Prevention Matters

Ever rent a car with the unpleasant lingering odor of stale cigarettes? Well, that could be a thing of the past. Beginning October 1, all Avis and Budget rental vehicles in the United States and Canada will be smoke-free. This is big!

With the advent of smoke-free restaurants and hotels, business analysts complained that customers would go elsewhere and business would decline. Hasn’t happened. Non-smokers have become loyal supporters of smoke-free environments and business establishments that have enacted smoke-free policies. Let’s prove the naysayers wrong in this case too. Smoke-free car rentals can be a popular and healthier alternative.

Kudos to the Avis Budget Group for recognizing not only the unpleasantness of tobacco smoke residue and odors, but also for discouraging smoking in a small closed environment. People’s health and dry cleaning bills will both be positively impacted.

To ensure compliance with the new smoke-free policy, Avis and Budget have new inspection processes and will assess cleaning fees if tobacco odor or residue is detected in returned vehicles. And, these vehicles will be taken out of the rental fleet until thoroughly cleaned and odor-free again.


Diane M. Canova, JD
Managing Senior Fellow
& Senior Program Officer

Economic Inquiry has some interesting articles on the vices of drinking and smoking:

• Nationwide adoption of a minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) appears to have had only a minor impact on teen drinking and traffic fatalities. Even in early-adopting states, the impact of the MLDA did not persist much past the year of adoption.
• Fraternity membership significantly increases drinking intensity, frequency, and recency, as well as the prevalence of many deleterious drinking consequences that potentially carry negative externalities.
• Rising cigarette taxes have not significantly contributed to rising obesity rates.

The prospect of electronic cigarettes being allowed on airplanes was named Partnership for Prevention's Worst Idea of the Week, while the prospect of New Hampshire joining the other 49 states in adopting a mandatory seat belt law was named the Best Idea of the Week.

The Best/Worst honors are a regular feature of Prevention Matters. Each week, Partnership for Prevention's staff will choose the designees based on nominations of items in the previous week’s news submitted by members, staff and the public at large. To submit a nomination or for more information, contact Damon Thompson at dthompson@prevent.org .


WORST IDEA:
E-Cigs to Restore Lighting Up on Airplanes?

A Belgian company hopes its "electronic cigarette" once again makes lighting up part of the in-flight experience. SuperSmoker says its electronic cigarette delivers nicotine through tobacco-flavored vapor without the annoying smoke of a true cigarette, which means "this device can't be placed under the smoking prohibition" that bars smoking on flights. The smokeless cigs were launched in Europe last spring, and now SuperSmoker says it is talking to at least one unnamed airline about allowing the battery-powered butts aboard long-haul flights. It also will be showing off the technology at the Aircraft Interiors Expo next month.

More details online at http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/02/remember-the-da.html

BEST IDEA:
Despite “Live Free or Die” Motto, New Hampshire May Adopt Seat Belt Law

Legislators in the “Live Free or Die” state may soon trade a bit of their citizens’ independence for a pot of gold from Washington, D.C. The New Hampshire House of Representative recently voted 197 to 155 to adopt a mandatory seat belt law for all automobile drivers and passengers. New Hampshire is the only state not to have either a primary or secondary seat belt law for adults.

More details online at http://www.wptz.com/cnn-news/18753246/detail.html