SEIU District 1199 New Connections Network

BOSTON (AP) -- Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health say they have confirmed a study by the state that found nicotine levels in cigarettes increased from 1997 until 2005.

The analysis, based on data submitted to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health by cigarette manufacturers, found that increases in smoke nicotine yield per cigarette averaged 1.6 percent each year, for a total of about 11 percent over a seven-year period. To read the rest of the article, copy and paste the link below in your web browser http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=240820

Maine City Bans Smoking in Cars With Children

For the whole article, please check out:  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/us/19smoking.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

BANGOR, Me. — Tonya Henderson will have to be more careful where she lights up her Marlboros.

Bangor is banning smoking in cars if children are present, and Ms. Henderson, 24, is accustomed to having a cigarette when her boyfriend’s 7-year-old daughter is in the back seat.

She is just the kind of person City Council members had in mind when they passed the ordinance, which has delighted some and angered others and prompted complaints about invasion of privacy and even threats to boycott the city, Maine’s second-largest. The ordinance, which takes effect on Jan. 19, allows the police to stop cars if an adult is smoking while a child under 18 is a passenger. The smoker can be fined $50.

“Hate it,” Ms. Henderson said about the law. “But it’s good for the kids.”