Tobacco.org

LETTER: Health news proves need for smoke ban  

Kudos to The Star for such a fine New Year's gift. The Jan. 1 lead article, "Study: Smoking ban saved lives, hearts," was terrific. The paper's decision to run this on Jan. 1 was brilliant, an eye-opener on a day when many of us are seeking to enforce new resolutions and are contemplating how to begin the New Year.

The purpose of this My View is to urge Gov. Mitch Daniels and the General Assembly to make Indiana a smoke-free state. Let's start the year off right, save hearts and lives, model healthy behavior, protect all Hoosiers in all public places and provide a wholesome environment for our children. . . .

For a cleaner environment, a healthier future for our children and a truly safe workplace for all employees, we must make the logical and correct choice of a comprehensive smoking ordinance for Indiana.

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Secondhand Smoke & Heart Attack Risk; Poor Physical Fitness During Childhood & Heart Disease Risk During Adulthood 

In one of the most important public health research studies published in 2008, the Centers for Disease Control published an update of the Pueblo Heart Study on December 30th. This epidemiological study was performed, prospectively, over a 3-year period between 2002 and 2004 in Pueblo, Colorado. During the second half of this study, Pueblo enacted stringent legislation to eliminate smoking in public places. The incidence of admissions to hospitals for heart attack in the Pueblo area were monitored throughout the course of this study, both before and after the smoking ban was initiated. . . .

There are a couple of factors that make this public health study so powerful, including its prospective design, and the fact that the entire population of the Pueblo area was assessed for changes in the incidence of heart attack following the implementation of a new ban on smoking in public places. Also, the heart attack admission rates for two adjacent communities without public smoking bans, including the much larger Colorado Springs area, added an important set of controls that have not been included in similar previous studies. . . .

The updated data from this study reveals a striking cumulative reduction in the number of hospital admissions for heart attacks. When compared to the number of heart attack admissions that occurred prior to the enactment of the public smoking ban, there was an incredible 41 percent reduction in such admissions noted during the additional 18 months of follow-up data. Thus, within 3 years of implementing a public smoking ban, the number of heart attacks in Pueblo dropped, amazingly enough, by nearly one-half. At the same time, similar data collected from two surrounding communities without a public smoking ban showed no significant changes in heart attack admissions during the same timeframe.

I should note that, while this study did not separate smokers from nonsmokers, previous studies have shown that susceptible nonsmokers appear to be at an especially high risk of experiencing heart attacks due to exposure to secondhand smoke. . . .

Based upon more than five decades of scientific data linking tobacco smoke with cancer, chronic lung disease, and cardiovascular disease, it still amazes me that there are so many communities that still permit smoking in public places, or that have enacted hopelessly anemic limitations on the ability of smokers to subject the 80 percent of the U.S. population that does not smoke to highly toxic secondhand tobacco smoke. An estimated 500,000 people die every year in the United States, alone, from completely preventable tobacco-associated diseases. This updated data from the Pueblo Heart Study should galvanize public health advocates and agencies, and government leaders, to better protect the public from unwanted exposure to tobacco smoke.

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EDITOTRIAL: Another indictment of secondhand smoke  

Washington's indoor smoke ban - a law pioneered in Pierce County - is looking even smarter than anyone first thought.

When the ban was enacted by initiative in 2005, the case for it largely rested on the health of people who work in smoky places - bartenders, waiters and the like. They were at risk, the argument went, because they were forced to breathe the exhaust of smokers eight or more hours a day.

And so they were. But an accumulating body of evidence suggests that other nonsmokers are also placed at grave and immediate risk by shorter exposures to tobacco smoke. . . .

Some defenders of tobacco have countered that the researchers didn't distinguish between smokers and nonsmokers who'd suffered heart attacks. They suggest that the numbers might have been driven down by people quitting smoking after the ban.

The fact that people experience dramatically fewer heart attacks shortly after quitting smoking is not much of an argument against smoke bans - which help smokers quit. In this case, though, the Centers for Disease control cited an earlier study that did distinguish between smokers and nonsmokers. It found that nonsmokers got two-thirds of the risk reduction from a smoke ban, which translates into a large risk increase from secondhand exposure.

People who don't like smoke bans typically argue that adults ought to be able to make their own decisions about health and smoking. That's true. It's precisely why smokers should never be able to force their bad decisions on others through secondhand smoke.

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EDITORIAL: Smoke-free benefits proved 

There is now tangible evidence to back up claims that secondhand smoke adversely affects nonsmokers, particularly the secondhand smoke that is increasingly being outlawed in public places in communities across the country. . . .

In addition to long-term health effects, smoking increases the danger of fire. Most states, including Maryland, now require that all cigarettes sold in-state be "fire-safe." . . .

Delaware's newly enacted law took effect Jan. 1., which is good for Maryland because residents who travel across the state line to avoid sales tax on their cigarettes will now be buying the same safer product that's sold in-state. . . .

The combination of making cigarettes less likely to ignite an accidental fire and less acceptable -- even banned --in more public venues should reduce the number of untimely deaths attributed to the smoking habit. More importantly, it should greatly reduce the number of smoking-related deaths among nonsmokers.

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Smokers with Stroke in the Family 6 Times More Likely to Have Stroke Too 

A new study shows that people who are smokers and have a family history of brain aneurysm appear to be significantly more likely to suffer a stroke from a brain aneurysm themselves. The research is published in the December 31, 2008, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology and will appear in the January 6, 2009, print issue of Neurology.

The type of stroke, called subarachnoid hemorrhage, is one of the bleeding types of stroke and is deadly in about 35 to 40 percent of people. . . .

“While all people should be advised to quit smoking, our findings suggest that there is an interaction so that if you smoke and you have a family history of aneurysms, you are at an extremely high risk of suffering a stroke from a ruptured brain aneurysm,” says study author Daniel Woo, MD, with the University of Cincinnati in Ohio and member of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Army of smokers who shield parents from truth 

Britain has an army of smokers who cover up their sneaky cigarette habit from family and friends, according to a survey.

As millions get ready to try to kick the habit again this year, the poll revealed millions of adults still don't smoke in front of their parents �?" despite being in their 20s and 30s.

The survey was carried out on 1,000 people who had bought the NJOY "electronic" cigarette, an aid to kicking the habit.

Of those buying the device, 77 per cent admitted they still hid the fact from their parents despite, on average, being over 27. . . .

NJOY is a £60 replica cigarette, a battery powered, tobacco-free device which mimics the process and sensation of smoking. A chemical reaction between the ingredients in the device produces an odourless and harmless vapour that looks like cigarette smoke.

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• Survey: Smoking on the decline in Denmark 

Smoking is on the decline in Denmark where roughly one in four people smoke daily, a new survey published Monday said. A record number of Danish smokers also want to quit the habit, the survey said.

The findings also indicated that there is support for hiking tobacco prices - such a move was supported by 59 per cent and opposed by just 19 per cent.

In all 23 per cent of Danish nationals over 15 years of age smoke daily, totalling roughly 1 million people. In addition some 200,000 people, or 5 per cent of the population, smoke occasionally, the new survey said.

A year ago, 24 per cent of the Scandinavian country's some 5.5 million people were estimated to smoke daily.

Smoking was less prevalent among younger sections

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Lung cancer deadliest tumor for Australia women  

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

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

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• Heavy smoking among women highlighted  

Research published today found nearly half of Irish women surveyed are heavy smokers and more women than men wanted to quit smoking.

The findings from a Nicorette survey found 45 per cent of Irish women are heavy smokers, compared to 55 per cent of Irish men. Heavy smokers were defined as those who smoke more than 15 cigarettes a day, with the average Irish smoker smoking 17 cigarettes a day.

When asked about quitting smoking, 68 per cent of Irish women said they would like to quit compared to 58 per cent of their male counterparts.

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EDITORIAL: Our View: Secondhand smoke-health link inescapable  

A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention draws the strongest link ever between smoking bans and overall public health.

The study focused on the city of Pueblo, Colo., and heart attack rates in that city over three years following the 2002 adoption of a workplace smoking prohibition. . . .

The growing body of evidence that tobacco bans save lives simply cannot be ignored.

That was part of what drove Weston to adopt its ban last month. And it should be the argument that drives other central Wisconsin municipalities and the state to pass bans.

This isn't about property rights. It isn't about eating your fish fry without someone exhaling a cloud of smoke in your face.

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Smoking ban opponents mostly still opposed 

Lee Mauer read the recent news report about a possible link between a community's smoking ban and a drop in heart attacks there.

But Mauer says the new research won't change his view on local smoking bans.

"In this day and age, everyone knows smoking can kill you," the 24-year-old smoker said while flicking his cigarette in an ash tray at a Greater Lafayette bar. Still, Mauer said, he believes the choice of banning smoking should be decided by business owners and not by politicians.

Although proponents of the local smoking bans said the new research helps strengthen their case, the research had little impact on some opponents' views. . . .

Patti O'Callaghan is a former West Lafayette City Council member and author of the city's smoking regulations. O'Callaghan said the new research strengthens the argument for smoking bans.

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Study links smoking bans, heart attack rate  

New evidence suggests that heart attacks will be in sharp decline in Colorado in 2009 thanks to the statewide smoking ban enacted two and a half years ago.

A study out of Pueblo, endorsed by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that hospitalizations for heart attacks continue to plunge there, five years after the city enacted its ban in 2003.

Like Pueblo, in 2003, Greeley banned smoking in restaurants, bars, businesses and other places where people gather.

Several cities, including Greeley, found that heart attacks went down in the 18 months after a smoking ban began.

The number of heart attacks in Greeley, for example, dropped by 16 percent in Greeley, according to the University of Colorado Health Sciences study.

But the new study released Thursday looked at the next 18 months — a total of three years of data — in Pueblo

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Triad smokers make list 

HIGH POINT - It would take even stronger and more restrictive smoke-free policies and a hike in the price of tobacco products to get the Greensboro/High Point area off the "Smoky Cities" list, according to a leading anti-smoking advocate.

The Triad metropolitan area was recently listed by U.S. News and World Report as fourth on a list of metropolitan areas with high adult smoking rates.

The area's adult smoking rate was 28.3 percent.

Overall, three North Carolina metropolitan areas ranked in the Top 10. . . .

In a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill report, researchers concluded North Carolina has seen substantial declines in teen smoking since 2003. The N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund Commission gave the county a $300,000 grant for youth tobacco prevention to extend efforts through 2012 and a $275,000 college student tobacco prevention grant for efforts in Guilford and surrounding counties through 2010.

Adult smokers seeking to quit have free resources to help them. Gillett also recommended checking with health care providers and insurance coverage to see which medications might be appropriate and covered under health insurance.

"Evidence shows that having support is very effective in making your quit attempt a successful one," Gillett said.

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Only 60% of smokers aware they are addicts: Pfizer poll  

Seventy-one percent of smokers are nicotine addicts requiring medical treatment, but only 60 percent of them are aware of their addiction, according to a recent survey by Pfizer Japan Inc., a major drug manufacturer based in Tokyo.

The survey found that by prefecture, the percentage of smokers aware of their nicotine addiction was highest in Osaka at 79 percent, while it was lowest in Tokushima at 49 percent.

The online survey of 9,400 smokers -- 100 men and 100 women in each of the 47 prefectures -- was conducted prior to World No Tobacco Day on May 31.

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GUTFELD: Beware Third-Hand Smoke and Junk Science  

So here's another example of how junk science has become even junkier than something really junky:

Researchers have identified "third-hand smoke," an invisible evil that acts like a deadly Ghost of Cigarettes Past: Polluting the air, killing innocent babies and ottomans -- even if they aren't present at the time.

As you can guess, this research is geared toward one end only: The banning of all smoking on private property -- including your home. . . .

But get this: After saying that a smoker's third-hand smoke is bad for babies, the researchers then note that for a smoker, breastfeeding a baby is still better than bottle-feeding. So after all this crap about poisoning the air, they're saying breast milk from a smoker is still better than milk from a bottle. Theoretically, a smoking mom that breastfeeds is a better mom, than a non-smoking bottle-feeder.

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