amanda Standford, head researcher at ASH, says there needs to better regulation of the products.

”We need there to be an audit of all the products that are out there and then they need to be labelled according to current legislation.

“That way consumers are at least better informed about whether it is safe or not to use them.”

Health risk

Chewing tobacco is a popular form of smokeless tobacco and use is prevalent among South Asian communities.

The products, typically imported from India and Bangladesh, traditionally contain a mix of areca nut, betel leaf, various flavourings and spices along with tobacco.

The ingredients may be combined together and sold pre-packaged.

Products that are popular among South Asians include ‘gutkha’ and ‘paan masala’ – which is usually used as a mouth freshener, and is available both with or without tobacco.

They are inexpensive and easily accessible in areas with large Asian communities.

However, there is little regulation surrounding chewing tobacco products as compared to cigarettes.

Hard to quit

Chewing tobacco is highly addictive and has been associated with an increased risk of mouth cancer, gum disease, and heart disease amongst users.

Farhana Rejwan, from east London, has been chewing tobacco wrapped in betel leaf for over 50 years and has struggled to give it up.

“My teeth have turned black from all the tobacco and my gums are really painful. I tried to quit a few years ago, but it was really difficult and I started up again,” she says.

Farhana has now enrolled on a programme with the Bangladeshi Stop Tobacco project to help her quit.

“I’m trying to stay busy, because I mostly chew when I’m bored. I’ve been doing it all my life so it’s going to be difficult to stop, but I’m trying.”

Many Bangladeshi women like Farhana are addicted to chewing tobacco.

In England, the highest proportion of self-reported use of chewing tobacco is among Bangladeshi women, at 19%, followed by Bangladeshi men at 9%.

Chewing tobacco is embedded in many aspects of South Asian culture and traditions.

However, there are many misconceptions regarding the health risks associated with using chewing tobacco products.

Jabeer Butt, Deputy Chief Executive of the Race Equality Foundation, hopes that the findings of the report will lead to better regulation of smokeless tobacco products.

“There is an urgent need to improve both compliance and enforcement of regulation.

“It is important that we protect minority ethnic communities from the health risks associated with using these products.”

By Divya Talwar BBC Asian Network

Charlie Sheen just found a way to skirt Toronto’s strict anti-smoking laws during his show there — lighting up an electronic cigarette.
Shortly after Charlie hit the stage in Toronto’s Massey Hall … our spies say he bragged about not having an ashtray and said he didn’t need any cigs. However, a few minutes later he sparked up one of those electronic cigarettes.

Massey Hall management told TMZ they might shut down the show if Charlie lit up on stage because they could face up to $100,000 in fines from the city.

Charlie’s been smoking almost non-stop during every other stop on the tour.

We’re told he did light up some real tobacco though … in front of fans who gathered outside the theater right before the show.

Inmates in Florida’s prisons will have to wean themselves off of tobacco.

The Department of Corrections plans to make all of Florida’s prisons tobacco-free this year.

The department began initiating a Tobacco Cessation Initiative April 1 to phase out tobacco usage by September 30.

“The decision to eliminate smoking and tobacco use was made to reduce the medical cost associated with exposure to tobacco, and eliminate second hand smoke exposure to non-smokers,” According to a Department of Corrections release.

Prisons will offer inmates a 14-day supply of nicotine patches for $34.99.

However, prison officials said no tobacco items will be sold after September 2.

Over the next several months, the prisons are limiting how much tobacco inmates can possess.

Prison officials said any inmate found with more than the limits below will face disciplinary action.

The Department of Corrections said the department spent $8.7 million in 2010 on hospital bills for inmates resulting from tobacco-related illness.

The electronic cigarette is an advanced form of cigarette that contains nicotine damped with water vapors. The electronic cigarette contains water vapors and low-level nicotine, which makes it possible for the smoker to smoke indoors. It is just like any ordinary cigarette, but with less nicotine concentration that makes it less harmful than ordinary cigarettes.
“There’s a little red light on the end here that lights up so it looks like a cigarette,” said a smoker. The smoker further said, “It gives you the feel of a cigarette, but, again there’s no second hand smoke. The only thing that you’re inhaling is water vapor.”
The electronic cigarettes were especially designed for those smokers who want to minimize the nicotine intake. These cigarettes consist of red light at the end of the tip, instead of nicotine ash and flame.
The electronic cigarette is getting increasingly popular all over the U.S. The demand for e-cigarettes is on the rise. An e-cigarette salesman said, “You can smoke indoors with them, that’s the biggest thing. We get a lot of phone calls (about e-cigarettes), I’ve sold quite a few over a period of two years. People like them.”
Electronic cigarettes have minimzed the threat of second hand smoking. Second hand smoking is one of the main reasons why smoking is banned indoors.
“Second hand smoke is a known carcinogen,” said Cynthia Brown, with the Bullitt County Health Department. “The EPA has classified it as such, so we’re trying to protect the public from this known hazard.” Therefore, the promotion of electronic cigarette grew when it was observed that e-cigarettes pose no threat of second hand smoking.
But recently the Bullitt County Board of Health voted to ban smoking in public places, a ban that includes e-cigarettes, too. The e-cigarette users were amazed by the decision. Mr. Brown, in his reply to the ban, observed, “The bottom line on e-cigarettes is we don’t know how dangerous they are. We don’t know how much nicotine is being taken in by the person. We don’t know how much nicotine is being exhaled by the person.”