Tobacco.org

Report: State loses millions due to tobacco use 

Tobacco use costs Wyoming hundreds of millions of dollars each year in lost productivity and health care, according to a report released by the state on Thursday.

The University of Wyoming and the Wyoming Department of Health said Wyoming lost $155 million in productivity and $136 million in health care costs because of tobacco use in 2004.

Tobacco is the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the world, Dr. Brent Sherard said during a press conference on the report.

Sherard, director of the Wyoming Department of Health, said smoke-free policies and increases in taxation on cigarettes should be the priority to increase the health of Wyoming residents.

The report concluded the same.

Jump to full article »

• Statewide ban, higher tobacco taxes may cut smoking, study finds  

Increasing taxes on tobacco and employing a statewide ban could reduce smoking and its effects in Wyoming.

That's according to a report by the University of Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center. It was presented Thursday at a news conference here by the Wyoming Department of Health.

Making cigarettes more expensive and enacting bans on smoking in public places make people think twice about starting and encourages others to quit, Brent Sherard said.

He's the director of the state Department of Health and the state health officer. . . .

The UW report concluded: "enacting a cigarette excise tax increase and/or a statewide smoking law could improve the health and increase the life expectancy of Wyoming citizens by reducing the prevalence of the leading cause of preventable death."

And it's not just a health issue.

Based on figures from 2004, Wyoming could save over $1,500 in health-care costs for every smoker that quits.

Jump to full article »

Report: Smoking bans lead to quitting 

A new study for the Wyoming Department of Health says more people quit smoking in communities that have enacted strong laws against smoking in public places.

The study by the Survey and Analysis Center at the University of Wyoming comes as Wyoming lawmakers prepare to revisit a possible statewide smoking ban.

Jump to full article »

Major NCI Report Concludes Tobacco Marketing Causes Kids to Smoke, Underscores Need for U.S. Senate to Pass FDA Tobacco Regulation This Year (Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids) 

The comprehensive report released today by the National Cancer Institute provides the government's strongest conclusion to date that tobacco marketing causes kids to smoke and that anti-tobacco advertising campaigns prevent smoking. The 684-page report, The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use, is an exhaustive review of more than 1,000 scientific studies and presents definitive conclusions that a) tobacco advertising and promotion are causally related to increased tobacco use, and b) exposure to depictions of smoking in the movies is causally related to youth smoking initiation. The report also concludes that mass media campaigns can reduce smoking, but so-called "youth smoking prevention campaigns" sponsored by the tobacco industry have been generally ineffective and may actually have increased youth smoking.

This report sends a loud and clear message to the nation's policy-makers: We need less tobacco company marketing and more anti-tobacco advertising.

Jump to full article »

• Surveillance for Cancers Associated with Tobacco Use --- United States, 1999--2004 

This report provides age-adjusted cancer incidence rates by demographic and geographic characteristics, percentage distributions for tumor characteristics, and trends in cancer incidence by sex.

Results: Approximately 2.4 million cases of tobacco-related cancer were diagnosed during 1999--2004. Age-adjusted incidence rates ranged from 4.0 per 100,000 persons (for AML) to 69.4 (for lung and bronchial cancer). High rates occurred among men, black and non-Hispanic populations, and older adults. Higher incidence rates of lung and laryngeal cancer occurred in the South compared with other regions, particularly the West, consistent with high smoking patterns in the South.

Interpretation: The high rates of tobacco-related cancer observed among men, blacks, non-Hispanics, and older adults reflect overall demographic patterns of cancer incidence in the United States and reflect patterns of tobacco use.

Public Health Action: The findings in this report emphasize the need for ongoing surveillance and reporting to monitor cancer incidence trends, identify populations at greatest risk for developing cancer related to tobacco use, and evaluate the effectiveness of targeted tobacco control programs and policies.

Jump to full article »

• UPMC study shows smoking water pipes is popular with college crowd 

A University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study shows 265, or 41 percent, out of a group of 647 students at Pitt have smoked tobacco from a hookah, or water pipe, and 173 students -- nearly 88 percent of the 198 people who took part in the centuries-old tradition over the past year -- said they intend to do so again.

The portion of respondents who have smoked cigarettes at least once, 39.6 percent, was virtually the same as hookah smokers.

The study is the first random sample of U.S. university students to address hookah smoking, long practiced in the Middle East, North Africa and Central and South Asia. Participants were invited by e-mail to complete the online hookah use survey. The results are available online in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine at www.springerlink.com.

"I'd say the most surprising [finding] is that the proportion who ever used [hookahs] is every bit as common as cigarette use," said Dr. Brian Primack, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at Pitt's medical school.

Perhaps more troublesome, though, was the finding that 35.4 percent of those who had smoked tobacco in a hookah had never smoked a cigarette. . . .

"[Hookahs] are reaching a group of young people who otherwise would have been nicotine- and tobacco-naive. ... We don't really know what the implication of that is. Some people might say that it wouldn't make a difference: Somebody who is exposed to a few water pipe sessions, that might not change their risk of later using tobacco products. But I think there are a lot of researchers who would be concerned and say that even intermittent exposure at this age to nicotine and tobacco will increase their likelihood of becoming addicted to nicotine and continuing to the same."

Jump to full article »

[Hookahs] are reaching a group of young people who otherwise would have been nicotine- and tobacco-naive. . . . We don't really know what the implication of that is. . . . there are a lot of researchers who would be concerned and say that even intermittent exposure at this age to nicotine and tobacco will increase their likelihood of becoming addicted to nicotine.
Dr. Brian Primack, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

• Tobacco caused 2.4 million U.S. cancers - report  

Tobacco use caused 2.4 million cases of cancer in the United States from 1999 to 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday.

As might be expected, lung and bronchial cancer accounted for nearly half the cases but cancers of the larynx, mouth and pharynx, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney, bladder, cervix, as well as acute myelogenous leukemia are also caused by tobacco, the CDC found.

"The data in this report provides additional, strong evidence of the serious harm related to tobacco," said Sherri Stewart of the CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, who led the study.

Jump to full article »

Study finds hookah smoking popular among college crowd 

More than 40 percent of the students at a large northeastern university have smoked tobacco from a hookah, or water pipe, according to a study by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers now online in the "Annals of Behavioral Medicine."

However, of that group of hookah users, more than one-third had never smoked a cigarette.

"I think that's a key finding. There's an overlap in a lot of people [who have smoked both], but there were over a third of the people smoking water pipes who would otherwise have never touched a cigarette," said Dr. Brian Primack, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics in Pitt's School of Medicine.

". . . [Hookahs] are reaching a group of young people who otherwise would have been nicotine- and tobacco-naive. . . .

"We don't really know what the implication of that is," . . .

I think there are a lot of researchers who would be concerned and say that even intermittent exposure at this age to nicotine and tobacco will increase their likelihood of becoming addicted to nicotine and continuing to use some tobacco product later on."

Jump to full article »

• Cigarettes' Power May Not Be In Nicotine Itself, New Study Suggests 

A Kansas State University psychology professor's research suggests that nicotine's power may be in how it enhances other experiences. For a smoker who enjoys drinking coffee, the nicotine may make a cup of joe even better.

And that may explain why smoking is so hard to quit.

"People have very regimented things they do when they smoke," said Matthew Palmatier, assistant professor of psychology at K-State. "If you think about where people smoke or who they smoke with, you realize that it occurs in very specific places, often with a specific group of people. Maybe it's a reason why nicotine is so addictive -- if you get used to having that extra satisfaction from things you normally enjoy, not having nicotine could reduce the enjoyment in a given activity.

"People may not be smoking to obtain a pleasurable drug state. They may be smoking in order to regulate their mood, and that effect could make nicotine more addictive than other drugs."

Palmatier said much previous research on nicotine addiction has looked at the drug itself rather than the other factors he is studying. ...

Palmatier has a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to understand how this phenomenon can be used to better design tobacco addiction treatments . . .

Palmatier and colleagues published a paper on their research in the August issue of Neuropsychopharmacology.

Jump to full article »

The big picture is trying to figure out why people smoke. There are a lot of health risks, and the majority of smokers already know what they are. They want to quit but can't. It's not because nicotine is a potent drug; it doesn't induce significant amounts of pleasure or euphoria. Yet, it's just as difficult if not more difficult to quit than other drugs.
Matthew Palmatier, assistant professor of psychology at Kansas State University.

中国公民应具66种健康素质 

昨天，卫生部发布《中国公民健康素养——基本知识与技能释义》，界定了我国公民目前应掌握的、与生活方式和健康密切相关的基本知识与技能。

Jump to full article »

Smoking riskier to women's hearts than men's  

Women typically get heart disease much later than men, but not if they smoke, researchers said Tuesday.

In fact, women who smoke have heart attacks more than a dozen years earlier than women who don't smoke, Norwegian doctors reported in a study presented to the European Society of Cardiology. For men, the gap is not so dramatic; male smokers have heart attacks about six years earlier than men who don't smoke.

"This is not a minor difference," said Dr. Silvia Priori, a cardiologist at the Scientific Institute in Pavia, Italy. "Women need to realize they are losing much more than men when they smoke," she said. Priori was not connected to the research.

Jump to full article »

• Indonesia Tobacco Sales Grow, Raising Health Fears 

Smoking rates in Indonesia have increased significantly in recent years, placing it with India and China as the nations with the highest smoking rates. Katie Hamann met with researchers at a recent tobacco conference in the capital, Jakarta. They challenge the government's position that the tobacco industry is vital to economic growth in Indonesia. . . .

Barber says tobacco consumes a disproportionate part of family income, with smokers spending more than five times as much on cigarettes than on health care and education.

"Households with smokers are dedicating a very, very large amount of money on tobacco and this has serious welfare implications for the rest of their family," added Barber. "We also know that paternal smoking is a positive predictor of malnutrition."

Barber's research also shows that the government would benefit considerably from an increase in taxes. The industry now contributes more than $4.5 billion in taxes, accounting for as much as 10 percent of revenue. Raising taxes, she says, could increase that amount.

Jump to full article »

EDITORIAL: Our Opinion: Eateries unhurt by smoking ban 

Forget those gloomy predictions about bars and restaurants being driven out of business if their customers were not allowed to smoke.

An Arizona State University study found that the statewide ban on smoking inside businesses has had no impact on 96 percent of bars and restaurants surveyed. . . .

The voter-approved ban took effect in May 2007 with opponents saying it would bankrupt businesses.

Instead, bars and restaurants have added outdoor patios and adapted. Some businesses closed, but none blamed the smoking ban.

It now is healthier and more pleasant to eat and work in Arizona restaurants. So everyone has won.

Jump to full article »

• VCU worried about research for big tobacco 

Faculty and students told a Virginia Commonwealth University panel that they're concerned about the moral and ethical implications of entering research agreements with tobacco giant Philip Morris USA and other corporations.

Wednesday's meeting was the final one held by the task force, formed in the wake of a controversy over a consulting contract between VCU and Richmond-based Philip Morris USA.

The group is expected to consider whether to refuse research funding from tobacco companies, as several other schools have, and will issue its recommendations to VCU President Eugene P. Trani by Oct. 1.

A number of speakers told the task force that the university should rethink whether its researchers should sign "work-for-hire" agreements with Richmond-based Philip Morris, a unit of Altria Group Inc. The forum was open only to faculty, staff and students.

Jump to full article »

EDITORIAL: Plenty to fume about 

For a province doing so well in many statistical indicators, Saskatchewan can take no pride at all in one published recently.

According to Statistics Canada, around 24 per cent of Saskatchewanians are "current smokers" -- the highest rate in the country.

Nationally, 19 per cent of respondents described themselves as smokers; the lowest rate was in B.C., at only 14 per cent.

It gets worse. The survey indicates Saskatchewan has the highest proportion of youth (between 15 and 19) who smoke -- at 22 per cent. (The national average is 15.2 per cent).

That is particularly bad news because conventional wisdom in treating the addiction called smoking holds that it's in the teen years that lifelong smokers are created. . . . .

The best way to cut tobacco use is not by outlawing it (that would only lead to smuggling), but convincing people that it's in their best interest to quit using tobacco -- or never start.

So with the goal of reducing tobacco use -- and therefore future health-care costs -- the best approach today may be a focus on imaginative and persistent educational and advertising programs to warn off new users, and help long-time users to quit.

It may seem costly, but over the long term this will save us much health-care money, and many lives.

Jump to full article »