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• NEW! Kentucky's public place smoking ban started August 5, 2009.

• NEW! In South Africa, it's illegal to smoke in a car where children are present. Also there are higher penalties (up to R50 000; R500 for individuals) for restaurant and pub owners if smokers are caught smoking outside smoking zones (Aug 4, 2009).

• NEW! Cook County, Illinois' Stroger Hospital bans hospital ground smoking, including at outdoor properties.

• NEW! About 1,000 Turks gathered to protest the one month old smoking ban in Turkey.
  * A southwest Turkey restaurant owner was shot and killed when he tried to stop customers from smoking; an attempt to comply with the new smoking ban (Hurriyet daily).

• NEW! Sao Paulo, Brazil outlaws public place smoking indoors, except homes and the open air.

• NEW! 14,000 people in Bahrain were caught breaking the smoking ban by inspectors. 2,060 of them were under 18 years old (Gulf Daily News).

• NEW! Laos will ban smoking in nearly all public places.

• NEW! Vietnam bans smoking in all indoor public places starting in 2010. Tariffs on tobacco products will be raised too.

• NEW! Just Say No! Shanghai World Expo 2010 organizers turned down a $29.3 million sponsorship from Shanghai Tobacco.

• NEW! More than 26,000 Ukrainian smokers were fined in first half of 2009 for smoking in no smoking places.

• NEW! Pakistan imposes a public place smoking ban countrywide.

• NEW! Southern British Columbia, Canada's parks now ban smoking, BBQs snd campfires because of the risk of forest fires.

• NEW! Parliament House in Western Australia has banned smoking.

• NEW! Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) strengthens its smoking-control law to include a ban on all indoor smoking. A 300 percent bump in fines is also included.

• NEW! The Galveston, TX city council green-lights a public place smoking ban that includes restaurants, bars, private clubs and tobacco stores starting January 1, 2010.

• NEW! Louisiana restricts smoking to designated areas and certain hours at its state correctional facilities for prisoners, prison staff and visitors starting August 15, 2009.

• NEW! Richmond, CA became the San Francisco Bay area's toughest place for smokers when they implemnted a ban on smoking in apartments, condos and public places.

• NEW! New South Wales bans smoking in cars with kids under the age of 16 starting July 1, 2009.

• NEW! Nevada inmates go smoke-free on July 1, 2009.

• NEW! Channel Island government voted to ban smoking voluntarily.

• NEW! Europe's heaviest smoking nation, Greece, to ban outlaw indoor public place smoking in 2010. Also no one under the age of 18 can buy tobacco products.
  * Greece kicks off an 6 month anti-smoking campaign on July 1 leading the way to its 2010 indoor public place smoking ban.

• NEW! Turkey, a bastion for smokers, is set to extend its existing smoking ban to bars and restaurants starting mid-July 2009.

• NEW! In Victoria (Australia) a smoking ban in cars with children under the age of 18 begins January 2010. Cigarettes can no longer be displayed in shops too.
  * The Hobart City Council (Australia) banned smoking in most public areas within ten metres of council playgrounds.

• NEW! Eagle is the first Idaho town to ban smoking at public places.

• NEW! Poland's indoor public place smoking ban will likely take effect by the end of 2009. Passenger cars with children aboard are also included in the ban.

• Wisconsin's smoking ban at all restaurants and taverns starts July 5, 2010. Governor Doyle signed the law that he sponsored.

• Smoking areas at Foxwoods Resort Casino have been limited to inside the casino following a voluntary agreement between the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council and Connecticut Governor, M. Jodi Rell.
  * A voluntary agreement was reached with the Mohegans for the Mohegan Sun Casino to ban smoking at its bars and restaurants and installed ventilation systems to remove second-hand smoke by Governor Rell.

• NEW! Cyprus will ban smoking in bars, restaurants, nightclubs and workplaces on January 1, 2010. This law is supposed to clamp down on the existing ban in place since 2002 which is not being enforced.

• NEW! Bulgaria bans public place smoking on June 1, 2010.

• NEW! Libya plans ban smoking in public places. Media ads of all tobacco products, candy shaped like cigarettes and items sporting tobacco logos will be banned as well.

• NEW! China bans smoking in all hospitals and medical facilities in 2011.

• NEW! Electronic smoking products and devices (ecigarettes, ecigars, ecigarillos and epipes and there nicotine cartridges) are banned by Health Canada.

• NEW! In Ireland, about 88% of fines for violating the smoking ban in Belfast are commercial drivers. The ban has been in force two years.

• NEW! Punishment! Smoke on a plane in Saudi Arabia and get 30 lashes if you refuse to put it out. This is what happened to a Sudanese man when he was arrested in Jeddah and tried by a local court.

• NEW! Gambia's public smoking ban (Public Places Act 1998) finally goes live. It covers all government premises, workplaces, hospitals / health facilities, private property, vehicles and shops with public access.

• Actor Tom Cruise is said to have "banned" his wife, Katie Holmes, from smoking. Katie underwent The Church of Scientology's (Tom & Katie's religion) Purification Rundown and "Scientology Sparkle" routines as a result.

• South Dakota is the 25th state to ban smoking in restaurants and bars. The ban starts July 1, 2009 and has a $25 fine.

• President Barack Obama says no smoking in the White House. . . even though he himself is still battling to break free from smoking.

• NEW! Slovakia's parliament on passed a partial smoking ban at restaurants. Pubs and cafes are immune.

• A Indonesian Ulema Council (the highest religious council in Indonesia) meeting in Padangpanjang found that smoking was haram (banned) for Muslim pregnant women and children and that it was haram for Muslim men to smoke in public places.

• In India, 6 months after the anti-smoking law, around 18,925 people have been fined producing more than Rs.2.5 million in fines.

• In India, the High Court in Delhi overturned a national ban on showing smoking scenes in movies, citing freedom of speech and expression as a reason.

• Delhi University (India) plans to make 83 affiliated colleges smoke-free as described in the Smoke Free Initiative.

• Bollywood stars Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan Salman have been fined 5 times each for smoking in public in just 3 days in Chandigarh and in neighbouring Punjab (India).

• Smoke on a train in China and you may get detained for 3 days. A Chinese man caught smoking in the toilet of a train paid the price for violating the smoking ban.

• NEW! Outlawing smoking on college campuses is a hot new trend, worldwide. Several American states are in on it as well.

• A federal prisoner was sentenced to an additional two years behind bars for bribing a guard to smuggle cigarettes into the Oxford prison in Wisconsin.

• NEW! Montana's smoking ban at bars and casinos to start October 1, 2009.

• NEW! North Carolina bans smoking at restaurant starting January 2, 2010.

  
  

  
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• NEW! 638 nabbed in Navota City (Philippines) for smoking in the first 3 months of 2009, according to a report by City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro).

• NEW! Virginia bans most smoking in restaurants and bars starting December 1, 2009. Private clubs and open-air outdoor areas of bars are exempted.

• NEW! Virginia prisons and other state correctional facilities will ban tobacco use by February 2010.

• NEW! The "Clean Air on Campus" law is live on August 1, 2010 at the University of Arkansas where smoking has been banned since July 1, 2008 now will issue fines of $100 to $500.

• NEW! University of Kentucky will outlaw all tobacco use, including dipping on November 19, 2009.

• NEW! Bellarmine University goes smoke-free on January 1, 2010.

• NEW! Boise State University goes smoke-less.

• NEW! Blue Mountain College in northeast Mississippi bans smoking.

• NEW! University of Wisconsin-Stout students ban smoking.

• NEW! HCM City University of Technology in Vietnam expels students and fires employees caught smoking. Hanoi-based Public Health University and the People’s Police Vocational School are the other smoke-free universities. There are more than 200 universities and colleges in Vietnam

• NEW! Ole Miss to begin a serious crackdown on smoking on campus 2 years after the ban began.

• NEW! Smoking outdoors is banned at the University of South Australia's two city campuses.

• The Minnesota Zoo snuffed out smoking in June 2009.

• Clark County, NV bars have not been hurt since the November 2006 vote to ban smoking, according to a University of Nevada, Las Vegas research study.

• Boston’s Public Health Commission bans tobacco sales in drugstores and on college campuses starting February 12, 2009. But bans at cigar bars and hookah hangouts were extended to 10 years from now.

• NEW! About 200 JR stations in and around Tokyo, Japan banned all smoking on April 1, 2009.

• Tokyo (Japan) police impose a 3 month trial smoking ban at interrogations, starting mid-Febraury 2009.

• Groningen (Netherlands) pub was the first to be convicted and fined $1,500+ since the Netherlands' new smoking ban.

• NEW! Moscow, Idaho has a bar and private club smoking ban in addition to its public building smoking ban, starting August 4, 2009.

• NEW! Richmond, CA has a tough public place smoking ban that includes apartments and condominiums.

• A Charleston, West Virgina bar that openly defied Kanawha County’s expanded smoking ban has been shut down.

• The Mesquite City, TX's public place smoking ban takes affect June 14, 2009. Bingo halls and tobacco stores are exempt. The law carries a fine up to $2,000.

• RJ Reynolds, the tobacco company, has asked the North Carolina legislature to exclude bars, nightclubs from smoking ban.

  Nebraska's ban on smoking in all public buildings and workplaces statewide, bars and restaurants too started June 2009.

• European smoking haven Bulgaria is set to ban smoking in enclosed public places in 2009.

• Anti-Ban: The Gong'an county government (Hubei province, China) ordered its employees to smoke 230,000 locally produced cigarette packs a year or its department risks being fined, according to a story in the Global Times. The decree has been called off by the government (May 5, 2009).

• n Saudi Arabia, the Sahara Mall, a large mall in Riyadh, was the first shopping complex to ban smoking.

• Croatia's public smoking ban ends its 6 month transitory period for bars, restaurants on May 6, 2009. Up to 2,100 euros (2,800 dollars) in fines for individuals and up to 21,000 in fines euros for businesses.

• In South Africa, police fined 6 clubs, pubs and shebeens for breaking smoking and liquor laws in the past three weeks (January 10, 2009).

• Hospitalized victims dropped 41 percent in the 3 years after the ban of workplace smoking in Pueblo, Colorado.

• Dallas, TX approves $165,674 for 3 "sanitarians" or "Smoking Police" hired to enforce the city's new no-smoking ordinance.

• Dallas adds bars and pool halls to the list of "no smoking" zones beginning April 10, 2009.

• Salina, Kansas city commissioners voted to toughen their 2002 smoking ban. The new rules extend to practically all buildings, except for private homes. Manhattan, Lawrence and Garden City have stricter smoking bans in place.

• The Toronto, Canada City council passed a bylaw banning smoking within 9 metres of children's playgrounds.

• Singapore's smoking ban extends to all indoor public places and some outdoor places in January 2009. As of 5 pm on January 1, 2009, 240 smokers were given verbal warning by National Environment Agency's (NEA) officers for violating the extended smoking ban.
  * 570+ people have been caught with duty—unpaid cigarettes within the first month of the new law requiring all legal cigarettes to have a special SDPC — which stands for Singapore Duty—Paid Cigarettes.

• Taiwan's indoor public place smoking ban went live on January 11, 2009. Also sellers violate the law if they mention anything other than a cigarette's brand and its price to buyers.

• £5,000 in fines and costs were assessed to The Balfour Conservative Club in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, and its steward, John Phillips, for breaking the smoking ban.

• NEW! 93 percent of those polled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the UK agreed with the restaurant smoking ban.
  * While 75 percent of respondents agreed with the pub smoking ban (see above)

• England bans the display of cigarettes and tobacco in shops. Also people under the age of 18 are prohibited from using cigarette vending machines (December 2008).

  
  

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• Utah's Indoor Clean Air Act (smoking ban) began January 1, 2009. Just 11.7 percent of adults smoke. The lowest rate in the nation.
  * Utah County bans smoking in public parks and all gatherings of more than 100 people on public property.

• Oregon passed a law bans smoking in workplaces, including bars and restaurants, effective January 2009.
  
• Pennsylvania was the 33rd state to outlaw smoking in most workplaces and public spaces. Exemptions include bars and taverns with food sales totaling 20 percent or less, private clubs, cigar shops and adult-care facilities. Also 25 percent of hotel rooms, and 25 percent of casino floors can have smoking.
  * Pennsylvania’s crackdown on smoking gets tough. The Pennsylvania Department of Health sent warnings to 10 Mercer County businesses believed to have violated of the new state smoking ban.
      * 66 citations and and 34 warnings have been issued to minors caught smoking in public by Quakertown police. 10 in the first 3 months of 2009.

  * Pennsylvania's Department of Health to send warnings to establishments that may have violated the statewide smoking ban (January 2009).
  * Man arrested by police for setting a "No Smoking" sign on fire inside a Medford nightclub after being told he could not smoke.

• NEW! BC CANADA will ban smoking with kids in the car on April 7, 2009. There is a $109 fine.

• CANADA: Truro, NS, banned smoking on a downtown street. This is in addition to its public place ban.

• No smoking in cars with kids 16 years old or less in Ontario, Canada. The Smoke-Free Ontario Act's provision is live (January 21, 2009).
  * A 19-year-old was issued a $110 ticket for smoking with children under the age of 16 in a car in Peterborough County (Ontario, CAN).
  * Northwest Territories (Canada) correctional facilities go smoke-free on April 1, 2009.

• The 2009 National Non-Smoking Week in Canada was January 14 to 24 (The Canadian Cancer Society). I love Weedless Wednesday :)

• Iowa's smoking ban for public places goes live. It includes most workplaces as well as the grounds of public facilities too (July 1, 2008).

  * Smoking in Iowa has dropped 22 percent during the past two years with 79,000 fewer Iowans smoking. This is one of the biggest declines of any state, according to a preliminary report released by the Iowa Department of Public Health. Just 14 percent of Iowans smoke a 9 percent drop since 2002.

  * Ottumwa bar's liquor license suspended for 7 days for violating the smoking ban by a judge. They were also fine fined it $1,000.

  * 38 businesses have been caught violating the July 1, 2008 statewide ban.

  * Iowa prisons went smoke-free in early 2009.
  * The University of Iowa slaps smokers on campus with a $50 fine.

• NEW! Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear calls for a statewide smoking ban AND a cigarette tax hike.

• The Laconia, NH city council passed a law that bans smoking at city parks and beaches (17 places).

• Hancock County (Indiana) commissioners approved a smoking ban for most public places. This follows bans in Bloomington, Cumberland, Fort Wayne, Plainfield and Zionsville.

• College Station, Texas' grace period is over. The smoking ban will be enforced with fines between $25 and $2,000 (March 1, 2009).

• Jackson, Mississippi bans smoking in restaurants (Feb 1, 2009).

• Monroe County Commissioners add smoking in vehicles carrying children 13 or younger to their list of bans. A $100 fine is levied.

• 2 Ninewells hospital workers in Dundee caught smoking illegally on hospital grounds were hit with £50 fines by a council's "anti-smoking police".

• A battery-powered device said to be a healthy alternative to smoking was banned by the Brumby Labor Government in Australia.

• Hong Kong officials are testing a $40 000 hi-tech smoking room to see if exemptions from the ban should be granted. Hong Kong's ban at places that serve food and drinks starts in 2009.

• Government workers in federal offices can no longer smoke in the courtyards of federal buildings, or within 25 feet of doorways and air intake ducts starting January 2009. This closes the loophole in the 1997 government building smoking ban.

• No more smoking inside state-owned or leased vehicles in North Carolina starting in 2009.

• Austria began its partial smoking ban in January 1, 2009. Loophole: Establishments under 50 square metres (540 square feet) can choose whether to accept smokers or not. Some two thirds of pubs, clubs and cafes have said they will continue to allow smoking, according to the latest survey by the Austrian chamber of commerce (WKOe). Partitions can allow bigger businesses to continue to allow smoking for up to half of their space (July 1, 2010).
  * In Austria, smoking restrictions in food and drink places has been tightened.

• 4 months imprisonment or a fine of N50,000 or both if you get caught smoking in Nigeria. The House of Representatives passed a tough antismoking bill (October 21, 2008).
  * Nigeria's capital city, Abuja, bans smoking in public places.

• Croatia's tough anti-tobacco law bans smoking in public places, including workplaces. Cafes and restaurants get a 6 month grace period (October 17).

• 141 people fined for smoking in public in the first 4 days since India's October 2008 indoor smoking ban.

• Smoker killed by angry lynched mob for smoking breaking the smoking ban in a bar in Uganda (September 2008).

• Macedonia bans smoking in all public places, except cafes, bars and night clubs, which will follow in January 2010 (October 2008).

• US Army bans smoking. It will gradually roll out to all Army camps nationwide (July 2008).

  
  

  

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• Niger cabinet passes a public place smoking ban. This makes the law passed by Niger's parliament in 2006 effective (September 2008).
  * Law breakers face a $12 fine and/or up to three months in prison for smoking.

• New York state will ban smoking at all drug-treatment centers. It's the first state to do so (July 1, 2008).

• Kenya banned public place smoking, sales of tobacco products to those under 18 years old and the selling of cigarette packets containing less than 10 cigarettes, starting July 7, 2008.

• In Germany, public smoking is now illegal countrywide starting July 1, 2008 (partially overturned).

• Ontario, Quebec and a few other Canadian provinces force stores to keep tobacco products out of sight. The tobacco products display ban is an attempt to curb youth smoking and prevent cancer and early death. Retailers that fail to hide tobacco products are subject to a fine of C$1,000 ($980).

• Canada bans all smoking in federal prisons. It seems that the partial ban in effect was not taken seriously.

  The Yukon territory in Canada was the only province that did not have anti-smoking measures. . . but that changes on May 15, 2008. . . they even have a smoking ban for vehicles carrying children under 18 too.

• Vancouver Province (BC) White Rock begins tough anti-smoking laws, banning smoking in public gathering places, including playgrounds, sports fields and parks (July 31,).

• Victoria, Australia bans smoking in cars and at events with children present starting early 2009.

• All hospital grounds in British Columbia, CAN must become totally smoke-free (October 2008).

• Bowling Green, KY outlaws smoking at almost all locations of the city's 26 parks starting in summer 2008.

• NEW! Nation's first. Baltimore takes aim at "blunts" and "loosies" favored by teens imitating popular hip hop artists. The city council wants to eliminate small, individual cigar sales (about 50 cents each). The minimum number of cigars sold would be 5 in a pack.

• California landlords have the right to ban smoking in rental apartments, according to a bill passed by the CA state senate.

• Malibu adds no smoking in public open spaces to the existing beach smoking ban.

• The Long Beach, CA city council votes to ban smoking at bus stops and farmers market.

• Arroyo Grande, CA disallows smoking in parks starting mid-Febraury 2009. The second city in the nation to do so. Punishment: fines of up to $1,000, jail time or both.

• Cigarette vending machines may be banned in Britain if lawmakers have their way. The vending machines are already banned in many European countries.

• The Loma Linda, California city council passed an anti-smoking law which prohibits tobacco use on public streets, sidewalks as well as most of the city's motel and apartment units.

• Calabasas, CA bans smoking in apartments. Calabasas was the first US city to ban public smoking (February 16, 2008).

• California terminated smoking in cars with kids. Drivers face a $100 fine on January 1, 2008.

• Zambia's public place smoking ban has teeth. It features imprisonment of up to 2 years and a fine of K400,000.

• Fruit- and chocolate-flavored cigarettes are now banned by Australia's state and federal health ministers. The ministers believe these flavored smokes are aimed at children (April 18, 2008).

• Turkey's public smoking ban began May 19, 2008. It aims to reduce the 66 percent of men that smoke.

• NEW! Shanghai (China) lawmakers call for a ban on tobacco ads masqueraded as patriotic slogans. The billboard ads from Chinese tobacco giant Chung Hwa say Loving my China (Ai Wo Zhonghua).

• Beijing bans smoking in most public places leading the way to a smoke-free 2008 Olympic Games (May 1, 2008).
  * Restaurants with separate smoking areas are exempt from the ban on May 1st.

• Beijing, China snuffs out smoking in taxi cabs starting October 1, 2007.

• China vowed to make the 2008 Olympics a smoke-free zone. This promise comes as Beijing celebrates its 10th anniversary of its ban on smoking in public places.

• China will ban all tobacco advertising by 2011.

• Shanghai, China to extend its smoking ban from public venues to all indoor workplaces to clear the city's air of cigarette smoke by 2011.

• In Dubai of the United Arab Emirates, people under the age of 20 are barred from public areas in which smoking is allowed.
  * Dubai nationals who smoke in public place will be hit with heavy fines starting in 2008.
  * Dubai's smoking ban at malls is in effect and being enforced.
  * Emirate of Sharjah of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will ban smoking in public places (June 2008).
  * The Fujairah Municipality of the UAE banned smoking in government departments, public facilities, markets and major commercial outlets (May 2008).

• Since previous partially Greek public place smoking bans were not follow (smoking in Greece actaully went up in the last 10 years), Greece moves to imposed a smoking ban in all public places.

• Celebrity Cruises banned smoking in cabins and on balconies on October 1, 2008.

• Smokers beware! Undercover "smoking police" can raid bars and other establishments covered by smoke-free regulations and ticket (or arrest) smokers who violate the law. This happened in Albuquerque, NM with Eyewitness News 4 (KOB-TV) hidden cameras there to film it.

• Police arrests eminent. . . Starting February 11, 2008, Thailand bans smoking in bars, nightclubs, restaurants and open-air markets. But until May 31, 2008, educating smokers and issuing warnings will be emphasized over fines and arrests. A public place smoking ban is currently in place.

• NEW! An East Palestine, OH tavern that has racked up $5,403 in fines for violating the state smoking ban is being taken to court for non payment by the Ohio Department of Health.

• NEW! Michigan prisons now forbid smoking for prisoners and and guards.

• More than 300 Sheraton Hotels & Resorts and Four Points (Sheraton) to end smoking at hotels and resorts throughout the US, Canada and Caribbean, joining the 70 hoels already smoke-less. December 11, 2008 is the deadline (not including Caribbean).

• Maryland's smoking ban started on February 1 2008.

• Denmark's 500 inspectors began unannounced visits to as many as 25,000 workplaces in 2008 to enforce its August 2007 national smoking ban beginning January 1, 2008.

• Tyler, TX will ban smoking in all public places including bars and restaurants (June 1, 2008).

• 3 Central Florida hospitals (Florida Hospital, Health Central, Orlando Regional Healthcare) ban smoking on all hospital grounds even in vehicles on the campus (July 2008).

• Kanawha County, WV extends its ban on smoking to racetracks, bars and video gambling parlors on July 1, 2008.

• Michigan prisons will ban smoking and all tobacco products starting in 2009, according to The Detroit Free Press.

• Easley, South Carolina became the 11th SC city to ban smoking in public places on January 1, 2009.

• Fort Mill, SC bans smoking (August 1, 2009).

• NEW! Rock Hill and York County are the latest South Carolina communities to ban smoking in public places (May 1, 2009).

• The Richland County SC smoking ban (October 2008).

• Smoking bans improve air quality, according to study from the Medical University of South Carolina.
  

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• The Dutch smoking ban will be enacted. Cannabis (marijuana) is exempt (May 2008).

• Maine banned smoking in cars with children under the age of 16 present. Governor signed the bill on April 10, 2008.

• In Nova Scotia, Canada, smoking in cars with kids was outlawed on April 1, 2008. Enforced with a $394.50 fine.

• In British Columbia, Canada, there will be no smoking within 3 metres of public and workplace doorways. There will also be no more tobacco sales in public buildings. Also, places that are accessible to minors can not display tobacco products (March 31, 2008).

• Kansas City's smoking ban went live on March 24, 2008. Voters closed a loophole that allows smoking at restaurants and bars after 9pm and smoking casinos at casinos*.

• Israel bans smoking on military bases, police stations and prisons (Feb. 20, 2008).

• Mexioan legislators voted to ban smoking in eateries, bars and all public spaces (Feb. 26 2008).

• Geneva, Switzerland voters ban smoking in public places (Feb. 24, 2008).

• Illinois banned smoking in public places (bars, restaurants, work places, etc.). Smokers may be fined up to $250, and businesses around $2,500 (January 1, 2008).
  * The Illinois Health departments are now tickets for smoking, not cops. Smoking tickets are an administrative matter, not a criminal one.
  * Smoking is now banned at beaches, parks and playground in Chicago. There is a $500 fine (October 17, 2007).
  * Chicago's new smoking ban prohibits smoking in almost all public places including restaurants, sports arenas and even train platforms, January 16, 2006.
  * After more than a year, there have been no problems at Illinois prisons. The 45,000 inmates and 11,000 prison employees that smoked have made the transition to being in a smoke-free setting.

• North Carolina banned smoking in government buildings and facilities (January 1, 2008).
  * North Carolina nursing homes and assisted living facilities will be smoke-free beginning October 1, 2007.

• 52,000 taxis in Tokyo, Japan, 95 percent of all taxis, are now smoke-free. . . but if passengers insist on smoking, cabs with portable ashtrays can stop and let them smoke (January 7, 2008).

• Alberta, Canada's Tobacco Reduction Act prohibited all public place and workplace smoking (January 1, 2008).
  * Tobacco "power walls" and other promotional displays in retail establishments will be banned starting July 1, 2008.
  * Health-related stores, pharmacies, health facilities and public post-secondary schools can no longer sell tobacco products beginning January 1, 2009.

• NEW! In Germany, smoking in bars and restaurants will be outlawed countrywide by the end of 2008. Note: The smoking ban has been partially overturned by a German court.
  * 2008 Oktoberfest in Munich goes smoke-free, except in crowded beer tents.
  *Germany's plan to ban smoking in public places in 2007 was watered down.
  * All smoking in bars, restaurants, discos and state offices will be banned in Bavaria.

• New York state congress passed a ban on smoking in all college dorms set for August 15, 2008.

• Vermont lawmakers also approved a college dorm smoking ban.

• France banned smoking in most public places on February 1, 2007. Bars, restaurants, hotels and night clubs followed 11 months in January 2008.
  * One year after France's ban, the French still smoked 54 billion cigarettes. No change since since 2004.

• Sugar Land, TX becomes smoke-free in public places, except outdoor seating areas of restaurants, retail tobacco stores, tobacco bars, stage areas for theatrical performances, country clubs and bars open (December 31 2007).

• ProMedica Health System will ban smoking on hospital property outside in Michigan on January 1, 2008.

• Chillicothe, MO all public places become smoke-free, including transportation vehicles (January 1, 2008).

• Smoking near pregnant women and children is prohibited in Naples, Italy. Public park smoking too (November 19, 2007).

• King County Housing Authority (Washington state) bans smoking in 222 units of public housing
• No more smoking in public utility vehicles. This is the next stage of the Davao City (Philippines) Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003. Previous enforcement has been tough. Thousands have been arrested and hundreds of court cases were filed.

• One of the toughest smoking bans will be activated in Belmont City, California, effective in 30 days (October 10, 2007). It prohibits smoking in parks and other public places, but goes beyond that. It also bans smoking in apartments and condominiums, which will be enforced 14 months from now.

• NEW! Arizona's smoking ban exempts the new battery powered cigarette that is "smokeless."

• The Kentucky Derby and Churchill Downs itself are up to be smoke-free.

• Bessemer, AL bans smoking at restaurants and other public places, includsing city-owned cars and equipment, common areas in apartment buildings and multi-tenant office buildings. Bars, lounges and designated areas like hotel and motel rooms are exempt from the ban (November 08, 2007).

• Cedar Falls, IA (only the state can enact the law in Iowa) and Newton, KS have just passed no smoking resolutions for smoking in all public places.

• Horry County, SC becomes a tobacco-free school district (December 1, 2007).

• Pikeville, Kentucky (a tobacco state) outlawed smoking in all public areas, except for those separate businesses that do not allow children inside (November 1, 2007).

• McKinney, TX will ticket (up to $500) anyone smoking within 25 feet of playground equipment, pools and other areas. Nearly all restaurants are governed by the smoking ban and have until September 4, 2008 to come into compliance with it.

• McAllen, TX extends its 2007 restriction on smoking to restaurants starting November 3, 2007.

• Fairbanks Memorial Hospital (AK) banned smoking on all hospital grounds on November 15, 2007.

• Controversial Smoking Ban. St. Elizabeth's psychiatric hospital in Washington, DC baned smoking by patients on all hospital property.

• Minnesota was the 20th state to prohibit smoking in bars and restaurant effective October 1, 2007. This expands on its groundbreaking 1975 Clean Indoor Air Act (it limited smoking to designated areas in public places and at public meetings).

• Tennessee's new law prohibits smoking in almost all public buildings (enacted October 1, 2007).

  * Several Tennessee hospitals will ban smoking on all hospital property: Saint Thomas Health Services (all 4 on January 2008), Williamson Medical Center in Franklin (April 2008) and TriStar Health System (Centennial, Skyline, Southern Hills, etc.) and the headquarters of its parent company HCA Inc (June 2008).

• Egypt's parliament passed laws banning tobacco ads and smoking in some public places including government buildings, schools and hospitals.
  * Egypt's crackdown on smoking gets serious at airports. Smokers can no longer ignore the ban because fines are readily being handed out.

• New Hampshire bars and restaurants are now smoke free as of September 17, 2007.

• Slovenia's smoking ban is now in effect for virtually all public places (August 5, 2007).

• England banned smoking in movie theaters, shopping malls, pubs and other public places (July 1, 2007). Thousands of council officers will enforce the ban. UK Ministers mandated £29.5m to pay for staff.
  * Follow up: In nearly one year since the ban, 6 in ten NHS trusts saw the number of heart attack patients being admitted to emergency wards fall. Some by more than 40 percent.

  * A survey of English smokers found 24% of men (23 percent before the ban) and 21% of women (the same number) smoke, according to Health Survey for England (December 2008).

• Singapore's smoking ban now includes entertainment outlets including pubs, nightclubs, karaoke lounges (about 900) and even the Formula One Grand Prix in September 2008 (July 2007).
  * Singapore bans smoking in outdoor eateries and cafes, in addition to the previous ban (1970) on smoking in air-conditioned buildings including restaurants and workplaces, July 2006.

• Afghanistan's council of ministers acts to ban smoking in public places. The message will be spread by the media and mosques: smoking in educational institutions, hospitals and government offices has been outlawed. Hotels and restaurants will be included later.

• North Korea imposed a smoking ban every place its leader Kim Jong-Il goes, after doctors advised him to stop smoking and drinking, Jang Sung-Min, an associate of former South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung said.

• Candy Cigarettes Linked to Smoking. Canada, the UK, Finland, Norway, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have been restricted or banned candy cigarettes and/or gum cigarettes. But there are no bans in place on candy cigarettes in the US.

• Bhutan was the first country to ban the sale of tobacco on December 17 2004.

• 25 states have banned smoking in workplaces, restaurants, and/or bars.
  * Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Oregon and Tennessee all passed comprehensive smoking ban laws in 2007.
  * Bans in Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico, DC and Puerto Rico came to life in 2007.

• Iceland and Finland (Nordic countries) now have total bans on smoking in public places adding bars and restaurants to the list of smoke free zones (June 2007).

• Several EU countries (France, Spain, Ireland, Portugal), New Zealand, Bermuda, Uruguay and parts of the US, Canada and Australia, ban smoking in public places.

• Venezuela may ban cigarette and tobacco production. President Hugo Chavez and Health Minister Erick Rodriguez want to minimize smoking in the country and "promote a healthier lifestyle." In addition, the government plans to impose a limited smoking ban at bars, restaurants and other establishments where food is sold (May 2007).

  * California and other states limit outside smoking zones by making it illegal to light up within a certain distance of a public facility, Stanton A. Glantz, a professor of medicine and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco said.

• In 2007, Belgium, Britain, Northern Ireland and Portugal put new tighter rules for smoking in place.

• A comprehensive ban on smoking in public places is sought for all the European Union's 27 countries by EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou.

• All 50 states and Washington DC have laws or regulations restricting smoking in certain places, from just designated smoking areas in government buildings, to outright bans on smoking in virtually all public buildings, workplaces, restaurants and bars, according to the American Lung Association office of State Legislated Actions on Tobacco Issues (January 2007).

• Hong Kong, starting in 2007, banned smoking in government offices, shops and halls. Bars and other places of entertainment will follow until 2009.

• In Wales, smoking in enclosed places in is now illegal (April 2, 2007).
  * There has been a 20 percent rise in Welsh smokers trying to quit smoking prior to the smoking ban activation in 2007. More than 25,000 people havecontacted the Stop Smoking Wales Service since 2004.

• Most of Great Adventure amusement parks in Jackson Township New Jersey ban smoking (April 2007).

• A public place smoking ban hit Decatur, Ala (October 1, 2007).

• Grand Rapids, MI eliminates smoking at most enclosed public places and businesses (October 1, 2007).

• Surfside Beach, SC begins a smoking ban (September 30, 2007).

• On January 10, 2007, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, announced a ban smoking in the Speaker's Lobby just off the House floor, effective immediately. "The days of smoke-filled rooms in the United States Capitol are over," Pelosi said. But Congresspersons suffering from nicotine withdrawal will still be allowed to light up in their own offices and in committee offices.

• Virginia banned on smoking in most of government buildings and vehicles as ordered by Governor Timothy M. Kaine (January, 1 2007). Virginia has 100,000 state employees and is home to tobacco company Philip Morris USA.

• Lithuania's ban on smoking in public establishments (cafes, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, discotheques, etc.) took effect on January, 1 2007.

• The National Zoo bans smoking outdoors in addition to the indoor ban on December 1, 2006.

• * Follow up: Italians smoke a lot less and are exposed to far less secondhand smoke in the nearly 2 years following the country's ban on Jan. 10, 2005, according to follow up studies. 3 months after the ban started, cigarette sales dropped 8 percent.

• In Iran, it is now illegal to smoke in public places. Tobacco advertising has been outlawed too, according to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a government website said. One in six Iranians smoke. Iranian consumers spend 6.8 billion dollars every year on cigarettes (October 2006).

  * Iran gets tough. Police will confront all restaurant owners nationwide, first with a warning, then with a temporary closing and, finally, with a permanent closing of the enterprise after reapeated violations of the smoking ban. (December 2007).

  * There has been a ban on smoking while driving in place since March 2007.

  * No tobacco sales to people under 18.

• Canada: A major landlord in the Prairie city of Winnipeg will not let new tenants smoke in their homes or on their balconies under new rules designed in part to cut maintenance costs starting October 1 , 2006. The policy could spread westward, to apartment buildings it manages in other Canadian cities, a Globe General Agencies official said.

• Ireland was the first country in the world to ban smoking in restaurants and bars on March 29, 2004.

  * Ireland bans ads in shops and makes merchants hide cigarettes from plain sight. Tobacco ads already eliminated from print, tv, radio and billboards advertising.

  * Follow up: About one-year-and-a-half into the nationwide ban, Irish pub workers had a 30-40 percent decrease in shortness of breath, coughs and watery eyes, respiratory disease experts at Trinity College in Dublin revealed at the European Respiratory Society meeting in Copenhagen.

  * There was an 11 percent drop in heart attack patients at public hospitals in southwest Ireland the year following the ban Edmond Cronin and colleagues at Cork University Hospital revealed at the annual European Society of Cardiology congress.

• Halted! RJ Reynolds to halt flavored cigarette sales in the US such as "Mocha Tobacco," "Twista Lime," "SnakeEyes Scotch," "Mandarin Mint," "Warm Winter Toffee." Plus the company will stop identifying cigarettes with candy, fruit, desserts, or alcoholic beverage names, imagery or ads, according to a statement from then New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

• Scotland is the first part of Britain to ban smoking in pubs, restaurants and workplaces. It will try to shed the "sick man of Europe" nickname. Scottish life expectancy is lower than the European Union average, March 26, 2006.

  * Follow up: Lung cancer may be virtually wiped out in Scotland as a result of the smoking ban in public places, according to Scotland's chief medical officer, Dr Harry Burns.

  * Heart attacks fell 17 percent since the smoking ban, according to Scotland's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Peter Donnelly.

• Western Australia's new anti-smoking laws prohibits smoking in all enclosed public spaces, including nightclubs and bars with a possible penalty of $2000 issued by Local Government health authorities for those who don't comply (August 2006).

  * Follow up: Australian parks and bus stops are now smoke-free zones after a Sydney council vote. No more smoking (March 2007).

• It works! Finland's Tobacco Act (passed in 1976) restricted smoking in public places and banned tobacco advertising appears to have helped curb the country's smoking habit and reduce the incidence of disease, according to a report by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki.

• The Westin hotel chain banned smoking indoors and poolside nationwide starting January 2006, the first major American hotel chain to do so.

• Marriott International Inc., the US's largest hotel chain, will ban smoking in its nearly 400,000 hotel rooms in the United States and Canada. Violators will be fined $200 to $300 (July 19, 2006).

• Bermuda, the popular holiday destination and major offshore financial center, banned smoking in bars and restaurants (April 1, 2006). The anti smoking law also covers shops, other enclosed public places, advertising of tobacco at sporting events, the installation of cigarette vending machines and the sale of cigarettes to people under 18.

• Kenya banned smoking in public places in order to protect non-smokers from the harmful effects of tobacco. The ban includes office blocks, working areas, court buildings, education institutions, residential areas, places of worship, police stations, prisons, markets, malls, cinema and theatre, children's homes and playing fields, May 13, 2006. (overturned)
  * Smokers in the Kenyan Rift Valley town of Nakuru now turn to public toliets and the top of buildings to smoke, so that they can avoid local security guards searching for violators of the law, introduced in April 2007.
  * Kenya is among countries where smoking is on the rise. Its ban is not working.

• South Africa, since June 2004, has restricted smoking in pubs, cafes, offices and other public places.
  * South Africa halts sales of tobacco products over the internet.

• * The NYC smoking crackdown works! 2006 checkup: 240,000 fewer New York City adults smoked in 2006 than in 2002.

  * 17.5 percent New York adults smoked in 2006. Down from 21.6 percent in 2002. Higher taxes, smoke-free environments and tough-talking educational campaigns get the credit, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

  * In New York, 3 years after NYC's smoking ban smoking in public places, the number of smoking-related deaths has fallen from almost 9,000 in 2001 to just under 8,100 in 2005 and the number of smokers has fallen by around 200,000 since 2002, according to Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden.

  * Follow up: New York bar and restaurant workers have suffered fewer sore throats and runny noses since the state's 2003 workplace smoking ban went into effect, according to findings published in the August issue of Tobacco Control.

  * 17 months following the ban, New York hospitals had 4,033 fewer people admitted for heart attacks, 8 percent less, New York State Department of Health researchers found (American Journal of Public Health).

  * Staten Island had the highest per capita rate of smoking in NYC at 27.2 percent in 2006. It fell to 20.4 percent in 2007, but is still above the 16.9 percent figure citywide.

  * Smoking now outlawed on all property inside and outside mall. This includes outside sidewalks, parking lots and loading docks at The Carousel Center in Syracuse, NY, one of upstate New York's largest malls. There's been no inside the mall smoking since 2003.

  * NY state allows no more smoking at dependency and addiction treatment facilities (July 24, 2008).

• Pueblo, CO heart attack rates fell by 27 percent in 18 months after their smoking ban.

• Helena, Montana heart attack rates dropped 40 percent in 6 months after their ban of smoking (British Medical Journal).

• Since Massachusetts 2004 statewide smoking ban at almost all restaurants, bars and workplaces, an average of 577 fewer residents have died from heart attacks each year since a took effect four years ago, according to a study by the state Department of Public Health and the Harvard School of Public Health.

• Puerto Rico lawsuit passed a tough law banning smoking in many public places, including in cars carrying passengers younger than 13 (February 2006).

• Uruguay imposed Latin America's toughest ban so far (2006).

• Latvia has a ban on smoking in enclosed public places.

• Spain, a European bastion of smoking, banned smoking in workplace areas such as offices, shopping center and schools. Restaurants are exempt from the ban, except those larger than about 1,100 square which must have smoking sections. January 1, 2006.

  * Follow up: A 6 percent drop in smoking happened a year after the Spanish government passed tough new anti-smoking legislation designed to restrict the habit in public places consumption, the National Committee for the Prevention of Smoking (CNPT) said.

• Cuba, the land of handmade cigars, now bans smoking in public places. Vending machines are banned too, February 7, 2005.

• Sweden outlaws smoking in all bars, cafes, clubs and restaurants on June 1, 2005. However, sales of snus, a moist, finely minced snuff are expected to skyrocket.

• An end to public smoking? Lexington, Kentucky, the second-largest city in the second-largest tobacco-growing state with the highest percentage of adult smokers in the United States, just passed a smoking ban in public buildings, including racetracks, restaurants and bars. The ban took effect in October 2003 – Lexington Herald-Leader.

  *In Louisville, Kentucky, one of the nation's top tobacco-producing states, the city council voted to extend its smoking ban to cover almost all public buildings on October 12, 2006.

• 150 US cities, including Chicago and Louisville, approved some type of smoking ban in 2005.

• Malaysia acts to curb smoking. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi raised taxes on cigarettes by 40 percent in his 2005 budget. The government also launched a $26 million anti-smoking campaign. A ban on most cigarette ads has been in place for years, but now point-of-sale advertising at neighborhood coffee shops, grocery stores and supermarkets and sponsorship of events such as auto racing, will be banned June 1, 2005, too.
  * Violators of the ban face fines starting at RM300 for first-timers, up to RM10,000 or jail up to 2 years or both for smokers convicted in court.
  * Crack-down. People in Komtar in Penang must obey the No Smoking ban or face the fines listed above.

• India's 2003 anti-smoking law bans mass media advertising of tobacco products, except at sales and all workplace smoking. Since then the Indian government has struggled to enforce it.
  * Language is the biggest excuse for violating the public place smoking ban (Panchkula)? Many people can't read signs written in English.
  * A no smoking while driving ban went into effect April 9, 2007 in New Delhi, India, a city of 14 million people. The driving / no smoking law is first of its kind in the world.
  * A ban on smoking scenes in Bollywood movies is being proposed by India's Health Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss.

• Norway was the second nation to outlaw smoking in all bars, cafes, clubs and restaurants on June 1, 2004.

  * Follow up: A year later Norway officals proclaim the a success in improving the health of waiters, cooks and other staff.

• England's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, called for a ban on smoking in public places to combat the threat of illnesses caused by secondhand smoke.

• In New Zealand, smoking in bars, restaurants and on public transport was banned in December 2004.

• Bangladesh has restricted smoking in pubs, cafes, offices and other public places since March 2005.

• Bosnia's Serb Republic passed laws banning smoking in public places (except cafes and bars), the advertisement of tobacco products and their sale to minors. Violators can be fined up to 15,000 Bosnian marka ($9,160).

• Rhode Island is the 7th state to ban smoking in virtually all indoor public places, March 1, 2005.

• Uganda passed a law banning public cigarette smoking, but smokers continue to puff away with impunity as police do little to enforce the ban, March 2004.

• A federal judge upheld Colorado's statewide smoking ban that started July 1, 2006, dismissing claims that it violates the constitutional rights of bar owners. The ban exempts casinos, cigar bars, airport smoking lounges and private workplaces with 3 employees or less.

• Secondhand smoke kills about 50,000 people each year in the United States.

• Philadelphia smoking ban at workplaces, including galleries, sports facilities, restaurants and most bars, signed by Mayor Street on September 14, 2006.

• Nevada voters approved a ballot measure banning smoking at bars that serve food, and around the slot machines at supermarkets, gas stations and convenience stores on November 7, 2006.

• 5 Atlantic City casinos totally bar smoking from gambling floors. This come on the heels of Atlantic City's law passed in February 2007: gambling floors must be at least 75 percent smoke-free (September 2007).

• Hawaii outlawed smoking in bars, restaurants and most hotel rooms, as well as forbidding it within 20 feet of those establishments’ doorways, windows or ventilation intakes in mid-November 2006.

• California banned smoking in bars and restaurants in 1998.

• Berkeley council passed no smoking ordinance that outlaws smoking on sidewalks in its business districts. It goes live in late April 2008.

• Roseville's City Council (CA) passed a law prohibiting smoking in public parks and open spaces (November 8, 2007).

• Beverly Hills CA enforces an outdoor smoking at at restaurants (October 1, 2007).

• San Jose, CA's ban on smoking now includes city parks, public libraries and community centers.

• Smoking was outlawed in all parks, beaches and recreation areas owned by San Mateo County in mid-March 2007. Supervisor Rich Gordon, who sponsored the legislation, said he was concerned about litter from cigarette butts, second hand smoke and fire hazards. The county joins San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Los Angeles in adopting bans in public recreation areas.

• San Francisco was the first major American city to ban smoking in public parks, in addition to a public building ban, January 25, 2005.

• The Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, will be smoke-free on March 1, 2006, all 2,224 rooms. This follow the Westin hotel chain's ban earlier this year.

• Dozens of California cities ban smoking: Los Angeles bars smoking at piers and beaches and Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and Fresno already ban smoking in public parks.

  * Belmont, California council ponders an ordinance to crack down on lighting up almost anywhere, including sidewalks, apartment buildings, company cars and outdoor workplaces (March 13, 2007).

  * Dublin declared secondhand smoke a nuisance in 2006.

• Washington DC's smoking ban in bars and clubs took effect on January 2, 2007.

• Helena, Montana bans smoking in publicly subsidized housing complexes (May 2007).

• 23+ states, including tobacco producers Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia now ban smoking in all or most government buildings, according to the American Lung Association.

  30+ states ban smoking at restaurants and/or other enclosed areas.

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