Tobacco.org

• Cancer Experts Meet to Head Off Rise in African Tobacco Use 

Health officials say they have a "golden opportunity" to head off an epidemic in tobacco use in Africa and prevent many cancer cases.

While rich nations have taken action to reduce smoking, the World Health Organization says tobacco consumption in Africa is expected to grow by than four percent a year. That's why cancer experts are holding a major conference this week in Tanzania (Nov 11– 14).

Among those attending is Dr. Thomas Glynn, Director of International Cancer Control for the American Cancer Society and acting head of the Global Smokefree Partnership.

"This is really the first time in the history of public health that we have the opportunity to prevent an epidemic…. There's no doubt tobacco is on the rise here, but it's the one continent where we are ahead of the ball at this point," he says.

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Risk Of Skin Damage Increases In Smokers With Autoimmune Disorder 

Reports say researchers have come up with another reason to stay away from cigarettes after linking smoking to skin problems in people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Experts at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) found that smokers with the long-term autoimmune disorder faced an increased risk for skin damage and rashes.

The study's lead author Dr. Christian A Pineau, Co-Director of the Lupus and Vasculitis clinic at the MUHC, said: "Up to 85 per cent of people with SLE develop skin involvement at some point.

"Our study shows that the risk of skin damage such as permanent hair loss and scarring from skin inflammation is significantly increased in smokers. So is the rate of active lupus rash."

Dr. Sasha Bernatsky, study co-author and physician in the MUHC's Rheumatology Division, added: "However, smoking may interfere with the effectiveness of some medications used to control skin disease in SLE.

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• A review of human carcinogens—Part E: tobacco, areca nut, alcohol, coal smoke, and salted fish 

New evidence continues to add to the extensive list of tobacco-related cancers (table); there is now sufficient evidence that tobacco smoking causes cancer of the colon3 and of the ovary.4 More than 150 epidemiological studies of tobacco smoking and breast cancer were reviewed. Large cohort studies5, 6 published since 20022 consistently show a small positive association (relative risks 1·1—1·3). Many chemicals in tobacco smoke cause mammary-gland tumours in animals, and these carcinogens are stored in breast adipose tissue in women; therefore, the Working Group concluded that there is limited evidence that tobacco smoking causes breast cancer. A causal link between parental smoking and childhood cancers has been established. Four recent studies showed that children born of parents who smoke (father, mother, or both, including the preconception period and pregnancy) are at significantly higher risk of hepatoblastoma, a rare embryonic cancer. The UK Childhood Cancer Study7 reported a relative risk of 1·86 for paternal smoking only and 2·02 for maternal smoking only, increasing to 4·74 (95% CI 1·68—13·35) when both parents smoke. For childhood leukaemia, a meta-analysis reported an association with paternal smoking before pregnancy (summary relative risk 1·12, 1·04—1·21).8 Second-hand smoke causes lung cancer.2 There is now limited evidence for an association with cancers of the larynx and the pharynx,9 whereas evidence for female breast cancer remains inconclusive. Since second-hand smoke contains most of the constituents of mainstream smoke, it might also be associated with other cancer sites. Many types of smokeless tobacco are marketed and all contain nicotine and nitrosamines. Hundreds of millions of people use smokeless tobacco, mainly in India and southeast Asia, but also in Sweden and the USA. Earlier findings showed a causal association between use of smokeless tobacco and cancers of the oral cavity and pancreas, and there is now sufficient evidence for cancer of the oesophagus.10 All of the forms of tobacco discussed above induce malignant tumours in laboratory animals.

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Receipt of Provider Advice for Smoking Cessation and Use of Smoking Cessation Treatments Among Cancer Survivors  

CONCLUSIONS This study reveals considerable missed opportunities for health-care providers to advise cancer survivors about smoking and provide evidence-based interventions. Systematic efforts are needed to increase the provision of smoking cessation advice and use of cessation treatments among cancer survivors.

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Cancer survivors may not be getting the help they need to stop smoking 

More than a quarter of cancer survivors who still smoke have not been advised to quit smoking by their health care providers in the last year, according to a study published by researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in the current issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The findings suggest that health care providers - from doctors to dentists to nurses - are missing an opportunity to make a dramatic difference in the quality of life of their patients.

"While smoking cessation is difficult, it can play an important role in increasing cancer survivors' quality of life," says the paper's lead author Elliot Coups, Ph.D., former associate member of Fox Chase Cancer Center's faculty and a participant in the Fox Chase Keystone Program in Cancer Risk and Prevention. "Time and again, studies have shown that people really do listen to what is said at the doctor's office in regards to smoking, so health care providers need to take advantage of this teachable moment."

According to Coups, an associate professor of medicine at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, who recently joined the Division of Public Health Science at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the harmful effects of smoking have an important impact on cancer survivors. Smoking is known to adversely affect survivors' quality of life, lower their projected life-spans, and to increase their risk for cardiovascular disease, as well as second, unrelated cancers.

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• Cancer-Free Smokers Can Sue Philip Morris, Court Says (Update1)  

Philip Morris USA can be sued by cancer-free smokers seeking a court order that the company pay for medical monitoring for signs of the illness, the highest court in Massachusetts ruled.

Answering two state-law questions referred to it by a federal court where the smokers proposed a group lawsuit is pending, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court today ruled that the long-term yet cancer-free smokers can pursue their monitoring claim according to state law.

“We must adapt to the growing recognition that exposure to toxic substances and radiation may cause substantial injury which should be compensable even if the full effects are not immediately apparent,” the high court said.

Philip Morris USA, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, is a unit of Richmond, Virginia-based Altria Group Inc. In a statement issued by an in-house attorney, the company disagreed with the court’s findings.

The smokers’ suit was filed in 2006 by Massachusetts resident Kathleen Donovan and two other people living in the state.

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Smoking tied to high cancer rate  

Cancer is the second leading cause of death on Guam, with lung and bronchus cancers combined having the highest mortality rate among both sexes, according to newly released figures from the Guam Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalition.

The coalition -- which includes members from the American Cancer Society, the Guam Cancer Registry, the University of Guam Cancer Research Center, the Department of Public Health and Social Services and the Cancer Information Service -- released the first complete set of published data regarding Guam's cancer statistics at a press conference yesterday.

Michael Ehlert, a member of the coalition's Data and Research Action Team, said that nearly 20 percent of deaths on the island from 2003 to 2007 were cancer-related.

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Tobacco firm had data linking cigarettes to cancer, newly discovered papers show  

Researchers have uncovered copies of sensitive internal documents destroyed by a Canadian tobacco company that could boost efforts by provincial governments suing the industry over health costs linked to smoking.

The documents destroyed by Imperial Tobacco Canada reveal the firm had scientific data decades ago showing that cigarettes were addictive and caused cancer.

"This evidence suggests that the industry wasn't sharing absolutely critical findings about addiction and the health hazards," said David Hammond, a professor in the University of Waterloo's department of health studies. "There's real potential that if they had done so, we would have had laws that saved lives implemented much sooner."

Prof. Hammond is the lead author of a review of 60 documents that was published yesterday by the Canadian Medical Association Journal. British American Tobacco, the principal shareholder of Imperial Tobacco Canada, ordered Imperial to destroy its copies of the documents in 1992. But other copies had remained in the company's UK headquarters and were included in millions of pages of information released by the tobacco industry as part of court settlements since 1998. That's where Prof. Hammond and his co-authors discovered them.

The records will likely come into play in lawsuits by three Canadian provinces . . .

Most of the records are reports of original scientific studies conducted between 1967 and 1984 by British American Tobacco. Some studies examined the effects of second-hand smoke on rats and found it was dangerous. Other research cast doubt on the comparative benefits of low-tar cigarettes, finding that smokers compensated by inhaling more intensely.

"The studies are notable both for the wide range of research designs used to examine the health effects of smoking and for the consistency of the findings," the CMAJ review says.

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Cancer among the circumpolar Inuit, 1989-2003. II. Patterns and Trends Circumpolar Inuit Cancer Review Working Group  

Results. Cancer in general is increasing among Inuit, in all regions, and among both men and women. Inuit continue to be at extreme high risk, relative to non-Inuit and to comparisons of global populations, for the historically recognized so-called traditional cancers (such as cancer of the nasopharynx and salivary glands). Among the so-called modern cancers prevalent in developed societies, lung cancer is rapidly increasing in incidence (especially in Canada), such that the rate in both Inuit men and women is the highest in the world; other cancers, such as colorectal cancer, are also on the rise (especially in Alaska), while breast and prostate cancer remain low relative to the non-Inuit population. The decline in cervical cancer is a positive development; in the 3 regions, the rate in Greenland is the highest.

Conclusions. Data such as these can form the basis of interventions directed towards known risk factors such as smoking, diet, obesity, viral and bacterial infections, and low screening prevalence. Cancer surveillance is a basic task of the public health system; in the Arctic, it is particularly important as Inuit continue to undergo further changes in their life-styles and social environments.

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Cancer among the circumpolar Inuit, 1989-2003. I. Background and Methods Circumpolar Inuit Cancer Review Working Group  

Objectives. This is first of 2 papers on the Circumpolar Inuit Cancer Review, an international collaborative effort involving researchers and health officials from Alaska, Canada and Greenland. It covers the period 1989-2003, updating the last review (1969-1988) and together provides an overview of the trends and patterns of cancer among the Inuit in 3 countries and over a 35-year period.

Methods. Inuit cancer cases by age-sex group and anatomic site were obtained from the regional cancer registries. The sources of the age-sex distribution of various Inuit populations include the population registry (Greenland), and annual estimates and periodic censuses (Alaska and Canada). Incidence rates were age- standardization by the direct method to the standard world population of the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Conclusions. This project demonstrates the feasibility of international partnerships in cancer surveillance, and when these partnerships are extended to other diseases and health conditions, they can contribute to the development of a Circumpolar Health Observatory.

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Anti-tobacco signature campaign in Salem 

To save lives: Members of voluntary organisations distributing handbills in Salem on Thursday to create awareness among people on cancer and negative effects of tobacco consumption. --

SALEM: A cancer awareness road show and anti-tobacco signature campaign was conducted here on Thursday. The campaign was organised by the Worldwide Cancer Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, and the Indian Red Cross Society as a part of their State-wide initiative to spread awareness among people about cancer and the negative effects of tobacco consumption.

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Star Seeking FDA Approval of 'Modified-Risk' Tobacco Product 

Star Scientific Inc., makers of low-nitrosamine smokeless tobacco products, said that the company will use a novel, patented method for cultivation, curing and preparation of tobacco to formulate dissolvable smokeless tobacco products. This new curing process is the subject of a patent application, filed in December 2008. Its use has resulted in tobacco leaf with significantly lower levels of tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) than previously achieved using the StarCured curing process, the company claimed. . . .

Late last week, Star submitted comments to the FDA in response to the agency's request for input on the regulatory framework established by the act, which was signed into law by President Obama in June 2009. Click here to view the comments.

The comments focus on the need for tobacco product labeling that lists the levels of the most lethal carcinogens in the products in a way that is clear to adult tobacco users.

Paul L. Perito, Star's chairman and president, said, "Adult tobacco users need to have access to information about the spectrum of harm associated with tobacco use in order to be able make informed choices about the products they purchase." He added that he hopes clear and accurate labeling will be one of the cornerstones of tobacco regulation policy.

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• Star Scientific Breaks New Ground, Plans FDA Filing for Approval of First 'Modified Risk' Tobacco Product; Nominates Curtis Wright, MD, MPH for FDA Advisory Committee 

Star Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ: STSI) makers of low-nitrosamine smokeless tobacco products, announced today that the company will utilize a novel, patented method for cultivation, curing and preparation of tobacco to formulate dissolvable smokeless tobacco products. This new curing process was the subject of a patent application filed in December, 2008. Its use has resulted in tobacco leaf with significantly lower levels of tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) than previously achieved using the StarCured(R) curing process: the International Agency for Research on Cancer previously has reported on the low levels of nitrosamines in Star's products. The company believes that this novel process, as reflected in its patent application, will enable the company to achieve the lowest toxin levels anywhere in the world. Star plans to submit the products to the FDA for approval to market as "modified risk" tobacco products, under Section 911 of the new Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, once formulation and testing of the new product is completed in early 2010.

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Head, Neck Cancer Treatment Often Not Completed  

Incomplete and interrupted radiation treatment is a common problem among Medicare patients with head and neck cancer, a new study has found.

Researchers analyzed data from 5,086 Medicare patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer between 1997 and 2003 and found that nearly 40 percent of them experienced interruptions in radiation therapy or failed to complete the course of therapy.

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AUDIO: Centered on Syracuse Podcast: Smoky future for cancer fundraisers at Turning Stone? 

range basketball coach Jim Boeheim says fundraiser will stay at Turning Stone despite Cancer Society's wishes

Podcast episode No. 25 for Friday, Sept. 18, 2009

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