Farmington adopts public smoking ban

The town of Farmington in north Mississippi is going smoke free.
The Daily Corinthian reports  that local aldermen approved the new ordinance this week.
Mayor Dale Fortenberry says all businesses within the city will be smoke free. He says the ban also applies to electronic cigarettes." L&M Red Label
City officials say smokers will have to be at least 15 feet from a business entrance in order to smoke.
Farmington is one of more than 65 cities in the state to go smoke free.
Corinth voted to go smoke free in November 2007, while Rienzi city officials voted to ban smoking in January 2011.

Careless smoking eyed as cause of apartment blaze

Careless smoking is believed to be the cause of a fire that injured two people at a high-rise apartment building just east of Toronto’s downtown core Thursday morning.
The small fire occurred inside a seventh-floor suite in a Toronto Community Housing Corp. building at Dundas and Sherbourne streets at about 5:20 a.m.
Toronto Fire Services District Chief James Green said the tenant was removed from the smoke-filled suite by the building's security officers. Pall Mall Nanokings Blue Slims
Paramedics transported the tenant to hospital to be treated for minor burns and smoke inhalation, while one of the TCHC security officer was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, Green told CP24 reporter Cam Woolley at the scene.
Firefighters rushed into the building and quickly extinguished the blaze, which Green said was confined to contents within the suite. They brought out a chair that caught fire and they used fans to clear smoke inside the building.

Smoking During Pregnancy Can Hike Daughter’s Risk of Nicotine Addiction

Experts have warned that tobacco smoking by pregnant women may adversely affect the developing fetus.
Smoking during pregnancy is linked to numerous negative outcomes, including low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, and increased risk for attention deficit disorder, conduct disorder, and nicotine use in offspring.
Nevertheless, it is estimated that 13 percent -30 percent of women in the United States continue to smoke while pregnant.
A new 40-year study, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, provides additional evidence that prenatal exposure to maternal stress hormones predicts nicotine dependence later in life.
The new findings, however, suggests the nicotine dependence occurs only for daughters.
It also confirms previous research that babies born to moms who smoked when pregnant have an increased risk of nicotine addiction in adulthood.
“While maternal smoking during pregnancy has been shown to be an independent risk factor for nicotine dependence, we didn’t really know which pathways or mechanisms were responsible. Most prior research involving biological mechanisms had been conducted in animals not humans,” said Dr. Laura Stroud, the first author on this study.
“Our study suggests that maternal smoking and high stress hormones represent a ‘double-hit’ in terms of increasing an offspring’s risk for nicotine addiction as an adult.
“Because mothers who smoke are often more stressed and living in adverse conditions — these findings represent a major public health concern.”
To conduct the study, Stroud and her colleagues used data from a large, national, long-term project that began in 1959 and enrolled over 50,000 pregnant women.
The offspring of those women were ultimately followed by researchers for 40 years.
For this particular project, 1,086 mothers participated, where their hormone levels (cortisol and testosterone) were measured during pregnancy and their smoking status was recorded.
Their children, 649 of whom were daughters and 437 of whom were sons, were interviewed as adults and their smoking status was also recorded. Classic Silver
The findings revealed that in female but not male offspring, elevated prenatal cortisol exposure and exposure to maternal smoking during pregnancy were associated with increased rates of nicotine dependence as adults.
No links were found between elevated prenatal testosterone exposure and adult nicotine dependence. There were also no findings among male offspring.
“Our findings highlight the particular vulnerability of daughters to long-term adverse outcomes following maternal stress and smoking during pregnancy .
“We don’t yet know why this is, but possible mechanisms include sex differences in stress hormone regulation in the placenta and adaptation to prenatal environmental exposures,” added Stroud.
“Also, cortisol and nicotine may affect developing male and female brains differently. Furthermore, if daughters of smoking mothers are more likely to grow up nicotine dependent, the result is dangerous cycle of intergenerational transmission of nicotine addiction.”
“These new data may help us to focus our attention on individuals at greatest risk for later smoking,” said Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry.
“It is interesting that female, but not male, offspring seemed to be at greatest risk. Sex differences in the vulnerability to smoking are important and merit further study.”

Why Delta is the least respected brand in America

Delta is the least-respected brand in the world of business, beating out the likes of cigarette maker Philip Morris, says a survey by the research firm CoreBrand.

After looking at corporate brands that have been publicly traded for at least five years, CoreBrand determined the 100 brands with the greatest familiarity, then named those with the highest and lowest ratings from the survey. Cigarette smoke shop.

Coca-Cola and Pepsi tied for first; Delta was at the bottom of the pile, just edging out Philip Morris, Denny's, and Best Buy.

People's hate for Delta is well-documented online, on websites (NeverFlyDelta, DeltaReallySucks, and HateDelta are the first three that come up in Google), Facebook pages, and numerous comment threads on Yelp. Most complaints seem to focus on flight delays, poor service, and high luggage fees, but those are the same complaints that have been directed at the airline industry at large for years.

So how did Delta climb the ranks of suckiness to become the least respected of all?

Here are a few unique complaints against the airline:

It allegedly killed a catIn early 2011, Delta allegedly killed a woman's cat, then offered her the standard $50 lost luggage fee to make amends. Reports said the cat froze to death when a door latch malfunctioned in the cargo hold, exposed the poor guy to the cold.

It broke a vintage Gibson...
In January, the guitarist and singer for the Hanukkah-themed rock band The LeeVees was forced to check in his $10,000 vintage Gibson guitar on a flight from Buffalo, N.Y., to Detroit, Mich. When workers retrieved the luggage, the guitar got caught between the service elevator and a rail on the loading dock, causing damages to the bridge, neck, and tail that totaled almost $2,000.

...and Kenny Perry's lucky driver
Just this week, pro-golfer Kenny Perry said Delta broke his lucky driver, "the one I won all my tournaments with this year."

The golfer told The Seattle Times, "It broke the head right off the shaft. I’m very upset at this point."

“I represent Southwest Airlines and it’s in a Southwest (bag), and I flew Delta out here from New York and they snapped my driver. I’m pretty bummed out,” he said.

Sewing needles were found in their turkey sandwiches
The FBI opened an investigation into the airline last year when two passengers flying from Amsterdam to the U.S. found sewing needles in their turkey sandwiches. The airline stopped selling the sandwiches, which were assembled at Gate Gourmet's kitchens in Amsterdam. A search later uncovered two more needles. Delta now serves sealed prepackaged food on these flights as a precaution.

A quick Twitter search also reveals some strong anti-Delta sentiment, for varying reasons:

'No serious heart risks' linked to smoking cessation therapies

The American Heart Association claims that three different types of smoking cessation therapies do not pose serious heart risks, quashing concerns that certain products may increase the risks of heart attack, stroke or heart-related death.
Researchers looked at the results of 63 clinical trials involving 30, 508 people who were quitting smoking using either nicotine replacement gums and patches, the nicotine addiction treatment varenicline (Chantix), or taking the antidepressant bupropion (Wellbutrin), which can reduce cravings and other unwanted withdrawal effects.Doina cigarettes and Dunhill cigarettes.
The results, published in the journal Circulation, did not find evidence of any increased risk of serious heart events among participants.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 45.3 million Americans smoke and that it accounts for approximately 443,000 deaths a year - that is one in every five deaths.
However, the CDC also notes that there are more former smokers in the US today than there are current ones.

Irregular or rapid heart rates

Stopping smoking is associated with increased life expectancy, improved cardiovascular health, better quality of life and reduced health care costs.
But, the CDC acknowledges, nicotine dependency is a chronic condition that may require repeated interventions to achieve the goal. Withdrawal symptoms for nicotine include irritability, anxiety, difficulty in concentrating and increased appetite.
Scientists know that nicotine replacement therapies, such as patches and chewing gum, increase minor heart symptoms, such as irregular or rapid heartbeat.
The combination of both therapies, wearing a patch and chewing gum whenever there is the urge to smoke has been shown to be more effective but does lead to more side effects.
Edward J. Mills, study co-author and associate professor of medicine at Stanford University and Canada Research Chair at the University of Ottawa, explains:

Not for any smoking ban

Although the proponents of banning smoking in bars and bingo halls would have us believe otherwise, what they are proposing is absolutely nothing other than expanded government dominance over individuals' lives.
Eliminating individual choice is certainly nothing new, but the claim that that's not what is being proposed now is simply not true. Arguments put forth by the proponents are contradictory.
They argue on the one hand that "studies have shown" that banning smoking in bars will increase the number of patrons, but on the other hand argue that all three local government entities have to ban smoking or none of the ordinances will take effect so as to not "give a competitive advantage" to some bars.
If the "studies" were right, that would be the last thing that would happen.
Also, if the "studies" were correct, why does it fall to government to ban smoking? Wouldn't an entrepreneurial bar owner realize that there was an unsatisfied demand for a smoke-free bar and open one voluntarily? Can anyone actually cite one of those "studies"?
Several articles and letters to the editor have talked about the "studies" but I have yet to see a citation. I'm beginning to wonder if the "studies" actually exist or if proponents simply think if they repeat those statements often enough people will just believe them.
Finally, much is being made about "protecting" the employees. The last time I checked, no one is forced to work anywhere. If someone didn't want to work in an environment where there is smoking, they could quit. But wait! Why would someone who was bothered by smoking apply for a job in a bar in the first place?
I urge all three local governments to reject the proposal and allow individuals to live their lives the way they see fit.

Smoking fans flames of memories

The subject of smoking keeps coming up in conversations lately, and it’s funny how times have changed.
My mother and I were taking a tour of Clarksville, where our family lived for one year when I was a teenager.
When we drove by the high school where Mom taught, she pointed out where she had smoking-pit duty.
I asked Mom if she smoked with the students. She told me no; she smoked in the teachers’ lounge.
When another teacher complained, the principal (also a smoker), told the teacher he could work in his classroom, but Mom couldn’t smoke in hers, so tough, basically.
Wow. The outcry that would happen today if someone lit up in the lounge.
Once when my brother was a little boy, he asked Mom if one of his beloved elementary teachers, Mrs. Howard, smoked.
Mom said, “I don’t think so.”Glamour cigarettes.
Shane said: “I didn’t think she was that kind of woman.”
I’m not sure what that meant in his little mind, but his mother apparently was.
Last weekend, my brother recalled that he had bought cigarettes for Mom, and I remember running in the store to get them, too.
I also volunteered to buy them when having a bunking party with some friends, and we smoked the cigarettes under a bridge. We sprayed perfume and everything aerosol we could find when we got back to the girl’s house — it was a daring thing for me, a future goody-two-shoes.
Of course, there were cigarette vending machines, where anybody with some change could buy a pack. My kids were pretty incredulous that those ever existed.
I also remember Mom giving me a lighted cigarette to light fireworks, and I’d steal a puff.
(Mom quit cold turkey about 30 years ago, by the way. She has apologized for the trips with cracked windows and the ensuing allergy headaches my brother and I got from the smoke.)
My husband said that when he was in high school, his band director smoked like a chimney. When the high school band was selected as the Bicentennial Band of Arkansas and got to play at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (one of my husband’s proudest lifetime achievements), the students rode in three buses, with one designated for the students and chaperones who smoked.
When they made a pit stop, the doors to the one bus would open, and smoke would roll out like a five-alarm fire.
In college, I didn’t have many friends who smoked, but people could smoke in their dorm rooms, and just about anywhere except the classroom.
When I got my first newspaper job, smoking went with the stressful job. I didn’t smoke, except second hand.
The clouds of smoke hung above the short walls dividing the departments. My husband and I would go home reeking of smoke. I hated having my hair smell like smoke, and I developed an attractive habit of obsessively pulling my hair to my nose to smell it.
I also bought a battery-operated ash tray for the worst offender in the office, which helped, until the batteries died and she didn’t replace them.
One editor had a cigarette going nonstop, sometimes two, if he forgot, which was often.
My husband and I were thrilled with the prospect of working in a nonsmoking newsroom when we came to Conway. (My hair-sniffing habit died down, too.)
Nobody in my immediate family smokes now, but my mother does not deny how much she loved it back in the day.
When we toured the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville a few weekends ago, we saw a piece called Smoker #9, a woman’s hand holding a cigarette to giant red lips, exhaling smoke.
My mom posed and mimicked holding a cigarette to her lips.
I’ll bet Mrs. Howard never would have done that, but Shane, I hate to tell you. Mom was trying to protect your young innocence.
Mrs. Howard was a smoker.