Tobacco.org

Calls for action to stub out smoking among poor  

ANTI-smoking campaigners have called for more to be done to reduce the number of people who smoke in deprived areas. ASH Scotland was reacting to the 2007 Scottish Household Survey, which highlighted the greater percentage of people who smoke in poorer parts of the country.

Chief executive Sheila Duffy said: "The publication of the 2007 Scottish Household Survey shows a slight decline in the number of people smoking in Scotland down from 25 per cent in 2006 to 24.7 per cent last year.

"However, the relationship between smoking and deprivation is again highlighted, with 43 per cent of people in the most deprived areas lighting up, compared to just 12 per cent in the more affluent.

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EDITORIAL: More help for tobacco  

Ontario Agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky has turned her back on tobacco growers. Dombrowsky is refusing to contribute to a buyout program announced last week by the federal government. . . .

Dombrowsky is blowing smoke. Ontario collects tax from manufacturers, the cost of which is passed along to smokers. Ontario also will get a large share of the civil damages paid by Imperial Tobacco and Rothman's Benson and Hedges.

So, Ontario has the money -- or can find it -- to contribute its share.

Just now Dombrowsky seems more concerned about an image problem of helping a group that isn't popular with many Ontarians.

But Dombrowsky should focus on her job. She is agriculture minister. She should help farmers get out of tobacco.

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• Reductions in Smoking Show Promise for Reducing Home Fire Deaths  

Home fire deaths are higher in states that have a greater percentage of smokers, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study published this month in the journal Injury Prevention. If smoking at home is reduced or stopped, fewer residential fire deaths may result, the study said.

Smoking is the leading cause of home fire deaths and accounts for approximately one quarter of the 3,000 home fire deaths in the United States each year. Quitting smoking, as well as following fire safety recommendations related to smoking, can help reduce the risk of cigarette-related home fire deaths. For free telephone-based counseling from anywhere in the United States, smokers can call 1-800-QUIT-NOW, a national number that connects people to their state-based quit line.

This study is the first to use national data to look at the percentage of current smokers and home fire deaths in the District of Columbia and all U.S. states except Hawaii. Nationally, an estimated 21 percent of adults smoked in 2004, with state averages ranging from 11 percent (Utah) to 28 percent (Kentucky). In that year, an estimated 2,804 individuals died in home fires, or nearly one death per 100,000 people in the United States.

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CONDE: Eraserheads Reunion Concert: An Apology  

Below is the email I posted today on the Eraserheads mailing list:

Guys,

I feel a bit like Daniel right now. But I feel I have to do this.

When I blogged about the Eraserheads reunion concert, I wasn't out looking for a fight. The rumors of the concert bothered me, so, like many bloggers, I blogged about it.

In hindsight, I admit that the tone of my post was judgmental on the Eraserheads. . . .

I also didn't set out to propagate my anti-smoking advocacy. Truth be told, I didn't have such an advocacy prior to this. (Four or five years ago, I tried smoking (Marlboro). Thankfully, the habit didn't stick.) I thought I was just blogging. I expected reactions, of course, but was befuddled by the level of vitriol that I got through the comments section of gmanews.tv and pinoypress.net.

In any case, because of this issue, I got interested even more in the behavior of tobacco companies. So now, I sound like an anti-tobacco advocate. Not that I'm apologizing for this position. I'm not. I still believe that Philip Morris is manipulating the public and I wish that the Eheads were in a position to ignore the company's offer.

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• CONDE: Eraserheads Concert: Who’s Wagging the Dog?  

Dave Gomez, the public affairs and communications manager of Philip Morris, was quoted in this report as saying that the Eraserheads reunion concert will push through. He revealed that Philip Morris is not sponsoring the event -- in fact, he said, the tobacco company is organizing it.

"We're not sponsoring the event. We organized it ourselves," Gomez was quoted as saying. "The event is free for our valued customers. This is a little something we do for them to show them our appreciation for their continued patronage of our products."

Gomez emphasized this because of a legal point that would seem to clear Philip Morris of accusations that it violated Republic Act 9211 (the Tobacco Regulation Act). Apparently, under this law, tobacco companies can organize events but they cannot sponsor it. Go figure. . . .

In other words, if I were Philip Morris, philmusic and Ayson's mailing list would be my logical target for planting information or tips that would generate the buzz. Now I'm not suggesting anything improper or unethical on Ayson's or philmusic's part. Anybody, after all, can join or post anything on the mailing list or that, knowing Ayson's clout in the local music scene, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that he has sources knowledgeable about the planned concert. In fact, it's very likely that, it being an extraordinary piece of news and buzz, philmusic just reported what it learned, not knowing perhaps that it was being manipulated by Philip Morris in what was turning out to be a terrific viral marketing campaign.

My point is that, tobacco companies will do anything to sell their products. The Internet, because of its freewheeling nature and its enormous audience composed of precisely the demographic tobacco companies have been targeting, holds huge potentials for the marketing of tobacco. If anything, the buzz that Philip Morris generated for the Eraserheads reunion concert only validated this.

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• Philip Morris won't postpone Eheads concert  

Philip Morris Philippines is organizing the Eraserheads reunion concert, not sponsoring it, a spokesman of the tobacco company said Friday, reiterating that it will not be violating the law if the event pushes through.

"We're not sponsoring the event. We organized it ourselves," said Dave Gomez, Philip Morris public affairs and communications manager.

He added: "The event is free for our valued customers. This is a little something we do for them to show them our appreciation for their continued patronage of our products."

He said the reunion concert will push through as he assured Eraserheads fans that the event is not a violation of the law. "We have no intention of violating the law. In fact, we supported the passage of the Tobacco Act."

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Gene Variant May Decide Who Smokes and for How Long  

A gene variant that may influence a person's initial response to smoking and lifetime smoking habits has been identified by a team of researchers.

The finding about the variant in the CHRNA5 nicotine receptor gene may help explain how someone goes from trying their first cigarette to becoming a long-term smoker.

Previous studies have inked variations in the same genetic region to a smoker's level of nicotine dependence, to the number of cigarettes smoker per day, and to an increased risk of lung cancer.

This new University of Michigan-led study examined genetic and smoking data from 435 people, including never-smokers -- who tried at least one cigarette but no more than 100 cigarettes in their lives -- and regular smokers who'd smoked at least five cigarettes a day for at least the past five years.

The regular smokers were far more likely than never-smokers to have less common form of the CHRNA5 gene in which just one base pair in the gene sequence is different from the more common form of the gene.

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Cigarette company to become JSE`s largest stock 

After almost a century of being dominated by mining companies, a new king of the JSE is about to be crowned: cigarette company British American Tobacco (BAT).

When the dust settles after a complex reorganisation of Remgro (JSE:REM) and Richemont (JSE:RCH), the result will be a new secondary listing on the JSE of the London based tobacco company, towards the end of October.

The company's market cap will be around R560bn, edging out for top spot BHP Billiton

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Association of a single nucleotide polymorphism in neuronal acetylcholine receptor subunit alpha 5 (CHRNA5) with smoking status and with 'pleasurable buzz'during early experimentation with smoking 

Conclusions We replicated the observation that the minor allele of rs16969968 affects smoking behavior, and extended these findings to sensitivity to smoking effects upon experimentation. While the ability to test genetic associations was limited by sample size, the polymorphism in the CHRNA5 subunit was shown to be associated significantly with enhanced pleasurable responses to initial cigarettes in regular smokers in an a priori test. The findings suggest that phenotypes related to subjective experiences upon smoking experimentation may mediate the development of nicotine dependence.

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Travale takes Dombrowsky to task over tobacco buyout  

Norfolk Mayor Dennis Travale took provincial Agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky to task yesterday in a letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Travale is displeased that Dombrowsky dismissed out of hand the province’s participation in an exit program for tobacco farmers hours after her federal counterpart announced $285 million for this purpose July 31. Dombrowsky affirmed her remarks Wednesday in an interview with The Reformer.

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Time frame for exit plan under negotiation  

It’s been a week since a federal tobacco quota retirement program was announced and details are slowly becoming available.

Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced the Tobacco Transition Program (TTP) in Delhi last Friday. It will pay farmers $1.05 for each pound of quota they retire.

If the province was to come on board – which provincial Agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky has said won’t happen – it would bring the total to $1.74, or the same amount growers got who left a few years ago through the Tobacco Assistance Program.

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If Your First Cigarette Gave You A Buzz And You Now Smoke, A Gene May Be To Blame 

Anyone who has ever tried smoking probably remembers that first cigarette vividly. For some, it brought a wave of nausea or a nasty coughing fit. For others, those first puffs also came with a rush of pleasure or "buzz."

Now, a new study links those first experiences with smoking, and the likelihood that a person is currently a smoker, to a particular genetic variation. The finding may help explain the path that leads from that first cigarette to lifelong smoking.

The new finding also adds to growing suspicion surrounding the role of a particular nicotine-receptor gene in smoking-related behaviors and in lung cancer. Other researchers have already linked variations in the same genetic region to smokers' level of dependence on nicotine, to the number of cigarettes smoked per day and to a far higher risk of lung cancer -- the ultimate outcome of a lifetime of smoking.

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Ontario refuses to consider buyouts for tobacco farmers  

The province will not change its position on a buyout for tobacco farmers, says Leona Dombrowsky, Ontario's agriculture minister and MPP for Prince Edward-Hastings.

A motion filed by Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett Tuesday to Ontario's finance and economic committee suggested the province should follow the federal government's lead by providing aid for tobacco farmers.

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Tega Cay smoking ban vote dies; issue up for vote again Aug. 18  

The Tega Cay City Council has decided not to vote on a resolution to ban smoking in city-owned buildings.

During a special meeting Thursday, Mayor Bob Runde moved to vote on the resolution, but no one seconded it, so the measure died without a vote. The council then directed City Manager Grant Duffield to bring the issue back as an ordinance at the next regularly scheduled council meeting set for Aug. 18.

"The reason I didn't vote," Councilman George Sheppard said, "is because I believe we shouldn't do this by resolution. It's a one-time vote that doesn't allow public discussion."

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• Pleasure from Smoking -- and Addiction to It -- Is a Genetic Thing  

The nicotine "buzz" that leads to addiction in some people arises from a genetic mutation that enhances pleasurable responses, investigators here reported.

Action Points

* Explain to patients that this study showed a significant association between smoking behavior and a specific genetic mutation.

* Note that the implications of the findings for smoking cessation and treatment of nicotine addiction have yet to be determined.

The mutation in a subunit of the neuronal acetylcholine receptor (CHRNA5) increased the odds of nicotine dependence by 50%, and Caucasians with the mutation were 60% more likely to feel a pleasurable rush or "buzz" when they smoked their first cigarette, Ovide Pomerleau, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan, and colleagues reported in the August issue of Addiction.

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