Smoking

New European anti-smoking campaign

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2005/03/050301_smoking.shtml

• The European Commission is launching a new

multi-million dollar anti-smoking campaign. It co
mes as the world's first ever treaty aimed at diss
uading children from smoking and helping adults
kick the habit enters into force this week. This re
port from Manuela Saragosa:
 Listen carefully
• The European Commission will spend about nin
ety five million dollars over the next four years tr
ying to prevent children and young adults from
smoking. That's a big increase on the twenty five
million dollars it spent on its last anti-smoking ca
mpaign.
• But it's an amount that's dwarfed by the multi-bil
lion dollar financial clout of the tobacco industry,
even though companies like British-American to
bacco say they support efforts to reduce the inci
dents of youth smoking across Europe.
• The Commission's latest campaign ties in with
a global anti-smoking treaty which came into forc
e on Sunday and which requires that governmen
ts take tough measures against the promotion
of tobacco. The Commission's already spent mo
ney on a logo and slogan both of which will be u
nveiled at the launch of the anti-smoking campa
ign on Tuesday and which will be followed up by
a series of EU wide TV and cinema adverts.
• The campaign comes on top of existing efforts t
o curb tobacco use. The Commission is encour
aging countries to put picture warnings on cigare
tte packets which would feature photos of blacke
ned lungs and from July this year tobacco firms
will be banned from advertising at sporting even
ts such as formula one car racing.

• Manuela Saragosa, BBC, Brussels

 Vocabulary

• to prevent • tough measures

to stop before they start strong, uncompromising a
• dwarfed ctions
made to look small • unveiled
• clout launched, shown publicly
big influence for the first time
• ties in with • to curb
has a close connection to to reduce
• banned from
not allowed to
 Smoking ban in Italy 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2005/01/050110_italy_smoking_ban.shtml

• A ban on smoking in all enclosed public pl

aces including bars and offices came into f
orce in Italy. There has been resistance no
t only by smokers, but also by owners of m
any bars and restaurants. This report from
David Willey:
 Listen Carefully
• The health minister Girolamo Sirchia gave
a last-minute stay of execution over the
Christmas and New Year holidays, but he i
nsisted that the smoking ban must go ahe
ad. His aim to protect not just smokers fro
m the danger of lung cancer, but the whole
population against the effects of passive s
moking. Fifteen million Italians are regular
smokers yet opinion polls suggest most pe
ople support the ban.
• Controversy has arisen over policing the
new anti-smoking law. Bar and restaurant
owners face hefty fines of up to nearly thr
ee thousand dollars if any of their clients li
ght up. Many say they will refuse to call th
e police to deal with transgressors who al
so face a three hundred and fifty dollar fine
. But some landlords are already offering
smokers alternative space in the open air.
• The biggest revolution will be inside the Ita
lian parliament. The speaker of the lower
house insists that smoke-filled committee r
ooms will be a thing of the past, but more t
han one minister has threatened to contin
ue to puff away at cabinet meetings.

• David Willey, BBC News, Rome

 Vocabulary
• stay of execution
if someone gives a stay of
execution they delay
something
• passive smoking
breathing smoke from
somebody else’s cigarettes
• policing
controlling
• hefty fines
large financial penalties
• light up
to begin to smoke a cigarette
• transgressors
people who do something agai
nst the law
• landlords
owners (of a bar or a flat)
• speaker
here: the person who is in char
ge of a parliament session
• threatened
gave warning of something
• to puff away
to smoke cigarettes, cigars, etc
 Ireland's smoking ban
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/040329_witn.shtml

• At midnight on Sunday 28th March Ireland

became the first country in Europe to ban
smoking in places of work. People are no l
onger allowed to smoke in bars, restaurant
s or hotels. Although the ban has caused v
ery vocal opposition, it also has many sup
porters.
This report from Russell Padmore:
 Listen Carefully
• Fewer than one in three of Ireland's population s
mokes and according to several surveys the mo
ve to stop people puffing cigarettes in work place
s has prompted about a quarter of smokers to tr
y to give up. Ireland has more than ten thousan
d bars and it's the pub industry that's worried tha
t the ban will lead to a collapse in trade, as smok
ers are forced out into the street.
• The Irish Government has examined similar ban
s in America and it's convinced there are many b
enefits. The Department of Health claims smokin
g costs the country's economy about six million
dollars every day in sick leave from work and los
t productivity. It also costs the Government mor
e than a billion dollars every year to provide heal
th care for people suffering tobacco related illn
esses.
• Although very high taxes are levied on tobacco
or cigarettes, the Government is prepared to dea
l with lower revenues in its budget plans. The tob
acco industry is not a major employer here, so t
here's little risk of job losses. Hundreds of enviro
nmental health officers will help to police the ban
, but the country's bar staff are concerned that th
ey are expected to enforce it in pubs, hotels and
restaurants.
• The move is being closely watched by oth
er governments throughout Europe and it's
thought that successfully changing lifestyl
e habits for the Irish could lead to similar
bans in other European Union countries.

Russell Padmore, BBC

 Vocabulary
• prompted   • tobacco related illnesses  
• something that prompts you to do • illnesses caused by the use of tobacco
something makes you decide to do it   , such as heart disease and cancer  
• to give up   • levied on  
• if you stop doing something, like • a sum of money that is paid in tax on  
smoking, you give it up   • a major employer  
• pub   • an industry or firm that provides a very
• in a ‘public house’, people can have large number of jobs  
alcoholic drinks and meet and talk to • enforce  
others   • when people in a position of power or
• ban   authority make sure that a rule or law i
• a ban is an official rule that something s obeyed, they enforce it  
must not to be done   • lifestyle habits  
• lost productivity   • things that you usually do which have
• if a company and its workers produce become a way of life for you  
less than expected, there is lost
productivity  
Cigarette sales in Ireland fall
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2004/09/040910_smoking_ban.shtml

• Cigarette sales in Ireland have dropped si

gnificantly since the introduction of the cou
ntry's ban on smoking in the workplace. N
ew figures show that quarter of a million fe
wer cigarettes were smoked in the first half
of this year. This report from James Helm:
 Listen Carefully
• Ireland's smoking ban came in at the end of Mar
ch this year and its impact is being demonstrate
d. Figures from Gallaher, the manufacturer of big
, well known brands, and which holds a fifty per
cent market share in Ireland, show it sold two hu
ndred and sixty million fewer cigarettes between
January and June. Total sales in the country sh
rank by around seven and a half percent. The c
ompany blames duty increases as well as the e
ffect of the smoking ban.
• The Irish health minister Michael Martin w
elcomed the drop in sales, saying that the
less people smoke, the better it is for the n
ation's health. He hopes that the ban will e
ncourage more smokers to either give up,
or to smoke less.
• The ban continues to be criticised by many
bar owners who say it's costing them bu
siness. But politicians outside Ireland are
also watching its experience closely. Last
week, Scotland's first minister visited Dubli
n to see for himself how the ban is going.
• A possible downside, though, for the Irish
government is that tax revenue from tobac
co sales is predicted to fall by almost one
hundred million dollars this year.
• James Helm, BBC, Dublin
 Vocabulary
• impact • drop in sales
effect reduction in cigarettes sold
• brands • it’s costing them business
particular makes; trademarks refers to the fact that fewer pe
• total sales ople have been coming to bars
the overall number of and spending money there sin
cigarettes sold ce the introduction of the smok
• shrank ing ban
became smaller • downside
• duty increases drawback, a negative aspect
larger tax payments • revenue
the income that a state receive
s from taxes