Good news for non-smokers and bad news for smokers, Thailand has banned smoking in all bars, nightclubs and even open-air restaurants or markets, which should have dedicated smoking areas.

The smoking ban, which took effect February 17 (Sunday), is met with mixed reactions. Venue owners are apprehensive in implementing the ban, fearing that it may drive away their customers

Scientists concluded from a study that the lung functions of cystic fibrosis sufferers with a particular gene variation are worsened upon the patients' exposure to secondhand smoke.

The findings were derived from a six-year experiment involving hundreds of CF patients, and thorough analysis of conditions related to CF and secondhand smoke. The John Hopkins University researchers discovered that passive smoking was linked to decrease in lung function

Top officials of China have vowed to implement stiffer measures related to smoking following reports that 540 million Chinese suffer from secondhand smoke and about a million people across the region die annually due to tobacco related diseases.

In a top level conference focusing on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) held Saturday in Beijing, the delegates signed a proposal calling for a no-smoking environment and an implementation of a law banning smoking in public places

Smoking in cars with children will be banned in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia starting in 2008, public health officials said Friday.

Beginning in January, smoking will no longer be allowed in vehicles with children under the age of 19

Argentinean Health Minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia has challenged the nation to reduce its smoking rate by 50 percent in 2016.

Speaking at the second Argentine Health Congress in Mendoza province, Garcia said liberating Argentineans from the addiction of nicotine addiction 9 years hence will coincide with the country's bicentennial year of independence