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The federal government should ban the sale of cigarettes near institutions of learning in the country, a non- governmental group, Campaign for Tobacco Free Youths, has said.

“It is highly wrong for cigarettes to be sold near school environment; government must do everything to ensure that our students are not exposed to seeing cigarettes being sold like biscuits,” the coordinator of the group, Gbenga Adejuwon, said.

Mr. Adejuwon, who spoke at a workshop organised in Akure, on Wednesday, also appealed to the governors of the 36 states of the federation to implement the article 8 of the Frame Work Convention on Tobacco Control of the World Health Organisation.

“The article, according to him, will also restrict the exposure to tobacco smoke to prevent hazards from second hand smoke,” he said.

Mr. Adejuwon also urged all states to set up tobacco control committees which will comprise government officials and tobacco control organizations.

The committee, he said, would be empowered by law to prosecute people who smoke cigarettes in public places.

The anti-tobacco activists present at the event also raised alarm over what they said was the attitude of tobacco companies to slow down the hearing of public health cases filed against them in courts by various anti tobacco groups.

“Most of these companies, through their counsels, asked for unnecessary adjournments to deliberately slow down the pace of judgement and frustrate the trials,” Mr. Adejuwon said.

The workshop was organized to inform students about the harmful effects of cigarette.

As part of his budget plan, Gov. David Paterson wants to increase the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1 and add a penny tax per fluid ounce of sugared drinks.
Local residents spending part of Saturday afternoon in downtown Elmira expressed mixed reactions to the governor’s plan.
Some, like Peter Recktenwald, admit that the increase could coax them to change their consumer habits.
Recktenwald, who recently moved to Elmira, said he has already experienced higher taxes at his new home, and he intends to buy less sugared beverages and quit smoking as a result of the plan.
The taxes will only hurt the poor, he said, explaining that those who can still afford the products will continue to buy just as much.
Among those who would be unaffected by the new taxes is Matt Bryant, who said any increase in cost won’t change his buying habits for soft drinks.
Bryant quit smoking a few months ago, just in time to escape the proposed tax hike on cigarettes.
Non-smokers Mike and Sue Harris also said the taxes wouldn’t affect their buying habits, but added that they don’t purchase enough sugared drinks to notice the change.

An Eskasoni man has been handed a series of fines that total enough cash to buy a home.
Russell Patrick Lewis, 56, was pulled over by the RCMP on the Trenton Connector last March after reports were made to police that he was hauling a load of illegal tobacco from Quebec.
Federal Crown attorney Laura Barrett told the court that when the Mounties pulled Lewis over, he admitted to police he had cigarettes in a bag on the floor of the vehicle.
There was a lot of cigarettes and tobacco in his vehicle – 201,000 contraband cigarettes and 81,000 grams of fine-cut, raw tobacco, stored in cartons, garbage bags and baggies.
Additionally, Lewis was operating the vehicle without a licence. It had been yanked nearly three years previously by an Antigonish court following a failing a breathalyser charge.
No taxes were paid on the cigarettes, prompting police to lay charges under the provincial and federal Revenue Act and the Excise Act.
Under the standards set out by parliament, “Anyone who does an economic crime must face an economic sanction,” Judge Theodore Tax told Lewis in New Glasgow provincial court on Wednesday.
Parliament has set out firm guidelines on the amount of the fines as well. Provincially, the penalty of possessing more than 50 cartons of illegal cigarettes requires a minimum $2,500 fine plus a fine totaling three times the tax that would have been collected if the smokes were sold to a regular consumer.
That minimum fine totals $138,565.60.
On the federal side of things, the illegal cigarette fines total $43,566.
Additionally, Lewis faces a $500 fine for driving while disqualified, which is the accepted minimum for the first offense in this type of incident, although provincial Crown attorney Jody McNeill indicated that Lewis had a prior record dating back to the mid-1990s.
In total, his fines add up to $182,631.60.
Lewis, a truck driver who lost his means of employment following repeated drunk driving charges, depends on a $376 monthly social service cheque from the Eskasoni Reserve and lives in subsidized housing, defence lawyer Steve Robertson told the court.
Robertson said that imposing a payment schedule of even $100 a month would be a significant hardship to his client.
However, previous case law has also stated that judges must give people facing these types of charges ample time to pay their fines and cannot simply opt to instead impose a custodial sentence to serve time instead of paying.
Lewis was given one year to pay the fine before he’s required to appear before New Glasgow provincial court to explain where he is in the repayment process. If the fine is not paid, Lewis will have to serve 15 months in custody.

The Seneca Nation of Indians is threatening to spend $250,000 against Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand this year because of her support for legislation that would ban the mailing of cigarettes.
The Seneca Nation Foreign Relations Committee last week unanimously passed a resolution recommending that the Tribal Council set aside that money for “voter education and outreach.” The council will consider the request Feb. 13.
The move came on the recommendation of J. C. Seneca, a leading tobacco entrepreneur and co-chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.
“I propose that $250,000 be appropriated for a ‘get out the vote’ effort to educate and mobilize the thousands of workers, contractors, vendors and their families who are tied to the Nation’s $1.1 billion economy as to why Senator Gillibrand is harmful to the Seneca Nation and all of Western New York,” Seneca wrote in a Jan. 14 letter to the committee.
The Senecas are threatening to target Gillibrand, D-N. Y.,because of her support of the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act, a bill that the Senate could consider that would ban the U. S. Postal Service from mailing cigarettes.
The Senecas depend on the U. S. mail to deliver about two-thirds of the cigarettes they sell, and in an interview, Seneca said the tribe was ready to fight to protect that business.
“The more we can do to educate people, the better,” he said, adding that the money could be spent on advertising or on campaign donations to Gillibrand’s opponents.
The $250,000 would be in addition to the $1 million the tribe earlier set aside to target state lawmakers seeking to collect taxes on the tribe’s cigarette sales.
Asked why the tribe was thinking of targeting Gillibrand, Seneca
said: “Sen. Gillibrand has made no effort at all to listen or to be willing to help.”
Told of the Senecas’ plans to target the freshman senator, her spokeswoman, Bethany Lesser, said: “Sen. Gillibrand’s No. 1 priority is economic development and the Seneca Nation is a partner to our efforts to create jobs and grow our economy. However, Sen. Gillibrand remains committed to preventing the illegal trafficking of cigarettes to children.”
Former Rep. Harold Ford is threatening a primary challenge to Gillibrand, and while no big-name Republican has vowed to run against her, the current political environment could make her a tempting GOP target.
The potential boost in Seneca political funding comes weeks after the tribe targeted both Gillibrand and Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N. Y., in a billboard campaign.
Asked why Schumer was no longer the target of the tribe’s ire, Seneca pointed to a recent interview with YNN Buffalo in which Schumer said: “If the Senecas have a really good and transparent way to prevent sales to minors — not using the PACT Act — I’d welcome it.”
That comment “did kind of break the ice” between Schumer and the tribe, Seneca said.
But the relationship between the Senecas and Gillibrand remains icy.

If it does not contain tobacco, should it still be prohibited under the UAE’s new anti-tobacco laws?
That is what local proponents of so-called “electronic cigarettes” are asking as they wait for the haze to lift over the forthcoming federal anti-smoking policy.
Dr Wedad al Maidour, the head of the country’s Tobacco Control Committee, said the answer should come in March, though she doubted e-cigarette users would be immune from the rules that ban people from lighting up in public.
“There is nicotine in these e-cigarettes still,” she said of the battery-powered devices, which resemble the real thing but deliver a hit of liquid nicotine without burning tar, carbon monoxide or other cigarette additives.
“The device is new to the market and there is not enough study that proves it is safe. We’ll sit together with the different authorities and I think in two months a decision can be submitted.”
Dr Maidour said a recent ruling in the US allowing imports should have no bearing in the UAE, which stopped e-cigarette shipments several months ago.
She said she was aware that pharmacies and local vendors were still selling the products illegally.
The provisions of the federal tobacco ban will require restaurants, hotels, cafes, malls and other public places to provide ventilated smoking areas.
Deb Myrtle, from Dubai, worried that as a user of e-cigarettes she, too, would be relegated to those smoking zones and risk exposure to the very chemicals she wants to avoid.
“Why would I want to be lumped together with smokers in some awful, disgusting, smelly area with people blowing tobacco at us?” said the British housewife, aged 50.
“We’re not smoking. The stuff that comes out, that vapour has none of the 4,000 chemicals, 69 of which are carcinogenic and found in [real] cigarettes.”
Before ordering her £50 (Dh300) electronic cigarette kit from the UK last year, Mrs Myrtle smoked a packet a day for more than 30 years.
She described herself now as “a social smoker”, lighting up only a few times a month, and believes her health has improved. She has also reduced her use of the e-cigarette.
“I’m sleeping better, I have more energy, I don’t cough as much,” she said, adding that she has openly used the device in cafes and restaurants.
“I had a couple of waiters come up to me, saying it’s no smoking and I bang it on the table [to show there is no ash] and put the end on my hand to demonstrate it doesn’t burn.”
Still, e-cigarettes have come under fire not just by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has cited safety concerns, but also by the World Health Organisation, which clarified in April that it did not support the product as a smoking cessation aid.Both agencies called for more testing.
Mohammed Elwan, who sells the Cigarti brand of e-cigarettes in Dubai, has seen incoming shipments held up by Dubai Customs for several months.
He said he had stopped selling the products to UAE consumers after the ban started being enforced. He hopes the Government will reverse its decision, however, so he can continue supplying kits to clients in the GCC.
He previously sold about 500 units every two months in the UAE, but if the new tobacco law treats his customers as regular smokers, it could kill his business. He estimated that he also exported about 10,000 units a month, mostly to western countries.
“The point is not to look at e-cigarettes as a 100 per cent solution or promote it as a medicine, but we say this is a much better alternative for you and even the environment,” Mr Elwan said.

Redha Salman, the director of public health and safety at Dubai Municipality, said that anyone caught selling the products within the Emirates should recognise they are breaking the law.

“This is settled. It’s a banned item and we don’t allow this to be sold commercially,” he said yesterday.
“Tobacco is one thing, and then you have the other thing, which is the emitted pollutants and the emissions from it. We don’t have proof that it’s harmless.”
A French physician practising in the capital said he smoked up to three packs of Marlboro Reds every day for more than 20 years. The 43-year-old said he had not touched tobacco after buying an e-cigarette kit in the UAE a year ago.
“I began with a high level of nicotine and after two months, I went down and now the nicotine [in the cartridge] is very low,” he said.
A previous effort 10 years ago to quit smoking with a nicotine patch failed, he said, because the patch could not satisfy the psychological “ritual” of holding and puffing on a cigarette. “I can say it worked for me because I don’t consider myself a smoker anymore,” he said.

About 3,500 tobacco growers in Kelantan and Terengganu, who lost RM44.59 million worth of crops in floods last year, will receive financial aid from the Federal Government.
National Tobacco Board director-general Ahmad Loman said of them, 3,300 growers were from Kelantan, who lost RM38 million while 231 more from Terengganu.
Bachok and Besut were the worst affected areas in the floods at the end of last year, he told reporters after receiving a RM5.69 million financial grant for the affected farmers from Kelantan National Security Council secretary Mohamad Rosle Mamat here today.
Ahmad said 2,864 ha of tobacco plantations in both states were inundated, of which 2,628 ha was in Kelantan.
On the financial aid, he said the tobacco growers would receive between RM1,600 and RM2,000 for each ha.
Mohamad Rosle said the financial aid, which was in line with the 1Malaysia concept, was aimed at easing the burden of affected farmers and to assist them in replanting tobacco.

A teacher who was sacked for gross misconduct after giving cigarettes to two pupils has been given a reprimand by the General Teaching Council.
Jane Eccles was working at Sir Christopher Hatton school, Wellingborough, when she supplied two pupils from year nine and year 11 with cigarettes and matches on the school premises between 2007 and 2008.
Mrs Eccles worked as a supervisor at the school’s In School exclusion unit, where pupils who had misbehaved were sent for punishment, including those caught smoking.
She gave the pupils cigarettes and matches “on approximately half a dozen occasions” while on the school premises. The matter came to light in December 2008 and Mrs Eccles was immediately suspended.
She was dismissed in January last year for gross misconduct.The GTC’s professional conduct committee found Mrs Eccles failed to take reasonable care of pupils under her supervision and put at risk their safety and welfare.
At a hearing last week the committee gave her a reprimand which will remain on the register for two years.
Sir Christopher Hatton’s School’s business manager Colin Hinds, who gave evidence to the committee, said: “This was an extraordinary and isolated case, the likes of which the school has never seen in its history.
“Our parents rightly expect school staff to be the best possible role models for their children and our parents should be reassured, not only by the swift and appropriate action the school has taken in this case, but also by the high standards of care and professionalism which our dedicated team of staff exhibit every day and which must be maintained.”
A statement released on behalf of the governing body of Sir Christopher Hatton School said: “We take very seriously our responsibility for the duty of care we have for the safety and welfare of our pupils.”

A lot of people this time of year begin the denial process. That is, their New Year’s Resolutions center on denying themselves of things: eating sweets, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol … you get the picture.
Why not reward yourself this year? We at Co-Lin specialize in helping those who have ended, suspended or postponed their college educations return to school and succeed.
Our spring semester is beginning and we have plenty of classes and programs regardless of how long you have been out of school. Even if you’ve never attended college, or started, but stopped your college education, we can help. You’d be amazed how easy it is to start or re-start, even if you don’t know what you’d like to do.
If you’re busy — as we all are — and you want part-time, evening or online classes instead of a full-time schedule, we can help. If you need only a few credits to reach that important associate’s degree and then transfer to a four-year college or university, we can help. Our academic center is just the place for you.
If you want a technical or specialized program aimed at employment in a year or two, we can help. Our career and technical education center has many excellent programs.
If you’re an older student, you’ll be among company; many of our students are in their 30s, 40s, even 50s and beyond.
If you’ve never graduated from high school, we have an excellent GED program.
In this day and age, a college education is almost essential for any good career at the professional level or the technical level.
All it takes is completing a simple application, talking with our counselors and completing the financial paperwork. We have grants, scholarships and aid packages for those who qualify.
Co-Lin Natchez reopened for the spring semester Monday; classes start on Wednesday and enrollment ends on Wednesday, Jan. 13.
This is one resolution that will enrich your life in so many ways.From all of us at Co-Lin Natchez, have a successful and happy new year.
Teresa Busby is the vice president of the Copiah-Lincoln Community College Natchez Campus.

Nearly all vehicles on the road today are equipped with ashtrays. As a disclaimer, I will note that some newer models lack this feature, but that they represent the vast minority of the whole, and will be ignored in this letter. Besides it’s not for want of a proper place of disposal that our streets are littered with cigarettes.
Cigarettes are tossed out of car windows with a sense of entitlement. For many smokers, throwing their cigarettes to the ground after the last, carcinogen-rich hit, has become second nature. I can’t count the number of times I’ve witnesses this ritual play out in traffic. A car window rolls down, a small, indifferent flick of the wrist occurs, and one more smoker joins the ranks of the irresponsible and lazy. This isn’t to suggest that everyone who smokes is guilty of this charge, but it is to imply that the number of offenders is not few. Perhaps stricter enforcement of an already-existing law would pare this number down.
In Ohio, the penalty for littering can be a $500 fine, and up to 60 days in jail. Am I advocating that every person caught dropping a cigarette is assessed this maximum punishment? Of course, I’m not. I think $500 per violation would be an ample deterrent without the accompanying time served. Granted, the more stubborn of the smoking sect might make multiple contributions before completely coming around, but this would just lend a greater hand to our financially strapped cities during these lean economic times. Before going further, let me make clear that, as needed, these wheels of justice should spin no less swiftly or severely toward me.
I don’t smoke, but cigarette butts aren’t the only things being carelessly discarded every day. If I were found dropping so much as a scrap of paper to the ground, I would expect the ramifications mentioned above to be fully enforced against me. But don’t hold your breath. If I did that, you see, this letter would have no teeth. As it stands, I can assure you that it boasts a full complement.

When the topic turns to the sale of gasoline and cigarettes by Native Americans, one criticism often heard is that only a few benefit while too many reservation residents continue to live in poverty. The Tonawanda Seneca Merchants Association is taking steps to disarm that criticism: The merchants group is undertaking some 25 projects to help those in need on the 600-member Tonawanda Seneca Nation land.
They have raised about $300,000 so far, according to association president Marty Ground, who owns 49 Express. Merchants collect 50 cents for the association on every carton of Seneca-brand cigarettes sold. Much of the money so far is being used on weatherization projects. Some homes need better insulation, better heating and water systems, roof repairs, weather-tight doors — all things that will help make winter more comfortable this year.
Mr. Ground said some people were hesitant to accept help because they were too proud to seek help. ”We had to convince some people that they could still be proud and part of being proud is knowing that better conditions do exist,” he said.
The conditions of some Tonawanda Seneca Nation properties may not be apparent to the people who stick pretty much to the Bloomingdale Road stretch where most of the gasoline and cigarette stores are located. The Tonawanda Senecas are not part of the Senecas that benefit from the Seneca Niagara Casino in Niagara Falls. The tax-free sale of cigarettes and gasoline is important to the Tonawanda Senecas. But the owners of these stores know there is great need among non-store owners on the reservation. And now they have stepped up to help.
”Our intention was to help the community and we are doing that,” said Neville Spring, who owns the Rez smoke shop and is a member of the association. ”We have many future needs. There is no limit but it’s exciting and we’re proud that in hard times that this is being accomplished.”
About 10 years ago a similar association raised money to build a fire hall and buy a van for the church, but eventually it disbanded. The new group has a system that shows how much money is being donated.
”A lot of this didn’t happen before for a number of different reasons,” Mr. Ground said, ”but now, it’s evident we have to do it. It’s been a long time coming and it doesn’t matter why now. It’s being done. That’s all that matters.”