Health News
- School Board In Henry County, Including Tobacco Farmers, Will Consider A Comprehensive Smoking Ban On Its Campuses
The Henry County school superintendent got a unanimous go-ahead from his board to present a draft policy to make the district 100 percent tobacco-free, but the board made no promises, Melissa Blankenship reports for the Henry County Local. Wikipedia...
- Lake Cumberland District Health Department Using Polls In An Effort To Get School Boards To Make Campuses Tobacco-free
Countywide smoking bans are unlikely to pass anytime soon in most of rural Kentucky, but more county school districts are making their campuses tobacco-free. Now a multi-county health department is trying to get rural school boards to do that, with public-opinion...
- Russell County School Board Makes All Campuses Tobacco-free, But Delays Implementation For One Year
The Russell County Board of Education has voted to make all the county's school campuses tobacco-free a year from now, "After some lengthy discussion by the board and visitors," The Times Journal of Russell Springs reports. The vote was 4-0, with...
- E-cig, Hookah Ban Takes Effect Monday In Madison County
Electronic cigarettes and water pipes known as hookahs will be banned in enclosed public places in Madison County beginning Monday under an amendment to the county's existing smoking ban. The ban, which has been in effect since 2007, was amended...
- World No Tobacco Day To Be Observed Tuesday
World No Tobacco Day 2011 will be observed Tuesday, with goals of encouraging tobacco abstinence for a 24-hour period, as well as drawing attention to the dangers of tobacco use. The observance, created by the World Health Organization in 1987, occurs...
Health News
As Ky., other states debate smoking bans, Ariz. county considers ban on hiring smokers, penalizing employees who smoke
Smoking bans for public places are still the subject of debate in Kentucky and many other places, but the Arizona county that contains Tucson may take the war on tobacco to a new level, refusing to hire smokers.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote Dec. 16 on a proposal that "prevents the county from hiring smokers and slaps a 30 percent health insurance surcharge on employees who do smoke or use other tobacco products," Mariana Dale reports for the Arizona Daily Star. "County health officials predict the new policy could save the county more than $1 million annually on health-care costs as tobacco-users retire and are replaced with healthier workers. . . . Pima County estimates 32 percent or 2,304 of its current employees are tobacco users and they cost the county about $13.4 million each year, according to a memo from the Health Department."
Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor of public health at Boston University and an advocate of smoke-free workplaces, "says a ban on employee tobacco use in their personal life goes too far," Dale reports.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote Dec. 16 on a proposal that "prevents the county from hiring smokers and slaps a 30 percent health insurance surcharge on employees who do smoke or use other tobacco products," Mariana Dale reports for the Arizona Daily Star. "County health officials predict the new policy could save the county more than $1 million annually on health-care costs as tobacco-users retire and are replaced with healthier workers. . . . Pima County estimates 32 percent or 2,304 of its current employees are tobacco users and they cost the county about $13.4 million each year, according to a memo from the Health Department."
Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor of public health at Boston University and an advocate of smoke-free workplaces, "says a ban on employee tobacco use in their personal life goes too far," Dale reports.
- School Board In Henry County, Including Tobacco Farmers, Will Consider A Comprehensive Smoking Ban On Its Campuses
The Henry County school superintendent got a unanimous go-ahead from his board to present a draft policy to make the district 100 percent tobacco-free, but the board made no promises, Melissa Blankenship reports for the Henry County Local. Wikipedia...
- Lake Cumberland District Health Department Using Polls In An Effort To Get School Boards To Make Campuses Tobacco-free
Countywide smoking bans are unlikely to pass anytime soon in most of rural Kentucky, but more county school districts are making their campuses tobacco-free. Now a multi-county health department is trying to get rural school boards to do that, with public-opinion...
- Russell County School Board Makes All Campuses Tobacco-free, But Delays Implementation For One Year
The Russell County Board of Education has voted to make all the county's school campuses tobacco-free a year from now, "After some lengthy discussion by the board and visitors," The Times Journal of Russell Springs reports. The vote was 4-0, with...
- E-cig, Hookah Ban Takes Effect Monday In Madison County
Electronic cigarettes and water pipes known as hookahs will be banned in enclosed public places in Madison County beginning Monday under an amendment to the county's existing smoking ban. The ban, which has been in effect since 2007, was amended...
- World No Tobacco Day To Be Observed Tuesday
World No Tobacco Day 2011 will be observed Tuesday, with goals of encouraging tobacco abstinence for a 24-hour period, as well as drawing attention to the dangers of tobacco use. The observance, created by the World Health Organization in 1987, occurs...