It seems like more and more people are against indoor smoking in any public place. Even <?:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cuba</st1:place></st1:country-region> has decided to join many country’s to out right ban. In the mist of all this negative publicity towards smokers everywhere, cigar smokers in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:State> are waging an all out battle against Mayor Bloomberg’s reelection bid.
Quote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4188843.stm
Cigar nation faces smoking curbs
BBC News Wednesday, 19 January, 2005, 17:21 GMT
Cubans will no longer be able to light up freely
Cuba, the world's best known cigar-producing country, has announced a ban on smoking in some public places.
The government said public transport, shops and other closed spaces would become smoke-free in early February.
The ban was designed to curb damage to people's health and contribute to a change in public attitudes, it said.
More than half of Cuban adults are thought to smoke, and 30% of the country's preventable cancer deaths are said to be linked to smoking.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro, once a passionate cigar puffer, gave up the habit in 1986 and has since begun campaigning against smoking.
Cigars still generate $200m annually for the country's economy.
No sale to children
Correspondents say this is the government's biggest attempt so far to change Cuban smoking habits.
The ban extends to theatres, buses, taxis, trains, schools, food preparation areas and sports arenas.
Smoking will be restricted in restaurants, but it is not clear whether any restrictions will apply in bars.
Tobacco products, the sale of which is currently unrestricted, will be banned for children under 16. Shops closer than 100m to schools will be unable to sell the products.
Cigarette vending machines are also apparently set to become obsolete.
Partial or total smoking bans are already in force in several European countries, in the US state of California and in New York city. Several other countries are considering bans.
Quote:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/5a2eb974-6c...dc-00000e2511c 8.html
New York's cigar men put heat on Bloomberg
By Christopher Grimes in New York
Published: January 22 2005 02:00 | Last updated: January 22 2005 02:00
New York's cigar smokers never liked mayor Michael Bloomberg's two-year-old ban on smoking in restaurants, bars and most other indoor public venues.
Now executives from some of the world's largest cigar companies are donating thousands of dollars to Fernando Ferrer, one of the Democrats hoping to unseat Mr Bloomberg in the mayoral election taking place in November.
The fundraising is being led by Marvin Shanken, publisher of Cigar Aficionado magazine, who arranged donations from at least eight cigar companies, according to campaign finance records. Mr Shanken is listed as the "intermediary" for more than $25,000 (£13,400) of donations, most from people in the cigar industry.
One donor is Edgar Cullman Jr, president and chief executive of General Cigar in New York, which manufactures cigars and runs Club Macanudo, a cigar club. Other donors include Carlos Fuente, president of Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia; executives from Altadis USA in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Holt's Cigar Company in Philadelphia.
In the 12 months after the ban took effect in 2003, the number of adult smokers in New York fell 11 per cent, according to the mayor's office. A poll that year by Quinnipiac University showed 59 per cent of New Yorkers supported the ban.
Mr Bloomberg once enjoyed a good smoke. In his autobiography, Bloomberg on Bloomberg, he described a party from his Wall Street days: "We shot pool, smoked Cuban cigars, played poker and laughed uproariously."
Polls this week showed Mr Bloomberg in a dead heat with Mr Ferrer.
