**UNLV tobacco ban possible**

UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS – Tobacco Free UNLV outlined its plans to make UNLV and other college campuses in southern Nevada smoke-free by the spring semester of 2012 during a Sept. 16 meeting.

The organization, led by the UNLV School of Nursing, has a goal to rid tobacco from Southern Nevada college campuses by 2012 through a combination of campus outreach, smoking cessation classes and tobacco-free policy development, said Susan VanBeuge, assistant professor with the school of nursing, during a live online broadcast.

Tobacco Free UNLV falls under a grant overseen by the Southern Nevada Health District stemming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and was originally obtained by former UNLV School of Nursing faculty member Nancy York. Since then, York has left the university and VanBeuge currently runs the program, said the program’s graduate assistant Kristin Guthrie.

“There will be phases,” Guthrie said. “First there will be warnings for maybe six months and then signage around campus to remind people that it’s a tobacco free campus.”

The tobacco ban has yet to be decided on by UNLV administration. Administrators want proof of the student population’s desire for a smoke-free campus in the form of a petition before enacting any such policy, VanBeuge said.

Tobacco Free UNLV is in the process of mining the student body for signatures in support of their movement.

In 2010, Tobacco Free UNLV conducted a Tobacco Use and Attitude Survey of university students. The results of the survey showed that 74 percent of students want legislation passed to protect them from secondhand smoke on campus, VanBeuge said.

_By Nolan Lister, The Rebel Yell_

**One Book, One Community: Education Across Platform**

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS – “No Impact Man” has been chosen this year for the One Book, One Community campaign, which promotes social topics through literature.

With the efforts university officials have been making to become a more environmentally friendly campus, “it seemed the timing of this book was really perfect, given the events that had taken place,” said Kevin Fitzpatrick, sociology and criminal justice professor.

“What we like about this book is that instead of telling the readership, Collin Beavan turns it upside down and says ‘Hey watch me, here’s what I’m going to do as an example of living a low-impact lifestyle,’” Fitzpatrick said.

In “No Impact Man,” Beavan describes how he and his family in Manhattan altered their lifestyle completely to diminish their carbon footprint.

“I personally like this book thus far,” said Guadalupe Sicairos, a freshman biology and pre-med student. “It contains so many interesting facts, such as that baby’s diapers create around 5 percent of our world’s trash.”

_By Zessna Garcia, The Arkansas Traveler _

**NIH grant to continue chemical warfare research**

RUTGERS – The National Institute of Health gave $23.2 million to the University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School to continue research for a drug to counteract chemical warfare agents.

Researchers at the University and UMDNJ began the program to help protect the country in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, said Jeffrey Laskin, professor of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

“We could be attacked by dirty bombs with radiological or nuclear material, biological material like anthrax or something…and chemicals,” he said. “It’s our job to figure out the chemicals that terrorists might use and try to figure out how they work (so we can) overcome them.”

The product of the research that would counteract the chemicals could be in pill, lotion or ointment form, he said.

The researchers at the University and UMDNJ design experiments, which are conducted at Battelle Laboratories. From there, samples are sent back to the University and UMDNJ for analysis to figure out the best way to move forward with the drugs and identify how they work, Laskin said.

“We’re hopeful we’ll be able to develop a drug in the next few years,” he said. “It’s a very difficult problem to solve but we’re making progress and understanding how (the chemicals) work and coming up with leads to (take) to the Food and Drug Administration.”

_By Yashmin Patel, The Daily Targum_