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Smokes alarm as fashion outlets targeted 

CIGARETTES are being sold at high-end Adelaide clothing stores and at least one hair salon, in a "tricky and desperate" tactic to lure new young smokers.

A Sunday Mail investigation has discovered smoke company Imperial Tobacco is lavishing trendy stores with cash incentives and corporate entertainment in return for stocking Peter Stuyvesant brand cigarettes in specially designed cigarette dispensers.

They sell from $9.95 to $11.70 for a pack of 20 cigarettes.

The tobacco giant's targeting of fashion-savvy outlets to push the trendy brand has prompted calls for a State Government crackdown to ban the practice.

Marketing kits distributed by the tobacco giant to fashion retailers describe cigarettes as being safe and fashionable: "It used to be extremely dangerous. Now the only danger is you're not the coolest cat on the block."

Quit SA and Independent Senator Nick Xenophon are appalled

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Lung cancer deadliest tumor for Australia women  

Lung cancer has overtaken breast cancer as the biggest killer of Australian women with cancer, as females who started smoking in the 1970s and 1980s as they gained equal rights with men are diagnosed with the deadly disease.

More than 50 Australian women lost their battle with lung cancer every week in 2005 and the number will rise to almost 65 female deaths a week in 2010, said a report released on Friday by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

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• Tobacco smoking as a risk factor for major depressive disorder: population-based study  

Results

Among 165 people with major depressive disorder and 806 controls, smoking was associated with increased odds for major depressive disorder (age-adjusted odds ratio (OR)=1.46, 95% CI 1.03-2.07). Compared with non-smokers, odds for major depressive disorder more than doubled for heavy smokers (>20 cigarettes/day). Among 671 women with no history of major depressive disorder at baseline, 13 of 87 smokers and 38 of 584 non-smokers developed de novo major depressive disorder during a decade of follow-up. Smoking increased major depressive disorder risk by 93% (hazard ratio (HR)=1.93, 95% CI 1.02-3.69); this was not explained by physical activity or alcohol consumption.

Conclusions

Evidence from cross-sectional and longitudinal data suggests that smoking increases the risk of major depressive disorder in women.

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Short delay helps to give cigs away 

“It’s not my resolution, because they never stick.”

But delaying her last puff may be just the right move to help her stop smoking.

According to Quit, smokers intent on butting out for good should wait until the holiday season is over.

The support service for smokers wanting to stop says that those with a New Year’s resolution to quit should wait until two weeks into 2009.

This is so their plan doesn’t get lost in the busy holiday season.

Quitline manager Ian Ferretter said the delay would give smokers extra time to prepare themselves.

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Smokers advised to quit after New Year 

Smokers intent on butting out for good have been told to wait until the holiday season is over.

Quit, a help service for smokers wanting to stop, says smokers making a New Year's resolution should wait two weeks into the new year so their plan doesn't get lost in the busy holiday season.

Quitline manager Ian Ferretter said the delay would give smokers extra time to prepare themselves for quitting.

"Quitting smoking is the perfect way to kick off 2009," he said.

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Victoria bans battery powered cigarettes 

Battery powered cigarettes that give pseudo smokers a hit of nicotine vapour have been banned in Victoria.

The devices resemble a traditional cigarette and contain nicotine cartridges that create puffs of vapour through an atomiser, like smoke.

From Thursday, the sale and use of nicotine cartridges will be illegal in Victoria and the advertising of battery powered cigarettes banned.

Health Minister Daniel Andrews said nicotine was highly addictive and toxic and was rapidly absorbed through the skin, inhalation and ingestion.

He said users of battery powered cigarettes were in danger of nicotine poisoning, with acute exposure causing possible damage to the mouth, eyes and nervous, digestive and musculoskeletal systems.

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• Ban on battery-powered smokes 

A battery-powered device touted as the "healthy alternative to smoking" has been banned by the State Government.

Health Minister Daniel Andrews today said it would be illegal to sell the nicotine cartridges necessary to use the device.

The device, which resembles a traditional cigarette, does not contain tobacco but delivers nicotine through an atomiser that creates puffs of vapour similar to cigarette smoke.

Health organisations were outraged earlier this year when the cigarettes were promoted as a way to beat smoking bans in pubs, offices and on public transport.

Mr Andrews said the pharmacology of nicotine had been well studied.

"It is addictive and produces a characteristic abstinence withdrawal syndrome," he said in a statement. . . .

The new regulation, which comes into effect tomorrow, outlaws the manufacture, sale, supply, purchase, possession or use of unregulated nicotine delivery systems.

The decision will have no effect on the sale of nicotine replacement therapies, which are used to assist people stop smoking.

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Ban on battery-powered cigarettes  

BATTERY-powered cigarettes, sold as a "healthier alternative" and a way to beat smoking bans, will be outlawed in Victoria from Friday.

Distributors say electronic cigarettes have been used by up to 10,000 Victorians since they hit the market a year ago.

The Egar device works by heating up a small cartridge of liquid nicotine, releasing puffs of vapour resembling smoke that are inhaled by smokers.

But because the lookalike product is not lit, it can be used in "no smoking" areas.

It contains no tobacco, but Health Minister Daniel Andrews says its nicotine is no less toxic and addictive.

From tomorrow, it will be illegal to sell the nicotine cartridges used in the device in Victoria.

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Woman in hospital after cigarette starts fire  

AN elderly woman has been carried unconscious to hospital after her western Sydney was set ablaze apparently by a cigarette, NSW Fire Brigades said today.

Neighbours of the single-storey Department of Housing home on Yugilbar Avenue, Villawood, called NSW Fire Brigades just before 1am (AEDT) on Sunday after hearing a smoke alarm go off. Firefighters found smoke billowing from the rear of the house.

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• Lung Cancer Becomes Deadliest Tumor for Women in Australia  

Lung cancer overtook breast cancer as the deadliest tumor for Australian women for the first time, a report showed, even as it killed fewer men. The trend will probably continue, reflecting decades-old smoking patterns.

Lung cancer killed 2,716 women in Australia in 2005, the most recent year for which data are available, compared with 2,707 breast-cancer deaths, the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare said in a report today from Canberra. The disease accounted for almost one in five of the nation’s 39,000 cancer deaths, making it the most lethal cancer for both sexes.

The report predicts lung cancer will kill more women and fewer men until at least 2010, reflecting smoking trends in the 1970s and ‘80s when the habit became more common among women as men were giving it up, said Ian Olver, chief executive officer of Cancer Council Australia.

“Women were beginning to come into the workforce and beginning to adopt the patterns of male lifestyles,” Olver said in a telephone interview yesterday. “Barriers were being broken down and that included the good things and the bad things.”

Lung cancer will probably increase by 0.4 cases for every 100,000 women each year, and fall by 1.1 cases in every 100,000 men, assuming 2005 trends continue, the report predicts.

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Lung cancer to overtake breast cancer  

Lung cancer will soon kill more females than breast cancer as women lag behind men in getting the anti-smoking message, according to the latest snapshot on Australian cancer rates.

Today's report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reveals that women who took up smoking in the 1970s and 1980s are now paying the price, as lung cancer outstrips breast cancer as a cause of death for the first time.

The report, Cancer In Australia: An Overview 2008, predicts that lung cancer rates in women are expected to grow by 0.4 per cent a year until 2010 but will fall by 1.1 per cent for men.

"It's tragic because there is not a lot you can do to prevent breast cancer but there is no reason for having so many people diagnosed with lung cancer when it stems from smoking," the chief executive of the Cancer Council of Australia, Ian Olver, said yesterday.

He called for a price rise on cigarettes and continued graphic advertising campaigns outlining the broad range of smoking's side effects, such as cardiovascular and gum disease.

"One in five people are smokers, so the advertising campaigns are graphic, but they need to remain as intense as they are now to make sure people get the message," he said.

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Cancer in Australia: an overview, 2008 (PDF) 

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7 Cancers attributed to smoking and excessive alcohol consumption in 2005

Data on cancers attributed to smoking and excessive alcohol consumption are derived from a series of age- and sex-specific aetiological fractions developed by Ridolfo and Stevenson (2001) and are summarised in Appendix E. These fractions are based on an analysis of international and Australian studies and estimate the probability that a specific agent (tobacco or excessive alcohol) causes a specific disease (cancer).

While tobacco and alcohol have each been associated with cancer in their own right, they often occur together and may interact to produce higher or lower risks. To the extent possible, the estimates of the aetiological fractions have been derived to represent the independent contribution of each risk factor. However, it is not possible to allow for all the complexities of the interactions between risk factors using this methodology. Hence the fractions for tobacco and alcohol cannot be summed to give a combined effect of the two risk factors.

7.1 Main findings

In 2005 there were an estimated 11,308 new cases of cancer and 8,155 deaths from cancer that can be attributed to smoking. This represents over 11% of cases and nearly 21% of cancer deaths. . . .

8.7 Lung cancer

For lung cancer, the highest age-standardised incidence rate occurred in the Northern Territory (53.6 cases per 100,000 persons), followed by Tasmania (50.5), Western Australia (46.1), Queensland (45.0), Victoria (42.4), South Australia (42.0), New South Wales (41.6) and the Australian Capital Territory (31.8).

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Gasp takes grasp: lung cancer top killer of Australian women 

Lung cancer has overtaken breast cancer to become the No 1 killer of Australian women, a new report says.

The ACT has the lowest incidence of lung cancer in the country but Canberrans suffer some of the highest rates of breast and prostate cancer.

Australian women took up cigarettes at a growing rate in the 1970s and 1980s while the smoking rate among men fell.

As a result, national lung cancer rates for women are predicted to grow 0.4 per cent every year.

The ACT averages nearly 32 cases of lung cancer per 100,000 residents, the lowest rate in the country.

The Northern Territory reported the highest rates of lung cancer with 53.6 cases for every 100,000 people, followed by Tasmania with 50 cases.

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Cancer in Australia: an overview, 2008: Summary 

Cancer in Australia: an overview, 2008 is a joint report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and the state and territory members of the Australasian Association of Cancer Registries (AACR). It presents the numbers of new cases of cancer and cancer deaths in 2005 as well as projections for 2006 to 2010. A wealth of other topics are covered, such as incidence of lymphohaematopoietic cancers using a modern classification scheme, cancers attributed to smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, incidence in the states and territories, incidence rates over the life span, cancer survival, cancer prevalence, cancer-related hospitalisations, the cancer screening programs and the burden of cancer. . . .

In both sexes the five biggest killers, in order, are lung cancer, prostate cancer (males)/breast cancer (females), colorectal cancer, cancer of unknown primary site and pancreatic cancer. For females, lung cancer overtook breast cancer in 2005 to become the biggest cancer killer of females for the first time. It is projected that lung cancer deaths in females will accelerate away from breast cancer deaths. This trend is caused by the increasing rates of smoking observed in women in the 1970s and 1980s. By contrast, male smoking rates were decreasing during this period and their lung cancer incidence and death rates today are also declining.

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• Cancer in Australia: an overview, 2008 (AIHW) 

Cancer in Australia: an overview, 2008 presents comprehensive national data on cancer incidence and mortality in 2005 and projections for 2006 to 2010. Other topics covered include incidence of lymphohaematopoietic cancers using a WHO-based classification scheme, cancers attributed to smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, incidence in the states and territories, incidence rates and most common cancers over the life span and cancer-related hospitalisations.

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