The Turks take their cigarettes pretty serious and a new smoking ban has resulted in violence.. From Reuters…
A fight broke out after Hidir Karayigit, 46, ordered a group of customers to extinguish their cigarettes when they began smoking at his “meyhane,” a traditional restaurant that serves alcohol, in the town of Saruhanli, Hurriyet said.
One of the customers shot Karayigit four times after he took away the group’s cigarettes, said witness Hamza Havutcu, Karayigit’s business partner who was also shot and wounded.
Woah! Take my smokes and I’ll bust a cap in you. Pretty rugged.
“I’m deeply saddened that the first smoking-ban murder occurred in our town,” Saruhanli Mayor Veli Yalcin told Hurriyet. “They either shouldn’t have outlawed smoking or they should have outlawed alcohol along with smoking.”
The”‘first smoking-ban murder”? Must be expecting more.
Dicey solution there too Mr. Mayor. If they get that bent when you take their tobacco, they might just get really torqued if you take the booze to, no?
I don’t know why I haven’t heard about this before but, there is much debate about “fire safe cigarettes”.
On one hand we have The Coalition for Fire Safe Cigarettes, who state…
Our goal: The Coalition is calling for cigarette manufacturers to immediately produce and market only cigarettes that adhere to an established cigarette fire safety performance standard. In addition, the Coalition is working to see that these standards for fire-safe cigarettes are required in every state in the country.
That’s an illustration of a fire safe cigarette from the coalition. The two pink bands there are thicker and cause the cigarette to stop burning if unattended.
Fire-safe cigarettes are a proven, practical, and effective way to eliminate the risk of cigarette-ignited fires. The use of cigarettes that have a reduced propensity to burn when left unattended will help prevent tens of thousands of cigarette-ignited fires each year.
Red-States in which legislation has become effective
Green-States that have passed legislation
Yellow-States that have filed legislation in 2009
White-States that have not filed legislation in 2009
Note that Missouri is a white state which may account for why I haven’t heard much about this.
On the other side of the street, we have the Citizens Against Fire Safe Cigarettes who have a Petition to Repeal Fire Safe Cigarette Law. Prominent in their argument is the claim that fire safe cigarettes cause the smoker to inhale more and more often in order to keep the cigarette lit thus, more damaging. Here are a few other points from the petition…
The Fire Safe Cigarette design has resulted in more frequent ash, which may fall and ignite more fires than regular cigarettes.
Having to relight cigarettes increases the potential for more fire related accidents with matches and lighters.
The added and higher level chemicals contained in FSC cigarettes has proven to be more toxic than regular cigarettes and cause increased health related problems for smokers. Symptoms/conditions include, but are not limited to: Nausea, Sores in mouth and throat, Dry throat, constant headaches, extreme coughing, tightness in the chest, vomiting, body aches, pain in the abdomen and respiratory conditions including asthma and bronchitis.
The Harvard School of Health reported that when comparing NY Cigarettes (FSC) versus Regular Cigarettes, the FSC cigarettes produced 13.9% more Naphthalene and 11.4% more carbon monoxide than regular cigarettes.
The chemical issue seems to be a sticking point. I didn’t see anything from the pro-fire safe cigarette side that mentioned added and/or higher levels of chemicals in the inhaled smoke. The phrase I keep seeing is “thicker paper”; there is thicker paper in two spots.
I’d be interested in some opinions here. Is this more misguided protecting ourselves from ourselves or, a good idea?
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