Tobacco.org

EDITORIAL: No buts about anti-smoking drive success 

ALONG WITH A DRIVE to reduce smoking in public places, action has been stepped up to encourage people not to use tobacco. We have reached this stage after a long haul and much debate. Studies have been made all around with the findings often reflecting the stance taken by whoever was paying for it.

We are now at the point where it is accepted and settled that tobacco has harmful effects. But not to be deterred, cigarette manufacturers have been endeavouring to open up bigger markets in countries where health services might not be as sophisticated as in developed countries. What can be expected is that tobacco interests will not give up without a fight.

At the same time, while it is accepted that tobacco poses health hazards, no strident calls have been made for a drop or ban in its cultivation. The use of suasion and the imposition of higher or heavy taxes on the use of tobacco have been preferred.

Meanwhile, some heavy financial backing has been coming for the fight against tobacco use. Among them is the Bloomberg Global Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, . . .

There is a strong argument that it is appropriate for the state to take a stand against smoking, since health resources will be deployed on behalf of citizens whose health is impaired from smoking.

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Pass tobacco control bill - Cancer Society 

The Cancer Society of Ghana (CSG), in collaboration with the African Cancer Consortium (AFROX) a UK-based non-governmental organisation on Thursday launched this year's Cancer awareness month in the country with a call on government to forward the tobacco control bill initiated to Parliament for consideration.

Dr.Billy Bosu, Head of Non-Communicable Diseases Unit, at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), who made the call, said there was an urgent need for government to take that step since smoking, a major cause of cancer was on the increase.

He also asked civil society groups and health expects to lobby government to forward the bill which has been at the cabinet level for some time now.

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• Soldiers and cigarettes 

The armed forces and cigarettes have a long history, going back to World War II. That's when Ancel Keys, a scientist who spent his career studying the relationship between diet and disease, helped the military develop an adequate meal suitable for combat. Named K-rations, after Keys, the meal considered sound at the time contained bacon, canned cheese and dextrose tablets. For relaxation, the military threw in gum and cigarettes, triggering massive nicotine addiction in young GIs.

The post-war tragedy unfolded over decades as smoking by WWII veterans led to a nine-fold increase in lung cancer deaths by 1980.

Cigarettes are no longer freebies in field K-rations, but the nicotine addiction rate in the military is still sky high, according to a news release put out by the University of Wisconsin's Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention.

"Soldiers are going to war zones in Iraq," says Dr. Michael Fiore, head of the center, "and, God willing, they survive the imminent risks of that deployment. But they often return addicted to tobacco -- a powerful addiction that puts them at risk for collateral damage for the rest of their lives."

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KOHN: Growth market for death  

But for much of the planet, the era of pervasive smoking is not over. In fact, it's just getting fired up. In many developing countries, particularly in Asia, smoking rates are above 50 percent. In some places, rates are rising. Especially worrisome: In many poor countries, rates of female smoking are increasing most rapidly.

These trillions of cigarettes will have enormous health consequences. . . .

The key engine behind this trend is corporate greed. In developed countries, tobacco use is dropping. To keep their profits high, multinational tobacco companies such as Philip Morris and British American Tobacco are expanding aggressively into new territory.

"They're looking to offset their losses," says Greg Connolly, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and an expert on Big Tobacco's global expansion. "Philip Morris has been trained in the U.S., the country that's the most hostile in the world to cigarette smoking. When they go into Armenia or India, it's easy."

In general, developing countries are a cigarette marketer's dream. They typically have little regulation, even less enforcement and low taxes, as well as customers and health officials who often don't realize tobacco's dangers.

Consider China . . .

Michael R. Bloomberg and Bill Gates have put up $500 million toward an anti-smoking campaign targeting the 15 countries with the worst tobacco problems, including China, India and Indonesia. It will use a comprehensive strategy focused on raising tobacco taxes; banning tobacco ads and promotion; limiting secondhand smoke; educating people about tobacco's hazards; and helping smokers quit.

This approach can work. After the Thai government adopted strong anti-smoking policies in the 1980s, it cut smoking among men by almost half over the next two decades. In the U.S., 24 states and hundreds of cities - including Baltimore - have banned smoking in restaurants and bars. Two decades ago, such limits would have seemed unlikely if not unimaginable. With planning and some help, the developing world can achieve similar success.

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• Just 1% kick butt with will power  

Indian smokers are in a fix. Many want to quit, some have even stopped lighting up with sheer willpower. But evidence available with Indian scientists, who have been working with chronic smokers, pose a grim reality.

Data suggests that just 1% of quit attempts, made by smokers on their own, succeed using willpower alone. And it only works for smokers with a short duration of smoking history 6 months-one year with good family support and those who do not consume more than 1-2 cigarettes a day.

What's worse, in reality, 80% of smokers who try to quit on their own actually end up becoming chronic smokers. Confirming this trend, Dr Ramakant, chief of WHO's Tobacco Cessation Centre (TCC) at Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University in Lucknow, told TOI: "In India, just 1% of smokers who try to quit on their own successfully do so. If given expert counselling, the quit rate improves to 11%. When smokers attend TCCs and undergo severity of addiction assessments and psychological counselling, quit rates improve to almost 30%.'' . . .

Meanwhile, chronic smokers those who light a smoke an hour after waking up from sleep wanting to enroll in systematic tobacco cessation programmes have very few TCCs to go to.

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• Mayor Bloomberg touts anti-smoking plan in Germany, admits shame caused him to quit 

BERLIN - Drinking beats smoking, Mayor Bloomberg said today at a beer-soaked street fair in the heart of Germany's capital.

After scooping up an anti-smoking award, the mayor bragged that New Yorkers who smoke are now ashamed to huddle outside bars with cigarettes, while non-smokers buy more food and drinks inside.

"It turns out that it is economically good for the bar and restaurant business," Bloomberg said. "It's certainly good for everybody except the funeral parlors."

The mayor was in Berlin to accept an award from the European Lung Foundation for his anti-smoking crusade. . . .

Bloomberg acknowledged that he used to smoke two decades ago and said humiliation helped him kick the habit.

"Friends of mine sort of looked down on me. It was embarrassing that I was doing something that can only be described as self-destructive and not very smart," the mayor said. "It's relatively easy to stop, and once you stop, you're going to feel so much superior to those who do smoke that there's instant gratification." . . .

He scolded medical professionals who still smoke as setting a horrible example to their patients.

"Every doctor who smokes sets an example that undermines the best public health anti-smoking campaign," he said. "He or she sends the message - after all, how bad can smoking really be?"

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It's relatively easy to stop, and once you stop, you're going to feel so much superior to those who do smoke that there's instant gratification.
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, on quitting smoking.

Tobacco Sellers Resist Bid to Outlaw Displays 

SHOPKEEPERS say their profits will go up in smoke if the Government follows a recommendation to outlaw in-store tobacco displays.

But health authorities argue the move will cut youth smoking and lower the smoking death toll of 5000 every year.

Cancer Society chief executive Dalton Kelly -- whose petition in support of a ban received 20,000 signatures -- said children walking into the country's 10,000 retail stores were confronted by "a power- wall of tobacco advertising". . . .

The parliamentary health select committee's report, issued yesterday, found tobacco displays could "create a false impression of the safety, social acceptability, and prevalence of tobacco use".

National MP Jo Goodhew said its four MPs on the committee had voted against the ban because they believed "more robust international evidence" was needed.

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DEMERS: Action needed on flavoured tobacco  

On Sept. 17, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Welland to announce a new tobacco control policy that would ban flavoured cigarillos (little cigars) and other flavoured tobacco products that would appeal to children, and that would ban all advertising in print or electronic form that could be viewed and read by youth.

The Canadian Cancer Society strongly supports these policies, and encourages all political parties to be similarly supportive.

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LETTER: S.F. ban  

Editor - Congratulations to San Francisco on becoming the first city to implement a tobacco-free pharmacies law to finally help drugstores get over their addiction to tobacco money. . . .

Cities have the right and responsibility to hold these supposed health care partners accountable for our communities health, and to not be part of the tobacco epidemic.

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Tobacco kills 15,000 Nepalis every year: report 

As many as 15,000 people are estimated to die due to tobacco consumption in Nepal every year, according to a report issued here by Nepal Cancer Relief Society (NCRS) on Wednesday.

Due to the delay in the ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the promotion of tobacco products has been going unabated.

"Earlier, the ratification was delayed citing the lack of authentic legal body in the country. No efforts have been made on that front even after the formation of a new government and the revival of the House of Representatives," president of the NCRS Diwakar Raj Karnikar said in the report.

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Walgreen Fails to Stop San Francisco Tobacco-Sale Ban (Update2) 

Walgreen Co., the largest U.S. drugstore chain, lost its bid to prevent a San Francisco law banning tobacco sales in drugstores from taking effect tomorrow.

California state court judge Peter Busch in San Francisco said today at a hearing that there was a reasonable basis for the law, and he rejected Walgreen's request to overturn it. The retailer sued the city Sept. 8 claiming the ordinance, the first such law in the U.S. according to the city, is unconstitutional and anticompetitive. Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA unit filed a similar suit Sept. 24.

Walgreen's lawyer, Daniel Kolkey, said after the ruling that the drugstore chain expects to lose ``roughly 9 percent of its non-pharmacy sales'' in San Francisco to grocery and warehouse stores such as those operated by Safeway Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp.

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Lawmakers act to protect Healthy Maine fund  

The Fund for a Healthy Maine will come under closer legislative scrutiny if recommendations approved Wednesday by a panel of Maine lawmakers are adopted.

The recommendations, endorsed by the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, will be presented today to the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee.

Every year since 1998, when 49 states settled a lawsuit with major tobacco manufacturers aimed at recouping some of the money spent on treating smoking-related illnesses, the Fund for a Healthy Maine has received $50 million to $55 million from the tobacco companies.

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Students fight for change in tobacco signs 

Cigarette commercials are no longer allowed on television, and if a group of local teenagers has its way, tobacco advertisements in storefronts won't be, either.

The Healthy Options for Prevention and Education Coalition held a press conference yesterday with city and state officials outside the Honey Farms convenience store at 353 Grafton St. The group of 15- to 19-year-olds chose the location because the privately held retail chain agreed to remove tobacco signs from the exteriors of its 15 Worcester locations.

In addition to getting tobacco advertising removed from storefronts, the group's ultimate goal is to have the City Council develop a sign ordinance that can be enforced and cap the number of tobacco sales permits the city issues annually. . . .

On average, stores had seven ads -- some stores have more than 30 -- and that put most stores out of compliance with the city's sign ordinance.

"We're constantly going to stores until we get them all down," said Harry Misenheimer, 17, a student at South Community High School.

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$50,000 in grants given to curb smoking among gays 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The state Division of Tobacco Prevention has distributed $100,000 in grants for programs designed to curb smoking in the gay community.

Covenant House and Bluefield State College each received a $50,000 grant this week to help gay people stop smoking and using chewing tobacco in central and Southern West Virginia.

Recent studies have shown that gays are about twice as likely to smoke . . .

"HIV isn't our biggest health threat; it's tobacco," said Jeff Crist, development director at Covenant House, a Charleston nonprofit.

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In pics: Will gory images on cigarette packs work? 

Pictures showing the damage smoking can do to your body are being printed on cigarette packets from 01 October.

There will even be really gross pictures like this to try to stop people lighting up.

Other countries have tried it, and they say the scary images made people think about giving up.

But do you think it will work? Ore went to a school to try to find out....

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