Missouri's Tobacco Control Exchange

Lake Saint Louis Goes Smoke-Free

The Lake Saint Louis Board of Aldermen were the first to approve a smoke-free policy in St. Charles County.

The ordinance is in the hands of the mayor, who has concerns about it, reports the Riverfront Times.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch also has details on the vote.

Law Smoke Tax Helps MO Businesses

In Kansas, officials last week testified about a proposed increase to the tobacco and liquor tax. 

Representatives of convenience stores said the proposal would hurt small business owners, while health experts said it would decrease healthcare costs.

One interesting point in an article on KansasReporter.org, was the fact that Kansas residents fill their tanks in Missouri because of a cheaper fuel tax. Smokers are also wooed by Missouri businesses that sell cigarettes because the state has one of the lowest taxes in the nation at 17 cents. Opponents to the Kansas effort said that if the tax there increases, even more Kansas residents will buy smokes in the Show-Me State.

Want Your Campus to go Tobacco-Free?

Colleges that want to eliminate tobacco don't have to go through the arduous task of creating policies; they can borrow from terrific policies already in place.

Business Officer, a publication of the National Association of College and University Business Officers, offers up an excellent article, Creating a Tobacco-Free Campus, which follows the implementation of a program at the University of North Dakota.

The article also links to other resources for creating a tobacco-free college environment, including one from Ty Patterson, the Director of The Center of Excellence for Tobacco-Free Campus Policy at Ozarks Technical Community College in Springfield, Mo.

Fulton Smoke-Free Proposal to Go Before Voters

Efforts to make Fulton public places free from cigarette smoke took a step forward this week.

The Fulton City Council decided to put a smoke-free proposal to voters in November 2011.

According to an article in The Fulton Sun, there was a lengthy debate between health advocates and those against the proposal before council members decided to put the issue toward voters. Activists from Fresh Air Fulton used information from surveys taken in the community to show there is support for the smoke-free movement.

What was striking in this article was one person's comment that students from two colleges in the city - William Woods and Westminster - should not have a voice in the debate. 

Read The Fulton Sun article. 

This week, Westminster College announced that its campus would go smoke-free in July. That means smokers will need to go off-campus to get their fix.

GE Properties to be Smoke-Free by 2011

 General Electric plans to prohibit tobacco products on all properties by next year.

The announcement comes a year after it offered employees cash to kick the habit.

Officials say it will help reduce healthcare costs and create a safer work environment for employees. Some properties will immediately go tobacco-free; all will be free of tobacco by March of next year.

The company will not require employees to be smoke-free on their own time.

Report: Smoke-Free Initiatives Cut Smoking Stats in Half

A statewide smoke-free act and higher cigarette tax are two factors authorities say helped cut smoking in half in Iowa.

In an online release from the Iowa Department of Public Health, Cathy Callaway, chair of the Iowa Tobacco Use Prevention & Control Commission had this to say about it:

“The fact that Iowans are smoking half as many cigarettes now is clearly attributable to the $1 cigarette excise tax in 2007 and the 2008 Smokefree Air Act. The importance of policies like these in improving health and saving lives cannot be underestimated.”

The IDPH says, however, that youth are still at risk for becoming smokers.

Find out more in this IDPH special report.

Editorial: Kudos to Sedalia City Council for Smoke-Free Vote

The Sedalia Democrat has a great editorial about the city's new move to prohibit smoking in city buildings and vehicles.

The best quote from this piece:

Smokers may be slightly inconvenienced by the move, but there is a vast difference between inconvenience and intolerance. If there is a city employee who believes the smoking ban is problematic, they are free to seek employment at an establishment that allows smoking; otherwise, they can do what workers at businesses across the city do — go outside to light up.

Smoke Contributes to Alzheimer's

 Research shows that smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke can speed up the onset of Alzheimer's disease. 

The study by researchers at the University of California-San Francisco shows that the risk of Alzheimer's doubles in smokers. 

The researchers reviewed 43 published studies and 877 formerly secret tobacco documents - and considered the authors' links to the tobacco industry - before publishing the findings in the January Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, according to ScienceDaily.com.

You can view the study abstract here.

Editorial: Raise Missouri Cigarette Tax

In a recent editorial, The Kansas City Star Editorial Board says that Missouri should consider upping the cigarette tax to make up for serious revenue shortfalls. The same goes for Kansas.

Read the editorial

Are Electronic Cigarettes OK to Smoke Where Banned?

Business owners in Springfield wonder how to grapple with customers who want to smoke electronic cigarettes in their restaurants or other public businesses where it is banned.

Springfield's smoking ordinance is tied to liquor sales. However, many businesses that fall under the ban are now finding customers who want to smoke e-cigarettes. The customers say it isn't a health hazard, but many health officials disagree.

Find out more in this article at KSMU.org.