ASH.ORG

Six countries, five states, and many local jurisdictions have banned smoking in cars when children are present to protect them from the clear dangers of tobacco smoking pollution, and an estimated sixteen states are now debating similar restrictions.

Smokers who fast during Ramadan, and already refrain from food, drinks and cigarettes from dawn to dusk, are being urged to quit during the night and quit for life, reports Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

Britain's Medicine and Healthcare Regulatory Agency [MHRA] has reportedly decided to ban e-cigarettes [e-cigs] with only 21 days of notice, at least according to a leaked letter dated July 29, 2010, from an officer of the Trading Standards Service.

An important study has found new and previously unsuspected potential health problems for users of e-cigarettes [e-cigs] in addition to the many already reported by the FDA.

Indonesia has finally agreed to ratify a tough world antismoking treaty, but only after photos and video reports of a two-year old who is so addicted that he smokes two packs a day appeared on the Internet -- activists elsewhere may follow lead

To the many dangers the FDA has already reported with e-cigarettes, add the many problems posed by inhaling at least three different "potent" strains of marijuana, warns Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)

With interest focused on the liability of BP to pay for harm resulting from its oil spill, little attention has been focused on the potential monetary liability of the federal government under the Federal Torts Claims Act [FTCA] .

New York's proposed new additional tobacco tax of $1.60/pack is designed both to raise an additional $440 million and, to some, to "punish" smokers, but it's simply the latest is a growing number of measures aimed at smokers many regard as punitive.

At the BP spill hearings, Republican Parker Griffith noted that "the greatest environmental disaster in America has been cigarettes," and he's certainly correct with regard to many measures such as loss of life, and the cost to the American economy.

Today's congressional oil hearings are being compared by some to the hearings when the executives of the seven major cigarette makers testified before Congress about their policies. But the problem is just a drop in the bucket compared to smoking.