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NEW UPDATES ARE ADDED AT THE TOP (or randomly):
Also see message
to teenage smokers (some news releases in that file)
Also see vitaminC.html
Also see misc_health.html
Tobacco
companies are targeting the half billion young people in the Asia
Pacific region by linking smoking to glamorous and attractive
lifestyles, the U.N. World Health Organization said Friday.
-------------
BOSTON - A Massachusetts study suggests that restaurant smoking bans may play a big role in persuading teens not to become smokers. Youths who lived in towns with strict bans were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers than those in communities with no bans or weak ones, the researchers reported in the May issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
--------------
LONDON - As little as five minutes of exercise could help smokers quit, says a new study. Research published in the international medical journal Addiction showed that moderate exercise, such as walking, significantly reduced the intensity of smokers' nicotine withdrawal symptoms.
-----------------
MUNICH, Germany - 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 nearly 14 years earlier than women who don't smoke, Norwegian doctors reported in a study presented to the European Society of Cardiology.
---------------------
Secondhand Smoke Leaves Kids Prone to Severe Infections
In addition to developing asthma and respiratory infections, children in households where someone smokes are more likely to catch a whole range of severe infections, including meningococcal disease. Many even have to be hospitalized, a new study found.
-----------------
WASHINGTON - More than one in 10 pregnant women smoke, and new research suggests many of them also may suffer from depression, making kicking the habit even harder.
-----------------
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Otherwise healthy men who smoke risk developing erectile dysfunction -- and the more cigarettes they smoke, the greater the risk of erectile dysfunction, according to a new study.
------------------
WASHINGTON - A federal judge ruled Thursday that the nation's top cigarette makers violated racketeering laws, deceiving the public for years about the health hazards of smoking, but said she couldn't order them to pay the billions of dollars the government had sought.
-------------------
GENEVA (AFP) - The World Health Organisation said Friday that only a total ban on all forms of tobacco advertising can stop the "constantly mutating virus" of the marketing industry and protect vulnerable young people.
================================================================================================================
Dec 2008
ATLANTA
– A smoking ban in one Colorado city led to a dramatic drop in heart
attack hospitalizations within three years, a sign of just how serious
a health threat secondhand smoke is, government researchers said
Wednesday.
The study, the longest-running of its kind, showed the rate of
hospitalized cases dropped 41 percent in the three years after the ban
of workplace smoking in Pueblo, Colo., took effect. There was no such
drop in two neighboring areas, and researchers believe it's a clear
sign the ban was responsible.
==============
Men who
smoke more than a pack of cigarettes a day are nearly 40 percent
likelier to suffer from impotence than non-smokers, says a study.
=======================================================
Smoking, Cancer Deaths Linked at p53 Gene
By Karin Twilde
Researchers at the School of Medicine have uncovered the
most conclusive evidence to date linking cigarette smoking to
cancer. Their findings, reported in the March 16 issue of the New
England Journal of Medicine, represent the strongest molecular
link between cigarette smoking, the most common cause of
cancer-related death, and mutation of the p53 gene, the most
common cancer-related genetic mutation.
California Declares Secondhand Smoke a Toxic Air Contaminant
January 31, 2006
Email Print Subscribe
News Summary
Regulators
in California -- which often leads the nation on health and
environmental issues -- have officially named secondhand tobacco smoke
as a toxic air contaminant, setting the stage for further restrictions
on smoking in the state, Reuters reported Jan. 26.
=======================================================
AP:
Nev. Study Links Casino Smoke, DNA Damage
Mon May 15, 8:23 PM ET
RENO,
Nev. - Five years of research led by a University of Nevada, Reno
department head in Reno and Las Vegas casinos have concluded there is a
direct correlation between exposure to secondhand smoke in the
workplace and damage to the employees' DNA.
"The
more they were exposed to environmental tobacco smoke, the more the DNA
damage, and that's going to lead to a higher risk of heart disease and
cancer down the road," said Chris Pritsos.
Funded by a $2.5 million grant from the
National
Institutes of Health, the clinical trial followed 125 employees who
work on the gambling floors of casinos in both northern and southern
Nevada.
=======================================================
Smokers At Higher Risk for Erectile Dysfunction
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter Thu Mar 23, 11:47 PM ET
THURSDAY, March 23 (HealthDay News) -- Smoking can shorten lives, and a new study finds it may also hamper men's sex lives.
Researchers
say men who smoke a pack of cigarettes or more a day are nearly 40
percent more likely to have erectile dysfunction compared with
nonsmokers.
=======================================================
================================================================================================================
================================================================================================================
Passive smoking is breast cancer risk factor
By Michelle Rizzo Fri Dec 2, 2005
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - The results of studies "with thorough passive
smoking exposure assessment" indicate that passive smoking raises the
risk of breast cancer, especially in premenopausal women, to a similar
degree as active smoking.
--------------------
Secondhand Smoke Linked to Cervical Cancer
Fri, Jan 21, 2005
By Anthony J. Brown, MD
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Exposure to secondhand smoke appears to
increase the risk of cervical cancer, albeit to a lesser extent than
active smoking, new research shows.
"There was good reason to
think that passive smoking might be associated with cervical cancer,
given the link with active smoking," Dr. Anthony J. Alberg, from Johns
Hopkins University in Baltimore, told Reuters Health.
---------------
Mar 10, 2005
Report Links Second-Hand Smoke, Cancer
By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer
SAN
FRANCISCO - Scientists at an influential state agency have completed a
draft report linking second-hand smoke to breast cancer, a finding that
could lead air quality regulators to strengthen the state's indoor
smoking laws.
It's the first major report to draw that
connection, and one of many findings about the health effects of
so-called environmental tobacco smoke, or ETS.
The 1,200-page
report drafted by scientists at the Office of Environmental Health
Hazard Assessment draws on more than 1,000 other studies of the effects
of second-hand smoke and details a range of health problems caused by
exposure to it. These included respiratory complications, heart disease
and several cancers, many of which have been extensively documented.
But
the report also establishes a connection between so-called passive
smoking and breast cancer — a disease that kills about 40,000 women in
the United States each year.
-----------------------
Study: Cigarette Smoke May Harm Fertility
By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical Writer Thu May 26,2005
GENEVA
- New research suggests that exposure to other people's cigarette smoke
may damage a woman's fertility, especially if she needs the help of an
infertility clinic to get pregnant.
-------------------
Smoking Ups Impotence Risk in Younger Men
Feb 25 2005
Health - Reuters
By Amy Norton
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Adding to evidence that smoking is bad for a
man's sex life, new study findings show that smoking may raise the risk
of impotence, particularly in younger men.
Researchers found
that among the more than 1,300 men they followed, those who smoked were
at greater risk of erectile dysfunction (ED) than either former smokers
or non-smokers.
---------------------
Thu, Sep 23, 2004
Ex-FDA Chief: Tobacco Cos. Fed Addiction
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By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
- The former head of the Food and Drug Administration (news - web
sites) came under cross- examination Thursday after testifying that
cigarette makers manipulated nicotine to keep smokers addicted, a
central allegation in the federal government's $280 billion lawsuit
against the industry.
------------------------------------------
Feds: Tobacco Firms Worked Together
Tue, Sep 21, 2004
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By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
- Tobacco companies, desperate to maintain their hold on tens of
millions of American smokers, worked together for decades to deceive
the public about the dangers of cigarettes and to encourage the young
to start puffing, government lawyers said Tuesday at the start of a
racketeering trial.
Justice Department (news - web sites) lawyers
pointed to numerous statements by industry executives that created
doubt among smokers about whether the habit was harmful and whether
they really needed to kick it.
"Defendants' strategy of denial
worked, and they knew it," Justice lawyer Sharon Eubanks told U.S.
District Judge Gladys Kessler.
----------------------
More Seek Help for Marijuana Addiction
Fri Mar 4, 2005
Top Stories - AP
By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
- Treatment rates for marijuana nearly tripled between 1992 and 2002,
the government says, attributing the increase to greater use and
potency.
"This report is a wake-up call for parents that
marijuana is not a soft drug," said Tom Riley, a spokesman for the
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "It's a much bigger
part of the addiction problem than is generally understood."
------------------------------
Study: Cigarettes Cost Society $40 a Pack
Thu Nov 25, 2004 Health - AP
DURHAM,
N.C. - Cigarettes may cost smokers more then they believe. A study by a
team of health economists finds the combined price paid by their
families and society is about $40 per pack of cigarettes.
"It
will be necessary for persons aged 24 and younger to face the fact that
the decision to smoke is a very costly one — one of the most costly
decisions they make," the study's authors concluded.
Smokers pay
about $33 of the cost, their families absorb $5.44 and others pay
$1.44, according to health economists from Duke University and a
professor from the University of South Florida. The study drew on data
including Social Security (news - web sites) earnings histories dating
to 1951.
------------------
Secondhand smoke costs nearly $10 bln in U.S.-study
Wed Aug 17 2005
NEW
YORK (Reuters) - The effects of secondhand smoke in the United States
cost nearly $10 billion every year, according to a study released on
Wednesday.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Society of Actuaries said
that the direct costs of secondhand smoke exposure are $4.98 billion,
including expenses related to the treatment of heart disease, chronic
pulmonary disease, lung cancer, asthma and other sicknesses.
The
study also detailed indirect costs of $4.68 billion, stemming from lost
wages, reduced services and costs associated with disabilities.
"While
the health effects of secondhand smoke are reduced in comparison to
active smoking, the number of people exposed is so large that the costs
are substantial," Society of Actuaries fellow Donald Behan said in a
statement.
The group measured the costs by examining more than
200 studies that have been published since 1964 on the effects of
environmental tobacco smoke.
=============
Smoking, even second-hand, ups risk of eye diseaseWed Dec 21,2005 PM ET
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Smoking cigarettes, or living with someone who
does, increases a person's risk of developing a progressively
degenerative eye disease known as age-related macular degeneration or
AMD, according to a study conducted in the UK.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Smoking
puts you at increased risk of losing your sight in old age and the more
you smoke the higher the risk," Dr. John Yates from the University of
Cambridge told Reuters Health. "Smoking also increases the risk for the
people living with you. So these are two good reasons to stop smoking."
AMD
is the leading cause of reduced vision and blindness in many European
countries and the US. A person's risk of developing the disease
increases with age.
======================
Smoking lowers chances of surviving throat cancer
By Graciela Flores Fri Dec 9, 2005
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - For people with cancer of the larynx or lower
pharynx, continuing to smoke or drink alcohol make it less likely that
they'll survive, while eating a diet rich in vegetables and vitamin C
improves their survival, a new study shows.
"One might think, now I
that have cancer, what's the point of stopping smoking? But there is
clearly a benefit in doing that; it will improve your survival," Dr.
Rajesh P. Dikshit commented to Reuters Health.
Tobacco smoking,
alcohol drinking, and diet have all been linked to the development of
cancer in the larynx, or voicebox, and the area immediately above it at
the back of the throat, the hypopharynx. However, little was known
about the role of these risk factors on the survival of patients with
these cancers.
===============================
Smoking may increase risk of depression
Reuters - Fri Jun 1, 12:00 PM ET
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Persistent smokers appear to be at increased
risk for becoming depressed compared to never smokers, results of a
long-term study of Finnish twins suggest. On the other hand, this
association was not seen in individuals who stopped smoking many years
ago.
================================================================================================================
List Linking Smoking to Diseases Expands
2004
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
- The list of diseases linked to smoking grew longer Thursday. Add
acute myeloid leukemia, cancers of the cervix, kidney, pancreas and
stomach, abdominal aortic aneurysms, cataracts, periodontitis and
pneumonia.
==================
Smokers, Drinkers Show Gene Changes in Mouth Cells
Thu Jul 1, 2004
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By Amy Norton
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Many healthy people who smoke or drink may have
a genetic alteration in the cells of the mouth and throat that could
signal an increased risk of developing cancer, according to researchers
at the University of Hong Kong.
======================
U.N.: Smoking Kills People Seconds Apart
Fri May 28, 1:52 PM ET
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By SAM CAGE, Associated Press Writer
GENEVA
- One person dies from a tobacco-related disease every 6 1/2 seconds,
the head of the U.N. health agency warned Friday ahead of its annual
World No Tobacco Day.
=====================
Cigarettes Rob Smokers of 10 Years of Life
2 hours, 45 minutes ago
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By Patricia Reaney
LONDON
(Reuters) - Cigarette smokers die on average 10 years earlier than
non-smokers but kicking the habit, even at 50 years old, can halve the
risk, according to half a century of research reported on Tuesday.
=================
Study: Marijuana smokers' sperm slow
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) -- Sperm in men who smoke marijuana regularly lose stamina
and burn out which may prevent conception, said a study released Monday.
The
study by the State University of New York in Buffalo, New York, is the
first to focus on the swimming patterns of sperm in men who smoke
marijuana, the authors say.
"The sperm from marijuana smokers were moving too fast too early," said Lani Burkman, lead author of the study, in a statement.
"To
attach itself to the egg, the sperm has to swim like mad -- that's
hyper activation -- and they have to be vigorous at the right time,"
Burkman said. "Smoking marijuana messes up the natural regulatory
system."
"The timing was all wrong. These sperm will experience
burnout before they reach the egg and would not be capable of
fertilization."
The study, released at the annual conference of
the American Society of Reproductive Medicine in San Antonio, found
that men who smoke marijuana have less sperm because of lower
quantities of seminal fluid compared to fertile men.
One of the
ingredients of marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the
psychoactive chemical that causes people to feel "high."
=============
Smokers: increased risk of prostate cancer
SEATTLE,
July 14 2003 -- A new study indicates long-term, heavy smoking
doubles the risk of aggressive prostate cancer in middle-aged men.
Science
Daily magazine said the study shows men under the age 65 with a history
of 40 or more "pack-years" (those who smoke a pack a day for 40 years
or two packs a day for 20 years) face a 100 percent increased risk --
or double the risk -- of developing more aggressive forms of the
disease, as compared with nonsmokers.
Such men with heavy
smoking exposure also face a 60 percent increased risk of prostate
cancer overall. Compared with nonsmokers, current smokers experienced a
40 percent increase in the risk of prostate cancer.
==================================
april 1, 2003
Mont. Smoking Ban Cuts Heart Attacks
By DANIEL Q. HANEY, AP Medical Editor
CHICAGO
- Heart attacks in Helena, Mont., fell by more than half last summer
after voters passed a broad indoor smoking ban, suggesting that
cleaning up the air in bars and restaurants quickly improves health for
everyone, a study found.
Doctors said their study, which they
described as a kind of "natural experiment," is the first to examine
what happens to public health when people stop smoking - and breathing
secondhand smoke - in public places.
The doctors, themselves
backers of the ban, acknowledged the effects need to be demonstrated in
a larger locale. But despite the small numbers involved, they said
Helena's experience offers a clear hint that the change reduces the
risk of heart attacks for smokers and nonsmokers alike from virtually
the moment it goes into effect.
People who worry about secondhand smoke often fear lung cancer most, but that takes years of exposure.
Smoking
is also a powerful trigger of heart attacks and it works quickly to
increase the risk by raising blood pressure, increasing the tendency of
blood to make clots and other ways.
===========================================
Sat May 31, 2003 4:56 PM ET
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CHICAGO
(Reuters) - The leading U.S. group of cancer physicians on Saturday
urged an immediate $2-per-pack increase in taxes on cigarettes and
other steps to curb smoking, which is projected to kill a billion
people worldwide this century.
"Oncologists see
the end product from smoking. To see a preventable form of cancer is a
tragedy," said Dr. Paul Bunn, president of the American Society of
Clinical Oncologists
one-third of all U.S. cancer deaths relate
directly to tobacco. If current trends hold, 1 billion people will die
this century from tobacco-related illnesses compared to 100 million in
the last century.
and live in conflict of wanting to stop but can
not. That is addiction, and that is what the cig co does not want its
young preys (victims/targets) to know. Every smoker suffers wheter they
admit ir or ignore it or not.
Smokers' Sense of Time Examined in Study
Wed May 14, 2003 7:57 AM ET
By DAN LEWERENZ, Associated Press Writer
STATE
COLLEGE, Pa. - For smokers separated from their cigarettes, time seems
to stand still. New research indicates there's good reason for that.
Time
perception, one of the simplest indicators of a person's ability to
concentrate, is severely impaired after just one day without
cigarettes, according to a study in the current quarterly issue of the
Psychopharmacology Bulletin.
In the study, 22 nonsmokers and 20
smokers were asked — after 45 seconds — how much time they thought had
passed. Nonsmokers and active smokers were generally within five
seconds of being right.
But smokers tested the morning after a day without cigarettes overestimated the time by an average of 50 percent.
"We
had some people (who) thought it was three minutes," said Laura Cousino
Klein, an assistant professor of biobehavioral health who conducted the
study with two Penn State University colleagues.
The results came as no surprise to Lynne Funk, a Penn State student who tried to quit smoking in January.
"When
I'm sitting, when I'm bored ... one minute passes and it seems like
five," Funk said. "That's when it would feel like time was standing
still. I wanted a cigarette just to kill time, to de-stress."
Timothy
B. Baker, associate director of the University of Wisconsin's Center
for Tobacco Research and Intervention, said the study might help
smokers better cope with withdrawal.
If smokers mistakenly
estimate how long they're experiencing urges, "they may be
mis-estimating all sorts of things that may be making quitting seem
more burdensome," he said.
================================================================================================================
Tue Jan 21, 2003
"Giving
up smoking would substantially reduce the future incidence of
pancreatic cancer," write Dr. Rudolf T. Hoogenveen of the National
Institute of Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands and
colleagues.
Source: European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
================================================================================================================
WHO: Tobacco Even More Cancerous
Wed Jun 19, 2002 3:40 PM ET
By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical Writer
LONDON
(AP) - Tobacco smoke is even more cancerous than previously thought,
for both smokers and nonsmokers who breathe in the fumes, causing
cancer in many more parts of the body than previously believed, a panel
of experts has concluded.
Although smoking has been
established as a leading cause of cancer, scientists have only now been
able to track more than one generation of smokers to develop a clear
picture of the dangers of tobacco.
The scientists, convened by
the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World
Health Organization ( news - web sites), said Wednesday that for types
of cancer already known to be caused by smoking, the risk of tumors is
even higher than previously noted. The research also definitively
proves that secondhand smoke causes cancer.
The analysis is the
first major examination of the accumulated research on tobacco smoke
and cancer since 1986. A full report of the findings will be published
later this year.
The scientists combined the results of more
than 3,000 studies involving millions of people, which allowed them to
draw conclusions not possible in smaller studies.
"We are still
learning about just how damaging cigarette smoking is," said the
panel's chairman, Dr. Jonathan Samet, head of epidemiology at the Johns
Hopkins School of Public Health. "Only now are we beginning to see the
full picture of what happens when a generation begins to smoke at an
early age, as youth do, and then smoke across their whole lifetime.
Before, we only had snapshots."
"The full picture is more disturbing than what we saw when we only had the smaller pieces," he said.
There
are about 1.2 billion smokers worldwide, half of whom will die
prematurely from cancer, heart disease, emphysema or other
smoking-related diseases, research has shown.
The best way to prevent those deaths is to get smokers to quit, the scientists said.
"Our
group concluded that any possible public health gains from changes in
cigarette characteristics or composition would be minimal by
comparison. Changes in cigarettes are not the way to prevent cancer,"
Samet said.
The 29 experts from 12 countries found that in types of
cancer already linked to smoking, the risk is even higher than
previously believed.
"For example, for tumors of the bladder and the
renal pelvis, previously we thought the elevated risk was maybe three
to four times that of a nonsmoker. Today, it looks like the risk is
elevated five to six times," said Dr. Paul Kleihues, director of the
U.N. cancer research agency.
================================================================================================================
Exercise Does Not Protect Smokers From
Cancer
Fri Apr 12, 02 5:26 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Male smokers who think walking,
swimming or other physical activity will lower their risk of lung cancer
are wrong, researchers say.
"The results of our study suggest that neither occupational nor
leisure-time physical activity is associated with the risk of lung
cancer in
long-term cigarette smokers," write lead study author Dr. Lisa H.
Colbert of the National Cancer Institute (news - web sites) in Bethesda,
Maryland and her colleagues.
================================================================================================================
CDC Estimates Cost of Smoking
Thu Apr 11, 2002 1:02 PM ET
By ERIN McCLAM, Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA - Each pack of cigarettes sold in the United States costs the
nation $7 in medical care and
lost productivity, the government said Thursday.
The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web
sites) put the nation's total
cost of smoking at $3,391 a year for every smoker, or $157.7 billion.
Health experts had previously
estimated $96 billion.
Americans buy about 22 billion packs of cigarettes annually. The CDC
study is the first to establish a
per-pack cost to the nation.
The agency estimated the nation's smoking-related medical costs at
$3.45 per pack, and said job
productivity lost because of premature death from smoking amounted to
$3.73 per pack, for a total of
$7.18.
The average cost of a pack of cigarettes in 1999 was $2.92.
The CDC said it analyzed expenses, both personal and for the health
care industry, and used national
medical surveys to calculate the costs to the nation.
The agency also reported that smoking results in about 440,000 deaths a
year in the United States, up
from the government's previous figure of 430,000, established in the
early 1990s. The new study was
conducted from 1995 to 1999.
"The fact that nearly half a million Americans lose their lives each
year because of smoking-related
illnesses is a significant public health tragedy," said Dr. David
Fleming, the CDC's acting director.
Representatives from the nation's three leading tobacco companies —
Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds
and Brown & Williamson — did not immediately return calls for
comment.
Among other findings of the study:
_ Smoking causes an average man to lose more than 13 years of life, and
an average woman to lose
14.5 years.
_ Smoking during pregnancy causes about 1,000 infant deaths each year.
_ Lung cancer causes the most deaths among smokers, following by heart
disease and lung disease.
_ Men account for about 60 percent of smoking deaths — 264,000 a year,
compared with 178,000
deaths among women.
___
On the Net:
CDC tobacco site: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco
================================================================================================================
YOUNG SMOKERS AT RISK
Smokers
under 40 are at risk from heart attack - smashing the belief that only
older people are vulnerable, says a new study.
Experts
studied 23,000 cases of people who had survived heart attacks between
1985 and 1994 and found four fifths of the victims were in the 35-39
age group.
Last Updated: 13:42 UK, Monday August 23, 2004
======================
Babies of Smokers End Up in Hospital
More Often
Fri Mar 8,2002 10:30 AM ET
By Chee-may Chow
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Babies who live with two or more smokers are 30%
more likely to need
hospital treatment than those who grow up in smoke-free homes,
according to a university study.
If there is one smoker in the family, the risk is 7% higher, the study
by Hong Kong University Faculty
of Medicine found.
Researchers tracked some 8,300 babies born in the territory in 1997 and
monitored their health over
18 months.
More than 40% of the newborns were exposed to passive smoke, the
findings showed. Doctors say
affected children most commonly suffer from respiratory problems.
The findings also underscored the dangers that passive smoke poses to
the fetus. Babies whose
mothers were exposed to tobacco smoke during pregnancy were 18% more
likely to be admitted to
the hospital and 26% more likely to be taken to outpatient clinics.
The additional medical costs for infants under one year old totaled at
least HK$30 million (US$3.8
million) a year, the study estimated.
"This is a huge sum. It's about 10% of the total medical costs spent on
infants of this age group," Lam
Tai-hing, head of the department of community medicine of Hong Kong
University, told Reuters
Friday.
Relatively few expectant mothers smoke, but nearly 65% of pregnant
women in Hong Kong are
occasionally or regularly exposed to second-hand smoke in their homes,
offices or in public places, the
survey showed.
The Hong Kong government unveiled a raft of proposals last year to
tighten anti-smoking laws and said
it wanted to present them to the local legislature before mid-2002. It
wants to stamp out smoking in
most indoor public places, including restaurants and shops and
eventually in lounges and nightclubs.
Hong Kong, a territory of nearly 7 million people, has few smokers
compared to many developed
countries. Only 27% of its men and about 3% of its women smoke
regularly.
In mainland China, 63% of men and about 4% of women smoke, according to
the World Health
Organization (news - web sites).
================================================================================================================
Friday January 4, 2002 1:26 PM ET
Smoking Mothers More Likely to Have Diabetic Kids
By John Griffiths
LONDON (Reuters Health) - The children of women who smoke during
pregnancy are at greater risk
of developing type 2 diabetes and obesity, new research suggests.
The study, the first to link maternal smoking and a child's diabetes,
suggests that smoking deprives the
fetus of nutrients, resulting in lifelong metabolic abnormalities.
Drs. Scott Montgomery and Anders Ekbom from the Karolinska Institute in
Stockholm, Sweden, used
data from the British National Child Development Study on around 17,000
children born in 1958.
In the study, midwives obtained information on smoking during
pregnancy. Smoking among the
mothers was also recorded in 1974. The researchers collected data on
the children at age 7 and 16,
and reviewed their medical records again at age 33.
Fifteen men and 13 women among those followed throughout childhood and
adolescence developed
diabetes between the ages of 16 and 33.
The investigators found that the risk of diabetes was increased more
than 4.5-fold in the offspring of
women who smoked more than 10 cigarettes a day compared with
nonsmokers. The risk in offspring
of mothers whose smoked fewer than 10 cigarettes a day was increased by
a factor of 4.13.
The team also found that smoking during pregnancy increased the risk of
obesity independently of
diabetes. Offspring of smokers were 34% to 38% more likely than
children of nonsmokers to become
obese. Some 10% of the study group, a total of 602 individuals, were
found to be clinically obese at
age 33.
``These are conservative figures, as further members of the study group
are likely to go on to develop
these disorders in later life,'' Montgomery said in an interview. ``We
plan to study the group further,
and we expect to see insulin resistance in the diabetic children of
smoking mothers, which would
explain the association we observed between diabetes and obesity.''
Insulin resistance, a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, occurs when the
body becomes less sensitive to the
effects of insulin, a hormone the body needs to use of sugar as fuel.
Cigarette smoking in young adulthood was also linked to an increased
risk of diabetes in later life,
according to the report in the British Medical Journal.
``To my knowledge, this is the first study to show an association
between smoking in pregnancy and
diabetes,'' Montgomery noted.
``Smoking during pregnancy is an act of great selfishness, which may
not only affect the development
of the child but could also increase the risk of diseases that could
emerge 20 to 30 years after birth,'' he
said.
``We have long known about the reduced size and development in the
children of smoking mothers.
Because diabetes and obesity are associated with heart disease, smoking
during pregnancy could also
risk shortening the child's life span,'' he added.
Montgomery suggested that smoking is likely to deprive the fetus of
nutrients, setting the metabolism up
to deal with famine rather then a modern diet rich in fat and sugar.
SOURCE: British Medical Journal 2002;324:26-27.
================================================================================================================
Tuesday March 20, 2001 1:33 PM ET
Teen Smokers End Up with Gum Disease
in Their 20s
By Charnicia Huggins
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Teenage smokers are nearly three times as
likely as their nonsmoking
peers to have gum disease in their mid-20s, results of a new study
suggest.
``The most important point of the study is that the adverse effects of
tobacco smoking on gum health
begin even earlier than was previously thought,'' lead study author Dr.
Murray Thomson, of the
University of Otago in New Zealand, told Reuters Health.
``At the public health level, measures aimed at reducing smoking will
also have positive benefits for oral
health,'' he said.
To investigate the association between smoking and gum disease in young
people, Thomson's group
measured loss of periodontal attachment--the bony and soft-tissue
support for the teeth--in about 900
men and women aged 26 years. The investigators asked the study
participants about their smoking
habits at the ages of 15, 18, 21 and 26.
Those who reported smoking at each age of follow-up were almost three
times as likely as their
``never smoking'' peers to experience loss of attachment, a sign of
chronic gum disease, the authors
report in the April issue of Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology.
And the longer these
individuals reported smoking, the greater the extent of disease, study
findings indicate.
This was true even after the researchers took into account the
participants' toothbrushing and flossing
habits, as well as dental visits.
The study ``provides clear evidence of periodontal disease at an age
when young adults are at their
healthiest,'' the authors conclude.
``Don't start smoking,'' Thomson advised. ``If you have, then ceasing
the habit will also be good for
your gums.''
According to Dr. Marjorie Jeffcoat, from the University of Alabama
School of Dentistry, it is ``totally
logical'' that those who begin smoking at younger ages will have a
lifetime of risk for periodontal
disease.
Citing emerging evidence that individuals with periodontal disease may
also be at risk for
cardiovascular disease or pre-term births, she said ``It's all one more
reason why people shouldn't
smoke.''
Jeffcoat is not affiliated with Thomson's research.
SOURCE: Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology 2001;29:130-135.
=========================================
Friday January 11 10:59 AM ET
Quitting Smoking Cuts Post-Surgery Complications
By Suzanne Rostler
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smokers can lower their risk of developing postoperative
complications by quitting or cutting back on their daily cigarette intake about
2 months before surgery, researchers report.
Cigarette smoke boosts the risk of developing cardiovascular or wound-healing
problems after surgery due to its effects on the heart, lungs and immune system.
To determine whether abstaining from smoking had any affect on this risk, the
team of researchers from Bispebjerg University Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark,
assigned 120 daily smokers to receive antismoking counseling and nicotine replacement
therapy, or no intervention, 6 to 8 weeks before they underwent elective hip
or knee surgery.
About 18% of patients who had reduced smoking by at least half developed postoperative
complications, compared with 52% of patients who continued smoking their usual
amount, according to the report in the January 12th issue of The Lancet.
Quitting or cutting back had the greatest effect on wound healing. Only 5% of
patients who received antismoking therapy developed wound-related complications,
compared with 31% of patients who did not cut back. What's more, there were
no cardiovascular complications in the group of abstainers, compared with a
10% complication rate in the other group. Patients who quit or cut back also
had shorter hospital stays and were less likely to require a second surgery.
The findings have important medical and economic implications, since roughly
one third of surgical patients are smokers, conclude Dr. Ann M. Moller and co-authors.
``The worldwide effect would be enormous if the programs were implemented globally,
and not only in reduced postoperative complications,'' Moller said in an interview
with Reuters Health. ``We have substantial hope that some patients will (continue
to) abstain after hospital discharge and not (be diagnosed) with other smoking-related
chronic diseases.''
She suggests that all hospitals or surgical departments implement preoperative
smoking cessation programs that are tailored to the individual and include nicotine
replacement therapy.
SOURCE: The Lancet 2002;359:114-117.
=================================================================
Wednesday March 28, 2001 10:28 AM ET
Surgeon General Warns of Smoking Peril
to U.S. Women
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American women are facing a full-blown epidemic
of smoking-related
illness, with the deadly habit snuffing out the lives of 165,000 women
a year and women now
accounting for almost four in 10 smoking deaths, US Surgeon General
David Satcher said in a report
on Tuesday.
==================================================
Tuesday April 3, 2001 6:31 PM ET
Women Smokers More Vulnerable to
Bladder Cancer
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When it comes to bladder cancer, two things
have always seemed
clear: smokers and men are at heightened risk. But new research shows
that, cigarette for cigarette,
female smokers are more likely than males to get the disease.
In a study of more than 3,000 adults with and without bladder cancer,
researchers found that when
smoking habits were comparable, women had a higher risk for the disease
than men did. The finding is
surprising, investigators say, because bladder cancer, which has long
been linked to smoking, is more
common among men.
================================================================================================================
Wednesday October 31, 2001 10:40 AM ET
Smoking Delays Pregnancy
LONDON (Reuters Health) - Women who continue smoking while
trying to have a baby risk having to wait significantly longer to get
pregnant, according to study findings released on Wednesday.
Researchers at the Institute of Health Sciences at Oxford University
compared the time taken to conceive by 569 women smokers,
ex-smokers and never-smokers.
Their findings, published in the Journal of Biosocial Science, show that
on average women who continued to smoke while attempting to
conceive took almost two months longer to conceive than non-smokers.
However, women who quit smoking a year before attempting to
conceive were likely to get pregnant within a similar time period as
non-smokers.
Tuesday September 18, 2001 10:46 AM ET
Cigarettes May Function Like
Antidepressant Drugs
By Melissa Schorr
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Cigarette smoking may have effects on
the human brain similar to those of antidepressant drugs, possibly
explaining the high rate of smoking among depressed people and their
resistance to quitting, a team of researchers reports.
``Chronic smoking produces 'antidepressant-like' effects on the human
brain,'' lead author Dr. Gregory A. Ordway, a professor of psychiatry at
the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, told Reuters
Health. ``This may contribute to the high incidence of smoking and
difficulty to quit in those who are depressed.''
Tuesday November 27, 2001 03:52 PM EST
Light Cigarettes Are Not Safer
By Melinda T. Willis ABCNEWS.com
A report from the National Cancer Institute (news - web sites)
finds that light or low tar cigarettes are not safer alternatives to
regular.
Smokers who have switched to light or
low-tar cigarettes with the belief that they are
safer than regular cigarettes have been
mistaken, says a new report from the
National Cancer Institute.
The report, titled Risks Associated with
Smoking Cigarettes with Low Tar
Machine-Measured Yields of Tar and
Nicotine , is the 13th in a series of
comprehensive reports on Smoking and
Tobacco Control, which began in 1991.
"This report is one that has brought together
scientists of various disciplines and has
concluded that there are significant health
risks from switching to low-tar, light cigarettes," says Scott Leischow,
chief of the National Cancer Institute Tobacco Control Research
Branch.
Light cigarettes have been around for 20 years and have led some
people to believe that they are healthier alternatives to regular
cigarettes. And who wouldn't want to inhale less tar when given the
opportunity?
"Many people feel that if they are not able to quit smoking but are
concerned about their health, low-tar cigarettes are a compromise,"
says Dr. Neal L. Benowitz, professor of medicine at University of
California, San Francisco and co-scientific editor of the report that
challenges this notion.
Smoking is the number one preventable cause of premature death in the
United States, responsible for more than 400,000 deaths each year,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news -
web sites) Tobacco Information and Prevention Source.
Removing Misconceptions
According to Benowitz, light cigarettes are made of the same
substances as their full tar brethren. The distinguishing factor is the
engineering.
Low-tar cigarettes can be made with porous paper and more loosely
packed tobacco in an effort to reduce tar intake, but past research has
shown that people are easily able to circumvent such designs.
"There are actually four different ways that smokers can make a low
yield cigarette higher yield," says Benowitz, who published one of the
first papers on the subject in the New England Journal of Medicine
(news - web sites) in 1983.
Smokers can, for example, take more puffs per cigarette, take bigger
or deeper drags, and they can increase the number of cigarettes they
smoke each day.
Additionally, "Some cigarettes have little holes in the filters and
people
will consciously or unconsciously cover those holes [with their mouths]
and as a result get more tar and nicotine delivered to their bodies,"
says
Leischow.
"People are very adept at getting the nicotine that they're addicted to
and as a result they also get the harmful substances as well," he adds.
The Safest Cigarette
"We do not imply in our marketing, and smokers should not assume,
that "light" or "ultra light" brands are "safe," or are "safer" than
full-flavor
brands," states Brendan McCormick, a spokesperson for leading
cigarette maker Philip Morris. "[The development of low-tar cigarettes
is] related to consumer taste preferences."
Experts say the take home message of the National Cancer Institute
report is that smokers who make the switch to low-tar or light
cigarettes should not be fooled into thinking that they are making a
safer
choice.
"The focus of the [report] primarily is the public and what we can do to
improve public health," asserts Leischow. "One of the key and critical
recommendations is that the
best way to reduce risk is to quit smoking."
In other words, the safest cigarette is still the one that is never
smoked.
Study Reveals Link Between Smoking,
Birth Weight
Fri Apr 5, 2002 1:39 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who smoke cigarettes during
pregnancy are at risk of delivering a low birth weight baby, although
it is
not clear why. Now, researchers report that cigarettes can reduce the
flow of blood in the placenta and limit the amount of nutrients that
reach
the fetus.
Tuesday October 23, 2001 5:25 PM ET
Many Kids Who Smoke Get Cigarettes
From Adults
By Emma Hitt, PhD
ATLANTA (Reuters Health) - Many minors who smoke gain access to
cigarettes by asking older friends or even strangers to buy them,
according to findings of two new studies. Antismoking programs should
address this problem, but don't, the researchers say.
According to Dr. Steven E. Shive of California State University in
Chico, who led one of the studies, most young adults who buy cigarettes
for minors are friends and family. Only about one-third are strangers.
Friday October 19, 2001 5:25 PM ET
Babies Better Off if Moms Quit Smoking Altogether
By Keith Mulvihill
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Pregnant women who think cutting back on
their smoking habit may
be better than nothing for the health of their baby may want to rethink
their decision.
A new study has found that even smoking just a few cigarettes a day can
have detrimental effects on a
baby's health.
``There is no 'safe' level of exposure from active smoking,'' said lead
author Dr. Lucinda England of the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda,
Maryland.
``We were able to detect detrimental effects on birth weight even among
women smoking less than 5
cigarettes per day,'' she told Reuters Health. ``Women likely need to
quit entirely before their baby's
birth weight approaches that of a woman who never smoked.''
The study, which appears in the October 15th issue of the American
Journal of Epidemiology, was
conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web
sites) in Atlanta, Georgia.
It has long been known that smoking during pregnancy is associated with
decreased infant birth weight
and other ill effects, including premature birth and sudden infant
death syndrome (SIDS).
Tuesday November 27, 2001 1:27 PM ET
Pregnant Women Try to Quit, Men Puff It All Away
LONDON (Reuters) - Men who smoke undermine the efforts of their
pregnant partners to quit
smoking for good, according to survey results released Tuesday.
The study by the Imperial Cancer Research Fund showed that women who
tried to quit smoking
during pregnancy felt their smoking ``better halves'' were unsupportive
and had double standards.
Most women took up smoking again after the baby was born.
Sue Ziebland, one of the authors of the report, said the best support
men could give was to quit
smoking themselves.
``Women feel unsupported by men's 'do as I say, not as I do' attitude
when their partners continue to
smoke, but encourage them to stop,'' she said.
The study uncovered four common strategies employed by men who carry on
smoking during their
partner's pregnancy.
Men were said to be hypocritical, urging the woman to quit for health
reasons but refusing to do so
themselves, or non-interventionist, smoking in front of her without
second thought.
Women were also annoyed by so-called ``secret smokers'' who did not
smoke in front of their
pregnant partner, and ``cheats'' who said they would share the burden
of pregnancy by quitting but
cheated by smoking elsewhere.
Professor Gordon McVie of the Cancer Research Campaign said that,
traditionally, health education
messages focused on encouraging pregnant women to quit.
``But this study suggests that pregnancy is an ideal time for both
parents to kick the habit and couples
are more likely to succeed if they make a joint attempt,'' he said.
Monday September 24, 2001 1:22 PM ET
Cigarette Use Linked to Blue-Collar
Occupations
By Natalie Engler
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although the number of Americans
who smoke cigarettes has decreased in recent years, the decline has not
penetrated all occupations, according to a government study that links
smoking to job and sector.
So-called ``blue-collar'' workers, such as builders, movers and auto
mechanics are more likely to light up than are their ''white-collar''
counterparts, according to lead author Dr. Ki Moon Bang, of the
National Institute for Occupations Safety and Health. The findings, he
said, may be useful in identifying populations that could benefit from
education and outreach.
Researchers have noted previously that smoking is more common
among blue-collar than white-collar workers. However, the new study,
published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, breaks down
these categories into 40 occupations and 44 industries.
To examine the connection between smoking and vocation, Bang, along
with collaborator Dr. Jay H. Kim, examined data from a survey
conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, a division of
the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites). The
study spanned a 6-year period and polled more than 20,000 adults
about their cigarette smoking status, occupation, industry, employment
and gender.
Bang and Kim found that 28% of the respondents smoked cigarettes
from 1988 to 1994. The study also found that men smoke more often
than women (32% versus 25%) and blacks smoke slightly more often
than whites (31% versus 28%).
But some occupations showed a disproportionate number of smokers.
Nearly half of waiters, construction workers, mechanics, and movers
smoked, while less than one fifth of teachers and sales representatives
smoked.
Although the construction industry had the highest rate of smoking
overall, the number of construction workers and people in construction
trades who smoked had dropped 7%. By contrast, the percentage of
vehicle mechanics and repairers who smoked had remained consistent.
Teachers seemed to be most successful at kicking the habit, perhaps
partially due to schools' no-smoking policies. Twice as many teachers
were former smokers than were current smokers.
The investigators also found that 43% of unemployed people smoked,
compared with 30% of employed people and 23% of those not in the
labor force.
Among the industries represented, construction (42%) was followed by
repair services (41%), and lumber and wood products (40%) as having
the highest proportion of smokers.
``The reasons the blue-collar workers have higher smoking (rates) might
be (related to) job stress, peer pressure and psycho-social behaviors,''
Bang told Reuters Health. In the article, he pointed out that two prior
studies have linked smoking to occupational and environmental stress.
SOURCE: American Journal of Industrial Medicine 2001;40:233-239.
================================================================================================================
Jul 2001:
``There
are over 100 studies which show NRT (nicotine reduction treatment)
doubles your chances of quitting in the long term,'' he commented.
``Having said that, it only doubles the chances of success from 3% to
6%, so there is still a long way to go. NRT products are not silver
bullets when it comes to giving up.''
================================================================================================================
Friday December 21, 2001 10:31 AM ET
International Study Confirms Passive Smoke's Harm
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Exposure to passive, or secondhand, tobacco
smoke increases a
person's risk for experiencing a variety of respiratory ailments,
according to the results of a large
international study.
What's more, exposure to secondhand smoke varies widely around the
world.
For example, people exposed to secondhand smoke in the workplace varied
from less than 3% of
those in Uppsala, Sweden, to 54% of the participants living in
Galdakao, Spain, the report indicates.
Overall, exposure to secondhand smoke in the workplace nearly doubled a
person's risk of respiratory
ailments and ``was significantly associated with all types of
respiratory symptoms and current asthma,''
the authors write.
Passive smoking, in general, was associated with nighttime chest
tightness, nighttime breathlessness,
and breathlessness after activity.
``Decreasing involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke in the community,
especially in workplaces, is
likely to improve respiratory health,'' conclude Dr. Christer Janson of
Uppsala University in Sweden
and colleagues. The study, which included interviews and lung tests of
nearly 8,000 nonsmokers from
16 different countries, is published in the December 22/29 issue of the
journal The Lancet. The study
included 13 European countries, Australia, New Zealand and the US.
In the US, smoke-free businesses are on the rise with 69% of employees
reporting that they work in
buildings where smoking has been prohibited by employers or government
regulations, according to a
recent study sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (news - web
sites).
By comparison, fewer than half of all employees surveyed in
1993--46%--worked in smoke-free
environments.
The US Surgeon General first warned of the dangers of ''secondhand
smoke'' in 1986, citing that
exposure to tobacco smoke increased the incidence of lung cancer, heart
and lung disease among
nonsmokers.
SOURCE: The Lancet 2001;358:2103-2109.
================================================================================================================
Monday April 30, 2001 5:39 PM ET
Kicking the Smoking Habit Helps Heart Patients
By Emma Patten-Hitt, PhD
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smokers who kick the habit reduce
their risk of dying from heart problems as much as if they were to take
drugs to treat the problem--even if they have quit within the last 2 years,
according to a new study.
In a related editorial, Dr. James Lightwood and colleagues at the
University of California, San Francisco, note that ''given the expense of
commonly used medications for heart failure, smoking cessation
counseling with follow-up may be more cost effective than
pharmaceutical treatment for heart failure.''
The editorialists add, ``It is never too late to quit smoking, even for
patients with heart failure and other serious cardiovascular disease.''
================================================================================================================
Friday December 29, 2000 10:20 AM ET
Smoking Ups Risks for Skin Cancer
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Skin cancer can now be added to the
ever-growing list of illnesses linked to cigarette smoking. Researchers at
Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands report that, compared
to nonsmokers, people who smoke are twice as likely to develop one of the
more common types of skin cancer--squamous cell carcinoma.
================================================================================================================
Wednesday February 14, 2001 10:49 AM ET
Poll: Most American Smokers Try to Quit, But Can't
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An overwhelming majority of smokers continue to
light up even though they are
well
aware of the hazards of smoking and most say they want to quit but
cannot kick the habit, according to a
Harris Poll released on Wednesday.
The poll found that almost everyone who smokes believes that their
smoking increases their risk of getting lung
cancer (88%), of getting heart disease (84%) and that it will probably shorten their lives (80%).
Eighty percent of the respondents said they tried to stop smoking, but
couldn't do it. On average, people who
were still smoking said they had tried to stop and failed as many as
eight times, according to the poll of 1,011
adults.
``These survey data leave little room to doubt that the power of
nicotine addiction is the main reason why
smoking has not declined any faster, even though most smokers would
like to and try to give it up,'' said
Humphrey Taylor, chairman of the Harris Poll.
The nationwide poll was conducted between January 11-15, 2001 and has a
margin of error of plus or minus 3
percentage points. The questions on smoking were included in the annual
Harris survey of key health risks and
health behaviors.
Dr. Tom Houston, director, of the SmokeLess States National Tobacco
Policy Initiative, said the poll is good
news because it indicates that more people are taking anti-smoking messages to heart.
The number of smokers who acknowledge the health risks is up from a
poll done about four years ago by the
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, he said in an interview.
``That means that our educational effort, the message that we've been
trying to get across is getting through,''
said the Chicago physician.
There are about 50 million smokers in the United States and only about
3 to 5 percent can successfully stop
smoking in any given year, he said.
An estimated 430,000 Americans die prematurely each year from tobacco related illnesses, he said.
The SmokeLess States program supports groups working to reduce tobacco
use. It is a joint effort between
the American Medical Association and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Tuesday December 12,2000
Marijuana a Downer for Fertility
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters Health) - New research about marijuana's
effect on the reproductive systems of both men and women may prove to be
a real bummer for those who smoke the illicit substance.
While it has been known for years that male marijuana smokers have lower
sperm counts, new research has shown that chemicals in marijuana hinder the
sperm's ability to fertilize an egg.
Tuesday December 12, 2000
Young Marijuana Smokers at Highest Addiction Risk
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who begin using marijuana early are
more likely than others to become dependent, new findings show.
In a study of over 2700 marijuana users in Ontario, Canada, those who
started smoking at 17 years or later were twice as likely to eventually quit
compared with those who started at 14 years or younger.
Wednesday December 13, 2000
California's Antismoking Program Cut Heart Deaths
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - California's aggressive antismoking
campaign reduced heart disease deaths by 33,000 between 1988 and 1997,
researchers report.
The findings follow government statistics released last month showing the
program cut lung cancer cases by 14% over the same period.
Dr. Stanton Glantz and Caroline Fichtenberg of the University of California,
San Francisco, note that the increased risk of heart disease associated with
smoking falls off quickly after quitting. So a program that cuts smoking levels
should be expected to have a quick impact on levels of heart disease.
Tuesday December 19, 2000
White Youngsters Smoke Cigarettes at Earlier Ages
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - White smokers in the US say they started
their habit at an earlier age than their African-American or Hispanic
counterparts, researchers report. The earlier an individual begins smoking, the
more likely they are to be a heavy smoker in later adulthood and the less
likely they are to try to quit.
================================================================================================================
Monday November 13, 2000 5:35 PM ET
Smoking Particularly Dangerous for Women
BALTIMORE (Reuters Health) - Women smokers are at higher risk of a
host of harmful health outcomes compared with nonsmokers and even male
smokers, researchers suggest. The latest research on tobacco's impact on
women was the topic of a November 10th symposium sponsored by the
University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Lung cancer, cervical cancer, cardiovascular disease, mouth diseases and
infertility are among the conditions striking women smokers at far
higher rates
than women who do not smoke, researchers reported. Furthermore, women
are at higher risk of some diseases when compared with male smokers.
``Women who smoke are four times more likely to develop cervical cancer
than women who don't use tobacco,'' according to Dr. Sandra Brooks, from
the University of Maryland Medical Center. And, women seem to be more
vulnerable to lung cancer than are men, added Dr. L. Austin Doyle, also
from
the University of Maryland.
Women also are more susceptible to certain aesthetic, functional and
life-threatening oral health conditions than men, Jacquelyn Fried,
associate
professor at University of Maryland's School of Dentistry, noted. Women
tobacco users are at increased risk of facial wrinkles, gum
inflammation, and
cancers of the lips and mouth.
And, women smokers are at higher risk of passing a host of harmful
health
conditions to their offspring. ``Learning disabilities, ADHD, fetal and
perinatal
deaths and SIDS: these are all caused by maternal smoking,'' Dr.
Theodore
Slotkin, from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, told the
symposium.
Slotkin said the rate of such conditions is increased between 50% and
500%
in pregnant women who smoke compared with those who do not. Despite
the publicity about the negative effects of smoking on pregnancy,
tobacco use
continues in one-quarter of all pregnancies, he pointed out.
Furthermore, ``smoking may prevent some (women) from ever conceiving,''
noted Dr. Howard D. McClamrock, from Maryland Medical Center's in
vitro fertilization program. ``Studies have shown that tobacco use can
decrease the supply of eggs within the ovaries, even in young women.''
================================================================================================================
Wednesday October 17, 2001 6:23 PM ET
Marijuana's Effects on Brain Are
Reversible: Study
By Steven Reinberg
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Intellectual impairment associated with
heavy marijuana use is apparently reversible with abstinence,
researchers report.
And marijuana withdrawal symptoms in habitual users are similar to
those seen with nicotine withdrawal, according to a second report
published in the October issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
The lead author of the first report, Dr. Harrison G. Pope, Jr. of McLean
Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, told Reuters Health, ``It appears
that cognitive impairment from marijuana use is temporary and related to
the amount of marijuana that has been recently smoked rather than
permanent and related to an entire lifetime consumption.''
================================================================================================================
Thursday August 16 2:10 PM ET
Smoking to Become Major Cause of
Death in China
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Cigarette smoking is poised to
become a leading cause of death among middle-aged men in
China if current smoking habits persist, researchers said
Thursday.
In the coming decades, tobacco will cause one third of deaths
among men aged 35 and older in China, which holds 20% of
the world's population and consumes 30% of the world's
cigarettes, researchers from the University of Hong Kong
predict.
----------------------------
Thursday July 19, 2001 10:31 AM ET
Pot-Smoking Dads May Increase Risk
of SIDS
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Fathers who smoke marijuana
may be putting their infants at risk of sudden infant death
syndrome (SIDS), a major cause of death among infants, new
research suggests.
Monday July 16, 2001 5:19 PM ET
Many Teens Underestimate Smoking
Risks: Survey
By Charnicia E. Huggins
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite numerous
youth-directed health warnings about the dangers of cigarette
smoking, many teens continue to underestimate their risk of
premature death from smoking-related causes, new research
findings show.
``As long as young people fail to appreciate the risks of
smoking, they will endanger their health and create an
addiction that they will regret having started,'' study author Dr.
Daniel Romer told Reuters Health.
Monday July 16, 2001 5:24 PM ET
Tobacco Firms Urged to Remove
Dangerous Additives
LONDON (Reuters Health) - The UK Department of Health
confirmed on Monday it is urging tobacco firms to reduce levels
of carcinogens and other dangerous chemicals from
cigarettes.
A spokesman told Reuters Health that government officials had
sought advice from experts on the Scientific Committee on
Tobacco and Health on which of the hundreds of chemicals in
tobacco should be removed from cigarettes.
``Ministers want firm new action on tobacco additives and
carcinogens in tobacco smoke. If the industry does not take
action, we will be looking to powers under the Consumer
Protection Act that would allow us to ban tobacco additives if
proven unsafe,'' he added.
================================================================================================================
Big Tobacco 'Light' Cigarette Con
Exposed: Report
Tue Mar 12, 2002 - 5:19 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Using recently released US tobacco company
documents and other
trade sources, Canadian researchers have detected a concentrated effort
to deceive the public about
the health risks from cigarettes described as "Light" or "Ultra-Light."
Tobacco companies were concerned that growing evidence linking tobacco
with lung cancer would
result in large numbers of smokers quitting, according to Drs. Richard
W. Pollay and T. Dewhirst from
the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. To meet this challenge,
the companies began producing
"low-tar" and "light" cigarettes, the researchers report in the March
issue of Tobacco Control.
The tobacco companies believed that these cigarettes would reassure the
public, the investigators say.
Companies branded cigarettes as "hi-fi" (high-filtration) and implied
that these cigarettes would reduce
or eliminate the health risks of smoking.
However, tobacco companies themselves described filtered cigarettes as
"an effective advertising
gimmick," or "merely cosmetic," offering "the image of health
reassurance." Company documents
describe consumers who smoked low-tar cigarettes as wanting "nothing
less than to be conned with
information," Pollay and Dewhirst note.
Tactics used by the tobacco companies to sell these products included
using ineffective filters, filters
that loosened over time and actually delivered more nicotine than
unfiltered cigarettes, menthol,
high-tech imagery and misleading data about tar and nicotine yields.
Tobacco companies also added a seemingly healthier cigarette to an
established brand. Although this
"virtuous variant" product was promoted heavily, it was rarely
available, causing customers to confuse
the brands, the authors explain.
Names such as Merit, Life, True and descriptions such as Mild, Ultra,
Light and Superlight were used
to promote a healthful product image, Pollay and Dewhirst found.
Companies used machine-based tar yields that did not reflect the actual
tar levels that consumers were
likely to get while smoking. "Such products could (and would) be
advertized as 'tar-free,' 'zero
milligrams FTC tar,' or the 'ultimate low-tar cigarette,' while
actually delivering 20-, 30-, 40-mg or
more 'tar' when used by a human smoker! They will be extremely easy to
design and produce," Brown
and Williamson, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco, wrote of
their Barclay brand.
Based on their review, Pollay and Dewhirst conclude that "over the past
50 years, advertisements of
filtered and low-tar cigarettes were intended to reassure the many
smokers who were anxious about
the health risk of smoking."
SOURCE: Tobacco Control 2002;11:18-31.
================================================================================================================
Tuesday July 24, 2001 5:40 PM ET
Secondhand Smoke May Impair Nonsmokers' Blood Flow
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Even a brief bout with secondhand smoke may
be enough
to temporarily slow down nonsmokers' blood circulation, new study
results suggest. The
short-lived slowdown may help explain how, over time, exposure to
cigarette smoke can
raise nonsmokers' heart disease risk, according to investigators.
In a study examining the impact of environmental cigarette smoke on
heart blood vessels,
Japanese researchers found that 30 minutes of exposure to secondhand
smoke reduced
nonsmokers' coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR)--a measure of the
speed of blood
flow.
Monday August 20, 2001 1:52 PM ET
Mood States Identified as Smoking Triggers
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many smokers are more likely to light up
during a moment
of anger or a fit of anxiety. But men seem to be more likely to puff
away to alleviate
feelings of sadness, while women are inclined to break out their smokes
when they are
feeling happy, the results of a small new study suggest.
Smoking is related to negative moods and energy level, more clearly in
men, and has
soothing effects on sadness in men and on anger in men and women,
according to Dr.
Ralph J. Delfino of the University of California, Irvine, and
colleagues.
Monday August 6, 2001 5:29 PM ET
Smoking May Be Risk Factor for Infant Colic
By Suzanne Rostler
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who smoke at least 15 cigarettes a
day during
pregnancy or shortly after birth may be twice as likely to have a fussy
and seemingly
inconsolable baby than women who do not smoke, the results of a study
suggest.
The findings, published in the August issue of Pediatrics, support
previous studies
demonstrating a link between smoking after birth and infant colic.
While studies have not
looked closely at the relationship between smoking during pregnancy and
colic, smoking
is known to affect the fetal growth and later health of a child, the
researchers note.
Neither a mother's age, marital status, alcohol and caffeine intake,
breast feeding habits,
the child's birth weight, nor a father's smoking habits affected the
risk of infantile colic.
Colic is defined as prolonged bouts of crying or irritability that
occur more than 3 days a
week for more than 3 weeks and have no known cause.
``Our study indicates that maternal smoking during pregnancy or in the
postpartum period
increases the risk of infantile colic,'' according to Dr. Charlotte
Sondergaard from the
University of Aarhus in Denmark, and colleagues. ``Ante- and postnatal
care that includes
advice of smoking cessation is important and also might be important
for preventing
infantile colic.''
In an interview with Reuters Health, Sondergaard suggested that
maternal smoking may
affect the baby's gastrointestinal tract or irritate the upper
respiratory airway in a way that
raises the risk of colic. She stressed, however, that the study did not
examine how
smoking, either during pregnancy or postnatally, affects the baby.
================================================================================================================
Friday January 05, 2001
Officials
in California now say careless smoking and not a car fire sparked the
11,000-acre blaze that has destroyed homes and forced hundreds out of
their homes in Southern California.
Investigators with
California's Department of Forestry say careless disposal of a
cigarette was the cause of the fire. "Investigators on the scene found
a cigarette, probably from somebody driving by"
================================================================================================================
Wednesday June 6, 2001 6:32 PM ET
Jury Awards Smoker in Philip Morris
Suit
By Deena Beasley
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In one of the largest individual damage
awards ever against the tobacco industry, a Los Angeles jury on
Wednesday ordered Philip Morris Cos. Inc. to pay more than $3
billion to a 56-year-old cancer patient who said the tobacco giant
failed
to warn him of the dangers of smoking.
================================================================================================================
Monday June 18, 2001 10:31 AM ET
Quitting Smoking Can Boost Girls'
Self-Esteem
By E. J. Mundell
TORONTO (Reuters Health) - Adolescent girls who make the decision
to quit smoking experience higher-than-average increases in self-esteem,
researchers report.
================================================================================================================
Monday June 4, 2001 2:49 PM ET
Big Tobacco Found Guilty of Deceptive
Business Practices
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Several tobacco companies were found guilty
of deceptive business practices on Monday in a case brought by Blue
Cross Blue Shield, which sought to be reimbursed for funds it allegedly
spent on smoking-related costs, as a jury ruled that the companies must
pay about $29.6 million in damages.
In the case -- a third-party payor complaint on behalf of health care
plans -- Blue Cross Blue Shield
sought reimbursement of alleged smoking-related medical care costs that
were incurred by health care
plans. Blue Cross sued in a Brooklyn, N.Y. court for direct claims on
their own behalf and on behalf of
their subscribers.
All of the defendants except for British American Tobacco Plc were
found guilty of deceptive business
practices. The companies were ordered to pay Blue Cross Blue Shield
about $17.8 million in direct
liability and $11.8 million in non-direct liability, which would go to
Blue Cross Blue Shield's subsidiary
companies. Other defendants in the case were Philip Morris Cos. Inc.;
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
Holdings Inc.; British American Tobacco's Brown & Williamson unit;
Lorillard Tobacco Co., a unit of
Loews Corp.; and Liggett Group, a unit of Vector Group Ltd.
New York-based Philip Morris said its part of the direct and non-direct
liability damages totals about
$11 million.
================================================================================================================
Thursday August 24, 2000
Just one cigarette leaves brain wanting more
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Puffing on a single cigarette can leave a
lasting impression on the brain's pleasure center that primes it for
nicotine
addiction, new research shows. This glimpse at nicotine's early effects
could
lead to drug therapies to help smokers quit, a report suggests.
In the brain, nicotine uses mechanisms similar to those involved in
learning
and memory to leave a nicotine ``memory'' in the brain's ``reward
center,''
according to researchers at the University of Chicago, Illinois. The
memory
basically says: ''Nicotine is good.''
The investigators used brain tissue from rats to uncover the path
nicotine
takes to instill addiction. In doing so, they identified specific
nicotine
receptors that could be potential targets of drug therapy to quash
addiction,
Dr. Daniel S. McGehee told Reuters Health in an interview. The study
findings are published in the August issue of the journal Neuron.
Scientists have known that nicotine triggers a release of the feel-good
hormone dopamine. McGehee said this research shows that even small
amounts of nicotine create a ``long-term excitability'' in the
connections
between the brain cells that produce dopamine. The cells are then
primed to
react to the next nicotine exposure with a greater rush of dopamine.
According to McGehee, nicotine appears to attach to a specific receptor
on
dopamine-producing cells. Therefore, he said, a drug that blocks these
receptors may help smokers kick the habit. While all addictive drugs
affect
dopamine levels, he noted, the process identified in this study seems
to be
unique to nicotine.
``It's a tragedy,'' McGehee said, ``that cigarettes are such an easy
delivery
system to nicotine.''
Tuesday October 3, 2000
Smoking May Lead to Teen Depression
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Contrary to the notion that depressed teenagers
were more likely to take up smoking, a study found that young people who
became smokers were more likely to become depressed, researchers said on
Monday.
Cigarette smoking was the ``strongest predictor'' of developing
depressive
symptoms among a group of 8,704 teenagers who were not depressed a
year earlier, said study author Elizabeth Goodman of Children's Hospital
Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
The adolescents who were not depressed at the start of the study--and
may
or may not have been experimenting with cigarettes--were four times more
likely to have depressive symptoms if they were moderate or heavy
smokers
a year later.
The impact of nicotine or other cigarette additives on certain brain
receptors
could be to blame for the onset of depressive symptoms, Goodman said.
There has been some success in using anti-depressants to help smokers
stop,
suggesting a close link between the effects of cigarettes and the
brain's
chemistry that dictates mood.
Monday August 7, 2000
Tobacco Foes to Unite Against Smoking
By Andrew Holtz
CHICAGO (Reuters Health) - Organizers of the largest ever anti-tobacco
meeting say their top priority is building a global network to combat
the toll of
tobacco-related diseases, which is expected to rise to 10 million
deaths per
year by 2030.
Monday August 14, 2000
Tobacco Kills 625,000 in the Americas Each
Year
By Charnicia E. Huggins
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - At least 625,000 individuals in the
Americas die each year from tobacco use, according to the Pan American
Health Organization (PAHO). Tobacco use seems to be on the rise in most
countries in the Americas, and the PAHO are urging governments to clamp
down on tobacco sales to help reverse the trend.
``Smoking in the Americas, as in any developing countries, is on the
increase
(and) we can be sure that the amount of disease from smoking is going
to go
up--particularly heart disease and cancer,'' said David
Brandling-Bennett, deputy director of the PAHO. The
Pan American Health Organization serves as the regional office for the
Americas of the World Health
Organization (WHO).
20 October 2000
Smoking doubles
women's rheumatoid arthritis risk... all women involved in the study
were 55 to 65 years old...women who smoked more tha 40 years had
roughly a doubled risk...those who quit smoking more than 10 years
before the beginning of the study had no increased risk.
Wednesday September 13 10:58 AM ET
Tobacco industry uses additives to mask odors
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Cigarette manufacturers have gone to great
lengths to mask the acrid smell of secondhand smoke by adding chemical
additives to their products, according to a review of tobacco industry
documents.
``These documents suggest that this practice is part of
an overall campaign to counter the decline in the social acceptability
of smoking,'' report researchers from the Massachusetts Department of
Public Health in the September issue of the journal Tobacco Control.
After
searching through some of the millions of pages of documents made
available as part of the tobacco settlement, the researchers learned
that the tobacco industry used additives and other technologies to
alter the visibility, odor, and irritating qualities of the smoke. The
manufacturers did this without necessarily altering the overall level
of smoke or the chemicals that make up the smoke and did little testing
to see if the additives changed the smoke's toxicity, according to Dr.
Gregory N. Connolly and colleagues.
In particular, manufacturers
have tried to tinker with some of the more cosmetic aspects of
cigarette smoking, such as reducing the smell of cigarette butts. The
investigators found that many campaigns focused on making cigarettes
more acceptable to young women by trying to limit the stale odor that
can get trapped in hair or clothes.
One such campaign by R.J.
Reynolds was termed Project TF for ``Tomorrow's Female,'' which was
targeted toward 18- to 34-year-old women smokers who ``want a fresher,
cleaner smoking experience,'' according to the researchers.
By
``reducing the normal warning signs of exposure to smoke toxins,'' the
use of chemical additives in cigarettes can increase the potential harm
of the smoker and those that breathe in secondhand smoke, note the
authors. For example, women smokers with young children ``may increase
their child's risk of developing respiratory diseases through increased
environmental tobacco smoke exposure if they themselves are not
bothered by the smoke,'' Connolly and colleagues write.
The
researchers are calling for the tobacco industry to disclose a list of
ingredients, including chemical additives, in an effort to ``protect
the public from the dangers of smoking and exposure to (secondhand)
smoke.'' SOURCE Tobacco Control 2000;9:283-291.
================================================================================================================
========================================
Study Suggests Why Cigarette Smoke a SIDS Risk
Tue Sep 3, 2002
BERLIN
(Reuters Health) - Italian researchers have found a possible
explanation for why exposure to cigarette smoke during pregnancy may
increase a baby's risk of sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS.
In
a study presented here at the European Society of Cardiology annual
conference, Professor Alessandro Mugelli from the University of
Florence and colleagues found that exposing rats to carbon monoxide, a
component of cigarette smoke, can interfere with the maturation of
heart cells in the developing fetus.
SIDS is the most common cause
of death among newborns, Mugelli said. Placing a baby on his or her
stomach rather than the back to sleep can greatly increase the risk of
SIDS. Overheated rooms, secondhand smoke and fluffy bedding are also a
risk.
===============================================================
R.J. Reynolds Fined $20M for Ads
Thu Jun 6, 2002
By SETH HETTENA, Associated Press Writer
SAN
DIEGO (AP) - A judge fined R.J. Reynolds Co. $20 million Thursday for
violating the terms of the 1998 national tobacco settlement by running
magazine ads aimed at teen-agers.
==========
Nov 11, 2002
British Study Warns of Health Danger of Cannabis
LONDON
(Reuters) - Smoking three pure cannabis joints is as bad for your lungs
as smoking 20 normal cigarettes and marijuana is more dangerous now
than it was in the 1960s, British researchers said on Monday.
In
what it described as a shocking new report, the British Lung Foundation
(BLF) said tar from cannabis cigarettes contained 50% more
carcinogens--the agents that produce cancer--than tobacco.
"Three cannabis joints a day cause the same damage to the lining of the airways as 20 cigarettes," it said in a statement.
It
also said the health dangers of cannabis have substantially increased
since the 1960s because today's marijuana has increased amounts of a
key chemical compound.
=============================================================
Many Smokers Puff Away Despite Chronic Illness
Thu Dec 26, 2002 3:58 PM ET
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Many people with chronic illnesses that can be
worsened, or even caused, by smoking continue to puff away on
cigarettes, according to a survey conducted by the federal Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
In 2000-2001, 38% of
people with emphysema, 25% of people with asthma, 20% of people with
hypertension or cardiovascular problems and 19% of people with diabetes
reported being smokers, according to a press release from the AHRQ.
Among
all smokers, 57% reported that their doctors had urged them to give up
cigarettes at some time during the 12 months prior to the survey. The
researchers also found that people in fair to poor health were roughly
1.5 times more likely to smoke than those who reported being in
excellent or very good health.
The findings stem from the AHRQ's
Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which went out to 15,661 adults in
2000-2001. The survey, designed to collect a variety of information on
people's health and their satisfaction with health care, also included
questions on smoking habits and whether or not smokers had been
counseled by a doctor to quit.
About one quarter of US adults overall currently smoke cigarettes.
Among
those 18 or older, people with less than a high school education were
about twice as likely to smoke as those who reported more than 12 years
of education, the survey found. One third of those who didn't finish
high school smoked, compared to 16% of people who had graduated from
high school.
==================================================================
Desire to Be Thin Linked to Smoking Habit in Girls
Mon Jun 10,2002 1:24 PM ET
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - The drive to be thin is a strong indicator of
whether or not young girls will take up smoking, new study findings
suggest.
Parents and educators should "stress effective, healthy
weight control methods" for girls who want to keep weight gain to a
minimum, according to the authors of the report, which was sponsored by
the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in Bethesda,
Maryland.
To better understand what causes young women to take
up daily smoking, lead author Dr. Carolyn Voorhees of Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore, Maryland and colleagues followed 9- and
10-year-old girls for a 10-year period. During that time, all of the
girls participated in annual interviews that covered their smoking
habits, self-esteem, exercise habits and home life. They also underwent
physical exams.
As previous research has also shown, white girls
were much more likely to be daily smokers than black girls by the age
of 18 or 19. A range of factors influenced a girl's likelihood of
becoming a smoker, including parental education, feelings of
self-worth, alcohol use and wanting to be thin.
Girls were more
likely to be daily smokers by age 18 or 19 if their parents had a lower
level of education, if they lived in a single-parent household and if
they drank alcohol at age 11 to 12. Those with a higher drive for
thinness at age 11 to 12, as well as worse behavioral conduct at this
age, were also more likely to smoke, the investigators found.
"The
common thread in predicting daily smoking between black and white girls
was their concern with weight," Voorhees and colleagues write in the
June issue of the journal Preventive Medicine.
"This has not
been reported previously in black girls and might indicate that more
girls smoke as their desire to be thinner increases," the researchers
add.
===========================================================================
Fetal Nicotine Exposure Tied to Breathing Problems
Fri Jul 12, 2002 1:35 PM ET
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Nicotine exposure in the womb, even in the
absence of other substances present in tobacco smoke, may lead to
breathing difficulties in newborns, results of an animal study suggest.
The
findings indicate that nicotine can have lasting harmful effects on
developing fetal lungs, according to Dr. Hakan Sundell and colleagues
of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee.
"The
issue is of clinical significance, because nicotine replacement for
pregnant women is often regarded as a safe alternative in smoking
cessation programs," they write in the American Journal of Respiratory
and Critical Care Medicine.
"Prenatal nicotine exposure appears
to have long-term effects on the postnatal breathing pattern,
suggesting altered lung function," Sundell and colleagues write. "These
changes are most marked close to birth but persist during the initial
postnatal period."
Nicotine easily passes through the human
placenta to a developing fetus, the researchers point out. And
concentrations of nicotine in the fetus can be equal to or higher than
in the mother, they add.
===========================================================================
Dow Jones Business News
Philip Morris Hit With $28 Billion Punitive-Damage Verdict
Friday October 4, 2002 2:20 pm ET
By Pat Maio
Dow Jones Newswires
LOS
ANGELES -- After deliberating for just under two days, a Los Angeles
jury awarded $28 billion in punitive damages to a 64-year old woman
smoker dying of cancer in a lawsuit brought against tobacco giant
Philip Morris Cos. .
"This is long overdue," said Michael Piuze,
the lawyer representing Ms. Bullock in the case. "There's no amount of
money big enough to punish Philip Morris."
===============================================================
Marijuana Smoking Tied to Depression, Schizophrenia
Fri Nov 22,10:22 AM ET
Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Amy Norton
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Young people who frequently smoke marijuana may
be more likely to later develop depression, anxiety and even
schizophrenia, the results of three studies released Friday suggest.
===============================================================
Thursday May 3, 2001 3:19 PM ET
Quitting Cigarettes May Be Harder for
Women
By Keith Mulvihill
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women may have a tougher time
kicking their smoking habits compared with men, according to a
Pennsylvania researcher.
In general, women are more concerned than men about possible weight
gain and women are more likely than men to have a history of major
depression, which is related to poor success rates for quitting, explained
study author Dr. Kenneth A. Perkins of the University of Pittsburgh
School of Medicine. What's more, women may get less support from
their partners when it comes time to quit.
===============================================================
More Evidence Smoking Linked to Breast Cancer
Mon Oct 7, 200 1:51 PM ET
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who smoke or who are exposed to
secondhand smoke may have an elevated risk of breast cancer a new
report suggests.
The findings support those of previous studies,
including a report released on Friday showing that girls who begin
smoking as teens may be more susceptible to breast cancer later in
life. Another recent report linked heavy smoking with breast cancer
risk.
In the new study, current smokers were 50% more likely to be
diagnosed with breast cancer compared with women who had never smoked
and were not exposed to passive smoke, while former smokers were 20%
more likely to be diagnosed, the investigators found.
Likewise,
women who reported that they had never smoked but that they were
exposed to cigarette smoke for more than an hour a day for at least a
year were 60% more likely to have breast cancer, report researchers in
the October 1st issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. But if
this exposure occurred during childhood or before a woman's first
pregnancy, it did not appear to increase her breast cancer risk.
===============================================================
Smoking, Drinking May Up Risk of Eye Disorder
Mon Oct 7, 2002 10:47 AM ET
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Smokers and heavy drinkers may be more
susceptible to age-related maculopathy (ARM), the leading cause of
blindness in the industrialized world, researchers report.
Dr.
Ronald Klein and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin in Madison
evaluated the association between smoking and alcohol consumption and
the long-term risk of ARM in more than 3,600 adults aged 43 to 86 years.
Cigarettes
and alcohol can both result in oxidative damage to the cells of the
retina, they explain. Antioxidant nutrients such as vitamins A, C and E
may help protect against the development of ARM, an irreversible
deterioration of the retina of the eye.
The study found that heavy
drinkers, or adults who consumed at least four drinks a day, were about
6 times more likely to develop symptoms of late ARM over a 10-year
period. And those who reported that they were heavy drinkers in the
past were more than twice as likely to develop late ARM. Current
smokers were also more likely to develop the disorder, report
researchers in the October 1st issue of the American Journal of
Epidemiology.
However, more research is needed, since there were few
women in the study who reported being heavy drinkers and smokers. Older
people, who are more likely to develop ARM, were also less likely than
middle-aged adults to report smoking or drinking heavily, when the
study began. And several smokers dropped out of the study after 5 years.
"Although
these data do not permit us to provide definitive evidence regarding
whether stopping smoking and heavy drinking will prevent the
development of late age-related macular degeneration, patients should
be advised not to smoke or drink heavily because of their significant
known adverse affects on health," the researchers conclude.
SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology 2002;156:589-598.
===============================================================
Smoking, Pelvic Infections Up Tubal Pregnancy Risk
Fri Feb 14, 2002
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Smoking and sexually transmitted pelvic
infections can more than triple a woman's risk of having an ectopic
pregnancy, French researchers report in the February issue of the
American Journal of Epidemiology.
===============================================================
Nicotine 'Cooks' Proteins in the Body
Mon Oct 28, 5:22 PM ET
By Merritt McKinney
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - As if smokers need another reason to kick the
habit, California scientists have discovered that a byproduct of
nicotine, the substance that makes cigarettes so addictive, causes a
type of chemical reaction in the body similar to that which occurs when
sugar is scorched or food goes bad. This reaction is thought to play a
role in diabetes, cancer and other diseases.
Although
the health effects of the nicotine byproduct, known as nornicotine, are
uncertain, researchers also found that the substance interferes with
the actions of a commonly used steroid medication.
The interaction
between sugars and proteins can produce substances called advanced
glycation endproducts, or AGEs. The accumulation of AGEs appears to
contribute to the aging process and certain diseases.
Now Drs. Kim
D. Janda and Tobin J. Dickerson at The Scripps Research Institute in La
Jolla have found that nornicotine, which is found in tobacco and is
produced as nicotine is metabolized, leads to small, but significant,
accumulation of one type of AGE. They also found that blood collected
from smokers had higher levels of the nornicotine-related AGE than
blood from nonsmokers.
"Our results provide a direct chemical link
between tobacco use and the development of AGEs, a class of compounds
previously implicated in various disease states," Janda and Dickerson
conclude in a report in the online early edition of the journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (news - web sites).
The findings suggest an "unrecognized pathway" through which tobacco use can be harmful to health, according to the report.
In
comments to Reuters Health, study author Janda said that the "very
startling point is that this chemical reaction that nornicotine can
cause also can take place with certain drugs." The researchers found
that nornicotine interacted with the steroid prednisone to form
byproducts that may interfere with the activity of the steroid as well
as cause harmful effects.
The interaction with prednisone raises the
question of whether nornicotine also interacts with other drugs,
according to the California researcher.
Janda said that "the public
needs to be made more aware" that tobacco and other nicotine-containing
products create a substance "that was previously unrecognized as a
potential danger to proteins in the body and administered prescription
drugs."
Janda pointed out that even nicotine patches and gums that
people use to quit smoking can trigger the reaction. Of course, if
these products are successful, then a person will no longer have to
consume any sort of nicotine--in cigarettes or in gums or patches.
SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2002;10.1073/pnas.222561699.
=========================================
Wednesday January 17, 2001 10:32 AM ET
'Mild' Cigarettes Still Pack Nicotine Punch
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smokers who choose to puff on ''light'' or
``ultralight'' cigarettes may not be getting the break from tar and
nicotine they've been promised, researchers
report.
Study results show that the amount of tar and nicotine inhaled by
smokers depends on the number and strength
of their puffs and therefore varies tremendously among smokers--even
with cigarettes touted as being low in tar
or nicotine.
In fact, people who smoke ``light'' or ``mild'' cigarettes inhale up to
eight times as much tar and nicotine as
printed on the label. People who smoked brands listing higher levels of
nicotine inhaled about 1.5 times as much
of these chemicals, report researchers in the January 17th issue of the
Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
``The conclusion has to be that the tar and nicotine ratings on
cigarette packets are not worth the paper they are
written on,'' said Dr. Martin J. Jarvis, from University College
London, UK, in a prepared statement. ``Not
only are they misleading to consumers, but machine-measured ratings are
also downright dangerous as they
encourage 'health-conscious' smokers to switch to 'light' brands rather
than quit.''
In the study, Jarvis and colleagues interviewed more than 2,000 adult
smokers and measured levels of
cotinine--a byproduct of nicotine--in their saliva. The findings appear
to confirm several past studies--some
conducted using smoking machines--that have suggested that the level of
tar and nicotine ingested by smokers
is indeed higher than that listed on the label.
The researchers explain that the information printed on cigarette
labels is based on test results from such
machines, which simulate smoking. But people tend to take stronger
puffs than machines. Low-nicotine brands
have special filters, which dilute the smoke during the machine
simulation by as much as 83%. However, the
filters do not appear to have the same effect when humans smoke
cigarettes.
``Smokers can achieve essentially whatever delivery they
desire...through taking larger and more frequent puffs
and through maneuvers such as blocking ventilation holes with lips or
fingers,'' the report indicates.
The authors suggest that socioeconomic and genetic factors might shape
a person's preference for a certain
nicotine level. In fact, people who smoked low-nicotine brands tended
to be older, female and better educated.
They also smoked fewer cigarettes each day, the researchers add.
SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2001;93:134-138.
================================================================================================================
Friday August 18, 2000 5:37 PM ET
Smoking raises risks of sinusitis
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The results of a new study provide yet
another reason to stop smoking: People who smoke are more likely to
develop the headaches, nasal congestion and sinus pain and pressure of
sinusitis.
================================================================================================================
Tuesday October 3, 2000 10:48 AM ET
Smoking May Lead to Teen Depression
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Contrary to the notion that depressed teenagers
were more likely to take up smoking, a study found that young people who
became smokers were more likely to become depressed, researchers said on
Monday.
Cigarette smoking was the ``strongest predictor'' of developing
depressive
symptoms among a group of 8,704 teenagers who were not depressed a
year earlier, said study author Elizabeth Goodman of Children's Hospital
Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
The adolescents who were not depressed at the start of the study--and
may
or may not have been experimenting with cigarettes--were four times more
likely to have depressive symptoms if they were moderate or heavy
smokers
a year later.
The impact of nicotine or other cigarette additives on certain brain
receptors
could be to blame for the onset of depressive symptoms, Goodman said.
There has been some success in using anti-depressants to help smokers
stop,
suggesting a close link between the effects of cigarettes and the
brain's
chemistry that dictates mood
================================================================================================================
Thursday August 3, 2000
Tobacco Firms United to Contest Health
LONDON (Reuters) - Seven of the world's leading tobacco firms
cooperated for more than two decades in denying the health risks of smoking
and designed strategies to reassure smokers, according to a study published
on Friday.
Secret tobacco industry documents revealed that top firms launched
``Operation Berkshire,'' a plan that contested the causal link between
smoking and lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema and other illnesses.
Australian researchers said the documents, made public during U.S. court
cases and now available on the Internet, show the industry was determined to
protect its commercial interests at the expense of public health.
================================================================================================================
Friday June 23, 20000 2:43 PM ET
Teen Smokers Need Help in Kicking the Habit
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many teen smokers try to kick the habit early on, but they
generally don't succeed until their 30s. Teenaged smokers may need specially tailored
treatments that can help them quit smoking, report researchers from the National Institute on
Drug Abuse in Bethesda, Maryland.
``By age 17, one half of smokers have tried to quit and failed, two thirds regret ever having
started, and nearly 40% express interest in some form of treatment for tobacco
dependence,'' report Dr. Eric T. Moolchan and colleagues in the June issue of the Journal of
the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Those findings are from a 1994 study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, note the researchers, who analyzed dozens of studies on teenage smoking
published over the last 20 years.
They conclude that more effort is needed to find out why teens start smoking and find
specific ways that help them kick the habit.
``As
approaches to adult smoking cessation expand, our commitment to the
long-term health of children must prompt youth-targeted interventions
aimed at cessation or long term-reduction of smoking, as well as
prevention of smoking initiation,'' they write. One study of 18-year
old smokers who wanted to quit showed that cost (52%), health (52%),
fitness (27%), unacceptable/bad image (16%) or social pressure
(11%).were important reasons for wanting to give up the habit. Not
surprisingly, peer pressure is a strong influence on teenage
smoking, especially among high-school students. After that, they note
that parental smoking and family conflicts are the most significant
predictors of the transition from occasional to regular smoking. A
study of 11- to 13-year olds found that 75% of kids who smoked had one
or two parents who smoked. The earlier teens start smoking, the more
severe their nicotine addiction will be, according to the study authors.
They note that the rate of teenage smoking is on the rise--36.4% of high school students in
1997 smoked compared with 27.5% in 1991--despite price hikes and other measures
designed to restrict kids' access to tobacco products.
================================================================================================================
Monday May 15, 2000 6:08 PM ET
Smokers Have Lower Levels of Heart-Protecting Protein
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Compared with nonsmokers, smokers have lower levels
of paraoxonase (PON), a protein in the blood that provides a measure of protection against
coronary artery disease, Swiss researchers report.
The study results ``are highly consistent with the hypothesis that modifications of serum
PON could be a mechanism by which smoking accelerates the (process that leads to arterial
disease),'' according to Dr. Richard W. James and colleagues from University Hospital in
Geneva, Switzerland.
PON, an enzyme attached to HDL (''good'') cholesterol, may have a role in protecting LDL
(''bad'') cholesterol from being damaged and contributing to arterial disease. Low serum
PON was recently identified as a significant risk factor for coronary artery disease, the
authors explain.
`The novelty of our study is that it shows smoking not only makes LDL cholesterol more
toxic by producing free-radicals, but also weakens one of the means of limiting oxidation of
LDL cholesterol,'' he added.
================================================================================================================
Tuesday August 8 5:39 PM ET
Upping Nicotine Levels May Help Smokers Quit
By Andrew Holtz
CHICAGO
(Reuters Health) - Boosting nicotine levels in smokers may actually
help them reduce their smoking, perhaps even easing the path to smoking
cessation, according to research presented Monday at the 11th World
Conference on Tobacco OR Health in Chicago.
Dr. Rachel Tyndale,
associate professor at the University of Toronto's Center for
Addictions and Mental Health in Canada, said genetic clues led her team
to experiment with a new approach to nicotine replacement compound. In
a short-term study, the new compound reduced smoking by 50% compared
with (an inactive) placebo.
The key to success is an enzyme
inhibitor that slows the inactivation of nicotine in the liver. Until
now, nicotine pill development has been stymied by the fact that the
liver metabolizes 70% of ingested nicotine before it can reach the
brain.
================================================================================================================
Tuesday August 8 5:36 PM ET
A Link Between Nicotine And Alcohol Dependence
By Andrew Holtz
CHICAGO
(Reuters Health) - Not only do smoking and drinking often go together,
new research on identical twins indicates nicotine dependence may
influence some people's risk of becoming alcohol dependent, according
to research presented here Monday at the 11th World Conference on
Tobacco OR Health.
================================================================================================================
Tuesday August 8 5:46 PM ET
Quitting Smoking Reduces Cataract Risk
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Cigarette smoking increases the risk of
developing age-related cataracts, clouding of the lens in the eye that
impairs vision. But it has not been clear if quitting smoking reduces
this risk. Study results published in the August 9th issue of The
Journal of the American Medical Association suggest that quitting does
reduce cataract risk--but also provides evidence that only some
smoking-related damage to the lens is reversible.
================================================================================================================
Tuesday August 8 5:43 PM ET
Environmental Smoke Exposure Linked to Illness
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - There is ample evidence that smoking is bad for
your health. It is also known that exposure to environmental tobacco
smoke may lead to respiratory illness in children.
================================================================================================================
Tuesday August 8 4:53 PM ET
Smoking and Pregnancy
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who quit smoking midway through their
pregnancies can still reduce some of the smoking-related risks to their
babies, including low birth weight and small head circumference,
results of a study suggest.
However, quitting at this point may
not reduce other risks such as intrauterine growth stunting, according
to Dr. Anna A. Lindley of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland,
Ohio, and colleagues.
According to the report in the August 1st
issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, the ``findings suggest
that early-to-midpregnancy smoking cessation prevents deficits in
infant birth weight, head circumference and BBR''--brain to body weight
ratio, which is an indicator of brain mass.
Previous studies
have shown that smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of
delivering low birth weight babies; those with a smaller head
circumference--a measurement that is used to gauge brain development;
and babies with a small crown-heel length, a measurement of fetal
growth.
================================================================================================================
Twin Study Shows Alcohol, Nicotine Vulnerability Linked
There may exist a common genetic vulnerability to nicotine and alcohol dependence in men, according to an
article in the July issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, a member of the JAMA family of journals.
================================================================================================================
Monday June 12, 2000
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Computer software has become an essential part of great
endeavors, from Internet start-ups to guiding space probes. A new report suggests that the
computer can also play a role in a more personal feat for many people--to quit smoking.
A report from the University of Pittsburgh suggests that a self-help, computer-based
smoking cessation program that includes use of nicotine gum and is tailored to the individual
may improve smokers' quit rates.
Researchers found that smokers using the program, the SmithKline Beecham's Committed
Quitters Program (CQP), had an over 50% higher rate of quitting smoking compared with
those just using the gum and an audiotape (the UG group), according to study results
published in the June 12th issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The study was funded by SmithKline Beecham Consumer
Healthcare, which manufactures Nicorette nicotine gum and
the NicoDerm CQ nicotine patch.
``The Committed Quitters Program is a set of
computer-tailored printed materials designed to help people
successfully quit smoking with Nicorette gum,'' lead author Dr. Saul Shiffman, from the
university's Smoking Research Group, explained to Reuters Health. ``Avoiding the
one-size-fits-all approach of most materials--which doesn't work well--the CQ program
creates for each smoker materials that address that smoker's particular concerns about
quitting smoking,'' he added.
================================================================================================================
Tuesday April 18 9:15 PM ET
Diet suffers when spouse is a smoker
SAN DIEGO, Apr 18 (Reuters Health) -- For the husbands and wives of those addicted to
tobacco, good nutrition may be going up in smoke.
``We found that men and women who were married to smokers -- as compared to men and
women married to nonsmokers -- consumed significantly more total fat and saturated fat,'' said
researcher Dr. Jeffrey S. Hampl of Arizona State University in Tempe. He presented his
team's findings at the Experimental Biology 2000 conference held here this week.
Numerous studies have found that nonsmokers who breathe in the secondhand smoke of a
spouse or family member have an increased risk for cancer and heart disease. But Hampl's
team sought to determine if living with a smoker was also associated with poor nutrition.
-------
Smoking Linked to Impaired Intellect in Elderly (Reuters)
British and Spanish researchers warned on Wednesday that smoking late in life could impair intelligence in the elderly.
- Apr 18 9:27 PM ET
----------
Terrible twos worse if mother smoked during pregnancy (Reuters)
Yet another reason to give up cigarettes -- results of a new study show that women who smoked during pregnancy are more likely
to have toddlers with behavior problems.
- Apr 13 10:29 PM ET
---------
Japanese Researchers Show How Smoking Harms Skin (Reuters)
If the increased risk of lung cancer and heart disease isn't enough to convince smokers to quit, Japanese scientists have a new
incentive -- it causes wrinkles. - Apr 12 3:03 PM ET
================================================================================================================
New York hospitals sue tobacco industry for $3.4 billion
NEW YORK, Mar 30, 2000 (Reuters Health) -- New York hospitals are taking aim at Big
Tobacco. On Thursday, the Healthcare Association of New York State and 145 hospitals
throughout the state filed a $3.4 billion lawsuit against eight tobacco manufacturing,
marketing and research firms. The hospital group says it is seeking to recover the unpaid
costs of treating smokers and other victims of tobacco-related illnesses.
``Although it is part of the charitable mission of New York's nonprofit hospitals to care for all
who come to us, we should not have to bear the burden of intentional fraud, deceit, and
greed of Big Tobacco,'' Sisto said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. ``Treating these
illnesses diverted precious and scarce resources from other public and community health
needs,'' he explained. ``That, in itself, is an offense for which tobacco companies should
pay,'' he said.
================================================================================================================
28MARCH00
The 12-member San Francisco Superior Court panel ordered Philip Morris Cos
Inc.(NYSE:MO - news) and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc.(NYSE:RJR - news)
each to pay $10 million to Leslie Whiteley, a California woman who developed lung cancer
after smoking for 25 years.
The same jury decided last week that the two companies should pay Whiteley, a
40-year-old mother of four, $1.7 million in compensatory damages after finding that the
cigarette makers acted with malice, knew about the health hazards of smoking and
deliberately misled the public about those dangers.
The jury's first verdict, which also found that the two companies committed fraud, set the stage for Monday's
punitive damage award -- sums which in prior cases have gone as high as $81 million.
================================================================================================================
FEB 2000
Prior studies have shown that cigarette smoking promotes the formation of molecules called
``free radicals'' in the bloodstream. These free radicals are highly reactive chemicals that
cause oxidation, or changes that alter the cell lining of the arterial walls (the endothelium).
Vitamin E can counter these changes because it is an antioxidant, meaning that it can absorb
or neutralize damage-causing free radicals.
``Free radicals have been implicated in several chronic diseases such as cancer or arthritis.
They can cause terrible harm to the body, and not only to the endothelium,'' said Dr. Jerome
D. Cohen, professor of medicine in cardiology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine,
Missouri, in an interview with Reuters Health.
According to Cohen, ``The chemicals in cigarette smoke lessen and can reverse the ability of
the arterial walls to dilate during periods of stress or exercise, when increased blood flow is
necessary. In fact, cigarette smoking may even cause the arterial walls to constrict. This may
account for the increased incidence of sudden death and heart attacks seen in smokers.''
Friday March 10 3:01 PM ET
Tough laws can snuff out smoking rates
NEW YORK, Mar 10 (Reuters Health) -- Tough antismoking measures such as a cigarette
tax and an aggressive antismoking media campaign can help extinguish smoking habits among
adults, results of a recent study suggest. The aggressive tactics, which have already worked
in California, could benefit the rest of the country as well, according to the report.
================================================================================================================
Friday March 10 1:21 PM ET 2000
Pot smokers tend to become dropouts
NEW YORK, Mar 10 (Reuters Health) -- Teens who smoke marijuana may be more than
twice as likely to drop out of high school than their nonsmoking peers, results of a recent
study suggest.
================================================================================================================
Wednesday March 8, 2000
Cigarette smoke increases risk of deadly infections
NEW YORK, Mar 08 (Reuters Health) -- If you're a smoker -- or even exposed to
secondhand smoke -- you are at greater risk for serious infections with pneumococcal
bacteria, which include meningitis, pneumonia, or blood stream infections.
The
risk of infection caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, the virus that
causes pneumonia, was four times higher for cigarette smokers and
two-and-a-half times higher for those exposed to secondhand smoke.
================================================================================================================
March 2, 00
Aging pot users at risk for heart attack
SAN DIEGO, Mar 02 (Reuters Health) -- Aging marijuana smokers have almost a five
times higher than normal risk of having a heart attack in the first hour after smoking cannabis,
according to findings presented at the American Heart Association's 40th Annual
Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.
================================================================================================================
Tuesday February 29 4:15 PM ET
Anti-Smoking Ads Affect Youth Behavior-US Study
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Younger adolescents who are regularly exposed to
anti-smoking messages on television are half as likely to start smoking as those not exposed,
a study released on Tuesday found.
A second study in the same journal found that teen-agers who could name a cigarette brand
as having attracted their attention the most and owned a tobacco-sponsored promotion item,
such as a sun visor or sports bag, were more than twice as likely to become established
smokers.
``Both show that advertising techniques are effective whether you're trying to promote
tobacco use or prevent it,'' said Michael Seigel, associate professor at Boston University
School of Public Health and lead author of the study on anti-smoking advertising.
================================================================================================================
The
government accuses cigarette makers of conspiring for 45 years to
mislead the public about the dangers of smoking and seeks to recover
billions of dollars spent by Medicare and other federal health programs
treating smoking-induced illnesses.
In filing the lawsuit last
September, Attorney General Janet Reno said federal health plans spend
more than $20 billion a year treating smoking-related illnesses, which
take 400,000 lives a year.
================================================================================================================
(Knowledge alone does not bring change)
NEW YORK, Feb 04, 2000 (Reuters Health) -- Although most smokers in the US know that
cigarettes can cause heart and lung disease, few have been able to kick the habit, according
to results of a nationwide poll.
The survey of more than 1,000 adult smokers revealed that 89% know that smoking
increases the risk of lung cancer, 86% know that it increases the risk of heart disease, and
84% believe that it will shorten their lives.
While 70% of respondents have tried to quit smoking in the past, none were successful,
according to the poll, conducted by New York City-based Harris Interactive.
================================================================================================================
Tuesday February 8, 2000
Nicotine as addictive as heroin
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON, Feb 08 (Reuters) -- Nicotine is a powerful addictive substance on a par with
heroin and cocaine and should be controlled like a drug or medicine, British doctors said on
Tuesday.
In a hard-hitting report prepared by international experts, the Royal College of Physicians
said cigarettes are nicotine delivery products and said nicotine addiction should be
recognised as a major medical and social problem.
================================================================================================================
Monday January 21, 2002 2:37 PM ET
Lower-Status Monkeys More Likely to
Take Cocaine
By Faith Reidenbach
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The alpha male in a group of monkeys
gets the best banana, doesn't have to fight--and is less likely than
subordinate monkeys to use cocaine, scientists have observed.
Dr. Michael Nader of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina and colleagues found that animals who became dominant after
moving from solitary housing to social housing showed changes in brain
chemistry that made them less likely to use drugs. But monkeys who
were subordinate after the move showed no brain chemistry changes.
================================================================================================================
Friday December 17,99 3:05 ET
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - Smoking marijuana can cause cancer, California researchers
said Friday, and aging baby boomers who have been indulging since the
swinging 60s may just be starting to feel its ravages. The
report, by Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang of the Jonsson Cancer Center at the
University of California Los Angeles, adds to evidence that smoking
cannabis can have cancer-causing effects similar to those linked to
cigarette smoking.
``Many people may think marijuana is harmless,
but it's not,'' Zhang said in a statement. ``The carcinogens in
marijuana are much stronger than those in tobacco. The big message here
is that marijuana, like tobacco, can cause cancer.''
================================================================================================================
Monday December 27, 99
Smoking marijuana increases head and neck cancer risk
================================================================================================================
NEW YORK, Dec 01, 99 (Reuters Health) -- Teens who smoke have an increased risk of depression.
================================================================================================================
Smoking during pregnancy risks newborn health
NEW
YORK, Oct 05, 99 (Reuters Health) -- Pregnant women who smoke 15 or
more cigarettes per day double the risk that their newborns will be
hospitalized during the first 8 months of the infant's life, report
Danish researchers.
================================================================================================================
NEW YORK, Nov 30, 99 (Reuters Health) -- Bladder cancer patients who continue to smoke
after being diagnosed tend to be younger than nonsmokers diagnosed with the disease. In
addition, patients with the cancer who smoke are at increased risk for faster disease
recurrence than nonsmokers, report researchers.
Writing in an accompanying editorial, Smith adds, ''Nevertheless, even the suggestion that
continued smoking may promote tumor recurrence and progression seemingly would be a
powerful deterrent against continued smoking.''
================================================================================================================
NEW YORK, Nov 22, 99 (Reuters Health) -- Smoking cigars may increase an individual's risk
of dying from coronary heart disease (CHD), results of a recent study suggest.
================================================================================================================
NEW YORK, Oct 08, 99 (Reuters Health) -- Every day, almost 5,000 US teens try cigarettes
for the first time, and about 2,000 young people become regular smokers, according to new
survey results.
The majority of the individuals surveyed were as young as 12 or 14 years when they first
experimented with smoking. The researchers speculate that many youngsters start smoking
at an early age because of peer pressure experienced during ``the transition from elementary
to junior high school at age 12 years and from junior high to high school at age 14 years.''
The authors also point to the glamorization of smoking on television and in movies as
possible factors encouraging teens to smoke.
================================================================================================================
4-NOV-99
Smoking tied to impotence after prostate cancer treatment
Smoking
increases the risk of impotence in patients who receive radiation
treatment for prostate cancer, according to a report from the Fox Chase
Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
================================================================================================================
Tuesday October 12, 99
GENEVA
(Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) launched an inquiry
Tuesday into what it called a ``systematic and global'' bid by the
tobacco industry to undermine U.N. efforts to control smoking.
The
U.N. health agency named top Swiss public health official Thomas
Zeltner to head a committee of independent experts who are to
review evidence and recommend further action.
The London-based group
ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) said in a statement it backed the
WHO inquiry and would hand over relevant documents it had uncovered in
the public domain. ``There is strong suspicion that the tobacco
industry has been using its money and influence to stop the U.N. doing
anything effective to prevent millions dying from smoking,
especially in the Third World,'' ASH international campaign manager
Emma Must said in the text made available in Geneva.
================================================================================================================
Wednesday September 22, 99
U.S. Sues Tobacco Firms Over Smoking Costs
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department Wednesday filed a
massive lawsuit that
accuses the tobacco industry of fraud and deceit since the 1950s, and
seeks to recover much of the $20
billion spent by the federal government every year on smoking-related
illnesses.
``In the complaint, the United States alleges that for the past 45
years, the companies that manufacture
and sell tobacco have waged an intentional, coordinated campaign of
fraud and deceit,'' Attorney General
Janet Reno told a news conference in unveiling the landmark civil
lawsuit.
================================================================================================================
Monday September 13 3:25 PM ET
California Cigarette Sales Plunge After New Tax
SAN
JOSE, Calif. (Reuters) - Anti-smoking activists Monday hailed news that
cigarette sales in California fell by 30 percent in the first half of
1999, as higher state taxes and tobacco company price hikes pushed up
the cost of cigarettes to as much as $4 per pack.
``It's beyond
our expectations,'' said movie director Rob Reiner, who led the ballot
battle to pass Proposition 10, the extra 50-cent-per-pack tax
California implemented in January to help fund children's educational
programs.
================================================================================================================
NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters Health) -- While quitting smoking remains the number one means of
reducing a smoker's risk for fatal lung cancer, real declines in death risk only appear between 15-20
years after individuals kick the habit, according to new study findings.
================================================================================================================
Tuesday August 31 12:53 PM ET
Brand switchers have better luck quitting smoking
NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters Health) -- Smokers who switch to lower tar- or nicotine-containing
brands for health reasons may be more likely to subsequently kick the habit than their more
brand-loyal counterparts, a new study suggests.
================================================================================================================
Monday August 16 1:02 PM ET
Smoking triples pneumonia risk
NEW
YORK, Aug 16 (Reuters Health) -- Pack-a-day smokers face nearly three
times the risk of developing pneumonia compared with nonsmokers,
according to researchers.
According to the authors, smoking may
contribute to pneumonia by triggering ``alterations in the immune
system and inflammatory functions'' that reduce the body's ability to
fight off disease.
But there was also some good news in the report
-- studies have shown that immune responses return to normal, healthy
levels soon after individuals quit smoking. In fact, Gonzalez and
colleagues report that pneumonia risks among ex-smokers dropped by 50%
within 5 years of kicking the habit.
================================================================================================================
Tuesday August 17 6:40 PM ET - Secondhand Smoke Hikes Stroke Risk
LONDON (AP) - Highlighting the dangers of passive smoking, a new study suggested Tuesday that
breathing in other people's cigarette smoke makes nonsmokers 82 percent more likely to suffer a stroke.
================================================================================================================
A mother who smokes during pregnancy may more than triple her child's risk for ear infection, researchers report.
- Aug 03 2:13 PM EDT
================================================================================================================
Friday July 6, 2001 5:43 PM ET
A Single Cigarette Can Affect Heart Function
SEATTLE (Reuters Health) - Smoking just one cigarette can cause an abrupt change in the
function of the heart's key pumping chamber, according to research
presented here last week
at the 12th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American Society of
Echocardiography.
Dr. Firas A. Ghanem and colleagues at the Brody School of Medicine of
East Carolina
University in Greenville, North Carolina, suspected that smoking might
immediately, but
transiently, impair the function of the left ventricle-the heart's key
pumping chamber--between
heart muscle contractions. This impairment, also called LV diastolic
dysfunction, has been
linked to shortness of breath.
Cigarettes did indeed cause changes in left ventricle function, but
nicotine chewing gum did
not, suggesting that other chemicals act in conjunction with nicotine
to cause heart problems,
the researchers note.
Ghanem and his colleagues evaluated the effects of smoking and nicotine
gum on 27 healthy
people. None had any evidence of heart disease, and none were taking
any medications.
People were divided into two groups. One group smoked a single
cigarette and the second
group chewed nicotine gum for 15 minutes. Before and after exposure to
either gum or the
cigarette, the researchers used a Doppler echocardiogram to measure the
blood flow in the
heart. Doppler echocardiograms use sound waves to produce images of
structures within the
body.
In the cigarette group, there were differences in several measures of
heart blood flow, but no
changes were noted in the second group, before or after chewing
nicotine gum.
There were limitations to the study, Ghanem pointed out. The number of
patients was small
and nicotine levels were not measured. Also, the changes in heart
function observed didn't
meet clinical criteria for dysfunction of the left ventricle, Ghanem
noted. ``In conclusion,
immediately after smoking a single cigarette, LV diastolic function, as
measured by Doppler
echo, significantly worsens,'' Ghanem said. ``Chewing nicotine gum does
not seem to have the
same effect.''
Thursday June 28, 2001 1:23 PM ET
Smoking Risk Factor for Multiple Sclerosis: Study
By Emma Patten-Hitt, PhD
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Long-time smokers may face an increased
risk of multiple
sclerosis, according to researchers from Harvard University. They found
that women who
smoked a pack a day for 25 years or more were more likely than
nonsmokers to develop the
disease.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system
believed to involve an
abnormal immune system attack on nerve cells. The disease can lead to
vision changes, muscle
weakness, coordination problems and other debilitating symptoms. It
strikes women more
often than men.
According to the Boston researchers, led by Dr. Miguel A. Hernan,
smoking has been linked
to other immune system-related diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis
and lupus.
To investigate a possible link between smoking and MS, the researchers
combined data from
two ongoing studies of nearly 240,000 US female nurses. Their smoking
history was taken at
the beginning of each of the studies. Every 2 years after that, the
participants answered
another survey about their smoking status and health.
Women from one study were followed for 18 years, and those from the
other were tracked
for 6 years. During that time, the researchers identified 315 definite
or probable cases of MS.
Compared with nonsmokers, the risk that current smokers would develop
MS was increased
by 60%. Former smokers had a 20% higher risk than women who had never
smoked.
Hernan's team also found that the more a woman smoked, the more likely
she was to develop
MS. Nurses who smoked a pack per day for 1 to 9 years were at a 10%
increased risk of
developing MS. Those who smoked the same amount for 10 to 24 years were
at a 50%
increased risk, and those who smoked a pack a day for 25 years were 70%
more likely than
nonsmokers to develop MS.
The researchers report the findings in the July 1st issue of the
American Journal of
Epidemiology.
``It is not known why smoking is linked to MS,'' Hernan told Reuters
Health. The
explanations, he said, range from the fact that smokers are more likely
to develop respiratory
infections (which may increase the risk of MS) to the direct toxic
damage that components of
cigarette smoke inflict on the nervous system.
Hernan also pointed out that these results probably hold true for men,
as well. ``Although no
data are available, it seems likely that the association between
smoking and MS exists among
men, too,'' he said.
``If smoking causes MS, this would be...an additional reason to avoid
smoking,'' Hernan
pointed out, while noting that the risk of cancer and heart disease are
even stronger reasons.
In addition to underscoring the importance of not smoking, he added,
``elucidating the link
between smoking and MS may help us understand the causes and lead to
therapeutic and
preventive advances.''
SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology 2001;154:69-74.
================================================================================================================
Smoking Ups Heart Risks Despite Low
Cholesterol
Fri Feb 15, 2002 1:22 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Low cholesterol levels are no
protection against the heart risks caused by smoking, according to
findings from a study of middle-aged American men.
================================================================================================================
Wednesday July 14 10:37 AM ET
Chemicals Increase Smoking's Grip - Report
LONDON (Reuters) - Tobacco companies have been adding chemicals to cigarettes to enhance their
flavor and make them more addictive, a new report said Wednesday.
The
joint report by British charity Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF),
the anti-smoking group ASH and the U.S. state of Massachusetts revealed
more than 60 tobacco industry documents dealing with the use of
additives in cigarettes.
``They have taken a traditional tobacco
product and turned it into a high delivery nicotine product,'' Dr
Gregory Connolly, the director of the Massachusetts Tobacco Control
Program, told a news conference to launch the report.
Additives are being used to initiate young people into smoking and to speed the delivery of nicotine to the brain, he added.
The
report is based on internal tobacco industry documents about the use of
additives which were released during recent tobacco court cases in the
United States.
================================================================================================================
NEW YORK, Jun 25 (Reuters Health) -- Women who smoke during pregnancy substantially increase
the likelihood that their child will develop certain psychiatric disorders during adolescence, namely
behavioral
problems if it is a boy, and drug abuse problems if it is a girl, US
researchers report. In their study, Dr. Myrna M. Weissman of Columbia
University, New York, and colleagues followed children over a 10-years
period and compared outcomes in 50 children whose mothers smoked during
pregnancy with those of 97 other children whose mothers did not smoke.
All of the pregnant mothers who smoked had at least 10 cigarettes a day
on most days throughout the pregnancy.
================================================================================================================
NEW
YORK, Apr 06, 99 (Reuters Health) -- People who start smoking during
adolescence may be more susceptible tosmoking-related DNA changes
linked to cancer than those who start smoking in adulthood, report US
researchers in the April7th issue of the Journal of the National Cancer
Institute.
================================================================================================================
March
99: Male children born to women who smoke during pregnancy run a risk
of violent and criminal behavior that lasts well into adulthood,
perhaps because of central nervous system damage, a study published
Sunday said. The finding was consistent with earlier studies that
linked prenatal smoking by women not only to lawbreaking by their
offspring but to impulsive behavior and attention deficit problems,
researchers at Emory University in Atlanta said.
================================================================================================================
Wednesday October 3, 2001
Report: Laughing Gas May Help Smokers Quit
By Emma Hitt, PhD
ATLANTA (Reuters Health) - A dose of laughing gas on quit day may help
smokers kick the habit,
according to new research.
Dr. Jesse H. Haven at the Anchor Health Center in Naples, Florida, and
colleagues will report the
findings here at this week's 2001 Annual Scientific Assembly of the
American Academy of Family
Physicians (news - web sites).
Laughing gas, or nitrous oxide, is the same gas used to anesthetize
patients in the dentist's chair.
Haven's team hypothesized that nitrous oxide may help smokers quit
because it has been shown to
replenish stores of dopamine, a brain signaling chemical that becomes
depleted during drug and alcohol
withdrawal.
In their study, Haven and his colleagues administered a mix of half
nitrous oxide and half oxygen to 25
smokers on the day that they planned to quit. The patients inhaled the
gas for 20 minutes through a
mask.
The researchers then monitored the smokers for 3 days after the
treatment to see how many had
refrained from smoking. None of the smokers were taking any other kind
of smoking cessation therapy
during the study.
Overall, the investigators found an 85% reduction in the number of
cigarettes smoked per day in the 3
days after the patients took the gas. Forty percent of patients were
able to completely abstain from
smoking during the 3-day period, and 92% said their craving for tobacco
had ``noticeably decreased.''
The authors conclude that ``nicotine cravings were helped significantly
by the administration of nitrous
oxide.''
According to Haven, many of the patients who quit completely have
remained cigarette free until this
point, about 6 months after the nitrous oxide treatment. He added that
smokers who abstain for the
first 3 days are more likely to quit for the long-term than those who
don't.
``I was encouraged by the results,'' Haven told Reuters Health.
``Patients seemed to enjoy the
treatment and it simultaneously helped them quit, so we want to
continue to see if it works with some
other smoking cessation treatments that are already available.''
Haven noted that many physicians may not be set up to administer the
gas in their own office yet;
however, he encourages physicians to recommend the therapy to patients.
``This is an extremely safe procedure,'' he said. ``If there is any
therapy that helps a few more smokers
quit, physicians should be recommending it to their patients.''
In an interview with Reuters Health, Terry F. Pechacek from the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention (news - web sites)'s Office on Smoking and Health said, ``we
are always happy that people
are trying to help in the antismoking effort.''
But Pechacek added that without comparing the results of patients who
inhaled nitrous oxide with
those from a control group--for example, patients who inhaled an
inactive gas--it is difficult to draw
any conclusions about the effectiveness of laughing gas as an aid to
smoking cessation.
``Additional studies are needed,'' he said.
================================================
Thursday October 11, 2001
Poorest Spend Scarce Funds on Tobacco, Not Food
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Even people living in one of the world's
poorest nations have not
escaped the lure of cigarette smoking, a new report suggests.
In Bangladesh, despite abject poverty, many men who earn as little as
$24 a month spend a portion of
their income on tobacco products, forgoing other seemingly more
critical expenditures such as food,
clothing and housing for themselves and their families, investigators
found.
``An estimated 10.5 million people currently malnourished could have an
adequate diet if money on
tobacco were spent on food instead,'' according to Dr. Debra Efroymson
of PATH Canada in Dhaka,
Bangladesh, and colleagues.
In the report, published in the October issue of the journal Tobacco
Control, the researchers evaluated
surveys that included information about tobacco use and other basic
expenditures for 32,000
Bangladesh households.
Overall, rates of smoking in the country are high. Men aged 35 to 49
had the highest prevalence of
tobacco use, with 70.3% being smokers. Women's smoking rates were much
lower, the findings show.
The rate of smoking increased as income decreased, Efroymson and
colleagues note. Among the
poorest men--those with a household income below $24 a month--58.2%
smoked. In the
highest-income group of men, those whose household incomes were higher
than $118 per month,
32.3% smoked.
``Average male cigarette smokers spend more than twice as much on
cigarettes as per capita
expenditure on clothing, housing, health and education combined,'' the
researchers report.
Possible solutions that might encourage people to spend less money on
tobacco, according to
Efroymson and colleagues, would be for the country to impose an
increase in taxes on tobacco
products and disseminate educational information on the dangers of
tobacco.
``From our research, we conclude that tobacco use is a neglected issue
in poverty reduction--and that
poverty is a neglected issue in tobacco control,'' Efroymson's team
writes.
``A further benefit of tobacco control measures could be decreased
expenditure on non-essential
goods, and a concurrent improvement in the health and well-being of the
poor,'' they add.
SOURCE: Tobacco Control 2001;10:212-217.
==========================
Friday October 12 2001
German Anti-Smoking Campaign Focuses on Wrinkles
By Ned Stafford
FRANKFURT (Reuters Health) - In the battle to convince young women to
stop smoking, the
Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL) thinks the desire to be
beautiful may be a more
powerful weapon than the fear of lung cancer.
Beauty and wrinkles--or lack thereof--is the major theme of European
Week Against Cancer 2001:
Women and Tobacco, which is targeting women from 20 to 35 years old.
The ECL says lung cancer is rising more rapidly among women than among
men in the European Union
(news - web sites), and in some countries lung cancer among women under
45 years of age is more
common than among men in the same age group.
In Germany, the Week Against Cancer has been organized by the charity
German Cancer Aid. Dr.
Eva Kalbheim, spokeswoman for the group, told Reuters Health on Friday
that in the battle against
smoking, she is convinced a positive message, such as looking pretty,
is much more effective with
women than the scare tactics of lung cancer.
``Research shows that you do not get results with negative tactics,''
she said. ``People shrink back.
They do not want to hear it.''
She also noted that young women have trouble understanding the concept
of mortality. ``They feel like
lung cancer could never happen to them,'' she said. ``But young women
want to look beautiful.''
She said the negative cosmetic effects appear relatively soon after
women start smoking, but that the
effects are reversible if women quit smoking early enough.
But ``the damage on skin and the subsequent formation of wrinkles is
irreversible if smoking continues
for decades. After 20 years of smoking, the skin of a 40-year-old woman
has aged an additional 20
years.''
The German effort has enlisted the support of Caroline Beil, a
well-known TV personality. Beil, 34, is
an ex-smoker whose message will be listened to by younger women,
Kalbeim said.
Beil, speaking at a Berlin press conference, said: ``I feel more fitter
and prettier without cigarettes.''
=====================================
``These four companies, for over 50 years, have knowingly and
consciously manufactured,
designed and sold a nicotine-delivery device called a cigarette ... in
a negligent and wrongful
manner,'' plaintiffs' attorney Scott Segal said during opening
arguments in the First Judicial
Circuit of West Virginia.
================================================================================================================
Tuesday November 27, 2001 5:20 PM ET
US Report: Light Cigarettes as Deadly as Regulars
By Todd Zwillich
WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - ``Light'' and ``low-tar'' cigarettes have
done nothing to reduce the rates of
smoking-related deaths since their introduction in the 1970s, and may
have even contributed to a rise in illness rates among
smokers, according to a US government report released Tuesday.
Anti-smoking groups said that the marketing of low-tar and light
cigarettes has deceived the public and policymakers into
thinking that it is possible to smoke without a high risk of lung
cancer and other diseases. Many public health authorities
advocated the use of low-tar cigarettes throughout the 1980s as a means
to reduce the health risk associated with
tobacco.
``There's no safe cigarette. The only way to reduce your risk from
smoking is not to start, or to quit,'' said Dr. David M.
Burns, the senior scientific editor of the report, published by the
National Cancer Institute (news - web sites).
``Smokers are being duped. They're being conned. It's a scam that's
being put forward on the American public by the
tobacco industry,'' said John L. Kirkwood, CEO of the American Lung
Association.
A statement issued by Phillip Morris USA, the maker of several popular
cigarette brands including Marlboro Lights, said
that tar levels in government tests are averages that show relative
differences in toxin yields between brands, not risk
differences to smokers.
``The tar and nicotine yield numbers that are reported for cigarette
brands are not meant (and were never intended) to
communicate the precise amount of tar or nicotine inhaled by any
individual smoker from any particular cigarette,'' the
statement read.
``Tar'' is a catch-all phrase used to describe levels of dozens of
toxic chemicals in cigarettes. The Federal Trade
Commission allows tobacco companies to tout ``low-tar'' and light
cigarettes if tar and nicotine levels fall below a certain
point in machine tests.
Burns and others said that public health experts assumed starting in
the 1960s that reducing tar levels would help smokers
who did not quit to reduce their health risk. The assumption did not
take into account a key fact that government sampling
machines miss: smokers take deeper puffs or simply smoke more
cigarettes to compensate for the lower nicotine in each
cigarette.
Results in the report show that people who smoked ``light,'' ''ultra
light'' or low-tar cigarettes had the same overall tar
exposure as those smoking regular cigarettes. They also show that the
death rates from smoking-related illnesses such as
lung cancer and heart disease were similar in the different groups.
Some data, though still preliminary, even suggest that the widespread
use of light cigarettes may have contributed to a rise
in smoking-related illness. Overall death rates from lung cancer among
women rose from 44 per 100,000 in the mid-1960s
to 119 per 100,000 in the mid-1980s, according to the report. Similar
trends were seen for men, and the rises correspond
to a flood of light and low-tar cigarettes on the market.
One possible culprit is that smokers may inhale smoke from light
cigarettes deeper into the lungs to increase their nicotine
dose. The deeper inhalations could increase the risk of certain deep
lung cancers like adenocarcinoma, said Burns, a
professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego.
``We can't say that for certain, but things didn't get any better''
with the advent of light cigarettes, he said.
Activists attacked tobacco companies who promote new reduced-carcinogen
cigarettes as a healthier way to smoke. One
new product called Omni, sold by Liggett & Myers subsidiary Vector
Tobacco, uses a chemical treatment to keep some
toxic gasses out of smoke. Another product, RJ Reynolds' ``Eclipse,''
promotes the reduced-toxin cigarette as the safest
alternative for people who choose to smoke.
``We have no more proof...that the products and claims being introduced
today will produce any more of a reduction in
disease risk than the products introduced by the tobacco industry 40
years ago,'' said Matthew L. Meyers, president of
the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Meyer and leaders from the American Cancer Society (news - web sites)
and other health groups urged Congress to pass
legislation granting the US Food and Drug Administration (news - web
sites) (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco
products. The Supreme Court barred the FDA from regulating tobacco in
1996 because the agency lacked the
appropriate legal authority.
``Without FDA authority, the tobacco industry will continue to be free
to use advertising and marketing gimmicks to
portray their deadly product as safer and less harmful,'' said M. Cass
Wheeler, CEO of the American Heart Association
(news - web sites).
In a statement, Phillip Morris said that the company sees ''FDA
regulation as the best way to establish appropriate
standards for determining what is a 'reduced risk' cigarette. This
would include setting guidelines for any claims that could
be made by manufacturers, including the type and manner of
communication that should be provided to consumers.''
================================================================================================================
Wednesday May 9, 2001 6:36 PM ET
Cigarette Smoking Linked to Breast Cancer Risk
By Will Boggs, MD
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smoking is a major risk factor for
breast cancer among women with a family history of breast or ovarian
cancer, US researchers report.
Their study of 132 families with at least three breast or ovarian
cancer patients found that patients'
sisters and daughters who smoked were more than twice as likely to
develop breast cancer, compared
with the nonsmoking sisters and daughters of patients.
================================================================================================================
Tuesday July 11,2000 5:53 PM ET
Mother's Smoking Linked to Muscle
Problems in Infants
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Cocaine use during pregnancy can cause
serious complications in infants. And researchers note that many women
who
use cocaine also smoke cigarettes. Now, US researchers report that
cigarette
smoking and not cocaine use during pregnancy is likely to be the cause
of
increased muscle tone, or hypertonia, in babies born to these women.
``The majority of babies that are born to moms that use cocaine are
normal,
but this specific population does show a higher prevalence of
hypertonia,''
according to lead researcher Dr. Delia A. Dempsey of San Francisco
General Hospital in California.
================================================================================================================
The following very interesting information was extracted from www.tobaccofacts.org.
Annually smoking kills four times as many people as all other drugs, car accidents, suicides, homicides, and AIDS put together.
Following are some statistics showing how easy it is to be caught:
The
earlier people start smoking, the harder it is to quit when they are
older. People who start smoking in their teenage years run the risk of
becoming life-long smokers. One-third to one-half of young people who
try cigarettes go on to be daily smokers. Eighty-five percent of
teenagers who smoke two or more cigarettes completely, and overcome the
initial discomforts of smoking, will become regular smokers. In a study
of high school seniors, only 5% of those who smoked believed they would
still be smoking two years after graduation. In fact, 75% were still
smoking eight years later. It takes an average of five attempts for an
adult to successfully quit smoking. Nicotine addiction is "the most
widespread example of drug dependence in our country" according to the
U.S. Public Health Service. In 1989, about 64% of teenagers who are
current smokers had made at least one serious attempt to quit but could
not.
Health impact of tobacco
By now, almost
everyone knows that smoking and other tobacco use causes cancer. But
did you know it's also the number one cause of heart disease and
emphysema, too? In fact, smoking is the main cause of preventable death
in Canada.
That first puff... and afterward
When
you use tobacco, the effects on your body are immediate. Your pulse
increases. Breathing becomes faster and more shallow. Circulation
begins to drop.
A cocktail of more than 4,000 substances -
more than 50 of them cancer- causing - hits your lungs. Poisonous
compounds like carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide and ammonia gas enter
your bloodstream. Meanwhile, nicotine begins to feed the cycle of
addiction.
If you're allergic to smoke or susceptible to
asthma (and if you smoke, the chances of developing asthma rise
sharply), flare-ups and chest spasms can begin quickly. And over the
medium term, you become much more susceptible to colds, flu and
pneumonia.
No life like it
Surprise -
research shows that if you use tobacco, you're more susceptible to
physical injury. A study by the U.S. Army found that heavy smokers were
twice as likely to be injured while exercising as non- smokers.
Physically-fit
smokers broke bones and sprained ankles more often that similarly fit
non-smokers. And the more the soldiers smoked, the more likely they
were to develop blisters on 160-km marches.
Amount smoked
Injury rate Non-smokers 20 per cent 1-10 cigarettes per day 35 per cent
10 or more cigarettes per day 40 per cent
It isn't just soldiers, and it isn't just young people who face a higher risk of injury.
Older
women who smoke, for example, get more hip fractures. Researchers at
St. Bartholomew's Hospital and the Royal London School of Medicine in
the U.K. reported recently that "of all hip fractures, one in eight is
attributed to smoking."
The risk of hip fractures is 17
per cent higher for smokers than non-smokers at the age of 60, they
report in the British Medical Journal. 70-year-old smokers have a 41
per cent higher risk, and 90-year-olds have more than twice the risk.
While there isn't as much data on men, what information exists suggests "a similar proportionate effect in smokers."
But
there's good news for women. "Stopping smoking prevents further excess
bone loss, and stopping at the time of menopause should avoid the
excess risk."
The young and the breathless
Youthful
invulnerability is no defence from tobacco. Even adolescent smokers
develop more respiratory problems like shortness of breath and wheezing
„ and suffer more severely from the symptoms.
Young tobacco users have:
abnormally
high heartbeats, low tolerance for exercise, lower lung capacity, worse
asthma, and an increased risk of damaging arteries from fatty buildups
associated with heart disease.
Dying for a smoke
Every 13 seconds, someone in the world dies from a tobacco-related illness. And every year, tobacco kills:
5,800
British Columbians, 45,000 Canadians, 418,000 Americans (compared to
1,000 Americans who die from cocaine abuse), and 2.5 million people
world-wide - a number the World Health Organization says will grow to 4
million by the year 2000.
Of the 3,000 American youth who start smoking every day,
30 will be murdered,
60 will die in traffic accidents,
and 750 will be killed by a smoking related disease.
It's
a huge health problem, accounting for one in every five deaths in B.C.
- including 30 per cent of all cancer deaths and one in four deaths
from heart disease. Nationally, 85 per cent of all lung cancers and 33
per cent of all strokes are caused by tobacco.
It all costs B.C. society $1.5 billion dollars every year.
But the real bottom line is this:
More
than half of young smokers today - 55 per cent of boys, and 51 per cent
of girls - can count on dying from a tobacco-related disease... unless
they quit.
Youth smoking behaviour and attitudes:
Even
though more than 90% of youth know that smoking is addictive, most
children under ten believe if they were to start smoking, they could
stop any time they wanted. In fact, although only 5% of high school
seniors believed they would still be smoking two years after
graduation, 75% were still smoking eight years later. (Source:
kickbutt.org)
Here are some other smoking assumptions,
attitudes and behaviours of Canadian young people. (Source: Ottawa
Citizen, November 1996)
PREVALENCE
29% of 15
to 19 year olds, and 14% of 10 to 14 year olds are current smokers.
Smoking among teens 15 to 19 years of age has increased 25% since 1991.
2 About 85% of smokers began before they were 16 years of age 3
CONSUMPTION
Generally,
males smoke more than females, and as all youth smokers get older, they
smoke more. Daily smokers 15 to 19 years of age smoke an average of 13
cigarettes per day while those 10 to 14 years smoke 10 cigarettes per
day.
BEHAVIOUR
Age 13 to 14 is a critical
time for adoption of smoking. Daily smoking steadily increases until
age 15, then remains stable. There is a strong association between the
smoking habits of youth and the number of friends who smoke. The most
common reason cited for starting to smoke is the influence of friends.
80% of current smokers have seriously thought of quitting; and 80% of
those have made at least one attempt. Corner stores are the number one
source for cigarettes. In 1994, about half of 10 to 14 year olds who
tried to buy cigarettes in a store were never asked their age, and were
never refused when trying to buy cigarettes.
ATTITUDES
91%
of youth believe tobacco is addictive. 83% who have seen tobacco
company sponsorship advertisements feel this is brand advertising. Lung
cancer and heart disease are among the most common smoking-related
health problems known by youth. Knowledge of health problems increases
with smoking experience.
Cigarette smoking has a heavy impact on the world's natural environment.
You
can guess what cigarette smoke does to the air in a room. But according
to the San Francisco Tobacco-Free coalition, the environmental damage
caused by the tobacco industry goes way beyond air pollution:
Litterbutts:
Take those cigarette butts you see all over the ground. They take
roughly 25 years to decompose. After their annual beach cleanup,
California officials discovered that cigarette butts made up half of
the garbage they found on the state's beaches.
Butts wash
down storm drains and into rivers, lakes and the ocean. Fish, birds and
other animals eat the butts, mistaking them for food - but with no way
to digest the filters, they die.
Great - one more chemical
to worry about: Growing tobacco means using pesticides - lots of
pesticides. In developing countries, farmworkers - many of them
children - end up exposed to cancer-causing chemicals that also leach
into the local soil and water.
Smoke a butt, kill a tree:
In some countries, tobacco curing barns burn an entire square kilometre
of forest for every square kilometre of tobacco they cure. In a single
hour, one cigarette-making machine uses four miles of paper rolling and
packing cigarettes.
Who in the world smokes the most?
"Worldwide, tobacco is going like gangbusters."
-Geoffrey C. Bible, CEO of Philip Morris
According
to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Tobacco causes more deaths
than all other forms of substance abuse combined," killing 3 million
people a year. That's one every ten seconds. WHO estimates the
worldwide costs of tobacco at more than $200 million U.S.
Globally,
the industry is huge, selling 6 trillion cigarettes a year. In 1993,
world tobacco production was 7.7 billion kilograms.
With
that kind of production comes a lot of money. The tobacco industry
pulls in $168 billion a year. If the tobacco industry became a country,
economically it would be larger than 180 of the world's 205 countries.
But
that's not enough for the tobacco companies. With smoking on a steady
decline in many Western developed countries, they're turning their
attention to the developing world with massive advertising campaigns
that link smoking with the good life.
And in many
countries, children and teens are being openly targeted. One
multinational made the pages of Reader's Digest when a khaki-clad
woman, arriving in front of a school in a Jeep bearing the "Camel"
logo, handed free cigarettes to 15- and 16-year-old students in Buenos
Aires, Argentina during recess.
To determine the world's
heaviest smokers, WHO compiled data between 1990 and 1992 showing the
number of cigarettes consumed in a particular country divided by the
adult population (considered 15 years and older). The number gives us
an estimate of the "per capita" consumption. In other words, if every
adult in the country smoked, this is the average number of cigarettes
each adult would consume in one year.
But every adult
doesn't smoke which means, in practical terms, the number of cigarettes
consumed per smoker (rather than per adult) is actually much higher
than the number which appears below.
For example, if half
of all Canadian adults smoke, the average consumption doubles to more
than 5,000 cigarettes per year. Note that Canada has the 13th highest
cigarette consumption in the world!!
Rank
Country
# cigarettes/person
(15 yrs. and over)
1. Poland 3,620
2. Greece 3,590
3. Hungary 3,260
4. Japan 3,240
5. Korea (Rep.) 3,010
6. Switzerland 2,910
7. Iceland 2,860
8. Netherlands 2,820
9. Yugoslavia 2,800
10. Australia 2,710
11. United States 2,670
12. Spain 2,670
13. Canada 2,540
14. New Zealand 2,510
15. Ireland 2,420
16. Germany 2,360
17. Belgium 2,310
18. Israel 2,290
19. Cuba 2,280
20. Bulgaria 2,240
21. United Kingdom 2,210
22. Austria 2,210
23. Saudi Arabia 2,130
24. France 2,120
25. Turkey 2,100
26. Luxembourg 2,080
27. Portugal 2,010
28. Syria 2,000
29. Italy 1,920
30. Venezuela 1,920
31. Denmark 1,910
32. China (P.Rep.) 1,900
33. Surinam 1,870
34. Norway 1,830
35. Mauritius 1,830
36. Trinidad & Tobago 1,780
37. Philippines 1,760
38. Columbia 1,750
39. Tunisia 1,750
40. Finland 1,740
================================================================================================================
Each day, over 3,000 young Americans become regular tobacco users. (source: American Legacy Foundation )
================================================================================================================
Jul 2001
Philip Morris Apologizes for Czech Report -Newspaper
CHICAGO
(Reuters) - Tobacco giant Philip Morris Cos. Inc. has apologized for a
widely criticized company-funded study that said the Czech Republic
reaps a financial benefit when smokers die early, the Wall Street
Journal reported Thursday.
``We understand that this was not only a
terrible mistake, but that it was wrong,'' Steven Parrish, a senior
vice president, was quoted in the newspaper. ``To say it's totally
inappropriate is an understatement.''
Company officials last month
distributed an economic analysis in the Czech Republic that concluded
cigarettes are not a drain on the country's budget, in part because the
government saves money on health care, pensions and housing when
smokers die prematurely.
Anti-tobacco advocates and others roundly criticized the report when it came to light in news accounts last week.
According
to the Journal, Sen. Dianne Feinstein wrote a letter to Philip Morris
chief executive Geoffrey Bible after reading about the report. Bible
answered in a letter saying that the funding and release of the report
``exhibited terrible judgement as well as a complete and unacceptable
disregard of basic human values.''
================================================================================================================
Feds Seek Restraints on Big Tobacco
Tue Mar 12, 2002 1:41 AM ET
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department (news - web sites) wants to
impose sweeping new
restrictions on cigarette manufacturers, including banning the terms
"low-tar" and "light" and eliminating
cigarette vending machines.
Tobacco companies are insisting only Congress can do that.
The government's proposal, contained in documents sent to tobacco
companies, would require that
graphic health warnings cover 50 percent of cigarette packs and
advertisements. It also would ban
cigarette vending machines and the use of the terms "light" and "low
tar."
All cigarette advertising and packaging would have to be
black-and-white and the companies would be
prohibited from using in-store promotions, such as giveaways and
rebates. Companies also would be
required pay for efforts to help smokers quit, including a toll-free
"quit line."
The Bush administration inherited the 3-year-old lawsuit from the
Clinton administration. The lawsuit
seeks to collect damages from tobacco companies for profits allegedly
earned through fraudulent
practices and to bar the companies from similar future behavior.
It is separate from the lawsuit brought against the industry by the
states, which was settled in 1998 for
$246 billion. The settlement included restrictions on advertising that
might attract teen-agers, including
billboards and cartoon characters such as R.J. Reynolds' Joe Camel.
Last summer, the Justice Department said it wanted to enter into
settlement talks with the tobacco
companies. Anti-smoking groups feared the administration was bowing to
tobacco interests, but the
talks went nowhere.
William Corr, executive vice president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free
Kids, was cautiously
optimistic about the Justice Department's latest proposal.
"While the remedies appear to be strong, the devil will be in the
details," he said. "Any remedy must be
comprehensive and free of the loopholes that the tobacco industry has
always been so adept at
exploiting in order to continue business as usual."
Cheryl Healton, president and chief executive officer of the American
Legacy Foundation, an
anti-smoking group, said she would prefer the Food and Drug
Administration (news - web sites)
regulate tobacco rather than have standards imposed by a judge. "But
absent that, this will do," she
said.
The FDA asserted its jurisdiction over tobacco and sought to crack down
on cigarette sales to minors
in 1996, but the Supreme Court later ruled the agency had overstepped
its authority.
================================================================================================================
Tobacco Company Ordered to Pay $150M
Fri Mar 22, 8:06 PM ET
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A jury ordered Philip Morris to pay $150
million in punitive damages Friday in a lawsuit that contended low-tar
cigarettes are as dangerous as regular ones.
The jury found that Philip Morris had falsely
represented that low-tar cigarettes are
healthier, the first verdict in the nation to make
that finding. The tobacco company said it
would appeal.
The jury also awarded $168,000 in
compensatory damages to the estate of
Michele Schwarz of Salem, who died of lung cancer at age 53 in 1999
after smoking low-tar Merit cigarettes.
Schwarz had switched from a regular filtered cigarette because she
believed the low-tar version would be better for her health, said the
attorney for her estate, Lawrence Wobbrock.
Wobbrock contended in court that Philip Morris marketed the
cigarettes as having fewer health risks.
But James L. Dumas, one of the company's attorneys, said Philip Morris
did not market Merits as healthier than regular filtered cigarettes. He
said the company advertises them as milder, or feeling less harsh.
Wobbrock said smokers were getting the same amount of tar by taking
more puffs on their cigarettes and smoking them closer to the butt.
But Dumas said it was not the company's fault that smokers figured out
how to get around the low-tar design.
Dumas also said that Schwarz, who worked for many years in the
medical office of her physician husband, was well aware of the dangers
of cigarette smoke.
Attorney John Philips contended jurors were given "erroneous
instructions" by the judge, but would not elaborate. He also said that
when plaintiffs highlighted portions of documents on an overhead
projector, it amounted to "a guided tour through the documents."
Anti-tobacco groups hailed the verdict as a big victory.
The decision could become a significant factor in other lawsuits where
low-tar cigarettes are at issue, said Edward L. Sweda, attorney with the
Tobacco Products Liability Project in Boston.
"It proves such a case is winnable in a big way," said Sweda.
Martin Feldman, a tobacco analyst with Salomon Smith Barney in New
York, said the verdict appeared to be the first time a jury issued a
ruling
on low-tar cigarettes.
He said the size of the award "indicates the tobacco industry still has
significant work to do if it is ever to convince West Coast jurors of
its
defenses."
The trial came three years after another Multnomah County jury ordered
Philip Morris to pay $80.5 million to the family of Jesse Williams, a
retired janitor who died of lung cancer in 1997.
At the time, it was the largest individual smoker verdict in the
country.
The punitive damages were later reduced to $32 million and the case is
pending before the Oregon Court of Appeals.
Although tobacco companies win most cigarette lawsuits, they have
recently fared poorly in West Coast courts. Three large verdicts were
lost in California in the past three years, including a $3 billion
verdict last
summer that was reduced to $100 million.
That award was the largest to date in a case brought by an individual
against a tobacco company. Philip Morris is appealing the reduced
award, calling it "excessive."
The smoker, Richard Boeken of Los Angeles, died in January of lung
cancer at age 57.
================================================================================================================
Study: Smoking, Baby's Sex Linked
Fri Apr 19, 2002 - 1:32 PM ET
By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical Writer
LONDON - Couples are more likely to have a girl than a boy if either
of the partners smoked heavily while they were trying to conceive, new
research suggests.
Some scientists consider the ratio of male to female births to be an
indicator of a population's health, because male sperm and embryos are
more fragile than their female counterparts.
The study published this week in The Lancet medical journal is the first
to propose that smoking may play a role.
Normally, boys have a slight edge over girls, with almost 52 percent of
all babies born worldwide being male. The balance tends to even out
later in life because females are better at survival.
However, the comparative number of males has been declining in
several industrialized countries over the past few decades and
researchers suspect toxic substances may be partly to blame.
Dr. Henrik Moller, who has conducted extensive research on sex ratios
but was not connected with the latest study, said the findings "fit with
what is already known about certain exposures, certainly in the male."
================================================================================================================
Tobacco Giants Campaigned Against Smoke-Free Zones
Wed May 29, 2002 10:40 AM ET
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON
(Reuters) - Leading tobacco companies have manipulated the hospitality
industry in a worldwide campaign to prevent restaurants and bars from
introducing smoke-free areas, according to research published on
Wednesday.
By capitalizing on fears of lost profits and through
donations to industry organizations such as the International
Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Cafes (HORECA), tobacco firms
led by Philip Morris tried to stifle support for smoke-free premises.
"The
tobacco industry has effectively turned the hospitality industry into
its de facto lobbying arm on clean air," said Dr. Stanton Glantz of the
University of California, San Francisco.
In a report in the
journal Tobacco Control, Glantz and his colleagues analyzed publicly
available tobacco industry documents that they said show the industry
aggressively recruited hospitality groups to convince restaurants to
fight against smoke-free areas.
If an association refused, the tobacco industry created its own organization to promote its agenda.
"Develop,
as needed, creation of national hospitality associations where none
exist and encourage their affiliation with HORECA International,"
Philip Morris said in a 1996 worldwide strategy plan quoted in the
research.
But Marc Fritsch, a spokesman for Philip Morris
International in Lausanne, Switzerland, said the scientists
inaccurately reported the company's policies on public smoking
restrictions.
"We continue to believe that a total ban on
smoking in restaurants, bars, night clubs, hotels and similar
establishments that cater to smokers and non-smokers is extreme," the
company said in a statement.
"Apparently, the authors of the
Tobacco Control article believe that it is inappropriate for us to
express these views or to seek the support of business sectors that
might share the same concerns. We respectfully disagree," it added.
The
researchers also accused the tobacco industry of promoting the idea
that ventilation systems could reduce the dangers of second-hand smoke
so smokers and non-smokers could share the same space.
Glantz
said the strategy was first developed in the 1970s and intensified as
more evidence accumulated about the dangers of second-hand smoke.
"For
more than a decade the tobacco industry disseminated misinformation
asserting that the hospitality industry will suffer financially when
smoke-free environments are instituted," Glantz said.
But he added that 100% smoke-free policies had been shown not to harm a business's profits.
Glantz
and his colleagues said public health advocates should be aware of the
relationship between organized restaurant associations and the tobacco
industry
================================================================================================================
Firms Ordered to Pay Smoker $37.5 Million
Tue Jun 11, 2002 6:23 PM ET
MIAMI
(Reuters) - A jury in Miami on Tuesday ordered three U.S. tobacco
companies to pay $37.5 million to a sick former smoker in a follow-on
case to the landmark class-action suit that resulted in a record $145
billion judgement against cigarette makers.
Brown
& Williamson Tobacco Corp., a unit of British American Tobacco Plc
, and Philip Morris Cos. Inc. said the jury in the 11th Judicial
Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County found in favor of plaintiff John
Lukacs, 76, who claims that his use of cigarettes caused him to develop
diseases.
In July 2000, a Florida jury, in what has become known
as the Engle case, stunned tobacco companies by ordering them to pay
$145 billion to sick smokers, the highest punitive damages award in
U.S. history. The case is on appeal in the Florida Third District Court
of Appeals and the Lukacs verdict will be subject to the outcome of the
Engle appeal.
Both companies said they intend to appeal the
verdict. A ruling on the appeal from Florida's Third District Court of
Appeals in Miami is not expected before late 2002.
"We remain
confident that the appeals courts will reverse both this verdict and
Engle," said Jeff Raborn, attorney for Brown & Williamson, in a
written statement.
================================================================================================================
Cigarette Campaigns Hook Youth with Lifestyle Ads
Tue Jun 11, 2002 5:35 PM ET
By Suzanne Rostler
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - When it comes to creating anti-smoking
campaigns, public health officials should take a page from cigarette
advertisers' book, researchers suggest.
Their
analysis of roughly 100 previously secret marketing reports, memos and
strategic planning documents from tobacco companies revealed that
cigarette advertising is largely focused on the consumer attitudes and
lifestyles of young adults, who are on the brink of becoming fully
addicted smokers or deciding not to smoke.
This group of 18- to
24-year-olds also serves as a role model for teenagers, who may try
smoking for the first time, researchers point out in the June 12th
issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association ( news - web
sites ).
"Market segmentation strategies based on the attitudes,
lifestyle, aspirations and activities of young adults may be more
useful than demographic data alone," conclude Drs. Pamela M. Ling and
Stanton A. Glantz from the University of California, San Francisco.
"Physician
counseling and public health campaigns that identify with the
psychological needs and values of smokers and nonsmokers may improve
smoking prevention and cessation efforts," they add.
According
to their analysis, cost emerged as an important issue among young
smokers during the 1980s. To attract potential consumers in this group,
R. J. Reynolds began offering savings opportunities such as "buy one,
get one free," coupons and free promotional items.
Philip Morris
also discussed targeting smokers based on their leisure activities,
political opinions, media use, attitudes and goals in its internal
memos.
Over the next decade, smoking became less socially
acceptable, which threatened to cut profits in the tobacco industry.
Many smokers felt guilty about the effect of secondhand smoke on
others. Based on this, R. J. Reynolds defined a new market segment,
which it dubbed "Social Guilt." This segment accounted for roughly one
quarter of the market.
In an interview with Reuters Health,
Glantz suggested that clean indoor air and price increases might be
effective targets of anti-smoking campaigns, based on the findings.
"We
need to be concentrating more on young adults than teens and use the
same marketing approaches that the tobacco industry does," he said.
For
instance, anti-smoking campaigns that used a rebellious tone and
encouraged young people to fight tobacco-industry manipulation were
successful in the 1990s because they provided an alternative way to
rebel.
"Exposing specific manipulative targeting in
tobacco-industry campaigns, such as Philip Morris' program to reach
black smokers with so-called inner-city bar nights...may be useful in
reaching other rebellious smokers," the authors suggest.
SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association 2002;287:2983-
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