The poor are the biggest victims of the tobacco industry, spending the money they desperately need for necessities on something that endangers their health, the World Health Organizationwarned. In a report released ahead of World No Tobacco Day on May 31, the WHO said studies found that the poor tend to smoke the most. Of the estimated 1.3 billion smokers worldwide, 84 percent live in developing countries. ...

Smokers are turning Britain's coastline into a giant deathtrap for marine wildlife, prompting calls for smoking bans on beaches similar to measures being introduced in the US and Australia. ...

A D.C. Superior Court judge yesterday snuffed out a ballot initiative to ban smoking in restaurants and bars, ruling that the proposed measure improperly encroached on the city's budget process. In a 13-page decision delivered late yesterday, Judge Mary A. Gooden Terrell called Initiative 66 "invalid" and "improper" and ordered the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics to reject it. ...

Russia, home to some of the world’s cheapest cigarettes and most committed smokers, is to risk the wrath of the tobacco industry and raise cigarette taxes by up to 30%. The excise increase has already been approved in a first reading in the country’s Duma (lower house) and is expected to take effect on 1 January 2005. ...

No doubt about it, St. Paul City Hall will be smoking on Wednesday. A proposed smoking ban in bars and restaurants has stoked enough passion that fans and foes are gearing up for a heated debate at next week's public hearing. "People should not have to choose between their health and their paycheck," said advocate Jeanne Weigum, president of the Association for Nonsmokers-Minnesota. ...

The government can seek $280 billion in tobacco industry profits as part of its case against cigarette manufacturers, a federal judge ruled yesterday, clearing the way for a high-stakes civil racketeering trial this fall. In her decision, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler said the companies will be liable for the $280 billion if the government proves its case that the cigarette makers knowingly deceived the public for decades about the dangers of smoking and the addictive qualities of nicotine. ...

Santa Monica’s smoking ban, which goes into effect on Thursday, could be extended statewide under legislation proposed by a Westside assemblyman. Assemblyman Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood) announced Monday that he would immediately introduce a bill to prohibit smoking on public coastal beaches along California’s 1,200-mile coastline. ...

Some of the most successful ways of stopping children and adolescents from starting to smoke are revealed in the UK Health Development Agency's (HDA’s) new evidence briefing, launched today. The evidence shows that schools, media campaigns, and even shopkeepers can play a significant role in preventing the uptake of smoking in young people. With 38 percent of adults who currently smoke in the UK admitting to having started by the age of 161,the report brings fresh hope for health professionals working to reduce smoking initiation among the young. ...

The Tobacco Free Wichita Coalition plans to lobby the City Council by September to ban smoking in all enclosed public establishments, including restaurants, bars, bowling alleys and sports arenas, coalition chairwoman Pat MacDonald said. She said such a ban could help reduce peoples' exposure to secondhand smoke, which is linked to lung cancer, coronary heart disease, asthma and bronchitis. ...

Nearly three-fourths of Minneapolis residents polled recently said they favor a citywide smoking ban in most indoor public places, according to a survey released Wednesday. Clean Air Minneapolis reports that of 600 registered voters randomly surveyed May 15-17, 72 percent supported a smoking ban in restaurants and bars. Twenty-five percent said they would oppose it; 3 percent were undecided. A research group, the Mellman Group, conducted the survey. ...