Floreen Seeks Smoking Ban at All County Property
Bill coincides with American Cancer Society’s 37th Great American Smokeout
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Montgomery County leaders are considering tightening restrictions on tobacco use again, this time with a smoking ban on any property owned or leased by county government.
The ban—proposed by Councilwoman Nancy Floreen—would apply to the land around recreation centers and county buildings, for example, but not bus shelters and sidewalks, The Examiner reported.
Floreen, a breast cancer survivor, will announce more details at a news conference Thursday timed to coincide with the Great American Smokeout, which the American Cancer Society holds to try to cut into the nation’s 44 million smokers.
That figure, according to a county statement, stands at 1 in 12 adults in Montgomery, which has been at the leading edge of the nationwide tobacco crackdown. Smoking is already banned in restaurants, bars, elevators and other indoor public areas. Last August, the county banned smoking within 25 feet of shared playgrounds and in apartment complex’s common indoor areas, such as hallways, laundry rooms and lobbies.
“I have unfortunately spent a lot of time over the past year with people who have cancer,” said Floreen (D-At large) of Garrett Park. “I want to do everything I can to help prevent this awful disease in all of its forms, and this is a good place to start.”
Floreen plans to submit the bill at the Council’s Nov. 20 session. A public hearing is tentatively set for Jan. 15.
With five co-sponsors—Council Vice President Nancy Navarro, Craig Rice, Hans Riemer, George Leventhal and Marc Elrich—the bill seems primed to pass.
“We as a community have become so accustomed to [smoking bans] that it’s shocking to be in a place where smoking is the norm,” Floreen told The Washington Times. “This is not the earth-shattering effort it might have been 10 years ago."
Bob Hydorn
2:47 pm on Tuesday, November 13, 2012
I would like to recommend that there be a minimium of 25 feet from the entrance of any commercial establishment.
jnrentz1
12:52 pm on Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Mr. Hydorn:
That is a step in the right direction, but I would prefer 100 feet.
john davidson
3:45 pm on Tuesday, November 13, 2012
How about a repeal of the prohibitionists smoking ban and a complete admission of their lies about second hand smoke!
Scientific Evidence Shows Secondhand Smoke Is No Danger
Written By: Jerome Arnett, Jr., M.D.
Published In: Environment & Climate News
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
Publisher:
http://www.heartland
.org/policybot/resul
ts/23399/Scientific_
Evidence_Sho...
myth-of-second-hand-
smoke
http://yourdoctorsor
ders.com/2009/01/the
-myth-of-second-hand
-smoke
BS Alert: The 'third-hand smoke' hoax
http://www.examiner.com/public-policy-in-louisville/bs-alert-the-third-hand-smoke-hoax
The thirdhand smoke scam
http://velvetgloveironfist.blogspot.com/2010/02/thirdhand-smoke-scam.html
Heart attacks Frauds and Myths..
http://www.spiked-on
line.com/index.php/s
ite/article/7451/
john davidson
8:09 am on Thursday, November 15, 2012
JOINT STATEMENT ON THE RE-ASSESSMENT OF THE TOXICOLOGICAL TESTING OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS"
7 October, the COT meeting on 26 October and the COC meeting on 18
November 2004.
http://cot.food.gov.uk/pdfs/cotstatementtobacco0409
"5. The Committees commented that tobacco smoke was a highly complex chemical mixture and that the causative agents for smoke induced diseases (such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, effects on reproduction and on offspring) was unknown. The mechanisms by which tobacco induced adverse effects were not established. The best information related to tobacco smoke - induced lung cancer, but even in this instance a detailed mechanism was not available. The Committees therefore agreed that on the basis of current knowledge it would be very difficult to identify a toxicological testing strategy or a biomonitoring approach for use in volunteer studies with smokers where the end-points determined or biomarkers measured were predictive of the overall burden of tobacco-induced adverse disease."
In other words ... our first hand smoke theory is so lame we can't even design a bogus lab experiment to prove it. In fact ... we don't even know how tobacco does all of the magical things we claim it does.
The greatest threat to the second hand theory is the weakness of the first hand theory.
john davidson
3:45 pm on Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Schuman's Expert Witnesses Testify in Secondhand Smoke Trial
The plaintiff's expert witnesses spoke up on day three of David Schuman's case against his housing cooperative, Greenbelt Homes, Inc. (GHI), for its failure to prohibit the nuisance created by his townhome neighbors, the Popovics', secondhand smoke.
Courtroom and Plaintiff's Townhome Register Similar Carcinogen Levels
But, an incident from Repace’s testimony Thursday came back into play Friday during cross examination. Goecke pointed out that on Thursday, while demonstrating the carcinogen monitor, Repace had measured the concentration of carcinogens in the court room — which is in a smoke-free building — and the amount he recorded there was similar to what Repace had reported recording in Schuman’s townhome in July of 2011.
greenbelt.patch.com/articles/schumans-expert-witnesses-testify-in-secondhand-smoke-trial
john davidson
3:46 pm on Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Not 1 Death or Sickness Etiologically Assigned to Tobacco. All the diseases attributed to smoking are also present in non smokers. It means, in other words, that they are multifactorial, that is, the result of the interaction of tens, hundreds, sometimes thousands of factors, either known or suspected contributors - of which smoking can be one.
ROBERT SCHROEDER
8:33 am on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
How about a county wide band all over like other counties or states?
Kathy Jentz
9:47 am on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Why exclude bus shelters from the ban? Those of us trying to stay dry waiting for a very late bus are subjected to basically a smoking dome of torture.
Also, agree with Bob H about 25 ft back from entrances -- the worst smoking gauntlets are employees on break who stand right outside their own stores/restaurants. Makes me want to run, not, walk, past them or cross to the other side and never patronize these businesses, Examples: the Strosniders/Whole Foods/Sprint store in downtown Silver Spring.
Fred Foo
10:42 am on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
If you really want to discourage smoking, ban health insurance for any tobacco-related disease for people who use tobacco products. So any smoker will not be covered for diseases ranging from emphysema to lung cancer.
skinny
1:57 pm on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Don't forget about the tubby people...they shouldn't be able to get insurance coverage for obesity-related illnesses! Oh, that's right, it's not politically correct to pick on them.
jnrentz1
12:49 pm on Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Ms. Floreen,
The Smoking Ban should extend to all transportation centers, whether they are Bus Shelters, or Rail Stations.
For example, Smoking should be banned at the Silver Spring Transportation Center and at all MARC Rail Center Platforms.