Stronger Smoking Rules, Orland Students

If a group of Orland High School kids ran the city, there would be less smoking in public places including doorways, outdoor dining areas and parks. Members of SWAT, Students Working Against Tobacco, pitched an articulate and well-researched plea to city councilors last week, asking for greater restrictions on lighting up. The student presentation was just a discussion, but it could be up for a vote on Nov. 7. Students Dinesh Khalasi, Ana Hernandez, Roopinder Virk and Jesenia Contreras were at the podium, with other students in the audience, all wearing SWAT T-shirts. Adult advisers funded through the California Health Collaborative, as well as the American Lung Association, have helped the youths through the process. Various grants have been funded via tobacco taxes. The four seniors have been working toward the proposal since they were freshmen. Another student has since graduated.

Smoking and Drinking Rise as Money Worries

Salary cuts and reduced working hours are affecting almost half of all households, with money matters now having overtaken the pursuit of personal happiness in lists of priorities, a study has found. As the effect of the recession deepens, the 2011 Pfizer Health Index indicates the toll the austere times are taking on our health. Pointing to increased drinking and smoking and lower motivation for personal improvement, the survey finds seven out of 10 people are struggling to make ends meet. The study also found: * 26% rate money as our main concerns, up from 20% last year.

Students Plan to Ban Smoking in Public Areas

If a group of Orland High School students has its way, the city could ban smoking outside the doorways of businesses, in outdoor eating areas and in public parks. About a dozen teens sporting anti-tobacco T-shirts and armed with posters and jars of cigarette butts, lobbied the City Council on Monday to put a smoking ban in place. The council took no action, but will discuss the matter on Nov. 7. Dinesh Khalasi, of Students Working Against Tobacco, explained many communities have bans to protect residents and visitors from the dangers of inhaling secondhand smoke. He noted clean-ups by the group revealed a large concentration of cigarette butts by park picnic tables and the baseball field in Lely Park — places where families and young children are likely to be. The group reported 250 cigarette butts were picked up from the grass and picnic areas of the parks within 90 minutes. The teens gathered butts from Vinsonhaler, Library and Lely Aquatic parks among others in the area.

Cigarette Sales Fall in September

The volume of cigarettes sold in Japan in September plunged 60.4 percent from a year before to 9.7 billion cheap Davidoff cigarettes in the wake of last year's strong demand that preceded the country's largest-ever tobacco tax hike in October last year, according to a Japan Tobacco Inc. preliminary report released Friday. For the April to September period, domestic sales fell 41.2 percent from a year before to 50.9 billion cigarettes, the report said.