Smoke-Free Oklahoma and Tulsa restaurant owner Ken Selby held a Capitol press conference Monday to call for abolishing smoke rooms in restaurants and ending smoking in bars. Selby, the owner and operator of Mazzio’s and Oliveto restaurants, said his restaurants saw an increase in business when they went smoke-free a decade ago. “Several years ago and considerably before there were any regulatory laws against smoking in restaurants, I ... Jump to full article >>

The warning by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that passive smoking constitutes a global threat, is revealing and must be checked. The UN agency had in its second major report on the “tobacco epidemic” released last week, said second-hand or passive smoking killed nearly 600,000 people each year. WHO, which also warned that tobacco is still the leading preventable cause of death, killing five million people every year, said more and more ... Jump to full article >>

Nearly all facilities in Montana have gone-smoke free with the recent full implementation of the Montana Clean Indoor Air Act, but hotels are still partially exempt from the smoke-free rule. The law, enacted in 2005 and implemented fully in October 2009, allows hotels to offer 35% of their rooms as smoking rooms, and the rest have to be smoke-free. When Davidene Tait became the manager of the Triple Crown Motor Inn in downtown Great Falls, she i ... Jump to full article >>

Sir Liam Donaldson, Britain’s most senior medical officer who has led public health drives to ban smoking in public places and control swine flu, is to step down after 12 years in the role. The Times understands that Sir Liam wrote to Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, on Monday to announce his intention to hand over the reins next May. Sir Liam, the Chief Medical Officer for England and the UK’s Chief Medical Adviser, has been in p ... Jump to full article >>

With his fingers curled around a Marlboro Light and a gin and tonic in the other hand, Randy Dawe mused on the unfairness of a state smoking ban approved Thursday by the state Legislature. Next spring, he won’t be able to inhale at his favorite tavern, Bob’s Sports Bar, 725 Michigan St. NE. Meanwhile, people who frequent casinos still will be able to light up. “I think it’s a bunch of crap. I don’t think it’s ... Jump to full article >>

The sun rose Tuesday on a different kind of day for restaurants that once permitted customers to light cigarettes over food, alcohol or cups of coffee. Area restaurant owners braced themselves for all kinds of responses from patrons on the first day of a statewide ban on smoking at food establishments. Tuesday’s early morning breakfast crowd was slightly thinner at the Bedford Restaurant, a country-cooking style eatery on U.S. 460 in Bedfo ... Jump to full article >>

Cabell County bars and video lottery parlors could become smoke-free in the near future. The Cabell-Huntington Health Department is drafting a proposal that would ban smoking from bars and gambling parlors, said Dr. Harry Tweel, the health department’s executive director. It likely will conduct a public hearing on it within the next month, he said. “Our board of health has been looking at this issue for some time and monitoring what’s happ ... Jump to full article >>

The American Cancer Society asks smokers to give up the habit for one day today as part of the Great American Smokeout. A $2 million federal grant could help St. Joseph fight an anti-smoking battle of its own with longer lasting results. The City Council gave the City of St. Joseph Health Department the green light Monday to apply for the Communities Putting Prevention to Work grant — part of the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act of 200 ... Jump to full article >>

Steamboat Springs — This fall, six women graduated from “Baby and Me — Tobacco Free,” a program to keep women from smoking during and after pregnancy. Funded by a grant and led locally by Hope Cook, the prenatal coordinator for the North­west Colorado Visiting Nurse Association, the program gives expecting and new moms incentive and motivation to quit smoking and stay smoke-free. Missy Chotvacs was one of Cook’s fall graduates. She le ... Jump to full article >>

Mayors Patti York of St. Charles and Pam Fogarty of Dardenne Prairie want St. Charles County voters to decide whether smoking should be banned in restaurants and other public places across the county. The two city leaders weighed in on the issue in separate interviews on their reaction to the successful push in last week’s election for a smoking ban in St. Louis County. “I think it was the right way to do it, take it to the public,” York ... Jump to full article >>