Tobacco.org

SOAR: Visit Jersey, give up smoking  

The trouble is that, pace Twain and Carr, giving up smoking is far from easy. Yet surely there must be some way to minimise the pain?

It is this thought that brings me to the Royal Yacht Hotel in St Helier, Jersey, to be guided (hopefully) into a smoke-free future by the life coach Bryce Alford, who uses a mixture of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), hypnosis and "emotional freedom techniques" to help people to stop smoking or achieve other daunting goals, such as losing weight and tackling phobias.

His "I Quit" package at the Royal Yacht involves three hour-long therapy sessions over three days; usually a long weekend. . . .

has transformation been achieved? Am I a non-smoker?

I confess, not yet. But I am smoking less, and have found Alford's insights invaluable: the breathing control, the focus on varying your - I mean, my - routine and ignoring the unhelpful judgments of others.

I can't help reflecting, too, that what finally stopped Allen Carr smoking was not his own vaunted technique, but a hypnosis session. It's food for thought.

Alford has e-mailed several times to check on my progress. He is very much in earnest about this quitting business and soon, I hope, I will be, too.

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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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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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Governor Culver: Announces Smoking in Iowa Drops 22 Percent  

Iowa is leading the way in smoking cessation, Governor Culver announced today, with a new report showing that smoking in Iowa has dropped 22 percent since 2006. The decrease is one of the most significant drops experienced by any state in recent years.

"As Governor, improving the health and well-being of Iowans is one of my top priorities," said Governor Culver. "Iowans statewide have taken on the challenge to stop smoking, and we can all be proud of their efforts. Helping Iowa become the healthiest state in the nation is a goal we can all get behind."

The news comes as many Iowans make New Year's resolutions to quit using tobacco. "These survey results are very encouraging not only for individuals, but for our state as a whole," said Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) Director Tom Newton. Iowa currently spends an estimated $1 billion each year in smoking-related health care costs.

To help the thousands of Iowans who will try to quit smoking in January, IDPH is providing twice the amount of free nicotine patches and gum available through Quitline Iowa

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Nabi Biopharmaceuticals Reaches Special Protocol Agreement With FDA for NicVAX(r) Phase 3 Trial Protocol  

Nabi Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:NABI) announced it has reached agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) for a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial of NicVAX(r) (Nicotine Conjugate Vaccine), the company's innovative and proprietary investigational vaccine to treat nicotine addiction and prevent smoking relapse. The SPA is a process by which sponsors and the FDA reach agreement on the design and size of clinical trials. It is intended to form the basic foundation to support approval of a New Drug Application.

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State Won't Pay For Quit-Smoking Programs 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Some are questioning why the state's heath care program, TennCare, won't pay for programs to help people quit smoking but does pay for lung transplants.

Regina Trevino is tethered to an oxygen canister because of emphysema and other diseases. She used to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day and tried to quit but couldn't.

"My lungs are the age of a 119-year-old woman, and I'm 49. That speaks for itself," said Trevino.

She's waiting for a lung transplant that will cost about $150,000, but TennCare will pay for it. Yet TennCare does not pay for quit-smoking programs, which would cost about $100 a month per patient.

Dr. Aaron Milstone, a pulmonologist at Vanderbilt Medical Center, calls it a travesty.

"The real need is there because they have a lot of illnesses that are directly related to tobacco abuse, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and emphysema," said Milstone. . . .

One of every four Tennesseans is a smoker. Those who want help quitting smoking should visit the state's Tennessee Tobacco Quit Line or call its 24-hour hotline at 800-QUIT-NOW.

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Spousal and Alcohol-Related Predictors of Smoking Cessation: A Longitudinal Study in a Community Sample of Married Couples  

We investigated the longitudinal influence of spousal and individual heavy drinking and heavy smoking on smoking cessation among married couples. Couples' (N=634) past-year smoking, alcohol problems, and heavy drinking were assessed. We used an event history analysis and found that spousal and one's own heavy smoking and one's own heavy drinking decreased the likelihood of smoking cessation. Heavy drinking and spousal behavior should be considered when developing public health interventions and policies for smoking cessation.

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LETTER: TOBACCO TAXES AND CIGARETTE CONSUMPTION IN LOW INCOME POPULATIONS ($$) 

In their letter in response to Franks et al.'s analysis of the failure of tobacco taxes to effectively reduce smoking among lower socioeconomic status smokers,1 Farrelly and Engelen assert that concerns about the regressivity of tobacco can "easily be addressed...by earmarking revenue from cigarette excise taxes to evidence based smoking cessation interventions targeted to low income populations with the highest smoking rates."2(p582)

This is a noble sentiment, but optimistic, given political reality. After a decade of more than 100 separate state increases in tobacco taxes and strong efforts by public health advocates, there have been few instances of such an . . . [Full Text]

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• RAILEY: Ex-smoker likes second-hand smoke, first-hand memories 

Like so many other North Carolinians, I'm ambivalent about tobacco. It's helped build churches, hospitals and colleges in this state, and it's put many a student through those colleges. It helped build Winston-Salem and many other North Carolina towns.

David Payne, who grew up in Henderson, eloquently summed that up in his 1993 novel Ruin Creek. A young doctor tells the elderly owner of a tobacco warehouse in fictional Killdeer, N.C., to quit smoking. The old man tells a friend, "if tobacco's wrong, then this whole town's wrong … 'cause every store and house and church in Killdeer came from it … Every dollar was a leaf of bright tobacco first and grew right from the ground. ..."

True that. And adults can still choose whether they want to smoke. I'll never condemn it. Heck, I still love the smell of second-hand smoke once in a while. I can sympathize with President-elect Obama's battle to quit smoking.

I started at 16. . . .

I loved smoking a cigar while walking my dog. I loved the taste of cigarettes with beer.

I miss smoking. I envy the people who still enjoy it. It's still a way of life here. But it's a way of life that's rapidly changing as farmers go out of business and Big Tobacco keeps getting pummeled.

In a few generations, smoking will be a distant memory. But for now, I still like a whiff of second-hand smoke now and then.

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TRICE: Tribune writers' New Year's resolutions for 2009  

I know that smoking is one of the hardest addictions to break. Still, my New Year's resolution is for President-elect Barack Obama to try once again to kick the habit.

In a February, 2007 interview with CBS's "60 Minutes," Michelle Obama said that she wouldn't allow her fear of her husband being shot to prevent him from running for president. "As a black man, you know, Barack can get shot going to the gas station," she said.

Well, "as a black man" his risk of dying from lung cancer is all too real.

The American Lung Association says that in 2006, 27 percent of black men smoked compared to 24 percent of white men.

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• Uncle Sam to Smoking Employees: Quit, Leave or Take the Bus 

A short time ago, the American Lung Association set up a petition asking the Obama administration to ban interior smoking in federal buildings and protect all federal employees from second-hand smoke.

It may be a coincidence. But, effective on December 22, 2008 the General Services Administration, the agency that used to ensure every federal agency had an ample supply of light brown, heavy ashtrays in every building, has issued a new bulletin.

Entitled "Protecting Federal Employees and the Public From Exposure to Tobacco Smoke in the Federal Workplace," this new edict (FMR Bulletin 2009-B1) says that "cigarette smoking is the number one preventable cause of morbidity and premature mortality worldwide. Studies also have shown that the harmful effects of smoking are not confined solely to the smoker, but extend to co-workers and members of the general public who are exposed to secondhand smoke as well."

The bureaucracy does not move quickly. For example, the new GSA issuance cites the 11-year old Clinton Executive Order which "encourages the heads of executive agencies to evaluate the need to further restrict smoking at doorways and in courtyards under executive branch control and authorizes the agency heads to restrict smoking in these areas in light of this evaluation."

After long and careful consideration over the past eleven years, the agency has decided to implement this remnant of the Clinton administration's policies. The new bulletin highlights its new policy as: "smoking is prohibited in courtyards and within 25 feet of doorways and air intake ducts on outdoor space under the jurisdiction, custody or control of GSA."

And, as part of the new policy, all interior smoking areas will be closed as well.

The new policy is already effective as a government policy but agencies have six months to implement it. Some astute readers may be wondering why, if second-hand smoke is such a dire problem, there is a six-month delay.

The reason for the delay is to give federal employee unions a chance to negotiate on the implementation of the change. . . .

The new policy may test the ingenuity of some agencies and unions. In any event, the GSA bulletin does not provide a solution other than to stop smoking. "The heads of executive agencies are encouraged to use existing authority to establish programs designed to help employees stop smoking. Cessation program materials for agencies interested in establishing a smoking cessation program for their employees are available from the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...."

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A Neuromarketer on the Frontier of Buyology  

It sounds like a cross between "Mad Men" and "Weird Science": using magnetic resonance imaging to study brain waves and determine why people respond to some advertisements but not others. For a 20-year-old junior at Yale, the new field known as neuromarketing is the stuff not of sci-fi mash-ups but a potential career.

Emily Yudofsky has long been interested in behavioral science, no surprise given that both her parents are psychiatrists; her father, Dr. Stuart C. Yudofsky, is chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. . . .

Current ways to evaluate advertising are significantly flawed, Ms. Yudofsky says. “By going directly to the brain, looking at the regions involved in decision-making, it will make a great difference” in developing campaigns that effectively, say, curb smoking or discourage drunk driving.

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VIDEO: Jimmy Kimmel Live - Cousin Sal And The Great American Smokeout 

[Cousin Sal squirts Kimmel Show employees taking smoking breaks]

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VIDEO: Great American Smokeout - Jimmy Kimmel Live! 

Jimmy Kimmel Live covers the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout on November 16, 2006.

[Cousin Sal sprays smokers on the street with a fire extinguisher, saying, "Thanks for not smoking."]

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Health Highlights: Dec. 31, 2008  

Firm Says FDA OKs Its Generic Version of Nicotine Gum

Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Wednesday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved its generic version of the nicotine gum Nicorette, and it will begin selling the mint-flavored gum in early January.

The FDA approved the firm's over-the-counter nicotine polacrilex gum in 2 milligram and 4 milligram strengths. Nicorette, made by British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC, is sold by Johnson & Johnson Healthcare. The agency approved Nicorette gum, available in six flavors, in February 1996, the Associated Press reported.

Watson said the market for over-the-counter nicotine gum was more than $300 million in the year ended September 2008. Perrigo Co. also makes a generic version of fruit-flavored Nicorette, AP said.

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