The World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC)

The World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) is the world’s largest meeting dedicated to lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies. 

More than 7,000 delegates come from more than 100 countries to discuss the latest developments in thoracic malignancy research. Attendees include surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pulmonologists, radiologists, pathologists, epidemiologists, basic research scientists, nurses and allied health professionals and patients.

The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre is located in Darling Harbour. Darling Harbour is Sydney's most exciting entertainment precinct, where business meets pleasure on the waters edge. Only moments from the heart of Sydney's city centre, Darling Harbour is accessible by ferry, water taxi, light rail, bus, car or foot.

More information:
http://wclc.iaslc.org/index.html

Smoke Free Metro Hotels

Cities around the world, from North America to Europe and Asia, are banning smoking in public areas in a positive move to reduce the hazards of second-hand smoke.

When burnt, cigarette smoke releases over 4,000 chemicals, including over 40 known carcinogenic (cancer causing) compounds and 400 other toxins. These include nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT.

Here is just a small list of the dangerous ingredients in each cigarette:

• Ammonia: Household cleaner.
• Arsenic: Used in rat poisons.
• Benzene: Used in making dyes, synthetic rubber.
• Butane: Gas; used in lighter fluid.
• Carbon monoxide: Poisonous gas.
• Cadmium: Used in batteries.
• Cyanide: Lethal poison.
• DDT: A banned insecticide.
• Ethyl Furoate: Causes liver damage in animals.
• Lead: Poisonous in high doses.
• Formaldehyde: Used to preserve dead specimens, known carcinogen.
• Methoprene: Insecticide.
• Napthalene: Ingredient in mothballs.
• Methyl isocyanate: Its accidental release killed 2000 people in Bhopal, India, in 1984.
• Polonium: Cancer-causing radioactive element.

Due to the health risks, Metro Hotels throughout Australia has a strict non-smoking policy in every hotel, for every hotel room. The majority of guest favour a non-smoking hotel environment.

Cigarette smoke seeps easily into rooms and lobbies when hotels are sold out, and non-smokers often find themselves in a smokey room. Given that some guests may have severe allergies to smoke and the increase in asthma attacks related to second-hand smoke, Metro Hotels felt it was in the best interest for the health of guests and staff that a non-smoking policy be implemented. This also keeps each hotel room smelling fresher, cleaner and also prevents toxic smoke particles from accumulating in the soft furnishings of the rooms.

This is a list of Metro Hotels all around Australia that have a non-smoking policy:

Sydney, New South Wales

• Metro Hotel Sydney Central
• Metro Hotel on Pitt
• Metro Apartments on Darling Harbour
• Metro Apartments on King
• Aspire Hotel Sydney (Ultimo)
• Metro Hotel Miranda
• Metro Inn Ryde

Brisbane, Queensland

• Metro Hotel Tower Mill
• Metro Hotel Ipswich International
• Metro Hotel & Apartments Gladstone
• Apartments G60 Gladstone

Melbourne, Victoria

• Metro Apartments on Bank Place

Perth, Western Australia

• Metro Hotel Perth

Northern Territory

• Dugong Beach Resort

The Metro smoke-free hotel policy has received praise and positive support from guests and the broader community. The continuing efforts of these properties to comply with the smoke-free policy reinforces Metro Hotels commitment to being an environmentally friendly company. There is a significant room recovery fee for guests who do not comply in order to cover the extensive cost of restoring guest rooms to a smoke-free condition.

Although smoking is not permitted within hotel buildings themselves, guests who smoke are permitted to do so outside in designated areas.

Smoking, Did you know?

Did you know?

·         Cigarette smoke contains up to 4, 000 chemicals.

·         Cigarette butts take, on average, 1.5 years to break down.   

·         Almost 50% of all litter in urban areas is tobacco related products including butts, cellophane wrapping, foil inserts and packaging.

·         An estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide every year.

  

·         About 24 billion cigarettes are sold in Australia each year.  It is estimated that 7 billion of these cigarettes are littered.

·         An estimated 100 000 tonnes of polluted air is exhaled by smokers in NSW each year.

·         In some parts of Australia, if caught littering cigarette buttsyou can receive a fine of up to $2,000 if the matter goes to court.

·         Cigarettes accounted for 17% of the total rubbish items collected on 2004 Clean Up Australia Day.

·         A cigarette butt can smoulder for up to three hours causing a grass fire or even a bushfire.

·         Over 4,500 fires a year are caused by cigarettes and smokers’ materials.

(Source: Clean Up Australia)

Victoria Prepared to Ban Outdoor Smoking

Victoria's health department is said to be pushing for a total smoking ban in outdoor areas throughout the state.

The calls have reportedly been made in a report to Health Minister David Davies.

Several metropolitan councils have already introduced bans at playgrounds and sports centres.

The plan has drawn opposition from business owners and smokers alike, who say it is still legal to light up and every person should have a choice.

The move follows Queensland's state-wide smoking ban in outdoor areas, in July 2006.

Sydney Goes Smoke Free

SYDNEY has emulated universities on the other side of the country by declaring itself smoke-free.

The policy came into effect at the end of January after being approved by the University of Sydney Senate in December.

Human resources director Colin Streeter said the policy matched moves by other universities. “The dangers associated with smoking and passive smoking have long been recognised, and we have an obligation under state legislation to provide a smoke-free environment,” he said.

The universities of Western Australia, Curtin and Edith Cowan instituted similar policies on January 1, and Murdoch has promised to follow suit next year. The University of Adelaide phased in a total smoking ban over the last two years, and Macquarie will this year review plans for a total smoking ban from 2015.

But Sydney has eschewed the total ban approach of the WA universities, designating 19 small external areas for smoking across its seven campuses.

In this respect it has followed the example of James Cook University’s Cairns campus, which banned smoking from all but four external designated areas.

Sydney has established a quit smoking program and offered counselling via its employee assistance program.

The university union was consulted over the new policy, and pre-empted it by banning tobacco sales from its outlets last October. President Sibella Matthews said the union was committed to a “healthy campus environment”.

The new policy also meets union concerns by allowing organisers to apply for temporary smoking areas at enclosed events, such as ticketed performances at the popular Hermann’s and Manning bars.

However with the university and union in dispute over whether the union will continue to run Manning, it’s yet to be seen who will benefit from this concession.

University polls reportedly revealed 83 per cent support for smoking exclusion zones, with 78 per cent or respondents supporting a complete ban on campus.

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Metro Hotels Smoke-free Hotel Policy

Metro Hotels is committed to providing its guests and associates with a 100% smoke-free environment, and is proud to boast one of the most comprehensive smoke-free hotel policies in the industry. Since its introduction in May 2006, the policy has been implemented in all 14 properties throughout Australia under the Metro Hotels, Metro Apartments, Metro Inns, Aspire Hotels brands.

The smoke-free hotel policy has received praise and positive support from guests and the broader community, and Metro Hotels remains committed to achieving a smoke-free environment in all of its properties. The continuing efforts of these properties to comply with the smoke-free policy reinforces Metro Hotels commitment to being an environmentally friendly company.

We look forward to welcoming you — so you can experience the clean and clear difference that Metro Hotels offers.

1. What is Metro Hotels Smoke-free Hotel Environment strategy?

Metro Hotels Smoke-free policy strategy includes all of the company’s accommodation brands throughout Australia. This policy began in May 2006.

This policy includes guest rooms, public spaces and hotel management work areas.

2. Why did Metro Hotels implement a Smoke-free Hotel policy?

The majority of guest requests favour a non-smoking hotel environment. The only way to provide this experience is to not allow smoking within the property. Therefore, we have applied this preference throughout our hotels. We do provide designated smoking areas outside the building to accommodate the needs of guests who smoke.

3. How will smokers be accommodated? Will they be able to smoke on the property?

Although smoking is not permitted within hotel buildings themselves, guests who smoke are permitted to do so outside in designated areas.

4. What measures will Metro Hotels take to enforce the Smoke-free Hotel policy?

All property staff have been trained to respond to potential violations of the policy. For example, housekeepers are trained to observe signs of smoking in the hotel. Guests are reminded at the time of booking and upon arrival at the hotel that smoking is not permitted inside the building. Pre-arrival email notifications also include a reference to the policy. Signage is also placed in the rooms and the information about all properties being non-smoking is highlighted in all online and offline marketing material. There is a significant room recovery fee for guests who do not comply in order to cover the extensive cost of restoring guest rooms to a smoke-free condition.

You can view this Smoke Free policy and all of Metro Hotels Policies

Australia's Cigarette War Over Shocking Pack Rules

Australia has unveiled the world's toughest tobacco advertising legislation, which – if it survives a legal challenge by the industry – will force all cigarettes to be sold in plain, olive-green packs covered in health warnings.

Under the new law, which is about to go before parliament, cigarette packets will be stripped of all logos, colours, brand imagery and promotional text. Their only distinguishing feature will be the brand name, printed in a small, uniform font.

The aim is to deprive tobacco companies of the last remaining means of advertising their products, and to make cigarettes less appealing, particularly to young people. Drab olive-green was chosen because research suggested it was the least attractive colour to smokers. "We want to make sure that the glamour that might have been attached to smoking in the past is dead and gone," the Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, said yesterday. "Cigarette packs will now only show the death and disease that can come from smoking. The new packs have been designed to have the lowest appeal to smokers and to make clear the terrible effects that smoking can have on your health."

Plain packaging is also being contemplated by Britain, New Zealand, Canada and the European Union, which are closely watching Australia, particularly how it deals with the legal ramifications. British American Tobacco Australia (Bata), whose brands include Winfield, Dunhill and Benson & Hedges, claimed that the plan would infringe international trademark and intellectual property laws.

A Bata spokesman, Scott McIntyre, said: "The government could end up wasting millions of taxpayer dollars in legal fees trying to defend their decision, let alone the potential to pay billions to the tobacco industry for taking away our intellectual property."

But Ms Roxon said the government believed it was on very strong legal ground. Although smoking rates have almost halved over the past two decades, tobacco-related diseases still claim 15,000 lives in Australia every year, and cost the country about A$31.5bn (£20.3bn).The pared-down cigarette packs will feature lurid images showing the potential health impacts of smoking, with close-ups of rotting gums, blind eyes and sickly children.

Ian Olver, chief executive of Cancer Council Australia, said the move had "the potential to be one of the most significant public health measures in recent history". A spokesman for the Australian Council on Smoking and Health said: "This is a historic day for tobacco control globally. The tobacco industry's ferocious opposition to plain packaging shows that they know how effective it will be. They also know that once Australia has shown the way, other countries will follow."

But the industry claims there is "no credible evidence" that plain packaging reduced smoking. Imperial Tobacco denounced the legislation, and Philip Morris said it would fuel the trade in counterfeit cigarettes. "What company would stand for having its brands, which are worth billions, taken away from them?" asked Bata's Mr McIntyre. "A large brewing company or fast-food chain certainly wouldn't, and we're no different."

Depending on legal challenges, the law will be phased in over six months, beginning in January 2012. The government wants to cut the smoking rate to 10 per cent by 2018.

Australia Anti-Smoking Laws to be 'Toughest in the World'

Australia has unveiled what it claims are the toughest anti-smoking measures anywhere in the world.

They would completely ban logos and branding on packets of cigarettes - making Australia the first to do so.

The packets would also be plain olive green, which is the colour that smokers apparently find least attractive.

The tobacco companies say they are selling a legal product, and that the proposals infringe international trademark laws.

The colour, olive green, is the latest weapon in the ongoing battle between the Australian government and big tobacco.

Under aggressive new proposals, billed as the toughest in the world, every packet of cigarettes sold in Australia would be packaged in that colour after research showed that olive green was the most off-putting for smokers.

Logos and any form of distinct branding would be completely banned.

Instead, the brand names would appear in a standard size and font, making them as bland and anonymous as possible.

A greater area of the packaging would also be taken up with grotesque pictures of cancerous tumours and the health effects of tobacco.

Claiming a global first, the Australian government says it wants to remove any remaining glamour from cigarettes, but the big tobacco companies have questioned the legality of the legislation.

Worried about the possible worldwide knock-on effect of Australia introducing such stringent regulations, they've vowed to put up a fight - saying the new measures infringe international trademark and intellectual property laws.

Did you ever smoke in a non smoking hotel room?

 

Did you ever smoke in a hotel that had no smoking signs...

Many hotels now charge over $200 if you are caught smoking in designated Non-smoking rooms.,

Did you ever do it?
Did you get away with hanging out the window for a cig?
Did you get caught?

What happened?

 

Post your comments here.

No Smoking Fees may be a surprise

If you’re caught smoking in a non smoking area of your hotel, even outdoors, it may cost you.

 

Hotels are levying stiff fees on patrons who smoke where they shouldn't.

 

http://www.ontravel.com/?powerpress_pinw=1918-podcast

Quit Smoking for life 13 January , 2011

MOST New Year’s resolutions are broken by February each year. This year the Lithgow Community Health Service is committed to keeping people who have decided to quit smoking on the right path.

The high percentage of smokers in the local government area has prompted the service, in partnership with Lithgow Community Projects, to help smokers kick the habit with a new program.

“Now is a great time for Lithgow residents to take advantage of a few quit smoking services to usher in a smoke free New Year,” Sydney West Area Health Service Drug and Alcohol counsellor Kim Lewis said. Lithgow residents who want to quit smoking can access the free Lithgow Quit Smoking Service at the Lithgow Community Health Centre. “The service offers one-on-one counselling and nicotine replacement products like patches, gum or lozenges free of charge to help you achieve your smoke free goal,” Ms Lewis said. In Lithgow around 29 per cent of people smoke, a much higher rate than the state average of 17 per cent.

The quit smoking service has been organised specifically to treat Lithgow residents. For more information call the free Lithgow Quit Smoking service between 8 am and noon Monday to Friday on 6350 2763. The service is by appointment only and clinics are run from Lithgow Community Health Centre and Youth Worx.

Non-smoking Hotels have been a breath of fresh air - Metro Hotels

Five years on and the decision to adopt a 100% Non-smoking policy in all of its 14 hotels, motels, resorts and serviced apartments around Australia has proven to be an extremely positve move by Metro Hotels.

The initial move to adopt the smoke free policy came about in 2006 following increased demand for non-smoking rooms from corporate and government clients. 

"At the time we envisaged the change would be well received by our clients as the decision to become non-smoking basically came from them," explained Metro Hotels Chief Operating Officer, George Bedwani. "And the initial decision has proven to be a very good one", he said.
  
Metro Hotels has experienced no negative impact on their business. "To the contrary, we have received numerous positive comments from our guests and we have even secured new business from specific organisations in the health industry because we guarantee all rooms are non-smoking." noted Mr Bedwani.
 
There is still no official regulations requiring a total smoke-free environment in Hotels, Motels and other short term accommodation properties however Metro Hotels has made it an official requirement for all of their properties.

View original Article at Metro Hotels News

Metro breathes fresh air into Sydney Hotel - 15 May, 2006

The 4 star Metro Hotel on Pitt, Sydney is set to make a fresh start to the new financial year by becoming a 100% smoke-free hotel.
"The move has come about following increased demand for non-smoking rooms from our corporate and government clients," said Metro Hotels Group General Manager, Rajeev Dani of the 115 room hotel.
"We envisage the change will be well received by our clients as the decision to become non-smoking has predominantly come from them," he explained.
 
This is not the first Metro Hotels property that is totally non-smoking. In 2005, the Metro Apartments on Sussex, also located in Sydney's CBD and overlooking Darling Harbour, changed to a smoke-free property with no negative effect on occupancy, average or yield.
 
"There have been numerous studies undertaken by hotels which clearly show that the preference for the majority of guests is for a smoke-free hotel," Mr Dani said.
"The feedback we have received from our clients and our positive experience at Metro Apartments on Sussex certainly reinforces this."

Read Full Article at Metro Hotels News