ASH.ORG

The Aberdeen City Council - concerned about legal liability for health problems - is reportedly about to join the majority of agencies and counsel in Scotland that will no longer allow smokers to adopt children, notes Action on Smoking and Health.

New antismoking initiatives - aimed at America's number one preventable cause of death, disability, and unnecessary medical expenses - will be unveiled at the George Washington University, notes John Banzhaf, a law professor there.

The Massachusetts Hospital Association is the latest in a growing number of business and governmental bodies refusing to hire applicants who smoke - a move which could save them more than $10,000 a year for every nonsmoking person they employ

Two new studies show how communities can cut the number of heart attacks - and slash unnecessary medical care expenses - at virtually no cost, confirming many earlier similar studies, says Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)

This Halloween millions of parents will warn children about the dangers of motor vehicle accidents, or of eating poisoned candy. But most will fail to warn about the biggest risk, which may kill more children than all of the others combined

Folklore says that vampires, the most frightening of all Halloween monsters, gradually enslave people by biting their necks, and eventually causing them to suffer a long and lingering death -- but REAL monsters Are far worse

Residents of France who continue to smoke are imposing huge costs on the great majority of the French who do not smoke, notes Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) in response to a new report that about 50% of all the unemployed in France are smokers.

Today's report that shoplifting costs the average American family about $425 each year is nothing compared to the costs imposed by smoking, which are almost five times higher, and about which something can easily be done, says ASH.

E-cigarettes are "just as bad" as conventional cigarettes, says the Malaysian Health Ministry, noting that "there is concern this nicotine delivery to the human lung might result in stronger toxicological, physiological and addictive effects."

The trade association for the electronic cigarette industry reportedly has been advised by a law firm claiming to have a patent covering all e-cig products that it intends to prevent the sale of such products which are not licensed, notes ASH.