Tobacco.org

Justice Ministry and Justice Palace go smoke free 

The Justice Ministry and Beirut's Justice Palace went smoke-free Thursday, complying with the law but only after several minor glitches. A law banning smoking in public places was passed after much debate in Parliament last year.

It also banned tobacco advertising on products and increased the sizes of the required pictorial warnings on packs. The law is coming into effect gradually - Parliament made the leap early last month.

Speaking at the Justice Ministry, Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi announced that smoking will now be banned in the two buildings, where employees were said to have warned each other before his arrival so they could put their cigarettes out in time.

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A taxing proposal 

Higher tobacco taxes can boost state revenues by $170 mln: AUB study 

Assi smoking Shisha with wife  

• Abboud warns smoking-ban violators to face steep fines 

• Parliament officially smoke-free, but MPs still puffing away 

Two days after a ban on smoking in Parliament came into effect, frequent smoke breaks just outside the building have become a common sight - but nearly as common appears to be a will to violate the ban indoors.

After a long debate, Parliament endorsed a tobacco control law last year, banning smoking in indoor public spaces and tobacco advertising on products, while requiring larger pictorial warnings to be placed on cigarette packs. The smoking ban will gradually go into effect in restaurants and bars next month.

"Smoking here is a violation of Law 174 and will cost you a fee of at least LL135,000," read banners that now hang on Parliament's inside walls.

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Parliament bans smoking, MPs fume 

If you’re a heavy smoker and thinking of becoming an MP, you’d better quit.

For from now on, there’s no smoking in the parliament building.

The ban on lighting up in parliament comes on the heels of ABC mall banning smoking earlier this week. It looks like our ruling class is finally being asked to give something up like the rest of us.

Last night New TV talked to human chimney and Member of Parliament Ali Bazzi. During the interview he went through what looked like half a pack of Galoises, though he admitted that it’s time Lebanon caught up with other nations and forbade smoking in government buildings. He said that during the day, he went outside his office (yes, some MPs do go to their offices) before lighting up.

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Stricter fines on breaches of tobacco law needed: Rifi 

Police chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi ordered security forces Saturday to strictly enforce the tobacco control law and fine violators. Tobacco companies are banned from sponsoring any type of sports, musical or cultural activities. The law, passed by Parliament six months ago, also bans the promotion or free distribution of any type of tobacco

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• Rifi orders strict application of tobacco control law 

Police chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi ordered security forces Saturday to strictly apply the tobacco control law in the country and fine violators.

"Head of the Internal Security Forces Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi issued an order commanding [law enforcement] sectors to be strict in fining violations related to the promotion of tobacco in Lebanon starting 3/3/2012 in coordination with judicial and administrative authorities," the statement released by the ISF said.

Starting Saturday, tobacco companies will be banned from sponsoring any type of sports, musical or cultural activities. The law, passed by Parliament six months ago, also bans the promotion or free distribution of any type of tobacco and bans tobacco advertisements on billboards and in the media

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• ABC mall launches its 'Smoke Free Environment' initiative 

ABC, one of the leading retailers in Lebanon, launched its 'Smoke Free Environment' campaign becoming the first shopping mall in Lebanon to implement the tobacco control law.

The campaign, headed by ABC Chairman Mr. Robert Fadel, was launched in ABC Achrafieh and attended by the Minister of Public Health Mr. Ali Hassan Khalil, the Minister of Tourism Mr. Fadi Abboud, and the Minister of Environment Mr. Nazim el Khoury and supported by 'Tobacco Free Initiative' (TFI), celebrities, VIPs and members of the press.

Starting the first of March, ABC will implement the tobacco control legislation number 174 to become a non-smoking mall, except restaurants and cafes as stated in the regulation. However, ABC is launching 'Happy Smoke Free Monday', extending its non-smoking initiative to the restaurants and cafes every Monday, as a preparation phase to implementing the law, in an effort to raising health awareness and creating a health-oriented culture amongst the Lebanese society.

"ABC has been part of the Lebanese community for 75 years and we believe in giving back to this community,"

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• Ministry reminds media of ban on tobacco ads 

The Interior Ministry issued a statement reminding media and advertisement companies that starting March 3, all forms of tobacco advertisement will be banned, the National News Agency reported Friday.

According to the statement, starting March 3, tobacco companies will be banned from sponsoring any type of sports, music and cultural activities.

The law also bans the promotion or free distribution of any type of tobacco and bans tobacco advertisements on billboards and in the media and forbids posters promoting tobacco products from being displayed in shops.

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• Tobacco ads snuffed out soon 

Starting March 3, billboards and wrap-around magazine ads pushing cigarettes will be illegal. In fact, all tobacco advertising will be banned, and come September 3, smoking in pubs, restaurants and nightclubs will be outlawed also. The smoking ban is already technically in effect for public buildings, but an enforcement mechanism has yet to be legally codified, meaning that as it stands the prohibition on ads might be the only thing the average citizen notices.

Ad companies are prepared to fully comply with the law and are expecting to take a financial hit, according to Geroge Jabbour, president of the Advertising Agencies Association. Spending on tobacco advertising, he said, was between $4 and $5 million in 2011, representing some three percent of the industry’s total revenue.

Cigarette companies are also prepared for the ban. In an e-mail message to NOW Lebanon, Phillip Morris International, which makes Marlboros and other brands, said it does not expect a large dip in sales because of new limits on marketing.

“We have a track record of operating successfully in highly regulated environments and expect our business in Lebanon to continue to perform well,” a Phillip Morris representative wrote.

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• Restaurants and other renegades stamping out smoke ahead of ban 

Although Lebanon has yet to fully implement a nationwide smoking ban due to take effect in September, some establishments have taken the initiative to forbid smoking of their own accord - and well ahead of time.

"When you enter a coffee shop, you should smell coffee - not smoke," explains Serge Khatchikian, manager at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on Hamra Street, which has been smoke-free since it opened last year.

He acknowledges he has received complaints from smokers who want to light up indoors, particularly in the winter. However, he has gotten an almost equal amount of praise from non-smokers who are happy to find one of the few places in Beirut where they can enjoy a cup of tea indoors in a smoke-free environment. . . .

Lebanon's nationwide smoking ban, signed by parliament in August, requires all indoor establishments - including restaurants, bars and cafes - to forbid smoking indoors, and makes it the third Arab country (after Syria and the United Arab Emirates) to promulgate such a law.

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Secondhand smoke affecting nation's youth 

Sitting in a smoking cafe serving narguileh is as bad for your health as sitting in Beirut's famous Salim Slam Tunnel during rush-hour, new findings have shown.

Cancer-causing pollution levels inside one of Beirut's busiest passageways are roughly equal to those found in 15 of the capital's restaurants that sold water pipes, research conducted by the Health Ministry-affiliated National Tobacco Control Program (NTCP) has revealed.

In both cases the concentration of ultra fine particles - deemed exceedingly dangerous because of their ability to penetrate deep into the lungs and reach the bloodstream - was deemed "hazardous" to health by World Health Organization (WHO) standards.

Levels in the tunnel proved to be almost 18 times higher than acceptable levels, while those in cafes were on average 15 times the levels considered safe for human health by the WHO. Almost half of the cafes surveyed, however, actually had higher levels than Salim Slam, with one being 25 times more polluted, the NTCP found.

"The difference between the two locations, is that in restaurants that serve narguileh, you sit for hours, while it takes less than a minute to pass through Salim Slem Tunnel - most of the time with the windows closed," the NTCP said.

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• NDU students creatively protest lax smoking policy 

Wearing Santa hats and shooting smokers with water guns might be an unconventional way to protest a university's lax smoking ban. But it has certainly gotten the attention of the intended targets - students, faculty and administration.

"The university wasn't doing anything to implement the anti-smoking ban, and we wanted to shed light on the subject," said Mary-Joe Alavalas, a political science student at Notre Dame University-Louaize and one of the organizers or the 2011 Smoke Parade, who Wednesday, while wearing a Santa Clause hat, shot a water gun at smokers to protest the university's lax anti-smoking ban.

This was their second such protest in two months. The first was in mid-November, when students began challenging the lax ban, lighting up indoors throughout the university to prove that their behavior would go unpunished. Although they were asked to leave certain areas, nobody suggested they should be penalized.

"It really made a splash. A lot of people noticed," said Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous, a professor at NDU and a supporter of the student-led demonstration, which was first organized six weeks ago through Facebook, fliers and word of mouth. . . .

Wearing a Santa hat, he posed as a smoker - and target - for the student protesters, as they shot him with water guns. Not knowing it was staged, several nearby smokers extinguished their cigarettes to avoid getting sprayed

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