Mayor Chuck Cahn and several anti-smoking representatives from the region gathered in DeCou Park on Thursday, Nov. 15 to announce a campaign that will prohibit smoking tobacco on township-owned property. The law, which will have a public hearing and potential adoption at Monday, Nov. 26’s 7:30 p.m. council meeting, will make the township’s 52 parks, trails, recreational facilities, town hall, the Cherry Hill Public Library, the Department of Public Works, Croft Farm and Barclay Farmstead smoke-free areas. “It’s called ‘Smoke-Free Cherry Hill,’” Cahn declared, and the campaign officially launched following the Nov. 8 council meeting’s ordinance approval on first reading.
The significant change, said Cahn, is in regards to the enforcement power. Previously, the township had a resolution in place to prohibit smoking on township property, but there are no penalties for violators. “Why are we doing this? Cherry Hill residents deserve to breathe clean air,” Cahn declared. There are serious diseases related to smoking tobacco products, he said, including cancer, heart disease, asthma and a host of other respiratory issues. Kids who are exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke face an serious risk to several diseases, he declared. “This is about protecting our children,” explained Cahn. “It’s about smoke-free areas.” “It encourages healthy environments,” he added.
The legislation will give inhabitants the right to enjoy the facilities and help to minimize cigarette butt litter that pollutes land and water and is bad when ingested by kids, pets and wildlife alike. In addition, said Cahn, the legislation will reduce maintenance prices, make smoke-free areas the norm, establish healthy smoking habits early and set an example for other organizations. Through Cahn’s Mayor’s Wellness Campaign, he has encouraged healthy living habits for the past year. Keeping cigarettes smoke out of open space will aid in that effort, he added.
According to Kim Burns of Tobacco Free for a Healthy New Jersey and the Department of Health, the ordinance is one of the most comprehensive in the South Jersey region. “This regulation is designed to protect the health of the inhabitants of Cherry Hill,” said Burns. “This is not just an issue of secondhand smoke.” This is the de-normalization of smoking and the impact on future generations, she continued. “We want our kids to grow up in a world where smoking tobacco is not the norm,” she explained. The American Cancer Society’s representative, Jackie Craig, spoke of the Great American Smoke-Out, now in it’s 37th year, which coincided with the campaign announcement. Every third Thursday of November, the day is in the spotlight as a time to quit smoking. According to Craig, research shows that smokers are most successful when using tobacco smoking cessation hotlines, groups, nicotine replacement methods, prescriptions or support and encouragement from family and friends.
Leven hit the national limelight this week as one of its major stores joined a crusade to improve health in Scotland. The local Sainsbury’s superstore was one of six across the country which stopped selling tobacco products on Monday. The stubbing out of cigarette sales marked the extension of a scheme launched at other premises earlier in 2019, in response to a Scottish Government levy. New supplementary charges will apply on business rates paid by large stores selling cigs and alcohol. Under the new Public Health Levy, retailers are to be taxed on any store with a rate-able value of more than £300,000 which sells drink and smoking products.
Tobacco growers in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), declared that low demand and a dropping sales price for Virginia-variety Al Fakher tobacco are threatening their livelihoods. The farmers, who are expecting big losses for this year’s harvest, are asking the provincial administration to intervene in the tobacco market. This year’s harvest has brought little but trouble to Lombok’s independent tobacco farmers. The sale price of Virginia tobacco recently ranges between Rp 3,000 (US 31 cents) and Rp 5,000 per kilogram, decreased dramatically from between Rp 30,000 (US$3.30) and Rp 35,000 a kilogram in 2018.
Reynolds American Inc. reported that its main focus on innovation and the development of new tobacco products will help the company stay involving in the face of decreasing smoking rates. Reynolds American President and CEO Daan Delen explained that during Investors Day presentations Monday morning that the company is focusing over the long-term on arising smoke-free products such as snus and its new e-cigarette Vuse that offer larger margins and greater potential for growth.
The UAE Ministry of Health is likely to introduce new anti-tobacco ordinances with a view to discourage inhabitants from smoking tobacco products. The third clause of the federal Tobacco Control Law No.25 of 2009 relates to the statutory warnings on OK cigarette packets. The new laws are likely to make it compulsory to cover half of the surface place of the cigarette packages with health risk smoking warnings including pictures of a snake, a pregnant woman and a diseased hand holding a burning cig.