Men and Smoking Smoking Gun
Snippets
The Marlboro Man may be Impotent
Most Smokers Can't Collect Social Security
Asthmatic children see doctor less when parents smoke
Major Conclusions of the Surgeon General’s Report
Trends in tobacco use vary
Smokeless Tobacco
Choosing Health
Non Smoking Celebrities
Powerful influences undermine public health efforts
Helping people enjoy smoke-free lives
Secondhand Smoke
Dangers of Fireplace Smoke
Newsbytes Where to Write
Related Issues: Talking With Kids About Tough Issues
Snippets - In the 1970s and 1980s, smoking rates declined substantially among African American youths, regardless of gender, self-reported school performance, parental education, and personal income, but have increased markedly since 1992.
- If current patterns continue, an estimated 1.6 million African Americans who are now under the age of 18 will become regular smokers. About 500,000 of those smokers will die of a smoking-related disease.
- Studies show that adverse infant health outcomes (e.g., the likelihood of pregnant women delivering low birth weight babies, SIDS, and high infant mortality) are especially high for African Americans and American Indians and Alaska Natives. Cigarette smoking also increases these risks, especially for SIDS, among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and among Hispanics.
- In all four racial/ethnic minority groups, the percentage of persons who have ever smoked and have quit increases with increasing age.
- In all racial/ethnic minority groups except African Americans, men are more likely than women to use smokeless tobacco.
- Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the least likely of the four U.S. racial/ethnic minority groups to smoke, but several local surveys report very high smoking rates among recent male immigrants from Southeast Asia.
- Most African American, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and Hispanic smokers smoke fewer than 15 cigarettes a day. Heavy smoking—25 or more cigarettes a day—is most common among American Indians and Alaska Natives, but still lower than among whites who smoke.
The Marlboro Man may be Impotent According to Denver urologist Lawrence Karsh, M.D., smoking is one of the worst things a young man can do to his body. We already know about smoking's link to lung cancer and heart disease. But smoking, over many years' time, can also damage and block the blood vessels inside the penis, resulting in a failure to sustain a normal erection. In most cases, the damage won't be seen until it's too late - - sometimes not for 20 - 30 years or longer. For additional information on impotence, including treatments. And, Resources.
Most Smokers Can't Collect Social Security The most preventable cause of death in the United States is smoking. - Smokers lose an average of 15 years of life? The average male smoker will die before reaching 62, the early retirement age to be eligible to collect social security. It leaves a lot less time to enjoy life and your grand children.
- The mortality rate of smokers who have two or more packs of cigarettes daily is 12 to 25 times greater than nonsmokers.
- Smoking causes approximately 30 percent of all cancer deaths, and cigarette smoking is associated with 87 percent of lung cancers.
- Smoking also contributes to cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, pancreas, uterus, cervix, kidney and bladder.
- Smokeless tobacco (chewing tobacco and snuff) is not only addictive, but increases the risk of cancer of the mouth, throat and esophagus.
- And, secondhand smoke kills loved ones.
If you think "Smoking makes a man," it's more apt to make a dead man. If you smoke, now is the right time to quit.
Secondhand Smoke Are you a nonsmoker who is shy about defending yourself against inconsiderate smokers? Or are you a smoker who doesn't realize the distress you inflict on nonsmokers? Here is some information about the effects of tobacco smoke on nonsmokers. Facts about Nonsmokers More than 30 million Americans have kicked the cigarette habit. Millions more are trying. Among adults, only one in three still smokes. In the population as a whole, it's one in four. Nonsmokers are a clear majority They are also no longer a silent majority. They mind if you smoke. And they're speaking up. They see tobacco smoke as a pollutant that defiles their air. And an increasing body of research gives them ammunition to defend themselves. It shows that secondhand smoke can have harmful effects on nonsmokers. Open Burning Tobacco smoke is a very complex mixture. There are thousands of chemical compounds in burning tobacco. Some of the most hazardous compounds are tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide, cadmium, nitrogen dioxide, ammonia, benzene, formaldehyde and hydrogen sulfide. And dozens of others. Any one alone can assault the body and case trouble. Together, they make smoking the menace it is. Even when a smoker inhales, researchers have calculated that two-thirds of the smoke from the burning cigarette goes into the environment. The percentage of pollution from cigar and pipe smoke is even higher. Cigarette smoke makes a significant, measurable contribution to the level of indoor air pollution. Sidestream Smoke Every time anyone lights a cigarette or cigar or pipe, tobacco smoke enters the atmosphere from two sources. Most important for nonsmokers, there is sidestream smoke, which goes directly into the air from the burning end. Then, there is mainstream smoke, which the smoker pulls through the mouthpiece when they inhale or puff. Nonsmokers are also exposed to mainstream smoke after the smoker exhales. A cigarette smoker inhales - and exhales - mainstream smoke eight or nine time with each cigarette for a total of about 24 seconds. But the cigarette burns for 12 minutes and pollutes the air continuously with sidestream smoke. Smokers can keep cigars and pipes burning for a much longer time. The pollution lingers long after. Sidestream smoke - the smoke from the burning end - had higher concentrations of noxious compounds than the mainstream smoke inhaled by the smoker. Some studies show there is twice as much tar and nicotine in sidestream smoke compared to mainstream. And three times as much of a compound called benzo(a)pyrene, which is suspected as a cancer-causing agent. Almost three times as much carbon monoxide, which robs the blood of oxygen. And 73 times as much ammonia. Before the nonsmoker inhales secondhand smoke, however, some of the high concentrations of hazardous substances are diluted in the ambient air. The smoker, on the other hand, inhales both firsthand and secondhand smoke. Nearly 85 percent of the smoke in a room results from sidestream smoke. Assaults in the Air Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas created by incomplete combustion. Car exhaust puts it in the air. So does tobacco smoke. When you inhale carbon monoxide, the gas bumps oxygen molecules out of your red blood cells and forms a new compound called carboxyhemoglobin. As the amount of this compound increases in your blood, the body becomes starved for oxygen. The Federal Air Quality Standards for the outside air limit carbon monoxide concerntrations to an average of 9 ppm. Several studies show that in rooms where smokers are present, levels of carbon monoxide can rise about those permitted for the outside air. When nonsmokers leave a smoky environment, it takes hours for the carbon monoxide to leave the body. After three or hour hours, carbon monoxide is still in the bloodstream. Elevated levels of other harmful agents - nitrogen dioxide, nicotine and respirable particulates, aldehydes, and nitrosamines - have been measured in smoky rooms. Nitrosamines have been identified as cancer-causing substances. Smoke at the Workplace A study of nonsmokers exposed to tobacco smoke at work for many years showed a dysfunction in the small airways of the lungs of the nonsmokers. This dysfunction is a biological response due to irritation. The nonsmoker is clearly affected in a physiological sense. A recent study showed that 50 percent of nonsmoking employees reported difficulty working near a smoker. Another 36 percent said they were forced to move away often from their desks or work stations because of secondhand smoke. An increasing number of state and local laws now restrict smoking at the workplace. The central concept of these laws is this principle: the preferences of nonsmokers and smokers will be addressed and accommodated, whenever possible. However, when these preferences conflict, the rights and preferences of the nonsmokers will prevail. More and more private companies also are adopting policies that restrict smoking and protect the nonsmoker at work. Effects on Children Babies and young children breathe more rapidly than adults. Because of this higher breathing rate, they inhale more air - and more pollution - in comparison to their total body weight. Some studies show youngsters inhale two to three times as much of a pollutant per unit of body weight compared to adults. And this assault happens when young lungs are growing and developing. A number of studies show that in their first year, babies of parents who smoke at home have a much higher incidence of lung disease, specifically bronchitis and pneumonia, than babies with nonsmoking parents. A study of the lung function of children aged five to nine showed an adverse reaction in the small airways of children who ad smoking parents, compared with those whose parents were nonsmokers. Smoking by the mother appears to have the most impact on the lung function of the child. The American Lung Association is encouraging smoke-free families so that children can have the best chance to grow up healthy. Parents who smoke at home can aggravate symptoms in some children with asthma and even trigger asthma episodes. Millions of people, adults as well as children, are sensitive to tobacco smoke and suffer smoke-caused asthma episodes. Parents should limit their smoking to separate rooms away from these children or, better yet, should quit smoking altogether. Even among non asthmatic children, a team of researchers found that respiratory illnesses happen twice as often to young children whose parents smoked at home compared to those with nonsmoking parents. In a study of 441 nonsmokers divided into two groups - those with a history of allergies and those without - 70 percent of both groups suffered from eye irritations caused by smoke. Even among the non allergic groups, 30 percent developed headaches and nasal discomfort, while 25 percent experienced cough. Second hand Smoke and Lung Cancer Some studies have found an increased risk of lung cancer in nonsmoking wives married to men who smoke. Although the studies are too few as yet to conclude a definite association, between secondhand smoke and lung cancer, the findings have raised concern. Since there are cancer-causing agents in cigarette smoke, it is not unreasonable to expect that inhaling these agents firsthand or secondhand could cause disease. Exposure to tobacco smoke may be similar to exposure to radiation: there are no safe levels. Tobacco Smells Contamination and odors are immediately created by such elements in tobacco smoke as ammonia and pyridine. Pyridine is a strong irritant that is produced when nicotine burns. The presence of a minute amount in the air produces distinctly unpleasant odors. The contamination is so intense that when someone smokes in an air-conditioned environment, the air-conditioning demands can jump as much as 600 percent to control odor. Another intriguing finding from air-conditioning research is that the human body attracts tobacco smoke. Burning tobacco smoke creates a high electrical potential, whereas the water-filled human body has a low one. The smoke in a room gravitates and clings to people in much the same way as iron filings are drawn to a magnet. And the odors linger on. Chemicals in tobacco smoke called aldehydes and ketones supply the penetrating smell, while the tars hold them to your skin and your clothes. But the smoker is not sensitive to the smell because of the destructive effects of smoke on the inner lining of his or her nose. A Smoke-Free Society In the mid-80's, the Surgeon General had proposed that America become a smoke-free society by the year 2000. We didn't make it. A Gallup survey, conducted for the American Lung Association in the 1980s, revealed that the majority of both smokers and nonsmokers believe smoking is hazardous to the health of nonsmokers. Translating these beliefs into social action is the challenge. The Right to Breathe Clean Air Nonsmokers have the right to breathe clean air, free from harmful and irritating tobacco smoke. This right supersedes the right to smoke when the two conflict. The Right to Speak Out Nonsmokers have the right to express - firmly but politely - their adverse reactions to tobacco smoke. They have the right to voice their objections when smokers light up. Nonsmokers have the right to act through legislative channels, social pressures or any other legitimate means - as individuals, or in groups - to prevent or discourage smokers from polluting the atmosphere and to seek the restriction of smoking in public places. - Let family, friends, coworkers and strangers know you mind if they smoke.
- Put stickers, buttons ad signs in your home, car and office. Request seating in nonsmoking sections when you travel, and use rental cars that offer no-smoking cars and motels that have plenty of no-smoking rooms. Avoid restaurants and bars that allow smoking on the premises.
- Support legislation to restrict smoking, or set up smoke-free areas in public places and at the workplace.
- Ask your health care professional and dentist to restrict smoking in their waiting rooms and to establish no-smoking regulations in all health care facilities, including hospitals.
- Propose no-smoking resolutions at organization meetings. Encourage hotels and restaurants to establish nonsmoking areas (preferably the whole restaurant.)
- Encourage management and unions where you work to establish a policy to protect nonsmokers on the job.
- Contact your Lung Association to discuss ways to protect nonsmokers at work.
- Ask your Lung Association for information about how to help others quit smoking or how to quit yourself.
- Find ways to work with students - It takes a Real Man to resist the pressures to smoke.
Take Care of Your Lungs. They're Only Human.Primary Source: American Lung Association
Major Conclusions of the Surgeon General’s Report - Cigarette smoking is a major cause of disease and death in each of the four population groups studied in this report. African Americans currently bear the greatest health burden. Differences in the magnitude of disease risk are directly related to differences in patterns of smoking.
- Tobacco use varies within and among racial/ethnic minority groups; among adults, American Indians and Alaska Natives have the highest prevalence of tobacco use, and African American and Southeast Asian men also have a high prevalence of smoking. Asian American and Hispanic women have the lowest prevalence.
- Among adolescents, cigarette smoking prevalence increased in the 1990s among African Americans and Hispanics after several years of substantial decline among adolescents of all four racial/ethnic minority groups. This increase is particularly striking among African American youths, who had the greatest decline of the four groups during the 1970s and 1980s.
- No single factor determines patterns of tobacco use among racial/ethnic minority groups; these patterns are the result of complex interactions of multiple factors, such as socioeconomic status, cultural characteristics, acculturation, stress, biological elements, targeted advertising, price of tobacco products, and varying capacities of communities to mount effective tobacco control initiatives.
- Rigorous surveillance and prevention research are needed on the changing cultural, psychosocial, and environmental factors that influence tobacco use to improve our understanding of racial/ethnic smoking patterns and identify strategic tobacco control opportunities. The capacity of tobacco control efforts to keep pace with patterns of tobacco use and cessation depends on timely recognition of emerging prevalence and cessation patterns and the resulting development of appropriate community-based programs to address the factors involved.
Trends in tobacco use vary African Americans - In the 1970s and 1980s, death rates from respiratory cancers (mainly lung cancer) increased among African American men and women. In 1990–1995, these rates declined substantially among African American men and leveled off in African American women.
- Middle-aged and older African Americans are far more likely than their counterparts in the other major racial/ethnic minority groups to die from coronary heart disease, stroke, or lung cancer.
- Smoking declined dramatically among African American youths during the 1970s and 1980s, but has increased substantially during the 1990s.
- Declines in smoking have been greater among African American men with at least a high school education than among those with less education.
American Indians and Alaska Natives - Nearly 40 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native adults smoke cigarettes, compared with 25 percent of adults in the overall U.S. population. They are more likely than any other racial/ethnic minority group to smoke tobacco or use smokeless tobacco.
- Since 1983, very little progress has been made in reducing tobacco use among American Indian and Alaska Native adults. The prevalence of smoking among American Indian and Alaska Native women of reproductive age has remained strikingly high since 1978.
- American Indians and Alaska Natives were the only one of the four major U.S. racial/ethnic groups to experience an increase in respiratory cancer death rates in 1990–1995.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders - Estimates of the smoking prevalence among Southeast Asian American men range from 34 percent to 43 percent—much higher than among other Asian American and Pacific Islander groups. Smoking rates are much higher among Asian American and Pacific Islander men than among women, regardless of country of origin.
- Asian American and Pacific Islander women have the lowest rates of death from coronary heart disease among men or women in the four major U.S. racial/ethnic minority groups.
- Factors associated with smoking among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders include having recently moved to the United States, living in poverty, having limited English proficiency, and knowing little about the health effects of tobacco use.
Mexican Americans and Latinos: - After increasing in the 1970s and 1980s, death rates from respiratory cancers decreased slightly among Mexican American men and women from 1990–1995.
- In general, smoking rates among Mexican American adults increase as they learn and adopt the values, beliefs, and norms of American culture.
- Declines in the prevalence of smoking have been greater among Mexican American men with at least a high school education than among those with less education.
- Factors that are associated with smoking among Mexican Americans include drinking alcohol, working and living with other smokers, having poor health, and being depressed.
Choosing Health - More than 10 million African Americans, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics smoke cigarettes. Without intervention, this number may swell in the coming decade.
- Both direct and passive exposure to tobacco smoke poses special hazards to pregnant women, babies, and young children. Babies and children who are exposed to tobacco smoke have more ear infections and asthma and die from SIDS more often. Mothers who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to have low birth weight babies and put their babies at increased risk of SIDS.
- Smoking trends today will determine how heavy the health burden will be among communities tomorrow. Programs that reflect cultural diversity will be the cornerstone in the battle against tobacco use.
Powerful influences undermine public health efforts - Smoking is associated with depression, psychological stress, and environmental factors such as peers who smoke and tobacco marketing practices.
- Tobacco advertisements promote the perception of cigarette smoking as safe and far more widespread and socially acceptable than is actually the case.
- Tobacco companies garner community loyalty by hiring community members, providing communities with tobacco sales and advertising revenues, funding community organizations, and supporting educational, political, cultural, and sports activities.
Helping people enjoy smoke-free lives - Group approaches for quitting smoking generally have not been successful with members of racial/ethnic minority groups, possibly because the processes used have not been culturally relevant or because of a lack of transportation, money, or access to health care.
- To be effective in discouraging tobacco use among young people, strategies should include restricted access to tobacco products, school-based prevention programs, and mass media campaigns geared to young people’s interests, attitudes, and cultural values.
- Most successful programs for quitting smoking do more than deliver culturally appropriate messages. They provide practical information about the health consequences of tobacco use, resources to help people quit, and specific techniques for quitting.
Dangers of Fireplace Smoke Even where the air is fresh and clean, indoor air quality can present serious health risks . In particular, according to the Sierra Club, "Wood smoke is the 'other' secondhand smoke. It is hard to get away from because neighborhood smoke seeps indoors even if you don't burn...All smoke is harmful to the respiratory system. Delicate tissues that are infected, irritated and scarred can cause long-term health consequences...The biggest danger is particulate matter so small that thirty particles fit on a red blood cell. Unlike a soft tobacco tar, the wood smoke particles can be solid, chemical-coated pieces of wood. Once inside the lung these wooden "cinders' swell up in the moist atmosphere and can cause even more damage than a softer smoke." Most people are aware that outdoor air pollution can damage their health but may not know that indoor air pollution can all have significant effects. EPA studies of human exposure to air pollutants indicate that indoor air levels of many pollutants may be two to five times, and occasionally, more than 100 times, higher than outdoor levels. These levels of indoor air pollutants are of particular concern because it is estimated that most people spend as much as 9-% of their time indoors. Over the past several decades, our exposure to indoor air pollutants is believed to have increased due to a variety of factors, including the construction of more tightly sealed buildings, reduced ventilation rates to save energy, the use of synthetic building materials and furnishings, and the use of chemically formulated personal care products, pesticides and household cleaners. In recent years, comparative risk studies performed by EPA and its Science Advisory Board (SAB) have consistently ranked indoor air pollution among the top five environmental risks to public health. EPA, in close cooperation with other Federal agencies and the private sector, is actively involved in a concerted effort to better understand indoor air pollution and to reduce people's exposure to air pollutants in offices, homes, schools and other indoor environments where people live, work and play. Indoor pollution sources that release gases or particles into the air are the primary cause of indoor air quality problems in homes. Inadequate ventilation can increase indoor pollutant levels by not bringing in enough outdoor air to dilute emissions from indoor sources and by not carrying indoor air pollutants out of the home. High temperature and humidity levels can also increase concentrations of some pollutants. There are many sources of indoor air pollution in any home. These include combustion sources such as oil, gas, kerosene, coal, wood and tobacco products; building materials and furnishings as diverse as deteriorated, asbestos-containing insulation, wet or damp carpet, and cabinetry or furniture made of certain pressed wood products; products for household cleaning and maintenance, personal care, or hobbies; central heating and cooling systems and humidification devices; and outdoor sources such as radon, pesticides and outdoor air pollution. The relative importance of any single source depends on how much of a given pollutant it emits and how hazardous those emissions are. In some cases, factors such as how old the source is and whether it is properly maintained are significant. For example, an improperly adjusted gas stove can emit significantly more carbon monoxide than one that is properly adjusted. Some sources, such as building materials, furnishings, and household products like air fresheners, release pollutants more or less continuously. Other sources, related to activities carried out in the home, release pollutants intermittently. These including smoking, the use of unvented or malfunctioning stoves, furnaces, or space heaters, the use of solvents in cleaning and hobby activities, the use of paint strippers in redecorating activities, and the use of cleaning products and pesticides in housekeeping. High pollutant concentrations can remain in the air for long periods after some of these activities. If too little outdoor air enters a home, pollutants can accumulate to levels that can pose health and comfort problems. Unless they are built with special mechanical means of ventilation, homes that are designed and constructed to minimize the amount of outdoor air that can "leak" into and out of the home may have higher pollutant levels than other homes. However, because some weather conditions are drastically reduce the amount of outdoor air that enters a home, pollutants can build up even in homes that are normally considered "leaky". Look for more information? The EPA has a number of helpful publications on indoor air quality, available by writing Environmental Protection Agency, National Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP), PO Box 42419, Cincinnati, OH 42419. You can also fax your request to them at 513.489.8695 or www.epa.gov/iaq/
Newsbytes Smoking Gun Ready to quit smoking for the New Year -- again? This simple strategy can triple your chances of success.
Source: my.webmd.com/content/article/57/65944.htm 
Mothers Who Smoke May Put Their Babies at Risk for Pyloric Stenosis Over the last 10 years in Denmark, smoking rates among pregnant women as well as the incidence of pyloric stenosis among infants declined, so Danish researchers investigated whether a mom's smoking habits might be a factor in her child's risk of developing pyloric stenosis in infancy.
Source: www.kidshealth.org/research/pyloric_stenosis.html
Study Links Cancer Rates, Prevention Many states with the highest lung cancer rates are squandering tobacco settlement money intended for disease prevention on unrelated programs, according to a study of health and fiscal data released by a national anti-cancer group.
Source: www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC000/333/333/358375.html
Kids Getting Hooked Every year over 500,0000 kids get hooked on tobacco. 1 in 3 of them will die prematurely. The tobacco industry is spending a record $26 million DAILY to market their deadly products. Protect our Kids from Big Tobacco. Send a Free Letter. Click Here:
psstt.com/1/c/80852/75783/217308/217308
Smoking Can Hurt Male Fertility (9/24/02) Men who smoke and are trying to become fathers may want to become quitters. A new study shows smoking can damage the sperm of men who are trying to conceive. Researchers found infertile men who smoked show signs of significant oxidative damage in their semen. Oxidative damage is known to harm fertility and is caused by increased stress on normal body processes. The findings appear in the September issue of Fertility and Sterility. "Given the known potential adverse effects of [oxidative stress] on fertility, physicians should advise infertile men who smoke cigarettes to quit," writes study researcher Saleh A. Ramadan, MD, with colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio. "This argument against smoking is true for anyone wishing to conceive but is particularly important for individuals experiencing fertility problems." Although cigarette smoking already has been shown to hurt female fertility, researchers say the impact on male fertility remains a controversial issue because studies have produced contradictory results. In this study, researchers compared semen samples from 52 infertile men -- 20 smokers and 32 nonsmokers -- with samples from 13 healthy, nonsmoking men. They found "dramatically" more oxidative stress levels in the smokers. No significant differences in standard sperm variables, such as sperm count or activity, or DNA damage were found between the infertile smokers and nonsmokers, but researchers say the fact that both groups were infertile may have obscured some levels of DNA damage. But men who smoked also had 48% more infection-fighting white blood cells in their semen than nonsmokers or healthy donors, which may also cause problems with fertility.
Source: Jennifer Warner, my.webmd.com/content/article/1819.52408
Anti-Smoking Groups Call For Movie Ratings To Factor In Tobacco Citing a new study that examines the ties between Hollywood and cigarette makers, health advocates are calling for the film industry to incorporate tobacco as a factor in determining movie ratings.
Source: www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/8012/347000.html
Smokers Disillusioned And Over-Optimistic About Quitting Most smokers are disenchanted with smoking and would not smoke if they had their time again, according to a letter in this week's BMJ. It also shows that smokers' expectations of how soon they will quit greatly exceed rates of quitting observed in recent history.
Source: British Medical Journal, www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/8012/346945.html
Smoke Gets In Your Mind Lung cancer, hypertension, heart disease, birth defects - we're all too familiar with the perils of smoking. But add to that list a frightening new concern. Mental illness. According to some controversial new findings, if smoking doesn't kill you, it may, quite literally, drive you to despair.
Source: New Scientist, www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/8014/348553.html
Heart Association Recommends Screenings The American Heart Association has updated its guidelines for preventing heart attacks and strokes, listing secondhand smoke as a risk factor for the first time and recommending that people get screened for risk factors beginning at age 20.
Source: www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/341/352544.html
Smokes Deadlier Than Labels Suggest Smokers may be inhaling up to five times the amount of nicotine and seven times the amount of tar than is claimed on cigarette packaging, according to a health ministry study.
Source: www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/8012/347640.html
Global Alliance Between European Commission And WHO To Fight Against Communicable Diseases, Tobacco And Other Health Threats The European Commission and the World Health Organisation (WHO) held a series of high-level consultations in Brussels to take forward their global alliance in tackling tobacco and other health threats.
Source: www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/8013/350963.html
Cigarette Maker Removes "Light" From Packaging Star Scientific Inc. is the first U.S. tobacco company to announce plans to stop identifying its cigarettes as "light" or "ultralight," which critics say mislead smokers into believing the cigarettes are safer.
Source: www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/8096/8012/348814.html
Pregnant Women Smokers Bear Low Birth Weight Babies Smoking among pregnant women declined for most age groups, down to 12.2 percent in 2000. That rate has fallen steadily since 1989. The report found 12 percent of babies born to smokers had low birth weights, compared with just 7 percent of babies born to nonsmokers.
Consequences American Health & Fitness magazine ran this full page ad in their 10-11/01 issue: left showing 5 standing, lite cigarettes and reading "Stop smoking now". Top right cigarettes are almost burned to the filters and copy reads "or suffer the". Center bottom ash off one cigarette, one cigarette has fallen and copy reads "consequences..."
Baby sitters may expose infants to second-hand smoke While some mothers who puff on cigarettes attempt to protect their infants from the smoke, researchers believe they may be ignoring other sources of second-hand smoke--such as baby sitters or relatives in the home.
Source: www.healthcentral.com/news/newsfulltext.cfm?ID=46509&src=n49
Cigarette addiction can start early (9/12/00) Scientists have confirmed a suspicion held by some smokers but never proven: It could take just a few cigarettes to become addicted. Some 12- and 13-year-olds showed evidence of addiction within days of their first cigarette, according to research reported this week in the British Medical Association journal Tobacco Control. "There's been a suspicion that many people become addicted very quickly, but this is really the first hard evidence that we've had that this occurs," said Dr. Richard Hurt, director of the Nicotine Dependency Unit at the Mayo Clinic. Experts have tried for years to determine how long people have to smoke before becoming addicted, and "the best answer to date had been 1-2 years," said Hurt, who was not involved in the study. He said the findings will help scientists better understand the biology of nicotine addiction and lend more plausibility to the idea that some people may be more genetically susceptible to it than others. "The really important implication of this study is that we have to warn kids that you can't just fool around with cigarettes or experiment with cigarettes for a few weeks and then give it up," said Dr. Joseph DiFranza, who lead the research at the University of Massachusetts. "If you fool around with cigarettes for a few weeks, you may be addicted for life." The study, conducted in 1998, followed 681 12- to 13-year-olds in central Massachusetts for a year and tracked their smoking habits. The researchers did not label any of them addicted because the standard definition of nicotine dependence assumes addiction cannot happen without prolonged heavy smoking. The scientists simply recorded symptoms that indicate addiction. These include cravings, needing more to get the same buzz, withdrawal symptoms when not smoking, feeling addicted to tobacco and loss of control over the number of cigarettes smoked or the duration of smoking. Ninety-five of the youths said they had started smoking occasionally - at least one cigarette a month - during the study. The scientists found that 60, or 63 percent, had one or more symptoms of addiction. A quarter of those with symptoms got them within two weeks of starting to smoke and several said their symptoms began within a few days. Sixty-two percent said they had their first symptom before they began smoking every day, or that the symptoms made them start smoking daily. The researchers found that the symptoms began soon after the teens started smoking. Even though some people who have never smoked on a daily basis can find it hard to quit, the assumption that smokers only become addicted after smoking a lot of cigarettes over a long period of time came from observations that some people can smoke five cigarettes a day for many years and not become addicted, the study noted. However, it has never been proven that daily smoking is necessary for addiction to begin, the study added. The scientists suggested there may be three types of smokers: Those who become addicted very quickly, those who get hooked gradually after more regular smoking and those who can smoke lightly or pick up and drop the habit without becoming addicted. It is also possible that adolescents could be more sensitive to nicotine and that addiction may take longer in people who start smoking at a later age, they added. www.healthcentral.com/News/NewsFullText.cfm?ID=41064&storytype=APNews
Nicotine addiction can hit within days (9/12/00) Addiction to nicotine may start within a few days of starting to smoke and after just a few cigarettes, researchers reported on Tuesday, contradicting belief that nicotine addiction is a gradual process. "The first symptoms of nicotine dependence can appear within days to weeks of the onset of occasional use, often before the onset of daily smoking," the researchers from the University of Massachusetts and Harvard Medical School said in the journal Tobacco Control. This research goes against a "popular model for the development of nicotine dependence (which) holds that youths progress from the first cigarette through a period of occasional use and on to sustained and increasingly heavier daily use, resulting ultimately in dependence," the researchers added. The study of about 700 teenagers aged between 12 and 13 from seven schools in central Massachusetts in 1998 showed that 95 students could be described as monthly smokers--they smoked at least one cigarette a month. Of these 95 monthly smokers one in five reported nicotine dependency symptoms within four weeks of starting to smoke and 16 developed symptoms within two weeks, one of the researchers, Joseph DiFranza, told Reuters. In total 60 out of 95 monthly smokers said they had experienced one or more symptoms of nicotine dependence. Thirty-seven of the 60 who had experienced symptoms of nicotine dependency said they had felt their first feelings of dependency even before they started smoking daily or began smoking daily only upon starting to feel dependent. The researchers said experiments on mice showed the number of nicotine receptors in the brain increased rapidly after just the second dose of nicotine, providing a mechanism for the quick development of dependence. The researchers further postulated that three groups of individuals distinguishable by their dependence on nicotine may exist. The groups could be described as rapid onset, slower onset and resistant to nicotine addiction, they added. Smoking has been linked to several diseases including lung cancer and asthma. Lung cancer is the most common form of cancer in the world and is extremely deadly. The American Cancer Society predicts 164,000 Americans will be diagnosed with the cancer this year and 156,000 will die of it. www.healthcentral.com/News/NewsFullText.cfm?ID=41099&storytype=ReutersNews
Where to Write Both complete and summary versions of Tobacco Use Among U.S. Racial/Ethnic Groups—African Americans, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics: A Report of the Surgeon General are available. For more information about the report or to order a free executive summary, either call 770/488-5705 (press 2) or call 1-800-CDC-1311 for a faxed version of the executive summary. Access the Office on Smoking and Health at www.cdc.gov/tobacco for additional information, or write: (1) Office on Smoking and Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, NE (Mail Stop K-50), Atlanta, GA 30341-3717 or (2) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health. Resources - American Cancer Society, 1599 Clifton Road, NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30329-4251, 800.ACS.2345, 404.329.5739,
- American Urological Association, 1120 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21201, 410.727.1100
- Impotence Information Center, 800.843.4315, 800.543.9632. For information on stopping smoking, contact: Cancer Information Service (CIS), a program of the National Cancer Institute, at 800.4.CANCER, 800.422.6237.
- Medical Reporter/Joel R. Cooper Creative Services, Medical & Healthcare writing, editing and reporting, PO Box 370314, Denver, CO 80237. 303.337.6299; Joel Cooper, jcooper@medreport.com
* * *"Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States. We have an enormous opportunity to reduce heart disease, cancer, stroke, and respiratory disease among members of racial and ethnic minority groups, who make up a rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population."—David Satcher, MD, PhD, Surgeon General There are more teenage girl smokers than teenage boy smokers. More boys chew, though.
Tobacco Control Section Fact Sheets -- Papers and factsheets on adult smoking trends in California; California's tobacco education media... -- Category: Society > Issues > ... > Anti-Tobacco > Tobacco Control Resources -- Policy paper examines impact of tobacco on older people: addiction, secondhand smoke, smoking cessation... How Big Tobacco Helped Create "the Junkman" - Center for Media and ... -- PR Watch article on Steven Milloy, his "Junk Science" website, and his tobacco connections. Tobacco's Secondhand Science of Smoke-Filled Rooms - Center for ... -- PR Watch report on tobacco industry PR push to get the public to doubt the health effects of secondhand... Tobacco Education Center -- Report on the science, the industry's attack on the science, and the practical significance of secondhand... ACLU and Big Tobacco -- Secret documents reveal ACLU ties to the tobacco industry. Find out how taking $1000000 from the... Tobacco Control in the 21st Century - Module 2 -- Summary in the form of a FAQ, with answers to such questions as: how do we know that an agency (such... 2. Tobacco or Health: The Consequences of Tabocca Use ... -- Summary of health effects, costs, effects on environment, with focus on Canada. Tobacco.org: Documents -- Trial transcript of testimony from expert witness Dr. Channing Robertson covers R&D and engineering... frontline: inside the tobacco deal: interviews: dr. stanton glantz -- Frontline interview; covers the Brown and Willaimson documents; the "settlement"; public health activitie... CHAPMAN: Blaming tobacco's victims -- Op-ed examines society's tendency to blame smokers, and explains why juries are less willing to do... men and smoking -- Compilation of articles by Menstuff on smoking and impotence, spit tobacco, influences undermining... Passive Smoking: Fact Sheet no. 8 - ASH -- Concise summary of the effects of secondhand smoke. 10. Clearing the Air: International Development Research Centre -- Evolution of smoking restrictions in Canada covers history, measurement, and tobacco industry response. Letter to Nebraska Senators from San Luis Obispo Chamber of ... -- In 1990, San Luis Obispo, California became the first city in the world to ban smoking in all public... Smokers Prayer -- Large list of links and resources compiled by an ex-smokers with COPD. Introduced by her own poem,... Non-Smoker's Guide to Memphis Area Restaurants -- Reviews area eateries with respect to their smoking policies. SmokeFree Air Newsletter, Summer, 1995 -- Short summary of front groups used to oppose NYC smokefree ordinance. TI Analysis of 'Showdown on Smoking' Newsweek, June 6, 1983 -- Interanl tobacco industry memo reveals the history and results of tobacco industry pressure on Newsweek... Diagnose-Me: Condition: Cigarette Smoke Damage -- Lists diseases caused by tobacco propducts, and provides a brief description of each. |
