County Commission: You smoke, you can't work for us

Smokers and other tobacco users need not apply for jobs with Monroe County government beginning Jan. 1.
County commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to require that applicants for public-employee paychecks must sign a form declaring they do not regularly smoke or otherwise use tobacco.
Employees already in the county's workforce of about 500 people will not be required to stop smoking or assessed surcharges for their county-backed health insurance. It's not just cigarette smokers affected; those who smoke cigars or use chewing tobacco also are affected.
The county defines tobacco use as using it five or more times within a three-month period.
"Personally, I've seen two people close to me die because of lung cancer," Commissioner Heather Carruthers said. Smoking "is the most costly health hazard that we pay for."
A number of agencies in Monroe County -- including the Sheriff's Office and county Fire-Rescue -- already are closed to new applicants with a tobacco habit.
After the no-tobacco rule for new hires passed the County Commission easily with no dissent, Carruthers moved to set a January 2016 deadline for current employees to quit tobacco.
Since smokers and other tobacco users each cost the county an estimated $753 extra annually in health costs, employees and employee dependents who smoke should be assessed a $100 surcharge on their county health insurance, a county study committee recommended. Commissioners disagreed, reducing that number to $50 monthly.
"Are we going to tell employees to stop drinking? Where does it stop?" asked Commissioner David Rice. Mayor Sylvia Murphy and Commissioner Danny Kolhage agreed.
However, taxpayers who fund the county's insurance program should not bear the costs of an employee's unhealthy vice, Commissioner George Neugent said.
"Health-care costs are going up, and we know about [the effects of] smoking," Neugent
said.
Monroe County administers its own self-funded insurance program, so it can set its own rules on the employee benefit package. While employers cannot discriminate on factors like gender or race, smokers "are not a protected category," Assistant County Attorney Cynthia Hall said.

Business owners given details of smoking ban

A six-page document of frequently asked questions has been released to business owners four weeks before the smoking ban is scheduled to take effect. Debra Bradley, health director, said the city has regularly received calls from business owners concerned about implementing the smoke-free policy. She added the city hopes this document will not only help them understand the ordinance, but also serve as a reminder that the Health Department is available to help any business that has more specific questions. Karelia cigarettes online.

The voter-approved ban will go into effect on June 7.

“We’re hoping that by giving them the basic information and phone numbers on who to call if they have questions, that will help alleviate some of the anxieties,” she said.

The clean air ordinance bans smoking in all indoor places of employment with a few exceptions, including the St. Jo Frontier Casino gambling floor. It also bans smoking within 15 feet of any door, window or air intake.

So far the most pressing question business owners have had relate to outside smoking, Ms. Bradley added. In addition to the FAQ, the city has put together information that specifically answers those.

Of most concern is whether a liquor license will transfer to an outdoor patio. According to the city’s literature, it will as long as the business owner completes a “change of legal description” with both the city and the state, as well as provide a seamless transition from an exit onto the patio.

Bars and restaurants must also comply with the city’s existing Zoning and Building Code.

The city’s FAQ comes a few days after a local bar owner filed a civil suit that seeks to stop the smoking ban on grounds it illegally excludes the casino. Steve Peterman, owner of Peterman’s Shamrock, said he filed the suit, but several bars are backing him morally and financially.

“I was volunteered for this,” he said. “But the main thing I want to get out is this is just not me fighting this, this is half of St. Joe, basically.”

A hearing on a temporary injunction, which seeks to prevent the ban from beginning on June 7, will be held in Judge Randall Jackson’s court at 9:30 a.m. May 27.

In the meantime, the FAQ addresses whether the City Council has the authority to change or alter the smoking ban as passed by the voters. In essence, it does. However, it would not occur unless a majority of the council consents and some time has passed to “provide any potential problem areas the time and opportunity to sufficiently ‘present’ themselves.”

Anyone with further questions can call the Health Department at (816) 271-4636. The ordinance can be read on the city’s website.

Maternal smoking linked to heart defects in kids

A research has found that children with heart defects were more likely to have been born to mothers who smoked, and the risk was highest in the heaviest smokers.  Patrick M. Sullivan, clinical fellow in paediatric cardiology at Seattle Children’s Hospital, said: “Our research provides strong support for the hypothesis that smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of specific heart defects”. 

Older women had a higher risk of having a child with a heart defect if they smoked.  Cigarette smoking during pregnancy has been linked to many birth defects, such as cleft lips, cleft palates, and missing or deformed limbs.  For the study, researchers used birth certificate data and hospital discharge records from Washington in the US. 

The researchers identified 14,128 children born with a variety of heart defects between 1989-2011.  Newborns whose mothers smoked were at about a 50 to 70 percent greater risk for anomalies of the valve and vessels that carry blood to the lungs (pulmonary valve and pulmonary arteries).  They were at about 20 percent greater risk for holes in the wall separating the two collecting chambers of the heart (atrial septal defect).  All of these defects often require invasive procedures for correction.

Parents thinks it’s ‘okay’ to smoke e-cigarettes around children

Researchers have showed that many young parents are using electronic cigarettes, and despite any evidence for safety, the vast majority of young adults who have used the devices believe they are less harmful than regular cigarettes.

To determine how often and why young adults use e-cigarettes, researchers surveyed a random sample of 3,253 adults in September 2013. Eighty-eight percent completed the survey. Eight percent were young adults ages18-24 years old, and 22 percent were parents. Participants were asked if they had heard of electronic cigarettes and if they had ever tried them. They also were asked if they currently smoke cigarettes or if they had smoked in the past. 

6 percent reported using the devices in the past 30 days. In addition, 45 percent of parents who had tried electronic cigarettes and 49 percent who reported using them in the past 30 days had never smoked regular cigarettes, or were former smokers. Parents reported several reasons for using electronic cigarettes: 81 percent said e-cigarettes might be less harmful than cigarettes to people around them; 76 percent said e-cigarettes are more acceptable to non-tobacco users; and 72 percent said they could use the devices in places where smoking cigarettes isn”t allowed.

All young adults who reported using e-cigarettes said they used devices that contained menthol or fruit flavor compared to 65 percent of adults ages 25 and older. Young adults also were less likely than older adults to use e-cigarettes to help them quit smoking (7 percent vs. 58 percent).

What’s an e-cig?
An electronic cigarette is a device that mimics the entire smoking process by producing a mist which has the same sensation (sometimes the same flavour too) of smoking. The concept of an electronic cigarette has been around since the 60s but tobacco consumption wasn’t really considered hazardous back then and it took until 2003 for the first smokeless e-cigarette to hit the market.
Electronic cigarettes manufacturers claim that they are like real cigarettes except that there are no hazardous health implications because there is no combustion, no tobacco and no smoking. Also since there is no passive smoking, second hand smoke and pollution due to butt litter or smoke.
What’s in an e-cig?
The e-cigarette basically consists of three parts: Cartridge, Atomizer and Power supply
The cartridge’s a mouthpiece (like a cigarette’s butt) that usually holds the liquid that is to be vaporized. The atomizer serves as a heating element and vaporizes the liquid and each of them contains a power supply like a chargeable plug, USB drive or batteries.
An e-cigarette produces nicotine infused vapour and though it looks like smoke is actually atomised air. Some e-cigs replace this nicotine vapour with other flavours like vanilla, chocolate, etc. though certain anti-smoking groups feel this could encourage minors to smoke. As a smoking cessation tool some manufactures even look to replicate the flavour of particular brands like Marlboro, Camel, etc. (Read: 

Teens’ Brain Structure May Be Altered by Smoking

Early exposure to cigarettes could affect how one responds to and craves nicotine

It’s no surprise that smoking for years can change the way the brain processes nicotine, creating a well-worn pattern of craving and satisfaction that’s difficult to break.



But how soon does this cycle get started? And does nicotine actually alter structures in the brain to make dependence more likely?

In the latest research, published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, Edythe London, a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at University of California Los Angeles, and her team found that young smokers did have differences in a specific brain region compared with non smokers. Even more concerning, these differences emerged with a relatively light smoking habit of one pack or less of cigarettes a day.

London and her colleagues focused on a brain region called the insula, since previous studies in animal and adults showed that its size and volume were affected by smoking. Of the regions in the cortical, or memory, awareness and language parts of the brain, the insula contains the most receptors for nicotine. The region is responsible for decision-making and helping to establish a person’s conscious awareness of his internal state. In studies of stroke patients, smokers who lost function of the right insula in the stroke quit smoking, and reported feeling no cravings for nicotine. And in earlier studies London’s team conducted, they found a strong relationship between how much smokers who watched videos of people smoking experienced cravings for cigarettes and the activity of the insula, which lit up on PET scans.
When London’s team looked at the brains of the 18 smoking teens and 24 non-smoking adolescents, aged 16 to 21 years, using structural MRI, they found no differences overall in the insula region. But a closer examination revealed that the right insula of the smokers was thinner than those of the nonsmokers.

“The brain is still undergoing development when someone is in their late teens,” she says. “It’s possible that smoking during this period could have effects that could alter tobacco dependence later in life, and that the insult could alter the trajectory of brain development.”

While the study doesn’t establish whether the differences in the insula can lead to smoking, or is the result of smoking, London says it highlights the role that the brain region may play in how people respond to nicotine and cigarettes. “I think this is very exciting because it points to a vulnerability, a potential vulnerability factor either to become nicotine dependent or for the effects of smoking to ultimately alter the trajectory of brain development,” she says. That trajectory could affect not only smoking behavior but decision-making in general, since the insula is important in such assessments.