Smoking Decline Stalls Despite City Efforts
After almost a decade where an increasing number of city residents tossed away their cigarettes, smoking went up slightly last year, according to new Health Department figures.Six percent more people...
View ArticleSmoking at the Opera
Recently, in the American South, I saw a woman of a certain age enjoying a cigarette all too much. And then she enjoyed another. And another. Someone in our group said to her, “You are going to die a...
View ArticleNew Laws Target Domestic Violence, Electronic Cigarettes, and Beer
A raft of new laws take effect January 1 in New York State, addressing a range of issues from business contracts to the health care system.DOMESTIC VIOLENCEAt times, people in abusive relationships...
View ArticleBloomberg Record on Tackling Tobacco Stronger Than Against Soda
Sugary beverages may still be available in all sizes, thanks to a New York State judge’s rejection of the Mayor Bloomberg’s big beverage ban, but the mayor is continuing his campaign to change how...
View ArticleNYC Looks to Small Boston Suburb for Cigarette Sale Restrictions
As New York City considers changing the legal at which residents can buy cigarettes, officials in the small Massachusetts town that was first in the nation to raise the legal age for purchasing...
View ArticleOpen Phones: Should You Have To Be 21 to Buy Cigarettes?
New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley have proposed raising the minimum age for tobacco purchases from 18 to 21. The idea is that people become regular...
View ArticlePaying Pregnant Women to Quit Smoking
According to the CDC, 45.3 million people smoke. That’s about 19% of all adults in the U.S.Public Health campaigns have tried to reduce this number through dire warnings and scary ads. And many cities...
View ArticleProposed Rules for Buildings Reignites Smoking Debate
When Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced last week that he wants all residential buildings in New York City to disclose their smoking policies, he reignited a debate about smokers’ rights.Bloomberg said...
View ArticleBloomberg Wants Stores to Hide Cigarettes
A new proposal would require New York City retailers to keep tobacco products out of sight under a first-in-the-nation proposal aimed at reducing the youth smoking rate, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said...
View ArticleCity Proposes Raising Age for Cigarette Purchases to 21
No one under 21 would be able to buy cigarettes in New York City, under a new proposal announced Monday that marks the latest in a decade of moves to crack down on smoking in the nation's largest...
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Bloomberg Pushed New Yorkers on Health, and Often They Pushed Back
On the November day in 2001 that Michael Bloomberg was elected, two things were in the air, literally and figuratively.The World Trade Center still smoldered, and wouldn’t be fully extinguished for...
View Article'Vaping' While Dining
Ten years after Mayor Michael Bloomberg banned smoking in New York City bars and restaurants, diners are puffing away again. But now, they are "vaping," or smoking e-cigarettes. Restaurants have...
View ArticleVape Expectations: Why E-Cigarettes Could Be The Next Big ‘Disruptor’
“Disruptive technology” is the buzzword in the tech-world.Think how websites like Expedia put the travel agent out of business, or how Airbnb and Uber are shaking up the hospitality and transportation...
View ArticleWhy You Did (Or Didn't) Quit Smoking
In the 1950s, when much less was known about smoking’s long-term negative effects and smoking was still a vaunted activity, 45% of Americans reported that they smoked.Over the years, that number has...
View ArticleAnti-Tobacco Experts Spar Over E-Cigarettes
Err on the safe side.That’s what one of the main arguments against e-cigarettes boils down to.“When in doubt, why put your hand over the fire?” said Joseph Califano, former Secretary of Health,...
View ArticleAre E-Cigarettes Making it Cool to Smoke Again?
For the first time since 1970, a new kind of cigarette ad has found its way onto TV screens in homes across the country. It features an actor blowing out a cloud of vapor, telling consumers they don't...
View ArticleCVS Kicking the Habit: Pharmacy Chain to Stop Selling Tobacco Products
CVS/Caremark, the country’s largest drugstore chain, says that it's quitting tobacco products for good.The drugstore chain will stop selling cigarettes and all tobacco products at its more than 7,600...
View ArticleIn Colorado, High Art Gets a Little Higher
The history of drugs and popular music is a well known story. We've all heard the alcohol soaked guitar riffs of Keith Richards or the heroin inspired sax solos of Charlie Parker. But what about the...
View ArticleSocial Smokers, You've Been Warned
For a fourth straight year, the smoking rate in New York City has ticked up, after eight years of declining. When the indoor smoking ban kicked in more than a decade ago, close to 22% of New Yorkers...
View ArticleAustralian Opera Company Cancels Carmen Over Fears it Promotes Smoking
POLL: How should opera companies handle Carmen's smoking?The West Australia Opera has said it will not program Bizet's Carmen in the next two years, over fears that it would threaten a $200,000...
View ArticleColin Quinn Started Smoking at Age Four
The former SNL cast member and veteran stand-up comedian remembers New York before the days of Mayor Harold Bloomberg’s smoking ban, when people were tough. And Colin Quinn knows a thing or two about...
View ArticleThe Real Cost of the Cigarette Tax
David Harsanyi, senior editor of The Federalist, argues that Eric Garner’s arrest—and death—illustrate the problematic symptoms of New York’s high cigarette tax and how the tax does more to misdirect...
View ArticleThe Chinese Government is Making Millions Selling Cigarettes
Consider these numbers: In 2013, the China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC) manufactured 2.5 trillion cigarettes. By comparison, Philip Morris International, it's biggest competitor, produced just...
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How to Quit Smoking, One Illustration at a Time
New York City is of course known for its pizza. So to make your pizza known, you have to do something besides make good pizza. One pizzeria in Brooklyn, Vinnie’s, has started to draw attention not...
View ArticleSmoking May Soon Be Banned In All NYCHA Apartments
The federal government has proposed a ban on smoking in all public housing.WNYC reporter Cindy Rodriguez reports on the reaction of residents who live in NYCHA housing -- which is the largest public...
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Study finds gap in Medicaid’s efforts to help people stop smoking
In a number of states, Medicaid’s efforts to make it easier for people to stop smoking have not had wide success, a new study said Tuesday. Photo via Getty ImagesEven though Medicaid enrollees are more...
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New Jersey may become second state to raise smoking age to 21
Republican presidential candidate New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie responds to a question during the first official Republican presidential candidates debate of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign in...
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Why these anti-smoking TV ads are working
Watch Video | Listen to the AudioHARI SREENIVASAN: Next: getting smokers to quit and the impact of a government campaign against tobacco.Five years ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
View ArticleBehind the Smoke Screen: The Toxic Chemicals in E-Cigarettes
E-cigarettes have been touted as a way to reduce the health problems associated with smoking tobacco, but their growing popularity has opened up a debate over these safety claims. Some e-cigarettes...
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Cigarettes still haunt these former smokers
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a national campaign sharing personal stories from former smokers who described what it was like to kick the habit. Photo Jonathan...
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You now must be 21 to buy tobacco in California. Is a cigarette tax next?
Cigarettes are arranged for a photograph in New York. Photo by Chris Goodney/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesCalifornia became the second state in the nation Thursday to raise the legal age to purchase...
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This cancer survivor wants to stop kids in the Philippines from lighting up
Watch Video | Listen to the AudioJUDY WOODRUFF: Turning a corner, after decades of health warnings, cigarette sales have fallen sharply in the United States and Europe, but multinational tobacco...
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Obama administration announces smoking ban in public housing nationwide
An East Harlem public housing complex in New York City. The Obama administration announced a final rule on Wednesday banning smoking from public housing nationwide. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty...
View ArticleNYCHA Moves Ahead With Federal Ban on Smoking in Public Housing
The federal government has enacted a ban on smoking in all public housing. Cindy Rodriguez, WNYC reporter, reports on the ramifications for residents who live in NYCHA housing — which is the largest...
View ArticleSurgeon General: E-cigarettes Major Concern
Today, the Surgeon General Vivek Murthy announced that the escalated use of e-cigarettes among young people is "a major public health concern." The use of e-cigarettes by grade school students and...
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News Wrap: House passes government funding bill
Watch Video | Listen to the AudioHARI SREENIVASAN: In the day’s other news: The 114th Congress scrambled to finish its business. The House OK’d a bill to fund the government through next April, ahead...
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Lawmakers seek to help e-cigarette makers escape new regulations
A man smokes an electronic cigarette vaporizer, also known as an e-cigarette, in Toronto, August 7, 2015. Photo by Mark Blinch/ReutersWASHINGTON — Congressional supporters of the tobacco industry have...
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A New Worry For Smokers’ Families: ‘Thirdhand Smoke’
(AP Photo/Michael Probst)Michael Miller, 44, does what most smokers do to protect his sons and daughter from the fumes of his Marlboro Ultra Lights. He takes it outside.After his 7 a.m. coffee, he...
View Article#AskTheMayor About Public Safety and Public Health
Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York City, takes calls from listeners and discusses this week in NYC, including a recent stampede at Penn Station which exposed Amtrak police security flaws and the Mayor's...
View ArticleSorry, Kids — in NJ, You Can't Buy Smokes
Eight months after vetoing a bill to raise the state smoking age, Gov. Chris Christie has reversed his position — and helped impose one of the country's strictest anti-tobacco laws. In November, New...
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Brooklyn DA's Pledge to Reduce Marijuana Prosecutions Makes Little Difference
In 2014, Brooklyn’s new District Attorney Ken Thompson made national headlines when he said his office would decline to prosecute low-level marijuana cases, so long as the defendant had no serious...
View ArticleBrooklyn D.A. Reports Fewer Prosecutions for Pot Smoking in Public
Earlier this month, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said his office had quietly launched a pilot program to prosecute fewer people caught smoking marijuana in public. Recently, he clarified...
View ArticleAs NYPD Loosens Marijuana Enforcement, Will Old Convictions Be Sealed?
With the NYPD planning to stop arresting as many people for smoking marijuana, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez is looking at how to help those already convicted. Gonzalez revealed his plans...
View ArticleHow Many Smokes Before Public Housing Residents Are Out?
It’s not about the smoking. That’s what New York City Housing Authority resident Hector Melendez thinks about the new smoking ban that prohibits residents from lighting up inside their apartments....
View ArticleYour Building Now Needs Its Own Smoking Policy
A new smoking law is now in effect in New York City. All residential buildings with more than three units must post an official smoking policy for their tenants. The law is not a smoking ban, but it...
View ArticleThe FDA takes on E-Cigarettes
The FDA recently announced rules limiting sales of flavored e-cigarettes to adults, and the predictably well-funded industry fought back immediately. Kevin O’Flaherty and Assemblymember Linda B....
View ArticleNew York Moves to Enact Statewide Flavored E-Cig Ban
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is pushing to enact a statewide ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes amid growing health concerns connected to vaping, especially among young people.The Democrat...
View ArticleNYC's Flavored E-Cig Ban
NYC Councilmember Mark Levine (7th, Northern Manhattan) talks about yesterday's City Council vote to ban flavored e-cigarettes in NYC.
View ArticleYou v. You
This episode, originally aired more than a decade ago, attempts to answer one question: how do you win against your worst impulses? Zelda Gamson tried for decades to stop smoking, but the part of her...
View ArticleSubmersible exploring sunken Titanic vanishes
A private submersible with wealthy patrons aboard has gone missing during a dive to see the Titanic's remains. The US Coast Guard is searching hundreds of square miles as the sub has a limited amount...
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