From Our Blogs

Smoking bans in public buildings, workplaces, even at some outdoor venues are commonplace. And becoming more common is the practice of barring smokers from employment. But this approach is unfair and may have unintended consequences that do more harm than good, say researchers in an essay published in the journal Tobacco Control.

Policies prohibiting the hiring of smokers have become much more popular in the past year, a co-author of the report, Dr. Michael Siegel, said in an interview.

One U.S. company, for example, has stopped hiring smokers, has made smoking outside the workplace a fireable offense and even has extended its smoking ban to employees’ spouses. Siegel, a professor at Boston University School of Public Health, is a tobacco-control advocate. But he and co-author Brian Houle, of the University of Washington, fear the widespread adoption of such policies may make smokers nearly unemployable, cause them to lose their health insurance and affect their health and that of their families.

Moreover, they say, refusing to hire smokers is discriminatory and may lead to the adoption of other selective employment practices, such as not hiring people who are overweight or who have high cholesterol.

“People have thought about the positive benefits of these programs,” says Siegel, such as the fact that they may reduce absenteeism and increase productivity. “But we don’t think people have thought through the negative consequences. We’re looking at this from a broader public-health perspective.”

“Smoking is a very powerful addiction,” he said.

“Tobacco-control practitioners have naturally become very frustrated that it’s so difficult to get people to quit. The problem is that we can’t let that frustration cloud our vision about what is appropriate and what is not appropriate. This represents employment discrimination. And I believe, from a public-health perspective, we need to shun that.”

Employers typically favor positive approaches to encourage healthy employee behavior, such as free smoking-cessation classes. But Siegel predicts that workplace bans will become more popular as employers look for every approach to cut healthcare costs. About half of all states have laws that protect employees from being fired or not hired because they smoke.

-- Shari Roan

From: Booster Shots: Oddities, musings and some news from the world of health

For more, go to latimes.com/boostershots

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LA PLAZA

Naked photo shoots in Mexico

Spencer Tunick, the U.S. photographer famed for shooting photos of naked people en masse in public places, returned to Mexico City last week to do his thing again.

The last time the photographer worked in Mexico, he photographed an estimated 20,000 people naked in the city’s Zocalo, or grand central plaza, in May 2007.

This time around, Tunick opted for more intimate portraits of people posed naked around the streets of Mexico City.

He snapped 40 subjects (men and women) in locations as diverse as newsstands, a water truck and the Latin America Tower in the historic center of the city.

Supported by National Autonomous University of Mexico, the project was apparently inspired by the collection of works by Andres Blaisten (a 20th century Mexican artist) presented in the Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco.

Tunick told local media that he feels safer working in Mexico City than he does in the United States.

“I feel more secure here in Mexico because I couldn’t do this project in Texas, where I’ve been imprisoned,” he said to El Universal.

After the shoot, he returned to the U.S.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

From: La Plaza: News, links and observations about Latin America from Times correspondents

For more, go to latimes.com/laplaza

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UP TO SPEED

Toyota’s hybrid CPO program

What’s better than a used hybrid? Toyota believes it’s a certified pre-owned (CPO) hybrid. It seems folks aren’t aware hybrid Toyotas are available as CPO cars, and Toyota would like to change that trend. “We’ve already sold 30,000 hybrids to date on this program, but we’ve found that consumers have low awareness that hybrids are included in our CPO cars,” explained Steve Gallagher, Toyota certified used vehicles marketing manager.

The program is called the Toyota Certified Used Hybrid (TCUH), an extension of the existing Toyota Certified Used Vehicles (TCUV), and it provides inspection points and extended warranty coverage on all certified used Toyota hybrids.

What’s the difference? Toyota tells us it’s 14 inspection points that affect the components running adjacent to the internal combustion system. These checkpoints include the multi-informational display, inverter coolant levels, electric motor assisted power steering and the hybrid vehicle battery.

The program has its own easy-to-navigate consumer website, where we found eight Priuses of varying years with prices ranging from the high-$14,000s to mid-$20,000s. After making several calls to the related dealerships, however, we found not one sales manager who knew the program existed.

-- Joni Gray

From: Up to Speed: The latest auto news, tips and trends

For more, go to latimes.com/uptospeed