Glenn Anthony John
Glenn Anthony John, Tobacco Asia Publisher
Pubs, those ubiquitous British “watering holes” that serve alcohol and food, have suffered greatly in the past 10 years since the UK banned smoking inside. According to FOREST, the smoker’s right advocacy group, in a recently-released report entitled “Road to Ruin”, around 10,500 pubs, or 20% of UK’s total have shuttered since the July 2007 ban.
Of course, everyone knows that British pubs (short for “public houses”), which are scattered throughout the country aren’t simply places to go and get drunk. In the 17th century, famous diarist Samuel Pepys described the pub as “the heart of England”. They have played important roles for literally centuries, especially in residential areas, where people can get together, socialize, gossip, and strengthen community ties; in short, they are often the focal point of the community.
According to the report, “at a time when the dangers of social isolation and loneliness have been increasingly recognized, the smoking ban has affected local communities and many individuals who now smoke and drink at home.” Next up, of course, are proposals to ban outdoor smoking including beer gardens, and that’s something that Simon Clark, director of FOREST says must “be fiercely resisted”. This thorough 55-page report can be read/downloaded by visiting www.forestonline.org.
In an ominous and, we think, misguided move, the city of San Francisco has banned the sale of all flavored cigarettes, vaping and e-cigarette liquids, and flavored hookah/shisha products. This makes San Francisco the only place where menthol cigarettes are banned from sale. Although the US government banned flavored cigarettes in 2009, menthol was exempted. The ban got rid of clove, vanilla, chocolate, and other flavors which were thought to purposely lure children into smoking; the old, hard-to-argue-with “it’s for the kids” argument.
Now San Francisco has extended the flavor ban to include not only menthol cigarettes, but all e-liquids flavors, sealing off city-wide access to a product that is considered 90% safer that regular cigarette smoking and leads to cessation of traditional cigarette smoking. Dr. Michael Siegel, a public health professor and tobacco control expert, said that “rather than serving as a gateway toward cigarette smoking, e-cigarettes may actually be acting as a diversion away from cigarettes.”
The Winston Salem Journal reported that Brad Rodu, a professor of medicine at the University of Louisville and an anti-smoking advocate, said the San Francisco ban “is an instance of incremental tobacco prohibition — the chipping away of adult access to products that are too popular to be banned outright.”
“Given the wealth of peer-reviewed research demonstrating that smokeless tobacco products are 98% safer than cigarettes, any such impediments to accessing flavored smoke-free products, including e-cigarettes, threatens the health of smokers who would use them to quit.
Usage and the online sales and delivery services of menthol cigarettes, flavored e-liquids, and hookah/shisha products are not covered by the ban. Only businesses within the city of San Francisco are subject to the sales ban.
Glenn Anthony John, Publisher, Founding Editor