Thailand Tightens Checks on Cigarettes

http://times.hankooki.com

The customs office at Incheon International Airport has advised South Koreans departing for Thailand to carry no more than 10 packs of cigarettes as the Southeast Asian country enforces strict customs clearance checks on tobacco.

Incheon Airport Customs warned that any travelers carrying more than 10 packs of cigarettes might face heavy fines if they fail to report them to the Thai airport customs office.

If they are caught bringing in more than 10 packs of cigarettes without reporting to the customs office, travelers are fined 13,000 baht (350,000 won) for every 10 packs and all the cigarettes are confiscated.

Thailand has recently designated public buildings as nonsmoking areas in a stepped-up antismoking campaign, and many tourists go through strict checks for cigarettes when they arrive. Also, tax officials are cracking down on travelers carrying more than 10 packs of cigarettes for excessive tax evasion.

According to Incheon Airport Customs, about 800,000 Koreans a year visit Thailand. Among them, smokers buy a bundle of cigarettes at duty free shops before departing for Thailand.

Many Korean travelers, having no information about Thai customs regulations, might get into trouble due to their excessive possession of cigarettes on arrival at Thai airports

“People need to bone up on customs rules of the country they plan to travel to before leaving to go abroad in order to avoid any potential trouble with customs clearance,” said Lee Cheng-woo at Incheon Airport Customs.

New marketing tactics by the tobacco industry reported

http://www.hot-cigs.com/news/Jun-28-2006/New-marketing-tactics-by-the-tobacco-industry-reported.493.html

A new American Lung Association report, Alcohol-Flavored Cigarettes – Continuing the Flavored Cigarette Trend, shows that the tobacco industry continues to target the nation’s youth and young adults with their deadly products using underhanded marketing tactics.

“Unfortunately, tobacco products remain virtually unregulated in the United States,” said John L. Kirkwood, President and CEO of the American Lung Association. “Each day more than 4,000 kids under 18 try their first cigarette, and more than 1,500 other kids under 18 become established daily smokers.”

R.J. Reynolds in particular has been aggressively targeting the youth and young adult market with several recent marketing campaigns that seek to link smoking with alcohol use, gambling and rebellious behavior.

The report details how R.J. Reynolds recently sold alcohol-flavored cigarettes as limited edition brands of an ongoing line of flavored cigarettes called Camel Exotic Blends. Included were packs of cigarettes with names such as Screwdriver Slots, SnakeEyes Scotch and Blackjack Gin. These new flavored cigarettes were sold as part of a larger promotional campaign called Camel Casino, which sought to link smoking with alcohol use and gambling. The promotional campaign ran from July 2005 through early 2006. Although R.J. Reynolds claimed these new cigarettes were marketed towards young adults, their appeal to youth who are beginning to experiment with alcohol is obvious.

“It’s appalling that the tobacco industry is allowed to continue marketing and selling flavored cigarettes,” said Kirkwood. “The industry’s goal is obvious: To get young people hooked on smoking. Flavored cigarettes, like regular cigarettes, cause lung cancer and lung disease and should be banned for the sake of our children.”

The Alcohol-Flavored Cigarettes – Continuing the Flavored Cigarette Trend report also divulges information about other marketing tactics recently used by R.J. Reynolds in cultivating young smokers. A campaign called Drinks on Us was exposed in December 2005 by several state Attorneys General. Customers celebrating their birthdays were mailed a promotional package that contained coasters imprinted with drink recipes some of which called for up to five shots of alcohol per drink. The campaign appeared to be designed to promote both smoking and excessive drinking.

Another separate campaign that began in spring 2006 for R.J. Reynolds’ Camel Wides, a version of its Camel line of cigarettes, associates smoking with rebellious behavior using bar parties that feature graffiti artists, “rave” style paraphernalia, such as glow-in-the-dark necklaces, and offers to party-goers to get real tattoos at a discount.

“These recent marketing tactics continue to show the tobacco industry has not changed, and is continuing its attempts to hook a new generation on tobacco products,” said Kirkwood.

A bill giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco products failed to pass in Congress in 2004. Identical FDA legislation was reintroduced in March 2005, and is still pending. The proposed FDA legislation would regulate the sale, marketing and manufacturing of all tobacco products. It would also prohibit all flavorings in cigarettes except menthol.

Gallaher Says Austrian, Spanish Competition to Weigh on Profit

http://www.bloomberg.com
June 27 (Bloomberg) — Gallaher Group Plc, which makes Benson & Hedges cigarettes in the European Union, said competition to lower prices in Austria and Spain is weighing on profit this year.

Earnings before interest, tax and amortization from its tobacco business in continental Europe in the first half “is expected to be broadly flat versus the first half of 2005,” the Weybridge, England-based company said today in a statement distributed by PR Newswire. Full-year profit from that business will probably be “marginally ahead of 2005 levels.”

The cigarette maker, the U.K.’s second-largest by market share after Imperial Tobacco Group Plc, is trying to overcome waning demand in Britain by expanding in countries such as Russia and Ukraine. Some smokers in eastern European countries are switching from local brands to more expensive Western imports.

Gallaher also said Ebita from Sweden, Poland and markets in Africa and Asia will be “down sharply” in the first half as retailers stocked up on cigarettes last year before a price increase. Full-year Ebita from those regions, which Gallaher calls “Rest of World,” should be “broadly flat.”

The company, which also makes Silk Cut cigarettes, said in March it would miss its goal for profit from its continental European business for a second year as rivals cut prices in Spain and countries such as Austria raise tobacco taxes.

Gallaher said in March it expected earnings before interest, tax and amortization from the region to rise 1 percent to 2 percent this year. The company’s long-term target for the region is growth of 4 percent to 6 percent.

The company also said in March it expects profit at its U.K. business to increase 1 percent to 2 percent this year. The company gets almost half its profit from that market.

Gallaher raised the prices of most of its cigarette brands in the U.K. by 7 pence per pack of 20 in May. It also increased prices in March after that country raised tobacco taxes.

Gallaher, which has roots going back to 1857, owns the rights to Benson & Hedges in the European Union and several other European countries. Altria Group Inc. controls the brand’s U.S. rights, and British American Tobacco Plc owns the rights in more than 80 other countries including Australia.

Crushing the Hubble-Bubble Myth – Hookah Smoking Just As Harmful As Cigarettes

http://www.infozine.com
Recent findings have disproved the common belief that Hubble-Bubble smoking (Sheesha or hookah) is a safer and healthier alternative to traditional cigarette smoking.

Melbourne, Australia – infoZine – Smoking Hubble-Bubble does not reduce the risk of tobacco exposure – on the contrary, it poses potential harm to health.

The study – co-authored by Dr. Sana Al-Mutairi from the Faculty of Medicine at the Kuwait University – is published by Blackwell Publishing in the July issue of the Respirology, the official publication of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology.

The health dangers of tobacco or cigarette smoking have long been universally acknowledged, but the recent increased levels of Hubble-Bubble smoking – particularly with younger members of the European and Middle Eastern communities – have been alarming; prompting researchers to conduct a thorough evaluation on the effects of Hubble-Bubble and tobacco smoking on respiratory and metabolic parameters.

In general, tobacco leaf combustion is incomplete and yields both gaseous and particulate components deleterious gases, tar aerosols and nicotine particles. These toxic components are found in both main stream and side stream non-filter cigarettes – hence ruling out the perceived benefit of Hubble-Bubble smoking in place of traditional tobacco cigarettes.

Researchers found that although the mean concentration of cotinine and nicotine in urine samples was significantly higher among cigarette smokers, they were still pathologically high in Hubble-Bubble smokers. Among both groups of smokers who have been smoking for ten years or more, continine and nicotine levels tended to be higher in Hubble-Bubble smokers whereas the cigarettes smokers only displayed higher nicotine levels.

The study also found that the trend for chronic bronchitis symptoms was more pronounced for Hubble-Bubble smokers as compared to cigarette smokers. Both cigarette and Hubble-Bubble smokers also displayed negative effects on good cholesterol – hence increasing their risk of heart attack.

These findings are significant in dispelling the myth that there exists a less harmful form of tobacco smoking. They support existing literature in the conclusion that Hubble-Bubble and cigarette smoking have the same deleterious effects.

Lead author Sana Al Mutairi said, “This study clearly shows that smoking Hubble-Bubble does not minimize the risk of tobacco and it’s potentially harmful metabolites – thus calling for immediate attention for this rapidly growing smoking habit. We need to study and monitor smoking habits in the region and conduct more research on the harmful effects of the other potentially risky by-products of the tobacco mixture consumed in Hubble-Bubble.”

He added, “Remember, nicotine kills in all forms.”

Smoke Tracks

http://www.ladowntownnews.com
Smoking kills. Make no mistake about it. No one is immune to the carcinogenic effects of cigarette smoke. No matter what your heritage, if you smoke the risk of lung cancer and other diseases rises significantly

But a recent study by scientists from the USC Keck School of Medicine and the University of Hawaii in Honolulu showed there are differences in the risk of developing lung cancer among racial and ethnic populations. The differences were most pronounced among people who smoke fewer than a pack-and-a-half, or 30 cigarettes, per day.

Backing up this conclusion are data published in the Jan. 25, 2006 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Specifically, researchers found that lung cancer is more likely to develop in moderate cigarette smokers who are African American or Native Hawaiian than in smokers who are white, Japanese American or Latino. The study was supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute.

In the study, the research team analyzed the incidence of lung cancer among 183,813 African-American, Japanese-American, Latino, Native Hawaiian and white men and women from a prospective Multiethnic Cohort Study of more than 215,000 individuals in California and Hawaii. These individuals were followed for as many as eight years, from their entry into the study (some time between 1993 and 1996) to the study’s end point in 2001.

Between 80 and 90% of lung cancer cases can be attributed to cigarette smoking. Previous research had shown that there were disparities in the distribution of lung cancer risk, with African-American and Native Hawaiian smokers seeming to be more likely to get lung cancer than other racial and ethnic populations.

“We wanted to see to what extent population-based differences in lung cancer incidence can be explained by differences in cigarette smoking,” said Christopher Haiman, Sc.D., assistant professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School and the lead author on the study. “This is the largest study to date to address this question.”

Statistics on smoking have shown that the habits of smokers vary widely among racial and ethnic populations. For instance, although 30.1% of African Americans and 27.3% of whites currently smoke, only 8% of African-American smokers smoke more than 25 cigarettes a day, as compared with 28% of white smokers. In other words, African Americans are much less likely to be heavy smokers than white smokers.

In the New England Journal analysis, 1,979 lung cancer cases from the Multiethnic Cohort were identified prospectively over the period between baseline (1993-1996) and 2001. The cases were identified by linkage to the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results cancer registries for Hawaii and California, with deaths being identified by death certificate files in both states, and through the National Death Index.

What they found was that the risk of smoking-related lung cancer among those who smoked less than a pack-and-a-half a day not only varied by ethnicity, but by how many cigarettes the individuals in the study smoked each day – the so-called smoking “dose.”

Among those who smoked fewer than 30 cigarettes per day, the risks for lung cancer among African Americans and Native Hawaiians were significantly greater than for the other groups in the study.

Among those who smoked fewer than 10, or between 11 and 20 cigarettes per day, relative risks of lung cancer for Japanese Americans and Latinos ranged from .21 to .39 and for whites .45 to .57 compared with African Americans, whereas the risks for Native Hawaiians and African Americans were similar.

At levels above 30 cigarettes per day, the cancer risk differences between populations were not significant.

The environmental measures looked at in the study – occupation, diet and education – could not explain what Haiman calls “the striking racial and ethnic differences in the risk of lung cancer associated with cigarette smoking.”

Why would lung cancer risk fluctuate between racial and ethnic populations?

“We were not able to determine the reason for these differences in this study,” Haiman says. “But the data do suggest that differences in susceptibility may exist, which may be due to differences in the metabolism of nicotine or tobacco carcinogens among the various groups, or perhaps non-genetic factors that vary in frequency across populations.”

Haiman cautions, however, that these findings should not change the overall public health message. “The truth is still that the elimination of smoking – in any and all ethnicities – will dramatically reduce lung cancer incidence.”

The results of the study reinforce what has been increasingly clear for many years: Smoking, even at a relatively low level of a few cigarettes each day, raises the risk of lung cancer. Other studies have shown that smoking leads to higher risk of heart disease as well as other diseases, such as emphysema

The simple answers to reducing the risk of contracting diseases caused by smoking remain the same: Don’t smoke. And if you already smoke, quit.

Article courtesy USC Health magazine.Astani said he would also fund the planting of 129 trees within a half-mile of the site. This is in addition to the 89 trees that will be within the project grounds.

“Mr. Astani has a track record of great projects and does a great job contributing to the area,” said Franco. “This sends a message to other developers if they want to go this route.”

Pacific Atlas Development Corp. bought the property in 1990 and received city approvals to develop two office towers, an open-air plaza and a hotel. But after the downturn in the economy in the early 1990s, the project was shelved. In 2005, Astani bought the 129,000-square-foot lot for a reported $38 million.

Astani is responsible for about 5,000 units in Los Angeles, including the Concerto, which broke ground last month at the corner of Ninth and Figueroa streets. That project, which took two years to make its way through the city approval process, is scheduled to open in 2008. The Concerto will offer two 27-story residential towers and one five-story mixed-use building, creating a total of 619 units, along with 27,500 square feet of retail and a 2,510-square-foot park.

Another Astani project, at Wilshire and Bixel in City West, will hold 200 units, 30 of them priced as affordable housing. The development is under construction and occupancy is scheduled for the fall.

Altogether, Astani is working on plans to create nearly 1,700 units in Downtown, making him one of the area’s biggest developers.

“If buildings don’t get built,” he said, “the city loses money and jobs, and homeowners stay renters.

Groups Ask Pataki to Sign Back-Door Bill to Collect Cigarette Taxes

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net

ALBANY, NEW YORK (2006-06-26) A coalition of anti-smoking groups and convenience store owners is urging Governor Pataki to sign a bill passed by the state legislature that would prevent the sale of untaxed cigarettes in New York.

New York has a law on the books that requires the collection of the sales tax on cigarettes sold to non- Indians on reservations. But Governor Pataki has refused to enforce the statute, saying he still wants to try to negotiate complex settlements with tribes over issues like land claims and gambling casinos. Many Native American tribes say they don’t have to collect the tax, because they are a sovereign nation.

The legislature, which has been budgeting the additional tax money for spending items for several years, passed new legislation in the final days of the 2006 session that would create a back door mechanism for collecting the tax.

The bill aims to stem the supply of illegal cigarettes to wholesalers who then sell to Indian reservation stores or other bootleg outlets without collecting the tax.

The State Tax Department, Attorney General, or City of New York would have the authority to name the black market wholesalers to cigarette makers. Manufacturers would no longer be allowed to sell the cigarettes to the wholesalers who are breaking the law, effectively cutting off the source of untaxed cigarettes.

Adding the Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s office to the list of authorities that could carry out the law is key, because Spitzer, unlike Pataki, supports collecting the tax.

The Coalition for a Tobacco Free New York’s Russ Schiandra says 500 lives could be saved in the first year if the tax were uniformly collected. The group estimates, based on past data connecting higher cigarette taxes to the number of smokers who quit, that 50,000 fewer New Yorkers would smoke if they had to pay the full $1.50 per pack tax upstate, or the $3.00 per pack tax in New York City.

Jim Calvin, with the New York Association of Convenience Stores, also wants the tax collections to be enforced. Calvin admits that his group makes for strange political bedfellows with the American Cancer Society and Lung Association, but he says they have a common interest. The convenience stores are not against selling cigarettes, they want a level playing field with the stores on Indian reservations. Calvin says if the state has made a decision, that for public health reasons, it is going to charge high taxes on cigarettes, then the law must be enforced fairly. And he commends lawmakers for coming up with an alternative.

“What a shame, what a disgrace, that the legislature has to go around the governor to get a law enforced that the governor himself signed,” said Calvin.

Calvin says convenience stores lose an estimated $1 billion dollars a year in cigarette sales because of the easy availability of untaxed cigarettes.

Governor Pataki is going to be leaving office at the end of the year, and all of the major party candidates for governor to replace him, including Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, and Republican John Faso, favor collecting the tax on Indian reservations. But the groups say they can’t wait until then. At the very least, they say, the law should be enforced sooner because the state is losing around $1 million dollars in tax revenue a day.

Streator Council rejects smoking ban

http://www.pantagraph.com

STREATOR — A ban on smoking in public places was unanimously rejected by the City Council on Wednesday night, but a prohibition on public smoking by minors was adopted.

City Manager John Kolata proposed a ban on smoking in public places like those adopted earlier this year in Bloomington-Normal and Chicago. It would have taken effect immediately.

“We want to assure the health and safety” of residents, Kolata said.

Council members thought that was going too far, however.

“Are we going to ban some fatty foods because it’s bad for health or cars that use gasoline because (exhaust) is bad to breathe?” asked Councilman Ed Benner.

“The level of government involvement has got to stop,” said council member Siobhan Elias.

The ban would harm Streator businesses, she said.

“This is none of our business,” Mayor Ray Schmitt said of the smoking ban.

The council did vote 3-2 on a ban on public smoking for people younger than age 18. That ban takes effect immediately.

Council member Bob “Willy” Williamson joined Schmitt and council member Jim Lansford to pass the ordinance. Benner and Elias voted against the ordinance.

Williamson said he initially opposed the proposal but then was told by Police Chief Jeff Anderson that it could be a tool in fighting teenage crime.

“And whatever tools are needed to control crime, I’m for it,” Williamson said.

No explanation was given on how the ban would aid police. Anderson was not at the meeting.

Benner and Elias said an existing state law prohibiting the sale of smoking materials to minors should be enough of a deterrent.

“But it’s not,” Kolata said.

In other action, the city council unanimously approved seeking the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s help in finding out the extent of the contamination at the former Knoedler Manufacturing plant on Iowa Avenue.

Most of a $240,000 state grant for studying the site already has been spent, but the IEPA still has questions, the council as told.

Indoor smoking ban for public places starts

http://www.pioneerlocal.com

A new village ordinance passed last week prohibits smoking in most indoor public places in Schaumburg, but patrons in restaurants and tobacco stores can keep on smoking — for now.

Village officials promised this week that the latest ordinance isn’t the final regulation.

“This is not the only thing we will be doing,” Mayor Al Larson said. “We will be taking some action regarding smoking in restaurants.”

The issue may come up fairly soon.

“We’re still looking at that,” Larson said. “Something will probably happen within the next 30 days or so.”

The Village Board voted June 13 to revise local smoking regulations with an ordinance prohibiting smoking in offices, hallways, auditoriums, public transportation and other indoor public areas. Certain areas of multi-unit residential buildings are also off-limits for smoking, including lobbies and laundry rooms. Mark Madej, a village trustee and chairman of the local Health and Human Services Committee, described the current smoking regulations as “a step in the right direction.”

He added, “I could see us moving forward on this. We’re trying to work in a regional way through Northwest Municipal Conference to possibly create a regional smoking ordinance.”

The idea of regional smoking regulations has been on the table for several months now, though no agreement has yet been reached among other northwest suburban communities. Neighboring Elk Grove Village has approved a public smoking ban that takes effect Jan. 1. Madej would prefer to see a regional approach to the smoking issue, but he hopes Schaumburg kicks the habit either way.

“This isn’t over,” he said. “I’m an ex-smoker and I look forward to a smoke-free Schaumburg.”

While the village takes a wait-and-see approach with other communities, businesses appear divided on the issue in Schaumburg.

A few months ago, the village conducted a survey of restaurant owners’ about the possibility of a smoking ban. Of the 47 surveys returned, 24 restaurant operators stated opposition to a ban while 23 said they would not be opposed, according to village records.

Larson said restaurant owners will be notified before the Village Board considers further smoking regulations, and that they will be invited to provide input.

A countywide ban of smoking in public places takes effect next March, but Schaumburg is legally exempt because it has had its own smoking regulations on the books for years.

Lawmakers await GHRA’s stance

http://www.guampdn.com
Members of the Guam Hotel Restaurant Association have not yet taken a position on the newly enacted Natasha Protection Act. And until they do, lawmakers don’t plan to change what some have called a flawed law, the legislative speaker said yesterday.

At the GHRA’s General Membership meeting yesterday, Speaker Mark Forbes told the leaders of the island’s hospitality industry that the current ban on smoking in hotel rooms that the act created was an “unintended consequence” of the legislation.

The bill was intended to create smoke-free restaurants on island, but lawmakers’ decisions to require that special ventilation systems — which don’t exist — be installed to allow for smoking in enclosed public areas has essentially banned smoking in enclosed public areas all over the island.
Hotel rooms were included in the ban because the legislation defined a public place as “a place where someone of the public is or may be invited,” and references hotel rooms. But Forbes, R-Sinajana, said he could see another interpretation.

“Once rented, (a hotel room) becomes a private place,” he said. “The public no longer has unlimited access to this area.”

The speaker invited the GHRA to meet with lawmakers if they decide they want any changes to the existing law. Bart Jackson, GHRA board chairman and general manager of the Pacific Islands Club on Guam, said the association has not yet decided what action will be taken, if any.

“We want to have a consensus and from there, we will have to figure out our next step,” Jackson said, adding that it’s not clear how the ban will affect the industry.

“If a guest sneaks a cigarette into a room, what can we do,” Jackson said. “Are the hotels supposed to take a position of an adjunct police force?”

GHRA President David Tydingco has said one of the biggest challenges to the new regulations is being able to get the message out to Guam’s visitor markets. Tydingco said the industry is working with the Guam Visitors Bureau to get the word out to the tour agents overseas.

Ohana Oceanview Guam Hotel Manager Vincent Cruz was at yesterday’s meeting and said while the intentions behind the legislation are good, there still are some issues that need to be ironed out.

“I think it’s a good law to have in place, but it needs to be re-looked at,” Cruz said.

University of Guam Associate Professor for Public Administration Ronald McNinch said he appreciated Forbes’ remarks in encouraging the association to come forward if they think there is a need for change.

But McNinch, who was at the meeting, said the GHRA is not free from blame. He said the GHRA was the one that went outside of the scope of discussion of the original bill to ban smoking in restaurants, by veering the conversation further into bars and hotel rooms.

McNinch, who also serves as the American Cancer Society’s board president, said at the time he encouraged strong dialogue with the Legislature and GHRA to come up with the best bill possible.

“At least (the association) has taken a neutral position,” McNinch said. “But there has still not been a full debate on this issue — that really needs to happen.”

San Luis Valley counties gear up for smoke-free law

http://www.alamosanews.com

Hendricks briefs commissioners
ALAMOSA — San Luis Valley officials are preparing for the July 1 implementation of the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act.
SLV County Commissioners Association members met this week with Paula Hendricks, regional coordinator for the San Luis Valley Tobacco Education & Prevention Partnership.
Hendricks said the implementation of the clean air act is still scheduled for July 1. She said a lawsuit was filed last week in an attempt to stop the implementation, but she understood it would probably not delay anything. Colorado is the 13th state to go smoke-free.
Hendricks said the purpose of this smoke-free law is to preserve and improve health. She said secondhand smoke is a Class A carcinogen. Mustard gas is in the same category, she said. “It is something we do not want everyone suffering from,” she said.
Even small exposure to secondhand smoke can put people at risk for heart attacks, Hendricks said. She added a study showed the incidence of heart attacks decreased significantly after Pueblo went smoke-free.
Hendricks reminded Valley officials the clean indoor act pertains to all indoor places including restaurants, bars, pool halls, bowling alleys, indoor sports arenas, public buildings as well as private clubs, common-use areas such as lobbies and restrooms and 75 percent of hotel/motel rooms.
Hendricks said one of the adjustments Alamosa businesses which are already smoke-free will have to make is in entryways. The statewide law, which supersedes local laws when they are less strict, requires a smoke-free area of at least 15 feet in radius around main entryways. The local authority may impose a greater or lesser smoke-free radius, Hendricks said.
Private clubs and bars are not exempt from the state law either. That is a change from the City of Alamosa’s current smoke-free ordinance.
Hendricks said the exemptions to the new state law include: private homes and cars; limos under private hire; 25 percent of hotel/motel rooms; retail tobacco businesses; enclosed/ventilated smoking lounges at Denver International Airport; businesses with three or fewer employees where the public is not allowed; private farm/ranch buildings with less than $500,000 income; and cigar-tobacco bars. The criteria for a qualifying cigar-tobacco bar is pretty tight, Hendricks explained. The establishment had to have qualified by December 31 of last year, and its tobacco sales must have been 5 percent or $500,000 of its revenue.
Hendricks said Monte Vista just enacted a clean air ordinance which is stricter than the state’s law, so local law enforcement can enforce the local or the state law. Monte Vista’s smoke-free perimeter around businesses is 25 feet, Hendricks added.
She said buildings do not have to put signs up to indicate smoke-free premises, but the state has free signs available for businesses which want them.