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INTRODUCTION: Tobacco smoke affects the health of non-smokers by exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS). The Indian Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (COTPA) Act 2003 Section 4 aims to reduce exposure to SHS. Awareness and compliance to COTPA are key to achieving its intended outcome. We assessed: a) awareness among persons responsible for compliance (PRC) and authorized officers (AO), and b) compliance of public places to COTPA in South Bengaluru, India. METHODS: A cross-sectional assessment of public places in South Bengaluru was conducted using time-location sampling. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's observational and interview checklist was used to assess compliance of public places to COTPA and awareness of COTPA among PRC/AO, respectively. RESULTS: Among 359 public places, one-third of the public places showed complete (1.9%) or partial compliance (28.1%). The majority (93%) of the PRCs and all AOs were aware of COTPA. However, they lacked information on the different provisions of the Act. Violations like persons smoking (3.9%), visible ashtrays (6%) and cigarette butts (13%) were noted more among eateries compared to other public places. Among those public places supposed to have designated smoking-areas, only 19% complied. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first representative survey of awareness and compliance of COTPA in Bengaluru City. Low compliance, coupled with the lack of appropriate awareness among PRCs and AOs about COTPA, demands a comprehensive strategy to enhance awareness. Comprehensive efforts towards making all stakeholders understand the health impacts of smoking, and strict enforcement, might facilitate effective implementation of COTPA.

A smoke-free law came into effect in Spain on 1st January 2006, affecting all enclosed workplaces except hospitality venues, whose proprietors can choose among totally a smoke-free policy, a partial restriction with designated smoking areas, or no restriction on smoking on the premises. We aimed to evaluate the impact of the law among hospitality workers by assessing second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure and the frequency of respiratory symptoms before and one year after the ban. ; This project was funded by the Public Health Directorates of the Departments of Health of the Regional Governments of Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Catalonia, Galicia and Valencian Community, the Spanish Ministry of Health (FIS PI052072, CIBERESP CB06/02/0032, and RTICC RD06/0020/0089), and the Ministry of Universities and Research, Government of Catalonia (SGR200500646). We thank Chupa Chups Spain for providing the Smint® candies. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the ...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: A smoking law was passed by the Spanish Parliament in December 2005 and was enforced by 1 January 2006. The law bans smoking in all indoor workplaces but only in some hospitality venues, because owners are allowed to establish a smoking zone (venues>100 m2) or to allow smoking without restrictions (venues<100 m2). The objective of the study is to assess the impact of the Spanish smoking law on exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) in enclosed workplaces, including hospitality venues. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study design is a before-and-after evaluation. We studied workplaces and hospitality venues from eight different regions of Spain. We took repeated samples of vapor-phase nicotine concentration in 398 premises, including private offices (162), public administration offices (90), university premises (43), bars and restaurants (79), and discotheques and pubs (24). RESULTS: In the follow-up period, SHS levels were markedly reduced in indoor offices. The median decrease in nicotine concentration ranged from 60.0% in public premises to 97.4% in private areas. Nicotine concentrations were also markedly reduced in bars and restaurants that became smoke-free (96.7%) and in the no-smoking zones of venues with separate spaces for smokers (88.9%). We found no significant changes in smoking zones or in premises allowing smoking, including discotheques and pubs. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this study shows the positive impact of the law on reducing SHS in indoor workplaces. However, SHS was substantially reduced only in bars and restaurants that became smoke-free. Most hospitality workers continue to be exposed to very high levels of SHS. Therefore, a 100% smoke-free policy for all hospitality venues is required.

BACKGROUND: Smoke-free policies are increasingly being enacted in several countries. In 2014, Lagos State, the commercial capital of Nigeria, enacted a statewide smoke-free policy; however, university campuses were excluded from the list of public places where smoking would be disallowed. This study aimed to assess students' support for smoke-free campus policies, their attitudes, and exposure toward secondhand smoke (SHS). METHODS: This cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out among 421 university undergraduates in two premier universities in the state. Respondents were selected using a multistage sampling method, and the data were collected using a pretested self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: Many (55.4%) of the respondents agreed that students who are non-smokers have the right to inhale smoke-free air on campuses and expressed feelings of irritation (57.1%) or anger (17.1%) when exposed to SHS on campus. Majority (80.1%) of the respondents were in support of a smoke-free policy on their campus and in favor of a ban on smoking in enclosed spaces on campus (79.6%). Exposure to SHS on campus was high, as one in five respondents were exposed to SHS in their hostel rooms (19.9%) and 44.9% were exposed in outdoor campus spaces in the preceding week. There was a statistically significant association between respondents' age, gender, smoking status, and attitudes toward SHS and support for a smoke-free campus policy. CONCLUSION: Although the majority of the students were non-smokers, significant exposure to SHS on campuses still exists. There is a huge support for smoke-free campus policies. The state government should consider including campuses on the list of smoke-free public spaces in the review of the statewide smoking law.

Jean Nicot de Villemain (1530 - 1600) was a French diplomat who became famous for introducing tobacco to France. Little could he imagine the immense upheaval he would bring to future generations. Up until the early 1900's, smoking cigarettes was made to look glamorous and even had health benefits attributed to it. However, the link between smoking and respiratory diseases had been established back in the early 1900s in studies by European and American doctors but this remained a taboo up until the 1950s. As time went by, the evidence linking smoking as the cause of disease continued to accumulate and, what was a controversy in the 1960s and 1970s, turned into outright condemnation in the 1980s. Although the medical profession had more knowledge about the harm caused by smoking, the general public was less informed because cigarette manufacturers were doing their best to cast doubt on how true these "allegations" were. Mass legal action instituted in the 1990s led to the Master Settlement Agreement in 1998 with US courts condemning major US cigarette companies to pay huge sums of money to the US government over a period of 25 years to compensate for some of the damage and expenses incurred in caring for the millions of people suffering ill health directly caused by smoking over the years. [excerpt] ; peer-reviewed

The enactment of the Smoking in Public Places Regulations in 2004 has become a highly contentious issue between the government and associations representing various sections of the business community. The Malta Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises (GRTU) claims that the regulations - which ban smoking in many workplaces - will have particularly adverse effects on entertainment venues, while the social partners generally have accused the government of a lack of consultation. An intensive anti-smoking campaign has been going on in Malta for the past decade. People are being made aware of the dangers of smoking from an early age through the use of media adverts and educational programmes. The Health Promotion Department has set up free smoking-cessation clinics, personal counselling, self-help literature (also available online) and even a 'quit line'. Nevertheless, these activities have not been sufficiently successful, as the incidence of smoking-related illnesses resulting in death is still relatively high. About one in every four Maltese adults smokes. The number of young smokers, especially women, is particularly high. ; peer-reviewed

published_or_final_version ; Public Health ; Master ; Master of Public Health

The large proportion of smokers in China and the social consequences have had a damaging impact on public health as well as on the society. As a sub-national legislation, the Guangzhou anti-smoking legislations in Guangzhou play an important role in the legislative control in China since it is one of the most severe local tobacco control laws in China. Many legislative experts, public health professionals and even decision makers have great hope on this law. But the consequence of this law is disappointed. And this anti-smoking legislation has exposed a lot of problems. This article introduces the current status of tobacco control legislation in Guangzhou; analyzes the effectiveness of Hong Kong and Canada's tobacco control law; identifies four areas (the weak effect of the anti-smoking law; inappropriate penalties; limited governmental capacity and uncertain political will and the lack of awareness) in the anti-smoking legislation in Guangzhou that are problematic. Finally, this project discusses what can we learn from other countries' legislative experiences, including making clear definitions of key terms in anti-smoking laws; change the way of penalty; increasing the regulation of tobacco packaging and increasing the governmental capacity, which aims at proposing some legislative options for a much more effective tobacco control movement in Guangzhou in the future. ; published_or_final_version ; Public Health ; Master ; Master of Public Health

In his dissection of the 1998 tobacco settlements, W Kip Viscusi provides a window on how the ostensibly liberal public philosophy behind the modern American regulatory state betrays its foundational commitments. Animated by a moralizing concern with preventing harm to self & a leftist antagonism towards corporate capitalism, "progressive liberalism" at first foundered in its war against the tobacco industry in the face of traditional liberal counterarguments about individual autonomy, knowledge of risk, & choice. Only when progressive liberals translated their paternalist impulses into science-centered arguments about ignorance & addiction, which involve barriers to autonomous choice & harm to others, did they succeed in turning the legal & regulatory tide against smoking. This dynamic raises questions about the future of individual autonomy in a science-centered, progressive-liberal modern polity. 41 References. Adapted from the source document.

Background Smoking prevalence is the highest in people with mental illness. As more and more countries develop governmental regulations to protect employees from exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, complete smoking bans or partial smoking bans have been introduced in many psychiatric hospitals. Objectives To systematically review the literature to examine the impact of smoking bans in psychiatric hospitals, to identify the obstacles to implement tobacco-free policy and provide recommendations for policy-making in Mainland China on implementing tobacco-free policy in psychiatric hospitals. Methods Multiple searches for key words were conducted through electronic sources including PubMed, Medline, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and CNKI database for all relevant English language and Chinese language articles. The PICO (patient problem or population, intervention, comparison and outcomes) indicators were used as basic inclusion/exclusion criteria, data extraction and quality assessment. Results A total of 227 studies were identified (188 English language articles including 4 reviews and 39 Chinese language articles), and 25 articles (19 English articles and 5 Chinese articles) were included in this paper. For the English language studies, psychiatric inpatients generally had positive attitudes towards the tobacco-free policy in psychiatric hospitals and increasing number of inpatients wanted to quit smoking after hospitalized in a tobacco-free psychiatric hospital. Increasing number of staff members working in psychiatric hospitals were supportive of the tobacco-free policy compared to previous reviews. No change in patients' aggressive behaviors after implementing smoking bans in the psychiatric hospitals was observed in most studies. Factors identified for successful implementation of tobacco-free policy in psychiatric hospitals included comprehensive planning time, good leadership and significant attitudinal and system changes, high level and consistency of staff support and cohesive teamwork, extensive training for staff and effective use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). For the Chinese language studies, negative outcomes of psychiatric inpatients were observed after a total smoking ban in one psychiatric hospital, but positive effects were observed when only the smoking amount was controlled in four psychiatric hospitals. Conclusions The tobacco-free policy aims at eliminating tobacco smoking for both staff members and patients in psychiatric hospitals so as to create a healthy place for work and stay. This goal can be achieved with the efforts of the hospitals and staff, and the cooperation of patients. National legislation to ban smoking in all hospitals, indoor and outdoor, are urgently needed in China Mainland. ; published_or_final_version ; Public Health ; Master ; Master of Public Health

published_or_final_version ; Politics and Public Administration ; Master ; Master of Public Administration

Introduction: In Malta, individual smokers, doctors and the adult general public are recognising the ill effects of smoking, and are seeking to do stng adults and, more importantly, to trigger off a similar reduction among adolescents, with a consequent protection against disease and death. Method: Local initiatives against smoking were compared to the WHO - World Health Organisation's Ten-Point Programme for Successful To- bacco Control, to a WHO model law for comprehensive tobacco control, and to European Union directives and resolutions. Results: While procedures involving health education , smoking cessation, prof- essionals' smoke-free example, and fiscal policies are all being implemented, Maltese tobacco control laws and regulations are still deficient. Conclusion: A health prom- otion strategy of tightening tobacco control legislation needs to be introduced in Malta forthwith . This includes strict enforcement, more severe penalties, banning of sales to adolescents and in places frequented by them , the prohibition of smoking in enclosed public places, a total ban on advertising and sponsorship, and the introduction of maximum tar-yield levels and conspicuous and effective health warnings on all tobacco products. An overall priority is the setting- up of a coordinating tobacco control authority to effectively manage all efforts to stem the tobacco epidemic. ; peer-reviewed