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May 15th, 2010:

No Smoking Area – Smoking Here is an Offence

kashmir_region_2004The Divisional Commisioner of the region of Kashmir is calling on the High Court to take suitable steps to implement the following, in letter and in spirit, the following:

  • Ban on smoking in public places
  • Ban on sale of tobacco products to persons below 18 years of age
  • Ban on sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of any educational institution

The letters can be downloaded here and here.

Nurses protest at Philip Morris International shareholder meeting

Last updated: May 15, 2010

Source: The Examiner

Tobacco causes 5 million people to die each year, and the number is getting bigger. It could be as high as 10 million per year by 2020. Tobacco is a deadly product that kills half of those who use it. Tobacco causes suffering, disability, and premature death all over the world. For more information visit the World Health Organization.


Protest at Philip Morris International shareholder meeting

Every year tobacco companies report on their profits to shareholders. On May 12th 2010, a group of nurses from around the USA attended the Philip Morris International shareholder meeting in New York. The nurses believe that it is not socially responsible for tobacco companies to continue to market and promote their deadly products. The nurses belong to a group called the Nightingales Nurses, who are nurses around the world speaking out against Big Tobacco. If you would like to support the nurses in their efforts to save lives please visit their website at www.nightingalesnurses.org

For news on this week’s Philip Morris International shareholder meeting visit the San Francisco Chronicle’s business report.

If you smoke and would like to quit please call 1 800 no butts, or visit NoButts.org or TobaccoFreeCA.com

Quitting smoking has immediate benefits to your health:

After one day: The odds of having a heart attack begin to drop.

After two weeks: Lung function increases by up to 30 percent.

After one year: Excess risk of coronary heart disease is cut in half.

After ten years: Risk of lung cancer drops to one-half compared to continuing smokers.

After fifteen years: Risk of a heart attack is the same as someone who never smoked.

Unreported World; Ashes to Ashes

2ee0834824Last updated: May 15, 2010

Source: The Guardian

Jenny Kleeman’s investigation of child labour in the tobacco fields of Malawi is pretty bloody shocking

Jenny Kleeman is in Malawi for Unreported World (Channel 4), investigating child labour in the tobacco-growing industry. In terms of the numbers involved, it’s pretty bloody shocking. Thirty-five children from one primary-school class are absent, off working in the fields or sorting the tobacco leaves (you’d think that would be pretty much the whole class, but there are still around 70 in the room). Children as young as three work up to 12 hours a day, with just one break. One woman working full-time takes home just £18 a year for her family – the cost of three packs of cigs in Britain.

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It’s not nice work, either. They cough from inhaling the dust, and get poisoned by nicotine. Thousands of ordinary Malawians are trapped by the country’s reliance on tobacco.

Thank heaven, then, for Kleeman, ferreting about the place, being a proper journalist, exposing the bad guys. There’s not an enormous amount of light ahead. The tobacco companies keep the prices down, meaning less money for the farmers, and even less for the labourers. The politicians aren’t helping much, either. One was caught employing child labour on his own tobacco farm. The penalty is five years in jail or a £100 fine (that’s not a hard choice, is it?), but this guy got off with a warning. Maybe our lot, with their moats and duck islands, aren’t so bad after all.